Chapter 269: Fighting Wang Xunzhen Again

Jiuyou's mind instantly cleared as every lingering doubt linked together.

No wonder Hongce had exhausted his divination techniques yet still failed to deduce this person's fate and karma. The figure before him had never been Fang Buxin to begin with. The divided soul that appeared earlier was the true remnant body of the Fang Buxin who had perished two thousand years ago. This entity had stripped away Fang Buxin's remnant soul, erased his consciousness, and refined him into a puppet avatar, deliberately exposing it to mislead everyone's investigations. Hongce's calculations had landed entirely on the divided soul, so naturally, he couldn't see through to the true body at all.

Jiuyou's gaze was as heavy and cold as ice, locked onto the figure on the White Bone Throne. He had just repeatedly probed and confirmed the truth with his divine sense: the one appearing before him was Wang Xunzhen's true body, absolutely not an avatar or illusion.

He silently weighed the situation. For the enemy to precisely lock onto his tracks, Jiuyou must have been detected the moment he stepped into the Sacred Tree Secret Realm. That was enough to confirm the core pivot of the Mount Tianyuan Mystic Realm was located right here. This place was the foundation of the entire mystic realm, and the true lair where this Upper Realm monster had lain dormant for a millennium.

Just as Jiuyou's thoughts raced, Wang Xunzhen suddenly let out a sinister sneer from the throne.

"What? Are you worried about your fellow Daoists?" His tone was thoroughly mocking and indifferent. "They are already trapped deep in an illusion killing array, unable to even protect themselves. It won't be long before you can reunite, turning into the nourishment I need to rebuild my foundation and return to the Upper Realm."

Without another word of nonsense, Wang Xunzhen pressed a single hand down through the empty air.

The massive White Bone Throne suddenly stirred. Clusters of scarlet blood-flames shot out simultaneously from the eye sockets of the thousands of stacked skulls. The demonic firelight danced and flickered, radiating a bone-piercing, fierce baleful aura. Countless hollow skeletal eyes locked onto Jiuyou in unison as a ghastly chill shrouded the surroundings.

Jiuyou was a veteran of a hundred battles, his state of mind as solid as a boulder. Facing such vicious momentum, his expression did not change in the slightest as a single hand formed a sword incantation. The giant golden sword wheel hovering behind him locked into position. The tips of the eighty-one Ember Moon Swords converged on a single point, their razor-sharp Sword Intent surging through the air to firmly resist the oncoming wave of blood and baleful aura.

Within the Heaven and Earth Ring, Xuan Zhenzi's voice transmission suddenly rang out, carrying a fierce and untamed edge. "This monster is too arrogant! Brat, you pin him down from the front, and I'll wait for a chance to strike from the shadows and cut off his retreat!"

Jiuyou gave a silent grunt of agreement. Without hesitation, he launched the first offensive.

The sword light of dozens of Ember Moon Swords skyrocketed, transforming into a golden sword dragon. Carrying an indomitable, murderous sharpness, it tore through the blood-colored mist and blasted straight toward Wang Xunzhen on the White Bone Throne.

Wang Xunzhen revealed a look of contempt and casually threw out a palm strike. A bewitching blood-fire surged from his palm, and the blood-flames atop the thousands of skulls on the throne erupted in response. The sky-filling scarlet flames churned, sweeping out into a sea of fire that met the golden sword dragon head-on.

The two ultimate powers of gold and red collided with a deafening boom!

A berserk shockwave of spiritual energy instantly swept in all directions, shattering the surrounding rocks. The immense power forcibly pushed away the blood-colored baleful aura permeating the air, briefly exposing a vacuum of spiritual energy.

Amidst the raging gales, Jiuyou rode the momentum to fly backward in retreat. The incantation seal at his fingertips changed, recalling all the flying swords. As his gaze swept over the blades, his brow furrowed slightly.

Wisps of scarlet baleful aura were entwined around the clear golden sword bodies. They were exceptionally stubborn, faintly showing signs of corroding the magic treasures' origin.

Fortunately, the orthodox Great Dao cultivation method he practiced was of the utmost yang and rigidity, and the Ember Moon Swords were supreme pure-yang killing treasures that naturally countered evil filth and demonic baleful aura. Simply by washing them with his Sword Intent, he purified and eradicated the invading blood baleful aura in mere moments.

'To be able to corrode a Deity Transformation Cultivator's natal magic treasure... it truly is extraordinary,' Jiuyou thought, his inner guard raised.

Witnessing this scene, a trace of surprise flashed through Wang Xunzhen's eyes, quickly giving way to intense greed and pity. "Dispersing your cultivation to rebuild, walking against the Dao. Even in the Return Spirit Realm, very few possess such daring and temperament," he said. "With your talent and serendipity, if you could step into the Upper Realm, you would certainly carve out a massive domain. What a pity that you are bound to die here today."

Before his voice had even faded, Wang Xunzhen's figure broke free from the throne, stepping through the empty air. The massive White Bone Throne beneath him suddenly dismantled. Thousands of skeletons soared into the air and reconstructed, instantly transforming into three massive bone dragons with ferocious scales and claws, their entire bodies wreathed in blood-fire. Roaring at the sky, they lunged forward from three sides in a coordinated pincer attack, carrying a monstrous and baleful momentum.

Jiuyou's expression grew thoroughly solemn.

Ever since he had set foot on the path of cultivation, this Wang Xunzhen was the most terrifying and formidable opponent he had ever encountered. The man far surpassed all his past enemies; there was absolutely no room to underestimate him.

With a shift of his thoughts, all his remaining flying swords unsheathed. Sword light unfurled across a hundred miles of sky, coalescing into an airtight sword domain. Endless golden sword light crisscrossed, its frigid Sword Intent shredding the sky-filling blood mist. The three rampaging bone dragons were instantly trapped in the center of the sword domain. Dense clusters of blades frantically carved into their skeletons, instantly covering the impossibly hard dragon bones in deep sword marks.

Just as Jiuyou put his full effort into pinning down the three bone dragons, the thick blood mist behind him suddenly erupted with a surging undercurrent.

A cold, sharp killing intent silently locked onto his back as a hidden killing move abruptly struck!

Jiuyou's divine sense blared with warning signs. Catching sight of a black shadow piercing the air from the corner of his eye, he dodged sideways to the absolute limit.

A bizarre, blood-red long nail—no thicker than a fingertip—grazed his robes and shot past. The moment it missed its target, it detonated with a boom, splattering blood light and radiating a violent aura.

Borrowing the momentum of his dodge, Jiuyou soared high into the sky above Wang Xunzhen's head. As he pushed his incantation seals, endless Sword Intent coalesced into form. A majestic vermilion bird made of sword qi burst forth. Its phoenix cry resonated through the blood-colored world, and carrying the might to incinerate evil and sever the baleful aura, it dive-bombed for the kill!

The arrogance on Wang Xunzhen's face completely vanished, leaving only a bone-piercing coldness. He shook his shoulders, and the ancient animal-skin cape draped over him suddenly unfurled. Black energy and baleful aura intertwined and coiled, drawing upon the bizarre blood qi of the entire world.

The sky-filling blood mist churned and gathered into countless sharp, blood-colored claw shadows. Weaving together across the sky, they instantly tore apart the oncoming vermilion bird of sword qi and continued with undiminished momentum, clawing toward all the vital points on Jiuyou's body.

Jiuyou rapidly retreated through the air. Sword light protected his body, forcibly blocking the layered offensive of the claw shadows.

Right at that moment, the skeletal frames of the three bone dragons within the sword domain were completely severed by the flying swords, and they collapsed with a crash. Jiuyou's eyes turned icy. No longer holding back, he recalled every single Ember Moon Sword.

The eighty-one flying swords simultaneously swelled in the air, each one transforming into a hundred-zhang giant blade. Their pure-yang, murderous Sword Intent erupted in full force.

The sky-filling giant golden swords arranged themselves in a crisscross pattern. Amidst the thick, blood-colored world, they forcibly tore open a zone of clear, bright airspace.

With monstrous sword momentum and a bone-piercing edge, they ruthlessly crushed down toward the countless pouncing blood-colored giant hands!

The landscape had already been reduced to ruins by their battle. High in the sky, one floating island after another smashed into the ground like falling meteors. On the surface below, sword qi and blood qi blasted out craters of blood and trenches of sword marks. Mountain peaks were leveled, boulders were ground to dust, and even the surrounding space was battered into ripples by their clash.