Chapter 613: Ancestral Stele? I Want One Too

The azure waves surged in waves, gradually settling back to calm.

The tattered, ragged Ten Thousand Li Jiangshan Map fluttered in the air like a desolate great banner, then slowly dimmed until it sank beneath the waters.

The fishy, damp wind swept past that collapsed Gaoshan, and the many cultivators of the Banshan Sect all lowered their palms, withdrawing their control over the grand formation, their expressions reverent as they stared at the figure in ink-black robes in the sky.

The restraints on Huang Wenfa's body suddenly loosened, and he stumbled back down to the ground, caught and steadied by Yan Chongzhang who had rushed over.

Master and disciple both looked toward Shen Yi, their breathing growing more and more rapid.

Their own sect had lost a precious mountain, but this lone figure standing in the way ahead of the horizon, though not exactly towering, was harder to shake than any Gaoshan.

"So this is Shen Yi?"

The Crown Prince gazed into the distance, pondered for a long while, and his eyes gradually grew complicated.

The Purple-Bearded White Dragon clan did not delight in killing; though he was forceful, he shared that temperament, so logically, a fierce and ruthless figure like Shen Yi should have made him instinctively feel disgust.

But the other had stood up for the Tibanshan Sect, held the moral high ground, and combined with such clean, decisive killing methods, it inevitably stirred some surprise in the Crown Prince's heart.

After so many years without emerging, Yu Nanhong had unexpectedly gained such a ruthless figure—he wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

Still, at last he could finally understand why those old friends had reacted the way they did earlier.

"Now that the Ancestral Stele has appeared, what are you thinking?"

Gathering his thoughts, the Crown Prince turned to look at Ye Jiu and the others.

That stele towering into the clouds, covered in crimson patterns—each one represented some cultivator of the Liangdaohuang Sect. Accumulated over such long ages, this immortal stele had long since become a presence no less formidable than the Dragon Lair.

Even if only a phantom projection had descended upon the Western Hong, it was absolutely not something a Heaven-Realm cultivator could resist alone.

Now that Shi Lianchang had already fallen, the two sides were already in a fight-to-the-death situation with absolutely no possibility of mediation—it was time to make a choice.

"We have never had the chance to choose."

Ye Jiu slowly raised his flowing-light long sword; Ji Jingxi and Qi Yansheng said nothing, but the steps they quietly stepped forward already proved what was in their hearts.

Seeing this, the Crown Prince's expression finally grew solemn.

This young man surnamed Shen was not only profoundly cultivated and unfathomably cunning in his methods, but had also won such deep loyalty from people's hearts—even knowing full well the opponent was the Liangdaohuang Sect, and even at the cost of their entire sect being destroyed, these old friends still did not hesitate in the slightest.

Thinking of this, he sighed: "I'll handle it. The conditions remain as before."

As long as the situation could be temporarily stabilized, even if it meant being scolded by his father king, for the sake of their past friendship, today's matter—he would bear it.

Of course, after resolving this matter, he would definitely have to have a proper chat with this young man.

This boy's talent was outstanding, far surpassing Xuan Qing of back then by who knew how many times; such a fine immortal seedling should have a quieter environment in which to grow, rather than being troubled by these messy affairs, and certainly should not stand on the opposite side of an immortal, repeating the same mistakes.

However, to the Crown Prince's surprise, facing his goodwill, Qi Yansheng merely gave a bitter smile: "Many thanks for the kind offer, but we can't make that call."

"You all…"

The Crown Prince choked, and said irritably: "Don't push your luck."

The Ancestral Stele had already emerged; even with his own Heaven-Realm Perfection strength, resolving it would be quite thorny, and might well require paying no small a price. Though they were old friends, he couldn't just pull a fast one for free, could he!

"Help," Senior Zi Xian tugged at her brother's sleeve, unusually revealing a trace of pleading.

After Shi Lianchang's fall, the situation had already escalated to an extremely terrifying degree.

Shen Yi was too ruthless—ruthless to a chilling degree.

But the other clearly wasn't in a normal state; decisions made under such circumstances were inevitably somewhat irrational.

At this point, if anyone was to cover for him, only the brother beside her could manage it.

"…"

The Crown Prince was silent for a moment, helplessly shook off Senior Zi Xian's hand, took out a silver mask, and gently pressed it onto his face; in an instant, the aura emanating from his entire person underwent an earth-shaking change.

As his robes billowed, his build and skin along with them transformed into a tall, sturdy, rough-hewn appearance.

"Don't let this happen again."

He drew a deep breath, his eyes narrowing slightly, and looked toward that Ancestral Stele.

Demon power churned within his body, blue veins gradually bulging between his arms, his five fingers slowly spreading as he made a lifting gesture.

In an instant, that massive, towering Ancestral Stele thundered down from the clouds, plummeting straight toward Shen Yi to suppress him!

Its majestic momentum shook heaven and earth, scattering the clouds and mist, and even the boundless azure waves roared once more, raising ten-thousand-zhang great waves.

At the same time, under the tense gazes of the others, the Crown Prince suddenly took a step forward, his form transforming into a streak of flowing light as he shot forth, charging violently toward the underside of that Ancestral Stele!

"Please! Ancestral Stele, descend upon the world!"

Situ Fuhai spread his arms wide, his face contorted in savagery as he let out a roar, and the entire Daohuang Palace shook violently.

He stared fixedly at the ink-robed youth below; he had lost so much face in the Western Hong, and had watched helplessly as a fellow disciple perished—right now he wished he could tear the very flesh from that one's bones.

Now, he would let these common mortals see what a true immortal treasure truly was!

"Die for me!"

Accompanying Situ Fuhai's roar, as if the Thunder God were enraged, only the booming like a great bell and ceremonial chime remained between heaven and earth.

Boom—

The skyful of cloud sea spread outward in a circle at great speed, the surging airwave seeming as if it would overturn the entire Western Hong, and even cause the Dragon Palace to quake.

However, it did not manage to fall completely.

Beneath the sky-obscuring immortal stele, an additional Bai Xi palm appeared, its slender five fingers quietly propping up this great stele.

The ink-black robes surged, emitting a fluttering sound.

Shen Yi still gazed calmly at Situ Fuhai in the distance, the grey in his eyes growing darker, propping up this immortal stele single-handedly, his form not wavering in the slightest.

Two golden azure-dragon phantoms coiled around his wrists, then ran up along his ink-black robes, like two true dragons swimming to protect his body; when they came to rest, they resembled the world's most exquisite embroidery, vivid and lifelike, scales and claws distinct.

They carried an overbearing arrogance that looked down upon the mortal world, gazing down upon this stretch of water and land.

This divine ability, born from the Eastern Palace of Ten Thousand Demons, had finally revealed its true form.

Azure Dragon Primordial Spirit Body!

With the primordial dragon soul, it overlays the divine form—demonic and evil cannot invade!

As if sensing something, Shen Yi turned his gaze toward the distance, those grey eyes betraying no flicker of emotion.

"..."

Crown Prince Ziyang remained in his posture of holding something aloft, his expression wooden. He gave his palm an awkward squeeze, then lowered his arms and brushed at his robes, using the motion to mask the shock in his heart.

One had to remember, this was an Immortal Stele.

Anything that could be linked to the word "immortal"—how could it possibly be simple?

To avoid mishaps, even he had exerted his full strength, yet this young man, faced with such a situation, couldn't bear to part with that blade of his, taking the ancestral stele with only one hand.

With cultivation at the mid-stage of Celestial Realm, he had forcibly unleashed power comparable to the peak of Celestial Realm!

Ye Jiu and the others were likewise stunned into holding their breath.

The shock the scene before them delivered even surpassed the matter of Shen Yi slaying Shi Lianchang earlier.

A mortal body clashing head-on with an immortal treasure—even if only its phantom image—lay beyond the comprehension of ordinary folk.

"You..."

Situ Fuhai's arms trembled faintly as he stared at the ancestral stele in disbelief. His gaze dropped to that slender figure, and his pupils slowly contracted.

Only those of the Liangdaohuang Sect knew just how terrifying this immortal stele truly was.

And they understood all the more what vast power lay hidden within the frame shrouded by that ink-black robe.

"No wonder, no wonder."

He clenched his fists, stumbled two steps back, and muttered, "No wonder you dare act so brazenly."

The strength of Celestial Realm perfection—with the top-tier powerhouses absent and immortals unconcerned—was already enough to stride unchallenged through Hongze, let alone that the other party was so young and his identity so mysterious.

"Shi Lianchang, you died no injustice!"

Situ Fuhai suddenly burst into wild laughter, his greying hair tumbling loose over his shoulders, a ferocious look surfacing on his aged face.

Trading the life of a fellow disciple for the life of a peerless prodigy with a blood feud—no loss, no loss at all!

"That earlier was not the true use of the ancestral stele." Crown Prince Ziyang's gaze flickered as he looked toward Shen Yi. He now treasured this young man all the more—were it not for the matter of immortals, the other party might even have the potential to lead some faction beyond the borders of Hongze.

"This is a dragon's lair that can be carried on one's person."

As if to verify Ziyang's words, Situ Fuhai suddenly dropped to his knees before the phantom of the ancestral stele in full prostration, kowtowing several times with loud thuds: "I beg the ancestral stele to shelter this disciple, manifest immortal might, and strike terror into the demonic and heretical!"

Clearly a cultivator at the late stage of Celestial Realm, he had, right there inside the Dao Palace, kowtowed hard enough to split his forehead open and draw blood.

And the ancestral stele, seizing the moment, gave its response.

The dense crimson patterns atop it seemed to come alive, writhing upward like crawling insects. Countless diagrams of the Liangdaohuang Palace gradually dispersed, gathering together into a certain Dao Palace diagram.

Counting from the top, it was the twenty-seventh diagram.

It signified that the master of this Dao Palace, across the long sweep of ages, ranked twenty-seventh within the Liangdaohuang Sect.

Situ Fuhai's complexion swiftly flushed with vigor. The Myriad Li Jiangshan Diagram once more illuminated this stretch of land and water, within which shadows of figures multiplied, their forms beginning to twist and swell as if transforming into beings like demon-immortal divine soldiers, wave after wave of roars echoing all around.

Accompanying the change, the aura about him surged upward like bamboo nodes shooting higher and higher!

In only a few breaths it had reached a level that even made Crown Prince Ziyang knit his brow slightly. Worthy of an immortal stele—and this was still only its phantom. Add to that the fact that the Liangdaohuang Sect's foundations were not exactly deep; given more time to grow, they might well use this immortal treasure to forcibly propel a Celestial Realm cultivator into the Dao Realm tier!

"If I were to act as well, I could defeat him, but not kill him."

Crown Prince Ziyang looked toward Shen Yi: "How do you intend to wrap this up?"

"..."

Shen Yi gave a casual toss, hurling the ancestral stele crashing down into the waters, once more raising towering waves.

But a phantom of an immortal treasure—how could brute force destroy it? Even if it could, it was not something a Celestial Realm cultivator could accomplish.

"That ancestral stele is still empowering him." Ye Jiu watched the stele settle firmly upon the water's surface, a hint of anxiety stirring in his heart. Don't be fooled by the appearance that Situ Fuhai's strength had stopped rising—as long as the stele remained, the other's aura was like a ceaseless torrent, unending.

This was also why Crown Prince Ziyang could not bring himself to kill the man.

"Is there any way to destroy it?"

Facing Ye Jiu's puzzlement, Qi Yansheng's eyes went wide. If he could answer that question, would the Seven Sons of Yu Nanhong still be cooped away in some corner?

Ji Jingxi stared fixedly at Shen Yi. She realized the other party did not seem to want to destroy this immortal stele.

Sure enough.

The next moment, Shen Yi paid no heed to Situ Fuhai's transformation, but instead cast his gaze toward the ten diagrams at the very top of the immortal stele.

Unlike the other Dao Palace diagrams, each of these ten had small seal-script annotations beside them.

And beside the very last diagram were eight characters.

"Blaze a new trail, stand alone."

The imagery was somewhat familiar: within a grand Dao Palace stood nine towering immortal-demons, baring fangs and brandishing claws in full display of might.

Situ Fuhai was still kowtowing frenziedly, hoping to receive further bestowals from the immortal treasure.

Shen Yi stood with arms at his sides, quietly gazing at the immortal stele.

The next moment, under the gaze of all, his faintly hoarse voice echoed in everyone's ears.

"I want it too."

It sounded less like a request, more like a command.

Such an attitude could hardly be called respectful, yet the next moment, the crimson blood-lines gathered within Situ Fuhai's Dao Palace diagram began to writhe once more, crawling upward into the Nine-Demon Dao Palace diagram above.

"Eh?"

Situ Fuhai seemed to sense something amiss. He raised his head in a daze, and immediately saw that diagram.

This was the most uncanny diagram on the immortal stele, appearing out of nowhere—even after searching through seventeen branch sects, no one could find who its master was.

And now, it seemed he had finally found him.

At this thought, Situ Fuhai gasped for breath, his gaze hollow as it drifted toward that ink-black robe in the distance, his flushed face gradually turning deathly pale.

Within his line of sight, a crimson Myriad Li Jiangshan Diagram slowly unfurled.

Shen Yi's frame rose gently upward, coming to rest among the seats of the Dao Palace.

He lightly placed both palms on the armrests.

Gao Song shadows surged beside him; as they slowly stepped forward, the Mountain Lord, the Long Serpent, and Bai Xi, their ferocious faces gradually came into clear view.

Amidst the company of these nine demons, the black sleeves slowly rose.

The fair-skinned, handsome young man, like a monarch among demons, leaned casually against that throne.

In an instant, crimson demonic qi swept out from the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains scroll, turning the entire sky blood-red, more vivid and piercing than the sunset.

Beyond the long stairs at his feet, the dying Situ Junrui, like a lowly maggot, struggled frantically against the pillar, his face filled with horror; even though he tore his throat, his voice was like that of a mosquito: "Brother... save me... He is the Demon Emperor..."

The Boundless Demon Emperor Palace finally revealed its true form before the world.

And with the support of the Immortal Stele, this Demon Emperor Palace grew even more majestic, standing in the sky like a blood-drenched Xiancheng, with ghosts wailing and wolves howling ceaselessly, making people's hair stand on end.

Shen Yi lowered his gaze slightly, his eyes landing on Situ Fuhai.

He slightly extended his right palm, then calmly brought it down, as if passing judgment on this Sect Leader at the late stage of the Heavenly Realm.

"Behead."

The words fell.

From the blood-red Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains scroll, countless terrifying beast shadows suddenly darted out, re-forming into a sky full of blood clouds, then surged downward, swallowing the Dao Emperor Palace below.

No human voices remained in the arena, only the roars of the ferocious demons, like the most primal beasts hunting, tearing apart the world's fattest flesh.

Until all things fell silent.

A sharp wail pierced everyone's eardrums; it was the most desperate cry, yet also a plea filled with confusion and incomprehension!

"Fellow disciples killing each other! Why!"

"Why!!"

The weeping voice scattered in the air; the towering Dao Emperor Palace slowly collapsed, roaring ceaselessly, and dissolved into the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, vanishing completely.

(End of this chapter)