Meanwhile, on the back mountain of Cloudsoaring Mountain.
Chang Sen and his wife Kong Yun, both Profound realm experts from Hell sect, had been discussing the Dao of cultivation with Wu Ji over the past few days, in the same manner they might chat about household affairs.
As opposed to what the others had expected, ever since they came to the Cloudsoaring Mountain, both Chang Sen and Kong Yun hadn’t had even the slightest intention to go to war.
When Kong Yun found out that the experts from Mystic Mist sect and Grayvale sect had joined hands and marched towards the Hell sect, she had apologized to Wu Ji, and then soared away.
Chang Sen stayed and continued to discuss the Dao of cultivation with Wu Ji.
With a tall and sturdy frame, Chang Sen wore rough linen garments and no shoes. No one would have considered him to be a Profound realm Qi warrior. Instead, he looked more like a farmer who had been busy with rural activities his whole life.
His hands and feet were big and strong, his robust body resembled that of a tiger, and his voice sounded loud and profound like a giant bell.
Not far away from where they were, experts from both Cloudsoaring Sect and Hell sect were still fighting endlessly and fiercely over the Heaven Gate keys on the meteors.
However, Wu Ji and Chang Sen turned a blind eye to it and went on to exchange their understandings of cultivation.
Chang Sen had come to Wu Ji’s residence when the Ghost sect and Blood sect invaded the Spiritual Treasure sect. He just sat with Wu Ji and chatted about whatever that came to mind.
Wu Ji had known about his purpose ever since he had arrived. However, he did not point it out directly, but rather chatted with him.
Until this moment…
Chang Sen remained silent for a while before he suddenly said, “I’ll be leaving soon. Brother Wu, you are the only person whom I respect deeply in the entire Realm of Flame Heaven. I’ve benefited a great deal from our conversations, and I’ve always admired you for having taught two extremely talented disciples.”
Wu Ji had a calm look on his face. “It’s all because they worked hard.”
Chang Sen nodded in assent, and said, “Brother Wu, Fang Hui and the others may not know about this, but you ought to be aware that in my eyes, the alliance between the four sects is too weak to withstand a single blow.
“If I wanted to, I could easily eliminate the four of them from the Realm of Flame Heaven.
“I’ve only allowed them to exist so that they can serve as sharpening stones for disciples from the Hell sect. I’ve never considered them as swords that may become as sharp as the Hell sect.
“In my eyes, the Blood sect and Ghost sect are not that different from the other four sects.
“I have to find worthy opponents for the Hell sect in the Realm of Flame Heaven if we want to prosper. Even though I have the strength to take over all of the other sects, I chose not to.
“Because, without opponents, our disciples would lose their sense of crisis and motivation.
“It has been my intention that the other sects persist, so that our disciples can polish themselves and sharpen their edge.”
From the way he spoke, it seemed if he had wanted, the Hell sect alone would be more than capable of sweeping across the whole Realm of Flame Heaven and making all other sects submit to them obediently.
Wu Ji didn’t say a word to refute him.
It seemed that he agreed with Chang Sen’s assertion, and didn’t think even for a moment that Chang Sen had really been speaking without thinking.
That was because he understood better than anyone how powerful the man in front of him was.
They were both in the Profound realm. Chang Sen, however, had already reached the great circle, and was only one step away from stepping into the Soul realm.
He deserved the title of the strongest man in the Realm of Flame Heaven. He was the only one who had stepped into the late Profound realm. All the other Profound realm cultivators had only reached the early or middle stage.
Even though there was one Profound realm expert in each of the sects among the four sects, with the exception of Wu Ji, the other three experts were all only at the early Profound realm.
As for Wu Ji himself, he had only managed to step into the middle Profound realm not too long ago.
He also understood that if he couldn’t run into some good fortune, he wouldn’t have enough years to last until he stepped into the Soul realm where he could extend his longevity.
Chang Sen narrowed his eyes as he looked at the fierce battle at the foot of the mountain, watching the experts from both the Cloudsoaring sect and Hell sect fighting over the Heaven Gate keys.
“You never know. Even the powerful experts from the Realm of Earth Sieve didn’t foresee that the Heaven Gates would have its own qualifications this time.
“If I had known about this, I would have prevented the Ghost sect and Blood sect’s invasion of the Spiritual Treasure sect.
“What’s done is done. It’s no longer necessary to continue with the battle.
“I will allow those who have already obtained the keys to enter the Heaven Gate. I won’t add on anymore obstacles.
“Many from other realms have longed to enter the Realm of Flame Heaven for many years. In the past, there haven’t been enough benefits that drove them to make efforts to step into the Realm of Flame Heaven.
“The appearance of the Heaven Gate and the Earth Flame Beast breaking free from Scarlet Flame Mountain Range heralds the changes that are going to take place. In the future, even more strange phenomenons will present themselves in the Realm of Flame Heaven. By that time, powerful forces from other realms that even I am not certain if I could resist, will reveal themselves in the Realm of Flame Heaven one after another.
“The civil war within the Realm of Flame Heaven might result in the death of many disciples who are below Worldly realm, due to their insufficient strength.
“On the other hand, the civil war can also possibly motivate the weaker ones, allowing them to make breakthroughs in desperate and unfavorable circumstances and as a result, step into the Worldly realm.
“I hope that after the Heaven Gate trial, there will be more of our disciples who can advance into the Worldly realm.
“Because they will be the ones that we’ll rely on to defend the Realm of Flame Heaven from outsiders.
“From now on, I will restrict the Blood sect and Ghost sect from instigating more fights. I also hope that you can inform the other three sects and let them understand that in no more than ten years, the Realm of Flame Heaven will face attacks from outsiders.
“It’s about time we prepared ourselves.”
Chang Sen took his time to explain in lengths his worries and the true purpose of his visit.
Experts from the four sects had all reckoned that the Blood sect and Ghost sect had taken advantage of the fact that the Profound realm expert from the Mystic Mist sect wasn’t in the Realm of Flame Heaven, as well as the fact that the Profound realm expert from the Grayvale sect was in his ultimate secluded mediation, to weaken the strength of their alliance.
However, Wu Ji had always known that that wasn’t the truth.
If Chang Sen really wanted to start a war, he would have no one to fear!
Wu Ji nodded his head. “I’ll inform the three sects.”
Chang Sen nodded and said no more. A gale of wind blew past, and his body that had been sitting upright on the stone floor dissipated into the air like a puff of light smoke.
As soon as Chang Sen vanished from the back mountain of Cloudsoaring Mountain, Jiao Yang, master of the Hell sect, gave the order from the foot of the mountain, “Whether you’ve obtained a Heaven Gate key or not, withdraw from the Cloudsoaring sect immediately!”
Even though every expert from the Hell sect harbored doubts in their hearts upon hearing Jiao Yang’s instruction, they could only struggle free from their fights with experts from the Cloudsoaring sect.
Even though there were still a number of key-carrying meteors that remained untouched, the Hell sect disciples all withdrew from their fights, followed Jiao Yang, and left in an orderly fashion.
Experts from Cloudsoaring Sect also felt puzzled, but they did not stop them from leaving.
Before long, every last one of the experts from the Hell sect that had surrounded the Cloudsoaring sect for many days disappeared.
…
In front of the Yun clan.
Nie Tian had been stabbed by the sputtering golden light, and his chest was now covered with blood. He dodged continuously within the rain of golden light beams as he tried to get closer to Duan Yuan.
Merely one light beam from the double-headed battle axe was already powerful enough to rip open a bloody wound in Nie Tian’s chest, making him look miserable.
This made him realize how big of a gap there was between the Lesser Heaven stage and the Heaven stage.
FIZZ!
Golden light flashed behind Nie Donghai’s back. He let out a muffled groan and staggered several steps forward.
The double-headed battle axe revolved rapidly in the air, as if it had turned into a cluster of bright golden light, as it chased after Nie Donghai.
Nie Tian on the other hand, was temporarily free of danger.
After turning around, he noticed that Nie Donghai was leading the double-headed battle-axe further away from him, in an attempt to prevent him from getting hurt by the golden light that had been emanated by the axe.
As soon as the battle-axe left, Nie Tian charged towards Duan Yuan like a fierce beast that had gone mad, without any regard for the pain in his chest.
In that moment, a burning rage was born in his heart and soon spread all over his body.
The spiritual power that had been surging within his dantian’s spiritual sea, as well as the flesh power that had been hidden within his flesh and bones, burst out in that instant.
“Rage punch!” He roared violently in his mind.
BOOM!
In that moment, his fist that carried heaven-shaking fury gave vent to all the strength within him. Unusual space fluctuations seemed to ripple out from deep within the clouds of the Realm of Flame Heaven.
A terrifying, enormous shadow abruptly appeared in the dark, night sky, which seemed to be resonating with the fearful might of the rage fist.
Having sensed the unfavorable situation, Duan Yuan forcefully condensed all his strength and cast a secret magic of the Hell sect.
“Purgatory Gate!”
Under the manipulation of his spiritual power, thread after thread of malevolent devil shadows came together and formed a strange-looking gate in front of his chest, which was full of sharp thorns and curved horns.
BANG!
Nie Tian’s fist rammed furiously into the strange gate. As a result, the gate shattered in the next moment.
PUFF!
A mouthful of fresh blood escaped from Duan Yuan’s mouth as he was sent flying backwards into the air, like he had been crushed by a mountain.
Blood was still flowing out of the corners of Duan Yuan’s mouth after he landed with one knee on the ground. Slowly, he struggled to stand up from his kneeling position.
“What spiritual technique is this?!” he asked, face filled with shock and terror.