Unrivaled Beneath Deity Transformation

A titan five hundred zhang tall spanned the realm, seeming almost to prop up heaven and earth. In contrast, the woman appeared as insignificant as an ant. Yet beneath this extreme disparity in size, the one stepping back was Luo Chen. A person's fame preceded them as surely as a tree cast its shadow; one could hardly blame Luo Chen for feeling timid. Granted, Luo Chen had briefly pulled off the unprecedented feat of fighting three Great Demon Sovereigns at once earlier that day, but he had ultimately defeated them one by one. Even Niugui had only been intercepted thanks to his good friend Sovereign Jiuling stepping into the fray. Qingshuang, however, was different. In years past, she had genuinely and single-handedly defeated three human Great Cultivators. To this day, even someone like Perfected Shenyuan had to flee in utter terror at the mere sight of her. Luo Chen's gaze swept across the vacant sky, swept over Niugui, who was fleeing thousands of li into the distance, swept over Sovereign Jiuling, who struggled to his feet and stumbled backward, and finally settled back onto Qingshuang. "Did this woman suddenly descend today for that flower, or for me?" Luo Chen did not know the answer and could only wait in silence. Qingshuang appraised him quietly, a rare glimmer of appreciation showing in her eyes. "You've grown stronger again." Luo Chen was taken aback. To receive such praise from the one hailed as unrivaled beneath Deity Transformation? Then again, it made sense. When he first met Qingshuang, he had merely been at the early Golden Core stage—someone she could crush effortlessly. The second time he saw her was in the Blade Dominance Domain. Combining the strength of many, Luo Chen had relied on the sharpness of Yuantu to even wound Qingshuang while she was rescuing Lei Peng. And this time, right before her eyes, Luo Chen had incinerated Huang Man, the son of the Ancient Demon Di Tian! To say he had grown stronger was no exaggeration. Yet behind that appreciation lay Luo Chen's mounting dread. It meant she was very likely here for him! Luo Chen's voice was hoarse as a rumbling sound issued from his throat. "Fellow Daoist, you have obtained the rare flower. What further guidance do you have?" Qingshuang stepped forward placidly, walking toward Luo Chen. "I already intended to seek you out. Since we ran into each other today, come with me to Mount Cangwu." Luo Chen's eyes widened abruptly. Without hesitation, he threw a punch. As if anticipating such a reactive response, Qingshuang similarly punched forward. Her petite, porcelain-white fist stood in stark, absurd contrast to the titan's pillar-like hand. Yet beneath that single punch, Luo Chen's colossal body drifted backward like willow catkins caught in a gale. In terms of body refinement, Luo Chen was no match for Qingshuang! Still, he had never intended to contend against her in sheer force. Midair, Luo Chen's form abruptly shrank, using the recoil to fling himself backward. Not only that, he formed an incantation hand sign. A blaze of fire flared brilliantly in the air, and within that flickering illumination, his figure vanished. When he reappeared, he had already crossed several li, followed instantly by another flash of fire. Watching this, Qingshuang raised a slender eyebrow across her tranquil face. She took a single step, ripples spreading subtly through the void like concentric waves, and when she emerged again, she was already standing where Luo Chen had just been. Two figures—one flickering amidst fiery brilliance, the other traversing the void—disappeared from the Medicine King Domain in the blink of an eye. Crack! Sovereign Jiuling struggled to stand upright, awash with the relief of having survived a catastrophe. Gazing in the direction where Luo Chen and Qingshuang had vanished, his expression was complicated beyond measure. Whoosh... A fierce gust of wind stirred. Lingfengzi appeared abruptly, staring with shock and uncertainty at the hellish battlefield. A mountain of white bones, a bottomless crater, and scorched earth for a thousand li, utterly devoid of life. The air still carried a pungent, searing heat, and memories of wild heavenly lightning raining down remained vivid in his mind. Yet in the end, only Sovereign Jiuling stood alone. He swallowed hard. "Where is my senior brother?" Sovereign Jiuling sighed. "I did my best." He truly had. Having been trapped in the grand formation for two or three days, his magic power had been heavily depleted. To prevent Luo Chen from being trapped in a lethal siege by three demons, he had forcefully triggered a secret technique to take on Niugui himself. Had Niugui not been scared off by Qingshuang, and had Qingshuang's eyes not been fixed solely on the Void-Accumulating Flower and Luo Chen, he would likely be a corpse by now. Yet Lingfengzi cared for none of that; he pressed again: "Where is Luo Chen?" ... The Six Far East Domains were not aligned in a straight line. Instead, they were scattered in an uneven cluster, bordering one another at various junctions. Using the Jade Cauldron Domain as a reference point, the Divine Talisman Domain lay the farthest away, while the nearest neighbor was the Hehuan Domain. The Medicine King Domain was situated centrally, and it was precisely this unique geographic advantage that had enabled the Medicine King Sect to become the wealthiest of the six domains in bygone days. Fleeing from the Medicine King Sect, Luo Chen relied on the Fire Escape technique he had created, covering ten thousand li in a headlong rush. Traversing the vast Hehuan Domain took less than half a day. Had word of such escape speed gotten out, ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators would have had their jaws drop in disbelief. Yet Luo Chen still felt it was not enough. Sizzle... A flash of fire flared, and Luo Chen stumbled, tumbling from midair. In the next instant, however, he stabilized himself with his powerful physique. "Wuu... wuu..." Shrill, mournful wails drifted past his ears. As far as the eye could see, the earth lay dim and gloomy, resembling the Nine Nether underworld. "Have I reached the Jade Cauldron Domain?" The former Jade Cauldron Domain had been the smallest in area and the weakest in strength, making it the very first to suffer the assault of the demon army. Now, it had long since devolved into a ghost domain! Especially after over a century of development, it was entirely unfit for human cultivation. The moment the scent of a living being appeared, a swarm of low-grade ghosts condensed from yin qi surged forward. Yet before they could draw near, they were crushed into primal ghostly mist by the surging magic power roiling off Luo Chen. Luo Chen paid no heed to these specters; instead, he turned back with a ferocious grimace. The void was dead calm, appearing utterly empty. Yet he knew that demonic woman was still pursuing him! "Invite me to Mount Cangwu?" "I will never go to that place again!" Steeling his resolve, Luo Chen produced another jar of Golden Wind and Jade Dew wine, gulping it down to replenish his magic power. He shot forward like a flying arrow, piercing the sky. Once his magic power recovered to a certain degree, he unleashed his Fire Escape technique heedless of the cost, striving to widen the gap between himself and Qingshuang. Yet the disparity in speed between them was unimaginable—just like the gap between Luo Chen and an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator. Just as Luo Chen attempted to veer toward Tianfan City, his expression suddenly shifted, and he slashed with his sword to the left. Clang! A fair white fist abruptly emerged from the void and vanished in a flash. The Yuantu Sword was undamaged, but Luo Chen's right arm could not withstand that tremendous force; bones cracked and popped as flesh and blood ruptured. Sizzle... Fire flared once more, and Luo Chen vanished from the spot again. Qingshuang stepped out from the void, her figure slowly solidifying. She looked down at her hand, where a pale white sword mark marred the skin. "That sword..." She murmured softly, then resumed her pursuit in the direction Luo Chen had altered. One pursued while the other fled, traversing hundreds of thousands of li. By the time the second night of the third day fell, Luo Chen landed pale-faced on a desolate expanse of barren land. His face was ghastly pale from unbridled refinement of Golden Wind and Jade Dew wine. His surroundings were starkly white from moonlight reflecting off the snow. Snow? Luo Chen surveyed his surroundings, bewilderment washing over his face. This was the Great Snow Mountain! Without realizing it, he had been chased all the way to this familiar region. Or rather, it was not that he had fled blindly in panic, but that Qingshuang had been steering his escape route all along, deliberately herding him toward Mount Cangwu. "I can't run anymore!" Luo Chen dared not use the Fire Escape technique again. It had not been long since he invented it, and his mastery was still clumsy. Activating it drained an appalling amount of magic power. If he used it further, his Nascent Soul would likely collapse within a few more attempts. Facing Qingshuang's impending arrival, Luo Chen already had a plan in mind. "I still have the strength to fight!" He sat cross-legged on the ground, placing the Yuantu Sword across his knees. Retrieving a jar of Golden Wind and Jade Dew wine, he suppressed his instinctive revulsion and gulped down more than half of it. A vast deluge of spiritual energy dispersed instantly, nearly making him faint. Refining spiritual wine so recklessly took its toll; even with his robust physique, repeated indulgence caused his body to automatically reject it. Yet he could afford no concern for that! This batch of spiritual energy would serve as the final fuel for him to unleash the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire once more. And how was he to withstand Qingshuang's direct assault? Luo Chen drew a deep breath. Between his brows, the teardrop marking grew increasingly distinct. Buzz... Ripples spread through the void. A woman clad in green robes stepped out leisurely, her gaze falling upon the battered man bathed in moonlight atop the snow. Done running at last? ... Black waters circled a continent, flowing so placidly that one could scarcely perceive the liquid's motion. A terrifying chasm spanned the edge of the land, forming a natural moat that neither humans nor demons could easily cross. Within this Ming Water Abyss lay the strongest sect of the Eastern Desolation—the Mingyuan Sect! At that moment, inside an ancient hall, three figures sat in a triangular formation. In their center lay a pool of black water resembling liquid mercury. Within the pool, a glimmer of verdant light repeatedly flared, only to be suppressed again and again. Among the three figures, the youngest was actually the one who spoke with the most worldly gravity. "The Tianyuan Dao Sect commands the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven, which is why their talents emerge in droves and their Deity Transformation cultivators never cease. If we can refine this Immortal Qinghe and assimilate her into the Mingyuan Sacred Land, it will undoubtedly become one of our sect's greatest foundations. At that point, our sect will be able to march east, dominate the Eastern Desolation alone, and contend directly with the Tianyuan Dao Sect!" "Senior Brother Yuming speaks true. Although Immortal Qinghe is not quite comparable to the ancient Great Desolate Mirage Dragon, she is living after all, and her true form remains intact. Refining her will not only bring boundless benefits to our sect, but will also allow us to break through to the late Deity Transformation stage, depart this realm, and pursue the grand Dao of longevity." Rumor held that once a cultivator attained Deity Transformation, they could ascend. Yet such rumors were largely untrue. While the Deity Transformation realm indeed permitted ascending amidst glowing clouds, it was fundamentally unreliable; only at the late Deity Transformation stage could one obtain the greatest support of a realm's spiritual opportunities. Yet within the Mountain Sea Realm, even the finest spiritual veins were merely fifth-rank. While Deity Transformation cultivators could use them for daily cultivation without issue, taking another step forward was extraordinarily difficult. Still, cultivators were exceedingly ingenious. Over long periods, they had gradually devised numerous methods. Humans were not the favored children of this world; the Mountain Sea Realm's deepest affections lay instead with those ignorant desolate beasts. Thus, the Tianyuan Dao Sect had suppressed the corpse of a Great Desolate Mirage Dragon as the sect's foundation to elevate its spiritual veins. They had further built Heaven and Earth Peak, recruiting vast numbers of elderly Nascent Soul cultivators to channel the world's spiritual opportunities whenever they broke through or passed away. In the present age, desolate beasts were exceedingly rare, most having retreated into the untamed wilderness. Even ordinary mighty figures dared not enter the wilderness lightly, making it difficult for Deity Transformation sacred lands like the Mingyuan Sect to emulate the Tianyuan Dao Sect's actions. However, they had forged a different path and conceived their own way to elevate their spiritual grounds. If no desolate beasts were available, what of spirits endowed with sentience? Desolate beasts were the darlings of heaven and earth, but were monsters born of flora and minerals any less so? This Immortal Qinghe was an exceptionally rare case in the Mountain Sea Realm of vegetation gaining sentience, having even advanced to the unique existence of the fifth rank. If refined into the Mingyuan spiritual grounds, she would continuously absorb vast amounts of natural spiritual opportunities, conferring immense benefits on Deity Transformation cultivators contemplating the true intent of laws. Therefore, after dealing with the Ancient Demon Di Tian, the three ancestors of the Mingyuan Sect paid no further heed to the war between humans and demons. Instead, they led most of their sect members back to the Mingyuan Sect to devote all their strength toward refining Immortal Qinghe. At this moment, as the three Mingyuan ancestors refined Immortal Qinghe, they conversed cheerfully, brimming with hope for the future. Suddenly! Ancestor Heize's brow furrowed, and his refining movements slowed for a fraction of an instant. Presiding over the formation, Ancestor Yuming noticed the anomaly immediately. "Junior Brother, what is it?" With a startled expression, Ancestor Heize formed an incantation hand sign, and the result confirmed his suspicion. "The protective divine ability I left on Luo Chen has been triggered." At these words, the other two found it strange. Ancestor Yuming asked, "You mean he encountered a formidable foe he could not resist and was forced to utilize a Deity Transformation measure?" Ancestor Tianyuan was curious. "When I hurriedly observed that Alchemy Master at Biyou Mountain, his magic power was profound and his foundation solid; few among his peers could match him. With the backing of our Mingyuan Sect's name, who would dare strike against him?" Ancestor Heize shook his head, his expression turning solemn. "Regardless of who it is, Luo Chen is my handpicked candidate for the next Alchemy Saint. Only he might possibly concoct a fifth-rank divine pill to aid our cultivation." "Back then, the Alchemy Saint was enticed by the Tianyuan Dao Sect and left the Mingyuan Sect." "Nothing must happen to Luo Chen!" As he spoke, he moved to halt his actions. Ancestor Yuming frowned. "Refining Immortal Qinghe is our paramount priority. Less than eighteen years have passed; how can you withdraw so lightly?" Ancestor Heize hesitated. "But..." Ancestor Tianyuan smiled faintly. "No matter. Let my avatar make the trip. Junior Brother, lend me Luo Chen's aura!" The three ancestors of the Mingyuan Sect each possessed distinct specialties. Ancestor Tianyuan was most proficient in the art of external avatars; when capturing Immortal Qinghe earlier, they had not relied solely on the likes of Lei Daozi. Ancestor Heize let out a breath of relief. "With Senior Brother's avatar taking action, there should be no issue." With a flick of his finger, he retrieved the strand of Luo Chen's aura he had secretly gathered in Tianshui Palace. Combined with the guidance of his own divine ability, locating Luo Chen's whereabouts would not be difficult. Having obtained Luo Chen's aura, Ancestor Tianyuan willed it and cast it outside the hall. Ripples formed across the quietly flowing Ming Water Abyss. The Mingyuan Sect disciples tasked with guarding the chasm were startled, unable to comprehend why the sect barrier, undisturbed for centuries, was suddenly churning. In the next instant, a figure slowly rose from the abyss. Facing the direction of Tianming Palace, he inhaled deeply, as if swallowing something, before soaring into the sky with a great splash and departing the Mingyuan Sacred Land. Only then did the Mingyuan Sect disciples realize that this was an avatar meticulously cultivated by their ancestor. Yet the great war in the outside world had already begun to subside; what matter could warrant an ancestor's avatar making a personal journey? ... Bang! Following a resounding crash, Qingshuang stood rooted to the spot, motionless. She slowly withdrew her fist, looking at the man before her enveloped in a curtain of blue water, a hint of disgust appearing on her face. "The technique of the one who invaded Mount Cangwu back then. Is this your reliance?" Luo Chen did not reply. Even with the Heaven-Born Prime Water protective divine ability, every punch and kick of hers carried terrifying, monstrous force. His body refinement realm, his greatest pride, could barely hold out against such power. Had he not persistently consumed the thousand-year Five Shrines Immortal Brew over the years to temper his body, the reverberating force would have ruptured his internal organs despite the protection granted by a Deity Transformation mighty figure. Within his body, waves of force continued to reverberate violently, attempting to dismantle his physical form. He couldn't suppress it! A ruthless glint flashed in Luo Chen's eyes. Instead of retreating, he advanced. He did not transform into his several-hundred-zhang true form, nor did he even manifest his conventional nine-zhang physique. Qingshuang was neither Baizu nor Huang Man. Before her, any advantage conferred by sheer size did not exist; it would only make him a living target. In comparison, agility was far more important. Luo Chen threw a punch, and Qingshuang punched back without dodging or yielding. It seemed poised to be a head-on clash, but mid-swing, Luo Chen twisted his waist, his leg whipping out like a torrential downpour. The corners of Qingshuang's mouth curved upward as she similarly swept out her slender leg. Bang! Bang! Bang! Amidst consecutive collisions, a furious roar erupted as Black King lunged forward with bared fangs. Qingshuang reached out, caught Black King, and pulled with both hands. Riiip... Black King was ripped cleanly in two, falling limply to the ground. Luo Chen had no time to check on Black King's condition. Treading upon Moon Steps, he circled behind Qingshuang and struck out with a palm. An afterimage shattered; Luo Chen's strike hit only empty air. Before he could react, the void behind him trembled, and a finger tapped lightly against his back. Thud! With just that single tap, Luo Chen stumbled. Even with his source power circulating, he still could not disperse the layered, reverberating shockwaves. With a grim expression, Luo Chen drove an elbow backward, but struck only air once again. His pale golden eyes swept continuously across the void, yet failed entirely to locate any trace of Qingshuang. Suddenly, the sound of tearing air smashed down from above. Luo Chen raised his sword to stab upward. Clang! Under the crushing weight of terrifying force, Luo Chen plummeted directly to the ground. Qingshuang hovered in the void. There was no visible magic power supporting her, nor clouds or breezes framing her presence; she simply stood in midair, unremarkable and unadorned. Looking down at Luo Chen, Qingshuang shook her head. "Though you have grown considerably, you can neither hit me nor harm me. Resistance is ultimately futile." Upon the earth, Luo Chen climbed to his feet in disarray. For the first time in his life, he felt so utterly powerless. Even when he had been captured unawares by Qingshuang's Universe in the Sleeve back then, he had not felt it so acutely. Only now, as his realm gradually caught up to hers, did he truly grasp the staggering chasm between them. No wonder someone as powerful as Shenyuan fled the moment he laid eyes on her. No wonder Lingtian Pass needed to rely on grand formations to deter Qingshuang's invasion. No wonder the Mingyuan Sect had been forced to dispatch their Deity Transformation ancestors in person before daring to set foot on Mount Cangwu. "Is this what it means to be unrivaled beneath Deity Transformation?" Luo Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up. Qingshuang had vanished once more. Concealing herself within the void, elusive as a phantom. Even a cultivator's spiritual sense could scarcely lock onto her. Relying on nothing more than a pair of bare fists, she swept away all opposition. How Luo Chen wished his eyes could do more than dispel illusions—if only they could pierce the void and perceive spatial fluctuations. At least then, he would not be so passive. Yet the battle gave him no time for idle thoughts. Bang! A fist materialized abruptly from his left. The blue light barrier enveloping Luo Chen began caving inward visibly to the naked eye. Qingshuang manifested again, but this time she did not stop at a mere punch. Instead, she placed both hands against the edge of the barrier, white light radiating from her palms. She intended to tear apart the protective divine ability left behind by that person! She possessed the confidence to do so! And she had no desire to tangle further with Luo Chen! Yet at that very moment, she caught sight of the sheer madness in Luo Chen's eyes. Whoosh!!! A pale verdant flame erupted without warning, surging violently outward with Luo Chen at its center. Caught off guard, Qingshuang was grazed by a wisp of the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire. Instantly, she recoiled backward, and Luo Chen's sword slash missed once again. Stumbling, Luo Chen fell to one knee, the magic power in his body completely hollowed out and his source power grinding to a halt. Amidst rippling waves in the void, Qingshuang appeared once more. She looked down at her charred black left hand, her expression bearing a faint trace of admiration, but also a sliver of regret. "All out, aren't you?"