Taiyi Dao Fruit

"Hmm?"

Gongsun Qi furrowed his brow, for he realized that even he hadn't perceived where Jiang Li had gone.

With a gentle wave of his sleeve, the scene expanded, and the terrain within a five-hundred-li radius appeared like a sandbox before him, while Gongsun Qi, towering above like the heavens, overlooked everything, taking all that lay within that radius into his eyes.

But still, there was nothing.

He still couldn't find Jiang Li's presence.

Even the disappearing silhouette that King Shu had seen, Gongsun Qi failed to find.

It was as if Jiang Li had vanished into thin air, completely disappearing without a trace. This made a wave of dissatisfaction begin to rise in Gongsun Qi's heart.

Though Jiang Li had indeed been resourceful before, he had never managed to escape Gongsun Qi's observation. Though the Transformation Skill might confuse reality with illusions, the true Thunder God, Mother of Lightning, and the Immortal of Colossal Spirit were always within Gongsun Qi's senses, their locations impossible to conceal from him. Identifying the real from the fake was not difficult for Gongsun Qi.

If they weren't within his senses, they were fake, it was that simple.

So even though it seemed that Jiang Li was about to deceive King Shu, Gongsun Qi was not the least bit anxious, until now...

"Even the Heavenly Monarch can't find traces of Jiang Li?"

The Great Venerable, seeing Gongsun Qi's actions, which clearly indicated he was searching for Jiang Li, and discerned the result of that search, "It seems my esteemed younger brother is becoming more and more surprising. His ability to hide his tracks is nearly comparable to mine."

The Great Venerable could reverse Cosmic Light, and generally speaking, if he did not wish to be found, then nobody could locate him. Yet now Jiang Li had managed to disappear under the eye of the Supreme, his ability to hide himself for survival, even if not quite on a par with the Great Venerable, wasn't far off.

"Has the Great Venerable found anything?" Gongsun Qi spoke, looking toward the Great Venerable.

"What does it matter if I have found something, or if I haven't?" the Great Venerable said airily. "Even if I were to tell you his whereabouts, without the Heavenly Monarch making a move, could King Shu keep hold of my esteemed younger brother?"

His tone was indifferent, revealing nothing, and it was unclear whether the Great Venerable could actually sense Jiang Li's trace.

But one thing Gongsun Qi was certain of was that the Great Venerable had switched sides again.

As soon as he saw that Jiang Li was unharmed, the Great Venerable began to favor Jiang Li again, taking up arms against Gongsun Qi once more.

That nimble ability to jump back and forth so smoothly seemed bizarre on anyone else, but it was nothing new for the Great Venerable.

If he didn't stand on Jiang Li's side, Gongsun Qi would actually find it curious.

Moreover, even if Jiang Li knew that the Great Venerable had once left him to die, he wouldn't turn against the Great Venerable because of it.

Jiang Li needed the Great Venerable more than the Great Venerable needed Jiang Li.

Gongsun Qi had a clear grasp and a clear sight of the relations between them.

However, that didn't mean there wouldn't be any grudges. The Great Venerable had indeed made the choice to not save a life when he could have, and perhaps that could be used to one's advantage.

Gongsun Qi pondered in his heart, thinking about how he could maximize the benefits of this small chip.

---

Outside of Chanting County on a high mountain, King Shu slowly lowered his arm, and the immense shadow of the Liangzhou Cauldron also quickly dissipated.

Feeling the turbulent waves inside him slowly calming down, a flicker of displeasure crossed King Shu's face.

'It is still so difficult to control.'

He had taken a shortcut in his promotion, using the father-son relationship between Gun and Yu, to undergo a transformation through a death-like state, merging with the Yu King Dao Fruit. Theoretically, this kind of shortcut came with flaws but was not irreparable.

King Shu could rely on the slow grind of time to gradually meld with the Dao Fruit.

The real challenge in the Dao Fruit system was promotion; the difficulty of deduction and integration seemed much smaller in comparison.

Unfortunately, not only did King Shu take a shortcut in his promotion, but there also had been complications. The critical strike from Jiang Li nearly resulted in King Shu's demise in the womb, and even now, with the help of Yellow Heaven, although he recovered, the injury reached his core.

In terms of power, he naturally belonged to the third-grade level, but compared to the expected level, it was much less.

The Yu King Dao Fruit was indeed strong among the third grade, after all, this was Star Division, the person to Stabilize Nine Provinces. Sadly, whether it was the strike delivered by Jiang Li or the current power of King Shu, the Dao Fruit was difficult to utilize to its full potential and even became hard to control.

'Jiang Li!'

Chewing on these two words in his heart, King Shu waved away the imposing aura that was like a heavenly chasm, saying, "Let's go."

The heavy pressure also subsided, and the Thunder God and others subconsciously relaxed, while Mother of Lightning's face lost its flush of blood color, suddenly throwing up a mouthful of fresh blood.

She had previously suffered a mental shock, nearly losing her mind, and was oppressed by the Liangzhou Cauldron, exerting all her strength just to barely hold on. Now that she was past the dangerous situation, her mind relaxed, and with the surging of Qi and blood, True Qi backlash occurred, revealing internal injuries, even staining the inside of her clothing with blood.

Tiny beads of blood seeped from her arms.

She immediately wiped her hands over the red Jade Belt at her waist, taking out a Ganlin Rain Talisman to activate. The water-blue talisman flew into her body, smoothing out her Qi and True Qi, alleviating her injuries, and she gave a faint shake of her head to indicate it was nothing serious.

"Seeing the Primordial Lord will let her assist, and I will recover," Mother of Lightning spoke, then looked at King Shu, saying, "Thank you for your effort, Prince."

She did not question why King Shu did not head to Chanting, as their relationship had not reached that step. Besides, it was not yet time for third-grade individuals to enter the scene.

The three bowed to King Shu and flew past the area, heading toward the direction of the battlefield. King Shu, however, continued to wait here, lying in wait for Jiang Li's potential return.

Although after such an ordeal, theoretically Jiang Li would absolutely not pass by here again, even taking a detour hundreds of li around was better than encountering a third-grade. But the battlefield was not far from here, just over two hundred li.