Chapter 1078

Under the pinch, that blood-drenched heart collapsed directly, shattering into pieces.

It was a bloody mess.

With such an injury, even though Li Mengtu was in a stage of regeneration, the intense pain that followed still caused blood to gush from his mouth, and blood also surged from the gaping hole in his chest.

In an instant, his body became a bloody mess just like Xu Qing's.

And what this pain brought with it was an involuntary twisting of his body.

But the eerie thing was... the corners of his mouth were actually smiling.

The old man carved into the wooden sculpture in his hand was also smiling.

Both of them had twisted bodies, expressions of agony, and smiles on their lips.

Exactly the same.

And the next instant, Xu Qing's mind shook violently; at this very moment, his own chest split open on its own, as if pierced by an invisible hand, creating a bloody hole and revealing his heart.

His heart... seemed to be gripped by that invisible hand, and it began to shatter.

"The Law of Causality!"

The traces of the Erasure Authority in Xu Qing's eyes flashed suddenly, and he immediately saw strands of causal threads connecting himself to the wooden sculpture, while the sculpture was connected to Li Mengtu.

It was as if this wooden sculpture had become a medium, connecting Xu Qing and Li Mengtu!

Under this connection, it wasn't that the damage was being transferred, but that the damage was being equalized!

Li Mengtu had crushed his own heart, so Xu Qing's heart could not be preserved either.

This scene made Xu Qing's expression grim; seeing his own heart about to shatter into pieces, he did not hesitate to manifest a pair of giant scissors.

Naturally, this was not the same pair from back then, but a manifestation of the Erasure Authority.

Although its power was not as great as the original, it was extremely sharp as Xu Qing's cultivation base had improved; after appearing, he slashed fiercely at the causal threads between himself and the wooden sculpture.

With a 'Crack!', all the causal threads were severed.

The danger of his heart collapsing was resolved!

Xu Qing took a step, about to kill Li Mengtu.

But the next instant, Li Mengtu's hoarse voice echoed out.

"From the moment I saw you possessed this special authority, I guessed that you might have a way to sever causality, and since I chose to reveal it, how could I not be prepared!"

"The heart-digging before was merely to verify whether you truly possessed a way to sever causality."

While speaking, Li Mengtu used his right hand holding the wooden sculpture to snap it hard, and suddenly the sculpture roared; the head of the carved old man was actually snapped off by Li Mengtu.

This wooden sculpture had a mysterious origin and was extremely eerie itself; although the causal threads it emitted were severed, the backlash it erupted with was extremely fierce.

And the moment the head was snapped off, those severed causal threads seemed to be imbued with life, coiling directly around the scissors manifested by Xu Qing's Erasure Authority like pythons.

And by means of this coiling, they reconnected.

Xu Qing's pupils constricted.

At the same time, amidst Li Mengtu's loud laughter, he raised his left hand, a dagger appeared in it, and staring at Xu Qing, he slashed fiercely at his own throat without hesitation!

A large amount of blood sprayed out, the wound so deep it even cut through the bone.

The same injury appeared on Xu Qing's throat in an instant.

As blood gushed out, Xu Qing's entire body shook violently; his flesh, already riddled with injuries, suffered such heavy trauma again, causing his cultivation base to fall into chaos and his vitality to drain away.

He could only press his hand firmly against the wound, his body retreating rapidly.

But a sense of dizziness came over him like a tidal wave, overwhelming and crushing.

Looking at Li Mengtu, he put away the wooden sculpture, and with the help of the last few breaths of his regeneration authority, his lost heart grew back, and the terrifying wound on his throat healed before his eyes.

Until the moment the power of the regeneration authority completely dissipated, he had recovered to an uninjured state.

But the next instant, the price of his regeneration authority finally arrived; in the blink of an eye, his hair turned half-white, his body withered, and his aura weakened significantly.

But his eyes were bright, locked tightly onto Xu Qing's rapidly retreating figure.

"It seems your time reversal, just as I judged, cannot be deployed a second time in a short period."

As he spoke, his body flickered, his killing intent intense, and he rushed straight toward Xu Qing.

He had confirmed that the person before him could indeed no longer deploy time reversal.

His speed was so fast that he shifted instantly, appearing before the rapidly retreating Xu Qing, his killing intent erupting like a flood, his right hand raised and pressing down fiercely.

He intended to kill Xu Qing on the spot.

At this critical moment of crisis, with his throat nearly severed and relying on his own cultivation base to forcibly suppress the pain, Xu Qing no longer hesitated; what appeared in his eyes was not panic, but killing intent.

He bit down hard on the object he had placed in his mouth before the battle.

That was a special rune!

It was the power of recovery given to him by Fifth Granny from the Moon-Sacrifice Domain of the Eastern Wanggu Continent!

Xu Qing did not want to use this power unless absolutely necessary.

Because using this power to recover himself, while it could instantly heal his injuries, would... consume Fifth Granny's vitality.

But now... he had no choice but to use it.

The moment he bit through the rune, a gentle force erupted within Xu Qing's body, filling his entire being in the blink of an eye, causing the flesh on his chest to recover, his entire body's injuries to heal, and his nearly severed throat to suddenly mend.

Immediately afterward, the rune transformed from the power of Eighth Grandpa's fury was also crushed directly by Xu Qing.

In an instant, an extreme fury erupted within Xu Qing's body, and accompanying this fury was an even more intense killing intent and a boost to his internal cultivation base.

Even his physical body was bolstered by this power of fury.

One could see Xu Qing's flesh swelling, his veins bulging with rage, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins, turning a deep crimson, and even his breathing carried a power that could influence emotions.

The moment Li Mengtu's expression changed drastically, he charged over to kill.

With one punch, the heavens collapsed and the earth cracked.

Li Mengtu was currently bearing the price of his regeneration authority and was in a weakened state; facing this punch from Xu Qing, his entire body shook, blood sprayed from his mouth, and he retreated suddenly.

Xu Qing glared, his speed astonishing, charging forward and throwing another punch.

Amidst the roaring, Xu Qing continued to pursue, while Li Mengtu retreated step by step, blood spraying mouthful after mouthful, his mind in even greater turmoil.

Seeing the crisis, Li Mengtu raised his right hand and pointed to the sky.

Suddenly the firmament churned, and phantom towers appeared one after another, exactly nine thousand in number!

The appearance of these nine thousand phantom towers was magnificent, and as Li Mengtu's right hand slammed down, the nine thousand phantom towers whistled down like rain.

They headed straight for Xu Qing, blocking his path.

Xu Qing's entire cultivation base surged, his right hand grasping at the void, the Emperor Sword appeared, and with man and sword as one, he headed straight for the towers.

Along the way, his sword Qi was heaven-shaking, destroying everything in its path.

Looking from afar, the towers were falling apart before him one by one.

The rumbling sound was deafening.

This battle, fought until now, was extremely difficult for Xu Qing.

Li Mengtu's methods were the most numerous of any Sovereign he had encountered, and his authority was even more eerie; even now that Xu Qing had used all his trump cards, they were still locked in a stalemate.

A similar feeling surfaced in Li Mengtu's heart, especially since he was currently in a weakened state, so a look of decisiveness appeared in his eyes.

Taking advantage of the moment the nine thousand phantom towers were blocking the way, he pinched a seal with both hands, pointing continuously at his own body.

Each time a finger landed, a rune would appear on his body.

Each rune was extremely complex, seemingly composed of ten thousand tiny symbols.

Until after one hundred and eight times, one hundred and eight rune marks appeared all over his body, and as they flowed across his body, they arranged themselves into a formation.

"Seal, open!"

Li Mengtu roared.

Suddenly, the formation composed of runes on his body erupted violently, appearing in front of his body, the runes within rotating rapidly and expanding outward.

It grew ten times larger instantly.

Then, after rotating again, it expanded outward in an instant, magnifying a hundred times.

Then a thousand times, ten thousand times.

Ultimately, what appeared between heaven and earth was a heaven-shaking formation, emitting brilliant golden light; while blinding, a power of a god actually overflowed from within the formation.

This power surpassed the Flawless Realm and had reached the God Platform!

This formation was clearly a formation for sealing a god.

And now, as the formation was unlocked, the aura of a god descended suddenly, and accompanying it, within this vast formation, a heaven-supporting hand actually appeared!

To be precise, this was the severed right hand of a God Platform realm god, which had been sealed within Li Mengtu's body and had become his trump card!

Appearing now, one could see that the skin of this right hand was rough, purplish-red, and covered with tiny tentacles and eyes, looking incredibly ferocious and terrifying.

The moment it appeared, the heavens and earth changed color, alien substances surged, and vaguely, there seemed to be whispers spreading in all directions.

Outsiders could not understand these whispers, but Xu Qing possessed a divine body, and as these whispers fell into his ears, they gradually became clear.

What they said were two words.

"Human Elixir!"

Li Mengtu also uttered these two words at this very moment.

The moment they echoed through heaven and earth, that giant severed divine hand grasped with its five fingers toward Xu Qing from across the air!

Xu Qing's body shook, the might of the God Platform erupted violently within that divine hand, falling upon Xu Qing, causing the sound of bones cracking to emanate from his entire body.

His body twisted, his soul twisted, everything was twisting.

It was as if someone were being held in the palm of a hand, about to be crushed into a ball and then transformed into a... flesh human elixir!

Li Mengtu was not having an easy time during this process either, but Xu Qing was truly too hard to kill, so unlocking the seal was the method he had weighed to be the one with the relatively lowest price to pay.

But just at this moment, a sudden change occurred within Xu Qing!

It seemed to be sealed within Xu Qing's body, and at this special moment, it echoed out.

"There was a little show-off named Xu Qing who went out to train, and years later, this little show-off returned safely."

That was Yu Liuchen's story.

It was also Yu Liuchen's blessing.

The severed hand came from a God Platform, and Yu Liuchen... was also a God Platform.

At this moment, her voice echoed, forming a confrontation between gods; the next instant, the severed hand released by Li Mengtu's sealing formation shook suddenly, loosened its palm, and slowly retracted.

And Yu Liuchen's voice also dissipated along with it.

The twisting happening to Xu Qing did not continue; as blood gushed out, Xu Qing raised his head with difficulty, staring fixedly at Li Mengtu, whose expression was now grim to the extreme.

He charged over.

Li Mengtu's breathing was rapid, a sense of life-and-death crisis erupting intensely at this moment, but his killing intent not only did not diminish, but instead grew even richer at this critical juncture of survival.

"This is what a life-and-death battle is, good, good, good!"

While speaking, Li Mengtu raised his hand, and a scroll emitting an ancient aura appeared in his hand.

"Xu Qing, you are worth me permanently losing thirty percent of my lifespan to open my family's heirloom painting!"

The heirloom ancient painting was something only Li Mengtu could open in the entire Li family now, but it was the thing he least wanted to use.

It would be fine if it weren't unfurled, but once unfurled, the price of using it was too great, exceeding everything else.

Even if he only unfurled a sliver, he would have to pay thirty percent of his lifespan.

In his early years, he had used it once, and now... he had no choice but to use it a second time!

After taking it out, at the moment Xu Qing's mind was in intense turmoil, Li Mengtu did not hesitate in the slightest, raising his hand and pulling hard, directly...

Unfurling a sliver of the scroll!

Irresistible.

Unavoidable.

Within the sliver of the scroll that was opened, black light emitted; this light... instantly enveloped the heavens and earth, enveloped everything, and contained all.

Just for an instant, Li Mengtu snapped the scroll shut; his heavy breathing could no longer be suppressed, spreading all around, and even more mouthfuls of blood gushed out uncontrollably.

And all around...

Apart from him, there was no second figure.

Xu Qing was nowhere to be seen, sealed within the scroll!

"It's over..."

"This battle is the most difficult one since I attained the Dao!"

Li Mengtu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, enduring the weakness of his body and even his soul, and looked down at the scroll in his hand.

"The inheritance hasn't returned to me, which means he isn't dead yet..."

Although he couldn't see inside, according to the last words of the family ancestor back then, this scroll came from the place of origin of their lineage.

"That place is called Thick Earth."

Li Mengtu muttered, then began to ponder.

"His death is inevitable; it shouldn't take too long, but to prevent accidents, I must suppress him in the family's forbidden area, using bloodline reinforcement to make him perish sooner!"

Li Mengtu took a deep breath, turned, flickered, and flew toward the horizon.