Chapter 200: Chapter 143: Refining_1
Translator: 549690339
The Black Mountain Old Demon’s choice to shrivel up in defense was out of necessity.
In the previous exchange of blows, the strengths of both sides had been revealed.
In terms of cultivation realm and mana Taoist cultivation, although it was the essence of Black Mountain and an old demon of ten thousand years, it still held no advantage.
Because the other was a Daoist Celestial Master, one level of difference meant a world of distinction, which even it could not compensate for.
Regarding cultivation skills divine magic and fighting techniques, although it was the ruler of Black Mountain and had turned the treacherous and wicked lands into divine magic, with power of mountains and rivers and the ability of the earth vein, the opponent’s Luotian Dajiao, with the support of thousands, and possession of divine sacred weapons and the Three Laws Sword, surpassed it by more than just a small margin.
Inferior in cultivation realm, lesser in Taoist cultivation and mana, and also outmatched in divine magic and skills.
Falling short in every aspect, at a disadvantage on all fronts, how could such an utterly unequal battle be fought?
Therefore, the Black Mountain Old Demon decisively gave up on attacking and chose to bunker down defensively, clinging to a strategy of delay.
As an old demon of ten thousand years, it had been in existence for tens of thousands of years, during which more than one Daoist Celestial Master had attempted to rid the world of this calamity, but without exception, they all returned without success.
The reason for this was its tactic of shrinking into defense.
As a spirit that had become sentient from Black Mountain, its strength was continuously replenished by the connecting earth vein, and its greatest expertise was in defensive and attrition warfare.
Unless someone could level the sprawling Black Mountain and sever the earth veins connecting it in all directions, it was futile to even dream of cutting off its power supply.
Unable to flatten the mountains or sever the earth veins meant that it could continually draw from the Earth Yuan, restoring its mana and healing its injuries, essentially becoming an immortal presence.
Thus, it only needed to fortify the mountains and remain in defense to be invincible.
As a spirit born of stone, it was incredibly tough. Focusing solely on defense, even a Daoist Celestial Master would find it difficult to break.
Even if its defenses were breached, it could transfer the “Mountain Core,” the special internal pill of the mountain spirit, elsewhere and rebuild the defensive line.
As long as the mountain core remained undamaged, and its internal pill intact, it could endlessly rebuild its defenses and hold out indefinitely.
Who could afford such a drawn-out conflict?
Even a Daoist Celestial Master didn’t have such resources.
That is why, over tens of thousands of years, despite many Celestial Masters and Holy Monks attempting to cleanse the world of demons, when they confronted it, they all returned empty-handed, only managing to place a formation at best, merely sealing it for a few decades.
It had been so in the past, and it seemed it would be the same now.
As long as it anchored its defense and refrained from breaking its position, with a bit of endurance, the mighty foe would eventually recognize the difficulty and retreat.
Outside Black Mountain, sword light transformed, revealing the figure of a man.
Xu Yang looked at the defensively entrenched old demon, shook his head without saying much, and with a movement from the sword box on his back, he released millions of sword artifacts.
Thousands of swords, vast and flowing like a curtain of rain descending from the sky, pierced into various parts of Black Mountain.
“Boom boom boom!”
Although unsure of the opponent’s intentions, the Black Mountain could not allow things to escalate. As the mountain stirred, the old demon exerted its strength, and instantly, sand flew and earthfire spouted, attempting to wash over and refine the millions of sword artifacts.
However…
Xu Yang’s body turned, and the divine swords reemerged, splitting from one into three, and three into nine.
Subsequently, nine Xuanyuan Divine Swords executed crisscrossing thunderbolts.
Black Mountain was startled, no longer caring about the purpose of the millions of sword artifacts, as black sand condensed and earthfire retreated, warily anticipating the movements of the nine divine swords.
Xu Yang, however, paid no mind; the nine swords flew out and came crashing down, firm as steel nails, driving into the mountain at strategic points.
They were nodes of the formation, acupoints of the earth vein.
“Trying to sever the earth vein?”
Finally understanding the opponent’s intentions, the Black Mountain Old Demon snorted coldly, solidified the mountain’s stance, and stimulated the black sand poisonous fire, subtly contaminating the opponent’s sword artifacts.
Just now, the opponent was able to pierce deep into the mountain’s body because it hadn’t been solely focused on defense.
Now, with undivided attention on shrinking itself down and solidifying the mountain, the tens of thousands of sword artifacts and those nine divine swords could at the most puncture the outer layer of stone, wishing to penetrate into the core of the mountain body and threaten its mountain heart was nothing but wishful thinking.
Without breaching its mountain-body defenses, how could one even attempt to sever the earth vein lying under the connected mountain terrain?
Therefore, the Black Mountain Old Demon regarded the opponent as engaging in a futile effort, not worthy of concern, focusing solely on its defense while secretly powering the black sand and earthfire to corrupt the magical treasures.
But soon…
“No! No, no, no!”
Black Mountain trembled with alarm, the black sand poisonous fire bursting forth violently, trying to push off the nine divine swords and the thousands of sword artifacts from its body.
The nine divine swords nailed onto it were like blood-sucking locusts, absorbing the essence of its stones and the force of the earth vein.
What was happening?
What was happening!
It was the doing of Xuanyuan.
The Xuanyuan Divine Sword, perfected by the Three Laws.
Among them, the Earth Law was about incorporating the world’s metals and melting the power of the earth’s essence.
For the Black Mountain Old Demon, whose very existence as a mountain spirit was tied to the earth vein, the Xuanyuan Divine Sword was an irresistible delicacy.
With a single sword dividing, negating into nine steely nails in collusion with the thousands of sword artifacts, Xu Yang penetrated into its body, absorbing the essence of the Black Mountain Old Demon’s earth.
This act of “undermining the foundation” greatly frightened the Black Mountain Old Demon.
The earth’s essence was its life essence, its foundation. For every bit the Xuanyuan Divine Sword absorbed, the Old Demon weakened marginally.
Although the influence was insignificant for the moment, if this continued over a long period with one side weakening and the other strengthening, that would be unacceptable.
The entire Black Mountain might become nourishment for the foe.
The Black Mountain Old Demon was greatly alarmed, spewing black sand and releasing poisonous fire to contaminate the opponent’s Sword Artifact while simultaneously mobilizing the Power of Mountains and Rivers and the ability of the Earth Vein, locking up the Power of Earth’s Essence in the whole Black Mountain so that it could not be absorbed.
However…
“Boom!
Outside, Xu Yang was chanting spells and casting magic, summoning thunderbolts.
The dark heavens and earth, filled with the aura of death and sinister clouds, were suddenly torn apart by a thunderbolt.
Heavenly thunder fell, striking Black Mountain, not only shocking the Old Demon’s Divine Soul but also empowering the Sword Artifact with thunderbolt.
“Boom!
Black Mountain trembled mightily, Mana went out of control, revealing a vast gap. The black sand poisonous fire surged and, taking advantage of the gap, the nine divine swords embedded in the rock surface and thousands of Sword Artifacts sank further down into the mountain, stabbing fiercely into the mountain’s body.
The Might of the Thunderbolt, needless to say.
With Xu Yang’s ability as a Daoist Celestial Master and the aid of the “Thunder Lightning Mana King”, utilizing the power of Thunder Series, even a millennium-old demon couldn’t withstand several rounds of it.
Although the Black Mountain Old Demon had exceptionally strong defenses and had the home-ground advantage with endless Earth Yuan force, it wasn’t exempt from such Thunder Series spells. Under the bombardment, its mind trembled with fear, and gaps in its defense became unavoidable.
If it were just Thunder Series attacks, even if its defenses were broken, it could adjust and recover afterward without worrying.
But the opponent wasn’t just using Thunder Series spells.
Thunder Series strikes opened gaps, and the Sword Artifacts immediately took advantage and greedily absorbed the Life essence of the Mountain Spirit.
The Essence of Earth continuously escaped, as if life itself was fleeing.
Greatly frightened, the Black Mountain Old Demon struggled fiercely but was firmly suppressed by the opponent’s Thunder Series to assist the sword.
Xu Yang’s strategic intent was now very clear.
He wanted to refine the Black Mountain Old Demon!
Had it been anyone else, even if they were also a Daoist Celestial Master, such a thought would be nothing but a pipe dream.
But he was not anyone else, he was Xu Yang, who possessed the Attribute Panel and Skill Traits.
The Thunder Lightning Mana King and Three Laws Sword, these two Skill Traits, had raised his Thunder Series potency and divine sword effects by at least one level.
Black Mountain was formidable, the Old Demon horrifying. Ordinary Thunder Series Divine Magic couldn’t harm its roots, ordinary Xuanyuan’s Divine Guard Generals also couldn’t refine its essence.
But Xu Yang could, with Thunder Series aiding the sword, attacking simultaneously, even the Black Mountain Old Demon could only await its slaughter.
“Boom!
The lightning flashed and thunder roared incessantly, and the nine divine swords along with thousands of Sword Artifacts, aided by the thunder, slowly sank into the mountain, accelerating the process of refinement.
Feeling its Life essence draining away, the Black Mountain Old Demon could no longer endure. The City of Unjust Death shook violently, its gates opening wide, as countless Underworld Soldiers and Evil Ghosts surged like a torrent, led by four Ghost Emperors towards Xu Yang.
Xu Yang’s expression remained unchanged, paying them no heed, as only the blue and red divine lights behind him flickered. Amid the thick smoke and fire, two towering figures materialized, clearly the two Divine Guard Generals with green faces and fierce fangs.
Increase Life and Damage Fate, Divine Guard Generals!
During the five years that Guo Bei Academy expanded, Xu Yang also took this opportunity to eradicate demons and evil spirits in the southern regions, securing ample materials and resources to invest in the crafting of the Increase and Decrease Two Generals, coupled with the faith and prayers of millions from Guo Bei, he successfully refined them into “Ghost Emperors!”
Ghost Emperor matched Demon Emperor, embodying the Sixth Realm.
But these Increase and Decrease Two Generals, with the “Increase Life and Damage Fate” trait of Xu Yang’s Daoist skills, along with Taoist Gate Righteous Skills and devotional offerings, were crafted into half-divine, half-ghoulish Divine Guard Generals. Their strength was not just worlds apart from ordinary Increase and Decrease Generals but vastly distinct.
Now, they should not be referred to as Ghost Emperors but “Ghost Gods,” on par with a millennium-old demon.
The Increase and Decrease Generals, feasting on ghosts, looked at the millions of Evil Ghosts surging out of the City of Unjust Death, especially the leading four Ghost Emperors, and immediately let out an excited roar, rushing forward to battle them.
Meanwhile, Xu Yang sat upon the Cumulated Thundercloud, single-mindedly casting Thunder Series spells, aiding the Xuanyuan Divine Sword, and fully focused on refining Black Mountain.
Given the immense size of Black Mountain, even with the assistance of his Skill Traits, it would take a considerable amount of time to refine it.
This was destined to be a prolonged grinding battle of attrition.
Luckily, he had plenty of time.
The final battle had not yet arrived, and that Blood Armored Sky Dragon, the former Master Duxing, now the National Guardian Abbot, and the Holy Monk Pudu Cihang of Buddhism, had only just managed to maintain the situation in the Northern Territory, struggling even to hold their ground, let alone launch an offensive.
Both sides were accumulating strength, waiting to see who could break the balance first.
This was also the reason Xu Yang acted early, sweeping the Orchid Ghost Realm.
The original plan was to develop for ten years before acting, ensuring a foolproof approach.
But now, due to the pressure from Pudu Cihang, he had no choice but to act early and take down the Black Mountain Old Demon, to feed Xuanyuan.
The Xuanyuan Divine Sword had already ascended to a Magical Treasure. After refining the Old Demon and acquiring the Essence of Black Mountain, it may have the hope of advancing to a Spiritual Treasure.
A single Spiritual Treasure might not be sufficient to completely break the balance, but it could also serve as a source of confidence, allowing him to cause some trouble for his opponents.
He couldn’t let his foes swallow the Northern Territory with ease and comfort.
And so it went, for who knows how long.
In the Underworld, a roar resounded, shaking all directions.
“I! Fight! You! To the end!”
“Boom!”
In a desperate counterattack, staking everything, it was relentlessly engulfed by roaring thunderbolts.