Inside the twenty-nine intact Hunting Ships, countless shadows shifted and darted through the corridors. "Fierce Special Operations Bureau soldiers hastily raised their weapons, attempting resistance, but sword light flashed, and every soldier who dared to resist fell into a pool of blood. Some clever soldiers meekly squatted on the ground, clasping their heads. After being stripped of their gear, they were sent off to be imprisoned in the storerooms.

In the flagship command cabin of the Hunting Ship, Lieutenant Colonel Filimus lay on the ground with vacant, bewildered eyes. A pool of blood slowly welled up from hundreds of his gruesome wounds, gradually forming a small lake beneath him. Three disciples of the Three Witches Sect, clad in black Taoist robes, had their limbs torn to shreds, dragging four shockingly white bare bones—arm bones and leg bones—as they struggled and groaned on the floor, emitting pitiful cries.

Several black shadows, enveloped in chilling, sinister energy, their forms indistinct save for two patches of red ghost-fire flickering where their faces should be, surrounded the fallen Three Witches Sect disciples, letting out ear-piercing, mocking laughter. They brutally stomped on the bodies of the three Taoists, cruelly grinding their bones to dust inch by inch.

A towering skeleton, entirely black and reaching over two and a half meters high, stood spiritedly before the command console, randomly hammering away at the keyboard with a chuckle. He looked triumphantly at Gu Xiechen on the screen and said, "Little Nephew-Disciple, all the long-nosed devils of the Three Witches Sect are down. Of all the rebellious officers and soldiers, seventy percent were eliminated, and the remaining thirty percent are captured. Uncle thinks, why not just kill them all?"

Gu Xiechen, still lying on the ground, managed a dry laugh. He said urgently, "Bone King Uncle-Master, please, no killing! These people are still useful!"

The Bone King froze. He vigorously shook his head, scratching his forehead with a claw. "Useful? What use? To make barbecue, perhaps? Hmph."

The Bone King snorted. He turned and walked to the side of the bearded captain. He placed both hands on the captain's chest, and a mass of black, viscous liquid slowly seeped into the captain's body. The fungal threads and those few mushroom caps parasitizing the captain’s surface withered, eventually vanishing into wisps of malevolent energy absorbed by the Bone King. He sighed contentedly, twisted his body, and said in a strange, peculiar voice, "Nine Nether Corpse Fungus, tsk tsk. What a flavor! A hundred times more satisfying than when this King was pumping heroin back in the day!"

"Ugh..." The bearded captain rolled his eyes, suddenly flipped over, opened his mouth, and began retching violently. What he vomited out was nothing but toxic fluid, red and green, the stench so foul it made his eyes stream with tears.

The screams from the communicator had barely faded before the Black Bamboo Witch King dashed toward the tunnel above without a second thought. But before he had ascended twenty meters, a massive seal composed of countless human skulls descended upon him, carrying overwhelming evil energy and boundless nether fire. Splat! It was like a giant millstone crushing a watermelon; the Black Bamboo Witch King's head exploded into a scattering of peach blossom specks, and vast amounts of blood and brain matter sprayed out for hundreds of feet.

The Taoist spirit flew out from above the Black Bamboo Witch King’s head, encapsulating a tiny, thumb-sized red figure that was the spitting image of the Witch King himself. The malevolent spirit flew with lightning speed, effortlessly bypassing the Great White Bone Seal, and fled toward the high sky with a hysterical, utterly enraged shriek. The Black Bamboo Witch King’s Nascent Soul screamed madly amidst the toxic gas, "Corpse Emperor! Shameless scum! Attacking from behind given your status! I do not submit! I am not reconciled!"

Just as the Black Bamboo Witch King’s Nascent Soul was about to escape the five-hundred-kilometer-deep passage, a strange cackling laugh echoed down from the heights. A burly man with a lion's nose and wide mouth, a withered middle-aged man with golden eyes, crimson pupils, and a large hooked nose, and a hawk-faced old woman with an indigo-purple complexion and seven tiger tails whipping wildly behind her suddenly materialized from the void. With a sweep of their hands, the three jointly manifested a net that reeked powerfully of gore, in every mesh of which a bead of blood pulsed, firmly trapping the Black Bamboo Witch King’s Nascent Soul.

"Heavens! The Nine Desires Blood Net! Lion Venerable, Eagle Saint, Tiger Granny! You are all Grandmasters; how shameless of you!" the Black Bamboo Witch King shrieked miserably.

"Too much chatter means you're no hero!" Tiger Granny shouted, shaking the Nine Desires Blood Net. Dozens of blood beads vibrated, unleashing countless streams of bloody nether lightning that bombarded the Black Bamboo Witch King’s Nascent Soul. The Witch King let out a tragic wail, transforming into a dense essence of energy. Tiger Granny opened her large mouth and devoured three-tenths of the essence derived from his Nascent Soul. The golden-eyed, red-pupiled Eagle Saint opened his mouth and consumed another three-tenths. The remaining four-tenths were completely swallowed by the lion-nosed, wide-mouthed Lion Venerable.

After letting out a satisfied burp, the Eagle Saint unfurled two wings wreathed in wind and fire from his back and swooped down from the sky like lightning. He nodded towards the Corpse Emperor, who held the Great White Bone Seal, and chuckled, "Eldest Senior Brother, killing the Black Bamboo Witch’s spouse is satisfying, but for the cleanup... we'll need an excuse, won't we?"

The Corpse Emperor, clad in a coarse white linen robe with a stiff expression, landed beside Gu Xiechen and lifted him up with one hand. The Corpse Emperor sneered, "What excuse is needed? Since my disciple could kill the Red Feather Witch King, killing another Black Bamboo Witch King is hardly a big deal. Disciple, what do you say?"

Gu Xiechen smiled. He bowed to the Corpse Emperor. "Master speaks wisely. The Black Bamboo Witch King tried to ambush your disciple, and as a result, he was killed by this Colorless Crystal Man, along with the Scarlet Flame Qilin from the lava lake!"

With a wave of his hand, Gu Xiechen tossed the corpse of the Scarlet Flame Qilin out of his Small Qiankun Pouch. The massive Qilin corpse stunned the Corpse Emperor, Lion Venerable, Eagle Saint, Tiger Granny, and the others into silence.

After a long moment, the Corpse Emperor exclaimed in astonishment, "There is such a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Being here? How... how is this possible? What kind of place is this?"

Gu Xiechen hastily retrieved the Qilin corpse back into the pouch and smiled, "Regardless of what kind of place this is, in short, the Black Bamboo Witch King was taken down by this Qilin and that Colorless Crystal Man. Master, three Uncle-Masters, what do you think?"

Tiger Granny excitedly waved her seven tiger tails and landed beside Gu Xiechen. The short Tiger Granny, barely three feet five inches tall, cackled, grabbed Gu Xiechen's palm with a "Jie jie," "Oh, Little Nephew-Disciple, is that really a Qilin? Heh heh, Martial Aunt has never seen what a Qilin looks like. Can you let it out again so Martial Aunt can see?"

Clutching the pouch at his waist, Gu Xiechen offered a dry chuckle. "Martial Aunt, what's so rare about this Qilin? Heh heh. This Pluto has at least eleven altars, and at least eleven Divine Lakes! Heh heh, with your skill, aren't the treasures in the remaining ten Divine Lakes all yours? This Qilin, this Nephew-Disciple has a major use for it!"

Tiger Granny’s eyes lit up, and she let out an excited tiger roar toward the sky. The Corpse Emperor’s eyes shot out two streams of dark cyan light. He exclaimed excitedly, "Eleven altars? Heh, splendid! This is an opportunity for our Nine Nether Dao. If we let it slip away, we will surely incur heavenly retribution!"

The Colorless Crystal Man roared madly. He ferociously gripped the seven-inch point of the three long snakes, pointing at the Corpse Emperor and roaring, "You all want to infringe upon the Ancestor's legacy? You shall all die!"

Lion Venerable and Eagle Saint exchanged a look, tacitly rolled up their sleeves, and lunged toward the Crystalline Man. The Eagle Saint conjured several feet of pure gold Wind and Cloud Spears, each measuring one zhang and eight chi long. The Lion Venerable pulled out a large golden plaque, one zhang three chi long, three chi wide, and eight cun thick, and smashed it fiercely toward the Colorless Crystal Man.

The sound of countless dense piercing strikes merged into a single long cry. The Eagle Saint struck the Colorless Crystal Man nearly a thousand times in an instant. The Lion Venerable roared, and the golden plaque, weighing tens of thousands of catties, bringing with it illusory images of countless mountains, smashed fiercely onto the Crystal Man's forehead. The Colorless Crystal Man let out a cry of pain. The Lion Venerable smashed him deep into the ground; the floor of the circular hall shook violently, instantly collapsing several dozen feet downward. Peng Hua and the others were caught off guard and all tumbled into the resulting sinkhole.

"Ouch!" Peng Hua, pinned underground, cried out weakly as he looked up at the Corpse Emperor, "Master, why did you and the Martial Uncles arrive so coincidentally?"

The Corpse Emperor gave a sinister smile, pursing his lips. "When you two senior and junior brothers set out, we were already on the Hunting Ships!"

Gu Xiechen winked at Peng Hua and chuckled, "Master deduced that the three Witch Kings of the Three Witches Sect are the most petty-minded. To get revenge on me, they were already subtly leaning toward the Church. As the saying goes, if you don't kill the snake completely, you invite disaster, so hahaha!" Gu Xiechen laughed heartily. The hidden weapons he had set up this time were too powerful—five of the nine Sovereigns of the Nine Nether Dao were mobilized. Except for the Corpse Emperor, who was a true Grandmaster at the peak of Soul Transformation, the other four were also great experts in the middle or late stages of Soul Transformation. Furthermore, hundreds of elite disciples of the Nine Nether Dao were distributed across thirty Hunting Ships. This formation was enough to ensure that even if the entire Three Witches Sect attacked, not just one Black Bamboo Witch King, the result would be piles of corpses and rivers of blood.

Peng Hua was stunned. His mouth twitched several times before he suddenly wailed hoarsely, "Heavens! Am I an initial disciple or a bastard son? How come I knew absolutely nothing about this? Wuwu, Master, you are too biased! You didn't even leak a single word of this plan to me!"

The corner of the Corpse Emperor's mouth pulled back. He swallowed the Great White Bone Seal into his mouth, clasped his hands behind his back, and said grimly, "Your junior brother joined the sect barely half a year ago and has already made countless contributions to the Nine Nether Dao; it is only right that we favor him. You, however, have been here for several hundred years. What have you done for the Nine Nether Dao? Hmph hmph. Besides embezzling sect funds through illicit dealings, what else have you done?"

Peng Hua froze, then broke into a charming smile, his eyes rippling with the pinkish waves of a wanton woman. He blinked at the Corpse Emperor and said, "Master, why bring up those old matters? Isn't it about sect contribution? This time, your disciple also contributed! Half the credit for this Qilin belongs to this disciple too!" While flattering the Corpse Emperor, Peng Hua made a vicious gesture toward Gu Xiechen, strongly implying that Gu Xiechen was unworthy and that he would settle scores later.

Gu Xiechen offered a few dry laughs and hurriedly said, "Master, Senior Brother is right! If Senior Brother Peng Hua hadn't single-handedly held off this beast—"

Just as he was about to say something nice for Peng Hua, the Lion Venerable and Eagle Saint cried out in pain simultaneously and retreated a few steps.

The Colorless Crystal Man, smashed dozens of meters deep into the ground, shot upward with a dazzling brilliant light. He tightly clutched the three long snakes in his hands, and viscous, colorful streams, like melting glaze, continuously seeped into the bodies of the three snakes, gradually turning their bodies into transparent, crystal-like material. The Colorless Crystal Man howled in rage. He wildly swung the three long snakes, carving countless dazzling afterimages in the air.

The long snakes tore through the air and struck the Lion Venerable heavily. Hundreds of consecutive strikes made the Lion Venerable stagger backward. The Eagle Saint, with his evasive movements, darted around the Colorless Crystal Man, stabbing repeatedly, but his spear could never pierce the Crystal Man's body; an immense, supreme power blocked the Eagle Saint's thrusts.

The Colorless Crystal Man opened his mouth and let out a sound like the booming of a bronze bell. He mustered all his strength and swung the three long snakes fiercely toward the Lion Venerable’s head.

The stout, slow-moving Lion Venerable grunted. The long snakes shattered against his body. His nearly indestructible physique, painstakingly cultivated, was gouged by three bloody marks, two inches deep. Stinking blood jetted out like a fountain, chchch. Everyone heard the sound of the Lion Venerable’s ribs breaking. The Lion Venerable’s face turned black with pain.

The Eagle Saint became furious. The Wind and Cloud Spear in his hand was suddenly wrapped in a mass of cyan-black violent winds. The strong wind surged like a dragon, carrying the Wind and Cloud Spear toward the Colorless Crystal Man at a terrifying speed nearly a hundred times faster than before.

The wind howled, and a beam of intense light several zhang long shot out from the tip of the Wind and Cloud Spear. Every feather on the Eagle Saint's wings turned into a semi-transparent wind image. His body left hundreds of illusions in the void as he lunged forward with a ferocious grin: "A spiritual object condensed from the essence of the Ten Thousand Year Earth Vein? Heh heh, perfect to upgrade this Venerable's Natal Magic Treasure!"

The Colorless Crystal Man released the mangled remains of the three snakes in his hands. He roared, planting his feet firmly on the ground. Two visible torrents of light surged from beneath the ground into his body. The Colorless Crystal Man's body suddenly expanded to nearly a hundred meters high. He shook his right arm and delivered a lightning-fast slap.

The Eagle Saint let out a mournful cry. His spear, imbued with all his vital energy and spirit, failed to even pierce the protective divine light on the Crystal Man’s surface. The Crystal Man’s massive palm struck him fiercely. A vast, overwhelming power, as incomprehensible as gazing upon the boundless, endless starry sky on a summer night, erupted from that huge palm. It battered the feathers off the Eagle Saint's wings and shattered the bones in half his body, sending him smashing hundreds of meters deep into the crystal wall nearby.

"Giggle, giggle..." The Eagle Saint was knocked dizzy, the dignified late-stage Soul Transformation demon expert emitting sounds like an old hen brooding.

"Hmph, drawing upon the power of the Zhou Tian Stars?" The Corpse Emperor’s eyes once again burst with bright light. He sneered, "This is a legendary method!"

With a wave of his hand, the Great White Bone Seal shot out from his fingertip, carrying overwhelming evil energy and nether fire, striking fiercely toward the Colorless Crystal Man.

The Colorless Crystal Man stomped heavily on the ground. The entire Pluto shuddered violently, and dozens of dense, seven-colored mist streams suddenly surged from beneath the ground, forming a swirling, ethereal cloud canopy above the Crystal Man’s head.

The huge White Bone Seal fell onto the soft, seven-colored cloud canopy. The canopy yielded without resisting the force. The seal circled uncertainly on the cloud cover but could not descend.

The Colorless Crystal Man grunted softly. He turned to look at Gu Xiechen and his group, stomped his right foot hard into the ground.

Intermission reminder:

Pig Head feels that slowly this flavor will emerge.

Little Gu is gradually coming into contact with the true cultivation world!

Therefore, please continue to smash out votes in support! (To be continued)