Calamity of Tomorrow

Before, Zhou Bai took advantage of the monks' reports of the lies he had spread to Zi Yang, utilizing the effect of secondary transmission to reduce Zi Yang True Monarch's wisdom.

The lies of fools can reduce wisdom, something that Heaven had vaguely discovered and combined with Dire Poverty, believing that anyone who heard Zhou Bai's words or saw his writing might have their minds warped.

But the secondary transmission effect after the Fool's upgrade was too covert, too unexpected, even for Heaven to notice.

Or perhaps, even after noticing, it was hard to guard against; not hearing or seeing Zhou Bai was simple, but if this extended to anyone, meaning any spoken words or written characters could twist one's mind, it would be all the more difficult to defend against.

While on the one hand, Zi Yang True Monarch's wisdom was being reduced, on the other hand, Zhou Bai, through the 60% enhancement from Dao Harmony, was experiencing a comprehensive strengthening of his talent, with his wisdom skyrocketing far beyond what it had been before.

This rise and fall directly led to Zhou Bai's wisdom temporarily surpassing that of Zi Yang True Monarch, fulfilling the conditions to activate Dire Fool.

Thus, waves of corruption poured into the era of Zi Yang True Monarch, and with a single breath, more than 45 points were injected, plunging Zi Yang True Monarch into the 'Delusion' state.

In this state, not only did Zi Yang True Monarch accelerate toward aberration, but his eyes also flashed with layers of illusions, as if even Xiang Tiandi had become a terrifying monster, smiling sinisterly at him.

But what was most terrifying was the continuously accelerating degree of his aberration, with courage in his heart that he couldn't suppress.

"Zhou Bai!" Zi Yang True Monarch, filled with fear and fury, a violent killing intent sweeping toward Zhou Bai, "I'm going to kill you!"

"I'm going to kill you!"

"Kill you!"

"Kill you!"

It was this acceleration of aberration that shaved at least fifty years off Zi Yang True Monarch's life span; he might completely aberrate in just a little over a hundred years.

This drove Zi Yang to the peak of anger and fear; his remaining rationality burst forth in full force, as he sought to slay Zhou Bai on the spot.

His own life-and-death crisis made him disregard any order from Heaven.

Boom!

Furious plasma erupted like a miniature sun, exploding with light and heat.

Under the howling hurricane, the whole world presented an apocalyptic scene, directly triggering abnormal local weather.

If Zi Yang True Monarch were to unleash his full power, Zhou Bai felt he might not be able to withstand it.

And except for Xiang Tiandi, everyone else present would likely die.

So, at the moment when Zi Yang exerted his full strength, Zhou Bai said indifferently, "Zi Yang, have you forgotten what I said before?"

"In my presence, you only get to think when I permit you to think."

Zhou Bai then further intensified the situation, increasing the injected contamination to 90 points, dragging Zi Yang into the second state of Dire Fool, 'Fear'.

Entering this state, Zi Yang's courage to fight and resist continued to diminish, and for a time, he didn't even dare to make a move against Zhou Bai.

At the same time, his thoughts and spirit further plummeted toward aberration.

One could see the power Zi Yang True Monarch had just unleashed plummeting off a cliff, flickering like a broken bulb dimming down.

Next, Zi Yang True Monarch clutched his head and screamed repeatedly, a tumult of emotions surging in his heart—fear, anger, and countless illusions appeared before him, throwing him into utter chaos.

And watching this scene, the many monks, piecing together Zi Yang True Monarch's shouted words, immediately realized the man in black armor in the sky was none other than Zhou Bai.

"Didn't Zhou Bai run away?"

"Even Zi Yang True Monarch is no match for him?!!"

If Zi Yang True Monarch's overwhelming, apocalyptic display of Daoist power was enough to quell any thought of resistance in the mortal monks,

Then Zhou Bai's invisible, instantaneous mind-distorting ability was even more terrifying and caused a genuine fear to rise in their hearts.

The greatest fear lies in the unknown, and when an unknown power could easily take one's life, that fear became even more acute.

Seeing Zi Yang True Monarch swiftly fall in defeat, hearing his agonizing screams, the many monks present were also terrified, for Zhou Bai's performance was too eerie, too dangerous, too alarming.

Someone called out, "Everyone, block your hearing and sight, don't look at him, don't listen to his words! Your mind may be twisted."

Someone else helplessly said, "But if we can't hear or see anything, aren't we just waiting to die?"

Another despaired, "This is Zhou Bai, not to be looked at, not to be heard, a monster that humanity simply cannot defeat."

Yet another, filled with hope, said, "The Sweeping Demon Marshal is still here; he won't tolerate Zhou Bai's arrogance."

With the reminders echoing, whether it was the monks in the palace in the sky or those on the ground, they could only hide, not listening, not seeing, helplessly waiting in the dark for the outcome of the battle.

On the other side, Xiang Tiandi glanced at the increasingly crazed Zi Yang True Monarch, but did not rush to take action, instead he stroked the Primitive Dao Collection 06 in his hands and slowly said, "Zhou Bai, you are a very interesting person, and I admire you. If it weren't for the fact that you've already joined forces with the Heavenly Demon, I would definitely have recommended you for a position in the Thunder Department, even providing you with an Ascension slot."

Zhou Bai, however, was skeptical; if Heaven could allow for Ascension, they would have done so long ago, why leave the situation to deteriorate to this state.

Nevertheless, since Xiang Tiandi wasn't taking action but instead wanted to chat, Zhou Bai was happy to oblige. He continued to remotely draw corruption from the Mysterious Maiden while launching the Tianhe Star Explosion, pulling up massive chunks of rock from the ground as if uprooting mountains, using these rocks as weapons.

This was all to quickly raise the pollution level, to make up for the expenditure on Zi Yang True Monarch.

Zhou Bai continued to replenish his strength while bantering with Xiang Tiandi, "Is it too late now? Honestly, if the Heavenly Demon hadn't coerced me, I wouldn't have joined them, a bunch of monsters looking all jumbled up; nowhere as comfortable as Heaven."

Xiang Tiandi's palm continued to caress the sculpture on Primitive Dao Collection 06, strands of lightning danced lightly with his fingertips, wrapping around the statue like little snakes, making Zhou Bai nervous lest the treasure be damaged.

Zhou Bai's emotional fluctuations lasted but a brief instant, concealed beneath the armor, invisible to the eye.

Yet Xiang Tiandi, with a keen sense of the fluctuations of essence, caught this momentary change, revealing a terrifying power of perception.

Had Zhou Bai known this, he would understand that Xiang Tiandi must have previously cultivated a path similar to that of Gong Tu.