Chapter 396 - Copper Pillars and The Sealed South Barren
"Clan master, other than the Zhong Shan Clan member, there still remains the Swords Gate human Qi Practitioners, what about them?" Xia Zhongjin hesitated for a split second before asking.
“The others?”
Clan Master Xia's face was ashen, and his cold voice was filled in killing intent as he ordered, "Catch and kill!"
“This….”
Zhurong Yanqin hesitated before saying, "It may not be wise to do so. It was Zhong Yue that struck us in the dark, and there is no clear evidence to prove his guilt. Furthermore, it was the Zhong Li Celestial that ambushed Shui Zian first – justice is not on our side. If we then kill the other humans, I'm afraid that the Zhong Li Celestial Race's reputation will…."
However, Clan Master Xia replied coldly, "Then what? I don't care! We Zhong Li Celestial Race have stood on the South Barren for many years and when have we ever tolerated such humiliation? Find those human Qi Practitioners and kill them all!"
He then said, "Find those who helped Zhong Yue power the Divine Wing Saber. Find them and kill all of them, including their people!"
…
“Hall Master Zuo, Junior Martial Sister Qiu.”
Zuo Xiangsheng, Tian Yanzhong, and the others were powering a Shui Tu Clan ship that flew them toward the Great Wilderness at a speed no slower than magnates. However, before they could reach Swords Gate, a booming voice came into their ears. They looked over and saw a lady's figure alighting down on the deck of the ship – it was Jun Sixie!
They were then all shocked, they thought, Why is headmaster here?
Rays flashed across Jun Sixie's eyes, and she removed Shui Zian from the Yuan Shen secret realms and placed him on the deck. She then said solemnly, "No time to explain. I'll drive the ship. We must leave South Barren now!"
Krong——
A loud boom sounded out, and the ship blasted away at a breakneck speed. Jun Sixie powered the ship and cast out a totem pillar to establish a connection to Swords Gate and give her order as headmaster, "Senior Martial Brother Fang, take the divine sword with you. The other elders will wield the Ten Malefic Weapons and the other two divine weapons. Meet us at the border of Great Wilderness!"
Tian Yanzhong and Zuo Xiangsheng's hearts stiffened up; even the divine weapons and Ten malefic weapons were coming out, had the situation truly turned so serious?
They were oblivious to what happened, and they could all feel the sudden burst of divine aura that came from the Fiery Capital – something big must have happened there.
However, Qiu Jin'er knew of the plan, and her heart twisted with anxiety, "Headmaster, where is my senior martial brother?"
“I can’t find him.”
Jun Sixie's eyes flashed as she replied quickly, "I went to get him right after Elder Shui was saved, but by the time I reached where he was, he was already long done. Don't worry. Your senior martial brother is a sly and cunning one. Even the whole Zhong Li Celestial Race might not be able to catch him!"
Even with those reassurances, Qiu Jin'er was still worried. All of a sudden, an appalling divine aura emanated from the Heavenly Lord Palace far in the South; the ancient saint weapon was awakened, and its aura pressed down onto the whole South Barren. It brought about sudden typhoons and thunderclouds, it raised the ocean waves sky-high and sent them crashing into the coastlines. The sound of the crashing waves was as if the world were screaming in pain.
Lord Xia's saint weapon – the Eight Dragons Heaven Suppression Cauldron– has awakened!
A saint weapon that could compete with the Coiling Dragon Sword and Divine Wing Saber; A hidden power that was concealed away from the world for ages until now. It's return sent tremors through the whole South Barren as if announcing to the world that it had returned!
Jun Sixie was shocked, and she turned her head back at the direction of the Heavenly Lord Palace, but it was too far for her to see what form the saint weapon was forged in.
The Zhong Li Celestial Race is enraged, even the saint weapon was taken out. This is not looking good….
Jun Sixie gritted her teeth and felt the situation turn knotty. The Zhong Li Celestial Race had been dealt a significant blow; even the three divine banners were robbed from them. Although they could not pinpoint who the actual culprit was, it was still not hard for them to realize that the deed was committed by someone from the Swords Gate. If they could not find Zhong Yue, then they would direct their unmitigated wrath towards Swords Gate instead.
"Cough, cough, cough…."
Shui Zian started coughing in the cabin, and the disciples then immediately swarmed to his side. He struggled to get up, and the feeble old man swung his sleeve. Piles of tokens were then placed on the table, and Shui Zian then coughed, "Headmaster, use these tokens, this might be the key to resolving the Swords Gate's incoming danger."
Jun Sixie was hesitant in her answer, "Rest assured, Elder Shui. With the Four Symbol Banners altogether, I can maybe compete with Lord Xia's saint weapon. If I can fully unleash the banners' power … then I will protect Swords Gate with my life."
Shui Zian's coughed soon became desperate gasps for air as he said, "You can do South, but you can't do East and West."
Jun Sixie's heart twitched in pain. She knew what he meant, if the Zhong Li Celestial Race had really marched an army toward Swords Gate, then the West Barren celestial and East Barren monsters would not let such a golden opportunity slip through their fingers.
"Swords Gate is the only reason for these tokens to exist, I've collected them for all my life, and it is now time for them serve their purpose," Shui Zian's pallid face showed a faint smile as he said.
Jun Sixie gazed at the grand elder and nodded heavily.
…
With the headmaster powering the ship, not even magnates could catch up to their speed.
The night soon fell, and the border that separated the South Barren and the Great Wilderness was in sight. The many humans stood on the deck and watched as the torches lit up the whole mountain ridge; it looked as if a fire dragon was soaring through the darkness.
At the center of the mountain ridge was a fortress, one that was built not long ago by the Zhong Li Celestial Race.
The decision to build the fortress came as the human race started to show signs of a resurgence and talent began to bloom from generation to generation. There were the old codgers like Shui Zian; the innate spirit bodies like Jun Sixie, Fang Jiange, and Qiu Jin'er; younger talents like Zuo Xiangsheng, Tian Yanzhong, in addition to the two West Barren human tribes that joined them lately. All this made the South Barren begin to raise their guard against the human race.
The spirit of the border fortress was summoned, and it stood tall at the center of the fortress as its divine aura filled the air. This fortress's spirit was 1000 feet tall, and many glowing totem patterns wrapped around it like chains.
In the dark, they could see the South Barren Zhong Li Celestials swarming all over the place, some of them were nailing some copper pillars in the ground while others were vigilantly standing guard. These copper pillars were planted from one end of the border to the other and formed a line along the Great Wilderness-South Barren border.
Ding! Ding! Dang! Dang!——
The Zhong Li Celestials were nailing the copper pillars into the ground; their muscular arms could be seen quivering as they struck the pillars. The scene gave out a natural barbaric feeling that caused the human disciples' hearts to tighten.
“The copper pillars, what are they?”
Shui Zian heard the voices and tottered to the side of the deck to watch. His feeble voice then sounded out, "To seal the underground. These copper pillars can put up a seal barrier beneath the ground to prevent anyone from escaping underground. The whole of the South Barren has been awakened, and sealing the underground along the borderline is just the first step. Soon, every path into the Great Wilderness will be sealed and guarded…."
The humans were stunned – these nail-like copper pillars were each 100 miles apart, and the Great Wilderness-South Barren border was over 100, 000 miles long. That added up to nearly a million copper pillars!
These copper pillars were essentially totem pillars specially designed to spread the totem patterns underground and seal off the exit paths underground. These totem patterns could reach as deep as 100,000 feet deep from the surface, fortifying the soils into metal-like barriers to prevent any underground skill or art from working.
Not only that, but these totem pillars could also alert the Zhong Li Celestial experts on the ground if anyone came into contact with the totem patterns.
As such, trying to leave underground was now out of the question.
"This is not meant for us, and neither can it stop us. They only have one target, and that is Junior Martial Brother Zhong … They are trying to trap him and eliminate every chance and possibility for him to escape the South Barren."
Jun Sixie mumbled, "The Zhong Li Celestial Race really has spared no effort in capturing him…."
Suddenly, she felt a sudden sense of foreboding and quickly turned back. The beautiful lady's face then saw a drastic change.
The others followed her line of sight and were also stunned.
The South Barren in the night was suddenly lit up like a starry sky. Guardian spirits were summoned in the cities, and their eyes shone bright like stars. Light beams then abruptly blasted out from their eyes as if scanning every crevice of the South Barren that was covered in darkness.
From the top, one could see many light beams shooting out from the spirits' eyes, melting away the darkness and scanning every part of the South Barren – it was a bizarre and unforgettable scene.
Even though these spirits were mostly the spirits of magnates, they were still not easy to deal with. This was not to mention the godly spirits residing in the bigger cities; their scanning ability was stronger and could extend further than the others.
The Zhong Li Celestial Race had even activated the guardian spirits in the South Barren cities all for the effort of locating Zhong Yue!
"Senior martial brother, can he really escape from this?" Qiu Jin'er mumbled. Tears started rolling down her eyes as her anxiety mounted.
Jun Sixie then forced more power into the ship and forcibly rammed through the protective layer above the border fortress. She then swung the banner and suppressed it down.
The godly spirit in the fortress lunged into the sky and launched a punch at the ship, but it was pressed back down to the fortress by the Azure Dragon Banner.
The shouts of many Zhong Li Qi Practitioners could be heard as they flew into the sky, but before they could catch up, the humans' ship had already left from their attack range, and they were left to watch as it flew into the Great Wilderness.
Meanwhile, once the human ship had entered the Great Wilderness, Fang Jiange flew over to reinforce them, and Jun Sixie immediately shouted, "Send out the tokens! Request them to come. We are arming for a war!"
The Swords Gate elders and hall masters each took one token and left for the other barrens for the token owners.
Jun Sixie's countenance was solemn, she gazed at the fortress in the border of South Barren and mumbled with a voice that only she herself could hear, "Junior Martial Brother Zhong, please pull out another miracle and make it out of this alive…."
….
This day, the Zhong Li Celestial Race experts were all dispatched, and the Heavenly Dharma cultivators had received their orders to comb through every inch of the Zhong Yue. The magnates and Martial heavenly Masters were sent to the borders to fortify security and to standby in wait for Zhong Yue to possibly walk right into their arms.
There were also soldiers of the border defense force searching through the mountains and forests with the Qi Practitioners flying in the sky – this quickly became the biggest manhunt that the Ancestral Star had seen in a very long time.
The Zhong Li Celestial Race was whole-heartedly focused on one goal, and that was to catch Zhong Yue at all costs! For that, they have set up various measures one after another; sentries were stationed every 100 miles, and cultivators were constantly scanning the surroundings.
Even Clan Master Xia and Zhurong Yanqin had carried the Eight Dragons Heaven Suppression Axe with them as they seeped their psyches into every corner of their surroundings, including 10,000 feet deep underground!
The Zhong Li Celestial Race's losses this time were far too great for them to tolerate. The statue of Lord Xia was a symbol of the Zhong Li Celestial Race, and that had been destroyed by Zhong Yue using the Divine Wing Saber. Not only that, but the Fiery Saint Palace was cleaved in half, and the number of cultivators that killed in the city was astronomical.
Furthermore, the number of casualties in the Zhong Li experts was also huge, even the Xia Clan's Clan Master Xia and Zhu Rong Clan's Clan Master Zhurong Yanqin were heavily injured.
Other than them, there was the Zhu Rong magnate and two Martial Heavenly Masters that were nearly killed, and the three divine weapons that were snatched away by certain unknown means.
This whole incident was an utter disgrace to the Zhong Li Celestial Race. It was a humiliation that none of the Zhong Li Celestials could endure, and it had borne a hatred that could only be washed away by blood!
However, no matter what they did, Zhong Yue was still nowhere to be found.
Even with every cultivator being manually checked at every checkpoint they set up, and sentries forcibly checking through cultivators on the roads, it was as if Zhong Yue had suddenly disappeared into thin air.
…
“Brother Long Yue, why are you here?”
Zhong Yue had been through several checks and crossed shoulders with the Zhong Li Celestials more times than he could count. He was now at the east in the South Barren, a few more 10,000 miles away from the Eastern Sea, when all of a sudden, a familiar voice came into his ear, "Aren't you with Chief Di and the others?"
Zhong Yue turned and looked back as a smile slowly spread across his face.