Chapter 178: Rebuilding the Physical Body

Three months later, in a hidden cave within Qingnian Demon Mountain, a high Dharma platform had been erected, with four lotus-pool-like structures built around it. The green liquid inside was extremely viscous, yet it looked quite beautiful, much like nectar and jade dew.

Above the Dharma platform, the black serpent's body was coiled, its eyes constantly peering down at the scene below, where countless Demon Sect cultivators were busy setting up several types of Dharma arrays, with array disks and array flags flying about everywhere.

A full two hours passed before everything finally settled into silence. Wang Ji flew up onto the Dharma platform, walked before the black serpent, and said respectfully:

"My Lord, everything is prepared! Shall we begin now?"

Having waited for such a long time, the great serpent finally let out a long breath and then slowly nodded its head.

"Activate the Dharma arrays!"

Seeing the great serpent agree, Wang Ji flew off the Dharma platform and shouted to the dozens of cultivators setting up the arrays.

Upon hearing this, all the cultivators simultaneously formed seals with their hands, and a series of incantations rang out. Suddenly, gusts of eerie wind filled the entire cave, and streams of pure Demonic Qi surged from the several Dharma arrays. At the same time, the green liquid in the four lotus pools surrounding the Dharma platform began to bubble, as if it were boiling.

Seeing this, Wang Ji reached out and gestured behind him. Immediately, eight cultivators carried in four people. These four were all Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators who had been abducted by the Five Great Demon Mountains; at this moment, their eyes were dull, and they showed no signs of panic.

The four cultivators were thrown into the four lotus pools respectively. At the same time, the green liquid in the lotus pools surged forward, completely enveloping their bodies and slowly beginning to absorb the life essence from them.

Outside the lotus pools, several more Dharma arrays were activated at this time. Three beams of black light shone toward the black serpent on the Dharma platform. After a moment, the phantom of a man slowly rose from the black serpent's body; the phantom was extremely faint, almost invisible to the naked eye!

This was that wisp of the Demon Emperor's divided soul. However, the ravages of time had caused the power of this divided soul to diminish significantly. Without the black serpent's physical body, the divided soul would likely not have been able to survive for even three days in the outside world.

Bathed in the black light, the phantom's shoulders moved slightly, and then it opened its two eyes. Its eyes lacked any luster, looking like two pitch-black holes, constantly scanning the area below.

A moment later, the phantom's hands pointed toward the four lotus pools around the Dharma platform. Immediately, wisps of white mist seeped out from the green liquid in the lotus pools. These wisps looked even more ethereal than the phantom; if anyone were to exhale heavily around them, they would immediately dissipate.

The white mist drifted slowly onto the phantom's body. At this time, the phantom's eyes closed slightly, its hands formed a strange Dharma seal, and the sound of bitter, incomprehensible incantations arose.

Before long, the white mist was completely absorbed by the phantom, and the green liquid in the four lotus pools, which had originally been enveloping the cultivators, fell back into the pools all at once. However, the cultivators who had been wrapped inside had vanished, leaving not even their bones behind.

Immediately following this, eight more Demon Sect cultivators carried in four more people and threw them into the lotus pools in the same manner. After repeating this for a month, the phantom on the Dharma platform finally became a bit brighter, though it remained somewhat blurry and indistinct.

At this time, in the main hall of Qingnian Demon Mountain, the Sect Leaders of the Five Great Demon Mountains gathered together.

"It seems it will still take a very long time for the Demon Emperor's body to be rebuilt!"

Du Yuntang said, resting his chin on one hand and pondering.

"It will probably take about ten years!"

Fu Ling calculated on her jade fingers before speaking.

"No matter how long it takes, we must guard it well! If anything happens midway, all our efforts will have been in vain!"

Wang Ji said with a solemn face. Currently, the Five Great Demon Mountains had almost become the target of public criticism; all the sects that had lost cultivators were pointing their fingers at them. If the Demon Emperor failed to rebuild his physical body, they would lose their greatest trump card, and things might even go so far as to have the Five Great Demon Mountains wiped off the map!

"How about this: we establish strongholds several thousand miles away from the Five Great Demon Mountains to prevent cultivators from Tianjiang Plain from coming to attack the mountains!"

Gui Xiao said excitedly.

"That would be best! Our disciples on the Demon Mountains can be sent to guard the strongholds separately. That way, even if those fellows from Tianjiang Plain come, we will receive prior notice and be prepared for battle."

Wang Ji nodded, highly agreeing with Gui Xiao's plan. The five of them discussed it for a while longer before splitting up to carry it out.

Inside Zhang Nuo's room at the Nanxuan Sect on Tianjiang Plain, he was seen sitting cross-legged on his bed, with a faint crimson flame burning above his head. Nearly three years had passed in the blink of an eye; he had remained in seclusion, practicing bitterly every single day.

The Nine Dragon Sword Case beside him continuously gathered the surrounding Spiritual Qi, keeping Zhang Nuo's body within a vortex of Spiritual Qi, allowing him to absorb it!

Suddenly, crimson flames erupted from Zhang Nuo's entire body, as if he were enveloped in fire. The muscles on his face became distorted; he seemed to be enduring immense pain.

"Bang!"

After a muffled sound, the crimson flames on Zhang Nuo's body were shaken away, and he quickly opened his eyes!

"Hoo!"

He exhaled heavily, and a scorching breath was released from his mouth, causing the surrounding air to ripple.

Three years of bitter cultivation had improved Zhang Nuo's cultivation significantly, leaving him only a step away from the Foundation Establishment Late Stage. Now, with the Red Glow Fire tempering his physical body, the Nine Dragon Sword Case gathering Spiritual Qi, Chunyangzi's unique guidance, and finally, some Pills,

these had allowed Zhang Nuo's cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds, to the point that even Chunyangzi inside the sword case was somewhat astonished.

"Senior, I plan to use the 'Nine-Turn Heaven-Returning Pill' tomorrow to break through to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage. What do you think?"

There was no sound from the sword case for a long time; Chunyangzi seemed to be thinking about something.

"That is fine! To test the medicinal power of the pill, you should first take the one of lower quality. Once you have figured out the medicinal properties, you can take the best one!"

Zhang Nuo nodded slightly. This breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage was not as simple as the breakthrough to the Middle Stage; not only did he need to improve his cultivation, but he also had to open the Third Divine Sea!

"Stop tempering your physical body with the Red Glow Fire for now! In my opinion, the current Red Glow Fire can no longer temper your body. Without the assistance of a higher-level technique, there can be no progress!"

Whenever this was mentioned, Zhang Nuo hated that thin cultivator who had sold him the technique. The other party was too cunning, selling him only the first half of the technique. However, he hadn't thought too far ahead at the time, being single-mindedly focused on obtaining the Red Glow Fire Seed. Now it seemed it was truly a case of being penny-wise and pound-foolish!

"For my current physical body, it should be enough!"

Zhang Nuo said calmly.

"Indeed! However, the Fourth Layer of the 'Shangqing Sword Art' far exceeds my expectations. If you truly master it, your strength will increase by another large margin. Even I find this technique covetable. If it weren't for the fact that you have so many treasures to help you, I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to break through to the Fourth Layer even in several decades!"

Listening to Chunyangzi's words, Zhang Nuo smiled slightly and reached into his robes to take out the Spirit Beast Bag. When he had gone out to sell White Profound Crystal Stones previously, he had let the 'Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect' out for a period of time.

After the Spirit Insect returned, it had gone back to deep sleep, and he didn't know when it would wake up next.

"Everything is thanks to it!"

Zhang Nuo muttered to himself in a low voice, put the Spirit Beast Bag back into his robes, closed his eyes slightly, and began to meditate, preparing for the breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

At the same time, within the Nanxuan Sect, the leaders of the Four Great Sects on Tianjiang Plain, along with several other Sect Leaders of cultivation sects around the plain, had gathered here. They were discussing a major event!

"The Demon Sect cultivators destroyed my Beixuan Sect; I must have revenge for this grudge!"

Zhuo Zhiyan's expression was cold, and her face was full of hatred. Just as some sects were being timid, she suddenly spoke loudly.

"Fellow Daoist Zhuo, please calm down. Aren't we discussing how to better attack the Demon Mountains? The Five Great Demon Mountains are now on guard and have set up heavy strongholds. As soon as we make a move, the other side will know immediately. With them prepared, even if we reach the Demon Mountains, we will suffer heavy casualties!"

Zhuge An, fearing that Zhuo Zhiyan's anger would provoke resentment among the others, hurriedly tried to persuade her.

In fact, Zhuo Zhiyan understood the logic behind it, but seeing some sects being timid, she simply couldn't suppress her anger, which was why she had truly flared up.

After several days of discussion, everyone finally reached a conclusion: use carpet-style attacks to first eliminate the strongholds set up by the Five Great Demon Mountains, and finally kill their way up the mountain, striving to wipe out the Demon Sect cultivators in one fell swoop.

More than ten days later, in the middle of the night, a crescent moon hung in the sky. Gusts of strong wind blew, causing the grass and trees to make a 'rustling' sound. At this moment, a patch of dark clouds slowly obscured the crescent moon, and the surroundings became even darker.

Just at this moment, eight cultivators quietly approached one of the Demon Sect strongholds. The group approached very carefully, fearing that the other side would discover them.

When they were still several dozen zhang away from the fortress, the eight people stopped, and the voice of one young girl among them rang out in a low tone:

"Move!"

Following this command, a cultivator suddenly leaped out from behind the young girl; this person had a tall build, and with a single pat of his Storage Bag, a large golden hammer flashed out rapidly. As it expanded in the wind, it grew to be several zhang in size.

With a movement of his Divine Sense, the large golden hammer, trailing the sound of 'whoosh-whoosh' wind, smashed into the fortress gate; immediately, a loud noise rang out, a circular hole half a zhang in size was struck into the gate, and the 'rumbling' sound traveled very far into the deep night.

At the same time, the figures of the eight cultivators flew out almost simultaneously, quickly passing through the circular hole in the gate and entering inside the fortress.

The demonic cultivators inside the fortress also rushed out upon hearing the sound, and the two groups quickly engaged in a fierce battle, the radiance of various Magic Treasures flashing; in just a moment, everything stopped.

Inside the fortress, more than ten corpses of demonic cultivators lay scattered about; at this moment, dark clouds drifted across the sky, revealing a curved crescent moon, and by the faint moonlight, one could see Zhuge Qing standing inside the fortress, currently directing her subordinate cultivators to check if any survivors had been left behind!