Divine Brilliance

His brows tightly frowned. Zong Shou took in a deep breath and took out 2 message sending talismans. He used his intent to inject some words into it before casting it out, turning into 2 balls of red light which flew into the sky.

The red swift bird could follow scents to search for a person. As for the message sending talisman, it needed a drop of essence blood from the person to be able to accurately find the receiver of the message.

However, to achieve that, one's cultivation had to at least be grade 7 and above.

Zong Shou wasn't trying to find someone but directly sending it to the city lord manor of Rainbow City which was right next to the cloud ocean. As such he just needed to know the relative location.

Its speed was several times faster than that of the red swift bird and it was hard to intercept it.

The worry in his eyes still hadn't faded. He didn't need to personally act, there was admiral Gu Liekong who brought people to search for the dragon horn winged horses.

In a short period, the entire west of Donglin, even the entire cloud continent, Gantian Mountain's ship division should be unchallenged.

Even the west ocean Taoyun City famous for naval battles, before they recovered could only barely go up against Gantian Mountain, enough to defend but not enough to attack.

They just needed a few hundred warships, 400 thousand people and they would be able to capture those dragon horn winged horses. As for the time to tame them, it would roughly take half a year.

He already had the heart technique blood cloud incantation for the blood cloud cavalry in his mind. What he had a headache about was that he couldn't see anyone who could be the commander.

Originally Zong Yuan was the most suited but since he was going to merge with that grade 8 dragon soul and he was an unparalleled general talent, it would be a waste to restrict him to commanding a cavalry army.

The 2nd choice was Yin Yang. This uncle Yin, if he was still there, would be at the martial ancestor realm. There was a possibility he would be either 5 meridians or 6 meridians!

10 years of tough cultivation, tens of years of foundation building, the depth he built up, the explosive growth wasn't something that could be taken lightly.

However, since saying goodbye several months ago to return to his sect to take some of the things that belonged to him, no one knew where he went.

As for Yin Yang's sect, even Ruo Shui who was Zong Weiran's hidden guard commander didn't know.

Secondly is that they didn't have enough martial ancestor realm experts. This was the toughest to do. The martial ancestor level people in Gantian Mountain, without affecting the combat strength of other forces, gathering up the numbers there would be around 200. However, their loyalty was not certain.

As for the xiantian realm, since Ren Bo started to push out the few policies in Gantian Mountain, there was an explosive growth of xiantian experts and out of body spirit masters. Most people either rushed for the loans or Zong Weiran's huge depository, moving into Gantian Mountain. Some people even decided to join the army to try to get better benefits.

Since Gantian Mountain had come back from the cloud ocean with bountiful rewards and defeated the 3 cities, this gulf in strength became more apparent.

Today their number of grade 4 experts have already increased to 19 thousand. Based on the ratio between grade 4 and grade 5 with was 10:1. Next year at least 50 people could get to the martial ancestor realm.

...The future was still bright, however, it couldn't solve the problem at hand.

...If he could have 3000 blood cloud cavalry in his hands, he would even dare to destroy all the disciples of the Mysterious Cloud Spirit Sect and not worry about the other sects blaming him and creating problems for him.

Even with only 600 cavalry, on the battlefield, at least in Donglin Cloud Continent, at this stage, no one would be able to stop him!

Right now, Gantian Mountain had several million troops now, but in 120 years when the spiritual wave rose, troops grade 4 and below were useless and could only be used as cannon fodder.

Only with strong elites like the blood cloud cavalry could one compete for the world.　

Before this spiritual wave, with 600 blood cloud cavalry in his hands, it was similar to the millions of Gantian Mountain elite troops.

Sighing silently, Zong Shou cast a fire talisman on that corpse. Burning this unknown teen expert from the Li family into dust before he spread it all out.

He wiped away all traces and collected that seven-star spell altar which was floating in the distance. He then changed into a set of lightning walking 3rd version spiritual bone before moving north together with Zong Yuan.

That spell altar was really good, when one activated it, it could connect to 10 spiritual veins to use for oneself. When it floated in the air, it used up close to no soul power.

However, its movement speed was just too slow which was how Ant Zhenren was able to block his path.

As for driving the sword in the air, with the amount of soul power that Zong Shou had, at most it could last him to fly a hundred miles. If he carried along Zong Yuan then it would be impossible.

When they moved back in the direction they came from, what Zong Shou was surprised about was the 2 dragon horn winged horse he brought over here were still alive.

After changing mounts, their speed was a little quicker. Out of the marsh on the outskirts of the place, Zong Shou saw Chai Yuan leading ten army experts waiting anxiously.

In the distance there was a bunch of army tents, looking out there were a total of 400 thousand. The direct army of Gantian Mountain took up 1/6th. As for the rest, it came from the various cities, most of them were elites above the martial master.

Seeing Zong Shou walk out, Chai Yuan heaved a sigh of relief.

"Not long ago official heard the news that first, the Xue family worked with others to ambush ruler. I also heard that Ant Zhenren wanted to attack you. These few days I was so anxious, for you to be able to come back safely is for the best!"

In the past in front of Zong Shou, Chai Yuan used to call himself old official, now he only called himself official in front of Zong Shou. Although the warmth of being an elder was still there, he was more respectful. At this moment his expression was also really solemn.

"The ruler's safety is important and you have to be careful. The ruler shouldn't participate in such risky matters in the future. One must know that even spirit masters who had some identity would have 3-5 protectors following along with them…"

Zong Shou understood what he meant, only able to acknowledge it. Such a situation was indeed really dangerous.

Following which he felt really curious. The army gathered here was simply too huge. Just one exit there were 400 thousand. Along with the other areas, weren't there a million?

The surrounding cities of the area didn't seem to be sending troops to go through the motions, the people they sent were all elites.

As he asked that, Chai Yuan's face flushed red, "It is because of the ruler! 10 days ago you defeated Long Ruo in front of so many cultivators, bringing excitement to everyone. Today everyone in the cloud world knows that ruler had been humiliated badly in Linhai College those 3 years. Who doesn't know that you are the most talented person to come out of Donglin in these hundred years, the top talent of the young generation? Everyone said that within a few years you would sweep Donglin."

He looked with despise towards the people behind him, "Most of them had supported Taoyun City in the past, when you wanted to move troops and gather grain they always opposed and resisted. But since ruler killed the body of Long Ruo, Lingyun Sect also unable to do anything to you, only able to spread out news of their apology. With just one order from me, I was able to gather up a million troops. If we didn't have a contract and Yue Guanyun's defenses were well built up, I wanted to move troops to attack that Hanxi Province…"

Zong Shou was speechless as he looked around, only to see that out of those experts they weren't lacking in grade 6 ones. However, when Zong Shou's eyes swept past all of them slightly lowered their heads, their expressions were solemn and respectful.

He suddenly had an understanding, however, he didn't expect that the glow of being the successor of Dragon Shadow, the sword path genius could be used in such a way.

He thought that he at least needed 2 to 3 years to be able to digest all his newly obtained territory.

But with their hearts changing, Gantian Mountain could already control a large part of the newly obtained 7 provinces.

Hearing the final words from Chai Yuan, Zong Shou was tempted.

At this moment there didn't seem like there was a need to rest up and accumulate power. They just needed to organize things up a little before they could expand once more.

Yue Linghuan's ability to use troops were decent, especially after losing several times to him, he seemed to become more careful and experienced. However, in his eyes, there were still some weaknesses that could be spotted.

However, after thinking carefully about it Zong Shou decided to give up.

...He hadn't made preparations, he wasn't prepared to deal with the Donglin Sects.

What was difficult wasn't destroying the 3 cities but what happened after the destruction.

At that time Gantian Mountain had to at least have to ability to go up against spiritual houses ranking in the top 3 and above!

Outside of this swampland, Zong Shou spent several more days there. He went to meet the city lords who rushed over from the nearby Tianfang and Xiping Province to calm them down and get them on his side.

At that point, he felt pained. Although he was acting the part as a great leader, with those few days of free time it would be enough for him to form up several more spiritual charms.

When they came, it was Zong Yuan and him. Now, Chai Yuan arranged him 20 martial ancestor experts as guards, there were also 2 Xuanwu ancestors who acted as commanders.

At this point, he could see the strength of Gantian Mountain was swelling rapidly. If it was before, how could he have such an entourage?

Not to mention 20 martial ancestors, when Zong Shou went out to have 4 or 5 was already quite good. As for Xuanwu ancestors, he could forget about it, the rest would be made up by xiantain masters.

In a short 2 days, Zong Shou once again rushed to that Mysterious Ghost Mountain. He ordered the following guards to wait below the mountain whilst he brought only Zong Yuan to the mountain peak.

It was currently night, where the poison below was the thickest which was why when Zong Shou reached the peak, he saw Hu Zhongyuan and group sitting cross-legged and cultivating and the side of the cliff.

Zong Yuan and he obtained huge gains on Dragon Gathering Mountain. However, the cultivation of these fellows also increased by leaps and bounds.

The person who progressed the fastest was Ling Xuan, he had already formed his 7th true spiritual talisman and was about to catch up to Hu Zhongyuan. Next was Guhe. His skin shone like jade in the night sky? Who knew what kind of special technique he cultivated in that even Zong Shou couldn't see through him.

Seeing the 2 of them walk over, they were all surprised, all standing up and bowing. During these few days, the few of them were focusing on their cultivations, blocked off from the world and not asking about outside world matters. Which was why when they met their faces were like nothing had happened.

After Zong Shou asked, he found out that in the tens of days he had left these people had worked together to clear out 6 thousand beasts in the canyon.

They had collected around 32 thousand drops of the spirit salamander blood obtained after purification. Hu Zhongyuan and the others used up close to a hundred each.