Taiyi Dao Fruit-Chapter 1124 - 348: All Cards Revealed, Dutian Divine Thunder
The mountains and rivers moved, the land shifted.
After exchanging over ten moves, the two giant shadows transformed again, shrinking from towering giants to tiny as dust, with an unmatched force clashing against each other causing shockwaves, yet their figures were unseen.
Then, they transformed from dust into streams of light, moving through space, colliding with one another, and once again becoming the height of ordinary people, fighting in midair.
The Yellow Emperor's Four Faces is indeed the perfect form after mastering the "Form Tomb". No matter how the enemy changes, it can respond accordingly.
And Jiang Li not only mastered the Yellow Emperor's Four Faces but also possessed the mystery of the Eight-Nine Profound Skill and the insight of the Three Changes. Without Tan Wuwei's assistance, the Heavenly Monarch vaguely sensed constraints in his transformations.
At this moment, a brilliant, white and shiny ring descended from the sky, swirling leisurely, appearing slow but actually fast, directly falling towards the Heavenly Monarch's Heavenly Spirit.
It was the Vajra Mala.
Though it appeared radiant, it seemed as if it came from nowhere, leaving no trace, nor affecting the Qi Mechanism, leaving one unaware, and it was about to strike the Heavenly Monarch's crown.
At the critical moment, a tree canopy appeared out of thin air, towering like an umbrella, shielding above the Heavenly Monarch. The collision between the tree canopy and the Vajra Mala was silent, yet it instantly stabilized the turbulent space, as solid as ground layers.
"Has Fellow Daoist Gongsun forgotten this poor Daoist?"
Laughter echoed from afar, causing the Heavenly Monarch's brow to furrow.
Though the Daoist Lord's strength has indeed fallen to the nadir, he remains a supreme being, and his Daoist skill is unsurpassed in the present age. After departing the battle circle, he could focus entirely on controlling artifacts, posing a significant threat to the Heavenly Monarch.
The most crucial thing is—
"Boom!"
A sound like a thunderclap resounded, as if heaven and earth were wailing, red blood light abruptly spreading across heaven and earth, revealing scenes of destruction wherever it passed.
Chi You's Flag appeared.
The Yellow Emperor's Four Faces is indeed formidable, fearless of being besieged, no matter how many enemies come, it faces them head-on. However, a Dao Artifact cannot change as the body does. Even if it transforms into a thousand or ten thousand faces, there will only be one Dao Artifact.
After all, a Dao Artifact cannot master the "Form Tomb" nor achieve the Yellow Emperor's Four Faces.
Jiang Li has not used a Dao Artifact while engaging with the Heavenly Monarch, both to test the opponent's depths and to wait for an opportunity.
The one to use a Dao Artifact first indicates an unfavorable situation, needing the artifact's aid, presenting an opportunity for the other party.
And now, the Heavenly Monarch is fighting one against two.
If it were not a supreme being, even if ten came, the Heavenly Monarch wouldn't fear, but if it were a Daoist Lord, even if gravely injured, the Heavenly Monarch must be cautious. Especially in scenarios where the Daoist Lord strikes without martial virtue, launching a sneak attack.
The ambush happened in an instant, as Jiang Li seemed to anticipate, wielding Chi You's Flag.
The All Heaven Divine Sha soared to the sky, manifesting multiple scenes of destruction — heaven collapsing, earth splitting, wind dying, thunder striking... While resembling scenes brought forth by Innate Qi, their meanings were entirely opposite.
One signifies life, the other signifies destruction.
Jiang Li's figure also underwent transformation at this moment, morphing into a massive form of a Demon God.
With a copper head and iron forehead, hair like swords and halberds, a bull's head with a human body, four eyes and four arms, carrying the mechanism to annihilate all things, appearing in the world.
Within the "Form Tomb" exists the Chi You Phase, and at this moment Jiang Li uses primordial material to transform into Chi You's True Body, matching exactly with that Warlord Chi You, the only difference perhaps lying in the strength.
Using the Taixu's Body to evolve into Chi You's True Body, and employing Taiji Qi to convert into All Heaven Divine Sha, Jiang Li moved all four arms together, Chi You's Flag transformed into a red giant star, rotating in the four palms, thrusting forward.
The Heavenly Monarch naturally wouldn't be unprepared, even while controlling the ginseng fruit tree to defend against the Vajra Mala, he constantly preserved heart power to contend with Jiang Li.
Back in the Buddha Country, the Heavenly Monarch needed to rely on Tan Wuwei's Divine Skills to simultaneously face two supreme beings, but now, it's unnecessary, as back then, he wasn't in his True Body, nor used his full strength.
At that time, the Heavenly Monarch grasped Heaven and Earth, all things within his grasp, yet with a flip of the palm, everything perished, evolving into the destruction of All Things by the All Heaven Divine Sha.
The "Chi You Three Disks Scripture", he mastered it and possessed considerable skill.
Using All Heaven Divine Sha against All Heaven Divine Sha, two forces of destruction clashed head-on, obliterating all form and formlessness, even the shockwaves were annihilated, the momentum dissolved. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Subsequently, the Heavenly Monarch's palm revealed faint cracks.
At this time, "Daoism Rules the World" was still in effect, preventing the Heavenly Monarch from using "Tri-legged Nine Provinces", whereas Jiang Li could augment his power with "The State is Me", further supported by Chi You's Flag. Even if the Heavenly Monarch was deeply concealed, resisting such a destruction-laden strike under these circumstances proved challenging.
The Daoist Lord, though heavily injured and unsuitable as the main force, still held considerable auxiliary ability.
The infamously rogue Divine Skills "Daoism Rules the World" inherently possessed fairness, primarily because the skill indiscriminately suppressed both enemies and allies, yet now, with the presence of Jiang Li, untouched by the Divine Skill, only the opponent suffered suppression, and the sole fairness vanished.
More importantly, the Heavenly Monarch cannot retreat.
As he retreated, Jiang Li returned to the battlefield on the Han River, leading the court army to flatten the enemy forces.
At this time, the battle on the Han River was already raging fiercely, and the court side held the upper hand, but on the side of the Heavenly Monarch, there was Tan Wuwei, who could gaze into the future, which allowed them to hold on.
However, all of this was predicated on the absence of the Supreme from the arena.
Therefore, even if it meant excluding the purpose of probing the depths, the Heavenly Monarch had to stall Jiang Li. Even now, surrounded and besieged without regard for martial virtue, he could not retreat.
Unless he didn't care about his subordinates.
Previously, Jiang Li had to take a huge risk to make a move, and now the tables have turned, the same risk and cost have fallen on the Heavenly Monarch. It can only be said that this cycle of cause and effect is unrelenting.
Cracks spread upwards from the palm, and the destructive Qi mechanism carried the great momentum of destiny forward. Jiang Li combined the Innate Qi and the All Heaven Divine Sha to form Taiji, operating life and death in harmony with the principles of heaven and earth, possessing an unstoppable momentum.
Seeing that it was difficult to resist, the Heavenly Monarch decisively withdrew his move, layers upon layers of space appeared before his palm.
Yellow clouds gradually dispersed, the illusory Heavenly Monarch appeared behind the Heavenly Monarch, as if merging into his body, the boat-shaped vertical eye appeared again, reflecting a crescent-like brilliance in its pupil.
At this moment, Jiang Li sensed a wave emanating from the Heavenly Eye at his brow.
"Heavenly Mirror?!" Jiang Li uttered three words.
The other half of the Heavenly Mirror was on the Heavenly Monarch. The root of the Heavenly Monarch's vertical eye, even the carrier of the Jade Emperor Dao Fruit, was that half of the Heavenly Mirror.
The Heavenly Monarch had hidden this half of the Heavenly Mirror deeply, only revealing it today.
With the appearance of the Heavenly Mirror, the Heavenly Monarch used the power of the Dao Artifact, raising his hand to create a small world, evolving a hundred layers of space simultaneously, blocking Chi You's Flag. Though it continued to break, it ultimately bought time for the Heavenly Monarch.
Taking this opportunity, the Heavenly Monarch clasped his hands together, expanded outward, and with a thought, countless talismans evolved, creating a Cave Heaven, encompassing himself.
The vast Qi mechanism simultaneously surged into the Heavenly Monarch's body, and one large cauldron after another emerged behind him.
Using the Heavenly Mirror in conjunction with his own abilities, he forcibly evolved a Cave Heaven in a short time, isolating [Daoism Rules the World]. At this moment, the Heavenly Monarch was like Tan Wuwei whom he had once hidden in his body's Cave Heaven, seemingly in front of one's eyes, yet actually in another realm, unaffected by divine skills.
The miraculous nature of [Tri-legged Nine Provinces] is not as profound as [I Am the State], which only enhances power and cannot be with the nation at rest; however, [Tri-legged Nine Provinces] has one advantage over [I Am the State], it is not limited by region.
Even if it's outside the ruling realm, it can still receive the empowerment of divine skills. King Shu, in the past, acted in Liangzhou Province and the Divine Capital, using [Tri-legged Nine Provinces] without hindrance.
With divine skills' empowerment, the power of the Heavenly Monarch surged, seeing the towering giant tree fully manifest, its canopy like a skydome, blocked Vajra Mala, then saw the Heavenly Monarch's right arm roll with thunderclap, the thunder light imposing, dissipating the All Heaven Divine Sha intruding his hand in an instant.
With thunder as life and death, the Heavenly Monarch operated the most rigid and strong thunder of heaven and earth with Innate Qi as life, and All Heaven Divine Sha as death, he shouted with a loud voice, "Dutian Divine Thunder."
Gray-white Thunder Gang formed a massive Thunder Ball, crashing into the endlessly evolving layered space, colliding with Chi You's Flag.
"——"
It was still a silent destruction, but compared to before, there was an incomparably spectacular scene of annihilation presented.
Space shattered and collapsed, turned into fragments like billions of meteors, large or small, flying toward heaven and earth in all directions.
Those fragments struck against Chi You's True Body, producing a sound like striking metal, even leaving scratches on the bronze demon god body. However, these marks disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The Warlord Demon God moved forward against the fragments, with a low, resonant voice as if echoing from the abyss, "I didn't expect the Heavenly Monarch to have sympathy for his subordinates, willing to reveal his trump card for this."
The voice was both mocking and sneering, mocking that the Heavenly Monarch also had such moments, sneering that his trump cards were nearly exhausted.
Meanwhile, Jiang Li also confirmed that the Heavenly Monarch's Promotion Ceremony was related to his subordinates and even the populace.
If it was irrelevant, with the Heavenly Monarch's temperament, he wouldn't have exposed his trump card for it?
"It seems the Heavenly Monarch has backup plans, believing your subordinates can safely retreat."
Jiang Li spoke heavily, stretching out his four arms, Chi You's Flag scattered into five, four of which fell into his hands, transforming into the Godslayer Spear, Annihilation Spear, Slaughter Spear, Life Destruction Spear, while the final Heavenly Shooting Bow turned into a flag descending behind him, a bow and arrow depicted on its surface, arrow aimed from another layer of space at the enemy, ready to be released at any time.
"Don't you have a calculation of whether or not there is a backup plan?"
The Heavenly Monarch's expression was calm, speaking lightly: "In fact, you already know this backup plan, yet still probe like this, which actually indicates my backup plan is about to take the stage."
That is to say, time was running out.
As long as the Heavenly Monarch's subordinates retreated safely into Yangzhou, the Heavenly Monarch could also withdraw.
In Yangzhou, Jiang Li would not be able to receive the empowerment of divine skills, reducing part of his strength, making it difficult to match the Heavenly Monarch, so even if he could get free, he couldn't pursue.
And that was because time was running out, that Jiang Li attempted to perturb the Heavenly Monarch's heart with rhetoric when he calculated the backup was about to debut.
Unfortunately, this ultimately failed to shake the Heavenly Monarch's mind.
