Chapter 413: Battle with Zishu: The Power of the Twelve Earthly Branches' Rat

In an instant, the same figure—clear and cold as a banished immortal—rose unbidden in the hearts of every living being within the entire Subspace.

A slender frame, a robe of white; eyes that seemed gentle yet were in truth aloof, gazing down upon all from on high—like a cold, crescent moon in the heavens, or an Immortal King descending from the sky.

No—to be precise, the beings of this universe truly did call Him Immortal King.

The next moment, as His voice fell, a pale green Rootless Fire Lotus suddenly rose, swaying and blooming amidst the curtain of rain.

An obscure and terrifying aura spread forth, forcibly blocking the Dragon Claw that probed downward.

The moment the Rootless Fire Lotus and the Dragon Claw collided, a violent shockwave Burst forth in an instant.

The endless curtain of rain split apart like cloth torn in two, revealing a vast empty region.

Thereafter, the figure that had already risen in the hearts of all living beings strolled out at leisure, treating space as if it were nothing.

Zishu descends!

The instant He appeared, before the pouring curtain of rain could close again, a single mu of land—where countless beings prostrated in worship—revealed an ancient lamp cradled by a jade-white mouse in brocade fur, rising from the auspicious clouds that drifted there, swiftly claiming that empty region.

"The Ancestor has descended!"

From below, no one knew who spoke in solemn tones, each word measured and deliberate.

In the dim sky, amidst the endless grey curtain of rain, atop the black clouds, a dragon whose tail could not be seen thrust out its massive dragon head; a pair of dragon eyes blazed brilliant and fierce, like two scorching suns hanging in the heavens, gazing down at the figure below.

In midair, treading upon nothing, the man—clear and cold as a banished immortal—seemed a tiny figure, yet the aura He exuded was in no way inferior to the former; though clearly looking upward, He gave the feeling of looking level.

At this moment, countless people watched this scene as if myth had come alive, and their hearts clenched along with it.

A battle of Immortal Kings!

Regardless of the final outcome, for weak beings like them with no strong protector, once the battle began, even the mere aftershocks of power would be enough to turn them to ash.

Clearly, in the eyes of outsiders they too were lofty, renowned strong beings beneath the starry sky, yet now they could only tremble, hardly even possessing the qualification of spectators.

"I dislike looking upward." Gazing up at the dragon whose aura surged mightily overhead, a flicker of realization passed through Zishu's eyes as He spoke thus.

From this unfamiliar dragon, He sensed within the other's aura a trace similar to that of the dragon whelp that had earlier escaped from His grasp.

Coupled with the fact that He had suddenly lost His lock on that aura earlier, it stood to reason that dragon whelp had "gone to fetch its elder."

Beat the small one, and the old one comes.

A perfectly normal occurrence beneath this starry sky.

However, that was no reason for the other to look down upon Him.

As the words fell, an ancient mysterious character—resembling a mountain yet not a mountain—suddenly appeared in the heavens; immediately an immensely powerful, crushing aura poured forth from it, faintly coalescing into a phantom, as if an ancient mountain from the primeval wilderness were falling from the heavens, seeking to suppress the dragon above!

【Words Manifesting Reality】!

The thick clouds were nearly dispersed; the massive dragon body was pressed down heavily, as if about to plummet—yet the next moment, with a single shift of Baichuan's body, the dragon-kind's innate high affinity with space as spatial beings instantly caused that crushing aura to fall into some unknown spatial layer.

In Baichuan's current eyes, the world—or rather the universe—was no longer the simple thing ordinary beings perceived; beyond the vast material starry realm seen by ordinary beings, there existed countless spaces stacked together, or rather Membranes (dimensions).

The universe, in his eyes, was a vast "Membrane" endlessly expanding outward, and this Membrane was formed by countless egg-shaped Membranes stacked together, creating a universe with thickness and space.

And he, by nature, could easily traverse through each layer of Membrane called "space"—which was also why the rain born of him could easily pierce through every small spatial seat and drench every living being.

It was also why he had earlier so easily grasped a star in his claw, his dragon body coiling around several planets.

It was not that his body had instantly grown to such enormity, but that he had placed his body simultaneously across several dimensions—changing space, not himself.

The spaces invisible to others' eyes were to him no more than a giant regarding a beehive; to pour rain into any small space within the hive—was that not the easiest of tasks?

Now, Zishu's attack had been diverted by him thus into other dimensions.

Then, light blazed fiercely in Baichuan's eyes as he slowly opened his massive dragon maw; since the other had already struck, it was time for him to retaliate.

The boundless downpour suddenly birthed violent cold currents, freezing into countless sharp ice spears that rained down upon Zishu like a sky-filling barrage.

At the same time, a blazing torrent of black-purple flame ignited within his fierce, razor-sharp dragon maw, swelling and Yasu in an instant.

This power, which the Spirit Mouse General took such pride in, was to him—with his vast computational capacity—nothing more than a trivial little trick.

The next moment, the dragon-kind's signature attack 【Dragon Breath】—that exhalation condensing the essence of every ability Baichuan had gathered along his journey—was violently spewed forth.

It was dragon flame capable of burning clean every object and scorching souls, and moreover burning space—attacking across every dimension he could perceive!

In other words, this attack carried the Characteristic of "guaranteed hit": so long as one could not move through dimensional spaces beyond Baichuan's comprehension, this attack could only be taken head-on and could not be dodged.

Clearly, in others' eyes it was a pillar of flame shot forth in a straight line, but now in Zishu's eyes it seemed like a spiderweb crisscrossing space in every direction, sweeping toward Him—a level ordinary beings could neither comprehend nor observe.

It gave Him an unshakable sense that He could not evade, as if no matter how He dodged, it would ultimately strike Him.

Beneath this attack, the sky-filling barrage of ice spears that had shot forth earlier—terrifyingly dazzling in others' eyes—seemed like child's play.

"Guaranteed hit? The power of a concept? No!" He frowned at the incoming attack, murmured, then smiled: "If I cannot dodge, then I shall shatter it head-on!"

He extended a slender hand as beautiful as a woman's, then gently closed it into a fist; the ancient lamp that had been drifting in the auspicious clouds above His head, as if summoned, fell into His grasp.

Then, He gently made the motion of pouring.

In an instant, pale green sparks shot forth; then a pale green flame line endlessly extended from the ancient lamp's wick, and in the blink of an eye it not only wove around Him into a mouse-shaped shroud of fire, but also spread through the air into boundless green flame.

A deadly, obscure aura spread over the flames, exuding a terrifying presence, as if any living being touched by it would instantly suffer the mythic calamity of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man.

This was precisely the most distinctive racial power of Zishu and the great clan behind Him.

Plague Fire—the unique power of the Zishu Clan among the Twelve Earthly Branches, representing the death-aspect of life and death.

It was said to contain within it a trace of the great power of Time, something even opponents of the same Ancient Immortal realm did not wish to face.

It was a formidable power that forcibly imposed upon its opponent the five omens that appeared when one's lifespan neared its end.

Normally, an Ancient Immortal's lifespan was already nearly infinite, and the yin-yang balance within was no longer as somewhat fragile as that of a True Immortal; once influenced by an excessive single-aspect force, it would fall out of balance.

At the same time, facing ordinary damage, so long as the yin-yang within remained balanced, one could recover swiftly—like having some sort of infinite health cheat activated.

Yet Zishu's power specifically disrupted that yin-yang balance, forcibly causing the opponent to degrade, rendering their "infinite health" briefly ineffective, then burning their lifespan and vitality during the imbalance to deal true damage—a power that lowered the upper limit.

This was precisely why the Zishu Clan could become a member of the Twelve Earthly Branches.

Before true Ancient Immortals—existences so far beyond the norm they no longer seemed like life—what bug-like ability more unanswerable and tenacious than that of an ordinary Ancient Immortal could possibly make other nearly-undying Ancient Immortals feel dread!

After all, even an ordinary True Immortal, though easily slain by an Ancient Immortal, possessed in its deepest core a touch of immortal spirit that was not so easily destroyed—just as Lingxin of old, though weak, still retained a sliver of immortal spirit that persisted after death.

This realm, transplanted into certain mythic worlds, was already on the level of a Daluo Golden Immortal.

Undying and imperishable, only able to be sealed, and given the slightest chance, they can make a comeback!

In an instant, two overwhelmingly powerful flames collided; there was no explosion as one might imagine, only the melting that ordinary living beings fear!

Yes, the invisible, unseen space itself was melting!

Like a puddle of ice cream on the verge of melting, after the space melted away, a deep, pitch-black void was revealed — that was the absolute 【Nothingness】; any living being that fell into it had never been known to return from that 【Nothingness】!

Yet neither of the two combatants paid it any heed, and in the blink of an eye they clashed once more.

It was a battle that ordinary living beings could not see, a battle unfolding at a speed far beyond what their minds could imagine; all that they could perceive was, as it were, two streaks of flowing light ceaselessly colliding with each other, and then space continuously took visible form, melted, and vanished, revealing the deep 【Nothingness】.

If it were not for both combatants consciously avoiding this subspace at the same time, this fragile subspace would long since have shattered into a dark, deep sphere — just like that world Baichuan had once descended upon in the past.

Yet even so, this life-bearing planet, as massive as a star, was trembling ceaselessly; great quantities of matter were shaken loose and fell away. Were it not for the magnificent Tongguang Tree on the outer perimeter, whose vast root tendrils clung tightly to and shielded that planet, it would likely have been shattered by the tremors.

Compared to the battle of the Ancient Immortals at this moment, the battle Baichuan had briefly fought as an Ancient Immortal in the past against Xuanwu was nothing more than a minor display — like one who possessed power but did not understand its true nature, one blindly swinging fists in wild punches, the other blindly hurling ultimate techniques at random,

Finally, after yet another clash, the dragon and the man once again came to a halt.

What was revealed was a colossal Eastern dragon, completely unscathed, and a Zishu whose clothes were torn, with some parts of his body even showing bizarre, incomplete damage, looking rather wretched.

His former cool, otherworldly immortal bearing was no more; anyone could tell who had fallen into the disadvantage in this battle.

A pair of captivating eyes no longer held their usual indifference, and instead grew somewhat unsightly; the Zishu's expression darkened. Though he was reluctant to admit it, his defeat was already showing!

The power unique to the Zishu Clan, the Plague Fire, struck that dragon's body as if it had no effect at all. Just a moment ago he had "downgraded" the opponent's power and broken its balance, yet the very next second, under the influence of a mysterious force, it instantly reclaimed its rank, and along with it the stripped origin was restored as well — truly bizarre.

Conversely, every time he faced the "guaranteed-hit" flames of Dragon Breath spewed by the opponent, each searing pass would bring him an intense pain, followed by a portion of his body simply vanishing.

Yes, he could only say "vanishing"!

As if directly stripped away, this rendered the body of an Ancient Immortal — supposedly undying — completely ineffective.

Even the other ability of the Zishu Clan, the Resurrection Fire, had no place to display its prowess.

Even he did not understand what exactly had happened; it was as if this ability were fake!

It seemed somewhat like the power of concepts spoken of in legends, yet also not quite.

Because he had truly experienced the power of concepts before.

He could only say: bizarre! Troublesome!

This was the greatest enemy he had ever encountered in his life. Even other dragons of the Chenlong Clan, he had not failed to face, yet never had any dragon been this bizarre…

If Baichuan knew the other's thoughts at this moment, he would surely chuckle softly.

Because, after his current transformation, the most crucial aspect of his Dragon Breath was not that seemingly terrifying ability to incinerate all matter and even souls — but the burning of space!

Yes, the burning of space.

Every time the guaranteed-hit flames of Dragon Breath touched the opponent's body, they would strip away a point of 【mass】 from it. Because, in the end, even though an Ancient Immortal was no longer a being of flesh and blood but a sort of energy body, so long as it existed within space, every particle forming it possessed its corresponding spatial coordinates.

And what his flames burned away and stripped was the corresponding spatial coordinates of that particle of 【mass】, sealing them away.

And the undying nature of an Ancient Immortal, as mentioned before, was more like an undying cheat with infinite health — the key was recovery.

No matter what damage was suffered, at the deepest level it was nothing more than the corresponding 【mass】 forming the body being shattered and separated from it; so long as it was driven by the Ancient Immortal's power, it would be drawn back into the body by quantum attraction, thus appearing undying.

Yet Baichuan's flames' sealing, as it happened, directly caused the shattered 【mass】 to vanish, and the 【mass】 sealed within his flames would only grow more powerful the more it sealed. Thus, if the shattered 【mass】 had all vanished, how could it recover?

Even the Resurrection Fire of the Zishu Clan was nothing more than accelerating that recovery process, regenerating a portion of 【mass】; but regenerated 【mass】 was not entirely created from nothing — after all, energy still had to be conserved.

Therefore…

(End of this chapter)