One person above Qing Huang Ting

Chapter 912 The Battle of Tushita Heaven Begins, Evil Spirits in the Furnace
Hu Xiuwu, Sun Wukong, and others underestimated the ruthlessness of the Jade Emperor and Laozi.

They thought that the Heavenly Court's use of the Fallen Immortal Well to absorb the spiritual essence of the mortal world was the beginning.

Little did they know that this was already the climax of Laozi and the Jade Emperor's aggressive military campaigns.

Prior to this, with the help of the Thirty-Six Heavens, all the immortals and gods of the Heavenly Court had been secretly refined into puppets by the Jade Emperor, becoming beings just like the heavenly soldiers and generals.

The soul is trapped in the body, unable to be reborn, and can only obey the Jade Emperor's orders, without any of its own thoughts.

Even the [Supreme Mysterious Spirit Seven Stars of the Central Heaven - Light of Death] had no effect on them.

Because the Heavenly Gods who are now blocking the Flower Fruit Mountain army are more like puppets filled with the Jade Emperor's magic power, and are part of the Jade Emperor's incarnation.

The immortals are neither living nor dead. Even if their heads are smashed, they will only turn into primordial magical power and flow back to the Jade Emperor himself.

The heavenly soldiers and generals were too weak and insignificant to be noticed by the Jade Emperor, thus escaping a calamity and avoiding becoming his puppets.

However, there was another side that was not overlooked by the Jade Emperor.

After a long and fierce battle, the Queen Mother of the West and the Kunlun Fairy suddenly appeared from the west.

Judging from its appearance, it was likely that it had also suffered at the hands of the Jade Emperor.

The Queen Mother of the West once instructed her female immortals to recruit the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord and poison the Sun God of the Rabbit.

Today she was poisoned by the Jade Emperor; it is truly a case of karma coming full circle, and retribution is inevitable.

Sun Wukong, who hadn't joined the Zhou Tian Star Formation, rode his somersault cloud along the edge of the formation, subconsciously gripping his Ruyi Jingu Bang, frantically searching for a way to break the stalemate:

"Today's battle will be tough. It might draw blood."

······
"However, I did not expect that Laozi, who had even refined his mount, would still have left behind the Golden Horn and Silver Horn."

In the Heavenly Court, the gods were melted down into puppets, while in the Tushita Palace, Laozi took out all the savings of the Tushita Palace, along with his carefully trained disciples and mounts, in order to create another innate magic weapon.

One [Spirit Coffin Thunder Sound] was not enough; Laozi wanted to forge another innate magic weapon before he felt he could be assured of victory.

As for why the Heavenly Court's forces did not become materials for the Purple Gold Eight Trigrams Furnace.

It's probably not because the Jade Emperor had a kind heart and couldn't bear to send his former subordinate into the furnace, but because the Jade Emperor didn't trust Laozi.

Laozi initially planned to reach a secret agreement with Hu Xiuwu, so that the two could achieve a certain level of understanding and have Hu Xiuwu restrain the Jade Emperor.

The two restrain each other, allowing Laozi to rest easy in the Great Luo Heaven.

The Jade Emperor was fully aware of Laozi's thoughts, so how could he not be wary of Laozi? He was also worried that Laozi might tamper with the refining process and leave a secret door.

In the end, the Jade Emperor used all the magical treasures he had acquired to acknowledge Laozi as his master.

That would be terrible!

Normally, the Jade Emperor would take the elixirs refined by Laozi and would not mind his subordinates asking Laozi for magic weapons or elixirs. However, at the level of the Great Luo Immortal, he was extremely cautious and did not want Laozi to get involved.

The Jade Emperor preferred to use his own methods to make use of the good materials at hand.

Laozi was still lamenting the loss of the materials, stroking the Purple Gold Eight Trigrams Furnace with his hand, and casually replied to Hu Xiuwu:
"We needed to leave two boys behind to help out, and since they were both considerate, we kept them."

Hu Xiuwu mocked Laozi's hypocrisy: "Then the Golden Horn and Silver Horn should really thank Laozi for his great kindness and virtue."

He used the entire Tushita Palace as alchemy material, leaving only two young Taoist disciples. Does that demonstrate Laozi's benevolence?

Lao Tzu said in a matter-of-fact tone:
"It should be so. I am the god who created the heavens and the gods who created all things. I am the founder of the thirty-six heavens and the patriarch of the Taoist lineage."

"Among all beings in the Three Realms, who doesn't owe me something? Among all things in the universe, who doesn't owe me a debt of karma?" Laozi transformed into the goddess Nuwa to mend the heavens and save the world, and then transformed into an ancient god to create the Three Realms.

Black Myth draws upon classical myths and legends and Journey to the West, which is why Laozi holds such a high position in the Black Myth world.

Hu Xiuwu said solemnly, "But you know perfectly well that it's all fake."

Laozi was well aware of his origins, knowing that all his legends, stories, and deeds were false, born from the combination of mortal legends and the power of the snake god.

Mortals owe Him nothing; He and mortals are no different in terms of origin.

He is not particularly holy; he only gained such power because he occupies a larger share of the stories of mortals.

If the origins of Laozi were to become known, it would inevitably lead to disloyalty and even disloyalty among the celestial beings and gods of Heaven.

It was because Hu Xiuwu knew about this matter that Laozi turned against Hu Xiuwu and vowed to kill him.

Laozi finally stood up, walked to the Purple Gold Eight Trigrams Furnace, patted it, and surprisingly smiled.

That forced smile revealed no genuine joy or emotion; instead, it was cold, fake, eerie, and unreal.

Laozi just smiled and said, "Then it doesn't matter at all. We are the same. What do their lives or deaths have to do with me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Purple Gold Eight Trigrams Furnace hummed, and with a 'thud,' the ten-thousand-pound lid of the Purple Gold Eight Trigrams Furnace was blown away and smashed into the remaining broken pillar in the alchemy room, directly breaking the pillar built with Jianmu branches into two pieces.

A plume of black smoke billowed from the Purple Gold Eight Trigrams Furnace. The smoke lingered in mid-air, gradually thickening, and several human faces struggled and wailed within the black mist before dispersing.

The elixir perishes in the furnace, unwilling to be transformed into a ghost.

Finally, a pair of thick, sharp, curved bull horns pierced through the black mist and emerged from it. Behind the horns, the black mist condensed and formed a shape resembling black silt.

The evil spirit that sprang from the Purple Gold Eight Trigrams Furnace, besides having a pair of towering bull horns, also had a bull's head, and looked exactly like the Green Ox Demon, the mount of Laozi.

The Golden Core Demon was ten zhang tall, with its two hooves on the ground and six arms that were longer than its knees. One of its arms had sparse crane feathers growing on it, resembling the arms of a moa bird that had not yet fully evolved, making it ugly and disgusting.

The back of the Golden Core Demon was covered with painful and twisted human heads, like lumps.

The Golden Core Demon drooled, its pupils swirling without a single point, like a black bull suffering from mad cow disease.

Its appearance is ferocious, twisted, and evil, somewhat resembling the Demon Lord transformed from Angri Xingjun.

"Moo~"

The Golden Core Demon roared, tears streaming from its eyes, and charged at Hu Xiuwu. Each of its six arms wielded a sword, spear, or halberd formed from black light. As the six arms moved, the black light formed a dense, impenetrable ball.

In the blink of an eye, the four swords of Zhuxian arrived simultaneously, each wielding one of the four destructive and murderous intents of Zhulu, Xianjue, and Jue, spiraling around the Chunzi Sword.

The flowers on the Spring Nourishing Sword have withered, and the wooden blade is cold, exuding an apocalyptic winter atmosphere.

With a flick of the Spring Nourishing Sword, the tip pierced through the chest of the Golden Core Demon.

Ding!
The Divine Sword Spring Nourishment, empowered by the unstoppable and world-destroying power of the Immortal Execution Sword Qi, was now in full swing.
It still couldn't completely penetrate the minotaur's chest.

Hu Xiuwu was astonished; this monster's defensive power was comparable to that of the Buddha.

The Immortal Slaughtering Sword Qi attached to the wound of the Golden Core Evil Ghost was gradually ground down with a 'sizzling' sound and disappeared.

Hu Xiuwu stepped back, hovering in mid-air, and carefully examined the minotaur.

He hadn't expected that even though Laozi's alchemy had failed, the evil spirit that crawled out of the furnace still possessed such power.

His defensive and magical abilities are already at the level of a Great Luo Golden Immortal.