165: Help

After hiding within Penglai Immortal Island and activating the Island-Protecting Formation, East Duke believed that all was well.

However, he simply could not understand it.

Why was Taiyi able to fight him for so long by his own power, even when East Duke had the combined might of ten thousand immortals bolstered within himself?

Why was his Ten Thousand Immortals Great Formation unable to offer even a shred of resistance before being shattered by the charge of the Ancestral Witches?

What he understood even less was why he had provoked them in the first place.

And he had provoked both of them at once.

Only now did he feel as if he were waking from a dream.

Sitting alone in the depths of the Penglai Immortal Palace, the once-magnificent halls now felt exceptionally desolate.

Outside the palace, the once-bustling Mount Penglais Seventy-Two Peaks were now silent and lonely.

The Immortal Lords who had followed him had either died or fled, with only a few remaining who were doing their best to maintain the stability of the Formation.

Although the Island-Protecting Formation had been activated, allowing the Immortal Court a temporary moment to breathe,

The past grandeur of ten thousand immortals coming to pay homage now felt like a lifetime ago.

He recalled his humility when first meeting the Dao Ancestor, his ambition when first taking charge of the Immortal Court, and especially the despairing looks of the Immortal Lords he had forcibly conscripted.

The moment the Myriad Immortals Formation collapsed, he clearly saw the expressions of relief on countless Immortal Lords, as if they were escaping not a battlefield, but a cage.

Images from the battlefield flashed continuously in his mind: Taiyi's disdainful sneer when facing the Myriad Immortals Formation, and the Ancestral Witches' overwhelming power when breaking the array...

Vague sounds drifted from outside the Island-Protecting Formation; it was the Wu Clan mocking him, the once-arrogant Immortal Emperor of the Immortal Court, who could now only cower here.

East Duke suddenly remembered the warning once given by the West Queen Mother.

"What does not belong to you will never be yours; if you force it, I fear there will be no good end."

And his current end happened to match that very sentence.

But regardless, he was still the head of male immortals personally appointed by the Saint.

Seeing him in such distress, it was impossible for the Saint to stand by and watch him die.

Even if the Saint only acted casually to help him through this crisis, in the future he would surely...

Yes, the only plan now was to seek help from the Saint.

With this thought, East Duke tidied himself up slightly to make himself look more pious.

He then went to the Ascension Platform and began to send a plea for help to the Saint Hongjun.

East Duke knelt prostrate on the Ascension Platform, his voice trembling as he prayed.

"Your Disciple East Duke kowtows and begs the Dao Ancestor for mercy!"

"The Immortal Court now Faces a catastrophe and the immortals have scattered, all because your Disciple was arrogant and failed to recognize the mandate of heaven."

"I implore the Dao Ancestor to remember our past bond and save your Disciple from this peril..."

His prayer transformed into strands of golden light that shot straight into the sky.

In the Zixiao Palace, the Dao Ancestor Hongjun slightly opened his eyes, his gaze piercing through the endless Void Realm to land on that pathetic figure on Penglai Immortal Island.

"Foolish child," Hongjun sighed softly, lightly sweeping his whisk.

A beam of clear light fell from beyond the heavens, condensing into ten large dao patterns characters before East Duke: "Unless the great trend changes, I will not intervene; unless a Great Calamity occurs, I will not emerge."

Seeing this, East Duke felt as if he had been struck by lightning, staring blankly at these ten characters.

Each character was as heavy as a thousand tons, pressing down on him until he could not breathe.

He kowtowed frantically, "Dao Ancestor, please see clearly! Your Disciple knows his mistakes! As long as I survive this tribulation, I will surely turn over a new leaf..."

However, no matter how he pleaded, there was no further response from beyond the heavens.

The ten dao characters gradually dissipated, turning into specks of golden light that merged into the Island-Protecting Formation, strengthening the Formation slightly.

This was the Dao Ancestor's final mercy, but it was also a clear rejection.

East Duke slumped to the ground, finally understanding that he had been completely abandoned.

The Dao Ancestor's ten-character response was both a judgment of him personally and an attitude toward this conflict.

"Unless the great trend changes" meant that the rise and fall of the Immortal Court was not within the considerations of the Heavenly Dao.

"Unless a Great Calamity occurs" further indicated that this struggle was simply not worth the Saint's intervention.

The booming of the chaos bell echoed from afar; it was Taiyi testing the Island-Protecting Formation.

East Duke suddenly burst into laughter, a laughter filled with desolation.

Outside the Island-Protecting Formation, the sound of the Wu Clan's war drums drew closer and closer.

The Wu Clan had already been attacking the Penglai Immortal Court's Island-Protecting Formation for a long time.

The cheers of the Wu Clan and the battle cries of the Ancestral Witches grew even more piercing alongside the repeated groans of the Island-Protecting Formation.

Even by relying on the ley lines of Penglai Immortal Island, the remaining immortals of the Immortal Court could not stop the Formation from collapsing.

As for escaping, there was no path left to take.

Shortly after East Duke's prayer ended, figures abruptly appeared in the sky.

Gradually, dark shadows filled the sky, sweeping in like a tide.

Dijun appeared, followed by the Ten Great Demon Saints, and the Zhou Tian Star Array unfolded accordingly.

The starlight from the sky gathered above Penglai Immortal Island, reflecting East Duke's Face and making it look even more pale and powerless.

Dijun had been waiting for an opportunity from the very beginning.

Naturally, it was not because he had any dread of the Immortal Court's power.

What he was waiting for was the Dao Ancestor's actual attitude toward the Immortal Court and East Duke.

Although the Dao Ancestor had said beforehand that he would not appear unless the great trend changed,

East Duke was, after all, personally appointed by him; no one could guarantee whether the Dao Ancestor would step in when Dijun took final measures against the Immortal Court.

If he did step in, then Dijun would give the Dao Ancestor Face and drop the matter for now.

The Heavenly Court would continue to develop, and they could eventually grind down East Duke and the Immortal Court through attrition.

By then, an East Duke abandoned by everyone would naturally be nothing to fear.

But everything had become clear after East Duke's prayer.

It was very obvious that the Saint did not want to get involved in the mess that East Duke had provoked at all.

Thus, there were no more misgivings.

"Destroy the Immortal Court and slay East Duke; we shall take full credit for this battle."

Dijun stood among the myriad demons, holding the he tu luo book in his hand and invoking the power of the Zhou Tian Star Dou.

The stars shone with immense brilliance as the Formation fully revealed its power.

"Zhou Tian Star Array, rise!"

In the sky, the three hundred and sixty-five main stars simultaneously burst with light, casting down pillars of brilliant light ten thousand feet in diameter.

In the Void Realm, they wove together into a massive web of Star Power that blotted out the sun.

The he tu luo book in Dijun's hand turned into a stream of light and flew into the formation eye; the entire Formation instantly came to life, with starlight cascading down like a waterfall, completely enveloping Penglai Immortal Island.

Wherever the Star Power reached, the Island-Protecting Formation on the outskirts of Penglai melted away like thin ice.

The immortal palaces and jade halls on the Seventy-two Peaks disintegrated within the starlight; those meticulously arranged defensive Restrictions could not even hold out for a single breath.

The Pure Yang Palace on the main peak was the first to collapse; the Nine Dragon Restriction personally placed within the hall by East Duke let out a mournful cracking sound under the washing of the Zhou Tian Star Power.

East Duke stood on the Ascension Platform, gazing up at this apocalyptic scene.

The Dragon Head Staff in his hand had long since snapped, and the Myriad Immortals Formation Map turned to ash within the starlight.

Those final few Immortal Lords who had sworn to follow him to the death were now all collapsed on the ground, pinned down by the Star Power until they could not move.

Dijun looked down upon everything from on high; every flicker of the Zhou Tian Star Array brought the descent of world-destroying starlight.

The starlight not only destroyed the physical form of Penglai but was also erasing East Duke's Luck.