Chapter 742 - 736 Where Poison Insects Pass, Not a Blade of Grass Remains
Palaces, tower ships, and flying magical treasures of all sizes entered in a continuous stream through the wide-open gates of Chaotian Palace.
Once inside, it was no longer a single palace but a Cave Heaven World that spanned over a hundred thousand miles. At the center of this world, atop the highest mountain, stood a massive palace that looked exactly like the Chaotian Palace as seen from the outside by many cultivators.
This was where Chaotian Ancestor practiced in solitude, and naturally, cultivators from various sects could not disturb him there.
However, Beimang Ancestor would certainly be invited there.
Thus, this place also became the command center where the two ancestors issued orders, directing the war efforts of various sects. Leaders like Elder Liuling and Elder Heavenly Spider could enter to partake in discussions about the expedition, and other mid-ranking Vassal Sect’s Profound Immortals like the Fiery Fire Sect Master, due to their profound Dao cultivation, were also allowed to express their opinions.
As for those below the Profound Immortal Realm, they had no decision-making power in front of the two ancestors!
Even those immortals skilled in planning and deductive strategy could only strategize for parts of the war in their respective camps, preparing for the varied scenarios their sects might face in the looming war.
Even though Qin Feng was quite renowned, he was but a junior in the presence of the two ancestors and likewise had no say.
The lives of millions of cultivators were at stake, so these lower realm cultivators could not meddle without risking disastrous mistakes that could endanger countless lives!
Vision and insight are often tied to one’s Cultivation Realm.
The perspectives of those in the Immortal Realm toward situations differ vastly from those of True Immortals and Heavenly Immortals, and even their view of the world is unlike that of ordinary immortals.
Those of higher realms, like Golden Immortals and above, could often see the essence of the world, understand its laws, and some with special abilities could even discern the Qi Fortune of a world, assessing the strength of opposing tribes and the entanglements between enemy powerhouses. Thus, they could strategize for a world conquest from various angles targeting top-level divine beings.
Ordinary cultivators and even immortals can’t see these aspects and at most, can only infer from the intensity of the world’s barriers, the abundance of Spiritual Energy inside, resources, and the strength of lifeforms.
That’s why a massive army of cultivators is brought along for inter-world expeditions—they’re able to arrange matters from a higher vantage point.
Unless facing a weaker Small World where a dominant force could be exerted, relying on one or two Golden Immortals alone is nearly impossible to conquer a world guarded by top-level divine beings.
This is because the World Will suppresses invaders significantly, with stronger figures facing even greater suppression and Golden Immortal Great Powers struggling to exert their full strength.
Conversely, the World Will blesses those defending the world, allowing them to exert outstanding war power, potentially exceeding 120% of their capabilities.
Moreover, with countless armies assisting and numerous experts working together, even attrition alone could wear down the opponent.
This expedition’s lineup was significantly stronger, far surpassing the one led by the Beast Taming Sect Master.
Initially, Gui Ling Ancestor hadn’t ascended to immortality; together with the cultivators from various sects, there were only six or seven Profound Immortals and a few dozen immortals. The assembled army from all sects barely amounted to two million!
Now, not only were two Golden Immortal Ancestors personally leading the campaign, but there were also over a dozen Profound Immortals such as Elder Liuling from the Beast Taming Sect, Elder Heavenly Spider and Golden Cicada Elder from the Five Poisons Sect, the Five Ghosts Heavenly Kings and Heavenly Ghost Daoist from Ghost Controlling Sect, along with Profound Immortals Qingming and Cangqiong from Chaotian Palace.
Besides these Major Sect’s Profound Immortals, there were also significant figures from Vassal Sects like the Fiery Fire Sect Master and Golden Centipede Palace Master. The total number of True Immortals and Heavenly Immortals had already exceeded a hundred, with an amassed army of cultivators reaching five to six million.
Compared to the last time, their strength had multiplied manifold!
This was mainly because, aside from Chaotian Palace, the three other Major Sects, along with their Vassal Sects, had reaped substantial benefits from the previous war. They were among the first to extract those benefits, allowing such rapid growth. Indeed, just the Beast Taming Sect along with its Vassal Sects had gathered an army of two million cultivators, not to mention the actively initiating Ghost Controlling Sect.
This was an aspect that made Chaotian Palace cultivators envious and also why Chaotian Ancestor did not hesitate to offer his personally refined Cave Heaven World as the main base for the expedition.
Being in the East Domain with Ghost Controlling Sect, Chaotian Palace had early interactions. When they saw how much Ghost Controlling Sect had gained from just one expedition—advancing numerous immortals in their ranks, let alone significantly increasing their lower-level disciples’ count and multiplying their foundation many times over—how could Chaotian Palace, once similarly powered, not envy them!
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh…
As millions of cultivators formed ranks and all entered the Cave Heaven, they were guided by Chaotian Palace cultivators and settled in various places.
Even though the sects abided by the rules, they still inevitably brought trouble to this Cave Heaven.
After all, just settling such a massive army required a vast expanse of territory. Moreover, cultivators, unlike ordinary mortals, needed their independent spaces for cultivation, consuming vast amounts of Spiritual Energy daily. This Cave Heaven, being personally forged by Chaotian Ancestor and of high quality, barely managed to sustain it.
In addition to cultivators, there were even more numerous Strange Insects, Exotic Beasts, and Ghost Items!
This was the only downside to joining hands with the Beast Taming Sect, Five Poisons Sect, and Ghost Controlling Sect—the originally beautiful Cave Heaven World became chaotic with their entry.
But in the long run, collaborating with them harbored greater benefits.
Despite the chaos brought about by countless spiritual beasts, poison insects, and ghost items filling the grotto heaven with a haze, once the war began, the cultivators of Chaotian Palace would realize that joining forces with these sects was far more advantageous than partnering with the other orthodox sects.
These strange insects and exotic beasts like corpse ghosts would spearhead the battle, providing a significant advantage to the cultivators. At the very least, they could avoid the most perilous initial slaughter and comfortably handle more opponents.
Moreover, the poison insects of the Five Poisons Sect are of the kind that multiply with cultivation. If they could gather sufficient flesh and energy on the battlefield, and were given time to incubate, they might very likely cause a catastrophe of poison insects, becoming a calamity for one side!
The two Immortal Sects, South Ming and North Huang, under the Five Poisons Sect, were particularly skilled in this aspect.
South Ming and North Huang were not two separate sects, but a sect founded jointly by a pair of true immortal daoist companions. Immortal Nanming was especially adept at manipulating the Ming worm, while Daoist Beihuang excelled at controlling the flying locust, both of which prevailed by their sheer numbers and could be highly effective in many scenarios.
If countless flying locusts or other strange insects invaded enemy ranks, unless a super expert intervened, nothing would remain where the locusts passed, not even a blade of grass!
They could devour all crops, turn grasslands into wastelands, and strip forests of any trace of green, effectively cutting off the enemy’s food supply from its roots.
Before other sect’s cultivators could settle, Chaotian Palace had already left the inner world along the cracks in the world barrier opened by the Heavenly Dao and headed towards the Endless Void.
Although the Cave Heaven World was usually serene and stable and would not feel even a hint of agitation unless subjected to an irresistible attack—even in a void storm, it remained as steady as a mountain.
As Chaotian Palace ascended swiftly to the heavens, countless watching cultivators displayed envious expressions, staring at the increasingly tiny palace, reluctant to part with it.
In today’s cultivation world, most cultivators yearned for the Otherworld, eager to participate in the expedition to reap benefits and seize opportunities that could greatly advance their cultivation, hoping to achieve the Immortal Dao.
Otherwise, by merely following routine cultivation, how many could achieve longevity without worries about lifespan?
Especially for those loose cultivators, although they had started forming alliances in today’s environment, unless a peerless individual emerged, it was difficult for the inherently independent loose cultivators to form a war formation, let alone engage in war on a significant scale.
In general, they could only negotiate with the Major Sects based on their numerical advantage, include the Loose Cultivation Alliance in the expeditionary camp, and aside from cultivators needed for the war formation, those unruly loose cultivators who disliked restrictions were left to their own devices, creating havoc in the enemy’s rear!
…
Inside Chaotian Palace, Qin Feng lay back with his hands behind his head and legs crossed on a large bluestone at the summit of a mountain, quietly gazing at the brilliant stars above.
Next to him, the Swallowing Sky Toad’s back twinkled with countless star lights, pulling Star Power from the surrounding through the barrier of the Cave Heaven World and absorbing it into its body.
The Star Power in the void was much denser than inside the world. Moreover, the technique it used to pull the Star Power was extremely profound, thus it attracted an enormous amount of Star Power, even visible to the naked eye as threads and traces of Star Power took form against the dim starry background, catching the eye!
Although many cultivators witnessed this scene, no one came to disturb him or to harness the Star Power dispersed by the Swallowing Sky Toad for their cultivation.
This was because everyone nearby knew that the young man lying on this mountaintop was called Qin Feng.
As the most famous Master of Qi Luck among the younger generation in the cultivation world, not only was he deeply respected by his peers, but many older immortals, having interacted with him, realized that their years of accumulation could not even compare to his; naturally, they would not seek to provoke bad luck.
The expedition to the Otherworld was not to be taken lightly; the void was vast and infinite. Even though areas resided within the same Star Domain, worlds were still widely separated from each other. Even though this journey was being steered by a Golden Immortal Ancestor using a Cave Heaven Treasure, navigating through the void would still take a long time to reach their destination!
After a long time spent on the journey, Qin Feng began to feel quite listless, which is why he appeared so idle, lying there.
However, his spirit was far from inactive, continuously contemplating various laws and divine skills in his mind, perfecting his knowledge and enhancing his cultivation level.
Just as the Swallowing Sky Toad was furiously absorbing Circulation Stars Power and he was theorizing how to enhance the power of an Immortal Technique, suddenly, his eyes lit up.
Looking up, he saw it was not the common shooting star in the void but a bright yellow star light, growing increasingly bright.
“That is… one of those two small worlds!”
Qin Feng quickly identified the star that was growing larger as one of the targets of this expedition.
He wasn’t overly concerned about these two small worlds and had no plans to enter them.
The four Major Sects had each dispatched some forces, which was sufficient; there was no need for him personally to take action. Qin Feng was truly interested in that one Medium World.
It was said that this world was somewhat peculiar and might even hold some novel discoveries!