Chapter 621: Heavenly Fate is Fickle

"Whew, it is finally over." Lu Yang and Jiang Lianyi walked to a place far away from the Demon City, peeling off their invisibility talismans.

"It is not over yet. I used the power of the embryonic Dao Fruit to control Zhu Tian. There are too many eyes and ears here; let us go find him once the crowd has mostly dispersed."

...

The battle of the half-immortals drew immense attention, while the three battles of the Tribulation Transmutation stage noticed by few.

Among the three battles, the gap in the clash between Jiang Mingzi and the patriarch of the Taowu clan was the greatest, leaving no suspense about the outcome.

With the Ancient Ancestor backing him, Jiang Mingzi fought much more wildly than before. Ever since the Taowu clan joined the Demon Kingdom, Patriarch Ji Youming had been exploiting the tiger's might all day long, bullying the Phoenix clan. The Phoenix clan had not dared to strike back, fearing it would give the Demon Kingdom an excuse to deploy troops.

Now, there was finally a chance to fight back.

"Jiang Mingzi, I think we can sit down and talk." Ji Youming vomited large mouthfuls of blood under the beating, his heart turning cold; this was an attempt to beat him to death, showing no restraint at all.

"Talk to your mother, today you must die!"

Jiang Mingzi had a violent temper, though previously constrained by his status, making it inconvenient to act thus.

"Fine, fine, fine, you forced me to this!"

Ji Youming was furious, burning his essence blood, spitting smoke from his mouth, and summoning lightning.

The lightning that appeared during the battle between Zhu Tian and Jiang Lianyi was not cast by either of them, but was the work of Ji Youming.

"Luo Tian Immortal Lightning!"

The lightning seemed to form a world of its own, with mountains and rivers appearing in the clouds, where myriad beasts and plants were all transformed from lightning. Subsequently, the world collapsed, and the lightning turned into a purplish-blue slurry, smashing violently toward Jiang Mingzi!

A few Integration stage cultivators noticed the movement over here, their eyelids twitching; had it been them under that lightning, they feared not even their bones would remain.

"Establish the rule here: [Within three breaths, no dodging], old man, die for me!" Ji Youming roared.

Jiang Mingzi pulled open the Great Banner of Five Virtues, shaking it vigorously. As the great banner fluttered, the five ancient characters of Virtue, Righteousness, Benevolence, Etiquette, and Faith stood out conspicuously. The purplish-blue lightning slurry landed on the banner, failing to manifest even a fraction of its might.

"How is this possible!" Ji Youming was greatly shocked. This move was considered his bottom-of-the-barrel trump card; how could it be neutralized so easily?

Jiang Mingzi sneered, for he would hardly tell him that the Great Banner of Five Virtues was a first-rate defensive supreme treasure, capable of confounding Yin and Yang, impervious to all arts.

"Establish the rule here: [Within three breaths, you cannot dodge]!"

"Impermanence of Destiny!"

An inexplicable power gathered at Jiang Mingzi's fingertips. Ji Youming felt that something was amiss and turned to run, but bound by the rule, he could not flee for the duration of a breath, forcing him to endure it head-on.

"Do not think you are the only one who knows defense!"

Ji Youming took out a lion pelt from his storage ring to block in front of him. This was a defensive Dharma treasure refined from the corpse of the previous patriarch, Ji Xiong.

Pfft.

Jiang Mingzi's finger pierced through the indestructible lion pelt, tapping right between Ji Youming's eyebrows.

"What did you do!"

Ji Youming felt that something had changed, but he could not quite articulate what that change was.

Jiang Mingzi would hardly inform his opponent of the effect of his technique.

The two continued to clash, and Ji Youming's moves repeatedly suffered errors. Either the circulation of his cultivation technique got stuck, or his hand seals were a beat too slow; all sorts of coincidences occurred.

The Impermanence of Destiny, a divine ability of karma, lowered the opponent's luck for a period of time.

In other words, it brought terrible luck to Ji Youming.

The two fought for several hundred rounds. Ji Youming was already no match for Jiang Mingzi, and with the defensive supreme treasure, the Great Banner of Five Virtues, rendering any attack against Jiang Mingzi ineffective, combined with his atrocious luck leading to consecutive blunders, he spent basically all of these several hundred rounds being beaten.

Jiang Mingzi's strikes were ruthless, each move fatal, until finally...

"Ah—"

Jiang Mingzi transformed into a thousand-zhang phoenix, tearing open Ji Youming's chest with talons as firm as steel bones.

Seeing things take an unfavorable turn, Ji Youming's soul exited his body, burning his longevity, and he fled decisively!

"Humph, you ran quite fast."

Jiang Mingzi cold-snorted, not expecting Ji Youming to flee so resolutely. Unless he also burned his longevity, he would not be able to catch up to Ji Youming.

"Could it be that I fought too fiercely just now, scaring him?"

Jiang Mingzi paid no more heed to Ji Youming, storing his corpse into his storage ring before heading to the Demon City to look for the Ancient Ancestor.

...

"Huff, huff, huff—" Ji Youming felt a lingering fear. Seeing that Jiang Mingzi was not pursuing him, he stopped burning his longevity.

"Returning to the clan in a soul state, there is a very high probability of being discovered along the way."

"Possess someone, and use his body to go back!"

Ji Youming arrived outside the city. Here were all low-level cultivators who lacked masters to protect their law and dared not enter the city to watch the battle; picking any random person would do.

"It shall be you!"

Without a word, he plunged into the spiritual terrace of a young cultivator.

The young cultivator's soul was currently sitting in meditation. Seeing Ji Youming, he was startled.

"Brat, what is your name?" Ji Youming grinned savagely. He was currently in his original form, hideous and terrifying, enough to stop a child's crying.

"I, my name is Kong Hao." The young cultivator named Kong Hao was clearly very nervous.

"Kong Hao, is it? I will remember you... wait, where did these iron bars come from?"

Ji Youming just wanted to attack Kong Hao to perform the possession, only to find himself separated from Kong Hao by a set of iron bars.

"This is a seal. How could there be a seal inside your body, and who is sealed within?"

Ji Youming was bewildered, when suddenly a familiar and chilly voice rang out.

"Naturally, it is sealing me!"

Ji Youming whipped his head around, discovering another Taowu locked inside the bars, trembling all over as he lost his voice and shrieked.

"Ji Xiong!"

Ji Xiong was blind in one eye. It sounded as though something was stuck in his throat, his laughter hoarse and grating, such that anyone could discern the Schadenfreude in his laugh.

"Ji Youming, you committed treason against your superior, rebelling to usurp my position as patriarch. Did you ever foresee this day?"

"What, what do you want to do!"

If he were at his peak, he would naturally not fear the old patriarch. Yet he had just fought a bloody battle against Jiang Mingzi and was at his weakest; encountering the old patriarch now, he was only bound to be beaten.

"What to do? Naturally, you shall be locked up here together with me!" Ji Xiong roared, suppressing Ji Youming!

This was the place sealing Ji Xiong. Ji Youming could have left this place, but how could Ji Xiong allow his enemy to escape.

He had been locked up here for so many years; while he had not figured out how to lift the seal, he had completely figured out how to seal someone!

...

Half a day later, the curtain fell on the battle of the Demon City, and the clash between the two ancient half-immortals shocked the world.

Ji Youming vanished, his life or death unknown.

The battle between the two Tribulation Transmutation stage cultivators of the Dragon clan and the elder of the Dijiang clan alongside the ancient ancestor of the Jiuying clan ended without a clear victor, but anyone with a discerning eye could tell this was merely an external rhetoric; the elder of the Dijiang clan and the ancient ancestor of the Jiuying clan were not lightly injured and required a long period of quiet recuperation.

In the imperial palace of the Demon City, Zhu Tian assumed human form, seated upon the throne that epitomized absolute power.

"Your Majesty..." an elder of the Dijiang tribe murmured, swathed in bandages as he tended to his lord's side.

"Enough, dismiss yourself, there is no need for you here," Zhu Tian waved his hand, his voice laced with irritation.

Once the Dijiang elder departed, two figures—a man and a woman—manifested within the palace halls; they were none other than Jiang Lianyi and Lu Yang.

With only three souls occupying its vast expanse, the grand palace felt exceptionally desolate.

Zhu Tian rubbed his hands together with sudden fervor, a welcoming smile plastered across his face as he vacated the throne. "Fellow Daoist Jiang, please, take a seat. The chair is cold, but I have warmed it up just for you."

Jiang Lianyi turned her gaze toward Lu Yang. "Senior Brother, would you like to sit?"

Lu Yang remained silent.

Was he, a mere human, truly meant to sit upon the throne of the Demon Realm's sovereign?

Lu Yang looked back at Zhu Tian. "Why don't you sit?"

After a brief impasse of hesitation, the issue was finally resolved when Zhu Tian conjured two additional imperial thrones from his storage ring.

The three chairs were arranged in a tight circle, bearing a striking resemblance to villagers gathering around a hearth for a casual chat.

Jiang Lianyi then posed the question she was most desperate to answer: "Do you know where my husband is?"

"Ah, he is still alive?"