Chapter 1884: Ninefold Celestial Palace

As Qin Sang escaped the divine temple, he heard a thunderous roar behind him. The spiritual barrier, overwhelmed, was destroyed by the black rainbow's impact, and the temple collapsed in response.

To Qin Sang's disappointment, the Gengchen Taisui deity enshrined within the temple had been knocked to the ground by the impact, yet showed no reaction and did not retaliate against the culprit. This meant that even if he sought refuge in a divine temple of a higher-ranking Fulu deity, the black demonic roc would have no qualms about attacking it relentlessly.

Swoosh!

The demonic wind rushed over the ruins of the temple. The black demonic roc materialized, recalling its Thunder Mirror. Seeing the artifact's dim spiritual light, it flew into a rage. A white light shot from its chest, transforming into a finely wrought iron ring. The finely wrought iron ring had sharp spikes covering its outer rim and was hollow in the center. As it spun rapidly, the spikes on the outer rim successively lit up, emitting a sharp glow. The light converged towards the inner ring, growing increasingly dazzling. When it reached its peak intensity, it suddenly burst forth.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sound of rushing air was incessant. Streaks of white, arrow-like light shot out furiously, each one incredibly sharp, relentlessly pursuing Qin Sang. Qin Sang knew very well that if an arrow pierced him, his fate would be dire, so he could only try his best to dodge. The finely wrought iron ring spun, continuously launching arrows, their power no less than that of the Thunder Mirror. Qin Sang sighed inwardly, realizing it was indeed impossible to reverse the situation with just one Bloody Filth Divine Light. He abandoned any lingering hope and focused solely on escape.

The two parties continued their chase, moving away from the mountain, leaving behind only the collapsed temple and a fallen Fulu deity.

It proved true that disabling the Thunder Mirror was not a futile act. Although the iron ring's attacks were dense, they were not sustainable, and Qin Sang felt less pressure later on. During the pursuit, whenever Qin Sang felt the enemy's attacks were fierce and he was about to give out, he would seize an opportunity to hide in a divine temple. Taking refuge in a temple not only allowed him to catch his breath but also benefited the Sky-Patrolling Divine Chariot.

The Sky-Patrolling Divine Chariot, repaired by his hands, underwent a process of nearing destruction with each teleportation. However, Qin Sang discovered that the extent of the Sky-Patrolling Divine Chariot's damage was also somewhat related to the golden dragon pulling it. The golden dragon seemed capable of drawing energy from the Divine Court, thereby feeding it back to the chariot. Allowing the Sky-Patrolling Divine Chariot to remain in the Divine Court for a longer period might enable it to restore itself. However, this was impossible during the escape. The golden dragon could only recover during the brief periods when they hid inside a divine temple. This recovery was better than nothing, but it could not reverse the Sky-Patrolling Divine Chariot's fate of destruction.

As time passed, the golden dragon's form became increasingly ethereal. Yet, each time they left a temple, the golden dragon could become slightly more solid. Furthermore, if preparations were made before teleporting, the Sky-Patrolling Divine Chariot would experience less strain. Qin Sang racked his brains, determined to tenaciously seize every single factor, no matter how small, that could benefit him!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Sky-Patrolling Divine Chariot weaved through the barrage of arrows, like a storm. Qin Sang sat on the jade throne, his face grim, swiftly scanning the surrounding immortal mountains and divine temples. He was searching for a divine temple of a higher-ranking Fulu deity. The temples he had encountered before mostly belonged to the Sixty Jiazi Taisui deities, or scattered star lords among the River Han deities—all Fulu deities of similar rank. These Fulu deities had roughly equivalent ranks, their spiritual barriers were nearly identical, and their power was limited. A higher-ranking Fulu deity might have a sturdier spiritual barrier.

"This is the Western White Tiger Seven Mansions. Above the scattered stars should be the Seven Mansions Star Lords..."

Qin Sang first passed through Kui Mansion, one of the Western Seven Mansions, but did not find the temple of Kui Mansion Star Lord. A single mansion's star region encompasses multiple stars, and Qin Sang couldn't guess where the Daoist Court would enshrine the Kui Mansion Star Lord. With pursuers behind him, he couldn't search carefully. He might have missed it, or the Kui Mansion Star Lord's temple might have already been destroyed.

Lou Mansion is connected to Kui Mansion, making it the second mansion of the West. Qin Sang passed through the Kui Mansion star region, fled into Lou Mansion, then entered Wei Mansion, Mao Mansion, and finally Bi Mansion, where he at last found the Bi Mansion Star Lord! Straight ahead, a distinctly taller immortal mountain emerged from the sea of clouds, its temple glowing with spiritual light, exceptionally conspicuous. On the plaque before the temple, six characters were clearly written in Cloud Seal Script: Bi Mansion Heavenly Ear Star Lord! From its appearance, the Bi Mansion Star Lord's temple was completely intact. Qin Sang immediately urged the Sky-Patrolling Divine Chariot towards the temple.

The black demonic roc behind also saw the Bi Mansion Star Lord's temple, a flicker of anger in its demonic eyes, erupting with an even stronger killing intent. It had used every trick, but no matter how powerful its attacks were, if they couldn't hit or stop him, they were all in vain. Qin Sang could always rely on the Sky-Patrolling Divine Chariot's powerful divine abilities, either dodging or teleporting. The black demonic roc didn't hesitate to use a highly strenuous divine ability, but not only did it fail to trap and kill Qin Sang, Qin Sang also used the opportunity to widen the distance, causing the roc to explode in fury.

Before setting out, it had boasted to the Azure-Scaled Demonic Serpent, but unexpectedly, after all this time, it hadn't captured Qin Sang, losing face completely. It had come on a mission, and failing to quickly capture the Sky-Patrolling Divine Chariot, instead being dragged down by Qin Sang here, meant that if this ruined important matters, how would it explain to the Great Sage upon returning?

Unaware of the black demonic roc's thoughts, Qin Sang urged the golden dragon to plunge into the temple. As before, it smoothly passed through the spiritual barrier.

Thud!

The divine chariot landed, and the golden dragon lay motionless on the ground, focusing all its energy on recovery. Qin Sang looked at the divine statue in the hall, seeing the Bi Mansion Star Lord, an imposing figure dressed in a white fur tunic, with a sword hanging from his waist, possessing extraordinary bearing. His facial features seemed close to those of a normal person, not like a typical statue. The divine statues he had seen in the Divine Court were diverse and strange; some had three heads and six arms, consistent with legends, while others were more human-like.

"When the Daoist Court first created the Fulu deities, they must have considered more than just legends. For instance, they might have selected esteemed predecessors who contributed to Daoism and merged their images with legendary heavenly gods, serving as another form of worship and inheritance..." Qin Sang mused, gazing at the Bi Mansion Star Lord. He saw the deity's divine light shimmering, and a touch of vibrancy in its expression, as if it were about to come alive. A peculiar power emanated from its body.

Boom!

A roar came from outside the hall, and the ground vibrated violently. Qin Sang's heart tightened, but seeing the situation outside the hall, his expression gradually relaxed. He saw hundreds of arrows shot from the finely wrought iron wheel, converging on the spiritual barrier, all of them being deflected by it. Though the spiritual light rippled, it was clearly sturdier than the previous temples, capable of holding out for longer.

Qin Sang ignored the outside and scrutinized the Bi Mansion Star Lord. Previously, he had seen other Fulu deities in this state, but time was too pressing for him to investigate. "Could it be..." A thought struck Qin Sang, reminding him of a type of spell circulated in Daoism: "Inviting Deities and Summoning Generals." It was said that this spell could grant the power of heavenly deities to oneself and one's troops, or even invite heavenly deities to descend and possess a body, transforming one into a divine being. Because the heavenly deities had not responded, these spells had all become ineffective, leading Qin Sang to even doubt the origin of these deities. Now he knew that heavenly deities were Fulu deities, and their unresponsiveness was due to the Divine Court being sealed off, with communication severed.

Now that the Divine Court had reappeared, could those spells be used again?

"Is someone inviting the Bi Mansion Star Lord? Are Daoist cultivators battling demons in the lower realm? Must I wait for a victor to emerge in the lower realm before a turning point appears?" Qin Sang's thoughts raced as he pondered his situation, and also found inspiration. "The Ghostfang Nation's demonic talismans are also rooted in the Divine Court, so it might not be Daoist cultivators summoning deities. But why isn't that demonic roc summoning one?"

Unbeknownst to him, demons could indeed cast such spells, but they were far less proficient than Daoists. Firstly, demonic talismans were modifications of Daoist talismans, and thus inevitably had points of incompatibility with Daoist spells. The Ghostfang Nation's priority was altar-guarding divine generals, ensuring the demonic talismans could summon divine generals to protect primordial spirits, making it difficult to cover everything. Secondly, from the very beginning, with the decline of the Divine Court, "Inviting Deities and Summoning Generals" type spells became ineffective. Naturally, the Ghostfang Nation wouldn't waste effort on this.

The black demonic roc had also studied such spells in its leisure time. If it had entered the Divine Court before switching to the divine path, it might have been able to achieve it. Now that it had entered the divine path and merged with the Fulu deities in the Twenty-Four Heavenly Prisons, it wasn't yet fully familiar with the divine path and didn't know if there were any special deity-summoning spells. Even if it could summon deities, it would likely only be able to summon those from the Twenty-Four Heavenly Prisons, and the remaining Fulu deities in those prisons were of lower rank than itself. Gaining their divine power wouldn't change the current situation either.

Qin Sang was unaware of these complexities. He was thinking about whether he could use the power of the Fulu deity to resolve his crisis. Unfortunately, he only understood the rudiments of such spells. High-level deity-summoning spells were unrevealed secrets of Daoism, and he wouldn't have paid a high price for spells useless to him in the past. To his knowledge, "Inviting Deities and Summoning Generals" required special rituals, including hand seals, ritual steps, incantations, and so on. The Yu Walk and hand seals were crucial tenets of Daoism and fundamental principles of magic. Cultivating immortality, refining truth, summoning, and subduing—all relied on these. Especially when inviting high-level Fulu deities beyond one's own cultivation, these were indispensable, and the rituals were extremely complex, executable only by true masters of orthodox Daoist transmission.

Even with the Bi Mansion Star Lord right before him, Qin Sang didn't know how to harness its divine power. "I cultivate the Gaoshang Shenxiao Talisman, which corresponds to the deities of the Thunder Ministry, but I haven't obtained the relevant scriptures. If the deity before me were a Thunder Ministry heavenly deity, could I rely on the Nine Heavens Thunder Seal in my talisman altar to invite possession?"

While Qin Sang was in deep thought, the black demonic roc furiously attacked the spiritual barrier outside the temple. The immortal mountain temple was tottering. The spiritual barrier gradually dimmed. Qin Sang sighed inwardly, "It seems the rank of the Twenty-Eight Mansions Star Lords isn't high enough to withstand a demon king. In the Western Seven Mansions, above the Star Lords, there's also the White Tiger Divine Lord, one of the Four Symbols..." Remaining in the Western Seven Mansions meant fewer and fewer places to go. The black demonic roc was breaking through temples with increasing proficiency. If the White Tiger Divine Lord's temple couldn't stop it, Qin Sang's situation would become very perilous.

Rumble!

Qin Sang was startled awake by the tremor. Seeing the situation outside, his expression slightly changed. He immediately roused the golden dragon and performed a teleportation. He couldn't wait for the black demonic roc to break through the temple before leaving. If Daoist cultivators in the lower realm were summoning deities to kill enemies, and the Fulu deity was destroyed, it would greatly diminish the power of spells and cultivators related to Bi Mansion Star Lord. It could even affect the battle, making the Daoist Court's powerful figures arrive even later.

Golden light vanished from the temple. The black demonic roc, sensing something while attacking the spiritual barrier, immediately locked onto the Taiyi Star Chariot that had teleported far away, stirring up a demonic wind to pursue it.

"Ziwei Enclosure..."

Qin Sang looked towards the direction of the Three Enclosures as he fled. The Three Enclosures were the core of the celestial constellations. In Daoist scriptures, the heavenly deities residing in the Three Enclosures held the highest ranks. For example, the Five Dipper Star Lords, the Nine Luminaries Star Lords, and even the legendary Emperors! There, more temples offered refuge. The temples of ordinary star deities were also denser there than elsewhere. In the Northern Dipper star region of the Ziwei Enclosure alone, there were not only the Seven Yuan Star Lords corresponding to the Big Dipper's seven stars, and Zuo Fu and You Bi, but also the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Stars, Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Stars, and so on.

Among the Ziwei Enclosure, the closest high-level Fulu deities to him should be the Western Dipper, one of the Five Dippers, with a total of four palaces: the First Palace's White Standard Star Lord, the Second Prefecture's High Origin Star Lord, the Third Canon's Imperial Spirit Star Lord, and the Fourth General's Mighty Power Star Lord. The rank of these four Star Lords would certainly surpass that of the Twenty-Eight Mansions Star Lords. However, all the demons who had entered the Divine Court had gone towards the Three Enclosures. If he fled there, he might be surrounded and face even greater danger.

"And where are the heavenly deities of the Thunder Ministry?" Doubt arose in Qin Sang's heart as he looked up at the layers of immortal clouds above the Three Enclosures. "Is the Thunder Ministry located there?" The heavenly deities of the Thunder Ministry should be no fewer than those of the Dipper Ministry, and very likely occupied a separate area in the Divine Court. With one glance, Qin Sang immediately abandoned the idea of going to the Thunder Ministry. He saw streaks of demonic energy rushing into the Three Enclosures, then heading straight up into the sky, traversing layers of heavenly palaces. Going there now would surely be walking into a trap. Moreover, that area was clearly more severely damaged, with sparse temples, so it was better to remain in the Dipper Ministry.

After some deliberation, Qin Sang steered the divine chariot straight towards the Western Dipper!

Among the Three Enclosures, layers of immortal clouds were arrayed, towering to the Nine Heavens of Divine Empyrean. The Nine Heavens and Nine Empyreans, indeed, were Thunder City!

At this moment, the Azure-Scaled Demonic Serpent led a host of demonic gods, continuously pressing forward towards the Divine Empyrean Upper Palace atop Thunder City. Upon entering Thunder City, the demonic gods realized that entering the Divine Empyrean Upper Palace was not so simple. Otherwise, the Great Sage of the Demon Race wouldn't have personally brought the incomplete map of the Twenty-Four Heavenly Prisons and forced his way through the South Heaven Gate. Each layer of heaven was a layer of restriction.

They began their ascent from the first layer of heaven, proceeding quite smoothly at first. Thunder City was damaged, so they sought out weaknesses in the restrictions, pushing straight through to the seventh layer of heaven in one go. However, when they assaulted the eighth layer of heaven, they encountered trouble. The restrictions on the eighth layer of heaven were also damaged, but there was astonishing pressure within the gaps, which most demonic gods could not withstand. The Azure-Scaled Demonic Serpent had no choice but to lead the demonic gods of the Cavernous Mystery cultivation level and above, forming a formation to break through. They found only a single, isolated temple on the eighth layer of heaven. They were familiar with Daoist Court history and knew this temple enshrined the Heavenly Venerable of Nine Heavens Responding to Origin and Universal Transformation of Thunderous Sound, the highest Fulu deity of the Thunder Ministry!

"The Thunder Ancestor was not destroyed!" The Azure-Scaled Demonic Serpent's face showed surprise. The temple's doors were tightly shut, yet they emitted a terrifying, heart-pounding pressure. The demonic gods exchanged glances, bypassed the Grand Hall of the Thunder Ancestor, and continued their ascent. As long as they broke through the ninth layer of heaven, they could seize the Divine Empyrean Upper Palace and force Daoism to submit!

However, they searched around and only found a few suspected cracks. Even with their combined strength, they couldn't breach them. The demonic gods joined forces to form a demonic formation and launched a fierce assault, but still couldn't shake the restrictions of the ninth layer of heaven. The Azure-Scaled Demonic Serpent's eyes gleamed. Its serpent head lowered as it looked, across the eighth layer of heaven, towards the power of the Western Seven Mansions. The demonic roc still hadn't captured that person and brought the Sky-Patrolling Divine Chariot over after all this time.

"Useless!" The Azure-Scaled Demonic Serpent snorted coldly. Regardless of whether the divine chariot could help them ascend to the Ninth Heaven, they had to bring it over and try. It glanced at a demon beside it. "Fellow Daoist Gu, have the others continue forming the array and search for a way to break the restrictions. You come with me down."

With that, the Azure-Scaled Demonic Serpent moved its demonic body, returning to the eighth layer of heaven. The one it beckoned was a bull demon with golden horns. The bull demon, stepping on rays of light, closely followed.