Chapter 875

Being crushed from high altitude, it fell straight to the ground.

Wu Tie's skin is thick and flesh is sturdy, which is fine; his body is extremely heavy, and he smashed a pit about one li in radius and several hundred li deep into the ground, yet he remained unharmed.

Blood Light is truly a heaven-born divine bird; after activating the slaughter-blood peacock bloodline, her physique far surpasses ordinary demon kings. Being crushed by the Thunder Seal, she fell down grimy, and like Wu Tie, smashed a pit in the ground, but only a bit embarrassed, suffering no major harm.

Only Pei Feng, although she had obtained the Ancient Demon Phoenix inheritance, her essence remained human.

She lacked the sturdy bodies of Wu Tie and Pei Feng; the Thunder Seal's aura crushed down, and Pei Feng fell embarrassedly, hearing a 'Crack!' as her legs shattered into at least a dozen pieces.

Pei Feng let out a muffled grunt.

Blood Light immediately howled to the sky: 'Sister, how is it?'

Blood Light suffused her body, behind her a huge scarlet peacock phantom fluttered its wings struggling, but the three old Daoists' cultivation was profoundly strong; no matter how Blood Light struggled and roared, it could not move at all.

Pei Feng frowned, gritted her teeth, and said: 'It's fine.'

Black demon flames engulfed her body, the demon flames born from her marrow, vast energy nourishing her whole; Pei Feng's shattered bones pieced together bit by bit, nourished by the demon flames, and with the Ancient Demon Phoenix inheritance, she should recover extremely quickly.

However, the Thunder Shadow Dao law wielded by the three Daoists is immensely powerful, and Daoist divine abilities are innately extremely strong at restraining any demonic or heterodox powers.

The Demon Phoenix inheritance Pei Feng obtained could be called peerless, but her cultivation is far too weak compared to those of the Azure Lotus Observatory Daoists; the demon flames churned wildly, yet her internal power was suppressed to the brink of death, and her bones struggled to heal.

Wu Tie lay spread-eagled in the deep pit.

His six senses are incredibly strong; now he, from millions of li away, if he wishes to listen attentively, can hear the chirp of a bug millions of li away.

Pei Feng and Blood Light fell to the ground; Blood Light was only a bit embarrassed, but the sound of Pei Feng's bones breaking made Wu Tie's heart twitch, his eyes suddenly reddened, and his anger surged upward.

He knew Pei Feng's inheritance details; he knew that with her own ability, even a broken bone would heal in a breath, a minor injury not worth mentioning.

But feeling the frantic crushing of the three Thunder Seals atop his head, sensing Pei Feng's internal aura suppressed to the extreme, and hearing the 'Grrrack!' of her broken bones rubbing together, Wu Tie's heart surged with malice.

'Azure Lotus Observatory's old fogeys, you've gone too far!'

Wu Tie said word by word: 'Finally, I reiterate once more: I, the king, cannot be bothered to meddle in your Sui Dynasty internal affairs; whether your Azure Lotus Observatory seeks to usurp the throne or maintain balance, as long as you agree to my reasonable demands, I will lead my people away.'

Wu Tie shouted loudly: 'Carve out a territory large enough, with enough people, to be incorporated into Wuguo as compensation for the Sui Dynasty's wanton infringement upon Wuguo... thereafter Wuguo and the Sui Dynasty will have nothing to do with each other.'

'If you agree to my demands, I, the king, will turn and leave.'

'If you do not agree...'

Wu Tie was about to voice his bottom line when Zui Fo's leisurely laugh came: 'Your Majesty the Martial King, what you say now doesn't count.'

'The bottom line of my Azure Lotus Observatory is: not an inch of land yielded, not a single person surrendered... If the Martial King is willing to lead Wuguo to submit to the Sui Dynasty, then a kingship may be expected. If the Martial King insists on his own way, relying on his mere thirty-fifty percent cultivation, trying to grab eighty-ninety percent of the benefits, then don't blame my Azure Lotus Observatory for being unsentimental.'

Zui Fo laughed brightly, his laugh hearty.

Wu Tie's anger flared even more.

Zui Fo laughed again: 'If the Martial King stays within his own borders, perhaps my Azure Lotus Observatory would not readily launch a large-scale war or distant conquest. But the Martial King has left his own territory and infiltrated Sui Dynasty lands... The saying goes, a gentleman does not stand beneath a dangerous wall; yet the Martial King places his own safety in jeopardy.'

'It is indeed the Martial King who has come knocking on his own; no wonder my Azure Lotus Observatory must extend a warm welcome.'

Zui Fo's laughter grew brighter and piercing: 'Martial King, you have obtained my Azure Lotus Observatory's three supreme Dao arts; that is the cause. Today you are suppressed and captured by my Azure Lotus Observatory; that is the effect.'

'Having taken the benefits of my Azure Lotus Observatory, you cannot easily sever this cause and effect; therefore... I ask the Martial King to retreat to my Azure Lotus Observatory to cultivate in seclusion, to preserve your longevity, how about it?'

Wu Tie laughed, forcibly suppressing his anger, and said coldly: 'Fine, this is what your Azure Lotus Observatory means; I understand... whatever cause and effect, whatever might, whatever gentlemanly conduct, I, the king, pay no heed to any of it.'

Wu Tie listened to the sound of Pei Feng's broken bones rubbing inside her body, and shouted sternly: 'Xiahou Wuming, what do you intend?'

Xiahou Wuming fell silent for a moment, then he said in a deep voice: 'Esteemed Daoists of the Azure Lotus Observatory, Wu Tie, he is my brother of the same clan; you must not harm his life. His cultivation is astonishing, his ability surpasses the ordinary; he is a rare great and capable general... Once this affair is over, I will naturally advise him to submit to our dynasty.'

Xiahou Wuming sent no further word.

Wu Tie felt a chill in his heart, then a surge of anger rushed to his head: 'Xiahou Wuming, I truly regarded you as a trustworthy elder brother, to my detriment!'

Xiahou Wuming remained silent.

He, he has his persistence.

He, he is the Grand Preceptor of the Sui Dynasty.

He, his entire family has served the Sui Dynasty for countless years.

He, his ancestors and all his clan members bear the imprint of the Sui Dynasty in their bodies, hearts, and marrow.

In ordinary times, upon meeting Wu Tie, Xiahou Wuming would welcome him with all his enthusiasm, sparing no effort in his hospitality.

But Wu Tie, at a mistaken moment, with a mistaken identity, involved himself in a mistaken affair... With so many mistakes, Xiahou Wuming could only cling to what he believed to be correct in his heart.

The bloodline of the Wu tribe, the Wu tribe peoples, are indeed born trustworthy.

But this trust stemming from bloodline cannot outweigh Xiahou Wuming's faith in his heart. Bloodline is merely flesh, whereas faith is the soul.

Within Wu Tie's body, chaotic spiritual light spewed forth.

He slowly rose to his feet, bit by bit, stubbornly bearing the pressure from the formation of the three Thunder Seals atop his head, and gradually stood up.

'Xiahou Wuming, if that is so. Brothers, let's settle the accounts clearly; brothers remain brothers, each relying on his own means.'

Wu Tie's voice echoed through the heavens.

Xiahou Wuming pondered a moment, then slowly nodded: 'Good. That is exactly right. In this battle, I, the elder brother, have absolute certainty of victory. I have wronged you, brother; afterward, I will pour you a drink as an apology.'

Wu Tie remained silent, countless thoughts flashing through his mind.

In Wu Tie's great camp, Lao Tie lifted his long spear and stepped step by step toward Sui Du.

Three sovereigns quickly led a large force of elite troops to surround them; in the sky, numerous warships patrolled; on the ground, great formations lit up one after another. Sky and ground, an all-around blockade sealed the camp where Wu Tie's troops were stationed.

The three sovereigns, together with more than a dozen Daoists of the Azure Lotus Observatory, with the coordination of hundreds of elite commanders, formed a formation to block Lao Tie.

'Please return to camp and wait a moment; the matter here will be settled shortly.' A sovereign with a pale, beardless face laughed and clasped his hands toward Lao Tie: 'If we reckon seriously, we are allied forces... allied forces, we ought not to fight each other!'

Lao Tie gave a grin showing his teeth, nodded, and said: 'That's right; allied forces truly ought not to fight each other.'

Thus, Lao Tie raised the spear in his hand and thrust it fiercely toward the sky.

A spear-light shot up into the sky, reaching a thousand li in altitude, then exploded with a 'Bang!' into fragments.

To the west of the boundless encampment surrounding Sui Du, beyond the camp by over a thousand li, hundreds of strangely shaped metal objects, resembling earthworms, burst forth from the ground.

These colossal metal objects have a diameter exceeding ten zhang, their length unknown; they sprouted a huge metal maw like a chrysanthemum petal, and within their open apertures, densely packed were frenziedly spinning conical metal fangs.

These strange metal objects opened their mouths and suddenly spewed outward.

Clumps of modular metal formation plates sprayed out, 'ding ding dang dang', accompanied by crisp impact sounds; these metal formation plates quickly automatically assembled together, piecing into round metal gates several li in diameter.

These metal gates hovered in midair, accompanied by a 'hiss hiss' sound; thin streams of light spewed from the gate frames, quickly forming a brilliant light curtain within the gates.

Exactly one hundred ultra-long-distance spatial gates thus formed.

The time taken was merely three breaths.

Despite forming a hundred spatial gates so quickly, even though this area lay within the reconnaissance range of Xiahou Wuming's scout detachment under his command, his elite scouts had already detected the movement here, yet no one could react in time.

This is the subterranean puppet forged by Da Tie; likewise, this spatial gate is also forged by Da Tie.

When Lao Tie's vast database combined with Da Tie's mastery of high-end productivity, plus the endless casting resources supplied by Wu Tie, the combat arts of humanity's rebellion against the gods from the Primordial Mythic Era finally reappeared in the world.

A squadron of sky cavalry riding black iron-feather eagles screamed and charged out of Xiahou Wuming's camp, raising a great smear of afterimages as they lunged at these huge subterranean puppets.

They intended to destroy the newly formed spatial gates.

The subterranean puppets completely burst out of the ground.

About ten zhang in diameter and up to a thousand zhang in length, their bodies cast from non-reflective black metal; the heavy armor plates on the vast subterranean puppets' surfaces suddenly slid open, revealing densely packed launch nests like honeycombs inside.

Countless fist-thick red light beams tore through the void; anyone who saw them felt excruciating eye pain, then could see nothing but red afterimages filling their vision.

Scorching streams of light darted through the void, precisely blowing apart the heads of one iron-feather eagle after another.

In the snap of a finger, hundreds of thousands of iron-feather eagles were slain to the last by high-frequency light streams; hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers cried out, abandoned their fallen mounts, stepped upon the raging wind and clouds, turned into shafts of cold light, and continued to rush toward the rapidly flashing spatial gates.

A thunderous 'boom'.

Exactly one hundred metal balls, each several li in diameter, spewed from the spatial gates; their surfaces bristled with countless gears and mechanisms tumbling rapidly, accompanied by deafening metallic clangs; in just a few breaths, a hundred floating military cities, each over ten li long and wide, suddenly materialized.

Between these floating cities, numerous metal pillars several zhang in diameter protruded and interlocked, countless runes entwined around the pillars as they nested together; with a 'clang clang' sound, the hundred pure-metal-forged floating cities tightly combined.

Beneath the military city, round formations a hundred zhang in diameter lit up, their azure light spewing vast terrestrial electromagnetic gravity beams that propelled the contiguous military city straight into the oncoming hundreds of thousands of elite troops.

Still tens of li away, the enemy fortress wall facing the military city suddenly split open countless thumb-sized launch nests.

Amid piercing whistles, countless thumb-thick, over-a-foot-long chaos fire crossbows shot out, dragging tiny flame tails, striking like lightning into the ranks of the approaching troops.

The chaos fire crossbows detonated; each possessed destructive power equivalent to a self-detonation at the peak of the Embryo Storage Realm.

One or two such chaos fire crossbows could be easily resisted by Xiahou Wuming's elite troops, but when their number reached one million… two million… three million…

The dense chaos fire crossbows exploded, their blast forces triggering a horrifying chain reaction; huge mushroom clouds rose in the void, countless troops had bones broken and tendons torn, their bodies mangled in blood and flesh as they screamed and continually fell from the sky.

Even the commanders of human gods, earth gods, and heaven gods were blown apart into bloody pulp; their protective secret treasures violently trembled, many suffered grave injuries to their viscera, continually vomiting blood as they fell back.

Within the spatial gate, countless beings about three zhang tall, wielding long halberds, their bodies cast entirely of metal, dull black except for scarlet glimmers in their eyes, the giant god soldiers formed neat ranks and streamed out in thick swarms.

Just like a disturbed hornet's nest, in an instant the sky was filled with giant god soldiers dancing wildly.

Xiahou Wuming and company stared agape at the sky-full of flying giant god soldiers, at the massive military city commanding countless such soldiers, as it mighty surged toward them.

"Primordial… war puppets…" Xiahou Wuming trembled all over: "How can there be so many? And this sort of thing is at most Embryo Storage Realm strength—what use could it have on the battlefield?"

As Xiahou Wuming's words fell, the scarlet glimmer in the eyes of the foremost tens of thousands of giant god soldiers suddenly blazed fierce; their bodies lit up with crimson lines tracing intricate formations—their aura had actually reached the Divine Realm!

Lao Tie laughed at the three state lords blocking the way: "Exactly, we're allies, so please don't attack… otherwise you'll suffer a great loss. The giant god soldiers fear no death, they're merely artificially manufactured war puppets… whereas your troops are flesh and blood born of parents… in a war of attrition, you will surely lose!"

The three state lords looked at each other, unable to speak.

Have their elite troops and strong generals fight to the death against these fearless giant god soldiers that can be reforged after death?

"Hehe," even Xiahou Wuming couldn't just let people die for nothing!

Wu Tie had already straightened his body.

In the high sky, three newly arrived Azure Lotus Observatory cultivators of terrifying prowess laughed 'hehe'; one with a red mole on his brow gazed down at the blood prison and Pei Feng in the great pit, chuckling softly: "What magnificent demon birds… capture them, raise them at the mountain gate to guard it—also an excellent idea."

Wu Tie stared blankly, then the pent-up fury in his chest finally erupted.

Capture Pei Feng alive and make her a gatekeeper?

Azure Lotus Observatory, how dare you?

"Zhu Ganglie, Golden-Eyed Demon Sovereign, I guarantee you won't be harmed by the Emberfire Legacy Formation… come, let me unleash havoc!"

"Dragon Vein Crocodile Sovereign, if you don't want to perish here, just obediently listen to my words!"

Wu Tie let out a long whistle; the Great Dao Forge shuddered suddenly.

The blazing flames across the sky were frenziedly devoured by the Great Dao Forge; in a moment, the five great demon sovereigns of the Western Demon Kingdom had not a trace of emberfire left on them.

Five terrifying demonic auras shot up into the heavens; Xiahou Wuming and company all turned pale.

The Azure Lotus Observatory cultivators' faces twisted, and they all cried out, "Not good!"