Chapter 430: Nine Qi Perfected! (10,000 Words!)

Facts proved that Wang Ping's decision to commit suicide was entirely correct.

Because the moment the Tianhou revived and opened its eyes, tens of thousands of blazing golden rays exploded outward. For lower-level cultivators, this strike was almost fatal.

Aside from Mingyou, Mingde, Tianxing, and Chen Yuanfu—four experts at the Qi Refinement Third Layer—the other Qi Refining practitioners could not even see the golden light's true form, let alone fight the Tianhou. Like small boats tossed on crashing waves, their divine sense trembled; they could only feel a surge of blood qi as blazing as the sun.

The entire Incense-Draped Hall seemed to instantly turn into a furnace.

The golden light was the roaring fire within that furnace, intent on smelting all the Qi Refining practitioners to death. For a time, the sound of exploding dharma bodies rang out endlessly!

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

The golden light contained no Daoist principles, only the purest brute force. Even though most people reacted quickly and brought out their defensive methods...

...aside from a few Qi Refining practitioners who used Spiritual Treasures to protect themselves and were only beaten back while coughing up blood, the rest—who had relied on divine powers and qi manifestations for defense—instantly exploded into clouds of blood mist inside the Incense-Draped Hall. They melted away in the golden light. This absolute disparity in power was terrifying.

Because it lacked the backing of Daoist principles, this attack alone was not enough to kill them outright.

Even so, if such an earth-shattering attack were repeated seventeen or eighteen times, the sheer loss of vitality would be enough to make them fall.

"Qi Consumption Third Layer..."

Seeing this, Mingyou's eyes flickered slightly. On the other side, Mingde and the others were equally full of shock. This was absolutely not the combat strength a modern Qi Consumption Third Layer practitioner should possess.

"A qi-ingesting practitioner from the Great Rebellion era..."

Where did this ferocious beast come from? How did it do this? Surviving until today was one thing, but how had it remained unaffected by the decline of its Dao lineage and maintained its peak state?

"Not good!"

In an instant, the four of them reacted as if facing a deadly enemy. However, the Great Rebellion had fallen tens of thousands of years ago, and the Qi Consumption Dao lineage had long been ousted from the mainstream. Therefore, none of the four had any real concept of how strong a peak Qi Consumption Third Layer expert from that era actually was. They could only make judgments based on Daoist scriptures and ancient records.

"Inhaling and exhaling, consuming qi to nourish the body."

"All qi-ingesting practitioners consume qi into their bodies to nourish their own blood qi. Therefore, their numerous profound mysteries all lie within the changes of their blood qi, using it to leverage the mighty forces of heaven and earth..."

Soon, the four witnessed an incredibly shocking scene.

Right in the center of the Incense-Draped Hall, the mountainous giant beast slowly stood up. Towering between heaven and earth, it looked in their direction with scarlet eyes.

As it stood, the hall's space—which should have been extremely cramped for a creature of its size—seemed to expand. Billowing blood qi blew outward in all directions like a gale, scattering the incense smoke and dyeing the entire hall in a startling, bloody radiance.

A second later, the Tianhou spoke. Clear human words unexpectedly tumbled from between its sharp fangs, echoing through the hall like rolling thunder. "Who are you? How many years has it been since the fall of the Great Rebellion?"

"How did you get in?"

The Tianhou's gaze was ferocious. Paying absolutely no attention to the fact that it was surrounded, it shifted its eyes and pinched its dog-like claws together as if divining something.

In an instant, the fluctuations of its blood qi became even more violent.

"How could this be?"

"It shouldn't be at this point in time! The Incense-Draped Hall actually fell out? Who would dare do this... Xuangong, what did that bastard Xuangong do?"

The Tianhou was enraged!

Following its emotional fluctuations, the blood-colored light overflowing the hall grew even more intense, and everyone could feel the sharp aura emanating from it.

Immediately after, a fierce, sandy wind seemed to blow across their faces. The crowd couldn't help but narrow their eyes. Then the scene before them changed—the bloody radiance completely solidified, transforming into a vast crimson desert that stretched across the world. It was as if heaven and earth had been stained with blood, plunging the sun and moon into darkness.

This was a desert battlefield following a massive war.

The sight of the Incense-Draped Hall had completely vanished, replaced by this bloody desert battlefield. Even the pungent stench of blood had yet to dissipate.

Buried within the wild sands were all sorts of weapons and implements, as well as corpses, of course, along with the ruins of many palaces that had been shot down.

This was absolutely no illusion.

Standing in this desert battlefield, everyone's divine sense seemed to break free from the suppression of the incense smoke. It rapidly expanded, quickly making out the sights within.

This was especially true for Mingyou. He cultivated the Earth Yin Fire, and his Dao foundation and qi manifestations inherently favored uncovering secrets. Golden lamps sparkled in his eyes, immediately discerning the objects submerged in the bloody hues one by one. There were shattered dharma seals, snapped Tokens, and various robes and keepsakes representing different identities.

The Azure Jade Sect. The Heavenly Owl Sect.

The Great Xuan Immortal Dynasty. The Honored Brahma Buddhist Land.

Mingyou's thoughts raced as he identified one keepsake after another. Without exception, all of them belonged to immortal factions that had been crippled and destroyed during the Great Rebellion era.

The so-called Three Great Academies and Eight Immortal Peaks were merely the broad framework of the Immortal Gate. Beneath this framework lay a massive number of distinct factions.

During the Great Rebellion, these factions faced an almost avalanche-like destruction. The Five Thunders Divine Firmament Office was established, and the True Monarch sat high in the nine heavens. Centered around the Eight Trigrams Furnace of that time, they launched a massive sweep across the major factions—raiding homes, exterminating sects, leveling mountains, and destroying temples. Their fierce might was utterly unrivaled.

They looked further into the desert battlefield.

If one looked carefully, one could even see corpses standing like a forest, preserving the most authentic appearance of the battlefield's slaughter, their blood seemingly flowing without end.

'This is the battlefield from that time.'

Mingyou looked around, already understanding. This was also the great deed of this ferocious beast. It had used this as a Dao foundation to forge its root fruit, intending to use it to cultivate truth and attain the Dao.

A second later, a Daoist chant rang out: "Human-position Yang Metal, the profound spear holds the power of renewal. My Dao alone is supreme, and metal qi shall be bound by this body!"

Rumble!

In an instant, the entire bloody desert battlefield began to twist and change. Heaven and earth collapsed toward the center, and the boundless battlefield shockingly condensed into a dazzling streak of bloody light.

Immediately after, Mingyou found himself tumbling out of the battlefield. Mingde, Tianxing, and Chen Yuanfu—the other three Qi Refinement Third Layer experts—had also broken free. On the other side, however, half a body now hung from the Tianhou's mouth, legs dangling outside, completely devoid of life.

Crunch!

The Tianhou smacked its lips and spat forcefully.

The severed corpse slammed into the ground, ultimately bursting into a floor full of radiance that rolled like pearls and jade. This Qi Refining practitioner hadn't even uttered a single groan before dropping dead on the spot!

In an instant, all sounds fell silent.

The dead man was a Qi Refining practitioner from the Protector Courtyard who cultivated under the dominion of earth qi. Because of this, Chen Yuanfu's expression was exceptionally ugly, and he was also filled with a lingering sense of shock.

This was someone at the Qi Refining Second Layer!

Although the gap in combat strength between the second and first layers of Qi Refining was nowhere near as exaggerated as the jump to the Qi Refinement Third Layer, the second layer held a massive advantage over the first.

That was survivability.

Under equal combat strength, the survival ability of the Qi Refining Second Layer far exceeded the first. Their Dao foundation had completely broken free from the constraints of the qi of heaven and earth. They no longer used the qi manifestations of heaven and earth to perfect their Dao foundation, but instead used their Dao foundation to define the qi of heaven and earth, drastically lowering the probability of being seen through.

Therefore, under normal circumstances...

...it was nearly impossible to see through the Dao foundation of a Qi Refining Second Layer cultivator and kill them using Daoist principles. One could only slowly grind them down by chipping away at their vitality bit by bit.

Yet at this moment...

A Qi Refining Second Layer expert had only had half his dharma body bitten off by the Tianhou, yet all of his vitality was instantly snuffed out, his bitterly cultivated life force crashing down into ruin!

Furthermore...

Looking over, Chen Yuanfu could even see scattered profound lights dispersing from the edges of the Tianhou's mouth. Those were the qi manifestations mastered by the dead Qi Refining practitioner.

Even the qi manifestations had been chewed to pieces!

On the other side, Mingde's expression was similarly fluctuating. He had recognized the profound mystery behind the Tianhou killing a Qi Refining Second Layer expert in a single bite and even chewing up his qi manifestations.

Dao fruit...

That was a method a cultivator could only deploy after mastering at least seven qi manifestations in their primary qi and reaching a certain level of control over the qi of heaven and earth.

As a cultivator entered the Dao, their deepening control over the qi of heaven and earth was like a seedling slowly growing into a towering tree. In the end, bearing fruit on that tree signified that their cultivation was nearing perfection. It was the cultivator's empirical proof in the realm of cultivation, a manifestation of the Great Dao above their Dao foundation.

Whether or not one possessed a Dao fruit often determined many things at the Qi Refinement Third Layer.

First, after cultivating a Dao fruit, sensing the corresponding trigram would be much easier. If nothing else, it would add at least a ten percent chance of success in cultivating the truth and attaining the Dao.

Second was combat strength.

The boost a Dao fruit gave to a cultivator's strength was undeniable. Using the Nine Heavens standard of ancient cultivators, whether one had a Dao fruit was the watershed line for breaking through the Sixth Heaven.

Take him and Mingyou, for example.

Mingyou had cultivated his Dao fruit early on, breaking through the Sixth Heaven back in the day and easily defeating him. Now, he was even more unfathomable, clearly having taken things to an even higher level.

Mingde, however, was limited by having only mastered five qi manifestations before breaking through. He had never been able to manifest a Dao fruit, and his combat strength had always remained stuck at the level of breaking the Fifth Heaven. Only by relying on external items could he briefly break into the Sixth Heaven, but he couldn't sustain it. He simply couldn't be compared to Mingyou anymore.

Thinking of this, Mingde only felt a burning heat on his face.

He could accept not being able to compare to Mingyou—the Immortal Gate had only produced such a genius in ten thousand years. He chalked that up to bad luck. But what the hell was this Tianhou in front of him?

'I've cultivated for half my life, and I'm still inferior to a dog?'

Meanwhile.

After biting a Qi Refining Second Layer expert to death, the Tianhou's already vigorous blood qi shockingly rose another notch, and its gaze subsequently turned toward the other Qi Refining practitioners.

"Dao Child!!!"

Instantly, quite a few Qi Refining practitioners cried out. They had all been brought here by Mingde and Chen Yuanfu; naturally, the two couldn't just sit back and ignore them now.

Of course, more importantly, the Tianhou was clearly a veteran of many battles and knew to pick on the soft persimmons first. Furthermore, it evidently had some sort of profound mystery bolstering its dharma body, allowing it to improve its state by devouring its opponents. Thus, both logically and emotionally, they couldn't just sit by and watch it continue; they had to find a way to stop it.

"Woof! Woof woof woof!"

Another vigorous bark rang out, short and powerful. Subsequently, the bloody desert battlefield spread out once more, like a giant bloody maw looking to swallow another person.

"Strike!"

Seeing this, Chen Yuanfu finally made his move. He reached his right hand into his sleeve and pulled out a palm-sized, crystal-clear miniature black coffin.

[Heavenly Corpse Mystic Fiend Treasure Coffin]!

The moment this treasure appeared, its lid popped open, and an aura of extreme yin and evil immediately dispersed through the world. Fouling arts and corrupting the Dao, it cast its reflection right into the bloody desert battlefield.

[Five Yin Turbid Mystic Fiend]!

The next second, the bloody desert battlefield rapidly receded, once again revealing the Tianhou's figure. However, it stood in place and spat repeatedly, as if it had eaten something filthy.

Immediately after, it looked at the treasure coffin in Chen Yuanfu's hand. Its dog eyes darted around, and it spoke its second sentence since reviving: "Nice Spiritual Treasure. It just so happens that since my revival, all my previous collections have been cleared out. My kennel is currently missing a bed board, and I think this piece is highly suitable."

Chen Yuanfu was completely stunned!

Then he laughed out of extreme anger. He had refined this Heavenly Corpse Mystic Fiend Treasure Coffin for many years. A mere beast actually wanted to take it away and use it as a bed board?

"Shameless boasting!"

As his voice fell, Chen Yuanfu instantly formed a hand seal, vibrating the treasure coffin as he prepared to unleash another technique. However, after speaking, the Tianhou unexpectedly opened its massive mouth again.

Its sharp fangs clamped shut.

"Awooo!"

This time, no bloody desert battlefield appeared. However, Chen Yuanfu suddenly froze in place. Looking at the emptiness before him, he actually felt a bit bewildered.

'Where is my treasure coffin?'

Chen Yuanfu blinked, hardly daring to believe what he was seeing. Yet his senses wouldn't lie—the Heavenly Corpse Mystic Fiend Treasure Coffin was simply gone.

This treasure coffin was bound to his very life, and he usually even slept inside it. But now, it had suddenly vanished without a trace. Their iron-clad connection seemed to no longer exist, leaving only a faint feeling that the object had landed in some extremely distant place, making it impossible to sense its exact location.

Under the heavens, there was only one thing that could match this kind of profound mystery.

"The [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary]?" Chen Yuanfu found it somewhat unbelievable. Since when could a qi-ingesting practitioner open—and even control—that infamous metal-qi treasure granary belonging to the Divine Weapon Courtyard?

What a joke!

There was a mole!

At this moment, Chen Yuanfu only felt extremely suffocated. It wasn't that he lacked methods to guard against the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary]; he simply hadn't had the time to use them.

After all, who could have imagined that a ferocious Qi Consumption beast from the Great Rebellion could actually use the Divine Weapon Courtyard's methods? Striking with complete surprise, the Tianhou had caught him off guard and taken away the [Heavenly Corpse Mystic Fiend Treasure Coffin]. With almost no effort, it had directly stripped away more than thirty percent of Chen Yuanfu's combat strength.

"What [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary]?"

The Tianhou refused to admit it, decisively shaking its head. "That's my kennel, specially built for me by my master back in the day. It has nothing to do with the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary]..."

It sounded very guilty!

Because it truly was the [Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary], or rather, a corner of it that the master of the Incense-Draped Hall had specially carved out for it back then.

Thinking back to those days, it had piled up so many treasures inside. But as a result of that great war, almost all of them had blown up, leaving its kennel completely empty today.

It was about time to restock!

Immediately after, the Tianhou raised its head again and looked at the crowd of Qi Refining practitioners in the distance. Thanks to Chen Yuanfu delaying it, they had already fled to the corners of the hall.

Yet the Tianhou didn't care in the slightest.

The next second, a bright light of merit surfaced on its body. Mixed into an angry roar, it rang out by the ears of the distant Qi Refining practitioners. "Come over here!"

[Awaiting the Lord's Return]!

The moment this merit light appeared, several Qi Refining practitioners immediately discovered to their horror that their surroundings were spinning. In the blink of an eye, they had already arrived right in front of the Tianhou!

"Awooo!"

The bloody battlefield expanded and contracted, instantly dismantling and swallowing these Qi Refining practitioners into its belly. Then, with a flick of its dog tail, it smashed down toward Chen Yuanfu like a crashing mountain range.

Chen Yuanfu did not dare slack off. He threw out another mountain-peak Spiritual Treasure, which collided with the Tianhou's tail. In the end, both he and the mountain were swatted away. Fortunately, as he retreated in defeat, Mingde and Tianxing finally made their move. Two clouds of auspicious vapor slowly rose, plugging the gap and standing in front of the Tianhou.

"Woof!"

Seeing this, the Tianhou sneered coldly. Then it arched its head, not using any flashy profound mysteries, but instead simply charging forward with a stiff, savage tackle.

Seeing the opponent coming in so fiercely, Mingde and Tianxing dared not be careless and immediately responded with their full strength. But right at the moment their attacks were about to strike the Tianhou...

Swish!

The Tianhou vanished.

To be exact, it hadn't vanished. Instead, it had retracted its mountainous demonic body, transforming into a sky full of smoke, out of which walked a high-spirited young man.

Human-form transformation!

A simple transformation had utilized the difference in size to make Mingde and Tianxing's full-force strikes miss completely. Meanwhile, it drifted forward gracefully. Though clearly a ferocious beast, right now, with its wide sleeves fluttering, it actually possessed a bit of immortal nobility. Even more so, a perfectly flawless full moon slowly rose behind its head.

[Clear Autumn Looking White Killing Qi], Heaven Yang Metal!

This qi could govern all waters; a bright moon over the sea was born together with the tide. As the full moon rose, water qi immediately responded, concealing the Tianhou's human form within the shimmering waves.

Water qi evasion!

In a flash of lightning, by the time the Tianhou's figure reappeared, it had already bypassed Mingde and Tianxing's blockade and once again arrived in front of the other Qi Refining practitioners.

"Roar—!"

A second later, the Tianhou discarded its human form, revealing its towering demonic body once more. It opened its bloody maw, aiming to sweep the board and swallow everyone in front of it.

Witnessing this, Chen Yuanfu, who had finally managed to catch his breath nearby, could no longer sit still.

"Mingyou! Why are you still just standing there watching?" he shouted.

Hearing this, Mingyou—who had chosen to spectate from the very beginning without truly making a move—finally acted. A calm Daoist chant slowly left his lips. "Earth-position Yin Fire, true understanding holds the mystery of insight. My Dao has reached its peak, and fire qi shall submit to this body!"

A brilliant candlelight!

In an instant, Mingyou caught up to the Tianhou. Riding upon boundless radiance, he blocked its path, crashing head-on into the rapidly expanding bloody desert battlefield.

The two figures clashed. Not only were they exchanging profound mysteries, but they were even grappling physically. Mingyou, who was usually refined and calm, went absolutely berserk at this moment. One of his hands clamped down directly on the Tianhou's dog head, while the other stretched its fingers wide, trying to forcefully snap its dog mouth shut.

Boom!

The Tianhou's towering demonic body was actually pressed down from midair by Mingyou just like that. The bloody desert battlefield rapidly crumbled, kicking up a tidal wave of incense smoke within the hall.

Not far away, Mingde and Tianxing watched, dumbfounded.

To be honest, they weren't exactly surprised that Mingyou could overpower the Tianhou and suppress this giant demon head-on; after all, his strength was obvious to everyone in the Immortal Gate.

But the method of suppression Mingyou displayed right now was violently brutal to the extreme, entirely relying on physical collision. Where did he get such a powerful physical body?

Inborn divine strength?

Only the Tianhou, who was firmly clamped down by Mingyou, understood what profound mystery had just landed on it. Its divine sense shuddered, and it immediately spat out angrily, "Thief!"

Yes, the Tianhou knew the source of Mingyou's divine physical strength—it was none other than itself! The opponent had actually stolen the divine strength of its demonic body!

'Human Yin Fire...'

The [Transmitting Brightness Inheriting Obscurity Treasury-Guarding Qi] was a fire of inheritance, holding the mystery of passing on the bright and continuing the obscure. And now, a seed of this flame had shockingly been planted inside its body by Mingyou.

It was exactly this seed of flame that caused its physical divine strength to constantly be "inherited" by Mingyou. As the old saying went, teaching the apprentice starved the master. However much divine strength it "inherited" out, it correspondingly lost exactly that much. As one declined and the other grew, it naturally fell to a disadvantage against Mingyou.

'I can't let this continue.'

The Tianhou pondered in its heart. Despite its ferocious appearance, demonic beast origins, and brutish demeanor, back in the Incense-Draped Hall, it had actually been an intellectual general.

In a split second, it made a judgment.

"Disperse!"

Its towering demonic body once again drifted away like the wind, revealing its human form. It simultaneously used the change in size to escape Mingyou's grip, gaining a precious opening.

Right after, the Tianhou clasped its hands together.

Its ten fingers bloomed like a lotus flower, cupped in front of its chest. Where its palms met, a bloody-red radiance astonishingly surfaced.

This was its Dao fruit.

Having fought in the Incense-Draped Hall for countless years, it had recorded all its victories and defeats, turning them into a bloody battlefield that was inscribed into the depths of the qi of heaven and earth.

At this moment, looking at that bloody radiance, everyone hallucinated. It was as if they had returned to that desert battlefield, but saw the blowing sand fade away to reveal the battlefield's source—the yellow sands were dyed crimson because their source had been constantly gushing scarlet blood, soaking the entire war zone.

It was a severed head.

Cut cleanly at the neck without a shred of dignity, blood ceaselessly rolled out from its seven orifices, and a faint breath even lingered at its nose and mouth.

It was exactly this breath that transformed into the sky-filling gale.

It was exactly this blood that forged the entire battlefield.

"A True Person..."

Mingyou's pupils rapidly shrank!

Not just him, but Mingde, Tianxing, and Chen Yuanfu also recognized the true identity of this severed head. After all, the unique characteristics of an immortal who had cultivated the truth and attained the Dao could not be hidden from anyone.

In that terrifying era of fighting for the Great Dao, even Qi Refining practitioners would easily perish, and even True Persons could hardly remain unbothered. Without a doubt, this was the true foundation of the Tianhou's Dao fruit! It used this to record a True Person's death in battle, leveraging that imagery to push its profound mysteries to the absolute peak!

"Even immortals have their time to fall, let alone the likes of you!" As its voice faded, the young-looking Tianhou raised its hands high. This Dao fruit, which recorded the death of a True Person, was one of the Cosmos's most supreme techniques for slaughtering life!

"Stop him! Go all out!"

At this moment, Chen Yuanfu, Mingde, and Tianxing also rushed back to stand alongside Mingyou. Discarding all prior grievances, they simultaneously activated their profound mysteries.

Mingyou remained the main attacker. Lifting his palms, he formed hand seals, manifesting a Dao fruit that surged with radiance. Unlike the Tianhou's, however, it did not reflect any profound scenes; it was simply bright, pulling in countless streams of fire qi as spiritual flames flew out from his sleeves one after another.

Sweeping a glance over them, there were a full twelve flames!

One had to know that the lamp-bearer back in the Shiyang Temple had spent half his life to refine just a single stream of the [Mystic Yang Overarching Light Fire].

But what about Mingyou?

A full twelve spiritual flames!

It was an astonishing amount. Furthermore, each flame was intertwined with his life, manifesting different qi manifestations. Now, however, he was merging them together using some secret technique.

"[Li Yang Merged Flame True Fire]!"

The twelve-colored spiritual flames blended together, ultimately purifying into a speck of supremely yang and resilient true gold that astonishingly swallowed up the radiance of all the spiritual flames.

Such a change instantly drew everyone's sidelong glances.

"Holy shit... true fire!?"

Just as true treasures existed above Spiritual Treasures, so-called true fire was naturally a flame seed in the Cosmic Deep Space that was favored by the Li Trigram and could affect True Persons.

Mingyou was actually able to refine a stream of true fire?

What kind of joke was this!

Staring at that speck of true-gold flame, Mingde almost popped his eyeballs out in disbelief. On the other side, however, the Tianhou discovered the secret behind it.

"It's not true fire," the Tianhou remarked.

"Although it corresponds to the Li Trigram above and aligns with the Dao fruit below, possessing almost that hint of immortal truth, it is incomplete. Compared to supreme immortal truth, it still contains too many impurities."

The so-called [Li Yang Merged Flame True Fire] was a subtle reference to the impurities within the fire. Otherwise, if the immortal truth was pure, it would simply be called [True Fire]—that would be the superior profound mystery. The addition of the four words 'Li Yang Merged Flame' actually revealed the flame's origins; it merely borrowed the guise of immortal truth and possessed a fraction of its imagery.

However, that being said, such a fire technique was more than enough to be used at the Qi Refining First Tier. In terms of lethality, it likely wouldn't be inferior to its Dao fruit.

The next second, the two sides clashed!

The dazzling flames almost ignited the entire Incense-Draped Hall. The nearby palace structures even began to melt; ordinary Qi Refining practitioners couldn't even approach.

Amid the firelight, it was as if lotus flowers were blooming one after another.

Every bloom was a gorgeous explosion. Rising and falling, linking together, they ultimately transformed into a massive, radiant immortal flower that slowly blossomed.

Rumble!

At this moment, even though Chen Yuanfu and the others went all out and even brought out their killer moves, beneath the collision between Mingyou and the Tianhou, they were completely reduced to background dressing.

Looking over, one could see layers of the void shattering with this man and this demon at the center. Counting carefully, there were a full eight layers, like eight stepping stones pushing their auras continuously higher, so much so that even though they were standing right in front of everyone, it felt as if they stood in a higher, more distant dimension.

Breaking the Eighth Heaven!

This had nearly reached the absolute zenith of an ancient cultivator's combat strength. Even just the aftershocks spilling out from the center of the collision were enough to crush a Qi Refining practitioner's dharma body!

The Incense-Draped Hall let out groans of overwhelming strain.

Immediately after, the sky-filling radiance caused by the clash scattered, and two figures drifted out from the shattered void, landing in separate corners of the hall.

Seeing this, Tianxing was the first to rush over. His face was full of concern. "Daoist Brother, are you alright?"

Mingyou didn't reply. He simply reached up and gently pressed against his glabella. A fresh, chisel-like scar had shockingly appeared there, continuously bleeding.

With his dharma body—combined with the partial "inheritance" he had taken from the Tianhou's demonic body—he should have been indestructible. Even if injured, he could have recovered instantly. However, this scar was like maggots in his bones, deeply branded onto his glabella. The blood wouldn't stop flowing, showing absolutely no signs of healing.

'What a metal qi Dao fruit. Truly ruthless and brutal in its slaughter.'

Mingyou frowned slightly.

Immediately after, he couldn't help but glance at Tianxing beside him with a bit of resignation. They both cultivated Human Yang Metal, so how could the gap be so huge?

'With you like this, it's very hard for me to carry you to victory.'

Faced with Mingyou's look, Tianxing didn't mind. After all, he had gotten used to it after seeing it for so long. Compared to that, he was far more concerned about the Tianhou's state.

Looking over, they saw the young-looking Tianhou kneeling on one knee in the other corner of the hall. Golden cracks covered its cheeks and wrists, flickering like candlelight. Its injuries were clearly much heavier than Mingyou's. It had to retract most of its previously extroverted, vigorous blood qi just to suppress the fire seeds that had already sunk deep into its dharma body.

Yet the Tianhou's expression remained perfectly composed.

Then, it spread its palm and pulled out an arrow as long as an arm. Gripping it tightly like a javelin, it raised it high above its head.

[Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead]!

Instantly, aside from Tianxing, the eyes of Mingyou, Mingde, and Chen Yuanfu lit up. Their divine senses immediately locked onto the black arrow in the Tianhou's hand.

'What a pity.'

The Tianhou sighed in its heart, but its movements didn't hesitate in the slightest. It decisively let go, allowing this True Monarch Dao-proving weapon to slip from its hand and fall to the floor with a thud.

Rumble!

The void shattered once more!

This time, however, the change was completely different from before. The shattered void didn't generate an ounce of destruction; instead, it condensed into a pitch-black passageway.

Without a word, the Tianhou stepped right in.

Before leaving, it originally wanted to take away the Black Pheasant Egg that had sustained its life and helped it recover from its past injuries for so many years, but it was caught by surprise.

It saw that the faint light on the Black Pheasant Egg was brightly shifting—it was actually resisting it.

"You won't come with me?"

Seeing this, the Tianhou raised an eyebrow, but it didn't look worried. The Black Pheasant was an auspicious beast that couldn't die; favored by destiny, it naturally had its own karmic guidance.

It wasn't its place to worry about it.

Thinking of this, it hesitated no longer, its figure rapidly vanishing into the pitch-black passageway.

As for the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead], it surprisingly didn't spare it a second thought, casting aside this True Monarch Dao-proving weapon that countless people drooled over like an old shoe!

At the same time, the golden lamps flickered in Mingyou's eyes, quickly seeing the reason for this: a fired arrow never turned back. Although this treasure was profoundly mystical to the extreme, it was either never used or could only be used once. After using it, it couldn't be retrieved; one could only let the treasure fly away to seek its next master.

And now, the Tianhou had used it.

To escape!

Clearly, it had also realized that now that the Incense-Draped Hall had appeared, as a remnant of the Great Rebellion, it would become a thorn in the side of countless people.

There might even be a True Person slapping a giant hand down on it soon.

Thus, after exchanging a blow with Mingyou and confirming it couldn't win—and was even at risk of losing—it decisively chose to run.

Watching the Tianhou flee, the crowd—who had just been united against a common enemy and working seamlessly together—instantly split up, reaching for the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead] almost simultaneously.

However, what was surprising was that as everyone's giant hands landed around the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead], they phased right through like scooping the moon's reflection from the water. None of them could truly grab this True Monarch Dao-proving weapon. It was as if they weren't in the same dimension at all, making even touching it a pipe dream.

"How could this be!?"

Chen Yuanfu's face was dark. Of everyone present, he was the only one who had lost a life-bound Spiritual Treasure. He had suffered a massive loss and was now desperate to recoup it.

Yet the result was like a blow to the head.

"This true treasure is fractured."

Mingyou similarly operated his profound mysteries, trying to uncover the secrets of the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead]. "The true spirit within the treasure suffered some kind of heavy damage and has nearly dissipated completely."

"Therefore, all that remains is its instinctive master-recognition mechanism—guided by karma. This treasure is known as the 'Extreme of Resolving.' It can resolve all paradoxical predicaments. However, once the predicament is resolved, this treasure will belong to the cultivator who created the predicament. Such karmic succession aligns perfectly with the intent of an arrow."

Once the bow is drawn, the arrow cannot turn back.

Take right now, for example.

The Tianhou was trapped in a siege by all the Qi Refining practitioners. To resolve this predicament, it used the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead], ultimately managing to escape with its life.

After such a sequence of events, the master of the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead] was no longer the Tianhou, but the culprit who had orchestrated its siege—holy shit!

Mingyou's eyes abruptly widened!

Right at that moment.

Rumble!

With the Tianhou's departure, the originally impenetrable Incense-Draped Hall suddenly began to shake. Immediately after, the surrounding structures collapsed without warning!

This time, no teleportation array was needed. Everyone simply walked right out of the Incense-Draped Hall. Yet, not a single face held a shred of joy. As far as the eye could see, not only had the main hall collapsed, but the entire Incense-Draped Hall was caving in, and the speed was visibly accelerating!

The sky was like a torn painting.

The mountains and rivers on the ground were constantly crumbling as well. Gloomy radiance gushed from the fissures, faintly revealing the vista of the Cosmos, while the incense smoke crashed and shattered.

The Great Rebellion was, after all, a thing of the past.

The reason the Incense-Draped Hall had remained relatively stable before was that it had only just separated from the Heaven Defiance Palace, so the profound mysteries keeping it preserved to this day hadn't completely scattered.

However, with the awakening and departure of the Tianhou...

...that thread of profound mystery had finally reached its end. Having lost its protection, everything within the Incense-Draped Hall was collapsing, sinking into the graveyard of time.

The first to bear the brunt were Mingyou and the others.

Because the collapsing Incense-Draped Hall could no longer withstand their dharma power and divine powers. If they stayed any longer, they would simply be buried along with it.

So, no matter how unwilling he was, Mingyou still immediately rode a beam of light, swiftly flying out of the Incense-Draped Hall through a crack in the sky. Tianxing followed closely behind. As for Chen Yuanfu and Mingde, they unwillingly tried a few more times before also choosing to retreat in bitter hatred.

As for the Qi Refining practitioners who had luckily survived the great battle, they were currently reassembling their dharma bodies. Covered in heavy injuries, they flew away one after another.

"What a massive waste of effort," Tianxing, standing beside Mingyou, couldn't help but complain.

Mingyou shook his head. It was hard to say whether his tone held resentment, admiration, or both. "It wasn't a waste of effort. We should say we freely wove a wedding dress for someone else."

Tianxing blanked for a moment upon hearing this before reacting. "What? You mean that kid?"

"We can't call him 'kid' anymore." Mingyou turned his head back and said quietly, "He still has one more hurdle. If he passes it, I'm afraid we'll really have to call him a fellow Daoist from now on."

As his gaze fell.

Candlelight burned brightly. Mingyou's line of sight pierced the Cosmic Deep Space, landing inside the nearly shattered Incense-Draped Hall, and spotted a figure.

It was none other than Wang Ping, who had revived on the spot.

'Brother Hengxu really didn't lie to me.'

Looking at the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead] so close at hand, Wang Ping reached out. Without any resistance, his palm quickly felt the texture of making physical contact.

The profound mystery of this true treasure that Mingyou had only realized at the final moment, Wang Ping had learned early on through Hengxu. This was also the biggest information gap in his layout. Even though Mingyou and the others had tried so hard and risked their lives to heavily injure the Tianhou, all the karma would only fall on him—the initiator.

They wove a wedding dress for him!

'If one wants to still use this arrow after firing it, the only way is to use it to shoot the culprit who manufactured the predicament.'

In this way, once the arrow was used, it wouldn't have a next master and would only return to the hands of the previous master, allowing for continuous recycling.

Applied to the Tianhou, that meant Wang Ping.

However, Wang Ping had beautifully hidden himself, hiding inside the Taiping Sutra space. With absolutely no one for the Tianhou to shoot, it had no choice but to abandon this supreme treasure.

Everything was within Wang Ping's expectations.

With the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead] in hand, the very existence of this True Monarch Dao-proving weapon seemed to instantly elevate Wang Ping's perspective, adding a divine strangeness to him.

In a daze, he seemed to see it.

He saw that outside the shattering Incense-Draped Hall, massive, profound bodies of the utmost supremacy and nobility were entrenched one after another, reaching the Cosmos and sitting cross-legged in deep space.

Some were like the midday sun, their figures radiating endless light and heat. Some were submerged in gloomy waves, yet faintly crackled with thunder. Some moved in accordance with heaven, straight and upright like an invincible divine sword. Some sat on lotus thrones amid a sky full of chanting.

And beneath these four magnificent profound bodies.

There were several other figures who, although much weaker, were equally transcendent and detached.

One of them upheld mountains and rode the wind, hidden within twenty-four-colored rays of dawn. Another sat steadily atop a mountain of bone-piercingly cold torches.

They lowered their giant heads. The gazes they cast down upon the mortal world locked squarely onto him, as if they had never left.

'They're waiting for me.'

There was no need for a reminder; Wang Ping inherently grasped it.

It was only now that the profound mystery of [the gentleman should hide his implements at the right time] was finally unlocked. Sweeping away all previous concealment, an aura of boundless obviousness rose from Wang Ping's body!

In this layout, he had nearly played Mingyou, Tianxing, Mingde, and Chen Yuanfu—these Qi Refinement Third Layer experts and Immortal Realm Dao Children—for fools. Not only had he set up a batch of Qi Refining practitioners to die, but he had also reaped the greatest benefits. With such a layout and such results, the concealment of [the gentleman should hide his implements at the right time] had already reached the absolute peak.

And now, he revealed his true body.

All the True Monarchs and True Persons looked over together. Under the watchful eyes of the masses, he took manifestation to its very limit. The boost this entire process provided to his cultivation was extremely terrifying!

The next second.

Thud!

Just like that, beneath the gaze of sky-filling immortals and Buddhas, Wang Ping effortlessly grasped the [Paradox-Resolving Pacifying Arrowhead], then slowly took his first step forward.

In this single instant, profound rings rose from Wang Ping's body one after another, flowing with light. [Hiding One's Light], [Communicating with Ghosts and Gods], [Separating the Clear and Turbid], [Moistening Earth to Nourish Metal], [Destiny of the Heavenly River]. All five qi manifestations he had mastered completely surfaced.

And above the profound rings.

Water qi surfaced on its own. Like raging waves, it was vast and boundless; like the Yellow Springs of the underworld, it was deep and unfathomable. It was precisely the Earth Yin Water, [Hidden Dragon Meridian-Circulating Nether-Penetrating Qi].

Immediately after, profound rings surfaced on Wang Ping's body once more, yet these were another four entirely.

[Subterranean Spring Vein], [Extreme Yin Weak Water], [Nourishing All Living Things], [Qi of Cycles and Beginnings]. In a single moment, these four qi manifestations reached perfection simultaneously!

Nine profound rings stacked layer upon layer above his head. The radiance condensed, ultimately transforming into a profound stairway reaching the heavens. One end fell beneath Wang Ping's feet, while the other plunged into the depths of the [Hidden Dragon Meridian-Circulating Nether-Penetrating Qi]. Driving his aura forward, he finally stepped past the limit of what a certain mighty existence could tolerate.

Nine qi manifestations, perfected!