Chapter 333: Chapter 225: The Situation Changes Again, the Empress Arrives at Celestial Profound, Li Sheng’s Deduction, the Pitch-black Turtle Shell

Qi Xingyan coughed, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.

He was clearly no match for the power of a Divine Venerable.

However, for a Twelfth Realm cultivator like him to fight someone in the Upper Three Grades, last for several rounds undefeated, and only suffer injuries was impressive.

Such a battle record was a rare sight in the entire Central Plains World.

The Great Nether Empress’s domineering voice boomed from the sky, "Go back and tell the Emperor of Great Yan that I will only withdraw my troops if he hands over Lu Mingyuan. If he refuses, then I will make Great Yan submit! What the former Monarch of the Great Netherworld failed to achieve in a hundred wasted years, I will accomplish!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

Beyond the city walls, vast numbers of the Stone Race, Corpse Race, and even the Bone Race appeared.

The Stone Race were great beasts formed from cracked molten rock. The Corpse Race were even simpler: rotting ghouls, driven forward to swarm the city walls. Their foul, corpse-like qi caused all the surrounding plants to wither and die.

The Bone Race army was composed of troops of skeletal soldiers, with bright green flames flickering in their eye sockets. Some had sharp barbs on their hands that served as weapons, capable of easily tearing out the throats of Human Race Cultivators.

At long last, the two sides finally clashed. The top of the city walls was swarmed with the figures of Demon Fiends—a spectacular sight, just like a city besieged by zombies.

The City Lord of the Celestial Profound Mansion looked on with worry. He gazed toward the other side of the sky and murmured, "The Dao Alliance’s reinforcements should be arriving soon."

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

Just then, from the other side of the firmament, the sound of many objects slicing through the air could be heard.

The City Lord looked up to see numerous Sword Cultivators arriving, riding their swords through the sky.

On a mountain peak stood a woman in a verdant Cyan Simurgh Robe. She stood proud and tall, her sleeves fluttering and her black hair dancing in the wind. Behind her, several dazzling halos radiated a lustrous green light, making her look like the Spring God descended to the mortal realm.

Her presence alone on the cliff was enough to pacify the entire continent, leaving clear skies and a gentle breeze in her wake.

Her appearance immediately began to change the surrounding environment.

The plants and trees that had withered and died from the corrosion of Demonic Qi began to sprout anew.

BOOM!

Thunder rumbled.

There was also a Daoist in a long cyan coat, his hair graying at the temples and arcs of electricity flowing through his aura. He stood above the sea of clouds. Even as dark clouds roiled like turbulent waves on the other side of the battlefield, his expression remained unchanged as thunder surged across the heavens around him.

With the appearance of these two, the world seemed to be split into two distinct, separate halves.

The Daoist’s momentum was like an ocean tide, a storm, a canopy of heaven itself descending upon him. It made his cyan robes whip about violently, and everyone’s gaze gathered on him.

The middle-aged man, his eyes filled with the vicissitudes of time, raised his hand with a casual air.

With a slight clench of his fist in the void, he grasped the Giant Demon’s neck.

His five fingers suddenly tightened.

BANG! A bolt of ethereal purple Celestial Thunder fell straight down. It descended with brazen force, like a roaring dragon-snake being born, like a Flood Dragon on patrol.

In the span of a single breath, it blasted the Giant Demon’s body apart, reducing it to a pool of flesh and blood.

At that moment, everyone in the Celestial Profound Mansion shouted in joyous surprise, as if they had received a grand pardon:

"It’s the Five-Thunder Upper Immortal!"

"The Dao Alliance’s reinforcements are here!"

"Wonderful! There’s another Dao Alliance Celestial Monarch, but I don’t know who it is."

Standing in the void, the Wutong Saint Mother dissipated her Divine Power. The pattern on her brow faded, and she reverted to the appearance of an old woman in red robes. She looked at the cyan-robed Daoist and said expressionlessly:

"Five-Thunder Celestial Monarch, I didn’t expect you to come in person. Three hundred years have passed. It seems your Five Thunder True Skill has improved yet again."

The Five-Thunder Upper Immortal smiled faintly. "If a Great Nether Divine Venerable can come, why can’t the Vice Alliance Leader of the Dao Alliance?"

The Wutong Saint Mother lightly tapped her wooden staff, and the mangled flesh at her feet slowly began to coalesce.

Guided by some mysterious power, the sludge of the Giant Demon’s corpse reassembled. It became tall and mighty once more, now with a pair of wings and skin even tougher than before.

"A Demon from the Middle Ages, as expected. You people of the Holy Netherworld have tainted yourselves with the power of Divine Beings. Aren’t you afraid of a backlash from the Holy Nether Celestial Dao?" the Five-Thunder Upper Immortal’s tone turned icy upon seeing this.

The Wutong Saint Mother was unconcerned. "Even you cannot stop the great momentum of the Holy Netherworld. Great Yan is rife with internal strife; its time is up. It is a dying sun, an arrow at the end of its flight. Your Taoist Sect boasts of its ten-thousand-year lineage, but in the end, it will also fall to Netherworld Heaven."

"It’s too early to say that. Wait until your Holy Netherworld has actually crossed the Celestial Profound Continent before you make such claims," the Five-Thunder Upper Immortal snorted coldly.

"Don’t be hasty. You alone are not enough to turn the tide this time," the Wutong Saint Mother said calmly.

"What if you add me?"

The woman in the Cyan Simurgh Robe strode through the air.

"Origin Lady Monarch."

Seeing the woman’s arrival, the Wutong Saint Mother grew a little more serious.

"You really got here fast. Don’t tell me you used the Confucian Temple’s calculations? Did you know our movements all along?"

She muttered to herself for a moment before coming to a realization.

"Then again, with Li Sheng overseeing the Confucian Temple, every single detail is calculated and fixed."

"The Human Race just keeps sending the same old masters. After a hundred years, are there any decent newcomers who have broken into the Upper Three Grades? And another thing, does your Emperor of Great Yan still have the courage to lead his army in person? Don’t just let some old man command the defenses. Her Majesty the Empress has been waiting for him."

The Origin Lady Monarch said impatiently, "Why are you wasting so much breath on her?"

"We have the advantage, two against one. She must be stalling for time."

The Five-Thunder Upper Immortal nodded slightly and drew a mottled, Thunder-Patterned Ancient Sword from his sleeve. In an instant, a tidal wave of thunderous might surged forth, as if a thick ocean of lightning had gathered, its pressure immense.

It was the Taoist Sect’s ultimate Magical Treasure, the Thunder Pool.

One of the Seven Great Immortal Swords.

At that moment, on the deck of the centermost warship, a tall, slender woman emerged and spoke as she walked:

"Your Holy Emperor was the one who violated the agreement first. If he hadn’t tacitly approved sending troops to the Great Nether Country to seize my Great Nether’s Fortune, none of this would be happening now."

The Great Nether Empress, Wu Gongyu.

This was the first time the two of them had seen the Great Nether Empress in person.

She was indeed very young. The exceedingly sinister patterns on her arms, her green Demon Eyes, and her revealing attire—bare legs and an open back—all sent a chill down the Origin Lady Monarch’s spine.

Upon hearing her words, the Five-Thunder Upper Immortal and the Origin Lady Monarch exchanged a look, both feeling a sense of uncertainty.

"He and I had an agreement."

"Do you two still not know the truth?" Wu Gongyu said coolly, seeing their expressions.

"Demoness, don’t try to bewitch us!"

The Origin Lady Monarch shook her head, forcing herself not to overthink it. ’I was entrusted by the Dao Alliance to slay Demon Fiends, not to negotiate.’

She shot a beam of Jade Divine Light from her palm, aiming it at Wu Gongyu.

The Wutong Saint Mother showed no intention of stopping her.

Just as the Origin Lady Monarch thought the Great Nether Empress was about to die, a strange aura rose from behind Wu Gongyu in the unseen world.

A layer of greyish-black mist appeared, revealing two large, scarlet eyes that blocked the Jade Divine Light.

It resembled some kind of Evil God.

"That’s the personification of the Great Nether’s Fortune! You brought the Great Nether’s Divine Object to the Central Plains World—what are you planning to do?!" the Five-Thunder Upper Immortal demanded, gripping his Immortal Sword Thunder Pool.

Wu Gongyu replied coldly, "I’ve already said it. I’m here for revenge and to settle the scores of the past."

Her brow shimmered, and from it, she produced a pitch-black Turtle Shell. Symbols flew out from the shell, continuously arranging and rearranging themselves.

Through the pitch-black Turtle Shell, Wu Gongyu could obtain power from the Divine Beings, communicate with the heavens, and gain unrivaled strength.

In fact, this was a power she was born with. It was precisely because of this ability that she had been able to become the Saintess, then the High Priest, and now, the Great Nether Empress.

...