Chapter 471 - 470: Hesitation Means Defeat

Chapter 471: Chapter 470: Hesitation Means Defeat

Chapter 470: Hesitation Means Defeat

"Interesting."

The roc shrouded in radiance withdrew its gaze, yet its tone remained lofty and indifferent.

"Unfortunately... you are a dying man. Even if I do not kill you, your allotted fate is but a handful of moments."

"Pah, figures a bird only knows how to chirp bird talk, not human speech."

Luo Wusheng cut the spirit roc off, spitting disdainfully. "If we’re talking about fate, I’d say you’re the one who’ll die before me."

"Heh. A mere ant who hasn’t even formed a Nascent Soul dares to prattle about the decrees of heaven?"

Faced with the roc’s mockery, Luo Wusheng rolled his eyes.

What he’d just said wasn’t nonsense. In the original story, the spirit roc was slaughtered by the Daoist Sect Master during the Netherkin chaos, while he—this insignificant Demon Sect Holy Saint cannon fodder—at least managed to survive until a year later.

If one really wanted to talk about fate, who in this world could withstand a stroke of that old scheming author’s pen?

It was only because he, someone who knew the plot, had stirred things up and derailed the original development that the bird opposite him even had a chance to speak now. Otherwise, where would it have found the opportunity?

Thinking this, Luo Wusheng shot back without mercy:

"Even without a Nascent Soul, I’m still stronger than some old mangy feather who, three years ago, took advantage of my little pink fox being absent to usurp the role of Netherkin Nation Monarch for three whole years."

"Tell me—wasn’t it the former Immortal Nation emperor who made a move so you could sit on the Netherking’s throne in the first place? And now you dare repay kindness with betrayal—aren’t you afraid of heavenly retribution?"

"Taking it a step further, do you really think you became the new Monarch of the Netherkin race these past three years by relying on your own strength?"

"Oh, sorry—almost forgot. Someone who even needs to rope in those bald donkey monks of the Buddhist sect just to scheme for his own grand plan—what strength do you even have to speak of?"

Boom!

It was the sound of the air itself exploding under unbearable pressure.

"You’re courting death!"

In the roc’s crimson-gold pupils, killing intent boiled over.

Unlike the faint killing impulse it had shown at the beginning, this time the intent was nearly tangible, making even the air tremble.

Luo Wusheng’s words had struck a raw nerve.

That it had successfully ascended to the position of Netherkin Nation Monarch three years ago truly had little to do with its own strength.

Back then, it had only been a late-stage Divine Transformation Netherkin—rare, but far from unique within the Netherkin Nation. It was only because of certain backstage arrangements that it had taken the throne, then spent three years using all manner of means to refine itself to its current cultivation, just a step short of the Peak of the Divine Transformation realm.

Along the way had been countless exchanges of interest—among them, entanglements with the human Buddhist sect.

All of this was true.

But did a human ant have any right to comment on it?

A demonic gale arose from nowhere, instantly forming into a sharp claw that lunged at Luo Wusheng.

Luo Wusheng neither dodged nor evaded. Before him, however, a sheet of breathtakingly beautiful flames surged upward.

The flames not only swallowed the demonic wind but also traced it back to its source, rolling straight toward the roc in the heavens.

Bathed in radiance, the spirit roc’s crimson-gold pupils contracted.

"Foxfire Phoenix Flames! That fox actually dares to stand on humanity’s side and sabotage the Netherkin race’s grand plan!"

There was shock and anger in its voice, yet no trace of panic.

The enormous roc, which had appeared dazed all this time, flapped one wing, blocking all the flames in their entirety.

Whether it was the demonic wind just now or the flames, both carried only the power of an ordinary early-stage Divine Transformation.

And the physical body of that massive roc had faintly reached the level of a Peak Divine Transformation.

However, after blocking the strike, the spirit roc’s expression only grew darker.

The development of events differed from what it had expected.

It wasn’t that Luo Wusheng’s methods were too strong, on the contrary, the flames just now had been far too weak.

To deal with it, one should not be using nothing more than ordinary Divine Transformation realm abilities.

In the end, why was that ant down there able to wield power at the Divine Transformation realm? His cultivation hadn’t even reached the Nascent Soul realm, had it? And before he made his move, it hadn’t sensed the presence of that fox’s power at all...

Feeling the radiance washing over its body, the spirit roc fell into brief contemplation.

In truth, there was no need for it to lower itself to argue with that ant below.

Judging from the cultivation it displayed, crushing the two of them would pose no difficulty whatsoever. Moreover, the purpose of its descent—the immortal soul and the body of the Immortal Nation’s Empress—were now both within easy reach.

No, the immortal soul was already in its grasp.

Everything was under control. The Immortal Nation had no chance of turning the situation around.

And yet, it vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

Everything felt too smooth.

’No, from earlier on, there had clearly been the sensation of this body merging with the immortal soul. So why, even now, had the immortal soul not been fully absorbed? Why had there been no increase in demonic power at all? Could it be...’

"Looks like some stupid bird finally figured it out."

Hearing this voice, the spirit roc jolted violently.

At the spot where Luo Wusheng stood, a ring of light gently rippled out beneath his feet, condensed into an illusory radiance.

That radiance was somewhat ethereal, gradually forming into the shape of a staircase—nine steps in total, each one narrower than the last, the engraved patterns growing ever more abstruse and complex with every ascent.

With a single glance, the spirit roc recognized what it was.

An immortal soul!

Or rather, the soul of the Heavenly Gate—the Human Immortal tier!

Using the Trial of Ascension Platform, the first tier of the Human Immortal stage and a treasured land of the Heavenly Gate, as an anchor, he had summoned the complete soul of this peerless immortal tier!

But if that was the immortal soul—then what was it that was currently fusing with itself?

The spirit roc’s body shook as it attempted to activate an escape art, yet the radiance around it suddenly twisted.

The core it had believed to contain the immortal soul abruptly exploded, and breathtakingly beautiful flames instantly engulfed its now human-sized body.

This time, the flames were no longer ordinary Divine Transformation realm fire, but true undying flames capable of inflicting real damage upon it.

Luo Wusheng narrowed his eyes.

From the moment he entered this space, the immortal soul had, in fact, already been his.

Although his dantian was still shrouded in mist at this moment, Luo Wusheng could clearly sense that the fragment of Immortal Aura forcibly fused into it by the formation arranged by his little pink fox had now mostly been burned up, as if ignited, forming a faint, indistinct passageway.

Through this passageway, the immortal soul that had originally descended at the edge of the heavens—and had even begun to merge with the spirit roc—had quietly and soundlessly smuggled itself over.

In contrast, the contingency his little pink fox had left behind was silently transferred over there.

The other side had only just noticed, only to be immediately slapped in the face.

This move was never going to kill or heavily injure the spirit roc. Its main purpose was to stall the opponent, buying him time to hurry and take the final step.

But here, a problem arose.

"So there really won’t be a development where you can stall someone with half a brain, and someone without a brain won’t act, huh..."

Watching the massive roc with vacant eyes spread its wings, Luo Wusheng let out a light sigh.

The moment he entered, he had realized the situation wasn’t quite what he’d expected. One bird turning into two birds was definitely not that simple... but there was no alternative now. At this critical juncture, there was no other path to take.

Moreover, this oversized spirit roc before him faintly gave Luo Wusheng a peculiar feeling—something special, yet obscured, making it impossible to see clearly.

"Hehe... hehehe..."

From within the breathtaking flames came a cold, chilling voice:

"Very well... I don’t know how many years it’s been since anyone dared to snatch what belongs to me. I never imagined that a human ant would dare go this far, using that fox’s power, no less..."

"Foxfire, phoenix flames, stellar transposition, the wheel of years..."

"If you were just an ordinary human, I might have considered letting you join my ranks—to disturb that fox’s state of mind... I’m quite curious how a mere human ant like you managed to get involved with her."

The flames seemed to exert a certain suppressive effect on the smaller spirit roc, yet judging by its voice, it remained calm as ever.

Luo Wusheng put on a thoughtful pose.

"Maybe because... she fed me grass?"

Spirit Roc: "?"

Grass? What grass? Some kind of rare heavenly herb or peerless treasure?

The utterly unexpected answer caused the great roc’s secretly prepared attack to stall for an instant. Seizing that moment, Luo Wusheng took a step forward.

This step landed on the second tier of the staircase formed by the immortal soul.

At that instant, the immortal soul seemed to finally become complete.

The illusory space resembling the Ancient Heavenly Gate around them began to blur and dissolve... The Empress’s earlier guess had indeed been correct, this place truly was a passage space created to receive the immortal soul. Now that the immortal soul had arrived, the space naturally dispersed.

Such a change, of course, also snapped the spirit roc back to its senses.

"Meaningless struggle... Once I take you down, the immortal soul will still rest in my palm."

As its words fell, the massive roc shadow once again blotted out the sky. A sinister power surged through its body, transforming into countless tentacle-like shadows that roared downward.

Luo Wusheng’s mouth twitched.

Tentacles and a roc—those aren’t even the same species, are they?

He muttered the complaint inwardly, but his expression grew grave.

The power contained in those tentacles was absolutely no joke—not something he could handle now, having only just fused with a small portion of the immortal soul.

And he also noticed that a small portion of the tentacles were clearly trying to bypass him, shooting toward his rear.

Their target was the Empress.

Luo Wusheng wasn’t surprised. In this Netherkin chaos, the Netherking’s two primary objectives were clear: the immortal soul, and the Empress.

If he hadn’t intervened, the opponent would most likely have taken the immortal soul just now—and then carried off the already exhausted Empress as well.

As the tentacles filled the sky and descended, Luo Wusheng gently closed his eyes and took a third step on the staircase formed by the immortal soul.

The moment this step landed, he clearly felt his body grow light.

It was as if shackles he had worn since childhood shattered into pieces and fell away.

The seal between his brows completely cracked open.

Luo Wusheng opened his eyes, looking at the roc’s dark silhouette in the sky, and grinned.

At this moment, he clearly hadn’t activated any special effects at all—he simply let the surging air whip his robes and black hair into chaos—yet he looked more like an unrestrained, arrogant god or demon than ever before.

A hint of madness burned in his eyes, spreading like a prairie fire.

From between his brows, a drop of golden blood flew out.

...

The royal capital.

Almost everyone raised their heads to look toward the sky at this very moment.

When the five-colored tribulation clouds first began to gather, some people had paid them no mind, sneering about which idiot was choosing this moment to undergo a Nascent Soul lightning tribulation.

But now, no one dared to laugh.

Centered on the pillar of light in the northern part of the city, the tribulation clouds spread to cover the entire capital. Even the rift torn open at the edge of the heavens was obscured, and their color was no longer fivefold, but a chaotic gray-white.

The tribulation lightning had yet to appear, yet the sheer, boundless heavenly might constructed by the clouds alone was already enough to prevent low-level cultivators from even standing upright, forcing the Immortal Nation’s Nascent Soul experts to step in and shield them.

What level of heavenly tribulation was this?!

Even the two Divine Transformation Netherkin felt their minds quake beneath this terrifying tribulation pressure.

At that moment, a sword light flashed like tribulation lightning from the heavens.

The green-robed peacock Netherkin, still frozen in shock, felt an aura of absolute death envelop it.

Under this deathly aura, even its netheric infant was inevitably marching toward annihilation.

With unwilling eyes, it looked behind itself.

The peerless fairy wearing a veil gently sheathed her sword, then, as if recalling something, straightened her proud figure slightly.

"Hesitation means defeat."

These were the last words the peacock heard in its life.

At the same time, the final image reflected in its eyes was frozen forever—

A flash of lightning that bleached all things in the world into pallor.

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Cultivation Realm:

1, Qi Refining

2, Foundation Establishment

3, Golden Core

4, Nascent Soul

5, Divine Transformation (Formerly Known as Tribulation Crossing)

6, Tribulation Transcendence

7, Land Immortal

Note: Link to the character Illustration:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD

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Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more Chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.

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