Chapter 184: Taking Righteousness

Zheng Fa had never before witnessed such a large-scale Nascent Soul battle.

Even standing within Lei Chi, his ears filled with the roar of Lei Ting, he could still hear the fierce combat above.

Zheng Fa looked up, activated his Void-Sight Spiritual Eye, and gazed beyond Lei Chi toward the sky.

The Five Dragon Celestial Palace hung above Lei Chi.

Around the palace, the five originally majestic golden dragons had grown over a hundredfold; Zheng Fa roughly estimated each to be a thousand zhang in thickness and ten thousand zhang in length, their heads and tails linked, slowly circling the Celestial Palace, using their bodies to guard Master Pang within.

Around the Five Dragon Celestial Palace, several beams of blood-red and black magical artifacts glowed, their momentum just as formidable as that of the Five Dragon Celestial Palace.

"Senior Brother Zheng, where are Master's allies?"

Sun Daoyu was also observing the battle with his Void-Sight Spiritual Eye; seeing Master Pang alone, he asked.

Zheng Fa shook his head.

He didn't know.

The Nascent Soul True Persons Master Pang had summoned were now nowhere to be seen—only Master Pang remained, relying solely on the Five Dragon Celestial Palace.

Zheng Fa could see Master Pang's face was grim, his skin noticeably paler than usual, as if his magic power were nearly depleted.

The five golden dragons encircling the Celestial Palace also looked worn.

One dragon had lost a large patch of scales; another's eye seemed wounded by a dark cultivation technique, black smoke oozing from its socket.

The attackers surrounding Master Pang appeared to be four.

One was a withered old man, his face pale and bluish, seated atop a bronze coffin.

One was a female cultivator, entwined by a thick, long human-faced red viper.

Another was a middle-aged man, accompanied by a child.

The child had arms like lotus stems and a face like a full moon—initially, he looked adorable.

But upon closer inspection, Zheng Fa noticed the child's eyes were utterly pale white—devoid of pupils.

Even Zheng Fa didn't know whether he could still be called a person.

"Jiushan Sect, the Five Dragon True Person," the old man spoke to Master Pang: "Your gaze observes the cosmos; your talismans sever life and death—truly remarkable."

Zheng Fa couldn't help but freeze.

Did Master Pang have such a title?

He glanced at Sun Daoyu beside him; his expression was equally stunned.

He clearly didn't know his master's former glory.

"Merely empty fame," Master Pang replied calmly: "I never expected…"

"The Bronze Coffin Elder."

"The Red Viper Immortal."

"And… the Thousand Calamity Sword Immortal."

He glanced at the child, his eyes flickering with anger: "Though your deeds are sinister, the Immortal Sects never knew all three of you were from Zizaimo Sect…"

Suddenly, a girlish laugh rang out.

Zheng Fa assumed it was the female cultivator called Red Viper Immortal—but the voice came from the human face on the viper, a face lacking even a nose bridge: "Not just us—didn't some of the Nascent Souls you summoned belong to us too?"

The voice was sweet and delicate, like that of an eighteen-year-old girl.

So the viper itself was the Red Viper Immortal?

"The Turtle Elder originally intended to ambush you, yet you ambushed him instead," the Red Viper Immortal continued. "Five Dragon True Person, your vision is indeed sharp—but the allies you summoned, watching you two fight among yourselves, couldn't tell friend from foe, so they simply stood by… then fled."

"Leaving you alone here," the Red Viper Immortal gave a light laugh, laced with contempt.

Zheng Fa now understood why Master Pang stood alone.

Those allies had never truly intended to help; when Master Pang struck down the Turtle Elder, they had even less reason to remain within the Five Dragon Celestial Palace.

…

As they exchanged words, their battle never ceased.

Observing from within Lei Chi, Zheng Fa realized Nascent Soul battles seemed slow, almost tranquil—even with time to exchange taunts.

But the world seen through the Void-Sight Spiritual Eye was different.

The spiritual energy in the sky split into two streams.

Around the three attackers, the spiritual energy was black tinged with red.

Around Master Pang, the spiritual energy cycled through five colors.

These two streams clashed and retreated, testing each other, seeking openings.

Gradually, outnumbered, Master Pang fell into disadvantage; his five-colored energy shrank back around the Five Dragon Celestial Palace, the sky now nearly dominated by the intertwined black and red energy.

Master Pang's Five Element Celestial Palace resembled a dim lantern in the night sky.

Perhaps due to the palace's defensive power, Master Pang's spiritual momentum gradually stabilized, though the situation still seemed overwhelmingly one-sided.

Yet it had settled into a stalemate.

Time passed slowly.

The five golden dragons beside the Celestial Palace remained thick and massive, but their golden light gradually dimmed.

Yet Master Pang showed no sign of haste.

As if he could hold out until the end of heaven and earth.

The three attackers surrounding the Five Dragon Celestial Palace remained calm, neither rushed nor anxious; their faces even bore faint smiles.

"The Baixian Alliance says you're even more of a turtle than the Turtle Elder's ten-thousand-year-old shell—I see now it's true."

The Red Viper Immortal continued smiling.

Master Pang heard this without anger, merely manipulating the Five Dragon Celestial Palace to defend against their attacks.

A full day and night passed.

Even for a Nascent Soul, this nerve-wracking battle was exhausting, and moreover, the battlefield showed almost no change.

Even Zheng Fa was starting to grow tired of watching.

"Bold indeed!"

He heard the old man on the coffin let out a furious roar; when he looked again, Master Pang had leapt forward, vanishing before the Red Serpent Immortal.

The Red Serpent Immortal seemed distracted and had never expected Master Pang to suddenly abandon the Five Dragon Tiangong's defense.

Master Pang seized precisely this sliver of opportunity.

First, he flashed a Heaven-grade Cloud and Rain talisman, then a Wind Summoning talisman, and finally threw a Heaven-grade Thunder and Fire talisman.

Zheng Fa recognized this technique—

It was Master Pang's ultimate skill, the Chain Talisman Art, which, at its core, enhanced the power of talismans by exploiting the Five Elements' mutual generation.

But in practice, it was far from simple.

The exact timing of each talisman's release and how they coordinated required the Void-Insight Spiritual Eye to observe fluctuations in the Five Elements' spiritual energy and seek the perfect moment.

The Cloud and Rain talisman and Wind Summoning talisman had no offensive power themselves.

But when the Thunder and Fire talisman was unleashed, thunder rode the rain's momentum, and fire rode the wind's momentum.

Thunder and fire illuminated more than half the sky.

The Red Serpent Immortal had already exposed a vulnerability; now, caught off-guard by Master Pang's Chain Talisman Art, she had no time to react.

But the other two were no ordinary foes.

With a loud bang, the lid of the bronze coffin beneath the old man flew upward; inside, darkness yawned like an abyss.

The bronze coffin spun, its mouth now facing Master Pang, and from within, hundreds of purplish-blue arms stretched out, grasping at him through empty air.

Though separated by void, Master Pang felt as if he had been seized—he froze in place.

On the other side, the Blood Sword Immortal, who had remained silent until now, finally moved!

The child beside him suddenly soared upward; his tender skin withered instantly, his plump muscles dissolved in the blink of an eye, leaving only a tiny skeleton.

The skeleton transformed midair into the shape of a bone sword, stabbing toward Master Pang; as the bone sword flew, wailing cries echoed—thousands upon thousands of children weeping as one.

It made one's heart ache.

……

Zheng Fa felt Sun Daoyu grip his shoulder, fingers trembling.

He did not turn back, his eyes locked on Master Pang.

Now that Master Pang was pinned by the bronze coffin and the bone sword was about to strike, he was in dire peril.

Zheng Fa could imagine the tension on Sun Daoyu's face without turning.

At that moment, the five golden dragons behind Master Pang surged forward, slamming straight into the old man's bronze coffin.

The old man sneered: "Your Five Dragon Tiangong defense is passable…"

Boom!

He had barely finished half his sentence when Zheng Fa saw one of the five golden dragons swell again, nearly becoming a sphere with pointed ends—then it exploded outright.

"You're mad!"

The old man was caught off guard—he hadn't expected Master Pang to be so ruthless.

But Master Pang was even more ruthless than he imagined.

The Five Dragon Tiangong seemed to be his life-artifact; its self-destruction was no less painful for Master Pang, yet now the other four dragons also began slowly swelling, as if they no longer wished to live.

The old man frantically retracted the bronze coffin, diving inside it himself, sealing the lid shut with not a single gap left.

Without the bronze coffin, Master Pang's body lightened; he released another Thunder and Fire talisman.

The Red Serpent Immortal had already been battered by the earlier Thunder and Fire talisman.

Now she could not parry it—this exposed woman was instantly reduced to ash; the human-faced red snake, seemingly her true form, was covered in wounds, clearly mortally injured, on the brink of death.

"... Is Master Pang always this style?"

Zheng Fa froze—this was a suicide tactic.

"In The Great Dao Strives for Immortality, yes."

Sun Daoyu fell silent, then answered.

The Great Dao Strives for Immortality…

That was fearlessness of death.

And this time…

Master Pang glanced at Lei Chi—as if seeing the shock on Zheng Fa's face—he smiled faintly, a hint of pride in his lips.

"Jiushan Sect's Pang Qian today slays the Baixian Alliance traitor, the Black Tortoise Elder, and the Zizaimo Sect's Red Serpent Immortal here!" He finished with a long laugh: "Dying is not in vain!"

"All Jiushan Sect disciples, do not grieve! In Lei Chi, sleep on brushwood and taste gall, train hard, and plan for the future!"

"Zheng Fa, you and Zhang Shijie must one day eradicate the Zizaimo Sect and avenge me!"

After speaking, he glanced at Zheng Fa and the others, his eyes softening slightly, then smiled toward the bone sword hovering above his head.

The Five Dragon Tiangong was already destroyed; his talismans and incantations were all spent.

Self-destructing his life-artifact had left him with no means to dodge.

Yet his face remained utterly calm.

"Yan Brother!"

Zheng Fa turned and called out.

"Old Han!"

"What's the rush? He's not dead yet!" came a voice: "This fellow Pang speaks movingly—let him say a few more words."

On the horizon, as if another red sun had risen—upon closer look, it was a flying sword.

That flying sword was at the horizon one instant, and the next plunged straight down onto the Evil Sword Immortal's head; with a single strike, this Evil Path Nascent Soul had no time to react, and his body was utterly annihilated.

The bone sword in the air, having lost its master, fell from the clouds.

By Lei Chi, an old man yawned, looking at the bone sword that had dropped beside him with disgust and said, "Daring to call oneself a Sword Immortal while wielding a sword that looks so disgusting?"

Uncle Pang glanced at this old man, then at his own Five Dragon Tiangong, which was in tatters.

Finally, he seemed to recall the words he had just spoken.

This expression—

made him seem even more eager to sacrifice his life for righteousness.