Chapter 661: Strong, Setting the Price

It looks vigorous, as if the divine war would exterminate nations and slaughter cities, and it has already lasted three months.

Three months later, winter had vanished without trace, spring arrived with a yawn and collapsed, so the winds of the Three Kingdoms battlefield grew gentle, the water grew warm, and between mountains and fields, green grass sprouted and flowers bloomed.

However, not a single one of the 1,100-odd gods of the Great Wei Divine State or the 1,200-odd gods of the Blue Hill Divine State has fallen in battle.

Moreover, because it is a divine war, the ordinary troops of both sides heavily counter each other, merely huddled in the military cities, watching a group of gods fight all day long.

Thus, over three months, the total number of ordinary soldiers killed from the two divine states amounts to no more than 100,000.

Linghu Qingqing and Xiahou Luoming, every ten days, would personally show up and exchange greetings before the two armies; such greetings usually ended with the two clashing. Over three months, they fought seven or eight times, Linghu Qingqing winning more than losing, giving her a great advantage.

Because Linghu Qingqing personally held the front line, Wu Tie became a second-line commander, leading his own Invincible Army's direct line to garrison the White Wolf River sector, and he was too lazy to mix into the front, where the situation was as sticky and unclear as cattle-glue.

In the mountain basin, a stretch of peach forest hundreds of miles long was snapped by sword qi; countless branches, leaves, and petals shot high amid the piercing Dao resonance, then exploded in midair into powder, drifting down as pink fragments.

Wu Tie wielded a single saber, while over a hundred Wu family youths jointly besieged him.

These Wu family youths held various blades: there were three-ping great cleavers, Azure Dragon crescent blades, also arc-moon blades, three-pointed blades, plus long blades, short blades, heavy blades, light blades, straight blades, curved blades……including a giant blade weighing a million catties, and a three-inch brow blade for assassination.

These are the strongest blade experts and deepest blade Dao practitioners among the 120,000 Wu family youths.

Blade light chilled, blade wind howled, streaks of cold brilliance repeatedly struck Wu Tie's bare body, accompanied by light or heavy, piercing or dull impacts; sparks flew from Wu Tie's body as one could see streaks of blade Dao patterns winding like water, continuously spreading across him.

A few months earlier, after a great battle with Gongsun Xiuniang, Wu Tie was stimulated by external force, causing that lotus root to mutate and spontaneously help him condense a Sword Dao Law Body.

Once the Sword Dao Law Body was formed, Wu Tie's cultivation rank made no progress, his mana did not increase at all, yet relying solely on the fierce Sword Dao intent stored within his body, his combat power surged by thirty percent out of nowhere.

After that night, Wu Tie had an epiphany; a few days later he applied to Linghu Qingqing to be transferred back to garrison the second line at White Wolf River, and then began his frantic experiments.

Hammer, staff, fork, spear, halberd, pole, lance, bell, meteor, iron chain, mountain shield, heavy hook……

The 120,000 Wu family youths each wield their familiar weapons; there are the common eighteen types of arms, the uncommon three hundred sixty strange weapons, plus all sorts of bizarre, unimaginable odd devices—everything one could imagine.

Moreover, the Wu family's bloodline is mighty, worthy of being called a natural fighting clan; those youths selected by the Wu family patriarch and sent to the mortal world to serve are utterly proficient with their own equipment and weapons, their skills having reached the peak.

Every day, Wu Tie used the same weapon, letting dozens or even hundreds of his clansmen brothers unleash a frenzied beating upon him.

The more brutally he was beaten, the more miraculous that lotus root became, and the Dao patterns of the myriad weapons' heterodox paths derived faster, merging with his flesh more efficiently.

In just three months, besides the Sword Dao Law Body, Wu Tie condensed another dozen-odd law bodies.

At this moment, Wu Tie's cultivation rank still hasn't advanced, his mana likewise hasn't increased, but his bodily strength has again risen to an unimaginable degree.

These law bodies corresponding to the various weapons could either greatly boost his speed, or greatly boost his strength, or greatly boost his defense, or greatly boost his reaction……

In short, each weapon can greatly enhance some attribute of Wu Tie's body.

For example, the law bodies corresponding to the heavy hammer and wolf-tooth club increased Wu Tie's bodily strength by about fifty percent.

Whereas bows and arrows, flying knives, and ox-hair wind-piercing needles—such hidden weapons—increased his bodily speed by more than fifty percent.

In short, the law bodies corresponding to each category of weapon are quite balanced, able to increase Wu Tie's overall bodily strength by about thirty percent.

How terrifying this is.

In just three months, Wu Tie merely endured daily beatings, and his overall bodily strength increased by multiple folds out of nowhere.

With a booming crash, a heavy triple-edged, double-bladed sword slammed down upon Wu Tie's head; his hair stood straight up, sparks flew from his scalp, the triple-refined immortal-armament heavy sword shattered inch by inch, and one could see Wu Tie's body radiate pure light as countless infinitesimal blade Dao patterns sprayed from his pores, swirling and dancing across his surface before ringing into his body with a 'ding-ding' sound.

Each tiny Dao pattern imprinted within his body spat out large sparks, and naturally a sharp qi surged forth from within Wu Tie.

When the last thread of Dao pattern had fully merged with his body, Wu Tie's Blade Dao Law Body was completely condensed; he suddenly opened his mouth and gave a heavy cough, from which a beam of white light shot out, howling toward a mountain peak tens of li away to cleave it.

The white light suddenly burst, transforming into thousands of gold blades of varying sizes and lengths, which heavily struck the mountain peak.

A mountain a thousand zhang high instantly collapsed, exploding into countless dust and sand that shot straight up into the sky, eventually turning into a cloud of drifting dust.

Wu Tie drew a deep breath and said in a low voice: 'Come on… huh, there's still this.'

Turning his palm, Wu Tie furrowed his brow and swallowed three multicolored giant centipedes, two emerald-green small spiders, and a ferocious-looking red-and-blue-striped double-headed poisonous snake with a 'crack-crack' sound.

The deadly poison erupted within his body, a poison potent enough to instantly slay even a half-step Divine Realm expert.

Strands of multicolored, hair-raising toxic Dao patterns sprouted across Wu Tie's body surface, then continually merged with his flesh.

If he took a beating, he could forge the law bodies corresponding to all weapons…… A month and a half ago, Wu Tie suddenly had a very bold idea. He began ingesting some deadly poisons, some bizarre oddities.

Sure enough, on the Jade Disc projection, atop the small lotus leaves corresponding to the eighty-four thousand heterodox paths, another thousand-odd small lotus leaves lit up, and a thousand-odd heterodox Dao patterns slowly but firmly merged with Wu Tie's flesh.

Meanwhile, on the three thousand large lotus leaves corresponding to the Three Thousand Great Dao, which represent 'life', 'bloodline', etc., and the corresponding vitality of flesh and soul, as well as the large lotus leaves of destruction, extinction, decay, and reincarnation on the Three Thousand Great Dao, they too lit up one after another.

A hundred-odd Great Dao patterns were merging with Wu Tie's flesh.

Once these Great Dao patterns and heterodox Dao patterns had fully merged with Wu Tie's flesh, who knows how mighty his body could become.

Time flew by, from spring to summer, then into early autumn.

Another few months flashed by, and Wu Tie was still enduring beatings in the valley.

At this point, those besieging Wu Tie had become over a thousand Wu family youths wielding various strange weapons; besides them, around the surroundings were several Wu family descendants versed in sorcery and witchcraft, attacking Wu Tie with all kinds of spells, incantations, and soul‑suppressing arts.

Besides that, there were also the various five‑element arts of earth, water, fire, and wind, as well as heavenly thunder, profound ice, acid, and deadly poison derived arts that surged forth madly.

Over a thousand people wielded weapons in close‑quarters siege, while tens of thousands of Wu family youths unleashed arcane arts in a frenzied outer assault.

Wu Tie's Divine Fetus, unbeknownst to him, had risen from over ten thousand zhang to about twelve thousand zhang in these short few months, and the Jade Disc projection behind it grew ever brighter and purer, almost condensing into a solid form.

At the center of the Jade Disc projection, three huge lotus buds became much clearer, and occasionally they even stirred on their own without wind.

At every moment, one could see strands of strange qi being swallowed by the Three Kingdoms lotus buds, causing the three buds to glow with radiant light throughout, exquisitely magnificent and delicately beautiful beyond words.

These qi partly came from Wu Tie's Divine Fetus, partly from his body, partly from the Jade Disc projection, and partly from the unfathomable depths of heaven and earth… and this portion from the unfathomable place, the strange qi, was the most vast, accounting for over ninety‑five percent.

At the edge of the Jade Disc projection, the large lotus leaves corresponding to the Three Thousand Great Dao were almost all lit up, and the small lotus leaves corresponding to the eighty‑four thousand heterodox paths were also lit up in large part.

At this moment, Wu Tie stood bare‑fisted in the valley, allowing his brothers to attack him wildly; sparks flew all over his body, yet he suffered no harm.

His skin had turned a dark gold, looking at first glance like a metal‑cast statue, giving an inexplicable, suffocating pressure.

His stature had naturally grown to sixteen Chinese feet high—sixteen feet, a sixteen‑foot golden body…… This is a most peculiar height, sparking the imagination; not an inch more, not a fraction less, exactly sixteen Chinese feet.

At this moment, the terror of Wu Tie's physical body defies description.

Just look at those Wu family descendants frantically besieging him; they all shut their eyes, attacking him purely on combat instinct.

Because of Wu Tie as he is now, they cannot even look directly at him.

A few days earlier, when Wu Tie's height had gradually stabilized at sixteen Chinese feet, a Wu family brother accidentally glanced at him, and his eyeballs were instantly crushed to powder by a terrifying force from the unfathomable depths.

When Wu Tie's height was completely fixed at this value, any Wu brother who dared to look straight at Wu Tie inevitably suffered severe damage to both eyes.

Even if there were elixirs that could regenerate the eyes, the taste of having one's eyeballs blown apart… is too painful, too unbearable; only someone extremely bored would try it.

So, when the Wu brothers trained with Wu Tie, they all closed their eyes and refused to open them.

Ding ding, clang clang, zheng zheng…

Various weapons fell like raindrops, and countless spell attacks surged forward madly.

Wu Tie stood motionless on the spot; even the full-force strike of the Wu brothers at the peak of the Tai Cang Realm could not make him feel the slightest impact.

He took a deep breath, and Wu Tie extended one hand.

At the edge of the valley, several great cauldrons glowed red-hot; seeing Wu Tie extend his hand, a few Wu youths immediately poured a vat of viscous, scorching liquid from the cauldrons and threw it to him from afar.

This is what Wu Tie produced by mobilizing the power of Prince An's Mansion, gathering hundreds of thousands of poisonous insects, poisonous herbs, poisonous flowers, poisonous leaves, and even various highly toxic minerals and other curiosities, then adding all the beneficial strange flowers, exotic herbs, heavenly and earthly spiritual medicines, and even precious items that can resurrect the dead and regather flesh and bone that the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom could collect, boiling them together in a pot.

This thing… you can't really say whether it's a poison or a medicine.

In any case, if a normal person drinks a sip, they will surely turn into a puddle of poison.

Wu Tie seized a large vat about a zhang in diameter, opened his mouth with a gulugulu, and in a few gulps downed the entire vat of scorching liquid.

A terrifying chaotic surge erupted within Wu Tie's body, millions of strange ingredients mingled together, giving rise to countless variations; the drug's complexity was so extreme that even the world's greatest alchemy masters could not say what this thing actually was.

Wu Tie drank it all in one gulp, and then sticky sweat poured from his entire body.

On the jade disc projection, the whole lotus root sprayed out a blinding flame; the chaotic surge was drunk dry, and then thousands of small lotus leaves of heterodox paths lit up, some brand-new dao patterns spontaneously sprouted and continually drilled into Wu Tie's body.

Wu Tie's body changed from a dark gold to a terrifying black.

Then the black suddenly shifted to pure gold, and further to a transparent liuli gold…

Weapon after weapon fell upon Wu Tie's body, and then these arms of three‑refined immortal weapons or higher shattered one after another; looking closely, these weapons were already crushed by an invisible force when they were still three feet from Wu Tie's body.

Wu Tie's physical body was indeed driven to an inconceivable realm.

A thunderclap rang from within him, and the ninth revolution of the Nine Revolutions Mystic Art broke through unexpectedly at this moment.

Wu Tie only felt a sense of looseness and lightness within his body; the ninth revolution of the Nine Revolutions Mystic Art seemed to have opened a sealed gate, revealing before him a broader, loftier realm.

The ninth revolution of the Nine Revolutions Mystic Art was merely the foundation of an even higher realm…

Suddenly, Wu Tie gained this realization; he took a deep breath, and his transparent liuli-gold body gradually turned back to normal skin tone.

From afar came Wu Jin's loud cry: "Your Highness, an emissary from His Majesty has delivered an order."

Wu Tie raised his eyebrows, a golden flash flickered in his pupils, and the hundreds of layers of sealing formations surrounding the valley were shattered by his gaze as if it were substance; in an instant he saw beyond the valley, where You Ruo stood beside Wu Jin.

It's You Ruo!

Wu Tie pondered for a moment, roughly understanding why he had come here.

Donning a set of ordinary robes, Wu Tie turned into a streak of light, shot out of the valley, and arrived before You Ruo.

"May I ask, Envoy, what does His Majesty command?"

You Ruo narrowed his eyes, sizing up Wu Tie from head to toe.

After a while, he withdrew his gaze and said coldly: "His Majesty is dissatisfied with the current situation… after fighting for over half a year, we still haven't taken down a single old foe from the opposite side. What is this? Are we just setting up a stage to put on a show?"

You Ruo reached out and slammed his palm hard onto Wu Tie's chest, saying in a deep voice: "Find a way, take out more of the enemy's old-timers… I'll grant you ten slots for promotion to the Divine Manifestation Realm. Note that, like the Heavenly Emperor's Command, these slots do not require undergoing the Divine Tribulation; they are direct recommendations to godhood."

Wu Tie suddenly lifted his head, two points of golden light flashing in his pupils like a red-hot branding iron, stabbing pain into You Ruo's eyes.

You Ruo instinctively stepped back, a vague fear rising in his heart—this fellow's gaze, how could it be so terrifying?

"Fifty!" Wu Tie flung his mouth wide like a lion, extending his right hand and shaking his large palm vigorously: "Not only that, these fifty divine qualifications do not include myself. Moreover, they will not be forcibly escorted to ascend; they must remain by my side to serve."

You Ruo suddenly opened his mouth, exclaiming in shock: "Fifty? Hmm…"

You Ruo stared straight at Wu Tie.

Wu Tie also stared straight at You Ruo: "If you, Envoy, can make the decision, I will act today and will surely satisfy His Majesty and you."

You Ruo narrowed his eyes.

So‑called godhood slots, bypassing the so‑called Divine Tribulation, are completely cost‑free for You Ruo and his ilk. More bluntly, they are merely tools they use to control the Three Kingdoms' power and amass wealth.

Fifty godhood slots… tsk… what's that worth?

"Fine!" You Ruo gritted his teeth… agreeing was no problem, after all the soul crystals and blood essence of thirteen Divine Manifestation Realm masters are lying there waiting to be distributed.

"Well, I, the prince, rose from poverty and have little property… I demand the Nine Revolutions Mystic Art as the inherited technique of my Prince An lineage." Wu Tie said bluntly: "If the Envoy agrees, this will be settled. I will certainly take three to five hundred heads."

You Ruo's body twitched, his face contorting as he stared at Wu Tie.