Daqin Zhentiansi

Several powerful members of the Azure Scaled Flood Dragon Clan looked up at the surging, malevolent energy in the void.

Looking at the terrifying "Heaven-Shaking Drum," feeling the overwhelming pressure of the three thousand heavy cavalry outside the cave, considering the reality that the Heavenly Palace was preoccupied with its own problems after the great victory of Thunderfall Abyss, and the elixirs in the contract that would greatly benefit the Jiaolong Clan...

The anger of the Azure Scaled Flood Dragon Clan's higher-ups was suppressed by the cold reality and a hint of planning for the future.

After a brief stalemate, the Azure Nether Venerable's enormous dragon head slowly lowered, and a divine thought, imbued with his life force, merged into the contract scroll: "The Azure Scaled Dragon Clan... is willing to sign this contract."

Once the light from the contract stabilized, Zhang Yuan waved his hand and put away the fake drum.

In that instant, he clearly felt a deeper pulse emanating from the earth beneath his feet.

The rushing waters of Chensha River seemed to be whispering to him.

A more profound and powerful primordial force is continuously flowing into his chaotic divine and demonic body and the will of the Great Qin Heavenly Dao through his connection with the thousands of people and the subjugated demon race on this land.

His power, on this land whose landscape he had personally transformed, became even more profound and boundless, and his fusion with the primordial wilderness deepened even further.

This feeling made him clench his fists involuntarily.

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Deep within the magnificent Heavenly Palace, hundreds of millions of miles away from the Chensha River and suspended above endless clouds, lies the "Xuanqiong Hall" side hall.

Severely injured, weak and breathless, his fine clothes torn, and even one of his wings unnaturally twisted, Governor Yucheng knelt in a sorry state on the cold Starry Jade ground.

Before him, seated high on a throne shrouded in the illusory images of the sun, moon, and stars, was an old man dressed in a Xuan Yue Daoist robe, his face shrouded in a hazy, clear light—Elder Ming Chen, the deputy hall master of the Xuan Qiong Palace and a confidant of Venerable Xuan Yue.

Yu Cheng's voice was filled with humiliation and panic as he reported on the devastating defeat at Luo Lei Yuan, the destruction of the Three Treasures, the annihilation of the main force, the rise of Zhang Yuanwu's power, the submission of the Black Horned Rhinoceros, the signing of a contract by the Azure Scaled Flood Dragon, and the change of ownership of the Sunken Sand River.

"waste!"

A chilling rebuke fell like ice from the heavens, causing the temperature in the entire side hall to plummet!

Elder Mingchen's body shimmered violently, revealing his inner rage. "The Three Treasures are destroyed! The elite troops are wiped out! We couldn't even defeat a heavily injured Lei Yu!"

"Yu Cheng, how dare you come back?!"

The terrifying pressure slammed down on Yu Cheng like a heavy hammer.

Yu Cheng groaned, and golden blood spilled from his mouth again, worsening his already severe injuries.

"The Palace Master is about to emerge from seclusion to prepare for his grand birthday celebration! Do you know that this 'Chaotic Thunder Horn' is the key to refining the 'Mysterious Sky Mirror' for the Palace Master!"

"Now, not only is there no hope for the Divine Horn, but we have also suffered heavy losses, causing the Heavenly Palace to lose all its prestige, and even allowing that monstrous Kui Niu to gain power! You will not be able to atone for your sins even if you die ten thousand times!"

The oppressive aura emanating from the side hall of the Xuan Yue Palace almost suffocated Yu Cheng.

Elder Mingchen's words "waste" pierced his bone marrow like an ice pick, causing his already severe injuries to flare up, and he coughed up pale golden divine blood again.

Yu Cheng lowered his head even further, knowing that making excuses would only lead to deeper destruction.

Elder Mingchen's gaze seemed to pierce through the endless void, landing in the depths of the vast primordial wilderness. His tone was deep and solemn: "Yucheng, do you think that my Heavenly Palace rules the primordial wilderness merely by relying on superficial military might? You are wrong, terribly wrong!"

"The primordial Heavenly Dao, ancient and boundless, has never truly submitted!" His voice was not loud, but it resounded like thunder in Yu Cheng's soul. "Why do you think the Heavenly Venerable resides deep within the Heavenly Palace year after year, rarely showing himself? Most of his energy is devoted to refining and suppressing those unruly primordial divine beings!"

"The Jianmu tree, which supports the sky, has roots that penetrate the nine netherworlds and branches that reach into the chaos. It is constantly drawing on the primordial source, attempting to reshape the world!"

"If the Heavenly Venerable had not suppressed its spirituality with his supreme power and transformed it into one of the foundations of the Heavenly Palace, it would have already overturned the Nine Heavens!"

Mingchen's words revealed a chilling truth.

"And there's the 'Eye of Return to the Void' hidden at the source of the river of time, the 'Primordial Flame' lurking on the edge of the Chaos Sea, and even the restless 'Ancestral Dragon Vein' beneath the River of Sinking Sands..."

"Which one doesn't require a Celestial Venerable or a Palace Master like myself to divide my spirit and suppress it?"

"Furthermore, there are the four holy spirits, the central Qilin, the Northern Kunpeng, and many other divine beast clans. Their bloodlines flow with the pride and wildness of the primordial world. On the surface, they submit, but in reality, there are turbulent undercurrents."

"The Kui Niu of Lei Yu is just the tip of the iceberg! Their very existence is the primordial Heavenly Dao's resistance against our celestial beings' act of 'stealing the heavens'!"

Elder Mingchen's voice suddenly turned sharp, carrying an indifferent air of looking down upon all living beings: "Our Celestial Race has been able to suppress the myriad realms of the primordial world not through appeasement!"

"It is a powerful force that can crush all resistance! It is an absolute deterrent that makes them feel fear from the depths of their souls! Only fear can make these ancient species and divine creatures of heaven and earth temporarily lie dormant!"

"You, Yucheng, have allowed this deterrent to break through the defenses of the Chensha River! Giving them hope for resistance!"

Yu Cheng lay prostrate on the ground, his body trembling slightly from fear and injuries, no longer possessing any of the former prestige of the Commander of the Patrol Guard.

He knew that his future, and even his life, were hanging by a thread.

Elder Mingchen's eyes flashed with cold light, filled with killing intent.

His sharp gaze was like a knife, fixed on Yu Cheng: "Yu Cheng, I ask you! My Celestial Race, which rules the primordial world, how many of our people are there? How many are humans? How many are demons? And how many are descendants of divine beasts?"

Yu Cheng dared not be negligent. He suppressed his pain and answered in the most humble manner: "Reporting to the elder, my Celestial Race has a noble bloodline and is not easy to reproduce. The entire race... has no more than thirty million members."

He paused, his voice lower.

"The human cultivators who are attached to my Heavenly Palace are spread across 38 million guarding temples, and their total number is about a thousand times that of my race, a staggering 30 billion."

The remaining demons and spirits far outnumbered humans, and were countless…

"As for the races with the bloodline of ancient divine beasts, although their numbers are far less than those of the human and demon races, they are full of powerful individuals, including many Venerables and Saints, and their individual combat strength is extremely formidable."

This is the current state of the primordial world.

The true primordial order.

The Celestials did not display an absolute advantage. "Hmph, you do seem to know something." Elder Mingchen sneered, and the temperature in the hall seemed to drop even further. "Thirty million against three hundred billion, against the endless demon race, against numerous unruly divine beasts!"

"Without absolute power to suppress them, without instilling fear in them to the core, do you think these Nine Heavens and Ten Earths can still be called 'Heaven'?!"

He abruptly stood up, his Xuan Yue Daoist robe fluttering without wind, its cold radiance containing a destructive will: "Since the demons and divine beasts of the Chensha River war zone dare to rebel and disregard the laws of my Heavenly Palace, then they—have no reason to exist!"

"Yu Cheng!" Elder Mingchen's voice was like a final judgment, "You must understand, what we want to kill is not just traitors."

"What we want to kill is their courage! Their delusions! We want to make all living beings in the world remember once again—what fear is!"

Before he could finish speaking, Elder Mingchen raised his hand and pressed down!
"Om-!"

Deep within the Xuanqiong Palace, twelve dazzling pillars of light, each radiating different terrifying fluctuations of law, shot into the sky!

Those were twelve celestial treasures, each with a different shape, but all powerful enough to destroy the heavens and the earth!

The beam of light tore through the clouds and instantly projected onto the vast sea of ​​clouds plaza outside the palace.

At the same time, without a sound, 100,000 elite Celestial Warriors, clad in gleaming silver armor and exuding a chilling, unified aura, had already formed ranks!
Their faces were cold, their eyes sharp as eagles, and their bodies were surrounded by pure star power and killing intent. The combined aura soared into the sky, stirring up the winds and clouds of the heavens!
Compared to the main force of the Patrol Division that Yu Cheng once commanded, it is more than ten times stronger!
"Target: Sunken Sand River! Flatten Thunderfall Abyss, and massacre the traitors! All those who oppose the Heavenly Palace—exterminate them!"

Elder Mingchen's icy voice echoed throughout the outer perimeter of the Heavenly Palace.

Ten thousand celestial beings responded in unison, their voices shattering the flowing clouds!
The twelve treasures transformed into streams of light and merged into the army formation.

The massive war machine roared into action, tearing through space and unleashing a terrifying, all-consuming force as it crushed towards the Chensha River!

The scene resembled a silver galaxy constructed from divine metal and the laws of destruction, pouring down upon the mortal realm!
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On the banks of the Chensha River, at the site of the boundary marker.

Elder Mingchen and Yucheng appeared at the forefront of the army.

However, the anticipated scene of the army advancing rapidly did not occur.

The sight before him caused Yu Cheng's pupils to shrink sharply, and even Elder Mingchen's indifferent eyes flashed with a strange light.

On both sides of the Chensha River, the space between heaven and earth was filled with a vast surge of energy!

Endless azure lightning, like a raging dragon, roared out from the direction of Thunderfall Abyss, carrying the resolute will of the Kui Niu clan. It was the power of Thunder Prison activating the Heaven-Shaking Drum!
In stark contrast to this is a vast ocean of colorful spiritual light and celestial radiance!
Taoist runes intertwined into a net, sword energy and saber energy tore through the sky, and the vast military formation's baleful aura condensed like a solid mountain!
This is clearly the power of the human guardian!

Further away, countless chaotic and powerful demonic lights soared into the sky, some fierce, some strange, some heavy. These were the auras released by hundreds of demonic beast groups that were attached to the Kui Niu or "persuaded" by the human race along the upper and lower reaches of the Chensha River!
Thunder, spiritual light, celestial light, demonic light...

Several enormous forces were not fighting each other, but rather formed a complex and solid barrier on the banks of the Sunken Sand River, colliding and rubbing against the destructive pressure emanating from the Celestial Army!
Space was groaning and distorting silently, as if the entire Chensha River war zone had been transformed into a huge, potentially explosive energy furnace!

In the midst of this tense and terrifying standoff, several figures exuding powerful auras of Venerable Ones descended from the most dazzling point of spiritual light and immortal radiance, blocking the path of the Celestial Army.

The leader, dressed in a black-gold Taoist robe, had an ancient and unsophisticated face and an aura as deep as the sea. He was none other than Venerable Cangming, the guardian of the Thousand Temples Hall.

He bowed respectfully to Elder Mingchen from afar, his voice steady and resonant, piercing through the roar of energy:
"Elder Mingchen of the Xuanqiong Palace has come in person; I am sorry for not being able to greet you properly. I am Cangming, the guardian of the Qianguan Temple. Together with you fellow practitioners, we are acting on the orders of the Palace Master Jun, uniting the strength of the three hundred temples along the Chensha River, and coordinating the three hundred powerful demon beast clans in this area, to do our utmost to suppress the traitor Kui Niu of Luolei Abyss!"

He turned slightly to the side, gesturing towards the ocean of spiritual light behind him, which was fiercely clashing with lightning: "Elder, please look! Our human cultivators are engaged in a bloody battle against the monstrous Kui-niu beast Lei Yu and its minions! The battle is at a stalemate, but the entire Shensha River Thousand Views Hall is united in purpose and has full confidence—"

Venerable Cangming said with unwavering resolve: "Within ten thousand years! I will surely flatten the Thunderfall Abyss, annihilate Thunder Prison, and present its head and divine horn before the Heavenly Venerable!"

"Ten thousand years?!"

Upon hearing those two words, Yu Cheng, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly forgot his fear and pointed at Cang Ming's nose, roaring uncontrollably. His voice was shrill with extreme anger: "Ten thousand years?! How could it possibly require ten thousand years! You are hoarding an army for your own benefit! You are raising a bandit to enhance your own power! This is blatant deception! Elder Mingchen, they..."

"Shut up!" Elder Mingchen shouted, and the invisible pressure silenced Yu Cheng instantly, his face turning pale.

Venerable Cangming remained unmoved by Yu Cheng's accusations, as if he were looking at a clown.

He calmly looked at Elder Mingchen, cupped his hands in greeting again, and even adopted a tone of "sincere" inquiry: "Since Governor Yucheng and Elder Mingchen believe that my Thousand Observation Hall's bandit suppression efforts are ineffective and inefficient..."

"Then, to show our human race's loyalty to the Heavenly Palace, and to quell the chaos of the Sunken Sand River as soon as possible."

He raised his hand and gestured "please" towards the most violent core of the Thunderfall Abyss: "The important task of annihilating the Kui Niu rebels is something my Thousand Observation Hall is willing to relinquish."

"We request the Xuanqiong Palace to personally take action and sweep away the Thunderfall Abyss with overwhelming force!"

"The three hundred guardians and allied demons of the Chensha River will do their utmost to cheer on the elders, beat the drums to encourage them, and attentively observe and learn from them!"

These words were tantamount to throwing a hot potato back to Elder Mingchen.

Let the Xuanqiong Palace's 100,000-strong army take on Leiyu, which possesses the Heaven-Shaking Drum, is fighting on home ground, and has clearly reached some kind of tacit agreement with the human and demon forces.

The cost and the risks...

"You! You're going to sit back and watch the tigers fight! You want my Xuanqiong Palace's elite to fill that bottomless pit!" Yu Cheng was so angry that he trembled all over and couldn't help but roar again.

Elder Mingchen ignored Yucheng's barking. His eyes, which seemed to see through illusions, were fixed on the core battlefield in front of him, where spiritual light, immortal light, demonic light and thunder were fiercely intertwined.

At the center of that chaotic energy, there seemed to be a figure, like a pillar of strength, subtly governing the power of the human race and a portion of the demon race.

"Fellow Daoist Cangming," Elder Mingchen's voice was unreadable as he asked directly, "Who is it that commands the human alliance and demon servants at the front, resisting the power of the Thunder Prison Heaven-Shaking Drum, and is stationed in the central army...?"

Venerable Cangming seemed to have anticipated this, and answered without hesitation: "Reporting to the elder, it is indeed the newly appointed 'Suppression Commander' of the Chensha River War Zone, who comes from Xuanyu Temple, and who turned the tide in the Hundred Temples Hunt and the Battle of Black Stone Plains, killing rebels, subduing giant rhinoceroses, and intimidating dragons, with outstanding military achievements—Fire Commander Zhang Yuan!"

As he spoke, he raised his hand and waved it, sending a jade slip shimmering with light flying toward Elder Mingchen.

Elder Mingchen reached out and took it, instantly scanning the jade slip with his divine sense.

The book records Zhang Yuan's legendary experiences, from his "ascension" to joining the Xuanyu Temple, to his battle on the Black Stone Plain where he killed Black Rock with an arrow, took charge of Xuanzhong, integrated the Martial Guard, facilitated trade with various tribes, and forced the surrender of the Azure Scaled Dragon.

And the unfathomable Chaos True Essence, domineering physical body, and exquisite battle formation command he displayed… (End of Chapter)