Child of Destiny

The four-armed woman sensed Xu Ying's Nuo art invading her Golden Core, only to be blocked and suppressed by its immense power. She was momentarily stunned. "He doesn't seem quite as formidable as I imagined." A moment earlier, when she had rashly faced Xu Ying's Nuo art, her physical body had aged at terrifying speed. Convinced that his divine power was something she had never encountered before, she had not dared to prolong the fight. Now that she had gathered her senses, she realized something was amiss. She raised her palm. As she circulated her cultivation method, vitality gradually returned to her body, and her withered skin slowly regained its suppleness. Relieved, she murmured, "There really was a catch!" Seeing herself age so rapidly had made her think he possessed some divine power that controlled time. Now it was clear he had merely used an unusual technique to plunder her physical vitality. "If I seal all my acupoints and keep my vital blood from leaking, he won't be able to do a thing to me!" Just as she considered turning back to fight Xu Ying again, a voice called from above: "Junior Sister Yue Hongzhu, hurry up! We've found traces of an immortal Dao spiritual root!" The four-armed woman had no choice but to abandon the thought and sprint up Jade Mountain. "Her name is Yue Hongzhu?" Xu Ying looked upward, watching the four-armed woman swiftly disappear from sight. Jade Mountain was carpeted in lush vegetation, seemingly untouched by the battle between good and evil that had raged across the realm. It was impossible to tell how anyone could find an immortal Dao spiritual root amid such dense flora. Xu Ying reflected carefully on his brief clash with Yue Hongzhu, weighing their divine powers against each other. The technique he had just used was called Reverse Longevity, an advanced Nuo art from the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Longevity Art that stripped an enemy's body of vitality, causing their flesh to wither with age. Zhou Qiyun had once used this method by the Nai River to plunder eight thousand years of longevity from the giant locust tree! When Xu Ying used it against Yue Hongzhu, it had been effective at first, but once she crushed it with the weight of her Golden Core, the Reverse Longevity Art was broken. "The Nuo arts recorded in the Longevity Art lack raw power. Against someone of equal cultivation, they can strip away vitality, but if the opponent's cultivation is slightly higher, the art will be broken." Xu Ying pondered how to remedy this shortcoming. "I could narrow the area covered by the Nuo art and concentrate the strike on a single part of the human body. For instance, just now I could have focused the Reverse Longevity Art on Yue Hongzhu's eyes, aging them in an instant. I could also target her heart, aging it until it stops beating." The more Xu Ying thought about it, the more excited he became. He set to work immediately on modifying the Nuo art from the Longevity Art. "Or I could target her brain, aging it in a split second until it's riddled with decay!" Nearby, Xue Ying'an was still recovering from fright when he noticed Xu Ying standing completely motionless. Thinking Xu Ying had been struck by Yue Hongzhu's art of creation, he stepped forward to help, but Yuan Qi hastily stopped him. "Ah Ying often gets like this. Don't disturb him, or you'll suffer for it." Xue Ying'an asked in confusion, "Suffer what?" Yuan Qi replied, "A year ago, I saw him lost in thought like this. Thinking he had been cursed, I tried to wake him. And then... I was hit by one of his new divine powers. By the time I woke up..." Fear showed on his face. "Two whole months had passed!" The snake's expression darkened with dread. That incident had happened when Xu Ying, Yuan Qi, and the bronze bell were exploring King Han's Hidden Scenery realm. Right after they suppressed King Han's human skin, Xu Ying had examined the wound on the skin and fallen into deep contemplation. When Yuan Qi touched him, he was hit full force by a divine power. Two months later, when the snake finally came around, he found Xu Ying's medical skills had become miraculous, tossing around all kinds of Nuo arts for stitching human flesh as if second nature—especially Nuo arts for suturing nerve plexuses, which Xu Ying performed with frightening precision. Yuan Qi had grown suspicious and asked the bronze bell what had happened during those two months, but the bell hemmed and hawed, refusing to speak. Driven to wit's end by his nagging, the bell finally confessed: *Ah Ying went to great pains to sew you back together. You were shattered to pieces—especially all the nerves throughout your body.* From that day on, Yuan Qi knew that one must never disturb Xu Ying when he was deep in thought. At such times, Xu Ying was almost certainly contemplating some new Nuo art or spell. One careless move, and you would be struck by a technique the world had never seen before. Dying on the spot was one thing; the real horror was that you might survive. "Let's just head up the mountain. He'll follow," Yuan Qi said to Xue Ying'an. Man and snake climbed Jade Mountain. Xue Ying'an glanced back and was slightly relieved to see Xu Ying trailing behind them step for step. "By the way, Ying'an, you're clearly remarkably strong. How did that woman manage to injure you?" Yuan Qi asked as he channeled vitality from his Mud Pill Palace to treat Xue Ying'an's injuries. Seeing that the snake could actually use Nuo arts, Xue Ying'an felt a surge of envy. "Yue Hongzhu is a whole realm higher than me, and she has two extra arms. Her movement and attack speeds were both faster than mine. On top of that, it was a sneak attack that caught me completely off guard." His strength was indeed extraordinary, carefully nurtured by Li Xiaoke. Though he had suffered setback after setback in this desert, it was merely due to his lack of worldly experience. The fact that he could endure so many disasters without dying was proof in itself of his formidable strength! He was one of the few figures among the younger generation who could stand toe-to-toe with Xu Ying. When his sword momentum fully unfolded, even Xu Ying had been forced to evade its edge! Yet Yue Hongzhu's attacks had been so fast that he had not even had time to invoke the red bean immortal root! Had he been able to summon the immortal root in time, he wouldn't have come so close to losing his head! Suddenly, hearty laughter echoed from the summit of Jade Mountain. Zhu Zhongquan rose tall, holding an immortal Dao spiritual root aloft, and proclaimed loudly, "The immortal root truly works! I have finally broken through the Pass-Breaching stage and formed my Golden Core!" His laughter shook the mountainside. Beside him, the Old Immortal, whose body was pierced and bound with hooked chains, broke into a smile as well, thinking, *Forming a Golden Core is enough. Time to seize his body!* Greatly invigorated, Zhu Zhongquan laughed. "Xu Ying, I can finally defeat you fair and square, using you as my stepping stone to rise to glory!" Suddenly, a four-armed alien charged up the mountain, lunging toward Zhu Zhongquan without a word. Moving with astonishing speed, the alien was before him in an instant. Zhu Zhongquan retreated swiftly, attempting to channel the power of the immortal spiritual root. But the four-armed alien was far too fast, and the strikes came in a terrifying blur, landing countless blows in a single breath! Coughing blood, Zhu Zhongquan tumbled backward, and the immortal root slipped from his grasp, tumbling to the ground. Overjoyed, the four-armed alien bent down to grab the root, which thrashed violently, resisting his attempts to refine it. Spitting blood, Zhu Zhongquan watched in bitter frustration and rasped, "Immortal Master, why haven't you acted yet?" Just then, a chain whipped through the air with a whistling rush, wrapping around him and dragging him over. The Old Immortal smiled. "Good disciple, my body is impaled and I cannot muster my power. I can only borrow your strength to kill him. When I do, you must not resist." Zhu Zhongquan nodded. The Old Immortal's brow grew radiant, and a flood of divine light poured forth, surging into Zhu Zhongquan's body! Instantly, Zhu Zhongquan felt control of his limbs slip away, one by one. Darkness crept across his vision, filling him with terror. He tried to resist, but it was already too late! From his own mouth, he heard the Old Immortal's booming laughter: "Hahaha, success at last! That brat finally refined him into the vessel I needed! Hahaha, I have gained a new life!" Shock and fury consumed Zhu Zhongquan. Then the Old Immortal's divine soul came hunting for his presence, intent on wiping him out completely, forcing him to flee. Darting desperately through his own body, he hid inside one of his fingers. Miraculously, the Old Immortal's divine soul did not pursue him there. It was as if the Old Immortal could not locate this finger at all—a truly bizarre phenomenon. Still shaken, Zhu Zhongquan was seized by despair. *A dove seizing a magpie's nest... What do I do now?* He watched his own body rise as the Old Immortal's voice rang out from his lips: "The original master of this body was named Zhu Guang, courtesy name Zhongquan. Now that I have been reborn, my light blazes like the midday sun. Therefore, I shall add a 'sun' atop the character for 'light.' From this day forth, I am Zhu Huang!" Zhu Huang laughed uproariously. Looking at the four-armed alien who had refined the spiritual root and was now charging toward him, he suddenly shot two beams of Yin and Yang Qi from his eyes. They crossed like shears, cleanly severing the four-armed alien at the waist! After the kill, his aura surged. Catching the fleeing spiritual root, he manifested the six secret depositories behind him, cave-heavens large and small whirling endlessly. "A Qi Refiner combined with the six secrets is this powerful! Pitiful Zhu Zhongquan had no idea how to wield such power! But I can use it to sweep across the world!" Before his words finished echoing, Zhu Hongyi's voice rang out: "Zhongquan, are you all right?" Zhu Huang turned to look. Zhu Hongyi was rushing toward the summit, graceful and striking in her red robes. A lustful impulse stirred in his chest. *This woman is Zhu Zhongquan's sister, meaning she's the sister of this body, but what does that have to do with me? Why don't I...* Noticing his gaze, Zhu Hongyi felt a chill. Then her eyes fell on the Old Immortal's corpse on the ground, and suspicion instantly flared. She probed carefully, "Zhongquan, you..." Without warning, her fingers swept across her pipa, attacking Zhu Huang's divine soul! Zhu Huang's soul had not yet fully stabilized. Struck by the sonic attack of the pipa, his soul convulsed violently, nearly thrown out of the body. Terrified, he abandoned any thought of harming Zhu Hongyi. Snatching his original corpse, he leapt off the cliff. Zhu Hongyi jumped after him in hot pursuit, only to see numerous Nuo masters from the Zhu clan ahead besieging a four-armed alien. Among them were several Grand Nuo. She shouted urgently, "Stop Zhu Zhongquan!" Zhu Huang laughed wildly and dove into their midst like a tiger among sheep, unleashing a bloodbath. Within moments, dozens of Nuo masters—including the Grand Nuo and the four-armed alien—were slaughtered without exception! Furious and alarmed, Zhu Hongyi strummed her pipa frantically, assailing his soul. Yet Zhu Huang merely swayed once before bursting beyond the range of the pipa's music. Gritting her teeth, Zhu Hongyi gave chase, only to find a trail of corpses left in his wake. Members of the Cui clan had met his deadly hand; everyone in his path had been slain in an instant! Hidden inside one of Zhu Huang's fingers, Zhu Zhongquan's soul witnessed him displaying all manner of supernatural arts with breathtaking perfection. A chill of awe and dread gripped him. *So Nuo arts can be used like this!* Then despondency washed over him. The stronger Zhu Huang became, the less hope he had of ever reclaiming his body. *The fortuneteller told me I had the destiny of an emperor. Am I truly doomed to perish here?* Despair clawed at his heart. Then he pulled himself together, thinking, *Being close to the water lets one catch the moon first. His Nuo arts and divine powers are so formidable; this is the perfect chance for me to learn and grow stronger. Zhu Huang is so arrogant he's bound to take a massive fall. The moment his soul is injured will be my chance to rise again!* Meanwhile, Yue Hongzhu reached the upper slopes of Jade Mountain and quickly arrived beside the senior brother who had called to her. "Fifth Senior Brother, I ran into an alien expert whose divine power was exceedingly strange." She described Xu Ying's Reverse Longevity Art. Her fifth senior brother, Xiao Zheng, who also possessed four arms, marveled upon hearing it. "There's actually such a spell? How bizarre. If he mastered it, wouldn't he hold the power of life and death over others?" Yue Hongzhu smiled. "His technique is easy to break. Once I summoned my Golden Core, I suppressed it with ease." Xiao Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "I see. I thought his technique was truly profound, but it seems he lacks the true legacy. Hongzhu, look over there!" Yue Hongzhu followed his finger and saw a white-robed immortal seated beneath a massive tree. The towering tree possessed twisting, gnarled branches that coiled like dragons and crouched like tigers, hung heavy with yellow leaves. Beneath the tree, the immortal radiated transcendent grace, surrounded by fallen yellow leaves. A gentle smile touched his face, his gaze warm and tranquil, pinching a fresh blossom in his hand as if about to bring it to his nose to savor its fragrance. Yet beneath the tree lay bones scattered everywhere. Judging by the clean fractures, they had met gruesome ends. Some had been severed at the waist, others had their heads crushed, and some had been shrunk to mere inches before being trampled flat! Evidently, countless people had tried to harvest the immortal Dao spiritual root here, only to be slaughtered by the white-robed immortal. Judging by his stillness, however, the white-robed immortal must have been dead for an unknowable age. He had likely been an immortal who ascended to this place, only to find no road forward. Trapped here, he had died in despair. The flower in his hand was probably the immortal root, which he had used to prolong his life, unwilling to let go even in death. Yue Hongzhu's eyes shone, her breath quickening. "Could the flower in his hand be the spiritual root?" Xiao Zheng shook his head. "Wrong." Her gaze shifted to the ancient, yellow-leafed tree, and she smiled. "The real root is that tree!" Xiao Zheng shook his head again. "Wrong again." Yue Hongzhu blinked in confusion. "Fifth Senior Brother, stop keeping me in suspense. Tell me, what on earth is the immortal root?" Xiao Zheng walked toward the white-robed immortal and smiled. "The immortal root is this immortal." Yue Hongzhu was startled and warned hastily, "Senior Brother, that is an immortal's corpse! It must be protected by immortal arts! If you go near, you'll die!" Xiao Zheng laughed heartily. "This immortal root excels at mimicry. It has used this terrible apparition to scare away who knows how many people. But it forgot one thing: ever since that great villain descended upon the world, no one has been able to survive tribulation and ascend! Since no one can ascend, where would an immortal come from?" As soon as the words left his mouth, the expression of the white-robed immortal under the yellow tree darkened. He slowly rose, and the world seemed to tilt as an indescribable pressure bore down upon them. Xiao Zheng said grimly, "Junior Sister, lend me a hand! We mustn't let it escape! Having terrified so many, the primordial Dao essence inside this immortal root must be extraordinary!" With a thunderous roar, his body expanded, transforming into a thirty-foot giant in the blink of an eye as he reached toward the white-robed immortal! Suddenly, the apparition before them dissolved, replaced by a green vine clinging to the yellow tree. Its tendrils whipped through the air with a sharp crack, striking Xiao Zheng and snapping one of his arms. However, Xiao Zheng's other three arms seized the vine. The green vine immediately severed its own tendrils, leaving only a stub barely three feet tall, ripped itself out of the soil, and bolted at breakneck speed, leaving onlookers gaping in disbelief! Yue Hongzhu was prepared, however. Dashing forward like the wind, she grabbed the root of the green vine and hauled it up. The vine's roots coiled outward, binding her tightly, threatening to choke her to death. But Xiao Zheng arrived in time, his three arms weaving various mudras that lightly imprinted upon the immortal spiritual root. Its power instantly sealed, the green vine wilted. Grasping the vine, Xiao Zheng chuckled. "We've finally secured an immortal root." Hardly had he spoken when someone laughed uproariously from up the mountain, charging toward them and reaching from afar to snatch the green vine from Xiao Zheng's grip. Alarmed and infuriated, Xiao Zheng sneered, "Insolent alien Qi Refiner, dare you steal my immortal root? Today, your head shall be sacrificed to Heavenly God Longyuan of our Yuanding World!" He channeled the immortal root, sweeping a beam of ascending spiritual light toward the attacker. Yet before its power could erupt, the figure had already slipped past the light and arrived right in front of him! Fearless, Xiao Zheng moved hands and feet with dazzling speed, executing exquisite divine powers to meet him head-on. The next instant, several sickening crunches resounded. Xiao Zheng's three arms were snapped, the green vine immortal root was snatched from his grip, and he could only watch helplessly as the figure swaggered away. "To withstand four of my blows without dying, your skills aren't half bad!" The man was none other than Zhu Huang, laughing uproariously. Halfway up the mountain, Yuan Qi and Xue Ying'an were still painstakingly climbing, peering left and right in hopes of finding the shattered immortal Dao spiritual root of the Lesser Xuan Heaven. Xue Ying'an remarked, "The spiritual root of the Lesser Xuan Heaven was the one that connected to the next stop on the heavenly road. Smashed by that arch-fiend, it shattered into countless fragments. Some were taken to the mortal realm, while others should be hidden right on this mountain. After all, this place was a relay station for immortals." He glanced back to find Xu Ying still trailing right behind them, quiet and obedient without uttering a word. Yuan Qi asked, "Then how do we recognize an immortal root?" Xue Ying'an shook his head. "I don't know either. Even though they all came from a single root, they can take on different forms..." Suddenly, the sound of a pipa drifted down from above. Xue Ying'an and Yuan Qi looked up to see a young man barreling wildly toward them, clutching a corpse in his hand. "Zhu Zhongquan! And what he's holding is the Zhu clan's Old Immortal!" Recognizing the young man, Yuan Qi took fright and scrambled aside, then realized, *Oh no, Ah Ying is behind us!* Charging forward, Zhu Huang spotted Xu Ying right in his path and laughed. "My good disciple's dying wish was to defeat you! Today, I shall fulfill it for him!" Roaring like a gale, he closed in. His magic power was like a boundless ocean, his divine sense surging like a tide; his strength, Yin and Yang Qi, physical vitality, and soul were all at their absolute peak! He threw a palm strike that churned up a thousand waves, crests tumbling over crests like scattering jade, manifesting the image of the Great Dao with breathtaking mastery! Xu Ying raised his palm almost subconsciously. Behind him, the six secret depositories of Mud Pill, Yellow Court, Crimson Palace, Bubbling Spring, Jade Pool, and Jade Capital manifested in full. Behind the six secrets loomed the terrifying phenomenon of Myriad Mountains Venerating Jiuyi, meeting Zhu Huang's strike head-on! Their magic power erupted, jolting both bodies. Zhu Huang staggered back a step, astonished. "How do you have two Bubbling Spring secret depositories? But so what? My divine powers have been tempered a thousand times over—" Mid-sentence, his heart suddenly stopped, and the supply of vital blood instantly dried up! Horror seized Zhu Huang. In that mere fraction of an instant, his heart had aged to decrepitude. *What kind of divine power is this? No, it's a Nuo art!* Just as the thought crossed his mind and he prepared to channel his Mud Pill vitality to counter it, his vision blurred as his eyes aged as well. Immediately after, his brain swelled uncontrollably. The music of the pipa rang out, striking with relentless rhythm, jolting Zhu Huang's divine soul right out of his body. Beside himself with terror, Zhu Huang's soul tried to rush back into the flesh, but Zhu Hongyi descended with murderous fury. A pipa string flashed past, decapitating him and scattering his soul to the winds! Inside Zhu Zhongquan's physical body, Zhu Zhongquan's soul was overjoyed. Rushing out from the finger, he reclaimed his body and could not help laughing out loud: "The fortuneteller was right! I truly am the Child of Destiny! Now that I've inherited the Old Immortal's true legacy, who could ever stand against—" Before he could finish, the Nuo art Xu Ying had planted in his body detonated completely. Zhu Zhongquan's heart burst, and his brain expanded to its absolute limit. *Bang!* Zhu Zhongquan's head exploded, splashing blood across the ground. Xu Ying snapped back to his senses, let out a long breath, and said with delight, "The Reverse Longevity Art... I've finally fixed it!"