Chapter 384 – The Great Wall Isn't a Wall, Immortal Alliance's Shield, Antiquity's Sword

At the center of the million-strong demon army outside the White Tiger Great Wall.

This was not only the core area of the demon army, but also the location of the army’s controller, or rather, the supreme commander—Crane Feather Mountain Lord, Tantai Changsheng.

“Respected Mountain Lord Tantai, we are all prepared. When shall we act? I can hardly wait to taste that delicious spiritual flesh.”

“Just thinking about the flesh and blood of those cultivators… makes me unable to control myself.”

Inside the central tent, a wolf-headed demon looked excitedly toward the high platform.

Gathered around him were many other demons with equally ferocious appearances and astonishing auras.

Without exception, these demons were all great demons at the Nascent Soul Stage, their demonic power soaring to the heavens.

Unlike normal cultivators who follow the path of self-cultivation, comprehending heaven and earth to achieve Ascension, the vast majority of demons have limited ‘spiritual nature’ themselves, with only one in ten thousand achieving enlightenment.

Therefore, their entry into the path of cultivation is often more primitive.

The most common method is consuming some special spiritual object.

These spiritual objects could be plants and fruits with some cultivation base, other enlightened spirit beasts, or equally, ‘humans’ as the spiritual essence of all things.

Indeed, for demons, humans are not ordinary food in their eyes.

They are delicacies, and also excellent supplements that can greatly enhance their demonic power.

Ordinary humans without cultivation might not have very noticeable effects on demons, only slightly improving their wisdom roots.

But cultivators are completely different.

The more powerful the cultivator, the more precious a ‘delicacy’ they become in the eyes of these demons.

If a Golden Core Stage demon could devour a cultivator also at the Golden Core Stage, for them, it would be comparable to several hundred, or even over a thousand years of cultivation.

Compared to the self-cultivation methods of spirit beasts, this approach is undoubtedly much more effective.

It is also the method chosen by the vast majority of demons.

Among demons and even within the Immortal Alliance, there has always been a saying:

Once a demon tastes the flavor of a cultivator, they can never forget that taste for the rest of their life.

This is precisely where the danger of the Ten Thousand Mountains lies.

For ordinary cultivators entering the Ten Thousand Mountains, it’s like Tang Sanzang entering the Lion Camel Ridge—surrounded by greedy gazes from all directions.

And every great demon present in this tent has consumed over a hundred people each, all notorious demons listed on Great Wilderness City’s wanted roster.

If these creatures weren’t mostly hiding deep within the Ten Thousand Mountains, the Immortal Alliance would love to refine every last one of them.

Although Tantai Changsheng’s ‘Twilight Eye’ could control demons below the Nascent Soul Stage, it couldn’t control those at or above the Nascent Soul Stage.

All the demons currently around Tantai Changsheng had voluntarily joined this ‘hunt.’

After all, similar situations aren’t actually very common in the Ten Thousand Mountains.

Many people think that demons share some unified consensus among themselves, but in reality, this is just a collective term the Immortal Alliance uses for these non-human creatures.

Think about it carefully—how could a wolf demon and a sheep demon possibly recognize each other as kin?The method required to integrate these different races of demons is primitive yet simple.

That is absolute strength.

This also formed the prototype of the numerous Mountain Lords in the Ten Thousand Mountains.

This consequently created a peculiar phenomenon.

The relationship between Mountain Lords and their subordinate demons is less like that of employer and employees.

And more akin to that of slave owners and slaves.

Slave owners never care about the deaths of their slaves.

For Mountain Lords who reside year-round in the Ten Thousand Mountains, the best and most effective way to enhance their demonic power is undoubtedly to have their lesser demons hunt as many humans as possible.

Before the emergence of Great Wilderness City, this was indeed the situation in Wildlands Province.

At that time, demons still operated independently, each carving out their own territories.

They kept humans within these areas, treating them as livestock for consumption.

However, after the appearance of Great Wilderness City and the Immortal Alliance, this situation changed.

First, the emergence of Cultivators led to the slaying of one major demon after another.

Causing the major demons to dare not easily reveal themselves.

Then, using the Ten Thousand Mountains as a boundary, the Immortal Alliance established the White Tiger Great Wall.

Demons within the Ten Thousand Mountains were isolated beyond the White Tiger Great Wall.

Those demons trapped inside the White Tiger Great Wall were completely eradicated.

Gradually, demons that preferred to devour humans became rare within the Immortal Alliance.

Those that could appear before the general public were mostly Spirit Beasts following orthodox cultivation paths.

Referred to by demons as ‘Cultivator pets’.

They are despised by the demon race.

The demon army stirred up by Tantai Changsheng this time is, for the vast majority of Mountain Lords in the Ten Thousand Mountains, a feast that occurs once in a century.

If they can breach the White Tiger Great Wall, it would undoubtedly be a great boon for them.

The population of over ten million in Great Wilderness City could not only allow them to advance to the level of Demon Kings comparable to the Transformation Soul Stage.

But even make it possible to reach the legendary Celestial Demon level, equivalent to Immortals.

If they fail to breach the White Tiger Great Wall, the worst outcome would merely be the loss of some subordinates.

Therefore, some major demons located near the ‘Twilight Eye’, upon learning of this event, voluntarily joined the demon army with their followers.

Otherwise, relying solely on Tantai Changsheng, such a large-scale demon army could never have been assembled.

More crucially, the current demon army represents only a small fraction of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

More major demons, and even Demon Kings, are still observing from the sidelines.

Once they see the possibility of the White Tiger Great Wall being breached, those demons who are still watching will join the fray.

By then, the number of demons appearing in this great war might far exceed mere millions.

However, Tantai Changsheng is well aware that the scenario feared by the Immortal Alliance and hoped for by other major demons—a ten-million-strong demon army—was never possible from the start.

Firstly, the strength of the White Tiger Great Wall far exceeds everyone’s imagination.

Many people, including those within the Immortal Alliance itself, believe that the White Tiger Great Wall was built by the Immortal Alliance.

But Tantai Changsheng learned part of the truth about the White Tiger Great Wall through a special channel.

That is, the so-called White Tiger Great Wall, which appears to be a structure, is actually… just a Sword.

A Sword left behind by an unknown entity.

The so-called ‘Great Wall’ is merely the scabbard.

It is the external protection and Seal for that ‘Sword’.Once a certain moment arrives, this ancient sword hidden within its scabbard will see the light of day once more.

Tantai Changsheng, and even the other Ancient Immortal Sects, dare not set foot into the Immortal Alliance at will.

This is not only because of the Immortal Alliance’s heavy artifact, the Nine Provinces Immortal Cauldron, but also because of these four peculiar swords that form the Great Wall.

If no certain taboos are triggered, all is well.

But once those taboos are touched, or the unspoken rules of these four swords and the cauldron are violated, not even a mere Transformation Soul Stage cultivator would be spared—even those above the Deity Transformation level could be slain without hesitation.

Although, up to now, Tantai Changsheng has not heard of any Ancient Immortal cultivator triggering this taboo, he has not forgotten the ancient secrets he once glimpsed by chance in the core region of the Ten Thousand Mountains—the Tomb of Ten Thousand Immortals.

Even those Ancient Immortals, who seemed immensely powerful in his eyes, had fallen under that terrifying Immortal Sword. How could he dare to provoke such a taboo?

However, not many people in the entire Immortal Alliance, or even the entire world, know of these matters. Even Tantai Changsheng himself has not shared this information with many others.

After all, if they were to learn that, aside from the Nine Provinces Immortal Cauldron serving as the foundation, the establishment of the Immortal Alliance also involved the existence of these four Immortal Swords, many might lose the courage to challenge the Immortal Alliance.

Thus, as he watched the excited expressions of the Nascent Soul Stage great demons below, Tantai Changsheng responded with a smile on the surface, but inwardly, he was laughing mockingly.

A mere million demons and some ignorant Nascent Soul Stage demons, thinking they could breach the White Tiger Great Wall? They truly had no idea how to spell the word “death.”

Even if the White Tiger Great Wall were to be toppled one day in the future, it would not be the work of these insignificant Nascent Soul Stage demons.

To bring down the White Tiger Great Wall, one could not rely on “mortal” strength alone—it required the power of an Immortal-level existence.

And what he was doing now, or rather, what the Great Thousand Mountains was doing, was precisely to accelerate this process.

After all, The One of Biyou Mountain was visibly beginning to weaken.

Once she was gone, the ancient Immortals, who lived as long as heaven and earth and were nearly immortal, would reappear in the world.

And only then would the time truly come to launch a counterattack against the Immortal Alliance.

Everything happening now was merely an appetizer—and a means to add more chips to the Great Thousand Mountains’ side for the impending “golden age.”

Though these were his thoughts, Tantai Changsheng did not voice them aloud.

Looking down at the many demons below, he said with a smile, “I know you are all eager to begin the grand feast, but the timing is not yet ripe. It is not the right moment to commence the banquet.”

“Please be patient for a few more days. The time for the feast is… not far off.”

Upon hearing Tantai Changsheng’s words, the demons, though harboring various thoughts, showed none of them outwardly.

After all, to cultivate to the Nascent Soul Stage in the perilous Ten Thousand Mountains, aside from a very few lucky ones, the remaining demons were all cunning and scheming individuals.

Those without such cunning had long become meals for other demons.

After all, demon flesh might not taste good, but it was still meat, wasn’t it?

In a villa within the Great Wilderness City.

“Yu has sent word that his preparations are almost complete.”

“As soon as we make our move, he will immediately coordinate with our actions.””At this point, can we confirm the exact location of the Leader?”

Inside the villa, two men and one woman were sitting in the living room, discussing with each other.

At first glance, these two men and one woman appeared ordinary, but upon closer inspection, one would notice their peculiarities.

One man had a robust torso but unusually short limbs.

Another man had slender arms and a delicate build.

The woman, meanwhile, possessed exceptionally long legs.

Although their physiques each had distinctive features, in Great Wilderness City—the Alliance’s hub with the highest concentration of Spirit Beasts and individuals with Spirit Beast Bloodlines—they weren’t particularly remarkable.

After all, there were plenty of people in Great Wilderness City with even more unusual characteristics.

Thus, their presence didn’t attract much attention in the city.

However, upon closer observation, one would notice a common trait among them.

Apart from their faces, the skin on their bodies appeared stitched together, as if foreign skin had been forcibly sutured onto them.

These three were none other than three of the five Golden Robe Revered Ones from the Great Thousand Mountains.

They were ‘Crane Body’, ‘Crane Wing’, and ‘Crane Foot’ respectively.

As for Tantai Changsheng, he was Crane Feather, one of the five Mountain Lords.

As for ‘Crane Head’, he was the most unique among the five Mountain Lords and could not easily leave the Great Thousand Mountains.

For this operation, four of the five Great Thousand Mountains Revered Ones had been dispatched.

It could be said that the Great Thousand Mountains had almost emptied its nest for this endeavor.

Generally, when the five Great Thousand Mountains Revered Ones, who had reached the Transformation Soul Stage, set foot in the Immortal Alliance, the Nine Provinces Immortal Cauldron would detect their presence and alert the Immortal Alliance.

But for every problem, there is a solution.

Through prolonged exploration, the Great Thousand Mountains had discovered a method suitable for them, allowing Deity Transformation stage Fiend cultivators to infiltrate the Immortal Alliance.

This method was quite simple.

It involved using the Great Thousand Mountains’ secret technique to don ‘Fiend Skin’ over their bodies.

However, this method could only deceive the Nine Provinces Immortal Cauldron for a short time.

The moment they revealed their true cultivation, the Nine Provinces Immortal Cauldron would immediately detect them.

Therefore, the three Revered Ones in the villa were currently in a state of concealment.

The one who had just spoken was ‘Crane Foot’ among the three, also known as the Red Crane Fairy, one of the five Great Thousand Mountains Revered Ones—Sikou Ji.

Facing Sikou Ji’s inquiry, ‘Crane Wing’ pondered for a moment before responding, “It’s almost confirmed. Although we can’t pinpoint exactly which floor of the Great Wilderness Pagoda the Leader is on, we can rule out anything below the 90th floor.”

“In other words, our target is above the 90th floor.”

Hearing this, a strange expression crossed Sikou Ji’s enchanting face.

“Oh, I never realized Crane Wing’s intelligence network was so extensive. It seems the pawn you’ve planted within the Great Wilderness Pagoda is deeper than I imagined.”

‘Crane Wing’ did not respond to this remark, maintaining silence instead, clearly unwilling to elaborate on the topic.

After all, since the Sect Leader’s disappearance, while the five Revered Ones appeared harmonious on the surface, undercurrents of tension ran deep.

Their names alone hinted that the relationships among these five were far more complex than outsiders might assume.

Simply put, if they wished to advance further and reach the Mahayana stage, they needed to consolidate a complete ‘Crane Form’.

And this meant they would have to devour the other four Revered Ones.If possible, they certainly wouldn’t have taken the risk to rescue the Sect Leader.

One must understand that in Gu Xian’s system, subordinates overthrowing their superiors was not only not uncommon—it was actually quite common.

Had the Sect Leader not engraved the secret technique of the ‘Complete Crane Form’ upon his own body,

the five of them would have long been locked in a life-and-death struggle, competing for that single chance of ascension.

They would never have cooperated as seamlessly as they were now.

It could only be said that until the Sect Leader was rescued, the goals of the five of them… were completely aligned.

(End of Chapter)