Chapter 136: New Calamity Glyph

Just as Sword‑Mad Elder and others thought Chen Zheng would inevitably fail to breakthrough, over a distant mountain more than thirty people were watching Chen Zheng, their faces showing horror to the point of despair, all shocked by the ninety‑nine divine arts.

All of them wore blood‑red robes, with a snarling skull embroidered on their chests as if ready to leap out and devour a chosen victim; they also exuded a strong, pungent scent of blood, clearly not benevolent.

They were all members of the Blood Shadow Demon Sect.

The leader among them was a middle‑aged man with a white, beardless face and blood‑red lips, whose aura was terrifyingly cold.

His appearance bore a striking resemblance to the young man in blue robes who, when Chen Zheng was gathering war‑Qi at the border between the Great Li and Great De dynasties, killed the descendant of the infamous Azure‑Blood monster.

Could the cold‑aura middle‑aged man be blood‑related to that blue‑robed youth?

Indeed, the cold‑aura middle‑aged man is the blue‑robed youth's father: Grand Elder Xue Wu Yin of the Blood Shadow Demon Sect, an Ancient Giant who has cultivated the Eight‑fold divine arts.

That day, upon learning of his son's death, Xue Wu Yin was incensed and swore revenge, dispatching a large number of subordinates to investigate the border between Great Li and Great De.

After numerous investigations, he finally pieced together the true culprit who killed his son, most likely the recently rising Chen Zheng.

The vengeance for his son's murder knows no bounds!

At this moment, Xue Wu Yin saw Chen Zheng, and the horror in his eyes instantly turned to venomous resentment, resembling a poisonous snake ready to strike.

But he did not act on it.

Earlier, Chen Zheng single‑handedly captured the Azure Dragon, and Xue Wu Yin witnessed it; he also heard from many Free Cultivators about Wan Lianshan's failed pursuit of Chen Zheng.

He knows that Wan Lianshan is no match for Chen Zheng.

Rushing forward would be tantamount to courting death.

That does not mean he has no way to take revenge.

He had already contacted Wan Lianshan and promised that, while his disciples explored the Five‑Elements Realm, he would help locate Chen Zheng.

Xue Wu Yin produced a communication token in his hand, infusing it with magical energy.

The token instantly glowed with a blue sheen, emitting a man's voice: "Brother Wu Yin, what business? Have you perhaps found Chen Zheng?"

The voice belonged to Wan Lianshan.

"Brother Lianshan, Chen Zheng is currently assaulting the Unification Realm. While he has not yet broken through, hurry and slay him."

Xue Wu Yin's voice was cold and distant as he recorded his location together with the scene of Chen Zheng merging the ninety‑nine divine arts with his magical power, transmitting everything to Wan Lianshan via the token.

"What? That wretched one actually cultivated ninety‑nine divine arts?" Wan Lianshan's voice rose sharply, sounding uneasy.

After two breaths.

Only after two breaths did Wan Lianshan speak again: "Hmph, that wretched one got lucky, barely managing to forge ninety‑nine divine arts, yet he doesn't realize that the more divine arts one has, the harder the ascension, so how could he possibly succeed? Still, that wretched one is highly calculable; to be safe, I'll hurry over and strangle him. Brother Wu Yin, don't alert the snake; once I eliminate him, I'll reward you handsomely."

After the words fell, Wan Lianshan on the other side of the token cut the connection, clearly already rushing here.

Xue Wu Yin's eyes flashed with a snarling grin; he folded the token away and again gazed at the distant Chen Zheng, saying coldly: "Beast, wait for it. Not only will you fail to break through the Unification Realm, you'll also become a burial companion for my son! After you die, I will ask the Azure‑Blood Ancestor himself to wipe out Fang Qingxue, Fang Han, Golden Stone Terrace, Xu Yue Er, Long Xuan, Jia Lan and everyone connected to you, then annihilate the nine branches of the Chen family!"

At the same time.

Deep within the earth, the Crimson Abyss Demon Lord also watched Chen Zheng, his murky old eyes revealing astonishment.

Unlike the others, he did not think Chen Zheng would certainly fail to breakthrough.

His combat power, flesh, and evasion speed all surpass all ages; could he be an ordinary person?

Obviously not.

He is undoubtedly the reincarnation of a mighty being.

Since he intends to assault the Unification Realm with ninety‑nine divine arts, his attack cannot be aimless; there must be some hidden support.

If he succeeds in ascension, Chen Zheng's combat power will climb another tier, becoming invincible within the Shen Tong Mi Jing.

Even against the Ten‑Thousand‑Era Giant of the Longevity Realm, Chen Zheng might still possess the strength for a battle.

The Six‑fold divine arts battling the Ten‑Thousand‑Era Giant is a spectacle that shakes ages, and he looks forward to it.

He decided that once Chen Zheng breaks through, he will appear to meet him and forge a good bond.

At this moment, Chen Zheng's cultivation has entered a critical stage.

The myriad divine arts surrounding his head continuously exploded, like countless massive stars colliding, each refusing to yield, causing the heavens and earth to tremble violently.

People from the major sects turned pale and hurried away.

"Chen Zheng has too many divine arts; they cannot be subdued, and he will soon collapse into nothingness."

"Merging all ninety‑nine divine arts is like a fairy tale. If he were ruthless enough to discard seventy of them, leaving twenty‑nine to condense into a life‑binding talisman, there might be a chance of success."

"Such a peerless genius inevitably harbors blind confidence; he won't hit a southern wall and then turn back, let alone sever a limb to survive?"

The Sword‑Mad Elder and others flew thousands of li away, then looked back at Chen Zheng, shaking their heads and sighing as if they had already witnessed his tragic downfall.

But the next moment, something that almost scared everyone to death occurred.

Suddenly, among the myriad divine arts above Chen Zheng's head, seven strange twisted characters—"cannon", "great", "dark", "clothing", "speed", "change", "refine"—leapt upward like seven rotating demonic suns suspended in the void, their boundless radiance illuminating all realms, soaring above the Great Dao, exuding supreme, domineering, ultimate grandeur, instantly suppressing the other ninety‑two divine arts, forcing them to bow and never rebel again.

Gradually, under the dominion of the seven characters, the myriad divine arts began to merge at a single point, forming a massive talismanic phantom that solidified at a terrifying speed.

Seeing this, the onlookers were first stunned, then all were shocked to the point of their scalp tingling.

"Is he… is he about to succeed? Is he really going to condense a life‑binding talisman? There's no sign of magical power being drained or of vital energy in disarray—how is that possible?"

"Hiss… Even the most talented cultivator needs a considerable period to fuse numerous divine arts into a talisman—at least several hours, even days. Yet why does Chen Zheng skip the process and condense the talisman so quickly? Is he human or a ghost?"

"Heavens, the life‑binding talisman forged from ninety‑nine divine arts has truly been born; Chen Zheng has pioneered a new era in cultivation history! We were wrong—such an unparalleled demonical genius is beyond our comprehension; we are merely a bunch of ignorant frogs at the bottom of a well…"

The Sword‑Mad Elder, Dan Xiaozi, Feng Feitian, Yuan Yuanzi and hundreds of others from the four major sects either trembled wildly as if their bodies were shaking, sighed bitterly, or leapt up and roared.

Some even were so frightened that their Dao hearts wavered, their bodies went limp, and they collapsed onto the ground.

Everyone lost composure.

It should be noted that cultivators within the Shen Tong Mi Jing who master more than ten divine arts, such as Jia Lan and Ling Xiao, are considered geniuses.

Those possessing twenty‑to‑thirty divine arts are hailed as dazzling prodigies, standing out in any major power; Song Weiyi, Zhao Xuanyi and other Taiyi Sect Ancient Giants fall into this category.

Those who command forty‑to‑fifty divine arts are rare celestial talents seen only once every few centuries.

For example, Wan Lianshan, Jiao Fei and other top‑ranked candidates on the Longevity Heir Apparent List are such individuals.

As for those who have cultivated sixty‑to‑seventy, even seventy‑to‑eighty divine arts, truly remarkable figures have appeared throughout history.

Basically, they either become crippled when breaking through a realm, or they fall into the long river of history.

Because the more divine abilities a cultivator masters, the more chaotic their internal spiritual power becomes, unable to be subdued and harmonized.

Each successfully cultivated divine ability grants great spiritual power, yet it is also a karmic obstacle on the path of cultivation.

The greater the divine ability, the deeper the karmic obstacle, the harder it is to raise one's realm; this is a truth that holds everywhere.

This is called divine ability cannot overcome karmic obstacle.

Especially, Chen Zheng forcibly cultivated ninety-nine divine abilities while in the Heaven-Man Realm, an undertaking unparalleled in ancient and modern times, and the karmic force involved is unprecedented.

Based on this, everyone confidently asserted that Chen Zheng could not possibly advance to the Return to One Realm.

Who would have thought the outcome would be completely the opposite!

Chen Zheng encountered no setbacks; in less than ten breaths he condensed a virtual image of his natal talisman, as simple as eating and drinking, not like breaking through a realm at all.

This came completely unexpected.

The contrast is too great.

Chen Zheng's monstrous talent is also astonishing.

This causes everyone to doubt life.

On the other side of the mountaintop.

Xue Dance Yin also lost composure, his eyes instantly turning blood-red, roaring like a wounded beast: 'Damn it, damn it! How could he condense the natal talisman of ninety-nine divine abilities? Why is this happening?!'

He is about to go mad.

Just as he had sent a message to Wan Lianshan, before the other could arrive, Chen Zheng broke through first.

Too fast.

Moreover, before breaking through, Chen Zheng could easily capture a blue dragon that had achieved the ninth layer of divine ability; now, after his realm breakthrough, his strength will be tenfold what it was, likely rivaling the top twenty on the Longevity Candidates List.

With Chen Zheng now comparable to such a powerhouse, even if Wan Lianshan arrives, it would be difficult to slay him.

Especially after Wan Lianshan's Heaven-Slaying Divine Shark Vessel fell upon Chen Zheng, his strength has been greatly diminished.

With one waning and the other waxing, defeating Chen Zheng becomes even harder.

How can he then avenge his son's death?

Thinking of this, Xue Dance Yin hatefully glared at the distant Chen Zheng, summoned the disciples of the Blood Shadow Demon Sect behind him, and prepared to leave this mountaintop.

If they do not leave now, once Chen Zheng's natal talisman fully solidifies and notices them, they will face annihilation.

At the same time.

On the face of the Crimson Abyss Demon Lord deep within the earth, just like many others, a look of shock appeared.

Chen Zheng's condensation of the natal talisman of ninety-nine divine abilities would not cause such a dignified demon lord to lose composure.

After all, he is an antique who has lived for hundreds of thousands of years; in his past life he was nearly omnipotent, and his vision and experience far surpass those of the various sects above.

Surveying the entire three-thousand great world, he still knows some cultivators who have mastered ninety-nine divine abilities.

They merely fall short of Chen Zheng by a few chips, lacking such heaven-defying prowess.

What truly shocked him were Chen Zheng's seven twisted calamity characters that suppress all divine abilities.

"What kind of divine ability are those seven characters, and what do they mean? They are not ancient tadpole script, nor modern writing, nor any text from the worlds of demons, gods, immortals, or buddhas; I have never seen them before."

"Why are they so terrifying that even the top-ten ranked Great Five Elements Technique and Great Origin Technique in the three-thousand great Dao can be subdued so completely?"

"Could those seven characters be the runes of the Great Wish Technique, or the Great Karma Technique, or even the top-ranked Great Destiny Technique? No, they are none of those; they do not resemble them."

The Crimson Abyss Demon Lord kept guessing, his eyes filled with both bewilderment and confusion.

Vaguely, he sensed the aura of calamity from Chen Zheng's seven calamity characters.

It is not an ordinary calamity in the usual sense.

But rather a calamity that cannot be spoken of clearly or explained.

In short, he cannot comprehend it.

Even just glancing at those seven characters once induces an inexplicable panic deep within his heart.

It seems that if he continues to look, he will completely lose himself, fall eternally into darkness, and never be able to break free.

This made him feel a chill down his spine; he hastily withdrew his gaze, daring not to look further.

He is a True Immortal of the Tenth Layer of Longevity, able to travel between many great worlds with a thought and destroy endless star systems with a snap of his fingers—how mighty!

Yet merely observing the script divine ability of a divine-ability cultivator actually gives rise to panic and defiles his Dao heart?

No matter how he thinks about it, it feels utterly bizarre.

"Could Chen Zheng be a reincarnation of a Heavenly Sovereign? The aura on those seven characters might be some ability of the Supreme Heavenly Sovereign? But even if a Heavenly Sovereign is reborn, in youth he cannot recover his past-life abilities, nor restore much memory, unless he breaks all rules anew and re-attains the Dao of the Heavenly Sovereign."

The Crimson Abyss Demon Lord muttered to himself; the more he thought, the more bewildered he became, and the more he found Chen Zheng strange and terrifying.

Since Chen Zheng arrived in the Five Elements Realm, not only has his unmoving Dao heart of hundreds of thousands of years been stirred up, but it has nearly overturned his understanding of cultivation.

A generation demon lord, he no longer knows what words to use to describe his current mood.

The impact Chen Zheng has brought him is truly enormous.

And while the Crimson Abyss Demon Lord, Sword Mad Elder, Blood Dance Yin, and everyone else were deeply shaken, Chen Zheng's natal talisman had already fully condensed into substance.

This talisman is ten li long and half a li wide, floating above his head, bursting forth with ninety-nine kinds of brilliant divine radiance, blazing and unbearable to behold, as if it would grind away all enemies in the world.

Each is different: some shine with five colors, some blaze with divine flames, some are sharp enough to shock the heavens, and there are heavenly deities standing tall, fiercely swinging their fists; myriad forms illuminate the nine heavens, causing even the sun, moon, and stars to dim.

The talisman continues to transform, exhaling waves of auspicious clouds and auspicious qi that roil across its surface, turning into tiny figures who chant strange scriptures, praising the talisman's marvel.

There are also golden and silver armored divine beings the size of a thumb's tip, blowing conch‑shaped magical implements and striking illusory heavenly drums.

The vast, mysterious sound reverberates through the heavens!

"That is the phenomenon of blowing the great conch and striking the great drum!" Sword Mad Elder and the others exclaimed in unison upon hearing it.

Ordinary cultivators who advance from the Divine Ability Secret Realm to the Longevity Secret Realm are as rare as one in ten thousand.

And for a Longevity cultivator who wishes to tear open the immortal realm's gate and ascend to immortality, it is thousands of millions times more difficult than the Divine Ability Secret Realm; one does not know how great an opportunity or how many millions of years of bitter accumulation are needed, and one must establish at the very start a foundation far surpassing that of ordinary people.

The manifestation of such a massive and solid foundation is precisely the phenomenon of Chen Zheng blowing a great law conch and beating a great law drum that arises when condensing one's natal talisman, natal golden core, or heaven-earth dharma form.

This represents the aptitude for becoming an immortal.

Of course, describing Chen Zheng with the aptitude for immortality is not praise, but outright belittlement.

It's like a beggar telling the emperor, 'Wish you great wealth next year,' while begging for food with a golden bowl.

Simply absurd!

"I have finally achieved the Return to Unity realm; my power has more than doubled, and my natal talisman is also very strong."

Chen Zheng's eyes were calm as water, standing like a spear in the void, carefully sensing the changes brought by his promotion.

His power reached fifty million horses.

Not speaking of the same realm, this amount is already five times that of a cultivator who has just entered the Tenfold Divine Ability realm.

The quality of his power is not inferior in the slightest to that of a Tenfold Divine Ability cultivator.

In other words, an ordinary Tenfold Divine Ability cultivator cannot withstand even a single move from him.

Only those whose power exceeds his can have the slightest capital to resist him a bit.

And even that is only a slight resistance.

Once he displays divine abilities such as the Great Calamity Ancient Cannon comprehended from the various calamity characters, or activates his natal talisman, he can instantly blast them to death.

Without exaggeration, after advancing to the Return to Unity realm, Chen Zheng has surpassed the younger generation; basically only ancient titans can be his opponents.

Of course, Hua Tian Du, Yan Shui Yi, and Fan Qing Ying, who rank high on the Longevity Candidate List, are not afraid of ancient titans and can also fight Chen Zheng.

However, once Chen Zheng's power increases by another one or two levels, reaching seventy to eighty million horses, or even close to a hundred million, the three of them would likely be crippled or killed by a single blast from him.

"I wonder what new calamity character appears on the Sheep Skin Scroll?" Chen Zheng stored the natal talisman atop his head into his body, sank his mind into the depths of his brain, and began examining the Sheep Skin Scroll.

At the same time, his right hand reached out casually, continuously extending and shuttling outward, and in an instant crossed tens of thousands of li to appear behind the fleeing Blood Dance Yin, grabbing toward the back of his neck.

"Chen Zheng, we have no grudge, why are you attacking me?" Blood Dance Yin sensed danger, his eyelids twitched wildly, and he loudly questioned.

Chen Zheng said nothing; his right hand's five fingers lightly grabbed, seizing the person's throat.

"My elder brother is Blood Dance Yang, the first true transmission of the Blood Shadow Magic Sect, ranked sixth on the Longevity Candidate List! My great-grand ancestor is the Old Fiend of Blood, a mighty being even the Yellow Springs Great Emperor cannot kill; if you dare move against me, death is certain!" Blood Dance Yin threatened with a fierce yet timid demeanor, hoping to make Chen Zheng wary.

"Fine, Blood Dance Yang and the Old Fiend of Blood, I've remembered them; next time I'll kill them." Chen Zheng sneered. True fire surged in his hand, instantly refining Blood Dance Yin to death.

"Run!"

Seeing Blood Dance Yin die miserably in an instant, the members of the Blood Shadow Magic Sect were terrified out of their wits and fled madly.

Bang……

Chen Zheng casually slapped, causing their bodies to explode and all fall down.

Gulong!

Sword Mad Elder and the others, having recovered from their earlier shock, all gulped hard, their hearts pounding with anxiety.

They had previously said Chen Zheng could never succeed in advancing to the Return to Unity realm, and that this killing god would not bear a grudge and kill them all?

Fortunately, what let everyone breathe a sigh of relief was that after Chen Zheng finished killing people, he paid no attention to them, but closed his eyes, not knowing what he was doing.

Chen Zheng was contemplating the newly appeared calamity character on the Sheep Skin Scroll, a faint hint of joy appearing between his brows.

This calamity character is "Chao" (Exceed).

"Chao"!

The surface meaning is easy to understand: it means to exceed, to surpass a certain range, no longer being restricted.

At this moment, Chen Zheng's two major power sources have been enlarged by the "Da" character, each able to hold a hundred million horses of power, yet they are limited by the heaven‑earth restriction that divine abilities cannot exceed one hundred and power cannot surpass a hundred million.

The "Chao" character can be called a timely rain.

The Sheep Skin Scroll seemed to sense his need and deliberately manifested this character.

Just as Chen Zheng was contemplating the "Chao" character, a towering human figure silently appeared behind him in the distance.

The figure was covered head to toe in ancient battle armor, even the face concealed, leaving only a pair of blue eyes that revealed deep hatred and killing intent.

Boom—!

Under the figure's feet a vast sea appeared out of nowhere, waves surging, tsunamis churning; the person stood on the crest, like the sole tide‑rider of the age, trampling waves and chasing the surge, throwing a punch that blasted toward Chen Zheng's back.

(End of chapter)