At the next instant, the Daoist Field crashed down.
The fish head exploded into pieces!
Divine Light and treasure light surged, sweeping the bloodied flesh from the sky completely clean.
Tao Qian escaped from the life-and-death predicament and, when he looked up again, he was also standing on Golden Radiance Island, right beside Master Duobao Daoist.
Surveying his surroundings, he immediately realized what his Master had done.
Not only had his true body come, but he had even brought the entire Golden Radiance Daoist Field to join the fight.
There was a change in his expression as an impromptu sense of guilt emerged.
"Master, this time, your disciple has led you into trouble..."
"Bang!"
Before he could finish, Master Tao was once again reprimanded by Duobao with a lesson.
Seeing Tao Qian's puzzled gaze, Duobao Daoist bluntly retorted, "What? The old ape can hit you, but your Master can't?"
Having said that, Duobao Daoist curled his lip and continued,
"Foolish child, stupid disciple, why speak of dragging others down or not."
"I am Duobao True Monarch of Golden Radiance Island, there is no one in this world who can kill my only Disciple before my death."
"I know you don't want to burden Spirit Treasure Ten Thousand Immortals, don't worry, I have stopped those people."
"They are nothing but a dozen old dogs hiding in the Outer Realm, sucking blood to barely stay alive. Just I, Duobao alone, is enough to deal with them."
No sooner had Duobao Daoist made such a bold claim than he and his Disciple were immediately surrounded again.
Even Sima Zhongda and Li Wanshou, who had previously had their sheep heads and fish mouths smashed, squeezed back from the Outer Realm again.
Their limbs regenerated, their organs endless.
For those in the "Daoist Transformation Realm," it was just a trifle.
And so, at this moment, this scene unfolded:
An endless tide of blood and flesh engulfed the "Ten Thousand Treasure Immortal Island."
Within the tide of blood, the Twelve Emperors revealed their terrifying organs and limbs, eyeing both Master and Disciple.
They taunted Duobao's predicament with remarks back and forth.
"Duobao True Monarch, what a grand claim you make. Even if your cultivation is only at the level of Ultimate Happiness, and even if you truly advanced into Daoist Transformation, at most you could only fend off two or three of us alone. Now, one against twelve, how will you cope?"
"The True Monarch is destined to be the next Spirit Treasure Sect Master, so belittling us might not be such a big deal, but after all, the True Monarch has not yet ascended to the position and is not our match for the time being."
"Ascend to the high position? Ha, you, Duobao, rashly interfered in the calamities of the Human Dao and have been tainted by the poison of fortune. Burdened with the debts of the human world, I'm afraid you won't be able to ascend to the divine position of the Spirit Treasure Sect Master."
"The divine power just now was used by your Daoist friend to completely extinguish your [Golden Radiance Star Aperture], and after one use, it's gone... not to mention saving this disciple of yours, it might be hard to even save yourself."
"Well then, both Master and disciple will perish together and be devoured by us. That would indeed make for quite a fantastic tale."
"Although consuming the two of you means we, the twelve of us, will have to hide under the protection of the Ancestor God's Forbidden Technique for the next hundred years for fear of being captured and executed by the second-generation ancestors of your Spirit Treasure Sect, it's still quite worthwhile to achieve such a feat."
"That's indeed the case!"
...
The Twelve Emperors laid into the Master and Disciple with a round of mockery.
However, strangely enough, not a single Emperor made a move.
Tao Qian watched the battle from the side, full of confusion.
Master Yuan noticed Tao Qian's thoughts and couldn't help but snicker, then with a mix of explanation and mockery, he said,
"You must be thinking, why don't this bunch of old dogs just fight or eat us if they're going to do so, why all this endless babbling, are they scared?"
"To say they're scared is no problem at all, these twelve old dogs are bold as brass when facing the weak, but cautious and cherishing of their own lives in front of stronger people."
"Unfortunately for them, Duobao's reputation is terrifying, who in the Cultivation World does not know that this Old Thief is not just good at Divine Powers but calculating and predicting are his real fear-inducing skills. His track record is quite glorious; it's not just about Daoist Transformations, he has also successfully schemed against ancient powers of the Tribulation Immortal Realm. Back in the day, the Primordial Sect... *cough cough*."
"In the whole Cultivation World, no one can compare to him. Even my junior sister Jiang Luan and that bald-headed fool Lian Huasheng from Dharma Cakra Temple are weaker than him."
"Moreover, after that just now strong show, these twelve old dogs are bound to be pondering whether Old Thief Duobao has set any traps, just waiting for them to step in and get wiped out in one fell swoop."
"All fools!"
"After all, they are in the Daoist Transformation Realm; why not just storm up collectively, no matter how cunning Duobao is, what can he do?"
Master Yuan had spoken to this extent. The Twelve Emperors of Alchemist should have taken action.
Unfortunately, it was obvious to everyone that this old monkey from the Secret Demon Sect and the pair of Master and disciple were in cahoots.
The more he said so, the more cautious the Twelve Emperors became.
Of course, it would only take a few breaths.
The Twelve Emperors were not devoid of wisdom; during the standoff, each had their own machinations. Once they figured it out, they were ready to swarm in earnest.
Fortunately, Duobao True Monarch had arrived, and he was not one for empty bluster.
He neither listened to the clamor of the Twelve Emperors nor did he bother with Old Ape's veiled sarcasm.
He simply summoned forth a Round Light Illusion Mirror and, in the end, took a look at his own Human Clan body.
After admiring himself briefly, he sighed,
"Indeed a dashing and valiant man, born to be Duobao True Dao Lord."
"Such a pity, such a pity, this life has been unlucky, unable to break through the tribulation, I must leave it for the next life."
Without shame, he spoke these two lines.
Duobao then turned his head and sincerely said to Tao Qian,
"Good disciple, with your perception and wisdom, you must have guessed that when your master snatched you from Yunhua to become his disciple, it was not out of a love of talent, but for another purpose."
"I, Duobao, am by nature lazy, I only ever care for two things, one is calculus of others, the other is collecting treasures, I have no leisure for teaching disciples."
"Yet you, child, are indeed interesting. Apart from that inexplicably awkward good-naturedness, and the thought of saving the world and its people, the rest is quite similar to your master."
"I had originally calculated that you would have a great fortune to shield me from tribulation."
"Now it seems, I had miscalculated."
"It is not you who will shield me from tribulation, but I shall spend this life's cultivation and Dao Heng, to smooth out this great tribulation for you."
"But that's of no great concern. After all, one can reincarnate and cultivate again. I'll wait for you to come and save me..."
As Duobao spoke to this point, everyone present had already guessed the True Monarch's intentions.
The Twelve Emperors also understood the whole story and saw through the truth from behind.
Feeling deceived, the twelve old dogs barked furiously, ready to gang up on him once again.
But alas, where was there still time?
Duobao struck and shattered the Round Light Illusion Mirror, and at the same time seemed to have lifted some sort of restriction.
He shouted lowly, addressing the vast and empty void,
"Disciple Duobao reports to the Sect Master!"
"The time to answer the tribulation has come, I am willing to abandon this body to maintain life fate."
No sooner had his voice faded,
Than Tao Qian, Yuan Gong, and the Twelve Emperors all saw an inconceivable Divine Talisman emerge above the Golden Radiance Arena.
Following Duobao's words, the talisman immediately released a billion Divine Lights, then detached itself and flew towards the Outer Realm.
Tao Qian was touched by the talismanic light and a Record instantly appeared in his mind:
[Name: Spirit Treasure Infinite All Heavens Life-saving Talisman]
[Record Type: Divine Treasure.]
[Record: This item is a supreme Divine Treasure, capable of suppressing all Mutated impurities of the All Heavens, able to save all sentient beings of the world. Duobao True Monarch was indeed the destiny-appointed next Sect Master of the Spirit Treasure Sect. However, his Cultivation of "Ten Thousand Treasure Secret" was too engrossing, leading to a misstep, he became a Fallen Demon and was unable to continue paying the price to maintain his human body; hence the Spirit Treasure Sect Master personally sought this Divine Talisman from Lingbao Tianzun to suppress the price of all treasures refined by Duobao True Monarch.]
[Note one: Duobao True Monarch indulged in Refining Treasure and seizing treasures; he should have offset the karmic tribulations of any treasure he obtained and then fused it into his body. However, with so many treasures, there were inevitably oversights, which in the end, were too much to overturn, all karmic prices came back to bite him at once.]
[Note two: Upon obtaining this talisman, Duobao True Monarch divided many avatars, going to various places to resolve the karmic causes of treasures… This matter will take eight hundred years; meanwhile, the true body of Duobao True Monarch must stay in Golden Radiance Arena, at Ten Thousand Treasure Cliff. Once he leaves, all previous efforts will be lost, and he must face tribulation and perish.]
[Note three: The Golden Radiance Arena has been separated from Penglai Sea and forcibly extinguished the Star Aperture. By releasing the Divine Talisman himself, Duobao True Monarch's life fate is sealed, he will lose his human body today, merge with Ten Thousand Treasures, and while advancing to the Daoist Transformation Realm, he will also suffer the backlash of countless prices paid, perishing here.]
[Note four: This is a life fate set by heaven, unchangeable by anyone.]
...
As this Record flowed through, Tao Qian's expression dramatically changed.
Simultaneously, Duobao Daoist at his side let out his final sigh.
Immediately after, he lost his human form.
His flesh began to swell.
All sorts of inconceivable impurities and Mutated Source Qi madly gushed out.
Dao!
A contaminated, utterly twisted Great Dao aura radiated endlessly in all directions.
Amidst the Daoist Transformation storm, Duobao's arrogant and crazed voice thundered,
"One against twelve?"
"Hahaha... Nothing more than twelve lingering old dogs, come see for yourselves whether Duobao Daoist, having set foot in the Daoist Transformation Realm, can fight you all to death."