Within Chief Elder Suxian's sea of consciousness, this was hell. Thankfully, his soul was still being protected by his Soul Embryo, but the pain was absolutely horrendous. Besides, he could hear the despair of all the souls used to create the Black Death Prison. Although he didn't know what poison had been used, he knew very well what his purpose was. But more than all this anguish and pain, what hurt him the most was the betrayal.
Suxian Zheng and Luoming Tian had been friends since even before enrolling into the Wubei Sect. Luoming Tian's father had been Suxian Zheng's master in array formations while his son was busy pursuing art. In his youth, Luoming Tian had been a free spirit. He had had many romantic affairs and traveled through the entire Hongchen Kingdom. On the other hand, Suxian Zheng had mostly stayed within the Wubei Sect to work on array formations. One was more like an itinerant artist while the other loved doing research cooped up in his laboratory.
Luoming Tian's father was such a talented cultivator, he had almost been chosen as sect leader. But his close friend, Xuan Mu, got chosen instead. Although Luoming Ran was talented in many domains, Xuan Mu was the best fighter and his achievement in 'Black Tortoise Under the Rain' had reached an historical level. This was the martial art that had been created personally by Ancestor Wu after watching a Xuanwu, a giant black tortoise. Xuan Mu passed all the tests and became the new sect leader.
In order to fully become the sect leader, Xuan Mu went into seclusion for the famous 'Nine Years Staring at the Void'. During this meditation, Luoming Ran sadly passed away. Although they were the same age, Luoming Ran had not been able to break through to 7th-grade Spirit Warrior realm. As such, his lifespan had only been of around a millennium and a half, while Xuan Mu could reach two millenniums, and he was currently very close to this age. Luoming Tian had come back to the sect after hearing about his father's death around four centuries ago. And without any hesitation, Xuan Mu had given him a position. Suxian Zheng had even insisted so that his friend could become a chief elder.
Apparently, the death of his father had caused a much greater pain than even Suxian Zheng had thought. However, he would have never imagined being betrayed by the man he deemed as his best friend. Although they had never pledged brotherhood together, he was like a brother in his eyes. And now, not only was he trying to kill him, he had resorted to one of the worst ways possible. Obviously, this was also the easiest way to get rid of a Spirit Warrior quickly, with poison. Even a sneak attack couldn't kill a powerful Spirit Warrior unless the difference in strength was great.
Through the pain, Suxian Zheng could not even feel the desperate efforts of Chief Elder Qinghe and Elder Meng to save his soul. His body had been completely consumed, there was nothing to be done about this. But he could still survive a couple of centuries. As long as his soul and his Soul Embryo survived, he might be able to reincarnate in another life later.
If his soul was consumed by the Evil Qi and the poison though, his death would be absolutely definitive and apart from memories, nothing would remain of him.
As he was trapped in this despair, Chief Elder Suxian felt something. It was very faint, but the screams of agony had diminished. Until now, they had been so powerful that they had even drowned his own thoughts. Somehow, the voices began to become more distinct. They had been a chaotic mess of entangled screams and yells. Now, he could identify different voices in the chaos. And then, it got even better, they began to become more and more distant. Suddenly, he felt a path open up in front of him. Knowing that his body was already dead, Chief Elder Suxian had no problem trying to leave it.
Usually, Spirit Warriors could not fully leave their own body with their Soul Embryo. Spiritual senses were the extension of the Soul Embryo and the soul outside of the body but the Soul Embryo and the soul always remained within the Upper Dantian. Only some part of them could leave the body. If the Soul Embryo containing the soul were to completely leave, this was death. No one had even attempted such a feat unless they had been desperate. Indeed, the body would never survive the full departure of the soul. But in this case, his body was already dead. Chief Elder Suxian had even felt his corporeal soul begin the process of decomposition.
The corporeal soul was the primary force behind the development of the body and its life, but it was also the reason for its death and decomposition at the end.
Thankfully, Chief Elder Suxian had made sure that his soul would not degenerate into Death Energy despite the Evil Qi all around and his own pain and regret. However, that didn't mean he had accepted death or that he didn't want to get any answer from his former friend. It was just that he didn't want to create more trouble for the living. After all, they were already faced with a great threat. He knew Luoming Tian enough to know that he wouldn't do what he did if he had not thought of a plan. Although he was an artist, spontaneity was very foreign to him. Even in art, he had to lay down a plan.
Chief Elder Suxian remembered a time when Luoming Tian had planned for twenty-seven years before starting a painting, just to be sure it would be perfect. Such a man would not reveal himself if his plan had not been ironed out.
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While Cao Yun was attempting to save Chief Elder Suxian's Soul Embryo, the fights within the Wubei Sect were continuing.
Sect Leader Xuan was facing Demon God Da Mo's arm while most of the chief elders were being lead by Spirit Master Xiao and Chief Elder Baishen. There were fifteen chief elders fighting against Luoming Tian now. Despite Sect Leader Xuan's presence, Da Mo's arm had a strength on par with a Sage. The only thing that had kept it from killing everyone in an instant was the fact that Luoming Tian was the one in control of it. As such, every distraction the chief elders could cause was welcome.
Chief Elder Baishen had activated many of her martial arts. Chief Elder Yimeng had even brought three 8-core demonic beasts. One of them had almost broken through during the stampede after feeding on the corpses of 9-core demonic beasts. Others like Chief Elder Lümian were assisting Spirit Master Xiao. Lümian Lin was in charge of the soul and mind pavilion. With her expertise, she was able to launch devastating attacks on Luoming Tian's soul. Unfortunately, his mind was extremely resilient.
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At one point, Chief Elder Lümian also got trapped in his mind. She had been able to invade his sea of consciousness but she was faced with a single eye without any eyelids. It was made of blood and was floating in an ocean of dark flames. As soon as she had entered Luoming Tian's sea of consciousness, she realized she was in fact within the body of Demon God Da Mo who had no soul at all. At that moment, she felt her own Soul Embryo being devoured. Without any hesitation, she fully expanded her spiritual senses. Billions of golden hymns and sutras flooded the black fiery ocean. However, try as she might, she could not stop staring at the blood eye. It was being etched in her mind. She knew that if she didn't stop looking at it, she would be consumed by it but she had no control over her own senses.
Finally, she heard a melody. It was trying to penetrate her soul and she let it. She had recognized Xiao Xuefeng's music. As soon as she let herself go, the melody shut down her senses and brought her soul back in her body. One more breath and her soul would have completely left her Upper Dantian to be absorbed into Da Mo's body.
Hundreds of different weapons were striking Luoming Tian at each instant. But he was surrounded by powerful array formations made with the blood and the chains that had left Da Mo's body. The chains seemed to act on their own and were preventing any attack from reaching Luoming Tian. At the same time, they also attacked all the chief elders who were too close to him. Despite the real nuisance of the chief elders, Luoming Tian was more concerned about Sect Leader Xuan. Although the chief elders could combine their efforts and create devastating battle formations, he knew deep down that Sect Leader Xuan was the most dangerous of the group.
Sect Leader Xuan had lead this sect for several centuries now. Even before that, he had learned many of its secrets. Even if Xiao Xuefeng had the Seal of Authority, Sect Leader Xuan was the true master of the array formations. Moreover, he had just rebuilt most of them. And Luoming Tian was certain that he had improved them as well. As such, he had to kill Xuan Mu as soon as possible. Then the morale of the chief elders would plummet down. Hopefully this would disturb their ability to work together. If they truly combined their efforts with Spirit Master Xiao to guide them, they might be a real problem. For now, thankfully, Demon God Da Mo's body was not completely out of the Devil's Jail.
Once that happened, even if Emperor Weide, Matriarch Huang and Sect Leader Xuan combined their efforts, they would not be able to resist. After all, Da Mo's true strength exceeded the Sage realm. And even against a middle Sage, three 9th-grade Spirit Warriors would be like children before a war veteran. But for now, Da Mo only had one arm out and he was struggling to get the other out thanks to the array formations of the Wubei Sect.
"Little Tian, if you think your grotesque creature will be able to vanquish my noble Wubei sect, you are mistaken. I sincerely hope your father has already been reincarnated and is no longer in the Heavenly Court, because if he could see the sort of man you have become, he would be ashamed."
"You think you can infuriate me into making a mistake?! This is pathetic... I was expecting much more from the great Xuan Mu. My father had told me great things about you. But it seems that old age has dulled you. You've just proven my point. The most important thing right now is to find a way to regain our cultivation. As long as we're stuck at the Spirit Warrior realm, our lives are meaningless. Although Spirit Warriors are impressive to mortals, we have not even begun to pursue the true Dao. In fact, we barely even started our cultivation.
"In the past, it took between two and three hundred years to reach the Sage realm. The first three realms were even shorter than the Sage realm in itself. As long as we can't reach the Sage realm, all our efforts are useless. Why can't you see that?! Many will suffer and die, but I will bring forth the most prosperous era for mankind! How many died in the war against the demons?! And yet those sacrifices are celebrated!
"How is that any different?! Instead of fighting demons who enslaved us, our kind will be fighting the fate that is oppressing us right now. For very long I tried to find the cause of the Forsaken Dao Era, but I've failed. Now, I can only resort to more extreme measures. But once I am done, mankind will rise higher than it ever has."
"You claim that you are noble. Yet, you want to experiment on others because you are too afraid to do so on yourself. You are a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, which means you could try the Greater Tribulation. What you want is to find a way for you to break through without too many risks. And for that you are ready to sacrifice untold millions. In fact, you would exterminate everyone on this planet if it meant you could become a Sage. Isn't it right?"
"You're wrong! I am doing this for the benefit of the greater good!"
"Try and justify your actions all you like, you have become an enemy of all mankind. And I will either kill you or die trying."
"That's exactly what I'm hoping for!"
The bloody chains darted toward Sect Leader Xuan. From the sky, the golden chains created by the Wubei Sect's array formations formed a wall to block them. But the golden chains barely resisted more than an incense stick.
Protected by the chains, Sect Leader Xuan made several mudras. All around the Wubei Sect, amplified by the array formations he had just created, Sect Leader Xuan manifested his Qi. Above the golden chains about to break, there were now thirteen tortoise shell scutes. Each one was engraved with several characters and were all perfectly black. Even the light of the sun could not pierce through this enormous shell. Beyond the Heidai Peak, many villages and cities were able to vaguely see the shape of a giant turtle on top of the Nine Peaks. In their eyes, it was made of fog, but to the people inside the Wubei Sect, it seemed absolutely real.
'The Shell Encompasses the World'!
This was the final move of the 'Black Tortoise Under the Rain' martial art. Everything under this shell was being suppressed by Sect Leader Xuan. Of course, his own chief elders and disciples were not but every demonic cultivator was. Even the blood runes used by many of them were now incredibly slow and heavy. It also impacted Luoming Tian and the arm of Demon God Da Mo. It was as though they were both in a thick liquid preventing them to move as they pleased. Furthermore, Luoming Tian's Qi had become so heavy he needed to use all of his mental strength to control it.
As a defense mechanism, the bloody chains spread in all directions to try and break through the shell. At the same time, the fifteen chief elders were acting in harmony. Their moves were guided by Xiao Xuefeng's melody. And Luoming Tian even sensed something different within Xiao Xuefeng. She wasn't a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior! No, her cultivation had exceeded this grade. She had fully stepped into the 8th-grade Spirit Warrior stage. And this wasn't something that had happened just now. She should have broken through one or two years ago. Yet, she had kept it a secret until now.