Chapter 697

Filaments of cold qi, like aurora, poured down from the high sky.

The military city where Xiahou Rulong and others were located was sealed inside a huge block of mysterious ice.

Several shining divine artifacts hovered above Xiahou Rulong and company, forming a thick pillar of light that desperately resisted the cold qi's invasion. Xiahou Rulong and the others huddled within the light pillar, their faces ashen as they watched Wu Gan brandish his trident.

Wu Gan swung his trident and struck down heavily.

The several divine artifacts emitted anguished cries under the strain, their light flickering.

Xiahou Rulong roared, opening his mouth as the Great Wei Divine Kingdom's divine artifact, the Avici Hell Seal, transformed into a water‑tank‑sized ghost head that flew out. The ghost head's ferocious face spewed yin wind and black qi, and invisible strands of devouring power coiled around Wu Gan.

The wails of a hundred million evil spirits echoed in the void.

The terrifying devouring force drew out essence and blood, swallowed souls, and the void beside Wu Gan sank like a black hole or whirlpool, slowly rotating and undulating.

Had it been an ordinary Divine Manifestation Realm elder ancestor, once ensnared by the Avici Hell Seal, his spirit and flesh would instantly scatter, his bones turning to mud; in the blink of an eye the power of a hundred million evil spirits would annihilate him completely, not even a remnant soul remaining.

But Wu Gan wore the Ten Directions Slaughter Armor; a thick layer of substantive blood flame erupted, brimming with killing intent, and the blood flame frightened the hundred‑million evil spirits' power into shattering and scattering. The Avici Hell Seal could not stir his blood or spirit in the slightest.

Wu Gan laughed maniacally.

The trident struck down again. This time it stirred up layers of azure sea waves; on the waves loomed icebergs rolling and colliding, and several beautiful mermaids perched on the icebergs, singing moving songs.

Xiahou Rulong heard the mermaids' song, his spirit grew dazed, and his link to the Avici Hell Seal snapped abruptly.

The trident fell; several mermaids turned into thumb‑sized, crystal‑clear little fish, trailing threads of azure cold light. Like phantoms they pierced the light pillar formed by the combined divine artifacts and slammed heavily into Xiahou Rulong's chest.

Xiahou Rulong let out a miserable howl; cold qi spewed from his body nonstop, instantly freezing him into an ice stick.

The several divine artifacts gave anguished cries under the strain, and the Xiahou clan elders who controlled them also spat out mouthfuls of ice shards. Their bodies trembled violently; in the time of a single breath they, like Xiahou Rulong, turned into ice people.

Wu Gan laughed maniacally as the trident‑raised azure sea waves crashed wave after wave; the terrifying cold qi shattered the thick mysterious ice on the military city, the ice layer cracked then re‑froze, and viscous azure ice slurry coated the divine artifacts layer by layer, freezing even the treasures that tried to break through and flee within the ice.

Thus, all remaining Divine Manifestation Realm elder ancestors of the Great Wei Divine Kingdom were wiped out.

They were not dead, but all were frozen in the ice and captured alive by Wu Gan.

Wu Gan's wolf‑like fierce gaze swept over the ice, taking in the graceful figures of female elder ancestors such as Gongsun Xiu Niang. He licked his lips, grinning greedily: "I've longed to touch your beauty for tens of thousands of years… hey, from now on I'll make you die and live, live and die all day long… hehe!"

"Great Wei, Great Wei! Hehe, among the three kingdoms, Great Wei is the most cultured and graceful."

"Your sons, go be oxen and horses for my descendants… your daughters, too, shall forever be oxen and horses for my offspring. Ha, hahaha, hahaha!"

Wu Gan burst into hysterical, wild laughter.

Wu Dan also laughed hysterically, raising both hands fiercely toward the sky: "Great gods, I, the Great Wu Divine Kingdom, shall utterly follow your will!"

A flame descended from the heavens.

A magnificently radiant crown of fire projected onto Wu Dan's head.

The Nine Hells Blazing Flame Crown, the projection of the Lava Giant God Clan's supreme divine artifact, descended; a doppelganger landed on Wu Dan's head, and violent fire dragons surged from the crown, scorching and rolling, instantly melting over half of the battlefield's ice.

"You idiot!" Wu Gan strode forward, kicked Wu Dan hard in the chest, sending him crashing to the ground, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Big brother!" Wu Dan stared foolishly at Wu Gan.

"You almost released those pale‑faced weaklings of Great Wei… but it doesn't matter." Wu Gan glared fiercely at Linghu Qingqing, Gongyang Sanlü, and the others: "Wipe out those little foxes of Qingqiu Divine Kingdom… hehe, the three kingdoms—only the Wu clan shall reign supreme."

Wu Dan nodded repeatedly, struggled to his feet, and laughed "haha": "Exactly; from now on, the three kingdoms will belong solely to the Wu clan."

Wu Gan and Wu Dan fixed their fierce gazes on Linghu Qingqing and Gongyang Sanlü; one slowly raised the trident, the other gathered the power of the Nine Hells Blazing Flame Crown, merely wrapping himself in a layer of terrifying flame capable of melting all things.

Linghu Qingqing drew a deep breath: "This is a fight to the death, net broken."

Gongyang Sanlü nodded slowly: "Your Majesty, we must fight to the bitter end… tsk, I fear this battle will not end well. But I truly am unwilling… where did this armor, this trident, this crown come from? What exactly happened on the gods' side?"

"If I don't get to the bottom of this, I won't rest in peace." Gongyang Sanlü shook his head, deeply troubled.

As a suspicious scholar, he could not harbor any doubt; if he didn't clarify things, Gongyang Sanlü would rather die than resign himself. A thick resentment clung to his heart; if Wu Gan killed him now and he managed to escape with a remnant soul, Gongyang Sanlü felt confident he could become a vengeful ghost.

Wu Gan and Wu Dan laughed out loud, happily.

They were in no rush to attack; instead they laughed heartily, widening their eyes to watch the varied expressions of Linghu Qingqing, Gongyang Sanlü, and the others.

The Lianghe Three Ancestors barred the way before Wu Gan and Wu Dan, but the Lianghe Three Ancestors felt uneasy, their faces twisted badly.

Facing Wu Wan and Wu Dan, if they fought bare-handed, the three from Lianghe still had a chance to oppose one or two.

But Wu Wan and Wu Dan, they cheated, having received the blessing of the supreme divine artifact—how could we possibly fight?

Even with Linghu Qingqing behind him, holding the Soul Banner and forcibly activating it to form a thick wall of Yin Wind that protected the Wei clan's elder, the elder's face was twisted with struggle.

To fight, it's obviously impossible to win.

But not fighting…

Not fighting…

Surrender?

The Wei clan's elder's face twitched violently—was loyalty and honor more precious, or life itself?

Around them, Cold Qi was dense, Yin Wind gusted, the temperature dropped to the extreme, yet the Wei clan's elder was drenched in hot sweat, caught in a Heaven-Man Struggle.

To explain it all would take a long time; in fact, from Wu Ba's self-destruct, to Linghu Qingqing and the others bursting up from underground, to Wu Wan freezing Xiahou Rulong and the others into ice blocks, all of this happened in the brief span of a tea cup.

Wu Tie, Wu Tie buried deep under the rubble, his flesh had regrown all over, his injuries mostly healed.

He drew a deep breath, clenched his fist, and threw a punch toward the rubble overhead, toward the thick ice layer on the rubble.

This punch, too, seemed to encompass almost the entire world.

This punch encompassed all phenomena—dragons and phoenixes dancing, qilin steeds, and countless birds and beasts singing and dancing.

This punch also showed the changes of sun, moon, and stars, the turning of the seasons, the cycle of life and death, flowers blooming and falling, and moreover the beautiful scenes of spring flowers and autumn moon arising…

With one punch, the entire battle arena within a hundred-mile radius almost leapt into the sky.

Linghu Qingqing, Gongyang Sanlü, and even Wu Wan and Wu Dan, clad in the Ten Directions Slaughter Armor, wielding a trident or wearing the Nine Hellflame Crown, were all shaken by a tremendous force and sent flying into the sky.

The ice-sealed Great Wei military city was further shattered by this punch into fragments, and even the thick profound ice encasing it exploded into countless ice crystals.

Wu Tie let out a low roar, like an ancient demon beast awakening from hibernation, turning into a blur and charging unstoppably toward Wu Wan. With his left hand gripping the God-Beating Whip, he lashed out from afar.

Purple-golden light enveloped the entire battlefield, and a tremendous binding force pressed down on Wu Wan.

The Ten Directions Slaughter Armor on Wu Wan erupted with crimson flames reaching a hundred zhang high, his immense killing intent shooting straight to the heavens, striving to break the binding of the God-Beating Whip.

Wu Tie bit his own tongue tip, and thirty percent of his essence blood turned into a blood dragon that spewed out, pouring into the God-smiting Whip.

The God-smiting Whip burst with light; purple qi and golden light stabbed so fiercely that everyone shut their eyes, but even that was useless—the extreme golden light pierced through their eyelids into their eyeballs, making everyone scream in agony.

The God-smiting Whip lashed out and struck Wu Wan's head.

The God-smiting Whip, using its own body plus the tremendous force generated from Wu Tie's burning thirty percent of essence blood, slammed into the helmet on Wu Wan's head, which was formed from the projection of a clone of the Ten Directions Slaughter Armor.

Amid the deafening roar, the helmet shattered; Wu Wan's head took a solid blow, instantly sinking into a large pit.

The Wu family's cultivation method is overbearing and brutal; with a surge of qi and blood, the caved-in skull immediately began to regrow.

Wu Tie tightly gripped in his right hand a top-grade divine sword personally forged by Ou Yezi, likewise containing the supreme sword that embodies three thousand Grand Dao and eighty-four thousand side paths; he thrust it out. The sword exploded into fragments in its light, a stream of light pierced straight through Wu Wan's skull from top to bottom, blasting through his body.

At this moment, Wu Wan possessed the combat power of a tenth-layer Heaven Divine Manifestation Realm.

But his physical essence remained at the cultivation level of a fifth-layer Heaven Divine Manifestation Realm.

His body had previously been severely injured by a secret technique used by the elders of the Great Wei.

Thus this sword easily pierced Wu Wan's body and penetrated his divine soul. The sword intent burst forth, and Wu Wan's divine form was like cotton candy under a boulder—with a "pop," nothing remained.

A thick column of light shot straight up into the sky; the dying Wu Wan's desperate howl made Wu Dan shudder with a chill, and he let out a shocked, angry roar.

"Seal him!" Wu Tie drew another longsword and pointed it fiercely at Wu Dan.

The elder of the Wei clan was the first to react; he flicked his soul banner, and countless gleaming strands of yin wind evil energy instantly wrapped around Wu Dan's body.

The projection clone of the Ten Directions Slaughter Armor flared up, a blood-colored blaze shot up over a hundred zhang high, madly burning the yin wind evil energy on Wu Dan's surface, causing those gleaming yin winds to hiss.

The three ancestors of Liang River, faces alight with joy, each pulled out a thick iron rod, heedless of everything, charging forward to rain down a chaotic barrage of blows on Wu Dan's head and face.

These three iron rods were clearly not mundane; although they looked like ordinary black-forged cold iron, a shake released myriad auspicious vapors and thousand kinds of radiant light, and when they came down heavily, they shattered the blood flame on Wu Dan's surface and struck his body directly.

A dull impact sound came; Wu Dan was struck by this sudden attack, his body swaying, he staggered a few steps, then plopped down onto the ground.

The God-smiting Whip flared again; Wu Tie once more spat out a mouthful of blood, again contributing thirty percent of his essence blood.

The purple qi and golden light released by the God-smiting Whip nearly solidified, filling the entire battlefield.

With a tremendous boom, the projection clone of the Nine Prisons Blazing Flame Crown shattered; Wu Dan's body cracked open with countless minute fissures, and his entire upper-body armor was smashed to pieces.

Wu Tie grabbed with his right hand a supreme-grade sharp sword and thrust it into Wu Dan's throat.

The sword light exploded, a small, hazy gray mushroom cloud rose slowly, and the ground of the duel battlefield was once again buried under a thick layer about a hundred zhang high.

With a "thud," Wu Tie fell heavily to his knees.

After two strikes, having burned sixty percent of his essence blood, Wu Tie also felt waves of dizziness and blurred vision, nearly fainting.

Fortunately, his body was extremely robust; he took a deep breath, pulled out a large handful of scavenged Grand Dao Treasure Pills, and swallowed them indiscriminately regardless of whether they healed wounds, detoxified, cultivated, or assisted.

All Grand Dao Treasure Pills, though different in path, are nothing more than the Grand Dao's principles mixed with heavenly-earthly primordial energy, transformed and evolved.

As long as it is the heavenly-earthly law of this world, Wu Tie can absorb it.

As long as it is heavenly-earthly primordial energy, Wu Tie can absorb it.

Even various deadly poisons and filthy objects, as long as they are produced by this world, Wu Tie can now swallow them like rice balls, turning them into useful nourishment for himself.

Vast primordial energy circulated within his body; his formidable nonhuman marrow devoured the energy, swiftly turning into drop after drop of heavy, mountain-like essence blood brimming with vast power, rushing into his meridians. Thus Wu Tie's body emitted a tide-like muffled roar—the sound of newly formed blood rapidly scouring his withered vessels.

Linghu Qingqing stared wide-eyed at Wu Tie in disbelief.

"Beloved… Prince An… you…" Linghu Qingqing didn't know what to say.

Wu Wan and Wu Dan had nearly driven Linghu Qingqing to desperation; she had braced herself for a jade-shattering end, and even felt a sudden surge of intense despair and unwillingness.

Even just now, for a moment, Silver Fish Child's face flashed before her eyes.

Among military families there is a superstition: if on the battlefield one suddenly sees the face of one's beloved woman flicker before one's eyes, it is an omen of certain death.

The origin of this superstition is untraceable, but including Linghu Qingqing, many scions of the military clans of Green Hill blindly believe it.

When the delicate face of Silver Fish Child flickered across her heart just now, Linghu Qingqing almost burst into tears.

But now, Wu Tie suddenly appeared, he slew Wu Wan and Wu Dan, while the pale-faced elders of the Great Wei have all been completely frozen, utterly losing their combat ability.

In other words… has Green Hill won?

A flash of Five Elements Divine Light behind Wu Tie, which he stored into the Five Elements Small World within that light; at the same time, the military clan elders who had sworn allegiance to him—Li Guang, Zhao Xiang, Xiang Feiyu, Xiang Feixie, and others—numbered 264 Divine Manifestation Realm elders and 15,972 half-step Divine Manifestation Realm elites from various houses…

Each one spirited and unharmed, they flew forth from the five-colored light.

As for the Great Wei clan elders and kin who had defected to Wu Tie… after a moment's thought, with a "swish," he released them as well.

Linghu Qingqing and Gongyang Sanlü first rejoiced, then were shocked, then their faces turned ashen; like frightened rabbits they retreated with a series of "swishes" dozens of li, nearly crashing headfirst into the boundary restriction of the duel battlefield.

"Beloved, what does this mean? …Why did you even rescue the Great Wei people?" Linghu Qingqing's mind felt a bit short-circuited.