Chapter 518: Underworld, Poisonous Scheme
“Even a mid-section flank strike didn’t work?!” Seeing the Iron Deer Mountain God defeated and kneeling, the Purple Radiance Mountain God felt extremely heavy-hearted.
Fairy Hongxiu looked at him from the side.
He sighed and looked back at her. “Hongxiu, I’ve treated you to drinks a few times before. Don’t look at me with that expression—it’s rather unsettling.”
Fairy Hongxiu’s voice was delicate and gentle, yet the words she spoke were icy cold. “It’s your turn.”
“Once I finish dealing with you, my work here will be done, and I can go collect my reward from Military Advisor Lu.”
“Could you hurry up and go die?”
The Purple Radiance Mountain God was quite speechless.
After a few moments of silence, he sighed. “Fine. Then send me off.”
Fairy Hongxiu smiled and decisively unleashed the Divine Ability—Move Mountain.
“You go as well!”
Purple Radiance Giant Tree Mountain appeared last, emerging before the steel torrent.
The Mountain God floated in the air above the mountain peak, palms pressed together as he unfolded his Dao-Field, causing the entire Purple Radiance Giant Tree Mountain to emit a shimmering violet glow.
The purple radiance enveloped the steel torrent and immediately produced a harsh hissing sound as thick clouds of steam rose from within the torrent.
The steel torrent possessed inexhaustible power. Very quickly, it smashed the Purple Radiance Giant Tree Mountain apart.
However, unlike the previous giant tree mountains, even after collapsing, the Purple Radiance Giant Tree Mountain merely transformed into countless purple light motes that drifted through the air.
The Purple Radiance Mountain God’s face turned pale, yet he wore a smile as he swept out his hand and gathered all the purple light motes back into his body.
“Hm?” Many Nascent Soul stage cultivators who saw this scene showed slight surprise.
A sharp light flashed in Zhu Xuanji’s eyes. “This Mountain God has some calculation. He actually used the enemy army’s attacking momentum to help dismantle his own mountain body, converting it into the foundation of his divine body.”
He silently took note of the Purple Radiance Mountain God in his mind.
Lin Bufan nodded in agreement. “Accomplishing this isn’t simple. It seems the Purple Radiance Mountain God was likely originally a mountain spirit that cultivated into a god. Or perhaps a deity seized a mountain as its body through possession.”
Du Tiechuan also remembered this Purple Radiance Mountain God.
“He does have some ability.” While controlling the entire army, Du Tiechuan’s perception was the broadest and most profound.
Although the heavy-armored main army had shattered the Purple Radiance mountain, many purple light motes had attached themselves to them.
These light motes rapidly expanded upon the armor and dark shadows, forming patches of violet light.
Under the burning of these light patches, the soldiers’ body temperatures rose quickly, their stamina was consumed at double the rate, and moisture evaporated rapidly.
After observing for a moment, Du Tiechuan reached a new conclusion. “This should be a type of light poison!”
After smashing through four great mountains in succession—each with its own Mountain God and Dao-Field—the charging momentum of the heavy-armored main army had dropped by twenty percent.
Among the soldiers, those with weaker foundations had already begun to feel fatigued.
“This won’t do.” Du Tiechuan had long memorized the terrain map of the Thousand Peaks Forest.
He knew that the main army had only advanced thirty percent of the route so far. They hadn’t even crossed half the distance to the target.
Thus, he decisively took out the National Strength Bricks.
He directly threw the bricks behind him.
More than twenty pitch-black bricks smashed into the black iron torrent. They immediately dissolved, transforming into surging power that greatly reinforced the heavy-armored army.
“Ohhh!”
The soldiers erupted in excited shouts. They felt a surging power pouring into them, sweeping away their fatigue and invigorating their spirits once more.
The steel torrent returned to its peak momentum and continued surging toward the depths of the Thousand Peaks Forest.
“Their target is Dragon King Giant Pillar Mountain. We absolutely cannot let them succeed!” Grandfather Long’s face was covered with frost.
Beside him, Lu Hongtu transmitted through spiritual sense to reassure him. “Grandfather Long, remain calm. The Heaven-and-Earth Twin Ghosts are already in position.”
Grandfather Long did not hesitate. “Have the two of them make their move! I hope their performance will match the price we paid.”
After receiving the message, the Heaven-and-Earth Twin Ghosts did not act immediately, instead choosing to continue observing.
After waiting for a long time without movement, Grandfather Long angrily issued orders and sent messages questioning them.
The Heaven-and-Earth Twin Ghosts sneered with disdain and ignored him. Only after Grandfather Long urged them three times did the white-robed ghost cultivator Heaven Frost smile faintly.
“The time has come.”
The black-robed ghost cultivator Earth Ash was even more direct. “Act!”
The two stood on separate mountain peaks, one on the left and one on the right.
Heaven Frost rapidly formed hand seals, eventually crossing his hands before his chest as his mana erupted like a bursting flood.
An extremely cold ghostly aura gathered around him.
He softly chanted, the incantation echoing across the mountain peak:
“Dim ghostfire, Heaven Frost gathers souls, open my Ghost Gate, reveal the Underworld.”
In the next instant, the ghostly aura ignited and turned into a mass of deep blue ghostfire.
The ghostfire was as large as a city. It soared upward, shooting straight into the sky.
During this process, the ghostfire spread outward, forming the outline of a gigantic gate.
On the other mountain peak, Earth Ash stomped his foot, and a three-dimensional formation instantly appeared around his body.
The formation began to operate, spewing out countless streams of nether ghostly aura.
He shouted in a deep voice:
“Nether spring of hell, Earth Ash gathers shadows, open my Ghost Gate, welcome the departed.”
In the next moment, the ghostly aura turned into countless streams of smoky dust that spread from the ground, climbing upward along the traces of ghostfire created by Heaven Frost, filling out the entire gate outline.
The gigantic gate rapidly became clear and solid.
Heaven Frost and Earth Ash simultaneously activated their combined Divine Ability, allowing the two powers to rapidly merge.
Both ghost cultivators shouted:
“Heaven and earth intertwine, yin and yang reverse!”
The ghostfire and ghostly dust vanished with a thunderous roar, perfectly merging into a brand-new power.
At that moment, the gigantic Ghost Gate was completely formed.
On the surface of the gate was a massive skull.
The skull’s eye sockets were deep and hollow, and its mouth was filled with fangs.
It emitted eerie laughter as its mouth opened wider and wider until the entire skull face disappeared, leaving only the enormous mouth that expanded all the way to the gate frame.
Ghost mist rose, ghostly aura spread everywhere, and the nearby battlefield became enveloped in a chilling and sinister atmosphere.
Inside the skull’s mouth, a black vortex spun rapidly, forming a path leading into the Underworld.
The Ghost Gate towered into the clouds, wider than a mountain peak.
“This is bad!” Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, Du Tiechuan considered redirecting the steel torrent.
But the Heaven-and-Earth Twin Ghosts had cast their spell too quickly. The Ghost Gate had already taken shape, and one of the steel torrent’s disadvantages was its difficulty in changing direction.
Du Tiechuan had no time to adjust and could only go with the flow, driving the steel torrent straight forward—charging directly into the Ghost Gate.
“Hahaha!” Seeing this scene, Grandfather Long turned from anger to joy.
Lu Hongtu smiled.
Many cultivators in the allied army also breathed a sigh of relief, erupting into thunderous cheers.
“We’ve won! We’ve won!”
“Who are those two ghost cultivators?”
“Isn’t it obvious? They’re powerful experts secretly arranged by Grandfather Long.”
“To summon such an enormous Ghost Gate—who exactly are they?”
“Hahaha! Du Tiechuan, aren’t you good at charging? Then go charge into the Underworld and fight there!”
Many alliance cultivators lost their composure.
Since the beginning of the grand battle, the terrifying power of the steel torrent had frightened countless people, leaving nearly everyone deeply shaken. Especially after witnessing it smash through four divine mountains in succession, unstoppable and invincible, a shadow had formed in everyone’s hearts.
The Heaven-and-Earth Twin Ghosts’ unexpected move was like a blade of sunlight piercing through that heavy gloom in an instant.
Since they could not stop the steel torrent head-on, they simply opened another path and let it charge somewhere else.
This was the tactic arranged by the Dragon King Temple.
Grandfather Long was the one responsible for carrying it out, and to achieve it he had spared no expense to hire the Heaven-and-Earth Twin Ghosts.
“Commander, what should we do?” Du Tiechuan’s deputy general asked urgently.
Du Tiechuan snorted coldly, his face filled with determination. “Keep charging!”
Boom.
The steel torrent did not hesitate in the slightest. Carrying violent momentum, it crashed straight into the Ghost Gate.
The central portion of the armored torrent poured into the gate, crossing from the mortal world into the Underworld.
However, the torrents on both sides continuously slammed into the gate frame.
Cracking sounds immediately rang out from the two sides of the frame, which began to wobble precariously.
The Heaven-and-Earth Twin Ghosts’ expressions changed drastically. They had exhausted their foundations and consumed vast amounts of precious materials to temporarily construct the strongest Ghost Gate they had ever created.
It could be said that this Ghost Gate had already broken their personal record—the most solid gate they had ever summoned.
Yet after only a single impact, it was already unable to withstand the pressure.
The next scene shocked the two ghosts even more.
The giant skull on the Ghost Gate emitted a whining sound and actually began trying to close its mouth.
“Devouring Heaven Ghost God?!”
The Heaven-and-Earth Twin Ghosts had never seen the ghost god they summoned suffer such distress and pain.
This ghost god felt like a duck being grabbed by the neck while someone forcibly stuffed food down its throat.
Its arrogance vanished instantly. It felt so overstuffed it was about to explode!
Just when it felt it could no longer endure, the Ghost Gate collapsed first.
With a dull roar, it tilted and crashed into the steel torrent, splashing countless shadowy black waves before being instantly ground into nothingness.
The path to the Underworld also vanished instantly, dissolving like mist.
Ahead of the heavy-armored main army, the road once again became solid and firm, reverting to a mountain path in the mortal world.
The Heaven-and-Earth Twin Ghosts suffered backlash, their auras plummeting. Shocked and uncertain, their bodies swayed as they immediately activated a small teleportation formation and withdrew from the battlefield.
The steel torrent continued surging forward, collapsing all ordinary mountains in its path, shaking heaven and earth.
However, the heavy-armored army had also lost twenty percent of its forces.
They had not died—but had been trapped in the Underworld.
Since the military art Iron Flow Across the Plains had been deployed, this was the first time it had suffered such heavy losses.
Yet this result was still not satisfactory for the Thousand Peaks Forest alliance army.
Because the enemy’s main army still remained.
The Heaven-and-Earth Twin Ghosts had already been an unexpected reinforcement, but the Ghost Gate’s power was insufficient to suppress the enemy army.
“With such might… can we really resist them?”
“This is the power of a cultivation nation! Du Tiechuan, one of the Grand Generals—I only now truly understand what that position means.”
“A newly formed army, yet with layers of reinforcement, it has gained the might of the Soul Formation level. Sigh…”
Seeing the cultivators’ dejected expressions, Lu Hongtu immediately spoke to raise morale.
“No need to worry.”
“I have already prepared a brilliant scheme to deal with Du Tiechuan.”
“From here on, no matter what choice he makes, he will suffer heavy losses.”
Hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up as they looked toward Lu Hongtu.
“Grand Cave Lord, what is this strategy?”
“Quickly tell us!”
Lu Hongtu smiled. “Just watch.”
The steel torrent continued surging wildly through the Thousand Peaks Forest.
After passing the Ghost Gate, they encountered no further obstacles.
Yet Du Tiechuan felt an increasing sense of unease.
He thought to himself: “The situation is strange! With Grandfather Long and Lu Hongtu’s abilities, they would never have no further backup plans.”
“What could it be?”
The Liangzhu Kingdom’s main army continued forward until they gradually saw a dragon-headed giant tree mountain rising into the clouds.
The surrounding peaks were only half its height, making it extremely conspicuous—like a crane among chickens.
“Target spotted!”
“Dragon King Giant Pillar Mountain—the location of the Dragon King’s main temple!”
“If we destroy it, the enemy army’s morale will plummet, and even the Dragon Ginseng King’s strength will suffer!”
Inside the steel torrent, the soldiers’ spirits rose.
After charging this far, even with multiple military arts reinforcing them, they were exhausted.
Ning Zhuo’s condition was somewhat better than most around him.
This was thanks to the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel, which had greatly improved his physical foundation in a short period.
Although he participated in the battle, most of his attention was focused on comprehension.
He continuously studied the military art Iron Flow Across the Plains and made great progress.
His understanding of the military art had improved significantly.
When the army had first moved, he could only sense around three hundred people nearby. But through continuous comprehension, he could now sense over five hundred people.
Not only that—he could vaguely sense the thoughts of more than a hundred people and perceive the emotions of over two hundred.
“If I could sense the vague thoughts of the entire army, I might completely comprehend the military art Iron Flow Across the Plains.”
Ning Zhuo faintly realized this.
On the Thousand Peaks Forest alliance side, panic began spreading.
Someone questioned Lu Hongtu: “Military Advisor, the enemy army has already reached our main base. Where is your strategy?”
Lu Hongtu laughed loudly. “This is precisely the moment. Watch!”
In the next instant, the mountain road ahead seemed like a curtain being lifted.
Suddenly, a military camp appeared.
Within the camp, soldiers stood in strict defense as military flags fluttered.
“What?!” Both sides cried out in shock.
Because this suddenly appearing army camp was none other than Liangzhu Kingdom’s Vanguard Army.
The Vanguard Army of Liangzhu Kingdom had clearly been trapped on another battlefield, surrounded by poisonous miasma. How had they appeared here?
Most alliance cultivators were extremely confused.
Du Tiechuan was the same.
He had sent scout riders deep into the miasma, losing many lives just to confirm that the Vanguard Army was holding its position safely.
Yet now, that very army was here.
Even the soldiers of the Vanguard Army themselves were bewildered.
They had believed they were defending their original position. How had they suddenly changed location and appeared deep within the enemy’s base?
There was no time to consider the problem.
They quickly realized they were in a desperate situation.
The steel torrent was right before them.
The Vanguard Army shouted:
“That’s Commander Du’s steel torrent! This is bad—we can’t possibly stop it!”
Du Tiechuan’s deputy general turned pale with shock.
“Commander! Turn immediately! The Vanguard Army is ahead—they are our allies. If we crash through and slaughter them, our army’s morale will suffer a devastating blow!”
The Thousand Peaks Forest alliance erupted in exclamations before bursting into cheers.
“Brilliant! What a brilliant strategy!”
“Military Advisor Lu—just as expected of you.”
“A marvelous scheme. Truly marvelous!”