172: Chapter 172 Overturning the Sea and Destroying the Azure Wood

Cangmu Kingdom, Cangmu Sect, Sect Master Peak.

On the platform at the peak, a mountain of resources shimmered with various precious lights. The core of the High Grade Spiritual Vein was like a massive crystal, emitting rich and pure Spiritual Qi; the ten-thousand-year-old green wood heart was emerald green and dripping, containing boundless vitality; there were bottles of Medicinal Pills, piles of Spirit Stones, and the spiritual light of Treasure Artifacts...

This was almost emptying out the entire foundation the Cangmu Sect had accumulated over thousands of years!

Ma Youdao stood withered to the side, his old eyes staring fixedly at these treasures, his heart bleeding with pain.

But compared to the heartache, there was more anxiety and conflict in his heart.

Should he offer these up and pray for a glimmer of survival? Or... gather the resources he could take, flee to another state immediately, change his name, and live a cowardly life?

Sect Master Hu Yunshan walked over quickly and reported:

"Old Ancestor! Just received news from Cangwu City. Today's regular meeting at the Yuji Platform... Moonshadow Sect... still no one arrived."

Ma Youdao's taut heartstrings suddenly relaxed, and he let out a long sigh.

Seeing this, Hu Yunshan said cautiously:

"Old Ancestor, do you think... the Moonshadow Sect has been slow to submit the declaration of state war, could it be... that they are not holding our past offenses against us, and seeing that we know our mistakes and have prepared such a generous gift, they are magnanimous and letting it slide?"

Ma Youdao's eyes flickered. Reason told him this thought was too naive. How could a Sect that could annihilate the Scarlet Tree Shadow and possessed a Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable easily let off those who provoked them?

But immense fear and a trace of luck made him unable to stop thinking: What if?

Ma Youdao's expression was gloomy and uncertain. Observing his demeanor, Hu Yunshan quickly said:

"This Disciple still has some Sect matters that urgently need to be handled, I shall take my leave first."

He planned to slip away, to get away from this pressure that made him suffocate.

Just at this moment—

"Buzz—!!!"

A low and terrifying hum instantly overpowered all other sounds, rolling in from the distant horizon!

Immediately following, there were cries of alarm and boiling commotion like a mountain collapsing and the sea roaring!

"Heavens... what is that in the sky?!"

"So... so large, the flying ships! So many!"

"Look! They are coming towards us!"

Ma Youdao looked up abruptly and was instantly struck as if by lightning. His whole body froze in place, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.

In the distance at the end of the horizon, a fleet covering the sky and blocking the sun was crushing toward the direction of the Cangmu Sect.

"No... impossible..."

Ma Youdao muttered voicelessly, immense fear permeating his entire body. He turned his head abruptly and saw Hu Yunshan, who was similarly scared silly, beside him. A surge of evil fire and unvented fear exploded instantly!

Slap!

A loud slap landed fiercely on Hu Yunshan's face, knocking him to the ground!

"You bastard!"

Ma Youdao's eyes were about to split open. Pointing at the shadow of death that was getting closer and closer on the horizon, he roared hoarsely at Hu Yunshan,

"Didn't you say the Moonshadow Sect didn't go to the Yuji Platform?! Then what is this?! What is this?!"

He suddenly remembered that Hu Yunshan wanted to slip away just now, and his voice became even sharper, "Did you want to run away a long time ago?! You wanted to take the opportunity to escape just now?!"

Hu Yunshan covered his face, dizzy and disoriented, both shocked and afraid. He shouted aggrievedly:

"Old Ancestor! This Disciple is wronged! This Disciple really has Sect matters to handle! And..."

He pointed to the horizon, "...and this... this might not necessarily be the Moonshadow Sect's fleet! Maybe they are just passing by..."

Ma Youdao was stunned upon hearing this. That was true; this fleet might not necessarily be the Moonshadow Sect's.

The urgent matter was to confirm the ownership of this fleet.

Ma Youdao took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his fear, stepped forward, and pulled Hu Yunshan up. He said earnestly:

"...It was Revered Master who was too impulsive. Let us first go and confirm the ownership of this fleet."

Hu Yunshan felt that his Revered Master still cared about him, so his grievances dissipated, and he said,

"It's alright..."

Before the words were fully spoken.

The fleet that was still on the horizon a moment ago was already hovering above the Cangmu Sect's mountain gate the next instant!

A massive shadow instantly enveloped the entire Cangmu Sect's main peak!

A crisp, dainty shout instantly spread across a hundred miles, clearly entering the ears of every Cangmu Sect Disciple and the nearby Loose Cultivators:

"I am Huang Yutong, the Territory-Governing Elder of the Moonshadow Sect! The Cangmu Kingdom has offended the majesty of our Sect. By the order of the Sect Master, today—we destroy the Cangmu Sect as a warning to others!"

Buzz—!

The entire Cangmu Sect was deathly silent for a moment, then erupted into indescribable screams of terror and desperate wailing!

Ma Youdao and Hu Yunshan were both stunned, their hearts stopping!

This really was the Moonshadow Sect?!!!

The two looked at each other in horror.

Slap!

Another crisp, loud slap was fiercely struck on the other side of Hu Yunshan's face!

Hu Yunshan was completely beaten into a daze. Covering his face, tears were about to fall: "Master! Wh... why did you hit me again?!"

Ma Youdao was also stunned by his own conditioned reflex-like action; it was purely that extreme fear needed an outlet.

But he quickly found a reason, pointed at the fleet that blocked the sky and sun, and roared in exasperation:

"You idiot! What time is it now?! Why haven't you rolled away to organize the Elders and Disciples to 'welcome' the Moonshadow Sect?!"

After roaring, he himself could not care about Hu Yunshan anymore. Spiritual light flashed on his body, turning into a gray rainbow, shooting in panic toward the air, rushing toward the direction of the fleet.

Below, countless Loose Cultivators and Cultivators from small nearby Sects looked up at the dozens of giant ships in the sky, all of them pale with shock.

"My heavens! Is this the foundation of an Eighth Grade Sect? Too terrifying!"

"Twenty ships... I can't even lift my head in front of one!"

"Look! That silver flagship! Heavens... I can't even see its appearance clearly! What level of treasure is that?"

In mid-air, in front of the light-chasing moon ship,

Ma Youdao's figure stopped abruptly hundreds of feet away from the fleet, not daring to get closer.

He hovered in mid-air, bowed deeply toward the direction of the light-chasing moon ship, almost at a ninety-degree angle, and held up a Storage Ring high with both hands, his voice trembling as it spread across the wilderness.

"Sinner Ma Youdao of the Cangmu Sect! I bring the entire foundation of the Sect to offer before the Moonshadow Heavenly Venerable! I implore the Heavenly Venerable to consider that we are ignorant ants acting in momentary confusion, and spare the lives of everyone in the Cangmu Sect! The Cangmu Sect is willing to submit the entire kingdom, to be servants of the Moonshadow Sect for generations, and will never dare to betray!"

His posture was humble to the dust.

Huang Yutong was wearing a goose-yellow gauze dress, black silk stockings outlining her beautiful leg lines. She looked respectfully at Ling Hao, who was standing with his hands behind his back beside her, waiting for his decision.

Ling Hao's expression was indifferent. His gaze swept over Ma Youdao and landed on the light barrier of the Protective Sect Array:

"A mere pittance of a gift, and you want to buy your life? Prepare the sea-covering ships!"

"First round, five ships firing together, Soul Transformation intensity! Target: Protective Sect Array!"

The so-called sea-covering ships were one grade higher than the previous cloud whale ships, equipped with Gui Water Yin Thunder Towers and Azure Wave Flow Arrays, belonging to war weapons of the Soul Transformation level.

"As you command, Sect Master!"

Huang Yutong responded in a dainty voice, then her clear, resonant voice carried a murderous aura across the fleet:

"sea-covering ships one to five! Target locked on the hub array eye of the Cangmu Sect's Protective Sect Array! Gui Water Yin Thunder Tower, Soul Transformation intensity! Fire!"

At the bows of the five designated sea-covering ships, those hideous dark blue towers suddenly erupted with blinding thunder light! Massive energy gathered crazily, condensing into five terrifying dark blue thunder spears, each a zhang in diameter, at the tips of the towers!

Destructive runes leaped on the surface of the thunder spears. Even separated by the Protective Sect Array, the mere leaking pressure made countless Foundation Establishment and Golden Core Disciples below almost suffocate!

"Oh no!"

The moment the thunder spears locked onto him, Ma Youdao's soul fled in terror! That terrifying pressure had already locked him firmly in place!

Boom!!!!!

Five world-destroying dark blue thunder spears instantly pierced down!

The target was clear: it was the core array hub of the Protective Sect Array.

The five thunder spears grazed Ma Youdao's body but did not completely annihilate him.

He widened his eyes, watching his Five-Grade Protective Sect Array, which was claimed to be able to withstand attacks from the Late Stage of Soul Transformation, explode instantly upon contact under the concentrated fire of these five Soul Transformation powers! Countless array base runes wailed and disintegrated in the thunder light.

After breaking the array, the remaining power of the dark blue thunder spears did not diminish, and they fiercely pierced into the depths of the earth veins of the Cangmu Sect's core mountain range.

A shaking of the earth and mountains occurred, and a loud noise came from underground!

The entire Cangmu mountain range collapsed and disintegrated in the dazed gaze of countless Cangmu Sect Disciples and distant Loose Cultivators. The ground split into bottomless, terrifying ravines, kicking up sky-filling dust and rubble! Underground rivers spurted out crazily.

With just one round of attacks, the mountain gate landscape of the Cangmu Sect was completely rewritten.

"Heavens... Heavenly Venerable, spare us!!!"

The Nascent Soul Elder of the Cangmu Sect was pale, his voice trembling.

"Old Ancestor... is the Old Ancestor gone?! The array... the array was broken in one hit?! The mountain range... is shattered?!" Countless Disciples collapsed on the ground, their brains blank, only boundless fear devouring them.

"Hiss! One sea-covering ship can erupt with a full-power strike of the Soul Transformation level?! Five ships firing together... this... this is simply the power to destroy the world!"

"And there are fifteen ships that haven't moved yet! What if they all fired together---"

The Loose Cultivators watching from afar felt their minds tremble, unable to stop shivering.

Amidst the smoke and dust, Huang Yutong's voice sounded coldly again:

"Second round! All sea-covering ships! Target covering the rest of the Sect area! Gui Water Yin Thunder Tower, Nascent Soul intensity! One round of volley! Fire!"

The dark blue towers at the bows of the twenty sea-covering ships lit up. This time, the power of the condensed thunder spears was precisely controlled at the Nascent Soul level.

Twenty thunder spears landed evenly across the entire Cangmu Sect area! Pavilions, Cultivation quiet rooms, Spirit Medicine gardens... all collapsed and burned in the thunder washing of the Nascent Soul level, turning into scorched earth!

Countless Cangmu Sect Disciples hiding inside were either directly annihilated by the thunder light, buried by collapsing buildings, or fleeing in panic in the thunder light, their screams endless.

After the covering attack, the entire mountain gate of the Cangmu Sect was in broken walls and ruins, with casualties everywhere.

But there were still a large number of Disciples with higher cultivation, faster reactions, or in more remote locations struggling and hiding in the ruins, their faces filled with numb terror and the bewilderment of having survived a disaster.

This was exactly the battlefield environment Ling Hao needed. It had powerful deterrence to destroy the opponent's will and core strength, while also retaining a sufficient number and strength of "prey" for his Disciples to practice in actual combat.

Ling Hao stood at the bow with his hands behind his back, his gaze sweeping over the messy battlefield below, as if overlooking a training ground.

"All Disciples, listen to the order!" Huang Yutong's voice was full of Battle Intent, "Enter the formation! Clear out the remaining enemies! One hour!"