txolops Chapter 191 The Alliance Takes Shape, A Meat Mill
Chapter 191 The Alliance Takes Shape, A Meat Mill
Cangxuan Sect, Taiji Peak.
Thick, grayish-white clouds pressed down on the mountaintops.
A cold wind swept through the ancient pine trees outside the main hall, causing the pine needles to sway and rustle.
A thin layer of white frost covered the square paved with bluestone bricks.
Gu Yan, wearing a heavy fox fur cloak, sat on a grand chair in the side hall.
On the rosewood table in front of them was a huge map of the Eastern Continent.
Zhou Chongyue had just left to convey the order for an alliance to various places in the front mountain.
With Gu Yan's words, the entire Cangxuan Sect's massive war machine began to slowly start running.
A series of sharp, whistling sounds came from outside the door.
A sharp sword light tore through the clouds and landed heavily on the square outside the side hall.
The newcomer was dressed in black robes, carrying an ancient sword on his back. His face was thin and he looked extremely tired. He was none other than Elder Mo Tianwen, who had rushed over from the Guixu Sect overnight after receiving an urgent message.
Mo Tianwen strode into the hall, bringing with him a chilling aura.
Gu Yan immediately stood up, holding onto the back of the chair, coughed lightly twice, covered his lips, and quickly went to greet him.
"Elder Mo traveled day and night, and must have had a long and arduous journey."
Gu Yan's voice sounded weak, but his eyes were incredibly sincere.
Looking at Gu Yan's pale face, Mo Tianwen's anxiety subsided slightly.
He clasped his hands together in a gesture of respect befitting a peer.
"Young friend Gu, there's no need for such formalities. I received a top-secret message from Old Ghost Zhou, saying that the capital of the Great Yan Kingdom is a deadly array set up by the Demonic Sect, and there are even heavenly warnings left by a Nascent Soul cultivator. Is this true?"
Gu Yan nodded, gestured for Mo Tianwen to sit down, and personally poured him a cup of hot tea.
"It's absolutely true. That demoness Hua Moyang is just bait placed in the open. The real killing move is the red-robed demon hidden underground, preparing to hunt down my Nascent Soul senior from Dongzhou."
Mo Tianwen picked up his teacup but didn't drink it; his sharp eyes were fixed on the map of the territory on the table.
"In his letter, Zhou Laogui said that you proposed to establish a Demon Extermination Alliance, led by the three major sects, to block the borders of the Great Yan Kingdom, to unify and allocate the resources of all sects in the world, and to appoint you as the leader of this alliance."
Mo Tianwen's tone carried a hint of the straightforwardness and scrutiny characteristic of sword cultivators.
"Young friend Gu, our Guixu Sect admires your character and is grateful for the life-saving grace you showed us during the Grand Competition. But..."
He paused for a moment, then said, "Unifying the allocation of resources across the entire Eastern Continent is tantamount to handing over the entire wealth of all the major sects. The lives and fortunes of tens of thousands of disciples of my Guixu Sect cannot be handed over to others based on just a few words."
Gu Yan wasn't angry; instead, he gave her an appreciative smile.
"Elder Mo is a wise and experienced strategist, and this is only right. If Elder Mo were to hand over his secrets without hesitation, Changsheng would have to worry about whether this alliance could last."
Gu Yan sat back in the armchair, looking at Mo Tianwen with clear eyes.
"Elder Mo, sword cultivators value unyielding integrity and hone their swordsmanship through slaughter. If the disciples of the Guixu Sect remain secluded within the sect, when will they ever be able to recreate the glory of the ancient sword cultivators who could break through all techniques with a single sword strike?"
Gu Yan pointed his finger at the border of the Great Yan Kingdom on the map.
"Within the Great Yan Kingdom, there are 300,000 Blood Fiend Puppets and countless demonic creatures corrupted by demonic energy. My purpose in forming this alliance is not to covet the resources of the various sects, but to create an absolutely fair logistical support system."
"On the front lines, the elders of the Cangxuan and Guixu sects will jointly command and divide the battlefield into defense zones, sending young disciples to the border to annihilate demons. Those who achieve merit can come to the rear of the alliance to exchange for pills, magic weapons, and cultivation techniques."
Gu Yan spoke at a measured pace, yet every word struck at Mo Tianwen's weak spot.
"As long as the alliance provides unified compensation and rewards from the rear, the disciples on the front lines will have no worries. As for me, Gu Changsheng, I am all alone and seriously injured. For me, the position of alliance leader is nothing more than a bitter task that will offend people. The reason I accepted it is to ensure that the disciples of Guixu Sect who bleed on the front lines will not be retaliated against by Cangxuan Sect from the rear. And vice versa."
"Only with me, an absolutely neutral person, in charge of the central army can the loose sands of Dongzhou truly be united as one."
Mo Tianwen fell silent.
Looking at Gu Yan's selfless and even somewhat tragic expression, the last trace of doubt in his heart vanished.
Yes, Gu Changsheng was willing to sacrifice his own Dao foundation for the peace between the two sects. How could someone like that possibly embezzle the sect's resources?
Moreover, with the powerful Nascent Soul cultivator behind this Holy Son serving as an invisible deterrent, who in the entire Eastern Continent would dare to engage in fraud within the alliance?
Mo Tianwen stood up, his expression solemn, and bowed deeply to Gu Yan.
"Alliance Leader Gu is truly righteous; I, Mo, have been judging a gentleman by my own petty standards. The entire Guixu Sect is willing to obey Alliance Leader Gu's orders. I will soon send a message back to the sect to open the sect's treasury, allocate 30% of our resources, and send 2,000 inner sect sword cultivators to the border within seven days."
Gu Yan quickly stood up to return the greeting, his eyes gleaming with excitement, as if he had seen the hope for the great revival of the righteous path in Dongzhou.
"With Elder Mo's strong support, the demonic calamity will surely be quelled."
"With Elder Mo's strong support, the demonic calamity will surely be quelled."
The two exchanged a smile, and the atmosphere in the hall became incredibly harmonious.
No one saw the chilling mockery that flashed deep within Gu Yan's lowered eyes.
Resource coordination.
These four words sound grand and noble, but in reality, this was the largest legal plunder in the cultivation world.
Starting today, spirit stones, spirit herbs, and top-grade magic artifacts from thousands of sects of all sizes throughout the Eastern Continent will be continuously transported to the Alliance's Material Pavilion.
The key to the supplies pavilion was hanging on Gu Yan's waist.
……
Half a month later.
The northern border of the Great Yan Kingdom, Tianlang Pass.
A fierce wind howled across the Loess Plateau, whipping up clouds of sand and dust.
The withered yellow grass lay flat on the ground, and the gray sky was devoid of any sunlight.
A black defensive line stretching for hundreds of miles rose abruptly from the plain.
This city wall was hastily constructed by the Demon-Slaying Alliance using obsidian mixed with molten iron and cinnabar, with the help of 100,000 mortal craftsmen and low-level cultivators.
On the city wall, every ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) there was a divine crossbow that gleamed with spiritual light.
Tens of thousands of Eastern Continent cultivators, dressed in various colorful costumes and holding magical artifacts, stood behind the city walls.
Most of them were rogue cultivators or disciples of small sects in the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages, their eyes filled with a desire for battle merits, but also concealing a fear of war.
At the forefront of the defensive line were the Golden Core stage elites of the Cangxuan Sect and the Guixu Sect.
At the edge of the sky, a dark red line suddenly appeared.
The ground began to shake, and gravel bounced on the loess.
"Waaah—"
The dull sound of horns rang out from the city walls of Tianlang Pass, echoing throughout the entire defensive line.
"The demon army is coming! Form ranks!"
A Golden Core elder from the Guixu Sect drew his longsword and pointed it straight ahead.
The red tide was rapidly approaching.
Those were tens of thousands of bloodthirsty puppets.
They were once the border guards of the Great Yan Kingdom, but now they have lost their minds, their skin is grayish-white, their eyes are blood red, and they utter beast-like roars.
Their armor was already tattered and worn, and they held rusty weapons in their hands, yet they moved as fast as galloping horses, completely unaware of fatigue or pain.
Behind these puppets were also enormous, mutated monsters covered in fleshy growths.
"Release the arrows!"
With a command given.
The crossbows on the city wall burst into blinding flames, and thousands of huge crossbow bolts engraved with explosive arrays shot into the puppet army like a meteor shower.
The roar echoed across the plain.
Flames shot into the sky, and severed limbs flew into the air during the explosion.
However, the puppets whose legs had been blown off were still crawling frantically on the ground.
Even with their chests blown open, the monsters, as long as their heads weren't damaged, continued to charge forward, covered in blood.
The ground in front of the defensive line was quickly stained with black and red blood.
"Return to Nothingness Sword Formation, kill!"
A thousand inner disciples of the Guixu Sect took to the air on their swords, forming a giant cyan sword wheel in mid-air, and charged towards the area where the puppets were most densely packed.
The sword flashed like a mirror, and wherever it passed, blood and flesh flew everywhere.
"Azure Fire Tribe, Heavenly Fire Spreads Across the Plains!"
The cultivators of the Cangxuan Sect simultaneously formed hand seals, and the raging flames transformed into a sea of fire, burning a large number of puppets to ashes.
But the demon army was too numerous.
As soon as one group fell, another surged up from behind.
Soon, the puppet army crashed into the defensive line.
A brutal hand-to-hand combat broke out instantly.
A rogue cultivator at the eighth level of Qi Refining gripped a machete with both hands and cleaved off the head of a puppet with a single blow.
Before he could catch his breath, a headless corpse next to him suddenly sprang up, its sharp fingernails piercing through his abdomen.
The rogue cultivator let out a scream as his warm intestines spilled onto the ground.
His blood sprayed onto the scorched frozen earth, seeping in instantly and disappearing without a trace.
Below the city walls, a meat grinder-like battle continued.
Cultivators died tragically, and demons were torn to pieces.
The pungent smell of blood rose straight to the sky, and a faint blood-red haze gathered above the battlefield.
This is war.
There were no lofty and righteous poems, only the most primal killing and death.
And deep underground.
A miniature ley line, invisible to the naked eye, is greedily absorbing every drop of blood, every wisp of resentment, and every fragment of the souls of the fallen cultivators that have seeped into the ground from this battlefield.
These massive amounts of flesh and blood essence flowed continuously down the earth's veins, converging into the underground of the Great Yan capital.
……
The Imperial Palace of the Great Yan Dynasty.
Hua Moyang, dressed in a dragon robe, leaned against the large dragon throne.
A water mirror formed from essence and blood floated in front of her, and the scene in the mirror was the fierce battle in front of Tianlang Pass.
Looking at the puppets and cultivators falling like wheat being harvested, Hua Moyang's eyes showed no pity, as if she were looking at a group of ants eating each other.
She could feel that the demonic golden core within her body was becoming more and more rounded and powerful under the nourishment of the continuous battlefield's malevolent energy.
"Master's scheme is truly unfathomable. He uses a million mortal soldiers to wear down the lower-level cultivators of the cultivation world, and then uses their essence and blood to replenish the blood pool's deficit. The longer this war goes on, the weaker the righteous path of Dongzhou will become, and the stronger we will become."
Hua Moyang licked her lips, rested her head on her fist, and closed her eyes.
……
At the same time.
Changqing Peak is located on the back mountain of Liuyun Sect.
Gu Yan did not stay in Cangxuan Sect. After the framework of the alliance was established, he handed over the daily command to the elders of each sect under the pretext of needing to recuperate and recuperate, and returned to Liuyun Sect with the newly established "Supply Pavilion".
His reasoning was sound: Liuyun Sect was located in the heart of Dongzhou, farthest from the Great Yan Kingdom, and therefore the safest.
Storing all of Dongzhou's strategic resources here is the safest option.
The elders of each sect had no objection to this.
At this time, Changqing Peak had been expanded several times over.
A massive nine-story pavilion rose from the ground, surrounded by dozens of top-tier defensive and early warning formations.
This is the Supplies Pavilion.
Inside the secret room on the top floor, the luminous pearl emitted a soft glow.
Gu Yan, dressed in a loose white robe, sat cross-legged on a white jade futon.
Dozens of storage rings were placed in front of him.
These are the first batch of strategic materials that were just transported from various sects, large and small, yesterday.
Gu Yan casually picked up a storage ring and probed it with his divine sense.
Inside, 100,000 low-grade spirit stones and thousands of bottles of Qi-restoring pills that can quickly restore spiritual power were neatly stacked.
"What a generous and kind group of people."
Gu Yan chuckled softly.
He opened his mouth and took a deep breath.
The 100,000 spirit stones inside the storage ring instantly exploded, transforming into an extremely dense torrent of pure spiritual energy that poured directly into his mouth.
Thousands of bottles of Qi-restoring pills were also transformed into medicinal essence, which he swallowed.
Within the dantian, the left half of the Divine Demon Nascent Soul emitted a dazzling golden light, refining all these righteous resources into the purest and most righteous true essence.
In just a few breaths, the foundation accumulated by a small sect over ten years was swallowed up by Gu Yan like a snack.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Just as Gu Yan was frantically devouring righteous resources.
Suddenly, a strange, dark red light shone from the right half of the divine and demonic nascent soul within his body.
That was feedback from the meat grinder on the border of the Great Yan Kingdom.
The Blood Swordsman's clone, hidden underground in the imperial city, received a massive amount of blood and flesh essence from the battlefield. Through the mysterious primal connection between the two, it directly fed back the most core and purest laws of destruction and the power of blood and qi to its main body.
Gu Yan's body trembled.
This dual nature of simultaneously devouring the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and endless bloodlust. This caused his cultivation level to rise at a speed that defied the norms of the cultivation world.
The barrier of the early stage of Nascent Soul was easily crossed.
"break."
Gu Yan gave a low shout in his heart.
A muffled thunderous sound came from within his body.
His aura instantly broke through the shackles, stepping into the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
The immense divine sense swept out like a storm, but was perfectly concealed by the array on the top floor of the Supply Pavilion.
Gu Yan slowly opened his eyes, his deep pupils half filled with golden light of compassion and half with the blood-red color of slaughtering the common people.
He stood up, walked to the window of the secret room, and pushed it open a crack.
The cool moonlight shone on his face.
He looked at the Flowing Cloud Sect disciples in the distance, who were working through the night to move supplies, their blood boiling with passion for the "great cause of slaying demons."
Then I thought of the soldiers of both armies struggling and wailing in blood and mud on the border of the Great Yan Kingdom.
The biggest lie in the world is to package slaughterhouses as altars of faith.
Gu Yan reached out and caught a withered leaf that was falling in the wind. With a forceful push from his fingertips, the leaf turned into dust.
"Kill them! Use your blood and bones to pave the way for my, Gu Changsheng's, path to heaven."
Gu Yan's voice echoed in the silent, secret room, cold and devoid of warmth.