The First Immortal of Destiny-Chapter 435: Retreating to the Black Fish Gang_1
Prince Yongzuo, who might have originally been a chatterbox or perhaps had just spent too long buried underground, immediately began to complain endlessly to Shen Mo.
From his words, Shen Mo learned that his initial deduction had been mostly correct.
This deposed prince of the previous dynasty had arranged certain things in his Underground Palace tomb for two reasons: first, to punish the civil and military officials who had conspired with the new dynasty at the end of the Liewu Dynasty; and second, to resolve his obsessions with the help of cultivators who dared to trespass into the Underground Palace, thereby attempting to break through to the Golden Core Realm.
However, when Shen Mo and the others intruded, they did not follow the procedures he had set up and fight their way deep into the Underground Palace.
It was as if a rebel army had stormed into the capital region, looting everything in sight before promptly withdrawing, preventing his ceremony from being completed as desired.
Later, the outer area of the Underground Palace was sealed off by the Prohibition set by the Five Great Sects, making it nearly impossible for other cultivators to enter and help him complete the series of rituals to clear his obsessions.
After careful consideration, Prince Yongzuo finally agreed to cooperate with the Five Great Sects.
Consequently, the Five Great Sects contrived to lure a large group of evil cultivators to Tianshan City and very "carelessly" revealed the location of the Underground Palace.
This group of evil cultivators paid with their lives, enabling Prince Yongzuo to smoothly complete the ceremony. Alas, he still couldn’t eliminate the obsessions that pricked his Path Heart like thorns, nor did he successfully form a Golden Core.
Nevertheless, with the full assistance of the Five Great Sects, he had also thoroughly refined the Underground Palace into his personal destinied magic artifact.
This allowed him to move freely, no longer needing to remain buried underground all year round.
At this point, Prince Yongzuo was both a living cultivator and something akin to an Artifact Spirit of the Underground Palace magic artifact.
While he attained a longer Lifespan than ordinary cultivators, he was also unable to voluntarily leave the Underground Palace.
This explanation cleared up many doubts in Shen Mo’s mind. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
But soon, he noticed something.
Since all Prince Yongzuo needed to do was eradicate the obsessions in his Path Heart to attempt advancement into the Golden Core Realm, there was a strong possibility that he would take action against the current dynasty! As for eradicating the obsessions in his Path Heart, how could rituals compare to personally annihilating the new dynasty?
Of course, the Five Great Sects must have also considered this point, so Shen Mo didn’t need to worry about it excessively.
"Senior Yongzuo, your Realm is higher and your experience broader..."
"Do you know if the Golden Core Realm patriarch of the Ghost Corpse School has truly perished?" Shen Mo activated The Big Dipper Array, slaying a large swathe of Heavenly Demons, and then asked via voice transmission.
He found it hard to believe that such a prominent figure in the Red Flame Country’s cultivation world, a Golden Core Realm cultivator, had perished at the hands of Heavenly Demons.
But the omens, like blood rain falling from the sky, couldn’t be faked.
"It’s hard to say!" Prince Yongzuo’s voice came through. "The Ghost Corpse School has a Secret Technique that allows them to transfer their soul into a Ghoul, refined over many years, if their Dao Body is destroyed.
"Although performing this technique prevents any further progress in their cultivation, they can maintain most of their strength and live out their remaining Lifespan!
"In my view, the Ghost Corpse School patriarch’s physical body was destroyed, but his soul managed to escape.
"His Golden Armor Ghoul’s aura was somewhat strange. Moreover, it exhibited far more spirituality than ordinary Ghouls..."
Hearing this, a flicker of understanding crossed Shen Mo’s eyes. He immediately refocused his mind, concentrating on slaying demon heads.
...
This great battle continued with extreme intensity for over ten days.
It was only after the Golden Core Realm cultivators and the Class IV Big Heavenly Demons in the Ninth Heaven had all departed that the ferocity of the fighting on both sides suddenly decreased.
The number of fallen cultivators totaled over a hundred thousand. Strangely, whether on the coast or on the nearby sea surface, it was very difficult to find any cultivators’ corpses!
The reason was simple.
Fallen cultivators were either Demon-corrupted by Native Heaven Demons and turned into demon heads, or they were consumed as blood food, meeting a horrific end with no corpse left intact.
Conversely, the remains of slain Heavenly Demons were visible everywhere, their viscous, oily blood Corrupting large swathes of the sea.
Compared to the cultivators, the casualties among the Heavenly Demons reached an even more astonishing level!
Of course, the vast majority were low-class Heavenly Demons.
Not long after, the seemingly endless Heavenly Demons had occupied more than half of Sea State.
However, most mortals in Sea State had either moved into cities protected by Formations or were relocated to other major states. Only a small portion, roughly several million people, became blood food for the Heavenly Demons.
Even the demonic beasts throughout Sea State were all slain or completely driven out.
Even with demonic shadows everywhere, hundreds of strongholds still stood firm in the occupied areas, like reefs in the sea.
These included cities like Dingbo City, defensive fortresses along the coastline, and cultivation sects relying on large Formations and perilous terrain for defense—like scattered bonfires in the dark night, tenaciously dispelling the bone-chilling cold.
Most of these strongholds were equipped with Teleportation Arrays, connecting them to each other and to other major states, so they were not truly isolated.
Shen Mo covered many fellow daoists, helping them evacuate from the destroyed fortresses.
After bidding farewell to Prince Yongzuo, he took Ming Yu and retreated to a sect called the "Black Fish Gang."
Clam Girl Ming Yu, relying on the Skill "The Smallest and The Largest," and the Spiritual Fire "White Bone Cold Flames" that her mother had gathered for her, had also killed several Class III mutated Heavenly Demons and a large number of low-class Heavenly Demons, earning a significant amount of merit of slaying demon.
As for the Black Fish Gang, despite its rustic name that sounded like a martial arts Sect established by coastal fishermen, it was undoubtedly a major Sect in Sea State.
The Sect Master of this Sect possessed a late-stage Spirit Sea Realm cultivation.
Furthermore, there were seven Spirit Sea Realm experts under him; two years ago, there had been twelve, but five had fallen in the demon disaster.
Consequently, Fish Head Ridge, where the Black Fish Gang’s headquarters were located, became one of the largest strongholds within a two-hundred-mile radius, gathering tens of thousands of cultivators retreating from the front lines.
The Black Fish Gang warmly welcomed Shen Mo, this outstanding core member of the Riverside Sect with exceptional combat prowess. They specially vacated a cave mansion, rich in Spiritual Qi and with beautiful scenery, for him to settle in and rest.
The Sect Master of the Black Fish Gang also visited Shen Mo at the earliest opportunity, requesting him to stay on Fish Head Ridge for a while longer.
This would help them construct more defensive strongholds, Formations, and Prohibitions to resist the invasion of the Heavenly Demons.
After some consideration, Shen Mo agreed to stay at Fish Head Ridge for half a month. Afterward, he planned to return to the Riverside Sect with Ming Yu.
In his view, although the Heavenly Demons appeared powerful, they had not actually gained much from this battle. Peeling back the layers of mist, the creatures for blood food were the key!
About over a hundred thousand cultivators had fallen, the majority of whom were Body Tempering Realm cultivators, along with millions of mortals from various places. The losses were immeasurably heavy.
However, to the tens of millions of Heavenly Demons, this amount of "blood food" was not even enough to fill the gaps between their teeth!
If judged by the amount of blood food necessary for Heavenly Demon advancement, the losses of the Red Flame Country’s cultivation world could roughly produce ten late-stage Class III Heavenly Demons. Yet, the number of late-stage Class III Heavenly Demons that died at Shen Mo’s hands alone exceeded this figure.
The slain low-class Heavenly Demons numbered in the millions. Even for Class III Heavenly Demons, it was feared that more than half were lost in this battle!
Without reinforcements from the Heavenly Demon Realm, they would no longer possess the overwhelming power they had ten days ago.
The quantity of low-class Heavenly Demons in the Lower Realm of the Heavenly Demon Realm could be considered infinite. In contrast, the quantity of Class III and above Heavenly Demons was definitely limited. Shen Mo had seen familiar demon heads more than once!
As long as Red Flame Country could continue to hold on, not giving the Heavenly Demons the chance to wantonly harm creatures and obtain vast quantities of blood food, then in the long run, the Heavenly Demon forces would undoubtedly weaken.
At that time, the cultivation world could mobilize all its forces to expel the Heavenly Demons from this world once and for all.
