bayedsolid Chapter 359 The Truth About the Demon Emperor
Chapter 359 The Truth About the Demon Emperor
At the entrance to the third level of the tomb, the fragments of "Hunyuan Fengyao Lu" suddenly trembled violently, and the ancient seals on the pages oozed blood, outlining a path to the core on the ground. Li Qingfeng held the broken Beidou sword. Wherever the sword pointed, the Dao Alliance relief on the stone wall automatically flipped, revealing the demon clan incantation on the back. Back then, the Dao Alliance monks had used demon clan forbidden techniques to strengthen the seal, forming a "Yin Yang Twin Formation" that seemed to suppress demons, but in fact it nurtured them.
"Be careful, these reliefs contain the finger bones of the first generation sect leader," the Zhenlong Valley elder suddenly spoke, black blood seeping from his Taoist robe. "Back then, they made a blood pact with Zhu Jiuyin, using the technique of 'human-demon symbiosis' in exchange for power..." Before he could finish his words, the elder's eyeballs suddenly exploded, and countless bone lotuses emerged from his seven orifices, instantly transforming him into blood-red buds.
Inside the core hall, nine coiled dragon pillars supported the dome, each carved with a relief depicting a Daoist Alliance elder and a demon clan shaman locked in a grappling embrace. Zhu Jiuyin's "corpse core" hovered in the center, a beating heart covered in the Dragon Suppression Valley's spirit-gathering array. With each beat, black blood gushed forth, forming a bone lotus in mid-air.
"Welcome to my nest of immortality, young men of the Daoist Alliance." Zhu Jiuyin's voice emanated from the corpse core. Suddenly, green ghostly flames lit up in the hall, illuminating the corpses hanging around—all of them were past leaders of the Daoist Alliance. Embedded in their chests were the demon race's "birth demon cores," rendering them Zhu Jiuyin's puppets.
Su Zhan of the Imperial Heavenly Divine Sect had just stepped into the hall when a bone lotus vine entangled his ankle. He was horrified to discover that the patterns on the vines perfectly matched the "Heaven-shaking Art" he was practicing—Zhu Jiuyin had planted a curse on the Taoist lineage ten thousand years ago, and all cultivators practicing the Dao Alliance's techniques were cultivating bone lotuses for him.
"Look at this corpse. He's your great-grandfather, right?" Zhu Jiuyin's laughter was filled with madness. "Back then, he knelt before me, begging me to grant him the art of immortality. Now, his spirit is warming my corpse core." Su Zhan looked at the corpse and saw the Yutian Sect's "Heaven-shaking Order" hanging around its waist. The cracks on the order were exactly the same as his own magic weapon.
The alchemists of the Skyfire Pill Alliance attempted to use their "Earthfire Technique" to incinerate the Bone Lotus, but the flames turned a dark blue the moment they touched the Bone Lotus—the poison in the pill resonated with the corpse qi, actually fueling the demonic energy. Li Qingfeng then realized that the Skyfire Pill Alliance's "Spiritual Transformation Pill" formula was derived from Zhu Jiuyin's "Corpse Qi Body Tempering Technique."
"Do you think you're acting on behalf of Heaven?" Zhu Jiuyin's corpse core suddenly split open a shadow, revealing the face of Yan Nanfeng. "Back then, Yan Nanfeng shattered his own golden elixir to reinforce the seal, but it was just a ploy to lure the enemy. His spirit has long been bound to my corpse core."
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The elders of the Xuanyang Dao Sect offered the "Taichu Purifying Demon Sutra," but the golden light was absorbed by the Bone Lotus, transforming into nutrients to nourish the corpse core. Li Qingfeng finally understood that the so-called "Daoist Alliance" had, from its inception, been Zhu Jiuyin's "soul-nurturing furnace"—using the power of the cultivators' faith to preserve his corpse, and the resentment of the sect's conflicts to nourish the Bone Lotus.
"Look at this Yin-Yang Twin Formation. The Yin Eye is my corpse core, and the Yang Eye..." Zhu Jiuyin's shadow pointed at Li Qingfeng, "is the fragment of the Heaven-Slaying Sword in your body. Back then, I deliberately let Yan Nanfeng pass the sword to you, just for today's union of Yin and Yang."
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Li Qingfeng gripped the broken Beidou sword tightly. The Dao Alliance emblem on the sword and the spirit gathering array on the corpse core lit up simultaneously. He remembered Yan Nanfeng's final words: "The Dao Alliance is not Dao, and the demon is not a demon. The solution to the dilemma lies in being neither Dao nor demon."
"Do you think I'm the Demon Emperor? No, I'm the shadow of the Dao Alliance, the embodiment of the fear in your hearts." Zhu Jiuyin's shadow approached. "Without me, what's the point of the Dao Alliance? Without the Dao Alliance, who would the cultivators of the Northern Wilderness hate?"
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When Zhu Jiuyin's shadow touched Li Qingfeng's brow, the latter suddenly sneered. He activated the fragments of the Heaven-Slaying Sword within his body, instantly connecting to the external lightning nets—the 360 lightning nets laid by the Yutian Divine Sect now became his "Lightning Induction Array."
"Senior Yan knew you would possess a reborn being, so he prepared this great gift for you using the Soul-Calming Bell." Li Qingfeng swung his sword at the corpse core. Thousands of lightning bolts rained down from the sky, shattering all the bone lotuses. Illuminated by the lightning, Zhu Jiuyin's shadow gradually became transparent, revealing the imprisoned true soul of Yan Nanfeng behind him.
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"So, the true Demon-Suppressing Sword Immortal has been trapped in your corpse core." Li Qingfeng watched Yan Nanfeng's true soul resonate with the Heaven-Slaying Sword, and finally understood why the Dao Alliance emblem had split into three petals - it was because Yan Nanfeng used the clone technique to split his soul into three parts, infiltrating the Dragon Suppressing Valley, the Imperial Heavenly Divine Sect, and the Xuanyang Dao Sect, just waiting for someone to break the impasse.
"If you kill me, the Dao Alliance will collapse, and the Northern Wilderness cultivators will lose their faith." Zhu Jiuyin's corpse core began to disintegrate. "Do you dare to bear the consequences?"
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Li Qingfeng's sword tip stopped three inches from the corpse core. He looked outside the hall, through the cracks in the tomb, and could see Han Yinyue on the ancient plains, leading the coalition of seven nations to rebuild the defense line. Those monks did not have the Taoist Alliance emblem, but they still fought to protect the Northern Wilderness.
"The orthodoxy of Taoism lies not in heraldry, but in the hearts of people." He swung his sword at the Yang Eye of the Yin-Yang Twin Formation, and a bloody scar appeared between his eyebrows. "From now on, the Northern Wilderness does not need the Taoist Alliance, only those who are willing to fight for justice."
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As the Heaven-Slaying Sword completely shattered the corpse core, the tomb began to shake violently. Yan Nanfeng's true soul transformed into thousands of starlight rays, healing all the cultivators possessed by the Bone Lotus. Li Qingfeng watched the gray spots on the faces of the Zhenlong Valley elders gradually fade, knowing that they had finally escaped Zhu Jiuyin's control.
"Remember, the true Dao is not about the struggle between sects, but the dignity of life." Yan Nanfeng's voice gradually faded away. "The future of the Northern Wasteland is in your hands, the new leader of the Dao Alliance."
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When Li Qingfeng led 6?7 people out of the tomb, the blood mist on the ancient plain had receded.
Han Yinyue came forward, the broken Beidou sword in his hand resonating with his Zhantian sword. The two sword lights condensed in the air into a new Dao Alliance emblem - a circle without cracks, symbolizing the unification of the Northern Wasteland.
In the distance, monks from seven countries were clearing the ruins of Zhenlong Valley.
Li Qingfeng noticed that they no longer wore the Taoist Alliance emblem, but instead each wore a badge representing their own country.
He knew that the era of the Dao League had passed, and a new Northern Wilderness was being reborn from the ruins.
"What should we do next?" Han Yinyue looked towards the Black Abyss, where the bronze door had completely closed. "Is Zhu Jiuyin really dead?"
Li Qingfeng gripped the Zhantian Sword tightly, and a new line of patterns appeared on the sword. It was the "New Dao Alliance Book" engraved by Yan Nanfeng with his true soul.
He looked towards the horizon, where the sun was rising, illuminating every inch of the northern wilderness.
"The real battle has just begun," he said softly, "but this time, we are not fighting for the Dao Alliance, but for every life in the Northern Wilderness."
When the sun shone on the ancient plain, Li Qingfeng led everyone towards the rising sun.
Behind them are the ruins of the Demon Emperor's tomb, which also marks the starting point of a new era.
No one knew that, deep within the tomb, a wisp of Zhu Jiuyin's remaining soul was seeping through the blood mist into the ruins of the Soul Gathering Pagoda in the Dragon Suppression Valley, quietly sowing the seeds of a new disaster within the human-shaped fruit...