179: Chapter 179 Ao Mie and Qing Lian's Decision

The black lightning was silent, yet the Heavenly Dao's might descended.

That streak of nirvana nuclear crystal black lightning, pitch-black as ink, struck down from the core of the ten-thousand-mile cyclone above the Yunmeng Great Swamp. It did not bring forth any earth-shattering thunder, yet it vaporized the gray-green miasma along its path for hundreds of zhang into nothingness.

The pitch-black water surface collapsed with a roar. A pure, extreme Law of physical destruction pierced through the water, striking directly at the ley lines at the bottom of the lake.

The water was two thousand feet deep.

The Sea-Covering Black Flood Dragon, Ao Mie, was coiled deep within a massive basalt trench. His hundred-zhang dragon body shuddered violently, and between the gaps of his pitch-black scales, each the size of a shield, threads of scarlet demon blood seeped out under the indiscriminate residual pressure of the Heavenly Dao.

"Roar—"

Ao Mie's throat emitted a deeply suppressed low roar, and sparks of electricity danced across his damaged single horn. His scarlet vertical pupils stared fixedly through the turbid water toward the silent Immortal Cave eight hundred zhang below.

"What an overbearing Heavenly Dao reckoning! The weight of this black lightning strike is several times heavier than the Lightning Tribulation at the Peak of the Tier 3 Demon King!"

The black dragon's thoughts raced, his massive demon sense stirring up undercurrents on the lake floor.

"What kind of wicked Dao Foundation is this iron-faced brat forging down there? It actually provoked the Heavens to descend with black lightning to wipe him out! If I let this black lightning blast his flesh and bones into ash, the supply of my reserved armored puppet will be completely cut off. Relying solely on my own aquatic tribe to fill the territory of that Green-Eyed Golden Toad would surely result in heavy casualties."

What made his heart bleed even more was the essence white dew that had not been tainted by even a shred of Heavenly Dao Karma.

"I have ruled the Great Swamp for three thousand miles and plundered countless water spirits; my Divine Soul is already engraved with the shackles of the Heavenly Dao. Only that brat's supply of essence white dew allows me to accumulate demon power without loss. Such resources from outside the realm are unique in the entire western region of Great Yu. I have invested too much capital; I absolutely cannot allow this cash cow to break halfway!"

With interests calculated down to the last detail, the decision to kill or act was made in an instant.

Almost at the same time, beneath the silt deeper in the Great Swamp.

Countless slender roots, appearing as if carved from green jade, trembled violently. Deep within the Origin of the Ten-Thousand-Year Kongqing Lotus, a flash of resolute, cold light swept through The Green Lotus's pure cyan eyes.

She had just handed over her core Origin, the [kongqing spirit marrow], which she had condensed over ten thousand years, to Gu Shen, completing the most dangerous Karma exchange. At this moment, their Origin Qi was faintly connected; if Gu Shen in the underwater Immortal Cave were completely crushed by this Heavenly Dao might, her hope of washing away Heavenly Dao Karma and reshaping her humanoid Foundation would be completely dashed.

"Boom!"

The black water surged, and two powerful, peerless Tier 3 Demon King demon senses collided violently above the eight-hundred-zhang abyss.

There were no pleasantries, only cold, hard negotiations regarding cost-sharing and protecting the source of goods.

"Old Dragon, the Heavenly Dao might is leaking, and the water veins are trembling. The flies on the periphery that have smelled the blood have already approached," The Green Lotus's Divine Thought was as cold as ice, straightforward. "This iron-faced man is tied to the longevity capital of both our families. The Heavy Water Array alone cannot withstand the black lightning bombardment. Let us seal the river together and draw a boundary. We will split the costs, each bearing half."

"That suits me perfectly! To dare touch my exclusive medicine jar—do they think my fangs have rusted?"

Ao Mie's massive dragon body unfurled with a roar, and three hundred zhang of water body surged backward wildly in his wake.

At this moment, on the edge of the Yunmeng Great Swamp, the Spiritual Qi tsunami triggered by the drastic change in celestial phenomena had already alarmed the various Loose Cultivators and Sect hidden agents lurking dozens of miles away.

Several extremely obscure escape lights, with cultivation levels reaching the Peak of the Qi Refining 9th Layer or even Foundation Establishment, were using specially made water-escape Magical Artifacts. Like greedy leeches attracted by the scent of blood, they followed the chaotic geomagnetic undercurrents, stealthily and rapidly creeping toward the water area where Gu Shen had opened his Immortal Cave.

"Heavenly black lightning descends; there must be a great treasure! Take advantage of the underwater Demon King being suppressed by the Heavenly Dao might and seize the source!" A one-eyed Loose Cultivator with a fleshy face licked his lips, his eyes filled with the violent greed of snatching chestnuts from the fire.

However, the Great Swamp hegemon's method of clearing the field was far more cruel and bloody than the Heavenly Dao.

"Aquatic tribes of the Great Swamp, hear my command: Overturn the River!"

Ao Mie's furious dragon roar pierced the water surface and shot straight into the clouds.

In the center of the ten-thousand-mile swamp, the pitch-black lake water seemed to be forcibly lifted by a pair of heaven-reaching giant hands. The water surface for a hundred miles around rose dozens of zhang with a roar, and countless black, muddy waves mixed with geothermal cold toxins and underwater silt condensed in mid-air into four mud-water city walls, several zhang thick and towering into the clouds.

The extreme suppression of status, accompanied by the powerful demon power of a Tier 3 Demon King, spread outward toward the periphery without reservation.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

The three water-piercing shuttles in the lead, before even touching the three-hundred-zhang underwater boundary, were crushed by the pitch-black undercurrents stirred up by Ao Mie. High-pressure water blades, like countless guillotines, crisscrossed and sliced through the water. Those few Late-Stage Qi Refining Loose Cultivators did not even have time to scream; their Protective Aura shattered instantly, and their flesh and blood were twisted by the high-pressure water flow into clumps of foul-smelling gore, all merging into the mud.

"Not good! The Black Flood Dragon Demon King has gone mad! Retreat quickly!"

The one-eyed Loose Cultivator, at the Foundation Establishment Initial Stage, was terrified out of his wits and desperately activated a top-grade water-escape talisman, attempting to flee upward.

"Since you have come, stay and serve as fertilizer."

Deep within the underground silt, The Green Lotus's cold, hard Divine Thought suddenly descended.

Countless hair-thin, cyan-colored mutated roots ignored the distance of space and pierced out wildly from the gaps between water weeds and rocks. The surface of the roots was densely covered with the corrosive mucus unique to the Kongqing Lotus, instantly wrapping around the one-eyed Loose Cultivator's legs and waist.

"Sizzle—"

The protective Magical Artifact on the Loose Cultivator made a harsh, corrosive sound under the entanglement of the cyan roots, and its spiritual light was stripped away in the blink of an eye. The roots dug deep into his bone marrow, forcibly extracting the vitality and true essence from his body.

The one-eyed Loose Cultivator's sturdy body withered at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually turning into a gray-white desiccated corpse, which was dragged by countless roots into the silt deep within the Great Swamp and completely buried.

It took no more than ten breaths.

In the hundred-mile water area, all intruders were dead, turned into firewood to nourish the swamp.

The two Demon Kings were above and below, each occupying their side.

Ao Mie's hundred-zhang dragon body circled two hundred zhang below the water surface, his massive demon power pouring out entirely to maintain the absolute blockade of the four mud-water city walls. Letting the residual waves of black lightning falling from the sky explode into charred wounds on his back, his scarlet vertical pupils held only the ferocious obsession to guard the source of goods at all costs.

Deep within the water and mud of the Great Swamp, The Green Lotus activated the Ten-Thousand-Year Qinglian Array. Countless glowing spores and roots wove into a massive underground net, locking tightly onto the basalt ley lines within a hundred miles, forcibly diverting and spreading the annihilation shock of the Heavenly Dao black lightning that penetrated into the water, distributing it into the deep mud of the entire Great Swamp.

Isolating prying eyes on the outside, bearing the Heavenly pressure on the inside.

The two hegemons of the Yunmeng Great Swamp used the purest violence and blood to draw an absolute, insurmountable red line of life and death around the eight-hundred-zhang water area.

Deep underwater.

Inside the physical black box wrapped in a special titanium-carbon alloy.

Gu Shen saw the two Demon Kings outside risking their lives to protect his path as clearly as a fire; his heart was extremely calm: "The old dragon and Qinglian have shared sixty percent of the external pressure of the Heavenly Dao's downward might. The remaining forty percent of the microscopic Law infiltration must be borne by my own Physical Body."

In the Dantian Qi Sea.

The clash between the nirvana nuclear crystal and the kongqing spirit marrow had entered the core node of qualitative change.

Under the annihilation resonance triggered by the external Heavenly Dao black lightning, the gold-blue Taiji grindstone completely shattered the final barrier of repulsion. The decaying Death Qi and the ten-thousand-zhang vitality, amidst endless collision and reorganization, launched a final collapse and condensation toward that gray, deep dual-realm star core.