Chapter 585: Alone Against Cold Mountain Laozu

Clang—

The instant Shen Yi tightened his grip on the blade's hilt, Shen Shan Laozu finally broke free from the suppression of Divine Mountain Suppressing the Blue Sky.

Beneath that vast, invisible force, the loose, sagging skin of this old demon from the Western Flood gradually tightened, and with a rip, its right arm tore through its already tattered clothing.

Its body rapidly swelled, transforming into a grotesque fish several hundred zhang tall, half-scaled and half-feathered. Though fish-shaped, it had grown four webbed claws, and with its bloated, greasy body, it looked round and plump, like a giant toad.

The terrifying old wounds between its scales and feathers bore witness to what perilous trials it had once faced.

Even that tribulation of slaughter that had shaken the entire Flood Marsh had failed to take its life. Now it was only facing a young cultivator—immortal arts were formidable, certainly, but it had seen plenty of cultivators from the Northern Flood who wielded immortal arts. What was there to fear!

"Give this seat—"

The ferocious monster-fish raised its head toward the heavens, its gaping maw—as wide as its entire head—swinging open in fury, and a thick sound wave laden with cold crystals swept outward: "Come down!"

Within that sound wave, the surrounding waters froze once more, the entire surface covered in cold ice several zhang thick, turning water into land; Shen Shan Laozu's four limbs stomped heavily upon this glacial expanse, and amid earth-shaking tremors, it charged toward the figure suspended in the heavens!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The dull footfalls rang like a great bell, echoing across the nearby waters and land. A bone-piercing frosty current spread outward, making this place feel as though it had plunged into the depths of winter. Even a great cultivator of the Earth Realm like Deng Xiangjun felt a chill seep into the five organs of her Dao Infant, her breath momentarily stagnating.

Once again sensing the true power of a mid-Heavenly-Realm great demon, he instinctively looked upward.

Deng Xiangjun did not understand exactly what effect the immortal arts Shen Yi practiced had; she could only make a simple inference from what she had witnessed earlier—it should be some domineering application of the power of heaven and earth.

More akin to a magical technique than an enhancement of oneself.

If Shen Shan Laozu were to close the distance, Shen Zongzhu's relatively lower cultivation—only peak Earth Realm—would be magnified without limit…

As the one facing this sound wave head-on.

Between Shen Yi's disheveled, flying hair, a faint white frost appeared, and even his eyelashes were piled with snow.

Yet those pitch-black eyes remained clear and calm.

The frost that fell upon the Dark Armor quietly melted away, unable to affect the young man's movements.

Watching the charging Shen Shan Laozu about to leap, Shen Yi calmly raised his left hand, pinched up a Phoenix-Origin, and placed it in his mouth.

When the Heart Flame surged into his pupils and entire body, then burst wildly from within the Dark Armor, the space around that slender figure became utterly distorted.

Shen Yi closed his eyes, feeling that searing pain in his heart.

Yu Lan was now a Heavenly-Realm Suppressing Stone; the Phoenix-Origin Dao Soldiers she represented, though not yet at the level of a Demon-Emperor Weapon, were now more than a hundred times more powerful than before.

"Huff."

Shen Yi's face was slightly pale, making his thin lips appear even redder, as if stained with blood.

He exhaled a breath of scorching air, slowly opened his eyes, and at the very instant Shen Shan Laozu was about to launch itself, instead of dodging, he took a step ahead and his figure suddenly plunged downward!

The Gold-Patterned Dark Blade between his palms once again transformed into a ten-thousand-zhang stream of light, gripped tightly by those long, powerful hands.

Yet the more striking change was in this stretch of blue sky.

The clouds and mist filling the sky suddenly converged, forming a sky-obscuring giant image of a half-body; following Shen Yi's descending figure, its two palms slammed down viciously!

Even among demons and monsters, Shen Shan Laozu's form could be considered massive, but whether beneath that Dark-Gold stream of light or before the Overturning Clouds Palm as vast as boundless earth, it appeared utterly insignificant.

Its leaping body trembled and stopped midair. After hesitating for less than a single breath, the survival instinct honed through death tribulations forcibly seized control of its body, driving it to dodge in the opposite direction!

Boom!

The Cloud Palm struck the ice surface, and the glacier stretching thousands of miles—seemingly indestructible—instantly shattered, massive floes of ice surging upward like rubble.

Shen Yi's face was expressionless, his body leaning slightly forward, both palms held in the downward-slashing posture.

The blade was only three chi long, but its Dark-Gold edge seemed boundless, and with a slicing sound, it struck the fleeing figure far in the distance.

"Roar—"

The four-limbed monster-fish tumbled and crashed away. The Dark-Gold edge sank into its scales and feathers, tearing open the flesh along its spine and leaving a massive gash that nearly ran the length of its body.

As the strongest Hall Master, Ke Shisan's Gold-Patterned Dark Blade was even more powerful than the Phoenix-Origin.

Shen Shan Laozu stumbled to its feet, horrified, and looked back, wanting to say something, but when it opened its mouth it instead spat out a stream of Heart Flame. It felt as though its entire interior was engulfed by raging fire, as if it were being scalded through from the inside out.

"Ah!"

It let out a piercing shriek, channeling frost into the wound, but it could not reduce the burning sensation by even half; instead, its already injured body became somewhat stiff.

Just now it had been clamoring for Shen Yi to come down, but now that he had truly come down, it stared wide-eyed at the figure slowly straightening up in the far distance, and only one thought filled its mind.

"Don't come any closer!"

At these words, Deng Xiangjun was utterly dumbfounded.

Unlike the previous caught-off-guard moment, this time Shen Shan Laozu had taken the initiative. After suffering that earlier setback, this strike was bound to be delivered with full fury.

Yet the result was no different—it still ended with the demon wounded.

This could only mean that Shen Zongzhu had already surpassed Shen Shan Laozu in raw strength… That Gold-Patterned Dark Blade could actually pierce the body of this old demon—comparable to a mid-Heavenly-Realm cultivator—so easily. Why had she never heard of such a treasure?

"Stop!"

Shen Shan Laozu let out another roar.

Shen Yi, however, remained unmoved. He stared straight ahead, the long blade held at an angle, appearing to walk unhurriedly and unhurriedly, yet each step he took closed the distance between them by a hundred li.

The Dark Armored boots made light contact with the shattered ice, producing faint sounds—nothing like the commotion when Shen Shan Laozu had charged earlier.

But these soft footsteps, falling into the old demon's ears, made its heart pound faster and faster, thudding as if about to burst through its skull.

"Pressing your luck—this old ancestor will fight you to the death!"

Shen Shan Laozu, feeling the searing pain throughout its body, had never imagined that in just a single exchange, it had already been forced to use its trump card.

It opened its mouth and spat out a round, smooth inner core, its surface as lustrous as jade, with only a small jade toad embedded in its center.

Clearly, this inner core did not originally belong to Shen Shan Laozu; it was a treasure it had forcibly seized and refined—the very reason for its bizarre appearance.

That jade toad was actually depicted sitting cross-legged, its two front forelegs held before its belly as if cradling a core.

"Kill him for me!"

Shen Shan Laozu poured its essence blood into the inner core, forcing the jade toad to open its eyes.

In an instant, a gentle breeze suddenly blew out from within the inner core.

A thunderous roar erupted, and in an instant it transformed into raging wind and blizzard, shifting the very colors of heaven and earth; judging by its terrifying momentum, it seemed as though it would turn the entire land and water into an everlasting winter.

The surroundings swiftly became a vast expanse of white, a deathly stillness and terror; even with Deng Xiangjun's eyesight, she could not see beyond three zhang.

Now, this wintry land lay between Shenxu Laozu and Shen Yi.

The rampant wind swept about wildly, biting cold to the bone, as if it would devour any living creature that dared approach.

Clearly, despite Hanshan Laozu's fearsome shouts, what he actually wanted was to use the strange phenomenon created by this inner core to seize the chance and flee!

"Wait—"

Deng Xiangjun seemed to have anticipated something, and hurriedly stretched out her hand and shouted.

Sure enough, Shen Yi looked at that expanse of white, deathly cold domain, and stepped in with his blade in hand, clean and decisive; since he had already made his move, he could not possibly let this old demon leave.

"Hiss!"

Deng Xiangjun's palm had just touched the white mist; though her fingertips showed no great change, she genuinely felt her spirit tremble several times, and even her consciousness grew somewhat stiff and blurred.

This phenomenon was no mere trick to frighten, but truly possessed the effect of slaying the souls of living beings.

Such a great commotion—let alone Yin Qizhang, anyone in Yuecheng with even a bit of cultivation took flight in terror, wanting to see what had happened.

Yin Yajun finally saw once more that unforgettable ink-colored figure.

She could only watch helplessly as the other party calmly stepped into that deathly cold domain that seemed devoid of any breath of life; the figure grew ever more blurred, until it was completely swallowed by the heavy snow.

"Shen... Shen Zongzhu."

Hanshan Laozu poured in his essence blood with all his might, until the jade toad within the inner core was thoroughly fed.

Only then did it pant twice heavily, a trace of lingering fear showing on its face.

The power of this jade toad inner core need not be elaborated, but after all it was not something born of its own body; even after spending long years refining it, barely making it part of its own flesh, it still could not wield it as smoothly as its own arm.

To use it against cultivators of the same realm was largely impossible, after all the opponent would evade.

But Hanshan Laozu truly had not expected this brat to dare stride straight in.

Perhaps the other party had some reliance for warding off the cold?

But this cold intent was far more than it appeared on the surface—otherwise how could it seem so utterly still, devoid of any vitality.

"Seeking death."

It hesitated for a moment, abandoning the plan to flee.

If it simply left like this, this trip would be a tremendous loss!

Thinking of this, Hanshan Laozu began using essence blood as a link to control the jade toad inner core, attempting to utterly suppress and slay Shen Yi within.

The very instant it tried to probe the situation inside this cold domain, it suddenly widened its eyes.

Only to see, amid the swirling wind and snow.

A figure slowly walked out from within.

Shen Yi still gazed straight ahead; the long blade in his palm was covered in frost, and with each step forward, the precious crown binding his hair, as well as the mystic armor on his body, froze and cracked inch by inch, flaking away, and the moment they fell to the ground they transformed into purple-gold light and vanished.

Wu Jun's strength was simply too low, causing the effectiveness of this mystic armor to already fall somewhat behind the current level of magical combat.

Yet even wearing only the most utterly unremarkable ink-colored long robe, the slight glance Shen Yi cast still made Hanshan Laozu fill with wariness, not daring to move.

Beside him, a vigorous snow-white tiger paced with calm elegance, its slightly lowered head showing a hint of docility.

Bai Hu quietly accompanied Shen Yi's left side like this; with each gentle flick of its tail, it swept away all the wind and frost for him.

"S-stop him."

Hanshan Laozu once again poured in even more essence blood, causing the jade toad's body within the inner core to swell greatly; its originally blank expression instantly turned blood-red and ferocious.

It seemed a toad's croak was about to rise.

Yet it was interrupted by a crisp cracking sound.

Under Hanshan Laozu's horrified gaze, a dark shadow appeared on the inner core, and its smooth surface gradually split open.

Shen Yi, expression unchanged, raised that blade, pressed its sharp tip against the inner core, then suddenly exerted force, driving the blade tip into the jade toad's throat, and under its wide-staring eyes, pierced it through inch by inch.

Crack—

The inner core turned to powder in midair.

At the same time, Hanshan Laozu, forcibly enduring the intense pain, suddenly stamped his two taut, thick hind limbs, and his entire form transformed into a streak of light and fled once more.

"..."

Shen Yi slightly raised his eyes; as his ink robe fluttered, another dark shadow darted out, swelling against the wind, and in the span of a breath transformed into a ferocious mystic tiger, pouncing the fleeing streak of light down from the sky.

The mystic tiger savagely swung its front claws and pressed down with full fury!

Clearly not harming a single hair of Hanshan Laozu's flesh, it nonetheless forced this old demon to let out the most harrowing howl it had ever uttered.

The howl echoed outward, even making the living beings in Yuecheng feel their skin go numb and break out in goosebumps all over.

Boom boom boom!

Hanshan Laozu slammed his head against the ground, pounding the ice surface violently; a dignified great demon of mid Heavenly realm, now rolling and wailing on the ground like a child.

It tried in terror to push away the mystic tiger on its body, but its claws passed right through that body, as if probing into raging black flames.

"Immortal, immortal, spare me! I am willing to go on campaign for the Hongxian Sect, to fight that dragon demon to the death!"

Hanshan Laozu, feeling the unbearable agony, wished he could tear open his own fish belly with his own hands rather than be tormented like this.

What answered it was Shen Yi once again gripping his gold-patterned mystic blade.

Along the straight blade body, mystic-gold flowing light rose once more, sweeping boldly across the long sky; with the momentum of a splitting bamboo, in a horizontal slash, it sent that massive fish head flying, which rolled several times across the ice surface with a thudding sound.

【Slain mid Heavenly realm Hanshan fish demon, total lifespan 660,000 years, remaining lifespan 250,000 years, absorption complete】

Shen Yi withdrew his long blade and glanced at the panel.

If this fish demon had been allowed to live out its full lifespan, it would have been quite auspicious.

The wind and snow cold domain behind him quietly dissipated, but the surrounding air remained damp and bitterly cold.

Shen Yi raised his eyes and looked; he saw that apart from the sky above where he stood, the heavens had simultaneously grown dim and overcast, with goose-feather snowflakes drifting down, stretching for what seemed like tens of thousands of li, covering nearly the entire Nanhong waters.

Every living being only had to raise its head to see the snow drifting down.

Having slain Heaven-realm demons several times before, Shen Yi naturally knew this world-shaking omen was caused by the fall of Shen Shan Laozu — he just hadn't expected the impact to be this great.

But none of this had anything to do with him.

Shen Yi drew in a deep breath, using the searing heat of his Heart Fire to push back against the lingering chill the crossing of the Cold Domain had left on his body.

He looked at the corpse before him with a hint of nervousness.

Whether he could break through to the Heaven realm depended entirely on whether his guess was correct.

(End of chapter)