Taiyi Dao Fruit

Elder Tianxuan spent most of his time within the Sect, and on the rare occasions he left it, he was the center of attention, which was not conducive to the activities of the Rashamon.

The Rashamon had been able to move about for years without raising suspicions related to Elder Tianxuan, certainly with the assistance of someone else. Jiang Li had already considered this possibility.

However, he hadn't expected that the assistant would be the Primordial Lord Rain Master.

Being able to identify the Rashamon's identity meant that the other party could barely be considered an ally.

The reason for saying 'barely' was because, aside from Jiang Li and Elder Tianxuan and that assistant, there should be another party who was aware of the true nature of this identity—

—the Feng Family.

Or more precisely—the Great Venerable.

The Great Venerable must know the situation, and Jiang Li had once observed the Great Venerable's Qi Shu and fate. By virtue of his honor as a member of the Feng Clan, Jiang Li had penetrated the Great Venerable's protection over Qi Shu fate and caught that brief glimpse.

The Great Venerable's fate branched out into eight distinctive lines, falling upon various parties. Jiang Li had thought they were the remaining Feng Clan members, but now it seemed to him that there might be fewer Feng Family members than he had anticipated.

Perhaps, less than eight.

Among those eight lines of fate, two should belong to Feng Manlou and Elder Yun, both avatars of the Great Venerable. The remaining six might be no exception.

Only—

Thinking that the Primordial Lord Rain Master might be one of the Great Venerable's avatars, Jiang Li shivered.

Surely the Great Venerable wouldn't be so unprincipled as to create a female avatar.

But on second thought, if it were the Great Venerable, he might actually be able to detect that innocent gaze of Jiang Li's.

At this thought, Jiang Li became somewhat apprehensive.

'No, there's another person.'

Jiang Li spoke, "Are you the former Elder Tianxuan?"

The elder who had supported Elder Tianxuan before his rise should have become one of the keepers of the Sect's Cave Heaven Blessed Land but had instead been walking outside for many years, due mainly to the opposition of the Sect Leader's faction and some other reasons.

She was also from the Gongsun Family, which corresponded to what had been said.

However—

"I remember that Elder Gongsun Yuli's Dao Fruit is the Leizu Dao Fruit," Jiang Li said, still focusing on the Primordial Lord Rain Master and ready to strike at any moment.

The former Elder Tianxuan, Gongsun Yuli, was naturally fourth-rank, and having left the Sect for decades without ever returning, she could indeed be infiltrating other powers. But even if she had changed her name and joined the Taiping Sect, ascending to one of the positions of the Four Gods, it wouldn't have been possible to hold both the Leizu Dao Fruit and the Rain Master Tao Fruit.

Wuzhiqi could hold multiple Dao Fruits because of the unique nature of the Dao Fruits and their similarities to each other. However, the Leizu Dao Fruit and the Rain Master Tao Fruit were not at all compatible.

"That is my secret," the Primordial Lord Rain Master replied, without any intention of further explanation, her tone more withdrawn, "Or do you wish to fight with me? Although we are on the same side, Elder Tianxuan and I have been openly and covertly fighting each other for years, never holding back."

Except for that third-grade Doumu Dao Fruit—

"Coincidentally, just before coming to Liangzhou Province, I sparred with my mentor and barely came out on top," Jiang Li said with a faint smile.

Sparring in bed counts as sparring, right?

Regardless, Elder Tianxuan was defeated. Struck in the lower abdomen, utterly crushed.

Having defeated Elder Tianxuan, the mere Primordial Lord Rain Master was hardly a concern.

The Primordial Lord Rain Master naturally didn't catch the subtext in Jiang Li's words, but she could sense his confidence. With all her experience, even she couldn't help but feel turmoil.

And in that instant, a disturbance arose within the Mother of Lightning with the Primordial Qi inside her.

However, just as Jiang Li was about to make another move, someone outside sent in a message with True Qi, "Primordial Lord, people have arrived."

The reinforcements from the Taiping Sect had arrived.

Upon hearing this, the Primordial Lord Rain Master waved her hand, and the Sword Silks were pulled out from the Mother of Lightning's body and dissipated, with the surrounding formation gradually vanishing.

The Qi Mechanism inside the Mother of Lightning swiftly calmed down, and the immense Primordial Qi receded like an ebbing tide. Even the originally shocked expression changed. By the time the Array Map faded, the Primordial Lord Rain Master was astonished to find that the Mother of Lightning had returned to the same look as before the healing had begun.

As if the assault had never happened, it was unclear whether Jiang Li had done something to the Mother of Lightning's consciousness or whether he had taken her place and disguised himself as a woman.

As for that red Big Dog, it had already vanished without a trace, just as it had appeared, unnoticed by anyone.

"Thank you, Primordial Lord, for your assistance in healing."

Mother of Lightning changed into a brand-new set of red clothes and expressed her gratitude to the Primordial Lord Rain Master.

Master of Rain watched her, the demeanor identical to what she remembered, yet in her heart, she couldn't be sure whether this was the real Mother of Lightning or a fake.

"Let's go."

She nodded slightly, then got up and walked out ahead.

The Mother of Lightning followed her with her usual expression.

As the two left the cottage, Master of Rain focused her mind intensely, always perceptive of the area behind her, yet she didn't detect anything unusual about the Mother of Lightning.

Everything seemed normal.

The cottage turned into water and trickled down the mountain. Upon reaching the front, Master of Rain and the Mother of Lightning saw six beams of divine light descend, revealing figures in armor. Then a massive cloud of dust rose up, and Soldiers wearing Yellow Turban helmets, affixed with the Armored Horse Talismans, swiftly approached.

The terrain of Liangzhou Province was largely mountains and forests, with hardly any open ground for riding horses, but for the Taiping Sect, marching was not difficult.

Two Armored Horse Talismans—commonly known as Godspeed Talismans—attached to the legs, a thousand miles a day was not a problem. Not to mention that among the people of the Taiping Sect, there were those who had absorbed the Decree Dao Fruit.

"Six Commanders, eight thousand elite Soldiers, and five hundred Doctors and Powerful Warriors."

Marquis of Wind checked the number of reinforcements and was satisfied; he then looked northward.

There, a tide of blood was surging towards them from the north, so intense that even the uninterrupted curtain of rain was cut through by the wave.

It was locusts, a dense swarm of blood-colored locusts!

The blood-colored locusts, hatched from corpses, had quickly matured and surged forward with a bloody aura, forming a tidal wave of red. Wherever they passed, the mountains and fields turned to wastelands, the dead were reduced to skeletons, becoming nourishment for the locusts.

The Taiping Sect aimed not just to hold back the enemy but to counter-attack, seeking to devour all their adversaries.

The locust tide reached this place in less than a moment, the dense buzzing sounds flying overhead, disregarding the members of the Taiping Sect below, heading towards Chanting County. The wave of blood flew for a solid half a moment before the sky returned to its gloomy state.

And that city had become a sea of red.

The pitiful screams carried far, even the dense humming could not fully conceal them. The wave of blood writhed, multiplying life as it also extinguished it.

"Far too cruel."

Primordial Lord Rain Master heard a faint voice near her ear, "This doesn't even seem like a rebellion."

At these words, her face showed a hint of astonishment.

Rebellion is an act of struggle and violence by those who can no longer live, seeking to survive. But looking at the current situation, it seemed not like a fight to live, but rather an intent to ensure that others could not.

Great Zhou had been established for eight hundred years, and all acts of rebellion had been insignificant and swiftly suppressed, to the extent that many had not noticed the abnormality within.

However, Jiang Li, coming from another world, was aware of the levels of rebellion.

A rebel force of this nature, which robs others of their will to live, is typically the precursor to a king's downfall. No matter how grand their initial momentum, they are ultimately quelled by the court, without exception.

With the wisdom of the Heavenly Monarch and Zhang Zhixuan, such a course of action should not have been taken.

Unless...

"Unless from the beginning, there was never any expectation for the rebellion to succeed."

Jiang Li's voice came through, causing Primordial Lord Rain Master to fall into thought.

If the rebellion was not for success, then what was it for?

Even with Yellow Heaven established, it would still need faith to grow stronger. At this time, the mass consumption of believers was not a good thing for Yellow Heaven.

While Primordial Lord Rain Master was contemplating, the battlefield had already burst into a blaze of fiery clouds.

When the locust tide engulfed the city, the Bi Fang Demon God was the first to be invaded. As a Devil Cultivator, the Bi Fang Demon God was not one to have a good temper, and it retaliated immediately.

A third-grade attacked.