Abundant Martial Arts Virtue
Chapter 411 - 365 Path of the Human Emperor!

Chapter 411: Chapter 365 Path of the Human Emperor!

He threw a punch.

Numerous bronze arms swiftly appeared around Wu Xiaode, each entwined with dark flames.

He stood amidst these flames unscathed, but the moment the dragon’s flesh touched the dark flames on the bronze arms, it stripped away to nothing but pale white bones.

A punch was born.

Thousands of punches struck simultaneously!

Wu Xiaode flew forward, the bronze fists swirling around him striking the surrounding flesh like a storm.

In an instant, the entire dragon was reduced to a skeleton.

Wu Xiaode leaped out from the gaps in the skeleton and looked up at Liu Ling in the air.

"Killing you now doesn’t violate our agreement,"

Liu Ling said softly, stepping forward and placing her delicate hand on the forehead of the dragon—

Clatter, clatter, clatter!

In a series of intricate sounds, the entire dragon’s skeleton instantly scattered, falling toward the ground.

Wu Xiaode was slightly startled.

Was that a dragon killed just like that?

"I’ve taken the Dragon Soul as payment for this intervention. Also, I have something to tell you,"

the masked Liu Ling said.

A snakelike, long winding entity continuously twisted around her snow-white arm, looking just like a serpent.

"Looks more like a snake, not a dragon," Wu Xiaode blurted out.

"Dragon? Without Merit, you thought you could transform into a dragon?" Liu Ling gave a cold smile, nodded slightly at him, and her figure melted into the Netherworld, disappearing along with the whole world.

Wu Xiaode stood perplexed.

Wait a second!

Didn’t she say she had something to tell me?

The next moment, the Netherworld reappeared before Wu Xiaode.

Liu Ling emerged from it, looking somewhat embarrassed, "Sorry, I remembered I had something to tell you."

"You did say that," Wu Xiaode said.

"What was I going to tell you?"

"...I don’t know."

Perhaps seeing Wu Xiaode’s confusion, Liu Ling explained:

"Don’t blame me, I distribute Reincarnation Water to the dead every day so they can forget everything and reincarnate. Over time, some of the vapor keeps affecting me, so I sometimes forget things."

"It’s a work injury then," Wu Xiaode nodded in understanding.

Liu Ling continued:

"I remember now. Since you helped me obtain the Dragon Soul, I shall reveal something for you to know—"

"First, are you aware that you are in the Human Emperor’s Secret Realm?"

Wu Xiaode nodded.

"Good," Liu Ling continued, "The Human Emperor’s Secret Realm is the world where the Human Emperor attained his Tao. The entire world is his ’Tao.’"

"Tao? Like the Tao I have awakened?" Wu Xiaode asked.

"Exactly. Your Tao has just awakened, whereas the Human Emperor’s Tao had reached a considerable level of power."

"Is that what you wanted to tell me?" Little Wu asked.

"Not just that," Liu Ling said looking at him, her voice laden with significance,

"This is a fact you would inevitably discover as you explore this secret realm. The matter I wanted to address is something else."

"—The Human Emperor has actually perished in battle, but his Tao preserved itself and loyally carried out his will."

"Strive as best as you can in this secret realm; if you gain the recognition of the realm, you will inherit something left behind by him—"

"Don’t ask me what it is, for I do not know. Nevertheless, everyone who has awakened ’Tao’ is searching for that very thing in this secret realm."

Liu Ling finished speaking, nodded to Wu Xiaode, then faded away into the Netherworld once more.

The entire Netherworld disappeared.

The world was restored to silence.

Wu Xiaode thought for a while, shook his head, and felt that there was no need to worry about this matter.

At the moment, he could not think that far ahead.

The two angels had consumed so much of the End material that they would need a considerate amount of time to awaken.

—Continuously completing the tasks here, to ensure he could stay in the secret realm, was really what he should be considering.

Time.

He needed to strive for time!

Swish—

The Book of the Dead suddenly opened, revealing the page of the bone dog.

"Can I have those bones?"

it asked eagerly.

Wu Xiaode looked at the scattered dragon bones on the ground and nodded indifferently, "If you want them, take them."

"That’s wonderful!"

The bone dog was overjoyed, leaped out of the Book of the Dead, and immediately began collecting the dragon bones.

At that time, noisy sounds gradually came from all directions.

Wu Xiaode observed for a moment and then realized that the demons were all fleeing in panic.

—With the dragon dead, they figured their only fate if they stayed was death, so they started to retreat immediately.

"Rester, I leave it to you, kill as many as you can, try to kill them all,"

Wu Xiaode said.

"Yes, master," a voice resonated in the Void, followed by the sound of some massive creature departing.

Wu Xiaode landed on the ground.

Footsteps gradually approached, and it was Zhao Congnan, accompanied by Ma San and Sun Qian.

"Brother Wu, you killed the dragon!"

Zhao Congnan’s voice trembled.

"Yes, I hadn’t expected to, but it’s indeed subdued," Wu Xiaode said.

"That’s great! This city might still be saved!" Zhao Congnan said.

"Might be saved?" Wu Xiaode asked curiously.

"Several of the city’s wartime defense arrays were sabotaged by spies aligned with the demons—if the arrays were still operational, the demons wouldn’t even see this city!" Zhao Congnan explained.

"Can the wartime defense arrays be repaired?" Wu Xiaode asked.

"Of course, we have all the spare materials and equipment—I will take Ma San and Sun Qian to repair the arrays, but I’ll need your help to deal with the demons still in the city," Zhao Congnan stated, full of excitement.

"No problem, off you go," Wu Xiaode said.

The three nodded and immediately headed towards the City Lord Mansion.

"Astalot, protect them," Wu Xiaode whispered softly.

"Yes, master."

Another invisible massive entity quietly departed from behind Wu Xiaode.

The Human Emperor’s task required him to survive until dawn the next day.

With the city defense array about to be repaired, surviving until dawn seemed quite feasible.

With nothing else to do at the moment, Wu Xiaode sat down and silently contemplated his own transformations.

"Tao" had been integrated into his Death Skill.

—Now it was Sealing Hand.

So, how to advance it?

The Path of the Human Emperor directly transformed into a secret realm, clearly proving that "Tao" could be advanced.

The key is how to do it...

I should have asked Liu Ling just now.

Or should I activate "Seeing the Ultimate" and "Multiples" to collect the power of the dead, and then sacrifice it to the Death Skill "Sealing Hand"?

Hmm...

That’s a solution.

He was pondering in secret when suddenly, he saw a bone dog running towards him, and spitting something out at his feet.

Clatter!

A pile of bones spread out on the ground.

"I have collected all the bones of that dragon, and now I’m about to advance," said the bone dog.

"How do you advance?" Wu Xiaode asked with interest.

"Change bones, you know, our Bone Dragon clan achieves the Dragon Bone Body by constantly changing bones."

The bone dog opened the search bar and quickly typed:

"I am now a bone dog, having obtained the complete set of the dragon’s bones, what is the next step to change bones?"

It pressed the nonexistent enter key.

The search bar immediately transformed into lines of small text:

"First, please number each bone of a dragon; we will use each bone according to the number."

"The first one is its left forelimb claw bone, number: 1-001;"

"Special note, the dragon has a total of 2022 bones, each with its own number."

"The second piece is its left forearm bone, number: 1-002;"

"..."

This set of instructions, engraved in ice crystals, was quite detailed, as tall as a three-story building, and floated lonely in midair.

"It looks like a cumbersome and meticulous major project; your Bone Dragon clan is truly scientific," Wu Xiaode commented admiringly.

However, the bone dog, though faceless and fleshless, sighed and murmured:

"I hate building Lego... But to become stronger..."

It began to sort through the pile of bones following the instructions, numbering each bone.

Wu Xiaode wanted to help sort through them, but after glancing at the large and small piles of bones, he unhesitatingly gave up.

Suddenly.

His expression shifted as he looked in a certain direction.

A bronze giant, Astalot, strode out of the mist, bent down, and said in a buzzing voice:

"Master, lucky that you had me follow."

"What happened?" Wu Xiaode asked.

"Sun Qian ambushed Zhao Congnan; I caught him, pressed him to the ground, and await your decision," reported Astalot.

"... In that case, let the Enchanting Demon ask and find out exactly what happened."

"Yes."

Astalot dispersed in the air, transforming into numerous bronze hands that directly assembled before Wu Xiaode into the enchanting and captivating Enchanting Demon Goddess, Skadi.

"Master, shall I go then?" Skadi asked sweetly.

Wu Xiaode was somewhat dazed.

When a ferocious and brutal giant suddenly transforms into an Enchanting Demon—

You know, it’s actually a major challenge for a bystander’s emotional transition.

Wu Xiaode took a deep breath and waved, "Go, and report back quickly; I want to know the reasons."

"Yes."

The Enchanting Demon returned shortly and reported.

—It turns out Sun Qian was one of many spies sent by the demons!

If it weren’t for Zhao Congnan’s constant vigilance, he probably would have acted against the team long ago!

Wu Xiaode sighed.

"Zhao Congnan directly chopped off his head, Master," whispered the Enchanting Demon.

"Got it."

Wu Xiaode immediately planned to go take a look—

After all, the bone dog, while looking at that big pile of bones, kept looking back at him as if asking for help.

—You can have me fight, but I’m not good at building blocks either!

Wu Xiaode was about to step forward when he suddenly sensed vast and invisible fluctuations coming from the Void.

A translucent air wave swept across the city.

Along with it, lines of ice crystal words appeared on the Book of the Dead:

"War Array has been reactivated."

"The current city is under the protection of the Array; security level is beginning to increase."

"Attention!"

"You have completed this Human Emperor task: The Battle for the City."

Completed?

Wu Xiaode was taken aback.

Wasn’t the task supposed to be considered completed only if I survive until tomorrow morning?

Could it be—

That the key point of this task was actually the City Defense Array?

While he was thinking, he saw another massive creature approaching from the Void.

The King of Evil Ghosts, Rester.

"Reporting, Master, three hundred miles outside the city, a large number of high-level demons have appeared, including five dragons. There are also many more powerful demons than them; I didn’t dare to approach for a closer look, fearing to reveal my whereabouts, and I hurried back to report to you," it reported rapidly with its female head.

Wu Xiaode stood still and thought for a moment, his expression gradually becoming more serious.

That was close!

It turned out that the demon army was about to reach this city.

When the time came, those high-level demons, hearing about a human soldier skilled at hiding here, would only need to surround the entire city and use large-scale attacks to sweep the land, and he would not be able to escape.

Luckily, he had killed the dragon!

That allowed Zhao Congnan a chance to restart the Array.

And luckily, Astalot had accompanied him and killed the spy, Sun Qian.

Otherwise, the Array would still not be activated.

Which meant—

It was because he had saved Zhao Congnan, awakened the Tao Power, killed the dragon, identified the spy, and protected Zhao Congnan at the critical moment for repairing the Array that the Human Emperor task deemed him fit to survive.

—Otherwise, he would definitely be dead!

A breeze blew.

Wu Xiaode felt a chill run down his spine.

He had never imagined that a seemingly simple task could be so perilous!

He was silently thinking when yet another line of ice crystal text emerged on the Book of the Dead:

"Congratulations."

"You performed extremely well in your second task, and you will soon enter the next screening phase."

"The third Human Emperor task has been issued:"

"The Secret of the Border City."