Read Novel Full Chapter 1191: Chapter 1185: We Are All Free
Chapter 1191: Chapter 1185: We Are All Free
“Boom!”
Lightning flashed in the cloudy sky.
A group of people channeled their Spiritual power in the Azure Cloud Prefecture, escorting a spirit boat forward. Amidst the thunderclap, they all raised their heads.
“The aura of the Li Clan members is right ahead; that is where Uncle Rain’s Dao Domain is located.”
At the front of the spirit boat, Han Ju, who had wrapped himself tightly, spoke with a hoarse voice filled with monstrous rage.
He, too, had fallen into the trap, and now the entire Azure Cloud Prefecture was tracking their whereabouts, yet Han Ju remained unwilling to accept defeat.
Swiping his hands over his Dharma eyes, he peered into the distance.
Outside the Dao Domain stood numerous Li Clan members.
The root vines of the Li Clan’s Divine Tree pierced into the spines of the Li clansmen, continuously transmitting Spiritual power through the Divine Tree’s body into the Dao Domain.
Moreover, more and more Li clansmen were rushing over from all directions.
“What are they doing?” Han Ju’s gaze was ice-cold.
“A kind of array formation.”
Beside Han Ju was Zishu Ling.
Three days had passed since they fled from the Li Clan.
Over these three days, she had increasingly developed the bearing of a superior.
Seeing the scene before the 1000-foot red tree, a hint of joy flashed in Zishu Ling’s eyes.
“They are transmitting Spiritual power through an array formation. It is precisely because of this array formation that they are able to trap Uncle Rain!”
“Which means…” The corners of Han Ju’s mouth curled up slightly.
“If we rescue Uncle Rain, we…”
Zishu Ling also let out a cold sneer, but her sneer gradually froze, her beautiful face losing its color. “Not good!”
An array formation arrived from afar, and fresh flowers fell from the cloudy sky one after another.
To their right, a group of never-before-seen cultivators charged at them without a word.
Without any warning, it was as if they had merely been passing by.
The leader was an elegant and luxurious woman. No… they were actually just passing by.
Zishu Ling stood frozen in place.
She was clearly only a step away from attacking the Li Clan from the rear, breaking their array formation, and freeing Uncle Rain.
She even heard these suddenly arriving people shouting.
“Consort Ji, we haven’t seen these people before, and they don’t possess the bloodline aura of the Li Clan. I swear, we definitely aren’t hitting the wrong targets.”
“Perfect timing! We ran into those trying to launch a sneak attack. Kill them without mercy!”
“Once we’re done with them, we’ll go support the Li Clan.”
“…”
Zishu Ling stood there dumbfounded, gazing at the Li Clan’s towering giant tree.
It was clearly so close. She was only a step away, just a tiny bit!
“How could this be? I still need to ascend to the throne, I want to be the Empress, I am the hope of the Zishu family…”
The remnants of their forces, which they had painstakingly gathered, were fleeing.
They had been on the run for three days, and every single one of them had been injured by the Li Clan’s ambush. How could they possibly be a match for these people?
A figure drew closer and closer.
It was Consort Ji!
“Grand Tower… Why are the people of Grand Tower here? Why are they serving the Li Clan?”
Zishu Ling’s entire body trembled. She knew of Consort Ji, Ji Wenxin.
She was once one of the rare favored consorts in the imperial palace.
Her Spirit Flower rules could enhance one’s comprehension during cultivation, and she was also an expert at manipulating illusion methods.
Many years ago, she was stripped of her title due to the exposure of her identity as a member of Grand Tower.
She was no match for Consort Ji, not to mention she had already been severely injured by Li Yaoqing earlier.
“How could it be you?!!” Zishu Ling glared fiercely at Consort Ji, who had ruined her plans.
“Made it just in time.”
Consort Ji gently extended her soft hands.
With a lotus, a water lily, and a peony appearing in her grasp, she looked at Zishu Ling and the numerous fleeing cultivators ahead, breathing a sigh of relief.
In the Thunder Fire Demon Cave, she had made the resolution to come and provide support, and she had felt Holy Monk Yidian’s murderous intent.
But in the end, Holy Monk Yidian did not deliver the killing blow.
Consort Ji ignored the crazed Zishu Ling.
Slightly raising her head to look at that giant tree, she could feel that the Li Clan was sealing Uncle Rain’s Dao Domain.
A smile appeared on her face; she knew she had bet correctly this time.
She recalled Holy Monk Yidian’s back as he left with a final sigh, and smiled, “I am free.”
“We are all free!”
The woman, who had been bound by the imperial court and Grand Tower for an unknown number of years, shed clear tears.
The people of Grand Tower, who were currently slaughtering the enemy, all paused slightly before bursting into laughter in the cloudy sky.
…
In the cloudy sky stood the Old Tree, its red leaves swaying amidst the dark clouds.
The root vines of the Old Tree pierced into the spines of the crowd, causing the Li Clan members to be suspended densely in mid-air.
Their bodies all drooped limply, making them look incredibly eerie.
A cold wind blew through the cloudy sky, revealing the crests tattooed on the bodies of the Li Clan members.
The Ancestral Spirit Array!
They were expressionless. Just as Li Wei had said, the family had known about this invasion nine years in advance and had prepared for it for nine years.
The ambushes in the major Grotto-Heavens were a setup; their true target was Uncle Rain.
“Boom!”
Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from behind.
The Li Clan elders at the very front opened their eyes.
Li Yaoqing blinked, “It’s Zishu Ling’s group. Who is attacking them?”
“It seems to be the people from Grand Tower.”
Li Zhiheng recognized the group rushing over from the Thunder Fire Demon Cave.
Seeing that Li Yunlin beside him had already retracted the swirling Skyveil Hall in his hand, Li Zhiheng smiled faintly,
“It’s for the best that we don’t have to lift a finger. With Holy Monk Yidian gone, there is absolutely no room for error regarding Uncle Rain.”
“Mhm.”
Li Yunlin nodded slightly.
Inside the Dao Domain.
“You can’t trap me!” Uncle Rain roared.
Above his Rain Dispensation water domain, the glowing manifestation of the Yin-Yang Fish diagram was growing faint.
The Li Clan Old Ancestor’s aura waned; he slumped against the cloudy sky, blood dripping from hands shrouded in black mist.
Nearby, three hovering patches of blood mist sprouted visceral tendrils of flesh, slowly knitting themselves back together.
The remaining three of the Seven Ironclads stood like iron pagodas, clad in cracked white bone armor.
Pale and gasping for breath, they relied on the thick root vines piercing through from outside the Dao Domain to replenish their exhausted Spiritual power.
Ripples undulated across the water’s surface where the Mad Blood Demon Lord knelt on one knee, supporting his heavy weight with a broadsword forged of pure demonic qi.
Higher up in the clouds, Li Yaotie hovered with disheveled hair, gripping a hammer with a shattered corner.
It had been three days.
These madmen had stonewalled him for three agonizing days.
No matter what methods he unleashed, they formed an airtight barricade within the Dao Domain—relentless as a swarm of annoying flies!
“I am a god! You cannot stop me!” Uncle Rain thrust his spear once more.
Bang!
The spatial rules shattered and reformed, black mist surged, and the Spiritual power feeding the Yin-Yang Fish diagram thinned to a breaking point.
Though his once-flowing hair was now a tangled mess after three days of captivity, a manic joy finally broke across Uncle Rain’s face.
His eyes bulged with demonic glee as a wild laugh tore from his throat.
Finally!
His long spear pierced right through the Old Ancestor’s Yin-Yang Fish diagram, bypassing its power-dissolving defenses, and sank deep into the old man’s body.
The destructive power of his Rain Dispensation Dao mercilessly washed over the Li Clan Old Ancestor’s flesh and soul.
Immediately after, taking advantage of the opening where the Li Clan Old Ancestor couldn’t deal with him, he violently pulled out the long spear and darted toward the edge of the Dao Domain.
At this moment of his elation, he no longer harbored any thoughts of killing the Li Clan members.
He only wanted to escape this forsaken place.
The Seven Ironclads couldn’t be killed.
Li Yaotie was the most insane person he had ever seen; although his Great Dao of Heavenly Fire was countered by Uncle Rain, his Unorthodox Artifact Body would eventually become a true Spirit Treasure.
Then there was Mad Blood Demon Lord.
In his techniques, Uncle Rain faintly saw the terrifying inheritor of the ‘Great Dao of Eternity’.
“Once I escape Azure Cloud Prefecture, the Dao Seed on my body is still useful. Min Tiange can protect me!”
“Get out of the way!”
Uncle Rain’s expression was ferocious, his long spear charging straight ahead.
The ‘Life Control’ divine ability blasted away the hammer-swinging Li Yaotie, reduced Mad Blood Demon Lord—who tried to block with his physical body—to ash, and turned the three of the Seven Ironclads back into blood mist once more.
Closer. Closer. The vine-covered boundary wall was right before his eyes.
“Pierce!”
He struck it! He was finally going to break out of the Dao Domain and return to the Peerless Hall!
And then… Boom!
The majestic Spiritual power of the Rain Dispensation violently washed over the boundary wall.
A massive shockwave reverberated back through Uncle Rain; his flesh and soul felt as though they had slammed into a solid steel plate.
His grip slipped, sending his hand sliding down the spear’s shaft. Had he not braced his other hand against the wall with his remaining power, his posture would have looked utterly comical.
He stared blankly at the vines, then stiffly turned his head to look at the point of impact.
It had only pierced halfway.
The energy at the spear tip was entirely muffled, utterly failing to channel his Rain Dispensation outward.
He slowly turned around. The madmen of the Li Clan were already regrouping behind him.
“Phew.” Li Wei stood at the forefront of the group—shielding Ah Tie, the reformed Mad Blood Demon Lord, and the six Ironclads.
He clutched his bleeding abdomen and exhaled a long, relaxed breath.
“You don’t seem to be that strong after all. At least, not as strong as the Li Clan and the people of Azure Cloud Prefecture combined.”
“You can’t escape.”
As Li Wei’s voice faded, Mad Blood Demon Lord peered through the tiny gap left by the half-pierced long spear and saw silhouette after silhouette beneath the giant tree outside the Dao Domain.
Li Yaoqing, Li Yunlin, Li Kuanghua… over the three days, thousands of Li clansmen had gathered outside.
Beyond them were the people he had only briefly glanced at in the intelligence reports and never cared about:
the Li Clan’s steward, Huang Xiujin; the Dao Companion of Li Yunlin, Fairy Hongxiu; the Supreme Elder of the Ephemeral Immortal Sect, Pu Ci; the Li Clan’s retainers, Zhuo Linlin, the Martial Emperor, the Old Man…
Tens of thousands of people.
Moreover, in the distance, spirit boats were continuously arriving.
Some cultivators who had exhausted their Spiritual power had already detached from the Old Tree’s root vines, and others immediately flew up to take their place.
Uncle Rain stared with vacant eyes. He could sense it now: every single cultivator in the entire Azure Cloud Prefecture was coming.
He couldn’t break the Old Tree’s seal. Even a Mahayana expert would fail against this.
The Old Tree’s root vines entered once again, piercing into Li Yaotie’s body, and this time, even piercing into the bodies of the Seven Ironclads.
It wouldn’t be long before the Li Clan Old Ancestor could also share the Spiritual power of the cultivators of Azure Cloud Prefecture.
It seemed that in the eyes of the people of Azure Cloud Prefecture, the Li Clan were the true gods.
“Whoosh!”
Uncle Rain’s eyes suddenly turned ice-cold, brandishing his long spear.
“I am a god! Let’s see how long you can keep me sealed! I will cripple every single one of you!”
Li Wei scoffed, “You bleed, you are no god.
I’ve heard your story. You governed the Great Dao of Merit. Why do you think the people of the world cursed you back then?
It’s precisely because you treated yourself as a god. But you forgot, we cultivators have never believed in gods.
When you put yourself on a pedestal, the moment you make even the slightest mistake, the world will eagerly tear you down.”
Li Wei took a steadying breath.
“After hundreds of years of building this foundation, we of the Azure Cloud Prefecture live and die together. We share a common destiny. Do you know what the people said when you invaded?”
Behind him, a heavily wounded Li Yaotie grinned, licking the blood from his lips.
“They said… they would be incredibly delighted to slaughter a god.”
Boom!
A sonic boom exploded through the air as Uncle Rain’s fury towered to the heavens. “Mortals! I will slaughter you all!”
…
Above the cloudy sky of Azure Cloud Prefecture, with dark clouds swirling below, Holy Monk Yidian looked down upon everything.
Gazing at the tens of thousands of people sealing the Dao Domain, a trace of dread flashed in his eyes as he chanted, “Amitabha.”
Immediately after, the Buddha let out a long sigh, looked toward the Western Frontier, and left without looking back.
He was afraid.
Uncle Rain had been trapped.
If he dared to make a move, he probably wouldn’t escape such a fate.
He faintly sensed that someone was staring at him from the border between Azure Cloud Prefecture and Westfall Prefecture.
At this time.
On the border of Westfall Prefecture and Azure Cloud Prefecture, at a tea stall on the main road after the heavy rain three days ago, the shopkeeper was complaining about how the storm three days prior had blown away his awning.
An old man was pouring tea for a Daoist priest with an immortal bearing who was holding a whisk.
The old man looked incredibly sycophantic.
This Daoist priest was precisely Ancestor Lan.
Ancestor Lan raised his head and stroked his beard.
His eyes shone brightly as he praised,
“Impressive, impressive. This array formation is extraordinary, and that old tree is also a natural anomaly. Tsk tsk, even I can’t see through this Li Clan Old Ancestor.
Fusing rules into one, integrating the dual methods of Yin and Yang of heaven and earth into one body—it can be called Tai Chi, truly all-encompassing.”
Beside him, the old man bowed and scraped, “Senior Ancestor Lan truly has a discerning eye.”
Ancestor Lan glanced at the old man.
That single phrase ‘discerning eye’ delighted his heart.
He took a couple more looks at the old man, but then frowned.
“You are too old, and you’ve already reached the Body Integration realm. It wouldn’t be very suitable for you to cultivate the new technique I’ve created. By the way, what is your Daoist title?”
“Hao… Haoqiong Immortal Master (Vast Heavens).” The old man was covered in cold sweat.
A trace of displeasure flashed in Ancestor Lan’s eyes.
“Your abilities are small, but your title is certainly not. Aren’t you afraid of shortening your lifespan?
How about this, change your name to something lowly, and leave Azure Cloud Prefecture immediately.”
“Thank you, Ancestor Lan!” Haoqiong Immortal Master felt as if he had been granted a great amnesty.
Just as he was about to leave, his body suddenly couldn’t move an inch.
Ancestor Lan took a sip of tea and said indifferently,
“You sneaked around when you came, and when numerous cultivators fell into disaster, you turned a blind eye.
With Uncle Rain trapped, you spied for three days, waiting for him to fall so you could reap the fisherman’s profit.
You are the lowest of the low. I despise villains like you the most in my life.”
He flicked the remaining tea dregs in his cup. The dregs landed on Haoqiong Immortal Master and then vanished.
The dignified Body Integration realm Haoqiong Immortal Master actually trembled all over, sweating profusely.
“If you ever speak a single word in this life, I will shatter your Dao path. Now, get lost.”
The Body Integration expert, who had hidden for many days, didn’t dare utter a sound and vanished from the spot.
Ancestor Lan paid for the tea and strolled back toward the Eternal Immortal Sect with his hands behind his back, grinning. “We won.”
“The Li Clan eliminating a disaster for me… how truly wonderful.”
—
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