Chapter 809: Chapter 533: How Can the Flesh Become a Saint
"Lu Chenzhou?"
The red-haired woman revealed a playful expression.
"Don’t take it lightly. I know you have countless clones, even those in the Heavenly Realm can’t do anything to you, but Lu Chenzhou isn’t easy to handle either—he might just have a way to restrain you."
After Gu Yue Demon Venerable finished speaking, he faded away.
The red-haired woman’s expression didn’t change, and she laughed lightly:
"What is Lu Chenzhou’s strength to me? I just hide in desolate places and send my clones to fight. Even if an Eight Realms expert is in the Human World, they can’t do anything to me."
Unlike Gu Yue and Qingtian, Blood Vine Demon Emperor originally fought in other worlds and, due to outstanding war achievements, was specially transferred to the Xia Realm by the Eye of Truth two years ago. Upon her appearance, she brought a reign of terror to the Xia Realm, rendering many Heavenly Kings and even beings of the Heavenly Realm helpless, and was classified as one of the Four Emperors.
The Four Emperors each have bounties starting at over ten thousand Primordial Stones.
When it comes to sheer strength, she knows her limits; many of the top ten experts on the Heavenly Person List she can’t defeat, but her innate ability is to ceaselessly create clones.
The clones consume Essence Blood to varying degrees, with strengths ranging from Four Realms to Six Realms. If a clone dies, she is merely weakened for a while. As long as she devours some Blood Food, she recovers.
"This time, let’s test Lu Chenzhou; I’ll use my clones first to probe his strength, to see if he is as divine as the rumors say."
The red-haired woman took a deep breath, her belly swelling as if nine months pregnant. Her stomach churned like a ruminating beast, and then she spat out a huge, blood-colored egg-shaped seed from her mouth.
"Mother..."
A strange, hoarse infantile whisper sounded.
She bit her finger and thrust it into the giant egg. Accompanied by gulps, fresh blood was greedily devoured by the egg; it split open and something bloody and fleshy crawled out, instantly growing into a humanoid figure.
Its appearance was somewhat similar to Ye Chen.
"This Third Realm was once Lu Chenzhou’s friend in his youth. I wonder how he’ll feel upon seeing it?"
The red-haired woman could no longer recall when she ate Ye Chen—who remembers eating a piece of bread?
If the council hadn’t hidden all of Lu Chenzhou’s friends and family beforehand, even if she lost a Sixth Realm clone, she would have eaten all those close to Lu Chenzhou just to shatter his Dao Heart.
She did the same in other worlds.
...
Three days later.
Heavenly Mansion Base City.
A black light shot across the sky.
Behind the black light trailed two Heavenly King rainbows.
One was the vice principal of Qingcheng Academy.
The other was Li Xiuying from Emei Martial Arts University.
"Abominable beast, don’t run!"
A crazed, arrogant laugh echoed through the sky:
"Save your strength! My Mo Yun tunneling speed is unmatched under heaven—even if a Heavenly Realm expert came in person, they might not catch me. So what if I ate a Great Grandmaster?"
Whoosh!
The black light suddenly accelerated, even outpacing the sword-light unleashed by Li Xiuying, and vanished swiftly.
Li Xiuying’s face was livid with rage.
"Fellow Daoist Yu, I need to go into seclusion and Breakthrough Seven."
The Qingcheng vice principal said helplessly:
"Alright."
They were an End Realm Heavenly King and a top ten Heavenly Person, yet Mo Yun Demon Emperor still escaped. The demon race was intent on hide-and-seek and harassment tactics, not engaging them head-on at all.
Although the damage caused each time wasn’t major, it was endlessly irritating and made proper cultivation impossible.
Li Xiuying gazed into the distance.
"Once I Breakthrough Seven, I will definitely slaughter that wretch!"
...
Overseas, an isolated island.
A gaunt man in a black robe with a leopard’s face landed on the ground.
"These humans are getting craftier—each time they only chase so far before giving up. I’d meant to lure Li Xiuying away to let Qingtian Demon Emperor partner with a Shadow Kill Clan elite for a rapid, forceful attack. With Qingtian’s innate divine skills, he should have been able to breach Heavenly Mansion Base City’s barrier array in five minutes."
During the war era, Da Xia continually consolidated base cities, gathering all of them into the Four Regions. First-rank base cities often have Sixth Rank defensive arrays.
Sixth Rank arrays weren’t present at first; Demon Emperors used guerrilla tactics and broke through base cities multiple times, causing heavy losses to humanity. But in the past two years, precious Sixth Rank arrays have become so widespread as to seem free. The demons suspect humans may have obtained array inheritances from a Great Power.
In reality, it was all brought by Lufang; he once acquired countless ancient cultivator relics deep in the Forbidden Zone. In terms of merit, even Lu Chenzhou can’t match him.
"Eye of Truth!"
A floating eyeball appeared before the leopard-faced man.
"Check my Battle Merit."
[Your current Battle Merit is 1,000,000 points.]
The leopard-faced man murmured,
"Now, all small and medium base cities are nearly empty—it’s hard to farm merit from them anymore. Next, I can only set my sights on First-Rank base cities. If I can breach one, causing a million human casualties, I could exchange my merit for a Demon Venerate’s Heart."
With resources and population exploding, Da Xia has now built 108 First-Rank base cities in the Four Regions, each with at least two Heavenly King experts as guardians.
Each region also has at least one top ten Heavenly Person sitting in command. Distances between regions and cities are not far; support among Heavenly Kings is rapid.
"Display the list of guardian combat forces for Yun Meng District’s First-Rank base cities." The leopard-faced man’s yellow eyes gleamed coldly.
He had just caused trouble in Heavenly Mansion District.
Trying again there would risk ambush.
Xia Bei District is stacked with strong ones: the Old Ghost of the Yellow River and the Northern Guardian King are both there—stirring up trouble would be highly risky.
South Sea Region, over in Pu Suo City, has Emperor Hanu as guardian—even if one’s speed is supreme, that psychic Great Emperor who can manifest at a distance means it’s not absolutely safe.
Therefore he was very clear.
Right now the safest place is Yun Meng District!
[Yun Meng District]
[Su City: Three Heavenly Kings, Three Extremes Heavenly King suspected to be in deep seclusion, unseen for decades; Old Man Hanshan has just entered Middle Realm of Heavenly King; Lu Chenzhou is Early-stage Heavenly King (Four Emperors seed).
Rating: Lu’s real battle strength cannot be measured by Realm, approximately equivalent to End Realm Heavenly King. Although Old Man Hanshan is only Middle Realm, he possesses Supreme Divine Level Sound Wave Technique, which greatly restrains our main forces! Difficulty of siege: High!]
[Hang City: Four Heavenly Kings...
Rating: Jiangnan Wu University headquarters, extremely difficult]
[Magic City: Five Heavenly Kings
Rating: Magic Capital University headquarters, extremely difficult]
[Jiang City: Two Heavenly Kings...
Rating: Yangtze River Martial Arts University headquarters, but the university is weak, the old principal failed to Breakthrough Seven and perished, leaving Vice Principal Chu Yu as a top twenty Heavenly Person.]
[...]
A moment later, the leopard-faced man made a decision.
"Su City has Lu Chenzhou—indeed dangerous. They say his speed is anything but ordinary; otherwise he couldn’t have conquered Aurora Palace. Best to avoid. Jiang City is guarded by two: Chu Yu, the Ghost-shocker himself, wields the Domineering Body, has End Realm cultivation, and his spear skills rank in the top twenty. But his speed is average. The other, Zi Long Daoist, just entered Middle Realm—so far his record is mediocre. Only an idiot like Black Sand Demon Emperor would fall to him. So Jiang City it is.
If I can lure Chu Yu away and let Qingtian Demon Emperor attack the array, we can breach the city within five minutes and destroy Jiang City. Most Heavenly Kings will need at least ten minutes to arrive. Lu Chenzhou’s speed may be fast, but with Fourth Rank Lightning Dao, he’ll take more than five minutes from Su City to Jiang City. Qingtian and I will break the city and vanish in an instant."
Though Mo Yun Demon Emperor considered himself unmatched in tunneling speed, he was no reckless brute—every move was meticulously calculated, or else one day he’d stumble and fall hard.
...
One month later.
Primordial Mountain Cave Heaven.
In Lu Chenzhou’s seclusion place, suddenly a dazzling radiance shot up to the heavens; countless Withering and Flourishing Laws wove a skyful of strange phenomena.
The firmament stretched vast and boundless; myriad calamities, the Tai Chi unending. Canghai Sangtian, rivers and mountains change, beauty quickly withers, and only a single figure draped in white robes, face unseen, remained forever undying.
In his left eye, the universe perished.
In his right, chaos was reborn.
Ever-circling, withering and flourishing, one after the other.
A long howl came forth; a Golden Light figure leaped from the cave residence and overlapped with the white-robed figure sitting in the River of Time.
Rumble—
The cave heaven trembled.
Ten thousand fathoms of golden light radiated in all directions, surging majestically.
All the artifact spirits atop Yuanbao Mountain gazed over in unison.
"What’s that commotion?"
"Lu Chenzhou is breaking through again, isn’t he?"
Mr. Turtle said, "No—he seems to be creating a new Body Technique on his own. Who knows if he’ll succeed?"
The ape’s gaze grew thoughtful.
"A pure Body Technique?"
"Yes."
The ape’s tone became faintly excited.
"If he can deduce a Body Technique to the Sixth Rank, he might reach the Second Realm of Physical Body, right?"
Mr. Turtle said:
"In theory, yes. But a pure Body Technique is too difficult, especially for humans. Back when Heavenly Dragon Sect practiced Body Refining Methods, those who reached the Second Realm of Physical Body all relied on True Spirit Bloodline. Ultimately, success or failure all came from True Spirit; it became the limit. That’s why Dragon Emperor, though near-invincible, couldn’t achieve Body Sanctification."
"Yes. Perhaps that’s also how the True Spirit Sect perished. The Heavenly Dragon Sect had breakthroughs, but could not escape their bloodline shackles. That’s why except for a few Dragon Descendants and Phoenix Descendants, few cultivators attempt that path now."
"Little junior brother being able to deduce a Body Technique solo up to Fifth Rank, nearly Immortal Realm already—that’s rare indeed."
Rumble—
Suddenly black clouds swept in, lightning snakes writhing. In the formerly tranquil cave heaven, a great change erupted. A ten-thousand-fathom jet-black tornado abruptly spanned between sky and earth.
The ape’s face changed dramatically.
"Mr. Turtle, what is that?" It was widely experienced, but had never heard of suffering a tribulation when creating a Cultivation Technique.
Mr. Turtle hesitated, voice meditative:
"Back when old ancestor visited Heavenly Dragon Sect, Dragon Emperor once said: pure Body Sanctification is supreme defiance of Heaven; so from Mortal to Immortal Realm, there are three great tribulations.
The first is boundless black wind corrosion, stripping body and soul, tearing the flesh into 10,081 pieces—it’s called the Body Splitting Tribulation. If one endures, true Undying Realm is attained."
"And...if not?"
"Death."
After speaking, the two gazed toward the black wind, only to see an unspeakable aura of Destruction erupt, swallowing Lu Chenzhou whole.
"This is bad—Lu Chenzhou probably didn’t prepare for this, did he?"
The ape tensed—within the Great Xia Martial Arts Dao, real Tribulations only come when Breaking Through Seven; this was just the creation of a Sixth Rank Cultivation Technique, it would never have expected this.
"It’ll probably be fine—his body technique is special, containing the Withering and Flourishing Dao. That’s a Supreme Law far above Life and Death or Regeneration."
Mr. Turtle said.
"So, even if Lu Chenzhou is torn into 10,081 pieces by the black wind, he won’t die?" the ape asked.
"..."
Mr. Turtle gazed toward Lu Chenzhou’s Dao Field.
In the black wind, an uncountable number of bizarre figures wielding slaughter knives appeared from nowhere, all raising their blades in unison.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Blade-lights crisscrossed, directly ignoring Lu Chenzhou’s Golden Armor capable of withstanding a Seventh Realm attack, chopping down together.