The hundred-meter-long, crimson carp, Chì Lǐ Bái, was tightly restrained by Zhī Lǜ and the profound grip of Dà Nián, its six massive hearts pounding madly, yet unable to break free from the giant hands. The Corpse Emperor regarded the carp, which had already sprouted two dragon horns on its head, with satisfaction for a moment. With a sweep of his vast sleeve, he tucked it into a pocket dimension opened within the fabric. A black crystal humanoid and twelve purple crystal humanoids had their limbs shattered and were stuffed into specialized alloy boxes. Péng Huá, grinning widely, happily secured these in his storage pouch and gave a knowing wink to Xiǎo Zhāng Dàorén, who stood nearby.

Like sweeping away a fortress or pouring boiling water onto snow—swift and utter destruction. Dozens of crystal altars belonging to the Kè Lǐ Sī Tuō crystal people were demolished by the combined assault of the five great Nascent Soul masters: the Corpse Emperor, the Bone King, the Lion Venerable, the Eagle Saint, and the Tigress Granny. Save for the divine lake nurturing the Fire Qilin, the spiritual creatures within the other dozens of divine lakes were subdued one by one.

The Fire Python, Fire Flood Dragon, Fire Carp, Fire Lion, Fire Rat, Fire Crow, and other legendary spiritual beings surrendered one after another. This bountiful haul caused smiles to bloom even on the Corpse Emperor’s eternally stiff zombie face. Given the current level of cultivation in the cultivation world, these spirits could not be nurtured further, but their vital essence could be used in medicine, their flesh and hide could significantly replenish vitality, their bones and fur could forge magic treasures, and their pure-yang inner cores were the optimal choice for enhancing power and crafting artifacts.

All these spiritual creatures, just like the Qilin, were imprisoned in a lava lake formed from the convergence of earth-vein essence, chained by restraints inscribed with countless runes. Depending on their size, these chains weighed anywhere from hundreds of thousands of jīn to tens of millions of jīn. The iron chains were forged from supreme materials rarely seen in the current cultivation world, making them excellent materials for artifact refinement themselves.

The Corpse Emperor was not entirely greedy. When collecting these spirits and chains, he brought along disciples from the various sects of the Asian Dao Alliance, such as Little Zhang Daoren, as witnesses. These spiritual beings and treasures were to be distributed significantly to the other allies of the Asian Dao Alliance upon their return to Earth. This had been the guiding principle for the Asian Dao Alliance since its inception: only by working together could they better survive in the current world. As the foremost master of the Heretical Path within the Asian Dao Alliance, the Corpse Emperor was acutely aware of the dangers of keeping everything for oneself, especially pure-yang treasures that conflicted with the Jiǔ Yōu Dào cultivation techniques!

The elite disciples of various sects, including Little Zhang Daoren, were grinning so widely their mouths struggled to close. According to the unwritten rule of the Asian Dao Alliance—"Watch over and aid each other, share what is needed"—the Jiǔ Yōu Dào would receive sixty percent of these spiritual objects and treasures, with the remaining forty percent divided equally among the other sects. However, it was obvious that these pure-yang spirits brimming with powerful flame energy were fundamentally incompatible with the Jiǔ Yōu Dào. Any elixirs or magic treasures refined from them would be unusable by Jiǔ Yōu Dào cultivators, meaning these treasures were inevitably destined to fall into their hands. Even a major sect would have to pay a heavy price to trade for them with the Corpse Emperor.

Yet, it was foreseeable that with dozens of such massive, innate-level spiritual beings, the elixirs refined from their vital essence alone would be enough to create a new cohort of masters for the Asian Dao Alliance.

Perhaps the number of Nascent Soul experts in the Asian Dao Alliance would break the thousand mark? And the number of Golden Core disciples should increase by several tens of percent.

Masters of the Spirit Transformation stage could unleash world-shattering power with a mere gesture. Under the leadership of the Corpse Emperor and the other four Spirit Transformation experts, along with the eighteen accompanying Nascent Soul experts from the Jiǔ Yōu Dào, the Alliance forces swept through, utterly destroying every altar and divine lake belonging to the Kè Lǐ Sī Tuō crystal people, finally penetrating the Ancestral Temple of the crystal race.

Four utterly translucent, colorless crystal humanoids stood before the Ancestral Temple, located one thousand three hundred kilometers beneath the surface of Pluto. Here was a vast cavern nearly a hundred kilometers in diameter, in the center of which stood a crude, grand hall. Hundreds of thousands of lower-level crystal beings huddled fearfully behind these four colorless figures, most of whom were the white, nascent-form crystal beings possessing no power whatsoever.

Following a concealed tunnel, Gǔ Xié Chén cautiously entered this enormous cavern. The hundreds of thousands of crystal people stared at them expressionlessly; their stiff, dull, despairing gazes sent a chill down his spine. In the eyes of the nascent-form crystal beings, an endless venomous resentment was added. Many small crystal figures clenched their fists tightly, white light flickering rapidly within their bodies.

Flanked by the five brothers of Xīn Jiǎ, Gǔ Xié Chén positioned himself behind the Corpse Emperor. These four colorless crystal humanoids must be the absolute peak power of the Kè Lǐ Sī Tuō crystal race. If they mobilized the power of Pluto to counterattack, it was safest to remain near the Corpse Emperor.

The Tigress Granny cackled, "These stone heads have gathered themselves here; it saves us the trouble of searching."

Gǔ Xié Chén urgently sent a voice transmission to the Tigress Granny: "Aunt-Master, it's best to show mercy. Keep two of these four colorless crystal humanoids. Later, they can help your nephew drive the others toward that Roman hunting party."

The Tigress Granny smiled, and the Corpse Emperor and the others also smiled, glancing back at Gǔ Xié Chén and nodding in approval.

Draining a pond to catch all the fish is unwise; killing by borrowing a knife is an excellent tactic. Gǔ Xié Chén's plan perfectly suited their intentions.

The combined might of the five Spirit Transformation experts concluded the battle in mere minutes. The crystal orbs of two colorless crystal humanoids were forcefully seized, while the internal energy fluctuations of the other two were suppressed by the Corpse Emperor using the "Corpse God Talisman Seal," turning them into beings resembling living corpses. Among the five, the Eagle Saint, possessing the fastest movement and strongest concealment abilities, cheerfully gathered the two sealed colorless crystal humanoids and set off to find the Roman hunting party led by Bō Ěr Bō Tè. Also taken by the Eagle Saint were nine black crystal humanoids and dozens of purple crystal humanoids.

Hundreds of thousands of crystal people stood before their Ancestral Temple, watching with despair as Gǔ Xié Chén and his party, who seemed like invincible, unstoppable demon gods. The other high-level crystal humanoids were either captured alive or had their limbs broken and were haphazardly scattered throughout the complex tunnels and pits on Pluto. Among the hundreds of thousands gathered here, the strongest present were only a few thousand yellow crystal humanoids.

They were utterly incapable of resistance. Under the threat of death from Gǔ Xié Chén, the crystal people bowed their heads, opening a clear path toward their Ancestral Temple.

Gǔ Xié Chén stepped into the massive hall, carved out of a single huge stone, hundreds of meters long and wide. In the center of the crude, ancient hall, there was only a crookedly carved lotus pedestal. Leaning against it was a skeletal frame several meters high, gleaming with pure gold light as if cast from solid gold. Standing outside the hall, one could feel absolutely no aura emanating from this skeleton, but the moment Gǔ Xié Chén entered, a powerful, tenacious wave of Buddhist power washed over him, nearly knocking him off his feet.

The residual Zen power of Buddhism clinging to this golden skeleton was hundreds of times stronger than the aura the Corpse Emperor exhibited after borrowing the power of the three stars of Shā Pò Láng, yet this immense Buddhist Zen power merely circled within this hall, not leaking out at all. The surging waves of Buddhist power crashed in like the tide of the Qiantang River, causing the expressions of the Jiǔ Yōu Dào members, led by the Corpse Emperor, to change drastically.

Intermission Reminder

Zhū Tóu always said Pluto was a very important planet. Even Xiǎo Gǔ and the others, who have begun to survey it, haven't grasped its true significance yet. Please continue to support us.

Smash those monthly tickets! The following parts will be thrilling for everyone! (To be continued)