Chapter 1122: Arduous Days

The sun and moon lost their light, the stars grew dim.

Mu Dalu shuddered violently, as great dao chains materialized out of thin air, tossed and shaken by surging invisible dark currents.

Visible to the naked eye, strands of great dao chains, each of different hue and shaped like poisonous pythons and strange serpents, descended from the void, like drops of multicolored dye falling into clear water; the purple and gold great dao chains hanging over Mu Dalu were instantly wrapped in a thin veil of iridescent mist.

The foreign races' great dao once again frenziedly infected.

On Mu Dalu, every human felt a heaviness in the chest, their breathing becoming strained.

The flow of heavenly and earthly primordial energy became stiff and obscure; everyone felt their bodily mana turn sluggish, once lively and agile mana now as sticky as overnight starch, making their whole body feel inexplicably uncomfortable.

Mass after mass of black clouds appeared above Mu Dalu; at the extreme height of the heavenly dome, countless bizarre creatures, strange in form, burst forth from the clouds.

Monkeys with bat wings, mantises taller than a person, monsters with cow heads and snake tails, giant fish stretching ten thousand li in length……

The vassal clans of the gods, each god's vassal tribe numbering in the tens of thousands, were born in a thousand wondrous forms; their appearance alone would open the eyes of even the most imaginative person.

Many of these tribes' forms were so bizarre that ordinary people could not even conceive of their existence; they were monsters that could only appear in nightmares.

Their numbers were so great that, gathered together, they nearly filled the void, completely surrounding Mu Dalu from all directions.

"What about the observation outpost? Those incompetent wastes… they actually let the human race break the seal and regain freedom." Boom after boom of thunderous sound, amplified a trillion times, filled with supreme authority, rolled through the void.

"But it doesn't matter… the human race is destined to be conquered by the gods, destined to become livestock raised by the gods."

"The great supreme divine ancestor has issued an order: for the human race, draw one out of a hundred, select the young and strong; this one may live to propagate the lineage, while the other ninety-nine shall all be harvested!"

One after another enormous palace appeared in the air, each of different shape and style, emanating a great dao aura that shifted and transformed; gigantic faces of light and shadow flickered above those palaces, countless greedy eyes fixedly looking down upon Mu Dalu.

Wu Tie stepped out of Wahuang Palace, lifted his gaze to the sky swarming with foreign races, and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Look, they're really merciful. The earlier Xuanwu, in order to strengthen themselves, harvested humanity by draining the lake and fishing, setting the standard at one in a million—only one person out of a million humans could survive."

"They're truly merciful—one in a hundred! Hah, that's ten thousand times more merciful than the Xuanwu!"

"They actually understand sustainable exploitation!" Wu Tie laughed at the grim-faced Ji Hongde and Chi You, then said leisurely: "One in a hundred, select the young and strong to survive; with men and women marrying, offspring endless, they can be continuously harvested generation after generation."

"Awesome, awesome!" Wu Tie clasped his hands toward Ji Hongde, Chi You, and the gathered human elite in Wahuang Miao: "War has begun, we have no retreat! Prepare to fight to the death, everyone!"

Wu Tie solemnly said: "You are all eminent figures of my human race, having received countless years of offerings from the human populace; now you too must step forward and truly risk your lives for the fate of humanity."

A youth whose cultivation had reached the Merging Dao Realm, already touching the threshold of Dao Transformation in the Sage Realm, and who was considered a top expert among contemporary humans, suddenly laughed: "Elders, uncles, be sure not to be fooled by the Martial King."

This youth pushed through the crowd, strode forward, and declared loudly: "When the gods return, we cannot be their match—whether in strength, foundation, inheritance, or civilization, we are far inferior to the gods; compared to them, humanity is like ants beside a dragon."

"Resistance? Aside from pointlessly throwing away our lives, what meaning could it have?"

"If the gods wish to raise humanity as livestock, let them do so; given our status… if we were to voluntarily submit…"

Wu Tie interrupted the youth's words: "If we voluntarily submit, we might as well be a qualified dog, with the owner occasionally tossing us a few meat bones to gnaw on."

The youth gave a slight smile, looked at Wu Tie and laughed: "The Martial King certainly has no chance left—after all, the gods observing the outpost have been slaughtered to the last by you; you and the gods share a blood-deep enmity, so you are surely doomed to die."

The youth sighed, looked pityingly at Wu Tie: "The Martial King is bound to die anyway, and moreover is destined to suffer extermination of his nine clans…… why bother here with impassioned lament, deceiving us who could survive, to die alongside you?"

Wu Tie glanced at this youth, then at Ji Hongde, Chi You, and the others, and burst into uproarious laughter.

"Interesting, interesting, hahaha!" Wu Tie laughed loudly, took a step, his body flickered and he arrived at the heavenly dome; another flicker and he vanished from sight.

As for this youth, Wu Tie did not lift a hand against him.

Heaven knows how many such people there are within the human race; killing one, what good would it do?

Moreover, this person shouldn't be killed by Wu Tie. Looking at his appearance and sensing his bloodline aura, this fellow is clearly Ji Hongde's paternal brother, a direct-line clansman of the Ji clan of the Having Bear Tribe…… such a person ought to be handled personally by Ji Hongde.

Chi You and the elders of the Nine Li Tribe roared with laughter in unison; Chi You made an extremely crude and vulgar gesture toward Ji Hongde, shouting: "You of the Having Bear Tribe, I look down on you…… hahaha, even if the Nine Li Tribe is regarded by you as barbarians, every single one of us is a hot-blooded youth—none of us would think of surrender before the war even begins!"

A soft cough interrupted Chi You's words.

A commander-in-chief of the Nine Li Tribe, Chi You's paternal half-brother, stepped through the crowd and stood beside the youth of the Having Bear Tribe.

"Great Chief, I think this brother is absolutely right."

"Our human race simply cannot be a match for the gods."

"We, in every respect, are far inferior to the gods…… they are exalted divine beings, while we are merely lowly and base people."

"How could humans possibly rebel against the gods?"

"We should……"

Chi You exploded in fury, and before his brother could finish speaking, he stepped forward and punched him squarely in the head.

One punch—blood mist sprayed; Chi You's brother was instantly blown apart, body and spirit annihilated.

"Pass on my order: all Nine Li Tribe forces, launch a full-scale assault…… anyone who advocates surrender shall be killed!" Chi You's eyes turned blood-red, he glared ferociously at his own tribe's elders and officers, as well as the high-ranking human populace of the Nine Li Tribe's vassals.

"Chi You's order is exactly my meaning." Ji Hongde said calmly: "Full-scale assault; anyone who advocates surrender shall be killed without pardon."

In the sky, boundless foreign races surged downward in attack.

These foreign races piled together densely; the strongest among them were at most in the Fetal Storage Realm, while the weakest were none other than in the Chonglou Realm.

They were pure cannon fodder, screaming strangely as they charged into Mu Dalu's atmosphere.

In the high heavens, a sword's cry rang out.

Four streaks of chaotic sword light shot up into the sky, lightly twirling once in the void, and instantly blood rained down like a downpour.