Face to Face at Last

Buddhism did not flourish in the Beichen Realm; there were only a handful of second-rate sects, mostly scattered across the desert. Even so, several Buddhist ruins had been unearthed in the Ancient Immortal Battlefield. The Shangyuan Qingjing Palace's Thousand Bodies Myriad Shadows Talisman and the Stone Bridge Zen Dongyang Bo had once produced had both originated from such discoveries. With the Thousand Bodies Myriad Shadows Talisman broken, Gongliang Yu finally realized this old fox had figured out every last trump card of his long ago, calculating his every move in advance. To be plotted against to such an extent by an esteemed Nascent Soul Patriarch gave Gongliang Yu a sudden, absurd sense of honor. The Thousand Bodies Myriad Shadows Talisman was his most potent means of escape. With the talisman rendered useless, Gongliang Yu knew doom was upon him today. Sure enough, unwilling to accept death lying down, he tried other tricks, but before he could even unleash them, Dongyang Bo had already prepared countermeasures. In fact, he was not even given the chance to unleash them. Crack! A defensive magic treasure was easily knocked away by Dongyang Bo. At his wits' end, his face plastered with despair, Gongliang Yu could only watch helplessly as the vajra ring descended over his head. Gongliang Yu felt a binding force wrap tightly around him. Bones throughout his body crackled in agonizing pain. Both his physical body and the golden core inside were pinned fast—he could not even self-detonate. Whoosh! The vajra ring blazed with intense white radiance, birthing boundless fiery light that enveloped Gongliang Yu completely. In an instant, it shredded his protective spiritual power, reducing him to ashes without even leaving time for a scream. Dongyang Bo had plotted deliberately for years, murder long set in his heart. He naturally would not dally. Once he struck, it was with thunderous finality, affording Gongliang Yu not the slightest breathing room. As for the method to manipulate the Nascent Soul talisman puppet, he had already obtained it; there was no need to keep Gongliang Yu alive. Moreover, when he had taken the Boiling Blood Evil Flower earlier, he had noticed this place was a breeding ground of trouble with hidden perils. It was best not to make too much commotion. If Gongliang Yu met an obscure end in the Blood Lake, no one would ever uncover a single trace. By seizing the Nascent Soul talisman puppet, the Shangyuan Qingjing Palace would inevitably rely even more on Shaohua Mountain in the future. It was killing two birds with one stone. All of this took time to describe, but from Dongyang Bo's appearance to trapping the talisman puppet and slaying Gongliang Yu, the actions had flowed seamlessly. In the blink of an eye, Gongliang Yu's life had been snuffed out. With Gongliang Yu dead, the Nascent Soul talisman puppet lost its master. Unrestrained by anyone, it instinctively sensed a chance for freedom and lashed out wildly at the array and the jade bottle. Yet its attacks also lacked coordination; fierce as they seemed, most of them were wasted effort. With a thought, Dongyang Bo was just about to recall the fiery light and urge the vajra ring forward to bind the Nascent Soul talisman puppet and take it away, when alarm suddenly flared in his heart. Swoosh! A beam of sword radiance pierced through the blood mist, swift as lightning. Blood shadows along its path were shredded to powder. With astonishing momentum, it struck straight for Dongyang Bo's back! As the spiritual sword came bearing down, Dongyang Bo felt a sharp pang of danger. His face changed drastically. There was actually a third person here! What was more, the spiritual sword's aura was formidable—this person was at the Nascent Soul stage! Without time to think, he threw himself forward, hastily recalling his vajra ring. With a crisp ring, the vajra ring shuddered violently, projecting a ring phantom whose might was comparable to the original artifact. It flashed forward and intercepted the flying sword. Sin Abyss had once ambushed him using a formation of Boundless Blood Mulberry. Dongyang Bo had suffered under the Foul Blood Divine Light as well. Having learned from bitter experience, he now held something in reserve whenever he employed his natal magic treasure, no longer fighting with unrestrained abandon as he used to. Clang! Metal clashed against iron with a sharp ring. The ring phantom blocked the flying sword. Its treasure light contracted inward, attempting to repeat the old trick—clamping around the flying sword and snatching it outright. At the beginning of the war, he had used the vajra ring to forcefully seize several magic treasures from Sin Abyss cultivators, succeeding every single time. To his surprise, his calculation missed the mark this time. The ring phantom barely managed to slip around the sword's tip before it could descend no further. The ring phantom buzzed and hummed, fissures spiderwebbing across its surface as it showed signs of shattering! Dongyang Bo was secretly appalled. He had meticulously refined the vajra ring for countless years; even Demon Monarch Tongyou's natal magic treasure might not be superior. Yet his opponent's flying sword seemed half a step above the vajra ring—it was a peak supreme-grade magic treasure! Whoosh... The blood mist howled. A figure sped closely behind the sword light, eyes gleaming cold behind a mask as he glared chillingly at the slightly flustered Dongyang Bo. It was none other than Qin Sang. His face was ashen. Fearing Dongyang Bo would detect him, he had deliberately kept his distance. He had thought that as sect master, Gongliang Yu would certainly have no shortage of life-saving measures, and with a Nascent Soul talisman puppet at his side, he could hold out against Dongyang Bo for a few exchanges at worst, giving Qin Sang enough time to arrive. Who could have predicted that Gongliang Yu would not last even a single exchange against Dongyang Bo, turning into a ghost beneath the ring in the blink of an eye? Qin Sang had also not expected that Dongyang Bo's true objective was not treasure in the blood river at all, but Gongliang Yu and the Nascent Soul talisman puppet from the very start. A dignified mid Nascent Soul stage cultivator plotting against a mere junior at the Core Formation stage—Qin Sang had not even had the chance to intervene. Deploying the demon banner array was too slow, and the Thunder Command Art required incantations. Qin Sang had made a split-second decision, throwing caution to the wind regarding his identity and driving his fastest weapon, the ebony sword, straight at Dongyang Bo. Even if he could not save Gongliang Yu, he could not simply stand by and watch Dongyang Bo take the talisman puppet. Qin Sang had hidden his identity not out of fear of Dongyang Bo, but because he wanted to wait until he was strong enough and fully prepared to strike by surprise and succeed in a single blow. Now, he could hide it no longer. Qin Sang knew nothing of the talisman puppet's hidden drawbacks; he only knew that such a powerful talisman puppet must not fall into Dongyang Bo's hands, or else killing him would be impossible even with helpers. Decisive by nature, he had unleashed his sword to kill. A veteran of countless battles, Dongyang Bo had reacted swiftly, not only warding off the flying sword's ambush but also unconsciously avoiding repeating past mistakes. "It's you!" "It's you?" Seeing Qin Sang, Dongyang Bo's expression shifted repeatedly as he let out two identical cries of shock in succession. The first came when he caught sight of the phoenix wings behind Qin Sang, shocked that the newcomer was Demon King Mingyue, who had risen to fame only recently. Ever since Qin Sang formed his Nascent Soul, he had traveled masked, and the phoenix wings were his most distinct hallmark. Dongyang Bo had heard far too many rumors about Demon King Mingyue—slaying a Nascent Soul cultivator in battle, barging into the Abyss Ruins to fight Old Demon Ye and escaping unscathed, and even the intelligence regarding this excursion to the Blood Lake had been brought back by him. The Two Domains Alliance had rejoiced at gaining such a formidable helper. Yet some had voiced concern: the demon race producing such a rising talent might well be an omen of prosperity, and perhaps they would surpass the human race in the future. Still, Sin Abyss was the pressing danger at hand, and the demon race lacked sufficient foundation to be tipped by one or two individuals, so nothing more had come of it. The second cry, however, came from seeing the ebony sword. He, too, had once contemplated the Origin Soul Sword Nurturing Chapter. He had later deemed the cultivation method incomplete and concluded that even if one managed to cultivate it, it held little future, so he had not paid it much mind; nevertheless, he retained a deep impression of the technique. Over the years, only two people had achieved any success with this cultivation method. One was a former disciple who had refined a Metal-element spiritual sword. Terribly stubborn, he had refused to change techniques no matter what, obstinately seeking his own path, and Dongyang Bo had judged him hopeless of ever reaching the Nascent Soul stage. The other was a pawn who had slipped from his calculations in the past, one who refined a Wood-element spiritual sword, had achieved the Core Formation stage years ago, and had once appeared before him again. The ebony sword was far from what it once had been, but it was enough to prove the newcomer's identity!