Chapter 702: The Fallen Battlefield
"I am Daluo Territory's Alchemy Guest Official. Refining pills is my duty," Xiao Ze said with a friendly smile. "If any of you need pills, feel free to come to me."
His approachable tone surprised the Spirit Eye Sovereign alchemy masters, especially high level ones, were rarely so affable.
As the Spirit Eye Sovereign and the Sky Vulture Sovereign exchanged polite words with Xiao Ze, even the perpetually drowsy Slumber Sovereign opened his eyes, smiling and nodding at Xiao Ze.
Xiao Ze returned the gesture, prompting a brief flicker of surprise in the Slumber Sovereign's eyes.
For someone of his strength having reached the Nine Star Sovereign level to feel even a slight pressure from Xiao Ze was astounding.
Such pressure indicated that Xiao Ze's strength could potentially rival his own a shocking realization, given Xiao Ze's status as an alchemy master. Balancing such mastery with exceptional spiritual energy cultivation was no small feat.
Mandala glanced at the group, then turned her gaze to the gathered armies below. Seeing that all the troops under the kings' command were ready, her voice rang out, imbued with an undeniable majesty.
"Daluo Territory, advance!"
Boom!
It felt as though the sky itself cracked open as countless soldiers surged forward like a massive tide of spiritual energy. They streaked across the heavens, heading toward the borders of Daluo Territory.
Elsewhere in the Northern Territories, other armies likewise took to the skies, their battle intent rolling across the land like a hurricane.
The entire region trembled under the weight of the impending Great Hunt War.
Waves of spiritual energy, charged with overwhelming battle intent, streaked across the heavens like shooting stars. It felt like the apocalypse itself loomed, as an oppressive tension settled over the land.
Their destination was the far western edge of the Northern Territories: the Fallen Battlefield.
Countless treasure hunters had once ventured into the Fallen Battlefield, drawn by its legendary inheritances. Few ever returned, leading to its reputation as a forbidden zone a land of death.
The far west was a barren land of towering peaks that pierced the heavens. Beastly roars echoed through the desolation, adding to its eerie stillness.
A hazy, bone chilling aura hung perpetually over this region, corrupting even the spiritual energy and turning it deathly cold.
At the heart of this desolation, the landscape grew even more twisted. Peaks were shattered, and the ground itself was scarred with jagged rifts.
The largest of these rifts was tens of thousands of feet wide and stretched endlessly into the distance. Its depths were pitch black, exuding an oppressive aura like the maw of the underworld itself.
From within this abyss, an unceasing wind howled, forming a barrier that separated the two realms.
Daluo Territory's forces arrived atop a shattered peak near this ominous rift. Xiao Ze gazed at the abyssal winds, his eyes narrowing slightly.
The winds were extraordinary. Accompanied by ghostly wails, they seemed to carry the echoes of ancient battles fought by legions of the dead.
All eyes turned toward the massive rift. The black winds blowing from within thinned visibly by the second.
Once the winds dispersed, the Great Hunt War would officially begin.
Within moments, the winds shattered completely.
Hum!
Xiao Ze felt an eruption of battle intent ripple through the air, as though the heavens themselves responded to the event.
Mandala's commanding voice echoed across the battlefield.
"Let the hunt begin!"
The armies of Daluo Territory surged forward, converging into a massive, dragon like formation that charged into the abyss.
Around them, countless other armies and factions did the same, flooding into the rift like a tidal wave.
This was the gathering of the Northern Territories' most elite forces, all drawn by the promise of the inheritances and treasures hidden within the Fallen Battlefield.
Xiao Ze followed Daluo Territory's forces into the abyss.
As soon as he entered, a cold, oppressive aura enveloped him. But before he could even activate his spiritual energy to defend himself, the aura stopped at the surface of his body, unable to penetrate further.
The Spirit Eye Sovereign noticed this and offered an explanation with a smile.
"Lord Xiao Ze, countless experts fell in this battlefield, and their lingering death will has tainted the spiritual energy here. It's an invisible force, but it can invade one's body and corrode spiritual energy, causing severe damage."
Her tone shifted slightly, "However, you likely won't have an issue. Death will is especially vulnerable to forces of extreme yang or flame. As an alchemist, I imagine you wield a Heavenly Flame, which should protect you."
Xiao Ze smiled and nodded, appreciating the clarification.
"Thank you, Spirit Eye Sovereign, for explaining."
In truth, his formidable physique alone made it almost impossible for such death will to breach his defenses.
Surveying the battlefield, Xiao Ze observed the dark red plains stretching into the horizon. The ground seemed permanently stained by the blood of countless ancient warriors, crisscrossed with jagged rifts like scars on the earth.
Scattered across the plain were the skeletal remains of fallen experts from the Great Thousand World. Not a single trace of the extraterritorial evil race's bodies could be seen.
Xiao Ze knew why. The corpses of the evil race disintegrated into corpse miasma, a toxic energy that polluted spiritual energy, rendering it unusable for the Great Thousand World's cultivators.
This was the irreconcilable divide between the two forces: the evil race sought to corrupt the Great Thousand World's spiritual energy, destroying cultivation at its source.
If the world's spiritual energy was fully polluted, resistance would become impossible.
This was why coexistence with the extraterritorial evil race was utterly impossible.
As Xiao Ze reflected, Mandala issued her orders to Daluo Territory's kings: collect as many Fallen Source Pills as possible to unlock the Sky Sovereign's hidden treasures.
The faction's elite forces, including Mandala, Xiao Ze, and the three Sovereigns, would venture into the depths of the battlefield to locate the Sky Sovereign's inheritance.
As Xiao Ze joined their advance, the remaining troops and kings couldn't help but exchange puzzled looks.
Why was the revered alchemist accompanying them into the battlefield's depths?
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