"Since you all have doubts, I might as well lay my cards on the table," Xiuyan said impassively. "Though this matter seems small, it concerns the Profound's hundred-year grand design. By the contract above us, as long as you help me bring this to fruition, everything in the Seven Cities is yours for the taking. Not only that, but in the future, when we stand before Elder Zhen, further bounties will be bestowed."
The moment his words fell, the atmosphere—stiff and icy just a heartbeat ago—instantly warmed into eager camaraderie. Grins spread across every face, overflowing with enthusiasm.
Without the slightest hint of rift remaining, it was as if two Freljordians had met in a strange land—mutual sympathy, holding hands with tearful eyes.
If you're invoking Elder Zhen, what else was there to say?
Take the Seven Cities and use them as you please!
If you'd just said you were working for Elder Zhen from the start, wouldn't everyone have been at ease?
After all, the Profound's goods were undeniably pure, and besides, a job where you could earn face before Elder Zhen and get paid on top of it was ridiculously profitable!
The Calamity Lord of Decaying Wind was the first to speak. "Everything is open for discussion! If Elder Zhen has need of us, we will naturally spare no effort!"
The Myriarch nodded emphatically. "Count me in, too!"
Du Luojia seemed to hold a flower between his fingers, smiling without a word.
As for the Tyrant... as cold and obnoxious as ever, standing idly by with folded arms, perfectly in character: *Elder Zhen? Never heard of him! Is he really that impressive? Call him over and let me have a look!*
Outwardly indifferent, in truth, someone was grinding his teeth to powder.
Why hadn't the esteemed Elder Zhen come in person for such a marvelous opportunity? Ji Jue had nearly gotten the chance to play host to him!
Even if his hospitality proved lacking, he could have dragged an old dog from the Association over to serve as co-host, offering a few extra well-wishes during the toasts!
Right, Tianlu?
Unfortunately, what the old dog Tianlu thought, he didn't know; what the old dog Zhen thought, he still didn't know. There was no point pondering it too deeply.
And at this critical juncture, everyone's gaze turned toward him.
Your turn!
Under their collective watch, the Abyssal Lord, enveloped in black fog, produced an amber crystal from his robes—a crystal from the deepest stratum of Luo Island's ley lines, a natural spatial coordinate. With the Tyrant's assistance, it was the key to bypassing the workshop's suppression and the barrier of Tianyuan, allowing them to descend from the sky and strike directly in their enemy's face!
Except for a Tyrant like the Abyssal Lord, who had secretly operated on Luo Island for years, no one could have pulled this off.
Likewise, it was genuinely authentic.
Not a shred of falsehood.
"Excellent! The Abyssal Lord shall claim top merit in this battle!" After inspecting it, Xiuyan burst into laughter. "Once the deed is done, the Profound will never be stingy with its rewards!"
Ji Jue couldn't help a sneer inside. *Still drawing damn pies in the sky. Why don't you cough up something we can actually eat right now?!*
Everyone was already sharpening their blades, bursting with excitement.
Beyond the encampment, Blood Eye's army of marauders had fully assembled. Over a hundred Frenzied Slaughter Sin-Bearers had commenced their blood-drinking ritual, gnawing raw hearts in their hands, their entire bodies radiating blazing crimson light.
"Sweep through Luo Island! Bathe the Seven Cities in blood!"
The Myriarch laughed wildly, gripping his exaggerated great axe. "When the time comes, none of the captured sacrifices need to be handed over! How much you take depends on your own skill!"
Instantly, ecstatic roars rolled like continuous thunder.
Within the massive crystal carried by the Calamity Lord, waves of bone-chilling cold burst forth. The rampaging forces imprisoned inside surged in repeated crests, roaring ceaselessly like living beasts.
The dharmapalas around Du Luojia flickered in and out of view amidst phantasmal lotus light, exuding an indescribable, solemn majesty. Yet his smile suddenly froze for an instant.
An intuitive warning.
*The way of the supreme sage allows one to foreknow.* Although cultivation and advancement along the Ascension path were arduous, the results achieved were equally bizarre and often defied reason.
Through long years of asceticism and meditation, one's honed instinctual nature could sometimes sense approaching danger almost like premonition—resembling a wolf's sharp perception of malice.
A surge of unease suddenly surfaced in Du Luojia's heart, as if some shift lay ahead. But immediately afterward, that fleeting sensation rapidly diminished and faded away.
He couldn't help rolling the prayer beads in his hand. The creation of the Defilement path circulated along his perception, quickly yielding a conclusion: a bit of trouble, but nothing serious.
Immediately, amidst the eager atmosphere, he quietly took half a step back, shielding himself behind the crowd.
In contrast, that good-for-nothing Tyrant had brazenly marched straight to the front with his hands behind his back, putting on airs of ruling the world and flaunting his might. Truly an embarrassing spectacle.
Still, all the better. The one rushing at the very front would be the first to die...
Du Luojia sneered inwardly, yet his expression grew increasingly benevolent. He pressed his palms together, resembling a divine Buddha.
Amidst the intricate esoteric ritual, bizarre offerings had long been prepared.
To claim Luo Island, Xiuyan had spared no expense.
He had even deployed his ultimate trump card, setting up the esoteric ritual of the Eternal Gate to transport so many people directly through space onto Luo Island!
"Everyone, get ready."
Upon Xiuyan's withered body, black spiritus rose, pouring unceasingly into that sixteen-sided crystal. Layer upon layer of illusory light emerged from the void, and the scenery of Luo Island materialized before everyone's eyes.
*Boom!*
Amidst a deafening roar, it seemed everyone had plunged into a tunnel. Worm-eaten fissures stretched straight ahead, and countless eerie lights whistled past them—dazzling, yet involuntarily sending chills down their spines!
The mighty power of space-time revealed itself in this moment. The slightest misstep would likely tear one in two, dumping the halves on opposite ends of the mortal world.
The esoteric ritual shook violently. Suddenly, a rift branched out, and a shrill scream rang out.
In a corner, a marauder of the Frenzied Slaughter army who had still been drinking blood was grazed by an insignificant speck of fractured light and shrieked in agony.
Half of his body aged rapidly, withering into a desiccated corpse, while the other half reversed and devolved at terrifying speed—from a burly man into a stooped youth, then a scar-faced boy, and finally a toddler and an infant.
Collapsing to the ground, his entire body shattered like glass, reduced to dust and vanishing forever!
The rift continued to widen...
The expressions of the others hardened immediately, glaring at Xiuyan. "What is going on?!"
Xiuyan's body trembled slightly, drenched in cold sweat, clearly not having anticipated this development. But immediately afterward, the Abyssal Lord at the very front shuddered violently, as if struck by lightning.
As if unable to believe it, he whipped his head around in shock.
"What are you doing?!" the Abyssal Lord roared in fury and disbelief. "No! This isn't heading to—"
*BOOM!*
In that instant, amidst a roar like a blaring siren, the world spun wildly. The esoteric ritual completely collapsed and lost control; the illusory light before their eyes shattered with a crash.
Amidst violent vertigo, they could hear nothing, see nothing, smell nothing, feel nothing.
All five senses and six perceptions seemed to halt entirely.
Yet within that void so brief it was shorter than a heartbeat, Du Luojia's self-nature and intuition flashed like a precious pearl, signaling danger once again!
Within illusory perception, the Swarm's ferocious murderous intent rolled in like a tidal wave, blotting out the sky and sweeping over everything...
*"Hum!"*
Without a second thought, Du Luojia formed a hand seal and chanted a mantra. Even though he could not feel his limbs or speak aloud, decades of cultivation had long turned everything into instinctual mastery of matter through mind.
The moment the thought stirred, a chain reaction naturally erupted through his body, the void, and the outside world—the guardian power of the Eight Legions burst forth!
In the ferocious collision, the murderous intent was thrown back.
Shielded by precious light, he was completely unharmed!
And once that fleeting interval had passed, everyone regained their footing. What appeared before them was not the scenery of Luo Island, but the cold, unyielding gleam of sealed iron.
Filling the sky, covering the earth, barring all directions, enveloping everything.
Like a cage.
What they heard was a shrill, disbelief-filled scream!
It was the Tyrant!
Dark crimson blood splattered. The black fog churned and dispersed, and right before everyone's eyes, the Tyrant flew backward!
His disguise shattered, revealing a mangled body of flesh and blood. A solemn, savage vajra awl pierced through his chest, erupting with terrifying force as it dragged him aloft and pinned him fast against the iron wall!
A catastrophic blow!
"Wh—"
The Myriarch whipped his head around.
Du Luojia instinctively took a step back, eyes wide, raising a palm and opening his mouth as if trying to explain, but no one could hear his voice anymore.
In that moment, what rang out through the locked-down realm was a violent tremor unlike anything before!
Spiritus surged like a deluge, crashing down from above and swallowing everyone whole.
The six aspects—Moving, Rising, Surging, Shaking, Roaring, and Striking—manifested from the violent fluctuations. Each aspect held three variations, eighteen qualitative shifts converging into one, fundamentally transforming the pure spiritus shockwave and multiplying its power exponentially.
That was the secret art of Wulou Temple...
The six earthquakes spanning the great earth across the three thousand worlds!
—[Mahasthamaprapta]!
In an instant, it was as if great light illuminated the three thousand worlds.
Hundreds of thousands of instruments played without being struck; countless lotuses bloomed and withered in the void, as though the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss had descended upon the mortal realm. Yet the more exquisite this spectacle appeared, the more rabid the murderous intent, and the more terrifying the destruction!
A single thought arose, uniting the six earthquakes and eighteen transformations into one. A simple spiritus shockwave, when magnified to such an exaggerated yield, could trigger an equivalent to nuclear fusion!
Explosions roared incessantly. Heads of the Frenzied Slaughter army ruptured on the spot, their souls dispersing.
Amidst the waves of impact, the venomous grudge of Wulou Temple spread, permeating every pore. Even those who managed to hold on felt their souls rapidly decaying and withering away...
The Calamity Lord and the Myriarch saw their vision go dark, cracks webbed across their bodies, nearly mortally wounded.
They instinctively raised their defenses, but now found every step an agonizing struggle—the six earthquakes were Wulou Temple's signature art precisely because they delivered not only raw concussive force, but also massive spiritus disruption and interference. Within the coverage of Mahasthamaprapta, every move suffered a heavy discount.
"Save... save me..."
A shrill plea rose from the iron wall. Heavily injured and bound, the Tyrant struggled in terror, wailing as his body rapidly turned to ash right before their eyes. The jet-black Law of the Tyrant was laid bare, clinging tightly to its authority in a desperate, futile struggle.
Then, crushed by that vajra pestle impaling his chest, it was ground into powder!
Dead!
"Du Luojia, what are you doing?!"
In wild fury, Xiuyan spun around in disbelief.
In that instant, everyone heard the sound of shattering deep within their souls.
Shackles fell loose...
The contract!
The contract between them had been torn to shreds!
"Du Luojia, well done!"
Xu Chaoxian's figure emerged from the void. Throwing his head back with booming laughter, he clapped and praised, "Forsaking darkness for the light is the rarest virtue of all! The Federation will not forget your service!"
Chapter 771