Chapter 183: Holy Guard
The appearance of the Soul Star and the awakening of Qianmen Fort not only shocked the cultivators but also caused Liu Chengxiong, who was guarding outside the stone sculpture military formation, to change his expression drastically. However, soon, an irrepressible joy appeared on his face.
“General Liu, what happened?”
First, the Fusang Divine Wood suddenly appeared and then disappeared. Now, a white star has appeared. The white star dispersed the gray mist, revealing the majestic and grand full view of Qianmen Fort. With these successive changes, Heir Gu felt he could barely keep up.
Liu Chengxiong was in high spirits and said happily, “The Soul Star has lit up, and Qianmen Fort has awakened.”
The Duke of Xin State’s Mansion, relying on the information provided by Gu Jin Fan, had explored many ruins and collected numerous ancient texts. Heir Gu had read almost all of them and clearly knew about the Soul Star.
Heir Gu looked at the white star in the night sky, his eyes flickering. It was actually a Soul Star!
In the early days of the Demon Prison’s creation, not only did fierce beasts and great demons frequently escape, but the Demon Race would also launch large-scale attacks to rescue great demons imprisoned within. Every time a riot occurred, taking advantage of the chaos, members of the Demon Race would infiltrate the formation core and the four formation eyes to cause destruction. Once, they almost destroyed the Demon Prison that had been painstakingly established.
Because of this incident, the Holy Lords of the Five Great Sacred Lands on the Central Continent ascended to the Nine Heavens and met with the Vermilion Bird Emperor, Azure Dragon Emperor, Black Tortoise Emperor, and White Tiger Emperor to discuss and decide on establishing nine great passes outside the Demon Prison to guard it.
The Soul Star, with its pure and dense Soul Power, was retrieved by the four Emperors from the Soul River in the Nether Ruins. It was a unique reward specifically for the Demon Suppressing Guards who guarded the Demon Prison.
Each pass was linked to a Soul Star. By absorbing the Soul Power emitted by the Soul Star, the Demon Suppressing Guards could continuously strengthen their Primordial Spirits during their five-hundred-year service guarding the Demon Prison.
Furthermore, to ensure the Soul Star’s Soul Power remained abundant, the four Emperors jointly cast a Divine Ability of spatial displacement, creating a branch from the Soul River that specifically flowed through the nine Soul Stars.
However, with the arrival of the Great Nirvana of the Four Spirit Realm, spatial barriers formed, and the Soul River was cut off. Without the nourishment of the Soul River, the Soul Stars lost their Soul Power and fell into dormancy.
Now that the Soul Star has lit up, it is highly likely that the appearance of the Fusang Divine Wood earlier broke through the spatial barriers, allowing the Soul River to flow again.
Looking at the ecstatic Liu Chengxiong, a hint of regret flashed in Heir Gu’s eyes. With the Soul Star lit and Soul Power replenished, Liu Chengxiong could continue cultivating and strengthening his Primordial Spirit without worrying about its dissipation. It was highly probable that he would no longer cooperate with the Duke of Xin State’s Mansion, and their plan to gradually take over Qianmen Fort was in vain.
Seeing Liu Chengxiong begin to summon the Demon Suppressing Guards, looking eager to return to the city, Heir Gu couldn’t help but say, “General Liu, are you not going to deal with those who infiltrated Tang Valley? There are people from the Demon Race inside. What if they damage the formation eye?”
Liu Chengxiong glanced at Heir Gu and thought to himself that the cultivators who entered Tang Valley had brought out the Fusang Divine Wood. Their strength and methods far exceeded his expectations. If they were to confront each other directly, it was uncertain who would suffer.
Now that the Soul Star has lit up and Soul Power is supplied for his cultivation, his Primordial Spirit will not dissipate in the short term, and he is no longer as desperate to seize another’s physical body.
Since he wasn’t going to capture that Nascent Soul Cultivator, he was too lazy to bother with the people in Tang Valley.
Liu Chengxiong wanted to return to the fortress quickly, but Heir Gu chose this moment to bring up the cultivators in Tang Valley, which truly annoyed him. However, with Qianmen Fort awakened, according to the rules of the nine great passes, a Holy Guard of five thousand soldiers had to be selected from the Demon Suppressing Guards in each fortress to protect the Sacred Land’s safety.
As long as the Holy Guards wore the Holy Token distributed by the Sacred Land, their Primordial Spirits could move freely in the Human World for extended periods, even without a physical body.
As long as the Artifact Saint Palace appeared, he, the highest commander of Qianmen Fort, could also appear in the Human World.
He had never left the Nine Netherworlds and knew nothing about the Human World. The Duke of Xin State’s Mansion held a rather high status in the Human World. If he were to go to the Human World in the future, he would inevitably have to deal with the Duke of Xin State’s Mansion.
Also, with the replenishment of Soul Power, although he temporarily didn’t have to worry about his Primordial Spirit dissipating, if he wanted to cultivate beyond the Dao Integration Realm, the matter of a physical body was something he would have to resolve sooner or later.
The highest realm a Soul Cultivator could reach was the Out-of-Body Realm. To advance to the Dao Integration Realm, one’s physical body and Primordial Spirit had to merge as one.
The Duke of Xin State’s Mansion was able to make arrangements in the Nine Netherworlds so early, meaning they must have acquired a considerable amount of Cultivation Resources in the Human World.
For cultivators to continuously advance in their cultivation, they require a vast amount of Cultivation Resources. For a force that controlled so many Cultivation Resources, unless there was no other recourse, he generally left room for maneuver.
Thinking this, Liu Chengxiong finally gave Heir Gu some face and explained, “Qianmen Fort has just awakened, and there are many matters to attend to. This general must return quickly to take charge to prevent any unrest. As for those who infiltrated Tang Valley, there’s no need to worry too much; the formation eye is not that easy to damage.”
After speaking, Liu Chengxiong ignored Heir Gu’s reaction and directly ordered the Demon Suppressing Guards behind him, “All generals, heed my command, return to the city!”
Liu Chengxiong led the Demon Suppressing Guards and galloped away. Heir Gu looked at the crater. Although he desperately wanted to go in and see what had happened in Tang Valley, he dared not take the risk. He could only regretfully lead his attendants to chase after Liu Chengxiong.
At the bottom of the hot spring bath in Tang Valley, streams of pure Fire Spiritual Energy converged and continuously flowed into Hua Changxi’s body, rapidly filling her parched Qi Sea.
When her Qi Sea once again became a vast ocean, Hua Changxi’s eyes slowly opened. As she opened them, her vision was filled with a dazzling light red world. Blood-red, crystal-clear tree roots crawled everywhere. On the red tree roots, dense white stones resembling pebbles were spread out.
Seeing the red tree roots and white stones, Hua Changxi’s pupils trembled.
The red tree roots were from the Fusang Divine Wood, and the white stones were Soul Crystals.
At this moment, she was lying between two Fusang Divine Wood roots, several meters wide, with white Soul Stars beneath her.
“Where is this place?”
Hua Changxi recalled what happened before she fell unconscious. Master Bai Li and his disciple seemed to have placed her in the hot spring bath, so this should be the bottom of the hot spring bath.
She had actually sunk to the bottom of the hot spring bath, and the bottom of the hot spring bath was connected to the Fusang Divine Wood, with so many Soul Crystals.
However, she was in the water, so how could she breathe freely?
Hua Changxi discovered that a layer of red light was enveloping her. This red light acted like a filter, protecting her, allowing her to absorb Fire Spiritual Energy freely in the ‘water’ without any adverse effects.
Before this, she had speculated that she might be a Fire Spirit Body. Now, seeing the red light shield around her, she was certain.
All Spirit Bodies could automatically generate a Spiritual Energy Shield in extreme environments to protect themselves!
Confirming she was a Fire Spirit Body and could move freely in the ‘water,’ Hua Changxi pushed off the nearby tree root and sat up. Looking at the Fusang Divine Wood roots, she felt a surge of fear. It was a close call; she had almost been unable to escape the space rift earlier.
Thinking about the process of escaping the space rift, Hua Changxi’s heart stirred, and the Floating Light Sword appeared in her hand.
What she hadn’t expected was that the Floating Light Sword possessed the ability to tear space!
If the Floating Light Sword hadn’t forcefully torn open the closing space rift, she feared she would have been lost in the space rift and died from spiritual energy depletion.
Also, the branches of the Fusang Divine Wood were cut by the Floating Light Sword. Unfortunately, although she had subdued the Great Sun Divine Flame and her connection with the Floating Light Sword had become stronger, she still couldn’t draw the sword from its scabbard. This meant that when chopping the Fusang Divine Wood branches, she had to exert great effort and waste a lot of time.
Putting away the Floating Light Sword, Hua Changxi began to examine her body.
