Chapter 138 The Immortal King's Ten-Mile Red Dowry, a Grand and Glorious Journey to Your Three Pure Ones Sect...
On the scorched plain, a small green tree radiating a shimmering divine light floated in mid-air, its verdant life essence showering down upon the blood-stained figure below.
It was a multicolored bird-woman, its wings tattered, its life force waning to the extreme. In her arms she cradled a small beast, its body as black as a lump of coal; its once soft, fluffy black fur was now soaked in blood and matted together.
Behind them, black energy surged, and several powerful auras tore through the sky, approaching at an extremely fast speed.
Despite her injuries, Zhong Jiuli fled through the void with Bai Ye in tow. With each flash, blood oozed from her bird-like beak. The Demon Emperor's attack from afar was truly terrifying, nearly shattering most of her bones and flesh.
Bai Ye's situation was even worse. If it weren't for her Emperor Blood Domain and Jiao Jiao's appearance at the last moment, using her incredibly hard tortoise shell to block most of the impact for her, she would probably have died on the spot.
"Zhong Jiuli..." Bai also weakly opened his eyes, looked at the bird's beak above his head, and forced a smile, "Was our job today considered a big one?"
“Fine!” Even in this life-or-death crisis, Zhong Jiuli’s voice remained gentle. “Close your eyes and regulate your breathing. Don’t speak. Recover from your injuries as quickly as possible.”
"I've thought about it... I still have to say it!" Bai said, panting heavily. "If we can't escape now, we won't have another chance to say it later."
With a whooshing sound, a black spear arrived in an instant. Zhong Jiuli slapped it away, and the impact caused another burst of blood mist to erupt from her arm.
She endured the excruciating pain, not daring to slow down even a fraction, and looked down at the black lump of coal in her arms, asking, "So what do you want to say?"
"I think... once we get back from here, I'll have Mother prepare lots and lots of things, like a grand wedding procession... We'll go to your Sanqing Sect in style to propose marriage, so everyone in the Nine Provinces can see that I, the number one genius of the Nine Provinces, am going to marry you..."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Jiuli's eyes welled up with tears. She raised her hand to wipe the bloodstains from Bai Yemao's face and said softly, "Alright, let everyone in Kyushu know that you are going to marry me."
Bai also raised his small, black paw, holding a fruit wreathed in chaotic energy in his palm. The surface of the fruit was covered with Daoist runes, and its interior seemed to contain a universe. The life essence emanating from it helped to heal the injuries of both of them.
"Then I must first offer some betrothal gifts. How can I not show some sincerity if I want to marry Sect Leader Zhong?"
Zhong Jiuli looked down at her palm, and without thinking, grabbed the fruit and put it to Bai Ye's mouth.
"Don't......"
Bai also turned his head away from the fruit that was being fed to his mouth. "Zhong Jiuli, this is what Xiao Lü risked her life to bring back. It is our hope for survival. Even if my injuries heal after eating the fruit, I still can't escape from this desolate place with you, given my cultivation level."
"But you're different. If you eat, we'll have a chance to live, right, Jiaojiao, it's too hot?"
"Sister Zhong, you eat, none of us want to die," Jiao Jiao and Xiao Tai Huo pleaded together, their voices pitiful.
Zhong Jiuli looked back and saw several terrifying auras rapidly approaching from behind. If they continued to flee like this, they might be caught up in less than an hour.
She looked down at the few pitiful little ones in her arms, and finally stopped hesitating and put the World Fruit into her mouth.
This World Fruit almost condenses all the life essence of the World Tree's remains, and also contains the chaotic laws of the beginning of heaven and earth. It was originally prepared for the Demon Emperor himself, but now Little Green picked the peach and delivered it to Zhong Jiuli.
The fruit melted in his mouth, transforming into an indescribable surge of boundless energy that flowed into Zhong Jiuli's limbs and bones. This power was as powerful as a mountain torrent, yet as gentle as spring rain, like a mother's embrace, making one want to sleep peacefully there.
Zhong Jiuli radiated a dazzling glow, her disguise completely vanished, and she returned to her original ethereal beauty.
The wounds on his body healed almost instantly, leaving no scars. His skin glowed and his bones shone.
Bai Ye, held in her arms and bathed in that divine light, felt completely comfortable. His injuries had healed considerably, his broken bones had reformed, and his skin and fur were no longer bleeding.
Healing her injuries was secondary; the Great Dao Laws contained within the World Fruit transformed into runes, which were engraved into Zhong Jiuli's body, and the mysteries of the universe's operation slowly unfolded before her eyes.
She witnessed the great war between immortals and demons, saw incredibly powerful figures battling in the outer realms, saw the world crumble, countless lives perish in the war, the cycle of time and space, and the rise and fall of all things.
In that instant, she had an epiphany: these were the memories of the World Tree; what she was seeing were everything the World Tree had ever experienced. These memories, intertwined with the Supreme Dao Principles, corroborated her cultivation of the Star Dao, allowing her understanding of the Dao to reach a completely new level.
Her cultivation level began to rise rapidly, progressing from the early, middle, and late stages of True Immortal, until it reached the Great Perfection.
Her breakthroughs were swift and unstoppable. The True Immortal Realm, which many cultivators take hundreds of thousands or even millions of years to reach, was like water flowing into a channel for her.
A five-colored divine light enveloped her head, within which the sun, moon, and stars could be seen revolving, and all things were constantly regenerating.
Zhong Jiuli's long hair moved without wind, each strand resembling a divine chain of laws that could easily pierce through the void.
She opened her eyes, and the heavens and earth trembled. An overwhelming pressure that surpassed all living beings swept across the land. Countless flowers bloomed out of thin air on the scorched earth, and springs began to gush from the parched land.
This is the blessing bestowed by heaven and earth upon the birth of the Celestial King!
The demon kings who were hot on their heels were shocked. They could feel the oppressive aura emanating from the immortal king thousands of miles away.
"Oh no! It's the Emperor's World Fruit! That damned ant stole the Emperor's treasure!" The Demon Emperor immediately realized.
Zhong Jiuli slowly raised her eyes. Wherever her gaze fell, space froze and all things submitted. Those demon emperors who came with great momentum had no power to fight against Zhong Jiuli, who had reached the Immortal King realm.
With just one glance, they all fell from the sky, sprawling on the ground, unable to even stand up.
"Damn it, why are these ants so powerful? We're clearly both at the King level!" One of the humanoid creatures angrily pounded the ground and howled loudly.
Holding the little coal ball in her arms, Zhong Jiuli walked slowly forward. With each step she took, a golden lotus of the Great Dao bloomed beneath her feet, its petals swirling with countless Dao patterns.
Behind her, countless phantom images of living beings appeared, including a true dragon coiling, a divine phoenix spreading its wings, and a white tiger roaring to the sky. These phantom images of ancient divine beasts crushed down with her, as if they wanted to shatter this world.
With a flick of Zhong Jiuli's finger, all the demon emperors below exploded, including their divine beast mounts, all annihilated by that single finger.
"presumptuous!"
A roar that shook the universe resounded throughout this land. All the demons on this scorched plain trembled at this roar. When the Demon Emperor was angry, all living beings trembled.
The black giant ape strode forward, its body straining against the ground. It was indeed old and near death, and its bones seemed to crack as it moved.
With each step it took, countless bottomless cracks appeared on the scorched plain beneath its feet, causing the extraterrestrial stars to sway and the entire starry sky to seem to be drawn towards it.
"You ants who stole my treasure and slaughtered my generals, how dare you!"
The old ape seemed to walk slowly, but each step covered tens of thousands of miles, and soon arrived in front of Zhong Jiuli. Spatial distance lost its meaning in front of such a powerful being.
Zhong Jiuli stood still, having already learned the old ape's background from the World Tree's memories.
It suffered irreversible damage to its Dao in ancient times, which is why it aged abnormally. Otherwise, if its cultivation had reached the level of a Demon Emperor, it would never have aged to this state.
That's why she had the confidence to fight him.
Two supreme powerhouses stood facing each other. One was a young powerhouse who had just entered the Immortal King realm, fused with the origin of the World Tree, and whose aura was as powerful as a rainbow. The other was a half-step Demon Emperor whose realm had fallen, who was old and frail, but still had the strength to fight.
An earth-shattering battle, destined to shake the entire demon realm, is about to erupt.
After the old ape saw Zhong Jiuli's appearance clearly, he was surprised for a moment, then came to his senses and hissed, "Even if you look like her, you are still an ant, you deserve to die."
It raised its huge, wrinkled hand and slapped it towards where Zhong Jiuli was.
Before the palm strike even arrived, the terrifying imperial might had already shattered all the illusions surrounding Zhong Jiuli, dissipated the golden lotus beneath her feet, and caused the illusory image of myriad spirits behind her to crumble.
Despite its decline in cultivation level, its control over the myriad laws of heaven and earth still far surpasses that of Zhong Jiuli, who is at the Immortal King realm.
Faced with such a formidable enemy, Zhong Jiuli remained unmoved. She formed a hand seal in front of her chest, fully unleashing the power of the World Fruit, which condensed behind her into a World Tree Dharma Image that connected heaven and earth.
Each leaf carries a small world within it, and the branches flow with a chaotic energy.
"Immortal magic, create heaven and earth!" she shouted, and as the leaves swayed, a world was created.
"boom!"
The moment the giant hand collided with the World Tree, a true cataclysmic storm swept across the land.
Everything on the scorched plains—mountains, ley lines, and the demons lurking underground—was reduced to dust in the shockwave. Space shattered, the boundary walls were breached, revealing the chaotic void beyond the plane.
"Let's see how many blows you can withstand!" the old ape roared, slamming his withered palm down again.
Zhong Jiuli snorted coldly and chose to switch from defense to offense.
The World Tree suddenly trembled, and thousands of branches emerged from its canopy, transforming into emerald dragons that roared as they met the giant palm.
Surprisingly, these azure dragons were visible to the naked eye but untouchable. The old ape's descending hand passed right through the azure dragons, leaving it unable to reach them.
"Big Black Ape!" Bai Ye poked his head out from Zhong Jiuli's arms and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Are you so old and blind that you can't even see where the enemy is?"
Jiaojiao, who was snuggled up with her, secretly tugged at Bai Ye's fur and whispered a reminder: "Ye Zai, are we still going to talk back at a time like this?"
"Of course! My wife doesn't like empty talk. She just listens to that old ape yelling, so I'll definitely help her!"
As Zhong Jiuli listened to the two little ones talking in her arms, a smile flashed in her eyes. She patted Bai Ye's head, signaling the two to be quiet.
With his other hand, he made a hand seal, and thousands of azure dragons seemed to emerge from the river of time and space and come into reality. The azure dragons coiled around and frantically tore at the old ape's flesh and blood, devouring its already meager life essence.
"How dare you!"
The old ape was furious. What it feared most was the loss of its life essence. For a supreme expert who had already reached the pinnacle, nothing was more painful than having its cultivation decline and watching itself grow weaker little by little.
Enraged to the extreme, its withered body unleashed its most terrifying attack, striking repeatedly with both palms towards the direction where Zhong Jiuli was located.
At this moment, it felt like the real apocalypse had arrived.
Extraterrestrial stars fell like raindrops, each one a real star, incomparable to the stars Bai condensed using the power of laws.
These stars, carrying flames that could incinerate everything, crashed down upon the earth, enough to destroy an entire world.
The Void Demon Realm trembled violently during the battle between the two supreme beings. The earth's veins collapsed, magma spewed forth, cities crumbled, and countless demons wailed in the sea of fire.
Bai Ye and Jiao Jiao were secretly relieved to see this. It seemed that fighting really did have to happen in someone else's home. If a fight like this had occurred in Kyushu, who knew how many Kyushu states would still be standing?
In the center of the battlefield, the old ape's aura grew weaker and weaker. It stared intently at Zhong Jiuli, whose blood and energy were surging and whose fighting spirit was high, with a hint of resentment flashing in its eyes.
It unleashed several more palm strikes, and taking advantage of the tremors in the void, it turned and fled without looking back. If the battle continued, it wouldn't even be able to maintain its half-step Demon Emperor realm.
Zhong Jiuli did not give chase, but watched the old ape flee. Only when she was sure that it had really left did her tense body sway slightly, and a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of her mouth.
This battle seemed evenly matched; she forced back the old ape who was a half-step demon emperor with her Immortal King cultivation. However, she also suffered serious injuries because she forcibly activated the World Fruit that she had not yet fully refined and clashed head-on with the half-step demon emperor.
"Zhong Jiuli!" Bai Ye immediately raised his small, dark hand to cover the blood at the corner of her mouth. "How are you? Where are you hurt?"
Just as Zhong Jiuli was about to speak to comfort her, her gaze suddenly sharpened, and she looked up into the depths of the void. An extremely powerful aura was approaching, its oppressive force as majestic as the might of heaven—it was the true Demon Emperor.
"Let's go!" She suppressed the surging blood and qi within her body, hugged the little coal ball in her arms even tighter, withdrew the immortal light around her, took a step forward, and directly entered the void, her aura disappearing instantly.
Just as their figures disappeared, a figure completely shrouded in black mist landed where they had just stood.
The creature was enveloped in surging black energy, obscuring its exact form. Only its pair of pitch-black eyes, like two divine lamps, swept across the battlefield, finally locking onto the location where Zhong Jiuli had disappeared.
"Two ants, do you think you can escape?" It said indifferently, completely disregarding the two who were trying to escape.
Within the void, Zhong Jiuli's figure flickered rapidly, while simultaneously dodging the omnipresent void storm.
Bai was held tightly in her arms and was not harmed, but Zhong Jiuli had many wounds on her body, all cut by the spatial turbulence.
"Are enemies chasing us?" Bai asked telepathically.
Zhong Jiuli nodded slightly, "It's alright, I can help you escape."
“It’s alright, I know a place that the Void Demon Clan never sets foot in.” Bai also transmitted the fragments of his memories to Zhong Jiuli.
"Not bad, a smart tiger who knows how to plan ahead." Zhong Jiuli praised with a smile.
She also saw that place in the World Tree's legacy; it was an ancient battlefield ruin that the Void Demon Clan dared not set foot in, or it could also be called the Burial Tomb of the Emperor.
Behind them, the Demon Emperor, who had chased into the void, locked onto their location, raised his hand, and casually grabbed them.
A massive hand of law appeared from the void, piercing through layers of space, and reached out to grab the space where Zhong Jiuli was located, intending to crush her along with that space.
Ahead, Zhong Jiuli, who was fleeing with all her might, felt a jolt of fear as an unprecedented sense of crisis washed over her. Even though there was nothing unusual behind her, she still exerted all her strength and unleashed the Law of Time.
The space froze, and the descending giant hand hesitated for a moment.
Taking advantage of this fleeting opportunity, Zhong Jiuli once again vanished into the void, narrowly escaping.
"Hmm?" The Dark Demon Emperor was somewhat surprised when his attack missed.
It stared in the direction where Zhong Jiuli had disappeared, muttering to itself, "How could she actually escape from my grasp?"
Unlike the Demon Emperor's composure, Zhong Jiuli's situation was much worse.
In their haste, they accidentally stumbled into a raging sea of chaotic lightning. Billions of chaotic divine lightning bolts lay dormant there; the intrusion of outsiders had disturbed these slumbering bolts.
"Boom!"
A chaotic thunderous explosion shot into the sky, and Zhong Jiuli and the two little ones in her arms were struck by the explosion, their flesh charred black and a gruesome sight.
Seeing that the little coal ball and the little turtle in her arms were almost stunned by the electric shock, Zhong Jiuli hardened her heart and made a decision in an instant.
She said, "Ah Ye, if we're being chased by the Demon Emperor like this, something bad will happen to us sooner or later. I want to fight him here. Why don't you and Jiao Jiao go and hide in my inner space first?"
"You'll be alright, right?" Bai asked, looking up.
Zhong Jiuli promised, "I'll be fine. I still want to take our number one genius back to Kyushu to get married."
"Okay! Then you must keep your word."
Bai also looked at her intently. She knew that she was not strong enough at the moment, and staying would only cause trouble. Fighting against such a powerful enemy, any slight distraction could lead to her death.
Zhong Jiuli said no more and put Bai Ye and Jiao Jiao into the small world nurtured by the World Fruit. It was a real small world that was born along with the World Fruit, and it was perfect for storing these two little things.
With no worries about the future, Zhong Jiuli felt much more at ease. She had fought countless battles in her life, and even if the enemy was so powerful that she could hardly resist, it would not make her feel afraid.
She intends to lure you into a trap here, thus triggering a heavenly tribulation.
The demon emperor, who had just entered the chaotic sea of lightning, was struck by countless lightning bolts. However, these divine lightning bolts struck its body but failed to even cleave through the pervasive black mist, as if they were merely tickling it.
"Ridiculous!" it sneered, black energy surging in its palm, and a death blade wreathed in death energy materialized. "You think I'm that old ape? How can this mere Thunder Pool stop me?"
The blade of death was raised, but before it could fully descend, its terrifying aura had already cleaved the surging sea of lightning in two.
Zhong Jiuli's eyes were calm, and the blue lotus mark between her brows shone brightly. A chaotic aura permeated the air, elevating her aura to a great level.
She shouted, "Bring it here!"
The Celestial King's decree, once spoken, became law. The Celestial King's Great Calamity broke through the boundary, instantly igniting this chaotic sea of lightning, making it more than ten thousand times more violent.
"boom!"
The Immortal King's Great Tribulation summoned the Immortal-Slaying Divine Lightning, whose power was no less than that of a planetary collision. The blinding lightning engulfed everything, and the terrifying shockwave directly crushed this void.
The Demon Emperor's expression changed slightly, and lightning bolts rained down on it. The black aura swirling around its body was instantly melted away by the lightning.
Beneath the black mist, the Demon Emperor's terrifying true form, filled with eerie demonic eyes, was revealed. Each demonic eye seemed to connect to a hellish realm, flowing with an aura of blood and death.
"You ant, you have successfully angered me."
The Demon Emperor was enraged. At this moment, countless demonic eyes on its true body opened simultaneously. These demonic eyes were extremely terrifying. Each demonic eye seemed to contain countless eyeballs overlapping each other, layer upon layer, numbering in the hundreds of millions.
The moment she was locked onto by those billions of demonic eyes, Zhong Jiuli felt as if her soul had been dragged into an endless hell, where countless terrifying creatures swept over, tearing her soul apart and devouring it.
She didn't know how long she had been gone; it might have been a moment, or it might have been billions of years.
Zhong Jiuli didn't even know how many times she had died. Just as her soul was about to dissipate, a faint silver light seemed to come from the distant other side of the Milky Way.
That glimmer of silver light pierced through the thunderous explosions and entered the demonic eye of the Demon Emperor.
"Aow!" The Demon Emperor with the Demon Eyes let out a piercingly miserable howl. At this moment, all the demon eyes on its body shrank and withered, as if it had crossed the river of time and space and was heading straight for its demise.
Freed from the control of the Demon Eye, Zhong Jiuli immediately broke free from the endless hell. Without even catching her breath, she saw the miserable state of the Demon Eye Demon Emperor and immediately understood.
Now was the perfect time to strike back. She charged straight toward the Demon Emperor with an increasingly violent lightning tribulation.
Although this demon emperor's demonic eye can unleash extremely terrifying soul attacks, it is also the weakest point in its defenses and its most fatal flaw. Therefore, it needs to be constantly shrouded and protected by dense black energy.
Because of the existence of the Demon Emperor, the power of the lightning tribulation has been increasing. At this moment, the lightning tribulation above the sky has become terrifying to an alarming degree.
Billions of bolts of lightning converged wildly, condensing into a lightning spear that stretched across the starry sky. The spear was wrapped with the most primal lightning runes, and its tip locked onto two figures entangled in the sea of lightning below.
"boom!"
The lightning spear descended, tearing through the air.
Enraged, the Demon Emperor with the Demon Eye suppressed its fury and swung its dark longsword upwards, attempting to sever the energy that had been locked onto it.
The blade's edge collided with the lightning, unleashing a terrifying power capable of destroying a small world. Taking advantage of this attack, the Demon Emperor with the Demon Eye rapidly retreated, successfully exiting the core area of the sea of lightning before the lightning spears arrived.
Zhong Jiuli, who was targeted by the lightning tribulation, had no way to avoid it; this was the Celestial King lightning tribulation that was meant for her.
"Boom!"
The lightning spear descended, piercing through Zhong Jiuli's body.
Thousands of lightning bolts emanated from her body. Her Celestial King body became almost transparent in the face of this extreme destructive power, with lightning overflowing from every pore, extinguishing her life force.
Within destruction, there is also rebirth. While the raging power of lightning was destroying her, it was also using the supreme power of laws to rebuild her foundation and remove the last trace of impurity from her immortal power.
This will elevate her physical constitution, immortal blood, and divine soul to a more perfect level, closer to the essence of the Great Dao.
The tribulation of lightning is a calamity, but also a baptism by heaven and earth for this newly ascended immortal king.
After an unknown amount of time, the extremely violent chaotic sea of lightning finally returned to calm.
The Dark Demon Emperor, who had returned, once again set foot on this place. Its body was once again shrouded in black mist, but the mist was thinner than before. Through the mist, one could vaguely see the terrifying demonic eyes on its body, which seemed to have recovered considerably.
It coldly scanned the area, searching for Zhong Jiuli's presence. Finding no trace of her, it sneered, "Heh... little bugs, let's see where you run."
The Demon Emperor with the Demon Eye raised his palm and, with supreme divine power, sealed off the Void Demon Realm, completely cutting off Zhong Jiuli and the other's escape route.
That wasn't all; it then unleashed another dark decree formed from black energy, imprinted with the divine soul auras of Zhong Jiuli and Bai Ye.
The next second, it waved its hand and sent the decree flying into the void.
The Demon Emperor's decree instantly appeared in the consciousness of every Void Demon Clan member.
"By order of the Emperor, whoever takes the heads of those two will be rewarded with a drop of the Emperor's blood."
The moment the Emperor's decree was issued, all the demons were stirred.
At this moment, the entire Void Demon Realm was in an uproar. Whether it was the demonic land of the burial grounds or the miasma forest filled with poisonous gas, ancient beings who had slumbered for countless millennia were awakened.
The words "Imperial Blood" are enough to drive all the great demons who are stuck in their current realm and unable to advance to the next level crazy.
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