Chapter 257: Great Peacock Bloodline

"No, no, still no……" Jin Mancang also muttered from the side.

He and Wu Tie both possessed pupil technique divine abilities, clearly able to see the changes on Lingdong's body. On the armor forged from blue crystal, those fine cracks were indeed deepening and widening, yet some cracks were also continuously healing.

From within Lingdong's body came a cold current accompanied by the howling of a hurricane sweeping across the desert.

Cold Qi rose, cold light surged, and as the ice spears condensed from Cold Qi and the golden arrows constantly wore each other down, hardly any arrows could strike him anymore.

His armor resembled a living thing, constantly wriggling and rapidly healing.

Twelve beams of light erupted with ever more dazzling flames, the twelve ballistae's attack frequency grew higher and higher, golden arrows poured down like a violent storm, accompanied by terrifying tearing-through-the-air sounds that kept assaulting.

The howling from within Lingdong's body grew louder and louder, the number of ice spears condensed from Cold Qi increased, their flight speed grew faster, their striking force grew fiercer, precisely maintaining a stalemate with the twelve ballistae.

"Mortals, you have underestimated the power of a god." Lingdong laughed lowly, then suddenly shouted hoarsely: "Cangyou, grant you special authority."

His body pierced by several thick chains, hanging like a piece of cured meat halfway up the pyramid, Cangyou suddenly lifted his head, he roared wildly, his body jerking violently with a shudder and a rebound.

Upon the dome already sealed shut by thick layers of ice, a deep blue cold light shot downwards.

The deep blue cold light was a thousand zhang thick; as it fell upon Cangyou's body, he let out an exultant cry of sheer relief.

His body swelled, rapidly swelling; in just a few breaths it expanded from several meters to tens of thousands of meters. Every scale on his body sprayed out dazzling radiance, and between the scales dense Cold Qi continually jetted out.

With four beautifully curved claws, a light swipe sliced the several chains apart like tofu.

Cangyou abruptly raised his head and exhaled a mouthful of Cold Qi toward the twelve clan heads of the Twelve Executor Families standing atop the pyramid.

At this moment, Cangyou's aura surpassed the Womb Storage Realm.

The twelve clan heads were merely at the Life Pool Realm.

No one had time to react, no one expected such a change.

Just a single sudden exhalation, the twelve clan heads simultaneously turned into ice sculptures; Cangyou raised a claw and lightly pulled, and the twelve clan heads exploded into ice shards, their Life Pool Realms shattered together.

The pyramid violently trembled; its corridors, the pavilions built upon them, the hanging gardens and other superfluous structures all shattered, screaming down from high altitude as they slid along the pyramid's surface.

These structures were never part of Three Linked City to begin with.

The true body of Three Linked City consisted merely of three pyramids stacked one above another; these additional structures were, over countless ages, constructed by the city's successive rulers according to their whims as luxurious objects for enjoyment.

With a single claw, Cangyou smashed those corridors and pavilions to pieces, revealing the clean exterior of the pyramid; the golden pyramid stood tall and imposing, now possessing a touch more antiquity, a bit more grandeur, and an aura of solemn inviolability.

Cangyou swayed head and tail as he took flight, his body stretching ten thousand meters, spanning the void, his whole body exuding Cold Qi as countless hailstones large and small howled down toward the ground.

Countless residents of Three Linked City shrieked in terror, like ants in a nest scalded by boiling water, they fled in panic in all directions.

Some were the size of water tanks, others as large as houses; they poured down heaven and earth, swift as meteors. The sky‑filled hail blanketed Three Linked City, instantly reducing its exquisite, luxurious palaces and pavilions to rubble.

Countless people were crushed to bits under the hail's bombardment.

Foundation Establishment, shattered.

Sensing Mystery Realm, shattered.

Chonglou Realm, shattered.

Life Pool Realm, shattered.

Faced with Cangyou's suddenly surging power, the vast Three Linked City could find no opponent capable of matching him.

The hail struck down, clumps of blood‑ice exploding violently on the ground; the vivid red stains beneath the blue ice were glaringly conspicuous.

In the high sky, the Womb Storage Realm elders of each clan roared angrily.

Two elders of the Heavenly Dragon Clan transformed into draconic humanoids, treading wind and cloud as they charged toward Cangyou.

Cangyou merely flicked his tail, a tremendous boom rang through the air, and the two elders were flung far away by his tail, their scales and armor shattered, their bones broken in countless places.

In just a few breaths, over half of the people inside Three Linked City were dead.

A small fortunate half were also the strongest cultivators with the quickest reactions—those at the Chonglou Realm and Life Pool Realm—who led some of their nearby people into the underground shelters.

Beneath Three Linked City lay shelters constructed with complex design and extremely strong defensive capabilities.

Upon the ground, massive golden patterns flickered, heat rose, and the hail that struck the surface would vaporize within a few breaths. All structures on the ground were shattered, yet the ground itself suffered no harm.

This was not the work of today's Three Linked City citizens, but the method employed by the ancestors who built Three Linked City long ago.

The twelve towering light pillars trembled violently, seeming like living things, giving the impression that they were 'wrathful'.

The twelve ballistae continued to fire wildly; besides those twelve war chariots, accompanied by a low rumble, a massive totem pillar slowly rose from the mountaintop each.

Upon the twelve totem pillars were clearly carved the symbols of the Twelve Executor Families: the Bodhi tree, the Udumbara flower, the Heavenly Dragon, and the Phoenix.

The immense energy surge rolled like a tsunami in all directions, filling the entire stone cavern.

The stone cavern shuddered violently; layer after layer of thick ice kept collapsing, the ice blocks rapidly evaporating and vaporizing, thick mist filled the cavern, enveloping it completely.

Above each totem pillar, a human silhouette gradually condensed.

These silhouettes wore strangely shaped armor, resembling Lingdong's true form; they had no substantive bodies, merely clusters of humanoid golden light.

Their armor was archaic in style, adorned all over with simple yet not crude patterns that exuded the ancient, unadorned flavor of the Great Dao.

Accompanied by a piercing whistle, the twelve silhouettes shot up into the sky simultaneously, brandishing various weapons as they swooped down upon Cangyou.

Cangyou, brash and bold, swatted each silhouette away with a claw, shouting loudly and arrogantly: "Not enough, not enough, not enough…… Mortals, you are too weak, too weak!"

These silhouettes were repeatedly swatted away, yet they kept rushing back at Cangyou.

Each time they were knocked back, their aura grew a little stronger; after being blasted away hundreds of times in succession, their aura had actually become faintly able to match Cangyou's.

In the high sky, those Womb Storage Realm elders were already trembling with excitement.

"The ancestors have manifested…… I never expected the second seal of the Three Linked Divine Formation to open on its own." An elder of the Bodhi Clan laughed joyfully.

"Too bad there is no royal lineage essence blood; otherwise, if we could fully activate the Three Linked Divine Formation… even above the Womb Storage Realm, what would it matter?" A Phoenix Clan elder sighed.

"Back then I said, don't slaughter them too clean…… leave some royal lineage……" An elder of the Udumbara Clan complained discontentedly.

"To eradicate root and branch, not a single drop of royal lineage left—who issued that order?" An elder of the Bliss Bird Clan bellowed furiously.

"It was my order—what's the problem? Who knows that fully manifesting the Three Linked Divine Formation requires royal lineage essence blood?" A Heavenly Dragon Clan elder glared malevolently at that Bliss Bird Clan elder: "My order…… what's wrong with it?"

"Alright, alright, no need to harm harmony…… We've never been able to enter the royal secret chamber; who could know that fully opening the Three Linked Divine Formation requires activation by royal lineage essence blood? Didn't everyone think that just having the royal seal was enough? When we activate the Three Linked Divine Formation, we never needed any clan's essence blood at all."

Still, an elder ancestor of the Phoenix Clan stepped in to smooth things over: "Looks like, the matter of pursuing Gomoro still needs to be taken seriously… He is, as far as we know, the only surviving direct descendant of the royal line."

Outside the stone cave where Triple Link City is located, Cold Qi spewed out from within the city, and the passageway outside the city was frozen over a long stretch of several hundred li.

A fairly large caravan arrived at the edge of the frozen region; the leading Ox Tribe strongman looked ahead at the endless white expanse and immediately furrowed his brow.

The Ox Tribe are honest and straightforward, rash and simple‑minded, but they are not stupid.

The ice ahead exudes a biting chill, and the temperature is astonishingly low—clearly not a good route.

This Ox Tribe strongman also cultivates at the Chonglou Realm, roughly the thirteenth layer of it; he warily eyed the thick ice ahead, took out a low‑grade elemental weapon, and hurled it deep into the passageway.

The elemental weapon spun in midair; tendrils of Cold Qi wrapped around it, frost crystals appeared on its surface, then a thin sheet of ice sealed it—with a crack, it shattered into fragments before it even landed.

Small shards of the elemental weapon rained down on the ice, producing a clear, crisp sound.

The Ox Tribe strongman waved his hand fiercely: "Brothers, retreat… business never ends, gold coins can't be exhausted—Triple Link City is in big trouble; our own brothers' lives matter most. Heh heh, retreat… it'd be fine if Triple Link City got a new master."

At the Ox Tribe warrior's command, the caravan's wagons immediately turned and retreated along the road they had come.

The Ox Tribe strongman stood at the edge of the ice, muttering toward Triple Link City: "Go die, Twelve Executor Families—damn it, even flaying and tendon‑pulling, bone‑scraping and marrow‑sucking aren't as vicious as you… If you all perish, Triple Link City might not get better, but at least it won't get worse."

"You're already rotten to the core; once you're all dead, Triple Link City will at least treat us poor folk a little better—each time we could earn an extra three or five thousand gold coins, letting our brothers live without too much comfort."

He laughed "Ha ha ha" three times, then turned and walked away.

After just a couple of steps, the Ox Tribe strongman halted, stunned to see a small troop frozen in place.

"Brother Shi Fei, this isn't a good place… Triple Link City has clearly been invaded by our enemies… pull back." The Ox Tribe strongman kindly urged the rotund Shi Fei in the ranks.

"Our brothers are inside." Shi Fei stared earnestly at the Ox Tribe strongman: "We can't retreat; we can only go forward."

The Ox Tribe strongman stared blankly, looking at Shi Fei, then at Lao Tie, Lao Bai, Tie Dajian and the others in the group, his brows knitting deeply.

He sighed, grabbed a well‑preserved bundle of elemental herbs from the last wagon of the caravan and slipped it into the shamaness's arms: "Little girl, I've taken a liking to you on this journey… I originally wanted to whisk you away to give my wife a companion…"

"I, uncle, have a house full of bull calves rolling and crawling about, all boys—I wish I could slap them silly one after another…"

"I really want a well‑behaved little girl… but…"

The Ox Tribe strongman gave the shamaness a deep look: "Although we've only traveled together for half a day, I know you're not ordinary… So live well… You must go to Triple Link City; I hope this little thing of mine gives you a better chance to survive."

The Ox Tribe strongman waved at the shamaness, Lao Tie and the others, clenched his fist and pounded his chest, gave a heh‑heh grin, turned and strode off, quickly leading the caravan far away.

"Eh…" Shi Fei also stood dumbfounded.

He stared blankly at the Ox Tribe strongman's back and murmured, "He's… a decent companion."

The shamaness held the bundle of strongly scented elemental herbs, dazed, then handed them to Shi Fei.

These elemental herbs aren't the kind that boost cultivation or supply heavenly‑earthly yuan energy; they're mainly good for staunching blood, setting bones, mending tendons and easing qi—basically, lifesaving stuff. Though low‑grade, they're genuinely useful.

Lao Tie gazed solemnly at the Ox Tribe big man they'd met on the road, who'd kept them company all the way, and muttered lowly: "Really… people still have hope. Maybe I finally understand why those bastards back then charged forward one by one to their deaths…"

Lao Tie gave a grin and murmured: "They know that no matter when they charge ahead, they die, but someone will always follow behind."

"No matter when, no matter how long it's been, no matter how many have died, no matter… no matter what this damned world becomes… someone will always follow behind."

"Bring the wine—I'm happy today!" Lao Tie suddenly laughed, then took a bite out of Tie Dajian's calf: "Iron big guy, bring out the wine—I want to drink because I'm happy, are you being stingy or what?"

Lao Tie was here drinking his fill when the Demon Chapter King, eyes blood‑red, shot off down the passageway in a puff of smoke.

Tie Dajian, Shan Dun, Lu Ji and Yan Hanlu were all calling him.

But he ran like lightning, vanishing in a puff of smoke.

His legs grew extraordinarily long, stretching to several hundred meters each; a single step could carry him several kilometers—this speed… was unbelievable.

Cold Qi surged, while the Severe Winter locked horns with the twelve ballistae.

Cang You struggled against a siege of twelve golden‑radiant figures, gradually showing signs he could no longer hold them off.

The elders of the Twelve Executor Families kept falling from the sky one after another; the Triple Link Divine Formation had blocked Cang You and the Severe Winter, but the Cold Qi that the Severe Winter had earlier injected into their bodies now raged uncontrollably within them.

The Demon Chapter King appeared mysteriously beside Wu Tie.

"Lord Wu Tie, use my essence‑blood to activate the whole Triple Link City Grand Formation."

The Demon Chapter King seized Wu Tie's arm, stared at him earnestly: "The citizens of Triple Link City—even if they're traitors—can only die by my hand."

"This is the duty of the last direct descendant of the Great Peacock King Clan…"