Chapter 241: with translation of chapter title

Gu Cangsheng took that step.

There was no sound beneath his feet in the void, but the heavenly and earthly laws within a radius of 100,000 li all trembled at once, as if some huge creature had turned over.

The Zhenyuan Immortal King stood in the high sky, the nine-layer gate of the Zhenyuan Divine Tower still open, the deep-blue law chains woven into the Immortal-Confining Array had already closed, sealing the entire Arctic frozen wasteland.

He had calculated that even a Jue Dian Immortal King in perfect condition would need three thousand years to exhaust within the Immortal-Confining Array.

Moreover, the old man before him had unsteady breath and his law circulation showed obvious sluggishness.

The calculation was quite elegant.

But once that step was taken, all his expectations were utterly ruined.

It wasn't that the pressure grew stronger, nor that his aura became thicker.

It was that the sluggishness had disappeared.

The Zhenyuan Immortal King's pupils suddenly contracted.

Wrong.

He had felt it clearly during their brief exchange just now; those few points of law circulation stutter were definitely not a feint!

A truly injured Immortal King, in the rhythm of his chaotic origin's operation, would have an irreproducible dullness, like a clock with worn gears.

But now?

Gu Cangsheng raised his right hand, and chaotic qi surged from his palm.

This time there was none of that leisurely, hair-splitting feeling…

Boom.

No sound, just a boom.

That silent boom was heavier than any sound.

The chaotic qi transformed into a gray-purple palm print a hundred zhang in diameter, striking the core node of the law chains in the Immortal-Confining Array.

The deep-blue chains shattered like raindrops, and the Zhenyuan Divine Tower emitted a mournful battle cry; from the top layer downward, the tower's runes dimmed layer by layer.

The Zhenyuan Immortal King retreated three steps.

Each step he took in the void left a deep footprint, which then slowly healed from the surroundings.

Yet it took a full seven or eight breaths before the footprints healed cleanly.

"You—"

He opened his mouth, but whatever was to follow that "you" got stuck in his throat and wouldn't come out.

Gu Cangsheng drew back his palm and casually flicked away the residual light of the shattered chains.

"The injury is real," the old man said calmly. "The instability is also real. But… you've gotten one thing wrong."

"Being injured and being taken down by you are two different matters."

The Zhenyuan Immortal King needed a full two breaths to completely swallow the meaning of those words.

An injured Jue Dian Immortal King.

And him, a Jue Dian Immortal King who had just entered that realm.

The gap that had been opened could not be filled by mere injury.

"You haven't suffered a serious injury at all," the Zhenyuan Immortal King's voice grew somewhat uncontrolled, "You… you are a half-step Giant!!"

"Oh." Gu Cangsheng cracked a melon seed that had appeared from nowhere in his hand, "Now you know?"

The Zhenyuan Divine Tower emitted a low hum, instinctively opening the final layer of defensive barrier around its master.

The Zhenyuan Immortal King no longer cared about decorum; a chaotic interworld passage was rapidly forming in his mind!

As long as he could hold on for three breaths, his true self could withdraw to the immortal realm!

But Gu Cangsheng didn't give him three breaths.

Chaotic Heaven-Shaking Step.

One foot, stepping onto the Zhenyuan Immortal King's Immortal King Dao Fruit.

Not an explosion, but a pressure.

Like turning a stone mill slowly, grinding out the core inside.

The Zhenyuan Immortal King screamed in anguish and fell from the high sky.

His right arm broke at a strange angle, then broke again, and the Immortal King's laws peeled away from his bones strand by strand under the erosion of chaotic qi, like mud in brick cracks collapsing when soaked.

He gritted his teeth as his Dao Fruit was crushed twenty percent, forcibly sustaining the interworld passage.

Escape.

He must escape.

The Zhenyuan Divine Tower emitted a low hum, the remaining law inscriptions on its body flashing wildly, instinctively opening the final layer of defensive barrier around its master.

A deep-blue light curtain enveloped the Zhenyuan Immortal King.

Simultaneously, the interworld passage deep in his sea of consciousness began rapidly forming toward the immortal realm.

His immortal palace anchor still remained; as long as he could hold on for three breaths, infusing sufficient Immortal King origin to clear the passage, his true self could withdraw to the immortal realm!

Three breaths.

He only needed three breaths.

First breath.

The Zhenyuan Immortal King frantically formed seals with both hands, his Immortal King origin turning into strands of deep-blue law threads that extended along the causal veins toward the immortal realm.

The framework of the interworld passage appeared in the void behind him.

A deep-blue vortex, its edges still violently trembling, not yet stabilized.

But he failed to complete the second seal.

Because Gu Cangsheng moved.

Chaos-Shaking Heaven Step.

As this foot stepped out, the entire Arctic Frozen Tundra rumbled from surface to core.

The Zhenyuan Immortal King had just completed half of an interworld passage when the folded space was forcibly twisted and snapped.

The deep-blue vortex emitted a piercing shriek and collapsed.

The law's backlash surged into the Zhenyuan Immortal King's body, a trickle of blue blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, his face as pale as paper.

"Running?" Gu Cangsheng's voice came from above.

The Zhenyuan Immortal King abruptly lifted his head.

A foot wearing straw sandals hovered above his forehead, slowly descending.

This foot was not stepping on the Zhenyuan Immortal King's head.

He was stepping on his Immortal King Dao Fruit, his half Immortal King body!

Piercing through flesh, bone, meridians, and sea of consciousness, it bypassed all physical defenses and landed precisely on that deep-blue Immortal King Dao Fruit.

The Dao Fruit is the foundation of an Immortal King, the crystallization of a lifetime's cultivation, the vessel of law comprehension.

The sensation of being stepped on— the Zhenyuan Immortal King could not describe it with any known pain.

It was not bodily pain, but a severance at the level of existence.

He could clearly feel that the profundities of the abyssal law he had comprehended over a million years were being peeled away layer by layer from the surface of the Dao Fruit.

With each layer peeled, his cultivation dropped by a fraction.

Although it was miserable, but...

He steadied himself!

He no longer cared about dignity; all he wanted was to go back!

Escape this place!

He plunged into the interworld passage.

The deep-blue vortex behind him rapidly contracted and sealed.

But at the very last instant before it sealed, Gu Cangsheng raised his hand and flicked lightly.

A strand of chaotic qi, as fine as a silk thread, silently slipped into the edge of the vortex as it closed.

Following the Zhenyuan Immortal King's karma line, it tailed him all the way.

The Arctic Frozen Tundra returned to silence.

Gu Cangsheng did not pursue.

He stood in place for a moment, lowered his head to look at the foot that had stepped over, and muttered slightly regretfully.

"A bit lacking."

No one was around.

He was sighing to himself.

Afterward, the old man dressed as a farmer patted his gray cloth twice, rummaged in the fold of the void, found no melon seeds, pulled out a piece of maltose candy, put it in his mouth, and trudged toward Zhongzhou.

After walking just a few steps, Gu Yuan's voice came from the Tongxin Immortal Talisman.

"Grandfather?"

"Mm, finished." Gu Cangsheng's voice was muffled, probably because the candy was stuck in his mouth: "I left half, barely enough, and am on my way to find you."

The other end of the talisman fell silent for two seconds.

"……How much did you leave?"

"Half of the origin, and some of the Immortal King's body. The rest he took away, finding it troublesome."

Another two seconds.

"Enough." Gu Yuan's voice returned calm: "Grandfather, you've worked hard."

Gu Cangsheng moved the maltose candy from one cheek to the other.

"Not hard, it's just that this stuff lacks chewiness, not great for killing time."