Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

The disciples of the Sky-splitting Sword Dao are a bunch of sword maniacs who thrive in chaos. With the backing of the Supreme Sensing Sect, these battle frenzies were eager to get involved.

As for the Primordial Demon Sect, this sect has been established for ages beyond recall and has always been the leader of the Demon Path in Central Continent.

In the recent ten thousand years, although the Righteous Path thrived and the Demon Path declined in Central Continent, the Primordial Demon Sect, hidden in the wilderness of the northwest, has never been wiped out by any Righteous Path sect, not even once.

Zhao Sheng even boldly speculated: The Primordial Demon Sect and the Supreme Sensing Sect might have an unspeakable tacit agreement, or perhaps the two sects have some unclear connection. Otherwise, he could not explain how, over these many thousands of years, countless Demon Path sects had been exterminated by the Righteous Path, yet the Primordial Demon Sect had always been flourishing and unyielding.

"Qiong Tian, with Zhao, Qi, and Yan Dynasties knocking at our gates simultaneously, it seems their ambitions are not small. The visitors mean no good!" Zhao Zhenhai put down the report, sighing deeply.

"Hmph, as long as the Ancestor is with us for a day, how can some insignificant threats shake the foundation our Zhao Family has built over thousands of years! In my view, the real intention of the enemy is to strike at the prestige of our clan and, by the way, plunder our cultivation resources extensively. All other actions like knocking on the gates, invading, slaughtering the civilians are merely diversions," Qingshan Ancestor said with a grim face, coldly.

Listening to this, Zhao Sheng added in a deep voice, "And not only that, if I am not wrong, one of us is very likely to meet with an accident, and a few will probably be singled out for slaughter!"

"You mean... killing to set an example!" Zhao Zhenhai's brows furrowed in anger, and his face was immediately filled with murderous intent.

"Exactly! Currently, numerous forces are allied with our Zhao Family, not a few of which are loyal and true. They are the perfect targets to make an example of."

Zhao Sheng's prediction was soon confirmed.

Two days later, thousands of urgent reports were mixed with four bloody notices.

The notices were left by the murderer!

In a single day, four mid-sized Cultivation Forces from West River Province—the "Azure Immortal" Shi Family, Wind Wave Valley's Queyang Sect, Dragon River's Spirit Fish Gang, and the thousand-year-old Liu Family—were completely slaughtered from top to bottom.

According to the reports from the Dragon Scale Dark Guards, the perpetrator was extremely brutal. The evidence left at the scene showed that the caster's style leaned towards the Demon Path, suspected to be the work of Evil Demons.

Simultaneously, fires of warwood flared in the east, west, and north of Great Zhao. Several fortresses and borders were suddenly besieged by overwhelming forces, and dozens of administrative regions lost communication all at once.

Besides these, numerous mines and medicine gardens in the three directions were conquered, and all cultivation resources were plundered. Two Nascent Soul Guest Elders fell.

Zhao Sheng soon received news that the family's Nascent Soul Ancestors stationed in Divine Dragon Valley finally could not sit still. They rushed to various locations, either guarding the most vital large mines or acting as mobile forces, defending the Spirit Veins while looking for an opportunity to strike a severe blow to the enemy.

Regarding the actions of Supreme Elders like Zhao Changdu, Zhou Li, and Qu Feng, although Zhao Sheng felt their steadiness was lacking, he could understand their method.

After all, Great Zhao was facing enemies on three fronts, with fires of war everywhere, significantly disadvantaging the family and creating a situation where enemies surrounded them on all sides.

In such circumstances, the Zhao Family could not afford to sit and wait for death; they had to choose to strike back fiercely!

After all, countless watchful eyes were looking on. If the Southern Sky Zhao Family showed weakness, it would undoubtedly be a significant blow to their prestige.

For this reason, the forces of the Southern Sky Zhao Family were inevitably scattered.

This was probably the scenario the Supreme Sensing Sect hoped to see, which could also be considered a direct scheme.

After the Zhao Family's ancestors mobilized en masse, the situation in Great Zhao changed drastically and soon stabilized. The fires of war at the borders and regions quickly died down, and the mass slaughters dramatically reduced.

As time went on, several of the most cunning and difficult enemies gradually surfaced.

The Daqi Sky Sword Army, a Daoist Soldier Corps directly serving the Dynasty, consisting entirely of Foundation Establishment Sword Cultivators, numbered no more than a thousand. Each Sky Sword Disciple was a veteran of countless battles, fearless and much stronger than peer Cultivators of the same level.

The Flying Artifact of the Sky Sword Army was the Cloud-piercing Sword Boat. These boats had unrivaled speed among similar Flying Magical Artifacts, excellent in concealment, appearing ethereal and elusive, covering ten thousand li in a single day, and maximizing mobility.

The Da Han Mechanism Army, entirely composed of elite Inner Sect disciples from the Immortal Device Sect. Unknown in number but dubbed "one man, one army," they especially excelled in controlling groups of Puppets for mass combat.

The combat power of the Mechanism Army was proportional to its numbers. Teams of ten could combine their strength and often fight beyond their levels.

The Great Yan Ten Absolute Assassins, numbers and strength unknown, with all who clashed with them perished. This was a terrifying army that would stop at nothing to achieve its objectives, often perishing together with the enemy to complete their mission. (Suspected to be the Living Dead refined by the Primordial Demon Sect, usually containing powerful negative lightning and poison fire inside, deadly upon contact.)

Besides these three Daoist Soldier Corps, there were also hundreds of masked individuals, whose strengths ranged from Qi Refinement to Golden Core.

Additionally, traces of Nascent Soul intervention were found inside several breached sects and family relics.

Various signs indicated that numerous Nascent Soul Ancestors had already subtly interfered, with the Heavenly Corpse Master, Ghost Manipulating Young Man, Zhengshan Old Monster, and Demon Cloud Ancestor inadvertently exposing their identities.

Three days later, while staying in Divine City, Zhao Sheng suddenly received a transmission from Grand Ancestor Zhao Changdu, assigning him a guardian task.

Upon receiving this message, Zhao Sheng immediately notified both Qingshan Ancestor and Zhao Zhenhai, then hastened to the Qihuang Basin.

...

The Qihuang Basin, located in the eastern part of Great Zhao, was a vast meteor crater spanning thousands of miles. Dragon River, which traversed Central Continent, flowed through here, splitting the Qihuang Basin into two.

The northern part of the basin was abundant in Spiritual Energy, dotted with ancient trees and exotic plants, plentiful in Spiritual Medicine, and below, there was a Second Order High Grade wood Spirit Vein, as well as a large spirit stone mine and many surrounding Spirit Jade Crystal Marrow mines derived from it.

The southern part, however, was desolate and eerie, the surface rugged and uneven, nearly devoid of any greenery, only filled with yellow rocks and numerous dark mines.

Compared to the Spirit Energy-rich north, it also contained a variety of rare spirit mines, ranging from Five Elements Spiritual Gold to Acquired Geng Metal, Moonlight Mercury, and more.

Since ancient times, the Qihuang Basin had been one of the most famous Treasure Lands in Central Continent, and a thousand years ago, it had been controlled by Purple Sun Sect.

After the collapse of Purple Sun Sect, following countless rounds of bloody conflicts, Qihuang Basin eventually fell into the hands of the Southern Sky Zhao Family.

After several hundred years of meticulous management, the area was completely owned by the Zhao Family, becoming one of the clan's most vital resource points.

That evening, a Cloud Boat tore through the clouds and plummeted downward, landing in a square in front of a continuous cluster of buildings on the north side of the basin.

Zhao Sheng had just flown down from the Cloud Boat, surrounded by expectant clan members who then followed him into a grand wooden building.

From then on, Zhao Sheng resided in Qihuang Basin.

He ended up staying there for almost half a month.

During these days, Zhao Sheng had traversed the entire Qihuang Basin, casually leaving countless marks.

Throughout the half-month, since no enemy had shown up at their doorstep, he felt somewhat bored.

However, Zhao Sheng was unaware that the enemy had already targeted him.

Little did they know, this low-profile demeanor of staying out of sight and guarding Qihuang Basin alone was exactly what the Zhao Family had planned, considering how its rich cultivation resources had long been coveted.

Unknown to outsiders, this unrecognized Sixteenth Ancestor was actually a Late Stage Great Cultivator, whose combat power was considered the best within the Zhao Family.

In other words, both Zhao Sheng and Qihuang Basin were deliberately used as bait by the Southern Sky Zhao Family, just to "fish" for the enemy!

As days passed, Zhao Sheng realized that the enemy would either come any time or perhaps never show up.

Because Xie Jue Nan holding Zhao Xuanjing off for two months was already at its limit.

If they dared to overstep, they should not blame Great True Monarch Zhao for truly turning hostile!

A day later, as night fell,

Zhao Sheng inspected the mines, walked out from one of the mine entrances, gazed at the dimming sunset, and slowly steadied his stance.

Just then, the ground beneath him suddenly cracked open, revealing a massive fissure over ten zhang long. Countless black gases rushed out, forming gigantic tentacles that swiftly wrapped around Zhao Sheng's body with lightning speed.

Zhao Sheng's reaction was also extremely fast. The moment the ground cracked, he had already dodged away, narrowly avoiding the attack from the black tentacles.

"Roar!"

A roar came from the ground crack, and the next moment, a pitch-black giant hand emerged from the fissure, reaching out toward Zhao Sheng.