Chapter 167: Chaotic Situation!
"Ancestor—" Just then, a rather disheveled figure appeared beside the Pill Tower Ancestor, his voice filled with grief and indignation. The newcomer was none other than the Grand Elder of the Small Pill Tower. At this moment, he still held in his grasp a figure whose aura was weak and feeble.
It was the Fourth Elder of the Small Pill Tower. Compared to the Grand Elder, a true Dou Sheng, the Fourth Elder, a Half-Saint, still lacked the ability to protect himself sufficiently in such a battlefield.
Had the Pill Tower Ancestor appeared even a moment later, he likely would have fallen at the hands of the Soul Hall.
"The Pill Tower Ancestor... I never thought we would actually get to see this legendary figure..."
"It is said that the Ancestor's true form is a ninth-tier arcane pill. I'm afraid, in this world, a pill of such rank exists only in him alone. If one were to refine..."
"Shut your mouth! Do you have a death wish? The Pill Tower Ancestor's strength is already heaven-penetrating and earth-spanning. While it's not that there's no one in this world who could defeat him, those who could safely and soundly refine him—I'm afraid you truly couldn't count many."
The exposure of the Pill Tower Ancestor's identity undoubtedly caused a stir throughout Holy Pill City. Several old monsters of vast knowledge and experience all wore expressions of shock. As their gazes looked upon the Pill Tower Ancestor with reverence, they could not help but entertain fleeting fantasies in their hearts.
"Old monster of the Pill Tower—you've finally shown yourself!" The First Heavenly Venerable looked at the Pill Tower Ancestor, deep dread flashing through his eyes. This was an old monster that even the Hall Master could not handle!
The Pill Tower Ancestor glanced at the Grand Elder and the Fourth Elder. With a wave of his hand, two masses of pure liquid, exuding a dense pill fragrance, flew into their mouths. In an instant, the injuries the two had sustained earlier began to visibly heal.
"Now that I have appeared, this farce should come to an end!" The Pill Tower Ancestor's pair of exceptionally clear eyes looked toward the Star Region, as if penetrating through layer upon layer of seals and taking in all the scenes within.
"All of you—get back here!"
The Pill Tower Ancestor extended a tender, youthful arm and made a slicing motion toward the Star Region. In the next instant, the surrounding space underwent a bizarre transformation.
The Soul Hall and the Pill Tower's forces appeared separately—behind the First Heavenly Venerable and behind the Pill Tower Ancestor, respectively. And the Three Thousand Burning Flame's colossal dragon body was also suspended in midair.
Its enormous dragon eyes stared at its surroundings in sheer terror. It could feel that its entire body had been sealed. It could not move a single muscle. At this moment, its heart could not stop trembling.
And both the Pill Tower and the Soul Hall's forces looked around with faces full of bewilderment, not understanding how—when they had been fighting so well—such a sudden change had occurred.
"Spatial translocation! Six-star Dou Sheng?! You really have broken through to six stars?!"
The First Heavenly Venerable's pupils abruptly constricted. He stared solemnly at the Pill Tower Ancestor, his expression grave.
"Ancestor!"
In contrast, after emerging, the Pill Tower's forces, following their initial bewilderment, revealed expressions of wild joy upon seeing the Pill Tower Ancestor. Led by the Grand Elder, they all paid their respects in unison.
"Since you dared to come to my Pill Tower and cause trouble—then let Hun Mie Sheng come and retrieve you!"
After extricating both sides, the Pill Tower Ancestor looked at the Soul Hall's forces. A single hand reached out. In that instant, the energy of heaven and earth abruptly surged violently, transforming into a heaven-supporting giant hand that grabbed toward the Soul Hall crowd.
"Not good—" Sensing the giant hand's binding, sealing power, the First Heavenly Venerable's expression immediately changed. A feeling of powerlessness surged in his heart.
At this critical juncture, an icy, sinister voice rang out. "Pill Tower—such grand, imposing might! Do you think my Soul Hall's people are yours to detain on a whim?"
"Hundred-Soul Devouring Mirror!"
Hun Mie Sheng's figure slowly materialized before the Soul Hall's forces. Raising his head, he gazed at the palm imprint in the sky. A beam of purplish-black light shot forth from his mouth, then transformed into a purplish-black curtain of light resembling a mirror.
The black curtain of light spread with lightning speed. Everything around it—whether tangible or intangible—was, in the blink of an eye, devoured into nothingness.
The giant hand in the sky slammed heavily onto the black curtain of light. No earth-shattering boom rang out. Instead, in that single instant, it was mercilessly eroded until nothing remained.
"Hun Mie Sheng... I never imagined you'd already touched the threshold of a five-star Dou Sheng!" Having his attack blocked, the Pill Tower Ancestor showed not the slightest frustration. Instead, he looked at Hun Mie Sheng with an utterly calm expression and spoke quietly.
"Five-star Dou Sheng..." Hearing the Pill Tower Ancestor's words, countless people were visibly shaken. The Hall Master of the Soul Hall was actually on the verge of breaking through to five-star Dou Sheng! To the vast majority of the Central Plains, this was absolutely catastrophic news.
"I won't waste words with you. Several of my Soul Hall's branch halls were destroyed by your Pill Tower's people the other day. As long as the Pill Tower hands over the culprit and hands over the Three Thousand Burning Flame as compensation for my Soul Hall's losses, I will immediately take my people and leave." Hun Mie Sheng gazed calmly at the Pill Tower Ancestor, his expression utterly indifferent.
"In your dreams!"
"The Pill Tower never attacked your branch halls! This is clearly a case of the thief crying 'catch the thief'!"
"Ancestor, we cannot agree! At worst, we'll fight them to mutual destruction!"
The moment Hun Mie Sheng spoke those words, the Pill Tower's forces were instantly filled with righteous fury. One after another, they glared at Hun Mie Sheng as if they wanted to tear him to shreds.
This was simply grinding the Pill Tower's dignity into the dirt!
"Hmph! I think it's better if I capture you all first and make the Four Demon Saints come to retrieve you!" Even the Pill Tower Ancestor was, for a rare moment, angered by Hun Mie Sheng's words. His ancient, weathered voice carried traces of fury.
The aura of a six-star Dou Sheng erupted with a thunderous boom, shaking the surrounding space into instability.
"Heh heh... If my clan's Four Demon Saint Lords were to step forward, old monster—would you still dare show yourself?" Just then, an aged, jeering laugh rang out.
In the next moment, an aged figure leaning on a walking stick, like a ghost, soundlessly and without the slightest warning, slowly appeared before Hun Mie Sheng. Under the gazes of countless onlookers, not a single person had noticed his emergence.
The instant he appeared, his hand—like a skeletal claw—directly clenched into a fist. With a sudden punch carrying piercing, fierce wind, he blasted toward the Pill Tower's forces.
Seeing this, the Pill Tower Ancestor opened his mouth and spat. A beam of dazzling golden light shot forth violently, transforming into an enormous curtain of light that enveloped the sky.
"Boom!"
The terrifying fist force slammed ruthlessly against the golden curtain of light. The dreadful shockwave of fierce wind immediately swept outward. Within a radius of ten thousand zhang, the space—with cracking and snapping sounds—directly exploded into a pitch-black void.
The surrounding space, under the clash of these two, completely burst apart.
"Hun Qianmo! To think it's you!" Seeing the aged, stick-leaning figure, the Pill Tower Ancestor's expression immediately turned solemn. His small face grave, he said, "Does your Hun clan intend to treat the pact between the ancient clans as nothing?!"
"Heh heh... A bunch of useless trash. Would they dare come to my Hun clan and question this old man?" Hun Qianmo looked at the Pill Tower Ancestor with a faint, meaningful smile and spoke with utter contempt.
"..." Hun Qianmo's words instantly choked the Pill Tower Ancestor. The Hun clan had openly violated the pact of the ancient clans. Yet the other imperial clans truly did not dare to personally come knocking and demand an explanation.
At most, they would hurl a few painless, itchless curses.
"Am I right?" Having shut the Pill Tower Ancestor's mouth with a single sentence, Hun Qianmo's gaze then shot like lightning toward a distant stretch of void. He chuckled lightly, "Little whelps of the Gu clan!"
"Bang—"
Hun Qianmo's words drew the attention of everyone present. Following his gaze, they saw a stretch of void in the distance abruptly shatter. Several disheveled figures tumbled out from within.
It was precisely Elder Tongxuan, Gu Qingyang, and the others who had rushed over to observe the battle.
At this moment, Tongxuan stared at the Soul Hall's forces with a face full of vigilance. Behind him, Gu Qingyang and the others did not dare to breathe loudly. Who could have imagined that what they had assumed to be a minor skirmish between the Soul Hall and the Pill Tower—which should have ended with the intervention of Dou Shengs from both sides—would escalate to this?
They had never expected that even a six-star Dou Sheng would appear! This matter is not going to be easily settled now.
"It's the people of the Gu clan!" Seeing the figures who had tumbled out of space, the Pill Tower's Grand Elder and the others were astonished. They hadn't expected even the Gu clan to be drawn in. Only...
The ones who came were far too weak!
"Hun Qianmo! Does your Hun clan truly intend to destroy the pact between the imperial clans?!" Tongxuan shielded Gu Qingyang and the others behind him. His expression turned grim as he looked at Hun Qianmo. Deep dread flickered through his eyes.
"The pact?" Hun Qianmo pulled a hideous smile and mocked, "If Gu Dao himself had come to speak such words, this old man might still feel a sliver of apprehension. But a mere Half-Saint like you—you dare come and question this old man?"
"The Gu clan is nothing more than the one that picked up the fruits of my clan's victory—a bunch living in the dream of being the strongest imperial clan. If you want to question this old man, then tell Gu Dao and the others to come to the Soul Realm themselves!"
Having finished, he paid no more attention to the ashen-faced Gu clan members. Turning his head, he looked at the Pill Tower Ancestor and said coldly, "Step aside. This old man is only here to apprehend the culprit who destroyed our branch halls—and to take the Three Thousand Burning Flame."
"Heh heh... You old undying thing—do you even believe those words yourself?" Hearing this, the Pill Tower Ancestor retorted with a mocking sneer of his own.
"Old ghost—to oppose my Hun clan... even one as mighty as Xiao Xuan back then ended up with his clan annihilated and his people dead. Your Pill Tower will fare no better!"
The eerie light in Hun Qianmo's eyes grew brighter and brighter. His voice, too, gradually became elusive and distant. Faintly, even his figure began to grow somewhat illusory.
Seeing this, the Pill Tower Ancestor's expression turned grim. Tilting his head, he spoke to the Gu clan members beside him: "I request the Gu clan's assistance. After this matter is settled, the Pill Tower will certainly offer generous recompense!"
"Old ghost—you're actually placing your hopes on those useless wastes of the Gu clan? The Xiao clan's destruction is right before your eyes. Have you gone senile?!"
Hun Qianmo suddenly appeared in the sky above the Pill Tower Ancestor. With a light raise of his hand, this stretch of heaven and earth was immediately thrown into extremely violent spatial fluctuations. Then, he actually forcibly constructed a chaotic space and ruthlessly smashed it down toward the Pill Tower Ancestor.
"Pill-Melting Heavens!"
The Pill Tower Ancestor raised his fingertip. A drop of cyan blood seeped out from his pores. Within that dense, rich cyan, one could faintly make out a trace of golden luster.
The cyan drop of blood shot swiftly toward the chaotic space. In just a few short breaths, it transformed into a cyan beam of light nearly a hundred zhang wide. Carrying a rich, dense fragrance, the beam of light streaked across the sky, ruthlessly blasting into the chaotic space with lightning speed.
Instantly, cyan light spread outward, and the chaotic space exploded apart with a thunderous boom.
"Boom—"
Within the chaotic space, the Pill Tower Ancestor and Hun Qianmo directly began the most explosively intense exchange. The battle erupted with the speed of rushing thunder. With every gesture and motion, a terrifying force capable of shattering the heavens and splitting the earth erupted.
The sky-high energy fluctuations, even separated by a layer of space, were like the dull, muffled tolling of a great bell, causing many people's chests to tighten with discomfort.
Watching the Pill Tower Ancestor and Hun Qianmo locked in fierce combat, the Pill Tower's forces were secretly frantic. Glancing ahead at Hun Mie Sheng and the Soul Hall forces eyeing them like tigers watching their prey, a dark cloud of gloom shrouded everyone's hearts.
"If your Gu clan does not wish to intervene, then stand obediently to the side. Otherwise—don't blame this Hall Master for showing no mercy!" Hun Mie Sheng smiled as he looked at the Pill Tower's forces, as if they were lambs awaiting slaughter. Then, turning his head to the few Gu clan members to the side, he gave a sinister, cold laugh.
"You—!" To be so utterly dismissed by Hun Mie Sheng, boundless fury surged in the hearts of Gu Yao and the other young members. The Gu clan they took such pride in—was actually being so utterly scorned by the enemy?!
"Hun Mie Sheng! You treat the imperial clan pact as nothing—my Gu clan absolutely will not stand by and do nothing!" To Hun Mie Sheng's surprise, before Tongxuan could even react, it was Gu Qingyang who looked at the Soul Hall's forces with a grave, resolute expression.
As he spoke, he clenched his hand. A jade token, gleaming with brilliant silver light, suddenly appeared in his grasp. Then, he abruptly crushed it.
Gu Qingyang understood clearly: if the Pill Tower were destroyed by the Soul Hall, then the Soul Hall would have no power on the continent left to contend with it. By then, the Hun clan's influence would swell even further—and the Gu clan would be in even greater danger.
Moreover, the Gu clan did not have many alchemists within its ranks. The Pill Tower was one of the two great alchemy organizations on the Dou Qi Continent. The Gu clan had a vast number of transactions completed through the Pill Tower.
The Pill Tower's destruction would absolutely affect the Gu clan's internal pill supply in turn.
Therefore, he absolutely could not stand by and watch the Pill Tower be destroyed.
Hun Mie Sheng looked at Gu Qingyang with surprise, gazing at those fearless eyes. He chuckled lightly, "I never imagined the Gu clan still had a young man like you. A pity—you are destined never to lead the Gu clan. Otherwise, it would be my Hun clan with the headache."
As the jade token shattered, an overwhelmingly powerful spatial force suddenly surged forth violently. Then, it forcibly twisted open a rift in the space beside Gu Qingyang. Just as the rift took shape, an elder dressed in blue robes, his hair snow-white, with a perpetually warm, genial smile on his face, stepped out from within.
The elder's smiling, kindly appearance gave one a sense of amiable warmth. Yet Hun Mie Sheng could keenly sense the sharp, severe edge hidden beneath that smile. His heart immediately sank.
"Elder Nanhai..." The moment the elder appeared, the Gu clan members instantly breathed a sigh of relief and greeted him in unison with the utmost respect.
Gu Nanhai swept his gaze over the battlefield in the void outside. His pupils abruptly constricted. His expression immediately darkened. Looking at Hun Mie Sheng and the others, he said, "What is your Hun clan trying to do?! Five-star Dou Shengs are not permitted to participate in the continent's conflicts! You are openly violating the pact! Do you want to start a war with the six great imperial clans?!"
"Old man—don't go slapping labels on people. Your Gu clan does not have the right to represent all the imperial clans. There are some matters the Gu clan would do best not to get involved in. Otherwise—heh heh!" Hun Mie Sheng swept a cold glance at Gu Nanhai and spoke icily.
"Hmph!" Seeing this, Gu Nanhai snorted coldly and roared, "You, Hun Mie Sheng, don't have that capability!"
"If he doesn't have that capability—then what about me?" Suddenly, an eerie, sinister laugh rang out. The old man, Hun Mo, emerged from the void like a specter. A single palm pierced through the void and struck to kill straight toward Gu Nanhai.