Daqin Zhentiansi

"Roar--!"

The giant lava turtle roared, its body surrounded by a frenzied burst of fiery runes.

Its massive body, covered in new armor, crashed into the town's base, where filthy demonic light surged!
Beneath the tortoise's feet, the scorched earth shattered inch by inch, eliciting the last mournful cry from the long-depleted Wood Spirit Ancestral Vein, buried deep underground.

"Wow!"

The six-winged Thunder Roc tore through the thick demonic miasma, its wings spreading furiously.

Thousands of annihilating lightning bolts poured down, striking precisely the connection point of the divine golden base on the tower body, which was imprinted with the emblem of the Heavenly Palace.

Lightning exploded, and the filthy demonic runes emitted a hissing wail before instantly dimming.

"Suppress the Prison!"

The Ancient Ape with its eyes bloodshot and its giant fist wrapped in dark gold divine patterns, carrying the power of countless ages, slammed fiercely into the cracked tower!

The essence of the battlefield it extracted was poured into its fist at this moment.

"Sizzle—click!"

Zhang Yuan's fist followed closely behind.

The power of the Chaos God-Demon Body resonates with the origins of all kinds of divine beasts.

Ice and fire intertwined on the fist, and a chaotic dark golden halo flowed around it, like a giant cone that split the heavens and the earth, accurately hitting the center of the crack torn open by Lei Peng's thunderous fist and the ancient ape's heavy fist!
The entire town-suppressing tower, forged from primordial divine metal and entangled in demonic runes and filth, emitted a mournful cry, as if a star were shattering under the unbearable weight!
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The tower trembled violently, and countless glaring cracks instantly covered its surface!
The filthy demonic light, like a dying venomous snake, twisted and thrashed wildly, but was firmly suppressed by the primordial battle intent stirred up by the combined power of the remnant souls of the divine beasts!
Finally, with a deafening roar that shook the entire Chaotic Demon Realm, the tower that symbolized the betrayal of the Heavenly Palace and the shame of the fall of the divine beast collapsed!

Fragments scattered like meteors, and filthy demonic energy surged out like a flood bursting its banks, carrying the screams of countless wronged souls!
However, just as the demonic energy was about to wreak havoc—

A sudden change has occurred!

Beneath the tower base, deep within the remains of the enormous divine beast, which had long been bound by chains and turned into withered bones, a single, pure, emerald-green light, dormant for millennia, suddenly shone!

That was the remaining primordial will of the "Ancient Tree of Ten Thousand Spirits," the last wood-type divine beast that voluntarily guarded this place before the ancestral vein of the wood spirit was drained!

"Om-!"

The emerald light suddenly spread out, transforming into a soft yet incredibly resilient emerald wave of light, like a tender sprout breaking through the soil in early spring, instantly sweeping across the collapsed tower base area!
The tainted demonic energy that was ignited, the shattered fragments of divine metal, and even the faint spirituality remaining in the countless bones of divine beasts sacrificed beneath the tower's foundation...

Under the cleansing force of this pure, gentle power originating from the source of life, it did not dissipate, but was instantly reversed and purified!
The demonic energy transformed into a nourishing warm current, the bone fragments turned into pure earth elemental essence, and the divine metal fragments were stripped of pure Geng metal energy.

A vast, pure, yet incredibly gentle energy, like a gentle rain from heaven, instantly enveloped Zhang Yuan, Lei Zhen, and all the manifested divine beast remnants present!
"Wow—"

Between the cracks in the lava giant tortoise's damaged shell, dark red lava patterns spread and repaired at a visible speed, radiating even more powerful heat.

The thunderous bone spurs that sprouted from the broken bones of the six-winged thunder roc instantly grew and took shape, and the electric arcs at the edges of its feathers became more condensed and agile.

The hideous wound on the chest of the Shaking Mountain Ape healed rapidly in the earthy yellow light, and its knotted muscles contained an even more terrifying power.

The withered face of the old demon withered vines suddenly became rosy, and tender buds, greener and full of life than before, sprouted from the broken vines. Even the decaying aura emanating from his body faded away by more than half.

Lei Zhen took a deep breath and felt the depleted thunder energy in his body instantly replenished.

He even faintly touched the threshold of a breakthrough, and the Rift Bow in his hand emitted a joyful low hum.

Within Zhang Yuan's body, the myriad furnaces roared and operated, devouring and refining this massive amount of pure energy that had been reversed. This not only replenished the energy consumed in the fierce battle just now, but also caused the boundaries of his nascent chaotic small world to tremble slightly, as if it had expanded outward a little further.

He could clearly feel the sense of satisfaction and exhilaration emanating from the remnant souls dwelling in the small world.

"Senior Wanling..." Qilin Saint Son Panlin's voice was choked with emotion. He felt the familiar peaceful aura within the emerald light waves, "Even though you perished ten thousand years ago and your soul was tainted, your will to protect the life of all living beings in the primordial world... has never been extinguished!"

The withered vine demon stretched out its newly sprouted tendrils, gently touching the lingering, incredibly pure life force in the air, and said hoarsely, "Sacrificing itself to imprison the demon for ten thousand years, the last bit of its true spirit remained undisturbed, actually reversing the deadly situation and nourishing us... This is the true soul of a divine beast! It is incomparable to those parasites in the Heavenly Palace!"

"The Heavenly Palace...their blood debt has been increased once again!" Lei Zhen gripped the Rift Abyss Bow tightly, his eyes flashing with lightning, his killing intent chilling.

Just as everyone was sighing, a flash of chaotic divine light appeared in Zhang Yuan's eyes, and he captured the core of a broken but still functioning reverse formation beneath the fading emerald light spot at the core of the tower base ruins!

"The formation is not over yet!" Zhang Yuan shouted, and his figure instantly appeared at the core of the tower base.

He formed hand seals with lightning speed, his fingertips intertwining with the power of the myriad furnaces, and pressed them hard against the broken array's core!
"Reverse the Demonic Core, return to the origin! The Wood Spirit Ancestral Vein—Revived!"

"Om-!"

He forcibly reversed the remnant formation with immense supernatural power!
The array patterns, originally used to extract earth veins and suppress demonic energy, were instantly reversed under his will and the power of the Myriad Paths Furnace!

The gentle emerald light seemed to have found its source, and suddenly sank deep into the scorched earth!
"Boom—!!!"

The entire Chaotic Demon Realm trembled violently!

It's far worse than when the tower collapsed before!
The murky "demon sun" seemed to be shaken, its light distorted.

The scorched, cracked earth, which had been dead for thousands of years, was like a desert that had been parched for a long time and was now bursting with countless tiny, vibrant green rays of light from the cracks!

Where the light touched, the scorched earth lost its dead blackness and, at a speed visible to the naked eye, revealed a layer of moist, dark brown!
"Click, click-click..."

A subtle yet crisp cracking sound rang out.

Amidst everyone's astonished gazes, tender green and incredibly tenacious grass sprouts pushed through the hard, scorched earth, trembling as they poked their heads out!
Then, there was more!

The scattered dots quickly merged into one!
It's like spreading a hopeful green carpet over this desolate land of death!

The foul miasma and pungent burnt smell that filled the air were quickly dispelled and neutralized by a fresh, pure, earthy aroma of grass and trees!
The withered vine demon trembled with excitement, its newly sprouted vines greedily absorbing the revitalized wood spirit energy in the air: "Life...life! The ancestral wood spirit vein...it's responding! It's reviving!"

The once lifeless corner of the Chaotic Demon Realm is now bursting with a magnificent and awe-inspiring vitality!
This ancient ancestral land of the Wood Spirit, which had been sacrificed by the Heavenly Palace and defiled by the Demon Realm for thousands of years, has finally ushered in the first ray of dawn of revival!

However, this earth-shattering change was like throwing a spark into a still, simmering oil pan!
"Roar--!!!"

Deep within the Demon Realm, several terrifying demonic roars, filled with rage and horror, tore through the sky!

The pressure at the primordial level surged in from all directions like a tsunami!
The horizon further away.

Countless streaks of light, like a swarm of sharks that have smelled blood, are rapidly breaking through the chaotic miasma and converging madly towards this area where greenery is just beginning to sprout!
There was the dazzling light of the Heavenly Palace elites' armor, the aura of powerful divine beasts, and even more chaotic demons of various shapes driven by the power of the Demon Realm!

The encirclement and attack arrived in an instant!

"Hmph, finally they couldn't sit still any longer!" Zhang Yuan's gaze swept over the rapidly approaching streaks of light of various colors. He looked at Lei Zhen and the remnants of the divine beasts beside him, their fighting spirit boiling, and his voice was calm yet carried an undeniable power: "Gentlemen, the prey has arrived. According to our previous calculations, split up and proceed!"

"Follow the order!"

"Roar!"

"Wow!"

Without the slightest hesitation, the Qilin Saint Son Panlin summoned auspicious light to envelop the Mountain-Shaking Ancient Ape, transforming it into a seven-colored rainbow that rushed towards the northeastern horizon, where an energy node was fluctuating abnormally!
The withered vine demon's jade light vines entangled the lava giant tortoise, instantly sinking into the revitalized earth. Using the aura of the wood spirit to conceal itself, it rushed straight to another nest where demonic energy surged!

With a long roar, the six-winged thunder roc appeared alongside the golden-winged roc phantom, transforming into golden-purple lightning that tore through the demonic miasma and shot into the sky to intercept a dense cloud of demonic energy!

Zhang Yuan himself took a step forward, his figure blurring instantly in the spatial ripples, as if merging into the revitalized wood spirit aura and disappearing without a trace.

--------------

The space rippled slightly, and Zhang Yuan's figure appeared in the outer area of ​​a huge, twisted guardian tower.

This place is not a pure battlefield, but rather resembles a grotesque marketplace built upon a giant tower.

Countless bizarre buildings, constructed from fragments of stars and the bones of demonized behemoths, lined the bustling streets where tens of thousands of beings traded and rested.

Zhang Yuan concealed all his aura, and his black ink Taoist robe became inconspicuous, making him look like an ordinary merchant.

His sharp gaze swept across the crowd.

These creatures are mostly slender, with skin bearing varying shades of wood grain, hair that is either green or brown, and their bodies contain varying degrees of the original essence of wood.

They are descendants of the clan that was once nurtured by this ancestral spiritual vein of wood!

However, their condition was alarming.

Almost everyone's exposed skin was covered with twisted, dark red magic patterns!

These magical runes writhed slightly like living things, emanating a repulsive aura of chaos.

The wood element aura emanating from them was no longer pure and vibrant; instead, it appeared murky and weak, like a polluted stream, its vitality severely suppressed.

Many people have numb and tired eyes, carrying a deep weariness after being tormented for a long time.

Zhang Yuan walked past several stalls, which mainly displayed ores containing faint demonic energy, contaminated spiritual herbs, and some crude weapons and armor imprinted with simple magical runes.

The items traded were mostly murky magic crystals or some kind of dried meat that smelled of blood.

He eventually stopped in front of a somewhat deserted shop that sold some tattered ancient books and old plant seeds.

The shop owner was an old man with a hunched back, his face covered with dark purple demonic patterns, his eyes were cloudy, and the wood spirit aura on his body was so weak that it was almost imperceptible.

Zhang Yuan picked up a dusty, withered seed, his fingertips casually brushing over the sealing magic runes on it, and asked, "Shopkeeper, what kind of ferocious demon does this tower suppress? Why is such a grand display necessary? It seems the people here are suffering from it."

Upon hearing this, a flash of intense hatred and fear crossed the shopkeeper's cloudy eyes, and he almost growled through gritted teeth:
"A fiend? Bah! It's that damned 'Tree of Ten Thousand Spirits'! It's the root of all evil! It's what brought about the chaotic demonic calamity! It's what defiled our bloodline!"

His withered fingers trembled as he pointed to the giant tower in the distance.

"That's it! It's been suppressed here for ten thousand years by the celestial immortals of the Heavenly Palace with their great supernatural powers! If it weren't for that, our bloodlines would have been completely eroded by it, turning us into mindless tree puppets!"

He pointed to the writhing demonic patterns on his arm: "See that? These are all remnants of that evil tree's poison!"

"Our bloodline power has become turbid and weak because of it, making us extremely vulnerable! It is only thanks to the 'Purification of Demons Mystery Chapter' taught by the Heavenly Palace that we have been able to suppress the evil power left by the evil tree in our bodies and remain clear-headed by practicing diligently day and night!"

"Otherwise...otherwise we would have become walking corpses long ago!"

Zhang Yuan listened quietly, his fingertips gently caressing the withered seeds.

He already understood.

Heavenly Palace!

Good trick!
Not only did they sacrifice the ancestral land and suppress the guardian beast, but they also completely altered history and traditions!
They vilified the guardians as the source of the calamity and twisted the power remaining from the divine beasts into a "poisonous demonic nature."

The so-called "Purifying Demon Chapter" is probably a tool used by the Heavenly Palace to subtly deepen the demonic imprint, distort minds, and extract the original power of the descendants of the Wood Spirit!

Let these poor survivors hate their guardians for generations, be grateful to their true enemies, and willingly offer up their remaining strength, even becoming cannon fodder for the Heavenly Palace to resist chaos when necessary!

This scene reminded him of the fools who cheered the arrival of the invaders and cursed their own bloodline when China was in decline.

They loathed their own origins, longed to be part of the invaders, but ultimately turned to ashes with their twisted "loyalty" under the butcher's knife.

Prejudice in people's hearts, when nurtured by lies and power, is indeed harder to move than a mountain made of divine metal.

Zhang Yuan neither refuted nor explained.

He knew that at this moment, any words would be utterly inadequate in the face of this mountain of lies.

He simply put down the seed, a cold pity flashing in his eyes, and turned to leave.

However, his action of examining the seeds just now seemed to have triggered some kind of alarm.

"Halt! Stranger!" a sharp shout rang out.

A patrol of demon soldiers, dressed in simple demon-patterned bone armor and wielding filthy spears, blocked his path.

The squad leader, whose demonic markings were deeper and brighter than those of the other Wood Spirit descendants, had cruelty and numbness flashing in his eyes.

"Sneaking around asking about the Demon Suppression Tower? They must be remnants of that 'Tree Demon'! Take them down!" The demon soldier squad leader ignored all explanations, his bone spear, wreathed in black demonic energy, whistling through the air, aimed straight for Zhang Yuan's chest!
The other demon soldiers also pounced fiercely, their eyes filled only with the bloodlust to kill the "heretics".

The surrounding Wood Spirit descendants not only failed to stop him, but instead revealed terrified and hostile gazes, retreating while muttering low curses: "Tree Demon's minions! Kill him!" "Purify him!"

Zhang Yuan's eyes turned cold.

These demon soldiers have been completely corrupted, reduced to mere pawns and tools of the demon realm, beyond redemption.

He didn't move, only seemingly casually flicked his sleeve. (End of Chapter)