Chapter 142: It Was You... Who Cheated First!

The Human Emperor Seal restarted.

It rose silently and without a sound from the center of the formation diagram, hanging in mid-air.

The body of the seal was already transparent, nearly ethereal, as if one could reach through it with a hand.

Yet, it felt more real than any solid entity in this world.

Everyone present, regardless of their cultivation level, could sense a tremor originating from the depths of their souls.

The space where that square seal resided was being pushed aside, twisted, and ultimately reshaped into its domain by its very existence.

That void no longer belonged to this heaven and earth.

It became an independent small world.

And the Human Emperor Seal was that world's only, and absolute, master.

A dead silence that made one's heart creep with dread.

The once-present Purple Heaven Divine Thunder, Seven Stars' Radiant Light, Five-Colored Divine Light, Profound Darkness Gloom—all their spiritual mechanisms were utterly extinguished.

They were completely smelted, transformed into an older, more primitive form,

Nothingness.

That nothingness was the origin of all things, and also the end of all things.

The eight ancient seal script characters on the seal's face also changed from gold to a chaotic color.

They no longer emitted light; instead, they resembled eight bottomless black holes, greedily devouring all light around them, including the light itself.

Shen Jizhou stared fixedly at that jade seal, his pupils constricting to their absolute limit.

The color of his face finally changed completely.

Shen Jizhou, the highest mountain of the Daoist sects beyond the Great Wall, showed an expression named 'tremor' for the first time.

Because he finally sensed the true power of that jade seal.

The previous Human Emperor Seal was merely a dead object sealing a wisp of Human Emperor's fortune.

But this one now....

After devouring the entire essence of five top-tier ritual tools, it was no longer just 'sealing,' but...

Reviving!

It was awakening!

Shen Jizhou could clearly perceive that ancient will slumbering in the deepest part of the seal, slowly opening its eyes.

That was the true Human Emperor's will!

The supreme majesty of the Human Race's Sacred Emperor from ancient times, who commanded all spirits and suppressed the eight directions and four seas!

That will was about to descend upon this world!

"Everyone—"

Shen Jizhou suddenly roared, his voice devoid of any composure, now filled only with urgency and gravity.

"Fall back!"

"Fall back, all of you!"

"Fall back beyond three hundred meters!"

The people within the arena were still staring dumbly at the Human Emperor Seal exuding an aura of apocalypse.

"Fall back now!!"

Shen Jizhou let out another explosive shout, the sound wave wrapped with his zhenran, crashing against everyone's mind and spirit like a giant bell!

Instantly, chaos erupted below the stage.

Everyone scrambled and crawled backward in a frantic dash, wishing their parents had given them two more legs.

At this moment, only two people remained on the dueling platform.

One was Lu Yuan, slumped beside a giant rock, bleeding from all seven orifices, his life force as faint and fragile as a candle flame in the wind.

The other was Shen Jizhou, standing in the center of the ruins, staring dead at the jade seal, every muscle in his body taut and tense.

And floating between the two of them was precisely that awakening Human Emperor Seal.

Shen Jizhou took a deep breath.

He knew he could wait no longer.

If he waited any longer, waited for that wisp of will to fully awaken, waited for that jade seal to truly display its full might...

Even he would truly be in danger!

Shen Jizhou suddenly took a step forward.

This step carried the weight of a thousand jun.

The ruins beneath his feet were stomped into a giant pit three feet deep, sending shattered stones flying and dust billowing!

He raised a single hand to the heavens!

The people fleeing for their lives below caught this soul-shaking scene in the corners of their eyes.

Shen Jizhou's right hand slowly opened, palm facing upward, his index, middle, and ring fingers slightly bent, as if to hold the vast sky within his grasp.

His thumb and little finger lightly pressed against his palm, seemingly suppressing the thick earth beneath his feet.

Opening stance—Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow Formula!

This was one of the top-tier opening stances within the Daoist sects!

Symbolizing holding up the heavens with the hand, treading upon the earth with the feet, residing between them, using oneself as a bridge to connect with the power of heaven and earth!

From Shen Jizhou's mouth, the first incantation slowly emerged:

"Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow, Universe Vast and Primordial."

With each word that fell, the space around him began to violently fluctuate.

"Sun and Moon Wax and Wane, Constellations Arrayed."

As the second line fell, the night sky above, originally shrouded in darkness, suddenly lit up with countless stars!

Those stars were no longer illusions, but real, eternally existing celestial bodies!

Their light traversed the endless void, converging into a dazzling river of stars that cascaded down!

"Cold Comes, Heat Goes, Autumn Harvests, Winter Stores."

With the third line, the earth began to tremble.

Beneath the ruins, streams of thick Earth-elemental power were forcibly drawn out.

They condensed into streams of earthen-yellow light, surging from all directions, converging beneath Shen Jizhou's feet!

"Intercalary Days Form Years, Pitch Pipes Regulate Yang."

With the fourth line, a faint, almost imperceptible sound of pitch pipes actually rang out between heaven and earth!

The sound was mysterious and unfathomable, like the very breath of heaven and earth, like the rhythm of all things' birth and destruction!

Then, Shen Jizhou began to form hand seals.

His right hand first formed the "Heavenly Pivot Formula"!

Thumb pressing against the middle segment of the middle finger, index and little fingers raised, resembling the star pattern of the Big Dipper!

With this single seal, the river of stars cascading from the sky above instantly solidified, transforming into a barrier of starlight as substantial as matter!

Immediately after, his hand gesture swiftly changed, forming the "Earthly Malevolence Formula"!

Thumb pressing against the base of the ring finger, index finger curved like a hook, middle and little fingers pressed together!

With this seal, the Earth-elemental power surging from the earth abruptly condensed, forming a barrier of earth as thick and solid as a mountain!

"Heavenly Pivot and Earthly Malevolence, Protect My True Self!"

Shen Jizhou shouted sharply. The starlight barrier and the Profound Yellow light shield merged formidably before him, transforming into a supreme curtain of light swirling with starlight and earthen radiance!

The defensive power of this light curtain far surpassed the previous phantom of Mount Buzhou.

Because it borrowed the mighty power of this heaven and earth itself!

To break this curtain would be to oppose the heavens, to oppose the earth!

And it was at this moment that the Human Emperor Seal moved.

No golden light, no deafening roar, no earth-shattering phenomena of any kind.

It just drifted lightly forward by three inches.

Merely three inches.

Yet, these three inches made Shen Jizhou feel the terrifying pressure of the entire sky collapsing down upon him!

Shen Jizhou gritted his teeth so hard he nearly shattered his molars, his right-hand seal changing once more!

The Heavenly Pivot Formula transformed into the "Jade Purity Realm Formula," the Earthly Malevolence Formula transformed into the "Upper Purity Realm Formula," the dual formulas combined, ultimately evolving into the "Supreme Purity Realm Formula"!

The Three Purities Holy Realms descended!

The Jade Purity Holy Realm transformed into clear light enveloping his head, the Upper Purity Holy Realm transformed into radiant light protecting his body, the Supreme Purity Holy Realm transformed into thick light supporting beneath his feet.

The three layers of light merged with the Heavenly Pivot and Earthly Malevolence barrier, constructing an absolutely indestructible line of defense!

From Shen Jizhou's mouth, true words emerged once more:

"The Three Purities Above, the Dao Endures!"

"Invulnerable to All Methods, Indestructible Through All Calamities!"

The instant the true words fell, the Human Emperor Seal moved for the second time.

It simply flipped lightly, aligning those eight chaotic ancient seal script characters directly at Shen Jizhou.

Then—

BOOM!!!

There was no light.

No sound.

No warning, no prelude, no space to evade whatsoever.

It took effect directly.

"Pfft—"

Shen Jizhou spewed a mouthful of blood violently!

His legs instantly bent!

His knees trembled!

His waist curved!

His spine emitted a groan of unbearable strain!

That supreme defense constructed jointly by the Heavenly Pivot and Earthly Malevolence and the Three Purities Holy Realms was now disintegrating at a speed visible to the naked eye!

It wasn't being broken through; it was being forcibly erased from existence by the very concept of "suppression" itself!

The starlight barrier, shattered!

The earth barrier, crumbled!

The Jade Purity Holy Realm, cracked!

The Upper Purity Holy Realm, broken!

The Supreme Purity Holy Realm, collapsed!

All defenses were as fragile as morning dew before "suppression"!

Shen Jizhou's eyes were finally filled with uncontrollable terror.

This!!!

But Shen Jizhou did not give up.

He, Shen Jizhou, had cultivated the Dao his entire life, sought enlightenment his entire life, defied the heavens his entire life—when had he ever admitted defeat?!

Shen Jizhou suddenly raised his head, his eyes erupting with a radiance never seen before!

His right hand formed another seal!

This time, it was no longer any ancient secret technique, but the Dao he had created himself by exhausting his lifelong wisdom, fusing all methods into one furnace!

"Primordial Chaos Return to Unity Great Dao Formula!"

Once this formula was formed, his body itself became the Dao!

Once this formula was unleashed, his words themselves became the law!

His right hand grasped at emptiness, as if holding a mass of chaos.

Within that chaos, the dual energies of Yin and Yang flowed, the mutual generation and restraint of the Five Elements evolved, and the myriad phenomena of the Eight Trigrams changed!

This mass of chaos was the manifestation of his lifelong Dao attainment!

It was the small world he had refined by using his body as a furnace, smelting all methods, ultimately forging... a small world!

A small world completely independent of the outside world!

Within this world, he was the creator god!

The "suppression" power of the Human Emperor Seal descended!

It smashed fiercely against this small world!

Boom—

Silence.

True silence.

That impact transcended the category of sound, transforming into the purest will of destruction, directly vibrating within the depths of every soul three hundred meters away!

The people who had fled far away looked back in horror, seeing only the twisted, annihilating scene at the center of the dueling platform—a power that should never belong to the mortal world!

On the platform, Shen Jizhou's small world trembled and contracted violently.

Its edges were being eroded inch by inch, disintegrated inch by inch, erased from this world inch by inch by the power of "suppression"!

Blood began to seep from Shen Jizhou's seven orifices.

His skin rapidly lost its luster, becoming dry, cracked, like rock weathered for a thousand years.

Using only one hand was ultimately too much of a stretch!

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

Shen Jizhou's small world had already been compressed to the point where it could barely protect his own body!

If this continued, he would undoubtedly die!

A flame of shame-turned-anger ignited in Shen Jizhou's eyes.

He was Shen Jizhou!

He was the highest mountain of the Daoist sects beyond the Great Wall!

How could he fall here?!

He refused to accept it!

Shen Jizhou suddenly threw his head back and let out a long roar to the heavens, the sound like a dragon's cry, shaking the clouds:

"All Methods Return to One!!"

Before the roar faded, his hands formidably came together in a prayer gesture!

This time, he abandoned all defense, choosing—to attack!

That small world compressed to its extreme suddenly collapsed inward, condensing into a fist-sized ball of light!

Within that ball of light was contained his lifelong Dao attainment!

Contained all his life force!

Contained everything that made him Shen Jizhou!

Then—

Shen Jizhou's hands violently pushed forward!

That ball of light carrying his everything transformed into a stream of light that tore through the night sky, smashing toward the Human Emperor Seal!

The veins on Shen Jizhou's hands bulged violently as he exerted force madly!

This was a desperate, life-and-dignity-betting strike!

And Lu Yuan, slumped in the distance, seeing this scene, used the last of his strength to curse furiously in his heart.

This...

This old bastard!!!!

He's starting to lose all face!!!

He's starting to cheat!!!

He's using both hands now!!!

In the flash of a spark, that ball of light carrying Shen Jizhou's lifelong Dao attainment collided formidably with the Human Emperor Seal!

No deafening roar.

No explosive flash of light.

Not even a single ripple of energy was stirred.

There was only an absolute deadlock that suffocated the very soul!

The ball of light hovered three feet below the Human Emperor Seal, trembling and spinning violently, its light flickering unsteadily, yet unable to advance a single inch further.

And the Human Emperor Seal's terrifying might, capable of suppressing all antiquity and grinding everything to dust, was actually, stubbornly, held in mid-air by this small ball of light!

Lu Yuan, slumped beside the giant rock, had originally been so weak he couldn't even lift his eyelids.

But now, he forced his eyes open, his gaze filled with shock and disbelief.

This...

This old thing...

Just how fucking strong is he?!!!

Don't be too fucking outrageous!!!

Switching from one hand to two hands actually reversed a certain-death situation?!

Lu Yuan could clearly perceive that the ball of light was slowly, bit by bit, pushing upward!

Although slow, although difficult, although with each inch it pushed, the ball itself dimmed a bit, it was indeed moving!

It was pushing back against the Human Emperor Seal!

At the center of the platform, the veins on Shen Jizhou's arms bulged like entwined old tree roots, every muscle groaning under unbearable strain!

His entire body seemed crushed by an invisible divine mountain, his bones creaking, yet he stubbornly remained standing upright!

His feet were already deeply embedded in the ruins, the earth beneath him cracked inch by inch, dust covering his knees!

But he still stood!

Still used those two hands that should not have been used simultaneously, stubbornly holding up that ball of light, desperately resisting the Human Emperor Seal's majestic, heavenly authority!

"Get! Up!"

A beast-like roar squeezed from Shen Jizhou's throat, each word carrying the taste of blood.

The muscles in his arms suddenly swelled, his sleeves exploding into shreds of flying dust!

With an explosive shout, his hands pushed upward violently once more!

The ball of light erupted with a surge of radiance, actually pushing upward another three inches!

The Human Emperor Seal was being forced back!

This scene caused the gallbladders and livers of all spectators three hundred meters away to shatter in terror.

Not just them.

Even the distant Celestial Master He Xun and Celestial Master He Ming, these two Daoist giants on par with Shen Jizhou, seeing this scene, felt their minds go blank.

Everyone knew Shen Jizhou was the highest mountain of the Daoist sects beyond the Great Wall.

But no one had imagined this mountain was actually this high!

Without using any ritual tools.

Relying solely on his own Dao attainment.

He could... he could actually resist the Human Emperor Seal, which had been empowered by the sacrifice of five top-tier ritual tools, with his bare hands?!

Celestial Master He Xun and Celestial Master He Ming searched their hearts and asked themselves: in this situation, without using ritual tools, relying solely on their own Dao attainment, they could not achieve this...

Lu Yuan stared fixedly at that ball of light continuously pushing upward, his heart sinking into a bottomless abyss.

The color drained completely from his face, leaving only ashen gray.

If...

If this continued...

Then his meticulously planned gamble over these many days, at the cost of multiple top-tier ritual tools turning to nothingness...

Of course, afterward, he could accuse Shen Jizhou of cheating, of going back on his word.

He clearly started by saying he would use one hand, but ended up using two.

But...

But what use are accusations afterward??

No use at all!

Losing then would mean losing!

What Shen Jizhou said earlier about only using one hand could not serve as evidence for victory or defeat.

That was merely a verbal promise.

The rules of the "Questioning Heaven Challenge" would not judge Shen Jizhou as the loser because of that statement either...

All his painstaking efforts over these days...

Were they really going to...

Come to nothing?!

Bang!!!

A crisp, abrupt, completely out-of-place gunshot suddenly exploded!

On the forearm of Shen Jizhou's right arm, the one exerting the most force as he held up the heavens like a deity or demon, a burst of blood mist suddenly erupted!

A bloody hole appeared conspicuously!

"It was you..."

Lu Yuan, slumped on the ground, had, at some unknown time, acquired a brand new Mauser pistol in his right hand.

The cold muzzle was emitting a wisp of azure smoke that seemed utterly out of place.

"...who cheated first."