Chapter 250

Three Linked City, twelve governing families.

There are four trees: Bodhi, Udumbara, Scarlet Lotus, and Mandara.

There are four beasts: Heavenly Dragon, Mighty Lion, Holy Elephant, Divine Turtle.

There are four birds: Phoenix, Great Peng, Divine Eagle, and Bliss Bird.

The twelve families jointly cultivate the Twelve Original Aspects Scripture, each obtaining one profound mystery of the aspects.

The Bodhi clan possesses Mu Tu's Bodhi Aspect, which unites offense and defense, harbors immense vitality, and can command vine‑and‑wood vegetation; a single vine whip becomes lithe and changeable, its destructive and restorative powers both supreme.

The Heavenly Dragon clan can activate the Heavenly Dragon Aspect; initially it transforms into a half‑dragon, half‑human form, and at higher realms it can fully become a wind‑summoning, rain‑calling heavenly dragon, commanding clouds and wind, controlling thunder, with a body both strong and agile, making its long‑ and short‑range combat extraordinarily powerful.

The Udumbara clan's Udumbara Aspect can transform into the Udumbara Soul‑Slaughtering Absolute Formation, creating a self‑contained pocket dimension that traps enemies within. The Udumbara's power is pure and profound; hidden within its tranquil beauty lies boundless killing intent, and a moment's carelessness will have one's soul strangled and annihilated.

Hua Yan, having barely broken through to the stage above the Life Pool Realm, unleashes the Udumbara Soul‑Slaughtering Absolute Formation with all his might, its power terrifying to the extreme.

The vast Twelve Heavens Palace, with thousands of sons and daughters from big and small families, tens of thousands of guards, tens of thousands of maids and attendants, plus countless slaves awaiting sale in the underground halls—all at once were trapped inside the formation.

In the span of a single breath, over a hundred thousand people, smiling, were completely eroded by the formation's power, becoming half‑dead bodies within it that lack thought, consciousness, are utterly asleep, and have their souls completely frozen.

As long as Hua Yan wills it, their souls will instantly collapse and vanish, their soul power becoming nourishment for Hua Yan, feeding the growth and strengthening of his soul.

Only Mu Tu, with a Bodhi tree atop his head radiating splendid light, has beams of green light shining a hundred zhang into the void; despite the invisible, traceless Udumbara power eroding all around, Mu Tu's body remains unmoving, his beautiful eyes radiating divine light as he continually surveys his surroundings.

Mu Tu was also, for the first time in her life, trapped inside the Udumbara Soul‑Slaughtering Absolute Formation; she was curious and cautious, probing the formation's mysteries bit by bit, daring not to be careless.

Also, Xuan Zhu stood beside Hua Yan, giggling coquettishly as she lightly stroked his back.

The formation's power did not attack Xuan Zhu; she could clearly see all the strange changes within the formation. Her eyes flickered with strange light, and while her hands stroked Hua Yan's back as gently as warm water, her gaze was like a blade, fixed deadly on several vital spots behind his back.

No one can say what this woman is thinking at this moment.

Surprisingly, the Grey Master, who hardly possesses any cultivation to speak of, sits cross‑legged on the ground; the Udumbara Soul‑Slaughtering Absolute Formation's strange power envelops his entire body, continually invading his flesh and attacking his soul.

Yet the Grey Master's eyes shine with divine light, like an oil lamp in the wind; when the formation's power invades, his eyes dim briefly, but they quickly blaze bright again.

No matter how the formation's power buffets and erodes, as long as a single spark of spiritual light remains in the Grey Master's heart, he will never truly be controlled by the formation.

Hua Yan paid no attention to the Grey Master; in his view, the Grey Master was nothing more than an ant he could crush at will.

His attention was fixed on Wu Tie, who had just dealt Xuan Zhu a lethal blow.

Under the pull of Xuan Zhu's evil force, Hua Yan was filled with killing intent toward Wu Tie, and most of the Udumbara Soul‑Slaughtering Absolute Formation's power surged toward Wu Tie in wave after wave of attack.

Beneath his feet lay lush green grass, and all around stretched endless Udumbara trees.

Farther off, ridges covered in blooming flowers lay gentle as a woman's autumn gaze, wave after wave spreading toward the horizon; behind a green mountain on one side came the sound of surf.

In the high sky, the azure heavens were warm and moist like egg white; in the bright, clear expanse, a few supremely beautiful Bliss Birds flapped their wings and glided past.

If the Udumbara clan's Soul‑Slaughtering Absolute Formation joined forces with the Bliss Bird clan, its power could be increased ten‑ or even a hundredfold.

The Udumbara clan's Aspect can lull and put souls to sleep, subtly seizing control of an enemy's spirit; whereas the Bliss Bird clan's Aspect can emit a heavenly, exquisite sound that greatly amplifies the formation's ability to imprison enemy souls.

Moreover, the Bliss Bird clan's sound assault can directly attack the soul's origin; if the Udumbara Soul‑Slaughtering Absolute Formation is a gigantic sleeping cage, then the Bliss Bird's heavenly music is the various instruments of torture inside that cage, directly damaging the soul's vital points.

Hua Yan once teamed up with experts of the Bliss Bird clan to launch a lethal strike against the Great Peacock Royal Clan.

Therefore, within the Udumbara Soul‑Slaughtering Absolute Formation that he laid down, a projection of the Bliss Bird remains, retaining some of the Bliss Bird's sound‑attack lethality.

Clear, pleasant birdcalls drifted down from the sky, mingling with the surf's roar, a soft, continuous, wave‑like advance that unhurriedly surged toward Wu Tie.

Wu Tie couldn't help but reveal a faint smile.

This place is so wonderful, truly like a paradise of immortals; it would be better to sleep here forever, thereafter enjoying eternal peace.

No more burdens, no more worrying about countless affairs.

Even the resurrection of Wu Zhan and the others would be fine.

Even the life or death of the Grey Master would be fine.

Even the whereabouts of Wu Jin would be fine.

Even the clansmen of the Wu family would be fine.

Even the mother clan of the Nuwa would be fine.

……

With so many matters, he is exhausted, overly troublesome; reckoning seriously, Wu Tie is still underage, merely a youth. Why should he bear all this?

Weary, fatigued, better to find a place to sleep, cast off all burdens, cast off all worries.

Sleep, sleep, sleep……

Amid these green‑encircled hills, amidst the sky‑filling flower trees, within the lovely song of the Bliss Bird…… sleep, sleep, sleep—once asleep, there are no worries, no anxieties, no myriad chaotic thoughts……

Wu Tie let out a sigh, his whole body's muscles relaxing, and he unconsciously sat down on the ground.

If he simply stretches out and lies down comfortably on the ground, he will already be under the formation's control; he will fall into sleep, and under the Udumbara power's erosion his soul will become still as an ancient well, turning him into a living corpse, a living corpse at the mercy of others.

Hua Yan, after all, is only half a step away from breaking into the stage above the Life Pool Realm.

His cultivation level far surpasses Wu Tie's.

Especially, in the battle that destroyed the Great Peacock Dynasty, Hua Yan once used the Udumbara Soul‑Slaughtering Absolute Formation to devour the soul origins of hundreds of Great Peacock royal clan members. His soul power is tens of times stronger than that of peers at the same rank, which further makes his Udumbara Aspect's might boundless.

Wave after wave of evil force surged toward Wu Tie.

It seemed Wu Tie was about to be completely dominated by the Udumbara power, utterly lost in this beautiful dream.

Behind Wu Tie rose a brilliant, majestic, ancient and sacred aura that shot up to the heavens. This aura seemed to emanate from the primordial source of all things in heaven and earth, radiant like the midday sun, emanating boundless, endless might.

A cluster of fierce light and shadow appeared above Wu Tie's head.

A human torso with a serpent's body, his left hand holding a compass, his right hand supporting a full moon, his whole body ablaze with light that illuminates ten thousand zhang.

The wondrous, fairy‑like world surrounding Wu Tie shattered with a roar; an overwhelming, utterly unstoppable terrifying soul surge, like heavenly river water pouring down from the nine heavens, slammed hard into Hua Yan's soul.

This is a hidden killer move within the blessing ceremony presided over by Nuwa Mother for Wu Tie, honoring the ancestral spirit of the Nuwa Imperial line.

Wu Tie's soul was under attack, liable at any moment to be infiltrated and dominated by the enemy's soul power; the seal hidden deep within his soul immediately activated.

The Nuwa Clan.

Secretive, vast, and with an immensely potent hidden force, aside from the true core leadership of the Nuwa Clan, no one knows how many members the clan has, how many bases it possesses, or how many statues of the ancestral spirit Nuwa Imperial line it has enshrined.

Generation after generation of the Wa tribe's sacrifices, countless people's sincere prayers, countless tribe members' beliefs gathered, granting the ancestral spirit Wahuangshi terrifying power.

At this moment, the one attacking Huayan is not Wu Tie alone, not Wamu alone, but the Wa tribe's countless years of countless Wa tribe members day and night sincerely praying and sacrificing, condensed into the ancestral spirit Wahuangshi's vast, ocean-like true spirit power.

Huayan was like an egg.

Wahuang was like Mount Tai.

Mount Tai pressing down, the egg shattered.

Huayan screamed shrilly, his eyeballs explosively shattered, the crystalline bodies spraying juice, shooting out more than ten meters from his eye sockets.

He spat out a stream of blood, and then blood arrows continuously gushed from his mouth without cease.

Blood spurted from all seven apertures, his pores all over his body expanded several times, with droplets of blood constantly welling out.

Huayan's soul, tens of times stronger than that of fellow cultivators of the same rank, was violently crushed; a terrifying indescribable presence descended from the void, solemnly and terrifyingly gazing upon Huayan's 'weak as a chick' soul.

A massive soul vortex appeared.

This vortex exuded an ancient primordial yet overbearing aura; a terrifying will controlled the vortex, and with just a sweep, it swept away about ninety-five percent of Huayan's soul power.

The massive but somewhat impure soul power, in the vortex merely a sweep, had all impurities instantly ground away, purified, becoming the most primordial soul particles—the original material composing all living beings' souls, which anyone can freely absorb without any side effects.

About eighty percent of the soul particles passed through the vortex's bottom, unknown where they were sucked to.

The remaining one and a half tenths of the soul particles were instead injected into Wu Tie's soul from afar.

Wu Tie let out an extremely strange groan.

An indescribable feeling of weightless euphoria surged; his soul power soared, wildly surging, in the snap of a finger his soul power rapidly increased, strengthening by more than tenfold in an instant.

In the Chonglou Realm, cultivators find it extremely difficult to nourish the soul; the soul power of Chonglou Realm cultivators, unless they have cultivated some extraordinary soul-side techniques, is otherwise not greatly different among them.

Wu Tie cultivates the Primordial Scripture, which inherently possesses a unique soul-nourishing effect, but his soul is only somewhat stronger than that of same-rank Chonglou Realm cultivators—about three times stronger.

And after this one and a half tenths of purified, impurity-free soul particles were injected into his body, Wu Tie's soul strength immediately increased tenfold on top of his original foundation.

A five-colored line of light violently throbbed at his brow; Wu Tie's soul power spread outward, instantly covering a radius of tens of li, within which every grain of sand and speck of dust was clearly visible, even beneath underground rock layers over a li deep, he could clearly 'see' the minutest details of the strata.

Countless tiny sparks flickered, flickering violently.

Wu Tie's soul aura was filled with the tyrannical, rigid power of the Divine Thunder of Slaying Evil; wherever his soul field extended, countless sparks incessantly flickered.

With a 'dong' sound, his soul suffered heavy trauma, the life pond suddenly cracked open with over ten fissures; Huayan silently collapsed heavily, his body convulsing violently, like a catfish dragged ashore.

Xuan Zhu stared in terror at Wu Tie over ten meters away.

She dared not move at all.

Because the projection of the ancestral spirit Wahuangshi, with a human body and serpent torso, hovered above Wu Tie's head, gazing at her with a divine, indifferent look down upon ants.

Xuan Zhu trembled all over, breaking out in cold sweat.

Such terrifying might.

Such terrifying aura.

Xuan Zhu truly regretted it to the point of wanting to die…… Wu Tie actually hides such a terrifying trump card?

Xuan Zhu's insight is not bad; she instantly recognized it as a bloodline-based seal, inherited through bloodline, whereby kin pay a huge price in sacrifice, hiding deep within the soul as a defensive prohibition.

Such a sealing method can only be possessed by ancient great clans with extraordinarily deep foundations.

And if someone hides such means, there is no doubt that they possess an extremely terrifying family power behind them.

Xuan Zhu looked at the Nüwa Clan ancestral spirit projection with a trembling gaze, and in her heart she repeatedly hardened her resolve, not letting her find an opportunity, otherwise she would surely use the most brutal means to kill Wu Tie and completely eradicate his family power behind him.

She is a divine envoy.

She is not a mortal.

Here, the Xuan Zhu is not her true form.

She believes that with her methods, with the strength and power she commands, she can certainly achieve this.

The Nüwa Clan ancestral spirit projection suddenly reached out a hand toward Xuan Zhu.

The gui in her left hand lightly pointed at Xuan Zhu, a stroke, and a soul vortex a hundred times larger than the soul devoured by Huayan appeared.

Xuan Zhu let out an incredulous despairing scream.

Her body writhed, and deep blood continually seeped from her pores; the soul vortex created by the Nüwa Clan ancestral spirit projection tightly clung to her soul. A profound, flashing soul passage with piercing cold light appeared.

The terrifying power of the Nüwa Clan ancestral spirit projection, following this soul passage, probed toward the source of the passage.

Danger, danger, danger...

In Xuan Zhu's pupils, an icy blue light flashed rapidly; each of her cells and each soul particle screamed shrilly.

Danger, danger, danger...

An immensely great primordial danger... it could be classified as a blood-red nine-star... no, a black nine-star... no, an even higher-level primordial danger pollution source...

This is, the most terrifying crisis.

Only Xuan Zhu knows the great horror within this.

This terrifying projection, astonishingly, directly through her very body, through a strand of her separated soul power, directly crossed the infinite void, found her true form, found her soul's true master.

"Save... me..." Xuan Zhu uttered a despairing wail.

A miserable howl.

A clump of soul fragments a hundred times stronger than the soul devoured by Huayan was forcibly torn from the soul passage.

About eighty percent of the soul fragments were stirred by the vortex and directly sucked away by the Nüwa spirit projection.

The remaining roughly twenty percent of the soul fragments, after being purified, were once again infused into Wu Tie's body.

Wu Tie's body shuddered, and five-colored lightning burst forth from his entire body.

Within him, the nine drops of great witch's essence blood that had not yet been fully absorbed were burning rapidly... his aura was rapidly increasing.