Chapter 454: Joint Strike Against Nascent Soul

"Hahaha! Fuck this shit! All of you die!!"

Roaring laughter filled the entire 【Zhitui Xiancheng】, as terrifying blood qi surged upward, staining the entire city a crimson red.

Like crimson dragons roaring, thick smoke billowed from the seven orifices of the skull, rising into the sky to form an unimaginably terrifying blood qi furnace.

The night sky was burned through by the furnace's crimson flames, as if a sun had erupted, illuminating all ten directions.

In an instant, the temperature inside the entire city rose several orders of magnitude due to the outwardly radiating blood qi.

But strangely, those with cultivation felt as if they were inside the furnace, while those without cultivation felt no harm—only a gentle breeze brushing their faces.

"It has begun."

Scorching, howling air currents swept through the room, knocking loose many round pearls embedded in the walls, which rolled across brocade cushions.

Yue Zhongfeng's bangs fluttered in the wind, his gaze still calm.

"..."

Do I really need you to tell me that?!

Fuck!

Of course it's some low-class, brutish body cultivator!

My 【Ji Ling Yi Gui Mi Lu】!

I wonder if the people from 【Jile Xiancheng】 have arrived yet...

"How do we cooperate?"

With the moment upon him, there was no time to hesitate—besides himself and Yue Zhongfeng, there were at least seven other competitors; the situation was already beyond his control.

"Gather spiritual objects, withdraw." Yue Zhongfeng spoke tersely. "Use your ability—hurry."

The Qianyuan Yuqing Immortal Light can perceive the finest details and trace spiritual traces.

The spiritual objects within the city are deeply hidden; without special means, they cannot be found easily.

Zhao Ruoming's lips twitched.

So he not only recognized me as a competitor, but also saw through my identity outright?

"Fine!" Zhao Ruoming stood. "But I need the 【Ji Ling Yi Gui Mi Lu】 in the hands of the 【Jile Xiancheng】 city lord—you must help me."

"No."

Huh?

You won't even agree to that?

"That man is dead." Yue Zhongfeng also stood.

And the one who killed the city lord of Jile Xiancheng is outside—a sword cultivator from the Xiang Jianzong.

His experience was probably similar to Zhao Ruoming's; upon passing through 【Jile Xiancheng】, he saw what was happening, couldn't stand it, and acted.

Of course, since he's a reckless sword sect brute, his methods were far more aggressive—the city lord certainly didn't fare well in his hands.

There might have been a Primordial Spirit left yesterday, but now that fighting has begun, the city lord's fate goes without saying.

He's definitely cold.

"..."

So my 【Ji Ling Yi Gui Mi Lu】 was gone from the start?

The two walked toward the outside.

After a brief hesitation, Zhao Ruoming asked: "If I make a deal with him, will he agree?"

"He will want points."

Zhao Ruoming: "..."

That sounds so damn reasonable!

Squeak~

As the door opened, a kaleidoscope of lights filled the view, like flowing fire across the sky.

A towering, nearly three-meter-tall brute pressed down with one hand on five Soul Transformation cultivators, including the city lord.

Around him stood several other figures.

A sword cultivator standing with sword light hissing all around him.

A alchemist in a green Daoist robe, his aura deep and tranquil, serene and pure.

Also a female cultivator cradling an ancient qin, eyes lowered, gently plucking the strings, producing sounds like striking stone—clear, metallic, shattering gold and jade—materializing as a protective barrier for all within the city.

Though most within the city were no good, perhaps there were still one or two normal people.

Since it was hard to tell now, better to protect them all—and settle accounts later if the chance arises.

Beyond that, who knew how many others lurked in the shadows.

"..."

Zhao Ruoming winced—any one of these people was beyond his current ability to defeat!

"With all this commotion, aren't they worried about drawing out a Nascent Soul?"

But Yue Zhongfeng gave no answer to his question.

Though they now appeared mutually wary, they—and the few hidden in the shadows—were likely waiting for a Nascent Soul to appear...

He glanced once at the figures battling above, then turned toward the ruined city lord's mansion.

"Let's go."

As he spoke, he lightly tapped the air beside him, as gently as extinguishing a candle flame, with not a trace of violence.

The female cultivator, previously assigned to serve Zhao Ruoming and now cowering on the ground in terror, suddenly shattered into countless tiny specks of light.

Total annihilation of body and spirit!

The one who seized this Xiancheng was 【Jishen Xiancheng】; he understood the Jishen method intimately, and instantly saw the evil karma this woman had committed to forge this body.

Seeing Wu Zhongfeng head toward the City Lord's residence, Zhao Ruohan could only silently follow.

Right now he seemed to be the weakest one here, the 'soft persimmon' of the group. To avoid becoming the target of everyone, he figured he'd better latch onto someone's thigh first.

"A Steady Guide to Survival," Rule Seven — a wise man submits to circumstances.

Emm…

Speaking of which, Ye Zhiwei's older sister and younger sister should have received the news by now, right?

He had no idea what they would do…

As for himself, even if he was going to be eliminated, at the very least he'd wait until after he got his hands on the "Secret Records of the Spirit-Drawing Ritual"!

After walking another stretch, Zhao Ruohan couldn't help but ask: "Aren't you going to go join in the fun?"

This time Wu Zhongfeng actually answered: "The target isn't them."

Before that, he had to preserve his condition.

The target isn't them?

Zhao Ruohan furrowed his brow, then suddenly realized:

"You're looking for Lin Changsheng."

Lin Changsheng, first place in the Soul Transformation division of the last Xian Sect Grand Tournament.

Wu Zhongfeng had been the one to lose to him.

"Mm."

"So the reason you sought me out to cooperate — it couldn't be because, just like you, I also lost to a Xiang Jianzong sword cultivator in the last tournament, could it?"

"…" There was indeed such a factor involved, but there was one difference: "I, didn't get beaten crying."

Zhao Ruohan: "…"

Why did it feel like absolutely everyone knew about this?!

I freaking really wasn't beaten crying!

…

…

Meanwhile, outside Zhitui Xiancheng.

Chi Jiuyu, the one who had beaten Zhao Ruohan crying in the last Xian Sect Grand Tournament, was squatting on a branch near the top of a tree, watching everything happening in the city from afar.

Such a huge commotion — she didn't even need Zhao Ruohan to pass the message out.

"What a lively scene…" she muttered, then shouted down to the two people below the tree, "Looks like it's pretty lively in the city! Should we go join in the fun too?"

Join in the fun?

More like a gift-wrapped points package delivered right to our door.

Seeing that neither of them answered, Chi Jiuyu jumped down from the tree.

At this point, Zhao Ruohan finally spoke: "Although I've recovered somewhat, my current condition isn't suited for taking too many risks."

The three of them were cooperating, sure, but who could guarantee that those people in the city weren't cooperating as well?

"Isn't Brother Dog still in there? Let's go and cover his retreat!" Chi Jiuyu found a reason.

For such a grand occasion, possibly the first since the Xian Sect Grand Tournament began, she, Hehuan Laozu, of course had to help hold the fort!

"He's not important," Zhao Ruohan said flatly.

Still that familiar old line.

Chi Jiuyu pursed her lips, secretly muttering to herself about the plastic sibling affection between the two of them.

"Fine, fine, then let's keep watching a bit longer." No need to speak so definitively just yet. "Oh right, you two still haven't answered my question!"

This afternoon Brother Dog had stirred things up, and after that they'd discussed seizing Zhitui Xiancheng. Little Zhao had asked her to help set up puppets and such.

One thing led to another and there was never time to ask…

"Spit it out, spit it out! Little Ye, why are you wearing a mask?"

Ye Zhiwei glanced at her, a bit helpless: "I…"

But she had only just opened her mouth to say a single word.

"Hmph!"

A cold snort shook heaven and earth!

The Qi-Blood Furnace towering above Zhitui Xiancheng trembled violently, then, as if squeezed by some terrifying immense force, its entire form began to warp and deform!

Boom!

The Qi-Blood Furnace suddenly shattered, and a wave of heat washed over everything within hundreds of li!

But then every fragment transformed into wisps of pure, utterly pure Qi-Blood, flowing down like a heavenly river.

"Hahaha! Old scruffy! That bastard finally couldn't hold back and made a move!"

Bathed in the river of Qi-Blood, the body cultivator of a burly man punched through the five Soul Transformation cultivators who had been 'tangling' with him, spread his fan-like great hand wide, and crushed the Primordial Spirit that had fled out in one grip.

The flowing Qi-Blood seeped back into his body through every pore, and as he stretched his frame, his spine let out bursts of sound like a dragon's cry.

"Little friend…" the Void Returning cultivator who had appeared wanted to say something.

Perhaps he meant to tempt him with the 'honored seat of Void Returning,' to persuade him to become a 'realm traitor.'

But unfortunately, what he faced was a body cultivator of the Longxiang Qingtianzong.

"So much damn talk! Take one Scales of Time from me!"

Clang!

Accompanying a long, ancient sound as if from the depths of the world, the phantom of a scale materialized.

No, not just one!

At this moment, every contestant hidden in the dark within the city struck at once.

The phantom of a balance vanished into the high heavens from one end.

"Die for me—!"

Of them all, that body cultivator had the loudest voice.

A single stomp, and amid the explosive shockwave of air, the body cultivator's figure vanished without warning from Zhitui Xiancheng, reappearing in the high heavens above.

Minor Leap Vajra Body!

A weakened version of the "Secondary Leap Engine Vajra Body," it grants body cultivators extreme mobility.

"Slash!"

Sword-light howled, the biting sword intent shooting straight into the clouds.

Clang-clang!

The zither music spreading in all directions warped the void, its shockwaves dyeing the night sky a pale grey.

A streak of true fire bloomed in the high heavens like a blue lotus.

There was even a long-charged ship-borne spirit-energy cannon, tearing a spirit-energy arc of light across the long sky!

Blood qi, sword-light, zither music, true fire…

In the end, one could only see countless streams of light surging mightily upward in reverse.

In truth, after these days of trying, the contestants had already discovered that it was very hard for them to truly change this world.

Even with the aid of the Immortal Net, even with a cheat-like system…

The Xian Sect Grand Competition was too short, and besides, this world still had beings at the Void Return level.

No matter how weak, they were still Void Return!

What's more, this world itself had problems; the philosophy of "herding the spirit-beings to nourish oneself" had already sunk deep into every cultivator's heart — to change it was hardly the work of a single day.

As dazzlingly brilliant as Saint Emperor Yuan, he too had spent several hundred years, with the various Xian Sects cooperating, before the great era of transformation could be opened.

One could say that the most fundamental problems of this Profound Manifestation Realm were beyond their ability to solve.

But… perhaps out of unwillingness to accept it.

They were a generation who had grown up on the legends of Saint Emperor Yuan, and the fire in their hearts had never gone out.

If they couldn't change this world, couldn't they still take down one or two Void Return cultivators with them?

Thus, tonight's events came to be.

Without any prior discussion, most of the contestants in the city had made the same choice.

"Damned ants!!!"

The furious roar formed a violent air pressure that exploded across the long sky; mighty ripples, accompanied by wave-like surges, instantly swept out for tens of thousands of miles.

"You guys really aren't going?!" Chi Jiuyu's eyes were full of excitement, "I'm going then!"

Soul Transformation fighting Void Return?

If they didn't go, they'd regret it for the rest of their lives!

Whoosh!

A cyan-gold sword-light rose from the ground, vanishing in the blink of an eye into the rolling dust waves.

"Four Symbols of Destruction! Slash!"

Yet the Four Symbols flowed and turned, the smoke filling the sky unable to block them — far more refined than when first conceived.

At a moment like this, if you didn't shout your moves out loud, it just didn't feel right!

Zhao Ruohan's gaze flickered slightly, and she too charged into the dust.

Ye Zhiwei did the same.

It seemed this question of his was destined to go unanswered.

……

……

"It's finally begun."

Within the borders of Tian Ling Sect, a Longevity Fruit Domain that had been smashed apart.

Because the city's formations had been damaged, the consumables inside had already been transported to other fruit domains for safekeeping.

Collapsed houses and other buildings were everywhere, looking extremely desolate.

Two figures stood atop a half-ruined Gao Ta.

One wore moon-white plain robes, the other a long gown of deep crimson.

It was none other than Bie Xuening and Master Mei Zu.

"Your disciple here has quite the ideas!" Master Mei Zu chuckled lightly, "Tell me quickly — did you personally help her with special training!"

"It was Xian Ning and Xiao Ke," Bie Xuening said coolly.

The "Four Symbols of Destruction" that unfilial disciple had comprehended while nurturing her grotto-heaven with the "Grand Void Derivation World Observation Divine Art" given by her junior brother — at first it admittedly couldn't be called exquisite.

But it suited that unfilial disciple well; after all, it was something she had gained herself.

So she had not interfered too much.

Later, taking the chance to spar with Xian Ning and Xiao Ke, that unfilial disciple had finally managed to refine it somewhat.

"What a cheat — actually letting Dong Zhen help with special training."

"……"

As if Ji Yin Xue hadn't given those juniors of the Hehuan Sect special training herself.

"Speaking of Xian Ning…" Master Mei Zu changed topic quickly, "Xu Xianning — was this name given by Daoist brother, or did you give it to her?"

Both Xu and Ning.

If there wasn't some special meaning behind it, she really wouldn't believe it!

"My younger brother named it, saying he took one character from each of our names."

It was actually the Dao Brother who named it...

emm...

"Since when have you liked the Dao Brother?" Master Mei Zu asked opportunely.

But Bie Xuening merely glanced at her:

"None of your damn business."

Master Mei Zu: "..."

In the span of just a few words between the two women.

Above 【Zhitui Xiancheng】, the Tianji Palace guardian who had rushed in, weakened repeatedly and now under siege by many, finally began to falter.

With a furious, resentful roar, his physical body exploded into fragments, yet his Primordial Spirit still broke through the encirclement by burning his soul's essence.

Despite the combined efforts of the many Xian Sect competitors, they failed to stop him.

And with his escape, the remaining contestants had no intention of sitting down to converse—they immediately launched into battle.

After the fight, four competitors were eliminated, including the strongest body cultivator. (End of Chapter)