It turned out that there was a reason why the disciples of the West Sea Sword Sect were so nervous.
Because on the next day, the Desktop Peak once again quaked and grew up by more than 100 meters.
At that time, Li Mu was also on the Desktop Peak, so he felt it distinctly that an unparalleled mysterious and profound force was emanating from the bulky rocks that constituted the Desktop Peak. The entire peak seemed to have sprung to life, which kept growing like a plant. In about just a quarter of an hour, the growth in height on that day was completed, and then the mysterious forced dissipated.
It was a weird thing.
That was also an eye-opener for Li Mu.
The West Sea Sword Sect was once again alarmed. They used all sorts of methods to investigate the cause but their efforts were to no avail.
They even invited the experts of tactical deployments from the four cities, the two sects, and the two families of the Decent Alliance there to investigate. Yet, they didn’t find any clues, either.
Someone suggested that the West Sea Sword Sect should evacuate immediately and move to another location.
Because this kind of mysterious force was threatening.
The Desktop Peak was once the location of the “Fate-defying Sect” in the past. Among the seven major branches of the Devil Cult, the “Fate-defying Sect” was the most wretched. Many inconceivable things had happened to this branch. It was very likely that the Desktop Peak also harbored great danger.
“Humph, even if it’s a danger, we’ll use our swords to suppress it.”
Tan Rushuang, the Top Sword of Western Sea, resolutely made the final decision and directly overrode the proposal of moving.
The logic was very simple.
He did not allow his men to be disheartened by their fears even before the war started.
These days, Li Mu, according to the schedule, took the flying shuttle to a height of 10,000 meters over White Emperor City to carry stones materials, set up the floating fighting ring and all kinds of tactical deployment. Of course, in everyone’s eyes, he was only a green hand in the Semi-Joint-qi level with stronger strength and engaged only in low-level work. Except for Ding Yi, few paid attention to him.
Gu Lang and the others were temporarily placed in a hidden cave within the Sword Peak and their auras were concealed by a tactical deployment.
But the Sword-searching Skill of the West Sea Sword Sect was extremely terrifying. The skill had helped them detected the existence of Gu Lang and the others several times, forcing Li Mu to transfer them to another place before the cave was searched.
“I can’t let it go on like this. I have to think of a way to solve the problem once and for all.”
Li Mu contemplated this as he moved the stones.
Practicing the Xiantian Skill had become an instinctive reaction. When he walked and moved, he was also practicing it, so the work did not hinder his recovery of strength.
In order to rush the construction work, a lot of manpower and material resources were invested in the construction of the floating fighting ring, and it was certainly not done separately by the four cities, three sects, and two families of the Decent Alliance. The Devil Cult also sent experts of tactical deployments from the Dragon King Ridge and the Sky-overlooking Pavilion to take over the other part of the construction work— Both sides were afraid that the other side might cheat in the construction of the fighting ring by planting some tricks in it, so they did not dare to let one party handle the entire construction project.
In the construction area of the fighting ring, the two parties did not engage in large-scale conflicts thanks to their agreement beforehand.
As Li Mu was still thinking about where to settle Gu Lang and the others, several spaceships came from the distance. Several young people got off from the spaceships, all of whom were dressed well and looking imposing. Li Mu could tell that they were the best among the young generation of the four cities, three sects, and two families, which formed the nine main forces of the Decent Alliance. With a glance, Li Mu roughly knew that these young people were all in or above the Sage Realm. Their strength should not be taken lightly.
These days, Li Mu had basically figured out the background of the experts of the nine major forces of the Decent Alliance.
The four cities referred to the Cold River City, the Sunset City, the Central Heaven City, and the Peerless City. They were the four largest cities on the Bitter Star, which were equivalent to the three great empires on the Divine Land. The Three Grand Sword Sects were the West Sea Sword Sect, the Sky-reaching Sword Sect, and the East Mountain Sword Sect, which were all sword sects. The sword cultivation was popular on the Bitter Star, which definitely had something to do with the Three Grand Sword Sects, for they each had numerous disciples. As to the two well-known tactical deployment families, they were the Zhu Family and the Gongsun Family that excelled at machine-operation and puppet-production.
These nine major forces were roughly on par with each other in terms of power and heritage. Each of them had their own unique characteristics, and they ruled over the Bitter Star together.
Of course, according to the roast of Ding Yi, the “famous hero in Jianghu”, the nine forces were just local tyrants, and the one who really had the power to control the entire Bitter Star was the immortals beyond this planet. In front of those extraterrestrial sects, the nine forces were just ants with a little stronger strength. And they would be wiped out at any moment if they rebelled.
Li Mu found that Ding Yi did not seem to have a good vibe for the nine forces.
Apart from the nine major influences, there were also many other sects. They were vassals of the four cities, three sects, and two families, who followed the lead of them.
Compared with them, the Devil Cult was weaker.
A while later, the drums on the flying shuttle could be heard from a distance.
A few more large flying shuttles tore through the sea of clouds and zoomed over.
This time, it was the masters of the nine major forces.
There was a hubbub among the crowd.
The disciples and experts of the major sects who were building the floating fighting ring all became restless, their faces lit with excitement.
As the others were all murmuring and discussing, Li Mu understood the cause of this commotion.
Here came Tan Rushuang, the Top Sword of Western Sea, Li Muzi, the Sky-reaching Sword Master, Dongfang Qing, the Ancient Sword, Qu Yi, Lord of the Cold River City, Duan Feng, Lord of the Peerless City, Ran Guangyao, Lord of the Sunset City, Lu Tianhua, Lord of Central Heaven City, Zhu Nong, Head of the Zhu Family, and Gongsun Bieli, Head of the Gongsun Family… To everyone’s surprise, the leaders of the nine forces appeared altogether.
“What’s going on?”
It was rare for these nine people to get together.
“The precious sword light in White Emperor City is about to surge again.” Ding Yi whispered in Li Mu’s ear, who seemed to have just popped out from thin air.
This battle between the devil and the decent was incurred precisely by the precious cyan qi that occasionally squirted out from the abyss below White Emperor City and charged to tens of thousands of meters high. Rumor had it that the cyan qi had already burst out several times, but it was later sealed and suppressed by the Mount Shu Sect. However, the power of heaven and earth was so powerful that it could not be thoroughly suppressed. Every few days, this precious cyan sword qi would shoot out like a fountain.
Today was the exact moment for another burst of qi in the past half a month.
“How do you know that?” Li Mu stared at Ding Yi and asked.
In the past few days, Ding Yi was elusive as a ghost. He often disappeared from sight and then he appeared out of nowhere.
“Moot question! As a famous Jianghu hero, what’s there that I don’t know?” Ding Yi said triumphantly.
Alright.
Li Mu did not ask any more questions.
After all, Ding Yi was a famous Jianghu hero.
Ding Yi then instructed Li Mu to identify the masters of the nine great forces, matching each named with their looks. “These nine people can be said to be the only Decent Alliance members standing at the top of the pyramid on the Bitter Star. Except for the heads of the two well-known families, the other seven people have all reached the Void-breaking Realm. When they are angry, the river and the sea will chill. When they are overjoyed, the whole world will be immersed in happiness. In addition to the Devil Cult on Mount Shu, no one in the rest of sects dares to defy these nine people.”
Li Mu picked up something interesting from this remark. He asked, “The heads of the two major families are not in the Void-breaking Realm, are they?”
With a proud look, Ding Yi lowered his voice and said, “I’m the only one who knows this kind of thing. If it weren’t you, I wouldn’t tell. The Zhu Family is famous for its tactical deployments. The Gongsun Family is known for its mechanical tricks and puppets. The two heads of the families are not in the Void-breaking Realm, but with the help of their respective tactical deployments and mechanisms, they actually have the combat strength of the Void-breaking Realm. That’s why they can be on an equal footing with the heads of the four cities and three swords sect.”
So that was what it was.
It was the first time Li Mu had heard of such a thing.
Rumble!
All of a sudden, there was a roar of the earth.
The sea of clouds in the sky suddenly started to rage as though it was boiling water. Layers of airflow continued gushing from White Emperor City from 10 miles away. It was a spectacular view. The martial arts experts could vaguely sense that the ground under their feet was quaking, as though a terrifying force sleeping under the ground that was about to awaken.
“It’s on.” Ding Yi looked in the direction of White Emperor City and said with a hint of excitement in his voice.
The surging of the precious Sword Qi was about to start.
Countless gazes turned in White Emperor City’s direction.
Even the people from the Devil Cult, who were stationed at the scene to build the floating fighting ring, were attracted by the phenomenon.
Rumble!
A jet of cyan sword light rose into the sky and tore through the clouds.
Li Mu’s eyes lit up.
This sword light… was far too piercing and powerful. It was like the light was about to split the sky and cut the universe into halves.
The cyan splendor erupted like a fountain and dyed the entire White Emperor City in vibrant green color. Clusters of green lotus leaves seemed to be blooming slowly. Large leaves and long branches spread out between heaven and earth, which looked half real and half surreal. Also, a faint fragrance of lotus began to suffuse the air.
All of a sudden, the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth grew rich.
The running of Xiantian Skill suddenly accelerated without warning. It began to avidly absorb this cyan lotus fragrance, forming a visible airflow whirlpool around Li Mu.
“Oh no!”
Li Mu was startled, attempting to forcibly stop the operation of his Cultivation Method. But when he glanced around, he found that not only himself but all the people in this place had begun to absorb the cyan qi. The stronger their strength was, the thicker the cyan-light vortex around them was. For instance, the more than a dozen young people who were future leaders of the nine forces, and the nine supreme beings had a cyan-light vortex with a diameter of hundreds of meters around them, and the air was swirling at a surprising speed.
Even Ding Yi, who was just next to Li Mu, was also channeling his energy to absorb the Precious Qi of Cyan Lotus.
At this, Li Mu set his mind at rest. In order to avoid making too much noise to attract attention, he curbed the running speed of Xiantian Skill and began to absorb this Precious Qi of Cyan Lotus as well.
Rumble!
The earth quaked.
The sea of clouds was rolling.
Beams of amazing cyan sword light broke through the sky and shot toward outer space.
The vision of large cyan lotus petals appeared in the sea of clouds one after another. A single lotus leaf seemed to be large enough to blot out the sky.
“This Precious Qi of Cyan Lotus is far more beneficial to the growth of the primitive natural qi than the ordinary Spiritual Qi.”
Li Mu felt that the primitive natural qi inside him rapidly increased, and in a blink of an eye, he broke through his original realm and entered the Sage Realm.
“Those who are not from the nine major sects, get out now.”
Qu Yi, Lord of Cold River City, suddenly announced. His voice echoed around with unquestionable majesty.
This meant that he forbade anyone other than the nine major sects to absorb the Precious Qi of Cyan Lotus.
The crowd was in an uproar. Many people from other sects, as well as a great number of rogue cultivators who came to help, all changed their countenances at this.
He was too domineering.
Those people had actively responded to the call of the nine sects and came to deal with the Devil Cult. These days, they had been very hard-working and were at the disposal of the nine sects. Their work should be appreciated even if their work came without contributions. Now, a certain gain had announced itself, but the people outside the nine sects were not even allowed to share a bit of the gain. How could they be so terrible?
Li Mu was also vigorously absorbing the Precious Qi of Cyan Lotus. However, he was about to be driven out.
