Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 583 - 538

Chapter 583: 538

Clang! Clang! Clang!...

The jarring sound of the alarm bells echoed over the Returning Ruins for a long time without ceasing.

On Daiyu Immortal Mountain of Long Bo Country, on Yuanjiao Immortal Mountain of Merfolk Country, on Fanghu Immortal Mountain of Feather People Country, and on Immortal Mist Island of Immortal Mist Temple had already marshaled their forces, making defensive preparations.

The three rootless immortal mountains, with the unmovable Immortal Mist Island nearest to the Red County Shenzhou as the boundary, were quickly arranged in a line by huge turtles bearing the weight.

Streaks of flashing Escape Light and Yin Gods, under the lead of Qingxia, Long Bo, and two other Green Seal Sages, surged into the abyss-like dark night sky, marshaling and forming arrays.

The voices of the chants of over ten thousand cultivators resounded through the clouds and skies:

"Obeying the imperial command of the Emperor above, inspecting the mortal sentiments below. The sound of iron chains capturing heaven, the crack of iron whips striking earth. Riding dragons around sea islands, driving tigers across Qiankun.

With Heavenly Peng General on the left, and the Four Seasons Gods on the right..."

Immediately, one after another thick lock chain made of golden talismans, connected the four immortal mountains together.

One by one, the spiritual avatars of heaven and earth materialized as Divine Generals, anchoring the foundations of the formation like towering mountains piercing heaven and earth.

After receiving the early warning from Wang Yuan and the Great Fate coming from the "Source of Torrent".

They, who were already tasked with the heavy duty of defense, instantly formed an "Iron Chain Across the River Formation".

No sooner had the formation been established

Flap flap——!

Directly behind Sage Qingxia, thousands of silver-gray beautiful butterflies swarmed out of thin air.

They then condensed out of nowhere into two stunning beauties, one in a red dress and one in a white, one petite and one tall, one gentle as water and the other sharp as a knife.

It was Huang Wu and the avatar of Taibai, who had hurried back from Yu State immediately after receiving the message, to aid in the defense.

To deal with the disaster striking from the Dream Realm, Huang Wu, the premier Dream Realm Sage of the Mortal World, was truly the most professional expert.

Having been stationed in the Returning Ruins for many days, they were already acquainted with the four Green Seal Sages here and nodded to each other in greeting.

The avatar of Taibai was constantly observing the surge of the Heavenly River Water through his Body that was blocked in "Xuantai Pinyu Heaven".

Knowing how urgent the situation was, there wasn’t much time to waste.

Noticing the gradually emerging milky-white fog from the Returning Ruins in the distance, she promptly reminded Huang Wu by her side:

"Sister!"

"I’ve been ready for a while."

The girl crisply replied to the call.

With a wave of her slender hand, she threw a sea ship, which had been stored in "Inner Scene Heaven and Earth" ahead of time, outside the "Iron Chain Across the River Formation", very close to the Returning Ruins.

Among the formation, some sharp-eyed cultivators and Heavenly People noticed that the deck of the sea ship was actually strewn with men, women, and children lying haphazardly.

With dark skin and short stature, their hairstyles and clothing were also quite different from those of the people of Divine Land.

"Is that a group of... Moluo People? Is the Star Lord planning to test the lethality of ’Human Dao Torrent’ with them?"

Sage Qingxia, however, immediately understood Wang Yuan’s intention.

"Exactly! Since ancient times, Red County Shenzhou has experienced countless disasters.

Starting from the Ancient story of Dayu controlling the floods, floods, droughts, plagues... these calamities have ravaged this land time and time again.

Our ancestors paved the way with hardship, built water management systems with their own hands, studied medicine... and time after time, they extinguished these disasters.

Even many water conservancy projects constructed thousands of years ago still benefit the masses today—Feisha Dam, Grand Canal, Lingqu... all among them.

I believe, this time will be no exception!"

The avatar of Taibai’s slightly metallic announcement rang out with authority, steadying the hearts of everyone inevitably anxious in the face of the unknown disaster.

"To overcome a brand-new natural disaster, we must start with understanding it.

Moreover, I cannot bear to conduct experiments on any other sentient beings.

But using these Moluo People, not only will it not incur any Debt, it might even garner a lot of ’Yin Morality’!"

If the Returning Ruins were taken as the center and concentric circles were drawn,

The Moluo’s four islands: Chikuzi, Changzhou, Five Nations, Shisheng, along with Wang Yuan’s headquarters of Dushuo Mountain, were roughly located on the same concentric arc.

This too was destined to be the front lines affected first.

Following them would be the eastern coastal areas of Red County Divine Land: Yan State, Yu State, Dai State, Jiangzhou, Huai State.

The first three were also the territories overseen by Su Guyun, Zhou Jinhuan, and Nine Soldiers respectively.

It was natural to ascertain the details of the "Human Dao Torrent" in advance, and then to arrange corresponding defense measures.

Since one cannot use their own people for such dangerous tests, there was no choice but to use the Moluo People.

The group of men, women, elderly, and children on the boat were from a family known as "Yamada Asayemon."

After being carefully selected by the chief disciple, Zhu Bo’an, Huang Wu had made a special trip to Changzhou to capture them all together.

This family served as the official Test Knife Men and executioners for a feudal lord on Changzhou Island.

They also had two other names that terrified ordinary people: "Head-Cutting Asayemon" or "Man-Slaying Asayemon."

Because the Moluo People were naturally cruel, their test cutting was done on real human bodies.

Especially those lords, generals, and heavily armed samurai who all practiced Military Skills; after obtaining a good sword, they would definitely want to cut a human body to test its sharpness.

Thus, professional Test Knife Men came into being.

The human bodies used for sword testing were sometimes those of executed criminals, but more often they were living people.

Bodies were placed on specially made Test Knife Stones, or even several corpses stacked together, to test how many layers one stroke could sever.

Severing one layer was called "one-dong," two layers were called "two-dong," and generally, a sword that could achieve "three-dong" was considered a treasured blade.

In such a social atmosphere, the officially appointed Test Knife Man Yamada Asayemon was in great demand.

His official title was "Waist Item Commissioner," the manager of swords; with a salary of over a thousand koku, he held a high social status.

He even had the privilege to randomly kill civilians on the roadside with a treasured sword to test its sharpness without having to pay any compensation.

Noble samurai often had to spend a lot of money to hire him for a sword test.

Inheriting this practice over time, the entire family had already killed over fifty thousand people, which was considered shocking and preposterous even in this Divine Deceit World for a mortal family.

And this time.

It was finally their turn, the entire family, to test the "sword" of the "Daoism Transformation Disaster·Human Dao Torrent" for all of humanity and see just how sharp it really was.

"Taiyin Transformation, essence of the water level. Void danger upper response, stove snake formation. Cycle Six Union, overpowering all spirits. No ghosts unseen, no wishes unfulfilled! Hurry as the decree mandates, imperial decree!"

As the first wave of fog swallowed the ship and the several dozen people sleeping within, Huang Wu’s Taiyin Treasure Mirror also revealed their appearance within the Dream Realm.

Without looking at what they specifically dreamt of, she observed the "collective dream ocean of humanity" to analyze the essence of the Human Dao Torrent.

Land masses that rose above the water’s surface represented Consciousness; the land revealed by tidal movements, the Individual Subconscious;

And finally, the seabed that ultimately underpinned all the islands was the Collective Unconscious, embodying the historical sediment of a family, nation, state, or all sentient beings.

Within the Treasure Mirror.

The Moluo People manifested as dozens of islands of various sizes on the sea, each island bearing a dim human silhouette.

Symbolizing their "Self."

One could see the originally calm waters suddenly swell from the depths of the Returning Ruins, beginning from the dream realm of the ancient twelve corpses as their source.

Whoosh...

Then, wave after wave in the Dream Realm grew higher, with each wave crest resembling a withered hand.

At first, just like what Wang Yuan saw in the thirty-three heavens, they were transparent.

But as time went on, they seemed to carry the black silt from the bottom of the Heavenly River bed, with the waves growing increasingly dark.

Very soon.

The "little white mice" used for testing the blade started to sense something ominous, their "Selves" instinctively retreating to the highest points of their islands.

But it was no use.

As the waves climbed higher, those hand-shaped black waves casually grasped their limbs, effortlessly dragging them into the dark torrent.

The next moment.

"Aargh—!"

In the real world, a beast-like howl resounded far and wide.

The dozens who had been sleeping suddenly leaped up from the deck.

With half-closed, half-opened eyes, as if sleepwalking, they drew their swords at their waists and began hacking at each other.

Amidst the fog, screams filled the air and blood flowed like a river!

This was: "One dreams fond of killing amidst the slumber!"