Chapter 244 One Hundred Years
As time went by, one hundred years pa.s.sed quickly.
After the war, Chaotic World was on the threshold of an unprecedented flourishing age.
The invasion of the Nether Big World made more and more forces realize that, in the face of a large-scale war, even if they were the realm’s leaders, they could not avoid being completely destroyed.
Therefore, forming an alliance and sharing resources became the first choice of many great forces after the war.
In the past 100 years, cooperation among major forces had gradually evolved from a strong alliance of several forces in the same realm to a cross-realm alliance, causing large groups like Immortal Allies to spring up like bamboo shoots.
This series of changes also changed the original layout of the major forces.
Take Wufang Territory for example. After the Sword Character Immortal Palace and the Xuan Nyu Sect announced a merger, Evil Blood Palace disappeared. The Blood Divine Sect had cooperated with the three main sects of Sishui Country in the form of a semi-merger and semi-alliance, and the new group named Sishui Sect was led by the Blood Divine Sect and supported by the three main sects. With these joint efforts, the four forces had transformed Sishui Country into the prototype of a super sect.
As earthshaking changes were taking place outside, those who were in the Evil Blood Palace also drew a successful conclusion to their temporary cultivation.
Zhu Yu, Zheng Xuan, Yang Ying, Wu Yingzhao and Bloodthirsty Shura, whose cultivation had originally been above the level of an Almighty Immortal, had enjoyed a year free from the Law of Heaven and gotten promoted by at least one level.
Generally speaking, it was difficult for cultivators at their level to advance in one hundred years, or even several hundred years, except for geniuses like Dreamless Heavenly Lord and Zhu Yu. Luckily, there was such a genius in their team.
With the help of the Million-Spirits Blood Pearl, Zhu Yu had stepped into the threshold of the late-stage Supreme Master, which took him only 10 years after they entered the Evil Blood Palace. In order to help his fellows, Zhu Yu lent the Million-Spirits Blood Pearl to them after his advancement.
After all, it was particularly difficult to advance at the level of Tao Master, which depended not only on hard cultivation but also on opportunities. For such cultivators, 100 years was not very long.
Thanks to their good natural endowment, the rest of the people took turns to use the Million-Spirits Blood Pearl and they all advanced by exactly one level.
Among these people, Zheng Xuan’s advancement was the easiest, for her cultivation was already at the level of G.o.d Ancestor, and she would surely reach the Peak of Supreme Master level in the Evil Blood Palace.
Finally, Zhu Yu reached the late-stage Supreme Master level, Yang Ying reached the late-stage Heavenly Master level, Zheng Xuan reached the Peak Supreme Master level, Wu Yingzhao reached the early-stage Heavenly Master, and Bloodthirsty Shura reached the early-stage Heavenly Master.
This was just their basic cultivation, so they might temporarily advance by several levels with the help of some treasures and cultivation methods. Wherever they went, n.o.body dared to provoke this group of cultivators as long as they were in the middle-level world.
It was time for the 100-year agreement to be fulfilled. When Lyu Liang’s friends finished their closed door meditation one after another, they gathered together at Lyu Liang’s door.
Nie Qingyun had been advancing from the Peak Almighty Immortal to the middle-stage Tao Master at a breathless pace, but no one knew what he had done. Maybe the Dragon-Teeth Dagger flashing in his hand had something to do with his cultivation.
The Tiger-Head Dagger was cut in two by Little Sword before his closed-door meditation in the Evil Blood Palace. Nie Qingyun had never found a suitable weapon ever since.
He owned a Divine-Blade body, so he was destined to use a high-level long knife all his life. There was no magic treasure other than a knife that could enable him to truly exert his strength.
Finally, Zhu Yu sent Nie Qingyun the Dragon-Teeth Dagger, which was merely an array material that Zhu Yu might never put into use. It was Nie Qingyun who could make the most of this long knife.
Nie Qingyun, who was moved to tears, swore that he would protect the knife with his life.
While facing the others’ doubts, Zhu Yu laughed loudly and replied in a soft voice, “It might be predetermined by fate. I felt familiar with the boy the first time I saw him.”
Half a year later, Fatty came back in a dazzling way and was mistaken by most of his fellows for the Fierce Chaotic Emperor. Fatty’s body shape had changed completely, and dark red flames of h.e.l.lfire were surrounding the giant.
Suddenly, everyone looked in the direction of Lyu Liang’s abode curiously. Often, tremendous explosions came from inside the abode, and people in the area could feel a slight swaying motion, which made curious people very eager to go in.
Finally, one night a hundred and twenty years later, a deafening roar was heard along with the sound of a sword. Then, a dazzling golden-and-green light penetrated the dense restriction formation and rushed out, directly making a hole in the Evil Blood Palace…
Amid the continuous terrible roars and explosions, the founding father of Sword Character and other seniors arrived in time. Without hesitation, they activated the reserved restriction formation of the Evil Blood Palace, using a unique skill to prevent it from being destroyed.
Everyone was stunned when Lyu liang appeared in ragged clothes. They found no trace of confidence and joy on his black-blue face. Before greeting his friends after such a long time, Lyu Liang spat out a mouthful of blood…
“Master!” Nie Qingyun rushed more quickly than Yang Ying, who was still on the way, to catch Lyu Liang. While holding Lyu Liang in his arms, Nie Qingyun could not help exclaiming.
“I’m fine. It’s just several broken ribs, a slightly wounded Divine Soul, and a dozen sword injuries, which will heal up with the help of Tianxuan Holy Rattan in a few days. Don’t worry about me.” Though Lyu Liang acted as if nothing had happened, the others were still a little frightened.
They could not imagine how a super cultivator who owned a whole Divine Body and the Tianxuan Holy Rattan could be beaten to this state, which might not even be the worst case according to his explanation. How had Lyu Liang cultivated in the past over 100 years?
It was hard to judge Lyu Liang’s cultivation, for they found no aura in him sometimes. However, sometimes his aura, even though it was still in the form of Devil Immortal Qi, was weird and chaotic. Meanwhile, Lyu Liang had been emitting yin qi since he had appeared.
“Is my cultivation between the early-stage and middle-stage Heavenly Master now? I couldn’t sense it precisely after introducing the yin qi into my body.” Lyu Liang explained with profound resignation.
Upon recalling going through these 120 years, Lyu Liang broke out in a cold sweat.
In order to advance, Lyu Liang could even be cruel to himself.
While the most important part of Lyu Liang’s plan was to reuse the Weapon Incantation, other parts included refining the last two Five-Element Secret Treasures, cultivating his Divine Body, and practicing the Five Acts of Heaven Soul, which was compulsory.
It had taken Lyu Liang about 10 years to awaken and refine the soul of a weapon. Now, he had merely 12 souls.
However, the benefits Lyu Liang had gained definitely outweighed sacrificing 12,000 magic treasures to refine his sword like he had done before.
Lyu Liang’s hard journey began after he refined the first weapon’s soul.
All the weapon souls that would be refined were selected by Xuanyuan, the first being a divine spear at the Innate Spirit Treasure level. Xuanyuan explained, “You must start with a high-level weapon if you don’t have much time, even though it may be a little difficult for you. I’m sure you can manage, and refining such a high-level weapon’s soul will benefit you a lot more than sacrificing dozens of pure-yang-level magic treasures.”
Tempted by Xuanyuan, Lyu Liang jumped into the bottomless pit of refining weapon souls.
On his first attempt, Lyu Liang spent several hours defeating and suppressing the divine spear in vain. Though he did better than before, when facing an ax of the same level, his cultivation was far from enough to refine the spear’s soul.
The refining process was quite interesting, and it took Lyu Liang only half an hour to refine each weapon’s soul with the special Soul-Extracting Flame after defeating them.
As expected, the first refining process ended in failure, for Lyu Liang was even unable to suppress the weapon’s soul.
Lyu Liang had intended to try another pure-yang-level divine weapon, but he discovered that he was unable to refine any divine weapons until he succeed in refining the first one…
Lyu Liang even wondered whether Xuanyuan was teasing him, yet he could not stop anymore.
Although he lamented about his miserable experience, Lyu Liang could do nothing but face the divine spear’s challenge, which took him 10 years.
During this period, in order to defeat the spear, Lyu Liang had to risk his life while fighting sometimes and often got broken arms and legs. However, all his wounds would soon heal up with the Tianxuan Holy Rattan’s help.
During the 10th year, Lyu Liang risked his Divine Soul to suppress the spear’s soul successfully and refined his first weapon soul.
When Xuanyuan appeared with a surprised expression on his face, Lyu Liang felt angry enough to spit out blood after hearing what Xuanyuan had said. “Wow, less than 10 years? What a genius you are! Considering your cultivation, I expected you to spend 50 years on each weapon. I didn’t tell you the truth for fear that you might be discouraged and my weapons might be wasted. Please forgive me.”
When he was not refining the souls, Lyu Liang would enter the Virtual Land, where he could cultivate his Divine Body and practice the Five Acts of Heaven Soul with the help of the Linden.
Compared to dealing with the weapons’ souls, Lyu Liang found it much easier to refine the other two Five-Element Secret Treasures, and it took him less than 20 years to enable his body to accommodate and utilize all five elements. Now, there was just the Everlasting Const.i.tution Cultivation Method between Lyu Liang and the final success.
Each day of Lyu Liang’s one-hundred-year closed-door meditation was spent fighting. There were also two weapons at the threshold of the Eternal-Divine level, so Lyu Liang had suffered a lot from them.
Once, Lyu Liang’s Divine Soul was almost beaten into pieces, but he survived and gained rewards for his efforts through his fearless fighting style.
Another thing worth mentioning was that Lyu Liang had advanced to the third level of the Ghost Soldier Transforming Realm, and his cultivation could even reach the fourth level one hour after activating the Divine Mark. However, Lyu Liang would avoid using such a skill, for it was his trump card.
Everyone was waiting for Lyu Liang except for Brother and Sister Liu, who hadn’t come back for some unknown reason.
The 11 travelers heading to the Nether Big World were determined after one day’s discussion. They would be: Lyu Liang, Zhu Yu, Zheng Xuan, Yang Ying, Wen Ying, Wu Yingzhao, Bloodthirsty Shura, Zhu Yan, Xu Mubai, Fatty, and Nie Qingyun.
Li Wuyi, who had intended to go with them, had been too impatient and broken some key components of his puppet in the process of making it advance from the Three-Emperor level to the early-stage Heavenly Master level. Therefore, Li Wuyi had to repair the puppet before he could use it again, which would take him several decades in Haotian and Bi Huo’s opinion.
As for Brother and Sister Liu, Lyu Liang decided not to wait for them. He didn’t know what was waiting for him on this journey, so Lyu Liang did not want to let his friends take this risk. As far as the other companions were concerned, except for Yang Ying and Wen Ying, who were natives of the Nether Big World, Lyu Liang and Zhu Yu, who had to go there for their own purposes, and Xu Mubai, who wanted to get some traces of Xu Chongzhi, the rest of them were all going to help Lyu Liang.
Lyu Liang, who was moved by this, didn’t want to involve any other friends. Therefore, Brother and Sister Liu’s absence comforted him slightly.
However, a boy in red arrived at the Evil Blood Palace the day before Lyu liang left for the Sword Character Immortal Palace. It was the little Blood Dragon, whose cultivation had advanced to the first level of Ancient Animal.
The little Blood Dragon had come not just to help Lyu Liang and repay a debt of grat.i.tude, but also to bring him news about Brother and Sister Liu.
It turned out that Brother and Sister Liu had prepared to go to the Nether Big World with Lyu Liang but had been stopped by an upheaval in the Liu Family just two years before the 100th year.