Chapter 1 Not Just an Ordinary Explosion!

Sprinting through the snow, dodging the continuous explosions behind him, Su Zhou quickly understood what was happening.

It was an explosive phenomenon caused by the heating and evaporation of ice and snow by extremely high-density lightning spiritual energy, rapidly sublimating and expanding!

"That layer of shell is just something like a 'cocoon' that I have condensed on my body surface from absorbing the spiritual energy of the Divine Tree over the years… The Demon Emperor wants to transform into a Divine Tree Dragon, so this wood energy must be incorporated into his body to transform his physique, but I only want to achieve the Land True Immortal, and only need to absorb the purest innate energy of the Divine Tree. Everything else is impurities."

"But even impurities are the most authentic Jia wood energy. It can transform into wind and thunder!"

The wood energy belonging to the Divine Tree on the State Preceptor's body became weaker and weaker, but what grew stronger was the increasingly violent lightning!

Wielding the magic sword with the posture of a youth, he created circles of arc-shaped lightning. If Su Zhou had to describe it, the State Preceptor at this moment was like a huge Tesla coil—he pinched the magic seal with one hand and used the magic sword to draw lightning symbols in the air with the other. With the strength of a semi-innate grandmaster, he spared no effort to control the lightning, unleashing explosion after explosion at the sprinting Su Zhou, its power was like a one-man artillery position!

Moreover, it wasn't just that. The violent electric current melted the accumulated snow of Mount Tai Bai for many years, turning it into a sky full of water mist, and this water mist was permeated with lightning, turning into thunderclouds—the State Preceptor turned his magic seal, simultaneously using the Black Tortoise water control secret technique and the Qilin lightning technique of the Heavenly Extremes Four Symbols Sect, causing this thundercloud mist to transform into a dragon shape, directly pressing down on Su Zhou!

Boom boom boom! This water mist thunder dragon mixed with two-hundred-degree high-heat steam, enough to scald human flesh like foam, as well as electric current sufficient to electrocute giant elephants, and the impact force of the thunder dragon itself was like a siege crossbow, easily smashing away the ice, snow, and rocks along the way!

This was undoubtedly different from all martial arts, it was true high-level composite Daoist magic! Su Zhou was momentarily helpless and could only run away.

"They never told me the gap between Daoists and martial artists was so big!" he complained in his mind.

"This isn't an ordinary Daoist, this is one of the leaders of the Daoist sect in this world who has been practicing for one or two hundred years." Yala said unhurriedly, spouting trash talk, which could be regarded as relieving Su Zhou's tension.

But just as Su Zhou was dodging the pursuit of the water mist thunder dragon, he suddenly felt locked onto by another dangerous attack. He suddenly bent down, and then his body flashed to the side—and in the next instant, a projectile traveling at supersonic speed struck the position where he had been, setting off a sky full of ice and frost!

It was one of the five spiritual pearls on the State Preceptor's magic sword!

The inscriptions on the magic sword itself had been half-destroyed by Su Zhou's bite, greatly reducing its effectiveness, so the State Preceptor simply controlled the five thunder spiritual pearls on it to attack, bombarding Su Zhou like small cannons, and attacking together with the water mist thunder dragon from two sides!

"No, there's the water mist thunder dragon chasing from behind, and thunder pearl sneak attacks. This is too difficult!"

Although Su Zhou believed that he had high resistance, heat resistance, and electricity resistance, and he also had 'Water Assistance', he might be able to forcefully break through the water mist thunder dragon's attack, but he also knew very well that Water Assistance was aimed at ordinary flowing water, and whether this kind of manipulated water vapor would help him was another matter—and at this moment, Su Zhou just happened to see the long spear that he had been thrown away by the State Preceptor before. He thought for a moment, and then picked it up again.

——If the other party could also control a third Daoist technique to attract this spiritual iron long spear, then he would abandon it. If not…

After dodging a few more thunder pearl bombardments, Su Zhou confirmed that the other party could not control three high-power Daoist techniques at the same time, and he immediately made up his mind: "Okay, if two high-power Daoist techniques are the limit, then it's not impossible to counterattack."

At this moment, it could be seen that as the State Preceptor controlled the water mist thunder dragon, using high-heat thundercloud steam to chase Su Zhou, the surrounding Tai Bai Mountain ice field had almost completely melted, and the hot air currents and electromagnetic microwave-heated hot water had even soaked the frozen soil into a moist swamp like a swollen pancake, and the land on the entire flat ground began to expand.

After noticing this, Su Zhou, who was running away, suddenly had a bright look in his eyes and thought of a way to break the situation!

The battle was in a stalemate, how should he break through?

Of course, it was to forcefully break through!

The muscles in the arm holding the spiritual iron long spear bulged, Su Zhou took a deep breath, his eyes fierce—in the next moment, he stopped, ignoring the water mist thunder dragon that was pouncing over, and directly threw the spear with great force towards the State Preceptor!

Seeing this, even the State Preceptor had to temporarily stop controlling the spiritual pearls to use his magnetic field to deflect the position of the thrown spear, but at this instant when the State Preceptor was distracted and unable to interfere, Su Zhou had already unhesitatingly plunged into the soft, swollen swamp mud!

For superhumans, compared to ordinary people, the most important thing is that they have many different choices.

For humans, swamps are dangerous places. Falling into the wet mud makes it impossible to move and can only be swallowed… but for Su Zhou, who has the strength of a dragon and snake and the spiritual power of a Heavenly Human Cycle, many of the world's 'desperate places' are just slightly out-of-the-way thoroughfares for him.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—at this moment, Su Zhou was not 'digging a hole', but 'swimming' in the mud! And when the electric current of the water mist thunder dragon was distributed throughout the swamp, it could no longer have any impact on his actions!

——Swimming, theoretically speaking, is the most physically demanding sport that ordinary people can come into contact with in daily life.

Swimming in water consumes several times more stamina than jogging. The water itself, with resistance far greater than air, can crazily deform every move of a human in it, and even the action of standing upright requires great effort.

But, if it wasn't water, but mud?

Then how many times more effort would it take for a person swimming in it to move freely than in the air?

Su Zhou wasn't clear about this—he was too lazy to calculate such a small matter.

Because no matter how many times more, for him, a 'superhuman' with 'Water Assistance', spiritual energy, a perfect body, the strength of a dragon and snake, and the ability to easily crush rocks into powder, it was all just as easy!

Boom!

Along with the rapid uplift of the land, a very obvious mud bulge was rapidly approaching the State Preceptor above the ground, and the State Preceptor's expression also changed suddenly. He stretched out his hand, wanting to heat the swamp with lightning, evaporate the water vapor, and trap Su Zhou underground—but it was too late! Su Zhou's speed was too fast. He was like a fish rapidly swimming in the mud, approaching very quickly, and then bursting out from the ground with a body covered in mud like a volcanic eruption!

"Eat my fist!"

"A petty trick!"

And the State Preceptor also unhesitatingly raised the magic sword, which was now just an ordinary steel sword, and slashed down with lightning directly towards Su Zhou's fist—but at this instant, Su Zhou's whole body erupted with true energy. He simulated the extremely Yang spiritual power eruption of a volcano, instantly evaporating the moisture on his body, and then activated the Storm Armor!

Immediately afterwards, the expanding water vapor mixed with the howling wind slightly offset the State Preceptor's sword—just barely avoiding the fist, and Su Zhou grinned, using his mud-covered fist to strike towards the State Preceptor's face!

Bang! Crack!

The thunder sword struck Su Zhou's shoulder. Even though it only touched a little and didn't have much force, the high-heat electric current still penetrated the mud and transmitted to Su Zhou's left shoulder. The violent thunder instantly scorched the outer flesh of half of his body, paralyzing his entire body in place, unable to move.

But the State Preceptor was also hit in the head by Su Zhou's rising dragon fist, and his whole person shot into the sky like a rocket, flying dozens of meters away, and the magic sword and spiritual pearls in his hand were scattered on the ground.

Bang bang! Two sounds rang out almost simultaneously, one was Su Zhou kneeling on one knee, stiff on the ground, and the other was the State Preceptor falling from the sky, crashing into the snow!

"Ah…"

Spitting out a puff of green smoke, his whole body emitting steam like a roasted pig, Su Zhou felt that the saliva on his tongue had been evaporated by the high heat… The fat on his face and the nutrients stored in his body were being rapidly extracted to repair his flesh as quickly as possible, but he still lacked moisture!

Without any hesitation, Su Zhou directly bent down and swallowed the muddy swamp water in large gulps! He directly sucked the snow water out of the mud, then spat out the dirt, replenishing the moisture in his body that had been evaporated by the high-heat electric current at the fastest speed!

Demeanor? Face? What use is that stuff, there's not so much attention to detail in battle! But even so, it would still take time to heal the scorched body!

And in the distance, the State Preceptor struggled several times before slowly getting up from the ground—he also had super-speed regeneration ability, but how could brain shock and nerve confusion from being punched in the head be cured by simply repairing the body's structure? The current State Preceptor couldn't even tell whether what was in front of him was snow or the sky, and whether the direction was up or down was all a mess, making it difficult to walk.

"No, I must delay time!"

The same thought flashed through both of their minds, and just as Su Zhou was about to open his mouth to say some trash talk like, 'The wind is noisy today', the State Preceptor suddenly said something abrupt: "To be honest, that Emperor guy is really too eager for quick success."

Even Su Zhou, who never listened to the enemy's nonsense, was slightly moved by these words—could it be that there was a gap between the State Preceptor and the Emperor? That's right, two tigers cannot share a mountain, and this State Preceptor isn't female, so why would the Emperor want to sit on equal footing with him and share immortality? They must have each other's weaknesses… Maybe there's something to exploit?

Even though he knew that the other party was delaying time, but he also needed to delay time, Su Zhou was also happy to reply, using a half-cooked, hoarse voice: "What's so eager for quick success?"

As he said this, he slowly gathered strength in his body, and the Heavenly Human Cycle was activated at high speed, condensing spiritual power.

"Of course, it's hunting the masses and using their flesh and blood to feed himself. If it were me, I wouldn't be so eager for quick success and do it so blatantly."

And the State Preceptor smiled slyly, that youth-like face revealing a vicissitude that didn't match his age: "If it were me, I would spend hundreds of years slowly transforming this country, slowly getting everyone to give up cremation and burial, and making it the highest honor to sacrifice themselves to the Divine Tree before death—if necessary, I would even split this country into a dozen small countries that revered the Divine Tree, letting them fight and kill each other, but keeping it at a certain intensity."

"This way, collecting flesh and souls to feed a small group of people in the Divine Tree Heavenly Palace would not only be more than enough but also extremely stable… Unfortunately, the Emperor is unwilling."

As Su Zhou pondered for a while and then looked horrified, the State Preceptor's injuries on his face gradually healed, and he said leisurely: "He said that if he did that, he wouldn't be the Emperor, and it would be too slow. Whether for him or the Divine Tree, it would be too slow—this is a plan that is calculated in centuries, and he wants to achieve Innate as soon as possible and receive the Divine Tree's grace to transform into a dragon."

"In fact, if you become Innate as a human, it wouldn't be very difficult. Even before the recovery of heaven and earth's essence, it could probably be done in about thirty years. But, he wants to achieve Innate as a Divine Tree Dragon… That's not the same."

As he said this, he looked at Su Zhou, this dragon seed dragon seed in his eyes, with a rather subtle expression: "A human's Innate is already the first level of transcendence, but for the Divine Tree Panlong, it's just leaving its infancy. After maturity, becoming a Heavenly Astral Martial God level, those mythical demon gods are also easy… Right, young dragon?"

Being regarded as a young dragon, Su Zhou was too lazy to refute, nor did he need to refute these words. He was just thinking about what the State Preceptor had said before, feeling extreme chill in his heart: "Splitting the country, transforming the culture, using war to disguise blood sacrifice… What a perfect plan?"

But, why not use it?

Thinking this way, Su Zhou also asked this way. He accumulated spiritual power and used his newly regenerated vocal cords to vibrate and make a sound: "Then why didn't you advise him? You clearly know the most correct method of offering. Although it's not right to say this, if that were the case, even if the people of the world resisted, they would never be like this—after implanting the Divine Tree bloodline, what would be wrong with waiting a few hundred years?"

"You clearly have the position to advise him, don't you?"

"Young man, alas, a young dragon born to enjoy longevity."

The State Preceptor, who looked like a young man, shook his head. He chuckled: "Do you know how old I was before I took the Dragon Transformation Pill and rejuvenated?"

Immediately afterwards, the State Preceptor asked and answered himself: "One hundred and twenty-seven years old."

"Back then, how could I have had the time to engage in a millennial-long offering system? I should just survive first—live one day at a time, earn one moment at a time. It's hateful that the essence of heaven and earth has only slowly recovered in the last ten years or so. This old Daoist dragged out his last breath for more than a hundred years, and I have not been able to wait for an environment where I could advance to Innate. I was almost too old to even circulate the Great Heavenly Cycle."

"Alas, why didn't the essence of heaven and earth recover sooner? If it had recovered when I could still circulate Qi, I wouldn't have had to assist this Emperor who is so eager for quick success. I would have long since cleared my mind and ascended to immortality, not caring about the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of the human world!"

As he said this, he slowly stood up, which immediately startled Su Zhou. His internal organs had not fully recovered from their injuries, but he didn't expect the State Preceptor to have already finished regenerating?

No, looking at his staggering appearance, his injuries should be recovering more slowly than his!

But the State Preceptor didn't care about his body at all. He raised his hand and recalled the magic sword and spiritual pearls with lightning power, sighing softly: "My life has limits, but the Dao has no limits. Using a limited life to pursue an unlimited Dao is dangerous. Only by using an unlimited life to follow an unlimited Dao can one become an Immortal."

"I'm not saying so much to shirk responsibility. What's wrong with admitting to killing a million people? It's nothing more than being entangled in karma and having someone like you come to crusade against me—I'm just telling you, young man,"

"This old Daoist is willing to pay any price to go further."

Boom! Dragging his injured body, the State Preceptor laughed loudly and once again condensed lightning, and then his whole person turned into a wisp of green smoke, directly pouncing towards Su Zhou—and Su Zhou had no choice but to grit his teeth and stand up again, preparing to continue fighting with the State Preceptor!

But, in the next instant, the rapidly flashing figure did not care about Su Zhou who was waiting in full battle array. It directly flashed past, and then, carrying streaks of electric arcs, rushed towards the defense line and the volcano!

And it was not until this moment, when he turned his head in shock and looked at the resolute back of the State Preceptor, that Su Zhou realized the other party's purpose!

That guy had already given up on killing him——

He was going to complete the fundamental purpose of his coming here… to destroy the divine weapon that could extinguish immortality!