The Transmigrator's Cultivation - Chapter 448

What was even more surprising was that there were hundreds or even thousands of red lines on this map.

To Xu Ziqing, these red lines were clearly the many routes of travel, fine and clear, crisscrossing and connecting numerous legions and bases. Where these lines tangled, there were also many red spots, each corresponding to a domain in the sky above, leaving a startling impression.

Xu Ziqing was somewhat taken aback, his gaze falling on the point where Li Xiuzhu was pointing. “This is our path forward,” he said.

Li Xiuzhu nodded and replied, “That’s right. The five major legions have sent out teams to investigate these routes, and we mustn’t take any detours. We only need to complete this one route.” He then swept his finger across the map, tracing a path.

However, Xu Ziqing noticed that the area he pointed to was not a complete red line but rather connected from their current location to a spot marked by a dot, which should be the center of many roads. Anyone investigating these routes would pass through there. After a moment of thought, he asked, “Is our mission primarily to investigate the location where these red spots appear?”

It wasn’t surprising that he speculated this way; after all, the map was so detailed, and the markings were certainly there for a reason.

The red lines represented routes, while the red spots indicated hubs, and this hub was probably not an ordinary one!

As expected, Li Xiuzhu glanced at him and said, “You are quite perceptive.”

Xu Ziqing smiled gently.

Li Xiuzhu continued, “This area is where the demon waves occur.”

Xu Ziqing was taken aback. “Demon waves?”

Speaking of waves, he had experienced beast tides during his time on the Wild Beast Plains, so the demon waves must be similar, right? However, the beast tide occurred every three years due to the rapid reproduction of wild beasts gathering together. He didn’t know why demon waves occurred.

In his view, these demons, regardless of gender, likely had no reproductive capabilities, so it shouldn’t be for that reason.

Li Xiuzhu did not hesitate to explain, “The demon waves arise from demons launching large-scale assaults on the Nine Void battlefield. Just look.” His fingertip quickly traced arcs over many red spots and then pointed to the location of a large legion.

Xu Ziqing noticed that those spots were nearly equidistant from the large legion, meaning any of them could allow the legion to respond quickly. Could it be that…

Seeing the expression on his face, Li Xiuzhu nodded, “Just as you thought.”

From the time the numerous legions arrived at the Nine Void battlefield to their establishment over many years, having experienced many trials, these five large bases were all built by the early shen cultivators who risked their lives, having gone through countless investigations and inspections, before finally confirming their locations and establishing large bases, continuously recruiting personnel. Many lives of shen cultivators were sacrificed to find the locations where the demon waves occurred, allowing shen cultivators to have the chance to confront the demons, transforming from repeated defeats at first to finally discovering a pattern, enabling them to prepare in advance and even anticipate their enemies’ movements.

Li Xiuzhu continued, “According to our deductions, the places where demon waves occur are the weakest points of the Nine Void battlefield. Therefore, attacks always come from those areas. Now that we know this, we often station ourselves nearby. Whenever a tidal wave is about to rise, we prepare in advance, and when the time comes to fight the demons, we can effectively respond, either slaying them or driving them back.”

Xu Ziqing finally understood.

No wonder.

It took so much effort for the shen cultivator legions to catch a glimpse of the demons’ movements and protect the Nine Void battlefield. Yet, before the demon waves arrived, all five legions were unexpectedly ambushed by the major demons… Something must be amiss.

If it were just a false alarm, that would be fine, but if there were changes in the demon waves, wouldn’t that be a serious problem? It was likely that Li Xiuzhu’s team wasn’t simply documenting the changes in the number of demons along the routes; they were probably heading to the location of the demon waves. At that time, they might have to collaborate with others from the legions to thoroughly investigate what had actually happened.

Once he understood this, Xu Ziqing examined the map even more carefully. After a moment of contemplation, he produced a jade tablet from his palm. “May I ask if I could make a copy of this map?”

Since this young cultivator had saved Tianfu, Li Xiuzhu and the soldiers of the Li family were not particularly concerned and simply replied, “Feel free to make your copy.”

Xu Ziqing smiled and quickly recorded the map with his spiritual sense, transferring the entire map intricately into the jade tablet, leaving no detail missed. Then, he put the jade tablet away.

By this time, Li Xiuzhu had also finished examining the map.

The soldiers had already prepared the food. To save time, the shen cultivators no longer ate once a day but tried to eat their fill as much as possible. Li Xiuzhu, despite being of a higher realm, acted similarly to the other soldiers.

Soon, around the campfire in their temporary encampment, the sound of many people eating filled the air.

After some thought, Xu Ziqing accepted the kind offer of a soldier, bringing the cooked meat to his lips and taking a gentle bite. Although he no longer needed to eat, experiencing it this time was quite pleasant.

After the meal, the soldiers efficiently tidied up, while Li Xiuzhu and the other two shen cultivators in the Entering Tribulation realm patrolled the surroundings, setting up some clever defenses.

These defenses were different from the methods used by cultivators. Xu Ziqing found them fascinating, but since the shen cultivators’ powers relied on the Yang Spirit and were fundamentally different, he looked for a while but couldn’t comprehend them, so he eventually gave up.

Once everything was ready, Li Xiuzhu arranged for several soldiers to take turns keeping watch while the rest settled down to rest.

The next day, everyone set off again.

It was then that Xu Ziqing realized that from this day forward, their travel pace had increased significantly. He understood that yesterday, the shen cultivators had probably slowed down so he could get somewhat familiar with the route. Now that they saw he had some capabilities and had shared certain secrets with him, they gradually treated him like one of their own and no longer waited, focusing instead on moving forward.

As the team journeyed farther, they encountered more and more demons. Initially, they mostly faced low-level demons, with occasional appearances from intermediate-level demons. However, as they progressed, not only did the number of low-level demons increase, but intermediate-level demons frequently appeared as well. There were even several instances where they encountered thirty or forty intermediate-level demons!

Counting Xu Ziqing, the team consisted of only eleven members, and they found themselves surrounded almost every time.

At this point, Xu Ziqing truly witnessed the strength of this elite team.

Their coordination was exquisite; every strike hit its mark, and while their divine power wasn’t infinite, it was rarely wasted. Every move was a deadly attack! Not only did they understand their own Yang Spirit well, but they also had a deep understanding of their companions. Their strategies were cleverly calculated in every advance and retreat, allowing them to make excellent use of their own Yang Spirits. Moreover, under this tacit understanding, their companions’ Yang Spirits often helped alleviate their troubles.

After a few rounds of battle, Xu Ziqing noticed that even when surrounded by dozens of intermediate demons, the soldiers never panicked.

In contrast, Xu Ziqing lacked the same synergy with the soldiers and worried about being a burden to them. He stayed on the outskirts, trapping some of the marginal intermediate demons with his bloodthirsty vines, absorbing them and collecting the crystallized power of time and space. At the same time, he observed the soldiers’ combat behaviors and strategies, gradually learning to coordinate with them and help resolve some of their difficulties.

Through this experience of life and death, Xu Ziqing finally became somewhat useful to the soldiers, allowing them to gradually develop a sense of camaraderie with him.

Moreover, the bloodthirsty vines of Rongjin had a penchant for consuming flesh, making these battles excellent opportunities. Once the soldiers realized this, after every final strike, they allowed Xu Ziqing to drag away the not-yet-dead bodies of the demons using his vines. This way, Xu Ziqing not only satisfied Rongjin’s cravings but also collected the crystallized power of time and space from the demons slain by the soldiers.

As days passed, Xu Ziqing gained a lot of experience and acquired many necessary items, marking a substantial harvest.

At this point, when Li Xiuzhu took out the map again to check, Xu Ziqing noticed they had already made significant progress, nearing the location of the red markings on the map. However, this stretch of road would likely not be easy.

Sure enough, the soldiers of the Li family grew more vigilant, just as Xu Ziqing had anticipated.

Here, they encountered their first high-level demon.

In the sky, a dark fissure suddenly tore open, and two high-level demons dove down!

Xu Ziqing’s heart tightened; countless bloodthirsty vines shot up into the sky, wrapping around him in an instant!

Almost in the next moment, a surge of powerful energy struck him violently. The outer layer of vines rebounded the force, but even so, a few vines were severely injured, snapping in half!

At the same time, the soldiers of the Li family quickly surrounded the other high-level demon. Fortunately, there weren’t many high-level demons; they needed to resolve this one quickly and then rush to aid Xu Ziqing!

The shen cultivators already had a bond with Xu Ziqing and secretly thought: We just hope Brother Xu can hold on for a moment so we can rescue him!

At this moment, Xu Ziqing indeed found himself in a stalemate.

The bloodthirsty vines were ancient ferocious creatures, and due to the benefits from the Realm of Ten Thousand Trees, each time they emerged, they didn’t consume much true essence. This was one of Xu Ziqing’s most powerful offensive capabilities. Furthermore, after being refined, the vines were as tough as top-grade treasures, and in some respects, even superior. It might be challenging to pierce through the skin of a high-level demon, but it was possible to inflict wounds…

With this thought, Xu Ziqing made his decision.

In an instant, hundreds of vines enveloped his main body, while another set of hundreds surged outwards from all directions, trapping the high-level demon! Although the high-level demon was extremely fast, it couldn’t escape the web woven by the many vines, no matter how much it struggled!

Then, with another thought from Xu Ziqing, the hundreds of vines suddenly contracted—at that moment, countless leaf buds sliced through the high-level demon’s skin. Even if they couldn’t penetrate deeply, the droplets of blood that emerged were greedily absorbed!

If there were only a few vines, the damage to the high-level demon wouldn’t matter much; it could heal almost instantly. However, if dozens or hundreds of vines acted simultaneously, continuously creating wounds, the loss of blood and flesh would accumulate like drops forming a stream, and the stream would gather into a river!

Therefore, when the shen cultivators killed one high-level demon and rushed to assist Xu Ziqing, they were astonished to find that the overwhelming blood vines had just retracted, revealing a lifeless demon body on the ground, nothing but bones remaining…

Translator: Lynn

Translations are not 100% correct. Please let me know if there are typos/mistakes in the chapter.

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