Pei Xuanjing's voice echoed across the sky!
He swung his sword, displaying a divine authority like a prison, passing judgment on all living things. Wherever the sword light passed, it turned into a vacuum as if it were an azure sword descending from heaven, seemingly like a white rainbow piercing the sun.
"No!"
The Howling Moon Gray Wolf, who was charging forward to tear Pei Xuanjing apart, saw this sword attack. Fear and panic burst into its eyes. It had thought that this human's power had already reached its peak.
However, this human had shattered its understanding once again, unleashing a sword attack that was even more terrifying than before. Facing this sword, it could clearly feel the presence of death.
It could not withstand this sword!
This was the Howling Moon Gray Wolf's instinctual response. It wanted to flee, but found that it was utterly locked by this sword and had nowhere to run.
The next moment, the sword light shimmered across the sky, it was as if the sword had filled the world, obliterating all senses.
By the time everyone's senses had recovered, all they could see was the huge Howling Moon Gray Wolf, its eyes filled with intense regret and disbelief, all vitality lost. Its massive body crashed onto the ground, causing a huge dust cloud.
Everyone's face revealed shock that they could not hide. The Great Demons were even more incredulous. They could not understand how His Highness Wolf King, such a powerful being, could be so easily killed by a human. It was something they simply could not accept.
Moreover, they felt that if even His Highness Wolf King, a powerful figure like him, was killed by this human, they would be powerless to resist him.
A few of the Great Demons could not help but regret in their hearts, having been duped by General Bei and needlessly risking their lives…
With such a terrifyingly strong figure here, these Great Demons were hesitant about even running away. They feared drawing his attention and losing their lives. Yet, if they stayed motionless, maybe they would be overlooked and spared.
However, at this moment, they suddenly realized that the human did not seem to be in great shape.
Indeed, Pei Xuanjing's condition was not good. If it had been his real body that had made that sword attack, although it would have consumed a lot, it wouldn't have too much impact.
But the truth was that this was just his incarnation. He had fully burned his spirit, vitality, and essence to the utmost, and while this allowed him to kill the Howling Moon Gray Wolf with that one sword, this incarnation could no longer withstand it and was about to disappear.
He waved his hand and the Three-Five Yin-Yang Evil-Slaying Sword flew out from him and returned to the hands of the old heavenly master.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this incarnation of mine is about to dissipate. The situation from now on is up to you." He said to the crowd.
"Rest assured, National Teacher."
"Don't worry, Brother Pei."
"Please rest assured, True Person."
Only after seeing the majestic Pei Xuanjing, did others finally react and promise to take charge.
Pei Xuanjing addressed the mysterious Mr. Wu: "When this matter is settled, you are welcome to visit Shenxiao Mountain."
He was very interested in the trades proposed by Mr. Wu, so he invited him to Shenxiao Mountain. If Mr. Wu really could present something that interested him, then there would be no harm in agreeing to the trade.
"Alright, once this matter is dealt with, I, Wu, will surely visit Shenxiao Mountain." Mr. Wu nodded his agreement.
Pei Xuanjing nodded in return. He then sent a telepathic message to the old heavenly master and Taoist Qingxu to instruct them about certain matters. Following that, his incarnation disintegrated into countless blood mists, even the clothes he was wearing turned into tiny particles and scattered in the wind.
Watching Pei Xuanjing depart, the crowd didn't feel much sorrow.
After all, only Pei Xuanjing's incarnation was lost. His true body was still intact and not much harmed.
They didn't have the time to think about other things now. After all, while the Howling Moon Gray Wolf had been killed by Pei Xuanjing, there were still many Great Demons in the Spirit Realm alive.
Ridding the world of evil is a must. Even though they couldn't stop the Demon Race from continuing to descend into the Sky Wasteland, slaying these Great Demons could still bring about a temporary period of stability. This would definitely be beneficial to all parties.
"Gentlemen, it's time to make your move!" Mr. Wu said.
Since Pei Xuanjing had invited him to discuss collaboration at Shenxiao Mountain, he was not willing to waste any more time here. Therefore, he took the initiative to urge everyone to make a move, deal with things quickly, and then head to Shenxiao Mountain.
After all, his matters were urgent and of great importance. The more time he wasted, the more unfavorable it would be to him.
"Alright!"
The crowd nodded.
Since Pei Xuanjing had dealt with the Howling Moon Gray Wolf, they could not lag behind too much, lest they appear too disgraceful.
The nine of them made their move, heading towards the Great Demons to slay them.
Originally, these nine and the Great Demons were almost evenly matched. If the two sides truly fought, the outcome would be uncertain as those Great Demons had their own extraordinary cards up their sleeves.
However, there was this mysterious Mr. Wu. Once he stopped observing from the sidelines and chose to act, the outcome was already decided.
While they were engaged in a fierce fight, Pei Xuanjing, who was originally in seclusion at Shenxiao Mountain, also woke up.
Feeling the dissolution of his incarnation, his countenance slightly changed. However, when he fully absorbed the information conveyed by the incarnation, a trace of a smile arose on his lips: "If this assumption is correct, then the fall of this incarnation is actually worth it."
Blood and flesh proliferation, the divine ability of External Incarnation, even though it can use one's own blood and flesh to condense an extraordinary flesh body, it is not without any restrictions.
According to the explanation of the Xuan King and his own attempts, every time he condensed an incarnation, it was a major consumption. Unless this divine ability was cultivated to the level of grand perfection, it was very difficult to fully compensate for this consumption, which would also have a significant impact on the strength of the true body.
To fully compensate for it, one would either need to merge the incarnation back into the true body, or spend a very long time and countless heavenly and earthly treasures to nourish and repair oneself after the incarnation is dissipated.
Now, this was precisely Pei Xuanjing's situation. He had just differentiated this incarnation, so it naturally had a considerable impact on the power of his true body. He originally thought his incarnation would be capable of handling all matters in the present Daming World without any accidents.
Unexpectedly, the first time he took action, he encountered a demon king of such power as the Howling Moon Gray Wolf, causing his incarnation to dissolve, and his power to be damaged.
Normally, this kind of loss would certainly make Pei Xuanjing regretful, thinking that he should have used his true body to handle the situation, then he wouldn't have suffered so much damage.
But after he fully understood the information conveyed by the disintegrating incarnation, Pei Xuanjing didn't feel that way. During his incarnation's fight with the Howling Moon Gray Wolf, he had some insights and guesses about his cultivation. If those were correct, it would be of great benefit to Pei Xuanjing's cultivation, greatly surpassing the value of this incarnation.
"Golden Core Dao, I hadn't expected that this encounter would allow me a glimpse of the possible Golden Core Dao." A smile appeared on Pei Xuanjing's face, as he hadn't expected such a gain from this experience.
Indeed, during Pei Xuanjing's clash with the Howling Moon Wolf King, he had inadvertently caught a glimpse of the profound intricacy of the Golden Core Dao due to fortunate coincidences.
The Golden Core Dao is the most fundamental and superior cultivation method in the Taoist School, but it is also the most secretive one, not to be easily revealed.
Even among the various sects of the Taoist School, the cultivation methods of the Golden Core Dao are unique to each, and no one can glimpse another's practice of the Golden Core Dao.
Furthermore, with the departure of the ancient forces, the remaining powers have almost completely lost this cultivation method. Pei Xuanjing had tried to probe it, only to reap scant rewards and fragmentary information.
But Pei Xuanjing has memories of his previous life and a rudimentary understanding of the Golden Core Dao. Coupled with the fragmentary information and the research from some of the Taoist School's classics and skills, he has roughly summarized some points.
"The Golden Core is the fusion of the essence, qi, and spirit into an inner alchemy, which undergoes constant tempering, resulting in a change endowed with indestructible golden properties and an unyielding nature, only then can it be referred to as the Golden Core," Pei Xuanjing recalled his understanding of the Golden Core.
Although he cultivates the three ways of Refining Essence, Refining Qi, and Refining Spirit, he had once thought of combining the three to cultivate inner alchemy and follow the most orthodox Golden Core Dao of the Taoist School.
But later, with the birth of the Yin Spirit, the power of the three methods became different, making him believe that he could no longer tread this path, so he temporarily put it aside.
However, coincidentally this time, his incarnation is only at the Spirit Realm Third Level, the Way of Essence Refinement is at the Spirit Realm Third Level, the Path of Qi Refinement is at the Spirit Realm Third Level, and the way of Refining Spirit is at the Spirit Realm Second Layer. The gap between these three aspects narrowed considerably compared to his true body.
Just at the moment when Pei Xuanjing finally killed the Howling Moon Gray Wolf, he had burned and sublimated all his essence, qi, and spirit to the extreme state. Due to the suppression of Heaven and Earth in that situation, the power of his three essence, qi, and spirit, no matter what, the strongest state had a limit and the difference was negligible.
Therefore, when he launched the Shenxiao Heavenly Will Sword, the essence, qi, and spirit rotated and merged somewhat at that moment, showing signs and possibilities of fusion, but did not ultimately succeed due to a slight shortfall in the Yin Spirit power.
Even without success, it undoubtedly gave Pei Xuanjing a hint that his true body's strength cannot condense the Golden Core due to cultivation of three ways, but if the strength of the three methods is balanced, it may be feasible.
"Moreover, I can choose to attempt using only a portion of my essence, qi, and spirit force, and let my incarnation take the risks. Even if it fails, the loss won't be significant, but if it succeeds, the gains will be tremendous," thought Pei Xuanjing.
The Golden Core, although named as a pill, is not an actual inner alchemy condensed within the body, but rather a representation of the perfect integration of essence, qi, and spirit.
If he can successfully cultivate the Golden Core Dao, he might reach another realm: When the essence, qi, and spirit merge, they transform into the indestructible Golden Core; when they separate, each functions independently and does not interfere with the others.
Pei Xuanjing didn't know if anyone else had ever attempted this, but for him, without much guidance from predecessors, he could only slowly explore and proceed in this manner.
While Pei Xuanjing was deep in thought, drawing conclusions from this encounter, the great battle outside the border was nearing its end.
Firstly, the high-end battle – after Pei Xuanjing killed the Demon Race's strongest Wolf King, Howling Moon Gray Wolf, with one of his incarnations, the remaining Spirit Realm Great Demons were also slain. With the help of Mr. Wu, none of those Great Demons escaped, all were kept behind, and none of the human race's experts were lost. Zhao Baiyang and Xue Wuheng were the most severely injured.
The debilitating injuries they sustained were due to their decision to battle Spirit Realm Third Level Great Demons at the Spirit Realm Second Layer, inspired by Pei Xuanjing's last moment.
Of course, the significant injuries showcased their strength and they benefitted greatly from the encounters.
After the battle, heeding Pei Xuanjing's message, Daoist Qingxu and the old celestial master dispatched people to bring the corpse of the Howling Moon Gray Wolf to Tiandu, understanding it could be beneficial for the Divine Dynasty Plan.
The Spirit Realm's forces had a comprehensive victory, but the large army led by Wang Boan experienced a different situation.
The army suffered casualties in the battle. Despite Wang Boan's commanding, they faced waves of demonic beasts. The human soldiers and martial artists also suffered significant losses.
Especially when the Howling Moon Gray Wolf appeared, numerous demonic beasts went mad and charged fearlessly, causing considerable casualties among human soldiers and martial artists.
If it weren't for Pei Xuanjing killing the Howling Moon Gray Wolf, the losses would have been much greater…
Of course, despite the heavy price, the gains were equally promising. This expedition nearly eradicated the demonic beasts in thousands of miles of grasslands, making the beasts nurtured by the Great Demons after their arrival become resources for the human martial artists to cultivate.
Moreover, with the reawakening of Heaven and Earth, countless rare treasures emerged. Originally, many rare treasures were growing in the forest outside the border that many people seldom saw, but now there were countless more.
At this moment, for all martial artists, they have more resources for cultivation, and their future growth paths are broader.
For ordinary martial artists, their harvest was significant, but compared to those great forces, the gap was much wider.
For these great forces, taking possession of these thousands of miles of fertile grasslands according to the agreement on Shenxiao Mountain, they are qualified to open up their domain. This will undoubtedly become a base for various forces, continuously providing resources and enhancing their foundation.
Especially for those forces who have reached their expansion limits in the Divine Continent, it undoubtedly opens up a new world.
Of course, the greatest gainers from this expedition should be the Great Ming Empire and those like Pei Xuanjing who represent the Taoist School.
When these millions of miles of fertile land become part of the Great Ming's territory, it will undoubtedly lead to a significant increase in the national fortune of the Great Ming.
This will be of inestimable help for their Divine Dynasty Plan on earth and will increase the chances of the plan's success by several folds.
As everyone was celebrating their victory, a group quietly departed under the leadership of several Spirit Realm experts from the Taoist School, beginning their exploration to determine the specific location of the rumored dragon vein.
Among them were specialists nurtured by the royal family to specifically detect dragon veins, as well as some unique individuals from the martial arts world, and Taoist high-experts proficient in elemental manipulation.
Once the location of the dragon vein was identified, they would figure out a way to redirect it into the Divine Continent for the Great Ming Empire's use.
"It seems that the plans of the Divine Dynasty are indeed real." Xue Wuheng, the leader of the Demonic Cult who everyone thought was in seclusion for healing, stood atop a mountain peak, watching the departing exploration team and muttered.
"Sometimes, there is indeed no need to doubt Pei Xuanjing's words too much." Standing alongside him was Zhao Baiyang, who had also left under the pretext of retreat and healing, he said with a gentle laugh.
He turned to Xue Wuheng, "I believe I truly understand Pei Xuanjing. He prefers open schemes and tends to promote plans with grand momentum, rather than using intrigue and deceit."
Indeed, when Pei Xuanjing first proposed the idea of an earthly Divine Dynasty, Zhao Baiyang didn't harbor much suspicion, and this was why.
"However, these open schemes are quite difficult to counter." Xue Wuheng said solemnly.
It had to be said that, even though their factions were temporarily working together at the moment, everyone had their own little schemes in the back of their minds, each calculating their own benefits.
Even Pei Xuanjing understood this all too well. He knew that even if he could unite these people with benefits, it wouldn't lead to genuine unity, as many of the factions had previously engaged in deadly battles with each other. The fact that they could sit at the same table and not sabotage each other was already quite lucky.
Just like on Shenxiao Mountain, even if forces agreed to cooperate, there were still various leanings between them.
The Taoist School that Pei Xuanjing represented was the strongest, aside from having significant connections to the Great Ming royal family, its relationship with the other factions was merely average.
Even though the Great Ming royal family was allied with the Taoist School, it had always had unclear connections with the Ji Fang Alliances. Without the need for investigations, it was clear that they must have reached many private agreements and pacts to secure their mutual interests.
The Demonic Cult and Mire Sect, forming the heterodox alliance, had their natural reasons for not aligning with the righteous path, making it only natural for them to gravitate towards each other, especially given the camaraderie Xue Wuheng and Zhao Baiyang had formed when they infiltrated Tiandu to assassinate the emperor.
It could be said that among the several alliances and powers in the Great Ming today, except for the Buddhism School who remained somewhat passive and noncompetitive, everyone had an ally they could count on.
However, one shouldn't forget that the Buddhism School is a major power in its own right. Their branches are more united than the Taoist School and other forces, and with the merging of the North and South Zen Sects, the power of the Buddhism School was enormous, even without any alliances.
"Ah, the dragon vein! This is truly a good thing. If it were in the past, I would have done everything in my power to fight for it." Zhao Baiyang murmured to himself.
It was not surprising that among these people, there were those from the profound Mire Sect. Therefore, he also understood that their objective was to locate the dragon vein to enhance the Qi Luck of the Great Ming Empire, preparing for the following plans of the earthly Divine Dynasty.
According to the Mire Sect's ideology, if this news about the dragon vein had been received earlier, for his own purpose, he would have led his subordinates from the Sect to fight over it.
Unfortunately, now that the Heaven and Earth were rejuvenated, although the ideals of the Mire Sect hadn't changed, the allure of longevity sat before his eyes, and his objectives shifted slightly.
The old Zhao Baiyang had always pursued further advancements in Martial Arts, but according to the information passed down within the Mire Sect, he knew that this was a limitation of Heaven and Earth, not something that could be changed by human efforts.
Therefore, he mainly concentrated on rebellion, hence his plan to infiltrate Tiandu and assassinate the emperor, an attempt to shatter this hateful world.
However, now, with a better choice available, especially after his breakthrough into the Spirit Realm, his mindset has changed. Now, he chased after longevity and sought greater power.
Having plotted for decades, uniting various forces, and undertaking many deeds, yet in the end, he achieved nothing. On the other hand, Pei Xuanjing not only gained enormous benefits but also literally altered the state of the world by his presence alone.
Why was that?
It was still because of strength. Ultimately, it all depended on strength in this world. If he had enough strength, comparable to or even surpassing Pei Xuanjing, he could then act according to his own thoughts, doing what he wanted and achieving his goals.
"Hehe, it seems that the Qi Luck of Great Ming is prospering!" Xue Wuheng said, smiling.
Unlike Zhao Baiyang, it didn't matter to him who sat in that supreme seat. He only wanted to reorganize the Demonic Cult, bringing it to its former glory, and making himself even stronger.
The main reason he decided to take part in the assassination in Tiandu was due to Zhao Baiyang's invitation. He wanted to form an alliance with him, making it easy to unify the Demonic Cult in the future.
Now that the Demonic Cult was once again united and he had once again reclaimed his title as the leader of the Demonic Cult, all that was left was to restore the glory of the Demonic Cult and make himself stronger.
Even if Pei Xuanjing's the earthly Divine Dynasty plan didn't benefit him, as long as it didn't harm his interests, he wouldn't obstruct it. After all, with the strength Pei Xuanjing currently possessed, it wasn't something he could afford to provoke.
Of course, if this could bring benefits to him, he wouldn't mind genuinely helping Pei Xuanjing accomplish this plan.
His current cooperation with Zhao Baiyang also served the same purpose, just to have an ally they could depend on mutually in this big world, so as to ensure they wouldn't become the target of all.
This was Xue Wuheng's plan. If Zhao Baiyang were to have some crazy idea, he would definitely abandon their alliance without hesitation.
"Rest assured, I'm not that crazy." Zhao Baiyang shook his head, expressing his clear-headedness.
He was aware that although it seemed like the world was currently filled with multiple arising powers, in reality, this was Pei Xuanjing's tolerance. With Pei Xuanjing's strength, none of them could obstruct his goals if he truly didn't care about the costs.
As a result, no matter what thoughts he harbored, he would still conceal them. He did not plan to incite Pei Xuanjing at this point in time.
"Good!" Xue Wuheng nodded, relieved.
He decided to bring up a different topic: "Next, when it comes to choosing territories, where are you planning to choose?"