My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

HISS—

That piercing sound echoed again. A colorful array materialized around the temporarily refined Second Realm puppet, followed by the brief flash of an explosion. A boundless white mist then surged outward, carried by the raging energy storm.

The energy spread with incredible speed, too fast even for Wang Ping’s cultivation to track. By the time he could react, the explosive energy storm had already completely enveloped the small island. A particularly violent energy was neutralizing the barrier formed by the Armor Talismans at an untraceable speed.

The speed of this energy’s assimilation was more than ten times faster than before. A Second Realm Cultivator’s control over Spiritual Power wouldn’t be nearly enough to keep up. The only option would be to flee on a fast magical artifact before being completely assimilated.

Wang Ping, however, wasn’t worried. The Wood Spirit Qi produced within his Spiritual Body’s Qi Sea was enough to counteract the assimilation, so the barrier constructed around the island didn’t waver in the slightest.

The surging energy subsided in just two breaths. Another massive five-li-wide crater appeared in the surrounding seawater. Wang Ping gave a light wave of his hand, clearing the white mist that enveloped the island, and gazed at the roiling sea as a plan formed in his mind.

’The cost is a bit high, though, and it’s a one-time-use item.’

Still, Wang Ping decided to use Cang’an’s Spiritual Body to construct a "Five Elements Condensation Art" as a precaution. He even planned to use only Celestial and Earthly Treasures in its construction to maximize the value of the Third Realm Spirit Body.

It was incredibly extravagant.

But compared to his own life, it was nothing.

Additionally, he planned to construct two "Five Elements Condensation Arts" using Second Realm Energy, on top of the one from Cang’an’s Spiritual Body. He would then seal them all within the Soldier Talisman, allowing him to catch his opponents by surprise in a fight.

Qianmu Temple was now a major sect and had collected a great deal of materials from various places over the years. The sect’s treasury contained the Celestial and Earthly Treasures Wang Ping required, which saved him a considerable amount of time.

「The third day of the sixth month.」

By the fifth day after coming out of seclusion, Wang Ping had already handled the matter. Such were the benefits of having a sect’s backing. Otherwise, it could have taken him anywhere from a few years to more than a decade to gather all the Celestial and Earthly Treasures.

The next step was to use *Body Corrosion*, a technique Wu Ma Daoist had passed down to his disciples, to imbue a poison with consciousness. Wang Ping planned to use the Purgatory Banner to stand in for his Primordial Spirit. Furthermore, the array inside the Purgatory Banner already possessed a Taiyin Aura, allowing it to act as a substitute for a Spirit Vein. In theory, this could work.

Moreover, the Purgatory Banner housed the Artifact Spirit Nether Water. Nether Water’s life form was very similar to a Primordial Spirit Consciousness, but Wang Ping had to consult with it first.

The reason for this complicated process was that the poisons Wang Ping currently used required advanced preparation of materials and had to be deployed via a medium like a Soldier Talisman or Sword Talisman. This severely limited the number of uses and greatly reduced their potency.

If he used Wu Ma Daoist’s original *Body Corrosion* technique to merge a poison consciousness with Nether Water’s own, unleashing the poison would become as simple as a thought. Its power would surely be enough to make even Third Realm Cultivators keep a wide berth.

"I’m not sure if it will work," Nether Water replied after listening. "But if it does, can you add a few more types of poison?"

"Let’s try it first. If it goes wrong, I’ll use a Heaven-Reaching Talisman to stop the process forcibly," Wang Ping said. "If the fusion with your consciousness is possible, I will use my Primordial Spirit to dissolve a Sacred Heart Pill during the process. I’ll infuse its medicinal power into your consciousness to aid the fusion."

The text of *Body Corrosion* specifically mentioned that when a consciousness merges with a poison, the original spiritual consciousness is subject to erosion and must be suppressed with Holy Heart Grass.

The poison Wang Ping intended to use was a Spiritual Poison sourced from a Fake Pill Realm Lizard Demon. In the past, capturing a living Lizard Demon of that realm would have taken some effort. Now, however, he only needed to say the word, and countless people would risk their lives to do his bidding.

However, he couldn’t just take the life of an innocent member of the Demon Race. Fortunately, the former Daoist Scripture Hall had bounties on many Lizard Demons. Although the Hall had been reorganized into the Daoist Palace, the warrants were still active. He assigned this task to Hu Qianqian.

Over the next half a month, Wang Ping stabilized his cultivation and refined his Primordial Spirit. He would occasionally exchange a few words with the slumbering Yu Lian within his Spirit Sea. Her condition was stable, and her Primordial Spirit was beginning to take a basic form.

Starting on the fifteenth of the sixth month, Inner Sect Disciples from the various sects across the Chu Country began to move. One group converged on the northern forests of Ningzhou Road, while another answered Xiu Yu’s call to arms and headed for Bin Pass on Yunjiang Road.

「Three days later.」

On the eighteenth of the sixth month, the Xiao Shan Lord dispatched an envoy to True Yang Mountain to deliver a formal declaration of war.

When the news spread, the world was shaken.

During this period, Wang Ping received hundreds of handwritten letters from various sect leaders, all of which he passed to the Inner Courtyard to handle. After the Xiao Shan Lord’s declaration of war was delivered to True Yang Mountain, his Dao Field became bustling with activity once more.

Moreover, the visitors this time were all Third Realm Cultivators from within the Chu Country who had chosen to answer Wang Ping’s call!

Wu Quan and Ganxing were the first to arrive, followed by Zhi Gong Daoist, the newly appointed Pacification Envoy of Mozhou Road. Also present were Hu Yin, the chieftain of the Fox Race from the northern forests of Ningzhou Road, and a Sheep Demon Mountain Guard she brought with her.

Then there was a monk from Vajra Temple who cultivated within the Chu Country and went by the name Tongming Wanderer. Finally, there was a Third Realm Yuqing Cultivator recommended by Zi Luan, known as Huaimo Taoist.

That made a total of seven Third Realm Cultivators. Including Wang Ping, there were eight, roughly the same number of Third Realm Cultivators currently stationed at True Yang Mountain.

Of course, this did not represent the full strength of either side. The south’s truly powerful Third Realm Cultivators were currently garrisoned within the Six Heart Sect.

Likewise, most of True Yang Mountain’s Third Realm Cultivators were not currently on the mountain, especially those of the older generation. If they were, the Demon Race’s army wouldn’t have pushed True Yang Mountain into such a sorry state.

But if a True Monarch were to issue a command, all of True Yang Mountain’s Third Realm Cultivators who were away in seclusion would surely return at a moment’s notice. That, however, would be another matter entirely.

After they exchanged greetings, Wang Ping briefed them on the status of the forces being assembled.

The first to assemble in Ningzhou Road was the Demon Race army, with thirty thousand registered soldiers. All of them had a basic level of cultivation and were equipped with armor.

Additionally, eighty thousand Government Soldiers from various regions were marching toward Ningzhou Road, backed by a logistics and support corps of over two hundred thousand. The various sects had registered over ten thousand disciples, including more than a thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators, two hundred Entering Cultivators, and sixty-three Second Realm Cultivators. The remainder were all at least at the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm.

After finishing his briefing, Wang Ping cupped his fist and declared, "Fellow Daoists, follow me to Ningzhou Road! We will contend with the cultivators of True Yang Mountain!"

"It will be done!"

The other seven replied in unison, cupping their fists.

Wang Ping said no more. He projected his identity token into the sky, which transformed into a streak of light and shot through the clouds above Qianmu Mountain. The other seven immediately followed suit.

They flew slowly this time, arriving at Jinhuai City two hours later. The Entering Cultivators and Second Realm Cultivators, who had already assembled in the city and along the river channel outside it, had been waiting below the clouds for a long time.

"We pay our respects to Changqing Zhenren!"

They shouted in unison, cupping their fists in a formal salute.

Wang Ping glanced down at the military column stretching for more than ten li along the straight road below. Then, he plunged into the clouds to the north, flying toward Ningzhou Road.

All the Entering, Second Realm, and Third Realm Cultivators transformed into brilliant streaks of light, following close behind him.

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