Chapter 547 - Mount Meng
On certain definition, Ah Lian had become his most loyal follower,. She would not hesitate to do whatever Shen Lian asked her to do.
This was not Shen Lian's initial intention, but all because Ah Lian was too immersed into this. She even saw Shen Lian as her only pillar of support.
That floccule gas was the strength of the prayers and incense. However Shen Lian did not reply to all of them, so it lacked in feedback and did not come in big amount. But it was very pure in the absence of human desires.
The strength of prayers was different from mana and the Qi of heaven and earth. It was a mystical power which shared some similarities with Qianmo's mystical Qi on certain levels.
It could be used on to increase the strength of Dao techniques, godly prowess, and mana. When it was saturated to a certain level, it could even break the shackles between states. This meant that when sufficient, it would overcome any form of mystical medicine or potion.
As estimated by Shen Lian, to cultivate to the state of immortality, the required strength of prayers would be in vast scales, which were the prayers from at least half the population of Eastern Barbarians.
Dongyi was a large place, not inferior to the land size of Xia Kingdom. The people of half a Dongyi would be a large amount. Evidently, the cultivation towards the path of Shen would be extremely difficult. He could even observe how difficult it was for Zhao Xiaoyu to improve.
No matter how pure the prayers were, it still contradicted with Shen Lian's purer mind and spirit. If it were not for his intricate use of Dream Heart Sutra and Free Form Incarnation, this strength of prayers was very generous, yet Shen Lian had to put it aside.
At his level of cultivation, it was easy to form an incarnation. However to use it for the purpose of cultivation, it would be impossible, unless he could discover the ultimate Daoist way of incarnation – The Three Incarnations, then only could he really form individual and independent incarnations for him to study the path that would clash with his own cultivation.
From this, one could realize the versatility that the ancestors provided for the exploration of cultivations. A cultivator should use inspirations from ancestors' teachings and apply it to future studies. Shen Lian also would not forsake the intricate studies of his predecessors. He only wanted to go beyond the boundaries set by them.
As compared to Shen Lian's unhurried pace, Mount Meng was engulfed in a depressing and heavy atmosphere. It was covered in white snow, and the killing aura could be felt by anyone.
Within the tents of the Dongyi alliance, there were more than ten strong men of land immortals level and above. Their combined strength could flip over rivers and seas of all directions, but the brutality of Emperor Xia alone could match them.
Two men were sitting at the top section, one being Yunyang, another man covered in white hair and was wearing a face of authority. He was the demon saint invited by Yunyang elsewhere.
This saint was the reason why Emperor Xia had not made a move yet.
A ravine with the depth of tens of miles lied between the arm forces of Xia and Dongyi alliance. This was all the works of Emperor Xia and the demon saint.
Yunyang had become sworn brothers with this great saint. So, the other doyens of Dongyi had to pay respect to him whenever they saw him.
Though defeated by Emperor Xia in the last battle, Yunyang remained unfazed, and he even made an alliance with other tribes of Dongyi with an organized management like a real King.
Everyone present was won over by Yunyang.
Yunyang scanned through the audience, and spoke, "Everyone, the tyrant king came in great force. He was unbeatable. Yet, his fighting spirit aroused by the first roll of drums was depleted by the second and exhausted by the third. Now he is gridlocked by us here, it would only diminish his army's spirit. Please do not have doubts at this brink of time and miss this once in a lifetime opportunity."
He spoke calmly as if he was winning, impressing everyone. But, someone asked, "If we are in this gridlock for months, it will also be a torture for us. Furthermore, Emperor Xia has an imperishable body, which is difficult to kill. If we cannot break through his body, even if we killed tens of thousands of the Xia army and Lei Hong, it would not achieve anything. What strategy do you have for this, Young Master?"
Yunyang set his eyes on that person, whose name was 'Feng', born in the family of Fenghou's. He had unrivaled archery skills which could kill an enemy who was a thousand miles away, gaining him the reputation as the most feared assassin in Dongyi region. Even Yunyang himself had reservations towards this man.
This man was so proud of his godlike archery skills he never had respect for anyone. Even though all tribes of Dongyi thought of Yunyang as the young master, they still addressed him as the alliance leader. Only Feng addressed him as young master.
The great saint sitting beside Yunyang suddenly opened his mouth in a thunderous volume, "My brother has his strategy in mind, but how can he recklessly blurt it out here. The Xia army has its own skilled talent too. If we reckless speak of our plans, it will let them put up their defense. Have you all forgotten our earlier secret assault, which led to us being ambushed by them? If I had not made it in time, all of you will not be sitting here."
As if his body circulation was going to explode, he had the voice of a thunder and eyes of lightning which was staring at Feng, prompting him to feel a sense of chillness.
Feng never looked up to Yunyang, but he viewed very highly of this demon saint. No one knew where Yunyang invited this giant demon from, but he could actually match up with Emperor Xia for half a day before retreating in one piece. It was such a chilling feat.
One could say that this demon had at least half the contribution for Yunyang's current standstill with Emperor Xia at Mount Meng. This demon was not only fierce, he was also detailed and loyal like a normal human, who cared very much for Yunyang, prompting his position to be unmovable.
As of why Feng never looked up to Yunyang, it was all solely on conflict of interest. Everyone knew about Yunyang's ambition to unite all tribes of Dongyi and form a nation to match up with those of Yinshang and Xia Kingdom.
This was also what the people wanted. However Feng was used to going solo, so he would not accept working under anyone's orders. Moreover, he already had his plans to annex the tribes around Fenghou's to become the largest tribe in Dongyi and form his own nation.
This time his participation in the alliance was also to form an allegiance with other tribes and kill the royals of the Xia Kingdom at the same time, building his own reputation. He never expected that Yunyang was not only highly skilled, and even had assistance from this demon, preventing him from unleashing his own potential.
This time he threw out a comment, only to be refuted by the demon. Feng's expression dropped, and then he hissed, "Since Young Master has such a calculated plan, looks like you have no use for me anymore."
Then, he dashed out of the tent.
The demon saint scorned, "He was never pleasing to my eyes since the beginning. If he continued to stay on, I will strip the skin off him, it's just the matter of time."
Yunyang then faced the others and said, "I am sure everyone here knows of my elder brother's temperament. Please do not take this in heart. I will personally send a letter to Division Chief Feng to explain to him. As for the battle strategy, please do not worry, as the Emperor Xia's imperishable body doesn't come without flaws. I will be able to overcome him when the right time arises."