Free Web NovelWith a thunderous boom, Underworld Marshal Xia Xiude shattered the Black Dragon Imperial Carriage, flying out and standing in midair, coldly watching the approaching Little Duan Immortal.
“Who are you?”
His voice rumbled like thunder, containing boundless divine power. This was divine power accumulated over thousands of years in the underworld. Though he no longer had a physical body, his Golden Body, forged from extraordinary power, had already surpassed his achievements in life.
“You don’t need to answer. Whoever you are, you are destined to die!”
Underworld Marshal Xia Xiude didn’t bother to look at the result, walking straight toward Chen Shi.
He didn’t need to see the result. His attack had only one outcome.
That woman would die!
He activated the Imperial Illuminating Scripture, using the righteous and majestic vital energy of Confucianism to forge awe-inspiring literary passages. Each word was as large as a bushel, radiant and flowing with brilliant light. Words became law, each character transforming into a domain-like, Dao Field-like spell, suppressing everything, engulfing Little Duan Immortal.
For instance, the “water” character produced a bizarre effect. Within its domain, water vapor would fill every part of a person’s body. The “fire” character made every part of someone in its domain burn simultaneously, inside and out, body and Primordial Spirit alike.
This technique was the top-tier cultivation method stored in the *Collection of Imperial Illuminating Classics*. Though not among *The Ten Books of Cultivation*, its quality wasn’t far off!
Suddenly, Xia Xiude stopped in his tracks and turned around. He saw that every character formed by the Imperial Illuminating Scripture was on the verge of unleashing its power, yet none had done so.
They were frozen.
Xia Xiude’s pupils contracted sharply. His gaze fell on the calm-faced woman, and he asked in a deep voice, “Who are you?”
He didn’t recognize the female immortal from Qixia Taoist Temple, nor did he remember Chen Shi. Chen Shi’s rampage in Western Capital was a matter of the mortal world, never spreading to the underworld.
Little Duan Immortal didn’t answer. She passed through the suspended characters, her hand forming a flower-picking gesture.
Xia Xiude’s expression changed dramatically. He involuntarily flew toward her palm.
“Boom!”
He crashed into her as if hitting a bronze wall, his Golden Body nearly shattering from the impact.
“Oh? Your Golden Body is well-forged, unbreakable,” the woman’s voice came.
Xia Xiude channeled all his divine power, forcefully breaking free from this bizarre restraint. With a furious roar, he elevated the Imperial Illuminating Scripture to its peak. Dense texts from scriptures, histories, and classics surfaced on his Golden Body, forming various peculiar Dao Fields.
His Golden Body rose to unprecedented heights. He abandoned spells, using fists and feet as weapons in wide, sweeping moves. A single punch shook a hundred li, a leg sweep could sever mountains and rivers!
Little Duan Immortal casually blocked him. No matter how fast Xia Xiude’s attacks came, she easily deflected them.
Xia Xiude’s face changed color. Suddenly, his right arm exploded with a crack, and his fist flew off.
Cracks of all sizes appeared across his Golden Body. After absorbing thousands of years of incense offerings and forging his supreme Golden Body with extraordinary power, it couldn’t withstand the backlash from this woman!
A nameless fear rose in his heart.
He had come to avenge Lord Fengyang. Lord Fengyang had been killed, and the Xia Family’s future head was also dead. If this got out, the Xia Family would lose all face.
But now, he no longer cared about the Xia Family’s reputation.
He had a premonition that he might dissipate into nothing at any moment. If he didn’t know when to back down, this woman would likely shatter his Golden Body and destroy his soul entirely!
Death itself wasn’t frightening to him. After death, he could still absorb incense offerings in the underworld, living as a deity. Though it lacked the pleasures of a physical body, his Golden Body was still formidable.
But now, he feared death.
This woman could absolutely obliterate his soul!
He wanted to summon the underworld officers under his command for help, but a hurried glance showed him that the hanged ghost Xiucai was using techniques from *The Ten Books of Cultivation*—a single ghost holding off dozens of underworld officers!
That Xiucai was cultivating not just one method from *The Ten Books of Cultivation*, but all of them!
Mysterious Subtle Sword Scripture, Minor Tribulation Salvation Formula, Tai Zhen Jade Art, Nine Heavens Three Treasures Golden Scripture, Limitless Jade Pearl Formula—he wielded them all with ease, forcing dozens of underworld officers to join forces against him, leaving no time to save Xia Xiude.
If Xia Xiude had another chance, he would never have charged over so arrogantly to avenge Xia Tianjie and Lord Fengyang.
He would flee as far as possible!
On the other side, the Wooden Cart raced along, its speed pushed to the limit. Suddenly, Chen Shi grabbed the Western King’s Jade Seal, lightning flashing under his feet as he leaped from the cart.
He rode lightning, moving like electricity, while simultaneously activating the Heaven-Earth Variation, shrinking distances, his speed increasing.
Above his head, demonic domains were about to close in!
Chen Shi streaked like wind and lightning, shooting through below before the demonic domains could slam down.
“Child Prodigy!”
Wuxie saw Chen Shi charging and became eager to fight.
His master, the child-faced elder, was busy deploying other Demon Seeds and triggering demonic transformations, with no attention to spare here.
Chen Shi sped past not far from him, leaving a trail of crackling thunder in the air.
Wuxie chased after Chen Shi, shouting, “Child Prodigy, don’t run!”
He raced at lightning speed, doing his best to pursue Chen Shi, laughing heartily. “I’ve long heard of your fame! I’ve seen your Innate Dao Embryo—truly extraordinary, I admire and yearn for it. You’re rushing here so urgently—could it be to awaken the strange god in this temple?”
Suddenly, a golden court rose behind his head, his dharma power surging. He stretched out a hand to grab, laughing, “But with me here, don’t think you’ll succeed!”
A cloud of light exploded above Wuxie’s head, revealing a golden court. In the court, an immortal smiled, reaching out a palm about a dozen acres in size, grabbing at Chen Shi!
Wuxie’s technique was extremely peculiar. When he reached out, the immortal in the golden court also reached out, matching his posture exactly.
But the immortal’s hand emerging from the cloud-light golden court held an unfathomable mystery. Beneath its five fingers lay the essence of the Five Elements. Chen Shi felt his five viscera burning, his five senses trapped, his five tones and five colors impaired.
This was an immortal art, something he couldn’t yet understand.
Chen Shi rode thunder, leaping between the fingers of that massive hand, dodging each digit, and breaking through into the air!
Wuxie pursued relentlessly, laughing, “I heard you severely wounded Senior Brother Zhuang Wujiu and fought to a draw with Junior Sister Wen Wuyu. Even my master praised you, saying that even without the Innate Dao Embryo, you’ve progressed rapidly and reacted astonishingly. Why don’t we have a proper duel?”
He swung his long sleeve, and the golden court immortal did the same. The sleeve opened like a temporal portal, and rocks, trees, and crops from the surroundings flew into it, burning, shattering, and annihilating into nothingness!
The sleeve was like a sky-devouring maw, chasing Chen Shi, pulling him in with suction.
Wuxie laughed, “Everyone who has seen you speaks highly of you. Last time you ambushed my master, he praised you greatly. But today, you’re nothing special. You don’t dare face me in a fair fight—how can you face Senior Brother Zhong Wuwang? Compared to you, Senior Brother Zhong Wuwang is more suited to the Innate Dao Embryo!”
Before he finished speaking, Chen Shi suddenly stopped. As he turned, 256 Talisman Scripts lit up around him. The moment they did, the Spirit Banner Ten Extremities Array was complete!
Around him, 256 majestic figures of China’s gods stood, forming a formation that annihilated all things, colliding with the immortal’s sleeve with a roar!
Wuxie’s qi and blood churned, his hand rebounding high. He became even more excited, laughing, “Good! You’ve finally dared to match me! I’m very curious to see your true—”
Chen Shi took a step forward. Talismans swirled around him in increasing numbers. The 256 Chinese gods soared into the air, followed by nearly a thousand more talisman runes. In an instant, the sky shook, and a majestic Heavenly Palace formed from 1,200 gods appeared.
Chen Shi raised his hand and pressed down. The scene looked like the heavens were inverted.
This move was the spell he had understood from the Luo Heaven Sacrificial Rite.
Luo Heaven Fall!
This was his first time using it, channeled as palm force. The sky ahead crackled and popped, as if it were about to be crushed!
1,200 gods, each mastering different Dao techniques, converged into one in this Luo Heaven Fall—unyielding and unstoppable!
Wuxie raised his sword and thrust it forward, pouring all his dharma power into it. At the same time, the golden court immortal also thrust a sword. The sword came from the sky, over a hundred zhang long, carrying immense power to strike the Luo Heaven Fall!
“Crack! Crack! Crack!”
The sword shattered continuously. The hand of the golden court immortal holding the hilt also bled, and then the crushing Luo Heaven Fall shattered its five fingers.
Wuxie’s aura trembled violently. The five fingers of his right hand snapped with a crack, the muscles in his forearm twisted and tore, and the tendons connecting his fingers bent backward, piercing his skin and exposing them to the air!
He remained calm in crisis. His left hand spun a Taiji, and the golden court immortal did the same, drawing a Taiji diagram that descended from the sky, supporting the Luo Heaven Fall. The diagram exploded, and Wuxie’s hands dripped with blood, but he managed to block the move’s power.
At the same time, Chen Shi took a large stride forward, charging straight at him. In a few steps, he was right before him.
“So fast!”
Wuxie saw Chen Shi attack and tried to block, but his heart trembled violently. Chen Shi’s two fingers had already pierced his chest and then pulled out.
Wuxie felt his heart punctured. He saw Chen Shi’s other hand forming a half-fist aimed at his throat. Without thinking, he raised his other hand to guard.
“Crack!”
He felt a heavy impact on his throat, and his neck shook. Suddenly, he realized he seemed a bit shorter.
His atlas and two cervical vertebrae had been dislocated by the blow.
He had blocked, but still failed.
Chen Shi pointed at the center of Wuxie’s brow. Wuxie reached for the finger but couldn’t catch it. His head rang violently, and he fell backward involuntarily, hitting the ground hard.
Chen Shi withdrew his finger and turned to sprint toward Yue Wang Temple.
Wuxie leaped up, laughing heartily. “Chen Shi, I’ve tasted your skills! Far inferior to my senior brother, Zhong Wuwang!”
As he spoke, a sudden dizziness hit him. He raised a hand to feel his forehead. It felt like a tiny hole, the size of a grain of rice.
He reached around to the back of his head and felt a hole the size of a palm.
Wuxie froze. He swayed and collapsed.
“Fighting me is a life-and-death struggle. You thought it was a game.”
Chen Shi paused at the entrance to Yue Wang Temple.
The lightning under his feet exploded before the temple, spreading along the ground in all directions.
Chen Shi walked through the lightning, which flowed like mercury, entering the temple. On both sides of the temple gate, stone pillars held engraved couplets.
“When the world is at peace, civil officials love not money, military officers fear not death.”
“The righteous spirit of heaven and earth flows as rivers and mountains below, and shines as sun and stars above.”
