Old Zhu Standing His Ground

The two Sacred Lands stood across the void from each other. At that moment, both Sacred Lands were wide open. Inside the War God Hall. King Miecan sat high upon his throne without uttering a word. With a casual flick of his hand, space shimmered and rippled; in the blink of an eye, the War God Hall seemed to draw adjacent to the Quest Realm, standing right beside it. Inside the Quest Hall, King Dahan also remained silent. Each occupied their own side without exchanging a word. Yet viewed from the outside world, the War God Hall was still on War God Mountain, and the Quest Hall remained within the Quest Realm. Such was the might of the Invincible realm! It touched upon the domain of space-time itself! At that moment, outside the gates of the Quest Realm, Zhu Tiandao stepped down from his carriage. Looking up, ninety-nine stone steps led straight to the sacred hall, flanked on both sides by standing relief sculptures. Several Sun Moon experts ascended the steps, where rays of light flashed to verify their identities. Zhu Tiandao wore a composed expression as he strode up the stairway, with the other Sun Moon cultivators following close behind. Ahead within the grand Quest Hall, Shanhai and Sun Moon figures lined both sides. King Dahan sat enthroned high above, flanked by eight slightly lower seats belonging to the heads of the Eight Great Families that governed the Quest Realm. At this moment, the heads of all eight families were seated, their expressions solemn! The man arriving was no minor figure to be pushed around at will; he was the lord of a prefecture, and his father was one of the colossal titans of the Quest Realm. Had the Zhu clan not been so sparsely populated, one of these Eight Great Families would undoubtedly have been the Zhu family! Zhu Tiandao climbed the stone steps at an unhurried pace. After walking for a short while, the grand hall came into view. Stepping through the entrance, Zhu Tiandao declared in a clear, resonant voice, "Zhu Tiandao, Manor Lord of the Great Ming Prefecture, seeks audience with King Dahan!" "Dispense with ceremony!" King Dahan appeared somewhat frail and was not tall of stature, yet he radiated an imposing dignity that forbade a direct gaze. Having granted him permission to rise, King Dahan spoke calmly, "You struck the Soaring Dragon Drum four times in succession, signaling an existential crisis in the Great Ming Prefecture. Has the crisis been resolved?" "Uncertain!" Zhu Tiandao stepped forward and replied impassively, "We killed five Sun Moon experts, shattered four Invincible avatars, and slew fifteen Shanhai cultivators. However, it remains uncertain whether other powerhouses are lying in ambush or still coveting what we have!" "Invincible avatars?" King Dahan was silent for a moment before speaking slowly. "Is there evidence?" "Sun Moon avatars!" Zhu Tiandao smiled faintly. "Four in succession, all from a single individual. If not an Invincible, then it could only be Ye Batian reborn. Each avatar possessed the strength of the seventh stage of the Sun Moon Realm, four of them in a row! Enlighten me, King Dahan—if not an Invincible, could it be the brothers Zhou Polong and Zhou Potian?" As soon as those words left his mouth, an old man seated among the thrones of the Eight Great Families remarked calmly, "Manor Lord Zhu, mind your words!" Divine radiance flared in Zhu Tiandao's eyes as he snapped, "Shut your mouth! I am the Lord of the Great Ming Prefecture, conferring with King Dahan. Who are you to butt in?" He immediately shouted, "Guards! Remove his throne! Presumptuous wretch—what right do any of you have to sit in my presence?" Outside the gates, the guards' expressions shifted uneasily. King Dahan fell silent for a moment before saying, "Attendants, bring a seat for Manor Lord Zhu!" In an instant, two muscle-bound attendants carried in a massive throne, placed only slightly lower than King Dahan's, yet visibly higher than the seats of the Eight Great Families. Zhu Tiandao was not modest in the least; he sat down directly on the throne and chuckled. "Forgive me, King Dahan. Some people simply do not know their place and have forgotten the rules. From the very beginning of the Thirty-Six Prefectures, there has been a covenant to jointly govern the Human Realm! What eight families, nine families? Merely errand runners and odd-job hands—and now the servants seek to bully the master?" "Hmph!" Zhu Tiandao let out a cold sneer. Ignoring how the family heads changed color, he looked coldly toward the one who had just spoken. "Even if Zhou Potian were standing right in front of me and I called him a piece of trash, he wouldn't dare say a word. The sheer nerve of you—who gives you the right to tell me to mind my words? Where did you get the audacity?" The divine radiance in Zhu Tiandao's eyes burned fiercely. "Unconvinced? Dare utter one more word, and I will cut you down right before King Dahan today. Care to test me?" Across the eight thrones, no one made a sound. Even the representative of the Zhou family—the second son of King Dazhou—kept his mouth shut and lowered his head in silence. Zhu Tiandao gave a contemptuous smirk! King Dahan did not intervene. Waiting until Zhu Tiandao had vented his fury and made his point, he said placidly, "Enough. Stop exchanging barbs with others. Let us get to business." Zhu Tiandao smiled as well. "King Dahan is truly wise! It is not that I wished to squabble with them, but a bunch of petty people tried to walk all over me, and I couldn't help myself! I have always had a mild temper. In the seventy-seven years I have governed the Great Ming Prefecture, I have never once overstepped my bounds, and Great Ming has never vied with anyone. Yet look where it brought us—kindness is taken for weakness!" Zhu Tiandao snorted coldly. "Nine Sun Moon experts attacked us! What were they trying to do? Wipe out my Great Ming Prefecture while my father was away? Was it the All-Races Cult, or some scheming people behind the scenes who cannot bear to see me thrive stirring up trouble? "Great Ming falls under the jurisdiction of the Quest Realm. With so many Sun Moon cultivators invading, what has the Quest Realm been doing? "Every year, all prefectures allocate countless funds to support the two Sacred Lands. Thirty percent of all battlefield spoils go to the Quest Realm, while the Thirty-Six Prefectures share the remaining seventy percent! "Vast resources are poured in, and year after year you claim to be eradicating the All-Races Cult. And what do we see today?" Zhu Tiandao continued coldly, "Nine Sun Moon cultivators today! Prior to this, Jin Yuhui was executed, and that Blood Fire Demon was slain. Even earlier, Xia Longwu killed a Sun Moon expert and three incarnations! "In less than half a year, fifteen Sun Moon Realm assailants have attacked Great Xia and Great Ming one after another!" Zhu Tiandao said coldly, "Fifteen Sun Moon cultivators! In half a year! Today, I demand an answer from the Quest Realm and the War God Hall who govern the realm: how many Sun Moon experts does this All-Races Cult actually possess in the Human Realm?! Give me an answer! Otherwise, from this day forth, the Great Ming Prefecture will withdraw from the Human Covenant!" Fifteen! At that moment, several elders who had only recently emerged from secluded cultivation turned pale. One stepped forward from the hall and gasped, "Is what Manor Lord Zhu claims true?" Zhu Tiandao said indifferently, "The entire world knows it. Only you folks who shirk all responsibility have been kept in the dark, acting completely blind!" The elder did not take offense. He looked up toward King Dahan, then turned back toward King Miecan, and suddenly began to cough violently! A fit of wracking coughs! "Fifteen Sun Moon cultivators... in half a year..." The old man pointed a trembling finger at King Dahan, gasping for breath. Zhu Tiandao smiled and said, "Elder Wang, don't get so angry you fall right here! We haven't even gotten to the half of it! Right now, several Sun Moon experts from the Six-Winged God Cult are hunting down Ye Batian's grand-disciple, Chen Yong. The entire Human Realm knows about it, yet somehow no one can kill those bastards from the Six-Winged God Cult! "Lan Tian lurked within the Great Xia Prefecture for decades without anyone realizing! "Across the three great ocean territories, several Sun Moon cultists remain active! "The Primordial Cult Master is still stirring up trouble all over the place! "A vast horde of cultists continues slaughtering our civilians... "Oh, right—just ten months ago, five seventh and eighth-stage Sun Moon experts ambushed Xia Longwu and were completely wiped out..." Zhu Tiandao added casually, "The Human Realm is heading for ruin! In less than a year, slaying twenty Sun Moon cultists wasn't even enough! A massive number of Sun Moon experts are still roaming free. How many Sun Moon experts does our Human Realm even possess of its own? If twenty Sun Moon cultivators died across the Thirty-Six Prefectures, we'd practically be on the brink of collapse! "Yet... the All-Races Cult still has more, far more!" Zhu Tiandao sneered, "Elder Wang, tell me, shouldn't I come asking for reinforcements? I'm terrified! If we killed nine today, what if ninety Sun Moon experts come seeking revenge against my Great Ming Prefecture tomorrow? Wouldn't Great Ming be completely doomed?" Silence. In the grand hall, that elderly man growled in a low voice, "King Dahan, is Zhu Tiandao speaking the truth?" Over twenty Sun Moon experts killed in less than a year, and still a vast number active! It was appalling! Was this still the Human Realm? He had been in secluded cultivation for many years, only emerging today because the Soaring Dragon Drum had been sounded four times in succession. He had recognized earlier that Zhu Tiandao was putting on a theatrical display, but hearing the actual facts now left him utterly shaken! Dozens of Sun Moon cultivators dead in the Human Realm in less than a year—had the All-Races Cult grown to such a terrifying scale? Moreover, those Invincible avatars... struck even greater terror into his heart! Not just him—every powerhouse who had been in seclusion for over a year turned pale! Was one year a long time? No, it was extraordinarily brief! In merely a year, so many earth-shattering events had occurred! It was terrifying! Had the skies over the Human Realm completely changed? King Dahan fell quiet. After a brief silence, he said softly, "It is true." "You..." The old man coughed violently. "You fools!" He flared in rage. "How did it come to this? Can they no longer be contained? If they cannot be kept in check, there are plenty of us in seclusion! Why didn't you summon us from our retreat? How could you allow the All-Races Cult to run rampant like this?!" The old man was beside himself with anger and began coughing again. His lifespan was already nearing its end, yet he was one of the premier powerhouses who had founded the prefectures and fought off the all-races invasions in the ancient days. Now, weathered by time and plagued by injuries, he had spent years behind closed doors. Only now did he learn that the Human Realm had descended into such chaos! King Dahan said calmly, "The situation has not deteriorated to that extent yet... As for the matters concerning the Great Ming and Great Xia Prefectures..." He turned his gaze toward Zhu Tiandao. "Tiandao, what are your demands and thoughts?" Zhu Tiandao answered evenly, "Simple. With the All-Races Cult running so rampant, it wouldn't make sense unless we kill at least ten of their Sun Moon experts! They have plenty of Sun Moon cultivators; they won't feel the sting unless we cut down a good number. If Great Ming could kill nine, it shouldn't be hard for the Quest Realm to kill ten! "Furthermore, the Quest Realm surveys the entire realm specifically to target the All-Races Cult, yet it allowed cultists to march right into the Great Ming Prefecture. Under the governance of the Eight Great Families, this has become an absolute laughingstock! Replace the eight families—they can step down. On top of that, hold them accountable and investigate whether the Eight Great Families are colluding with the All-Races Cult to intentionally weaken Great Ming or Great Xia!" The heads of the Eight Great Families were furious. One of them said in a heavy voice, "Manor Lord Zhu, we admit there was negligence and responsibility on our part, but accusing us of colluding with the All-Races Cult... goes too far! That is pure slander!" Zhu Tiandao replied coldly, "My Great Ming Prefecture wasn't wiped out, which is the only reason I'm standing here talking nonsense with you! How about nine Sun Moon experts attack your family's home, and if you survive, you come to hold me responsible? And I'll tell you: 'I made a few mistakes, my apologies, but whatever deaths occurred have nothing to do with me.' If I were one of the Quest Realm's rulers, would you accept that?" "Manor Lord Zhu..." someone said helplessly. "The Quest Realm has never relented in suppressing the All-Races Cult. This time... it truly was an accident." "An accident?" Zhu Tiandao laughed. "Fine, you said it—an accident! Next time your Zhang family's ancestral grounds are attacked by nine Sun Moon experts, don't you dare come crying or claiming we fulfilled our duties!" The family heads fell silent, at a complete loss for words. The more they argued, the worse it became. Zhu Tiandao continued, "Since you've nothing more to say, listen to me! Besides my earlier demands, dispatch forces to eradicate the Six-Winged God Cult. It's utterly ridiculous—in a Human Realm protected by Invincibles, human experts are ambushed by the All-Races Cult and cannot get reinforcements for ages! What a joke! "The Six-Winged God Cult must be destroyed. Otherwise, where is the dignity of the Human Realm? It's a complete farce!" Zhu Tiandao scoffed, "The Yuan family and Great Xia Prefecture are utterly useless. That trash Yuan Qingdong even volunteered himself, claiming he was going out to kill them, and where is he now? For all we know, he's a traitor! Drag him back and interrogate him! An Invincible might be hard to investigate, but is a measly first-stage Sun Moon impossible to scrutinize?" "Manor Lord Zhu!" The head of the Yuan family frowned. "Whether my son is a traitor is not something suitable for a manor lord to casually claim!" Zhu Tiandao said indifferently, "Then let me ask you: where is Yuan Qingdong? Has he rescued anyone? Has he killed any Sun Moon experts from the Six-Winged God Cult? If not, that is dereliction of duty—an utter waste of breath! What good is he?" Ignoring him, Zhu Tiandao continued, "Regarding the extermination of the Six-Winged God Cult, does King Dahan have any objections?" King Dahan replied calmly, "They must be eradicated." Zhu Tiandao smiled. "Good. Furthermore, leave this mission of wiping out the Six-Winged God Cult to the Eight Great Families. The Six-Winged God Cult is currently confirmed to have two Sun Moon and six Shanhai cultivators. If the Eight Great Families cannot even resolve the Six-Winged God Cult, wouldn't that prove there is no longer any reason for these eight families to exist?" King Dahan was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "The Eight Great Families shall take charge of eradicating the Six-Winged God Cult. Within three months, I want to see the heads of every Shanhai cultivator and above from the Six-Winged God Cult!" Zhu Tiandao beamed, then added, "My Great Ming Prefecture suffered grievous losses this time and requires forces to fill the void. The Quest Realm possesses three hundred thousand Quest warriors; I demand a levy of one hundred thousand to garrison the Great Ming Prefecture!" "Cough, cough, cough..." A chorus of coughing erupted throughout the hall! Damn it all, the sheer nerve of this man! The Quest Realm indeed had three hundred thousand warriors trained by its experts, all formidable, starting at the Tengkong Realm. These three hundred thousand were also a crucial force for suppressing the All-Races Cult. They did not fight on the front lines; their primary mission was to protect the rear. Yet this fellow had the colossal nerve to demand one hundred thousand in a single breath! The Great Ming Prefecture's Iron Cavalry Guards, whose rank-and-file soldiers were at the Tengkong Realm, only numbered around five thousand! The Great Xia Prefecture was considered one of the top three prefectures, and its strongest force, the Dragon Martial Guards, was reputed to be ten thousand strong, though it did not actually reach that number. Of course, in Great Xia's Dragon Martial Guards, the overt guards used Wanshi Realm soldiers with Tengkong cultivators as squad leaders, and only the covert guards had Tengkong cultivators as common soldiers. While the Quest Realm's warriors were also at the Tengkong Realm, their combat strength was inferior to those elite corps, and their potential was limited, with many raised through pills and medicinal concoctions. Even so, a headcount of three hundred thousand was staggering! Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "Great Ming was ambushed by nine Sun Moon experts. Is it not natural for me to requisition one hundred thousand men to guard Great Ming and prevent retaliation? The Quest Realm doesn't do any real work anyway, burning through countless resources just to keep three hundred thousand men here to swat ants?" "..." At those words, someone snapped angrily, "You'd better clear away those Heaven-Devouring Ants of yours as soon as possible..." Zhu Tiandao frowned. "What kind of nonsense is that? Last time, the Heaven-Devouring Ants invaded on their own accord! Don't push your luck and throw my courtesy back in my face! One hundred thousand warriors to garrison Great Ming—non-negotiable! If you disagree, then go slay nine Sun Moon experts yourselves, and I won't ask for a single man!" As he spoke, he looked toward King Dahan and smiled. "King Dahan, is my request unreasonable? If the Great Han Prefecture were attacked by nine Sun Moon experts while you were away from the Human Realm, and Brother Liu came asking for reinforcements and a few tens of thousands of warriors, would you consider it excessive? If not that, then call my father back to oversee Great Ming, and I won't need a single warrior!" King Dahan glanced at him and said flatly, "One hundred thousand is too many." "Eighty thousand, then!" Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "That's not too much, is it?" "Thirty thousand!" King Dahan couldn't be bothered to haggle. "When this is over, take thirty thousand warriors back to guard Great Ming. You'll feed them yourself!" "Done!" Zhu Tiandao grinned. Below, a Sun Moon expert said in a deep voice, "King Dahan, this must not be permitted! If Great Ming comes asking for men today, other prefectures will follow suit tomorrow..." King Dahan replied calmly, "No matter. Whichever prefecture slays nine Sun Moon experts may come and claim thirty thousand warriors on their own!" At these words, Chief Hu spoke up gingerly from below: "Your Highness King Dahan, earlier our Manor Lord Longwu slew five Sun Moon experts, and later killed four more in succession. May our prefecture also requisition thirty thousand warriors?" "..." Silence! Even King Dahan was momentarily taken aback. Was that so? Chief Hu added cautiously, "This is the absolute truth, as everyone here should know. Moreover, most of them were at the seventh or eighth stage of the Sun Moon Realm..." King Dahan was speechless. Across from him, King Miecan snorted with laughter. King Dahan suddenly snapped, "That is the War God Hall's affair and has nothing to do with us! The War God Hall has warriors as well—go requisition them from the War God Hall!" He had almost been led around in circles! Aren't you under the War God Hall's jurisdiction? Why the hell are you asking me! Across the space, King Miecan also paused briefly. That was right—the Great Xia Prefecture fell under the War God Hall's jurisdiction! Chief Hu said nothing more, turning his gaze toward the War God Hall... King Dahan had made his stance clear; what about you? King Miecan laughed and said casually, "Fair enough. If your Great Xia Prefecture can afford to maintain them, requisitioning fifty thousand warriors is fine by me. Great Xia sees plenty of warfare. If the Great Qin Prefecture needs any, they can also requisition fifty thousand." Chief Hu shuddered inwardly! Holy crap! He had forgotten about that part! Fifty thousand Tengkong cultivators... could they afford to maintain them? They would consume colossal amounts of resources every single month! The Great Ming Prefecture had few expenditures and could easily afford it, but Great Xia... not necessarily! A single Tengkong cultivator, doing nothing at all all month, couldn't be expected to just absorb ambient origin qi on their own—they'd suck Great Xia dry! They needed origin qi liquid: at one drop every three days, that was ten drops a month! Even at the cheapest price, one merit point per drop was already rock bottom, right? That meant at least five hundred thousand merit points a month just for basic cultivation. And when an army mobilized, they couldn't possibly consume only basic cultivation supplies. Tallying it all up, even being as frugal as possible, it would cost at least a million merit points a month! Over ten million a year! Chief Hu's face turned green. *I was wrong; I shouldn't have run my mouth... Now what? Do I take them or not? If I take them back, the Marquis will hack me to pieces, won't he?* Great Xia wasn't actually lacking in powerhouses. He had only chimed in because he heard Zhu Tiandao ask and thought it sounded like a tremendous bargain... and now... he was done for! From his throne, Zhu Tiandao also shot him an amused, curious look. *Can your Great Xia even afford them? You want some too? Want a fart! Great Ming may not have top-tier fighting power, but we're rich! You guys... must be truly wealthy!* He couldn't be bothered with him! Zhu Tiandao ignored him and continued, "Thirty thousand warriors works as well. Since King Dahan has spoken, I won't make excessive demands!" With that, he carried on, "Eradicating the All-Races Cult and garrisoning Great Ming—with these two points settled, I don't have many more demands! Finally, let's talk about something more important: that Invincible... was he from the human race, a foreign race, or... someone specific?" Zhu Tiandao said playfully, "Whether you can't kill him, are reluctant to kill him, or aren't allowed to kill him—I don't care about any of that! The crucial point is: the two Sacred Lands must give me a straight answer. Will he strike again? An Invincible going around every day ambushing this person and that person—is it fun? If this continues, what if my father does the same next time? You won't have any evidence! What if King Daxia does it too? You won't have evidence either! "If you want to play this game, we'll gladly play along!" Zhu Tiandao swept his gaze over the heads of the Eight Great Families and said with a smile, "My request isn't excessive. If you can't kill him, that's fine. But what happens if this Invincible strikes again next time? King Miecan, King Dahan, both of you are Invincible experts guarding the human race. I want to know your stance." This was the core issue! An Invincible constantly appearing and ambushing people—who wouldn't be terrified? At this moment, the grand hall grew dead silent. No one from the two sacred halls uttered a peep. After a long silence, someone asked, "Is it confirmed to be an Invincible?" Zhu Tiandao leaned back in his chair and said lazily, "Uncertain. He only had seven Sun Moon divine characters shattered. Maybe he's on the level of Ye Batian. People of that caliber are even rarer than Invincibles—go ahead and investigate!" The hall fell quiet once again. King Dahan tapped lightly on his armrest. After a while, he said calmly, "Doing this repeatedly—he has indeed lost his mind! Whether he is at the peak of the Sun Moon Realm or in the Eternal Realm, he is a cancer! "I will confer with King Daqin, King Dazhou, King Daxia, King Daming, and the others. If this happens again, we will conduct a thorough investigation of the Eternal Realm! Whoever obstructs it will be held accountable and bear the consequences!" Having said this, King Dahan paused and continued, "How does this resolution sound to you?" Zhu Tiandao smiled. "King Dahan is fair, so your words naturally make sense! I only worry... that when the time comes, handling it will prove difficult! Oh well, since King Dahan has said so, what else can I do? If that bastard shows up again... then everyone can just smash the broken pot to pieces! If you won't let me live in peace, I'll migrate my Zhu clan to a small realm, have my father guard that small realm, and live like local tyrants. As for the Human Realm... I'll leave it to all of you to mess around with!" King Dahan smiled faintly. "If King Daming knew you spoke like this, he would probably..." Before he could finish, Zhu Tiandao sighed, "It wasn't me who said it; my father said it himself! What else could he do? When he left, he was uneasy. If this Invincible dared to attack right at our doorstep, what am I supposed to do? "I'm not Xia Longwu. Xia Longwu wants to achieve Dao-validation, but I don't!" Zhu Tiandao shrugged indifferently. "If I want to validate my Dao, I can just find a small realm to validate it. At worst, I'll live out my life and die of old age in that small realm—who's afraid of who? Isn't being a local tyrant great? With my father's strength, if he fortifies a small realm, unless eight or ten Invincibles come together, they won't be able to do a thing to him! Even if Invincibles from the Human Realm breach it, if he doesn't hack one or two of them to death, it would dishonor his immense reputation!" King Dahan chuckled softly. "Cease your reckless talk!" Behind him, King Miecan snapped irritably, "Shut your mouth, Zhu Tiandao! If you dare spread more alarmist nonsense, watch out or I'll discipline you!" Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "Just a joke, don't take it to heart, everyone! But my words stand right here! If another Invincible dares to strike... it won't be a joke anymore! When that time comes, let everyone play along—I wish you all a grand old time!" Silence. Seeing him laugh so merrily, no one else could muster a smile. Zhu Tiandao said coolly, "Can't help it—my heart is wounded, so why should I care about anyone else? Do you truly take everyone for a saint? When the blows don't land on your own head, you don't feel the pain, so you urge others to be benevolent and magnanimous. Where do you get the sheer cheek? It wasn't your own children who were targeted, was it? If that Invincible killed the Yuan family's brats today, the Zhou family's brats tomorrow, and the Zhang family's brats the day after... and I urged you to be generous, told you not to hold a grudge, and asked you to consider the big picture, would you accept it? If you would, then starting tomorrow, someone in your families will drop dead every single day. Want to bet?" Zhu Tiandao said wistfully, "Is it really that hard for an Invincible to assassinate a few Sun Moon cultivators? My father can do it too! And even if my father won't, it's no trouble for me to assassinate one or two first- or second-stage Sun Moon experts! I'd advise you to be magnanimous, consider the overarching interests of the Human Realm, and not lose your temper. Will you agree? If you agree, I won't pursue today's matter any further and will turn around and leave right now. How about it?" Silence. King Dahan fell silent once more. "We have heard what you said! You are not wrong—this person has already endangered the entire situation! If this continues, unity will shatter, and it will indeed be impossible to salvage! I do not know who this person is either. If there is a next time... I will insist on a thorough investigation. If no culprit is found or if someone obstructs the inquiry, the Great Han Prefecture will make the same choice as you. Are you satisfied?" Zhu Tiandao grinned radiantly. "Then there is no problem at all! That son of a turtle does nothing good all day long! Once was enough—not getting caught was just his dumb luck. To dare come again—does he think everyone is an idiot? You think you can just kill whenever the fuck you want? Without even checking where you are, running wild in my Great Ming Prefecture—he's begging for a thrashing!" After cursing a few more times, he looked at the heads of the Eight Great Families and curled his lip. "If he wants to kill someone, he should kill those pieces of trash; no one cares if they die. Why must he target elites like us? Isn't that asking for trouble? Could it be that he's the trash's father?" "Ahem, ahem!" Among the Eight Great Families, an old man sighed helplessly. "Manor Lord Zhu, scolding the locust while pointing at the mulberry tree achieves nothing! If we truly knew who it was, we would have dealt with him long ago. He is simply too well-hidden, and you know the difficulties involved! Show a little understanding. As for this incident, the Quest Realm and War God Hall failed to respond in time. There was fault, and we bear it. However, let us not speak any further on certain matters; continuing to harp on them benefits no one and will only serve our enemies, will it not?" "Sensible! Old Zhao truly knows how to speak!" Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "That's exactly it—such a simple thing. If you're at fault, just own up to it! Why be so shameless and stubborn? Give me a definitive timeline: how long will it take the Eight Great Families to resolve the Six-Winged God Cult?" "King Dahan said three months..." Before the old man could finish, Zhu Tiandao cut in flatly, "Then that's utterly pathetic. King Dahan giving you three months was out of courtesy. Are you really going to take three whole months to resolve it?" "..." The elder from the Zhao family fell silent for a moment before sighing, "One month! Each of the Eight Great Families will dispatch one Sun Moon expert! Eight Sun Moon cultivators will patrol the realm. Within one month, we will locate their lair and slay their top echelon. If we fail, the Eight Great Families will give the realm an account!" "Now that's more like it!" Zhu Tiandao grinned. "Feng Qi and Chen Yong's lives must be preserved! I'll have Old Hou join the patrol. Don't play any underhanded tricks with me! Some people... don't look away, I'm talking about you, Old Ghost Yuan! Don't pull your petty schemes on me. If you want to go after the Xia family, go ahead. Whatever ties Chen Yong and Feng Qi have to the Xia family, I couldn't care less! But the key is, they are the martial uncles of my Great Ming Prefecture's money tree, so I have to care! If those two die and my money tree runs off, each of your Eight Great Families will compensate me thirty million merit points, and I'll drop the matter entirely!" Without giving them a chance to speak, he laughed boisterously. "Then it's settled! Thirty million per family... not bad at all, two to three hundred million merit points in total. Suit yourselves!" Neither King Dahan nor King Miecan said anything. Just then, someone stepped forward and said in a grave voice, "Since these matters have been brought up, we must speak of Su Yu. I am already aware that Su Yu used the Zhoutian apertures for his body casting, triggering the rule fluctuations of the ancient Human Sovereign..." "Hahaha!" Zhu Tiandao suddenly doubled over with laughter, roaring uncontrollably. "Holy crap, you bunch of idiots, fools... your brains are on the exact same wavelength as the All-Races Cult!" Everyone was stunned! Zhu Tiandao laughed so hard he bent backward and forward. "You didn't actually think that was real, did you?" Clutching his chest, he laughed with glee. "Did you truly believe those Sun Moon cultists could be ambushed by us so easily? Right inside Tiandu Prefecture? Were they really stupid enough to all rush in at once? "Body casting through the Zhoutian cycle, receiving blessings from the Human Sovereign... Where... where are your brains?" Zhu Tiandao laughed heartily, then called out, "Guards!" Soon, a Shanhai expert entered. "Demonstrate to everyone what it means to hook fools on a fishing line... Find a brother and bestow a little blessing upon him!" "Understood!" The Iron Cavalry Guard expert did not waste words. Soon, he led in a Tengkong Realm cultivator. "You'll do. Cast your body right now!" Zhu Tiandao laughed. "Show this bunch of fools whether Great Ming's technology is impressive or not!" The man said nothing and promptly began body casting! Tengkong cultivators could undergo multiple body castings. At this moment, he circulated his body tempering method. Within moments of circulating it, wind and clouds surged! In the blink of an eye, several clouds drifted in from outside! In the next instant, the clouds shifted to form massive characters hanging in the air: *Cast your body every day, receive blessings every day...* Heaven Yuan Qi erupted! Next, the giant characters formed from the clouds descended onto the cultivator. The Iron Cavalry Tengkong soldier beamed with joy and hurriedly devoured the Heaven Yuan Qi. In the blink of an eye, streaks of golden light appeared across his body! Everyone else was dumbfounded! Even Chief Hu and the others who had accompanied them widened their eyes! Holy crap! It was fake?! King Dahan and King Miecan were also taken aback. They had received the intelligence reports as well. Yet now... it was fake? Artificially manufactured? This... had they played the entire world for fools? King Dahan cast a thoughtful look at Zhu Tiandao, and after a long silence, remarked calmly, "Your Zhu clan possesses quite a lot of Heaven Yuan Qi. You are truly willing to spend." Zhu Tiandao chuckled heartily. "You can't catch a wolf without dangling bait! It was just a little Heaven Yuan Qi. Snaring nine Sun Moon experts in exchange—wasn't it worth it?" "Hahaha!" Zhu Tiandao beamed. "And here I thought that once we killed those people, someone would have figured it out. Who knew that in these two Sacred Lands, some fool would actually step up and ask about it? I... I just want to say: don't cultivate your brains away! If we hadn't prepared a trap, why would we have needed Su Yu to cast his body in public? I assumed all the smart people had realized it, but instead... this is killing me!" He burst into laughter again! Many people wore strange expressions. *Damn your grandfather, who could have known it was fake!* The commotion had been massive! Besides, they hadn't witnessed it in person, but according to intelligence reports, the phenomenon was frighteningly grand. Heavens above—blessings from the Human Sovereign, Zhoutian body casting, a five-element heavenly punishment... And it turned out... fake? Holy crap! Where had the Great Ming Prefecture obtained so much Heaven Yuan Qi? Could it be that they hadn't used their Heaven Yuan Fruits all these years? The man who had spoken earlier looked extremely sullen, completely humiliated! Yet, despite the humiliation, he had no counter! It was fake! Damn it! From now on, seeing had to be believing. This... this was simply too dirty. Where did those bastards in Great Ming come up with so many devious tricks? Meanwhile, Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "Don't let this slip out, everyone... Cough, cough. In truth, doing it again probably won't hook any more Sun Moon cultists from the All-Races Cult. Actually, I was planning to create a few more heavenly blessings. I had it all mapped out: next time, we'd display—*Soaring Past Lingyun, the Human Sovereign Congratulates!* Or maybe—*Shanhai Aperture Fusion, Ten Thousand Realms Pay Homage...*" He chuckled. "I wonder if I can dupe them one more time..." Silence reigned in the hall. *Damn you! One moment you claim Great Ming was almost wiped out, and the next you claim you baited them yourself. You really played everyone for fools!* It was infuriating! "Then what about Su Yu's Zhoutian apertures..." Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "Oh, that part is real. He opened three hundred and sixty... or maybe three hundred and fifty-something origin apertures. I didn't ask for specifics, whatever. Opening so many apertures isn't necessarily a good thing anyway. As for wanting to know the locations of the apertures, just spend money to buy them. What's the big deal? If any family's genius wants to open three-hundred-plus apertures, it's not like no one will accommodate them. We're not stopping you from opening apertures..." He made it sound effortless and casual. A trivial matter! What everyone truly cared about was the rule fluctuations. Now that it was proven to be fake and manufactured, who cared how many apertures he opened? If you're capable, go open them yourselves! Chief Hu and the others accompanying him were currently questioning their very lives. Holy shit! Fake! Even now, they hadn't recovered from the shock. Had they all been duped? Yet... that faint aura of oppression back then had been terrifyingly authentic, so remarkably real! Why was it fake? Had Great Ming's forgery techniques advanced to such an absurd level? The group felt utterly depressed! King Dahan was equally speechless, and King Miecan snapped irritably, "So it's fake, fine! Staging it once for that Su Yu was enough. Heaven Yuan Fruits are scarce to begin with; couldn't you have used fake Heaven Yuan Qi for this demonstration here? Wasting so much Heaven Yuan Qi just for a first-stage Tengkong body casting... you prodigal wretch!" With that, he cursed again, "Back then, your eldest brother had no Heaven Yuan Fruit and had to use divine and demon blood essence to open his origin apertures, dying a miserable death! And now look at you, an unfilial scoundrel, squandering Heaven Yuan Fruits! A heinous crime!" Zhu Tiandao was at a loss for words, feeling somewhat exasperated, and could only say, "Su Yu said he has hope of discovering the Primordial Spirit Aperture. I figured that once it's found, no one will need Heaven Yuan Fruits for foundation building in the future, so wasting a few wouldn't matter..." Everyone felt mentally exhausted! King Miecan barked, "And has he discovered the Primordial Spirit Aperture now?" "Not yet!" "If not, why do you trust him?" "Of course I trust him!" Zhu Tiandao explained, "He is remarkably capable! The Aperture Fusion Art, the Primordial Spirit Cultural Art, the Soul Devour Art, the Yuan-Purifying Art, and even the Primordial Spirit Aperture Opening Art he's about to promote next—they're all top-tier techniques, absolute treasures! He said there is hope within a few years... how could I not believe him?" *Precisely because I believe him, I was willing to squander Heaven Yuan Fruits! Isn't that impressive?* "Su Yu..." King Dahan pondered slightly. "I have read both the Primordial Spirit Cultural Art and the Twin Wu Aperture Fusion Art. They are indeed fine techniques..." Zhu Tiandao smiled warmly. "Even King Dahan thinks they're good, right? And yet... there hasn't been the slightest reward! Sigh, it breaks one's heart. Back then, that trash Myriad Characters Scripture earned two body casting opportunities, and its creator was directly promoted to Senior Researcher. And now... heheh, best not to mention it. This is what the Quest Realm has become. Su Yu is just a minor character, so no need to mind him too much. No problem, Great Ming will compensate him instead!" King Dahan glanced at him, then looked toward the Eight Great Families. One of the family heads said in a deep voice, "The techniques are still in the promotional phase, and tangible results haven't been seen yet. We are already discussing the matter of rewards!" From across the way, King Miecan suddenly chuckled. "Don't make it so complicated. Su Yu, was it? The War God Hall awards him one body casting opportunity, plus an opportunity to come to the War God Hall for advanced studies! Oh, and the War God Pavilion will be opened to him. Furthermore, he may enroll in the War God Academy to study and further his training for a term of ten years..." Zhu Tiandao's face turned black! *Fuck off! Trying to pluck our peaches?! Dream on!* *I was only speaking casually!* Still, he quickly responded, "Then many thanks to King Miecan! If Su Yu is unable to come, I hope someone else can take his place. Some researchers don't care about these perks for themselves, but hope their family members can enjoy them. Let me see if Su Yu's father needs them..." It was as simple as that! Su Yu himself would not come! Who knew if he could ever return once he went there! *How about I send his father to your War God Hall instead? He's quite capable—a Wanshi Realm cultivator with thirty-six apertures opened. That's actually not bad at all. Be sure not to turn your nose up at him!* Zhu Tiandao chuckled inwardly! What a brilliant idea! Su Yu would have to thank him once he found out. Sending his father to the War God Hall—how safe would that be? The safest place in the entire world! If someone came to the War God Hall to assassinate someone, the Invincible experts would truly erupt. An attack right in their old lair—how could that ever be tolerated! King Miecan was speechless. *Fuck your mother!* This brat from the Old Zhu family became less endearing the older he got! How adorable he was as a child! Chubby and round—King Miecan had even pinched his little bird when he was a kid. Now, he wasn't fun at all!