Immortality and cultivation begin at age forty, starting with Foundation Establishment.

The sky was overcast with gloom, and the eerie mountains were covered in black, scorched earth. Blood flowed down the ridges and gathered at the foot of the mountain, forming a blood pit tens of meters high.

Along the mountain path, many corpses lay scattered about, with severed limbs and a round head rolling in the blood.

War is cruel, and the war between cultivators in the Jin and Qian kingdoms was far more brutal than the battles between mortals.

Six months have passed.

Chen An achieved a series of great victories, and the Demon Wolf Legion penetrated five thousand miles into the Qian Kingdom without encountering a single evil cultivator at the Golden Core stage.

The highest-level demonic cultivator Chen An killed was only at the late Foundation Establishment stage.

Golden Core cultivator Chen Ying would contact Chen An every two months to send new Qi Refining disciples to replenish the Demon Wolf Legion and help Chen An maintain the army's combat strength.

The Demon Wolf Legion needs to hand over 50% of its harvest in exchange for battle merit points, which can be used to redeem special resources.

The special resources that can be exchanged include mid-grade and high-grade pills that are usually controlled within the sect, as well as Foundation Establishment Pills and rare pills for Foundation Establishment stage cultivators.

Among the top-ranked items on the purchase list are even pills that aid in Core Formation, such as the Dust-Clearing Pill, the Gold-Condensing Pill, the Spirit-Gathering Pill, and the Pulse-Protecting Pill. However, the purchase prices of these pills are astronomical, which is beyond Chen An's current ability to consider.

The Xuan Yang Sect has built a new base in the Qian Kingdom, preparing for a long-term war. Every half month, a large number of Qi Refining cultivators from the Jin Kingdom are transported to the base by warships. After simple training, they immediately become reserve forces for the war.

The Demon Wolf Legion has gained 500 new demonic cultivators from the Qian Kingdom. Most of them are prisoners, while a small number are native Qian Kingdom cultivators who want to break away from the demonic path.

The initial plan to use prisoners of war went very smoothly, reducing casualties by at least 30% during the capture of various strongholds.

As the squad leader, Wang Kui was already able to participate in every meeting of the Demon Wolf Legion to discuss battle plans. However, he was not in a hurry to show off, and his thoughts were mostly relayed by Yan Gang, helping Yan Gang to further establish his position in the Demon Wolf Legion.

The victory in the war did not bring much joy to the members of the Demon Wolf Legion. On the contrary, as the war became more and more difficult and the number of deaths increased, everyone felt uneasy.

The line between life and death is getting closer and closer. The Qi Refining stage cultivators in the team have been replaced one after another, including eight Foundation Establishment cultivators who have also perished. Among them, six were Foundation Establishment cultivators who were helped by the sect to improve their cultivation.

The other two were people from Chen An's original team, namely Liu Hao and Zheng Ping. Liu Hao's death was not because he was weak, but because he couldn't let go of his worries. He had seen too many people perish, and in every battle he wanted to help the Qi Refining disciples of the Demon Wolf Legion.

In the end, he died, killed by a sneak attack from a demonic cultivator in the Qi Refining stage.

Zheng Ping died while protecting Yu Peiyao. During a battle, a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator discovered Yu Peiyao's special identity and targeted her. In order to protect Yu Peiyao, Zheng Ping died.

Yu Peiyao gave Foundation Establishment Pills to Liu Hao, Zheng Ping, and Wang Rulong. Now only Wang Rulong is still alive, and he has shown considerable cultivation, having experience fighting Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators alone on multiple occasions.

Wang Rulong was originally the most inconspicuous among all the Foundation Establishment cultivators because his soul was damaged when he broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage, and his strength was the weakest among them.

But the weakest one, like a tenacious little grass, successfully sprouted in the harshest environment.

The team still consists of nine Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Chen An, Ye Hongyi, Wang Rulong, and the other six were all supplements provided by the sect. They were all Foundation Establishment cultivators who had been built up by the sect's resources, and each of them originally only possessed a mid-grade magic weapon, the Fire Spirit Sword.

Of the cultivators recruited by the six sects, only the Foundation Establishment cultivator who lost an arm in the initial battle demonstrated combat power far exceeding that of the others.

After Wu Feng lost his arm, he sold his life a second time to Chen An and Yu Peiyao in exchange for control of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.

In subsequent battles, Wu Feng used the Myriad Soul Banner to achieve numerous merits, becoming a new talent in Chen An's team.

In addition, three Foundation Establishment cultivators also chose to sell their lives a second time in exchange for a demonic artifact captured in the war.

The Banner of Ten Thousand Souls, the White Bone Whip, and the Blood Shadow Flag.

There were extra Myriad Soul Banners with Foundation Establishment souls, but unfortunately no one dared to continue using them because Wu Feng, the first person to use the Myriad Soul Banner, was mentally unstable. He often sat alone in a corner, talking to himself in front of the Myriad Soul Banner.

Sometimes they chatted idly, sometimes they insulted each other, and sometimes they even smashed the Ten Thousand Souls Banner with their hands.

Zhang Yuan, the second Foundation Establishment cultivator to use the Myriad Souls Banner, followed Wu Feng's example and used the banner relatively conservatively, not absorbing more demonic cultivator souls, but also not allowing the Myriad Souls Banner to form a powerful combat force in his hands.

The White Bone Whip and the Blood Shadow Banner are powerful, but neither is as easy to obtain power from as the Myriad Souls Banner, and their ability to enhance strength is limited.

Wu Feng, who lost an arm, was gambling with his life for his future. He was betting that he could find a way to counteract the influence of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner before he lost his mind.

Fortunately, he found a second-tier pill called the Heart-Clearing Pill on the sect points exchange list. Taking the Heart-Clearing Pill at critical moments can help him clear away his inner demons and protect his primordial spirit.

Based on the original cultivation method, Wu Feng added techniques to clarify his mind and eliminate demonic thoughts, further suppressing the influence of demonic thoughts on him.

A cold wind was blowing at the summit.

Chen An, Yu Peiyao, and Ye Hongyi quietly watched the military camp below.

Twenty meters below, two elderly men in the Qi Refining stage sat facing each other, discussing the war between the two super empires, Jin and Qian.

The siege of the Netherworld Sect by the three sects of Jin was a devastating blow launched by the entire Jin state against the demonic path.

The two Qi Refining disciples offered their opinions on why the Golden Core stage demonic cultivators of the Qian Kingdom had disappeared. One of them thought that Golden Core experts from other countries were providing support and restraining the Golden Core experts of the Qian Kingdom.

Another Qi Refining disciple felt that some kind of agreement had been reached among the top Nascent Soul cultivators.

Whether it's the Qian Kingdom or the Jin Kingdom, whether it's the righteous path or the demonic path, all crows under heaven are black; only the lowly cultivators die.

The two Qi Refining disciples were not very strong, but they had some insights into the war situation and even made a rough guess about the future course of the war.

The demonic path in Qian Kingdom will surely be destroyed. In the future, more forces will participate in hunting down the demonic sect and dividing up the resources of the entire Qian Kingdom.

In the cultivation world, ordinary demonic forces are not hated, except for the Netherworld Cult of the Qian Kingdom. The demonic cultivators of the Qian Kingdom have turned their hearts black; they are no longer human.

The existence of the Netherworld Cult has already affected the survival of all humanity.

Using mortals as raw materials, while other demonic forces only do it secretly, the demonic forces of Qian Kingdom openly and blatantly raise the entire nation, using living beings as fuel to sustain themselves.

The entire Qian Kingdom, spanning hundreds of thousands of miles, is entirely Yin land. Places for nurturing souls, evil spirits, and corpses, which are rare in other regions, are common and ordinary in this land.

Every stronghold of the demonic sect controlled by a Foundation Establishment cultivator is a demonic lair where countless mortals have died.

In the vast territory of the Qian Kingdom, finding traces of mortals is more difficult than finding cultivators.

Because most mortals are confined to fixed places, the weak and vulnerable have no way to survive in the underworld.

Ordinary people living in the Qian Kingdom are born into captivity, and their lives are ultimately consumed as resources.

Chen An was glad he hadn't transmigrated to the Qian Kingdom; he found it hard to imagine that he could have survived such a hellish start.