Chapter 354: Outside the Secret Realm
"The other side has three nascent soul realm cultivators and twelve core formation realm cultivators."
"One is a peak-level nascent soul realm cultivator, and the other two are at the late stage. Even with their cultivation suppressed, it will be difficult to deal with them." Bei Chengling said and frowned.
"Not to mention that one is a sword cultivator." Wei Ge reminded.
As someone who spent most of his time on the battlefield, he was aware of what a sword cultivator meant in a battle situation.
"Liu Bai is a powerful sword cultivator. Although her cultivation is suppressed, her sword intent isn’t. Dealing with her will be very troublesome."
"There is also Duan Buzhi. His corpse artefact won’t be too affected by the lack of cultivation realm." Another council member said.
The person was a disciple of the Corpse Yin sect and knew best what Duan Buzhi was capable of.
"As it stands, we are at quite a disadvantage." Lin Huang said, and everyone had to agree.
"Not quite." Li Futian spoke, interrupting the gloomy atmosphere.
"Does fellow Daoist Li have an idea?" Meng Zihua asked.
"Brother Jiang is a level five formation master. If we can trap the nascent souls in a formation, our chances will increase." Li Futian said.
After that, the council discussed for a long time and finally came up with a plan.
When the meeting ended, Jiang Yue and the others left Meng Zihua’s portable space and walked to find a place to set up the ancient palace.
"Unfortunately, there are too few level-five formation materials." Jiang Yue said and sighed.
In the meeting, the council asked him to prepare some level four and level five formation disks.
However, the available formation materials were too few and only a few disks could be prepared.
"It’s not that there are no materials, it’s just that no one wants to contribute too much." Yang Xu said and sighed.
"What’s the point of keeping the materials? They may not be able to take them out of the secret realm." Xuan Ke disdained.
"The war is just starting and no one knows how long it will last. It makes sense to hesitate at the beginning." Bing Lan said and no one argued.
After all, they also didn’t plan to contribute too much at the beginning of the war.
"I have been thinking about the outside world. Do you think the war has already started or ended?" Xuan Ke asked.
"It should have already started but I don’t know if it has ended." Li Futian said with a faraway look in his eyes.
.....
In the history of the Cangxing world, many wars had taken place.
There were wars between the righteous and evil sects. Wars for supremacy, wars against foreign invaders, and even wars between demons and gods.
All these wars differed in one way or the other but were similar in one way.
This was that all major wars happened in the Land of the Fallen!
The reason for this was unknown but everyone took it for granted that major wars should be settled in the Land of the Falle.
This time was no different.
Seventy Years after the opening of the Nine Treasures secret realm, the war between orthodox cultivators and the Death Flower Ascension Front finally broke out.
Unexpectedly, the catalyst wasn’t the growing intolerance between the two sides but a heaven-and-earth treasure.
On an ordinary day, a divine light appeared in the sky above the Land of the Fallen.
The light could be seen from every corner of the Cangxing world and many forces immediately mobilised to grab the treasure.
In this way, the war began.
The orthodox cultivators united to first eliminate the Death Flower Ascension Front but the enemy was trickier than anyone expected.
Although the orthodox cultivators had a numbers advantage in the lower realms, they were outnumbered in the higher realms.
"This situation cannot last." Chen Qing said with a frown on her face.
They had been fighting for five years and had lost more people than they cared to count.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, what about the recipe I gave you last time? Have you thought about it?" A woman asked as she looked at Chen Qing.
The woman was Tang Rou.
She was also a nascent soul realm cultivator and an elder of the Heavenly Flower Cult.
"I have looked at it." Chen Qing said, frowned, and finally sighed.
She looked older than she was when Jiang Yue entered the secret realm and her eyes were duller.
As a cultivator of the righteous way, she didn’t like poisons.
However, the current situation didn’t allow scruples.
If she and others didn’t compromise, the Death Flower Ascension Front would win the war.
"Can fellow Daoist Chen refine the pill?" Tang Rou asked.
"The refining materials of the five poisons pill are easy to find but the refining process is extremely difficult. One mistake will result in a disaster."
After hesitating for a moment, Chen Qing sighed again and continued, "I can refine the pill."
When others heard that, some were excited while others frowned.
However, no one spoke.
Before the bounty list was released, no one knew that the Death Flower Ascension Front had more than twice the number of nascent soul realm cultivators as orthodox cultivators.
After the war broke out, the orthodox cultivators were at a big disadvantage and could barely hold their ground.
If nothing was done, they couldn’t hold on for another five years let alone until the Nine Treasures secret realm was open.
"Since the war began, we have lost three nascent souls and the other side has lost two. We can’t lose anymore." Someone said and the others agreed.
"What about those at the peak of the core formation realm? Is there no one who is about to break through?"
"Ten are already in seclusion to attack the barrier. We have provided them with barrier-breaking pills. However, breaking through to the nascent soul realm is not a simple matter..." An old said but didn’t need to finish because everyone understood.
Although the ten had barrier-breaking pills, breaking through may take anywhere from days to years.
Even then, the people would only be at the early stage of the nascent soul realm.
Unlike lower realms, the difference between cultivators in different stages of the nascent soul realm was not trivial.
It was rare and extremely difficult for an early-stage nascent soul realm cultivator to leapfrog and win higher-stage cultivators.
"That said, our people are searching for materials. If we get enough materials to refine a few golden qi pills, we will be able to improve the overall strength of our high-level fighters." The old man continued.
The old man was named Meng Jin.
He was Meng Zihua’s grandfather and patriarch of the BigStar Treasures Pavilion.
With the resources and intervention of the BlueStar Treasures Pavilion, he helped the Cangxing world unite quickly.
If not for his efforts, it would have taken longer for the world to unite to resist the Death Flower Ascension Front.
"No matter what, we have to be ready for when the Nine Treasures secret realm opens." Old man Meng said and sighed.
He was worried about his granddaughter and often checked the Cangxing list to see if she was still alive.
Fortunately, her name was still on the list which meant she was still doing okay.
"Looking at the Cangxing list, things are still undecided in the Nine Treasures secret realm." Chen Qing said and felt a little lost.
Several of her disciples were in the Nine Treasures secret realm and she couldn’t help but worry.
"Everything depends on fate." A cultivator from the Great Zhu empire spoke.
"Our responsibility is to ensure we win the war in the greater world. If our children in the secret realm lose, we should be ready to kill the enemies that come out."
With that, the meeting ended.
The nascent soul realm cultivators dispersed and went their way to carry out their tasks.
Chen Qing was no different.
She walked towards the portable space where alchemy supplies were kept, planning to take out the materials she needed for the five poisons pill.
Unfortunately, she never got to the portable space.
When she was about ten metres from the entrance, Chen Qing felt an unexpected warmth on her chest.
With a frown on her face, she probed her chest area using her divine sense and discovered a jade pendant.
’Why is it warm all of a sudden?’ She wondered and subconsciously lifted her hand to touch it.
At the same time, the pendant glowed with a greenish light and slightly lifted from her chest.
’This...’ Chen Qing couldn’t help but feel a little worried.
Something like this had never happened to the pendant and she subconsciously frowned.
On instinct, she grabbed the pendant, planning to tear it from around her neck.
However, the pendant had somehow become extremely fragile and it shattered on touch.
At the same time, Chen Qing felt the world spin and she was enveloped in darkness.
