Chapter 173: Uncle’s Debt, Nephew Repays
In the sixth month of the second year of the Tian You Calendar, when the gamma ray stream from outer space precisely struck the Evil Moon, creating a shimmering “Lotus Pond.” This “Lotus Pond” left the clever ones in Yao Capital, who harbored ambitions of world-shaking wisdom, too preoccupied to attend to other matters.
On the Chong Land side, Xuan Chong’s Army Corps quickly cleared levels. Layer by layer, they killed their way through the Black Prison, launching an expedition toward the Garden of the Supreme Heaven.
In the tower of the fifth layer, one foul-smelling tentacle after another was exterminated by this troop that prided itself as the “Evil-Purifying Army.” Rotten pustule monsters were burst open by crossbow bolts.
The range of the lotus seed’s glow in Xuan Chong’s hand could already illuminate the entire army. This light even left lotus petal marks on the soldiers’ armor. It had range where it needed range, and intensity where it needed intensity.
The gate to the sixth layer appeared, but Xuan Chong did not enter immediately. Instead, he observed the surroundings of the fifth layer; he tossed the lotus seed in his hand toward the sky, shining bright light outward; and the ceiling, like a monster’s mouth, did not use mucus to stick this lotus seed to the wall.
On the contrary, the lotus seed blazed with light, like information hacking in, piercing through this rotten fleshy ceiling; all living bodies were completely purified, and the green corrupted fleshy dome was torn open like a curtain.
Under the lotus seed’s strong light, the sealed dungeon of the fifth layer revealed the truth: this was not underground, but above the Nine Heavens!
On the steps outside the plaza were rolling clouds; and in the high sky, the stars could already be seen clearly. Xuan Chong walked to the edge of the platform, overlooking the mountains and rivers of the world centered on Zhenzhou below, the abundant inspiration allowing Xuan Chong to sense the “spiritual energy flow” of the mountains and rivers underfoot.
But Xuan Chong did not know until he looked, and upon looking, he was furious; from the vantage of the fifth layer, he discovered an obvious isolation barrier around Chong Land.
Earlier, when Xuan Chong had pierced through from the Nine Serenities, he had glanced up at the mountains and rivers above and felt that Chong Land was “imprisoned by drawn lines.” Of course, at that time being underground, it was not visually obvious.
Now, with this ant from under heaven having climbed above the Nine Heavens, he clearly felt that the atmospheric flow of the sky had been tampered with by abnormal forces.
Some of the clouds near the Zhenzhou border were clearly severed. An artificial array blocked the “fluid” interaction between Zhenzhou’s populated areas and the outside world.
Xuan Chong could not help cursing: “Fuck, you lot just watching from the side without helping is one thing, but you’re actually standing at the door blocking my light?!”
Xuan Chong quickly recorded the major mountains and rivers that set up the mountains and rivers isolation barrier and supplied earth vein power, namely the Immortal Sect strongholds. Xuan Chong prepared to go out and retaliate.
According to the military treatise, when Masters set up arrays, find the array points and build troop garrison points at their four diagonal positions; garrison troops for a hundred days, and the spiritual energy will be cut off, causing the Feng Shui array to collapse on its own.
Xuan Chong’s understanding of the military treatise’s operations regarding “Immortal Family conquests” was: this was equivalent to “Go,” as long as “killing intent” was used to surround the spiritual energy periphery, the spiritual energy would dissipate. This method was not only effective against spiritual arrays deployed by Immortal Sects outside, but even against sect grand arrays.
The so-called Imperial Court troops besieging a certain sect did not mean dispatching a hundred thousand troops to directly block an entire remote mountain airtight, but rather targeting the sect gate and camping at “diagonal” positions dozens of li away; the longer the camping, the more it blocked the spiritual energy interaction of the sect gate.
And the rootless spiritual arrays that Zhenzhou now faced only needed a hundred people garrisoned for hundreds of days to use killing intent to sever spiritual energy, causing the array to collapse on its own.
Sect grand arrays naturally required much more endurance. Each diagonal point needed a thousand troops garrisoned, fully a year and a half, to completely seal off the sect gate!
In peaceful times, sects would beg for mercy before being sealed off. In chaotic times, sects would leverage other forces’ Military Strategists for their own use to resolve the troops blockading their sect gate.
Xuan Chong gazed at the rosy clouds fluctuations at the edges of Chong Land, sighing at these Immortal Sect cultivators who refused to change and still insisted on obstructing him: “All the world says immortals are good, who knows immortals too are deluded by their minds?”
…Xuan Chong saw rosy clouds fluctuations appearing in other directions under heaven even farther away.…
At this moment, infighting broke out within the Daoist Sect. One faction was led by Wangheng Sect, the other by Cixin Sect; now in the Bo Prefecture region, the rosy clouds areas were precisely the sites of these two factions’ Dao contention.
As early as the Shu Tian Calendar, the major sects had already dispatched Foundation Establishment Stage and Qi Refining Stage cultivators to join the army.
Due to the army’s Rule power, in legitimately enfeoffed generals’ armies by the Imperial Court, the upper limit for supernatural powers that cultivators could unleash was Foundation Establishment; spells exceeding Foundation Establishment, even if permitted by the army-issued token, could not be formed due to spiritual energy being mixed with massive killing intent.
Hence, from high altitude (space), the magic battles of these low-cultivation Immortal Sect disciples could not be seen.
Now, the grand scene of Golden Core Cultivators from the two factions descending mountains for Dao contention indeed stirred fluctuations in heaven and earth vital energy.
Though the sectarian Dao contentions dared not get too close to the current human world killing intent locations, their scope was vast; this “spectacle-level” rosy clouds movement could be seen clearly by Xuan Chong.
Of course, it could also be seen clearly on the Map of Mountains and Rivers in Yao Capital.
…The perspective falls on the distant horizon that Xuan Chong can overlook…
At this time, in the central mountains of Da Yao, a Golden Core Cultivator in the magic battle seemed to sense being spied upon; one Sword Sect cultivator used an Imperial Aura technique to look back at the sky. He immediately spotted Xuan Chong in the high sky.
Xuan Chong at this time was in the green dungeon’s fifth layer, actually at a high-altitude scale of hundreds of thousands; beside him were auspicious clouds guarding in the heaven.
When this Sword Sect Golden Core Cultivator raised his head, the other sixteen mutually fighting cultivators also raised their heads. Just like seeing a treasure emerge, they looked up at the Human Realm Military Master conquering the evil omens.
When Xuan Chong progressively fought to the fifth layer of the Evil Moon High Tower, the area underfoot he trod, from an initial hall of only a thousand square meters, had now become as large as two or three aircraft carrier decks.
Such a large area was actually the convergence of spiritual veins plundered by the Evil Moon from the great earth!
Without Xuan Chong’s conquest, these spiritual veins would have been extracted and absorbed by the Evil Moon.
And now, Xuan Chong, in the name of Chong Land’s master, raised troops to crusade against the Evil Moon. He had received the acknowledgment of the Xi Ren Realm planet’s will.
Every layer of evil qi that Xuan Chong’s troop cleared, these spiritual veins gathered under Xuan Chong to support solid ground; once all seven layers of the high platform were successfully conquered by troops, these spiritual veins would return to the human world to form an unprecedented Spiritual Mountain. Of course, undoubtedly, once this treasure land appeared, it would inevitably be fought over by cultivator sects.
No matter how the Immortal Families plunder! They would need official enfeoffment certification; the Imperial Court now had enfeoffment capability, and as the Great General who raised troops to reclaim the spiritual veins seized by the Evil Moon, he had the ability to make the Imperial Court’s enfeoffments fall through.
Immediately, among the Immortal Sect Elders standing on the Wu Family’s side, a Golden Core Elder carrying a fly whisk laughed loudly: “Fellows, heavenly materials and earthly treasures belong to the virtuous; let us not fight, and see what heaven’s will ultimately lets this Spiritual Mountain fall into?”
Wangheng Sect and other Immortal Sect Elders immediately cursed inwardly: “What do you mean ‘the virtuous shall possess it’? Your investment was correct, you foresaw the outcome early, of course you’re indifferent!”
However now, the Immortals who had followed Wangheng Sect in sealing off Chong Land’s Feng Shui also regretted it; they originally thought this was a good idea to block the “heavenly evil omen power” in Chong Land. As for the Wu Family? It was a discarded piece.
If the many Immortal Families had known earlier that the Wu Family Military Strategist had this capability to lock onto the evil omen source and fight all the way up, why would they have followed Wangheng Sect into this muddy water? Directly dispatching disciples to assist would have been wonderful!
Of course, a few Golden Core Cultivators skilled in Yao Calculation furrowed their brows; they already felt calculated by certain fellow Daoists; this calculation seemed to have been laid out back at the “Pill Tasting Conference” in Yao Capital.
However, all Immortal Sect divinations had their heavenly secrets obscured, and the many pillars of the Cultivation World had not calculated the Wu Family’s reaction after the incident.
In their Yao Calculations, with the plague rising, the Wu Family would sink into it, but reality was! Now the auspicious qi soaring high in the sky showed that Xuan Chong’s auspicious qi was so strong it nearly obscured the sky.
Yet such great auspicious qi, why could none of the sects see it earlier, only now detected by Imperial Aura technique when it was right in their faces from heaven? —Exactly which mastermind behind the scenes played this grand joke?
The stargazing old Daoist of Wu Yun Immortal Sect was so angry his beard floated. He had divined heavenly secrets his whole life, yet failed to divine the heavenly mandate of “Vermilion Bird Constellation looking south.”
If he had divined that “Wu Fei” had such great auspicious qi, he would have taken him into the sect early, then sent him down the mountain to face the calamity at its formation time, wouldn’t that have let Wu Yun Immortal Sect soar in one step?
Of course, Qinghua Sect was the most awkward; they did a Yao Calculation and found Wu Fei really had Dao affinity with their sect, but seemed to have been kicked out for “insufficient aptitude.” Later, when Wu Fei and Wu Hengyu were campaigning south and north together, his sect divined Wu Fei again, and the divination result was that a general rolling in the mortal world, even with some spiritual root, would long have been polluted by killing intent.
What do cultivators avoid in the mortal world? Isn’t it fearing their innate spiritual eyes being blinded, turning into killers who “only know supernatural powers, not heavenly cycles, only seek profit, not avoid calamity”?
Qinghua Sect Sect Master looked at the rolling auspicious clouds in the sky! Lost in thought.
…Mastermind behind the scenes segment…
In Yao Capital, Xian Daoren opened his third eye; at this time, the vertical eye on his brow was dripping blood, yet still open. As one of the masterminds behind “obscuring Wu Family heavenly secrets,” now gazing at Xuan Chong’s “Imperial Aura,” he was speechless.
He had only obscured the first layer, namely the Wu Family’s inherent Military Family auspicious qi, but Xuan Chong’s now surging skyward “Imperial Aura” he did not know about?
Xuan Chong in this world had grown up step by step under his, Xian Daoren’s, watch. At the start, Xian Daoren calculated that Xuan Chong had affinity with “Qing Bao Dao Venerable,” then had Yao San Gu come to guide him. He never expected that right under his nose such a “king” was secretly developing.
“Exactly who is obscuring the heavenly secrets!” Xian Daoren, with all three eyes shedding bloody tears, now had fingers nearly cramping as he pinched calculations, and the calculations were so intense that all his fingers fractured.
The blue Evil Moon began fiercely irradiating him; his hair and nails started mutating, blue meridians like worms spreading over his entire body.
This was a punitive mutation; Xian Daoren painfully curled his body, struggling to resist, but ultimately could not hold back and transformed into a blue giant bird. The blue corruption power followed him to the “Qian Cuo” side.
And Yao San Niang, presiding over the illusion in the great dream in the city, suddenly sensed something wrong. She noticed the lotus lamp surging with strange blue light. However, before she could react, a golden light shot directly from her eyes into the lotus lamp.
Immediately after, on the “Myriad Changes” side, the instant he turned into a blue giant bird, he was struck by golden lightning, charring his whole body eight parts. These golden lightning bolts were like ruthless scalpels, precisely cutting his mutated parts.
Then after a bout of painful torment, Xian Daoren recovered, but his whole body was fixed by hexagonal golden grids.
…System: You continue as my front desk’s mastermind behind the scenes…
Here at Xuan Chong, the conquest continued. The sixth layer gate was knocked open; this city-gate-like large door had “copper nails” that were all mushroom heads. As the door opened, the mushrooms exploded, rising into spore clouds. Of course, before they could spread, Xuan Chong raised his hand with a fire that swept all the powder clean.
Compared to the fifth layer, the sixth layer’s area expanded again; at a glance, it was a small plain, with a village in the central plain, and quite a few residents there.
Xuan Chong’s heart skipped a beat, because these people had not yet fully corrupted. These villagers looked at the arriving army; despair in their eyes gave way to some hope, though mixed with emotions of “hoping the newcomers end up as miserable as us.”
Such emotions, Xuan Chong had seen many times when controlling the plague.
Xuan Chong wanted to question them, but due to the residents’ tongues already swollen here, they could only make “ah oo em” sounds, unable to speak complete words.
In response, Xuan Chong held the Restoration Gem and asked: “Can collective restoration be performed?” However, the System gave the strategy at this time: “No need, directly use the lotus seed.”
Thus, Xuan Chong requisitioned the village’s well and ordered the troops to garrison in the village while he resolved the plague situation in the village.
Many sick in the village had grown all sorts of strange sores on their bodies, mixed with pustules from unknown insect bites, but all could be stopped from worsening by Xuan Chong’s medical techniques.
The officers and soldiers herded the local villagers to the temporarily designated medical area; at first disgusted by this immersed filthy qi. But gradually they grew accustomed. Then came heart-pounding fear of this plague’s terror; the most severely ill, hunched and deformed patients, the Wu Family Army took a good while distinguishing in the livestock pens before confirming they were originally human.
The army to clean the filth from the patients’ bodies had emptied several wells of well water; fortunately, boiling water did not need fire, just projecting the lotus seed into it.
Xuan Chong here had obtained a local who could speak; his name was Shen Qing, one who had been imprisoned by Wu Hanluan back then.
From his mouth, he learned that all in this village had been imprisoned here by Wu Hanluan; though they had endured the corruption over a long time, retaining a trace of spirituality, the gloom planted in their hearts was thick.
Meaning: “Wu Hanluan harmed everyone badly, handle it as you see fit!”
Xuan Chong pretended not to understand and immediately spoke officialese to him: “This place was cursed by external evil demons; you were deceived by the evil omens back then, unwittingly spreading the evil here as their accomplices; my uncle had no choice but to imprison you.”
Xuan Chong gave this Shen Qing no chance to retort, emphasizing to him: “Now I will cure you and take you out; now I give you a chance, explain the situation here.” (Xuan Chong’s philosophy: conflicts can be muddled through, but core issues must be resolved; now the core issue is everyone is sick and trapped here.)
At this time, soldiers hurried over from outside: “General, the village’s water is gone!”
Xuan Chong turned to look at Shen Qing; Shen Qing: “The clean water here, the well can only surge this much each day.”
Shen Qing felt the wind; the few remaining hairs on his head from the ringworm fluttered casually: “My lord, every time the village wind stops, the water vein seems cut off too, that’s when the outside monsters come to eat people.”
His tone carried a faint, imperceptible resentment, after all, Wu Hanluan had imprisoned him. —Now Xuan Chong told him not to blame Wu Hanluan, how could he not hold back a breath? So even if Xuan Chong failed in battle now, he actually wouldn’t feel too bad; in his heart hid a wisp of resentment wishing the Wu Family people to reap what they sowed.
Xuan Chong naturally knew the complex nuance in Shen Qing’s speech.
As a mature leader, one should know that to make others “shelve disputes” is not by debating scriptures, but by current military suppression and future prospects guidance.
So he would not nitpick Shen Qing’s inner thoughts for criticism. Because he had not seen the future now, but once he saw the future, he would submit!
Xuan Chong self-endorsed: “Though I can’t say it openly, in fact, Wu Hanluan does owe everyone in ‘this village.’ Inheriting Wu Hanluan’s authority, I cannot openly deny Wu Hanluan, but all those rotten debts of Wu Hanluan must be cleared clean.”
At this time, the lotus seed boiled water was ready; Xuan Chong handed him a bowl.
Shen Qing took a sip, paused, then gulped it down; after finishing, he looked at Xuan Chong and asked: “Any more?”
Shen Qing had not drunk such sweet, clear water without any filth for a very, very long time.
Xuan Chong looked at his body; hair was starting to regrow, and the sores were scabbing over; he nodded.
Xuan Chong’s clear voice rang through the village: “Everyone in the village gets some, you!” Xuan Chong commanded Shen Qing: “Help call all the villagers over. Distribute this clean water to everyone in the village.”
At this time, horns sounded outside; Xuan Chong donned his battle robe and hurried toward the outside.
