Martial artists at the Transcendent Realm possess abundant vitality, capable of regenerating severed limbs. No matter how gruesome their physical injuries may appear, they only consume blood essence without truly killing a Transcendent martial artist.

However, if their primordial spirit is annihilated and completely scattered, a Transcendent martial artist will truly die, leaving behind only an “immortal” shell.

Among various systems, there are two main methods to kill a Transcendent martial artist:

First, through continuous strikes to wear down their blood essence until they are exhausted, then dismember and seal their body.

Second, through special means to extract the martial artist’s primordial spirit, then refine and annihilate it over time to kill them. What remains afterward is merely an empty shell.

Of course, extracting a martial artist’s primordial spirit is no easy feat. Only the Dao Sect and Witch systems can attempt this, and success is not guaranteed.

As for Shen Shu’s treatment of Asura, it was pure dominance of the higher realm crushing lower, brutal, and simple, without any technical finesse.

Something wasn’t right. Though Shen Shu’s attack was powerful, physical damage alone shouldn’t be enough to kill Asura’s primordial spirit… From beneath Xu Qi An’s loose trouser leg, countless black insects emerged and vanished.

“Whoosh whoosh!”

The prayer beads attacked from the left, like a swarm of colorful fireflies, breathtakingly beautiful.

Just as Xu Qi An was about to raise his sword to block, the scenery before him suddenly changed. The blood-stained walls, scattered corpses, and towering mountains all disappeared.

In their place appeared row upon row of tall buildings, forests of steel and concrete, and endless streams of vehicles—a scene full of modern atmosphere.

Ding ding ding…

The sharp collision sounds awakened him. The vision of his past life shattered, and reality once again appeared before his eyes.

The Taiping Blade and Nation-Settling Sword controlled their master, blocking some of the incoming prayer beads, while Bear King swatted away the rest with his paws.

The Iron-Eating Beast’s paws were a bloody mess, and under the corrosion of the demon-slaying force, the wounds were difficult to heal in the short term.

At the same time, the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox in the distance raised her hand and pressed downward. An immense force descended from the heavens, suppressing the demon-slaying prayer beads and freezing them in mid-air, rendering their trembling futile.

“Thank you!”

Having regained his senses, Xu Qi An cupped his hands toward Bear King.

The Taiping Blade hummed and vibrated, conveying “anger” at its master for being distracted in battle.

You’re a mature blade now, you should learn to control your master in battle… As Xu Qi An was trying to comfort it and about to check on Asura’s situation, he heard the silver-haired fox-eared beauty laugh from afar:

“You’ve gotten smaller again, how frightening. Why don’t you stay in the Southern Borderlands and be my son?”

Only then did Xu Qi An realize his tightened trouser legs and belt had loosened again. His age had regressed once more, turning him into a ten-year-old boy.

Moreover, his energy and blood essence had weakened considerably, causing his combat power to drop even more severely.

This… His pupils contracted slightly as he said in a deep voice:

“Will I keep getting smaller?”

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox nodded and transmitted:

“For the next two hours, you will continue to get smaller until you become an infant. This is the reversal of the Great Reincarnation Divine Appearance. If it were forward-flowing, it would age the target instead.

“But whether it’s you or me, we’re both at our peak. With our lifespans, even if they were forward-flowing, we might not age even after fighting until tomorrow. But for reversal—how long have you been a Transcendent?”

Xu Qi An once again realized the terrifying nature of the Nine Great Divine Appearances.

They might not excel at attacking, but each possessed their own mysterious and unpredictable divine abilities.

“Can the Reincarnation Divine Appearance make people remember their past?” Xu Qi An asked carefully.

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox transmitted:

“Legend says the Great Reincarnation Divine Appearance can make people remember their past and present lives, but whether that’s true or not, I don’t know.”

She turned to look at Shen Shu and called out loudly:

“Shen Shu, devour Asura’s essence blood!”

To prevent complications.

Whether Asura was dead or not, consuming his essence blood would ensure his death.

As long as they dealt with Asura, this battle would have no further surprises or twists.

Meanwhile, the ten-year-old boy and the mature, alluring woman tacitly sought out their respective opponents to engage them.

Shen Shu laughed eerily and picked up Asura’s headless body. A vortex of energy emerged from his palm, drawing out Asura’s life force.

Visibly, the Asura Prince’s jet-black body rapidly shrank and withered.

Just then, a swastika symbol lit up on Asura’s black body surface. As the symbol slowly rotated, it manifested Asura’s primordial spirit behind Shen Shu, with a metallic wheel behind the spirit’s head.

The wheel’s center contained the swastika symbol, while its outer rim was inscribed with “Heaven, Human, Beast, Asura, Hungry Ghost, Hell.”

The Great Reincarnation Divine Appearance!

“Crack crack crack!”

The wheel turned, and the word “Asura” lit up, casting a golden light that enveloped both Shen Shu and Asura.

Shen Shu’s strong body suddenly froze, the vortex vanished, and Asura’s “dried corpse” fell to the ground.

At this moment, the figure of Bodhisattva Guangxian sitting cross-legged in the sky scattered into fragments of light.

The next instant, he appeared before Shen Shu.

The golden light he had earlier shot into Asura’s body was the power of the Reincarnation Divine Appearance. He had used Asura’s close combat advantage to envelop Shen Shu with the power of the Reincarnation Divine Appearance.

Shen Shu remained frozen like a statue, blind to Guangxian Bodhisattva’s presence.

“Who… am I…”

A confused murmur emerged from Shen Shu’s chest.

Under the moonlight lay collapsed city walls and scattered corpses.

The cold moonlight illuminated this devastated area. Since the Western Region garrison and demon army had already retreated far away, the place was particularly quiet. Among Shen Shu’s confused self-questioning, only the “crackling” of flames could be heard, as if providing accompaniment.

The reincarnation wheel slowly turned, like a giant xenon lamp, its golden light continuing to envelope Shen Shu.

Guangxian Bodhisattva pressed his palms together, his face full of compassion:

“Oh rootless one, may you find your belonging in reincarnation!”

His figure wavered between transparency and illusion, as if about to exhaust its power.

Shen Shu gradually calmed down, hesitantly raising his left hand in prayer position, a peaceful voice emerging from his chest:

“Ami…”

The voice cut off abruptly as he resisted some instinct—the instinct to convert to Buddhism.

Xu Qi An and the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox exchanged glances, both seeing astonishment in each other’s eyes.

The Great Reincarnation Divine Appearance’s influence on Shen Shu exceeded their expectations.

Did the Great Reincarnation Divine Appearance stir up Shen Shu’s memories and awaken his Buddhist nature? Xu Qi An recalled the modern city he had seen earlier and formed a theory.

Suddenly, Asura’s headless corpse leaped up, executing a spinning kick in mid-air.

Snap! The air seemed to explode as terrifying energy burst from his toe, instantly tearing apart Guangxian Bodhisattva’s body.

This kick completely dispersed the energy of this avatar.

Guangxian Bodhisattva’s sigh echoed in the night sky as the reincarnation wheel dissolved into golden light, and Asura’s primordial spirit returned to his body.

Asura’s remnant body slowly stood up, cells proliferating frantically, flesh writhing. First, the spine grew, completing the neck bones, and then the skull “grew” from the cervical vertebrae. After the bones finished growing, fresh red flesh rapidly covered them, followed by black skin.

His first act after resurrection was to shatter the dozen or so corpse worms within his body.

“Well done!”

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox glanced sideways, smiling at the little boy.

After Asura’s “death,” Xu Qi An, being particularly sensitive to corpses, saw this as an opportunity to exploit. He immediately split off corpse worm children and secretly corroded him.

Of course, corrosion didn’t mean control or transformation.

At the corpse worms’ current level, they couldn’t fully control a Second-Grade corpse, but making it perform simple aggressive movements wasn’t difficult.

That’s what led to the kick that shattered Guangxian Bodhisattva’s avatar.

The little boy returned her smile. Now that Guangxian Bodhisattva’s avatar had dispersed and Asura had suffered heavy injuries, only ArhantDue remained a viable fighter.

After losing the influence of the Reincarnation Divine Appearance, Shen Shu remained confused, muttering:

“Who am I, who am I…”

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox called out loudly:

“You are Shen Shu, also the Asura King, an unyielding warrior of the Asura race.”

Her melodious voice echoed.

“Asura King…”

Shen Shu calmed slightly, but suddenly began muttering again: “Who am I, who is the Asura King, I can’t remember…”

His confused self-questioning gradually turned into furious roars:

“Who am I?! Who exactly am I!!”

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox repeatedly said “You are Shen Shu, the Asura King,” but to no effect.

She and Xu Qi An exchanged glances, realizing something was wrong.

Shen Shu had lost control.

“Can the Great Reincarnation Divine Appearance restrain Shen Shu?”

Xu Qi An slowly turned his head to look at the silver-haired demon beauty.

The silver-haired beauty frowned:

“Do you think that’s possible?”

Given Shen Shu’s realm and combat power, the Great Reincarnation Divine Appearance might weaken or influence him, but it couldn’t restrain him.

Unless the problem lay within Shen Shu himself… Xu Qi An’s heart trembled as he suddenly realized something.

If Asura had held back that day out of personal motives, wanting to plot something, rather than Guangxian Bodhisattva’s true body coming to capture all the demons at once.

Then why did Guangxian Bodhisattva, knowing about Shen Shu’s remnant body, still only send an avatar today?

Did he confidently think that just an avatar and two Second-Grade experts could stop Shen Shu? Moreover, there were also he and the Nine-Tailed Fox, as well as Bear King.

Now, watching the maddened Shen Shu, Xu Qi An knew the answer.

The Reincarnation Divine Appearance was just a trigger; it had induced Shen Shu’s “madness,” though Xu Qi An hadn’t yet figured out the reason why.

Neither he nor the Nine-Tailed Fox truly understood this semi-Divine Warrior.

The ones who understood Shen Shu best were the Buddhist sect.

“Who exactly am I?!”

Terrifying demonic sounds echoed through the Ten Thousand Demons Mountain as a ball of blood light suddenly surged within Shen Shu’s body, rapidly expanding and devouring everything in its path.

The five Transcendent powerhouses present simultaneously took to the air, swiftly retreating.

The blood light expanded into a sphere ten zhang in diameter, then exploded with a boom.

The five Transcendent powerhouses standing in the high air saw the entire hillside forest “bow down” at this moment, while all the civilian houses near the city wall collapsed.

On the western side of the South City, firelight moved as countless ant-like figures frantically fled toward the city gate.

The retreating monk soldiers, Chan masters, and city defense forces struggled to maintain order.

As the blood light dissipated, a majestic divine appearance twenty zhang tall slowly straightened up.

Its body was completely black, with twelve pairs of muscular arms growing from its back. A black flame mark lit up between its brows, and a burning halo blazed behind its head.

Its face was like a sculpture, devoid of any expression.

It seemed to be the embodiment of power and evil, every inch of flesh containing terrifying supernatural strength, while also full of sinister and frightening spiritual pollution.

Xu Qi An felt as if he’d fallen into an ice cellar, his whole body growing cold, all his pores opening as cold sweat poured down.

It wasn’t from the terrifying spiritual pollution, but because he had been locked onto.

Shen Shu had locked onto him.

Shen Shu had gone mad, desperately wanting to complete himself, and I have one of his severed arms inside me… Understanding dawned in Xu Qi An’s heart.

The next moment, a huge shadow enveloped him.

That twenty-zhang-tall divine appearance silently appeared before him, all twelve pairs of arms forming fists and striking simultaneously.

Too fast, no time for shadow jumping… Xu Qi An made a split-second decision, having the Pagoda Treasure vibrate out its prison-suppressing power while golden lacquer lit up from between his brows, quickly spreading across his entire body as the fire halo behind his head “boomed” open.

Then, the strength worm entered a berserk state, his muscles swelling as his body doubled in size.

The Taiping Blade and Nation-Settling Sword crossed in a slash.

Bang!

The blade and sword flew skyward, shooting into the distance.

Golden light and fire light intertwined and exploded, instantly shattering the Vajra Divine Technique.

Xu Qi An’s vision went black and he lost consciousness for a moment. When he came to, he found his body flying backward uncontrollably at meteor-like speed.

Both arms had lost sensation and hung limply, every bone in his body shattered, not a single part intact.

Boom!

He crashed violently into a distant mountain, causing a landslide.

Just as Shen Shu’s divine appearance was about to be pursued, his body suddenly stiffened and shook repeatedly, as if being struck by wooden sticks in succession.

Jade Shatter!

Xu Qi An had returned the damage to him, interrupting Shen Shu’s rhythm and buying himself a chance to breathe.

“Amitabha!”

On the other side, Arhant Due pressed his palms together and slowly said: “Nine-Tailed Fox benefactor, Shen Shu is not someone you can control. You have no idea how terrifying he is.”

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox’s eyes flashed red as she coldly looked at Asura and Due:

“Using his spear against his shield—the Buddhist sect played quite a clever game. This seat doesn’t understand why Shen Shu would lose control to this extent.”

Asura slowly said:

“Only Guangxian Bodhisattva knows that.”

As they spoke, he and Arhant Due flanked the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox from left and right.

“You’re right, Shen Shu is indeed beyond my control, but equally beyond yours. Do the two masters understand the principle of playing with fire and getting burned?”

The silver-haired demon beauty remained completely calm, smiling:

“You underestimate Xu Qi An too much.”

At this moment, Shen Shu’s divine appearance looked left and right above the collapsed mountain, seemingly having lost his target and no longer able to sense the essence of his severed limb.

Following his instinct to complete himself and craving essence blood, he slowly turned, casting his gaze toward the three Transcendent realm powerhouses.