Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 261 - 258: Hotcakes

Chapter 261: Chapter 258: Hotcakes

The yellow-clad child who had just enacted the "Innate Divine Ability" to resurrect from death was still somewhat dazed for a moment.

This ability was certainly magical, but apart from knowing that he had just died once, all memories during that period were completely lost, leaving him inevitably disoriented.

It wasn’t until Xu Zhenzhi suddenly spoke up and startled him that his pupils abruptly constricted, and he hunkered down like a cornered animal, coldly snapping:

"Wait for me? What do you want to do?!"

After declaring his affiliation, Xu Zhenzhi, however, did not say much more, but merely formed a Sealing Technique with his hands and softly uttered one sentence:

"Activate the formation!"

Whoosh—!

A captivating wind suddenly arose, and the seven divine positions of the Douzhai Star Gods, previously hidden around the hall, burst forth with a brilliant Spirit Light shooting up to the sky.

Along with the Array Eye where Xu Zhenzhi was located, they formed a resplendent "Eight Trigrams Locking Formation," firmly blocking every direction of the yellow-clad child.

Seeing the setup, it was clear that Old Xu had obviously been prepared for quite some time.

The person who understands you best is not your friend, but your adversary.

The information held by the Corpse Dissection Immortal of the "Great Fate" faction, which gathered a large number of Auspicious Gods, and the "Black Taisui" faction, certainly overlapped, as both had been at war with each other for many years.

Unlike the yellow-clad child, a wild divine being left to grow unrestrained, without the various exchanges with its peers.

The organization of the "Immortal Officials" was much more strict.

The Daoist Skills proceeding from "Black Taisui" would be documented and summarized after a single encounter by these Immortal Officials, to be included in the internal library of the Nine Soldiers.

By deducing, extrapolating, and verifying, they sought to uncover the essence of these Daoist Skills and develop counterstrategies.

In the next encounter, they aimed to strike at the vitals.

Guided by such a mindset, the war monks of the "Nine Soldiers" even built a majestic "Guanlan Pavilion."

It was said that in addition to the ever-evolving "Slaughter Science," there was also a major secret regarding whether the Human Clan could turn defense into offense!

Although the intelligence in the hands of the Great Fate faction did not include this "Divine Skill: Old Almanac," they possessed higher divine powers like "Returning to Heaven and Returning to the Sun" and "Returning Wind and Fire."

Thus, the yellow-clad child who had revived from history was caught red-handed by the well-prepared Xu Zhenzhi.

"Cease your actions!"

After being enveloped by the formation of the "Eight Trigrams Locking Formation," the yellow-clad child immediately lost all sensation of the outside world, and the weathered figure before him disappeared as well.

At the same time, his sense of crisis intensified.

Like a headless fly, he frantically scurried around the formation, trying to find an exit to ascend to heaven, but because a living person was the foundation of the formation, he was unable to escape the "Eight Trigrams Locking Formation."

Outside the formation, Xu Zhenzhi no longer paid any attention to the fish trapped in the jar, but instead bowed deeply toward the northern sky.

But he was not bowing to Beidou; he bowed to a star even higher than Beidou—the Fate Star.

While bowing, he formed a Sword technique with his hands and chanted:

"My path has an Immortal Sword, its edge the Great Dao itself, its sides Yin and Yang; its spine the Three Talents, its quillon the Five Elements;

Encased by the four cardinal points, enveloped by the four seasons; encompassing the universe, adorned with the Returning Ruins; parted by chaos, wielded through spring and summer, operated through autumn and winter.

This sword strikes unrivalled when lifted, without equal when raised, without parallel when affixed, without side when set in motion. It severs clouds above, severs the earth’s records below.

When this sword is used, it slays demons, scatters all deceit, roams the Nine Heavens, achieving immortality!"

Then he raised his hand toward that star and shouted loudly, "Sword, come to me!"

Whoosh—!

As soon as the words were uttered, a beam of starlight that seemed to split the night sky in half shot down, turning into a sword of light in his hands.

The true form of the sword was hard to see with the naked eye, barely discernible were seven star points on the blade, the chilling light piercing to the bone.

Xu Zhenzhi bit the tip of his finger and lightly touched the blade.

The star representing him as the Giant Gate Star Lord of the seven star points instantly brightened.

Beidou Seven Stars, constituting Yin and Yang, governing the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter), harmonizing the Five Elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth), changing with the solar terms (the twenty-four solar terms), defining all records (years, months, days, hours, stars, calendars).

No one was more suited than them to break the "Divine Skill: Old Almanac" and truly kill the yellow-clad child!

The Giant Gate Star Lord, Xu Zhenzhi, held the Immortal Sword above his head, and shouted at the still-frantic yellow-clad child within the formation:

"With the sword defining all records, there is no escape—Be slain—!!!"

A dazzling flash of the sword’s brilliance came and went.

With a "plop," a dirty "Old Almanac" fell to the ground.

Aside from gaining an additional "Killing Dao Fruit," the Deceit Object was still that same powerful Deceit Object.

But the characteristic of "being alive" had already been completely eradicated.

Picking up this "Old Almanac," Xu Zhenzhi was all smiles at the smooth progress of the mission:

"This mission went unexpectedly smoothly, all thanks to Brother Wang’s disaster-attracting constitution.

No way, such a useful individual—how could we of the ’Nine Soldiers’ let you go?

I will immediately request from our Great Fate to get Brother Wang into our Great Fate branch!

Obtain a position as an ’Immortal Official,’ and the chances of achieving the Dao immediately increase by threefold, Brother Wang ah, do well in the future, and big brother here won’t let you down, haha..."

...

Meanwhile, at the same time.

Yunhe County, Mirror Lake, Black Water Temple.

Because of the recent disturbances in dreams, even those who practiced cultivation had to be cautious to avoid accidents while sleeping.

Long Shao, Zisu, and Hualing, mother and daughter, naturally moved into the same room as well.

Long Shao, wrapped in a silver robe, was sleeping sweetly on a couch.

Zisu and Hualing, the sisters in charge of keeping watch, had shrunk in size and gathered around a luminous "Dragon Pearl" on the table, taking turns licking it, making it smaller and smaller like candy.

And on the table, there were several empty porcelain bottles, most of which still had traces of "Human Qi" that hadn’t been completely licked clean.

After many days apart, the two sisters had also undergone a transformation.

The upper half of their bodies looked like young girls in the budding stage of adolescence, their skin fair and delicate like carved ivory.

Being twins hatched from the same egg, their faces were almost identical.

Each had a pair of small coral-like horns on their foreheads, and a patch of black and red snake scales remaining on their brows, while their lower halves retained their original snake tails.

Burp~

Hualing suddenly let out a cute, satisfied burp, lifting her head and patting her little stomach in admiration:

"This dragon energy is really yummy, much tastier than the regular human qi!"

There are three paths for demons to refine form: One, study; two, intercourse to steal qi; three, devour living humans.

Wang Yuan’s twin snake demon cousins had no talent for the most orthodox path of studying, as they couldn’t understand the obscure meanings in books.

Being innocent and having a strong sense of justice, they naturally wouldn’t resort to the latter two methods, either.

Back when the officials of Dengzhou Prefecture planned the evil act of flooding nine counties, no one in the Dengzhou cultivation world dared to stand up.

Only these two sisters, heedless of Jin Shengshui’s persuasion, risked their lives to save the people of Yunhe.

The Yin Morality they had accumulated was indeed not a small amount, yet their Taoist ability progressed slowly.

Fortunately, once the "Cloud Tower Ghost Market" opened, there was no shortage of human qi, and the sisters’ cultivation supplies were abundant. Their Taoist ability finally began to improve by leaps and bounds.

Moreover, the Water Virtue Dragon Pearl taken from Xue Donglou was originally intended to benefit the little concubine’s Taoist skill, to increase her chances of successfully transforming into a dragon next year.

However, they discovered that this stream of Water Virtue Dragon Qi, nurtured by countless human lives, was far less pure than her Innate Qi, so they decisively gave it to the twin sisters as a great nourishing medicine to strengthen their foundations.

Zisu and Hualing each licked the pearl, and in a short while, they licked the Dragon Pearl completely clean.

It was at this moment,

their bodies became more and more transparent, their flesh and blood fading away as if they were gradually transforming into a combination of wind and clouds, ready to be swept away by the night breeze.

"Ah!"

The sisters couldn’t help but cry out in surprise.

It was their innate divine ability that finally awoke in unison at this moment—[Cloud Body Wind Body]!

The rich dragon energy not only enabled them to complete Refining Form but also changed the essence of the sisters, transforming them into water spirits similar to those cultivators in the Mountain Spirit Temple—a type of water elf.

When gathered, they had shape; when dispersed, they became qi.

Slap!

A delicate jade hand appeared just in time, grabbing the tails of the two sisters and pulling them out of the state of [Cloud Body Wind Body].

It was Long Shao, who had been awoken by her daughters’ cries and promptly controlled their transformation.

She extended her fair fingers, lightly tapped the foreheads of the two cuties, and while feeling joy, she sighed lightly in the end.

This was because an increase in Taoist ability was not necessarily a good thing for her daughters.

The root cause was their Life Chart: [Heavenly Origin Qi Formation].

Their year, month, day, and hour in the Four Pillars were all pure, and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches were also pure, making their eight characters: Gui-Hai, Gui-Hai, Gui-Hai, Gui-Hai. The Heavenly Stems were all Gui, and the Earthly Branches were all Hai.

The Five Elements corresponding to the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches were all water; in the Heavenly Stems it was Ren and Gui water, and in the Earthly Branches it was Hai and Zi water.

They were simply natural water attribute "Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures".

However, just as a Magician needs to control [Heavenly Spirit Qi] with [Earth Spirit Qi] to maintain balance and prevent Dao dissolution during routine cultivation,

a balanced destiny and Daoist skill are the best.

Being too extreme could lead a cultivator down a path towards one extreme, and one might bump into the bowl of a [Heavenly Official] at any time.

In Wang Yuan’s words, in this world, a Heavenly Spirit Root leads to death, a Mixed Spirit Root dictates, and a Five Elements Spirit Root is the king of kings!

If there was no stronger destiny to conceal them, and without noblemen to support them, these two little ones could not go far.

Once the destiny manifests, even walking down the street and catching the casual glance of an Old Demon might bring disaster upon them.

Perhaps throughout the entire Dengzhou Prefecture, it would be impossible to find water spirits as beneficial as these two sisters.

Plus, with their overly strong sense of justice and naivety, they were somewhat impulsive in their actions.

Like during the "Flooded Nine Counties" incident, they offended Xue Donglou, the Magistrate, the Commander, and a bunch of officials.

Had it not been for their cousin conveniently wiping out the entire Xue Mansion and the officialdom of Dengzhou Prefecture, a dire backlash would have already befallen them.

Long Shao couldn’t help but worry. While she was around, she could take care of them, but if she failed to transform into a dragon on the second day of February next year, not only would her sister Qingyan die, but she would certainly die as well.

At that time, what would happen to the two children? It would be best to find a trustworthy person to entrust them to, and if they could form a Taoist partnership to support each other, that would be even better.

Maybe...

Looking at her two adorably sculpted daughters, she suddenly asked:

"Zisu, Hualing, what do you think of Xiao Yuan, your cousin?"

Before the more reserved Zisu could speak, Hualing blurted out in an excited chirp:

"Mom, are you thinking of marrying us off to cousin? Yeah! Yeah!"

Long Shao swatted her little bottom in annoyance.

"Don’t tell me you’re coveting cousin’s Ghost Market at home, planning to hang out there to eat and drink for free?"

"Wow, you found out! Sister, mom is so amazing."

"It’s because you are too silly, Hualing!"

At this time, whether in the eyes of Xu Zhenzhi or in the eyes of Long Shao and her daughters, Wang Xiaoyuan seemed to have become a hot commodity.

Just as Long Shao was about to voice her plans, she was shocked to discover that somehow, a shadow had appeared outside the bedroom window.

It was... a pair of feet!

Someone was standing upside down outside the window!