Chapter 490 431: The Grand Army Marches

Primordial Pass.

A Venerable Pass City of immense scale.

It was situated within the space-time of the Dragon-slaying Battlefield's third defensive line. The entire structure was a living city that had grown from a Mire of Flesh and Mud, constantly forged by surging blood and fire. No one below the level of Great Saint could survive there.

After the Primordial Army took over,

they followed the old rules, dispatching the original soldiers to other Garrison Cities and turning this one into the exclusive stronghold of the Heaven-Stealing Alliance.

Compared to the Reincarnation Battlefield,

the Dragon-slaying Battlefield was far more dangerous.

But it had one advantage, if you could call it that.

The Mountain and Sea Army wouldn't suddenly burst out from the Space-Time Nodes of various defensive lines to interrupt one's cultivation and adjustments.

The reason was that

after the Mountain and Sea built their fortress,

the repulsive force of the Great Dao weakened, causing all the Space-Time Nodes to converge at the fortress's location. This formed a gigantic transportation channel connected to the Mountain and Sea Realm.

Therefore,

once a battle began,

there was no distinction between the strong and the weak.

Instead, the two armies would clash head-on in a massive melee—soldier against soldier, king against king. The sheer brutality far surpassed that of the Celestial Gates further back.

This was also why

even the weakest soldiers in the Dragon-slaying Battlefield were at the Twentieth Heaven of the Saint realm and had to have achieved the Undying Saint Body through Transverse Cultivation.

Below the Twentieth Heaven of the Saint realm,

soldiers whose Life Force and resilience had not reached the level of a Sacred Body could be reduced to ash by the aftershocks of a powerful expert's charge in a grand melee!

The great war had just ended.

Launching an immediate counter-attack was naturally impossible.

Troops and supplies needed replenishing, losses had to be tallied, and the wounded needed to recover.

Thus,

Wu Dao's batch of new troops

had half a month to adjust and adapt.

How were they to adapt?

By heading to the front lines and participating in some small-scale battles, of course.

The Mud Flesh Forbidden Area was massive.

The space-time where the Dragon-slaying Battlefield bordered the Golden True Dragon Clan's fortress was a jagged, overlapping mess. Both sides had set up numerous outpost bases, and skirmishes frequently broke out.

These minor squabbles

held no interest for Wu Dao.

He sank directly into the depths of the Mire of Flesh and Mud beneath Primordial Pass to focus on his Cultivation, sending out a Venerable Perfection Incarnation to walk and fight in his stead.

In any case,

he had the Bitter Dust Robe to conceal his information.

Ever since arriving at the Dragon-slaying Battlefield, he had presented himself as being at the Venerable Perfection cultivation level. With an Incarnation taking his place, no one would notice anything unusual.

Going forward,

Wu Dao wouldn't easily act with his true body.

The Slaughter Emperor's warning echoed in his ears.

The sixth Great Tribulation would erupt soon, and he had to seize every second to improve himself, to transform from a chess piece into a player as quickly as possible.

His many Incarnations,

plus the Seventy-Three Primordial Demons,

could continuously fight and earn merits to fuel his Cultivation. In large-scale battles, he could simply use Descent of the Divine on an Incarnation. There was no need to waste time by appearing in person.

Time flew by.

The Dragon-slaying Battlefield had ample reinforcements.

After just three days, it returned to its peak condition. Veteran soldiers led the new troops to the front-line outposts to be tempered through battle.

Wu Dao's various Incarnations,

all under different identities and backgrounds, were scattered throughout the Six Celestial Passes. They were assigned to the most dangerous battlefields, quietly awaiting the great war.

It was worth mentioning that

one of his Venerable Incarnations ran into Jiang Han and Wuchen again in the Divine Demon Battlefield, a zone second only to the Dragon-slaying Battlefield in terms of danger.

Whether it was fate or karma, he didn't know,

but those two had somehow teamed up. Jiang Han was sinister, cunning, ruthless, and cold, while Wuchen was not only cunning but also possessed a domineering Demon Nature.

Their union could be considered a powerhouse alliance.

They became known as the Divine-Demon Twins in the Divine Demon Battlefield, slaying numerous Mountain and Sea Celestial Prides. As their fame soared, their cultivation levels rose rapidly.

Turning to the Primordial Sect,

its development was also going exceptionally smoothly.

After Wu Dao poured in vast amounts of Heaven-defying Resources, the recruitment of fifth-rank Divine Envoys became irresistibly tempting and was met with almost universal success.

Take the Red Lotus Demon Lord's master, for example.

The Karma Fire Demon Venerable.

When the Red Lotus Demon Lord found him and tried to pull him into the Primordial Sect, the master had scolded him out of sheer disappointment, furious that the Red Lotus Demon Lord had fallen so low—

"We may follow the Demon Dao, but we still have principles! The Evil God Teachings harm others and oneself. Once you join, you lose control of your own destiny."

He went on and on, earnestly trying to persuade him.

And then...

Wu Dao threw down a Seven Orifice Golden Pill that could repair a Great Venerable Dao Injury. The old bastard dropped to his knees faster than anyone, even scolding the Red Lotus Demon Lord for being unfilial and not bringing such a great opportunity to him sooner.

The other Great Venerables

were subdued through more or less the same methods.

As long as people had desires, regrets, and unfulfilled wishes, controlling them was all too easy.

What's more,

the Divine Envoys of the Primordial Sect weren't mere puppets. They retained their own thoughts and consciousness; it was merely a matter of establishing a Faith Channel.

Complete conversion

was extremely troublesome.

Most of the many Divine Envoys throughout the All Heavens had been brought into the Primordial Sect by existing members, which helped maintain the sect's mysterious and unfathomable aura.

If Wu Dao, the Primordial Daoist Venerable, had to personally find and subdue each one, it would be a waste of time and beneath his status.

After this wave of recruitment,

a large number of fifth-rank Divine Envoys from the ranks of Evil Demons and Outsiders joined, causing the Primordial Sect to swell in size, completely surpassing ordinary Holy Lands.

Wu Dao finally bared his fangs.

He began issuing divine edicts to hunt down One Tribulation Dao Realms across the All Heavens, specifically targeting Venerable Perfection Worlds and Great Venerable Worlds.

At the same time,

he didn't neglect his Divine Soul Energy.

Following the upgrade to the Primordial Dao Wheel 3.0, the Primordial Star Mother's calculations accelerated the rapid development of civilizations in the one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred Primordial Magnetic Dao Worlds.

Although now, after the fourth stage of 'All Things,' he controlled the authority to create everything, allowing both him and the Primordial Star Mother to generate life and Soul Energy, the needs of normal-speed creation versus accelerated creation were two different concepts.

Just as Wu Dao still needed Dao Source to accelerate,

if the Primordial Star Mother wanted to accelerate,

she couldn't escape the need for a massive supply of Soul Energy.

Every day of operation,

the number of intelligent beings' Divine Souls burned was an astronomical figure, requiring a continuous hunt by his followers across the All Heavens to maintain the supply.

The consequence was that

the Primordial Sect's infamy gradually spread throughout the All Heavens, its reputation nearly reaching the same level as the terrorist-like Dragon Hunting Tower.

One could even say

the student had surpassed the master.

The Dragon Hunting Tower only hunted Transverse Cultivation Celestial Prides, and after being repeatedly framed, their hunting scope was limited to those at the Celestial Pride level.

But the Primordial Sect was utterly deranged.

They weren't picky at all.

Often in a single hunt, they would slaughter all the living beings in numerous Great Thousand Worlds, draining their souls completely and creating boundless killing karma.

The most infuriating part was that

no one could find the Primordial Sect's main lair.

The All Heavens had formed a joint investigation team long ago, but they still couldn't find a single trace of Wu Dao, the mastermind and great cancer behind it all. All they could do was issue useless verbal and written condemnations.

Wu Dao remained completely unfazed by this.

He was simply doing what all the giants of the Hongyuan era would do. No one was cleaner or nobler than anyone else.

A single general's success is built on ten thousand bleached bones.

Throughout all the tribulations,

the birth of any Daoist was predicated on the All Heavens entering a tribulation, where countless lives were devastated and cries of misery filled the land.

No tribulation, no Dao Fruit.

One achieves the Dao, the All Heavens perish.

'Who is right and who is wrong?'

'Who doesn't want to attain the Dao and achieve transcendence?'

'The victor is crowned king. That's all there is to it.'

'There's no difference between being active or passive.'

The few lives he reaped,

compared to the beings who died in a single Great Tribulation, were not even a drop in the ocean.

Once the Primordial Sect was on the right track,

Wu Dao refocused most of his energy on Cultivation. He sank ever deeper into the Mire of Flesh and Mud, his cultivation level advancing by leaps and bounds with a sufficient supply of Dao Source.

Half a month flashed by.

Beneath the forbidden zone of the Mire of Flesh and Mud, at a depth equivalent to five Great Venerable Worlds, the magnetic field of flesh, blood, and malevolent qi had become tangible, suppressing all creatures that dared to enter.

On this day,

a thought stirred in Wu Dao's mind.

On his attribute panel, the essence of his three great Extraordinary Basic Powers had reached the Venerable Sixth Heaven, and his combat power data read: Great Venerable Sixth Heaven!

"Is the counter-attack about to begin?"

At the same time,

Wu Dao noticed that the military headquarters of the Dragon-slaying Battlefield had once again convened a strategic meeting for those at or above the rank of Military King, proof that an assault on the True Dragon Fortress was imminent.

"Continue..."

Wu Dao withdrew his thoughts.

He sank deeper into the Mire of Flesh and Mud.

At the same time, he sent a portion of his consciousness to descend upon his primary combat Incarnation.

This time,

he had used up all of his major Killing Artifacts,

leaving only a few trump cards in reserve.

Killing enemies would be comparatively more troublesome.

...

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

Blood and fire surged as warships filled the sky.

Outside the Dragon-slaying Battlefield,

an overwhelming army marched forth. The murderous aura of war could be felt in other territories across the vastness of space-time, and they stood ready to provide support at any moment.

The surrounding territories all understood.

The True Dragon Fortress at the end of the Dragon-slaying Battlefield was a thorn in the side of the Six Celestial Passes, a supreme humiliation. As long as it remained, it was a grave threat weighing on their minds.

Therefore,

this counter-attack was a joint operation involving more than a dozen territories. The elites of the Dragon-slaying Battlefield would be the main combat force, while the other territories would assist by defending the rear, giving the Mountain and Sea no opportunity to exploit any openings.

Furthermore,

hidden within the Dragon-slaying army,

were numerous high-end combatants newly joined from across the All Heavens.

The last life-and-death situation at the Five Celestial Passes

had occurred because they fell for a strategy to lure the tiger from the mountain, resulting in a mismatch of high-end power. Having learned their lesson, the Post-Hongyuan Era was now churning out soldiers en masse; they wouldn't give the Mountain and Sea that kind of opportunity again.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

In the middle of the expeditionary army,

amidst a dense fleet of warships,

Wu Dao stood on the deck of a Venerable Warship, his towering physique clad in the quiescent Primordial Magnetic Armor. Behind him stood a group of fully armed Heavy Armored Primordial Demons.

"Alliance Leader, I heard that the Guan Lord applied to the Red Emperor City for an Emperor's Weapon this time?"

Zhao Jianji's heart surged with excitement amidst the murderous aura of the surrounding army, his voice tinged with impatience.

"Yes, that's true."

Wu Dao recalled the contents of the meeting in the Military Affairs Hall, which had mentioned paying attention to the Emperor's Weapon. He nodded and said,

"The True Dragon Emperor Clan's foundation among the Mountain and Sea Emperor Clans is even stronger than that of the Zi Chu. They were once one of the Five Great Primordial Races.

Their ancestor, the Ancestral Candle Dragon, was the first Daoist of the Mountain and Sea. Although the Candle Dragon's Near Dao body within the Dao was severed during the Four Tribulations, preventing it from ever re-entering the Dao and leading to the True Dragon Race's decline.

But a starved camel is still bigger than a horse.

Even with the restrictions of the Great Dao in the Six Celestial Passes, if pushed to the brink, they can definitely unleash power beyond normal specifications. The Emperor's Weapon is a precaution against them growing desperate and lashing out."

The True Dragon Race

was not a single race.

It was divided into many branch races based on the purity of their ancestral blood. The weaker ones were merely Imperial Races, while the stronger ones were second only to the Four Great Primordial Races.

The Golden Dragon Clan in the Dragon-slaying Battlefield

was in the upper echelons of the True Dragon Race.

The strongest clan was the Candle Dragon Race.

The Candle Dragon Race didn't even need to cultivate intentionally. Upon reaching adulthood and undergoing their first ancestral reversion, they would possess the battle power of a Quasi-Emperor, capable of separating Yin and Yang, opening Chaos, and shaping a Proto-Cosmos. It was utterly perverse.

And that was just the strongest Emperor Clan.

The Four Great Primordial Races, which occupied the karmic fortune of the Four Mountains,

such as the Taotie Race, where Yaya came from,

were even more ancient than the True Dragon Race. Their Life Ancestor bloodline was the purest, and upon reaching adulthood, they possessed the battle power of an Ancestor King Emperor!

On this point alone,

the Human Race and the Ten Thousand Races of the Post-Hongyuan Era

truly couldn't compare to the Mountain and Sea Realm.

But everything has its pros and cons.

The more powerful a being's Innate Bloodline, the harder it is for them to produce offspring. Perhaps it was a balancing mechanism of the Great Dao.

"When the fight starts, don't go crazy."

As his thoughts ebbed and flowed,

Wu Dao reminded Zhao Jianji and the others, "In a large-scale melee, there's no clear division between the strong and weak like in the Reincarnation Battlefield. Your opponents will be in the Venerable ranks.

If you're too strong, you'll be targeted.

The Primordial Magnetic Armor is, after all, an external power."

"Understood."

Zhao Jianji and the other Primordial Demons nodded.

The Primordial Magnetic Armor,

Wu Dao had updated it before the battle.

Now, the Primordial Demons at the Great Saint level could exert the battle power of a Venerable Perfection. If the Star Mother took control, they could even kill a Great Venerable.

However,

just as Wu Dao had said,

in a massive melee like this,

a tree that stands out from the forest will be torn down by the wind.

If they killed too ruthlessly and attracted the attention of a high-tier Great Venerable from the Golden Dragon Clan, not even the Star Mother could protect them. The loss would far outweigh the gain.