Chapter 915: Fierce Battle!

"Now, it is your turn!"

Amidst the furious roar, Li Tianshi scanned the three of them, his face filled with cruelty and ferocity, as if all his previous benevolence had been a mere facade.

He slashed his long sword through the air, and three sword beams suddenly shot out from the otherwise calm void, heading straight for the three of them.

One against three, and all of them were renowned Great Cultivators.

He certainly had immense confidence!

Because Luo Chen had been the one to snatch the Demon Heart Gu, he was the closest to him and thus bore the brunt of the attack.

Facing the incoming sword beam, he did not hesitate to counter with a sword-finger strike.

A crimson sword aura surged forth in response.

But an unexpected scene unfolded!

Luo Chen's crimson sword aura had barely left his body when it mysteriously vanished.

Just like the previous attacks from the others against Li Tianshi, it was as if something had wiped it away.

Caught off guard, Li Tianshi's sword strike landed squarely on him.

"Hmph!"

With a low grunt, Luo Chen crossed his hands in front of his chest to block the sword light.

*Screech... *

A violent friction sound erupted, and in the blink of an eye, his protective Qi armor shattered.

The main body of his Profound Dust Armor was even sliced open, leaving a large gash.

As the sword light entered his body, Luo Chen's flesh, which was as tough as a magic treasure, was instantly torn open.

A faint, foul stench of decay even began to emanate from the wound.

"It's Corpse Decay Poison!"

Luo Chen's expression shifted slightly as he was blasted a hundred feet away by the immense force, crashing into the wall near the main tomb.

He looked at his arm with a gloomy expression.

How many years had it been?

Apart from Qing Shuang, how long had it been since anyone had caused such direct damage to his physical body?

"Is this the method you mentioned earlier that you prepared specifically for me?"

Roaring sounds erupted nearby as well, caused by the attacks on Meng Meng Shentong and Granny Granny Hongye. Li Tianshi slowly flew out from the dust, looking down at Luo Chen from above with a sneer, his long sword pointing diagonally.

Li Tianshi flew over slowly from the dust, looking down at Luo Chen, with contempt on his face, his long sword pointing obliquely.

Luo Chen looked down at his arms. The diagonal sword gash was deep enough to reveal bone, and the lingering Corpse Decay Poison was like a maggot in the bone, refusing to be removed by either magic power or Source Power.

This was only because he had tempered his physical body to the extreme, which could hinder the poison from spreading further.

Otherwise, in the blink of an eye, this poison would have spread throughout his body like it did with Granny Granny Hongye, endangering his Purple Mansion.

But if that were all, it would not have been enough to change his expression.

What he truly feared was the strange phenomenon where his attacks were neutralized earlier.

Dropping his hands, the Profound Dust Armor healed automatically, covering his arms.

Without turning his head, he asked, "Fellow Daoist Meng, what exactly is a Gu House?"

Earlier, Meng Meng Shentong had let out a cry of alarm and had even tried to flee decisively.

From this, it was clear that he had some understanding of Li Tianshi's methods.

On the ground nearby, Meng Meng Shentong looked quite disheveled, with a slightly damaged shield blocking in front of him.

"A so-called Gu House is a special existence constructed from a vast number of Gu insects; you can understand it as a Gu-Dao magic treasure."

"This method has been popular in the Southern Border for a long time, but no one has ever been able to create one, simply because constructing a complete and stable Gu House requires an extremely profound and clear understanding of Gu insects. Furthermore, one must arrange them according to their habits, species, and functional characteristics."

"The more insects, the more stable the Gu House; the higher the grade of the master Gu, the more powerful the Gu House!"

"And every Gu House possesses very unique functions, often bordering on the miraculous! Because that is the miracle produced by the combination of thousands of types of Gu insects!"

A miracle?

Luo Chen narrowed his eyes, his Scarlet Eye Golden Pupils activating automatically to scan his surroundings.

Hidden within the void, there were indeed numerous ignored auras rising and falling, moving in a unique rhythm and cadence.

Having been in the Southern Border for many days, he was no longer as unfamiliar with Gu insects as he had been at the beginning.

These things were not actually that formidable; they could be treated as alternative spirit beasts, or as special magic tools or treasures.

What was truly formidable was the person—the cultivator who excavated and utilized the functions of the Gu insects to assist in cultivation and battle, achieving twice the result with half the effort.

If one were to calculate it, a Fourth-Tier Gu insect, which many low-level cultivators begged for, was at most equivalent to a High-Grade magic treasure or an ordinary True Artifact.

But in this Gu House, how many Fourth-Tier Gu insects were involved?

As for the number of low and mid-tier Gu insects, it was in the hundreds and thousands, countless!

"Li Tianshi, you are indeed the number one Gu refining master of the Southern Border!"

Amidst his praise, Luo Chen's body trembled slightly, his Profound Dust Armor healed, and protective Qi armor emerged naturally.

Not only that, the Flat Mountain Crown on his head shone brightly, and a curtain of earthy yellow light poured down, shrouding him.

Li Tianshi watched this scene without interfering, even showing a hint of appreciation.

"I have heard that Luo Chen of the Alchemy Sect has another Daoist title, known as the 'Slaying Demon True Person,' which highlights his powerful combat prowess. Now it seems this combat experience is indeed rare."

Luo Chen asked coldly, "So, is the special function of your Gu House to dissipate our attacks?"

Li Tianshi did not deny it, nodding, "Exactly. This Wind-Wave Pavilion consumed the 3,270 types of Gu insects that I painstakingly collected; it is the culmination of my life's wealth and heart's blood. Any cultivator within it will find their attacks automatically dissipate, like waves vanishing. And while I am within it, I am unaffected by anything. Inside the Wind-Wave Pavilion, I am unhindered!"

As these words fell, Meng Meng Shentong's face turned deathly pale.

Granny Granny Hongye, who was struggling against the Corpse Decay Poison, looked even more devastated.

"Is it really true that any attack can be dissipated?" Luo Chen asked.

Li Tianshi smiled, "You are welcome to try!"

Try he would!

Luo Chen did not stand on ceremony; his left hand formed a seal as a phoenix bird flew out, while his right hand struck out with a palm, splitting stones.

With both hands moving in unison, he simultaneously utilized both magic spells and martial arts.

This scene caused Li Tianshi's heart to tremble secretly.

Of course, the result did not exceed his expectations.

After the two attacks were launched, there was no echo; they simply vanished into the void.

"How is it?" he asked with a smile.

Luo Chen did not answer him but fell into silence.

Seeing him silent, hearing Granny Hongye's wailing, and observing Meng Meng Shentong's panicked retreat, Li Tianshi laughed.

"So, you should just surrender!"

Hong and Meng both seemed tempted.

Luo Chen pondered for a moment before speaking up, "If it were truly that formidable, why did you, who were previously filled with rage, stop pursuing instead? You stopped abruptly after just one sword strike."

"I..."

"You are merely a coward putting on a brave front!" Luo Chen's voice suddenly grew louder. "This so-called dissipation is just empty talk. In reality, you are relying on a vast number of Gu insects to absorb and digest them. If our attacks were powerful enough, how much could your Wind-Wave Pavilion absorb?"

Li Tianshi's expression remained unchanged, "You can try again?"

Luo Chen never lacked the spirit of experimentation.

Sword Qi flickered at his fingertips, but it did not leave his body; he transformed into an arrow released from a bow, charging toward Li Tianshi.

Seeing this, Li Tianshi realized that in his carelessness, the other party had already glimpsed some of the flaws in his Wind-Wave Pavilion.

Attacks that did not leave the body would not be absorbed.

But what truly shocked him was...

"Why are you unaffected by the Corpse Decay Poison?"

*Swish! *

With a sword slash, Li Tianshi dodged by moving sideways, his eyes filled with astonishment.

Given Luo Chen's personality, he never liked answering questions that exposed his secrets during battle; even if he did speak, it was usually to attack the opponent's mind.

But in this battle, he was not alone.

Sword Qi surged and crisscrossed in his hands, and he shouted clearly.

"You were furious earlier, yet you held back, simply waiting for me and Granny Hongye to succumb to the Corpse Decay Poison, and waiting for Meng Meng Shentong to lose his courage to fight."

"Three against one, in a head-on battle, what do we have to fear?"

As he spoke, Luo Chen stepped on the Moon-Step, his body drawing a strange arc in the air, sword Qi piercing the void, his physical palm following closely behind.

With sword and palm working in tandem, Li Tianshi was caught off guard and had to block with all his might.

*Boom! *

With immense force added, he was sent flying like a meteor, crashing into the ground.

He smashed a deep crater into the location of the black coffin.

Luo Chen stood in the air, looking down, his black hair fluttering, his eyes deep.

"Why are the two fellow Daoists afraid to fight?"

"Magic treasures, even if they cannot leave the body, can still expand and contract; they will never be affected by this mediocre Wind-Wave Pavilion."

Reminded by him, Hong and Meng also reacted.

From the crater, a figure suddenly rushed out.

Three attacks landed simultaneously.

There were fluttering sleeves, a suppressing great seal, and the shimmering transparent long sword that revealed its true form, piercing through the air.

Facing the three attacks, the figure moved with incredible speed, dodging the seal; the fluttering sleeves were too slow to catch him, and he then traveled upstream along the transparent long sword.

In a trance, Meng Meng Shentong seemed to see a four-armed monster with compound eyes spinning rapidly.

His heart filled with terror, and he activated the Vacuum Gu within his body, vanishing into the void.

However, the monster's speed was incredibly fast; its arm, like a blade, pierced directly into the void, following the hilt of the sword into his body.

Following closely behind were the other three blade-arms.

*Swish! *

With a tear of the four arms, Meng Meng Shentong's body was shredded like a rag doll.

A Nascent Soul infant appeared in the void, dazed.

He instinctively wanted to flee, but a terrifying suppressing force came from all directions, leaving him as if trapped in a quagmire, unable to move at all.

*Swish! *

A sword slash!

The Nascent Soul infant collapsed instantly; before the vast magic power composing the Nascent Soul could explode, countless Gu insects from the Wind-Wave Pavilion absorbed and devoured it.

All of this, while sounding long, happened in an instant after the three of them attacked.

Only then did this figure slowly turn around, staring fixedly at Luo Chen.

Luo Chen's pupils contracted, and he spat out four words, "Ghost-Crying Evil Mantis!"

Following that, the sword Qi at his fingertips faded, and a bloody sword tip slowly revealed its true form.

"I never imagined that the famous Li Tianshi would also be proficient in the path of physical tempering?"

Li Tianshi, with his eyes composed of thousands of pupils, stared fixedly at Luo Chen, his voice hoarse.

"I also never imagined that you would cultivate the 'Hundred Poison Body Tempering Technique' to the Great Completion realm in just one year, to the point where even my Corpse Decay Poison cannot affect you."

"When I ambushed you at the Dead Gate earlier, I left some poison gas on your hand, and I thought it was just a coincidence."

"Now it seems, no matter how much I overestimated you, I still underestimated you!"

*Clang! *

The Yuan Tu Sword was gripped tightly in his hand.

Luo Chen felt a sense of calm, looking at the other party's green-skinned, two-legged, four-armed form, with many thoughts flashing through his mind.

This physical transformation of his was similar to the "Heavenly Roc Transformation" he had cultivated in his early years; both were transformations into beast-like forms.

But the principles were vastly different; the other party must have used some transformation-type Gu insects to achieve this level.

The form he had taken was a Ghost-Crying Evil Mantis recorded in the classics.

If it were in the outside world, he wouldn't care.

But at this moment, the Yin-Yang Tomb was shrouded by the Wind-Wave Pavilion, placing him in the opponent's home field.

The Gu House Wind-Wave Pavilion not only revealed the function of absorbing and digesting attacks but also possessed an inexplicable suppressing power.

Thus, before breaking the Wind-Wave Pavilion, he had to be cautious.

Lifting his sword tip slightly, Luo Chen took a deep breath and stopped speaking.

Source Power erupted beneath his feet, and his figure vanished instantly.

When he reappeared, he was right in front of Li Tianshi.

With a horizontal sword slash, a green, blade-like arm blocked him.

Luo Chen did not dodge or evade, slashing his long sword down.

*Crack! *

With just one strike, the green arm was severed in the middle.

Li Tianshi's expression changed drastically; he never expected his blade-arm, which was comparable to a True Artifact, to be so fragile.

With a thought, the Wind-Wave Pavilion stirred up more waves.

An inexplicable suppressing force surged over, and Luo Chen's figure paused.

Li Tianshi dodged the Yuan Tu Sword and struck out, his severed arm replaced by the Corpse Decay Sword.

Luo Chen blocked it casually and then sought an opening to counterattack.

The speed of his reaction and the cunning angle of his sword strikes were impossible to guard against.

From the few simple exchanges, one could see Luo Chen's rich combat experience and exquisite combat techniques.

However, whenever he was about to gain the upper hand, the omnipresent Wind-Wave Pavilion would always slow his movements, allowing Li Tianshi to regain the initiative.

*Clang! Clang! Clang! *

The sound of continuous blade and sword clashes erupted frantically in the Yin-Yang Tomb.

The piercing sharp ringing was enough to deafen anyone.

Granny Granny Hongye, hiding in the simple defensive array she had set up, watched this scene, her expression filled with shock.

The battle here had no great momentum.

It wasn't even like a Core Formation cultivator's battle, which would move mountains and split the earth.

But the chilling murderous intent in the subtle details was hair-raising and skin-crawling.

Is this the battle of body cultivators?

It was not strange for Luo Chen to have such attainments.

When he walked the Southern Border under the alias "Tyrant Cultivator Qi Tian," he had left a deep impression.

But for Li Tianshi, this old friend she had known for many years, to hide such peerless ability was truly shocking.

Through the repeated close-quarters clashes, Granny Granny Hongye gradually realized something.

Li Tianshi's physical tempering was specifically to complement the Gu House Wind-Wave Pavilion!

With this Gu House present, ordinary Qi-refining powerhouses could not launch large-scale long-range attacks, allowing him to rely on his physical strength for close-quarters combat.

And even against body cultivators of the same rank, under the suppression of the Wind-Wave Pavilion, the rhythm of the battle was completely controlled by him.

If Luo Chen's experience and techniques hadn't been so rich, he would have been taken down long ago.

"So, when did he cultivate such a powerful physical body?" Granny Granny Hongye was deeply puzzled.

Luo Chen, who had fought Li Tianshi for hundreds of rounds, gradually realized the truth.

Under such intense fighting, he even began to feel his Source Power circulation slowing down, yet the opponent showed little fatigue.

The reason for this was definitely not that the opponent's physical tempering realm was higher than his.

"It's the Demon Heart Gu!"

"The Demon Heart Gu excels at refining essence into Qi, but in this process, there is always a surplus, allowing the opponent to easily possess a vast amount of blood energy."

"Coupled with the help of this Wind-Wave Pavilion, that is why his strength can be inexhaustible."

Once this thought occurred, Luo Chen's desire to break the Wind-Wave Pavilion became even more urgent.

After another blade and sword clash, Luo Chen advanced instead of retreating, slamming his body into the opponent to take a strike from one of the blade-arms.

Mountain-Crashing Strike!

After the collision, Luo Chen borrowed the force to retreat, holding his sword in one hand and forming a seal with the other.

A powerful aura spread from his body.

This aura spread incredibly fast, instantly filling the Yin-Yang Tomb and even diffusing into the vast Yin realm.

Seeing this, Li Tianshi felt something was wrong and spat out.

A wisp of illusory flame drifted out.

Opposite him, Luo Chen also spat out, and a wisp of golden flame flew out.

The two flames tangled endlessly after contact, but after a moment, the golden flame began to gain the upper hand.

Li Tianshi was shocked; the "Nether Void Flame" he had obtained by chance in his early years was quite miraculous.

Ordinary True Fire could not compare to it at all.

But encountering Luo Chen, it had been suppressed twice in a row.

Once when the other party snatched his heart, and he wanted to block it but couldn't.

That was why he didn't dare to release it during the battle.

And the other time was now.

He didn't think, a fierce look flashing across his face.

The three blood shackles that had been sealing his chest wound detached from his body and pressed toward Luo Chen.

"Roar!"

A black shadow roared out from Luo Chen, facing the three blood shackles head-on.

It was Black King!

Because of these two defensive buffers, Luo Chen finally had enough time.

The seal in his hand was completed.

In an instant, the entire Yin realm, covering a radius of several thousand miles, was affected.

Countless skeletons and zombies wandering under the blood moon had their death energy drained, falling to the ground without knowing why.

Yin caves and veins boiled and churned, spreading deathly, eerie energy.

A massive amount of death energy surged toward Luo Chen.

Finally, it condensed at his fingertips!

"This Sect wants to know, can your Gu House withstand this move?"

Luo Chen's eyes flashed with ferocity as he pointed a finger.

"Wither and Flourish!"

Luo Chen's eyes flashed with ferocity, and he pointed with one finger.

"Withering and Flourishing!"