Shedding Jiang Wang's pursuit with a flesh-and-blood puppet body, and the potential backlash from Miaoyu.
This business could be considered a bargain.
Though it left him somewhat weaker, the tide of history would never be halted by such minor setbacks.
The Holy Sovereign soon found the final White Bone Gate.
The entire State of Yang's gaze was fixed upon that battlefield where destiny would be decided, and no one could stop Him anymore.
He glanced lightly at this nation, committing the place to His vast memory. When the White Bone Age arrived... all would face retribution.
Then He stepped through the White Bone Gate, carefully storing the secret technique.
The two Bone Flood Dragons, locked head to tail, released each other and dove into the void together. Thus, all the White Bone Gates within the State of Yang vanished.
Traversing through the power of the Netherworld was as easy as eating or drinking for Him. After this day, even an existence like Him felt somewhat weary, and could finally relax a little.
Just thinking about that will—Wang Changji's will—that was so close to being completely destroyed, He couldn't help but frown slightly.
That mortal was simply too stubborn.
One step out of the gate, and He appeared in a cave within the State of Zhuang.
The cave was dark and deep, but thanks to the protection of the formation, it had remained unchanged after several centuries.
An existence like Him naturally didn't need light to see the surroundings.
However...
With a "snap," lanterns ignited on both walls of the cave.
They illuminated this cave with its distinctive White Bone Path style, casting light upon the intricate and mysterious formation patterns beneath His feet. Of course, this included the person standing before Him, wearing a Bone Mask that revealed only a pair of eyes.
Those eyes were filled with a sharp brilliance.
Even in this dim cave, even wearing a mask that concealed his features, his attire was still impeccably refined and clean. Even his boots were spotless.
He shouldn't have been here, yet he had appeared—Zhang Linchuan!
In that instant, many things connected. For instance, the Bone Dharma Aspect He had left with the Rat Mask as bait, deciding to forge a Plague Incarnation, but due to the failure at Maple Forest City, the actual implementation had been handed to Zhang Linchuan. And it was Zhang Linchuan who had chosen the State of Yang as the place for the plague's spread.
He certainly knew of the State of Qi, but centuries ago when He descended, Qi had not yet grown so powerful. Because of this, He had underestimated Qi's military master, and was severely wounded.
Originally, with the States of Zhuang and Qi separated by tens of thousands of li, pushing the plan's location further away to avoid pursuit by the people of Zhuang would have been reasonable. But could someone as cautious as the Bone Envoy truly not have known about Qi's situation?
He probably had harbored thoughts of using Qi's strong fighter to weaken Him.
Though the world was vast, a place like the State of Yang—weak itself, capable of letting the plague plan spread successfully, and situated right beside a powerful nation—was hard to find.
The Holy Sovereign didn't act rashly, but instead asked: "How do you know about this place?"
Because Zhang Linchuan had personally orchestrated the White Bone Path's operations in the State of Yang, to prevent the man from colluding with local powerhouses, He had kept him in the Bone Underground Palace. This was a habit of caution He had cultivated long ago, reminding Himself of it for centuries since His last descent.
However...
How could he be here? How did he know about this place?
Zhang Linchuan, who should have been guarding the Bone Underground Palace, bowed in a Daoist salute upon hearing the question: "You're somewhat unfamiliar with this world. I can fully understand."
"This is the arrogance of a deity."
"But before you ask that question, why not first ask how long I've been preparing for this day?"
Zhang Linchuan spoke gently and courteously, but his words sent a chill even through an existence like the Holy Sovereign.
"To deal with You, I've combed through every scripture in the sect. I've examined every record of the White Bone Path in the history of the State of Zhuang. Oh, not just Zhuang—the records of the Clear River Water Mansion, which I was granted permission to view when delivering the Dragon Pearl..."
"Piecing together countless threads." Zhang Linchuan glanced around, somewhat satisfied, and said: "I finally found this place."
"Spent so much effort, prepared for so long..." the Holy Sovereign asked coldly: "All for those pathetic grudges?"
"How could that be?" Zhang Linchuan smiled: "I joined the White Bone Path of my own free will, and I believe in You of my own free will."
"I simply want to become stronger," he said. "Stronger still."
"An ant with the heart of a strong being is still an ant." The Holy Sovereign's divine eyes were like lightning, seeing through all the arrangements here. He understood that since Zhang Linchuan had appeared here, since he had been prepared all along, this place was now completely different from centuries ago.
It could no longer be relied upon.
"Everything you've learned belongs to the White Bone secret arts. Do you really believe you can wound your deity?"
He took a step forward.
Boom!
Thunder erupted!
Blinding lightning burst from the formation patterns engraved on the ground, crisscrossing instantly to construct a Thunder Prison centered on the Holy Sovereign.
"Using White Bone secret arts would leave me tainted by You... I've known this for a long. Unremarkably, I've spent years and solved this problem."
Zhang Linchuan spoke as if it were nothing, seemingly unaware of how extraordinary this achievement was.
He stood outside the Thunder Prison, arms spread wide, long hair flowing.
"Otherwise, why do you think the Rabbit Mask dared to follow me, and the Holy Maiden dared to intercept You?"
Within the Thunder Prison, a small emotion arose in the Holy Sovereign's heart.
He found it somewhat laughable.
"Are you really using your amateur thunder techniques to attempt deicide?"
Lightning bombarded His body.
He walked forward through the lightning: "Even I, weakened as I am!"
Any Bone Path adherent who fought against Him had to abandon the White Bone secret arts, because the Bone Path adherents' White Bone techniques could never harm the deity of the White Bone Path.
This was equivalent to stripping away most of one's cultivation. This was why in any sect, there were rarely disciples who betrayed their deity—for they fundamentally lost the ability to resist.
The Holy Sovereign walked forward as if nothing were amiss, and with a single tear of His hands, ripped the Thunder Prison apart!
What awaited Him was the jumping, pitch-black... violent Dark Thunder in Zhang Linchuan's outstretched palms!
This thunder!
The Holy Sovereign's brow arched.
Even for Him, this thunder was something He had never seen before!
"This is the Dark Thunder Forbidden Technique I created by fusing the White Bone Path secret arts and thunder techniques. Everyone who has seen it is already dead." Zhang Linchuan said respectfully: "Please, test the technique!"
The pitch-black lightning flashed once and vanished from his hands, only to reappear before the Holy Sovereign's eyes.
Like a blade, like a sword, like a spear, like a lance.
In His vision, the dark thunder exploded into various shapes, crashing down like a storm.
Boom!
The Holy Sovereign raised one hand before Him, white finger bones drilling through His flesh, instantly growing larger.
A massive bone hand clasped backward, enveloping Him entirely within.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Dark Thunder exhausted itself.
The bone hand opened, and the Holy Sovereign stepped out from His own palm.
But then—
Zzzzt! Zzzzt!
He saw that He was once again trapped within a Thunder Prison.
And this time, what formed the prison was entirely Dark Thunder!
Pitch-black lightning splashed everywhere, and when this Dark Thunder occasionally touched His body, it even caused Him some pain!
Lu Yan could resist the taint because he already possessed Outer Tower realm cultivation, drawing starlight into his body for brief resistance. But Zhang Linchuan had actually relied on his own talent to devise a method to break it.
What was more terrifying was that this man had specifically created a set of the Dark Thunder Forbidden Technique to deal with Him!
Not just a single spell, but an entire systematic Forbidden Technique!
What kind of talent was this?
Though it stemmed from thunder techniques and White Bone Path secret arts, he had fused the two, made them independent of both, completely integrated everything he had learned. It was clearly designed to target deities like Him.
Such a Forbidden Technique... could it truly have been created by his own Bone Envoy?
Accustomed to standing high above, He discovered once again that He had still underestimated these "ants."
The Holy Sovereign gathered His divine power and punched the Dark Thunder Prison—but this time... He failed to break it!