Chapter 188: A Battle to Fame

The young girl quickly found Zhang Nuo, only to see him sitting on the ground at this moment, with Han Liang standing by his side with a solemn expression, while Gu Yu sat atop the Black Coffin, his own complexion looking extremely poor.

After the battle with Du Yuntang, these three had been almost completely drained of their internal energy; as soon as they realized the battle had ended, they fell back to the ground one after another to rest, especially Zhang Nuo, who had fought two consecutive major battles and now appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

The first time he went to save Zhuge Qing, he had activated the Sword Formation and the Heaven-Turning Seal; although he had consumed some 'Spirit Replenishing Pills' on the way here, they were fundamentally unable to restore his body to its peak state.

"Brother Zhang!"

Seeing that Zhang Nuo was unharmed, the young girl finally set her mind at ease, hurried a few steps to his side, and called out softly. Zhang Nuo, who was meditating, heard the voice that sounded like heavenly music and knew without thinking who had arrived.

Slowly opening his eyelids, Zhang Nuo gave a faint smile, though his eyes revealed a look of exhaustion.

Han Liang patted Zhang Nuo on the shoulder and said with a smile:

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, you have truly opened my eyes this time; I, Han Liang, admire you! If there is an opportunity in the future, let us slaughter our way through again like this!"

Although Han Liang was also extremely fatigued, the fighting spirit on his face did not diminish in the slightest, and it seemed he still had some lingering excitement.

During their conversation, Zhang Nuo stood up and shook his head with a wry smile; this Han Liang was simply a god of war, and even at a time like this, he was still thinking about the next time.

"Cooperating with you two, I felt very much in my element; I wonder if there will be such an opportunity in the future!"

As he spoke, he cast his gaze toward Gu Yu, only to see Gu Yu sitting on the Black Coffin, his small eyes flashing with a sharp light beneath his black robe; to tell the truth, after seeing Zhang Nuo's divine abilities, he admitted that if it were a one-on-one fight, he was afraid he would not be his match.

"Hehe! That is only natural; if the Five Great Demon Mountains are not eliminated, my Tianjiang Plain will not have any good days!"

Quite unexpectedly, Gu Yu smiled at Zhang Nuo, with no hostility visible in his eyes, and even a bit of an intention to show goodwill.

"Alright! I will go find my master first! I won't say more to you all!"

Han Liang suddenly raised his head to look at the sky, as if someone were sending him a voice transmission; he immediately cupped his hands and was the first to fly away, and Gu Yu also put away his coffin and left after exchanging a few polite words.

Only Zhang Nuo and Zhuge Qing remained in this place, and the two talked a bit more about the battle before rising to leave.

After this battle, Zhang Nuo's reputation soared; there was almost no one on the Tianjiang Plain who did not know his name, especially the matter of the three of them fighting Du Yuntang, which was recounted by many cultivators as something miraculous.

Half a month later, inside the fortress of the Five Great Demon Mountains that they had captured, Zhuge An and his daughter sat facing each other; after being reorganized, this place had become a stronghold for the Tianjiang Plain to attack the Five Great Demon Mountains, and many cultivators were stationed within it.

"Father, is what you said true?"

After listening to the old man recount the great battle between Zhang Nuo, Han Liang, and the others against Du Yuntang, Zhuge Qing's beautiful eyes flickered repeatedly.

"That is natural; at the time, I was very far from them, but not a single move escaped my eyes, especially the appearance of the Heaven-Turning Seal!"

At the mention of the Heaven-Turning Seal, Zhuge An frowned slightly and said:

"When you bought this Ancient Treasure for him, were you certain it was scrapped?"

Looking at his daughter with slight disbelief, and recalling the might of the great seal that day, Zhuge An also began to have doubts in his heart.

"There can be no mistake about that! I had checked the Ancient Treasure countless times back then, and there was not a shred of Spirit Power fluctuation within it; besides, if this treasure were still usable, the Tianbao Auction House would not have sold it to us for so few Spirit Stones!"

Zhuge Qing was also bewildered; that Zhang Nuo could make a discarded Ancient Treasure display its former splendor again was truly an extraordinary matter!

"Strange, isn't it?"

Taking a deep breath, Zhuge An trusted his daughter's discernment; she was capable of distinguishing whether an Ancient Treasure could still be used, but was everything he had seen also entirely true?

"Do not spread word of this matter for now; find an opportunity to ask Zhang Nuo properly!"

Having made up his mind, the old man said cautiously.

"I know that!"

The young girl nodded slightly; Zhang Nuo was currently in seclusion resting and had not come out, so she did not dare to disturb him. She could only carry a belly full of questions and wait for him to come out.

…………

In a cave on Qingnian Demon Mountain, the Demon Emperor's reconstruction of his physical body was still continuing; amidst the shroud of black light, the phantom had become a bit clearer. At the entrance of the cave, the Sect Leaders of the Five Great Demon Mountains all wore expressions of anger; the failure of this battle had completely crushed the morale of the Five Great Demons.

Wang Ji looked at the stump of Du Yuntang's arm; he was angry in his heart but did not say it directly, and the others also knew what he was thinking.

"This old man capsized in the gutter this time; I have truly brought shame upon the Five Great Demon Mountains!"

Du Yuntang had a look of shame on his face, lowering his head and not daring to look the other four in the eye.

"This cannot be blamed entirely on you! Those three brats were too powerful; although they were only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, the combination of the three's divine abilities was something even an ordinary Golden Core Cultivator could not handle! Especially that one called Zhang Nuo, who actually possessed the Ancient Treasure 'Heaven-Turning Seal'; it is truly unimaginable!"

Wang Ji's expression darkened slightly; recalling the events of that time, he still had lingering fears in his heart. It was rumored that the Ancient Treasure Heaven-Turning Seal had long since become a piece of scrap, and he had not expected it to appear on the battlefield again.

"Could it be that the one in his hand is just a replica?"

Gui Xiao pondered slightly, then tentatively said.

"It is very possible; I noticed that the power of the Heaven-Turning Seal was much smaller than in the legends, otherwise Sect Leader Du would likely have already..."

Fu Ling smiled slightly and did not continue.

"Perhaps! However, a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator, no matter how powerful his Magic Treasure is, cannot influence the overall situation. As long as we wait for the Demon Emperor's body reconstruction to be completed, it will be the end of the Tianjiang Plain! During this time, we cannot afford any mistakes!"

At this moment, Wang Ji placed all his hopes on the Demon Emperor; as long as the Demon Emperor was resurrected, everything would turn around!

"Are we still going to fight during this time?"

Wu Xu asked, shaking his fat body.

"Let us rest and reorganize for a period of time first; we also suffered significant losses in this battle, especially since the Tianjiang Plain has also united with several surrounding sects, and their power has grown quite a bit. We must seize the right moment before we can strike!"

According to news from the outside, because the four great sects of the Tianjiang Plain succeeded in one battle, the various large and small sects around the Tianjiang Plain that had been holding a wait-and-see attitude were now joining them one after another. This time was not like the great war six hundred years ago, which only involved the Five Great Demon Mountains and the Tianjiang Plain.

The many additional cultivators posed a great threat to the Five Great Demon Mountains! Striking rashly would only make things worse and worse.

The Five Great Demon Mountains held their ground and did not come out, and for a time, the Tianjiang Plain had no way to deal with them either, which actually bought them quite a bit of time!

"You all return to your respective mountains first and arrange the defense matters. I think that within two years, we will not have any opportunities; let us focus on defense for now!"

Wang Ji would not go head-to-head with the Tianjiang Plain while their morale was at its peak; doing so would only cause the Five Great Demon Mountains to suffer!

After the four agreed, they each drove their escape lights and flew away. At this time, Wang Ji walked into the cave, glanced at the Demon Emperor's figure within the black Qi, and a wry smile appeared on his face.

This time, because of the Demon Emperor, he had once again gone to war with the Tianjiang Plain; if the Demon Emperor failed to reconstruct his physical body, perhaps the Five Great Demon Mountains would be completely erased from the Tianyuan Continent!

Everything he had done before had already angered many sects, but once the Demon Emperor succeeded in reconstructing his physical body, he would have every opportunity to advance to the Nascent Soul Stage. This was something he dreamed of; the Nascent Soul Stage! A realm he had yearned for for so long!

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Wang Ji's old face again, though this smile looked somewhat bitter!

One year after this great battle, the Five Great Demon Mountains had not taken the initiative to attack, while the cultivators of the Tianjiang Plain used this time to recuperate and prepare for a further attack on the Five Great Demon Mountains.

According to the analysis of Zhuge An of the South, the Demon Emperor's physical body should have already begun its reconstruction; they must seize the time to take down the Five Great Demon Mountains and destroy the Dharma Array for the Demon Emperor's body reconstruction.

However, the Five Great Demon Mountains are easy to defend and difficult to attack; wanting to seize them is by no means an easy task. He had once considered asking Nanxuan Laozu to intervene, but with the strength of the Laozu alone, he feared it would be impossible to accomplish this. If he were to fail and the Laozu suffered any injury, then once the Demon Emperor successfully reconstructed his physical body, there would be no one left who could rival him.

Over the past year or so, Zhuge An had dispatched several small teams to test the reactions of Demon Mountain, but after several skirmishes, Demon Mountain remained firmly behind its defenses.

On this day, Zhang Nuo was meditating in the fortress when suddenly the door to his room was knocked upon. After Zhang Nuo opened the door, he saw Zhuge Qing wearing her signature smile, gazing right at him.

"Is your body feeling better?"

"I am completely fine now!"

Through more than a year of recuperation, the injuries Zhang Nuo sustained in the last great battle had completely healed. Although he had saved his life when he was struck by the barbarian general back then, he had still suffered some internal injuries.

"That is for the best! Brother Zhang, may I come in?"

Zhuge Qing glanced into Zhang Nuo's room before asking tentatively.

"Of course you may!"

Extending his hand in a gesture of invitation, Zhang Nuo let her into the room. After the two sat down, they talked about some matters regarding that great battle, but suddenly the young girl changed the subject and brought up the 'Heaven-Turning Seal'.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Nuo's face remained expressionless, but his mind raced. Having revealed the Ancient Treasure 'Heaven-Turning Seal' in front of so many cultivators, he had long been prepared for the fact that Zhuge An and his daughter would surely find a way to get to the bottom of this.

Now that his seclusion had just ended, Zhuge Qing had come knocking. If he could not provide a reason sufficient to convince them, the fact that he possessed the Mysterious Heaven Spirit Stone would surely arouse the suspicions of this father-daughter pair.

After all, being able to repair an Ancient Treasure to such a degree is not something just anyone can do; furthermore, if there had been any possibility of repairing it, the Tianbao Chamber would absolutely never have sold it!