Chapter 293

Soul pull. Trap You Cang.

Bloodline pull. Trap Xuan Zhu.

Wu Tie watched as You Jieya's true form soul was swept into the banner, smiled, and again danced wildly three times around the altar.

He did not know what was happening outside.

He did not know that, following the soul ties and bloodline pulls in the darkness, his forcible sweeping of You Cang and You Jieya's souls into the Triple City and imprisoning them in the great formation would bring what consequences.

On Mu Dalu, some powerful ancient beings, following the trail of Wu Tie's minor killing formation, discovered the Ice Spirit Divine Clan's ice palace hidden in the void, and without the slightest hesitation launched an attack.

Wu Tie knew nothing of what was happening outside.

He continued dancing wildly, and then on the altar appeared the soul of Chang'an with Blood Light shooting to the heavens.

Karmic pull. Trap Chang'an.

Wu Tie smiled at Chang'an.

He prepared three straw figures precisely to trap You Cang, trap Xuan Zhu, and trap the lackey most tightly bound to them by karma.

Chang'an's soul was drawn in, swept into the great banner.

Chang'an's soul still howled threats in the banner; Wu Tie pointed a finger, a sword light fell on the chest of the straw figure representing his true form. A piercing wail sounded—Chang'an's true form was not as strong as You Cang and You Jieya, had no divine artifact protection, and with a single blow his true form utterly collapsed.

One strike beheaded Chang'an's true body; Wu Tie smiled watching Chang'an's soul tumbling deep within the banner.

Say something that interests me, and I can let you die quickly, with less torment. Otherwise...

Before Chang'an's eyes, waves of strange spiritual light flickered, inexplicably giving a terrifying feeling of soul agitation and spirit shattering; the light mist howled like a great millstone, wrapping You Cang and You Jieya's souls at the core and slowly grinding them.

Chang'an's soul looked on in bewildered horror at the struggling, wailing You Cang and You Jieya.

Their souls retained the exact appearance of their true forms; Chang'an had never before seen true divinities look like this.

At first glance, they were just two huge 'mermaid spirits'.

Is this the inscrutable heaven deity he revered, the one that changed his fate for life?

Chang'an stared blankly at the wailing, agonized cries of You Cang and You Jieya.

Under the relentless impact of the soul-scattering divine light in the banner, the agony borne by You Cang and You Jieya was a hundred times worse than all the world's tortures combined. If not for their true bodies in the ice palace, protected by a strong ice palace barrier, various divine artifacts suppressing them, and a powerful life force continually pouring into their souls...

To be frank, given You Cang and You Jieya's strength, their true bodies would long ago have been slaughtered to dust and their souls utterly shattered, dead.

The divine implement Wu Tie crafted was still immature.

Wu Tie's own cultivation was still lowly.

But the Triple City Wu Tie mobilized is an extraordinary treasure of immense power, having stored energy for countless years, immensely strong; moreover, Grey Master beside him practicing 'Wolf and Badger in Collusion' makes the might of Wu Tie's killing formation very strong, very strong, extremely formidable.

At least for dealing with three to five enemies, it is more than enough.

Grey Master stood beside Wu Tie, his whole body flickering with deep dark light; his gaze looked kindly at Wu Tie, but deep in his eyes hid a trace of resolve and ruthlessness.

'Wolf and Badger in Collusion' is an extremely heretical auxiliary divine ability.

When Wu Tie agreed to Grey Master's divine ability support, Grey Master understood Wu Tie's killing formation and all its corresponding divine secret techniques like the back of his hand; only wholehearted devotion, unreservedly offering one's flesh and soul, can this 'Wolf and Badger in Collusion' divine ability succeed.

The badger, by nature, is completely dependent on the wolf pack.

Grey Master smiled lightly, his hands giving a slight shake, and the killing formation stirred.

Inside the banner, You Cang and You Jieya's souls suddenly burst forth boundless blue cold light; they roared in unison, opening their mouths to spew out long streaks of light toward the outside of the banner.

Wu Tie startled, Grey Master already thrust his chest forward to meet it.

"With my life, with my soul... sacrifice... eternal empowerment, Wolf and Badger in Collusion." Grey Master split his mouth in a smile, beaming, and took the heavy blow of those two light streaks with his chest.

Wu Tie looked toward the banner.

Within the banner, the souls of You Cang and You Jieya were rapidly weakening; their souls had become two 'wormholes,' one end in the Triple City, the other in the ice palace.

You Ruo, using their souls as beacons, in a panic launched an attack at Wu Tie.

Grey Master's thoughts were more meticulous; he sensed the anomaly in the killing formation a fraction earlier than Wu Tie, and accordingly went forward, using his frail body to meet the cross‑void strike coming from the ice palace.

Black flames erupted within Grey Master's body; his entire life, soul, and essence, together with the inherited 'Wolf and Badger in Collusion' divine ability in his bloodline, instantly burned to ash, then transformed into a thumb‑sized black wolf‑head rune, which shrank sharply backward, branded onto Wu Tie's chest, and instantly sank into his body.

Wu Tie's heart gave a violent throb, then an extremely subtle yet truly existing murderous chill surged up from his heart.

Wu Tie's body swayed, he exhaled, then stepped back two paces.

Old Tie stared as the Tower of Reincarnation rushed over; black divine light spread in waves, the projection of the Tower of Reincarnation hovered before Wu Tie, blocking the fatal blow of the two blue lights.

The void trembled.

In the void an inexplicable power appeared; the two blue lights merely flickered slightly and then suddenly collapsed.

Within the banner, Chang'an's soul had already been utterly obliterated.

On the souls of You Cang and You Jieya lay a supple blue light layer; despite the relentless washing of soul‑scattering divine light, this supple blue layer merely flickered faintly.

To completely breach this blue light layer would inevitably require a great deal of time.

In Wu Tie's heart, murderous chill kept growing; his aura, affected by this chill, began to undergo subtle changes.

"Master." Wu Tie stared blankly at the spot where Grey Master's body had vanished.

That black wolf‑head rune is the 'Badger's Blessing' formed when Grey Master burned his entire bloodline, flesh, and soul; the rune has fused with Wu Tie, and just like Grey Master's true body it can bolster Wu Tie's divine secret techniques by thirty percent.

This rune also represents the supreme heavenly way comprehended by the ancient ancestors of the Badger clan.

As Wu Tie grows, this 'Badger's Blessing' can grow with him; in the future it will amplify his divine secret techniques by fifty percent, then seventy percent, then double, then triple...

As long as Wu Tie is strong enough, the enhancement power of the 'Badger's Blessing' can keep growing.

The true meaning of 'Wolf and Badger in Collusion' lies here: the badger itself has little power, but its wisdom can bring earth‑shaking changes to the wolf pack.

"Master, I... I don't want your enhancement; I only want you to come back." Wu Tie, at a loss, gazed at the place where Grey Master had disappeared.

He almost simultaneously with Grey Master sensed the anomaly in the banner, but he never imagined Grey Master would take such decisive action.

Did he sacrifice everything utterly just to fulfill Wu Tie long ago?

So resolute and decisive.

Having awakened his ancient bloodline and inherited his ancestors' divine ability, did he have the heart to do this?

In Wu Tie's eyes, a killing aura gradually coiled.

He gave a grin, his two sharp little tiger teeth inexplicably also carried a hint of viciousness.

"You've been captured by me in this formation—why won't you just die peacefully and obediently? Why do you still struggle? Why do you still resist? If you didn't struggle, didn't resist, wouldn't Master not have died?"

You Cang and You Jieya glared at Wu Tie with vicious expressions.

No resistance?

No struggle?

Are they being stupid?

As for the counterattack just now, that was You Ruo's decision; what does it have to do with them?

They glanced at the blue gloom surrounding their bodies; You Cang and You Jieya's expressions improved considerably. This is direct protection from the Ice Palace; given the Ice Palace's strength, their rescue plan is probably being formulated in earnest.

You Ruo would absolutely not dare, nor be willing, to let them suffer loss here.

In the void.

The once mighty, vast glacier that traversed the void has collapsed more than half, like a dying rascal snake, weakly and feebly struggling to slide in the void.

The glacier that once stretched billions of miles now remains only a small section, barely supporting the massive ship above.

At the glacier's edge, countless icebergs continually collapse and shatter, blasting into countless tiny ice crystals that fill the sky.

Inside the giant ship, in an urgently repaired ice crystal palace, You Ruo placed both hands on a blue ice crystal long table, her gaze grim and cold as she fixed it on the twelve other powerful life forms surrounding the table.

"Your conditions, I agree to all of them. But please sign this divine edict… let those damned two-faced traitors go rescue the souls of You Cang and You Jieya." You Ruo's voice became hoarse and unpleasant.

"You Cang's identity need not be said—he is the legitimate son of a god-king of our Ice Spirit Divine Clan, the heir to the future god-king… in the Ice God Palace, he will surely have a throne someday."

"You Jieya will become one of my consorts; she is the link that stabilizes the Ice Spirit Divine Clan's supreme imperial line and the god-king system. She cannot die here."

"I hope you can use your channels, your influence, to tell those damned fellows that this time they are not allowed to make excuses or delay; otherwise, the Ice Spirit Divine Clan will spare no expense to take revenge on them."

The twelve powerful beings standing beside the long table glanced at each other; a seven-colored crystal stone burly man grunted, and from one eye shot an extremely fine laser that heavily struck a scroll hovering above the table, imprinting a seven-colored badge.

The other beings each employed their own secret arts, leaving on this 'divine edict' the seal representing their respective clans.

Mu Dalu.

Three rivers converge, nine mountains encircle the land; in a basin, clouds rise and rosy mists glow, the red sun hangs high, long rainbows pierce the clouds and mist, spanning both sides of a basin that stretches billions of miles.

At the basin's core stands a cyan-black divine tree shooting straight into the clouds, its height unknown.

On the divine tree, nine ten-meter-tall three-legged golden crows perch on the highest branches, lazily preening their pale-gold feathers with their sharp beaks. Occasionally a feather falls from them, like a meteorite striking the ground, blasting the earth below with a tremendous boom.

On the ground, cultivators in pale-gold robes stand guard; once a golden feather falls, they rush over, solemnly placing these feathers that spit golden flames into specially made metal containers, then swiftly sending them far away for storage.

Several hundred li from this divine tree lies a range of mountains not particularly tall but imposing in momentum, stretching continuously.

Black palaces of ancient style, their eaves and corners mottled with the colors of age, stand between the peaks, countless in number, stretching on and on.

Before the gate of one palace covering dozens of mu, beneath the wide plaza's main archway, a dozen or so youths in blue robes, each with two topknots, sit on two long benches, chatting and laughing while eating fruit.

On the benches sit teapots and teacups; these youths drink tea and eat fruit, chatting idly about everything under the sun, utterly delighted.

Suddenly, a ball of golden light the size of a fist appeared in the sky, a heavenly gate resembling an eyeball opened, and a stream of golden light silently fell from the highest heavens.

In the high winds, clouds surged; vast expanses of black flowing clouds transformed into massive hands that reached for the golden light.

Beside the golden light, various colored light curtains flickered, shattering the huge hands condensed from the black clouds; amidst the tumbling winds and clouds, the golden light flew straight to land before the huge black archway, clearly a three-foot-long, child-arm-thick golden scroll hovering there.

A group of youths' expressions brightened; they all leapt up, quickly patted their clothes, solemnly approached the golden scroll, clasped their hands and bowed three times before it, then one youth reached out, lightly plucked it, and took the scroll in hand.

A dozen or so youths formed two neat rows, escorting the youth holding the scroll as they swiftly crossed the plaza of a thousand mu and ran to the palace gate.

On the palace's main gate hung a huge black iron plaque, three blood-red, fierce-looking characters leapt into view—exactly the three words 'Demons Suppressing Hall'!

"Hall Master, a heavenly decree!" a line of youths solemnly bowed before the tightly closed doors.

After about half an incense stick's time, a low, muffled voice came from within the hall: 'Pfft… Heavenly Court? Divine edict? Who knows what, this bunch of vampires, what mischief are they up to now?'

The doors burst open; a long, slender hand shot out from the crack, snatched the scroll inside, and then the doors slammed shut.

After another incense stick's time, that low voice finally spoke.

"Rescue those two fools, open the Wen Qu Star Region for three years, let the Wen Qu starlight shine upon my Great Jin Divine Nation's lands, increasing the comprehension of our Great Jin's youth?"

"Tsk tsk, a grand scheme, a grand scheme, those two fools whose souls were kidnapped… huh, You Cang, I don't know him."

"You Jieya, You Jieya, You Jieya…"

"Oh, that little lass? She once manifested an avatar in the Great Jin…"

"Mm, a day as husband and wife brings a hundred days of gratitude… I can't just walk away and ignore this."

"Alright, sound the bell, let all the kings come to discuss."

The sonorous bell rang high and clear, its sound spreading across ten thousand li; in the ancient, solemn palaces, great masses of clouds rose; one after another, men in long robes, tall crowns, stern aura, divine light swirling behind them, majestic and radiant like heavenly gods, surrounded by countless cultivators, unhurriedly rode the clouds toward the Demons Suppressing Hall.