Chapter 530

Hu You

The number of Thunder Dragons increased to three thousand six hundred, their size compressed to about ten zhang, the pitch-black Thunder Dragons' power grew more condensed and their lethality more terrifying; they slowly circled the Nine Dragon Coffin, forming a mysterious heaven-and-earth grand array that rotated extremely slowly along a wondrous trajectory.

Tens of thousands of Flying Yaksha likewise surrounded the Nine Dragon Coffin, forming an eerie and ferocious array like a writhing piece of rotting foul meat that contracted and expanded; wave after wave of yin evil qi swept in all directions, desperately resisting the erosion of the three thousand six hundred Thunder Dragons.

The number of Thunder Dragons increased little by little over the past twenty days; Hu You and the others watched helplessly as the number kept rising: one hundred eight, three hundred sixty, five hundred twelve, one thousand twenty‑four… up to the present three thousand six hundred.

Nine Dragon Coffin Owner

A Flying Yaksha let out a shrill scream as large patches of its scales shattered and scorched, its whole body trembling violently; it staggered back into the evil formation, and another Flying Yaksha rushed out to fill the gap in the array.

In the high sky, more Thunder Dragons wound down from the tribulation clouds; accompanied by deafening thunder, the Thunder Dragons slowly drifting in the air became ten thousand eight hundred in number, their size five to six zhang long, their power more condensed, lethality increased again, and the frequency and density of their attacks multiplied severalfold.

Flying Yaksha after Flying Yaksha, scorched all over and shivering, fled hastily back to the evil array while others continually rushed out from within to quickly plug its gaps; the lid of the Nine Dragon Coffin opened slightly, and vast streams of yin evil qi poured out, nourishing the Flying Yaksha wounded by the Thunder Dragons, their wounds visibly healing rapidly.

Time passed bit by bit; after the ten thousand eight hundred Thunder Dragons had bombarded for three days and three nights, the tribulation clouds changed again, as countless warriors of condensed thunderlight spewing electric arcs slowly descended from the clouds, and ten thousand eight hundred Thunderbolt Warriors mounted on the Thunder Dragons brandished electricity‑flashing weapons, swinging them at the Flying Yaksha.

The weapons condensed from thunderbolt crisscrossed the void, leaving the Flying Yaksha covered in scales and wounds; their injury rate suddenly surged severalfold, and the wounds grew more grievous—many were pierced through by spears and halberds, screaming in pain as they struggled to retreat.

However, tens of thousands of Flying Yaksha, well‑coordinated and nourished by the nearly inexhaustible yin evil qi within the Nine Dragon Coffin, healed their wounds quickly, threw themselves into battle without regard for life or death, and desperately resisted the attacks of the Thunder Dragons and their mounted warriors.

Eastern Palace

This was the Linghu clan's great expense, barely persuading the gods to act—it was the divine tribulation sent by the gods. Only such a divine tribulation could help Master Hu subdue this Nine Dragon Heaven‑Bearing Coffin, for the Linghu clan lacked a national‑treasure‑level relic; without a comparable treasure, trying to subdue such an innate spiritual object by filling it with human lives was clearly uneconomical, indeed impossible.

Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace

Moreover, tens of thousands of Flying Yaksha whose cultivation had reached the half‑step Divine Sovereign realm, if they went berserk, would leave none of the people Master Hu brought here alive except perhaps Master Hu himself.

In the high sky, the thunder roared like war drums; since the divine tribulation descended, one and a half months have passed, and the tribulation clouds seem to have been enraged by the Nine Dragon Coffin's obstinacy, the nine layers slowly drawing together, threatening to merge into one, while the electric light from the plasma ocean grew ever more blinding, its radiance shining across the nine heavens and turning the sea below almost transparent.

Heaven-Earth Grand Formation

Dozens of lightning bolts fell from the tribulation clouds, striking precisely dozens of heavily wounded Flying Yaksha; this time the Nine Dragon Coffin could not come to their rescue in time, as the violent thunderbolt smashed them to pieces and the electric light frenetically arced among the fragments, blasting every shard into wisps of green smoke.

Evil Grand Formation (alternate)

Afterward came a wave of over a hundred thunderbolts, then three or four hundred, then over a thousand, then two or three thousand, then several thousand…

The number of thunderbolts slowly increased while the number of Flying Yaksha rapidly decreased; any double‑winged Flying Yaksha struck by a single thunderbolt would be shattered to dust, and as more thunderbolts fell they were quickly turned into green smoke, vanishing completely.

Only the four‑winged and six‑winged Flying Yaksha could endure a few more thunderbolts, but if they were hit consecutively by seven or eight, or a dozen or more, they would still be seriously wounded; these high‑rank, few‑in‑number Flying Yaksha could only curl up beside the Nine Dragon Coffin, taking shelter under its yin evil qi, looking on in terror as thunderbolts rained down densely from the sky.

Another three days passed, and the sky's double‑winged Flying Yaksha had been wiped clean; only three or four hundred six‑winged and two or three thousand four‑winged Flying Yaksha remained, tightly curled beside the Nine Dragon Coffin, trembling as they gazed at the sky.

Nine Dragon Heaven-bearing Coffin

A suffocating, despairing aura that made it feel as if heaven and earth would be destroyed surged from the tribulation clouds; the low rumble rose to a piercing, loud roar that shook people's eardrums to agony, shattering the eardrums of those with insufficient cultivation and making them spit blood.

Hu You and the others clapped their hands over their ears, opened their mouths, and fled in disarray toward the island's edge; even just the thunderous roar from the central area caused their limbs to ache and go weak, so they could no longer stand in the core, running tens of thousands of li away to stand on mountain after mountain, staring blankly in that direction.

Thunderlight fell toward the Nine Dragon Coffin, and the Thunder Dragons together with the Thunderbolt Warriors on their backs began to approach the coffin.

Within the Nine Dragon Coffin, the yin evil qi surged, and countless wraith‑like figures emerged—only their upper halves vaguely humanoid, their lower halves a mass of twisting yin qi; these specters stood several zhang tall, their forms like wind, and as soon as they appeared they stirred up silent but incredibly vicious yin tornadoes in heaven and earth.

Fierce thunderbolts fell, and these wraiths fearlessly charged toward the lightning; one thunderbolt killed a wraith, but a wraith also neutralized a thunderbolt, so for every thunderbolt that fell from the sky a wraith rushed up to meet it, being slain and reborn in an endless cycle.

The yin tornado swept up the approaching Thunder Dragons and the warriors on their backs, tossing them wildly across the sky; as the yin wind rubbed against the thunderbolt it sprayed countless fine electric arcs, and the Thunder Dragons and their riders continually shrank, as if being erased by the yin wind.

The Ninefold Tribulation Clouds have completely merged into one, and the tribulation clouds turned black.

The Nine Dragon Coffin also relied on various means, enduring the divine tribulation for two months straight. Gradually, the plasma sea within the tribulation clouds also turned black, the thunderous sound in the tribulation clouds vanished completely, the plasma sea became utterly silent, utterly quiet without a hint of sound.

The master of the Nine Dragon Coffin gave a low chuckle: "What an endless tribulation… but after absorbing so much heavenly and earthly primordial energy for two months, it should erupt now, right? Before, it was merely an appetizer; the main course should be coming."

On the massive ship, Hu Lao Ye, who had been silently waiting for two months, suddenly opened his eyes and said in a low voice: "The true divine tribulation is about to descend; Elder Brother, get ready—once the Nine Dragon Coffin is suppressed by the divine tribulation, you must quickly subdue him."

Hu Lao Ye narrowed his eyes, sneering at the Nine Dragon Coffin far in the sky: "After all, you are a thing born of heaven and earth, untaught; though you have spirituality, you are not clever enough… Hehe, if it weren't for needing to preserve your full power without harming you in the slightest, the divine tribulation sent by the gods would not have entangled you this long. Capturing you alive, unharmed, is far harder than utterly destroying you."

"The power of the gods…" Hu Lao Ye closed his eyes, almost groaning as he muttered: "Back then, I personally witnessed… three god-realm beings, three who relied solely on their own strength, without using the Heavenly God's Order, who endured the divine tribulation by their own power… yet they were annihilated in a single strike by the gods' power, scattered like smoke and clouds."

"At that time, the Eastern Palace Crown Prince Sima Sheng actually had three gods under his command… but what was the result? Wasn't he still forced to flee with the remnants of the Eastern Palace from Anyang? And didn't he also hold in his hand a national treasure like the Myriad Dragon Palace?"

"But facing the power of the gods…" Hu Lao Ye let out a light sigh: "So, children, you must learn reverence. Revere the gods. As long as you revere the gods, make offerings to them, and satisfy all their desires, our family will flourish forever."

Hu Lao Ye murmured: "If not for having received the gods' promise and permission, how could our ancestors have harbored such ambition to replace the Great Jin Divine Kingdom?"

The tribulation clouds split open a huge gap, and the black plasma sea condensed within them howled as it poured downward.

The plasma sea slammed heavily onto the Nine Dragon Coffin; the flying yakshas curled up nearby were instantly reduced to nothing by the endless, terrifying thunderforce. Within the plasma, blinding purple chains sprang into existence, silently winding toward the Nine Dragon Coffin.

From within the Nine Dragon Coffin came an angry roar; a tall, scale-covered giant hand swung out, striking hard at the wrapping thunder chains. The thunder chains trembled violently, looping around the hand, and countless bolts of lightning raced along the hand into the Nine Dragon Coffin. From within the dragon light came a mournful howl, as vast gusts of yin wind and evil qi continually spewed outward.

It was obvious that these lightning bolts had injured the master of the Nine Dragon Coffin; although the lightning was controlled with extreme precision, not damaging his origin, it caused him immense pain.

The drought demon and the Nine Dragon Coffin master were together; since the master was struck by lightning, the drought demon was obviously also affected.

The drought demon likewise shrieked miserably, and white flames sprayed out from the Nine Dragon Coffin.

Purple chains tightly bound the Nine Dragon Coffin, imprisoning it so it could not move; countless electric surges poured in like a tide, continually weakening its power.

Hu Lao Ye laughed with delight: "Elder Brother, you're ready… once you subdue the Nine Dragon Coffin, the next innate supreme treasure will spare us this trouble and time."

Hu Lao Ye's eldest son, the well-known Hu Tu Da Ye of Jinhua Prefecture, chuckled and nodded, mimicking his father's habitual gesture of lightly patting his own belly; thus, equally corpulent, his whole body rippled with waves of white flesh.

More and more purple chains wound around the Nine Dragon Coffin, as endless currents surged in, frenetically weakening the master's power.

The master of the Nine Dragon Coffin and the drought demon both let out a mournful roar; the coffin lid slowly opened, and another tall, scale-covered giant arm reached out. The two arms pressed down on the coffin, and a huge figure shrouded in boundless misty vapor slowly rose from within the Nine Dragon Coffin.

That colossal figure suddenly opened its eyes, and the void around the coffin‑shaped island instantly turned a lurid green.

Hu Lao Ye and the others sat on the massive ship, far from that island; at the moment the colossal figure opened its eyes, besides Hu Lao Ye and his few sons, aside from those few cultivators of highest realm, everyone else simultaneously screamed, blood spurting from their seven orifices. Especially many had their eyes burst, the fluid within their eyeballs mixing with blood as it sprayed out.

The three massive ships shuddered violently as an invisible yin force swept over; the ships blazed with blinding light, layer upon layer of defensive wards activated on their own, then one after another the dazzling light curtains shattered with a series of 'papa' sounds.

"You all, deserve to die." The master of the Nine Dragon Coffin slowly tried to rise, but purple chains had already wound around him.

Within the plasma, streaks of extremely blinding silver lightning howled down, striking his body like heavy hammers.

The Nine Dragon Coffin master was bombarded until his whole body flickered with black smoke, his massive frame swaying on the verge of collapse.

Hu Lao Ye spat out a mouthful of bloody‑tinged saliva and said in a low voice: "Elder Brother, go up now—this wretch can no longer do any harm."

Hu Tu let out a deep, resonant howl; his huge, round body leapt into the air and swiftly flew toward the Nine Dragon Coffin.

All of the Hu family, young and old, every outlaw, held their breath, staring blankly at Hu Tu and the Nine Dragon Coffin master.

As Hu Tu was about to fly near the Nine Dragon Coffin, he reached out and produced a token made of seven‑colored crystal stone, giving it a slight shake toward the high tribulation clouds; the heavenly plasma swerved around his body, not a single spark touching him.

Just then, a youth dressed in black-and-white water-and-fire Daoist robes appeared out of thin air beside the Nine Dragon Coffin. He was handsome, his aura ethereal, his frame slender, like a jade tree in the wind. Yin and Yang qi swirled around him, and all the heavenly lightning was shattered by the Yin and Yang qi.

"Friends, this treasure is fated to be with me; please, lend me your aid and open the way, so I may take him away as a poor Daoist."

"Such a vicious creature, hehehe, hehehe... leaving it in your hands would only bring endless calamity; better to entrust it to me, the poor Daoist, so I may deliver him."

After spouting a load of mixed nonsense, the handsome youth flicked his wide sleeve; black and white qi surged wildly, the master of the Nine Dragon Coffin let out a startled, angry roar, and the huge Nine Dragon Coffin vanished without a trace.

Hu Tu let out a long, angry howl; a green longsword flew from his sleeve, turning into a thousand‑foot rainbow that slashed straight at the handsome youth's head.

The handsome youth chuckled "hehe": "This treasure, too, is fated to be with me."

Likewise, with a flick of his sleeve, the green longsword disappeared without a trace. This is a Heavenly Dao Divine Weapon, forged by taking the three great Dao laws comprehended by a certain elder of the Linghu Clan, merging seven extremely rare heavenly‑earth treasures, and tempering them over thousands of years of bitter effort.

This is also the strongest weapon in Hu Tu's hand, yet it was whisked away just like that by the youth's sleeve.

The handsome youth laughed three times, then his form flickered and he instantly vanished without a trace.