Chapter 164

The armor on Gongsun Sheng's person was quite exquisite, even his faceguard was protected solidly by a layer of Xuanbing Ice Beast Face Armor half an inch thick.

However, that gold bullet's force was fierce, wave after wave of eighteen layers of hidden strength surging forth, the Xuanbing Ice face armor cracked with a few "ka-ka" sounds and shattered into ice shards scattered all over the ground, after which the gold bullet struck squarely on the raised bridge of Gongsun Sheng's nose.

With a muffled bang, two streams of blood spurted from Gongsun Sheng's nostrils, his sturdy body flung backward, his head slamming into the rock wall tightly sealed by the Xuanbing Ice prison.

The dark-blue Xuanbing Ice runes burst forth with piercing cold light, the rock wall remained unmoving, Gongsun Sheng's body lay flat against it like a painting, hanging there for a full breath.

Only after the gold bullet exhausted the eighteen layers of hidden strength stored within did it fall with a "dang-lang" clatter to the ground, and then Gongsun Sheng slid down along the smooth rock wall.

His legs felt a bit weak, trembling as he forced himself to stand, his body swaying slightly, looking as if he might collapse at any moment.

His nose bridge was completely shattered, the flesh on his face crushed to pieces, revealing stark white bone in many places, looking extremely hideous and terrifying. Blood continuously flowed from his face, soon staining his upper-body armor red.

The ice armor was chilling to the bone, streams of blood quickly froze into red ice shards that firmly adhered to the armor.

"Which... which bastard dares, dares to sneak attack, sneak attack me." Gongsun Sheng struggled to lift his head, looking toward the direction the gold bullet came from, trembling as he cursed.

With a booming "dong", a black-skinned person came crashing down from the sky, his legs sinking deep into the thick Xuanbing Ice layer, sending up countless ice crystals, then he slowly straightened his body.

The Six Paths Palace Master was pitch-black all over, except for an unknown leather short pants wrapped around his waist, his burly body almost fully exposed.

His body was pitch-black, his eyes pitch-black, with his mouth open his teeth and tongue were pure black, the whole person like a black hole, as if the surrounding light settled onto his skin.

Wu Tie and the others' gazes fell upon him, feeling an uncontrollable pull drawing their sight in, even their souls stirring as if wanting to fly out of their bodies. They hastily averted their eyes, daring not to look at that eerie figure.

"Bastard?" the Six Paths Palace Master chuckled lowly: "Believe it or not, I'll pinch you into the shape of a turtle."

At this moment the Six Paths Palace Master stood about six meters tall; he spread his massive palms and squeezed hard, hearing continuous "ka-ka" sounds, as large swaths of Xuanbing Ice on the ground rolled and flew continually toward his palms.

In a stone fissure over a li long and tens of meters wide, the Xuanbing Ice on the ground reached about a meter in thickness; countless ice shards flew toward the Six Paths Palace Master's palms, and the blocks of ice several meters across grew smaller the closer they got to his body.

In the end, all the Xuanbing Ice on the ground fell into the Six Paths Palace Master's hands; he clapped his palms together, and with a booming "peng", he forcibly compressed all the ground Xuanbing Ice into his palms.

The Xuanbing Ice underwent sudden compression, its volume rapidly shrinking, piercing cold light continually spewed from the gaps between his fingers, a chilling Cold Qi surged forth, turning into countless ice crystals that swirled incessantly around his tall, sturdy body.

The Six Paths Palace Master opened his palm, and there, in the center, lay two thumb-sized, exquisitely crafted turtles formed of condensed ice.

Gongsun Sheng and the several young men and women he had brought stared at him as if seeing a ghost, such methods...

Before Gongsun Sheng could speak, the Six Paths Palace Master flicked his finger; the two tiny ice turtles let out a "wu-wu" as they tore through the air and slammed hard into Gongsun Sheng's knees.

The Xuanbing Ice armor on Gongsun Sheng's knees shattered, his knees were pierced, blood spurted out but instantly froze into ice crystals; Gongsun Sheng let out a miserable wail, his knees buckling as he knelt on the ground, in pain he repeatedly raised his fists and slammed them down.

"Bastard?" the Six Paths Palace Master's laugh was filled with an eerie aura: "I'll pinch you into a turtle shape, hehe."

Gongsun Sheng roared in anger: "Are you all dead? Fight, fight, this is the Wa Valley's territory; do you really have to wait for the Wa clan's experts to come out?"

Several young men and women simultaneously let out a sharp whistle, they lifted their heads to look at the vault above; several dark-blue rays of cold light fell, landing on their foreheads, after which countless exquisite ice shards flew out and condensed on their bodies into sets of exquisite armor.

They waved their hands, and the ice-forged swords and spears exhaled cold light as they simultaneously charged at the Six Paths Palace Master.

The Six Paths Palace Master chuckled "he-he", flipped his hands, and uttered a low murmur: "Six Paths Death Gate."

Pitch-black gloomy light of the Six Paths flew from the Six Paths Palace Master's palm; with a booming "hong", a pitch-black light gate over ten zhang high of the Six Paths appeared beside those young men and women. The gate slowly opened, a terrifying suction came from within, the youths cried out and struggled, but were swallowed whole by the gate.

After a breath's time, the gate's light flashed, and several bone fragments shot out from within.

The Six Paths Palace Master gave a satisfied belch, then murmured lowly: "Not bad taste, those kids are tolerable, but their armor... is quite flavorful."

Gongsun Sheng stared wide-eyed in terror, fixed his gaze on the Six Paths Palace Master, his face blank and unable to speak.

Above everyone's heads, the vault's cold light flickered chaotically, countless fine dark-blue runes burst forth, these tiny runes swirled and danced, gradually condensing into the shape of an eye.

A vast, bone-chilling pressure came down from the high sky; the eye slowly opened, large amounts of Cold Qi poured out from the gap of its hundred-zhang diameter. But before the eye could fully open, several gold bullets mysteriously appeared in the Six Paths Palace Master's hand, and with a low thunderous roar they shot upward.

The gold bullets slammed hard into the eye formed of condensed cold light and ice; the bullets were shattered by the Cold Qi, and that strange eye likewise cracked apart, all the runes breaking into tiny ice crystals that fell from the sky.

The Six Paths Palace Master looked up at the collapsing eye and murmured lowly: "Who exactly stands behind you? What is this so-called heavenly god? And what is this so-called sacrifice of yours?"

The Six Paths Palace Master lowered his head, coldly fixing his gaze on Gongsun Sheng: "Rest assured, although I've devoured your companions, you're still alive, aren't you? I'll slowly torture you... Have you heard of the Eighteen Hells my Six Paths Palace uses specifically to punish traitors?"

Gongsun Sheng trembled as he looked at the Six Paths Palace Master.

He opened his mouth, struggling to squeeze out a few dry words from his throat: "What does this have to do with you, the Six Paths Palace?"

The Six Paths Palace Master grinned, showing a huge black hole in his mouth, the surrounding void writhing as if continually being swallowed by his maw.

"But sixty years ago, my closed-door disciple disappeared... What you just said—valuable, sacrifice, heavenly god, whatever—hehe... well, you don't need to explain now; I'll make you speak."

With a booming "hong", the icy prison sealing this stone fissure was shattered by a violent force, large swaths of cold light collapsed and exploded into countless ice crystals that filled the sky.

Eighteen burly men with pale-gold skin, clad in heavy armor, marched in formation from the other end of the stone fissure.

One of those burly men held Wa Ying in his hand as if carrying a small chicken.

Wa Ying struggled wildly, cursing hysterically, but each time she swore, the burly man holding her slapped her face; over the short distance of a few hundred meters, her beautiful, delicate face was slapped until it was as red as a monkey's butt.

"Wa Ying!" Wu Tie shouted coldly.

"She's the one who brought this kid called Gongsun Sheng, along with a few other little brats." The pitch-black Six Paths Palace Master turned, his black eyes like voids, unblinking, fixed on Wu Tie: "Their target is the little girl behind you, Wa Xiaoxi..."

The Six Paths Palace Master smirked: "Don't resist, resistance is futile... kid, you killed Li Rang in Long Dragon City, you killed many disciples of my Six Paths Palace's Guest Hall stationed there... More importantly, the Wa clan matriarch used your name in a gamble that made my Six Paths Palace lose this much wealth..."

He nodded firmly, the Six Paths Palace Master said in a deep voice: "Very well, you, and Wa Xiaoxi, come with me to the Six Paths Palace."

Wu Tie shielded Wa Xiaoxi behind him and said coldly: "Are you from the Six Paths Palace? I killed Li Rang because..."

The Six Paths Palace Master shook his head, brutally cutting off Wu Tie's words: "I am the current master of the Six Paths Palace; your explanation is meaningless. For killing my disciples, you must pay the price... Wa Xiaoxi, well, as compensation, she's just right."

Wu Tie's face grew grim.

The Six Paths Palace Master said to himself: "Among my disciples, there are still quite a few extraordinarily talented youngsters; they are all excellent matches for Wa Xiaoxi... Hahaha, the Wa clan's noble daughter cannot marry far away? This rule shall be broken starting from my Six Paths Palace."

"As for you... killing you wouldn't be much fun; in that earlier gamble, my Six Paths Palace lost how much, making the Wa clan pay tenfold..."

As the Six Paths Palace Master was muttering to himself, the entire stone fissure suddenly trembled.

The lingering ice runes on the rock wall were swept away by a grand, mighty, sacred and solemn force, like a gust of wind sweeping away leaves; all the glowing cold-light runes on the stone fissure's rock wall vanished instantly.

One by one, one foot by one foot, golden light flashing, ancient and heavy characters shaped like flowers, birds, insects, and fish emerged from the rock wall; all the characters linked together, forming a brilliant golden curtain that filled the entire stone fissure.

The golden light shot up hundreds of meters high; the whole stone fissure writhed, the hard rock undulating like water, the golden light rose like flames, finally condensing below the vault into a platform of about one mu in radius.

Upon the platform, a phantom of a woman with a human body and a snake's tail faintly appeared.

She held a long vine, and with a shake of her hand, a vine whip lashed downward.

The Six Paths Palace Master let out a roar, stepping on six strands of black qi coiled like a dragon, he howled as he shot up into the sky, forming hand seals and thrusting upward. A dragon's roar rang out; a pitch-black dragon flew from his hand, swaying its head and tail, and struck the golden vine.

The whole rock fissure shuddered violently, Wu Tie and the others went limp, and at the same time lost their footing and fell to the ground.

The black giant dragon was shattered by a single strike of the vine, the vine lashed fiercely at the Six Paths Palace Master, whose black aura shattered in large patches, and he plummeted from high altitude, crashing hard to the ground.

The Six Paths Palace Master roared in anger, he shot up into the sky again, and once more formed a seal with both palms, smashing toward the illusory figure of the woman high above.

This time, what flew from the Six Paths Palace Master's palm was not a dragon, but a celestial maiden draped in ribbons, her form drifting faintly, neither fully human nor not; she held a pipa in both hands, and with a pluck and a strum of her bare fingers, a clear 'ding-dong' note shot up into the sky.

With the pipa's sound, the surrounding air trembled violently, and streaks of white explosive bursts erupted, transforming into various weapons that shot straight up into the sky.

The woman's illusory figure merely waved the vine, and another vine lashed down.

The myriad weapons condensed from the air shattered into pieces; a single strike of the vine smashed the celestial maiden to ruin, and another vine blasted the Six Paths Palace Master.

The blackness on one of the Six Paths Palace Master's arms completely dissipated, the skin of that arm turning jade‑white and exuding a mysterious sacred purity; the white arm against his black body created a stark, opposing contrast.

"Damn it!" the Six Paths Palace Master bellowed in fury: "Wa Clan woman, don't push too far!"

He roared and shot up into the sky again; with his hands forming a seal, what erupted from his palm this time was a gaunt, weak creature with an oversized head, misshapen limbs, and a distended belly—a hungry ghost.

The pitch‑black hungry ghost shrieked, its tiny needle‑like mouth on its huge head; it whistled and thrust its fine mouth fiercely toward the woman's illusory figure.

Another vine lashed down; before the hungry ghost could unleash its ability, the vine smashed it to pieces, then the vine whipped the Six Paths Palace Master's head, knocking him from the sky in a single blow.

This blow was even heavier; half of the Six Paths Palace Master's body lost its black aura, turning jade‑white.

The illusory woman on the Cloud Terrace did not wait for the Six Paths Palace Master to act; a barrage of over ten vines slammed down, beating him until he rolled all over the ground, his black aura shredding strand by strand, until his whole body turned jade‑white.

The Six Paths Palace Master suddenly exhaled a deep breath, a stream of black qi issuing from his mouth, and slowly rose to his feet.

He raised his head to look at the Cloud Terrace beneath the dome and said in a low voice: "Wa Clan… impressive tactics. No need to fight further—I came this time to reason with you Wa Clan… the Six Paths Palace is a faction that reasons and follows rules, it will not stir up trouble unreasonably nor act wantonly."

Eighteen burly men with light‑golden skin stared, blinking desperately.

Wa Xiao Xi poked her head out from behind Wu Tie and said timidly: "Big guy, you weren't saying that earlier… you got beaten up, and now you're talking about reason?"

The Six Paths Palace Master looked at Wa Xiao Xi with a conflicted expression; after a long while he let out a deep sigh: "Ashamed… having been beaten, I naturally have to start talking about reason."