[The Boss was wise and heroic, sat together with the Giant to discuss the Dao, they hit it off at once and became kindred spirits, whereupon the Giant joyfully gifted him an axe.

———— "Thousand Mechanism Pavilion's Founding Chronicles · Tracing the Mountain and Sea"]

Darker than darkness is profundity.

At this moment, in the Nine Huis' perception, the Taisui's little eye was like a guiding lamp in the night.

It was the most exquisite delicacy under heaven, and also the warmest road home.

Driven by instinct, it lunged toward the great treasure in Zhang Ze's hand.

Whoosh~ pff!

After a sound like gas being sucked back in, the Taisui in Zhang Ze's hand began to squirm.

The Nine Huis, weak to the extreme, began devouring the power of this top-grade Taisui in Zhang Ze's hand.

Only, before it had taken two bites, the Nine Huis realized it had been tricked.

This ass is poisonous.

All things under heaven have two sides; even a Taisui is no exception.

Although the earliest Taisui were derivatives left over after Fuji fed, and their nature carried a certain gloomy mustiness,

by now, thanks to one enthusiast after another—young lady Li Yueqi being a prime example—the Taisui had evolved new varieties.

They could live under the sun, a new strain of Taisui codenamed "Sunshine Grape".

Almost the exact opposite of traditional Taisui, this kind did not absorb miasma and evil thoughts, but instead grew on truth, goodness, beauty, and Yang Qi.

The more peaceful and joyful the place, the better it was for their growth.

Not only that, this Taisui could be eaten directly without processing.

At certain necessary moments, it could replenish the user's strength.

Of course, due to its appearance, the promotion of the dish "Sunshine Grape Taisui Sashimi" had been blocked at every turn.

Even now, it hadn't managed to make it onto the cafeteria menus of the Northern Territory Taisui plantation base.

So, since even people didn't eat this stuff, the Nine Huis was even less inclined to.

To it, Sunshine Grape Taisui was equivalent to poison.

What lured it into the urn wasn't actually this Sunshine Grape Taisui.

It was another tiny, original Taisui that Zhang Ze had hidden inside that little eye.

After devouring this small, soft, rock-candy-hawthorn-shaped original Taisui, the Nine Huis felt like a dung-hauler bumping into a pure-love fanatic, or a vampire running into the blazing sun.

This wasn't sugar wrapped around shit, it was shit wrapped around sugar.

The Nine Huis could least handle this sort of thing.

Drawn here by instinct, it now, driven by that same instinct, "looked" once more toward the direction of the eye.

It had to run.

But it was obviously already too late.

Cradling the Taisui, Zhang Ze formed a Finger Technique, and in an instant summoned a stack of sealing Talismans from the Hundred Treasures Bag in his Sumeru Space.

After slapping a good half of them on with a series of crisp pats, Zhang Ze waved at Brother Feng.

"Brother Feng, come help me stick a few."

A moment later, with Brother Feng's lake-sinking kind of heavy fortune added on, all one hundred and eight Talismans were stuck onto the Taisui.

The yellow-orange Talismans flashed with golden light; from a distance, they really did look just like that anonymized-shipping butt.

By rights this Nine Huis shouldn't be able to escape anymore, yet Zhang Ze still felt something was off. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

After staring for quite a while, he finally realized one Talisman hadn't been stuck straight, and that pink little eye was still uncovered.

Inside, because the Nine Huis was sealed, Yin Yang Two Qi clashed, and wind kept blowing out from within.

The little gusts blew, the Talismans fluttered, and when they fell back they smacked the Taisui with sharp, popping sounds.

Just like a fart curtain.

At this time the residual might of the Ten Thousand Laws borrowing the Sword Array had yet to dissipate, and Zhang Ze was a lazy dog besides, so he casually summoned an item to plug it up.

However, whether due to sweaty hands or bad luck, a Magical Treasure did come, but the one he summoned wasn't actually his own baby.

The Giant's huge axe rang out with a crisp clang and turned into a streak of flowing light that flew toward Zhang Ze.

The axe haft, steady, accurate, and ruthless, drove right into the little eye...

Zhang Ze looked a bit awkwardly at the Giant, who still hadn't worked out what had just happened.

"Um..."

The Giant took a step back and shook his head.

"The axe is yours, I don't want it anymore."

Zhang Ze, "..."

———— dividing line for an axe that's no longer clean ————

Chaos came quickly and went quickly as well. Once Zhang Ze sealed the Nine Huis, that body of Lord Shang's son lost its vitality.

The remaining parts that hadn't been chopped to pieces completely turned into a puddle of unrecognizable rotten flesh.

And slowly dispersed along with the wind of Mountain and Sea.

Watching Lord Shang's son dissipate, Zhang Ze stretched out his hand and caught a bit of blood and flesh as fine as dust.

Rubbing it between his fingers, he confirmed his guess.

After being parasitized by the Nine Huis, Lord Shang's son had been transformed into a calamity-being.

The kind of monster that roamed the heartland of the Central Continent, cycling endlessly between life and death.

Thinking of the intel Brother Feng had brought back:

"A Secret Realm like this Mountain and Sea also existed beneath the Earth Sea under the former Imperial Capital of Dongqi, in the very center of the Central Continent. And that place has already been completely corrupted."

"Are calamity-beings the living creatures from that Secret Realm?"

"No."

"Though calamity-beings have no intelligence, the Spells they wield are tied to their former lives. The calamity-beings in the Central Continent all use Spells of the Human Race.

"Could it be that those seniors who fell or vanished back then were actually tricked there by Xiao Jing and turned into calamity-beings?"

As he was pondering, Zhang Ze suddenly felt someone pat him.

He turned around and saw it was Brother Feng patting him.

Lin Feng pointed ahead, signaling Zhang Ze to look forward.

Zhang Ze turned his head and saw the Giant leading the Dinosaurs to kneel before him.

"What are you all doing..."

The Giant inclined his head and spoke softly.

"Please take us away?"

Zhang Ze hurriedly stepped forward, wanting to help the Giant up, but he didn't know where to put his hands.

The Giant's head was huge; if Zhang Ze wanted to help, it seemed he could only support its nostrils.

Zhang Ze, "You all get up first. As for taking you out of here, I promise I'll find a way.

"It's just that right now I still don't understand many things, and one of my companions is currently still missing..."

Before Zhang Ze finished speaking, he noticed the Giant and the Dragons were giving him strange looks, and suddenly realized there was something wrong with how he'd phrased it.

Instead of sounding like he meant to get things done and honor his promise, it came across like an official shirking responsibility with bureaucratic talk.

If not for the fact they couldn't beat him, this group of Dragons would probably have already charged up to rough him up.

Zhang Ze hurriedly added,

"Don't worry, I promise I'll take you away. My home is right up above, and I'm going home too."

After staring at Zhang Ze for a while, the Giant softly nodded.

"I understand."

Then, without waiting for Zhang Ze's instructions, he rose and began directing his followers to restore order in Mo Pass.

Those with a glib tongue, once authorized by the Giant, went to negotiate with the various clans who had come to attend the festival.

The topic of discussion was how to deal with the forces of the Legalist School.

After holding a small meeting, the Dragons decided that as long as the Legalists didn't leave their main city, they would be left alone for now.

They would simply send a few fast runners to watch over them and make a decision if anything changed.

It wasn't that they were kind-heartedly forgiving the troublemaking Legalist School; it was just that leaving Mountain and Sea was a more pressing matter.

Every clan had to go back and prepare. For the moment, they had no spare time, Dragon-power, or resources to waste on dealing with them.

Zhang Ze, who had been silently listening in without offering any opinions, suddenly remembered something when he saw they were about to act and raised his hand to stop them.

"Wait a moment, I'll give you some things."

"What orders does Lord Milk Dragon have?" A kindly triceratops turned his head and asked respectfully.

Zhang Ze, "..."

"I'm not a Milk Dragon, that just now was only... forget it. Anyway, I'm not a Milk Dragon. Just call me Zhang Ze."

With that said, Zhang Ze didn't give this triceratops a chance to inquire further; he directly dragged a chest out of the Hundred Treasures Bag.

"The Nine Huis are elusive; there may still be fish that slipped through the net. Take these Taisui with you—you can use them as alarm devices."

Zhang Ze signaled everyone to step back, then opened the chest.

He poured out several hundred Taisui; the multicolored Taisui bounced all over the ground.

After bouncing around for a while, the Taisui very cleanly separated into two piles.

On the left were mostly cool-colored original Taisui, and on the right were the pink, tender Sunshine Grape Taisui.

"Don't be shy, everyone. Take a few each; they're all good stuff, something you can bring home for the elders and kids to use."

Zhang Ze promoted them like he was hawking local specialties.

Looking at these wicked-looking things, the Giant felt a bit confused for a moment.

'A pink giant tree, tentacle-covered monsters, a yellow Milk Dragon, and multicolored Taisui...'

'What exactly is the world outside like?'

'Is leaving Mountain and Sea... really the right thing to do?'

For a moment, the Giant actually hesitated.