Chapter 188: Consolidating Strength, a Martial Arts Tournament?!

"Fellow Daoist, swallow this Gu insect, and from now on we are our own people. As long as you honestly refine puppets, I can guarantee you will have no worries about your life."

Chen Mo's tone was kind, a smile on his face, his attitude toward Ziyuan Daoist completely different from how he treated that black-veiled beautiful woman.

Ziyuan Daoist possessed a craft, and he would surely have use for him in the future.

Controlling him is one thing, but one cannot go too far.

After all, the matter of refining puppets can ultimately be dragged out.

"Many thanks, My Lord." Ziyuan Daoist wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and replied respectfully.

He had just had the Gu insect planted in him by Chen Mo, and now he could sense three strands of power that did not belong to him, entrenched at his vital points, at every moment.

As long as Chen Mo's mind stirred, his own life would be held in another's hands.

At the very least, he dared not have any other thoughts in his heart right now, and could only honestly obey orders.

"You go heal your injuries first, and come find me after you are done." Chen Mo likewise gave instructions, handing over a Healing Pill.

The two of them appeared to be seriously injured, but in reality, it was not that severe; Chen Mo had only damaged their muscles, bones, and flesh to restrict their movements.

His Blood Qi had not eroded their dantian or meridians, so under such circumstances, their injuries should be able to gradually recover in at most three to five days.

"Many thanks, My Lord." Ziyuan Daoist took the pill, bowed in thanks, then found a corner to sit cross-legged and began to heal.

Chen Mo took another look at the temporarily stationed city; the situation was still quite good. The slaughter had ended, and Zhao Xuanxin was leading a group of Qi Refiners to repair the Array.

Furthermore, enough warning Arrays had been set up within a range of one hundred to five hundred miles of the city walls, so even if someone launched a sneak attack, they could be warned in time.

Except for a small number of Innate Martial Artists on guard, most of the Martial Artists were cultivating peacefully.

Heaven and Earth have changed, and the Heavenly Law has further perfected; this is a rare opportunity for cultivation.

And because the Heavenly Law is closer to perfection in their era, compared to Martial Artists of other eras, they can perceive the differences in this Heavenly Law more clearly.

But how long this state can be maintained is hard to say, so they must seize the time to cultivate now and not waste a single moment.

It is precisely because of this that almost all Innate Martial Artists of the righteous path in the Xuantian World are in closed-door cultivation.

Conversely, Heavenly Human Martial Artists who have achieved the unity of heaven and man and gradually realized their own Dao do not need to continue bitter cultivation in this state.

They do indeed need to comprehend the Heavenly Law, but they do not need to seize this specific period of time; they can also comprehend it later.

Chen Mo is also seizing the time to cultivate, drawing Heaven and Earth Essence into his body to strengthen the Heaven and Earth Lock.

"My Lord, this lowly one's injuries have healed. I wonder what matters you have to entrust to me." Ziyuan Daoist had the Healing Pill, so the speed of his injury recovery was naturally faster.

Having just recovered, he hurriedly came before Chen Mo and spoke in a low voice.

He naturally understood that Chen Mo was willing to let him live because he had value.

Therefore, he must take action and demonstrate his value; only in this way could he survive.

"Unlock it." Chen Mo tossed over a Storage Ring.

He recognized at a glance that this was his own Storage Ring, and at this moment, he dared not have the slightest hesitation, directly unlocking it.

Within the Demonic Path, it is naturally the law of the jungle, so he did not feel the slightest humiliation regarding such matters.

As early as the day he entered the Demonic Path, he had anticipated this day.

Chen Mo's strength is sufficient, so oppressing him is only natural.

The restriction on the Storage Ring was unlocked by him, and Chen Mo grabbed it back into his hand, a wisp of Inner Qi probing inside.

The scene inside was immediately inspected clearly.

The Storage Ring contained only two hundred and fifty-three Heaven and Earth Essence Stones, along with a large amount of materials, a small amount of rare treasures, and useless miscellaneous items like cultivation manuals.

In addition, there were some idle puppets, some of which had very crude and inferior refining techniques.

But these puppets were well-preserved, and one could tell at a glance that this Ziyuan Daoist cared for them quite a bit.

Apart from these things, there was nothing else in the Storage Ring.

Chen Mo very skillfully took away two hundred Heaven and Earth Essence Stones, took out the divine iron that the original Heavenly Human puppet had been forged from, and looked at Ziyuan Daoist to ask:

"To refine another Heavenly Human Realm puppet, how much material and time is needed?"

He had previously reduced the restrictions within this divine iron to nothing and drained the power within it, all for the sake of convenience in handling.

It was just that now it needed to be refined again; fortunately, there was someone who could do this.

"Replying to My Lord, as long as the materials are complete, one year is sufficient."

Ziyuan Daoist spoke; the puppets he refined did not have high demands for time, only requiring sufficient materials.

And in order to improve his puppet arts, he often scavenged for materials, which is how he ended up with the name of the Demonic Path.

Even so, the major forces did not simply exterminate him; sometimes they would even trade with him to exchange for puppets.

He had come this time also wanting to plunder resources within the New World to see if he could refine another puppet.

"Then you see if you are lacking any other materials." Chen Mo tossed the divine iron and the Storage Ring to him together.

"Replying to My Lord, I am not lacking. This piece of divine iron was condensed into one by you, it is a top-grade precious material. This lowly one has some Heaven and Earth Essence Stones and auxiliary materials in my Storage Ring, so that is enough."

Although Ziyuan did not know what means Chen Mo used to smelt the Heavenly Human puppet he had painstakingly refined into a piece of divine iron,

he dared not ask more. He took a look at the situation inside the Storage Ring and hurriedly nodded to agree to the task Chen Mo had entrusted to him.

"Good. You may open a Daochang one hundred miles behind this border pass to refine puppets. If the border pass is attacked by enemies, go and guard Bian City. On ordinary days, you do not need to ask about other matters; everything should prioritize refining puppets.

If there are people or matters you need, you can ask the Innate Martial Artists guarding the border pass for help."

Chen Mo spoke carefully, arranging affairs for him.

He only wanted the other party to refine puppets; as for how to refine them, Chen Mo did not care.

Even if he encountered difficulties, as long as the puppets could be refined on time, there would naturally be people to help him solve some simpler difficulties.

"This lowly one understands, this lowly one will go do it now." Ziyuan Daoist only then revealed a trace of a smile, his heart also relaxing.

No matter what, he finally had some value and could preserve his life.

As for future matters, he would consider those later; now he had to survive and demonstrate his own value.

"No, before you go, write down everything you know about the Xuantian World: besides you, how many experts are there in the world, and what other forces does the Demonic Path have?"

"In the course of your journey, have you seen any mobilization of large armies or any Qi Refiners setting up an Array?"

Chen Mo asked very carefully; as the other party was a Heaven-Man expert and had lived in the Xuantian World for many years, they would certainly have a better understanding of the situation within that realm.

Saying this, he tossed out a Jade Slip; this was, of course, not a Jade Slip containing cultivation techniques from the Ancestral Realm.

This was a Jade Slip made by Qi Refiners using memory-storing jade, where text could be left inside using True Qi or divine sense; a single Jade Slip could record tens of thousands or even a million characters.

Compared to pen and ink, it was far superior in both the efficiency and convenience of recording text.

"This humble one understands." He took the Jade Slip, not daring to be the least bit careless, and racked his brains to record everything he knew into it.

A full two hours later, he finally handed the Jade Slip over.

Chen Mo reached out to take it, and Ziyuan Daoist bowed once more before heading to the mountains behind the city wall to carve out a cave dwelling.

With his True Qi probing into the Jade Slip, Chen Mo saw countless dense characters, mostly regarding the situation of the vast majority of factions in the Xuantian World, as well as the status of those top-tier experts.

Compared to the intelligence gathered by secret agents, this report was far more detailed.

Not only were the names and general strength assessments of many experts included, but even their characteristics were recorded.

However, whether it was absolutely true was hard to say. After all, Ziyuan Daoist was merely a member of the Demonic Path; he had seen some of these righteous experts, but for the vast majority, he had only heard about them from others.

Additionally, there were the things they had seen and heard on their journey here: the three great divine dynasties were mobilizing troops, gathering thirty thousand elites.

They were currently lurking behind the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range, waiting for the right moment to cross the mountains and strike directly at the Cangxuan World.

These thirty thousand elite soldiers were each a pulse-opening Martial Artist, or practiced external hard arts, possessing three to four thousand catties of strength.

Clad in black armor and riding treasure dragon horses capable of traveling ten thousand li a day, they were the true core elite of the three great divine dynasties.

And the Colonels commanding these soldiers were at least at the Houtian Consummation Realm.

If Chen Mo had not forcefully suppressed the Demonic Path scoundrels, the righteous path of the Xuantian World would have acted next, and these thirty thousand elite soldiers would have launched their attack accordingly.

This was all the information Ziyuan Daoist knew about the Xuantian World; furthermore, there was information on some Demonic Path experts and the situation of the Blood God Palace, all of which Chen Mo firmly committed to memory.

Two days later, the Black Scorpion's injuries healed.

Chen Mo naturally had her open her Storage Ring and write the intelligence she knew into a Jade Slip.

Inside the Black Scorpion's Storage Ring, there were a total of three hundred and seventeen Heaven-Earth Origin Stones; Chen Mo only took three hundred before returning the Storage Ring to her.

"From now on, you will guard this defensive line; this cave is left for you as a dwelling, and you may cultivate here.

If anyone attempts to cross this defensive line to invade the Cangxuan World, you must stop them at all costs."

Chen Mo took the Jade Slip and issued his orders.

"This Slave understands." She nodded honestly, not daring to have any ulterior motives.

After arranging for the two of them, Chen Mo turned and left the cave.

He distributed the information obtained from the two of them to the other Innate Martial Artists for them to read.

"I need to leave for a period of time; two Heaven-Man experts will take my place in guarding this defensive line. I have used Gu insects to completely control them. If a powerful enemy attacks, have those two deal with it, and contact me via Jade Slip at the same time."

Chen Mo looked at Chu Tianxiu and Zhao Xuanxin as he gave his instructions.

"Understood." The two nodded in unison.

Having finished this, Chen Mo did not waste any more time here and immediately set off to leave.

Now, many Xinzhou herdsmen were driving their cattle and sheep, as the areas submerged by the Mirage Sea Water had re-emerged; among them, much of the grassland was suitable for grazing, and there were small portions of plains and hills that could be cultivated.

They naturally would not let these habitats go to waste and were currently driving their cattle and sheep to migrate.

Chen Mo traveled all the way back to the Bian City of the Great Gan, which was currently guarded by his foster father.

The reason he came here was that he had several letters to deliver; Mo Dao was now in Wangsi Cheng, and although he was already a dead man, he still possessed his consciousness.

Since he had promised him to help deliver the letters, he could not break his word.

Stepping into the city, he first found his foster father in a study.

He was responsible for guarding this place and also in charge of allocating grain and fodder, so he was currently quite busy.

"Ah! You've come!" Sun Shouren looked at him, appearing exceptionally surprised and happy.

"So the matter of the New World is all settled, and there are no problems?" He looked left and right, lowering his voice to ask.

Although his strength was not high, he had been able to see that towering other world at the time.

With the two worlds merging, this matter could not be concealed at all.

"Temporarily safe, nothing major happened. I came this time mainly to deliver letters to you." Chen Mo spoke, then prepared to explain to him the trip to the Blood Sea and the affairs of the Netherworld.

The expression on Sun Shouren's face was very colorful, filled with both surprise and astonishment; he had, of course, heard of the Netherworld.

But even those Qi Refiners had never had the chance to come into contact with it; he had not expected that Chen Mo would be able to enter and exit the Netherworld.

This was truly astonishing, and it made one wonder just what level Chen Mo's strength had reached.

"There is a Wangsi Cheng in the Netherworld. I met the Fourth Brother there; he entrusted me with letters for you, but I couldn't bring them out. So I made a copy; you should read them carefully, and you can write a reply to him."

Chen Mo told him about the situation in Wangsi Cheng in detail before taking out the letters.

Sun Shouren found it all very novel; he truly had not expected that one day he would be able to receive letters from a dead person.

However, knowing that the Netherworld existed was a good thing; people feared death mostly because they feared the unknown.

Now that he knew what happened after death, he was no longer worried about the afterlife.

"Alright, I never expected your Fourth Brother to be in such a situation. I will write a few reply letters to him; if you have the chance to go to Wangsi Cheng again, you can take them to him."

Sun Shouren read through these letters carefully, and the more he read, the more a smile appeared on his face; looking at it this way, his foster son was doing quite well in Wangsi Cheng.

As expected of his foster son, he could achieve success whether in the world of the living or the Netherworld.

"These few letters are for the Fifth Brother; I wonder if he is in the city?" Chen Mo took out a few more letters and asked.

"He is not; he is currently transporting grain and is expected to return to the city in another half a month." Sun Shouren took the letters and said.

"Then you can give these letters to him when you see him, and tell him about the Netherworld." Chen Mo nodded lightly, having no intention of going to look for Mo Hu.

"Good." Sun Shouren nodded in agreement.

Chen Mo then bid farewell with a bow, quickly left Bian City, and headed straight for the Ancestral Realm.

Just a moment ago, the Jade Slip originating from the Ancestral Realm was triggered.

Someone was sending a message; the information was very simple, consisting of only one sentence: the Ancestral Spirit summons you, please return to the Ancestral Realm immediately.

Chen Mo reached the Creation Second Layer realm, his Dao Marks interconnected, and a single step took him a hundred miles away.

Even with a distance of tens of thousands of miles, it would not take even a quarter of an hour.

The situation in the Ancestral Realm remained as it was in the past, without much change, with only one Post-Heaven Martial Artist who had just triggered the Jade Slip waiting halfway up the mountain.

"Lord Chen, the Ancestral Spirit is calling and has matters to discuss with you." Seeing Chen Mo arrive, the Post-Heaven Martial Artist hurriedly bowed.

"I will go see the Ancestral Spirit now," Chen Mo replied, stepping toward the Heaven and Earth Profound Gate.

Seeing him arrive, the Ancestral Spirit slowly manifested its form, "Your speed is much faster than I anticipated." Its words carried a hint of joy.

Chen Mo, however, turned his gaze to the side of the Heaven and Earth Profound Gate, where a person stood, wearing a red dress on the upper body, a pair of round and slender jade legs covered only by black sheer gauze, and a pair of red embroidered shoes on their feet.

Red Blood Qi flowed around their body, vaguely in harmony with this world.

Chen Mo instantly became alert; this attire clearly could not be Fengdu Niangniang, it could only be the Lord of the Blood Sea.

But how could she leave the Netherworld to come here? And Chen Mo could sense that her aura was not weak; she had definitely reached the Heavenly Human Realm.

"No need to be so surprised. My cultivation previously went awry, and I suffered from qi deviation. Later, I borrowed your hand to refine away my entire cultivation base using the Heaven and Earth Furnace.

Naturally, I no longer suffer from qi deviation. The Heaven and Earth Profound Gate has been pushed open, and for the practitioners of this world, the Golden Age is about to begin; I have decided to enter the world to cultivate."

The corners of the Blood Sea Lord's mouth curled into a gentle smile, and her tone was very calm.

"So that is how it is." Chen Mo nodded with a smile upon hearing this, though he did not completely lower his guard.

"I am not human; I attained the Dao from the Youming Blood Sea, so even with the Heavenly Human Realm, it is very difficult for me to open this Heaven and Earth Profound Gate. That is also why my sister previously refused to let me leave."

She continued to speak slowly, explaining that if one were not of the Human Race but another living being, the resistance encountered when trying to push open the Heaven and Earth Profound Gate would be immense, and in all likelihood, it would be impossible to push open at all.

Therefore, even if she had left the Blood Sea and had the opportunity to reach the Heavenly Human Realm, she had never left.

Because she knew that even if she reached the Heavenly Human Realm, it would be of no use.

And the reason she wanted to dye the whole world in blood, besides suffering from qi deviation and having a somewhat deranged mind,

was also to see if, should the entire world be transformed into the Netherworld, it would cause the Heaven and Earth Profound Gate to change.

Even at worst, it could buy many practitioners a hundred or ten years of time, and perhaps the situation would change.

This was her previous thought, but until Chen Mo appeared, everything underwent a heaven-turning and earth-shattering change.

All problems were solved, the Golden Age opened, and she wanted to come out to compete, taking this opportunity to improve her own cultivation as much as possible.

If her cultivation reached a certain realm, coupled with the protection of the Netherworld and her sister,

then by sacrificing certain things, she might also be able to survive the Mirage Sea Calamity.

The Blood Sea was absolutely unwilling to forget all memories; if that really happened, she feared she would no longer be herself.

To survive the Mirage Sea Calamity and preserve more memories, she had to increase her strength.

"Then, may I ask Senior Blood Sea, what are your plans for the future?" Chen Mo asked with a smile, cupping his hands.

In fact, the fact that the Blood Sea Lord could now appear safely within the Ancestral Realm already proved many things.

At the very least, compared to other worlds, she was still relatively close to the world she originated from.

This was a good thing; every Heavenly Human Realm combatant was extremely important to the current Cangxuan World.

And Chen Mo could sense that the Blood Sea Lord was by no means an ordinary Heavenly Human martial artist; she was not of the Human Race, but had attained the Dao through Shape Transformation from the Blood Sea.

Coupled with her long cultivation time and having followed the ancient Great Ability, Fengdu Niangniang,

her combat power was definitely superior to ordinary Heavenly Human martial artists.

"Continue to cultivate peacefully. I need some resources, I need part of the cultivation techniques stored in the Ancestral Realm, and furthermore, I need Heavenly Luck to assist me in my cultivation breakthrough.

This world is dominated by the Human Race, and joining the Human Race is the fastest way to obtain Heavenly Luck.

I can take action to help the Human Race in exchange for these things," the Blood Sea Lord said slowly.

"I have already spoken with Fengdu; the Blood Sea is trustworthy. Although not of the Human Race, it can serve as an aid to our Human Race," the Ancestral Spirit also spoke at this time.

If not for this, even with her Heavenly Human cultivation, it would not have been so easy for the Blood Sea Lord to break into the Ancestral Realm.

As the Ancestral Spirit, although it could not fully recover, now that the Heaven and Earth Profound Gate had been initially pushed open, the strength it could exert within the Ancestral Realm would not be weaker than a Heavenly Human martial artist.

"Good, welcome Senior Blood Sea to join our Cangxuan World," Chen Mo nodded and smiled.

Nowadays, the Human Race still only had him as a Heavenly Human powerhouse, so naturally, he made the decisions on many matters.

With a powerful Heavenly Human martial artist like the Blood Sea Lord joining, dealing with another world would be more secure.

"Although there are many factions within the Cangxuan World today, they have not been integrated. In my view, we should restore the ancestral system and establish the Cangxuan Alliance.

Any martial artist who enters the Pre-Heaven Realm must join the Cangxuan Alliance.

The resources and various techniques and Secret Skills within the Heaven and Earth Profound Gate can be exchanged using Cangxuan Alliance contributions."

The Ancestral Spirit spoke and took out an Ink Jade Token.

"This is the order of the successive Alliance Leaders of the Cangxuan Alliance. You take it first; there are also one hundred Profound Alliance Tokens here, which you can find opportunities to give to other martial artists."

Chen Mo nodded gently, took the token, and refined it with True Qi.

Probing with True Qi, he could find a lot of information inside: first, the contribution points he possessed, which currently stood at sixty thousand.

Second, the various rare items, weapons, armor, cultivation resources, and various cultivation manuals that could be exchanged with contributions.

Furthermore, with this Alliance Leader Token, he could urgently contact other members of the alliance.

Of course, the range was limited, no more than thirty thousand miles in radius.

Additionally, other members of the alliance could also use this token to transmit information.

There were also some simple alliance covenants, but they were not very strict.

The Cangxuan Alliance did not have strong constraints on martial artists, but there was one point: when the Alliance Leader summons and the world is in danger, all members must fulfill their responsibilities and be under the command of the Alliance Leader.

If anyone disobeys the order, they shall be killed by both Heaven and Man.

"Good, I will do this immediately later," Chen Mo nodded, and at the same time, handed a token to the Blood Sea Lord.

She smiled faintly, reached out to take the Token, and refined it.

"I have already negotiated peace with the Ancestral Spirit of the other world, but there are conditions; if we do not agree, war may break out once again."

The Ancestral Spirit spoke slowly; it was an Ancestral Spirit, not the leader of the Human Race in this era.

Therefore, in many matters, it had the right to advise, but no right to decide.

"One year from now, the experts of the Xuantian World and our side will set up an arena at the junction of the two worlds, with each side sending three people to the stage to determine victory or defeat."

The loser must submit to the winner, hand over a large amount of cultivation resources, and cede ten thousand miles of land.

Furthermore, the Heavenly Palace, a top-tier power of the Xuantian World, has brought out a Heavenly Court Imperial Order as a wager, and our world must also bring out something equally precious as a wager."

The Ancestral Spirit spoke, explaining that these conditions were, of course, not advantageous for the Cangxuan World.

But the situation was stronger than the people, and the advantages they held were few.

In fact, if it were not for Chen Mo previously displaying his own strength, they likely would not even have had this opportunity for an arena duel.

"What are the rules for the arena duel?" Chen Mo frowned slightly and asked carefully.

He wanted to see if the rules were favorable to him; if there was hope of winning, then he could consider the arena duel.

"The duel rules are best-of-three, with each side sending three people, but they do not all need to take the stage.

If one person wins, they can continue to defend the arena. Additionally, the experts sent must be within the same major realm of cultivation," the Ancestral Spirit said.

It had communicated with the Ancestral Spirit of the other world and had also roughly understood the situation of the other world.

Although those were the rules, they were still at a great disadvantage.

Even after the Master of the Blood Sea joined, their world only had two Heavenly Human Realm Martial Artists.

And Chen Mo's current cultivation had not reached the perfection of the Creation Realm at all.

It would likely be very difficult to achieve this in one year's time.

Meanwhile, the other world could find three top experts at the Creation Realm or the perfection of the Heavenly Human Realm at any time.

Under such circumstances, they were indeed at a severe disadvantage, and the possibility of losing was extremely high.

If not for this, the other world would not have offered these conditions.

"Agree to them," Chen Mo said decisively.

The arena duel certainly had many risks, but that also depended on one's own strength.

In one year, his own cultivation would surely welcome another breakthrough, enough to allow him to raise his True Qi to the Heavenly Human Realm, and his Creation cultivation would certainly reach the realm of perfection.

It could be said that for the arena duel, the possibility of their Cangxuan World winning was quite high.

The only thing that needed to be guarded against was the possibility of the other side going back on their word.

However, this could be discussed when the time came, and they could even require those Heavenly Human Martial Artists to swear a contract with the heavens and earth; once violated, they would be disfavored by the heavens and earth.

"Very well, then I will go back and communicate with them again to agree to this matter."

Seeing Chen Mo agree so decisively, the Ancestral Spirit's expression was slightly stunned.

But it did not raise any objections and simply went to execute it honestly.

In fact, in its heart, it also wanted to persuade Chen Mo to agree to this condition; although they were not at an advantage, the current situation would not get any better.

The Cangxuan World was weak, so it could naturally only be exploited by the other world.

Although they had an expert like Chen Mo sitting in command, the situation was only slightly better; it was impossible to be on equal footing with the other world because they had not yet produced a top-tier expert.

"Also, Senior, what exactly is that Heavenly Court Imperial Order, and what makes it so precious?" Chen Mo asked again.

(End of chapter)