Have You Ever Been Slashed at Sub-Light Speed?

Youshen Temple. Ever since You Xuexin took control of Perfected Youshen and shifted from offense to defense, the battle had fallen into a stalemate. For Wang Ping, however, this was not good news. "We can't drag this out any longer!" Shen Monkey was the first to stumble to his feet. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Brother Wang, why don't you fall back first? Xu Dog and I can still unleash four more strikes with the Dragon Head Guillotine. That ought to force an opening and create an opportunity for you, Brother Wang." "...No need." Wang Ping shook his head, his brow twitching slightly as he solemnly eyed Perfected Youshen not far away and the projection of the azure dragon coiled around her. Although the other side was on the defensive, whenever a thought stirred in Wang Ping's mind and he considered breaking through that layer of azure dragon light, his divine intent automatically sounded an alarm. Clearly, if he acted rashly and attempted to breach that azure dragon projection, something terrible would occur, allowing the enemy to turn the tables in a desperate comeback. Shen Monkey and Xu Dog might not have failed to sense this. It was just that as imperial enshrinees, they had no choice but to step forward... Which was why Shen Monkey had suggested they go first—to test the waters for Wang Ping. Evidently, they were prepared to lay down their lives. "That won't do." Wang Ping gave a faint smile. "I'm still counting on you two seniors to recommend me to the Royal Enshrinement Hall. If you fall here, who will introduce me?" To be fair, Shen Monkey's proposal was quite sound. Yet for Wang Ping, scheming to maximize his gains without endangering anyone's life was one thing; how could he truly let people die on his account? He was not that shameless. "Besides, at this point, the best approach isn't to attack separately, but to twist all our strength into a single braid and find a way to decide victory in one strike." With that, he held out a hand. "If you two seniors trust me, why not hand that Dragon Head Guillotine over to me? I can command a fiend or two to wield it. That way, we get the best of both worlds." "A fiend can't use it," Shen Monkey shook his head. "The Dragon Head Guillotine is a half-divine weapon. Even though it's not a true divine weapon, it still carries that distinction—it can only be driven by divine intent." "No matter. I can use divine intent to remotely manipulate a fiend to drive it," Wang Ping continued. At those words, Shen Monkey froze. "But aren't you already using a divine weapon...? Isn't the great banner behind you that controls the fiends one? Two divine weapons—can your divine intent bear that?" "Ah... no problem." Wang Ping's thoughts were nimble, and he quietly noted Shen Monkey's words: 'Dashun's divine weapons are magic treasures in the immortal sects, which theoretically can only be driven by magical power. Yet Dashun's martial artists have clearly found another way—driving them with divine intent... What does that feel like? This is an unexpected pleasant surprise for me.' After his three trips into the immortal sects and his experience with the Fate-Peering Flesh-Flensing Bone Mirror, Wang Ping had thought he would have no connection to magic treasures before passing the Mortal Tribulation and condensing magical power. Yet the alternative path Shen Monkey presented offered him a new train of thought—perhaps he could use magic treasures ahead of time! 'If divine intent can truly substitute for it...' Eagerness surged in Wang Ping's heart. 'Then even if Daoist Nun You's magical power inside the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag runs dry, I might still be able to drive this magic treasure to display its profundities to some extent!' Meanwhile, Shen Monkey handed over the Dragon Head Guillotine with lingering doubt. The instant he grasped the Dragon Head Guillotine, Wang Ping immediately felt the crushing weight of this half-divine weapon. In the unseen realm, it felt as if a great mountain had crashed down upon him. 'This... is... truly...' Holding the Dragon Head Guillotine before even activating it, Wang Ping's thoughts grew immensely heavy, and the speed of his contemplation was forcibly dragged down. And this was only a half-divine weapon. No wonder Shen Monkey had been worried. If he took on another one, Wang Ping knew he would never be able to hold out, to say nothing of the sheer toll a true divine weapon would take. "Phew...!" Wang Ping exhaled a long breath, pushing his divine intent to the limit until he barely restored his thinking to the level of an ordinary person. He then looked up and surveyed his surroundings. The instant he took hold of the Dragon Head Guillotine, a clear premonition had welled up in Wang Ping's heart—he was strong enough to shatter the layer of azure dragon light shrouding You Xuexin. Yet precisely because of this, the warning from his divine intent reached an all-time peak, solidifying into a premonition of death. 'The moment I shatter the azure dragon projection, I will die.' The kind where his head would blow apart, where even Courage of the Noble Gentleman couldn't save him. 'Right... what about that old bastard Shouchong?' Wang Ping's eyes narrowed slightly as a sudden thought struck him: 'Did he really leave? Impossible. Knowing that old bastard's style, he should be lurking nearby.' Just like when he dealt with Xu Bingzheng. 'Is he up to his old tricks again?' The corner of Wang Ping's eye twitched slightly. 'While I'm fighting that venomous woman You Xuexin, is he waiting for me to risk my life to force an opening so he can launch a sneak attack? Of course. Judging by my divine intent's perception, Daoist Nun You's move is almost certainly a defensive counter-spelling technique. Whoever breaks the azure dragon light will have to endure her thunderous retaliatory strike. If I strike, I take the blow; if Shouchong strikes, he takes the blow. So naturally, it's better that another dies than oneself...' What should he do? Wang Ping's brows knitted tightly. The cooldown for Fiend from Beyond had not finished yet. If he risked his life right now, he truly might perish. Yet if he didn't make a move, would Shouchong be unable to resist stepping in? Wang Ping didn't know, nor did he dare gamble. At this thought, an idea welled up unbidden: 'What if... I just give up? In any case, that venomous woman has collected all the lifespan she needs and won't keep killing people.' The dead common folk... they would resurrect eventually anyway. The respectable citizens in the city... they were a group that looked down on the common folk in the first place, and not many of them had actually died this time; mostly, they had only been robbed of ten or twenty years of life. Granted, many would surely die later as a consequence. However, since the respectable citizens lived in the city and enjoyed so many urban benefits, it was only natural that they bear the disadvantages of the city now—one could even say it was fair. So hadn't he already done enough by coming this far? In the final analysis, all of this was other people's business. If Fiend from Beyond were ready and he could revive at any time, risking his life for a desperate gamble would be fine. But putting his life on the line right now could genuinely kill him. It would be wiser to calm down and adopt a different perspective—a temporary compromise was just for a better explosion in the future... All manner of stray thoughts surged into his mind. Holding the Dragon Head Guillotine, Wang Ping stared straight ahead. Under the influence of his divine intent, where his gaze fell was no longer You Xuexin's figure, but sheer darkness. That was death. One step further was death. At this moment, the crushing pressure of the Dragon Head Guillotine upon his divine intent seemed to grow even heavier, binding every inch of his body and making movement an arduous struggle. No, more than that. He nearly stepped back. In the face of tangible death, he had no reason not to retreat; this matter was not worth throwing his life away for. "..." A moment later, Wang Ping remained standing firmly where he was. This was not because he had chosen not to step back, but because a second before he was about to retreat, a copious external force braced his swaying frame. Wang Ping looked back. What met his eyes was a sea of fiends like mountains and oceans. All formed from the common folk, they converged at this moment to stand behind Wang Ping. Even now, the fiends and he remained linked by the Secret Record of Dispelling Calamities Through the Three Corpses and Nine Worms. This time, however, it was no longer Wang Ping sharing his life cultivation with the fiends; instead, the fiends were supplying their own life cultivation to him, empowering his might as the Six Desires Heavenly Demon King! This was not by Wang Ping's order. It came entirely from the fiends' instincts, or perhaps from the obsessive attachments they held in life. At this stage, Wang Ping could not tell, nor did he intend to parse it out. Yet he could feel it. As more and more fiends swarmed in, the shadow of death perceived by his divine intent grew thinner and thinner, until it began to disperse! Finally, a beam of light pierced through. Wang Ping knew that was the sliver of survival hidden within the shadow of death. "...Fine, I really can't do anything with you guys," Wang Ping sighed. In a situation like this, he could not turn back. The Dragon Head Guillotine dropped to the ground, shattering it into dense, web-like cracks. Dragging the blade behind him with a backhand grip, Wang Ping strode forward. Death remained ponderous, and survival was but a sliver. Yet... it was enough. Admittedly, with his current divine intent, he still could not seize that sliver of survival—which meant he had to become stronger, allowing his divine intent to undergo a qualitative change and reach a higher realm! Only now, gripping the Dragon Head Guillotine, his divine intent thoroughly tempered, and bolstered by the life cultivation of the fiends, could Wang Ping clearly sense that above a martial artist's divine intent lay an even higher realm. As long as he broke through to that realm, he could grasp this sliver of survival. So, how to break through? Wang Ping sank his consciousness into the space of the Classic of Great Peace, his gaze landing upon the towering volume, upon that radiant scroll: A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold. The scroll blazed with brilliant light, the sign that conditions had been met. In that case, with my loan-unrivaled talent, unremitting effort, and unyielding will— "Lend it to me!" The next instant, Wang Ping's consciousness plunged back into reality, but the world before his eyes was completely transformed. A vast, boundless power descended from the depths of nothingness. Elevating his consciousness. Detaching from the body. Plunging straight into the void. At this moment, the Dragon Head Guillotine, once unimaginably heavy, suddenly felt like an extension of his own arm. His thoughts, previously dragged down toward ordinary human limits under the pressure, began to accelerate wildly. Unlike before, however, the accelerated thinking granted by divine intent had previously only sped up a martial artist's mind; the physical body could never move within that nearly frozen world. But now, even as his thinking sped up, Wang Ping's physical body accelerated alongside it! 'This is... perfect mastery over the body.' The qualitatively transformed divine intent was no longer confined to formless thoughts; it fed back into reality, pulling the physical body along as it accelerated and slammed into a transcendent realm. *Boom!* The sonic boom of breaking the sound barrier radiated outward with rolling shockwaves, centered on Wang Ping—a speed Wang Ping had previously achieved only with an all-out burst. Yet right now, this was merely the starting point. 'I can go even faster.' Most fundamentally and importantly, Wang Ping's true form this time was the Six Desires Heavenly Demon King, not a mortal flesh-and-blood body. That was the foundation for continuing to accelerate. Next, he also had the enhancement of the fourteen military arts from the Thirteen Taipo Horizontal Training Hard Qi Art. Now, he also possessed the stacked life cultivation of the fiends. On top of that was Courage of the Noble Gentleman absorbing damage. Every last factor brought his load-bearing capacity to an unbelievable level, enabling him to keep surging forward even after breaking the sound barrier. 'Faster, keep accelerating!' Wang Ping gave full rein to his qualitatively transformed divine intent. Ignoring the strain on his physical vessel, headstrong and resolute, he desperately reached for that light of survival within the shadow of death. 'Not enough, still not enough!' 'I need to be faster!' Inside the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag, the magical power belonging to Daoist Nun You surged like water through an opened sluice gate. The fluttering banner enveloped the entirety of Youshen Temple. The entire Taoist temple was swept into the banner space. And within the banner space, Wang Ping—as the artifact spirit—received a further boost to his physical state, becoming the final straw that broke the camel's back. *Boom!* In Wang Ping's eyes, the material world collapsed with a roar at this moment. At the end of its wild gallop, the transformed divine intent finally seized that ray of light signifying survival. Once, Wang Ping had witnessed Daoist Nun You use a spell called Swordsmanship, creating a terrifying scene with a single sword strike whose power rivaled a nuclear explosion. He had thought that was a realm martial arts could never possibly reach. Yet he had been wrong—dramatically, terribly wrong. Within this realm where matter broke down and nothing remained but shimmering brilliance, Wang Ping twisted his body and raised the Dragon Head Guillotine high above his head. Then—he chopped downward. The entire process unfolded with agonizing slowness. Yet reflected into reality, You Xuexin's spiritual sense saw only a wave-like surge of light erupting across her vision. Following close behind came a sigh: "A divide between immortal and mortal?" "Cultivator... have you ever been slashed at sub-light speed?"