The First Immortal of Destiny

Chapter 458: 458

According to their findings, it was not just the Red Flame Country suffering from the demonic catastrophe.

Several unknown zones have been under the continuous onslaught of the demon tide for the past one hundred years, and now they are on the brink of total collapse!

This leads to the geographical layout of the current world.

This world is vast beyond measure, expanding for billions of miles, but the zone where the Red Flame Country is located resembles a colossal, isolated island.

The northern boundary is marked by the Void Sky Mountain Range. Although the northern region is extremely cold, filled with numerous dangers, and unsuitable for habitation, cultivators still venture there for exploration. Beyond the extreme north lies the true forbidden area of life, whose bitter cold can freeze even Golden Core Realm powerhouses.

To the east of the Red Flame Country lies the renowned Immortal Burial Sea.

Billions of the Marine Race inhabit the coastal waters, while farther out, ferocious Sea Beasts reign. Even more distant regions are as desolate as a void, devoid of the slightest trace of nature’s spiritual energy, making it impossible for even the wild Sea Beasts to set foot there.

To the west of the Red Flame Country, an unknown entity transformed it into a Spiritless Land more than two thousand years ago.

The Southern Zone is covered with poisonous miasma for tens of millions of miles, creating a harsh environment even for immortals and demons.

Apart from these terrifying natural or man-made barriers...

More importantly, the four cardinal boundaries are reinforced with invisible zone barriers, as tough as iron walls, making it difficult for anyone below the Golden Core Realm to traverse using their own strength!

The other zones of this world are mostly in similar circumstances. Even the Heaven Patrolling Zone, where the Taiyi Sword Alliance resides, is isolated by natural barriers and zone barriers. Compared to the Red Flame Zone, it is only more extensive.

Shen Mo did not know whether this geographical pattern had existed since time immemorial or was accomplished by a grandmaster of the Immortal Path using great divine power.

What he could confirm was that there were numerous zones like the Red Flame Zone, scattered throughout this world like squares on a chessboard!

Many of these zones were invaded by Foreign Realm Demons.

Even a powerful zone like the Heaven Patrolling Zone had suffered from a demonic catastrophe, resulting in heavy casualties. Hence, the Heaven Patrolling Temple was established to guard against similar disasters.

Meanwhile, some zones possessed overall strength even less than that of the Red Flame Zone.

After struggling for many years, they eventually fell to the demonic catastrophe, turning the entire zone into breeding grounds for the Heavenly Demons. The creatures in these zones were then exploited as blood food by the Demon-corrupted Heavenly Demons!

Not long ago, several Class IV Big Heavenly Demons emerged in the Outer Zone. They made significant progress in one of the zones, not only securing the release of a batch of Big Heavenly Demons but also accumulating massive amounts of blood food to expand their power.

Currently, the elite forces of the Five Great Sects infiltrating the Heavenly Demon Realm were attempting to enter other zones.

Their purpose was to collect more information, ascertain whether the zones invaded by the Heavenly Demons could still be saved, and gauge the extent to which the overall strength of the Heavenly Demons had grown...

Afterward, they would research and formulate the next step in their strategy.

「...」

Inside the Longevity Hall.

Besides discussing demon-slaying matters, Sect Master Yuan Qingshi proposed a special matter for everyone’s deliberation.

”The Ghost Corpse School has sent a letter,” he announced, ”inviting our Sect to assist in unearthing the tomb of a Heavenly Monarch-level powerhouse!”

Saying so, Yuan Qingshi took an exquisite jade slip from his sleeve and passed it among the Peak Masters, Hall Masters, and core disciples present for them to read.

Rising Sun Peak Master Tang Lv and Stars Peak Master Zhou Shili were absent due to other business.

Bright Moon Peak Master Yuan Jing read the jade slip and then passed it to Shen Mo.

Shen Mo extended his divine sense, scanned the jade slip, and noted the information recorded on it. Although his expression remained unchanged, he was inwardly surprised.

Afterwards, with a flick of his robe sleeve, he passed the jade slip to Enforcement Hall Master Jin Chinian.

Soon, all the high-ranking members in the hall had been informed of the situation, each displaying a different expression.

”Sect Master! If the Ghost Corpse School’s scheme succeeds this time, their sect’s power and foundation will soar immensely. Even if we assist, we must prepare countermeasures in advance!”

Affairs Hall Master Tian Zhaoquan was the first to speak.

Shen Mo gave him a fleeting glance. Although he was typically at odds with this person, at this moment, he somewhat agreed with his thinking.

The jade slip recorded a significant matter, one that could potentially change the landscape of the Red Flame Country’s cultivation world.

It turned out that more than two hundred years ago, the Ghost Corpse School had discovered a magnificent and majestic Underground Palace tomb in the desolate lands of the Southern Area.

After investigation, they discovered it was the tomb of a Divine Bridge Realm Heavenly Monarch.

After over a hundred years of excavation, most of the external mechanisms and Prohibitions had been cracked, but the core of the tomb could not be forcefully breached.

Judging from the arrangements made by this Heavenly Monarch before his death, he did not want others to disturb his remains but also had no intention of excessive killing. Therefore, he had set up dozens of extremely strict challenges deep inside the tomb.

Each challenge was a complex test for the tomb excavators, involving various aspects of the cultivation world...

These included, but were not limited to, the Sword Path, Alchemy Path, Talisman Path, Forge, Array Path, and other Hundred Arts of Cultivation!

As one of the Five Great Sects in the Red Flame Country, the Ghost Corpse School was not prestigious without reason.

For many years, they had been secretly solving these challenges discreetly, and now only half of them remained unsolved.

According to their calculations, in another hundred years, relying solely on the geniuses from their own sect, they would be able to completely breach the core of the tomb.

However, with the demonic catastrophe growing increasingly powerful, the high-ranking members of the Ghost Corpse School eventually changed their plan. They now wanted to leverage the power of the entire Red Flame Country’s cultivation world to break through the remaining challenges in one fell swoop and obtain the Heavenly Monarch’s remains!

The Ghost Corpse School’s change of plans was not only related to the current demonic catastrophe but also to another extremely important reason...

They had discovered that this Heavenly Monarch-level tomb did not contain any inheritance of the Divine Bridge Realm.

However, this nameless Heavenly Monarch had likely established a cave paradise, which had not yet merged with this world to become a Dungeon-like existence!

Dungeons like the Riverside Sect’s Mountain River Realm, Jade Pool Realm, and Vacuous Realm were very likely former cave paradises of mighty cultivators. It was just that their original owners had long since passed away, and whether it was the Fairyland or the Blessed Land, all had descended into the mortal realm, connecting to the Red Flame Zone.

If the entire Red Flame Country were to fall into the hands of the Heavenly Demons, no matter how well these Dungeons were hidden, they could not escape the Heavenly Demons’ depredations.

But a cave paradise that had not yet descended into the mortal realm was entirely different. Just like Ming Yu’s ”The Smallest and The Largest” small space, it could wander and migrate at will with its owner!

The Ghost Corpse School, proficient in the art of corpse refining, planned to refine the remains of this nameless Heavenly Monarch into a powerful Ghoul.

In this way, they would possess a Dungeon similar to the Mountain River Realm. Moreover, this Dungeon would still retain the characteristics of a cave paradise, able to ascend to the heavens and descend into the earth with the Ghoul, traveling to all corners of the world.

The implications were self-evident.

First, the cultivation world would gain another quasi-Heavenly Monarch-level combatant.

The Five Great Sects had dominated this zone for a thousand years, possessing an unmatched foundation. Each sect had its own quasi-Heavenly Monarch methods, but as there was currently no crisis threatening their extermination, they had no need to employ them.

This point did not count for much; it would not completely overturn the current landscape of the cultivation world.

But apart from this, if the entire Red Flame Country were to fall to the demonic catastrophe... then the Heavenly Monarch Ghoul in the hands of the Ghost Corpse School, with its freely mobile cave paradise, would become an extremely crucial trump card. Its value would even surpass that of the Wando Archipelago.