Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Chapter 432: Chapter 275: Joining Forces_1

Three days later, deep in the secluded valley.

Atop the Nine Ceremony High Altar, Xu Yang sat alone, facing the relief stone stele which depicted the vast cosmos, immersed in the study of the True Martial God of War.

Below the high altar, a group of people bound by iron chains wore expressions of despair, under the watchful gaze of the Armored Refining Corpse, as they channeled their martial strength into the Evil Emperor’s relic.

These were the same people from Dragon and Tiger Platform who were taken away earlier, among them Shi Jinglong, the Divine Martial Venerable, heavily restricted by magic artifacts, with five Magical Treasure level Flying Swords nailed into his body using the Five Elements Demon Locking Method, sealing off his Qi Sea.

Although a Divine Martial Venerable ranks as a Fifth Tier, surpassing the limitations of a Third Tier magical treasure, human flesh and blood ultimately cannot compare to metal blades—let alone the combination of magical treasures forming an array with the Five Elements, sealing off the Qi Sea and severing the Inner Yuan. Even a Divine Martial Venerable would fall from grace.

Therefore, regardless of the rage in his heart, all he could do at the moment was clench his teeth and endure.

Just then, a young gentleman in white arrived gracefully, a hint of joy on his face, as he climbed toward the Nine Ceremony High Altar.

Although it was a solemn mana altar governed by ritual propriety, Xu Yang was never one for rigid formalities. Hence, Su Shaoqing did not regard it too highly as he ascended the altar and reported, “Ancestor Emperor, the matter of Iron Heart Fortress has been settled!”

Upon hearing this, Xu Yang showed no reaction, but the eyes of Shi Jinglong and the others below the altar sharpened.

Iron Heart Fortress!

This matter not only concerned the grand scheme of the world but also their very lives and deaths.

If the Righteous Path were to prevail and suppress the Evil Path, then the various Sacred Places could spare their strength and dispatch Divine Martial Venerables to hunt down this man. They would then have a chance to escape and regain their freedom.

Conversely…

In short, this matter was crucial, a determinant of life and death!

But what was the outcome?

Those below did not know, but seeing the look on Su Shaoqing’s face, they had a bad premonition.

“Oh?”

Xu Yang smiled and turned his head, “How so?”

“The Demon Sect triumphed greatly!”

Su Shaoqing chuckled, “Now each side on both the Righteous and Evil Paths is shouting accusations, each sticking to their story, spitting curses and accusations of treachery and conspiracies against each other.”

“Oh?”

Although Xu Yang already had a rough guess in mind, he still humored with a question, “In what manner?”

With a slight smile, Su Shaoqing ignored the increasingly grim expressions of Shi Jinglong and the others below as he vividly began to recount.

“According to the Righteous Path, the master of Iron Heart Fortress, Chen Tianjie, had already defected to the Demon Path, yet continued to maintain a neutral identity, deceiving the world and winning over Earth Yuan Mountain with this facade.”

“After winning their favor, under the pretense that his own life essence was running out, he raised the matter of intermarriage between their families, luring Earth Yuan Mountain’s master, Zhou Buji, to Iron Heart Fortress, and finally, during the grand wedding feast, struck with force, using the advantage of being on home ground coupled with the Heaven’s Calamity Slaying the Wolf formation to ambush Zhou Buji.”

“In the end, not only did they slay Zhou Buji within the formation, but they also collaborated with Demon Sect to launch a joint inside-and-outside attack on the Righteous Path forces who came to congratulate, resulting in heavy casualties and injuries, including severe damage to several Divine Martial Venerables.”

Hearing Su Shaoqing’s account, Xu Yang’s interest was piqued, “Sounds dubious, unstable at best. What’s the Evil Path’s side of the story?”

“The Evil Path’s version is even more exciting,” said Su Shaoqing with a light laugh.

He continued, “According to the Evil Path, the entire event was a malicious conspiracy, schemed by the Righteous Path.”

“The Righteous Path, intent on establishing the Seventh Sacred Place, sought to dominate over the Evil Path and rule the world alone, setting their sights on befriending Earth Yuan Mountain and the Iron Heart Fortress, which had no one to inherit the legacy and whose master was running out of life essence.”

“Because Iron Heart Fortress’s Heaven’s Calamity Slaying the Wolf was renowned for its fighting capacity and, along with Earth Yuan Mountain’s Earth Yuan Unlimited technique, had the most potential to achieve new heights of Peak Divine Martial and disrupt the power balance between the Righteous and Evil Paths.”

“Therefore, the Righteous Path plotted. The master of Sea Reading Pavilion, the Ocean-listening Scholar Zhang Longyuan, personally devised a strategy to target Iron Heart Fortress, first framing and causing the death of Chen Tianjie’s prime heir, SLP Chen Bubai, then under the guise of the Demon Path, overtly and covertly pressuring Iron Heart Fortress.”

“Years ago, when Iron Heart Fortress sought to seize the Holy King’s Relic from us, the Tian Wu Remnants, it was the Sea Reading Pavilion and Earth Yuan Mountain that meddled by spreading rumors and even had the presumed deceased and hidden Earth Yuan Mountain’s Divine Martial Venerable, Zhou Jingfan, disguised as a Divine Martial of the Demon Path, to intercept Chen Tianjie and foil his plans.”

“However, such schemes were eventually discovered by the Evil Path, leading the left guardian of the Heavenly Demon Sect, the Heavenly Demon Monarch Yan Qiuqiu, to seek out Chen Tianjie personally, divulging this plot and inviting an alliance with Iron Heart Fortress.”

“For this, the Demon Path did not hesitate to offer their sect-defining treasure, the ninth stele of the Heavenly Demon Great Skill, for Chen Tianjie to study and practice.”

“Chen Tianjie, already a pinnacle figure at great accomplishment in Divine Martial, not only received the Heavenly Demon Great Skill stele from the Demon Path but also was bestowed various precious treasures produced from several diagrams, fully supporting his cultivation of the two Divine Skills.”

“With the robust backing of the Demon Path, Chen Tianjie met the expectations, merging Heaven’s Calamity Slaying the Wolf with the Heavenly Demon Great Skill into one, cultivating the Heavenly Tribulation Demon God skill, and stepping into the realm of Peak of Divine Martial!”

“By virtue of this, not only did Chen Tianjie rejuvenate, extending his life essence by three hundred years, his already extraordinary combat strength saw further improvement, becoming a peerless existence among the Divine Martial.”

“As a result, in the battle at Iron Heart Fortress, Chen Tianjie managed to slay Zhou Buji, the master of Earth Yuan Mountain, severely injure the Ocean-listening Scholar Zhang Longyuan, and together with the combined forces of the Evil Path, decimated the Righteous Path forces, causing great losses and upheaval on the Heaven List, Divine Martial List, and even necessitating a major overhaul!”

“In the end, the affair at Iron Heart Fortress concluded with a grand victory for the Demon Sect; the Righteous Path suffered horrendous losses, not only was Zhang Longyuan of Peak Divine Martial gravely injured, but three Divine Martial Venerables including Earth Yuan Mountain’s master Zhou Buji fell, with Divine Martial hopefuls and Grandmasters of the Heaven List also among the casualties, marking an unprecedented defeat for the Righteous Path in nearly a thousand years!”