Chapter 720: Behead Shenxu Laozu!

Thick gray mist rolled slowly, utterly silent, like a boundless ocean.

For cultivators seeking the Taixu Dao Fruit, this mist-filled Taixu Realm has always been the safest place.

Yet now, cold killing intent permeated every corner of this fog.

With a heavy exhale, those clouded eyes opened once more; aside from familiar greed, a streak of fierce ferocity now lingered within them.

As the master of the Sanxian Sect lineage, who had long ignored worldly affairs,

Shenxu Laozu rarely felt the emotion of anger.

But this time was different.

The heavenly gift immortal pill he was determined to obtain had actually dared to harbor thoughts of survival, and while he merely dozed off, it nearly managed to escape.

"Taixu Danhuang?"

"Overpowering a host of geniuses, seizing the Tiputi Sect's true scripture?"

"What a loud title, what ruthless methods... you nearly scared even this Old Ancestor."

A hoarse laugh echoed from the gray mist, laden with unmasked mockery.

It was like seeing a fat fish in a dish not yet fully dead, struggling desperately to attract attention, yet unable to jump out of this jade plate.

As that voice spread from all directions, the eyes in the gray mist gradually rose, as if an unimaginable giant stood up within the fog; as the pupils shifted, they gazed down ruthlessly from above.

"..."

Amidst the wildly surging vast gray mist, Shen Yi's figure, standing with hands at his sides, appeared so thin and insignificant; his plain dark robe could not withstand the chilling cold of the Taixu Realm at all, as if a slightly larger wave of mist could swallow him whole, leaving not even a crumb behind.

Yet he stood calmly there, while the surrounding gray mist seemed to consciously keep its distance, not touching a single hem of his clothes.

Since ascending to the fourth-rank Taiyi Zhenxian realm, the Jin Dan within his body had become his anchor in the Taixu Realm, ensuring he could remain here for a long time without sinking into it.

Shen Yi had no intention of bickering with Shenxu Laozu.

For any normal cultivator, upon learning that the disciple they accidentally took in possessed such talent and strength, unless their mind was addled, how could the first reaction possibly be to swallow them as a pill?

Killing the chicken to get the eggs; so foolish it didn't seem like a sane person, not even like a human.

Shen Yi calmed his emotions, his deep gaze attempting to pierce through the gray mist before him, but he still could not find Shenxu Laozu's true form.

Third-rank Dao Fruits each possess divine wonders.

If speaking of survival, the Taixu lineage is absolutely outstanding, far surpassing others.

Yet Shen Yi felt no restlessness; after all, the one practicing this path was not only Shenxu Laozu, but himself as well; the stronger this Dao Fruit, the better it was for him.

Moreover... as mentioned before, the one in greater haste now should be this Old Ancestor, eager to ascend to a higher position.

Earlier in the courtyard, Shen Yi had overheard the conversation between several Shenxu Shanfeng masters.

A cultivator who couldn't even restrain his emotions when breaking through a realm, yet directly swallowed a disciple of a peak; though it seemed ruthless, the information it actually revealed gave people a bit more confidence in their hearts.

"Truly lived up to the reputation you carved out."

"Now you even have the courage to look directly at this Old Ancestor."

Shenxu Laozu gazed at the youth below, still remembering that last time in Shenxu Shanfeng, the other hadn't even dared to lift his head, merely swallowing pills to prove his own worth, only begging for his life to be spared for the time being.

That was to be expected.

Having slain so many geniuses and being desperate to survive, he must have used this opportunity to befriend some Daluo Xianzun or Bodhisattva types.

With a backer behind him, his confidence naturally increased considerably, and his spine even straightened.

Pity, all living beings are but ants; even if they have seen much, without truly stepping into this category, they can never imagine the terrifying chasm that exists between Taiyi and Daluo.

A foundation of six thousand tribulations was enough for the other to dominate the world, but to cross this threshold seemed somewhat absurd and ridiculous.

"You really think this Old Ancestor's tribulation power was for you to eat for free?"

Shenxu Laozu spoke no more, instantly activating the tribulation power golden seal he had left within the youth's body.

To remain in the Taixu Realm, one must have an anchor; otherwise, one is like a leaf boat, sinking and dying in an instant.

And Shen Yi's anchor had long been controlled in Shenxu Laozu's hands.

He was not willing to harm this heavenly gift immortal pill.

In an instant.

Shen Yi felt the connection between himself and the Taixu Jin Dan severed by that seal.

Unlike the Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva, who initially needed Tiputi Sect to act on his behalf, Shenxu Laozu had never had such thoughts, so the restraint he left behind was even more ruthless, leaving no room for maneuver.

The surrounding gray mist suddenly became strange; surging waves of fog roared, swallowing Shen Yi.

This profound existence, the Taixu Realm, if one has not plucked the corresponding Dao Fruit or mastered similar means, even a third-rank powerhouse risks sinking into it.

Shenxu Laozu did not intend to open his mouth.

Having ascended to the Shenyou Taixu realm, his soul was connected to this world; this vast expanse of gray mist was originally his gaping maw.

However, as he prepared to break through a realm with full force, he suddenly discovered that the "Heavenly Pill" had no intention of entering his belly for a long time.

Shenxu Laozu looked down again.

He saw that amidst the swirling gray mist, Shen Yi still gazed at him with that calm look; his Bai Xi face showed not a trace of panic, and although the surrounding gray mist tightly coiled around him, it still could not make him sink.

"Hmm?"

Confusion arose in Shenxu Laozu's eyes until he noticed the faint white Du Weiguang emanating from Shen Yi; his pupils twitched slightly: "I didn't know my own treasure pill had one day managed to secure an official post in the heavens."

"..."

Before entering, Shen Yi had already anticipated that his Taixu Dao Fruit would be sealed.

But an anchor was nothing more than a link pulling one back to the true world, and the Xian Yin was undoubtedly one of the creations most closely linked to that world.

The final act of reaching out to pat Ye Lan's shoulder was to leave that Xian Yin on the other person.

"Are you planning to stare me to death with those eyes?"

As the dark robe rippled, Shen Yi, glowing with Du Weiguang, stepped out of the gray mist, actively approaching Shenxu Laozu.

"Heh."

Shenxu Laozu took in the youth's movements, fell silent for a moment, then suddenly let out a scoff.

The youth's response was entirely without fault, even revealing a measure of alertness and cleverness.

But precisely because of that, when those actions turned out to be completely meaningless, it was all the more laughable.

"Seeking death."

The instant that cold voice rang out, the sky-filling grey fog churned once more—only now, unlike the earlier unconscious devouring, it was clearly under someone's control, howling as it formed into a pair of great hands, followed by a towering, boundless massive body.

And at the very top, those turbid eyes.

When this stretch of heaven and earth transformed into a giant, the dense pressure finally enveloped Shen Yi's entire body.

But his stride did not slow in the slightest.

Even though those enormous palms had already come crashing down from above with the weight of overturning the heavens.

Lotus leaves drifted out from Shen Yi's sleeves, raising up ten thousand fathoms of Buddhist light, coalescing into that six-armed form; Jinhe surged wildly, and the phantom moved in tandem with him.

He merely gave a casual flick of his sleeve, and the phantom likewise swung its arms with equal ease, shattering the descending grey-fog hands without effort.

Boom boom boom!

Shen Yi walked up before the grey-fog giant, and under the gaze of those eyes, without a word, suddenly kicked forward as though trying to topple a small mound of dirt before him.

Yet manifested upon that six-armed phantom, this fierce kick was like a golden giant Lei Ting tearing across the long sky—amidst a violent howling, it blasted the body Shenxu Laozu had just condensed back into grey fog filling the sky!

"Is this fun?"

Shen Yi lightly ground the sole of his boot, slightly lowering his eyes: "Come out."

His calm words, however, carried a faint overtone of command.

Clearly a "immortal pill" that had been swept into the Grand Void Realm, yet now he wore an utterly domineering air.

Perhaps it had been too many years of silence.

Suddenly seeing this Jin Guang, Shenxu Laozu for a moment actually found it somewhat dazzling; he narrowed his eyes slightly, gazing somewhat dazed at this six-armed phantom as tall as himself, his voice growing hoarser:

"You are... a Bodhisattva?"

The scene before him struck Shenxu Laozu as no different from a fat fish on a plate suddenly turning into a person.

He looked once more at Shen Yi below.

Any third-rank powerhouse, at this point, would have to start weighing whether it was worth it.

A precious pill of six thousand tribulations was indeed fragrant and delicious, but to fight a death-match against a cultivator of the same realm for it—that would hardly be worth it.

Just like the Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva earlier, the instant Shen Yi revealed his Bodhisattva dharma aspect, he had without hesitation conceived the thought of retreat, his mind filled entirely with how to withdraw from the Divine Dynasty's territory.

Shenxu Laozu now stood within the Grand Void Realm—unless he encountered a Slain Hunyuan Daluo Jin Xian, or that Great Freedom Bodhisattva, and even then only if those two had specifically prepared means to deal with him, escaping would be all too easy.

But after a long silence, he instead let out a laugh like a cracked gong: "A Bodhisattva of the Puti Sect... is a pill... thirty-six in number..."

"Only thirty-six in number! Stepping upon the Grand Void Realm!"

"How dare you summon me out!"

The surrounding grey fog drew apart like curtains, and those enormous eyes slowly vanished into the horizon.

Leaving behind only a stretch of silence, a realm of nothing but沉寂 grey and dim.

The next instant, a normal-sized figure abruptly materialized before Shen Yi—their faces barely an inch apart, close enough to be called eye-to-eye.

An old man with white hair and beard, draped in a gauze robe of silk, with six translucent ribbons behind him fluttering without wind.

He should have looked every inch an immortal of Daoist bearing.

Yet because of the twitching at the old man's eye corners and his contorted features, the whole person looked unspeakably ferocious: "Laozu has come out—what can you do to me?"

"..."

Shen Yi looked at those slightly bloodshot eyes before him.

He deliberated for a moment.

The next instant, a hand with clearly defined knuckles, without any warning, slapped across the old man's face—Jinhe surged wildly once more, the vast force pouring out in full.

Slap!

Shenxu Laozu's entire body flew backward, like a perfect stone skipping across the grey, dim ground, bouncing a dozen or so "skips."

After sliding a hundred zhang, he lay sprawled on the ground, staring fixedly at Shen Yi, one hand covering his face, still utterly disbelieving.

Though he had manifested, he was... he was a soul-body!

Only at this moment did Shenxu Laozu finally notice that the sky-covering phantom had, at some unknown point, bent its body down—its six arms, like pillars of heaven, had plunged fiercely into this void earth, enclosing him within like a cage.

Beneath the Jin Guang spilling from those six arms, all dharma was suppressed!

And this was merely one of the methods Shen Yi had comprehended from that shattered fruit position.

Through this period of panel-based deduction and insight, he was long no longer that brute-force Bodhisattva of old who possessed cultivation but nothing else.

"Well struck, well struck."

Shenxu Laozu murmured, nodding again and again—were it not for that slap, he would nearly have forgotten the ferocity innate to him!

In an instant, he flipped himself up.

Only to see the grey, dim ground suddenly seem to heave like an earth-dragon turning; amid continuous cracking sounds, from the fissures rose wisps of black deeper than grey fog, which in an instant coiled around those pillar-like golden six arms.

The majestic tribulation force was finally held back no longer, and the Heavenly Dao order origin belonging to Shenxu Laozu began to take effect.

The number of six-three, nearly crushing Shen Yi's foundation by almost half!

Under such a vast disparity—

Those six arms were seen to be eroded, the Jin Guang flaking off like plaster from a wall, becoming mottled and ugly, with cracks spreading across them, on the verge of collapse.

"On Laozu's own ground, you still dare act so brazenly."

"Die!"

Shenxu Laozu let out an inhuman, strange howl, his entire body shooting forward, five fingers like an eagle's talons, reaching straight for Shen Yi's divine soul.

After shattering the seal of Jinhe suppression, the other party would find it hard even to touch him—short of waiting bound for death, there was no other choice.

Snap!

Shen Yi backhanded another palm, slamming the lunging figure flat beneath his feet.

The crisp sound left Shenxu Laozu completely dazed; he covered his face once more and looked up in confusion.

"My apologies."

Shen Yi flicked the jade pendant at his waist with a finger, casting his gaze downward: "Besides the Immortal Court, I also hold an official post here on the ground."

Surging imperial qi covered the surface of the Six-Armed Bodhisattva Dharma Image, blocking the encroaching black mist, and Jin Guang flared up vigorously once more.

"By the way, this place is not your territory either."

"This is Da Nanzhou."

"The entire Da Nanzhou falls under my jurisdiction."

Shen Yi bent slightly, looking at Shenxu Laozu before him, his palm slowly hovering above the other's brow.

Within Bai Xi, pale as jade, threads of golden纹路 began to weave, and in the blink of an eye coalesced into a strange character.

Shenxu's Great Luo Dao Fruit already possessed life-saving means far beyond others, so naturally it was far inferior in direct magical combat; otherwise, if he possessed both, this Laozu would not have remained in seclusion for so many years.

The Bodhisattva Fruit, born from the Lingwei Guardian True Scripture, was a typical master of head-on clashes.

Now that Shenxu Laozu had voluntarily abandoned his own advantages, and Shen Yi had compensated for the lack of means, the outcome of this magical duel was in fact already sealed.

Subduing demons and taming evil spirits was, after all, the traveler's specialty.

Watching the strange character in his palm drift lightly onto Shenxu Laozu's brow, Shen Yi knew his guess was correct.

Suddenly, the old man with immortal wind and Dao bone seemed to have his life pulse sealed; he struggled desperately on the ground but could make no sound.

His body began to shrink violently, soon twisting into a snow-white beetle no larger than a fingernail, with six transparent wings on its back, flapping frantically.

"Now Shenxu Mountain belongs to me as well."

Shen Yi rose, the Bodhisattva Dharma Image shadow returning to his own form, as if he himself had grown six arms.

Under the shadow's cover, he calmly stepped down onto the beetle, his shoe tip gently grinding, and with supreme magic power crushed the beetle into a pile of bloody residue.

(End of this chapter)