Chapter 541: Fierce Battle

The mortal world's sandy realms are filled with myriad sufferings, like a hell of karmic fire.

From the moment a person emerges from the womb, they are bound by vulgar karma; the spirit cannot be pure, the qi cannot be tranquil, like a silkworm in its cocoon, finding no respite—

Such words are recorded at the very beginning of the "Divine Mantra of Deliverance from Sin for All Worlds."

Qi Shang had once dealt with the Elder who co-created this "Divine Mantra of Deliverance from Sin for All Worlds," and had even been injured by that Elder, damaging his hard-cultivated indestructible body, so he understood something of this divine ability.

Thus, he naturally knew that the function of this Divine Mantra of Deliverance from Sin was empowerment.

Empowering the flesh, empowering the spirit soul, empowering magic power—

It enables the spellcaster to use supreme empowering force to break all attachments, sweep away all past karma, ultimately shatter the beginningless heavy obstacles, open the path to the true Dao, and with their original countenance, deliver themselves from sin and ascend, establishing a Dao seat within the Ten Directions!

Such a great empowering divine ability even slightly surpassed the Lingming Divine Chapter that Qi Shang had learned; it was truly a profound and mysterious art within the myriad heavens and universes.

For Lu Rong to be fortunate enough to learn it was indeed stumbling upon a great opportunity.

However, the lineage of divine abilities transmitted from Bai Shui, besides being sinister and strange, carries an even greater layer of karmic cause and effect.

Without the tacit permission of those great demons of Bai Shui, merely the Dao prohibitions within the divine ability would be extremely difficult to deal with; this is just like others wishing to steal the fundamental wonderful methods of the Xuehe Sect—it is an impossible thing.

That Lu Rong could learn the "Divine Mantra of Deliverance from Sin for All Worlds" must have been under the Elder's tacit permission.

Did this one hold certain expectations for Lu Rong?

Or had he reached some kind of tacit understanding with the Xuehe Sect behind Lu Rong?

While these thoughts turned in Qi Shang's mind, two waves of vigorous magic power had already heavily struck Lu Rong's body!

But the latter merely shook his shoulders a few times, causing the blood clouds beneath his feet to burst open with several deep fissures, thereby dissipating this heavy blow.

Whoosh—

Lu Rong slowly exhaled a long breath and stepped forward.

After parting ways with Chen Heng at Hongjing Heaven that day, Lu Rong had obtained this divine mantra from the Elder's hands; with his talent, he quickly mastered some of the intricacies of this great art.

And now, he had only activated the first layer of the Divine Mantra of Deliverance from Sin for All Worlds, unlike his final duel with Yu Yu Huangshang where, disregarding consumption, he had fully urged the divine mantra to its limit.

Yet under such great empowerment, even with just the first layer, he felt that merely shifting his position slightly could stir up wind and clouds, causing a great rumbling sound.

The surging magic power flowing with every gesture was enough to make one intoxicated and bewildered, as if one had advanced into another realm, capable of shattering layer upon layer of barriers!

"This divine ability?"

Yin Yin Wuji looked at Lu Rong with great interest.

At this moment, the faint Bai Jin Guang on the latter's body had already merged deep into his bones and blood, no longer visible to the eye.

But within that Bai Jin Guang, the fleeting images of various demon ghosts, spirits, and evil charms were still sharply captured by Yin Yin Wuji's eyes.

"Let us begin!"

Lu Rong laughed loudly and formed a hand seal.

Under such circumstances, he actually chose to strike first, enclosing both Chen Heng and Yin Yin Wuji within his attack.

In an instant, the blood clouds scattered with a boom!

Thousands of blood souls flew out from within, rolling waves of deadly qi coming forth, like a boundless red tide surging violently, making a crashing sound!

With Lu Rong's movement, the gaze of nearly every cultivator in Ying Ying Jichuan converged here, motionless, fearing that even a slight lapse in concentration would cause them to miss something in the next instant.

Chen Heng, Yin Yin Wuji, Lu Rong—

By this time, the title of Dan Yuan Chief was destined to be decided among these three, who would then be pushed by the grand momentum to the forefront of the myriad heavens and universes.

Their names would spread through the Ten Directions, their fame shaking the cosmos!

And the peak struggle among the young cultivators of Xudu will, with the result of this great competition, finally draw its curtain to a close!

To shake one's feathers and rise in a single morning, soaring to the Golden Palace, causing the River Han to surge with tides and the Nine Heavens to cast down their gaze!

Such honor, such a rare encounter.

Those who could remain unmoved by it were truly few and far between.

At this moment, most of the young cultivators in the arena, just by imagining themselves in that position, felt unsteady on their feet, their hearts swaying and spirits soaring.

And in the great hall where the presiding elders sat, the atmosphere had rarely become so heavy, silent and soundless, as if one could hear a needle drop.

"Dan Yuan Chief..."

Meanwhile, in the Forty-Nine Lu Shou Palace, Pei Pei Shuyang, who was conversing with the Northern Pole Old Immortal, also shifted his gaze, a rare trace of solemnity appearing on his face as he fell into thought.

With a loud boom, the vast sky was instantly filled with blood souls, their momentum fierce!

Facing such a fierce attack, Chen Heng merely flicked his flying sword, causing thirty-six sword lights to spin rapidly like a wheel without pause, guarding the area within five zhang around him so tightly that not even water could leak through.

As for Yin Yin Wuji, he raised his sleeve and tapped continuously, urging up the Mingmo Primal Qi, causing several gloomy qi whirlpools to float around him, employing a unique strategy to turn this divine ability into a type of heavenly gate barrier.

The blood souls released by Lu Rong were indeed extremely formidable; they were refined using several types of secret medicines from the Xuehe Sect, mixed with celestial star stones, making them not only harder than gold and iron in form but also unafraid of most pure yang substances.

The yin souls and blood souls of ordinary Modao Sects would break on their own if one simply unleashed fierce fire or Lei Ting, or raised a yang-attribute treasure.

Even if the blood souls retained some ability to fight back, their ferocity was often less than before, their hands and feet bound.

But Lu Rong's blood souls were different.

Previously, when he was dueling Tang Xue Xuan of the Nine Truths, these blood souls had even pushed hard against Tang Xue Xuan's Nanming Li Fire, killing their way to Tang Xue Xuan's surroundings several times!

This was partly due to Tang Xue Xuan's insufficient skill with the Nanming Li Fire; Tang Xue Xuan now focused on the Dao of Arrays, treating this type of true fire merely as material for filling formations, and had not devoted much effort to it.

But the ferocity of Lu Rong's blood souls could also be glimpsed from this!

Releasing over a thousand blood souls was enough to carve out a rain of blood and a scarlet wind, but before Chen and Yin, it stirred up no significant movement;

they were either shattered into pieces beneath the dense sword lights or swallowed one after another by the qi whirlpools, completely losing trace.

Fighting like this for a while, Lu Rong was not surprised.

Although many of these blood souls had perished, since the Dharma seeds were already formed, he only needed to circulate his energy, consuming essence and qi, to continuously generate more, which was extremely convenient.

This method might be used to deal with people like Chang Chang Qingjue or Tang Xue Xuan.

But at this moment, it could not serve as a trump card; to settle the victory, he needed to unleash another unique move.

At this moment, Lu Rong glanced around, secretly formed a hand seal, and a thread of blood light quietly leaped from the shadow behind him; then he looked at Chen Heng, merely shook his sleeve, and a three-clustered seven-colored horn lamp appeared in his hand.

Pfft—

The dense sword light was suddenly forced apart by a tiny crack.

A streak of black light suddenly killed its way to Chen Heng's face; within the black light, six demon spirits could be vaguely seen, each with sharp horns on their heads and shaped like giant locusts.

Previously, when Chen Heng was battling Lu Rong, Lu Rong had also used this lamp-shaped magical artifact.

This treasure could release a total of six demon spirits; each possessed immense strength, had sharp claws and fangs, moved with incredible speed, and was formless and shadowless while flying, making them difficult to grasp.

Lu Rong knew Chen Heng's combat capabilities and understood he would be extremely difficult to deal with.

Therefore, while activating the magical artifact, the attack of the Blood Souls did not stop either; the demon spirits and Blood Souls coordinated inside and out, boldly flanking forward.

Chen Heng reached out and pressed down, re-forming the sword light to weave it into a net.

But this time, because the demon spirits hid within the dense Blood Souls, relying on their sharp fangs and using the Blood Souls for support and cover, the sword net was indeed shaken and battered open, creating several gaps.

Before Lu Rong could seize the opportunity to press his attack fully, a ball of firelight suddenly ignited, brilliant as the sun, radiating great illumination!

Merely grazed lightly by the firelight, the Blood Soul rushing at the very front involuntarily let out a miserable shriek, then pitifully dissolved into a few wisps of turbid smoke, gone forever.

"Nanming Li Fire?"

Lu Rong recognized this fire technique.

At that same moment, under the siege of numerous Blood Souls.

Yin Yin Wuji suddenly dodged sideways for no apparent reason, and the Shu Luo Canopy above his head expanded with gold and silver hues.

Almost simultaneously with his sideways dodge, a dark, gloomy qi vortex on the left was smashed to pieces by force, while the Shu Luo Canopy also dimmed internally, collapsing deeply inward over a large area.

With a flash of bloody light, the Blood God Child hidden within the Blood Souls also vaguely revealed its form.

This evil spirit, identical in appearance to Lu Rong, held a blood blade in its hand; above its head, turbid qi churned like steam, resembling a spring well gushing forth continuously, from which a ruthless, sinister, and eerie sensation surged out without hesitation!

At the same time he had activated the Goat Horn Lamp earlier, Lu Rong had also released the Blood God Child.

Once released, this evil spirit immediately used Bian Shi Fa to conceal its own form, allowing only the Blood Souls to be churned up and swallowed one by one by the qi vortexes.

It waited until it found an opportunity before finally erupting to kill Yin Yin Wuji, but unfortunately, it failed to strike a solid blow.

"A Blood God Child... with such intelligence and magic power, it is indeed one of the Blood River Sect's signature skills."

Yin Yin Wuji glanced briefly at this Blood God Child, but his hands did not stop moving.

A black-gold divine spear shot out like lightning; fortunately, the Blood God Child timely utilized Dun Fa to avoid being pierced squarely.

Having dodged this strike, the Blood God Child circulated its magic power, causing dense blood threads to burst forth from its entire body, and first ruthlessly activated the Master Xiang Sky-Trapping Blood Net.

But before it could activate other divine abilities of the Blood River, the chaotic blood net before it was suddenly pushed aside by an immense force.

Looking up, they saw Yin Yin Wuji's fist striking out like thunder, arriving in the blink of an eye!

Continuous loud crashes rose and fell, filling the vast sky, truly fierce and abnormal, causing one's heart to tremble with fear!

As far as the eye could see, there was only dim lightning and pouring blood rain, while suddenly dark qi spread out, swirling and soaring.

Various scenes of valleys collapsing and mountains connecting seemed as if they wanted to uproot the earth's foundations and obscure the sun and sky!

This battle had already lasted for one double-hour.

The six demon spirits released from the lamp had long been slain one by one by Chen Heng, while the Blood God Child had also been severely injured by Yin Yin Wuji.

If Lu Rong's performance in previously defeating Yu Yu Huangshang had already been witnessed by the various cultivators, giving them a clear understanding of Lu Rong's divine abilities.

Yet now, relying solely on his own strength, he had stubbornly held off both Chen Heng and Yin Yin Wuji, which still caused many outsiders to feel secretly awestruck.

Screech—

Chen Heng raised his hand and pointed a finger; fierce firelight surged out, and with just one flick, it destroyed over a dozen attacking Blood Souls, and with another flick, it destroyed several more.

On Lu Rong's side, having just clashed hard with Yin Yin Wuji, shaking the vast sky, he once again saved the Blood God Child, which was already exhausted and unable to sustain itself.

He turned to look and saw that the Nanming Li Fire, in just a few rushes, had already killed its way to his surroundings, so he activated a golden wheel to slice through the Li Fire.

"Rise!"

Lu Rong spat several mouthfuls of essential blood onto the wheel, exerting force once more to urge it, causing the golden wheel's brilliance to blaze intensely, temporarily entangling Chen Heng for half a moment.

Taking advantage of this time, Lu Rong also focused his mind against Yin Yin Wuji; after several exchanges, under the force of two layers of effort, he finally withdrew the severely injured Blood God Child into his Purple Palace.

"Fleeing is the best option; even if you have the Tiandu Capture and Control Method, you cannot endure this kind of duel!"

The Blood God Child, having narrowly escaped death, panted heavily:

"I cannot handle that Yin Yin Wuji; he is your great enemy, and against Chen Heng, unless you truly fight to the death, it will be difficult for you to determine a winner between you.

With these two joining forces, I fear that looking across the vast Xudu Xudu Tianyu, no one would be able to oppose them; if we could defeat them separately, we might try... but facing both simultaneously is simply seeking death!"

"Give me your magic power."

Lu Rong spoke in a deep voice.

A look of shock and anger just rose on the Blood God Child's face, but ultimately unable to defy Lu Rong, it had no choice but to comply.

After receiving the Blood God Child's full magic power, Lu Rong not only felt his spirit invigorated, but an unnatural bloody hue also surged onto his face.

He suddenly flicked his finger, and a blood pill the size of a pigeon's egg collided directly with the divine spear thrown by Yin Yin Wuji!

With a boom, layers of cloud seas shook and churned, infinite bloody light exploded, making it nearly impossible for anyone to open their eyes.

On the other side, Chen Heng had just split open that golden wheel when the Five Qi Peng Qian Kun Circle above his head seemed to suffer some kind of heavy impact, as several streaks of Yin Thunder cracked through the sky and arrived!

In an instant, Lu Rong's offensive erupted like a violent storm.

Blood Thunder and Qing Shen Lei collided with each other, while flying swords and the golden wheel fought endlessly.

The terrifying Yin Wind struck out by Yin Yin Wuji was ruthlessly blocked by the Blood Souls fearing neither death, while at the same time, dense blood threads shot up, each one sharp, making the black-gold divine spear even harder to deal with!

Panming Yin Thunder, Shen Wei Taisui Blood Souls, Master Xiang Sky-Trapping Blood Net, Di Yuan Jin Fa—

Various divine abilities rained down like a downpour, wielded freely and smoothly in Lu Rong's hands.

As a renowned veteran Jin Dan cultivator, his years of cultivation were the longest among the three present, so naturally, he had learned quite a few divine abilities.

Finally, after unleashing all manner of divine abilities and magical treasures, Lu Rong even engaged Chen Heng and Yin Yin Wuji in brutal close combat with his bare flesh.

Even when facing the Tai Su Yu Shen, he did not retreat in the slightest!

The Heavenly Capital Binding and Refining Art—

This is a supreme great divine ability of the Xuehe Sect; to cultivate it to the entry level, one must first create a Heavenly Capital Dharma Seed.

Once the spiritual light of the Dharma Seed forms, one can continuously capture and refine essence qi of magic power to fill gaps and repair flaws.

Whether suffering severe injuries akin to severed limbs and broken bones, or being struck by lightning and burned by fire.

As long as one's life is not truly extinguished and a single breath remains, activating this method can heal the wounds.

Although this supreme great divine ability, the Heavenly Capital Binding and Refining Art, consumes vast amounts of magic power, and Lu Rong is Fei Shi Yi Pin in terms of Jin Dan, making him truly inferior to Chen Heng and Yin Yin Wuji in this regard.

However, he possesses supreme secret medicines like Chi Fan Zhen, and furthermore, he can seize the magic power of the Blood River Divine Son to replenish his deficits.

With all these factors combined, Lu Rong was indeed able to repeatedly activate the Heavenly Capital Binding and Refining Art.

Given the profound mystery of this supreme great divine ability, even with an inferior physical body, he momentarily fought Chen and Yin to a standstill.

However, this was ultimately not a long-term strategy.

Even though Chen Heng and Yin Yin Wuji had not yet unleashed their full strength and were secretly guarding against each other.

As time gradually passed, Lu Rong still felt an indescribably heavy pressure constantly surging toward him.

What the Blood River Divine Son had said earlier was correct.

Looking across all the heavens, there was likely no one capable of withstanding the combined force of these two...

After once again clashing head-on with Chen Heng and Yin Yin Wuji using divine abilities, Lu Rong could not help but retreat several steps.

The next moment, fierce light blazed in his eyes; he forcibly halted his retreat, let out a loud shout, and a surge of thick, deadly light erupted from the top of his head, holding aloft the magical treasure launched by Yin Yin Wuji. This deadly light grew taller and taller, its color gradually shifting from deep to pale, while Lu Rong's entire qi aura became increasingly magnificent, clearly a precursor to activating some type of divine ability.

Crack—

Chen Heng's eyes flashed; seizing this opportunity, he thrust out his finger with heavy force.

The Zi Qing Shen Lei shot forth in the blink of an eye, advancing with unstoppable momentum, and after consecutively crushing Sui Le Chong Chong blood souls, it finally approached the area surrounding Lu Rong.

Only the rumbling sounds were heard between heaven and earth.

The next moment, the divine thunder, with the force of pushing down golden mountains and toppling jade pillars, smashed that deadly light into pieces!