Translator: Fate Proofreader: Silavin While the Outer Realm was in turmoil due to the Celestial Ancient Continent, in a silent courtyard within Skyward Ancient City, Ye Ling had a makeover, changing his appearance and concealing his innate aura. With his dashing new look, he seemed like a prince. Right now, he was jogging with his brows flexing. “Brother Gui, the entire White Tiger Clan is out there looking to capture me. They’re not going to catch me when I’m under this disguise, will they?” Ye Ling gloomily asked. Despite having changed his appearance as well as hidden his innate aura with the Power of Reincarnation, he was still frienthened at the thought of walking out of the ancient city. It was said that the White Tiger Clan possessed an artifact that could reveal a cultivator’s true aura, so no matter how he concealed his aura, he would eventually be exposed. Therefore, Ye Ling was anxious, frustrated, and vexed, all at the same time. Having done nothing wrong yet was turned into a scapegoat, framed to be the publicly hated Successor of Demonic Arts. He was on the knife’s edge. “Worry not. No mere mortal could break the secret technique of the Ancient Reincarnation Supreme Being, so relax as they scour for you. If they actually discover you, I’ll owe you one.” As Ye Ling’s black pendant gleamed, a white spirit turtle showed himself. He seemed to bear the aura of celestials, but his eyes looked rather cunning. Judging by his appearance, he was certainly an abnormal, indecent spirit turtle. Hearing that, Ye Ling was somewhat relieved, but he proceeded to vent his frustration. “The culprit better not let me know who he is, or I’ll shatter every bone in his body!” “This clearly has something to do with the man in white that night. He’s most likely framing you in the dark, so there’s a high chance that he’s the Successor of Demonic Arts!” “But I’ve never even met him, so why would he do that? Perhaps he’s an enemy from ages ago…” Ye Ling was annoyed as he couldn’t figure out who the culprit was, and he even suspected it to be Ye Langtian. After all, other than Ye Langtian, he didn’t have any other notable enemies. “If Ye Langtian has the capabilities, he would have come for me immediately. Although there’s a chance, it’s not that high. Besides, the occurrence of Nommening was too coincidental. I’m guessing that the real Successor of Demonic Arts is someone who undergoes training near Skyward Schloss. Most likely a disciple of Skyward Schloss.” Ye Ling squinted his eyes. He was no ignorant young man, and he had experienced countless cunning schemes before achieving where he was now. Upon such a thought, things started to make more sense to him. Furthermore, the enemy even managed to figure out that he possessed secrets that were not to be disclosed to the world, which was why they were so confident to scapegoat him so openly. [This is absolutely sickening!] “Given how Yue Mingkong and her team attempted to attack me, she probably guessed that I bear the legacy of a certain being and wished to get her hands on it…” As Ye Ling was analyzing the situation, something flashed across his mind and he felt a chill up his spine, which came out of nowhere and even almost froze his soul. “Moreover, Yue Mingkong is Gu Changge’s fiancee, so it’s likely that Gu Changge knows about this. In fact, back then, the person on top of my target list is the Successor of Skyward Schloss—Gu Changge! And now that I think about it, he’s definitely the most suspicious one!” With that in mind, Ye Ling was dazed as he felt the top of his head numbing. [Gu Changge is the Successor of Demonic Arts? Who would have thought! The Outer Realm’s perceptions toward Gu Changge are rather mixed. While some claimed that he is a cold, merciless man, the others claimed him to be exceptionally extraordinary and is the Avatar of a True Immortal. Apart from that, he is even the Successor of Skyward Schloss as well as the Young Master of the Immortal Gu Family. These two roles of his alone are simply invaluable, so why would he ruin his future and become the Successor of Demonic Arts?] “This is absolutely terrifying! To think that he’s actually the Successor of Demonic Arts, right under Skyward Schloss’ nose! If this gets out, the world would surely be shocked!” The spirit turtle was utterly dumbfounded, his eyes stiffened. Ye Ling’s deduction was reasonable, but if that was true, the outcome would be unimaginable. [It’s understandable if the Successor of Demonic Arts were someone else, but Gu Changge? The extraordinary lad whose identity alone tells that he’s the mightiest among his peers? That’s equivalent to being the ruler of the young generation!] “This information is crucial and the matters pertaining to it are horrifying. According to what you just said, Gu Changge is indeed our biggest suspect,” the spirit turtle sternly said. Unfortunately, only him and Ye Ling knew about Gu Changge’s secrets, so even if they were to announce it to the world, nobody would believe them. “Dmn it! It’s been Gu Changge all this time!? I don’t even know that man! I’m sure he did that in response to my declaration of challenge. What a wuss! Well, since that’s the case, I shall let him entertain me! Avatar of a True Immortal? Successor of Demonic Arts? See if I care!” Ye Ling gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists. His eyes were filled with exasperation, as well as hunger for battle. Throughout his cultivation journey, he defeated innumerable strong cultivators. Although Gu Changge seemed to be taking advantage of opportunities, Ye Ling was confident that he could turn the tide. The feeling of being toyed by Gu Changge and innocently framed for nothing instilled immense humiliation and rage within him. “We shall keep this to ourselves for now. No one will believe us even if we expose him, and we might even draw unnecessary headhunters upon ourselves instead. I’m sure the reason Gu Changge chose not to have direct contact with you is because he wanted you to continue shouldering the blame!” The spirit turtle stated. To others, it might seem like a sly scheme, but to Ye Ling, it was a completely irresistible tactic. [That Gu Changge is simply too terrifying!] Out of distress, he then added, “But of course, I hope we’re wrong. To have such a daunting enemy targeting us is indeed alarming…” All of a sudden, the door to the courtyard was knocked upon, followed by a clear, soprano timbre. “Is anyone here?” “It’s Chi Ling! She’s here!” Hearing that, Ye Ling was surprised, after which he hurriedly stormed to open the doors. He had utmost trust in Chi Ling who once fought alongside him. And now that Chi Ling came to him, she would definitely help him to clear his name and the suspicions upon him. Swiftly, Chi Ling entered the courtyard and the two of them sat at a table where Ye Ling served her some tea. “Ye Ling, I can hardly recognize you in this form,” Chi Ling claimed after observing Ye Ling’s current appearance. After ending her discussion with Gu Changge, she departed from Skyward Schloss and returned to the base of the Vermillion Bird Clan. As soon as she got in contact with Ye Ling, she came looking for her with the information he provided. Disappointed, Ye Ling ranted, “Sadly, this is all I can do for the time being. Otherwise, who knows how I’ll die.” He then informed Chi Ling about his recent situations, and she couldn’t help but feel bad for him. He was being cruelly framed for nothing. “Don’t worry, Ye Ling. For the sake of our friendship, I’ll do everything to help you out! Besides, recently, I’ve gotten in contact with someone powerful, who also thinks that you were framed. By then, both of us shall come up with ways to clear your name.” With that, Chi Ling smilingly claimed. As she was aware that there was a conflict between Ye Ling and Gu Changge, she didn’t reveal the identity of that ‘powerful someone.’ After all, Ye Ling was the one who issued a challenge to Gu Changge. If she were to be upfront with him, Ye Ling, who was driven by pride, might immediately reject Gu Changge’s assistance. Thus, she decided to come clean to him when the opportunity came up in the future, hoping that they could ultimately become acquaintances. At once, Ye Ling was on cloud nine upon the pleasant surprise. “Who’s that powerful someone? I shall thank him properly!” Ye Ling intuitively replied. “I shan’t disclose it to you now. But know this—among the younger generation, he possessed unparalleled strength that makes even me seem insignificant.” That was all Chi Ling could disclose to him. Hearing that, Ye Ling grew gleeful and excited as he was extremely grateful to this ‘powerful someone.’ [What a lifesaver, this man is!] After their discussion, Chi Ling decided to let him disguise as one of her followers, tagging along her journey to the Celestial Ancient Continent after three days. Naturally, Ye Ling was thrilled about the plan. As he no longer had any forces or factions backing him up, all he could be by then was a factionless cultivator, and it would require a great deal of effort for him to travel to the Celestial Ancient Continent within the depths of Skyward Schloss alone. Fortunately , he could now save the trouble thanks to Chi Ling. Essentially, Chi Ling was the successor of the Vermillion Bird Clan, possessing daunting talent and numerous followers. So, him adding to their number was a non-issue. … In the meantime, while cultivators from various ancient cities in the Outer Realm were worked up over the occurrence of the Successor of Demonic Arts and the activation of Celestial Ancient Continent, Gu Changge grew even more unscrupulous and carefree. Back then, he had to be discreet when he was cultivating Nommening so the elders and fellow disciples wouldn’t notice that he was heading to Skyward Ancient City. However, he no longer had to worry about that as right now, Ye Ling was the Successor of Demonic Arts. This meant that he was currently cleared of all suspicion. “Master.” Yin Mei respectfully stood in the center of the extravagant palace hall. As of late, due to the occurrence of the Successor of Demonic Arts, countless factions grew wary of youthful prodigies out of fear of being assaulted. Nonetheless, that did not affect her gathering of cultivation resources for Gu Changge solely because the market of the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan was extremely wide. Her clan was involved in most of the dealings, including prostitution, black market, auctions, and slavery. Hence, it was rather easy for her to get her hands on the cultivation resources Gu Changge requested for. Prior to that, she had to be cautious so as not to be exposed. Nevertheless, as Ye Ling was currently shouldering all the misdeeds, even if she were caught red-handed, Ye Ling would remain as the one at fault. Therefore, all she needed to do was to be vigilant with her illegal activities. “The past three days, we’ve captured more than 300 young cultivators of the Spiritual Palace Realm, more than 50 of the Honoured Nobility Realm. And there are even those in the Honoured Lord Realm and Honoured King Realm… On the other hand, as we couldn’t acquire a lot of cultivators of the Partial-Enlightened Realm and above, there are hardly any of them. Besides, there are also many corpses in which its energies had yet to wane.” “Well done.” Hearing that, Gu Changge was visibly satisfied. “Thank you, Master.” Yin Mei revealed a joyful smile upon the compliment. With Ye Ling as his scapegoat, things were now going much more smoothly. Currently, his true powers were at the Enlightened Noble Realm, and thanks to the unique traits of Nommening, Realm restrictions were no longer relevant. He would, again and again, break through to the next realm. With such abundant resources, Gu Changge needed only half a year to ascend to the Sacred Realm. Now, his surface cultivation level was not a priority to him. Furthermore, no matter how powerful Skyward Ascension was, it was nowhere as satisfying as Nommening. Though, he would still have to pay attention to it. Moreover, he was confident that his secret identity wouldn’t get exposed, and the only way it would be revealed to the world was of his own accord. By then, he would have become an invincible cultivator none would dare to disobey. Gu Changge headed toward the underground prison. Given its secretiveness, it eventually became a befitting rendezvous spot for him and Yin Mei. After all, every indecent activity would require a secret base. Thus, he had set up multiple spots for his training. The underground prison discovered by the White Tiger Clan was, in fact, deliberately revealed to them by Gu Changge. Half an hour later, an ebony Grand Flask appeared, surrounded by gloomy gleams, before eventually returning to Gu Changge’s mind as his training ended. “Breaking through the Enlightened Noble Realm isn’t an easy feat… It seems these cultivators are too weak!” Shaking his head, Gu Changge walked out of the underground prison with a scowl as he summoned the virtual interface. <User: Gu Changge Aura Band: Fated Villain Weapon: Eight Barren Demon Halberd Identity: Direct Disciple of Skyward Schloss, Young Master of Immortal Gu Family Bloodline: Demonic Heart, Daoist Bone Level: Advanced Honoured King Realm (True Level: Early Enlightened Noble Realm) Spells: Skyward Ascension (Level 8: 90%), Demonization (Talent), Nature God’s Chant (Talent), Power of Void (Talent), Nommening, Endless Immortal Might… Fatum: 15,000 Fortuity: 3000 (Onyx) System Shop: Unlocked Storage: Border Shattering Talisman1, Restriction Breaking Rune1, Divine Concealment Rune1, Fortuity Plundering Talisman*3.> Gu Changge did not opt for Realm ascension since he thought his current surface cultivation level was sufficient, so he’d rather spend the Fatums on his true powers. Also, he had no intention of refining Skyward Ascension, which although was effortless given his Talents, there was no need to. He swiped to view the offerings in the System Shop. For now, the Daoist Bone could still prove useful. Quickly, he found himself enthralled by a specific Talent. [Absolute Detachment… Even its name alone sounds amazing! In fantasy worlds, anything with such a name will definitely be formidable. It will be something that is worthy of its name. Let’s see… Absolute Detachment is an unrivaled Talent that allows effortless escape from all confinement. It can be applied on a bloodline, bone, heart, soul…] Gu Changge’s heart wavered as he read the introduction. [If I apply it on my bone, it should cost around… 30,000 Fatums per bone!] “I could convert all of 3,000 Fortuity to 30,000 Fatums…” Gu Changge muttered. [The sum is calculated by each bone applied with the Talent. A human possesses 206 bones in total, so that means I could change my entire skeleton. Guess I’ll wait until I finally have enough Fatums and change the rest all at once. 3,000 Fortuity per bone, huh? Easy. I’ll do it.] Upon contemplation, without hesitation, Gu Changge applied the unrivaled Talent—Absolute Detachment—on the bone beside his Daoist Bone. Instantaneously, he felt a wondrous sensation engulfing his body, as if the bone was condensing. He felt as though he could hop around worlds and become a god. As it was a change in foundation, his knowledge and mastery of the Spells and legacies he thought he mastered grew even deeper. For instance, he only understood the level differences of his Talents, but now, he learned the rules of them. As a matter of fact, a being of the Sacred Realm could hardly understand the rules of their Talents, yet Gu Changge already managed to master the basic usage rules. In that instant, Gu Changge felt that his 3,000 Fortuity didn’t go to waste. “So, with my true power, I’m basically a god-slayer, huh?” As he mumbled, he left the underground prison and headed back to Skyward Schloss. Silavin: How is that cheap? WTH? 206 bones, 30K Fatums per bone.