131: Chapter 131 Fragrance

Over the past twenty years, Oscar Barry witnessed the Vermilion Bird molt multiple times, eventually growing back into a colossal beast.

During this process, he continuously collected the feathers shed by the Vermilion Bird during its molting.

The base of those shed, discarded feathers still carried traces of the Vermilion Bird's blood.

The blood of the Vermilion Bird, having undergone Nirvana, carried the characteristics from before its Rebirth.

Originally, Oscar Barry only intended to use these blood-stained feathers to carve the image of a god onto his daughter's body.

His daughter had shown an extremely high affinity for the fire element since birth.

But Oscar Barry truly had not expected that the moment the Phoenix pattern was carved, it would be activated.

The instant it was activated, his daughter, who had barely become a Third-rate Martial Artist, erupted with power not inferior to a Second-rate Martial Artist.

This truly shocked Oscar Barry.

What surprised him even more was that a special aura appeared on his daughter after the tattoo was activated, an aura that was strikingly similar to the one emanating from Venerable Phoenix.

That was not all.

In the days that followed, Oscar Barry discovered that Venerable Phoenix seemed to favor his daughter even more.

Upon making this discovery, Oscar Barry was overjoyed.

He took out all the feathers he had collected previously and had those with sincere faith tattooed with the image of Venerable Phoenix, calling it the Phoenix Mark.

After years of martial arts training, the strength of the people on the island increased significantly.

Second-rate Martial Artists made up the largest proportion, and there were also many First-Class Martial Artists.

Having suffered through the poison of drug addiction and escaped from Hell, their faith was more devout, and their mental will was purer; these people easily gave birth to Divine Will and Advanced to First-Class Martial Artists.

When Second-rate Martial Artists activated the tattoo, they could erupt with the power of a First-Class Martial Artist for a short time.

As for First-Class Martial Artists, they erupted with even more powerful strength.

Although it was impossible to cross major stages, erupting with the strength of a Late Stage, or even Peak, First-Class Martial Artist was still quite astonishing.

This was the foundation of the Phoenix Church.

This was also the foundation for their impending revenge.

The war began.

Thousands of people participated in the war in Elijah.

The subordinates of the Black Demon, Solomon, retreated one after another.

Before long, Solomon himself was even injured in public by Oscar Barry.

Solomon was strong, but Oscar Barry was no worse.

His mental will had undergone several transformations and had long since become extremely resilient.

This was the root cause of his smooth progress in martial arts over these years.

Coupled with the enhancement from the Phoenix Mark, he defeated Solomon with extreme ease.

If not for others intervening, he might have killed Solomon on the spot.

And these others were none other than veterans from the previous Joint Forces, who had been invited by Solomon as guests.

Unexpectedly, this ended up saving Solomon.

Matters suddenly spiraled out of control.

Especially after seeing the Vermilion Bird phantom that appeared when Oscar Barry and the others activated the Phoenix Mark.

It immediately reminded them of their experience hunting giant beasts twenty years ago.

The reason they were able to achieve such high martial arts cultivation was precisely because of those experiences and the giant beast flesh they had obtained.

Memories surfaced, and looking at Oscar Barry's face, wasn't he the very person they had hunted twenty years ago?!

Solomon and the other person exchanged a glance, suddenly excited.

Call for backup!

In a short time, the incident escalated.

The war expanded further.

High-level Martial Artists gathered there one after another.

Oscar Barry was no fool; he began to win over the martial arts experts affected by the war.

Using the Phoenix Mark as bait, he made a large number of Martial Artists respond.

For a time, the number of Martial Artists gathered in Elijah skyrocketed.

First-Class Martial Artists were everywhere, and Second-rate ones were a dime a dozen.

Only Half-step Xiantian were the top combat power.

The war lasted for three years.

Ruins and broken walls were everywhere, a scene of total devastation.

High-level Martial Artists were basically no longer afraid of conventional artillery.

Unless it was weapons of mass destruction or heavy firepower blockades.

However, weapons of this level could no longer be used in this war.

As of now, too many Martial Artists had gathered on the entire battlefield.

The relationships were intricate and complex.

If weapons of mass destruction were deployed, many people would likely be harmed by mistake.

The consequences of that would likely be even more severe.

That was not all.

Perhaps the world had been at peace for too long.

Some conspirators had no place to use their skills.

This wide-reaching war made them all active.

They kept stirring up trouble, causing this war to fall into a stalemate, and it even had a trend of constantly expanding.

Furthermore.

If it weren't for the fact that in today's world, Xiantian Experts were treated like nuclear weapons and were firmly monitored by all countries, even Xiantian Experts would likely have entered the fray.

If Xiantian Experts truly entered the fray, the entire situation would likely spiral completely out of control.

This was not something any country wanted to see.

...

Huaxia.

The back mountain of Laojun Temple.

Director Xiang Dahai put down his teacup and kept looking outside.

Three days ago, the black clouds that had shrouded the top of Laojun Temple for over ten years dissipated.

The moment he received this news, Xiang Dahai came to Laojun Temple.

Everyone knew the black clouds were a manifestation of Bai Zhu's secluded cultivation.

At first, the black clouds appeared from time to time, but later they basically shrouded the Laojun Temple area all year round.

It had been over a decade since the black clouds last dissipated.

Since the revival of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, nearly thirty years had passed.

Thirty years was almost a generation.

Even over a hundred Xiantian-level Martial Artists had been born.

But even so, the status of Bai Zhu and Laojun Temple remained unshakable.

It was not that no Xiantian Experts wanted to challenge Bai Zhu.

But not to mention that Laojun Temple had other Xiantian Experts, Bai Zhu's own strength alone was not to be underestimated.

He was the first in the world to reach the Xiantian Realm.

And he reached the Xiantian level just three months after the revival of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

He could simply be called a Prodigy, or even a miracle.

Now that thirty years had passed, no one knew what level Bai Zhu had reached.

Once, a Xiantian Expert snuck into the Laojun Temple Domain, wanting to challenge Bai Zhu.

In the end, just after entering the range shrouded by the black clouds, he felt something silently, and left without looking back.

Since then, no one had ever wanted to challenge Bai Zhu again.

Now, the international situation was deteriorating day by day.

The battlefield in Elijah had begun to affect the entire world.

Even though the Republic was gradually becoming the strongest nation in the world and a Holy Land for martial arts, it could not avoid being affected.

If the influence continued to expand, even the Republic's transcendent status would likely be dragged into the fray.

If it truly reached that point, even the major powers of the world would be unable to control the international situation.

Therefore, upon guessing that Bai Zhu had finished his secluded cultivation, Xiang Dahai rushed over immediately.

He hoped that Bai Zhu would make a trip to Elijah to control the situation and quell the war.

Waiting anxiously, Xiang Dahai kept looking outside.

Time passed quickly.

In the blink of an eye, Xiang Dahai had already drunk three pots of water.

Just when he thought he still wouldn't be able to see Bai Zhu today, a slender figure walked over leisurely.

At the same time, a fragrance permeated the air.

This fragrance was elusive, causing Xiang Dahai to subconsciously take a few extra breaths.

With just one breath, he felt his mouth filled with fragrance.

"Director Xiang, long time no see!"

Suddenly looking up, he saw Bai Zhu looking at him with a smile.

His demeanor was leisurely, and his appearance was just as it was back then, with no trace of time left behind.