Active Strike
South of the city, the flames blaze.
A cultivation area covering an area of more than ten miles in circumference.
At this moment, the vast and mighty primordial energy of heaven and earth, guided by the Primordial Spirit, continuously poured into one direction, forming a huge funnel with a diameter of tens of miles.
At the very bottom of the funnel, a figure was constantly being washed and tempered by the power of heaven and earth, his entire body bathed in flames.
A large number of flame crystals surrounded him, drawn by his undying will, constantly condensing and melting into his body.
This is Ji Lie forging the Six Yang Sacred Body.
And...
This was a month after he had forged the Six Yang Sacred Body.
Today, after countless refinements, his Six Yang Sacred Body has finally been perfected. A towering figure, thirteen or fourteen meters tall, has been sculpted through the relentless tempering of the power of heaven and earth. Endless high temperatures emanate from his body, giving even those standing a hundred meters around him the illusion of being engulfed in flames.
"It's done!"
"Finally, I've broken through!"
"Forge the Six Yang Sacred Body and become a saint!"
In the distance, figures kept looking towards the center of the flames.
Qi Sheng, Liu Feiyun, Xuanzhen, Zhenhai, Yunqiong, and others, including those from Gu Jinlai, are among them.
These Celestial Person and King Wu all had faces filled with envy.
Although a saint's body cannot be completely energized like a true immortal's, it is no longer a pure flesh and blood life form under certain circumstances due to the incorporation of a large number of heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
This is why their lifespan has been greatly extended.
Under normal circumstances, they can live for three to five hundred years, and there are many saints in history who lived to be over six hundred years old.
Entering this realm is undoubtedly equivalent to embarking on the path to immortality. You can take a breather in the following cultivation and don't have to rush.
"Oh, saint."
Gu Jinlai have stared at them for a while.
Qi Refining, Gang Condensing, Core Forming, Spirit Refining, Spirit Transformation, Primordial Spirit, and then to Celestial Person and saints—this is the most mainstream and oldest cultivation system in this world.
Even if the Celestial Master civilization traces its history, it cannot compare with the Cultivator civilization.
The cultivator system is also the system with the largest number of cultivators in the world.
A thousand years ago, the Celestial Master civilization reached its peak, but the number of people who could walk the path of the Celestial Master was still less than one-tenth of those who could walk the path of the cultivators.
"When I was cultivating the Chaotic Starlight Body, I had already embarked on another path—the path of innate divine beasts. This path... can be barely related to the cultivator system. After all, the oldest cultivators were formed by simulating the hunting of ferocious beasts, and the Divine Ability that people later mastered were also based on imitating innate divine beasts."
This Gu Jinlai.
In the most ancient times, only true immortals on land, that is, powerhouses at the level of illusory immortals, could use Divine Ability, and great Divine Ability were exclusive to true immortals.
However, as the most intelligent and graceful of all beings, humans have gradually learned and improved, and through continuous learning, even saints have acquired Divine Ability powers. In this era, even Celestial Person can master Divine Ability.
Even immortals can unleash great Divine Ability.
On the contrary, the divine beasts, born and raised by nature, are naturally powerful, but due to their scarcity and lack of intelligence compared to humans, they have not made much progress over the past tens of thousands of years. As a result, thousands of years ago, they gradually went from being totems worshipped and believed by humans to being hunted and preyed upon.
"Innate divine beasts possess power comparable to saints from birth. They only need to grow gradually, and upon reaching adulthood, their combat strength will rival that of true immortals. Beyond that... some exceptionally gifted divine beasts can become even stronger, to the point that even the Creator would retreat in fear, and it is estimated that even the Immortal Lord would find it difficult to subdue them. Thus, it can be seen that... the oldest and most powerful innate divine beasts, such as Zhulong, Dijiang, and Kunpeng, possess combat strength that surpasses even that of the Immortal Lord..."
The Way of the Heart, from Gu Jinlai.
Legend has it that the Yinglong, a divine beast on par with the Four Sacred Beasts, is over a thousand meters long and wide.
His true form is now only a mere hundred meters long.
Although size is not absolute for innate divine beasts, it can serve as a secondary reference.
From this perspective, he still has a long way to go.
As for how to get there...
There are still clues to be found.
He didn't need to elaborate on his mastery of the Spiritual Art and the Creator's Inheritance along the "Three Realms" route; he felt that if he continued to refine the Thunder Magnetic Essence, he could still achieve a slight increase.
Although it won't be as obvious as before, if enough Thunder Magnetic Essence is refined, the quantitative change may still lead to a qualitative change, allowing him to evolve from an ordinary innate divine beast to a level comparable to the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Qilin, and Yinglong.
In the void, the wind and clouds gradually subsided, and the flames gradually dissipated.
Ji Lie's body, which was over ten meters tall, gradually shrank back to a human form of normal height, appearing before Gu Jinlai.
"My lord, I have not failed in my mission; I have become a saint."
Ji Lie cupped his hands in greeting.
"Good."
Gu Jinlai nodded. "How do you feel?"
"Very good."
Ji Lie briefly sensed the surging, violent power within his body and said, "With the might of a divine weapon, I can even fight against a Void Immortal."
As he spoke, he immediately added, "Just an ordinary illusory immortal."
"Good."
Gu Jinlai nodded.
This combat capability is sufficient for maintaining the status quo.
He then turned his gaze to Liu Feiyun.
During this period, he provided Liu Feiyun with a great deal of resources, but...
Clearly, a month is not enough to raise her cultivation to the peak of the Celestial Person Realm, let alone further forge a Sacred Body and step into the realm of Saints.
However, in terms of combat strength, she is now considered top-tier among the Saints, with only those at the peak of Sainthood able to barely surpass her.
This is the power of divine weapons.
Having obtained the divine weapon's recognition as its master, his combat power jumped to a whole new level.
With that kind of strength, he's barely qualified to be the lord of a city.
Next, the group quickly returned to the City Lord Mansion.
Upon arriving at the City Lord Mansion, a middle-aged man with a gentle and refined demeanor came out to greet them.
In Liuhuo City, all the high-ranking officials were plowed up by Gu Jinlai, and only the two martial saints, Xuanzhou and Qinse, survived.
The middle-aged man who looked like a scholar was Xuanzhou, one of the two martial saints.
Despite being a martial artist, he doesn't appear rugged or muscular, a physique quite rare among martial artists.
"Xuanzhou has arrived."
Looking at this martial saint who was only Yellow Name, Gu Jinlai nodded slightly. "How's the investigation going?"
His expression was somewhat solemn. "It's been more than a month since I killed the Dragon Cry Demon Emperor and wiped out a million Demonic Beasts in Dragon Cry Valley, but there's been no movement from the Demonic Beasts. It's really a bit worrying. Could they be preparing some big move?"
"Ultimate move?"
Xuanzhou gave a wry smile, "Perhaps they are indeed preparing a big move, but... it's also possible that they are afraid."
"Scared?"
This has surprised people Gu Jinlai.
"Yes, according to my investigations over this period of time, the Demonic Beasts surrounding our Blazing Fire City, Wind and Rain City, and Purple Thunder City not only have no intention of retaliating, but have also retreated tens of thousands of miles, abandoning a large amount of territory! Several gold mines and resource points have been given up. If we occupy these resource points, the amount of top-quality materials we can obtain each year could increase by tens of thousands."
Xuanzhou said.
"Contract the defenses? Retreat tens of thousands of miles!?"
Ji Lie, standing to the side, was somewhat incredulous. "How is this possible? In the years of battles between Demonic Beasts and the Holy Dynasty's human race, retreat has been almost a non-existent concept. Every time the two sides start a war, it almost always ends with the Demonic Beasts sweeping away a large number of humans. Sometimes, even major cities are directly breached, resulting in tens of millions of casualties and missing persons. And now they're suddenly retreating..."
As he spoke, something suddenly occurred to him, and a bright light seemed to appear before his eyes. "Could the news from the Immortal Kingdom be true? Have the Demonic Beasts really been conscripted to the Immortal Kingdom's battlefield, leaving only three or five demon gods on this Holy Land?"
"Demonic Beasts are heading to the battlefield of the immortal realm..."
Gu Jinlai have pondered this.
If he remembered correctly, more than a decade ago, when the Holy Dynasty's human race fought a great war against the Demonic Beasts, the Demonic Beasts dispatched more than a dozen demon gods!
Yes!
A two-digit demon god's might overwhelms heaven and earth!
The exact number is probably only known to the high-ranking officials of the Holy Dynasty.
Although the Holy Dynasty claims that they repelled the invasion of the demon god by uniting as one, their strategy has clearly changed since that battle.
The most significant point is that the Holy Dynasty has never again proactively sent cultivators above the level of Void Immortal to penetrate deep into Demonic Beasts- occupied territories to provoke war.
It is clear that the Holy Dynasty was terrified by that battle.
But what if only three or five of the dozen or so demon gods have truly left...?
Even if there are still five!
With the current power of the Holy Dynasty, it wouldn't be difficult to exterminate Demonic Beasts, but it would be enough to activate the grotto-heaven and tear apart the Demonic Beasts' encirclement.
After all, the forces that surround the besieger need to mobilize are far greater than those that are besieged.
What was the Holy Dynasty's reaction?
This Gu Jinlai.
"It's strange that the Holy Dynasty hasn't reacted at all. Given how much attention they pay to the movements of the Demonic Beasts, they should have known about the Demonic Beasts' tightening of their defenses much earlier than we have. Whether to attack or hold them off, there should be signs by now."
Xuanzhou was somewhat puzzled by this.
"Don't underestimate the wisdom of Demonic Beasts, especially the top Demonic Beasts. Their cunning is no less than that of human sages. Perhaps this is the Demonic Beasts feigning weakness to lure the human race into an attack."
Ji Lie solemnly reminded, "Once the Holy Dynasty turns from defense to offense and activates the Cave Heaven, the layout of the defensive ring will change. If all of this is Demonic Beasts trick and the Holy Dynasty's counterattack is thwarted, not to mention anything else, at least half of the thirty-six outer ring cities will completely fall."
"So, the Holy Dynasty's decision is not to act rashly?"
Gu Jinlai, he frowned.
"I estimate that's the case. After all, if there's even the slightest oversight in this decision, the death toll will definitely be in the hundreds of millions."
Ji Lie sighed, "It's just a pity to have such a good opportunity."
Gu Jinlai, people have remained silent in contemplation.
After a long while, he suddenly said, "The Holy Dynasty dares not act rashly, but we may not be so."
"Um!?"
Ji Lie, Xuan Zhou, Liu Feiyun, and the others all turned their gazes to Gu Jinlai.
"I was planning to accumulate some contribution points to exchange for more supplies. How can I let the Demonic Beasts stop coming?"
Gu Jinlai chuckled and said, "Besides, Lei Xuanyu once told me that there is a large amount of Thunder Magnetic Yuan Gold in the territory of the Black Fire Demon Emperor. I am very envious of this Thunder Magnetic Yuan Gold."
"Black Fire Demon Emperor?"
A single Demon Emperor is nothing compared to those Gu Jinlai who have single-handedly wiped out millions of Demonic Beasts, but the Xuan Yang Demon God behind him...
"The reason why the Holy Dynasty didn't turn against me back then was precisely because they wanted to use my strength to fight the Demonic Beasts to the death, so as to test the Demonic Beasts' strength?"
Looking towards the direction of the Xuan Yang Demon God's territory, Gu Jinlai, "Perfect, I also want to know just how strong these so-called demon gods really are."