Chapter 998: Wandering Mountain

In the Desolate Ruins, the Five Elements Sect had already engaged in battle with the beasts swarming across the mountains and plains. Compared to the disorganized beasts, the Five Elements Sect, having formed battle arrays, had orderly formations and an overwhelming momentum. The immense Daoist soldiers, formed by square formations, charged through the hordes of beasts like irresistible arrows, leaving a trail of blood and flesh wherever they went.

In the sky, Chen Mobai, using his Sword Light Splitting technique, locked onto the high-tier beasts that appeared within the range of his divine sense. Among them, there were eleven third-tier and two fourth-tier beasts. Such a lineup would be enough to dominate the borders of Eastern Continent. But unfortunately, they encountered Chen Mobai! As his fifth-tier Primal Yang Sword Aura flashed, all the beasts locked by his divine sense instantly turned into headless corpses. This scene instantly crushed the beasts' resistance. Without the leadership of high-tier beasts, the once勉强 organized beast hordes quickly scattered and fled in all directions across the Desolate Ruins. Witnessing this, Chen Mobai waved his hand and gave the order. The Five Elements Sect army also transformed into square formations and, led by the Core Formation cultivators, charged majestically into the Desolate Ruins like fierce tigers descending from the mountains.

The Desolate Ruins between East Barren and East Yi had been part of the Five Elements Sect's development plan for a long time. However, because the Five Elements Sect had not yet fully developed and utilized its territories in East Barren and Cloud Dream Lake, even if these Desolate Ruins were opened up, there wouldn't be enough cultivators to occupy and use them. Thus, Chen Mobai had always put this part of the plan on hold. But now, the situation was different. After gaining the allegiance of all cultivation families in East Wu, the number of cultivators under the Five Elements Sect surged. While it was still possible to accommodate all of them in East Barren, Chen Mobai, with his experience from the Immortal Sect, understood clearly that this absolutely could not be done.

Because most of the cultivators from East Wu could not afford housing, if the Five Elements Sect forcibly settled them, it would inevitably destabilize real estate prices in East Barren. The reason the Five Elements Sect had been so comfortable these past years, absorbing spirit stone resources and other essences from the surrounding three regions using East Barren, was precisely due to the exorbitant housing prices he had created. If cultivators from East Wu could easily acquire residences in East Barren, it would undoubtedly strike a blow to the continuously rising housing prices in East Barren. While a housing price collapse wouldn't affect the Five Elements Sect's dominant position, it would prevent them from siphoning off the savings of cultivators from surrounding territories. As the economically dominant forces on the Five Elements Sect's great ship, Xiaonanshan Shop and Danxia Pavilion would inevitably be affected.

Currently, whatever materials Chen Mobai desired, or whatever pills Qing Nü wished to refine, as long as he gave an order, forces from all three border regions of Eastern Continent would find a way to supply them. Even in the Eastern Lands, he could easily acquire what he wanted. The core reason for this was that all forces knew the Five Elements Sect possessed an immense amount of spirit stones. Due to the war between righteous and demonic cultivators, the housing prices in Beiyuan City alone could currently buy the entire three border regions of Eastern Continent. These housing prices were the Five Elements Sect's "mega-rich" calling card. Therefore, they absolutely could not collapse! Even a drop was impermissible! Other cultivators in Eastern Continent might not know these things, but Chen Mobai, who had studied economics at the Heaven Mending Daoist Academy, understood them perfectly.

Therefore, according to Chen Mobai's plan, cultivators from East Wu who had deep pockets and could afford housing would be absorbed into the major immortal cities of East Barren. As for the poorer ones, new immortal cities would be built outside East Barren for their settlement. In addition to the Cloud Dream Lake near East Wu, inspired by Wind and Rain Immortal City, they would directly fill in the great lake to create land. He also planned to concurrently develop these long-shelved Desolate Ruins. This way, the lower-tier cultivators from East Wu could be divided into two groups, allowing for better differentiated management in the future. Once these Desolate Ruins were opened up, the path between East Barren and East Yi would be completely cleared. By then, the Five Elements Sect's territory would multiply several times over. In addition to the original East Barren and Cloud Dream Lake, this would include East Wu, the Desolate Ruins between East Barren and East Yi, and East Yi after being ravaged by beasts.

Among these, in East Yi, since Kongsang Valley was destroyed, if Kuzhu did not return after the war, the Five Elements Sect, as their fraternal ally, would need to help them manage their territory. Chen Mobai also considered sending troops to directly occupy the original territory of Bathing Sun Sea. However, upon further consideration, although the war between righteous and demonic cultivators had ended, the Black Dragon King Court suffered no significant losses. In the future, the Eastern Continent cultivation world would surely have a major war with the Black Dragon King Court, so it would be better to keep Bathing Sun Sea as a buffer. The Five Elements Sect already had enough territory. After occupying all these territories, Jiang Zongheng would unify them into a massive dynasty. After a few decades, with several generations of mortal reproduction, the Fruit of Dao Laws should be able to mature.

Silently contemplating the Five Elements Sect's development plan after the war between righteous and demonic cultivators, Chen Mobai also didn't forget to direct his sect disciples. However, with all high-tier beasts slain by him, the overall situation on the battlefield was already decided. Protected by their battle formations, the disciples of the Five Elements Sect were almost invincible. The beasts that had not retreated in time were slain one by one, utterly powerless to resist. Zhou Ye led the charge, commanding five square formations of Daoist soldiers, steadily sweeping through different areas according to the pre-determined tactics. In the Desolate Ruins, the roars of beasts rose and fell, but they were quickly suppressed by the whistling of the Five Elements Sect's Daoist soldiers. The battle lasted several hours; the sun was gradually setting. Along the path of the Five Elements Sect's advance, beast corpses piled up like mountains, and blood flowed like rivers. As the last beast in sight was slain, Zhou Ye ordered all disciples to set up camp on the spot. Meanwhile, the disciples originally assigned to logistics at the rear began to act with excitement, starting to collect the spoils of war.

Six months later, Zhou Ye, leading his Five Elements Daoist soldiers, broke through the Desolate Ruins that had separated East Barren and East Yi for thousands of years. Soon, Chen Mobai and Zhou Ye returned to Bright Mirror Mountain in East Yi. Bright Mirror Immortal City, originally at the foot of the mountain, had long been breached by beasts and turned into ruins due to the Five Elements Sect's withdrawal. However, for cultivators, building a city was not a difficult task. Moreover, because the Five Elements Sect had lacked deep foundations previously, Chen Mobai had only deployed a fourth-tier grand formation in Bright Mirror Immortal City. Now, it was a good opportunity to rebuild and integrate it into the Sky Veil Earth Web.

"Reporting to the Sect Master, there were significant losses in the medicinal fields. All spirit-infused herbs were ruined by those beasts." "Fortunately, the spirit veins are intact, and those precious medicinal herbs were already transplanted back to East Barren by True Person Danxia and the disciples of the Spiritual Plant Department." "However, rebuilding the medicinal fields will likely take several years..." After returning to Bright Mirror Mountain, Zhou Ye immediately dispatched his disciples to inspect the properties that originally belonged to the Five Elements Sect. Wherever the beasts passed, it was impossible to find anything intact. However, beasts plunder purely by instinct. Although they uprooted and carried away many spirit-infused herbs, ores, and so on, the spirit veins, mineral veins, and so forth were largely undamaged. "A blessing in disguise, perhaps." Chen Mobai nodded after listening. Afterward, he personally toured the ravaged lands of East Yi to determine the most suitable way to rebuild.

East Yi, ravaged and desolate after the beasts' rampage, saw Chen Mobai arrive at the former territory of a major Golden Core sect. Its past prosperity now existed only in memory, leaving behind only shattered walls and crumbling ruins. He sighed softly, noted these details in his planning map, and then proceeded to the next spirit vein location that had been breached by beasts. Chen Mobai had some impression of this sect, named Cloud and Rain Sect. Back when he led the Five Elements Sect to breach the Xuanxiao Dao Palace, this sect had sent a pair of beautiful twin Foundation Establishment female cultivators to express their submission. Although Chen Mobai wasn't that kind of person, he remembered it.

At this moment, a flying boat approached from afar and stopped above this spirit vein. Soon, a Core Formation spiritual light, leading several female cultivators, flew over. It was precisely Cloud and Rain Sect's Core Formation cultivator, Old Ancestor Fanyun. "Junior greets Sect Master Chen!" Old Ancestor Fanyun respectfully bowed to Chen Mobai, who waved his hand, signaling him to rise, and inquired about his situation. At the beginning of the war, the Cloud and Rain Sect had sent some core disciples to East Barren. However, most of the remaining disciples, under the leadership of Old Ancestor Fanyun, went to Golden Crow Immortal City to help defend East Yi. Within their own territory, another Core Formation cultivator, Old Ancestor Fuyu, was stationed. Unfortunately, when the Golden Flame Suan Ni burst out from the Desolate Ruins, the Cloud and Rain Sect happened to be in its path. Old Ancestor Fuyu, along with the entire Cloud and Rain Sect, was reduced to ashes. Now that the war was over, Old Ancestor Fanyun, having confirmed that most of the Desolate Ruins beasts had withdrawn from East Yi, flew back with the remaining disciples, hoping to rebuild the sect.

"My Five Elements Sect army is at Bright Mirror Mountain. If you encounter any remaining Desolate Ruins beast tribes in East Yi, you can send disciples with my command token to seek aid there." Since the owner of this spirit vein location had returned, Chen Mobai would not forcibly occupy it. He politely gave a communication talisman representing himself, then transformed into a streak of firelight and vanished from the spot. Old Ancestor Fanyun's expression kept changing as he witnessed this scene. This brutal war made all major Golden Core sects in East Yi realize their weakness. Without a Nascent Soul cultivator overseeing them and the protection of a fifth-tier grand formation, they were mere cannon fodder in war. It was precisely because of this that Old Ancestor Fanyun wondered if it would be better for his entire sect to find a powerful backer. As a major Golden Core sect in East Yi, the only ones he could now pledge allegiance to were the Five Elements Sect and Bathing Sun Sea. Compared to them, the Five Elements Sect's reputation was far superior to Bathing Sun Sea's, and their strength was also much greater. Chen Mobai naturally didn't know Old Ancestor Fanyun's thoughts, but to him, the allegiance of a mere Golden Core force was already insignificant.

After inspecting his own territories in East Yi, he quickly crossed the border and arrived at Kongsang Valley's territory. Along the roads here, there were corpses everywhere. After Kongsang Valley fell, mortals, facing powerful beasts, naturally had no means of resistance. Chen Mobai sighed involuntarily upon seeing many incomplete corpses, gnawed upon. Zhou Ye, having prepared for withdrawal long ago and knowing Chen Mobai's compassion, made evacuating the mortals from East Yi the first priority during the retreat. This preserved the vital spark for the current rebuilding of East Yi. Otherwise, mortals would need to be relocated from East Barren or East Wu, and such a long journey would likely result in significant casualties along the way. Chen Mobai flew into the air, flicking out golden flames that landed on the piles of corpses, incinerating and purifying them.

He finally arrived at the core spirit vein of Kongsang Valley. This fifth-tier spirit vein seemed to have been ravaged by powerful beasts. What should have been dense groves of Pure Bamboo had now been entirely uprooted and taken away, leaving only a vast, pitted expanse. Chen Mobai came to the very center, where there should have been several fifth-tier Pure Bamboos. But now it was empty. However, it appeared they were removed by normal means; it was likely Kuzhu took the sect's most valuable assets before leaving. Chen Mobai inspected the spirit vein and found that without the fifth-tier Pure Bamboos, the spirit vein here was gradually weakening. If left unattended, it was highly likely to degrade to fourth-tier in a few years. To completely resolve this problem, a fifth-tier spiritual plant with properties similar to Pure Bamboo would need to be transplanted. Chen Mobai did not possess such a spiritual plant, but his Earth Master skill was already at the fifth-tier, and the Immortal Sect had precedents for resolving such situations, so he easily thought of a solution. He directly sealed off this fifth-tier spirit vein. This way, the spirit vein's energy would not weaken, but it also wouldn't produce spiritual energy. This was essentially deferring the problem. After all, it wasn't his sect's spirit vein. Moreover, the Five Elements Sect now had too much territory and was not lacking in fifth-tier spirit veins. Chen Mobai thought for a moment, then drew a large stone over and placed it at the core of the spirit vein, leaving a message. In the future, if descendants of Kongsang Valley came and saw this, they could go to the Five Elements Sect to find him and unseal the spirit vein.

After leaving Kongsang Valley, Chen Mobai went to the last unfallen stronghold in East Yi, Golden Crow Immortal City. However, he did not enter, merely glanced at it from afar. He noticed that there were still quite a few beasts outside Golden Crow Immortal City, but both sides kept to themselves. These beasts were orderly retreating towards the Profound Sea. These should be the beasts of the Black Dragon King Court. After the demonic path was defeated, the righteous path needed time to absorb the demonic territories, so a new peace treaty was signed with the Black Dragon King Court. Chen Mobai watched coldly for a moment, then turned and left. On his way back to Bright Mirror Mountain, Chen Mobai passed by Wandering Mountain and also paid his respects at the ruins of Fan Haimen. Originally, he thought that even if Fan Haimen was one of the Ten Directions Halls of the Eastern Lands Imperial Court, with his mastery of formations, entering and exiting it would be effortless. But to his surprise, the formation covering this place was actually a fifth-tier one. At its very core, it even approached the sixth-tier.

Although Chen Mobai could forcibly enter by Void Walking, whenever he considered doing so, the All-Heaven's Blessing realm of the Danfeng Chaoyang Diagram constantly issued warnings. This indicated that a power capable of threatening his life was hidden deep within Wandering Mountain. This greatly surprised Chen Mobai. One must know that it had been so long since the Eastern Lands Imperial Court disintegrated; even a Dao Monarch of Spirit Transformation would have long turned into a pile of dry bones. Fan Haimen, as one of the Ten Directions Halls, actually still possessed such profound foundations here! What exactly was inside? He became interested and used his own All-Heaven's Blessing Corresponding to Earthly Spirits realm to investigate the celestial and earthly veins of this ruin, hoping to find a method to break it.

A fifth-tier peak formation requires a top-grade fifth-tier spirit vein. However, from the outside, Wandering Mountain's spirit vein appeared to be merely a top-grade fourth-tier one. Chen Mobai quickly noticed a clue: ninety percent of this spirit vein's power had been absorbed by the core of the formation deep within the ruins. After an unknown number of years of operation, this formation had developed flaws due to insufficient spiritual energy. It was precisely because of this that portals allowing entry and exit to the ruins would appear periodically at Wandering Mountain. Previously, Xuan Shu of Xuanxiao Dao Palace had obtained opportunities like the Profound Sea Imperial Art and the Golden Miasma Pearl precisely because of this. According to Chen Mobai's estimation, this formation had reached its limit, and it wouldn't be long before a flaw appeared at its very core. At that point, a freely accessible passage would emerge. Knowing this, Chen Mobai was in no hurry. After marking Wandering Mountain, he returned to Bright Mirror Mountain and summoned Luo Yixuan.

"Master, you sent for me." In recent years, Luo Yixuan, besides cultivating in East Barren, had been lingering around Wandering Mountain, hoping to find higher-tier inheritances of Fan Haimen. "Yes, there's something I need you to do." Chen Mobai informed his disciple of what he had discovered, and then handed Luo Yixuan the rough operational diagram of Wandering Mountain's formation, as perceived through his All-Heaven's Blessing Corresponding to Earthly Spirits realm. "Lead a group of disciples to station yourselves at Wandering Mountain. If an opening appears at the core of the ruins allowing entry or exit, do not rush..." Luo Yixuan nodded repeatedly after listening. "Thank you, Master, for exploring these ruins for me!" Hearing Luo Yixuan's words, Chen Mobai knew she had misunderstood, but he was too lazy to correct her. "Remember, do not enter immediately!" After giving his final instruction, Chen Mobai went to arrange the rebuilding of East Yi.

Some matters, Zhou Ye had already dispatched people to handle without needing his explicit instructions. For example, organizing manpower to clear medicinal fields and collect beast corpses. Among these, the most valuable were naturally the pelts, bones, shells, scales, and inner cores of high-tier beasts, all excellent materials for crafting magical artifacts and refining pills. However, more comprehensive planning, post-war reconstruction, and so on, still required Chen Mobai, a leader with the foresight of an Immortal Sect, to control and direct. "This is the planning map I've drawn up. From now on, you can just build East Yi according to this." Chen Mobai handed a set of jade slips to Zhou Ye, who solemnly received them with both hands.

After this war between righteous and demonic cultivators, Chen Mobai's prestige in the Five Elements Sect had reached divine proportions. Even Zhou Ye felt a faint awe in his heart when facing him. Facing the combined army of millions of fiends from the Desolate Sea and demonic cultivators, and even being caught in a pincer attack by Desolate Ruins beasts, any other Nascent Soul head of the Five Elements Sect would likely have already been making arrangements for their sect's demise, telling core disciples to take the inheritance and flee first. But Chen Mobai remained calm and composed, leading the seemingly weak Five Elements Sect to win one battle after another head-on, ultimately awaiting the good news of the demonic path's defeat, and almost single-handedly seizing all territories in the three border regions of Eastern Continent. Zhou Ye was now completely subservient. After receiving the planning map, he immediately mobilized his Five Elements Sect disciples to begin their work.

Chen Mobai personally wrote a letter and had Yue Zutao take it to Zhang Pankong in the Eastern Lands. During the earlier retreat, to prevent beasts from directly invading the Nine Heavens Immortal City deep within the Eastern Lands via this large teleportation array, Zhou Ye had personally destroyed the array. Although Chen Mobai felt he could repair it after a few glances, considering the Tai Xu Misty Palace's emphasis on teleportation arrays, he decided it would be better to ask Zhang Pankong to send someone to repair it. However, with the large teleportation array destroyed, the Five Elements Sect's connection with the Eastern Lands was effectively severed. Only Yue Zutao could go to Golden Crow Immortal City and use the teleportation array there to reach the Eastern Lands. After arranging these matters, Chen Mobai summoned Song Huangda and took him on a tour of the East Yi lands where the Sky Veil Earth Web's spiritual pivot nodes were to be laid out. Within the Five Elements Sect, Chen Mobai and Zhuo Ming had the highest mastery of formations. However, since both master and disciple were busy, the preliminary work for deploying these grand formations could only be handled by Song Huangda, the grand-disciple. Fortunately, Song Huangda had also been cultivated by Chen Mobai over the years. Although only at the Foundation Establishment realm, after completing the Sky Veil Earth Web in East Barren with Zhuo Ming, his mastery of formations was already at the third-tier, even by Immortal Sect standards. "I'll leave this to you here!" After handing the formation jade slips for East Yi to Song Huangda, Chen Mobai first led a portion of the Five Elements Sect disciples from East Yi back to East Barren. On the way back, some Five Elements Sect disciples had already begun constructing rudimentary cities at several key nodes within the Desolate Ruins, following Chen Mobai's previous plan.

Beiyuan City. When Chen Mobai led the Five Elements Sect army back, cultivators inside and outside the immortal city erupted in cheers. Because they all knew that with the return of this army, the war in East Yi had also been quelled. The war had finally ended completely! Amidst waves of cheers, the young disciples of the Five Elements Sect behind Chen Mobai, though tired, had eyes full of pride and self-satisfaction. They had all graduated from the various academies in East Barren and had been instilled with positive energy since childhood. In this war, they felt they had achieved immortal merits for the sect and for the righteous path of Eastern Continent. This pure belief caused a transformation in the minds of many young cultivators. Chen Mobai naturally noticed this: the Crown of All Beings in Heaven and Earth subtly grew more radiant, and the previously dark section seemed to have lightened. If this continued, one day, the beliefs of these disciples would become identical to those of the Immortal Sect's people! Chen Mobai felt very pleased. His efforts of over a hundred years in East Barren were finally showing results. By now, he could say that East Barren already possessed the aura of a minor Immortal Sect. The Fruit of Dao Laws at the very center of the Crown of All Beings in Heaven and Earth also seemed to become even more profound.

All-Heaven Refining Dao Pagoda. The Heavenly Demon Sacred Fetus finally stopped distorting. It slowly opened its eyes, a hint of ferocious malevolence appearing on its face. "Yuan Qingque, once I get out, I will surely destroy your Nine Heavens Demon Extermination Sect!" The Heavenly Demon Sacred Fetus spoke coldly. However, it was no longer the Heavenly Demon Sacred Fetus; it should be referred to as Demon Venerable. Long ago, Demon Venerable had sensed a death tribulation approaching him. After exhausting all means and failing to escape the All-Heaven Refining Dao Pagoda, he began preparing a contingency plan. Besides the Heavenly Demon Sacred Fetus, there were two other rebirth beacons he had left within the pagoda. However, the Heavenly Demon Sacred Fetus had the highest bloodline potential, and Demon Venerable happened to possess a cultivation technique perfectly suited for the Earthen Locust's bloodline. Thus, during the ascension tribulation, after his true body was shattered and abandoned by Yuan Qingque, Demon Venerable chose to be reborn within the Heavenly Demon Sacred Fetus. With his essence at the peak of Spirit Transformation, the Heavenly Demon Sacred Fetus's mere nascent fourth-tier spiritual consciousness was naturally no match for him. However, to avoid being discovered by Yuan Qingque, the intention Demon Venerable left within the Heavenly Demon Sacred Fetus's Zifu consciousness sea was merely a very weak seed. Therefore, it still took him over half a year to suppress and devour the Heavenly Demon Sacred Fetus's spiritual consciousness.

"I hope the Black Dragon King Court doesn't disappoint me..." But even after possessing the Heavenly Demon Sacred Fetus and barely completing his rebirth, Demon Venerable was still trapped within the All-Heaven Refining Dao Pagoda. And to get out, he could only hope for major changes in the outside world. Compared to before, he could now at least see a glimmer of hope. Because Yuan Qingque, the Dao Monarch of Spirit Transformation from the Nine Heavens Demon Extermination Sect, had ascended to the Void Refining realm. The Nine Heavens Demon Extermination Sect was now arguably at its weakest point since its founding. If the Demon Venerable were a Spirit Transformation True Spirit of the Black Dragon King Court, he would certainly not miss this opportunity and would surely seek to destroy the Nine Heavens Demon Extermination Sect.