Chapter 42: Chapter Forty-One: Devouring

"I don't believe it."

"Could it be some special divine ability affecting my perception?"

All sorts of thoughts rose and perished in the True Strange Crown Prince's mind.

……

A few breaths of time later.

The True Strange Crown Prince, still in a state of inner turmoil, suddenly felt an immense pain throughout his body and mind.

He sensed his Crown Prince status dissipating.

He heard the Nation's Fortune Spirit wailing, and saw the vast Nation's Fate Heavenly Pillar suddenly and completely collapse.

And the Nation's Fortune Great Barrier that had separated inside from outside also, in that instant, completely shattered.

Then, the Five Great Tripods emerged from the collapsing Nation's Fate Heavenly Pillar.

Within each great tripod, the vast and boundless Five-Colored Fortune and Golden Human Path Merit condensed as if solid.

……

Suddenly.

The entire True Strange Prefecture fell abruptly silent.

From the Core Formation Cultivators caught in battle formations, unable to act of their own will, up to the Return to Void Wills standing high above in the heavens, all turned their gaze toward the Five Great Tripods.

Gazing at the Five Great Tripods with utter fervor, gazing at the vast fortune and merit within them.

……

True Strange Prefecture border.

Chen Daoxuan, who had concealed his form, saw the Nation's Fate Heavenly Pillar collapse, sensed the Nation's Fortune Great Barrier dissipate, and saw the Five Great Tripods emerge.

Just from seeing those Five Great Tripods and sensing the vast fortune and merit within them, Chen Daoxuan knew, as if by some mysterious intuition, that all this fortune and merit was entirely ownerless.

He instinctively felt a craving for the ownerless fortune and merit of these five tripods.

But faced with this situation, in an instant, Chen Daoxuan felt a sudden jolt of alarm in his heart.

Because through his connection with the Innate Gourd, he also clearly perceived that the killing intent of Heaven, Earth, and Man that filled and permeated the world had thoroughly boiled over.

All these circumstances could be said to be entirely beyond his expectations.

"How did the True Strange Nation's Fortune suddenly collapse?"

"And how could five tripods of ownerless fortune and merit appear?"

"What about the True Strange King who was using the Longevity Secret Art?"

In the span of a thought, Chen Daoxuan silently began to retreat, preparing to put distance between himself and True Strange Prefecture.

Then, while retreating, Chen Daoxuan saw the battle around the Five Great Tripods erupt even more fiercely.

And in the heavens above, those ten-plus Return to Void Wills manifested like great suns.

One Return to Void Dharma Body after another appeared.

Charging directly toward the Five Great Tripods.

"Boom!"

Great Dao Power clashed.

With the five great tripods as the center, within a hundred li, the firm and resilient space of the Tianling Great Realm began to shatter.

Those Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and even Divine Transformation cultivators who normally reigned supreme now began to fall like rain.

The entire True Strange Nation's Capital, and True Strange Prefecture as a whole, was turned upside down, shrouded in chaos and confusion.

Chen Daoxuan, retreating and putting distance between himself, for a time lost his perception of True Strange Prefecture entirely.

He could only see countless Calamity Qi, Living Being Evil Force, Karmic Force, and the killing intent of Heaven, Earth, and Man surging and churning, 纠缠不休.

……

After silently putting tens of thousands of li between himself and True Strange Prefecture, Chen Daoxuan instinctively felt safe, felt he would not be caught up in it.

Only then did he begin to quietly observe from the sidelines.

In the span of a thought, within his right eye, a shadow of a gourd swirled, and his right eye transformed into a gray heavy pupil.

Making preparations to wield the Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Thunder at any moment.

Although, because of the destruction of the True Strange Nation's Fortune, the dissipation of the Nation's Fortune Great Barrier, and those five tripods of ownerless fortune and merit, Chen Daoxuan's original plan to make the Green Thunder Sect the Nation's Teaching of True Strange Nation and wield the power of a nation's education had completely turned to foam.

Chen Daoxuan still prepared to act according to circumstances.

To see if he could find an opportunity to slay a few Divine Transformation cultivators stained with Calamity Qi and bearing the killing intent of Heaven, Earth, and Man upon them.

After all, such an opportunity was rare; slaying two or three such Divine Transformation cultivators would yield enough killing intent of Heaven, Earth, and Man for him to cultivate the Innate Calamity-Destroying Immortal Thunder once.

……

Time flowed on.

Half a quarter-hour later.

Chen Daoxuan, who had been sitting cross-legged in quiet observation, instinctively stood up.

He sensed that the Nation's Fortune Great Barrier, which had previously dissipated, had in that instant been restored out of thin air.

He saw that where the True Strange Nation's Capital stood, a True Strange Dharma Body, wrapped in dense Calamity Qi, Evil Force, and Karmic Force, and vast killing intent of Heaven, Earth, and Man, had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

The True Strange King, wearing the True Strange King's robe and the Nine-Flowing Crown upon his head, stood atop it, filled with madness and triumph.

The five great tripods, under the True Strange King's control, used the vast fortune and merit they contained to imprison exactly five Return to Void Dharma Bodies.

Manifesting a wondrous Dharma Array.

Among those five Return to Void Dharma Bodies, the Heavenly Thunder Dharma Body manifested by the Heavenly Thunder Sect Master was one of them.

"Hahaha, today I shall use your fortune to extend my lifespan and extend my Nation's Fortune!"

Amid the True Strange King's great laughter, those imprisoned Return to Void Dharma Bodies, including the Heavenly Thunder Sect Master's Heavenly Thunder Dharma Body, which were struggling frantically, clearly perceived that everything about themselves, and everything about their true selves, was being devoured by the great tripods as if guided by some mysterious force.

Even the ability to self-detonate and self-destroy was restricted.

And in the unseen depths, the connection to the main body was severed.

"True Strange King, you dare to cultivate the Devouring Evil Art — your crimes are unforgivable!"

"Fellow Daoists, please strike at once — we cannot allow the True Strange King to succeed."

The five imprisoned Return to Void Dharma Bodies, sensing what had befallen them, successively formed guesses and let out thunderous shouts.

……

And without them needing to speak.

Sensing the Nation's Fortune Great Barrier reappearing, cutting off inside from outside.

Including the Divine Sword Sect Master, the remaining eight Return to Void Dharma Bodies all wore extremely unsightly expressions, and in an instant tacitly struck out together with full power.

Wielding Great Dao Power, they launched an overwhelming assault.

But every one of those attacks was blocked by the barrier manifested by the five great tripods. Moreover, precisely because the remaining eight Return to Void Dharma Bodies had struck, the five great tripods' devouring of the five imprisoned Return to Void Dharma Bodies accelerated several times over.

"Hahaha, this King would very much like to see who can stop it — and who dares to stop it."

The True Strange King howled madly, feeling that as he devoured everything from the five Return to Void Dharma Bodies, his withered lifespan began to grow, and his stalled cultivation realm began to rise.

His pair of dim eyes, gazing at the eight Return to Void Dharma Bodies outside his Devouring Dharma Array, were full of ravenous hunger.

"Hahaha, run quickly. Otherwise, once this King finishes devouring those five, if you haven't escaped, it'll be your turn."

"So long as the True Strange Nation's Nineteen Prefectures are not destroyed, my Great Barrier shall not be destroyed, and the Dharma Array shall not be destroyed."

"Devour, devour — so long as I devour everything, this King shall attain the Dao and become an immortal."

He appeared utterly mad.

……

Just at this moment.

Two strands of Gray Thunder, merging together, manifested from beyond ten thousand miles, as if drawn by fate.

In a flash, the eight Return to Void Dharma Bodies led by the Divine Sword Sect Master, the five imprisoned Dharma Bodies including the Thunder Sect Master, and the True Strange King in his madness —

All turned their gazes toward those two strands of Gray Thunder.

They all instinctively sensed, from those two strands of Gray Thunder merging together, a peculiar sense of crisis.

In their perception, the Gray Thunder that had appeared beyond ten thousand miles was vast as though it encompassed heaven and earth, yet small as a mustard seed.

It carried within it a meaning as though it could destroy everything.

……