Princess Zhang Le arched an eyebrow when she saw that Immortal Gourd was about to leave with Yu Miao and others. A spurt of anger flashed through her, and a blood-red line twitched on her forehead. She did not mind if he took the other Elders away, but not Yu Miao, who had constantly been harassing Wu Qi. She could never allow him to flee just like that.
Ignoring the meaning hiding behind the cries of alarm let out by Yu Mu and others, she waved a hand. A jarring crunch rang out of the void, and in the next instant, a pitch-black blade of light that was about hundreds of feet long emerged out of nowhere, hacking through the air toward Immortal Gourd with a sharp whistle. Wherever it passed, the void was ripped with countless tiny rifts, with energy storms visible to the naked eyes spinning out and shattering the mountains in the surroundings.
Amidst the dull rumble, several mountains between the princess and Immortal Gourd crumbled to dust, drifting away in the gusting wind while the spatial blade she unleashed with her zither was less than ten feet away from the target.
Immortal Gourd gave a cry of surprise. He turned around and darted a look at the spatial blade, then nodded and said with a smile, "Little girl, although your cultivation base is merely passable in my eyes, I'm surprised to see that your trick can tear the void. Splendid! It's a pity that your cultivation base is just too weak!"
He gave the gourd beneath him a hard slap. Immediately, a plume of flame that was sticky like glue spouted out of its mouth, transforming into a large umbrella and protecting him. The flaming umbrella spun rapidly as the spatial blade struck it with a crisp crunch, splitting it in two. However, even though it was dissipating, it had succeeded in countering the blade, which had burst into a blinding light before vanishing.
Princess Zhang Le gave a light snort. All of a sudden, the gray divine energy shrouding the golden body atop her head condensed into an axe that was tens of feet long. Meanwhile, streams of five-colored divine light rushed up from behind her back and injected into it; filling the grayish axe, which looked like the condensation of mist, with a colorful glow and making it as hard as if it was carved from a crystal. Then, she drew the innate gold element energy from the silver lotus flower with all her might and sent it into the axe, covering its surface with a dazzling silver glow.
When she was done, the princess pointed a delicate finger at Immortal Gourd and gave a light cry.
The axe sped away, piercing through the air with an ear-splitting whistle as it went straight for Immortal Gourd's head amidst a silver beam of light. Face falling, Immortal Gourd threw Yu Miao and others aside, then quickly pressed both hands down against the gourd. A deafening boom echoed out as a vast blaze of fire poured out of the gourd's mouth, twisting and twitching in the air while rapidly forming into a giant serrated sickle before rushing forward to meet the axe.
As soon as the two fearsome weapons met, the extremely sharp innate gold element energy of the axe hacked the flaming sickle in two. But, it was licked by the raging flame at the same time, which burned off its silver glow to reveal the colorful surface beneath.
Immortal Gourd grunted coldly. Mixed with the flame, countless tiny, pale-golden flying swords shot out of the gourd. They rained down on the axe, striking it endlessly like a swarm of flies, sending bright sparks darting off its surface. Although they shattered and exploded after hitting the axe, each strike had dimmed the axe's colorful glow. Within three seconds, at least a million tiny swords had struck the axe, forcibly smashing the five-colored divine light in it to shreds.
In the end, what went flying at Immortal Gourd was the grayish axe, the pure condensation of the God of Scourge's divine energy. Knowing that he was facing the bizarre and unpredictable divine power of the God of Scourge, Immortal Gourd dared not to let down his guard. A burst of scorching flame came rolling out of his body and fused with the raging flame rising from the gourd, turning into a beam of red light that thrust several miles up into the sky from the top of his head. Within it, a ring of light that looked as smooth as a mirror gradually made its appearance, in the middle of which emerged the shadow of a Ying Dragon[1] 1 . Measuring several miles from head to tail, the dragon threw his head back and gave a deafening roar, then opened his mouth and spat. Immediately, countless raindrops popped out of thin air and poured down at the axe like arrows.
The Ying Dragon was also one of the ancient Gods. Although the one Immortal Gourd released was only in the form of a soul, his prowess was simply astonishing. Each one of the raindrops he materialized weighed at least ten thousand kilograms, and they struck so hard on the axe that it was ringing with a deep whistle while its gray mist was constantly being taken away. As an ancient God in the category of the auspicious Gods who blessed the people with favorable weather, his divine power, though could not perfectly restraint the God of Scourge's divine power, had a pretty good weakening effect.
Countless raindrops poured whistling down, and in just the blink of an eye, the axe condensed of gray mist shattered with a boom, completely destroyed by the raindrops the Ying Dragon had summoned.
Yu Mu's face was extremely unsightly. Grinding his teeth, he growled, "In the history of the Yu Clan of Zhong Province, only one Clan Master owned the Ying Dragon's beast soul, and his name is Yu You! Immortal Gourd, you... you truly are..."
Immortal Gourd glanced coldly over his shoulder at Yu Mu. "Yes, I'm Yu You, Yu Miao's ancestor of seven generations past, the once Clan Master of the Yu Clan of Zhong Province, and currently known as Immortal Gourd," he said with a cold grin. "I was almost a Supreme Oracle, with one of my legs stepped into the realm. But unfortunately, my life had approached its end. So, I joined the Dao League and began cultivating the art of immortality. It took me only ten years to form my Nascent Divinity, thirty years to become a Heaven Immortal, and about a thousand years to become a Gold Immortal."
He gave a strange laugh and sighed with emotion, then said, "If Great Yu's Oracles could disregard those rules which I deem as rubbish, any Supreme Oracle can become a peak Gold Immortal in less than a thousand years. What's so good about becoming a Supreme Oracle when your life will still come to an end one day? But when you are a Heaven Immortal, you will have a lifespan that will never end. I'd sooner become an immortal!"
Yu Mu pointed a finger at Yu You and bellowed, "So, Yu Miao has been making contact with you?"
Yu You and Yu Miao exchanged a glance. Shaking his head lightly, Yu You said, "He only learned about my existence a hundred years ago... Well, I don't think I need to tell you everything. In any case, I'm here to save them today, and someone will surely settle the score with you and all those from the principal clan in Liangzhu someday in the future!"
He roared with laughter, then pointed at Princess Zhang Le, whose face was slightly pale, and said, "You do have decent divine abilities, but your cultivation base is too weak. I'll spare you today, so that Yu Miao can come back and take revenge for himself. At that point in time..." He patted Yu Miao on the shoulder and said, "Remember her face. She has awakened her bloodline of the Ancient God, which makes her a rare spouse. All your sons and grandsons are dead, so if you can bed her, she will definitely give you offspring with excellent aptitudes!"
Yu Miao smiled reverently at Yu You and said, "I'll do as Patriarch bid. This girl has formed the golden body of the ancient God, and I'm sure she will make an excellent spouse."
The princess's face turned black with rage. She gave a cold snort and continued to draw the gold element energy from the silver lotus flower. Soon, a flash of silver light could be seen flickering in her palm as she had compressed the rich gold element energy into a glinting flying sword, getting ready to strike it at Yu You. But, the gourd was clearly a rare spirit artifact, and with its flame being the natural nemesis of her gold element energy, she was not sure whether her flying sword could do any harm to Yu You.
Yu Mu, whose face had also turned unsightly after listening to Yu You's confession, waved his hand and cried out, "Take down this traitor who has betrayed Great Yu and joined the Dao League, dead or alive! Also, kill Yu Miao and the rest, for he has colluded with immortals and is harboring ill intention against Great Yu!"
In Great Yu's court, colluding with immortals was a capital crime punishable by having one's wealth confiscated and whole clan executed. And, the fact that Yu You, as the previous Clan Master of the Yu clan of Zhong Province, had cultivated himself into an immortal, was a serious issue that could implicate the principal clan in Liangzhu. If this were to be learned by those powerful clans in Liangzhu, they would definitely jump out to condemn Yu clan. It would not be something that could be easily settled even for a clan as powerful as the Yu clan.
Only by killing Yu You, Yu Miao, and the rest of the Elders now and pleading guilty to the Human Emperor, then wiping out a few sects of itinerant cultivators and blaming them for everything, could Yu clan avoid falling into a disastrous situation. Therefore, no matter how strong Yu You was, and no matter what price he had to pay, Yu Mu must kill Yu You here and now.
The Elders from the principal clan were well aware of the situation. So, they ignored their wounds caused by Yu You's sudden attack, took out all kinds of bone talismans, and launched a fierce attack at Yu You with their strongest mystic arts.
A loud cry burst out of Princess Zhang Le's mouth, and the flying sword in her palm sped away in a beam of silver light, going straight for Yu You's chest. At the same time, the five-colored divine light behind her tumbled, and the various natural energies in the surroundings—including wind, water, fire—all immediately gathered together and condensed into a huge, colorful mountain. It smashed down from the sky toward Yu You's head, absorbing all the natural energies in the air as it fell. Yu You felt an immense pressure weighing down on him, and as the natural energies around him were sucked away by the mountain, his overall strength was weakened by at least thirty percent.
"What a good trick! You are pretty nice, woman! Why don't you become my Dao companion?" Although he had just said Princess Zhang Le could be Yu Miao's spouse, when he saw that the princess actually possessed such an amazing skill, he was tempted to claim her for himself. He gave a loud cry, and the Ying Dragon above him echoed that by letting out a deafening roar and reaching down both his giant claws at the princess.
On a mountain thousands of miles away, Liu Bang and King Zhang Qiu were sitting opposite each other, drinking. Though far away, their eyes were fixed on Princess Zhang Le at the same time. Suddenly, Liu Bang threw down his wine vessel and said, "She is such an amazing girl! How could I let her wander out in the wind and rain, going through all the worldly suffers? I am a man with a soft heart, and I can never see a girl suffers...Why don't—"
King Zhang Qiu interrupted him by saying in a cold voice, "This girl has formed the golden body of the ancient God. She is mine!"
Both men stared at each other. Tiny sparks seemed to fly out from where their glances met in the air, and yet no one would give in. No matter it was for immortals or Great Yu's experts, a girl who had awakened her bloodline of ancient God and formed the golden body like Princess Zhang Le could provide a tremendous benefit. For King Zhang Qiu, if he could marry her, he would be able to plant her bloodline in his own clan. So, he would have descendants who also possessed the same bloodline in the future. This was very important for the strength of his clan.
But now, they both had shown the desire of claiming her at the same time, and none of them was willing to back down. At last, Liu Bang sighed and said reluctantly, "Well... why don't we just kill her before it hurts our friendship?"
King Zhang Qiu pondered for a while, and eventually nodded.
Liu Bang chuckled; a bright gleam flashed in his eyes as he unleashed the Sky Veiling Flag of Chaos, sending it toward Princess Zhang Le.
[1] Ying Dragon - Yinglong (traditional Chinese: 應龍; simplified Chinese: 应龙; pinyin: yìnglóng; Wade-Giles: ying-lung; lit. "responsive dragon") is a winged dragon and rain deity in ancient Chinese mythology.