Chapter 173
Chapter 173
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 173
Chapter Title: Blasting Gongzhou
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Granny Sha, Young Master Xiao, and the curly-bearded giant all looked up. The sky, which had been clear just moments ago, had suddenly turned pitch black and oppressively dim.
In the city, only the divine lights emanating from the primordial spirits of Gongzhou's high officials, scattered cultivators, and the divine embryos in their shrines remained.
Beams of light from spells occasionally pierced the darkened sky.
Granny Sha's eye twitched violently as she murmured:
"Do you all feel a strange force invading your Dao hearts, twisting your perceptions?"
"No."
The curly-bearded giant was speaking when he suddenly laid eyes on Young Master Xiao, and a predatory hunger surged within him.
He had suppressed this urge for a long time. Ever since achieving success in his cultivation, he had abstained from blood food. But now, that desire had been awakened.
"Granny, I've got beastly urges!"
The curly-bearded giant cried out in shock.
Granny Sha whirled around and dashed toward the Min River, saying rapidly:
"Little Ten is dead, his soul has fallen into the underworld! Something came out of his flesh—demonic influence disrupting everyone's Dao hearts! Blackie Pot! Quick, find Blackie Pot!"
Young Master Xiao hurried after her, puzzled:
"Find Blackie Pot? Does she mean finding someone to take the blame?"
He quickly realized she meant Chen Shi's big black dog that always grinned slyly.
He had stayed at Chen Shi's home to recover from injuries for a time and often saw the dog acting suspiciously yet somehow normally.
"What are we finding Blackie Pot for?"
He caught up to Granny Sha and the curly-bearded giant, still wondering.
They arrived near the Min River. The curly-bearded giant spotted Red Mountain Hall's Jade Hall Master from afar, and his eyes instantly turned bloodshot. With a roar, he revealed his heavenly fox true form and pounced toward Jade Tiancheng, howling:
"Rabbit! I want to eat the rabbit!"
Jade Tiancheng was protecting Red Mountain Lady, Min River Granny, and the others as they retreated. Seeing him charge, he bolted, leaping away like the wind.
The curly-bearded giant chased relentlessly behind.
Young Master Xiao's heart jolted:
"He's been driven mad by demonic influence into his beastly nature!"
Granny Sha's voice came from ahead:
"Ignore him! Find Blackie Pot first!"
Li Tianqing and Blackie Pot were no longer atop Min River Granny's head—who knew where they'd gone.
Young Master Xiao quickened his pace and asked:
"Granny, why not use a soul-tracking spell to find Blackie Pot?"
"My soul-tracking spells can't lock onto that dog."
Granny Sha scanned rapidly as she flew along, adding:
"Its bloodline is extraordinary—not an ordinary dog at all. Some power in its bloodline has awakened, blocking my spells! Little girl, where's Blackie Pot?"
Red Mountain Lady pointed to the other side of the river surface upon hearing this.
Granny Sha immediately crossed the river in pursuit.
On the Min River's surface, Qingyang was still battling the thirteen Gongzhou high officials desperately. Unbeknownst to them, the demonic influence had affected everyone, stripping away all restraint in their attacks.
Qingyang revealed his true form. His sheep horns alternated between his hands and flying out—at hand, they became two curved blades over ten zhang long, sweeping broadly with unstoppable force.
When thrown, they spun like boomerangs, darting unpredictably over a vast area, invincible wherever they struck!
But no matter his high cultivation or sturdy flesh, facing thirteen Gongzhou high officials alone was overwhelming.
The most dangerous among them were the Four Directions Ten Thousand Souls Banners. With a shake of the banners' myriad souls, even he was sent flying!
Granny Sha landed on the other side of the Min River and glanced quickly. Seeing Qingyang in no immediate peril and unlikely to be slain by the thirteen officials anytime soon, she thought:
"Finding Blackie Pot is the priority!"
She blew out a breath. Yan Jiuling suddenly felt his heart scorched by fierce flames, a fiery lotus blooming at his heart and burning fiercely!
With Granny Sha's breath, the flames grew stronger, as if to incinerate his heart to ash!
Yan Jiuling had been striking viciously at Qingyang when his heart erupted in agony. He recalled that little old woman dragging them into the underworld, turning them to skeletons, and planting a fiery lotus in his chest.
After the underworld bailiff sent them back to the living world and their bodies restored, the lotus had remained dormant.
He had thought it gone, but now it activated.
"One spell to kill me? In your dreams!"
His primordial spirit returned fully. The spirit's hands plunged into his body, shielding his heart against the crimson karmic fire.
But the earlier scorching had already gravely wounded him.
Yan Jiuling felt that even slightly stirring his qi and blood threatened to burst his heart. Gritting his teeth, he withdrew from the battlefield to the shore, channeling his magic power to suppress the fiery lotus with all his might.
"Your heart is quite interesting."
A light laugh sounded. Yan Jiuling turned and froze slightly:
"It's that reckless little scholar again!"
Walking toward him was none other than "Chen Shi."
In Yan Jiuling's eyes, he was nothing but a troublemaker. Without him, the conflict between Red Mountain Hall and Heavenly Granny Society wouldn't have erupted. Without him, Red Mountain Lady and Min River Granny would have died long ago!
For this scholar to strut over so boldly—had he read so few books he didn't know how many strokes the character for "death" had?
The thought had just crossed his mind when suddenly—
"Chen Shi" was already at his side, holding a heart in his hand, with a fiery lotus beneath it.
Yan Jiuling stared blankly, then looked down at his own chest.
A gaping hole had torn open in his chest, dripping blood, his heart vanished.
"Chen Shi" smiled:
"Karmic Fire Red Lotus—a fine divine ability."
"To think someone in the living world has such astonishing mastery over souls."
"Give me back my heart!"
Yan Jiuling roared and reached for the heart in his hand.
"Chen Shi," a playful smile on his face, watched as the heart suddenly burned to ash in the fiery lotus—yet retained its heart shape.
"Here."
He stuffed the ashen heart back into Yan Jiuling's chest.
Yan Jiuling coughed up blood violently, knowing his life was over. He swung the Ten Thousand Souls Banner wildly. Myriad souls surged out, transforming into blood skeletons that blotted the sky, swarming toward "Chen Shi"!
"Chen Shi's" eyes gleamed. He suddenly opened his mouth, which ballooned enormously—lower jaw to the ground, cheeks pressing against roadside houses on one side, squeezing them with creaks, the other side reaching the river.
His upper lip rose over ten zhang high. With a single inhalation, the over ten thousand blood skeletons from the banner were sucked into his mouth—like devouring candies with effortless delight!
"Crunch!"
"Chen Shi" closed his mouth, head returning to normal size.
Yan Jiuling leaned on the now-powerless Ten Thousand Souls Banner. Not a single powerful vengeful spirit remained inside—all devoured clean by the youth before him!
This treasure guarding Gongzhou City had become a useless husk!
His vision blackened. His flesh died, and the essence in his primordial spirit began to dissipate, drawn by an immense force into the underworld.
In the underworld, the bailiff who had sent them back earlier approached with his copper lamp's light, coming to guide his soul.
At that moment, a long tongue lashed into the underworld, wrapping around Yan Jiuling's primordial spirit with a swipe!
Yan Jiuling screamed in terror:
"Save me!"
"Swish!"
The tongue yanked his primordial spirit back to the living world. The bailiff, seeing this, flew into a rage:
"You dare disrupt the rules between the realms? Such audacity!"
He shone his lamp light through to the living world. There, "Chen Shi" with blood-dripping maw swallowed Yan Jiuling's primordial spirit whole!
The light came to rescue Yan Jiuling, but "Chen Shi" stepped forward, head thrusting out. Demonic light shot from his eyes, clashing with the lamp light. A thunderous boom echoed over the River of Forgetfulness, sending the small boat flying over ten li.
The bailiff's robes billowed, long hair whipping, revealing his horse-faced, eerie visage.
"Demon God!"
The horse-faced bailiff exclaimed in shock and uncertainty.
"A fugitive Demon God in the living world! Should've known better than to send these fools back! Following rules only leads to breaking them!"
"Chen Shi" swallowed Yan Jiuling's primordial spirit, savagery surging. He opened wide and inhaled forcefully. Fei Tianzheng and the others' Ten Thousand Souls Banners trembled uncontrollably, blood skeletons pouring out in droves toward his mouth!
On the river, the twelve remaining officials and Qingyang couldn't hold their ground. Their primordial spirits seized by an unfathomable force, they were dragged toward the shore!
Whoosh—
In mere moments, the three banners lost all their vengeful souls. The once malevolently ominous banners now looked strangely pristine!
The Gongzhou authorities had refined these banners for countless years, only for them to be rendered powerless!
Faces pale with terror, everyone struggled to suppress their restless primordial spirits. Qingyang had been fighting desperately but now focused on locking his spirit to his flesh. With immense difficulty, he stepped against the pull, heading in the opposite direction.
His cultivation far exceeded Fei Tianzheng, Xia Chuli, and the others—otherwise he couldn't have held out so long. Yet each step felt like carrying Mount Tai!
Suddenly, the weakest, Tea Horse Envoy Gu Pingan, could no longer resist. His body flew uncontrollably toward "Chen Shi"!
Utterly terrified, as he neared "Chen Shi," he gritted his teeth and summoned thunder to crash down!
"Chen Shi" took several spells indifferently and laughed:
"I don't eat flesh."
He flicked a finger. Gu Pingan's robes exploded, flesh peeling away, leaving only bones and primordial spirit.
"Chen Shi" waved, and the bones flew off, leaving just the spirit. He opened wide, tongue lashing out.
From the River of Forgetfulness, the bailiff's light shone again, piercing toward "Chen Shi" to snatch Gu Pingan's spirit.
This time, it caught "Chen Shi" off guard—the light seized Gu Pingan's spirit and guided it to the underworld!
"Chen Shi's" face twisted ferociously as he bellowed:
"If I hadn't barely escaped the underworld, I'd leave you with no burial!"
Savagery boiling, he leaped, landing behind Governor Fei Tianzheng. Claws like blades plunged into his skull, ripping out his primordial spirit with a tear and stuffing it into his mouth!
Fei Tianzheng's eyes bulged, hands posed to strike, but his body froze in place.
His heart still beat, breath continued, but the man was dead—an empty shell.
"Chen Shi" strode forward, spinning across the river surface. With a crunch, he pierced Xia Chuli's heart, yanking out spirit and heart together!
Inspector Zhang, Commander Yang, and the others unleashed spells and treasures desperately, but one by one they lost footing—dragged to "Chen Shi's" side for instant kills and devoured spirits, or approached and consumed!
In an instant, "Chen Shi's" figure flickered ghost-like over the river, and the twelve officials' corpses plummeted into the water one after another!
Eunuch Cen Xuefu, guardian of the city, tried to flee but met the same fate—grabbed by "Chen Shi" and his spirit devoured.
The river fell silent.
Gazes fixed on "Chen Shi" standing amid the river. Red Mountain Lady and Min River Granny stood atop Black Carp Dragon's head, staring in horror at the scene.
"Truly magnificent—magnificent!"
Applause echoed from the shore. A crisp child's voice rang out, praising:
"The Five Lakes Scattered Cultivator truly lives up to his name. No wonder he's dominated among the scattered ones for years without challenge."
"He hid something extraordinary in his grandson's body."
A scholar approached with a book chest on his back, a child perched atop it. The scholar walked on as the child clapped, exclaiming with a laugh:
"A mature demon."
"Where did the Five Lakes Scattered Cultivator get it? And how did he implant it in a corpse-dissolved immortal's body?"
"Chen Shi" turned to face him, licking his lips with a smile:
"Little thing, come take a look and find out?"
"Little thing?"
The child giggled sharply:
"Even the Five Lakes Scattered Cultivator wouldn't dare call me 'little thing'—and you do?"
He leaped from the book chest in a streak of light, pouncing toward "Chen Shi"!
His cultivation was profoundly vast, at the Primordial Spirit Void Return stage—one step from Great Vehicle!
The Great Vehicle realm was exceedingly rare, not easily attained.
But reaching Primordial Spirit Void Return was already extraordinary.
Primordial Spirit Void Return meant transforming the spirit into the great void state, mind and form dissolving into it, entering samadhi for nine years.
Southern Song's Daoist Li Daochun said: "Nine years in fixed samadhi."
Referring to nine years of samadhi to forge Primordial Spirit Void Return and the great void state.
Early Ming Daoist Zhang Sanfeng said: "A century to shatter the void, merging with the great void."
After forging the great void state, shattering the void led to Great Vehicle.
If nine years failed to forge it or shatter the void, there was still a century's chance—to break through within a hundred years for Great Vehicle.
But most Void Return cultivators were stuck there.
Most reached this stage at fifty or sixty. Failing the nine-year breakthrough often meant they couldn't live another century and died naturally.
Tianyang Boy was an exception—a mere child who had reached Primordial Spirit Void Return.
Even if nine years failed, he could surely live another century.
The instant they clashed, Tianyang Boy's face changed. He flew back, crashing through house after house, street after street, booming into Gongzhou's city wall and embedding in its thick stone!
Horror in his eyes, he opened them to see "Chen Shi's" figure blurring then reappearing right before him.
"Little boy, you've lived three lives!"
"Chen Shi" reached out, laughing:
"Let me see who you were in those three lives!"
As his palm descended, Tianyang Boy felt his essence, qi, and spirit beyond control. "Chen Shi" traced back along his soul through three lifetimes!
Swish!
His three lives' memories flashed like a lantern show in the air.
Tianyang Boy paled. He had used secret arts to reincarnate repeatedly, reaching his current realm, believing no one could uncover his origins—yet exposed now!
At that moment, qin music rang out. A green-robed musician stood midair, robes fluttering, plucking strings from on high. Melody waves formed heavenly maidens drifting down, encircling "Chen Shi"!
"You can't even master spells, yet you play the qin?"
"Chen Shi" slapped out. The green-robed musician tumbled through the air!
Tianyang Boy shouted:
"All scattered cultivators in the city, listen! This Demon God Zhou is formidable. Fighting alone is suicide! Strike together!"
No sooner said than figures flashed in the sky, surrounding "Chen Shi."
More scattered cultivators stepped onto the streets.
"Ten years scattered like a dream—reunited on streets to slay the demon lord!"
A purple-robed scholar laughed heartily and declared:
"I am Dao Qianqiu. Ten years since we parted—today we meet again, to join hands against the demon!"
Before he finished, "Chen Shi" appeared before him, slapping his face. Dao Qianqiu couldn't dodge, neck twisting as he spun like a top, flying miles away!
"Kill me if you must—why recite poetry?"
"Chen Shi" spat:
"Utter drivel!"