CHAPTER 770: 645 HEAVENLY HEART FIVE THUNDERS DIVINE CITY

The Kunlun Sect, with over twenty Sword Immortals and accompanied by Sha Hongyan, Sha Liang, and Wu Changshan, still appeared too thin in numbers against the stretch of West Pole Mountain, with its countless peaks soaring skyward for thousands of miles across the north and south. Nonetheless, there was no choice; they had to give it a try at this critical juncture.

The Orthodox Mysterious Sect valued diplomacy before resorting to arms. Mr. Zhong first sent Yu Xiao with a formal letter of introduction, to present their identities and declare their intentions, stating their goal was to retrieve the Heavenly Treasure Mirror.

The West Pole Sect naturally objected. Hearing that the Kunlun Sect was mounting a significant offensive, they took it very seriously. All five Elders appeared, sitting in a line upon the Lotus Thrones, each backed by over a thousand Cultivators and followers, who stood on lotuses fanned out behind them, confrontationally opposed to the Kunlun Sect.

The Second Elder, Hastie, positioned in the center, said to the Kunlun Sect, "The Heavenly Treasure Mirror was exchanged by our sect using the ancestral treasure, the Zhunti Gold Bowl, and Mystics Yin True Water with the Xuanyuan Dharma King. There is a saying in Central Earth, ’The tavern keeper and the pot-bearer ask for the money.’ You should settle the accounts with the Xuanyuan Dharma King."

"I have long heard of the great name of the West Pole Sect, where nations gather under your guidance, an epitome of reverence and righteousness, exemplifying virtue for the people and thereby enlightening and civilizing all nations," Mr. Zhong first praised, then quickly changed his tone. "The Heavenly Mirror was stolen from South Sea by Evil Corpse Gu Chen before being seized by the Xuanyuan Dharma King, and, subsequently, exchanged with you. It is tainted by nature."

He suggested that the West Pole Sect return the Heavenly Mirror to Shi Feiyang in the South Sea, and then they could seek the Xuanyuan Dharma King to guarantee the retrieval of the Zhunti Gold Bowl and Mystics Yin True Water back for the West Pole Sect.

The West Pole Sect couldn’t accept such an unpalatable proposition. The Sixth Elder of the Western Palace was still dreaming of glory, waiting for the Great Elder Zongdonar to refine the Heavenly Mirror. Starting by intimidating the six Sect Hierarchs of the Eastern Palace, they then planned to sweep across the Four Seas, conquer Central Earth, and unify the entire world!

When reason failed, they were left only with the option to fight.

Seeing that the West Pole Sect had the numerical advantage and that the battle would be on their turf, Mr. Zhong suggested a one-on-one swordfight, best two out of three bouts.

Hastie disagreed, demanding best three out of five.

Mr. Zhong hesitated and did not agree...

While the five opponents were Earth Immortals with Undying Bodies, their mana surpassed that of a Heavenly Immortal, and ordinary Earth Immortals were no match. Kunlun could not rally five Heavenly Immortals.

They could only make use of the Kunlun Sect’s advantages.

Mr. Zhong formed a Finger Technique with his left hand and held his sword in his right, chanting True Words. Suddenly, a violent wind arose between heaven and earth, whipping up monstrous waves. The Gang Qi from heaven pressed down layer upon layer, as though the sky itself was collapsing!

The Five Thunder Heavenly Heart True Method was unique to the Kunlun Sect in this world.

Ordinary Five Thunders Skill works effortlessly with intent; a mere gesture could unleash its power. But today, Mr. Zhong employed the comprehensive Five Thunder True Method.

At his command, a cultivator from Heavenly Pond to the north, a dark-skinned woman to the east, Wei Shaoshao to the west, and the grey-haired cultivator Cheng Di to the south — each took positions in the four corners of the sky, casting their spells. Gang and Evil energies converged upon them, grinding into being thunderclouds. Amidst those clouds, sparks of lightning flickered. It began with individual streaks of electricity, which grew thicker and more numerous until a thousand zips of electricity encircled and wove into a Dharma Platform— a Thunder City.

These four Thunder Cities connected with the Heavenly Gang above and Earth Evil below, complete with walls, merlons, gates, canopies, and beacons— appearing like divine celestial cities.

With thunderous booms reverberating, tens of thousands of miles of sky began to shake violently, causing the mountains and seas below to tremble and sway.

"Wow!" exclaimed the people from the West Pole Sect, including Sha Hongyan and her companions, astounded by the sight.

Since the primogenitor of the Kunlun Sect ascended, the sect had been on the decline. The Kunlun Nine Friends had split, with Yin Sutang, Chi Chengzi, and Dongfang Hao three Elders expelled. Half an Elder Nun also led her disciples away to Wudang and has yet to return. The situation had been like "Little Wang’s New Year," each year worse than the last.

Moreover, the Kunlun Sect members were not as active as those from Emei and Wutai, residing in reclusion within deep mountains and old forests, which led many to look down upon them.

Take Sha Hongyan. In her eyes, Wei Xianke and Xin Lingxiao’s mana were limited; even though they were ranked Elders of Kunlun, they were inferior to her. She speculated that even the renowned Mr. Zhong was at best comparable to her martial brother Wu Changshan, and perhaps even less so. Despite Mr. Zhong having achieved the Yang God form and being capable of Ascension, if it came to a fight, he surely wouldn’t measure up to her martial brother Wu, who possessed powerful treasures.

Now, as the five Elders joined forces to cast spells, forming the Heavenly Heart Five Thunders Formation with clouds and bolts covering nearly half of the West Pole Mountain, they finally realized the formidable prowess of the Kunlun Sect.

Mr. Zhong, typically reserved, had unleashed a Big Move at his first engagement. The four Thunder Cities took their positions at the four cardinal points. The generated Gang Qi clouds intertwined and covered an area of five thousand li, enveloping the main peak of the West Pole Mountain. Mr. Zhong formed a Thunder Technique with his hands and shouted into the wind, "Fellow Daoist, once I unleash this thunder, there will be no turning back!"

The five Elders of the West Pole Sect had also prepared their battle strategies.

In those years, Yu the Great had prohibited the flow of Mystics Yin True Water, leaving behind a stone Dharma Platform with a lotus made of Western Taiyin True Gold on top. The principle was that metal generates water, while earth controls it; only by alternating expansion and contraction could a cycle be formed, the water thus drawn up daily, polished and dissipated by the Heavenly Gang Wind.

Later, this lotus was refined into a Magical Treasure by the six Great Elders. Now conjured, it formed a huge, pure white Lotus Platform. The Second Elder, Hastie, sat steadfast at the very center, the lotus’s thousand petals unfolded, radiating dazzling white light. Within these petals, four branches arose, each with another lotus platform upon which the other four Great Elders sat separately, the white light in layers upon layers, with each layer projecting the images of the five of them.

Fully bloomed, the lotus was immensely large and wide, each dimension spanning over a hundred miles. They instructed the disciples of the West Pole Sect to fly up and stand on the smaller lotus platforms formed by the essence of the brilliant light.

Hastie said to Mr. Zhong, "There’s no need for pleasantries, start off with a thunder strike, and let’s see if we can catch it!"

Having said that, Mr. Zhong did not hold back any longer, shaking the Thunder Technique in his hand slightly, signaling first from the Eastern direction as the Cui hei woman issued her commands, splitting the sky with a bolt of lightning.

"Crack!" A beam of dazzling brilliance tore through the sky and struck fiercely upon the lotus.

The Elder from the East made a Sealing gesture, casting with his right hand raised, obliquely upward, and conjured a great hand of white light above the lotus platform, which was further layered with white lotuses, to forcibly receive that bolt of lightning.

With a thunderous roar that shook heaven and earth, the great hand of white light, along with the lotuses above it, was shattered to pieces, yet it managed to catch the Divine Thunder.

"It’s not so bad after all," Hastie remarked with a hint of mockery.

Mr. Zhong did not respond. This first thunder strike had been a probe. Changing his Finger Technique, he issued the next command.

Cui hei woman took out a Black Flag and started shaking it, immediately whipping up an intense cyclone between heaven and earth.

This wind was not the Southeast Gentle Wind, nor the Sanmei Divine Wind, nor the Northerly or Tainted Wind; it was the Nine Heavens Gang Wind, coming directly from the sky. First drawn into her city of arrays, then all thirty-six gates of her Thunder City flung open, the wind gusted out wildly, splitting into thirty-six streams flowing downward, shaking mountains, breaking trees, causing cliffs to crumble, raising thousands of waves on the sea, and lifting rocks and sand into the air. For a time, many with shallow Dao Levels were unable to control their lights of escape, nearly blasted away.

Next came the Heavenly Pond keeper from the North, who offered a black Treasure Bead in the air. The bead rotated, casting brilliance in all directions, spewing jets of black Light Energy straight into the sky.

Rain then began to fall, as from his Thunder City, torrenting from the city gates like the opening of the Heavenly River, splashing wildly, and as he exhaled True Qi and pointed with his fingers, the rain rapidly formed billions of hailstones. The largest hailstones were as big as a room, swept by the whirlwind and hurled at the West Pole Sect’s followers.

These four Thunder Cities, commanding wind, rain, lightning, and thunder, although staggered slightly in initiation of their rites, were generally set off at the same time. With the arrival of the wind came the rain, and with lightning came thunder!

Amidst the torrential storm, the world between heaven and earth became a kingdom of water, with water curtains everywhere.

Sword Immortals possessed far superior vision compared to ordinary people, but even they could hardly see far in this curtain of water, especially since the air was teeming with great amounts of lightning, which left even Earth Immortals trembling with fear.

These were only the prelude; Mr. Zhong then led the four in releasing a net of lightning, with lightning bolts thick as wagon wheels interlacing to form an immense electric net spanning more than three thousand miles. As it descended, it rapidly contracted, eventually shrinking to a ball of lightning fire upon the West Pole Sect’s white Lotus Platform. Then came the thunderous explosions, with three hundred sixty bolts of Circulation Divine Thunder striking down consecutively, each bolt a giant lightning chisel hammering fiercely onto the sphere of light, and before the bolts had ceased, another thirty-six electric nets fell in succession...

The five Elders of the West Pole Sect had underestimated the Kunlun Sect and were repeatedly baptized with lightning. Encased in the electric net, they struggled to cast spells merely to hold on, and a large number of white light lotuses were shattered into dust, which they had to continuously regenerate through casting.

Of those disciples shielded by the lotuses, aside from a few of the Earth Immortal Level who could remain stable, the rest were scorched at a distance by the electric net, shaking their Primordial Spirits. Some with weaker Mana were shaken so badly that blood flowed from their seven orifices.

The five Elders communicated with one another through thoughts, since the roar of thunder and the blinding electric light prevented speech. They knew continuing to endure like this was unsustainable; they needed to break out and destroy the enemy’s Thunder Cities in the clouds.

Confident in their individual battles, they felt they could defeat anyone, even Mr. Zhong himself, and believed in their chances of victory. But the Heavenly Heart Five Thunder Formation was indeed formidable, and if they continued to be bombarded for much longer, they faced total annihilation—except for the five of them who could escape, while the rest would turn to ashes!

First, the five attempted to summon the Cangxu God.

Ever since Elder Cangxu ascended to become the Cangxu God, he was a match for the Heavenly God over Central Earth, receiving incense from countless nations in the West Pole Mountain, his Mana greatly increasing. In the Shushan World, no matter where the opposition was, as long as there was sincere prayer, Elder Cangxu could sense it, locate the voice of suffering, and was bound to rescue.

Naturally, the summoning of the five Great Elders at the doorsteps of their home resulted in an even stronger response.

However, in the palace of the great Cangxu Emperor at this time, led by the Fiery Fire Ancestor, the Poison Dragon Venerable, the Green Robe Ancestor, and the Red-haired Ancestor, the four figures stood in four directions, surrounding the Divine Statue of Elder Cangxu, casting spells to prevent Elder Cangxu from responding to the summons.