The entire Black Flood Dragon Immortal City was intimidated by the overwhelming presence of the nine mighty figures from the Shangguan family, and everyone was nervously trying to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
Only within the private room of the Celestial Fragrance Tower, three young men remained calm and composed.
The Shangguan Immortal Race, which has produced ascended Immortal Monarchs, is unsurprisingly the sky over the entire Eastern Desolation.
Even when considering the top-tier fighting power alone, it can rival the Central State Dynasty.
However, in terms of overall strength, it falls slightly behind the royal family.
This is partly because their clan's Quasi-Immortal Artifact is a forbidden item with limited uses, and when the restriction count reaches zero, it completely loses its prowess to uphold the clan.
Moreover, even though the Shangguan Immortal Race occupies two-tenths of the entire Eastern Desolation's resources, it's still incomparable to the resources held by the Princes of Central State.
Within the clan, favoritism prevails, and resources will never be allowed to be wasted on outsiders, so the quantity and quality of its top-tier fighting strength are far inferior.
To the Third Prince of the Cangming Dynasty and the Fifth Princess of the Great Xia Dynasty, the Shangguan Immortal Race is not to be feared.
However, both of them were somewhat puzzled while observing Li Jizhou.
They were confident that the Shangguan Immortal Race would not dare to be enemies of the royal family without reason, especially the Cangming Dynasty, as the Shangguan family had sought their help twenty years ago.
After assessing, they concluded that Li Jizhou's background might not be very deep, at most a wealthy family from a certain dynasty in Central State, with substantial financial resources but questionable strength.
The Shangguan Immortal Race possesses a Quasi-Immortal Artifact, so it's certainly unmatched by ordinary large families.
What is his reliance?
At this moment, the nine mighty figures of the Shangguan family began to shrink the encirclement area, and in the blink of an eye, they had already surrounded the Celestial Fragrance Tower, with each of the nine mighty figures taking a position.
"Halt!" As the nine of them were about to further narrow the range, an old woman appeared in the void, blocking the entrance to Li Jizhou's private room, none other than Ji Yue's guardian.
In the next moment, another gray-robed elder also appeared on the other side, precisely Zhao Tianyuan's guardian.
The leading figure of the Shangguan family suddenly halted, looking distantly at the two, particularly the old woman, who, surprisingly, exuded an oppressive force capable of confronting him, at least at the Late Stage of Divinity Transformation, if not the peak.
"Hmph! Eastern Desolate Southern Domain, where Divinity Transformation should not be revealed, is this not the law set by your five families? Such a grand gesture, are you slapping your own face?" The old woman spoke with a cold voice, utterly disregarding the prestigious Shangguan Immortal Race.
Shangguan Qiufeng squinted his eyes slightly: "If we allow small-time individuals to kill the elders of our Shangguan clan, would that not be even more disgraceful? Do you really think our Shangguan Immortal Race is a cowardly weak clan?"
"This matter has nothing to do with this old body and my young master." The old woman spoke steadily.
"Nor does it involve my young master!" Zhao Tianyuan's guardian also spoke, unwilling to provoke a situation.
"Whether it does or not, we have our own judgment." Shangguan Qiufeng did not appreciate the intervention, and immediately his eyes widened, and a black-winged golden-armored insect flew out, with a pair of antennae on its head pointing to the private room behind the old woman.
"The ancient Divine Insect—Golden Armored Celestial Origin!" The old woman was instantly surprised upon seeing this insect.
"The Shangguan Immortal Race indeed has deep foundations, to possess such an ancient Divine Insect!" At the same time, Ji Yue inside the private room was radiant with awe.
Zhao Tianyuan showed slight confusion.
Li Jizhou was equally at a loss, but he had guessed that perhaps this alien insect exposed him.
Ji Yue did not keep them in suspense, directly explaining: "I also saw this insect in an ancestor's journal, not a Gu or a demon, yet with a divine and unique bloodline, ignoring any restrictions of divine abilities, as if entirely uncontrolled by the Heaven and Earth Laws.
It has no offensive power, nor any protective means, but it ignores the rules of the Celestial Dao and has no lifespan limit.
However, it is extremely fragile, even a common bird could consume it.
Years ago, when Human Race cultivators discovered this characteristic, many captured them to study extending life, leading to near extinction.
Of course, aside from its disregard for heavenly lifespan, making it widely studied by Human Race cultivators, it was also used to study methods of tracking and detection because of its ability to ignore restrictions."
Upon hearing this, Li Jizhou instantly understood.
Ignoring rules, truly divine.
Amid this pause, the old woman and Zhao Tianyuan's guardian had already transmitted their voices to Shangguan Qiufeng.
However, Shangguan Qiufeng did not respond through transmission but spoke directly: "Whether it is or not, my Divine Insect only passes judgment and will definitely not wrong anyone. If not, I will personally apologize to your young master!"
"However, if you indeed killed the elders of our Shangguan clan, we will seek justice no matter what!"
"Insolence!" The old woman was furious, fiercely striking her dragon-headed cane into the void.
Boom~
A wave of green ripples surged toward Shangguan Qiufeng like a tide.
"Hmph! Did you really think our Shangguan family is a sick cat?" Although the opponent had already revealed her identity as the Fifth Princess of the Great Xia Dynasty, Shangguan Qiufeng was still unafraid. This time, the ancestor Shangguan Qingming personally ordered that regardless of who it was, they must be captured because not only did they kill Shangguan Yan and five others, they also stole that beastly frog demon.
The frog demon concerns something too significant for the Shangguan family.
Because twenty years ago, after Shangguan Qingming brought back Li Jizhou's lifeless body to the clan, a Golden Armored Celestial Origin Insect secretly nurtured within the clan actually detected the aura of a Potion of Immortality on the body.
This made Shangguan Qingming's blood boil, so for the past twenty years, he had been tracking the frog demon.
Capturing the frog demon might mean obtaining the Potion of Immortality.
Facing a Potion of Immortality, what of the Central State royalty?
In an instant, a great battle erupted, and the remaining eight from the Shangguan family sealed the area tightly, sparing no suspicious individuals.
According to the Golden Armored Celestial Origin Insect's senses, the frog demon was here.
And just as Shangguan's mighty figures were shrinking the restriction-covered area, any cultivator in the Black Flood Dragon Immortal City who escaped the encirclement flew away swiftly, striving to leave the area as fast as possible.
A battle of Divinity Transformation, the affected range is vast, possibly just a stray qi could claim the life of a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator.
Most people in the cultivation world are cautious.
Even when the Shangguan family's restrictions covered only the Celestial Fragrance Tower at the end, the City Lord's Mansion within Black Flood Dragon Immortal City was emitting beams of light as Black Flood Dragon True Man was the first to rise to the Third Heaven, then thinking twice, fearing to witness something hidden, headed directly to the Cold Wind Immortal City to the east, not even pondering about the result here.
Of course, besides the cautious majority, there were still a few audacious ones.
They either sought fortunes from these significant figures.
Or, taking advantage of Black Flood Dragon True Man's departure, attempted to profit from the City Lord's Mansion warfare.
"Void Formless Hand!"
"One Year One Withering!"
Endless giant hands covered the sky, enormous ancient trees anchored the sea against heaven.
The power of Divinity Transformation was evident.
Yet this wasn't even a life-and-death struggle.
Fortunately, there was a Restriction Array shielding them, otherwise this Black Flood Dragon Immortal City would turn to ashes in an instant.
Boom~
Once again the clash ended in a deadlock, the old woman glanced at the other eight equally matched elders of the Shangguan family with Shangguan Qiufeng, deciding to withdraw first.
The opponent was so unyielding today, fighting hard could only lead to loss, and she couldn't risk the Fifth Princess's safety in a death battle.
"Today's events, this old body remembers!"
"Then thank you, fellow Daoist, for your cooperation." A cold smile appeared on Shangguan Qiufeng's face, no longer hesitating, stepping forward through the void, directly targeting the three in the private room.