Chapter 103: Three Tribulations

The end of the passage leading from the Cangyan Realm to the outer realm.

The Changsheng Sect's flag flew on the walls of the fortress jointly built by the Lu, Yan, and Shi families, and the fortress interior was filled with a strong bloody odor.

Changsheng Sect, Mist Blade, and part of the warriors from the three great families carefully searched the blood-soaked fortress, leaving no hidden corner unsearched.

From time to time, surviving warriors were found, and after their mournful howls, they were all cut down.

Originally, more than seventy percent of the warriors in the fortress were killed; the remaining twenty-odd percent, together with Changsheng Sect disciples and Mist Blade assassins, were hunting down their former comrades.

Outside the blood-soaked fortress gate, two elders each from the Lu, Yan, and Shi families, their breath weakened, stood before the gate with smiles and respectful expressions, squinting their eyes, eagerly and fervently gazing at the mist-shrouded passage ahead.

A low, beastly roar came.

Three huge silver-armored lizards exhaled cold qi as they strode over in large steps; on the back of each silver-armored lizard stood a dozen or so burly warriors in heavy armor.

A specially made huge cart was pulled at a gallop by the silver-armored lizards; ten meters wide, twelve meters high, and fifty meters long, the cart was less a vehicle and more a moving war fortress, a moving palace.

The faces of the six elders standing before the fortress gate suddenly changed slightly.

This huge cart was actually cast entirely from precious metals such as gold, silver, and red copper, and inlaid with countless gems each at least the size of a thumb.

Among these gems, there were also many night-glow gems; each gem emitted a bright, mysterious light, making the whole cart glitter in many colors, as if wrapped in a mass of seven-colored clouds.

Such extravagance—even when Jia Zhengfeng came, he never displayed this sort of pomp; just who has the Changsheng Sect sent this time?

Huu!

On the backs of the three silver-armored lizards, each about thirty meters long, three heavily armored warriors wielding long polearms shouted loudly. The three silver-armored lizards, excited from running, unwillingly halted their steps, slowly walked forward, and came to stand before the six elders.

One silver-armored lizard thrust its head toward the six elders, its nostrils violently spewing two streams of cold qi.

With a 'crack-crack' sound, the ground beneath the six elders' feet froze instantly, and their bodies were covered in a thick layer of ice crystals. The elders' expressions changed slightly as their inner mighty power surged, instantly melting the frost on their bodies.

"Envoy." The six elders, who held high positions and great authority in their own families, dared not do anything to this silver-armored lizard; they bowed deeply at ninety degrees, paying respects to the great cart.

"Kneel!" A vague, indistinct voice, neither clearly male nor female, young nor old, came from within the great cart.

An inexplicable pressure surged forth; the six elders' hairs stood on end all over, feeling as if surrounded by a nest of poisonous snakes, with deadly danger sensed from all directions.

With a 'thud', they dropped to their knees, bowing deeply and respectfully before the great cart.

"You do have some decorum… but how did you let Jia Zhengfeng die on your turf?" The voice sighed faintly: "Do you know how angry the Sect Master is? If it weren't for the Sect Master's recent inability to manifest a doppelganger, he would have personally taken command of the army and annihilated your Cangyan Realm long ago."

Cold sweat dripped from the foreheads of the six elders; they dared not breathe, merely kneeling there, silently listening to the voice's reprimand.

Behind the cart pulled by the three silver-armored lizards came ranks upon ranks of lizard mounts, ranks upon ranks of giant spider mounts, and even dozens of giant rock python mounts, arriving in continuous succession.

Rank after rank of heavily armored warriors dismounted from their mounts and formed neat, long lines behind the cart.

Roughly speaking, the Changsheng Sect has mobilized at least ten thousand warriors to come here, most of them being strong fighters of the ox and wolf tribes.

What is even more alarming is that the warriors of the ox and wolf tribes secretly harbor fluctuations of yuan gang within their bodies. Unlike the family warriors raised by the great clans of the Cangyan Realm, these elite warriors of the Changsheng Sect are all fully cultivated elites.

Such elite warriors, if pitted against the Cangyan Realm's great clans' warriors who rely solely on bodily instinct to fight, could easily rout twenty of their own tribesmen each.

The cold sweat on the foreheads of the six elders increased, as they sensed the terrifying aura emanating from this army.

Just looking at these ten-odd thousand elite troops of the Changsheng Sect before us, their combined strength is roughly equal to the total army that the Lu, Yan, and Shi families could muster together.

After all, the Cangyan Realm is merely a remote region, utterly incapable of being compared with the great powers of the outer realm.

"Envoy..." an elder of the Shi family stammered nervously.

Behind the middle-level terrace of the great cart, a gorgeous curtain made of gold threads was lifted by two beautiful maidens; a handsome man clad in a red robe, his whole body glittering with pearls and jewels, walked out slowly with his hands behind his back.

This man was tall and straight; the phrase 'jade tree in the wind' seemed to have been coined for him.

His face was like a jade cap, his eyebrows like swords; he was extraordinarily handsome, with a heroic spirit that pressed upon others.

With his hands behind his back, he stepped from the cart onto the terrace, his bearing majestic and composed, as if born to stand above everyone, making all others seem shorter by a head.

Amazingly, his face looked like that of a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth, yet his head of long hair was as white as snow; the white hair, long enough to drag on the ground, hung down like a frozen waterfall, neatly spread behind him.

"Raise your heads." the man said softly.

His voice was very ethereal and hollow; although he spoke before the six elders, it sounded as if it came from an extremely distant place. No matter how hard you strained your ears, you could hardly tell whether it was a man's or a woman's voice, nor could you judge whether he was old or young.

The six elders raised their heads and looked at the man.

"I am Zhu Zixi." the man said calmly: "Jia Zhengfeng is my closed-door junior disciple… he has died, and I naturally have come to seek justice for him."

A flash of harshness crossed Zhu Zixi's eyes as he softly said: "Whether his death is related to you or not… in any case, you cannot escape responsibility."

The six elders spoke in unison: "We… willingly accept punishment… we have already made preparations…"

Zhu Zixi gave a cold laugh.

After Jia Zhengfeng's death, the elders of the Yan, Shi, and Lu families who had defected to the Changsheng Sect immediately sent messages; through the correspondence, the Changsheng Sect already knew the decision of these cowardly old-timers.

Because of Jia Zhengfeng's death and their longing for the Changsheng Sect, these old-timers prepared to offer the entirety of the three great families to the Changsheng Sect.

This fortress, built to guard the passage leading to the outer realm and to prevent foreign intrusion, is precisely the token of allegiance offered by these old-timers.

Inside the fortress, the warriors loyal to the three families were all slain; what remained were either Changsheng Sect disciples, or Mist Blade assassins who had likewise defected to the Changsheng Sect, or the trusted confidants of these elders.

"What you three families have… could it possibly outweigh the life of my disciple? Moreover, he is the Third Vice Sect Master of the Changsheng Sect—what a lofty status! Your petty scrap copper and rotten iron had better not be brought out to embarrass yourselves."

Zhu Zixi said coldly: "If you cannot produce compensation that satisfies me and the sect, do you still hope to survive under the Changsheng Sect?"

Zhu Zixi coldly smiled, his eyes suddenly turning completely red.

Inside the fortress, the blood flowing from the bodies of the dead warriors suddenly boiled violently; the plasma turned into a thick blood qi that shot up into the sky, then swirled and formed a blood-mist hand hundreds of meters across.

Zhu Zixi lightly waved his right hand, and the blood-mist hand gently patted down from the sky.

With a 'puff' sound, it was just like a stone giant slapping an egg with one palm.

Having guarded the entire passage, the fortress that had cost the three great families vast manpower and material resources, and was capable of stationing thousands of warriors, silently crumbled into dust.

The warriors inside the city were completely unharmed, yet the entire fortress vanished utterly.

A huge palm print appeared on the ground.

The enormous palm print sank more than ten meters into the ground.

All the surviving warriors in the city stood dazedly atop the palm print, utterly bewildered as to how they had suddenly ended up in a pit more than ten meters deep.

They suffered no injury whatsoever, not even a single hair lost.

Such a strike is terrifying and dreadful.

The six elders trembled with fear.

A peak Chonglou Realm expert's full-force strike could cause even greater destruction.

Yet such exquisite power control leaks no force at all; the warriors within the attack radius suffer no collateral damage.

This extreme power control…… Zhu Zixi must be an expert above the Chonglou Realm.

Life Pool Realm?

Or even higher?

No Life Pool Realm expert can be found in the entire Cangyan Realm…… In other words, Zhu Zixi is now the Cangyan Realm's number one expert.

"Envoy Sir…… we, we…… we will…… will……" The six elders themselves are only Chonglou Realm cultivators, and they have reached the limit of their lifespans, old and weak, their qi withered, their mana constantly leaking uncontrollably.

Not to mention six of them, even sixty more Chonglou Realm cultivators like them couldn't block Zhu Zixi's strike.

They knelt on the ground, stammering wanting to say something, but in their panic they couldn't utter a word.

"Ancestor, what are you saying? Huh? Why are they kneeling on the ground?" A bell‑like beautiful voice came from the carriage, and a girl in a light‑green dress, with bright eyes and white teeth, youthful and lovely, sprang out of the carriage.

She didn't walk out or run out; she happily bounced out, directly bursting through the curtain.

The girl isn't tall—about 1.5 meters—slender and well‑proportioned, like a small pendant carved from jade, exuding a natural charm that makes people like her.

Zhu Zixi bears a dignified and noble aura, behind which hides monstrous evil.

This girl, however, is pure natural youth from the bone, without a trace of evil qi.

She and Zhu Zixi are simply two extremes.

Zhu Zixi showed a hint of indulgence, gently stroking the girl's head and chuckling: "Heh, I didn't say anything…… they're kneeling on the ground because their bones are soft; standing too long gives them a sore back."

He waved his hand and Zhu Zixi said softly: "Forget it; since Yu Mo said so, get up, right? Or do you want me to personally help you up?"

The six elders rose tremblingly, respectfully bowing to the girl: "We greet Miss Yu Mo."

Zhu Zixi smiled faintly, pointed ahead: "Lead the way; hurry to War Blade City—I want to see just how Jia Zhengfeng died."

After a strange silence, the green‑clad girl Yu Mo burst out with a "pfft" laugh.

"Ancestor…… is this palm print yours? Hee, you blasted such a huge pit in the road; if we don't fill it, how can we get past?"

"Heehee, even if we get past…… how will the sect's warriors behind us get through? Are we supposed to let them jump down first and then climb up the other side?"

The six elders drooped their eyelids, silent.

Zhu Zixi gave a dry chuckle, firmly rubbing Yu Mo's head: "Good, smart—just follow your method to get through…… heh, a wall ten‑odd meters high won't stop our sect's warriors."

Zhu Zixi rolled his eyes and glared at the six elders: "Quickly gather people to fill this passageway…… Or do you want me to do it myself? I've always…"

After looking at the smiling Yu Mo beside him, Zhu Zixi swallowed back the words "kill but not bury."

Rank after rank of Changsheng Sect warriors, together with their mounts, jumped down into the huge palm print that spanned the passageway, then climbed up the opposite side.

This palm print, easily stamped out by Zhu Zixi's display of martial prowess, caused the Changsheng Sect followers little trouble.

The great troops surged forward, following the winding passageway straight to the Cangyan Realm, straight to War Blade City.

The six elders were summoned by Zhu Zixi into his carriage; he and Yu Mo listened quietly as the elders laid out everything—every vein of rare ore, every secret aperture, every hidden military force, every strange treasure in the storehouse, and every clan member's possessions that might interest Zhu Zixi.

"Our family has several rare mineral veins, how many secret origin apertures, how many hidden military forces, how many strange treasures in the storehouse, and how many items on our clan members that might catch Zhu Zixi's eye……"

Suddenly, an elder of the Yan family finished speaking, and Zhu Zixi's eyes shot out a chilling blood‑red light: "Blazing Heart Fruit? Idiot, that's the Blazing Three Tribulation Fruit…… that's the Blazing Three Tribulation Fruit…… in this poor backwater of the Cangyan Realm, there's actually such a treasure?"

Zhu Zixi suddenly turned to Yu Mo, smiling as he patted her head: "Yu Mo, these three Blazing Three Tribulation Fruits are enough to help you break through several heavenly layers, boosting your cultivation tenfold…… this truly is your fortune."

Yu Mo raised her eyebrows and also laughed with interest.

In the origin aperture, Wu Tie was plucking three Blazing Three Tribulation Fruits wreathed in firelight, sealing them in a specially made metal container.

Lao Bai then led a swarm of rat offspring forward, digging up the Blazing Three Tribulation Fruit trees and carefully placing them on a large cart.

The ratfolk scouts Lao Bai sent out returned with news: the search parties dispatched from War Blade City have already withdrawn.

Wu Tie gave the order to depart, and the great troops left the origin aperture.