Chapter 2348: Journey Home

Under the command of the army of one hundred thousand, there was no place left to stand, and no road back home. Yu Que's face was expressionless. Although the East Sea Dragon King had ordered him captured alive and truly looked down on him, now was not the time to argue about such things. Although Jing Country had immense military potential, and although the Great Jing Emperor was still gathering national strength along the Chang River, casting his gaze eastward towards this place, the Middle Ancient Heavenly Road had already been destroyed. Reinforcements could not be deployed. They were now an isolated army in enemy territory! If they were to face the enemy in a decisive battle, no matter what "Qing Ding," "Ming River," or "Dead Words One" the enemy brought, Yu Que would show them what a truly strong army was. With the power of Cang Hai surrounding them, and more troops continuously pouring out of that "Ruins Gate," they absolutely could not show weakness!

"I look at your formations and can only laugh!" Yu Que suddenly raised his voice! Ying Hong was leading the army attacking the grasslands to the north. Ji Feng Zhou was personally leading the expedition invading Cang Hai to the east. As the commander of the world's strongest army, Yu Que had kept a low profile in recent years, only drawing his sword on the Star Moon Plain battlefield, and even then, only to maintain order. Throughout the entire Star Moon Plain war, he had essentially spent the whole time sitting high on a viewing platform, watching the "youngsters play." His sharp sword had gone unused. He had indeed engaged the enemy a few times on the Middle Ancient Heavenly Road, but facing the tactics of a super detacher, he couldn't make a difference and was simply wiped out. Now, facing an isolated army of ten thousand, he would finally show his spirit!

"The art of war is all about timing! How can you use soldiers like swinging hammers, rushing out like a swarm of bees or a pack of wolves, in such a barbaric manner! Watch closely, I will only teach you this once!" His battle armor rustled in the wind, and his long cloak seemed like the evening glow. The army of one hundred thousand, with their united qi and blood, surged forward like a tide of killing intent, spreading throughout the land. This world's strongest army, riding the rolling tide of killing intent, looked down from the high sky, like heavenly soldiers descending upon the world! If one could open their heavenly eye and fully observe this army's formation, they would see just how meticulously this army of one hundred thousand Dou E had been trained. Every soldier wore armor and held a sword, divided into groups displaying different Dao methods, their movements clean, crisp, and orderly, exceptionally beautiful. The Dao methods interacted and amplified each other, collectively evolving into an even grander army formation Dao technique. Nine individuals formed a group, nine groups formed a team, nine teams formed a camp, nine camps formed a brigade... A large formation contained smaller formations, and smaller formations were linked together. Yu Que's control over this army had reached an extreme! This was simply a kind of performance. This was not only a display of his outstanding command ability and contemporary top military quality, but also the ultimate embodiment of the quality of the soldiers. Qi and blood overlapped, Dao methods overlapped, army formations overlapped, finally converging into a surging great force.

Boom!!! Nine huge thunder light pillars exploded in the sky, but because they were so close together, they seemed like a single sound. Nine immense pillars of thunder light descended from the sky, connecting the turbid sky to the angry sea. If this sky-sea were a palace, these nine pillars would be the courtyard pillars. Within each thunder light pillar, there was an outline of a hall formed by electric light, drawn with the rough strokes of thunder and the fine strokes of qi and blood, exquisitely detailed. Each hall was situated within a different small world. Qian Palace represented the realm of heaven, with a white sun suspended high in the sky, its bright mirror shining in all directions. Kan Palace represented the realm of water, evolving a scene of a raging Cang Hai, with black dragons swimming within. Gen Palace represented the realm of mountains, where Buzhou Mountain stood! It supported the sky and the ground, which also tilted with the sky, serving as the pillar of the nine realms. Zhen Palace represented the realm of thunder, a vast sea of thunder, the source of infinite power, supporting the operation of the entire army formation. Xun Palace represented the realm of wind, where the eight winds gathered, the world hearing the rustle of wind and grass, and occasionally the roar of tigers questioning all life. Li Palace represented the realm of fire, where light shone to the extreme, and fierce flames gave birth to spirits. Civilization began here, the origin of the nine realms. Kun Palace represented the realm of earth, where profound yellow qi gave birth to merit, and thick virtue bore all things. Dui Palace represented the realm of marshes, where water and grass mingled, spirits were born and thrived, and ten thousand things flourished, ready to emerge. The Central Palace had a great flag pole erected in front of the hall, bearing the word "Dou"!

Thus, this was the strongest army formation researched by Jing Country's Military Engine Building's directly administered "Soldier Institute" in the past decade—the Zheng Fa Chi Ming Nine Palaces Turning Wheel Array! This formation was composed of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight small formations. "Dou E" was the first unit to control the complete great formation, and naturally obtained the original formation diagram—this diagram was personally drawn by the Southern Heavenly Master, Ying Hong. With this original formation diagram, with this army of one hundred thousand Dou E, and with a commander like Yu Que, this "Zheng Fa Chi Ming Nine Palaces Turning Wheel Array" could truly reach its extreme state and display its conceived power. Perhaps... even surpass the imagination! The nine realms responded to each other, separating this sky-sea, almost becoming a world within the sky-sea. Although the army of one hundred thousand was numerous, they were but a grain of sand in the Cang Hai. But at this moment, the expanded army formation was like a vast net, repeatedly sweeping through the Cang Hai. It was as if Yu Que intended to net and catch all the sea creatures!

The Emperor Lord of Wudang, Yuan Ji, seeing this from afar, could only say: "Throughout history, military strategists have sought formations. To see this one performed, I have no regrets!" Although this was a clash between two races, although it was a brutal battlefield, as a main military commander, he purely praised the evolution of this army formation. Of course, he would not retreat or hold back because of this. Instead, he took the lead on his horse, holding his halberd and charging into the forefront!

At this moment, the attacks rushing into the high sky were numerous, and the offenses of the multitude of sea race powerhouses were fierce. Infinite light and flames filled every conceivable space. All imaginable attack pathways were already swept by the sea race's killing intent. If all the sea race's various offenses were the "fish," then the "net" of the Zheng Fa Chi Ming Nine Palaces Turning Wheel Array was torn the moment it was spread open! In the instant of contact, the nine realms' thunder pillars broke! Large numbers of Dou E armored warriors fell like flying ants.

"Head Teacher, quick, go!" Yu Que suddenly shouted! The sea race powerhouses surrounding Yu Que were suddenly alerted—how was it that Ji Zuo, who was supposed to guard the Heavenly Road, who could cover the sky and earth, extinguish the world with a flip of his palm, and contend against the end of the tribulation, seemed to have vanished? Yu Que's extremely ostentatious display of military might was clearly meant to attract the sea race's attention, allowing the Head Teacher of Penglai Island, True Monarch Ling Chen, to escape! This was the strategy of a wall-tiger sacrificing its tail. For a moment, all eyes turned, involuntarily looking towards True Monarch Ling Chen. While they wanted to kill Yu Que, they couldn't let Ji Zuo go either.

At this time, that True Monarch Ling Chen, Ji Zuo, stood alone with his clothes fluttering, at the edge of the Cang Hai sky, one point more profound than profound. He was clearly gazing, yet he was not within their field of vision. They could clearly feel his breath, his power, and knew that he was just in the Cang Hai, yet they could not capture his existence. Like Yu Que, he had startled the swan with a glance, but he did not panic and flee, nor did he bother to scold about being used as bait. Instead, he lifted his sleeve and rolled it—all things seen by the eyes became hazy, all things heard by the ears became vague, and his own feelings seemed unreal. It was as if everything happening in the entire world of Cang Hai was an illusion, an illusory "outer skin" that he was peeling away!

Dao Method · Penglai Point Dream! The collapse of the Middle Ancient Heavenly Road, Ao Shu Yi's death, the sea race's great counterattack... all were realms of dreams, waiting to be revealed—pa! This dream realm shattered the moment it fell. Even a world-covering powerhouse like Ji Zuo could not act fiercely in the Cang Hai at this moment. Even with Ji Zuo's power, he could not point to the collapse of the Middle Ancient Heavenly Road as a dream, much less erase the fact that a super detacher had died. But he himself was also clear about this.

So, the Red-Browed Emperor Lord Xi Yang, with her red eyes, saw this—after True Monarch Ling Chen rolled up his large sleeve, boom boom, the nine eternal heavenly steles were pulled up and flew into his sleeve. Heaven did not follow human wishes. A super detacher's action breaking a necessary plan was probably also one of the expressions of a "super detacher." At the moment when this Jing Hai plan had basically failed, True Monarch Ling Chen was not satisfied with leaving by himself; he still wanted to take away the eternal heavenly steles that Ji Feng Zhou had personally outlined!

The Cang Hai Emperor Lords were mostly required to guard one side and had their own territories and armies. Xi Yang, however, was the kind who came and went alone, so at this moment, she did not have an army. She raised her palm like a knife, standing in front of all things, simply wanting to cut off the profoundly profound Dao trace passage between the eternal heavenly steles and Ji Zuo.

Bang bang! Bang bang bang! Continuous explosions occurred at the same time she raised her palm, repeatedly exploding in her ear. That extremely deep, extremely subtle, yet extremely fierce and powerful thunder light seemed to invade her body, exploding in her blood and shaking her divine soul! Her raised palm-knife for a moment chopped crookedly, just beside Ji Zuo's ear, cutting out a narrow, long, dark gap, and taking away several strands of broken hair! Ji Zuo himself, however, did not move at all. At this critical moment, he still had a precise grasp of everything. As the Head Teacher of a Daoist holy land, his power would not be inferior to Zong De Zhen. At this time, all light and shadows were blurred, and outside of ten thousand kinds of techniques, countless angstroms of dust manifested. Dust Thunder!

True Monarch Ling Chen's Dust Thunder had already spread throughout the sky-sea, and had already exploded many rounds during the time he was contending with the power of the end of the tribulation. But while he was bombarding, he was also summoning, and there were more hidden Dust Thunders than those that had exploded. Dust Thunder hid in cloud qi, hid in the shade, hid in mountains, hid in flowing water... hiding in all places where gazes could not reach, and erupting where all strong enemies could not avoid! At this moment, not only was the Red-Browed Emperor Lord obstructed, but all powerhouses who intended to interfere with the heavenly steles leaving the sea were first interfered with by the Dust Thunder. Unlike Yu Que, who was merely putting on a show of strength, True Monarch Ling Chen was truly attacking all opponents at the same time! The might of the Penglai Head Teacher was now displayed towards the Cang Hai.

But this might was not eternal. Only the sound of tearing cloth was heard as Ji Zuo's large sleeve was directly cut open—just at this moment, Ao Jie lifted the toe of his front claw and lightly cut horizontally in the air. His single dragon toe was already majestic like a dangerous peak, yet so light and agile, like swinging a paper knife. Thus, the sky was cracked! Yu Que wanted to find a way to capture him alive, but Ji Zuo could only kill. Their strength had long been distinguished here at Ao Jie's level. This one-finger knife not only cut off the Dao trace passage that Ji Zuo used to summon back the eternal heavenly steles and cut off Ji Zuo's sleeve, but it also cut a white mark on Ji Zuo's arm, on that body called the "Horizontal Cross Eternal Tribulation" "Wonder Have Wonder No Great Dao Spirit Treasure Body"!

The inherited scripture of Penglai Island was the "Tai Shang Dong Xuan Ling Bao Wu Liang Du Ren Shang Pin Miao Jing," also known as the "Du Ren Jing." And for Ji Zuo... this body was a spirit raft that crossed worlds! Relying on this body, he would cross ten thousand tribulations, and only then could he cross the people of the world. Ao Jie's one knife could leave a mark, and the next knife could cut off the spirit raft. Ji Zuo's one grasp held the nearest Chao Feng Heavenly Stele, and the five fingers of his other hand spread wide—bang! A terrifying boom sound. Densely packed dust instantly piled up on the remaining eternal heavenly steles, making them dim and blurry, as if they had experienced long years and accumulated dust over time. And then they exploded! Ji Zuo was very decisive; seeing that he could not take them all away, he would destroy the rest. These eternal heavenly steles were built by Jing Country at great cost, originally intended to exist forever. For other powerhouses, destroying them would not be that simple. But Ji Zuo himself was one of the creators of the eternal heavenly steles, leaving a profound mark on them, and they had not truly fallen yet, completely suppressing the sea, using merit to complete the last step... thus he could bombard them with his extreme Dust Thunder, and shatter them. Just like the East Sea Dragon King killing the Cang Hai. The Penglai Head Teacher destroying the heavenly steles was also considered "cutting his own road," "specializing in his art," doing it quickly and well. Three eternal heavenly steles were destroyed on the spot!

The thunder exploded non-stop. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! After the later Dust Thunder exploded, only shattered scales and flying blood were seen—the East Sea Dragon King had, at some point, retracted that majestic form and transformed into a slender, black divine dragon, coiling his body several times, entwining all the remaining five eternal heavenly steles. Dragons can be large or small, can rise or hide; when large, they stir clouds and spit fog, when small, they hide their scales and forms. When he was majestic, the heaven and earth as a cage all bent. When he was tiny, even a particle of dust was like a tilting mountain. In the gap where the Dust Thunder attached to the eternal heavenly steles, Ao Jie filled the gap with his body, using his own dragon body to completely cover the eternal heavenly steles. Thus, the destructive thunder caused by True Monarch Ling Chen exploded, and it was all borne by Ao Jie! Compared to fighting True Monarch Ling Chen in a life-and-death battle, stopping True Monarch Ling Chen from destroying something was undoubtedly a more difficult task, but he did it. The remaining five eternal heavenly steles were intact and undamaged.

At this moment, Ao Jie's dragon body was a miserable sight, with skin split open and flesh torn, blood dripping, but his blood-colored eyes stared at Ji Zuo, yet his sharp teeth were bared, grinning and laughing: "The Daoist sect has a great lineage and great power. This long-distance gift... I will gladly accept!" Before he finished speaking, he coiled his body and rose again, baring his teeth and dancing his claws, charging straight towards that profoundly profound boundary point, targeting True Monarch Ling Chen, who was at the center of the profound realm. The gift from the Daoist sect might not only be the eternal heavenly steles, but also this Penglai Head Teacher! How could the sea race not keep a guest?!

Just as Ji Zuo was getting closer and closer, Ao Jie keenly observed that Ji Zuo was holding up the palm of his right hand, which contained a continuously rotating green thunder ball. The surface of the thunder ball was extremely smooth, with the figure of a Daoist passing through, wearing armor and robes, with a youthful face—it was Yu Que!

It was Yu Que? The East Sea Dragon King suddenly turned back! He saw that the collapsed nine realms' thunder pillars had suddenly converged into one point. The so-called "Zheng Fa Chi Ming Nine Palaces Turning Wheel Array," from a vast open net, had become a broken "cave." The mouth of this cave was deep and connected to the Miji Realm!

From the beginning, Yu Que's goal was to lead his army in escape. For the hundred thousand Dou E warriors, there was only one road home! The Eternal Heavenly Road could not be rebuilt, not to mention whether Jing Country could still afford the same investment, and the sea race would not give them another chance. Especially wanting to escape from the Cang Hai at this moment, this army of one hundred thousand could only return through the Miji Realm. Zhong Xi, leading the Qing Ding army, had always been staring at Ao Jie, wanting to carry out the Dragon King's order to capture this human True Monarch alive—if they could capture Yu Que and thoroughly dissect him, it would undoubtedly be a huge harvest! Over the past tens of thousands of years, the sea race had developed rapidly, not without the "contribution" of human powerhouses.

But he was also obstructed by a series of Dust Thunders from True Monarch Ling Chen. In the blink of an eye, Yu Que had already led his army and leaped, cunning like an eel! What rear guard, what Head Teacher escaping first, were all false. Yu Que fundamentally did not intend to stay and entangle. He truly dared to use True Monarch Ling Chen as bait, while he himself led the army to escape. At this moment, the hundred thousand Dou E army, all becoming "fish that escaped the net," were fleeing towards the Miji Realm!

But there was one problem—Gao Jie had set a restriction in the Miji Realm before his death, forbidding anyone above God Arrive from entering. Forcefully breaking this restriction would destroy the Miji Realm. With Yu Que's strength, how could he pass through the Miji Realm? This was also the fundamental reason why Zhong Xi had not thought in this direction from the beginning; he had originally thought that Yu Que would seek other roads.

Just in his surprise, he saw Yu Que's face turn gray and white, his breath rapidly falling! He instantly fell from a powerful True Monarch powerhouse to the God Arrive realm, and immediately lost control of the great army, the military situation becoming chaotic. "One hundred years of self-sacrifice, substituting the peach for the plum!" Yu Que sacrificed a hundred years of his life, cutting off his own power and entrusting it to True Monarch Ling Chen to take away—this was exactly the thunder ball that Ji Zuo held in his hand. And he himself, falling to the cultivation of God Arrive, could just pass through the Miji Realm.

Very clearly, he intended to use the strength of the God Arrive realm to lead the army across the Miji Realm, breaking through layer after layer of barriers, and escaping back to the vicinity of the sea. Given the complexity of the Miji Realm, this would be a difficult journey testing both wisdom and luck. But once he successfully led the army back to the vicinity of the sea, the power taken away by True Monarch Ling Chen could return to him—of course, some loss would be unavoidable, but in the current situation, it was already the best outcome.

At this moment, the entire battlefield was extremely chaotic. Ji Zuo's Dust Thunder bombarded and exploded wildly, making everything confused. It was also precisely with Ji Zuo's help that, at the moment Yu Que successfully opened the Miji Realm and sent a large number of warriors in, he peeled away the false appearance of having cut off his cultivation. Like a school of fish returning home, they all escaped the net. In the chaotic situation in Cang Hai, where life hung by a thread, surrounded by all the sea race powerhouses, Yu Que seized the only opportunity for survival! He truly lived up to his name as a famous general!

The entrance to the Miji Realm was connected to the unknown. The Dou E army penetrated straight through like a dragon. Yu Que also mixed in with the killing soldiers, within the endless blood qi, without a trace. Just as they were about to escape like this, at this very moment, a void opened an eye. This eye continuously changed with seven-colored profound light—it was the eye of the Wu Yuan Emperor Lord, Zhan Shou! This eye just faced a point within the rolling killing qi, specifically targeting one person among the eighty thousand-plus individuals. Both hands were empty, and neither sword nor armor were seen. His posture was straight, and his eyes were deep. It was exactly Yu Que!

Within Zhan Shou's eye, only an illusion of color moved, and this person's entire life flashed by. It was like watching flowers from a galloping horse, bidding farewell to the human world. The Wu Yuan Emperor Lord suddenly launched an attack, precisely capturing this universally famous general of Jing Country within the chaotic qi and blood of the nearly hundred thousand strong army, and then pointing to kill him!

The Dou E commander, who only remained with the cultivation of the God Arrive realm, fell one step away from the entrance to the Miji Realm.

"Great Commander!" Many Dou E warriors turned back on the spot!

But Yu Que, falling towards the Cang Hai, still raised his fist high, still facing the direction of the Miji Realm entrance—charging towards the Miji Realm! This was the last command... no turning back was allowed! Home!