"W-Who exactly are you..."
The Black Rock Demon Lord's voice was hoarse and trembling.
"Who I am doesn't matter."
Jiang Ling waved a hand dismissively. "What matters is this—your son charged my sect's immortal formation, and his death was well-deserved. As for you? You barge in here attacking, and you even smashed up the ground outside my mountain gate..."
The Black Rock Demon Lord stared at the massive crater it had made. "..."
"How do we settle this debt?"
Jiang Ling asked, a smile playing on his lips.
A jolt shot through the Black Rock Demon Lord, and its huge bear head shook like a rattle-drum. "N-No settlement! I was blind and ignorant, to dare trespass on an immortal sect! I'll leave at once!"
It only wanted to flee this cursed place as far and as fast as possible.
"Leave?"
Jiang Ling raised an eyebrow. "You come whenever you want, attack whenever you want, and then try to scurry off after losing? Do you think the world works that way?"
The Black Rock Demon Lord's heart sank to the bottom of its chest. "T-Then what do you want?"
Jiang Ling stroked his chin, eyes roaming up and down the Demon Lord's colossal frame—then lit up with an idea. **"You've got a thick hide and a fearsome aura, perfect. My Primordial Beginning Sect is short a gatekeeper. You'll stay here as our mountain guardian spirit beast.
It'll count as atoning for your son's crimes, and compensating us for the damage. Deal?"**
"A-A gatekeeper?!"
The Black Rock Demon Lord's eyes nearly bulged out of its head.
Make it, a mighty Demon Lord, stand guard at a mortal sect's gate?!
This was worse than death!
"What? Unwilling?"
Jiang Ling's eyes turned cold, and he lifted his hand slightly.
In an instant, the black-yellow light barrier glimmered, and the faint shadows of the earth dragons seemed to solidify a little more.
Terror shot through the Black Rock Demon Lord, making its enormous body tremble. "Willing! This lowly one is willing! To guard the gate of an immortal sect is my greatest fortune!"
At this moment, in the face of absolute power and its own life, dignity was worthless!
"Good."
Jiang Ling nodded in satisfaction, and with a flip of his wrist, a talisman appeared in his hand.
It was a soul contract inscribed with profound runes, exuding an unyielding power of law, and it floated slowly toward the Black Rock Demon Lord.
"Sign this. From now on, you're the mountain guardian spirit beast of Primordial Beginning Sect. Remember—no random roaring. Wouldn't want to scare the flowers and grass."
Staring at the contract, with its terrifying binding power, the Black Rock Demon Lord wanted to cry.
It, a revered Demon Lord, reduced to a gatekeeper!
But power was everything, and it had no choice. Choking back bitter tears, it pressed its only remaining left claw to the contract, imprinting its demonic soul upon it.
Hum!
The contract burst into two streaks of light—one sinking into the Black Rock Demon Lord's body, the other merging into the core of the immortal formation.
From this moment on, the Black Rock Demon Lord's life and death rested in Jiang Ling's single thought.
Jiang Ling flicked a pill, brimming with pure life force, toward it. "Here. Stop the bleeding first, don't scare the kids. From now on, you squat outside the mountain gate—no unnecessary squawking."
The Black Rock Demon Lord hastily caught the pill with its claw and swallowed it, the bleeding from its severed arm slowing to a stop.
It struggled to its feet, dejected, and limped toward the mountain gate archway.
Its colossal, ferocious frame, paired with its now pitiful, lifeless expression, created an absurdly stark contrast.
The Black Rock Demon Lord silently found a corner, curled up into a ball, and rested its huge bear head on its front paws. Staring toward the Vast Mist Ridge, its eyes were empty and grief-stricken.
My cub... Father is useless. Father has fallen too.
From now on, I can only guard a mortal's gate. Bear life is hopeless...
Inside Primordial Beginning Sect, a strange, deathly silence reigned, broken only by the rustle of wind through the leaves.
Watching the Black Rock Demon Lord—once a terrifying Fusion Stage powerhouse, now a brooding, wronged giant black stone statue outside the gate—and then glancing at Jiang Ling's calm, unhurried back, a bone-chilling cold shot up Hua Yuntian's spine from the soles of his feet.
All his patience, all his resentment, felt utterly feeble at this moment.
The instant the immortal formation unleashed its full power, Hua Yuntian had once again felt the terror of his soul being suppressed.
He had doubted the formation's true power before—but now, with the famed Black Rock Demon Lord subdued, any trace of luck or defiance was snuffed out completely.
"I am not working hard enough. I must temper my Dao foundation to absolute perfection!"
Hua Yuntian slipped silently back to his room, crossed his legs, and began to circulate the Nine-Revolution Mystic Origin Art with even greater frenzy.
He would forge his Dao foundation into an unshakable bulwark, leaving no regrets in every realm, making himself invincible among those of the same cultivation!
But this time, alongside his obsession with revenge, a faint, ineffable awe lingered in his heart—accompanied by a tiny flicker of doubt he dared not acknowledge.
Perhaps... there was more to that Basic Qi Circulation Art than he had seen?
As for Jincancan, it strutted toward the mountain gate with its usual arrogant gait, eyes sweeping coolly over the new gatekeeping bear.
This was the Black Rock Demon Lord, one of the Eight Great Demon Lords of the Vast Mist Ridge?
It didn't look like much.
Thank goodness it had rejected this beast's offer to submit in its past life—otherwise, even after nirvana and rebirth, it would be mocked for its poor judgment.
Jincancan's unblinking stare was too obvious, rousing the Black Rock Demon Lord.
It lifted its head sharply and let out a low, threatening growl at Jincancan.
"Chirp!"
Fool.
Jincancan shot it a look of unbridled contempt, then turned and strode proudly back into the mountain gate.
"ROAR! How dare you call me a fool?!"
The Black Rock Demon Lord stared in disbelief at Jincancan's insolent retreating figure, pounding its chest and roaring in rage.
It, a mighty Fusion Stage Demon Lord, had been insulted by a chicken?!
Worse still—it couldn't even fight back.
Nothing in the world was more humiliating than this!
"Damned chicken! You just wait! One day, I'll skin you alive, break your bones, and boil you into soup!"
The Black Rock Demon Lord's fur stood on end with fury, spitting empty threats in its powerlessness.
...
Inside Primordial Beginning Sect, the silence of survival after a catastrophe hung in the air.
Jiang Ling clapped his hands in satisfaction, as if he'd just shooed away an annoying fly.
"Alright, the nuisance is dealt with. The wasteland reclamation mission is a complete success!"
No sooner had his words fallen than the system's notifications chimed in a flurry in his mind:
[Ding! Quest Initial Cultivation of Spiritual Fields completed!]
[Rewards disbursed: 3000 Points, 1 Primary Spirit-Concentrating Formation (automatically deployed over the sect), 1 Disciple Quarters, 1 Primary Scripture Repository, 1 Sect Contribution Point System Template (activated)!]
BOOM! BOOM!
Two low, resounding booms exploded at the peak of Primordial Beginning Mountain, sending a faint tremor through the entire main peak.
Every disciple—including Hua Yuntian, who was still in his room frantically circulating the Nine-Revolution Mystic Origin Art to calm his frayed nerves—was jolted by the commotion and rushed out to investigate.
There, behind the main hall, on what had once been a barren hillside, two buildings of vastly different styles now stood out of thin air, exuding an aura of profound mystery!
One of them was carved entirely from a kind of warm, cyan jade, its size not overly extravagant—about the size of a basketball court, three stories high.
With its upturned eaves and interlocking brackets, it had a simple, elegant ancient style. Three flowing characters were inscribed on the gate tower: Wanxian Ju (Immortal Rest). Every piece of jade glowed with a faint spiritual light, imbuing the entire structure with a sense of tranquil transcendence.
Yet when the disciples with cultivation base instinctively tried to probe it with their spiritual sense, their consciousness vanished without a trace—unable to penetrate the seemingly ordinary jade walls at all.
"Is that all?"
Hua Yuntian stood at the back of the crowd, a sneer tugging at the corner of his mouth.