Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Seeing that they couldn't just "sit and wait for death," Zhao Chengping knocked on Zhao Sheng's cave mansion door again.

In the days following, Zhao Sheng personally visited the Divine Tree territories of the surrounding Three Great Families and engaged in cordial and friendly exchanges with their Tree Venerables.

After this event, the surrounding Three Great Families suddenly quieted down and rushed to exit the thousand-mile territory, and all conflicts disappeared into thin air.

However, the Ke family's goal was also achieved. The reason they secretly incited things was merely to test whether Zhao Sheng was still in the Zhao family.

Zhao Sheng and Zhao Chengping were actually quite aware of the thoughts and intentions of the Ke family members.

Time flew by, and ten years passed in a flash.

The Zhao family had only lived in peace for a few years before a shocking change occurred, quickly throwing the entire Zhao family into panic.

The Overseas Immortal Cultivation World launched a grand invasion of Ximeng State!

Within three days, all eighteen cultivation families on the eastern coast fell, and even the tribes' Divine Trees fell into enemy hands.

In just half a month, the entire eastern territory of Ximeng State was engulfed in flames of war, with the number of Da Chun Divine Trees in enemy hands reaching a staggering thirty-nine.

It must be noted that Da Chun Divine Trees are not only Spirit Vein nodes but also the core territories of every cultivation force. Every tree changing hands means that a cultivation force has either surrendered or been conquered.

Soon after, more related intelligence was sent back to Tongxin City, like snowflakes.

All Zhao Clan Members who learned the latest war situations were shocked and drew in a sharp breath.

For this war, the Overseas Immortal Cultivation World dispatched twenty thousand Floating Disc Boats, divided into three armies, landing on the eastern coast at midnight.

The three armies completely abandoned the territories along the way, heading straight for the Divine Tree territories of the various Cultivation Families, and destroyed all resistance with overwhelming force.

Then, without any rest, the army continued toward the next target, with a very clear attack route, embodying the essence of "lightning warfare."

The most frightening thing is that each of the three armies was stationed by at least one Divinity Transformation True Monarch, as evidenced by the fall of the Yu, Zhang, and Qian families, which were Second Tribulation High Gates.

The three high gates persisted for only a few days before many Nascent Soul Ancestors within their clans, including their Tree Venerables, were personally slain by overseas True Monarchs. The surviving Nascent Soul Ancestors were immediately terrified and soon surrendered.

This event caused an uproar across Ximeng State, as the overseas True Monarchs' actions directly shattered the Da Chun Realm's unwritten rule of "True Monarchs do not interfere in mortal affairs," which had stood for tens of thousands of years.

Thus, for a time, the three overseas armies swept forward with unstoppable force, penetrating into the continent's heartland in just a few months, and war fires spread across half of Ximeng State.

The three armies pressed all the way to the Divine Tree territories of the Mo, Bi, and Chen families, Three Tribulations Gates, where the tide of their assault was finally halted.

By this time, nearly a hundred cultivation forces in Ximeng State had been broken, and hundreds of thousands of miles of territory had fallen into enemy hands.

In just six months, the situation in Ximeng State deteriorated rapidly, and the remaining over 180 cultivation forces were in a state of utter panic, greatly diminishing morale!

At this time, the Ke family, known as Ximeng State's "Crownless King," was also in a mess, unable to manage anything else.

Facing the invasion of a formidable foreign enemy, the Ke family could not shirk responsibility and had to step in to convene various forces in our state, actively allying with five Three Tribulations Gates to swiftly form the Ximeng State Cultivation Alliance.

However, since the overseas army had three Great True Monarchs, the Ximeng State alliance also needed equivalent high-level combat power.

Thus, Gui Mei Immortal, one of our state's only two Divinity Transformation True Monarchs, was finally asked to come out of seclusion.

And so, the pressure quickly shifted to the Ke family!

Seeing that they couldn't keep it a secret anymore, the Ke family's Great Elder finally sheepishly admitted that their True Monarch had been adventuring in a foreign region for many years and had yet to return.

But his excuse was quite clumsy, and none of the other Nascent Soul Ancestors believed a word of it.

Thus, the five Three Tribulations Gates all activated their highest-level spies to secretly investigate the life and death of Heavenly Illusion True Monarch Ke Kun.

As long as there is patience to investigate, there is essentially no secret in the world.

With time, some rumors naturally leaked out.

The Bi family and the other five big Three Tribulations Gates successively learned that Heavenly Illusion True Monarch had likely already fallen, and even the tribes' treasure, Nanke Hall, had not been seen for a long time.

The Ke family's evasive and strange behavior made the alliance uneasy internally, causing the situation to be unstable at times.

Although the Ke family soon invited a Loose Cultivator Divinity Transformation from the Divine Continent to sit in, news of Heavenly Illusion True Monarch's death continued to spread vigorously.

Later, some Nascent Soul Ancestors who had personally attended the Ximeng State gatherings seemed to have guessed the reason for Ke Kun's death.

Thus, Tongxin City quickly became lively, with numerous Golden Core Masters from various families visiting under the pretense of visiting friends and relatives, coming one after another.

Even some perceptive Nascent Soul Cultivators secretly rushed to Tongxin City, expressing their wish to meet the Thunder God elder.

Of course, these clever ones were all received by Zhao Chengping, and none of them ever saw Zhao Sheng.

Compared to these Nascent Soul Cultivators who returned empty-handed, Mr. Dengcao, who came bearing gifts, was an exception.

Mr. Dengcao managed to move Zhao Chengping by owing a favor, persuading him to pass on a message.

As expected, Zhao Sheng, who had been in seclusion for many years, responded, allowing Mr. Dengcao to enter the mansion for a discussion.

Moments later, in a simple guest hall of the cave mansion, Zhao Sheng, dressed in a Daoist robe, received the unremarkable Mr. Dengcao.

"Please sit and drink tea!"

Zhao Sheng had been in seclusion for a long time, so his speech had become simple and direct, as he flicked his sleeve to send a cup of Spiritual Tea onto the Jade Table below.

Mr. Dengcao saw this and casually walked to the Jade Table, plopped into a chair, then raised the teacup and tasted the tea.