Chapter 132: Chapter 36: Battle of the Divine Soldiers (2)
To use an analogy, if a person were a computer, then a Cultivation Method would be like upgrading the hardware. The various Secret Techniques would be the software that runs on that hardware. The two are complementary, allowing the user—the Cultivator—to achieve their various goals.
It wasn’t that Yara was unwilling to teach Su Zhou the second volume of *Sacred Geometry*. According to its own words, "The *Sacred Geometry Original* is a supreme scripture that carries immense informational turbulence. It’s one thing to have it on the Main World, Earth, at the center of the Great Seal where it’s suppressed. But if you carelessly take it out in an Otherworld, you might attract a lot of troublesome attention."
"You certainly don’t want to go to some random world in the future only to be targeted by a dozen beings like me, do you? It’s better to keep a low profile when you’re out there."
However, it also affirmed that Su Zhou’s thinking was sound. Besides, his Spiritual Qi reserves hadn’t yet reached their physical limit, so there was no rush to create Spiritual Power Organs. For now, all he needed to do was use the volcano’s pure Spiritual Power to temper his body and lay a solid foundation for his future cultivation.
WHOOSH—
After absorbing a vast amount of the volcano’s Spiritual Qi, high-speed air currents rose up around Su Zhou, rapidly circling his body. They formed a vortex-like structure that continuously contracted, shrinking until it finally condensed in the center of his chest. It became a nigh-imperceptible but incredibly dense construct of Spiritual Qi.
A Gale Seed, located in the very center of his chest, was thus formed.
No one disturbed him. The Demon Army did not dare to attack for the time being, and someone would deliver food and water at a fixed time every day. Su Zhou remained in the high-density Spiritual Qi environment inside the volcano, focusing wholeheartedly on his cultivation—increasing his Spiritual Power reserves, optimizing the circulation of Spiritual Qi in his body, and gathering Gale Seeds.
「Time flew by.」
Seven days had passed since the day Su Zhou slew the Beast Taming Demon General and advanced to the Grandmaster realm.
The Divine Soldier would be forged in just over a day. The Demon Army had not launched any attacks, not even a probe. Meanwhile, the reinforcements had finally stumbled to the border of Liaozhou. Because the mole, Grandmaster Han, had previously leaked their route, the reinforcements had been repeatedly attacked by flying Spirit Wood Demon Plants and the Demon Army along the way, preventing them from advancing at full speed. But they had arrived nonetheless.
It was also on this day that Su Zhou gathered his fourth Gale Seed, reaching the limit of what his Spiritual Power could support.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A figure was swinging a greatspear in the hollow of the volcano’s heart.
The figure’s head, throat, chest, and abdomen were encased in four interconnected, translucent pieces of Gale Armor. Every time he stepped, every time he swung his spear, the air would explode, the ground would crack, and even the rocks in the volcano’s heart would shake loose and fall like a light rain.
Every swing of the greatspear generated a white shockwave several feet long, carving slash marks into the ground. This shockwave, almost as powerful as the Sky-Splitting Palm Force, was now completely integrated into the figure’s every movement, significantly extending his reach.
After ten minutes of swinging with all his might, the figure slowly stopped his greatspear and his steps.
Su Zhou let out a long breath. Empowered by the Gale Armor on his head, the exhale was like a storm, blowing all the loose rock fragments in the hollow to one side.
Su Zhou now had Gale Seeds defending his vital points. Although the complete Whole Body Mist Armor required nine Gale Seeds for the head alone to form a defensive ring, and he currently only had one, Su Zhou had already done the best he could at the Awakening Tier. More importantly, he could now adapt this Innate Secret Technique for practical combat.
’This feels great. My combat power has taken another huge leap... When I get back, if I run into some military Exoskeleton Armor, I feel like I could tear it apart with my bare hands!’
Su Zhou rolled his shoulders slightly, and immense power immediately stirred the air, whipping up a strong wind. He reached out, and a casual grab and clench caused the air to crackle with a deafening pop.
A single grab like that was more terrifying than the swipe of the strongest tiger’s claw. With pure brute force alone, Su Zhou could now lift a great cauldron with one arm and toss an elephant. He could throw a car as if it were a basketball. ’The heritage of the Divine Wood World truly is unique. Although many of its Secret Techniques have waned, in this great era of Spiritual Energy Revival, I’m sure they will all shine with renewed brilliance!’
But, just as Su Zhou was looking toward the future, his mood excellent, he received some extremely bad news from a Master Artisan who had come rushing over.
"What? The reinforcements can’t make it?!"
Su Zhou’s voice jumped several octaves in surprise. ’Even though I never planned on pinning all my hopes on them, that’s still five Grandmasters and two hundred Postnatal Martial Artists! That’s a fifth of the entire Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army’s elite forces! How can they just suddenly not show up?!’
’If reinforcements of that size had arrived, this fortress would have been truly impregnable. It wouldn’t matter how many Demon Soldiers came to besiege it!’
Just then, a frantic-looking Li Daoran also arrived at Su Zhou’s seclusion chamber. Without a single wasted word, he said bluntly, "Our reinforcements have clashed with the Demon Army’s reinforcements. They’re bogged down at the Liaozhou border right now... If that were all, I wouldn’t be this anxious. After all, our reinforcements are at least serving their purpose—I heard even Hunting Life and its Iron Cannon Team went to stall them. And according to the Grand Master, the Divine Soldier will be forged soon. Even if the entire Demon Army swarms us, all told, we would only need to hold out for a day."
"But the Demon Dynasty’s National Preceptor is with them, and their numbers are far greater than we imagined!"
The National Preceptor was one of the two Grandmasters in the Demon Dynasty’s camp. According to rumor, he was the one who single-handedly designed the Dragon Transformation Orbit, refining the Blood Qi of a million people into Immortal Divine Pills to be consumed by the Emperor and all the dukes and ministers of the court.
If ordinary Demon Soldiers were merely people whose souls had been transferred to an Undying Root via the Orbit, with their bodies then controlled by that root, then the Emperor and the court officials who consumed the Immortal Divine Pill were in a different league entirely. They would naturally grow their own personal Undying Root within their bodies. In terms of both affinity and future potential, the two rituals were on completely different levels. The upper echelons of the Demon Dynasty who consumed the pill could even naturally command the Demon Soldiers, ordering them into action.
Its power was undeniable. Even the three Grandmaster leaders of the Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army would be at a disadvantage against it in a one-on-one fight.
And this time, it brought a force of Demon Soldiers and Generals twice the size of the Hundred Schools’ reinforcements, catching our side completely off guard!
"The Demon Dynasty has completely abandoned the defense of all their fortresses and cities except for the two strongholds of the Southern Celestial Capital and the Nanjiang Celestial Gate, trading territory for time! They’ve practically poured out their entire force, while our main army is still marching toward the Southern Celestial Capital... It’s so ruthless! They don’t care about the populace or their foundations at all, nor do they care how chaotic the situation becomes. They just want to destroy the Divine Soldier!"
"Let’s go out and see the situation first." There was no more time to analyze the situation. Su Zhou immediately stood up, grabbed his Spirit Iron Spear from the side, and left the heart of the volcano with a grim expression. He went with Li Daoran to the summit surrounding the Taibai Volcano Crater.
He stood on the summit, focusing his gaze on the distance.
In his Spiritual Vision, a surging, blood-colored Curse had transformed into a hazy fog, mixed with vast, azure Wood Qi. Like a typhoon, it swept toward them, bringing dark clouds in its wake.
And far below, in the enemy’s position, the National Preceptor, who had just disembarked from a True Qi Flying Battleship, also looked up. It looked toward the mountain, at the violet-blue Spiritual Light that was gathering power like a volcano about to erupt, yet remained restrained.
"They’re here."
On the mountain and below it, the two of them spoke in unison.
The final battle to protect the Divine Soldier was about to begin.
