Chapter 376
Chapter 376
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 377
Chapter Title: Heavenly Disaster
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Qingyang didn't hesitate for a second. He uprooted two long horns and charged straight at Jinghong, but his foot slipped, nearly sending him tumbling to the ground!
His fighting style was ferociously bold, the kind that traded wounds for wounds, lives for lives. That was exactly how he'd fought Jinghong before.
Jinghong moved with blinding speed and struck with ruthless precision, but in terms of magical power, Qingyang had the spiritual essence of Taihua Mountain's twenty-eight peaks and eighty-eight demonic peaks bolstering him, giving him the upper hand. Combined with his desperate, no-holds-barred approach, that's how he'd claimed victory.
Now his physical body was covered in wounds, gravely injured, and he no longer had the capacity to fight another round.
Even if he did, he couldn't find Jinghong's vital point. He had no idea how to kill this monstrous, corrupted abomination.
"Rest—!"
A long sword streaked past him, trailing dazzling rays of rosy light. The sword cleaved through the air at incredible speed—it was Chen Shi unleashing his sword.
The immortal sword's tip trembled, splitting from one into two, two into four, four into eight. In an instant, it divided into 1,024 swords, and then the tips trembled again, becoming 2,048 swords!
Seeing this, Qingyang rallied his magical power and poured it all into those 2,048 immortal swords!
Rosy light blazed forth, gorgeous beyond compare, like a myriad phoenixes dragging radiant tails as they surged toward Jinghong.
Chen Shi roared and took a step forward. He formed sword mudras with both hands and, in the instant his soul fused with his fleshly body using the Great Bodhi Battle Victory Dharma from Daguosi Temple, unleashed a transformation technique. Bloody arms sprouted from his armpits, flanks, and ribs, turning him into a thousand-armed bodhisattva form.
This Great Bodhi Battle Victory Dharma was inscribed in the stele forest outside the Tomb of the True King. It was a combat technique, positioned near the tomb's entrance—one of the pinnacle battle dharma arts.
Chen Shi had never used it before. This combat dharma required simultaneous transformation of soul and body, demanding Body Fusion Realm cultivation to execute. Upon reaching Body Fusion Realm, with a three-zhang soul fusing with the body at that instant, the flesh gained immense vitality from the integration with the dharma field, rapidly growing and changing into a three-zhang-tall divine form.
The key to activating the Great Bodhi Battle Victory Dharma lay in that moment of unity between body, soul, and dharma. By channeling the dharma at that point, leveraging the dharma field's vitality and the soul's transformations, one could induce changes in the flesh, swiftly growing a thousand arms to forge the true Bodhi Body and attain this supreme combat dharma!
This was the Bodhi Dharma Field's closely guarded secret!
Chen Shi had only recently achieved Body Fusion Realm and thus couldn't use it before. Now was his first time.
His soul stood ten zhang tall, thanks to his ten-zhang soul foundation, so his Bodhi True Body towered more than ten zhang high.
The thousand arms varied in length—some as short as a child's, no thicker than a duck egg, others stretching seven or eight zhang, branching out in a dazzling array.
"Ya! Ya! Ya! Ya! Ya!"
Chen Shi bellowed, his thousand arms each forming sword mudras and thrusting forward. Every arm controlled one or several beams of sword light.
The immortal swords' glows dragged trails of rosy light, piercing through Jinghong's corpse-body and engulfing him!
Chen Shi's heart sank.
He sensed he'd struck empty air—nothing solid.
Jinghong flapped his wings and shot backward at inconceivable speed, dodging the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword and the beams of rosy light.
Chen Shi roared furiously and took another step forward. His sword mudra flicked upward into a lifting sword stance, then spun into a cloud sword stance, before shifting to a cleaving sword stance!
Under his control, the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword split again, forming 4,096 beams of sword light amid countless rosy glows. They chased the airborne figure from every direction, the torrent of sword light and rosy glows sweeping from one mountain peak to another, submerging the peaks!
Chen Shi's own magical power wasn't enough to wield the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword or unleash its true might. He was relying entirely on Qingyang's vast reserves—Chen Shi was merely the one directing the moves.
His gaze locked dead on the flying figure in the sky. He took another step, and the thousand arms' sword mudras suddenly extended, each finger controlling a beam of sword light—for a total of more than 4,000 beams. Different beams executed different sword techniques, pushing the Profound Subtlety Sword Scripture to its limits!
His brain operated at peak efficiency in that moment, thoughts burning hot, mind clearer than ever. The precise path of every sword beam reflected vividly in his mind!
For the first time, he sensed their trajectories with such clarity. The sword lights and rosy glows shifted at his whim!
Jinghong had just molted; his cicada wings weren't fully hardened, nor was his body perfected. Countless sword beams and rosy glows forced him to dodge amid peak after peak. Yet those beams wove into layer upon layer of massive nets,
ensnaring him and gradually tightening!
Panic gripped him. If the sword formation contracted further, he'd have nowhere to flee!
*Shoo!*
With a wing flap, he tore through the barrier between yin and yang realms, fleeing into the underworld.
Chen Shi bellowed in rage and stepped forward again. Lightning crackled wildly around him as a vertical eye opened in his brow,
thunder coiling in his gaze. He'd activated the Thunderclap Jade Pivot Great Law, summoning the Thunder Ancestor's true form to pierce the veil between yin and yang realms,
searching for Jinghong.
Jinghong had just entered the underworld when Luo Heaven Sword Nets descended from above, buckling down around him. Layer after layer sealed him in, tightening!
His cicada wings gradually hardened, his body stabilizing, speed increasing—but the sword nets were already formed, leaving him no escape!
With a *shoo*, Jinghong dove into his own Great Void Realm, standing atop a sea of clouds and looking up at the sky.
His Great Void Realm had long been invaded by corrupt qi. Sun, moon, and stars glowed with a pallid hue. Below, a sea of flesh rippled; oceans and rivers had turned into corrupted meat, mountains blanketed in flesh, the earth crawling with thick, tentacle-like meat strands splaying outward.
In this polluted Great Void Realm, beams of sword light dragging rosy glows sliced in from every direction, stabbing toward him.
Terror twisted Jinghong's face. He marshaled every ounce of power in his Great Void Realm to fend off the descending sword lights!
Blood streamed from Chen Shi's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. The Great Bodhi Battle Victory Dharma and Thunderclap Jade Pivot Great Law clashed within him, the strain mounting. One Buddhist, one Daoist—they were incompatible, barely functioning under his forceful control.
As time passed, the burden on his body grew heavier.
Chen Shi's eyes bulged, blood threatening to blur his vision. He roared, splaying his five fingers as the thousand arms pressed downward. Jinghong roared back, his Great Void Realm surging with countless writhing flesh strands like a vast ocean. Thick tentacles lashed out at the sword beams!
In the Great Void Realm's sky, shattered flesh rained down, yet the sword beams dragged rosy glows onward at astonishing speed.
Sword light invaded a hundred li!
Thirty li!
Ten li!
Two hundred zhang!
Jinghong's eyes bulged wide. Fear of death tore a scream from him.
Suddenly, he recalled the moment Chen Yindu had nearly slain him years ago.
That same despair, that helplessness—he could only await death.
Now, he felt that despair again!
The dense immortal swords pressed in around him—less than ten zhang away!
He screamed in terror, awaiting death. Ghost immortal or not, with his Golden Cicada Shell-Shedding Heavenly Immortal Diagram granting near-immortality—even then, he had no defense against the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword.
One hit meant death.
At that moment, every sword beam halted abruptly, trembling.
Jinghong's soul steadied. Realization dawned: "He can't hold on!"
Chen Shi's body shook, his thousand arms quaking. Skin on the arms burst with pops, blood mist rising as muscles rotted and sloughed off.
His body swayed unsteadily; his flesh could take no more, his mental strength ebbing.
The surging magical power from Qingyang began to wane.
Chen Shi clenched his teeth and roared, stepping forward through the air. He endured the clash of the two battle dharma in his body, rallying his last strength. The thousand arms slammed down together!
In the Great Void Realm, all sword beams folded like a peacock closing its tail, reforming into a single True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword. With its final burst of power, it *shooed* toward Jinghong!
Above Taihua Mountain, the void shuddered violently. Rootless light streaked through it at blinding speed—a flicker covering hundreds of li.
*Boom!*
The light burst from the void, slamming into a demonic peak hundreds of li away. The peak's summit sheared off flat, the massive chunk flying more than ten li before crashing down.
Chen Shi's limbs exploded with pops. The thousand arms' flesh rotted rapidly, bones shattering to powder. He toppled stiffly, craning his neck to peer hundreds of li away.
That final strike had been driven by his fading will, forcing his body to deliver it. He had no idea if it had slain Jinghong.
His connection to the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword faded, the sword vanishing from his senses.
Suddenly, a fleshy tentacle *whooshed* upward, plunging into the void.
Chen Shi's eye twitched. The little temple materialized behind his head.
"Shiji, hold him back! Don't let him complete the transformation!"
Lady Shiji burst from the little temple, racing hundreds of li away.
There, one fleshy tentacle after another emerged, dangling in the sky, delving into the void to absorb corrupt qi from the world.
Lady Shiji shouted, summoning auspicious clouds in the sky. Golden-armored warriors rained down blows, battering the sword-suspended Jinghong amid sprays of shredded flesh.
Tentacles *shooed* out, piercing the golden warriors.
Lady Shiji charged in and spat forth a burst of sword qi, skewering Jinghong!
Flesh writhed around Jinghong as corrupt qi from the world poured endlessly into him, mending his wounds.
Tentacles whipped about, blocking Lady Shiji's assaults. Transformation stalled for the moment.
Chen Shi lay on the ground, trying to move, but his muscles were pulverized to mush. He couldn't even twitch a finger.
Then Qingyang staggered over and hoisted him up.
Chen Shi's voice was hoarse. "Uncle Qingyang, Blackie Pot—save him—"
Qingyang's foot buckled, but he barely summoned his soul, extending claws into the underworld. He seized the still-transforming Blackie Pot and hauled him back to the yang realm.
He leaped to take flight but plummeted from the air.
"We can't save anyone else."
Qingyang crashed to the ground, struggled up, slung Chen Shi and Blackie Pot one over each shoulder. His voice cracked with grief. "I couldn't save everyone in Taihua Qingyang Palace. Couldn't save them—"
Tears streamed down as he revealed his true Qingyang form. Ignoring his wounds, he trudged painfully toward the mountain's edge.
*Shoo shoo*—tentacles pierced the sky one after another. Lady Shiji grew more alarmed with every exchange.
"He's not transforming—he's undergoing a cataclysm!"
Realization struck. She attacked Jinghong even more ferociously. Suddenly, a piercing *shoo* rang out. An enormous fleshy tentacle grazed past her, boring into the void.
The tentacle was nearly a zhang thick. A bulge formed at its end, rolling along it toward Jinghong, suspended in the sky.
Other tentacles swelled too, madly absorbing corrupt qi from the world and surging it toward Jinghong.
The heavenly disaster had begun.
In Guxing Province, where the Taihua Mountains lay, Youzhou City.
Dawn hadn't broken, but the people of Youzhou were already awake. The night before, tremors had come nonstop from the Taihua Mountains, accompanied by massive bolts of lightning that had disturbed their sleep. The quakes had now stopped, and with daybreak near, early risers filled the streets, greeting each other and inquiring about the night's racket.
Fu Xiu was Chen Shi's classmate, another advancing scholar heading to the capital exams. After the spring examinations, he'd been assigned as a clerk in Youzhou Prefecture—a lowly ninth-rank sesame official—but he took his duties seriously. In half a year, he'd managed his responsibilities neatly and efficiently.
He was also Red Mountain Hall's branch master in Youzhou, overseeing the Talisman Masters Association across all of Guxing Province—a position of considerable authority.
Guxing Province was the second-largest in West Ox New Continent, vast in territory and protected by sacred sites that shielded its lands and people. Demonic paths dared not invade, and evil spirits often submitted to the Daoist sects, becoming local godmothers. As such, Red Mountain Hall's Talisman Masters Association hadn't grown easily.
But under Fu Xiu, it had become orderly and thriving.
For this, Red Mountain Hall valued him, granting access to Lesser Heavens to select various Dao arts for cultivation.
His cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds. In just half a year, he'd reached the peak of Soul Transformation Realm—a true expert in Youzhou.
Fu Xiu had sensed the night's disturbance too, seemingly from Taihua Mountain. He couldn't help muttering to himself: "Something big must have happened at Taihua Mountain. Right—yesterday a Daoist from Taihua Mountain came, saying they'd found Taihua Qing Palace's immortal artifact and were holding an Immortal Sword Return ceremony, inviting Prefecture Lord Xia and others in half a month's time. Could the Thirteen Great Families have sent people to seize the sword, causing all this?"
He shook his head. Taihua Mountain was a sacred site; mighty as the Thirteen Families were, they wouldn't dare steal an immortal artifact from a Daoist holy ground.
He washed up and headed out. Still young at twenty-six and unmarried, he lived alone.
Fu Xiu opened his door and stepped onto the street, heading for the yamen.
"Sister Tian'er, up so early."
Fu Xiu greeted a woman, then nodded to an early-rising elder by the roadside. "Uncle Fu, good morning."
"Early."
Neither the woman, the elder, nor Little Six replied.
Fu Xiu frowned slightly and walked on, gradually sensing something off. Everyone on the street stood frozen like they'd been hit with a binding talisman, unmoving.
Not just them—even the dogs, chickens, and ducks on the street were fixed in place.
Alarm jolted Fu Xiu. He hastily cast a release talisman curse, but it did nothing!
He dashed out of the street onto wider Pingyang Street. There, people stood scattered about, faces twisted in eerie smiles,
utterly still.
*Pop.*
A dog's occiput suddenly split open. A bloody dog's head burst from within.
Fu Xiu's blood ran cold. He summoned his soul and floated into the sky, overlooking the city. All of Youzhou lay in deathly silence.
Every person and beast was like they'd been possessed, frozen in place with eerie smiles.
Then, faint *pops* echoed from across the city. At that moment, the entire populace began to molt!
Terror gripped Fu Xiu. His soul flew beyond the city walls to a nearby county seat. The people there were the same as in Youzhou—frozen, some already half-molted, half a new body emerging from their human skin!
He flew farther—to villages, towns, countryside. Everywhere, people were molting and transforming!
In the forests, strange beasts were molting too!
His soul covered hundreds of li. Everywhere he looked, all life was molting and changing—yet he still hadn't found the disaster's edge!
"A thousand li. A thousand-li scale—"
Fu Xiu was utterly horrified. He withdrew his soul, face draining to pallid white. "A thousand-li heavenly disaster. This is a cataclysm!
Quick—notify the prefectural yamen! Right, alert the Talisman Masters Association. Evacuate immediately!"