Chapter 293: The Langya Alliance

Xu Chen and True Monarch Guilingzi continued to eat and drink slowly, remaining silent.

The two old Daoists sat cross-legged in meditation, eyes tightly shut, beginning to circulate their cultivation to digest the unprecedented impact brought by this mouthful of Divine Blood Paste.

Violent fluctuations of primordial energy radiated from their bodies.

A full two quarters of an hour passed before the two slowly opened their eyes one after the other, expressions of extreme surprise and excitement appearing on their respective faces.

Such a formidable cultivation-enhancing effect was no less than that of a mid-to-high-grade Three-Grade Spirit Pill.

There is no shortage of First-Grade or Second-Grade Spirit Pills in the Immortal World, but from the Third Grade and above, every single pill is absolutely precious; even within a top-tier Immortal Sect like Yuqing Hall, Three-Grade Spirit Pills remain extremely rare resources.

The Taiyuan Sect has a weak foundation to begin with; although it has developed rapidly over the past two years and accumulated quite a few resources, these are primarily low-end First-tier and Second-tier Spirit Herbs and Spirit Materials, with very few above the Third-tier, and even fewer Three-Grade Spirit Pills.

Therefore, even for Elders like Xuanhe and Xuanfeng who are in the Danyuan Realm, they do not have many pills on hand, and their daily cultivation primarily relies on the Gathering Spirit Array.

Yet right now, just one mouthful of Divine Blood Paste had such magical effects; if this entire jar of Divine Blood Paste were to be fully refined, entering the mid-stage of the Danyuan Realm would be almost certain, as this jar contains at least seven or eight jin, equivalent to hundreds of potent Three-Grade Spirit Pills.

If so many resources still could not pile up their cultivation, the two of them would likely be too ashamed to continue cultivating.

"Chen'er, this item is precious. It would be a waste for us two old men to use it all. I suggest you put it away first and save it for alchemy later; perhaps the effects will be even better and benefit more people," True Person Xuanhe said as Sect Leader, feeling that such extravagance was too wasteful.

Xu Chen, however, shook his head and said, "The Divine Blood Paste is indeed precious, and I didn't bring back much, but as the saying goes, one should make the best use of everything. At present, Underworld Qi is leaking in large quantities and Nether Beasts are ravaging the Mortal World; we do not have much time to develop slowly. I have more Divine Blood Paste on hand, so this jar should be left for Master and the Third Elder to use. After all, high-end combat power is the main force for confronting Nether Beasts and even other Immortal Sects in the future. Now that the Great Elder is away, the defense of the mountain gate is very important. This disciple does not want any Tom, Dick, or Harry from other Immortal Sects to dare come to the Taiyuan Sect and bully us."

The two old Daoists felt somewhat ashamed after hearing this.

Since this young disciple returned from his trip, not only was his cultivation strength something they could no longer fathom, but even his way of speaking and style of conduct were completely different; every word and action carried a sense of immense confidence and imposing manner.

If any other disciple had said these words, they would inevitably have been severely reprimanded by the two old fellows, followed by lessons on being humble and cautious at all times, and not causing trouble for themselves or the mountain gate.

But facing Xu Chen, the two now lacked the courage to do so.

It could be said that the entire Taiyuan Sect reaching its current state was almost entirely due to the changes brought by Xu Chen alone.

The Great Elder's Spirit Transformation, the two of them reaching the Golden Core, a group of disciples achieving Foundation Establishment, the massive benefits brought to the mountain gate by the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill, and Xu Chen twice risking his life at critical moments to guard the Five Elements Great Array—these not only saved countless cultivators in Great Song but also brought great prestige to the Taiyuan Sect.

The entire Taiyuan Sect felt the weight of these many changes.

Not to mention that he had also rescued three disciples who were trapped in danger this time.

What was most incredible was that he had also brought back a Great Cultivator, a True Monarch, who was even obedient to his every word.

With the help of True Monarch Guilingzi, the crisis of the Taiyuan Sect this time could be said to have vanished completely.

Therefore, the two old Daoists exchanged a bitter smile, and then True Person Xuanhe nodded and said, "Since that is the case, we will keep this jar of Divine Blood Paste, cultivate and improve as quickly as possible, and try our best not to hold the mountain gate back."

Xu Chen suddenly realized his tone might have been too harsh, so he quickly and carefully cupped his hands and said, "Master and Third Elder, please forgive me; this disciple has been a bit carried away lately. As for the matter of the Divine Blood Paste entering the Danyuan Realm, I will have to trouble the Third Elder to work hard. This disciple and Senior Guilingzi will rest for two days before heading to Langya Mountain to find the Great Elder and, by the way, rescue the two senior sisters. But before that, I ask Master and the Third Elder to describe in detail the current situation and what happened that day, so that we can respond and handle it accordingly!"

True Person Xuanhe nodded and said, "Very well, this matter indeed should not be delayed for too long. It all started when you went missing from the Five Elements Great Array..."

Following this, the two old Daoists supplemented each other's accounts to explain in detail the current situation regarding the Black Wind and Nether Beasts in Great Song and the surrounding kingdoms, as well as the responses of the Immortal Sects.

After listening, the expressions of Xu Chen and True Monarch Guilingzi both became very grave.

The current situation in the Mortal World had already far exceeded Xu Chen's expectations.

Not long after he was dragged into the underground of the Five Elements Great Array at Black Wind Ridge by the octopus monster and went missing, the Five Elements Great Array and the Eight Extremes Great Array collapsed quickly. The Taiyuan Sect was directly affected by the power of the explosion from the two arrays, and True Monarch Xuanchen had no choice but to lead the entire mountain gate to relocate and settle down at Heming Mountain.

Meanwhile, the situation in other places continued to deteriorate.

The Eastern Wasteland and Dongwu were now completely covered by the Black Wind, and countless Nether Beasts had surged into the territory of Great Song in large numbers.

At present, Nether Beasts were active in at least half of the regions of Great Song, and the death toll among the common people was in the millions.

The civilian cultivators and those from small and medium-sized Immortal Sects who went to intercept the Soul Beasts also suffered heavy casualties, especially the first batch of rogue cultivators who were summoned by the Immortal Alliance to the borders of Dongwu and Great Song, who were almost completely wiped out.

Now, the civilian resistance had almost completely collapsed, and it was entirely up to a few large and medium-sized Immortal Sects like Yuqing Hall and Longhu Mountain to barely hold the line.

The losses of these large and medium-sized Immortal Sects were also very significant; not only was True Monarch Taiwu, the only Great Cultivator of Longhu Mountain, severely wounded, but five other Great Cultivators from the Ming Kingdom, Dongwu, and the Eastern Wasteland had also been injured one after another. As for the experts in the Danyuan Realm, it was heard that more than ten had already fallen in the Song Kingdom and surrounding kingdoms, and the remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Zhenyuan Realm had suffered at least several hundred casualties.

Zhenyuan Realm and Danyuan Realm cultivators have always been the backbone of the Immortal World.

Each one of them is a person with excellent Spirit Roots and top-tier aptitude.

The massive death and injury of these cultivators had seriously threatened the foundation and development of the Immortal World, with impacts that would ripple for decades or even hundreds of years to come.

Yet the current situation had not improved at all; in fact, it was becoming increasingly dire.

Because as of now, at least seven Nether Beasts confirmed to be above the Fourth-Rank had appeared, while only three had been successfully slain.

And those three Nether Beasts had all died at the hands of the two True Spirit Realm True Monarchs, Chixia and Mingyi.

This meant that, in reality, the Song Kingdom and surrounding kingdoms only had two truly capable high-end combatants at the moment; other Great Cultivators in the Spirit Transformation Realm could at most deal with those Third-Tier Nether Beasts.

As for how many Third-Tier Nether Beasts had appeared, it was currently completely unknown.

Judging from the news constantly flowing back from various places, Nether Beasts of the Third-Tier and above were everywhere; the appearance of each one inevitably caused panic and sparked a bloody storm.

And every time such news spread, it was inevitably at the cost of heavy casualties among a large number of cultivators.

At present, not only in Great Song but throughout the entire Southeast Shenzhou region, both the Immortal and Mortal worlds were in a state of panic. Common people had nowhere to hide, while cultivators who could fly and escape were beginning to abandon resistance and flee in fear; the situation had actually rotted to the point of being almost impossible to salvage.

It was against this backdrop that Yuqing Hall united dozens of large and small Immortal Sects from the surrounding kingdoms to jointly request the Shenzhou Immortal Alliance to intervene.

This was how the Langya Alliance came to be.

It was said that the Langya Immortal Alliance Assembly was being hosted by the largest Immortal Sect of Tang Guo, the Thunder God Hall of Longhu Mountain, which was currently ranked second in the Shenzhou Immortal Alliance.

Over a hundred Shenzhou Immortal Sects were coming to the alliance, and it was said that there were over fifty Spirit Realm Great Cultivators alone, hundreds of Danyuan Realm experts, and countless Zhenyuan Realm cultivators.

According to True Monarch Guangling of the Luofu Mountain Xuanhua Sect, who came to deliver the message, this time the Shenzhou Immortal Alliance intended to use thunderous force to completely clear out the powerful Nether Beasts in Southeast Shenzhou and would also find ways to suppress several large Black Wind leakage points, completely quelling this Black Wind and Nether Beast catastrophe.

"In reality, according to the news currently circulating and received, it is not just Southeast Shenzhou that has Black Wind leaks and Nether Beast appearances; they are everywhere throughout Shenzhou. However, because the Southeast region, apart from Yuqing Hall, lacks powerful Immortal Sects to guard it, it is the weakest and has suffered the greatest losses. In fact, the Shu Kingdom, which borders Great Song, is also being harassed by Black Wind and Nether Beasts, causing not insignificant losses, but because Shu Kingdom has a powerful large-scale Daoist site like Qingcheng Mountain, the situation has not spiraled out of control."

When True Person Xuanhe finished speaking, his face was full of helplessness and a sigh of powerlessness.

"The Supreme Elder originally wanted to stay out of it for the time being to observe the development of the situation while accumulating some strength to try and protect ourselves first, but we didn't expect that once the Shenzhou Immortal Alliance took action, this matter would be completely out of our control."

True Person Xuanfeng also sighed while twisting his beard, his face equally filled with gloom.

True Monarch Guilingzi had a serious expression; while listening, he kept pinching his fingers to calculate some vague heavenly secrets, but in the end, he shook his head and said, "The scope of the Nether Beast Catastrophe is too vast; it is no longer something the Mortal World can resist or quell. It is hard to judge how effective this alliance will be; I fear it may end with a whimper."

Xu Chen also had a grave expression. His current realm was too low to sense the aura of the laws of heaven and earth, so naturally, he had no way to perceive these so-called heavenly secrets. However, this matter of asking others for help already had the air of the guest usurping the host's role.

The great battle against the Nether Beasts had not yet begun, but within the Immortal Alliance, they had already started fighting among themselves for the sake of competing for benefits.

A small Immortal Sect like the Taiyuan Sect, which could not even be ranked in Shenzhou, had no say at all in this alliance.

I fear that even Yuqing Hall, which issued the request for this alliance, is equally powerless to influence the development of the situation.

And a special Spirit Pill like the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill that enhances aptitude has likely already become a target for many powerful Immortal Sects outside the Song Kingdom to fight over.

In other words, during this Langya Alliance, Xuanchen Zhenjun and even Yuqing Hall will have to endure extremely intense pressure.

If there are no powerful experts to back them up, there might even be casualties.

Thinking of this, Xu Chen could no longer sit still, so he turned his head and said to Guiling Zhenjun: "Senior, it seems we must hurry to Langya, otherwise the Supreme Elder and Yuqing Hall might be in danger."

Guiling Zhenjun naturally understood the crux of the matter even better, so he nodded solemnly and said: "Correct, there is no time to lose, we need to set off as soon as possible!"

Speaking of this, he seemed to be angry at their lack of ambition, saying: "A thousand years ago, my Yuqing Hall was still ranked in the top five of the Divine Continent; I didn't expect the juniors to be so unaspiring after all these years, with not a single one succeeding in reaching the Spirit Severing stage for such a long time—being slapped in the face is no one else's fault."

The two old Daoists, Xuanhe and Xuanfeng, did not dare to respond.

Xu Chen could only console him: "Senior, your words are too harsh; actually, this cannot be blamed on Senior Chixia and the others. After all, when it comes to cultivation, aptitude alone is far from enough; opportunity and resources are even more important. Since the matter is now roughly clear, Senior can rest at Taiyuan Sect for two days, and after stabilizing your realm, we will set off immediately."

"That is fine, then I will trouble Daoist Friend Xu to help arrange lodging; additionally, please prepare some Spirit Stones for me. Once I have accumulated some strength, I will go and meet these up-and-coming talents who have risen in the Divine Continent over these years to see exactly how strong they are." Guiling Zhenjun shook his tattered Daoist robe and stood up.

(End of this chapter)