Chapter 699: Origin Convergence, Great Calamity Approaches

In an instant, a white-haired ape appeared beside Ye Qin, and in the sky emerged a white jade dragon-elephant ten thousand zhang tall, its mighty aura shaking heaven and earth.

"Master! Huh? That red-haired monster..." Bai Qi looked at Zhu Rong, a hint of a smile on his face.

Bai Qi had been cultivating diligently in Ye Qin's Carefree Wanderer realm, finally integrating the insights from the last battle and creating a move called the God-Slaying Staff Technique.

Just awakened, he received a voice transmission from Ye Qin, learning he could fight Zhu Rong again, and instantly became overjoyed.

"Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar! Greetings, Master! Master, shall we begin battle?" The white jade dragon-elephant in the sky was thrilled, letting out a long cry to the heavens, its trunk swirling, stirring wind and clouds, its powerful aura pressing down on heaven and earth.

The white jade dragon-elephant had cultivated for many years in the Pure Yang Immortal Realm, constantly using pure yang immortal qi to cleanse the primordial aura on its body, feeling light as if its shackles had vanished.

Its Dragon-Elephant Suppressing Earth Force grew ever stronger, its white jade body had reached perfection, its entire form could transform into billions of microscopic particles, possessing billions of avatars.

These years, it had been holding back, and Ye Qin would not let it out; now seeing the situation below, it clearly wanted to act, and it felt grateful toward the eleven figures below.

"Shi Shen Bai Qi? No wonder you're so strong—turns out the Carefree Wanderer Demon is your master, and that fellow Daoist, could it be the one who left the Dragon Court long ago, established the Earth Court in the southwest, and gained great fame as the Earth Emperor? How did you become the mount of the Carefree Wanderer Demon?" Zhu Rong exclaimed.

"Hehe, following my Master fills me with honor! Come, let's fight first and talk later!" The white jade dragon-elephant let out a great roar, its massive body suddenly plummeting, its limbs like heavenly pillars, pressing down on the ancestor witches.

Now, the white jade dragon-elephant no longer harbored the slightest resentment or helplessness from having fallen from the Supreme Earth Emperor to a mount, but was completely devoted and sincerely obedient to Ye Qin.

The limbs descended, like four heavenly pillars, the powerful force making space tremble.

"Break!"

The eleven ancestor witches shouted in unison, gathered their strength, and fiercely punched upward.

Boom! Eleven powerful forces collided with the white jade dragon-elephant's limbs, heaven and earth shook, and powerful forces formed black holes in the air.

"God-Slaying First Staff—Shaking Witch Staff!"

A sky-breaking giant staff stretched across the sky, smashing toward the Zhu Rong ancestor witch.

This staff contained endless killing intent and murderous aura, like the descent of a God-Slayer; though a staff, it was sharper than any blade.

As the staff struck, carrying destructive might, Zhu Rong let out a great cry, his fists bearing fire dragons, fiercely blocking the staff.

Boom! The earth sank, Zhu Rong was actually struck into the ground by Bai Qi's staff, his ten-thousand-zhang body reduced to only his hands and head.

"Witch Clan Battle Technique, Heaven Severing Fire God Whip!" Zhu Rong's ten-thousand-zhang body suddenly leapt straight up, carrying rolling earth fire magma, his entire body surrounded by fire dragons angrily roaring.

The Heaven Severing Fire God Whip carried the might to destroy heaven and earth, wrapping toward Bai Qi's staff, the endless heat burning the God-Slaying Staff into a fiery red giant staff, causing Bai Qi to loosen his grip, while Zhu Rong snatched the Heaven Severing Fire God Whip and seized the God-Slaying Staff in his hand.

However, if Bai Qi were so easily defeated by Zhu Rong, wouldn't his years of cultivation have been wasted?

"God-Slaying Second Staff—Slaying Witch Staff!"

The God-Slaying Staff suddenly trembled, severed the fire god whip, rapidly spun into a fire-wind wheel, and sliced toward Zhu Rong's head.

"Clang!" A head as huge as a mountain fell, smashing out a large pit; Bai Qi's God-Slaying Staff swung again, splitting Zhu Rong's body down the middle.

Zhu Rong's body was like a bloodless heavenly pillar; after being split, it was perfectly smooth, with not a drop of blood flowing out.

Bai Qi let out a great roar, wanting to split Zhu Rong into pieces.

At that moment, Zhu Rong's body ignited in a great fire, the Li fire surrounded him, fire dragons roared, his split body came together, a head flew up and landed back on Zhu Rong's neck.

This is the witch clan's rebirth divine ability, the indestructible physical body.

"Roar!" Zhu Rong let out a great cry, the two fire dragons beneath his feet flew toward Bai Qi, instantly wrapping his body, like immortal-binding ropes.

The two giant fire snakes piercing his ear tips hissed fiercely, poisonous fangs flashing, snake heads suddenly driving into his arms, tearing off chunks of flesh.

The battle on the white jade dragon-elephant's side became even more violent.

The white jade dragon-elephant's body was immeasurably huge, its strength comparable to any ancestor witch.

Fighting it were two ancestor witches, one transformed into a ferocious giant beast, eight human faces, tiger body with ten tails, controlling gang wind, forming invisible wind blades, rushing toward the white jade dragon-elephant.

One with a human face and beast body, ears like dogs, earrings of green snakes, when its body moved, heaven and earth greatly changed, the originally scorching hot heaven and earth instantly turned into freezing wind and snow.

These two are precisely the Wind Ancestor Witch Tian Wu and the Weather Ancestor Witch She Bi Shi, who control wind and weather.

The ancestor witches are more skilled in physical combat; although each controls the twelve primal sources, due to their souls being eroded by killing aura, they cannot grasp the essence of the primal source Dao, so they rarely use primal sources, and even when they do, it's only by integrating primal source power into battle techniques.

Therefore, after flying high into the sky, they use their bodies to display witch clan battle techniques.

Instantly, gang wind rose everywhere, weather changed unpredictably, a stream of white jade qi wandered through the clouds.

"I advise you not to move! Otherwise, your witch clan will be the next Dragon Court, or rather, the next Earth Court." Ye Qin stared at Di Jiang and the others.

Seeing Di Jiang about to act, Ye Qin couldn't help but remind him.

After all, Ye Qin again fell into the fault of cherishing fragrance and valuing jade; he didn't mind fighting Di Jiang and the others, but the two beauties of the witch clan made him unwilling to act.

Di Jiang, this witch clan elder brother joining the battlefield, Hou Tu and Xuan Ming could not avoid it.

Hou Tu, the Earth Ancestor Witch, charm unmatched, more importantly, her compassionate and sacred aura on her body attracted Ye Qin; while Xuan Ming, the Rain Ancestor Witch, her body filled with icy aura, like an ice goddess.

"Carefree Wanderer Daoist, could you let the Nine Nether Immortal Phoenix help us with a favor?" Hou Tu suddenly said, she had pondered long in her heart, still feeling that opposing the strong before her as a witch clan would be a calamity of overturning the nest.

"Hou Tu!" Di Jiang saw Hou Tu's intention, instantly wanted to stop her.

However, Hou Tu remained unmoved; although Di Jiang was the leader of the twelve ancestor witches, Hou Tu's authority was the greatest.

"Could Hou Tu Daoist tell me the reason?"

"Eh! Surely with your ability, Daoist, you can see our witch clan's flaws?" Hou Tu said with a bitter smile.

"Is it not just the inability to cultivate the primordial spirit? Your witch clan's Nine Turns Mysterious Technique was passed down from Pangu, also has the possibility of proving the Dao through the flesh!" Ye Qin said.

"Ah! Carefree Wanderer Daoist actually understands our witch clan so well?" Hou Tu exclaimed in surprise.

Hou Tu glanced at Ye Qin, then bitterly smiled: "Proving the Dao through the flesh—how could that be so easy? We now find that as the flesh body grows stronger, the soul is eroded more; now with the Father God's will protecting us, it's still fine, but if one day the Father God's will disappears, our souls will be completely eroded by killing aura, become killing souls, and turn into demons that destroy heaven and earth!"

"Now I understand! I said, why at the initial opening of heaven and earth was there the chaotic Heavenly Slaughter array absorbing great calamity killing aura to nurture you? Originally, your souls have Pangu's will protecting them—then what does this have to do with the Nether Phoenix?" Ye Qin said.

Back then, when he was on Buzhou Mountain, he saw the chaotic Heavenly Slaughter array nurturing the twelve ancestor witches, and had been guessing how the twelve ancestor witches let their souls not be completely eroded by the opening heaven killing aura; turns out it was protected by Pangu's will.

But Pangu clearly knew killing aura would erode souls, why did he still let his twelve drops of essence blood absorb the opening heaven killing aura and great calamity killing aura to take form?

Was this Pangu's intention? Ye Qin couldn't understand.

"So she's called Nether Phoenix, what an elegant name. However, Daoist, don't you know the Nine Nether Immortal Phoenix feeds on killing aura? The Nine Nether Immortal Phoenix can refine the Nine Nether Immortal Fire, transforming killing aura into nether fire, and can be called one of the most unique strange beasts between heaven and earth!" Hou Tu explained.

"You mean, the Nether Phoenix can absorb the killing aura on your bodies?" Upon hearing this, Ye Qin's face filled with surprise, then he couldn't help but look doubtfully at the Nether Phoenix.

"Is that the killing aura? Ye Qin brother, these years I've wandered alone, discovered that wherever battles occur, there's a special kind of gas. By absorbing this gas, my cultivation of the Nine Nether Immortal Fire has greatly accelerated, my cultivation level has risen rapidly. However, that aura on their bodies is too strong, I dared not absorb it." The Nether Phoenix spoke truthfully.

"The words of the Nether Phoenix Daoist are indeed correct; that is the killing qi. What you absorbed earlier was merely ordinary battle killing qi, whereas what we possess is the killing qi of heaven and earth, which has merged with the killing qi of the world's creation and the killing qi of the great calamity. However, as your refinement of the Nine Netherworld Flames becomes ever more exquisite, you will be able to absorb the killing qi within our souls! Of course, the physical bodies of our ancestral witches have already completely refined the killing qi, so you cannot absorb it from our flesh." Hou Tu patiently explained.

Ye Qin suddenly came to a sudden realization—originally, the ancestral witches' physical bodies were so powerful precisely because they relied on the killing qi of heaven and earth to temper their flesh. However, the soul, as the abode of the spirit god, ought to be nourished and tempered by pure heavenly and earthly spiritual qi; how could it possibly merge with foul killing qi?

"Nether Phoenix, what do you think yourself?" Ye Qin had already understood the ancestral witches' intentions, yet he still decided to respect Nether Phoenix's will, asking her.

"Brother Ye Qin, I... I wish to become stronger!" Nether Phoenix's voice was clear and crisp, her eyes full of determination.

Since traveling alone, Nether Phoenix has deeply felt the importance of great strength; a strong one's heart has already been forged.

After leaving Carefree Wanderer Island back then, she endured countless life-and-death battles, each injury forcing her to heal alone, facing every difficulty by herself.

Now, she is no longer the weak little phoenix who once hid under Ye Qin's protection.

"Good! Hou Tu Daoist, I trust you; from now on, Nether Phoenix is entrusted to your care. Should I learn that Nether Phoenix has suffered injustice among the witch clan, hum, the consequences then will by no means be something you can bear!"

As Ye Qin spoke, he extended his right hand, and in his palm a strange world slowly emerged.

Within this world stood five great mountains radiating five-colored light, their aura vast and mighty, with yin and yang qi constantly churning within, containing all manner of divine ability power, boundless and endless.

Merely the leakage of a wisp of this aura caused the space above Ye Qin's palm to begin shattering, one shocking spatial rift after another continuously spreading.

"Hu hu!" Emperor Jiang, seeing this, instantly turned grave in expression, his breathing unconsciously becoming rapid. Even though he cultivates the origin of space, able to freely traverse within it, he absolutely could not rely on divine ability to shatter space on such a vast scale.

"Hahahaha, you actually dare threaten us? I..."

Before Gong Gong could finish speaking, Ye Qin's right hand flashed like lightning, piercing through space and seizing Gong Gong, dragging him into his palm.

Gong Gong struggled wildly within Ye Qin's palm, striking with all his might, yet could never escape.

At this moment, Gong Gong within Ye Qin's palm was like a tiny ant dancing; he went utterly mad, his body instantly swelling to ten thousand zhang, clutching a huge hook in his hand, madly hacking at the surrounding space—yet all was in vain.

Ye Qin's middle finger instantly transformed into a towering Vermilion Bird Peak ten thousand zhang high, bearing the terrifying power of suppression and sealing, crashing down fiercely upon Gong Gong.

With a thunderous boom, Ye Qin's palm transmitted a violent tremor. In the eyes of the other ancestral witches, Gong Gong, whose form was tiny as an ant, was firmly pressed to the ground by a colossal peak matching his stature. Gong Gong struggled desperately, constantly rolling, yet could not escape the peak's crushing weight.

"Carefree Wanderer Daoist, please show mercy! From now on, I will surely protect Nether Phoenix Daoist wholeheartedly. Well, Nether Phoenix younger sister, from now on we shall call each other sisters!" Hou Tu, seeing this, hastily spoke. She was overjoyed in her heart, never expecting Ye Qin to so easily agree to this. In her heart, she had already defined Ye Qin as a reasonable and understanding strong one.

"Correct, Nether Phoenix will henceforth be our younger sister! Whoever dares bully her, first taste my Xuanming Thorn!" The Xuanming Ancestral Witch, cold as ice and frost, also spoke to express her stance.

"May it be so!"

Ye Qin lightly waved his hand, and Gong Gong was released; at this moment, he appeared disheveled and miserable.

"If you have the ability, come fight again—I hadn't even used my full strength just now!"

Gong Gong truly is a utter battle maniac; the moment he broke free, he charged again toward Ye Qin.

However, a graceful and elegant figure instantly appeared in midair. Behind her faintly emerged an elegant shadow; she had a human body and serpent tail, her countenance sacred and solemn, like a goddess descending to the mortal realm. Only see her holding a Teng Snake in her hand, with seven strangely shaped arms extending from her back. This is precisely the original form of the Hou Tu Ancestral Witch.

Boom boom boom boom boom!

Hou Tu's seven fists rained down like continual drops upon Gong Gong's body, beating him into an even more miserable state, yet he dared not strike back, only able to endure passively.

"Hehe! Hou Tu younger sister is losing her temper again; Gong Gong, this is purely self-inflicted. Originally, Hou Tu younger sister had already settled the matter satisfactorily, yet he insisted on being so rash—how could Hou Tu younger sister not be angry!"

Seeing Gong Gong in such a miserable state, even the usually solemn Emperor Jiang couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Ayoyo, younger sister, stop hitting—I know I was wrong!" Gong Gong hastily reverted to human form, flustered and scrambling to hide behind the other ancestral witches.

"Emperor Jiang Daoist, does Hou Tu Daoist usually behave like this... violent?" Ye Qin stared wide-eyed, full of surprise, asking. At this moment, in his eyes, Hou Tu's body seemed to bear two large characters—violence.

"Correct, don't think Hou Tu is merely one of the two women in our witch clan; in fact, she is the strongest among us. Even I lack full confidence in being able to defeat her." Emperor Jiang spoke seriously.

"Well, she cultivates the origin of earth, her qi rich and profound. The Dao of earth's origin has always emphasized defense, and combined with your witch clan's Nine Turns Mysterious Skill, her body becomes ever stronger. Moreover, the origin of earth possesses the quality of embracing all things; Hou Tu must certainly be the one with the most complete soul among your witch clan! Otherwise, it would also be impossible to devise the method of using witch beasts to share the killing qi." (End of chapter)