I became an immortal in the mountains

Chapter 818 Is this item destined for you?
In the sixth year of Gu Yuanqing's seclusion, the demonic calamity suddenly broke out without warning.

Countless demons converged into a torrent that blotted out the sky, roaring and shrieking like a black wave bursting its banks, surging towards the human territory.

when! when!
The desolate and urgent alarm bells rang throughout every border city and fortress.

Thanks to the experience accumulated from long-standing battles with the Heavenly Demons, and the preparations already made, the Great Hao Divine Dynasty and the major sects, though surprised, did not panic.

The protective array was activated to its maximum extent immediately, with spiritual light intertwining to form a continuous barrier of light.

The well-trained army of cultivators quickly took their positions, and the brilliance of their magical artifacts tore through the sky stained with demonic energy.

However, the most terrifying aspect of the Heavenly Demon is never just its positive power.

Even with the great array separating them, demonic thoughts still quietly seeped in.

Human cultivators, whether frontline warriors or support personnel, can experience even the slightest fear, anger, or grudges during cultivation or meditation. Every fluctuation of emotion can trigger the influence of extraterrestrial demons, unleashing demonic thoughts. At best, this can impair cultivation and cause hallucinations; at worst, it can lead to demonic possession. If a demonic thought seizes their mind, transforming them into a demonic being, it would be a catastrophe.

Inside the defensive line, the losses were even more alarming than those on the front lines.

This is the calamity of the Heavenly Demon.

Everyone knows this is just the beginning.

Millions of years of warfare have made it clear to all cultivators in the Nine Realms Divine Continent that the root of the demonic calamity has never been merely about slaughter. Rather, it is about stirring up the emotions of humanity amidst constant warfare, pushing them to their extreme, and then reaping the benefits.

The battles on the front lines are all designed to put enough pressure on the human race, because only under this pressure can they achieve their goals.

Since the Heavenly Demon wreaked havoc in this realm, the human race's defenses have been breached countless times, yet they have never been annihilated. Even their lineage has been preserved, and cultivators at the Void Immortal level continue to emerge.

All of this was perfectly clear to the cultivators of the Nine Domains Divine Continent. Of course, this understanding only referred to the great cultivators and powerful forces within the Nine Domains Divine Continent, as some things were not suitable for public disclosure.

After the demonic calamity began, the true dangers of the Eclipse Cult began to manifest.

These scourges lurking within humanity know that open rebellion is tantamount to suicide, hence their actions are extremely insidious.

For example, the Pure Light Array in Changqing City was destroyed, causing its power to decrease drastically. A Celestial cultivator fell into demonic possession, and three city blocks were almost destroyed.

A batch of Concentration Pills sent to the front lines was mixed with an extremely small amount of Bewitching Grass powder. After taking it, it would subtly amplify one's inner demons!
Unverified information was spreading everywhere, exaggerating the human race's losses and fabricating the lie that a certain immortal was seriously injured, in an attempt to undermine morale.

Using their concealed identities, they infiltrated silently. This invisible erosion from within continuously damaged the human race and increased the panic within the Great Hao.

Despite the Great Hao Dynasty's oversight agencies operating at full capacity and uncovering numerous traitors, the Eclipse Moon Cult's deep-rooted and ingeniously hidden influence remains like a persistent affliction, making this demonic calamity even more unpredictable and treacherous.

Battles at the Chaotic Heaven level continued, and those at the Void Immortal level also clashed.

However, overall the level of combat is not very high.

Human Immortals dared not stray too far from the defensive line, while the Immortal-level Heavenly Demons did not wish to fight to the death with the humans around the defensive line.

Both sides are looking for opportunities, but there is no doubt that the human race is under greater pressure; a mistake could lead to annihilation.

The experts of the Great Hao were all sent to guard the defense lines of various regions, with only the Great Hao Emperor Xuan Haoji and the Heavenly Pivot Prefecture Lord Li Yanshen stationed in Yujing.

The leaders of all the major sects are also keeping a close eye on the border defenses.

Everyone was extremely solemn. In their view, the human race was at an absolute disadvantage in the war against the demons. The demons occupied the demon land and could attack or defend at will.

Even Xuan Haoji, as the lord of the Nine Domains Divine Continent and the number one expert of the human race, who was even said to be able to fight against the Lord of the Heavenly Demon, still did not have much confidence in his heart.

The title is just a title, after all; there has never been a real battle. Moreover, there is more than one Demon Lord!
However, what they didn't know was that the three Heavenly Demon Lords were also extremely solemn.

The Seven Emotions Demon Lord and the Profound Nether Demon Lord's clones were destroyed, and not even a wisp of their demonic thoughts could escape back, as if a dark cloud had enveloped their hearts.

The clones are naturally no match for the main body, possessing only a fraction of their power, but this loss is unprecedented even in hundreds of thousands of years.

More importantly, even now, they still haven't figured out their opponent's strength and background, only knowing that he is the person behind Gu Yuanqing.

That is why they suddenly unleashed a demonic calamity!

The Heavenly Demons are different from humans; humans progress in cultivation faster than the Heavenly Demons. Gu Yuanqing, as an outsider, is backed by an unknown expert, making him a variable who could potentially disrupt the current state of affairs in this realm.

This gave them a sense of urgency.

Gu Yuanqing disappeared after that incident. If he really left, that would be fine, but if there are still experts in another world who want to interfere in the matter of the demonic calamity, then they may very well come to this world. This is a huge variable.

Each harvest by humans is a continuation of their lifeline, which is far more important than anything else!

Of course, in addition to that, they also wanted to test the waters again to see if they could force Gu Yuanqing out through the war with the human race, thereby revealing the whereabouts of the person behind him.

The unknown enemy is the most terrifying. If we know its details, it may not necessarily be afraid of us!

……

The location where Gu Yuanqing entered the Demon Realm was not too far from the Nine Realms Divine Continent.

Standing atop the mountain, gazing into the distance, beneath the Heavenly Eye of Emptiness, one sees countless demonic shadows everywhere.

"Has the Heavenly Demon made his move?" Gu Yuanqing raised an eyebrow slightly.

He was not in a hurry to get involved. There were countless experts in the Nine Realms Divine Continent, and it was not his turn to interfere at the moment.

He gazed for a moment, took a step, and used spatial magic to traverse hundreds of miles. He took another step, and then hundreds more miles.

He came to this world to find the Zhenyuan Stone, and naturally, he valued it highly.

The Zhenyuan Stone is the core of a large mountain range and the key to suppressing the local earth veins. It can only be formed by chance after being eroded and condensed by the earth vein energy for millions of years and in accordance with the mysterious rhythm of heaven and earth.

It is located deep in the mountains, closely connected to the earth's veins. The magnetic field of the earth veins in the area is so strong that it is difficult to detect directly with divine sense.

Moreover, the Demonic Land is filled with the aura of Heavenly Demons, which has a certain influence on divine sense. Furthermore, this world was not the place where Gu Yuanqing attained enlightenment, and it was not completely in harmony with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. Divine sense is further restricted, making it extremely difficult to find the Zhenyuan Stone.

Fortunately, he was proficient in array formations, and by observing the terrain of the mountains, he could roughly locate the earth's veins and thus determine the possible location of the Zhenyuan Stone. He had a map of the Demonic Land in his hand, and he began to explore each of the famous mountains marked on it.

He landed on different large mountain ranges multiple times, holding a compass to locate the key points and acupoints. He then used earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique for escaping into the earth) to penetrate deep into the mountains, using his divine sense to sense the flow, intensity, and essence of the earth's veins. With his penetrating heavenly eyes, he carefully observed the mountain's terrain, rock structure, and signs of spiritual energy flow.

However, despite spending a lot of time, they still came up empty-handed.

There is one place where Zhenyuan Stone may have been born, but it has obviously been taken away. The underground vein energy there is scattered. It was only after countless years of natural changes that it was reshaped.

There is a place where the earth veins seem majestic, but the core has been eroded by demonic energy. The Zhenyuan Stone, which was originally barely formed, has lost its spirituality and turned into an ordinary ore.
Some earth veins have excessively violent energy and lack a cohesive core, thus never giving birth to Zhenyuan Stones.
Another place is also extremely regrettable. The core of the mountain range seems to have once taken shape, but it collapsed during geological changes, leaving only a chaotic magnetic ruin.

Gu Yuanqing wasn't in a hurry. If such a treasure were really so easy to find, it would probably have been taken long ago.

This search has lasted for more than two months. During this time, he encountered several Heavenly Demons, but he killed them all with ease. Their strength was not great, and they did not attract any attention from other Heavenly Demons.

Following the contours of the land, Gu Yuanqing arrived at a continuous mountain range.

This mountain range is called Shenyuan, which was once the headquarters of a major sect in this world, but it has long since fallen into the dust of history.

Only occasionally can one still see remnants of that time within the mountains.

After several surveys, Gu Yuanqing landed in a valley, and then his figure was enveloped in a mysterious yellow light and sank into the ground.

Having descended to an unknown depth, the pressure of the surrounding magnetic field was enough to crush an ordinary cultivator of the Chaos Realm, and Gu Yuanqing's divine sense was compressed to a range of tens of miles.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he sped up.

The further he went, the greater the interference of the Earth's magnetic field on his own power became. The violent and chaotic power had already made him reveal himself from the rocks. Gu Yuanqing began to use the Celestial Realm to isolate and dissolve the power of the earth so that he could move forward using the Earth Escape Technique, but the speed of his progress was greatly reduced.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he stopped walking and a smile appeared on his lips.

"We've finally found it!"

This is the deepest part of the mountain range, the base of the mountain, directly connected to the earth's veins.

As the black bedrock, formed by millions of years of compression, gradually reveals a hint of yellowish-brown color towards its core, with the proportion of yellowish-brown continuously increasing.

Until the very center, there is an area about three zhang in circumference, which is pure dark yellow in color and has a crystal-clear and warm texture, like jade. Strands of Dao patterns formed naturally by the power of the earth are contained within it!

This is Zhenyuan Stone!

However, although the item was found, retrieving it was not a simple matter.

It is the hub of the earth veins of this mountain range, the "living" mountain spirit. To take it away is tantamount to engaging in a direct confrontation with the entire Shenyuan Mountain Range, and even the broader earth veins connected to it.

He cannot roughly chisel it out of the rock like he would ore. The spirituality and value of Zhenyuan Stone come from the stable structure formed in its perfect symbiosis with the earth's veins.

Any brute force will cause the pure earth vein energy inside to lose its restraint, instantly collide and dissipate, resulting in severe damage to its spirituality or even turning it into ordinary stone.

"It requires skillful and gradual effort, like drawing silk from a cocoon!"

He raised his hand, and his true essence and divine sense transformed into countless strands of spiritual silk, finer than spider silk, silently seeping into the smallest cracks in the rock, winding their way towards the boundary between the Zhenyuan Stone and the ordinary bedrock.

Gu Yuanqing's Celestial Realm has been slowly expanding with the intervention of True Essence and Magic Power, using his own cultivation to replace the original connection between the earth veins and the Zhenyuan Stone, thereby stabilizing the spiritual essence of the Zhenyuan Stone itself.

This is not a simple contest of strength, but an extremely delicate and subtle process of dissection, which requires immense patience.

As the stripping process continued, the entire ley line began to emit a faint rumbling sound. The isolation of the core caused the originally orderly ley line to slowly become restless.

Immense pressure was pressing in from all directions, and the increasingly chaotic geomagnetic forces also began to surge forth.

Gu Yuanqing must use his own strength to withstand these impacts, otherwise the Zhenyuan Stone will inevitably be damaged if it is lost.

Just then, a sword intent suddenly appeared, enveloping the area from the side and rear.

Gu Yuanqing turned around to look.

A middle-aged man carrying a long sword and dressed in a moon-white Taoist robe walked among the rocks as if on flat ground. The heavy rocks naturally parted in front of him, and closed up again after he passed, without showing any trace of change.

His eyes were indifferent, as still as a deep well, seemingly devoid of any human emotion.

Gu Yuanqing's gaze fell on the runes on the sleeve of his Taoist robe, and he asked, "The Supreme Forgetfulness Sect?"

"This item is destined for my sect. Leave it here, and you may depart as you see fit," the middle-aged man said indifferently.

Gu Yuanqing smiled and continued peeling away the Zhenyuan Stone as he said, "It's exactly as Sect Master Ling said. The Supreme Forgetfulness Sect is indeed domineering! Speaking of which, it's somewhat similar to someone from a sect I met before."

The middle-aged man remained noncommittal about the comment, seemingly oblivious to the sarcasm or perhaps simply unconcerned.

He simply spoke again calmly: "Unwilling to leave?"

"What do you think?" Gu Yuanqing countered.

"Then there's no need for further words." The middle-aged man nodded, then pointed his fingers like a sword and pointed it in mid-air.

A vast and powerful sword intent suddenly descended!

This sword intent, like a celestial precept, instantly enveloped Gu Yuanqing, aiming to suppress the flow of his magical power and isolate his divine sense from the interaction between heaven and earth.

At the same time, he made a hand seal with his other hand and pressed it downwards, and countless clear and bright Dao patterns flowed out from his fingertips, spreading down like a spider web.

The earth vein power that had been raging since the Zhenyuan Stone was removed was calmed down and became docile under the cover of the clear and bright Dao patterns.

He single-handedly stabilized the earth's veins in this area by relying on his profound mastery of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth!
It was precisely because of this reliance that he was not worried that fighting with Gu Yuanqing would damage the Zhenyuan Stone.

"What a magnificent Supreme Forgetfulness Sect!" Gu Yuanqing exclaimed in admiration.

With just this one move, one can see that the opponent is extraordinary. Gu Yuanqing himself could only do this in Beiquan Cave Heaven or Qianyuan Realm.

Even in the spirit realm, limited by one's cultivation level, it would be difficult to achieve such effortless mastery!
(End of this chapter)