After the cold, emotionless eyes materialized, pure qi traced out a physical form. A sudden gust of wind swept through, making robes billow dramatically. The image of a scholarly figure with flowing sleeves appeared before Xu Pingfeng and the others.

The return of the Sage of Literature’s heroic soul to the mortal realm brought with it an overwhelming pressure that descended like an avalanche, like a tsunami, like the collapse of heaven itself.

Being too close, the three cultivators and the beast found themselves directly under the Sage’s gaze.

White Emperor’s limbs trembled uncontrollably. It seemed to completely regress into its bestial nature, arching its back and crawling low, baring its fangs while letting out threatening growls from its throat.

Xu Pingfeng and Black Lotus retreated again and again. As Rank Two cultivators, they dared not show any bravado at this moment.

Galaruksha Bodhisattva, relying on the mighty Vajra Dharma Body and the defensive Immovable Wisdom King manifestation, stood like a reef against the crashing waves. As the most resilient existence among Rank One cultivators, he withstood the impact.

As the Sage’s heroic soul took form, a gash split open on the Supervisor’s brow, blood flowing freely.

His physical body began sliding toward the abyss of collapse—this was the inevitable price that had to be paid.

He took a step forward, extending the engraving knife in his hand, targeting Galaruksha Bodhisattva first.

Behind him, the Sage’s heroic soul mirrored his movements, as if serving as the Supervisor’s most solid support.

Galaruksha Bodhisattva remained motionless, his kasaya robe billowing wildly as his muscles swelled, thick veins bulging beneath his skin.

Though he didn’t move, the Vajra Dharma Body behind him stepped forward, positioning itself in front of Galaruksha Bodhisattva.

The engraving knife advanced unhurriedly, seemingly unconcerned about the enemy’s escape.

The Vajra Dharma Body’s twelve pairs of arms closed forward, twenty-four palms forming a prayer gesture, attempting to trap the Supervisor and his knife between them.

Meanwhile, the Immovable Wisdom King manifestation sat cross-legged behind the Vajra Dharma Body, forming hand seals that created a spherical energy barrier encompassing Galaruksha Bodhisattva.

Suddenly, the Vajra Dharma Body’s twelve pairs of arms began to tremble, apparently unable to withstand the knife’s advance.

“Boom!”

The ring of fire behind the Vajra Dharma Body’s head expanded, erupting into dazzling flames.

The trembling arms stabilized momentarily.

But in the next instant, first, the twenty-four giant palms cracked, then the arms, then the body… The Vajra Dharma Body, renowned for its defense and combat prowess, shattered piece by piece.

The energy released from the manifestation’s collapse raged in all directions, dispersing the sea of clouds below and revealing the vast earth beneath.

The Supervisor, gripping his engraving knife, continued his unhurried advance toward the protective barrier raised by the Immovable Wisdom King manifestation.

Hum!

Where the pale golden barrier met the engraving knife, chaotic energy erupted in twisted bursts.

A white flash approached the Supervisor silently from behind, attempting a sneak attack.

In White Emperor’s azure vertical pupils, only bestial madness remained, without a trace of spiritual awareness.

It had suppressed its spirituality, amplifying the madness inherent in its divine demon bloodline to counteract the Sage’s pressure.

A maddened descendant of gods and demons knows no fear.

Moreover, though its spirituality was suppressed and unable to use spells, this didn’t weaken its combat ability. The physical prowess of a divine demon descendant exceeded even that of martial artists, making it terrifyingly powerful in close combat.

The Supervisor raised his left hand, tapping his scholar’s cap with a “pat” and spoke slowly:

“Retreat five hundred li.”

White Emperor, fangs bared and poised to pounce, vanished at the moment it was about to contact the Supervisor as if it had never existed.

This wasn’t the Supervisor mastering the Confucian art of words becoming reality, but rather using the scholar’s cap’s power to cast Confucian arts.

However, without a high-ranking practitioner of the same system controlling it, the scholar’s cap’s power was limited, and with the White Emperor’s extremely high rank, the Supervisor couldn’t use the cap’s power to attack it directly.

Because such an attack would inevitably fail to threaten the White Emperor.

But the characteristic of Confucian arts wasn’t in attack, but rather in what could be called “flashy tricks.”

After temporarily removing the White Emperor from the battlefield, the Supervisor held his engraving knife and took another powerful step forward.

The barrier maintained by the Immovable Wisdom King manifestation dramatically collapsed inward.

This wasn’t because the Immovable Wisdom King was weak—quite the opposite. The fact that Galaruksha Bodhisattva could withstand the Sage’s heroic soul’s pressure until now proved his reputation as the strongest defender below the transcendent rank was well-deserved.

In the distance, Xu Pingfeng opened his pouch and pulled out a massive cannon, nine chi tall with a barrel one zhang long, forged entirely from dark iron and covered in dense formation patterns.

As a Rank Two cultivator, he couldn’t directly face the Sage’s pressure at close range, but fortunately, artificers preferred ranged attacks.

The formation patterns lit up one after another as the inscribed formations began absorbing surrounding spiritual energy. A fist-sized ball of intense white light formed at the dark muzzle, continuously collapsing inward.

Using formations to leverage the power of heaven and earth was an artificer’s specialty.

“Boom!”

When the collapse reached its limit, it erupted, the muzzle spewing a column of white light.

Just as the light column was about to hit the Supervisor, a formation wreathed in clear light suddenly appeared in its path.

The cannon blast, capable of severely wounding a Rank Three martial artist, disappeared like mud sinking into the sea when it hit the formation.

The next second, a column of white light shot out from the void behind Xu Pingfeng, engulfing him.

The Supervisor had used a transfer formation to return the cannon blast to its sender.

Hum!

The void beside the Supervisor trembled, and another light column shot out, aiming for his face.

Xu Pingfeng hadn’t been consumed by the light column from behind—he had copied the Supervisor’s technique, returning like for like.

Thus, the white light continued appearing and disappearing between master and disciple.

Until the Supervisor transferred it to Black Lotus Daoist in the distance. Without a martial artist’s crisis perception, Black Lotus was caught off guard and could only manifest his Daoist Immortal Spirit to forcibly tear apart the cannon blast.

At this moment, the Immovable Wisdom King manifestation finally couldn’t hold on. The Sage’s engraving knife pierced the barrier, and through the energy storm of the collapsing manifestation, the knife touched Galaruksha Bodhisattva’s forehead.

A flash of green light.

Splat! Galaruksha Bodhisattva’s head exploded, bone fragments and flesh flying everywhere.

His eight-chi-tall body instantly went limp, falling helplessly backward toward the vast earth below.

Simultaneously, the Supervisor’s chest erupted in a mist of blood, the Sage’s power destroying his physical body.

The Supervisor ignored his body’s condition and didn’t attack Xu Pingfeng or Black Lotus, but instead turned and thrust out his engraving knife.

A white shadow passed by him.

The shadow transformed into White Emperor, tumbling pathetically like a kicked wild dog, blood spraying in its wake.

Xu Pingfeng raised his hand, a circular formation catching White Emperor and dispersing the impact force.

“Whimper, whimper…”

White Emperor’s azure fierce eyes were filled with madness. Its abdomen had been carved open with a deep wound, nearly disemboweled with intestines hanging out.

But in its mouth, it held a heart—the Supervisor’s heart.

White Emperor tilted its head back and swallowed the heart without chewing. Several seconds later, the madness in its fierce eyes receded, spirituality grew, and reason returned.

White Emperor’s expression clearly showed surprise, seemingly not expecting to regain its reason so soon.

After brief contemplation, it understood something and gazed at the Supervisor with greedy eyes.

The Supervisor slowly looked down at the giant hole in his chest, where his heart was missing.

Strike while the iron is hot… Black Lotus’s eyes flashed with killing intent, and his Immortal Spirit immediately split into four parts, each taking a different form.

One was pitch-black like ink, with hair like dancing seaweed, surrounded by gossamer mist formed of water spiritual power; one was completely crimson, with a flame mark on its brow and hair of burning fire.

One seemed formed of air currents, unstable, its body sometimes tilting, sometimes stretching, ready to transform into a fierce wind at any moment.

One was covered in stone armor, powerfully built, radiating ripples of earthen yellow light.

These were the Dao School’s “Earth, Wind, Water, Fire” four great manifestations.

Rank Two cultivators cultivated these four manifestations, and upon reaching the great perfection of Rank Two, the four manifestations would merge into one before facing the heavenly tribulation.

After surviving the tribulation, when the manifestation perfectly merged with the physical body, one could achieve the status of an earthbound immortal.

Black Lotus should have reached Rank Two great perfection long ago, but the golden lotus left his body, making him an “incomplete being,” not only making transcendence impossible but also dropping his combat power by an entire level.

The four great manifestations had no consciousness and were completely controlled by the Black Lotus, functioning like puppets and thus unafraid of the Sage’s pressure.

A porcelain bottle actively flew out from the storage bag at the Supervisor’s waist, its wooden stopper popping open as a golden pill flew into his mouth.

In an instant, the flesh in his chest writhed as his heart regenerated.

Though artificers lacked the self-healing ability of martial artists, they could use pills. He carried pills capable of reviving the dead and growing new flesh.

Waiting for the right moment… Black Lotus silently recalled his manifestations, choosing to observe.

“So you are the Gatekeeper!”

White Emperor laughed. The wound in its abdomen couldn’t heal, as the engraving knife’s power corroded its vitality.

In contrast, after taking the pill, the Supervisor was like a dying person given a second breath, briefly returning to his peak.

“Don’t move!”

The Supervisor raised his hand, tapping the scholar’s cap.

This time, the Sage’s phantom made the same gesture.

White Emperor’s body sank, frozen in place.

The Supervisor stepped forward, thrusting the Sage’s engraving knife in a simple, unadorned motion, just as he had done against Galaruksha.

Bzzt bzzt bzzt, above White Emperor’s horns, one crackled with electric arcs while the other concentrated a ball of black light.

Lightning and water spiritual power converged between the horns, forming an energy ball with a black core wrapped in electric light.

The moment the Sage’s engraving knife struck, White Emperor exerted all its strength, regaining partial control of its body, raising its head to meet the knife with its horns.

Intense light erupted as thick bolts of lightning thrashed about like whips.

Water’s spiritual power surged in all directions like a broken dam.

The Sage’s engraving knife advanced layer by layer, breaking through the two energy storms to pierce the White Emperor’s head.

“Roar…”

It let out a miserable howl.

Even a descendant of gods and demons couldn’t resist the Sage’s heroic soul.

Just as the White Emperor was about to follow in Galaruksha’s footsteps, suddenly, in the west, a blazing sun rose.