The Three-Year Period

"The three-year term has passed, and Honghua dares to presume to ascend to the position of Venerable. I hope the Daoist Lord will grant me permission!"

Time flows by like water, and before anyone knew it, Hongku had been a Venerable One for more than three years.

This is a time for the new venerable ones to adapt to their new positions, and also a time for them to utilize the benefits of a higher level to replenish themselves.

The existence of the buffer period further created a near-separate hierarchy between the Venerables and the Dharma Masters.

But Hongku did not.

The benefits of defeating several Venerables did not elevate him to a higher position, and the Venerable group was extremely hostile to Hongku, even Venerable Lei kept a certain distance from him.

In this situation, the benefits brought by Venerable Hongku Chengdao must be earned personally, rather than by other venerable ones yielding them.

The lack of followers and connections made it even more difficult for Hongku to manage everything in just a few years.

In order to break through to the Sole Self Realm, Hongku even took the risk of going to the secret land of Western Kunlun.

Due to a combination of factors, Venerable Hongku did not receive the enormous benefits he had imagined.

Hongku's physical secrets were eventually exposed.

With only sixty breaths of normal spellcasting time, no testing is needed. Some observant people know that this is the weakest Venerable in the Yedie River Holy Land, and also the best choice for the group of mages to strive for advancement.

Within the Sacred Land, some mages began to challenge for the position of Venerable One.

The mention of a 'three-year period' suggests that the Venerable Master Honghua could only have been Hongku.

Whom are you fighting?

There was a few seconds of silence on the high mountain of the Yedie River Holy Land before the usual question was asked.

"Venerable Hongku!"

"May!"

Venerable Honghua respectfully requested to speak, and Daojun granted his request.

But after making that promise, Daojun added another sentence.

"Whether they retain their Venerable status or are newly promoted to Venerable, both will enjoy a three-year truce period after this battle," Daojun said.

"Thank you, Daoist Master!"

"Thank you, Daoist Master!"

One voice came from the east, and another voice came from the west.

Hongku and Honghua both agreed.

Meanwhile, numerous spy lanterns rose into the sky from the Sacred Land, watching everything in the Yedie River Holy Land and monitoring the fairness of this struggle.

Who is behind Master Honghua?

In the Black Stone Villa, Zhang Xuezhou sat opposite Hongku and asked in a low voice.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Master Honghua was ultimately just a member of the Dharma Master class. The opponent did not rely on his own strength, but rather likely on his understanding of Hongku's physical symptoms.

However, Hongku consumed the Nine Treasures Wine, his health problems significantly subsided, making victory inevitable.

In this game, Zhang Xuezhou didn't need to offer any help.

However, once Hongku wins and retains his position as a Venerable One, Hongku changes will inevitably be noticed, and he may then be placed under suspicion.

Hongku is right. Under normal circumstances, few people would target Zhang Xuezhou, but things would be hard to say after Master Honghua was defeated.

Zhang Xuezhou's aim in assisting Hongku was not to target Master Honghua, but rather the supporters behind Master Honghua, and even those who exposed Hongku's health problems.

"Perhaps it's Venerable Yinghua, after all, he's always disliked me and has been keeping an eye on me," Hongku replied in a low voice.

He slowly lit a stick of incense and sat quietly on the stone bench.

Hongku may be the weakest in cultivation among the Venerables, and the struggles for his position were somewhat tainted, making him somewhat unworthy of his title. However, Hongku was the foremost Dharma Master of the Sacred Land in the past.

As long as he didn't fall into a corner, Hongku wasn't afraid of anyone in the Dharma Master class.

It was somewhat difficult for him to kill Master Honghua within sixty breaths, but once the time exceeded sixty breaths, his success rate increased dramatically.

He didn't even need to use any formations.

The wisps of incense smoke rose gently, and outside the Black Stone Courtyard, the sound of Honghua challenging them to a duel could be heard.

"Honghua, if you withdraw now, I might spare your life!"

Hongku spoke slowly, his outstretched fingers forming Incantation Technique incantation, his gaze sweeping across the courtyard outside.

"Hongku, don't force yourself. I know your strength!" Honghua shouted. "If you have the guts, come out and fight me! Otherwise, once my little darlings come in, you'll all be dead without a trace!"

"Have you finished refining your golden scorpion?" Hongku asked.

"Not only the Golden Scorpion, but I also have the Golden Centipede, the Golden Toad, the Golden Tiger, the Golden and Silver Twin Snakes, and the Golden Tremor-Winged Insect," Honghua said. "Humans fear formations, but these five poisonous creatures are not so easily deceived. Your Five Ghosts Yin Wind Formation is precisely countered by my five poisons, and you will inevitably be drained of your flesh and blood by the Golden Tremor-Winged Insect!"

"You've refined so many poisons, have you ever refined yourself?"

Hongku spoke, his fingers forming a hand seal as he pointed at the incense. The wisp of smoke instantly transformed from drifting to tightly bound, as if it had coalesced into a long rope.

Hissing and rustling sounds came, and the wooden door of the courtyard rotted and crumbled. Just as a few golden rays appeared, the long, rope-like wisp of smoke darted out like a venomous snake.

"The Venerable Daode broke my Snake Head Incantation with his Seven-Feather Fan, now I can only cast spells using smoke!"

Hongku nodded to Zhang Xuezhou, indicating his predicament, but for Master Honghua outside the door, this predicament could bring him utter disaster.

The smoke weaved through the Five Ghost Yin Wind Sword Formation and then pierced through the golden light.

"He died because of his talkativeness," Hongku said. "He wanted to determine my location through questioning, but I did the same thing!"

"You mean to learn a Demonic Sound Technique in order to defend against your Incantation Technique?" Zhang Xuezhou asked thoughtfully.

"..."

Zhang Xuezhou's response left Hongku feeling rather bored. A faint purple light swept over him, and Honghua's voice outside the Black Stone Courtyard now carried a hint of fear.

The five poisonous creatures that rushed into the Five Ghost Yin Wind Sword Formation had just broken through the gate when a venomous python appeared to be coiling around his body.

The blue python's body coiled around Honghua Honghua's body, and the squeaking sounds from its body caused Honghua excruciating pain.

The waves of blue Law Power light did not deter the venomous python; instead, it tightened its grip even further.

"You... you only have sixty breaths to cast the spell, I... I..."

The immense Law Power surged forth, forming a kind of Law Power barrier. Meanwhile, the Five Poisons and the Golden-Winged Insects were frantically tearing at the venomous python. Honghua believed he could hold out through it.

With just sixty breaths, no matter how exquisite Hongku's Incantation Technique was, he would inevitably vomit, and that would be the moment for him to counterattack and kill.

He kept counting in his mind until he felt a blank in his mind. Suddenly, everything went black before Honghua's eyes, and he looked at his body in horror.

On his body, golden and silver snakes had emerged from his waist and abdomen, while a golden toad resided in the center of his belly, constantly spitting out venomous breath. A golden gecko coiled on his crown, its tongue licking at his brain matter. A golden centipede burrowed back and forth in his flesh and blood, while a golden winged insect clung to his wrist, continuously sucking his Essence Blood.

The poisonous insects, which he had carefully nurtured for many years, suddenly turned against him en masse in a short period of time, Honghua in disbelief.

He stretched out his fingers, but found that he could no longer control his insect-controlling technique and could not make the poisonous insects retreat.

"Refine oneself?"

He recalled Hongku's words and suddenly understood the reason.

Even if he begged for mercy at this point, and Hongku was willing to let him go, he still wouldn't survive in this situation.

Ah~

Amidst painful groans, Honghua watched as his body was devoured piece by piece by the poisonous creatures, and finally, his eyes closed.

"He's dead?"

Using the gate corroded by the five poisonous creatures, Zhang Xuezhou saw Master Honghua with a wisp of green smoke swirling around his head. Shortly afterward, he collapsed in terror, even though the poisonous creatures he controlled did not give any effective command to attack.

"There seems to be something wrong with your incense?"

The point isn't that Hongku used incense to cast the Snake Head Incantation, but rather the incense itself.

The smoke from the incense seemed to bewitch Master Honghua, causing him to suffer a severe shock while enduring the snake-head curse.

"Thanks to your and Wu Chao's care back then, I'm now quite accustomed to using low-level poison techniques," Hongku nodded and said, "This is an expensive bewitching incense, which, combined with the impact of the realm suppression, has miraculous effects. It's no wonder he was scared to death by the intimidation power of the Snake Head Incantation!"

"I see!"

"If you want to break my Snake Head Incantation that combines bewitching incense, you only need to catch up with or surpass me in terms of cultivation level!"

Before Zhang Xuezhou could even begin to guess how to break the spell, Hongku directly offered a solution.

This brought back painful memories for Zhang Xuezhou.

Clearly, when faced with Hongku's magic, he had almost no chance of resistance and could only run as far away as possible.