Chapter 1 South of the Central Plains

South of the Central Plains, along the Nanjiang River.

Dark clouds loomed, and a torrential rain poured down.

The Suzhou land, once famed as a land of fish and rice, had become a primeval forest overgrown with vegetation after nearly eighty years of neglect.

Clouds swirled, wind and rain scattered, and a humid breeze swept over the forest sea, carrying with it all sorts of miasma accumulated within. The entire forest was immediately filled with color.

Faintly visible, countless plants and beasts, never before seen in this world before the appearance of the Divine Tree, were breeding and moving within, transforming this land into an extraordinary otherworld.

And a huge river flowed, like a dividing line separating heaven and earth. In the drizzling rain, it passed through this forest, which resembled another world, extending from the depths of the distant continent to the ocean at the end of the field of vision.

Su Zhou stood at the very front of a True Qi airship named 'Changfeng', gazing into the distance with Li Daoran and another Daoist grandmaster, towards the Baizhang (Hundred Schools) stronghold, which was beginning to take shape—and the incomparably huge 'Banyan Tree', whose shade covered nearly a thousand miles.

The Panrong Undying Tree!

The oncoming gale and rain blew against the young man's clothes, who carried a long spear on his back and a long saber at his waist, and also made the flag hanging on the True Qi airship flutter loudly—but Su Zhou didn't care, because the fire spirit power naturally emitted from the divine weapon he wore at his waist could easily blow away all the rain.

He just narrowed his eyes, staring at the Divine Tree in front of him, and the Heavenly Palace that was faintly visible at the top of the Divine Tree.

"That's where our Baizhang confront the Demon Court—if it weren't for this, how could the Demon Court's demon army station most of its combat power on the other side of the Nanjiang River?"

Li Daoran explained to Su Zhou, pointing with a hand wrapped in bandages to the Heavenly Palace at the top: "And that is the Heavenly Palace, the Demon Emperor's residence, and below it are the New Southern Heavenly Capital and the Nanjiang Heavenly Gate."

Li Daoran's arm, injured by the Imperial Advisor, had not yet healed. After all, he was just an ordinary human and did not have the terrifying recovery power of the Divine Tree's favored or Su Zhou. Su Zhou glanced remotely at the thirty-foot-high city walls of Nanjiang Heavenly Gate, and couldn't help but exclaim: "As expected of a world with martial arts and Dao techniques, this hundred-meter-high city wall is truly terrifying!"

However, Su Zhou wasn't worried about such city walls—with his current Great Grandmaster cultivation, climbing the city walls was as easy as walking on flat ground. He could step a hole in the city wall with one foot, and gravity could hardly restrain him anymore.

Compared to this, he was a little worried and turned his head to look at the Daoist grandmaster beside him: "Grandmaster Liu, do you think I can fight with this Miedu (Extinction Crossing) Blade? Although you said that my inner strength is fire-attributed and I have a certain foundation in thunder techniques, so it's best to control this divine saber... but this should only be a temporary measure."

"Compared to the Baizhang, I'm just an outsider after all, this kind of divine weapon should be used by other Great Grandmasters, right?"

Although Su Zhou never underestimated himself, he was very clear that such things as divine weapons would probably not be easily handed over to him, this 'hero'... Of course, he protected the forging of the divine weapon and also defeated the Imperial Advisor, proving his position and strength, but in the final analysis, the ownership of this knife was not in his hands.

But even more terrifying was the attitude of the Baizhang rebel army, who were happy to see him holding the divine weapon—these people were too kind to him. Not to mention anything else, the food supply and cultivation spiritual materials every day were full, even if they ate less and used less, they would give Su Zhou an unlimited supply, to the point that he himself felt a little awkward.

In response, the Liu surname Daoist grandmaster was stunned, but did not expect Su Zhou to ask such a worried question. He touched his rather round belly and shook his head with a smile: "Grandmaster Su is overthinking things. Dao Sage, Shi Sage, and Ru Sage have already sent messages a few days ago, entrusting the Miedu Blade to you... please do not doubt, we are about to arrive at the stronghold, the three leaders are waiting for your arrival."

"Really?"

"Of course."

A few hours later, in the Baizhang rebel army's stronghold, in the underground gathering hall, the Daoist grandmaster, who had made a special trip to meet Su Zhou and was called 'Dao Sage', said softly with a somewhat complicated expression: "Why not? Grandmaster Su, you possess the aura of thunder and fire, I'm afraid there is no one more suitable than you in this world."

"Indeed."

"Not bad."

On the other side, Shi Sage and Ru Sage both nodded slightly, agreeing.

Dao Sage, Shi Sage, and Ru Sage were all white-haired, dying old men. Even Shi Sage, who looked the youngest among them, had wrinkles on his face like layers of bark. Although the three of them spoke with full energy, and the inner energy cultivation they showed when they greeted Su Zhou was truly shocking, not far from the Imperial Advisor, and could even be said to be on par with him—if the undying body was excluded, it would probably take a hundred rounds or more for the Imperial Advisor and these three Baizhang grandmasters to gain the upper hand in a one-on-one fight.

But they were indeed very old, and even their entire life aura was supported by their profound cultivation.

"In fact, if it weren't for Grandmaster Su's appearance, we would only be able to choose a grandmaster who cultivated thunder techniques to hold the Miedu Blade, and not use it ourselves."

At this time, it was the contemporary Ru Sage who spoke. This was a tall, rough-faced old man, but his tone was unexpectedly humble. He patted the saber at his waist and sighed with a wry smile: "It's also shameful to say, we can't personally kill that dog emperor and avenge the tens of millions of wronged souls in this world—I'm afraid we can only ask you to do this."

"Why..." Hearing this, Su Zhou was even more puzzled: "To be honest, I feel very comfortable holding the Miedu Blade, but why don't you go yourself? This is a divine weapon!"

"Now, including me, there are already four Great Grandmasters in the Baizhang rebel army—even if that Demon Emperor advances to the Xiantian (Innate) realm, one person and one blade can kill it. I'm not kidding, the initial Xiantian realm isn't that strong, I have reliable inheritance to prove this!"

Yala said it herself, how could it be false? Even if it was false, it wouldn't be on such a small matter.

Then Su Zhou saw the contemporary Shi Sage clasp his hands and sigh: "Benefactor Su, we have been fighting for eighty years, and now... we have lost the qualification to go above the Divine Tree. Although we are fortunate enough to survive, we can no longer face that Demon Emperor."

"Everyone, there is no need to hide it, let Benefactor Su take a look."

After saying that, the old monk generously stretched out his hand, lifted his kasaya, and showed Su Zhou his arm, which looked fairly muscular.

Then Su Zhou gasped in horror.

"Heavens!"

What appeared before Su Zhou's eyes was not human flesh and blood... but an indescribable, completely strange body composed of various metal levers and various parts, plus countless entangled tree roots!

Su Zhou could sense that on these metal skeletons and parts, and on those tree roots, there was an inner energy flow almost identical to that of humans, so even if he used spiritual vision to observe, he didn't immediately see that something was wrong with the Shi Sage in front of him!

"This, this is just like those demon generals..." For a moment, Su Zhou didn't know how to describe this situation. He turned his head again and looked at the arms that Dao Sage and Ru Sage silently showed him, which were the same as Shi Sage's, and had been completely alienated, only barely maintaining a human form with metal structures!