Chapter 535 A Sign of Change (12,000 words, Monthly Pass Please~)

In the Tianyuan Mortal Realm, due to the divine and demonic sealing of opportunities, many talented cultivators, after reaching the realm of True Person, found it difficult to break through further.

Thus, the methods of divine weapons and divine martial prowess became extremely popular.

A True Person's strike could move mountains and overturn peaks, shattering thousands of miles of rivers and mountains.

While this power was terrifying, if a True Person wielded a divine weapon, their strike could split the heavens and shatter the earth, annihilating a country in the past with a sword that chilled for tens of thousands of miles.

Having a powerful divine weapon that corresponded to a cultivator's cultivation method meant that their strength would be greater than the sum of its parts.

Therefore, whether they were True Persons whose cultivation had reached its peak and could not progress further, relying solely on divine weapons to enhance themselves, or ordinary cultivators of the Heaven, Earth, and Human ranks, obtaining a divine weapon, a good weapon suitable for themselves, was one of their highest pursuits.

However, in this world, above divine weapons, there was an even higher tier.

——Dao Weapons.

Legend had it that Dao Weapons were the tools of gods and demons, possessing power comparable to that of immortals, gods, devils, and demons in the mortal realm. Their wielders could be invincible, suppress an era, pacify continents, and usher in millennia of peace.

Legend had it that Dao Weapons were born from the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. They were so powerful because they represented the will of Heaven and Earth, capable of manipulating the Yuanqi of tens of thousands of miles with a single thought, causing mountains and rivers to shift, and the oceans to change.

Legends…

There were many, many legends.

For those who could not obtain Dao Weapons, they would always imagine various mysterious and powerful auras to attach to those unattainable things.

Because only with illusory perfection was there meaning to pursue.

But for Nan Zhengkai, the Righteous Yang Leader, the only person confirmed to possess a 'Dao Weapon'.

The so-called Dao Weapon was actually a very simple thing.

——Dao Weapon——A weapon that bears the Dao!

The reason why Dao Weapons were powerful was because what resided within them was not simply power, but a continuous, endless inheritance.

"Azure Skies Righteous Yang… illuminating all directions."

"Wherever the light reaches… shall be my people."

Tianyuan, Southern Continent.

A somewhat simple but immensely grand city was located on a large island in the Sea of the Masses.

In the past, the Southern Continent had sunk into the Southern Purgatory Sea, and the earth's veins shifted, causing countless mountains to rise from the seabed, and volcanoes to erupt, forming thousands of islands. The largest of these islands was even half the size of a continent, enough to support billions of people.

The capital of the Righteous Yang Kingdom, which had fled here, might not have the beauty of painted beams and carved pillars, or the extravagance of gold and jade, but it could still be considered majestic. Millions of families and core personnel who had arrived with the True Persons and the Righteous Yang Kingdom's army lived here, and they were now largely self-sufficient.

In the center of the capital, in a building complex made of blue tiles and white jade, a middle-aged man with a dignified expression and a burly figure was holding a seemingly ordinary small blue fire-patterned ruler, muttering to it: "Clearly, I once spread the Righteous Yang Light throughout the Central Continent, its power was incomparably strong, and I even had the power of gods and demons, making me a contemporary god and demon."

"But why can't I ever defeat that Ming Zhengde?"

The middle-aged man had blue hair and a blue beard, and his eyes were blood-red. To the people of the Tianyuan Mortal Realm, this meant that his ancestors had the blood of a divine bird, or 'divine and demonic bloodline'.

Legend had it that it was because the man's ancestor was the original owner of the Azure Skies Righteous Yang Ruler, the Ziwei Star Lord who ascended to become a god in the past, that he was able to break through layers of seals and trials in the ancient sealed palace, awaken the Dao Weapon that had been slumbering for countless years, and bring it back to the world.

Originally, Nan Zhengkai himself believed this—he felt that he understood the divine thoughts inherited within the Dao Weapon, which was why he was able to reach the peak of the True Person realm, create the great foundation of the Righteous Yang Kingdom, and almost become the common ruler of the Central Continent.

But now, he felt that he might not understand the meaning of his ancestors.

"Prioritize the inheritance of the Human Dao."

Closing his eyes, Nan Zhengkai fell into deep thought.

The Human Dao is paramount. The inheritance in the Azure Skies Righteous Yang takes this as its guiding principle.

Based on the Human Dao, the Azure Skies Righteous Yang Ruler can borrow the power of all living beings to fight against all powerful enemies—if the hearts of the people are vast and united, the wielder of the Dao Weapon can be invincible, and even gods and demons can be fought.

However, what is the Human Dao?

In Nan Zhengkai's understanding, continuation is the Human Dao, and development is the Human Dao.

As long as it continues and develops, the Human Dao can flourish.

The wars of the past few years, and the divisions of hundreds of thousands of years, were harmful and useless to the Human Dao.

Therefore, Nan Zhengkai wanted to establish the Righteous Yang Kingdom, unite the 'people', resist the wild demon Kun race, pacify the chaotic world, unify the Central Continent, and usher in eternal peace.

In this way, if there were no other accidents, the human realm could continue and develop, and he, Nan Zhengkai, could probably use the power of the Dao Weapon to break through that barrier above the True Person realm and become a god or demon!

But this world has accidents.

Gods and demons were the biggest accidents.

The descent of a god or demon was a natural disaster, and possession by a god or demon was invincible.

If the human race wanted to continue, it had to rely on gods and demons. This was an objective condition, a naturally existing factor—if gods and demons were angered, the Human Dao would inevitably be cut off, just like coastal villages encountering hurricanes, and mountain cities encountering earthquakes.

Therefore, it was necessary to rely on gods and demons to stabilize the inheritance of the Human Dao.

Besides that, the Human Dao also had importance.

The common people…

The so-called people were the many aristocratic families, officials, and cultivator families with names.

And the commoners were the ordinary people who spent their lives engaged in farming, logging, working, animal husbandry, and other hard labor, with dark complexions.

In this way, naturally, the 'people' were important, and the commoners were insignificant.

In this Tianyuan Mortal World, only cultivator families were the real 'people'.

The work that a cultivator could do was hundreds of thousands of times that of an ordinary person, the knowledge they inherited represented the pinnacle of this era, and the power they represented could completely kill all life except themselves.

The aristocratic people themselves could form a complete Human Dao circle, while the commoners were merely creatures attached to them, who could be replaced at any time.

They were useless to the Human Dao, and useless to development—billions of ordinary people could not give birth to a single True Person, and without inheritance, an ordinary person could never turn over in their lifetime.

Which was more important was clear at a glance.

Therefore, Nan Zhengkai chose this path.

He took this as his guiding principle, relying on gods and demons, stabilizing the aristocratic families, and using them as the center to promote the progress of the Human Dao. The results were remarkable, almost unifying the world.

This was not wrong—for the Central Continent in the Warring States period of the Tianyuan Mortal Realm, this was what should be done, no, it should be said that this was the only thing that could be done!

Until he met Ming Zhengde.

That man, even now, made him feel incredible.

——Why must you fight against gods and demons? Don't you know that a single thought of a god or demon can affect tens of thousands of miles, causing tens of millions of deaths?

——Why do you rebuke me for disregarding human lives? Have I not already protected all the people and inheritance, so that the Human Dao can continue even after my death?

——If you want to better maintain the Human Dao, shouldn't you do this? Those commoners who can't even read, those ordinary people who can't even use spiritual machines, those who not only can't inherit the inheritance, but also don't have the talent for cultivation…

What qualifications do they have to be called 'Human Dao' in this Tianyuan world with True Person experts, divine and demonic power, thousands of divine birds, and boundless vastness?!

He could not understand this, and even more unable to understand was his defeat.

Closing his eyes tightly, Nan Zhengkai's blue beard trembled slightly.

Even now, he could still recall the scene of that day.

The vast and mighty Five Virtues divine light, wrapped in a torrent of will power that he could not understand, finally condensed into a five-fingered giant seal that fell in anger.

"A damned world where people can't even live, dares to be called the Human Dao?!"

"It's infuriating no matter how many times I hear it. If you want to be a god's dog, don't say you're human!"

The giant seal fell, as if the heavens and earth were collapsing. In the face of this torrent, even with the support of the power of all the Righteous Yang citizens, plus the support of divine and demonic power, Nan Zhengkai, wielding the Azure Skies Righteous Yang Ruler, was powerless.

Under that giant seal that spanned the heavens and earth, and covered the sky with a single hand, what was shattered was not only the innate grand formation laid down by eight True Persons, but also the Righteous Yang Kingdom's hegemony to unify the world, and Nan Zhengkai's belief.

——Could it be that I was wrong?

No.

"I'm not wrong."

Opening his eyes, the Azure Skies Righteous Yang Ruler in Nan Zhengkai's hand vibrated slightly, emitting rays of spiritual light like the corona of the sun.

His heart hardened: "Gods and demons' dogs? Nonsense. If I ruled the Central Continent, I might need to occasionally listen to the orders of gods and demons, but it would be enough to protect a lifetime of peace, and allow more people to live."

"But Ming Zhengde, you are so double-dealing with the gods and demons, jumping back and forth. The Nine Hells will inevitably invade the world, and taint the demonic lands. The Immortal Heavens will at most only block them, and the battle of gods and demons will never again be fought in the void, but in our Tianyuan Mortal Realm!"

"How many people will die then? What kind of suffering will the human race suffer? In the past, during the Three Thousand Years Warring States period, didn't the battle between the Heavenly Emperor and the Demon Lord in the void end up with the calamity of the wild demons invading the mortal world? Do you want to repeat it a second time, a third time?"

At this moment, the Azure Skies Righteous Yang Ruler tightly grasped in Nan Zhengkai's hand disappeared into nothingness. The previously tangible divine weapon transformed into a mark of a cyan light red sun, and merged into his brow.

Once again merging with the Dao Weapon, and merging with the inheritance that had been tempered for countless years by those who had become gods and demons in the past, his belief suddenly increased, increased greatly, and became solid to an unimaginable degree.

"If it were me, having unified the Central Continent in the past, I could have broken through the boundaries of gods and demons, joined the Immortal Heavens, and become the 'Central Ziwei Star Lord' who leads the human world, like my ancestors."

"Only by becoming a member of the gods and demons can we better continue the Human Dao."

"And Ming Zhengde's perverse actions are nothing more than a temporary spark. When the gods and demons are tired of his rebellion, the war will restart… If we don't crush the New Dynasty sooner, more people will die."

Just then, Nan Zhengkai suddenly raised his eyebrows.

Because behind the building complex, a lightly armored general with a nervous expression had arrived, seemingly with an important matter to report.

It was his trusted subordinate, Han Shiling, who was responsible for intelligence work in the Central Continent.

"Come in."

"Yes, Leader!"

Han Shiling hesitated to step into the courtyard, and then communicated mentally, in the most secretive way, transmitting the information to Nan Zhengkai at close range.

"Oh? So that's how it is."

Hearing this, Nan Zhengkai's eyebrows relaxed, he nodded slightly, and then smiled: "The surprise attack was very successful… But the number of rioters who died is a bit too small."

At this point, his tone was somewhat indifferent: "Not enough, this is far from enough to disrupt the New Dynasty, and there's no way to give Ming Zhengde a headache. At most, it will just make him feel uncomfortable."

"They should kill more Heaven-rank geniuses and True Persons, and wipe out the New Dynasty's future talents, instead of those worthless commoners. Only that kind of damage is heavy enough."

Nan Zhengkai was not afraid of Ming Zhengde wielding a divine weapon and running to the Southern Continent to kill him—with the order of the gods and demons, if Ming Zhengde still wanted to maintain this fragile balance, he would not dare to act rashly.

Of course, he also knew very well that he could not go too far… Like now, after being instructed by the Nine Nether Heavenly Demons, creating some disturbances was the limit.

"It's a pity that Yan Changfeng was defeated. Ming Zhengde took action personally, and there was also that divine bird Zhuzhou… What kind of strange species of heaven and earth, ancient inheritance, could induce this guy to go and meet it personally?"

Other than that, everything was perfect. Thinking of Yan Changfeng's failure, Nan Zhengkai couldn't help but shake his head slightly: "What a pity, a good sword."

"Pass down the order, it's almost time to end."

He ordered Han Shiling: "The Nine Nether Demon Gods have informed me that they are about to start entering the human realm… Let's shrink our strength first, hold tight, and pull back our fist."

"When Ming Zhengde has a splitting headache over the demonic army in the north, we will then strike from the south and reclaim the Central Continent!"

"Yes, Leader!"

Responding respectfully in a low voice, Han Shiling should have left the building at this moment to give the order.

But now, he hesitated to raise his head: "But, if that's the case… the demonic army will run rampant, and the Central Continent will be devastated!"

Nan Zhengkai didn't suspect anything, but just shook his head calmly: "It wouldn't have come to this in the first place—according to the original agreement between us and the Immortal Heavens and Nine Hells, those places were originally going to be divided up."

"If Ming Zhengde hadn't been so stubborn, denying and not acknowledging all the agreements we, Righteous Yang, signed with the gods and demons, why would the human race have to contend with gods and demons, and come to this point?"

"If the demonic army invades, it will all be Ming Zhengde's fault."

Just then.

At the distant end of the heavens and earth, a faint light of a red sun suddenly lit up.

Even in the distant Southern Continent, one could see that at the end of the heavens and earth, there were dazzling red stars flashing, reflecting the firmament.

A scarlet halo flickered, causing both Nan Zhengkai and Han Shiling to be slightly stunned.

"Vermilion Bird… that old fellow is also willing to leave its nest? It seems that Ming Zhengde must have asked it to come out… Heh."

Scoffing, the blue-haired man shook his head slightly: "A divine bird with half its body buried… I asked you to come out and purify the Azure Skies Righteous Yang Ruler with longevity pills, but you refused. Now that you only have your last breath, you still have to struggle… Why bother."

However, he was also a little worried: "But, Vermilion Bird, Zhuzhou, the frequent emergence of such powerful divine birds, does it mean that the 'Five Virtues Phoenix' is really going to be born into the world?"

"If I don't become the Ziwei Star Lord before then…"

Thinking of this, Nan Zhengkai fell silent again.

After a long time, he slowly said, "Go, Shiling."

"Start preparing."

"Soon, we will see Ming Zhengde's final madness, and… the opportunity to counterattack the Central Continent!"

"Yes, Leader!"

Responding for the third time, Han Shiling replied solemnly, and then turned to leave.

Before the lightly armored general left this building, he could vaguely hear his leader still murmuring softly.

"Azure Skies Righteous Yang… Am I doing this right?"

"Leader…"

Hearing this, he couldn't help but sigh softly, and then his expression became firm.

Leaving the capital of the Righteous Yang Kingdom, the lightly armored general leaped up, and then landed on a secret island in the Southern Purgatory Sea.

Han Shiling took out the corresponding magical artifact from a hidden location on the island. He didn't hesitate and directly activated this communication magical artifact that had been encrypted countless times.

"Code name 甲甲甲丙癸 (Jia Jia Jia Bing Gui)."

Using the most fluent and rapid mental communication, he suppressed his nervousness and reported all the intelligence: "It has been confirmed that the target is preparing to launch a northern expedition, cooperating with the future Nine Nether demonic army's southward invasion."

"Are preparations ready? Do you need me to slow down the preparations?"

"Received."

At the other end of the communication, a slightly tired, dignified voice rang out: "Thank you, Qianshi. No need, we are already prepared."

"You must protect yourself. Remember, your value is greater than you imagine. Don't sacrifice yourself casually."

"Yes!"

Clenching his fist, the leader of Righteous Yang's intelligence solemnly replied: "Everything for the human race."

At the other end of the communication, a voice with relief sounded: "Everything for the sentient beings of Tianyuan."

At the same time.

The Immortal Heavens immortals and gods, the Nine Nether Heavenly Demons, the divine birds in the world, the extraterrestrial heavenly demons, and the New Dynasty Righteous Yang.

All forces, all camps, all paid attention and focused their gaze on the bird.

The divine bird Zhuzhou—or rather, 'Zhuzhou Divine Bird Version 1.3b' holder Su Zhou, was currently driving a rocket, observing the New Dynasty cities along the way.

——Divine Bird Version 1.3b——

Corrected the incoordination between the Chongming Bird's muscles and the Golden-Winged Great Peng's wings. Model optimization, more beautiful.

Corrected the problem that the spiritual energy fluctuations in the Sun Crystal were too low to induce others to make mistakes. Eight spiritual gathering arrays have now been added to release a 'Rising Sun' level flash.

Corrected the bug that the Phoenix Feather and the Immortal Feather sometimes failed to self-detonate in coordination. Now all Phoenix Feathers can self-detonate.

Added a new function of 'Feather Spirit Avatar'. You can pluck feathers as a condensing material for low-level avatars. The current duration is less than ten seconds, and the only ones that can be stably maintained are the Four Great Feathers avatars.

Added a new module of 'Sinful Burning Feather'. Now, when using the 'Falling Star Divine Wing Cannon', you can fire Karma Fire bullets.

Removed some incorrectly modeled feathers. The model is more beautiful.

Re-planned the spiritual energy source points throughout the body. Spiritual energy operation is more coordinated.

Created a new 'Subcutaneous Capillary Formation' folder. Although it is currently empty, you can wait for a subsequent version update.

The general situation is like this.

Su Zhou planned to upgrade his divine bird form to version 1.3C when he optimized his divine bird form to be more like a divine bird, and 1.4 when he started building the subcutaneous capillary formation.

Because he could not use the Mingxing Dragon Transformation Art, and the Sacred Geometry, this supreme cultivation method that originated from Yala and had obvious characteristics of a Chaotic Dragon Serpent, Su Zhou's divine bird form version and strength were far lower than his 'Cosmic War' form, which condensed not only dragon and snake, but also divine tree, divine bird, and even various biological powers, and was about to reach version 3.0.

After all, in the avatar of Cosmic War, there is also the blood of the Ancestral Dragon, the scales of Fafnir, the stomach of Jormungandr, the wings of Yinglong, and the crystal of Quetzalcoatl… Ah, this Sun Crystal is being used, after all, it is Quetzalcoatl, and it is well compatible with the divine bird, and has not been discovered.

Most of the Immortal God inheritances obtained in the Preaching Tower can only be run in the Cosmic War template form and are not compatible with the divine bird form.

At least some dragon blood elements are needed.

Although it is not impossible to modify and try to simulate dragon blood elements in the divine bird template and run it compatibly—after all, birds are also dragons, and the source is one—but at least Su Zhou cannot do it now.

It's not a problem of blood, mainly because his own divine bird template has not been upgraded to 2.0 yet, how can he be compatible with those software that are almost at version 3.0?

In short, Su Zhou in divine bird form is not his full strength. Although still powerful, he still lacks experience in detailed battles.

"When that Punishing Heavenly Demon wanted to use the lightning tribulation to kill a million people in Beiling City, I actually wanted to use the Cosmic War form."

The cyan Lan Seed rocket flew swiftly, dragging a cloud of spiritual energy in the sky. Su Zhou said to himself: "If I used the Cosmic War form, I could directly spray that divine and demonic avatar onto the moon with one breath—ah, there is no moon in this place—but it is enough to kill it instantly."

"But in that case, the me who showed the blood of the Dragon Serpent would inevitably be watched by the local Heavenly Venerate Immortals and Gods again, and I would not be able to move freely as I am now, and would only be subjected to some secret spying and attention."

In that case, Su Zhou could indeed save a million people, but the divine and demonic descent would kill these million people—plus, Su Zhou could not move freely, and might not be able to take action in the subsequent disasters, causing more deaths and injuries…

In this way, his actions would be like a mistake.

Although Su Zhou didn't think about it at the time, he was ready to directly transform into the Cosmic War form and kill the Punishing Heavenly Demon before the Heavenly Tribulation fell—if Ming Zhengde hadn't come, he would definitely have done so.

But now that he thought about it, he frowned slightly.

——If you only pay attention to what is in front of you, only pay attention to the current process, and don't care about the future result, such an action is definitely not perfect, right?

Yala's answer to Su Zhou's soliloquy was very simple.

"No matter what you do, whether you transform into the Cosmic War form on the spot and try your best to save, or maintain the divine bird form and do as much as possible, it is your choice."

"Whether the future is worse or better, the choice is the choice, accept it all. Running away is fine, being loyal is fine, killing those people before the gods and demons is also possible, and self-sacrifice is fine."

"No matter how chaotic the ending is, as long as you can bear it, it is good. This is my path."

Speaking of this, the snake spirit shook its head slightly: "As for that perfection, you will try again and again, trying to find a subtle path in those seemingly only two choices that can lead to 'perfection'—changing to the situation you just said, it is to hone your skills, so that you can unleash a blow comparable to the Cosmic War form in the divine bird form, and kill that heavenly demon in seconds."

"All things are not black and white. There are more choices between the two seemingly only choices, and both I and perfection think so, but… the final result is different."

"Is that so?"

Hearing this, Su Zhou couldn't help but nod slightly: "It's pretty much what I guessed."

"Well, I'm not the kind of person who thinks about these things. When the time comes, my actions will definitely be faster than I think."

Su Zhou, who was flying in the high sky, was very fast.

Before long, he had flown over an extremely long distance and arrived at the southern boundary of Qinglin Prefecture, about to enter the Central Earth region of Central Continent.

The Tianyuan Realm is very vast.

According to what Su Zhou knew, the size of just the Central Continent was much larger than Earth, about half the surface area of Jupiter. If you add the Five Continents and Seven Seas, the entire Tianyuan Realm is probably equivalent to six or seven times the surface area of Jupiter.

That's at least seven hundred times the area of Earth.

Seven hundred Earths, although most of them are uninhabitable sea, and only Central Continent is considered livable among the continents, but it is also unbelievably vast.

Just a small state of this Central Continent is much larger than Earth, so even at Su Zhou's speed, it takes a while to fly.

During this time, he saw many new cities built by the New Dynasty.

They were cities built on plains, mountains, riverbanks, and various important places and even spiritual vein nodes, and were obviously planned in great detail.

Each city was built with the help of many cultivators, and some large cities, such as the capital cities of each prefecture, had walls that were nearly a thousand meters high as the foundation of the formation. Even if a god or demon descended, unless they directly bombarded it, they would not be able to break through it.

The capital city of Linmo Prefecture, where Wang Hait