Chapter 707

Looking at the current complete map of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom's territory, Wuguo's lands lie due south.

The original territories of Great Wei and Green Hill were like two rabbit ears, left and right, neatly stuck onto Wuguo's head.

In Wuguo's southern borders lies a place called the Eighty Thousand Wilds, where the original Great Martial Divine Kingdom established thirty-six prefectural seats.

The combined population and output of those thirty-six prefectures still fall short of a single subordinate district of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom.

This place is extremely barbaric and primitive, everywhere are towering mountains and steep ridges, the forests filled with poisonous miasma, and countless fearsome venomous snakes, fierce beasts, evil birds and malign creatures roam. Although the mountains do contain various rare medicinal herbs and minerals, very few people can obtain anything of value from them.

What's worse, at the heart of these thirty-six unfortunate prefectures, surrounded by mountains, lies a 'Devil's Nest'.

Wu Tie's flagship—obtained at a small cost by exchanging with Linghu Qingqing, is the enormous dragon barge that the Great Wei Divine Emperor once had to ride on his tours, now hovering at the edge of this Devil's Nest.

This dragon barge—its oars are useless; aside from being splendidly gilded and huge, it has no other merits, a complete wreck.

Oh, my mistake—this is an extremely costly wreck; at the very least, the former Great Wei royal family poured a huge sum into building it, every inch of its hull piled up from mountains of gold and seas of silver.

Even Gongyang Sanlü, who took over the Great Wei royal treasury, has no interest in continuing to indulge this wretched thing.

So Wu Tie bought this big fellow for just a thousand bottles of Grand Dao Treasure Pills.

The reason is, Da Tie said that after his production line overhaul, he could upgrade this giant dragon barge into a divine artifact worthy of its original cost, its power absolutely surpassing that of the four spirit warships arrayed in battle formation by a wide margin.

So Wu Tie bought it back.

Now, more than ten elders of the Divine Realm from the Great Wei aristocratic clans man the dragon barge's core cabin, using their own divine power to propel it, having traveled countless miles from Iron Cauldron Mountain City to arrive here.

The Devil's Nest, or more precisely speaking, it is the 'Devil's Eye'.

It is roughly olive-shaped, with a major axis of over twelve thousand li and a minor axis of over eight thousand li, forming an underground cavern.

The pitch-black poisonous mist fills the bottomless depths, the cliff walls overgrown with all kinds of highly toxic climbing plants, and moreover they are all vicious, bloodthirsty carnivorous plants; just this alone shows how troublesome and terrifying they are.

On the cliff walls, accompanying those troublesome, terrifying climbing plants are countless beehives each hundreds of zhang in diameter, inside which swarm innumerable fist-sized tiger-striped iron-needle wasps.

These poisonous wasps are vast in number, endless to kill; their bodies are only fist-sized, yet their stingers are over two inches long, enough to pierce spirit-soldier-grade armor. Once surrounded by them, a force of a hundred thousand would be wiped out in the time it takes to eat a meal.

This cavern leads straight down to the depths of the Fuxi Divine Kingdom below.

From time to time, countless subterranean natives swarm out of this Devil's Nest, just like the great rift valley in the Green Hill Divine Kingdom's Demon-Suppressing City defense line. Innumerable subterranean natives rush out, burning, killing, looting everywhere, plundering all rare resources useful to the underground.

The reason these thirty-six surrounding prefectures are so desolate is not only because the surrounding natural environment is overly harsh, but also because they are inseparably linked to the constant harassment of the subterranean natives.

Around the Devil's Nest, countless forts have been densely built on the hilltops.

Between the forts, passageways deep within the mountains form a spiderweb-like network, linking each fort into a unified whole.

Between the mountains, massive gun emplacements pile up thickly; in the valleys that appear empty, great clouds of smoke rise, where occasionally one can see gateways faintly appearing and disappearing.

In the ancient times here, countless formation restrictions are densely laid, and they are all extremely vicious and ruthless killing formations.

The Great Martial Divine Kingdom's formation prowess is practically nil; all these formation restrictions were bought at great expense from the Great Wei Divine Kingdom.

Although the three states previously fought each other to the point of bloody heads, when it came to dealing with the subterranean Fuxi Divine Kingdom, they presented a united front. The formation restrictions sold by Great Wei are quite effective, not some shoddy junk meant to deceive.

Hordes of Great Wei Li, Yuan, and Mohist clansmen roam the mountains, dismantling the original formation restrictions one by one and then reinstalling ones with greater power and higher rank.

Yuan Qilin personally took the lead, bringing a group of Yuan clan Divine Realm elders to communicate with the power of heaven and earth, linking together each newly installed grand formation.

Thus the mountains erupted in fierce winds, and the thick mist spewed out with a 'gurgle-gurgle-gurgle-gurgle'.

The thick mist in the mountains spread until one could not see one's hand before one's face, and moreover rays of rosy light shot out from the mist, crisscrossing like a great net that tightly enveloped the entire Devil's Nest.

Accompanied by a low, humming rumble, dozens of metal forts ten li long and wide slid slowly out of a distant spatial gate and flew over here. These metal forts are products carefully remodeled by Da Tie, with stronger defense, greater lethality, more giant divine troops stationed inside, and thus even more formidable combat power.

Dozens of these metal forts will constantly hover above the Devil's Nest, strictly guarding against any subterranean natives that might attack from below.

Wu Jin, Wu Yin, Wu Tong, together with a large host of Wu clan youths, directed the troops of the Heavenly Martial Army, chanting work songs, with the aid of countless giant divine troops, dismantling the giant light cannons originally mounted in the emplacements and replacing them with the latest models of heavy cannons.

With the Mohists' addition and Da Tie, this ancient relic, Wu Tie's Wuguo now surpasses the original Great Wei Divine Kingdom by several grades in the manufacture of heavy weaponry.

The newly built batch of cannons is smaller in volume, lower in energy consumption, yet its explosive lethality is stronger, and it also possesses various special properties; each cannon's actual combat power equals that of twenty or more of the old ones.

Da Tie has already taken control of the ancient armaments workshop of the former Great Martial Divine Kingdom, and a steady stream of new-model cannons is flowing out of the workshop.

As long as the emplacements near the Devil's Nest are all replaced, their explosive lethality will become twenty times that of the past… and Wu Tie intends to increase the density of those emplacements near the Devil's Nest by more than tenfold.

In other words, the future artillery strike power near the Devil's Nest will be over two hundred times that of the Great Martial Divine Kingdom when it still existed.

One can imagine that it will be a horrifying scene like a sea of fire and purgatory.

At the prow of the huge dragon barge, only Wu Tie and the Wu Yu old man's three corpses avatar stand still here.

On the vast deck of the dragon barge, aside from the two of them, only a thousand zhang away do companies of giant divine troops march back and forth. The other attendants, including the various clan elders whose lives and deaths are already under Wu Tie's control, all crouch in the cabins, yielding the deck to Wu Tie and Wu Yu.

"Heh heh, I'm waiting to see those old monsters of the Chuju clan wailing and crying for their mother." Wu Yu laughed gleefully at their misfortune.

He pointed at the Devil's Nest below, grinning with bared teeth, and said: "Xiao Tie, do you know? The Chuju clan and our Wu clan are mortal enemies."

He shook his head, smacked his lips, and Wu Yu muttered: "Just how did this feud start? I've forgotten; who knows what the grudge left by our ancestors is all about?"

"But after all these years, who can count how many of our good daughters they've snatched away, or how many of their dog sons we've killed?"

"Tsk, I know full well that several times when the Fuxi Divine Kingdom launched a full-scale mobilization to strike the surface, the Chuju clan stabbed us in the back, killing several of my old brothers—but they didn't come out ahead either… they lost even more than we did."

"This feud is settled, settled for good." Wu Yu sneered: "The Devil's Nest below lies directly opposite the Chuju clan's ancestral land. Whenever the Fuxi Divine Kingdom mounts a full-scale mobilization to strike the surface, a small portion of their people follow the main force into battle, but their own main force, along with a pack of the Chuju clan's dog sons, will chiefly surge out of the ground from here."

"Give them a good lesson, don't show them any face." Wu Yu's eyes narrowed into slits as he laughed.

"That old fogey Chuju Ni never dreamed that our descendants would control Great Martial and block this passageway they hold." Wu Yu heaved a deep sigh: "Come to think of it, it's also infuriating—our Wu clan is so powerful, yet we simply lack a surface passageway of our own… really, it's frustrating and unjust."

Wu Tie smiled and nodded: "The Chuju clan being my family's enemy? That couldn't be better. From now on, many essays will be easy to write."

Wu Tie took a deep breath and lifted his gaze to the sky.

He widened his eyes, staring fixedly at the blazing sun hanging high above his head.

The sunlight that should have been blinding now felt warm and moist like water in Wu Tie's eyes, causing him no discomfort whatsoever.

Not only the sunlight, over these past few days Wu Tie has verified many interesting phenomena.

He enters water without getting wet, fire without burning, his body stays clean, unstained by dust.

Whether he is chopped by blades or axes, or struck by thunderbolts, none can inflict any harm upon him.

Even all manner of deadly poisons found in the world, he had his subordinates gather the thirty thousand naturally occurring toxic substances from Wuguo's lands, concoct them into a great vat, and gulp it down; to his present body, those poisons are like a cup of pure water, causing him no harm.

Moreover, that vat of deadly poison, which would inflict massive harm on other Divine Realm elders, has perfectly merged into his flesh, nourishing and gestating within him, becoming a great tonic.

Three thousand Grand Dao, eighty-four thousand side doors.

The Grand Dao laws of heaven and earth all converge into one, and they perfectly merge with itself, achieving a perfect Dharma Body never seen before.

In this heaven and earth, any tangible or intangible thing transformed from the Grand Dao laws, unless its energy level far exceeds Wu Tie's body, generally cannot inflict even the slightest harm on him.

Because this heaven and earth regards Wu Tie's body as part of itself.

Therefore, ordinary natural energy attacks can no longer pose any threat to Wu Tie.

Only the divine power of the Divine Manifestation Realm—a divine power that unifies essence, energy, and spirit and possesses a trace of self-awareness—can threaten Wu Tie in essence. But whether this divine power can harm Wu Tie depends on their cultivation level and the strength of their power.

"Are you sure you want to be here?" Wu Yu stared at Wu Tie very seriously.

"Right here." Wu Tie looked at Wu Yu with a smile: "Since you told me, old man, that this demon's den is the Taowu clan's territory, I've decided to stay here. First, to give the Taowu clan a little color to see; second, to put on a show for certain people, or non‑human things, to watch."

Wu Yu then closed his mouth and remained silent.

Wu Tie stood at the bow of the dragon boat, waiting quietly.

After waiting three days and three nights, a wisp of extremely fine, extremely long black‑and‑white spiritual light shuttled through the void at a breath‑taking speed; in just a few flashes it swiftly came from the horizon to Wu Tie's front.

The Yin Yang Daoist landed on the dragon boat with a chuckle, handing over fifty‑one God's Tokens to Wu Tie, and at the same time passed over a jade slip recording the method of crafting the God's Tokens.

Wu Tie smiled as he received these things.

Upon seeing the Yin Yang Daoist, Wu Tie instantly knew of the secret agreement the Yin Yang Daoist had reached with You Ruo.

"Thus, excellent—You Ruo now has a rival; this is good for us… though I fear they might be united as one solid block." Wu Tie laughed especially brightly, flung open his wide sleeves, and stepped step by step from the dragon boat's prow into the void, walking toward the center of the demon's den.

Wu Yu, meanwhile, widened his eyes, incredulously recalling what he had just seen.

Did I see wrong? Did I see wrong?

Is that the legendary God's Token?

And it's fifty‑one God's Tokens!

As for the God's Token, it once appeared in the Fuxi God Kingdom… how many years ago was that? The Fuxi God Kingdom produced a stunningly talented prince, and the Xi clan, at an unknown cost, nearly losing their minds, secretly purchased one from the Great Wei God Kingdom.

Heaven knows how that deal was accomplished; anyway, he did accomplish it.

That was the very occasion when Wu Yu saw what a God's Token looks like. It is a treasure that guarantees a hundred percent breakthrough into the Divine Manifestation Realm, with absolutely no heavenly tribulation descending!

Wu Yu recalled how he himself had broken through to the Divine Manifestation Realm back then.

That was… a harrowing and tragic ordeal too painful to recall…

To the subterranean natives, the appearance of each Divine Manifestation Realm elder is undoubtedly a brutal ordeal, like having one's bones picked clean and flesh devoured from the entire clan.

"So many God's Tokens…" Wu Yu muttered to himself.

"Ancestor, I also brought back the method for crafting the God's Tokens." The Yin Yang Daoist said lightly: "As long as we don't go overboard, keep this secret, then in the future any suitable young men of the clan can…"

Wu Yu's hands were like iron hooks; he grabbed the Yin Yang Daoist's throat in one grip, nearly strangling him to death on the spot.

"You… you… you…" Wu Yu's eyes turned a grim green: "You bunch of little brats… you…"

Wu Yu, excited, let out three loud burps: "My Wu clan, my Wu clan… my tribe… my tribe…"

A nameless surge of fury and hatred rose from Wu Yu's heart, turning into a sour hot stream that rushed to his eye sockets; after so many years—who knows how old he is—Wu Yu finally burst into two streams of hot tears.

His tears sprayed like a fountain, making a 'hiss‑hiss' sound as they hit the Yin Yang Daoist's chest.

Wu Tie walked to directly above the demon's den, looked down at the pitch‑black mist filling the bottomless abyss, gave a faint smile, and took out a God's Token, gripping it in his hand.

Then his Divine Fetus flickered; a strand of divine light shot from within his Divine Fetus, instantly permeating his whole body, and then a strand of Divine Soul power merged with his perfect Dharma Body into one.

The Divine Fetus and Divine Body began to merge; spirit and body united, becoming a Divine Manifestation.

Heaven and earth erupted in gales; all clouds in the high sky vanished suddenly, an inexplicable feeling of being watched came from the firmament above, and faint thunder rumbled all around.

Wu Tie raised the God's Token high, poured his mana into it, and a strange ripple spread outward in all directions.

That feeling of being watched vanished instantly; all omens around disappeared, and the sense of doom lurking in the dark faded… Wu Tie's whole body glittered with splendid divine light; his Divine Fetus shrank a little, and strand after strand of Divine Soul power continually merged with his flesh.

The first level of the Divine Manifestation Realm was easily broken through.