Chapter 1370: Heaven Battering Fiendish King
Translator:
Henyee Translations
Editor:
Henyee Translations
Li Yao was fascinated.
On his way there, from the chitchat between the father and the daughter of the Ling family and the conversation among the barbarian Cultivators, he had heard the names of the top Cultivators. âMother White Lotusâ Wan Mingzhu was the one with the highest frequency.
However, the barbarian Cultivators did not know much about the outside world, and Ling Shoujing and Ling Lanyin, because of their biased stance, decried Wan Mingzhu as a brutal, hideous ghost queen while mentioning how exactly the âghost queenâ rose in the southeast where the Cultivators were most powerful.
It was the first time that Li Yao had heard the story from a different perspective. Whether it was true or not, it was refreshing enough.
âThe White Lotus Cult already thrived quietly in the southeast almost eighty years ago,â Han Yuantai said. âThe Cultivators labeled the White Lotus Cult as unpardonable devils. Claiming that they were âslaying evil and serving justiceâ, they suppressed the White Lotus Cult cruelly and broke into the headquarters of the White Lotus Cult hundreds of times!
âHowever, soon after the Cultivators announced that the White Lotus Cult had been completely demolished, new haunting ghosts of the White Lotus Cult were generated in the fertile land that was brimming with Jade Crystal Pellets again!
âMother White Lotus herself had been executed by multiple Cultivators almost a hundred times. However, before long, she would be reincarnated in the hatred of the public again!
âThe southeast is of paramount importance to the Great Qian Dynasty. As you have mentioned yourself, Master, half of the hundred and eight natural paradises of the Ancient Sages Sector are in the southeast. Almost all the powerful sects have established important branches if not their headquarters in the southeast!
âThe southeast is the world of Cultivators. Why has it been haunted by so many ghosts for decades? How has the ghost queen trained enough to become one of the top ten experts in the world? Is it not a sign that the Great Qian Dynasty is on the brink of its doom?â
Li Yao slightly nodded. âWellâŠâ
Observing his face, Han Yuantai thought that the old monster was changing his mind. Overjoyed and excited, he raised his voice and said, âThe situation in the southeast is relatively better. A thousand Cultivation sects are there to suppress the enemy after all. The Riot of the White Lotus Cult often dies as quickly as it appears. The overall peace can be sustained for now.
âHowever, in the northwest of the Great Qian Dynasty, âHeaven Battering Kingâ Qi Changshengâs bandits are utterly untamable!â
Li Yao nodded and said, âIâve heard the name of Heaven Battering King Qi Changsheng a lot, too. Iâm told that he is also a super expert who rose to fame during my decades of seclusion. He is even more dominating than Mother White Lotus Wan Mingzhu. Whatâs his background exactly?â
Han Yuantai burst into laughter. âHe doesnât have any background at all! He was just a soil rat! However, during such a world-shifting era, oneâs background is the least decisive factor for oneâs success. Everybody can achieve great things with bravery and determination!
âThe northwest of the Great Qian Dynasty used to be the center of the Ancient Sages Sector a hundred thousand years ago. Dozens of ancient dynasties thrived around the place, but after such a long time, the hundreds of thousands of years of consumption have almost drained all the spiritual energy. It is now a poor and desolate land with barely any resources.
âThe folks in the southeast are still âqualifiedâ to be exploited by the Cultivation sects, but in the northwest, they do not even stand a chance to be exploited because there is barely any land, however infertile it is, in this area!
âOf all the barren land, the relatively acceptable part is all under the control of the Cultivation sects. Not the slightest scrap of land will be shared with the ordinary folks.
âA lot of folks starve even when the climate is ideal. You can imagine how serious the famines are when thereâs a natural disaster!
âWhen thereâs a famine, the peasants are forced to leave their homes and gather into locust-like mobs. If they plunder any food in their foray, they will survive one more day. When they are too hungry, they are even bold enough to attack the headquarters of the Cultivation sects and even lunge at the mighty Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators!â
âThe hungry folks in the southeast boast some combat ability after they are transformed into haunting ghosts by the Jade Crystal Pellets,â Li Yao sneered, âbut the northwest peasants have no access to the Jade Crystal Pellets, do they? Then, what can a million ravenous peasants do to the impenetrable Cultivation sects and the marvelous Cultivators?â
Han Yuantai nodded heavily. âThatâs exactly what the court and the Cultivators thought in the beginning, Master. Therefore, for decades, their attention was focused on the White Lotus Cult in the southeast. After all, however many homeless peasants there were in the northwest, they were still ordinary people. Ordinary people attacking the headquarters of the Cultivation sects was like eggs hitting rocks. Itâs just a joke!
âHowever, it would appear that the Great Qian Dynasty is truly doomed because the most bizarre things happened!
âThe northwest of the Great Qian Dynasty was the earliest prosperous place in the Ancient Sages Sector. The Cloud Qin Empire, the first unified dynasty in the Ancient Sages Sector, rose from the northwest a hundred thousand years ago!
âDozens of dynasties and countless traditional sects had been headquartered in the northwest. There were too many tombs, residences, relics, and secret treasures below the ground there, many of which escaped the explorersâ attention after millenniums of excavation!
âTherefore, quite a few people in the northwest lived in ancient tombs, residences, and relics. The grave robbers are known as âsoil ratsâ!
âThe ancient tombs, especially those of high-level Cultivators, were often deployed in the best terrain, secured by special rune arrays. The magical equipment of the tomb owner was often buried together with them, too. IfâŠâ
âYou are fooling me again,â Li Yao interrupted coldly. âThe tombs of the high-level Cultivators must be protected by the most powerful barriers. Even a Cultivator might be killed if they broke in recklessly. How can an ordinary grave robber come and go freely?â
âIt is, of course, the case for the tombs in the recent ten thousand years,â Han Yuantai explained, âbut even the strongest Cultivator cannot resist the passage of time!
âSpiritual energy can be vaporized, and venom may go dry. The traps will decay and collapse. For the solidest tombs a hundred thousand years ago, one earthquake might have been enough to trigger and deactivate all the traps inside, exposing the central room inside the tomb. If fortunate enough, even an ordinary person can go into the tomb and return with full loads easily.â
Li Yao thought for a moment and realized that it did make sense.
He had excavated quite a lot of ancient relics himself. The underground fortress of the Star Ocean Imperium on Spider Den, âChaosâ Ba Yanzhiâs mausoleum, and even Kunlun had all been in serious states of disrepair.
That was why the latecomers were able to enter easily and retreat in one piece.
âEven if the soil rats who rob those tombs are ordinary people in the beginning, after activities in such tombs filled with spiritual energy for a long time, it is possible for them to become Cultivators if they are lucky enough to survive!
âHeaven Battering King Qi Changsheng was such a soil rat in the beginning.
âIt was also one of the few professions that could provide enough food for a person in the northwest.
âRumors among the Cultivators have it that he accidentally discovered an ancient tomb from ninety thousand years ago whose owner had turned into a deadly wraith.
âThen, thereâs no telling what incidents Qi Changsheng went through in the tomb, or maybe it was because something in him earned the deadly wraithâs appreciation, but he was granted an indestructible body afterward!
âThe profession of soil rat was certainly not intolerable for any Cultivation sect.
âExploring the relics is the Cultivatorsâ privilege. If the filthy ordinary people are qualified to claim the ancient relics, wonât everything fall into disorder?
âTherefore, Qi Changsheng soon became a brutal bandit wanted by almost a hundred sects in the northwest!
âThe guy truly deserved to be called a brutal bandit. Before he grasped the âThousand Miles of Bare Landâ technique, his most dominating technique, he was surrounded by hundreds of Cultivators. However, he fought a bloody way out with a broken saber and escaped!
âItâs said that the dry land in the dozens of square kilometers was dyed red after the battle. The bloody cloud soared up and did not fade away until three days later. It was truly a breathtaking battle!
âAfter breaking out of the siege, Qi Changsheng decided that he should pursue further. He summoned all the soil rats in the northwest and joined the army of the homeless peasants!
âThe soil rats who earned their living in the ancient tombs certainly had their own expertise. Their participation significantly improved the capabilities of the army of the homeless peasants. After countless sacrifices, they were finally able to break into the headquarters of the first Cultivation sect!
âEverything became easier after the headquarters were broken into!
âThe homeless peasants claimed all the crystals, magical equipment, herbs, Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and Cultivation arts in the Cultivation sects!
âA lot of Cultivators were captured by Qi Changsheng, too!
âQi Changsheng intentionally kept the low-level disciples in the sect alive and asked them to mince the high-level Cultivators in the sect into pieces and eat the flesh!
âEven if the high-level Cultivators had already been killed by Qi Changsheng, the disciples were still forced to cut up their flesh and eat it!
âWhoever disobeyed the order would be minced immediately, and their flesh would be divided between everyone, too!
âSlaying their seniors and even swallowing their seniorâs flesh were the greatest felonies. Nobody could save the low-level Cultivators!
âHenceforth, the low-level Cultivators could only work for Qi Changsheng because they would not be embraced by any Cultivation sect!
âIn the meantime, he released false messages and pretended that he was still attacking the Cultivation sect, attracting the other sects to reinforce it.
âWhile keeping the homeless peasants in the headquarters as bait, Qi Changsheng led the low-level Cultivators who had just joined him and ambushed the headquarters of the reinforcing sects when they had dispatched their available forces to save the sect being attacked!
âAfter another Cultivation sect was breached, he did exactly the same. The captives were divided into two parts. The low-level Cultivators were asked to surround the high-level Cultivators and join his gang after they committed the unpardonable felony!
âAfter they joined the gang, they were coerced into attacking the nest of the third Cultivation sect without any breaks!
âJust like that, the army of low-level Cultivators under Qi Changshengâs command snowballed and swept across the entire northwest!
âWhen the Cultivators who reinforced the first sect finally annihilated all the homeless peasants that he had intentionally left there, Qi Changsheng had already broken into the nests of twelve Cultivation sects. By plundering the crystals, magical equipment, Cultivation arts, and low-level Cultivators, he turned the previous mob into a brutal army of Cultivators, the Heaven Battering Army!â