The moon hung in the deep blue sky, crimson streams flowed quietly, and a gentle breeze swept across the fragrant grass on the riverbank.
In the underground palace were mostly cultivators who had participated in the dragon slaying at Red River Bank, along with those who had escaped from the ice cave. Very few had entered through other passages.
The cultivators entered through teleportation formations, scattered throughout the underground palace.
When the ferocious giant shadow appeared, blocking the moon, the peaceful clear night was instantly shattered.
Regardless of whether the cultivators were fighting over treasures, collecting spiritual herbs, cooking beast meat, setting up formations and drawing talismans, sitting in meditation, recovering spiritual energy, or idly daydreaming—almost simultaneously, they all felt the violent tremors from the night sky.
“It’s a pressure aura!” Meng He Ze shouted, “Defensive formation!”
The resting cultivators of the Thousand Channels team immediately stood up and gathered, arranging themselves in a nearly circular formation.
The cultivators most skilled in defense stood in the outer circle, raising various defensive magical artifacts. Those skilled in combat stood behind them, while the weakest healing-type cultivators gathered at the center.
The Thousand Channels cultivators were mainly former outer disciples of the Hua Wei Sect, with limited innate talents. Besides Meng He Ze and Ji Chen, there were no young cultivators who could truly be called “geniuses.”
But Thousand Channels distributed resources evenly, allowing disciples to freely choose suitable development paths. They neither worried about spirit stones nor needed to work odd jobs, and they had access to various classics and cultivation methods in the library at any time, with regular opportunities to ask Song Qian Ji for guidance.
As a result, the Thousand Channels team was well-equipped in attack, defense, healing, talismans, and formations. They had comprehensive methods, resembling the most balanced team of independent cultivators, yet with better combat coordination and cohesion than typical independent teams.
As the giant shadow in the sky flapped its wings, it stirred up a hurricane that swept across the ground like a steel blade, tearing up a layer of soil.
In the fierce wind, trees collapsed with a thunderous sound, grass blades turned to fragments dancing in the air, then were sucked into the fierce beast’s belly by the powerful airflow.
“What kind of monster is this, with such a powerful pressure aura!”
“Not good, it’s about to open its mouth again!”
“Roar!”
The beast’s howl rolled like heavenly thunder, causing the cultivators’ ears to ring and chests to tighten as blood rushed to their heads.
Lower-level cultivators instantly bled from their noses and mouths, feeling dizzy and weak in the legs.
Cultivators in the underground palace fled in all directions. Only the Thousand Channels and Northern Desert teams maintained their formations without disorder, resisting the hurricane and beast howls like stubborn reefs in a stormy sea.
The fierce beast opened its blood-red giant mouth, like a bottomless abyss.
Countless birds surged from the forest, as if attracted by some force, flying rapidly into its mouth.
The dense flock of birds covered the sky, flying into the trap and perishing in the beast’s belly.
It roared again, seemingly finding the taste of birds unpalatable and difficult to swallow, then dove toward the ground.
No-Form’s careful calculations had no error. In the dragon-slaying battle at Red River Bank, he had already witnessed Song Qian Ji’s method of breaking the deadlock, so he wouldn’t give him a second chance to use the same method to solve a dilemma.
Song Qian Ji was well aware of this.
A centipede dies but never falls. Although this Chaos had slumbered for a long time and was not at its peak, its pressure aura alone could subdue most cultivators in the underground palace.
It would eat indiscriminately, devouring most living creatures in the underground palace until satisfied.
The giant shadow, as high as the moon, descended rapidly. The underground palace was covered by the fierce beast’s pressure aura, shrouded in the shadow of death.
At this moment, a familiar voice fell from the sky, penetrating the hurricane:
“This beast is Chaos. Abandon resistance and combat immediately, and quickly leave the plain.”
“Quickly leave the plain—”
The voice echoed continuously.
“It’s Elder Blood River’s voice, we’re saved!”
“Listen to the elder, let’s go!”
Cultivators who had been through the dragon-slaying battle followed the instructions without hesitation, each using their methods to swiftly retreat.
Song Qian Ji had attached an amplification talisman not to have everyone fight together, but to make them quickly evacuate, leaving a large open area on the plain.
Affected by No-Form’s self-destruction, his ritual robe was shattered and his hair bun came undone.
People looked up at the sky and saw a figure soaring through the air toward the fierce beast.
His form appeared even smaller in the hurricane, only about the size of one of the beast’s eyes.
But he showed no fear, his black hair flying wildly, like a god or demon descending to the mortal world.
A group of independent cultivators who failed to retreat in time were caught in the hurricane, unable to resist, and were involuntarily swept toward the beast’s mouth.
“My life is over!”
“Dying like this, without clarity, is truly too miserable!”
Just as these desperate thoughts flashed through their minds, the fierce beast suddenly let out a painful cry, closed its bloody mouth, and flapped its wings to change direction.
A box had struck its most vulnerable spot—the tip of its nose—hitting and leaving in an instant, swiftly returning to the newcomer’s hand.
The independent cultivators, escaping from the beast’s mouth, barely made out the newcomer’s face.
“This elder looks familiar. Wait, isn’t that Song Xun?”
“It is indeed Song Xun!”
They saw a small pebble fly out from the treasure box opened in “Song Xun’s” hand.
An extremely powerful aura leaked out, and the collision of space triggered violent gusts of turbulent wind.
The stone rapidly grew larger. People on the ground narrowed their eyes to see clearly that what flew out wasn’t a pebble, but a small mountain.
Clouds and mist swirled around the mountain, lush flowers and grasses covered it, and hanging springs and waterfalls were all visible.
The mountain expanded with the wind, pressing directly toward the fierce beast!
The fierce beast was provoked and swung out a claw, like lightning tearing through the night curtain.
Its form was enormous, but the mountain was larger. It howled fiercely, but the mountain’s momentum was fiercer.
Such domineering, majestic, and shocking divine techniques were something young cultivators had only heard of in legends, and this was the first time they witnessed it with their own eyes.
A sect disciple shouted: “The Spring Mountain in the Box! He is Song Qian Ji!”
“It’s Senior Brother Song!” Meng He Ze exclaimed excitedly.
The Thousand Channels disciples looked up at the sky, excited and blood rushing.
“Let’s go help Senior Brother!” Ji Chen said urgently.
Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded: “The Spring Mountain hasn’t been fully refined by Song Qian Ji, it can’t distinguish friend from foe. Don’t go up there and cause trouble!”
“You—” Ji Chen was dissatisfied, but turning around, he saw a familiar face.
The Northern Desert team was not far from them.
Their leader, Wei Zhen Yu, looked extremely unwell as if being scorched by flames, enduring pain.
He gazed at the sky, his pupils reflecting the huge Spring Mountain, the fierce beast, and the tiny figure, with flickering flames hidden in the depths of his eyes.
After No-Form’s self-destruction, Song Qian Ji had unhesitatingly deployed the Spring Mountain, knowing that if he hesitated or delayed even slightly, blood would flow like a river in the underground palace.
Once the Spring Mountain emerged, his true identity would inevitably be exposed.
But he had no better choice.
Rather than being coerced by No-Form and making a deal with the tiger, he preferred to take other risks.
“Boom—”
The Spring Mountain pressed forcefully on Chaos, slamming into the center of the plain with tremendous force, creating a deep pit.
Chaos was suppressed under the mountain, its four wings and six legs moving with difficulty, driven to madness, it opened its mouth and roared in anger.
The Spring Mountain’s foundation was unstable, shaking violently with rocks rolling down and dust flying.
Dust filled the air for twenty miles around.
Cultivators with lower cultivation levels covered their ears, their faces contorted in pain.
Song Qian Ji stood at the peak of the Spring Mountain, his heart sinking. As expected of the mount that had accompanied the Blood River Ancestor across the world—even a Spring Mountain couldn’t fully subdue it.
If it continued to roar like this, in less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the mountain would likely collapse.
Unlike auspicious beasts, fierce beasts only submit to the stronger. If it couldn’t be subdued by force, it would only devour him.
Song Qian Ji immediately summoned the Seven Victories Zither, sat cross-legged, and swept across the strings.
“Twang! Twang! Twang!”
The seven strings burst with silver light, like the bright moon hanging in the sky.
The zither music flowed out, like three sword cries, killing intent rising!
The Seven Victories Zither was a supreme treasure of the music path, and also the crystallization of a supreme powerhouse’s blood and sweat.
The zither music quickly spread throughout the underground palace, overwhelming the beast’s roars.
The melody wasn’t fast, seeming to come from ancient times, melodious like a snowfall.
“It’s snowing!” someone shouted.
Child of Midnight Manjusri looked up at the sky, a cool sensation landing on his brow.
The moon was obscured by dark clouds, and the spring breeze turned cold.
Silver light like willow catkins floated down from the night sky, and people stood in a daze, allowing snowflakes to fall on their bodies.
The zither music was faint, seeming both present and absent, barely audible yet captivating people’s hearts.
The greatest sound is silence.
“The zither sound can summon the natural world, making it snow in spring!”
Someone from the Sound Immortal Sect said in a daze: “This is the Wind and Snow Formation Melody, but… it’s so different.”
Miao Yan was struck as if by lightning, staring in the direction of Spring Mountain as if she couldn’t hear anything.
…
Song Qian Ji sat alone at the mountain peak, eyes closed, playing the zither. He appeared lofty and carefree, but the danger was immense.
After all, he was not a music cultivator and lacked a solid foundation in the music path. Forcefully bringing the Seven Victories Zither to its limits, competing with the beast’s roars that contained pressure aura, caused his blood to surge uncontrollably.
Halfway through the melody, Chaos was suppressed by the zither music, and the Spring Mountain’s shaking subsided.
Song Qian Ji swallowed the blood in his throat, gritted his teeth, and finished playing until all movement in the mountain completely calmed.
The silver light of the zither strings dimmed, losing its luster.
“The zither has been damaged. It seems I’ll need to visit not only the Purple Cloud Temple at Qing Cliff but also the Sound Immortal Sect.”
The thought flashed through Song Qian Ji’s mind as he put away the Seven Victories Zither and followed the cracks in the mountain, approaching the dark interior.
Chaos lay on the ground, its aura weak yet wild.
It had awakened after a long hunger, and before it could even fill its teeth gaps, it had been successively suppressed by the world’s two strongest treasures.
It was angry and confused—this human cultivator’s aura was gentle, like the earth and clear springs, completely unlike the violent person who had sealed it before. Why did he possess such terrifying methods?
Chaos panted, a hungry, fierce light flashing in its eyes, and a series of buzzing sounds came from its belly.
Eat this person! Don’t leave even the bones!
It cursed the newcomer in the language of fierce beasts and loudly cried of hunger when suddenly it heard that terrifying person sigh:
“Even if you’re hungry, you can’t eat just anything. You’re an ancient beast; only by eating food from the same era can you fill your stomach.”
This person could understand the ancient beast language?
A cool drop fell on the tip of its exposed tongue.
No, not cool water—it was sweet. How could there be something so sweet?
A hundred times sweeter than the blood of spirits. Chaos exerted all its strength to open its mouth, stretch out its tongue, and greedily swallow.
The sweet clear spring flowed into its belly, turning into a warm current, alleviating the emptiness that could never be filled.
Song Qian Ji summoned the Pure Bottle from his mystical palace, and the Immortality Spring flew out of the bottle’s mouth, drawing an arc, and slowly pouring into Chaos’s mouth.
The fierce light in Chaos’s eyes gradually dispersed.
“What’s your name?” Song Qian Ji put away the Immortality Spring.
This was his most secret trump card. If not for being in the bottomless, difficult-to-probe depths of the Spring Mountain, he would never have easily taken the Pure Bottle out of his body.
This beast easily went mad when hungry; letting it eat something made its emotions more stable.
Ancient fierce beasts were born with powerful sinews and bones, far beyond what human cultivators could hope to match.
If a human cultivator were to drink directly from the Immortality Spring like this, their meridians would have ruptured, causing them to explode and die.
After a while, Chaos made a gurgling sound in its throat:
“I’ve slept too long; I’ve forgotten my name.”
There was an ancient jade tablet tied around its neck, but the position was too high. No matter how much it lowered its head, it couldn’t see the words on the tablet.
After the hunger issue was resolved, most of Chaos’s fierce killing intent dissipated, and it purred dejectedly: “Help me take a look.”
Song Qian Ji approached step by step, slowly reaching out his hand, parting its dense fur, and pulling out the jade tablet.
At this close distance, Chaos could bite off his head in one bite.
“You’re called…”
Those two characters were carved in the center of the jade tablet, the writing crooked, but identical.
In his previous life, Song Qian Ji had explored many ancient ruins and had some knowledge of ancient characters.
He tried hard to recall, identifying the sound and meaning of the characters, and couldn’t help but smile.
“Don’t laugh! What am I called?!”
Not getting a response, Chaos’s aura became violent again.
The Spring Mountain shook, and rocks rolled down.
Song Qian Ji thought to himself, when Blood River Ancestor summoned his mount during battles, other powerful beings would call out names like “Crimson Blood,” “Cloud Stepper,” or “Wind Chaser,” but he would shout “Obedient”—wasn’t that just making a joke?
Then he thought of his wheat field realm, compared to others’ sword realms, fire realms, and sea realms, and couldn’t laugh anymore.
Fellow sufferers in this world.
“Obedient,” Song Qian Ji said. His tone was stiff, sounding a bit like cursing in some local dialect.
“This is my name? Obedient?” Chaos was completely unaware, softly repeating these two words until its gaze became vacant as if crossing the river of time back to the past, seeing the person who had named it. “So familiar…”
Song Qian Ji remained silent, quietly waiting for it to finish reminiscing.
“So I’m called ‘Obedient,'” Chaos said.
Song Qian Ji sighed: “Now that you’ve found your name, you can’t eat things indiscriminately anymore.”
Chaos said blankly: “But I’m hungry, really hungry. That person who sealed me didn’t tell me I would be this hungry.”
Endless darkness, constant hunger.
“I will come to feed you,” Song Qian Ji patted its wet nose. “Give you sweet water to drink.”
In his previous life, this Chaos had never appeared. Not only during Song Qian Ji’s lifetime but also in the river of time he saw after his death.
It seemed the seal had been repeatedly reinforced, the secret deeply buried underground.
This was Blood River Ancestor’s underground palace; it should have been half the master here.
Time changes all things. It had grown weaker day by day in the lightless depths, until death and dissipation.
The Immortality Spring hummed continuously, protesting incessantly.
Song Qian Ji understood its meaning: I, a supreme treasure of heaven and earth, and you’re using me as beast feed?
“Then you must come,” Chaos, having received the promise, slowly shrank into the mountain’s belly, trying to make itself as small as possible. Its weak voice echoed inside the mountain, “Obedient will wait for you.”