Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

"Forgot to tell you, both Hei Mingzi and I are proficient in Array Tao. This Great Array, which consumed considerable effort from both of us, will be your burial ground!"

A flicker of fear passed through Hei Cong's eyes. Could it really be that it would die here today?

But in the next moment, the fear was ground to ashes, and it shouted, "No! I have never believed in fate! Even if they have the upper hand, I will fight with all I have to break out!"

Unfortunately, in the face of two Heavenly Immortals, and this, what could be called an unparalleled Heavenly Immortal Rank Great Array, Hei Cong's cultivation was already slightly weaker. Now, the gap was widening, making it even more unbearable.

Even as it struggled frantically, resisting desperately, it couldn't escape the risk of falling.

"No! I'm not willing! I am a Heavenly Immortal. How can I die here!"

On the brink of death, Hei Cong continued to struggle, but it had integrity. Even when at the brink of life and death, it showed no intention of begging for mercy.

Perhaps it knew, even if it begged for mercy, it could not save its life, so it might as well retain its dignity and fall in a slightly more respectable manner.

With a bang, a Heavenly Immortal Devil Beast completely lost its vitality.

Not only its flesh, but also its Spiritual Soul could not escape, leaving only the last bit of its natal Spirit Light, which flowed into the Netherworld following the Mingming Land.

...

The battle that cost the lives of a Heavenly Immortal Devil Beast and countless other beings, involving over a million sentient beings, finally ended!

Overall, the Devil Race suffered even more severe losses in this battle.

Because not only did they lose a Heavenly Immortal, but countless clansmen and their living habitat, the Ten Thousand Demon Mountain Range, also suffered severe damages, becoming fragmented.

Such devastation, it would take hundreds of years at least to entirely erase the scars.

As for restoring its original power? That would require an even longer time, especially since there's no certainty how long it will take to make up for the loss of that Heavenly Immortal.

Of course, the cultivators' side also suffered significant losses, with many disciples dying in the Ten Thousand Demon Mountain Range. Even with their deep resources, they require some time to recover.

However, this battle also demonstrated to the various factions in the Primal Spirit Realm the strength of the East Continent Immortal Tao.

Although this battle has ended, the conflicts between the East Continent and the Devil Race have not ceased, and the flames of war continue to spread across the entire East Continent.

But the Li family of Shanhai State is an exception, as they have been very restrained, not eradicating the Devil Beasts completely.

After all, a significant portion of their profit each year comes from the Devil Beasts in the Changli Mountain Range and Little Demon Mountain Range; eradicating them would significantly reduce the family's future income.

Li Guangjie naturally won't engage in such a losing business.

As for the orders from those major forces? They aren't the main sect of the Li family, so why should they obey their directives? The Li family can wholly make decisions on their own.

And Li family isn't the only force doing so; many savvy factions are also adopting this approach.

"I wonder how Ancestor Rui is doing in the ruins?" Li Guangjie, Da Qing, and others were concerned about this matter.

Previously, due to the war, the flow of information across the East Continent was hindered. While it's gradually recovering, there's still no news of Li Zhirui.

At the same moment people were talking about Li Zhirui, he was in the ruins on a treasure hunt.

His gains weren't particularly great; the most precious in hand was the unexpectedly acquired Earth Immortal Level Spiritual Item — the Wind and Thunder Immortal Wood, an excellent spirit material used to forge wind and thunder attribute magic artifacts.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite match Li Zhirui himself, unable to unleash the item's full power, and could only look for an opportunity to exchange it with others later.

In the following days, his luck was quite poor, and he found nothing valuable.

Even the cultivators he encountered were the less affluent kind of loose cultivators, leaving him with no desire to act.

But fortunately, Li Zhirui had reached the edge of the ruins center, feeling that the spiritual items in such a place were more valuable and that the item causing a surge of intuition and spatial disturbance might be there.

However, as he approached, he realized the center of the ruins was a gigantic, incredibly complex maze!

There was a notice board at the entrance of the maze, containing lots of information.

Including prohibitions on flying within the maze, prohibiting violent destruction of the maze; Divine Sense was hugely restricted, regardless of the level of cultivation, it could only explore around a few meters...

The maze was divided into nine layers, each with a test, and only by successfully passing could one enter the next layer.

After passing each layer, one could choose to end early, taking the trial rewards and leaving. If the trial failed, it would be up to one's luck. If lucky, perhaps one could still keep their life.

"Looks like, the item I want is on the ninth layer of the maze." Li Zhirui muttered while looking at the maze.

Without much hesitation, he immediately stepped inside.

"Trialist: Number ten thousand and fifty, start the first layer trial!"

Instantly, a voice rang out, devoid of emotion and fluctuation.

Which meant over ten thousand people had already entered before Li Zhirui. Would he encounter them in the subsequent trials?

Li Zhirui pondered as he cautiously proceeded.

But after an hour, he found himself back at the starting point, having encountered no danger.

"Is it really just a simple maze?"

Immediately, Li Zhirui dismissed this notion. A maze with abundant treasures and Artifact Spirits, it wouldn't be so simple if the trial were that easy.

The fact that he hadn't encountered danger yet was likely because he hadn't triggered a particular mechanism.

True to his thoughts, it wasn't long before he encountered a late-stage Independent Immortal puppet!

To Li Zhirui, this puppet posed no threat, and he defeated it in no time.

Initially intending to store the puppet, it turned into a wooden box instantly, and the enormous puppet vanished.

"What kind of technique is this?"

Li Zhirui frowned, speculating, "Is it a kind of illusion technique that is indistinguishable from reality, or a spatial divine power, directly transferring the target?"

Using mana, he pulled the wooden box over and opened it, finding it was a small fragment indicating the maze's way forward!

"Defeating the puppet grants directions. Would this mean the stronger cultivators would have an overwhelming advantage?"

However, Li Zhirui felt that things were not that simple. If it were so, a Heavenly Immortal could easily fight their way through quickly.

Then he discovered an inconsistency, that small maze map was not even his current area!

"I have to rely on myself to get out of the maze." Li Zhirui felt a bit of a headache, but he could only continue trying to walk through.

That resulted in him going in circles, returning to the starting point, encountering a few more puppets of different cultivation levels but all in the Individual Immortal Realm.

"No, there must be something I overlooked."

Returning to the starting point once more, Li Zhirui stopped moving, recapping the maze he had traversed a dozen times in his mind, seeking to unravel an opening.

"Here it is!"

After a while, Li Zhirui opened his eyes, starting to head towards where he felt might be problematic.

When he walked into that section of the maze, his pace immediately slowed, striking the walls with a wooden stick.

Thump, thump, thump—

Suddenly, a crisp sound echoed.

"Indeed, this section of the wall is hollow!"

Li Zhirui stood still in front of the hollow wall, and it wasn't long before a puppet of the Individual Immortal Realm emerged.

Quickly dealing with it, the hollow wall began to move, revealing a brand-new passage!

Without pause, he stepped through with large strides.

At the next moment, the passage closed up tightly!

Seeing this, Li Zhirui immediately realized why he hadn't seen this passage after defeating so many puppets.

Because the existence of the passage was incredibly brief, especially since he wasn't defeating the puppets right in front of the passage, triggering the puppets while walking past, and defeating them elsewhere, naturally, he couldn't discover this passage, existing momentarily only.