Chapter 333: Actively Seeking the Enemy, Passively Encountering the Enemy (Ten-Thousand-Character Chapter)

Squeak!!!

Du En moved rapidly, soon arriving near another water vortex node, but the Jade Cicada of Seeking Emptiness still emitted a piercing screech that drilled into his brain, reaching a level corresponding to annihilation; he had to carefully retreat.

"The other three likely have similar means, so there is no need to worry about them perishing because of this. As for the other ten, as long as they don't act arrogantly and follow the agreed-upon method to converge toward Nangong Sheng's side, there shouldn't be any problems."

"By the same token, one cannot expect the people from other immortal sects to be killed by this kind of terrain..."

Normally speaking, if one's luck were too poor and they fell into a partitioned space ravaged by annihilation currents upon entering, then at their Nascent Soul stage, they would naturally die quite cleanly.

But regarding this, Du En truly had no expectations.

Because the True Monarchs should have planned the general landing points to ensure that no attrition would occur because of this.

While deep in thought, Du En found another water vortex node.

This time, the Jade Cicada of Seeking Emptiness did not emit a piercing screech; it was very calm, indicating that the overall situation on the other side was neither good nor bad.

He immediately cast the Ice Soul Art to its utmost perfection, most effectively concealing himself, and then cautiously stepped into it.

Space shifted, and he arrived in another partitioned space within the Dragon Palace.

The environment here was identical to the partitioned space he had just been in; the buildings were also in a collapsed state, though compared to the ones in the previous space, there were significant differences in their form and structure, clearly not a continuous situation.

The whole was indeed exceptionally chaotic and misaligned; from here on, one could not use the continuity or characteristic points of the buildings within the Dragon Palace to determine or judge one's own position.

However, relatively speaking, one could determine whether they were in a marginal area under the current state by observing the integrity of the spiritual energy environment and the leakage of energy outward.

Thinking this, Du En continued to move quietly and soon found another water vortex where there were no issues on the other side.

After crossing, he was met with the impact of spiritual light and magical light, along with bursts of rumbling.

It was very clear that someone was fighting here!

This was not unexpected; Du En remained inconspicuous, raised his eyes to observe from afar, and discovered it was people from the Rotten Forest and Fudong sides. After roughly observing and seeing that their respective means were nothing special, he continued to move quietly and left this partitioned space.

From now on, whenever two or more people appeared in the same partitioned space and were not from the same sect, a battle would inevitably break out.

The reason they were so unceremonious and started fighting without hesitation upon entering was that they all held the same idea: to eliminate the people from other immortal sects first.

Otherwise, no matter what they wanted to do next, they would be held back; therefore, the best course of action was to kill the others before carefully exploring this Dragon Palace.

Only in this way could they avoid being attacked from both front and back and prevent any unexpected accidents.

As for whether there were any conflicts between fellow sect members, that was a matter for after the external enemies had been eliminated.

Along the way, even when he saw fellow sect members, Du En did not stop but continued to move quietly.

His goal was very clear.

The Twelve Earthly Branches, Pig of the Hai!

The pig-faced mask that fellow wore looked quite familiar, making Du En think of the Langle City incident from back then.

At that time, the Fudong Immortal Sect took advantage of the opportunity of the southern region of Luoyu carrying out a reorganization to send out an infiltration team, and the leader was the Nascent Soul perfection genius, Lu Zhihong.

Although Du En did not actually know his name, at the beginning of that incident, Du En had seized a very similar pig-faced mask from an enemy.

The subsequent development of that time was that the fellow was too arrogant and intentionally left behind some suspicious clues, which drew Du En's attention, leading him to use unscrupulous means to finally force the person out.

The result should have been that the Great Cultivator Yun Yi suppressed and took the person away; theoretically, there was no possibility of escape, and by now, the person should be dead beyond a doubt.

But seeing that similar pig-faced mask again, a doubt naturally arose in Du En's heart.

But what if?

After thinking about it, he still decided: better to kill the wrong person than to let one go!

Therefore, he was currently lurking and patrolling, just to find that Pig of the Hai.

If the target was acting alone, he would kill them directly; if the target was acting in a group, he would secretly tail them and wait for an opportunity to kill them.

The reason he was so resolute was not because Du En was holding a grudge, but because if it really was that fellow from back then, he had to consider the depth of the opponent's schemes.

—If the opponent hadn't been too arrogant back then, they wouldn't have been rooted out.

Even when they were finally rooted out, it was through unscrupulous means, killing the wrong person rather than letting one go, without actual proof, which caused the conflict of philosophy between Du En and Meng Changqing to erupt.

Therefore, if he let this "what if" go unchecked now and gave the opponent enough room to brew schemes, it would only become increasingly dangerous and terrifying later on.

So, it had to be done quickly and urgently!

Du En's pace did not stop as he searched at high speed.

Finally, hard work paid off, and he really did find the Pig of the Hai, who was currently alone, acting sneakily, avoiding other battlefields, and not knowing what kind of scheme they were plotting.

Opportunity must not be missed...

Du En thought this, yet he was incomparably cautious; his divine sense and perceptions were all subtly deployed, and the Ice Soul Art was operated to its peak, making his body and mind like the cold soul of ice—neither melting nor leaking, introverted and devoid of life.

The target walked in front, as if looking for something, occasionally digging out treasures from the ruins of the Dragon Palace, and always managing to find deeply buried fifth-grade spiritual objects, their eyes flashing with a gaze that intertwined satisfaction and hunger.

Greed!

The modifier Lou Shuoyue used to describe that this fellow was not to be underestimated was: Pig Greed!

As greedy for food as a pig, never truly satisfied no matter how much they ate, wanting to continue eating, as if they were a small-scale Taotie, with an exceptionally greedy nature!

At the same time, Du En also noticed that the Pig of the Hai's pig-faced mask would undergo some subtle changes when finding treasures.

Simply put, it would change color, turning from the original pitch-black wild boar style to a situation with a slight hint of white, but it would soon change back.

This made him thoughtful, and then, he glanced at the blood that the other party had unknowingly spilled along the way.

Invisible to the naked eye, undetectable by divine sense, and difficult to perceive even with ordinary senses, even a well-integrated spirit-seeking technique would find it hard to discover this kind of bloodstain.

It was like a web woven silently, detached from the spiritual energy environment, hidden in the surface gaps of space; if Du En's cultivation had not reached Nascent Soul perfection, with the three palaces merged and his soul and divine sense reaching the point of a genius's peak, it would have been impossible to detect this Blood Luo Void Web.

Once one failed to detect it and rashly stepped on it, they would immediately be discovered by this Pig of the Hai.

Moreover, it was because Du En had acted quickly and without hesitation that the opponent had not had time to cover all the water vortex nodes in this partitioned space; otherwise, even if he could detect it and conceal himself, he would have been discovered immediately upon entering.

As for now, since he had not been discovered—truly, the timing was in his favor, and the advantage was his—then it was time for that old routine: a sneak attack and a forceful kill!

"Of course, this fellow is very alert; the blood-trace web within a hundred zhang of their body is dense and impenetrable, and they are not actually relaxing their guard—protective artifacts, protective talismans, hmm, and the signs of some kind of spell..."

The more he looked, the more it resembled that fellow from back then!

Since that was the case, there was no need to hide or hold back!

In the gap within a hundred zhang, Du En's eyes suddenly turned crimson, his pupils golden; instantly, True Crimson Flame surged out of thin air, rushing forward silently, transforming into a silent red phoenix, wondrous and extraordinary, bringing a sense of peace to those who beheld it.

?!!!

Blood Luo Void Net, burn!

Protective Dharma artifact, shatter!

Protective treasure talisman, break!

Protective Dharma spell, collapse!

One layer of vigilance, four layers of protection, all annihilated in the blink of an eye.

That Hai Zhu only had time to self-detonate, blowing up his physical body quite decisively, using it as a sacrifice so that his Nascent Soul could escape into the void; at the same time, his life-bound Dharma treasure rose into the air, connecting with Blood Luo Void Nets elsewhere to form a Floating Luo Gate, which descended to intercept, invisibly partitioning space so that he could regroup behind the gate.

The True Flame Red Phoenix surged upward, burning away the Blood Luo Void Net, but because this secret technique had been prepared for a long time and was vast in quantity, the result was that they canceled each other out.

Primarily because Du En did not exert further force to catalyze the True Flame.

He appeared at this moment, and with a flip of his hands, ten thousand Dharma artifacts were already like a heaven-covering net, spitting out cold killing intent, surrounding this gate and the Nascent Soul behind it.

"It really is you."

Du En spoke thus, which was also the main reason he chose to reveal himself.

Because he wanted to figure out how this Hai Zhu, Lu Zhihong, had managed to escape with his life.

Left with only a Nascent Soul and in an extremely wretched state, Lu Zhihong, upon seeing that the attacker was actually Du En, could not help but grin, feeling very surprised: "It's one thing that I didn't go looking for you, but you actually came to find me first?"

This was a subconscious remark; clearly, he was indeed the real deal, knowing of the events from back then.

He then realized and couldn't help but shake his head with a sigh: "I really didn't expect it. Back then you were at the late stage of Golden Core and I was at the perfection of Nascent Soul; now you are at the perfection of Nascent Soul, yet I am still at the perfection of Nascent Soul. Ah, that makes sense; after all, this makes you feel that you have caught up to me..."

As he said this, his tone finally turned gloomy and repressed; Lu Zhihong revealed a perverse, furious expression. His originally blood-colored Nascent Soul was suddenly covered in black hair, and a trace of white hair that had appeared also drifted before his eyes, making him unable to suppress himself any longer.

"If it weren't for you, I could have already attempted the Deity Transformation; why is it that now I need to make up for deficiencies and cultivate additional techniques, just to become some auspicious beast, the Kang!"

"Roar!"

Finishing his words, he let out a great roar and transformed instantly.

There is a beast there, its shape like a pig, with heads at both front and back, black in color and greedy by nature, its hair short and shiny.

A shiny, ink-black short-haired wild boar appeared in Du En's eyes, only it was severed at the waist, leaving a terrifying wound where one could see the wriggling internal organs and muscles, with blood flowing out in great splashes.

Shockingly, it had been cut in half at the waist!

"So that's it, the strange beast Bingfeng, a type of two-headed black pig."

Du En immediately saw through the foundation of this beast-transformation technique and realized the path this fellow had taken to escape back then.

"That pig-face mask, you really did let me capture it on purpose. In this way, once a Great Cultivator analyzes it, you could naturally find a gap through the blockade it established and escape leisurely. By the time others reacted, you had likely already fled back to the Fudong Immortal Sect."

"Heh, no need to try and save face like that. Judging by the fact that you needed to come and confirm it with me, I imagine even the Changmeng Resolution didn't notice this, let alone those other vulgar people."

The waist-severed Bingfeng appeared violent and furious, but was actually very calm. Seeing that Du En had not been fooled and remained as calm as ever, he immediately changed his strategy, switching to psychological warfare to try and glimpse a flaw or opening.

Although he had just spoken as if he looked down on Du En, in reality, he did not at all.

From the moment he saw him among those four from Luoyu, patrolling the enemy situation down the mountain, he knew that this little pig, whom he could have crushed and eaten at will back then, had now grown into a terrifying tiger king of the mountains!

This was why, after entering the Dragon Palace, he hadn't done anything or joined up with his fellow sect members, but instead pinned his hopes on treasure hunting and cultivating additional techniques.

Because both of them had, without prior agreement, already vaguely sensed that the two would inevitably meet again!

It was just that he hadn't expected him to become this strong, and just like back then, he was unwilling to let anyone go by mistake, coming directly for him...

"If I had known it would come to this, I would have killed him back then... No, judging by the precautions he had taken at the time, I fear that even if I had struck with half my strength, I could not have ensured a foolproof success!"

Because as long as he couldn't kill him in one blow, Du En would have used the state of Reflection of Life and Prosperity to desperately stack Ice Breath techniques, then hidden away to avoid the brunt of the attack.

Moreover, at that time, he was in the state of Reflection of Life and Prosperity, and relying on the toughness of the Inexhaustible Azure Spirit Body, even if he had taken a blow from the opponent head-on, there would have been no possibility of it being fatal.

In other words, the Du En of that time, being on his home turf, was in an invincible position!

Even if Lu Zhihong had attacked, it would only have accelerated his own exposure. Once the Southern Pivot City or Meng Changqing caught the disturbance he caused, at the very least a Great Cultivator would have arrived to assist, and it was possible that the Pivot City's main commander, True Person Zhenhong, would have appeared in person.

Contradictions aside, passivity aside, if Du En were truly allowed to die at Lu Zhihong's hands, that elderly True Person might have had to pass away prematurely, so he naturally dared not gamble at all!

Of course, Du En would not explain this logic to Lu Zhihong, and he treated all those shifting, expressive looks on his face as if he hadn't seen them at all.

Purely fawning over a blind man!

He simply maintained his own rhythm silently!

The Myriad Control Technique required no preparation, and self-detonation could be done in an instant; he didn't want to expose too much of the Phoenix Crimson True Flame, and since the sneak attack had already succeeded, he had burned away at least half of the opponent's effective strength and means!

After all, this fellow had severed his own body to save himself back then, leaving his techniques broken; now that he lacked a physical body, the impact was exceptionally great, and the sight of that waist-severed, bleeding form was the best proof.

So, what was it that he was preparing?

Lu Zhihong suddenly reacted, and while suppressing the fear of the Supreme in his heart, he looked up sharply, only to see that in the mottled sky, a small black dot had appeared before he knew it.

Because he caught a glimpse of the Luoyu Heavenly Scar, he felt his consciousness shatter and couldn't help but let out a hiss, yet he still stared straight ahead, seeing the falling meteorite.

Wrapped in ice, frozen into an ice soul, it had been silently brewing and growing; now that it had been discovered, it directly dissolved the ice.

A meteorite five hundred zhang in diameter and several miles wide came crashing down with a rumbling roar, its shell charred black and gradually turning glowing red, tearing through the spiritual energy and flowing against the current, bringing with it intense friction.

Before the meteorite arrived, the air pressure arrived first!

Thud!

The Floating Luo Gate sank three zhang into the ground!

"Ah!!!"

Seeing that the enemy's killing blow had arrived and had not fallen into his own pace at all, Lu Zhihong, who had transformed into the strange beast Bingfeng, could not care that Du En was still far away and prepared to force a secret technique.

Blood Feud Mutual Killing!

This was a terrifying secret technique that grafted karma through blood feuds; whatever heavy injury he suffered would be directly reproduced on the perpetrator!

He directly severed another section of his waist; he was already severed at the waist anyway, so it didn't matter if he lost another section or two, but what about you?

Lu Zhihong lowered his head, his consciousness still shattered, his eyes looking as if they were covered in cracks, staring fixedly at Du En, with no madness, only a kind of deep intensity.

Because he could not afford to indulge his temperament now; only by being incomparably calm and racking his brains could he glimpse an opportunity.

As long as Du En was affected by this secret technique and revealed an opening...

There was no opening!

To sever and bisect Du En's Nascent Soul, one would first need to get past his natal dharma treasure, his entire body of cultivation mana, then his already-cleared and solidified Divine Palace's fierce defense, and finally, the Phoenix Blood Spear!

To sever Du En's body was even more straightforward; one would first need to get past his Inexhaustible Azure Spirit Body!

With the Azure Spirit inexhaustible, as soon as it was severed, it would immediately regenerate.

Even if the secret technique possessed vicious properties like being unhealable, no matter how vicious it was, its specific effect still depended on the target's cultivation mana; Du En simply used his unceasing mana to harden his spirit body, directly grinding away the power of this secret technique.

As for the side of the Nascent Soul, it couldn't even get past the Azure Wave Flame Flower before being completely submerged and burned away by the stimulated Azure Billow Burning Flower!

"Pfft!"

The secret technique being forcibly resisted and broken was something Lu Zhihong had not expected, and he was directly struck by the backlash on the spot, vomiting blood.

How could this be?

The gap, was it actually this large?

Even a person as deep in schemes as him was unable to comprehend this at the moment, and he couldn't help but lose his focus for a moment.

Clearly, everyone was a genius, and Du En was still the pursuer; even if he himself had once escaped after losing half his body and left behind trauma, the gap between them now, logically speaking, shouldn't be this large—it was simply absurd!

Even if he were at his peak and faced this guy head-on, he feared his odds of winning would only be one or two in ten, just like facing that mad beast Chen Long!

How could he have surpassed him so quickly?

His consciousness barely pulled together, and as he raised his eyes to look again, he could only see a pair of calm pupils.

A shudder of horror, a jolt of alarm.

Too late!

Several hundred fourth-tier top-grade dharma artifacts emerged from the ruins, directly self-destructing to bombard the Floating Luo Gate, without a shred of pity or concern, shattering it on the spot.

The next moment, an even more terrifying air pressure directly smoothed out the aftermath of the explosion, crushed the fragments of the dharma treasures, and pressed the half-bodied and sealed man down to the ground with a crash, his two legs splayed and his head buried deep.

"Du..."

Lu Zhihong raised his head with difficulty, still wanting to say something or play some scheme, but a Meteor Rock had already descended.

Boom!

Crash!

An invisible shockwave swept violently in all directions, directly shaking down and scattering the architectural ruins in this partitioned space; the surging heatwave impacted and spread, further evaporating and pulverizing those spiritual objects that were only third-tier!

A curling mushroom cloud rose up, and Du En raised his hand to grab, directly using force to capture and control it, destroying and erasing it, causing the wild flow of spiritual energy to recover and fully revealing the current state of the scorching giant pit.

There was only a charred pit; apart from fifth-tier spiritual objects, nothing remained.

However, since he was a person as deep in schemes as Lu Zhihong, Du En still manipulated his artifacts to plow through this area a few more times and catalyzed his True Flame to smelt those fifth-tier spiritual objects.

Only after confirming that that guy was truly dead did he put away these spoils of war.

A fourth-tier storage bag could no longer contain things now; he could only use his natal dharma treasure, which far exceeded artifacts of the same tier.

Although it was currently rated as fourth-tier, it was a fourth-tier top-grade treasure that matched Du En's cultivation and progressed with him, but in reality, it was far stronger than a normal fourth-tier top-grade dharma treasure.

Therefore, it had gradually begun to undergo a transformation; for the moment, it was no longer limited to changing into a single dharma treasure or artifact, but had begun to sprout extra buds, barely able to transform into half of something else.

It seemed a bit like a chicken rib, but placed in this moment, it was just right.

—It could transform into a fifth-tier storage bag with a small capacity, but one sufficient to use for storing these fifth-tier items.

"After going out, I must ask the Resolution for a real spatial dharma treasure..."

Holding this thought, Du En quickly left this place.

After all, the commotion just now was too great; there was no guarantee it wouldn't attract the attention of others, causing them to run over and trigger unnecessary battles.

As for what came next.

Find a place to grind and practice!

"Others are busy fighting and killing, and the exploration of the Dragon Palace is still in the first stage; there is no need to rush, nor is there a need to intervene. First, accumulate strength and grind the cultivation technique to the max—this is the appropriate and rational choice."

Anyway, in the end, a head-on clash would certainly be unavoidable; increasing his strength and accumulating a bit more now would surely yield a bit more chance of victory later.

What's more, the true opponent of this trip was likely not this group of cultivators of the same tier, but the brushwork of the Fallen Feather Supreme hidden within this Dragon Palace!

Although he had easily crushed an old enemy just now, Du En still did not let his guard down.

However.

Although his plans were well-laid and the strategy was perfect, the problem lay in the very first step.

Du En had just avoided the dueling area and found a partitioned space that was empty, where the leakage of spiritual energy was not so severe and a corner of the Dragon Palace's architecture was still relatively intact, sufficient to hide himself, when he ran head-on into a person.

That person was graceful and elegant, draped in a gauze dress, with a lithe and beautiful figure, outshining all others—it was none other than Lou Shuyue!

"Brother Du is actually here too?"

Upon seeing Du En, she immediately covered her mouth, full of charm, appearing quite surprised.

Thinking that she too was wandering in the outer area, she gave an apologetic smile, pressed her hands together at the side of her face, and offered her explanation: "This slave also wanted to participate, but my luck was truly poor. Brother Nangong and the others are gathered on the opposite side; if I were to cross the dueling area, the risk would be quite significant, so I thought about whether I could detour around it."

Speaking to this point, she seemed to feel she appeared a bit cowardly, and feeling somewhat embarrassed, her cheeks flushed slightly—like an apple at the perfect stage of ripeness; any lighter and it would be green, any heavier and it would be over-ripe. It was the perfect point of being both pure and beautiful, capable of winning over anyone.

That is, excluding Du En.

Thus, as she moved with lotus steps to approach, Du En calmly pulled away a distance of thirty miles, and ten thousand artifacts flew out on the spot, filling the six directions, leaving no gap for escape.

Lou Shuyue's footsteps paused, and her expression turned stiff.

"Brother Du, this is?"

She seemed somewhat heartbroken, faintly on the verge of tears, feeling self-reproach for not gaining the trust of the person opposite her, while also chiding the iron-hearted man.

Simply put.

"No need to be so coy and affected. You ran over to me like this; the situation is already very clear, isn't it? True Monarch Regret-Love is in a hurry to take my life, right."

"..."

Lou Shuyue was silent at first, then sighed, looking bored as she touched the hairpin on her head, "Can't you play along with me? You don't have any of the reactions a normal man should have; this makes me doubt your preferences."

As he spoke, he also took out an object and tossed it away as if throwing out trash.

A rabbit head.

Or rather, a human head wearing a rabbit-face mask; the neck stump was bloody, the eyes still held a look of unbelievable terror, and the three-lobed rabbit mouth had been torn open, with a mangled mass of male genitalia shoved firmly inside.

The residual blood flowed, extremely jarring, and the meaning was clear.

Don't speak nonsense, otherwise, this will be your end!

"Is there a possibility that it is you who lacks charm?"

Du En remained calm and retorted directly.

Slap!

A string in Lou Shuyue's mind snapped, her expression instantly turned extremely ugly, and she couldn't help but point her finger, trembling, as she cursed aloud: "Here we go again! It's like this again! What exactly did I do wrong that you bunch of people, who have no manners and know nothing of wit—especially you, this poker-faced, stupid fellow—always have to come and question my one-of-a-kind charm?!"

"If I must evaluate you, it would be that your initial words were affected and pretentious, and indeed, as Jiang Ying said, it is not entirely natural; perhaps it is because you cultivate two different techniques."

Du En was not in a rush to engage in combat, appearing quite vigilant and guarded, even exceptionally wary, which was why his words were heart-piercing yet revealed his own sincerity.

"If I must evaluate, Jiang Ying barely gets a five, that Rui Yi is a four and a half, and the other junior sisters who came from our sect this time are between a four and a three and a half; as for you, I'm sorry, I can only give you a two."

It was mainly because his perception was too sharp; at a single glance, Lou Shuyue looked as if she had two faces and two bodies, and although each side was at least a five, once broken and pieced together, with an unnatural line dividing them in the middle, it looked awkward no matter how he viewed it.

Therefore, he truly could not go against his conscience to give any high score.

"So that's how it is, you like the young, the stupid, and the easily deceived, tsk tsk tsk!"

Lou Shuyue was not angry, but simply crossed her arms, highlighting her own maturity, and quite disdainfully mocked Du En's preferences, even though it was a conclusion she had reached all on her own.

Du En likewise did not care; he swept his divine sense, his perception fully open, yet he still did not capture anything unusual, and the Lou Shuyue opposite him had not even begun to brew an attack.

This could only mean that she had already finished brewing it.

There was no second possibility!

Which meant that, just now, there was actually no need to close the distance to launch any sneak attack or surprise assault.

In other words, that was purely out of her personal temperament, thinking that before killing Du En, she would toy with him once more to avenge the grudge of him constantly snapping back at her.

She had been assuming to herself that, with only the two of them present, this young fellow would reveal some other emotions, but she hadn't expected him to be truly consistent inside and out; it was entirely her own overthinking.

Of course, it didn't matter if she overthought it.

"Don't say this lady didn't look after you, a young one; seeing that you haven't made any rash moves, you must still have some questions, right? I'll show mercy one last time and grant them to you; ask!"

Her tone was like that of an empress bestowing a favor, yet it also carried a sense of listlessness; in short, it was very light and casual.

Was she exceptionally confident in the means given to her by True Monarch Huiqing, or perhaps means she already possessed, feeling that it was absolutely certain?

The tides of fortune turn; now it was his turn to try and use words to gain an opening...

Du En thought this calmly, his tone as still as stagnant water: "I do indeed have some questions; I don't see True Monarch Huiqing as someone who would disregard the big picture, as she is a dignified True Monarch after all. Moreover, looking at your various deliberate performances earlier, there was likewise no sign that she intended for you to kill me inside the Dragon Palace; why is that?"

"You saw quite well earlier; so you were observing so sneakily, and yet you said you didn't care for my looks?"

"..."

"Tsk! Boring greenhorn!"

Lou Shuyue shook her head and continued, "The True Monarch indeed did not intend for me to strike at first; after all, the focus this time is different, and the big picture lies in the secret of the Dragon Palace, so we had to see if we could snatch chestnuts from the fire."

"But now that the big picture has changed, hasn't it? The Sovereigns have intervened directly, which made her feel the situation was uncontrollable, so she decisively abandoned the original plan and moved up the priority of targeting you, contacting me secretly two days ago to tell me not to beat around the bush or keep acting, but to come over and kill you as soon as I entered to ensure this operation would at least have some harvest."

The "beating around the bush" and "acting" they both spoke of was actually her previous attempt to use that to eventually win Du En's trust during their joint operation!

To be more specific, there had already been quite a few setups, such as the performance of deliberately appearing to have many schemes but actually being quite shallow, and pointing out through micro-expressions and little thoughts that she did not have unrivaled prestige within her faction.

"So, it is actually perfect now; having to endure that, acting like a slave and putting on a show all day, was truly exhausting!"

Lou Shuyue's true nature was arrogant, casual, and self-important, like an empress.

From the start of the grand competition until the island earlier, she had been acting the whole time...

"It's not as if there were no clues."

Du En only said this, drawing a sidelong glance from her, and he continued: "The Fragrant Bloom Canon is actually not a technique of allure, yet you deliberately performed it as such; so your previous actions were, in reality, less like seduction and more like giving orders."

"Likewise, the Picking Ferns Canon is clearly a technique cultivated by tender women; you should have known you could not grasp its true intent, yet you still chose it as your primary cultivation, which shows your arrogance—you believed you could alter its method and change its use, and in the end, you did indeed appear successful."

"Combining the Fragrant Bloom Canon with your performance before and after, I boldly speculate that the true foundation, or rather, your ambition, is 'The Emperor's Word, All Must Submit'."

Clap clap~

Lou Shuyue clapped her hands lightly and smiled derisively: "Your eye for detail is not bad. Then, I will tell you the truth: I had actually already chosen my subsequent technique long ago; I didn't need that Sheng Zhaoshui to be self-righteous and come over to point fingers. That's right, it is just as you said, the Emperor's Treasure Canon."

"No, I actually think he was not being self-righteous."

"..."

"You want to hold the mandate of heaven in your mouth and decide life and death with a single word; this is indeed a lofty ambition, but honestly, can it really be done?"

"..."

"Although the Transformation Spirit stage is honored as a Great Cultivator, it is actually just a new starting point; at present, one can be considered a person, but only a 'pseudo-person', not a 'true person'. To use a more vivid metaphor, it is like a fetus gestating in a woman's womb; as long as it has not been born, it can hardly be considered a person in the true sense."

Du En continued his psychological attack, directly and sharply pointing out what Lou Shuyue truly did not want to hear: "You wanting to switch to the Emperor's Treasure Canon is like a fetus wearing a crown; can you sit firmly in that position?"

"... That is hard to say; after all, some people are born as noble sons or crown princesses."

"Oh? Even if you withstand the pressure, strive hard, finish adapting after switching cultivation in the Transformation Spirit stage, and successfully break through to the Void Refinement stage to truly become a person, when the time comes, facing the true monarch above your head, can you, this fake monarch and crown prince, really come out on top?"

If it were True Monarch Zhuding, he certainly wouldn't care about her rising up.

If it were True Monarch Buyi, as long as she could ascend the throne herself, then everything would be easy to discuss; it would just be a matter of adding a chair.

If it were True Monarch Chengru, or if it were Meng Changqing, none of them would care too much; after all, they are of supreme stature, born standing at the pinnacle of the human world, and even if their philosophies conflicted, it would just be a matter of getting rid of the old immortal above them first, then turning their guns to target each other.

But as it happens, the one sitting above her is True Monarch Huiqing!

This person, within the scope of what she can control, is absolutely the one whose word is law, and it is not to be questioned!

Can she really tolerate the fact that she has not yet grown old, and the crown princess below is already coming up to fight for her position, or to sit on the same level?

"The answer is obvious, isn't it?"

Du En looked calmly at the gloomy-faced person opposite him and finally said the words that made her lose her composure: "She even had you come out to receive guests and sell smiles, debasing yourself as a slave..."

"Shut up!"

Lou Shuyue could not help but speak, and the moment she did, it meant her mental momentum had completely collapsed.

Because Du En did not care at all, nor was he intimidated by her grand ambitions, and he sharply and bitingly stabbed at her biggest and most painful wound—the fact that True Monarch Regret-Love had been grooming her from the very beginning!

Thinking of this, she was even more exasperated. She raised her hand and grabbed through the air, and a nine-foot length of white silk wrapped directly around Du En's entire body; it was especially sudden, as he had been unable to sense it beforehand.

When the Son of Heaven grants death, one must naturally accept it... of course, it had not reached that point yet; it was entirely True Monarch Regret-Love meddling from within, allowing it—which originally only had the power to bind and strangle spirits—to achieve this.

In a sense, it could be considered: if the sovereign wants a subject to die, the subject must die.

After all, it is a True Monarch, don't you think?

I say you a...

Looking at the meaning in Du En's eyes—heaven knows how a calm gaze could still have such obvious color—Lou Shuyue was even more infuriated. She directly raised her hand and waved it, sealing Du En's mouth.

If she continued to let him speak, he would go on about how Sheng Zhaoshui had seen through all this before, and that it was actually a well-intentioned suggestion, offering her another path she could take—one that was not as absolute as the Son of Heaven Canon, yet still close to it, and a path where True Monarch Regret-Love would no longer intentionally target her in the future.

But, how could she submit?

By what right...

"You are just afraid of death."

"What?"

Lou Shuyue was stunned, firstly because of these words, and secondly because he was able to say them.

Looking up again, Du En was indeed bound by her natal dharma treasure, but the dharma power that should have been suppressed and strangled did not surrender; it erupted in a form that disregarded damage to his body, forcing him to open a gap and speak once more.

Anyway, with the Inexhaustible Azure Spirit Body, he was not afraid of such overload.

"To achieve great things but cherish one's own life—if you truly had grand ambitions and dared to struggle, you could completely jump to the command of other True Monarchs, especially True Monarch Tripod-Chasing and True Monarch Unmoving; they certainly wouldn't mind you jumping over, but you don't dare, you fear the retaliation and targeting of True Monarch Regret-Love."

"..."

Lou Shuyue was truly going crazy; you just keep talking and talking, you've become addicted to it, haven't you!

Knowing you can't escape a True Monarch's methods, you intend to satisfy your tongue before you die, right!

Fine, fine, fine, truly good!

She laughed out of extreme anger, as beautiful as a peach or plum blossom. She stretched out her arms, puffed out her chest, and held her head high, as if accepting a mandate from Heaven, looking down with disdain. She did not want to say any more nonsense; she only wanted him to die.

The so-called word of the Son of Heaven decides a person's life and death!

The true trump card technique was unleashed; it was the move True Monarch Regret-Love viewed as capable of killing Du En, and also the fundamental reason why she could barely tolerate her slight dissent!

Fragrant Bloom Sole-Vignette!

Plucking its vignette-bloom to nourish oneself, to achieve my peerless fragrance... a technique formed and generated within her after True Monarch Regret-Love discovered this woman harbored dissent, observed and judged her, and took action to correct her, ultimately causing the essence of the two great canons to take shape in her.

To put it simply and bluntly, it is taking one's life.

Harvesting the enemy's fullest and largest vignette-beans—their lifespan—to achieve the eternal preservation of one's own fragrance.

Seeing her break her defenses to perform this, leaving basically no room for maneuver, Du En immediately lowered his eyes slightly, glancing at his own interface, where his lifespan limit was beginning to drop.

He was very decisive and immediately circulated his cultivation technique.

Green grass covers the earth, green trees shade the sky, green and yellow connect, inexhaustible and unceasing!

"It's useless! I have cultivated both canons to completion, yet you haven't even finished cultivating one. What will you use to block me? Obediently accept your fate!"

Lou Shuyue was actually still a little tense and concerned; after all, the Green-Yellow Canon actually countered her side quite well. If Du En had really cultivated it to completion, it would be very difficult to take him down quickly. It would require a tug-of-war to see if she could exhaust all his vignette-bloom first, or if he could truly be inexhaustible and unceasing.

But now that the green grass had not completely covered the earth and Du En's Green-Yellow Canon had not been cultivated to the ultimate perfection, she naturally did not need to worry about this anymore. Furious, she no longer forcibly suppressed herself and directly went all out, erupting with full force.

Then.

The situation changed and turned abruptly!

It was like using tofu as a rope to drag a ten-thousand-jun iron tree at a speed that could be called spatial movement; the result was predictable: the tofu rope shattered on the spot!

"Wha... t..."

Lou Shuyue trembled, spat out the word, and slumped down in a state of collapse, filled only with bewilderment.

The situation was simple.

Du En had used a divine ability.

Reflecting Life, Flourishing Prosperity!

Principles can only be countered by principles. Although the essence of the canons was profound, it was still only a superficial method, difficult to resist the various principles of the deep-seated foundation.

He didn't even need to use the 'Prosperity Difficult to Shift' from the mastery stage; just the 'Reflecting Life, Flourishing Prosperity' which he had only achieved a small success in, was enough to break the technique she had unleashed with all her might, which had no room for maneuver!

(End of chapter)