Chapter 129: Portable Old Grandma

Iron City Mountain, an extraordinary person sect in the Jiannan Circuit, belonged to Fangxian Dao. It was praised as orthodox by the imperial court and had always been at odds with the Myriad Demons Cave.

Wang Ping was somewhat confused by this.

"The Myriad Demons Cave and Fangxian Dao—basically all of Great Shun's extraordinary person sects are divided into these two major camps. But what exactly is the difference between them?"

"There is no difference."

Chenlong chuckled and pointed at the sky above. "According to the intelligence we've gathered through indirect means, this is nothing more than a management style."

"The Myriad Demons Cave is responsible for committing evil—using humans as sacrifices, refining flesh and blood for cultivation, or nourishing demons with souls. They stop at nothing, and their methods are extremely cruel. Fangxian Dao, on the other hand, is responsible for eradicating evil. They pride themselves as the orthodox path, slaying demons and devils, and taking the protection of the common people as their duty."

"That sounds quite positive."

Wang Ping raised an eyebrow, his expression completely unmoved. After personally experiencing the conduct of the Immortal Gate's disciples, he would never believe such nonsense.

Seeing this, Chenlong sneered as well.

"It only sounds positive. True, Fangxian Dao really has always slain demons and protected the common people... except they are always late."

"Basically, in the blessed lands under Fangxian Dao's jurisdiction, they only appear after the Myriad Demons Cave has finished its evil deeds—the people are killed, the flesh and blood are sacrificed, and all that's left is to pack up the loot. That's when they show up to slay the demons, uphold the orthodox path... and then conveniently take all those unpacked results for themselves."

"Take Iron City Mountain, for example."

"Do you know what they cultivate? Corpse refinement. The extraordinary persons of the Iron City Mountain lineage require corpses for their cultivation—ideally the corpses of those who died violent deaths."

"And yet, they are an orthodox sect."

"The orthodox path can't very well slaughter the common people, but their cultivation demands corpses. Do you know how they resolved this fundamental conflict in their practice?"

Hearing this, a guess already surfaced in Wang Ping's mind.

"They let the Myriad Demons Cave do it?"

"Exactly."

Chenlong nodded. "First, they let the Myriad Demons Cave commit atrocities and produce a batch of violently murdered corpses. Then, the cultivators of Iron City Mountain step out to save the masses."

"In the end, the demonic villains are driven away. Even though a group of people died, the immortal masters are benevolent and decide to take the corpses away to pacify their souls with immortal methods. Thus, all the Mortals across the Jiannan Circuit are filled with gratitude and eagerly build temples to worship them. This way, they even earn an extra sum of incense money."

"As a side note,"

"The Myriad Demons Cave's blessed land in the Jiannan Circuit is called the Corpse Cave, which is also a corpse-refining sect. I suspect both the orthodox and demonic paths belong to the exact same family up in the heavens."

"Great Shun's extraordinary person sects are practically all like this."

"One orthodox, one demonic—balancing each other out."

"Only Shuzhong is rather special. It is solely dominated by Book Mountain without a matching demonic faction, likely because of its backing in the heavens."

After listening to Chenlong's account, Wang Ping's expression shifted as he looked back at the Iron City Mountain dossier. Although he hadn't held any expectations for Great Shun's extraordinary persons to begin with, truly hearing about it still made him frown deeply. He couldn't help but ask, "Why has a sect like this been allowed to exist until today?"

Judging from Chenlong's attitude, Iron City Mountain was clearly different from Book Mountain. The Tribute Hall possessed the power to annihilate them, yet it had never truly made a move.

"How do you know we haven't?"

Chenlong sighed. "You think Iron City Mountain is already going too far? That's because you didn't see Great Shun thirty years ago. That was when things truly crossed the line."

"At least the current orthodox and demonic paths mostly target only the black-headed commoners who can resurrect. They won't truly attack the good citizens inside the cities. All of this is entirely thanks to the First Seat. If the First Seat hadn't swept across the world from south to north, these extraordinary persons would only be even more arrogant than they are now."

"However... the First Seat can no longer take action."

At this, Chenlong's expression visibly darkened. "Or rather, she cannot strike too frequently... This is also the reason both sides eventually reached a compromise."

"We took a step back and surrendered the black-headed commoners."

"They also took a step back and restrained their behavior."

"The result is the Great Shun of today. The Tribute Hall retains maximum deterrence, still holding enough strength to annihilate the extraordinary person sects when absolutely necessary."

"But we are also forced to sit by and watch certain things happen."

Wang Ping caught the unspoken implication in Chenlong's words—in the end, the black-headed commoners could resurrect. With this premise in place, sacrificing them had become a matter of course.

Immediately after, Chenlong continued.

"So, you know what you need to do next, right?"

"Understood." Wang Ping nodded. "Act covertly. It's best to use magic and avoid martial arts, making absolutely sure no one discovers I'm from the Tribute Hall."

Right then, a voice drifted over on the wind.

"Not absolutely."

"There is no wall in this world that doesn't leak wind. If you're worried about exposure, the best method is to leave no survivors... Just in case, I will personally go with you."

As the voice fell, Wang Ping's vision blurred, and he once again saw the female form of the First Seat. Astonishingly, even though she had been standing right in front of him previously without any concealment, and he could clearly see her facial features, the moment he looked away, he couldn't recall them no matter how hard he tried.

The next second, the woman stepped forward slowly.

With just this single step, the woman's figure rapidly shrank until she walked directly into his chest, merging entirely with his heart!

"What is this...?"

Looking at the thoroughly astonished Wang Ping, Chenlong spoke with unmistakable envy, "You have been marked by the First Seat. She has split off a strand of Divine Intent specifically to watch over you."

"Go to Iron City Mountain with peace of mind."

"Never mind that Iron City Mountain only has three Loose Immortals—even if they had backing in the heavens like Book Mountain, the First Seat could still bring you back safely."

There was actually such a good thing?

Wang Ping's expression was a bit strange. A portable old grandma who could jump out at the critical moment to save his life—this could be considered the standard configuration for a destined protagonist.

'With the First Seat covering my back, how can I possibly lose?'

Wang Ping calmed his mind and glanced at the Taiping Sutra. He saw that on the Outer Heavenly Demon scripture scroll, his resurrection count had successfully accumulated to one.

This was another layer of insurance... Thinking of this, Wang Ping couldn't help but feel a restless itch to act. Given this setup, couldn't he afford to be a little bolder?

With that thought, Wang Ping immediately made a decision.

The next second, a mighty power from the Taiping Sutra descended from the void without a single ripple being detected by anyone, ultimately swallowing an artifact on his person.

It was a Prayer Wheel.

This was the same one gifted by Kongzhi before his death, which recorded the Other-Transformation Freedom Control Desire Realm Celestial Manual. Since Wang Ping had already memorized the cultivation method, the Prayer Wheel itself was of no further use.

'Perfect for the Taiping Sutra to refine!'

As an implement meant to bear scriptures, the Prayer Wheel's material naturally met the requirements of the Taiping Sutra. Soon, a rumbling sound echoed within the Great Peace Mortuary.

On the towering tome, a sixth blank page appeared.

The sixth scripture scroll!

'Iron City Mountain also has three Loose Immortals. I didn't manage to collect Kongzhi last time, but there might be a chance this time. I should empty out a scripture scroll early to prepare.'

...

Setting off from Longxing County and relying on Chenlong's Divine Armor, Wang Ping summoned the Crimson Dragon Steed. He galloped all the way, arriving in the Jiannan Circuit in less than a day.

Immediately after, following the intelligence Chenlong had provided, he located the whereabouts of Iron City Mountain.

It was a city nestled deep within an ancient, secluded forest, shrouded in white mist year-round. It was listed as a forbidden zone by the Mortals of the surrounding villages; anyone who rashly trespassed would disappear.

"This one-thousand-li radius encompasses Iron City Mountain."

Naturally, Wang Ping couldn't possibly force his way in. Instead, he first visited the nearby villages to confirm Iron City Mountain's rough location before drawing out the Dragon Head Guillotine.

Just then, an ethereal voice suddenly rang out:

"Three Loose Immortals, over a thousand disciples, and on top of that, it's their home turf with the support of a mountain-protecting formation. With your strength, you are actually no match for Iron City Mountain."

Wang Ping didn't argue. After all, Chenlong's intelligence was written very clearly: in its lineage down to the present day, Iron City Mountain had accumulated no fewer than twenty-four mass graves of ten thousand bodies each. These corresponded perfectly with the twenty-four qi of heaven and earth, linking with the earth veins to form a grand formation. This forged the inside and outside of the sect into a monolithic block, making it famously easy to defend and hard to attack.

"Unless someone of the Great Grandmaster Rank comes."

The ethereal voice spoke indifferently, "With the power of Manifesting Divinity, one could indeed shatter the formation and slaughter the entirety of Iron City Mountain. But merely relying on Divine Communion is not enough."

"Or perhaps, you want to use that strike of yours?"

"The power of that strike is undeniably massive, but it remains limited to the mundane realm. Against true Loose Immortals, while it could cause trouble, it wouldn't be enough to secure a decisive victory."

Wang Ping did not deny this point.

His sub-light speed slash could certainly unleash nuclear-level destructive force, but ultimately it was still a mundane technique. Faced with transcendent magic power, it would inevitably fall short.

Previously in Longxing County, his sub-light speed slash had been effective against Daoist Nun You primarily because she was only a clone. Her magic power had been limited, and she had no way to replenish it.

True Loose Immortals possessed no such vulnerabilities.

Fortunately, however, he hadn't planned on using his sub-light speed slash to decide the battle anyway. Wang Ping hoisted the Dragon Head Guillotine and forcefully carved a deep trench into the ground.

"Hm?"

Almost simultaneously, the ethereal voice let out a sound of surprise, followed quickly by a satisfied hum. "I see. You don't rigidly cling to martial arts. You are a teachable youth."

Wang Ping's movements didn't stop.

One cut, two cuts, three, four... His speed was blinding. In this manner, he strolled a full circle around the forest where Iron City Mountain was located.

Just like that, the entirety of Iron City Mountain was enveloped by the gouges he carved with the Dragon Head Guillotine. A full several hundred thousand cuts littered the mountains, rivers, and woods.

Only after finishing all this did he heavily plant the Dragon Head Guillotine into the earth.

"Huu..."

His Lung God circulated, inhaling and exhaling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. His heart and mind thrummed, channeling his vital blood and Internal Force. The three melted together in a single furnace before finally bursting from his body as blood-red true astral energy.

Immediately after, Wang Ping poured this true astral energy into the Dragon Head Guillotine without holding anything back. Urged on by him, this divine weapon gradually began to glow. Likewise faintly glowing were the several hundred thousand cuts he had carved around Iron City Mountain—wounds he had left upon heaven and earth.

Dharma Covenant!

At this moment, Wang Ping's figure was completely shrouded by blood-red true astral energy. The Dragon Head Guillotine let out a long chime as transcendent profundities rippled outward with him at the center.

From the very beginning, he had never intended to deal with Iron City Mountain using martial arts.

This was also the reason the ethereal voice had praised him. The Martial Dao and martial arts had always been two different things. The latter was merely a tool; the former was an ideology.

The ideology of winning by any means necessary!

If you had a divine weapon but chose to use bare martial arts instead, how could you ever live up to the Martial Dao Grandmaster Rank?

Pushed by Wang Ping's full strength, the profundities of the Dragon Head Guillotine were also driven to their absolute limits. Through the cuts engraved into heaven and earth, it conveyed Wang Ping's command.

He decreed:

"Heavens, rend their domain! Earth, destroy their remains!"