Master of Strange Dao

With a soft thud, the Duobao Sect Master's figure halted as a blood-red long knife pierced through his chest.

A stream of light from his body entered the entrance of the blessed land and disappeared, while the Duobao Sect Master at the original spot's skin surface turned into wood grain patterns and finally transformed into an identical wooden puppet that was shattered by the long knife.

"The people from Duobao Sect are truly troublesome; these strange Magical Treasures keep coming one after another," he said.

"Don't pursue them; we must move immediately," Yu Ziqing muttered softly.

Glancing back, they saw that the Faceless Man had already organized everyone, and all the necessary items were packed.

They had grown accustomed to this routine of constantly moving and evading.

As soon as the Duobao Sect Master quietly emerged today, a powerful figure who had been watching him discovered him.

From that moment on, everyone started preparing to leave at any time.

Unexpectedly, the usually inconspicuous Duobao Sect Master, known only for his abundance of Magical Treasures, was not weak in strength.

The group exited the blessed land and saw all the outside guards lying on the ground, none dead, and immediately took them all away as everyone fled into the distance together.

After escaping a thousand miles, they saw ahead a seven-layer treasure tower shining brightly, emerging amidst the light.

Praises mixed with vast Divine Power suddenly descended.

A Mountain God of the Ninth Tier stood in the sky; he wore court dress and held a White Jade Tablet, with incense fire energy swirling around him. He not only possessed the aura of an Earth Deity but also that of a high official from the Dadui Divine Dynasty. The power of Dadui, bestowed upon him, enhanced his aura by threefold.

"Gentlemen, now that you've entered my domain, why the haste? Why not stay and contemplate the Tao with me?

You are all outsiders, with no grievances against Dadui.

I know what you seek, and our interests align.

Even if you don't wish to help us, I can also ask His Majesty to send you out.

You just need to wait peacefully for Dadui's return, and then the path to the Tenth Tier will be opened.

How about it?" he said.

As the Ninth Tier Earth Deity spoke, farther away, several tunneling lights were rapidly approaching.

"Don't waste words with him; let's move on," someone interjected.

In an instant, six external Ninth Tiers, along with several residual Ninth Tiers from the Faceless Man's base, made their move together.

The Ninth Tier Earth Deity shook his head.

"Ungrateful fools, still trying to obstruct our paths at this point, overestimating your abilities," he said.

He stood in the air, pinched a Seal with one hand, and pointed toward the ground, uttering a low shout.

Instantly, the seven-layer tower behind him burst into dazzling light, and after the brilliance, a shadow of a whole county emerged.

In the shadow, the Temples of several County City Gods lit up, as did the Mountain Gods, lands, and River Gods, each shining brightly.

The radiance spread across every inch of the county's mountains and rivers.

Enormous power bestowed upon him caused his aura to surge once again.

The Earth Deity's power, with the addition of the Divine Power of the Dadui Divine Dynasty, was also bestowed upon him.

This boosted his aura to rush towards the Peak of the Ninth Tier.

Facing over ten Ninth Tiers, his expression solemn, he bellowed out loud.

"Mountain!" he exclaimed.

With a loud shout, the shadow of a massive mountain appeared out of nowhere, forcibly blocking the combined strike of the group.

Then he pointed again.

"River," he declared.

A shadow of a great river materialized, cascading with the force of billions from the sky above.

The thunderous rumbling seemed to make the heavens tremble.

One onslaught of the great river chaos mixed the Spiritual Energy of the land, crushed thousands of Divine Lights, and intercepted all Secret Techniques.

Just two exchanges of blows left several Ninth Tier practitioners pale and unstable.

"Split up and flee; we'll talk after we get away. Once settled, we can regroup," the group said as they fought and retreated, circling around for another path.

This place, unbeknownst to them, had also fallen under the jurisdiction of the City God, and they were unable to confront him here.

Moreover, the enemy reinforcements were about to arrive.

The group had no choice but to scatter, each escaping separately for the time being.

Big Ghost, carrying Yu Ziqing, ran all the way without taking part in the battle.

An hour later, the City God's awe-inspiring might finally ceased to pursue them and remained within the boundaries of his domain.

At that time, the reinforcements also arrived.

From all directions in the night sky came traces of ongoing battles.

Yu Ziqing looked towards the distant seven-tiered pagoda, his expression grim as still water.

Is this the might of the City God?

This damned thing can not only draw power from its Earth Deity status and the jurisdiction of its domain, but also possesses the support of the County City God and the many other Earth Deities, and can even augment its power with that of the Dadui Divine Dynasty.

It's really outrageous.

After being fully augmented, by exerting divine power to unleash divine skills, it's comparable to the Ninth Tier Peak.

According to the transformation process of Dadui, there should be twelve City Gods.

No, now eleven.

The first City God to be slaughtered was probably too complacent when encountering these people for the first time and got killed by a group of Ninth Tier.

The second time, the confronting City God wised up. Facing these people, he went all out from the start, combining full firepower with augmentation, suppressing everyone from the beginning.

After Yu Ziqing got separated from the others, he only took Big Ghost with him, fleeing urgently, waiting to shake off the pursuers before heading to the agreed location to regroup with the others.

However, just as he reached a desolate wilderness, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The Sect Master of Duobao Sect stood midair, above ground.

He looked at Yu Ziqing with a hint of a smile on his face.

"As soon as you arrived, they realized there was something amiss with me. I presume you were the one who noticed something was off about me?

Can you tell me how you knew I was an impostor?"

"Senior, what's the name of your fifth great-grandchild? Do you still remember?"

The Duobao Sect Sect Master had an epiphany, followed by a look of puzzlement.

"You never asked me any questions, so how did you figure out I was a fake?"

"Wait, you're not the Sect Master of Duobao Sect?" Yu Ziqing looked utterly astonished.

"..." The Sect Master of Duobao Sect's expression darkened, having been caught in a verbal trap.

Then he stretched out a hand, as if piercing the sky, and flicked it gently.

Only then did Yu Ziqing see that the sky within a hundred miles was actually disguised by a painting.

The Duobao Sect Sect Master held the top of the painting, giving it a casual flick, and the painting, disguised as the night sky, pressed down towards the ground.

Everything it passed over seemed to be swept up into it, becoming part of the painting.

"To deal with me, you went to all this trouble... it's really unnecessary..."

Yu Ziqing sighed and patted Big Ghost on the shoulder.

Big Ghost, carrying Yu Ziqing, plunged rapidly toward the ground.

When they reached a certain height, Yu Ziqing took out the temple, and in an instant, the area before them was suffused with a swirling aura.

With the temple, Yu Ziqing directly entered the Divine Country of the local Earth Deity.

The painting, covering a hundred miles, swept over indiscriminately but caught nothing.

He shook his hand, and the painting began to shrink, rolling up by itself and falling into his sleeve.

He frowned and looked down at the ground, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

He only saw a bizarrely shaped object, entangled in a mess of metal, not immediately recognizing it as any magical treasure.

"What magical treasure is that?"