"Useless in life, a god after death?" Ding Songyan was stunned by these words.
There was actually a martial art like this?
This wasn't even cultivating the next life — it was cultivating after death!
Through this, Ding Songyan also understood why Brother Youyang always said, "Life in this world is short, so you might as well live a little more freely":
His martial art meant that once he trained to a certain level, he would have to die. Naturally, while alive he had to live unrestrained and indulge in pleasure, so as not to waste his one trip to this world.
Ding Songyan also understood why the Tiannü Sect had sent a grandmaster while the Zhenling Sect hadn't: if there was no danger, everyone would be happy; if there was danger — Ren Youyang would only be stronger in death!
Su Qingli watched Ren Youyang facing off against Ma Hanjiang without so much as blinking, her little mouth chattering away nonstop:
"Actually, it's not as exaggerated as the 'Useless Divine Art' makes itself out to be. It's nothing more than an extension of two traits — 'summoning spirits and commanding ghosts' and 'the imperishable essence-soul.' Mm, it's still quite marvelous, I suppose. The first death can directly raise one by a major realm, and it grants very powerful abilities.
"In the past, many Perfected Ones wanted to raise cultivators of the 'Useless Divine Art' to the 'Spirit Terrace Realm' to see whether, upon dying, they could break through the greatest limit since the severing of Earth from Heaven and successfully step into the 'Mystery Realm,' or even the 'Realm of Myriad Wonders.' Unfortunately, they never succeeded. The most a cultivator of the 'Useless Divine Art' could do was stay alive all the way up to the 'Heaven-Man Realm,' and then he would die for one reason or another."
"Summoning spirits and commanding ghosts," "the imperishable essence-soul"? I think I saw those in *The Esoteric Classic of Mountains and Seas*... Ding Songyan asked in astonishment:
"The first death — and you can die several more times after that?"
"It depends on the realm. Take Ren Youyang — if he dies once more now, he'll vanish completely. If he can later train to Dharma Realm consummation, he can die once more; at Heaven-Man Realm consummation, he can die yet again. But those later deaths can't directly break through a major realm — they can only raise a minor realm or strengthen his power somewhat." Su Qingli suddenly grew a little wistful. "Ren Youyang really is quite loyal. He probably originally planned to become a grandmaster before dying, so that he'd leap straight into the Heaven-Man Realm. Uh — and now he's saving himself too."
Before Ding Songyan could speak, Yan Changqing on his back said in the tone of one instructing a child:
"'The Useless Divine Art goes against heaven's will.' Before their first death, its cultivators will run into all sorts of deadly tribulations. Young lady of the Su family, when you meet such people, keep your distance, lest you get dragged down with them.
"You aren't members of the Zhen family, yet that grandmaster with murderous intent flooding his mind keeps hunting you. Even after being lured away by the Great Void illusory realm, he turned back to search again. Haven't you wondered why?"
"Ah, is that so..." Su Qingli blinked.
Ding Songyan didn't much care either way — after all, Brother Youyang was already dead.
In the courtyard, Ren Youyang was already restored as good as new, no longer even giving off that pale, plump look.
His face was tinged with dark green, his features sharpening into distinct angles. Two dog ears stood tall upon his head, lending him an air of clear majesty and a hint of ferocity.
Around him swirled golden light, as if about to condense into golden armor, a golden crown, and a golden sword.
Ma Hanjiang's foundation was unstable; after the "Mind-Beguiling Spirit-Deranging Art" affected his mind, murderous intent quickly flooded his brain and he lost his reason. He showed no fear now. His muscles bulging as if carrying surging river water, he smashed a fist toward Ren Youyang once more.
Ren Youyang raised his left palm, covered in golden light, and caught the punch with perfect timing.
No sound of impact came, nor did Ren Youyang's body sway in the slightest.
He then changed his palm into a claw and pulled backward, making Ma Hanjiang stumble involuntarily toward him, while his right palm rose up and brushed toward the other's face.
Seeing this, Ma Hanjiang was not alarmed but delighted. He closed his eyes and let his face take on the texture of a thick turtle shell.
*My "Mysterious Turtle Divine Art" has been trained to the Dharma Realm. Unless one finds my vital gate, not even another grandmaster can break my defense!*
*In close-quarters combat, few can withstand my do-or-die fighting style!*
Ren Youyang's right palm brushed across Ma Hanjiang's face. Far from creating a wound, it couldn't even leave the slightest red mark.
Yet with that brush, wholly without any hint of force, Ma Hanjiang suddenly froze, turning into a stone statue.
Almost at the same moment, a phantom flew out of his body — a phantom exactly like him.
This was his essence-soul, struggling desperately, unwilling to fully separate from his body.
Ren Youyang's left palm released Ma Hanjiang's fist and gripped an illusory golden sword condensed from the swirling golden light, slashing forward with a whoosh.
The illusory golden sword struck Ma Hanjiang's essence-soul squarely.
Ma Hanjiang's essence-soul immediately let out a soundless scream, rapidly fading, close to falling apart.
The long sword, radiating beams of golden light, slashed down once more.
In that instant, Yan Changqing's aged, hoarse voice echoed through Ding Songyan's sea of consciousness:
"Run!"
Ding Songyan involuntarily shifted his "qi" to his feet, then whirled and lunged, smashing through the window on the other side of the room and escaping.
With another leap, he vaulted over the waist-high wall behind.
He kept using "qi" to shift his position, while Yan Changqing kept replenishing it for him.
After passing several courtyards, he slipped into an empty room.
"Put me down on the rattan bed," Yan Changqing said calmly.
After Ding Songyan helped him lie down, the previous sect master of the Juesheng Dao spoke with a serious expression:
"We still have to take out that strange object Zhen Qianfan made me swallow. Otherwise he'll be able to catch up soon, and if he catches up, Ji Hanyi will certainly come too."
"All right." Ding Songyan took out the dagger he had put away earlier and drew it from its sheath.
Looking at the blade glinting with cold light, Yan Changqing's smile deepened a little:
"Hold on tight."
Following his instructions, Ding Songyan wasted no time. With one stroke of the dagger he cut open the blue robe, exposing the other's gaunt, pale chest and belly.
Then Ding Songyan swallowed and forcefully plunged the dagger into Yan Changqing's abdomen.
With the sensation of piercing through layer upon layer of obstruction, blood welled out. Ding Songyan yanked the dagger upward, splitting the chest and belly in two.
Throughout the whole process, Yan Changqing didn't even grunt, though his face turned considerably paler.
As his chest and belly were pried apart, Ding Songyan saw what was inside:
Yan Changqing's stomach had lost any discernible shape, a patch of deep gloom so profound that even the light shining in from the window was drawn into it. His heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, along with several strange organs, were crowded tightly beside the stomach, no longer in their original positions.
A man like this had actually not yet died.
From within that gloomy "stomach" extended a fist-sized yellow thing, half of it showing.
Within the yellow thing, a crimson flame seemed to burn, and at the flame's core was a mass of gloom.
"Cut off that yellow thing, and Zhen Qianfan will never find us again." Yan Changqing's voice sounded gently in Ding Songyan's ear and sea of consciousness.
Ding Songyan obediently raised the dagger stained with bright red blood.
Amid Yan Changqing's expectant gaze, Ding Songyan — before the other could react — sank his mind and instantly activated the candle-flame-like, dim yellow sword intent within his Shanzhong acupoint.
The sword intent from Zheng Zhuxi!
An instant later, the sword intent blazed with light, its dim yellow but warm radiance illuminating the surrounding darkness and lighting up Ding Songyan's sea of consciousness.
In the sea of consciousness, Yan Changqing's figure raised a hand to shield his eyes, while the hazy "seed" dodged downward into the glittering golden illusory ocean.
Taking advantage of this, Ding Songyan briefly broke free of the other's control.
His fine-steel dagger stabbed down fiercely, aiming at Yan Changqing's eye socket.
*I want you dead!*
The soft sensation was quickly pierced through; Ding Songyan's dagger had already sunk a good part of its length into the enemy's startled eyeball, bursting it apart.
At this moment, Ding Songyan's movements inexplicably slowed — the Yan Changqing in his sea of consciousness had already resisted the light of the candle-flame sword intent and seized control of his thoughts once more.
Within the glittering golden illusory ocean, several shadows suddenly darted out, forming a dark, shadowy net of heaven and earth that enveloped Yan Changqing's figure.
Ding Songyan suddenly understood:
This was the Heaven Heart imprint Ji Hanyi had left behind.
Ding Songyan regained control of his own thoughts, and could even drive that hazy "seed," making it split off half its power and pour into his right hand gripping the dagger with the force of a bursting mountain torrent.
The dagger sank into the eye socket a bit more.
In Yan Changqing's other, intact eye, the black pupil rapidly dilated, taking up everything.
Ding Songyan's dagger then met the obstruction of an invisible barrier.
Yan Changqing was using his own "qi"!
This too could protect his body!
……
Near the collapsed small building.
Ji Hanyi, with her tiger ears and tail, suddenly showed a change in her gaze, as if sensing something.
She abruptly drifted back one zhang, evading Tao Wenshu's Northern Dipper Slaying Sword, then let her tiger claws return to the shape of hands and raised them before her.
Those ten slender, snow-white fingers flicked rapidly, as if a flower were blooming, or as if imitating some kind of seal.
Without a sound, the gloomy darkness — like a sky before an approaching storm — split open with a dazzling silver-white bolt of lightning, striking between Ji Hanyi and Tao Wenshu and forcing Tao Wenshu back several steps.
Rumble!
Drawing on the special celestial phenomena Yan Changqing had created, Ji Hanyi sent bolt after bolt of lightning crashing down on this area, and a raging wind swept in, howling and raging, obscuring all sight.
With a great rush, the downpour finally fell, splashing up clouds of mist.
By the time the lightning had somewhat subsided, Ji Hanyi's figure had vanished from Tao Wenshu's sight.
……
Ding Songyan gritted his teeth and, using Yan Changqing's "qi," desperately pushed the dagger deeper into the other's head.
The Yan Changqing figure in his sea of consciousness had already vanished, returning to his body to resist the deadly attack with full force, waiting for the moment Ding Songyan's "qi" ran out.
Within the barrier woven of formless qi, the dagger's downward stab was very slow, and growing slower.
Ding Songyan's "qi" originally came from Yan Changqing to begin with; apart from catching him off guard at the start, how could it break through the other's protective qi?
*No good! I have to think of something! My "qi" won't last much longer...* Ding Songyan's whole face flushed crimson from overexertion.
Suddenly, he thought of several things:
Ji Hanyi had been defeated by Feng Yining, leaving a flaw in her mind;
Yan Changqing said humans are the most precious, emphasizing wisdom, spirit, and the spirit terrace;
their divine arts originated from the *Heaven Heart Wisdom Sutra*;
Heaven Heart, one's own heart, the human heart...
*Their martial arts emphasize the mind. If I could shake Yan Changqing's mind and spirit, could I affect his control of qi and his use of it, and create a chance to kill him?*
As soon as the thought came to him, Ding Songyan tried it, speaking with a sneer:
"Aren't you very curious about when exactly I guessed, and when I started preparing?
"Earlier, in the dungeon, you promised to replenish my qi, but after I dealt with the Zhen Manor's younger generation and took off the blindfold, you seemed to have forgotten all about it, only urging me to take out the so-called strange object in your belly.
"I was thinking then — weren't you worried something might go wrong? Didn't you want to have me carry you and flee the moment the extraction was done? Why such a rush?
"My guess is this: once the so-called strange object is taken out, will you, a master, recover your original strength?
"In that case, you wouldn't need me to carry you at all, and I'd no longer be of use. Naturally you wouldn't want to waste 'qi' on me — what use is 'qi' to a dead man?
"Back then I still couldn't figure out what that strange object really was — until you told your good disciple about Hundun's remains!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Ding Songyan suddenly felt the formless qi obstructing the dagger loosen slightly, letting the weapon sink in a little deeper.
It worked!
The method worked!
Chapter 53