They were all “old acquaintances” who had crossed swords on the battlefield several times in the past. It’s just that back then, Fudao Shanren was not yet Yashan’s Law Enforcement Elder, and True Person Hengxu had not yet taken charge of Kunwu or reached the pinnacle of the righteous path.
Meeting again after eleven cycles, it was enemies meeting with particular hostility!
After Fudao Shanren’s jade-green nine-sectioned bamboo staff was thrown down, his form shot forth like lightning. A broad wooden sword with clear wood grain patterns overflowed with pure blue light, actually seeming to grow into a fusang divine tree in the sky!
The massive, azure-blue canopy connected to the infinite firmament above; the thick, vigorous trunk was like a standing heavenly pillar, supporting the space between heaven and earth!
Above the fusang tree, divine birds sang and flew;
Below the fusang tree, exotic flowers competed in beauty!
Everyone knew that Fudao Shanren traversed Jiushijiu Zhou with a single wooden sword, being a famous sword cultivator at the end of ancient times. But few knew the origin of this wooden sword.
This sword was actually forged from the core of fusang divine wood.
Named “Wu” (Void), with the true meaning of “Heaven is originally empty, the Dao is originally void,” it was his sword of enlightenment.
A thousand years ago, still at the end of ancient times when there were few demon gods left in the world, he and Fudao traveled together to the Western Sea and encountered the strange sight of a mirage. They originally thought it was an illusion, but who would have expected that upon approaching, they were actually absorbed by the mirage qi and entered within.
Only then did they discover it was ruins from primordial times.
Mount Buzhou had fallen, the fusang tree withered.
Chaotic stones littered the ground, ten thousand swords turned to ash—it was devastation everywhere!
Neither could clearly see the origin of this place. It was just that when Fudao passed by that huge withered fusang tree, he accidentally carved out from the rotten wood a section of jade wood core that had remained uncorrupted for millions of years, then forged it into a sword.
From then on, this sword remained with him always.
And True Person Hengxu at that time just gazed at the rust and ash of ten thousand swords in the ruins, sitting alone for more than thirty days. No one knew what he understood, but he actually forged a sword from the sword ash covering the ground, likewise naming it with a single character—
Rust Sword!
Not the “embroidered” of brocade, nor the “handsome” of divine beauty, but the “rust” of iron rust!
In that battle between yin and yang realms eleven cycles ago, these two had wielded these swords to slay countless evil ghosts of the Extreme Domain. If not for the Buddhist sect suffering the conspiracy and scheming of the Esoteric Sect’s chaos that year, and Kunwu also failing to rush to Yashan’s aid due to so-called “delayed news,” the power of samsara over all living beings in the six paths of heaven and earth would have long returned to Jiushijiu Zhou. Why wait until today?
Today, coming with swords again, they finally sought to collect the old blood debt!
For a moment sword light blazed intensely, and without explanation they were already fighting as one mass.
Only those familiar with them could see that compared to their past tacit understanding and seamless cooperation, there was actually an additional barrier that seemed familiar but was actually distant.
After all, they were old swords and old friends, but no longer old hearts.
True Person Hengxu’s rust sword was mottled, his face showing no ripples, yet his sword qi had a sharpness that seemed inconsistent with his facial expression.
Wu sword above, Rust sword below.
In this lightning-fast moment, relying on the mighty strength of striking simultaneously, they intercepted Lord Qin Guang at this perfect opportunity!
The pressure Fu Chaosheng faced suddenly lightened, and there were no longer those sinister lifelines in the void that made him wary. At this moment he glanced at Lord Qin Guang trapped in the sword formation, actually without hesitation abandoning the battle situation here and heading toward the Reincarnation Pool that had collapsed deep underground in the southeast!
The yin and yang qi of heaven and earth still converged.
The bead taking the form of two principles on the Ghost Axe’s spine also became increasingly clear, slowly rotating in that groove. Each rotation would gather a wisp of chaotic qi where yin and yang, pure and turbid could not be distinguished.
This was clearly Jian Chou’s Ghost Axe!
But Fu Chaosheng, who had been in the Extreme Domain for a very long time, only knew this axe had fallen into Lord Qin Guang’s hands and was being refined daily, but didn’t know why He was refining it.
Only today did he learn that His schemes were not shallow!
Those earlier endless lifelines like a net covering heaven and earth were clearly wrapped around this axe!
Heaven and earth have samsara, and only with samsara is there fate. Those endless lifelines were the predetermined destinies of common mortals in the world, already controlled and determined by heaven!
With fate tied to this axe, one could deduce that this axe could control samsara!
Fu Chaosheng, his white clothes like snow, had already approached the Reincarnation Pool in an instant. Standing in the high void, he reached out toward the axe in the pool from afar!
Spatial power immediately surged, intending to seize objects from a distance.
But just as he extended his hand, a cold, evil laugh suddenly rang out from the depths of the Reincarnation Pool: “Through countless ages, eras passing in an instant, yet the human race’s dogs remain ‘unchanged in their original intentions’…”
Deep black shadows wandered at the bottom of the Reincarnation Pool.
When the voice first arose, it had already appeared like a black dragon, leaping out from the pool bottom! Thick black qi constructed His body that could devour all light in the world, yet it was like a standing centipede, with segments interlocked and thousands of feet arranged on both sides in sharp blades and halberds!
The clear head was an insect head, but the positions where eyes should be were completely empty!
The moment His massive form fully manifested, it seemed as if a fierce roar from primordial times came from the depths of the Extreme Domain’s vast evil soil!
Even the void twisted from it, and the earth split open for ten thousand zhang!
Even though there was the burning earth’s core illuminating the firmament beneath Jiushijiu Zhou’s earth, the sky instantly darkened, with most of the bright light devoured by the black qi overflowing around His body, as if shrouded by heavy dark clouds!
The world, in everyone’s eyes, became a darkness where all vitality had perished!
As if returning to the unsolvable long night from before all ages!
“Rumble…”
Only thick lightning in the sky dangerously streaked by, seemingly already faintly sensing this existence that completely exceeded this realm’s limits, ready to strike down ten thousand tribulations at any time to destroy it!
Without eyes, there was naturally no gaze.
But in this instant, Fu Chaosheng could clearly feel the other party “watching” him, and those four words “human race’s dogs” seemed to refer to him as well.
Deity Shao Ji…
They had briefly fought in Mingri Xinghai, where he had tried to trace his origins from the other party, but ultimately only received ambiguous answers. Later the other party disappeared without a trace, fleeing into the Extreme Domain, infiltrating the Esoteric Sect—everything was interfering with matters of samsara!
And now, actually emerging from the Reincarnation Pool!
His mighty strength and ferocity had clearly recovered to his peak state. He was waiting here like a spider in its web, waiting for him!
That was a completely spine-chilling feeling. Fu Chaosheng could not control the trembling coming from all parts of his body at this moment. Those four words “human race’s dogs” seemed to open the floodgates of nightmare, or perhaps there were originally some terrifying and bloody past events deeply buried in the racial memory of the mayfly clan that had not died with the passage of time, only hidden away, quietly waiting for some moment of awakening.
Loss of control.
Though there was nothing abnormal in his actions, at this moment he could clearly realize that certain things had already lost control.
And this loss of control stirred up some kind of resistance.
Fu Chaosheng was not originally a good sort, following the principle of “survival of the fittest.” Once he generated the thought that he was being calculated against while being unable to grasp the full situation, his demonic nature was deeply aroused.
At this moment, the fierce evil qi in his eyes was not weaker than Deity Shao Ji’s by even half a point!
When he struck again, though his human form remained the same, his demonic state was already fully revealed!
A fearlessly fierce struggle occurred in this patch of abnormal darkness in a way that had no magical techniques, relying entirely on the power of their original bodies—primitive and savage.
Only earth-shaking commotion was transmitted, but no one could capture the forms and shadows of these two.
The sudden darkness also caused the Jiushijiu Zhou cultivators rushing toward the battlefield to have a moment of stunned confusion.
But it was only for that brief moment.
Though the battle at the center of the Extreme Domain’s seventy-two cities was extremely dangerous, it was equally difficult for their remaining cultivators to reach the center to provide aid.
They had only reached halfway when countless demon ghost shadows surged from the cracked earth fissures, spreading like a tide to block everyone.
If not for Xie Buchen’s quick reaction, they would probably have been caught completely off guard!
It was fortunate they managed to adjust their formation in time. For a moment they couldn’t care about rushing forward to provide aid, still needing to solve the trouble before them first!
With Chu Jiang Wang and Wu Guan Wang fallen, Taishan Wang missing, and Lord Qin Guang held back by True Person Hengxu and Fudao Shanren together, the four great lords Song Di, Yan Luo, Du Shi, and Zhuan Lun were all present, each now leading ghost soldiers to occupy one direction, tearing into the Jiushijiu Zhou formation!
Fierce attacks left no room for retreat.
On Jiushijiu Zhou’s side were Buddhist Chanzong, the two Yin-Yang sects, Kunwu Yashan, Mingri Xinghai, and cultivators from noble families and demon paths of the southern two domains, all fearlessly fighting to the death with full strength!
Monk Yichen and Abbot Wugou led the Chanzong cultivators, establishing the Vajra Great Formation for protection;
Chan Master Xuelang had the highest combat power, his monk robes fluttering like pear blossom snow, actually facing off against the only female lord among the eight hall lords, Du Shi Wang Jiang Chang;
Yin Sect’s Xuanyue Fairy’s methods were also considerable. Stepping through void space with a great displacement, she wielded a black crescent moon and attacked the fifth hall lord, the mediator Yan Luo Wang;
Qu Zhengfeng led Mingri Xinghai cultivators to directly assault the decrepit elderly Song Di Wang, Yashan swords drawn, sword qi surging, already blocking all his escape routes!
And on the side of Middle Domain’s Zuo Sanqian, serving as the sharp edge like a blade, they relied on their powerful strength that had always dominated the entire Jiushijiu Zhou lands to forcibly withstand wave after wave of fierce attacks from the front, even carving out a bloody path forward through this chaos of blades!
Xie Buchen was breaking formations.
Even though the cities at the Extreme Domain’s center had disappeared, most of the watchtowers constructed beneath the cities still existed, continuously providing power to their enemies.
At this time, few noticed that the weapon clasped in his palm was no longer the Human Emperor Sword, but had become a ruler that was neither stone nor metal, black as ink.
Besides the four lords, there were also ten great Yin commanders from the ten great ghost clans.
Starting from the Ghost King clan, they were in order: Day Wandering, Night Wandering, Wuchang, Ox Head, Horse Face, Leopard Tail, Bird Beak, Fish Gill, and Yellow Wasp—nine clans.
Each Yin commander was the strongest of their clan!
Obviously, this current battle was the one that could determine victory or defeat. Whether the Extreme Domain or Jiushijiu Zhou, there was no longer any need for schemes or concerns—they only needed to completely and unreservedly throw out all their trump cards and display all their strength!
Direct killing!
Those who could come to this battlefield, whether cultivators or ghost cultivators, were all determined individuals who would neither doubt their own positions nor retreat at this moment!
So in just a short time, countless blood had been spilled and countless souls torn apart among the city ruins!
Kunwu Yashan elite cultivators had already gathered together, forming sword formations.
Kunwu’s Zhao Zhuo—when his distinguished sword rose, distinguished sword intent rose, momentarily having an aura that none could contend with; Yue He’s River Flow sword intent was vast and unrestrained, completely unbound by any constraints, sweeping in all directions; Wu Duan wielded the White Bone Dragon Sword, dragon roars leaping, already showing fierce appearance…
And on Yashan’s side, they were not inferior by half.
Only hearing a unified “draw swords,” hundreds of sword edges brightened from their sheaths, and incomparable sharpness instantly gathered—it was a kind of soul-deep understanding!
Sword qi combined into a sword mountain, and the sword mountain toppled downward!
“Rumble,” the earth trembled. Countless ghost cultivators in Zhuan Lun Wang’s formation ahead couldn’t avoid it in time—those touched died instantly, whether struck or crashed into, already swept away in a mass!
In such an uplifting and bloody battle situation, there were naturally a few eye-catching anomalies.
For instance, Little Marten on the battlefield suddenly roared and transformed, its bloody maw opening wide, ten thousand seals covering its body, directly pouncing toward that sinister youth holding a wheel!
That was the crucial eighth hall Zhuan Lun Wang among the eight hall lords!
Being pounced on so fiercely by it, he actually had no power to retaliate for an instant, like a stone being smashed into the ground below, creating a huge crater!
And for instance, the four people gathered together—Young Master Ruhua, Xiao Jin, Xia Houshe, and Lu Xiangleng. One had an effeminate face and sissy manner, one wore beast skins and couldn’t sit still, one had a cold, stern face like his father had died, and the remaining one looked normal but couldn’t fight.
Yet these four, when cooperating together, were remarkably smooth.
The four formed their own battle group—sometimes with flower fragrance attacking people, sometimes with chaotic punches beating old masters to death, sometimes with hundreds of weapons thrown simultaneously, sometimes with snake shadows soaring and poison scattered everywhere…
Not to mention Zuoliu, who since stumbling confusedly into the cultivation path had never walked the conventional road. While others grouped together, he alone fought solo.
Standing before the formation, he held a thick booklet in his hands.
His eyes were bright and spirited, muttering words under his breath.
“East, south, west, north, center—swift!”
With a “whoosh” sound, followed by “boom boom” sounds from within the battle formation—more than ten strangely-shaped war chariots actually flew out from his sleeves!
Several Yashan elders seeing this from afar were already so angry their beards bristled.
Those weren’t any ordinary war chariots! They clearly looked like the pill furnaces this fellow had blown up one after another when tinkering with automatic pill refinement in Yashan’s Pills Hall in the past!
Though the furnaces were destroyed, their components remained.
Who knows where he learned such strange and peculiar methods to tinker with them, actually converting the three legs of the pill furnaces into golden wheels. Now hearing his incantations, they began whirring and spinning, generating wind and fire as they charged toward the densest part of the ghost soldier formation ahead!
“Bang bang bang”—they all exploded!
Not only were the ghost cultivators on that side stunned, even those on Jiushijiu Zhou’s side were dumbfounded.
So he had actually mastered the art of exploding furnaces!
Only Zuoliu himself didn’t notice anything unspeakable about this skill. Seeing his success, he smiled with joy and lowered his head to blow on the jade booklet in his hand!
Whoosh!
Several drops of fresh blood actually leaped up from the jade booklet, transforming before everyone’s eyes into golden-red blood talismans that simultaneously attacked several judges and ghost generals on the Extreme Domain side!
Having already witnessed his strange methods, everyone feared falling into a trap and raised their weapons to block these blood talismans.
Who would have expected that once they moved, their killing intent touched the blood talismans and actually catalyzed them!
With a “puff,” the blood talismans exploded, and more than ten figures appeared out of thin air in this battle formation!
The ghost cultivators might not recognize them, but those on Jiushijiu Zhou’s side could see clearly!
They were clearly the most formidable dozen or so from the younger generation of the Middle Domain!
Kunwu’s Zhao Zhuo, Yue He, Wu Duan, Wang Que; Wuyi Sect’s Young Master Ruhua; Baiyue Valley’s Xia Houshe and Lu Xiangleng; Tongling Pavilion’s Jiang Wenchao; Yashan’s Kou Qianzhi, Shen Jiu, Bai Yin, Chen Weishan; and even those two side-by-side prodigies—
Xie Buchen and Jian Chou!
Each figure began moving the moment it manifested, either forming seals or raising weapons, each displaying their signature techniques to attack the ghost cultivators who had shattered the blood talismans!
How many judges and ghost generals were caught off guard!
Only the ghost cultivator before Jian Chou’s phantom had already seen through this technique’s nature and was prepared. But when he clearly saw this phantom’s face, he ultimately showed several degrees of alarm!
Human skin lantern in hand, azure crane cloak fluttering, half handsome, half ugly, deity and demon in one body, all on one face!
Sima Languan!
He was the formidable enemy who had once fought fiercely with Jian Chou in the Tripod Competition, the long-famous first person of that generation from the Ghost King clan!
It’s just that the results of that year’s Tripod Competition were truly unsatisfactory. Also because he personally experienced the shock of Jian Chou’s palm that day and gained some insight, he refused the appointment to the Bafang Halls, didn’t accept the judge position, only returned to the Ghost King clan to cultivate in seclusion. Now he had achieved some small success.
Hearing of the battle and that Jian Chou had reappeared, he transformed into a ghost general to come to the battlefield.
This strange blood talisman suddenly taking human form, besides having Jian Chou’s appearance, actually raised its hand in a palm strike!
Heaven-Flipping Seal!
It looked mighty and domineering, its power sufficient to injure ghost cultivators at the Golden Body realm. Sima Languan was shocked for an instant, but in just a moment saw through that this technique’s power was probably less than one or two-tenths of that ghost Jian Chou’s palm from that day!
He immediately sneered: “Empty form, seeking death!”
His face showed no change, his remaining beautiful eyebrows showing cold indifference. Only the human skin lantern in his hand suddenly brightened, directly flying up to meet that Jian Chou phantom’s palm!
“Boom!”
The palm shadow instantly extinguished, but the human skin lantern’s light only flickered slightly.
Sima Languan’s form showed no pause, having already seen that Zuoliu who had used the blood talisman was an extremely unstable factor on this battlefield, intending to go and eliminate him.
Zuoliu could now be considered an old monster who had cultivated to the Nascent Soul realm, only what he cultivated was what cultivators found troublesome “unorthodox paths,” so there were many shortcomings in combat power. Moreover, having successfully displayed two consecutive techniques that caused huge losses to the Extreme Domain side, he was inevitably somewhat pleased with himself.
How could he have expected someone could counter-attack?
At this moment he only saw a person whose beauty or ugliness was indistinguishable flying from the opposing battle formation, a ghostly claw-like pale palm continuously enlarging in his vision, about to be caught in that palm!
But just in this instant, when Sima Languan’s palm was only inches from Zuoliu’s brow!
Everything seemed to freeze.
Sima Languan stopped in mid-air like a sculpture, unable to move even slightly!
Because at this moment, a moon-white figure had descended from above, sleeves fluttering, pale slender five fingers formed into claws reaching out, already gripping his head from behind!
Wind rose, a laugh filled with killing intent.
“Empty form? Then let Brother Sima see me—am I real enough?!”