Chapter 601

Still, black clouds roiled.

At the moment the God-Beating Whip took shape, the black clouds emitted by the Black Heaven Cauldron contracted inward and shrank, while their hue shifted from black to purple-gold.

But as Wu Tie hurled the God-Beating Whip into the high heavens, letting the starlight and moonlight wildly temper it to raise its quality, the purple-gold auspicious clouds and auspicious qi, under Wu Tie's urging, turned once more into pitch-black, bottomless black, surging like they'd been injected with chicken blood, continuing to spread in all directions.

At this moment, driving this expanse of black clouds were not only Wu Tie, the 120,003 Wu family youths, the Five Elements Spirits subordinates, but also the power of the God-Beating Whip itself.

The Black Heaven Cauldron and the Seven Treasures Ruyi, as the foundation, plus the myriad descended divine spirits' wealth seized by Ao Chi, the God-Beating Whip's own material is astonishingly strong, and with the tempering of boundless starlight, it constantly helps the whip absorb and refine massive amounts of heavenly treasures, its quality continually rises, its might continually strengthens.

Therefore, the area covered by the black clouds is rapidly increasing.

Apart from Qing Hill City, which Wu Tie carefully spared, the prefectures surrounding Qing Hill City—over a hundred prefectures where stellar power was originally most concentrated—are now utterly pitch-black, not a single ray of light visible.

Heavenly Dao divine artifacts screamed as they struck the black clouds, but the black clouds remained unmoved.

Countless immortal troops and spirit troops, carrying towering flames of light, smashed into the black clouds, yet the black clouds showed no change.

Those civilian cultivators from humble families, knowing they could not provoke Wu Tie—whose methods were shocking and barbaric, unreasonable—gnashed their teeth, called friends, formed groups of three or five, and fled the city overnight, renting or piloting their own small flying vessels, racing straight for the nearest spatial gate at top speed.

They could not win, but they could escape; after a full seven nights of stellar power descent, sacrificing a day's time, these humble cultivators had enough time to run far enough to leave the black clouds' coverage.

Even if the distance from Qing Hill City made the stellar power a little thinner, for these cultivators whose techniques were not profound and whose weapons were not divine weapons, it was sufficient.

In fact, with their foundation, they could not even endure half a night of starlight tempering; if they truly opened themselves to absorb it, their bodies, souls, and weapons would all be blown apart by the intense starlight.

So, they could not win, but they could flee.

But how could the noble aristocrats and true top-tier families act like these civilian cultivators?

The over a hundred prefectures surrounding Qing Hill City are where stellar power is most abundant, and also the most prosperous, wealthiest lands of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom; those who hold a place there are the Green Hill Divine Kingdom's top-tier great clans and great families.

They could not, because of Wu Tie, learn from those civilian cultivators and slink away from their own territories, abandoning their right to absorb stellar essence on their lands.

One reason: their clan members are too many, their cultivation too strong, their divine weapons too many, requiring sufficient stellar essence to temper so many clan members, so many divine weapons, so much clan foundation.

Second reason……they cannot afford to lose face.

If word got out that a certain prince's mansion, a certain duke's mansion, a certain royal relative's residence……were actually forced by a mere upstart rebel prince to abandon their own lands, fleeing like dogs to the countryside to fight petty nobles for territory and stellar essence…

Heck, even their ancestors' spirit tablets would barely stay upright.

Streams of strange light shot up into the sky, madly attacking the thick black clouds above, while simultaneously, streams of flowing light shot straight up from prince's mansions, duke's mansions, newly enfeoffed princesses' mansions, and the residences of high-ranking court officials.

These streams of light each exuded astonishing aura, fiercely cutting through the void, emitting deafening roars.

Jade Prefecture is not far from Qing Hill City; using the spatial gate nearest Jade Prefecture, a single teleport can reach the Jade Prefecture Manor; experts whose evasion-flight speed is sufficient can make a round trip from Qing Hill City to Peace City in the time it takes to finish a cup of tea.

From the spatial gate nearest Peace City, streams of flowing light burst forth, revealing individuals dressed in various splendid robes, their aura stern, their expressions grim—high officials and nobles.

At least a hundred newly appointed princes of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom, hundreds of dukes, thousands of marquises, and countless imperial relatives of the Linghu clan and various other dignitaries of high status surged out of the spatial gate with mighty vigor.

Each of them had dozens to hundreds of Embryo Treasury realm guards following behind; so many people almost simultaneously poured out of the spatial gate; their private armies combined, the momentum was astonishing, both in number and quality.

These top-tier nobles of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom, gritting their teeth, under the leadership of Linghu Jian whose eyes slightly reddened, surged forward with mighty momentum toward Wu Tie's position.

Speaking of which, Linghu Jian and his descendants have a huge residence in Qing Hill City—the former residence of Princess Jingcheng, which he occupied. This residence covers a vast area, the stellar essence poured onto it is rich as substance; even if the population of Linghu Jian's manor were a hundred times larger, it would still be enough for them to temper themselves, comprehend the Dao, refine their cultivation, and polish their divine weapons.

Yet Linghu Jian still came.

He arrived with mighty momentum, leading dozens of Linghu clan brothers, accompanied by a large retinue of private guards, killing intent rising.

Linghu Jian has always disliked Wu Tie; of course, he would never admit this is because back in the Eastern Garden, Wu Tie beat him severely.

In any case, Linghu Jian simply dislikes Wu Tie.

Such a good opportunity—Wu Tie this fellow has provoked the top-tier nobles of over a hundred prefectures around Qing Hill City; everyone joins forces to come to his door to settle accounts……this is a good opportunity, Linghu Jian must seize it.

Not only to give Wu Tie a lesson.

More importantly, under the circumstance of mutual enmity, as the Linghu clan's outwardly highest-ranked 'legitimate son', he naturally ought to be the Crown Prince of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom.

With so many imperial relatives and top-tier nobles present, if they could, in the process of dealing with Wu Tie, forge steadfast bonds of camaraderie with them……heh heh, just thinking about it makes Linghu Jian unable to hold back a laugh.

Still dozens of li from Wu Tie, Linghu Jian could not help but let out a loud roar; his blood surged, a layer of bright blue fox fire rose from his body, accompanied by a sharp howl, behind him a huge phantom of a six-tailed white fox slowly appeared.

The Linghu clan's name, ancestral homeland, and even some of their inherited techniques and divine powers are related to the legendary Ten-Tailed Celestial Fox.

But legends are just legends; today Linghu Jian goes all out, unwilling to spare his bloodline power, finally letting the many nobles of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom present confirm——the Linghu clan indeed possesses the legendary celestial fox bloodline!

A soul-shaking, eerie spiritual power enveloped the void within a radius of hundreds of li; Linghu Jian waved his right hand, a streak of blue fox fire rolled up a wild thunderclap, howling as it tore open a vast expanse of dark clouds, descending upon Wu Tie standing on the Four Spirit Warship.

"Prince An Huo Xiong, release that damned black cloud……do you intend to challenge the entire Green Hill Divine Kingdom with just one person?"

Linghu Jian directly slapped a big hat on Wu Tie's head.

Wu Tie turned around, glanced at Linghu Jian, gave a 'hahaha' laugh, the vast mana gathered from the myriad Five Elements Spirits surged forward, quickly pouring into the God-Beating Whip hanging high in the sky.

The God-Beating Whip's light flickered, then countless whip shadows accompanied by a heaven‑shaking, earth‑splitting roar came crashing down.

Linghu Jian and the many nobles and officials only felt their vision go dark, then purple‑gold light mist filled the surroundings; before they could see what had struck them, each received a blow to the forehead.

With a 'boom', thousands of divine kingdom officials simultaneously spat blood, their limbs twitching as they fell from the high sky.

The God-Beating Whip's might is extraordinary; many officials had spiritual light flickering on their bodies, various defensive secret treasures activated on their own, trying to block the whip's edge, but were smashed to pieces by a single lash of the whip, and moreover, their masters' souls were shaken, the injuries growing ever more severe.

The guards these officials brought all cried out in unison, scrambling forward, hands and feet flustered, catching their masters, then silently turning and leaving.

It's a joke—Wu Tie has thirty‑six Four Spirit Warships stationed here, tens of millions of elite Five Elements Spirits formed into battle arrays, plus a national‑treasure‑level divine artifact suppressing them; unless it's a battle array of elite forces over a hundred times stronger than Wu Tie's facing him head‑on, any number of attackers are just delivering food.

No one brought a large army to attack Wu Tie, because including Linghu Jian, no one expected such a thing to happen.

A person, a former official who had just defected three days ago, a newly ennobled marquis who had just surrendered—even if he were recklessly bold, would he dare to lay hands on the entire court of civil and military officials?

So, would that person rashly lead an army to confront Wu Tie?

Moreover, the Green Hill Divine Kingdom has inherited over ninety percent of the laws of the Great Jin Divine Kingdom; Jade Prefecture is Wu Tie's fief; if these outer ministers dared to bring an army into Wu Tie's fief without the Holy Edict of Linghu Qingqing, it would undoubtedly be 'rebellion and treason'.

They only wanted to teach Wu Tie a lesson, not to rebel.

So, facing Wu Tie's battle array, facing the newly born God-Beating Whip, a divine weapon, who would be unlucky if not them?

"Ha, chickens and dogs, not worth a blow!" Wu Tie flicked his hand, the God-Beating Whip continued to shoot upward, greedily devouring the starlight and moonlight streaming from all directions.

To be honest, even if the God-Beating Whip's quality were extraordinary, it could not digest even one‑ten‑thousandth of the starlight and moonlight it swallowed.

But Wu Tie doesn't care.

With the world origin infused by the Canghai Divine Pearl, the God-Beating Whip also gave birth to one hundred and eight miniature worlds inside it. Now these worlds are frenziedly inhaling and exhaling stellar power essence, constantly strengthening their foundations and enhancing the power of the world origin.

Moreover, stellar essence crystals continuously condense.

These are all excellent treasures, priceless treasures of the underground world. The Wu tribe has so many clansmen; sending these treasures to the underground world would be enough for the Wu tribe to cultivate a large batch of outstanding talents over the coming years.

So, what's there to fear about offending people?

Wu Tie stood with his hands behind his back, watching the stellar essence fall from the sky, baring his teeth in a grin.

First, let's seize this stellar essence; other things can wait. Anyway, Wu Tie has just sworn allegiance to Linghu Qingqing—what could he possibly do to him over such a trifle?

Wu Tie was busy in the skies above Peaceful City, striving to strengthen the foundation and power of his own faction.

Huang Lang, Li Ergouzi, and other close aides of Wu Tie were likewise busy.

Their cultivation was low and their foundation insufficient; the stellar power filling the sky held little practical value for them. They split into hundreds of small teams, escorted by the Five Elements Spirits, rapidly shuttling through one spatial gate after another.

Lan Changqing stared blankly at the black clouds in the sky.

He heard Wu Tie's laughter, witnessed Wu Tie's overbearing and tyrannical nature, and just now saw that with a single strike Wu Tie sent thousands of prominent figures of the Blue Hill Divine Kingdom vomiting blood and crashing down.

Lan Changqing's scalp tingled repeatedly; they'd ended up with an unreliable sovereign, hadn't they?

Who does things like this?

Even if you were to become a lone minister, the most trusted lone minister of Linghu Qingqing, you still couldn't act like this!

"Crazy, crazy... we... we won't get involved... we, we can't afford to get involved." Lan Changqing said, trembling: "Our Lan family is small and insignificant; we can't afford to meddle in the affairs of these big shots... it's utterly insane, simply... the Prince of Peace? Peace? Peace? This title sounds so noble, but where is the 'peace' in him?"

Lan Changqing lowered his head, beginning to calculate whether he should lead his people to temporarily leave their fief and seek opportunities in other provinces.

For seven full nights, stellar light will shine down; even if one leaves Yu Prefecture, departs from the over a hundred prefectures surrounding Blue Hill City, as long as one escapes Wu Tie's grasp, even in the wilderness, stellar light will fall.

The Blue Hill Divine Kingdom's territory is vast; for a mid-sized clan like the Lan family, their demand for stellar essence is actually not great, and it can easily be satisfied.

In the midst of his contemplation, a medium-sized warship bearing over a thousand soldiers tore through the sky.

Li Ergouzi wore the bright armor of a first-rank general, standing vigorously at the prow, smiling warmly as he nodded toward Lan Changqing below: "Is this the Lan clan chief? Congratulations, Lan clan chief, congratulations... This is the Prince's summoning edict; as long as the Lan clan chief puts his handprint on it, he will undergo a transformation from a common chicken to a phoenix, becoming the Master of the Household Hall of our Peace State!"

Come, come, come, Lan clan chief, hurry up and press your handprint... Hmm, besides you, Lan clan chief, what about your cousins? I've heard there's a reputation of the 'Eighteen Exemplary Gentlemen of the Lan family'; adding you, the Lan clan chief, your generation has eighteen famous talents? Come on, come on, call them out, hurry and press each handprint.

These are excellent positions, Master of the Household Hall, Master of the Rites Hall... Oh dear, Lan clan chief, your whole family occupies the two chief posts of my Peace State... Moreover, there are other hall supervisors, hall officers, chief clerks, and various minor posts—over three hundred of them... Lan clan chief, congratulations, congratulations, your ancestral grave is sending up green smoke—you've struck it rich all at once!

Lan Changqing and the Lan clan's youngsters stared dumbfounded at Li Ergouzi...

A summoning edict?

Wu Tie's summoning edict to appoint talented members of the Lan clan as officials?

Nonsense, how can a summoning edict be played like this? Pressing a handprint? You treat it like a madam in a brothel buying a little girl!

Press a handprint?

Nonsense!

Besides, besides... is the Lan clan's ancestral grave emitting black smoke? You've caught the eye of this insane, tyrannical Peace Prince!

The Lan clan neither wants to be involved with Wu Tie, nor wants to be too closely involved with him!

And they want Lan Changqing to become Master of the Household Hall?

And one of Lan Changqing's brothers is to be appointed Master of the Rites Hall?

Are you afraid that if Wu Tie meets misfortune later, the Lan clan will be exterminated?

A fief's hall master is absolutely the sovereign's die-hard confidant... if the sovereign meets misfortune, this hall master will surely be exterminated!

Lan Changqing's ten fingers twitched spasmodically, jerking like chicken claws.

He trembled as he looked at Li Ergouzi, suddenly feeling like dying.