Am I the only one who didn't ascend?

Chapter 528 First Contact

Entering the early summer in Mozhou, the spirit veins became more and more restless, with rainstorms, hurricanes, earthquakes, skylights... strange phenomena continued between heaven and earth. The sky often showed a strange and sad blood color, while the earth was as crispy as puff pastry.

Often after a rapid downpour, accompanied by a flood of mud and rocks, large tracts of rock would break and collapse amid a series of loud rumbling noises, causing entire mountain ranges and hills to shake.

Amid the shaking, thousands of cracks will appear on the earth. The cracks are so deep that you can't see the bottom. They will ruthlessly devour the rocks and plants that roll into them like a giant beast. In just a very short time, those mountains that have stood in Kyushu for hundreds of thousands of years will quickly sink into the abyss like melting ice.

Mozhou in early summer is like an isolated city under pressure from a massive army at the end of a dynasty, with people wandering around day by day and unable to rest at night.

This is certainly not the natural state of the place. Although there are records of changeable weather in the summer of Mozhou as early as the prehistoric times, such a dramatic phenomenon of heaven and earth only began a few months ago. It began on the day when the Immortal Alliance Dinghuang City fell on the east bank of Fenghu Lake.

That day, Rongcheng was like a sharp sword, piercing into the heart of Mozhou in an almost extreme way, making the entire Mozhou bloody. And in Xinheng, Mingzhou, west of Mozhou, a sudden change occurred, and the golden immortal of Miaofa fell in public above Dongdu... The wound of this wasteland could no longer be healed, and it could only continue to rot faster, making everything irreversible.

On this day, heavy rain fell like a waterfall in Jin Lake, which is located in the central part of Mozhou, more than a hundred miles south of the Xue River.

As the birthplace of the Blood Demon Sect, one of the three sects of the Demonic Path, in the old immortal calendar era, there is no colorless water within a hundred miles of Jin Lake. Whether it is rain from the sky or the dark river flowing in the cracks of the rocks underground, everything is scarlet like blood. This is because the Blood Demon Sect "buried" the successive sect masters at the bottom of the lake, blending their flesh and blood into the spiritual veins, completely transforming the Feng Shui atmosphere of this place, making everything around it bloody.

Even during the years of heavenly tribulation, the transformation of the heavens into wasteland failed to affect the appearance of Jin Lake.

But at this moment, the rainstorm above Jin Lake was surprisingly clear and transparent. Clear rain continued to pour into Jin Lake, causing this sticky and solid lake to gradually melt and loosen like paste... and the rain continued, and soon the water level of Jin Lake overflowed the surrounding plains, spreading mottled blood everywhere. In the places stained by this blood, all life would quickly wither, and even the soil and rock layers would be corroded and penetrated, constantly sinking downwards, as if sinking into the abyss.

Then, in the rainstorm, a deep male voice, with the power of a magic weapon, pierced through the rain curtain like Rongcheng piercing through the blood field, and echoed over Jin Lake.

"The ninth team of the Yishan Battalion of the Dinghuang Seventh Army is now in place and is about to guide the empty city to land...Please pay attention to the members of each unit. The Yishan Battalion is about to guide the empty city to land. Please follow the instructions strictly!"

As soon as the words fell, a broad rainbow came from the north, like a soft colorful satin, or a rapidly extending bridge. In a blink of an eye, one end of the rainbow connected to the sky above Jin Lake, and under the light, the torrential rain that was like a broken river in the sky also slightly subsided.

After the rain curtain thinned a little, a team of warriors wearing black armor gradually became clearly visible in the air. There were thirty of them in total, most of whom were in the middle and late stages of the Golden Core Realm. Their individual strength was negligible in the wilderness. However, when they each held a special magic weapon and jointly supported a huge protective magic array, this large array surprisingly had a defensive capability comparable to that of a combined cultivator. Even in the dangerous place of Mozhou where strange phenomena constantly appeared, they could walk freely.

Only by relying on the selfless dedication of the soldiers of the Mountain Moving Camp can the Immortal Alliance accurately extend its vision to this place where the laws of nature are disordered.

Then, a nail was driven into the wall to calm the meridians and eliminate chaos—the nail of civilization called Dinghuang Fortress.

In a blink of an eye, the black armor warriors of the Mountain Moving Camp in midair had landed on the surface of Jin Lake, their feet almost touching the boiling lake water. At the same time, the warriors dispersed and formed a circle with a diameter of nearly a thousand meters. Their protective formation was extended to this point and was already in a precarious situation.

But the warriors were fearless and did not even notice the risks involved. Everyone was concentrating on putting their true essence and spiritual consciousness into the center of the circle.

A rainbow light shot up into the sky, and the end of the light connected and merged with the rainbow bridge in the sky, as if a painter holding a brush drew a beautiful turning trajectory. At the moment the trajectory took shape, the rain clouds over Jin Lake quickly retreated like small animals that sensed the approach of a beast, revealing a bleak clear sky.

The rainbow bridge coming from the north gradually becomes dazzling under the clear sky... It is the rainbow light that appears on the bridge in waves, like a rushing torrent. The rainbow light first travels in the sky, then over Jin Lake, and then falls like a waterfall along a vertical turning trajectory.

The moment the rainbow light fell on the lake, the light solidified, as if frozen by low temperature, and the flowing light turned into colorful bricks and stones.

Countless bricks and stones were piled up quickly under the rainbow waterfall. It seemed chaotic, but in the blink of an eye, a majestic castle appeared on the lake. The castle was gorgeously rainbow-colored, without a foundation, and suspended in the water, as if it was not bound by gravity. However, when the castle was completed, everyone felt its weight.

Below the castle, the boiling lake water froze in an instant. The surface of the huge lake became as calm as a mirror, and even the flood that overflowed all around stopped at this moment.

At the same time, all the strange phenomena in the surrounding heaven and earth stopped at this moment. The castle that descended from the rainbow was like a long nail to drive away evil spirits, completely nailing down the chaos in Mozhou.

The chaos in Mozhou was essentially a chaos in the wilderness, or in other words, an endogenous chaos in the wilderness as it faced the increasingly aggressive Immortal Alliance.

But now with the fall of the castle, Jin Lake is no longer wasteland territory.

Although strictly speaking, this place cannot be considered the territory of the Immortal Alliance - the Dinghuang barrier cannot extend directly along the Rainbow Bridge from Rongcheng. However, a castle that has benefited from some of the magical powers of the Ningyuantu can at least mark Jinhu as the occupied area of ​​the Immortal Alliance and provide temporary Dinghuang shelter.

The soldiers of the Moving Mountain Camp surrounding the fortress finally showed a trace of relief, looked at each other, cheered softly, and then quickly gathered around the captain.

The captain's face was full of fatigue, but he declined the elixir and spring dew offered by his comrades. He forced himself to overcome his fatigue and immediately opened a talisman with a rainbow luster.

"Mountain Moving Battalion Team Nine calling headquarters. Team Nine has just guided Dinghuang Fortress to land smoothly. Requesting further instructions."

"here you go."

An even weaker and more tired voice came from the talisman - if the fatigue of the captain of Team Nine was the fatigue accumulated from leading his comrades to overcome dangers and march day and night, then the fatigue of the person on the other end of the talisman revealed a sense of emptiness and exhaustion.

As the front-line captain temporarily transferred to the Yishan Camp and also Zhuwang's military king, Chang Feiran naturally knew why the man was so exhausted and couldn't bear it for a moment, so he was about to say some presumptuous words.

However, before he could open his mouth, another person's voice suddenly sounded from the talisman.

A passionate and energetic voice of an old man.

"Captain Chang, you did a great job, very good! On behalf of the expert team members of Operation Tongming, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you! Really, thanks to your hard work day and night, you arrived at Jinhu a day ahead of schedule. This ancient immortal monument with a history of tens of thousands of years was finally preserved! Otherwise, this rainstorm would have completely destroyed the structure of Jinhu, and the consequences would be unimaginable!"

Chang Feiran was stunned and could only grumble. But the man obviously didn't notice Chang Feiran's embarrassment and continued to talk.

"Nowadays, many people, when they mention the concept of settling and opening up wasteland, think of killing and ruthlessness, as if they want to slaughter all the creatures around Tianzhizuo, as if everything in Tianzhizuo is insignificant... This is simply ridiculous! Just a thousand years ago, it was still known as the Nine Provinces together with the Five Provinces of Tianzhiyou, and it belonged to our homeland! Even though the world has become wasteland and creatures have changed, there are still many priceless historical relics left in the four provinces. Just the smooth journey of opening up Rongcheng, we..."

Chang Feiran seemed to want to say something but stopped himself.

He really wanted to interrupt the other party's endless nonsense, but on the other hand, out of inner respect, he couldn't open his mouth.

The leader of the expert group who was talking nonsense all the time was a senior professor specially invited from Youcheng Academy on the front line. As a top scholar of Zhuwang, he was recognized by all the countries in the Immortal Alliance purely based on his academic achievements and received a Yiqing Yuanying in his body... and his area of ​​expertise was the old world civilization.

The Immortal Alliance's "Operation Tongming" this time will build a road from the foot of Lingshan Mountain to Mingzhou, passing through Mingzhou and Mozhou. The terrain is complicated and time is relatively tight. Experts who are familiar with the conditions of the two places must participate in the preparations in advance so that the frontline soldiers can lead the way more safely and efficiently.

In fact, the expert group did make outstanding contributions in the process of opening up the road to Yishanying.

Chang Feiran had encountered countless unexpected dangers and was able to escape danger by relying on the plans deduced by experts.

Of course, if the expert group's performance was limited to this, Chang Feiran would only regard it as a cooperative relationship in which each performs their duties and gets what they need, and therefore would only maintain the most basic respect, but...

"Okay, the empty city has been settled. Everyone hurry up and disperse to explore and sample. Mozhou Jin Lake is an important historical heritage. Be careful!"

Just when Chang Feiran was hesitating, a group of fully armed scholars suddenly rushed out from the Dinghuang Fortress transformed by the rainbow light. They were like a gust of wind, and in the blink of an eye, they dispersed to various places around Jin Lake and began to investigate seriously. Their actions were so swift and enthusiastic that the soldiers of the Yishan Camp were too late to stop them.

Most of the expert team members of Operation Tongming are crazy people. In order to understand the scene as quickly and deeply as possible, they almost follow the army. Many times, they are so bold that they dare to walk in front of the soldiers. Their strong desire for knowledge can even overcome the basic desire for survival. The content of their knowledge is of course curiosity about the wasteland itself, the exploration and protection of historical sites... but more of it is still about how to better help the soldiers on the front line.

Therefore, thanks to this group of fearless lunatics, the advice given by the expert group to the front line is always adapted to local conditions, timely and effective. And effective advice can often save lives.

Therefore, in the eyes of many soldiers who have received benefits, these experts and scholars who have no actual combat ability are clearly using their lives to exchange for the lives of frontline soldiers.

Therefore, Chang Feiran couldn't even interrupt the old team leader's endless chatter for a while - because as a team leader, the reason why he was in the rear at this time was because on the second day of the Tongming Operation, he led the team to explore a collapsed mountain, and was accidentally corroded by the poisonous gas sprayed from the ground cracks... Although he was lucky enough to save his life afterwards, he would have to stay in bed for decades to come. The results of that exploration allowed the expert group to calculate a safer and more reliable Tongming route, which reduced the pressure on the front line by several times.

Therefore, facing such a meritorious expert, Chang Feiran really couldn't bear to interrupt.

Fortunately, someone has the heart to do it.

"… To calm the barrenness and calm the barrenness, to bring order out of chaos is to bring order. To turn chaos into order, the first thing is to understand and recognize it. As scholars, we should…"

The voice stopped abruptly here.

Instead, there was an indifferent girl's voice.

"Okay, I'll help you block the old man's talisman, and you can continue with your business."

Hearing this voice, Chang Feiran couldn't help but smile bitterly.

In this world, I’m afraid that only Guan Xiaohe would dare to be so disrespectful to the old professor.

Because she was the professor's last disciple, she personally built a magic heart-protecting mirror for her teacher, which helped the old man save half his life in the poisonous fog. In addition, Guan Xiaohe also participated in the research and development of the mechanical technology that pulled the rainbow bridge from Lingshan Mountain, turned Dinghuang Fortress into an empty city, and walked on the rainbow light.

Of course, what is more important is that the person who is now in charge of Operation Tongming is Guan Xiaohe’s brother, Guan Dingnan, who has recovered from serious injuries.

Guan Dingnan sighed at his sister's rough behavior, and did not pay much attention to it. Instead, he solemnly warned the front line.

"After that, you will enter the fortress and rest as soon as possible. The reinforcements from the rear will arrive soon along the Rainbow Bridge. You must make a good handover and don't waste this day of advance time that we finally managed to get."

Chang Feiran nodded in agreement.

"In addition..." The voice in the talisman seemed a little hesitant, "In addition, there may be a person from Mingzhou arriving in Jinhu in the near future. You may need to receive him."

Chang Feiran's eyes widened in shock, and he looked around subconsciously, and asked in a deep voice: "People from Mingzhou? Can people from Mingzhou go beyond the border?! Can they be trusted?"

Before he finished speaking, he heard a light laugh behind him.

"It is indeed not convenient to leave the country, but fortunately the envoy granted me the privilege. As for whether it is credible or not, you may as well witness it with your own eyes."

Chang Feiran turned around suddenly and saw a pretty woman who had come behind him without him noticing.

"Hello, I'm Nan Yingying from Xinheng Sanren."

(End of this chapter)