Longevity by Grinding Skills

Chapter 376: Chapter 376: Invincible Under Heaven

That was the island’s protective barrier, the Upper Goodness Like Water Realm, condensed from Water Element True Qi. The Spiritual Qi within this realm was exceptionally abundant, far surpassing the mainland and enough to sustain an entire Array.

Xu Yunfan strode across the waves. The Weak Water parted beneath his feet. When the poison mist touched his Dragon Scale Armor, it hissed and instantly melted away like snow under a scorching sun.

The beautiful Chief Steward of Penglai Pavilion stood atop the highest point, Tingchao Pavilion. With a gentle lift of her fair hand, the entire sea suddenly began to boil.

"Young Hero Xu, is there any need to be so ruthless?"

The beautiful woman raised a fair hand, a cerulean halo shimmering around her. Her voice rose and fell like the tide. "Young Hero Xu, my Penglai Pavilion is willing to offer you three measures of Weak Water Essence and ten pieces of Thousand-year Profound Ice Jade Marrow. Furthermore, we will gift you the Tier Eight Divine Weapon left by our Ancestral Master, the Cangming Water-Splitting Needle. This is a supreme treasure once wielded by a Land Immortal Realm predecessor to dominate the four seas. It was seized from the hands of an Outer Heaven Demon and is truly wondrous."

Her eyes shimmered like water, her sleeves hanging low. "As for what happened today... can we not let it end here?"

Before her words could fade, the entire Penglai Island began to tremble violently.

Seventy-two Profound Iron Array Pillars rose from the seabed. The All Heaven Water Formation activated at full power, and a tempest of wind and lightning instantly raged between the sea and sky.

A colossal, deep-blue tsunami collapsed like a falling sky, the vast power of Water Element True Qi faintly visible within its crest.

The monstrous wave suddenly split apart in mid-air, transforming into nine colossal water dragons with menacing scales. Each Dragon Scale was formed from Water Element True Qi compressed to its absolute limit. Their claws were wreathed in Weak Water Poison Mist. This was the highest realm of the Sect’s Ultimate Skill, the "Nine Dragons Playing Sea Technique."

’So that’s why,’ Xu Yunfan realized. ’No wonder Penglai Pavilion has been content to hide on this island for a thousand years. The Spiritual Qi on Penglai Island is so abundant that even a Grand Array set up in ancient times can still operate perfectly.’

"A pity. If your Penglai Pavilion’s Ancestral Master were here to control this Array, I would turn and leave without a second word."

Xu Yunfan sneered and said no more. His Ten Extremes True Qi erupted from the soles of his feet in a ripple of crimson-gold. In an instant, the Weak Water recoiled, revealing the ghastly white bones that had settled on the seabed for a millennium.

These were the remains of Martial Artists who had trespassed on Penglai over the past hundred years.

Seeing this, the beautiful woman’s pupils contracted. The Command Talismans in her hand all shattered, and the nine dragons roared in unison as they lunged down to kill!

Xu Yunfan smashed a fist into the sea’s surface. The immense power kicked up a massive tsunami, forcibly shattering the water dragons.

The beautiful woman coughed up blood and was sent flying backward as the island’s foundation began to crumble.

The sea surface exploded, and a colossal creature burst from the waves. It was the Sea Guardian Envoy raised by Penglai Pavilion, now fully revealing its true Demon Fiend form.

This deep-sea Demon Fiend stood a full thirty feet tall, its body covered in blue-black scales. Each scale glinted with a cold, dark luster, its edges as sharp as blades.

Its head resembled that of a Flood Dragon, but wasn’t one. Three twisted, bony horns grew from its forehead. Six gill slits split its jowls, spewing a foul, poisonous mist with every breath.

Below its thick neck, four malformed, vicious claws were spread wide. Webbing connected the digits, and a ghastly green venom that corroded seawater dripped from their tips.

Most terrifying of all was its massive tail, which was covered in barbs and could whip up monstrous, wicked waves with a single sweep.

"ROAR!"

The Demon Fiend let out a deafening roar and lunged forward, bringing with it a storm of blood and gore.

But Xu Yunfan didn’t even lift an eyelid. His right hand shot out like a bolt of lightning, precisely locking onto the creature’s thick, scaled throat.

SQUELCH!

Ten Extremes True Qi poured from his five fingers into the Demon Fiend’s seven orifices. The Demon Fiend’s scales instantly shattered.

Its massive body swelled rapidly like an inflating leather bag, the crimson-gold True Qi clearly visible as it coursed madly beneath its blue-black skin.

The Demon Fiend’s eyeballs bulged, its bony horns snapped, and finally...

BOOM!

A sky-filling mist of blood exploded outward. Shredded flesh and bone fragments mixed with toxic blood rained down upon the sea, staining the water a murky green for hundreds of yards around.

Xu Yunfan flicked the viscous Demon Blood from his hand, watching impassively as the twitching stump of the massive tail sank into the sea.

The Pavilion Master cried out sharply. Nine ghastly cold Profound Iron Chains shot out from her sleeves—it was Penglai Pavilion’s Sect’s Divine Weapon, the Nine Nether Cold Iron Chain.

The chains, like venomous dragons emerging from their lairs, instantly wrapped around Xu Yunfan’s feet. A bone-chilling cold emanated from them, freezing the surrounding seawater solid.

CRACK!

With a mere tremor of his foot, Xu Yunfan’s Ten Extremes True Qi erupted like a volcano, and the Cold Iron Chains snapped in two.

The fragments shot back like a rain of shrapnel, instantly piercing the Pavilion Master’s chest. Blood sprayed thirty feet into the air.

As the Pavilion Master staggered to her knees, coughing up blood, five withered figures suddenly burst from the shadows of the shattered hall pillars. They were the Supreme Elders of Penglai Pavilion, who had been in seclusion for many years.

They had lain in wait for a long time, their Water Element True Qi perfectly merged with the Weak Water Poison Mist. Their breathing and heartbeats had slowed to a state of suspended animation, yet now they struck like vipers from a den. Five Water-Splitting Needles, all coated in lethal Weak Water poison, stabbed straight for the vital points on Xu Yunfan’s back!

SHIIING!

When the cold gleam of the blades was just three inches from Xu Yunfan’s spine, the Ten Extremes True Qi at his back suddenly surged, solidifying like molten gold.

A wall of crimson-gold qi materialized out of thin air, forcibly blocking the five deadly points of the Water-Splitting Needles. The poisoned blades scraped against the qi wall with a deafening screech of metal, sending sparks flying.

The five Elders were inwardly horrified. Their Turtle Breath Concealing Skill, which they had painstakingly cultivated for a hundred years, had been seen through in an instant!

Even more terrifying, not only did the crimson-gold qi wall block their attack, but it also projected a Devouring Power in reverse. The lethal Weak Water poison coating the Water-Splitting Needles was being assimilated and absorbed by the Ten Extremes True Qi at a visible rate.

"This... This is by no means a technique of the Martial Arts Nine Realms!"

The leading Elder swallowed hard, the web between his thumb and forefinger already split open by the force of the recoil.

The principle they had believed in their entire lives, "the highest good is like water, Overcoming Hardness with Softness," seemed utterly laughable in the face of such absolute power.

Xu Yunfan suddenly turned his head and grinned. "A bunch of old turtles. Finally decided to come out of your shells?"

A slit suddenly opened at the center of his brow—his Martial Arts Celestial Eye. The five Elders’ attack trajectories were instantly revealed in perfect detail.

Xu Yunfan’s body remained motionless, but behind him, his Martial Dao Dharma Aspect manifested, abruptly extending five crimson-gold arms made of True Qi.

"A Martial Dao Dharma Aspect?!"

The Supreme Elders’ hearts pounded. They naturally recognized its similarity to the Dragon Tiger Celestial Venerable that the Profound Daoist Sect had once manifested. But in terms of solidity, it couldn’t even begin to compare to Xu Yunfan’s.

The five arms, like predatory Flood Dragons, precisely seized them by the throat.

Fingers like hooks clamped down on their skulls as the Ten Extremes True Qi transformed into the gaping maw of a Taotie.

"GAAAH!"

The five Ninth Realm Grandmasters were drained of their True Qi like a bursting dam before they could even make a move.

In the blink of an eye, five desiccated corpses crashed to the ground. A gust of sea breeze blew past, and they disintegrated into fine dust that scattered on the wind.

Xu Yunfan lowered his arms, turned, and strode across the scattered dust, walking slowly toward the dying Pavilion Master.

The Pavilion Master lay collapsed beside the shattered Profound Iron Chains, blood oozing from the hole in her chest. Her once-regal face was now ashen and withered as paper.

Seeing Xu Yunfan approach, she tremblingly raised a blood-stained finger, her lips and teeth parting to force out a plea as faint as a floating thread: "Spare... spare my life... Penglai Pavilion’s thousand years..."

Before she could finish, Xu Yunfan had already reached out and clamped his hand on her skull.

The Ten Extremes True Qi burrowed into her seven orifices like a venomous python. The Pavilion Master’s body convulsed violently, her pupils reflecting Xu Yunfan’s cold face—a face devoid of pity, showing only the greed of a Taotie.

Xu Yunfan said, "An enemy from the Outer Realm is about to arrive. I will borrow your True Qi to resist this foe, which you can count as your Merit. The strength of ten people divided is not as good as one person’s combined. I trust you’ll understand."