Chapter 464 - 448: Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede

Chapter 464: Chapter 448: Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede

’Let’s see if he activates the Star Palace Decree... Bringing a Sword Cultivator of unknown origin, with strength approaching that of a Great True Monarch, into the organization... who knows if it will be a blessing or a curse.’

The round-faced Cultivator flicked his Daoist Robe. A void appeared behind him, and stars rose into the sky.

Four Black Flood Dragons, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, flew out from the Realm. The creatures, once no thicker than a finger, instantly swelled to dozens of yards in length.

Ink-black scales clung tightly to their bodies, and their powerful, serpentine forms emanated immense strength. The surging Demon Power terrified the weaker Demon Beasts in the desolate valley, causing them to scatter and flee.

A Jade Rope extended from behind the head of each Black Flood Dragon, connecting them to a magnificent Cloud Carriage.

With Black Flood Dragons pulling the Cloud Carriage, the procession stretched for thousands of yards.

Anyone who saw such a spectacle would know that an incredible personage was passing by and would give them a wide berth from far away.

The four Black Flood Dragons were all Tier Three Top-Grade Spirit Beasts. The Cloud Carriage was large enough to hold dozens of people, and its various complex restrictions made its value comparable to a Top-Grade Flying Magical Treasure.

The round-faced, beardless Cultivator sat down inside the carriage, where several Ladies-in-Waiting in court dress stepped forward to pour Spirit Wine, wave fans, and play music.

On closer inspection, these Ladies-in-Waiting all had slender, graceful figures and beautiful faces, but their eyes were lifeless. They moved as if thin strings were attached to their limbs, resulting in extremely uncoordinated movements.

They were clearly not living beings, but rather some kind of Puppet.

’It’s a pity Qisha Star Monarch died unexpectedly. If he were still in the Star Palace, we wouldn’t have to fear a newcomer causing an uproar... But as for the current members, not a single one can reliably keep that person in check.’

Po Jun Star Monarch leaned back on his high seat, his chubby figure now different from his previous form.

’The conditions for reopening the Trial Secret Realm are almost all met. All we lack is a Tier Five Flying Sword to act as the key and a Cultivator at the Sword Light Splitting Realm to perform the necessary procedure...’

’This person is crucial for reopening the Trial Secret Realm, so we must accept the risks. Besides, our strength isn’t just what you see on the surface. We each have our own real-world identities, and the power we can mobilize is by no means limited to this.’

Po Jun Star Monarch—or rather, the round-faced Cultivator who had removed his mask and returned to his true identity—made a decision. He grabbed a cup of Spirit Wine and drained it in one gulp.

’As long as that person activates the Star Palace Decree, we’ll bring him into the Star Palace. I have all the information on the Trial Secret Realm’s entrance, so I hold the initiative... Once inside the Secret Realm, it’ll practically be my home turf, so what is there to fear? Of course, to be completely safe, it’s best if I break through to the Mid-Stage Nascent Soul Realm first.’

The Black Flood Dragon Cloud Carriage moved at a considerable speed, crossing several mountain peaks as it flew toward the central region of Great Li.

...

「Nan Chu, the Valley of Ten Extremes.」

Over a thousand Cultivators stood in formation, positioned at various points and holding Array Banners.

Banners fluttered across the field as Treasure Light shot to the sky. From time to time, a deafening roar echoed, as if the earth itself were turning over, causing mountains to crumble and the ground to crack.

From the mountains on both sides of the Valley of Ten Extremes, house-sized boulders rolled down, smashing deep pits into the valley floor and kicking up clouds of dust.

Intermittently, flashes of light would appear: the frost-cold Ice Soul Divine Light; the blazing, flame-like Great Sun Divine Light; the vibrant and colorful Seven Beasts Divine Light; the Separation and Reunion Divine Light, which could attack and defend, gathering and scattering at a thought; and the Hundred Poison Divine Light, with its billowing toxic smoke that made one’s head spin with a sickeningly sweet scent...

In the time it took an incense stick to burn, more than ten different types of Divine Light had erupted from the valley floor.

It was as if a dozen Cultivators proficient in Divine Light techniques were being besieged in the Valley of Ten Extremes and were desperately fighting back.

"Fellow Daoist Tian, when will your sect’s Blood God Son arrive?! To lure the Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede into the Array trap, two of my martial nephews were viciously killed! Right now, a full seventy percent of the Cultivators manning the Array are disciples of our Great One Sect... If this drags on any longer, these disciples will exhaust their Magical Power, and their cultivation foundations will suffer irreversible damage!"

The Nascent Soul Ancestor of the Great One Sect was a short, stout Cultivator with the appearance of a child. He carried a large, crimson Gourd on his back that was taller than himself, and he spoke with the arrogant air of a wizened elder.

"That Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede was heading toward your Blood Sea Sect! If you hadn’t come to my door proposing we kill this beast and split its remains, my sect wouldn’t have mustered its forces to come here. The Blood God Son is long overdue. Is he planning on backing out?!"

"Calm yourself, Fellow Daoist Jin. With me and several hundred of our disciples here, do you really think our sect would abandon us? The Blood God Son must already be nearby. He will strike when the critical moment arrives."

The Nascent Soul Cultivator, Tian, had a vertical eye in the center of his forehead. It was rumored that he had refined some powerful bloodline, and this third Dharma Eye possessed incredible Divine Techniques.

The three Major Sects of Nan Chu—the Blood Sea Sect, the Great One Sect, and the Joyful Sect—were evenly matched in strength.

In recent years, with the powerful rise of the current generation’s Blood God Son and his subjugation of the Abi Heavenly Prison Demon Sword, the Blood Sea Sect had faintly begun to show signs of pulling ahead of the other two.

But the other two sects each had a Great True Monarch at their helm. So even if their younger disciples were inferior to the Blood God Son, they weren’t at a clear disadvantage.

Although Golden Mountain Child had the appearance of a young boy, no one dared to underestimate him for it. Any Cultivator who mentioned his stature in his presence would be treated as a mortal enemy.

He had ended up with this appearance because he had provoked a Supreme Elder from the Joyful Sect a century ago and had been forced to flee in a desperate state at the hands of that Great True Monarch.

In the end, he was forced to abandon his physical body, leaving only his Nascent Soul, and was lucky to escape with his life.

Only after he possessed this new body, which he had long since prepared, did he discover a faint, imperceptible trace of Yin Yang True Intent within his Nascent Soul—a parting gift from the Joyful Sect’s Great True Monarch.

This directly caused Golden Mountain Child’s physical development to halt, and from then on, his body could not grow in the slightest.

He had cultivated with great difficulty to achieve the Unity of Spirit and Body, making them a harmonious whole. He couldn’t possibly go through the trouble of changing bodies again just for the sake of his appearance.

This current body possessed a Golden Evil Spirit Body and the aptitude of an Abnormal Spiritual Root; it was the finest choice among all the bodies the Great One Sect had collected over several centuries.

If he were to change bodies, first, he might not find one this good, and second, it would take decades to complete the Refinement of a new one.

Considering everything, even a Nascent Soul True Monarch could not afford such a delay.

It was just a matter of keeping a child’s appearance and being mocked behind his back by others in the Cultivation Realm; it didn’t affect his regular Cultivation.

"We’ll wait three more days. If the Blood God Son hasn’t arrived by then, I will lead the disciples of the Great One Sect and retreat immediately. When that happens, the enraged Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede will surely charge straight for the Blood Sea Sect, and that won’t be something I can take responsibility for."

Seeing a beam of Divine Light as massive as a mountain shoot up, Golden Mountain Child snorted coldly and brought his palm down in a powerful strike.

Countless golden spears, lances, and swords danced together in a whirlwind, slicing the massive beam of Divine Light to pieces and effortlessly suppressing it.

The Array was composed of a thousand Cultivators: a dozen Core Formation True Men served as its "eyes," nearly a hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators formed its "meridians," and almost a thousand Qi Refining Disciples provided its "foundation."

Using the power of the Battle Array, they had the Tier Four Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede firmly trapped within.

However, as one of the Five Great Strange Insects of the Cultivation Realm, the Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede’s strength was comparable to that of a Great Demon with the bloodline of an Ancient Divine Beast; it could not be judged by its Tier alone.

The more of the hundred compound eyes on its body that it opened, the more types of Divine Light it mastered, and the more powerful it became.

The most infuriating part was that firing Divine Light from one of its eyes consumed no Demon Power whatsoever. Only when all its eyes fired Divine Light in unison did it mean the Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede was starting to get serious and actually expending its Demon Power.

The most terrifying Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede to have ever appeared in the Cultivation Realm required five Great True Monarchs, who laid an Array and fought a war of attrition for nearly a year before they finally managed to slay it.

Trying to outlast it in a battle of stamina was completely futile for Human Race Cultivators.

This was the role of Golden Mountain Child and Cultivator Tian: whenever the Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede showed signs of breaking out of the valley, they would strike in time to force it back down.

At the same time, they had to relieve the burden on the Battle Array.

Otherwise, with their minds constantly strained and their Magical Power circulating at high intensity, the Core Formation True Men might hold out, but the lowest-level Qi Refining Disciples wouldn’t last a single day.

Fortunately, this Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede was only at Tier Four Low Grade. The two Nascent Soul True Monarchs, combined with the Battle Array, were enough to keep it contained.

However, delivering the finishing blow was certainly beyond the capabilities of the two of them alone.

Forcing the issue would only create unnecessary risks.

The death throes of the Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede had a high probability of taking a Nascent Soul Cultivator down with it, and the Battle Array would also suffer grievous damage.

The Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining Level disciples might even be completely wiped out.

They would either be drained of their Magical Power by the Battle Array or die from an explosive burst of the Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede’s concentrated Divine Light.

The Great One Sect was putting in more effort and had agreed to an even split of the spoils, despite the Blood Sea Sect being the one under greater threat.

The reason, of course, was to make use of the Blood God Son’s power.

To be precise, they were relying on his Tier Five Flying Sword, the Abi Heavenly Prison Demon Sword.

Soon, amidst the Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede’s unhurried counterattacks, the second day arrived. It was becoming noticeably more agitated.

The frequency of its Divine Light attacks increased, and it even began to fire three to five beams simultaneously.

Golden Mountain Child and Cultivator Tian grew visibly more solemn, each summoning their Lifebound Magical Treasure into their hands.

Within the Battle Array below, over a hundred Qi Refining Disciples had already swayed and collapsed.

Supervisors from both sects came forward, directing others to drag away the fainted Qi Refining Disciples who had over-exhausted their Magical Power and replace them with fresh reinforcements.

As dusk fell again, thirteen beams of Divine Light finally merged into a single, gigantic pillar of light that swept out from the valley floor.

The Battle Array was struck as if by a heavy blow. Nearly half of the thousand Cultivators coughed up blood and collapsed, while another hundred fell limply to the ground, as if the bones in their limbs had vanished.

The leading Core Formation True Men were almost all as pale as parchment, their expressions grim.

But the gigantic pillar of light only wavered slightly. Its momentum unabated, it continued on with an aura capable of leveling everything, crashing through the mountains of the Valley of Ten Extremes.

With a downward sweep, it was about to pulverize all thousand Cultivators seated on the ground.

Cultivator Tian let out a strange cry as the Dharma Eye on his forehead opened. In his vision, the gigantic pillar of light slowed a hundredfold.

He could clearly analyze the Divine Light’s composition, its strengths, and its weaknesses.

His body dissolved into a blood mist, scattered into the air, and then reformed in front of the gigantic light pillar as a blood-red giant the size of a small hill.

Its facial features, expression, and overall appearance no longer bore any resemblance to Cultivator Tian.

The power of the Hundred Demons Blood Sea Technique was not only dependent on the Cultivator’s talent but was also inextricably linked to how many bloodlines one integrated, as well as the grade and power of those bloodlines.

Cultivator Tian had refined a certain giant’s bloodline. To do so, he had made a special trip to the Western Realm and slaughtered several Clans that were said to carry the blood of ancient giants.

In truth, the bloodline within those Clans was already minuscule. He had killed hundreds of thousands of people, leaving bodies strewn across the land, just to condense a single, faint wisp of a giant’s Essence Blood.

BANG!

The blood-red giant pushed upward with both hands but was immediately driven down by the massive pillar of light, its lower legs sinking deep into the earth.

With a second impact, the blood-red giant’s arms snapped, and it was blasted to smithereens by the consolidated Divine Light.

"Damn it! This centipede is just a hair’s breadth away from Tier Four Mid Grade!"

The blood mist condensed, and a deathly pale Cultivator Tian reappeared, his figure now somewhat translucent.

The Hundred Demons Blood Sea Technique’s reputation as the number one Cultivation Technique for survival was no mere boast.

As long as the Blood River does not run dry, the body is immortal.

It was precisely because of this that the Cultivators of the Blood Sea Sect developed a fierce and fearless Combat style.

Whenever a conflict arose, they would immediately adopt a stance of trading life for life, completely unconcerned about any injuries they sustained. After all, what was dying once or twice?