Chapter 100 - 99: If I Don’t Go to Hell, Who Will?

Chapter 100: Chapter 99: If I Don’t Go to Hell, Who Will?

In the battle at the Snake Shadow Sect, the Wenda Alliance lost thirteen cultivators at the Divinity Transformation Realm. They gained thirty-seven new ones, along with two at the Void Refinement Realm and seventeen Nascent Souls.

The Alliance Leader displayed a powerful Divine Ability that could kill a Harmonization Realm expert in a single blow, shedding his image as a support-class mascot and greatly reassuring everyone.

Rumors spread through the Wenda Alliance: that the Alliance Leader was the reincarnation of a Great Power who had undergone tribulation in the Mortal World, and that Nascent Souls could now cultivate the Path of Loose Immortal instead of having to seize a new body...

Overall, the situation was looking up.

Never in history had an alliance expanded so rapidly, and what’s more, its members started at the Divinity Transformation Realm.

「The next few days.」

The super-sized Sects remained quiet for the time being. Li Ye continued leading the Wenda Alliance around, picking fights and expanding their territory. He did his best to break down large-scale wars into smaller skirmishes, increasing the frequency of combat—and the frequency of him beating on his own teammates.

His ability to strike his teammates was a bugged skill that was calculated per use. After a few days, the Wenda Alliance had conquered six medium-sized Sects and eight small ones.

They added over eighty Divinity Transformation Realm Elders, successfully pushing their total membership past seven hundred.

The former Demon Sect Elders, Lv Jun and Lei Yiheng, successfully broke through from the peak of the Void Refinement Realm to the Harmonization Realm. Lei Wenjie and the others leveled up to the late stage of the Void Refinement Realm.

Over thirty Divinity Transformation Realm Elders broke through to the Void Refinement Realm.

With Li Ye’s help, the nearly twenty Nascent Souls were flourishing.

The Nascent Souls of the two former Demon Sect Elders, Mao Xiu and Zhai Bin, grew from their initial fist-size to over two feet tall, looking just like a pair of adorable five- or six-year-old children.

Their bodies were composed of pure energy, so captivating that one couldn’t look away. It made people want to turn them into Spirit Stones and absorb them on the spot.

The Nascent Souls of the other Divinity Transformation Realm cultivators also grew to about a foot tall. Since they were relatively weak in battle, they constantly orbited Li Ye, drawn by his Spiritual Qi and always ready to enjoy one of his backstabs. This made Li Ye look rather like a Ginseng Fruit Tree.

Of course, having a dozen-odd Nascent Souls floating behind him wherever he went made Li Ye look even more like a bona fide Evil Cultivator, or even a Ghost Cultivator who refined infants into Evil Artifacts.

But Li Ye couldn’t care less.

Nascent Souls were too weak to fight directly and could be easily destroyed, so he equipped them with suitable Dharma Artifacts.

Immobilization Talismans, Immortal Binding Ropes, Enchanting Smoke, Spirit-Eroding Powder, Protective Shields, and more. Their main purpose was to control the targets of his sneak attacks after he used Instant Teleportation, and to help him fend off other assaults.

Li Ye had already tested this in actual combat.

When this group of Nascent Souls attacked in concert, the results were excellent. A Divinity Transformation Realm master could be instantly incapacitated by their combined techniques.

After all, the Time Acceleration was too sudden for most people to guard against. Li Ye had finally gone from fighting alone to leading a gang of kids into a brawl.

Of everyone, Li Ye’s cultivation speed was the fastest. He rapidly advanced to the late stage of the Void Refinement Realm.

After all, every time he struck a person, his Attributes increased by a third. The more members the Wenda Alliance had, the faster he leveled up.

Calculated based on the Wenda Alliance’s previous membership of over six hundred people, his cultivation level would increase one-hundred-and-fifty-fold after a single battle.

This meant the increase from each battle was based on his initial stats; if it had expanded exponentially, his cultivation would have long ago broken past the peak of the Harmonization Realm.

Even so, his inhuman cultivation speed shocked everyone in the Wenda Alliance.

Unfortunately, perhaps the watch’s method for advancement had reached its limit, or perhaps Li Ye’s own path was also flawed.

After the watch’s Demon Qi grew to a certain level, its growth became extremely slow. The time cooldown froze at thirty seconds and refused to decrease any further.

Li Ye’s hope of stringing his one-second accelerations together into a continuous flow was never realized, and he hadn’t awakened any new Derived Skills either.

Because of this, the watch had asked Li Ye several times to help it increase its Demon Qi, but Li Ye had brushed it off each time.

He no longer knew what methods could stimulate the watch’s growth.

...

Li Ye’s cultivation level finally matched his title as the Wenda Alliance Leader.

Lei Wenjie and the others, however, felt an increasing sense of urgency. At Li Ye’s growth rate, they feared it wouldn’t be long before he broke through his limits and directly underwent Ascension.

Once Li Ye ascended, there would be no one left to help them raise their Skill Level.

Furthermore, while their group seemed powerful, they were probably no match for the Upper Three Sects and the Demon Sect, which had been developing for over ten thousand years.

But all they could do was follow Li Ye around fighting, desperately trying to raise their own cultivation in the hope that they could truly unify the cultivation world before he ascended.

However, the addition of four Demon Sect Elders did help boost the Wenda Alliance’s combat prowess.

Having lived for thousands of years, these Demon Sect Elders had mastered countless Cultivation Techniques. They were walking treasure troves.

...

At the recently ravaged Jade Cicada Temple, the Daoist Sect Leader, Sword Sect Leader, and Buddhist Sect Leader—the three top figures of the Upper Three Sects—stood before the Great Hero Hall. Their expressions were grave as they looked upon the ruins and the few remaining monks, none of whom were above the Nascent Soul Realm.

After the Daoist Sect Leader went out on a limb to find the leaders of the Sword and Buddhist Sects, the three of them joined forces to investigate the Wenda Alliance, quickly realizing they had fallen into a trap.

The Upper Three Sects had no undercover agents in the Wenda Alliance at all; it was all a Blinding Technique engineered by the alliance.

But to figure out what was really going on with the Wenda Alliance, the three of them followed the alliance’s path, investigating as they went.

In his pursuit of speed, Li Ye only absorbed cultivators at the Divinity Transformation Realm and above. After recruiting who he wanted, he didn’t wipe out the rest, so a careful investigation could always uncover some clues.

But the further they investigated, the more confused the three powerful Sect Leaders became.

"Yang, what are your thoughts?" the Daoist Sect Leader asked.

"The members of the Wenda Alliance are improving too quickly. At the Dragon Banner Sect, they were just a group of Divinity Transformation Realm cultivators, but by the time they reached the Snake Shadow Sect, there were already more than ten at the Void Refinement Realm. Furthermore, not a single person swept up by the Wenda Alliance has defected. That’s not normal. Even Demon Sect Elders willingly joined them. That is not normal."

The Sword Sect Leader also appeared as a young man in his twenties. He carried a Sword Box on his back, and standing next to the Daoist Sect Leader, he gave off the sharp aura of a finely honed blade.

"Slaying a Harmonization Realm expert while at the Divinity Transformation Realm, and foot-tall Nascent Souls... I fear the Sect Leader of the Wenda Alliance has mastered a new Cultivation Method," the Buddhist Sect Leader said. "He seeks to take an unorthodox path and carve out his own empire in the cultivation world. Isn’t that how many Sects were founded?"

"I don’t think he wants to carve out an empire. He wants to wipe out the entire cultivation world in one fell swoop." The Sword Sect Leader clearly had a short temper. "At this rate, it won’t be long before he comes to attack the Upper Three Sects."

"Stabbing his own men in battle... that sounds more like an Evil Cultivation Method!" the Daoist Sect Leader lamented. "With him around, I’m afraid the cultivation world will know no peace."

"Fellow Sect Leaders, the Wenda Alliance is just ahead. Why don’t we just chase them down and kill that damn Alliance Leader?"

The Sword Sect Leader’s brow furrowed in anger. "The Wenda Alliance has little more than thirty cultivators at the Void Refinement Realm. That Alliance Leader’s Divine Ability to slay Harmonization Realm experts only works within a three-li radius. If the three of us work together, killing him will be as easy as flipping our palms. It’s letting him continue to grow that will cause endless disaster."

"Fellow Daoist Yang, the Wenda Alliance holds many secrets," the Daoist Sect Leader said, shaking his head. "In less than two months, his followers have advanced from the Divinity Transformation Realm to the Void Refinement Realm. I suspect he isn’t from the Otherworld, but has more likely obtained a legacy from the Ancient Era."

"Zhu, are you saying you want to get his Cultivation Method from the Wenda Alliance Leader?" the Sword Sect Leader asked.

"If it’s truly a legacy from the Ancient Era, it might help us solve the mystery of Ascension," the Daoist Sect Leader sighed. "In the Ancient Era, Great Powers walked the earth and prodigies were innumerable. They could split the heavens and sunder the earth at a whim. Compared to them, we fall far too short. Even our lineages are broken.

"Yet in such a short time, he has helped one person after another break through. I’m afraid that is the true Cultivation Method. Only with that kind of cultivation speed could the Ancient Great Powers have been capable of destroying the heavens and extinguishing the earth."

The Buddhist Sect Leader recited Buddha’s Name and gave a wry smile. "Zhu speaks wisely. In our scriptures, it’s said that a Buddha descending to the world has the strength to throw an elephant. Today, the Buddhist Sect has lost many of its cultivation methods. We carry the name of the Buddhist Sect in name only; in truth, we have become more like the Daoist Sect.

"If the Wenda Alliance Leader truly possesses the Ascension Method, it should be in our hands. If one day we can ascend to the heavens, find the true Buddhist Cultivation Method, and pass it back down, we could restore the golden age of cultivation and benefit all of mankind. That would be an act of great Merit."

"The Wenda Alliance Leader is skilled at beguiling others. His methods are strange and more akin to the ways of the Demon Sect," said the Sword Sect Leader.

"Yang, you are too attached to appearances. As the Buddha said, ’If I do not enter hell, who will?’" The Buddhist Sect Leader put his palms together. "If the path of the Demon Sect can help this old monk achieve Ascension and then pass down the true Buddhist Cultivation Method to the many Buddha Sons, then this old monk is willing to cast himself into hell to do so."

’Hypocrite!’

The corner of the Daoist Sect Leader’s mouth twitched. "The Buddhist Sect Leader is right. The Wenda Alliance Leader couldn’t have invented this Cultivation Method himself. It must have come from some ancient ruins. If we can learn the location of those ruins from him, perhaps we can find our own Cultivation Methods as well."

"Excellent," the Buddhist Sect Leader agreed.

The Sword Sect Leader was convinced. After a moment of thought, he said, "He commands the Path of Space and could slay a Harmonization expert while he was still in the Divinity Transformation Realm. Now he’s at the peak of the Void Refinement Realm. Capturing him alive won’t be easy."

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." The Buddhist Sect Leader placed his palms together, his face a mask of profound, world-weary compassion.

"Fellow Daoist Yang, now that we know about his Divine Abilities, won’t it be easy to defend against them?" said the Daoist Sect Leader. "The three of us will support each other. With our combined power, I doubt he’ll find an opportunity to strike. He has a method for cultivating Nascent Souls, so if worst comes to worst, we can simply destroy his physical body and leave only his Nascent Soul..."

"There’s no time to lose," the Buddhist Sect Leader said. "His growth rate is too fast. Give him any more time, and I’m afraid we’ll be completely unable to stop him."

"Let’s go," the Daoist Sect Leader nodded.

"Wait, my two brothers," the Sword Sect Leader, who had been so eager just a moment ago, suddenly hesitated. He frowned. "We’ve overlooked something important."

"What is it?" the Daoist Sect Leader asked.

"Some time ago, four Demon Sect Elders were lost to the Wenda Alliance. All this time has passed, so why hasn’t the Demon Sect made a move?" the Sword Sect Leader said. "And what’s more, the Ghost Sect and the Demon Realm have been abnormally quiet..."

...

「At the same time.」

Mao Xiu was saying the exact same thing to Li Ye. "Alliance Leader, I’m afraid something has happened to the Demon Sect..."