Stealthily cultivating in the chaotic world of demons and martial artists
Chapter 1000 - 856: The Battle Begins (End of Month Plea for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 1000: Chapter 856: The Battle Begins (End of Month Plea for Monthly Pass)

Monster Clan Camp.

Within a Cave Heaven.

Tiny white bones paved the path, with the occasional phalanges of the human race or the Demon Clan peeking through, forming a White Bone Path.

At the end of the bone-strewn path stood a massive Bronze Palace.

Inside the palace, fierce statues of Monster Clan gods lined the surroundings, with a clump of Ghost Fire at the very center, burning with a greenish luminescence.

Blazingly!

Suddenly, the Ghost Fire surged wildly, casting fiery lines that crisscrossed to form a sand table map.

At the center of the map stood the unmistakable shape of Heaven Origin City!

"Lu Xing is really useless... Not only did he fail to kill the human Array Master, but he also got himself killed..."

A sinister voice sounded.

Two points of green light emerged from the darkness, revealing a short, soap-robed elder.

His eyes were as small as mung beans, his figure hunched, his face withered and lean, with a small goatee beard, looking much like a large rat.

"After all, we’re all among the seven great saints... Lu Xing’s death is truly a loss of face for us all. It’s said that the human who killed him has recently been officially named one of the Five Sons of Human Race, with the Taoist name ’Qing He’..."

From within the darkness, a flash of Golden Light emerged, revealing an armor of gold locks.

A hairy ’person’ stepped forward and declared, "Wei... During the great battle, leave Qing Hezi to me."

"Tungbei, if you’re willing to make a move, that’s excellent."

Wei chuckled, "Ah, to reminisce about the old days when the seven great saints converged, how carefree and unbridled we were. Alas, after that gathering, Hunyuan Senior Sister attempted to reach True Spirit but failed to survive the Immortal Thunder Calamity... Following that was the chaos of the four races... With Lu Xing gone first, there’s something off about that ’Qing Hezi’; you need to be careful, Tungbei."

"How could Tungbei, known as the foremost in combat among the great saints, possibly fail to defeat a mere middle-stage Integration human Cultivator?"

A fragrant breeze passed as a woman with half-exposed fragrant shoulders and seductive demeanor entered the Great Hall, her nine tails thrashing behind her.

In her hands adorned with reddish nail polish, she held a farmer’s red-jade pipe commonly used by the elderly human farmers, occasionally taking a puff and exhaling smoke.

However, the smoke was not pale but slightly pink, dreamlike and illusory, turning into little foxes that scampered in every direction.

"Nine-tailed... there’s no need for you to provoke me with your words. As for the human who killed Lu Xing, no amount of caution is too much... Of course, I will give it my all and bring that ’thing’ along," said Tungbei, the Great Saint, with a chuckle.

"Then, I can rest assured," replied the Nine-tailed Great Saint, gracefully sitting down and lifting her snowy white leg, "The human Mahayana Monks will be left to the seniors... Currently in Heaven Origin City, four of the Five Sons of Human Race have already gathered. With Qing Hezi being taken care of by Tungbei, I am curious to encounter Mo Yunzi, that sister..."

"As for Jin Gangzi, my Profound Art should be able to contain him to some extent and prevent him from disturbing your pleasure..."

The short Wei laughed, "That leaves Wu Xingzi for the Five Elements Qilin Tribe’s ’Xuan Lin Great Saint’. They have been old foes for a long time."

Two more figures had imperceptibly joined the hall at some point.

One of them wore colorful armor and nodded silently, "How can Wu Xingzi’s Five Elements Skills compare with the innate Five Elements Divine Skills of my Five Elements Qilin Tribe?"

"The remaining task for Ao, then, is to freely slaughter those human Integrations, focusing on moving support, mainly targeting Array Masters," said Wei to another shadowy figure with dragon horns.

"Agreed!" responded Ao, nonchalantly accepting the charge, "But the breadth of skills in the Hundred Arts of Immortal Cultivation among humans is profound, far surpassing ours... and that protective Immortal Array of Heaven Origin City does pose some trouble."

"Hehe... I’ve already taken over from Lu Xing’s subordinates the task of refining the ’Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Bead’, which should have some effect," the Nine-tailed Great Saint said, puffing smoke clouds.

"Humans are cunning. While the Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Bead is indeed a trump card for breaking arrays, it may not necessarily be effective," Wei cautioned, stroking his goatee, his eyes flashing green.

"I have considered that, too; there should be some surprises for them," the Nine-tailed Great Saint replied nonchalantly.

"That’s excellent... Regarding the Monster Clan army, the main forces this time will be the Flood Dragon and the Five Elements Scales Tribe. The few Integrations from the Heavenly Phoenix Clan still require our communication..." Wei said, looking at the sand table, casually indicating flags that revealed more detailed information, "How about the preparations for the war beasts?"

"We have tamed nineteen of them, all fed with ’Burning Pills’... They’re just waiting to hit the battlefield to burn their last bit of potential... Their strength is bound to surge by nearly fifty percent," replied the Five Elements Scales Tribe’s ’Xuan Lin Great Saint’ with a muffled voice.

"Excellent... Regarding the ’Sky Demon Guard’ and the ’Flying Bull Army’..." Wei continued for a few more sentences before concluding, "We still need to communicate with the Alien races; that part, I must entrust to you, Nine-tailed..."

"Truly a life of toil for me," lamented the Nine-tailed Great Saint, frowning slightly but without objection, "Those alien races are deeply concealed; the Jiu Chi Clan has wolfish ambitions and is not weak... Even if we win, we must still consider how to deal with the tiger’s skin in the future... This time the Alien Alliance’s main force is absent, and I hope no variables arise..."

"Alas... The rise and fall of our clans, it is our duty as great saints," Wei heaved a sigh, "Should we extinguish both the human and Demon Clans, how many rare resource points can our Monster Clan seize? We could then create many more seventh-order beings... Even you and I might have the chance for True Spirits, or even ascend!"

"True Spirits, ah..."

All five Monster Clan Great Saints fell into a moment of silence and longing...

...

Heaven Origin City.

Within the Dongfu of Fire Cangzi.

"Rise!"

A giant cauldron with two ears and three legs opened, and Fire Cangzi was surrounded by swirling flames, his entire body shimmering with a radiant, red light.

With his hands forming a magic spell, a rod-like object, green in color, flew out from the furnace.

On this green rod, there were complex and profound patterns.

"At last, the Immortal Mansion’s Spiritual Root has been sacrificially refined..."

Fang Xi, holding an Array Flag, watched the scene unfold and couldn’t help but sigh.

The object he had given to Fire Cangzi was naturally a section of the trunk from the ’Ginseng Fruit Tree’.

This Immortal Mansion Spiritual Root was originally one of the greatest benefits from an overseas immortal mansion, obtained by Fang Immortal Taoist Master, and later came into the hands of Fang Xi.

In Fang Xi’s opinion, it should have an inseparable connection with the Immortal Mansion’s Great Array.

And its material was astonishingly good, making it the best choice for the crafting of flagpoles!

Of course, to protect the Spiritual Root, Fang Xi did not take the main trunk but chose a thick branch instead.

Even so, the Ginseng Fruit Tree appeared somewhat wilted after being pruned.

Fortunately for Fang Xi, replenishing the Primordial Energy for Spirit Plants was a trifle.

Once the materials were gathered, he stayed in Fire Cangzi’s Dongfu, assisted with the forging of the ’Mysterious Dark Banner,’ and witnessed firsthand Fire Cangzi’s miraculous skills in talisman forging.

It had to be admitted that there really were experts in every trade.

Drip-drop!

A pitch-black jade bottle appeared in Fire Cangzi’s hand, from which he poured out a drop and flicked it with his finger.

A drop of ’Heaven-reaching Liquid’ from the bottle fell onto the flagpole and was instantly absorbed by it.

Fang Xi had seen this scene many times before.

Rather than painting the Heaven-reaching Liquid on the Artifact after it was refined, Fire Cangzi chose to add this Spiritual Liquid at different stages of the forging process, forcibly enhancing the quality of every treasure material by half a grade.

"The flagpole is ready, where is the flag?"

Fire Cangzi injected a series of magic spells into the flagpole and shouted loudly.

Seeing this, Fang Xi immediately took out the Mysterious Dark Banner’s flag that had been previously refined.

The main material of this flag was crafted from the hide of ’Saint Lu Xing’; the Six-tooth Heaven Elephant was of immense size, and its processed leather was enormous as if covering the sky, embedded with various prohibitions to condense into an ordinary-sized dark flag.

On the flag, Fang Xi had personally engraved a large number of array patterns, infusing it with the ’Nine Netherworld Underworld River Mysterious Sand Array’ that he and Ji Feixue had discussed many times, finally refining the essentials and innovating new ideas.

Buzz!

The flag expanded when catching the wind and was attracted to the green flagpole, fusing together into one.

Upon seeing this, Fang Xi immediately bit his tongue tip, formed a strange hand seal with both hands, and spouted out a mouthful of essence blood.

This essence blood, mixed with the last few drops of Heaven-reaching Liquid, fell onto the Mysterious Dark Banner and was easily absorbed by the fabric.

Buzz!

A flash of black light passed over the Mysterious Dark Banner, and then all kinds of aura and Spiritual Pressure quickly stabilized.

"It’s done..."

Fire Cangzi smiled, sending out a magic spell.

A pool of black-as-ink fluid enveloped the Mysterious Dark Banner, transforming it into a black sphere: "Sir’s magical artifact is mostly complete; it only needs to soak in this ’Thousand Years Fluid’ for a period of time. Nourished day and night by magic power, it will then be as easy to control as moving your own arm..."

"This ’Mysterious Dark Banner’ is a treasure of the Array Taoist, capable of forming an array alone or serving as the Array Eye of a Great Array. Its rank is up to ’quasi-eighth-rank.’ Should you advance to Mahayana in the future and nourish it with magic power, its formal promotion to the eighth rank is but a matter of course."

Fire Cangzi caressed the black sphere where the Mysterious Dark Banner was located, somewhat unwilling to part with it as he handed it over to Fang Xi: "I have specifically added an extra prohibition according to your request... As long as you consume a large amount of Immortal Jade to activate this treasure, it can temporarily achieve eighth-rank power without any problems. Moreover, because the materials are too good, this action will not cause any harm to the treasure itself."

"Thank you!"

Fang Xi collected the black sphere, feeling very satisfied inside.

’The Mysterious Dark Banner is at quasi-eighth-rank, and at any cost, it can exert eighth-rank power...’

’As for Ji Feixue, the array tools obtained from the various Returning to Emptiness sects and Star Sect have also been laid out...’

’Looking at it this way, if we add the ’Mysterious Dark Banner’ as the main Array Eye, can the power of this Immortal Array potentially recover by almost half?’

That would be truly terrifying.

After all, it is a ninth-grade Immortal Array, which even has a significant impact on Mahayana Monks!

’A quasi-ninth-grade Immortal Array? Or a true ninth-grade Immortal Array? It must be known that there are differences between Immortal Arrays as well...’

Fang Xi had quite a bit of confidence in the power of this array.

After all, he had repaired many of the original array tools of the Immortal Array, plus the Mysterious Dark Banner, and was even ready to spare no expense in consuming Immortal Jade...

The power of this Immortal Array was enough to give a huge surprise to the Monster Clan and Alien races.

Fang Xi wanted to say more, but suddenly, a piercing bell rang throughout the Dongfu!

Fire Cangzi’s expression changed: "The Monster Clan has begun their attack on the city!"