Chapter 108: Four Spirits, Hun Yuan, Breakthrough, Kill the Enemy!

Hou Zhongyu’s eyes seemed ready to bleed.

This batch of Wan Gu Cang Yue was passed down from his master; his master betrayed his own master, and he, because of this precious medicine, killed his own teacher—such is the difficulty of succession among alchemists, most of which stems from this.

His heart now felt as if slashed by knives, his screams like the piercing cry of an owl:

“This batch has been refined for eighty full years!”

“Eighty years! Only months away from the perfect yang number of ninety-nine!”

“Just need the mountain marrow from Nanshan—just a few months more! I killed you, I killed you!!!”

Li Guanyi staggered backward, the bronze cauldron slipping from his hand and clattering to the ground.

Hou Zhongyu saw a trace of residue left inside—he longed to hurl himself in and devour every last drop. Seeing Li Guanyi’s skin reddening visibly, Hou Zhongyu felt boundless murderous intent, envy, hatred, and an indescribable emotion.

This was the obsession forged over years—killing his teacher, hiding within the imperial palace—this need to know whether he had succeeded, surpassing all else, driving him to scream:

“What does it taste like?”

“Tell me—what does it feel like to swallow this medicine?”

“Do you feel your blood surging? Do you? I didn’t mess up, did I?!”

“Was killing that old bastard worth it?!”

“It was worth it!”

“Wasn’t it?! Wasn’t it?! Answer me!”

Li Guanyi had no time to answer this mad alchemist—he felt as if he’d swallowed a ball of flame, or a cloud of qi, which burst open the moment it entered his mouth, flooding every part of his body.

A new layer seemed to form between his meridians and bones.

Swelling. Pain.

Ten times worse than numb legs after sitting too long.

And this swelling, this numbness, enveloped his entire body.

Li Guanyi instantly realized—if this continued, he might lose all sensation, becoming like a tree: long-lived but immobile. He snapped to clarity.

This could not continue.

He needed to refine this medicinal force.

The techniques Li Guanyi knew included Po Zhen Qu, Yu Bi Shen Gong Jue, and Tai Ping Shu—all top-tier—but the only one specifically for refining his foundation was that single method.

Without hesitation.

Li Guanyi clenched his fist and began performing a stance.

The Tiger Roar Bone Forging Art!

The White Tiger manifestation stirred in response; a roar echoed through the void as he channeled the force flooding his body, refining once more this art already ranked first in history—his muscles, bones, skin, and marrow began a slow ascent.

It could still rise further!

Perhaps this medicine contained Qilin blood.

Li Guanyi, beyond the roar of the tiger in his ears, now seemed to hear the solemn low growl of the Qilin—its presence merging with the art and the immortal medicine.

His skin, bones, and blood were stirred by the blows.

Until every part of him began to be refined.

His physique, already comparable to that of a supreme warlord from eight hundred years ago at the same level, slowly improved.

Seeing this phenomenon, the alchemist Hou Zhongyu grew more jealous, more frenzied—he shouted: “You! Don’t refine it! Don’t refine it! Spit it out! Spit it out!!!” He raised his hand, altering the array’s flow, no longer caring if the commotion drew attention from outside.

He had devoted his entire life to this.

He had even killed the master who had rescued him from a winter snowstorm.

This obsession was all he had left.

If this thing was swallowed, life held no meaning.

The stone chamber’s mechanisms were triggered.

One wall collapsed; the seven nodes merged back into the great array. The Four Symbols Sealing Spirit Array reformed fully, then surged violently—the chamber crumbled, and from nowhere a massive stone pillar hurtled down toward Li Guanyi.

Li Guanyi turned and punched.

The giant stone shattered under his fist.

Though this blunt impact did not break his skin, it shook his internal organs—he spat blood onto his armor, yet felt no pain, only relief, pure exhilaration.

His blood had decreased, yet under the miraculous medicinal force,

Li Guanyi’s body began regenerating blood anew.

At an astonishing speed.

Qilin blood mixed in—not replacing, but strengthening his own blood.

He felt his heart beat with sudden power.

This accelerated depletion of his lifespan was counterbalanced by the Wan Gu Cang Yue immortal medicine.

Ultimately, it would elevate the entirety of his physical essence.

In a world where transcendents roamed, capable of moving mountains and filling seas, the transformation occurring in Li Guanyi was precisely the obsession of the alchemist lineage—seeking immortality—and one of the hard-won gains after countless deaths:

【Blood Replacement】!

Human flesh is frail, yet blood and flesh may transform.

All spirits of heaven and earth refine this body!

Hou Zhongyu did not miss Li Guanyi’s transformation—he burned with envy, furiously activating the array’s defenses to strike Li Guanyi, yet dared not strike too hard, fearing he might reduce the boy to charcoal and lose the Wan Gu Cang Yue immortal medicine.

This was his lifelong obsession.

Each strike was heavy, leaving the boy severely wounded.

He spat blood, his face pale as ash.

But the medicine’s power acted swiftly—his blood transformed, healing his wounds rapidly—and Li Guanyi realized his internal qi showed no sign of depletion; in this state, every drop he spent was replenished by the next breath.

“You!!!”

Hou Zhongyu gritted his teeth and halted the array’s mechanisms.

He realized—if he continued, he would only aid this youth in refining himself.

Calming himself, he once again manipulated the [Four Symbols Sealing Spirit Array], intending to seal Li Guanyi and extract his bloodline, refining the medicine’s power into a Blood Pill.

Li Guanyi sensed the suppression of primordial energy.

He responded by manipulating the array in kind.

He was indeed clever, but Hou Zhongyu had spent decades immersed in this array’s transformations—Li Guanyi’s memorized patterns and variations appeared to him like a three-year-old waving a sword, riddled with errors.

Soon, the youth was outmatched.

“Damn it…”

Li Guanyi gritted his teeth and abandoned fixed patterns entirely. Those patterns had helped him perceive the array’s shifts—so now he adapted to Hou Zhongyu’s changes: whenever the outer Four Symbols array shifted, he mirrored it with the inner Four Symbols manifestation, countering each move.

Though the array was profoundly mysterious,

for a time, it could not fully seal the youth.

The more skillfully Hou Zhongyu wielded it,

the more Li Guanyi seemed like a slippery fish, evading the array’s grasp in impossible ways.

Slowly, Li Guanyi grew accustomed to this exchange—Hou Zhongyu’s decades of mastery in array shifts were being absorbed by Li Guanyi’s body and manifestation in reverse, as if his teacher were guiding him hand-over-hand, imparting every insight of those decades.

Like the flow of yin and yang.

Li Guanyi’s innate talent was exceptional; now, with mastery, he no longer needed thought—he could instinctively respond to Hou Zhongyu’s array shifts, gaining corresponding insight. He reset his stance and began the Tiger Roar Bone Forging Art once more.

Amid the tiger’s roar in his ears, now mingled the divine aura of the Qilin in his blood.

And the internal flow of his technique was no longer the original path.

It had transformed into the [Four Symbols Sealing Spirit Array].

Thus, within the tiger’s roar and Qilin’s growl, faint dragon roars, phoenix cries, and tortoise murmurs gradually emerged. After two full hours of stalemate, as Hou Zhongyu’s Four Symbols Sealing Spirit Array reached its peak suppression, Li Guanyi’s Four Symbols manifestation also reached its peak.

Four Symbols Sealing Spirit—sealing means stillness, stillness means gathering, gathering condenses into one—that is Hun Yuan.

Li Guanyi suddenly realized: this array, left behind by one of the top three Yin-Yang masters, contained within it a supreme technique—its Four Symbols flow was inherently the most stable structure.

Above, it corresponded to the Four Celestial Spirits and the Twenty-Eight Mansions; below, to the Four Directions of the Nine Provinces and the Four Divine Beasts.

It formed an extremely stable framework—this stability was a superb advantage in battle, yet a disadvantage in breakthrough: the more stable, the harder to compress into one, the harder to break through.

This is why combat-oriented techniques are often hard to break through.

Techniques designed for rapid breakthrough rarely excel in combat.

Li Guanyi’s Four Symbols manifestation had already condensed to its limit, yet still lacked a final spark—it remained in balance, and to merge into Hun Yuan, he needed power exceeding his current Four Symbols manifestation; without breakthrough, his own cultivation could not reach this level.

He needed an external natural force to press and assist him across this threshold.

Li Guanyi looked at Hou Zhongyu, now frantic and suffering, and softly spoke:

“Alchemist, your strength isn’t enough—I’m nearly finished refining it.”

Hou Zhongyu ignored him.

So Li Guanyi activated the technique taught by his aunt.

His qi vibrated, striking the surrounding railings with crisp, musical chimes—yet capable of shaking the spirit.

Thinking for a moment, the youth smiled with a mocking grin and uttered three words:

“Didn’t eat?”

The technique Murong Qiushui taught acted directly on the soul.

Hou Zhongyu, already agitated by the stolen immortal medicine, now felt the chimes grating, the boy’s smile infuriatingly pleasant—his rage ignited. He roared and formed the Daoist Nine Character Mantra.

The entire Qilin Palace trembled.

Spiritual aura surged—strong enough to draw attention from afar.

The white jade beneath Qilin Palace was instantly drained of its spiritual essence.

The Four Symbols Sealing Spirit Array unleashed its power in an instant; Li Guanyi’s vision darkened, and he felt his Four Symbols cultivation body suppressed to its absolute limit.

It was the full effort of a third-stage sorcerer.

It was the great array of Shiwei, one of the top two seats of the Yin-Yang School.

He had swallowed the Elixir of Eternal Moon!

It was the Four Spirits cultivation body!

At the very moment his Four Symbols cultivation body was crushed to its limit, Li Guanyi lost all five senses; his spirit grew still, free of fear, worry, or dread—only the pure, open-hearted resolve of a youth—and he stepped forward.

He raised his arm naturally.

He clenched his fist.

He punched straight into the darkness ahead.

The Tiger Roar Bone Forging Art activated, carrying him to a higher level.

The darkness before him was torn apart.

All things and phenomena surged back into his vision.

With one punch, his qi flowed; his cultivation body, long suppressed to its extreme, exploded outward.

Blood and qi surged violently; the aura radiating from his fist was visible as white clouds and mist, swirling around the youth, spreading backward and transforming into a Qilin, a fire dragon, a white tiger, and a black tortoise.

Twining around his body!

The intent of this art had already diverged from the original, simple Tiger Roar Bone Forging Art.

Li Guanyi pressed down with his left hand and raised his right.

It was the Taiji Cloud Hands, a technique he had known since his past life.

Yet now, executed with effortless flow, it bore the bearing of a master from his past life—the white clouds and mist coiled around him.

The dragon roared, the tiger bellowed, the phoenix cried; the Qilin stirred, the black tortoise turned.

The Four Symbols Sealing Array stabilized this body.

Second Floor achieved!

Completed!

Foundation—

Supreme!

Hou Zhongyu suddenly clapped and laughed loudly: “Hahaha, yes, yes, it’s done! Such a foundation—vibrant bloodline, unceasing qi—truly a supreme foundation! Hahaha, I didn’t make a mistake, I didn’t!”

In this moment, the thing he had pursued his entire life was no longer an illusion.

He had truly accomplished this step—his joy and sigh were real.

Pure, without hatred.

But the next instant, human emotion surged forth, drowning out the pure delight of a sorcerer witnessing his ultimate goal manifest—he flew into rage, shouted, and charged at Li Guanyi with thunder and fire; Li Guanyi leapt up and punched forward.

Dragon’s roar and tiger’s bellow erupted simultaneously!

The overwhelming, unreasonable force of his punch shattered the sorcerer’s thunder and fire incantation.

Residual thunder and fire struck Li Guanyi.

He felt his body go numb, his meridians momentarily controlled—but in the next instant, the thunder and fire were shattered; sorcerers’ techniques often restrained and limited their opponents.

But Li Guanyi now had golden skin and jade bones, his blood and qi like a dragon.

He possessed immense resistance to such methods.

He had just broken through; some of the pill’s power still lingered. The old sorcerer, however, had spent his essence, maintained the array for two hours, and just now unleashed a massive explosion—his strength waned while Li Guanyi’s rose; the gap of one realm was not so vast—and besides—

Warriors were naturally suited for close combat!

In the next instant, Hou Zhongyu saw Li Guanyi vanish—and his jade pendant shattered.

The next moment, a fist appeared before Hou Zhongyu’s eyes.

His aura collapsed.

The defensive aura granted by the shattered pendant made Li Guanyi’s punch feel as if it had struck mud.

He instantly retreated, drew his sword, and slashed.

Hou Zhongyu chanted, casting another spell.

His plain robes suddenly changed; Li Guanyi’s sword struck with a sharp, resonant clang.

As if clad in armor.

The sorcerer clapped his hands and unleashed the Three Emperors Cannon Fist—its instantaneous burst of power made Li Guanyi glance aside; sorcerers could use countless inexplicable means to temporarily strengthen themselves, even surpassing warriors of the same realm—but it was always fleeting.

Li Guanyi and Hou Zhongyu clashed, fists and feet colliding, swords and blades tearing.

They overturned pavilions, shattered pillars.

Now blinded by rage, they no longer cared if they were discovered.

To kill the opponent was the only path to survival—then all blame could be laid on the other.

Li Guanyi brought down his sword in a heavy slash, nearly severing the old man’s neck.

In the next second, the sorcerer’s wound healed before his eyes.

But Hou Zhongyu’s black hair turned white.

Such arcane techniques made Li Guanyi nearly curse aloud; Hou Zhongyu said: “Sorcerers seek immortality. Since I dwell within this imperial palace, my methods are countless—how could a mere warrior like you understand? Even if you die here from exhaustion, I will not!”

Li Guanyi slashed again; this time the old sorcerer fought desperately, using some unknown method—Li Guanyi’s heavy Jinyuwei sword struck like a blade against stone and snapped. Hou Zhongyu said: “My lineage’s Dragon-Tiger Golden Armor Divine Art took me twenty years to master, but for this one hour, I possess a supreme golden body.”

“Impervious to blades and spears!”

“Impervious to blades and spears?”

Li Guanyi discarded his sword, stepped forward, and planted his foot on the chest of the now white-haired elder.

He unleashed his power.

But he used a pushing force.

Hou Zhongyu, not a warrior, had an unstable stance—he was kicked backward, crashing through the door and into the grand hall. Li Guanyi lunged forward, wrapped his arms around the elder, who tried to bite his neck: “Your blood—I understand!”

“You’ve digested the pill’s power—you’ve become a great medicine.”

“Hahaha! To use a body like yours as a crucible, refining you into a great medicine—that is the true treasure of immortality!” Li Guanyi thought the sorcerer had gone mad; he held the man fast, restraining his movements.

Hou Zhongyu shouted: “You cannot break my defense—I am impervious to blades and spears!”

Li Guanyi said: “Impervious to blades and spears.”

“What about water and fire?”

Hou Zhongyu froze, then seemed to recognize the boy—those tear-shaped moles at the corner of his eyes… his pupils shrank.

They were now inside the grand hall.

The youth let out a long cry:

“Qilin!!!!!!”

And as if legend had returned.

Intense flames surged once more at that cry.