Chapter 173 – Ferocious Beast Taotie, Devouring Heaven and Earth, Water Virtue Star, Yellow…

Although they had already dealt with the three Golden Core Stage cultivators from the Black Lotus Sect, this didn’t mean Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye’s mission was complete.

Their true purpose in coming here wasn’t merely to deal with Chou Niu and the others, but to prevent the Vicious Beast Taotie from breaking the seal.

However, looking at the towering crimson light within the Sealed Land, Lu Chen was momentarily at a loss about how to resolve the situation.

While he had learned many things, he hadn’t really delved into the field of Formations.

Fortunately, the Three-Legged Golden Crow offered a solution at this moment.

“Brother Lu, Sister Mu, there are four Four Symbols Statues within the Sealed Land, and these statues are the Formation’s focal points.”

“Although I don’t know what those three Demonic Path cultivators did, the problem likely lies with these Four Symbols Statues.”

“As long as we can find a way to repair these four statues, we’ll be able to reseal Taotie.”

“Judging by the current situation, part of Taotie’s body has probably already broken through the seal.”

“So besides repairing the Formation, we also need to deal with these escaped Taotie Clones.”

“Otherwise, even if we repair the Four Symbols Statues, we won’t be able to completely seal it away.”

Hearing this, Lu Chen asked: “Then how do we repair these Four Symbols Statues?”

The Three-Legged Golden Crow replied: “Leave that to Diting. His Nine Qi can mimic the fate powers of other Classic of Mountains and Seas Mythical Beasts, which naturally includes the Four Symbols.”

“However, currently Diting can only mimic one mythical beast’s fate power at a time, and with the help of you outsiders, the Four Symbols now possess some of the highest fate powers in the Mountains-Seas Realm.”

“So Diting will need some preparation time to successfully mimic them.”

“During this period, we need to protect Diting and ensure he isn’t disturbed.”

After a moment of silence, Lu Chen said: “Tell me your plan.”

The Three-Legged Golden Crow nodded seriously and said: “In my Legacy memories, there are fragments of battle memories against Taotie.”

“From what I know, Taotie’s fate is Devouring Heaven and Earth, meaning it can consume all energy in the world. Therefore, ordinary spells and Divine Abilities pose little threat to it.”

“Unless your spells or Divine Abilities can overwhelm its consumption capacity in a short time, or you possess a Physique that can overpower it, defeating it is extremely difficult.”

“The towering blood light we see now is formed from Taotie’s malevolent energy, which also indicates that it has already consumed considerable Spiritual Power from the Mountains-Seas Realm and has regained some of its strength.”

“Sister Mu and I will search for these escaped Taotie remnants and find ways to eliminate them, and we must act quickly.”

“Because if these escaped Taotie Clones consume enough energy, they can directly transform into Taotie’s main body, so we absolutely cannot give them sufficient time.”

“Additionally, Taotie’s main body won’t accept being sealed willingly and will definitely resist by any means necessary, so staying in the Sealed Land is actually more dangerous.”

“I’m not intentionally leaving the dangerous tasks to you, Brother Lu, but only you and Diting have the capability to repair the Four Symbols Seal within a short time.”

“So…””It’s fine, let’s proceed as you suggested.”

Lu Chen stood up, voluntarily taking on the most dangerous part of this sealing operation.

Seeing this, Mu Xiaoye, standing nearby, said with concern, “Xiao Lu, maybe we should wait for other Agents from the Shanhai Bureau to arrive. I’m certain they’ve already detected the situation here.”

Lu Chen knew Mu Xiaoye wasn’t saying this out of fear, but rather concern for his safety.

In response, Lu Chen smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I never do things I’m not confident about. If there’s real danger, I won’t push myself recklessly.”

Hearing this, Mu Xiaoye hesitated, wanting to say more but holding back.

After all, she didn’t really care about what consequences might follow if Taotie broke free from the seal.

She only cared about Lu Chen’s safety.

She didn’t care about grand principles or righteousness—only the people she cared about.

And Lu Chen’s thoughts were quite similar to Mu Xiaoye’s.

But as Lu Chen had said, he never acted without confidence.

With the Deity Transformation Stage Talismans in his possession, he was confident he could retreat unscathed if the situation spiraled out of control.

To reassure Mu Xiaoye, Lu Chen turned to the Three-Legged Golden Crow and asked, “Golden Crow, if Taotie escapes the seal, would it have the power to confront a Deity Transformation Stage Cultivator?”

“Ah?!”

The Three-Legged Golden Crow was taken aback.

After a moment, as if guessing something, it replied seriously, “The Deity Transformation Stage is the Realm of Embodying Dao. At its peak, Taotie naturally wouldn’t fear it, but right now, it has been sealed for a very long time, and its strength has fallen to rock bottom.”

“Moreover, the entire Mountains-Seas Realm is actually built upon the remains of Tai Sui. All the Classic of Mountains and Seas Mythical Beasts living here are suppressed by Tai Sui’s power, and Taotie is no exception.”

“So even if Taotie’s true form breaks the seal, at most it can only reach the strength of the Golden Core Stage.”

“If a Deity Transformation Stage Cultivator were to act, it definitely wouldn’t withstand it.”

“Brother Lu… do you have a method comparable to the Deity Transformation Stage?”

Lu Chen didn’t answer directly, instead responding with silence.

But sometimes silence is an answer in itself.

Upon realizing this, the Three-Legged Golden Crow’s expression instantly relaxed.

“Well, it seems this matter is simpler than expected. Sister Mu, shall we act quickly?”

Mu Xiaoye glanced at the Three-Legged Golden Crow, then at Lu Chen’s calm expression.

She nodded seriously, indicating she would follow the Three-Legged Golden Crow’s plan.

But before leaving, Mu Xiaoye still said earnestly, “Xiao Lu, if there’s any danger, leave immediately.”

“If the sky falls, there are taller people to hold it up. It’s not our turn to take the lead yet.”

“Don’t worry.”

Hearing this, Mu Xiaoye finally stopped hesitating.

She took the Three-Legged Golden Crow and headed in a direction outside the valley.

Because just moments earlier, while she was fighting Goat, she had noticed some monsters with goat bodies, human faces, eyes under their armpits, tiger teeth, and human claws rushing out of the valley.

However, at the time, her attention was entirely on Goat, so she had no energy to deal with these creatures.

Undoubtedly, those monsters were likely Clones released by Taotie.

Now, she and the Three-Legged Golden Crow had to eliminate them as quickly as possible, before they could devour other Spirit Beasts and regain their strength.

Otherwise, if they were allowed to roam freely in the Mountains-Seas Realm, it would be much harder to deal with them later.However, the number of these newly escaped creatures was not large, only a few dozen.

Moreover, their strength was quite ordinary, with most being only at the Qi Condensation Stage.

As long as she and the Three-Legged Golden Crow were fast enough, they should be able to quickly deal with them.

But this required them to race against time.

After realizing this, Mu Xiaoye immediately had the Three-Legged Golden Crow carry her as they pursued the escaped Taotie Clones.

At the same time, Lu Chen entered the Land of Taotie Seal.

Unlike the area where he had previously fought with Ox and Horse, they had only been at the periphery of Seal Valley back then.

This time, he directly entered the heart of the Sealed Land.

As soon as Lu Chen stepped into the core of this Sealed Land, what greeted his eyes were numerous corpses of Taotie Clones.

And many Taotie Clones crouching over these corpses, constantly devouring their fellow clones.

Seeing this, Lu Chen suddenly understood why Ox and the others had been guarding this place all along.

Besides preventing others from disrupting their plans, they were also limiting Taotie’s strength.

Although they wanted to release Taotie, they didn’t dare let it emerge completely unrestrained. They had to keep its power within certain limits to make it easier to control.

Thinking carefully, it made sense. In the eyes of a Vicious Beast like Taotie, the Righteous Path and Demonic Path were no different—both were just its food.

It wouldn’t care who released it; it would devour anything it encountered!

Therefore, to ensure the situation didn’t spiral out of control, Ox and the others had to strictly regulate the number of Taotie Clones within the valley.

The large pile of Taotie Clone corpses accumulated in the valley was likely their doing.

However, the appearance of Lu Chen and the others had undoubtedly broken this balance.

It also meant that subsequently appearing Taotie Clones wouldn’t be immediately slain.

This allowed many new Taotie Clones to escape, with some even rushing straight out of the valley.

Upon seeing Lu Chen appear, these Taotie Clones charged toward him as if he were some delicious meal.

[Name: Taotie (Clone)]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation Stage ~ Foundation Establishment Stage]

[Fate: Devour Heaven and Earth]

[Description: Mount Gouwu has much jade on its summit and much copper below. There is a beast here, shaped like a sheep’s body with a human face, its eyes under its armpits, tiger teeth and human claws, its voice like that of an infant, named Taotie, who eats humans.]

Seeing dozens of Taotie clones ranging from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment Stage charging at him, Lu Chen snorted coldly.

The next moment, a massive ink Dragon appeared behind Lu Chen.

“Roar!”

With a furious roar, the ink Dragon swept toward the Taotie clones.

Faced with the strange ink mist surrounding the ink Dragon, these Taotie clones weren’t affected at all. Instead, they began devouring it voraciously.

As they consumed the ink mist, some Qi Condensation Stage Taotie clones actually started growing stronger rapidly.

The speed of their improvement surprised even Lu Chen.

But at this level, they still posed no threat to Lu Chen’s ink Dragon.

The ink Dragon plunged into the Taotie horde, each attack claiming numerous Taotie clone lives.

Before long, the once dense Taotie group was reduced to a field of corpses.

But the ink Dragon didn’t stop there, instead turning its gaze toward a particular spot.

There, in the valley, stood four massive Four Symbols Statues.

Lu Chen had seen a similar scene before at Luocheng High School.At this moment, among the Four Symbols Statues, the one representing the Black Tortoise was not only covered in cracks but also had the most Taotie Clones clinging to it, constantly gnawing away.

Fortunately, the Black Tortoise statue seemed to have some countermeasures of its own.

It continuously absorbed Spiritual Power from the ground to maintain the emerald-green Protective Barrier around it.

However, Taotie appeared to be the natural bane of all other living beings.

The Protective Barrier of the Black Tortoise statue posed no real challenge for these greedy Taotie.

With just a few bites, they could tear open a gap.

Then they would viciously rip off a piece of the Black Tortoise statue.

The other three Four Symbols Statues were in slightly better condition than the Black Tortoise statue.

But only marginally so.

Because their statue bodies had also been eroded to varying degrees.

If no one intervened, it would only be a matter of time before they were completely devoured by the Taotie Clones.

Aside from this, the area with the most commotion in the entire Sealed Land was undoubtedly the Formation at the very center.

Right in the middle of the Four Symbols Statues, a crack leading directly to the Underground Prison appeared before Lu Chen’s eyes.

The crack wasn’t large, roughly ten meters wide.

Sealing power continuously surged forth, attempting to mend the crack.

However, the Taotie Clones constantly emerging from the opening prevented this sealing process.

Judging by a small clue, although only Taotie’s Clones had emerged so far,

Lu Chen could already imagine the consequences if the real Taotie were to break free from the Sealed Land.

Given their locust-like tendency to devour everything in sight,

allowing these creatures to re-enter the world would undoubtedly spell catastrophe for the entire planet.

Truly worthy of their infamous reputation as one of the Four Fiends—their notoriety was well-deserved.

“Diting, time to get to work.”

After giving the instruction, Lu Chen took a step forward, heading toward the Black Tortoise statue.

In the next moment, a massive lotus flower enveloped the area around the Sealed Land.

Sword Domain: Righteous Azure Lotus!

Almost simultaneously with Lu Chen’s Sword Domain activation, hordes of Taotie Clones surged out from the crack, fearlessly charging at Lu Chen.

In response, Lu Chen didn’t even need to lift a finger—countless lotus-shaped Sword Qi descended from the sky, piercing through the bodies of the Taotie.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

As streaks of Sword Qi sliced through the air, the Sealed Land transformed into a massive meat grinder.

Every second, numerous Taotie Clones fell.

Moreover, the Spiritual Power released upon their demise flowed back into Lu Chen’s Sword Domain, replenishing his energy expenditure.

Although the Taotie Clones fell like wheat, appearing utterly defenseless,

Lu Chen’s expression remained grave.

He could sense that something within the crack was voraciously devouring the surrounding Spiritual Power.

Even with his Fairy Lotus Womb, Lu Chen couldn’t completely halt this process.

He could only use the power of his Sword Domain to suppress it, slowing its absorption of heaven and earth’s Spiritual Power.

Undoubtedly, the entity consuming the Spiritual Power was Taotie’s true form.

Perhaps sensing Lu Chen’s interference,

a furious roar erupted from the Underground Prison beneath the crack.

Crack, crack, crack…

Soon after, unsettling chewing sounds emanated from the Underground Prison below the fissure.

It sounded as though something was relentlessly gnawing away.Before long, a pair of massive claws emerged from the fissure.

Upon contact with the sealing power surrounding the fissure, the claws immediately emitted a sizzling sound akin to frying.

Soon after, Lu Chen witnessed a colossal creature forcibly widening the fissure, revealing half of its body.

The moment this monster appeared, a terrifying pressure instantly spread throughout the area.

Even the battle-hardened Lu Chen felt an overwhelming sense of oppression from this creature.

For this monster was none other than Taotie’s true form.

Seeing this, Lu Chen knew he had to get serious.

Because Taotie’s true form was not like those clones that could be casually disposed of.

This was a genuine ancient Vicious Beast.

Moreover, Taotie wasn’t bound by any Heavenly Dao oath like the Mountain and Sea Walkers, restricting it to combat at their cultivation level.

Taotie’s true form had already reached Foundation Establishment Perfection.

Given a bit more time, it would advance to the Golden Core Stage.

If it truly reached Golden Core Stage, even Lu Chen couldn’t be completely confident of victory.

Unless he used that precious Deity Transformation Stage Talisman.

Thinking this, Lu Chen spoke gravely to Diting beside him: “I’ll buy you as much time as possible. Repair the formation quickly.”

“Understood!”

Diting also recognized the severity of the situation and immediately rushed toward the nearest Four Symbols Statue.

Seeing this, Taotie immediately opened its mouth.

In the next moment, a terrifying crimson energy sphere gathered within its maw.

And shot directly toward Diting.

But before this fearsome crimson energy sphere could strike Diting, Lu Chen had already positioned himself in front of him.

Following this, a massive blue constellation manifestation appeared behind Lu Chen.

Five Virtues Star Manifestation… Water!

The unique characteristic of the Water Virtue Star Manifestation is its ability to grant Lu Chen terrifying Spiritual Power recovery speed.

But this was merely the ordinary star manifestation.

One must remember that before Foundation Establishment, Lu Chen had caused qualitative transformations in all Five Elements attributes.

Therefore, his Constellation Power actually possessed a transformed state as well.

What corresponded to the Water Virtue Star Manifestation was the original ‘River Styx Curse’.

That is… the power of the Underworld.

As an aura of death emanated from Lu Chen,

The massive Water Virtue Star Manifestation immediately turned earthen yellow.

Not only that, the flesh on the manifestation’s face began peeling away, quickly transforming into a half-skeletal form.

Facing the crimson energy sphere released by Taotie’s true form, the skeletal constellation raised its hand.

In the next moment, a surge of Underworld water shot skyward, completely engulfing Taotie’s crimson energy sphere without producing any disturbance.

As if nothing had happened at all.

Taotie seemed somewhat surprised by this, its eyes filled with bewilderment, unable to comprehend what had occurred.

Standing beneath the Water Virtue Star Phase·Yellow Springs, Lu Chen calmly explained: “The Underworld that can accommodate countless souls naturally can also contain your greed… isn’t that right?”

(End of Chapter)