Fierce Battle!

"Now, it is your turn!" Heavenly Master Li's gaze swept over the three of them. His expression was savage and sinister, as though all his previous benevolence had been nothing more than a disguise. With a casual flick of his longsword through empty air, three streaks of sword light suddenly shot out across the calm void, darting straight toward the trio. One against three, and all three were renowned Great Cultivators. He truly possessed immense confidence! Because Luo Chen had just snatched the Demonic Heart Gu, he was closest to him and bore the brunt of the assault. Confronted by the slashing sword light, Luo Chen did not hesitate to bring down a sword-finger in response. A streak of scarlet sword qi surged forth. Yet an unexpected sight unfolded! The moment Luo Chen's scarlet sword qi left his body, it vanished bizarrely. Just like when the others had attacked Heavenly Master Li earlier, it was as if something had cleanly wiped it from existence. Caught completely off guard, Luo Chen saw Heavenly Master Li's sword strike arrive before him. "Hah!" With a low bark, Luo Chen crossed his arms before his chest, meeting the sword light head-on. *Skrrrt...* A violent screech of friction erupted. In the blink of an eye, his protective qi armor shattered. A massive gash was torn across the body of the Xuanchen Armor itself. The sword light bit into his flesh, splitting open skin and muscle on a body as tough as a True Artifact. A faint, putrid stench even began to waft from the wound. *It's Corpse Rot Poison!* Luo Chen's expression shifted slightly as the immense force blasted him a hundred zhang away, sending him crashing into a wall near the main tomb. Looking down at his arms, his face darkened. How many years had it been? Apart from Qingshuang, how long had it been since anyone had inflicted such a direct injury on his physical body? "Is this the technique you said you prepared specifically for me?" Rumbling booms echoed nearby—the aftermath of the strikes that had landed on Meng Shentong and Granny Hongye. Heavenly Master Li floated slowly through the dust and haze, looking down at Luo Chen from above with open disdain, his longsword tilted toward the ground. "What does a powerful body matter? This Corpse Rot Poison of mine was harvested from the Taiye giants of the untamed wilderness and nurtured through secret arts for several decades. It counters physical powerhouses above all else!" Luo Chen looked down at his arms. The long, diagonal sword slashes cut deep enough to reveal bone. The lingering Corpse Rot Poison clung to him like maggots on rotten flesh; neither magic power nor origin power could purge it. It was only because his physical body was tempered to the extreme that the toxin's deeper infiltration was halted. Otherwise, in the blink of an eye, the poison would have coursed through his entire body just as it had with Granny Hongye, threatening his Purple Mansion. Yet if it were only this, it would not have caused his expression to change. What truly made him wary was the bizarre nullification of his attack earlier. Lowering his hands, he watched as the Xuanchen Armor knit itself back together, covering his forearms once more. Without turning his head, he asked, "Fellow Daoist Meng, what is a Gu house?" Earlier, Meng Shentong had cried out in alarm and decisively tried to flee. From that, it was clear he understood something of Heavenly Master Li's methods. On another patch of ground, Meng Shentong looked utterly disheveled, sheltered behind a damaged shield. "A so-called Gu house is a unique construct formed from an immense swarm of Gu insects. You can understand it as a magic treasure of the Gu Dao." "This method has circulated in the Southern Border for ages, yet no one has ever managed to create one. Building a complete, stable Gu house requires an extraordinarily deep, precise understanding of Gu insects. One must also arrange and coordinate them in proper sequence according to their habits, types, and functional traits." "The greater the number of Gu, the more stable the Gu house. The higher the rank of the core Gu, the mightier the Gu house's power!" "Every type of Gu house possesses an extraordinarily unique function, often bordering on the miraculous! For it is a miracle born from the fusion of thousands of Gu insects!" *A miracle?* Luo Chen narrowed his eyes. At some point, his Scarlet Eyes and Golden Pupils had activated on their own, sweeping over the surroundings. Vaguely shifting in the background, numerous overlooked auras indeed rose and fell, moving through the surrounding space according to a unique cadence and rhythm. Having spent many days in the Southern Border, he was no longer unfamiliar with Gu insects as he once had been. Such creatures were not inherently terrifying; one could treat them as an alternate breed of demon beasts, or as specialized artifacts and magic treasures. What was truly formidable was the cultivator wielding them. Cultivators developed and tapped into the functions of Gu insects to aid their cultivation and assist in combat, achieving twice the result with half the effort. Strictly speaking, a Tier 4 Gu insect—something countless low-tier cultivators yearned for in vain—amounted to nothing more than a top-grade magic treasure or an ordinary True Artifact. Yet how could the Tier 4 Gu involved in this Gu house be limited to just one or two? As for the mid- and low-tier Gu, there were hundreds, thousands—uncountable in number! *Heavenly Master Li truly lives up to his name as the Southern Border's foremost Gu refiner!* Admiring the feat, Luo Chen gave a slight shudder. The severed Xuanchen Armor mended itself completely, and his protective qi armor manifested anew. Not only that, the Pingshan Crown upon his head shimmered with brilliant light as an earthen-yellow halo poured down like a curtain, cloaking his body. Heavenly Master Li watched this without interfering, a hint of appreciation coloring his gaze. "I have heard that Luo Chen of the Alchemy Grandmasters holds another Daoist title—the Demon-Slaying True Person—to showcase his tremendous combat prowess. Seeing you now, this combat experience of yours is indeed a rare find." Luo Chen asked coldly, "So the special function of this Gu house of yours is to nullify our attacks?" Heavenly Master Li did not deny it. He nodded. "Precisely. This Fengbo Pavilion consumed three thousand two hundred and seventy varieties of Gu insects that I painstakingly gathered; it is the crystallization of my lifetime's wealth and devotion. Any cultivator within it will find their projected attacks naturally dissipating into nothingness, like wind and waves smoothing to a mirror sheen. Yet I, standing within it, remain entirely unaffected. Within the Fengbo Pavilion, the old master knows no hindrance!" The moment these words fell, Meng Shentong's face turned deathly pale. Granny Hongye, who was still locked in a bitter struggle against the Corpse Rot Poison, looked utterly devastated. "Can it truly nullify any attack?" Luo Chen asked. Heavenly Master Li smiled faintly. "You are welcome to try!" *Try it, then!* Luo Chen was not the least bit polite. His left hand formed an incantation seal, summoning a phoenix that took slow flight, while his right hand cleaved horizontally with a palm strike potent enough to split mountains and shatter boulders. With left and right in concert, he unleashed spell and martial skill at the exact same moment. This sight gave Heavenly Master Li a jolt of inner astonishment. Of course, the result unfolded just as he anticipated. Once both attacks were cast, they yielded no reverberation whatsoever, simply vanishing into the void without a trace. "Well?" he asked with a hearty chuckle. Luo Chen did not answer him, sinking into silence instead. Seeing his silence, hearing Granny Hongye's wails, and watching Meng Shentong retreat in panic, Heavenly Master Li smiled broadly. "Therefore, you had best surrender without further struggle!" Both Granny Hongye and Meng Shentong seemed swayed. Yet amidst his contemplation, Luo Chen abruptly spoke up. "If it is truly so formidable, why did you, in your furious state earlier, refrain from pressing your advantage? Why did you suddenly stop after just one sword strike?" "The old master..." "You are merely fierce in appearance but cowardly at heart!" Luo Chen's voice suddenly boomed. "This so-called nullification is nothing but empty words. In truth, you rely on a vast swarm of Gu insects to absorb and digest the force. If our attacks are strong enough, just how much can this Fengbo Pavilion of yours possibly absorb?" Heavenly Master Li's expression remained steady. "Care to try again?" Luo Chen never lacked the spirit of experimentation. Sword qi flickered at his fingertips, yet he did not release it from his body. Instead, he turned into an arrow loosed from a bowstring, charging straight at Heavenly Master Li. Witnessing this, Heavenly Master Li instantly realized that the other man had unknowingly discerned a subtle flaw in his Fengbo Pavilion. Attacks that did not leave the body would not be absorbed. Yet what truly shocked him was... "Why are you unaffected by the Corpse Rot Poison?" *Slash!* As the sword slashed down, Heavenly Master Li sidestepped to evade it, his eyes brimming with astonishment. Given Luo Chen's disposition, he rarely cared to answer questions in battle that exposed his own secrets; even when he spoke, it was usually to wage psychological warfare. Yet he was not fighting alone right now. Sword qi flared and wove through the air from his hand as he called out in a clear, resonant voice: "The reason you held back after your great fury was simply that you were waiting for the Corpse Rot Poison to take hold in Granny Hongye and me, and waiting for Meng Shentong to completely lose his will to fight." "Three against one in open battle—what do we have to fear?" While speaking, Luo Chen stepped into the Moon Stride, his body tracing a bizarre arc through midair. Sword qi tore through the empty air, followed instantly by a bare palm strike. With sword and palm striking in tandem, Heavenly Master Li was caught unprepared and had to strain with all his might to block. *Boom!* Augmented by terrifying strength, Heavenly Master Li crashed toward the ground like a falling meteorite. He slammed into the spot where the black coffin lay, carving out a deep crater. Luo Chen hovered in midair, gazing down with fluttering black hair and fathomless eyes. "Why should you two fellow Daoists shy from battle?" "Even if your magic treasures cannot leave your grasp, they can still expand and contract. They will certainly not be hindered by this useless Fengbo Pavilion!" Spurred by his reminder, Granny Hongye and Meng Shentong came to their senses. From within the crater, a figure suddenly shot out. Three attacks struck downward simultaneously. Fluttering sleeves coiled forward, a massive seal descended with crushing weight, and a shimmering, translucent saber manifested its true form, tearing through the air. Facing these three strikes, the figure moved with startling speed, dodging the great seal while the fluttering sleeves failed to catch up. It then surged backward along the rippling, transparent blade of the saber. In a daze, Meng Shentong seemed to see a four-armed monstrosity, its face covered in compound eyes spinning at dizzying speed. Utterly terrified, he triggered the Vacuum Gu within his body to vanish into the void. Yet the monstrosity was terrifyingly fast. Its bladed arms stabbed straight into the void, piercing along the saber's hilt and plunging deep into his body. Immediately following were three more bladed limbs. *Rip!* With a violent tear from four arms, Meng Shentong's body was ripped to shreds like a tattered sack. A miniature Nascent Soul appeared in the void, dazed and bewildered. Instinctively, it tried to flee, but a terrifying suppressive force bore down from every direction, trapping it as if in a bog, completely unable to budge. *Slash!* A blade cleaved downward! The tiny Nascent Soul instantly collapsed. Before the surging magic power composing the Nascent Soul could erupt, the myriad Gu insects within the Fengbo Pavilion swarmed forward, absorbing and devouring it whole. All of this took long to describe, but in truth, it had erupted in the barest instant after the trio attacked. Only then did the figure slowly turn around, glaring fixatedly at Luo Chen. Luo Chen's pupils contracted slightly, four words slipping from his mouth: "Ghost Crying Evil Mantis!" Then, the sword qi at his fingertips receded, and the blood-red tip of a blade gradually solidified into reality. "Who would have thought that the renowned Heavenly Master Li was also proficient in the Dao of body refinement?" Heavenly Master Li's compound eyes, which seemed composed of tens of thousands of tiny eyes, remained fixed on Luo Chen. A rasping voice rasped from his throat: "I also never imagined that in a mere year, you would cultivate the *Hundred Poisons Body Refinement Technique* to the mastery stage, to the point where even the old master's Corpse Rot Poison is useless against you." "Earlier, when crossing the Gate of Death, I struck you with an ambush palm. Some poisonous qi lingered on my palm back then, but I assumed it was merely a fluke." "Looking at it now, no matter how highly the old master estimated you, I still underestimated you!" *Clang!* The Yuantu Sword was gripped tightly in hand. Luo Chen felt a touch of composure settle over him. Looking at the other's form—a teal-green body with two legs and four arms—countless thoughts flashed through his mind. This physical metamorphosis shared traits with the *Heavenly Roc Transformation* he had cultivated in his early years, both being demon-like alterations. Yet the underlying principles were vastly different. The other man had likely employed some form of metamorphosis-type Gu insects to achieve this through clever trickery. The form he had assumed was probably the Ghost Crying Evil Mantis, a desolate beast recorded in ancient texts. Had this been in the outside world, Luo Chen would not have cared. Yet right now, the Yin-Yang Tomb was enshrouded by the Fengbo Pavilion; he was fighting on his opponent's home ground. In this brief span, the Gu house Fengbo Pavilion had not only demonstrated its ability to absorb and digest attacks, but had also momentarily revealed an uncanny suppressive force. As such, until he shattered the Fengbo Pavilion, he truly had to exercise caution. With the tip of his sword tilting slightly upward, Luo Chen took a deep breath and spoke no further. Origin power erupted beneath his feet, and his silhouette vanished in an instant. When he reappeared, he was already right in Heavenly Master Li's face. A horizontal slash swept out, met by a teal, blade-like arm raised in defense. Luo Chen neither dodged nor yielded, bringing the longsword down with all his might. *Crack!* With a single blow, the teal arm snapped cleanly in two. Heavenly Master Li's face shifted drastically. Never had he imagined that this bladed arm of his, comparable to a True Artifact, would be so frail. With a thought, the Fengbo Pavilion stirred once more. An eerie suppressive force surged forth like a tide, causing Luo Chen's figure to pause. Heavenly Master Li slipped past the Yuantu Sword and thrust his arm forward, the Corpse Rot Sword brandished from his severed arm stump to fill the void. Luo Chen parried casually, seeking an opening to counterattack. His speed of reaction was blisteringly fast, the angles of his sword strikes devious and unpredictable. From these few brief exchanges alone, one could see the sheer depth of Luo Chen's combat experience and the exquisite refinement of his martial skill. Yet every time he was about to seize the upper hand, the ubiquitous Fengbo Pavilion would slow his movements, allowing Heavenly Master Li to regain the initiative. *Clang! Clang! Clang!* A continuous barrage of blades clashing rang frantically through the Yin-Yang Tomb. The piercing, shrill screeches nearly deafened anyone listening. Hiding inside the makeshift defensive array she had laid down, Granny Hongye watched the spectacle with wide, overwhelmed eyes, her expression steeped in horror. The battle here carried little grand spectacle. It did not even resemble the clashes of Golden Core cultivators, who shattered mountains and cleaved the earth at every turn. Yet the razor-sharp killing intent woven into the subtlest details was enough to make one's skin crawl and hair stand on end. *Is this a battle between body cultivators?* It was not surprising that Luo Chen possessed such attainments. When he had roamed the Southern Border under the alias of Baxiu Qitian, he had left a deep impression on everyone. Yet Heavenly Master Li, a close friend she had known for decades, had actually hidden such peerless capability—that was truly shocking. Through clash after clash at close quarters, Granny Hongye gradually began to understand. Heavenly Master Li's body refinement was specifically cultivated to complement the Fengbo Pavilion Gu house! With this Gu house present, ordinary qi refinement powerhouses could not unleash wide-scale ranged attacks at all; he could rely entirely on brute physical might to engage them in close-quarters melee. And even if he faced a body refinement powerhouse of the same realm, the suppressive force of the Fengbo Pavilion kept the battle's rhythm entirely under his control. Had Luo Chen not been possessed of such vast skill and experience, he would likely have been brought down long ago. *Just when did he cultivate such a formidable physical body?* Granny Hongye was utterly baffled. Meanwhile, having clashed frantically with Heavenly Master Li for hundreds of exchanges, Luo Chen gradually began to grasp the truth. Under such fierce combat, even he was beginning to feel the circulation of his origin power slow down, yet the other man showed scarcely any sign of fatigue. The reason was definitely not that the man's body refinement realm surpassed his own. *It's the Demonic Heart Gu!* *The Demonic Heart Gu excels at refining essence into qi, but in that process, there is always an excess, providing him with a boundless supply of surging blood and vital qi effortlessly.* *Coupled with the assistance of this Fengbo Pavilion, his stamina and strength are virtually inexhaustible.* With this realization, Luo Chen's urgency to shatter the Fengbo Pavilion grew even sharper. After another clash of blades, Luo Chen did not retreat but advanced instead, throwing his shoulder forward to endure the slash of one of the mantis arms with his bare flesh. Mountain Colliding Stance! With that slam, Luo Chen borrowed the recoil to leap backward, holding his sword in one hand while forming an incantation seal with the other. A tyrannical aura radiated outward from his body. This aura spread with astonishing speed, blanketing the Yin-Yang Tomb in an instant, and even continuing to unfurl into the vast expanse of the underworld. Seeing this, Heavenly Master Li knew something was amiss and spat from his mouth. A wisp of illusory flame drifted forth. Opposite him, Luo Chen also opened his mouth and spat, sending a wisp of golden flame flying out. The two flames collided in midair, tangling relentlessly. Yet after a brief moment, the golden flame began to overwhelmingly gain the upper hand. Heavenly Master Li was thoroughly shaken. This Incessant Void Flame, which he had obtained by chance in his early years, was exceptionally profound. Ordinary true fire could not compare to it in the slightest. Yet against Luo Chen, it had been suppressed twice in a row. The first time had been earlier, when Luo Chen seized his heart; Li had tried to block him with it and failed. That was why he had not dared unleash it during the combat just now. And the second time was right now. He had not expected it to be so thoroughly outmatched in a direct confrontation. Without a second thought, a ruthless glint flashed across his face. The three layers of blood yokes that had been sealing the wound on his chest detached directly from his flesh, pressing down toward Luo Chen. "Roar!" A black silhouette roared as it lunged out from Luo Chen's person, confronting the three layers of blood yokes head-on. It was none other than the Black King! Thanks to these two clashes buying him a buffer of time, Luo Chen finally had enough room. The incantation seal in his hand reached its conclusion. In an instant, the entire underworld across several thousand li was swept up in the influence. One after another, skeletons and zombies wandering beneath the blood moon had their death qi drained away, collapsing insensibly to the earth. Underground yin-veins boiled and churned across the land, pouring out an aura of deathly, desolate gloom. A torrential sea of death qi surged toward Luo Chen. At last, it converged upon his fingertip! "This grandmaster wishes to see whether this Gu house of yours can withstand this strike!" A fierce glint flashed in Luo Chen's eyes as he thrust his finger forward. "Wither-Bloom!"