Chapter 1376: Strange Slaves

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Chapter 1375: Strange Slaves

The corpses of the Strange slaves varied in appearance. Although their flesh and blood had long been eroded by the Abyssal Miasma, rotted beyond recognition and could no longer be identified, their body shapes, physiques, and even fragments of armor still made it possible to vaguely judge that these Strange slaves came from different eras, different races, different identities, and different Dao lineages.

Among them were barbarians of the Great Wilderness, corrupted members of demonic sects, and also righteous cultivators from the Nine Provinces.

Mo Hua studied extensively at Great Void Sect, and after venturing into the wilderness, he read many ancient books, thus acquiring considerable knowledge. He could glean fragments of history from these Strange corpses, glimpses of the various races and powers that once cultivated within the Dao Court’s long history.

No one knew why these people had died.

No one knew why their races had been destroyed.

But after death, their corpses had all been hidden within the Endless Abyss and refined by the Strange Daoist into “Strange slaves.”

In essence, Strange slaves were not particularly special. They possessed flesh and sinew much like the “walking corpses” refined by Yin Corpse Valley. In fact, judging from Mo Hua’s experience in corpse refinement, ordinary Strange slaves were no different from common walking corpses.

What was truly terrifying was the jet-black Strange Dao Thought clinging to them.

On low-level Qi Refining Strange slaves, this Thought appeared faint and thin.

On Foundation Establishment Strange slaves, it flowed like mist.

On Golden Core Strange slaves, it had already condensed into substance, swirling like Strange-Dao flames around their bodies, striking fear into anyone who looked at them.

Ordinary Golden Core cultivators were no match for Golden Core Strange slaves.

Because these Strange slaves could not be killed by conventional means. Even if their heads were severed, limbs cut off, or bodies split in two, their flesh would still wriggle and reassemble.

Earlier, True-Person Zhuge had deployed the Seven-Star Formation, composed mainly of third-grade formations with a small number of Fourth-grade ones mixed in.

Fourth-grade Seven-Star formations could completely obliterate third-grade Strange slaves.

But Third-grade Seven-Star formations could only kill them physically—it could not completely erase the Strange-Dao fire.

Once that Strange-Dao Fire dispersed into the air, if it is not destroyed but instead seeped into a living person’s body, within mere moments that person would transform into a Strange slave.

Since the appearance of third-grade Strange slaves, in less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn, two Imperial Celestial Bureau cultivators and three Golden Core Dao Soldiers had already been corroded by Strange-Dao Fire. Their eyes turned pitch-black, their flesh rotted, and they transformed into Strange slaves, only to be painfully cut down by their companions and purified by the Seven-Star formation’s light.

This only deepened everyone’s fear of the Strange Dao.

From the Endless Abyss Marsh, more and more third-grade Strange slaves crawled out. The situation grew increasingly dire.

Including True-Person Huá, three Dao Court Feathered Ascension cultivators had no choice but to personally intervene.

True-Person Huá activated the Huá Clan’s Nine-Flower Treasure Sword. Heavenly mechanisms trembled, killing intent surged.

Another, True-Person Jiang, wielded the Purple Banner, capable of condensing vast spiritual light.

True-Person Cui controlled the Lesser Primordial Yang Mirror. The mirror burned with primordial yang fire, capable of incinerating Strange-Dao Thoughts and resisting Strange Dao flames.

Together with True-Person Zhuge’s Seven-Star Formation, the three True-Persons’ methods all possessed restraining power against the Strange Dao.

Mo Hua also wished to help, but True-Person Zhuge blocked him with his body.

At such a time, it was already a great help if Mo Hua did not add trouble. As long as he ensured he would not fall into the hands of the Strange slaves, that alone was considered a tremendous favor.

Mo Hua did not defy True-Person Zhuge. He quietly stepped aside and observed.

Seeing him so obedient, True-Person Zhuge finally breathed a sigh of relief and focused entirely on maintaining the celestial formation.

The ancient formation patterns above shone brighter and brighter.

A powerful aura surged skyward, stirring heavenly phenomena, as if marking a coordinate in the heavens.

In the bright daytime sky over the Great Wilderness, starlight briefly outshone the sun.

This phenomenon caused the black Strange-Dao flames within the Endless Abyss to boil violently.

The Strange Daoist clearly did not wish to let True-Person Zhuge fully activate this ancient celestial formation.

A voice formed from the fusion of countless wailing souls echoed from the depths of the Abyss. Vast Strange-Dao Thoughts swept across the Ancestral court.

True-Person Huá, True-Person Jiang, and True-Person Cui—who had just refined a third-grade Strange slave using sword light, purple qi, and primordial yang fire—immediately changed expressions.

“Not good. The Daoist is enraged.”

Before the words finished, the ground of the Ancestral Court trembled violently. Cracks split across the earth.

From the depths of an ancient royal tomb, a golden aura emerged. A massive corpse of a Great Wilderness Royal clansman slowly rose from the Endless Abyss.

Its size was roughly three times that of an ordinary Strange slave. The aura around it was immeasurably stronger.

Strange flames coiled around it.

Unlike the Strange flames of ordinary Golden Core Strange slaves, the flames on this royal corpse were so dense they were almost solid, and within them flickered faint traces resembling black wings.

Strange-Dao Thoughts had taken wing.

This was a Feathered Ascension Strange slave.

Everyone present showed horror.

At that moment, the royal Strange slave opened its enormous mouth and let out a ghastly roar. The Strange-Dao Fire around it suddenly surged, condensing into a pair of massive black wings.

With a single flap, Strange-Dao Thoughts exploded outward, and the royal corpse soared into the sky.

A flying Strange slave.

Its enormous body hovered midair. Wherever it passed, Strange-Dao Thoughts fell like rain.

Violent black Strange flames eroded the Seven-Star Formation and corroded the Golden Core cultivators of the Dao Court.

The three Feathered Ascension True-Persons’ faces changed drastically.

“Everyone retreat beneath the Celestial Star Formation! Avoid the Fourth-grade Strange slave!”

True-Person Huá took the lead, flying upward, activating the Nine-Flower Treasure Sword and manifesting brilliant protective radiance to block the flying Strange slave.

True-Person Jiang followed, summoning the Purple Banner.

True-Person Cui ascended as well, wielding the Lesser Primordial Yang Mirror.

Purple qi and primordial yang fire filled the sky, surging toward the flying Strange slave.

The flying Strange slave roared and condensed its Strange-Dao flames into various sinister techniques, clashing fiercely with the masters.

Above the Ancestral court of the Great Wilderness, dazzling and violent waves of energy erupted.

The three Dao Court True-Persons exerted all their strength to suppress the flying Strange slave.

Sword qi, purple qi, and primordial yang fire clashed evenly against pitch-black Strange-Dao flames, tearing across the sky.

Golden Core cultivators could not fly. They could only stand below, looking up in shock and awe.

Mo Hua was the same.

His divine sense had entered the Golden Core realm. He possessed twenty-nine runes, and under the Divine-Sense Sword, even a peak Golden Core demon lord could be slain with a single thought.

Among Golden Core cultivators, few could rival him.

Yet even so, between Golden Core and Feathered Ascension lay a nearly insurmountable divide… Flight.

From Fourth-grade realm and above, once a cultivator ascended and could fly, they could fight undefeated in midair.

Golden Core cultivators on the ground could only suffer invasion by Feathered Ascension fire, with no means to retaliate.

In traditional Daoist understanding, Feathered Ascension cultivators had already touched upon the threshold of “immortals.”

At this moment, Mo Hua stood below, gazing upward at the Feathered Ascension cultivators battling in the sky like immortals, and he could not help but clench his fists tightly.

“Feathered Ascension…”

After Golden Core comes Feathered Ascension.

“As long as one condenses the Feathered Dao, one can soar through the heavens, tread upon emptiness, and fly.”

Mo Hua drew in a deep breath, suppressing the tremor in his heart.

Then his gaze shifted toward the figure locked in combat with True-Person Huá, the abyssal creature whose eyes were unfathomably deep. His brows slowly knit together.

“Flying Strange slave…”

These Strange slaves before him were vastly different from the parasitized aberrations he had once known.

Those infected by Strange-Dao Thoughts would lose their minds and go mad, dying in miserable states.

But these Strange slaves had lurked in the abyss for years. The Strange Dao had permeated their flesh and blood. Their infective power and lethality were far greater, and more uniform. They possessed a unified will, like a grand army of the Strange Dao carrying a plague of Divine-Sense, with terrifying reproductive and contaminating power.

If not for True-Person Zhuge resisting with the Seven-Star Formation…

If not for three profound experts wielding Dharma treasures to suppress the Strange-Dao flames…

This tidal wave of Strange slaves launching a sudden assault would likely annihilate even the Dao Court’s grand army.

Even releasing a single high-grade Strange slave into one of the Nine Provinces’ immortal cities could allow Strange-Dao Thought to spread like a plague, resulting in catastrophic devastation.

Not to mention these flying ones who could roam the skies.

“So this is what was forged within the abyss…”

“Is this the true conspiracy… the true foundation?”

Mo Hua felt a chill run through him, his gaze grave.

Had the Dao Army not breached the Royal court, had the Heavenly prodigies not drained the dragon’s qi and shattered the Dragon Pool’s seal, had True-Person Zhuge not opened the Great Wilderness ancestral court and approached the Endless Abyss Marsh to apply pressure with the power of the Seven-Star Formation…

No one would have imagined that within the lost lands of the Great Wilderness, inside the Endless abyss, such terrifying power was still sealed away.

A flying Strange slave of this grade, if unleashed into the outside world, would cause destruction no less than a Dao-Sin Calamity.

Or perhaps…

A flying Strange slave of this level was itself a man-made Dao-Sin Calamity.

And Mo Hua could sense that this artificial Dao-Sin Calamity was far from complete. At least, from his perception, something was still missing.

If his Senior Martial uncle were to complete this “creation”…

Mo Hua’s pupils contracted slightly, a chill blooming in his heart.

In the sky, True-Person Huá and the others were still battling the flying Strange slave.

Though it could manipulate surging ghostly tides and possessed terrifying corruptive force, as long as its Strange-Dao Thoughts were suppressed, its own strength was not unstoppable.

And its true intent did not seem to be entangling with True-Person Huá and the others, but to kill True-Person Zhuge and prevent him from activating the Seven-Star Formation.

Between hoarse shrieks, it continuously flapped its Strange-Dao flame wings, attempting to break through and strike at True-Person Zhuge.

The overwhelming ghostly transformation fell like black rain, enveloping the immense formation below.

True-Person Jiang activated the Purple Qi Banner, forming a false Heavenly Son’s purple barrier, blocking the ghost-flame rain and shielding True-Person Zhuge within.

True-Person Cui wielded Primordial Yang Flame, refining the rampant ghostly fire as much as possible, easing True-Person Jiang’s burden.

True-Person Huá took the offensive, exerting all his strength to slay this flying Strange-Dao slave.

All three understood clearly, if they failed to hold back this flying Strange-Dao slave and allowed it to wound True-Person Zhuge or destroy the Seven-Star Formation, then their chances of surviving the Strange Daoist would be slim.

This Strange Daoist was sinister and terrifying, bearing the title of “Daoist.” He was by no means ordinary.

Even gravely injured, he would not be easy to kill.

And if their plot failed, escaping alive from this Endless abyss would be exceedingly difficult.

Knowing the urgency, the three True-Persons held nothing back, nearly exhausting their full strength against the flying Strange slave.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Celestial Bureau and Dao soldiers relied on the Seven-Star Formation, doing everything within their power to resist the Strange slave tide.

At the edge of the abyss, within a world interwoven in black and white, Strange slaves were cut down, erased, purified by starlight.

The Strange Dao Thought surrounding the flying slave was gradually suppressed under the combined efforts of Hua, Jiang, and Cui.

Before True-Person Zhuge, the Seven-Star Formation operated at its limit.

Mo Hua did not join the battle. He remained beside True-Person Zhuge, engraving every transformation of the stellar formation into his mind.

As vast stellar power circulated, radiant brilliance flooded his vision.

Mo Hua’s black, white, and gold pupils shone just as brightly—surpassing even the starlight—clearly discerning every intricate pattern of the ancient formation.

And as the Seven-Star Formation completed its operation, a certain unimaginable stellar force was about to descend into reality.

Suddenly, within the Endless Abyss, an even greater disturbance erupted.

That “Great One” seemed to be pushed to its limit.

Within the boiling darkness of the abyss, another Strange slave emerged.

This one was even larger than the Royal Clan Strange slave from before, seemingly a half-human, half-demon Great Wilderness noble. Its body fully demonized. The moment it left the abyss, it condensed Strange-Dao wings and soared into the sky.

A second flying Strange slave.

And not just that.

Within the Endless abyss, a third presence was brewing. A third flying Strange slave was gradually awakening, ready to ascend from the depths…

Everyone felt their scalps go numb.

Three Feathered Ascension flying Strange slaves.

If all three emerged and attacked together, beneath that overwhelming Strange slave tide, the Dao Court’s forces would suffer catastrophic casualties.

Even True-Person Huá’s expression changed as he turned back.

“Brother Zhuge, how much longer?!”

True-Person Zhuge did not answer. He simply poured his full Divine-Sense into the Seven-Star Formation before him.

True-Person Huá could only grit his teeth and continue resisting the flying Strange slave before him.

Soon, the half-human, half-demon noble Strange slave arrived, carrying surging Strange-Dao flames and violent malice.

Two flying Strange slaves joined forces.

The situation shifted sharply.

Three True-Persons struggling against one flying slave was already exhausting, now they faced two.

And within the abyss, the aura of the third was steadily spreading…

A chill filled the hearts of True-Person Huá and the others.

Mo Hua’s expression was equally grave.

Flying Strange slaves were far beyond what he could currently confront.

Though he had entered Golden Core and his Divine-Sense reached its peak, able perhaps to contend with a Feathered Ascension being under ideal conditions…

That was only within the Dream realm. His Divine-Sense sword, cast outward, would suffer severe attenuation upon breaking through spatial barriers.

Even if he unleashed his full Divine-Sense strike, it might not be enough to harm a Feathered Ascension Strange slave.

Moreover, these flying slaves hovered in the sky. The range of his Divine-Sense blade was limited… it could not even reach them.

In the sky, the second flying slave was about to break through True-Person Huá’s blockade.

Mo Hua frowned, then suddenly his heart trembled. He looked toward True-Person Zhuge.

Within True-Person Zhuge’s eyes, sevenfold starlight blazed brilliantly.

At the same time, above the formation before him, stellar force surged. A violent aura capable of tearing space began forming at the center of the Formation.

Responding to it, somewhere above the vast heavens, an ancient star trembled.

Sensing that aura, Mo Hua—who had been puzzled for so long—finally understood what this Seven-Star Formation truly was.

A ridiculous realization surged into his heart.

Just then, with a terrifying screech, the second flying Strange slave broke through the defense, sweeping down with a skyful of Strange-Dao flames toward True-Person Zhuge.

True-Person Zhuge showed no fear. He softly uttered a single word:

“Descend.”

A beam of starlight fell directly from the heavens, piercing through the Four Symbols Palace, crossing the Dragon Pool, drilling through layers of earth, and landing before True-Person Zhuge.

That starlight seemed to serve as a guide.

Following it, the vast stellar sea roared, space twisting violently.

Within the Seven-Star Formation, space collapsed inch by inch, then reassembled, borrowing stellar positioning to forcibly draw an incomparably distant plane closer.

When the starlight dimmed and the void flattened, within the vast stellar dust appeared the figure of an old man.

His silver hair fluttered. He wore a star-patterned Dao robe. His spiritual power was restrained, his aura seemingly nonexistent, as though he stood within emptiness itself.

At that moment, the flying Strange slave had already reached him, eyes blazing with savage killing intent.

The old man slowly opened his eyes.

His gaze was vast and unfathomably deep.

The flying Strange slave froze instantly, unable to move.

Then the silver-haired old man simply lifted a finger and traced a stroke through the air.

A sword-light like a hooked celestial mark split open the void, annihilating the powerful flying Strange slave together with the surrounding space in a single strike. Even the Strange-Dao flames trailing behind it were swallowed and extinguished within the distorted void.

A terrifying pressure—like towering mountains and unfathomable abyss—spread outward from the old man in an instant, sending chills through all who sensed it.

Mo Hua’s pupils trembled violently.

“Profound-Hollow-Void…”

And not just one.

(TN: This  novel was translated by “Aberto D. Tempest”. Read latest chapters at “AbertoVerse.com”)

Mo Hua turned his head and saw that the stellar formation was still operating, still using the positioning of the stars to distort the void, space continuing to shift and fold.

Before long, one terrifying presence after another appeared within the Great Wilderness Ancestral Court .

Their auras were overwhelmingly powerful…

All of them were Profound-Hollow-Void Ancestors.

All of them were the Dao Court’s hidden pillars.

Ancient monsters.

…

(TN: Never read the word “strange” so many times in my life.)