East King Duke, Body Perishes (2)

Upon hearing this, Queen Mother of the West quickly changed her tune and said, "Six peaches—can we let this matter go?"

Yun Ting chuckled and replied, "Are we short on the spiritual energy from those few peaches?" With that, he directly shot Di Jun and Taiyi a look, and together they made their move, utterly slaying East King Duke. Seeing this, Queen Mother of the West transformed into a streak of light and fled.

Yun Ting looked at Tong Tian with confusion and asked, "Father, do you happen to know something about this? What was Queen Mother of the West thinking? What did East King Duke's life or death have to do with her? Why come running to tie a karmic knot?"

Tong Tian coughed and said, "Ahem, I don't know either... You know, your father here, aside from cultivating and taking disciples, isn't good at anything else."

Yun Ting nodded and said, "Mm, true. I recall Junior Brother Chang Er once said that although you've lived for who knows how many Yuan Hui, your intelligence is only a bit better than the Wu Clan's..."

Tong Tian rubbed his hands together upon hearing this and asked, "Did Junior Brother Chang Er really say that?"

Yun Ting grinned slyly and said, "Mm, he definitely said it. I'm your own son—why would I lie to you? Besides, if I truly had a grudge against that Chang Er, wouldn't it be more satisfying to just go beat him up myself? After all, I'm your biological son; if I hit Chang Er, at worst you'd scold me a few times. Why would I need to frame him like this?"

Tong Tian nodded and said, "What you say has some merit. Indeed, there's no reason for you to go that far against Chang Er." But in his heart, he thought, "This Chang Er really needs to be dealt with. Daring to speak ill of This Seat behind my back—when I return, I'll punish him with three thousand years of seclusion."

Then Yun Ting looked at Yuanshi and said, "Senior Brother Duo Bao once said that among the three elders, Second Uncle is the smartest. You must know what's going on."

Yuanshi burst into laughter upon hearing this and said, "It's simple. East King Duke was the Head of Male Immortals, and Queen Mother of the West is the Head of Female Immortals. You killed East King Duke, proving that the Head of Male Immortals can be slain... That naturally gave Queen Mother of the West a sense of crisis."

Yun Ting said, "I see. Queen Mother of the West is afraid some female immortal might get tired of her being the Head of Female Immortals and come looking for trouble, right? But she's overthinking it. Among the female cultivators of the Primordial Wilderness, there aren't many with formidable strength, and even fewer who could slay a Quasi-Saint at her peak." Then, Yun Ting looked at Yuanshi with a sly grin and said, "Second Uncle, give me an idea. What does Queen Mother of the West treasure most? I want to make her suffer."

Yuanshi thought for a moment and said, "Hmm... What Queen Mother of the West treasures most are two things: one is the Mother Peach Tree, and the other is her eldest disciple, the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden. Mm, I've seen that Mystic Maiden before—her appearance is fairly decent. How about you go snatch the Mystic Maiden back to the Heavenly Court?"

Yun Ting grinned and said, "I'm not a lecher, Second Uncle. I think it's more reliable to just steal all the peaches..."

...And so, after a few casual words of family talk, Laozi retrieved the Taiji Diagram and led Yuanshi and Tong Tian back to Mount Kunlun, while Yun Ting, along with Di Jun and Taiyi, led a host of experts from the Demon Court to the Immortal Court's location, looting the treasury and thoroughly dismantling the Immortal Court.

As soon as they arrived at the Immortal Court's treasury, Yun Ting grew anxious and cursed loudly, "Jieyin, Zhunti, you two bastards! We killed East King Duke, and you've already looted a good chunk of the treasury. Don't you dare run!"

Taiyi sneered and said, "Rest assured, Western Emperor, they won't get away." With that, he directly sealed the space with the Chaos Bell and said, "Two against three, and we still have over eight hundred Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal peak experts on our side. You have no chance. Hand over all the treasures from the Immortal Court's treasury, now."

Zhunti chuckled, manifesting his Twenty-Four-Headed, Eighteen-Armed Dharma Body, and said, "This humble Taoist went through the trouble of stealing them—why should I hand them over to you?"

Di Jun, with the Power of Stars flickering on his Heavenly Emperor Sword, said, "If you don't hand them over, we'll settle this with force." Then he shouted, "Form the formation!" Although the Great Zhou Heavenly Stars Formation wasn't fully complete yet, the Demon Race had already figured out how to channel the Power of Stars from the Thirty-Three Heavens. Thus, Jieyin and Zhunti became the first Quasi-Saint late-stage targets for the Demon Race to test their formation.