CHAPTER 599: CHAPTER 584: VICTORY!

Thanks to the timely appearance of the Seven-Colored Peacock, Zhou Ronghua, Zhou Rongxiang, and several Zhou Family cultivators covering the retreat managed to survive mostly intact.

However, the prolonged use of the "Blood Boiling Technique" for over a minute left them with severe, irreversible aftereffects, greatly reducing their lifespan.

Those who survived, upon ceasing to use the "Blood Boiling Technique," appeared emaciated like skin and bones, their aura languishing to the extreme.

After this battle, even if they live on, their path of cultivation is almost severed.

But for Zhou Ronghua and the others at this moment, surviving is already a fortunate outcome, and none of them are thinking too far ahead.

After saving these people, the Seven-Colored Peacock quickly caught up with Zhou Shengying and Zhou Shengyu, who had left first, and continued to search for the other lost individuals.

Meanwhile, Zhouyang and his wife, riding the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, broke through Chongxuan Mountain, fighting and fleeing all the way in a challenging situation.

With two people aboard, the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle couldn’t use its innate divine technique "Thunder Escape Technique" to flee, and although its speed surpassed that of ordinary Golden Core Stage cultivators’ flight speed, an An Country Golden Core cultivator chasing Zhouyang and the others held a Tier Five Middle Grade flying spiritual artifact, barely enough to catch up.

In this situation, Zhouyang and the others had no other choice but to fight while escaping.

However, upon escaping twenty thousand miles, suddenly a significant change occurred.

Two Golden Core Stage cultivators sent by the Profound Sun Immortal Sect to support Chongxuan Mountain finally joined up with Zhouyang after seven days of long travel.

The sword cultivator surnamed Qiu and others chasing them clearly didn’t anticipate Zhouyang, isolated in battle, would have reinforcements.

With the help of these two Golden Core Stage cultivator reinforcements, Zhouyang’s side turned the tables, gaining absolute dominance.

In a one-on-one situation, he subdued a sword cultivator from the Taiyi Immortal Sword Sect in merely a few dozen breaths of time, then initiated a slaughter mode.

In the end, in that battle, all four Golden Core Stage cultivators chasing after Zhouyang, including the sword cultivator surnamed Qiu, were wiped out.

Among these, the sword cultivator surnamed Qiu and one of his junior brothers were slain by Zhouyang, while the other two, realizing they couldn’t escape the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle’s pursuit, despairingly chose to self-destruct their Golden Core attempting to take others down with them.

Yet ultimately, aside from the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, greedy for merit and charging forward, getting injured by their self-destructing Golden Core, only one Golden Core Stage cultivator who came to support Zhouyang suffered minor injuries.

After turning the tables and counter-attacking the pursuers, Zhouyang quickly returned to Chongxuan Mountain with the reinforcements and forcefully executed the An Country Golden Core cultivator stationed there, swiftly eliminating the An Country Foundation Establishment Cultivators and Purple Mansion cultivators in the surrounding area, reclaiming control of Chongxuan Mountain.

Afterward, Zhouyang, while searching for lost disciples, used the "Immortal Spirit Jade Book" in his hand to send news of the great victory at Chongxuan Mountain to the Yuqing Daoist Sect.

This time, the response from the Yuqing Daoist Sect came quickly.

After several exchanges with Zhouyang, understanding the events of the war at Chongxuan Mountain, Master Jade Dragon from the Yuqing Daoist Sect, promptly sent the latest orders to temporarily abandon Chongxuan Mountain and proceed to Chang Country to support other sects and clans in the "Profound Purity Dao Alliance."

This time Zhouyang heartily accepted the order.

The "Five Elements Returning to Origin Array" protecting Chongxuan Mountain had been forcibly broken, unless a Tier Five Array Master came to repair it, the Spirit Mountain had lost its value for defense.

Moreover, during the exchange with Master Jade Dragon, the other party had given a clear promise that as long as he proceeded to support Chang Country, even if Chongxuan Mountain was not reclaimed afterward, he would be arranged a Spirit Mountain no less than Chongxuan Mountain as a foundational place.

More importantly, supporting Chang Country would allow him to gain more merit during post-war commendations and find a safe place for the disciples, effectively achieving two goals in one action.

Therefore, after resting at Chongxuan Mountain for two three days and retrieving most of the disciples including Ye Yunshan and Zhou Shengyu, Zhouyang led his forces towards Chang Country.

At this time, Chang Country had turned into a battlefield, with a main force of the "Six Paths Alliance" battling the cultivators defending the "Profound Purity Dao Alliance" daily, with numerous cultivators dying on the frontlines each day.

Facing the large scale attack from the "Six Paths Alliance," the "Profound Purity Dao Alliance" chose to withdraw forces for defense, dispersing the low-tier cultivators from various small clans and sects among the mortals for refuge, while retracting all core forces with Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation or above to locations safeguarded by at least Tier Five Top-Grade Mountain Protection Arrays, relying on the array’s strength for defense.

The "Suyun Sect," as a middle-level sect with four Golden Core Stage cultivators stationed, after joining the "Profound Purity Dao Alliance," spent a huge amount of merit to hire Nascent Soul Stage cultivators to set up a Tier Five Top-Grade Mountain Protection Array.

This time, as the "Six Paths Alliance" launched a large-scale invasion, the Suyun Sect also received cultivators from dozens of surrounding cultivation clans and two small sects to jointly resist the attacking enemy forces.

The attacking "Six Paths Alliance" army targeting the Suyun Sect comprised ten Golden Core Stage cultivators, over seventy Purple Mansion cultivators, and more than two thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Unlike the assault on Chongxuan Mountain, when facing the formidable defensive forces of the Suyun Sect, the "Six Paths Alliance" has deployed War Giant Beasts and a puppet army to assist in the battle.

The so-called War Giant Beasts are enormous tamed Barbaric Beasts. These beasts are not only tough with thick hides, but they are also equipped with Defensive Armor specially refined by Cultivators, serving as key killing moves when attacking the Mountain Protection Array.

A Tier Four War Giant Beast, when clad in specially refined Defensive Armor and further enhanced by various Defense Magic from Cultivators, would be formidable enough that even a personal attack from a Golden Core Stage Cultivator would find it difficult to kill it in a short time.

One crash from such a War Giant Beast, whose length exceeds a hundred zhang, can inflict damage on the Mountain Protection Array equivalent to an attack from a Golden Core Stage Cultivator.

As for the puppet army, as its name suggests, it is an army comprised of Puppet Beasts.

A puppet army can consist of hundreds or even thousands of Puppet Beasts. As long as one is willing to spend Spirit Stones, these Puppet Beasts can inflict continuous damage on the Mountain Protection Array without cessation.

When Zhouyang and his men arrived outside the Suyun Sect, the "Six Paths Alliance" army was fiercely besieging the mountain.

From a distance, he saw three War Giant Beasts, resembling rhinos with a silver horn at their foreheads, roaring and ramming into the Suyun Sect’s Mountain Protection Array under the command of the "Six Paths Alliance" Beast Taming Cultivators.

Each of these three War Giant Beasts is over a hundred zhang long, naturally armored with a layer of hard black Scale Armor. Additionally, they are clad in a gigantic integrated Battle Armor that covers their entire bodies, and further reinforced with various colorful Defense Magic spells.

When they charge, countless Magical Artifacts and spells fly out from the mountain’s array and strike them, including Tier Five Magical Artifacts wielded by Golden Core Stage Cultivators.

However, most of these attacks are offset by the Defense Magic spells surrounding them. Even those that land on them only manage to leave some scars on the Defensive Armor.

Only attacks from a Golden Core Stage Cultivator can penetrate the multiple layers of protection and break through their natural black Scale Armor, leaving some wounds on them.

But these wounds are insignificant compared to their massive size.

And whenever they retreat, Cultivators from the "Six Paths Alliance" proficient in Healing Magic immediately cast spells to heal their injuries.

Once healed, they resume their assault on the Suyun Sect’s Mountain Protection Array.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, a puppet army of seven to eight hundred Tier Three and Tier Four Puppet Beasts, under the control of the mountain-attacking Cultivators, continues to launch long-range attacks against the Suyun Sect’s Mountain Protection Array.

These Puppet Beasts are specially refined for the purpose of attacking Mountain Protection Arrays. Regardless of whether they are Tier Three or Tier Four, they only employ one form of attack, converting the energy of Spirit Stones in slots into powerful beams of light that are shot outward.

Such attacks pose little threat to nimble Cultivators, unless subjected to dense, widespread barrages.

But for the immobile Mountain Protection Array, it has no choice but to absorb all the attacks.

Fortunately, a large number of Cultivators gathered inside the Suyun Sect’s mountain gate, enabling the Mountain Protection Array to maintain operation by drawing on the Magical Power provided by these Cultivators.

Otherwise, if it depended solely on extracting Spiritual Qi from the Spirit Vein, like the Mountain Protection Array at Chongxuan Mountain, it would’ve been shattered by now under such intense attacks.

However, Zhouyang knew that without reinforcements, the Cultivators of the "Six Paths Alliance" only need to continue their assault for less than a month before the Suyun Sect’s Mountain Protection Array breaks down from overuse.

Of course, the Cultivators of the Suyun Sect are aware of this, so they haven’t resigned themselves to being trapped within the array. They have attempted to take proactive measures to eliminate the puppet army, alleviating pressure on the Mountain Protection Array.

Initially, they dispatched individuals carrying a large number of single-use powerful Treasures, such as various High-Tier Spirit Talismans and Secret Thunder Pearls, which indeed inflicted certain damage on the puppet army and the "Six Paths Alliance" Cultivators.

However, once those single-use powerful Treasures were exhausted, facing the intercepting forces of the "Six Paths Alliance" Cultivators, who held dominance in field battles, those who ventured out found themselves on a one-way path to certain death.

By the time Zhouyang arrived here, the Suyun Sect had long lost the strength to fight outside the array.

Because Zhouyang and his group were numerous, with Tier Five Demon Beasts like the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle and Seven-Colored Peacock being unable to conceal their own auras, combined with the fact that the "Six Paths Alliance" had already stationed numerous undercover agents within several thousand li to monitor the situation.

As they crossed into the 1,000-li range of the Suyun Sect’s mountain gate and deployed Pupil Technique Divine Techniques to discern the distant situation, the Golden Core Stage Cultivators from the "Six Paths Alliance" had already been alerted and charged forward.

By this time, it had been several days since the battle of Chongxuan Mountain concluded, and the news of their defeat had long reached the various armies of the "Six Paths Alliance" within Chang Country, along with the order to guard against Zhouyang’s intrusion into Chang Country for assistance.

Thus, before the engagement, the high-ranking commanders of the "Six Paths Alliance" army outside the Suyun Sect anticipated his arrival.

As a result, six Golden Core Cultivators from the "Six Paths Alliance" came to intercept, along with a Tier Five Demon Beast, the Black Wolf.

"Fellow Daoist Xin, Fellow Daoist Ying, I have already sent a communication flying sword to Fellow Daoist Lin Yuxian of the Suyun Sect, informing them of our reinforcements. As long as we hold off these enemies, they will surely counterattack after seeing it, which will definitely relieve the siege on Suyun Sect."

On the back of the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, Zhouyang, seeing the six Golden Core cultivators and a Tier Five demon beast from the enemy approaching from afar, immediately announced his decision with a solemn expression to the two supporting cultivators from the Profound Sun Immortal Sect beside him.

The cultivators sent by the Profound Sun Immortal Sect to assist him were named Xin Changlong and Ying Feihu, both Golden Core cultivators from affiliated sects of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect.

Among them, Xin Changlong and Zhouyang both had a Golden Core cultivation at the fifth layer, while Ying Feihu was at the fourth layer.

These two had witnessed Zhouyang’s formidable power in previous battles, and upon hearing his words, they immediately agreed without further ado.

Although the enemy had six Golden Core cultivators and a Tier Five demon beast, combined with Xiao Ying on their side, they also had four Golden Core cultivators and two Tier Five spirit birds, making a close match in strength.

The battle quickly unfolded. Zhouyang independently took on a late-stage Golden Core cultivator and a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, while Xiao Ying, in collaboration with the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, held back the Tier Five Black Wolf and its master. The remaining three Golden Core cultivators were each engaged by Xin Changlong, Ying Feihu, and the Seven-Colored Peacock.

More than a dozen Golden Core cultivators were engaged in a fierce battle, with powerful fluctuations of magical power perceptible from miles away, and various divine power techniques illuminating the sky in a myriad of colors.

Zhouyang, facing two opponents, relied on the strong defensive capability of the Flam-ing Dragon Shield and his own robust physical defenses, focusing solely on offense, leaving the two Golden Core cultivators he engaged unable to shift their attention elsewhere during the battle.

Unfortunately, his divine techniques had all been revealed during the Chongxuan Moun-tain encounter, so the opponents facing him now were well-prepared with counter-measures.

Without the "Heaven-shaking Copper Gong" and "Soul Capturing Treasure Pearl," he found it exceptionally difficult to overwhelm peers.

Fortunately, in this battle, there wasn’t too much pressure on him, as just containing the enemy fulfilled his objective.

As he had anticipated, after their side initiated combat, Lin Yuxian and other Golden Core cultivators from within Suyun Sect once again led the mountain’s defending cultiva-tors to launch a counterattack.

However, the force of this counterattack was significantly weaker than Zhouyang had expected.

Originally, Suyun Sect, along with Golden Core cultivators from two small sects that had taken refuge there, should have had six Golden Core cultivators.

Yet now, only four emerged to counterattack the enemy, exactly matching the number of Golden Core cultivators left guarding by the enemy.

It was only later that he learned the remaining two Golden Core cultivators had been severely injured in a prior counterattack against the enemy’s puppet army, and could barely manage to oversee the Mountain Protection Array’s defenses, let alone engage peer cultivators in battle.

This unexpected development added considerable pressure on the otherwise stress-free Zhouyang.

He had to assist in relieving the siege on Suyun Sect. Otherwise, even if he and his forces entered, they would simply become trapped, reminiscent of what happened at Chongxuan Mountain.

Additionally, it was foreseeable that with their support army’s arrival, the "Six Paths Alliance" would inevitably send reinforcements, resulting in Suyun Sect’s fortifications eventually being breached.

"It seems there’s no choice but to make some sacrifices!"

Sighing inwardly, Zhouyang’s expression became hardened, and he suddenly summoned the mid-grade Tier Six spiritual artifact, the "Heaven-Suppressing Azure Dragon Cauldron," which hadn’t been used since its refinement.

This artifact, being extremely high-tier, though refined through a clever application of the "Blood Soul Sacrificial Artifact Technique," couldn’t be activated to even assist in advancing his "Azure Dragon Body Refining Technique" to the fourth layer, let alone use it against an enemy.

However, this didn’t mean he couldn’t activate it at all.

In fact, as long as he was willing to pay a price, he could unleash some of its powers.

At this point, he was willing to risk everything to break the stalemate!

Upon deploying the purple-blue four-legged cauldron, he immediately struck his chest with a clenched fist, spitting three mouthfuls of essence blood onto the cauldron, which were absorbed by the four-clawed flood dragon depicted on it.

Once infused with his essence blood, the four-clawed flood dragon seemed to come alive, suddenly letting out a deep dragon roar.

Simultaneously, an inexplicable force emanated from the "Heaven-Suppressing Azure Dragon Cauldron," instantly affecting the late-stage Golden Core cultivator located miles away from Zhouyang.

Soon after, the auspicious clouds beneath the feet of that late-stage Golden Core culti-vator vanished without warning, causing him to plummet to the ground like a mortal falling from a cliff.

"Die!"

Zhouyang let out a roar of anger, disregarding the cost of spitting out three mouthfuls of essence blood just now, he swung his fists, aggressively launching the killing move "Dragon’s Fury".

This time, less than five days had passed since he last used this move, and this month alone, he had used it for the third time.

With his current cultivation at the third layer of the Azure Dragon Body Refining Technique, doing so inflicts severe damage on the physical body, and if there are no spirit elixirs for recuperation afterward, it would take at least years of rest to recover to normal.

But right now, he truly couldn’t care about any of that.

If he didn’t get past this hurdle, he wouldn’t even have a place to rest peacefully, let alone anything else.

The dragon’s roar that shook the heavens resounded, and a blue-gold dragon soared out from behind Zhouyang, swiftly disappearing and pouncing onto the fallen cultivator.

This strike did not instantly kill the cultivator with the seventh-layer Golden Core cultivation, but shattered his defensive spiritual artifact and defense magic; then a flash of silver light separated his head from his body, along with the Golden Core and Primordial Spirit falling, unable to escape.

The "Taiyin Soul-Slaying Blade", bearing the name "Soul-Slaying", naturally possesses the power to sever a cultivator’s soul, and the Golden Core stage cultivators struck by it basically cannot escape to possess another body.

The fall of this Golden Core seventh-level cultivator signifies the failure of the "Six Paths Alliance" in intercepting Zhouyang.

The remaining five Golden Core stage cultivators from the "Six Paths Alliance" quickly retreated voluntarily, intending to regroup with others within the army.

Yet Zhouyang was unwilling to let them off lightly, forcibly utilizing the divine technique "Silent Extinction Soul-Burning Divine Light" alongside the "Qianyang Golden Tower", capturing the mid-stage Golden Core cultivator who was nurturing the black wolf demon beast.

However, what surprised him was the reaction of the black wolf demon beast, which, upon its master’s capture, did not desperately try to save him but instead let out a long howl and fled the battlefield, without returning to join the retreating "Six Paths Alliance" cultivators.

"Interesting, who would have thought that these days someone would raise a demon beast to Tier Five without signing the ’Demonic Soul Contract’!"

Zhouyang paused for a moment, then voiced his odd speculation as if he had reached an understanding.

A demon beast that has signed the "Demonic Soul Contract" absolutely cannot rebel against its master’s control unless it’s promoted to Tier Six, nor could it betray the master.

For example, if Zhouyang were captured, as long as he didn’t actively order the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle to leave, the eagle would absolutely fight desperately to save him.

The fact that the black wolf could abandon rescuing its master without hesitation and flee the battlefield indicates it hadn’t signed the "Demonic Soul Contract" with its master, thus not bound by the contract.

His voice wasn’t quiet, and upon hearing, fellow Daoist Ying responded with a gentle smile: "Fellow Daoist Zhou, perhaps you aren’t aware, but the ’Demonic Soul Contract’ from the Beast Taming Sect doesn’t work on all demon beasts. If Ying is not mistaken, the fleeing black wolf should possess the bloodline of the ’Netherworld Wolf’, a type naturally immune to all soul-control magic and divine techniques!"

"Netherworld Wolf?"

Zhouyang recalled information about this reportedly Netherworld-related demon beast and compared it to the fleeing black wolf, noting the wolf’s pair of dark purple eyes, indeed identical to those of the legendary "Netherworld Wolf".

"Forget it, it’s just a masterless demon beast anyway; if it escapes, so be it. We should hurry to aid our Fellow Daoists from the Suyun Sect in breaking the enemy’s army!"

Shaking his head, Zhouyang decided not to delve further into the matter, promptly retrieving Ye Yunshan and other disciples from the ground, and charged toward the battlefield outside the Suyun Sect.

But by the time they reached the battlefield, the cultivators from the "Six Paths Alliance" had already gathered together, relying on a hastily set-up Tier Five Top-Grade Array to turn defense into offense.

Though this array, powered by cultivator’s magical power, doesn’t match the Mountain Protection Array that operates on spirit vein spiritual qi, there’s no doubt in the sheer numbers of the "Six Paths Alliance"!

With one to two thousand cultivators above Foundation Establishment stage providing magical power for the array, unless all cultivators remaining at Suyun Sect come out to join Zhouyang and others in the attack, and engage in a battle of magical power consumption, it would merely be like a drop in the ocean if only the few Golden Core stage cultivators attack, failing to make an impact.

But if they do that, there’s a risk that the enemy could turn the tables, as they currently still have eight Golden Core stage cultivators. If any dare to risk death and utilize a life-struggle secret technique to stall Zhouyang and the Golden Core stage cultivators, and the remaining Purple Mansion Cultivators and Foundation Establishment Cultivators charge out, those Suyun Sect cultivators who have left the Mountain Protection Array might not be opponents.

Of course, this was the Suyun Sect’s concern. Zhouyang chose not to continue the attack due to his own condition.

Having continuously deployed the Dragon’s Fury combat skill had already injured his physical body, and activating the Heaven-Suppressing Azure Dragon Cauldron earlier consumed considerable essence blood. The most urgent task now was to find a quiet room to heal, rather than bringing further injury into battle and risk mutual destruction with the enemy.

Given both sides having their worries and unwillingness to face mutual destruction, this battle can only end with a minor victory.

After greeting Lin Yuxian, the only acquaintance at the scene from Suyun Sect at the Golden Core stage, Zhouyang followed her into the Suyun Sect’s mountain gate and asked for a quiet room to enter closed-door healing.