Chapter 1735: Gathering Divine Power

Although the enemy formation had already disintegrated, and their commanding general had been blown to death by the black powder Qi Xuansu had planted beforehand, they were bolstered by the strange black qi and did not collapse entirely. Instead, they launched a counterattack.

If Qi Xuansu had not relied on his martial prowess that far surpassed ordinary men to kill more than a dozen enemies in succession, suppressing the enemy soldiers’ morale while simultaneously raising the morale of his own side, the enemy soldiers might have gradually turned the battle around.

However, the current situation could not be maintained for long. The first beat of the drum roused the spirit, the second weakened it, and by the third, it was exhausted. Once the initial surge of hot-blooded courage faded from the newly formed Yellow Turban Army, their morale would inevitably decline, especially when their own men die. They were not yet capable of fighting to the death without retreating, since their casualties continued to grow.

It was at this moment that Zhou Mengyao finally made her move.

Although Zhou Mengyao was not a Godly Immortal, she could still use divine power to cast certain spells, like the Yellow Turban Warrior.

Zhou Mengyao flew into midair with the aid of her cloak and tossed out three paper effigies. Rays of golden light burst forth, and a wind suddenly rose from the ground. The paper effigies transformed into towering generals, with red faces and black beards. Each one stood 3 meters tall, clad in golden armor with flowing ribbons coiling around their bodies. Behind each of them was a golden halo, blazing with radiant light.

After the three Yellow Turban Warriors landed, they smashed down one soldier after another with their golden warhammers. Even the elite soldiers clad in full armor could not withstand such force.

Each Yellow Turban Warrior was no weaker than Qi Xuansu. Together with Qi Xuansu, they slaughtered dozens of soldiers in the blink of an eye, sweeping through the enemy forces like a gale against rotten wood. The pressure on the ordinary Yellow Turban village troops suddenly eased, and their morale soared. In contrast, the enemy faction completely collapsed. They retreated again and again. Some had already turned around and begun to flee.

Without the slightest hesitation, Qi Xuansu leaped onto a riderless horse, brandished the bloodstained saber in his hand, and roared, “The enemy is defeated! Kill them!”

The Yellow Turban villagers answered with a thunderous roar. Their morale surged even higher as they swarmed toward the fleeing enemy soldiers.

Zhou Mengyao took out more of the diluted talisman water and sprinkled it over the Yellow Turban villagers, allowing their strength to return. As they pursued the fleeing enemy, they shouted at the top of their lungs, “Glory to the Great Teacher and the Yellow Heaven above!”

By this point, there was no longer any suspense. The enemy troops suffered a crushing defeat.

According to the post-battle tally, Qi Xuansu’s attack had killed more than 200 enemies and captured over 100 prisoners. The remaining soldiers had essentially been scattered, and no one knew where they had fled. They also seized 13 complete sets of armor, 25 warhorses, and many weapons. With these weapons, Qi Xuansu could expand his forces by another 100 men.

As for the prisoners, Qi Xuansu had no intention of using them as soldiers, but they could be put to work as laborers.

His Yellow Turban Army had suffered a little over 100 casualties.

This exchange ratio was remarkably favorable and was only possible thanks to their preemptive measures like planting explosives in advance, positioning archers in ambush on the high ground, and Zhou Mengyao’s spell.

Had the two sides drawn up their formations and faced each other head-on, the Yellow Turban Army would probably have suffered a crushing defeat. Nothing else would even have been necessary. A few cavalry charges back and forth would have been enough to completely disrupt the Yellow Turban Army’s formation, after which the battle would have become entirely one-sided.

After this battle, the Taiping Religion had finally established a firm foothold. This battle could be regarded as the founding battle of the Taiping Religion.

They had defeated the strong with the weak, and the Great Teacher had manifested a second miracle. Even those who did not believe in gods would now be inclined to convert to the Taiping Religion. If for no other reason, then simply because it could help them win battles and keep more people alive.

The effects were immediate.

First, the spread of the faith accelerated to an entirely new level. After this battle, the Taiping Religion expanded even faster than Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao had anticipated, soon spreading across two counties.

Those at the Commander’s Office no longer dared to venture outside the city walls. Moreover, there were already large numbers of believers within the cities themselves. On the surface, they were obedient subjects of the Commander’s Office, but in reality, they had secretly joined the Taiping Religion, essentially operating like a secret society.

Zhou Mengyao, in her role as the Great Teacher, had displayed a “miracle” for the second time, greatly consolidating the believers’ faith. The subsequent surge of incense power forced her to enter a brief seclusion. In truth, she was simply converting that incense power into divine power. Ordinarily, with Zhou Mengyao’s Immortal cultivation, she could have easily converted this amount of incense power with a wave of her hand. Unfortunately, in her current state, she could only convert it bit by bit, making the process extremely inefficient.

Qi Xuansu estimated that Zhou Mengyao would soon be able to break through to the Guizhen stage. At the very least, she should be able to condense a Spiritual Statue and a Golden Body.

Although Zhou Mengyao had stolen much of the limelight, the Yellow Turban Army was equally convinced of Qi Xuansu’s capabilities. Qi Xuansu had organized the men, chosen the site of the ambush, arranged the explosives, and even personally led the charge, displaying extraordinary courage and martial prowess.

Displaying miracles inspired awe and caused people to instinctively keep their distance, but leading from the front earned affection and naturally brought people closer.

Thus, Qi Xuansu had begun to establish his prestige within the Yellow Turban Army. At the same time, he received a share of the incense power, allowing him to use certain auxiliary spells. At present, Qi Xuansu was a step weaker than Zhou Mengyao, possessing strength roughly at the Kunlun stage.

The path ahead was now perfectly clear. They would continue developing and expanding the Taiping Religion, increase the number of believers, and absorb divine power in hopes of raising their cultivation to the next level. This was also the best way to achieve rapid progress within a short period of time.

Qi Xuansu finally experienced firsthand how the Ancient Immortals came to be. He had to admit that this method was rather addictive. No wonder so many Ancient Immortals never got tired of it.

For Godly Immortals, this was more like a game that began with only a single person, then slowly developed and expanded. Preaching the faith, gaining believers, building cities, establishing laws, forming armies, and constructing greater buildings would allow them to receive all kinds of rewards along the way.

This game could be played slowly on their own, or they could compete against other players. That meant launching divine wars, with countless believers throwing themselves onto the battlefield in the name of their gods for faith, honor, hatred, or survival. They would fight until one side was utterly destroyed.

For the Godly Immortals seated high above in their divine kingdoms, it was nothing more than a game, a wager.

Perhaps some Godly Immortals would choose to personally enter the fray, but they certainly would not do so for the sake of their believers. They did it for their own interests, more like gamblers who overturned the table in fury after losing.

This mode of play persisted for a very long time, until the emergence of the Daoist Order and the Holy Court shattered the old pattern, bringing an end to such conflicts in an entirely new way. Or rather, the two behemoths ushered in a far grander way of playing the game.

Yet one thing remained unchanged. The Immortals still sat high above the clouds, and whether they won or lost, they themselves remained completely unscathed, unless they became so consumed by defeat that they decided to personally enter the fray.

After Zhou Mengyao emerged from seclusion, they had captured quite a few prisoners and hence had enough samples for her to carefully investigate the source of the strange black qi.

Although Zhou Mengyao was only at the Guizhen stage at this point, she still retained the knowledge and experience of an Immortal, so she easily identified the origin of the black qi.

It was the power of yin energy.

The Daoist Order spoke of yin and yang, while the Holy Court spoke of light and darkness.

In essence, both yin and darkness referred to power originating from the Netherworld.

The netherworld was a realm that existed alongside the mortal realm and the Boundless Mysterious World.

When it was said that the soul returned to the heavens while the spirit returned to earth, it actually meant that they respectively went to the Boundless Mysterious World and the Netherworld.

Most souls that entered the Boundless Mysterious World would eventually dissipate, though some would gradually become part of the collective consciousness of the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons. Most of these souls came from powerful beings that had fallen. The majority of the spirits that entered the Netherworld were transformed into yin energy, while some became special ghosts and monsters. These Netherworld ghosts and monsters could be regarded as entirely new individuals. They possessed no memories of their former lives and barely retained their human nature. Some particularly powerful ghosts and monsters could even become extremely unusual deities of the Netherworld.

Thus, in the various legends of the Three Religions and the Holy Court, there were beings like the Emperor of the Netherworld, King of the Underworld, and Demon Lords.

No matter how one looked at it, the Netherworld possessed extraordinary powers.

The reason Little Yin possessed such extraordinary innate gifts and why the Emperor Willow possessed so many miraculous properties was precisely because of yin energy.

Qi Xuansu also took part in the investigation. Upon learning the results, he could not help but ask, “This isn’t the mortal realm. We’re inside the body of an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon. So where would the Netherworld come from?”

Zhou Mengyao revealed the crux of the matter in a single sentence. “Perhaps the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon also swallowed fragments originating from the Netherworld. As I said before, this Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon has already evolved some of the Heavenly Dao’s rules. Yin alone cannot flourish, and yang alone cannot give rise to life. For it to have reached this stage, things cannot possibly be as simple as there being only a single island. Therefore, the place we are in is the world of yang, and on the other side of this yang realm lies a yin realm.”

Qi Xuansu said thoughtfully, “In that case, there must be a point of intersection between the yang and yin realms, just like the Ghost Kingdom, where yin energy seeps through. That point of intersection is most likely located at...”

The two exchanged a glance and spoke in unison, “The Commander’s Office.”

......

Meanwhile, inside the Commander’s Office, the Commander had already received the military report. His face betrayed neither joy nor sorrow as he calmly handed the report to the advisor beside him.

After reading it, the advisor’s expression changed slightly. “This defeat confirms what you mentioned, Commander. These newcomers have not come with good intentions.”

The Commander said calmly, “Ever since His Majesty descended upon this place several hundred years ago, we have been cut off from the mortal world and become a true paradise beyond the mortal realm.

“I know that His Majesty has always been watching us. The sun and moon are both His Majesty’s eyes. It is merely that he refuses to communicate with us, or rather, we are unworthy of communicating with His Majesty. In this paradise beyond the mortal realm, most forms of power are forbidden because heaven and earth themselves are part of His Majesty’s body. Thus, no one can directly draw upon heaven and earth to strengthen themselves.

“There are only two ways to obtain power. The first is through His Majesty’s bestowal, such as the power originating from the yin realm, which is also the power we currently possess and command. The other is power derived from the hearts of the people. For all these years, we have constantly guarded against this kind of power. That is why we have continuously incited infighting among the common folk, divided them to keep them in check, controlled the population, and so forth. Due to this, we earned His Majesty’s recognition and became his representatives to patrol the realm on behalf of Heaven.

“For all these years, no Chosen One has ever appeared here, allowing a delicate balance to be maintained. Yet these outsiders have effortlessly shattered that balance. I can feel the power of the people’s hearts gathering, and these outsiders are even converting it into divine power. Their strength is growing rapidly. Perhaps it will not be long before they arrive outside the Commander’s Office and challenge me.”