Everwood Palace. Martial World Sharang.
Hour of Rabbit. (09:00 AM – 10:00 AM)
After practicing Celestial Harmony on Serenity Peak and settling some of his affairs in Emerald Cove, Aksai returned to Martial World Sharang.
Having obtained the Golden Sun Codex from the Grand Martial Hall, he began to gain a deeper understanding of martial arts and the path of body cultivation as a whole.
He came to realize that the trifecta of spirit, mind, and body could also be applied to the path of body cultivation.
By applying certain concepts of Spirit cultivation to body cultivation, and vice versa, he could potentially achieve breakthroughs in both paths more easily.
For example, Aksai recognized that his body cultivation practice could greatly benefit if he practiced Celestial Harmony within an essence-gathering formation.
The higher the quality of the Spirit essence within the formation, the more effective his body cultivation training would become. These effects would not matter if they were added only once. However, they would have a compounding interest as long as Aksai made use of them regularly.
It was as though the focal points representing mind, body, and spirit were interconnected by some mysterious bond. Progress in one path brought benefits in another, and vice versa.
Aksai only needed to tweak the essence-gathering formation slightly to refine sunlight and moonlight as well.
This adjustment made his practice in body cultivation much faster and more efficient than that of most talented martial artists across Sharang. His utilization of cultivation methods in the body cultivation path had transformed him into a unique martial artist.
Following the success of the modified essence-gathering formation, Aksai began employing other available methods. He purchased various elixirs from Dadangar mainland and refined them using techniques and methods from Sharang.
Certainly, the effects of Aksai’s efforts were not one-sided. He also realized that his progress in the Spirit cultivation path had accelerated as he approached the threshold of the Argent Body Realm.
Aksai felt as though he was caught in an upward spiral, where every effort he made in any path multiplied and benefited him as a whole. Needless to say, he was addicted to making progress.
Aksai also pondered whether there existed a specific path for training the mind. If such a path were accessible to him, could he cultivate it? And would it offer additional benefits as a Spirit cultivator?
However, such matters were beyond Aksai’s control at the moment. He resolved to focus on what he could do and prioritize the tasks at hand.
***
Aksai spent the next few days consolidating his gains and perfecting all the trump cards he possessed.
Meanwhile, he reached out to the leaders of various organizations, urging them to join forces. Their sole objective at this point was to take down the corrupted druid.
Had Aksai not essentially conquered the martial arts organizations through sheer might, they would never have considered attacking the corrupted druid. This was due to the countless tales they had heard about the fate of past martial artists who dared to target these corrupted druids overseeing Devil’s Dens.
Indeed, none of the martial artists who ventured to neutralize the corrupted druids ever returned. Numerous instances from the past reiterated this grim reality.
A Devil’s Den was known to typically last for a maximum of three years. However, it could disperse much sooner if the corrupted druids overseeing it managed to break into the 2nd Spirit cultivation realm prematurely, or if they vanished before achieving such a breakthrough.
Death was almost certain for any martial artist attempting to confront the corrupted druids. Conversely, there remained a slim chance of survival for those who remained patient in the safe zones and waited for the isolation barrier to naturally dissipate.
Thus, no organization, not even the Grand Martial Hall, dared to charge headfirst into the danger zone and target the corrupted druid believed to be nestled beneath the demon tree. They all preferred to remain in the safe zones for as long as possible.
Regarding the dwindling food supplies and the shrinking safe zones, the martial artists were more inclined to accept a slow decline than hasten their demise. What kind of sane person would try to embrace the emissary of death with open arms? Even someone in their 80s and 90s would have their survival instincts intact?
It took considerable persuasion and displays of force from Aksai to rally all the surviving small and large organizations in Serenity Peak to unite under one banner. He even fabricated a shortage of his own supplies to exert the necessary pressure on the martial artists’ psyches and garner their support for his plan.
Aksai assumed the role of de facto leader of this alliance formed with the sole purpose of taking down the corrupted druid.
From the one-eyed elder and the gray-haired woman of the Grand Martial Hall to the martial artist masters of the martial arts schools he had enlisted as his tutors, Aksai emerged as the common thread uniting all the skilled martial artists.
However, Aksai refrained from launching a solo attack on the corrupted druid. Sneak attacks were out of the question, and the presence of numerous tree devils in the danger zones made it impossible for him to rely solely on his own strength.
Aksai would be overwhelmed by the hordes of tree devils before he could even confront the corrupted druid. Even his Scarecrow puppets wouldn’t be able to save him.
His only viable strategy was to match numbers with numbers, leveraging the martial artists within Serenity Peak’s safe zones as his best chance for success.
Aksai needed an open, full-scale war against the tree devils, with the martial artists charging into the danger zones and acting as one unit to take down any obstacle in their path.
***
On this fateful day, the remaining martial artists of Serenity Peak stood united, a formidable force gathered in one vast crowd.
Clad in an assortment of armor and wielding an array of weapons, they exuded an air of determination and readiness.
Their faces were stern, etched with lines of resolve as they braced themselves for the imminent battle ahead.
The atmosphere surrounding the crowd was tense.
At the forefront stood Aksai, alongside other martial arts masters.
“It’s about time,” Aksai murmured to himself before taking a step forward.
With a nod of acknowledgment, the remaining martial arts masters signaled the beginning of their charge toward the danger zones.
“For Serenity Peak!” cried one martial artist.
“Defend our home!” screamed the other.
“We fight as one!”
“Let’s f*ck these overgrown twigs up!”
“We’ll chop you down like the weeds you are, you tree bastards!”
“Ready to be pruned, you fu*king ugly woodland zombies?”
As they surged forward, the martial artists screamed one after the other, declaring their convictions. Their footsteps resonated with purpose, echoing the collective resolve of those gathered.
Their destination: the city square of Serenity Peak, the heart of the city and the epicenter of the impending battle.
With weapons raised, they charged toward the unknown, ready to face whatever challenges awaited them in the perilous depths of the danger zones.
‘Let’s see what that druid has in store for me.’
Aksai thought to himself as he drew the Lian Flying Sword.
He had been preparing for this day for quite some time.
It was time to see if he could really take down the mastermind behind the Devil’s Den. and if he could really get his hands on the druid bloodline.