"This blade is named Yuan Tu. Today, it shall slaughter every Tianyuan grandmaster!"
The clear, resonant voice of the black-robed Daoist carried outward in a slow, sweeping tide.
Fury flared across Liancheng's face. "Insolent boaster!"
He threw out a palm strike. Heaven and earth origin qi bent to his command, coalescing into an immense hand that slammed toward Luo Chen.
Refusing to yield an inch, Luo Chen formed an incantation gesture and pointed forward.
A fire phoenix spread its wings, roaring proudly as it surged ahead.
The giant hand and the fire phoenix collided in an instant, violently jarring the void.
Though these two moves appeared colossal in scale, they were merely the most rudimentary exchanges between the pair.
"As expected, you have grasped the true intent of laws, allowing you to manipulate heaven and earth origin qi across cultivation realms." Watching the turbulence in the origin qi filling the world, Liancheng raised an eyebrow, his tone suddenly shifting. "Yet, in the end, you are no Soul Formation grandmaster. The volume of origin qi you can command amounts to nothing more than this!"
Even as he sought to rattle Luo Chen with words, Liancheng struck with both hands in rapid succession. Vast surges of heaven and earth origin qi augmented the might of his palm arts, falling upon Luo Chen like the relentless blows of a thousand-armed Tathagata.
Facing this onslaught, Luo Chen's expression remained calm and unchanged. Repeating the maneuver, he fired off hand seals in an instantaneous blur.
Fire phoenixes spread their wings; flame dragons roared. Spell after spell poured from his hands as though requiring no magic power at all.
The moment each spell was unleashed, it struck resonance with the heaven and earth origin qi, magnifying its destructive might.
This differed from how exceptional Nascent Soul True Persons infused origin power into their arts upon comprehending the true intent of laws. Luo Chen went further by stripping away his barrier against heaven and earth, allowing far greater origin qi to merge into the techniques.
Consequently, even ordinary fourth-tier spells carried staggering, world-shaking force in Luo Chen's hands.
What was more!
Every one of these arts was a fourth-tier spell pushed beyond its limits to Great Perfection.
Move for move, they were not in the least inferior to the standard attacks of a Soul Formation grandmaster.
Most crucial of all, Luo Chen had not comprehended merely a single true intent of law!
A single true intent might indeed have fallen short of the origin qi volume a Soul Formation grandmaster could command. But Luo Chen had mastered three full true intents. Even fighting above his realm, he conceded nothing to Liancheng.
For a time, across Tiandi Island, giant hands repeatedly manifested while dragons and phoenixes soared and wheeled in a fierce, cataclysmic collision.
Heaven and earth origin qi churned uncontrollably; wind and clouds tumbled and roared without end.
Suddenly!
Liancheng leapt backward, shifting his peripheral vision toward a particular spot.
There, what had previously been a minuscule vortex was expanding relentlessly. A vibrant, surging aura rose furiously from within it.
It was an aura that carried the unmistakable sensation of exerting dominion over all living things in heaven and earth.
Delight surged within Liancheng's heart.
*Ke Lianshan has taken that final step—he is about to become a Soul Formation grandmaster!*
With that, the God Descent Array would gain a new master, and no one would remain to halt the descent of True Monarch Baihu.
His own side had gained another Soul Formation combatant, while Luo Chen's ally, Li Canghai, had deserted the battlefield.
"Luo Chen, your death is truly at hand!"
Liancheng laughed aloud, making no attempt to conceal his triumph.
Yet for reasons he could not fathom, beyond the initial startlement and surprise on Luo Chen's face, he seemed to catch a glimmer of unexpected delight.
Though he did not understand why, Liancheng knew what he had to do next.
Ke Lianshan was breaking through to the Soul Formation stage inside the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven, shielded from external interference with ample guarantees of safety.
Yet the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven was ultimately only a small grotto-heaven world formed from the carcass of a fallen, mighty creature.
Dwelling inside it, one could not shatter the inherent shackles bounding living beings.
This was precisely why several clans of the Tianyuan Dao Sect grew spirit herbs within it, only to find that even after reaching the fourth or fifth tier, those herbs could never naturally attain spiritual sapience.
Sapience was the ceiling for flora and fauna.
The divine soul was the shackle upon humankind!
It was for this very reason that Ke Lianshan had employed the Lanke Chessboard to open a passage linking inside and out, drawing external heaven and earth origin qi within.
Now, however, Tiandi Island had become the battlefield where he and Luo Chen were clashing. The origin qi in the void across this realm was in violent turmoil, which would severely prolong the time needed for Ke Lianshan's breakthrough.
*Whether to ensure the smooth operation of the God Descent Array or to allow Ke Lianshan to achieve Soul Formation, I must lure Luo Chen away—or rather... slay him!*
Steeling his resolve, Liancheng joined his hands to form an upright square character, 'kou.' His fingertips extended outward, lengthening his four fingers to cast four additional corners beyond the square, forming the character 'jing,' like a grid of intersecting lines.
Though this grid appeared small, it enveloped Luo Chen in the distance.
In an instant, the endlessly churning heaven and earth origin qi fell deathly still.
Luo Chen's heart stirred. It was that familiar sensation once more.
Just moments ago, when he had tried to sever the starlight pillar of the God Descent Array with his sword, he had been influenced by this very sensation, causing his strike to go astray.
Was this an earth-attribute divine ability Liancheng had mastered?
Luo Chen mobilized the power of Fire Origin, attempting to wrest back control of the heaven and earth origin qi, but with little effect.
Inside his body, however, the Wither-Bloom True Fire surged eagerly.
*You can counter it?*
Realization struck Luo Chen. As another true intent of laws, the wood-attribute Wither-Bloom True Intent did indeed hold a subtle restraint over his opponent's divine ability.
Yet Luo Chen made no move to resist the technique. He merely sneered at Liancheng.
The next instant.
Space and time shifted!
Two figures abruptly materialized above the boundless ocean.
Far in the distance, Tiandi Island was an unreachable speck of black.
Behind them, right before their eyes, lay Dongyuan Continent. Flames soared into the night sky, and wolf smoke billowed on all sides.
Gripping his longsword, Luo Chen sneered. "You moved our battlefield here—aren't you afraid the aftershocks of our fight will destroy your sect's ancestral grounds?"
Without waiting for Liancheng to reply, he murmured to himself, "Then again, why would you care? From the moment you used the unification of the Central Plains as a pretext while actually siphoning the spiritual opportunities of the four continents, you never gave a thought to the survival of the Tianyuan Dao Sect. Otherwise, why would you have turned a blind eye when the forces I led stormed into Dongyuan Continent?"
Liancheng's expression darkened slightly.
Clearly, Luo Chen's words had ripped away his veneer of hypocrisy.
That was indeed what he thought.
The reasoning was simple: back then, the Tianyuan Dao Sect of the Mountain Sea Realm had been built from nothing, and even if it were destroyed today, it could be rebuilt all the same.
So long as he survived, and so long as True Monarch Baihu descended to this realm to utterly annihilate their great nemesis, the demon phoenix Qixia!
"This seat has run out of patience for you. Surrender your life!"
Liancheng barked coldly and flung out his arm. A yellow sand cloth bag flew out from behind him.
Strands of fine golden sand spewed forth, accompanied by a howling gale.
In a flash, sand flew and stones rolled; heaven and earth turned into a murky blur.
Luo Chen took a deep breath, his longsword continuously splashing forth sword radiance.
Yet the fierce, peerless light that had previously been capable of severing a heaven-reaching beam of light—even cleaving the continent of Tiandi Island in two—sank into the flying sand like a clay ox into the sea, meeting no resistance whatsoever.
Not only that, but each grain of flying sand that struck him wore down a substantial portion of his protective barrier.
Even the reforged Xuanchen Armor trembled under this grinding barrage, fine fissures spreading across its surface.
*A spirit treasure?*
*No, not a spirit treasure.*
*It is a magic treasure forged by fusing special materials with restrictive formations to create a unique space.*
*To break this...*
Luo Chen's white-knuckled grip on the Yuantu Sword relaxed slightly.
That one technique could not be used casually as before; his mastery over it was still far from mature.
Yet aside from that move, he was hardly without other methods.
A flicker appeared before him as a translucent, jade-coral fan settled into his hand.
It was none other than the pseudo-spirit treasure bestowed by Monarch Qixia: the Blood Jade Tri-Flame Fan!
It had already absorbed a massive quantity of the lingering Nirvana Holy Fire from the Netherworld Abyss, possessing considerable might once unleashed.
Yet that was still far from enough!
With a thought from Luo Chen, the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire flared anew!
"Get inside!"
The Wither-Bloom Divine Fire seemed to sense what was coming. Though reluctant, it ultimately dove into the Blood Jade Tri-Flame Fan.
Nor was that all. Luo Chen hardened his expression, and a wisp of eerie blue flame rose from his fingertip.
Upon appearing, this faint blue flame shifted into the shape of a tiny blue fish.
It was none other than the Shark Emperor True Flame obtained from the Arctic Yama Heavens!
Originally, this flame had possessed a muddled will, failing to break through to the fifth tier despite countless years of nurturing by the Merfolk. But under Luo Chen's formidable fire control and painstaking purification, the Shark Emperor True Flame had become exceptionally pure. Decades had passed, leaving it just a single step away from the fifth tier.
Now, however, there was no time to allow it to grow further.
"You get in as well!"
The blue fish fire spirit uttered a sorrowful wail and plunged into the jade fan without looking back.
Three formidable flames gathered together, coalescing into an overwhelmingly destructive power that even Luo Chen could not control.
How could a mere pseudo-spirit treasure endure it?
Scorching power began to boil; an aura of annihilation began to spread.
Operating the Yellow Sand Bag, Liancheng felt this development and was seized with dread. *What on earth is he doing?*
The very next instant!
Amidst the hazy flying sand, the black-robed Daoist gently waved the jade fan.
*Boom!*
A tri-colored blazing radiance poured forth.
It transformed into an irresistible, heaven-shaking force that swept in all directions.
Flying sand and rolling stones were reduced to ashes.
The yellow sand cloth bag burst apart without warning.
Before Liancheng could react, the destruction of his treasure brought a backlash upon his mind. In that split second of daze, he saw the tri-colored blaze surging toward him like a torrent of molten flame.
He raised both hands before him, a jade pendant transforming into an impregnable defensive wall.
Yet!
The moment they made contact—
*Boom!*
The tri-colored blaze flashed past in an instant.
The annihilating force slammed squarely into Liancheng's body.
In a single breath, the terrifying heat charred his physical body into blackened charcoal.
A black figure followed close behind, fingers aligned like a sword as he thrust one finger forward.
"Wither-Bloom!"
The Wither-Bloom Dao Finger landed from afar upon the charred body, cloaking it in greyish-white light.
Before the naked eye, the charred body began to shatter, cracking like a ruined porcelain doll.
*Crack!*
Liancheng's physical form burst apart. Around his colossal divine soul, the faint, weakened blue fish snapped and tore, while a resilient, unyielding pale-green sapling sprawled outward, spreading its branches.
Yet Liancheng's divine soul ignored all of it, throwing a single palm strike forward.
"Overturn Earth!"
A divine ability—another divine ability!
Beyond mastering Near Yet Far to shift across the void, Liancheng possessed another divine ability of sheer destructive lethal force.
This was the true heritage of a Dao Sect grandmaster!
With that single palm strike, he stamped a crushing blow directly onto the chest of Luo Chen, who had pursued him relentlessly.
In his quest for a decisive kill, Luo Chen had swung the Blood Jade Tri-Flame Fan and unleashed the Wither-Bloom Dao Finger in rapid succession, leaving his defenses wide open and offering no time to parry this counterattack.
He felt the world invert as boundless origin qi bore down upon him like an avalanche.
Unable to dodge, he could only endure it head-on!
The Xuanchen Armor rippled across his entire frame; his physical body expanded hundreds and thousands of times over, while his natal magic treasure, the Hunyuan Cauldron, answered his will, blanketing him in a five-colored halo.
All of this occurred in the span of a heartbeat.
Then came the impact.
*Boom!*
Like a meteor plummeting from the heavens, the black-robed Daoist crashed violently into the boundless ocean.
The force of Liancheng's palm did not end there. Channeling this technique at the limit of his power by linking his pure divine soul to heaven and earth, the strike drove Luo Chen downward while the residual force pressed a terrifying, monstrous five-fingered imprint into the sea's surface.
In a cascading chain reaction, colossal waves surged upward, crashing in all directions.
Dongyuan Continent, situated so perilously close, bore the brunt of it!
The wildly surging waves swept directly into the inland plains.
A horrific tsunami engulfed the whole of Dongyuan Continent, sweeping countless unsuspecting beings into its churning depths.
Liancheng paid it no heed. His exposed divine soul panted for breath, terror lingering across his features.
Shaking his soul, he blasted away the scattered golden flames.
Potent though the Nirvana Holy Fire was, this portion had not been cultivated by Luo Chen himself; it had merely been gathered from the remnants left by Monarch Qixia in the Netherworld Abyss.
After more than a century, little of its spirituality remained, making it relatively easy to dispel.
Next, he snatched outward with both hands.
The Wither-Bloom fire tree was clever; the moment it had entered the Blood Jade Tri-Flame Fan, it had anticipated what was to come. Thus, it had plunged straight into the sea at the earliest opportunity, evading his grasp.
The blue fish fire spirit was not so fortunate.
It was seized squarely in Liancheng's hand.
"Never did this seat imagine being driven to such desperate straits by a mere Nascent Soul cultivator!"
Lingering dread gripped Liancheng's heart as he clenched his fist around the blue fish fire spirit with vicious force.
*Pop!*
Like a bursting bubble, the blue fish fire spirit dissipated into the void with a sorrowful wail, leaving behind only faint ripples of fiery light.
Though his colossal divine soul stood tall between heaven and earth, it projected little majesty; instead, a vast expanse of greyish-white light spread across it, gnawing away incessantly.
Under this erosion, his soul's appearance—which had retained a youthful vigor—shifted eerily back and forth between youth and decrepitude.
Liancheng's magic power fought continuously against the greyish-white light, but the power clung to him like a maggot on bone, exceedingly difficult to purge quickly.
*A wood-attribute divine ability that perfectly counters the Earth Origin?*
*Had I known, I would not have been careless enough to engage him with only the Yellow Sand Bag; I should have used the Bone Burying Umbrella straight away.*
*Fortunately, he was not at the Soul Formation stage after all. Having taken my Overturn Earth Divine Palm head-on, not even the gods could save him!*
His divine sense scoured heaven and earth, plunging deep into the ocean depths, yet he could no longer find the slightest trace of Luo Chen's aura.
Panting heavily, Liancheng finally let out a long breath of relief.
Though his physical body was destroyed and his divine soul injured, to a Soul Formation cultivator, a mere shell of flesh meant nothing so long as the soul endured.
With a bit of time and materials afterward, he could easily fashion another.
Now that the great enemy was eliminated, what remained was...
Liancheng turned toward Tiandi Island, and with a single glance, disbelief seized him!
At the entrance of the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven, the origin qi vortex that had previously condensed into shape had begun to churn in violent disarray.
This signaled that Ke Lianshan's breakthrough to Soul Formation was on the brink of failure!
This was impossible!
Having come this far, backed by Ke Lianshan's thousand years of accumulation, the vast Soul Formation experience of the Tianyuan Dao Sect, and the aid of the spirit treasure Lanke Chessboard, how could he fail right on the verge of success?
If he failed, and with no one presiding over the God Descent Array, then True Monarch Baihu's descent...
The heaven-reaching pillar of light connecting to the cosmic expanse of stars trembled violently. Great swathes of light began to dim, as if the entire endeavor were about to collapse in defeat.
Right at this moment.
A pair of white-gold hands reached out from the passage, gripping this world with an iron clasp.
A True Monarch of the Profound Realm was attempting to force his descent into this world!
Seeing this, Liancheng's suspended heart settled back down.
"As expected of True Monarch Baihu! With opportunity before him, how could he let it slip? Once he truly descends to this realm, the heavily injured Monarch Qixia will have nowhere to run from death. And with his aid, the Tianyuan Dao Sect can unite the Mountain Sea Realm!"
Just as Liancheng allowed himself to envision this grand future, a clear, ringing cry suddenly echoed between heaven and earth.
A luan's cry tore through the void, sundering the long night.
A streak of cyan light pierced the sky, sweeping over Tiandi Island and charging resolutely into the pillar of light of the God Descent Array.
"Insolent beast, how dare you!"
Chapter 1081