Chapter 228: Guardian, Hidden Sword Cultivator
Editor: Atlas Studios
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the huge and twisting Nine Nether Tree Realm, two figures were quickly moving and jumping. Behind them, a gray pill chased relentlessly.
In the beginning, the disciples of the Scripture Storage Valley wanted to sacrifice themselves to help Jiang Li, but they quickly noticed that not only were most of them unable to help, they would even hold Jiang Li back.
This made them, who were clearly older and had higher cultivation levels, feel very upset.
After paying a considerable price of some casualties, they finally obeyed the order and left the tree world. Elder Lin Fengying, who was the only one at the Golden Core realm, stayed behind to help Jiang Li endure the pressure.
The two of them had the same spiritual root attributes and were controlling Wood-Yin spiritual qi. Although they had not practiced together, their cooperation was not bad.
Elder Lin’s artifact was also a coffin. 18 zombies could be released from it to assist in the battle. Jiang Li used the Nine Nether Wood to control the battlefield and would order large Wood Demons to be cannon fodder from time to time.
However, even so, it was still abnormally difficult to stop the pill’s assault.
As the Sect Master of the Hundred Tempering Mountain, Situ Fengzhu was really too powerful. Even though he was fighting another top-notch cultivator and had only separated a small portion of his strength and mind to transform into a clone that had barely reached the Nascent Soul realm to attack, it still forced the two of them to flee in a sorry state without any ability to counterattack.
“Jiang Li, how long can you persist?”
Elder Lin looked at Jiang Li who was gradually showing signs of exhaustion and was extremely worried.
Such a large-scale creation spell technique definitely consumed an immeasurable amount of energy.
Not to mention letting a Foundation Establishment cultivator maintain such a spell technique, even as a Golden Core cultivator, he would not be able to use it without several times of his maximum spiritual qi capacity.
Even if Jiang Li was a genius blessed by the heavens, he was still at the Foundation Establishment realm. How did he last this long?
“It’s fine. I can still hold on.”
Jiang Li shook his head, and then he pointed out. The enormous black trees twisted like swimming snakes and coiled around the pill.
However, the huge tree that was as thick as a pillar was still easily pierced by the pill.
Every single giant tree could only slightly slow down the other party’s speed. However, if not for the obstruction of the Nine Nether Tree Realm, Jiang Li and the elder might have already had their heads blown apart by the pill.
It was only in the Nine Nether Wood Realm that he could barely maintain it with the help of these living trees.
However, with every breath, seven or eight huge trees would break. In order to summon this tree world, Jiang Li had already exhausted 80% of his spiritual qi. Now, he still had to continuously expend a large amount of spiritual qi to maintain the scale of the tree world. The amount of spiritual qi flowing out every second was also an astronomical figure.
This gave him no chance to recover at all. It had been a long time since he had fallen into the state of lacking spiritual qi.
Boom!
Another huge tree was broken. This time, Situ Fengzhu learned his lesson. He aimed at the tree trunk below Jiang Li’s hiding place.
When Jiang Li used Wood Escape to run again, he would definitely descend and use the tree root network to move.
However, this time, he was predicted by the other party and directly blasted out of the wood, spitting blood in a sorry state.
After penetrating the huge tree, the pill did not lose momentum as it shot towards Jiang Li again. This time, he learned his lesson and no longer attacked Jiang Li’s body that was enveloped by the Dragon Imprisoning Lock. Instead, he charged straight at Jiang Li’s head. It seemed like he wanted to blow up the head directly.
With a thought, a black light flashed between Jiang Li’s brows. The Immortal Slaying Flying Sword instantly shot out at the pill.
The flying sword’s speed was very fast. Its straight line speed even surpassed the flying speed of this pill, but the other party’s operation was more agile.
With just a displacement, he moved half an inch to the side and easily dodged the extremely sharp Immortal Slaying Flying Sword!
As Jiang Li flew back, he pressed his fingers to his forehead. His will was mobilized at full force, controlling the Immortal Slaying Flying Sword to erupt with all its speed. It directly transformed into a flying black sword shadow that wanted to cut the pill into pieces.
However, his reaction speed under the enhancement of his Golden Core Dao Heart was still greatly suppressed.
The transformation of Golden Core to Nascent Soul, and Nascent Soul to Essence Soul was truly a complete transformation. The difference between them was absolutely not as simple as the quantity and quality of spiritual qi.
Jiang Li was no longer on the same level as the other party.
Every time the pill moved a few inches, it could easily dodge the Immortal Slaying Flying Sword. Even if it erupted with its maximum speed, it was still unable to injure the pill at all.
In the end, the pill even collided with the flying sword, sending it flying far away with a clang.
Jiang Li recalled the flying sword with heartache. Fortunately, when he was refining the flying sword, the materials he used were all top-grade among top-grade materials. The quality of the flying sword was also extraordinary. This collision only resulted in a slight spiritual qi shock and did not cause any more damage.
When he put away the flying sword, Jiang Li barely stabilized his aura before taking out the small Yin Burial Coffin from his pocket and holding it in his hand.
It was his first time using the Nine Nether Tree Realm, yet he had to face such an enemy. It was indeed a little difficult for him.
The Immortal Slaying Flying Sword could hurt the other party but it could not hit. The Dragon Imprisoning Lock could defend but not withstand the impact.
He already had the Yin Burial Coffin in his hand. If he could find an opportunity to put the pill into the coffin, then perhaps he would have a chance of winning. However, from the reaction speed of the alchemy pill earlier, Jiang Li really doubted the possibility of this plan.
However, other than that, he did not have many other methods.
Buzz, the pill transformed into a straight line and flew over. The moment the pill flew over, a palm caught it in the air.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. What am I seeing? Situ Fengzhu, you old bastard, you’re actually bullying a junior here. You’re really getting worse and worse.”
Jiang Li’s tensed muscles instantly relaxed. He had already swung out half of the coffin in his hand just now. Who knew if he would be able to hit this pill in the end?
“Thank you for your help, Senior. I can’t thank you enough.”
After recovering from his shock, Jiang Li hurriedly cupped his hands and thanked the person.
The person who saved him was an old man who looked a little slovenly. He was casually wrapped in a piece of beast skin, and his white hair was scattered behind him. In his hand was a whip, and in his other hand was the pill.
Below him, there was actually a huge black-furred boar being ridden on.
“Big Belly, eat this.”
That elder reached out and threw the pill into the wild boar’s mouth. The spirit pill that contained the power of Situ Fengzhu was chewed and swallowed into its stomach.
“You’re Jiang Li? Not bad, not bad. However, you shouldn’t call me senior.”
The old man sized Jiang Li up twice and seemed to be extremely satisfied. Jiang Li was extremely familiar with this gaze.
At this moment, Elder Lin rushed over and proved Jiang Li’s guess.
“Junior Lin Fengying greets Lord Guardian!”
Those who could be called guardians by the Golden Core elders were the twelve founders of the Scripture Storage Valley.
When he entered the sect, Elder Weng had said that seven of the twelve founders were still alive to protect the sect. It seemed that this was one of them.
“Disciple Jiang Li greets Martial Ancestor. Thank you for your help, Martial Ancestor!”
Elder Lin had joined them midway, so it was reasonable for him to address the other party as Lord Guardian.
However, Jiang Li was a righteous disciple of the Scripture Storage Valley, so he should naturally address him as Martial Ancestor.
“Yes, very good. As Wushe said, you’re an impressive youngster.”
When the old man swept his gaze over, he noticed Jiang Li’s extremely firm and exaggerated Dao Foundation.
With such a level of Dao Foundation, even if he used his butt to cultivate in the future, he was certain to become a Nascent Soul cultivator.
His repeated praises show that he was clearly quite satisfied with Jiang Li.
After all, no elder would dislike having such a talented disciple under them.
“Old Pig, I haven’t seen your standards improve in a hundred years. You haven’t grown much, have you? You like to slack off whenever you have the chance!”
At this moment, another old man appeared before them without any warning.
This elder’s body was slightly round and he looked ordinary. He was wearing rough linen clothes and casually carried a long sword on his shoulder.
Not only did this person look ordinary, but even the sword was a straight steel sword without any patterns or sharp edges. In the mortal world, it would probably not be able to sell for ten taels of silver.
If no one told him, Jiang Li would definitely not believe that the dignified Shu Mountain Flying Sword would actually be so ugly.
However, such an elder was on the same level as the Guardians of the Scripture Storage Valley and the Six Divine Monks of Benevolent Travel Temple. He was the previous generation Hidden Sword Elder of the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak.
He was one of the few people who stood at the peak of the cultivation world of the Great Mountain Region.
Jiang Li was very confused. Was this a cultivator who had broken away from mortal interests?
After standing at the peak of a region’s cultivation world, did he no longer need to care about the opinions of others or use external objects to flaunt himself, so he completely let himself go?
‘When I’m invincible, I’ll put on a tattered shirt and go around face-slapping to show off.’ Jiang Li thought to himself.
However, these two people came down from the sky. It seemed that the battle above had already changed.
He raised his head to look. The huge energy block that collided above had indeed disappeared. More than a dozen spiritual lights were descending from the sky. A portion landed at the core of the Hundred Tempering Mountain, while the rest scattered in the surroundings and affected the entire mountain.
“Martial Ancestor, Senior, how’s the situation now?”
Jiang Li could not help but ask. After all, the ones who really determined the outcome of the battlefield were these top-notch cultivators. No matter how great the advantage they had below, it was meaningless if the higher-ups lost.
“Next, it’s not something you can participate in. Leave quickly.”
…
On the side of the three great sects, they began to retreat in an orderly manner to avoid being affected by the battle of their elders. It was not necessary to die in vain.
As for the disciples of the Hundred Tempering Mountain, once they left the sect, they would immediately be attacked by the group and die. Therefore, they could only retreat into the underground hundred caves and pray that the aftershock of the battle would not affect them.
All the higher-ups of the Hundred Tempering Mountain who had a huge battle in the sky gathered at the entrance of the Earth Fire Cave.
“What should we do next? Where’s the Sect Master?”
The few leaders looked at the experts of the three great sects who were staring covetously at them and frowned.
Even with the same cultivation, the difference in numbers was too important.
In terms of families, their Situ family and the Ma family were definitely the number one and second families in the cultivation world of the Great Mountain Region.
Every family had several top cultivators above the Nascent Soul realm.
According to the sect, the Hundred Tempering Mountain that they had formed was also one of the four major sects of the Great Mountain Region. If they fought with any sect, they would not be inferior.
For thousands of years, this sense of honor had also given them incomparable confidence.
Unfortunately, the cultivation world of the Great Mountain Region was not like the unlucky disciples under them. They would not tolerate such greed and evil deeds.
What the Hundred Tempering Mountain had done under their greed was really terrible. In the end, they had pushed themselves to the opposite side of the entire Great Mountain Region.
In the current situation, even they finally felt fear.
The Hundred Tempering Mountain’s First Elder, Ma Liuqi, landed at the entrance of the Earth Fire Core Cave.
Together with another elder, they forced back the 500 flying swords that formed the sword formation.
At this moment, the disciples of the three major sects had basically retreated. Only twelve cultivators surrounded the mountaintop and faced them.
Although there were only twelve people left, the tens of thousands of cultivators in the distance were even more terrified.
These few people had already begun to consider whether they should abandon the mountain gate and escape.
After all, the disciples of the main family and most of the wealth in the sect had already been transferred out. At most, they would leave the Great Mountain Region and make a comeback.
“First Elder, you’re in charge of the sect’s earth vein array formation, right?”
At this moment, two figures walked out from the passageway. One figure was dressed in white and looked otherworldly. The other figure was shrouded in demonic qi by the black fog.
In the middle of them, there was a Black Lotus flower floating quietly with their footsteps.
Situ Fengzhu and his companion, who had been hiding in the middle of the mountain for a long time, finally appeared at this moment.
However, the first thing he said after he appeared was to blame Ma Liuqi for his incompetence.
“Situ Fengzhu! You’ve already lost! Surrender now! We can be kind and let you spend the rest of your lives in Shu Mountain’s Demon Subduing Pagoda!”
The person who spoke was the sword cultivator Jiang Li had seen before. Obviously, his strength and status were ranked at the top even among the 12 of them.
However, Situ Fengzhu ignored him and continued to look at First Elder Ma Liuqi.
He had been forced to fight one against two just now. Although it had not been a long time and it was not enough for them to determine the winner at their level, he had suffered quite a bit of injuries under the huge disadvantage.
“Thank you for your hard work, Elder Ma. The Hundred Tempering Mountain will remember your contributions.”
Before Elder Ma could react, a poisonous hand had already grabbed his back.
Ma Liuqi felt his entire body go soft. It was his Sect Master who had launched a powerful sneak attack by using his cultivation method’s weakness. Moreover, Situ Fengzhu’s intention was not to punish him, but to directly press him onto the Black Lotus!
“Why! Sect Master! Why!”
Ma Liuqi roared, but Old Demon Black Lotus also attacked at the same time, tearing through his stomach.
He was ambushed by two experts of the same level at the same time who exploited the weakness of his cultivation method, and he was also suppressed by the Black Lotus. The dignified First Elder of the Hundred Tempering Mountain died without any ability to resist.
The remaining three top-notch cultivators of the Ma family were first shocked, then furious. No one had expected that Sect Master Situ, who they had known for generations, would actually attack his own people!
“Situ Fengzhu, what are you doing!”
“Ma Liuqi leaked the information about the mountain gate’s earth vein and caused the sect to suffer such a loss. Now that he can use his body to make up for it, it’s a worthy death.”
“You!”
Situ Fengzhu’s cold words caused the three Ma family’s old ancestors to be extremely angry. However, at this moment, something unexpected happened, interrupting the internal conflict between the two large families of the Hundred Tempering Mountain.
