Chapter 982: Chapter 703: Cutting Down Ancient Great Powers All the Way
The eight-thousandth floor of the Star-Picking Tower.
On the vast earth, the stormy clouds gathered, forming an illusory image of a gigantic beast with wings reaching the sky.
An eagle’s head with a tiger’s body, four sharp claws, and a cry like an infant’s wail, it was the Gu Diao.
On it, Lu Chenzhou sensed a familiar aura.
"It seems this is the father of the Heavenly Gu Daoist."
In an era, True Spirits were often unique, and from ancient times to the present, there was only one Gu Diao.
What remained in the Star-Picking Tower was merely a projection of the Gu Diao simulated by Emperor Zhan, its wings flapping, releasing an invisible wave.
The illusion storm struck, yet Lu Chenzhou stood unmoved; with just a thought, a more terrifying wave of nightmare reverberated back.
Before he fell into the illusion, the Gu Diao’s form faltered, its body trembling uncontrollably.
While the Nightmare is the flip side of the Great Dream, in terms of destructive power, the Great Dream pales in comparison to the Nightmare.
This is the Dao of Great Terror!
The Gu Diao’s eyes reflected a red and black world, feeling the sky and earth spinning, with countless monsters charging at it.
A great halberd appeared in Lu Chenzhou’s palm, enveloping the majesty of heaven and earth, and slashed fiercely, thirty-six Divine Lotuses emerging across the sky.
This slash not only cut down the Gu Diao but also shattered the eight-thousandth floor.
Lu Chenzhou collected a Jade Box that descended from the sky and upon opening it, found a droplet of thick black blood, exuding the Dao Essence of illusion.
The black blood transformed into a small Gu Diao, which Lu Chenzhou caught in his hand.
"Ninth Rank Gu Diao essence blood, a good thing."
With this object, he could perform the Gu Diao True Spirit Transformation, enhancing his Great Dream Dao and Nightmare Dao.
Lu Chenzhou’s form ascended to a higher level.
The audience watching was all shocked.
Although Lu Chenzhou had already slain nine demigod-level beings, aside from a few, the general public had never witnessed it live.
This time, it was a live projection broadcast, and the impact was incomparable to hearsay.
After a moment of silence, the crowd erupted in discussion.
"This... this was too easy."
"The Gu Diao is a True Spirit, instantly killed by one spear? Are True Spirits this weak?"
"It’s not that True Spirits are weak, it’s that Master Lu is too strong."
"But Master Lu, after all, is only at the Third Step; instantly killing a True Spirit, this is too unbelievable."
The Yaochi Immortal watching laughed: "True Spirits are also divided into classes, the Gu Diao is not weak, it excels in illusions and assassinations, not in frontal combat, while Master Lu possesses Great Power Will and is proficient in higher-level illusions, completely restraining the Gu Diao, so an instant frontal encounter and kill are normal."
In the starry sky, on a certain uninhabited planet.
This is the new dojo of Black Boat Ancestor.
Not long ago, she also joined the Mystic Sky Alliance and moved to Tianxia to prevent sneak attacks from demigods.
This planet was like a zoo, with various powerful True Spirit Giant Beasts guarding it.
Among them, an old Gu Diao watched the circulating projection and snorted coldly:
"That projection was something Emperor Zhan forced me to leave, I didn’t even use my full strength."
"That’s right, Father is one of the ancient Three Illusion Gods." The Heavenly Gu Daoist nodded repeatedly.
Black Boat Ancestor smiled slightly, "Gu Diao, if you’re not convinced, you can go and ask the Hierarch for guidance."
The Gu Diao shook its head: "My strength is not even a third of its peak... forget it."
It knew in its heart that it was by no means a match for this human.
Throughout history, there were seventy-two types of True Spirits, and it was ranked at the bottom.
...
Throughout ancient and modern times, the number of True Spirits and Great Powers was just those.
When Emperor Zhan created the Star-Picking Tower, it was naturally impossible to have a type of True Spirit or Great Power on each floor.
Thus, from the 8000th to the 8099th floor, these one hundred floor gatekeepers were all Gu Diao.
Only, the strength increased slightly on each floor.
However, for Lu Chenzhou, it was just a matter of a few more strikes.
Henceforth, in the following months, countless people witnessed a hundred ways to kill the Gu Diao.
On Black Boat Planet, the Gu Diao father and son were silent.
"Dad... Why not someday go and spar with the Hierarch to clear the name of our Gu Diao."
"Shut up."
...
The 8100th floor.
The gatekeeper was a middle-aged man in a black robe, with a dignified face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and eyes like lightning, exuding a righteous aura.
"It’s the Nine-layered Prison Master, the founder of our Tianxia civilization’s prison Supreme Treasure, one of the four giants of the Mountain and Sea Tower."
"The Prison Master, who managed punishments in the Mountain and Sea Alliance, was best at duels unfortunately, he had just entered Great Power not long before the Great Tribulation of the Stars arrived, and he perished in the Divine War..." someone lamented, with the Nine-layered Prison Master’s talent, if given more time, he would definitely have been outstanding.
Lu Chenzhou also showed a serious expression.
Every Great Power is not to be underestimated.
Compared to the inherently powerful True Spirits and demigods, those who become Great Powers were without exception people with top-level will, talent, and fortune.
"Suppress!" The Prison Master lightly spoke, reached out one hand, and a massive golden "seal" character fell from the sky.
"Words and Laws Follow? How formidable, it’s said that the ’Seven Sins Prison Suppressing Scripture’ is a top-notch sealing technique in the world, it appears true."
Lu Chenzhou didn’t dodge or evade, his form rose from the ground, and the great halberd stabbed toward the sky.
Rumble! The thirty-six Divine Lotuses withstood the "seal" character, surging upward, reversing toward the Prison Master.
"Slash!" The Prison Master waved his palm, slicing the void, and a sharp "blade" character came fiercely across.
Around Lu Chenzhou, thirty-thousand Mystic Sky Shields appeared, shattering at once, as the blade light swept, sending him flying.
The blade light penetrated the flesh, yet did not cleave him apart.
The body, honed through a thousand temperings, is so formidable that it is difficult to instantly destroy.
The only ones in the present world who could force him to use his undying body are probably those three demigods.
Lu Chenzhou stepped forward, and as his flesh healed, a more powerful strike fell like a great river, splitting the earth.
Divine lotuses emerged from the ground in a flourish, and although the Prison Master retreated and flickered, he was still hit by several of them.
His magic robe shattered, revealing a lean, bronze-tinted body, with tattooed characters circulating and flickering across the surface, resembling Dao markings.
"Imprison your body, sever your soul, confine your will, restrict your cultivation method, strip your divine skills, remove your treasure, and execute you for nine generations!"
The Prison Master slapped his chest, and all the characters flew out simultaneously, transforming into seven golden, dazzling words that filled the heavens and earth.
"Great Divine Power·Seven Sins Suppressing the World!"
In an instant, Lu Chenzhou felt his strength constrained, his soul perplexed, his will sinking, his divine skills stalled, his energy exhausted, and even the big halberd in his hand was as heavy as the stars, unable to be lifted... A magnificent phantom image of a nine-story prison tower descended, locking him within, as the Prison Master stood atop the tower, reciting ancient scripture.
"So strong, is this truly the so-called last supreme great power of the ancient times?"
The Eternal Immortal knew of Lu Chenzhou’s strength but was not very familiar with the Prison Master.
"I told you, although Lu Chenzhou is strong, to defeat my master is difficult," the Prison Tower Spirit beside him said with a proud expression.
"It’s a fight between dragons and tigers," muttered Kunxu, stroking his beard.
There was no easy opponent among those considered gatekeepers of the complete hundreds of layers in the Star-Picking Tower.
Thump, thump, thump!
Inside the prison tower, Lu Chenzhou felt he was about to be refined, he shouted: "Moving Mountain!" His body expanded as if the earth itself grew taller, infinite starlight power coursed into him, constant star crystals burned, transforming him into a giant as tall as ten thousand miles, standing shoulder to shoulder with the stars, lifting the big halberd, poisonous and void-breaking Dao essence condensed at the spear tip, stabbing out a dark light, accompanied by a clear cracking sound, and the prison tower was shattered with a great rumbling, Lu Chenzhou raised his hand for a palm strike.
Great Wilderness Prison Demon Hand!
With the world as his palm, he then clenched his fist.
This time, it was the Prison Master’s turn to be sealed.
Rumbling, the world shattered, and the Prison Master’s figure grew much more indistinct.
Lu Chenzhou transformed into golden light, slashing down with the big halberd again and again.
After three days and nights of fierce battle, the Prison Master finally dissipated.
"I never expected that the 8100th layer’s gatekeeper would be so strong, on average the strength of great powers surpasses even that of demigods by a notch."
According to the Star-Picking Tower’s division, the Prison Master should only be at the early stage of the ninth level, corresponding to a lower rank demigod.
But the actual combat experience felt far stronger than Camilla.
Another meteor fell, and Lu Chenzhou opened the treasure chest, inside was a jade scroll.
"’Seven Sins Prison Suppressing Scripture·Slash’..."
This was a partial copy of the Prison Master’s supreme skill, incomplete, the full version was in the Mountain and Sea Tower.
Lu Chenzhou kept it, using it as a reference.
In the past few months, he had broken through one hundred layers in succession, also reaching his limit.
Thus he left the Star-Picking Tower, the onlookers making way one after another.
"So strong, an ancient great power has already been defeated."
"The next one is Hong Sword Immortal, the founder of the Grand Yin Sword Dao... It feels even more intense."
Sword Immortals, synonymous with power, absolute slayers.
The Four Great Sword Immortals are the spokespeople of the Heavenly Sect.
It is said that the Four Sword Immortals once used the God Slaying Sword Formation to slay gods!
...
After resting for a month, Lu Chenzhou stepped into the Star-Picking Tower once more.
As before, the gatekeepers of the next levels were still the Prison Master.
After breaking through a few more levels, he had essentially gotten familiar with the routine of the Prison Master projection, making the breakthroughs more and more effortless.
After all, it was a dead thing, lacking adaptability, its strength certainly couldn’t match that of the Prison Master himself.
It took a month for him to reach the 8200th layer.
Along the way, he had obtained three thousand high-grade primordial stones, thirty-two eighth rank techniques, two ninth rank techniques, and several Heaven and Earth treasures.
Overall, the rewards are moderate and are simply the icing on the cake for great powers.
The main purpose of the Star-Picking Tower is training and combat, the Emperor Zhan didn’t have enough wealth to make every layer’s rewards abundant.
"Hong Sword Immortal." Lu Chenzhou looked at the woman in green before him, her figure straight, standing silently like a sword.
Among the Four Great Sword Immortals, both Hong Sword Immortal and Yu Sword Immortal were women.
"Taiyin!" Hong Sword Immortal’s sword came out of its sheath, performing a sword flower, drawing a crescent moon in the void.
Whoosh! The crescent moon vanished mysteriously, appearing directly before Lu Chenzhou, slashing down with a single strike, breaking thirty thousand shields, splitting Lu Chenzhou in two.
"Sword Man, ultimate slaughter, nothing unbreakable, indeed formidable." Lu Chenzhou’s form returned to unity, to him, this was just an ordinary external wound.
He dragged his big halberd across the ground, appearing very cumbersome compared to the Light Spirit of Hong Sword Immortal.
But each move and strike could always block Hong Sword Immortal’s sword light at just the right moment.
The clash of sword and halberd radiated ripples through the void.
Sword Cultivators pursue absolute technique, fighting them, Lu Chenzhou could learn a lot every moment.
His body and spirit were already strong, relatively speaking, his skills were somewhat lacking.
Taking this opportunity, he continually sought out flaws in Martial Art like ’Martial God Spear’ and ’Ten Feet Scripture’, filling in the gaps.
He refrained from using the great divine skills he had seized to hasten victory, instead reveling in the battle itself.
Until at some point, he was struck with inspiration, thrusting out a halberd while more Dao fused into the strike.
Thirty-six petals of the lotus became more intricate, transforming into seventy-two petals.
The number of divine lotuses also increased from thirty-six to seventy-two.
They bloomed freely in the heavens, filling every space where Hong Sword Immortal could dodge.
Lu Chenzhou smiled and said, "Thank you for the teachings, senior!"
One strike, and the 8200th layer shattered, Hong Sword Immortal was defeated.