Liu Bai and Nine Nether Palace's actions were clearly beyond the expectations of the other factions.
In the imagination of figures like the Blood Hawk King, even if Jiuyou intended to reclaim her lost territories, she would certainly wait until after the Greatlaw GoldPond. After all, if she truly had confidence in Liu Bai, then as long as she won the first battle of this return decisively, the momentum of Nine Nether Palace would rise sharply. By then, reclaiming those cities would require far less effort.
In the original storyline, Jiuyou indeed acted this way. But this time, the one Jiuyou brought back was not Mu Chen—it was Liu Bai.
Although he had only just condensed his own Celestial Body, that was already more than enough for Liu Bai. Because once he possessed a Sovereign Celestial Body, he was considered a true First-Grade Sovereign. As a result, the several million experience points he held finally had a real use.
He directly spent two million experience points, raising his cultivation to the realm of a Second-Grade Sovereign.
Moreover, Liu Bai discovered that his cultivation did not advance step by step through the early and middle stages of Second-Grade Sovereign. Instead, it jumped straight to the late Second-Grade Sovereign stage. His next breakthrough would be directly to Third-Grade Sovereign…
Of course, the prerequisite for such leap-type advancement was experience points—an enormous amount of experience points!
Advancing to Second-Grade required two million experience points, Third-Grade would require three million, and reaching the Earth Sovereign realm would demand ten million experience points… a number that, for the current Liu Bai, was no different from an astronomical figure.
Furthermore, due to the system's restrictions, the higher his cultivation, the higher the level of enemies he would have to kill to gain experience. While things were manageable at the Sovereign level, if he advanced to Earth Sovereign, Liu Bai truly had no idea where he would go to grind experience.
Could it be that he would have to go demon hunting then? Thinking about it, that actually didn't sound too bad. He could go to the Great Thousand Palace and register as a Demon Slayer. Maybe he could even become the second Demon Slayer King someday.
After advancing to Second-Grade Sovereign, Liu Bai found it far easier and faster to set up grand arrays. Now, as long as his opponent was not one of the Kings, he was confident he could instantly kill them.
This was the confidence that allowed Liu Bai to act so quickly.
After years of swallowing humiliation, every member of the Nine Nether Guards had long been holding back a fire in their hearts. Now that they finally had a chance to vent it, each of them was brimming with killing intent.
When Liu Bai and Tang Bing led a thousand Nine Nether Guards out of the Great Heavenlaw Domain, all the Kings' factions had already received the news, and each revealed a different expression.
For Kings like the Asura King and the Mountain Splitting King—those with great personal strength who had not participated in suppressing Nine Nether Palace—this news merely prompted cold observation. Only the Blood Hawk King revealed a scheming sneer after hearing it.
"As expected, just a hot-headed girl. She can't even endure this little bit of anger. I originally thought you might wait until after the Greatlaw GoldPond. Looks like I overestimated you."
"Pass down the order. Have Wu Tian and Cao Feng lead five thousand Hawk Guards out. I want the people of Nine Nether Palace to never return to the Great Heavenlaw Domain!"
"Yes!"
Very soon, five thousand Hawk Guards surged out of the Great Heavenlaw Domain under the command of Wu Tian and Cao Feng.
Naturally, this news quickly spread to the ears of the other Kings.
Within Nine Nether Palace, Tang Rou looked at Jiuyou with worry and asked anxiously, "Sister Jiuyou, what should we do? Should we go rescue Sister Tang Bing and the others?"
Five thousand Hawk Guards, plus two commanders—such strength was more than enough to crush Tang Bing's thousand troops.
Yet Jiuyou appeared extremely calm, her pretty face showing not the slightest hint of panic.
"No need. Don't underestimate that fellow Liu Bai…"
He was someone who had even killed a Fifth-Grade Sovereign. As long as the Blood Hawk King himself didn't take action, the people of the Blood Hawk Palace wouldn't be able to kill him!
When Liu Bai had first appeared, Jiuyou had already noticed the earth-shaking changes in his cultivation, especially his direct leap to the late Second-Grade Sovereign Realm.
Jiuyou had long grown accustomed to this kind of illogical, leap-type advancement. Although she knew Liu Bai must be hiding some great secret from her, she had never had the slightest intention of probing into it.
Because the stronger Liu Bai became, the greater the benefits for her.
Jiuli City was originally one of the fifty great cities under Nine Nether Palace's command. Its City Lord, Li Jiu, was a peak First-Grade Sovereign and ranked among the strongest within those fifty cities.
He was also one of the earliest major cities to defect from Nine Nether Palace and submit to the Blood Hawk Palace. Thus, after listening to Tang Bing's introduction, Liu Bai immediately decided to use Jiuli City as the first target.
Under a pillar of soaring teleportation light, the already tense Jiuli City instantly became alert.
Anyone capable of triggering such a teleportation phenomenon clearly came in large numbers. Moreover, news of Jiuyou's return had long spread throughout the Great Heavenlaw Domain. As such, City Lord Li Jiu had been on edge these past few days, reacting strongly to even the slightest disturbance.
As a result, when Liu Bai and the Nine Nether Guards emerged from the teleportation array, the army of Jiuli City had already formed up under Li Jiu's command.
Naturally, the Nine Nether Guards paid no attention to Jiuli City's forces. The two sides were on completely different levels in terms of strength.
After Liu Bai and his men also formed their ranks, a man clad in silver armor finally stepped out from Jiuli City's army.
"Li Jiu of Jiuli City welcomes the esteemed lords of Nine Nether Palace!"
"I wonder which one of you is the new commander of the Nine Nether Guards?"
Aside from Nine Nether King herself, the only person capable of mobilizing the Nine Nether Guards was Nine Nether Palace's new commander.
And Li Jiu had also heard that this new commander was no gentle figure—someone who had beheaded a commander under the Blood Hawk King in front of all the Kings during the Kings' Assembly. Such murderous intent was anything but ordinary!
That was precisely why Li Jiu acted with such caution, not daring to let his troops make the slightest move at the outset, fearing that the other side would seize the excuse and directly annihilate Jiuli City.
He had hoped to negotiate with Liu Bai, perhaps even use the Blood Hawk King to back himself up. However, Liu Bai had no intention whatsoever of engaging in idle chatter.
After Li Jiu asked his question and received no response from the Nine Nether Guards, his heart sank to rock bottom. Just as he prepared for a desperate last stand, he suddenly noticed that the sky above seemed to grow brighter…
He raised his head slightly and was instantly shocked to discover that, at some point, a figure had appeared directly above him.
The reason the sky seemed brighter was that, aside from the blazing sun, there were now seven additional dazzling orbs of light—like seven extra suns—illuminating heaven and earth.
If that were all, Li Jiu wouldn't have been afraid. But when those seven suns began hurtling toward him at an inconceivable speed, that was a completely different matter!
"Li Ancestor Celestial Body!"
Li Jiu roared ferociously, his face twisted as vast and violent spiritual energy erupted from his body like a storm. A demonic phantom with a human head, bull body, and eight arms slowly condensed around him.
It was said that Li Jiu possessed the bloodline of an ancient race—the Li Clan—which worshipped an ancient god with a human head, bull body, and eight arms.
Presumably, the so-called "Li Ancestor Celestial Body" he cultivated was related to this. Unfortunately, whether because his own strength was too weak or because his Celestial Body cultivation was insufficient, its aura was not particularly powerful—only on the same level as the Azure Wood Celestial Body and Profound Ice Celestial Body in Liu Bai's possession.
Trying to rely on this to block Liu Bai's Sevenfold Starlight Slaughter Array was nothing but wishful thinking.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Seven streaks of starlight, like falling meteors, crashed down. Just like that young master of the Demon Emotion Sect before him, Li Jiu's Celestial Body instantly collapsed under the bombardment.
And since Li Jiu's Li Ancestor Celestial Body was clearly inferior to that kidney-deficient young master's Lustfeind Demon Celestial Body, his fate was self-evident.
Without any suspense, the City Lord of Jiuli City—a powerhouse who once dominated an entire region was cleanly and decisively killed in an instant by Liu Bai.
At this moment, not only were the people of Jiuli City dumbfounded, even Tang Bing and the Nine Nether Guards stood there in a daze.
"Who am I? Where am I? What am I here for?"
These three questions echoed in everyone's mind.
But Liu Bai paid them no heed. He had already stepped alone to the front of Jiuli City's tens of thousands of troops.
His cold gaze swept across the military formation, which had already begun to fall into disorder, and his calm voice sounded clearly in everyone's ears.
"Your City Lord is dead. Now tell me—who among you holds the highest position?"
Whoosh!
As soon as Liu Bai finished speaking, tens of thousands of eyes turned in unison toward a single direction.
There, a bald, burly man holding a pair of giant axes the size of millstones shuddered violently. The green tattoos on his head, which resembled demonic patterns, seemed to soften instantly. A stiff smile appeared on his face as he spoke tremblingly.
"M–My lord, this humble one… this humble one is Cheng Wu, commander of Jiuli City's city guard army."
"Oh?" Liu Bai's gaze shifted toward him.
The moment he felt Liu Bai's eyes land on him, this ferocious-looking man, over two meters tall, turned pale, his legs nearly giving way beneath him.
"Then tell me—after I killed your City Lord, what do you intend to do?"
Liu Bai asked with a faint smile.
But just as his words fell, a loud voice suddenly exploded forth.
"Well killed!"
The bald man dropped to his knees with a thud, tossing his twin axes aside. With tears streaming down his face and snot running freely, he cried out:
"My lord, you have no idea! Back then, I already saw that Li Jiu harbored ill intentions and was disloyal to Lord Nine Nether King. He was a complete traitor!"
"Unfortunately, my status was low and my strength insufficient. I didn't dare to resist. Though I was physically within the Hawk Palace, my heart had always belonged to Nine Nether Palace!"
"For so many years, I waited day and night, and at last I've lived to see Lord Nether King's return, to see the heavenly troops descend, set things right, and execute this traitor. This humble one truly cannot contain his emotions—my heart surges like raging waves!"
Liu Bai stood there, his face filled with black lines.
Where did this ridiculous specimen come from?
Frowning slightly, Liu Bai admitted that although this man was shameless to an extreme degree, his strength was indeed decent. He was a genuine First-Grade Sovereign, and judging by his performance, he might actually be useful.
"Enough, enough. Spare me the nonsense," Liu Bai said impatiently.
"From now on, you are Jiuli City's new City Lord. Jiuli City will return under Nine Nether Palace's banner. All rules remain the same. Can you do that?"
The bald man, who had been crying just moments ago, instantly raised his head. The tears on his face hadn't even dried yet, and combined with his overjoyed expression, it was an indescribably ugly sight.
"Thank you, my lord, for your promotion! Cheng Wu will forever remember your great kindness. I swear loyalty to Nine Nether Palace and to you alone! If I ever break this oath, may I be struck by heavenly lightning and die a miserable death!"
Liu Bai merely smiled faintly.
"Heavenly lightning, huh… I hope you remember your oath. Otherwise, you'll learn what true heavenly lightning really means."
"Alright. Take your men back. I'll give you three months to settle Jiuli City properly. After three months, go to Nine Nether Palace and pay your respects to Lord Nine Nether King."
On the surface, this seemed like a formal act of allegiance. In reality, it was about contributions. After all, Nine Nether Palace was poor, and Jiuyou's return this time was meant to kick off a major campaign.
To do that, they first needed enough Sovereign Spiritual Liquid. Liu Bai was effectively creating revenue for Nine Nether Palace.
Otherwise, waiting for the once-a-year tribute would have bankrupted Nine Nether Palace long ago.
The newly appointed City Lord of Jiuli City, Cheng Wu, happily withdrew with his tens of thousands of city guards.
Naturally, Jiuli City still had many of Li Jiu's former subordinates. Some might even have been fiercely loyal to Li Jiu and harbored thoughts of revenge.
But Liu Bai was confident that Cheng Wu could handle it all. Even if unexpected issues arose later, Nine Nether Palace wouldn't suffer much loss—at worst, Liu Bai could simply come back and deal with it again.
For these subordinate cities, the ultimate outcome always depended on the struggle between Nine Nether Palace and the Hawk Palace. Facing either of these two powers, replacing a City Lord or commander was nothing more than a single sentence.
What truly mattered was how strong the backing behind you was.
After dealing with Jiuli City, Liu Bai immediately led the still-dazed Tang Bing and the Nine Nether Guards back onto the teleportation array. Their next target was Blood Vulture City!
Compared to Jiuli City, Blood Vulture City was far more powerful. It had originally ranked third among the fifty great cities under Nine Nether Palace—a true stronghold.
Naturally, the City Lord of Blood Vulture City was even stronger, already possessing mid-stage Second-Grade Sovereign cultivation. In terms of cultivation alone, he surpassed most of the commanders under the various Kings.
More importantly, the City Lord of Blood Vulture City was not human. His true form was a Heavenly Beast—Blood Demon Vulture. Killing him would not only grant Liu Bai a massive amount of experience points, but also Beast Soul Points.
As Liu Bai's cultivation increased, encounters with powerful Spiritual beasts had become increasingly rare, causing his Beast Soul Points to stagnate.
At times, Liu Bai even considered asking Jiuyou to take him on a trip to the Beast Domain, stockpiling Beast Soul Points and upgrading all the Innate Five Spirits on his Innate Five Spirit Plate to Divine Beast level. If he could do that, he would gain another terrifying divine artifact no weaker than the Thunder God Lotus.
...
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