Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

A night passed without incident.

Early the next morning, Zhao Sheng instructed everyone else to rest and stay on standby in the cave mansion.

Then, he, along with Zhao Jijian and Zhao Xuanjing, quietly made their way toward Lush Peach Mountain.

War is a battle of intelligence.

Before attacking Lush Peach Mountain, the Zhao family had to thoroughly scout the situation within the mountain.

Half an hour later, they arrived at Lush Peach Mountain.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Looking at the splendidly colored peach blossom miasma before them, the three men wisely stopped in their tracks.

Zhao Sheng took out a Storage Bag and handed it to Zhao Xuanjing.

Inside the Storage Bag were various talismans such as the Invisibility Talisman, Concentrating God Talisman, Illusion Shadow Escape Talisman, Thousand Silk Sword Rain Talisman, and others.

Zhao Sheng asked with concern, "Xuanjing, are you sure there's no problem?"

Zhao Xuanjing patted the spirit worm bag at his waist, and a Golden Ring Spirit Earthworm about seventy feet long, resembling a giant python, instantly landed on the ground near the three men.

As soon as the Golden Ring Spirit Earthworm appeared, it affectionately curled around Zhao Xuanjing.

Zhao Xuanjing patted the head of the spirit earthworm and smiled at Zhao Sheng, "Uncle Seven, with Xiao Qi here, I'm very safe!"

Zhao Sheng nodded, knowing he wasn't boasting.

Previously, Zhao Xuanjing had insisted on bringing Xiao Qi back, which indeed brought a huge surprise to the Zhao family.

Zhao Xuanjing and the Golden Ring Spirit Earthworm coordinated seamlessly, unexpectedly exhibiting the "Earth Escape Divine Ability," allowing them to travel freely through the soil without hindrance.

The usefulness of the Earth Escape Divine Ability goes without saying.

Across the entire Zhao family, including the three Foundation Establishment Cultivators, Zhao Xuanjing was the unequivocal choice for scouting Lush Peach Mountain.

"Fourth Ancestor, Uncle Seven, I'm off!"

After making this announcement, Zhao Xuanjing hugged the neck of the Golden Ring Spirit Earthworm, and a faint yellow glow surfaced on both the man and the insect.

At that moment, the nearby ground suddenly became as soft as water, and abruptly, Zhao Xuanjing with Xiao Qi sunk into the ground.

The ground quickly returned to normal, and the spot where they had been was now empty.

Zhao Sheng whispered a few words to Zhao Jijian, after which Zhao Jijian remained at the spot to keep watch.

Zhao Sheng then swallowed a Breaking Miasma Pill, hid his form, and retracted his spirit, before secretly flying high into the sky to survey the entirety of Lush Peach Mountain.

Lush Peach Mountain was only a couple to three hundred feet tall, with gentle rolling hills, three mountain peaks, two valleys, and an area close to a hundred miles.

True to its name, Lush Peach Mountain was covered with peach trees.

Due to the lack of harvesting, the ground was littered with rotten and decayed peaches.

Years of fallen peach blossoms, tree leaves, and branches had accumulated a thick layer of organic matter on the ground.

After fermenting, this layer, mixed with the rotten peaches, gradually produced clumps of highly poisonous and spirit-bewitching peach blossom miasma.

Day by day, Lush Peach Mountain gradually became enveloped in thick peach blossom miasma, so that very few insects or beasts ventured there, apart from the group of Mutant White Apes that enjoyed the peaches and were immune to the miasma.

An hour later, Zhao Sheng stood in the sky a hundred feet above, gazing down at the peach forest below, clearly seeing many White Apes with unusually long arms playing and chasing each other,

These White Apes were robust, mostly around five feet tall, but a few exceeded seven or eight feet.

They were agile, moving as swiftly as the wind.

What surprised Zhao Sheng even more was that these Mutant White Apes had a skilled technique in throwing, hitting whatever they aimed at with uncanny accuracy.

Broken stones, peach pits, and even their feces became their projectiles.

From the sounds of breaking wind and the ease with which they snapped branches, Zhao Sheng was certain of the remarkable strength of the Mutant White Apes. Even the weakest among them had an arm strength exceeding a thousand pounds.

After surveying the three mountain peaks, Zhao Sheng felt inwardly alarmed; he had carefully counted several times and found that there were over a hundred Mutant White Apes, with at least ten above seven feet tall.

From his initial observations, White Apes over seven feet tall had a combat power comparable to that of the Qi Refining Middle Stage, and there were a few exceeding nine feet that could match the average Qi Refining Late Stage.

Furthermore, he had not spotted any Second-Order White Apes, only a stone cave beneath a cliff in the middle valley, surrounded by scattered white bones.

If he hadn't guessed wrong, this cave was likely the dwelling of the two Second-Order White Apes.

Zhao Sheng did not hastily sneak into the stone cave to scout, but returned to Zhao Jijian instead.

About half an hour later, a layer of yellow light suddenly emerged from the ground in front of them, and in the blink of an eye, Zhao Xuanjing rose from underground, holding the Golden Ring Spirit Earthworm in his arms.

"Uncle Qi, I—"

"Let's talk back at the camp!" Zhao Sheng suddenly interrupted.

Soon after, the three returned to the temporary camp cave.

In the stone room, after the three of them sat down, Zhao Xuanjing couldn't wait to relay the intelligence he had gathered in detail.

Zhao Sheng's guess was right; the two Second-Order White Apes were indeed hiding inside the stone cave and had not come out.

To his great surprise, the female ape was actually pregnant.

This was indeed great news.

After becoming pregnant, a demon beast's strength usually diminishes significantly.

Zhao Sheng had been worried about how to capture the two Second-Order White Apes, but now he wouldn't miss this godsent opportunity.

He made a snap decision to wait for the male ape to leave and be alone before Xuanjing, along with all the clan members who practiced the Earth Element Technique, would cast spells to shake and collapse the passage, temporarily sealing the stone cave.

He, Zhao Jijian, and Zhao Keru would then jointly attack the Second-Order male ape, striving to achieve victory in one battle.

However, plans never keep up with changes, and before Zhao Sheng could act, his plan was rendered useless.

That's because another unwelcome group of visitors arrived at Lush Peach Mountain that afternoon.

…

As the sun set, Zhao Sheng stood on the branch of an ancient tree, looking out at Lush Peach Mountain from a distance.

At that moment, a vermilion dragon-carved Cloud Boat was circling above Lush Peach Mountain, looking very arrogant as it blatantly surveilled the mountain.

After observing for a moment, Zhao Xuanjing, who was beside him, asked in surprise, "Uncle Qi, are these clan people stupid or what?"

Zhao Sheng chuckled and said, "Perhaps they're not stupid, but just accustomed to arrogance. Judging by the style of the Cloud Boat, this clan should not be local to the Southern Border but from the Cultivation World of the Ten Kingdoms. The demon beasts of the Ten Kingdoms are nearly extinct, so the cultivators there have probably forgotten the terror of the Desolate Domain's demon beasts."

Zhao Xuanjing scratched his chin and asked, "Then are we still going to take action?"

Zhao Sheng laughed and said, "Why not let someone else rush to be the cannon fodder? We're not in a hurry; let's watch the play first."

"Oh, then I'll go back and inform everyone."

"Go ahead!"

After Zhao Xuanjing left, Zhao Sheng continued to quietly observe the activity at Lush Peach Mountain.

The newcomers weren't completely foolish either; they knew to scout the surroundings in advance.

Now, the careful approach taken by Zhao Sheng earlier proved its worth.

With the Zhao family's camp hidden inside a cave and their tracks deliberately concealed, the people from the other clan had no chance of discovering another power hidden within a valley twenty miles away.

One day later, the war between the new forces and the White Ape tribe of Lush Peach Mountain started with a hail of fire raining down from the sky.

Standing atop a mountain about ten miles southwest of Lush Peach Mountain, Zhao Sheng, Zhao Keru, and Zhao Jijian, three Foundation Establishment Cultivators, stood side by side.

The three gazed solemnly at the rising flames and dust from Lush Peach Mountain, watching as the cultivators in red robes fearlessly leaped from the Cloud Boat like dumplings dropping into water, charging into the midst of the White Ape tribe.

Who knew reality would fall so far short of expectation.

The group of White Apes was too fast, too agile.

Sometimes a spell would be cast and they would have already leaped far away by the time it landed.

Flying swords and knives fell like rain, yet they continually missed their targets.

Some spells, like fiery orbs and golden swords, were often scattered by stones hurled at them.

This group of cultivators had barely boasted when they were variously scratched, bitten, knocked flying, or even smashed until their bones fractured, retreating one after another.