With that thought, Han Li muttered to himself for a moment and he took out a wooden box that shined with black light. The box had several restriction talismans sealing it as they sparkled with azure light. With a sweep of his hand, the talismans flew off the box and into his sleeve.
He then tapped the box and had it open to reveal what was inside. It was a palm-sized talisman that was covered in characters. There was also a small crimson flood dragon that could be faintly seen, roaming across its surface.
Han Li extended his hand and beckoned to the talisman, having it fly into his hand.
In the last few days, he had failed three times before finally refining the talisman. Although he didn’t know how powerful it was, it was certainly weaker than what was described of the past Spirit Subjugation Talismans. After all, the flood dragon soul was greatly weakened from his three failed attempts, but in the end, he would only be able to test its true strength in battle.
Han Li gently stroked the various characters written on the talisman’s surface and sank deep into thought, his expressions changing with his thoughts.
As Han Li sat pondering in the room, there were several mysterious figures discussing something in a room underground, several tens of kilometers away in the Moulan Encampment.
There were five men and two women. Among them, there was one man and one woman who concealed themselves with black robes. Two of the unconcealed spell warriors were recognizable to Han Li: the woman surnamed Le — the wielder of the ancient lantern who he had fought at the Yellow Drag on Mountains, and the middle-aged scholarly man who pursued him for several days without end, the Divine Sage. As for the other three, one was a shriveled old man with dark skin, a short man that wasn’t even four feet tall, and a large embroidered-robed man with a majestic appearance.
“Sage Le, how are the spirit oil preparations? You should know that the holy bird can only appear in this world as long as the sacred lantern burns. There can’t be any mistakes.” Despite the wrinkles on the old man’s face, his eyes were bright and clear.
The green-robed woman surnamed Le respectfully replied, “Divine Sage Zhu, please don’t worry. My clan is treating this battle as a matter of life or death. We’ve brought out all the spirit oil that my clan has produced for over a thousand years. It should be enough to employ the holy bird for the battle.”
The old man then turned his questions to the middle-aged scholarly man. “Brother Zhong, were there any problems with organizing the grand spirit technique formations? As our magic tools are inferior in number to the cultivators of the Heavenly South, we must rely on the spirit technique formations to suppress them.”
The scholarly man calmly replied, “There is no problem. The hundreds of years I’ve spent researching spell technique formations weren’t in vain. I’ve already organized several new grand formations for the assault. If the Heavenly South cultivators are expecting the spirit technique formations of the past, they will certainly suffer.”
“This will do. Brother Bi, once the melee starts, have the high-grade spell warriors summon the void spirit beasts to charge. Have them absorb the cultivators’ attacks and waste as much of their magic power as possible.” The old man gave a quick word to the short man before turning towards the black-robed man and politely saying, “Sect Master Fang, we will need your huge beasts’ cooperation.”
“Before the battle starts, I will give these huge beasts to you. However, I hope you will not back out of what we agreed on.” The black-robed man’s final words were laced with a deeper meaning.
The shriveled old man’s expression stirred and he callously said, “Back out? Brother Fang must be joking. How could we be so foolish as to offend your esteemed sect before the battle with the cultivators? In any case, your Sifting Yin Sect is one of the ten great devilish sects of the Jin Empire. When our Moulan Tribes seize the Heavenly South, we will pay back the debt as greatly as we can, as it isn’t such a big matter to allow you to manage a few mortal countries. As for the mortals of the Yan Clan, we don’t care about their lives in the slightest.”
The black-robed man nodded and emotionlessly said, “That is good. Were if not for those Righteous Dao fellows destroying our sect protecting treasure, we wouldn’t need a large number of living souls to restore it. As such, we wouldn’t have felt the need to participate in your war with the Heavenly South cultivators. Collecting a vast quantity of living souls in the Jin Empire will certainly attract trouble from the Righteous Dao. Although we have no fear of them, it would delay the treasure’s restoration.”
The black-robed woman added on, “Additionally, all the cultivator’s souls who die in this battle will belong to my sect. Surely Divine Sage Zhu won’t have any objections to this?” She spoke with a hoarse and raspy voice much in contrast to her petite figure, much to the shock of those who heard her.
When the old man heard him, his expression slightly stirred. “Of course, we have little concerns with what will happen to the souls of cultivators, but will you be able to identify them differently from our spell warriors? While we have turned a blind eye to your unrestrained collection of souls lost in previous battles, we wish for this one to turn out differently. We’ll compensate you in other ways instead..”
“This is impossible. The souls of cultivators and spell warriors don’t have any differences between them. Even if there was a method, there will be tens of thousands of lives lost tomorrow, yet you want us to differentiate each one. Do you three Divine Sages plan on breaking our agreement?” The black-robed man narrowed his eyes and his eyes instantly glowed with green light. A sinister and cold Qi rose from his body.
When the scholarly man surnamed Zhong and the short man surnamed Bi saw this, they were inwardly furious. Although they didn’t take any action, their bodies faintly shined with silver and red light respectively as they stared at the black-robed man. As for the large embroidered-robed man and the woman surnamed Le, they both stared daggers at the black-robed man as they wore displeased expressions on their faces.
They have long been resentful of the fact at having the soul of spell warriors being collected. It was perhaps inevitable that there would be a falling out with these Devil Dao cultivators from the Jin Empire.
The old man sighed and his face grew solemn. “Cease! What are you doing? Sect Master Fang is a guest that I had personally invited. Could it be that you do not hold me in any regard?”
The black-robed woman to the side sent a voice transmission to the black-robed man. When he heard this, the green light in his eyes withdrew and his strange aura faded away.
The others sighed upon seeing this and released the spiritual power in their bodies. They clearly understood that while these devilish cultivators were displeasing to the eye, they were a necessity, not to mention that it wasn’t a good time for any internal strife.
With some further deliberation, he gritted his teeth and said, “How about this? You can gather together the souls, but you must do so stealthily after the battle. You cannot allow this to be seen, no matter what. Otherwise, we can’t guarantee what will happen afterwards.”
The black-robed man’s eyes flickered and he nodded. “Alright, so be it. Our sect agrees.”
The Moulan spell warriors were still displeased by this arrangement, but they had no choice.
At that moment, the large embroidered-robed man asked, “Are your sect’s battle preparations truly feasible? Are you not overreaching yourselves? The Heavenly South also have their own devilish cultivators. Won’t they see through you?”
The black-robed man sneered with disdain. “Devilish cultivators? Can they be considered as such? They merely cultivate some superficial techniques. Even if they hold confidence in their devilish techniques, they are merely the same on the surface. How would they know of the viciousness of true Devil Dao techniques from antiquity?”
The short man surnamed Bi smirked and said, “Is that so? But an elder of your esteemed sect was killed in an instant by a Heavenly South cultivator of the
same grade. Are you not underestimating them?”
The black-robed man’s eyes coldly glinted and he said nothing further apart from a snort. But at that moment, the black-robed woman took the opportunity to say, “I was just thinking of this matter. This cultivator with golden lightning is somewhat useful to our Sifting Yin Sect. I hope that you three Divine Sages would be able to hand him over to us. How about it?”
The shriveled old man wore a puzzled expression. “Hand him over to you?”
“What? Are you three unwilling to agree to a minor request?” As if dissatisfied, the woman’s voice only grew more hoarse.
The shriveled old man stared at the black-robed woman with an odd smile on his face. “If it was only an ordinary early Nascent Soul cultivator, it would be no problem to hand him over to you. But if involves the magic treasure with the Golden Lightning Bamboo, it is a different story.”
The black-robed woman’s mood grew sullen. “Fellow Daoist Zhu has already guessed it.”
The old man replied, “Although our Moulan Plains have been somewhat destitute, I do know a bit about the three divine woods in the cultivation world. While there aren’t many people that know of the Divine Devilbane Lightning, they do not include us.”
Seeing through his intentions, the black-robed man icily said, “Since you know of the Divine Devilbane Lightning, you must know that our Devilish Sects cannot allow this treasure to fall into the hands of others. Speak your conditions.”
The old man’s wrinkly face trembled to form a mysterious smile. “It is quite simple. I heard that in addition to these huge beasts, your sect also refined many Copper-armored Corpses. I hope that in the crux of the battle tomorrow Brother Fang will command them to offer us some help. After all, we don’t know how the cultivators will respond despite all our preparations. We will naturally wish to be more careful.”
After some deliberation, the black-robed man replied. “I didn’t expect for Fellow Daoist Zhu to know so much about our sect’s secret techniques. The Copper-armored Corpses may be easily refined, but it will be troublesome for our sect if we lost too many at once. With these conditions, we will need you to bring back this cultivator alive.”
Chapter 766: Hidden Plans
When the shriveled old man heard the sect leader, he gloomily said, “Capture him alive? Is Brother Fan joking? You should know that Fellow Daoist Zhong has already fought him once. Not only is he capable of lightning movement, but also a blood movement technique that hasn’t been seen before. We are incapable of blocking him. With such vast abilities, even we are unable to restrain him. Fellow Daoists, do you believe this is possible. If the request is to kill this person and seize his Golden Lightning Bamboo magic treasure, it will be much more possible.”
“Since it is so difficult to capture him, then it is acceptable to kill him.” To the old man’s surprise, the black-robed man had quickly amended his condition. The shriveled old man exchanged a glance with the other spell warriors and had a quick exchange with them through voice transmission before agreeing to the matter. Afterwards, they began to discuss the specific details of the incoming battle.
...
Master Sunreach, Wei Wuya, and a few others were having a discussion about the war in a large hall. In addition to the three great cultivators and Long Han, there were also a beautiful red-clothed woman and a bald eagle-eyed old man.
The old man’s eyes were narrowed, and he wore a glistening jade ring that was engraved with faint talisman characters. It appeared quite rare.
“Fellow Daoist Heavenvenge, this war will depend on all of us. We will draw the main forces of the spell warrior army here. In the meantime, you and your men will steal into Soaring Heavens City and take everything from the city’s resource depot. Even if the Moulan were able to make some use of it before the battle, if we draw this battle out, they will collapse without support form spirit stones or any other of their materials.” Master Sunreach smiled at the old man before him, the renowned Eccentric Heavenvenge, as if nothing unpleasant had occurred between the two of them in the past.
“So long as you are able to drag the Moulan Divine Sages to the border, it will naturally be no problem to infiltrate Soaring Heavens City. And with the transportation formation that Fellow Daoist Wei has given me, directly entering the city will prove even easier. However, my sole worry is why the Moulan would leave their resource behind in the city. Is this not a trap that was set behind for us.” The eagle-eyed old man spoke with a voice reminiscent of clacking stones. It was rather uncomfortable to hear.
Devil Concord calmly said, “Fellow Daoist Heavenvenge, please relax. According to our spies amongst the Moulan, although the Moulan Tribes have occupied the States of Feng Yuan and Ye, they have no other supply of resources; before we evacuated from those countries, we destroyed all the spirit stone mines and other material sources. In spite of the great efforts of the Moulan mortals to repair them, they weren’t able to accomplish much in such a short amount of time. As of current, they are consuming a joint reserve of spirit stones that were pooled together from each of their tribes. These spirit stones are all distributed from a secret storehouse that is guarded by a formidable grand restriction. Additionally, there are several sages guarding it for safe measure. With these measures in place, there will be enough time to transport those materials out of the storehouse before it is breached by a potential attack. It is reasonable to say that these resources are as safe as can be.”
Wei Wuya coldly smiled and said, “However, they hadn’t expected that after the many years we spent at war, we were able to place spies in their ranks as they did with ours. One of the sages guarding the safehouse is precisely one of our own. When the time comes, he will deactivate the grand formation. Fellow Daoist Heavenvenge, so long as you and your people act with discretion, we will catch them entirely unprepared.”
“You Fellow Daoists seem so certain, but I can’t help but ask what I will receive afterwards.”
Long Han answered with a smile, “Once this war is done, our four superpowers will agree to give a section of land in the State of Xu over to you. You may establish your own sect there and we will not interfere in the slightest. From then on, you will be known as a sect founder.”
“Good. Since you seem so confident, my good friends and I will make an attempt. Since it is already late, I will return first to make preparations. We’ll then set off the next day and infiltrate the State of Xu.” Eccentric Heavenvenge appeared satisfied with these conditions, but he had little intention of speaking further with them. He took his leave and soon disappeared from sight.
Devil Concord frowned and slowly said, “That eccentric has good odds of succeeding. He will be bringing those vagrant eccentrics with him as well, each of them possessing profound abilities. If the Moulan aren’t expecting it, there shouldn’t be much reason for them to fail.”
Long Han’s expression stirred and said, “Fellow Daoist Yi speaks truly. So long as we tie down the Moulan Divine Sages, Fellow Daoist Heavenvenge will most likely succeed. However, I didn’t expect that this old eccentric would want to found a sect at his age, not to mention gathering together so many vagrant cultivators to form their own faction. It comes as quite a surprise.”
Master Sunreach leisurely said, “I would say otherwise! Eccentric Heavenvenge has entered mid Nascent Soul stage for at least three hundred years. After being unable to breakthrough to late Nascent Soul stage during this time, I reckon that he has admitted failure. In this case, it is no surprise that he has become committed to something else. Being able to become the founder of a sect will gain much glory for him. However, he has made many enemies out of various large sects and is taking this opportunity to discuss terms with us. His arrival has come as unexpected reinforcements.”
“Enough. Although we have Eccentric Heavenvenge handling some subterfuge, we cannot be careless at the start of this battle. We must prevail. If we are defeated, we will not we able to stop them, regardless of whatever resources they may po
ssess.” Master Sunreach paused before continuing, “Brother Wei, will your Nine Nations Union have any problems blocking their grand spirit technique formations? This should be the spell warrior’s most common tactic for a melee.”
Wei Wuya calmly said, “In the many years we’ve fought them, we’ve gained an understanding towards spirit technique formations no less than that of their own masters. Were it not for the problem of techniques, our Nine Nations Union would’ve been able to employ spirit technique formations of our own. There is no need for Fellow Daoist Sunreach to worry over the issue.”
Master Sunreach was satisfied by his answer and then he looked at the large black-robed man.
When Devil Concord saw this, he began speaking, “Our Six Devil Dao Sects have already made preparations. Not only do we have the Controlling Spirit Sect’s three sect protecting beasts, our Harmonious Bond Sect has also made preparations to release the Dual Yin Yang Devils from their restrictions. The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Myriad Souls Formation is also ready for us. As for the others sects, they each have made various preparations of their own as well. Fellow Daoist Sunreach, have your Righteous Dao Alliance prepared killing maneuvers as well?”
“Our Righteous Dao Alliance had already started. Each sect has opened the halls of their founding ancestors, acquiring many ancient treasures of great power. They definitely won’t leave Fellow Daoist disappointed.” Master Sunreach spoke curtly, but Devil Concord nodded with a less tense expression as if already knowing of the existence of these ancient treasures.
Long Han revealed a trace of regret. “Our Heavenly Dao Union is rather lax in this regard. Our various sects have begun preparation, but there isn’t much that I specifically know about. As for our Phoenix Cry Sect, they have taken several ancient jade talismans out of storage. Their might will be quite eye-opening for the Moulan. But given all the time that has passed, their power has waned. After the battle, they will be completely exhausted.”
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 411