Chapter 225: Participating in the War
Old Master Seventh smiled at Xue Lianzi’s praise but didn’t speak. He only cupped his fists and bowed again.
The ancestor, who was outlined by the blood lines in the sky, smiled and shifted his gaze toward the Seven Blood Eyes’ main city. With his cultivation, he seemed to be able to capture all the disciples in the city in his mind.
His voice was like thunder, exploding word by word.
“In this battle, the Peak Lords and the elders have to participate. However, Foundation Building and Qi Condensation don’t have such an obligation. This old man knows that all of you worked hard and staked your lives to make progress. Although the sect helped during this period, it wasn’t much.”
“Therefore, this war isn’t compulsory for you. Those who are willing to participate will be rewarded. The entire battle missions will be carried out voluntarily. Which of you Seven Blood Eyes disciples is willing to participate in the battle?!”
As soon as the ancestor finished speaking, the identity tokens of all cultivators at the fifth level of Qi Condensation and above of the Seven Blood Eyes instantly vibrated. Numerous matters regarding the benefits of participating in the battle were imprinted in their tokens.
All the cultivators instantly knew about the rewards after taking their tokens out. Some of their eyes even revealed sharpness and desire after checking it.
Very soon, many voices replied from the main city and the mountain peaks.
“Disciple is willing to participate in the battle!”
“Disciple is willing to participate in the battle!!”
As the sounds of participation rang out one after another, numerous figures flew into the air from the main city and the seven mountain peaks and stood respectfully.
Among them, there were Foundation Building cultivators and high-level Qi Condensation disciples who floated in the air with flight talismans.
Xu Qing lifted his head and looked at everything. He then took out his identity token and checked the information inside.
“The participants will be rewarded according to their cultivation base. The first wave of rewards will be distributed immediately. 500 spirit stones for the fifth level of Qi Condensation to 3,000 spirit stones for the Perfected Qi Condensation realm, 100,000 spirit stones for the Foundation Building realm to 500,000 spirit stones for the Perfected Foundation Building realm. If you agree to participate in the war, you will be given the rewards immediately. However, once you participate in the battle, you can’t withdraw unless the war ends. However, you can choose to accept missions during this period!”
This was the first benefit for cultivators participating in the war in the jade slip. When Xu Qing saw this, his expression changed slightly. Being able to receive 100,000 spirit stones just for participating was already a considerable reward.
“During war, missions are delegated by the Peak Lords to the elders of the various peaks. After the elders issue the missions, anyone can accept it. The mission rewards are extremely generous.”
“All personal gains from the mission or from outside don’t have to be reported. They belong to the individual themselves!”
“All those who participated in the Seven Blood Eyes’ victory in the war will be distributed the sect’s gains from this battle according to the level and number of the completed missions!”
“In addition, the soul of the Sea Corpse Race has a miraculous effect on those who cultivate the Fiendish Fire Soul Devouring Art. It’s an incomparable delicacy. You’ll know after you try it!”
“Who is willing to participate in this battle?!”
The very first rewards for this war were already so many spirit stones. One could imagine that the subsequent missions would have even more astonishing rewards. Xu Qing was tempted.
He was truly lacking spirit stones.
His gains and savings had almost been cleared up after he bought the magic artifact and poisonous grasses. Although he had some spirit stones, they were only enough for his daily life.
Spirit stones were extremely important in cultivation. If Xu Qing had ten million spirit stones now, he could issue missions to get a large number of cultivators from the sect to help him capture Foundation Building sea beasts. In fact, if he had more spirit stones, he could even get the elders to help.
He would have a much easier time in opening 30 magic apertures.
Even if he didn’t seek the help of the elders, if he had enough spirit stones, he could upgrade his magic ship to a high level. He would then carefully avoid some powerful forces and dominate an area on the Forbidden Sea.
Hence, the rewards from this war caused Xu Qing’s breathing to quicken.
He was also tempted by the thought of getting the souls of the Sea Corpse Race. To Xu Qing, who had tasted the sweetness of Sea Corpse Race’s soul, the temptation was even greater. He was a decisive person, so after some thoughts, he made the decision.
Figures rushed into the sky one after another and the sounds of participation rose and fell. There were about a thousand Foundation Building cultivators from the Seven Blood Eyes’ seven mountain peaks in total. This time, 70% of them chose to participate in the battle. They were densely packed and their auras were astonishing, causing the wind in all directions to stir and the sea to rumble violently.
Many elders also walked out of their respective peaks and stood beside the Peak Lords.
At the same time, on the ground of the main city, countless Qi Condensation cultivators weighed their options. Some chose to participate in the battle, while others prepared to wait and see.
After all, those who could become a disciple of the Seven Blood Eyes and live to the fifth level of Qi Condensation or above were far from ordinary.
“Open the sect’s array formation and connect with the teleportation array in the merfolk island!” As Xue Lianzi spoke, the entire Seven Blood Eyes rumbled. The seven huge blood eyes on the seven mountain peaks emitted a demonic light that enveloped the entire area.
The array formation was activated.
In everyone’s identity tokens, other than the information about the rewards, there was also a simple plan for this battle. It was as though the sect wasn’t afraid of this plan being exposed at all.
The entire plan was to use the four islands of the merfolk race as the front-line command center. Under the huge protection array of the Seven Blood Eyes’ main city, everyone who participated in the battle only needed to hold their identity token and silently chant the word ‘participate’; they would then be teleported to the merfolk island by the array formation.
This plan allowed the battlefield to be far away from the Seven Blood Eyes. The strategic location of the merfolk islands was extremely important as it was between the Seven Blood Eyes and the Sea Corpse Race.
Previously, the Seven Blood Eyes had used the competition as a cover and used the ancestor’s breakthrough to invade the other party’s territory to cause chaos, catching the Sea Corpse Race off guard, which allowed them to take down the merfolk islands in one go.
Hence, the first step of this strategic plan was already completed. The next step was to completely gain a firm foothold in the merfolk island under the counterattack of the Sea Corpse Race.
rThe first step was a conspiracy. The second step was an open scheme.
“Participants, set off!” Xue Lianzi waved his hand. His figure directly transformed into countless terrifying red lines that whistled toward the sect’s array formation. He was instantly teleported away.
After that, the Peak Lords of the five peaks stepped in one after another.
Behind them were the elders of the various peaks, and lastly, there were more than 700 Foundation Building cultivators from the seven peaks.
The group of people had a majestic momentum and carried a monstrous murderous aura as they teleported and disappeared.
Among the Foundation Building cultivators, Xu Qing didn’t teleport immediately. Instead, he glanced at the main city of the Seven Blood Eyes.
Although the sect must have reserved a portion of its strength to protect it, the current sect was clearly much more empty than usual. Even though the sect’s protective array was activated, it still looked defenseless.
From the moment he arrived at the Seven Blood Eyes until now, Xu Qing had come to know that most of the people in this sect were schemers. He didn’t believe that the sect’s ancestor and the seven Peak Lords would be careless about this.
“It’s very likely that the Seven Blood Eyes’ foundation isn’t just what we see now. There must be something deeper. It’s even very likely that the current sect and main city are a trap to lure other forces.”
Xu Qing fell into deep thought. He lifted his head and looked at the sect’s array formation. The light in his eyes was restrained as he held his identity token and chanted in his mind.
“Participate!”
At the next instant, Xu Qing’s figure was enveloped by a beam of light that fell from the array formation above. His entire person disappeared with the light.
At that moment, in the main city, such beams of light descended one after another. A large number of disciples were teleported away under these beams of light. One could imagine that such beams of light would continue to descend in the coming days.
On the Forbidden Sea, where the four merfolk islands were, the sky was also enveloped by the light of the Seven Blood Eyes’ main city’s array formation, enveloping all four islands.
Other than its own defense, the array formation here was clearly synchronized with the Seven Blood Eyes’ main city. It could allow disciples to teleport over instantly.
Outside these four islands, wind and lightning were rampaging and thunder rumbled endlessly as though powerful beings were fighting. The area further away was covered by fog and surging waves. The sounds of fighting could clearly be heard from the fog.
One could vaguely see that the people fighting against the Sea Corpse Race were mostly merfolks!
Clearly, after being suppressed, the merfolk race had chosen to submit completely and was arranged to be cannon fodders.
However, this battle didn’t look intense, as though it was just the norm. On the four islands, countless buildings had been built that were different from the merfolk race’s.
They were tall towers.
Every tall tower shone with blue lightning that flowed in all directions and connected to the other tall towers, causing the four islands to seem to be connected as one.
There were also countless large-scale magic artifacts installed on the four islands. From time to time, they would rumble and activate rows of astonishing spells that landed on the distant battlefield.
Array formations filled the four islands. Every few breaths, the shadows of array runes would form in the sky and rapidly fuse into the surrounding areas to reinforce the array formation here.
Many simple residences were opened up. On Hidden Island, a large amount of anomalous substances were extracted and transformed into nine-headed snakes that seemed to have been controlled to fight for the Seven Blood Eyes.
It was the same for other islands. After the Seven Blood Eyes tampered with the volcanoes on Mire Island, they were currently erupting. Every time they erupted, they would cause the ground to tremble and terrifying power to pour out in all directions.
More than half of Image island had been turned into a sword pool. Flying swords were soaked in it as though they were being nurtured. Clearly, this was a method of the First Peak. Once they were used, their might would definitely shake the world.
The greatest change was on Binding Island.
An eye had been planted on this island. The size of this eye was comparable to 70% of the island. Upon closer inspection, it was exactly the same as the Seven Blood Eyes’ Blood Eyes!
In the blink of an eye, information was transmitted to the identity tokens of all the cultivators on the four islands.
When Xu Qing arrived, he was in the air above Mire Island. The instant he appeared, he saw the four islands of the merfolk race that had changed drastically.
Xu Qing’s mind shook as he looked into the distance. He saw Xue Lianzi and the five Peak Lords standing in the air above Binding Island.
There were also the other two Peak Lords who were bowing to greet the old ancestor and seemed to be reporting something.
One of these two was an old woman. She was stepping on a vast array formation that seemed to be overlapping with tens of thousands of array formations.
The other was an old man with a dark expression. He didn’t give off any sense of dignity but was filled with bitterness. It was as though there was a bitter tribulation in his heart that he couldn’t resolve.
He held a wine gourd in his hand and drank as he walked in the sky.
They were the Peak Lords of the Fifth and Sixth Peaks.
Looking at the islands, Xu Qing suddenly understood why the Fifth and Sixth Peak Lords didn’t appear in the sect.
The changes to the four islands were the arrangements of their two peaks!