Chapter 364: Never-ending Haxxor Cheats of Ex-Immortal Protagonists
After dealing with the cliché bandits, Miaomiao and Zhu Qiao continued traveling north, flying deep into the new land, the Central Plains.
Central Plains, as its name, were a combination of meadows, flatlands, grasslands, developed farmlands, and cities. Over a hundred big and small cities of commoners concentrated on Central Plains.
Most non-cultivators lived in these flourished towns because of the abundant food resources. Over 10 million humans packed in these hundreds of cities, living their lives without caring about the cultivation world and their affairs.
Every city was protected with concealment arrays and killing arrays of several vessels of human dao gods. If a cultivator were to harm the innocent civilians here, they would face a divine punishment from the arrays.
However, that didn't prevent cultivators from flying over these cities.
As Miaomiao had been flying over the Central Plains and looked around for potential danger, Zhu Qiao stopped moving north.
"We're out of Jiangxia's airspace by several kilometers now. Let's move west. We have no business here."
"Yeah, this place is too peaceful for the likes of us."
Miaomiao looked at the happy civilians below. They shouldn't get involved with them, though it was questionable how they survived by settling their cities near the abandoned spirit stone mine and that rumor metal dragon.
...
The Central Plains stretched from the north of Blind Eagle Mountain Range to the Red River to the north.
500 kilometers to the north of Miaomiao and Zhu Qiao's current location was the former's starting point of his adventure, the Mountain Goose City. Even Mountain Goose City was considered a part of the wealthy plains.
Because of Mountain Goose Sect and Jia Shan's leadership, it was once the center of attraction and the exchange hub between the commoners and human cultivators.
For years, many commoners and fortune seekers tried to join Mountain Goose Sect, hoping to obtain fancy power or learn special techniques. Most of them failed, some died trying, while a few succeeded.
But now, without Jia Shan's presence, Mountain Goose City had transformed into a demon nest. Only unorthodox cultivators, outlaws, and demons lived there. All human traders left this city as it was no longer safe for non-cultivators.
The city of hope and adventure turned into a city of corruption.
Today, a new change had transpired within the city as Wei Huang led his armies of demons toward the west.
50,000 young goblins, 5,000 trolls, and 3,000 male onis from the Wei Clan marched out of the city gates and gathered outside. Xu Lanying also led 1,000 succubi and 40,000 human puppets with her, following Wei Huang's troops.
The only demons and cultivators inside the city were Fu De's men. This vampire lord remained behind to guard the city, using the outlaws and fugitives as city guards while his clansmen lurked within the slum district as usual.
As for the Xia Clan and their cyclops, they were nowhere to be found. Even agents from the Poison Pavilion had left as well.
Many orthodox human cultivators could only observe their movements from afar as they were powerless against these armies. Still, their eyes were burned with a passion, hoping to liberate this city one day.
Wei Huang, the grand general of these armies, hovered in the sky, observing his men with sad eyes.
Xu Lanying was next to him. Her expression was dark as well.
The succubus queen glanced at her colleague while she typed several words to her J-Phone.
Beep
Wei Huang's phone vibrated. The Oni Lord picked up his phone and looked at his new message.
It was from Xu Lanying.
Wei Huang glanced at the woman with a deep frown at first. Then, as if he had realized something, he grinned and read the message.
'Yuan Shaoqing's forces have stopped at Tiger Cage Pass. Should we head north and attack his city instead?'
Wei Huang snickered. He pretended not to care, but he texted back, avoiding eavesdroppers from hearing their conversation.
'He can still recapture his base if we leave his army alone. Instead of attacking his town, we will lurk behind Yuan Shaoqing's main forces and wait for the opportunity.'
Xu Lanying smirked, 'What opportunity? Do we even have one?'
'I believe in Wei Yuan and my son-in-law.'
Xu Lanying almost burst into laughter when Wei Huang said he wanted to rely on Mao Miaomiao.
'Oh? You believe in that brat now?'
'He's the only one who can free me from Kishin Douji.'
'But you and your clansmen will definitely die first. How can he free you when that bastard has your life in his hand?'
'It doesn't matter. Everything started because I was tricked. I need to correct it even if I have to sacrifice my entire family and friends. As long as Wei Yuan can live a happy life, I'm fine with it.'
'How noble of you.'
Xu Lanying nodded, respecting Wei Huang's decision.
Still, everything was Wei Huang's fault. Had he not been tempted by Kishin Douji's offer, he could have continued dominating the Mountain Goose City even though his cultivation life might have been mediocre.
Advancing to the 7th-stage was meaningless if he had to live his life as a slave of somebody else for eternity! Now, Wei Huang's life was in the palm of the tyrant Oni God, Kishin Douji.
Wei Huang bitterly smiled as he thought of Samsara God. He wondered if he could be reincarnated again, he hoped that he wouldn't be born as Oni again. He also prayed for his son, Wei Cao, who was about to reach the 8th-stage with the help of Kishin Douji's power and resources.
Wei Huang wondered how Miaomiao was doing.
'Say, how's Miaomiao and Xu Xiuying? Are they saying anything?'
Xu Lanying snickered, 'My daughter has been done in. She's broken permanently. By the time that she appears in front of us again, that bitch will become somebody else.'
'Are you going to cooperate with him after he has brainwashed your daughter?'
'I heard from my core disciple that he can transform into an incubus, and his essence quality is superior to demons. An incubus like him is rare. If my clanswomen can bear his children, the succubi and incubi bloodline can continue, and we won't have to rely on converting humans into our kin again. Trading Xu Xiuying to get a rare incubus on my side is worth it.'
'So, you're going to serve him?'
'That depends on his personality and his abilities. If he's still a lustful weakling, I will beat him to submission. But if he matures enough, maybe raising him as my dao partner isn't a bad idea at all.'
Xu Lanying still remembered Miaomiao, whom she had seen in Xuan City's auction house. At that time, he was still rough on the edge and weak.
She wondered how his strength and personality had grown since then.
...
Mount Hua Sect
At the tallest peak, a roofless temple and a courtyard had been built there. Ten stone seats had been arranged in a horseshoe formation within the wooden temple hall.
Today, five old men sat on the seats. Ling Cao stood at the center of the horseshoe formation, reporting the result of his previous task to Mount Hua's council.
Five elders were a lot weaker than Ling Cao. All of them were merely 6th-stage cultivators. Aside from Ling Cao, only the sect master was the remaining nascent soul cultivator.
They glared at their strongest elder in anger. Because of his failure, their newly advanced nascent soul cultivators lost their lives, including many promising inner disciples and sect supervisors.
"3rd Elder Ling Cao, how did this happen?" One of the council's old men glared at Ling Cao even though he was weaker than the old man in front of him.
Ling Cao crossed his arms behind his back and puffed his chest as if he had done nothing wrong, "Siren City hides many experts. Zhao Bao, whom we thought to be at the 7th-stage, has advanced to the 8th-stage. They also have a talented youth that can defeat Ling Tianlong in a duel."
"Then how did they die!? Our plan was flawless! We even used our precious decoy mannequins for this. We were supposed to get good results and the priceless elixir from that city!"
The unified spring water was the motive of their early invasion. They were afraid that Yuan Shaoqing would steal everything before they could get their hands on it.
Because of Ling Cao's failure, their plan was ruined. Now, they didn't have enough troops to attack Siren City again.
As the five old men grumbled, giving up this opportunity to gain wealth, a young man barged into the meeting hall.
He was Ling Tianlong, whose body was soaked in blood.
Ling Cao turned to his core disciple. He looked at the dark blood on Ling Tianlong's clothes and face, "What happened to you, Tianlong?"
"Nothing. These are not my blood. It's just some stray dogs from Yuan Shu's bandit gang that I ran into on my way here."
Ling Tianlong stared at the remaining elders in the meeting hall. He fetched a green orb within his cloth sleeve and tossed it to Ling Cao.
It was a chloro element crystal, a high-grade one.
All elders in the hall gazed at the crystal in astonishment. Ling Cao's hands trembled as he looked at his disciple's face, "Tianlong, how did you get this?"
"I made it."
"W-WHAT!?" Everyone was shocked again.
Not stopping his surprises, Ling Tianlong tossed five more chloro element crystals to the other elders.
"These crystals are the compensation for the losses. I'll visit their families and remunerate them later. For now, please leave my master alone, so we can get some rest."
The elders stared at the advanced element crystals in disbelief, "H-How did you make these!? Each of them can fetch at least a million essence cores! Chloro element crystals are more precious than other elements because of their rejuvenation, regeneration, and restoration power. It is the key ingredient for ancient cultivators to replace their yin and yang essence with the legendary Life Essence! This... These are priceless treasures! Young man, you should use it instead of giving it to us! We are old men with no future. Your future will be brighter if you can cultivate Life Essence."
"What if I say I already condense Life Essence in my dantian?"
"!!!"
The elders were speechless yet again.
Ling Tianlong continued to surprise them with his godly wisdom and knowledge from the immortal realms.
"Cultivators with Life Essence are natural physique cultivators since their Life Essence boosts their regeneration power, self-healing power, and vigor. Their physical prowess is tailored to handle torturous tribulations and supreme bloodlines that humans are not supposed to be able to handle. Whenever a Life Essence cultivator has comprehended an advanced element, such as Chloro Element or Hydro Element, they can create element crystals if their Life Essence and their advance element Qi are pure enough."
Ling Tianlong opened his hand and gathered his Life Essence and Chloro Element Qi into his palm. A few seconds later, a small crystal slowly emerged from thin air.
An incomplete element crystal had been formed!
The council elders stared at the small elemental crystal as they dropped their jaws.
"WOW."
"How magical!"
"This is wonderful!"
Ling Tianlong had a faint smile on his face, but he clenched his upper abdomen with his other free hand. Then, he vomited several mouthfuls of blood.
At least a liter of black blood came out.
Then, Ling Tianlong collapsed on his knees.
"TIANLONG!!"
Ling Cao rushed to his disciple's side and helped him up.
But Ling Tianlong patted his master, insisting that he had to continue speaking.
"It sounds simple, but there's a deadly restriction. First of all, the creator of this elemental crystal must have opened at least 108 meridians!"
Ling Tianlong continued to teach his seniors about the 108 meridians and how they could acquire them.
The meeting continued for days while Ling Tianlong struggled to maintain his consciousness due to his soul injury.
The power of Ling Tianlong's plot armor was himself. As long as he was alive, he always had a way to restore his sect and get stronger.
Moreover, currently, Ling Tianlong had already connected his 108 meridians to his second dantian, the soul dantian, which he had inherited from his previous life!
The hard work, Soul Qi, Soul Essence, and accumulated Luck Energy that Ling Tianlong had cultivated in his previous life had been stored there!
For now, Ling Tianlong couldn't utilize it fully due to his soul injury. But as soon as he could recover, this power would be his trump card.
Ling Tianlong was confident. As soon as he managed to get back to his peak condition, Ding Bu wouldn't be his match.
...
Siren City, top of the Pylon Tower
Lu Fengxian was at his usual spot, sitting on the top of the tower and meditating.
Life Essence in the city was abundant. By inhaling them along with the vapor of unified spring water into his lungs, his internal injuries were healed.
The former immortal opened his eyes and gazed toward the east, where he had sensed the presence of Ling Tianlong and his killing intent.
'I've prolonged it for a while now. I should start tackling on my soul dantian to recover my former strength before I fight that brat again.'
Lu Fengxian focused on his opened meridians, driving the impurity out of his body.
BOOM
One meridian was cleaned.
BOOM
Another one was cleaned.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
It didn't take long for Lu Fengxian to purify all his 108 meridians within his body and ejected dark goo through his pores. He continued gathering Life Essence to restore his vigor and stamina, preparing to connect them to his soul dantian.
RUMBLE
The sky above Siren City turned dark as the heaven cloud of tribulation gathered. Many world guardian's eyes appeared and glared at the lawbreaker, Lu Fengxian.
These OP protagonists continued to get stronger, preparing for their rematch.