Chapter 357: Peerless in the Era

The Taisi Daozi Pillar, located in the northern ice plains, is unimaginably massive.

Its thickness of a thousand zhang and its endless height, which disappears into the clouds, make it seem as if it is supporting the heavens and the earth.

The pillar is covered in countless protruding runes and totems, some as large as several dozen zhang, others over a zhang in size.

All of this makes cultivators look incredibly tiny as they climb.

At this moment, Xu Qing is at a height of about two hundred zhang on the Taisi Daozi Pillar. His right hand hooks onto the edge of a protruding totem, and with a leap, he stands directly upon it.

The totem is in the shape of a fanged ghost face, filled with ferocity and malevolent Qi.

Xu Qing glances at it, his expression revealing a sudden realization, as the figure that had just appeared in his sea of consciousness bears a resemblance to this ghost face.

Yet, even he did not expect that the soul formed by the fusion of countless resentful thoughts in his sea of consciousness would be suppressed and shattered by the Ghost Emperor Mountain the instant it appeared.

This shattering is quite different from the rules of climbing the Taisi Daozi Pillar that Xu Qing understands.

In a normal climb, cultivators endure the impact of resentment, and after a soul of resentment forms in their sea of consciousness, because it is difficult to destroy and suppress, they only need to drive it out of their sea of consciousness.

After driving it out, they can continue forward until the next gathering of resentment forms an even stronger soul of resentment in their sea of consciousness, repeating the cycle.

Therefore, the higher one goes, the greater the difficulty.

At the same time, successful dispersal also carries a certain probability of receiving a reward.

This reward is not given immediately, but is released after the participant leaves the Taisi Daozi Pillar.

Li Ziliang was like this back then, and others during this period have been the same.

However, the probability is extremely low; at a height of about two hundred zhang, the probability of receiving a reward after successfully dispersing it is about one in ten thousand, and the higher one goes, the higher this probability becomes.

Failure results in being repelled from the Taisi Daozi Pillar and falling to the ground.

But there is no possibility of being possessed, because the resentful souls on this Taisi Daozi Pillar are all fused with the pillar, suppressed by its battle intent, and unable to leave.

Likewise, they can be said to be immortal.

Yet, just now, Xu Qing clearly felt the soul of resentment in his sea of consciousness dissipate.

It truly dissipated.

Or to be precise, it was devoured... by his Ghost Emperor Mountain.

Because the moment that soul of resentment let out a shrill cry and its body dissipated, Xu Qing clearly felt that his Ghost Emperor Mountain seemed to become a bit more real.

And that ghost face totem had a sense of withering.

But it was very slight; it could not be sensed from the outside, and only by touching it with intent could one see the clues.

This discovery caused a strange light to appear in Xu Qing's eyes. For a moment, he did not continue, as he was unsure if this matter violated any taboos.

So, he waited for a while.

And during this wait, he faintly sensed a wisp of faint divine sense emanating from within the Taisi Daozi Pillar.

This divine sense had no emotional fluctuations and was filled with numbness.

After sensing it, Xu Qing grasped the meaning of a reward from within, but it was not specific; it was very vague.

At the same time, his pause also attracted the attention of the crowd below.

After Xu Qing's battle with Li Ziliang, he was already the focus of everyone's attention, especially since this was his first time climbing the Taisi Daozi Pillar, so the degree of attention he attracted was naturally extremely high.

On the ground, whether they were rogue cultivators or sect disciples, everyone was staring intently.

"Stopped? And it's only at two hundred zhang."

"He should be adapting to the soul of resentment, but this time is indeed a bit long."

"Could it be that while this person's physical body is formidable and his techniques are astonishing, his soul is weak, which is his weakness?"

"Impossible. I've heard of this Xu Qing. He has a Senior Brother named Chen Erniu, who is exceptionally handsome and has a generous personality. He is known as the number one kind person of the Eight Sect Alliance and is incredibly good to him. Under Chen Erniu's care, this Xu Qing shouldn't have any weaknesses!"

As the crowd below speculated and gazed, Xu Qing waited for the time it takes to burn half a stick of incense. Seeing that no situation arose and no one came to stop him, he thought for a moment and continued to leap upward.

As he let go, he stood on the Taisi Daozi Pillar and moved forward rapidly. With every step he took, he could feel the Taisi Daozi Pillar emanating an increasingly thick malevolent Qi.

So-called malevolent Qi is different from death Qi. Death Qi often emanates a cold feeling, making living beings feel icy all over, like the coldness emanating from within forbidden zones, which is often composed of death Qi.

And malevolent Qi is a cold aura containing emotions, primarily resentment, which can affect a cultivator's mind.

This kind of influence is an impact.

Countless shrill roars echoed in Xu Qing's ears; those were the curses and madness of countless lives before death. Even blocking his hearing was useless; this kind of wailing would echo directly in his soul.

And the higher he went, the thicker the malevolent Qi became, and it could accumulate and stack in his mind.

Gradually permeating his soul and filling his sea of consciousness, more and more, until Xu Qing reached a height of four hundred zhang, the malevolent Qi in his sea of consciousness gathered violently.

The second soul of resentment was forming rapidly.

A sense of anticipation rose in Xu Qing's heart. He wanted to see if the scene that appeared before was an accident or a coincidence, so he did not interfere and let the second soul of resentment gather.

He could vaguely see that the appearance of this second soul of resentment was different from the first. It had two curved horns, its body was larger, and it had a huge tail behind it, emanating powerful fluctuations and an ancient aura from its entire body.

It was as if it had walked out of the long river of time, setting off bursts of violent fluctuations.

There was also hoarse laughter echoing, revealing cruelty and greed, with extremely heavy malevolent Qi.

Xu Qing's expression remained as usual as he continued to observe. Until three breaths later, this second soul of resentment's body became clearer, revealing eyes filled with madness amidst the turbidity. It let out a roar toward the sky, stretching out its arms, as if to emanate ferocity.

But just at this moment, the light of the Ghost Emperor Mountain in Xu Qing's sea of consciousness shone again, and the vibration transmitted once more. In an instant, that second soul of resentment's body trembled violently, the turbidity in its eyes disappeared, and the madness turned into shock, followed by horror and disbelief.

"This... Ghost Emperor?!"

」

In the blink of an eye, a shrill scream came from the mouth of this soul of resentment. As the light of the Ghost Emperor Mountain shone and the Ghost Emperor Mountain vibrated, the soul of resentment's body collapsed with a bang. As it fell apart, it turned into strands of black Qi and was directly sucked away by the Ghost Emperor Mountain, merging into its body.

The entire process took less than ten breaths.

Everything ended.

Xu Qing remained silent, looking at the increasingly clear Ghost Emperor Mountain, watching the face on it that looked more and more like his own, and the doubts in his heart deepened.

But no matter what, from the current perspective, all of this is beneficial to him, because he once again felt the divine sense of a reward from that Taisi Daozi Pillar.

So Xu Qing waited for a while longer and continued to run upward, quickly reaching five hundred zhang, then six hundred zhang.

During this period, he discovered that rune totems with a sense of withering occasionally appeared on this pillar, which meant that before this, someone had shattered a soul of resentment using a method similar to his.

While pondering this, a third soul of resentment appeared in his sea of consciousness.

"Suppress!"

This time, before it could form, Xu Qing's mind stirred, and the Ghost Emperor Mountain shook, the soul of resentment screaming as it was extinguished.

Xu Qing continued.

Seven hundred zhang, eight hundred zhang, nine hundred zhang, one thousand zhang!

During this process, because the resentment became thicker and thicker, more and more souls of resentment appeared in Xu Qing's sea of consciousness, appearing almost every thirty to fifty zhang.

Even after reaching a height of nine hundred zhang, it became every twenty to thirty zhang that a soul of resentment would form.

Such a high frequency made it extremely difficult for cultivators to climb.

But for Xu Qing, everything was different.

"Suppress!"

"Suppress!"

」

"Suppress!"

！」

Xu Qing galloped all the way, and the Ghost Emperor Mountain in his body erupted with light and vibration, constantly suppressing one soul after another that appeared. The shrillness of these souls of resentment before they were extinguished was the only sound in Xu Qing's sea of consciousness at this moment.

And his Ghost Emperor Mountain, under this constant devouring, slowly became clearer, its light pitch-black, and the face of Xu Qing it manifested gradually became gloomy and filled with killing intent.

This gloominess caused the Ghost Emperor Mountain to form a sense of oppression, and the divine charm on its body also grew.

At the same time, the connection with Xu Qing became increasingly tight, even giving Xu Qing a feeling that if this continued, one day in the future, he might be able to manifest this Ghost Emperor Mountain outside his body.

And what shocked Xu Qing's mind even more was that he discovered that on the hands of his Ghost Emperor Mountain, there actually seemed to be a vague, illusory staff gradually forming!

Now there was only an outline, not clear, but it did not affect Xu Qing recognizing that this staff... was extremely similar to the Taisi Daozi Pillar.

These discoveries caused huge waves in Xu Qing's mind. At the same time, he also saw that strands of cracks appeared on the body of the Ghost Emperor Mountain, as if it was growing too fast and could not fully fuse itself, reaching a certain limit.

And the one-thousand-zhang height where he was at this moment also caused a violent uproar among the crowd watching below.

Before this, the highest was Li Ziliang, whom Xu Qing had beheaded; he had reached a position of over eight hundred zhang.

Although some geniuses from various sects did not participate for various reasons, it had to be said that Li Ziliang's height was already quite astonishing at this stage.

But now, it was easily broken by Xu Qing.

"A height of one thousand zhang, this is a height I dream of reaching."

"Hmph, if the Eight Sect Alliance also gave me Daozi treatment, I could reach a height of one thousand zhang too. This Xu Qing just has a better life than us. Maybe he has elders in the Seven Blood Eyes. Unlike us from humble backgrounds, every bit of gain is fought for."

"I heard this Xu Qing came from the slums..."

"You believe such words? This person kills as soon as he makes a move. This posture must be that of a spoiled brat."

"You are wrong. Actually, according to my intelligence, Xu Qing is not a spoiled brat. He is grateful for kindness and respects his Senior Brother Chen Erniu very much. He once said words about living and dying with Chen Erniu."

"I don't care about these things. What I care about is what reward this Xu Qing will get after this climb ends!"

Amidst the crowd's discussion, which was complex, shocking, sour, and longing, Xu Qing stood at the one-thousand-zhang position of the Taisi Daozi Pillar, his back to the blowing gale, looking up at the higher places above.

His position seemed very high, but in reality, it was still a long way from the clouds, and above the clouds, there was a longer part of this Taisi Daozi Pillar.

"Cannot climb for now." Xu Qing murmured in his heart. He sensed his Ghost Emperor Mountain, and through the tight connection with it, he could perceive that this mountain had signs of being over-full because it had absorbed too many souls of resentment.

For example, those cracks were formed because of this, and it needed further refining before it could continue.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing already had a decision in his heart. He was about to let go and leave the Taisi Daozi Pillar, but the next moment, his gaze froze as he looked into the distance.

In the distant sky, a huge black fog was whistling and approaching this place. From where he was, he could clearly see that there was a giant inside this fog.

This giant was entirely cyan, with a body of nearly three thousand zhang. While being extremely tall, it also emanated bursts of terrifying divine fluctuations. This was clearly a divine creature.

It came riding on the clouds, and on its body stood hundreds of figures wearing black Daoist robes. Each figure's expression was incomparably indifferent, as if there were no emotional fluctuations.

And on top of the giant's head, there was a red figure standing against the wind.

A huge ghost sickle was carried on the shoulder of this red-clothed figure, with endless heroic spirit.

The moment he saw that figure, Xu Qing's eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

Red Woman. ===== CHAPTER 358 =====