Rise from a Low-class Family to Martial Artist

Wanshan City.

Lin Chen and several of his senior brothers were currently in the City Lord’s Mansion. Lin Chen quietly listened as the senior brothers recounted what had happened on the two sects’ battlefield over the past two-plus years.

In these two and a half years, more than two thousand Innate Martial Artists had already died or been wounded across the entire Canglan Domain, and the number of Grade-Entering Martial Artists was simply beyond counting.

Nearly twenty percent of all the Innate Martial Artists in the Canglan Domain had fallen; this was an extremely terrifying number.

Of course, the losses on the Eight Desolate Domain’s side were about the same, even slightly higher.

Originally, the Canglan Sect had still held a slight upper hand, but once those more than a thousand Innate Martial Artists appeared, the situation was reversed, and now it was the Eight Desolates Sect that had seized the advantage.

“Little Junior Brother, since you’ve come back, you should first return to the sect to see Master and the Sect Leader.” Senior Brother Tu Ruoxing spoke slowly.

“Yes, Little Junior Brother, you should first make a trip back to the sect. Once the Sect Leader and Master learn of your current Realm, they will surely be pleased.”

Liang Hanyang followed closely, adding in turn. Chai Daoqi glanced at the two senior brothers and immediately understood their intention.

The sect had issued a Sect Order for all Disciples to return. Disciples in the Outer Domain returning to the Canglan Domain did not need to go back to the sect itself; they would be arranged on the spot by the Sect Steward or Elder in charge of that region.

Wanshan City and the surrounding hundred cities all fell under Elder Qu’s jurisdiction.

The three senior and junior brothers were responsible for ten cities in the surrounding area.

If Little Junior Brother joined them, the pressure on their side would sharply decrease, but the Martial Artists from the Eight Desolate Domain would also report the situation, and corresponding Innate Powerhouses would inevitably be dispatched. Yet the sect already could not send out any more powerhouses.

Their own Master was not in the sect, but on another battlefield.

Lin Chen pondered. Although he did not know the inside story, he could still guess the purpose of his three senior brothers in wanting him to return to the sect.

The situation was unfavorable for the Canglan Sect; how could Master possibly remain in the sect? Senior Brother asking him to go back to see Master was merely to pull him away from the frontline battlefield.

“Very well, I’ll return to the sect first.”

In the end, Lin Chen still accepted the good intentions of the senior brothers. It was not that he wanted to flee the battlefield, but that only by returning to the sect could he gain a deeper understanding of this Sect War and thus formulate better countermeasures.

“Sooner is better than later. Little Junior Brother, you should set off now.”

Senior Brother Tu Ruoxing looked at Lin Chen. Although they had annihilated all the Martial Artists from the Eight Desolate Domain this time, he still could not guarantee that there were no Eight Desolate Domain spies within the city. With Junior Brother Lin’s talent, if the Eight Desolates Sect learned that he was here, they might disregard everything to send an Innate Fifth Realm powerhouse to deal with him.

“Alright, then you senior brothers take care.”

Lin Chen nodded heavily. He was not the indecisive type.

After the time of a cup of tea, Lin Chen left the city, heading toward the Canglan Sect. But after traveling a hundred li, he suddenly changed direction and moved toward the edge of the battlefield.

In the City Lord’s Mansion where Senior Brother resided, there hung a map that showed the latest distribution of the battlefield. With Lin Chen’s memory, just a few glances were enough for him to imprint that map deeply in his mind.

At this moment, Lin Chen had altered his figure and once again restored the appearance of a man in his forties.

Bibo City!

The city gates were tightly shut. This was a small city; the Canglan Sect had only assigned a single Innate Martial Artist to sit in town.

“My lord, all of the Eight Desolate Domain Martial Artists at Bibo Pond are dead!”

A First-Grade Martial Artist rushed in, his voice extremely excited.

“All dead? Are you certain there’s no mistake?”

“Absolutely no mistake. There are even the corpses of two Innate Martial Artists.”

Zhang Qi pondered. If this was a conspiracy by the Eight Desolate Domain Martial Artists to lure him out of the city, then the price of this plot was far too high—using the lives of two Innate Martial Artists as bait?

Their Bibo City simply did not possess such value.

The only possibility was that these corpses were all Eight Desolate Domain Martial Artists who had died in battle elsewhere, including those two Innate Martial Artists, and that the Eight Desolate Domain Martial Artists outside the city had borrowed the corpses of the fallen to set up a formation.

“That’s not right. If they used their comrades’ corpses to arrange a formation, once the news spread it would inevitably shake the morale of the Eight Desolate Domain’s Martial Artists. The Eight Desolates Sect has no need to do such a thing.”

Zhang Qi shook his head, denying this conjecture. If the Eight Desolate Domain were at a disadvantage, doing whatever it took to reverse the situation might be understandable. But now the Eight Desolate Domain held the upper hand; there was no reason to do something that would cause their own Domain’s Martial Artists to grow disheartened and disunited.

With the two Domains at war, Martial Artists dying on the battlefield was nothing unusual. But if the corpses could be sent back to their homeland, they were always sent back. In this regard, both the Canglan Sect and the Eight Desolates Sect acted the same.

“Come, let’s go out of the city and take a look!”

Half a two-hour later, Zhang Qi stood before Bibo Pond, dyed crimson with blood, and looked at the countless corpses. Shock showed on his face as well.

Several thousand corpses. Although none of them were Innate Realm, even for an Innate Martial Artist, killing so many Martial Artists in one breath was no easy task.

“My lord, these are the corpses of those two Innate Martial Artists. I checked them and didn’t find any Storage Box.”

A subordinate carried over two corpses. Zhang Qi’s gaze fell upon the bodies of the two Innate Martial Artists, doubt in his eyes; he could not see any wounds on them.

“Check whether there are any traces of blood in their ears and nostrils!”

After a long moment, Zhang Qi had formed a conjecture. At his order, the subordinate examined the features of the two corpses. “My lord, both of their ear holes and nostrils have black blood threads.”

Hearing the subordinate’s reply, Zhang Qi immediately understood how these two Innate Martial Artists of the Eight Desolate Domain had died—they had perished from damage to the Divine Soul.

Their Divine Souls had been directly annihilated by someone.

But who had struck?

To directly annihilate the Divine Souls of mid-Innate Second Realm experts and leave them no time to flee was something an ordinary Innate Third Realm could not do, unless it was an Innate Fourth Realm Martial Artist.

Yet on the battlefield region he was responsible for, each of the Innate Fourth Realm powerhouses had their own areas to guard; with their hands full, it was simply impossible for them to rush over. Could it be that the sect had dispatched another Innate Fourth Realm Martial Artist?

But if the sect had sent someone, why had he not received any notice?

Zhang Qi could not figure it out, but he still reported the news upward at the first moment.

Azure Sky Imperial City.

This had originally been the Capital of the Canglan Domain’s Azure Sky Dynasty, but now it had become a command city on the Canglan Sect’s battlefield.

Qu Guanfu was at this moment reading a transmitted message from a Sect Disciple, a strange light in his aged eyes.

Several Disciples in charge of defending cities had all reported the same thing in their messages: the Eight Desolate Domain Martial Artists outside the cities had been slain by a mysterious powerhouse.

So far, from the information he had compiled, more than fifty Innate Realm Martial Artists of the Eight Desolate Domain had been killed on their side: two Innate Fourth Realm Martial Artists, seven Innate Third Realm, sixteen Innate Second Realm, and twenty-five Innate First Realm.

“This person must be Innate Fifth Realm. Could it be some senior brother or junior brother?”

Qu Guanfu pondered, but quickly denied it. As a Sect Elder, he knew far more about this Sect War than the Disciples did. The sect no longer had any spare Innate Fifth Realm powerhouses available. Then where had this mysterious powerhouse come from?

“Elder, judging from this trajectory… I fear this person’s next stop should be the Purple Cloud Mountain Range. There are five Innate Fourth Realm powerhouses of the Eight Desolate Domain stationed there.”

A middle-aged man standing below Qu Guanfu spoke. As a Sect Steward, he was responsible for relaying orders for Elder Qu and providing support to the various cities.

“This is bad!”

Qu Guanfu’s aged eyes widened. If even Gong Heng could predict that the mysterious powerhouse’s next stop was the Purple Cloud Mountain Range, then that old fox Xi Zelang of the Eight Desolates Sect could surely deduce the same and would definitely personally go to the Purple Cloud Mountain Range, perhaps even laying down a heaven-spanning net.

No matter who this mysterious powerhouse was, the Canglan Sect owed him a debt for slaughtering the Eight Desolate Domain’s Martial Artists. He could not stand by and watch the man fall into an encirclement.

“Gong Heng, you will sit in Azure Sky City. I will personally go to the Purple Cloud Mountain Range.”

…

…

Purple Cloud Mountain Range.

Stretching for ten thousand li, it was named for the many exposed purple rocks within the range, whose reflection dyed the clouds above a violet hue.

A figure transformed into a streak of rainbow light and appeared within the mountains.

“I have been waiting for you for a long time!”

At the same time, an aged voice bellowed out, shaking the entire mountain range.