Chapter 372: Who Is the God-Slayer?

The disciples of Yi Qi Mountain Villa hurried into the city.

After finding an inn to stay at and booking a private room, Pei Pei Xingkong finally breathed a sigh of relief and scolded the middle-aged swordsman from before:

"Junior Brother Wang, when traveling outside one must be cautious in speech and conduct. If there is a next time, you'll be sent back to the villa!

"Senior Brother—"

That swordsman's face was covered in cold sweat, not daring to retort.

The young disciples were also silent as cicadas in winter. After a good while, seeing Pei Pei Xingkong's anger slightly subside, one asked:

"Senior Brother Pei, was that old man perhaps a master?"

"Whether he is or isn't, we shouldn't expose someone's livelihood to their face."

Pei Pei Xingkong walked to the window, looked down at the street, and at once spotted that absurdly large black umbrella. A hint of wariness flickered in his eyes.

In all these years, he had never seen anyone who could train the Tortoise Form to such a degree. He couldn't gauge the depth of their Wu Gong, but from this single point alone, he knew this person was absolutely extraordinary.

"Suo Gu, they all say one must divide the distracted mind, only when there's no lodging in the great square does one know…"

I reckon it's just a few days now.

Before the person arrived, Xin Xin Wenhua had already caught a faint fragrance. I glanced back and was slightly startled.

Swish!

"Brother Bai Wai? You're going to inform the Dharma King, trouble him to go to the underground palace and tell all the Dharma Lords…"

"Swish!"

At the border between Heng Long Road and Yan Shan Road, a mountain range stretching tens of thousands of li, thick with miasma—

"Quick, quickly go inform the Cult Leader!"

"Qu Bai Wai Jing Chuan pays respects to all the Dharma Lords!"

"Junior Brother Li, he…"

The transformation of his talent was also immediately apparent.

"Nurturing divine weapons with sacrificial refinement isn't easy, and tempering them is troublesome too. If I really had to nurture fourteen or so pieces, the blood loss alone could kill me, and my true Qi wouldn't be enough to sustain it…

In the small residence, from a large San Yuan Wai came sounds of congratulation. Several small fellows cupped their hands in salute. Inside and outside was a slightly dazed big child.

"How rare, to actually dare brazenly absorb incense and offerings right out in the open. Those big fur gods have quite the nerve, heh heh… isn't Grandpa Turtle's luck just this good!

And the efficiency, compared to before, didn't drop but increased.

"Now this is an all-weather, no-rest Wu Gong training machine."

Planting the large black umbrella by the street, the old man sat on the ground, took out a tortoise shell from his robes, stuffed in a few jade-made crystal coins, and gently shook it a few times before pouring them out.

Clack~

"Is this the main altar?"

After finishing the tempering and sacrificial refinement of two divine weapons, my face had gone slightly pale. Pressing heavily on my abdomen, the medicinal power of the Longhu Longhu Dandan spread, and only then did color return to my cheeks.

I estimated that the Longhu Longhu Dandan, originally enough to last half a year, could now sustain at most two months—perhaps even less. But this also meant that within two months, I had hope of refining marrow.

"…Eight times already."

The thousand eyes opened and closed, and the voice of the Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva grew fierce:

Afterwards, he took out the Crimson Blood Pattern Dragon Armor and repeated the same process.

"Where is Yan Yan Tianxiong?"

Li Yuan instinctively said something modest, then heard Nie Xianshan's voice. That old Daoist swept a glance and couldn't help raising his brow:

"Where is Suo Gu?"

Bai Wai Jing Chuan steadied his mind and slowly walked through the tunnel. Soon, he arrived at

a dim underground palace.

Clusters of blood-colored light also lit up along with it.

At the same time, it could maintain true Qi circulating all-weather along the route of Yang Jian Tian Yi's refinement, flowing constantly, while tempering the internal organs.

The difference between the two was enormous—comparable to drilling wood for fire versus directly plucking the sun's flame; they simply couldn't be mentioned in the same breath.

This relief sculpture was just like the divine statue in my arms, covered in cracks, looking shockingly alarming.

"With the Scarlet Dragon Body at seventy-seven, the Illusory Dragon Form at one hundred, plus all those Wu Gong I've learned, after achieving minor completion in organ refinement, my physical form might just be able to reach eight hundred."

"The benefits are too great."

After the piercing screams, various clamors rose. Bai Wai Jing Chuan felt demonic sounds rolling in, his head splitting with pain.

"Suck!"

The Suo Gu Bodhisattva's divine statue collapsed.

In the vast cave, everywhere were wall—

paintings and relief sculptures, each one hideous and terrifying—some with a hundred arms, some with a thousand eyes, some with maimed limbs, some with four heads and four faces.

"Ah!

Huh? You've already cultivated the Long Xiang Heliu to perfection?" Pinching his fingers to calculate, Daoist Li couldn't help feeling some shock within. The current him, compared to his former self with only mid-low grade bones, had improved his martial training efficiency by more than a hundredfold.

"Who is so bold?"

Bai Wai Jing Chuan kneaded his brow, racking his brain but unable to recall how he had died. He only remembered activating the Thousand Spirit Ritual and finding the location of the Lie Ma Hui Jiang Hammer.

"Comfortable!

Pushing open the door and stepping out, Li Yuan rewarded himself a bit—egg-fried spirit rice, paired with Hundred Herbs Brew, ate a comfortable meal, and only then took up his hammer and headed to Jing Tao Hall.

Outside the small residence, Li Yuan sat cross-legged. The Illusory Dragon Whip, like a slender snake, kept slithering around him, seeming to respond to his breathing.

It illuminated the true appearance of the underground palace.

Seven-two

"Want me to go?"

Feeling the drawbacks of a world-shaking talent, Li Li Yuanzhong suddenly realized that he seemed to be able to break free from the grind of cultivation — splitting his focus many ways, whatever he did was practice.

The few youths exchanged a glance, all certain.

Ma Hui immersed himself in it; the one benefit was that the medicinal efficacy was consumed slightly faster.

"The wisp of remnant spirit you hid within the Thousand Spirit Stele has also been slain by someone!

Still approaching, Baiwai Lei Jingchuan heard exclamations from afar; the courtyard was packed with people. He stood on tiptoe to look, and saw a fist-sized divine statue, like porcelain that had been smashed and then glued back together, covered in cracks.

A youth answered

"Huff!

Whether walking, moving, sitting, or lying down, he could maintain the visualization method, and even shift it flexibly — at times visualizing the Long Chan Vajra, at times the Long Xiang Heliu, at times transforming into a Thunder Dragon, at times unfurling the Rift Armor Pei Pei Xingkong Diagram

"Twenty-eight years?

"How long have you been dead?"

Baiwai Lei Jingchuan did not dare raise his head, only sizing things up with his peripheral vision.

Under the divine light, the relief let out a low, grating, ear-piercing shriek:

Compared to before, the speed was slower by perhaps two times.

"Who was it, that killed you?"

Who was it, that came to Chen:

This sitting, he sat until evening. When the passersby nearby had mostly dispersed, and the patrolling soldiers had even started shooing people away, he slowly rose, propped open his little white umbrella, and headed toward the nearby Lockbone Bodhisattva Temple, its lamps still lit.

Baiwai Lei Jingchuan snapped awake at once, but before he could refuse, the courtyard had already emptied out

"I……

Before Baiwai Lei Jingchuan could collect himself, his arms grew heavy — the broken divine statue had already been stuffed into them

Controlling the Crimson Blood Pattern Dragon Armor to alter his root bone was no different from before when he controlled the Root Bone Diagram; the only difference was that this armor's grade was extremely high

A little over a year ago, the Dragon Tiger Temple, under the banner of sweeping the Star-Plucking Tower, raided every prefecture across Mount Hengshan — not just Youzhou, but all seven underground palaces of the Mount Hengshan Dao were wiped out, and every Spirit Child was lost.

With a "crack," Baiwai Lei Jingchuan collapsed to the ground, his skull split open, brains spilling out — he had been shaken to death on the spot. His body was far too fragile; it could not bear it at all.

"Congratulations, Brother Baiwai, on escaping calamity!

"The Lockbone's shrine is half shattered!"

Baiwai Lei Jingchuan looked around, somewhat startled: "Wasn't my Spirit Child in the Youzhou underground palace? How could it……

"The fated place is not in the southwest — it must be north, east. He came from the east; now, he's heading north…"

Having re-bonded the blood-sacrificed Crimson Blood Pattern Dragon Armor, Li Li Yuanzhong slowly rose, feeling the armor's augmentation, stepped out of the Dragon Snake Four Transformations stance-work, and altered his root bone.

From within the relief carvings, divine light suddenly blazed forth — fully a thousand beams of it — shining upon the shattered relief

"Thousand Spirit, is that you?"

Before those youths could answer, they suddenly heard a cry from deep within the great residence; their expressions all changed, and they rushed over in a flurry.

"And there's still you

In the dim tunnel, blood-colored candle flames lit up one after another.

Li Li Yuanzhong was immersed in the joy of steady improvement, also feeling

the augmentation of the Rift Pei Pei Xingkong Hammer, his talent climbing another tier.

The old man occasionally answered a few words, but in truth was absent-minded.

"Reporting to the Dharma Lord, he seems to have just returned from the shores of the Eastern Sea. We don't know where he went — perhaps to seek out that old turtle, or perhaps to look for the Rift Ma Hui River Hammer……

Gently fiddling with the coins, the old man's face was thoughtful:

"Ah!

Having settled his plan in his heart, he put away the tortoise-shell coins and sat right there on the ground. Plenty of passersby came and went; occasionally someone stopped and asked for a fortune-telling.

"Enemy attack!

"First Mount Mo Tian, then Lockbone — they are provoking us!"

Baiwai Lei Jingchuan's face immediately darkened. He glanced at the curling incense smoke inside the room, then steeled himself and walked toward the rockery in the courtyard, carefully descending into the tunnel.

"So, I've died twice?"

The candle flames spread in both directions until — astonishingly — the tunnel was over a hundred zhang wide, and the eerie blood lanterns hanging within it were a full seventy zhang above the ground.

These past days, he could see Li Li Yuanzhong every day, yet still faintly sensed something amiss

Looking at his own pair of large hands, Baiwai Lei Jingchuan slowly came back to himself:

"A slight breakthrough.

"You've broken through again?"

Internally, Li Li Yuanzhong could feel his thinking had grown duller. If before he could only split his focus seven ways, now splitting it eight ways — even seven ways — came easily.

"Ah!

Before the words were finished, cold sweat was already streaming down Baiwai Lei Jingchuan's face. He felt countless eyes watching him; a bone-chilling cold made him unable to suppress his terror.

Eight forms make a Jiaolong, four Jiaolong make a Crimson Dragon — that is the seventy-seventh form, which requires a massive amount of medicinal efficacy as support, and also takes longer.

The crowd buzzed; someone cried out. Soon, they each dispersed — Dharma Protectors, Dharma Kings, Cult Masters.

Before long, the Lockbone Bodhisattva Temple was in an uproar; patrolling soldiers came pouring in, and they only heard a few young Monks hopping about in furious cursing:

"At most half a month, perhaps seventeen days, and the Organ Refining will reach minor completion!"

Baiwai Lei Jingchuan was half a beat slow; he sorted through his thoughts before following.

A moment later, Li Li Yuanzhong opened his eyes, reached out and grabbed the Mirage Dragon Whip, gave it a casual tug — fresh blood instantly dyed the whip's body red — then wound the whip around himself.

Then

In a deep gorge with steep cliffs on both sides, there stood a sprawling estate — covering a vast area, with hundreds upon thousands of rooms.

"Seen the light and you die — this is no good place.

Yet these reliefs were like living things, some gazing at each other, some examining themselves, but the fewest of all were looking toward one particular relief.

"What?!

"No one has refined the Incarnation you stored, your incense offerings, your Incarnation…"

The Bodhisattva was taken away by a human statue?