Chapter 492

These two blue-robed cultivators emitted an aura nearly identical to that of Ma Hongshan in the council hall; it was clear they were also two Jin Dan cultivators with no small amount of cultivation base. Moreover, judging by their attire, they were obviously not local cultivators from the Wei State.

Upon seeing these two, Ma Hongshan's expression immediately changed into a smiling face, and he quickly put away the letter in his hand.

"Haha! What are you two fellow Daoists saying? Whether the reinforcements from the Xiaoyao Sect can actually come is still unknown. You also know the current situation of Mount Tiexian Fortress; even if they could truly dispatch reinforcements, it would not be so easy to lift the siege immediately.

When we invited you here, Mount Tiexian Fortress had already made its choice. Please rest assured, two fellow Daoists; I, Ma Hongshan, will absolutely not easily go back on what I have promised."

After hearing Ma Hongshan's words, one of the two blue-robed cultivators, a young man, nodded with a satisfied expression.

"Hmm! Fellow Daoist Ma's words are quite pleasant to hear. We are only here to remind you not to forget what you promised back then; you don't need to be too nervous, Fellow Daoist Ma.

Rest assured, as soon as the people from the Xiaoyao Sect arrive, we will immediately withdraw from Mount Tiexian Fortress. Regarding the matters between us, please ensure you handle the aftermath well, Fellow Daoist Ma. You must not let the people from the Xiaoyao Sect see any clues, otherwise, everything we all want in the future will be wasted. Fellow Daoist Ma, you agree, right?"

Ma Hongshan nodded slightly and replied: "That is only natural. If the Xiaoyao Sect were to find out about our original agreement, I fear Mount Tiexian Fortress would not exist for much longer. I know what to do without you telling me, so you two can rest easy!"

"Also, this time when we return, we must take one person away from Mount Tiexian Fortress. Although this is something you already promised long ago, we still need to give you a heads-up in advance. Fellow Daoist Ma shouldn't have any objections, right?"

"Are you talking about that girl, Yin Die?"

Ma Hongshan even extended the same courtesy to Feng Yangde, who was beside him, completely losing the air of a senior he had previously held in front of him.

After the army of supporting cultivators arrived near Mount Tiexian Fortress, Ma Hongshan, who had already received the news, immediately led a team of cultivators out of Mount Tiexian Fortress in person to come and meet Chu Fengping and Feng Yangde.

After defeating the demon beast army at Mount Tuoyun, Chu Fengping and Feng Yangde spent more than half a month cleaning up the battlefield and resting before setting off with the combined army of thousands of cultivators toward Mount Tiexian Fortress in the southwest.

Ma Hongshan's attitude had changed so drastically that it even made Feng Yangde himself feel a bit awkward. Not long ago, when Feng Yangde repelled the Liu Yunhe Demon King, Ma Hongshan had personally written a letter requesting him to come and provide support first to relieve some pressure on Mount Tiexian Fortress.

"I naturally have no objections to this matter. It is just that there have been successive battles with demon beasts recently, and I haven't had the chance to speak to her about it yet. I ask the two fellow Daoists not to be impatient and give me a few days to properly discuss this with her."

"Very well! Then let it be as Fellow Daoist Ma says. In any case, the people from the Xiaoyao Sect won't come that quickly, and we are not in a rush for these few days." After the young man finished speaking, he turned and left the council hall together with the other blue-robed person who had remained silent since entering.

After the three met, Ma Hongshan, who usually appeared somewhat cold in front of the many Jin Dan cultivators of the Xiaoyao Sect, suddenly became very enthusiastic upon seeing the Xiaoyao Sect reinforcements he had been looking forward to every day. He immediately showered Chu Fengping with thanks and bowed several times.

Hearing Ma Hongshan's inquiry, the young man who had just spoken did not answer directly, but instead looked at Ma Hongshan not far away with a smile.

After the two of them left, Ma Hongshan, sitting at the head of the table, immediately put away his previous smile and clenched his fists tightly, only slowly relaxing them after a good while.

Guarding this side was a Jin Dan early-stage Demon King of limited strength. Seeing Ma Hongshan coming out aggressively and the Xiaoyao Sect reinforcements not far away, this Jin Dan Demon King, along with the demon beast army under his command, resisted slightly before quickly yielding the path to them under the pincer attack of the human cultivators.

However, at the time, because he was worried that the Liu Yunhe Demon King might return at any moment, Feng Yangde had not agreed to Ma Hongshan's request for support and had never dared to take a single step away from Mount Tuoyun. Logically speaking, Ma Hongshan should have harbored quite a bit of resentment toward Feng Yangde.

Before coming this time, Feng Yangde had specifically mentioned this to Chu Fengping, hoping that when they met Ma Hongshan, Chu Fengping could help act as a peacemaker to ease the relationship between himself and Ma Hongshan.

Even Feng Yangde himself did not expect that Ma Hongshan's attitude would change so quickly upon seeing them, as if he had completely forgotten that Feng Yangde had refused to support Mount Tiexian Fortress back then. This left the explanation Feng Yangde had been brewing for many days with no use.

After the three exchanged pleasantries, under Ma Hongshan's lead, the many supporting cultivators soon entered Mount Tiexian Fortress as well.

Over the past half year, Mount Tiexian Fortress had suffered countless attacks from the demon beast army. Although the city was still protected by a third-tier formation, some of the more peripheral buildings and city walls had long been riddled with holes from various spell attacks.

Seeing the dilapidated and miserable state of Mount Tiexian Fortress, Chu Fengping and Feng Yangde could hardly imagine how many crises Mount Tiexian Fortress had encountered over the past half year. It was evident that Ma Hongshan holding the fort with the Ma family cultivators until now was truly no easy feat.

Apart from Guiyun Workshop, Mount Tiexian Fortress had always been the place where demon beasts had invaded the most in the Wei State for many years. This time, the siege of Mount Tiexian Fortress involved four Demon King armies at once, which was something no one, including the Ma family, had expected.

Even though Mount Tiexian Fortress had been cultivated by the Ma family for hundreds of years and its garrison strength was much stronger than that of Mount Tuoyun, the fact that it could hold out until now against the frantic attacks of so many Demon Kings had already surprised everyone from the Xiaoyao Sect and Mount Tuoyun.

Although Mount Tiexian Fortress had lost many peripheral territories and quite a few cultivators and mortals over the past half year, the mountain-protecting formation remained intact. With these thousands of reinforcements stationed there, plus the presence of three Jin Dan cultivators, the defensive line at Mount Tiexian Fortress was quickly consolidated.

The four Demon Kings that came to Mount Tiexian Fortress were only at the Jin Dan mid-stage at their strongest. Ma Hongshan and Chu Fengping were also Jin Dan mid-stage cultivators, and with the help of Feng Yangde, a False Core cultivator, and the backing of the third-tier mountain-protecting formation, they were fully capable of dealing with these four Demon Kings.

After receiving the news from Mount Tiexian Fortress, the people from the Xiaoyao Sect still at Guiyun Workshop finally felt relieved. Although the demon beast army had not yet been completely repelled at Guiyun Workshop, as long as the crises at the other battlefields had been resolved, the Xiaoyao Sect had sufficient patience to wear down the demon beast army.

The two weaker demon beast armies at Jin Shan Workshop and Mount Tuoyun had been completely routed by the Wei State cultivators, and the remaining two battlefields at Guiyun Workshop and Mount Tiexian Fortress had successively entered a stalemate. The situation in the north of the Wei State had finally stabilized completely.

Compared to the demon beast turmoil a hundred years ago, although the price paid by the entire Wei State in dealing with this catastrophe was more tragic, they still managed to withstand the pressure of the northern border demon beasts without any major mishaps.

Besides the Wei State, more than a dozen large and small countries near the Fuyun Mountain Range felt even greater pressure than before in the face of this northern border demon beast turmoil. Some of the stronger ones had already steadily reached a stalemate with the demon beast side, just like the Wei State, but more countries were still in the midst of bloody battles with the demon beasts.

This catastrophe, which occurs once every hundred years, basically takes away the lives of hundreds of millions of mortals and cultivators in the Fuyun Mountain Range cultivation world each time. Especially in the last few tens of thousands of years, the northern border demon beasts have occupied an advantageous position, constantly encroaching on the territory of the human race in the south. This has made the human side of the Fuyun Mountain Range cultivation world feel increasing pressure, yet they are very helpless.

The demon race reproduces at an incredibly fast rate, and their lifespans are several times longer than those of human cultivators of the same tier. They are also naturally more adaptable to harsh environments than the human side.

In contrast, the greatest advantage of human cultivators is that their spiritual intelligence awakens earlier, and the cultivation speed of ordinary cultivators is much faster than that of the demon race. Furthermore, their mastery of the hundred arts of cultivation is far superior to that of the demon race. It is precisely through these that they have compensated for some of their own disadvantages.

If there are no other external forces to change the situation, in this area of the Fuyun Mountain Range, the demon race will only become stronger and stronger. As the territory of the human race shrinks, the number of newborn mortals and cultivators will also decrease, and their strength will naturally become weaker and weaker. If this continues for another few tens of thousands of years, the entire southern part of the Fuyun Mountain Range will fall into the hands of the demon race.

To change this situation, unless one or two legendary Soul Transformation cultivators with enough strength to break the deadlock can be born near the Fuyun Mountain Range to lead the human cultivators to recapture the territory lost over so many years, only then can the human side of the Fuyun Mountain Range slowly recover and regain control of the initiative here.

This demon beast turmoil lasted a little longer than previous ones, lasting nearly three years in total before the demon side began to retreat across the board into the northern Fuyun Mountain Range. The entire Fuyun Mountain Range cultivation world finally survived this catastrophe and ushered in a long-lost peace.

In the Wei State, although the two places of Guiyun Workshop and Mount Tiexian Fortress, which were in a stalemate with the demon beasts, experienced many battles in the following two years, the duration and scale were far less tragic than before.

In some battles, even the combat power above the Jin Dan level on both sides did not directly take action. Both sides tacitly stood on the sidelines, watching the Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation cultivators below fight the demon beasts. In these two years, the casualties were basically those low-tier cultivators and first or second-tier demon beasts below.

After the remaining demon beast army north of Guiyun Workshop completely retreated into the depths of the Fuyun Mountain Range, Song Qingming, who was at Guiyun Workshop, finally completed the task of this sect conscription and slowly returned to Jiangling County with the many cultivators under his command.

(End of chapter)