Shushan: Extinction

Chapter 282 The truth comes out
Relying on these powerful and brand-new weapons, the Great Qian Empire charged out and occupied a territory roughly the size of Taiwan in the Shu Mountain World.

The two sides then entered into a tug-of-war, as Dongjun was caught off guard by the power of the "Tsar Bomba" and was unable to react for a while.

After learning from their painful experience, they utilized the tactics of breaking up large groups into smaller units and employing guerrilla warfare to fully exploit the mobility and destructive power of Golden Core cultivators and Nascent Soul cultivators.

Should we continue bombarding them with Tsar Bomba?

That's like using a cannon to kill a mosquito. The spiritual sense of Golden Core cultivators and Nascent Soul cultivators is hundreds or even thousands of times stronger than that of ordinary people.

Therefore, this group of people are extremely perceptive of danger, able to sense it from fifty or even hundreds of miles away, and will immediately run away.
-
The Tsar Bomba was able to launch its first successful surprise attack because it was a completely new technology that had never existed in the world before, catching the enemy off guard.

Do you really expect the other person to just stand there and wait for you to blow them up? It takes several minutes to start this thing up, which is practically impossible!
At the same time, the area-of-effect spells and supernatural powers unleashed by Golden Core cultivators are comparable to those of conventional missiles.

Nascent Soul cultivators are even more terrifying; their ranged supernatural powers and spells are even more astonishing with every gesture.

Of course, the Great Qian side was not to be trifled with either—so what if a hundred or a thousand ordinary soldiers died?
It only takes a month to recruit new ones from the rear, but if Dongjun loses a Golden Core cultivator, it will take at least a hundred years to replenish them.

Meanwhile, the Great Qian Dynasty began to incorporate demons into its army as scouts, since demons have always been far more adept at sensing danger than humans.

The situation reached a stalemate, but it was clear that Daqian was the aggressor. They were able to break into the Shushan world despite Dongjun's tight defenses and even establish a foothold in the territory, which clearly gave them a strategic advantage.

Gong Tianwu was well aware that haste makes waste, and time was on his side.

As he continuously sends geniuses from around the world to the Great Qian Academy of Sciences, there will inevitably be another technological breakthrough.

The emergence of a brand new weapon can very likely change the current course of the war!

Moreover, those talented Foundation Establishment cultivators who struggled to break through in the Eastern Heaven Realm no longer need to overcome the major hurdles of Heavenly Tribulation and Ascension. They can directly come to Mount Shu to advance to the Golden Core stage, which is several times easier than before.

Thus, a stalemate ensued between the two sides.

***
This stalemate lasted for a full five years.
The Great Qian Empire's strategy in the Shu Mountain world is mainly defensive. In the past five years, it has not only failed to expand, but has actually shrunk by about a quarter.

Of course, Dongjun's side also paid a price. Seventeen Golden Core cultivators and three Nascent Soul cultivators perished, and the losses of Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators were even more severe.

At this very moment, the "strategic new weapon" that Gong Tianwu had been waiting for finally appeared: the Spirit Repelling Pearl!

The idea behind this is actually very simple; it's just the reverse of the most common "spirit gathering array."

The Spirit Gathering Array attracts spiritual energy from all directions towards this location, while the Spirit Repelling Pearl repels the spiritual energy from this area to the surroundings.

A strategic-grade Spirit Repelling Pearl can completely repel all spiritual energy within a radius of a hundred miles in just half a day!

Fighting in this spiritless environment is similar to the limitations humans face when fighting underwater without aids; their strength is significantly reduced.

Moreover, Nascent Soul cultivators and Golden Core cultivators are most affected, because at their stage, their Golden Core and Nascent Soul are constantly absorbing the spiritual energy between heaven and earth for their own growth.

This is just like how humans need to eat, drink, and breathe—the deeper one's cultivation, the greater the spiritual energy required.

In such an environment, martial artists undoubtedly have a huge advantage, especially given the rapid advancements in inscribed weaponry.

After the Spirit-Repelling Pearl was made, everyone suddenly realized: Oh! It's so simple.

However, those who can think of this blind spot in thinking, and then actually create it from scratch, are already one in ten thousand.

With the appearance of the Spirit-Repelling Pearl, the struggles of the world once again returned to the killing and fighting among mortals.

The Great Qian Empire has always attached great importance to the training of martial arts practitioners, and has used the strength of the whole country to improve and promote the popularization of the "Flawless Body" mental technique.

In this situation, not to mention innate masters, even powerful figures like martial saints, who could previously suppress an entire country, began to be mass-produced.

This assembly line operation method is even reminiscent of a livestock farm.
The Great Qian Empire also operates with a steady and methodical approach, advancing step by step in a manner so despairingly calm.

At this point, Dongjun's side was also extremely helpless and could only follow the example of Daqian and begin to imitate and climb the scientific technology tree.

However, the Great Qian Dynasty has a founding emperor as prestigious as Gong Tianwu in charge.
With talented individuals such as Guangxiao, Chen Shengzhi, Lin Pengsheng, and Zhang Baigui assisting him,
There are also research institutions such as the Daqian Academy of Sciences and the Daqian Academy.
It was established as a unified empire where all people were equal.
With all these factors combined, how could Dongjun possibly catch up in a last-minute effort?
***
There's a saying: "A defeated army collapses like a mountain."
When the gap in strength between the two sides widened to a certain extent, Dongjun's side began to experience the consequences of being betrayed and abandoned by everyone.

The first to defect were the ordinary soldiers who were usually trampled on the ground like mud.

The Great Qian side had already proclaimed that those who surrendered would be spared death and those who submitted would receive travel expenses to return home. Therefore, the mortal soldiers, knowing they were clearly no match for the enemy, were the first to collapse.

When mortals could no longer be relied upon, the cultivators surrounding Dongjun also fled one after another. After all, the Great Qian Empire had already declared that it would only punish the ringleaders.

The die-hard elements within the Void Eye, which Dongjun personally established, and the Nine Pivots have all been killed or wounded, and are gradually dying out.

Eight months after the invention of the Spirit-Repelling Pearl, the vanguard of the Great Qian army had already reached the foot of Lihen Peak, and the Lihen Palace at the summit was the residence of Dongjun.

But to everyone's surprise, Dongjun escaped before anyone else could!
Such flexibility and adaptability are truly astonishing.

However, Gong Tianwu, who controlled the resources of two entire planes, immediately issued a kill order!

Under heaven, all land belongs to the king.

All within the realm are subjects of the king!
Immediately, millions of people sprang into action, using every means at their disposal to search for Dongjun's whereabouts.

Although everyone knows that Dongjun is fierce and terrifying, Gong Tianwu's bounty is too generous. Moreover, all he has to do is find the person and send out their whereabouts, and he can get wealth and resources that he could not obtain in ten lifetimes.

This caused a stir in both the mortal and cultivation worlds of Mount Shu, including Emei and Qingcheng.

Such an intensive search truly deserves to be described as digging three feet into the ground!
Three days,

In just three days, Dongjun's whereabouts were discovered by an incredibly lucky Qi Refining cultivator.

Then came the terrifying pursuit, a relentless and fearless chase.

In this situation, Dongjun was truly remarkable; he managed to hold on!
This is under the premise that almost all the pursuers are carrying spirit-repelling beads, which means that once the battle starts, Dongjun will have to fight in a harsh environment where spiritual energy is rapidly decreasing.

As the first wound appeared on Dongjun's hand, cheers erupted spontaneously among the pursuers, for this meant that even the god-like man before them could tire and get hurt.

Dongjun's only option was to fight and retreat, then seize the time to lick his wounds like a wounded wild dog and recover as quickly as possible.

Even he himself knew very well that this recovery and fighting were actually meaningless.

***
Rain falls between heaven and earth.
The rain intensified, creating a misty, hazy atmosphere.
Dongjun sat cross-legged beneath the ruins of the dilapidated temple, like a stone statue eroded by wind and rain for a thousand years.

His appearance was very ordinary, without any distinctive features, so much so that you would immediately forget what he looked like once you looked away.

The green robe on Dongjun's body was now stained with blood and filth, something unimaginable for him before.

On the back of his right hand, flesh was mangled and bloody. It seemed that strange dark red scales were trying to grow out, but he quickly crushed them with chaotic Dao patterns.

The wind outside the temple grew stronger. Dongjun closed his eyes and looked inward into his sea of ​​consciousness. The spiritual power that was once as vast as the Milky Way was now exhausted, causing his meridians to twitch slightly in waves.

Suddenly, Dongjun let out a bitter laugh, flicked his blood-stained sleeve, and two phantom strings appeared in mid-air:

Then his five fingers lightly brushed over.
The string falls, vibrations occur.
The sound waves transformed into invisible blades, and the heads of three martial artists ten feet away exploded. Their headless corpses slowly slumped to the ground, blood gushing out everywhere.

However, Dongjun's coughing also became more frequent.

Five minutes later, a group of pursuers quickly arrived. Upon seeing the three headless corpses, they were not alarmed but rather delighted:

"Here! Here!!"

After searching carefully, they realized they were too late.

"what is this?"

Suddenly, one of them saw some symbols on a nearby stone platform that looked as if they were written with blood.

That stone platform must be where Dongjun sat.

The news was quickly relayed to Gong Tianwu, who had arrived a day earlier and had been staying on the Inscription Ship in mid-air.

Given the previous assassination attempt, Gong Tianwu is now surrounded by more than three thousand loyal guards.

"1, 2, 3, 4?"

Looking at the symbols that the people below were replicating, Gong Tianwu couldn't help but read them aloud.

He was certain that the message was delivered to him by Dong Jun, but Gong Tianwu did not understand what the man's intention was.

Perhaps sensing that the spirit of the Eastern Emperor Bell in the distance was gradually weakening, Kang in his sea of ​​consciousness was extremely excited and kept urging Gong Tianwu to make the final blow so that he could completely devour it.

For Kang, this was an uncontrollable instinct.

It yearns for restoration, yearns for wholeness.

Just like how men, when they are at their most energetic, always want to pin a woman down.
However, Gong Tianwu chose to remain calm. The closer they got to this point, the more cautious they needed to be, because the opponent's last-ditch efforts and trump cards were likely to be revealed at this moment.

Everything went so smoothly it was unbelievable, and good news quickly arrived from the front:
"Dongjun kills the Xing brothers"

"The Eastern Lord slays the Kunlun Master"

"Dongjun has been besieged by hundreds of people."

"The concentration of spiritual energy around Dongjun has dropped to 7%, and it is still decreasing."

"Dongjun has been trapped by the Spirit-Binding Net."

"Our men have taken over the battlefield."

"Dongjun's limbs have been broken!!"

"Dongjun's chest and abdomen have been pierced by the Heavenly Fierce Binding Chain."

"The Yuheng Guard has been mobilized and has begun to set up a plasma barrier near Dongjun."

"."

The reason why Dongjun wasn't killed directly was because of the Donghuang Bell.

The act of binding a host is mutual. Once a fragment of the Eastern Emperor Bell has chosen a host, it is very difficult to break free unless the host dies.

Killing Dongjun was easy, but it also freed the fragments of the Donghuang Bell within him. At that time, the sky would truly be the limit for birds to fly and the sea the limit for fish to leap.

Gong Tianwu listened to his subordinate's report and nodded in satisfaction, while Hasar, who was standing beside him, continued:

"There's one more thing. Our people say that Dongjun has been murmuring a poem the whole time."

Gong Tianwu suddenly had a thought and said:

"What poem?"

Hasar bowed and presented a handwritten note:
“Our people have replicated it.”

Gong Tianwu unfolded it and saw that it was written on it:

His body was encased in the deep furnace of lead and mercury.
Why not transform true fire into yin?

The Dao has always been profound and mysterious.
How can one's heart be tempered by worldly desires?

He pondered for a moment and then said:

"Didn't we find this poem on the wall of the secret room of the Zhushan Sect back then?"

Hasar said:

"Yes."

Gong Tianwu frowned as he looked at the poem, and he began to vaguely feel that something was not quite right.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration crossed Gong Tianwu's mind:

"Could it be...?" "If it's really as I suspect, then I need to be careful."

***
After a while,

Hasar approached Dongjun, placed a black blindfold over his head, and said in a low voice:

“My master said he has seen through your tricks, so don’t resist, give up the will to resist, this is your last chance.”

Dongjun didn't react at all, but when he heard the words "I saw through your tricks," a thought suddenly struck him!
With the blindfold on, Dongjun was naturally plunged into complete darkness.

After a few seconds, a strange line of characters suddenly appeared before Dongjun's eyes:

"You are coming into contact with the Kingdom of Valhalla. Please relax and do not resist. Next, your consciousness will be linked to a virtual world."

Version: 0311.

Producer: Daqian Academy of Sciences.

Dongjun took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and completely emptied his mind.

At this moment, he felt a slight tingling sensation in his eyes, between his eyebrows, and at his temples, which made him feel quite comfortable.

Without resistance, Dongjun entered a dazed state, like being half asleep and half awake while sleeping.

Suddenly, Dongjun felt a large patch of light appear in front of him, and the light quickly approached and shone down.

Soon, he found himself in a completely empty space, about ten square meters in size, surrounded by endless darkness.

Then Dongjun realized that he still had a body, but it was completely semi-transparent, and even when he put his hands together, they would pass through him, so it looked very messy.

Immediately afterwards, a semi-transparent humanoid figure appeared opposite Dongjun. Even the facial features could only be vaguely discerned, but it was still clear that it was Gong Tianwu.

The two stared at each other for three seconds, and then Gong Tianwu sighed softly:
"We've finally met, senior."

Dongjun let out a long breath:

"I never expected you to have such a method, and you actually managed to block that thing."

Gong Tianwu suddenly recited a poem:

His body was encased in the deep furnace of lead and mercury.
Why not transform true fire into yin?

The Dao has always been profound and mysterious.
How can one's heart be tempered by worldly desires?

Then, he looked at Dongjun and said:
"When you combine this poem with the order of the first character in the first row (1), the second in the second row (2), the third in the third row (3), and the fourth in the fourth row (4), it's immediately clear that this is an acrostic poem!"

"The phrase 'being unable to control one's own destiny' is clearly hidden within this, which is why I am willing to give you this opportunity to meet."

At this moment, Dongjun seemed to breathe a huge sigh of relief, and lay down on his back, completely relaxed. After a while, he slowly said:
"Guangxiao is pretty useful, isn't it?"

Gong Tianwu nodded and said:
"A man of his generation, unparalleled in governance, I am far inferior to him."

Dongjun said:
"This is what I left for you."

Upon hearing this, Gong Tianwu frowned immediately.

Dongjun said calmly:

"The Vajrasattva Mudra meditation manual that he secretly practiced was one that I deliberately chose so that he would obtain it by chance. Otherwise, how could he have maintained his soul for a hundred years without dying?"

"Besides, if I really wanted to kill him back then, why would I have gone through all this trouble?"

"After killing him, the body must be cremated. After the cremation, five relics will be found. His soul will be divided into five parts and reside in these five relics. Then, temples and mausoleums will be built in the four directions: east, south, west, and north?"

After listening, Gong Tianwu found Dongjun's words to be quite reasonable and couldn't help but say:
"Then how can you be so sure I'll find him?"

Dongjun said calmly:

"If you want to deal with someone, you must first try to understand that person."

"If you want to understand me, then a certain person and a certain place are essential. You know what I mean, right?"

Gong Tianwu said calmly:
"The person you need to find is Guangxiao, of course."

"The place you need to go is either your palace or the residence of the head of the Bamboo Mountain Sect, but your palace has already been destroyed by war."

At this point, Gong Tianwu remained silent for a moment before saying:
"Alright, I believe you. Forced by circumstances, forced by circumstances—is the problem with the fragments of the Eastern Emperor Bell?"

Dongjun said sadly:

"Yes, when I first discovered it, I thought it was a treasure that would change my destiny, and I did my best to collect its fragments."

"Of course, I also enjoy the power and happiness it brings me—just like you are now."

"But one day, it started to change, just like a baby who was crying for milk suddenly growing into an adult and making many demands on me."

At this point, Dongjun's voice changed:

"At first, its requests were relatively normal, but gradually, it started to try to eat people!!"

Gong Tianwu felt a chill run down his spine:
"eat human?"

Dongjun said, word by word:
"That's right! Do you know the origin of the Eastern Emperor Bell?"

Gong Tianwu said:

"As the name suggests, it is the precious bell of Taiyi, the god of the North Star?"

Dongjun said:
"Yes, and before Taiyi became a god, he was a great shaman in the ancient Xia Dynasty, where human sacrifice and blood sacrifice were the most popular practices!"

"The Eastern Emperor Bell wasn't a top-tier innate spiritual treasure from the beginning. It grew little by little along with Taiyi's strength, and its spirituality originated from the bloody human sacrifice system of that time."

Gong Tianwu gasped, and then Dongjun continued:
"At first, it had a small appetite, but gradually it began to devour more and more souls, especially those that had suffered greatly before their death, because such souls carried even greater energy."

"Later on, I was even forced to sacrifice the souls of my wife and children."

"And in the end, as you probably already know, it went completely mad. It wanted to destroy the world. It demanded that at least half of all living beings in the Eastern Heaven Realm be killed, wanting to enjoy their souls!"

Upon hearing this, Gong Tianwu felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, a chill seemingly rising from his very bones. After a long pause, he finally said:
"The fragment of the Eastern Emperor Bell that I obtained seems to have developed its own consciousness. It is also very resistant to the original weapon spirit, feeling that it will be devoured by it. Perhaps it is an exception?"

Dongjun said quite bluntly:

"You found a tiger cub. Even if it has a good temper and a gentle nature when it's young, do you think it will stop eating meat when it grows up? If you kill me, the entire spirit of the Eastern Emperor Bell will reunite, and your situation will be even more terrifying than mine!"

Gong Tianwu remained silent for a moment before saying:
"So what will happen if you don't do what it says?"

Dongjun sneered:
"This thing is parasitic in your sea of ​​consciousness. The ways it wants to punish and torture you are incredibly varied. Believe me, you won't be able to withstand it."

After hearing this, Gong Tianwu suddenly said:

"I have another option, which is to prevent the tiger cubs from growing up."

"The fragments of the Eastern Emperor Bell on you are powerful and difficult to control, but I still have hope!"

"Not only that, but this virtual space we're in now can also allow you to temporarily break free from its control, can't it?"

Dong Jun was stunned after hearing this, and seemed to think that Gong Tianwu's words made a lot of sense.

Gong Tianwu thought for a moment and said:
"Thank you, Senior Xie Tianyuan. After meeting you today, I realize that we are both fellow sufferers. So we are not enemies, but should stick together for warmth."

"Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you. Your death will actually give the incomplete spirit of the Eastern Emperor Bell more options, which is a huge hidden danger."

Xie Tianyuan sighed with relief and said:
"You're a smart person, and I enjoy dealing with smart people like you."

Gong Tianwu thought for a moment and said:
"By the way, Senior Xie, when you were laying these foreshadowings, weren't you afraid that the spirit of the Eastern Emperor Bell in your sea of ​​consciousness would discover them?"

Xie Tianyuan said:

"First, I did it quite discreetly. Second, the spirit of the Eastern Emperor Bell is incomplete, and it will periodically enter a dormant state."

After listening, Gong Tianwu nodded and looked around, saying:
"Although this place is not perfect yet, it is completely separated from our physical bodies, so there will be no risks. Moreover, our souls are extremely powerful, so even being separated from our physical bodies for a long time is not a problem."

"I will have someone grant you access. If you ever suffer torment from the spirit of the Eastern Emperor Bell, just hide inside."

This time, Xie Tianyuan's voice changed with excitement:

"Really! This place can exist indefinitely?"

Gong Tianwu explained earnestly:
"Yes, this place was originally created and developed so that people from all over the world, even those separated by thousands of miles, could have direct, face-to-face conversations like we do."

"Simply put, you can think of it as a sub-plane that only souls can enter. Of course, a soul must have a credential to enter, which is the blindfold you wear on your physical body."

Xie Tianyuan sincerely praised:
"I don't know how you came up with such a wonderful idea."

Gong Tianwu was somewhat taken aback when he heard this and said:
"I saw some of your actions when you were the Heavenly Emperor, and I thought you were from the same place as me."

Xie Tianyuan asked curiously:

"Oh? I'm from Shandong, and you?"

Gong Tianwu said:

"My father did business overseas, but his ancestral home is Shijiazhuang City."

Xie Tianyuan said in astonishment:

"Where is that?"

Gong Tianwu quickly came to his senses. Although Shijiazhuang is the capital city of Hebei Province, it was actually established in 1925 and was called Shijia City. Later it was called Shimen City, and it was not until 1947 that it was called Shijiazhuang City.

So everything makes sense now. Xie Tianyuan must have lived during the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican era, which is why he received some entirely new information, but he didn't live to see the technological explosion that followed.

Just think about it, from 1905 to 1945, in a mere forty years, weapons evolved directly from muzzle-loading guns to nuclear weapons. Such a terrifying leap in technology is probably impossible in human history!

Having figured this out, Gong Tianwu laughed heartily and said:

"Senior Xie, you were born decades too early, otherwise, it would have been extremely difficult for me to beat you."

***
Three years later,
on the earth,
Gong Tianwu stood with his arms crossed, gazing at the sea. In front of him, a chubby boy was playing in the water on the beach, but his eyes were fixed on a beautiful woman in a bikini next to him.

This chubby boy is none other than his younger brother, Gong Mingzhen.

Gong Tianwu's current physical body is the masterpiece of the Daqian Import and Export Trading Company.

The technology from the Daqian Academy of Sciences has begun to be fed back to Earth.
At the same time, Gong Tianwu used Kang's power to bring a Blood Demon Basin, which he had refined in the Shu Mountain world, to Earth.

This brand-new body was created in this way.

To Gong Tianwu's relief, Kang Ye in his sea of ​​consciousness has not shown any signs of going out of control, which is probably due to its relatively low degree of integrity.

As the sun set, the fiery clouds stretched across the sky, turning the area around the horizon a vibrant red.

Gong Tianwu let out a long breath.

"It's all over, isn't it?"

(End of the book)

P.S.: There will be an author's closing remarks and a preview of the new book later.

(End of this chapter)