Chapter 1151: Bird Officials and Snake Gods Contend, Golden Men, Nine Tripods, and Stone Wengzhong

Xia Hou Xu stood beneath the Vermilion Bird banner, originally full of confidence, but as the atmosphere within the tower ship grew increasingly bizarre, the expression on his face gradually lost its composure.

Accompanied by the clanging sound of collisions, Li Xiuzuan and another were seen carrying a massive bronze statue, stumbling as they moved it over.

It was, shockingly, a bronze standing statue of a Snake-Handling God.

It held a dragon-snake in its mouth, had vertical eyes and a high crown, its body was wrapped in dragon patterns, and it was adorned with bird, insect, and eye patterns...

As a dark golden light flashed by, Xia Hou Xu looked up abruptly, only to see that the space above the Vermilion Bird banner was empty. That undying totem worshipped by the Immortal Qin—the Vermilion Bird—had shockingly flown off the ship, circled the tower ship once, and vanished.

Veins bulged on Xia Hou Xu's forehead. He merely glanced at the bronze statue before forcibly suppressing his reaction, muttering, "Ying Zheng is just building a tomb, so why bury the things brought back from the conquest of the Ancient Shu Kingdom?"

His original confidence was based on the view that the Immortal Qin were merely latecomers who had not yet advanced.

The Xia Hou clan had founded the Heavenly Xia Divine Dynasty, were a family of the Five Emperors, and worshipped Emperor Yu as their ancestor; they were truly too ancient.

Moreover, they had once been Heavenly Emperors; by comparison, the Immortal Qin had ultimately failed to achieve the enterprise of a Heavenly Emperor, so he naturally held some psychological advantage.

But the history of the Ancient Shu Kingdom was no less inferior to the Heavenly Xia Divine Dynasty. Seeing that bronze statue of the Snake-Handling God, he broke into a cold sweat over his previous wild boasts.

"Winding into a dragon, shedding into a snake—in the ancient past, many witch gods manipulated dragons and snakes. Yu'er, Kuafu, the Rain Master's Concubine, Yu Jiang, Yanzi, Buting Huyu, and others were all Snake-Handling Gods. These are old gods; after the sages of the hundred schools cut off the earth, they ultimately returned to the Yu Jiuyou!"

Unlike the vague generalizations of most, Xia Hou Xu truly knew the real names of that group of Snake-Handling Gods.

Before the Heavenly Xia Divine Dynasty, there were two great divine lineages: the Snake-Handling and the Bird-Master.

One arose from beneath the earth, while the other descended from the Heavenly Palace. The snake's image was that of emerging from underground after winter, while the bird was the image of one born with wings, descending from the sky.

The ancient witch path used this to record the two gods of different origins on the Central Lands.

Those who descended from the Heavenly Realm, descendants of the Five-Colored God Clan, were the Bird Official Human Emperors, gods named after birds.

And those resurrected from the Yu Jiuyou, belonging to the demon gods and earth gods, were the Snake-Handling Gods, or those who held, trod, held in their mouths, or manipulated dragons and snakes...

His Xia Hou clan were the descendants of the Black Emperor, with the dragon-snake totem. In the past, Luo Ming gave birth to a White Horse; the White Horse was Gun, and Gun died to give birth to Great Yu. This ability to shed and transform, like a dragon-snake or a cicada, was precisely that of the dragon-snake emerging from the earth, the demon god resurrected from the Yu Jiuyou.

The character 'Yu' for Emperor Yu is like an insect, and he is also Ju Long.

As recorded in the ancient witch path classic, the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, the true ancestor of the Xia Hou clan, Xia Qi—beyond the southwest sea, south of the Red Water, west of the Flowing Sands, there was a person holding two green snakes, riding two dragons, named Xia Hou Kai. Kai offered three concubines to Heaven and obtained the Nine Arguments and Nine Songs.

Gun was a great fish.

Xi Si was a long worm.

Yu was an insect.

Xia Qi was the god who held snakes and rode dragons.

Thus, the Xia Hou clan, with human faces and snake bodies, were the orthodox Snake-Handling Gods.

And the later Di Shang clan.

"Heaven ordained the Vermilion Bird, which descended to give birth to Shang."

They were naturally the orthodox Bird Official Human Emperors.

After the Supreme Dao Ancestor won the war against Heaven, the orthodox human race of the past, the Five-Colored God Clan, returned to the Earth Immortal Realm, but they had two different branches: one descended from the Heavenly Realm, the remnants of the Five-Colored God Clan forces, and the other had been cast into the Yu Jiuyou, becoming demon gods, only to be resurrected and whitewashed.

The Xia Hou clan was the branch of the Black Emperor, the resurrected Snake-Handling Gods.

The Di Shang clan was the branch of the Bai Di, the Vermilion Bird bloodline that descended from the Heavenly Realm...

Therefore, one had "Gun died to give birth to Great Yu."

The other had "Heaven ordained the Vermilion Bird, which descended to give birth to Shang."

The replacement of Xia by Shang in the past was also a war between these two great divine lineages: the Snake-Handling Gods and the Heavenly Court's Bird Officials.

And later, both were swept into the garbage heap of the Yu Jiuyou by the Ji clan, the Bear Totem of Heavenly Zhou, who were taught and supported by the Primordial Dao Ancestor's disciple, Guang Dan Chengzi!

So, as Xia Hou Xu of the Snake-Handling God lineage, he easily recognized the origin of this bronze statue: a pestle-shaped bun, left-lapel clothing, and vertical eyes like an insect—it was precisely Can Cong.

"Shu!"

Xia Hou Xu dared not underestimate this god.

A single drop of the Blood Sea Demon Ancestor's true water, upon falling into the world, became the eighth-ranked Blood-Transforming Strange Gu among the world's fierce Gu, and one of Can Cong's larvae also fell into the world, shedding to become the seventh-ranked Fluorescent Heavenly Demon Moth.

This god was named Shu, the insect with vertical eyes.

And the ancestor Emperor Yu was also an insect...

Xia Hou Xu first urgently checked his body, finding no Fluorescent Heavenly Demon Moth eggs parasitizing him. Only then did he let Li Xiuzuan and the others carefully place the bronze statue aside. He let out a long sigh of relief, respectfully bowed to the statue of Shu, and said, "God Shu is above, a descendant of Emperor Yu pays respects. The Vermilion Bird is hateful, it overturned my Heavenly Xia and destroyed your Ancient Shu. Now that I have come, I will certainly dig up its corpse and destroy the Vermilion Bird once more..."

He looked up at the black flag above his head at this moment, only then realizing why the Vermilion Bird had to run.

Two old enemies had come from below; if it couldn't win, how could it not run?

Li Xiuzuan was whispering to Monk Zhi Society over there, saying in a low voice, "We're done for! These two are in cahoots. This fellow boasted so loudly; I thought he was a fierce man who dared to eat any evil spirit, but I didn't expect that when a real big cargo came, he would start discussing family ties with it!"

"Ancient Shu was a vassal of Heavenly Xia... No one in the Earth Immortal Realm knew they were relatives! These ancient divine dynasties hide too deeply!"

Monk Zhi Society also muttered, "Gu is also one of the eleven ghost plagues. I thought I would be able to see the Fluorescent Heavenly Demon Moth battle the Xia Hou clan!"

Li Xiuzuan sighed, "Who didn't? As soon as I saw the style and patterns of that bronze statue, I immediately thought of the inauspicious aura of this object. It would certainly transform into Fluorescent Heavenly Demon Moth eggs and hatch from our bodies. This Gu is the first among the nineteen fierce Gu to shed, and it is extremely vicious. I even wanted to see if the Primordial Spirit could defend against it!"

The Xia Hou clan watched the two juniors whispering there. Wuyou Wuyou Naihe could he not know that his actions had exposed his cowardice? He had promised that he was invincible here, that his body was the King of Evil Spirits, and that he feared no ghost plague, no matter what kind.

Yet, as soon as he turned his head, someone dug up an Ancient Shu divine statue...

A fierce light flickered in his eyes, but he still suppressed himself. He merely extended his index finger, and with a bone spur at his fingertip that was the color of iron and blood, he drew a wound in the void.

A dark red light, like pus and blood, writhed in the split void.

"The lingering Vermilion Bird bloodline!"

Xia Hou Xu sneered, "In the past, your ancestor Boyi was cooked and killed by the Nine Tripods. I didn't expect the remnants to establish the Qin state. The Vermilion Bird laid eggs twice, two branches of bloodline: one destroyed my Heavenly Xia, and one destroyed Ancient Shu. Now, using the blood of the Vermilion Bird as a sacrifice, I can just happen to display my Xia Hou clan's Nine Tripods Great Divine Ability!"

"I ask King Shu to lend me a hand..."

Xia Hou Xu stirred the Xia Hou bloodline within his body, and wisps of divine light were drawn from his demon body, winding into a tripod in his palm.

He waved his hand to cast dense seals, summoning an ancient altar.

It was the phantom of the Xia Hou clan's other spiritual treasure—the Jun Terrace.

This spiritual treasure was cast by Xia Hou Qi, who was the son of Emperor Yu.

Qi offered three concubines to Heaven—Xia Hou Qi held three great sacrifices to Heaven, received the mandate of Heaven, and obtained the *Nine Arguments*, *Nine Songs*, and *Nine Shao*.

'Sacrifice' was a cultivation method of the ancient divine path, which was very different from the fruits of the immortal path like today's divine abilities and techniques.

The *Nine Arguments*, *Nine Songs*, and *Nine Shao* were all great witch path divine abilities during the Heavenly Xia Divine Dynasty, equivalent to today's Thirty-Six Transformations of Heavenly Gang.

The sacrificial method could borrow the power of the gods, evoke the virtue of the gods, and use the power of the gods.

By now, although the various witch path, sacrificial path, and divine path great divine abilities accumulated by the Xia Hou clan before had become completely outdated—times change and the path changes—they could no longer show off their power in today's era of the immortal path.

But there were also great powers of the Xia Hou clan who cast the *Nine Arguments*, *Nine Songs*, and *Nine Shao* of the old era, together with Xia Qi's spiritual treasure, the Jun Terrace, into a great divine ability—the Jun Terrace Upholding the Heavenly Law!

Thereby melting the various great divine abilities of the Heavenly Xia sacrificial path of the past into one furnace.

Once the Jun Terrace appeared, it was a great sacrifice.

"The Jun Terrace upholds the Heavenly Law, the Nine Tripods suppress the Eight Wilds!"

The Jun Terrace supported the bronze Ancient Shu god, carrying a wisp of its Dao fruit with the supreme sacrificial path.

The blood flowing from that wound of Heaven writhed more and more, finally dripping from the void and falling into the phantom of the Nine Tripods cast by Xia Hou Xu.

Above the tower ship, a mournful cry of the Vermilion Bird came.

Even though it had dodged early, it was difficult to escape the strangeness of that wisp of Dao fruit of the Shu god's silkworm insect. Its blood was taken from thin air and sacrificed to the Nine Tripods.

On the body of this bronze tripod, a Taotie pattern emerged.

Inside, blood mist boiled, and a Vermilion Bird struggled left and right, but it was firmly imprisoned by the Taotie pattern and completely refined.

Xia Hou Xu branded the Taotie pattern of the Nine Tripods onto his own body. Beneath his demon body, the tattoo-like patterns writhed, and gradually, with the interweaving of Dao and reason, they transformed into relief-like tattoos on his demon body!

"Qi transforms into Taotie! Suppress this demon body!"

"I use the blood of the Vermilion Bird to sacrifice to the Nine Tripods, branding the Taotie demon pattern of the Nine Tripods, borrowing a wisp of the ancient Taotie Great Sage's greed Dao fruit. This time, no matter what kind of evil spirit it is, it will all be swallowed by me in one gulp..."

Just at this moment, Lan Jiu and Hua Hua Daier arrived together, holding a stone statue in their hands.

This time, Xia Hou Xu didn't even glance at it. The Taotie demon pattern on his body transformed into a Taotie phantom with towering fierce flames, swallowing the stone statue in their hands in one gulp. The stone statue, interwoven with divine radiance, sank into the darkness.

In the past, the Taotie Great Sage and the Tiangou Great Sage competed for the devouring Dao fruit, but neither succeeded.

The last one settled for second best and achieved the greed Dao fruit, while the other followed the guidance of the Supreme and condensed the Round-Missing Dao fruit. Although the devouring Dao fruit never appeared, the greed Dao fruit and the Round-Missing Dao fruit could be said to have split part of the principles of the devouring Dao fruit. At this moment, with the stone statue entering his mouth, no matter what kind of evil spirit it was, it should have been completely suppressed and swallowed!

But unexpectedly, this was not an evil spirit!

In the void, a peerless Golden Man emerged inch by inch. The Golden Man's large hand tore apart the void interwoven with the Taotie pattern. The stone statue reappeared, transforming into a Zhang-eight stone man, overlapping with the Golden Man phantom behind it, shattering the void with a single strike!

"Golden Man!"

Li Zhong, who had just walked out of the ship tower, opened his eyes wide with wonder and said happily, "There were also two Golden Men buried in the Qin Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum!"

"Wengzhong!"

Having all his divine abilities and techniques shattered by the Golden Man's strike, Xia Hou Xu could only summon the phantom of the Nine Tripods to meet it. Boom! In that instant, only one sound remained in Xia Hou Xu's mind. The entire tower ship trembled, emitting a mournful cry as if it were about to disintegrate.

The entire Yinhe was almost cut off, the void collapsed piece by piece, and the surrounding Yinhe water was almost shattered in an instant, setting off huge waves.

The tower ship swayed left and right. Li Xiuzuan, Zhi Society, Zheng Yin, and others nearby were shaken violently, trying their best to stabilize themselves. The six characters of Luo Tian were roared out, and they chanted in unison, "Steady! Steady!"

Their magic power took root in the void, but they couldn't resist the torrent raised by the void, and they were almost thrown off the ship...

In that instant, abandoning any changes in divine abilities and techniques, the clash of the two spiritual treasure phantoms was incomparably violent, almost destroying everything. Xia Hou Xu's undying demon body, holding the Nine Tripods phantom, was almost destroyed by that stone statue.

What kind of violence was this!

His final cry revealed the answer.

Wengzhong, the Immortal Qin general Wengzhong, a great military cultivator who had condensed the Dao seed of force in the past, but was backlashed by the tribulation in the void and perished inch by inch.

The Qin Qin Shi Huang used his Dao seed to cast the Twelve Golden Men!

Although he died, his Dao seed was used to cast the Golden Men, achieving a certain alternative Dao fruit. Some said that if he had survived, his achievements would not have been inferior to Wang He Jian and Bai Qi, but the backlash of the Dao fruit of force was incomparably terrifying, and even a true Dao Lord could not bear it.

But this also allowed the Immortal Qin to see the potential of the Great Dao of Force, using a certain method to cast Golden Men to trigger the power of the Great Dao of Force.

In their prime, the Golden Men could use the Dao seed of force they carried to trigger the backlash of the Great Dao of Force, thereby borrowing this terrifying power to conquer Dao Lords.

Although Wengzhong died, the Golden Men that borrowed his Dao seed left behind a brand in the cosmic realms that made countless people tremble and fear, so much so that after the Immortal Qin perished, there were still people who used his image to cast Golden Men and stone statues to deter Yu Jiuyou demon objects and tomb-robbing thieves.

This was the Stone Wengzhong...

But he didn't expect that not only were two Golden Men buried in the Qin Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum, but there was also this Stone Wengzhong, a stone statue erected to deter ghosts and gods.

Xia Hou Xu's entire body was cast from laws, his undying demon body had its scales explode, bone spurs stood up, and the Nine Tripods phantom manifested by his bloodline almost collapsed. He almost spat out a mouthful of old blood, but forcibly endured it, looking at the stone statue.

Finally, the stone statue was shattered by the backlash of the clash between the Nine Tripods and the Golden Man.

Even if carved from divine stone, it could not withstand the terrifying power of this backlash.

The body carved from Chaos Divine Stone collapsed bit by bit into gray-white stone powder, drifting away with the wind.

Xia Hou Xu remained expressionless, swallowed a mouthful of old blood that he hadn't spat out, and stood with his hands behind his back beneath the Vermilion Bird banner. His hands behind his back trembled uncontrollably, but he forcibly spoke, "Not bad, the Immortal Qin Golden Men have some strength, but I let you all summon evil spirits and dig up relics, so why did you dig up the stone statues that deter evil spirits? If you act so recklessly next time, I will cast you into stone statues and put you back!"

Hua Hua Daier shrank her head and whispered, "The stone statue isn't an evil spirit, but it suppresses evil spirits!"

"We summoned that evil spirit, but were afraid we couldn't bear it, so we held the stone statue to deter it. The real evil spirit is still behind!"

"What?" Xia Hou Xu's face changed.

A low tiger roar came from the darkness behind. Cui Dan and the others also ran over frantically, shouting, "Who summoned the Ghost Tiger? Isn't this thing at the Bai Di's altar, suppressed by Xu Fu?"

"Fortunately, the things we found can make it wary, otherwise you would have really killed us!"

Xia Hou Xu's face changed again. The stone statue could only barely deter the Ghost Tiger. As the Mountain Lord of the old gods and the head of the ghost plagues, even Xu Fu, who was a Dao Lord, had to use some means to deal with it. And the thing that Cui Dan and the others had provoked made even the Ghost Tiger wary!

Xia Hou Xu knew he had made a huge mistake.

First, this was not a good place; even a Primordial Spirit Dao seed could not run rampant.

Second, these righteous newcomers were very good at provoking things; their ability to cause trouble could pierce the sky!

Following closely, Qing Jiao and another also came over holding the Five Sacred Mountains magic treasure, along with Li Zhong. Two were panicked, and one ran out of the darkness leisurely.

Seeing the Five Sacred Mountains magic treasure, Xia Hou Xu's face first relaxed—fortunately, there were no accidents.

But immediately after, it tightened again—they could come out, which meant the Ghost Tiger was also wary of them.

Heavens!

Emperor Yu is above, what kind of ghost place is this? And what kind of monsters, demons, and world-class treasures are this group of people?

The White Deer hung a wisp of black tiger fur on its broken horn, ran out, and giggled, "What a terrifying tiger, it almost ate me!" ===== CHAPTER 1152 =====