“Fellow Daoist, are you still not going to show yourself?”
Xu Hei’s booming shout rang out from the sky.
Old Drum Master let out a long breath. Billowing black smoke erupted from around his body, lifting him into the air.
“By order of the upper sect, all invaders shall be killed without mercy!”
The phenomenon of his Dao Foundation manifested, transforming into surging waves of black earth that swept forward.
“Oh? Another wielder of ‘Rebirth Earth’?”
After exchanging several blows, Xu Hei gradually gained confidence.
‘Here I was thinking I was among the weakest Dao Foundation cultivators around, and it turns out there’s someone even weaker than me… He doesn’t even have a single Dao Foundation spiritual artifact.’
Xu Hei raised a hand.
This Dao Foundation spiritual artifact had been refined from ‘Six Harmonies Earth’ mixed with ‘Kun Mountain Jade.’ It weighed as heavily as ten thousand jun, and possessed an additional transformation known as ‘Xuan Heavy Dividing Light.’
The moment Old Drum Master was enveloped by that radiance, his entire body became sluggish, as though burdened by immense weight. He could not even control his escape light.
Boom!
Myriad Fold Mountain transformed again, becoming a gigantic mountain the size of a house as it came smashing down.
“Old Drum Master!?”
A young man cried out in grief. His flesh instantly withered, leaving him gaunt and skeletal as he spat out a tiny insect.
The insect transformed into a jet-black arrow and shot straight toward Xu Hei.
“A Qi Ingestion cultivator? This is… sacrificing all of one’s own essence blood to refine a natal gu worm, then burning it all away for a single strike?”
Xu Hei chuckled darkly and casually lifted a hand.
The light of [Nu Earth] gathered, transforming into a mass of black earth that buried the arrow completely.
The difference between major realms in the Qi Ingestion path was not something that could be overcome through desperation alone.
“Aligu?”
Seeing one tribesman after another sacrificing themselves just to delay that Dao Foundation cultivator with their pitiful mana, Old Drum Master’s eyes reddened.
Cracks spread across his entire body like a porcelain vessel on the verge of shattering. His mana aura suddenly surged.
‘He’s going all out…’
Xu Hei’s expression turned serious instead.
No matter how many Qi Ingestion cultivators came, even hundreds or thousands, he would not fear them. But a fellow early Dao Foundation cultivator fighting with his life on the line was another matter entirely.
“Kill!”
Below, a group of Qi Ingestion cultivators had already charged into Black Miao Village.
Fang Yixin wielded his Xuanqing dharma sword. Every strike claimed another opponent’s life.
Beside him, Fang Wujiu held several talismans in hand. Every time he used one, a trace of pain flashed across his face.
“No…”
“Father, save me…”
Suddenly, Shangxuan and Shangqing found themselves surrounded by swarms of pitch-black insects, thrown into complete chaos.
“Wujiu, go save them.”
Fang Yixin immediately swept his sword in a wide arc, drawing even Fang Wujiu’s opponents over to his own side.
“Father, be careful.”
Fang Wujiu took a deep breath. The light of [Ji Water] gathered around him, transforming into streams of flowing water that surged toward Shangqing and Shangxuan.
Fang Yixin looked at the enemy before him.
Now there was one more opponent, a seventh-layer Qi Ingestion expert.
It was a taciturn man wielding a pair of bronze maces. His mace technique was disciplined and clearly carried the traces of some inheritance.
This is bad…
As a loose cultivator, the most troublesome opponents were precisely those with established family inheritances.
A momentary lapse in concentration was all it took.
The bronze mace slammed into Fang Yixin’s Xuanqing dharma sword.
His arm instantly went numb. A strange corrosive force traveled from the sword hilt into his wrist and up his arm.
“Hah!”
He quickly formed a hand seal. A strand of [Ji Water] light circulated through his body, easing the pain somewhat.
Even so, Fang Yixin coughed up a mouthful of blood.
A young man wielding a Miao saber nearby saw the opening and immediately lunged forward, blade thrusting toward Fang Yixin’s life.
“No!”
The mace-wielding cultivator shouted a warning, but it was already too late.
Fang Yixin rolled across the ground like a lazy donkey avoiding a beating, his Xuanqing dharma sword stabbing outward.
This sword strike was anything but graceful.
In fact, it looked crude and ugly.
But on a battlefield, it was viciously effective.
He narrowly avoided the incoming mace while driving the Xuanqing dharma sword upward into the Miao saber youth’s lower abdomen.
The youth’s eyes widened in disbelief before he collapsed dead.
‘One more!’
Feeling the mana in his dantian growing dangerously thin, Fang Yixin gritted his teeth.
“Ah!”
At that moment, a cry of alarm rang out nearby.
It was Yue Mingxue.
Fang Yixin glanced over from the corner of his eye and saw his daughter-in-law with blood staining her robes, struggling desperately against two sixth-layer Qi Ingestion cultivators.
He sighed inwardly.
‘Mingxue originally had decent aptitude. She should have had hope of reaching late Qi Ingestion… but giving birth back then damaged her vitality. Then Wuchen never returned, leaving a knot in her heart. When she attempted to break through to late Qi Ingestion, something went wrong.’
His aged gaze seemed to once again see Zeng Family Town, the Yue Family, and that Azure Mulberry Jujube Tree.
‘...In the end, this old man owes her.’
Fang Yixin suddenly clenched his teeth, and the aura around him changed abruptly.
Whoosh!
He stepped forward in a flash. The magical sword in his hand lit with sword radiance, instantly splitting into several afterimages.
“Sword qi?”
The mace-wielding man was greatly alarmed. He hurriedly retreated, smashing his iron mace forward, but the blow landed squarely on Fang Yixin’s left shoulder.
In that instant, Fang Yixin’s entire left arm shattered.
Yet his right hand calmly thrust the sword forward, its tip stopping at the mace-wielder’s throat.
‘Clay pots inevitably shatter by the well. Old soldiers are bound to die on the battlefield.’
Fang Yixin smiled faintly to himself.
The radiance of [Ji Water] gathered around him once again, transforming into a sheet of flowing mist that spread across the ground.
Spell Art, Wind Traversing the Lotus Marsh!
His figure blurred. Like wind gliding across water, he crossed the distance in an instant and appeared beside Yue Mingxue, thrusting out the Xuanqing dharma sword.
Slash!
Fang Yixin was, after all, a late-stage Qi Ingestion cultivator. His mana was powerful, and he was fighting with his life on the line.
With a single strike, the enemy before him was immediately decapitated.
The remaining cultivator witnessed this horrifying scene, cried out in terror, and began fleeing madly.
“Father?!”
Yue Mingxue stared at her father-in-law, his entire body drenched in blood, and was overwhelmed with grief.
Fang Yixin had just used a secret technique that ravaged his body. Now he collapsed to the ground, becoming incomparably weak.
He could even feel his life force steadily slipping away. Within his dantian qi sea, the [Ji Water] mana was dispersing, turning into thin streams that seeped into the earth.
“Do not cry, we are still on the battlefield.”
Fang Yixin gave a miserable smile and handed the dharma sword to Yue Mingxue.
“After this old man is gone, the main branch will be in your hands.”
Rumble!
At that moment, the battlefield shook violently.
Yue Mingxue looked up and saw a strange white bone phantom slowly rising into the air, its palms pressed together. Between those skeletal hands, someone appeared imprisoned.
It was the Dao Foundation cultivator of Black Miao Village.
“President, let us join forces and wipe this wretch out!”
Meng Qing was full of spirit. Operating the White Bone Temple Dao Foundation, he commanded a white bone dharma manifestation taller than a small mountain and laughed loudly.
“Hahaha! Good!”
Xu Hei was overjoyed. A mountain crashed down from above.
Crack!
The Old Drum Master, trapped within the white bone manifestation, could no longer move. The mountain slammed down upon him, crushing him deep into the earth.
“The Old Drum Master is dead...”
“Run!”
In an instant, countless Miao tribesmen from Black Miao Village screamed and fled in panic, their fighting spirit utterly broken as they scattered in all directions.
“Huff... huff... it is finally over.”
Fang Wujiu wiped the blood from his face, only to see Shangxuan holding Fang Shangqing nearby, weeping.
“Father... little brother is not going to make it.”
His heart immediately lurched.
Then he saw his sister-in-law covered in blood and his father lying motionless on the ground. He quickly reached into his robes, only for his heart to sink.
“Fellow Daoists! Does anyone have healing pills? I am from the Fang Family of Qingli. There will surely be generous repayment in the future!”
But the battlefield was filled with cries of misery.
Who had the mind to listen to him shouting?
Even if someone possessed healing pills, preserving their own life came first. No one would possibly trade with him now.
Just as Fang Wujiu was falling into despair, a streak of light descended.
It was Meng Qing.
“Little Friend Fang...”
Meng Qing now radiated the pressure of a Dao Foundation cultivator as he looked toward Fang Shangqing.
“Your family contributed greatly. The president has seen it all. Your family is permitted to owe the debt for a healing spiritual pill first... I happen to have a [Bi Water] pill here. Take it.”
“Thank you!”
Fang Wujiu hurriedly accepted the azure-blue pill and fed it to Fang Shangqing.
At once, streams of flowing water appeared around Fang Shangqing’s wounds, stopping the bleeding.
Then he began vomiting violently, expelling clumps of strange black hair, with countless tiny insects crawling out among them.
“The [Di Earth] arts are always troublesome.”
Meng Qing shook his head and came over to Yue Mingxue, only to discover that Fang Yixin had already stopped breathing.
“Sigh... the old family head was already advanced in years. Even if I had intervened earlier, saving him would have been difficult.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Yue Mingxue’s eyes were somewhat vacant as she gripped the Xuanqing sword tightly.
‘In this era, so long as Purple Mansion cultivators do not personally act, truly formidable Dao Foundation experts are still quite useful.’
Through Meng Qing’s perspective, Fang Qing observed the entire battlefield from beginning to end, gaining some insight.
Purple Mansion Spiritual Masters rarely entered battle personally. More often, they sat above the fray and watched the lower cultivators fight, using the outcome as a wager to divide benefits.
At such times, having a Dao general skilled in battle truly was quite valuable.
‘And paired with the Esoteric Hidden-Treasury empowerment rites, it becomes utterly shameless.’
He slowly took a sip of tea, then shifted his view to Sangji’s perspective, glancing toward Peacock Dumu nearby.
“How goes it?”
Peacock Dumu had been observing within the void all this time, searching for traces of the Buried Earth Blessed Land.
A five-colored radiance flashed through her eyes as she respectfully replied, “The blessed land has already left traces, it should descend somewhere within the Black Marsh Plains.”
Southern Border was full of mountains and poisonous miasma.
The Black Marsh Plains were one of the rare flat expanses, though they had always been rather barren.
“This time, with ten thousand cultivators spilling blood upon these plains, next year’s soil will likely become exceptionally fertile. It will become a treasured land in the future.”
Controlling Sangji, Fang Qing sighed with emotion.
The corpses of Qi Ingestion cultivators were treasures in themselves. If even a Purple Mansion cultivator died here, the place would instantly become either a blessed land or a death zone.
“This is the merit accumulated by my [Nu Earth].”
Peacock Dumu pressed her palms together solemnly.
Fang Qing stared at this demoness for a moment, momentarily speechless.
‘She has only been a Dumu for such a short time, and already her thinking has become so Esoteric Hidden-Treasury-like. That is rather terrifying.’
‘Still... so far, nothing appears out of place.’
‘The Yin Corpse Sect is also working hard to slaughter its own lower cultivators... gathering the fate and turmoil needed to shake the blessed land.’
‘Sangji’s side has not been surrounded either... everything appears normal.’
‘Could it be that I have simply become overly paranoid?’
Taibai Island.
Inside the cave abode.
Fang Qing still harbored some suspicion.
‘No matter what, once the Buried Earth Blessed Land opens, the truth will become clear.’
‘In any case, I certainly will not let Sangji be the first to enter.’
‘At that point, I can control those two Bright Sons and send them in to scout first.’
‘Any treasures hidden inside, I will strip them clean.’
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter