Time flew quickly. It had been a month since Li Fuchen returned from the Mystic Martial Hidden Domain.
During this one month, Li Fuchen's cultivation had finally made some progress. He might not have broken through to the 9th level of the Earth Realm, but he had reached the peak state of the 8th level of the Earth Realm.
As Li Fuchen had consumed cultivation pills in order to participate in the Stars Ranking Tournament, his cultivation speed would more or less be affected. According to normal situations, he would need a very long time in order to reach the peak state of the 8th level of the Earth Realm.
Fortunately, Li Fuchen's spirit soul had evolved into the blue spirit soul and his True Inferno Technique had broken through to the 18th rank, which purified his qi, doubling the effectiveness and neutralizing the side effects of the cultivation pills. Otherwise, Li Fuchen would have required at least one or two more months to increase his cultivation to the peak state of the 8th level of the Earth Realm.
"Too slow, too slow. It would be great if I have something like the Earth-Shattering Fruit which doesn't have any side effects." Li Fuchen was still unsatisfied with his cultivation progress.
He reckoned that if he was a 5-star or 6-star bone frame, he would have already reached the Heaven Realm.
One's bone frame represented one's cultivation speed. Li Fuchen's increase in cultivation speed was due to his cultivation technique rank, which was because of his exceptional perception. If he had a higher grade bone frame to complement that, his cultivation speed would increase by several folds.
In the blink of an eye, two more weeks had flown by.
Li Fuchen's Bronze Sword Essence was at 50% completion, meaning that his Black Iron Sword Essence was left with 50%.
This caused the black iron sword qi to suffer a great decline, while the bronze sword qi was greatly boosted.
After all, only the complete form of the Black Iron Sword Essence could transmute a complete form of black iron sword qi.
Back at the Stars Ranking Tournament, Li Fuchen would probably be able to defeat Situ Lei if he had the complete form of the Black Iron Sword Essence.
***
Azure Water Region, Iron Mountain City…
On this day, plenty of black-robed people had arrived in Iron Mountain City. These black-robed people were emitting a demonic qi presence, they were obviously Evil Dao practitioners.
Hundreds of thousands numbering in the population in Iron Mountain City, including the city lord, had all been gathered in a spacious land outside the city. There was a giant array that had been set up on the spacious land, which looked extremely complex and sinister. The Iron Mountain City Lord, who was at the 8th level of the Earth Realm had on this miserably pale expression. He knew that there wasn't going to be a good conclusion now that they had fallen into the hands of the Evil Dao practitioners. From the looks of it, the opposition had a grand scheme.
"Hall Master, the array can be activated now." A black-robed man moved over to another black-robed man with a dog mask and whispered.
The dog-masked man waved his hand, "Activate the array."
Complying to his orders, a few hundred black-robed individuals standing by the edge of the array all swung their hands, cutting off hundreds of Origin Realm martial artists' heads. In an instant, hundreds of streams of fresh blood sprayed out.
When the fresh blood splattered on the ground it wasn't absorbed by the ground, but by the array instead. The originally serene array suddenly emitted a blood-color fluctuation and the lines of the array was filled with the color of blood.
"Don't kill me!"
"Someone save me, I still want to live!"
"Damn Evil Dao people. There will be one day where all of you shall be eradicated!"
Hundreds of thousands of people within the array were all begging for mercy or cursing. It was an extremely miserable sight.
After hearing the voices of these people, the black-robed people all sneered with malevolent expressions on their faces.
Visible to the eye, the residents of Iron Mountain City who were in the array, all started to wither as a massive amount of blood was being drawn out and into the array. The array was getting stronger and the blood fluctuation felt as though it was going to stir up the wind and clouds. This spacious land felt as though it had turned into a human world purgatory and was extremely bloody.
"Bastards! Stop right now!"
Right at this moment, five figures crossed the sky while the leader of the group brandished his longsword. A boundless sword qi was slashed at the blood-red array.
"Patrol Elder?" The dog-masked man flashed and appeared in front of the sword qi. His right hand formed a claw and grasped the sword qi.
Crackle!
The sword qi was shattered.
Inside the blood-red array…
"It's a Patrol Elder. We are finally saved."
The Iron Mountain City Lord let out a breath of relief. He was at the 8th level of the Earth Realm, which allowed him to resist a little longer, at most suffering some damage to his vitality. As for the rest of the people who were below the Earth Realm, they were already in a coma or dead.
"Such a powerful ability."
The Patrol Elder who arrived was Xu Wansong, who was at the 8th level of the Heaven Realm. During these years, he had yet to meet an Evil Dao practitioner who could block a single sword from him.
"You better stop the array or my Azure Water Sect will let you die without any burial grounds." Xu Wansong spoke in a stern voice.
The dog-masked man spoke with disdain, "You better worry about yourself!"
"Courting death! The four of you, hurry up and go destroy the array."
Xu Wansong was enraged. He instructed the four other middle-level Heaven Realm martial artists to destroy the array, while he personally dealt with the dog-masked man.
"Understood!" The four individuals all skimmed towards the blood-red array.
"Stop them!"
With a wave of the dog-masked man's hand, eight black-robed men with ferocious qi presences rushed from the group to stop the four individuals.
Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang…
The exchange of moves between Heaven Realm martial artists was extremely horrific. A sword qi flew out and slashed apart the city walls of the Iron Mountain City, causing shards of rocks to fly out randomly. When a black claw shadow flew out, the city gate of Iron Mountain City instantly exploded and collapsed.
"Azure Water Sword Art, Thousand Mountain Multitude Water!"
The sword art that Xu Wansong cultivated was one of the two best sword arts in the Azure Water Sect, the Azure Water Sword Art.
Once the Azure Water Sword Art was executed, layers of sword lights smashed down at the dog-masked man like thousands of mountains and floods of water.
"Soul Splitting Claw!"
Facing against Xu Wansong's Azure Water Sword Art, the dog-masked man brandished his claws. The sharp claw light was like the devil's claw which looked like a black whirlwind that tore the air apart violently.
There was a ferocious qi explosion, which caused Xue Wansong and the dog-masked man to back off respectively.
"Blood God Thrust!"
Right at this moment, the dog-masked man suddenly had an additional blood-red pearl on his left hand. There was a blood-red surge that suddenly gushed into the body from the pearl. In the next moment, the dog-masked man thrust at Xu Wansong with his finger.
Pfff!
An extremely condensed blood-red sting instantly pierced through Xu Wansong's shoulder, which immediately caused it to withered a little.
"What?!" Xu Wansong was appalled.
His enemy's ability was about the same level as his, but with that blood-red pearl, his cultivation seemingly soared to the peak level of the Heaven Realm. If this was the case, how would Xu Wansong be a match for the enemy?
"Damn it."
Xu Wansong took a glance at the blood-red array. Right now, apart from the Iron Mountain City Lord and a few others, everyone else had already been turned into dried corpses. They were already utterly dead and there was no meaning in breaking the array.
"Withdraw!"
Xu Wansong suppressed the anguish in his heart and yelled out.
Hearing his orders, the four Azure Water Sect's Heaven Realm martial artists who were in a pathetic state immediately retreated one after the other. They too understood that if they continued the battle, they were all going to perish here. It was unknown where all these Evil Dao practitioners came from, but they were all too ferocious.
"Who said you can go. Blood God Thrust!"
The dog-masked man flicked his finger two times, instantly killing two of the Azure Water Sect's members. Only Xu Wansong and two other Heaven Realm martial artists managed to escape in the end.
The dog-masked man didn't chase after them, as it was a huge burden for him to use the blood-red pearl's power. Furthermore, it would disrupt his mind.
"We are finished."
In the blood-red array, the Iron Mountain City Lord's body withered swiftly and there was no longer any qi presence left.
At this moment, the blood-red array was revolving to the extremity with blinding blood-red fluctuations. But soon enough, the flourishing blood-red fluctuations started to shrink and condensed four blood-red pearls in the center of the array.
The blood-red pearls were exactly the same as the blood-red pearl in the dog-masked man's hand.
At the same moment, several cities and hundreds of towns in the Azure Water Region all suffered the same miserable fate. A thick and intensive qi presence of death permeated throughout the lands.
***
Azure Water Sect… Azure Water Grand Hall.
After hearing Xu Wansong's report, Ouyang Wentian had an extremely awful expression.
This was obviously an organized operation. It seemed like the Evil Dao forces weren't intending to stay hidden in the dark any longer.
"Go invite the Supreme Elders and the Protectors over."
This matter was very serious and Ouyang Wentian didn't dare to be complacent about.
In a moment's notice, the four Supreme Elders and two Protectors were all gathered in the Azure Water Grand Hall.
The Azure Water Sect had a total of seven Reincarnation Realm martial artists. They were the Sect Patriarch Ouyang Wentian, the four Supreme Elders, and the two Protectors. They were the pillars of the Azure Water Sect and the foundations for the Azure Water Sect to stand in the East Unicorn Continent.
After explaining the situation to the six individuals, Ouyang Wentian said, "The Evil Dao's ashes have burned once more. I’m afraid that they are not only wreaking havoc in the Azure Water Region. Left Protector, you will head for the Heaven Fiend Region. Right Protector, you will head for the Violent Saber Region. Check and see if the Evil Dao is also wreaking havoc there.”
“Yes, Sect Patriarch.” The Left and Right Protector nodded.
“Supreme Elders, I might have to trouble the four of you now. The Azure Water Region is in turmoil and if we do not harden ourselves to suppress it, it is uncertain what else is going to happen.”
As the Sect Patriarch, Ouyang Wentian had to oversee the entire Azure Water Sect and must not venture out recklessly. He had no choice but to hand these matters to the four Supreme Elders.
Ouyang Tie said, "This old man has not ventured out for a long time. My body is already rusty. Since the Evil Dao is here, how can we let them leave unscathed?"
"That's right. After becoming Reincarnation Realm martial artists, I, Old Liang haven't slaughtered in many years." The Supreme Elder with the clan name Liang emitted a killing qi.
These were all Reincarnation Realm martial artists who were experienced veterans. What kind of scenario had they not witness before?
Nodded his head, Ouyang Wentian gave an order to an inner sect elder, "Send down the orders. Ask all inner sect elders to come and see me."
It was impossible to rely only on Reincarnation Realm martial artists to control the whole Azure Water Region. The Azure Water Region was just too vast and without sufficient manpower, the Evil Dao's forces would already have hidden by the time the Reincarnation Realm martial artists arrived.
In an instant, the Azure Water Sect's atmosphere was very severe, even the disciples could feel the sense of pressure.
"What is going on?"
Li Fuchen who had an acute awareness detected it easily. It seemed like a huge incident had happened in the Azure Water Region.
As the Azure Water Sect was having a commotion, the other regions in the East Unicorn Continent weren't in peace either. The Evil Dao's forces emerged in rapid succession and were extremely brutal which enraged everyone.
But these Evil Dao's forces seemed to be in a common understanding, as they didn't go provoking the top ten elite factions in the East Unicorn Continent.
But it was rather logical, as the top ten factions had numerous Reincarnation Realm martial artists and they had several folds more Heaven Realm martial artists too. A huge price had to be paid if they were to wreak havoc in their territories. It was currently in the initial phase and the Evil Dao's forces naturally wouldn't be so reckless.