Stop it, Taoist, Your Fight almost Ruins the DAO!

As for the Red Flower Buddha, it had already transformed into blood-red flesh lumps of various sizes, scattering in all directions.

Among them, the largest lump of flesh pierced through the Gang Wind and astonishingly surged toward Falling Dragon Mountain.

Yi Chen swept his mind over the stream of flooding information flashing before his eyes, his expression froze for a moment before the corner of his mouth involuntarily curved slightly upward.

On Falling Dragon Mountain, Yuan Jun sat calmly on the edge of a cliff. A strange beast—the corpse of a river horse—lay obediently a hundred meters away from her, its massive mouth opening and closing ceaselessly.

The river horse beast's tusks had two immense hollowed-out pancakes hanging from them, which it kept trying to bite into but could never succeed.

At this moment, a sudden streak of streaming light flashed by. Yi Chen's figure abruptly appeared in front of the river horse beast.

Ignoring Yuan Jun's call, Yi Chen gazed at the exotic beast before him, a trace of sympathy inexplicably surfacing in his eyes:

"Fellow Taoist, for someone of your stature in the Dao Fruit Realm, this is too unbecoming… at the very least, it shouldn't…"

At that moment, hearing Yi Chen's pity-laden voice, the river horse beast, which had been rhythmically mumbling "Aba Aba," suddenly raised its head, and a tinge of human-like despair flashed in its eyes.

"Impossible, this is my never-revealed Great Divine Skill—Cicada Shedding its Shell."

"Even Lord Bo Xun once praised this divine skill greatly. Now that I've perfected my Dao Fruit, this skill has reached even greater heights."

"You… how could you be so certain I hadn't truly died and could locate my presence in no time?"

"And to minimize attention, I simply possessed this fool's body."

The "river horse" stood upright on two legs. Its front limbs forcefully tore off the two pancakes hanging from its tusks, roaring with rage.

It couldn't comprehend what kind of warped mind would come up with the ridiculous prank of hanging such absurd things on this fool-beast's tusks.

How utterly bored must this fool-beast's master have been!

What sort of bizarre and ridiculous world was this!

At that very moment, Yuan Jun gracefully floated over. A look of astonishment appeared on her face as she gazed at the upright river horse beast, and she couldn't help but inquire to Yi Chen:

"Hmm? Xiao Lang, why did you suddenly come today?"

"Oh, and what's wrong with my little wolf?"

Just as Yi Chen was about to explain, his expression suddenly underwent a dramatic change!

No! This damned thing wants to commit suicide!

In a flash, Yi Chen's figure darted forward, his large hand resting on the river horse beast's head.

Fortunately, he intervened in time to prevent the Red Flower Buddha's attempt at self-destruction, or else his karmic burden would've grown immensely.

With a flash of white light, a stream of information instantly materialized in Yi Chen's field of vision.

[You have successfully slain the Red Flower Buddha (Dao Fruit). Gained 14 billion Deep Red Points!]

Seeing the precipitous surge in his Deep Red Points balance, a pleasant grin instantly spread across Yi Chen's face.

Splendid!

Truly worthy of being a genuine Dao Fruit alien species—its Deep Red Points were far "purer" than those of Yin Fruit monsters.

Combining this with the 4 billion Deep Red Points dropped by Te She and the 5 billion he had swindled from the golden Command Insignia, he had mysteriously and effortlessly raked in a staggering 23 billion Deep Red Points while lounging around in the Lingxia Realm.

And to break through the True Technique's 29th Layer would require only 150 billion Deep Red Points… he had just achieved several percentage points of his KPI at once. This felt like nothing less than Nature's generous gift!

"Yuan Jun, don't panic. Let this humble Taoist perform a little trick for you!"

Yi Chen turned around, extending a great hand toward the Void Land before him and grabbing at it!

In an instant, countless specks of light appeared across Falling Dragon Mountain and the void, converging together to form a bizarre creature with a large head crowned by a mass of bloodied flesh, a mouth lined with sharp teeth.

Its aura was as boundless as the abyss, utterly unfathomable.

"L-Little Wolf, th-this... what's going on here?"

A trace of terror surfaced on Yuan Jun's Peach Blossom Mask. Every time she thought no strange occurrence surrounding Yi Chen could ever surprise her, Yi Chen would find yet another way to shatter her expectations.

"Yuan Jun, are you referring to this? This is this humble Taoist's dog!"

Yi Chen grinned widely. After a brief consideration, he slapped the blood-flesh alien monster smartly across its face.

"You wretched thing, so hideous—what if your real form frightens the people at Falling Dragon Mountain?"

"Follow the humble Taoist's order and transform into this. Without absolute necessity, you are not allowed to reveal your true form."

"Your offense against me is unforgivable; as punishment, this humble Taoist sentences you to guard the Lingxia Realm for the next 100,000 years!"

Yi Chen's eyebrows arched slightly. With a thought, he imprinted an image of a menacing bully dog into the Sea of Consciousness of the Red Flower Buddha, which had been "reborn" into doghood through the Filth Soil Seal.

Soon, a massive bully dog three meters long abruptly appeared before Yuan Jun.

Yuan Jun: "....."

"Little Wolf, Yuan Jun is asking how you achieved this!"

"Ah? So Yuan Jun, you're asking about that? This is the basic principle of the Magnetic Field Dao Fruit. Don't you know?"

Yi Chen grabbed the bully dog by the scruff, gave it a glance, then casually tossed it aside with a laugh.

The Filth Soil Seal was a newly derived divine skill developed from the Magnetic Field Dao Fruit, strengthened at the 28th Layer of True Technique.

Any entity slain by him would have its soul fragments absorbed and reassembled by the power of the magnetic field.

Then!

The magnetic field would distort them into loyal dogs under Yi Chen's command. While they lost some spiritual wisdom, their loyalty remained absolute!

It was, in essence, a high-spec version of the Loyal Leopard.

Oppose Yi Chengzi? Even in death, they'd owe him as dogs, unless they died again!

"W-What? The basic principle of the Magnetic Field Dao Fruit?"

Listening to Yi Chen's explanation, Yuan Jun was even more bewildered, unable to comprehend.

"That doesn't matter, Yuan Jun. Focus instead—can you feel it? The Lingxia Realm's spiritual power is on the rise, isn't it?"

"Hmm? It really is!" Yuan Jun closed her eyes momentarily to sense it, then reopened them, pure delight flashing across her Peach Blossom Mask!

....

....

Ancient Star Realm.

Everything was in chaos. Everything!

The entirety of the East Continent had fallen into disarray!

Starting from Qian Country, a piece of news was sweeping across the region like a hurricane.

An audacious master thief had abruptly risen, self-proclaiming to be the Fair Demon Emperor, Saint Jia Loulan. This thief had astonishingly swept clean the major aristocratic families of the East Continent.

Whether secret or open vaults, no one knew how this Fair Demon Emperor Saint Jia Loulan managed it, but all fell victim to his looting.

Now, the treasure vaults of the great families were so thoroughly emptied even rats had to pack up and leave. They were as pristine as if wiped clean by divine hands!

Naturally, this threw Zhan Xingzi, stationed near the Star Moon Great Wall to oversee the confrontation with cultivators from the Western Land Barbarian Continent, into a mix of shock and fury.

He was holding the line at the front, while someone back home emptied the coffers?

Glaring at Li Yan, He Xian, and Bai Chenzi standing before him, Zhan Xingzi's expression grew increasingly stormy and indecipherable.

After a long silence, his face finally composed into an icy calm as he addressed Bai Chenzi:

"Bai Chenzi, Li Yan, He Xian—set out immediately and find Yi Chengzi. Summon him to the Star Moon Great Wall at once. I have urgent matters to discuss with him!"

"Remember, this matter must be handled discreetly and kept hush-hush!"

"This… Sect Leader, are you suspecting that the thief is… Yi Chengzi?" He Xian's eyes flickered with astonishment and uncertainty as she hesitantly questioned.

"Whether it's him or not, I'll know the moment he is brought before me."

"You've mentioned that the power of the stars gathered upon him. Compared to him, Situ Zhaixing is like a firefly contesting the splendor of the moon. I wish to verify for myself—could he truly be the reincarnation of the Ancestor Master?"

Zhan Xingzi's voice regained its calm, but his eyes grew deep and inscrutable.

Soon, having received their orders, Li Yan and the others respectfully took their leave, and the Great Hall returned to an eerie silence.

Zhan Xingzi let out a heavy sigh. Once everyone had left, the stoicism on his face crumbled, revealing an expression of profound exhaustion.

"Ancestor Master… Yi Chengzi… is it truly you?"

"The cosmic threads… have descended into utter disarray."

"Where, ultimately, will the fate of East Continent lead?"

Zhan Xingzi's thoughts churned, his emotions a storm that refused to settle.

At that moment, just as he was about to lift the spiritual tea on the side table to take a sip and soothe his throat, the calm surface of the teacup began to ripple in concentric waves.

On the water's surface, the image of a burly Taoist Priest reflected back.

Zhan Xingzi raised his gaze, and under the shroud of a mysterious force, a burly Taoist Priest swaggered boldly through the hall's outer gates.

With successive flashes, the figure quickly entered the hall.

Who else could it be, if not Yi Chen?

Stepping inside, the burly Taoist Priest cupped his hands in an elegant bow: "This humble disciple, Yi Chengzi, pays respect to the Sect Leader!"

"You… who exactly are you?" Zhan Xingzi frowned, his voice immediately dropping to an icy tone!

Li Yan and the rest of those idiots had been thoroughly deceived—there wasn't even a trace of star power emanating from this man!

Instead, he exuded an unfamiliar and indescribable energy!