The only thing Chen Mo regretted was not flying his sword to the sky earlier to notify Lin Zhao and others in the mountain peak villa. Otherwise, the Jianmen Sect would not have suffered such a downfall of its talented disciples. This battle had cost the Jianmen Sect an eleventh-realm Liu Yunzheng, three elders of the Xinghe realm, and more than ten inner disciples of the Yuanying realm. All because of his momentary greed. Had it not been for this greed, perhaps the Jianmen Sect could have preserved many embers, even if he, the old ancestor, were to die in Qinling.
Now, with such a loss of combat power, the Jianmen Sect would be at the mercy of others on the mountains of Western Shu for a long time, with even the possibility of its sect being razed.
In the forest.
Sword light rained down. Chen Mo, a dignified twelfth-realm sword cultivator, had almost severed Gu Yanshu's leg. However, his own body slowly dissolved into the dense and intricate sword energy, perishing on the spot. No one would have imagined that Gu Yanshu, wielding the Xunlu Sword and his profound killing intent, could have killed the Jianmen Sect's ancestor, Chen Mo, within a mere thirty moves.
"Hoo..."
Gu Yanshu let out a sigh of relief. Although one leg was cut to the bone, he paid it no mind, breathing deeply the blood rain that had turned from Chen Mo's essence into the wind. He looked as if he had been fished out of a pool of blood. The boundless sword intent fed back into his cultivation, and at this moment, Gu Yanshu let out a long sigh, opening his eyes to find himself a genuine twelfth-realm sword cultivator.
...
Early morning.
Qinling, Dongyue.
Yu Zhi stood on the mountaintop, overlooking the peaks. At this moment, the luck of the Nine Star Formation had merged into one. A single Nine Star Formation had connected the root luck of all the mountains in Qinling, with Dongyue as the supreme. Now, Yu Zhi, holding the Nine Star Formation talisman stone, felt as if she held the mountains and rivers of the Eastern Region of the Human Race in her hand, a sense of pride filling her heart.
The corner of her lips curled. A battle of wits?
His realm was still too low. What of the legendary Lin Baiyi? In this grand scheme in Shuzhou, he was merely leading a few twelfth-realm cultivators around. At most, he had saved the Sect Leader Wei of the Daoist ancestral court once. His actual contribution was not significant. Conversely, Yu Zhi, overseeing the grand strategy, was nearing the completion of the demon race's layout in the Eastern Region of the Human Race.
Not far away, a towering figure emerged from the mountains, growing smaller and smaller. Finally, it landed gracefully before Yu Zhi, transforming into a middle-aged man in a black long robe. He was Xu Changyou, who had been lurking in the Eastern Region of the Human Race for many years. His true form was an ancient beast called "Changyou," possessing no particular skills other than ramming mountains and summoning water.
"Lord Yu Zhi."
Xu Changyou cupped his fist lightly. He still bore sword wounds from Wei Huarou and Zuo Zhi, but the recovery ability of a thirteenth-realm demon was extremely strong, and most of these wounds had already healed.
"Hmm."
Yu Zhi looked at him and smiled, "Go. The Demon Ancestor will grant you what he promised. The rest is up to you. It is time for Western Shu of the Human Race to become a rootless duckweed."
"Yes!"
Xu Changyou turned and left. Soon after, a colossal figure rose from the mountains, resembling an ape, covered in golden luster. Its head had hard scales. In the blink of an eye, its body grew to over ten thousand zhang, giving the impression of celestial transformation. It looked at Yu Zhi from afar. After Yu Zhi nodded, Xu Changyou let out a roar and plunged his true form into the ground. Immediately, a tremendous roar echoed from deep within the earth. Following this sound, the entire land of Western Shu began to tremble violently.
Thus, the root of Dongyue Mountain had been shattered, and the Human Race's territory was like a pillar of the east that had collapsed, and the earth began to sink.
Yu Zhi looked towards the northwest and saw what was invisible to the mortal eye. A heavy aura of killing intent hung in the sky above Western Shu, pressing down on the sinking earth, perfectly complementing the demon race's "Lu Chen" (earth sinking) scheme.
"Gu Yanshu has broken through."
Yu Zhi frowned and said, "A twelfth-realm sword cultivator, wielding the Xunlu Sword, what is his true combat power?"
Beside her, Ning Yuansheng smiled and said, "Equivalent to more than half of Lin Wanhua."
"That's enough. I hope everything goes smoothly on Nan Qingfeng's side. If Gu Yanshu joins, our plan will be even more stable." Yu Zhi's lips curved into a beautiful smile. "Lord Ning Yuansheng, shall we begin?"
"Yes."
Ning Yuansheng took the Nine Star Formation talisman stone from Yu Zhi's hand and leaped into the valley. In the blink of an eye, a majestic dharma image of a nine-headed lion rose into the sky, stepping on mountains and rivers and activating its innate divine ability. Instantly, the Nine Star Formation became like a giant funnel, continuously extracting the luck and vitality of Shuzhou in the Human Race and channeling it into the East Sea. Ning Yuansheng, using his divine ability to manipulate heavenly and earthly mechanisms, accelerated this outward flow of luck in the scheme.
The demon race's scheme was a "Lu Chen" scheme. First, Dongyue Mountain Lord Ning Hao was killed, causing the Eastern Region of the Human Race to lose its towering pillar. Then, Xu Changyou shattered the root of Dongyue Mountain, further shattering this pillar. Following that, the Nine Star Formation was used as a funnel to extract the luck and vitality of Shuzhou in the Human Race. Ning Yuansheng's methods accelerated the extraction speed, creating a situation where the terrain of Shuzhou sank, and the waters of the East Sea poured back into the Human Race's territory, completely disrupting the layout of the luck and vitality of the central three prefectures by the Confucian and Daoist schools.
Furthermore, Gu Yanshu, wielding the Xunlu Sword, was also one of the demon race's pawns. The heavier Gu Yanshu's killing intent, the more it would accelerate the sinking of Shuzhou. If necessary, he could even be incited to join the demon race and become one of them. A single Gu Yanshu and a Xunlu Sword were enough to inflict heavy losses on the Human Race's mountains.
Yu Zhi was extremely confident. Since the Lu Chen scheme had already taken shape, there was no possibility of reversal for the Human Race. This upheaval would be the prelude to a great war between the Human Race and the demon race, and the beginning of the Human Race's dominion being overthrown.
...
In the mountains.
Su Qingjiu finally found the aura of Lin Zhao and the others, and descended from the mountaintop, throwing herself into Lin Zhao's arms.
"Little Jiuer?"
Lin Zhao gently stroked her hair and smiled, "Forgot again?"
"I don't care."
Su Qingjiu's beautiful eyes were slightly red. She had almost died in the East Sea, almost never seeing her brother Lin Zhao again. Thanks to the words "Shun Yi" from her brother Lin Zhao on the peach wood hairpin, she understood the feeling of escaping from dire peril better than anyone. Thus, she no longer cared about Lin Zhao's nagging about propriety between men and women. At this moment, she just wanted to hold her brother Lin Zhao tightly.
"Little Jiuer."
Zuo Zhi stood behind Lin Zhao, flicked Little Jiuer's nose, and smiled, "You're all grown up, and you're not even ashamed!"
Little Jiuer's face turned red.
Huang Tingyu clasped his arms and chuckled, "Little Jiuer, do you remember the joke from when you were little? You said you wouldn't get married if you could, but if you did, you'd wait until you grew up and marry Brother Lin Zhao. I think this is destiny. Let's give the mountain master's throne to Senior Sister after we return to Changming Mountain, and you can come back to be Brother Lin Zhao's little wife!"
At once, Little Jiuer's face turned even redder.
Lin Zhao, holding Little Jiuer, leaped up and kicked Old Huang, telling him to stop blabbering.
After a moment, Lin Zhao held Little Jiuer's fragrant shoulders and moved her out of his embrace, saying, "Something happened in the East Sea?"
"Hmm."
Su Qingjiu's eyes welled up, and she said softly, "The Lord of the East Sea, the fourteenth-realm Flood Dragon Minister, finally decided to side with the demon race. When I pursued Long Zheng to the East Sea, I stepped into a deadly trap he had set, and almost didn't make it back. Fortunately, I had Brother Lin Zhao's peach blossom hairpin. The words 'Shun Yi' allowed me to successfully see through the Flood Dragon Minister's killing formation, and thus I escaped. I even refined a natal star by misfortune."
"I see..." Lin Zhao nodded.
Zuo Zhi frowned, "That old geezer Flood Dragon Minister... When the fourteenth-realm Yan Beichen was in the East Sea, he didn't even dare to breathe loudly. Now that the Human Race has fewer fourteenth-realm cultivators, he has actually sided with the demon race!"
Huang Tingyu snorted, "That kind of fence-sitter, their true nature is hard to change."
Just then, the earth suddenly trembled violently. Immediately, even Lin Zhao, who was only at the Yuanying realm, felt the ground sink dramatically. Following that, Western Shu began to slowly subside. Although the speed was not fast, continuing to sink like this was certainly not an option.
"What's wrong?"
Lin Zhao exclaimed in surprise.
Su Qingjiu frowned, looked to the south, and said, "The root of Dongyue Mountain has been shattered, and Western Shu is sinking."
"Oh..."
Lin Zhao turned and looked in the direction of Lingque Lake. In an instant, he had understood everything. All the details of the demon race's scheme in Western Shu connected in his mind one by one. He had guessed more than nine-tenths of the overall Lu Chen scheme. As for the plans of the Human Race's Literary Forest and the Mohist ancestral court, Lin Zhao had understood most of them. The real key lay in Lingque Lake.
"It's almost time."
He directly took out a iron pot and cooking utensils from his bag and said, "I'll make something to eat. After we eat, rest. Zuo Zhi, Old Huang, quickly tend to your injuries. Then we should head to Lingque Lake. The real battle is finally about to begin. Little Jiuer, you should also take this opportunity to conserve your strength."
"Okay."
...
Deep in the mountains.
Gu Yanshu, covered in blood, washed himself in a stream. He shook the water from his clothes and then sat down on a rock, lying on his back with his hands supporting his head, gazing at the stars in the sky. His face was quite pale. Breaking through to the twelfth realm seemed easy, but it was actually incredibly dangerous. After all, it had taken him less than half a month from exiting seclusion to reaching the twelfth realm. For an ordinary person, it would have been unbearable.
Moreover, now that Gu Yanshu was in the twelfth realm, he should also think about how to proceed.
The world had wronged the Xunlu Sword, so his goal was to kill everyone in the world. Then there would be something to talk about, at least where to start killing, from which state or county town. This should be planned.
"Hoo..."
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes to rest, letting the profound killing intent of the Xunlu Sword feed back and nourish his body.
Soon after, a graceful figure arrived with the wind, silently. It was an extremely beautiful woman in a white dress. Her face and figure were both exquisite.
Nan Qingfeng, a thirteenth-realm great demon.
Seeing Gu Yanshu in the distance, Nan Qingfeng did not disturb him, but the corner of her lips curled, and her body disappeared into the wind.
Not long after, in Gu Yanshu's dream, a woman in a white dress appeared. She disrobed and bathed in the stream not far from him. In the light of the water, snow-white curves were visible. At that moment, Gu Yanshu, full of youthful vigor, could not resist his desires and plunged into the stream, embracing her tightly. What followed was an indescribable event. When Gu Yanshu woke up, he found the woman in the white dress lying beside him with her clothes in disarray, her pretty face flushed.
Was it a dream, or was it real?
He could no longer distinguish.