The Empress's No.1 Lackey

Chapter 1040 - 578: Executing Xu Jingtang

At this moment, in the sight of Zhao Douan and the others, on Zhengyang Mountain, a pure azure light suddenly rose like a column of energy, connecting heaven and earth, then tearing apart and penetrating the grey clouds covering the sky.

The dense clouds gathered by Xu Jingtang using the power of the Sorrow God were effortlessly penetrated and shattered by the azure light. Immediately, countless strands of azure light intertwined, converging into an endless expanse of azure clouds that swept across the land from the sky, enveloping the entire Zhengyang Mountain in azure light, while the overwhelming grey clouds melted away like ice and snow, disappearing without a trace.

It was like a divine phenomenon!

A strong sense of foreboding arose in Xu Jingtang’s heart. As the azure light shone down, he instinctively raised his arms to shield his eyes. When the azure light fell on him, even the gaps in the armor worn by Prince Mu seemed to be pouring hot oil, with billowing smoke rising, as if even the person was about to melt away!

"Ah..." The intense pain, like being burned by fire, caused Xu Jingtang to cry out, yet a viciousness also burst forth. He suddenly lowered his arms, squinting his eyes and glaring at the source of the voice, both shocked and angry: "You are..."

"Heh, didn’t you just boast grandiosely about killing my Heavenly Master Mansion’s disciple, but how come you don’t recognize me now?"

The indifferent voice from the mountaintop came again.

Zhao Douan was stunned, as were Zhong Pan and the others.

They recognized to whom this voice belonged.

"Master?!" Yu Xiu looked up in astonishment towards the heights, only to see the academy gate at the mountaintop somehow open, vaguely revealing a tall elder standing with his hands behind his back.

Majestic as a mountain.

"Not a Dharma Body... it’s the Master’s true form... wasn’t the Master in the Capital?" Zhong Pan sat on the ground, equally astonished.

Zhang? So the backup plan you gave me in the brocade bag was yourself after all? When did you sneak to Yunfu?

Zhao Douan was both surprised and delighted, mixed with intense confusion.

He had a strong intuition: he was being maneuvered by Zhang!

Absolutely a maneuver!

For Zhang to go to so much trouble, there must be another reason.

However...

All these doubts could be asked later, the immediate concern was Xu Jingtang in front of him.

"Zhang Yan Yi!" Xu Jingtang endured the shining of the azure light, his expression extremely unsightly, nearly furious, shouted: "Is your Heavenly Master Mansion going to openly meddle in the mundane world?!"

He panicked...

Even Zhao Douan could see that underneath Xu Jingtang’s seemingly angry exterior, there was a faint fear.

He indeed obtained power comparable to that of the Heavenly Human by embodying the Sorrow God.

But... in the end, it was fake. It was no problem when dealing with Zhong Pan, who was at the peak of the world, but meeting a contemporary Heavenly Master who had crossed into the Heavenly Human Realm for decades and might have touched the threshold of Human Immortal, there was no chance of victory.

Not only that...

At this moment, Xu Jingtang belatedly realized and felt uneasy, always feeling like a beast chasing bait, being led step by step into a trap by Zhao Douan.

Therefore, in his anxiety, he brought up the rules of the Heavenly Master Mansion.

Zhao Douan wanted to curse, thinking why didn’t you mention the rules when beating Zhong Pan?

Soon, everyone clearly heard Zhang Yan Yi’s gentle voice line.

It was actually a rhetorical question:

"What does this seat exterminating evil have to do with Prince Mu?"

After a pause, Zhang Yan Yi seemed to speak with a smile: "Or perhaps, Prince Mu was possessed by this Evil God, unable to escape? No matter, this poor Taoist will rescue you."

Zhao Douan widened his eyes, thinking, true to form...

Indeed, the Heavenly Master Mansion is a prestigious righteous sect, exterminating Evil Gods is a duty, so Zhang Yan Yi intervening in the mundane world? No.

He just wanted to kill the Sorrow God.

Evidently, the Old Heavenly Master had a flexible moral baseline and exceptionally rich experience in skirting the rules.

"You..." Xu Jingtang was infuriated, as if he could not hear the rogue nature in those words? Now bound to the Sorrow God, once it was exterminated, could he still survive?

Unless he voluntarily dispels the power of the Sorrow God, separates from it, but once the Sorrow God’s blessing is lost, facing Zhao Douan, how could he survive?

Zhao Douan is with the court, he doesn’t need to follow rules, can slaughter him outright...

"Alright, today I will witness the Heaven Master Zhang’s prowess!" Xu Jingtang’s expression changed, suddenly shouted, assuming a posture ready for battle.

The sorrowful divine shadow on his body coalesced, the tattered clothing’s divine being stared at Zhang Yan Yi, as if about to make a move.

But in the next second, instead of advancing, Xu Jingtang retreated, transforming into rolling smoke, flying towards the sky at terrifying speed!

"He’s trying to escape!" Zhao Douan loudly reminded.

At the mountaintop, Zhang Yan Yi’s mouth curled into a slight smile, softly said, "He cannot escape."

At the same time, the Old Heavenly Master unhurriedly detached a jade scroll from his waist, the "Heavenly Book" unfurled, and golden ancient characters struggled out of the jade scroll, like bursting meteors shooting towards the sky.

Simultaneously, with Zhengyang Mountain as the center, within a radius of several miles, giant golden pillars almost simultaneously surged upward from the mountains.

The light pillars gathered among the azure clouds, resembling virtual chains, thus this piece of heaven and earth became a cage.

"The Heaven and Earth Array..." Zhong Pan, sitting on the ground with blood at the corner of his mouth, murmured: "The Master has been arranging this? This area of nearly a hundred miles was already set up with a killing array through the mountain’s terrain, Zhengyang Mountain, being a famous mountain, is naturally a place for array setups... The Master wants to ’kill’ a god?"

Zhao Douan looked at him blankly: "Isn’t it said that the Divine cannot be killed?"

Yu Xiu explained: "Accurately speaking, even if a Divine is killed, it will regenerate... as long as mourning energy exists in the world, it will coalesce into a Divine."

Zhao Douan was a bit bewildered, trying to understand: "So, what Heavenly Master Zhang aims to annihilate is this current Sorrow God existing in heaven and earth, if another appears, it would be new..."