Chapter 477: Deep Thoughts Lead to Terror, Returning to Nine Clouds

At this very moment, the body and spirit of the Old Monster Xuanxu had already been quietly replaced, and in the hand of his primordial spirit, he was clutching a pitch-black crystal awl.

Boundless resentful spirits were vaguely visible within it, hissing and roaring; because it was so concentrated, it seeped out terrifying, purulent poison of Dao.

If it were truly allowed to stab into Du En's current body, although it would still be difficult to kill him, it could still cause him to suffer a truly heavy injury! However, no such "if" happened.

The reason is simple: although Old Monster Xuanxu was hiding this illusion technique and had just received an unknown enhancement, allowing him a moment to get close to Du En and strike.

However, this side had also long since set up the True Domain of Jia Wood, and when they all entered the mountain peak cave dwelling, it had already completely covered the entire Ten Thousand Poisons Mountain Range.

Therefore, this Dao technique suddenly manifested just now, binding the Old Monster Xuanxu, who was about to launch a sneak attack, layer by layer.

The principles of Jia Wood transformed into shackles, yang-natured and endlessly regenerating; even though they were constantly corroded by that purulent poison of Dao, they were able to resist, preventing the other side from advancing even an inch.

"As expected, just like with the side of Venerable Nine Clouds, has it already been influenced and infiltrated in secret, or even replaced?"

Du En observed the Old Monster Xuanxu before him, thinking this in his heart, and then glanced at the side of Ancestor Gengluo.

That side, seeing the situation was unfavorable, very decisively chose to flee.

It looked very normal, but Du En spotted a slight clue of something wrong at a glance, so he raised his hand and waved; in this cyan-green wood domain, various plants and trees swarmed up, wrapping him into a rice dumpling.

"Ah!"

"Spare me! Spare my life!"

"This senior, we just had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai, I hope you will spare our lives!"

Noisy sounds kept ringing out from within; clearly, Du En was mistaken by them for a Void Refinement stage True Person.

Of course, with his current strength, he was enough to rival and defeat an ordinary early-stage Void Refinement, and if he went all out and used all kinds of divine abilities and Dao techniques, he could even take down an ordinary mid-stage Void Refinement.

Coupled with the fact that he was currently at the Perfection of Spirit Transformation, which could be called stepping into the half-step Void Refinement realm, so saying he was Void Refinement stage, in a certain sense, could not be considered wrong.

Du En did not pay attention to the noise from Ancestor Gengluo, first using his right hand, which had begun to recover, to fiercely grab the awl in Old Monster Xuanxu's hand.

"Ah!"

Once the vicious awl left his hand, the old monster immediately let out a miserable shriek and instantly turned into a dried corpse, as if he had been dead for a long time, only relying on this awl to have been able to survive as a false image all along.

It might really be like that, who knows.

When originally exploring the Ten Thousand Poisons Mountain Range, this old monster perhaps did not escape unscathed, but discovered the target of the Great Demon Ten Thousand Poisons, then secretly snuck into that Jianyi Cave Dwelling, subsequently died there, and was later turned into a flesh puppet, invisibly controlled to carry out activities on the surface.

Du En silently watched this dried corpse, seeing from the remnants of its long-withered and polluted life source through the Source Saint Pupil, vaguely seeing such clues, and combining them with such deductions.

In any case, this guy was dead.

Having lived for nearly two thousand years, in the end, he still died.

Without any sentiment, he let dust return to dust and earth to earth, then looked down at the awl again.

"Forged from resentful spirit crystals of a much higher purity? No, it is even more bizarre in degree, and it exudes a sense of vitality; could it be that the resentful spirits on the back have already been consumed? And this purulent poison of Dao..."

He could not see through it; in the end, why was there purulent poison of Dao? Could it be that such degenerate, evil, and abnormal Dao is actually also a part of heaven and earth? Or is it simply a deformed manifestation artificially distorted and grafted in?

His realm was higher, and he had seen more, but he had more doubts and more incomprehension.

Because it was not high enough, not enough!

But there was one point that did not need hesitation, no need for doubt!

This thing could not be used again, so, Du En very decisively chose to destroy it!

With madness against degeneration, open the sluice, release the Phoenix Remnant Hatred.

"Ree!!!"

"Ah!!!"

The mad cry, the sharp and miserable whistle, erupted in Du En's hand; the turbid hatred fire and the purulent poison of Dao began to violently attack each other, both being derivatives of the laws of heaven and earth, and in a certain sense, both belonged to the same category of acquired principles.

The hatred of a dying phoenix, the purulent poison created by man.

Both sides actually only had their edges here, but the intertwining and slaughter at this moment allowed Du En to catch a glimpse of some clues.

The Phoenix Remnant Hatred was a bit unable to beat the man-made purulent poison; it was slightly shallower in level, and such a slight gap brought about a world of difference in results.

One was just the lingering hatred of a Divine Venerable; although mad, although hating everything, it was pure and extreme; it was actually not some degenerate Dao, but rather more like a principle that clears away everything when heaven and earth wither.

And the man-made purulent poison, which existed a line away from it, was a thoroughly degenerate, corrupt, and evil thing... It seemed, perhaps, that the reason the Divine Venerable left behind his own remnant hatred in the beginning was to allow future generations to step on his own corpse to catch a glimpse of that line of evil and depravity?

Du En, while lost in thought, used his other hand, which had also recovered quite a bit, to light up two great divine fires and joined them, helping the Phoenix Remnant Hatred to overcome the man-made purulent poison.

It was not that the Phoenix Remnant Hatred really could not beat it; as long as he relaxed the restraints and shackles a little more, allowing it to output and manifest more, it would naturally be able to suppress the other side, but it had been difficult to press its true form back to its original location, and letting it run up again was not a good thing.

Because it did not distinguish between friend and foe at all, and was completely impossible to tame or control.

There was only the jade-shattering method of enduring and suffering.

Even just now, when it was burning the man-made purulent poison, it actually did not show Du En any courtesy.

Even now, the entry of the two great divine fires to help was also included as an attack target.

The Remnant Hatred burned, the purulent poison corroded; both his body and the divine fires suffered damage, and he felt the same pain; various pains intertwined, and even Du En could not help but frown slightly.

But in this way, he could also more clearly, subjectively and objectively, capture the darkness within...

Snap! Abruptly, the remaining crystal awl shattered and disappeared into thin air.

"Is it because I wanted to see your horse's feet that you chose to cut off your tail?"

"Or is it that the Supreme one does not want me to see too deeply?"

If the Phoenix Remnant Hatred was truly the "blessing" left behind by the Divine Venerable, then Supreme Luoyu could not have truly ignored it; in other words, the practice of placing it in the Red Parasol Mountain Range back then was actually selecting, screening, and waiting for someone capable of bearing it?

Because the principle left by the Divine Venerable could not be completely cleared, and this corpse could allow people to stand and see the truth of the evil, so they simply threw it out and released it; as long as someone could bear it, it meant that perhaps it could be stepped upon, and naturally, it was a "variable" that needed attention and might affect their grand plan! "Already being watched in secret..."

If this was the case, why remain indifferent all along?

Is it because I am still too insignificant, so there is no need to care?

Or is it that I have actually already fallen into the spider web without knowing it?

At present, there is no way to infer an answer; it is just my own speculation.

Du En flipped his hand and put away the fires.

His expression and face remained calm. He was not shaken by such a possibility.

"Where do you think you're running off to?"

Turning his head to look somewhere, he spoke thus.

Within his gaze, at that location in the Wood-Origin True Domain, the figure of Ancestor Gengluo suddenly appeared, while at the original spot of the zongzi, incessant pleas for mercy were still ringing out.

Seeing that they had been discovered, the figure could not help but be terrified, and without the slightest hesitation, they thrust forward violently; they actually managed to open a slit, allowing them to leave this True Domain and escape to safety!

A look of wild joy appeared in their eyes, which then suddenly froze.

Because a hand had shattered the membrane protective layer on their body and was pressing directly onto their shoulder.

Their body swayed like a wave, intending to avoid this restraint, but they could not avoid it at all; those five fingers were like iron pincers, directly clamping and gripping the wave tight.

"A skin?"

Du En grabbed that shoulder and gave it a violent shake, causing the clothing and ornaments to quietly fall away, leaving only a lifelike human skin, its face appearing twisted and ferocious, seemingly still trying to borrow the words and deeds of Ancestor Gengluo.

But he could not be bothered to continue playing mind games with it, so he directly used the Divine Fire to burn it, stripping away the outer layer of Ancestor Gengluo to reveal an inner skin only the size of a torso.

Previously, the Old Monster Xuanxu had not been wrong to suspect; Ancestor Gengluo had indeed been backstabbed.

Of course, he had not thought that he himself was as well.

"Are the great cultivators of Xuwei without exception all meeting such an end?"

Amidst Du En's muttering to himself, the human skin in his hand, seeing that it could not escape, simply chose to play dead; in any case, the Three-True Divine Fire had just failed to burn it, so it appeared to have nothing to fear.

He also had no intention of destroying it, because this thing was not just a skin; it was actually inscribed with some twisted and grotesque patterns, which might hide some secret.

"The whole thing looks like it was branded on by torture, and it looks a bit like three iron pieces joined together. Is it some kind of lure... Let's go back and find them first; perhaps Jiu Yun has also made a capture."

As Du En thought this, he waved his hand to undo the Wood-Plant zongzi; the Ancestor Gengluo inside was still screaming, looking extremely eerie—he had been stripped of his skin alive without even realizing it, blood mixed with evil charm, and seeing himself see the light of day again, he still thought that this side was about to show mercy.

As a result, he caught a glimpse of his own body and was immediately stunned.

"I am already dead!"

Leaving behind this sentence, his daze permeated with a bitter, unwilling smile, and he quietly turned into flying ash.

Du En could not keep him to ask anything, so seeing this, he turned his head and broke through the air to leave.

The Wood-Origin True Domain began to collapse, bringing with it changes to the state of the Ten Thousand Poisons Mountain Range, causing it to turn into a land full of vitality, which would naturally have a brand-new, magnificent scene in the future.

Jiu Yun City.

Using full speed to escape in flight, it did not take Du En long to return.

Upon returning, he happened to see a team of guards from the City Lord's Mansion heading out of the city.

"What is going on?"

Du En appeared directly in front of them.

The leader of the guards was not seen at the front of the team, but he did see the guard he had recognized earliest; come to think of it, this fellow was relatively lucky, as he had neither died nor been seriously injured before, and now he looked refreshed. Facing the "Master Jiu Yun" who had suddenly appeared before him, he glanced with those eyes, his heart suddenly startled, and without the slightest pause or hesitation, he hurriedly made his report.

"It is the Lord's arrangement; it was said that there might still be some problems at the mine pit south of the city, so we were sent to guard and watch over there. Also, regarding the graveyard, people were sent there long ago; logically speaking, that is the critical place. Over half of the available force of the City Lord's Mansion has already been transferred there."

"Is that so? Fine, you all continue on and keep watch."

Du En nodded thoughtfully, his gaze sweeping over these guards obscurely.

There were indeed traces of some methods visible on them; it did not look like it was from under Sheng Zhaoshui, but rather under An Shen. In other words, they had made some discovery within the City Lord's Mansion.

This was a normal deduction.

But the actual development was not normal.

Du En, having returned to the City Lord's Mansion, heard a negative answer from An Shen in the City Lord's Great Hall.

"I have not discovered anything."

He said this.

"A step too slow?"

Du En calmly confirmed.

"Whether it is a step or two steps too slow, that is hard to confirm. One could even boldly think that perhaps it was already slow to begin with, and there was a premeditated plan from the start."

An Shen's words seemed a bit convoluted, and since Sheng Zhaoshui was not seen here, Du En's gaze flickered as he turned and said, "Speaking of which, I have actually gained some harvest on my end..."

He recounted his experience roughly, completely omitting the final thoughts, because those were mainly directed at himself and were only speculation, which might not have any connection to the current situation.

Besides that, there were other considerations.

"The front and the back do not actually intermingle; is the situation quietly developing in another, more insidious form?"

After hearing this, An Shen had this thought.

Then, his gaze flickered uncertainly, and he continued: "Regardless, it is clear that the current situation is quite complex. What exactly the situation is with that Jian Yi might be the key to unlocking everything."

Du En nodded at this and took out the fragments and the human skin.

An Shen observed and studied them one by one.

Seemingly discovering that its situation was even worse, the human skin could not help but sway and twist, appearing somewhat uneasy and panicked, but it soon made up its mind to continue playing dead to the end, so it became motionless again.

"The carvings on this skin are indeed positively correlated with the fragments, or rather, what is depicted on it is the method for refining this iron piece. In other words, before these fragments were broken, they should have been a magical artifact with some special function, or perhaps, a key?"

"A key? Looking at it this way, when that Jian Yi refined it at the beginning, there should not have been anything too unusual, or perhaps it was still brewing, and then it was attacked and shattered by three great demons, blocking the transformation process. They each obtained a part, and it has not finished brewing even now..."

Du En said this, stating his own thoughts.

"A key? What key? You have also found a key?"

Just at this moment, Sheng Zhaoshui's voice cut in, followed by the person himself, who appeared quite leisurely, stepping over the threshold from the doorway in a proper manner.

At the same time, in his hand, he held something; it was a book without a solid form, quite mysterious and strange.

(End of chapter)