"Haha! Wu Yi, here I come!"

Winds surged, clouds roiled, and Ao Jie's gleeful laugh echoed from all directions.

Torrential rain poured, Divine Thunder rumbled and rolled.

Countless bolts of lightning crashed down, annihilating everything within a hundred-mile radius.

The mortal villages disintegrated into ashes in an instant.

At the same time, countless ghastly blue-skinned yakshas, red-skinned yakshas, hundred-foot ghost kings, multi-headed hungry ghosts, and other spectral entities enveloped the entire sky.

Frigid demonic qi seeped out, and ghostly wisps floated up from the corpses of the villagers.

The ground trembled, as countless earth dragons, formed by earth energy, surged upwards.

Ao Jie, the Yin King, and Taisu all struck simultaneously.

Cultivators battled cultivators, mortals fought mortals.

Ultimately, it was nothing more than a facade, a thin veil of propriety.

As long as the actions weren't excessive, like slaughtering a million souls in the capital city, wasn't anything permissible in the wilderness?

For a moment, various factions watched this spot with interest.

The Crown Prince Mansion.

A White Robed Taoist sat cross-legged, cradling a sword. A golden mark between his brows shimmered brilliantly, and the sharp killing intent emanating from him seemed almost tangible.

Passing mortals dared not lift their heads.

Lessons paid for in blood—once, someone glanced at him, and their eyes were blinded on the spot.

This was a Grandmaster from the Xuanzong Shangqing Dao Alliance.

The Xuanzong Shangqing Dao Alliance was the undisputed leader among all sects in the world today.

Its disciples cultivated the Sword Immortal Path, their swordsmanship ruthlessly sharp. They were practically invincible within their realm, securing their dominance for hundreds of years.

Suddenly, the White Robed Taoist opened his eyes. His gaze pierced through dozens of miles, landing directly on the battlefield.

"Has it begun?"

The battle for the throne—amusingly, it stemmed from the infighting of the Eighth Prince.

Utterly laughable!

Most factions' attention focused on the events just beyond the battlefield.

Upon discovering that it was an internal conflict within the Holy Might Taoist School of the Heaven and Earth Xuanmen Dao Alliance, everyone's interest only deepened.

Recently, the Holy Might Taoist School had been making waves.

Of course, these waves weren't favorable.

The scandal involving the Holy Might Heavenly Master and the schism within the Taoist School, coupled with the appearance of the Shadow Heavenly Master, would be topics for gossip for centuries.

After all, cultivators had long lifespans—centuries without this kind of entertainment would be dull indeed.

In a shadowy corner.

A man in white robes and a woman in a green dress gazed at the distant battlefield.

The man was striking, with a fiery red mark etched between his eyebrows. His eyes, cold as the stars, were deep and unfathomable. Beside him, the woman's beauty was otherworldly.

"What? Not going to save that dear nephew of yours?" the woman covered her mouth, chuckling softly.

"What does it have to do with me? He's nothing but a waste without the aura of an Emperor—a worthless life unworthy of pity."

The man withdrew his gaze from Wu Yi.

As their figures gradually faded away, they cast a lingering glance at the nearby forest.

After they left, the trees three miles away transformed into Song Lin and Xiangling.

"Taoist Master, they seem to have noticed us."

"I know."

Song Lin responded indifferently.

He knew they knew, and they knew he knew.

That individual, however, was indeed formidable—likely of at least Heavenly Tribulation cultivation.

Who was this person?

The thought briefly crossed Song Lin's mind before he dismissed it.

Now was not the time to discuss this.

He turned his attention to another battlefield.

If the Emperor of Wu were here, he would have recognized the man from earlier.

That man was named Yangg Xiao, a king of different surname—King Zhou, Yangg Xiao.

The previous dynasty of Wu was called Great Zhou.

Great Zhou was an extremely short-lived dynasty, with a reign of less than fifty years.

The Upper Pure Demon Tribulation gravely wounded Holy Tang's primordial energy. After struggling for a time, its collapse was inevitable.

Then came the long era of the crumbling of rites and music, as warlords vied for supremacy.

In the end, the world fell into the hands of Yangg Xuanchao.

This Emperor was the most unique in thousands of years—he was the Taoist Emperor.

His Taoist Skills surpassed all, dominating his era.

During the Great Zhou era, even the Dao Alliance had to obey the Great Zhou Emperor's commands.

This was intolerable to the various Dao Alliances, so they united to battle the Great Zhou Emperor. After three months, they finally decapitated him and exterminated the Yangg family.

Of course, to cover their tracks, they found a distant bloodline of the Yangg family and placed him on the throne.

Later, they supported the ancestor of Wu, seizing the throne from a widow and child, and hypocritically bestowed a hereditary title of King Zhou upon them.

The first-generation King Zhou was none other than Yangg Xiao's ancestor.

For years, the Zhou kings kept a low profile, just like their forebears.

But neither Dawu nor the Taoist Alliance could have imagined that this Zhou king wielded such power.

…

Outside the city.

With a collective motion, everyone struck at once.

Facing the enormous dharma body, Wu Yi appeared as insignificant as an ant.

"Heh, such audacity!"

Wu Yi suddenly grinned.

Bang!

Amid the explosion of smoke, his figure vanished, replaced by Song Lin's visage.

Wu Yi, it turned out, was Song Lin in disguise.

Swish!

In the starry sky, twelve dazzling stars emerged.

Five beams of starlight descended.

Manifesting the Five Mountains True Form Map.

The massive runes resembled the Five Mountains, suppressing the roiling ground and earth dragons.

Taisu Taoist's Earth Mother's Origin Pearl was instantly rendered useless.

Every mountain-shaped spell was effortlessly nullified before the Five Mountains True Form.

Three additional beams of light fell from the sky.

The Imperial Decree Spell transformed into a sea of golden light, dispelling the demonic and ghostly qi over a hundred miles. The Ghost Killing Spell morphed into thousands of golden runes, subduing and annihilating the raging evil ghosts.

The Eight Sceneries Divine Sword Talisman materialized into eight divine swords.

Eradicating the primordial spirits of countless ghosts.

One talisman to break ten thousand techniques.

The spells of the few were no match for Mao Mountain's Official Talismans.

Above the clouds, the true faces of the three were revealed.

The real battle was just beginning.

Song Lin swallowed a handful of pills.

With a gentle breath, he conjured seventy-two true bodies.

The Nine-Transformation Golden Body, combined with Fatian Xiangdi, produced seventy-two golden thousand-foot dharma bodies, all attacking the opponents together.

The dharma images transformed.

Golden dragons, golden tigers, phoenixes… various Divine Beasts attacked in unison.

"Hmph! Arrogant!"

The Yin King snorted angrily.

Merely at a minor Wind Tribulation cultivation, yet daring to act recklessly before someone of the Heavenly Tribulation stage.

The Yin King took out a Ten Thousand Ghosts Mystic Banner.

The wind howled, his blue hair flying wildly.

"Evil ghosts of all realms, Netherworld Great Demons, heed my command and show yourselves!"

Boom!

Pitch-black clouds shrouded the sky for a thousand miles.

From beneath the earth crawled eight hundred Netherworld Yin Demons.

These Yin Demons had the upper bodies of humans and the lower bodies of spiders.

Spraying countless black-steel threads, the spider Yin Demons wove an indestructible web, the Heaven and Earth Snare.

After studying the last battle, everyone learned. If the Nine-Transformation Golden Body couldn't be destroyed, then it must be trapped.

The yin energy within the Heaven and Earth Snare corroded both the Heart God and mana. If Song Lin could be locked within, he would be slowly consumed and eventually killed.

The Heaven and Earth Snare also harbored immense cutting power.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

Seventy-one of his bodies shattered and exploded on the spot.

Only Song Lin's true body remained, then countless threads of spider silk wrapped him tightly into a cocoon.

"Haha, nothing more than this!"

Ao Jie, now revealing his white dragon true form, taunted him.

"Something's wrong!"

The Yin King sensed something amiss.

This was far too easy!

Poof!

Suddenly, the cocoon deflated.

Even this true body was fake?

Where was the real body?

At this moment, the cloud beside Ao Jie suddenly transformed into Song Lin.

Song Lin held the white jade gourd in his hand.

"Imperial Command!"

The Yin Yang Flying Knife shot straight for Ao Jie's vital point.

Ao Jie, caught off guard, had no time to react.

"No! You wouldn't dare kill me! I'm of the Dragon Clan!"

Poof!

The flying knife pierced his skull!

The Yin Yang Flying Knife—Yang destroyed the physical body, Yin annihilated the primordial spirit.

Wind Tribulation white dragon!

Dead!

Bang!

The dharma body shattered once more.

Another fake body!

Poof!

A crisp sound echoed again.

The Emperor Sword penetrated Taisu Taoist's torso.

Of course, Taisu Taoist struggled to fight back.

But in the next moment, he was thrown into Song Lin's Lord Furnace.

The True Fire incinerated Taisu's physical body, and his agonizing screams filled the air.

The Fire Tribulation Taoist, dead!

The wonders of the 72 Transformations were utterly unpredictable.

Without prior intelligence on his Divine Skills, it was all too likely to fall into Song Lin's trap.

No one anticipated Song Lin would bring even more tricks to this battle.

After slaying the two, Song Lin summoned the Sun Jade Carriage and swiftly withdrew with his allies.

The clean and decisive skirmish left every faction watching from the shadows astonished.

In the distant sky, Yangg Xiao, riding on a cloud, paused briefly before continuing his departure.

Back at the Crown Prince Mansion, the Sword Taoist opened his eyes. His treasure sword hummed with energy as potent battle intent flashed in his gaze.

The Jade Carriage transformed into golden light, flying at great speed.

Standing atop the Jade Carriage, Song Lin scanned the surroundings. Meeting the faint gazes in the distance, he exuded unwavering confidence and declared in a loud, resonant voice:

"I am the Donghua Grandmaster, Song Lin. Those who obstruct my path shall meet the same fate—death!"

The battle for the throne saw no intervention from Heavenly Masters.

What's more, his opponents had struck first. Song Lin held every advantage under the rules.

Under countless gazes, he instantly annihilated two foes of tribulation level.

Song Lin, under the watchful eyes of the elite from the Dao Alliances, achieved a monumental feat.

The Shadow Heavenly Master—after this battle, his name would resound across the world!

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