by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Without that will to protect, it was extremely difficult for a person to awaken their ancestral mark. The chance of success was almost zero. But then, even those who did have a will to protect might not succeed one hundred percent of the time. There was still a significant chance of failure.
If there had been some people who hadn’t awakened their ancestral marks, their mental state would decline. Others would then assume that they were selfish, alienating them from their ranks.
And then those disciples who hadn’t awakened their ancestral marks would feel inferior, giving birth to more negative emotions. At that point, it would be almost impossible for them to ever awaken their ancestral marks.
That was why Long Chen was so deeply moved. Nine people had awakened their ancestral marks at once. That was practically a miracle.
Suddenly, those core disciples all knelt on the ground in front of Long Chen and respectfully swore, “Senior brother Long Chen, our lives are yours.”
Long Chen had helped them awaken their ancestral marks. To them, such a thing was even more important than their lives.
However, Long Chen was given a fright and hastily raised them up. “The fact that you could awaken your ancestral marks was because of yourselves. This is what it means to receive what you are willing to risk. You were willing to give your lives to protect others, and the heavens will give you what others are unable to obtain. So if you want to thank someone, you should thank yourselves, or perhaps the brothers beside you.”
Long Chen’s words deeply touched all of them. They realized that the so-called will to protect was not so simple as it sounded. Perhaps it was simply something impossible to explain with words.
“Also, I very much dislike what you just said. Your lives are your own. Maybe if you give me money instead of your lives, I’ll be much happier, haha- hey!”
Long Chen suddenly felt a burst of pain on his waist. He saw that Tang Wan-er had given him a vicious pinch.
“Stop messing around. Here, you’re the commander again. Stop making your little jokes.” Tang Wan-er handed the transmission tile back to Long Chen.
“Aren’t you already good at being commander?” Long Chen didn’t really want to take it. He would prefer to go out killing.
“Don’t even try it. The sect leader was the one who gave you your duty. The fact that you selfishly left already counts as a violation of the rules. If we were in a real army, you would have already been beheaded,” said Tang Wan-er.
“What’s the point in beheading me? Wait, can I exchange my head for points?” Long Chen received the transmission tile, looking over the new information within it.
There were several recent pieces of news. It said that the Corrupt path’s main forces would arrive three days from now.
But before they arrived, there would still be many Corrupt powers appearing one after another.
What Long Chen hadn’t expected was that it wasn’t just their side that had victories. Some of the smaller Righteous path’s sect’s disciples had been completely annihilated already.
This time, this Righteous and Corrupt battle was much larger and more extensive than the previous years. Hundreds of powers had all gathered. A battle of this extent was quite rare historically. Furthermore, this time it was quite obvious that the Righteous path’s strength was weaker than their opponents. Not all Righteous disciples were as strong as the Xuantian Monastery’s.
“Three days from now, the Corrupt path’s main army will arrive at the Nine Serene Mountain Valley four hundred miles from here. That’s the location of the deciding battle. But we still can’t go over there yet. We have to keep guarding this place. What should we do?” asked Tang Wan-er.
When the Corrupt path’s main army arrived three days from now, they would all have to gather over there. Tang Wan-er felt a great deal of pressure when she thought of such a huge battle.
Although the transmission tile didn’t say how many Corrupt disciples would appear, according to the previous skirmishes, perhaps the number of Corrupt disciples this time would be able to cover all of heaven and earth.
“You don’t need to be worried. Those will just be extra points for us. Furthermore, it won’t be just our Xuantian Monastery fighting then. The other experts from the various sects will also be fighting with us. As for what we should be doing during these next two days…”
Long Chen smiled. “I’ll be teaching everyone a true unrivaled battle tactic!”
Chapter 249 Shameless
People were startled by that. Long Chen continued, “Tell me, what is the goal of a battle?”
“To temper our will and spirits, allowing us to grow stronger,” answered a core disciple.
Long Chen shook his head. “What you said is an important aspect, but it is not the goal. Then let me tell you all: the ultimate goal of the battle is to slaughter your opponents.
“To slaughter your opponents doesn’t necessarily have to rely on martial might. What it requires is a kind of skill. And the highest realm of this kind of skill is to be shameless.”
Shameless? No one understood what he meant. Long Chen continued, “I’ve long since told you all that just because you have a strong fighting ability, that doesn’t mean you’ll have a powerful killing ability. The Corrupt disciples are an excellent example of that.
“You’ve all seen that their cultivation bases are extremely similar to yours. But they were extremely vicious, and every one of their attacks aims to take their opponents’ lives. That terrifies their opponents, making them incapable of resisting properly.
“That was why, in the beginning, I needed you all to first overcome that fear in your hearts.
“Now you’ve all managed to achieve that. Even in the face of a battle to the death, you won’t panic. And so this kind of tempering is no longer useful. Further tempering would just end up wearing you down.
“So now I will teach everyone a new kind of warfare. But you don’t need to be worried. This kind of tactic is extremely simple, and it will also allow everyone to have a great time…”
…
Two hours later, a wave of Corrupt disciples arrived at a valley where the monastery’s disciples were guarding. However, they paused when they saw how many of the Xuantian Monastery’s disciples were present.
They only had four hundred Corrupt disciples present. Although Corrupt disciples were vicious, they were not stupid. They naturally wouldn’t charge an enemy that was several times their number.
They had heard that the Righteous path’s disciples were all a bunch of cowards afraid of death, but now that they were so heavily outnumbered, they wouldn’t attack rashly without thinking.
However, what flabbergasted them was that these Righteous disciples simply ignored them. Other than a dozen disciples standing at the front, the rest of them were sitting down and cultivating. Some of them had already entered a meditative state.
There was also a large man who was actually lying on the ground, sleeping.
“Are the Righteous path’s disciples all idiots? Did they come to fight or to play around? How can they sleep at a moment like this?” cursed one of the Corrupt disciples.
“There’s definitely something fishy about this odd behavior. Don’t get duped. There’s too many of them, so let’s wait for more people,” warned the core disciple who was their leader.
They weren’t idiots. There must be some kind of trap for the Xuantian Monastery’s disciples to act like this. So they planned on observing them a bit before doing anything further.
Both sides were watching the other from opposite sides of a valley. They were around twenty miles from each other. Seeing that they refused to come over, Tang Wan-er whispered, “They seem to be waiting for more troops. What should we do?”
Long Chen was comfortably lying on a mattress, a small parasol shading his face. At the top of the mattress was also some Queen Bee Honey.
He lazily took a sip, not even opening his eyes. “Let them wait for as long as they want. In any case,
now that the meat has entered the pot, they can’t escape.”
Gu Yang glared at those Corrupt disciples and asked, “How about I bring some of our brothers over to kill them? I guarantee that they’ll all be dead in less than an hour!”
Gu Yang and the other warlike members’ hands were itchy as they watched those Corrupt disciples, wanting to go over and kill them all.
“Absolutely unnecessary. Now that everyone has gone through a true life and death battle, your auras have been tempered greatly. It is now the perfect time to consolidate your cultivation base and make an attempt to break through.
“Now that everyone is capable of staying calm even in the face of death, there’s no point of wasting time by killing those ants. Right now, you should all be focused on raising your strength as much as possible.
“Trying to break through in this kind of atmosphere is another kind of trial. You don’t need to worry about not getting your fill. The real battle is just a couple of days away.
“Don’t waste your time on them. All of you, focus on consolidating your cultivation bases and attempt to break through! Leave this place to me!”
Everyone sighed inside. Following Long Chen, it seemed that they had used up a lifetime’s worth of shocked expressions already.
All kinds of absolutely bizarre ideas would pop up from Long Chen. They were already able to stay calm in the face of his crazy antics.
They all trusted Long Chen completely, and so they began to cultivate. With the assistance of the Queen Bee Crystal, they were able to easily enter their meditative states.
Normally, entering a meditative state in the middle of the battlefield was no different than sending yourself to die. Once you entered a meditative state, then you wouldn’t even realize if an enemy were to walk right up to you while emitting killing intent.
To enter meditation in this kind of place required a great deal of courage. But they were able to do so because of their absolute trust in Long Chen. Since Long Chen had said he would take care of it, he would definitely keep them safe.
Just like that, both parties continued to stare at each other. On the side of the Xuantian Monastery, only a dozen disciples were guarding the perimeter. The rest were all cultivating.
Four hours later, two other powers had joined the Corrupt side. Due to the terrain, this valley was the only path to take within a thousand miles.
However, those two new powers were all minor powers. Even when all three parties were combined, they still had less than a thousand people.
A one-eyed Corrupt core disciple with a long scar on his face asked, “What are we still waiting for? Let’s go slaughter these Righteous idiots. They’re actually fake cultivating in front of us. That’s intolerable.”
Despite being so close, they acted as if they were ignoring them. That was definitely an insult to them. And the person that was most insulting to them was Long Chen.
He was lying on his mattress, one leg over the other, allowing the sunlight to fall over him. Occasionally, he would take a drink from his cup. That kind of relaxed and comfortable display made them feel like he was giving them constant slaps in the face.
They already knew from their seniors that Righteous path disciples were cowardly mice. Killing them was as easy as plucking weeds.
So although they still had less than half their number, that one-eyed man still wasn’t able to hold back.
Their system of rewards was the same as the Righteous path for killing their opponents. But most importantly, the techniques of Corrupt disciples required them to kill a huge number of people in order to progress.
And so they all felt a thirst for a battle. They always treated the disciples of the Righteous path as just prey.
“This is clearly a trap. Is your remaining eye also blind?” That core disciple who arrived in the first group coldly snorted.
Of the three Corrupt powers gathered here, he was leading the most people, so he didn’t have any misgivings about telling him off.
The one-eyed man’s expression changed, and his one eye began to emit a harsh light. “Are you looking to die?”
“Yeah, I am. So what are you going to do about it?” That fellow didn’t care at all. The Corrupt disciples had never been a united front. It was a common occurrence for disciples to massacre even their fellow sect disciples.
They had only now gathered together for their own interests. Neither really cared about the other, and so all their words were loaded with gunpowder.
“Bastard!” The one-eyed man suddenly took out a saber, his killing intent surging as he walked over to that person.
BOOM!
They were just about to explode into an internal battle when a loud explosion rang out. They all turned to look in shock.
“Fuck, are they purposely trying to be mysterious? They actually made a cultivation breakthrough!”
Some people began to rain curses down on the monastery’s disciples. They had seen bullies, but they had never seen such an oppressive bully! If this wasn’t an insult, then the word insult must have never existed!
To actually be so brazen as to make a cultivation breakthrough when an opposing army was staring you in the face… The Corrupt disciples all turned green from rage. This was nakedly disregarding them!
They had been cautious before because they had thought that they were just posturing, purposely trying to bait them into a trap.
But now, all their faces turned red. This was a clear slap in the face. They were clearly completely looking down on them!
“Kill, kill them all! Smash them to mincemeat!”
The Corrupt disciples roared angrily, their eyes red. They quickly charged over at the Xuantian Monastery’s disciples.
On Long Chen’s side, a disciple had just made a cultivation breakthrough, advancing to the second Heavenstage of Tendon Transformation.
Even the outer disciples of the Xuantian Monastery had mostly reached the level of a flawless advancement because of the Ten Thousand Beast Essence Blood.
A flawless advancement allowed their cultivation base to become incredibly sturdy. Due to having such a solid foundation, it made each step of further advancement much more difficult.
However, their combat ability would be over ten times greater than Tendon Transformation disciples of ordinary sects.
Now that they had already faced and survived a life and death battle, their Dao-hearts had become much more solidified and their bottlenecks had become much looser.
Due to that, their future advancements would also be easier. And it was due to this benefit that the monastery had been planning on taking the initiative to start a fight.
This was the process of using waves to cleanse a pile of sand. The sand would gradually wash away, and what was left behind were the golden particles that had been mixed within. Now under Long Chen’s arrangements, they had all truly become gold.
After one person advanced, more and more people began to make breakthroughs. Continuous explosions rang out as many of them began to advance into the second Heavenstage.
Those Corrupt disciples became even more sure that the Xuantian Monastery’s disciples were completely looking down on them.
“These bastards really deserve to die! I’ll personally cut them to pieces!”
The Corrupt disciples crazily surged forward. The dozen disciples guarding everyone couldn’t help but feel nervous, tightly holding their weapons.
Long Chen slowly stood up, stretching his back. He finished up the honey in his cup and glanced at Wilde.
Okay, I was just fake sleeping. But you’re actually sleeping... From looking at the pool of saliva on the ground, it was obvious that Wilde was deep in dreamland.
He walked to the front of those guards. When they saw Long Chen arrive, their nervous expressions immediately faded.
“Don’t be so nervous. Just treat it as watching a play.”
Long Chen indifferently watched those infuriated Corrupt disciples charging over. A glimmer of excitement appeared i
n his eyes.
They were originally just twenty miles from each other. With their speed, the Corrupt disciples were already just a mile away.
Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet caved in, appearing like a huge beast’s open maw as it devoured them.
“AHHH!” Miserable screams rang through the air!
Chapter 250 Buried Alive
“It’s a trap! Everyone get back!”
One of the Corrupt core disciples bellowed in shock, about to fall back.
But before he could, the ground beneath him sunk in, and countless arrows shot out of the ground. Whenever someone was struck by one of these arrows, their body would immediately explode apart.
Those arrows were Guo Ran’s original inventions. They used Yin and Yang sulfur stones to cause explosions. But these new arrows were not the same as the old explosive arrows.
Long Chen had added some extra ‘spicing’ to those arrows. That spicing was the poison from the Silver Centipede he had obtained in his exile.
The Silver Centipede’s poison was something that even a mid third rank Magical Beast would be unable to survive.
Back then, Long Chen had turned the poison to powder. He had then sealed it into little wax balls. Due to how large the poison sacs had been, he had created thousands of those little wax balls.
He had been thinking of using that powder to refine poison pills later.
But now they had a better use. Long Chen had arranged for everyone to set up a bunch of traps.
Due to how narrow this mountain valley was, the path was only forty meters wide. So that was the optimal place to set a trap.
Long Chen had an indescribable attraction to making traps. It was just too fun to con people like this. Winning a physical battle was also enjoyable, but winning a battle of wits might be even more fun.
If you can play them to death, don’t bother beating them to death. That was the principle that Long Chen had told everyone. He had arranged for hundreds of explosive arrows to be set up underground.
