"I wonder if Prince Pingbian will die under the celestial punishment." Zhang Chen watched the descending purple heavenly punishment, a hint of anticipation in his eyes. Just then, a dragon's roar suddenly erupted, and a Dragon Qi soared into the sky, colliding with the purple lightning. The purple Dragon Qi rapidly diminished in face of the heavenly punishment, originally ten thousand zhang long, reduced by five thousand zhang by the punishment, then the punishment disappeared, and the Dragon Qi let out a mournful cry before vanishing into the void.
"Does Dragon Qi have such an effect?" Zhang Chen witnessed it with surprise in his heart.
Golden light flickered in his eyes as he looked towards Prince Pingbian's Mansion, seeing the Dragon Qi above it had thinned by at least half. The dragon-shaped Qi mechanism hovering above Prince Pingbian's Mansion had become so illusory it could hardly maintain its form. Threads of blood-red entwined the purple Dragon Qi, like maggots trying to burrow into the Dragon Qi's body, constantly eroding its power.
"Although Prince Pingbian used Dragon Qi to block the heavenly punishment, he was still found by karmic consequences, which will invade the Dragon Qi, suppressing its fate and wearing down the fortune of Prince Pingbian's Mansion." Zhang Chen observed the changes in Northern Land's fate, intuitively sensing something, his eyes full of curiosity.
"So, do I also have karmic force? Just that my karmic force isn't enough to trigger reckoning?" Zhang Chen watched the changes in the mansion's fate and began to reflect on himself, but unfortunately, he couldn't see his own fate.
"Such a heavenly punishment!" Xie Lingyun gazed at the disappearing purple lightning in the sky, her eyes full of horror.
"Remember, cause and effect are not false. In the future, you must conduct yourself according to the Heaven and Earth Dao, and not act against heavenly principles." Zhang Chen spoke solemnly on hearing this.
Without a word, Xie Lingyun silently looked at the soldiers swept away by the flood, then said to Zhang Chen, "This time, you might get involved."
"It has nothing to do with you, sister. This is my own choice." Zhang Chen rejected Xie Lingyun's apology; he and Prince Pingbian were already at irreconcilable odds and would not show mercy when given the chance to severely wound Prince Pingbian.
"Besides, I am following heavenly order! Prince Pingbian's chaos in the Northern Land, my strike destroying his three million troops, also corresponds to heavenly punishment striking his fate. This is heavenly will!" Zhang Chen had a realization at this moment, though he was uncertain if his understanding was correct.
Flooding Prince Pingbian's Mansion's three million army and severely damaging its fate, logically should be in line with heavenly mandate.
Speaking of Prince Pingbian, after being struck by the heavenly punishment, although protected by Dragon Qi, his essence, Qi, and spirit were still countered, spitting a mouthful of blood and collapsing to the ground.
"Prince!"
Everyone hurried forward to support Prince Pingbian, stuffing various miracle elixirs into his mouth until he recovered, murmuring with lingering fear, "Such terrifying heavenly punishment, if not for my Dragon Qi protection, might have died here muddled today."
Gu Mingyue poured a glass of water for Prince Pingbian: "Prince, Northern Land's fate was reduced by half, in the future, disasters and misfortunes will be endless, our days won't be easy."
"Heavenly punishment actually reduced Northern Land's fate?" Prince Pingbian's face was somber. He wasn't naive; he knew the importance of fate.
But before he could gather his thoughts, an abnormal person transformed into a large bird, passed through the rain curtain, knelt before him, reporting: "Prince, something bad happened! Someone used divine techniques to cut off the water flow, altering the river course, drowning three million troops that withdrew from the White Bone Great Wall, all of our three million brothers perished!"
The words sent a chill through everyone present; they knew Prince Pingbian's total troops don't exceed ten million, following a hundred thousand losses in the battle for the Ascension Pool, and now three hundred thousand lost to the flood, half the army was already gone.
Hearing this, Prince Pingbian's eyes rolled back, spurting out black blood, fainting straight away.
"Prince!"
Seeing the unconscious Prince Pingbian, everyone rushed to treat him, reviving him once more, and Prince Pingbian let out a sorrowful cry: "The pain! My three hundred thousand elite!"
The troops sent to White Bone Great Wall to resist the demon race were undeniably elite, honed through the chaos of war.
"Prince, don't fret. It's merely three hundred thousand troops. When Northern Land's billions of people rise in chaos, recruiting more troops is just a matter of an edict. Fostering millions of elite troops from billions of people isn't hard." Mr. Wuliu quickly reassured him.
Listening to Mr. Wuliu, Prince Pingbian's voice was filled with helplessness: "They were soldiers of a hundred battles, my last resort against the demon race, now destroyed by the flood. I'm afraid the demon race won't give me another chance to develop."
Soldiers capable of opposing the demon race were certainly elite among elites. Training such soldiers from commoners is as hard as ascending to the heavens, requiring vast resources for sustenance and multiple battles for training; it's impossible to forge such elite troops in less than a few decades.
"Lord, the Inspection and Supervision Department's fifty thousand soldiers still remain, I wonder how Xie Xuan avoided the flood's disaster. If we can capture Xie Xuan, obtaining the Inspection and Supervision Department's fifty thousand elite wouldn't make loss unredeemable." Gu Mingyue suggested at the side.
"Yes! And the fifty thousand troops of the Inspection and Supervision Department! Someone, quickly go and capture Xie Xuan, by any means necessary, keep Xie Xuan in the Northern Land. If he doesn't cooperate, then kill him!" Prince Pingbian's eyes revealed a hint of ruthlessness, "Daoist Mingyue, you should personally handle this. Xie Xuan has mastered a space distortion technique. Even if Zhao Lie takes action, I'm afraid he might still escape."
Gu Mingyue respectfully bowed upon hearing the words, "The Yellow Heaven Dao has already made arrangements. Prince, just wait for my good news."
Inspection and Supervision Department Bureau
Xie Xuan sat calmly under the eaves, holding a peculiar file in his hand, unhurriedly smoothing a dragon horn.
The dragon horn in Xie Xuan's hand was two meters long, appearing very similar to Zhang Chen's dragon horn. The file in his hand emitted mysterious power, surprisingly able to smooth the hard dragon horn. As he continued to smooth, the dragon horn gradually took on the shape of a staff.
Then the file transformed into a viscous liquid, seeping into the dragon horn. golden light flowed over the horn, numerous intricate and unfathomable runes and golden threads appeared, and the dragon horn began to squirm and reshape into a stick as thick as a bowl, which Xie Xuan held in his hand.
"Good treasure!" Xie Xuan held the weapon in his hand, eyes showing a touch of pride, "From today, I also possess a divine weapon."
Just as he was secretly pleased, his expression suddenly changed, and he looked towards the distant void. In the next moment, his figure flashed and disappeared from the courtyard.
Xie Xuan, a Yang God True Man, was extremely sensitive to the Qi mechanisms in the void and had already sensed a great dreadful Qi mechanism approaching from the nothingness, directly locking onto him, the malice in the opponent's heart was unhidden.
Moreover, the key was Xie Xuan's perception continuously warning him, urging him to flee for his life, for the incoming individual was definitively someone he could not resist.
Xie Xuan transformed into an energy body intending to escape, but before he left the city, a figure blocked his path.
An inexplicable force from the void forced Xie Xuan from his energy state back into his physical form. With the staff in his hand, his eyes pierced through the rain curtain, looking at the shadow in the pouring rain. Though he hadn't seen the person's face, just from the person's aura, he immediately recognized who it was, a jolt running through his heart: "Not good! It's really Hu Li the Immortal!"
Hu Li the Immortal, alternatively known as King Hu Li!
However, upon closer inspection of the figure opposite him, Xie Xuan was stunned again, his eyes full of disbelief, doubting his own eyes, because the shadow standing opposite was only a child of about five or six, now leisurely picking his teeth with a dragon bone whittled into a toothpick.
Xie Xuan looked at the child opposite, with a tiger-like head and brain, very cute, but the aura emanating from him startled Xie Xuan: "Tenth Tier! When did the Demon Race gain such a strong figure?"
"No! The aura clearly belongs to Hu Li the Immortal!" Xie Xuan instantly denied his own thought. He had seen Hu Li the Immortal before and had long engraved the other's aura deep into his bones, so he would never mistake it.
"So, the opponent is indeed Hu Li the Immortal, who after being severely injured by the Divine Artifact in the past battle fell off his realm, and now through re-cultivation has gradually restored his cultivation. Moreover, the opponent's aura is more settled and solidified, with his foundation stronger! That old guy, benefiting from the disaster, unexpectedly forged an even stronger foundation."
Demon King Zhao Lie was severely injured by the Judgement in the past, but it allowed him to reforge a stronger bloodline, which is absolutely not good news for the Human Race.
Though Zhao Lie's cultivation decreased, currently only at the tenth tier, his future potential has increased manifold, able to journey much further.
Zhao Lie felt somewhat proud; although he was severely injured at that time, he swallowed a section of a True Dragon's muscle and bone, which was a True Dragon Great Tendon genuinely exceeding the twelfth tier, and laid a Supreme Foundation for him. When the Immortal Realm later opened, he consumed countless Spirit Medicines. Then, when Zhang Shicheng fell, he devoured a segment of Zhang Shicheng's dragon body, and his power finally restored to the tenth tier.
Though he had the strength of the tenth tier, his realm and insight were of the twelfth tier, and his battle power could not be compared to an ordinary tenth tier.
At this moment, the two were eyeing each other, Zhao Lie grinning, "Where is the Human boy heading? You don't even greet the ancestor when you see him."
Xie Xuan forced a smile, his eyes darting about, "How did the ancestor become like this, almost didn't recognize you."
Zhao Lie smiled and pointed to a pavilion not far away, "Would you prefer to sit down and talk to me, or do I need to beat you down for us to have a conversation?"
Xie Xuan sighed helplessly and could only take the initiative to walk into the pavilion, seeing Zhao Lie following him inside. Xie Xuan looked at Zhao Lie again, noticing that Zhao Lie had fully assumed human form, only a pair of fuzzy tiger ears betraying his tiger characteristics, appearing very cute and making one wish to pet him.