Taiyi Dao Fruit

Outside Chanting City, a light screen stretched from heaven to earth, blocking the spread of the plague Qi.

Jiang Li walked up to the light screen, looking back towards the rear where he could see flags fluttering in the distance; there, Feng Manlou's remaining thirty thousand troops had set up camp, ready to march at any moment.

And Feng Manlou—

Was right before his eyes.

"Little brother, you go ahead; I will soon follow," Feng Manlou guaranteed.

The "I" he referred to was naturally not the affiliated son-in-law still in hiding, but his true self, known as the world's foremost troublemaker.

Although the scuffle between Zhang Zhixuan and the Mo Sect Master was brief, its astonishing momentum was heard for thousands of miles, and Jiang Li knew of it immediately, as did, of course, the Great Venerable.

According to Feng Manlou's words, the Great Venerable had already grabbed the Heavenly Monarch's tail and was now on his way to kick a man while he was down.

Once he had dealt with the Heavenly Monarch, the Great Venerable would come back to help Jiang Li take Zhang Zhixuan's life.

That was what Feng Manlou had said.

As for this, Jiang Li assumed that the Great Venerable might not make it back.

This man was the first in eight hundred years to lay hands on the Emperor Dao Fruit and strike at Heaven, achieving some success; he wouldn't be easily dealt with. Even though Yellow Heaven seemed to be in a precarious position, Jiang Li did not believe that he had truly reached a dead end.

The more dominant his position, the more cautious Jiang Li became, to avoid capsizing the boat within the gutter.

Just regard the Great Venerable and the Heavenly Monarch as having canceled each other out; anyway, that had been the plan from the beginning.

The Great Venerable for the Heavenly Monarch, the Mo Sect Master for Zhang Zhixuan, and the remainder was left for Jiang Li to resolve.

By now, the Great Venerable and the Heavenly Monarch should have canceled each other out. However, there was a problem with the Mo Sect Master.

Jiang Li's gaze shifted, and he saw Tan Wuwei approaching, who solemnly said, "The Master has sent a message from a thousand miles away, Yellow Heaven launched a sneak attack, seriously wounding the Master. Now that Zhang Zhixuan has returned, Elder Jiang, please delay your actions."

Their plans had not succeeded; Zhang Zhixuan was not detained, and instead, the Mo Sect Master, with Third Grade Combat Power, was temporarily out of play.

'Knowing his own condition isn't good yet still forcefully taking action, costing himself such a situation, what are you planning, Heavenly Monarch?' thought Jiang Li.

Gongsun Qi was a man even more reckless than Jiang Li, without any reservations in his heart, and would not act irrationally for anything or anyone other than himself.

That was what Gongsun Qi himself had told Jiang Li.

Now that the Taiping Sect's rebellion was doomed to fail, if Jiang Li were Gongsun Qi, he would have chosen to preserve his strength and retract his claws, rather than make a desperate move and follow a single path into the darkness.

Theoretically, Gongsun Qi should do the same. Since theory and reality did not align, this indicated Gongsun Qi believed there was still a chance for turnaround.

It was also for this reason that Jiang Li assumed the Great Venerable and the Heavenly Monarch had canceled each other out.

The Great Venerable was unable to come, the Mo Sect Master was severely injured, and the current situation had turned into Jiang Li facing Zhang Zhixuan.

On the surface, indeed, the situation was not good.

Even Jiang Li believed the current situation was both clear and obscure; he was confident of victory but did not dare say he had seen through everything.

'Yet this is not enough to make me retreat.'

Jiang Li's emotions gradually calmed, and with a determined voice, he said, "As for victory or defeat, only after the fight will we know."

"Let me lead the way; the rest of you should move when the timing is right. If the plague Qi dissipates, then lead the troops directly to advance and quell the Taiping Sect's rebellion in one fell swoop."

After that, Jiang Li turned into a long rainbow, penetrating directly into the realm of the plague Qi, heading west.

Everywhere was the source of the plague Qi, but the area with the heaviest Qi was undoubtedly where the locust god resided. Jiang Li observed Qi to discern the direction, swiftly flying through the sky, soon arriving at the place with the densest plague Qi.

In front, the blood mist filled the sky, and the rivers and mountains were a crimson hue; the intense smell of blood and Qi filled the air, and gusts of yin wind swirled around, an unmistakably vicious place.

With one glance, Jiang Li recognized it as Donglin City, where the three parties had clashed and all suffered losses.

On that day, Luu Tianpeng had used the Heavenly Shooting Bow to shoot the sky, piercing through the formless Heaven, causing Heaven to bestow power onto Jiang Li to contend with the Heavenly Monarch. Jiang Li, the Heavenly Monarch, and an additional Great Venerable battled here, causing the majority of both sides' forces to perish, and blood Qi, resentment, and evil Qi to fill the air, staining the surrounding mountains blood-red.

And now, the locust god had chosen this place as the hub for the Plague Array.

The accumulated evil Qi in the mountains and the land became the nourishment for the blood locusts; the dense clouds of insects intertwined into a sea of blood, circling around the mountain peaks.

As Jiang Li approached, a swath of the blood cloud drew near, with countless locusts darting up and down; despite being tiny insects, they emanated a potent aura akin to that of fierce beasts.

Merely by looking at them, Jiang Li could feel his essence energy and Divine Thought being eroded by some invisible force. Had it been someone else, even a fourth-rank, they might have felt their Essence Blood rumbling and their spirit bewitched at this moment.

If their strength were lesser, they would be immediately eroded by the epidemic, starting with the soul body.

That is, if they were weaker.

Jiang Li certainly did not fall into this category; as soon as the blood cloud came within three meters, it was ground into a mist of blood, soundless and without warning.

Even the pervasive plague Qi, when approaching, seemed to combust like fire, rolling and surging, shedding its blood color.

And with that, the fluctuation of the flames expanded, as the Innate Qi manifested externally and rapidly grew in size.

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"He really did come."

Within the sea woven by the blood cloud, three mountain peaks had been moved together, their mottled surfaces corroded by blood, forming blood-red veins.

Beneath the peaks, there was a throng of people where the yellow-robed Taiping Sect's doctors guarded the mountains, unleashing Thunder Technique to form prohibitions, arranging into an array.