Hate of Wenchang

The Seed of Resentment absorbed the overwhelming hatred within Tao Tuantuan, countering the erosion of the black threads.

Wan Xiu was shocked.

His Art of Carving Rotten Wood was taught personally by Qing Lu. It could refine any living being into his own lackey, preserving part of their intelligence while completely twisting their perception.

It had always been invincible; even monarchs like Red Banded Snake and Mu Tianyou could not resist it.

“Impossible!” Wan Xiu roared. “You are just a little demon of the sixth stage third transformation! How can you resist my technique?!”

When exactly did his technique fail? Wan Xiu could not understand.

Tao Tuantuan laughed crazily and bit her lower lip. Her legs began to mutate, turning into sections of ugly roots that took hold in the ley line.

The roots dug deep into the earth, as if trying to suck the entire ley line dry.

Then, on the peach tree phantom behind her, peach fruits began to grow.

The peach fruits radiated a soft light, like small lanterns protecting Tao Tuantuan.

The black threads slowly dissipated. Following Wan Xiu's command, the three hundred corpse patchworks immediately abandoned Jian Huaishuang and the others to pounce on Tao Tuantuan.

Jian Huaishuang immediately rushed forward with his sword.

“We cannot let anything happen to Tao Tuantuan.”

Plague Rat was stunned. “Wait, whose side is she on? Why are we protecting her?”

He grumbled and his mind was confused, but his actions did not hesitate as he followed Jian Huaishuang.

Chen Zhou silently gave orders for Wing Fire Snake and Jiao Mu Jiao to join them as well.

Jian Huaishuang and Plague Rat alone could not possibly stop three hundred corpse patchworks of the fifth symbiosis contract.

Meanwhile, using the death qi he had recovered during this time, he continued to expand his Ghost Domain, shrouding the entire underground and enveloping Wan Xiu and the green light within its range.

With reinforcements, Tao Tuantuan gave Chen Zhou a grateful look and continued her chant.

The lyrics she sang seemed to be coming true one by one.

“May the people of Tianchi never be humiliated.”

The souls of the little demons who had been blown into blood mist in the ley line suddenly burst out of Wan Xiu's body, turning into streaks of blood red light that lunged at him, tearing at his flesh.

“May the land of Tianchi never be invaded.”

The giant stone began to shake violently. The three monarch corpses branded by Qing Lu suddenly lost control, and the giant hundred corpse patchwork began to disintegrate from the legs up.

“May the false god of Central Province fall forever into samsara.”

Wan Xiu felt a terrifying power erupt within him.

It was the hatred Tao Tuantuan had accumulated over countless years, the resentment Tianchi Province had gathered over a millennium, and the fury of hundreds of millions of beings enslaved and slaughtered by Central Province.

Wan Xiu's body began to burn, his lower half disintegrating and festering in the flames.

“Impossible!” Wan Xiu roared. “I have a godhead personally bestowed by Lord Qing Lu! How can a group of unranked ants like you hurt me?!”

But his body continued to disintegrate.

Blood red light seemed to be rampaging within Wan Xiu, trying to tear his flesh to shreds and grind his bones to powder.

Wan Xiu finally realized.

There was something wrong with those sacrifices, so there was something wrong with the ley line power he absorbed!

The little demons Tao Tuantuan threw into the ley line, the sacrifices blown into blood mist, and the ley line absorbed by the giant stone—all of it was tainted!

Wan Xiu could not understand.

It should not be possible.

All the backup sacrifices in the underground city had been branded by Qing Lu. They were carefully selected from millions of beings and sealed underground after being released during the Golden Buddha’s chaotic era a thousand years ago.

This was to ensure they would not be contaminated by anything else, especially the Golden Buddha, and to evade the greed of people like Zhu Pan and Bai Xing, allowing Lord Qing Lu to enjoy them alone.

Where did it go wrong?!

Wan Xiu did not have time to think further because his body was still disintegrating.

He desperately channeled the green light within him to stabilize his body, but the energy he had absorbed was leaking out bit by bit.

Wan Xiu grabbed Tao Tuantuan's neck and uprooted her from the roots, lifting her up.

Tao Tuantuan's roots were torn, and blood sprayed out, splashing all over Wan Xiu.

Wan Xiu screamed in rage, “What did you do!”

The calm expression on Tao Tuantuan's face could no longer be maintained, turning hideously distorted.

She coughed up a large amount of blood but laughed like a madwoman.

“What did I do? What else could I do?”

“Lord Wan Xiu, you forgot. This humble girl is a Wenchang Noble.”

“Literature carries the Dao, and words manifest as law.”

“Memories might lie, but words do not.”

Tao Tuantuan shook the book in her hand. “I saw it all. Through the words in this book, I saw everything.”

“Although the images in the text contradict my memories, I believe them.”

“How could you deceive a Wenchang Noble who can see the truth through words?”

Tao Tuantuan looked at the peach tree phantom behind her, her eyes filled with sorrow and longing.

In a daze, she seemed to see an old man standing beneath the shadow of the peach tree, wearing a smile.

Tao Tuantuan's eyes turned red.

“Master, Tuantuan has been unfilial and disappointed you.”

“But Tuantuan did not bring shame to you.”

“Tuantuan did it.”

Wan Xiu tightened his grip, trying to crush Tao Tuantuan's neck.

The book in Tao Tuantuan's hand fell to the ground.

While dodging the rampaging, disintegrating hundred corpse patchworks, Plague Rat caught a glimpse of the four large characters on the cover of the fallen book.

《Governance of Tianchi》.

Plague Rat was shocked.

Wasn't that the book Duke Wen left before his death, mentioned in the diary Wing Fire Snake wrote in the underground prison?

How did it end up in Tao Tuantuan's hands?

Tao Tuantuan licked the blood from the corner of her mouth and bit down hard on Wan Xiu's arm that was clutching her neck.

She bit with immense force, her teeth sinking into his flesh as blood flowed from her mouth.

“False gods of Central Province, you disrupt my mountains and rivers, slaughter my kin, enslave my people, and trample my land.”

Wan Xiu applied more pressure. Tao Tuantuan's face turned purple, but she continued to smile.

“I personally sent away so many of my kin; I know I will face retribution.”

She forced the words out through her clenched teeth.

“But it is time you had your retribution as well.”

Wan Xiu glared at her hatefully and wanted to say more, but it was too late.

The green light had finished condensing.

Qing Lu’s divine sense had already descended into his body.

A terrifying pressure erupted from Wan Xiu, forcing everyone to the ground.

Even though it was only a wisp of divine sense, it was enough to crush everything.

Chen Zhou's Ghost Domain immediately locked onto it.

【Domain of Defiled Earth: Within the range of your Ghost Domain, the earth turns into defiled earth and the laws are rewritten by you. The souls of all beings will be forcibly imprisoned by filth, banning all enemy escape, reincarnation, and possession skills.】

Chen Zhou summoned the Judgment Whisk and held it in his hand, then activated the Law Evaluating Eye.

Under the gaze of his Law Evaluating Eye, he saw a massive mass of pitch black sinful karma descend upon Wan Xiu's body. It was as black as ink, as thick as glue, and radiated an aura of decay.

Chen Zhou began to laugh.

The descending divine sense of Qing Lu immediately sensed that something was wrong.

The Tianchi ley line and the five colored divine stones had not been fully absorbed by Wan Xiu.

What happened?

Qing Lu quickly inspected Wan Xiu's body, and his expression grew increasingly grim.

Wan Xiu's body was riddled with holes and leaking everywhere; everything he had absorbed was leaking out.

Within the body, a chaotic blood qi and countless souls were crashing about like beasts in a cage, desperately trying to break free.