Chapter 828

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Protagonist:

Xu Zhangqing

The Outer Perimeter of Qiong Valley has already been purified by Creation Power, with only scattered monsters moving about.

Before long, several half-human-height figures crawled out from the gullies — precisely Moss Puppets.

Each of them had stiff limbs, yet their movement speed was extremely fast.

Upon seeing a living person, they immediately pounced over, their mouths still emitting he-he sounds.

Xu Zhangqing's expression was indifferent; he did not put these Moss Puppets in his eyes at all.

Raising his hand, a streak of white Blade Qi slashed out, swift as lightning, instantly slicing across the bodies of these Moss Puppets.

At the moment the Blade Qi touched them, they instantly turned to fine dust on the spot.

The whole process took but an instant; all were killed in a single move.

Immediately after, Xu Zhangqing continued deeper into Qiong Valley; the surrounding Decay Qi gradually grew denser, and fragmented whispering voices reverberated in the air, sounding like both crying and laughing.

Listening for long made one's spirit restless.

Under Xu Zhangqing's Divine Sense probe, he discovered more than ten semi-transparent figures floating ahead — precisely Echo Souls.

These monsters were transformed from the Remnant Souls of cultivators after death; they had no physical form, and their mouths ceaselessly recited the obsessions of their past lives, their voices carrying intense spiritual interference.

If an ordinary cultivator were here, they would easily suffer backlash from the obsessions, causing their Mind to fall into great disorder.

Facing these Echo Souls, Xu Zhangqing still did not change expression.

However this time, he did not use Invisible Power; with a thought, the Chaos Dharma Aspect appeared faintly behind him, and instantly a bolt of Qingbai Thunder erupted, enveloping the Echo Souls.

The power of thunder inherently has the miraculous effect of purifying evil forces and dispelling Yin souls; coupled with the empowerment of Chaos Power, its might was even greater.

"Ah~"

Under the envelopment of the thunder, the Echo Souls immediately let out shrill, miserable screams; their transparent bodies melted at a speed visible to the Naked Eye, their whispering gradually disappeared, and a moment later they thoroughly turned into nothingness, not leaving a single trace of lingering aura.

Advancing all the way in, relying on his crushing cultivation, Xu Zhangqing instantly killed every monster encountered along the way, reaching the Deepest Part of Qiong Valley without any obstruction.

The scene here was completely different from the Outer Perimeter; the Ground was cracked rock, the air permeated with the smell of scorched objects, and even space was slightly twisted.

Ahead, a dried-up Riverbed stretched across the front; it was quite wide, the Riverbed filled with cracked patterns, and the bottom could be seen covered entirely in black marks, as if scorched by fierce fire.

Combining the Jade Slip found earlier, plus the information gathered afterward.

Xu Zhangqing knew that this dried-up Riverbed before him was named the River of the Other Shore.

Legend has it that when the Mayfly Sacrifice opens, this dried-up Riverbed will surge with Heavenly Fire; only by tempering the body in the Heavenly Fire and absorbing the power of fire, and ultimately surviving, can one complete the Transformation and achieve a Realm Breakthrough.

At this moment, the River of the Other Shore was emitting white water vapor; the vapor rose, forming white mist.

As the water vapor grew denser, faint golden light gradually seeped out from the cracked patterns at the bottom of the Riverbed; immediately after, streaks of golden flames gushed out from within.

This was no ordinary flame, but one carrying the characteristics of purification and destruction — Heavenly Fire.

The flames burned silently, yet emitted a heart-palpitating high temperature; falling on rocks, they instantly melted the rocks into a pool of magma.

Xu Zhangqing's gaze was deep and calm: "Heavenly Fire appears; it seems the Mayfly Sacrifice has opened."

This Heavenly Fire has an extremely strong tempering effect on the body, able to break through shackles, but for ordinary cultivators it is a fatal Disaster.

The Heavenly Fire will frantically scorch a cultivator's Spiritual Root and body; unless one has a Heaven-Defying Magic Treasure for protection, the probability of success is infinitely close to zero — survival is almost impossible.

Xu Zhangqing walked slowly toward the River of the Other Shore, his Divine Sense spreading out, probing the surrounding auras.

The Heavenly Fire burned blazingly, enveloping the Riverbed in a stretch of golden firelight; the high temperature intensified, and one could faintly sense a strand of evil aura, currently hidden deep within the firelight, slowly absorbing the power of the Heavenly Fire.

As time passed, the aura kept climbing.

A cold glint flashed in Xu Zhangqing's eyes: "It's definitely the Nine-Headed Insect!"

Although he had never faced this aura directly, he could sense Yin Evil Power within it.

Without surprise, the Nine-Headed Insect is borrowing the Mayfly Sacrifice, absorbing Heavenly Fire power to temper its body, attempting to break through its realm and complete its final metamorphosis.

If allowed to succeed, its Strength Skyrockets; at that time, wanting to slay it again would probably be several times more difficult.

However, Xu Zhangqing still did not act, but stood quietly by the Riverbed, observing the movements within the Heavenly Fire.

He could feel that the Nine-Headed Insect's aura was climbing, yet somewhat chaotic; obviously, in the process of absorbing Heavenly Fire power, it was enduring immense pain.

To put it bluntly, the fusion of its body with Heavenly Fire power was not going smoothly.

This is an excellent opportunity to act, but Xu Zhangqing did not rush.

He would wait, wait until the Nine-Headed Insect thoroughly entered the Critical Stage of Heavenly Fire tempering, at which time it would be unable to distract itself, and then he would unleash a thunderous strike.

Ensure a one-hit kill, leaving no future trouble.

……

……

The Heavenly Fire of the River of the Other Shore burned ever more fiercely; golden fire waves surged layer upon layer, wrapping the Riverbed center into a dazzling light cocoon.

Within the light cocoon, the Nine-Headed Insect's aura fluctuated strong and weak; within the chaotic fluctuations were mixed suppressed roars of pain, clearly tortured by the Heavenly Fire to the extreme.

Xu Zhangqing's gaze was like a torch; he saw the situation clearly through and through.

Only to see the body where the Nine-Headed Insect coiled begin to twist violently in the Heavenly Fire; apart from that human-shaped Skull which remained tense and enduring, the other eight insect heads had all lost their former ferocity.

Fine cracks appeared on the outer shell; green viscous fluid seeped out along the cracks, and upon contacting the Heavenly Fire it instantly vaporized into white smoke.

Not long after, the insect heads peeled layer by layer like withered Bark, appearing a size smaller.

Yet this situation did not end; the smaller insect heads were still scorched by the Heavenly Fire, then continued to shed their skin.

This pain far surpassed imagination; the eight insect heads twitched incessantly; with each layer of skin shed, the Yin Evil Qi on their bodies thinned by a fraction, replaced by a strand of Heavenly Fire's origin power.

And the energy peeled from the insect heads did not dissipate; instead, like drifting threads it gathered, surged along the necks toward the human head, then spread from the Skull throughout the whole body, ultimately transforming into ferocious tattoos branded onto the flesh.

As energy continuously gathered, the Nine-Headed Insect's body underwent an earth-shaking transformation.

The Scale Armor remaining all over his body completely melted away, replaced by a layer of delicate skin shimmering with Golden Light.

Before long, the eight insect heads shed their outer shells entirely, thoroughly transforming into pure energy that merged into his body; only a single tall Human Race figure remained within the light cocoon.

His features bore some resemblance to Bei Qingtang, only a trace of Yin Evil and ferocity that had not yet faded lingered between his brows.

At this moment, the Nine-Headed Insect, in a complete human form, bathed in the Heavenly Fire, and the aura around his body also shifted from chaotic to condensed.

As he absorbed more and more Heavenly Fire, his body grew increasingly scorching; his Clothes had long since turned to flying ash in the high temperature, leaving only a body glowing with a Glazed luster, like a divine statue forged from Heavenly Fire.

Strangely, though the Nine-Headed Insect was wrapped in Heavenly Fire, he did not assimilate; on the contrary, a thread of vitality was contained within the destruction.

This is a wondrous scene formed by the intertwining of the Human Race's Divine Soul, the power of Heavenly Fire, and the Ling Mo's origin — possessing both the tyranny of Heavenly Fire and the agility of the Divine Soul, the two qualities actually fused perfectly!