The River of Worldly Desires manifested, and within a radius of dozens of zhang, the surroundings transformed once more.
All that met the eye were beautiful women, fine wine, delicious food, and everything else that made one unable to extricate themselves, lost in intoxication.
However, Wu Tao's willpower was originally exceptionally firm, and after five years of fighting, it had become as hard as steel.
With his guard up, he only experienced a slight daze. In less than a second, he regained his senses.
Wu Tao channeled spiritual energy through his hands, let out a long roar, and with a movement of his broken ancient sword, his sword technique changed again.
"Yin—" At this moment, a powerful sword cry echoed in the air. The sharp sword aura slashed through the void, and the sword energy, like a surging torrent, shattered the painting "Beauties and Courtesans in the Red Mansion."
"Pfft!"
He spat out a mouthful of reversed blood. After the "Beauties and Courtesans in the Red Mansion" painting was destroyed, Hong Wu Chunxin Gongzi suffered a backlash, sustaining a significant internal injury.
Seizing the advantage, Wu Tao pushed his sword technique to the extreme. The broken ancient sword was engulfed in blazing sword spirit energy, burning with divine flames. Sword energy flickered at the tip of the blade...
The sword momentum surged, and sharp light erupted. The broken ancient sword transformed into a sky full of sword light, with rolling sword qi and infinite killing intent hidden within.
Hong Wu Chunxin Gongzi and his two companions, in their fear, threw out numerous talismans, barely managing to block the torrent of sword light.
...
Wu Tao's body weaved between Hong Wu Chunxin Gongzi and his two companions, launching attacks intermittently. His objective was to continuously deplete the remaining trump cards of the trio.
Just as Wu Tao had depleted most of their trump cards, he directly activated the Buddha's Golden Body, transforming into a golden giant several zhang tall.
With a series of "clang! clang! clang!" sounds, Wu Tao actually endured several magical attacks with his physical body.
"He actually blocked magic spells with his bare body, how is this possible?"
This thought simultaneously arose in the minds of Hong Wu Chunxin Gongzi and his two companions.
In that momentary lapse, Hong Wu Chunxin Gongzi and the other two met their defeat and demise.
Wu Tao firmly grasped this opportunity, suddenly resembling the Thousand-Armed Buddha, unleashing a barrage of punches and fingers.
From afar, it looked like clusters of golden-yellow chrysanthemums blooming, both beautiful and astonishing.
Countless golden-yellow fists and fingers, like raindrops mixed with incredible power, rushed towards Hong Wu Chunxin Gongzi and his two companions, whistling through the air.
In an instant, they were enveloped, with no space left to escape above, below, left, or right.
Hong Wu Chunxin Gongzi and his two companions were treated as human sandbags by Wu Tao, beaten brutally.
Blood splattered, stirring up countless crimson blood flowers.
In the end, the bones within the bodies of Hong Wu Chunxin Gongzi and his two companions were crushed by the dense fist energy. Their bodies went limp and collapsed in a pool of blood.
...
Wu Tao collected the storage bags of Hong Wu Chunxin Gongzi and his two companions, then immediately administered several medicinal pills for healing and detoxification to Xu Sheng.
Afterward, Wu Tao stood beside Xu Sheng, guarding her.
...
An hour later, Xu Sheng opened her eyes.
Xu Sheng looked at Wu Tao, slowly parting the disheveled strands of hair from her face, revealing a countenance that was not exceptionally beautiful but extremely captivating, youthful, and elegant.
At this moment, Xu Sheng's vision was filled solely with Wu Tao, and nothing else.
...
In her eyes, a familiar figure appeared at the most critical juncture, like a savior.
The aura of power and dominance emanating from him was even sharper than when she first met him.
Pressing her lips together, Xu Sheng's expression was complex. She recalled all the events that had transpired.
This feeling, like a companion but not quite, yet more intimate than friendship, coupled with the debt of a life saved, made Xu Sheng's mind wander. She didn't even notice that her lips had been bitten by her teeth, blood trickling down the corners of her mouth.
...
Due to the complex and perilous situation, after Xu Sheng's injuries had somewhat improved, Wu Tao carried the weakened Xu Sheng on his back and walked out.
Wu Tao, carrying Xu Sheng on his back, was perceived as an easy target by many, which infuriated him.
He knew all too well the consequences of being seen as a soft target and being attacked by a mob.
Facing this situation, Wu Tao took a deep breath and resolved to go on a killing spree.
Without hesitation, Wu Tao unleashed his full power. Spiritual energy surged as he wielded his broken ancient sword like a tempest.
Arrogant!
The two disciples from the Cold Water True Spirit Sect who were attacking him became enraged at this sight.
As a result, a series of roars erupted!
These two top-tier magical artifacts were directly shattered by the broken ancient sword...
"Damn it?"
"How is this possible?"
With two exclamations, one after the other, both of them dropped their condescending expressions and began to focus on dealing with their enemy.
Wu Tao's divine sense, at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, spread out fully, first surveying the situation inside and outside the Alchemy Hall.
Knowing that most people had gone to the main hall where the battle had first erupted, he no longer hesitated. The broken ancient sword switched from slashing to drawing, attacking the two Cold Water True Spirit Sect disciples.
Wu Tao wielded the sword techniques from the Star River Secret Scroll with unparalleled mastery.
The thousands of scattered sword qi, like falling plum blossoms, possessed the lonely beauty of winter, their cold radiance piercing to the bone, like a meteor shower, brimming with killing intent. Each sword qi was like an immortal sword.
The sharp torrent of sword qi, with its surging aura, advanced relentlessly, cutting through everything.
The Cold Water True Spirit Sect disciple in front gasped and hurriedly plastered various defensive talismans onto himself.
However, before the indestructible sword qi, he was blown against the cave wall, even with over a dozen protective shields, in a manner that was utterly devastating.
At this moment, the ribs on his chest were severely deformed, and blood gushed out everywhere as if it were free.
Following this, the subsequent countless sword qi further sliced his entire body into countless pieces of flesh and blood.
This was a true dismemberment.
The remaining Cold Water True Spirit Sect disciple behind him cried out in terror and stammered, "Are… are you… a monster?"
Wu Tao ignored him and changed his sword technique again.
The broken ancient sword transformed into a white long rainbow, piercing straight out. The cold light on the tip of the sword flashed by.
Where the Cold Water True Spirit Sect disciple had stood, a headless corpse suddenly appeared.
Wu Tao then took the storage bags of the two, and without examining them in detail, quickly placed them into his own storage bag.
He then glanced at Xu Sheng on his back, gritted his teeth, and continued to stride forward.
At this moment, the roars from outside were becoming increasingly chaotic. It seemed that the battle outside, as time went on, not only had not ended but was becoming even more intense.
...
As Wu Tao emerged from the side hall, he saw Su You Shi, Long Ao Po Tian, and others rushing towards him. Wu Tao looked back and asked, "Where are the other senior brothers?"
Su You Shi's expression dimmed at the question, and he said with some sadness, "Four junior brothers have fallen. In the melee, the Cold Water True Spirit Sect and the Demonic Heaven Sect colluded to deliver a fatal blow."
"However, they didn't gain much. The Cold Water True Spirit Sect lost three, and the Demonic Heaven Sect lost two. We are not at a disadvantage."
Wu Tao wanted to say that he had just eliminated two inner disciples of the Cold Water True Spirit Sect nearby.
But on second thought, he decided against it, lest others think he was too ostentatious and boastful.
After handing Xu Sheng over to the only female senior sister among them, Wu Tao and the others hurried towards the exit, unsure of the situation outside.
On the way, Wu Tao learned that after these factions found the true inheritance site of alchemy within the Alchemy Hall, fierce conflicts had erupted, resulting in many deaths.
...
Within the inheritance site of alchemy were five high-grade magical artifact cauldrons and one top-grade magical artifact cauldron.
On the wooden racks surrounding the cauldrons, there were also large quantities of jade bottles filled with elixirs, as well as extremely precious Soul Calming Incense, Soul Nurturing Incense, and Soul Enriching Incense for calming the mind and spirit. In addition, there were jade slips, pill formulas, and a series of other priceless items.
Due to the chaotic and disordered arrangement of the items, the cultivators of the Cold Water True Spirit Sect, who entered first, swept up two-thirds of the jade slips, soul incense, and pill formulas.
The cultivators from the Taiyi Immortal Sect and the Demonic Heaven Sect followed closely. Su You Shi, seeing that the Cold Water True Spirit Sect had gained the advantage, did not charge forward with the Demonic Heaven Sect cultivators to compete with them.
Instead, several of them unleashed their full strength to seize the cauldrons, obtaining three high-grade magical artifact cauldrons and one top-grade magical artifact cauldron.
The Demonic Heaven Sect cultivators, with their meager gains, became envious and joined forces with the Cold Water True Spirit Sect, playing a trick on the Taiyi Immortal Sect group.
Fortunately, another Saint Son of the Taiyi Immortal Sect, Lu Yi, arrived at the most critical moment and intervened, stabilizing the situation.
Otherwise, the Taiyi Immortal Sect group might have been completely annihilated.
More and more cultivators poured into the Alchemy Hall, and the hall was once again plundered. After Wu Tao, Su You Shi, and the others left the hall, they discovered that of the original thirteen people, only six remained, with seven having died in the chaotic battle.
In less than half an hour, the cultivators who had plundered the Alchemy Hall emerged.
The greatest benefits had clearly gone to the group that entered the hall first. The cultivators who arrived later only obtained scraps.
After all, first come, first served.
A few persistent cultivators continued to meticulously search the Alchemy Hall, rummaging through hidden corners, hoping to find some unexpected treasures that others had missed.
Wu Tao observed that out of the initial forty-plus people who were there, only about twenty remained. Except for the thirteen people from the Taiyi Immortal Sect, now only six were left. Including the recently arrived Saint Son Lu Yi, there were only a handful of them...