Chapter 961: Embryonic Form of the Seven Emotions Dao Fruit, Impossible to Guard Against

Lord Chumo felt as though he had been cursed with eight lifetimes of wretched luck. The tide of battle had turned overwhelmingly against him; on his own side, Lord Xiangyao was utterly unreliable, liable to stab him in the back at any given moment, forcing Chumo to continuously chant Buddhist sutras just to keep his composure.

In stark contrast, the opposing force boasted a half-immortal, an immortal tree that had birthed its own soul, and a cultivator of the Tribulation Transmutation Stage.

Even if Lord Shanhe himself were brought here to fight, victory would be far from guaranteed, let alone for someone like him.

It was time to flee.

Lord Chumo felt the tree roots contracting relentlessly, tightening their vise-like grip around him.

"I shall save you! By my words, I establish a Rule: The body of the Ancestral Laurel Tree cannot regenerate!" Lord Xiangyao swung his great halberd, striking down with all his might. Suddenly, a massive root lunged from the side to collide with the weapon, snapping in half beneath the blow, only to instantly restore itself to its pristine state.

"How can this be? I established a Rule!"

Lord Chumo could not restrain a furious curse. "You absolute fool! The Ancestral Tree has already reached the level of an 'Immortal Object'! How could the rules of a mere Tribulation Transmutation Stage cultivator alter it?"

"I tried to save you out of the goodness of my heart, and you dare curse at me?!" Lord Xiangyao flew into an equal rage, hoisting his divine halberd and smashing it squarely against Lord Chumo's head, leaving the latter's mind buzzing and disoriented.

"Let it be known beforehand that I did not employ the prototype of the Fruit of Seven Emotions just now," Perfected Master Zhuiyue declared instantly, pre-emptively clearing her name.

"Nonsense! It was clearly you who played those underhanded tricks just now!" Lord Xiangyao hastily defended himself to assert his stance.

No one could determine with certainty which side was speaking the truth.

Lord Chumo had no time to discern truth from falsehood; his most pressing matter was to make a swift escape.

"Vajra Dharma Aspect!" Lord Chumo roared, summoning a towering Vajra manifestation that stood hundreds of feet tall. Taking advantage of the moment when the sprawling roots became entangled with the colossus, he tore an opening through the chest of his own Dharma aspect and leaped out.

"You think you can flee after intruding upon the Immortal Palace?!"

The very moment Lord Chumo was about to breach the boundaries of the Immortal Palace, countless tree roots erupted into the heavens, shooting straight up to form a wooden wall of unfathomable height.

Lord Chumo veered toward the right, yet he was consistently a step slower than the roots, which surged upward with terrifying velocity.

The immense Immortal Palace was completely encircled by the roots within the blink of an eye.

The Ancestral Laurel Tree had flourished upon the Great Snow Mountain since ancient times, its root system permeating every hidden corner of the peak. Forget merely enclosing the Immortal Palace nestled within the mountains; sealing off the entirety of the Great Snow Mountain would pose no difficulty at all.

In theory, the Ancestral Laurel Tree possessed a might comparable to a cultivator of the Tribulation Transmutation Stage, but owing to its colossal mass, it was equivalent to an Immortal of Time who remained in the Tribulation Stage, and could never be treated as an ordinary Tribulation-stage opponent.

Her singular weakness lay in her inability to ever leave the domain of the Great Snow Mountain.

"Damn it, do you truly take me for a helpless doll made of clay?!"

Seeing his escape route completely cut off, Lord Chumo erupted in fury. He would fight the Immortal Palace to the death; after all, the Immortal Palace lacked any exceptionally devastating offensive arts, and his prototype of the Vajra Fruit feared nothing.

Suddenly, Lord Chumo's aura surged aggressively, only for his rage to abruptly vanish a moment later, causing his power to plummet.

Once more he flew into a towering rage, and once more his anger evaporated.

He raged again, and it vanished again.

"Immortal Palace, you have gone too far!" Lord Chumo glared, an empty void hollowed out in his chest. To harbor an intense fury yet be completely unable to unleash it was an excruciating torture.

Perfected Master Zhuiyue let out a cold sneer. "Do not think that shouting a few slogans and working yourself into a frenzy will grant you a sudden surge of strength. I will not give you that chance."

She had not spent her life reading all those fictional chronicles for nothing.

"Xiangyao, go and slaughter all the disciples of the Immortal Palace!" Lord Chumo commanded in a flash of desperate wit. He refused to believe that the forces of the Immortal Palace would remain indifferent while their disciples were butchered.

They would undoubtedly be forced to divert their attention to deal with Lord Xiangyao, which would significantly alleviate the pressure bearing down on him.

"Don't even dream of it!"

Ancestor Fang produced a wooden box. As the lid flew open, a beam of light enveloped Lord Xiangyao just as he prepared to commence his slaughter, dragging him uncontrollably into the container.

"The Light-Binding Treasure Box," Lord Chumo sneered. He had heard of this renowned Immortal Treasure, crafted from the horn of a Xiezhi; it could suck a target inside and force them into a duel from which they could only depart upon determining a victor.

The Immortal Sister had once controlled Lu Yang's body to fight a solo battle against four sect masters inside this very box, cutting a magnificent figure.

Lord Chumo knew his scheme had succeeded. Someone from their side would inevitably have to enter the box to serve as Lord Xiangyao's opponent, and it had to be a cultivator of the Tribulation Transmutation Stage—anyone below that rank entering would simply be walking to their doom.

That meant it would have to be this Tribulation-stage cultivator surnamed Fang.

To his surprise, Ancestor Fang had long anticipated this, pulling out a sack of ants and stuffing them directly into the wooden box.

Lord Xiangyao would have to defeat every last one of these ants before he could ever hope to escape.

However, the space inside the box was extraordinarily vast, far beyond the reach of Lord Xiangyao's divine sense to scan completely.

"Let us hope Lord Xiangyao can find every single ant."

Luo Hongxia's left eyelid twitched twice; she had never imagined the Light-Binding Treasure Box could be utilized in such a manner.

As expected of an Ancestor.

"Losing one opponent is still a blessing!" Lord Chumo spat through gritted teeth, loath to admit his calculations had failed. These modern-era cultivators were truly malicious to the core.

"Exorcise Evil and Uphold the Righteous Way!" Lord Chumo invoked the power of incense offerings, transforming in an instant into the peerless sovereign of thirty thousand years ago who eradicated demons to safeguard the peace of the realm.

The Jade Dragon exhaled a breath of extreme frost to freeze Lord Chumo solid, while the prototype of the Fruit of Seven Emotions disrupted his mind, rendering his attacks and defenses utterly disjointed as the tree roots whipped him mercilessly.

Boom!

The ice shattered into fragments, and Lord Chumo stepped out slowly, a wild, unbridled smile curling upon his lips.

"Come then! Let us see how any of your attacks can possibly harm me!"

"As you wish!" The forces of the Immortal Palace offered no pleasantries, instantly launching their second wave of assault.

Watching the battle from a close distance, Lu Yang discerned a strange anomaly. "Does Lord Chumo's state seem a bit off? It almost looks as though he is thoroughly enjoying this sensation."

"Could Senior Zhuiyue have worked her magic to make Lord Chumo perceive pain as a form of pleasure?"

Lu Yang found the prototype of the Fruit of Seven Emotions truly terrifying; its methods were utterly impossible to guard against, trapping its victims before they even realized they had fallen prey.

Fortunately, Senior Zhuiyue was on their side.

Lu Yang abruptly raised his head, sensing an impending danger just as a stray blast of energy careened wildly toward him and Jing Hong.

"Senior Sister, clash palms!" Lu Yang shouted. Jing Hong instantly grasped his intent, and the two struck their palms together, using the recoiling force to fly backward and escape the blast radius.

"Hmm? Why has someone else sneaked into the Immortal Palace?" The Immortal Sister frowned, sensing another presence entering the domain just now.

……

"Fight on, fight on. The more chaotic the clash, the better." A hidden figure peered up at the battered Lord Chumo, chuckling softly.

Lords Xiangyao and Chumo were nothing more than decoys to draw the attention of the Immortal Palace; he was the one truly destined to fell the Ancestral Tree.

"Huh?"

The figure suddenly felt a searing heat blooming against his chest. Reaching in, he pulled out one of four tokens, which was now glowing intensely hot.

Cradling the token in his hands, he began to tremble with overwhelming excitement.

"This is... is one of the four Ancient Immortals nearby?!"

At this moment, he completely cast the matter of the Ancestral Laurel Tree to the back of his mind. Compared to the whereabouts and the Divine Fruits of the four Ancient Immortals, what did the Ancestral Laurel Tree even matter!

He shifted continuously, searching for the direction that caused the token to burn hottest, and quickly locked his gaze upon the pitch-black ring held in Jing Hong's hand.

The ancient immortal was resting inside that very ring!

He unleashed a fatal strike toward the completely oblivious Jing Hong; should the blow connect, she would undoubtedly perish!

A deep, long sigh echoed from within the ancient ring. Matters had reached a head; there was no choice but to intervene.

A vortex manifested from the ancient ring, drawing the incoming strike entirely into its depths.

The figure glided effortlessly into the ancient ring.

"Ghost Lord of the Great Qian Dynasty, bows in reverence before the Immortal Ying Tian."