Chapter 520 Part 2

Chapter 520 Part 2: The Last Immortal Gate in the Mortal World (2)

And at this moment, Qiao Huo appears on the battlefield.

He has not done anything yet, and has not joined the battle; he has just arrived.

He does not need to take action, and there is no need to use the human skin drum to boost morale; the martial artists from Jiu Province surrounding the Soul Predicting Path are already completely excited.

In the fierce battle, Li Changshi and the three thousand soldiers of the Immortal Slaying Army are now standing in front of the mountain gate of the Soul Predicting Path.

Previously, when he heard that a member of the Qiao family returned to Jiu Province, the Inhuman War had already reached the stage of a great counterattack. Li Changshi led the three thousand Immortal Slaying Army in Southeast Province and could not leave.

Although he learned through the Spiritual Sound Conducting Technique that Qiao Huo had appeared in Dong Province and at the Peach Blossom Villa in Nan Province, it was only at this moment that he and his soldiers would meet the Qiao family member again after fifty years.

"I didn’t expect that there would really be a day to see the Qiao family member again; it has been such a long time…"

Li Changshi stood side by side with Hai Siyuan, watching the banners flying and the soldiers gathering behind them, momentarily speechless.

Nearly a hundred years ago, during the first Inhuman War, they were still young men, surrounded by as many as one hundred thousand comrades.

Having one hundred thousand soldiers does not mean much to an Immortal Gate cultivator, as those one hundred thousand soldiers perished in the Hundred-mile Desert.

More than fifty years ago, only three hundred old white-headed soldiers remained beside them in the lonely city.

Although they still had the will to fight against the Immortal Gate, just having the will could not defeat the inhuman foe; those three hundred white-headed soldiers were already at the end of their road.

Their hearts were willing, but their strength was not enough.

Today, the Immortal Slaying Army led by Li Changshi has grown to three thousand people.

However, the more than three hundred white-headed soldiers in the lonely city had mostly died in battle over the past fifty years, and now only fewer than a hundred old soldiers survive.

"Brothers, do you still remember the lonely city in the Hundred-mile Desert?"

Li Changshi raised his battle knife high, a sharp cold light gleaming in his eyes.

A skillful woman cannot cook without rice; merely having the will does not solve the problem… It was then that members of the Qiao family came into the desert, teaching them the "Xumi Mountain King Sutra" and telling them that a group called the "Immortal Slaying Army" had arrived!

Fifty years later.

They became the Immortal Slaying Army.

At this moment, the three thousand old soldiers’ armor shone brightly, reflecting shimmering light under the sunset, their battle blades cold and sharp like the moon.

Besides these three thousand men, there were the South King’s mountain army, the court soldiers from Zhong Province, the Flying Fish Guard, Xue Changhe and his sons from the Xue family, Wu Mingkong and other top martial artists from the Wuji Association…

"Fifty years ago, we had the will but lacked the strength."

"Today, all martial artists in the world are like brothers; how can we let the Qiao family take the lead?"

"Every step we have taken to reach today is not just the work of a few extraordinary strong warriors, but the result of countless people over hundreds of years."

"Today, a single drop of water has become a river, and many rivers have gathered to form the sea."

"Today, we will strike against the immortals!"

The three thousand Immortal Slaying Army marched forward together, amidst the dazzling blades, thick blood energy formed a faint armor around them.

Li Changshi and Hai Siyuan stood side by side, almost at the same time unleashing sharp blades of light that crossed each other to form a shining cross slicing through the sky.

"Strike!"

"Kill!"

Not only the three thousand Immortal Slaying Army led by Li Changshi.

Xue Changhe, Qiao Feixian, and other extraordinary warriors who had just arrived had already made their move.

Amidst the spreading blood light, figures from Xue Changhe’s memories reappeared—his elders and younger ones who had died beside him decades ago, now fighting side by side with him once more.

An illusory river stretched across the sky, with countless sword lights shimmering like waves, turning into a Sky Piercing Sword River.

A great halberd transformed into a long shadow of a spear, crashing down from above.

With a loud boom.

The misty Soul Predicting Path shook violently, the mountain gates shattered, and the Mountain Protection Formation had now failed.

The cultivators defending the formation suffered serious injuries, blood pouring from their mouths and noses.

But at this moment.

The figure of the Soul Predicting Path sect leader finally appeared.

At this moment, the Mountain Protection Formation had collapsed, and the sect leader had reached a point where he needed to fight personally, yet his face still showed no clear signs of emotion.

Shaoyang Taoist Lord stood behind him.

He was the last surviving Soul Changing cultivator in the Soul Predicting Path.

Others like Shaoyin Taoist Lord and a few others had already died one after another, their wings cut off.

"Step by step, it has come to this moment, hasn’t it?"

At this moment, the leader of the Soul Predicting Path sect still showed no joy or sadness.

This made everyone feel a bit uneasy.

In the past, the Soul Predicting Path was known for its divination skills within the Nine Immortal Gates, while its strength ranked in the middle among the Immortal Gates.

However, this Immortal Gate, originally in the middle, managed to avoid disaster for three years as the Qiao family swept through Jiu Province, thanks to its skill in predicting fortunes and misfortunes, and ultimately came out on top.

With this, the leader of the Soul Predicting Path gathered many followers and became the first cultivator in Jiu Province’s grand world to reach the Tao Achieving Stage in ten thousand years.

However, this sect reacted very strangely. When the Long Life Gate was under siege and about to fall, they almost watched from the sidelines as Li Changshi and others worked together to hold them back.

When something unusual happens, there must be a reason, just like how the Soul Predicting Path did not join the five major Immortal Gates in attacking the Nan Province Peach Blossom Villa back then; their behavior certainly has its reasons.

Yet until this moment, Li Changshi and the others could not see even the slightest hint of emotion on the leader of the Soul Predicting Path’s face.

"A Tao Achieving Stage cultivator." On the Sky Boat, the figure of Immortal Diyuan appeared. She nodded and commented:

"Even in the ancient times when spiritual energy was strong, a Tao Achieving Stage cultivator was not an insignificant character. A Tao Achieving Stage cultivator who can move freely in the declining spiritual energy of the Jiu Province world is quite formidable."

"Qiao Huo, my friend, are you really not going to intervene?"

Qiao Feixian was very close, and at this moment Immortal Diyuan also wanted to quickly end this turmoil, to see if he could awaken the past wisdom of Empress Reincarnation.

"No need," Qiao Mu said, lowering his eyes.

"This time, I will just watch from the sidelines."

The small spark from fifty years ago has now become a raging fire.

After fifty years, he wanted to see what this great fire looked like.

Immortal Diyuan hesitated to speak, "I still feel that something is not right."

She felt a sudden impulse that something was amiss, but upon careful investigation, she found nothing unusual.

After all, she is no longer the True Immortal of the past. Now, she exists as part of the Immortal Boat, in the form of a spirit, and is not as strong as she was at her peak.

……………………..

"Even a member of the Qiao family has come?" The leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect naturally noticed Qiao Mu’s arrival.

But he was only surprised for a moment; then he calmed down and regained his composure.

This is unusual.

If the leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect is the only human cultivator in ten thousand years to reach the Tao Achieving Stage, claiming to be on par with the ancient ancestors.

However, the so-called Immortal Gate ancestor has actually been killed by Qiao Mu.

No one knows what happened in the Return Ruins, but that Patriarch Lingyuan of the Great Dao Sect indeed died at the hands of Qiao Yao in front of many witnesses.

The leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect was unusually calm.

But the martial artists in the world would not give up their attack just because of his calmness.

Hmph!

A fiery red figure pierced through the sky, as if igniting the heavens.

Amid the crimson flames, a graceful figure appeared, holding a long spear and sprouting two wings—the Undead Demon King Qing Li.

Since the Feather King Qin Li perished in the flood of Linhe City in Southwest Province, her enmity with cultivators transformed into the obsession of Qing Li, taking the form of Jingwei.

During these fifty years, she faced death many times on the battlefield, and her obsession only grew deeper with each death.

Therefore, at the very moment the leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect appeared, she had already moved.

"Jingwei fills the sea!"

Within the fiery red glow, an ethereal flame blazed around her, creating a scene like a sunset burning through the sky, possessing a strange beauty, as if a blazing red sun was rushing toward the ocean, trying to evaporate the sea completely.

Trained by the Spear Saint, the Undead Demon King Qing Li now stands at the peak of martial arts in Jiu Province.

Almost at the same time, a heavy spear flew through the sky.

"Desperate Strategy: Flying Immortal Spear."

Qiao Feixian moved at this moment; her long spear shot out like an arrow piercing the air.

"It seems I really raised a tiger to harm me," said the leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect, lowering his eyelids. Behind him, a towering figure like a small mountain appeared, embodying the Six Armed Divine Man, which swatted the Flying Immortal Spear away.

The divine figure stretched its arms across the sky, its hands transformed into massive shadows crashing down, one aimed at Qiao Feixian and the other at the flying Demon King Qing Li.

This divine body originally belonged to the special techniques of Qingxuan Road in Bei Province, but after the Nine Heavenly Immortal Gates fell, it mysteriously appeared in the hands of the Soul Predicting Pathsect leader.

The divine figure behind him was actually the divine body of the "Yanshen Great Taoist Lord." In the time when only two Immortal Gates remained in Jiu Province, Yanshen Great Taoist Lord gathered the essence of Jiu Province, and the divine body was strong enough to rival a Tao Achieving Stage cultivator.

However, just as his enormous hand was about to envelop Qiao Feixian, it suddenly tilted for some reason, landing in a vacant space and smashing a floating pavilion into pieces.

The leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect looked down, and saw, under the giant hand of the illusory divine body, the figure of Wu Mingkong had appeared at some unknown time.

"With many skills, this is the strength of Hua!"

Wu Mingkong’s lips curled up, and from the corner of her eye, she intentionally caught a glimpse of Qiao Mu watching from a distance.

She was no longer young; she had become a renowned martial arts giant in Jiu Province for decades, known as the Wuji Empress.

Yet, in front of her former mentor, she still seemed like the young girl from back then.

In the past, family members of the Qiao family, including the Master of Peach Blossom Villa, Qiao Xin, repeatedly made it difficult for Wu Mingkong, the greatest talent of Jiu Province, leaving her heart with deep shadows.

These days, she still unconsciously showed off her skills in front of the elders of the Qiao family, like a child proudly displaying a straight stick they had just picked up.

"…You are so strong," Qiao Mu said, praising her under the corner of her eye.

Inside, he felt no waves, as if there were no emotions of joy or sadness flowing anymore.

But he knew he should respond, so he still opened his mouth to praise.

"Boring," the leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect said with a serious face.

He changed his shape, and surprisingly, a second leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect wearing a black robe stepped out from him.

This was actually a dharma body… Qiao Mu’s eyes flickered.

He had even killed Mahayana Stage ancestors, but none of the ancestors who died at his hands had a dharma body, not even a few Mahayana cultivators.

Only Patriarch Qingmu of Qingxuan Road had refined a fragrant divine body that could match a dharma body.

This does not mean that the leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect surpassed those Immortal Gate ancestors.

Instead, the spiritual energy of the small world in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths is limited, and in the end, it is not as rich as the great world, making it hard for the dharma body to exist for a long time.

But the leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect in the great world of Jiu Province is different.

The power of a cultivator is not only based on their own skills and magic but also on the resources they possess.

As the only Tao Achieving Stage cultivator in the great world of Jiu Province, the leader of the Soul Predicting Path sect absorbed the other Immortal Gates and used their remaining resources to create a dharma body and a divine spirit body.

Although the dharma body and divine spirit body are not as powerful as the true form of a Tao Achieving Stage cultivator, they have already surpassed the limits of the Soul Changing Stage.

"True form, dharma body, divine spirit body, three in one," said the leader of the Soul Predicting Path sect in a deep voice.

"With the abundant resources of Jiu Province, I have reached the Tao Achieving Stage. Now, as three in one, I can hold my ground even against the ancestors of other Immortal Gates returning."

"I should be able to show my strength, roam freely among people, and make the Soul Predicting Path the only Immortal Gate…"

At that moment, he seemed like an immortal standing on the clouds, with a majestic figure behind him blocking the blazing fire in the sky, while the dharma body made hand gestures to summon dark clouds.

Earth Sword Immortal stood under the dark clouds, and the wooden sword at his waist trembled slightly, making a serious voice:

"Three in one is equivalent to three formidable enemies above the Soul Changing Stage, which is indeed tricky."

Nowadays, the Earth Sword Immortal and Lu Yanbei share one body and two souls. When one is in control of the body, the other can only temporarily become a sword.

At this moment, the one in control of the body is the Earth Sword Immortal, and the wooden sword represents Lu Yanbei.

"Indeed," the Earth Sword Immortal said casually.

"He has three bodies, which means he has three heads."

"And we will have at least six people on our side. With just these three heads, how can we divide? It’s too difficult!"

Six people… Lu Yanbei felt a bit puzzled.

But in the Soul Predicting Path battlefield, shrouded in dark clouds, a broad-shouldered figure had appeared out of nowhere.

He stood beneath a collapsed tower, his long red hair blowing in the wind, surrounded by a group of fallen cultivators.

Strangely, the ground was covered with a layer of pale pink flesh carpet, wriggling as if it were alive, covering the bodies of the cultivators.

"Wu Qizheng, you really have come." The leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect had a blank expression.

Even though his power had reached the Tao Achieving Stage, equal to the great ancestors, in this vast world of Jiu Province, he was still not invincible and could not sweep through Jiu Province like the Qiao family members of the past.

"Since it is the battlefield of the Immortal Gate, I will not be absent," Wu Qizheng said slowly.

Except for the "One Ancestor," one Saint and five extraordinary beings had already gathered on this battlefield.

Besides them, Qiao Mu was watching from a distance.

Yet, even so, the leader of the Soul Predicting Pathsect remained calm, as if he did not care about the danger he was in, astonishingly composed.

In the distance, Qiao Mu was taking it all in.

He felt a slight emotion in his heart.

The God of War returns, finds his daughter living in a doghouse, and his old allies being bullied. In a fit of anger, he gathers his old allies to sweep through the world… this kind of story is already an old tale.

When the battle-worn warrior returned, he truly realized that life on earth was not easy for the past fifty years. His old friends struggled to survive and suffered greatly from the ravages of war. The hardships of the world were even worse than when he was still present.

But fifty years later, there was no place for him to fight.

The old comrades, disciples, and younger generations who once followed him had grown into towering trees through their long hardships.

This time, he was not the main leader in the spotlight but a witness standing beside the leader, a bystander who was shocked by the events.

"Well, that’s not so bad," Qiao Mu crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"Perhaps there is no place for me to fight in this world anymore. There’s no need for a fearless member of the Qiao family to jump out, how nice…"

…

PS: Book recommendation.

Master, you said you would only take me as your disciple.

In the world of broken steel, Nan Zhu suffers from "Collapse Disease." To survive, he must find a way to deal with this affliction that targets men.

It is said that playing the "Disciple Raising Plan" game can cure Collapse Disease.

Everyone has crossed over, and you still want me to play a game?

Thinking that since he is already here, why not give it a try, Nan Zhu started the game.

"Jing Liu, the city of Cangcheng has fallen, and very few people have survived. I don’t know what you saw, but I don’t want you to live in the shadows."

"I will teach you a set of Taixu Sword Techniques, which can cut down abundant monsters."

"Jing Liu, I can only teach you this much. The path ahead, you must walk on your own."

……

"Master, didn’t you say that in this life, you would only take Jing Liu as your disciple?"

"Is that so? But I can only live once in my life."