“Dragon Mother, we can’t get through. We should think of another way!”
Perhaps trying to redeem himself, or perhaps trying to suppress the nagging discomfort in his heart, the Disciple of the Plain Goddess charged forward personally, staining her robes with the blood and dust of the mortal world.
Taiyuan’s pleading gaze shifted to the Dragon Mother, but the peerlessly beautiful female immortal seemed resolute, stamping her foot firmly and declaring, “No! I will never retreat! Are you all cowards?”
“No!” The countless aquatic warriors shouted in unison, their morale soaring through the heavens.
After the earth-shaking roar, a tortoise warrior leaped high, swinging his weapon and roaring, “Dragon Mother, we are turtles, but we won’t hide our heads! Kill them! Drive these heavenly soldiers back to their nests!”
Light from divine spells and glinting weapons intertwined, cries of battle and screams of death followed one after another. Both sides, evenly matched, fought with courage and sacrificed their lives.
When two mighty forces meet, the braver one wins. Fully aware of this, the Dragon Mother, fierce and wild despite being a woman, leapt high, raised her divine weapon, and brought it crashing down with a force capable of cleaving the heavens and earth.
The Four Heavenly Kings attempted to ambush the Dragon Mother again, but at the critical moment, Taiyuan and Xuannü blocked their path.
Smoke and dust still rose from the battlefield when another cloud approached from afar.
The fighting spirit of the four seas’ aquatic warriors remained unchanged, but their eyes dimmed. Disaster struck— the Four Directional Lords were approaching. Now surrounded from both front and back, retreat for the Dragon Mother had become a luxury.
Even before the Four Directional Lords arrived, their furious voices reached the ears of the jubilant heavenly soldiers.
“The Queen Mother has decreed: the rebels of the four seas are unforgivably guilty. Kill them all on the spot—no survivors! One immortal pill for every enemy head!”
With such a reward, brave immortals surged forward. The heavenly soldiers roared as the brilliance of their divine weapons dimmed the heavens and earth.
“Ahh…”
Tens of thousands of swords still hung in the air when suddenly their glow froze at the sound of a sigh. From the war god down to the lowest heavenly steed, all hesitated for a moment, as if struck by a paralysis spell.
“How could you, after cultivating for hundreds or even thousands of years, give in to the urge to kill?! Lay down your weapons and return to the true path of cultivation!”
After a long sigh, another powerful and commanding voice rang out. Then, three figures crossed thousands of miles in a single step, effortlessly passing through the vast army and appearing before the war god in an instant.
“T… the Three Venerables?!”
A bolt of lightning flashed through the minds of the heavenly soldiers. Someone dropped his weapon first, and then, in a spectacular scene unseen for a thousand years, countless weapons clattered to the ground.
Times had changed, the winds had shifted. The Dragon Mother felt a weight lift from her shoulders. Her robes fluttering, she stepped forward. She had won—betting her life and the lives of the four seas’ aquatic warriors.
The Three Venerables, finally stirred, had left their sacred immortal realm they hadn’t departed from in thousands of years.
As the Dragon Mother smiled, however, the situation in the mortal realm grew dire—exactly as predicted by Princess Yushan.
The demons’ powers grew stronger. Before the Chaos Demon even broke free from its seal, Jiuyou City had already fallen. The Queen of the Ten Thousand Demons was forced to retreat with her remaining troops, finally stabilizing her position in the Ghost Forest.
Princess Yushan urgently summoned the clans of the mortal realm, hoping to rise again. But the Twelve Ladies were worried about Madam Qiao, and even more anxious about the missing rogue.
Half a month of chaos passed. Instead of reinforcements, Yushan received only scattered remnants of each clan. Meanwhile, the demon army grew even more arrogant.
Amidst the smoke and dust, the disheveled fox queen approached Yushan. “The Ghost Forest is too small—we can’t hold out much longer. What should we do?”
The Ghost Forest was now the last territory left in the mortal realm. Yushan’s brows furrow deeply, her usual charm gone as she sighed, “We’ll hold out as long as we can… Where the hell is that bastard Qiao San?”
Xiaohongyun had even donned armor. Exhausted from battle, she suddenly asked, “Mom, it’s been so long. Why haven’t we seen that stinking Tianyao yet? I still want to burn her to ashes!”
“Huh, right! Only the demon beasts, but where is Tianyao?! By now, she should have already regained her powers!”
※※※※※※※※
Time flew like an arrow. Before long, the eighty-first day arrived—the day to open the furnace.
Laozi of the Supreme Heaven waved his whisk, extinguishing the Three Flames of Samadhi silently. Just as the old Taoist was about to open the furnace, the Queen Mother raised her hand to stop him.
“Immortal Lao, wait! Let’s set up formations first before we open it.”
As the Queen Mother finished speaking, the Five Maidens of the Jade Pond had already taken their Five Elements positions around the Bagua furnace. The Ten Star Lords also unleashed their treasures. In an instant, even the misty smoke in the pill chamber seemed to shrink in fear.
The Sun-Moon Bagua furnace slowly descended from the sky. As the lid opened, all immortals tensed to the utmost.
Though only a moment passed, it felt like an eternity to the gathered immortals. Suddenly, a red light shot into the sky, only to be swiftly wrapped by Laozi’s whisk. Everyone’s hearts finally settled—turns out it was just an overreaction.
“Congratulations, Your Majesty! The Ten-Sun Pearl has returned to its original form. With just a cup of tea’s worth of ritual, the pearl will recognize its new master and be reborn.”
As the Ten-Sun Divine Pearl landed in the Queen Mother’s hands, her ambition could no longer be restrained. Her delicate fingers tightened, as if she had already seized the Five Elements and the Three Realms within her grasp.
“Bang!”
As the dust settled, the Queen Mother’s ambitions soared, and the gathered immortals naturally relaxed their vigilance. Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted from within the furnace. The lid shot into the sky, and a shadow darted like lightning toward the Queen Mother.
“Your Majesty, look out!”
Laozi’s whisk extended more than a meter in an instant, blocking the Queen Mother just in time. With a twist of his wrist, the whisk’s strands shot out like countless steel needles.
The shadow halted, revealing—Qiao San’s figure. The Taixu Divine Armor spun midair, acting like a whirlpool, absorbing all the whisk strands. The Qiankun Sword suddenly gleamed brilliantly. The undying rogue roared, “Queen Mother, return my Ten-Sun Pearl!”
The sword’s light shot forth like a meteor. The Queen Mother’s expression darkened as she floated backward. The Ten Star Lords rushed forward, forming a tight human wall in front of her.
The Ten Star Lords chanted their mantra, ten beams of starlight swirling around. The Queen Mother, her eyes flashing with shock, shot a glance at the audacious Qiao San before ordering the Five Maidens of the Jade Pond, “Let’s return to the palace.”
“Wicked woman, don’t run!”
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