Chapter 600: When a Nation Is Doomed, Heroes Still Rise

The wind howled fiercely as he fled by breaking through space.

"Are you all right?"

Jiang Ding summoned the Taiqing Flying Sword into his hand, examined it closely, and scanned it with his divine sense.

After such a brutal acceleration, even a Nascent Soul treasure would have snapped.

Yet the Taiqing Flying Sword showed no damage, inside or out.

It was only somewhat listless, as though it had consumed a great deal of spirituality; a faint heaviness hung over it, and its sensitivity to the outside world had declined.

"Rest a while."

He casually tucked the Taiqing Flying Sword into his glabella.

It appeared in the unknown space within his glabella, quietly suspended; the surrounding space underwent some kind of change, channeling an unknown force that nurtured the flying sword and repaired its damaged spirituality.

While traveling, Jiang Ding silently recalled the karma art left behind by Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun that he had witnessed, and at that moment, a great many inspirations burst forth in his heart.

In the end, a vague pillar-shaped object took form, connected to a future possible Sword of Extinguishing Jin Zhi of a True Immortal — one that might exist tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years from now.

……

Master Tushan Xiancheng, the towering clan ancestral hall.

An endless chill, icy and biting, suddenly descended upon more than ten Jin Dan cultivators of the General General Heishi main line.

Silence stretched on and on.

As though swept by an otherworldly cold wind from the extreme north, the protective shields and magic power of the Jin Dan cultivators were utterly useless; every heart among them turned to ice.

Fear, panic, disbelief.

And more besides, one after another.

Before them, amid the spirit tablets of the Liezulie Sect ancestors, dense incense smoke curled and lingered, undiminished for ten thousand years; no matter how great the difficulties they had faced in the past, none had ever doubted whether this incense smoke could continue.

It was as certain as the sun rising and the moon setting — nothing that happened could ever change it.

Five thousand years ago, the clan had fallen from its prime, successively defeated by forces such as the Mu clan of Bingxuedian and the Liu clan of the Zhenjun He Huan Sect, its power contracting to this remote corner.

Two hundred years ago, the Dari Sect had begun to appear on the Northern Plains, and with the momentum of a whale swallowing, it annihilated a clan that had endured for ten thousand years, shocking the entire world.

Through all such trials, they had endured them one by one; the incense of their ancestors and the glory of the General General Heishi had never fallen.

But now,

It seemed all of this was about to come to an end.

Before the many ancestor tablets, a single jet-black jade soul tablet had developed fine cracks.

On the verge of shattering — yet somehow not shattering.

"Old Ancestor, Father, Father…"

The young main-line Jin Dan cultivator Hei Hei Chengxiu was trembling all over, his teeth chattering; hundreds of years of experience could not steady him in the slightest at this moment.

"This isn't real,"

"This can't be real!"

"This soul tablet was left behind when the Old Ancestor was young; after a thousand years, it's only natural that problems would appear — it damaged itself. This sort of thing happens every so many years."

"Nothing unusual about it, nothing unusual."

"Right, this old man has also studied soul tablets; this is merely second-grade black soul jade material — not some divine artifact."

"Yes, yes, yes…"

The surrounding ring of main-line Jin Dan cultivators: some looked to be in the prime of life, some had childlike faces and crane-white hair, some wore two braids sticking straight up like a child's, their ages ranging from just over a hundred to over five hundred.

Yet all were the same — bodies trembling, faces pale — and one reasonable explanation after another spilled from their lips.

Each spoke with great conviction, citing various precedents, casually drawing upon similar incidents from the histories of other clans; they were well-read in the classics, seasoned scholars all.

You a sentence, me a sentence.

Layer upon layer of evidence piled up; the facts were crystal clear.

It was simply a problem with the soul tablet's own material.

"That's exactly how it is."

One by one, the Jin Dan cultivators exhaled in relief, their faces breaking into smiles; thoroughly reassured, they chatted and laughed.

"The Old Ancestor will surely be blessed by heaven and come to no harm."

No one knew who it was that said this one sentence.

The laughter around them faltered.

A deathly silence.

It was as though an icy palm had appeared, spreading soundlessly, gripping the throats of every Jin Dan cultivator and freezing them mid-laughter.

They said nothing, did nothing.

They simply stood there, their expressions unchanged.

A long while.

A long, long while.

A gust of eerie wind blew in from somewhere unknown, bringing with it a breath of something fresh and living.

"…Clan Leader Hei Hei Chengwu is dead, killed in front of the clan's secret vault, the secret order bestowed by the Old Ancestor still in his hand."

The young main-line Jin Dan cultivator Hei Hei Chengxiu said in a dry, rasping voice: "We've all tried it — the aura doesn't match, the secret order can't open the vault; only a living Hei Hei Chengwu can."

"The many opportunities for forming a Nascent Soul cannot be retrieved."

He didn't know whether to feel relieved or what.

If someone hadn't shouted out to tell them of this, the area before the secret vault would already have been a river of blood by now, with only one or two main-line Jin Dan cultivators surviving.

"What do we do?"

"Flee, or what?"

Hei Hei Chengxiu was asking, and also continuously pondering in his heart, hesitant and wavering, unable to decide.

Safe?

Where is safe?

Here in the family Immortal City, at least there is the great formation left by the ancestors — but what about outside the city?

Not to mention that unknown terrifying enemy, even the many loose cultivators — the family's branch-line Jin Dan would love nothing more than to flay them alive. Once their tracks are discovered, a lone Jin Dan is simply a piece of fat meat delivered to their door.

The arrogance and bullying of days past has now become the path to their own death.

"We should leave."

One late-stage Jin Dan with a child's face and crane-white hair deliberated for a moment, did not try to persuade anyone, turned around on his own and left this place, concealing his form as he flew toward the outside of the city.

Many people hesitated, unable to decide. In the end, two followed, each scattering off in a different direction.

"We should stay!"

The remaining people, including Hei Hei Chengxiu, also made up their minds.

"The Old Ancestor is only heavily wounded, not dead. We should hold fast and remain in the Immortal City, rely on the Immortal City's great formation to defend ourselves, and at the same time send urgent pleas for aid to the various great families, especially the Tie family.

When it comes to whether the incense of the General Heishi ancestors can still continue — this is a matter of utmost urgency — we beg them on our knees to lend a hand. As long as the ancestors' incense can be carried on, we will agree to whatever conditions they ask."

"The vassal Jin Dan, the juniors below at Foundation Establishment, even the juniors at Qi Refining — all must be mustered. Conceal nothing; tell everyone that this is the moment of our clan's survival or destruction."

Having truly made up his mind, Hei Hei Chengxiu no longer felt so afraid in his heart, and spoke with thunderous decisiveness.

"The control of the Immortal City's great formation is not in our hands."

Another old cultivator spoke up, but this was not the usual fault-finding and nitpicking that borrowed on righteousness. He immediately followed with: "If the family Old Ancestor perishes, the authority over the formation will transfer to the strongest direct-line Jin Dan. I only need to smash the Old Ancestor's soul token."

Without needing to incite anyone to bear the blame, or to share a portion of it, he stepped forward alone and smashed Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun's soul token into pieces.

Boom!

Dong, dong dong, dong dong dong…

The General Heishi clan formation hummed and operated, the muffled tolling of the funeral bell thundering out in all directions, telling the many General Heishi clansmen within the city that the Old Ancestor had perished, that the calamity of clan extermination was about to arrive, and summoning every clansman who could still move to gather at the Zuzongcitang.

"The vassal families' Jin Dan may have ulterior motives."

Another Jin Dan spoke — all of them were old cultivators who had cultivated for several hundred years, checking each other's reasoning and filling in each other's gaps.

"No matter. Once I take control of the Immortal City's formation, I hold their life-and-death prohibitions in my hands. There may be backsliding in the future, but for now there is no need to worry."

Hei Hei Chengxiu only felt the authority of the Immortal City's great formation surging toward him, his divine soul suddenly in agony, swelling as if about to split apart. He barely split off some attention to say.

The surrounding Jin Dan cultivators harbored no hidden malice, no jealousy; their divine senses operated at extreme speed, directing the various Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining juniors within the Immortal City to converge at each formation node according to the methods of military formations.

"We can seek aid from the Shang clan."

A Jin Dan with the appearance of a child said in a low voice: "In the current situation, the Zhengmo Alliance is struggling with every step, internal strife sharply reduced — this should not be the secret harm of some other family's Old Ancestor, it must be an outsider. It could be a Master Dinghai Zhenjun of the Dari Sect. The Shang clan's Lingbao Merchant Guild can be enlisted; there are quite a few Jin Dan and Foundation Establishment cultivators within, who can serve as auxiliary aid."

"Feasible…"

The many Jin Dan each spoke in turn, sharing their own thoughts one by one, without any selfish motives.

Hei Hei Chengxiu saw this scene, and for some reason, his eyes stung.

If only, in days past, it could always have been like this — would this day never have come?

"Honored uncles and elders,"

Just as he was about to say something, Hei Hei Chengxiu's heart turned cold, his body trembled, and through the General Heishi clan formation of Master Tushan Xiancheng he looked into the distance.

"He's coming — a Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun is coming!"

"It's not a cultivator of the Dari Sect — it's Tushan Master Dinghai Zhenjun, the Tushan Master Dinghai Zhenjun who has a past grievance with our Old Ancestor!"

(End of this chapter)