To suppress an intact Saint Weapon, an Extreme Dao Weapon had to be used. Each faction needed its Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon to hold down its own foundations, so none could keep the Illusion Destruction Palace's inherited holy bell suppressed indefinitely.
If only Holy Lord-level experts made a move, the outcome would indeed be as he had expected.
Unfortunately, the one who acted was an existence at the peak of the Saint King realm. The Illusion Destruction Palace was destined to lose its Saint Weapon...
In the Northern Region, amid a range of majestic mountains, clouds and mist churned over a valley of green peaks and emerald slopes. Quite a few cultivators came riding rainbows, entering the valley ahead.
Suddenly, a spatial vortex appeared, and three people arrived before a great mountain. Su Yu whispered into the Divine Silkworm Princess's ear.
A moment later, the two changed their appearances to those of attendants and followed the Azure-Clad Little Flood Dragon King toward the mountain.
The Azure-Clad Little Flood Dragon King entered the mountain gate with steady steps and an extraordinary bearing.
This was a sect. A block of bluestone stood before its mountain gate, bearing the carved characters "Tianyun." Quite a few cultivators were arriving from all directions.
This was the Heavenly Cloud Sect, a stronghold of the Northern Region's Demon Clan.
When the woman receiving guests at the gate saw the Azure-Clad Little Flood Dragon King, she hurried forward. She wore a revealing gauze robe adorned with feathers. Her face was enchanting, and a fall of red hair hung down her back. Her graceful, alluring body appeared and disappeared beneath the gauze, which could scarcely cover it at all. She was exceedingly seductive, stirring people's desires.
The demoness smoothed her scarlet hair and said in a coquettish voice, "Greetings, Little Flood Dragon King."
"Thank you for your efforts!" the Azure-Clad Little Flood Dragon King replied gently, his expression unchanged.
He then walked straight past, leaving the demoness staring after him in a daze at the gate.
"Stop staring. The Little Flood Dragon King is already gone!" someone beside her teased.
The red-haired demoness felt somewhat wistful. She glanced at her companion and sighed softly, then returned to her former manner and continued receiving the honored guests arriving from all directions.
Inside the Heavenly Yuan Sect, the three passed through three successive restrictions and came together to a grove.
Not far away, a magnificent sea of pink flowers lay at the foot of a mountain. Countless petals danced in the mist, and their fragrance filled the mountain woods.
The peaks here were beautiful, with halls and pavilions, cascading waterfalls and flowing springs. It was an exceedingly peaceful pure land. Unlike outside, there were few cultivators here; only two burly guards stood watch at the edge of the flower sea.
Chapter 38: Suppressing the Demon Clan's Small World
The three crossed the flower sea. When the two guards saw the Azure-Clad Little Flood Dragon King, they hurriedly bowed to him.
The Azure-Clad Little Flood Dragon King nodded, then signaled for the guards to open the barrier.
Both guards were cultivators at the Other Shore realm, each holding a black-and-white spear. As Yin and Yang Qi mingled, the spears stood crosswise, and a point of chaotic light appeared in the void. It slowly grew larger, forming an illusory doorway.
The Azure-Clad Little Flood Dragon King took out a piece of white jade, attached his divine sense to it, and pressed it against the gate of light. With a soft sound, a waterfall of light opened up. The three passed through the gate and finally entered the Azure Flood Dragon King's small world.
There were four restrictions in all, and the last had to be triggered by his own divine sense. The security could hardly have been tighter.
Spiritual Qi was far more abundant in this small world than outside, and the scenery was beautiful. Many palaces stood among graceful mountains. Ancient sages had opened up this small world and left behind some ruins, and the Azure Flood Dragon King's dwelling had been built among them.
A great mountain stood at the center of the small world, towering into the clouds. Its peak was crowned with splendid towers and jade palaces, as though one had arrived in the Heavenly Court.
"The Azure Flood Dragon King is in the sky. The Ageless Hall is above those clouds." As they listened to the Azure-Clad Little Flood Dragon King's explanation, Su Yu and the Divine Silkworm Princess resumed their true appearances, and their expressions relaxed.
Once they found the exact location, they could seal the space and catch the turtle in the jar. Not a single human or demon in this small world would escape!
Su Yu immediately summoned his intact Great Saint weapon to shield them, then signaled that Her Highness could act as she pleased.
The purple-clad woman gazed at the layers of clouds high above. Countless meteors floated there, bearing Dao patterns carved by sages to form a Saint formation. Unfortunately, it was badly damaged, with less than a tenth of its power remaining.
She brushed her purple hair with slender fingers like tender scallion shoots, her fair, luminous face perfectly calm. Then her body began to glow faintly, and a pressure unique to an ancient Saint appeared in the small world opened by the ancient sages.
Su Yu and the Azure-Clad Little Flood Dragon King, who were closest to her, were protected by the Chaos Sword and did not truly feel the holy pressure.
But many demons and cultivators in the small world felt a pressure as heavy as the ages. Every cultivator below the Immortal Platform realm fell to their knees. Their souls were battered by the holy pressure, their faces turned pale, and they could not rise at all.
"An enemy attack! Hurry and notify the king!"
"Has the Yaoguang Holy Land come knocking?"
Hundreds of demons collapsed to the ground, out of their wits and utterly terrified. They did not understand what the holy pressure meant and thought a Great Power had come to attack.
The Azure Flood Dragon King would handle such a situation. As long as they held on, the seventh great bandit, Tu Tian, and the other great bandits would soon bring the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar to their aid.
In the Ageless Hall above the clouds, the Azure Flood Dragon King was cultivating in seclusion when the pressure suddenly startled him awake. Several old Dragon Transformation demons in the hall whose lifespans were nearly exhausted were also crushed by the holy pressure. They nearly died on the spot and spat blood.
Feeling the pressure carefully, the Azure Flood Dragon King's face filled with terror. It far surpassed that of Old Undying, the strongest cultivator he had ever seen.
And the first great bandit had already entered the Half-Saint realm. This was...
"A Saint has descended here..." At the thought, the Azure Flood Dragon King's heart pounded, and he felt that an immense danger was upon him.
Though the Ageless Hall bore some Saint Dao patterns, it was not a Saint Weapon and could not fully withstand a Saint's pressure, much less when that pressure came from an existence close to becoming a Great Saint.
The next moment, a dull gray pottery lid flew toward the heavens and erupted with boundless divine light, sealing off the space of the small world.
The Divine Silkworm Princess flew into the sky and waved her right hand, sending out a seven-colored divine light. The magnificent, ancient Ageless Hall was sent flying; its incomplete holy Dao runes could not withstand the blow at all.
The Primordial Saint King extended her right hand again, her five fingers flawless as pale scallion shoots, and gently closed them.
In an instant, a streak of light shot out of the Ageless Hall. The Azure Flood Dragon King, clad in golden battle armor, was pulled out and then fell from the sky, crashing to the ground. His internal organs were injured by the impact, and he coughed up mouthfuls of blood.
The cultivators outside the palaces stared in disbelief at the figure that had fallen to the ground. That was their king, the Azure Flood Dragon King, who had swept across the Northern Region for nearly a thousand years. Yet now he was in a wretched state, and everyone fell into despair.
"The king has been defeated! The Yaoguang Holy Land is going to slaughter us all..."
"Hurry and notify Lord Tu Tian! Only an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon can stop the Yaoguang Holy Land."
Looking at the small world in chaos, Su Yu's gaze was indifferent. Only the other half of the Emperor Weapon remained in his eyes. To make the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar whole, he did not hesitate to stain both hands with blood.
He looked at the Azure Flood Dragon King before him and said coldly:
"Take us to Tu Tian, or die!"
The Azure Flood Dragon King saw the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid hanging in the sky and seemed to understand why they had come. Then he looked at the Azure-Clad Little Flood Dragon King, whose eyes were clear, and anger welled up in his chest...
Faced with the stubbornly unyielding great bandit, Su Yu lost patience. "Your Highness, just convert him."
The Divine Silkworm Princess nodded. She too feared that a long night would bring many dreams.
Her slender fingers gently moved, and beautiful light bloomed at their tips. The gravely injured Azure Flood Dragon King felt as though he had fallen into an ice cavern, his very soul trembling. In his eyes, that beautiful jade hand was like a reaper's scythe.
As a Great Power, he had also heard of the Central Continent's Qin Sect and its art of conversion. It was a terrifying secret art that had converted even Kings who had reached great accomplishment in the Third Heaven of the Immortal Platform.
But before he could struggle, he saw a ball of divine light rush toward his Immortal Platform. Under the Saint's pressure, the Demon Clan Great Power could not even resist!
Before long, the Azure Flood Dragon King followed respectfully behind the Divine Silkworm Princess.
"You no longer need cultivation vessels to devour?" Seeing that Su Yu was not taking captives, the Divine Silkworm Princess was somewhat puzzled.
Su Yu shook his head. Even if he refined all these members of the Demon Clan, he would not gain much, and he would draw a host of enemies. There was no need.
"Princess, please convert the living beings of this world!" the dark creature said.
The Divine Silkworm Princess shook her head, feeling all the more that he was someone of note, destined for an extraordinary future.
His heart was ruthless enough, and his purpose was clear.
She had been the same when she rose to prominence.
The Heavenly King-level expert immediately released her divine sense and performed the Deity-Deliverance Art. As a blurry divine figure hundreds of meters tall chanted, every living being in the small world was converted.
The two entered the Undying Hall. The dazzling array of rare treasures amounted to nothing more than scrap metal in their eyes; divine materials truly at the Saint level were exceedingly rare. Su Yu scarcely cared for them, much less the Divine Silkworm Princess.
Su Yu stepped into the ninth treasure hall. As soon as he entered, he saw the remains of a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body.
At the very center, a dry, cold corpse sat cross-legged without moving. Though its flesh had withered, it had not decayed and clung tightly to the bones.
"A corpse at the Saint realm. Oh, this was a cultivator who practiced only one secret realm..." The Divine Silkworm Princess was somewhat surprised. Cultivators who practiced only one secret realm were exceedingly rare, let alone those who could reach the Saint realm.
Su Yu was also somewhat moved. He explained, "This is a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, an invincible constitution of the Human Clan. After Desolate Antiquity, it was cursed by heaven and earth, making it unable to enter the Four Extremes realm. This constitution enjoyed boundless glory before Desolate Antiquity. At great accomplishment, it could wage war against Great Emperors and Ancient Emperors, though it would ultimately die in battle!"
Su Yu stored the dried remains of the Sacred Body in the chaotic longsword. These remains were very important to him.
The Divine Silkworm Princess was somewhat surprised. She knew little of the Sacred Body Lineage. The mighty name of the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body had not been sung in the Primordial Era; in that age, the Human Clan had produced only two Dao attainers.
Chapter 39: The Devouring Heaven Demon Jar Made Whole (Bonus chapter for Pure White Bread Crumbs' monthly vote!)
"At the Ninth Heaven of the Quasi-Emperor Realm, one could wage war against an Extreme Dao Ancient Emperor? That's simply inconceivable!" The Divine Silkworm Princess's lips were like rosy clouds, and her beautiful eyes were perfectly clear. Her beautiful face shifted slightly, deeply shocked by Su Yu's words.
"Only wage war, nothing more. In the end, they would still die in battle!"
Su Yu shook his head. Heaven's favored who could reach the level of Alternative Dao Attainment were exceedingly rare in the long river of time.
Such as Chuan Ying, the Heavenly Court's foremost divine general in Emperor Zun's era, and Ning Fei, the foremost divine general under the Undying Heavenly Emperor.
Both were peerless heaven's favored who could have attained the Extreme Dao if they had only avoided the Heavenly Dao's suppression by a Dao attainer. Su Yu had also become a fan of both while reading Shrouding the Heavens.
Ning Fei in particular had moved him when his remnant spirit rescued the Undying Heavenly Empress at the end. With a single war halberd he had cut across the nine heavens, in silver robes atop a white horse. Unfortunately, he had fallen in love with the wrong person...
The Desolate Ancient Sacred Body and Heavenly Tyrant Blood, on the other hand, were special constitutions. Their abundant blood Qi allowed them to challenge Supremes, but once their blood Qi withered, they could no longer sustain themselves. Such was the case with the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body who had cut away part of the Undying Mountain.
In his prime, that Great Accomplishment Sacred Body's blood Qi had surged so mightily that even Forbidden Zone Supremes could only yield. He had cut away a section of the Undying Mountain's cliffs, and several Supremes had not dared to stop him. But in his later years, he had lost his world-shocking combat strength and been killed by a Supreme.
After a brief moment of reflection, Su Yu turned to the Azure-Clad Little Flood Dragon King and ordered, "Send word to the Demon Clan princess that the Azure Flood Dragon King is willing to offer her protection."
After that, Su Yu had the Azure Flood Dragon King follow him and show the way. The king knew where Tu Tian was.
The location of the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar's body was now clear. Next, it was time to pay a visit.
As two wielders of the Ruthless One's Emperor Weapon, he and Tu Tian were destined for only one to survive.
If he were a Saint-level existence, he could have disregarded Tu Tian, but he was only a Dragon Transformation cultivator.
"The Demon Clan princess—is she from the Azure Emperor Lineage you mentioned? That's an Imperial Clan too. How did they fall so low? They actually let someone at the Immortal Platform Second Heaven protect them?"
The Divine Silkworm Princess could not understand it. Only ten thousand years had passed since the Azure Emperor's Dao had perished, yet the speed of his descendants' decline was far too unusual.
Su Yu thought for a moment, then smiled and said to the Divine Silkworm Princess, "Perhaps it's because the Azure Emperor was special. He was an immortal plant that took human form and became an emperor. His descendants didn't inherit much emperor blood, or perhaps they were spirits of plants he enlightened later. Besides, the Azure Emperor didn't leave his Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon behind, so their decline was inevitable!"
As they spoke, a rift in the void opened, and the three disappeared from the small world once more...
The cold ice plain stretched white and boundless, piercingly frigid and desolate as far as the eye could see.
In one area, brilliant light reflected from a mountain. This was also a Yaoguang mining area.
The seventh of the Northern Region's Thirteen Great Bandits had been tirelessly going about his business. Lately, the Thirteen Great Bandits of the Northern Region had been at odds with the Yaoguang Holy Land. The sixth great bandit, Liu Feng, had even fought a great battle with a Yaoguang grand elder, who had gravely injured him with the Primordial Chaos Holy Light Art, nearly killing him.
Tu Tian and the other great bandits were close friends. After hearing the news, he had spent this time sweeping through the Yaoguang Holy Land's mining areas.
Boom!