Chapter 564: You Got It Wrong!
The figure of the Dragon Ginseng King completely covered Gao Cuo.
Compared to the Dragon Ginseng King, Gao Cuo looked like an ant beside an elephant.
Tiny. Insignificant.
Weak.
And that was indeed the truth.
The Starlight Sword Qi merely scraped the Dragon Ginseng King’s skin, while the Azure Lotus Sword Qi was repeatedly shattered under the sweeping ginseng whiskers.
Sword Elder spoke in an extremely grave tone, “Little Gao, the enemy is strong while we are weak. We must run. In a moment, I will use the sword technique I am most proud of in my entire life. Watch carefully and comprehend it well! It helped me pass through tribulations many times. If I use it once now, the cost will be immense—I will need several years to recover.”
Upon hearing this, Gao Cuo’s spirit lifted.
Sword Art—Vitality Guiding Passage!
Sword Elder controlled Gao Cuo’s body, joining two fingers like a sword and pointing downward. Sword qi condensed at the fingertip, almost like a tangible blade.
Moonlike ripples shimmered along the sword edge, and dew seemed to drip from the tip, as if it had just brushed across a cold pool.
Along the sword spine appeared a formation diagram of the Southern Dipper stars. Sword qi spread outward, transforming the surrounding vital energy into vigorous life force.
“As the saying goes—the Northern Dipper governs death, the Southern Dipper governs life!”
Sword Elder explained to Gao Cuo at the right moment.
“When I was alive, I once encountered a rare opportunity. I entered the Tian Gui Mansion and passed one of its trials, gaining the chance to read the Book of Heavenly Fate!”
“From it, I comprehended this sword art.”
“The fate trajectories of all things are like threads, weaving together into an immeasurable net of calamities. Every intersection is a crossroads of karmic choice.”
“Once this sword art is mastered, the sword intent becomes the shuttle, the Nascent Soul becomes the guide, and in an instant one glimpses the interwoven patterns of destiny.”
At this point, Sword Elder suddenly widened his eyes.
In that instant, his gaze shone with brilliance, and his vision abruptly changed.
Everything in heaven and earth blurred into illusion, including the Dragon Ginseng King. Instead, countless fate threads appeared, colored pale cyan, withered yellow, sapphire blue, and more, clearly crossing and intertwining.
Some were killing fate paths wrapped in bloody aura.
Some were calamity knots burning with karmic fire.
Others were black-and-white life-and-death threads.
“Gao Cuo! Look carefully—find our path of survival!” Even at this critical moment, Sword Elder still did not forget to instruct him.
Gao Cuo observed with all his strength.
But everywhere he looked, there were only life-and-death threads—each seemed like a killing fate path, each a knot of calamity!
Panic filled Gao Cuo’s face as he cried out in a low voice, “Sword Elder, I—I can’t see it. I can’t find it. I didn’t find a path of survival.”
Sword Elder fell silent for a moment before saying:
“Neither did I.”
Gao Cuo: ? ? !!
Sword Art—Vitality Guiding Passage… failed!
Pfft.
The spell failed, and the backlash struck immediately.
Gao Cuo spat out a mouthful of blood. In his Sea of Consciousness, countless thoughts scattered like bubbles blown apart by a violent wind. His spirit withered, and he nearly fainted.
Earlier, the Dragon Ginseng King had noticed that Gao Cuo’s aura was restrained yet mysterious, as though he grasped the profound workings of heaven and earth. Thus, it did not dare to be careless and maintained full vigilance.
But now Gao Cuo failed and revealed a huge opening.
In the hands of the Dragon Ginseng King, such an opportunity would naturally be seized without hesitation!
Demonic Art—Dragon Whiskers Binding the Heavens.
In an instant, countless ginseng whiskers stretched wildly. Their tips pierced through space itself and rooted deep into the void.
The void possessed a terrifying power that crushed and eroded all physical matter.
Even the Dragon Ginseng King’s roots suffered the same fate, rapidly being worn down and destroyed.
But the Dragon Ginseng King’s life force was vast like an ocean. However much the whiskers were destroyed, that much life force flowed in to replenish them, using terrifying regenerative ability to resist the void’s erosion.
In this way, the Dragon Ginseng King directly took control of the entire space, sealing it tightly and preventing any Nascent Soul escape.
After doing this, it continued attacking.
Countless ginseng whiskers surged from all directions like a pack of flood dragons hunting together. Their coordination was perfect, their formation grim, leaving Gao Cuo no chance to flee.
One whisker after another wrapped around Gao Cuo’s body.
Soon he was bound tightly like a dumpling.
Gao Cuo (Sword Elder) was captured alive!
“A remnant soul of a Soul Formation–level sword cultivator… Speak! Who sent you to impersonate the Stone Dwelling Old Monster and lure me into a trap?!” The Dragon Ginseng King’s divine sense poured violently into Gao Cuo’s Sea of Consciousness.
Vast thoughts occupied most of the Sea of Consciousness, forming the massive image of the Dragon Ginseng King itself.
Gao Cuo: …
Sword Elder: …
After a long moment, Gao Cuo replied within his own Sea of Consciousness, “We planned it ourselves.”
The Dragon Ginseng King burst out laughing in anger.
“Hahaha! Even after falling into my hands, you still speak stubbornly. Good—I admire your backbone.”
“But do you think this king lacks methods of torture?”
“I’ll take you back and slowly deal with you.”
Sword Elder sighed.
“Divine King, you truly misunderstood. What we said is the truth—there is no need to conceal anything.”
The Dragon Ginseng King only tightened the bindings and sealed them firmly, too lazy to pay attention. Even the Dragon King’s image in Gao Cuo’s Sea of Consciousness slowly closed its eyes.
In despair, Gao Cuo shouted:
“Dragon King, you really got it wrong!!”
“Still stubborn, hmph.” The Dragon Ginseng King sneered inwardly.
Even for an existence like him, anger filled his heart.
This time he had fallen into a trap.
The fake Stone Dwelling Old Monster had deceived him into leaving the main battlefield.
But the Stone Dwelling Old Monster was extremely important to him—it concerned his fundamental control over Thousand Peaks Forest.
“If Du Tiechuan and I injure each other again… the Stone Dwelling Old Monster has already advanced to the Soul Formation level. He doesn’t need to fight my true body at all. He only needs to refine the earth veins of Thousand Peaks Forest to seize my foundation and everything I invested here!”
The Dragon Ginseng King had invested far too much into the earth veins of Thousand Peaks Forest.
And the Stone Dwelling Old Monster, being born from Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Essence, was naturally extremely skilled at controlling earth veins.
Back then, when Lu Hongtu and the Stone Dwelling Old Monster tried to create an earth vein map to investigate the Thousand Peaks Forest earth veins, the reason the Dragon Ginseng King suppressed them with all his strength lay precisely in this matter.
“Strange…”
“When I fought the Stone Dwelling Old Monster before, I already probed his foundation and potential. It was impossible for him to reach the Soul Formation level.”
“I didn’t expect that Liangzhu Kingdom, just to pacify Thousand Peaks Forest, would spend such an enormous price to elevate an outsider demon.”
“Consort Hu…”
The Dragon Ginseng King recalled certain intelligence reports. They speculated that Consort Hu, favored by the King of Liangzhu Kingdom, might actually be a demon cultivator of extraordinary origin.
“A mere demon cultivator couldn’t possibly spend such a price to forcibly raise another demon cultivator to the Soul Formation level.”
“With such resources and boldness, perhaps only the old remnants of the Blood Slaughter Dynasty could accomplish it.”
“Back then, I refused them. Is this why they set this scheme against me?”
“Hmph! A group of fools who cannot see reality and still dream of restoration.”
The Dragon Ginseng King thought of many things.
He never believed this was Gao Cuo’s personal action.
The timing was simply too coincidental.
“I fell into a trap.”
“The main battlefield must be in danger—perhaps the outcome has already been decided.”
“No… even if it hasn’t, this may have been a trap meant to lure me out.”
“Would this king fall into the same trick again and again?!”
At that moment, turmoil surged within his body.
His enormous body trembled violently as intense pain struck, like blades twisting inside his abdomen.
This was the injury left by Du Tiechuan’s sword qi during the first great battle.
Even now, the Dragon Ginseng King had not truly recovered. The sword qi lingering inside him was extremely stubborn, carrying the character of an Iron Wall.
He had tried every method to remove it without success.
The only remaining option was brute force—continuously grinding it down with his own life force.
“Many thanks to Dragon King for driving away the enemy!” Bi Tengyi appeared again.
She had condensed a new body, but her expression was gloomy.
Originally, she could have condensed a far more perfect body, but because Gao Cuo disrupted her, she abandoned many steps to pursue maximum speed. As a result, this new body was far worse than planned.
The Dragon Ginseng King only left a single sentence:
“I fell into a trap this time. Thousand Peaks Forest will fall into a dangerous situation. But as long as I live, Thousand Peaks Forest will never be completely conquered. Take care of yourself.”
After saying this, the Dragon Ginseng King burrowed underground and departed.
Main battlefield.
The Liangzhu Kingdom forward camp remained the core battlefield of the Second Grand Decisive Battle.
The intensity of fighting here was the highest.
Even with the protection of the Light Mountain Heavy Mist Painting, Lu Hongtu could barely manage. His clothes were disheveled and stained with blood.
His face was pale as he coughed and transmitted a message with spiritual sense to Grandfather Long:
“Grandfather Long, let’s withdraw!”
“No. I have not lost yet!”
Grandfather Long attacked with all his strength, battling across the field with boundless might.
Lu Hongtu looked across the battlefield and sighed.
“The overall situation is already lost.”
Aside from the Nascent Soul cultivators fighting in the core battlefield, the situation across most of the battlefield was already clear:
The Thousand Peaks Forest Coalition Army was collapsing on a large scale.
Liangzhu Kingdom’s soldiers had soaring morale and slaughtered countless enemies.
The various armies of Thousand Peaks Forest were like isolated reefs in a raging tide—able to hold for now, but destined to be swallowed by the flood of troops sooner or later.
Grandfather Long naturally understood the situation.
But he firmly refused retreat.
“No. As long as we continue fighting, there is still hope.”
“We have not lost—and we cannot lose!”
Finally unable to suppress his anxiety, Lu Hongtu asked directly:
“Our current strength is like the moon in water or flowers in a mirror. Once Du Tiechuan personally makes a move, what can we use to resist him?”
Grandfather Long paused slightly.
He immediately understood the meaning behind Lu Hongtu’s question:
Would the Dragon Ginseng King appear in this battle?
There was good reason for the doubt.
If the Dragon Ginseng King intended to act, earlier had been a perfect opportunity.
Allowing their own army to suffer massive defeat would bring devastating losses.
This Second Grand Decisive Battle had already severely damaged the foundation of Thousand Peaks Forest.
Any competent leader would never allow such a thing to happen.
Yet it had happened.
Grandfather Long fell silent for a moment.
“My lord…”
He murmured in his heart.
As a leader, he knew the Dragon Ginseng King’s location well. He knew the king had already gone to Coiling Vine Mountain to fight the Stone Dwelling Old Monster.
The journey back and forth would take time.
And the chance that he might not return had increased sharply—after all, the Stone Dwelling Old Monster was a Soul Formation–level existence, while the Dragon Ginseng King was already injured.
“And what I must do is unite as many people as possible and remain nailed here like a spike, restraining Du Tiechuan.”
“Preventing him from joining the battlefield and ruining my lord’s plan to subdue or kill the Stone Dwelling Old Monster!”
Grandfather Long had long prepared himself.
Thus he transmitted to Lu Hongtu:
“Hahaha, Military Advisor, you are being overly cautious.”
“If my lord has not acted, he must have his reasons. How could we Nascent Soul cultivators understand his profound intentions?”
“Besides, Du Tiechuan has not appeared either. Perhaps my lord is secretly fighting him even now.”
“A mere defeat is nothing to worry about.”
“As long as my lord wins and slays Du Tiechuan, Liangzhu Kingdom will lose a Soul Formation cultivator and suffer a devastating blow. How could they dare invade Thousand Peaks Forest again?”
Lu Hongtu narrowed his eyes.
After a long pause, he said:
“Grandfather Long makes sense.”
It wasn’t that he was persuaded by the words.
Rather, he saw Grandfather Long’s actions—still fighting fiercely, with no intention of retreat.
From those actions, Lu Hongtu saw “confidence” that the Dragon Ginseng King would intervene.
Grandfather Long temporarily stabilized Lu Hongtu and fought even more fiercely.
Martial Art—Dragon Howl Palm!
Dragon roars shook the heavens. With each palm strike, phantom flying dragons appeared.
Dragon aura surged and exploded, causing countless casualties in White Jade Camp. Severed limbs flew everywhere.
“Hold the line! Hold the line!” Shuangjing shouted sharply, his pale face full of panic.
Grandfather Long and White Jade Camp were old opponents.
In the previous ambush battle, Grandfather Long personally attacked and nearly wiped out the entire White Jade Camp.
Now that they fought again, White Jade Camp was even weaker.
“Damn it! My Gao Sheng’s Testament was stolen—stolen by that damned Stone Dwelling Old Monster! Otherwise I could at least fight Grandfather Long evenly!!”
Shuangjing roared inwardly, his hatred toward the Stone Dwelling Old Monster growing deeper.
Divine Bestowed Art—Life Force Collapse Surge!
Grandfather Long released all the massive life force stored in his body and absorbed from the surroundings in a single instant.
His height surged again.
His body expanded tremendously, as if his armor would burst apart.
Seeing this, Shuangjing could not hide his shock.
“He—he can actually use this divine art again!”
White Jade Camp could no longer endure.
Originally they had barely held against Grandfather Long.
Now his strength skyrocketed again. He rampaged across the battlefield, violently tearing through one defensive line after another.
“This is bad!”
Shuangjing prepared to escape with Shuang Ling’s body.
“Where are you going?” Lu Hongtu intervened and trapped him.
“Well done.” Grandfather Long commented, though blood flowed from his nose and mouth.
Clearly, even his own body was reaching its limit.
Grandfather Long rushed toward Shuang Ling’s body.
The Mechanism Princess screamed and immediately activated her mechanisms, sending her Nascent Soul out of the puppet body. In the blink of an eye she returned to her own body.
With the Nascent Soul in control, the body opened its eyes and used an escape technique to flee at full speed.
But the next moment, Grandfather Long suddenly turned around and attacked the mechanical puppet Flexible Bone Mysterious Maiden instead.
“Not good—we fell for it!” Realizing this, Shuang Ling’s heart sank to the bottom.
But now, controlling the Flexible Bone Mysterious Maiden, her combat power was far inferior to before.
Grandfather Long launched three consecutive attacks, compressing the puppet’s movement space until it had nowhere to dodge.
Then—
A shoulder strike.
The move was simple, direct, and unadorned.
But the terrifying power shattered the Flexible Bone Mysterious Maiden instantly.
The puppet exploded apart, mechanical components flying everywhere.
Shuang Ling’s face turned pale as she suffered backlash.
Before she could react, Grandfather Long had already turned around and charged directly toward her.
Shuang Ling had lost her trump card.
After fighting for so long, her reserves were nearly exhausted.
Her combat power had dropped drastically—she could only retreat continuously.
But halfway through chasing her, Grandfather Long suddenly changed direction and rushed toward the Commander’s Residence.
“Du Tiechuan—get out here and face your death!!!”
Grandfather Long’s furious roar shook the heavens and spread across the entire battlefield.
Lu Hongtu, Shuang Ling, Ning Zhuo, and the others were all stunned.
Directly challenging a Soul Formation–level expert—
As expected of Grandfather Long.
Such heroic boldness!