The First Immortal of Destiny

「A dozen days later.」

In Tianshan City, within a rented spiritual courtyard, Shen Mo respectfully saw Elder Huang out of the courtyard gate. Then, he returned to his room and casually activated the Prohibition talismans.

Finally, I've got my hands on the rewards for taking first place in this Tianshan Grand Ceremony!

A satisfied smile appeared on Shen Mo's face.

In front of him, three treasures lay quietly displayed in a gold-inlaid wooden box: a jade slip, an ore, and a Flying Sword.

In recent days, the situation had begun to clarify. Peak Master Zhou Shili, Elder Huang, and the others, along with the powerhouses from the Five Great Sects who arrived subsequently, had successfully sealed the passage between the two realms.

According to Elder Huang, more than fifty Spirit Sea Realm powerhouses had even charged into the Heavenly Demon Lower Realm, slaying numerous formidable Heavenly Demons. Among them, there were over twenty Class III Heavenly Demons alone! They were forced to retreat only when a Class IV Heavenly Demon made an appearance. However, they also successfully laid down multiple layers of formations and Prohibitions at the passage, imprisoning the spatial rift. This prevented Class III and stronger Heavenly Demons from passing through and invading the Red Flame Country!

The price paid was also substantial. Including the Yanshi Master from the Ghost Corpse School, a total of eight Spirit Sea Realm powerhouses were Demon-corrupted and devoured by Class III Heavenly Demons. The Riverside Sect fared relatively well; only one elder from Rising Sun Peak perished in the Heavenly Demon Realm. He was one of the three elders who had led the disciples to participate in the Tianshan Grand Ceremony and had once mentioned rewarding Shen Mo on behalf of Rising Sun Peak for his contributions.

Hearing this news, Shen Mo couldn't help but feel a pang of regret! However, he also confirmed his earlier judgment from what Elder Huang said! The Five Great Sects hadn't completely sealed the passage; instead, they had limited the maximum strength of the invading Heavenly Demons. Class III Heavenly Demons couldn't cross over. The strongest would only be at the peak of Class II!

This approach serves two purposes. Firstly, it warns the cultivation world of the Red Flame Country that the demon scourge is imminent! All cultivators, be they from major immortal sects, minor sects, or even rogue cultivators, must unite to resist the Heavenly Demons. In Shen Mo's view, this was crucial! Otherwise, given the typical mindset of cultivators, rogue cultivators and independent practitioners would expect sect disciples to take the lead, while smaller immortal sects and prominent clans would hope the Five Great Sects bear the brunt of the responsibility! Of course, the last demon scourge was merely twenty years ago. For cultivators with long lifespans, it feels like only yesterday! Especially for the Golden Core masters, twenty years is like a brief nap. With such mainstays present, it's unlikely that ideas like fleeing the Red Flame Country to escape the demon scourge, or colluding with mutated Heavenly Demons, will become the prevailing sentiment! Appealing to righteousness alone isn't enough! The prospect of profit is also vital. For individual cultivators, the generous bounties from the Demon Slaying Hall are the carrot dangling before the donkey. Even Shen Mo isn't immune! The various factions, on the other hand, are more focused on the division of spoils after the demon scourge. This calamity will inevitably lead to the fall of countless cultivators and the annihilation of numerous sects and factions. When that time comes, vast amounts of ownerless assets will become available. Even if the Five Great Sects take the lion's share, the others can still get a sip of the soup!

Secondly, and more crucially, is to use the Tianshan Mountain region as a training ground, employing Heavenly Demons to hone the cultivators of the Red Flame Country! Don't be deceived by the sight of Heavenly Demons swarming from the mountain, seemingly obscuring the sky. Those are merely Class II Heavenly Demons, only the vanguard of the demon scourge! Already, a large number of Class I Heavenly Demons have emerged from underground. In a few more days, hundreds of thousands, even millions, of low-class Heavenly Demons will invade the Red Flame Country. By then, the vast numbers of Body Tempering Realm and Qi Gathering Realm cultivators in the cultivation world will become the main fighting force! Otherwise, if they were to rely solely on cultivators at the Spirit Sea Realm and above, how long would it take to eliminate them all? By the time they've killed a significant number, the billions of creatures in the Red Flame Country would likely have been Demon-corrupted, devoured, and utterly devastated by the Heavenly Demons. Worse still, countless Class III and Class IV Heavenly Demons might be nurtured in the process. Then, these powerful demons would turn back and reduce the high-class cultivators of the Red Flame Country to piles of bone fragments! Therefore, cultivating and tempering low-class disciples is also of utmost importance. This applies to disciples of immortal sects and rogue cultivators alike. Even for evil cultivators, as long as they are willing to exert their full strength to slay Heavenly Demons, the Five Great Sects will temporarily turn a blind eye. Once the demon scourge is over, accounts will be settled!

Currently, the number of cultivators within Tianshan City had surpassed 20,000. A continuous stream of Body Tempering Realm and Qi Gathering Realm disciples was also rushing in from all corners of the Red Flame Country. Those who arrived early were mostly disciples from the Five Great Sects, sects possessing Teleportation Arrays, and members of prestigious large clans. After all, traveling via Teleportation Array was much faster than flying on a sword.

「Two days ago.」

Shen Mo had encountered friends like Chen Mengze and Cao Ren in Tianshan City. According to Chen Mengze, Uncle Chen would be bringing a group of Body Tempering Realm disciples to the Tianshan Mountain battlefield in a few days to slay demons and gain experience.

It had been some time since they last met. Chen Mengze had already advanced to Layer VI of the Qi Gathering Realm. Naturally, she couldn't compare to Inner Door prodigies like Zhao Lingyin and Lu Ming. However, her cultivation speed was not slow at all! Among inner disciples, she could be considered to be of an upper-middle standard.

Their other friend, Cao Ren, however, was not faring as well. Half a year had passed, yet he was still stuck at Layer II of the Qi Gathering Realm. It was well known that the higher the realm, the slower the advancement. At this rate of progress, he feared he would never be able to step into the Spirit Sea Realm in his lifetime. His only option would be to follow Uncle Chen's path: when he reached a certain age, he would transition into a new role and become a Deacon of the Riverside Sect.

Now, Shen Mo had an abundance of Elixirs on hand! Consequently, he gifted them a considerable amount of Grade I and Grade II Elixirs, particularly Demon Suppressing Pills, which could inhibit Demon-corruption to some extent. Now on the market, their prices had skyrocketed!

Chen Mengze's attitude towards him hadn't changed much. After accepting the Elixirs, she gifted Shen Mo some demonic beast corpses and Demon Cores in return. She remembered that Shen Mo had always been collecting such resources, whether in the Dark Crystal Mine or the Abandoned Ghost Zone. Therefore, she had intentionally saved quite a few, not selling them for Spirit Stones. However, she didn't know that Shen Mo no longer needed demonic beasts or soul cores to cultivate the Dragon Elephant Blood Fiend Body.

Shen Mo didn't waste these demonic beast corpses and Demon Cores. He fed them all to one of his minor Heavenly Demon Soul Generals, cultivating it to the late-stage of Class II, and then used it to Demon-corrupt the Soul General, Master Hong Jue. He planned to Demon-corrupt all eighteen of his late-stage Soul Generals one by one using minor Heavenly Demon Soul Generals. This way, when facing late-stage Class II or even peak Class II Native Heavenly Demons, he wouldn't need to worry about their Demon Dyed Divine Power. He could simply have Master Hong Jue and his other late-stage Soul Generals surround and eliminate them.

Cao Ren had also learned of Shen Mo's astonishing performance at the Tianshan Grand Ceremony! Besides envy, his attitude was clearly more reserved than before. Having received Shen Mo's gift of Elixirs, and unable to offer anything of comparable value in return at the moment, Cao Ren gave Shen Mo his father's notes on Alchemy and talisman making as a reciprocal gift.

Shen Mo had little use for these elixir recipes and talisman scrolls now. However, he still accepted them with a smile!

Others he had met during the past New Talents Competition, such as Lv Xu, Liu Qing, and Xu Longxiang, had also arrived in Tianshan City one after another. However, Shen Mo's acquaintance with them was superficial, so he didn't engage in much conversation. Liu Qing, however, for some unknown reason, kept sending him Sound Transmission Talismans daily, inviting him to go slay demons in the Tianshan Mountains together.

Naturally, Shen Mo refused her every time.