Chapter 27: Nine Divine Generals

"How can you say they are dead?" Old Man Yuan, holding a whisk, said with a smile. "They are all still alive, each living quite well. Gonggong, isn't that so?"

"Yes, master." Gonggong replied in a low, respectful tone.

Upon hearing the title 'master', both the Nuwa camp and the Wujian Gate stirred with commotion. Ji Ning, the Three Pure Ones, and the others had pain and boundless killing intent in their eyes. They all wished they could kill Old Man Yuan. None of them were fools; each guessed that behind all this was Old Man Yuan.

"Was it you, Old Man Yuan, who made them betray us?" the Lord of All Demons said in a deep voice.

"They are my children. How can you speak of betrayal?" Old Man Yuan said with a smile.

Whether it was Ji Ning, the Three Pure Ones, and the others from the Nuwa camp, or the Lord of All Demons, Huanmu, and the others from the Wujian Gate, all were filled with towering rage. Yet despite their fury, they managed to remain calm, for they knew well... at such a critical moment, they had to be even more cautious. Old Man Yuan, with such great ambition and having controlled so many mighty figures, once he made his move... would be even more terrifying than the Heart Demon Lord!

"Did you control them?" Ji Ning suddenly spoke.

Soul control was something that terrified any cultivator.

Once controlled... one would no longer be autonomous, obeying the master absolutely from the depths of the heart. Even if the master wanted him to die, he would smile willingly and commit suicide. Such was the horror of soul control! Once controlled, though seemingly alive, one had long lost autonomy, as good as dead.

In the endless Chaos, some top-tier mighty figures knew some soul control techniques, but they were generally used on the weak.

That Old Man Yuan could control Fuxi, Gonggong, and the others meant he was likely extremely skilled in 'heartforce' and was a very terrifying heartforce cultivator.

...

"He is definitely a heartforce cultivator." Watching from afar, the somewhat stunned Cixiu Great Demon God and Blade Zun were both shocked. Blade Zun even said quickly, "To silently control so many mighty figures without any flaw before, this Old Man Yuan... is definitely a very terrifying heartforce cultivator, even more terrifying than Houyi."

"This native Chaosworld produced a Houyi, and now another heartforce cultivator? Isn't it said that heartforce cultivators are very rare and mysterious, with few inheritances?" Cixiu Great Demon God felt a chill.

No heartforce cultivator should be underestimated.

Heartforce... was ethereal and too bizarre.

Cultivation in Chaos was mainly divided into three major schools: divine-might cultivators, qi-refining cultivators, and the most mysterious heartforce cultivators! Divine-might cultivators... cultivated the divine body! Qi-refining cultivators... cultivated dharma power! While heartforce cultivators cultivated the ethereal heartforce.

...

"When you first approached the Wujian Gate, you specifically came to see me," Ji Ning said. "That sudden heartforce ambush—you were trying to control me, weren't you?"

"Yes."

Old Man Yuan smiled. "Your rise was too sudden, beyond my expectations. Plus, the calamity was approaching, and I had no time for gradual infiltration... so that time I acted against you was too crude and brutal. The chance of success was relatively low. When I dealt with Gonggong, Fuxi, and the others, I infiltrated slowly, spending a long time, and controlled them without their knowledge. I also tried to infiltrate the hearts of the Three Pure Ones and Tathagata... these natives naturally couldn't detect it, but the 'hearts' of the Three Pure Ones and Tathagata were too strong; I couldn't truly control them."

"What!" The Three Pure Ones and Tathagata were greatly shocked.

So Old Man Yuan had secretly made a move on them, but they had all resisted without even knowing.

This was too terrifying.

"Haha, you natives, how could you understand the true power of heartforce?" Old Man Yuan sneered, looking at Houyi in the distance, showing admiration. "For a native to produce a prodigy like you, Houyi, I admire that. Without any inheritance... you managed to figure out some uses of heartforce on your own. Though still immature compared to true heartforce cultivators, it's still impressive."

"Heartforce cultivator?" Tathagata's face changed. "You are a heartforce cultivator?"

They had seen fragments about 'heartforce cultivators' in materials left by Chaos aliens and understood how terrifying they were.

"Yes." Old Man Yuan nodded with a smile, continuing to look at Houyi in the distance. "Houyi, I've always wanted to control you, because your heart has an obvious flaw... that flaw is her..." Old Man Yuan waved his hand, and beside him appeared a woman of peerless beauty, who was looking at Old Man Yuan with adoration.

"Chang'e." Houyi's face changed drastically.

"Your flaw is obvious. Although your heartforce is strong, there was hope of controlling you. Unfortunately... after the ancient war of destruction, I never found you again, and had no chance to control you." Old Man Yuan shook his head. "So you were hiding with Bodhi. You hid deep."

"What did you do to Chang'e..." Houyi was enraged.

"Haha..." Old Man Yuan looked at Chang'e beside him.

Chang'e called out softly, "Master."

This scene made Houyi even more pained, but he quickly regained his composure. However, his eyes were like cold blades, chilling to the bone, as he stared at Old Man Yuan.

"Don't scare me. Your eyes can't kill me." Old Man Yuan shook his head. "If you were at your peak, I'd need some means to deal with you. But now? Hmph, killing the Heart Demon Lord—though I despise him as a native, he had the strength of a peak Ancestral God. Killing him cost you greatly. Even if I stood here and let you attack, you'd exhaust your divine power and still not kill me. Besides... I would never let you attack me. Your methods work on other mighty figures, but against me? Still too immature."

The Three Pure Ones said coldly, "From what you say, you already participated in the ancient war of destruction?"

"Yes."

Old Man Yuan said, "I came here in ancient times, when it was still the Pangu Chaosworld. I was severely injured and possessed Old Man Yuan. Back then, Old Man Yuan was average in strength and very reclusive. After possession, my strength gradually increased, and I began to control some mighty figures. Actually, I stayed here all along, first for the World Heart, and second to obtain Bodhi's 'Space-Time Technique'."

"You really think highly of me, old Taoist." Beside Ji Ning, a figure of an old man with white hair and a Daoist robe coalesced—it was Bodhi's incarnation. "So your risking your life to save me back then was also deliberately arranged."

"Haha... In this tiny Pangu Chaosworld, who could do anything to me? I arranged everything." Old Man Yuan shook his head. "The Space-Time Dao... how remarkable. Once one truly reaches a high level, one can easily travel through time and space, making it impossible for enemies to kill. This ability of yours is what I've always desired. I truly wanted to learn it from you, but unfortunately, you kept it secret and never passed it on."

"You don't have the talent." Bodhi shook his head.

"But the technique you comprehended, you never gave to me." Old Man Yuan was cold. In the outside world, the Space-Time Technique was extremely precious, far more valuable than many divine abilities.

Like Bodhi.

At Bodhi's level, he could come and go as he pleased. Unlike the Lord of All Demons, who combined 'wind' and 'space' to achieve incredible speed, Bodhi had transcended the category of speed. He was in the realm of time and space, able to travel to another time dimension, making it impossible for enemies to pursue.

This was a very terrifying ability, used for assassination and escape. It was heaven-defying, and this technique was even more valuable than the World Heart.

"But I have patience." Old Man Yuan smiled. "I'm never in a hurry. I only act at the end. In the ancient war of destruction, I was equally patient... Fortunately, I was patient. I watched the Lord of All Things, the Heart Demon Lord, Nuwa, and the others fight. Nuwa finally broke through against the heavens, sweeping everything, and I managed to escape that calamity."

"This time, you all stopped fighting, so I had to act." Old Man Yuan shook his head. "Unfortunately, I still haven't obtained Bodhi's Space-Time Technique. How disappointing."

Ji Ning breathed a sigh of relief.

His master had taught the Space-Time Technique to Hongxue, and it had never been leaked. Only Bodhi, Ji Ning, and Jidian knew.

Otherwise, Old Man Yuan would have made a move on Hongxue.

"The Space-Time Technique is so precious?" Within the Nuwa camp, Hongxue the True God was also startled. In the chaos earlier, he had lost a clone. Fortunately, he had eighteen clones. He had only thought the Space-Time Technique was an extremely powerful technique, not realizing how formidable it was. Now it seemed that the attraction of the 'World Heart', which drove countless Chaos aliens mad, might not even match that of the Space-Time Technique.

"Forget it. Can't force it. If I can't get it, I can't get it." Old Man Yuan turned to look at the distant dark golden fortress. "Cixiu, do you still remember that black lotus? If you do, help me this time, and I will surely reward you heavily."

Inside the distant dark golden fortress, Cixiu Great Demon God and Blade Zun's faces changed drastically.

Cixiu Great Demon God's face turned pale. At first, he thought Old Man Yuan was a native, but after hearing Old Man Yuan's words, he felt something was wrong. Now he finally understood.

"It's him." Cixiu Great Demon God was shocked. "It's the Heart Divine General, one of the nine divine generals under 'Black Lotus God-Emperor'. How could he appear in such a native world? Let's go, let's go quickly."

"Nine divine generals under Black Lotus God-Emperor?" Blade Zun also turned pale.

Those nine divine generals were all peerless existences among Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals, terrifying beyond measure. They, mere adventurers roaming outside, were nothing.

"Go."

Whoosh.

The dark golden fortress instantly turned into a streak of light and fled.

"Useless." Old Man Yuan watched the distant dark golden fortress flee as a streak of light, shaking his head. "These little fellows are slippery. They know when to run."