Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension Chapter 1518 - 821: Change of Ruler in the Heavenly Rift Valley, Immortal Bone_2

The Five Elements Thunder morphed into a raging hundred-foot torrent, swallowing the Giant Lizard Commander entirely.

The Giant Lizard Commander resisted for an extended period, yet ultimately, the two Nascent Souls shattered its corporeal defenses, rendering it dazed by the thunder's strike.

In this manner, the demon lizard king's dominion concluded as it was seized alive, its destiny fixed to be tamed and harnessed.

...

With the Giant Lizard Commander apprehended, the surviving Two-winged Giant Lizards dispersed chaotically, like grains of sand in the wind.

The Zhao, He, and Wei families pressed their attack, steered by several Golden Core Masters, achieving continual triumphs and compelling the lizard masses to retreat in frenzy.

Ten days passed before a Sixth Rank Demon Lizard, trailed by seven or eight juvenile giant lizards, escaped Heavenly Rift Valley in haste. The leftover Two-winged Giant Lizards turned into war prizes claimed by the three families.

Before half a year elapsed, the Heavenly Rift Valley conflict ended in resounding victory for the Human Clan.

Several months following the clash, the bulk of Foundation Establishment Cultivators lingered compliantly at the stronghold for recovery, whereas select fortunate souls were dispatched covertly to survey the landscape and contours of Heavenly Rift Valley, while foraging for assorted cultivation assets.

Shortly thereafter, tidings of fortune arrived from scouts, proclaiming the discovery of a medium-scale Mystic Iron Ore deposit some dozens of miles distant.

Days later, the outbound explorers trickled back successively, delivering further auspicious reports.

These reports disclosed that Heavenly Rift Valley's cultivation resources abounded beyond prior estimations. They not only unearthed diverse spirit mines but also located a spirit stone vein within the giant lizards' former den.

The spirit stone vein's reserves stayed undetermined, though multiple Third-rank Spirit Veins funneled into this site, hinting at a grand magnitude.

Upon this revelation, Lord Zhao Zhuanggong and the He Family Ancestor hastened to the giant lizard lair, remaining there for months.

Throughout this span, the Foundation Establishment youths, their wounds mended, progressively ventured from the stronghold and commenced fervent excavation of the spirit mines.

The initial extraction targeted the modest Innate Geng Metal spirit mine.

Frontline skirmishes burned fiercely, incurring nonstop grievous losses, rendering the craving for materials an endless void.

Innate Geng Metal proves both scarce and invaluable, ideal for crafting Sword Pills, restoring flying swords, assembling vast Magical Treasure elements, and mending enormous vessels, to list a few.

Delivering a consignment of Innate Geng Metal to the frontlines with utmost speed signifies the three families' allegiance and yields augmented merits.

In the Outer Domain exploration campaign, merits surpass all in worth, exchangeable for virtually any boon.

Boom~

Within the cavern's depths, a globe of Golden Crow True Fire plummeted to the Great Array's heart, promptly evolving into a searing blaze that unleashed blistering heat.

At once, a mound of celestial ores was flung into the conflagration, where dross evaporated instantly, yielding sizable Geng Gold Pearls adrift in the flame ocean, radiating lustrous brilliance.

Zhao Sheng extended his palm and summoned, elevating the Geng Gold Pearls aloft to descend into the adjacent Cold Ice Pool, from which thick clouds of white mist erupted forthwith.

Subsequently, fresh ore was hurled into the fiery depths, rapidly smelted into Geng Gold Pearls then tempered in the Cold Ice Pool.

By midday's approach, the hillock of ores had yielded hundreds of Innate Geng Metal Pearls, their collective mass surpassing one hundred thousand pounds.

Zhao Sheng stowed the Geng Gold Pearls within a vast Storage Bag, imparted concise guidance to the delving Foundation Establishment juniors, and departed the excavation site posthaste.

Soon after, he materialized at a Wind Grinding Copper Mine a hundred miles off, recommencing ore processing.

Zhao Sheng devoted two days to traversing seven mines, concluding his labors with seven Storage Bags in tow.

Upon returning to the stronghold, he forthwith presented the Storage Bags to Lord Zhao Zhuanggong.

Lord Zhao Zhuanggong offered scant commentary, seized the Storage Bags, and boarded a silver colossal vessel alongside the prior hoarded Refined Spirit Gold in urgency.

The silver giant ship promptly cleaved through the obscurity, bound for the Great Wilderness Swamp's vanguard.

The route spanning Heavenly Rift Valley to Great Wilderness Swamp spans vast distances riddled with hazards, demanding a Nascent Soul Ancestor's vigilance over the giant ship to avert downfall by demon beast raiding bands.

In the span of under a year since the exploration war ignited, the Dapeng Demon Country exploited its terrain to unleash myriad demon beast detachments against the Human Clan's flanks. These were chiefly headed by Nascent Soul-caliber demons, bolstered by fluctuating Golden Core-caliber allies, covertly assailing Human Clan caravans.

Correspondingly, the Human Clan deployed countless vanguard squads into demon territories, probing the Royal Court's whereabouts and reconnoitering sundry demon horde lairs.

The Human Clan legions' immediate adversary stands as the Dapeng Demon Country, commanded by the Green-winged Roc Clan.

In contrast to the impregnable Four Saints Descendant Demon Clan, the Green-winged Roc Clan, potent in singular might, harbors a lethal shortfall: their woefully sparse numbers.

The emergent Void Half-Immortal of the Mountain and River Sect seized upon this flaw, thus venturing to wage an exploration war upon the Dapeng Demon Country.

...

Inverted Mountain.

Darkness shrouded the firmament, a bone-piercing cold assailing all.

A pallid gray vortex materialized abruptly aloft, whence a figure stepped forth the very next instant.

Zhao Sheng's lids parted, and the pallid gray vortex dissolved soundlessly in his wake.

He scanned the vicinity; beyond a score of rudimentary stone huts, the area lay barren of souls.

Having traversed Inverted Mountain five or six instances, each sojourn revealed naught but desolation, save the banished Stone Spirit.

This barrenness sparked profound suspicions, compelling his contemplation.

As musings occupied him, footfalls resounded abruptly from the stone dwellings.

Zhao Sheng's gaze lifted sharply, beholding a gaunt, towering man in black robes emerging from within.

The figure loomed extraordinarily lanky, shrouded entirely in ebony garb, advancing without echo, spectral in motion.

Zhao Sheng's eyes slitted marginally, his right hand concealed stealthily in his cuff, ere he bellowed, "Stop there!"

The command barely escaped when the black-robed man froze rigidly, his aura evaporating utterly.

Observing thus, Zhao Sheng bolstered his wariness instinctively, poised to question the interloper's provenance.

In that instant, an obsidian egg-shaped stone erupted from the soil, none other than the Stone Spirit manifest.

"Haha, Zhao Kid, you've at last arrived. We've awaited you awhile." The Stone Spirit bounded merrily before Zhao Sheng, its agate-red orbs gleaming vividly.

"Stone Spirit Senior, dare I inquire who this noble one might be?" Zhao Sheng indicated the proximate black-robed enigma and queried forthrightly.

Through sundry dealings with the Stone Spirit, he recognized their candid disposition, permitting direct interrogations sans circumlocution.

After twin leaps, the Stone Spirit chortled with a rasp: "Him? An old comrade of ours. Ever heard of the Ancient Yu Clan?"

"Yu Gu Clan?" Zhao Sheng ruminated inwardly, a spark of insight igniting as realization dawned, urging him to press, "Stone Spirit, might this be an Immortal Ruins remnant?!"

"I know not what Immortal Ruins remnant entails. But our old ally hails from yon upper realm. You see, the Ancient Yu Clan lords over this domain."

Thus speaking, the Stone Spirit wheeled about and hailed the black-robed outlier, "Old friend, come hither, will you?"

The black-robed outlier glided forward mutely.

Zhao Sheng appraised the man minutely, his stare fixed upon the sable robe, harboring a covert surmise.

This entity likely numbered among the mythic Burial Immortal Ruins survivors.

Myriad eons prior, the Yu Kong Grandmaster's arcane vanishing precipitated the downfall and obscurity of legion True Immortals transcending True Immortal tier. Space Immortal Heaven verged on annihilation, rechristened "Burial Immortal Ruins" by the heavens' myriad kindreds.

Yet, innumerate lifeforms had burgeoned within Space Immortal Heaven aforetime.

Though Immortal Heaven's cataclysm claimed most denizens, a scant fraction per million fortuitously endured.

These beings, evading myriad dooms, earned the title "Immortal Ruins remnant" from the Immortal Ruins' sojourners.

"I am Zhao Wuming, a Human Clan Cultivator, may I know how to address you?" Zhao Sheng saluted with cupped hands, intoning gravely.

After a hushed interval, the black-robed outlier parted his lips at length, voice arid and gravelly, as though long disused: "I... Gu... Yu... Fang... Liu."

"Ah, the Ancient Yu Taoist. I was just discourteous." Zhao Sheng's gaze brightened, affecting humility.

"..." The black-robed outlier lapsed into quietude, seemingly bereft of rejoinder.

Whereupon the Stone Spirit interposed abruptly: "Hey, no formalities with him; the Ancient Yu Clan akin to taciturn boulders. They utter seldom sans intrigue. I'll convey for him."

Zhao Sheng's intrigue deepened, though he forbore further probing.

In character, the Stone Spirit proceeded, "We're akin to bosom companions. No veils here. Gu Yu Fang Liu desires a barter with you; I'm the mediator. Zhao Kid, intrigued?"

"Oh, what manner of trade?" Zhao Sheng's spirit quickened, eliciting prompt inquiry.

"A moment. Old friend, your part."

As utterance concluded, the black-robed outlier hurled a digit-length, pellucid bone.

Zhao Sheng intercepted the bone adroitly, scrutinizing it intently, and forthwith stood aghast.

From the bone's core, bewilderingly, elaborate tridimensional forms arose sequentially; diverse yet akin in essence.

Plainly, they derived from a singular Dao, incarnate as Dao True Text.

Zhao Sheng perused long ere discerning their lineage, proclaiming somberly, "Ever-changing! This is... Wind Dao!"

"Haha, Zhao Kid, you grasp its import truly! This artifact's an Immortal Bone, of inestimable value!" The Stone Spirit brimmed with fervor, leaping and guffawing in rapture.