Taiyi Dao Fruit

Between the dark mountains, a surge of extreme Yin Ming energy shot up into the sky, Earth Uncle revealed his form as a Demon God, pushing forward a giant hand covered in blood.

Before the blood hand, was the spot where King You sat cross-legged. As the hand was about to touch King You's Heavenly Spirit, it suddenly stopped, from movement to stillness. However, the Yin Ming energy had already formed a handprint that violently pierced through King You's body, ejecting eight strands of Primordial Qi from within him.

"Boom!"

The handprint struck the mountain nearby, and a mountain of the Yin World, which had been washed by Yin Qi for who knows how many years, revealed a huge handprint impression, while also sealing the eight strands of Primordial Qi within the mountain.

Heaven, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Water, Fire, Mountain, Marsh—the eight qi formed the Eight Trigrams Image, which contained changes within it, three layers in total, combining into one, the formed divination imprint creating a circular loop, circulating with each other.

Even with Earth Uncle's power, he was momentarily unable to erase these eight divination imprints.

With the exotic Primordial Qi ejected, King You's breath finally calmed down. He opened his eyes, exhaling a thick, turbid waste breath, feeling as if he had narrowly escaped death.

"Jiang Li, that brat, is truly sharp and ruthless!"

King You said with a gloomy face, "I made a move intentionally, trying to test how much his injuries had healed, and also wanted to take the chance to disrupt the court meeting. The sudden action was supposed to catch him off guard, but unexpectedly, that brat saw it coming and instead took the chance to severely injure me. His mastery has already surpassed the fourth-rank."

King You's sudden attack, combined with the fact that Ziwei Hall was the site of the court meeting, meant neither party could afford to damage the great hall or endanger other court officials. Under such constraints, King You himself couldn't exert his full strength, yet he hadn't expected Jiang Li's mastery to far exceed his own, and with foresight, Jiang Li had severely injured him in one move.

Later, King You, in order to stabilize morale, forcefully suppressed his injuries to appear unharmed, which only worsened the situation, almost causing him to truly pass out on the way back.

"To be able to kill Zhang Zhixuan, it's not surprising he's capable of this."

The massive Demon God disappeared into the black mist, and an old man with white hair and a beard landed on the mountain path. His eyes, as if stirring with lava, emitted thousands of wails, "News from Liangzhou Province arrived half an hour ago, Zhang Zhixuan is dead, slain personally by that boy Jiang Li."

Concerning the outcome of the battle of Liangzhou Province, Earth Uncle naturally wouldn't overlook it, especially since he saw Jiang Li and others return yesterday, knowing that the Immortal Queen was now siding with Tianxuan.

Yet, even with his prior mental preparation, he hadn't expected Zhang Zhixuan to truly be killed by Jiang Li.

Even though Zhang Zhixuan had already been heavily injured by "Heavenly Severity" before, he was still not something a fourth-rank could contend against. To kill Zhang Zhixuan meant Jiang Li's power must have touched upon the third-rank realm.

King You, upon hearing this news, was also greatly shocked, then muttered, "No wonder..."

He suddenly looked up and quickly said, "Ancestor, Jiang Li still has the Thunder Gang Electric Light on him, that must be something left by Zhang Zhixuan."

After the collision in the Ziwei Hall, an electric arc appeared on Jiang Li's right arm. It was fleeting, but King You still noticed it. Moreover, during their encounter, King You could also feel the alien energy hidden within Jiang Li.

This was normal.

For a fourth-rank to slash at a third-rank was already outrageous, to do so unscathed would seem unrealistic.

Hearing this, Earth Uncle remained silent, his only response being the slight widening of the lava cracks in his eyes.

Tianxuan, Jiang Li, this master and apprentice duo were clearly fourth-rank but possessed third-rank combat power, posing a threat to Earth Uncle, along with the now changed allegiance of the Immortal Queen...

What was fortunate now, was that the Imperial College Sacrificial Officer, although supportive of Tianxuan, wouldn't join in to kill Earth Uncle. As the leader of Confucianism, his actions sought the stability of Great Zhou and were not truly loyal to any individual.

Even if Tianxuan were to act, the Imperial College Sacrificial Officer might still advise restraint.

But this still couldn't change the disadvantage of his side.

From four against one to three against one, the result didn't change much; even though Earth Uncle's years of cultivation were more than the three combined, he still couldn't claim he would win against these three. He wasn't a supreme being; holding off the Imperial College Sacrificial Officer and Tianxuan was already commendable, fighting three alone was too much for him.

Even if Earth Uncle's confidence was at an all-time high, he still wasn't to the point of considering himself invincible.

"Then let's have it out with that Jiang family brat before he recovers," Earth Uncle said gravely. "We could even have it out within our Ji Family, perhaps not even involving the Immortal Queen."

...

...

"Ultimately, it has to come to a fight."

Walking with the Princess, Jiang Li said leisurely, "Many power struggles ultimately resort to force. The great way lies not in words but in strength, the strong prevail, a truth unchanged through time."

Sometimes power struggles are just that simple.

Just as Yu Wenyong ended Powerful Minister Yu Wenhu with a jade scepter blow and a decisive slash.

Just like Li Shimin first shot his brothers with arrows, then made Li Yuan abdicate.

At the level of Jiang Li and Earth Uncle, overt and covert struggles would eventually turn to eliminating the opponent's life as the final solution. The reason for the previous restraint was not incapability, but rather the timing wasn't right, fearing that the kill would not be completely successful.

If they could be sure of a kill, neither Jiang Li nor Earth Uncle would hesitate to summon thunderous measures.

As for whether or not this approach was unseemly... victory brought decorum; defeat meant nothing at all.

"Previously, I deliberately let King You detect the exotic Thunder Gang in my body," Jiang Li rubbed his fingers together, sparks flashing, "Earth Uncle will definitely make a move in the next few days."