Chapter 897: Wisdom's Submission

No, no, no!

Let me die, let me die, let me die!

On the Burial Army Plain altar, where killing qi surged to the heavens, the green mist writhed wildly.

But he could not break free of the confinement.

Dozens of Wu Tribe elders surrounded him, their wrinkled faces wearing strange smiles, chanting eerie, hoarse incantations.

Black, red, blue, green—bone spurs of bizarre colors pierced deep into Qing Wu's body, long and short, thick and thin, densely packed, making him look like a spiky hedgehog.

A black bone spur as fine as a hair and three feet long stabbed into the center of Qing Wu's heavenly crown.

The hollow bone spur led to a huge earthenware jar filled with fragrant, viscous medicinal liquid.

Drop after drop of the medicinal liquid flowed along the bone spur, continuously injected into Qing Wu's skull, gradually soaking his brain, nourishing his cerebrospinal fluid, letting the brain of this essence‑blood clone gradually grow stronger.

Thus, Qing Wu's soul power also grew continuously.

This clone of Qing Wu was merely at the level of an ordinary Heavenly God, cultivation of the seventh or eighth heaven of the Divine Realm, not considered a top expert in the Sui Dynasty.

After all, this clone was only used to wreak havoc in the Sui Dynasty, relying on his sowing of discord and scheming, not on great divine powers.

Therefore Qing Wu's soul power was limited, and its connection to his main body was limited.

But the Wu Tribe elders used secret arts to continually strengthen his soul; as Qing Wu's soul gradually grew stronger, his link to his main body became ever stronger and tighter.

Through this clone, the influence that could be exerted on his main body also grew ever stronger.

It was like a person could easily pluck out a hair, burn it casually, and harm nothing to the main body; but when that hair was cultivated by secret arts into an arm and a leg, even into heart, liver, lungs, and even a skull…

…it could not be easily plucked out, nor easily sacrificed.

"Let me die!" Qing Wu clearly sensed the change in his soul, and also sensed that the mutual influence between his soul and his main body was growing ever stronger.

"You… devils!" Qing Wu sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks.

For the gods who dwell high above the heavenly vault, when they descend as avatars and attach to their incarnations while walking Mu Dalu, they always use soul secret arts to impose strict limits on their avatars.

First, to prevent the human race of Mu Dalu from attacking their true bodies with curses.

Second, to strictly guard against the avatar becoming too strong upon descent, which would backfire on the true self.

But Wu Tie had comprehended more than thirty percent of the alien Great Dao, including the myriad Great Dao laws of the Dark Soul Divine Clan bloodline inheritance.

The soul secret arts used by the gods, Wu Tie could break.

The soul secret art within Qing Wu's soul was broken by Wu Tie; thus this wisp of his avatar could be strengthened without limit, and his influence on his main body would grow deeper and stronger until his main body could no longer free itself.

"Devil!" Wu Tie stood beside Qing Wu's feet, head bowed, looking down at the frantically struggling him: "To us, you are the demons."

Qing Wu's eyes bulged, his pupils flashing with resentful and fearful cold light, he stared fixedly at Wu Tie: "You… aren't you afraid of the gods' wrath? What you're doing, you've crossed the line, you…"

Wu Tie spread his hands, looking seriously at Qing Wu: "Bottom line? Wrath? You all want to exterminate us completely—what bottom line do we still fear? What wrath do we still fear?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Wu Tie calmly said: "You give us no way to live, so why shouldn't we rise up in resistance? Hmm, I think I said this to You Ruo and Wu Tou before?"

"Ah, I can't recall—did I say that to them?" He shook his head, Wu Tie laughed: "It doesn't matter. Anyway, things are just like this—you wantonly harvest our souls and bloodlines, while we… naturally must think of every means to preserve ourselves."

Qing Wu stared blankly at Wu Tie for a long while before muttering: "But what use is it to deal with me? The ones in charge now are the people of the Five Great Divine Clans!"

Wu Tie sighed, helplessly kicking Qing Wu's shin with his foot: "But who let me fail to capture alive those you said were in charge? Who let me now have only you as a living captive?"

Qing Wu gave a bitter smile: "Am I unlucky?"

Wu Tie said seriously: "Rest assured, your true self will be even more unlucky… look, all this killing qi, evil qi, death qi, calamity qi are flowing along the link between you and him, taking effect on him… he will surely be more unlucky than you."

Qing Wu looked at Wu Tie's solemn face and murmured: "Can… can you spare me?"

Wu Tie lifted his gaze to the floating Grand Dao Forge above the altar, which was madly devouring and transforming all manner of inauspicious qi, and said slowly: "I also want to spare you… but who spared us?"

Qing Wu fell silent for a moment, then gave a dry laugh: "Why not, you set a condition?"

Wu Tie lowered his gaze to Qing Wu, silent for a moment, then stepped on and broke Qing Wu's knee: "What's there to say about one of your clones? Wait for your true self… well, elders, curse his bloodline."

Wu Tie said grimly: "Use bloodline curse, curse everyone related by blood to this bastard's true self."

A Wu Tribe elder whose face was covered in countless strange symbols, his whole body emanating a grim Cold Qi, gave a few "ge ge" laughs, took out a black jade knife, and lightly slit Qing Wu's chest.

"Little one, don't be afraid—every curse will cause you no pain… but your true self, and his brothers… hehe, bad luck clings, even drinking water gets stuck in the teeth."

The Wu Tribe elder extracted from Qing Wu's heart a thread of extremely fine multi‑helix flowing light.

"Tsk, so‑called divine bloodline? Really interesting, interesting, very different from our human bloodline." The Wu Tribe elders clicked their tongues in amazement, gathered around, and carefully examined this thread of extremely fine multi‑helix flowing light.

"Our human bloodline consists of only two strands of flowing light forming a helix… you actually have thirty‑six strands?"

"But its structure is far simpler than our human bloodline… clearly, your bloodline is inferior to ours."

A Wu Tribe elder versed in bloodline curse witchcraft nodded, then shook his head: "No wonder you spy on our human bloodline."

Qing Wu gritted his teeth and squeezed out a sharp roar from between his teeth: "The bloodline of my Wisdom Divine Clan is glorious, noble, you humans…"

A Wu Tribe elder lifted a bone staff and, with a "pa", smashed Qing Wu's mouthful of teeth to pieces; the broken teeth cut his gums, leaving his mouth full of blood.

"Hush, shut up… you dare say your so‑called divine bloodline is nobler than ours? Heh, old man I can't stand such talk. Do you know what it means to be the wise one who knows the times? As a fish on the chopping block, you must learn to write the two words 'obedient' and 'clever'."

Qing Wu wanted to cry but had no tears, looking at this group of ruthless Wu Tribe elders, continuously spitting out blood and tooth powder from his mouth.

At this moment, Qing Wu truly wanted to die.

But he was tightly bound; even wanting to die was impossible!

In the Grand Dao Forge, the poison dao seal from Old Lump was nourished by strands of dao rhyme; the original thumb‑sized poison dao seal had already grown to the size of a human head. Boundless killing qi, evil qi, and all manner of inauspicious and negative qi likewise kept drilling into this poison dao seal.

Hundreds of Wu Tribe elders stood below the altar, leading hundreds of thousands of Wu Tribe youths, simultaneously chanting the Wu incantation, having already formed the Wu Tribe Grand Formation; the soul power of everyone gathered as one, drawing from the unseen, between heaven and earth, the unfathomable forces of fate, karma, etc.

This power is undoubtedly terrifying.

Fate and karma—when you affect him, he also affects you.

But with hundreds of thousands of Wu Tribe youths led by hundreds of Wu Tribe elders, the Wu curse formation centered on the Grand Dao Forge absorbed most of the backlash in the forge; the remaining tiny backlash was evenly divided among the hundreds of thousands, so the recoil each person received was minuscule.

The evil altar, shaped like a pyramid, stood a thousand zhang tall, with a base side length of about three thousand zhang; the whole altar looked somewhat squat.

The evil curse power followed the link between Qing Wu and his true self as a guide, continuously spewing upward toward the heavenly vault.

Crossing the pitch‑black endless void, it precisely seized the Wisdom Divine Clan's divine mountain in the void, plunged into the hall layered with countless divine clan restrictions, forcibly broke the protection of the Three Pages of the Book of Wisdom, and gently entered Mi Wu's body.

In the hall, Miwu had just stood up when he inexplicably fell flat on his face.

His chin hit the ground first with a "crack," and Miwu's chin bone shattered into eight pieces, one fragment even piercing through the flesh of his chin and sticking out.

He touched his bloody, mangled chin, and Miwu, wanting to cry but with no tears, gently spat out a mouthful of poisonous blood.

Over half of his skin had rotted away, poisonous blood flooded his body, and even the three-page Book of Wisdom could not stop the spread of the toxin.

"I request aid……" Miwu lay on the ground, his whole body twitching as he muttered to himself.

"But…… to whom?" Images of the Wisdom God Clan members flashed in his mind, and Miwu shuddered with a sudden chill.

Thinking of his usual battles of wits and courage with these brothers and clansmen, of everyone's constant scheming, of their everyday backstabbing and betrayal, Miwu couldn't help but let out a despairing cry.

"They're all a bunch of bastards!"

Miwu groaned in despair.

"Then I must save myself. I must save myself…… I cannot die here…… My ancestors' saying, I wholeheartedly agree with——a spirit must be selfish. A qualified spirit possessing wisdom must take itself as its core. Only by first securing its own interests can it speak of the clan's interests."

"This saying is just too damn reasonable!"

Miwu murmured: "I couldn't agree more…… This is practically the motto of every member of my Wisdom God Clan."

"Then…… my incarnation in the Fire-driller Dynasty, damn you Qingwu, where are you?"

The Book of Wisdom hovering above Miwu's head burst forth with blinding divine light, the pure white radiance filling the vast hall.

After about the time it takes to finish half a cup of tea, Qingwu lying on the altar emitted a faint white divine light from his whole body, a vast consciousness descended and directly took over his spirit and flesh.

Qingwu's eyes turned pure white, like two tiny suns set in his sockets, the white light emanating from his eyeballs illuminating the void for dozens of miles around.

"Oh, Martial King Wu Tie, meeting you like this is truly not a pleasant thing."

"Qingwu…… no, Miwu stopped his futile struggle, opened his eyes wide, and gazed deeply at Wu Tie: 'Amazing, amazing…… what method did you use to break through at least three layers of the divine prohibition and strike directly at my true body?'"

Wu Tie looked at Miwu with interest: "Three layers of the divine prohibition? Tell me about them."

Miwu caught his breath: "Suspend your curses, otherwise my true body will have rotted away before I finish explaining."

Wu Tie nodded, pointed at the Grand Dao Furnace hovering above his head, and the curses and various negative auras constantly being transmitted to Miwu's true body instantly ceased.

Miwu nodded satisfactorily: "The first divine prohibition is above your heads. In this firmament, we have a divine ban that isolates humanity, preventing you from flying into the void."

"The second divine prohibition lies in the void above the firmament. Even if someone could forcibly break through the firmament, you could not cross the endless void; you would lose your sense of direction and become utterly confused. You cannot leave Mu Dalu."

"The third divine prohibition lies just outside the Wisdom God Clan's God Mountain. This great divine prohibition is interconnected with the observation outposts of the other great god clans, mutually entwined and mutually protective, making its defensive power extremely strong."

Miwu, considering his own personal interests, seriously and concretely explained each of the three divine prohibitions to Wu Tie.

He furthermore explained in detail the principles of each of the three divine prohibitions and their effects.

Wu Tie slowly nodded: "Putting it that way, it is indeed a very strong defense…… but in fact, you have already been attacked by us, haven't you?"

Without waiting for Miwu's response, Wu Tie burst into a bright smile and asked bluntly: "Speak plainly—do you want to die or to live?"

Miwu stared blankly; it seemed he had never even dreamed that Wu Tie would ask such a direct question.

After a moment of silence, Miwu said carefully: "Of course, if one can live, who would want to die?"

Pausing, Miwu hastily spoke up, trying to regain a bit of initiative: "Of course, I'm not saying you definitely have the ability to threaten my life; after all, I am the supreme leader of the Wisdom God Clan here, and I still have some ability to protect my own safety."

Wu Tie spread his hands: "Oh? Still being stubborn? Then keep cursing…… all you old ancestors, show no mercy—deal the killing blow directly!"

Wu Tie shouted loudly.

Miwu immediately screamed: "Wait…… alright, I admit you have a certain possibility of threatening my life…… therefore, for the absolute safety of my life, we need…… to have a proper talk."