Chapter 787

The figure Qiu Daoping saw was the existence he had always feared most in his heart. Even though this person had fallen many years ago, he still frequently appeared in his mind, making it impossible for him to forget.

Seeing the slight change in Qiu Daoping’s expression, a smile appeared on Feng He’s lips, and his gaze toward the other man held a hint of playful excitement.

Seeing this, the expression on Qiu Daoping’s face grew increasingly solemn. After a long while, he spoke again: "When the life-soul lamp you left in the sect extinguished all those years ago, I thought you had vanished from this world.

I never expected that after so many years, I would see you again. It seems this is truly heaven's will, Senior Brother Feng!"

Upon hearing this, Feng He’s excitement seemed to intensify. He nodded directly at Qiu Daoping and said, "I thought that after five hundred years, you all would have long forgotten my existence. You finally remembered me, my good Junior Brother!"

"Haha! What are you saying, Senior Brother? If not for you back then, how would I have had the chance to step into the Nascent Soul realm? I likely would have exhausted my lifespan and remained trapped at the Golden Core stage.

You were my great benefactor. Even when you were gone, I still enshrined a spirit tablet for you in the Fallen Maple Valley’s Ancestral Hall. I never forgot your contributions to the sect.

It is just that now that you are standing before me, safe and sound, it makes my painstaking efforts feel somewhat wasted.

Senior Brother Feng, the past is already in the past. Since you chose to seize a body and be reborn, why not go far away and pursue the Great Dao of longevity that you desire most?

Why go to such lengths to come here and see me now? What is the point?"

Seeing the senior brother who had fallen years ago appear before him, Qiu Daoping, after his initial shock, slowly regained his composure and began to probe the other’s intentions.

As for Feng He, upon hearing Qiu Daoping’s question, he chuckled softly and said unhurriedly, "Junior Brother, you may not know this, but compared to the path of the Dao, what I have cared about more these past five hundred years is you! If you had caught me back then, perhaps I would have already entered the cycle of reincarnation, and you and I would never have met again.

But since heaven decreed that my life should not end and gave me a chance for revenge, would I not be failing the will of the Heavenly Dao if I did not come to see you?"

"Revenge? Haha, five hundred years later, Senior Brother, you are still as confident as ever. You are truly worthy of being the most gifted person in our Tianhai cultivation world for thousands of years.

However, while your cultivation talent far exceeds others, your temperament has truly not improved at all.

If you could suppress this hatred in your heart and cultivate in seclusion for another hundred years, perhaps you might have a chance. But now, with your Nascent Soul Third Layer cultivation, wanting to talk about revenge in front of me—isn't that a bit too arrogant?

You don't think my cultivation strength is still the same as it was five hundred years ago, do you?"

As soon as Qiu Daoping finished speaking, a powerful pressure erupted from his body, and immediately, a giant white python appeared out of thin air beneath his feet.

This giant white python was also a Fourth-Rank Low-Grade puppet beast at the Nascent Soul level. As soon as it appeared, it stirred up a powerful whirlwind in the canyon.

"White-Scaled Cloud Illusion Python! Hehe, you have kept this thing well for me." Seeing the giant white python appear, a flash of ruthlessness crossed Feng He’s eyes.

After summoning the giant white python, Qiu Daoping immediately began casting spells with both hands, drawing a flying sword magic treasure that looked somewhat similar to the "Departing Fire Red Heart Sword" from his body.

"Senior Brother Feng! Since you and I must have a conclusion today, don't blame your Junior Brother for being offensive!"

After shouting this at Feng He, Qiu Daoping’s escape light flashed, and he vanished from his spot, reappearing in mid-air the next moment, waving lightly toward Feng He’s position.

As Qiu Daoping’s flying sword magic treasure danced, a crimson sword light of immense power instantly flew from before him, heading straight for Feng He.

At the same time, the giant white python that had been at Qiu Daoping’s feet suddenly vanished, leaving only an afterimage in its place.

Facing such a fierce attack from Qiu Daoping, Feng He showed no signs of panic, watching the other man calmly with no intention of dodging.

When the crimson sword light reached a point not far from Feng He, the sword light, wreathed in fierce flames, suddenly vanished, as if it had plunged into a void.

Meanwhile, Feng He, who was watching all this expressionlessly, now had a transparent mirror rippling like water before him. It was this peculiar mirror that had swallowed the crimson sword light.

Just as the crimson sword light vanished, the giant white python suddenly appeared in mid-air above Feng He’s head, opening its massive maw to spit several white light blades downward.

But the moment the python appeared, a crane’s cry echoed from behind Feng He, and a snow-white giant bird flew out to meet the giant python in the sky.

The pressure radiating from this white giant bird was no less than that of the "White-Scaled Cloud Illusion Python" before them; it was also a Fourth-Rank Low-Grade puppet beast at the Nascent Soul level.

As soon as the white giant bird reached mid-air, it flapped its wings, releasing several white lightning bolts that shattered the "White-Scaled Cloud Illusion Python's" attack, and immediately began to battle it.

"A Fourth-Rank puppet beast! I never expected Senior Brother Feng to be able to refine such a spiritual object. It seems your puppet techniques have not regressed after all these years. No wonder you had the confidence to come here and seek revenge.

But if you think you can deal with me with just this, that is still not enough!"

Seeing the white giant bird and the transparent water mirror before Feng He handle his attack, Qiu Daoping did not look overly surprised, gathering a crimson spiritual light in his hand once more.

Just as Qiu Daoping prepared to launch another attack, the transparent water mirror before Feng He suddenly turned a deep crimson, and a crimson sword light flew out from it, heading straight for Qiu Daoping in mid-air.

"This is... Flame Spirit Sword Qi!"

Seeing the crimson sword light radiating an aura he was very familiar with, Qiu Daoping quickly realized that this sword light was the very one he had just unleashed himself, and he could not help but show a trace of surprise.

Seeing the crimson sword light rushing toward him, Qiu Daoping had no time to ponder this and immediately unleashed a crimson light shield filled with flames to block it.

With a loud "boom," a fierce blaze erupted at the scene, illuminating the entire canyon where the two stood in a blood-red hue.

"Junior Brother! Since I have come today, I naturally did not come unprepared. This is the burial ground I have carefully chosen for you."

As soon as Feng He finished speaking, dozens of spiritual lights lit up around the canyon, and two transparent light barriers appeared in mid-air, covering the entire canyon.

Seeing these two light barriers instantly seal the canyon and trap him within the array, Qiu Daoping was slightly surprised, and his gaze toward Feng He now held a bit more seriousness.

"Heavenly Dipper Five Elements Array, Asura Yin Fire Array! No wonder I felt the spiritual energy here was off when I arrived. So that’s it! To deal with me, Senior Brother, you went to such lengths to set up so many arrays here. It seems you found quite a few helpers this time; I truly underestimated you before.

However, the power of the arrays you’ve set up is still lacking. At most, they can only keep me here temporarily. What can you do to me? This is the Tianhai cultivation world; you are not the only one who can find helpers."

Although he was not a high-level array master, Qiu Daoping’s insight as a Nascent Soul cultivator was naturally not poor. When he first arrived above the canyon, he had already faintly sensed that something was wrong nearby.

It was just that he had thought he was only tracking Song Qingming and did not know that a Nascent Soul cultivator was waiting for him, which was why he had been slightly careless and fallen into Feng He’s trap.

However, whether it was the "Heavenly Dipper Five Elements Array" or the "Asura Yin Fire Array," both were high-level arrays biased toward defense and lacked strong offensive capabilities. At most, they could only trap a Nascent Soul cultivator like him for a period of time.

Even though he was suddenly trapped by the two great arrays, Qiu Daoping was only slightly surprised and not overly panicked, directly speaking out the reality of the arrays above.

After finishing, Qiu Daoping moved his spiritual light, and two white spiritual talismans appeared in his hand. The talismans suddenly ignited with flames, turning into fly ash and vanishing from his hand in an instant.

This nameless barren island was less than two thousand miles away from "Wind Thunder Island," a distance a Golden Core cultivator could cover in an hour at their fastest.

Seeing his transmission talisman successfully sent, Qiu Daoping’s expression looked slightly better.

Just as Qiu Daoping finished casting his spell, a Golden Core Elder of "Fallen Maple Valley" who was monitoring the distance from the north side of "Wind Thunder Island," a thousand miles away, suddenly felt something unusual.

The man in yellow who had spoken to Qiu Daoping before hurriedly cast a spell to retrieve a glowing white spiritual talisman from his storage artifact.

"Eh! What is going on?"

Seeing the distress signal radiating from the talisman in his hand, the man in yellow thought he had misread it and stood stunned on the spot.

Just as the man in yellow wore a look of confusion, an escape light flew toward him from the distance, and a large man also dressed in yellow robes arrived before him.

"Senior Brother Zhao, we just received a summons from the Senior Uncle. What is going on?"

"Not good! It seems the Senior Uncle has encountered some trouble. Junior Brother Yu, don't worry about this side for now; let's hurry over to help, lest we be blamed for arriving late."

On the nameless barren island, seeing Qiu Daoping send a distress signal, Feng He’s expression remained unchanged, as if he did not care at all.

"I certainly cannot stop you from finding helpers, but whether you have the life to wait for reinforcements to arrive is another matter!"

After Feng He finished speaking, he moved his spiritual light, and a plain-looking black wooden tablet appeared before him, along with a flying sword magic treasure radiating crimson spiritual light. These two spiritual objects were both taken from the storage artifact he had opened after Qiu Wuxin’s death.

Seeing the two somewhat familiar magic treasures, Qiu Daoping recognized them as things that had belonged to Qiu Wuxin, but he was momentarily puzzled as to why Feng He had suddenly brought them out.

After taking out the two magic treasures, Feng He ignored Qiu Daoping’s confusion and directly cast a spell to stir up a black spiritual light, quickly wrapping himself in a mass of pitch-black spiritual energy.

"This is..."

"I never expected that Senior Brother Feng, who once prided himself on being a man of righteousness, eliminating demons and defending the Dao, would actually cultivate such profound demonic arts. This truly opens my eyes, Junior Brother."

"Are you not afraid that you will fall into the demonic path because of this and be targeted by the Demon God of the Upper Realm?"

"Hahaha! Righteous path or demonic path! As long as it can help me kill you and avenge my grievances, even if I fall into the demonic path forever and am enslaved by the Demon God of the Upper Realm..."

"I would not care at all!"

As the black spiritual energy on Feng He’s body grew thicker, a celestial phenomenon suddenly appeared in the sky above his head, gathering a mass of black mist.

Not long after, a white light suddenly shone from the black mist in the sky, and a giant, tightly closed eye appeared within the black fog.

After this giant white eye appeared, Feng He cast a spell to spit out a large mouthful of essence blood, dyeing the black token and the "Departing Fire Red Heart Sword" in his hand a blood-red color.

At the same time, the giant white eye, having smelled the scent of blood, suddenly opened and released a white light that shone onto Feng He.

"Ah!"

The moment he touched the white light, Feng He let out a shrill scream, causing Qiu Daoping, who was not far away, to change his expression.

Standing on the spot, Qiu Daoping felt a hint of crisis in his heart upon seeing this scene. Just as he wanted to step forward to stop the other, an unbearable pain suddenly erupted in his body, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

"Feng Tianyuan, you actually dare to feed the Demon God with your essence blood. Are you crazy?"

The black wooden tablet and the "Departing Fire Red Heart Sword" that Feng He had taken out were both defensive magic treasures Qiu Daoping had bestowed upon his junior, Qiu Wuxin. Other than having stronger divine abilities than ordinary magic treasures of the same rank, they had nothing special about them.

Therefore, at first, when Qiu Daoping saw these two magic treasures in Feng He’s hands, he did not appear overly panicked.

It was not until he saw the giant eye open and shine on Feng He, beginning to swallow the essence blood on the magic treasures before Feng He, that Qiu Daoping saw the other’s true intention.

Both of these magic treasures had been refined and used by Qiu Daoping himself in his early years, and a trace of his divine sense and essence blood still remained on them. But at this moment, they were directly swallowed by the giant eye of the Demon God in the sky.

Having his own essence blood swallowed by the Demon God, Qiu Daoping, like Feng He, suffered a backlash. At this moment, he also felt as if he had been targeted by the giant white eye in the sky.

Across the interface, although it was difficult for the main body of the Demon God of the Upper Realm to descend to the lower realm, as long as someone guided it, its divine sense could still find a way to pass through the power of the interface.

Because the gap in divine sense cultivation was too large, once a lower-realm cultivator was targeted by the Demon God’s divine sense, it would be very difficult to shake off.

Feng He had just fed the Demon God of the Upper Realm with his own essence blood, and with a trace of Qiu Daoping’s essence blood also being swallowed by the Demon God, both of them were now tainted with a trace of the Demon God’s divine sense.

If they were to accidentally develop inner demons in their future cultivation and be tempted by the Demon God of the Upper Realm, it was possible they would be controlled by the Demon God and fall into the demonic path, becoming demonic cultivators enslaved by it.

Moreover, this would accompany the cultivator for life. Even if you ascended to the Upper Realm, it was still possible for the Demon God to find you, unless you could find a way to shake off the Demon God’s divine sense or your own cultivation surpassed the other’s to completely eradicate the hidden danger.

However, compared to Feng He, who had a large amount of essence blood swallowed at once, Qiu Daoping only had a trace of essence blood swallowed. Other than being targeted by the Demon God’s divine sense, he would not have any other major effects for the time being.

As for Feng He, not only was he targeted by the Demon God of the Upper Realm, but more than half of his own essence blood had been swallowed, which would cause him to lose at least a hundred years of his lifespan.

Feng He was originally a person who had undergone soul possession, and his own lifespan calculated out to only a few hundred years remaining. To him, losing over a hundred years of lifespan in one go was absolutely a massive price that was difficult to bear.

At this moment, Feng He, illuminated by the white light, not only had an expression of extreme pain on his face, but his entire appearance had also aged significantly due to the excessive loss of vital blood.

After Qiu Daoping, who was standing in place, rebuked him angrily, he was about to step forward to stop Feng He’s spellcasting, but the crimson sword light he swung had barely approached Feng He’s side before it was blocked by that transparent water mirror from earlier.

Seeing the aura on Feng He’s body suddenly begin to surge and become somewhat different, a bad premonition immediately arose in Qiu Daoping’s heart. Not wanting to tangle with him here, he turned and transformed into a streak of light to escape outside the canyon.

Just as he flew into the sky above the canyon, Qiu Daoping swung his sword, immediately shaking the two great arrays outside until they were on the verge of collapse.

Song Yuanli, who was helping to control the arrays, saw this and hurriedly threw two high-grade spirit stones he had already prepared into the array eye beside him, replenishing the spiritual energy lost by the arrays and quickly stabilizing them.

With one strike failing, Qiu Daoping immediately swung his sword again to launch an attack, but just as this second sword strike was swung, a mass of black Qi suddenly flew out from below the canyon, directly covering Qiu Daoping and pulling him back into the canyon.

"What is this thing? What on earth have you done?"

After being contaminated by this black Qi, Qiu Daoping discovered that no matter how he cast spells, he could hardly shake it off, and for a moment, he was somewhat panicked.

Feng He, who was also entangled by the black Qi, had already arrived before him at this moment, revealing a somewhat triumphant smile toward him.

"Hehe! Junior Brother, those two great arrays above were not specifically used to trap you; they were just something I specially set up to block outsiders from entering.

To deal with you, I have meticulously prepared for hundreds of years; how could I possibly let you escape easily?

Now that your vital blood has been devoured by the Demon God, as long as the Demon God’s divine sense is still here, you will absolutely not be able to escape."

Previously, he had thought that Feng He had risked entering the secret realm to deal with Qiu Wuxin merely to lure him here. Only until this moment, hearing Feng He’s explanation, did Qiu Daoping thoroughly understand that the other party’s schemes went far beyond this.

Seeing the Feng He before him with such a ruthless mind, a sense of unfamiliarity suddenly emerged in Qiu Daoping, as if the person before him was someone he had never known.

"Senior Brother Feng, it is indeed my fault for what happened back then, but I was also forced to take action against you for the sake of the sect’s grand plan.

If you hadn't been so headstrong back then and had been willing to cooperate with other sects, perhaps the subsequent events wouldn't have happened, and you and I would still be fellow sect brothers.

Now that so many years have passed, both of us are people in our twilight years with no hope on the Dao path; there is really no need to fight to the death over this bit of power.

If you are willing, Senior Brother, I can resign from the position of Supreme Elder and exchange the sect’s supreme power for you. How about we return to Luofeng Valley together?"

After being contaminated by the black Qi, Qiu Daoping, finding it difficult to break free for a moment, gradually felt a bit of fear in his heart when facing the somewhat fierce-looking Feng He.

Feng He, whose cultivation was originally only at the third level of Nascent Soul, had the pressure radiating from his body suddenly increase several times after being illuminated by the Demon God’s giant white eye, faintly approaching the late Nascent Soul stage.

Qiu Daoping, who had little confidence in defeating his opponent, also changed his attitude at this moment and made a compromise to Feng He, wanting to try to negotiate peace with the other party.

However, facing Qiu Daoping’s request for peace, Feng He replied slowly with an indifferent expression: "Junior Brother, you are truly fickle. Don't tell me you think I am still the Feng Tianyuan of those years, who would consider past sentiments and let you go.

What nonsense about sect righteousness—don't think I don't know why you betrayed me and took action against me back then.

Let me tell you, the Feng Tianyuan of Luofeng Valley died long ago, and I have long since stopped caring about those things. The person standing before you now is nothing more than someone who possessed another’s body and practices demonic arts! Five hundred years of day and night inner demons—how could they be eliminated by a mere sentence from you? If it weren't to grind you to dust, I probably wouldn't have lived to this day."

After Feng He finished speaking, a hint of ruthlessness immediately flashed in his eyes. Afterward, he began to cast spells with one hand, taking out a huge long spear from the black Qi entangling him, standing in mid-air like a Demon God.

Seeing a powerful pressure coming from before Feng He, who was already gathering black spiritual light to prepare for an attack, Qiu Daoping also knew that the other party would not easily let him go. He immediately abandoned the thought of negotiating peace, his expression changing again to reveal a bit of ruthlessness.

"Today, it was indeed my momentary carelessness that caused me to fall into your scheme; this can be considered as fulfilling the karma of not having finished you off completely back then.

I had thought that since we were all from the same sect, we could sit down and talk to resolve it ourselves, without needing to fight to the death, but some things always go against one's wishes.

Since Senior Brother is still unwilling to let go, then I have no other choice. Eliminating demons and defending the Dao should not be my responsibility alone!"

After Qiu Daoping finished speaking, his gaze also became very firm. He cast a spell again to take out a palm-sized golden token from his body.

This token was very exquisite in appearance. Besides the beautiful patterns carved around it, the two large golden characters "Tianhai" were written in the middle. It was precisely the "Tianhai Order" held only by Nascent Soul Elders of the Tianhai Alliance like Qiu Daoping.