The only way

Chapter 936 The Refining God Plan

No one else knew about the conversation between the master and disciple that day atop the mountain.

The scenery inside the Sanqing Dao Sect's mountain gate remains unchanged, with the sun, moon, and stars revolving endlessly, while the battles in the world outside the mountain continue without ceasing.

In the sixth month after Ling Chu returned to the sect, a message pierced through the void and landed in the main hall of the Sanqing Dao Sect. Three days later, several streaks of light streaked across the sky and rushed out of the Sanqing Dao Sect's mountain gate in all directions.

Yunzhou, Shenxiao City.

Shenxiao City was originally one of the nine cities built by Yunzhou to resist the invasion of the demon race. It was also one of the key points of the Nine Heavens Universe Array. After the fall of Yunzhou, Shenxiao City became one of the cities guarded by the demon army. The mortals who were unable to escape in time became prisoners of the demons.

Moreover, since the fall of Yunzhou, a steady stream of human prisoners have been being crammed into Shenxiao City by the demons.

Over the past decade, the number of captured humans and those forced to reproduce has snowballed in Shenxiao City, now approaching 500,000.

In recent days, countless demon warships carrying human prisoners have been converging on Shenxiao City. The overwhelming popularity has even dispelled the billowing demonic energy that lingers above Shenxiao City, drawing the attention of cultivators who are secretly observing the Yunzhou land. As a result, a series of messages and actions from various immortal sects have emerged.

Lingchu and his master, Duanyi Zhenjun, were also among those involved in the operation.

The Eastern Immortal Sects had long known about the Demon Clan's plan to summon gods. The Nascent Soul cultivators of the major Immortal Sects and the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Western Buddhist Sects had been secretly in contact. After several discussions, the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Immortal and Buddhist sects finally decided to turn the tables on the Demon Clan's plan to use the summoning of gods to trap them like turtles in a jar, switch the beams and pillars, and undermine their foundation!
As for the humans who are destined to be sacrificed, the Nascent Soul cultivators could only remain silent. If the demon race is not severely damaged this time, the war between humans and demons will continue, and even more humans will be sacrificed. Moreover, compared to the future of the Eastern Continent over the next thousand or even ten thousand years, let alone a million mortals, even a hundred thousand cultivators would not be soft-hearted if necessary.

This is how the world is: the strong prey on the weak. Rules are always made by the strong, while the weak become nothing more than fish and pawns to be slaughtered.

The demon race's plan to summon the gods was actually extremely secretive. Although the commotion caused by the initial failed summoning attempt in the Western Continent was covered up by the Yin royal family and several major demon cities, every action leaves a trace. The Buddhist sect, which was always keeping an eye on the demon race, naturally did not miss any clues.

After more than a hundred years of investigation, including the loss of countless Buddhist cultivators, the clues were slowly pieced together. With the help of the Thousand Machine Pavilion of the Eastern Continent's ability to calculate heavenly secrets, the Demon Clan's plan was finally exposed to both the immortal and Buddhist lineages.

After countless years of planning, the two sides are finally about to have a clear outcome.

A thousand miles away from Shenxiao City, on the desolate city formerly known as Xiaoyao City, several figures silently disappeared into the clouds, each occupying a position, with a silver-white flame burning in the middle.

Ling Chu's gaze first fell upon Shenxiao City, a thousand miles away. That was the place where the human race and the demon race were finally clashing. In order to refine the gods that the demon race had sent down for their own use, the immortal sects that went to Shenxiao City included not only veteran Nascent Soul cultivators from various sects, but also Divine Transformation cultivators.

Although it is a customary rule that Nascent Soul cultivators do not participate in the battle, rules are always meant to be broken. In a life-or-death situation, who cares about rules?

Moreover, the demons' act of summoning gods has already exceeded the control of Nascent Soul cultivators. If the Divine Transformation cultivators cannot emerge, the Eastern Continent is in grave danger. However, while the demons have a plan to summon gods, the human race has a plan to refine gods.

In order to refine the demon gods brought down by the demon race into one of the sources of the Eastern Continent's vital energy, the Immortal Sect had already turned Yunzhou into an airtight prison before abandoning it.

The three-tiered formation is centered around the three cities used as bait. The first tier is based on the original Nine Heavens Universe Formation. Within the formation's range, no matter which city the demons choose as the place for their divine descent, as long as a Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Seed is buried there as the main formation eye, and the Nine Heavens Universe Formation is reversed, it can be transformed into a new formation called the Nine Heavens Refining God Ferocious Formation!

The second layer is centered on the Nine Heavens Refining God Array, with twelve array eyes set up within a thousand miles. These twelve array eyes are composed of twelve different kinds of heaven and earth fires, which are secretly combined with the twelve earthly branches, yin and yang, and the eight trigrams, to create a great array that burns the heavens and scorches the world. Within a thousand miles, the heavens and earth are all furnaces, refining gods and turning them into demons. It is the most ferocious of all.

The third layer is the Heavenly Crystal Wall that rises from the ground along the border of Yunzhou. The Heavenly Crystal Wall was built as a barrier to isolate Yunzhou from the other states, and it is also the Spirit-Locking and Heaven-Sealing Forbidden Array that seals Yunzhou now!

The Nine Heavens Refining God Formation traps demons and gods; the Burning Heaven and Ash World Formation refines heaven and earth; the Locking Spirit and Sealing Heaven Formation severs the void.

The triple formation, the Nascent Soul cultivators, the Yunzhou land, now the Eastern Continent Immortal Sect, is a divine and demonic tomb prepared for the demon race and the soon-to-descend demon god!
Regardless of Shenxiao City, cultivators like Ling Chu, who have only recently achieved the Nascent Soul stage, cannot go to a core battlefield like Shenxiao City. They can only be responsible for the array eye of the second major array, while the outer Heavenly Crystal Wall is mainly staffed by Golden Core cultivators.

The second major formation has twelve array eyes, each guarded by three Nascent Soul cultivators who continuously inject spiritual power into the Heavenly Flame to maintain its stability and watch over it, awaiting the signal from Divine Firmament City and ready to activate the formation at any time.

The other two Nascent Soul cultivators who were guarding the array's core with Ling Chu were a refined young man in blue robes, holding a landscape folding fan, smiling and elegant. He was an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator from a prestigious family, known as True Lord Xiao.

The other was an old acquaintance of Ling Chu, a handsome young man with black hair and dark clothes, carrying a sword box on his back and with a calm expression. He was none other than Jiang Yanzhi, the former eldest disciple of the Sword Sect and now a Nascent Soul sword cultivator.

"Fellow Daoist Yu, Fellow Daoist Jiang, I look forward to your guidance in the days to come." Xiao Zhenjun greeted them first, with a warm smile and a friendly attitude.

Unlike Ling Chu and Jiang Yanzhi, who came from immortal sects, Xiao Zhenjun came from a family of cultivators. He was the only Nascent Soul cultivator in his family. This time, apart from the top immortal sects, the remaining spots for guarding the array eye were filled by rogue cultivators, families, and other immortal sects.

These cultivation forces, however, were unaware of the specifics of the Refining God Plan. They only knew that they needed to venture deep into Yunzhou. Even just the thought of venturing into Yunzhou was something most Nascent Soul cultivators were unwilling to do, as everyone knew that Yunzhou was currently teeming with demons, and going there would be extremely dangerous.

However, due to the Nascent Soul cultivators behind the five major immortal sects, no matter how unwilling the various forces were, they could only contribute manpower and resources. In the end, they used the most ancient method: drawing lots. The fate of all the Nascent Soul cultivators was thus decided.

Of course, there were also some daring cultivators who volunteered to enter Yunzhou. Xiao Zhenjun was not one of them; he was one of the unlucky ones who were selected.

But since he had won the draw, Xiao Zhenjun was not foolish enough to show it, especially in front of two top immortal cultivators, so he put on a warm and friendly demeanor.