ASER - Chapter 171

Chapter 171: Rakshasa!

While Dantai Ke and the others remained due to human greed and the cultivators' desire to compete, the spectators outside the examination grounds—whether royalty, dignitaries, or influential figures from the academy system—were all stunned speechless when they first witnessed A'Diao's actions. Xiao Jin and the others were no different.

Too outrageous.

Too unexpected.

A heaven-shattering act!

This time, even Jiang Zhou didn't dare to keep boasting, "I knew my disciple would be like this," and so on.

His expression was very complicated, and he seemed somewhat distracted.

Bloodline?

Before her death, had Qu Jiangnan also made arrangements for Chen A'Diao regarding this deficiency? After all, most parents and masters plan for the long-term future of their children and disciples.

The lack of a bloodline is a huge weakness, so naturally, it needed to be rectified.

But... Chen A'Diao was clearly so dominant that she didn't need to listen to anyone's arrangements, whether well-intentioned or malicious. She had her own path to walk.

Even if there was no path, she would carve one out for herself!

The chancellor of Kyoto University and the headmaster of Kyoto Academy had a master-student relationship. Their recent research topic happened to be related to bloodlines.

"There are two ways to create a bloodline. The first is to directly seize another living being's bloodline as a seed and plant it in oneself. The other is to use another's bloodline as power to drive a bloodline array, forcing one's own body to birth a bloodline seed. The former is simple, and the bloodline attributes are clear at a glance. The latter involves risk, as it must be born according to one's own genetic talent, relying on luck."

"But hers is a bit strange. There's seizure, but no direct act of planting. Yet the array disc shows signs of bloodline birth... But the array disc's content isn't that of a similar formation."

They naturally knew what those primordial bloodline formations were like. After all, the primordial era also had such formidable individuals, and historical materials were left behind. But Chen A'Diao's formation was different; its contents were too complex. In the screen-captured images, some of the content they saw contradicted their previous understanding.

But at their level, they basically recognized these contents and could understand their meaning. They just hadn't expected her to combine them in such a way.

It was like pairing a rustic chili crisp with white truffle; the resulting flavor...

The headmaster of Kyoto Academy said, "Even if the contents are still unknown, the materials for that array disc must cost at least several hundred billion."

"So much money, if it were given to me for research..."

Dream on!!

The several headmasters rolled their eyes.

Dantai Zhuying, at the side, was lost in thought. So, Chen A'Diao's actions, in the eyes of these headmasters, were not orthodox. Although based on theory, this theory had never been put into practice. They couldn't understand it for the time being, so they weren't optimistic.

Even that Jiang Zhou frowned in thought, clearly not understanding what Chen A'Diao was going to do next.

In fact, no matter what she did, there was a huge BUG that she currently couldn't handle.

"Third Highness, don't worry. Regardless of which method, even if she could initially borrow power to drive such a large formation, bloodline birth has a strict requirement: the person must possess a constitution comparable to a Star Realm body. Otherwise, it's impossible to withstand the pressure of genetic sequence restructuring."

"She will surely die."

The Third Prince felt much more relieved upon hearing this. Although Chen A'Diao being able to suppress Dantai Ke and the others was beneficial to him, the enmity with Qu Jiangnan was there. This Chen A'Diao was also an audacious one; if she climbed up, she might hold a grudge against him.

It would be better if she died too.

Qu Zhen, on his end, was also closely relaying all the news and recorded videos back. His expression was not good, even though everyone knew Chen A'Diao would most likely die.

But she wasn't dead yet, after all, was she?

Inside the examination grounds.

Above, dark clouds roiled like the tides of a dead sea, densely packed with lightning. It could no longer be described using human terms for natural scenery.

Oppressive might.

The heavens and lightning have always been the ultimate symbols of authority in the history of humanity and all living beings.

On the ground, under immense pressure, all things prostrated and sank.

The Azure Phoenix Demon King's body had been severely tormented by the myriad bloodline threads that had entered it, devouring its blood. Even its own original bloodline had been completely torn out.

However, for the Demon King's body to gain more power, A'Diao threw Dantai Yu's corpse into it.

Corpses are energy, after all. Her way of thinking was not the least bit humane; on the contrary, it was extremely brutal.

Directly throwing the corpse into the stomach for digestion, to become an energy supply, and conveniently facilitating the extraction of the bloodline.

But others' bloodline threads were mere wisps, only becoming whale-like in size when combined. Hers, however, was complete, perfectly leading the mixture. A'Diao distributed her mental threads onto these bloodline threads, continuously differentiating and controlling them, forcing them to adhere to the Azure Phoenix Demon King's bloodline and envelop the Dragon Tendon.

When her mental threads, bloodline threads, and the Dragon Tendon achieved a three-in-one state.

Then, she began to blood-sacrifice the Dragon Tendon!

Indirect control, indirect devouring!

Indeed, the moment she blood-sacrificed the Dragon Tendon, her own body instantly found it difficult to withstand such terrifying pressure. This was the tendon of a 15th-level Demonic Spirit Thunder Flood Dragon!

A'Diao also felt the tearing pain as her body was about to be ripped apart, but what she wanted wasn't complete devouring, but to establish a slight connection.

Just a tiny thread would suffice.

Buzz... A special connection formed, but it threatened to break at any moment.

At the same time, A'Diao suddenly activated two spirit cores.

Breakthrough!

Genetic sequence restructuring? She had a way.

The Glimmer was within reach!

Still the roiling dark clouds, the terrifying lightning, but the intensity of the roiling far exceeded what it was before. Everyone subconsciously thought the Azure Phoenix Demon King's lightning tribulation hadn't ended. But then they saw densely packed primordial runes of the Spirit Dao forming circles of array patterns, and the originally dense, crisscrossing lightning bolts were all drawn in, merging into a single, fused bolt of lightning.

They were bewildered. What was this?

The color of the lightning also changed. It became a single bolt with flawless density, no stray filaments of lightning leaking out... a bolt of lightning that seemed alive.

It roared, baring fangs and brandishing claws as it descended from the sky.

Space tore, and heaven and earth roiled. The commotion was more than ten times greater than when Qu Jiangnan advanced to the peak Star Realm this morning. A destructive pressure crushed the entire area. Dantai Ke and the others couldn't even move a finger. Even the three great Demon Kings cried out in terror.

This was a lightning tribulation.

An advancement lightning tribulation...?

Who was advancing? Such a huge commotion, which Demon King? Who?!!

BOOM!!

It descended in a single strike.

It majestically struck the Azure Phoenix Demon King's main body and pierced directly through it. The luminosity was such that it could see through all living beings. Shen Huajing and the others, while being suppressed, also saw a person existing within the Azure Phoenix Demon King's abdomen. She received this bolt of lightning tribulation.

The person and the Azure Phoenix, together, were instantly enveloped in unparalleled lightning.

Destruction? Or birth?

At that moment.

Buzz! The Lesser Spirit King Dao Tablet was activated, and her mental sea surged wildly. But as A'Diao, in her own body and within the Azure Phoenix, endured this lightning tribulation, she directly opened five Great Spirit Gates and an ancient Spirit Gathering Array, with Toilet as the array's core.

Gathering spirits?

Did you think that Spirit Gathering Arrays in five regions were the extent of her ambitions for energy?

She was more avaricious than you imagined.

Such a high-level composite Spirit Gathering Array, considered top-tier even in the primordial era, aimed at—seizing all the spiritual power of the Ten Thousand Demon Rakshasas.

Magnificent... Myriad streams of spiritual energy shuttled, converged at the core, and poured into the bodies of the human and the Demon King.

Infused in one second, condensed in the next. Its energy scale had already surpassed that of the lightning bolt. Beneath it, driven by A'Diao using the Spirit Gathering Array.

At this moment, both the Blood-Devouring Array and the composite Spirit Gathering Array were under her control.

Her palms pressed together, two fingers joined, she chanted an incantation before her lips.

If the people from the Five Elements Cult and the Cult Master from the Dongguo family who had been eliminated were here, they would surely find this incantation somewhat familiar.

Perhaps that Snow Demon King would also find it a bit familiar.

It was a composite of the secret arts that those two had respectively used for the advancement of humans and demonic spirits.

She had learned them all and fused them for her own use.

Why choose a Demon King? Why integrate human and demon? Because she had a theory to support it.

And it was a theory that had been put into practice, no less.

So...

BOOM!!!

Under a profound and ancient power, the five Great Spirit Gates, possessing strength greater than the lightning, held up a defensive barrier for her.

In the primordial era, five Great Spirit Gates could completely protect the mountain gate of an entire sect.

Why couldn't they help her block the lightning tribulation?

Withstand the lightning tribulation, successfully pass it, and the body would naturally be reforged. Moreover, it would be the Spirit Dao, the strongest official power, helping her reforge it!

No one could stop her from ascending to the heavens today!

Indeed!

The crowd couldn't see the five enormous Spirit Gates because they were obscured by Toilet. But they could see Chen A'Diao employing a formation within a formation, an ancient composite Spirit Gathering Grand Array that featured spirit gathering within spirit gathering.

Then they saw the lightning strike a cubic shield of pure energy.

It blocked it, completely blocked it. A huge shockwave of light spread out, a vast expanse of white. But simultaneously, an oppressive might was released, giving people a sense of suppression even greater than the one in the seventh level of the Jianmu Tree assessment.

In a place where they couldn't move and couldn't see, within the light, Spirit Dao runes flew about... bestowing luster and brilliance.

In an instant, her flesh and blood disintegrated but were then reformed, the materials for reformation based on the devoured essence of the Azure Phoenix Demon King's internal flesh and bones.

Simultaneously, the bloodline entered.

Simultaneously, the mental thread simulation was complete. A dual mental network: one, her own human mental network; the other, a demonic spirit mental network. This was the path she had decided upon after careful consideration.

Success or failure?

Before the crowd could react, they saw that after the initial explosive white halo dissipated, the air became extremely stifling, so stifling it lacked any freshness, as if...

They looked up and saw, in the silent, oppressive world, high above, boundless darkness—an endless mass of dark clouds.

Within the dark clouds, slender silver lightning bolts flashed.

Had she failed?

Was she dead?

Where was the body? Where was the Lesser Spirit King Dao Tablet?

Even if no bones remained, the Dao Tablet shouldn't have vanished, right? That was the Lesser Spirit King's Dao Tablet.

So... from within those dark clouds, three terrifying lightning chains suddenly shot out. They passed directly through space, instantly reaching the bodies of the three Demon Kings and binding them.

The three Demon Kings were shocked and tried to struggle. But the dark clouds swirled, whistling as they revealed a massive body riding the clouds and mist. It was just a nascent form, but the outline of wings and a torso could be faintly seen, and its oppressive might was already established.

This oppressive might, rooted in the Dragon Tendon, pressed down on the three Demon Kings so hard they couldn't breathe. Even their strength to break free was weakened considerably, and they could only roar in anger.

She wasn't dead, she was still alive!!

And...

"Her bloodline isn't complete yet?!?!"

The crowd seemed to sense something. Dantai Ke, for example, his first thought was—if an era was about to produce a Moon Luminary that could crush all stars, then its brilliance would dim all stars, even destroy them.

He was one of them.

At that time, forget any grand imperial ambitions; it would probably be difficult even to survive. Because he had always felt that this Chen A'Diao was too unconventional. She seemed to play by the rules within the game, but in reality, give her a higher platform, and she would immediately break the rules.

If she now stood on Lushan's platform, then in the future, she could use Lushan to disregard the imperial family. What would he be then?

A prince?

She might not shrink from killing even a prince!

Because now she had already started killing members of the imperial clan!

Dantai Ke was a person with an extremely strong sense of crisis. He sensed that the energy within the dark clouds was unstable, and the bloodline power was incomplete. Clearly, Chen A'Diao's grand bloodline plan was not yet fully complete.

So...

A thought arose, and he directly sent a voice transmission: "Her bloodline has run into problems! This is the perfect opportunity!"

Several people received his voice transmission.

Only Shen Huajing didn't receive it, because Dantai Ke had discerned this person's stance, noted them on his little list, and hadn't contacted them. But the others...

Actually, even if he hadn't instigated it, the others had also figured it out. After all, none of them were simpletons. They all knew that once Chen A'Diao rose, she would take first place, but she would also suppress their space for survival.

This person was too ruthless, too vicious; they feared being exterminated. Of course, fundamentally, it stemmed from the inherent incompatibility between supreme talents.

This was how peerless prodigies had emerged through slaughter in the primordial era.

This generation was the same.

Li Che, who had received a voice transmission from Yue Xingxi, hesitated for a moment. But in the end, he still attacked, just deliberately lagging a little behind... His blade intent was controllable; he had held something in reserve.

Kill!

Several Star Realm cultivators collectively unleashed their strongest attacks. Like a multitude of brilliant stars, their light converged on a single point.

That point was bound to be the most radiant existence, but did it also mean destruction?

Anyway, Shen Huajing raised her hand and expanded a barrier, protecting some of the grassroots geniuses who usually supported her. Simultaneously, she touched her glabella with her fingertip, and her pupils opened with the Heavenly Eye's insight, combining spirituality and her mental body.

Directly seeing through the terrifying energy field, the dark clouds, and other such presences, she saw...

A patch of black-red?

Shen Huajing was stunned and suddenly felt a stinging pain in her eyes. Because just for an instant, within that roiling mass like burning black flames, she had glimpsed a pair of terrifying crimson pupils.

Not human-like, more beast-like, yet exuding a hint of ancient divinity.

It seemed to be... dragon pupils?

As Shen Huajing's head throbbed dully and her eyes ached, she also heard a sound that pierced through space and all impurities.

Three thousand ages of peerless echoes, one dragon's roar shaking mountains, seas, heaven, and earth.

Then...

The strongest attacks of the Star Realm cultivators struck the dark clouds. The dark clouds dispersed, and from the core area, a whistling, roiling force swept out, shaking the entire region. The bamboo in the bamboo forest fell in swathes. The thousands of Rakshasa statues in the Ten Thousand Demon Rakshasa Courtyard crumbled and shattered.

But, they all struck within a five-meter diameter lightning aura.

This lightning aura was composed of countless, densely packed lightning bolts, a perfect sphere, ninety-nine meters in diameter.

As these attacks struck this lightning aura, a figure was suspended within by a mysterious magnetic field. Her robes billowed, she was barefoot, her hair danced, and in her right hand, she held an ordinary staff.

Still that standard-issue mage's staff that even a dog would look down on.

Because her body had been reconstructed, spirit patterns and an aura of authority, bestowed by the Spirit Dao, still crawled upon her skin. Her left hand opened, buzz... and from within her body, three teardrop-shaped spirit cultivation entities were released.

One was a Thunder Spirit Pill, one a Space Spirit Pill. But the dominant one was surprisingly a dark cloud, because it could simultaneously accommodate and coordinate with lightning and space... Now, it had been refined into a Dark Cloud Pill, connected to her main body.

The dark cloud entered her body, connecting to myriad meridians.

She herself was the core, the three spirit cores rotating on a single plane.

What kind of image did this create?

It was a scene where myriad dark clouds roiled above her head, the killing intent from the stars condensed into the lightning sphere, and she, within the space of lightning, held the staff in her right hand and controlled three primal lightning drops with her left. Beneath her feet, the ancient Spirit Gathering Array rotated, while on the periphery, a Turtle's Breath Shell served as the defensive core of the lightning sphere.

A combination of three spirit cultivation entities.

As the hissing lightning frantically tore through space, she opened her eyes.

The moment she opened her eyes, that which had been obscured by the dispersing dark clouds was finally revealed.

Behind her, a slender, agile body, tens of meters long, faintly appeared, coiling in space.

It resembled a serpent, with claws, but they were indistinct.

It was a bloodline... totem!!!

But the oppressive might was too terrifying; the three Demon Kings were pressed down, unable to lift their heads, and could only writhe frantically. Only then did they discover that the chains binding them actually came from that totem. It alone held the three Demon Kings captive.

Utterly terrifying!

But it seemed incomplete. For, in sync, human-head-sized crimson dragon pupils opened, followed by a dragon's roar.

The dragon's roar was both a sonic attack and amplified a mental assault. Instantly, the Lesser Spirit King Dao Tablet, which everyone had been fixated on, seemed to receive divine assistance and abruptly grew tens of times larger.

Buzz!

The three lightning drops suddenly detached from the lightning sphere, dragging away the vast energy accumulated within it. They expanded, transforming into a massive, roaring electrical net.

Then, with a sweep of the staff beneath her fingers.

"Empty Drum Dragon Roar, Three Thousand Thunder Kills."

"Descend!"

The curse began, and a massive, empty drum-like reverberation sounded through heaven and earth. Then, the dragon's roar, a mental body attack, attached itself to three thousand bolts of lightning that rained down.

In any case, in that instant...

A waterfall of lightning descended, each bolt like a small dragon falling.

Dantai Ke, Dantai Sheng, Nie Yuanyuan, Li Che, Yan Fengbai, and Handan Jidao were all struck in that instant.

It was too fast; they had no time to react at all, no time even to think of withdrawing.

And it wasn't just them; even the three Demon Kings were struck.

In fact, half of the Three Thousand Thunder Kills was a 'gift' for them.

The empty drum resounded, tombstones for a funeral procession, a complete package service delivering lightning strikes. Weren't they happy? Wasn't it thrilling?

Aah!!

Agonizing and shrill cries; the armor of all six people shattered completely.

All of them were forced to their knees!

Much later, in the records of future generations concerning the present age, concerning this event hailed as the darkest Lushan assessment, there was such an evaluation: "When Chen A'Diao appeared, the world knew no other prodigies; with a Glimmer, she suppressed all stars!"

The reason it said 'all stars' was because even people like Cao Juanzhi and his cohort had become insignificant.

Even though they too had been suppressed and forced to kneel in droves.

Even though the lightning hadn't attacked them, they were still battered into a daze by the fluctuating lightning, their mental states collapsing...

Innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire, huh? Could they only be considered collateral damage?

Retreat, retreat, retreat!!

Too terrifying.

At that time, while the three Demon Kings wailed in agony, Dantai Ke and the others felt every one of their fingers breaking, completely unable to activate their wrist-devices.

Hold on, hold on, hold on!

Resist it!!

Handan Jidao was unwilling, letting out a roar of pain. His entire body was covered in various silver energies; this was the power of his bloodline.

If only they could endure it... Suddenly, they heard a terrifying scream.

Turning their heads to look.

Nie Yuanyuan then realized that Yan Fengbai next to her had endured more lightning than she had.

BOOM!! Yan Fengbai was blasted apart by the lightning.

Flesh and blood sprayed all over her body and face.

Scalding hot and carrying a considerable amount of lightning, it made her body and internal organs go numb.

Chen A'Diao, she wasn't joking.

She really would kill them, and she had the ability to kill them!

And Yan Fengbai had incurred her disgust and had also stolen her things, so he died.

Without even any narration or lines, he died so abruptly, so easily.

Needless to say how terrified the spectators outside were, she, at the side, only felt the scalding hot blood on her face turn cold with extraordinary speed.

Fear, boundless fear.

The purest, most extreme fear of a living being—death!

Handan Jidao also saw it.

His heart palpitating...

"Rise!!"

He could almost move.

Soon.

A large amount of lightning was driven away by him. Were his fingers about to touch his wrist-device to withdraw?

No, he was attempting a counterattack.

Dantai Ke was also attempting a counterattack.

As contemporary geniuses, they were unwilling, truly unwilling!

At this time, A'Diao paid them no heed.

Because she was slaughtering the Demon Kings.

Awooo... As the Emerald-Eyed Demon King let out an agonized howl, its tendons were completely extracted by the chains piercing its body.

Extracting tendons, drawing out meridians.

The three converged.

That serpentine body opened its mouth... and swallowed.

At this moment, Handan Jidao was the first to stand up, while the other few had just barely escaped their predicament. Attack!!!

Attack, my ass!

Before their attacks could even be launched, they were stunned by the scene before them.

Because the totem behind Chen A'Diao, which had devoured the bloodlines of the three Demon Kings, finally manifested completely.

The five hundred billion cost Blood-Devouring Array, the Dragon Tendon, the Demon Kings, the bloodlines of numerous geniuses, the composite Spirit Gathering Array—everything, all of it, was solely for it, for her at this moment.

The Glimmer was achieved, the bloodline totem formed.

What did it look like?

Still nascent, but already a hundred meters long. A coiling dragon treading on thunderclouds, its body silvery-white with a cold, azure flowing light. Its scales were unblemished by other colors. Its four claws were sharp and chillingly fierce. Its form was slender yet full, and noble, majestic and divinely handsome. But it had wings on its back, soaring through the nine heavens, looking down disdainfully upon the ancient past.

This was a general description.

But if one were to hear it from the mouths of some of the Academy Alliance's headmasters, those pedants who delved into history, one could hear the most pedantic among them muttering words from ancient texts: "'Heaven and Earth shattered, the primordial chaos vast and dim... The Yinglong soared, propping open the sky, its trailing clouds and powerful wings clearing the atmosphere...' Yinglong, this is a Yinglong!!!"

"Even if these bloodlines are all very strong, especially the combination of four Demon King bloodlines merged into one, supplemented by the bloodlines of numerous geniuses, how could it possibly result in the bloodline of a millennia-old Yinglong?!! Unless, unless she wasn't simply seizing bloodlines, but combined two methods, creating a bloodline by first seizing, then supplementing it with her own body's aptitude to birth it. However, it currently only has two claws; it's still far from a true four-clawed Yinglong. But self-created ones are like this, just a foundation, requiring vast resources to nurture and grow in the future..."

"No wonder she chose the Azure Phoenix as the base body, used the Dragon Tendon as the bones, and her mental body... She had planned it all from the start!!"

What 'creating based on aptitude and risking it all'? What 'defying heaven and staking one's life'!

How many resources had she piled up, how much effort had she expended? She drew thousands of calculation drafts day and night, conducted countless experiments. For this, she even specially risked stimulating her mental body—all so that this plan could be more certain, so that her mental threads could support this plan.

Now, she had succeeded.

The Glimmer descended upon her body, the dragon soared and coiled at the edge of the sky. A'Diao felt a piece of her solid mental sphere crack open.

A very large piece.

Indeed, the two lightning tribulations, plus breaking through to Glimmer, plus the existence of the Yinglong totem, had stimulated its brain region.

This time, the mental body breakthrough was very easy.

Because she had laid too high a foundation.

Toilet said, "With the Yinglong totem's existence, even if you haven't broken through to the Star Realm, nor tempered your stars, its constant bloodline tempering day and night is enough to give you a powerful physique comparable to a Star Realm body. Besides, you devoured the Azure Phoenix Demon King's body; your basic foundation was already there. So, it awakened based on your physique."

Indeed, A'Diao only discovered this later.

But at this moment, she wasted no time and looked directly at the crowd who had reacted and wanted to withdraw from the competition, her lips moving slightly.

Her voice was familiar yet strange.

It was a gentle curse.

The curse of the 'Uncontrollable Affection Gift Pack'.

What the hell!

Then... they felt their bodies being controlled, all their actions completely interrupted.

A powerful and terrifying curse power emerged from the depths of their souls, controlling their bodies.

Just for that one second.

Thwack!!!

Everyone, with a thud, knelt down.

Except for Shen Huajing and Xiong Chumo.

Shen Huajing: "???"

Xiong Chumo: "!!!"

They not only saw Dantai Ke and the others all kneeling, but also prostrating themselves and kowtowing.

"Milady, this lowly one was blind and failed to recognize your greatness! Please spare this lowly one! This lowly one kowtows to you!"

Then, bang, bang, bang, a few kowtows, very substantial.

Shen Huajing was stunned, but silently turned on her camera... and recorded it.

She was an artist; she liked to record art.

Performance art is also art.

No other reason.

Really.

Dantai Ke and the others felt as if they had eaten shit.

Both mentally and physically, they were battered into a wretched state, kneeling there for a long time without getting up.

Or rather, they didn't dare to get up.

A'Diao collected the corpses of the three Demon Kings and flew down. She wasn't controlling anyone now, and the curse's duration had passed, but no one dared to move.

Afraid she would go on a killing spree.

Oh, the only few who moved, cowards like Xia Sanlu and Quan Lie, just shifted their bodies to make way for her, kneeling further away.

As obedient as could be.

The others, while despising them, also silently knelt and moved aside.

Dantai Ke's pale face was filled with humiliation.

He didn't want to die.

But he really couldn't defeat her.

This woman was a walking collection of cheats.

What to do next?

That, of course, was whatever she wanted to do.

This was the Ten Thousand Demon Rakshasa Courtyard, and she was that Rakshasa Queen.

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