Chapter 140: The Oriole Lurks Behind

Xu Zhong looked inward at his own body and drove the Golden Elixir Dao Tree, prepared to stake everything.

However, Yun Yong was a step faster, taking the lead in unleashing the zither string that had been hidden within his body.

The power of this zither string was comparable to the Jade Pool Thunder Tribulation. If Yun Yong's elder sister were the one to wield it, its might would likely surpass the heavenly tribulation itself.

Accompanied by this zither string came a resounding zither note that rippled outward in all directions, like terrifying tides of dread sweeping out of the Bronze Gorge.

The entire Bronze Gorge began to seethe because of this. Countless rocks and stones were shaken loose by the music, crashing to the ground. The stream water evaporated instantly, and the grass and forests were sliced in half at the waist and annihilated.

"Oh no, how can there be such a terrifying power?" The Dragon Sparrow trembled, its newly condensed physical body showing signs of collapse at this moment.

After all, this was not its true physical body; it was as fragile as an ordinary person who had never cultivated.

That sonic tide stirred up the Yin and Yang Qi within the Bronze Gorge, causing massive whirlpools to appear one after another in the void.

Every single whirlpool represented a note from the sevenfold musical scale of Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zhi, Yu, Bian Zhi, and Bian Gong.

In an instant, they wove together into a melody filled with terrifying, destructive power.

"Heaven and Earth Monolith!"

Knowing that this spell could not be resisted through brute force, the Dragon Sparrow cast its art.

At this moment, it seemed to transform into a monolith spanning heaven and earth, merging completely with the space of the world, unmoving, unchanging, and existing eternally.

Slash!

Yet its spell was no match for the power of that zither string, and it was effortlessly unraveled.

Those musical notes poured through its ears into its mud-pill palace, causing the entire mud-pill palace to boil as well.

Destructive tides emerged out of nowhere, closing in on its divine soul.

The Dragon Sparrow hurriedly forced its divine soul out of its body, leaping free from its physical shell.

No sooner had it jumped out than its divine soul was struck by that zither string.

In an instant, its divine soul nearly collapsed. The spirit and the soul scattered and separated, transforming into wisps of spiritual light that leaped continuously between heaven and earth.

The Dragon Sparrow's human soul scrambled frantically to recapture the straying spirit and soul, forcibly fusing them back into a complete divine soul.

The next moment, Demonic Light descended from the sky onto its body, the Demonic Qi condensing into a storm that blew the spiritual light on its divine soul until it was dim and devoid of luster.

Demonic light and demonic qi surged within its divine soul; it was falling into the demonic path.

The very moment its spirit and soul had separated, a demonic seed had already been planted within it.

"Take this opportunity, let's kill it together!" Xu Zhong raised his hand and unleashed a set of Jade Pool Sword Formations.

In that instant, countless sword lights and sword energies condensed into the waters of the Jade Pool, washing over its divine soul and making it tremble incessantly.

At the same time, he opened his mouth to spew out the True Fire of Samadhi, shook a rattle-drum in his hand, and opened wide the Purple Jade Gourd on his back. Endless streams of sword light spanned a thousand miles, slashing toward that divine soul. Moreover, a Jade Ruyi rose into the air, seizing the opportunity to smash down fiercely onto the Dragon Sparrow's divine soul.

"I knew long ago that you harbored ulterior motives. How could I not make preparations?"

The Dragon Sparrow forcefully suppressed the demonic nature sprouting within its body while withstanding the wave after wave of bombardment from magical treasures like the rattle-drum and the Jade Ruyi. It began to activate the Vermilion Bird Gu inside Xu Zhong's body and the True Fire of Samadhi inside Yun Yong and the others.

The Vermilion Bird Gu within Xu Zhong's body had just awakened, transforming into a great sun and emitting endless toxic smoke and corrosive vapors that caused Xu Zhong's physical body to dissolve.

Yet the next moment, the Golden Elixir Dao Tree inside him shook, and that Vermilion Bird Gu was easily beaten to death.

Furthermore, a multitude of branches transformed into rivers of stars that burst forth from Xu Zhong's body, slamming directly into the Dragon Sparrow.

The Dragon Sparrow let out a muffled grunt.

Compared to the death of its Vermilion Bird Gu, the branches erupting from Xu Zhong's body shocked it even more.

"He hides a supreme treasure within his body?" Greed stirred within the Dragon Sparrow's heart, and it made no effort to conceal the greed between its brows.

It then raised its fist and smashed it toward Xu Zhong.

Yet no sooner had it made its move than it felt the world around it turn upside down. Divine radiances fell from unknown origins, transforming into a cauldron of elixirs. Within it, astral fires condensed bit by bit, and moonlight was brewed into a tide that poured into the elixir cauldron.

Refined by water and fire, all things crumbled to ruin.

Its divine soul was placed inside the elixir cauldron, and its power was being refined away bit by bit.

In the void, it saw Shiyue crawling back to the side of Xu Zhong and the others, having set up some unknown array using the power of heaven and earth.

"Trifling tricks!" The Dragon Sparrow scoffed with disdain.

Flames of the Three Samadhis surged from its body. Before it could break apart this elixir cauldron, it saw Tang Yuan leap up into the air.

His body was wreathed in terrifying blood-qi power, and this blood-qi power stirred the remaining rays of the great sun in the sky, which had condensed from flesh and blood vitality.

He drove his blood-qi power to smash against the illusory elixir cauldron.

Clang!

A loud sound rang out.

A layer of deep crimson color was painted across the surface of the elixir cauldron.

"A Blood-Qi Melting Furnace?" Xu Zhong frowned upon seeing his action.

In an instant, the illusory elixir cauldron gained the power of blood and qi, transforming from illusory to real.

He treated his own blood and qi as spiritual ores for artifact crafting, using the array as a mold, and alive-and-kicking forged a Blood-Qi Melting Furnace.

At that very moment, Yun Yong naturally made his move as well.

He stood in place with his aperture wide open.

In an instant, gusts of gale-winds blew out from within.

"Nine Heavens Qianyuan Gale-Wind?" Xu Zhong's heart skipped a beat.

The Nine Heavens Qianyuan Gale-Wind was a gale that only inner-scape Qi refiners could harvest from beyond the realms.

The Nine Heavens Qianyuan Gale-Wind inside Yun Yong's body was hidden within an aperture.

At this moment, the wind blowing from the aperture merged into the Nine Heavens Qianyuan Gale-Wind.

The Nine Heavens Qianyuan Gale-Wind fanned the astral fire until it blazed with peerless intensity.

"Brother Xu, lend me your sword light!" Yun Yong shouted aloud.

Xu Zhong understood his meaning.

Wind aids fire; the more intense the astral fire became, the weaker the Profound Origin True Water brewed from moonlight would grow.

If Yin and Yang lost their balance and water and fire failed to intermingle, it would be impossible to refine and kill the Dragon Sparrow alive.

Seeing this, Xu Zhong hurriedly summoned the Cloud-Swallowing Sword, executing the sword technique of "Wind Waves Shaking the Sea and Autumn Mountains."

In an instant, six thousand miles of starlight descended upon this place, moving with the wind and skimming along the ground.

The six thousand miles of starlight were compressed into a single line, plunging into the elixir cauldron.

Instantly, a vast amount of Profound Origin True Water appeared within the cauldron.

Under the dual refinement of water and fire, the Dragon Sparrow's divine soul had already collapsed. Its power was evaporating bit by bit, and the power of tribulation luck appeared upon its spirit and soul, slowly transforming them into karmic ash.

"You are forcing my hand." The Dragon Sparrow's expression turned ferocious. "Your cooperation is indeed tacit, and I am indeed severely injured. But an inner-scape Qi refiner, even with only a breath left, is not someone like you little fellows who haven't even cultivated a vehicle of conveyance can refine."

Just as its voice fell, a gateway vaguely appeared behind it.

That gateway stood tall in the void, reflecting the power of Qi, and milky-white wisps of aura leaked out from the seams of the gateway, falling onto its body.

"Is that the Gate of Creation?" Yun Yong's expression darkened.

Qi refiners who reached the realm of the vehicle of conveyance could open the Gate of Creation.

This was a projection of the mysterious and profound Gate of Xuanbi between heaven and earth.

Qi refiners could use the Gate of Creation to seize the power of creation from heaven and earth and pilfer a portion of primal power.

At this moment, the Dragon Sparrow pushed open the Gate of Creation and pilfered a wisp of spiritual light from it.

This wisp of spiritual light illuminated the Dragon Sparrow from head to toe. In that instant, Xu Zhong and the others saw earth-shattering changes occur on the Dragon Sparrow.

Its body, blood, and blood vessels transformed into true dragons; its muscles transformed into vermilion birds.

Even the tiniest specks of dust within its body turned into miniature true dragons and vermilion birds.

These true dragons and vermilion birds bore different expressions, cheering and leaping as they swam within its physical body.

In this instant, its physique transformed into a divine kingdom of true dragons.

"This is the Light of Creation I harvested from the Gate of Creation." The Dragon Sparrow's physical body was undergoing transformation.

Everything illuminated by this Light of Creation actually began to transform into true dragons and vermilion birds.

The True Fire of Samadhi was created into vermilion birds; the Profound Origin True Water was refined into true dragons; the elixir cauldron became a true dragon; the blood and qi became vermilion birds...

Tang Yuan, who was closest to the elixir cauldron, failed to dodge in time, and one of his arms directly transformed into an out-of-control true dragon, its tail hooked to his shoulder.

The moment he dodged, he used his blood and qi to shatter that arm on the spot.

Then, his Wood-Element Secret Storehouse opened, blood and qi surged, stopping the bleeding of his severed stump and causing flesh buds to sprout. Intertwining together, they grew into an infant's arm.

Everyone was badly frightened by what they saw before them.

As the Light of Creation spread outward, they hurriedly fled into the darkness.

Meanwhile, the Dragon Sparrow barely managed to recover itself, but at this very moment, its demonic nature ran deep, and it was on the verge of being possessed.

Thus, it could only watch helplessly as Xu Zhong and the others escaped from before its eyes.

The Dragon Sparrow fled toward the Flesh and Blood Marsh.

As it ran, its body was being demonized.

Upon its illusory divine soul, another pair of arms and another head gradually grew out.

Between the brows of both heads, a vertical pupil sprouted simultaneously, reflecting an illusory figure hovering above the Flesh and Blood Marsh.

Three heads and six arms, red hair and tusks, pale-faced, looking extremely urgent.

This was precisely the Heart-Demon King whom the Vine-Dragon Demon Emperor had forcibly abducted from the Thirty-Threefold Heavenly Demonic Heavens back in the day.

This Heart-Demon King had been sealed for a thousand years, and only three years ago had it left the Sea of Chaos alongside Vine-Dragon and the others to enter Mingzhao.

Surrounding this Heart-Demon King were towering golden stone阙 (palaces), upon which profound and abstruse runes were written in a flying, dragon-like script. All these runes ultimately pointed to a single character: Suppress!

It was this character "Suppress" that erupted with the most powerful sealing force, sealing this Heart-Demon King above the Flesh and Blood Marsh.

"What a pity!" This Heart-Demon King suddenly turned gloomy in expression.

The Dragon Sparrow had not been entirely demonized; upon reaching the boundary of the Flesh and Blood Marsh, it had managed to retain its original mind.

Standing outside the Flesh and Blood Marsh, it opened its mouth and swallowed.

In an instant, an unknown amount of blood-and-qi essence surged into its body.

This blood-and-qi essence swirled outside the Dragon Sparrow's body like a misty red fog, floating up and down.

Vaguely, flesh, blood, and bones began to generate.

And within the Dragon Sparrow's divine soul, undying spiritual light spewed forth, grafting the newly formed flesh, bones, and divine soul together.

It didn't just want to recover its physical body; it wanted to push its physique back to its peak state.

Otherwise, mere flesh and blood on the level of an ordinary mortal would be unable to consume such a vast amount of blood-and-qi essence.

Its physical body recovered bit by bit, while the blood-and-qi essence within the Flesh and Blood Marsh drained away bit by bit.

Before long, this region of the Flesh and Blood Marsh was on the verge of running dry.

However, before it could fully recover, a blade light flew out from an unknown place, piercing through illusions and ultimately landing upon its body.

In an instant, this Dragon Sparrow—its divine soul and inner-scape alike—was split in two. Its divine soul and inner-scape were swept away by that blade light.

Meanwhile, the Dragon Sparrow's physical body and a small amount of the undying spiritual light of its divine soul fell into the Flesh and Blood Marsh.

The Flesh and Blood Marsh expanded by ten miles.

This Heart-Demon King absorbed a portion of the Dragon Sparrow's divine soul and undying spiritual light, and muttered once more, "What a pity!"

Its gaze pierced through layers of mist and ultimately landed upon that throne within the Demon Court.

The one who had killed the Dragon Sparrow was the Vine-Dragon Demon Emperor.

He put away his blade and let out a cold snort: "Useless trash!"