My brother is so cunning

Chapter 1176 The Foundation of the Jie Sect After the Investiture of the Gods
Just as they flew out of the Kunlun Mountains by a hundred miles, a sudden change occurred.

The once clear sky suddenly became covered with dark clouds, a gale howled, and large raindrops mixed with hail pelted down, striking the protective aura of the Chan Sect disciples with a crackling sound.

Even more strangely, the lightning in the sky only struck the direction of the Chan Sect's group. Countless purple lightning pillars, like long whips, lashed out at the long dragon of flowing light. Many disciples with lower cultivation levels were instantly struck, causing their protective immortal light to dim and causing them to cry out in alarm.

"What's going on? Why is this wind, rain, thunder, and lightning only targeting us?"

Huanglong Zhenren frowned and swung the Immortal Slaughtering Sword in an attempt to dispel the dark clouds, but as soon as the sword touched the clouds, it was repelled by an invisible force.

The Celestial Venerable of Primordial Beginning's face darkened. He made hand seals to deduce the truth, but could only calculate that "the rules of Heaven are abnormal" and could not find the mastermind behind it.

Little did he know that at this moment, in the Star Pavilion of the Divine Firmament Palace in the Heavenly Court, the Divine Mother Yuanjun was closing her eyes and concentrating, forming hand seals to mobilize the power of the stars in the heavens—the stars in the sky, though invisible to the naked eye, had formed an invisible "cage of star power," suppressing the flow of immortal energy of the Chan Sect's troops.

The Fire God, in his Fire Palace beside the South Heavenly Gate, manipulated the rules of fire in the world, causing the temperature around the disciples of the Chan Sect to rise suddenly. Many of them began to feel thirsty and their immortal power became sluggish.

Wen Zhong stood on the high platform of the Thunder God Temple, personally holding the Thunder God's Chisel, summoning thunder from the nine heavens, and specifically targeting the weak points of the Chan Sect's forces for attack.

"Oh no! My pouch is gone!"

Suddenly, a disciple of the Chan Sect exclaimed in surprise, frantically groping at his waist, "There were pills and several protective magic treasures that I had accumulated over the years inside, how could they suddenly be gone?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than several other disciples chimed in, "My storage bag is gone too!"

"I was just about to use my magic item to block the hail when my storage bag vanished into thin air!"

Yuanshi Tianzun felt a chill run down his spine—this was no accident!

He suddenly remembered Zhao Gongming, the God of Wealth of the Jie Sect, and instantly understood: it must have been Zhao Gongming who secretly exerted his influence, weakening the Chan Sect's fortune and causing the disciples' wealth to disappear into thin air! Without elixirs to replenish their immortal power and without magical treasures to aid their defense, this journey would only become more difficult.

"The Jie Sect is shameless! They abuse their power for personal gain, relying on the divine titles they received after their last defeat to use the rules of heaven and earth to harass us. Do they have any sense of celestial virtue?! Doesn't even the Jade Emperor care?"

What Yuanshi Tianzun didn't know was that the Jade Emperor didn't not want to get involved, but rather dared not.

Now the Chan and Jie sects have openly broken ties, their divine minds are fighting like dogs' brains, and both sides are probably bloodthirsty.

At such a sensitive time, if the Jade Emperor shows any favoritism towards either side, he will be seen as a potential threat by the other side and eliminated, and there will be no need for a lucky charm to be placed in the Lingxiao Palace in the future.

With a determined heart, Yuanshi Tianzun unleashed the Immortal Slaughtering Formation. Instantly, a chaotic and malevolent aura emanated from the formation, enveloping the disciples of the Chan Sect.

Activating the sword formation ahead of time would inevitably consume a huge amount of resources, but there's no time to think about that now.

Before the disciples of the Chan Sect could regain their footing, a dense array of black dots suddenly appeared in the distant sky—it was the swarm of drones belonging to the Creator Celestial Venerable!
Countless drones swarmed in like locusts, firing energy beams at the Chan Sect's troops. Although they couldn't break through the Golden Immortals' protective aura, they constantly harassed them, keeping them busy. Immediately afterward, the space fleet's main cannons began to bombard them, with massive energy cannonballs landing near the Chan Sect's troops. The shockwaves from the explosions caused many disciples to lose their footing.

The mech battle group also leaped from the ground, wielding energy blades, and charged towards the rear of the Chan Sect's forces, engaging in fierce combat with the disciples responsible for covering the rear. What troubled the Chan Sect members even more was that the nano clouds they had seen before reappeared, covering the entire sky and constantly releasing unknown energy fluctuations that interfered with immortal power—many disciples' magical artifacts began to malfunction, and even their hand seals became choppy.

"Damn it! These technological methods are so troublesome!"

Dao Xing Tianzun, wielding the Immortal Trapping Sword, slashed down several approaching mechs, but his expression grew increasingly grave: "If we continue to passively take hits like this, we'll likely lose most of our strength before we even reach Freedom City!"

As Yuanshi Tianzun looked at the enemies attacking from all directions and felt the suppression of the Chan Sect's forces by the rules of heaven and earth, a sense of anxiety arose in his heart for the first time.

He thought that with the Zhuxian Sword Formation, he would be able to proceed without any obstacles, but he did not expect that Wen Rui had already laid a net of heaven and earth, and even the heavens and nature seemed to be at odds with the Chan Sect.

"Hold your ground!"

The Primordial Celestial Venerable gave a stern order, raising the Immortal Slaughtering Formation Diagram and releasing a deep purple light screen that temporarily blocked the drone attacks and thunderous bombardment: "Guang Chengzi and Yu Ding Zhenren, each of you lead a team of disciples to clear out the mechs and drones in front; Huanglong Zhenren and Daoxing Tianzun, you guard the flanks of the formation and resist the suppression of the rules of heaven and earth; Taiyi and Qingxu, continue to protect the formation diagram, and absolutely do not allow it to be damaged!"

"Yes!" the disciples responded in unison and began to act according to the instructions.

Guang Chengzi wielded the Zhuxian Sword, its sword energy sweeping across the battlefield, instantly severing thousands of drones. Within the sword energy's coverage area, everything was broken down into atomic states and vanished completely. Yu Ding Zhenren led his disciples in a fierce battle against the mecha battle group. Huanglong Zhenren and Daoxing Tianzun released their immortal power, using the power of the array diagram to break through the suppression of star power and the rules of fire.

But this ambush seemed to have no end – as soon as one batch of drones was cleared out, a new one would take its place.

The thunder had barely ceased for a moment when even denser bolts of lightning struck again. The disciples' storage bags continued to disappear, and their immortal energy was being consumed at an ever-increasing rate. The Chan Sect army was like being mired in quagmire; every step forward came at a tremendous cost.

Yuanshi Tianzun looked at the scene before him, feeling both angry and anxious. He couldn't understand why the Chan Sect, which held the banner of "orthodox heavenly way," was hated by the whole world; why those "heretical" technologies and methods of the Jie Sect could force the Chan Sect into such a predicament.

Meanwhile, Wen Rui, far away in Free City, saw the disheveled state of the Chan Sect army through the monitoring of the nano-clouds, and a smile appeared on his lips.

He spoke into the communicator: "Tell Doumu Yuanjun and Wen Zhong that there is no need to rush things. Just keep harassing them and wearing down the strength of the Chan Sect."

After traveling another thousand miles, the disciples of the Chan Sect looked increasingly grim. Those whose immortal energy was being depleted too quickly began to gulp down the remaining pills, but as soon as they swallowed them, some noticed something was wrong—the spiritual energy of the pills could not be smoothly integrated into their bodies. Instead, it seemed to be blocked by an invisible force, and could only slowly travel through their meridians.

"How could this happen? Did my pills fail?"

A Golden Immortal anxiously circulated his immortal power, only to find that the flow of spiritual energy was 30% slower than usual: "What kind of weird trick is this? It can even interfere with elixirs?"

Yuanshi Tianzun's heart sank, and he once again made hand seals to deduce the situation. This time, he vaguely sensed a force similar to "fortune" but more inclined towards "vitality" at work.

He suddenly remembered Fairy Yunxiao of the Jie Sect—it was rumored that Yunxiao once controlled the reincarnation of all living beings with the Hunyuan Golden Cauldron and was extremely proficient in the rules of "life force circulation." It must have been her who secretly suppressed the release of the elixir's spiritual power!

(End of this chapter)