The True Lord has arrived

Chapter 353 Slaying Demons and Eliminating Evil, Breaking Through Tribulations and Realms!
The thousand-year-old white ape was staring at the human world ahead. It had fought its way here with its life on the line. The ripples of the battlefield twenty miles away appeared in its heart, making its fur stand on end and its whole body look much larger than before.

The terrifying aftershocks of the divine weapon's emergence shook all directions, causing the entire city of Langzhong to tremble.

The aura emanating from it was so powerful that the surrounding aquatic creatures could not stand, leaving them with only boundless fear in their hearts. The human race, on the other hand, barely managed to hold on because of the presence of military strategists and generals.

Li Zhenyue swallowed a mouthful of blood, with Wang Boze standing beside him.

Wang Boze remained silent. He had been in the antique shop, holding his daughter Wang Wan'er's body, looking like a lost soul, and was also in the back with the ordinary people, even when Li Zhenyue called for those with military experience to go out.

He just kept his head down, like a defeated deserter.

Everything seemed to have vanished with Wang Wan'er's passing. When the thousand-year-old white ape led the aquatic tribe to attack, Li Zhenyue shouted angrily for the ordinary people and the wounded to retreat. He simply carried Wang Wan'er and staggered into the crowd.

Until one collision, something in Wang Wan'er's arms fell to the ground.

When Wang Boze saw that thing, he was struck dumb as if by lightning. He froze there, feeling as if a thousand or ten thousand silver needles were piercing his heart, the pain so intense that he almost fainted.

That was a waist tag.

Representing the state soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, it was a captain's token with the character "Tang" on the front and the three large characters "Wang Boze" on the back. The wooden waist token had long since turned black and red from being stained with blood in hundreds of battles.

Wang Boze had thrown away the waist tag because of his many past experiences.

However, Wang Wan'er discovered it at that time. The girl picked it up, carefully wiped off the dust, and then used colorful thread to make a ribbon to tie up the cracked waist tag.

At that moment, Wang Wan'er's last words echoed in Wang Boze's mind.

My father was a military officer in the Tang Dynasty... a towering hero who protected our country.

Holding the waist token, Wang Boze seemed to finally wake up, tears streaming down his face as he cried uncontrollably. He entrusted Wang Wan'er to Consort Shen and Xu Zhilan, put the waist token back on his waist, picked up his sword, and went out to the battlefield.

He had broken through to the sixth rank in the fierce battle, but after being subjected to the evil magic of Shi and Li Yuanying, he finally gained the strength of the fifth rank. He didn't have much time left to live, so he fought with all his might, as if venting his emotions.

Only then, together with Li Zhenyue, did they manage to hold off the aquatic tribes' attack head-on, leading the state soldiers. However, he was becoming increasingly exhausted. As he cleaved open the head of another aquatic tribesman with another slash, the lurking white ape finally moved.

His movement was like a thunderbolt, his sword strikes sharp and decisive, aimed directly at Wang Boze's heart.

Li Zhenyue roared and charged forward, trying to knock Wang Boze aside and use his shield to block the sword. However, Wang Boze charged forward like a madman, blocking Li Zhenyue instead.

The sword pierced Wang Boze's heart, causing excruciating pain and a chilling steel-like feel. However, Wang Boze felt that the pain of losing everything, risking his hands to save his daughter only to discover that she had become the eye of the evil array, was far greater.

Even less so than the words spoken by the young Taoist priest with pity in his eyes when he met Xuan Zhuzi: "If I had come to the Taoist sect earlier, I might have been saved." Compared to the pain in his heart, this sword piercing through his chest was a kind of liberation, a kind of exhilarating relief.

The white ape's sword deflected a layer of sword energy. Caught off guard, Li Zhenyue raised his shield, and the sword energy struck the shield. This heavy shield, standard issue for officers of the Shuofang Army, finally gave way after many fierce battles and was swept away by the sword energy, shattering into pieces.

Li Zhenyue coughed up blood and staggered backward.

Wang Boze's arm tightened around the sword, and the fifth-grade Dao foundation, enhanced by Li Yuanying's evil magic, burned, but not in the upright manner of a military strategist; instead, it was a blood-red flame. His eyes were fixed on the white ape.

"Got you!"

The white ape shouted, "Let go!"

"Let go!"

"Even if you blocked my sword with your own foundation, you still wouldn't..."

Wang Boze knew very well why he had to make such a move. The moment the white ape was subdued, Li Zhenyue, who was spitting blood, stepped forward again. His Tang Dynasty sword, made of metal and tempered with blood, struck hard from the side of the white ape.

It went straight in, deep inside.

The white ape suddenly sensed that the aura representing General Gonggong, the dragon turtle, had vanished completely, its soul scattered. In its place, an absolutely terrifying killing intent locked onto him, causing him to lose his previous composure.

"Let go, let go!"

Wang Boze gripped the white ape's wrist tightly, while Li Zhenyue's eyes turned bloodshot as he attacked like a madman. The other soldiers realized what was happening and thrust their spears at the white ape. Even though they couldn't kill it, they gritted their teeth and fought with all their might.

The long night was illuminated by golden light. In the midst of the white ape's terror, the golden light pierced through its body, tearing its fur, which ordinary metal could not damage in the slightest, apart like waste paper.

Everyone was thrown away by that immense force and fell to the ground.

Li Zhenyue was also thrown away, his back crashing into a house. He struggled to get up, only to see the white ape's body frozen in place. A three-pointed double-edged sword, shrouded in layers of clouds, pierced through its body, while its other hand gripped the hilt of the sword.

Zhou Yan appeared beside the three-pointed double-edged sword and grabbed the divine weapon with one hand.

The two energies of water and fire spread from the divine weapon, instantly corroding the entire body of the thousand-year-old white ape and shattering its life force. The white ape opened its mouth, filled with a thousand unwillingnesses and ten thousand regrets, but it could not utter a word.

Zhou Yan drew his three-pointed double-edged sword, and the white ape fell to one side.

Zhou Yan raised his right hand, the character "镇" (zhen, meaning "suppress") lit up in his palm, gathering immense power. Without hesitation, he smashed it down directly on the white ape's forehead. His palm unleashed layers of air waves, causing the white ape's pupils to contract. In a daze, it seemed as if a mountain was crashing down on it.

The thick, sticky air currents turned into clouds, reminding him of his carefree youth, wandering through the mountains and fields, and the scene of encountering a little girl in green. He also thought of the day when that little girl in green became an old woman and handed him the sword.

'As long as you hold this sword, it's like I'm always with you.'

'My old friend, you will never stray from the right path...'

The palm slammed down.

The Five Elements circulate in the Tushita Palace!
In an instant, all that had happened vanished, and the future could not be resolved either. The white ape's head was smashed to pieces like a watermelon, the five elements swirled, and even its soul was shattered.

The fifth-rank white ape, who once tricked the King of Chu, taught A Qing, and prompted Goujian to conquer Wu, died with a single palm strike.

And so all that resentment and bitterness turned to ashes.

Li Zhenyue staggered out and supported Wang Boze's body. Zhou Yan looked at Wang Boze and recognized him. He had once been Li Yuanying's accomplice and an ordinary person burned by the flames of chaos. Now, he was a man on the verge of death.

As a cultivator, Wang Boze progressed step by step. He was originally a sixth-rank cultivator who had experienced life and death. However, not long after breaking through to the sixth rank, he became a fifth-rank cultivator, burning through almost all of his lifespan. Now, after three life-or-death battles, he was pierced through the heart by a sword from a thousand-year-old white ape and is on the verge of death.

Looking at this man, Zhou Yan felt a mix of emotions and sighed.

Ding! Ding! Ding!!!
The great sun and golden crow danced, finally fully activating the divine bell of Emperor Jun. Golden light soared into the sky, and visible ripples of magical power swept across the entire city of Langzhong. The three-legged golden crow almost coughed up blood.

boom!
Huaguang Tower also emitted a golden light that soared into the sky.

The entire ancient city of Langzhong was built according to an extremely ancient feng shui layout. The twelve ancient buildings shone brightly, transforming into an ancient array, which ultimately became the node of the array seal for the entire ancient town.

And the core node is precisely—

moon!

Zhou Yan recited in a low voice: "The Jade Capital in the heavens, with twelve towers and five cities."

With one hand supporting Shen Cangming and the other dragging Ao Xuantao's tail, Kaiming shouted, "Zhou Yan, that moon, cough cough cough, the moon, is the core of everything. If we take back Langyuan, this place will return to the mortal world!!"

Holding his divine weapon, Zhou Yan rose into the air. The escape technique personally taught by the Goddess Nuwa was not good at maneuvering or teleportation, but it was extremely fast in a straight line. Zhou Yan rose into the air and stepped on the ancient divine bell. After a moment of gathering momentum, he burst into action again.

With a three-pointed, double-edged sword in his right hand and his left hand extended forward with fingers together, he began an ancient incantation. The jade talisman of "Langyuan Wonderland," passed down from Kunlun, transformed into a beam of light and landed before Zhou Yan's fingers. Zhou Yan's pupils lit up, and in an instant, three worlds unfolded before his eyes: one was the present human world, another was the spiritual world containing all records from ancient times to the present, and the third was a possible world where time was immeasurable and non-linearly distorted.

This [Langyuan Wonderland] represents the top-tier Daoist jade talisman and edict above the thirty-six grotto-heavens and seventy-two blessed lands. In this instant, Zhou Yan directly imprinted and refined it.

In a daze, Zhou Yan seemed to see an entire blessed land.

It is a portable dojo. As long as Zhou Yan holds this jade talisman and there is moonlight wherever he is, he can use this jade talisman to cross the moonlight and arrive at the [Langyuan Wonderland] at any time.

It is rich in spiritual energy, and any spiritual object will grow rapidly there. It also has many wonderful benefits during cultivation, making it an extremely rare treasure for the Kunlun divine lineage.

Zhou Yan imprinted his mark on this jade edict.

The golden bell continued to ring, but the moonlight remained unchanged. It was created by the seal of the ancient Yu King and his wife, the Dharma Realm of Shi, the Dharma Realm of Tengwang Pavilion of Li Yuanying, and the power of Gonggong. Zhou Yan could see that it was not the moon at all, but a condensed moonlight.

The condensed moonlight transformed into a full moon.

Then align the array's core with the entire full moon.

Without breaking the moon's radiance, the formation cannot be completely broken.

It's infuriating that things have come to this point; how can we back down now?
Now that things had come to this, Zhou Yan's mind raced. With a flick of his sleeve, an invisible jade talisman appeared in his fingertip, its surface wreathed in rich ink and blood-red hues. It was the Hungry Ghost Jade Talisman, and one that had even absorbed the essence of the immortal [Li Yuanying].

Zhou Yan tossed out the jade talisman and said, "Change!"

The immortal jade talisman emitted a stream of light, transforming directly into a blurry, dark figure. Zhou Yan exhaled and simply pointed his fingers, causing the hungry ghost jade talisman to pounce directly onto the moon, which was formed from condensed moonlight.

Zhou Yan said, "The Great Dao is glorious; obey my decree."

Give me—eat!!!

The jade talisman, a manifestation of the immortal's essence, obeyed the decree and began to relentlessly gnaw and tear off pieces of the moonlight condensed in the air. The more it ate, the happier and more exhilarated it became. Kaiming watched the hungry ghost in the sky devour the moonlight, then plopped down on the ground and laughed loudly.
"Ha, hahahaha."

"Eat the moon?! Haha, you really are something else!"

When, when, when!
As the jade talisman absorbed the moonlight, the divine bell continued to ring, signifying that the formation itself was weakening. Thus, after a long slumber, the people of this city began to awaken one by one.

"Um……"

"My head hurts so much, what's wrong?"

At that moment, they looked up and saw what was happening in the sky. They were all stunned. Some people looked up at the sky and said blankly, "What, what is that? How can it be eating the moon?!"

"Wow, what a big mouth! Is it...is it a dog's?"

"The dog is eating the moon!"

"The celestial dog ate the moon—"

People were in a panic, and the bell kept ringing. Although people were gradually waking up, the entire formation still hadn't been completely broken. Someone started shouting, and someone who heard the bell guessed, "It's the bell ringing, scaring away that celestial dog!"

"Everyone, come and ring the bell to scare the celestial dog away!"

So the people who woke up frantically grabbed the clock, and those who didn't had it picked up pots and pans, and started swinging sticks or clenching their fists, smashing them one after another.

The entire city of Langzhong was instantly awakened by the sound. Lights were lit everywhere, and the clamor of striking objects mingled with the waves of human activity and the resounding chimes, finally bringing the bell to a complete crescendo.

Zhou Yan sensed it; in that instant, the entire formation was broken.

Only the surging human fortune can open the formation.

King Yu's philosophy was that only the people could save the common people. The one who rang the final bell, the one who became the last bell, was the people here and the vast mortal world. The black shadow beast transformed from the hungry ghost jade talisman finally devoured all the moonlight.

The moonlight surged into the creature's belly like a tide, and it let out a satisfied burp. It then transformed into a black shadow and landed beside the Taoist priest, who was dressed in armor and wielding a three-pointed, double-edged sword. The enormous black beast lay at his feet, burping incessantly.

Li Zhenyue, holding Wang Boze in his arms, watched this scene and knew that the calamity here had finally been resolved: "We won, we won."

Wang Boze grabbed Li Zhenyue, spitting blood from his mouth, and said:

"me……"

Li Zhenyue remained silent, then grasped his arm and said:
"We have won this battle."

Victory...

Wang Boze released his grip, and the young Taoist priest raised his three-pointed double-edged sword, then raised his right hand and slammed it hard against the huge bell, using the power of the Eastern Peak Lord to resonate the divine bell of Emperor Jun.

The three-legged golden crow flapped its wings on the resounding bell, and the golden fire of the great sun rose, carrying the radiance of the true sun, mixed with intense light, illuminating the entire land of Langzhong.

Wang Boze's life force collapsed.

In that instant, he seemed to hear a young girl's sigh.

In the instant before his death, he sank into a sweet dream, where he saw his home as always. It seemed that he had gone through a long adventure and battles and returned to his home. He knocked on the door, and the girl who had been looking down at him in the yard, watching him move with satisfaction, looked up, her eyes filled with surprise, and ran over to him, throwing herself into his arms.

"Father, you're back!"

Wang Boze hugged Wang Wan'er, a smile on his face: "Mm."

"Father has won the battle and returned."

While holding his daughter, Wang Boze saw a girl in the doorway, dressed in simple clothes with black hair hanging down to her waist. Her eyes were gentle. He wanted to ask who she was, but the girl had already turned and left. So he stopped insisting and just held Wang Wan'er.

Ba Yu has faded into the distance in the dreams of the common people.

The sun is gentle, the breeze is just right; may you sleep soundly in sweet dreams.

Li Zhenyue watched the sky change and breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly felt the hand he was holding lose its last strength and fall to the ground. He lowered his head and saw that Wang Boze's eyes had lost their luster. A complex grief appeared in Li Zhenyue's eyes.

A sigh, a regret, and perhaps the best kind of complexity.

"Go to sleep."

"Comrade-in-arms".

The sun burst forth, shining upon all living things, and all living things awoke from their dreams, while one person slept forever.

Suddenly, Zhou Yan's Dao foundation began to vibrate.

After countless fierce battles, finally—

breakthrough!

(End of this chapter)