Chapter 360: Chapter Twenty: The Demoness

Wind and clouds stirred, colors shifted; strange lights like a dragon exhaling mist churned forth a kaleidoscope of splendid, exotic hues.

And at this moment.

Chen Heng lowered his eyelids, his gaze falling upon the mother insect at his fingertips.

This creature was covered from head to toe in brilliant golden scales, resembling a serpent-dragon; the small dragon horns atop its head radiated sharp brilliance, exuding an especially grim and imposing aura.

Even though its movements had been restrained.

Yet this True Thought Golden Insect refused to submit, baring its ferocious nature completely.

It strained to puff out its wings, twisted its neck several times, then opened its mouth full of tiny sharp teeth to tear at Chen Heng, attempting to gnaw his fingertips so it might escape with its life.

But given the sturdiness of Chen Heng's body.

Although this True Thought Golden Insect could easily deal with even top-grade talismanic artifacts, it was still far from capable of harming his physical flesh.

As its sharp teeth moved, they merely provoked a clash of metal against metal, sending sparks flying in all directions, unable to leave even the slightest mark.

"Divination Method..."

Gu Yi saw Chen Heng's left hand behind his back, which was lightly gripping an ancient, unadorned tortoise shell.

Her thoughts turned, and she immediately guessed how Chen Heng had found the true mother insect among those tens of thousands of false forms.

And although she was astonished that Chen Heng's talent for the Divination Method had truly reached a level that inspired fear.

Yet at this moment, Gu Yi was not permitted the luxury of further thought.

She turned her fair hand, a cold expression flashing across her jade-like face; the True Thought Golden Insect, which had been struggling endlessly at Chen Heng's fingertips, suddenly stiffened, then exploded into a burst of Jin Jin Guang and vanished.

Simultaneously, within Gu Yi's sleeve pouch, another True Thought Golden Insect, its breath faint and dying, spontaneously appeared.

After letting out a single mournful cry, it coalesced on the spot into a golden egg, remaining motionless as it fell into deep slumber.

"This demoness certainly acts with decisiveness."

Chen Heng offered a slight praise, saying.

"You still cannot take what is mine!"

Gu Yi's moth-like eyebrows arched slightly; she shouted:

"Brat, accept death!"

As her voice fell, hundreds of black ropes manifested from the void, seeking to entangle Chen Heng's body.

Appearing and vanishing like spirits, impossible to guard against!

Seeing this, Chen Heng also raised his hand and released his Innate Great Sun Divine Light to meet them.

The two collided, erupting into a violent commotion of water and fire clashing, hissing loudly, dyeing half the cloudy sky in shades of black and gold!

Their radiance was extremely blinding, flickering unpredictably.

It caused many observers from both sects to involuntarily avert their gazes, unable to clearly see the scene within; they felt only a slight stinging pain in their pupils and a shock in their hearts.

And such a clash of purity and turbidity spread directly across several li of territory, continuing for a full Zhu Xiang Gong before finally slowing to a halt.

Yet the lingering sounds remained unceasing, shaking the waters of Shuojiang into endless turmoil.

Columns of water splashed high into the air, as if striving to touch the clouds!

At this moment, certainty settled in Gu Yi's heart; she nodded inwardly, tapped her two fingers together, and a wisp of black light flashed from her fingertips.

In an instant.

Violent clouds spun wildly in the sky, and wind pressure surged with sudden urgency!

People from both sects felt the skylight above dim slightly, as if a heavy storm were about to crash down upon their heads!

When they panicked and raised their eyes to look, they saw a giant bone hand slowly solidifying, like a vast, grim curtain, accompanied by rolling black clouds and the howling of yin winds.

As its five fingers strained open, waves of mournful and piercing demonic sounds rang out, rolling through heaven and earth!

Causing those who heard them to suddenly conjure countless illusions in their hearts, their minds becoming muddled and dull, with no clarity remaining whatsoever!

"Nether Spring White Bone Great Hand... a Miao Fa of the Huzhao Sect; unexpectedly, after a span of a hundred years, this old one is fortunate enough to witness it again!"

At this moment, within the Huzhao camp, a True Person of the Five Yin Palace, with crane-white hair and a youthful face, dressed in a mottled robe of blood, witnessed this scene.

Brilliant light burst forth in his pupils; he could not help but sigh inwardly, saying.

The Yu Yuchen Sect possesses Three Scriptures and Five Canons, Eight Gong and Nine Books, which together are called the Shi Wu Zheng Fa.

Their might shakes the Nine Provinces, their fame gallops across the Four Seas; they are truly supreme immortal Dao Miao Fa!

And as one of the Bapailiu Sect.

The Huzhao Sect likewise possesses supreme Mo Gong, usable to protect life and ensure longevity, and to suppress the entire world!

For instance, the "Nether Spring White Bone Great Hand" used by Gu Yi before our eyes originates from one of the Huzhao Sect's Six Arts of Killing Life, the "No Thought No Knot Full Life Seal"; it is a formidable Dao technique split and simplified from this great Mo Dao supernatural power.

If one speaks of its power.

Although the White Bone Great Hand does not equal the "No Thought No Knot Full Life Seal".

Yet its intent of execution, slaughter, and fierce evil is of the same lineage, extremely formidable, making it absolutely impossible for anyone to ignore!

First attacking the divine soul, then striking the physical body!

Within the Huzhao Sect, this method holds a status equivalent to that of the Zi Qing Shen Lei in the Yu Yuchen Sect; both are profound and marvelous great arts.

Ranked only beneath the sect's true great laws, they are not bestowed upon disciples unless they possess great background and great Dadao Gong!

And as early as a hundred years ago.

This old True Person of the Five Yin Palace had witnessed an expert of the Huzhao Sect employ this method.

With merely a single strike, he forcibly collapsed several small mountain peaks!

He beat three cultivators of the same realm to death on the spot, turning them into a pool of pus and water, leaving not even a complete corpse behind!

That cruel and fierce scene remained vivid in this True Person of the Five Yin Palace's memory, unable to be forgotten for a long time.

And now, after a span of a hundred years of time, he again witnessed Gu Yi Shi Chu Ci Fa, with its power even more magnificent by a notch, making it inevitable that his heart swayed and his spirit wandered, giving rise to feelings of emotion.

This instant unfolded between a flash of lightning and a spark of flint.

Accompanied by a piercing demonic sound that shook heaven and earth, the bony great hand tore through the clouds, descending with the momentum of a mountain pressing down to grab at Chen Heng as if plucking a mustard seed!

Just as the bony great hand was about to reach his body.

Chen Heng shook his shoulders, transforming into a streak of sword light, escaping from his original spot and shifting dozens of zhang away.

Yet as soon as he moved, the bony great hand reacted no slower, similarly churning apart the gale qi, emitting a series of explosive booms as it chased after him swiftly.

Within a few breaths, only the sword light and the great hand could be seen soaring against each other, chasing one another, kicking up countless clouds of dust along their path.

Amidst this shifting and dodging, Chen Heng sent his sword light soaring, suddenly sweeping across the sky to strike, seizing the fleeting moment when the bony great hand had not yet reacted to defend.

With a single slash, he cleanly severed it, splitting it diagonally in two!

Following a thunderous boom.

Bone fragments rained down like shower, while demonic qi scattered across the sky!

Looking out, the void above seemed to have suddenly gained a streak of deep, turbid color, shocking to behold!

Yet when this Da Shou Yin was broken by Chen Heng's single sword strike, no trace of surprise appeared on Gu Yi's face; she merely let out a faint cold laugh, raised her pale hand, and once again began forming hand seals.

In an instant!

Heaven and earth suddenly darkened completely, blocking the sun and obscuring the sky.

The vegetation beneath the clouds trembled violently, and the river waters surged and churned!

A full twenty-four bony great hands materialized once more, layered above and below, forming a mutual formation.

The piercing demonic sound echoed through heaven and earth once again, sounding like a hundred ghosts pleading their innocence and a thousand demons roaming the skies.

It seemed intent on turning this clear and bright human world entirely into a land of demons and a kingdom of ghosts!

Witnessing this scene, the True Persons of the Dao lineage from both sect camps were utterly terrified, feeling chills run down their spines.

Clearly, this was merely a battle of magic between Cave Profound Refiners, yet it had unleashed such fierce momentum.

Had they not seen it with their own eyes.

No matter who spoke of it.

They would find it hard to believe, feeling it was merely the ramblings of a fool dreaming...

And just as the twenty-four bony great hands churned up surging waves of yin, trapping Chen Heng tightly in the center, sealing off his above, below, and all four directions, and pressing down ruthlessly.

Suddenly, a sharp brilliance swift as lightning shot forth, piercing through the seal and illuminating the entire heaven and earth into a blinding white expanse where nothing could be seen!

Once the brilliance slightly subsided.

Everyone raised their eyes to look.

They saw Chen Heng standing in mid-air with his hands behind his back, his sleeves fluttering wildly, radiating an imposing and heroic presence.

Twenty-four strands of sword qi circled slowly behind him, arranged in concentric rings, like a sun of light too brilliant to gaze upon directly floating above the clouds, illuminating all four directions.

Grim and sharp qi crisscrossed and flowed; at a glance, it was shocking to behold.

Above his head, half of those twenty-four bony great hands were already shattered, deeply dented by the flying swords.

Clumps of demonic qi dissipated into the sky, surging like ink-black clouds.

And at this moment.

Only then did a short sound of thunder ring out, bursting forth with a rumbling tremor...

"Sword light differentiation?!"

Within the Yu Yu Yuchen camp, Chi Ying, who witnessed this scene, contracted his pupils sharply.

He was greatly startled and could not help but want to step forward a few paces to see more clearly.

However, before he could move.

The twenty-four strands of sword light all moved simultaneously, separating or merging, suddenly rising or falling, leaping and shifting within the void.

From different positions.

They simultaneously slashed swiftly toward Gu Yi!

Although Gu Yi ordered the bony great hands to meet them, they had not fought for long before all twenty-four bony great hands were smashed apart with a thunderous crash, collapsing into heaven and earth, never to be whole again.

And with the obstruction gone, the sword light grew even colder and brighter, vanishing in a flash, and in an instant arrived before Gu Yi.

Gu Yi's expression remained unchanged; she waved her water sleeves, generating a halo of light clear as water that gathered the incoming sword qi.

She then raised her palm forward, letting out a clear shout, causing a strand of yin fire to suddenly ignite, carrying boundless filth and impurity; looking at it, green light bristled ominously, seeming as if countless tadpole-like characters were wriggling within, bizarre and inexplicable.

This fire was the Northern Calamity Nether Fire, one of the Ten Great True Fires of heaven and earth.

And among the Ten Great True Fires.

Just as the Southern Bright Li Fire could extinguish all demons and evil spirits, serving as a great technique for subduing demons that naturally restrained the principles of yin turbidity, being a flame of utmost yang and ferocity.

Since all things are unified, where there is movement there is stillness, and where there is yin there is yang.

Naturally, there also existed the opposite of the Southern Bright Li Fire, nurtured by the natural heaven and earth.

And this Northern Calamity Nether Fire that Gu Yi was currently unleashing was precisely a flame of utmost yin and evil, naturally restraining the pure yang mechanisms of those of the Daoist Sect!

In Gu Yi's past battles and campaigns.

Whenever this fire appeared, it claimed the lives of countless talented heroes of the Daoist Sect, truly boasting a formidable and terrifying might!

And now, as the Northern Calamity Nether Fire activated, it struck all twenty-four strands of sword light, causing them to stagger, suddenly expanding into a ring of fire that isolated the sword qi ten zhang away from her body.

At the same time, Gu Yi snorted lightly and sent another strand of nether fire roaring into the distance, landing upon Chen Heng's body, intending to force him to shift and flee far away, thereby slowing the sword assault rushing toward her.

Chen Heng remained expressionless, neither dodging nor avoiding; he simply stepped forward, causing a surging river of blood to rise beneath his feet and circle his body, while his dharma robe simultaneously burst forth with a ring of auspicious light, temporarily holding back the blazing nether fire.

For a moment.

The twenty-four strands of sword qi surged forward wildly, constantly colliding and clashing with the nether fire.

With an unmatched sharpness, they gradually eroded the ring of fire bit by bit, slowly pressing closer to surround Gu Yi!

This was the path of direct, upright frontal assault; what was being tested was simply who would be unable to endure first and throw their formation into chaos.

That victor could then seize a sliver of an opening and completely reverse the situation of the battle!

Finally, when the Yin-Erosion Red Water protecting Chen Heng had been burned away by nearly eighty percent of its substance by the Northern Calamity Nether Fire, gradually becoming thin and sparse.

The ring of fire that Gu Yi had spread open was finally torn apart by sword light, creating a crack.

"Go!"

Although this scene vanished in an instant, with Chen Heng's rich experience in magical combat, he still keenly detected the anomaly.

He let out a cold shout in his heart, and several beams of sword light rushed into that crack, chopping down straight onto Gu Yi's head!

Piercing killing intent filled his eyes and ears, cold air invading the bones.

Even before it reached his body, one's mind and spirit would be awed by this momentum that seemed capable of exterminating everything, causing one's actions to inevitably stiffen for a moment.

And with Gu Yi's nature, although she would not be frozen in place by this killing intent.

Yet, caught off guard, a strand of her dark hair by her ear was still sliced off by the sword energy, drifting down leisurely.

"..."

Gu Yi frowned and glared at Chen Heng, raising her hand to strike, whereupon light and shadow surged, and the sword energy chopping down from the sky was steadily intercepted by several precious nails.

The sound of clashing metal suddenly rang out, shifting abruptly east and west, rising and falling one after another.

But within only a few breaths.

Those few precious nails were worn down, losing much of their substance, their treasure light dimming.

Obviously, their follow-up strength was failing.

Unable to hold out much longer.

At the same time, her layer of protective fire ring was also completely broken open by the external sword energy, leaving the inside and outside completely unobstructed.

Twenty-four streams of sword energy exhaled and inhaled cold light in unison, radiating brilliance, slicing deep marks into the cloud qi above their heads, like rainbow beams traversing the sky.

Like a grim net, they fiercely descended upon Gu Yi!

At such a distance, if one wished to raise a hand to resist, the risk would be considerable, with danger of being injured.

As Gu Yi's thoughts raced like lightning, she also made her decision.

However, before she could activate that Mi Fa.

Only a faint trembling hum was heard, and a beam of sword energy that had already closed in to within ten feet of her suddenly dispersed into nothingness.

And as this beam of sword energy collapsed into ruin out of thin air, it triggered a chain reaction.

Several surrounding beams of sword energy also swayed slightly, similarly crumbling and scattering, turning into refined light and vanishing between heaven and earth.

In merely the blink of an eye.

The twenty-four beams of sword light once again merged back into one, recalled by Chen Heng with a wave of his hand...

"What a pity..."

Seeing this, Chen Heng was not surprised; he shook his head slightly, swept his sleeve, and exerted force to push away the Northern Calamity Nether Fire that had already pressed within ten feet of him.

At the same time, he fled using the sword light, no longer using the Red Water to clash hard against that Nether Fire and pointlessly waste his True Qi.

Among the Five Realms of the Sword Dao.

There are altogether two transformations: Sword Energy Thunder Sound and Sword Light Differentiation.

He had long since realized the method of Sword Energy Thunder Sound.

But regarding the latter.

He still had no clear clue for a breakthrough, only a vague sense, as if looking at flowers through fog.

And although just now he had created twenty-four swords in one breath, catching Gu Yi off guard, in the end, it could not last.

Once the time was up.

That differentiated sword energy would dissipate, beaten back into its original form.

"So you have not truly cultivated Sword Light Differentiation yet; otherwise, with your age and talent, plus cultivating various methods simultaneously.

Such attainment would truly be too bizarre..."

Gu Yi gently brushed a few strands of wind-blown stray hair behind her ear.

Her beautiful eyes flowed with expression as she looked at the handsome Daoist in the sky, who had long eyebrows and an indifferent expression, exquisite features, and an air of being lightly untouched by dust, and she smiled gracefully, saying:

"To fight me to this extent, Chen Heng, you are already worthy of pride, even surpassing that He He Lizi who has achieved Sword Light Differentiation.

He could not hold out under my hand for this long; in my opinion, for the New Year's Evaluation's third rank in Dongxuan, it should not be that fool Yuan Yuan Fayan, but rather you."

As early as the very beginning of the two armies confronting each other, Gu Yi had led her troops to crush Shen Cheng.

And because He He Lizi received a talisman message, he urgently led the masses to rescue, confronting Gu Yi.

However, in that battle, Gu Yi first defeated Shen Cheng, then consecutively defeated He He Lizi, truly worthy of being called a demon whose might surged to the heavens!

Although the methods of enlightened sword cultivators in this world are formidable.

Yet for disciples of the great immortal sects, it is not as if there are no countermeasures to be found.

Otherwise, this Bapailiu Sect would long ago have been dominated solely by the Zhongyi Sword Sect; where would there be any path to survival for the other thirteen families?

And if Wang Sen had not arrived in time during that campaign, leading his followers to force Gu Yi back.

I fear that even if Shen Cheng and He He Lizi did not die.

They would have been heavily injured, losing the strength to fight again...

"Even without having cultivated Sword Light Differentiation, defeating you is merely a matter of expending a bit more effort; Gu Yi, do you truly think you can have me completely under your control?"

Chen Heng lifted his eyelids, quietly meeting her gaze across the void, and spoke indifferently.

"This little brat is truly stubborn!"

Gu Yi glanced at him, smiling gently as she said:

"Clearly not old, yet your tone is so big; today, let this elder sister teach you what rules and etiquette are, and that the accomplished come first!"

"This demoness truly does not know the height of heaven or the depth of earth."

Chen Heng shook his sleeve and spoke calmly.

"Dare you say it again!"

A cold light flashed in Gu Yi's eyes, her jade-like face turning frosty.

"Your peculiar habit is quite amusing; do you truly enjoy being called a demoness? Since you have made a request, how could this poor Daoist refuse?"

Chen Heng gave a faint laugh, then spoke the name once more.

The two exchanged a glance, their eyes both filled with chilling cold, and spoke no further words.

Almost simultaneously, they raised their hands, silently forming hand seals.

In an instant.

It was as if the mountains shook and the earth trembled; two colossal auras rose majestically in an instant, pressing down until the spectators from both sects struggled to breathe!

Below, the river water boiled, churning up waves that burst violently, splashing white foam like flying snow!

To Be Continued

(End of Chapter)