Chapter 553: “And You Call Yourself Worthy?”
Chapter 555: “And You Call Yourself Worthy?”
It wasn’t just about killing…
It was about striking ruthlessly—sealing the hall with formations, slaughtering without mercy!
Mo Hua was shocked in his heart.
No wonder it was Senior Uncle.
Then his eyes lit up, and his heart leapt with joy.
“Dao-Heart Demon Seeding!”
Senior Uncle was finally, once again, performing Dao-Heart Demon Seeding right before his eyes!
And it was a true, large-scale, unrestrained, merciless Dao-Heart Demon Seeding!
As Mo Hua watched the Golden Core demon cultivators in the hall fall into madness under the influence of the demon-seeded thoughts, he simultaneously observed the Strange Daoist’s technique of Dao-Heart Demon Seeding, feeling delighted and praising silently:
“Senior Uncle is truly generous!”
Meanwhile, the four Nascent Soul Demon Ancestors of the Xuansan Sect all wore expressions of anger.
“What audacity!”
“To slaughter our fellow cultivators so blatantly!”
“Arrogance!”
Yet their anger remained only on their lips; deep down, they were wary of Dao-Heart Demon Seeding, not daring to act rashly.
Chaos in the hall continued to escalate.
Golden Core demon cultivators inexplicably got drawn into the chaos; some were furious, some terrified, while others showed bloodthirsty smiles.
Everyone’s demonic nature was being provoked.
For a moment, it was impossible to tell who had been seeded with the demon mind and who hadn’t.
Demonic treasures flew everywhere; blood and demonic energy intertwined, and the skulls of resentful spirits wailed ferociously.
In the Ten-Thousand Demons Hall, the true dance of the demons had begun.
Some cultivators who retained their sanity tried to escape. They threw themselves into their magical treasures, attacking the hall’s gates and the surrounding stone walls, attempting to break a path to flee.
But the moment their treasures or demonic energy touched the stone hall, it sank like a stone in the sea, dissipated one by one.
As it dissipated, strange, pitch-black formation markings appeared.
Xuansan’s eyes trembled, shocked:
“The Strange Dao Sealing Heaven Formation?!”
Poison Sovereign’s expression darkened, and the Black Arhat and Lady Miao standing nearby also looked grave.
“When did he set this up?”
“How did we not notice at all…”
Poison Sovereign asked, “Can this formation be broken?”
Xuansan shook his head. “It’s difficult to break.”
He looked around the hall and said solemnly:
“Don’t forget, he’s that Mister Zhuang’s senior brother…”
“One is adept at evolution formations, the other at Strange Dao formations. Both are among the few top formation masters in the cultivation world.”
“Mister Zhuang’s formation skill is truly extraordinary.”
“The Strange Daoist is his senior. Even if not equal to Mister Zhuang, he’s close, and in some ways even stronger…”
“However…” Xuansan’s eyes narrowed.
“I never expected that even a mere demon-seeded clone could, without anyone noticing, lay such a formation…”
No wonder he could break the longstanding rules of the demon path, and even with Nascent Soul-level cultivation, confer the title of “Daoist” in the demon sect… Xuansan thought silently.
The Black Arhat let out a sinister laugh. “If the formation can’t be broken, then kill the one who laid it…”
Before he finished speaking, the Black Arhat struck suddenly, blood flowing from his palms, forming a huge black-blood skeleton, soaked with blood and filth.
With a wave of his hand, the black-blood skeleton opened its gaping maw and lunged at the Strange Daoist.
The skeletal blood shadow moved incredibly fast.
The Strange Daoist appeared oblivious, sitting dryly in place, letting the skeleton swallow him.
Even Mo Hua was swallowed by the skeleton’s maw.
Moments later, the skeletal blood shadow dissipated.
Mo Hua remained unharmed.
He blinked, a little dazed.
He had been observing Senior Uncle’s Dao-Heart Demon Seeding technique and hadn’t realized what had happened until a skeleton suddenly lunged at him. Before he could react in fear, it vanished, and he felt some formation markings around him protecting him, keeping him safe.
Mo Hua looked at the complex, pitch-black formation markings around him, perfectly aligned with the Strange Daoist’s style, and was stunned.
“So… this is the Strange Dao Sealing Heaven Formation…”
“It’s Senior Uncle’s formation…”
Unlike the Five Elements formations, unlike ordinary spiritual energy formations.
As he contemplated, he suddenly realized he couldn’t move.
These Strange Dao formation markings protected him, but also trapped him.
He was within the formation yet isolated from it.
As long as the formation wasn’t broken, he couldn’t leave.
But as long as it wasn’t broken, he also wouldn’t be harmed.
“Is this… Senior Uncle’s doing?”
Mo Hua instinctively looked at the Strange Daoist’s seat, only to see a bare skeleton.
It was as if the skeletal blood shadow had stripped away the flesh.
Mo Hua was shocked.
“Senior Uncle… dead?”
Then he shook his head silently.
Having traveled with Senior Uncle, he knew the aura well.
Though the flesh was gone, the Strange Daoist’s bizarre aura remained, slowly spreading, gradually intensifying, filling every corner of the demon hall…
The Black Arhat, seeing the “Strange Daoist” reduced to a skeleton by his technique, initially smirked but soon could not continue laughing.
He realized the Strange Daoist had died, yet not truly died.
Killing the physical body, destroying the flesh, left a skeleton.
But in doing so, something had been released from the vessel, slowly spreading through the hall.
Like a plague of consciousness.
Originally, the source of this sickness was contained within the Daoist’s flesh.
Now that the vessel was destroyed, the plague spread…
The Black Arhat muttered in disbelief:
“What the hell… is this Strange Daoist?!”
The four Nascent Soul Ancestors’ expressions grew grimmer.
The hall’s frenzied, eerie aura intensified sharply with the Strange Daoist’s “death”…
All Golden Core demon cultivators fell into endless mutual slaughter.
The hall became a living hell.
The demon cultivators turned into malicious ghosts.
Human faces, painted with horrifying, fearful, cruel, bloodthirsty, greedy expressions, resembled a dense, colorful ink painting of hell.
The cruelty carried a special, Strange Dao-style menace.
It sent chills down the spine.
This insane, demonic slaughter was so unnatural that even the four Nascent Soul Ancestors didn’t know how to intervene…
When the chaos finally ended, dust settling, the scene of mass demon slaughter was complete.
All dead!
Hundreds of Golden Core demon cultivators—none survived.
The four Nascent Soul Ancestors wore looks of fury.
Poison Sovereign trembled and said, “Good! Excellent!”
He sneered and shouted, “Truly worthy of the newly anointed ‘Daoist’—slaughtering fellow cultivators for no reason, with such evil and cruel means! As the saying goes, one not of our path must have a different heart!”
“I want to see how he reports this to the Demon Lord!”
Xuansan frowned. “This Strange Daoist… has he truly gone mad? Why slaughter so many Golden Core cultivators?”
The Black Arhat’s eyes gleamed fiercely. “Could it be… he wants to monopolize the opportunity?!”
Lady Miao sneered. “Quite the appetite…”
As they spoke, all four suddenly froze.
The hall’s aura grew even colder. The Golden Core cultivators were all dead, yet the lingering eerie sensation grew stronger.
The four exchanged grave looks and fell silent.
Moments later, faint rustling came from the quiet hall.
A cold wind rose.
The slain Golden Core cultivators, one by one, twisted and slowly rose to their feet.
Limbs broken, bloodied, yet without exception, their pupils were pitch-black and hollow.
One “Strange Daoist” had died.
But hundreds more Strange Daoists now stood…
The Golden Core demon cultivators of the hall had risen from death, now all Strange Daoists!
They stared with dark, sinister eyes at the Nascent Soul Ancestors seated on their skeleton thrones.
A chill ran through the four Ancestors.
An incredible thought arose in their minds…
This Strange Daoist, killing hundreds of Golden Core cultivators, might not stop there—could he… even target the four Nascent Soul Ancestors themselves?!
This… was beyond arrogance.
It was sheer… audacity!
The Black Arhat, furious, laughed mockingly, “Want to kill me? Fine! Then let me see how you, this skulking, parasitic Strange Daoist, plan to kill me!”
Poison Sovereign’s gaze darkened, a chill in his heart.
No… it was possible…
Nascent Souls hold high status; it was rare for one to die at the hands of Golden Core cultivators.
Because there weren’t enough Golden Core cultivators.
Golden Cores rarely dared.
Yet if enough Golden Cores were willing to risk their lives, even a Nascent Soul could fall in a coordinated attack.
Moreover, this was in a third-grade prefecture.
These Nascent Soul cultivators couldn’t use their Nascent Soul powers.
Manipulate Golden Cores to encircle and kill a Nascent Soul!
It seemed impossible, yet it was truly a killing formation.
They had never imagined…
They expected their enemy to be the Dao Court, to be Mister Zhuang, but they never expected the true killing threat came from this Strange Daoist!
The Strange Dao Sealing Heaven Formation blocked escape.
Dao-Heart Demon Seeding controlled the Golden Cores.
Golden Cores surrounded and attacked the Nascent Souls!
Drive away the wolves, swallow the tigers!
Poison Sovereign felt a chill; the more he thought, the more wrong it seemed.
They had been outwitted!
Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to gather so many Golden Core demonic cultivators.
Even the four great Nascent Soul Ancestors could not have convened.
Yet at this exact moment, all conditions happened to be met.
So this move, though seemingly audacious, was actually meticulously sinister, catching them completely off guard!
“Truly… the Strange Daoist…”
The Poison Sovereign thought silently.
Xuan Sanren asked, “Sovereign, what should we do now?”
The Poison Sovereign glanced at the Golden Core demonic cultivators around, controlled by the Dao-Heart Seed Demon and intent on devouring targets, and sighed:
“We are all of the demonic path, connected by the same qi. I do not wish to kill recklessly. The best approach is to try to forcibly break the Strange Daoist’s Heaven-Sealing Array, escape the Demon Hall, and then deal with what comes next at leisure…”
Xuan Sanren nodded in agreement: “Sovereign speaks wisely.”
Then the four each employed their methods, attempting to forcibly break the Strange Daoist’s Heaven-Sealing Array.
Black Arhat used his black blood to condense into skeletons;
Lady Miao wielded a delicate, flesh-colored Beauty Fan;
Xuan Sanren wielded a demonic sword;
and the Poison Sovereign used an earthen-black urn-shaped Snake Gu, from which evil power transformed into venomous snakes, gnawing at the array.
The vast Demon Hall, its stone walls mottled and crumbling, instantly became riddled with holes.
Inside, bizarre black-gray array patterns were revealed.
These array patterns, like living beings, would, once destroyed, regenerate and differentiate on their own, sustaining the operation of the array…
“Impossible… to break?”
The four Nascent Soul demonic ancestors frowned.
Only now did they realize how tricky the Strange Daoist’s array truly was…
But Mo Hua was shaken to his core.
This array!
It was no ordinary formation!
Other cultivators might not understand it; even high-grade array masters, limited by their perception, might not grasp its principles.
But Mo Hua was different.
He was Mister Zhuang’s disciple, and also the Strange Daoist’s grandnephew.
His array philosophy had been taught by Mister Zhuang.
He had studied derivative calculations and even inherited derivative calculation methods from the Five Elements Sect, giving him deep insight.
He could see that this Strange Daoist Heaven-Sealing Array was not ordinary!
It was based on a special method—a “derivative calculation” technique!
That was why the array patterns could differentiate and self-generate!
That was why this Strange Daoist Heaven-Sealing Array was unbreakable!
Derivative calculations!
Mo Hua was both astonished and overjoyed.
He had not expected that the treasures on his senior uncle’s body were so many!
The Dao-Heart Seed Demon, and this special derivative calculation…
Could it all be the “peak-level” Divine Sense techniques his master had spoken of?
Mo Hua’s eyes sparkled, his heart pounding wildly.
His face was innocent, but his mind’s Divine Sense kept working relentlessly.
Taking advantage of the chaos in the Demon Hall, unnoticed by others, Mo Hua secretly observed the Dao-Heart Seed Demon while mentally analyzing the derivative calculation method embedded in the Strange Daoist Heaven-Sealing Array, engrossed in his study…
Meanwhile, the chaotic battle in the Demon Hall continued…
The four Nascent Soul demonic ancestors could not break the Heaven-Sealing Array, so the battle was inevitable.
Hundreds of Golden Core demonic cultivators, with dark, empty pupils, surged forward, charging at the Nascent Soul Ancestors they once had to bow before.
Black Arhat punched through a Golden Core demon.
Lady Miao waved her Beauty Fan, pink light shimmering, reducing Golden Cores to white bones.
Xuan Sanren’s demonic energy surged, sword energy radiating, slicing apart the demon cultivators controlled by the Dao-Heart Seed Demon.
The Poison Sovereign no longer spoke of “all of us are of the demonic path, connected by the same qi, not wishing to kill.” Concerned for his own safety, he struck with unmatched ruthlessness.
From the Snake Gu, venomous snakes emerged, crawling into the bodies of the Golden Core demons, biting their flesh and siphoning their evil essence.
The four Nascent Soul demonic ancestors clearly held the advantage.
But the Golden Core demonic cultivators were fearless. Even if severed or reduced to bones, they pressed on to bite the Nascent Soul cultivators, inflicting minor wounds…
At this point, the four realized the Strange Daoist intended to wear them down to death!
Though Nascent Soul cultivators, the Heavenly Dao’s restrictions prevented them from unleashing their full power.
The wolf packs ran wild.
The fierce tigers had to restrain their claws.
Shock and fury filled the hearts of the four.
Unable to break the Heaven-Sealing Array, unable to eliminate all the Golden Core demons…
If this continued, these lofty Nascent Soul demonic ancestors might truly be gnawed to death by a horde of Golden Core demons?!
A fate unimaginable in their lives.
Yet it inched closer, bit by bit…
The Nascent Soul demonic ancestors slaughtered Golden Core demons, but for them, “death” was meaningless—they were already dead.
They were now merely toys of the Strange Daoist.
And the four Nascent Soul demonic ancestors continued killing, until their hands went numb…
After an unknown time, a shocking turn occurred.
A Nascent Soul demonic ancestor fell.
It was the Black Bear Demon—Black Arhat.
He died under the Catastrophe Thunder.
Black Arhat had been restraining his Nascent Soul power, constantly slaughtering, and in a moment of carelessness, unleashed his Nascent Soul power…
His blood energy crystallized, both eerie and beautiful.
Within the blood floated fine, dazzling, feather-like spiritual energy.
This was Nascent Soul spiritual energy.
Any Golden Core demon encountering this power was shredded to pieces, annihilated.
Yet the Golden Core demons kept coming, unafraid.
The one truly terrified was Black Arhat!
He suddenly realized he had touched a Heavenly Dao taboo!
At the same time, immense terror enveloped him.
Looking up, he saw a scarlet thunderbolt descend, carrying the ultimate deathly silence, obliterating him completely!
Black Arhat had no time to react and was utterly annihilated—body and soul.
His last thought before death:
“So… the Heavenly Dao truly erases…”
The Catastrophe Thunder came swiftly, and left just as swiftly.
It arrived terrifyingly, and departed without a trace.
The remaining three Nascent Soul demonic ancestors also personally felt the true terror of the Heavenly Dao.
The higher the cultivation, the deeper the fear.
Lady Miao’s face paled as she murmured, “It… it’s real…”
The Poison Sovereign’s expression shifted, his aged eyes filled with alarm.
Xuan Sanren beside them was dazed.
The three now understood.
The Strange Daoist’s Heaven-Sealing Array was the first step;
The Golden Core encirclement was the second;
And the Heavenly Dao’s erasure was the final move in the Strange Daoist’s plan!
It forced them into a corner—either they would be slowly worn down to death, or in endless exhaustion, unable to suppress their Nascent Soul power, and utterly annihilated by the Catastrophe Thunder!
And the Heavenly Dao is supreme.
Even Nascent Soul cultivators were powerless before it!
The encirclement by Golden Core demons continued…
The second to fall was Lady Miao.
She had to restrain her power while enduring endless battle and exhaustion, leaving her utterly drained.
The Poison Sovereign shouted in anger: “A desperate fight might still give us a chance! We are Nascent Souls; even if we fall, we should not perish so pathetically!”
Lady Miao gritted her teeth: “Fine!”
The Poison Sovereign said: “We’ll use our Nascent Soul power together; in a single instant, we can break the Strange Daoist Heaven-Sealing Array and escape!”
“Once out, we each use our survival methods. Life or death will be up to fate!”
At this point, there was no other choice.
Even facing the threat of the Heavenly Tribulation, they had to risk it all.
Lady Miao and the Poison Sovereign’s auras rose together, slowly drawing upon their Nascent Soul power, attempting to break the array together.
But when their auras reached the brink of Nascent Soul level, both stopped simultaneously.
They exchanged a glance, cursing each other:
“You tricked me, wretch!”
“You lied to me, old ghost!”
Both had wanted the other to trigger Nascent Soul power to break the array, endure the Catastrophe Thunder, and then escape themselves.
Lady Miao was about to retort, but the Poison Sovereign struck first, slamming a palm toward her.
Though not Nascent Soul power, it was still peak Golden Core strength.
Caught off guard, Lady Miao hastily blocked it, but failing to restrain her power, her pink aura began to show signs of Nascent Soul transformation.
Terrified, she turned, intending to drag the Poison Sovereign to death with her.
But suddenly, the thunderclouds condensed; the Heavenly Tribulation descended, a scarlet thunderbolt flashing—and Lady Miao perished instantly.
With Lady Miao’s death, the Poison Sovereign looked up, delighted.
“Just as I thought! When the Heavenly Tribulation strikes, it will break open the Strange Daoist Heaven-Sealing Array, exposing a gap—this is our chance to escape!”
Leaping forward, he tried to escape the Demon Hall and the array through the gap.
But suddenly, a hand shot out, grabbing him.
The Poison Sovereign froze and struggled, but the one holding him was highly cultivated. After several attempts, he broke free and continued his escape.
Meanwhile, during this delay, the Strange Daoist Heaven-Sealing Array regenerated, sewing itself shut completely.
Furious, the Poison Sovereign looked back and shouted:
“Xuan Sanren, what do you mean by this?”
The one who had grabbed him was Xuan Sanren.
Xuan Sanren remained silent.
The Poison Sovereign fixed his gaze, and a chill ran through him.
Xuan Sanren’s eyes had turned completely black!
“You…” the Poison Sovereign exclaimed in shock, his voice trembling. “Impossible!”
Xuan Sanren smiled faintly, his pupils pitch black, a vivid yet eerie smile appearing on his face.
“Dao-heart Demon Seeding…”
The Poison Sovereign’s eyes widened in disbelief:
“No… impossible. You’re a Nascent Soul—how could you be affected by Dao-heart Demon Seeding? There’s a whole major realm between us; he’s just a Golden Core demon seed. He couldn’t possibly corrupt your Dao-heart…”
“Unless…”
The Poison Sovereign suddenly realized something and widened his eyes. “Xuan Demon Fetus?!”
Meanwhile, Xuan Sanren had already donned a Dao robe.
This Dao robe looked as if it had been stripped from a corpse, stained with dirt and filth—exactly like the Strange Daoist’s robe.
The Poison Sovereign’s shock turned to rage, and he couldn’t help but curse:
“Xuan Sanren, you coward, using a Xuan Demon Fetus to take the place of your true body?!”
The Xuan Demon Fetus transforms, wielding supreme demonic power.
One body, two fetuses, impossible to tell the real from the fake.
The Poison Sovereign never expected that for such a major plan—sealing Mister Zhuang, seizing the secret of the Gui Xu Heavenly Burial—this Xuan Sanren, being cowardly and self-preserving, would send a Xuan Demon Fetus with dual life and indistinguishable authenticity in his place!
If it weren’t for this, he would have already escaped just now!
Though the Xuan Demon Fetus has two lives, its Dao-heart is divided.
It only possesses Nascent Soul cultivation, but not a complete Nascent Soul Dao-heart.
This left an opening for the Strange Daoist to exploit!
Through Dao-heart Demon Seeding, he had completely stolen a Nascent Soul demon fetus!
Now, the Strange Daoist was a Nascent Soul Strange Daoist!
A trace of terror spread through the Poison Sovereign’s heart.
Could it be that this Strange Daoist had long seen that Xuan Sanren’s true body was merely a Xuan Demon Fetus?
So this was all part of his scheme?
Xuan Sanren, now clad in the Dao robe, had become the “Strange Daoist.”
He had the face of a youth with the hair of a crane, handsome features, and deep, pitch-black eyes.
Perhaps because it was a Nascent Soul body, his expression was far more vivid, no longer stiff like before.
The Poison Sovereign’s expression turned solemn. “What exactly do you intend to do?”
The Strange Daoist smiled faintly. “The way of the demonic path is naturally summed up in one word: ‘kill.’”
The Poison Sovereign’s voice turned cold. “You intend to kill me?”
The Strange Daoist gave no reply.
The Poison Sovereign sneered. “Fine! Let’s see how you plan to kill me now. After the previous battle, hundreds of Golden Core demon seeds have already lost eighty percent of their number. The rest are nothing but broken soldiers and crippled troops.”
“Or are you planning to do it personally?”
“We are both Nascent Soul now.”
“Do you intend to use this Nascent Soul demon seed to perish together with me?”
The Strange Daoist struck out with a palm. The Poison Sovereign was startled but quickly coldly snorted and countered with his own palm, cancelling out the force and even pushing the Strange Daoist back several steps.
The Strange Daoist spat a mouthful of black blood.
“Is that all?”
The Poison Sovereign showed slight disdain.
The Strange Daoist wiped the blood from his mouth, but the way he looked at the Poison Sovereign was as if staring at a corpse.
Only then did the Poison Sovereign sense something was wrong.
He realized that above his head, a terrifying aura was condensing.
“Heavenly Tribulation?”
His voice trembled.
“No, impossible!” the Poison Sovereign cried in terror. “I haven’t even used my Nascent Soul power!”
A sneer appeared at the corner of the Strange Daoist’s mouth. “In front of me, what makes you think that what you believe is real, is real?”
The Poison Sovereign’s face went pale.
“I… have also been affected by Dao-heart Demon Seeding?!”
He concentrated and examined himself, discovering a slight shadow over his Dao-heart.
Only a tiny bit…
But even this small trace of demonic thought had violated the grand Dao taboo!
He would be obliterated by the Heavens!
“No, I’m not ready to die, I shouldn’t die yet. I have the great plans of the demonic sect, thousands of disciples, I…”
The Poison Sovereign’s expression twisted in rage.
Before he could finish, the scarlet Heavenly Tribulation descended.
The terrifying tribulation, imbued with the Heavens’ ruthlessness, utterly annihilated the Poison Sovereign!
The lightning dissipated; all dust settled.
The Strange Daoist sealed the sky, leaving no escape. In the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons, deathly silence reigned.
No Golden Core demon cultivator survived intact.
The Nascent Soul Demon Patriarch, body and soul, was destroyed!
The Strange Daoist stood atop the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, clad in black, white hair draped over his shoulders, pupils pitch-black and profound, his voice cold and contemptuous:
“What kind of trash… dares to covet… my junior brother?!”