Chapter 861: Betrayal in the Waves

Boom! Boom! Boom!!!

Though the Fuhai Sect’s grand formation was active, sealing the void and enveloping the heavens, it made entry and exit difficult.

But the main formation plate was in Lu Changsheng’s hands.

And with no Nascent Soul True Lord or fourth-rank formation master to oversee it, how could it stop a top-tier Nascent Soul cultivator like the Star King?

Especially since the Star King had already set up various preparations earlier.

Now, he gathered the techniques meant for Lu Changsheng into beams of starlight, aiming to blast through the Fuhai Sect’s formation and escape.

“Star King, you!!!”

Zhenhai Patriarch saw this and his eyes nearly split with rage.

He never expected the Star King to choose retreat at such a critical moment.

Without the Star King’s help, relying on himself alone, turning the tide seemed impossible.

But the situation left no room for hesitation.

He burned his vital energy and led the arrayed spiritual soldiers in a charge toward Lu Changsheng, trying to seize the Demon Subjugation Talisman from him.

“Screech!!!”

Seeing the Star King flee, the Golden-Winged Roc spread its wings wide and let out a piercing cry, diving to intercept him.

“Star King? Is this one of Starrymoon Hall’s hall masters, the Star King?”

Lu Changsheng heard this and looked at the stern young man in his purple star-cloud robe, fluttering wildly as it merged with the starry phenomena overhead.

He was well aware of Starrymoon Hall, one of the top forces in the Starry Sea.

Years ago, when a fourth-rank diviner calculated the situation with the Abyssal Sea Dragon Whale, Lu Changsheng had guessed if the Zhenhai Seven Sects had enlisted Starrymoon Hall’s diviners.

But he never thought that Starrymoon Hall, which always maintained neutrality and avoided conflicts, would join Zhenhai Patriarch in attacking him!

“According to reports, Starrymoon Hall has always had two hall masters: the Star King and Yue Zun. Why do I only see the Star King and not Yue Zun?”

Lu Changsheng spread his Taiyi Spirit, detecting no fourth top-tier Nascent Soul cultivator.

Although he had already bound and restricted the Turtle Immortal Patriarch with the Demon Subjugation Talisman,

if there were three more top-tier Nascent Soul cultivators, things would get very tricky.

“Golden Roc, ignore him! Block that Demon King and Zhenhai Patriarch!”

Lu Changsheng had no intention of letting the Star King, who came to help Zhenhai Patriarch attack him, escape.

But his main priority was to fully subjugate the black-robed elder before him!

Then, through the black-robed elder, deal with Zhenhai Patriarch.

As for the Star King, he could handle that later.

Once he subjugated this top-tier shapeshifting Demon King, he could go straight to Starrymoon Hall for retribution!

The Golden-Winged Roc tore through the surrounding starlight at his words and turned to attack Zhenhai Patriarch’s fourth-rank Demon King.

It wasn’t a match for the Star King or Zhenhai Patriarch,

but handling a fourth-rank early-stage Demon King was no problem.

The Yin-Yang Dao Form hovered with the Yin-Yang Chart above its head, surging with mysterious Yin-Yang light as it unleashed the Yin-Yang Qi Great Capture to hold off Zhenhai Patriarch.

Lu Changsheng even tossed the Nine Calamity Sword to his Yin-Yang Dao Form and focused all his effort on activating the Demon Subjugation Talisman.

“Ah!!!”

The Turtle Immortal Patriarch used every trick he had to struggle against the talisman’s binding and restrictions.

But he couldn’t break free.

The runes from the Demon Subjugation Talisman had deeply imprinted on his flesh, bloodline, and soul, locking it down.

He couldn’t even lift a hand against Lu Changsheng now.

“Who are you? How can you have such a technique!”

The Turtle Immortal Patriarch had transformed into a massive dragon turtle, its head horned and covered in deep blue scales, roaring fiercely.

He couldn’t believe such a method existed in the world.

A single talisman was about to bind and enslave him.

“Buzz buzz buzz——”

Through the radiant Demon Subjugation Talisman in his hand, Lu Changsheng could clearly feel the Turtle Immortal Patriarch’s fierce struggles.

He was surprised, realizing the other’s bloodline was extraordinary and that it was just a step away from reaching fourth-rank late stage!

If it broke through to fourth-rank late stage, relying on its bloodline potential, he might not be able to enslave it at all.

“Since you’ve worked so hard to reach this level, don’t waste your energy. Surrender quietly and submit to me, or I’ll end you with a single thought!”

Lu Changsheng spoke with a stern face, his voice cold as he poured his divine sense and magical energy into the talisman to fully enslave the Turtle Immortal Patriarch.

Of course, he had no intention of killing it.

After all, this was a top-tier Demon King.

Just a bit short of fourth-rank late stage!

Subjugating such a top-tier Demon King would let him roam freely across the Southern Desolation, Northern Region, and the entire Starry Sea.

Even in the broader Southern Desolation cultivation world, this Demon King would be a dominant force, solving many of his troubles.

“This is impossible!”

As a pure-blooded True Spirit descendant and fourth-rank Demon King, the Turtle Immortal Patriarch refused to bow to Lu Changsheng.

It struggled desperately, its scales and shell covered in dense runes that swirled and surged, its massive body swelling like floating mountains, pushing against the heavens.

Its terrifying demon power was vaster than an ocean, like an endless sea of waves stirring black tides.

The entire Fuhai Sect’s earth veins trembled under its feet and immense power, with spiritual energy in chaos.

“This… this…”

“How can there be such a fearsome Demon King!”

The Fuhai Sect’s cultivators were already struggling against the Star King’s assault on the formation and his sudden betrayal; now, with the Turtle Immortal Patriarch’s rampage, they were lost.

His demon power swept over the entire sect, shaking the spiritual veins and reversing the energy flow, making many cultivators lose control of their blood and magical energy, spitting blood.

As the saying goes, when immortals fight, mortals suffer.

Even though the Fuhai Sect was full of cultivators,

Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators were as helpless as mortals before a top-tier Demon King like the Turtle Immortal Patriarch.

Only Core Formation cultivators could barely steady their blood and magical energy under such pressure.

“Boom!”

In this chaos, the Star King blasted open a section of the Fuhai Sect’s formation.

“Just who is this person? What’s his background?”

The Star King watched Lu Changsheng and the roaring dragon turtle, his heart filled with shock.

From their earlier meeting, he knew the Turtle Immortal Patriarch was likely a descendant of the sacred beast from the ancient Yuhai Mountain, with terrifying strength.

Even he wasn’t a match for the Turtle Immortal Patriarch.

Yet now, this fearsome being was suppressed by Lu Changsheng and couldn’t fight back.

The Star King’s pupils swirled with purple star clouds as he eyed the radiant talisman in Lu Changsheng’s hand, woven with countless runes and beast patterns.

He realized it was that talisman suppressing the Turtle Immortal Patriarch.

But what talisman could instantly control a top-tier shapeshifting Demon King!?

The Star King didn’t linger; he didn’t dare, fearing disaster if he stayed.

“Whoosh!”

The Star King turned into a beam of starlight, tearing through the Great Void and vanishing.

“Submit now!”

Lu Changsheng saw the dragon turtle’s demon power raging, nearly destroying his own Fuhai Sect, and shouted coldly.

He not only kept its demon core and soul locked but also triggered the restrictions deep in its bloodline through the talisman, inflicting unbearable pain.

This pain, rooted in the bloodline, was beyond human endurance.

A mix of acidity, itching, pain, and agony flooded in all at once.

Even a top-tier Demon King like the Turtle Immortal Patriarch couldn’t bear it; it roared to the sky, lost its will to fight, and its demon power began to dissipate.

“Fellow Daoist, stop! This was our Zhenhai Seven Sects’ mistake—we shouldn’t have plotted against you. I’ll make compensation! Please stop!”

Zhenhai Patriarch saw this and paled, shouting desperately.

Though he could suppress the Yin-Yang Dao Form by burning his essence and relying on the spiritual soldiers’ array,

with the Star King gone and his true body bound, his chances of turning things around were slim unless he quickly killed the Yin-Yang Dao Form and then Lu Changsheng.

Especially since he and the Turtle Immortal Patriarch were linked; feeling his true body’s demon core and soul being sealed, he knew it was only a matter of time.

“Hah”

Lu Changsheng looked at Zhenhai Patriarch desperately attacking the Yin-Yang Dao Form’s defenses and let out a mocking laugh.

Compensation?

If he couldn’t kill him, maybe, but now that he was about to subjugate the Turtle Immortal Patriarch, why negotiate?

He wouldn’t rest until Zhenhai Patriarch was dead!

Still, the bond between Zhenhai Patriarch and this dragon turtle was deep.

The Star King had fled at the first sign of trouble,

yet Zhenhai Patriarch showed no sign of running.

“What kind of compensation are you offering, fellow Daoist?”

Though Lu Changsheng had no intention of negotiating and just wanted to eliminate Zhenhai Patriarch,

the talisman needed a bit more time, so he played along to buy time.

“Ah!!!”

Zhenhai Patriarch saw his true body’s twisted face, veins bulging, and eyes wide in agony, feeling a share of the pain himself, and shivered.

Such methods were horrifying.

“Go! Escape quickly!”

Realizing Lu Changsheng had no plans to stop, Zhenhai Patriarch didn’t dare delay and prepared to flee, planning to rescue his true body later.

Otherwise, in moments, his true body would be fully bound and enslaved.

Then, he’d be as good as dead.

If he escaped now, there might still be a chance to save his true body later.

Lu Changsheng sensed Zhenhai Patriarch’s intent to retreat and struck with the Yin-Yang Dao Form, unleashing Yin-Yang Qi Great Capture to seal the void.

Then, a disk glowing with starlight appeared in his hand—it was the Starrealm Compass, the spirit treasure he refined in the Yin Ghost Sect.

This compass could form a starlight realm.

If a cultivator’s Nascent Soul escaped, it would instantly refract starlight, causing damage.

Even if the Nascent Soul broke through, the ‘starlight’ would cling like a mark.

To prevent Zhenhai Patriarch’s Nascent Soul from fleeing, Lu Changsheng activated it directly.

“Boom!”

Zhenhai Patriarch burned his blood essence and vital energy, bolstered by a thousand spiritual soldiers, his power immense.

His strike dimmed the descending Yin-Yang hand seal slightly.

This showed the gap between a spirit treasure and mere divine abilities.

Lu Changsheng could suppress early Nascent Soul cultivators with his damaged life treasure and unrefined abilities,

but against a mid-Nascent Soul like Zhenhai Patriarch, it fell short.

Luckily, this was Fuhai Sect!

With the Turtle Immortal Patriarch suppressed, Lu Changsheng multitasked: he summoned the sect’s main formation plate and poured all his energy into it.

Earlier, other sect members had contested control, disrupting the formation,

but after the Star King and Turtle Immortal Patriarch’s rampage, most were dead or injured, and the remaining Core Formation cultivators dared not fight him for it.

“Buzz!!!”

Lu Changsheng juggled three tasks: fighting Zhenhai Patriarch with his Yin-Yang Dao Form, suppressing the Turtle Immortal Patriarch with the talisman, and running the sect’s formation.

Yet Zhenhai Patriarch was desperate to escape, burning his own essence and the spiritual soldiers’ life force, his aura soaring.

He sacrificed a token, bypassing part of the formation’s power and breaking the seal of Yin-Yang Qi Great Capture.

As the true ancestor of the Zhenhai Seven Sects, he knew the formation inside out and had countermeasures.

That’s why he dared act here even after handing over the main plate.

Not far away, the fourth-rank Demon King battling the Golden-Winged Roc saw Zhenhai Patriarch breaking free and abandoned the fight, trying to escape with him.

Though not as strong as the Golden-Winged Roc, as a fourth-rank Demon King, it couldn’t be defeated quickly.

“Screech!!!”

The Golden-Winged Roc screeched fiercely, viewing it as prey and unwilling to let it go.

Lu Changsheng’s expression turned serious; he knew stopping Zhenhai Patriarch with the Starrealm Compass alone would be tough.

He summoned the Nine Abyss Black Tortoise Armor, manifesting a three-headed, six-armed Dharma Form, and charged straight at Zhenhai Patriarch to block him.

Mid-charge, a snow-white pellet flew from his crown, turning into a figure that caught a storage pouch from him.

The Three Treasure Incarnation was limited to Core Formation level and couldn’t join this fight,

but it could support from the sidelines with talismans!

“Dammit!”

Zhenhai Patriarch glared at Lu Changsheng, radiating power like a god or demon, his face twisted in rage, resenting the Star King deeply.

If the Star King hadn’t fled, they might have had a fifty percent chance to save his true body and escape for another opportunity.

But the Star King bolted at the first hint of trouble!

Zhenhai Patriarch felt utterly frustrated, never imagining the Star King would be so unreliable!

“Boom boom boom!!!”

Zhenhai Patriarch smashed through Lu Changsheng’s layers of attacks, avoiding entanglement and focusing on escape.

Yet, facing Lu Changsheng’s array of techniques, even with burning essence and a thousand spiritual soldiers, he couldn’t break free quickly.

“Explode!!!”

Feeling his true body’s soul about to be fully sealed, Zhenhai Patriarch grew anxious and detonated his spiritual soldiers in a suicidal rush at Lu Changsheng.

Spiritual soldiers were hard to cultivate, costing resources and wealth; no cultivator would normally sacrifice them like this.

But Zhenhai Patriarch had no choice now.

“Dragon Turtle, your life is in my hands—submit now!”

“If you keep struggling and let him escape, I’ll make you wish for death but never find it!”

Lu Changsheng still needed to focus on the talisman; if Zhenhai Patriarch broke the seal, even with the Starrealm Compass’s mark, tracking him with the Misty Dust Banner would be hard.

So, he shouted at the agonizing, roaring dragon turtle, his voice laced with cold killing intent, hoping it would see reason.

“I will submit…”

The Turtle Immortal Patriarch, wracked with pain, roared hoarsely and chose to stop struggling.

It had worked so hard to reach this level and dreamed of peaking at fourth-rank, leading the Zhenhai Seven Sects back to the Eastern Sea Cultivation Realm to check on Yuhai Mountain and find other inheritances.

It didn’t want to die here.

As Lu Changsheng said, once its soul was fully imprinted, even death would be impossible.

Its life would be completely in his control, so further resistance was pointless.

Better to survive and find a way out later.

Then, the Turtle Immortal Patriarch shouted to the desperately escaping Zhenhai Patriarch: “Zhenhai, stop!”

Though Zhenhai Patriarch’s clone had its own mind, they were still master and avatar, able to share thoughts when close.

That’s why the Turtle Immortal Patriarch’s earlier struggles bought time for Zhenhai Patriarch.

Hoping he could escape and rescue it, even if the chances were slim.

But facing Lu Changsheng’s deadly threat, it knew that if Zhenhai Patriarch escaped, its own fate would be worse than death.

So, it changed its mind, planning to use Zhenhai Patriarch as leverage to improve its own status.

After all, if he was the Eastern Emperor’s Heir, tasked with rebuilding the Sun-Moon Star Palace, he’d need capable subordinates.

The Zhenhai Seven Sects, though weakened, still had strength and foundations to serve as a base.

Even if not, taking over such territory would require someone to manage it—and that someone could be it.

Zhenhai Patriarch heard his true body’s words and, though unwilling, couldn’t disobey the command and stopped.

“Hmm!?”

Lu Changsheng was surprised.

He hadn’t expected Zhenhai Patriarch to fight so hard to save the dragon turtle, yet a single word from it made him halt.

Their bond was incredible…

But Lu Changsheng had no plans to spare Zhenhai Patriarch; his eyes flashed with killing intent, ready to finish him.

“Master, please stop! Zhenhai and I are one; we both wish to submit.”

The Turtle Immortal Patriarch quickly called to Lu Changsheng.

“One entity!?”

Lu Changsheng was shocked, eyeing Zhenhai Patriarch and the Turtle Immortal Patriarch in disbelief.

Though his One Qi Transforming Yin and Yang could create an identical avatar, one was a demon beast and the other a human cultivator—yet they were one? It was hard to believe.

But with the Demon Subjugation Talisman, he could sense if it lied.

“Buzz!”

As the Turtle Immortal Patriarch stopped struggling, within a few breaths, its bloodline, demon core, and soul were fully sealed and imprinted.

Lu Changsheng checked through the talisman and confirmed it wasn’t lying.

Full of curiosity, he asked: “How is this possible? One is a demon race, the other human—how are you one?”

He watched Zhenhai Patriarch warily, in case he tried to escape.

“Zhenhai is a clone I nurtured through my bloodline talent…”

With the talisman’s pain gone, the Turtle Immortal Patriarch could move its demon power again.

Its massive form shrank, shifting back to an elderly figure with a turtle shell, bowing respectfully to Lu Changsheng.

Now fully enslaved, a natural reverence toward Lu Changsheng welled up, quashing any resistance.