Wang Ping's voice rolled forth with immense majesty, entirely transcending the bounds of distance and time. Mind communicating directly to mind, it detonated with a roar inside the heart of the Master of Soul-Drooping Study.
It felt as though a heavy sledgehammer had smashed squarely into the master's head.
Tinnitus, dizziness, total disorientation... The master's consciousness was severed midway, leaving him incapable of making any effective response.
It felt as if an invisible fist had ignored the defenses of his spiritual sense entirely, crashing straight into his sea of consciousness. By the time he finally managed to recover his wits, Wang Ping's hands had already torn open his waist and abdomen. Blood blossomed like a red lotus, and the shockwaves of raw fist force rampaged unchecked, tearing his body apart.
"Cl—Clearing the Immortal's Flank?"
On the verge of death, the Master of Soul-Drooping Study felt his mind drift in a daze. He seemed to behold the highest heavens, where sea upon sea of clouds piled high, upon which an immortal stood bathed in tens of thousands of radiant beams.
The immortal looked down upon all under heaven, untouchable and supreme.
Yet in the next second, all that glorious luster turned to decay. The cloud seas collapsed, the immortal radiance dimmed, and the towering immortal dissolved in an instant into a sky filled with dust.
Collapsing alongside it was the Master of Soul-Drooping Study himself. His consciousness had projected completely into that towering immortal image, so when the immortal crumbled, his own consciousness fractured inch by inch. It was an agony far surpassing bodily pain, yet that very agony provoked his feral cruelty.
"Trifling parlor tricks...!"
The Master of Soul-Drooping Study roared frantically, desperately gathering his spiritual sense to reach into the unseen void, seeking to summon the Soul-Drooping Study—the blessed land bound to his very life.
This was his greatest trump card.
Earlier, even while suppressing Guo Huan—an outer disciple who had cultivated dharmic power—he had refrained from using this card, but now he could no longer afford any hesitation.
After all, if he did not use it now, he would never have another chance.
*He can't kill me!*
*Being severed at the waist is merely damage to my dharmic body; it won't stop me from casting spells at all! As long as I summon the empowerment of the Soul-Drooping Study, I can definitely survive!*
*As for that strange technique of his that directly strikes consciousness, though it has some ingenuity, it lacks refinement and cannot compare to spiritual sense. It might affect my consciousness and even heavily wound my soul, but it's not enough to strip away my ability to fight back... At worst, I'm grievously wounded. I still have a chance to turn the tables...!*
The master's mind spun wildly, calculating his counterattack.
Yet in the next instant, the vital essence pouring out of his body like floodwaters from a burst dam shattered his delusions completely, causing his eyes to widen in horror.
"Life-Stealing Thief?!"
The rapid drain of vital essence snuffed out the final spark of resistance in the Master of Soul-Drooping Study. His barely gathered spiritual sense scattered like water without a source.
"No..."
His voice cut off abruptly.
"I see. So this is the true essence of Dashun's martial arts."
Paying no heed to the master's dying grievances, Wang Ping had already turned his thoughts to grasping what that punch had felt like, recalling the sensation from moments ago.
To be frank, there was no great mystery to Clearing the Immortal's Flank.
From the outside, it looked like nothing more than an astonishingly swift, heavy punch without any elaborate variations in technique. Slaying the Master of Soul-Drooping Study had simply been a case of overwhelming strength creating miracles.
In truth, however, the punch was not devoid of variation.
It was just that the variation lay not in the physical flesh, but in the unique divine intent of Dashun's martial artists. The forms of Clearing the Immortal's Flank were encapsulated by the very words of its name.
*Dashun... runs deep indeed.*
Wang Ping knew full well that he was currently only a titled martial master, not a true martial arts grandmaster who had "perceived the divine." His mastery of divine intent still possessed significant shortcomings.
Otherwise, that single punch should have wiped out the Master of Soul-Drooping Study on the spot and extinguished his consciousness entirely, rather than leaving him with enough strength to struggle and forcing Wang Ping to finish things off with Life-Stealing Thief. If he had been careless, the master might truly have turned the tables at the brink of death, which would have been the greatest joke under the heavens.
Even so, he had achieved this much.
If it were one of Dashun's true martial arts grandmasters, could they take it a step further and slay an immortal sect cultivator with a single punch, relying solely on their own might without any external aids?
*There is hope for the days ahead!*
As expected, a fine martial artist was in no way inferior to an immortal! Wang Ping sighed inwardly with emotion. Then, gathering his focus, he looked down to inspect the corpse of the Master of Soul-Drooping Study.
*Crack!*
Right after came the tearing sound of flesh being ripped apart. Using both hands, Wang Ping tore the master's body in two from the middle of the abdomen.
One half was flesh and blood, which crashed to the ground as gore splattered and flowed. The other half was a skeletal frame held in Wang Ping's hands. It immediately began to transform, the layers of bone folding, stacking, and retracting until they became a pale, eerie round mirror.
The Fate-Peering Flesh-Flensing Bone Mirror.
A moment later, this peculiar dharma treasure squirmed. Strange bones extended from the mirror's body like tentacles, stabbing straight into Wang Ping's skin.
"Hm?"
Instantly, the world in Wang Ping's eyes changed. Mountains were no longer mountains, and waters were no longer waters; all things in heaven and earth turned into a boundless ocean.
Every flower, tree, blade of grass, and leaf became a drop of water in this great sea.
Their drift was insignificant, incapable of forming a current in the ocean, leaving them to drift aimlessly along with the larger waves.
Wang Ping looked around.
At this moment, the Valley of Ten Thousand Spirits was still piled high with corpses. Wang Ping saw their currents as well—they were now stationary, dispersing ripples.
In life, they had been undercurrents in the ocean.
In death, they were dissipating ripples.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Wang Ping's gaze narrowed. Amid the ripples, he caught sight of an undercurrent. Weak and on the verge of scattering, it nevertheless existed beneath the ocean's surface.
*Rumble!*
With a loud crash, the skeletal remains in a corner of the Valley of Ten Thousand Spirits shattered, and a ragged young Daoist staggered out.
It was none other than that outer disciple, Guo Huan.
His eyes were bloodshot. The look he directed at Wang Ping carried both the relief of surviving a calamity and unexpected shock. At last, he could not help but speak:
"Thank you, Junior Brother.
"Guo Huan will never forget your life-saving grace. I leave this Soul-Drooping Study to you, Junior Brother. Once I return and recover, I will prepare a generous gift to thank you properly."
Before his words finished fading, escape light flared around Guo Huan's body.
Clearly, he was worried Wang Ping might turn on him to take everything for himself. That was why he made grand promises while desperately seeking to flee this den of trouble.
Yet Wang Ping showed no reaction.
The reason was simple.
"You're... about to die?"
Wang Ping blinked. In the vision granted by the Fate-Peering Flesh-Flensing Bone Mirror, he saw the current belonging to Guo Huan dissolving at a rate visible to the naked eye.
But why?
He had already killed the Master of Soul-Drooping Study. The threat to Guo Huan's life should have vanished, so why was this current still present?
Wait, the Master of Soul-Drooping Study...
In the next instant, Wang Ping snapped his head back toward the master's corpse. There, the man's destiny had already turned into dispersing ripples.
Yet with the aid of the Fate-Peering Flesh-Flensing Bone Mirror, he still discerned the master's fate: *Death? Not just Guo Huan and these predatory cultivators, but the Master of Soul-Drooping Study himself was destined to die here from the start? No, if I hadn't intervened, he would have succeeded...*
His thoughts halted abruptly.
In an instant, an immense chill swept through his entire body. No, that was wrong. The Master of Soul-Drooping Study hadn't died because Wang Ping intervened.
The truth was the exact opposite.
*Because the Master of Soul-Drooping Study was destined by fate to die here, Ping Jiangzi intervened... No, not Ping Jiangzi.*
*Me!*
The Classic of Great Peace had given him the identity of Ping Jiangzi precisely to match the shifts of destiny; his arrival had been part of the predetermined outcome all along!
That brought a question.
Right now, inside this Valley of Ten Thousand Spirits, what was the full picture of this destined outcome? And who had meticulously orchestrated this fate?
At this thought, Wang Ping instinctively glanced at the Fate-Peering Flesh-Flensing Bone Mirror in his hand. Through this dharma treasure, he could see the current of his own destiny—a child of fortune, an opportunist rogue cultivator who profited from the clash of others, emerged as the final victor, and gained the friendship of an outer disciple.
The future of a rogue cultivator defying the odds to soar into the heavens was plainly visible.
"...Damn it," Wang Ping chuckled suddenly.
Could this be the very current the Master of Soul-Drooping Study had seen? Was that why the master had been so certain of his own success, only for his fate to end in death?
"I see."
This explained why the Master of Soul-Drooping Study had been able to drive this dharma treasure without cultivating dharmic power, and why Guo Huan had been in such a frantic hurry to leave.
The gifts of destiny had long been marked with a hidden price. The cost of using the Fate-Peering Flesh-Flensing Bone Mirror was the user's own destiny!
In other words, whoever used it died!
*Squelch!*
A split second later, a sharp agony bloomed across Wang Ping's chest. Looking down, he saw an axe-halberd protruding through his torso, instantly obliterating every shred of his life force.
There was one matter everyone had forgotten.
The Master of Soul-Drooping Study hadn't remembered it, Guo Huan had lacked the presence of mind to pay attention to it, and Wang Ping had overlooked it—the very reason both sides had converged on this Valley of Ten Thousand Spirits in the first place:
The Master of Soul-Drooping Study had been tasked with escorting a top-grade magical tool for a true disciple to the Divine Weapon Courtyard for reforging.
Which true disciple?
Which top-grade magical tool?
Now, the truth came out... Wang Ping forced his body to turn and looked at the one who had struck him down, his lips curling into a bitter smile.
*Does this count as me killing myself?*
Standing before him was a burly colossus with crimson hair, golden pupils, blue skin, and protruding tusks. He wielded a flood-dragon axe-halberd, his gaze dull and devoid of sapience.
Wang Ping was intimately familiar with it.
*The Six Desires Heavenly Demon King!*
*The Master of Soul-Drooping Study was working for that venomous woman, You Xuexin, and the top-grade magical tool he was escorting was the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag I left behind in my previous life!*
This had been a trap all along!
A deadly game designed to slaughter everyone, using their corpses and souls to sacrifice and refine the magical tool, all while allowing her to cleanly sever herself from any responsibility afterward!
Almost simultaneously, a wail of agony rose from the other side.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
Guo Huan was shrouded in escape light, yet he could not take flight. The entire sky over the Valley of Ten Thousand Spirits had been blotted out by a sprawling banner, from which countless fiends poured forth.
Not only that, but the souls of the predatory cultivators who had died in the valley earlier, along with that of the Master of Soul-Drooping Study, underwent a transformation under some profound influence. They turned into fresh fiends and immediately swarmed toward Guo Huan and Wang Ping like wolves catching the scent of blood.
"You Xuexin, you are butchering your fellow sect members!"
Evidently, Guo Huan had guessed the mastermind behind this just as Wang Ping had, and he bellowed at the top of his lungs, "I am an outer disciple! You have no authority to execute me directly!
"Even if I were a predatory cultivator, only by reporting to the sect's Qi Refiners could a verdict be passed...!"
A powerless protest.
Wang Ping knew it, and so did Guo Huan, yet having no other recourse, Guo Huan could only watch in despair as everything unfolded.
A moment later, You Xuexin's voice drifted down faintly:
"Butchering fellow sect members?
"Clearly, the Master of Soul-Drooping Study fought valiantly against predatory cultivators, and upon his death, he activated the top-grade magical tool he was escorting, perishing alongside all the bandits. What does that have to do with me?
"As for you, Junior Brother Guo, you were not a predatory cultivator, but a noble outer disciple who drew his sword to help those in need upon seeing injustice. Alas, your strength was lacking, and you perished at the hands of those bandits.
"In short, you have been wronged, Junior Brother Guo. You laid down your life for the immortal cause, and I will report this to Master to request a grand and honorable burial for you... You may rest in peace!"
With that, all things plunged into darkness.
Before he died, Wang Ping heard only You Xuexin's quiet murmur: "Now, once it is sent into the Eight Trigrams Furnace, there should be hope of refining it into a dharma treasure."
...
The space of the Classic of Great Peace.
Wang Ping's vision emerged from darkness and cleared. He sat obediently in place without a word, remaining silent for a long time.
"Phew..."
After a long while, Wang Ping exhaled a deep breath and gave a helpless, bitter smile. "Destiny... It seems talking about transcending it was just empty boast after all."
Since the currents of destiny had dictated that the Master of Soul-Drooping Study would die, whether it was Wang Ping's arrival or his final flash of insight to strike him down with that punch, he had merely believed he was defying fate, when in reality he was walking strictly along the script destiny had already written.
"...That's fine too."
Wang Ping did not sink into despair. Instead, he quickly rallied his spirits. "It's only challenging this way. Transcending fate was never meant to be so easy."
Beyond that, there was another matter that weighed heavily on his mind.
"In past transmigrations guided by the Classic of Great Peace, my identities were practically flawless. Even when someone saw through my true identity, that was due to my own slip-ups.
"Yet this time, after transmigrating as Ping Jiangzi, I was actually woven into an ending preordained by destiny. One could say that if I hadn't become Ping Jiangzi, the Master of Soul-Drooping Study wouldn't have died, and the outcome would have been completely different... So, what is the relationship between the Classic of Great Peace and destiny?"
Wang Ping entertained two guesses.
The first was that the Classic of Great Peace had intervened in the workings of destiny, exploiting a predetermined ending to weave an identity for him.
Such an identity was virtually perfect, and with everyone dead afterward, there was no evidence left behind, making it almost impossible to trace.
That was the optimistic interpretation.
If he leaned toward the darker possibility, destiny had discovered the Classic of Great Peace's method of crafting identities, intervened, and deliberately engineered his death.
*If it's the second one... that would be terrible.*
By now, Wang Ping had realized that while his cheat was invincible in the Dashun Dynasty, it clearly began to fall short in the immortal sect.
"My cheat still lacks real weight.
"It just isn't trying hard enough!"
At that thought, Wang Ping felt utterly helpless. He couldn't help thinking that if he had a second chance, he would certainly respond much better. Unfortunately, there were no second chances.
Having reviewed the situation, Wang Ping dwelled on it no further and swiftly shifted his thoughts toward the situation in Dashun. He had spent seven days in the immortal sect during this transmigration; who knew what had happened in Longxing County in the meantime? Thinking of this, he hurried over to the towering tome and looked at the scripture within.
Current Identity: Gold-bearing armed cavalry (petty functionary).
Current Fortune: 12 (Imperial Consecrator Candidate).
Expend fortune to acquire a new identity?
This time, Wang Ping shook his head and declined to exchange for a new identity. Instead, he walked straight toward the massive gate formed by the scripture, preparing to transmigrate once more.
*A fixed identity has been detected in the destination world. Select this identity?*
A fixed identity? Did it mean the gold-bearing armed cavalry?
Without suspicion, Wang Ping nodded readily. "Yes."
...
After a brief moment of dizziness, Wang Ping opened his eyes once more.
Then he froze.
Before his eyes lay not the familiar Longxing County seat, but a sky and earth teeming with yin souls and fiends, beneath a sprawling banner that blotted out the sun and sky.
"...The Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag?"
What was going on?
Hadn't he returned to Dashun? Why was he still in the immortal sect? Had he grown dizzy and chosen the wrong option? And this identity... Wang Ping touched the red hair at his temples.
The Six Desires Heavenly Demon King?
That made even less sense.
Even if he had been dazed and made the wrong choice, reviving directly in the immortal sect, he hadn't selected this identity! Why would he start in this form?
Furthermore, if his hearing hadn't failed him before his death in his previous life, the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag should have been sent by that venomous woman You Xuexin into the immortal sect's Eight Trigrams Furnace to be reforged. Yet right now, he felt none of the agony of being refined; on the contrary, his entire body felt thoroughly invigorated.
Just what was happening?
With this question in mind, Wang Ping tried to pull aside the fabric of the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag, intending to look at the world outside before making any judgment.
And then he saw it—
Beneath the night sky, a bright moon hung high. The vast expanse of Longxing County was in utter turmoil, as countless wails, screams, and enraged roars rose and fell, filling the city inside and out.
Streets, alleyways, houses, and buildings.
Innumerable yin souls and fiends darted through them at will, shrieking shrilly with a thirst for blood and insatiable greed, painting a living hell upon the mortal realm.
Wang Ping stood frozen where he was, unable to recover his senses for a long time.
Behind him was the immortal sect's Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag.
Before him was Longxing County, currently being ravaged by fiends.
Two worlds converged at this very moment... Every lingering doubt of the past was instantly dispelled like a revelation, unveiling the suffocating truth.
Longxing County, the Dashun Dynasty, this vast martial world—was the immortal sect's Eight Trigrams Furnace!
Chapter 66