Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

The special environment of the Earth Abyss, coupled with the long-standing stability, had already caused the people on Earth Flame Island to lose their vigilance.

The disciples patrolling the island were also very lax, merely performing their inspections according to the rules, skimming over their duties without a second thought, not expecting that a large army was already on their doorstep.

But not everyone on Earth Flame Island was oblivious to the anomaly.

Just as Elder Huang was casting spells to break the formation, in the underground of the Ancestor Hall deep within the Earth Flame Palace, the Third Elder, Master Fu Xin, frowned upon seeing the sudden flickering of the Array Formation Jade Pillar in front of him.

This Array Formation Jade Pillar was about as thick as three people hugging and was inlaid with as many as one thousand one hundred and eighty-eight red Array Beads. Each Array Bead represented a node of the Great Array.

At this moment, the Array Beads on the jade pillar were all faintly flickering, and the Fire Shield that enveloped the pillar was also unstable.

"What a coincidence? The Earth Fire tide is erupting at this critical moment?"

Master Fu Xin was hesitant, immediately pinching Array Formulas with his hands, as Divine Sense condensed out countless threads of light, connecting them with the Array Formation Jade Pillar.

After two breaths' time, his brows furrowed tighter, muttering to himself, "Why does the operation of the Great Array become more and more sluggish, and it seems not exactly caused by the Earth Fire tide? What's going on? Could another node of the formation be damaged?"

Upon second thought, he immediately sensed something was amiss.

Out of caution, Master Fu Xin's fingertips had already gathered a ball of spirit light.

But the next second, he suddenly extinguished the thought, and with it, the spirit light at his fingertips collapsed.

"No good, if I give a false alarm, wouldn't that make those sitting ground rats laugh at me for a century."

Since its establishment nearly ten thousand years ago, the relationships and interests within the Earth Flame Palace had become incredibly complex, and the internal strife was fierce. However, on the whole, it could be divided into two factions: the natives and the newcomers.

The native faction consisted of disciples who were born on Earth Flame Island and then joined the Earth Flame Palace. This faction, up to the present day, has become noticeably familial, with its backbone being the Three Thousand-year-old Families. The native faction is known for its large numbers and solidarity in conservativism.

The newcomer faction, also known as the Master-Disciple faction, primarily consisted of members from the outside world.

Because the Earth Flame Palace's Master-Disciple faction did not settle for less, the disciples they took in generally had higher Spirit Root qualifications than the native faction. As a result, even though the newcomer faction had fewer people, most of them were powerful, with the number of Golden Core Masters comparable to the native faction.

Among the two Nascent Soul Ancestors of the Earth Flame Palace, Demon Lord Dong Zhi belonged to the native faction, while Shi Ri Ancestor came from the Master-Disciple faction.

Since Demon Lord Dong Zhi was significantly stronger than Shi Ri Ancestor, the Earth Flame Palace had been under the control of the native faction for the past thousand years.

Unfortunately, Master Fu Xin belonged to the Master-Disciple faction and was often at odds with the natives.

This was the very reason why a Golden Core Middle Stage True Man such as himself was relegated to the Ancestor Hall, tasked with guarding the Array Core, a job that was both unprofitable and tediously dull.

From this, one could imagine the frustration and indignance in Master Fu Xin's heart.

As the Array Formation Jade Pillar flickered faster and faster, and upon realizing that the operation of the Great Array was becoming even more sluggish, Master Fu Xin could no longer sit still.

He pondered for a moment, then reached into his Storage Bag and took out a Communication Jade Token, inputting a message into it before waiting silently for a response.

The Jade Token soon vibrated, spirit light flashing as it conveyed a voice: "Junior brother, what do you need from me?"

"Big brother, there seems to be something wrong with the Mountain Guardian Formation. The Array Beads are flickering fiercely. In your opinion, do we need to send out a warning to the entire Sect?"

"Hmm? Such a thing! Do not act rashly, I will be there immediately!"

Just as Zhou Lu, the Late-stage Golden Core Master from Earth Flame Palace, hurried out of his retreat to rush toward the Ancestor Hall, he was unaware that, because of this incident, the Earth Flame Palace had already lost its last opportunity.

On the eastern side of Earth Flame Island, as eight Yin Yang Array Plates "embedded" themselves into the Fire Shield, dissolving and disappearing without a trace.

A smile gradually formed on Huang Yu's aged face, his expression growing more relaxed.

A few breaths later, when the last Yin Yang Array Plate merged into the formation, he let out a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat off his forehead, and nodded slightly, saying, "Alright, the Great Array has been interrupted by my spellcasting, but I can only delay for thirty minutes. Before then, you must find a way to destroy the Array Core, or the Great Array will resume normal operation, and you will surely suffer heavy casualties!"

Zhao Sheng nodded silently, and with a single thought, the Communication Jade Tablet suddenly burst into unprecedented brightness, sending a signal to everyone to take action.

After all, the Earth Flame Palace was a Major Sect that had been established for ten thousand years. One could imagine how formidable the Mountain Guardian Formation must be. For someone like Huang Yu to interrupt the operation of the Great Array with his own power was quite remarkable.

Zhao Sheng would not expect him to truly be able to break through the Mountain Guardian Formation completely, as that was unrealistic.

"Attack!"

"Begin the attack!"

"Begin the attack!"

Sharp, commanding shouts suddenly erupted from the east, west, and north sides of Earth Flame Island all at once, their echoes booming across a hundred miles.

Zhao Sheng looked up to see strange phenomena appearing to the west and north, from a hundred miles away.

To the west, a massive sandstorm surged out of nowhere, and within it, a giant stone man, shrouded in swirling sand and gravel, stepped onto Earth Flame Island; within the storm, shadowy figures could be seen, as if countless people were hidden within.

With each step the stone giant took, the ground beneath it thunderously collapsed, while sand and stones rapidly adhered to its body.

So much so that in just over a dozen steps, a towering stone giant a hundred feet tall stood before countless onlookers, causing their complexions to change dramatically as they were stricken with fear and chilled to the bone.

The sandstorm trailing the stone giant swept across in its wake, engulfing half of Earth Flame Island in the blink of an eye; the world was plunged into darkness, as if the apocalypse had descended.

Meanwhile, from the north side of the island, thunder light spread like a tide, illuminating half the sky; in an instant, dense swarms of thunder snakes emerged from the thunder light, followed by a rumble of thunder, and a barrage of electric light struck down from the heavens, scorching everything within a three-mile radius to ash.

"Do you not see the waters of the Yellow River coming from the sky?"

Just then, a clear chanting voice suddenly came from behind Zhao Sheng.

No sooner had the words fallen than a "great river," a hundred yards wide and with no visible end, indeed came rolling down from the edge of the sky, overflowing Zhao Sheng and pouring towards Earth Flame Island.

For the first time in ten thousand years, rain fell on Earth Flame Island.

However, this rainwater contained infinite power; wherever the raindrops fell, white mist instantly formed, and any person or animal that slightly touched the mist would convulse uncontrollably and fall unconscious to the ground.

Zhou Li was a descendant of the ancient Confucian lineage; his heart, after all, was a bit softer and not as decisively ruthless as Shi Ri, the tenth ancestor.

In front of everyone, the three Nascent Souls unreservedly unleashed their respective Nascent Soul Domains and utilized their full strength as soon as they made their move.

The purpose of this action was self-evident!

At the same time, one Golden Core Master after another transformed into streaks of spirit light, crossing the Daoist Soldiers Formation and mercilessly advancing onto Earth Flame Island, leaving a trail of blood and gore wherever they went.

"Help, the thieves are here!"

"Quickly hide! There's an enemy attack!"

"Damn it, fellow disciples, follow me to repel the enemy!"

"Where are the two ancestors? Please, come quickly!"

Earth Flame Palace had been at peace for many years; the defense on the island had grown lax, and suddenly being attacked caught them completely off guard, plunging into an unprecedented chaos, with everyone unsure of what to do and whether to advance or retreat.

After all, the enemy's momentum was too great — they had launched an assault with all three Nascent Souls at once.

At this moment, Zhou Lu, the Great Elder of Earth Flame Palace, had just arrived at the Ancestor Hall, only to see enemies attacking from the east, west, and north simultaneously, and yet the Great Array wasn't counterattacking.

Meanwhile, many of the sect's Golden Core Elders were outnumbered and fell into perilous situations.

Zhou Lu's face turned ashen immediately, cursing inwardly.

When he saw the three Nascent Souls continuously attacking while his own sect's two ancestors made no move, Zhou Lu instantly realized something, his face turning deathly pale.

"No, this isn't right! To choose this moment... there must be a traitor!" Zhou Lu cursed furiously.

Witnessing a one-sided collapse unfolding on the island, the Great Elder of Earth Flame Palace stamped his foot with force and flashed into the Ancestor Hall.

On the other hand, Zhao Sheng, seeing the attack going very smoothly, immediately transmitted a message to Elder Huang who was by his side.

After whispering a few words, he instantly turned into Mystic Light, gathering up numerous Jade Tokens, turned into a long rainbow, and raced towards the center of the island.

For a Nascent Soul Ancestor, the mere hundred-mile radius of Earth Flame Island was no more than a stroll from their doorstep, just a few steps away.

In just under three breaths, Zhao Sheng had crossed half the island and located the Scripture Storage Tower of Earth Flame Palace.

This was a massive stone tower of thirteen stories, towering over the island like a crane among chickens, exceedingly conspicuous.