Chapter 549

The outlaws and the soldier puppets rushing out of the underground palace were locked in a melee.

Wu Tie mingled among the outlaws, using a secret art to blur his form; his ten fingers trembled like convulsions, his nails flickering with a dim, gloomy light as he continually swept over each soldier puppet.

His entire skeleton was burning, emitting intense heat, releasing a terrifying devouring power.

Under a completely unreasonable destructive force, any soldier puppet touched by Wu Tie's fingers instantly exploded into fragments; these puppets were forged entirely from extremely rare materials, pure essence with hardly any impurities.

Thus the shattered puppets left no residue; upon breaking, they turned into thick streams of light invisible to ordinary people, continually flowing into Wu Tie's body.

His bones burned, the searing heat scorching his flesh; infinitesimal strands of Grand Dao patterns flowed out from his bones, slowly seeping into his entire body.

The wound on his head gouged out by Ao Chi's fist had healed; all flesh and blood regenerated, even his shattered hair grew back, leaving no trace.

Wu Tie closely followed behind several powerful outlaw leaders, moving like a ghost, weaving unpredictably ahead and behind them; while those outlaw chiefs roared wildly in battle, he secretly hunted down each soldier puppet.

Ao Chi sat cross-legged in midair above his own coffin, eyes closed, refining the Immortal Heart Lamp, indifferent to the battle.

Linghu Qingqing stood on the prow of the great warship, commanding the formation, unleashing heavenly thunder to bombard these soldier puppets; under his control, the formation's gathered mana poured into the soldiers aboard the warship, the comatose troops awoke, recovered, and joined the formation.

The formation's power grew ever stronger, the inhaled heaven-earth primordial energy becoming vaster; within tens of thousands of li, the void was sealed by the formation, outsiders could hardly draw any trace of heaven-earth qi, relying only on their stored mana to fight.

The only outsider here is Ao Chi.

The four Linghu Elders, together with the five Hu Tu brothers, also joined the battle.

Hu Tu's fleshly body was shattered, but he had evidently prepared beforehand; he directly seized a Hu Tu private army commander at the peak of the Fetal Storage realm, and by using this body cultivated in the same art as his own, he could still exert about eighty percent of his combat strength.

The Five Elements Secret Treasure came howling: black waves, scarlet flames, golden dragons, gales, and towering phantom mountains descending from the sky; the Five Elements power wildly bombarded the soldier puppets that glowed with intense light, blasting the sky into chaotic light and shadow like countless fireworks bursting.

Here the naked eye was hardly useful; even soul power, due to the overly violent primordial energy tide, no one dared to release it, instead carefully retracting it within.

In this environment, Wu Tie was like a fish in water.

In just a quarter of an hour, Wu Tie shattered over three hundred soldier puppets; his entire skeleton had turned semi‑translucent, the dim flames scorching him drenched in sweat, with copious vapor continually rising from his scalp, only to be instantly blown away by the heavenly gale.

The over three hundred soldier puppets, each bearing a complete Grand Dao pattern coiling like a dragon, continually flew into Wu Tie's divine fetus, gradually tracing clear patterns upon it.

Wu Tie felt his bond with this heaven and earth growing ever closer; he faintly sensed the rhythm of heaven and earth's motion, and with every gesture the primordial energy drew nearer to him, favoring him, while his own spiritual vitality became ever more lively and buoyant.

He could also clearly sense that, not far away, his two severed avatars—the Yin‑Yang Daoist and the Five Elements Daoist—had likewise gained great benefit; their comprehension of the Yin‑Yang and Five Elements Grand Dao grew ever clearer, ever more subtle, and having fully mastered the transformations of Yin‑Yang and Five Elements, they conceived ever more ingenious ideas.

Taking Yin‑Yang and Five Elements as seeds, myriad heterodox paths and wondrous transformations followed in succession; the Yin‑Yang Daoist and the Five Elements Daoist began to ingest heaven‑earth primordial energy, rapidly boosting their mana cultivation and Dao realm.

Wu Tie could feel himself growing rapidly stronger, ever increasing.

Originally the few outlaw chieftains he secretly followed still posed him a slight threat in his perception; but as he shattered over three hundred soldier puppets and reaped their benefits, those chieftains had become insignificant in his awareness.

On this vast battlefield, the only things that could still give Wu Tie a strong sense of threat were the four Linghu clan Elders and Ao Chi, motionless above his coffin.

As for Linghu Qingqing…

Linghu Qingqing still posed a threat to Wu Tie, though not a strong one; purely comparing cultivation and mana, Wu Tie believed he could face him head‑on. If he added the Black Heaven Cauldron at his side, Wu Tie was confident he could easily suppress Linghu Qingqing, even crush him effortlessly.

After all, the Black Heaven Cauldron is the state‑protecting divine artifact of the Great Wu Shen Kingdom; Linghu Qingqing possesses no treasure of that caliber for protection.

The main guns on the prows of tens of thousands of warships suddenly fired in unison.

Accompanied by a piercing, ear‑splitting howl as they tore through the void, tens of thousands of light beams slammed into the dense ranks of soldier puppets.

The Nine‑Headed Dragon Army Soul roared, heavenly thunder accompanying the fleet's main‑gun volley as it struck those soldier puppets.

Tens of thousands of soldier puppets were hurled flying backward, their bodies flashing with blinding electric light, they slammed heavily into mountain peaks and the ground, unable to rise for a long time.

If they were flesh‑and‑blood bodies, these puppets would already have been ground to powder in this barrage.

But they are Vajra bodies forged entirely from rare materials.

This strike consumed much of the puppets' strength, yet after struggling on the ground for a moment they stubbornly rose, trailing afterimages as they charged into the outlaws' formation.

The puppets' weapons swept up sheets of cold light, whistling forth with sharp, piercing cracks.

Among the outlaws, over sixty percent were merely at the early or middle stages of the Fetal Storage realm—how could they possibly match these puppets?

Vast swaths of outlaws were cut down on the spot, their divine fetuses flying out dazedly from their shattered bodies.

Linghu Qingqing produced a seven‑colored crystal stone long‑necked vase that spewed a seven‑colored divine light; the heavenly light swept up, drawing in the slain outlaws' essence blood together with their divine fetuses, which the vase swallowed in one gulp.

The outlaws emitted terrified shrieks; their divine fetuses were involuntarily drawn toward the vase, after which there was not a sound.

Wu Tie's eyes twitched; even with the four Linghu Elders and the five Hu Tu brothers bringing heavy treasures to the fight, the outlaws and the soldier puppets still exchanged blows at an appalling loss ratio—on average fifteen to sixteen outlaws had to fall before a single puppet was destroyed.

The four Linghu Elders devoted most of their attention to Ao Chi; likewise the five Hu Tu brothers were likewise wary of Ao Chi, allocating less than a tenth of their combat power to these soldier puppets.

The outlaws were slaughtered en masse; their greatest use on the battlefield was merely to delay the puppets' advance, granting Linghu Qingqing's rear‑commanded formation more time to launch attacks.

Gradually, turtle‑shelled boats were destroyed, the outlaws' numbers dwindling until only about a hundred chieftains remained, leading nearly a thousand of the highest‑caliber outlaws, relying on a dozen or so turtle‑shelled boats, desperately withstanding the puppets' frenzied assault.

These puppets seemed utterly devoid of intellect; they only charged forward mindlessly. When over a thousand outlaws blocked their path, they would swarm those thousand outlaws in a frenzied slaughter, completely ignoring the massive fleet behind them.

Constantly, soldier puppets were blasted airborne by the main‑gun volleys; upon crawling back from the ground and returning to the battlefield, they stared with flaming eyes at Linghu Qingqing's commanded fleet, trailing afterimages as they lunged straight at it.

Yet as soon as they passed the hard‑pressed outlaw formation, their attention would be captured by those mere thousands of outlaws; they would silently join the ranks encircling the outlaws, utterly forgetting they had just been flung away by the fleet's main guns.

Wu Tie stared wide‑eyed at these soldier puppets.

These puppets are clearly inferior to the giant‑god soldiers; take Old Iron‑type giant‑god soldiers, whose intellect far surpasses that of ordinary people. These puppets, however, are nothing but heartless, soulless, brainless metal lumps—strong though they may be, they are lifeless objects.

Hu Tu and the others also noticed this; they gladly joined the outlaws' formation. With the Five Elements Secret Treasure protecting them, the puppets' hope of utterly annihilating the remaining outlaws was virtually nil.

Linghu Qingqing commanded the vast formation; wave after wave of synchronized volleys kept coming, hurling soldier puppets aloft, cracking their limbs with fissures. Like water wearing away stone, even the toughest metal puppets began to deteriorate under the incessant main‑gun barrage.

As the outlaws dwindled, the battlefield situation grew much clearer; Wu Tie ceased his muddy‑water fishing, merely putting on a show of shouting and fighting within the outlaws' ranks while actually contributing nothing, his whole mind focused on refining the immense benefits he had previously gained.

Of roughly a hundred thousand soldier puppets, only over ninety thousand remained intact and able to fight; nearly ten thousand had been shattered by Wu Tie or blasted to ruin by Linghu Qingqing's commanded formation.

Just as Linghu Qingqing resolved to strike in one go, exploiting the puppets' low intellect to wipe them out entirely, a black‑and‑white spiritual light flashed silently into being; the Yin‑Yang Daoist materialized out of thin air, then opened his mouth and drew in a deep breath.

Some ninety thousand soldier puppets were swept away in a swoosh by the Yin‑Yang Daoist, vanishing without trace; then the Yin‑Yang Daoist laughed "hahaha," transformed into a long rainbow, turned and fled.

Ao Chi's eyes snapped open; with a swish he appeared beside the Yin‑Yang Daoist out of nowhere and slammed a fist into his back.

The Yin‑Yang Daoist grunted, spurting gouts of blazing blood from his seven apertures; he retaliated with a bolt of Yin‑Yang divine thunder that struck Ao Chi's face, exploding with a tremendous roar; Ao Chi staggered, then the Yin‑Yang Daoist shot skyward, vanishing instantly.

Ao Chi was left somewhat embarrassed by that thunderbolt from the Yin‑Yang Daoist, which struck squarely upon his visage.

The Yin‑Yang Daoist is a manifestation of Wu Tie via the Grand Dao of One‑Qi‑Transforming‑Three‑Pure, using the innate treasure Yin‑Yang Two‑Qi Vessel to cleave off this avatar; his physical strength is not his forte, but the transformations of the Yin‑Yang Grand Dao are boundless and ever‑changing.

A single Yin‑Yang divine thunderbolt was hurled forth; the four Linghu Elders chopped it apart with their natal Heavenly Dao artifacts, leaving it unscathed, yet Ao Chi—whose fleshly body was so strong as to inspire despair—was knocked askew by the blast, his nasal bridge twisted, a flap of flesh torn from his nose, two streams of blood gushing from his nostrils, dripping down his chin in a sorry sight.

"Good, good, good!" Ao Chi looked at the direction where the Yin-Yang Daoist disappeared, then suddenly burst into laughter: "As it turns out, it's an old friend, hahaha, an old friend... My Dao is not lonely, my Dao is not lonely... How wonderful, how wonderful... What can this bunch of scrap copper and rotten iron do to you?"

He shook his head, Ao Chi furrowed his brows, revealing a hint of bewildered astonishment: "However, that old friend doesn't have the habit of picking up junk, does he? These Mo Sect warrior puppets are the original version of the Giant God Soldier; they fundamentally cannot reach the realm of Chaos Transformation, there is no possibility of evolution... You picked up this junk, what are you doing with it?"

He shook his head again, Ao Chi grinned, his gaze gloomily turned toward Linghu Qingqing and the others.

"However, the seas turn to mulberry fields, worldly affairs change... We have been hiding in this underground palace, nursing our wounds... No matter how you found Us, but the smell on you all is truly unpleasant."

"Especially, you actually colluded with extraterrestrial demons, using their demonic creatures to wreak havoc upon all living beings under heaven!"

Ao Chi stared at the prow of the giant warship, that long-necked treasure vase made of seven-colored crystal, a flash of deep killing intent crossed his gaunt face: "A pile of scrap copper and rotten iron can't do anything to you; then let Us personally finish you off!"

When Ao Chi punched and injured the Yin-Yang Daoist, Linghu Qingqing and the others had already begun to gather together.

Five Five-Elements Secret Treasures hovered above their heads; under the control of Hu Tu and the five others, the Five Elements power mutually generated and overcame each other, forming the most basic, most original, simultaneously also the purest and flawless Five Elements Formation.

Under Linghu Qingqing's control, the boundless magical power condensed from the vast army formation poured into the Five Elements Formation; instantly, five-colored strange light shot up into the sky, the power of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth fluctuated in existence, enveloping the entire army formation in the five-colored strange light.

Wu Tie followed Hu Tu and the others back onto the giant warship's deck, merely he cautiously kept a sufficient distance from Linghu Qingqing and the others.

It is obvious that Linghu Qingqing and the others will be Ao Chi's primary strike target; Wu Tie therefore does not wish to suffer collateral damage.

But Wu Tie never expected that Ao Chi's strike would be so terrifying.

Ao Chi rose into the air, treading on wind and clouds, straight up to a thousand-li high altitude, looking down from above to overlook the vast army formation where Wu Tie and the others were.

Then, a bright moon burst forth from atop Ao Chi's head, incomparably lively and joyous as it leapt and sparkled in the air, stirring up vast ripples. Then came the second, third, fourth...

One hundred and eight pearls the size of a head, like bright moon pearls flying and dancing in the air, each pearl's water rippling abundantly, as if a wondrous ocean world were hidden within. What is even more terrifying is that inside each pearl, twelve lines penetrating the void are clearly visible, resembling the Grand Dao patterns of an astonishing heavenly dragon.

One thousand two hundred ninety-six Grand Dao gates.

One hundred and eight miniature ocean worlds.

"We are a split-body emanated from Ao Chi's One Qi Transforms into Three Purities slash... Ao Chi, must have fallen."

"However, the supreme treasure that We entrusted is precisely these one hundred and eight Vast Sea Divine Pearls."

"Each Vast Sea Divine Pearl contains the power of a miniature world; one hundred and eight Vast Sea Divine Pearls equal one hundred and eight worlds."

Ao Chi's facial muscles twitched, he laughed ferociously.

"We originally intended to actively awaken, then seek trouble from those extraterrestrial demons."

"Really never expected that you would actively come to our door."

"Your cultivation technique carries demonic aura... the demonic creatures you use are directly from extraterrestrial demons."

"So... weep, wail, beg... then all die for Us!"

Ao Chi laughed "hahaha", the terrifying dragon roar shook heaven and earth trembling; the one hundred and eight Vast Sea Divine Pearls suddenly expanded to a diameter of 1,000 zhang, then accompanied by blinding light filling the sky, one hundred and eight beams of strong light descended from the heavens, slamming heavily onto the vast army formation.

Just one strike, the vast army formation of over forty thousand warships and over a hundred million elite soldiers shattered.

Wu Tie fled at top speed, but he had just fled a few hundred zhang when a terrifying pressure descended from the heavens; one strike slapped him onto the ground.

Within a radius of 100,000 li, all mountains 'whoosh' turned into a basin sunken a thousand li underground.