Chapter 876

Not good!

Xiahou Wuming, a host of Sui Dynasty senior officials, and countless Daoists of the Qinglian Observatory all cried out in alarm.

The Great Dao Furnace's might is immensely strong; they had noticed this long ago.

If its might were not strong, how could it suppress the Soft Spring Monstrous Sovereign?

But Xiahou Wuming, and even the few eldest Daoists of the Qinglian Observatory with the highest cultivation present, failed to notice that the scarlet-red flames within the Great Dao Furnace actually originated from the Sui Dynasty's human-path holy fire—the Sui Fire!

Thus, when the Great Dao Furnace suddenly devoured the Sui Fire that was besieging the five great monster sovereigns, no one had time to react.

Five terrifying monster qi surged up into the sky.

Like beacon smoke, like a volcano, like all kinds of terrifying natural disasters transformed, five monster qi of different colors rolled and swept through the void, instantly enveloping the void within a radius of hundreds of thousands of li around Sui Du.

"Hmph!" The Nether Peng Sovereign, who had just been pressed down and beaten until a miserable sight, with its feathers scorched to rags, let out a cold snort.

Just that one cold snort caused countless elite Sui Du troops outside the city, all soldiers below the Divine realm, to collapse and faint, bleeding from the seven orifices nonstop.

"Ha!" The Ten-Thousand Poison Zhen Sovereign let out an even stranger laugh; every feather on his body sprayed five-colored poisonous mist, which drifted with the wind, spreading like a phantom in all directions.

Those top elites in the army, such as the inferior divine soldiers of the Imperial Guard, those officers of Earth and Human Divine level, and even some Heavenly Divine level commanders, all spat white foam, convulsed, and collapsed to the ground.

On many soldiers' bodies appeared five-colored spots; some grew pustules, some vomited and had diarrhea, some spat green blood—in short, all kinds of strange poisoning symptoms erupted.

The Dragon Vein Crocodile Sovereign gave a sinister laugh, transformed into its true form—a giant crocodile head over three thousand zhang tall sprouting a pair of dragon horns, its evil eyes blinking, radiating boundless murderous aura, it lunged straight at the cloud mass above Sui Du's western gate.

Feng Xiao, Xiahou Wuming, and others were on that cloud mass, accompanied by countless Sui Du senior officials to their left and right.

The Dragon Vein Crocodile Sovereign lunged forward; Xiahou Wuming could only shout: "Form ranks..."

Xiahou Wusheng led thirty-two brothers of the Xiahou clan striding out; the Thirty-Three Heavenly Witch Demon Blood Formation unfurled, the thirty-three men surrounded the Dragon Vein Crocodile Sovereign, transformed into giants of a thousand zhang height, and swung their weapons in a frenzied hack at the Dragon Vein Crocodile Sovereign.

The thirty-three men's breaths merged as one, their strength fused into a single whole; each strike could unleash over a hundred times their own killing power.

But countless sparks flew from the Dragon Vein Crocodile Sovereign's body, and it did not break its defense… it simply did not break its defense at all!

Xiahou Wusheng and the others' eyes nearly burst; each let out a frantic roar.

Zhu Ganglie and the Golden-Eyed Monster Sovereign exchanged a glance; Zhu Ganglie shouted sternly: "Third junior brother, Old Pig is here… hey, three stinky ox-noses, how dare you hurt Old Pig's siblings?"

Fat, round and rolling fat, his whole body of flesh trembling with extreme obesity.

Such a plump, round figure, Zhu Ganglie's evasion technique was astonishingly fast; he turned into a black wind howling upward, instantly swooping from Wu Tie's military camp straight to the skies above Sui Du, his iron nail rake stirring up black evil winds that swept across the three Qinglian Observatory Daoists controlling the Thunder Seal.

Zui Fo stepped in front of the three Daoists, his jade sword spraying ten thousand zhang of sword light, exerting all his strength to block the swooping Zhu Ganglie.

The Golden-Eyed Monster Sovereign stood motionless, his pair of golden-yellow eyes opening wide; in the void it was as if two small golden suns had appeared. Golden light tore the void, Zui Fo's Daoist robe exploded into powder, and on his jade-like Dharma body, deep wounds reaching the bone kept surfacing.

Within Zui Fo's body, one defensive treasure after another flew out, but the golden light raged; each treasure and the golden light barely made contact before instantly exploding into fragments.

In that moment, all of Zui Fo's protective treasures were shattered; his body suddenly split apart, limbs detached from his torso, and his skull flew up with a spray of hot blood from his neck.

"Golden-Eyed Monster Sovereign, penniless Daoist… I have remembered you!"

Zui Fo let out a great shout; his fragmented body turned into streams of pure wind that shot up into the high sky; dozens of pure winds swirled and writhed in the air, then coalesced inward, and once again appeared a perfect, unharmed Zui Fo, though his essence and blood were depleted by more than half.

"Three Patriarchs, retreat!" Zui Fo shouted: "The demon flames blaze high; we can preserve our useful bodies…"

Zhu Ganglie's great nail rake had already reached the three Daoists.

The three Daoists simultaneously let out a cold snort; within them vast clear light surged forth, lotus flowers of green blossomed from the clear light, layer upon layer piling up into a Green Lotus Mountain, trying to block Zhu Ganglie's great nail rake.

But the gap between a Sovereign and a half-step Sovereign is simply too huge.

Countless green lotus petals shattered; the black evil wind stirred up by the nail rake struck the three Daoists, and three cries of pain rang out; their Dharma bodies exploded into fragments.

Three streaks of green light shot up into the sky; within each, a point of innate spiritual light flickered, surrounded by countless patterns and talismans.

Zhu Ganglie raised his nail rake, but after pondering, he lowered it again.

"Old Pig, compassion in heart… I have always eaten vegetarian… no killing, hehe, no killing… Third junior brother, look, Elder Brother I, I truly have awakened my past-life wisdom, doing everything as my master, the old monk, taught."

"So, you and I are truly master and brother from a past life, without a doubt."

Zhu Ganglie did not move, but Wu Tie did.

Wu Tie's black sword turned into countless black light threads, forming a huge light net that enveloped the three Daoists' escaping primordial spirits.

"Qinglian Observatory's ox-noses, look, your Patriarch is here!"

Wu Tie had not finished speaking when the void again flashed with vast green light; eighteen auras, each slightly stronger than the three old Daoists just now, likewise half-step Sovereign-level elderly Daoists appeared simultaneously.

Thunder Seal, Electric Seal, Light Seal, Fire Seal, Taiji Seal, Bagua Seal…

Eighteen mysterious, different half-formed Great Dao seals fell from above; a red-faced Daoist shouted sternly: "Martial King Wu Tie, if you do not withdraw, today my Qinglian Observatory and you…"

Wu Tie interrupted the Daoist's words: "To the death? Hey, Pig Brother, give it some effort!"

Zhu Ganglie's black hairs stood up one by one; he let out a long howl to the heavens; his height of about ten zhang saw his pig head suddenly swell, rapidly expanding to a hundred zhang in size.

His tiny body bore a hundred-zhang pig head; Zhu Ganglie opened his huge mouth, and from within a black wind swept out, forming a ram-horn whirlwind that swallowed the eighteen seals in one gulp. The next instant, a tremendous roar came from his belly as the eighteen seals exploded; black smoke trickled from his ears and nostrils.

"Hey, enough power!" Zhu Ganglie laughed at the eighteen stunned Qinglian Observatory Daoists: "You think, without the Fire Transmission Grand Formation cheating, you Qinglian Observatory are a match for Old Pig?"

Zhu Ganglie pointed at those old Daoists one by one: "Langyue, Liufeng, Qingyun, Miaozhu… hmm, eleven old acquaintances, I have crossed hands with them all… the remaining seven, are you Qinglian Observatory's coffin‑pressing old ghosts?"

The Qinglian Observatory Daoists stared at Zhu Ganglie as if seeing a ghost.

As Zhu Ganglie said, among the eighteen old Daoists, eleven are his old acquaintances; on the western battlefield, Zhu Ganglie has fought them all.

Aided by the Fire Transmission Grand Formation, on the western battlefield Zhu Ganglie could not gain much advantage from those Qinglian Observatory Daoists.

Sometimes, a Qinglian Observatory Daoist would risk leaving Sui Du's territory, invade the western monster nations, and spar with Zhu Ganglie.

But at that time, Zhu Ganglie's displayed strength surpassed theirs by a large margin, yet never like today, when eighteen joined forces, expending all their strength in an attack, only to be devoured by Zhu Ganglie like a snack.

"Monster Pig… you!" A purple‑faced Daoist's body trembled involuntarily.

"Old Pig has been fooling you these years… no killing, no killing… Old Pig observes the precepts." Zhu Ganglie patted his belly, shook his huge pig head, and said with a chuckle: "Otherwise, do you think your little tricks are enough?"

Shaking his head, Zhu Ganglie sighed: "You think, what is a Sovereign? You have not reached this realm; you will never know what a Sovereign means to a Divine realm being."

In the sigh, Zhu Ganglie opened his huge mouth and gulped down the eighteen Daoists in one bite.

The eighteen Daoists' protective clear light instantly turned into threads of flowing light, sucked into Zhu Ganglie's belly from afar. Before they could resist, their Daoist robes, boots, headgear, etc., all flew off their bodies and were swallowed by Zhu Ganglie.

Even more terrifying happened—a black gale wrapped around the eighteen Daoists; their bodies suffered no injury, but the divine weapons and marvelous treasures within them wailed and flew out involuntarily, heading straight for Zhu Ganglie, who then swallowed them clean.

In an instant, the eighteen Daoists became spotless and smooth, standing in midair, each one clean as if just scalded with boiling water and scraped with a scraper, like a dead pig, white and clean, tender-skinned, quite glaring.

"Monsters!" the eighteen Daoists shouted angrily in unison.

"The old pig is basically a monster, heh..." Zhu Ganglie chuckled, nodding at the Daoists: "Well, if you want to curse the old pig, you might as well say—this damned fat pig?"

Zhu Ganglie laughed brightly; the black hurricane spewing from his mouth grew more wanton and rampant, splitting from a single ram's-horn whirlwind into thousands of black tornadoes sweeping all directions.

The Qinglian Guan Daoists cried out in shock; no matter how they struggled, resisted, or exerted all their strength to suppress the treasures sealed within their bodies with essence blood and soul, these items kept flying out one after another, only to be gulped down by Zhu Ganglie.

Legend has it that Zhu Ganglie's activated bloodline is called the Heaven-Swallowing Ganglie; just the two words 'Heaven-Swallowing' hint at how his innate divine ability works. None of the Qinglian Guan Daoists present could withstand even a light inhalation from him.

Wu Tie's whole body burned with chaotic flames; the surrounding void seemed tainted by chaos, violently writhing, continually collapsing toward the chaotic flames. Wu Tie resembled the legendary chaos demon god destined to annihilate all things, slowly rising from the deep pit.

Around him surged a vast and terrifying fluctuation of magical power.

Merely in terms of the quantity of magical power, Wu Tie's total magical power even surpassed that of the various venerable-level old monsters present.

The Primordial Scripture truly gave Wu Tie an exceedingly deep foundation, so deep that even Wu Tie himself didn't know it; at this moment, as he unleashed his full aura, what shape it took in others' eyes.

Even the Six Desire Demon Venerable, the Shari Bone Venerable, the Three Yellow Springs Venerables, and others under siege were all startled, quickly turning to glance at Wu Tie.

Ordinary divine realm cultivators, compared to these venerable-level old monsters, are like the difference between a miraculous golden carp and a divine dragon roaming the nine heavens—a further mutation and evolution on the level of life.

Even a cultivator at the peak of the tenth heaven of the ordinary divine realm, someone like Feng Shang who is famed as a 'monster-quality' 'King God,' has a total magical power no more than one ten-thousandth of these venerable monsters, and in quality they cannot even be compared.

But Wu Tie not only surpassed Zhu Ganglie and these venerable old monsters in total magical power; even in quality, his chaotic magical power was far purer than theirs.

Apart from not having condensed the Dao Imprint Seal or refined a speck of innate spiritual light, Wu Tie is stronger than the venerable old monsters present!

"This... is unnatural." Beside Xiahou Wuming, all the officials of the Su Dynasty stared dumbfounded at Wu Tie, their scalps tingling, bodies stiff and unable to move.

Given their experience and knowledge, even the entire Su Dynasty's foundation could not explain Wu Tie's situation.

Though he is in the divine realm, yet comparable to venerable old monsters—what cultivation method does Wu Tie practice, or what extraordinary heavenly treasure did he consume, to break the life chasm between the divine realm and venerable old monsters?

Wu Tie lightly tapped with both hands; Pei Feng and the Blood Prison were each lifted by a great force, slowly rising from the ground.

Wu Tie's remaining divine fetus, over a thousand zhang tall, was rapidly being consumed; within him, strands of multi-spiraled flow continually broke apart, while vast quantities of novel and heretical Dao patterns continually merged with his body.

A strand of black multi-spiraled flow, formed from the condensation of four thousand nine hundred tiny spirals, broke apart; vast profundities concerning the soul, death, and curses surged into his mind, and Wu Tie lightly tapped his right hand, condensing several black runes that flickered with eerie gloomy light in his palm.

"Shari Bone Venerable, Three Great Yellow Springs Venerables, do you wish to die or to live?" Wu Tie ignored Xiahou Wuming and his entourage, instead directly asking via voice transmission the four besieged and disheveled Ghost Nation venerables.

"Heh heh, we're already dead..." the Shari Bone Venerable replied with a mischievous remark to Wu Tie. Then he realized his words were a bit untimely, and immediately asked in a shrill voice: "How to die? How to live?"

Wu Tie proclaimed loudly: "If you wish to die, I'll have Zhu Ganglie, the Golden-Eyed Demon Venerable, and the Dragon Vein Crocodile Venerable join forces to kill you. If you wish to live, become my followers."

Wu Tie weighed the black runes in his hand and smiled: "Serve me for ten thousand years, and I'll set you free—okay?"

The Shari Bone Venerable quickly exchanged a few words with the Three Yellow Springs Venerables, then he loudly shouted: "Let this venerable see your capability—how do you sustain power over us?"

Earlier, the four of them had been besieged by the Su Dynasty's great army and thrown into disarray by the Ember Fire Transmission Grand Formation, utterly failing to notice how Wu Tie had subdued the three great monster venerables of the northern monster state.

But Wu Tie made Zhu Ganglie and the others immune to the disturbance of the Ember Fire Transmission Grand Formation, and they clearly saw this.

Therefore, the Shari Bone Venerable proposed this condition.

Wu Tie, ever accommodating, had the Dao Crucible fly over and fiercely roast the four Ghost Nation venerables.

After several breaths, the Shari Bone Venerable and the other three Ghost Nation venerables allowed Wu Tie to imprint the newly comprehended soul-controlling curse sigil into their innate spiritual light.

Wu Tie swore an oath—nothing more than serving him for ten thousand years... To these old-timers who have lived at least millions of years, this span of time is nothing at all.

Shortly thereafter, the Six Desire Demon Venerable likewise submitted.

The Su Dynasty's heavenly-host army and the Qinglian Guan Daoists instantly beat a hasty retreat.

The four Ghost Nation venerables, six demon venerables, plus Zhu Ganglie and the Golden-Eyed Demon Venerable—twelve venerable old monsters stood in a row behind Wu Tie.

The Dragon Vein Crocodile Venerable roared hoarsely, its massive demonic body thrashing wildly; Xiahou Wusheng and the others had no mind to intercept, allowing the Dragon Vein Crocodile Venerable to tear open the Thirty-Three Heavens Witch-Demon Blood Formation and rush to Wu Tie's side, resuming human form.

The Dragon Vein Crocodile Venerable glanced at Wu Tie, then at Zhu Ganglie and the others, and honestly stood behind Wu Tie.

Wu Tie stood with his hands behind his back in the void.

All around the Su Dynasty lay deathly silence; Xiahou Wuming and the others stared at him with ashen faces, gazing at the thirteen venerable old monsters standing in a row behind him, immune to the weakening and attacks of the Ember Fire Transmission Grand Formation.

"Now, I speak—you will listen!" Wu Tie laughed and waved his hand; the three Daoists who had just wounded Pei Feng all spat blood at once.