Chapter 83: Who Needs to Tell Love from Murderous Intent? Here We Go Again with This Deadly Nonsense.

Chapter 83: Who Needs to Tell Love from Murderous Intent? Here We Go Again with This Deadly Nonsense.

At the front of the Immortal Mountain formation.

The immense spiritual energy of the Taiji Diagram had yet to dissipate, its black and white hues swirling into a haze of purple.

Within the purple mist, a void rift tore from the ground straight into the sky. Looking up, even the scar in the heavens was obscured, vanishing completely without a trace.

Two squads of black-robed Saint Asuras stepped forth. The rift closed, leaving a dark, floating line hovering among the mountains—an eyesore.

Yu Xiao steeled his heart, preparing to step forward and take two down with him.

Fu Yu wiggled her fingers. "Not yet. Aren't there still nine Dao Masters?"

Yu Xiao smiled bitterly. "They... ah!"

Be thankful if they don't betray us; expecting them to fight to the death is hopeless.

Before he could finish sighing, a Dao Master indeed shot forward.

This person landed before the formation, cupped his hands, and shouted, "The Divine Court reigns supreme! I, the Sunrise Dao Master, forsake the darkness to embrace the light, and come to pledge allegiance!"

Several other Dao Masters swiftly exchanged glances.

Fu Yu whispered to Yu Xiao, "This Sunrise Dao Master has been the most itchy to make a move. I gave him a little push, applying 'Rashness' and 'Cowardice' to him. And now he's gone to surrender."

Yu Xiao's eye twitched slightly.

Over there, the Sunrise Dao Master's righteous shout still echoed in their ears, but the two Saint Asura Corps had already turned their icy gazes upon him.

Beneath their black iron masks, twenty-six mouths opened and closed in unison, their voices overlapping: "Kill."

"Saint, I have come to surren—"

No one listened to him.

The Saint Asura Corps surrounded him like a black tidal wave engulfing a solitary rock.

The Sunrise Dao Master cried out in alarm, "I'm here to surrender, don't fight—"

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Boom!"

The enemy showed no mercy, intent on taking his life.

The Sunrise Dao Master resisted desperately, attempting several times to break through, but each time he was forced back by the black-robed, iron-faced Saint Asuras.

In just a few moments, the Sunrise Dao Master was wounded repeatedly, his situation perilous.

Seeing what happened to him, the other wavering Dao Masters paled, not daring to step forward again.

Fu Yu tilted her head, giving a meaningful glance to the loudest Foxtail Grass Spirit.

The Foxtail Grass Spirit bellowed: "Only when forces are evenly matched does one need to win over opponents! The Divine Court is here to exterminate us all, why keep a few fence-sitters? If you want to die on your knees, just follow his example!"

The lips of several Dao Masters tightened, their feet firmly planted back in place.

Daoist Bizhen, the second disciple under the Sunrise Dao Master, stepped forward. "Esteemed uncles and seniors, hear my words! Our only path to survival now is to hold off the Saint Asura Corps and wait for the recovery of the Shangqing Patriarch!"

Daoist Bizhen belonged to Little Yuqing's faction.

Since even she spoke thus, everyone could clearly see the situation.

Even if they wanted to negotiate or surrender, they had to fight first—to show the enemy that forcing a fight to the death would cost them dearly too.

One Dao Master acted decisively, stepping out from the crowd.

"Brother Sunrise, you have truly acted foolishly this time!" He shook his head with a sigh. "Enough, enough. You and I have been friends for many years. Since you have erred, I cannot stand idly by—I hope you will see the error of your ways and return to the right path!"

With a wave of his hand, a golden book with iron pages, radiant with light, unfurled in the wind. With a metallic clang that shook the heavens, it descended into the enemy formation, rescuing the teetering Sunrise Dao Master.

The remaining Dao Masters sprang into action, each unleashing their ultimate techniques, temporarily forcing the Saint Asura Corps back.

The Sunrise Dao Master escaped in disarray, his hair disheveled, blood spurting from his mouth and nose, having narrowly survived.

"Uncle..." He looked fearfully at Lesser Shangqing.

Yu Xiao wore a kindly, forgiving expression, waving his hand. "It's good that you've returned. Let bygones be bygones."

Facing death, a Void Treading Realm Dao Master was not so different from an ordinary mortal.

The Sunrise Dao Master's old face flushed with warmth. Silently chiding himself for shame, he sat down quietly to meditate and heal.

His "experience" gave the other Dao Masters a sense of shared peril. Since the Divine Court offered no way out, and Lesser Shangqing was willing to let bygones be bygones... Everyone sighed softly, knowing they had no choice left.

Eight Dao Masters joined the battle together.

Yu Xiao gritted his teeth, preparing to engage the other squad of Saint Asuras.

Fu Yu raised her hand to stop him, tilting her head slightly.

Receiving her glance, the Foxtail Grass Spirit and the monkey cackled wildly, striding forward with swaying shoulders as their bodies swelled to a hundred zhang tall amidst the raging wind!

"Whoosh—Boom!"

The giant monkey, trailing a gale, leaped into the air, hovered for a moment, then crashed down!

Behind it, the Foxtail Grass Spirit's dense roots grew wildly. The two monsters moved in perfect sync: the monkey swept its long arms, and the roots swung out with it, instantly splitting the battlefield in two.

The scene became clear at once.

Eight Dao Masters faced the left squad of Saint Asuras.

The monkey and the Foxtail Grass Spirit faced the right squad.

Li Xueke rolled up his sleeves, raised his hand to summon the wind, and a giant drum thudded to the ground.

Drawing upon the flowing spiritual energy of the Mountain Protection Array, he brandished the drumsticks, pounding out a thunderous war drum.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The drumbeats roared like thunder, their momentum like a rainbow, as if thousands of troops and horses had come to aid them.

"Boom!"

The two forces collided like massive waves crashing head-on.

Instantly, the earth shook for thousands of li, spiritual light illuminated the clouds, and rarely seen Artifacts flew chaotically across the sky.

Witnessing such a scene, even the most tense-hearted could not help but feel their spirits soar. The mountainside was densely packed with cultivators—disciples of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, as well as the "remnants of the Evil Path" who had been rescued and brought into the alliance this time.

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Not yet. Once the first wave is done, it'll be our turn!"

"Yeah! Got it!"

Scanning the crowd, everyone was trembling slightly from tension and fear, but they still stood as straight as possible.

While their comrades were fighting bloody battles up front, those in the back couldn't afford to lose their nerve!

If we're gonna die, let it be in battle, on our feet!

The fighting in the arena grew more and more intense.

The monkey and the Foxtail Grass Spirit, each as large as a hill, soon sustained injuries. Due to their massive size, their wounds resembled mountain clefts, with blood cascading down like waterfalls—a truly staggering sight.

Fu Yu scrutinized the black-robed Saint Asuras.

She noticed that no matter what injuries they suffered, these people didn't so much as flinch or try to dodge.

They truly seemed like iron men.

In contrast, their own Foxtail Grass Spirit and monkey yelped and howled in pain, flailing their limbs and hopping about.

Fu Yu asked Wu He, "Don't the people from the Divine Court feel any pain? Aren't they afraid to die?"

Wu He looked gloomily up at the sky. "That sounds like a phrase they'd use to describe us 'Evil Cultists.'"

Fu Yu wasn't happy and said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "Is the Divine Court just that great, that people would throw their lives away for it?"

Wu He blinked his dark eyes listlessly. "If you put it in their own words, they've been brainwashed, turned into zombie puppets—isn't that exactly how they slander us, saying *we're* the ones brainwashed by him? They're just projecting their own dirty deeds onto others."

Fu Yu's gaze froze for a second, then she suddenly broke into a smile. "You've got a point. That makes perfect sense."

Wu He turned a face of utter despair toward her.

"Hey," he said, "Did you really not think of it?"

Fu Yu blinked, tilting her head in confusion.

Wu He gave a faint smile and shook his head. "Never mind."

Perhaps he was overthinking it. He felt as though she was trying to look out for him.

His former companions had become so formidable, while he remained utterly useless. This always lazy, indifferent, and unreliable charlatan seemed to want him to feel that he wasn't completely worthless.

His heart warmed slightly.

He looked toward the battlefield and sighed inwardly.

The bonds between companions—aren't they a form of 'brainwashing' too?

"Boom!"

Suddenly, the very ground heaved and split.

Half of the immortal mountain crumbled with a deafening roar. The Foxtail Grass Spirit let out a strange laugh, swiftly leaping up and wrapping itself entirely around the monkey. Using a massive 'Heavy Weight Drop' technique, it slammed the coordinated Saint Asura battle formation into the valley below.

The monkey bared its teeth, panting heavily.

Its body, like a ten-thousand-ton boulder, crashed down with a thunderous boom, crushing an entire squad of Saint Asuras into a bloody pulp.

Triumphant, maniacal laughter shook the canyon.

As the dust settled, the outlines of the two giant monsters gradually became clear. With each step they took, a heavy, wet, squelching sound followed.

The monkey's body was densely covered with axe-like, gaping wounds, a sight to make your scalp crawl.

The Foxtail Grass Spirit had also lost many of its roots, with layers of wounds exposed. Its bark peeled off, turning into withered ash, scattering wherever it walked.

Li Xueke, long exhausted, swung his drumstick for the last time with great effort—a faint "thud" grazed the drum's surface before falling to the ground. Pure white kingly aura seeped from his forehead, and his face was paler than that of a Paper Effigy Boy.

One grass, one monkey, one man, and one paper effigy—together, they fought with all their might and achieved a hard-won, tragic victory.

The Foxtail Grass Spirit vigorously waved its tattered roots to smack the monkey's head, barely alive as it started in: "I told you to leave one alive for our master to finish off! Are you deaf?!"

The monkey didn't fight back, secretly rolling its eyes to the side and scratching its ear with a blood-stained paw, pretending to be deaf and mute.

On the other side, the eight Dao Masters were still locked in combat.

They lacked the do-or-die resolve, merely doing their best to wear down and delay the enemy.

Finally, they held out until Yu Xiao had recovered a fraction of his strength. He stood up, smiled with an immortal's grace, and waved his horsetail whisk, unfurling a towering Taiji Diagram that descended from above to suppress the enemy.

The eight Dao Masters sighed inwardly, each going with the flow of the battle. They unleashed their ultimate techniques, combining forces with the Taiji Diagram to crush the thirteen Saint Asuras.

"Boom—"

As the Taiji rotated, the bodies of the thirteen black-robed cultivators were torn apart in the fierce wind.

Both squads of Saint Asuras were completely annihilated.

Looking over the whole battlefield, their own top-tier fighters were also completely spent.

If they were to fight again, the only option left would be self-destruction.

Fu Yu reached out, giving Yu Xiao a hand up to help him back into the mountain-protecting formation.

Yu Xiao heaved a sigh. "No wonder that old man repeatedly warned me on his deathbed not to clash head-on with the Divine Court. He kept emphasizing that the Divine Court's strength is unfathomable and that we must not rashly engage in battle. Ah!"

Fu Yu asked, "Old man?"

Yu Xiao told her, "He was the previous Double Heaven. I was forced to inherit his legacy—he was from the Daoist Sect, with the Daoist title 'Venerable Qingxiao,' and his real name was Niu Bao."

Fu Yu was slightly taken aback.

She did have an impression of the name Niu Bao, after all, it was quite distinctive.

Niu Bao's master was a little old lady with smiling eyes and brows—back in the day, she was the most capable person in the Daoist Sect. With her overseeing the rear, Jun Bu Du could fight on the front lines with peace of mind, never having to worry about logistics.

Fu Yu had already guessed the outcome in her heart. "What happened to Niu Bao's master, Yun Duoer?"

Yu Xiao sighed. "That one... she was killed long ago by a traitor from the Daoist Sect. Niu Bao also ultimately died at the hands of that traitor."

Fu Yu's eyes turned cold. "Who is that traitor?"

Yu Xiao replied, "It's the Divine Court Saintess. She was also formerly from the Daoist Sect. She colluded with that Sage Zhuo from within and without, playing a major role in the battle that destroyed the Daoist Sect, and seized the Sage position."

Fu Yu raised an eyebrow. "Good, good, good."

Kill one more, settle another score.

Over there, the Foxtail Grass Spirit, having caught its breath, couldn't resist its crow's-mouth instincts. "No more, right? It's over, right? Please don't tell me three or five more teams are gonna pop out of nowhere!!!"

"Hiss—"

The monkey, Wu He, and the Paper Effigy Boy all rushed forward to cover its mouth. "Shut up, you damn evil spirit!"

The corner of Yu Xiao's mouth twitched. "That shouldn't be possible... Even for the Divine Court, forces like this couldn't..."

A terrifying upheaval of heaven and earth cut him off.

"Crack... crack... crack..."

No one could describe what kind of sound it was.

Within a radius of hundreds of miles, birds in the sky shrieked piercingly, craning their necks upwards before plummeting down like dumplings dropped into boiling water.

Ripples spread across the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's Mountain Protection Array.

Disciples of lower cultivation levels within the array clutched their ears in agony, blood seeping from their fingertips.

The sound and terror of this moment likely rivaled that of heaven and earth tearing asunder or the Yellow Springs shattering.

Yu Xiao's pupils trembled slightly as he followed the sound. From within a pitch-black void rift, two... giant hands reached forth.

They were, by any measure, a pair of beautiful hands.

Except each slender, pristine-white finger was over a hundred *zhang* long. They reached out from behind the rift, tendons standing out slightly, gripping the edges of the tear fiercely. Accompanied by wave after wave of world-shaking tremors, the rift contorted viciously, expanding madly.

Beneath the torn void, one Saint Asura Corps, two Saint Asura Corps... seven Saint Asura Corps lined up left and right, coming into view one after another.

In an instant, the air froze solid.

Across the mountains and plains, the sound of breathing vanished completely, leaving only deathly silence.

Yu Xiao couldn't even muster a sigh. "How... is this possible?"

Fu Yu asked the question weighing on everyone's soul: "Is this right?"

The Divine Court truly... had something.

She looked toward those giant hands tearing the void—this was a Demi-god who had touched the power of rules.

Fu Yu decisively bent down and started digging a hole in the ground.

The motley crew of the old, weak, and injured looked at her excitedly. "Is this some hidden trump card?"

"Oh," Fu Yu said, "Burying my valuables, so they won't get a single coin."

Everyone: "..."

Wu He stated the blunt truth: "As if you have any assets."

Fu Yu: "..."

She had no assets to speak of. She only had one Cosmic Bag, which contained herself.

Burying herself, biding her time for another day.

She had been in too many desperate, last-stand situations like this before. She always managed to find a sliver of survival for herself.

She raised her eyes, her gaze sweeping calmly over this group of people.

She was very accustomed to partings.

Over so many years, companions had come and gone by her side. She was long used to the fact that parting in life meant parting in death.

She said, her voice flat. "When the fight starts, I'll unleash Dream Slaughter with all my might. If I tell you to run, you probably won't listen anyway. Then kill what you can."

Tears streamed down the Foxtail Grass Spirit's face. "Master... I'll run! I'll run! I'll carry you and run! We agreed, on the day you storm the Divine Court, I'll lead the way!"

Fu Yu gave a faint smile. "Mm."

The void rift expanded wildly under the tearing of those two giant hands.

Seven squads of Saint Asuras were already unstoppable, let alone the master of these giant hands.

Death was imminent. Sorrow flowed from everyone's eyes.

Suddenly, a war song rose in the mountains.

At first, it was just one or two people, but soon, others joined in from all around.

Fu Yu was momentarily stunned.

This was a tune once popular in the Daoist Sect.

For a fleeting moment, time seemed to reverse. She felt as if she were standing beneath the Daoist Sect's thousand-story wooden tower, listening to this marching song, standing shoulder to shoulder with that person, full of ambition and vigor.

Gradually, disciples of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance also began to sing along, haltingly at first.

March! March! March!

One disciple after another stepped out of the Mountain Protection Array, striding forward to meet the terrifying cataclysm of heaven and earth.

Wu He murmured, sighing in a daze. "Humans are always like this. No matter how frail and insignificant their bodies, their will remains unbreakable." Feeling the murderous gazes from both sides, he smoothly added, "Monkeys and evil spirits are the same!"

"Heh! You know what's good for you, kid!"

Outside the Mountain Protection Array, a tide of people gradually gathered.

Everyone knew this was a battle they were destined to lose, a march to certain death.

"Boom, boom, boom."

A sound like war drums echoed across the land—not from the enemy's ranks, but from the footsteps of their own side.

Faces, some familiar, some strangers.

"I really don't want to lose this time," Fu Yu murmured, watching the tide of people, a faint shimmer in her eyes. "I'll do my utmost."

She took a step forward, raising her sleeves.

Her true form and her avatar simultaneously lifted their hands, pressing their fingertips to their foreheads, forcing out their lifeblood.

"Blessing·Great Dream..."

Suddenly, her pupils contracted inch by inch.

Light vanished from her vision.

Darkness fell.

It had been broad daylight just moments before, yet nightfall crashed down, wiping away the sky, earth, sun, and moon.

That war song, sung in unison by thousands, proved to be unexpectedly fitting beneath the night sky.

For a moment, the crowd halted, hearts pounding like drums.

“Wh-what’s happening?!”

“It’s dark? Why is it dark?”

Everyone was bewildered, while Fu Yu’s pupils trembled and her heart froze.

Almost instinctively, she looked toward a certain direction.

There, a figure darker than the night itself had appeared unnoticed.

Lean and tall, even from the silhouette alone, it was clear his bone structure was perfect.

The imperial robe billowed fiercely behind him.

Beneath his wide sleeves, a lean, hard, deathly-cold hand slowly rose.

His voice, inhumanly calm, uttered the judgment: “Annihilate.”

Slim fingers clenched sharply. A dark, terrifying aura surged from behind him, blotting out the sky and scouring across the void rift like a roaring tide.

A shrill, piercing scream echoed from tens of thousands of miles away.

In the next instant, terrifying scorched holes erupted one after another on the two giant hands that had torn the heavens and earth apart. The charred, blackened edges rapidly spread. Though the hands jerked back in retreat, it was already too late—pieces of burnt flesh flaked away in the wind.

The first squad of Saint Asuras that had stepped out of the rift bore the brunt of the assault.

The moment the dark aura swept past, thirteen bodies were torn into black ash, drifting like tattered butterflies toward the depths of the rift.

The void rift writhed and twisted violently, desperately trying to close in on itself.

“Sizzle—clink.”

The world fell silent.

In the darkness, gradually, one hurried breath after another broke the silence—no one knew whether this was the relief of surviving a calamity or the prelude to an even more horrifying terror.

Fu Yu, however, forgot to breathe.

She stared fixedly at that figure, almost blending into the night.

Serene as an ink-wash immortal.

The most captivating posture, the coldest, most decisive slaughter.

After a long while, she murmured softly, “You came… and still had to go and put on this whole dramatic show.”