Chapter 223: Sword Pointing at the Hundred Tempering Mountain
As they spoke, these two souls started to wail like ghosts, looking extremely sad.
At this moment, Jiang Li was slightly able to discern that some methods had been used on the two evil spirits.
They were clearly demonic cultivators who had no moral bottom line and committed almost all kinds of crimes. However, after more than a hundred years, not only did they not repay kindness with ingrat.i.tude, but they were also so loyal. It was really not logical.
They should have been affected by some obscure power that caused them to become like this.
“Alright, what did he ask you to bring me? Where is it now? Tell me clearly after you’re done crying.”
Qin Shuman hurriedly interrupted the two ghosts that were showing deep emotions and asked for key information.
Under the influence of the spider lily, they did not discover the loophole in their “Miss”‘s words. They cried and spat out some key information.
It turned out that the Twin Devils and the Golden Core zombie demon were both from a demonic sect called the Corpse Burial Ground.
The strength of this Corpse Burial Ground was not very strong, and it was only equivalent to the level of a second-rate sect.
The strongest person in the sect was only a Nascent Soul cultivator.
However, by chance, they dug out a secret beast skin scroll from their mountain of corpses.
On it, the method to create an ancient immortal artifact was recorded!
That was a divine immortal artifact used by Immortals and Buddhas. How could the Sect Master not be tempted? He immediately mobilized the power of the entire sect to start building the immortal artifact.
After nearly a hundred years of hard work and using a precious thousand-year-old Bloodsucking Wood as material, they finally forged the prototype of an immortal artifact.
This was none other than the Yin Burial Coffin that Jiang Li and the others were currently in.
However, due to the problem of materials and technology, the final product of this coffin had only reached the level of high-grade Profound-rank.
Although this was already quite powerful, there was actually still a chance for the Yin Burial Coffin to advance further.
This was because this coffin was still in its initial form. There were still seven key coffin nails missing!
At that time, before the Corpse Burial Ground was destroyed, it had only created one coffin nail. Then, it was attacked by the Demon Vanquis.h.i.+ng Team of the Hundred Tempering Mountain.
The Sect Master of the Corpse Burial Ground used the coffin nail to face the enemy. The daughter of the Sect Master fled thousands of miles with the Yin Burial Coffin. Then, the ‘loyal’ Twin Devils fled with the secret beast skin scroll!
This was to split the risk. Even if the sect was defeated, they could not let the enemy obtain everything easily!
As for the thing the Twin Devils wanted to hand over to the Golden Core zombie demon, it was the secret beast skin scroll.
Unfortunately, the Golden Core zombie demon was very unlucky. It had only escaped for a few days before it arrived at the Mother River and was captured by the thing in the underwater graveyard.
Not only had she lost her life, but she had also been turned into a zombie demon. The Yin Burial Coffin was buried underwater for a hundred years and was finally obtained by Jiang Li.
Their young lady had actually died a hundred years ago. How could the Twin Devils find her?
Only now did Jiang Li understand. It turned out that the reason why this coffin could successfully trigger its advancement was not only because of Jiang Li’s large investment, but also because of the coffin itself.
It had the potential to become an Earth-rank artifact or become even stronger. This was why it could successfully advance after reaching the requirements.
However, Jiang Li thought for a moment. Earlier, when he killed these two people, he did not find any beast skin scroll on them.
After asking again, he realized that they did not bring such a treasure with them.
Instead, they had found another hiding place long ago and sealed the memory in their souls.
If they did not see “Miss”, they would not remember where the secret scroll was hidden.
After asking for the detailed address, Jiang Li handed these two True Cores to Qin Shuman.
This Seven Roads Ghost City Lord had followed him for a period of time. It could be said that she had worked hard without complaints.
She was the one training the ghost soldiers, she was the one managing the ghost market, she was the one serving tea, and she was the one in charge of the Green Mountain Residence. She was really like a brick, useful in every place.
Jiang Li was also thinking of rewarding her and strengthening this beautiful and useful tool.
It just so happened that these two True Cores were filled with impurities. Jiang Li did not fancy them at all, so he rewarded them to Qin Shuman.
Ghosts grew very quickly. Qin Shuman was talented, and with the help of the dense spiritual qi and Yin qi in the Yin Burial Coffin, her cultivation had also advanced by leaps and bounds during this period of time. She was about to form a Ghost Core.
Now that she had obtained two True Cores, it would not be difficult for her to break through and form the Ghost Core herself.
After she formed the Ghost Core, she could use the Shu Mountain’s Illusory Art Life Record to help Jiang Li even more.
…
After another two days of emergency preparations, there were only three days left until the agreed meeting deadline of seven days.
On the Shu Mountain side, with Daoist Wushe personally taking action, they naturally placed great importance on it. There were no problems, and after understanding the situation, they could not reject him.
Although the recent operation to hunt down Zuo Mo and Zuo Luo, the two Golden Core cultivators, had implicated a portion of their strength, this was more urgent. Shu Mountain still sent many cultivators to partic.i.p.ate in this.
In the Scripture Storage Valley, a total of 25 wars.h.i.+ps slowly rose into the sky. The spiritual qi fluctuation that they emitted caused the weather to change and it was a strange sight!
Along the way, such a fleet shocked countless birds and beasts, but these demons of all sizes were still quite discerning. Not many dared to go up and seek death.
The huge flying s.h.i.+p carried a large number of elite cultivators towards the Hundred Tempering Mountain!
Jiang Li stood on the front-most s.h.i.+p of the Scripture Storage Valley’s fleet with a group of sect disciples.
In this battle, Foundation Establishment cultivators were already the weakest of the group. If the outer sect Qi Refinement realm disciples went over, they would be courting death. Therefore, all the people going were inner sect disciples.
Jiang Li had never seen many of these disciples before. Many of them had been out adventuring for a long time. Now that the sect had summoned them, they hurriedly rushed over.
However, while Jiang Li did not know them, they were all very interested in him.
After all, how could a new disciple who had just entered the sect for a year receive such praise?
Among them, there were some disciples who had entered the sect earlier. Like Chu Yunxuan and Xiang Yuanba, their cultivation had already reached the Core Formation realm. They were the backbone of the sect’s next generation.
They were more or less judging Jiang Li, the junior.
This was especially true for a few people from the Heaven and Earth Hall. Their eyes never left Jiang Li.
As the flying s.h.i.+p sped through the air, the flying s.h.i.+p fleet arrived at their destination within the scheduled time.
From afar, one could already feel a wave of heat spreading in the air.
In the endless mountains, a volcano was steadily erupting.
That was the location of the Hundred Tempering Mountain’s base sect, a terrifying volcano connected to the lava earth vein, the Earth Fire Hundred Cave Mountain!
Endless heat was released from that mountain, and thick smoke and fire spewed out continuously from the hundreds of mountain pa.s.ses.
This continuous eruption caused everything within a hundred miles to be enveloped in a layer of crimson thick smoke.
All plants and animals had died in this environment. They were covered in thick volcanic ash, maintaining their final struggle before death.
Without even thinking, they knew that this volcanic smoke definitely had its uses for war. It was the first line of defense for the Hundred Tempering Mountain to defend against their attacks.
As expected, they were already prepared for war.
After suffering such a loss, the Scripture Storage Valley and Benevolent Travel Temple would definitely attack the Hundred Tempering Mountain.
The alliance army definitely had the advantage in numbers, but the other party was already prepared. They could only attack head-on.
How could it be so easy to break through the base of the Hundred Tempering Mountain which was one of the four major sects of the Great Mountain Region?
Jiang Li tried to contact a parasitized cultivator in the Hundred Tempering Mountain. The other party was still alive, but under the array formation that was currently activated at full power, the communication spirit stones could not connect with each other. He could not send out much information at all.
Soon, a few more spiritual qi fluctuations flickered in the sky. Eight black shadows were approaching quickly from behind.
The five sword-shaped flying s.h.i.+ps of the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak and the three ordinary flying s.h.i.+ps that had just been bought from the Immortal Ascension Pavilion rushed to the scene.
The fleets of these two sects looked a little lame. Together, they were less than a third of the Scripture Storage Valley.
The main reason was not that they did not value it.
The Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak was mainly lacking in manpower and could not control more flying s.h.i.+ps.
As for the Benevolent Travel Temple, they were ambushed by the Hundred Tempering Mountain a few days ago and lost almost all their flying s.h.i.+ps.
However, they had sent out quite a number of cultivators, and their overall strength was not inferior to the Scripture Storage Valley.
In addition, behind the three fleets were many rogue cultivators and small sect cultivators.
Some of them were here to watch the show, some were here to express their loyalty, and some were here to take advantage of the situation.
In terms of size, this battle was the largest sect war in the cultivation world of the Great Mountain Region in at least a hundred years.
If one missed such a huge event, wouldn’t they regret it for the rest of their life?
If the Hundred Tempering Mountain failed in the end, they could also attack while they were down and seize the opportunity to loot something.
“Situ Fengzhu! Our three sects have come to pay a visit! Keeping a closed door is not the way to treat guests!”
“Quickly open the mountain gate and let us in! As long as you kowtow 5561 times and apologize to the souls of those who died, we will let the Hundred Tempering Mountain go!”
“Situ Fengzhu! I know you’re inside! Don’t hide and not make a sound! If you have the ability to collude with the demonic cultivators to attack my temple, come out now!”
An elder of Benevolent Travel Temple flew forward and shouted in front of the formation. He wanted to anger the other party into attacking. As long as he revealed an opening, the flying s.h.i.+p fleet parked in the distance could deal a thunderous blow.
However, how could the other party fall for such a trick? Even if the Sect Master was humiliated, they still closed the door tightly without any intention of attacking.
“The Hundred Tempering Mountain is asking for it! Don’t blame us!”
In the end, the Benevolent Travel Temple elder did not succeed and could only return to the fleet.
In the next moment, the cannon that had been prepared lit up with red light.
Swoos.h.!.+
The surrounding spiritual qi began to boil violently like hot water.
Amidst the powerful spiritual qi fluctuation, 33 spiritual qi pillars suddenly tore through the air and rushed forward.
The spiritual qi pillar collided with the array formation’s light membrane for a long time.
However, after a few seconds, the spiritual qi pillar dissipated, and the Hundred Tempering Mountain’s grand formation quickly returned to normal.
Only 33 crimson traces were left in the air.
The combined attack just now seemed to be a little unsatisfactory.
Jiang Li had experienced the battle of the Benevolent Travel Temple and had a very clear understanding of the power of the wars.h.i.+p’s bow cannon.
Although there was a certain difference in the weapon refinement style between the various sects, the crafting techniques of the wars.h.i.+ps were still similar. It was impossible for the difference to be too great.
However, how could the power of the 33 flying s.h.i.+ps be so different this time?
Then, he noticed the trajectory of the 33 spiritual pillars that had not dissipated for a long time and finally understood.
So this was what the volcanic ash in the air was for!
Just like how lasers would be continuously reflected and weakened by various particles in the air during transmission.
The dense volcanic ash floating in the air was like hundreds or thousands of stone walls. Along the way, more than 40% of the power of the spiritual cannon beam was consumed. The effect of hitting the array was naturally barely satisfactory.
At this time, closing the distance could effectively reduce this effect. However, the problem was that if they got too close, they would enter the attack range of the other party’s array, it was not worth it.
He did not expect that the people of the Hundred Tempering Mountain actually knew a little about physics. They used this method to cause trouble for the alliance army.
However, this kind of trouble clearly could not make the alliance army helpless.
Before long, 150 sword cultivators flew up from the Shu Mountain flying s.h.i.+p.
They were divided into five teams of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and each had 30 people. Then, in the next moment, the 150 flying swords transformed into 150 flowing lights and disappeared from the feet of the sword cultivators in an instant.
As the stream of light flew, it formed an even larger flying sword light. Following that, the large Five Elements Sword Formation formed and pounced towards the array.
Boom!
The fiery red array was ruthlessly struck by the Five Elements Sword Formation. The power of the five elements circulated and flourished, and the power increased by more than double.
The Hundred Tempering Mountain’s formation light membrane directly caved in at a shocking angle.
The red light on it began to dim. The spiritual qi inside began to be quickly consumed, as if it was going to be broken in the next moment.
However, in the end, it was all for naught.
A pillar of fire shot out and shattered the metal sword light. Immediately, the Five Elements Sword Formation broke apart, turning into 150 flying swords that flew back.
Sure enough, the Hundred Tempering Mountain had a deep foundation. How could their grand array be so easily broken?
Thick energy filled the grand array and quickly calmed the fluctuating spiritual qi. The sunken membrane of light also slowly recovered to its original state.
They had the Earth Fire Hundred Cave Mountain to rely on, and the Earth Fire spiritual qi was endless. If they could not break through this grand array at once, it was practically impossible to defeat the other party through expenditure.
It would not be of much use even if they attacked for half a month.
Furthermore, the spiritual qi cannon was also a huge expenditure of spiritual qi. The flying s.h.i.+p here clearly could not withstand such a large expenditure.
However, there was no worry on Elder He and the others’ faces. It seemed that they had long guessed this.
Jiang Li did not know how the sect planned to break through the other party’s array.
“Feng Shui Masters, Array Masters, go!”
At this moment, a group of cultivators prepared to defend against poisonous ashes. Each of them carried a compa.s.s and got off the flying s.h.i.+p. They started to stick to the ground that was covered in volcanic ash and search for something.
Feng Shui? Array?
“Master, what are they doing?”
No one had told him about these confidential plans. Jiang Li was slightly curious and directly asked Elder He who was beside him.
“They’re looking for the earth vein.”
“The spiritual qi of the Hundred Tempering Mountain’s array basically comes from the earth vein. As long as it is cut off from the source, hmph, their array will collapse by itself!”
Jiang Li instantly understood Elder He’s explanation.
It turned out that the previous two waves of attacks did not expect to directly break through the other party’s array formation.
It was to cause a large amount of expenditure on the Hundred Tempering Mountain’s array formation, forcing them to absorb the power of the earth vein faster and make the flow of the spiritual qi more obvious.
Then, relying on the Feng Shui and array masters to find the earth vein node, it was equivalent to directly grabbing the lifeline of the Hundred Tempering Mountain. Without the support of the lava earth vein, the power of their defense would naturally decrease.
However, Jiang Li was stunned when he heard the plan.
Was… was there a need to go through so much trouble to find an earth vein?