Born with immortal seed

Chapter 663 Cleaning up one's own mess
"With the war dragging on without a clear victor, the morale of the allied forces is low, and some cultivators are already showing signs of war-weariness and have applied to withdraw from the pioneering army."

A Taoist priest dressed in the robes of Tianfa Peak reported the latest situation, his face full of worry.

These mid-level cultivators, who are responsible for the implementation of specific tasks, are mostly at the peak of the Core Formation stage, experienced, and skilled in managing general affairs.

Some people, in order to accumulate merit, are not qualified to exchange for Nascent Soul Pills, so they can try other Nascent Soul Spiritual Items.

He hadn't completely let go of the Nascent Soul realm and still wanted to make one last desperate attempt.

Some are simply trying to build connections and pave the way for their relatives and descendants.

The cultivators who have just experienced a long and brutal war between the two races and are still able to participate in the war to open up the Black Sea are not necessarily of unwavering will.

Many cultivators, feeling they had finally reached harvest time, refused to give up and wanted to earn resources in the Black Sea to change their lives.

The current fighting is far more intense than it appears, and because the battlefield is limited and there is no room for maneuver or retreat, the level of bloodshed is even more exaggerated than a war between two races.

The Jishui camp looked terrifying; it was a place where true lords often perished.

In fact, there are often months of rest, enough time to adjust, and they are not always sent to the front lines.

The siege of the major royal courts continued almost daily, with battles raging without pause.

At its most extreme, the battle would end at Chenshi (7-9 AM) and begin again at Shenshi (3-5 PM).

There are quite a few cultivators who have repeatedly overdrawn their own energy, coughing up blood and dying from exhaustion.

The fellow Daoists who were out in battle during the day, talking and discussing with you, are now just stiff corpses lying in body bags at night.

Meanwhile, the wild beasts on the other side were tireless and painless, fighting to the very last moment before self-destructing their demon cores, dragging a large number of cultivators to their deaths.

Panic spread, and morale plummeted day by day.

"Since the start of the war, at least ten fourth-tier wild beasts have perished in Shattered Star Abyss. I don't believe they can summon so many of their own kind... We have suffered heavy losses, and they are not faring much better."

Hong Da Zhenjun's face was ashen, and his eyes, as large as copper bells, swept across the arena, making it impossible for anyone to meet his gaze.

"Gather all the disciples of the Morality Sect. The rest of you, beat the drums to cheer for our sect. Tomorrow, I will personally lead the army to flatten the Shattered Star Abyss!"

Xiaoyue's lips moved slightly, her face pale, but she ultimately remained silent.

“Fellow Daoist Hong, why don’t you wait a little longer? In a while, I will be able to completely expel the toxins and be able to leave the battlefield... The ships behind will transport the newcomers up, and it won’t take more than a few months.”

The Great True Lord of September did not speak; a muffled thunderous sound emanated from his abdomen, and his breath was weak.

The two most concentrated drops of venom from that poisonous toad were extremely potent; once you were exposed to them, they were like a bone-deep infection, impossible to get rid of.

On another level, he was also unwilling to expend too much effort here, fearing it would affect his later capture of the Changchun Holy Water.

Among the top-tier thunder techniques passed down by the Five Thunder Sect, several are extremely powerful and yang, specifically designed to counter evil spirits and prevent poisons from getting close.

Even if these two drops of venom are special, as long as one is willing to push the corresponding lightning technique to its limit and detonate the lightning talisman in the dantian, the next moment a violent divine lightning will sweep through the limbs and bones.

No matter how stubborn the toxin, it will only turn into smoke.

However, the Great True Monarch of September had only condensed five or six thunder talismans in his entire life of cultivating thunder magic, and each missing one would have a significant impact on his strength.

There's definitely not enough time to rebuild it before we reach the bottomless water eye.

One method is to meditate for several years to expel toxins.

He had to detonate the lightning talisman to briefly return to his peak condition, but his strength was greatly reduced afterward.

The choice is obvious.

It must be said that September Great True Lord had ulterior motives in this matter.

Seeing that Hong Da Zhenjun refused to back down, he couldn't help but try to persuade him.

"Fellow Daoist, there's no need to say more. As a disciple of the Moral Sect, I take responsibility for my mistakes and never shirk my duties. These few bones of mine are not going to fall apart in the Shattered Star Abyss."

Hong Da Zhenjun spoke firmly and made his decision head-on.

His current predicament is inextricably linked to his previous deliberate indulgence and ignoring of Xiaoyue's petty actions.

Otherwise, given the Daode Sect's extensive experience in pioneering new lands, how could they have made so many command errors in succession?

As the only Great True Lord in this pioneering war who explicitly expressed his willingness to relocate to the Black Sea and establish his own sect, the Moral Sect placed high hopes on Xiaoyue and wanted to mold him into a role model.

The Daoist sect and Bai Zichen have different standards for measuring the progress of the Black Sea expansion.

As long as Xiaoyue can establish herself in the Black Sea and pass on the Daoist tradition, she will provide a good example for those Nascent Soul True Monarchs in the inland areas who are struggling to survive.

If you can't make it there, you might as well consider going to the Black Sea, where there is more room for development, and most importantly, you can say there are no competitors.

Centuries later, when more than ten Nascent Soul level sects have emerged in the Black Sea, it can be said that the human race's power has been completely established.

Hong Da Zhenjun could easily see through Xiaoyue's ambition and recklessness, but he pretended not to know because he felt he could cover for her.

By the time they realized that Shattered Star Abyss was not as easy to deal with as they had imagined and tried to adjust their strategy, it was too late.

They could have waited for Junior Brother Yu's reinforcements, but the bow of the cloud ship was enshrined with the God of Literature, and a thin incense stick, about the thickness of a forearm, spontaneously combusted and burned to ashes.

Special communication methods allowed True Lord Hong to know that a decisive victory had been achieved on the other side of the Chongming Sea.

This forced him to act immediately and make a breakthrough in a short period of time.

Hong Da Zhenjun had mixed feelings about the young sword cultivator who rose to prominence like a comet.

As a leading figure of the sect that prioritizes morality, he always harbored some resentment and disapproval of talented cultivators outside the sect.

But if I were to use any means, it would go against my pride.

What troubled Hong Da Zhenjun even more was that he could no longer target Bai Zichen even if he wanted to.

The fact that he single-handedly defeated the Primordial Longevity Turtle, which could be considered invincible below the Nascent Soul stage, is enough to prove that his one-sword reverse kill of the Crimson Ear Ancestor was not a fleeting moment or an easy win.

Instead, it truly possessed combat power at the Nascent Soul level.

Even with usage restrictions, it's perfectly acceptable to equate him with a Nascent Soul level expert.

As cultivators who grew up in the Northern Region, they rarely appeared in the Central Region and were rarely truly valued by the major sects.

Just like when Bai Zichen was only in the mid-stage of Core Formation, he beheaded the Nine Lotus True Monarch with a single sword strike, and the news quickly spread throughout the entire Central Region.

If they were disciples from a major Nascent Soul sect in the Central Region, they would have been given various titles and studied extensively, and would have been touted as sword immortals descended to earth.

However, because they came from the harsh northern region, the general consensus was that True Lord Nine Lotus was old and frail, and was on the verge of death before the battle.

It cannot be ruled out that he suddenly fell ill during the battle, rendering him powerless to resist, which led to his untimely death.

This swordsman is quite skilled, but it's very likely that he's just a fabricated story from the Northern Region.

The content wasn't entirely false, but it was a mix of truth and fiction.

Such behavior was common in the Four Regions. Later on, every time a young cultivator from the Four Regions appeared in the eyes of the world, he would face voices of belittling and questioning, and all the talented cultivators who were not from the Central Region would be questioned.

Bai Zichen should perhaps be grateful for this prejudice, which allowed him to cultivate in peace without anyone coming to disturb him or to engage in sword fights.

This custom has become widespread in the Central Region. Every country, every road, every state, every city, and even down to a street or a market town, has a list of geniuses to be selected, which is a topic that independent cultivators talk about with great interest.

They competed against each other to determine who was superior, and then challenged each other to move up the ranks.

As for Bai Zichen, when he once again shocked the Central Region, he had become a force that the Moral Sect could not ignore, and they could only try to win him over without suppressing him.

In the great war between the human and demon races, the Moral Sect also suffered heavy losses, mainly in terms of high-level cultivators.

The number of Great True Lords who have perished is almost approaching the total number of Great True Lords who have all sacrificed themselves in the cultivation world.

The fact that three Nascent Soul cultivators—the Heavenly Punishment Peak Master, the Yellow Court Peak Master, and the Dharma Propagation Saint Monarch—were produced in the past few thousand years can be considered a golden age in the long history of the Moral Sect.

The rise and fall of a sect seems to be an inevitable cycle that no sect can resist.

However, some sects, during their decline, plummeted to the bottom, barely making a ripple.

Like the Daode Sect, which has stood for over 100,000 years and remains standing to this day.

Despite ups and downs, it never fell out of the top tier of sects in the cultivation world, even at its worst.

However, after this group of Great True Monarchs passed away, the most outstanding young generation in the Moral Sect is not only inferior to Bai Zichen, but even the 'Double Profound' sword cultivators are not as good as him.

Hong Da Zhenjun was willing to pay a higher price rather than be looked down upon by the approaching Bai Zichen.

Other cultivators certainly wouldn't have any objections, since their own disciples wouldn't have to go into battle and bleed to death; they would be happy to see the Moral Sect contribute.

……

The next day, the sky was clear and cloudless.

A group of cultivators, whose spirit and energy were completely out of place with their surroundings, formed a battle formation, consisting of three thousand-person groups.

"The righteous spirit of heaven and earth endures forever! When demonic smoke rises, upholding the highest morality, guarding righteousness and dispelling evil, protecting the peace of all living beings, is the way of the Moral Sect! When the demon race wreaks havoc on the human world, causing suffering and death, it is still the Moral Sect that sacrifices itself to open up spiritual veins!"

Hong Da Zhenjun's voice was like thunder, his hair and beard fluttered in the air, and his blood was boiling.

"Today, we draw our swords and lead our troops on a distant expedition to the Black Sea, to restore peace and tranquility to the cultivation world and allow it to enjoy a prosperous future. The one who will crush the Shattered Star Abyss will be my Moral Sect!"

"Where morality lies, I will go even if it means facing a million enemies!"

The three thousand-man battle formations responded in unison, their momentum even more astonishing than the tens of thousands of allied troops from the previous two days.

With banners waving and spiritual light filling the air once more, they strode confidently into the Shattered Star Abyss.

A group of ugly fish-men, wielding simple magical implements, crawled out of the sea and charged haphazardly towards the battle formation.

Every fishman has blue-green skin, webbed hands, and thick limbs; the weakest among them is at least at the second tier of strength.

The magical artifacts in their hands were all hastily forged, polished to a gleaming cold light, indicating that their forging skills were not particularly profound.

The battle formations, composed of disciples of the Moral Sect, are well-coordinated and have strong average strength, with a wide variety of auxiliary artifacts for each formation.

Their personal magical artifacts and talismans also significantly surpassed those of the vast majority of teams in the pioneering alliance.

They swept through the enemy lines with unstoppable force, and not a single merman could get within a hundred feet of the battle formation.

It wasn't until thousands of people died that the Moral Sect's battle formation penetrated deep into the Shattered Star Abyss, surrounded from both sides by the descendants of the Wild Beasts, that they faced their true challenge.

"A mid-grade fourth-tier ink dragon, a mid-grade fourth-tier water monkey, a mid-grade fourth-tier demonic whale... These are all the remaining fourth-tier demonic beasts in Shattered Star Abyss. Today, I will come to completely annihilate you!"

Hong Da Zhenjun breathed a slight sigh of relief; this outcome was within his expectations.

With the home advantage of Shattered Star Abyss and the fearless ferocity of each wild beast descendant, the Moral Sect, though outnumbered, had deployed many of their most treasured artifacts, making a battle between the two sides a formidable contest.

The Moral Sect no longer kept them, and took out three Bagua formation diagrams, all of which were fourth-tier top-grade formation diagrams that could only be used once.

Some formations favored defense, their thick layers of earthen armor shielding their array and effectively receiving all attacks.

With an offensive focus, it could condense into a giant sword light, which amused the mid-grade fourth-tier water monkey so much that it didn't lose much of its advantage.

With such a formation, and all the thousand disciples equipped with standard magical artifacts, working together and empowered by the formation, they could completely restrain a demon beast.

Hong Da Zhenjun touched the bones in his chest that were throbbing slightly, and sighed that time waits for no one.

Even if you were hundreds of years younger, you could recover from this kind of damage to your vital energy in just a few days.

Why do that? After a fierce battle, it takes a month to fully recover, and even a minor physical injury seems like it will never heal.

Seeing that the three battle formations had already engaged in combat, True Lord Hong smiled with satisfaction and rushed into the arena.

One person withstood the attacks of the Ink Dragon and the Demon Whale, two offspring of wild beasts.

Faced with the terrifying physical strength of the two demons, a gentle collision was like a mountain being pushed down, causing the earth to shake violently.

Five peaks rose up behind Hong Da Zhenjun, each one higher than the last, forming a series of overlapping peaks.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the scenery of the five peaks of the Daode Sect, which he had incorporated into the nascent form of the cave heaven.

Five beams of light merged into a single line and slammed into the demonic whale, each strike delivered with full force.

The five illusory peaks were projected, and the power of the entire space pressed down upon them.

In just a few moments, the demon whale's skin was torn open, and its blood stained the sea beneath it.

But the demonic whale seemed oblivious to pain; on the contrary, its cries grew louder, and a torrent of water surged from its mouth, attempting to trap Hong Da Zhenjun tightly.

On the other side, the black dragon, head to tail, was probably a thousand feet long, with most of its demonic body hidden in the clouds and rain.

Compared to the Demon Whale, which fights purely with its physical body, the Ink Dragon's mastery of water-based magic is nothing short of divine.

Without any special training or study, its innate mastery of the Water Path allows it to be more proficient and natural than cultivators who have practiced the same spell thousands of times.

Even though the latter had already been tempered countless times, he still had to go back and observe the black dragon's spellcasting actions and changes in its demonic energy to learn from them.

Hong Da Zhenjun tossed out a brocade handkerchief with a jade ruler on it, crooked and uneven, as if an ignorant child had scribbled it on with charcoal.

But judging from his serious demeanor and the occasion in which he used it, it's impossible for him to do so.

This is the measuring ruler drawn by the Heavenly Punishment Peak Master himself, which happened hundreds of years ago.

At that time, True Monarch Hong had just transformed into a Nascent Soul. When he paid his respects to the Heavenly Punishment Peak Master, the Ancestor was in a good mood. He casually tore off a piece of brocade and drew a measuring ruler on it.

This is a secret treasure that can only be used once, and I've treasured it for many years, reluctant to use it.

At this moment, in order to uphold the glory of the Moral Sect, or perhaps out of personal pride, it finally comes in handy.

A jade ruler appeared and slammed down on the head of the demon whale with a 'smack'.

Even the demonic whale, which could withstand the power of a cave heaven, was suddenly dizzy and disoriented, and almost fell into the sea.

Another foot, and the skull clearly caved in. With a mournful cry, it could no longer control the waves, and the water splashed and scattered all over the ground, creating a whirlpool.

The secret treasure casually drawn by the Heavenly Punishment Peak Master possesses such power.

Only today did True Lord Hong realize that the brocade handkerchief contained a wisp of the Measuring Ruler's original power, rather than simple spiritual energy.

(End of this chapter)