Chapter 287: Fourfold Meat Grinder

How to describe a Level Four transformation battle?

It's absolutely powerful! Dominant! Strong!

Any battle between Level Four transformations, even just the residual shockwaves from a punch, is enough to severely injure nearby Level Three cultivators.

Not to mention the terrifying fight just now between Ji Donglai and Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu.

Even another Level Four cultivator approaching risks injury.

If the battle between Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu and Ji Donglai earlier represented the upper limit of what a Level Four could achieve,

then the fight now between Ji Donglai and Chi Xiao reveals the lower limit of what a Level Four battle can become.

Only in the muddy ground did the struggle between Ji Donglai and Chixiao appear utterly ridiculous.

Two mud-caked bodies rolled clumsily in the mire, like two squirming earthworms.

Ji Donglai's eyes, caked in mud, could barely open; he gripped Chi Xiao's golden hair and shoved it into the muddy water.

But the hair, enhanced by Sacred Purity, slipped like an eel—slish! —slipping right through his fingers.

Chi Xiao, clueless, scooped up a clump of mud and smeared it across the other's nose bridge; splattered mud streaked Ji Donglai's scarred, fierce face, turning him into a clown.

Dozens of meters away from the two, a hell of molten rock, torn open by their Level Four battle, flowed everywhere with temperatures capable of melting steel.

But near Chi Xiao, all the molten rock turned to mud, letting the two roll and wrestle freely within it.

'My power…'

Ji Donglai watched the cost of two hundred billion per second, yet found himself as helpless and humiliated as a mortal.

A moment's thought made him realize this was the effect of the other's Sacred Purity—how could a boy who'd never left his village ever seen molten rock?

'Damn innocent brat, let me kill you brutally.'

Ji Donglai gnashed his teeth, but to Chi Xiao's ears, the words sounded like: What's this guy mumbling?

In Chi Xiao's Heavenly Eye, Ji Donglai stood on the mud, smiling and waving, speaking incomprehensible words inviting him to a mud battle.

So, just as his grandfather had taught him, he punched Ji Donglai right in the eye socket.

'Ahh!!!'

Ji Donglai clutched his swollen left eye in disbelief—his invincible golden body had been breached?

But in Chi Xiao's eyes, the man showed no sign of injury; he was still smiling, pointing to his right eye, urging another punch.

Watching the two figures, now like mud monsters, who could believe this was a Level Four battle?

'My three-year-old nephew fights with more skill than this…' some minds unconsciously thought.

At the same time, these people, while mentally mocking, marveled at the mystery of Level Four abilities.

Far away, a Level Three of the Sacred Heart lineage laughed loudly: 'Our Chi Xiao the Living King is invincible!'

'Since the Sacred Son's birth, at every moment, every second, at least four senior elders of the Ascension Path have been personally attending to him.'

'Every step, every movement the Sacred Son made in childhood was obsessively calculated by us to ensure no harm to his soul.'

'Before the Sacred Son needed to defecate or urinate, we teleported him away in advance; when his blood qi surged, we drained it; when it dwindled, we replenished it—always maintaining a state of neither birth nor death, neither defilement nor purity, neither increase nor decrease!'

'At every moment, we maintained the Pure Mind Charm to ensure he felt no carnal desire and could never be deceived by demonesses like those of the Su Xin Zhai.'

'After decades of such discipline, the Sacred Son, unworthy of our hopes, broke through to Level Four with a pure heart—absolutely unbeatable.'

Watching the proud Level Three, Fang Can clicked his tongue.

He turned to look at the Li Huowang, whose body was still recovering—still needed a few seconds to heal.

'Forget it, let's deal with Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu first.' Fang Can watched Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu, who had just passed the one-second mark and reverted to his male form.

Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu's face was dark; his injuries from the gender shift hadn't healed, but now that his female body was dead, he had no choice but to fight.

In the next instant, a Lei Guang shot through the void, arriving silently from afar.

Without sound or warning, a plain white longsword pressed against the back of Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu's neck, followed by a fleeting blue silhouette.

Even Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu hadn't anticipated an attack from behind at this moment.

Lei Guang was too fast—he only realized the assault when the blade had already cut through skin and flesh.

And the attacker's speed and force were overwhelming, their raw power nearly equal to his own—leaving him no chance to react, forced to watch helplessly as the blade slowly sliced open his neck.

Chii!

In Fang Can's vision, a brilliant blue sword qi carved a sharp arc, then spread over dozens of miles, cleanly severing a distant Shanfeng—its thunderous collapse only reaching them seconds later.

It happened too fast; by the time Fang Can reacted, Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu's head had already shot skyward, then turned to ash before hitting the ground.

The attacker had vanished—completely gone, no trace left.

'Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu is dead?'

In the livestream, everyone had never expected it to end so abruptly.

And that Lei Guang—wasn't that from the Jie Jian Mountain? Only that lineage could move that fast.

'My father… no! My mother… died?'

Xiang Longtao stood frozen, staring as the man he'd just hated moments ago turned to ash.

Just a minute ago, he'd barely accepted that his father was his mother and a man.

But before the truth had fully settled, he'd lost husband, father, and mother—all in one day.

'This… is over?'

Even Fang Can felt a sudden sense of unreality.

Watching the man who'd just fought desperately to the death—now so easily ended?

And regarding the attacker—the faint blue hue—he already had a guess.

A thousand li away, Liu Qingmeng's tense nerves eased slightly; she sheathed her blue-hilted white sword.

The 【Mystic Blue Film】 and 【Unenlightened Counterflow】 are purely inferior substitutes for each other—direct combat cannot overcome one another, but either side, if seeking assassination, can strike and kill the other unawares.

But the supreme cultivation body, 【Yin-Yang Sacred Embryo】, granted Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu one chance of error.

After Fang Can killed Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu and lost the Yin-Yang Holy Embryo, she could finally act without restraint, using the 【Charm Blue Movie】 to sever Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu's head.

Looking at the ashes of Emperor Xiang Hongtu Hongtu's remains, Fang Can lowered his gaze and turned his head, preparing to wait for Li Huowang's resurrection before using the meme to deal with Chi Xiao.

Suddenly, a voice came from afar: "Revered one, please stop."

As the words echoed, an old man clad in simple monastic robes approached from a distance; he raised his arm, and a golden Buddhist light immediately seized Chi Xiao, who was rolling in the mud with Ji Donglai.

Chi Xiao, who had previously been unstoppable, now resembled a lamb awaiting slaughter, along with vast amounts of soil and magma, drawn entirely into the old man's sleeve.

Seeing the old man's plain monastic robe and smooth, rounded scalp, Fang Can immediately recognized his identity; he was likely the abbot or a Supreme Elder of the Fan Yin Bao Sha.

Thinking of this, Fang Can asked directly: "Master, does the Fan Yin Bao Sha also interfere in secular affairs?"

Because the old man had previously vouched for him, and because Luo Yanmo had left a favorable impression, Fang Can had no intention of immediately making an enemy.

Moreover, the Fan Yin Bao Sha still possessed a Fangcun Mountain of Fifth Transformation rank; how the fight would turn out was truly uncertain.

"Amitabha!" The abbot clasped his hands and walked to Ji Donglai's side, speaking earnestly: "I have come here solely for the young friend Chi Xiao, not to interfere in secular conflicts."

"Chi Xiao learned our lineage's Heavenly Eye Sutra, thus forming a karmic bond; the killings he caused carry part of our temple's merit and demerit, so we bear the responsibility to guide him properly."

Hearing this, Fang Can's expression eased slightly; he then looked toward the livestream and asked: "So, will the Fan Yin Bao Sha no longer interfere in secular grudges from now on?"

"Monks do not lie. I hope, Revered Fang, you will not let martial disputes between cultivators harm ordinary civilians beyond the martial world," said the abbot.

Fighting among martial cultivators was normal; he could not possibly manage them all.

He truly wished he could say: "Give me some face, stop fighting—why not just live peacefully together?"

But that was clearly unrealistic and would only drag the Fan Yin Bao Sha into the web of martial grudges.

Hundreds of years ago, those who left at the Fourth and Fifth Transformations tacitly stripped away most Fourth Transformation and all Fifth Transformation and above ritual artifacts.

They left behind only one Fifth Transformation artifact, Fangcun Mountain, because they judged these bald-headed monks to be stubborn and foolish, unlike other martial cultivators who caused trouble every day.

Should any cultivator of a critical gap rank go too far, they could intervene to balance things—so that when they returned, the entire Shenzhou wouldn't be shattered into sunken land, and the whole world wouldn't be wiped out.

Just a century ago, the number of Fourth Transformation cultivators across the nations had successfully surpassed seventy.

Then the Dàyǎ imperial house launched a massive operation—lightning warfare combined with divine wind operatives—directly shattering countless Fourth Transformation lineages, leaving them permanently crippled.

The Fan Yin Bao Sha, unable to watch any longer, intervened with their Fifth Transformation ritual artifacts to oppose military formations.

That battle became known as a Fourth Transformation meat grinder; after it ended, casualties totaled at least fifty Fourth Transformation cultivators, including seven from Dàyǎ.

It was called the First Martial World War! Historians named it the First War!

One could only say that martial cultivators were all troublemakers—once they gained power, they immediately sought to cause chaos.

After the First War, the terrified cultivators desired peace and ceased their disturbances; after recuperating, their numbers recovered to over thirty.

Even now, with Fang Can appearing as a furnace vessel, they merely wished to negotiate and cooperate to divide the spoils—not to monopolize.

OK, invincible under heaven, external enemies from beyond.

The nations united, only for a group of superhumans to emerge, claiming to avenge Fang Can, just like livestream merchants, driving down the prices of the nations' Fourth Transformation cultivators.

Combined with Liu Qingmeng's four heads, at least twenty Fourth Transformation cultivators died within ten minutes—this must be called the Second War.

Even the abbot, who cultivated serenity, was now utterly exasperated—these martial cultivators always managed to invent something new.

To witness two such grand scenes within a single Fourth Transformation lifespan of a thousand years was exceedingly rare—come on, bring out whatever big events you've got next.

(End of Chapter)