Chapter 905

Green mountains and clear waters, a blessed land of caves and grottoes.

Threads of worldly essence, carrying sparkling spiritual light, descended from the heavens, nourishing the green mountains to become extraordinarily thick and the clear waters especially bright.

The Azure Lotus Observatory lay right before his eyes.

Wu Tie stood on a small hill outside the Azure Lotus Observatory, hands behind his back, gazing at the layered Daoist temples and palaces of the observatory, as well as the pavilions and towers nestled among the mountains and waters, which embodied the original Daoist charm.

Behind Wu Tie, the Myriad Poisons Zhenzun narrowed his eyes, his pupils flashing with a fierce light.

"The mountain-guarding grand formation of the Azure Lotus Observatory is profoundly mysterious… you may not be able to sneak in." The Myriad Poisons Zhenzun said seriously to Wu Tie: "Although you saved my life from Old Geya, don't think I'll accompany you on a suicide mission."

"If the Azure Lotus Observatory's mountain-guarding formation is triggered, the Sui Dynasty's fire‑continuation grand formation will surely activate."

The Myriad Poisons Zhenzun said in a low voice: "I haven't lived enough yet; I still value this old life of mine."

"You don't need to risk your life… the Azure Lotus Observatory's mountain‑guarding formation is nothing special."

Wu Tie lightly shook his head: "Besides, with the Ninth Prince's rebellion, do you really think the fire‑continuation grand formation can still be activated?"

The Myriad Poisons Zhenzun slowly nodded, drew a deep breath, and then faint Dao patterns appeared on his body. Accompanied by a soft 'hiss', a fist‑sized seal, covered in colorful stripes like the markings of a poisonous insect and awe‑inspiring, gradually condensed.

The Myriad Poisons Zhenzun caught his breath and touched his chest.

He seized the seal and handed it to Wu Tie: "This is condensed from ninety percent of the poison stored within my body, infused with my complete understanding of the Dao of poison. Ordinary half‑step venerable‑grade items kill on contact, leaving no chance of survival."

"Excellent." Wu Tie carefully received the poison seal condensed by the Myriad Poisons Zhenzun.

He looked at the Myriad Poisons Zhenzun and said in a low voice: "You may go back now… this thing won't be unreliable, will it?"

The Myriad Poisons Zhenzun nodded solemnly: "That is why I followed Your Majesty the Martial King on this adventure… with my magical restraint, this seal will be harmless to the Martial King for one hour."

"After one hour…" the Myriad Poisons Zhenzun gazed at the colorful seal and said solemnly: "Once it loses the king's control, it will burst with a bang, killing everyone nearby."

Shaking his head, the Myriad Poisons Zhenzun turned and transformed into a palm‑sized poison‑bird, flying westward.

"Martial King, I don't know what you intend to do. But if the Azure Lotus Observatory could be so easily schemed against, our Western Demon Kingdom wouldn't have been blocked to the west for so many years."

"Even on the Sui Dynasty's territory, even if they are in internal turmoil, relying on my modest poison Dao to scheme the entire Azure Lotus Observatory is hard, hard, hard… the observatory's pill‑refining skill is not bad; their antidote pills are still quite annoying."

"And let's not forget, their mountain‑guarding formation is truly formidable."

The Myriad Poisons Zhenzun ran off, chattering away.

Wu Tie carried the highly toxic seal condensed by the Myriad Poisons Zhenzun and walked lightly into the interior of the Azure Lotus Observatory.

Before him, ripples of varying colors spread in the air; Wu Tie's figure gradually blurred, as if a drop of water merging into the sea, and he slipped silently into the Azure Lotus Observatory's mountain‑guarding formation.

Vast soul power, like gentle water, spread silently throughout the Azure Lotus Observatory, nourishing all things without a sound.

Wu Tie's cultivation had nearly reached the Dao; his soul power spread like a breeze, like a raindrop, like the faint tremor of grass blades, like the inadvertent chirp of an insect.

Everything merged into nature, unfolding in a completely natural way.

Carrying that deadly seal, Wu Tie moved as if entering an uninhabited realm, strolling leisurely through the Azure Lotus Observatory.

His soul power penetrated hall after hall, pavilion after pavilion, secret chamber after cavern, without triggering any prohibition or activating any grand formation.

He heard countless voices of the Azure Lotus Observatory's Elders and disciples, and his vast soul power quickly extracted useful information from them.

Indeed, those so‑called Dao‑defying cultivators are merely pawns of the Azure Lotus Observatory.

They had indeed broken through the passes, yet they still obeyed the Observatory's commands.

They were stationed in the rebel king's army, helping him besiege cities and seize strongholds, slaughtering civilians, and even crafting altars for sacrificing to the myriad gods.

Among the Azure Lotus Observatory's disciples, Wu Tie indeed found beings resembling the Mist Clan—blood‑essence avatars of the Wisdom God Clan's spirits.

Many disciples of the Azure Lotus Observatory were subtly influencing the Elders' decisions… in their conversations with the Elders, the words 'myriad gods', 'venerable', 'sacrifice', and 'longevity' even appeared outright.

Even some of the Observatory's Elders had auras that felt distinctly off.

Wu Tie even discovered, within some of the Observatory's Elders, traces of aberrant multispiral flowing light—these multispiral flows are the bloodline of the myriad gods, the aberrant Dao they master.

An Elder of the Azure Lotus Observatory had actually merged the myriad gods' bloodline into his own body?

They have tampered with their bloodlines and contemplated the aberrant Dao… they can no longer be considered pure descendants of Pangu.

Wu Tie recalled the words Zhu Ganglie had spoken.

Old Geya, Old Saw, and the other three ancient demon venerables differ from Zhu Ganglie and the Golden‑Eye Demon Venerable, these younger generations. Those four old fellows possess exceedingly aberrant bloodlines; in the Western Demon Kingdom, no bloodline resembling theirs can be found.

"Having merged foreign bloodlines… aberrant indeed." Wu Tie left the front hill of the Azure Lotus Observatory and entered its rear mountains.

He followed the bluestone path, walking briskly toward a forbidden area in the rear mountains.

Several hundred highly cultivated disciples of the Azure Lotus Observatory guarded this spot, cooperating with the grand formation to seal it off completely.

Wu Tie is not water; he is an existence that has nearly attained the Dao.

His insight into formations, and his mastery of them, surpasses that of every formation master the Azure Lotus Observatory has ever had.

Thus Wu Tie slipped silently into the forbidden zone, following an extremely long passageway, descending tens of thousands of feet underground, and arrived at a splendid, majestic subterranean palace.

The vast subterranean palace spans nearly a thousand li in length and width, with a height of about a hundred li.

The walls, floor, and ceiling of the subterranean palace are entirely composed of clusters of green elemental crystals.

Like blooming flowers, the green elemental crystals continually draw vast worldly essence from the earth's veins; after being transformed by the formation, they become life‑filled treasures akin to 'earth‑vein elixir', dripping drop by drop from the crystals.

The translucent green liquid, brimming with immense vitality, bursts forth like a rainstorm from all directions, evenly sprinkling upon the one hundred thousand jade coffins suspended in midair.

One hundred thousand jade coffins hang neatly in the air, their lids half‑open, half‑closed; the green liquid flows along the coffins, seeping in to nourish the bodies of the Daoists sealed within, each self‑contained and self‑confined.

Here lie a hundred thousand half‑step venerable elders of the Azure Lotus Observatory, in slumber.

This is the Azure Lotus Observatory's greatest foundation.

Wu Tie gazed at the hundred thousand coffins and gave a slight shake of his head.

"Even slaughtering every living soul on the Sui Dynasty's continent would not be enough for you to break through to the venerable realm."

"After you have massacred the people of the Sui Dynasty's continent, you still wish to launch assaults on other continents… you have had enough."