Stealthily cultivating in the chaotic world of demons and martial artists
Chapter 256 - 255: The Great Core Formation Battle (Please Subscribe)_1

Chapter 256: Chapter 255: The Great Core Formation Battle (Please Subscribe)_1

"Sir Zhan, please take care,"

Fang Xi watched Zhan Tu leave.

Although he seemed very reluctant to part with the "Vertical Ground Golden Light Talisman," the man ultimately didn’t relent.

"Not bad, cautious enough. Only with such prudence can one walk a long path in the Cultivation World..."

He faintly graded Zhan Tu.

As for the man’s background, he had managed to grasp a little: "A loss may turn out to be a gain, and a gain may turn out to be a loss..."

...

Taishu Hong’s independent success with Foundation Establishment was naturally explosive news for the many cultivators on Dragon Fish Island.

Cultivators from the Top Three Families were beaming with joy, while the Zhong Family kept silent, with unknown thoughts of criticism in their hearts.

Seeing the struggle for the heir of Dragon Fish Island coming to the surface, Fang Xi, who enjoyed adding fuel to the fire without worrying about the consequences, announced that the "Black Wind Evil Qi" produced in more than a decade would be determined through a "Treasure-snatching Conference," open to any Qi Refining cultivator who had lived on Dragon Fish Island for over ten years.

As a result, almost the entire Thousand Island Lake was stirred up, with a large number of Qi Refining experts converging on Dragon Fish Island, all eager to stand out in the Treasure-snatching Conference and win Base-building Spiritual Objects!

Seizing the opportunity, Fang Xi raised the rental price for the Dongfu on Dragon Fish Island by a significant percentage, feeling as though he had made profits equivalent to two or three Base-building Spiritual Objects...

With that, he truly didn’t lose out on anything.

...

Five years passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, the Green Wood Sect and the Mysterious Heaven Sect had several major battles, with both sides suffering severe casualties.

Zhan Tu didn’t even pretend anymore, privately offering a piece of Core Formation experience in exchange for a "Vertical Ground Golden Light Talisman" from Fang Xi in a trade! This showed his desperate situation, as he must have encountered life and death crises multiple times, or he would never have done such a thing.

Moreover, according to him, an elder from the Green Wood Sect known as Old Qing had stealthily left the cultivator camp outside Baize Immortal City and sneaked into Yue Country, targeting high-level cultivators from the Mysterious Heaven Sect.

This made the Mysterious Heaven Sect’s cultivators feel insecure.

Upon learning this, Elder Zhang had to go out to battle every day, fighting Old Qing, and although he was at a disadvantage every time, he at least managed to keep Old Qing firmly in check.

However... as time went by, the third-tier protective Great Array of Baize Immortal City inevitably began to break down.

Historically, the worst strategy for attacking an array is through prolonged siege, consuming the earth’s veins’ and spiritual power’s energy and lowering the array’s power, then looking for an opportunity to break it!

After nearly ten years of battle, the third-tier Spiritual Vein inside Baize Immortal City started experiencing deficits, and recently it had to be filled with a great amount of Spirit Stones.

But the damaged energy of the earth’s veins is something that cannot be restored no matter what.

As the third tier Great Array gradually gave way, the great war of Green Wood Sect invading Yue Country finally reached its end...

...

Baize Immortal City!

"Attack!"

With loud shouts, dozens of cultivator formations outside the city recited incantations in unison, their magic power converging in one place.

In the void, an abundance of wood attribute spiritual power gathered, transforming into several logs tens of feet long that smashed harshly against the walls of Baize Immortal City.

After another round of impact, the light shield that enveloped Baize Immortal City began to wobble as if it were about to collapse.

"The last round, initiate the Boundless Falling Wood Great Array!"

A plain-looking elderly man dressed in a green robe flew out from the midst of the cultivators, emitting an incredibly terrifying fluctuation of magic power from his body—it was the Core Formation elder from the Green Wood Sect, Old Qing!

Log after log kept hitting the third-tier array protecting Baize Immortal City.

Finally, the light shield guarding the entire city let out a wail and ultimately shattered to pieces.

After years of relentless erosion and siege...

The third-tier Great Array... was broken!

Old Qing transformed into a stream of light, standing atop Baize Immortal City, his voice spreading throughout the Fairy City: "Zhang Zhusheng... come out!"

Crack!

With a flash of lightning, Zhang Zhusheng appeared in midair, clad in a purple Spiritual Robe, confronting Old Qing from afar.

"Today’s situation, inevitably, is my Green Wood Sect’s victory..."

Old Qing stroked his beard self-assuredly, "Sir, why insist on resisting desperately?"

"For the sake of my Sect, I have no choice but to fight!"

Zhang Zhusheng’s eyes turned purple, with Thunder Light flickering inside: "Old Qing... you think just because you’ve broken through to the mid-stage of Core Formation, you can easily defeat me?"

"In our previous encounters, you had the third-tier Great Array backing you up, and would flee back to it whenever disadvantages arose. I want to see what you can rely on now!"

Old Qing let out a heh-heh laugh, as an ordinary-looking short wooden stick appeared in his hand.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhusheng’s expression immediately became extremely grave.

That seemingly unremarkable wooden stick was Old Qing’s life-bound magical artifact, nurtured with his Golden Core True Origin for many years, possessing immense power and causing him to suffer bitterly on several occasions.

"Ha!"

Elder Zhang roared, and with a spell gesture, a layer of armor bursting with purple electricity appeared around him.

In the surrounding void, faint purple lightning was being generated, continuously ejecting sparks outward.

"Purple Thunder Armor? It’s a shame that this treasure, although top-tier, has been nourished by the Golden Core True Origin for far too little time... Our cultivators’ magical artifacts, though graded by rank, ultimately depend on the duration they have been nurtured to determine their power..."

Old Qing chuckled and threw out a short wooden stick.

In mid-air, the wooden stick burst with astonishing spiritual energy, as cyan runes emerged on it one after another, flickering incessantly.

After that... one became two, two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen...

In the blink of an eye, the nearby void was filled with the phantoms of short sticks.

"Go!"

With a point of Old Qing’s finger towards Zhang Zhusheng, countless cyan phantoms, carrying terrifying giant strength, kept smashing towards Elder Zhang.

Boom!

Zhang Zhusheng clasped his hands together, and thick purple thunderbolts burst forth from the armor, eradicating swathes of the stick’s phantoms. However, there were simply too many, forcing the purple thunder light to continually retreat.

"Zhang brat, didn’t Old Jiang teach you that a cultivator’s magical artifact, which underpins their might at Core Formation, should preferably be chosen from the attack category?"

Seeing this scene, a smile appeared on Old Qing’s lips, "Even with such strong defenses, what use is it to turn yourself into a tortoise?"

Whistle!

Just at that moment, from within the multitudes of stick phantoms, a mass of red and yellow flames suddenly burst forth.

An extremely dazzling ring spun around, releasing a vast amount of South Ming Suzaku Fire from within, faintly taking the form of an incredibly noble bird, its wings blazing furiously, and with just one swoop, it fell amidst the countless short sticks.

The myriad cyan phantoms coalesced, revealing the true form of the short stick magical artifact.

The Vermilion Bird phantom showed no fear and charged straight towards it.

Fire overpowers wood!

"The Vermilion Bird Ring? You actually refined this treasure..."

Old Qing’s face turned green with anger as if recalling some unbearable memory.

"Thanks to Ancestor Jiang’s generous gift of this artifact to me, I naturally know that among magical artifacts, the offensive ones are generally preferred... But since I have the Vermilion Bird Ring, it is only natural to refine a defensive magical artifact!"

Zhang Zhusheng’s magic power surged, pouring into the Vermilion Bird Ring.

Although this ring was another cultivator’s life-bound magical artifact and had been through the sacrificial refining of talismans, losing much of its power, it was still incredibly sharp in his hands.

Even during the perilous encounters before, Elder Zhang had not released this ring, merely to catch his enemy off guard!

"South Ming Suzaku, burn the firmament, go!"

Zhang Zhusheng pointed at Old Qing, and with a spin of the Vermilion Bird Ring, the might of the colossal firebird Suzaku Divine Skill surged, seemingly enveloping Old Qing within it, appearing to intend to refine him with its true fire!

"Hmph, do you think you are Old Jiang?"

Old Qing’s face flickered with blue light, and opening his mouth, he spat out a bluish object. Amidst the flashes of blue light, a watery blue orb appeared.

A Core Formation cultivator can refine one or two life-bound magical artifacts at most, but using other third-rank magical artifacts is not forbidden, it’s just that their power would be somewhat diminished.

"This ’Ice Sea Orb’ was specially sought to deal with Old Jiang. Now that Old Jiang is dead, it’s your bad luck!"

The watery blue orb spun, and strands of azure currents manifested from nowhere, carrying a bone-chilling coldness, managing to fend off the South Ming Suzaku Fire with difficulty.

Seizing the opportunity, Old Qing’s mid-stage Core Formation magic power crazily surged into the short stick, striking towards Elder Zhang.

Zhang Zhusheng’s face betrayed a cryptic smile, yet he neither dodged nor avoided, the Purple Thunder Armor covering his hands as he caught the short stick magical artifact itself, and bellowed, "Now, strike!"

"What?!"

Old Qing was overcome with panic at the sense of impending doom, and suddenly, dragon chants erupted in his ears!

Roar!

One after another, fire dragons soared into the sky, their momentum unbelievable, carrying the terrifying spiritual power of Core Formation, and heavily bombarded the water curtain of the ’Ice Sea Orb’.

Roar!

Amidst the sounds of dragon chanting, the water curtain shattered, and the fire dragons, one after the other, pounced on Old Qing.

Boom!

A blindingly huge fireball exploded in midair, and the terrifying force, even after being reduced layer by layer, effortlessly swept through Baize Immortal City below, shaving off a layer from the majority of the buildings!

"You Kun, is it you!?"

With a blue flash, the figure of Old Qing appeared atop a giant tree on the ground, his hair and beard scorched, his clothes burnt to tatters, looking severely weakened.

The person under his uncertain gaze, however, was extremely young, a purple-robed cultivator with a heroic eye and bold eyebrows, surrounded by nine fire dragons spiraling and dancing, emanating scorching fire spiritual power.

This man was named ’You Kun,’ the current Supreme Elder of the Yiling Valley!

It was unclear why the normally neutral Yiling Valley would be involved in this matter.

"Haha... naturally, Yiling Valley has already formed a secret alliance with Mysterious Heaven Sect. Today, the two of us joining forces will surely slay you here," said Zhang Zhusheng.

In order to pin down Old Qing, he had taken a blow from his life-bound magical artifact, breaking half of the Purple Thunder Armor and blood oozing from his mouth, yet his expression was extremely satisfied.

It was as if years of humiliation had finally been avenged!

Upon hearing this, Old Qing’s expression turned strange, "Yiling Valley... weren’t you the ones... No good!"

As he spoke, a sword light appeared in the void, wandering, formless, and with a single slash, it released a formidable might, beheading Zhang Zhusheng, Elder Zhang, in one swift stroke!