Chapter 992

Xu Qing was also helpless.

According to his true nature, he would not have acted or spoken in such a way.

However... this was, after all, the Empress's imperial decree.

The Empress had hinted in her words for him to be ostentatious, and having received her favor, Xu Qing could not refuse to carry it out.

Therefore, he could only recall the Senior Brother's way of acting and tone of voice in his mind, which led to his previous words and his current arrogance.

And his figure, in the eyes of the crowd, was far more than just arrogant.

It could be called overbearing!

At this moment, standing beneath the Sovereign Mountain with his hands behind his back, Xu Qing gave everyone on this mountain the feeling of being incomparably imperious.

Facing a high-rank mighty figure at the Ninth Realm of Divine Concealment, he actually uttered such words.

Thus, in the next instant, the anger of the many cultivators on this mountain surged one after another; figures rose into the air, and their gazes converged, all locking onto Xu Qing.

Facing such pressure, Xu Qing was incomparably vigilant inside, but on the surface, he revealed nothing, even closing his eyes.

All of this made that old man who had walked out, a Ninth Realm Divine Concealment expert, laugh in anger.

"Good, good, good!"

Xu Qing's words and arrogant attitude caused a cold glint to flash in the old man's eyes; in his life of battle, he had not failed to encounter those as brazen as the one before him.

It was just that almost all of them had become corpses.

At this moment, seeing Xu Qing even close his eyes, the old man at the Ninth Realm of Divine Concealment, suspended in mid-air, suddenly raised his right hand; in the next instant, the sky changed color, the earth rumbled, and a storm swirled all around.

Furthermore, the moment the old man's right hand fell, a massive palm print manifested directly behind him, seemingly replacing the sky of this place, piercing through itself, and together with his palm... slammed toward Xu Qing.

This palm fully displayed the power of his Ninth Realm of Divine Concealment, forming a force that could destroy the heavens and extinguish the earth; even the rules and laws were tearing apart under this palm print.

Cracks even appeared in the void.

It headed straight for Xu Qing.

Like a gale sweeping across, it whipped up Xu Qing's long hair and robes, but Xu Qing remained with his eyes closed, unmoving.

Until that massive palm print, carrying the power of extinction, crashed down with a boom, and the heavens and earth shook.

In the eyes of everyone, at this instant, black flames actually appeared on Xu Qing's body; these flames spread rapidly beneath his feet, forming a brilliant black lotus!

This lotus bloomed, surrounded by countless flame petals, and the position where Xu Qing was located was exactly the heart of the lotus.

The black fire lotus rising around him seemed to have forged a perfect defense for him.

It collided directly with the massive palm print falling from the sky.

The booming sound was deafening, spreading across the horizon.

The black lotus remained as it was, still burning, its petals circling and still dancing.

Xu Qing, inside it, was not even affected by a single strand of hair, and he did not even open his eyes, merely speaking faintly.

"Two more moves."

The voice echoed; the old man in the sky narrowed his eyes, and the many cultivators on the Seventeenth Sovereign Mountain also had their expressions change one after another.

Not just anyone could withstand a full-force strike from the Ninth Realm of Divine Concealment.

Being able to do this in itself represented strength.

Especially... among them, there were scholars who stared fixedly at the black fire lotus around Xu Qing that they saw in their eyes, vaguely feeling it was familiar, as if they had seen it in some descriptions before.

Soon, someone recognized it and exclaimed in shock.

"This is the Underworld Lotus!"

"The protective secret technique of the Underworld Flame Great Emperor within the Eastern Demon Feather!!"

As the voice echoed, more and more people immediately recalled the various rumors and records about that Underworld Flame Great Emperor recorded in the classics.

"This Xue Chenzi actually mastered this kind of secret technique!"

"No wonder Sovereign Lu Lingzi brought this person along when coming to our Western Demon Feather this time!"

"This is also the reason for Xue Chenzi's brazenness!"

The sound of uproar spread in all directions; Xu Qing remained as usual, standing there with his eyes closed, while the old man with Ninth Realm Divine Concealment cultivation in mid-air had his brows tightly locked.

He had heard of the Underworld Lotus; it was rumored that this secret technique was extremely astonishing in terms of defense.

Thus, he narrowed his eyes and suddenly raised his hands, rapidly forming seals; immediately, the nine great worlds behind him shone in unison, each raising the highest peak within its world.

These nine peaks turned from illusory to real, appearing from his worlds into the sky of the Holy Land; as they appeared, they triggered the laws of the heavens and earth in all directions, causing lightning and thunder to crackle incessantly.

Subsequently, under the old man's pointing hands, the nine mountain peaks whistled toward Xu Qing.

It was not over; after displaying the second spell, the old man simply raised his right hand and pressed it against his brow; immediately, the nine great worlds behind him rumbled once more.

Countless rules and laws emanated from within, all being the Dao the old man had comprehended throughout his life.

After they appeared, he let out a low roar.

"Use the Dao to form the tip!"

His Dao converged before him, forming a massive spear tip!

Next, the old man's voice was low and echoed once more.

"Use the worlds to form the body!"

The nine great worlds aligned with each other and connected; looking from afar, it truly looked like a spear body!

"Use the spells to burn and form the spear tassel!"

The old man roared low, and countless spells erupted from his body, colorful and surrounding the earth-shaking spear body.

Finally, a flash of killing intent appeared in the old man's eyes, and he pushed fiercely.

This massive spear that shook the soul headed straight for Xu Qing in mid-air.

The old man's intention was clearly to display the second spell and the third divine ability together.

With such a technique, he attempted to blast open the legendary Underworld Lotus.

At this moment, the heavens and earth changed color, and countless gazes were focused; one could see that the first to blast toward Xu Qing in the sky were the nine mountains.

And these nine mountains, though seemingly massive, shrank one after another during their rapid flight, finally turning into nine great swords, crashing with full force into the Underworld Fire Lotus rising outside Xu Qing's body that everyone was watching.

The momentum was like a collapsing mountain, the force like an overturning sea.

Xu Qing's body shook; the Underworld Lotus in the eyes of the crowd shone intensely, and as the flames churned, no matter how sharp the swords formed by the nine mountain peaks were, they still failed to shake Xu Qing in the slightest.

Soon, with the eruption of the Underworld Lotus fire, the nine mountain swords returned from reality to illusion one after another, until they disappeared.

But the moment they dissipated, that terrifying long spear pierced through all illusions and landed directly on top of Xu Qing's head.

The spear tip's sharpness was fully revealed, forming an ultimate power that erupted intensely.

A massive boom arose, accompanied by an astonishing impact.

Under this impact, Xu Qing's body could not remain in its original position and was forced back.

And as his body retreated, this terrifying long spear, with the force of a hot knife through butter, continued to charge at him.

Xu Qing's eyes suddenly opened, and he wanted to raise his hand to block, but the spear's speed was too fast; before Xu Qing's arm could be raised, it had already pierced into Xu Qing's chest.

The spear tip touched, Xu Qing's body shook, and he retreated again.

Ten zhang, a hundred zhang, five hundred zhang.

Retreating again and again.

And although the spear tip's momentum was like a rainbow, it could not break through Xu Qing's physical body; at the moment Xu Qing's body retreated to a thousand zhang, its momentum weakened slightly, and Xu Qing stepped back, suddenly coming to a halt.

In an instant, the spear tip piercing his chest trembled, emitting a cracking sound; cracks appeared visibly to the naked eye, and then it shattered.

Starting from the tip, it spread continuously and shattered continuously; soon it reached the spear body, and finally, with a massive boom, this spear... collapsed.

The power of this spear had reached the peak of Divine Concealment, but in the end, it still had not reached the Sovereign level.

Thus, the wind blew through the heavens and earth, and Xu Qing, standing there, spoke faintly.

"It's over."

The surroundings were silent.

In mid-air, that old man of the Ninth Realm of Divine Concealment looked at Xu Qing with a complex expression; after a long while, he shook his head in silence.

He turned and took a step, returning to the mountain body.

Xu Qing walked forward, crossing a thousand zhang, and returned beneath the Sovereign Mountain; he took a step onto the stairs before him, sat cross-legged there, and looked up at the mountain.

Recalling the Senior Brother's usual posture in his mind, he spoke faintly.

"I will sit right here; below the Sovereign level, without using Sovereign treasures, within three days, if anyone can break my defense, it counts as my loss!"

On the Seventeenth Sovereign Mountain, the cultivators were silent.

Even a cultivator at the Ninth Realm of Divine Concealment could not break Xu Qing's defense; other Divine Concealment cultivators all felt a sense of powerlessness in their hearts.

Continuing to attack was meaningless.

And although there was more than one cultivator at the Ninth Realm of Divine Concealment on this mountain, and through Xu Qing's previous actions, they had already judged that Xu Qing's lethality seemed somewhat insufficient, only his defense was too extreme.

However, unless they learned from the other party and sat there letting people attack them, otherwise, they were also helpless against this Xue Chenzi.

But for those whose cultivation was deeper than Xue Chenzi's, having to helplessly choose to do so was equivalent to admitting their own inferiority...

Because the cultivation levels of both sides were not equal, so even if Xue Chenzi could not blast open their defenses, it was reasonable.

But for them, a victory obtained by relying on this method... was no different from a defeat.

It was even very likely that in terms of face, it was a greater loss than losing.

Most importantly, this seemed like a struggle between cultivators, but in reality, it was a struggle between Sovereigns, and even more so, a competition between the Eastern and Western Demon Feathers.

Thus, the entire Sovereign Mountain fell silent.

Time passed, and three days went by.

The Western Demon Feather had already stirred with ripples.

Xu Qing opened his eyes on time, stood up, and amidst the complex gazes of the cultivators on this mountain, he said nothing, turned, and walked toward the horizon, heading to the Sixteenth Sovereign Mountain.

After approaching, amidst the hostility of the cultivators within the Sixteenth Sovereign Mountain, Xu Qing sat cross-legged on the stairs of this mountain and spoke faintly.

"The rules, you should know them by now."

"Below the Sovereign level, without using Sovereign treasures, within three days, if anyone can break my defense, it counts as my loss!"

Three days later, Xu Qing shook his head and left.

During this period, several cultivators from this mountain attacked, but all failed; in the end, like the Seventeenth Mountain, they chose silence.

Thus, Xu Qing went to the Fifteenth Sovereign Mountain, continued to sit down, and continued to speak the same words.

From then on, every mountain was three days; until half a month later, when his figure appeared at the Tenth Sovereign Mountain, the name Xue Chenzi had already become completely famous throughout the entire Western Demon Feather.

No one did not know, no one was unaware; he had become the focus of countless Western Demon Feather cultivators.

Similarly, Xu Qing's deeds in the Western Demon Feather also spread back to the Eastern Demon Feather.

In an instant, the cultivators of the Eastern Demon Feather were stirred, and many even crossed the border, coming to the Western Demon Feather to witness all of this with their own eyes.

At the same time, within the Eastern Demon Feather, in the Immortal Art Hall.

Miss Yuedong sat cross-legged in a hall; outside, a bloody aura was spreading.

Soon, footsteps echoed outside the hall; Miss Yuedong opened her beautiful eyes and gazed outside.

She saw a young man in a magnificent robe, his face full of deep affection, walking over quickly, with a head dangling in his hand.

After approaching Miss Yuedong, the young man in the magnificent robe spoke gently.

"Dong'er, this old thief actually dared to question your identity; I have already eliminated him for you. Don't worry, with me here, no one in the Eastern Demon Feather dares to harm you."

"It's just... a situation has arisen."

"You still remember that Xue Chenzi, right? It's all my fault; last time you could have clearly beheaded this dog thief, but I disrupted your attack, sigh."

"I didn't expect this dog thief to have such fortune, becoming a follower of the Tenth Sovereign, and now he is even spreading his dog name in the Western Demon Feather; damn it!"

"But don't worry, I will definitely help you behead this dog thief and take his dog life!"

The young man in the magnificent robe was full of promises.

Miss Yuedong blinked, stunned for a moment; during this time, someone had been helping her handle the power struggle in the Immortal Art Hall, so she had been focusing on studying the immortal arts she had obtained.

She did not know what had happened in the Western Demon Feather.

Hearing these words now, Miss Yuedong's heart skipped a beat.

"Little Ah Qing actually mixed his way to the Empress's side? And even spread his name?"

Thinking that the Junior Brother's limelight had overshadowed her again, Erniu took a deep breath, suddenly feeling immense pressure, and at the same time, inexplicably felt aggrieved.

"Aren't we supposed to eat alone? How come the two of them ran together now and left me behind?"