Chapter 253: Reigning Over the World (22) - Fang Buxin's Divided Soul

Outside the Yin Fiend Sea Region, Demonic Path cultivators stood guard in dense layers, setting up restrictions to seal the territory. A heavy, solemn atmosphere hung in the air.

As the crowd waited in silence, the sky above suddenly erupted with blinding spiritual light. A brilliant golden ray tore through the gray sea of clouds, spanning the heavens and the earth.

The blazing, pure golden light carried the awe-inspiring, supreme Yang aura of the Righteous Path. Vast and righteous, it suppressed all yin, evil, and baleful filth in the world.

Every guarding cultivator present instantly tensed. The demonic arts circulating within their bodies suddenly slowed, their divine souls firmly enveloped by a boundless, majestic pressure. Such pure, overbearing Righteous Path energy was far beyond the reach of any ordinary cultivator. Its sheer tyranny struck terror into their hearts, leaving the crowd panicked and entirely unsure of which mighty figure had suddenly descended.

As the sky-filling golden glow slowly receded, a distinguished figure walked upon the void, stepping leisurely out of the halo.

The moment they caught a clear view of the newcomer's face, every cultivator present trembled, their expressions freezing in sheer astonishment.

"It's Grandmaster Jiuyou!" someone blurted out in a low voice, unable to suppress their shock.

Endless doubt welled up in the hearts of the cultivators. Jiuyou had always cultivated the Demonic Path; his earth-shattering demonic arts were known to all. Yet the overwhelming supreme Yang divine light before them was unmistakably the hallmark of a top-tier Righteous Path method. Its terrifying pressure was so heavy it nearly choked the circulation of their own cultivation bases.

After a brief silence, a knowledgeable high-ranking cultivator suddenly recalled a rumor. His expression changed drastically.

"Could it be that years ago, the Demon Venerable... scattered his life's cultivation, broke down the old before building anew, and started his Great Dao from scratch?" he gasped in shock.

Those words sent a wave of sheer astonishment through the crowd.

Cultivation was a grueling journey where every step forward was a struggle and a Dao foundation was hard-won. Especially for those who had reached the Nascent Soul Realm, their foundations had been tempered thousands of times and were deeply rooted. No one would ever dare risk damaging their core, let alone scatter their cultivation entirely to start over from nothing.

Such a heaven-defying act required peerless perseverance, immense courage, and unparalleled, monstrous serendipity. It was no wonder Jiuyou had managed to transcend his shackles, taking that final step to achieve the Deity Transformation Great Dao.

Minds raced as the crowd instantly deduced the truth of the matter.

Years ago, Jiuyou must have traveled to Ganzhou, that pinnacle holy land of cultivation. Only by obtaining a supreme legacy there could he have shed his old path, remolded his body, and mastered a divine art capable of reversing the demonic and the righteous.

In an instant, boundless yearning swelled in the hearts of every cultivator present.

The legendary name of the Ganzhou holy land took even deeper root in their minds.

The Deity Transformation Realm was the ultimate Great Dao every cultivator in this world dreamed of. Even if the path forward promised nine deaths and one life amid unfathomable dangers, just having the chance to set foot in that holy land and glimpse the true face of the Great Dao would leave any practitioner with no regrets in this life.

High in the sky, Jiuyou paid no mind to the shock and envy gripping the crowd below.

His eyes were piercing, shimmering with a brilliant golden light. That sharp gaze penetrated the thick layers of yin fiend fog, completely ignoring the treacherous restrictions scattered across the land as it probed straight into the deepest reaches of the Yin Fiend Forbidden Zone.

After focusing his senses for a moment, a trace of an aura—hidden incredibly deeply and astonishingly weak, yet paradoxically both unfamiliar and familiar—landed precisely within his divine soul's perception.

Jiuyou's lips curled into a slight smirk. "Found you," he murmured lightly, his tone ringing with absolute certainty.

The moment the words left his mouth, he tore through the air.

Dazzling golden light instantly swept out in all directions as his body transformed into a breathtaking golden streak. In the blink of an eye, he plunged into the pitch-black depths of the baleful fog. He moved with such unimaginable speed that before the surrounding cultivators could even react, his figure had completely vanished from their senses.

Wherever he passed, the void trembled and fractured as a brilliantly gilded path manifested out of thin air. The golden spiritual light burned with an immense, scorching heat, constantly incinerating and purifying the churning yin fiend black fog around him. No matter how violently the sky-filling baleful aura surged and clawed at it, it failed to obscure even a sliver of that golden path.

The crowd stared up into the terrifying depths of the baleful sea, their faces awash in absolute shock.

Deep inside the forbidden zone, Jiuyou unfurled his Divine Sense to its absolute limit. The Heaven and Earth Ring silently circulated around him, meticulously scanning the void in all directions to catch every last trace of residue. He couldn't afford a single oversight.

He knew very well that Fang Buxin was a veteran monster who had lived for over two thousand years. The man was inherently cunning and treacherous; his experience, insight, and life-saving escape arts were all world-class. Aside from the fact that he hadn't stepped into the Deity Transformation Realm, his foundation and arsenal of trump cards might not actually pale in comparison to a true Deity Transformation Cultivator.

Now that he had locked onto the man's trail today, there was absolutely no way he would let his prey escape.

Deep within the yin fiend lands, craggy valleys crisscrossed into a treacherous, labyrinthine terrain. Shrouded in perpetual black fog, it was a flawless hiding spot.

Fang Buxin lay low in the shadows, his condition having long since deteriorated to its absolute limit. His mind grew heavy and cold as he silently assessed his situation.

'This divided soul is getting weaker and weaker,' he thought. 'I've completely lost connection with the main soul. This physical body is completely ruined, its life force all but drained. It's almost at its limit.'

A resolute glint flashed through his eyes as the desperate thought to break the cooking pots and sink the boats rose in his mind.

'If that's how it is, then let me burn away entirely! I'll squeeze out the very last ounce of value from this vessel!'

With his mind made up, he reached into his Storage Pouch and pulled out handfuls of rare healing pills. He shoved them haphazardly down his throat, barely clinging to his rapidly depleting life force. A thousand years of planning had all led to this final endgame. He had long since stopped caring about life and death; all he wanted was to gamble for that final sliver of hope.

Right at that moment, a blinding streak of golden light pierced through a gap in the black fog above the valley, flashing past as fast as a meteor.

Hearing the sound, Fang Buxin looked up toward the horizon above the peaks. Instead of fear, a bleak, unhinged smile spread across his face.

"So you chased me down after all," he rasped. "Fine! Today, let me see for myself just where my limits lie!"

Before his voice even faded, he swallowed the remaining pills in his hand. Layers of dense black fog coiled around him, churning and condensing until they split into three humanoid baleful shadows. Each phantom sported a pair of blood-red eyes and radiated a monstrous baleful aura, giving off the distinct impression of formidable combat strength.

But before the three baleful phantoms could fully solidify, the piercing golden light suddenly plummeted from the sky again.

Where the supreme Yang golden light struck, the yin fiend origin was instantly neutralized. The three black fog figures let out shrill, agonizing shrieks before melting away into nothingness.

With his secret technique shattered, the backlash violently ripped through his body. Fang Buxin shuddered and staggered back several paces. A metallic sweetness rose in his throat before he spewed out a mouthful of dark crimson blood, his already critical injuries worsening drastically.

Before he could even steady himself, a massive, boundless hand burst from the void. Moving faster than thought, it clamped brutally around his neck. A majestic, overwhelming force slammed him into the cold, hard stone wall, pinning him so tightly he couldn't move an inch.

Only one terrified thought remained in his mind: 'So fast!'

Hovering between life and death, Fang Buxin held nothing back. With a single thought, he violently drove his ruined physical body.

Dense, pitch-black cracks instantly splintered across his skin as berserk Nascent Soul energy began to pool. He planned to detonate his Nascent Soul right then and there. Even if he had to die, he was going to drag his opponent down to pay the price.

But before the explosive energy could erupt, a warm yet unfathomably overbearing power suddenly locked down his meridians and divine soul.

With a faint, muffled rip, his Nascent Soul was forcefully peeled away and plucked right out of his physical body.

Jiuyou hovered in the void, his cold eyes looking down at the Nascent Soul floating silently above his palm. He frowned slightly, shock and doubt welling up in his heart.

This wasn't a complete origin Nascent Soul at all—it was merely a construct formed from a remnant divided soul!

Furthermore, the very instant the Nascent Soul left its host's body, its residual consciousness had completely wiped itself out. It erased itself so thoroughly that not a single trace remained, making it impossible to use even the most basic Soul-Snatching Secret Technique on it.

Thoughts churned wildly in Jiuyou's mind as he silently assessed the situation.

'What terrifying shrewdness...'

'As a mighty Deity Transformation Cultivator, it should be child's play for Hongce to divine heavenly secrets and pierce through illusions. So how on earth did a mere Nascent Soul cultivator like Fang Buxin manage to evade Hongce's divinations?'

'To push for the Deity Transformation Great Dao, this man endured for a thousand years, calculating every single step. Just how many contingency plans has he hidden away?'