CHAPTER 371: CHAPTER 59: THE ANNOYING EYE OF HEAVENLY PUNISHMENT

In an instant, Luo He, clad in a moon-white robe, walked into Lingxiao Palace.

"Human Clan’s Luo He greets the Jade Emperor; long live the Emperor, may your longevity know no bounds!" Luo He bowed respectfully to Hao Tian, his expression subtly tinged with gloom.

"Dispense with the formality!" Hao Tian looked indifferently at Luo He and said, "Luo He, how is Fellow Daoist Fu Xi doing lately?"

Luo He stood up and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. My master is in good health!"

"What brings you here on such urgent business?" Hao Tian waved his hand and said, "Could it be that Li Qianqiu is causing trouble again?"

"Your Majesty, an anomaly recently occurred in Northern Continent; countless Outer Heaven Demons invaded Shen Zhou, throwing the Human Clan into chaos. And now, Yin Yang Realm Master Li Qianqiu has seized the opportunity to rise up, sending his elite troops to Northern Continent, with the intent to annihilate our entire tribe! I implore Your Majesty to dispatch elite troops to save our Northern Continent Human Clan from fire and water!" Luo He spoke rapidly, recounting the events in detail, and then quietly watched Hao Tian, waiting for his decision.

Hao Tian gently stroked the exquisitely carved Divine Dragon on his throne and looked towards Li Jing, "Mr. Li, is your vanguard team aware of this matter?"

"This?" Li Jing frowned, hesitant to speak.

"Speak!" Hao Tian tapped the Dragon Desk in front of him, his expression distinctly impatient.

"Your Majesty, just yesterday, my men discovered a large group of demons leaving the Yin Yang Realm of West Niu Hezhou and heading straight for Northern Continent," Li Jing paused before continuing, "But as my soldiers approached this mysterious demon troop, they were slaughtered by the demons! Therefore, we did not continue the pursuit."

"Li Jing, how dare you? Such critical information, why did you not report it to me? If this delays our war effort, I will demote you to the Eighteen Layers of Hell to taste the torments of Hell!" Hao Tian erupted in rage, suddenly standing up and berating Li Jing.

Li Jing quickly knelt down, kowtowing and saying, "I realize my error, please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Beidou intervened hastily, "Your Majesty, please quell your anger! Surely General Li must have had some unspeakable difficulties, which is why he did not report to Your Majesty. I ask that Your Majesty forgive General Li, so he may have the chance to atone for his actions."

"Yes, Your Majesty, General Li is most loyal to the Heavenly Court!"

"General Li must have had his reasons for not clarifying!"

"Your Majesty is magnanimous, please do not hold this against General Li..."

Seeing this, the other ministers promptly stepped forward to plead on Li Jing’s behalf.

Hao Tian looked at his ministers, his expression slightly easing. He sat back on the Dragon Throne and said, "Very well! Li Jing, you may now explain why you did not share this news with me!"

"Your Majesty, firstly, whether those demons belong to Li Qianqiu is still under consideration. Secondly, these demons were all strongfighters above the Taiyi Realm. Such a well-trained, powerful army is not easy to attack! With the current strength of the Heavenly Court, even if we could win, the price would be steep!" Li Jing wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued, "Thus, I planned to observe for some time longer before reporting to Your Majesty!"

"The Taiyi Realm..." Hao Tian fell silent for a moment upon hearing this and then asked, "Luo He, you said that Li Qianqiu’s men are by the Wei River in Northern Continent?"

"Exactly!" Luo He nodded, a flash of urgency in his eyes.

"Li Jing!" Hao Tian suddenly turned his head to look at Li Jing, a chill flashing in his eyes, "You quickly lead your vanguard team to the Wei River in Northern Continent, and kill as many demons as possible. No matter the cost, they must all be kept here!"

"I heed Your Majesty’s command!" Li Jing bowed to accept the order.

"Your Majesty, I wish to join General Li and head to Northern Continent to eradicate the Demon rebels!" Just as Li Jing was about to turn and leave, a robust and boisterous voice suddenly echoed through the hall.

Luo He turned to the source of the voice, only to find a burly man speaking.

This man was thirty feet tall and had thick eyebrows and big eyes, with a bear-like waist and a tiger-like back. He was wrapped in a red python skin kilt around his lower body, while his upper body, naked and muscular, was knotted with explosive power.

"Ju Ling?"

"Excellent! Then I decree Ju Ling to be the Demon Hunting Vanguard, joining Li Jing to descend to the lower realm and exterminate demons!" Hao Tian’s majestic hand waved once again, issuing a new decree.

...

Northern Continent, a small valley.

Within the Heavenly Net Illusion Array, dark clouds enveloped, and the oppressive feeling was many times stronger than before.

Almost in an instant, above this ancient battlefield, countless black clouds began to gather. Within the clouds, billions of lightning bolts, like Thunder Dragons, continuously shuttled and collided with each other, stirring up earth-shattering roars, yet they hesitated to fall. That immense pressure, in just a moment, covered the entire ancient battlefield.

Silence! Suppression! Oppressiveness!

In the entire space, originally accompanied by the two sides’ campaigns, various natural disasters such as floods and fires, which seemed to erupt at any moment, appeared as if they could not withstand that terrifying pressure.

The Nine Heavens Gang Wind stopped blowing, the myriad earth fires ceased erupting, mountains stopped collapsing, and endless storms stopped breaking out.

It was as if even the natural disasters could feel the terrible presence that pervaded heaven and earth, a presence so heavy it seemed to crush the entire world.

The space between heaven and earth turned pitch black, the boundless darkness completely burying the sky!

Apart from the constantly flashing myriad lightning and the dark clouds continuously converging toward the center, no other movable object could be seen on the entire ancient battlefield.

That invisible oppression was enough to drive even Daluo Golden Immortals completely insane!

"Pretentious tricks!" Guang Chengzi let out a cold snort standing under the dark clouds and lightly patted the Yin Yang Tai Chi Diagram in front of him.

One saw a black and a white divine dragon appear in mid-air. Entangled with each other, they miraculously fused into one, transforming into a towering giant dragon.

This dragon’s body was about ten thousand zhang long, with nine claws underneath, and surprisingly, a pair of huge dragon wings grew on either side of its streamlined body. Its pitch-black dragon body emitted waves of vast dragon power, making the air in the entire heaven and earth feel incredibly oppressive.

The colossal dragon head opened and closed continuously, the sharp dragon teeth emitting streaks of sharp edge, simply chilling to behold. Its profoundly deep throat carried an endless sense of bone-chilling coldness, as if it were a bottomless pit.

"Go!" Guang Chengzi lightly waved his hand, pointing towards the endless dark clouds at the edge of the sky.

"Roar!" The giant dragon suddenly let out an endless roar, its ferocious dragon power slapping and lashing in the void. The poor void simply couldn’t withstand the dragon’s boundless strength and instantly shattered into pieces.

"Boom!" No one knew how long it had been gathering, but the moment the giant dragon soared into the sky, endless Divine Thunders finally descended again. The massive pressure almost instantly fell upon the body of the ten-thousand-zhang dragon.

The void around the dragon, under the bombardment of the endless Heavenly Thunders, twisted at a visible rate. That extreme, eerie sight was nakedly presented in Guang Chengzi’s eyes.

Streaks of silver, continuously dancing thunder and lightning rippled like waves, layer upon layer. That invisible pressure directly penetrated the dragon’s body and landed on the ancient battlefield.

Guang Chengzi felt as if the void around him suddenly solidified. Even moving his fingers became incredibly difficult, and his body felt as if it was pressed with innumerable mountains, making it hard to move an inch!

"Huh? Why does this pressure feel so similar to that of Mount Buzhou from back then?" Guang Chengzi frowned tightly, feeling the pressure coming from outside. This sensation reminded him of Mount Buzhou from the past, remembering the pressure of Pan Gu God’s remnants at the summit of Mount Buzhou.

"Boom boom boom!"

Suddenly, the sky changed again as the endless black clouds that had been constantly converging towards the center started to twist eerily, forming a deep vortex. Once the vortex formed, it surged apart to both sides.

In an instant, amidst the sky over the ancient battlefield, a massive eye abruptly squeezed out of the dark clouds.

Within that eye, endless grey lightning rippled like flowing water, carrying an overwhelming momentum and an indifferent coldness that disregarded everything in the world.

"Damn it, it’s actually the Eye of Heavenly Punishment! You cursed bastard, once I get out, I will turn you into ashes!" At this moment, Guang Chengzi was completely stunned.

Who could have thought that within such a simple array, there would be such a deadly Killing Array hidden. Summoning the power of heaven and earth, forming the Eye of Heavenly Punishment, annihilating those who enter the array.

Li Qingming, far away on the East Sea Penglai Island, suddenly saw Guang Chengzi’s situation from the Lotus Pond and burst into laughter: "Hahaha, Guang Chengzi you little scoundrel! Let’s see if you don’t shed a layer this time!"

A hint of amusement flickered in Kong Xuan’s eyes, and he said smilingly: "Master, it seems like Master Uncle Guang Chengzi has really hit a stroke of bad luck this time! To be put in such a sorry state by a tiny demon, I must thoroughly mock him when he returns!"

Li Qingming wiped away the tears of laughter and said, "Right, he should be properly chastised. To prevent him from dying of arrogance in the future!"

...

"Dammit! Who have I provoked? I have to fight for it, if I don’t go all out now, I’ll really be out of luck!" Guang Chengzi bitterly clenched his teeth, frantically urging his Yuqing True Essence around him. The blue True Yuan flowed like empty wealth into the body of the black dragon.

"Roar!" The giant dragon, just recently penetrated by the Eye of Heavenly Punishment, suddenly let out an earth-shattering roar, its peerless dragon power actually managing to contend with the pressure of the Eye of Heavenly Punishment.

"Huh? Something’s not right!" Guang Chengzi suddenly furrowed his brow, muttering to himself: "Why is the Eye of Heavenly Punishment so feeble? The dragon’s power is enough to contend with it!"

After a while, Guang Chengzi burst into laughter, saying: "Damn, so that’s how it is! Hahahaha!"

Turns out, this Heavenly Net Illusion Array, despite having infinite illusions and Killing Arrays, is still merely based on the arranger’s mindset. It has never experienced Divine Punishment, just a superficial reliance on a shallow understanding of the Heavenly Dao to simulate the Eye of Heavenly Punishment; naturally unable to imbue the array’s Divine Punishment with the same power as actual Heavenly Punishment.

Therefore, while this Eye of Divine Punishment seems omnipotent, based on the power it currently gathers, it is at most equivalent to the Early Stage Sub-Saint level. Should Guang Chengzi make a push, he would definitely be able to break out of the array. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)