Gods of the Nation: You worship the God of Longevity, I worship the King of Hell!

Chapter 196 You bastard!!!
After all, the successful "furnace launch" requires the consent of the boundary hub first.

If it does not agree, the subsequent steps cannot be carried out at all.

But for now, one firing is enough—

That means...

"The odds of victory this time are extremely high!!"

The fire in Lu Chen's heart burned even more intensely.

Unexpectedly, this Dragon and Tiger Grand Ceremony could actually trigger the cosmic pivot.

Without further hesitation, he moved on to the next step: [Setting the position].

Sure enough, this step went incredibly smoothly.

"Okay, okay, okay, hold on, stay steady like this!"

Lu Chen's heart was pounding like a drum, almost bursting out of his chest.

Next comes the most crucial step: the Dragon and Tiger Worship!
Unlike the "Shangbaizhang" ceremony, the "Bailonghu" ceremony requires singing a poem.

Qingci is also a type of petition, but the focus of petitioning is on stating what one asks for and showing respect to the deities;

However, the lyrics were almost entirely flattery and sycophancy, with the main goal of winning the favor of the immortals.

The Jiajing Emperor of the Ming Dynasty styled himself "Emperor of Longevity" and had a lifelong passion for writing Qingci (a type of Buddhist prayer), which led to his officials vying to study it, and those who wrote it well were said to have a prosperous official career.

Yan Song, who held immense power in the court, rose to the position of Grand Secretary by virtue of his exceptional talent in writing Qingci (a type of official document), earning him the title of "Qingci Prime Minister."

To put it bluntly, it's nothing more than skillful flattery.

In Taoist rituals, when facing the spirits of heaven and earth, chanting is often performed.

Lu Chen stepped forward with his feet in a meditative posture and began to chant:
"The dragon is the celestial pivot that governs the darkness and yellow, while the tiger is the earth's axis that stabilizes the eight directions!"

"Borrowing from the vast power of Heaven, and receiving the boundless bounty of Earth!"

"The dragon leads the strong wind to sweep away the gloom, bringing clear skies, peace to the earth, and harmony between yin and yang!"

"The tiger treads upon the sacred mountain, clearing away the dust; the law, following its command, startles even ghosts and gods!"

"The dragon and tiger intertwine to create profound mysteries; heaven and earth unite to reveal the one true energy!"

"Now I hold this decree throughout the Three Realms, and all evil will retreat and all spirits will pay homage!"

……

A series of verses flowed from his mouth.

—"Splash!!"

Suddenly, a brilliant light shone brightly within the secret realm.

A truly turbulent situation is brewing!

The boundary pivot that had been hovering and flying around the exotic treasure seemed to be drawn by the rhythm, and its flying movements gradually slowed down.

"It's now!"

Lu Chen's fingers moved swiftly, and he gave a deep command:
"reset!"

"Wow—"

On the altar, a mighty and powerful force of heaven and earth erupted, enveloping the boundary hub.

Only then did Jie Shu realize something was wrong. His body burst with brilliant light as he desperately resisted the force that was drawing him in.

—"Boom!!"

The entire secret realm began to tremble violently, the earth shook and mountains quaked.

Even the mountains behind Caomiao Village, outside the secret realm, began to shake.

"what happened?!"

The sudden turn of events startled everyone outside the secret realm, who all stood up and looked around.

"What went wrong in the secret realm?"

"Logically, matters within the secret realm shouldn't affect the outside world. Could it be an earthquake?"

"What earthquake! Look, this big tree is almost broken! Something must have happened in the secret realm!"

Amidst the discussions, City Lord Huang's expression suddenly changed, and he realized, "It's the Boundary Pivot! It must be the Boundary Pivot that's acting strangely!"

Wang Yiming's eyes widened in disbelief: "Holy crap! Is this guy planning to devour me whole, meat and broth? He really dares to try and capture the Realm Hub?"

"Patriarch Lu is far too greedy! He has already completed the mission in Grass Temple Village, and all the military merit rewards are in his hands. He was also the first to enter the secret realm to collect rare and precious materials. Now he even wants to monopolize the Boundary Hub... Does he not even care about a year's mining rights and want to swallow it all up?!"

"That's definitely going too far."

Seeing that the road was going in this way, the faces of the families behind all turned ugly.

Such a blatant act of taking advantage and then leaving is something no one would find pleasant.

"Humph!"

Sun Yourong, standing to the side, spoke coldly:
"Fellow clan leaders, isn't that a bit much? The secret realm has been left here for so long; if you have the ability, you can take it yourself. Since you don't have that ability, why blame others for taking the treasure? If you had such means, you might have done something even more ruthless."

"Exactly! They can't do it themselves, yet they blame others for taking the treasure. Aren't they ashamed?!"

Xinyao was even more direct, immediately launching into a tirade of insults.

"you……!"

Several heads of powerful families were furious upon hearing this and were about to retort.

"Um?!"

Wang Yiming and Lord Huang both glanced at them coldly.

Lord Huang nodded and said, "Miss Sun is right. If you don't have the ability, then shut up! Your petty and narrow-minded behavior is a disgrace to Rongcheng!"

"Yes, Lord City Lord, we know we were wrong!"

The family heads had no choice but to shut up.

Sun Yourong ignored the faces of these people and looked at the towering tree in front of her, feeling worried for Lu Chen.

"Don't do anything reckless, Lu Chen!!"

……

At the same time, inside the secret realm.

The tug-of-war has reached a fever pitch.

Lu Chen's forehead was covered in cold sweat, which slid down his cheeks and soaked the collar of his Taoist robe.

"Back to your positions!!"

With each command uttered, the magic array unleashed a tremendous force of heaven and earth, entangling the boundary pivot and dragging it toward the altar.

However, Jie Shu resisted fiercely and refused to submit no matter what.

At this moment, Lu Chen and Jie Shu are like a fisherman and a big fish that has taken the bait, caught in a dangerous struggle. This ritual is the fishing rod; whoever runs out of strength first will lose everything.

"They were fine just now, why are they suddenly resisting so fiercely?"

Jie Shu's fierce reaction exceeded Lu Chen's expectations, but fortunately he had a backup plan.

With a flash of light in his palm, he took out all the ritual talismans he had prepared for this trip from his storage ring.

There are over a hundred of them!

--"boom!!"

The talisman ignited in mid-air, its flames roaring.

With such "no regard for cost," the entire procession's imposing presence increased dramatically, and the formation became as solid as a rock.

"Back to your positions!!!"

Lu Chen shouted again, and several streams of condensed, almost tangible, power of heaven and earth shot out, binding the boundary hub like chains.

This time, Jie Shu finally ran out of strength and began to move uncontrollably closer to Lu Chen.

In the blink of an eye, it was less than a few meters away.

"It's going to work! It's going to be a success!"

Lu Chen gritted his teeth, took several quick steps, and stomped hard on the altar:

"Back to your positions! Back to your positions!!"

The boundary pivot was pulled two meters closer, and it looked like it was about to succumb to its position.

At this critical moment.

Call ~
A wonderfully refreshing fragrance suddenly filled my nostrils.

Lu Chen glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, and his expression changed drastically in an instant:

"Oh no!!! How could it be so fast?!"

Suddenly, a divine light surged from the base of the lotus flower, illuminating each of the flower stamens one by one from bottom to top.

With each passing stamen, the momentum increases dramatically.

Ten, twenty, thirty...

In the blink of an eye, we reached the last one!
The flower stamen was already in full bloom.

As the thirty-sixth flower suddenly bloomed—

"Om-"

A surge of spiritual power, far exceeding that before, erupted forth.

Lu Chen and Jie Shu were the first to be affected.

He felt his blood and energy surging, and his magical power was rising at an alarming speed!
The two surges caused his cultivation level to break through from the early stage of the fourth rank to the middle stage of the fourth rank, spanning the entire minor realm!
Nourished by this, the dimensional pivot burst forth with divine light, struggling desperately, on the verge of breaking free of its restraints and escaping into the void.

"Want to run?!"

In desperation, Lu Chen, who had no free hands, made a hand seal and had no other choice but to bite his tongue hard.

The human body has two types of blood that are considered extremely yang: one is the blood from the fingertips, and the other is the blood from the tip of the tongue.

The blood on the tip of the tongue is the essence of the whole body, known as "essence saliva".

Once activated, the essence will burst forth instantly, but one will inevitably be exhausted afterward. It should not be used lightly except in critical situations.

But now, it is clearly time to make a decisive move.

"puff!"

As a mouthful of blood spurted onto the peach wood sword, the sword's inscription suddenly burst forth with dazzling light!
The power of heaven and earth drawn by the Dragon and Tiger Grand Ceremony instantly surged to an unprecedented peak!
Dozens of chains of power shot out, gripping the boundary pivot tightly.

"Back to your positions!!!"

Lu Chen shouted hoarsely.

This time, however, they faced a power of heaven and earth that was suddenly more than ten times stronger than before.

Jie Shu could no longer resist and plummeted straight down toward the Dharma Platform.

Almost at the same time.

The spiritual power of the extraordinary treasure spread out completely, sweeping across every corner of the secret realm.

In an instant, a certain rune in the secret realm was silently lit up.

……

Heavenly Court, Cloud Tower Palace.

Inside the main hall, a huge rift suddenly tore open in the space, and extremely pure spiritual energy surged out.

It instantly filled the entire palace.

"The treasure has matured!"

Before the myth of the giant spirit had even faded, the Heavenly King Li Jing, who held the pagoda on the cloud platform, suddenly opened his eyes.

A clone carrying the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda, imbued with immense divine power, crashed into the crack without a word!

The next moment, they had arrived at the secret realm.

However, as soon as the Heavenly King's avatar manifested, the entire secret realm could not withstand its supreme divine power!
The earth collapsed and mountains crumbled, rocks rained down, and countless rare and precious materials were smashed and buried.

The entire secret realm is on the verge of collapsing!

The Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, however, paid no heed, his eyes flashing like lightning as he gazed at the extraordinary treasure—

The lotus was surrounded by five-colored divine light, clearly indicating that it had reached a great level of perfection.

He intended to subdue the treasure along with the celestial pivot and bring it back to the Heavenly Court.

After all, rare treasures are different from natural treasures.

In a sense, it and the boundary pivot are one.

If you don't take the boundary hub, taking the rare treasure will require a tremendous amount of effort.

Clearly, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King does not have the time right now.

However, in the corner of his eye, a scene struck him like a thunderbolt, exploding in his divine mind:

The boundary pivot was now falling straight into the arms of the mortal boy!
The Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King instantly flew into a rage, his divine voice resounding throughout the secret realm: "You bastard!!!!!!!!!!"

The moment the Heavenly King's clone appeared, Lu Chen felt a suffocating pressure envelop his entire body.

As he subconsciously turned to look, he heard a boundless, furious shout.

Then, a towering pagoda, radiating divine light and blotting out the sky, descended upon him!
"That's..." Lu Chen's blood froze instantly!
"—The Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King?!"

(End of this chapter)