Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Chapter 411: Chapter 263: Divine Bridge_2

If it were normal circumstances, sect powers would definitely surpass family powers.

But the current situation is anything but normal. The War God’s Atlas can alter a person’s physique, which effectively erases the issue of innate talent. There’s no need to consider meritocracy; nepotism will suffice. After all, with the ability to alter physique, even the most useless mud can be plastered onto the wall.

Therefore, family forces now seem to have an advantage over sects. Without blood ties, do you dream of comprehending their War God’s Atlas and obtaining Divine Bridge Realm or even Divine Martial Realm cultivation techniques?

Dream on!

The decline of the Tian Wu Remnants is an unavoidable situation, after all. They missed the initial opportunity. When Great Zhou was destroyed, no one had yet unlocked the War God’s Atlas. By the time it was unlockable, the Tian Wu Remnants hadn’t recovered their Yuan Qi, utterly lacking the strength to compete with the major forces for this treasure.

If you want Divine Bridge or Divine Martial cultivation techniques, you can only look to the major forces.

But without the power of Divine Bridge or Divine Martial, on what basis could you seize cultivation techniques from the hands of the great forces?

The situation seems to have fallen into a deadlock, and so Su Shaoqing couldn’t help but bitterly smile in helplessness.

Yet Xu Yang didn’t care.

Can’t cultivate martial arts due to lack of techniques?

Then I’ll just cultivate immortality!

He may lack Divine Bridge Realm or Divine Martial Realm martial arts, but he has a plethora of Nascent Soul Realm and Divinity Transformation Realm true decrees, even the Return to Void techniques.

First, he’ll use cultivation methods to increase his combat power, then seek out the major forces for the War God’s Atlas, and achieve the ultimate goal of “dual cultivation of magic and martial arts.”

How simple is that?

True, Yuan Spirit cultivation requires a Spiritual Root Qualification, which Xu Qingyang’s body does not possess, but this isn’t an iron law for him because, frankly speaking, a spiritual root is just a Yuan Spirit absorber that significantly improves the efficiency of Yuan Spirit absorption, meeting the demands of cultivation skills.

In other words, as long as you can absorb a large amount of Yuan Spirit into your body, you can cultivate immortality regardless of having a spiritual root or not.

In the real world, Xu Yang relied on spreading the Martial Scripture and Taoist Scripture, using the special traits of the “Founder of Martial Scripture” and “Founder of Taoist Scripture” to enhance his Yuan Spirit absorption rate, gifting himself two “Martial Spirit Root” and “Taoist Spiritual Root”. Coupled with spirit stones, elixirs, formations, rituals, and other external forces, he achieved the feat of cultivation without a spiritual root.

If he could do it in the real world, so could he in his dream.

Since the War God’s Atlas is not widely circulated among the portals of the major forces, there are still many Martial Artists like Su Shaoqing who cultivate the Martial Arts Scripture, all of which can help him absorb Yuan Spirit and refine Qi for immortality.

Besides, the Essence of the Evil Emperor can be converted into Mana, serving as a special kind of elixir supply.

He could totally capture a group of experts, have them charge up the Evil Emperor’s relics, and then use the Essence of the Evil Emperor for cultivation and practice.

As for developing fields of influence… it’s temporarily unfeasible, as the Pavilion of Heavenly Mechanism can roughly locate his position. Before muddying the waters, he can’t expand his influence or even stay in one place for long. He must stay mobile, engaging in guerrilla warfare with those bastards to ensure his safety.

After several lifetimes of cultivation and tempering, Xu Yang’s strategies need not be mentioned; he quickly formed a plan blueprint in his mind.

But to realize the plan and make the blueprint a reality, cunning alone is not enough; he needs the support of strength.

Even though he has reached the Yuan Core Realm, that only puts him among Earth List martial artists. Above him are still the Heaven List Grandmasters and the Divine Martial Venerables – two formidable barriers.

Thus, he must become even stronger!

Xu Yang waved his robe sleeve, and a torrent of Spirit Light rained down, revealing a vast array of items.

Set after set of iron armor, body after body, and numerous Ice Crystal Fragments lay before him.

These were the remnants of those who had perished by his hand – the Earth Sha Divine Soldiers of Iron Heart Fortress, the Undying God Beggar Shi Wei, fragments of the Mysterious Ice coffin, and the two burly men who carried the coffin.

A Storage Bag?

Of course not, he had just been resurrected; where would he get a Storage Bag? It was merely a spell based on the Qiankun Bag, known as Qiankun Sleeve Technique.

Needless to say, this Qiankun Sleeve is not the same as that legendary Qiankun Sleeve. While it too can store objects and people, it’s by no means as capable as “carrying Qiankun in the sleeve”. At best, it functions as a one-time-use Storage Bag or Beast Controlling Bag, with rather limited applications.

“Fifth Brother, Seventh Brother!”

Su Shaoqing’s eyes reddened at the sight of the two burly men’s corpses.

The Tian Wu Remnants were destroyed, and only she and her two cousins managed to escape through a secret tunnel with the Mysterious Ice coffin. However, news of their escape was leaked, leading to pursuit by the forces of Iron Heart Fortress and the Demon Sect, culminating in their brutal deaths at the hands of the Undying God Beggar Shi Wei’s staff.

“`

Fortunately, Shi Wei had already met his end, his death even more tragic.

“They are your clan brothers, so let them be laid to rest.”

Seeing this, Xu Yang didn’t say much. He directly formed a spell with his hands, dispelled the “Soul Locking Spell” from their bodies, and then opened the ground to bury their corpses.

He knew how to refine corpses and also how to refine ghosts. Although he could have made them “come back from the dead,” without the Ancestor Master’s Altar and the sacrificial rites, to be honest, the Underworld Ghosts that would have been transformed were no longer the original persons and couldn’t compare with the Governors and Ghost Gods of the World of Dao and Law.

So, it was better to let them rest in peace.

Su Shaoqing had no objections to this, but he felt it odd that the Ancestral Emperor spoke in such a tone, as if there were a second option for these corpses besides burial.

Could it be that he intended to whip the corpses to vent his anger?

While Su Shaoqing was puzzled, Xu Yang had already put the spell into motion, lifting the Soul Locking Spell from each of the corpses.

The Soul Locking Spell, a nefarious method of Taoism, could imprison the souls of the deceased within their corpses, thereby enhancing the Yin Qi and Evil Qi of the Underworld Ghosts and corpses. It is an essential method for enslaving ghosts and refining corpses.

Though it is an evil method, when used rightly, it is righteous. Xu Yang was not one to fuss over such details.

As the Curse Spell was lifted, although they had not been imprisoned for long, a dense Yin Qi still emerged from within the armor-clad corpses.

These Mysterious Iron Divine Soldiers were indeed Martial Artists, Martial Artists with Cultivation of the Foundation Establishment level, and their bodies were strong and exceptional. In terms of quality, they were even superior to the average body of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and thus were premium materials for refining corpses.

Moreover, the Mysterious Iron Divine Weapons they carried were extraordinary items, a “specialty” of Iron Heart Fortress, forged from Mysterious Iron Spiritual Material created by the War God’s Atlas and tempered with the secret technique of SLP Heaven Calamity, eventually becoming these weapons—one with their wielders, excelling in both offense and defense.

Once turned into refined corpses, even though they no longer had true essence and couldn’t form the Earth Sha Formation of Iron Heart Fortress, Xu Yang had his own Taoism Underworld Soldier formations, which could serve as a considerable force in battle.

Xu Yang then channeled his mana and started chanting the spell.

“The heaven is clear, the earth is spiritual, Underworld Soldier Five Ghosts, obey the charm order. Divine Skills transform across thousands of miles, slay all unpious people in the world, exterminate all unrighteous gods in the mortal realm…”

“Hah!”

As he chanted the spell, a sudden gust of yin wind rose, and phantom shadows flew out from the corpses, sending out shrill screams within the cave.

“This…”

Su Shaoqing’s pupils shrank, he was extremely shocked, looking at the wailing Underworld Ghosts filling the sky, and Xu Yang sitting on the stone platform, commanding the Curse Spell, he didn’t know what to do.

Was this… a technique to manipulate souls and control ghosts?

Could there be such evil skills in the world?

No, should he say that the Ancestral Emperor actually knew such evil skills?

Could it also be an insight gained from the War God’s Atlas? He had heard that the Demon Sect’s Heavenly Demon Great Skill could also bewitch the soul, control the mind, and refine various demon corpses and puppets…

The Underworld Soldier Exercising Skills was eerie, leaving Su Shaoqing unsettled, at a loss for what to do.

Xu Yang did not pay attention to him, but continued to cast the spell, sending complex talisman scripts into the swirling Underworld Souls.

And finally…

“Hah!”

The Yin wind howled, and the shocked Underworld Ghosts flew back into the corpses.

“Divine Soldiers urgently arise—Rise!!!”

With a resounding command, the seventy-two corpses stood up straight, their bodies enveloped in chilling Yin Qi and rolling Evil Qi. The Mysterious Iron armor glowed with a ghostly light, like malevolent spirits from hell, ready to devour any that crossed their path.

It was the Underworld Ghost Corpse Refining Method!

A combination of enslaving ghosts and refining corpses, which made them stronger and more intelligent than mere Underworld Ghosts and zombies. They were also more vicious, and if mishandled, they could backfire dangerously, an extremely radical and wicked Taoist method.

But one feature of evil methods is their expedient results.

With his current strength, and now with these seventy-two Iron Armor Corpses, facing a Divine Bridge Realm fighter from the Heaven List, he might not win, but escaping with his life was certainly within reach.