Xuantian Immortal Cultivation Record

The demonic flames around the stone platform were still burning fiercely, but the black smoke had diminished. This indicated that the demonic flames were losing their power and would soon extinguish.

“Relay my orders, withdraw the east and west formations, reinforce the south formation with the east formation, and the north formation with the west formation. Move quickly!” After a moment of contemplation, Liu Zhongzhu decisively issued the order.

At this point, it was no longer realistic to try and encircle and kill the earth demon beasts. It was only necessary to ensure that there were troops on both sides, so that if the earth demon beasts suddenly attacked the stone platform, a rescue could be launched from both lines simultaneously.

The change in the military formation immediately attracted the attention of the three Saint Core realm earth demon beasts. They roared in unison, and the earth demon beasts on the east and west sides of the pit immediately attacked, trying to stop the military formation from retreating.

The Candle God Sect members were disciplined and strictly followed orders. Each of the formations on both sides left behind more than a thousand people to cover the retreat, while the rest quickly transferred to the rear of the north and south military formations, replenishing the formations under the command of Foundation Establishment realm demon cultivators acting as mid-level commanders.

Seeing that their attempts to block the retreat were unsuccessful, the three Saint Core realm earth demon beasts issued another order, gathering the tens of thousands of earth demon beasts around them into a dense formation, and launching a frontal assault.

Liu Zhongzhu raised his right hand and shouted sharply, “Prepare the Extinguishing Yuan Arrows! Upon my command, do not hesitate, no matter where you shoot!”

Hundreds of archers responded with a thunderous roar, simultaneously raising their longbows, nocking arrows, and drawing their strings, their sharp eyes fixed on the area in front of the military formation.

At this time, the sect members withdrawing from the east and west formations were still entering the north and south military formations in an orderly manner. Earth demon beasts continued to emerge from the ground, trying to disrupt the military formation, but their numbers were only a few thousand, which did not have a significant impact on the formation.

Then, a large number of earth demon beasts emerged from the ground, heading towards the south formation, also launching a frontal assault. Their numbers quickly reached over twenty thousand.

Before long, three more Saint Core realm earth demon beasts, each over two zhang tall, appeared, supervising the battle in front of the south military formation.

Liu Zhongzhu's expression was grave as he shouted to the messenger behind him, “Beat the drums, all-out attack!”

At the moment he gave the order, five earth demon beasts, each over three zhang tall, suddenly rushed out of the mud in the middle of the pit, crossing the remaining few chi of demonic flames and flying towards the stone platform.

The foremost one, already three zhang tall, had faintly white horns on its head, and its long body was covered with sparse golden scales. Its aura was even a notch higher than that of Jin Fawang, a Saint Core realm Great Perfection demon cultivator.

“Spare no effort, attack with full force! Quickly, quickly, advance!” Liu Zhongzhu roared, his face contorted.

He turned to look in the direction of the Cold Spring Altar, but still did not see any sign of reinforcements. He couldn't help but grit his teeth and say, “Chai Laoqi, you bastard, still playing underhanded tricks at a time like this, ruining the sect's overall plan, you deserve to die!”

Seeing the frenzy of the Candle God Sect members, the six Saint Core realm earth demon beasts on the north and south sides also roared incessantly, driving the low-level earth demon beasts to clash head-on with the military formation, which was pressing forward like a wall.

The two sides clashed fiercely, with flesh and blood flying everywhere and corpses littering the ground. The earth demon beasts couldn't withstand such a brutal scene. No matter how the three giant beasts roared, threatened, or even punished them, they were constantly retreating. The battle line moved closer and closer to the stone platform, inch by inch.

On the stone platform, the five Saint Core realm demon cultivators took the lead in engaging the five earth demon beasts of the same realm. Jin Fawang took on the largest one without hesitation, while the other four each fought one.

Apart from the earth demon beast with golden scales, the other four beasts were all in the late stage of the Saint Core realm.

The earth demon beasts in the Saint Core realm had extremely tough bodies, and ordinary demonic treasures could not harm them at all. Chang Guangming, with his Saint Core realm Great Perfection cultivation, steadily gained the upper hand against an earth demon beast in the late stage of the Saint Core realm, but of the other three Dharma Envoys, only Li Youlin could cope. The other two were parrying left and right.

Fire Crow Taoist shouted, “Release one over here, I'll deal with it!”

Upon hearing this, the two Dharma Envoys immediately let one pass, and the two of them joined forces to block the other one.

The Fire Crow Taoist shook the Profound Heaven Great Gourd, and a scorching flame spewed out, surrounding the earth demon beast, and then contracted, tightly wrapping it up and burning it.

This earth demon beast obviously lacked experience in fighting against Daoist alchemists. It thought it could rely on its body to resist, but who knew that this fire was born from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and was different from demonic fire. Under the burning, the spiritual energy and turbid energy constantly collided. Although the Fire Crow Taoist's Myriad Beast True Fire was constantly being extinguished, the earth demon beast's vitality was greatly depleted. Before long, it became listless and gradually lost its ability to resist.

The most dangerous situation was Jin Fawang's.

His opponent was significantly stronger, and its body's defense was extremely strong. The zhang-long broadsword struck it, sparks flew, but it was unharmed.

On the contrary, the earth demon beast with golden scales, whether it was its two strong forelimbs or its iron whip-like tail, caused the steel-boned Jin Fawang to suffer a lot. Every blow left a bloody mark or a bruise.

He gritted his teeth and held on, refusing to retreat half a step. Seeing that the Fire Crow Taoist was about to kill one of its companions, the earth demon beast became anxious and its attacks became even more fierce.

At this time, the demonic flames had been extinguished, and the black smoke covering the stone platform had also dissipated, allowing a clear view of the battle situation on the stone platform.

Liu Zhongzhu pointed at the giant beast with golden scales and shouted loudly, “Brothers and sisters, do you see that earth demon beast flashing with golden light? It's about to break through to the Transformation realm! If it hides underground and evolves slowly, we won't be able to find it, and that's that! But now, it has appeared, it has entered our encirclement! If we can't kill it this time, there will be no more chances! In the future, we don't know how many of our brothers and sisters will die in its mouth and be buried in its belly! How can we tolerate this happening! We must kill it! There are no reinforcements now, we can only rely on ourselves! Candle God is above, everyone, charge!”

Liu Zhongzhu, holding a dark spear, crossed the military formation, stirring up gusts of wind, and charged towards the most densely populated area of earth demon beasts.

Behind him were hundreds of Foundation Establishment realm demon cultivators, all elites from the Three Northern Altars.

In order to support the battle on the stone platform, all the demon cultivators, including Liu Zhongzhu, were willing to put themselves in a deadly situation.

In an instant, countless earth demon beasts pounced on the hundreds of people, surrounding them tightly.

The three Saint Core realm earth demon beasts, twenty-odd zhang away, revealed a look of doubt in their eyes, but did not join the siege.

Liu Zhongzhu shouted, “Form a formation, don't be chaotic, don't be alone, don't rush forward, fight in formation! Hold on!”

These Foundation Establishment realm demon cultivators were all veterans who had fought against earth demon beasts for a long time. They leaned on each other, leaving enough space to display their skills, and cooperated to fight against the chaotic and crowded earth demon beasts. The spears and blades in their hands constantly spilled blood and severed limbs.

Wave after wave of earth demon beasts fell, but the assault group of several hundred people also shrank by a whole circle, and over a hundred demon cultivators were completely annihilated.

The northern military formation continued to advance. In the space between it and the assault formation, the earth demon beast swarm fell into chaos. Some charged forward to attack the military formation, even drilling out of the ground to harass from below, while others turned around to besiege the assault group, wanting to eliminate the threat behind them.

The three Saint Core realm earth demon beasts couldn't bear it any longer. While scolding the thousands of earth demon beasts around them and urging them to block the northern military formation, they themselves rushed forward, leading a thousand or so assembled Foundation Establishment realm earth demon beasts, approaching the assault group where Liu Zhongzhu was located.

A fierce glint flashed in Liu Zhongzhu's eyes, and he whispered, “Maintain formation, retreat towards the great formation, note, not retreat, but lure the enemy! Control the pace, slow first, then fast!”

Only twenty zhang away, the three Saint Core realm earth demon beasts quickly rushed to within three zhang of the assault group's perimeter. They raised their heads and howled, spitting out sand mixed with black smoke, a dark mass that fell directly into the midst of hundreds of demon cultivators.

Liu Zhongzhu leaped up, spun around, and swept his spear, stirring up a gust of wind that rolled up the sand that had just flown up and had not yet spread out, and slammed it into the earth demon beast swarm on the side. These earth demon beasts immediately exploded, screaming miserably and fleeing in all directions.

The three giant beasts were extremely angry, and all rose into the air, besieging Liu Zhongzhu.

Liu Zhongzhu swept his spear, fighting against the three mouths, three tails, and six forelimbs of the three beasts, using all his skills, only barely defending his vital points.

“Don't worry about me, quickly release the Extinguishing Yuan Arrows! Release them in batches, don't waste them!”

At this time, the three giant beasts were fighting in the air, completely exposed to the archers' view.

Originally, according to Liu Zhongzhu's order, the moment the three beasts took to the air, the first row of thirty Extinguishing Yuan Arrows should have been fired. However, they hesitated for fear of accidentally injuring Liu Zhongzhu.

As soon as he gave this order, the archers immediately released the drawn bowstrings. Three-chi-long pure black arrows with blue flames burning on their arrowheads flew out rapidly, covering the three giant beasts respectively. Liu Zhongzhu, who was surrounded by the three beasts, was naturally also within the attack range.

On the stone platform, the aging Li Youlin suddenly said to the Fire Crow Taoist, “Fire Envoy, I see that you are dealing with an earth demon beast with ease. Why don't I release this one, and you take it on as well. Fawang can't hold on, I'll go help him.”

After speaking, without waiting for the Fire Crow Taoist to agree, he retracted the Five Ghosts Skull Wheel and leaped away, arriving at the top of the strongest earth demon beast's head, frightening it into retreating backwards, its eyes looking at Li Youlin with some suspicion.

With just a light movement, this person had silently arrived above its head, and it had not noticed the entire process at all. It was truly too strange.

Jin Fawang didn't care so much, holding his broadsword, he stepped forward and chased after it.

“Fawang, this old man will give you a few last words. Over the years, I have watched coldly and feel that everyone has made a mistake, that is, they have mistaken the foundation of the sect! Who is the foundation of the sect? Are we, these Saint Core realm demon cultivators, the Left and Right Envoys, the Four Great Fawang, the Eight Great Xiangzhu, the Eighteen Dharma Envoys? Looking at it now, no! How many of us are there? In this five million li long and narrow desolate dead zone, facing hundreds of thousands or even more earth demon beasts, can we gain a foothold? We can't gain a foothold!

“Without hundreds of thousands of sect members, without hundreds of thousands of sect members with firm beliefs and fearless of sacrifice, we are nothing! For more than a hundred years, I, this old man, have been reflecting on this issue. The sect has not become stronger over the years, but weaker, and it has been getting weaker. The upper echelons have become corrupt, and the core has been hollowed out. It looks like the framework is still there, and the deterrence is still there, but in reality, it is just empty. Once it encounters turmoil, it may collapse!”…

Li Youlin rambled on and on, and Jin Fawang, who was being killed by the golden-scaled earth demon beast, was sweating profusely and didn't hear a few words at all.

He said impatiently, “Old man Li, are you here to help me or to annoy me? What nonsense are you talking about! Subdue this fierce beast and then talk slowly. Right now, I, Lao Jin, don't have time to listen!”

“Hmph! I watched you grow up, although you have been blinded by power in recent years, your foundation is not bad, so I am telling you this. Don't pretend to be confused. The sect cannot continue like this. The Left Divine Envoy still has the courage to resolutely promote the re-election of the sect leader, regardless of everyone's opposition. Of course, he is also seizing a good opportunity! The Right Envoy has too many selfish thoughts and is a person without principles or rules. Even if it is not for the sect, this person cannot be allowed to take the position. Compared with him, the Left Envoy is still more gentle, and the rules of the sect have always been followed! Do you understand what I mean?” Li Youlin gave a long speech, and finally raised his voice and asked loudly.

“Now is not the time to say this, let's discuss it later!” A complicated look flashed in Jin Fawang's eyes, and he was touched, but he subconsciously avoided the question.

“Discuss it with whom? Your chief think tank, what's his name… um, Chai Laoqi? Look, for so long, not a single reinforcement has arrived. He is your man, and this is all going to be counted on your head in the future. You sent Zhao Shijie, but he is no match for Chai Laoqi when it comes to playing tricks and talking! If this continues, it seems like you are cutting the Divine Grace Envoy's face, but in reality, the blame is yours, do you think others can't see it! That kid only has some cleverness. In my opinion, he is far worse than Liu Zhongzhu.

“Look at Liu Zhongzhu, how clear-headed he is in a crisis, and he is not afraid of sacrifice. He knows what to do and what not to do. This is a person with a position, a vision, feelings, and means. Over the years, if it weren't for Liu Zhongzhu, you might not have been able to sit firmly in your Fawang position!”

Li Youlin shook his head, sighed, and said, “Forget it, I went off on a tangent again while talking. You'll get annoyed if I say too much! I'll say one last sentence, remember it well: the sect members are the foundation, and the sect leader is the key. With these two, the sect can survive this calamity! You must think clearly and never become the eternal sinner of the sect!”

After Li Youlin finished speaking, he raised his head and roared wildly, and a layer of blue flames suddenly appeared on his body. This fire was like a layer of blue fluff, fluttering in the wind on his body, but the strange power it emitted suppressed all the demon cultivators and earth demon beasts on the stone platform.

Jin Fawang exclaimed in shock, “Sacrifice… Old man Li, you're crazy!”

Li Youlin grinned: “I didn't have many good years left anyway. What an honor it is to bring an earth demon beast that is about to break through to the Saint Core realm Great Perfection to see the Candle God! I think, He will definitely be very satisfied with this gift!”

Fear appeared in the eyes of the golden-scaled earth demon beast, and it turned and fled down the stone platform.

Li Youlin's figure swayed and disappeared from the spot. Then, covered in blue fire, he appeared on the back of the earth demon beast. His hands tightly grasped the beast's silver horns, and his legs encircled its thick neck.

The earth demon beast roared in pain, twisting wildly, but Li Youlin seemed to have taken root, clinging to it tightly.

At this time, the blue fire on his body was burning fiercely. His robes had long since turned to ashes, and his flesh was burned incomplete. The old face with ravines and ravines soon turned to ashes, leaving only a black skull.

But even so, his skeleton was still wrapped around the back of the earth demon beast, and the blue flame was like a phantom, wrapping the earth demon beast, no matter how it struggled, it could not get rid of it.

Finally, the blue flame ignited the earth demon beast as well, burning its hard body, crystal flesh, and its magic core.

It let out a miserable roar, rolling around on the ground, crushing countless low-level earth demon beasts, clearing a large open space in the pit.

Tens of thousands of earth demon beasts forgot about the battle, leaving only fear and trembling bodies.