Chapter 550: Gu Cultivator Li Jiuchu
The first Duel of Generals was underway.
At the edge of the battlefield.
Sun Ning and Ning Zhuo both rode aboard the Wanli Dragon, quietly watching the battle from the Dragon Head Cabin.
The Blood Shadow Cave Lord had once made things difficult for them. Now he was clashing with the righteous-path Nascent Soul cultivator Lei Qingyang from the Liangzhu Kingdom.
“If Lei Qingyang has no way to see through it, the Blood Shadow Cave Lord will firmly seize the initiative with his true and false clones,” Sun Lingtong evaluated.
Ning Zhuo nodded slightly. He agreed with this judgment.
“I’ve learned something.”
“It seems that next, I should also master a method specifically used to see through disguises.”
“Earlier, Sect Master Lin Bufan suffered greatly because the enemy’s illusion techniques were extremely powerful.”
Sun Lingtong muttered, “Little Zhuo, the things you want to learn are really too many.”
For once, Ning Zhuo did not detect the deeper meaning in the remark. With a serious expression, he nodded deeply. “Yes, I’m still too young. There are truly many things I must learn!”
Sun Lingtong opened his mouth. “Don’t forget—you have me protecting you. My Spirit Eyes can see through many false appearances.”
Ning Zhuo smiled. “Having Boss around is naturally good. But I should still learn some things myself, just in case.”
“However, considering Boss’s natural talent, perhaps I should postpone this learning plan.”
“Learning how to disguise myself and construct clones first would also be good.”
Sun Lingtong: …
While the two were speaking, the Blood Shadow Cave Lord and Lei Qingyang exchanged several more rounds, neither gaining the upper hand.
Suddenly, the Thunder Master shouted sharply. The Heavenly Gang Thunder Execution Sword pierced through the sky-filling blood mist, and violent thunder qi shot in every direction, blasting out the Blood Shadow Cave Lord’s true body.
Both armies of cultivators trembled at the sight.
Within the Thousand Peaks Forest Alliance, most people’s expressions changed at once. In contrast, cheers erupted from the Liangzhu Kingdom camp.
During the previous exchanges, Lei Qingyang had gradually been pushed into a disadvantage precisely because he could not distinguish the real body from the fake.
Now that he had discovered a method to see through the true body’s position, the tide of battle would naturally change.
The Blood Shadow Cave Lord’s true body had been struck and was seriously injured.
Bloody light around him surged wildly, transforming into a hundred-zhang sea of blood.
Nine enormous blood pythons soared out of the sea of blood, stirring up waves of crimson tides. Their mouths opened wide, spewing countless Blood Fiend Yin Thunder.
Both armies held their breath in silence. Everyone knew the most crucial clash had arrived!
Seeing the opponent’s unprecedentedly fierce offensive, Lei Qingyang made an immediate decision and bit the tip of his tongue.
A mouthful of essence blood sprayed onto the Heavenly Gang Thunder Execution Sword. Ancient thunder patterns emerged on the blade.
The Heavenly Gang Thunder Execution Sword flew high into the sky.
Lei Qingyang then released his thirty-six Evil-Repelling Thunder Jades, which circled around the sword. With the Thunder Execution Sword as the formation core, a formation rapidly took shape.
Finally, he held the Thunder Marsh Gourd in one hand and released a great mass of thunderclouds again.
The thunderclouds enveloped the thirty-six Evil-Repelling Thunder Jades and the Heavenly Gang Thunder Execution Sword, expanding rapidly. Soon they pushed back the sea of blood and occupied half the battlefield.
Divine Ability—Nine Heavens Thunder Radiant Body.
“Nine Heavens Thunder Prison, open!”
Lei Qingyang shouted, using the divine ability to summon thunder from the nine heavens. Countless lightning bolts shot out from his body, blasting upward into the thunderclouds.
The thunderclouds churned endlessly, rumbling with thunder, quickly transforming into a temporary thunder pool.
The Blood Shadow Cave Lord’s blood pythons and Blood Fiend Yin Thunder were all annihilated in the eruption of the thunder pool. The sea of blood was evaporated until only a three-zhang core region remained.
Lei Qingyang shouted again, unleashing tens of thousands of lightning bolts in a single surge, completely annihilating the stubborn core of the blood sea.
When the thunderlight dissipated, only a single blood pearl remained floating in the air where the core had been.
Lei Qingyang narrowed his eyes and was about to employ another technique to destroy the blood pearl as well.
At the next moment, the blood pearl suddenly exploded, transforming into a streak of blood that shot straight toward him.
The blood pearl moved far too fast. Countless observing cultivators revealed shocked expressions—none could clearly see what had happened.
At the critical moment, Lei Qingyang’s body suddenly flashed with lightning, carrying him slightly to the right.
The streak of blood brushed past his neck, leaving a long wound across it before stopping high in the distance and transforming back into the Blood Shadow Cave Lord’s true body.
The Blood Shadow Cave Lord panted heavily, utterly exhausted.
The wound on Lei Qingyang’s neck had already stopped bleeding. He slowly turned around. His Daoist robe fluttered around his robust frame as his voice rang out steady as a mountain.
“You have lost.”
Silence filled the battlefield.
Even Sun Ning and Ning Zhuo felt that Lei Qingyang, having mastered the temporary thunder pool, held an overwhelming advantage and had already secured victory.
The Blood Shadow Cave Lord’s desperate counterattack just now had been shocking but produced little effect. It clearly showed his exhaustion.
Yet the Blood Shadow Cave Lord burst into loud laughter.
“No—it is I who have won.”
The moment he finished speaking, blue-tinged poisonous blood flowed from the corner of Lei Qingyang’s mouth, emitting a foul stench.
Lei Qingyang hurriedly used techniques to suppress the poison.
But the poison within his body erupted at this moment like a roaring sea, completely uncontrollable.
Lei Qingyang’s aura plummeted straight down.
Even the thunder patterns in his palms collapsed. The temporary thunder pool could no longer be sustained and instantly disintegrated back into the thirty-six Evil-Repelling Thunder Jades and the Heavenly Gang Thunder Execution Sword. As for the thunderclouds filling the sky, they were entirely exhausted and vanished.
Grinding his teeth, Lei Qingyang crushed the jade pendant at his waist.
A bolt of lightning instantly enveloped him, tearing through the air as it returned him to the Liangzhu Kingdom camp.
Zhao Xi and the others hurried to greet him.
“Quick—heal the Thunder Master!”
Lei Qingyang waved them off.
“The first Duel of Generals concerns matters of great importance, yet I lost. I have no face to burden everyone by consuming your mana to heal me.”
“I can resolve this myself.”
“The rest now depends on all of you.”
Staggering, Lei Qingyang withdrew from the city wall and entered seclusion to treat his injuries.
Meanwhile, the Blood Shadow Cave Lord had also exhausted himself and could no longer continue fighting. He returned weakly to his formation, triggering loud cheers.
The cheers reaching the Liangzhu Kingdom camp sounded especially harsh.
Zhao Xi frowned deeply. As the leader, he had to face the present predicament and solve the current problem.
“The first Duel of Generals ended in defeat. The situation is unfavorable. The second duel absolutely cannot be lost!”
Zhao Xi looked around at the Nascent Soul cultivators beside him. While he was still hesitating, another cultivator flew out from the Thousand Peaks Forest Alliance.
This person’s appearance was extremely horrifying.
His body was hunched like an old ape. His skin had the bluish-gray color of a corpse, its surface covered with honeycomb-like holes. Countless black maggots crawled in and out of these holes, devouring rotten flesh before spitting poisonous threads to repair the body.
His scalp was completely bald, replaced by a semi-transparent membrane. Beneath it, three leeches swam through gray-white brain matter—an utterly nauseating sight.
His nose bridge had rotted through, and within the eye sockets were not eyeballs but two embedded poisonous bee hives. Within the hexagonal holes of the hives flickered ghostly green phosphorescent flames.
“This old man is Gu Cultivator Li Jiuchu. Heh heh heh… who will come die?”
As he spoke, the corners of his mouth tore back to his ears, revealing a mouthful of serrated black teeth. Even his tongue coating was covered in parasitic patches of ghastly green moss, the nature of which was unknown.
“Li Jiuchu?!”
“So it really is him!”
“Who would have thought he was hiding within the Thousand Peaks Forest?”
“Terrifying! This man is a Gu cultivator whose main cultivation method is the Ten Thousand Maggots Devour Immortals Art. To cultivate this technique, one must hollow out their own bones and fill them with Corrupt Immortal Maggot larvae, feeding them with one’s own blood essence. The bone-melting poison secreted by these maggots can dissolve magical treasures and devour enemy flesh to nourish their host!”
Among the Liangzhu Kingdom forces, cultivators discussed the matter incessantly. Their expressions were all extremely grave.
In terms of notoriety alone, Li Jiuchu’s reputation was infamous. He was a wanted criminal in multiple cultivation nations—far more notorious than the Blood Shadow Cave Lord.
Because the environment of the Thousand Peaks Forest was relatively tolerant, Li Jiuchu had taken refuge there.
Now, during the second Grand Decisive Battle, his sudden appearance caught the Liangzhu Kingdom completely off guard and even surprised many within the Thousand Peaks Forest Alliance.
Before stepping forward, Li Jiuchu had concealed his identity, so even they had not known.
Lu Hongtu had also been kept in the dark. Seeing Li Jiuchu now, he subconsciously glanced toward Grandfather Long.
Grandfather Long sat expressionlessly in the main seat.
The second Grand Decisive Battle was of great importance—especially concerning Dragon King Giant Tree Mountain. The entire Dragon King Temple treated it with utmost seriousness. Grandfather Long had personally invited Young Lord Shengxu, while Li Jiuchu had been hired for a great price by other temple priests of the Dragon King Temple.
“Heh heh heh. Are you deaf or mute? Did you not understand what this old man said?”
Li Jiuchu challenged again.
Without question, Li Jiuchu was a formidable enemy.
The many Nascent Soul cultivators of Liangzhu Kingdom looked at one another, unable to decide for a moment.
Zhao Xi hesitated as well. In his view, whoever went up might not win—and might even lose their life.
At that moment, someone stepped forward voluntarily.
“I will fight him.”
Everyone immediately looked toward the speaker. He wore a black robe, and a myna bird stood on his shoulder.
If it wasn’t Mo Yechen, who else could it be?
Zhao Xi said, “You…”
Mo Yechen smiled faintly.
“Lord Zhao, fellow comrades, please be at ease. I am not stepping forward to die. I have a certain degree of confidence.”
“Of course, if anyone among you is more confident than I am, I, Mo Yechen, will gladly yield.”
No one responded.
Zhao Xi could only nod helplessly and watch with concern as Mo Yechen flew beyond the city wall.
Li Jiuchu had already issued two challenges, severely weakening the Liangzhu Kingdom army’s morale. They could not allow him to continue.
Li Jiuchu faced Mo Yechen.
“A fool who came to die on his own initiative. Heh heh heh—then I will start with killing you.”
Li Jiuchu’s black robe billowed. Every hole in his body emitted infant-like crying sounds.
The cries were so shrill they drilled straight into the heart, disturbing mana and affecting the mind.
Mo Yechen made no movement. The myna on his shoulder suddenly had starlight shining in its pupils and released a piercing cry that echoed through heaven and earth.
The moment the bird cried out, it revealed the aura of a Nascent Soul–level spirit beast. The cry overwhelmed the wailing sounds and scattered countless silver radiance across the battlefield.
“That bird is actually a Nascent Soul–level spirit beast!” Ning Zhuo exclaimed.
Sun Lingtong’s expression also changed slightly. “Back then, I didn’t notice its true nature.”
Earlier, Du Tiechuan had sent four armies to invade the Thousand Peaks Forest in order to probe the enemy’s military deployment.
After Ning Zhuo used talismans to teleport to the Red Flower Camp, helped Mu Lan shoot down Di Slaughter, and defeated the Cangyue Ancient God, the myna bird had delivered the message ordering retreat.
Therefore, Sun Ning and Ning Zhuo, Mu Lan, and Zhang Chongyi had all encountered this bird once before.
Li Jiuchu’s body swayed slightly.
His crying technique had been suppressed. Annoyed, he took out a magical treasure.
The Corrupt Immortal Poison Basket!
The basket was woven from cultivators’ spinal bones. Inside it were countless venomous Gu insects—Skin-Rot Beetles, Flesh-Rot Maggots, Bone-Devouring Centipedes, and more.
At the deepest part of the basket lurked a Gu Mother Emperor maggot capable of controlling all poisonous insects within a hundred-li radius to form an insect tide.
Li Jiuchu shook the Corrupt Immortal Poison Basket.
A vast swarm of insects surged out like a black river.
As the insects collided and scraped their shells together, they produced ear-piercing metallic sounds. The maggots’ mouthparts spewed enormous clouds of purple mist. Wherever the swarm passed, forests and vegetation instantly turned to ash.
Mo Yechen rapidly retreated, trading space for time.
He still did not make a move. The myna on his shoulder flapped its wings and shrieked, sending out translucent ripples of sound.
When the insect swarm collided with the sound waves, vast numbers of poisonous insects exploded, splattering sickly green and withered yellow fluids across the sky.
“Heh heh heh.” Li Jiuchu sneered, pouring his spiritual sense into the swarm.
In the next moment, more than a dozen Gu insects flew out of the swarm.
The Skin-Rot Beetles charged first, corroding through the sound waves. Flesh-Rot Maggots rushed toward Mo Yechen and exploded around him, forming highly toxic gas. Bone-Devouring Centipedes attempted to burrow into his body—
—but the myna swallowed them one by one.
The moment they entered the bird’s stomach, Li Jiuchu immediately lost his close connection with those Gu insects.
The notorious demonic Gu cultivator frowned at once.
Seeing this, cultivators from both armies showed astonishment.
Sun Ning and Ning Zhuo also understood what was happening.
Sun Lingtong blurted out, “No wonder this person volunteered to fight. That myna bird has the ability to restrain Gu insects!”
Ning Zhuo nodded, though most of his attention remained on Li Jiuchu.
“A Nascent Soul–level Gu cultivator… this is the first time I’ve seen one.”
A strange feeling stirred in his heart.
For some reason, he seemed to have a special sense of attachment toward Gu cultivators.
Seeing that the poisonous Gu were ineffective, Li Jiuchu immediately cast spells to attack both man and bird.
Mo Yechen finally made his move, waving his hand as spells collided in rapid succession.
Li Jiuchu’s Gu insects dazzled the observing cultivators, while Mo Yechen summoned black tides that devoured light, concealing himself and maintaining a steady defense.
Li Jiuchu was indeed powerful—clearly stronger than Mo Yechen.
But Mo Yechen had the assistance of the myna bird on his shoulder.
Not only was the bird a Nascent Soul–level spirit beast, it also possessed abilities that restrained Gu insects.
With man and bird supporting each other, they actually managed to lock Li Jiuchu into a stalemate.
After watching for a long time, Lu Hongtu transmitted a message through spiritual sense to Grandfather Long.
“Li Jiuchu’s reputation is exaggerated. He cannot even defeat a single Mo Yechen. Time is tight. Our advantage in Nascent Soul cultivators may disappear if Liangzhu Kingdom receives reinforcements.”
Grandfather Long nodded and immediately ordered the remaining cultivators to enter battle.
“I am the Heart Demon Cave Lord. Someone from the opposite side—come fight me!”
“I am Lone Fang of the Cangyue Tribe!”
“This old woman is Bi Tengyi. Heh heh—who will spar with me?”
“Gao Cuo is here. I humbly request guidance.”
In an instant, nearly ten Nascent Soul cultivators stepped forward.
Zhao Xi’s expression turned extremely ugly.
The number of Nascent Soul cultivators on the Liangzhu Kingdom side was far fewer than those of the Thousand Peaks Forest. Having their weakness so mercilessly exposed felt terrible.
At the critical moment, a female cultivator stepped forward.
“You barbaric outsiders are truly arrogant.”
“I am the princess of this nation. I shall properly teach you all a lesson!”
The speaker was none other than the Mechanism Princess, Shuang Ling.
She flew high into the sky and released more than a hundred flying Mechanical Immortal Maidens that circled around her.
“Come—attack together!” Shuang Ling openly provoked the many Nascent Soul cultivators of the enemy.
She intended to fight them all alone.