84: Chapter 84 True Monarch Seizes the Dao Fruit

Kongsang Prefecture, raging waves roll through the world, blood dyeing the vast sea.

The once-prosperous prefecture city has become a Hell on earth.

Within the waves, countless hideous dragon shadows churned, their roars shaking the heavens and earth.

Jiang Zhiqiu's white robes were mostly soaked in blood—some his own, but mostly from the dragons.

Holding a longsword, wherever his sword light passed, a Second Tribulation Dragon was sure to be decapitated.

But his face was pale, and his aura was already showing signs of disorder.

Before him, Jiang Qingshui of the Purple Mansion Realm was locked in a fierce battle with a Third Tribulation Yao Beast.

Behind him, the Jiang Family disciples who had come to support, along with some local Cultivators resisting to the death, formed a shrinking circular Formation, struggling to hold on.

With every giant wave that crashed down, the Formation shook violently, its light dimming a bit more as several shrill screams were swallowed by the sound of the waves.

"Monsters, damn you!"

Jiang Zhiqiu shouted sternly, severing the head of a First Tribulation Dragon that attempted a sneak attack with a single sword strike.

Scalding dragon blood splashed across his face, adding a touch of ferocity to his appearance.

He knew these Yao Beasts were nothing.

The true horror lay in the distance, on the Mythical Tree rising out of the water.

If he couldn't be stopped, everything would be lost.

Just before the vast sea fell, on the Nine Songs Net that covered almost the entire Langya Prefecture, a silent storm finished brewing.

An anonymous post was pushed to the top at an incredible speed.

The title was shocking.

"A Blood Sacrifice of an Entire Prefecture for One Person's Dao Fruit? Old Demon Zheng Quan, Do You Dare to Answer?!"

But there were no heated words in the post; it merely objectively listed various anomalies in Langya Prefecture.

The depletion of Spiritual Veins in each prefecture, the mysterious extraction of blood qi from living beings, the long-planned attacks by Yao Beasts in the sea, the continuous worsening of celestial phenomena... and a blurred recording was attached.

It was a view from a very high altitude, where the outline of the ancient Mythical Tree and a figure sitting cross-legged upon it were faintly visible.

The authenticity of the evidence was hard to discern, but the timing was perfect.

The poster seemed to be a master at manipulating people's hearts.

With just a few words, a horrifying picture was painted: "Wild Goose Formation True Monarch, seeking a personal Breakthrough, does not hesitate to use the billions of living beings in Langya Prefecture as sacrifices."

Panic, suspicion, anger... exploded in the hearts of the Langya Prefecture Cultivators.

At first, it was just the curses of low-level Cultivators and Loose Cultivators, but soon, some Purple Mansion Cultivators also began to publicly question it online.

Even several True Monarchs from neighboring prefectures with vested interests began to pay attention to the matter through the Nine Songs Net.

"Break the Formation! Break it quickly! Otherwise, our Lifespans will all be sucked dry!"

"To seek one's own Dao by harming all living beings is the act of the Demonic Path!"

"Zheng Quan! Come out and give the world an explanation!"

Several incomparably powerful auras locked onto the giant tree in the water without any concealment.

They were True Lord Mingxuan, True Lord Yanrong, True Monarch Qingmu, and True Lord Shijian!

They had been watching for a long time, perhaps already coveting that nascent soul dao fruit.

Shen Moyan's post merely gave them the most legitimate and momentum-building reason to act.

At the top of the Mythical Tree.

Zheng Quan still sat cross-legged at the center of the Formation Plate, his expression unreadable beneath the mist.

But his eyes, peering through the mist, were now frighteningly bright.

"Have they come?"

In the next moment, four attacks capable of splitting mountains and seas slammed fiercely into the light membrane surrounding the Mythical Tree from four different directions.

Boom!

A massive roar and light erupted, and the entire land of Kongsang Prefecture shook violently.

The light membrane flickered and distorted wildly, channeling most of the attack's power into the pre-set Formation veins below.

Zheng Quan's hands moved like flying as he changed seals, his voice rasping:

"Four Quarters of the Coastal Sea!"

With the Mythical Tree as the center, countless runes suddenly lit up across ten thousand miles of land.

Earth qi was frantically extracted, and the water curtain in the sky enveloped and strengthened the light membrane.

The subsequent attacks of the four True Monarchs fell into it, disappearing like a stone dropped into the ocean, their power weakened layer by layer.

"Gentlemen, if you withdraw now, the Karma of obstructing the Dao today can be avoided," Zheng Quan said calmly from his high vantage point.

"If you still persist in your ways, then do not blame Zheng's Array Crown for being merciless."

His tone was steady, as if he already had victory in his grasp.

"I am Qingmu, the number one alchemist of the Guizang Realm. I pay my respects to the former Wild Goose Formation True Monarch of the Holy Court's Formation Strategy Hall!"

"But what Wild Goose Formation True Monarch does today is an outrage against heaven and man, a violation of human ethics, and is truly of the Demonic Path!"

"With the spirit condensing pills I have spent thirty years refining, I shall help my Fellow Daoists slay this demon together!"

True Monarch Qingmu's voice echoed across the entire vast sea as he distributed all the pills from the Qingmu Pill Cauldron.

Countless pills with slightly weaker light fell into the hands of the Cultivators.

Those Cultivators still trying to resist and contribute their strength immediately swallowed the pills bestowed by True Monarch Qingmu to delay the extraction of their Lifespans.

"Continue! Kill!"

"A mere Formation thinks it can stop me?!"

True Lord Shijian roared, manifesting a great seal that turned into the size of a mountain.

Channeling the majestic heavenly might, it smashed down once more.

Zheng Quan remained silent, simply pushing the power of the Formation to its limit.

A week slowly passed amidst endless roars, explosions, bloody battles, and despair.

The resistance of the Kongsang Prefecture Cultivators grew less and less.

Under the siege of the Yao Race, the Jiang Family Cultivators who came to support were nearly all dead.

Jiang Qingshui was struggling alone, his magical power exhausted, leaning against a broken wall in the water, gasping for breath.

"Zhiqiu?"

Beside him, Jiang Zhiqiu's hair was already white, his Physical Body shriveled, his Lifespan sucked dry.

"Old Man Zheng Quan!"

Jiang Qingshui's eyes were blood-red, and he was about to take out the death exemption gold plaque.

Suddenly, a pool of black mist emerged from Jiang Zhiqiu's corpse.

"This is... Devilish Qi!"

The pupils of the heavily injured Jiang Qingshui shook violently.

Why would Devilish Qi emerge from his clansman's body?

Before he could react, the black mist transformed into a six-eyed, four-armed monster.

demon incarnation body!

The demon incarnation body bared its sharp claws and, with a boom, cut off both his arms.

Then, the demon incarnation body grabbed the death exemption gold plaque, while two of its other arms drew Formation runes in the air.

A piece of jade floated out from Jiang Zhiqiu's corpse.

"The Construction and Maintenance Department's void-space cloud mica?"

How could something from the Construction and Maintenance Department appear on an Inspector?

Using the void-space cloud mica as a base, a tiny spatial tunnel appeared.

"No!"

Under Jiang Qingshui's terrified gaze, the death exemption gold plaque was thrown into the transmission tunnel by the Yin Mo... to Feiguang Prefecture.

"Very good, the biggest variable in this war has been successfully stifled."

Shen Moyan toyed with the death exemption gold plaque, a playful expression on his face.

Did they really think he had done nothing while using Shen Yi to get close to Jiang Zhiqiu all these years?

He had long ago used the Primordial Demon Heavenly Book to condense his own demon incarnation body and parasiticized it onto Jiang Zhiqiu.

However, Jiang Zhiqiu was a Mortal Transformation Realm Cultivator; any slight abnormality would have been noticed by him.

So Shen Moyan's Clone had used Devilish Qi to infiltrate him bit by bit.

He had laid in wait for nearly twenty years, all for the harvest of this single death exemption gold plaque today.

"It's just a pity that I'm not yet proficient in the 'Invisible Heavenly Demon' move, otherwise the death exemption gold plaque would have fallen into my hands long ago."

Shen Moyan turned his attention back to the True Monarchs' battlefield.

"As expected, those holding back have become even more formidable than in my previous life."

In his previous life, even with the protection of the great Formation, those four True Monarchs could still exert some influence on that giant Mythical Tree.

But in this life, after several decades had passed, Gao Sheng and the others had fought for so long without gaining any advantage.

"As expected, as time passed, that old thing Zheng Quan has been secretly preparing."

"And as for that old thing Gao Sheng..."

In this life, Gao Sheng was not as active as he was in the previous one.

"It's probably because I revealed a bit of information."

That old fox Gao Sheng, knowing there was a game within a game behind this, definitely wouldn't act rashly... As time went on, the condemnation on the Nine Songs Net had long since turned into actual action.

Two more Gui Zang True Monarchs, either persuaded or harborers of ulterior motives themselves, came down from the Yao Race battlefield and joined the siege against Zheng Quan.

"It's True Monarch Haoran! True Monarch Qingling!"

The Cultivators struggling on the sea surface said joyfully.

"Righteousness Towers Over the World!"

Noble righteousness enveloped the area for ten thousand miles, and the great Formation that sucked the Lifespans of all living beings slowed down accordingly.

"Gao Sheng, after this battle, we are even." A calm male voice spread across all sides of the Mythical Tree.

"Receding Cycles, Water Flows Backward!"

Then, the water curtain in the sky actually began to flow backward, the great waves in turn striking that heaven-propping giant tree.

"Fellow Daoist Mingxuan, I shall also lend you a helping hand," True Monarch Qingling chanted.

But at this very moment, the minds of all the Cultivators shook as they looked toward the top of the towering giant tree.

At the canopy, in the Void Realm, a point of brilliant light that was hard to describe in words was quietly emerging.

Its color was chaotic, all-encompassing, pure and translucent, its form ever-changing.

At times it looked like an infant embracing simplicity, at times like a Divine Being sitting upright.

Its light was restrained, as if it would completely ripen and fall in the next instant.

"That is..."

"The nascent soul dao fruit!!"

Also at this instant, all the besieging True Monarchs—whether for so-called righteousness or personal gain—intensified their attacks several times over.

At the same time, within a Void Realm shrouded in distorted light and shadows, Luo Changting was wading through with difficulty.

Surrounding him was a turbulent flow of violent spiritual energy.

At times it was as hot as lava, at times as cold as mysterious ice.

His clothes were damaged in many places, a trace of blood hung from the corner of his mouth, and a cyan-colored mask hung from his waist.

The Devilish Qi of the Primordial Demon Heavenly Book flowed silently in his heart, protecting his heart meridians.

"nascent soul dao fruit..."

Luo Changting murmured in a low voice.

His gaze crossed the vast sea, piercing through the chaotic mist.

Staring fixedly at the giant tree in the distance that covered the sky.

And that point of brilliant light on the canopy.