113: Golden Core Thunder Breaks Chaos

The capital city's sky had completely darkened.

It wasn't an ordinary night; it was a deep, inky blackness that could swallow one's very soul.

Dark clouds roiled, as if a hole had opened in the sky, pouring down the grievances of the Nine Hells.

"Rumble—"

The earth trembled ceaselessly, like a sieve. The palaces in the Imperial Palace, usually adorned with carved beams and painted rafters, now shed tiles like they were made of paper, clattering down.

"Help!"

"The earth Dragon has turned over! The earth Dragon has turned over!"

Screams and cries blended into a boiling pot of porridge.

"No! It's the Earth Veins! The Earth Veins are rioting!" A general, frantically directing the Imperial Guards, turned pale himself. "Demonic Qi! Such thick Demonic Qi!"

Before his words finished, on the streets, the small Yao Beasts and monsters that usually lived by stealthily scrounging, now had blood-red eyes and drooled, pouncing on any living person they saw. Even more, some low-level Cultivators, impacted by the foul "spiritual essence" gushing from underground, also went mad, attacking those around them indiscriminately.

"Beasts! How dare you!"

With a thunderous roar, Wei Zheng, the Head of the Demon Suppression Headquarters, with hair and beard bristling, caused an ancient, simple great seal in his hand to blaze with light, forcefully clearing a space in the chaotic sky above the Imperial City. Immediately after, several vast Auras shot up from deep within the Imperial Palace, shimmering with golden light, clearly indicating that the Old Ancestors enshrined by the Imperial Family could no longer sit idly by.

However, the evil energy surging from underground was like an endless black tide, one wave subsiding only for another to rise, battering at the defenses they had jointly erected, leaving them precarious.

He Tianzheng also "strenuously" resisted, directing his Demon Suppression Guards, "Hold the line! All of you, hold the line! We absolutely cannot let these Prodigies rush into the inner city!" He shouted until his voice was hoarse, but in his eyes, there was a faint, almost irrepressible, strange glint. This chaotic world was truly... perfectly to his liking.

"Damn it, they really picked such a good time!"

On the outskirts of the city, an inconspicuous Immortal Cave stone door "boomed" and shattered, sending debris flying. A figure, enveloped in an irresistible Aura, shot into the sky, electric arcs crackling around him. It was the undisguised pressure of a Golden Core Stage Cultivator!

"That is... who?"

"Such a powerful Aura! Golden Core! Another Golden Core Old Ancestor has acted?"

In the chaotic capital city, countless Cultivators looked up in horror.

Li Dong, no, "Mu Feng" at this moment, hovered in mid-air, his Early Stage Golden Core spiritual energy released without reservation, like a brilliant sun, forcefully tearing a corner of the dense dark clouds above his head.

He spread his arms, and an invisible Spiritual Domain instantly expanded, like a giant net, enveloping the southeastern corner of the capital city. Within the Domain, the rampaging demons seemed to have been doused with a bucket of ice water, their movements slowing down; and the Cultivators with blood-red eyes, affected by the evil energy, gradually lost their madness, revealing a hint of bewilderment.

"Shadow Guard Commander Mu Feng is here!" Li Dong's voice, like a thunderclap from the Nine Heavens, clearly reached every corner and every person in the capital city. "The anomaly in the capital city is a plot by the Shadow Council! Its core stronghold is the 'Vortex Trap Zone' beneath the southern city! They intend to awaken an ancient evil god, overthrow the Great Yan Dynasty, and sacrifice all living beings in the city! All who are loyal to the Dynasty and unwilling to be slaughtered, follow me to eliminate this fiend!"

"What? Mu Feng?"

"That Shadow Guard Commander Mu Feng from the Demon Suppression Division?"

"Isn't he... isn't he Foundation Establishment? This pressure... there's no mistake, it's Golden Core!"

"Shadow Council? Vortex Trap Zone? How does he know all this?!"

For a time, within the capital city, all Cultivators who heard these words were in an uproar.

He Tianzheng was still "valiantly fighting," but upon hearing this, he almost spat out a mouthful of old blood. "Little beast! It's actually you! And you dare to expose the Council!" He was furious in his heart, but his hand seals did not dare to stop; instead, he worked even harder, as if to vent all his anger on those unlucky Yao Beasts.

Li Dong had no time to care what others thought. As soon as his words fell, his hands had already formed seals, and the Heavenly Pill Sky-Rending Demon Suppression Seal roared into operation!

"Boom! Crack!"

Above the Nine Heavens, an invisible giant millstone seemed to turn, and golden lightning bolts, as thick as a baby's arm, poured down like a broken dam, precisely striking the most rampant demons below.

"Awoo—!"

Several ferocious demons, already at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Stage, who were leading lesser demons to attack a defensive Formation in a market, couldn't even let out a complete scream before turning into dust under the golden lightning. The pure power of the lightning not only annihilated the evil fiends but also purified the Demonic Qi they emitted, leaving the Demon Suppression Guards, who were struggling to hold on in the distance, dumbfounded.

"That is... lightning Dao! Such overbearing lightning Dao!"

"Commander Mu Feng... when did he become so powerful?!"

In the high sky, Wei Zheng, who was entangled with several black-robed figures, paused slightly. His Divine Sense was powerful, so he naturally also received the Jade Slip that Li Dong had anonymously sent. At this moment, looking at the figure bathed in lightning below, and the power he displayed to restrain evil energy, Wei Zheng's doubts quietly faded a few points.

"Could it be... that what this person said is true?" He glanced at the Pill Formula and some restraining methods recorded in the Jade Slip. "Pass down the order, let the people from the Pill Department and the Formation Hall try the methods in this Jade Slip!"

"Sir, this..." A subordinate beside him hesitated.

"Execute the order!" Wei Zheng's tone was unquestionable. Desperate times called for desperate measures; it was better than just waiting. How many secrets did this "Mu Feng" hide?

At the same time, at the Seventh Princess's Residence.

Mr. Xu, the chief strategist, held a similar Jade Slip, fine beads of sweat seeping from his temples. The analysis of the Dragon Vein anomaly in the Jade Slip, and the description of the "Vortex Trap Zone," subtly matched the clues they had secretly investigated during this period, and was even more detailed!

"Sir, what do we do now?" A confidant asked anxiously.

Mr. Xu suddenly looked up: "Immediately issue orders! Gather all the manpower we can mobilize, especially those Cultivators secretly trained by Your Highness, target the southern city! The Jade Slip marked several peripheral strongholds of the Council, let's take them out first! Save as many common people as possible!"

"Yes!"

Li Dong moved like lightning, rushing towards the "Vortex Trap Zone" beneath the southern city.

Along the way, dark figures constantly lunged from shadowy corners, attempting to block him. Some were completely demonized Yao Beasts, while others were Cultivators dressed in Shadow Council attire.

"Courting death!"

Li Dong snorted coldly, and the pressure of his Golden Core Stage cultivation crushed down. Those Foundation Establishment Stage small fry couldn't even get within a hundred zhang of him before being sent flying by an invisible Qi force. Occasionally, a few Core Formation Stage Cultivators who didn't know their place were also sent scrambling by a few casual golden lightning bolts from him.

He advanced with irresistible force!

However, the closer he got to his target, the more Li Dong felt a deeper, older, and more heart-stopping evil Aura than the foul "spiritual essence" slowly awakening deep underground.

"The big guy... is about to come out?" He licked his somewhat chapped lips.

Within the capital city, the chaos continued to intensify.

"Boom!" Another cluster of buildings, completely corrupted by evil energy, collapsed on its own, and more grotesque demons roared out from within.

He Tianzheng, while "frazzled" directing his subordinates to put out fires everywhere, secretly deployed troops through covert channels, skillfully directing more chaos and panic towards the Imperial Guard and the defense zones of other factions of the Demon Suppression Headquarters.

"Fight, the fiercer the better! When the 'God Lord' descends, all you so-called loyal officials and good generals, every single one of you, will have to kneel!" He sneered in his heart.

In the midst of the fierce battle, Li Dong suddenly let out an "Oh?"

He discovered that when his Spiritual Domain came into contact with some beings deeply contaminated by evil energy but not yet completely devoid of consciousness, it wasn't just simply purifying them. The Domain seemed to be able to extract traces of mixed evil energy from their bodies. These energies, after being transformed by the Spiritual Domain, could actually feed back into him, replenishing his consumed spiritual energy!

"It can do that?"

Li Dong had an epiphany and tried to guide this transformed energy, combining it with the lightning Dao of his Heavenly Pill Sky-Rending Demon Suppression Seal.

"Sizzle—"

A bolt of lightning, slightly different from the previous pure golden lightning, with faint dark purple electric arcs, condensed in his palm. This lightning seemed to have greater penetrative power and destructive force!

"Demon Suppression Lightning? Interesting!"

Ahead, a powerful evil energy Formation, clearly set up by the Shadow Council, shrouded in dense black Qi, blocked his path. Strong Auras faintly emanated from within the Formation.

"I'll try it on you!"

Li Dong didn't hesitate, fiercely striking the nascent "Demon Suppression Lightning" towards it!

"Boom—!!!"

With a deafening roar, the sturdy evil energy Formation was instantly blasted open with a huge gap, as if butter had been seared by a red-hot iron, revealing the astonished Council Cultivators behind it.