Chapter 479: Bartering

A dharma heir of the Great Sui Temple, master of the Fu Yan dormitory, the lead student of the Dou Luo Bodhisattva, and one who has attained the Buddhist 'Knowledge of Past Lives'—

The string of titles attached to Tan Su was already enough to make most cultivators in the world look upon him with awe.

Even within an ancient world like the Boundless Light Heaven, the number of cultivators in the same realm who could be mentioned in the same breath as him did not exceed two or three, let alone the fact that Tan Su was now in this Hong Jing Heaven.

He Yan, Daoist of the Heavenly Pool Sect; Wen Gu Lu of the Heavenly Demon royal clan; Li Qi, a loose cultivator from the She Yin Luzhou...

Even the aforementioned figures were not held in high regard by Tan Su, who viewed them merely as dust on the ground. As for the Daoist of the Qiao Mountain Sect and the various princes of the Southern Sky Demon Kingdom, they were even a notch lower.

Seen in this light, Tan Su naturally believed this trip to Hong Jing Heaven would be relaxed and effortless; as long as he did not provoke those great powerhouses, everything would remain within his control.

Who would have expected that here in the Mo Wu Luzhou, on this very day, he, Tan Su, would be forced into such a predicament!

This, indeed, was something his Knowledge of Past Lives had failed to clearly foresee earlier...

"Flames rising in the forest of blades, stone horses sweating blood... So, it was destined to happen here?"

Tan Su sighed inwardly. He saw that the face of Xiao Lingji beside him was deathly pale and her spirit withered. Although she barely retained some combat strength for self-preservation, she would be of no use in a moment and was effectively out of the fight.

However, Lu Rong, who had just been in a fierce battle with Xiao Lingji, remained composed, his aura vast and surging, as if it were about to fill the void where he stood, leaving no gaps, and he did not appear to have suffered much damage.

And on the other side, although Chen Hang had not made any moves, Tan Su felt a tremendous pressure bearing down heavily, causing his spirit to involuntarily tighten.

It was as if the moment he moved, a killing blow would arrive in an instant to strike him dead on the spot.

Yuchen's Chen Hang, Blood River's Lu Rong...

He did not know why, but in a remote land like the Mo Wu Luzhou, they had actually welcomed two genuine true transmissions from Xu Du.

And Lu Rong alone was enough to make Tan Su feel a slight chill.

Tan Su had fought a few bouts with this strongest Jin Dan of the current Blood River, and although it was not a life-or-death struggle, both sides had roughly gauged each other's methods and knew that the opponent was no ordinary person, making it difficult to win easily.

And then adding a Chen Hang...

Tan Su's gaze flickered slightly. He gently stroked his left arm; the limb that had been struck head-on by the Purple Clear Zi Qing Shen Lei was still throbbing with swelling pain and numbness, making it somewhat inconvenient even to use.

"Yuchen's thunder arts truly live up to their reputation. Fortunately, it wasn't that Tai Yi Zi Qing Shen Lei..."

Tan Su sighed inwardly, then felt it was somewhat absurd and shook his head slightly.

The reputation of that Eastern Prison-Breaking Evil-Suppressing Great Immortal and the Tai Yi Zi Qing Shen Lei was something Tan Su had heard of even far away in the Boundless Light Heaven. A high-ranking ancient Buddha of the Great Sui Temple had even had his root fruit shattered by the Tai Yi Zi Qing Shen Lei, ultimately having no choice but to enter extinction.

If the thunder art just now had truly been the Tai Yi Zi Qing Shen Lei, how could Tan Su still be standing here?

A mere Jin Dan True Person would surely never be able to unleash such a renowned supreme divine ability.

Even things that Primordial Spirit True Persons in orthodox immortal paths could not do, a Jin Dan...

Although he did not know why such bizarre thoughts had surfaced in his mind, Tan Su had no time to ponder it now. He said to Xiao Lingji:

"Little sister, you should retreat a bit."

"Brother?" Xiao Lingji's expression changed instantly.

"Having gone through the trouble of coming to this Hong Jing Heaven, I cannot return empty-handed. It is fine that I was schemed against by that sword strike from Yun Jie and cannot comprehend the Host-Awareness Stele Forest, but you..."

Tan Su smiled, suddenly exerting force to shatter the arm struck by the Purple Clear Zi Qing Shen Lei, and then, with a flash of flame, a new arm immediately grew out.

"To be able to trade blows with two future great sect Daoists is a rare opportunity. Then, this seat shall not decline!"

At this moment, Tan Su's gaze swept toward Chen Hang and Lu Rong. A surging fighting intent erupted without concealment, and golden light flared in his eyes.

"You intend to fight two against one?"

Lu Rong stood with his hands behind his back, feeling a bit of interest.

And the response to Lu Rong was merely a biting, strange coldness.

That cold aura was formless and shadowless, yet faster than a flying bolt of lightning. In the blink of an eye, it reached Lu Rong's face, intending to seal his seven orifices and freeze his magic power.

"Old tricks."

Lu Rong shook his head slightly.

Without even moving his feet, a burst of blood light rippled from his shoulders, and the dense ice shards around him shattered, falling like heavy rain, causing the grass and trees beneath the clouds to wither and break.

Seeing his strike miss, Tan Su was not surprised.

He shouted and spat out a mouthful of murky smoke. The smoke instantly transformed into a giant mouth with dark purple lips and forty teeth as clear and white as jade, each as large as a mountain peak, approaching with great ferocity!

Chen Hang saw that Lu Rong did not meet this strike head-on but instead deployed the Red Lotus Shadow-Walking Great Art.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of blood shadows in the sky fled in different directions, bringing up eerie flames, dazzling the eyes.

The Red Lotus Shadow-Walking Great Art was a highly sophisticated escape technique of the Blood River Sect. Not only was it as fast as lightning and capable of conjuring hundreds of blood shadows to confuse the enemy, but when necessary, it could also instantly swap positions with the shadows, making it miraculous and difficult to fathom!

Every time the giant mouth exerted force to chew, a dozen blood shadows would fail to dodge in time and be crushed into pieces by the sharp teeth.

But after this sort of maneuvering for half a moment, although the giant mouth's movements were not slow, the number of blood shadows did not decrease in the slightest; instead, they grew more and more numerous, until they were nearly everywhere across the mountains and plains.

Seeing this, Tan Su placed his palms together before his chest and chanted a secret mantra.

The giant mouth in the sky suddenly exploded into a ball of bright light. The mountains crumbled and the earth split; the deafening sound was ear-piercing, leaving only vast flashes of light in one's field of vision, making one want to shed tears!

The infinite blood shadows were touched by that light and instantly shattered like bubbles, unable to resist in the slightest.

The void sky was now clear and bright, without even a trace of smoke or clouds.

"What kind of secret technique is this?"

Before Xiao Lingji, who was watching the battle from afar, could be astonished, a streak of blood light suddenly jumped from the back of Tan Su's monk robe. Then, Lu Rong, appearing like a ghost, fiercely sacrificed a rusted green copper bell, covering Tan Su squarely within it!

"Refine!"

Lu Rong's expression was cold as he pinched a dharma seal.

The copper bell made a "crack" sound and then began to compress into a ball of copper, intending to seal Tan Su to death inside.

"I've waited a long time for you to get close."

At this instant, Tan Su's voice did not ring out from inside the copper ball, but from not far beside Lu Rong.

He fiercely sacrificed the Yan Mo Jin Gang Pestle, smashing it down toward Lu Rong's head, while two giant mouths manifested out of thin air, one on the left and one on the right, sealing off Lu Rong's path of retreat.

Lu Rong sneered slightly, a layer of slick blood skin wrapping around his body, and then, without dodging or evading, he raised his palm to grab the Yan Mo Jin Gang Pestle!

These two fought with extreme speed, and in the blink of an eye, they had exchanged dozens of blows.

Suddenly, Chen Hang saw an amber seven-treasure color rise behind the head of Tan Su, who was in the midst of the fierce battle. Then, a lion-headed heavenly general rode out on a fire chariot, holding a heavy halberd, and charged straight at him.

"You really dare to fight two against one?"

Chen Hang raised an eyebrow.

A sword light flashed in his eyes, and the lion-headed heavenly general's movements froze.

First, the heavy halberd in its hand snapped in the middle and fell with a thud, then its head, arms, chest, abdomen, and feet...

It had clearly not even gotten close before it was dismantled into pieces.

But as Tan Su chanted a mantra, the amber seven-treasure radiance surged behind his head again, and the lion-headed heavenly general stood up again, completely unharmed. At the same time, hundreds of Jin Gang warriors came running with great force, eyes glaring and roaring wildly, like surging river waves.

After Chen Hang used sword qi to slash dozens of them in the blink of an eye, seeing that the number of these puppet dharma spirits did not decrease and seemed endless, he finally raised his large sleeves and pushed forward flatly.

"Go!"

Chen Hang said.

With a thunderous roar, green-purple thunder surged like a giant wave, sweeping up all the puppet dharma spirits in its path and blowing them to pieces!

The remaining force of the thunder did not diminish, even forcing Tan Su to turn and strike out a Great Handprint, which finally broke this move.

But because Tan Su was distracted, Lu Rong seized the opportunity and struck with heavy hands, pressing Tan Su back step by step.

When Tan Su barely caught his breath, Chen Hang had already pressed forward without ceremony. Without a word, he sent out a thousand clusters of red water, which crashed down with a boom!

"It seems this match is difficult..."

Tan Su activated his Knowledge of Past Lives, and as karma flowed, thousands of phantom images flashed through his mind.

Amidst the fleeting scenes, he sighed, his gaze suddenly turning sharp.

The massive tremors and complex sounds echoed through heaven and earth!

On a mountain peak far away, Xiao Lingji, who was busy swallowing elixirs to recover her qi, had flickering eyes and a trace of shock on her face.

Clearly, they had only been fighting for barely a quarter of an hour, yet the three above the clouds were already fighting with true fire, unleashing all their methods. Everywhere they passed, mountains collapsed and stones broke, and thick smoke rose, making outsiders lose the courage to intervene.

Xiao Lingji knew that although they were all true transmissions of the Great Heavens, there were still differences in rank among these true transmissions.

And Chen Hang and Lu Rong were undoubtedly the absolute peaks among the true transmissions.

If there were no accidents in the future, they should rightfully ascend to become Daoists.

For such figures, if there were only one, Tan Su could still handle it.

But if another were added, then Tan Su would have no chance of winning, and defeat would be inevitable sooner or later...

"Not good!"

At this moment, Xiao Lingji's beautiful eyes suddenly widened, her expression solemn.

Almost at the same time she turned pale, Tan Su suddenly let out a lion's roar and stepped forward heavily, manifesting the four-faced, six-armed Wu Chu Treasure Canopy Wisdom King image.

The hundred-zhang Wisdom King stood in the sky, all four faces showing expressions of wrath and destruction, six arms wreathed in surging black flames, the momentum terrifying, making the treasure canopy engraved with the iron-thorn blade forest behind his head appear even more eerie.

However, before Tan Su could continue to exert force, Lu Rong let out a long whistle, a streak of brilliant demonic light shaking the mountains and earth, rising straight into the high heavens, and sweeping down toward the hundred-zhang Wisdom King image!

At the same time, a great tremor came from Chen Hang's side, thunder roaring, the mountains responding, making the four wilds appear brilliant and hazy, as if suddenly shrouded in a layer of green-purple radiance!

"..."

Tan Su had nowhere to retreat, so he stopped driving his Knowledge of Past Lives, his eyes returning to black and white.

His six arms merged, and a circle of black light rolled like surging waves, instantly forming a dead, silent forest, tightly protecting his entire body.

Thunder light and demonic qi exploded together, instantly sending sand flying and stones rolling, unstoppable!

And this commotion did not last long. After another half-stick of incense, following a thunderclap, a figure suddenly fell from the sky.

After landing, the person staggered a few steps, their figure slightly unstable.

"Brother?"

Xiao Lingji was startled and hurriedly flew forward to steady Tan Su.

At this moment, she saw bloodstains clearly on the corners of Tan Su's mouth, both sleeves scorched by smoke and fire, his treasure light extinguished, rarely showing such a disheveled appearance.

Before Xiao Lingji could speak, Tan Su waved his hand and stepped forward, saying:

"The two of you, my methods just now should be enough to secure that half-section of Yuan Zuo King Ganoderma, right?"

Tan Su was certainly not a fool who would insist on doing something he knew was impossible.

He actually knew in his heart that he had no certainty of winning against Lu Rong alone, let alone Chen Hang, who was vaguely a notch stronger than Lu Rong.

With these two joining forces, looking across the vast universe, those who could cross swords with them in the same realm were few and far between.

The reason he insisted on fighting a round was simply because he understood Lu Rong's temperament and knew that if he did not show some methods, he would probably not be able to easily take away that small half-section of Yuan Zuo King Ganoderma.

If this madman Lu Rong insisted on entangling him, that would also be a bit of a trouble.

Hearing Tan Su's words at this moment, because this was ultimately the demon race's territory and the Yellow Bear guarding the mountain had a deep cultivation base and was not to be trifled with, if they continued to fight and were discovered, it would be bad.

After a moment of thought, Lu Rong reluctantly suppressed the fighting intent in his heart, looked at Chen Hang, and asked:

"I wonder what True Person Chen thinks?"

Chen Hang did not care much, just nodded.

"Fine..."

Lu Rong shifted his gaze and said to Tan Su:

"Monk, you and I have fought no less than three or four times. It seems you also know Lu's temperament, which is why you acted this way."

Lu Rong paused on the pale-faced Xiao Lingji, as if thinking of something, smiled inwardly, and continued:

"The two of you, let us part ways for now today."

Xiao Lingji frowned slightly, feeling an inexplicable strangeness in her heart.

Tan Su just nodded faintly, rolled his sleeves, and soared away in a streak of golden light.

After flying for a hundred li, the golden light suddenly stopped on a mountain peak.

Tan Su stood in place, his expression somewhat uncertain. His shoulders trembled, and he spat out several mouthfuls of blood.

"This thunder art is truly extraordinary..."

After a moment of silence, Tan Su sneered slightly.

He spread his five fingers and slowly pulled a streak of almost imperceptible thunder light from his chest, staring at it for a long time.

Xiao Lingji saw that although the streak of thunder light was purple-green, faint specks of golden light could be seen within it.

A peerlessly fierce and sunny dharma power, whose rigidity could not be compared to by the sun and moon, vast and boundless, flashed out for a brief moment and then vanished in the blink of an eye, making one suspect it was just their imagination.

"This thunder art?" Xiao Lingji's expression was strange.

"Regardless of whether it is the Tai Yi Zi Qing Shen Lei, with this kind of momentum, this person is even more... than I thought."

Tan Su shook his head, his voice inexplicably pausing for a moment, before continuing after a long while:

"With such a figure emerging from the Eight Sects and Six Schools, I fear it may not be a blessing for the Heavens in the future. Since I have the King Ganoderma in hand, let him have his way for now today..."

Xiao Lingji naturally had no objections and shared the same thoughts.

At the same time, elsewhere.

After exchanging communication items with Lu Rong and bidding each other farewell, Chen Hang did not delay. He unleashed his sword light and plunged into the depths of the clouds.

Due to the nature of their cultivation methods and divine abilities, both Lu Rong and Xiao Lingji needed great medicines like the Yuan Zuo King Ganoderma, either to suppress the 'monkey mind and horse intent' or to harmonize yin and yang and refine the soul and spirit.

But this item was of little use to Chen Hang. No matter where he was, he had no need for this type of external medicine at the moment.

Therefore, after some discussion, Chen Hang took out the Yuan Zuo King Ganoderma he had and exchanged it with Lu Rong for the Red Burnt True Sand.

However, given the rarity and preciousness of the Red Burnt True Sand, Lu Rong did not have much left on him at this time. The portion he had given Chen Hang earlier was the last of his share.

The two therefore exchanged talisman signals, agreeing that Lu Rong would deliver the Red Burnt True Sand to Chen Hang before the Danyuan Assembly.

At this moment, Chen Hang traveled forward, and after about a quarter of an hour, he finally saw a towering, perilous peak.

The peak was steep and clever, straight as if carved, like a divine blade hanging upside down, thrusting straight into the sky. Even the gale winds and flowing clouds were only at the waist of the peak, blowing the pine waves with a whistling sound.

"It should be here."

Chen Hang thought to himself, pressed his sword light, and descended from the clouds. ===== CHAPTER 480 =====