Chapter 00245: A Thousand Piles of Snow
# A Thousand Piles of Snow
Chapter 245
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 245: A Thousand Piles of Snow
Qi Long could only spare a portion of his energy to deal with the killing rays within the fifth-level killing array.
Fortunately, the power of these killing rays wasn't too overwhelming.
He was confident that given half an incense stick's worth of time—no, just a few dozen breaths—he could break through the killing array.
Once the killing array was destroyed, what was a mere trapping array to him? He sneered inwardly at the thought of a fifth-level array trying to confine him.
As his meteor hammers transformed into two streaks of light and slammed into the killing array, Qi Long summoned another defensive shield.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Violent attacks erupted within the combined trapping and killing array, and the true essence in the surrounding space exploded.
Qi Long was frustrated.
During the time he was trapped by the array, even if it was just a few dozen breaths, Ding Huan could have escaped ten thousand times over.
But so what if Ding Huan escaped today? If Qi Long wanted someone dead, they would eventually be hunted down.
Didn't Ding Huan establish some Blue Star Sect? Qi Long didn't believe the entire sect could escape.
After a dozen or so breaths, Qi Long began to sense something was wrong.
Not only had he failed to break through the trapping and killing array, but the array itself was becoming more stable.
No, it wasn't just stable—the trapping array was growing stronger, and the killing array's power had risen by more than a level.
At this moment, Qi Long realized that Ding Huan hadn't fled.
Instead, he was using array flags to upgrade the trapping and killing array.
Qi Long recalled how Ding Huan had seemingly been frightened earlier, dropping a dozen array flags to the ground.
But that wasn't fear—it was deliberate.
Those array flags had already disappeared, merging into the original trapping and killing array.
Clearly, Ding Huan had anticipated this scenario.
Knowing that Qi Long was at the center of the array and that it would be difficult to enter and set up the flags, Ding Huan had dropped them on the ground first and then moved them into the array's foundation.
Understanding this, Qi Long was so furious he nearly vomited blood.
At the same time, he felt a deep sense of dread.
This meant that Ding Huan was a master of arrays beyond the fifth level.
That was terrifying.
Even in the Ascension Realm, sixth-level and above array masters were rare.
How had Ding Huan, a mere cultivator from the Dao Cultivation Realm, become such a powerful array master?
It was true that Qi Long didn't take a fifth-level trapping and killing array seriously, but if a master beyond the fifth level was constantly reinforcing and upgrading the array, that was a different story.
This wasn't about killing Ding Huan anymore—it was about his own survival.
He no longer cared about potential injuries.
His meteor hammers surged out with wild abandon.
Right now, the array had only been upgraded to a sixth-level trapping and killing array.
If Ding Huan managed to upgrade it to the seventh level, how would Qi Long kill him? No, at that point, it wouldn't be about killing Ding Huan—it would be his own certain death.
Ding Huan, of course, couldn't upgrade the array to the seventh level.
He didn't have that capability.
But he had another way to deal with Qi Long.
While improving the trapping and killing array he had used to kill Qi Yushan, he began setting up a poison array.
He had plenty of poison, collected from the Hidden Sword Mountain.
This poison had even killed Ji Xinting, let alone a mere True God Realm cultivator like Qi Long.
As the poison mist spread into the trapping and killing array, Qi Long immediately felt its effects.
In his haste to break through the array, his true essence was flowing rapidly, and his explosive power was immense.
As a result, the poison quickly permeated his meridians and blood.
Qi Long felt his true essence rapidly depleting, his blood beginning to coagulate, and his energy circulation becoming sluggish.
Now, Qi Long was truly panicked.
If this continued for even half an incense stick's worth of time, he might very well die here today.
He regretted not being more cautious.
He began burning his lifeblood frantically, and his meteor hammers unleashed a ferocious force that seemed capable of tearing through space as they slammed into the trapping and killing array.
If he didn't break the array, he would die.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The hammer strikes landed on Ding Huan's sixth-level trapping and killing array, causing it to creak and crack.
A fissure appeared before Qi Long's eyes.
Overjoyed, he knew this was his only chance.
He summoned his treasures again and continued burning his lifeblood without hesitation.
He was certain that one or two more strikes would tear the array apart.
But before he could gather his next attack, a killing ray that shook his soul swept toward him.
At the same time, he saw Ding Huan, holding the Parting Spear, descending from above the array.
The killing intent emanating from the spear locked onto his life force.
Qi Long sneered.
He poured even more true essence into his meteor hammers, increasing their power by another thirty percent.
He had been waiting for this moment.
He wasn't afraid of Ding Huan showing up—in fact, he welcomed it.
If he didn't kill this ant, all his cultivation to the True God Realm would have been for nothing.
Boom! Before Qi Long's meteor hammers could strike, he felt his killing intent domain being torn apart from within, as if caught in a whirlpool.
Not only that, but his divine abilities seemed to collapse, as if their bones had been shattered.
Was this... a divine sense attack?
Realizing this, Qi Long was terrified.
Even Ji Xinting, the sect master of the Desolate God Sect, didn't possess such an ability.
This was far too frightening.
"Stop! I surrender! I'm from the Desolate God Sect..."
Qi Long screamed desperately.
The poison had drained ninety percent of his strength, and now he was no stronger than a Void God Realm cultivator.
Although he believed he could still easily kill Ding Huan at this level, he wasn't willing to take the risk.
After all, he was still trapped within Ding Huan's array.
Stop? Ding Huan acted as if he hadn't heard.
The killing intent from the Parting Spear grew even more violent.
As the spear swept toward Qi Long, Ding Huan even felt the killing intent outside the array being drawn in.
In that moment, Ding Huan felt as if the killing intent he had summoned had gained a will of its own.
Originally, this spear strike was the second of his nine divine abilities: Annihilation.
But before the Annihilation Killing Domain could fully form, Ding Huan had grasped a new stage of killing intent.
It was as if... yes, as if the spear had conjured wave after wave of killing curtains, crashing toward Qi Long.
The space within a hundred zhang radius grew cold and oppressive, as if frozen.
The world seemed to transform into a realm of extreme ice and snow.
Qi Long, caught in this icy domain, felt his body grow cold.
He could clearly see the waves of killing intent brought by Ding Huan's spear.
This was definitely an attack at the peak of the Void God Realm.
Qi Long no longer cared about preserving his foundation.
He began burning his lifespan, and his shattered divine ability domain reformed.
Crack! Crack! Crack! The icy cold that had nearly frozen Qi Long shattered under his explosive power.
At the same time, his two meteor hammers transformed into two killing dragons, surging toward Ding Huan's spear curtains.
Boom! Boom!
Crack!
Qi Long watched in despair as his two killing dragons only managed to hold back the spear curtains for a brief moment before being torn to shreds.
And the spear curtains didn't stop...
Boom!
The next moment, the spear curtains collided with Ding Huan's own trapping and killing array.
Like a tidal wave, they tore through the array, reducing it to nothing.
The array disappeared, but Qi Long felt no joy.
He was frozen in place, his courage to resist shattered by the terrifying icy killing intent.
"Pfft!" The first wave of spear curtains struck Qi Long, and he watched as his body was torn apart.
Tragically, this was only the beginning.
The second wave struck, then the third, then the fourth...
Qi Long was torn to pieces by Ding Huan's icy spear curtains, but Ding Huan didn't even glance at him.
Instead, he was awestruck by the waves of killing intent he had unleashed.
He had finally executed the third of his nine spear techniques: "A Thousand Piles of Snow."
Ding Huan still didn't look at Qi Long.
He stared at the Parting Spear in his hand, finally understanding the true essence of his nine divine abilities.
What he had initially cultivated was merely the form.
Only after comprehending the third spear technique, "A Thousand Piles of Snow," did he realize that his nine divine abilities would gradually evolve into something uniquely his own.
Perhaps, in the end, only the name would remain the same.
With a long sigh, Ding Huan put away the Parting Spear and looked at Qi Long's shattered body and tattered soul.
It had to be said, the soul of a True God Realm cultivator was incredibly resilient.
Even after all that, it hadn't been completely destroyed.
"Sect Master Ding, I apologize. Please spare my soul. I am a elder of the Desolate God Sect, and I am willing to..."
Ding Huan acted as if he hadn't heard.
He was shocked to discover that his memories contained the divine ability "A Thousand Piles of Snow."
It seemed to be a technique used by a powerful figure mentioned in a scroll, but the version in his memory was vastly different from his own.
Ding Huan discarded these memories.
His "A Thousand Piles of Snow" was his own creation, and he didn't need to borrow from others.
He cut off Qi Long's soul's plea for mercy and said coldly, "Is the Desolate God Sect so impressive? Even Ji Xinting, their sect master, bowed to me as his master. You, a mere True God Realm elder, dare to use the Desolate God Sect to threaten me?"
Qi Long's soul was stunned.
Ji Xinting hadn't ascended? He wasn't dead? And he had become Ding Huan's disciple?
Ding Huan didn't bother with Qi Long's confusion.
With a wave of his hand, he sent a fireball toward the soul.
Qi Long, a True God Realm expert, had never imagined he would die in the Dao Cultivation Realm, his soul scattered and his body reduced to fragments.
Ding Huan collected Qi Long's storage ring, feeling quite pleased.
The greatest gain today wasn't killing Qi Long and obtaining a True God Realm cultivator's ring, but his comprehension of the true essence of his nine divine abilities and the realization of the third spear technique, "A Thousand Piles of Snow."
As he left, Ding Huan reflected on his own strength.
If it hadn't been for the trapping and killing array he had set up to help Sang Yuhe kill Qi Yushan, he wouldn't have been able to kill Qi Long.
At best, he would have had to flee for his life.
After returning, he planned to inform Liu Yinyu and the others, set up a teleportation array in the sect, and then head to the Hidden Sword Mountain to cultivate.
Only at the cosmic vortex there could his cultivation advance rapidly.
The news of Qi Long's death wouldn't spread immediately, but since Qi Long had come from the Moonlight Sect to hunt him down, it wouldn't be long before the Desolate God Sect traced it back to him.
No matter what, he would insist that he hadn't killed Qi Long.
It was a pity he couldn't find Ji Xinting.
That old man had disappeared after becoming his disciple.
If he could find him and use him to deal with the Desolate God Sect, he might be able to buy some time.
What he needed most was time.
Once he reached the True God Realm, he wouldn't fear the Desolate God Sect.
(End of Chapter)