Chapter 617: Bastard Immortal

Chen Shi stared at the well mouth, somewhat nervous. "What kind of thing would crawl out? Those dried bones?"

The Empress of Earth from the Void-Returning World had slipped away too quickly, leaving many matters unclear.

Chen Shi steadied himself and said in a low voice, "First, the White-Bone Horsetail Whisk is one of the treasures suppressing the skeletal remains at the bottom of the well. Take away the treasure, and it becomes difficult to keep those remains suppressed. Second, great demon remains will seize the opportunity to break through the suppression of the Infinite Diagram and crawl out from the well. I must guard the well mouth, beat back whatever crawls out, and hold on until Your Ladyship returns this treasure."

He frowned slightly. The skeletal remains in the well, were they the remains of the kind of great demon that had charged into the Celestial Court and shattered the Celestial Strategy?

He suddenly very much wanted to return to the Celestial Court. The heavenly soldier camps might be dragged out by King Li to serve as cannon fodder, but at least there was a chance of survival. After all, it wasn't every time that King Li would have a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers swallowed in one bite by a demon.

But staying here guarding this well was absolutely more dangerous.

Just then, sudden splashing water sounds came from the well.

What was clearly inside the well was the Infinite Diagram formed from mysterious yellow ancestral energy, immensely heavy yet simultaneously immensely light. How could there be sounds of water?

Chen Shi's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, but he didn't dare look directly at what was happening in the well. Instead, he slowly leaned closer, using his peripheral vision to look.

His peripheral vision finally caught sight of the well. He saw the Infinite Diagram in the well suddenly violently shaking, ripples striking the well walls in layers, producing ever-louder water sounds, as though something deep within the Infinite Diagram was trying to pass through it, to break out from within the diagram!

This diagram was condensed from mysterious yellow ancestral energy. The lotus sacred ground where the Virtuous Virtue Heavenly Palace was located would produce some mysterious yellow ancestral energy at regular intervals, and the ancestral energy would be automatically refined into the well. Only a small amount would scatter outside, fought over by immortals.

Therefore, the Infinite Diagram in the well grew ever thicker and its power ever stronger.

Earlier, Chen Shi had seen in the well a tornado formed by mysterious yellow ancestral energy, sweeping up countless bones. That was the Infinite Diagram refining the bones.

But now, with one magic treasure missing, the suppression was not as strong as before, and these bones were attempting to pass through the Infinite Diagram, to escape from the well.

At that moment, a giant white-bone hand reached through the Infinite Diagram, grabbing toward the well wall.

The well wall was incomparably hard. The white-bone hand scraped across it, leaving a trail of firelight.

Chen Shi instantly became extremely tense, but saw that the white-bone hand failed to grab anything and sank back into the Infinite Diagram.

Cold sweat broke out on Chen Shi's forehead. He wanted to look more carefully, but also worried that looking too carefully might cause him to inexplicably fall into the well. Yet if he didn't look clearly, he wouldn't know whether something might seize the opportunity to crawl out!

The Infinite Diagram was violently shaking again, striking the well walls, clattering loudly. Then a snow-white skull poked its head out from the Infinite Diagram, only to be yanked back by an invisible force.

Before Chen Shi could even breathe a sigh of relief, he suddenly saw bone-white arms reaching out from the Infinite Diagram one after another, seven or eight arms bracing outward in all directions against the well walls.

Then a long tail covered in barbs whipped out from the well, hooking onto the well's rim with a clack. Billowing demonic miasma erupted from the well!

Chen Shi's heart pounded wildly. He was suppressed by this skeleton's demonic miasma until he could barely breathe. Not daring to look at the situation in the well, he hurriedly summoned the Purple Heaven Immortal Gourd. Six strands of Profound Heaven Sword Qi shot out from the gourd in unison, directly unleashing the strongest move from the Primordial Chaos Sword Scripture, Heaven's Net Smashing the Sundered Sky!

The more strands of sword qi the Primordial Chaos Sword Scripture used, the greater the power. This time he used six strands of sword qi. The power of six strikes of Heaven's Net Smashing the Sundered Sky stacked together. How much more than six times was the power?

This move was vast and boundless, the red sun like blood, displaying the power of heaven collapsing and earth overturning to the extreme. The sword light slashed onto that barbed hook.

"Clang clang clang clang!"

A series of crisp sounds rang out. All six strands of Profound Heaven Sword Qi shattered, not a single one surviving!

Chen Shi was startled. He bowed his head in salute, and behind him appeared his third realm, the scene of the demonic domain within the well.

The demonic well hung inverted in the sky, the demonic tree within the well blotting out the sun. Beneath the tree was enshrined a demonic blade, which flew out with a zheng sound!

Chen Shi gripped the blade and slashed down. The blade light was like a Single Spiral of Dark Green Brows, carrying an exquisite black-green radiance, slashing onto the barbed tail. Chen Shi felt a tremendous recoil force, his arms numb and aching, the web between his thumb and forefinger bursting open, blood immediately flowing down the blade.

The Tianluo Blood-Transforming Divine Blade was bloodthirsty by nature, immediately attempting to absorb his blood. Yet when the fresh blood flowed onto the blade, it was suddenly pulled by an invisible force, flying off the blade edge, falling toward that barbed tail!

Chen Shi was alarmed inwardly. The demonic nature contained in this demonic skeleton was far more powerful than the Tianluo Blood-Transforming Divine Blade. The Blood-Transforming Divine Blade simply couldn't compete with it!

This was the power of a great demon's remains.

With his cultivation level, he simply had no way to resist!

Suddenly, inspiration flashed in Chen Shi's mind. He dropped the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade, shook his sleeve, and drew a large circle in the air. His mana condensed, forming a round, glistening mirror of clarity that covered the well.

Within the well, that great demon's skeleton was struggling to climb upward, attempting to escape the suppression of the Infinite Diagram.

His head and upper body had already freed themselves from the Infinite Diagram, and he was exceedingly delighted. Chen Shi had summoned swords and blades, attempting to sever his tailbone, but he paid it no mind. Such a junior of the immortal path could not harm him in the slightest.

He had been suppressed in the well, and even the Infinite Diagram refining him day and night had failed to refine him to death, only refining away his flesh and blood. His demonic bones still remained. If Chen Shi could sever his tailbone, he would have long since been refined to ashes.

At that moment, the well suddenly became bright. Light shone down from above. That eight-armed scorpion-tailed great demon looked up and saw directly the mirror of clarity transformed from Chen Shi's mana.

In the mirror, besides reflecting his skeleton, it also reflected the Infinite Diagram.

"Bastard!"

That great demon instantly felt the world spinning. When he awoke, he had already fallen from the Infinite Diagram, falling once more into the white-bone world at the bottom of the well.

"Damn it, which bastard immortal ambushed me?"

He was furious, cursing most foully.

Chen Shi saw the barbed hook disappear and finally breathed a sigh of relief. "This method works... The Godmother from the Void-Returning World overestimated me. With my cultivation strength, how could I possibly hold off these great demons? The only plan now is to go find reinforcements. But if I leave, and a great demon crawls out from the well, I fear the casualties in the Radiant Virtue Grand Celestial Palace would be severe."

Just as he was feeling conflicted, splashing sounds came from the well again. Chen Shi glanced with his peripheral vision and saw another great demon break through the suppression of the Infinite Diagram, striving to climb out, its head already poking out.

Chen Shi stood by the well and coughed once.

That great demon looked up, saw the Infinite Diagram in the mirror, cursed once, and then vanished.

"No manners!"

Chen Shi carried over a large rock and threw it into the well.

After another moment, the water sounds in the well grew louder and louder. Another great demon was climbing out. Chen Shi dropped a stone on him, throwing in a large boulder. The boulder failed to harm that great demon in the slightest, instead splitting into pieces.

That great demon grew angry, looked up, cursed loudly, and left.

"This plan works!"

Chen Shi was overjoyed. Just as he was about to repeat the trick, a white-bone scorpion tail suddenly whooshed through the Infinite Diagram, striking his mirror of clarity formed from mana. The mirror instantly shattered into pieces, his mana destroyed.

That white-bone scorpion tail, after destroying the Infinite Diagram, did not withdraw, but thrust directly toward Chen Shi. The barbed hook descended from the sky, fierce and domineering.

Chen Shi dodged. With a crack, the scorpion tail's barbed hook stabbed into the ground. The ground exploded, gravel shooting everywhere with whoosh-whoosh sounds.

Chen Shi noticed his chest slightly shudder. He looked down and saw his chest had already been pierced through by a piece of gravel!

"Too strong!"

The white-bone scorpion tail swept over. Chen Shi tumbled and rolled to avoid it. He saw that scorpion tail rise high, sway slightly, and the sky was filled with scorpion tails, tens of thousands of them, stabbing in all directions. There was simply no way to dodge!

Not only was the sky by the well covered in scorpion tails, but even the Ruizhu Daohua Palace, inside and out, was completely covered in scorpion tails.

In the Palace of Virtue, those fairies of leisure and elegance looked up in shock. They saw that for hundreds of li from Daohua Palace, within the Virtuous Virtue Heavenly Palace, the sky was filled with sharp scorpion tails descending from above!

They had no time to dodge at all!

Just as these fairy maidens were about to perish under the white-bone scorpion tail's attack, the Ruizhu Daohua Palace suddenly blazed with light. A heavy and grand divine sound surged, as though an supreme emperor were reciting the true essence of the Great Dao of heaven and earth, shaking the inside and outside of Daohua Palace with humming sounds!

The fairy maidens were shaken until dizzy and unable to stand steady. Suddenly a resounding crack was heard, and the sky full of scorpion tails shattered and perished. A giant white-bone scorpion tail trembled once in the air, then fell downward, smashing into Daohua Palace.

The fairy maidens were shocked and uncertain.

Feng Huixue thought of Chen Shi in Daohua Palace and her expression changed drastically. She hurriedly rushed toward Daohua Palace.

She flew swiftly into Daohua Palace and arrived before that well of mysterious yellow ancestral energy. She saw Chen Shi standing before the well, divine light blazing from behind him, blazing sacred fire surging. A bagua Dao pattern engraved on the stone slab by the well rose up, emitting a heavy, boundless Dao pattern, flames reaching the sky.

That divine fire shook, causing the Infinite Diagram in the well to also radiate light outward!

That white-bone scorpion tail earlier had precisely been burned off by Chen Shi activating this Li Fire Dao pattern, triggering the power of the Infinite Diagram in the well!

Feng Huixue was shocked and uncertain. Chen Shi's expression was as usual. He turned his head, saw her, and was somewhat surprised. "So it's Senior Sister Feng. There are great demon remains causing trouble in this well, trying to crawl out. I mobilized the Heaven Emperor's Dao pattern to suppress them back. Mere demonic bones, fleeing in panic, leaving behind only a tailbone."

Feng Huixue cried out involuntarily, "Great demon?"

Chen Shi wore a smile. "Just a mere great demon. How could it compare to the Great Dao Dao patterns of Heaven Emperor Fuxi? If Senior Sister Feng has no business here, please leave. I still need to continue guarding this well and complete Your Ladyship's entrustment."

"Your Ladyship's entrustment?"

Feng Huixue was somewhat bewildered. She had escorted Chen Shi here and had only just left. How had it become Houtu Huangdiqi entrusting Chen Shi to guard this well?

"Your Highness, be careful!"

She didn't dare defy Chen Shi's wishes. She bowed and withdrew from Daohua Palace.

The moment Feng Huixue left, Chen Shi finally breathed a sigh of relief. His legs trembled, and he nearly failed to stand steady.

Earlier when that scorpion tail erupted, inspiration had flashed in his mind. He thought of the bagua Dao pattern left by Heaven Emperor Fuxi on the stone slab and immediately activated one of the Dao patterns. This Dao pattern was the Li Fire pattern, precisely the Dao pattern he had just been studying, which was why he could activate it.

The bagua Dao patterns left by Heaven Emperor Fuxi and this well, the Infinite Diagram, and the various magic treasures of the well world were clearly all one entity, used to suppress and refine these demonic bones. Although Chen Shi only activated the Li Fire pattern, its power was by no means small, burning off the scorpion tail.

Chen Shi took several rapid breaths, steadying his mind. Only then did his two legs gradually stop trembling.

"With only the Li Fire pattern, I probably cannot completely suppress the demonic bones in the well. This time I caught them off guard, but once they're prepared, it will be hard to ambush them again."

He looked toward the other Dao patterns. An idea formed in his mind. He immediately came before the Dui Marsh Dao pattern, quietly circulating his mind, carefully comprehending the mysteries of the Dui Marsh pattern.

Heaven Emperor Fuxi's Dao patterns were unfathomably profound. Even the Celestial Strategy imprint could not fully decipher them. But what Chen Shi sought was not complete decipherment, but rather to comprehend as much of the Dao patterns' meaning as possible, to decipher them, to transform them from the divine path into the immortal path.

He didn't need to fully comprehend it, only to understand it superficially, enough to activate the power of the Dui Marsh pattern.

As the deciphering grew more and more difficult, Chen Shi gradually felt dizzy and disoriented. Before his mental faculties were damaged, he immediately stopped. He no longer comprehended the Dui Marsh pattern, but instead sat cross-legged, attempting to transform the Dui Marsh pattern into an immortal path Dao pattern.

With the Celestial Strategy's assistance, he organized it at astonishing speed.

Once Chen Shi finished organizing, he immediately rose and came before the Zhen Thunder pattern, continuing to comprehend.

Suddenly, strange sounds came from the well again. Without hesitation, Chen Shi activated the Dui Marsh pattern. The Dui Marsh pattern blazed with light, flying into the air. The Infinite Diagram in the well suddenly became incomparably muddy, like a bog, sticking fast all those great demons trying to charge out of the Infinite Diagram, unable to struggle free.

Not only was it so within the Infinite Diagram, but the world beneath the Infinite Diagram also became a great marsh world. Those bones endlessly sank within the great marsh, buried deep within it.

Chen Shi felt his mana was unsustainable. He stopped activating the Dui Marsh pattern, and only then did the bones in the well breathe a sigh of relief.

He continued comprehending the Zhen Thunder pattern. When his wisdom was exhausted, he immediately gave up, wholeheartedly organizing the immortal path Zhen Thunder pattern.

The great demons in the well still wouldn't settle down. Another great demon attempted to break through and counter the Dui Marsh transformation. However, Chen Shi heard the commotion in the well and immediately activated the Zhen Thunder pattern. Instantly, thunder rained within the Infinite Diagram. One great demon after another was struck until their bones were charred black. Some of the weaker ones were directly struck until their bones shattered into pieces!

Chen Shi's mana was insufficient to activate the Zhen Thunder pattern for long. He quickly stopped, came to the fourth Dao pattern, the Gen Mountain pattern, and continued studying.

Within the Void-Returning World, in the underworld.

The White-Bone Horsetail Whisk revealed its true form. It was the skull, neck bone, and spine of an incomparably massive being. Once summoned, white hair spread boundlessly in all directions, extending and growing, even piercing through the void!

Tens of thousands of immortals, buddhas, ghosts, and gods formed the East Videha Great Formation, like a Pure Land, their mana interconnected, jointly chanting Buddhist sutras. Buddha Light was like an iron wall of bronze, indestructible.

Countless dust threads flew with whooshing sounds, drilling into the seemingly impregnable East Videha Great Formation. The tens of thousands of immortals, buddhas, ghosts, and gods each looked up, their expressions changing drastically. They saw snow-white dust threads descending from the sky, covering heaven and earth!

The dust threads passed through their bodies, instantly dyeing the threads red.

A compassionate Buddhist chant came from the air. A voice said, "Empress of Earth, this formation, I have lost. This hell, I cede to Your Ladyship. I beg Your Ladyship to spare these innocent people."

The Empress of Earth laughed. "The struggle of doctrines, how could it be child's play?"

As she spoke, within the East Videha Great Formation there remained only a field of white bones.

The white bones still stood there, motionless. Suddenly clattering sounds came, and the white bones fell to the ground one after another.

Tens of thousands of immortals, buddhas, ghosts, and gods, dead to the last one.

That Bodhisattva, seeing this, changed expression drastically and hurriedly turned to leave.

The Empress of Earth laughed. "Seizing my Dao Field, killing my subordinate gods, and you think to toss out a face-saving line and leave? Can you leave?"

She raised a finger. Countless blood dust threads exploded outward, piercing through that Bodhisattva's body, grinding it to ash.

The Empress of Earth put away the White-Bone Horsetail Whisk and sneered. "How many Dao Fields have you seized from me over these years? And now you come to bully me again. I'll kill one of your avatars first, lest you think this palace grew up being bullied!"

She flew up and hurried toward the mysterious yellow sea, not daring to delay even a moment.

"The Crown Prince won't have any trouble, will he? If something happens, my true body is still managing the overall situation. No big mess can be made."

She returned to Ruizhu Daohua Palace, but saw the palace in complete tranquility. Chen Shi sat by the well, calm and composed. She couldn't help but be surprised. "Crown Prince, nothing crawled out from the well?"

Chen Shi rose, stretched lazily, and laughed. "There was. But I beat them all back. A mere trifle, not worth the slightest effort. Godmother, can you now teach me how to collect and refine mysterious yellow ancestral energy?"