Chapter 23: Undying Prick
Jun Meng Chen had never failed so miserably since he had obtained the title as one of the five generals of the World Tree Domain. Leaving an extremely sour taste in his mouth, his eyes seemed to spit fire towards anyone who dared look at him.
Compared to his usual military exploits against insurgents and invaders, this assault against Blaze Mountain had gone so horrendously wrong that not even thirty percent of his assigned troops managed to return intact. The rest were in various degrees of a spiritual slumber that it was unknown whether Jun Meng Chen's army could regain its peak strength within a short period of time.
His usage of military strategy was completely flawless; Initiating battles with the Nine Interlocked Suns Formation allowed for great flexibility as the formation allowed five immortals to perfectly form a cohesive, singular unit with far greater combat potential. The most fearsome aspect of the Nine Interlocked Suns Formation was that it reserved four external channels of divine essence which could be utilized to launch a powerful surprise offensive or bolster defensive abilities.
His procedures and analysis of the battlefield had not failed this time either, for he had immediately noticed that the Blaze Mountain was not performing at full aggressiveness it was reputed for, as he quickly issued a command to swap to a more defensive formation, the Seven Gates of Pain. It was just that the trump card issued by the Blaze Mountain's forces were undefeatable when contending against infantry-division immortals.
In this battle, Blaze Mountain had brought forth modified airburst cannons powered by compressed divine essence, which after certain modifications, had the capability of bypassing the spiritual pressure issued throughout the battlefield that prevented the usage of weaponry of such scale. Each shot had decimated dozens of immortals, and with only twelve shots fired, Jun Meng Chen had to issue a temporary retreat unless he wanted to singlehandedly fight against such destructive power, of which he wouldn't survive either.
Remembering the deadly shockwaves caused by the exploding cannon shots, Jun Meng Chen could not help but shudder. If he could recall correctly and his analysis was not flawed, the imprinting on the shells during that battle were not of the Five Elements Series, but rather the Chaos Law Series portable inscriptions. Each successfully detonated shell would unleash a shockwave of concentrated divine essence with a chaos attribute in addition to the standard attribute of pure heat. When ordinary immortals without a spiritual core faced such an attack, there would practically be zero defense whatsoever.
Immortals could not actually expand their divine essence's strength unlike mortals, everything was predetermined at creation. The defining construct and its quality of an immortal being would determine the immortals' future cultivation method of consolidating and compressing their available divine essence to its deadliest form.
Hence, without a spiritual core, be it a Elemental Core, Void Core, or Heaven Core, the only improvement an immortal could display was their combat potential, accumulated through countless battles and practice. It was only certain immortal beings, like Jun Meng Chen, who could expand their divine essence capacity; born of a particular background, the defining construct allowed for the external absorption of divine essence.
This was where external weaponry powered by concentrated divine essence was deadly during armed conflicts among militias. Even for Jun Meng Chen, the majority of his assigned army, if not all, were ordinary immortals who did not possess a spiritual core, and some did not even consolidate their divine essence to half completion. The modified weaponry used by Blaze Mountain would probably decimate the World Tree Domain's defenses without any problem.
Hence, Jun Meng Chen rushed towards the World Tree's Sanctuary at the fastest speed. A matter of this magnitude, it is probably better to wash himself of the responsibility, and better pass it along to the First General.
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Rushing in towards the World Tree Sanctuary, Jun Meng Chen payed no regard towards the magnificent displays of woodcraft; instead he traveled with great haste to the inner sanctuary hall where Li Xiang had previously conversed with the World Tree. Stepping before the wooden altar, Jun Meng Chen tossed onto it a jade pendant engraved with the sigil of the World Tree in the Divine Script. Once the pendant had landed, it immediately lit up, a copy of the engravings projected in the air before Jun Meng Chen.
The projected engravings quickly rearranged themselves, the Divine Script altering its form to create a vertical rectangular pillar which then hollowed, leaving enough space for a man to fit in. The core of the pillar suddenly opened to reveal a void; Jun Meng Chen immediately stepped into the void, his figure vanishing within an instant. The pillar slowly disintegrated revealing the jade pendant on the altar, before it too disappeared as well.
With one step, he was in the vast emptiness of the void; with a second, he was in the core amphitheater of the World Tree's Domain. Here, only the most privileged and capable immortals residing in the World Tree Domain could enter, of which the true form of the World Tree lived as well. The amphitheater existed in a parallel dimension, without an overhead sky or implementation of time.
Compared to the extravagant architecture and design of the exterior, the hidden hall that Jun Meng Chen stepped into was more plain and ordinary, perhaps a little destitute. The hall was constructed purely out of reddish maple, and some wood shavings and piles of dust even decorated the corners. There were five circular layers of elevated platforms circling a rather small and insignificant-looking willow tree.
The puny willow tree, was in fact the World Tree itself. Although it appeared to the immortals residing within the domain as a supreme, towering being, the World Tree was still a tiny, insignificant subordinate of the Pavilion of Life, the domain of Yggdrasil. Though very little, not even a meter tall, the willow tree exuded a considerable amount of vitality, with periodic pulses of divine essence that calmed the nerves.
Striding towards the first row of platforms, Jun Meng Chen leaped onto a random platform, stabilizing his balance. Sitting in a comfortable position, he then slapped the surface with the same jade pendant he entered the amphitheater with, causing the entire platform to light up, with golden inscriptions forming a circuit towards the willow. Then, a powerful surge of divine essence raced along the circuit towards the willow tree, causing it to tremble with flashes of lightning.
As the willow trembled for the third time, it disappeared, and a bald old man replaced it. Dressed in grey hemp robes, sporting a long, thin beard, the short old man exuded an aura of death compared to the willow tree's aura of life. Waving his left hand, a wooden staff formed which he grasped tightly, before slamming down onto the ground. He was precisely the World Tree that everyone within the World Tree Domain respected, but never actually met.
When the staff struck the surface of the amphitheater, the circuit of divine essence gradually receded, restoring the environment to a state of tranquility. Jun Meng Chen's eyebrows lifted, and his cold voice could be heard ringing throughout the amphitheater.
"Old Tree, your reaction is getting slower each time. Do we need to find you a mate? Usually, you used to respond on the first call, reduce your frequency of cultivating that 'Solitary Yang' technique of yours."
The old man coughed once, his face reddening slightly from embarrassment. This Jun brat, his mouth was as sharp as ever, and his eyes were all-seeing as usual. Indeed, he had been engrossed in cultivating the Solitary Yang technique that he paid no heed to Jun Meng Chen's convening call. Alas, Jun brat's background was far too great for a World Tree to handle; it would be such a great event if he could strike him on the head once!
"Little Jun, leave us old things some face since that's the only thing we have left. Alright, alright, what is going on that even you, the reputed 'stone general', is flustering like a newlywed young girl?"
Jun Meng Chen's graceful lips rose in a slight upwards curve, his handsome face displaying some disdain towards the World Tree's attempt of a snide retort. Reverting to his original calm, he threw a grey river pebble towards the old man, before tossing a chilled remark.
"Take a look at that, there's a pretty close-up visualization of what Blaze Mountain had prepared, formed by one of my soldiers that survived. This attempt is a total disaster, and even the World Tree Domain is at risk of a complete invasion. Say, is that good enough of a crisis for you?"
Catching the river pebble, the World Tree infused divine essence into it, causing a projection of the modified airburst cannons to appear in the amphitheater, large enough to be viewed from the furthest row. Tapping the projection, the visual of the airburst cannon was directly manipulated by the World Tree, causing the sides of the cannons to be shown, of which a specialized inscription of an intertwined rose and dove feather could be seen. The World Tree could not help narrowing his eyes, and a hint of fear appeared within his expression.
"Rose Gold Blacksmith Coalition? When did Blaze Mountain obtain such a sponsor to utilize such weaponry during battle? Indeed, nobody among my domain's forces could withstand a single blow from their chaos-attributed shells. Tsk, tsk, its even an airburst model, too! Are they even attempting to fight a war, or are they remodeling terrain?"
"Blaze Mountain offered their third Fire Princess's hand in marriage to Rose Gold Blacksmith Coalition's third deputy, Li Siying. What they obtained from such an exchange, we don't know the entirety of, since they're being extremely guarded and hidden. What is known for now, is that they definitely have much more than a few dozen airburst cannons. Perhaps even a beam weapon may make its presence known!" Jun Meng Chen calmly stated, his expression cold. Third Fire Princess?
"Third Fire Princess, Third Fire Princess, wasn't she the one who kept on trying to woo you? You know, if her demands weren't that aggressive and your identities were even the slightest compatible, you could have prevented this situation with a simple marriage. I'll oversee your divorce ceremony in secret, too!"
The World Tree snidely remarked. Within the World Tree Domain, many immortals knew about the Blaze Mountain's Third Fire Princess crazily attempting to seduce and marry Jun Meng Chen. Sporting great, attractive looks and a very appealing pair of beautiful and long legs, the Fire Princess was very popular among immortals, with many asking for her hand in marriage. It was a pity that her attitude was rather spoiled and rotten, causing Jun Meng Chen to outright deny her the opportunity to even approach him.
"Oh? Isn't it rare to see Little Third in the amphitheater of the World Tree? What brings you here, did you get your delicate ass spanked by a fiery little princess and her aggrieved fanbase?" A delicate voice rang throughout the hall, causing the World Tree to snigger and Jun Meng Chen's face to twitch fiercely. It seems that the undying prick had returned…
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