Chapter 358
Chapter 358
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 359
Chapter Title: Battle at Heavenly Pool (Seeking Monthly Votes)
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Wen Wuyu glanced around. The leaders of the major ghost clans were all at a great distance and hadn't approached, but if she wanted to slip away, it wouldn't be easy either.
The ghost clans lacked cultivation methods, but their bloodlines were inherently powerful. Even the lower-class night yakshas, who scraped by doing odd jobs everywhere, had once been part of the Eight Divisions of the Heavenly Dragons. Once they matured and awakened their bloodlines—without any cultivation arts—their strength was still astonishing!
Wen Wuyu let out a sigh, her expression calming. Her feet landed on the lake's surface as she followed Chen Shi toward the distance.
Since she knew this battle was unavoidable, she wouldn't waste breath on pointless arguments.
Besides, she was curious to see just how far the scholar boy—who'd had his innate Dao embryo severed, died eight years ago, and revived without a Divine Embryo—could go.
She walked across the lake, her figure graceful. The calm water mirrored her reflection.
She wore a fitted skirt that hugged her slender form, its hem brushing the surface without wetting in the slightest.
Wen Wuyu remained composed, but in her reflection on the lake, five-colored radiance emerged behind her, shifting as she moved. Something colossal seemed to stir in the depths below, causing the water behind her to gradually swell.
The two advanced, no more than a li apart.
The swell behind Wen Wuyu grew ever higher, silently, yet the pressure mounted relentlessly.
Li Tianqing and the others stood at the lakeshore. The water level ahead of them kept dropping as the lake drained toward Wen Wuyu's position.
"Such formidable magic power."
Li Tianqing's heart stirred faintly. Wen Wuyu hadn't struck yet, but her divine ability was already taking shape.
Ahead of her, the lake remained mirror-smooth, but behind, the waters rose under the five-colored glow, suspended in midair like a peacock's radiant tail.
Li Tianqing oversaw the Heavenly Court's Ministry of Rites, code-named Scholar. Chen Shi had given him rubbings of the stele forest techniques from the Tomb of the True King for compilation and distribution.
With his exceptional aptitude and learning ability, the sight of the five-colored radiance behind Wen Wuyu immediately evoked over a dozen techniques in his mind.
Grand Five Elements Sword Qi, Five Mountains Golden Light Incantation, Treasure Moonlight Peacock Wisdom King Mantra, Lingbao Five Talismans Scripture—
Traces of these arts could be seen in the five-colored glow behind Wen Wuyu!
Li Tianqing specialized in deciphering others' techniques, yet he couldn't spot a flaw in her five-colored radiance for the moment!
At that instant, Chen Shi reached the lake's center.
The moment he halted, it was like a signal. The five-colored radiance behind Wen Wuyu surged forth. Vast waters flooded the sky, instantly forming five massive mountains that descended from above.
She had summoned nearly half the lake's volume, shaped after Mount Tai, Mount Hua, Mount Heng, Mount Heng, and Mount Song. But the watery peaks' geography differed greatly from the conventional Five Mountains forms. As they manifested, divine might radiated, as if supreme deities sat enthroned within, bearing down to suppress!
This true-form diagram was even more complete than the one stored in the Tomb of the True King, with far more intricate details!
The instant she acted, Chen Shi circulated the Blood Lake True Canon. The blood lake hell behind his head erupted with savage power. Ghost gods rose within the blood lake hell—one after another—all those he had converted, now guardians of this hellscape.
Chen Shi thrust his hand upward, and all the ghost gods in the blood lake hell mirrored him, lifting their hands to bear the load together.
The Five Mountains halted mid-descent, resisted by an invisible force!
Suddenly, five-colored light flashed within the Five Mountains. The peaks shattered into countless sword beams plummeting from the heavens, innumerable sword qi piercing toward the lake where Chen Shi stood!
Wen Wuyu let out a sharp cry, striding forward. With a wave of her hand, boundless five-colored qi rose from the lake, transforming into Grand Five Elements Sword Qi. Sword lights miles wide howled and spun around that patch of lake, slashing and weaving in a dazzling crossfire!
Wen Wuyu flipped her right hand up then down. The five-colored sword qi lifted into the air, forming a colossal palm. Its five fingers gleamed with five-colored light. Before the lake below could settle, the giant hand crashed down with her slender jade hand!
"Boom!"
Enormous waves surged outward in all directions, crashing toward the surrounding shores!
The clan leaders hurriedly blocked them, deflecting the waves' impact to spare the capital.
Crown Prince Xiang Kun watched from the shore, his expression shifting slightly at the sight. "This woman is formidable! Such potent divine abilities without bloodline power!"
Wen Wuyu stood in place, then her face changed abruptly. She hastily raised her left hand to shield her right cheek.
"Thud!"
Chen Shi appeared at her right like a flash, his fist slamming into her palm. Crushing force bore down, sending her delicate frame flying backward, her form shattering the air with thunderous booms!
Before she hit the lake, Chen Shi was upon her again, his feet treading wind and thunder at blinding speed. Fists and feet assailed her like a storm!
She had wielded divine abilities and Dao arts, fusing five elements spells seamlessly with effortless mastery. But Chen Shi employed pure close-quarters slaughter!
Wen Wuyu could only react on instinct, her feet dancing swiftly to evade. When she couldn't dodge, she blocked with her hands.
When she couldn't block, she endured!
She had cultivated body arts akin to golden body or true body methods, forging her frame to utmost resilience. Even the Wisdom King Golden Body of Bodhi Dojo, the World Honored One Golden Body of Water-Moon Pure Land, or the Bodhisattva Golden Body of Great Reward Temple paled against hers at equal realm.
Yet now, she sensed her golden body on the verge of dispersal!
The two figures streaked like light and lightning, clashing furiously across the restless lake surface, darting and flashing in a bewildering frenzy amid ceaseless roars!
Suddenly, Wen Wuyu took a direct kick from Chen Shi, sent tumbling from one lake to the next.
Like a skipping stone, she struck the surface, bounced up by the water, flew a li, struck again, and bounced once more.
This repeated seven or eight times across over ten li until she leaped from the water, rising to her feet midair. But ahead, white lights streaked with whistling shrieks—Chen Shi's finger bones and wrist bones, launched like swords!
"You can do that?"
Wen Wuyu laughed in fury, her feet blurring like phantoms. She gathered lake water into swords to meet the incoming finger and wrist bones.
Her swordsmanship was exquisite beyond compare. With a twitch of her water swords, sword qi filled the sky. Clang-clang-clang! They collided fiercely with Chen Shi's bones!
Yet more bone-swords flew in—arm bones, neck bones, shin bones, ribs, vertebrae, breastbones, hip bones, toe bones!
Wen Wuyu was shocked and enraged. "Did he dismantle himself?"
She whirled her sword light, crisscrossing qi blanketing the lake, clashing with Chen Shi's bones. Amid the dense sword qi,
Chen Shi's bald skull hurtled through, straight for her!
The bones converged on the skull. Before Chen Shi hit the water, they had reassembled into a full skeleton frame, resuming the storm of attacks!
Knowing his prowess in close combat, Wen Wuyu avoided direct clashes, retreating swiftly to create distance.
They streaked over one lake to the next. The Heavenly Pool's myriad lakes mirrored their hurtling forms like flawless glass.
Suddenly, a ten-plus-zhang primordial spirit emerged behind Wen Wuyu, radiating blinding divine light.
As she retreated, the primordial spirit merged with her flesh.
The spirit towered over ten zhang, her body under six chi, but upon fusion, her frame surged upward to match, over ten zhang tall!
This was the wonder of the Integration Realm.
In the Integration Realm, soul fused with primordial spirit, spirit with Divine Embryo, embryo with flesh, flesh with the outer world—achieving inner-outer unity.
Its most evident effect: the flesh matched the spirit's size upon fusion!
The transformed body was called the divine body!
Moreover, fusing with the outer world allowed channeling heaven and earth's natural forces!
From the Golden Core Realm onward, cultivators gained force fields—Golden Core Field, Nascent Soul Field, Primordial Spirit Field.
At Divine Descent Realm, one comprehended true gods to grasp void-shattering principles.
At Void Refining Realm, force fields became Dao Fields for void-shattering, enabling Integration. Post-Integration, the Dao Field advanced further, wielding heaven and earth's might, approaching Ghost God Domain with inconceivable powers!
Wen Wuyu integrated. Her foot stamped down, palm thrusting forth. The lake water beneath roared and coiled with her palm force, surging skyward as a tidal strike to crush Chen Shi!
The whirling blood lake hell behind Chen Shi's head unfurled into a Ghost God Domain spanning nearly twenty li in radius. Standing at its heart, he became its hell-lord, his palm carrying the hell's eerie power to meet the blow!
From the blood lake hell, blood-soaked ghost gods soared, hands raised in unison against Wen Wuyu's palm!
But the next instant, ghost gods plummeted, splashing into the blood lake!
Chen Shi grunted, feeling incomparable pressure!
His blood lake hell matched her inner-outer unity in scope, but lagged in realm. He followed Huaxia Divine Continent's system, lacking Divine Descent and Void Refining, yet teetered on Integration's edge—one step away.
Without entering Integration, he couldn't contend with Wen Wuyu. Her magic power alone could crush him effortlessly!
Chen Shi hesitated no longer. His primordial spirit surfaced behind him, stepping forward.
With that step, the skeleton frame exploded in size, instantly becoming a ten-zhang skeletal form blazing with dazzling divine light!
Their palms clashed. Wen Wuyu sensed his power surging and moved to change moves, but radiant divine light bloomed around her.
Her expression shifted—it was talismans forming at speed, encircling her!
"Spirit Banner Ten Absolutes Array!"
She delayed no further, summoning her Divine Shrine. The Divine Embryo flew out, fusing with her flesh for true Integration!
Her aura surged anew. The Ten Absolutes Array erupted. Vedic chants echoed in the void as towering deities manifested, as if crossing time-space to descend into this gloomy realm, wielding supreme might to exorcise demons and annihilate all resistance!
"Boom!"
Li Tianqing, Crown Prince Xiang Kun, and the others saw incomparable brilliance erupt over Chen Shi and Wen Wuyu's lake—a pillar of light shooting skyward, turning the dim heavens bright as day!
The light pillar sliced down like a sword, dozens of li long. Wherever it passed, lake waters vaporized amid endless explosions!
Wen Wuyu burst from the array, only to be struck by the all-destroying beam, sent flying!
A hundred li away, smoke billowed from a mountaintop by a lake—that was where Wen Wuyu had crashed.
The onlookers' hearts pounded in shock.
Suddenly, Wen Wuyu's figure rose from the peak, calling from afar: "Chen Shi, thanks for going easy. In a couple days, I'll come find you myself!"
The woman leaped skyward—once, twice, thrice—like ascending invisible stairs, vaulting out of the underworld and vanishing!
Clan leaders like Lei Qu had intended to intervene and capture her, but Chen Shi raised a hand to stop them, saying gravely: "No need to pursue."
The ghost gods halted.
Chen Shi dispersed his Integration state, his body returning to normal. He turned and hurried to the palace without lingering.
Li Tianqing watched thoughtfully.
Soon after, Li Tianqing arrived at the palace. Chen Shi had shed his greatcoat and crown, sitting bare-boned on the throne, elbow on the armrest, skeletal hand propping his chin in contemplation.
"Your Majesty, why the brooding melancholy?" Li Tianqing smiled.
"Minister Li, sit."
Chen Shi scooted over. The throne was vast—room for a dozen skeleton imps.
Li Tianqing sat, legs crossed. Though also a skeleton imp, he wasn't as casual as Chen Shi. He wore full attire: outer robes, middle robes, underrobes, trousers—nothing immodest.
Li Tianqing eyed the downcast Chen Shi. "Wen Wuyu wasn't using an innate Dao embryo?"
"Mm." Chen Shi sighed.
Li Tianqing said: "So she's not the one who took your innate Dao embryo. Wen Wuyu's already this strong, fighting you to a draw.
The one who got the innate Dao embryo must be even mightier. Is that what worries you?"
Chen Shi lowered his hand from his chin, shaking his head. "Tianqing, that person might be beyond my reach—"
Li Tianqing fell silent a moment, then smiled. "Why did the outer-heaven true god grant you the innate Dao embryo, not me? Not anyone else in millennia?"
Chen Shi turned to look at him.
Li Tianqing grew solemn. "Because in these millennia, there's only one Chen Shi, only one scholar boy. The innate Dao embryo was just the outer-heaven true god's reward for your excellence—a flourish on the masterpiece. That person merely took your reward. What he'll never have is your insight and talent."
Chen Shi was silent for a long while, then slowly said: "Tianqing, you're my best friend in this life."