The road is vague

Chapter 258 Rift Bottle

Two days later.

Uh...

The melodious sound of horns came from deep within the Dharma Protector Hall, carrying an atmosphere of suppressed repression.

The mountain-protecting formation has been fully activated, and nine small golden suns have appeared in the sky. Each one seems to be capable of destroying the world and possesses various mysteries unknown to outsiders.

The remaining twenty-odd warships of the Dharma Protectorate took to the air.

Therefore, the vast majority of Qi Refining stage disciples had to form neat formations on the ground, while Foundation Establishment stage disciples floated in the low sky, accompanied by warships.

More than thirty Golden Core stage cultivators stood at the front of the army, all with solemn expressions on their faces.

The numerous puppets formed a fortress, various spirit beasts roared, and countless spirit birds soared through the air. The entire war potential of the Spirit Eye Sect was fully mobilized.

More than a hundred miles away.

An army consisting of over a hundred super warships was blocked by the mountain-protecting formation of the Lingmu Sect.

These warships were significantly larger, with a few exceeding 100 zhang in size, forming a stark contrast to the 20-zhang warships hastily assembled by the Lingmu Sect, exuding an oppressive aura.

Some disciples with far-seeing spiritual eyes couldn't help but let out a soft gasp of surprise.

Among those colossal treasure ships and warships, some hundreds of feet long, were enormous, menacing beasts, also known as war beasts. Each one was covered in armor, with thick skin and flesh, and was an astonishing size. They were the war machines used by the Great Qian Kingdom for conquering cities and for frontal assaults.

On a treasure ship in the center, two elderly men are playing chess in the attic.

The two remained calm and continued playing chess, completely unaffected by the outside world.

As one of the elderly men, whose left forehead bore the character for "evil," placed a black chess piece, he let out a triumphant laugh.

"Junior Brother Tianqi, it seems that your senior brother will be lucky to win again."

Upon hearing this, the old man with disheveled hair and one eye, who was playing chess with him, carefully examined the chessboard for a while, and finally sighed before putting the white piece in his hand into the chess box.

"Senior Brother Xieying is a cut above the rest, winning three games in a row. Junior Brother is completely convinced."

Say it.

He turned his head and, through the jade beaded curtain, gazed at the beautiful Qingming Mountain, a hundred miles away.

At this moment, Qingming Mountain is already shrouded in a large formation.

He paid no attention to the Qingming Mountain disciples who were on high alert.

"Then let's stick to the agreement. Senior Brother can take 30% of the Spirit Eye Sect's resources."

The Evil Shadow Demon smiled smugly.

"Hehe, Junior Brother, it's best not to underestimate the enemy. Although that old ghost Qingling has passed away and the Lingmu Sect's thousand-year foundation is now ownerless, and we can take it first, this mountain-protecting formation was personally set up by Daowen Saintess before she achieved her Great Dao. Let the disciples go in first, break through some of the formation's foundations, and then try to break in."

Say it.

The Evil Shadow Demon took out a jade bottle from his sleeve. The bottle was covered with countless cracks and exuded a twisted and ominous aura.

"This replica of the Rift Bottle, although a failure, can still exert about 30% of its power. It can lend you a hand. Even if it cannot break this formation, it can still serve as a deterrent to the Spirit Eye Sect, reducing casualties among the disciples who will participate in the upcoming battle."

"Senior brother actually brought it too!"

Upon hearing this, the Heavenly Weeping Old Monster's one eye immediately revealed a look of surprise, and he solemnly accepted the jade bottle.

It is common knowledge that there is a replica of the Heavenly Rift Bottle in the Divine Mechanism Sect.

Even this failed attempt is far beyond the capabilities of ordinary magical artifacts; it is comparable to the power of a top-tier natal magical artifact that has been carefully nurtured for over five hundred years.

"Hmph, with this treasure by my side, my junior brother will surely be able to conquer Qingming Mountain and seize the millennium-old opportunity within ten days at most!"

Say it.

The figure of the Heavenly Weeping Old Monster vanished from the treasure ship pavilion in an instant, leaving only the gently swaying jade bead curtain to tell the story of what had just happened.

the other side.

As a true disciple of the Lingmu Sect, Li Mo is no longer a dispensable figure.

He could sense the tense atmosphere among the people behind him, but there was also a hint of anticipation in their hopes of seeing their sect's Nascent Soul Ancestor emerge from seclusion and display his divine power.

Suddenly.

Above the protective array of the Lingmu Sect, an oppressive and ominous aura, indescribable in words, emerged.

The group, who were preparing for battle, noticed something and looked up. In just a moment, their expectant expressions froze, revealing a stunned and shocked look.

"Look!"

"Then...what is that?"

"No way, this can't be real..."

The rolling, dark clouds were spreading rapidly, with flashes of black lightning appearing within them. But upon closer inspection, they resembled cracks in a shattered mirror, as if the end of the world had arrived.

"A Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasure?"

Even Ye Shoutian was taken aback by what he saw.

The so-called Heavenly Treasure possesses the power to reach the heavens. In some respects, it is almost equivalent to the power of a cultivator at or above the Nascent Soul stage to draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Not only is its magical power inexhaustible, but its spiritual light also contains a trace of the power of heaven and earth.

of course.

In this degenerate age, the "heaven-reaching spiritual treasure" mentioned by cultivators is actually a replica of a spiritual treasure, which can only exert a small amount of the power of heaven and earth.

Even so, it is an invaluable treasure that is difficult for most Nascent Soul stage cultivators to resist. It has absolute deterrent power, and even Nascent Soul stage cultivators will be wary of it. It is regarded as the foundation of major sects and they are unwilling to show it to others easily.

"Probably not."

Lu Qi was knowledgeable and experienced.

Although he also looked shocked, he quickly realized what was going on.

"This should be a replica of that Rift Bottle, or a failed one, containing only a trace of its Heavenly Power."

That being said.

Even this trace of overwhelming power is absolutely unstoppable for cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage. If Lu Qi hadn't already known that Sima Fu had advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, he would have had to start considering his escape route.

At the center of that terrifying dark cloud, hundreds of feet in diameter, it seemed to be under some inexplicable pressure and gradually began to sink. As a result, the disciples of the Spirit Eye Sect in the great formation immediately felt that their bodies had shrunk slightly, the low-level spirit birds fell one after another, and the air warships also sank a bit, forcing them to use more spiritual light to maintain flight.

Li Mo looked up.

Amidst the rolling dark clouds, a massive, imposing bottle mouth, approximately twenty zhang in diameter, suddenly appeared.

But this is only the opening of the bottle.

Its enormous size, beyond measure, is hidden behind the dark clouds. Only a small part of it is visible now, yet its terrifying pressure makes it hard to breathe.

Black cracks kept flashing from the bottle opening.

They seemed alive, brewing in the form of thunder and lightning, ready to erupt at any moment, so much so that the nine suns of the protective array of Qingming Mountain below also shone brightly, as if they were resisting the might of heaven.

"Junior brother."

Jiang Feiyan's voice choked with emotion, as if she had witnessed the end of the world.

Li Mo's condition wasn't much better.

He instinctively guessed that this was likely a replica of a Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasure. With its Heaven-Reaching power, it could kill as many Foundation Establishment cultivators as there were, giving him the illusion that the entire Qingming Mountain was trembling slightly.

Fortunately at this time.

A beam of spiritual energy shot out from Qingming Mountain.

A figure appeared in the pillar of light, suddenly appearing outside the mountain-protecting formation. This person was none other than Danqing Zhenren, the fourth-generation leader of the Lingmu Sect, who looked at another figure in the dark clouds.

"So it's Fellow Daoist Tianqi from the Divine Mechanism Sect. It's been a long time. How have you been?"

"kindness?"

From within the dark clouds came a startled exclamation, seemingly filled with shock.

"Old man Sima, you've been promoted too!!"

"Hmph, just luck. My current title is True Man Danqing, and I serve as the fourth generation sect leader!"

The figure in the dark clouds seemed somewhat incredulous for a moment, and it took him a while to come to his senses before he uttered a resentful sound.

"Very well, since Fellow Daoist Danqing has already advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, I have nothing more to say. I will take my leave now!"

Say it.

The magic bottle in the sky, which had been poised to strike, suddenly shrank rapidly.

The nearby dark clouds vanished in an instant, leaving only a disheveled, one-eyed old man glaring angrily at Sima Fu, looking resentful, and preparing to turn and leave.

"Heavenly Weeping Monster!"

Sima Fu shouted loudly.

"Your army has pressed in with overwhelming force, and now you're just leaving like this? Shouldn't you give our sect an explanation?"

Before the old monster Tianqi could speak, a cold snort suddenly came from afar.

"Humph!"

A cold snort came from behind the jade curtain of the treasure ship pavilion, where the old demon Xie Ying's face was gloomy and uncertain.

"Well done, Qingling Old Monster! What a clever trick to deceive the heavens and cross the sea! You actually managed to escape this calamity. You're a cut above the rest! Danqing Zhenren, is it? I'm here today. What explanation do you want?"

Sima Fu's expression changed drastically when he looked at the Evil Shadow Old Demon.

If the Heavenly Weeping Monster was a cultivator of the same era as him, then this old demon was a figure from the previous generation.

Seeing that Sima Fu did not respond, the Evil Shadow Old Demon was furious that the duck he had almost caught had escaped.

"If you don't have it, then get out!"

Say it.

The Evil Shadow Demon had no desire to linger any longer, so he immediately left the treasure ship and flew away alone into the distance.

The massive force of hundreds of warships that had been pressing in turned around and sailed away from Qingming Mountain in a short time.

Everything that just happened seems like an illusion.

"we won?"

"we won!"

The vast majority of lower-ranking disciples were immersed in joy.

However, a few mid-to-high-level disciples had extremely gloomy expressions.

Although the Lingmu Sect escaped a major calamity, they suffered a great humiliation and were powerless to do anything about it, which is truly infuriating.

Immediately afterwards, many mid- to high-level disciples followed Master Danqing to the Qingming Hall for a formal meeting that lasted three hours.

After the meeting.

Lingmumen officially announced the end of its mountain closure, and the Gongdao Association also officially announced its dissolution.

From now on, Lingmu Sect will only have new aristocratic families, and the so-called Justice Society will no longer exist. The era has entered a new cycle.

As Li Mo walked through the crowd, a slight smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

At the recent conference, he proposed using the witch clan members imprisoned in the Zhenfeng Pavilion as materials for cultivating secret techniques, and the proposal was officially approved by the sect leader.

What outsiders don't know is...

After the meeting, Sima Fu secretly went to the Treasure Pavilion, had a long talk with an old man with a hunched back, and formally thanked Ye Yineng.

a few days later.

As Ye Yineng quietly left with the old man, Sima Fu announced in public that he would go into seclusion again to stabilize his Nascent Soul realm, and that the hall masters of each hall would temporarily take charge of various matters within the sect.

After this calamity, Lingmu Sect seems to have gradually returned to its former peace.

Only the undercurrents and rumors circulating in the southern barbarian lands made some disciples who knew about this uneasy, instinctively realizing that this peace probably wouldn't last long.

(End of this chapter)