dtnovels Chapter 874 - 804: Deep Within Enemy Lines
Chapter 874 - 804: Deep Within Enemy Lines
His face changed dramatically, and his heart was filled with dread. He immediately realized that Duan Gujin and Qing Lian's depth in the Martial Saint Realm far surpassed his own.Moreover, he saw clearly that Duan Gujin's true power was at the Martial Saint Second Level, and he noticed that Duan Gujin's Star Soul occasionally flashed with a surreal light.
He knew that when a Martial Artist's Star Soul consistently flickers with light, it signifies that they have begun the Star Soul transformation stage.
Zhan Pingta had told him that unless he had enough patience to transform his Star Soul within the Martial Saint Realm, he should absolutely avoid undertaking the Star Soul transformation at this stage.
For Zhan Huantai, what he lacked most was time. He was deeply eager to swiftly advance his cultivation so that he could make a move against the Taihuang Immortal Sect.
In his heart, what he desired most was to overthrow the current Sect Leader of Taihuang Immortal Sect, Zhan Changsheng, and become the new Sect Leader himself.
To become the new Sect Leader of Taihuang Immortal Sect, he first needed to defeat Zhan Changsheng and then find ways to eliminate Zhan Changsheng's power base, replacing them with his own trusted allies.
If possible, he certainly hoped to gain the support of the Taihuang Immortal Sect Elders.
But clearly, he knew it would be very difficult for him to gain the support of the Taihuang Immortal Sect Elders.
Even if he wanted to gain their support, his strength needed to at least reach the Shattering Void Realm.
Therefore, his choice was to wait until the later stages of the Shattering Void Realm to start enhancing the quality of his Star Soul.
Seeing Duan Gujin already reached the Martial Saint Second Level before the age of twenty, the feelings he harbored were envy, jealousy, and resentment.
"What a pity!"
His face suddenly turned cold, and a chilling light flashed through his pupils.
But in the next moment, he returned to normal.
He knew that to quickly enhance his cultivation, he needed to rely on Duan Gujin.
After all, Duan Gujin was a Martial Artist from the Jiuzhou Continent, and he knew many methods to advance that Zhan Huantai was unaware of.
For instance, the top-grade Spiritual Medicine Nourishing God Turtle, which could nourish both the Body and Divine Soul of a Martial Artist.
This unique Secret Technique, not only had he never heard of it, but he believed his Master Zhan Pingta was equally ignorant of it.
"There's always someone better, and there's always a higher sky! I must remain humble and cautious in the future!"
After eating meat and drinking soup, Zhan Huantai began circulating his Primordial Power, absorbing and refining the pure energy from the meat soup.
As a day passed, they drank all of the huge pot of soup, not leaving behind even a drop.
"It was truly delightful!"
Although the three of them did not rise a small realm from this Nourishing God Turtle soup, they refined their bodies and strengthened their Divine Souls.
The next day, they received reports from their subordinates and learned that the Sect Leader of Taihuang Immortal Sect issued a notice, calling for master warriors from across the world to eliminate the invading sea demon experts, who had temporarily halted their offensive and were eyeing places from the sea.
"Why do these sea demons insist on attacking those cities?"
Zhan Huantai asked in confusion.
"To find out the answer, the best way is not to guess blindly, but to seek the truth!"
Duan Gujin instructed Qing Lian and Zhan Huantai to stay put and do nothing, while he ventured to the nearby sea, transformed himself, and sneaked into the ocean.
An hour later, he learned from a sea demon whose memory he had accessed, that Saido had gathered two sea demon leaders, telling them that the Ancient God Ruins were the ancestral lands of the Sea Demon Ancient God, enticing the two leaders to mobilize.
"So that's it!"
Duan Gujin couldn't help but muse; he hadn't expected the Ancient God Ruins, which belonged to the Divine World, to be claimed by Saido as the ancestral grounds of their sea demon tribe.
"That Saido really knows how to stir emotions!"
After a while, Duan Gujin realized Saido's intent.
Essentially, Saido falsely claimed the Ancient God Ruins as the Sea Demon Ancient God's ancestral land to deceive the other two sea demon leaders, get them to collaborate, and pressure Taihuang Immortal Sect to yield the Treasures within the Ancient God Ruins.
"So this is the truth!"
Duan Gujin breathed a sigh of relief; he realized that the gathering of the three sea demon leaders posed little threat to him.
Unless the three sea demon leaders, all at the Shattering Void First Layer, attacked him together, even sea demons at the Ninth-level Martial Saint could not overpower him.
Duan Gujin knew Taihuang Immortal Sect had powerful experts capable of blocking the attacks of those three sea demon leaders, and the reason they were at a standoff was that once sea demons submerged into the sea, they could unleash their innate abilities in full.
In an equal realm, the Human Clan could easily crush sea demons on land and in the sky.
Conversely, in an equal realm, sea demons could similarly crush the Human Clan in the ocean.
Thus, Duan Gujin believed that as long as humans didn't advance rashly or make elementary mistakes, the conflict between humans and sea demons would ultimately end in a human victory, with sea demons merely causing disturbances in coastal cities.
Duan Gujin focused his attention on sea demons viewed as Natural Spiritual Medicine.
Using those sea demons regarded as Natural Spiritual Medicine to refine elixir pills often produces results similar to Holy-level Elixirs.
Duan Gujin lurked in the ocean for some time, forcefully retrieving memories from many sea demons, learning that among the numerous sea demon leaders, Zhou Xin once acquired a Demon Sword.
Yet, no sea demon knew the power of that Demon Sword.
Previously, no sea demon had the fortune of witnessing Zhou Xin wield the Demon Sword, and rumors said Zhou Xin returned to his treasure trove to retrieve the Demon Sword to counter humans.
"Demon Sword?"
Upon hearing these words, Duan Gujin's mouth twitched, showing his disapproval of the sea demons' claims.
"Since Zhou Xin wants to summon the Demon Sword, I'd like to see what kind of Demon Sword Zhou Xin can actually summon!"
Having interacted with sea demons, he knew that their intelligence was typically lacking.
Relative to ordinary Martial Artists, Zhou Xin's supposedly discovered Demon Sword might merely be an ordinary Longsword.
However, due to Zhou Xin's lack of expertise in Dark Weapon knowledge and inability to identify treasures, he mistakenly considered a regular Longsword as a Demon Sword.
Regarding Zhou Xin's Demon Sword claims, Duan Gujin expressed skepticism.
But given Zhou Xin's current return to his lair to fetch the Demon Sword, Duan Gujin felt it was likely Zhou Xin exaggerated or was afraid.
To gather more intelligence, he braced himself and infiltrated the sea demon army, seizing a Martial Saint Third Level sea demon at the opportune time, knocking it unconscious and forcefully accessing its memory.
An hour later, he learned additional precise details.
It turned out Zhou Xin was highly reluctant to use the Demon Sword, as once wielded, he couldn't summon any demonic power for a month, rendering him no different from low-level sea snakes and sea shrimp foot soldiers.
Thus, unless absolutely necessary, Zhou Xin was unwilling to use the Demon Sword.
However, because Duan Gujin had captured Zhou Xin's Nourishing God Turtle previously, Zhou Xin was furious, seeking revenge against the Human Clan.
Yet, upon witnessing the prowess of human Dark Weapons firsthand, Zhou Xin hesitated, contemplating for a while before deciding to retrieve his Demon Sword.
"Ha, I've seen many divine swords and demon weapons; I'm eager to see what Zhou Xin's Demon Sword truly looks like!"
From the sea demon's memory, he knew that Zhou Xin would return in half a day.
So, he waited patiently.
After half a day, he received orders that the three major sea demon leaders intended to convene an assembly, demanding participation from every sea demon with cultivation above the Martial Saint Realm.
After considering, Duan Gujin decided to attend the sea demon assembly, knowing he could witness the three major sea demon leaders there.
"Unless those three sea demon leaders possess exceptionally powerful Divine Sense exploration, they're unlikely to detect my use of the Transformation Technique!"