Chapter 163: Dao Technique: Swallow Abyss

Upon arriving at the second level, the scene had already changed again into a vast desert.

Wang Ping raised his head to look at the sky, seeing a giant elephant about fifty zhang tall, each of its hairs thicker than his own finger.

The most striking were its two tusks, resembling peerless vicious swords, lacking the pure whiteness and delicacy of ordinary demon elephant tusks, instead exuding strands of murderous aura.

Wang Ping gradually rose into the air; in his sight, a young cultivator dressed in yellow robes sat calmly atop a huge, astonishing elephant.

"Another reverse cultivator! Over endless ages, I have fought 230,000 battles, lost ten, won the rest; I hope you can bring me some fun!"

The yellow-robed cultivator seated cross-legged on the elephant opened his eyes slowly after Wang Ping rose into the air, and slowly recited his battle record.

Wang Ping felt a tremor in his heart, but his face remained unusually calm.

Cyan light flickered on his body, spiritual armor appeared automatically, and a cyan light sword hovered above his head.

The yellow-robed cultivator glanced indifferently at the spiritual armor appearing on Wang Ping's body and casually said: "Even if your spiritual armor can block attacks from Golden Core cultivators, it cannot withstand the mighty power of my Ferocious Divine Elephant!"

Wang Ping smiled faintly and said: "You'll know only after fighting, right?"

Having said that, the cyan light sword atop his head instantly split into thirty-six sword lights, shouting to the heavens and sweeping the earth as it stabbed toward the yellow-robed cultivator.

The yellow-robed cultivator showed no expression; his elephant's trunk suddenly flicked, throwing out afterimages in the air, blocking all thirty-six sword lights.

Wang Ping clasped his hands together; the thirty-six sword lights condensed into a cyan giant sword about a zhang long, and he slashed again at the elephant.

The elephant, which the yellow-robed cultivator called the Ferocious Divine Elephant, continued to swing its long trunk and strike at the cyan giant sword.

Roar!

The elephant winced in pain; a spray of blood scattered in the air, the cyan giant sword easily sliced across its trunk, leaving a wound, and continued stabbing toward the yellow-robed cultivator.

Interesting!

A faint laugh sounded; the corner of the yellow-robed cultivator's mouth twitched, as if he had taken interest in this strike.

This time, he finally rose from the elephant's back, a black Dao platform appearing on his forehead; even though the cyan giant sword was less than a zhang away, he still smiled, calm and composed.

"Swallow Abyss!"

The yellow-robed cultivator suddenly uttered those two words, then extended his right palm flat, hand upright; a black vortex appeared in his palm, and in the blink of an eye, a black vortex about a zhang large appeared before him.

The cyan giant sword inevitably collided; despite its formidable power, it produced no ripple upon striking the black vortex and was quickly swallowed by it.

After swallowing the giant sword, the black vortex gradually faded; the yellow-robed cultivator stood with hands behind his back, gazing lightly at Wang Ping, his eyes hinting at contempt.

Wang Ping felt somewhat disappointed; he had not unleashed his strongest move upon arrival precisely to see if he could obtain further information about ancient cultivators' training from this cultivator.

But the result disappointed him greatly; that vortex should be a kind of Dao technique, yet the yellow-robed cultivator mastered it well, and he gained hardly any useful information.

Wang Ping narrowed his eyes, watching the yellow-robed cultivator stand with hands behind his back, posing pretentiously; he felt annoyed.

Thus, in the next moment, five-colored light shot up from his body—azure, red, yellow, blue, gold—forming spiritual giant swords of various colors, at least a hundred condensed.

Hmph! Since you want to swallow, let you swallow your fill!

Wang Ping let out a cold snort in his heart; the five-colored light swords merged, forming a five-colored giant sword—this is a technique he comprehended from the Five Elements Forbidden Formation after his battle with Huo Yunzi; as for its power, he still does not know.

"Five Elements Return to One, Five Elements Forbidden Sword—Slash!"

Wang Ping let out a loud shout, formed hand seals, and a ten-zhang-long Five Elements giant sword directly slashed at the yellow-robed cultivator; the five-colored light rotated endlessly, and an inexplicable oppressive aura filled heaven and earth.

Facing the awe-inspiring power of the five-colored giant sword, the yellow-robed cultivator finally wiped the smile from his face, his expression turning unusually grave.

He formed hand seals; black patterns flowed endlessly on his forehead Dao platform; then he extended his hands flat and gradually pulled apart, and a black vortex more than ten times larger than before appeared once again.

Boom—rumble—rumble!

This time, the giant sword sank again into the black vortex, like a meteorite falling from heaven into the sea, emitting a violent explosion sound.

The yellow-robed cultivator's face grew grave; black light surged on his body, his forehead Dao platform flickered intensely, he spread his hands outward, and the black vortex expanded further—its diameter increasing, its stability strengthening, and its suction becoming terrifyingly strong.

The violent explosion sound just now gradually faded; seeing the giant sword about to be swallowed, the yellow-robed cultivator's face eased slightly!

At that moment, the voice of the cultivator of the present law opposite sounded again: "Since you want to swallow, let you swallow your fill! Five Elements Forbidden Sword! Condense! Condense! Condense!"

The yellow-robed cultivator suddenly lifted his head; five identical five-colored giant swords reappeared in the sky, carrying a chilling killing intent that could cleave all things, slashing toward him!

Seeing only five, the yellow-robed cultivator breathed a little easier; if only these were present, his Swallow Abyss could still withstand them.

But the next moment, his expression changed abruptly; behind those five giant swords, another five appeared, making ten five-colored giant swords that followed one after another, slashing at him in succession.

"How is this possible? How can you possess such vast spiritual power!" the yellow-robed cultivator roared.

Yet his hands were swiftly forming seals, and at the same time, a strange black big fish appeared behind him.

At this moment, the Dao platform on his forehead finally underwent a deeper change; mysterious runes appeared on it, as if the rune tugged at a law of heaven and earth, causing a black ocean to appear out of nowhere within a ten-li radius; at its center, the black big fish gave a light flick, and the black ocean instantly surged with towering waves.

The yellow-robed cultivator stood on the surface of the black ocean; at this moment his eyes turned pitch black, the black vortex had vanished, replaced by the black ocean ten li beneath him.

Ten five-colored giant swords fell from the sky, all striking the black ocean; although they kicked up huge splashes, they were still swallowed by the black ocean.

Wang Ping had already left the area covered by the black ocean; although the black ocean looked extremely terrifying and had swallowed his ten five-colored giant swords, his face showed no anger, only a hint of interest.

He extended his divine sense, carefully observing the black ocean below and the yellow-robed cultivator's forehead Dao platform.

He muttered to himself: "The appearance of the runes is a deeper change of the Dao platform; all of the opponent's attacks come from the Dao platform, while the spiritual power within his body seems to originate from the flesh, deeper still. It's a pity these people seem not to be true cultivators; the internal changes in their bodies appear somewhat vague."

"That Swallow Abyss should be a Dao technique; when its true power is fully unleashed, its combat strength reaches Golden Core level. Unlike modern cultivators who employ Dao techniques with the aid of their natal magic treasures, their Dao techniques seem to rely entirely on the Dao platform, since the Dao platform belongs wholly to themselves, making their power even greater than using natal magic treasures to execute Dao techniques."

"That Dao platform, after two observations, appears to be a conglomeration of spiritual power, divine sense, and some other substances of his own! And those other substances ought to be extremely special materials that make it easier to inscribe Dao techniques upon it and to provoke this very change."

"The core of ancient cultivators' training is clearly centered on the Dao platform; modern cultivators seem not to be so—perhaps the spiritual realm is so. He thought of Liu Haodong and others in the spiritual realm and their Golden Core Perfection Path, which is clearly different from the cultivation methods of the lower realm."

Various thoughts flickered through Wang Ping's mind; he keenly sensed that if he wanted to make a breakthrough, the key lay in his spiritual roots; he believed he was not the only one to have realized this, but up to now this path remained untraveled, indicating they had encountered a great obstacle.

But just as Wang Ping was thinking, the yellow-robed cultivator below suddenly lifted his head, and an extremely cold voice sounded:

"Dao Technique: Swallow Abyss—Kun Peng Rise!"

Splash—splash—splash!

In the black ocean below, the illusory shadow of the black big fish suddenly leapt out of the water; Wang Ping's face changed drastically as the fish rose, an unstoppable surge of mighty force suddenly struck him—though he was at least twelve li away from the fish, in an instant a mass of spiritual power was compressed into a mass and hurled at him, immediately followed by the fish's leaping form.

Danger! Danger! Danger!

Wang Ping's brow twitched violently, his body instinctively began to tremble!