Chapter 896: Direct Confrontation (4)

In the void, a cluster of misty divine light flickered, enveloping a towering, top-heavy divine mountain, speeding through the pitch-black endless void.

Mi Wu had just returned from the crystal star of the Heavenly Crystal God Clan.

Sitting in his own hall, seeing a group of flower-like beautiful maidens surrounding him, Mi Wu wearily waved his hand.

The maidens bowed gently, then, like flowing clouds and water, silently left the hall.

Mi Wu narrowed his eyes, watching the maidens' youthful, graceful backs, and involuntarily clicked his tongue.

The observation post was a cushy job… Of course, that was before the five overbearing god clans cut the crystal bridge and monopolized the observation post; back then it really was a cushy job.

High above, looking down upon all beings.

Almost every day, on Mu Dalu, various major powers set up altars, offering countless rare treasures and countless handsome men and women with extraordinary bloodlines.

Those with extraordinary bloodlines, needing no cultivation, who displayed astonishing, powerful innate divine talents, were mostly sent back to their clans' ancestral lands via the crystal bridge.

Naturally, the clan leaders in charge of the observation post would take a share for themselves; that was only right.

Within Mi Wu's Wisdom God Mountain alone, the number of such human maidens ran into the millions.

Placed on Mu Dalu, each of them was a peerlessly talented, enchanting heaven's pride; if they could set foot on the proper path of cultivation, there was no doubt they possessed the quality to become a regional powerhouse.

But once their bloodlines and talents were discovered, they were taken as offerings to win the gods' favor, sent through secretly erected altars.

No matter how bright their futures should have been, now they were merely maidens of Mi Wu's Wisdom God Mountain… maidens for Mi Wu and his kin to indulge in pleasure as they pleased.

Naturally, given their qualities and their powerful, divine bloodlines, if they could bear a son and a half daughter, their children would also enjoy high status in the Wisdom God Clan—possessing the blood of the gods yet astonishingly talented, they would be valued in any god clan.

"What wonderful days… a shame they were ruined by these overbearing fellows."

Mi Wu snorted coldly, pulled out a head-sized soul crystal, and, annoyed, kicked it far away from the priceless soul crystals of the gods' ancestral land.

"It was me, my divine stratagems, my clever arrangements, the time I spent bit by bit infiltrating Mu Dalu's various forces. It was me, after spending over a thousand years, that I gained such great potential power on Mu Dalu."

"This harvest, too, is thanks to me, yielding such a great gain."

"And you… with just this bit of junk, you dismissed me?"

Mi Wu kept pulling out soul crystals, tossing them into the hall; soon he had thrown out three or four thousand, big and small, scattering across the hall and emitting gorgeous, intoxicating divine light.

This meant that three or four thousand beings at the divine realm had been slain.

Wu Tie's current locations, the Three Kingdoms Continent and the Sui Dynasty Continent, have seen no such great war.

As Mi Wu's clone Qing Wu in the Sui Dynasty said, this is the gods' harvest from other hunting grounds and battlefields on Mu Dalu.

If Mi Wu could receive this much spoil, one can imagine how much the leaders of the five great god clans—You Zu, Xuanwu, and the others—have gained.

The gods' gains are terrifying.

The human losses are easy to imagine.

"Scraps and leftovers, tossed to beggars?" Mi Wu, unbecomingly, crossed his legs, sat on the immaculately white throne, propped his chin on his hands, and gazed deep-eyed at the soul crystals on the ground.

"Soul crystals merely boost current strength quickly. To break bloodline shackles, strengthen bloodline foundation, and give the future a brighter prospect, I need bloodline essence—human bloodline essence, especially that of the mighty."

"But this time, they didn't allocate even a thread of bloodline essence to me."

"When in the future they leave me in the dust, towering above, I can only look up at them like an ant."

"This is no good, very no good, extremely no good."

"I must find an opportunity, turn the tide."

"So what can be done? They dwell high in the void, reaping the fisherman's profit—this is wrong. To gain anything, one must labor. Thus we must artificially create hard bones for them to personally… gnaw on."

"Oh, oh, oh, the power of wisdom… or, in their words, the power of scheming intrigue?"

"It doesn't matter; it's all the same, all the same."

Mi Wu pulled a strand of hair from his head, like a grim old dog, bit it between his teeth, and chewed lightly.

"However, don't rush… my clan isn't skilled in combat; if that gang of violent maniacs notices anything amiss, there will be trouble, huge trouble… so we must be cautious… must…"

As he muttered softly, a faint green hue suddenly spread across Mi Wu's face.

His body shuddered, then a mouthful of dark green poisonous blood spurted out.

"Poison?" Mi Wu stared blankly at the puddle of dark green poisonous blood on the ground.

The toxicity in the blood was extremely potent; Mi Wu's hall was forged from special ancestral-land crystal stones that stored immense divine power. Such crystals possess tremendous resistance to any foreign magic and various heretical energies—even a venerable expert would struggle to shake them.

Yet those divine crystals were corroded by that poison blood, emitting a continuous 'hiss' and faint white smoke.

This shows how terrifying the toxin in that blood is.

Thinking that this poison blood had spurted from his own body, Mi Wu let out a loud 'ah', fell headfirst from the throne, and grabbed a head-sized soul crystal from the ground.

Using a secret technique to activate it, the soul crystal immediately burst forth with brilliant radiance, streams of light like flowing water quickly pouring into Mi Wu's body.

Mi Wu groaned low, immense power filling his body, his form flashing with dazzling divine light, waves of mighty power radiating outward.

He lifted his head, glanced warily around, then flicked his finger lightly.

"Boom boom boom," dozens of sounds rang out; the nearly hundred towering arched doors and windows of this glorious hall swiftly shut, leaving not a single gap.

Streaks of splendid light flashed; a wondrous divine power seal sealed the hall airtight.

"Damn it, I absolutely cannot let my dear brothers know that I've inexplicably fallen victim to a sneak attack……"

"Damn it, who exactly? Who ambushed me?"

"Xuanwu and them? Impossible… those violent maniacs would beat me to death face‑to‑face, not poison me in secret."

"You Zu? He might have the thought, but he would certainly not act on it… the pride of the Ice Spirit God Clan makes him disdain poisoning. Such deeds, among many god clans, are done by only a few shameless ones."

"The greatest likelihood is my own brothers."

"Ah ha, you saw me reach an agreement with them, saw that I could gain many benefits, so you couldn't wait to replace me?"

"Foolish brothers, without my years of preparation… how could they possibly share the meat they've got in their mouths with me?"

Mi Wu suddenly slapped himself hard: "Damn it, Mi Wu, you made the big mistake of underestimating the enemy… besides you, could those damned brothers of yours not be meddling on Mu Dalu?"

"They may be weaker than you, but they are certainly not stupider!"

"Ah, ah ha, haha, dear brothers, you… also have someone on Mu Dalu who controls enough resources and power to replace me?"

Wa— sounded, and another mouthful of blood spurted out.

Misty panted, his gaze deep as he stared at the dark‑green poisonous blood. With a light tap, three sheets of paper, several feet long and wide, wholly translucent white and bearing faint golden characters, flew from his head, scattering soft golden divine light that enveloped his body.

A sharp hiss echoed, and within Misty's body the dark‑green poisonous gas could be seen rapidly twisting and splitting.

Even more terrifying, near Misty's heart could be seen a thumb‑sized seal, wholly dark‑green, constantly emitting a faint "gua‑gua" croak. This tiny seal contracted and expanded like a heart; whenever Misty's divine blood touched it, it instantly turned into green poisonous blood.

"Poison?"

"Supreme‑level?"

"Where did it come from?"

Misty quickly sensed the anomaly within himself; through his body turned semi‑transparent, he stared blankly at the poison‑dao seal that had inexplicably appeared inside him.

"Damn it, among the land masses where my avatar resides, the supreme‑level experts of the Poison Dao… in total… in total…"

Misty pointed a finger, and an exquisite scroll appeared, rapidly enlarging to over three feet in length, then unfurling to reveal countless golden characters.

Misty chanted an incantation, and the characters on the scroll swiftly diminished, leaving only one hundred forty‑seven lines.

"Earth‑character Jia Five Battlefield, Green Squid Poison Venerable."

"Earth‑character Ding Thirty‑Seven Battlefield, the Red Old Monster."

"Earth‑character Yi Twenty‑Nine Battlefield, Heaven‑Maimed Senior."

Misty's finger swept over the characters on the scroll one by one, then he eliminated them: "No, no, no, no, it couldn't be them… the attributes don't match; although they are also Poison Dao, each has its own focus… the poison I have is more like…"

On Misty's clean, jade‑like hand back, as smooth as a maiden's, several pink flesh‑bumps suddenly appeared; they rapidly swelled, pus‑tips sprouting at their ends, the pink quickly turning dark‑green, and the nearby flesh began to rot swiftly.

With a "puchi" sound, those dark‑green flesh‑bumps spurted white toxic fluid; any flesh the fluid touched quickly rotted and withered, soon the flesh was completely corroded away, revealing Misty's pale‑silver, slightly translucent divine bone.

"This is… Earth‑character Yi Five Battlefield… the Western Demon Nation… the Toad Old Monster's toad poison!"

Misty shrieked hoarsely: "Toad Old Monster, Old Lump, you damned thing… you dare scheme against me?"

With a "pa" slap, Misty fiercely struck his own face: "No, no, Old Lump doesn't have the guts; he is the most devout follower of the 'Demon Clan Holy Ancestor', his lifelong dream is to be chosen by the Holy Ancestor, to transcend and achieve immortality."

"Hmm, also not right; if it were one of my dear brothers who obtained his toad poison…"

"But even more wrong… over these years, has anyone descended?"

"My brothers…"

"Old Lump…"

"Sui Chao, the Demon Nation…"

Poisonous gas flooded his body; even though Misty used his soul‑crystal to inject massive power to suppress the toxin, the poisonous force continued to spread.

Even though the three pages of the Book of Wisdom burst forth with surging divine light bathing his whole body, the poisonous force still spread, incessantly eroding his divine form.

Misty coughed once, and a large amount of dark‑green blood‑foam sprayed all over the ground.

"Damn… damn it…" Misty trembled, reaching into the void to grasp a handful; a cluster of white light appeared, a fist‑sized white glazed bottle manifested, and he tremblingly drew from it a thumb‑sized pale‑green pill.

"But my wisdom is enough to thwart all your schemes." Misty's eyes flashed with a sinister cold light as he murmured: "My brothers, no matter which of you seeks to replace my position, all your efforts are doomed to fail."

"You could never imagine that everything I have come into contact with—those lowly tools—I have taken precautions against."

"The antidote personally crafted by Old Lump, capable of neutralizing all his toxins."

The pale‑green pill gave off a pungent chill; twisting dao patterns crawled across its surface like living things. Occasionally a flash of light ran along the patterns, the pill turning suddenly semi‑transparent, revealing a strange seal‑shaped light‑shadow that flickered by.

Poison, from the poison‑dao seal.

Detoxification naturally relies on the corresponding grand‑dao seal.

This pill is not merely an antidote; it is a concrete manifestation of the grand dao.

Misty gleefully opened his mouth, intending to stuff the pill inside.

A low, mournful whistling sound rose from his heart.

Boundless killing aura surged from Misty's body out of nowhere; if anyone could see his fate's condition, they would notice that at this instant his fate suddenly collapsed and dimmed.

If his fate were originally a blazing bonfire, then this killing aura would be like a god raising a towering wave and splashing half an ocean onto the fire.

Misty's body swayed, his finger trembled, a point of white divine light flashed at his fingertip; accompanied by a earth‑shattering great sneeze, his fresh blood sprayed all over the ground, and the white light at his fingertip stimulated the pill in his hand, causing it to burst with a "pa" sound.

"My… antidote…" Misty uttered a "wa" cry, shocked, angry, and fearful, vomiting blood repeatedly.

The dark‑green poisonous blood corroded the floor, emitting a "hiss‑hiss" sound; Misty hoarsely screamed: "A curse, not just poison but also a curse… who? Who? The Myriad‑Curse Divine Tribe? No, they have long been extinct… then could it be… the Wu tribe?"

"The Wu tribe's curse?"

"Martial King, Wu Tie?"

"The anomaly of Sui Chao?"

"Old Lump, he is in the Western Demon Nation… his poison… damn it!"

"You petty, lowly people, how dare you scheme against the lofty gods? You…"

Misty hoarsely roared in anger, but he suddenly realized in horror that the three fingers of his left hand had inexplicably withered and shrunk, as if a sixteen‑year‑old maiden had instantly become an eighty‑two‑year‑old crone.

Misty quickly lifted his head to glance at the three pages of the Book of Wisdom.

"Oh, no… you cannot do this… you have mastered a power surpassing even the supreme divine artifacts?"

"Really, damn it!"