Forty millenniums of cul.., p.932
Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 932
For the Cultivators in the Nascent Soul Stage, the change of their appearance caused by the passage of time would often not be revealed until they were dying.
Although the two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators of Roaring Tiger Hall were father and son, their age gap was only thirty to forty years. For Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, who could easily live hundreds of years, it was not much of a difference.
Therefore, the three guys who were confronting the beggar looked like three brothers at first glance, except that their hair color was slightly different. Duan Yuanwu's hair was pure gold, while the other two had gray streaks mixed into the gold.
Naturally, one of the old men was Duan Tiande, the leader of Roaring Tiger Hall.
But who was the other old man that was almost made out of the same mold as him?
The three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators of the Duan family all looked particularly awful.
Anger, fear, desperation, hate… All kinds of emotions were mixed together, and thick venom seemed to be shooting out of their eyes!
"Oh. It seems that this beggar was wrong about something." The beggar smiled and said, "Qu Futong, the leader of the Black Devil Cult, is not necessarily Duan Xingyi. Perhaps you two brothers take turns to play the role. After all, you are twins, and it is difficult for anyone to notice anything wrong whichever of you appears in daylight as the leader of Roaring Tiger Hall!"
All the Cultivators on the flying boat saw exactly what was going on.
"It's Senior Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar!"
"Huh. An old man identical to Duan Tiande has indeed shown up, and his scent is not half weak. He—he is also in the Nascent Soul Stage!"
"Three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators in the same family!"
"I never heard that Roaring Tiger Hall had a third Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. Is everything that Senior Ba Xiaoyu said true and the Black Devil Cult that has scourged the southeast for decades related to Roaring Tiger Hall?"
"There are a few secret treasuries at the bottom of Roaring Tiger City, in which the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and pills that the Black Devil Cult looted over the past decades are stored!"
Gasps were immediately echoing on the flying boat.
Ba Xiaoyu was a weirdo with a unique style among the Cultivators. He was known as the 'Weird Saint' of the Three Saints of the Great Qian Dynasty. As a marvelous person on par with Qi Zhongdao and Yan Liren, it was not hard to imagine his Cultivation and influence!
The Black Devil Cult, on the other hand, was the most notorious gang in the Great Qian Dynasty, which had plagued the southeast for decades. It had looted and even annihilated many small sects.
The Cultivators had long tried to demolish the group. However, the evil Cultivators of the Black Devil Cult were unpredictable, and their every 'job' was neat and clean, leaving no survivors behind. There was not a single trace leading to their nest, either.
Also, with the rise of the forces such as the White Lotus Cult and the Heaven Battering Army, which were even more troublesome, the Black Devil Cult had managed to survive to this day.
It had never occurred to the Cultivators that the ferocious Black Devil Cult was actually another facet of Roaring Tiger Hall, the ostensibly largest righteous sect in the West River State!
On the flying boat, the eyes of many high-level Cultivators were shining.
Things were easier now that Roaring Tiger Hall was a conspirator of the Black Devil Cult.
It was a moral issue whether or not Roaring Tiger Hall was willing to open the barn. The food was theirs after all. What could other people do if they looked away and refused to offer the food?
However, conspiring with the Black Devil Cult, killing innocent people, and looting other sects suggested that they were straight-up evil!
It was the responsibility of the Cultivators to slay evil. Thus, their attack was justified!
Moreover, the pivot of the Tiger Apparitions Array, the greatest headache for the Cultivators on the flying boat, had been destroyed by Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar and would not be repaired anytime soon. The clumsy artillerymen who were controlling the Crouching Tiger Cannons and the Fiery Crow Ballista could not lock onto the high-level Cultivators, who could move without any pattern at a supersonic speed!
Furthermore…
There are several secret treasuries that store the loot of the Black Devil Cult in the past decades!
Tsk, tsk, tsk. We thought that most of the southeastern sects were plundered by Mother White Lotus during the riots and didn't know that the Black Devil Cult was involved, too!
There are so many treasures here, and their previous owners have died. Even their bones must have turned to dust. The treasures are now unowned!
The banners of the sects that were dangling from the flagpoles like wrinkled snake skin suddenly erected and fluttered in the wind in full spirits!
The high-level Cultivators of the sects, looking at each other for a moment, all looked at Qi Zhongdao passionately.
At that moment, they were truly respecting the 'leader of the Cultivators'.
Qi Zhongdao's dark face flushed red. He bulged his eyes and shouted angrily, as if thunder was rumbling, "The mill of the heavens grinds slowly but surely! The Black Devil Cult and Roaring Tiger Hall are evils intolerable for any Cultivator. Today, they have finally revealed their true faces! Fellow Cultivators, let's work together to break into Roaring Tiger City, eliminate the Black Devil Cult, and save the people. Right now!"
Hu!
Qi Zhongdao stomped on the deck so hard that the front half of the flying boat tilted downward!
The flying boat became an enormous spring and sent Qi Zhongdao into the air.
He was back above Roaring Tiger City, only ten times more dominating than previously. Without saying anything, he shook his sleeve, and the Heaven Flipping Seal, said to be the ultimate treasure of the Ancient Sages Sector, dashed out of his Cosmos Ring in a streak of silver brightness, suppressing the entire world!
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The periphery of Roaring Tiger City had been covered in the magnificent Tiger Apparitions Array in the beginning, which was protected by the souls of almost ten thousand lion-type and dragon-type demon beasts and powered by a whole warehouse of crystals as the energy source. It was a super-large barrier, capable of resisting the Heaven Flipping Seal, which was essentially a piece of portable magical equipment for a single soldier.
However, the pivot and the warehouse of crystals for the Tiger Apparitions Array had been destroyed by Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar from inside after he snuck in. It was impossible to be restarted so quickly.
Without the enhancement of the defense array, how could the seemingly hard rocks and bricks withstand the suppression of the Heaven Flipping Seal?
Chapter 1432: Fall of Roaring Tiger Hall! |
Cracks as thick as fingers appeared on the black rocks that were as smooth as mirrors. Then, they spread out like ripples. Eventually, in cracking sounds, the rocks crumbled, and the city wall collapsed. Even many Crouching Tiger Cannons and Fiery Crow Ballista fell to the giant pit of collapse. A lot of disciples of Roaring Tiger Hall broke their arms or legs and were bleeding when the cannons and ballista hit them!
The towers on the city were all bearing dozens of times the standard gravity. People with low Cultivation and the defensive weapons alike were crushed to smithereens!
Of course, elsewhere, the Couching Tiger Cannons and the Fiery Crow Ballista were in zero gravity. They were floating in midair, shaking, together with a lot of broken rocks. The disciples of Roaring Tiger Hall were waving their hands and feet in midair as if they were being drowned. However hard they struggled, they could not reach the land.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
During the panic, many disciples of Roaring Tiger Hall fired the Crouching Tiger Cannons and the Fiery Crow Ballista. The balls of spiritual energy in the shape of lions, tigers, and crows were rushing to the sky!
The Crouching Tiger Cannons and the Fiery Crow Ballista were powerful remote magical equipment. When they launched a barrage, even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator would have to retreat—that was, if they could hit their target!
When the Tiger Apparitions Array was fully activated, the souls of the tigers and lions could harass and stall the target so that the Crouching Tiger Cannons would have a chance to lock onto the targets that were in the Nascent Soul Stage.
However, the Tiger Apparitions Array was already out of order, and the disciples who were manipulating the Crouching Tiger Cannons were in disarray. There was also Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar turning the fortress upside down inside the city. Who could they aim at and lock onto?
The seemingly powerful cannons and ballista did nothing but light up brilliant fireworks near 'Iron Saint' Qi Zhongdao!
Boom!
Another deafening explosion broke out deep inside the fortress. Almost half of the tower had been blown away. Like a hill drifting away after an avalanche, it flew dozens of meters into the sky and then fell down again with a momentum ten times higher under the gravity control of the Heaven Flipping Seal!
After only one blow, half of the city wall had crumbled!
As it turned out, through his delicate control over gravity, Qi Zhongdao had pressed the highly-unstable crystals and ammunition inside the arsenal hidden in the city wall and triggered a great explosion!
In such an era, the technology to refine and stabilize crystals and ammunition was not very advanced, and the odds of accidental explosions were much higher than in the modern Cultivation civilization!
After the arsenal exploded and half of the city wall collapsed, the determination of most of the disciples of Roaring Tiger Hall was completely crushed.
Many of them screamed and threw away the Crouching Tiger Cannons and the Fiery Crow Ballista, running back into the city.
Only the few disciples who were members of the Duan family or involved in the secret operations of the Black Devil Cult, knowing that they would be dead either way, were still trying to fight back!
However, without the protection of the Tiger Apparition Array, the Nascent Soul Stage and Core Formation Stage Cultivators in the sky were ten times stronger than they were. How could they hurt the intruders at all even if they were desperate?
"Slay the evil and serve justice!" Qi Zhongdao roared awe-inspiringly. The Heaven Flipping Seal emanated a brilliance that was even more fierce than the sun at noon while it bombarded the vulnerable city wall of Roaring Tiger City time and time again.
"Slay the evil and serve justice!"
The Cultivators from the main sects were also on a rampage. They all launched colorful, glamorous magical equipment and smashed the city wall like a storm.
For a moment, a firework show seemed to be going on. The entire city was soaked in an ocean of light. Explosions, collapses, screams, moans, exclamations, yells… All kinds of noises were echoing!
The disaster victims did not know what was going on. They had never dreamt of witnessing deities fighting each other even in their wildest dreams. They could only crouch on the ground in fear, shivering and praying.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Three shadows dashed out of the collapsed fortress and ran into the depths of the city. They were exactly the three unpardonable Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators of the Duan family.
"Slay the evil and serve justice!"
The hundred Cultivators rushed into Roaring Tiger City like a tornado!
"Junior Brother Yan, Elder Spiritual Vulture!" Dan Fengzi was blushing in excitement. He said in great delight, "Let's go to slay the evil and serve justice now!"
Frowning, 'Sword Maniac' Yan Liren shook his head while he watched the mess down below, which was almost child's play. "There are already enough people. My sword shouldn't be drawn in such a place."
Dan Fengzi suffered a setback, but knowing his weird junior brother's temper, he was not in the least bothered. He turned his eyes to Li Yao and said earnestly, "Elder Spiritual Vulture, let's go. If other people have eliminated all the evil in the Black Devil Cult and excavated the secret treasures of the Black Devil Cult, we will be caught in a passive position!"
Seeing that Master Bitter Cicada and Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar had both run into Roaring Tiger City, and glancing at the disaster victims outside of the city who were cold and hungry, Li Yao sighed and said, "Alright. Let's go!"
Roaring Tiger City was already an utter mess.
In the natural disaster, those who were qualified to take refuge in Roaring Tiger City were the family of the disciples of Roaring Tiger Hall, the family of the evil Cultivators of the Black Devil Cult, the servants of the vassal families of Roaring Tiger Hall, and the tenants who farmed on Roaring Tiger Hall's land.
One might say that they all counted on Roaring Tiger Hall to make a living.
Naturally, they were very hostile to the intruders. If it was a regular sect that came at them, they certainly would have tried everything they could to fight against the enemy and protect Roaring Tiger City.
However, faced with hundreds Cultivators in the Nascent Soul Stage and the Core Formation Stage, it did not matter at all whether or not the mobs resisted.
Explosions erupted all over Roaring Tiger City. Panicked crowds were everywhere. They were running around at a loss like the ants whose nest had been set fire on!
With the messy crowd in the city, it was impossible for the disciples of Roaring Tiger Hall to rush. If they left the crowd and flew in the sky, they would be the most obvious targets. When dozens of Cultivators in the Nascent Soul Stage and Core Formation Stage attacked them at the same time, they would be blown into pieces even if they were covered in ten layers of spiritual shields!
Very soon, with Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar leading the way, tracing the three shadows, Li Yao rushed to the outside of a temple that had been built into the shape of a gold, shining tiger at the center of the city, together with hundreds of other Cultivators who looked more like hyenas.
It was exactly the highest center of Roaring Tiger Hall. The plaque right above the temple where the name of the sect was carved calligraphically could not have looked more ironic right now!
Holding the Heaven Flipping Seal in his hand, Qi Zhongdao stopped in midair and demanded., "Leader Duan, with everything coming to this point, what do you have to say for yourself?"
"Master Righteous One, you attacked my headquarters, destroyed my city, and killed so many of my disciples just based on one side of the story. How cruel of you!"
Hateful roars were echoing right inside the temple, like the last roars of a heavily wounded, hungry tiger that was caught in a trap.
"One side of the story?" Qi Zhongdao burst into laughter. "Everybody in the world of Cultivators knows that Senior Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar is a man of integrity. Would he have told his 'side of the story' without valid proof?
"Leader Duan, if you do not plead guilty, come out and confront us! Tell us the identity of the mysterious Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator next to you who is identical to you. Also, open all the secret treasuries in Roaring Tiger City so that the fellow Cultivators here can examine whether or not the Cultivation arts and secret treasures from the sects that were allegedly annihilated by the White Lotus Sect in the past thirty years are kept inside!
"How will you explain yourself if we find anything? Is Roaring Tiger Hall not related to the Blood Devil Cult but the White Lotus Cult?"
There was nothing but silence from the temple, as if three crazy tigers who had run into a dead end were pacing inside but could not come up with a reply.
"Why do you not dare confront us if you are confident?" Qi Zhongdao glowered and shouted, "Duan Tiande, as a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and the leader of the righteous forces in the West River State, not only do integrity, chivalry, and justice mean nothing to you, you even degraded yourself by establishing the evil cult, killing and looting! Your crimes are unpardonable!
"Today, fortunately, the schemes of Roaring Tiger Hall and the Black Devil Cult have been fully exposed. This is the karma moment for your entire sect! What do you have to say for yourself before your death?"
The words were reasonable and irrefutable. The soundwaves spread to the entire Roaring Tiger City, which was caught in a brief silence after being awed by Qi Zhongdao's righteousness.
There was a long silence inside the temple, too, which was broken by the wildest laughter very soon. Duan Tiande, the leader of Roaring Tiger Hall, seemed to have gone mad. He laughed so hard that he almost could not catch his breath. Finally, he shrieked, "The winner takes all; the loser has to fall. What else can I say for myself?
"Yes. The Black Devil Cult was established by the two of us. Over the past few decades, fifteen sects were annihilated and plundered by us during the riots of the White Lotus Cult!
"How could Roaring Tiger Hall have survived and thrived in such a dog-eat-dog world otherwise?
"Hehe. Hehehe. The Duans are indeed unpardonable for our crimes, but did we not learn everything from the seemingly graceful while in fact rotten-to-the-bones great sects of central plateaus?
"The Grand Mystery Sect! The Purple Pole Sword Sect! The Gold Armor Clan! The Thunderstorm Valley! The Flying Spirit Island! The Monster Taming Pavilion!
"How many clandestine deals did you arrange when you first rose to power? How much blood of the innocent has stained your hands? How many sects that hindered you were eliminated by you in secret? Don't presume that every Cultivator has forgotten your doings after only several hundred years!
"Right now, you are rich and powerful. You are on top of the world, and you have forgotten your filthy past and started 'slaying evil and serving justice'?
"I don't buy it!"
Chapter 1433: Complete Suppression! |
His voice was a hundred times more devastating than the ghost cries. It was almost like the hums of a swarm of venomous bugs. All the high-level Cultivators from the 'noble sects' looked particularly awful after hearing what he said.
A moment later, an even crazier and twisted voice came over. "The six major sects have done exactly the same thing. The main sects of the central plateaus have done exactly the same thing. But Roaring Tiger Hall can't?
