Chapter 117: Stabilizing the Situation

What happens after returning to the mountain is no longer Xu Chen's concern.

Huayang Zhenren is at the Danyuan Late Stage of cultivation; although he suffered heavy injuries from the strong backlash of the array, his aura is still relatively stable. After Xuanchen Zhenjun examined him, he had someone feed him a few Spirit Pills and sent him to a quiet room to recuperate.

Xu Wen's Soul suffered heavy damage, and his Soul aura is extremely weak, on the verge of death. However, the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill is just the right medicine for this condition. After feeding him one, the Third Elder used his own power to help him refine it, and his aura soon strengthened significantly; he should be considered to have pulled his life back from the brink.

The one who suffered the lightest injuries is Lan You.

However, her vital energy was exhausted to the point of depletion, and her Soul suffered violent shocks after being impacted by the Black Spider Soul Beast's roar, leaving her Soul aura scattered, but there is no danger to her life. Likewise, after being fed a few Spirit Pills, she was sent to Zhao Xuan's small courtyard to recuperate.

Having gone through a fierce battle, Xu Chen's vital energy was also almost completely depleted, so he returned straight to his small wooden hut to begin recuperating and restoring his energy.

At this time, the Taiyuan Sect has become like a massive field hospital. Aside from Xu Chen's remote and dilapidated hut, all the small courtyards where his fellow disciples rest are filled with injured cultivators, primarily low-level rogue cultivators of the Kaiyuan Realm.

Fortunately, the two great sects, Yuqing Hall and Longmen Mountain, were very generous this time. Not only did they send the most people, but they also brought a large amount of Spirit Pills, Magic Treasures, and various supplies. Furthermore, they specifically brought several Zhenyuan Realm physicians and alchemists proficient in alchemy and healing. The logistics were quite good, and everyone received excellent treatment and care.

However, the massive casualties caused by this operation still left everyone feeling nervous and uneasy.

At present, the number of dead cultivators alone totals nearly fifty, among whom there is no lack of Zhenyuan Realm powerhouses.

Especially today, when that Black Spider Soul Beast broke through the Array Eye and launched a sudden attack, Yuqing Hall lost eight Zhenyuan Realm disciples in one go. This loss made the elder council of Yuqing Hall almost vomit blood.

So many corpses were laid out on the plaza outside the main hall of the sect; looking out, they were densely packed, many of them mangled beyond human recognition.

There were also several who had long since been torn to pieces or even devoured by Soul Beasts, to the point where not even their remains could be found.

In other words, up to this point, nearly ten percent of the cultivators who participated in this operation have died.

This is a terrifying number.

In the entire Great Song Immortal World over the past thousand years, there has never been a record of so many cultivators dying in a single event.

And this loss is destined to bring a great shock to the Great Song Immortal World; many small sects and rogue cultivator families have vanished into smoke because of this.

Therefore, the entire Taiyuan Sect is shrouded in an atmosphere of sorrow.

However, after such painful casualties, the two great arrays were finally stabilized.

To prevent further accidents, Xuanchen Zhenjun decided to go to Black Wind Ridge personally to guard it, and at the same time began distributing large amounts of Spirit Pills for replenishment.

Consequently, the remaining cultivators still clearing out Soul Beasts at Black Wind Ridge also felt much more at ease.

In the blink of an eye, another day passed. The Soul Beasts in the outer areas of the core region of Black Wind Ridge have basically been cleared out; aside from a small number that escaped, it is rare to see the shadows of Soul Beasts anymore.

The speed at which the Black Wind erupts from the breach continues to weaken, now only reaching a height of a thousand zhang, and the number of Soul Beasts erupting is also decreasing sharply. However, the Black Mist has already spread to an area of ten thousand li in radius; the pervasive Black Mist is like a massive pot lid, shrouding the entire Black Wind Ridge within a diameter of over a hundred li.

Animals and plants across the mountains and plains have begun to die. Wherever the Black Wind reaches, aside from some formidable wild beasts, Demon Beasts, and Spirit Beasts, it has almost become a dead zone.

And the flowing Black Mist continues to overflow along mountain gullies and river valleys, now less than ten li away from the nearest Nanyang City.

Additionally, a small number of Soul Beasts have begun to appear near Nanyang City; mortal villages have been attacked, and many commoners and livestock have died.

To prevent too many mortal casualties, the Taiyuan Sect arranged for a group of cultivators to begin patrolling and setting up defenses near Nanyang City, while simultaneously notifying the City Lord to begin evacuating the commoners.

For a time, the usually prosperous and peaceful Nanyang City was filled with cries that shook the heavens, as crowds of refugees fled in terror with ox carts and horse carriages.

If the continued spread of the Black Mist cannot be stopped in time, in at most another day, Nanyang City will also become a dead zone.

Fortunately, on the third day, Chixia Zhenjun, who had gone out to scout for information, was the first to return. After personally acting to stabilize the Five Elements Array, he once again set up a Clear Wind Returning Cloud Array on the edge of the Southern Border Mountains near Wild Wolf Valley, which finally blocked the Black Wind from continuing to spread toward Nanyang City.

The Clear Wind Returning Cloud Array is merely a simple Second-Tier array; it possesses no defensive or offensive power, but it can continuously generate flowing wind to blow the Black Mist deep into the Southern Border.

Thus, the threat to Nanyang City can be considered temporarily lifted.

Over the next two days, Baiyun Zhenjun, Yuyang Zhenjun, and Taiwu Zhenjun returned one after another.

Upon learning of the massive changes and heavy losses at Black Wind Ridge, they all turned pale and their Dao hearts wavered, while also sighing with emotion that it was truly handled in time, otherwise a greater disaster would have been brewed.

Because according to the information reported by the four returning True Monarchs, in reality, several kingdoms surrounding Great Song have all suffered from the rampant Black Wind. The losses in the immortal and mortal worlds of each country are not small; not to mention the Kaiyuan Realm and Zhenyuan Realm, even the Danyuan Realm suffered many losses.

The Ming Kingdom, whose strength is similar to Great Song, currently has three Black Wind leaks. Moreover, they did not pay enough attention at the beginning, and by the time they discovered it, it was already completely out of control. Thousands upon thousands of Soul Beasts had already appeared in the mortal realm. By the time the various Immortal Sects felt the severity of the situation and began to unite to suppress them, it was already too late. The areas covered by the Black Wind were all several thousand to ten thousand li in radius. To slaughter the Soul Beasts and suppress the Black Wind passages, the Ming Kingdom lost three Danyuan Realm powerhouses in succession, while the casualties of the Zhenyuan Realm and Kaiyuan Realm are impossible to count.

The most tragic casualties are undoubtedly the Immortal Sects in the Eastern Wasteland, which have already lost one Spirit Realm Great Cultivator and four Danyuan Realm powerhouses. Although no further news has been released, the death toll of low- and mid-level cultivators must be even more terrifying.

The Eastern Wasteland is incredibly vast, stretching ten thousand li in each direction, but the scale of the Black Wind erupting from the Void Abyss is more than a hundred times larger than that of Black Wind Ridge. It is almost as if the ocean had a massive hole torn in it; even seawater was sprayed a thousand zhang into the sky by the Black Wind. For hundreds of li around, it was as if the sea and sky were inverted, and looking from afar, it was like the arrival of the apocalypse. It was so terrifying that it made Chixia Zhenjun's heart and soul feel as if they were splitting.

At present, nearly half of the entire Eastern Wasteland is shrouded in black smoke, the seawater is also pitch black, and Soul Beasts are everywhere in the sea and sky. The mortals living there are almost all dead, and as for the cultivators, aside from a few powerhouses, those who managed to escape are few and far between, with casualties numbering at least in the thousands.

Therefore, although Great Song's operation seems to have suffered heavy losses, by comparison, it is the most minor among all the kingdoms.

With the successive return of the several True Monarchs, all the large and small Immortal Sects and cultivators who came to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Soul Beasts felt as if they had taken a reassurance pill, and their spirits suddenly soared.

Especially after learning of the encounters in the surrounding kingdoms, the atmosphere became even more enthusiastic, sweeping away the pain and depression brought about by the heavy casualties of the previous few days.

"Better than some, worse than others; although we suffered heavy casualties, Ming Kingdom and the Eastern Wasteland seem to be even worse off."

After a simple comparison of their misery, everyone discovered that, in reality, the Song Kingdom Immortal World had the greatest gains and the fewest sacrifices this time.

Thus, the entire Taiyuan Sect and the gathering places of the two arrays were filled with the jubilation of hundreds of cultivators.

And the core figure who brought this major turning point and change to the Great Song immortal and mortal worlds is neither the five True Monarchs nor some peerless genius, but the youngest and lowest-cultivation disciple of the Taiyuan Sect, Xu Chen.

Consequently, all the matters regarding Xu Chen—how he wounded Yulong Zhenren in Jingshi, then killed a Ziyang Sect cultivator from the Ming Kingdom, and how a few months ago he entered the Black Wind Ridge cave in a gambling match with Yuqing Hall disciples, ultimately bringing back the news that the Ancient Fierce Beast guarding the Netherworld Passage had escaped and that a True Immortal had notified them that the Netherworld Passage would open and a large number of Soul Beasts would appear—all became hot topics in the Immortal World.

Additionally, three days ago, Xu Chen forcibly blocked the Black Spider Soul Beast that was breaking the array within the Five Elements Array at Black Wind Ridge. Together with the fourth-generation core female disciple of Yuqing Hall, Lan You, the two of them, with only Zhenyuan Realm and Kaiyuan Realm cultivation respectively, stabilized the Array Eye of the Five Elements Array, ultimately winning the timing for Xuanchen Zhenjun to strike, which led to the final victory at hand.

Therefore, in just two or three days, Xu Chen's great name swept through the Great Song Immortal World.

And he, a small cultivator with only Kaiyuan Late Stage cultivation, unexpectedly became the object that cultivators of all sizes from various Immortal Sects and rogue cultivators were enthusiastically eager to befriend.

After this battle, not only did the Taiyuan Sect establish its prestige under the two strikes of Xuanchen Zhenjun, finally confirming its true status as the third largest Immortal Sect in Great Song.

Xu Chen also became famous as a result. Many young female cultivators even began to cast flirtatious glances, inviting him to drink tea and discuss the Dao or go to the two arrays to slaughter Demon Beasts. There were even many Sect Leaders and Elders of Immortal Sects who began to negotiate with Xuanchen Zhenjun and the two Elders, wanting to arrange sect marriages and introduce their own sect's excellent direct-line female disciples to Xu Chen as his Daolu.

Regarding these changes and news, Xu Chen was left between laughter and tears, and could only hide in his small, dilapidated wooden hut all day long, refusing to see anyone, claiming to the outside world that he had suffered heavy injuries after the battle with the Black Spider Soul Beast and needed to go into seclusion to heal.

Two more days passed. The five True Monarchs joined forces to reinforce the two arrays again, and after setting up a large number of auxiliary arrays such as the Bewitching Array, Trap Array, and Qingfeng Liuyun Array in the outer perimeter, the scale of the Black Mist's spread was finally contained. The small number of Soul Beasts that were still continuously appearing finally stopped escaping into the surrounding mountains and wilderness. Only then could this massive catastrophe be considered to have truly stabilized.

The next task is to use these two arrays as strongholds, arranging for Immortal Sects and cultivators to take turns sitting in guard to clear out and slaughter Soul Beasts year-round, serving both as a place for immortal cultivators to gain experience and as a way to continuously obtain Soul Beads.

(End of chapter)