Di Ran paused for only a moment, his expression shifting through several shades, before casting Wei Yuan aside and continuing his charge toward Houtu. His intention was unmistakable: if Chuhe did not stand in his way, he would obliterate Houtu.
Houtu, however, curled her lips into a playful smile. "Little thing, I'm alive, you know!"
Di Ran replied coldly, "You cannot move right now."
"So what? This isn't the Yuangu era. I have plenty of toys at hand!" With a light grasping motion, Houtu summoned before her an adorable, lively, bronze-skinned giant little girl.
Terror flashed across the little girl's face. Yet before she could react, a stream of Innate Earth Qi descended upon her head. Her originally hundred-foot "petite" frame immediately shot up to twice its height, turning into an adorable, giant rock girl whose facial features could barely be discerned.
Houtu grabbed the giant rock girl and hurled her forth, slamming her directly in front of Di Ran.
Di Ran had long recognized that this big rock lass was merely at the Scenery Command realm. She was just extraordinarily gifted, having awakened a true spirit the moment she stepped into Scenery Command before even having the chance to construct a spirit manor.
Others might look upon such genius with admiration, but Di Ran was a talent an entire grand realm above that. Naturally, he paid her no heed, merely waving his massive hand to swat her away like a fly.
Yet as his massive hand swept out, the rock girl caught hold of it with both hands. Using his own momentum, she pivoted and threw him, actually hoisting Di Ran clean off his feet and slamming him heavily into the ground!
Though Di Ran's true body stood only five feet tall, it was extraordinarily dense, weighing several million jin at the very least. To be thrown flat against the earth like this shattered whatever dignity he had left.
His face shifted back toward the hue of diabase. He thrust out a slow, deliberate fist. The rock girl proved utterly unable to evade it and took the punch squarely in the chest! With a thunderous boom, a horrifying cavity blasted through her torso, nearly snapping her body in two.
This punch was locked on by causality. Even if she fled to the ends of the earth, within a single breath the blow would inevitably strike home.
Yet Di Ran's expression darkened. He knew all too well that when the punch landed, a bizarre vibration had rippled through the girl's body, neutralizing seventy to eighty percent of his immortal power; that was the sole reason she had merely suffered severe injuries. Originally, Di Ran had intended for this single fist to send her, body and soul, straight into the cycle of reincarnation.
Di Ran was already on the verge of becoming an Immortal Lord. If it took him a second move to dispatch a mere Scenery Command cultivator, wouldn't he become a laughingstock? And yet now, he had already become one.
Di Ran realized that the strange vibration was undoubtedly Houtu's divine ability, one with a specialized counter against earth-element power. Fortunately, he had already crippled the rock girl, so she would not be returning anytime soon.
Di Ran pressed forward again, only to see Houtu pluck a colossal mecha out of thin air. The mecha stretched its limbs amidst a thunderous rumble in midair, transformed into a giant of rock and steel, and came hurtling right at him.
Di Ran shattered half the giant's body with a single palm strike, yet he still failed to destroy it completely.
Only upon landing his second strike did he discover that Houtu's power grew stronger the greater the force brought against it. The closer one came to annihilating a soul, the heavier and thicker Houtu's power became, causing the target's defenses to multiply exponentially. No wonder legends from the Yuangu era claimed that killing anyone under Houtu's protection was harder than scaling the heavens.
After the steel giant, Houtu snatched Star Lord Shaoyang!
Terror seized Shaoyang's face. Before he could resist, layers of earthen crust encased him, turning him into "Star Lord Taitu" before he was hurled before Di Ran.
Shaoyang was Shaoyang after all; he managed to trade several exchanges with Di Ran before his head was knocked askew.
Next, Di Ran encountered all manner of true spirits. He hacked his way through the brambles, fighting forward with furious resolve. Only after immense exertion did he finally blast through every one of these true spirits coated in Houtu's power—only to see that rock girl flying at him once more.
By now, in addition to Houtu's power, a peculiar crimson light swirled around her. That bizarre vital force spurred her flesh to regenerate at a breakneck pace, mending her shattered body before his very eyes.
With a single punch, Di Ran blasted the rock girl in two. He continued hacking through the obstacles, once more obliterating the rock mecha, Star Lord Taitu, and a succession of other true spirits, only to see the rock girl come flying back yet again.
Only this time, her eyes held nothing but utter weariness with existence.
Setting aside her Dao heart, her combat prowess was terrifyingly formidable. Shielded by Houtu's defense and invigorated by the sinister sun's vital energy, she denied Di Ran an instant kill; it cost him considerable effort just to dismantle her again.
By the third cycle, Di Ran sensed that something was distinctly amiss. Houtu's power was no longer purely immortal power; it had clearly adapted to counter him. He now had to expend two portions of his own immortal power just to offset a single portion of Houtu's.
Those true spirits he could once dispatch with ease grew harder and harder to defeat, holding out for longer and longer stretches. Even that mecha giant, whose innate talent was glaringly meager, could now trade a couple of blows with him.
At this moment, in Di Ran's eyes, the distance between himself and Houtu was growing ever more distant, utterly beyond reach.
From the distance, Wei Yuan's voice suddenly rang out. "Short rock, why don't you look back and see for yourself?"
Hearing this, Di Ran looked over his shoulder. The six Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs were still locked in combat, but every one of them was visibly holding back; evidently, they had already resigned themselves to their fate.
Di Ran frowned and barked in a deep voice, "Houtu has not yet fully matured, and her might right now is merely this much. To give up at a time like this—don't you think it's a terrible waste?"
Wei Yuan laughed heartily and said, "Do you still not understand why they are giving up? It's not that they think they have no chance, but that none of them wants to face a Merit Minor Curse. Minor curse it may be, but it carries the status of restarting heaven and earth. Snuffing out a High Mountain like you is child's play."
Di Ran said coldly, "Are we the sort of cowards who cling to life and fear death? Do you think an empty verbal threat will work?"
Wei Yuan chuckled. "You'd better drop the 'we.' Whether it works or not—can't you tell by looking?"
Di Ran countered, "Your Merit Curse can only curse one person, and there are seven of us!"
"Six. The Merit Curse isn't prepared for you." Wei Yuan's gaze drifted toward the other High Mountains with unmistakable malice.
Di Ran fell silent. The situation before them was plain to see: among the Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs, none save Di Ran was willing to lay down their lives. At most, they were prepared to endure damage to their immortal foundations.
What the Mountain Folk feared above all was merit. Once Wei Yuan unleashed his Merit Curse, it meant certain death. As for who died, that depended entirely on his mood.
And for someone like Di Ran, who was single-mindedly bent on martyrdom, Wei Yuan deliberately refused to grant him death.
Watching the crimson light swirling around Wei Yuan, Di Ran had nowhere to vent the fury raging in his chest. He raged, "You collude with an alien abomination—have you no fear of heavenly retribution?!"
Yet the moment the words left his mouth, Di Ran remembered that Wei Yuan's true body had already crossed over beyond the heavens. One could practically say he himself was an alien abomination, so what talk was there of collusion?
Wrangling words would solve nothing, and besides, he was no match for Wei Yuan in an argument. Wei Yuan's mouth seemed practically consecrated.
Could it be... that things could only end like this?
While Di Ran stayed his hand, Houtu did not remain idle. She swept out clouds and mists formed of Innate Earth Qi, instantly painting the sky in a drunken red, as though the firmament itself were ablaze. Wherever a cloud drifted down, tens of thousands of Qingming warriors were blessed with Houtu's power, immediately throwing back the Mountain Folk's offensive.
Cloud after cloud descended, reversing the tide across the entire front in an instant. Mountain Folk casualties skyrocketed, swiftly exceeding the threshold that the frontline generals could bear.
Watching the souls of Mountain Folk warriors rising into the air in endless drifts, Di Ran ultimately let out a long sigh and dispersed the immortal power in his hands.
At that very instant, Zhang Sheng seized the fleeting opening. The Qingping Sword flashed forth, obliterating one of Di Ran's golden grotto-heavens in a single strike!
Di Ran was so enraged he nearly spat a mouthful of old blood. This young girl was clearly so fair to look upon—how could she be just like Wei Yuan, so black of heart and ruthless of hand?
Chapter 1497