RETURNING FROM THE IMMORTAL WORLD

Chapter 1181 - Chapter 1190

Chapter 1181: The Challenge to Battle

 

One of the eight masked men paced two steps forward and answered, "Kitagawa discovered us halfway and shook us off. We've investigated it and it turned out that he has other subordinates in the capital. They were also the ones who intercepted us."

"And those people?" asked General Fukuda with a grim expression and surging killing intent in his eyes.

"We killed some of them, whereas the rest committed suicide by poison," answered the masked man respectfully. "They should be... dead."

General Fukuda's expression drastically changed. Training and grooming trusted confidantes were easy, but to train people to be ready to die for you was as difficult as ascending to heaven. How did Kitagawa achieve it? He turned out to have trained his death squad without him aware of it?

A short while after, General Fukuda and the red-haired man appeared on the camp's outer ring, and the scene of 19 dead bodies there caused their eyes to fill with murderous intent.

"He's 1184, the only survivor in five locations, General." The giant man came to the front of General Fukuda, kneeling on one knee and reporting while his body was drenched wet by his sweat.

Shooting a cold look at 1184, General Fukuda coldly spoke to the man, "You must know who the enemy is since you're still alive."

1184's lips squirmed a few times, but he shook his head after a while. "That mysterious female assassin just appeared out of nowhere, General Fukuda. It was like she just pierced through space and we were suddenly attacked without noticing anything at all. I didn't see any of her accomplices, but I did see some dazzling lights in the woods afar, like a reflection... from a sniper rifle's magnification glass."

"Piercing through space and appearing out of the blue?" General Fukuda frowned and said, "That's impossible! If my guess is correct, that one must be an extremely powerful expert. Her speed must be extremely fast and made you see illusions all of a sudden. But you must have seen her appearance since you don't know who she is, no? Does she have any peculiar characteristics?"

1184 tried to recall and said, "I don't know what she looks like since she wore a bronze mask. But I've seen her attire before when we fought the Joyous Palace people. Several women wore that kind of attire—a particular kind of long gown and with their hairs on the temples. Oh, I also noticed a black snake pattern on her neckband."

"A Mistress of the Joyous Palace, huh?"

Killing intent overflowed in General Fukuda's eyes. Yet, he kept his disbelief inside. The location of this Gene Camp was extremely secretive and it was being guarded by four armies stationed around it. Only core people knew about it, so he really had no idea how the Joyous Palace people could accurately find it.

"We cannot delay and wait any longer since they found our home, General." The red-haired man interjected. "We all know that the Joyous Palace is like a time bomb and may explode at any time. Hence, we must get rid of this bomb as soon as possible, else we'll lose lots of our people."

General Fukuda nodded in response. Then, he said in a deep voice, "We got a crazy and insolent adversary here. No longer can we endure and tolerate them anymore. Contact Kitagawa and tell him to hurry back. And summon all the genetic warriors to get ready for battle!"

"Are we going to storm the Joyous Palace, General?" asked the red-haired man quickly.

"Hmph, the Joyous Palace built their base on an isolated island which is protected by some powerful arrays as well," said General Fukuda with a sneer. "Our losses will be great if we are to attack it rashly, so we can only fish them out and then give them a beating."

The red-haired looked pensive and then replied, "In this case, we'd better fight hem openly. We'll threaten them if they're afraid to go out. Worse comes to worst, we can just use a nuke and directly blast them to smithereens."

General Fukuda happily nodded and said, "That's a great idea. If hidden schemes don't work, then open intrigues could be a powerful weapon to use. Alright, write a letter of challenge and send it to the Joyous Palace Master. Set the time 3 days later and write: We'll meet at The Moon Gazing Mountain 3 days later."

"Alright."

The red-haired man nodded and immediately turned and left.

****

More than 100 nautical miles from Japan was an isolated island shrouded by fog while the radius of several miles from the island had been installed with a lot of surveillance equipment, which made the inhabitants of the island able to spot any approaching ship immediately.

The Joyous Palace was located on this isolated island, and even a special means had been employed before to make the Japanese people see that this island suddenly sunk into the seabed. It was all camouflage to hide their operations.

At this time...

Numerous candles were lit inside the spacious secret chamber of the magnificent palace built on the top of the only mountain on the island with a faint scent lingering around the room. Dragon Vanquisher Sage was sitting on a futon while silently cultivating. There was a line of big beds placed around the wall in front of him with a naked woman snoring and sleeping soundly on each bed. It was obvious that these women had just been "ploughed" excessively a while ago.

Ding...

The ring of the doorbell awakened Dragon Vanquisher Sage from his cultivation.

Whoosh...

With extremely fast speed, the sage instantly left the secret chamber and looked at the man who respectfully stood outside. Then, he asked him indifferently, "You wouldn't have come here should there be no major incident. Tell me what happened."

With a bit of fear evident on his face, the man respectfully replied, "We just received a message, Miyaji. Many of our safe houses in the capital have been completely destroyed by General Fukuda's men and a total of 42 disciples of our Joyous Palace have been killed."

Dragon Vanquisher Sage's complexion changed and the killing intent in his eyes thickened. He took a deep breath and then coldly hummed. "Hmph, that wretch Fukuda really deserves to die. We've lost nearly 200 people in just a few days. If it goes on like this, they will completely destroy our Joyous Palace in less than a month. It seems that we can't endure it anymore!"

"Are you going to fight a full-blown war with the Gene Camp, Miyaji?" asked the man hurriedly.

"This war is inevitable," said Dragon Vanquisher Sage. "All these enemies must die if we want to have a solid foothold in Japan. We must exterminate all the Gene Camp as a whole, be it its genetic warriors, ability users, as well as that wretched Fukuda before we truly become the true Master of Japan."

The man hesitated for a moment and noddingly said, "Since Miyaji has decided so, then this one will summon all the troops immediately. However, we should begin attacking with surprise and sneak attacks and keep nibbling their force. We can fully strike them in an all-out battle after they suffer huge losses."

"Have you found anything about the nest of that Fukuda bastard?"

The man shook his head and forced a smile. "Not yet."

"Trash!"

Dragon Vanquisher Sage angrily yelled at him. As he was about to turn back to the secret chamber, he suddenly sensed a certain aura approaching. He waved at the man and looked at the female in an aquamarine gown. He furrowed his brows and asked, "You got something, Yuji?"

"My men just found some special findings, Miyaji. It should be very helpful in our Joyous Palace's campaign," said Yuji respectfully.

Dragon Vanquisher Sage was stunned and hurriedly asked, "What exactly did you find?"

Yuji handed the document to him and said, "This document records the hidden sites secretly arranged by General Fukuda in the capital, even the approximate number of people stationed there has also been marked. I'm willing to lead our members to exterminate these nests of General Fukuda's men if you permit me."

A happy smile finally appeared on Dragon Vanquisher Sage's face after he read the information. He traced his big bald head and said, "You've done well, Yuji. It seems my deep love for you was really worth it. I'll take out and lead our people this time. We'll make another plan to completely ruin Fukuda and all his genetic warriors once we've decimated these nests."

Having said that, he reached out to grab Yuji and smilingly said, "Take these two bottles of Great Luo Pills as your reward. I hope you can become stronger and better serve me in the future. Wait until we've completely massacred our enemies and returned triumphantly. I'll spend a few days to pamper you then."

"Thank you, Miyaji."

Yuji acted like she was happily surprised. After receiving the two porcelain bottles and fiddling with it appreciatively for half a minute, she then reluctantly stuffed them into her sleeves pocket.

****

These recent days were bound to be tumultuous.

The Master of Joyous Palace personally led his troops consisted of a large number of mysterious experts. The large forces attacked all the revealed sites belonging to the Gene Camp, all of which ended up being washed by their blood. All that was happening drove General Fukuda mad and he vowed to kill Dragon Vanquisher Sage, the Joyous Palace Master.

Time ticked by and, the next morning, a letter of challenge appeared in front of Joyous Palace Master. After he carefully read the letter, he directly replied in a short comment, "I'll be there. Make that old vagabond Fukuda clean his neck and wait for my butcher knife."

****

Somewhere in the capital.

Tang Xiu and all Eminent Monks of the Buddhist Sect had returned and the constant flow of information kept flying in like snowflakes, which was then known to everyone in the waiting. The flow of messages lasted until the evening as the number dwindled.

That night, Tang Xiu, Blackface Buddha, and the rest were reviewing and redesigning the operation plan and then waited afterward. They were not anxious as it was still 2 days away from the battle between the Joyous Palace Master and General Fukuda camp.

"Sect Master Tang, would you like me to send a message to my sect to send more hands? I always feel that the people we have now are not enough." Blackface Buddha spoke after putting down the chopsticks in his hands with a hesitant look on his face.

Tang Xiu drank a cup of wine and smilingly replied, "How is it not enough, though? I think what we have is more than enough, honestly. Let's just wait until they both suffer a big blow. We'll shock them when we enter the stage later."

Blackface Buddha looked somewhat helpless and nodded. "Well, Sect Master Tang is sure that we have enough manpower. But please don't refuse even if I send the Grand Abbot a message and he agrees to send more people to support us. I won't say anything more if he thinks we can deal with the issue here."

"I see. You can send a message to the Grand Abbot about the situation here if you don't feel at ease, Blackface Buddha." Tang Xiu nodded. "But please keep in mind not to do anything that could expose us!"

Chapter 1182: Preparation Before the Battle

 

The hazy distant mountains were as though covered with a thin layer of muslin that made it faintly discernible, along with the ethereal clouds that were seemingly neither close nor distant around it. The dark lines in the scenery that separated the blue horizon and the aquamarine sea were as though they had been lightly painted with a paintbrush.

A closer look at the mountain showed the sea to its east with pasture on its west side, while the northern and southern sides were guarded by the winding and undulating mountain corridor with precipitous rocks and steep forest. Thanks to the vigorous wintry Wintersweet plants and the tenacious tall green bamboos, the mountain still had some spots with lush greeneries even in the cold winter.

Whoosh...

A cold current lingered in the blowing wind at the mountain summit and, suddenly, a ghostly figure appeared all of a sudden and leaned against the pine tree in the summit. The figure was Tang Xiu. There were faint small beads on the tip of his nose as his intelligent and nimble eyes scanned the surroundings. His mind, however, was wandering and full of the churning contents of spells and arrays.

It was the place designated to be the battlefield for a full-blown battle between the Joyous Palace and the Gene Camp. He rushed to this place with Tang An after learning its location and then began to lay out a huge array as he arrived. The chief purpose of his coming to Japan was to propel Kuwako to be the most powerful person in Japan and thus, either the Joyous Palace or the Gene Camp would affect his plan. It was then he decided to resort to killings so as to remove all the obstacles and pave the way for Kuwako.

"Four men are climbing fast about 2km eastward, Grand Master." Tang An emerged out of nowhere and reported in a low voice. "They should be Gene Camp's genetic warriors."

Moving like a flash of lightning, Tang Xiu threw a pierce of jade into the ground and covered the traces with soil and leaves. Then, he grabbed Tang An's wrist and their figures vanished at the same time.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Four figures quickly arrived. Wearing black exercise clothes and a katana on their back, with faces covered by masks, they vigilantly scanned the surroundings unceasingly.

After a while and not noticing any abnormality, the four people then dashed to the other end.

"What a cautious and careful bunch."

Tang Xiu slightly sneered after he and Tang An reappeared again.

Tang An's expression, however, was solemn as she whispered, "It's very likely both the Joyous Palace and the Gene Camp have been truly stimulated by us, Grand Master. I can tell that their next battle should be quite serious."

"Yeah, else my painstaking efforts of laying out this huge array would've been for naught should they just sit their asses off," commented Tang Xiu.

"But... do you really not need us to come with you on the day of the fight, though?" asked Tang An hesitantly. "I'm afraid they would cease fighting once both of them suffer huge blows."

"Ah, you never participated in the battle between cultivators, An. You have no idea about the scene where huge crowds of people kill each other at all times. It's extremely bloody, brutal and literally won't end easily. No matter which side shows any fear, they will immediately be in a weak position, and what greets them afterward is a crazy pursuit from their adversary. What do you think is the most important issue in a large-scale war between cultivators?" Tang Xiu chuckled.

"Strength?" Tang An hesitated for a moment and probed.

"Strength is but only a minor factor. The most important thing is momentum." Tang Xiu shook his head and smilingly explained, "Individual prowess does have its own role in large-scale wars, yet it's significance in the overall picture of the war isn't as big as you might think. To make it clearer, let's make you the comparison. You're now a Golden Core cultivator, but do you have the confidence to win against tens, hundreds, or even thousands of Foundation Establishment experts?"

"This... I'm not confident about that." Tang An shook her head.

"True powerhouses may be able to escape, but the weaker ones wouldn't have that luxury." Tang Xiu went on with a smile, "The momentum of any side will weaken once their powerhouses begin to run. The rest will lose their fighting spirit, leading to a drop in their combat power."

Having said that, he took out the prepared shovel from the interspatial ring and dug a six-and-a-half-meter wide and two-meters deep pit next to the pine tree. After putting six fist-sized jades into the pit, he covered the pit with soil and erased all traces as he clapped and said, "Well, the array is done and this pine will be its core. When both sides finally battle, they will be trapped inside the array once I activate it."

Tang An, who really admired Tang Xiu's knowledge and mastery in arrays, nodded and said, "Are we going back now, Grand Master?"

"Let's go back!"

Tang Xiu calmly smiled and grabbed her wrist again.

****

The next day finally came.

Thousands of genetic warriors from the Gene Camp along with hundreds of cultivators occupied a side of the mountain peak under General Fukuda's leadership. The radius of several kilometers around the entire camp was under tight surveillance by a lot of genetic warriors with hidden and open guard posts literally everywhere around the camp.

As dusk came, a large number of Buddhist cultivators from the Joyous Palace also arrived under the leadership of the Joyous Palace Master, Dragon Vanquisher Sage. Descended with him on the other side of the mountain were tens of detection experts, whereas 500 Buddhist cultivators of the palace marched forward to approach the Gene Camp's encampment.

After an hour, both sides began to engage in minor skirmishes, resulting in some casualties and injuries for both sides. Eventually, Gene Camp's genetic warriors retreated toward the mountain.

"When are we going to start, Miyaji?"

Yuji, who had been following Dragon Vanquisher Sage, used binoculars to observe the area with those waving banners two kilometers away. Murderous intent could be seen flickering in her eyes unceasingly.

The sage himself was very happy with Yuji in recent days since he found that she, who he never felt optimistic toward before, turned out to be the most competent person under him now. After gently patting her shoulder, he said, "No rush. Victory will be in our grasp if we know ourselves and the enemies. I need to figure out how much strength that Fukuda vagabond has along with the power possessed by his Gene Camp."

"Ah, how do you figure it out, though?" asked Yuji in surprise.

Dragon Vanquisher Sage let out a faint smile and pulled 3 black flags from his waist. After chanting a weird mantra, invisible winds gathered from all directions in an image of a bizarre chimera that came out above the three flags. The chimera had a tiger's head and a horn, yet with a dog's ears and a dragon body, a lion's tail, and a Qilin's hooves. To the many core members and executives of the Joyous Palace, this chimera looked like a dragon, a tiger, a lion, a dog, and a Qilin, yet it was neither.

In but a few seconds after, however, the phantoms that appeared atop the black flags were covered by the flags as the wind condensed and gradually disappeared into the jungle.

"The battle today is an all-out one. How much power our Joyous Palace needs to unleash will depend on how much power that damn Fukuda has," Dragon Vanquisher Sage clapped and happily said with a smile.

"What were those flags you just took out, Miyaji?" Yuji's eyes flickered and she asked with a still expression, "Can you use them to figure out the enemy's power?"

"You have never heard of 'the Truth Listener'?" asked Dragon Vanquisher Sage.

"No, never heard of it before." Yuji shook her head.

A mysterious golden-masked man in a black cloak on the other side of the sage suddenly interjected and explained slowly, "In the legend, that term belongs to the spirit beast under the sacred Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva or Guardian of the Earth which can recognize everything in the world by listening, especially listening to people's heart. In the mythical fairy tale of Journey to the West, one of the four famous masterpieces is devoted to the story of Sun Wukong when distinguishing true and false. But it's just that, a legend in which you must take a grain of salt whether you can take it seriously or not."

Dragon Vanquisher Sage happily nodded and looked at Yuji, saying, "Your contributions this time is remarkable, avoiding the Joyous Palace to be taken advantage of by the Gene Camp's people, which makes you qualified to know some deeper things These Truth Listener Flags were said to be a magical weapon belonging to a certain Eminent Monk before. It may not be as magical as the Truth Listener told in the legends, per se, but it indeed has a function to monitor some areas in this world while being invisible. Thus, it can be used to monitor the number of the enemy as well as their strengths."

Yuji quickly understood, but a look of worry, nonetheless, flashed across her face. Although she had no idea about the details of Tang Xiu's plan, she was sincerely worried that his plan would be disrupted. If by chance, the Joyous Palace defeated the enemy easily with light casualties, such a situation would make things more difficult for Tang Xiu to destroy the Joyous Palace.

"Dammit!"

During the time Yuji was worrying about it, she suddenly heard Dragon Vanquisher Sage curse something with an ashen face.

"What happened?" asked the mysterious golden-masked man hurriedly.

The killing intent in the eyes of Dragon Vanquisher Sage looked as though it was nearly solidified as he clenched his fists tightly and said in a fierce tone, "I didn't expect the Gene Camp to boast such a powerful force, neither did I think that he has a group of cultivators with him. I'm not afraid of them, of course. But those bastards are around him... the traitors of the Joyous Palace!"

"Traitors? Who are they?" blurted out the golden-masked man with thick killing intent.

"That bottom place of 72 Chess Pieces, Ki Kitagawa and the 36th rank, Aka Hidari. I have no idea how these two bastards managed to entice more than 100 of the Joyous Palace's backbone disciples!"

The mysterious golden-masked man coldly interjected, "Those two will be my first targets once the battle begins, Miyaji!"

Dragon Vanquisher Sage gritted his teeth and said, "I'll give them to you, but do give your best shot to kill them! They must know what fate they will end up in for betraying me."

"But why should Miyaji be so troubled with them? Just activate the restriction seal you've cast on them and directly kill them since they've decided to betray you. I think their inexplicable tragic deaths will create chaos in the midst of Gene Camp and strike their morale."

Dragon Vanquisher Sage was silent for half a minute and then shook his head with an ashen face. "I have no idea what means they have used. They have broken the restriction seal I cast on them without me being able to detect it. No wonder, huh. No wonder they dare betray me! It turns out that they are now out of my control."

"How can that be?!!" Yuji blurted out in alarm. "The seal Palace Master has cast on your subordinates is not a joke. It cannot be undone at all. Didn't you say that no one else but you can undo that seal in this world?"

"SHUT UP!!!"

Dragon Vanquisher Sage turned furious and shouted fiercely.

Chapter 1183: Open War

 

Yuji deliberately acted fearfully and paced back two steps, staying silent and trembling with fear.

She already knew that Kitagawa had broken free of Dragon Vanquisher Sage's control. She even knew more about other things than the monk, though she couldn't just blurt it out now. The reason why she spoke like that was intentional, to estrange the monks from the rest of the Joyous Palace experts around him.

It must be noted that Dragon Vanquisher Sage had cast the same seal on all the core executives of Joyous Palace, placing their lives under this monk's control. If they knew that there were means to undo that seal and free them from the monk's control, it was very likely for them to have other thoughts in mind.

Dragon Vanquisher Sage shot a look at the mysterious golden-masked man and said in a cold voice, "You had better be able to reap the lives of Kitagawa and Hidari after the battle begins. I must squeeze out the method they used to undo my seal from them!"

"Understood!" the masked man replied directly, but a surprised expression flashed in his eyes.

10 minutes later.

Dragon Vanquisher Sage's expression looked more sullen, but he was secretly relieved inwardly. He had fully figured out the number and overall strengths of the enemy through the Truth Listener Flags. Although the enemy's number was in the thousands with many strong experts, his Joyous Palace still had more experts than them and thus, exterminating the enemy was still achievable.

Nonetheless, his side would also suffer huge losses after they had General Fukuda and his force decimated. It would be very difficult to return to their peak without spending a decade or so.

'The answer is, killing! Besides, two tigers cannot live in the same mountain. Since exterminating General Fukuda and his Gene Camp is inevitable for my Joyous Palace to survive in Japan, then it shall be done. The loss may be bigger this time, but I'll become the facto sovereign of Japan later. Even if... both the military and government dare not comply, I'll just kill them and replace them. ' The monk silently thought in his head.

At this time.

Both Dragon Vanquisher Sage and General Fukuda issued orders at the same time and dispatched sneak-attack experts to the frontline. And thus, the game of life-and-death in this forested mountain officially started.

Yuji was leading tens of her trusted maids as they took a detour to the mountainside. Although the sage ordered her to sneak into the Gene Camp, she didn't obey that order and quickly rushed down the mountain under the strange gaze of her maids.

"Master, are we going to disobey Palace Master's command by going down the mountain now?" a beautiful woman finally couldn't help but ask.

Yuji halted her ace and shot a look at the tens of maids who were neatly lined up before her. Then, she said in a deep voice, "You're my people who I have raised and trained since childhood. Now I'm asking you something. Do you want to pledge your loyalty to me, or to Palace Master?"

"We're loyal to you, Master!"

The tens of maids faintly realized something and answered in unison.

"Since you chose to side with me, then we have nothing to do with this battle now." Yuji nodded happily and said, "Also, do remember that we're no longer the Joyous Palace people from now on. We have to withdraw fast right away since we have other missions to accomplish."

"This..."

These maids were shocked, but they believed in Yuji. After exchanging quick glances, they rushed behind Yuji towards the mountain foot.

****

At the Gene Camp.

Ki Kitagawa was sitting cross-legged in his tent. Large drops of sweat trickled down his forehead, leaving a sheen his face. The veins on his temples wriggled as though they were worms while a white mist lingered above his head.

Puah...

He coughed up a mouthful of blood crazily and instantly opened his eyes. With a furious look flashed in his eyes, he quickly grabbed his chest and muttered to himself, "I can easily remove the seal of that Joyous Palace old bald ass, yet I'm helpless to crack the seal of that Tang asshole. It seems like I really have to follow all his orders since he has my life under control."

Immediately after, he took out a roll of fabrics from his sleeves arm and quickly wiped the blood on his lips. After adjusting his condition and breath for a few minutes, he floated up and appeared outside the tent. He swept over the surrounding with chilling eyes and a frosty look and found that most of his trusted men had disappeared, replaced by some strange and unfamiliar faces standing nearby. From these stranger's eyes who glanced at him once in a while, he realized that they were sent by General Fukuda to monitor him.

Don't blame me for your own heartlessness and unkindness, Fukuda. I've never coveted anything from you. Everything I do is to live on.

The thought crossed his mind and he shouted loudly, "Jun Yuchu, come here!"

From a nearby spot, a hunchbacked middle-aged man with a pale face quickly ran to Kitagawa and said with one knee on the ground, "What's your instruction for this one, Sir Kitagawa?"

"Where's General Fukuda? I must see him," Kitagawa asked in a deep voice.

"Those Joyous Palace vagabonds have begun attacking us, so General Fukuda led a troop of experts to rush over. Calculating the time, they should be fighting them at this moment," answered Jun Yuchu quickly.

With eyes lit up, Kitagawa inquired. "What about the Black-robed Guards?"

The humpbacked middle-aged man looked anxious and replied, "General Fukuda took all of them. Everyone else except for me has rushed to the battle for the Gene Camp's victory."

Kitagawa was so resentful inwardly. He knew why General Fukuda only left Jun Yuchu with him. That man definitely believed that Jun was just a weak hunchback, so he might as well leave Jun to him. But those Black-robed Guards were his trusted men. He took them all so he could order his men to charge through the enemy lines. That man would never care even if they were all dead!

"Have you been successful in condensing your Buddhist Sarira, Jun?"

The hunchbacked middle-aged man's expression slightly changed. He quickly glanced at the tens of people around and respectfully said, "I've completed it 2 years ago."

Kitagawa happily nodded. He unsheathed the long katana on his back and instantly bolted to the two genetic warriors a little more than 10 meters away. The blade slashed forward and directly beheaded those two genetic warriors who didn't react fast enough.

"No need to hide anymore since you've completed it, Jun! Let's kill them all and leave." Kitagawa fiercely shouted.

The hunchbacked middle-aged man quickly flashed to another direction several meters away like light smoke. Several objects that were instantly shot from him instantly pierced and ripped the throats of three genetic warriors directly.

The slaughter was carried out in an extremely fast manner. The duo killed a total of 46 genetic warriors in just 2 minutes.

The hunchbacked man wiped the blood on his machete before he came to Kitagawa's front and respectfully asked, "What do we do next, Sir Kitagawa?"

Kitagawa glanced around and, after making sure there were no living people left in the surroundings, he coldly said, "General Fukuda has begun to distrust me, so we no longer need to stay here anymore. He's a heartless man and I'm not that better than him either. He and I are the same breed. Pity I have no means to save those Black-robed Guards he took with him to their deaths, though. Let's leave! We'll hike down the mountain to carry out other missions somewhere else."

"Other missions? We still have other missions?" asked the hunchbacked man in surprise.

A hint of helplessness flitted across Kitagawa's face as he nodded. "There is, in fact, another fearsome force in Japan. This force is no way worse than the Joyous Palace and the Gene Camp. The battle between these two parties now was due to their machinations as well. And now we are taking orders from them to preserve our lives."

A horrified look appeared on the hunchbacked man's face. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever expect that a third cultivation force existed in Japan. He had been serving under Kitagawa for decades and knew the man inside out. A fearless man who had never been afraid of anything now had a hint of helplessness when he mentioned that force. He could also sense a bit of fear in his voice, which made him secretly shocked.

****

Up ahead in the mountain top.

Tang Xiu calmly stood in silence atop the pine tree while watching members of the Joyous Palace and combatants from the Gene Camp appear. He had activated the Invisibility Charm, completely restrained his aura, and even closed off the pores all over his body. Shortly put, he no longer produced any fluctuation of energy exchange. That was the reason nobody from both sides was able to detect him.

"KILL..."

"KILL..."

Then... the sight of thousands of experts going berserk and crazily engaging in fights filled the mountains. The intensity of the battle was so insane that it was out of the average people's imagination.

Buzz...

Buzz...

Buzz...

Coming from three directions, three spiritual senses rapidly transmitted to Japan. A few breaths were spent as these three perceptions scanned the whole mountain and "watched" the battle there. Obviously, some super-powerful experts from other countries sent their spiritual senses to watch it.

****

The United States of America.

In an unusual separated pavilion in San Francisco, an old man, who was covered in black fog that made his figure faintly discernible, was facing a glittering crystal ball that emitted out soft white light, which he kept injecting the black fog into.

Whoosh...

A figure flickered and bolted like lightning from afar and appeared in front of the old man in less than a minute. Eyes filled with intense shock, he directly knelt on the floor and quietly waited.

"That's quite an interesting sight."

The black mist-covered old man opened his eyes and spoke with a contemptuous smile. The moment he opened them, it was like a dazzling substance burst out and shot the floor in front of him, creating a 2m wide and half-meter-deep dark pit.

The Caucasian man who knelt there suddenly looked up and asked, "What exactly happened, Grand Wizard?"

The old man shook his head and smilingly said, "A flock of ants is fighting each other, but two of those ants are quite remarkable... for ants."

"A battle? Where is it?" asked the Caucasian man hurriedly. "And who are they? Would you like me to head over there immediately? You told us before to rush to any large-scale battle if possible since we can benefit from it."

Chapter 1184: Who Are They?

 

The old man let out a slight contempt while sitting cross-legged and shaking his head. "I only know it's happening in Japan, but I have no idea who they are. Just forget it and don't meddle on this one as it's way too far. Besides, they are just insignificant nobodies and likely won't get far. No matter how hard they secretly go against the sky, they'll never be able to break through the shackles."

"But..." The Caucasian man hesitated and argued. "We may be able to get some profits since that battle in Japan is a large-scale one!"

The old man gently raised his arm and suddenly, a torrential column of black mist hit the man. He then coldly snorted with a bit of killing intent in his voice. "You dare to disobey me?"

"I don't dare!"

The Caucasian man was sent flying several meters backward and heavily slammed on the wall. He immediately got up and knelt before the old man and left quickly after knocking his head respectfully.

While looking at the back of the departed man, the contempt on the old man's expression turned thicker. He indeed had issued the order to head over to any large-scale battle anywhere as they could then act to reap the benefits without much sweat after both sides mutually suffered heavy blows.

However, he had broken through that barrier and now possessed enormous power far from the imagination of any practitioner. Why would he bother about such profits anymore?

****

India, in the pyramid in the midst of a jungle.

A barefooted old man with a naked upper body and seemingly in the declining age moved his shaking legs as a strange expression painted his fully wrinkled face.

"Interesting! I never thought there were so many cultivators in Japan before. Judging from the course of the battle, those Buddhist cultivators should win, no? But... aren't they from China's Buddhist Sect? Don't tell me... these Buddhist cultivators have fallen into the demonic path?!

"But the fight of these small fries has nothing to do with me no matter who they are. The most urgent thing for me now is to find that space channel early. I only have 120 years left to live. If I can't find it and am unable to reach the realm where those Deities reside, it's likely that I'll vanish in this world."

The barefooted old man's body suddenly trembled and burst out a violent aura. His spiritual sense that covered the sky suddenly clashed with the other two spiritual senses.

Puah...

The old man spurted out a mouthful of blood crazily, but his trembling body instantly stood straight and shouted, "I'll step on you both sooner or later, two old geezers!"

****

China.

In a certain part of the Qilian mountain range in Qinghai Province, an old lady in a linen coat and a headscarf was lying on a bamboo chair in the thatched cottage, while lines of energy flowing around her were constantly fluctuating.

Outside the thatched cottage, nine long-haired young girls in white dresses seemed to have sensed the energy fluctuation from the thatched cottage and came floating from afar and neatly stood in a row.

The figure of the linen-robed lady suddenly shook and she instantly stood straight. As she opened her arms, her thin fingers that were like the split image of dragon claws were exposed. A hoarse voice then came out of her mouth as she spoke. "This ancient one is only responsible for sheltering China and has nothing to do with the battle between those creatures in Japan. You can go there to meddle in if you see things that interest you. But remember, I'll be waiting for you 13 years later in that Arctic glacier."

Her words were clearly heard, be it by the black mist-shrouded old man in America or the other one under the pyramid.

In that instant, the other two spiritual senses retreated fast like a tidal wave.

The linen-robed old lay floated out the thatched cottage and looked up at Japan's direction. A smile sketched on the corner of her mouth as she muttered, "It's just unfortunate that you're all still too young. You all may be talented and your cultivation speed is far above the average humans, yet it will be quite hard for you to break through the Crossing Tribulation Realm in 13 years later, nonetheless. But you've always wanted to roam around, so just do that!"

The moment after, she retracted back her spiritual sense and shifted her attention to the nine women standing in front, slowly saying, "Children, I've peeped into your colorful fate and destiny from the heaven ever since you were born. Although I wasn't able to fully understand the former happenings in your past life, I think you'll be brought by fate to him. He has been roaming around and made some achievements, so it's time for you to leave."

"Grandmother."

The nine girls in white knelt with reluctance evident in their bright black eyes as translucent tears trickled down on their beautiful faces.

The old lady calmly continued, "The beginning and the end of karma is sometimes like dreams within dreams that lead to all cases. I'm not clear about your fate and neither can I scry into your sea of mind and that world covered by the darkness. That's why you need to leave now and seek it for yourself now. Off you go, Children!"

The woman in the middle raised her arm to wipe the tears on her face and respectfully asked, "Where should we go to find him, Grandma?"

"I've never been able to divine him nor can I control the course of his fate. He's in Japan now, but if my conjecture is correct, he'll leave that place a few days later, so you all need to find him yourselves." The old lady shook her head.

That girl then asked again, "Could you pinpoint us the range, Grandma?"

"As always, you're the most high-spirited, Zhong Ling dear." The old lady couldn't help but chuckle and said, "You've been following this ancient one for decades and knows my temperament clearly. Alright, alright. It would be rather hard for you to wander around without a clear destination, so go to Star City! It's the place where he was born and grew up. It's his root, after all."

Star City?

The nine girls etched the name and at the same time, kowtowed to the old lady and knocked their heads thrice.

"We're leaving, Grandma."

The nine girls spoke in unison with reminiscent eyes and reluctance on their faces. While harboring these feelings, they flew southward to the southern side of Qilian Mountain to the small Qilian County.

****

Back to Japan.

At the summit of the mountain, Tang Xiu was still standing atop the pine tree with a tense feeling. He could sense those three super-powerful spiritual senses. He could even tell the position of the three people who transmitted their perceptions to this place. They were absolutely not in Japan but from some faraway countries.

These spiritual senses are neither Ji Chimei's or Yan'er's.

He was very familiar with their spiritual senses, so he was sure now that there were also three more super-powerful experts on Earth aside from Ji Chimei and Gu Yan'er. It was very likely that their cultivation level was far beyond the Spirit Formation Stage.

Who exactly are they?

Tang Xiu originally decided to carry out major actions to begin gathering cultivation resources on Earth extensively. It wasn't only to strengthen himself but also for those tens of thousands of people under him. But he instantly changed his decision due to the emergence of these three divine senses.

Staying low-key and forbearance were a must before he could figure out the owners of those three divine senses. He couldn't just easily expose himself for it would be inviting troublesome issues otherwise.

His attention then shifted to the battle scene that was getting bloodier and more brutal. He no longer gave it more attention as he was eager to find out from where and who had sent those three divine senses were. Therefore, after watching the battle, he floated down and unleashed a strike with his sword. The sword beam slashed down like a lightning bolt and split the pine tree into halves as the felled tree fell next to its trunk.

Time passed and the intense battle on this mountain peak between the Joyous Palace and the Gene Camp had lasted for three hours, resulting in dreadful destruction to the surroundings. The battle of these thousands of people itself kept sending a number of souls to depart this world in nearly each second and dying this part of mountain peak red with their blood.

"Keep slaughtering them!"

Dragon Vanquisher Sage's eyes had practically turned bloodshot due to the killings. In these three hours, he had killed at least 500 genetic warriors and severely injured tens of cultivators, as well as clashed with General Fukuda several times. He did gain the upper hands every time they clashed and was able to injure General Fukuda, yet he had no means to kill him.

Suddenly, he noticed that General Fukuda was rushing at him again and crazily brandished his long spear at him. It took only the blink of an eye for the man to dash and appear right before his eyes.

"You court your death, Fukuda geezer!"

Dragon Vanquisher Sage furiously roared and instantly blasted out the monk staff in his hand. In that instant, it clashed with the long spear for hundreds of times in but a moment. Right as he was able to suppress General Fukuda, his eyes suddenly caught a dazzling ray that kept enlarging and eventually forming a sword tip in a hundredth of a second.

"DAMMIT!"

Dragon Vanquisher Sage's expression enormously changed and instantly avoided the surprise strike of that particular sword. But the moment after, General Fukuda's long spear struck his back and tore open a bleeding wound on it. Right as he blasted out his power, however, the owner of that sword appeared like a shadow in his left rear.

Puff...

The sword stabbed the monk's left arm, but the middle-aged man in a black suit was also hit by several silver needles flicked by Dragon Vanquisher Sage.

The man also lost his eyes and another silver needle pierced through his throat.

Dragon Vanquisher Sage suppressed the pain from his wound and slammed his staff to the man's chest the moment he screamed and tried to retreat, causing him to spray out a mouthful of blood. His body was sent flying backward as he heavily fell on the ground and died.

"DAMN YOU!"

It was now General Fukuda who flew into a rage. He instantly took out a tube of dark blue gene agent, pulled the cork and drank it.

ROAR...

In just a few seconds, the General's body suddenly enlarged and transformed. His original 1.85m height now turned to 1.9m, while his muscles, in particular, looked a bit thinner but, nonetheless, made him look extraordinarily strong and sturdy.

"Psycho Demon Spear!"

The long spear in his hand bolted away instantly and created layers of spear shadows which seeemingly moved chaotically, yet tightly sealed the surrounding area mid-air.

Chapter 1185

The killing aura of Dragon Vanquisher Sage was as though materialized. He turned as though a phantom and demonic-like monk who just crawled out of hell. While beating the small drum he took out, he blasted the sound wave energy that rapidly erupted in all directions.

The space in the sky wherein the spear shadows were lingering around was distorted as numerous rampaging violent gales struck, greatly reducing General Fukuda's striking power.

"KILL!"

The sage spat out a Buddhist Golden Sarira and shot it at General Fukuda's chest. The Sarira cracked and its luster turned dim right as it hit General Fukuda, but the latter coughed up a blood mist and was sent flying backward.

However, Dragon Vanquisher Sage himself paid a heavy price at this moment. The overlapping spear shadows may have been rapidly dissipated, but some of them managed to hit him. Along with the scattering blood mist, the monk turned into a fully bloodied figurine.

"EXPLODE!"

The snare drum in his had instantly chased General Fukuda and exploded a few meters away from him. The world felt like it was going to collapse due to the fearsome explosion wave while the enormous energy vortex smashed General Fukuda into pieces.

Puah... cough, cough...

Dragon Vanquisher Sage himself was sent flying backward more than 100 meters and slammed into the mountain wall. Instantly, several experts on par with Golden Core Stage experts quickly appeared around him, one of whom took out a porcelain bottle and took out a miraculous pill and stuffed it into the sage's mouth. Finally, the monk's chaotic aura gradually calmed down.

"Keep killing them! Be sure to exterminate everyone from the Gene Camp!" Dragon Vanquisher Sage coughed up two mouthfuls of blood again and ordered with dim eyes.

"Understood!"

Only a few of the Joyous Palace experts stayed with the monk as the rest were rushed toward the genetic warriors in the surroundings.

Slaughter then commenced.

Amid the killings, the Joyous Palace members kept shouting "General Fukuda is dead" and the course of the battle turned into a one-sided massacre. Less than 800 people remaining from the Gene Camp desperately fought back and attempted to flee. However, the Joyous Palace experts were much stronger and faster than many of them, causing the Gene Camp's genetic warriors to lose their morale, resulting in the faster speed of their own extermination and the deaths of several hundreds of them in just a few minutes.

"Use Thunderstorm!"

Suddenly, a genetic warrior halted his pace with a decisive look on his face. He instantly tore his coat and grabbed a fist-sized black metal ball from his waist.

"Thunderstorm."

"Thunderstorm."

"Thunderstorm."

"..."

A total of 18 people halted and shouted fiercely as each took the same fist-sized black metal balls and then stormed over towards the Joyous Palace experts.

A series of powerful blasts instantly engulfed everything 100 meters around them. Using their lives to pay for the actions, these 18 people resorted to using the Gene Camp's lethal killing weapon and were successful in bringing down more than 100 people from Joyous Palace to be buried with them. Only those who were at least at the Golden Core Stage level were barely able to save their own lives, but with very severe injuries.

At the summit, Tang Xiu dashed from under the remaining half of the pine tree which was previously a dozen meters tall. Even the remaining trunk had also been torn.

"It's time."

He instantly unleashed the divine sword which bolted away and killed all the Joyous Palace members in the tens of meters radius instantly. While releasing an enormous amount Primal Chaos energy, he instantly activated the jades he installed around the pine tree as the crux of the array. Along with the injection of his Primal Chaos energy, the array he had set up and covered more than a 10km radius was now fully activated.

"Heavenly Coil—activate!"

His figure then vanished from many people's eyes, but the rest of them, be them from the Joyous Palace or the Gene Camp, could sense the changes in the flow of energy at the moment.

Halfway up the mountain, Dragon Mountain Sage's expression enormously changed all of a sudden. He could sense the changes in the energy flow of the world in the surroundings. Despite being seriously injured, he abruptly jumped up and shouted, "All the disciples of Joyous Palace, heed my order! Stop chasing the enemy and immediately move to my position!"

"What?!"

All the members of Joyous Palace in the radius of several kilometers shifted their sight to Dragon Vanquisher Sage's position with an incredulous look. Never once they ever thought that the Palace Master would issue such an order when they were about to completely decimate the Gene Camp.

WHY?

The big question mark popped out in their mind. After the fast communication with their comrades in the surroundings, they finally chose to obey the command and passed the order to the rest of them around, and then quickly dashed toward Dragon Vanquisher Sage's position.

Many genetic warriors immediately felt relieved upon noticing that their powerful enemies from Joyous Palace were no longer pursuing them. They no longer wanted to stay on the battlefield anymore now that General Fukuda had died. Saving their own lives was the most correct choice at this time for them.

BANG, BANG, BANG...

Just as they were about to dash to the foot of the mountain, they suddenly slammed into a layer of energy shield. The energy shield's overlapping layers rippled as they hit it, thoroughly shaking them to the core. It was such a bizarre situation they had never encountered since they never knew the existence of arrays, to begin with.

Back to the halfway up the mountain, Yukiji's eyes glanced at the surrounding with a shocked face. Then, she quickly ran toward Dragon Vanquisher Sage and quickly reported. "Someone must have arranged a huge array here and we're now trapped within it, Miyaji!"

The sage's face was extremely solemn as he nodded. "That's right, someone has arranged this array even before we've arrived here. But I'm sure the person who set this up is absolutely not General Fukuda or anyone else from the Gene Camp. That geezer is now dead and nobody among those genetic warriors has this ability."

"Then who could it be, Miyaji?" Yukiji asked hurriedly. "Our only enemy is the Gene Camp."

Dragon Vanquisher Sage tried hard to force himself to calm down. A series of suspicions then crossed his mind and he kept rejecting each suspicion one after another.

Suddenly, he turned to glance around and shouted aloud, "Where's Yuji?"

Yukiji shook her head and said, "I didn't see her anymore since the battle began, Miyaji. You..."

The sage fiercely said, "I previously gave an order to catch that Yamamoto Matriarch, Kuwako. Who took the mission first? Was it Yuji?"

"That's right. She took it first." Yukiji nodded. "But then we were engaged in skirmishes with the Gene Camp, so we cast this issue aside. I... damn. I remember what those people said before they fled. They said the backer behind Kuwako Yamamoto is some cultivator from China. Could it be that the one who set up this array here is a Chinese cultivator?"

PA...

Dragon Vanquisher Sage slapped her hard, causing her to draw back staggeringly for several meters. He then dashed to her instantly and grabbed her clothes, shouting, "Why the hell didn't you report it to me when those Chinese cultivators appeared here?!"

Yukiji covered her check and hurriedly said, "I thought they were just nobodies, so there was no need to report it to you, Miyaji. Besides, the enemy we were facing then was the Gene Camp, so I intended to delay the report to give a lesson to Kuwako Yamamoto and the people behind her to you. I thought it was better done after we've rooted out General Fukuda and his Gene Camp."

"IDIOT!!!"

Dragon Vanquisher Sage hurled a curse at her. The others had no idea how powerful Chinese cultivators were, but he was well aware of it inside out. If he were to compare which side was more powerful between the Buddhist and Daoist schools, he would, without hesitation, choose the latter as the more powerful one.

Why would he say that? It was because there was only one Buddhist Sect in China, whereas there was more than one Daoist school. Not to mention the the rest from those clans and some loose cultivators. The number was just too many to count.

"Amitabha..."

A large bell-like voice came from afar and 18 figures flickered and moved lightning-fast and quickly appeared in front of the Joyous Palace members.

Dragon Venerable Sage's pupils shrunk with disbelief. His Joyous Palace disciples were also Buddhist cultivators, but they would never utter that particular word! With the several top executives of Joyous Palace around him, the sage finally appeared in front of the 18 Eminent Monks of the Buddhist Sect, but his lips couldn't help but twitch a few times and some fear even appeared on his face.

Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha?!

He was familiar with these 18 people in front and remembered each and every one of them clearly. These 18 people were born in the same era as him and they used to be rivals. Never did it occur to him that he would run into all 18 of them in Japan, of all places.

Blackface Buddha grabbed his staff and coldly stared daggers at Dragon Vanquisher Sage, saying, "This poor monk was rather shocked and felt strange the moment I heard the Joyous Sect reemerged in Japan.

I first thought who could that powerful figure be that escaped the previous purge. I didn't expect that you're not dead yet, Dragon Vanquisher. You even still indulge yourself in mundane desires and meddle in everything in Japan. No matter what, this monk must kill you to cleanse the Buddhist Sect from undesired elements today."

Dragon Vanquisher Sage paced half a step backward and indignantly yelled, "You killed 9 Martial Brothers and 4 Uncle Masters of mine before and you made me struggle for life for months due to serious injuries you gave me, Blackface Buddha. Is that punishment still not enough for you?"

"The cultivation art you've been practicing was originally tolerable as it was only to follow the steps the unrestrained Joyous Buddha so you can have a partner for pair cultivation. Yet, your Joyous Sect went ashtray and committed shameful deeds left and right in order to make yourselves stronger. 

You even went so far to rob and ravish women and fell from grace due to your own evil deeds. Because of you, our Buddhist Sect became notorious and has been living in seclusion in the deep mountains with little contact with the outside world, reluctant and not daring to publicize our Buddhism teaching. This sin and disgrace must be washed up clean with the blood of all you. And today, you and everyone from the Joyous Palace must die for you must pay the deeply grievous price!"

Chapter 1186: He Must Be Punished Due to His Heart

 

"The Joyous Sect has paid a terrible price for all that with nearly all the lives of our disciples then!" Dragon Vanquisher Sage indignantly shouted. "I ran away and never dared to return to China. Not even an inch to step on the mainland and never harmed any Chinese, either. Is all that not enough for you?"

Blackface Buddha, Jade Buddha, and the rest looked at each other with pensive looks. They were not psycho mass murderer, to begin with. Even Blackface Buddha who had killed countless people and acted as the leader of Buddhist Sect's Discipline and Punishment Hall still had pity and mercy due to the Buddhism teaching.

To either Daoist or Buddhist cultivators, killings were just a solution to solve some risk factors they faced. What they cared about was the lives of Chinese people. They may have the same respect for the lives of these Japanese, but it wasn't as special as the former.

Back in the past in that turbulent and tumultuous dark times, each and every one of them left the sect and launched a crazy massacre against those Japanese who invaded China, and thus, the cause of the deep loathing toward this country. Still, they also had a conscience and were well aware of this matter as was Dragon Vanquisher Sage.

Therefore, hesitation struck the hearts of Buddhist experts at this moment.

Whoosh...

A figure flickered and approached lightning-fast from afar. When the person appeared in front of Blackface Buddha's 18 Eminent Monks, all the monks respectfully saluted him.

Dragon Vanquisher Sage was stunned. He knew the identity of Blackface Buddha and his team. Hence, he really couldn't understand why they bowed to this young man despite being a few centuries older. Further... why did they act so respectful to him?

Who is he? What abilities does he have to make the 18 Eminent Monks of the Buddhist Sect respect him that much?

Tang Xiu smilingly nodded to Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha's team with his arms crossed behind his back. Then, he slowly turned around to face Dragon Vanquisher Sage and smilingly said, "You're Dragon Vanquisher Sage, the Master of the Joyous Palace?"

"I am!" replied Dragon Vanquisher Sage with a solemn face.

"I'm sure you've already guessed that I'm the one responsible for laying out this array." Tang Xiu slightly smiled and said, "Even you must have guessed that I'm the Master behind Kuwako Yamamoto."

"That's right. I already guessed all that." Dragon Vanquisher Sage nodded. "Also, I'm sure you're also the one who pulled the strings for the battle between the Joyous Palace and the Gene Camp. It can be said that I and General Fukuda have fallen to your machination. Am I correct?"

"I admit that it was mainly my machination that led both parties to this situation." Tang Xiu nodded.

"Why?" asked Dragon Venerable Sage in a heavy voice while suppressing his anger inwardly.

"Why?" Tang Xiu slightly smiled and explained, "So that my people can completely control Japan, of course! Be it the Joyous Palace or the Gene Camp, they are just unexpected factors in my plan, that made it more difficult for Kuwako Yamamoto to control the whole of Japan in a short time."

Looking at Tang Xiu incredulously, Dragon Vanquisher Sage blurted out stupidly, "You're a cultivator from China... yet you headed to Japan to grab a territory? You... you're..."

"Heh, cultivation resources on Earth are so very limited." Tang Xiu sneered. "I'll take possession of Japan or anywhere else in the world as long as the place has cultivation resources. It's just the way the cultivation path is, for we are always struggling and fighting against the sky, earth and man."

Dragon Vanquisher Sage fell into silence. He could understand Tang Xiu's reasoning. Wasn't the chief reason why he occupied Japan before and then developed his force here in secret also because of cultivation resources?

Tang Xiu slowly turned around and looked at Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha and inquisitively asked, "I noticed your hesitation, two Masters. Is your resolution weakening or what?"

Blackface Buddha exchanged glances with Jade Buddha and the latter wryly smiled, shook his head and sighed. "It is as you said. Dragon Vanquisher Sage may be a renegade of my Buddhist Sect and he's also committed heinous sins. But he has never stepped on the mainland over the years, nor has he harmed any Chinese person or the Buddhist Sect. So..."

Tang Xiu raised his hand to interrupt him and noddingly said, "I do approve the wisdom of Buddhist way that those who repent and reform can become a Buddha immediately. He did get his punishment and paid the price for his past sins. But now I ask you, can you spare him if he's willing to put down the butcher knife?"

"This..." Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha looked at each other with hesitant looks.

Dragon Vanquisher Sage's eyes shone and he spoke to Tang Xiu while cupping his fists, "What's your honorable name, Sir?"

"Tang Xiu," answered Tang Xiu.

Having said that, he took out half a pack of cigarettes from the interspatial ring, took a lighter and lit it up, and drew the smoke twice. Then, he slowly said, "You should know the consequences since my Daoist school and the Buddhist Sect are cooperating, Dragon Vanquisher Sage. The array I arranged here is absorbing the world and spiritual energy of this land, using the blood and souls it has absorbed and devoured to finally form a terrifyingly fearsome killing array. Even without the assistance of these Masters, I can still kill all of you inside this array with my own power.

"But you can still preserve your life, however. You only need to submit, repent and reform yourself and I can give you my guarantee on that."

"Preserving his life is fine, Sect Master Tang. But the Joyous Palace must cease to exist!" Blackface Buddha suddenly interjected. "The Buddhist Sect will never allow any teaching of this cultivation technique to spread further. Also, he can be forgiven for his capital crime, but he cannot escape his current ones. He must return to the Buddhist Sect with us and accept 100 years of imprisonment."

Dragon Vanquisher Sage kept silent, but the struggles in his heart never stopped.

Exacting revenge was something he had been wishing for all these years and the thought hounded him countless times. Forcing him to submit without a fight was something nearly impossible for him. Yet, he was now facing such a situation. Could there be some other people brought by the Buddhist Sect nearby now? Further, he was confident that he could protect himself even though that Tang Xiu had arranged this array. But then again, Blackface Buddha addressed him as Sect Master Tang, meaning that he was a Sect Master of a Daoist sect. Did he also bring other cultivators and experts here, and if he did, how many of them were nearby?

A subtle light suddenly flashed in his eyes as he said in a deep voice, "I have no problem with surrendering myself or facing the wall for 100 years for my punishment. But I have a request. I'll immediately tell everyone else to submit should you comply with my request."

"You think you still can demand anything, Dragon Vanquisher?" Blackface Buddha yelled. "What leverage do you think you have?"

Killing intent surged in Tang Xiu's heart since he could faintly guess the monk's demand. However, he still asked with indifference, "Speak your request."

Dragon Vanquisher Sage slowly said, "Joyous Palace Saintess has gone missing. I raised her, and you can say she's my closest relative. If you can find her and bring her to China's Buddhist Sect to face the wall for 100 years with me, I'll agree to your demand. Else, the battle is inevitable and, if worse comes to worst, I guarantee that you'll pay a terrible price if you want to kill me."

Sure enough.

Tang Xiu's eyes flickered and he could sense the monk's unwillingness. After all, how could he be willing to be imprisoned for a century after living so freely for so many years? Not to mention the Joyous Palace Saintess—Gong Wan'er was also a woman he had set as his furnace. It was very likely that his cultivation would soar once he had devoured her. At that time, this monk would likely be on par with him in power, if not slightly weaker, and nobody in the Buddhist Sect would be able to control him anymore.

Even the likelihood of him becoming a huge disaster for the Buddhist Sect at that time was high, which would lead to a massacre in the sect.

Tang Xiu then turned to look at the 18 Eminent Monks and slowly spoke, "All Masters, those who repent and redeem themselves may be able to ascend and reach Buddhahood, but those who do so while retaining their evil and vicious intentions would make them aim their butcher knives to Buddha's neck. Evil is too strong in his heart and the hatred he has toward the Buddhist Sect has reached the extreme. Just forget your intention for him and let ashes turn to ashes and return it to the Earth. It's the best home for him!"

Blackface Buddha shot a surprised look at Tang Xiu and asked with a confused face, "What do you mean by that, Sect Master Tang?"

"The Joyous Palace Saintess he just mentioned is a woman he fostered to be a woman furnace for himself. Once he devours her, he'll plunder all the energy in her body completely to enhance his power. All Masters must be aware of the extent of his power if that happens. By that time, how many people in the entire Buddhist Sect can control him? Who can guarantee that he won't start a massacre there to avenge his martial brothers?"

Blackface Buddha's vision condensed and the killing intent in his eyes reappeared.

"Sect Master Tang is right. Dragon Vanquisher definitely has this evil intention when he stated his condition." Jade Buddha nodded and slowly said, "I originally thought that he could sincerely repent, but to think that he has his own scheme is unthinkable. Using a woman as a furnace for his own cultivation is simply madness. It seems that every disciple of the Joyous Sect has truly fallen into a demonic path and is already unsavable. Then this monk shall be the one to purge the scourge from this world."

The monk then took off a dazzling golden diamond bangle from his wrist. Along with his sutra chanting, the diamond bangle grew larger and turned into a grinding plate shrouded by a burning flame in just a few breaths while Jade Buddha's aura suddenly burst out. In but a moment, the diamond bangle then crushed down on Dragon Vanquisher Sage and bombarded him.

"Shit! It's the Buddhist Sect's supreme treasure—Diamond Bangle?!! Jade Buddha! Did you choose to perish together with Palace Master? Then don't blame me for being ruthless! All Joyous Palace members, heed my order and decimate them! I'll undo the seal on you and bestow you a lot of cultivation resources as long as you can kill all these enemies!" Dragon Vanquisher Sage roared and threw the staff in his hand to clash with the crushing diamond bangle.

BOOM...

The violent energy blasted out around and Dragon Vanquisher Sage felt his arms going numb and a trace of blood flowed out from the corner of his mouth once again. His body was plunged backward instantly, but the diamond bangle itself was also sent flying tens of meters away.

Jade Buddha's body trembled and a look of incredulity appeared on his face. He realized he was much weaker than Dragon Vanquisher Sage from the instant clash just now. He knew that he could've been seriously injured had Dragon Vanquisher Sage not been severely injured already. He quickly shouted, "Martial Brothers, this man has already fallen deep into the demonic path and is much stronger than before. We must work together to kill them and completely eliminate these hidden dangers!"

Chapter 1187: Closing the Curtain

 

"KILL!"

"KILL..."

The remaining Eminent Monks bolted forward like meteors toward Dragon Vanquisher Sage. As Eminent Monks who had been cultivating for centuries, it was natural that none of them was weak. The weakest among them was on par with Golden Core experts, whereas Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha were comparable to Nascent Soul experts. By joining hands, it only took them a few breaths to kill the tens of Joyous Palace members who fought them.

Tang Xiu himself didn't participate in the killing. Like a cannonball, his figure plunged fast toward the mountain peak as he needed to be there to control the entire array. Had Dragon Vanquisher Sage and his people risked their lives to attack him a while ago while he didn't control the array, they would have had a chance to escape this place. But now was too late for them.

At the center of the array.

Tang Xiu narrowed his eyes and, through the entire array, he could see hundreds of genetic warriors bombarding the array's energy shield as hard as they could.

"You all will be the first to die!"

A frosty light flashed in his eyes as he fully operated the array. Dark clouds began shrouding the entire mountain as the flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunders began to appear from the thick dark clouds and bolted down to bombard hundreds of genetic warriors. At the same time, corrosive heavy rain was also poured down from the sky.

"Aaargh..."

"Goddammit!"

"What the hell is this demonic shit?!!"

"..."

The hundreds of genetic warriors were caught off guard and could only helplessly watch as lightning bolts struck their chests and pierced their comrades' heads. Tens of experts at the Golden Core Stage among them were only barely able to avoid the bombardment of lightning bolts, yet couldn't escape the acidic raindrops. Under such circumstances, the strong corrosion made them fall and become easy targets for the coming lightning bolts that finally claimed tens of souls again.

Halfway up the mountain, the faces of all the members of Joyous Palace drastically changed as they witnessed the doomsday-like scene in the surroundings. A chill filled their whole being and sapped nearly all of their fighting spirit.

Dragon Vanquisher Sage himself was surrounded by four Eminent Monks. Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha's strikes, particularly, gave him the chills each time they attacked. The longer he fought, the worse his injuries, while the parade of hurling lightning bolts in the surroundings affected him more than these monks.

"You're damn bastards, Blackface and Jade Buddha! If it wasn't for my heavy injuries, how can such morons like you fight me? Eminent Monks who have reached enlightenment, huh? What a shitty nonsense! You guys are just a bunch of despicable hoodlums who only know how to take advantage of others! If you got the ability, give me some time to recover and I'll kill all you 18 bastards on my own!"

His provocation only thickened Blackface Buddha, Jade Buddha, and the others' killing intent. They didn't bother to reply and just kept launching various Dharmic magical abilities, making the sage's injuries more serious.

Whoosh!

Tang Xiu, who had now fully activated the array, returned. His figure flickered as though a phantom. With his Spirit Formation Stage-like power, it was easy for him to create a killing spree in the midst of Joyous Palace members, and dead bodies kept dropping on the ground everywhere his figure appeared.

Two minutes after when Tang Xiu stabbed an expert of the Joyous Palace with his dagger, he kicked the man's dead body towards Dragon Vanquisher Sage's position tens of meters away and followed behind it.

"Huh?"

Instead of looking worried upon noticing his subordinate flying towards him, Dragon Vanquisher Sage looked happy and blasted out his power to force Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha's group of four. He instantly dashed away and appeared next to this subordinate. He had been wanting to escape from this spot to recover first and then settle the account with these monks again later.

Slash...

A divine sword flashed and cleaved the body in two and also cut off the sage's only arm. At the same time, a strand of wind acted like a rope and instantly bound the sage's legs. Right at the moment as his face dramatically changed, the divine sword struck and pierced his chest.

Buzz...

A Buddhist Golden Sarira suddenly burst out of Dragon Vanquisher Sage's chest and flew away with a furious roar.

A cold light flashed in Tang Xiu's eyes as he cast a Thunder spell to invoke a lightning bolt the size of a bucket from the vault of heaven. The deafening thunder and lightning bolt struck down and accurately hit the Golden Sarira, completely devouring it.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha quickly appeared in front of Tang Xiu with a respectful look on their faces. Both united their palms and bowed. "Thank you for Sect Master Tang's assistance. I didn't expect Dragon Vanquisher's strength to have improved to such an extent only in decades. If he hadn't been seriously injured before, the four of us wouldn't have been able to fight him even though we've joined hands."

"Yeah! Drowning yourself into a demonic path can really make your strength soar. But I'm sure many females in Japan have been ruined by him since he has wreaked havoc unchecked here. What he did may be great for his cultivation, but it eventually shattered his Buddha's heart. But he is dead now, so shall the dust return to dust and be that dust back to the earth. Justice and retribution have freed him from his sins."

"Human's heart and will can indeed become the most horrible things in the world." Tang Xiu nodded and said, "One can ascend and reach Buddhahood if he or she can repent and redeem themselves with their hearts filled with benevolence, but a boundless hell is guaranteed to let loose if their hearts are filled with evil. He knew he had sinned, yet had no intention to repent whatsoever. There's no choice left but to get rid of him so as to spare us all the troubles in the future."

Having said that, he looked around and sighed. "Thousands of lives are buried here, even my heart cannot bear it. But evil deeds have become their obsessions, and this is the only way to free them."

Blackface Buddha interjected in a deep voice, "This monk is very touched by your kind heart, Sect Master Tang. But you're right. Each and every one of these people from the Joyous Palace and Gene Camp had a thick killing aura which proved that they have killed many people. He who kills will always kill. I myself do not feel any pity for their deaths as they deserved such fate. More so that killing an evil man is tantamount to saving countless good people."

"Indeed." Tang Xiu nodded and said, "Although the Buddha's way is divided into two schools of thought, the Great Dao itself consists of myriad paths, but each unique and different path will also arrive at the same destination. All Masters, let's move and finish this!"

"Kill!"

Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha nodded and their figures flashed to the fray in the surroundings.

The flashing of sharp blades and shadows of swords created blood spilling scenes yet again.

With his heart that had been tempered rock-solid, Tang Xiu didn't go soft and went on a killing spree. The only two people who probably had similar strength with him in either the Joyous Palace and Gene Cap were Dragon Vanquisher Sage and General Fukuda, but both men had died so he could go on this killing spree.

Half an hour passed by.

Of the 18 Eminent Monks, four of them died in the battle of this forested mountain and the rest also had injuries, with two of them being severe. They would have died already if it wasn't for Tang Xiu's timely action to send the Holy Healing pill to them. The number of enemies they faced was really too many that even Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha who were the most powerful among them now were full of scars with their Buddhist power exhausted.

"Take this medicine."

Tang Xiu finally took a jade bottle as he came to the front of Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha. After handing it to them, he said, "It's best to recover soon although your injuries are light. We're now in Japan, and no one knows what kind of dangers can appear here. The sooner you restore your strength to the peak, the better you can prevent the crisis."

"..."

Blackface Buddha and Jade Buddha looked at him without any words. Without being concerned with modesty and courtesy, they also felt touched inwardly and shot Tang Xiu a grateful look as they quickly took the Holy Healing pill after receiving the jade bottle.

They had no idea that Tang Xiu had been worrying about something else. Those three enormously strong spiritual senses he sensed before all came from afar, but who could guarantee that they wouldn't rush to Japan and meddle in his affair? Another dispute would inevitably happen if they did send some people here.

Soon after, everyone left the Moon Gazing Mountain in succession and split into two teams, each rushing to the site of the Joyous Palace and Gene Camp. The monks knew that the Joyous Palace's site was protected with a very powerful array, so they headed to the Gene Camp's site and gave the former to Tang Xiu to handle.

However, when Tang Xiu arrived there, he found that all the members of Joyous Palace on the island had been killed by Mo Awu's group, who now occupied the site.

"We got a huge harvest, Sect Master!"

With an excited look on his rough face, Mo Awu quickly came to him with his fastest speed and greeted him.

"What harvest are you talking about?" Tang Xiu raised his brows and asked.

"Just follow me and you'll know it, Sect Master," said Mo Awu. "The Joyous Palace has been in Japan for decades and their collection is quite awesome. Let's not mention those precious herbs and various cultivation materials, just those gold and silver ingots are enough to shock us. That's right, we got tons of antiques and curios too. All of them are great stuff!"

Tang Xiu's interest was piqued and he followed Mo Awu to a quaint pavilion, but finding an elevator inside such a classical pavilion rather surprised him. When they entered the elevator, he saw the buttons in the elevator and unexpectedly found that the building turned out to have three other floors aside from the first and the second ones upward.

"Underground space?" asked Tang Xiu.

Mo Awu nodded firmly and said, "The third floor underground stored a huge quantity of gold, silver, and jewelries. I think we can set up a large jewelry network if we ship all of them out. The most important thing is that we won't be lacking jewelry products to sell for the next few years if we do that. The second-floor basement is a vault for antiques, precious minerals, fierce beasts' bones, and many others. While the first-floor one houses various previous herbs."

Tang Xiu suddenly looked forward to seeing it. What he lacked most at the present was not money but cultivation resources, to begin with. After all, the Tang Sect had hundreds of core members, whereas the training of the children army was like a terrible machine that devoured cultivation resources. All in all, he needed a terrifying number of cultivation resources annually.

A short while after, the elevator stopped on the third floor. Just as Tang Xiu stepped out of the elevator after its door was opened, the scene before his eyes gave him quite the shock.

Chapter 1188: Most Precious Loot

 

The underground space was approximately the size of a football field nearly 6 meters high, and supported by a huge pillar in the middle. Neatly arranged rows of cabinets were placed in the small half area of the place, while gold bars the size of bricks neatly piled up high next to it. Despite having seen a large amount of gold before, the scene really gave Tang Xiu quite the surprise.

These gold bars are at least over 100 tons.

He secretly estimated the amount and thought that his estimation likely wouldn't quite far off.

On either side of the row of shelves were piles of silver. Tang Xiu's rough estimation counted that the number of these fist-sized silver ingots was no less than those gold bars, but the most important thing here was a large number of beautifully carved silverware that were piled with it. On the other side was a massive amount of gold, silver, and pearl jewelry. Tang Xiu released his spiritual sense and was shocked by the number of diamonds he found in the piles.

Mo Awu noticed his stunned expression and happily said, "Does the scene give you a shock, Sect Master? We got our share too when we first entered this place. The enemy this time can definitely be called filthy rich with so much wealth here. I just don't get it. From where did that Joyous Palace Master obtain so much wealth?"

Tang Xiu took a deep breath and turned to look at him, asking, "Do you know the fastest way to get so much wealth in the world?"

"Um... open a bank?" answered Mo Awu after thinking for a moment.

Tang Xiu rolled his eyes at him and was about to explain when he suddenly heard the elevator door open. Then, Yuji's voice sounded. "The fastest means to get such wealth in the world is to be a bandit. Raiding and plundering homes are nothing, but robbing those rich people is the best course. The Joyous Palace existed for decades and looted those tens of rich Japanese. It also set up a large number of companies here, with over 30 of them now being listed companies. It's just unfortunate that we have no access to Dragon Vanquisher Sage's account, else Boss would've been propelled up into the top ranks of the richest people in the world."

Tang Xiu glanced at her and lightly said, "Men must learn to be content with what they get. These gold, silver, and jewelry are already a good harvest, but those banks got a pie falling from the sky from that monk's money, indeed."

"Anyway, I'm the one who cracked the Joyous Palace's array, Boss, else they would have been still outside trying to destroy the array! How are you going to reward me for such a great contribution?"

Tang Xiu walked towards her and watched her smiling face. A smile sketched on his face and asked, "What reward do you want, then?"

Yuji's heart went cold and she hurriedly bowed. "It was a joke, Boss. Yuji won't dare to object even if you don't reward me anything."

"Hmph." Tang Xiu snorted and indifferently said, "The smart and the wise never ask for a reward. But you did have done well, so a reward is due. But you asked me about it, so I will tell you that the reward you're going to get is pills."

After saying that, Tang Xiu took out two bottles of pills from his interspatial ring and threw them to her. "These pills will help your cultivation go a level further."

Looking ecstatic, Yuji hurriedly bowed with a grateful face. "Thanks a lot, Boss."

"En!"

Tang Xiu turned around and headed to the interior. He found some peculiarities from some of those gold bars back when he released his spiritual sense. He guessed that some of them likely contained gold essence.

Mo Awu approached Yuji and glanced at Tang Xiu's back as he walked away. After taking back his vision, he patted Yuji's shoulder and said in a low voice, "I hope you take today's lesson well and be smarter in the future."

Having said that, he quickly left to catch up with Tang Xiu.

Yuji was stunned and looked confused. How could it be a lesson? Didn't he give me a reward already?

After giving it a thought, she quickly sped up to catch up with Mo Awu and asked in a whisper, "What did you mean by saying that?"

Mo Awu lightly smiled and replied with a voice that only both of them could hear, "You're not yet a formal Tang Sect disciple, so you have no idea what Boss usually does when he rewards everyone's merits. Your contribution this time is great, so I'll tell you a bit. With your contributions this time, the amount you could've gotten is likely ten times more than what you just received had you not proactively asked the reward from Boss."

"Over ten times, you say?" Yuji blurted out with disbelief and contracted pupils.

Mo Awu went on to mock her. "The Chinese have conventional wisdom that one would get smarter after falling into a pit, though. Just take it and keep this lesson in mind."

Yuji's expression constantly changed and deep regret finally appeared on her face. That was ten times the number of pills she just received! Her cultivation could have improved much further and become much stronger in a short time had she gotten those pills!

Suddenly, she seemed to recall something else and caught up with Mo Awu again and asked in a whisper, "Tell me, are there a lot more chances to render merits in Tang Sect?"

Mo Awu shook his head. "Sect Master told me that Earth is a peaceful world. There may be some disputes and clashes, but it's just that and far from... some other places. Therefore, some disciples must wait for a long while before they can render some merits. No worries, though. As long as you're successful in passing the trial Sect Master gave you and become an official disciple of the sect, you'll obtain the allotted cultivation resources annually. Additionally, you can also purchase other resources, such as precious herbs, ores, or fierce beasts' parts and bones somewhere else, and then exchange them for the pills from the sect."

Yuji's regret dissipated a lot after hearing the explanation. She had money and could be said to be filthy rich herself. Some industries under her control over the years could bring her huge profits annually, which she had been keeping a secret after she joined the Joyous Palace.

At the gold piles spot.

Tang Xiu took some gold bars. These gold bars had undergone smelting, but the gold essence contained in it was still intact. After giving it some thought, he then decided to stuff all the gold, silver, jewelry, and other goods in the third basement floor into his interspatial ring.

Several minutes later, Yuji dumbfoundedly looked around at the now-empty third basement floor. The shock in her heart was indescribable. The then Joyous Palace Master, Dragon Vanquisher Sage, once obtained some interspatial storage artifacts like that, which he obtained from some vestiges with great luck. She heard the biggest space those interspatial artifacts had was about the size of a room, only a trivial several square meters.

But now, Tang Xiu actually stuffed all the piles of gold, silver and everything else in the third basement floor into his storage artifact? How big could the space inside it be? Didn't that mean that its space was tens of times bigger than those few artifacts possessed by Dragon Vanquisher Sage?

Tang Xiu didn't want to waste time in any thoughts and feelings. This place was not his territory and he had taken everything that could be brought and thus, was against staying any longer. When the elevator stopped on the second basement floor, he went out and found a lot of antiques, precious ores, and fierce beasts' bones.

"Umm?"

His figure flashed and instantly appeared in front of the wall tens of meters away. He looked at the complete skeleton of a certain fierce beast on the floor with a surprised look. He chanted a secret art and, as it fell on what was supposed to be the beast's chest bones, a tens of centimeters golden bone suddenly floated out from the inside and appeared before his eyes.

"A bone finger of an Immortal Beast?"

He could sense the enormous immortal power contained in this bone finger. He realized that if he could exploit this bone properly, not only could he enhance his physical strength by several times, but also increase his cultivation by a large margin.

This place was simply fully littered with treasures. Just randomly taking one of them and sold it outside would fetch a sky-high price. But to Tang Xiu, the rest of the treasures including those gold and silver from the third floor were not as valuable as this piece of bone.

Shortly after, he also stuffed all the goods here into the interspatial ring and then headed to the first basement floor. It was rather unexpected to him that the Joyous Palace turned out to have hoarded a massive amount of precious herbs. They even stored tens of Millennium Wild Ginseng here.

After leaving the underground space, Tang Xiu toured the entire isolated island accompanied by Mo Awu and Yuji. He then learned that Mo Awu's group had looted nearly all the valuable things in the site. He even saw Mo Awu put out the bed usually used by Dragon Vanquisher Sage to sleep from his interspatial ring. It was because that bed was fully made of Golden Silkwood Cedar.

"I saved this one for you, Sect Master."

Mo Awu apparently didn't want to give Tang Xiu the stuff he had looted, but there was something he didn't dare to keep, which was a translucent carved chair made of ice jade.

"That's some great stuff you got there." Tang Xiu was surprised.

"Indeed." Mo Awu smilingly replied, "That's why this subordinate doesn't dare to keep it."

Tang Xiu patted his shoulder and smilingly said, "Take these Soul Accruing Pills. It took me tons of precious herbs to barely concoct four pills before. Quickly take one now. Then take another when you return to Nine Dragons and go into seclusion to cultivate."

Mo Awu jolted inwardly and hurriedly asked, "Sect Master, the effect of this Soul Accruing Pill is..."

"Your spiritual sense will be greatly enhanced if you take this Soul Accruing Pill," Tang Xiu answered with a smile. "Taking it will at least improve your spiritual sense to be on par with the spiritual sense possessed by those peak Nascent Soul experts."

Gasp...

Mo Awu couldn't help but draw in cold air. His strength had been improving rapidly, but the improvement of his spiritual sense was much slower. His spiritual sense was even much weaker than his younger brother, Mo Awen. Therefore, what he had been eager to find was not pills to increase his cultivation at the present, but rather this type of pill that could enhance his spiritual sense!

"Sect Master..."

Mo Awu was greatly touched and opened his mouth but he swallowed back the grateful words.

A devoted and loyal retainer would die for his Master.

Only at this moment did Mo Awu finally realize the meaning of this sentence. He knew he wouldn't bat an eye even if Tang Xiu ordered him to die at this moment.

Tang Xiu patted his shoulder again and smilingly said, "Keep cultivating well. It's my hope that you will always be my Senior General."

At the side, Yuji had been listening to their conversation and was so envious. She was also a cultivator, so how could she not understand how precious this Soul Accruing Pill was? Her power was very likely to soar greatly if it was she who obtained this pill.

Chapter 1189: Obey or Be Executed!

 

At the square of the Joyous Palace.

Tang Xiu stood quietly on the two-meter high square concrete platform, watching the surrounding environment. Ever since he landed here, he was keenly aware that the concentration of the world's energy in this place was several times stronger than that of Kyoto.

And... it wasn't due to an array! It was caused by a small spiritual vein deep under the isolated island that connected to the deep ocean floor. However, something made him curious. Someone, apparently a powerful expert with astonishing magical power, had sealed it off to only spread out for about tens of kilometers radius at most This isolated island could have been transformed into a paradise on earth otherwise.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A group of moving figures flickered fast from afar and quickly appeared in front of Tang Xiu. The excited-looking Mo Awu, Tang Guang, Kuwako Yamamato, Hei Xiong, and Xue Sha... everyone was focusing on Tang Xiu.

The harvest they just obtained was great.

Even the invisible Tang An was also wearing a beaming face. What she obtained was even more than Mo Awu and the rest, and she stuffed all those valuable stuff into the interspatial ring Tang Xiu bestowed her.

"Where's Gong Wan'er?"

Finally, Tang Xiu took back the vision that set to the distance and shifted to the crowd in front of him.

"She left with Kitagawa and hasn't returned yet," answered Kuwako.

Tang Xiu frowned and slowly said, "We'll wait for another half an hour. But if they still don't come back in time, we won't wait for them any longer."

20 minutes later.

Two fast-moving figures bolted from afar and soon appeared in front of Tang Xiu and the rest. The two people who returned this time brought two big black suitcases each. It was evident that they were carrying heavy objects given how they put those suitcases on the ground.

"Where did you just head to?" asked Tang Xiu lightly after carefully observing them.

Kitagawa angrily glared at Gong Wan'er before he cupped his fists and replied immediately, "We went to the Gene Camp's stronghold, Boss!"

"What for?" asked Tang Xiu with a frown.

"General Fukuda has been operating in Japan for centuries, so we thought that he definitely hoarded a lot of treasures there," answered Kitagawa. "That's why I headed there with Gong Wan'er. We also exterminated the remaining genetic warriors those Buddhist Sect's monks have missed, and sneaked into the stronghold and found the Gene Camp's secret vault. The things in these four suitcases were taken from the Gene Camp's treasure vault and many more things are still on the shore."

Tang Xiu's brows raised and he ordered. "Open them."

Immediately, the four big black suitcases were opened and a surprised expression appeared in Tang Xiu's eyes. There was no gold or silver in those suitcases, three of which contained some precious jewelry, jade, some antique paintings, and calligraphies. But the last one was full of precious herbs even to Tang Xiu.

"Well done."

Tang Xiu waved and all the objects in the four suitcases flew up and quickly entered his interspatial ring. Then, he took out two jade bottles and threw them to Kitagawa and Gong Wan'er, speaking to them lightly, "You've made a contribution, and these pills are your rewards. Wait until I've sorted everything up and I'll bestow you another great fortune."

Some great fortune?

Kitagawa exchanged glances with Gong Wan'er. But when he was about to leave to take the rest of the loot, the latter suddenly said, "Boss, will Kitagawa be punished if I report what he did?"

Tang Xiu squinted and asked, "What exactly do you want to report?"

Kitagawa's expression enormously changed and shouted fiercely, "Cut the crap, Gong Wan'er!"

Gong Wan'er took out a string of golden rope the size of a chopstick from her sleeve and said, "This is the treasure we obtained from the Gene Camp's vault. I have no idea what this thing is. Also, Kitagawa kept the other one, but it's a fist-sized metal ball which I have no idea what is it either."

Kitagawa's face changed dramatically and glared at her with hostility. Then, he spoke very unwillingly, "What I took from the Gene Camp's vault was originally mine, Boss. It has a special meaning to me."

"Just take it out," said Tang Xiu.

Kitagawa shivered a bit and gritted his teeth as he took out the fist-sized metal ball from his sleeves. Then, he said, "This is it. It's just a common thing."

Tang Xiu's eyes flickered as he noticed the small runes etched on the metal ball. A suction force suddenly shot from his palm and attracted the metal ball in Kitagawa's hand. He then cast a secret art and applied it to the object, causing golden light to suddenly glow from the seal rune and gradually turn into a dazzling golden star.

Crack!

The metal ball suddenly split into eight petals and revealed a translucent pearl the size of a Ping-Pong ball to everyone present. The object may be a mystery to others, but he could clearly observe the image contained within the pearl: Frost Jellyfish.

The appearance of such an object on Earth was truly unexpected to Tang Xiu. It must be noted that the Frost Jellyfish was a great treasure even in the Immortal World, and many major forces there hoarded it as it could deepen their foundation.

"Do you really not know what this object is?" Tang Xiu shot a stare at Kitagawa and slowly asked.

Kitagawa felt like that Tang Xiu's eyes seemed to be able to penetrate his mind. It made him hesitate, but he braced himself and spoke, "I know it. It's a Dragon Pearl. General Fukuda himself said that this object is a Dragon Pearl when he was drunk. He said that this Dragon Pearl can make his cultivation greatly soar. I sneaked into his secret abode a few times, but I've never had the chance to steal it even though I found where it was hidden."

"Idiot!"

Tang Xiu threw a contemptuous curse at him and indifferently said, "This is not Dragon Pearl but a carrier for Frost Jellyfish which can be greatly beneficial to any cultivator. Kitagawa, you can choose to leave this object to me, or exchange it with great fortune. Choose one. I want your reply now."

Kitagawa himself wanted to take the object back. But after seeing Tang Xiu's indifference, he had to endure that urge painfully and respectfully said, "I choose to exchange it with the good fortune, Boss."

"Go and bring everything here!" Tang Xiu nodded and ordered. "All of you who are present will also get your share of good fortune later!"

Having said that, he quickly flew away to the distance fast. After spending 4 hours, he managed to lay out an array that covered the entire island—a type of array that was against the natural order which could completely ruin the geomatic formation of the targeted treasure land. It was because this array would sever the spiritual vein underneath and then extract it to strengthen himself.

"Sky Pilfering Array!"

This array was actually created by his disciple back when he was in the Immortal World. That disciple was a stunning cultivation genius and only spent three millenniums to reach the Golden Immortal Stage. He was just a hair away from reaching the Perfected Golden Immortal Stage then. But unfortunately, he finally ceased to develop further and died in the battle without any wisp of his soul remaining and vanished.

After returning to the square, Tang Xiu saw the addition of tens more people there. One of whom was a slightly hunchbacked middle-aged man and a group of young women in white.

"Who are they?" asked Tang Xiu with a frown.

Yuji paced a step forward and said, "They are my trusted maids."

Kitagawa followed suit and said, "He's Jun Yuchu, my trusted aide."

Tang Xiu slightly furrowed his brows and indifferently said, "They are no longer your maids and aides from now on! The sixteen of you, listen! You all now have two choices: To stay on this isolated island forever and be barred from leaving, or becoming Kuwako Yamamoto's subordinates and stay in Japan to manage things for her!"

Both Yuji and Kitagawa exchanged looks and indignant looks could be seen flashing in their eyes. But none of them dared to speak.

The 16 people shot dismayed looks at each other with hesitation evident on their faces, looking suddenly at a loss as to which one to choose. In actuality, they knew nothing about Tang Xiu. But they were all smart people and could see how respectful their Masters were in front of him, so they conjectured that he was the leader of this mysterious force.

Jun Yuchu came to Tang Xiu's front and cupped his fists, saying, "About that... Sir. I'm Sir Kitagawa's retainer since he's the one who trained me. If he commands me to follow others, I naturally dare not refute. But everyone else... has no right to dictate my decision."

"Is that so?"

A chilling light flashed in Tang Xiu's eyes. A silver needle appeared in his fingertips and shot it at Jun Yuchu in just a hundredth of a second later. The needle moved extremely fast and struck Jun Yuchu's Qi Ocean that even the man himself was unable to avoid or block it despite having formidable strength.

Puah...

Jun Yuchu was staggeringly forced to step back a few steps and covered his abdomen with disbelief overflowing in his eyes. He could clearly sense his power rapidly dissipating and no matter how hard he tried to seal it off, it was all for naught.

"How insolent you are. Your Master chose to submit to me, yet you dare to talk to me like that?" said Tang Xiu apathetically. "Don't blame me for being this harsh since you don't want to obey. You will stay on this island forever from now on!"

"You... you abolished my cultivation?"

Jun Yuchu shot a glare full of hatred towards Tang Xiu and seemingly couldn't wait to kill him at once.

"I spared you on the account of Kitagawa's face already. Scram away from me, else you can expect to become a corpse the next moment," said Tang Xiu coldly.

"Jun, draw back!"

With some killing intent aimed at Tang Xiu, Kitagawa shouted. But he was perfectly aware of Tang Xiu's strength and knew that he would never be able to injure Tang Xiu much even if he risked his life for it. Hence, he could only suppress his killing intent, for the time being, waiting for the day when he had freed himself from his clutches and make him at the border of life and death at that time.

Puff...

An immortal sword suddenly impaled Kitagawa from the back as Tang An's figure suddenly appeared and kicked the man's body. She sent it flying to heavily fall in front of Tang Xiu's feet. Then, she coldly snorted. "Hmph, you dare to harbor killing intent against Grand Master? Your court death!"

Chapter 1190 - Spiritual Energy Flooding

 

Tang Xiu just stood still with indifference as Tang An assaulted and killed Kitagawa. He would have done it himself even if she didn't. Everything Kitagawa had done hardly showed anything, but he kept showing himself as a wolf cub that wasn't worth to raise up for he would bite his own Master one day.

Yuji's maids trembled after witnessing how Kitagawa was executed in such a cold-blooded fashion, whereas Jun Yuchu was literately slashed into two halves by a sword beam just as he ran for tens of meters. They knelt toward Kuwako in shivers and cried out, "Master!"

"I'm not your Master, so don't call me that," said Kuwako indifferently. "As long as you manage well to accomplish the missions I'll give you later, I can recommend you to be formal disciples of the sect. Your status at that time may be no different from your previous Master, Yuji."

These several females fell into silence.

A status no worse than Yuji's? Isn't this equal to an opportunity—a chance to rise up from the bottom to a high position?

Tang Xiu glanced at the reticent Yuji before he immediately moved to make more than 20 circles with a meter diameter in the square. Then, he slowly said, "All of you! Sit cross-legged in the circle I just drew and circulate your energy according to your cultivation technique. Do keep in mind that how much benefits you can obtain from this good fortune will depend on yourself. However, there's another thing you must remember. If you sense that your system can't absorb or contain any more energy, you're to immediately stop cultivating and leave this square at once!"

"Understood!"

All of them had no idea what good fortune Tang Xiu just mentioned could be. But they knew that it would be beneficial to them.

"Activate!"

Standing on the concrete platform set as the eye of the entire array, Tang Xiu controlled the array after activating it. The world's spiritual energy in all directions instantly began to flood into the square where more than 20 people were sitting cross-legged. The enormous flood of spiritual energy even drilled out from the underground and poured into everyone's body.

"What's this?"

"Oh my God! Such an enormous amount of spiritual energy?!"

"Spiritual energy is filling up my system?! I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"..."

Regardless if it was Mo Awu's group or the tens of females in white, everyone's eyes opened wide with disbelief at this moment.

Tang Xiu's brows furrowed and he shouted in a deep voice, "Focus your mind and cast away any distracting thoughts! Quickly refine the spiritual energy entering your system!"

In that instant, more than 20 people abruptly sobered up and entered cultivation in succession.

Standing on the concrete platform, Tang Xiu could sense two types of spiritual energy drilling into his system from his feet. He directed the huge spiritual energy from the Earth's vein into that empty cosmic space within him.

As time passed, the first planet grew bigger, while the second began to grow. Even the third one started to show more luster and showed signs of getting enlarged as well.

At the same time, in a vast starfield in the distant universe with countless lifeforms, countless celestial bodies were slightly quaking. Multicolored lights burst out from these celestial bodies and suddenly made that part of the universe look a fairytale-like world.

"Who has done this?"

"Which expert is disrupting the law of natural order in this world?"

"..."

Super experts in that starfield rushed out of their planets and floated in outer space to send out their tidal wave-like spiritual senses in all directions.

However, they could only sense the life force of these celestial bodies passing through but were neither able to determine the cause nor its destination.

In the blue sky, layers of clouds were dispersing and spreading out when a column of energy with golden luster descended directly above Tang Xiu's head. The enormous star energy seemed to nearly materialize, causing the formation array to contain a huge amount of star force within. It made Mo Awu and the rest, who were currently absorbing the world's energy and refining it, to absorb the surging star energy around them directly into their systems.

The absorption began to start making changes in their bodies—a type of qualitative transformation through their genes.

The star force itself was the most massive and highest quality energy in the universe that the world's energy or usually called Heaven and Earth's spiritual energy was countless times inferior to it. After absorbing this star energy, the True Essence and Buddhist force in their system were now faintly coated with a layer of golden light.

The next day.

More than a dozen of those females in white had their cultivation skyrocket and each cultivation level now could be compared to the experts at the late-stage of Foundation Establishment. However, they were no longer able to endure the huge spiritual power from the Earth anymore. They quickly stopped their cultivation and left the square fast.

Two days later, Mo Awu, Tang Guang, and the rest got up in succession, unable to withstand the infusion of spiritual power and quickly left the square to stabilize their cultivation base after the recent breakthrough.

Thus, only Tang Xiu, Tang An, and Gong Wan'er were still sitting cross-legged in cultivation in the square now.

Disbelief and frustration glittered in Mo Awu's eyes when he saw Tang An and Gong Wan'er there. Although he had successfully broken through and now reached the Nascent Soul Stage, he was crystal clear that the longer he stayed in the square, the more he could absorb the energy of the stars and the world, and thus, the greater chance for the breakthrough later.

Tang An entered cultivation path about a decade earlier than him and it was understandable that she could stay there for a long time. But Gong Wan'er was much weaker and at best only comparable to the experts at the mid-stage of Golden Core. How could she still endure staying in the square while enduring the pressure of such enormous spiritual energy?

"I notice something interesting here," said Tang Guang all of a sudden.

Mo Awu turned to him, looked at his handsome face with a frown, and then asked, "What is it?"

"I just realized I can keep reaping beneficial things just being by Grand Master's side," said Tang Guang earnestly. "Whether it is the opportunity to render merits, or the speed of improvement in cultivation. Just like this time. He literally has made us break though collectively by using a heaven-defying means. I've reached the mid-stage of Nascent Soul now. I could have directly broken through to the late-stage if my state of mind and physique can still keep up."

"You broke through to the mid-stage of Nascent Soul, not the early stage?" blurted Mo Awu in surprise.

"Yup," confirmed Tang Guang.

Mo Awu turned to Xue Sha and He Xiong and asked, "What about you two? Which stage you're at now?"

"Nascent Soul early stage."

Both men shot an envious look at Tang Guang and replied at the same time.

"It seems to me having stepped into the cultivation path several years earlier does give a more solid foundation than what we have." Mo Awu sighed, seemingly reaching a balanced state of mind now. "Just look at Tang An, she still keeps going. I wonder if she would also reach the first-stage of Nascent Soul when she leaves the square, though?"

The smile on Tang Guang's face solidified. But then he shook his head helplessly and sighed. "Well, I can't even match her either in talent for cultivation or going through the hardship in training. I may feel a bit of shame if she breaks through the late-stage of Nascent Soul, but I'm sincerely happy for her."

"I just take it for granted in regards to Elder Tang An being able to absorb spiritual energy and stay much longer in the square, though," said Kuwako slowly. "But how can Gong Wan'er persist for so long? She should've left the square earlier than us given her strength!"

"It should be her particular situation or condition, I think," said Tang Guang. "My guess is that it was the main reason why Grand Master made her submit."

"Kitagawa did mention that she has a special physique," said Kuwako. "But Tang An went against Sect Master's command and saved her from the battlefield then. I'm sure she has another purpose in mind, though."

Half a day passed and Tang An finally awakened from her cultivation. Her gaze landed on Tang Xiu first with admiration on her face. But when she saw Gong Wan'er still sitting cross-legged tens of meters away from her, she immediately looked startled and her figure suddenly flickered and disappeared from the spot to appear at the edge of the square.

"Do you know what's up with Gong Wan'er?" asked Tang An the instant she came out.

Tang Guang shrugged and shook his head. "Who knows? She has been staying there in cultivation for nearly three days and never came out until now."

Tang An wore a strange expression and, with some thoughts filling her mind, said in a deep voice, "Do you know why I got punished by Grand Master the other day?"

"You saved her, that's why," answered Tang Guang directly.

"But do you know why I went against Grand Master's command and risked my life to save her?" asked Tang An again.

"No. Why?" Tang Guang was confused.

The rest were also looking at Tang An, waiting for her reply with a curious look.

"We all know that Grand Master has been rapidly progressing in his cultivation and is now much stronger than us." Tang An said, "But he needs to be more formidable than the current him if we want to go to that place earlier. Gong Wan'er's physique is different than that of common cultivators like us. Dragon Vanquisher Sage, that Joyous Palace Master, fostered and trained her to be a woman furnace then, so he could devour and absorb the power in her body and make it his own to increase his power greatly. I've been thinking about it for a while. What if it was Grand Master who took her body? His cultivation will progress by leaps and bounds, right?"

Instantly, everyone looked pensive. They all knew about Gong Wan'er's physique. If Tang Xiu could really gain such enormous benefits from her, that would be a great boon that would be enormously beneficial to him and the Tang Sect as a whole.

"But Grand Master abhorred the idea, didn't he?" asked Tang Guang slowly.

"He didn't agree, indeed." Tang An nodded. "I even got scolded by him the moment I mentioned it. But I'm gonna tell Master about this when I get to Nine Dragons Island. I'll see what Master has to say."

"No way! Don't do that!" Tang Guang's expression instantly changed and his eyes especially turned fierce.

"I know what you're thinking, Guang." Tang An stubbornly said, "I also know what Master has been thinking as well. But Gong Wan'er has something greatly beneficial for Grand Master. I think Master will have a similar thought as mine when facing such a choice."

Tang Guang was reticent for a short while but still shook his head. "An, if it was someone else, I might not stop you, but you mustn't tell this stuff to Master! In case..."

"I don't care," cut Tang An in a deep voice. "In order to make Grand Master more powerful, I'll take any punishment from him, even if it's 10,000 times more severe than before."

Tang Guang hurriedly said, "Don't you like..."

"SHUT UP!"

Tang An angrily yelled and immediately disappeared.