Chapter 506: Hooking the Past, Severing Karma with Three Bodies (6000)

The sky was dim; the sun had gradually set.

Inside the Hooking Sword Sect's encampment, sounds of explosions, gunfire, and shouting erupted everywhere.

The Martial Dao Domains of several Grandmasters expanded, light surging into the sky, illuminating the entire encampment in patches of white, green, and blue.

Suddenly, a point of red light ignited in this area of interweaving light and shadow, then exploded like a volcanic eruption!

The dazzling red radiance dyed half the sky above the Hooking Sword Sect's encampment red.

"Shi Caiming!"

The sudden turn of events shattered the balance on the field.

Just as Li Fei and the others had never imagined Bai Chen could "return from the dead," Bai Chen had likewise never imagined Shi Caiming would appear here to strike at him.

Bai Chen knew better than anyone how severe Shi Caiming's injuries were.

Even if a Martial Dao Master with healing-type divine abilities were to act, Shi Caiming would need at least several months of recuperation before he could fight again.

Because when he fought for his life, he had damaged his very life essence!

If he hadn't burned everything away, Shi Caiming would never have lasted so long in Bai Chen's Green Lotus Heaven and Earth back then.

This kind of injury could not be directly healed by healing-type divine abilities.

Moreover, Shi Caiming had already damaged his life essence due to a failed breakthrough previously; now, with injuries upon injuries, recovery was even more difficult.

Yet, Shi Caiming had suddenly appeared now to strike at Bai Chen!

And the timing he chose was perfect—it was exactly when Li Fei was pinning down more and more of Bai Chen's power, just as his "Great Thousand" sword art reached a critical node.

In this instant, Bai Chen's internal energy and divine abilities were difficult to shift; he could not immediately switch from offense to defense.

If it weren't for the fact that Shi Caiming had fought Bai Chen before and was also a Grandmaster of the Sword Dao who had mastered the Creation Sword Art,

it would have been very difficult for any other Grandmaster to seize such an exquisite opportunity.

Shi Caiming charged forward with his sword, bringing with him a sonic boom; the crimson sword aura was like a falling meteorite, scorching flames splitting the firmament, the air waves overturning a thousand layers of clouds!

The clear waves and rivers around Bai Chen were instantly severed, the sound of water roaring deafeningly; the three small emerald swords shattered like jade, the fragments splashing into the sky as fluorescent light.

【Jade Sword】 had ultimately bought Bai Chen a moment of time; he immediately withdrew the power targeting Li Fei, and layer upon layer of mountains and rivers suppressed Shi Caiming.

Shi Caiming's sword light was blocked by the power of the Great Thousand.

But the brief "gap" still allowed a portion of the sword light to strike Bai Chen, making him pay a heavy price:

A bloody hole was pierced through Bai Chen's back!

At the last moment, he had slightly shifted his body, barely protecting his heart, but his heart vessels were severely damaged.

With a Grandmaster's powerful vitality, even without a heart, one could still live for a period, so such an injury was not yet fatal.

But Shi Caiming's strike had created an excellent combat opportunity for the others!

Bai Chen spat out blood, his Martial Dao Domain becoming chaotic.

Seeing this, Huo Huo Hansi, not far away, finally stopped holding back.

Even if he had concerns about the Hooking Sword Master, he wouldn't miss such a good opportunity.

He thrust his long spear forward, driving the power of his own Martial Dao Domain to gather rapidly.

Huo Huo Hansi's Martial Dao Domain collapsed with a roar, streams of starlight flowing backward like a waterfall; ninety-nine stars bit at each other at the spear tip, and finally, the star cores exploded, the scorching light swallowing everything.

Huo Family Spear Art—【Star Meteor Light Split】!

This move injured the enemy by a thousand while damaging oneself by five hundred; Huo Huo Hansi's own Martial Dao Domain also suffered damage in this explosion.

However, he had divine abilities that could recover quickly, so he could treat this move as a finishing blow.

In an instant, Bai Chen's already unstable Martial Dao Domain became riddled with holes!

He spat out another mouthful of blood, actively dispersing his own Martial Dao Domain, his long sword pointing out repeatedly, thousands of sword qi transforming into individual green lotuses.

Countless green lotuses wrapped around him, forming a new Martial Dao Domain to protect him within.

The Creation Sword Art "Green Lotus," combined with the divine ability evolution of the Spirit Derivation Realm, allowed Bai Chen to incredibly reconstruct a Martial Dao Domain in an instant!

Last time, Bai Chen used this move for offense, but this time, he could only use it to save his life.

Once the outer Martial Dao Domain was broken, Shi Caiming easily shattered the "Great Thousand" sword art and, without hesitation, thrust his sword toward the green lotuses in front.

At the same time, a figure appeared above the green lotuses, raising a blade with both hands to hack down.

It was Li Fei, freed from suppression, who had arrived; a 【Heaven and Earth Single Blade】 slashed down, the blade mark like a heavenly chasm, molten gold flames wrapped in a power frenzy, crashing right into the canopy of the Green Lotus world!

Qiu Zi'an's purple flame blade aura followed closely behind, the purple fire like a ferocious python strangling green vines, the flames scorching, instantly burning through three thousand lotus leaves!

There was also a black dragon of baleful qi roaring as it arrived, the raging waves behind it condensing into nine chains, wringing the scattered green lotus petals into its bloody maw.

Under the multi-directional assault, the green lotuses withered one by one, and the small world was about to completely collapse.

After all, it was not as good as a true Martial Dao Domain.

However, Bai Chen's strength was a few points stronger than last time, and his control over the Green Lotus Heaven and Earth had also become stronger.

Before the Green Lotus Heaven and Earth completely shattered, he actively dissolved this small Martial Dao Domain to avoid backlash.

Li Fei immediately teleported behind him, raising his blade to hack down.

Huo Huo Hansi's Martial Dao Domain pressed down, making Bai Chen temporarily unable to use divine abilities!

Bai Chen did not turn around; without divine abilities, he still had the Creation Sword Art to use.

Sword qi like a waterfall transformed into countless rivers, using softness to overcome hardness, dissolving the power on the Ghost-Slaying Blade layer by layer, buying time for himself.

After a brief respite, Bai Chen expanded his Martial Dao Domain again, forming a counter-clash with Huo Huo Hansi's Martial Dao Domain, then using divine abilities to bolster his sword art.

It was just that the power of this Martial Dao Domain was clearly a large chunk weaker than before.

A Martial Dao Domain that has suffered damage is not that easy to recover.

On the other side, Shi Caiming, who had struck twice, did not continue to follow up with attacks; his aura had already weakened.

"So that's how it is..."

Bai Chen looked at this scene, a speculation forming in his heart.

Shi Caiming must have used some secret technique, obtaining a large amount of vitality from somewhere unknown, which was why he could barely hold on and strike while his injuries were not yet healed.

It was just that, after all, he was borrowing external force; after exploding a few times, he couldn't keep it up.

Layer upon layer of sword qi disintegrated.

Li Fei slashed through the river before him, using force to break skill, shattering this sword art of Bai Chen's!

He was not at all surprised that Shi Caiming's aura had weakened, because it was he who had used the 【Refining Matter】 divine ability to refine his own vitality for the other party.

If it were any other Martial Dao Master, even if they had the heart, they would lack the power, but Li Fei had 【Blood Breath】, and could refine over 200 Blood Souls per minute for Shi Caiming!

It was just a pity that this vitality was only temporary; it could not fundamentally resolve the damage to Shi Caiming's essence, nor could it be preserved for long, only enough to support the other party in forcibly exploding a few times.

Upon learning that the Hooking Sword Sect might still have a Grandmaster, Li Fei had come up with this plan:

Consume his own Blood Souls to give Shi Caiming a portion of vitality, letting the other party hide in the shadows and strike at the critical moment.

And Shi Caiming had not disappointed; the timing he seized was almost perfect, and one strike had severely wounded Bai Chen!

Li Fei slashed his blade horizontally toward Bai Chen; Bai Chen turned and pointed his sword at the middle section of the Ghost-Slaying Blade, a strike that prevented the power on the blade from fully exploding, and immediately after, waves of sword qi erupted, transforming into a raging tide rushing toward Li Fei.

Li Fei turned a blind eye to this, letting the sword qi strike him; he simply continued to swing the Ghost-Slaying Blade in his hand, shattering a thousand waves!

Countless sword qi collapsed and vanished, the power of heaven and earth carried by the sword moves torn apart and slashed through by an even more violent force!

Bai Chen's long sword vibrated, his figure suddenly becoming blurred.

In Li Fei's eyes, Bai Chen, who was clearly close at hand, suddenly became extremely distant, separated by countless mountains and rivers, separated by an entire world.

Li Fei's expression remained unchanged; a bright moon appeared above his head, cold moonlight spilling down, and the mountains and rivers before him dissipated like phantoms.

【Eternal Stability】 breaks falsehood!

Li Fei stepped forward and slashed.

Clang—

The blade edge slashed onto the long sword, as if slashing onto a continuous mountain range spanning heaven and earth, and was blocked.

Li Fei's expression remained unchanged, and he continued to slash.

Under the bolstering of the 【Dragon Elephant】 divine ability, his power was growing stronger every second!

Blade and sword collided dozens of times in an instant, sparks flying, sword qi and blade radiance interweaving.

Sonic booms followed one after another, the surging gale sweeping toward the surroundings.

Bai Chen's sword art was peerless; in an instant, he used dozens of exquisite deflections and borrowed forces, his sword tip pointing repeatedly, his sword momentum rising and falling like a sea tide, swallowing Li Fei's power, then spitting it out again, in turn breaking Li Fei's blade momentum!

However, Li Fei was not alone.

Bai Chen had only exchanged one move with him before actively taking a step back, turning to point his sword at the blade aura slashed by Qiu Zi'an, shattering it.

Before he could continue attacking Qiu Zi'an, a long spear swept over like a swimming dragon; it was Huo Huo Hansi who had also joined the siege against him!

Bai Chen withdrew his sword, countless rays of light suddenly blooming from the sword body, attacking Li Fei, Qiu Zi'an, and Huo Huo Hansi simultaneously.

At the same time, his Martial Dao Domain seemed to transform into light, piercing back and forth through Huo Huo Hansi's Martial Dao Domain and Li Fei's 【Primordial Sword Realm】, causing destruction!

It was that he had suddenly switched his sword art from "Great Thousand" to "Departing Light."

It was a pity that his Martial Dao Domain was no longer at its peak, and this "Departing Light" sword art could not last too long.

Taking advantage of the three being affected, Bai Chen flew up.

He had suddenly switched to "Departing Light," not for offense, but to create an opportunity for himself to escape.

But just as he made a move, a sea of fire shrouded the surroundings, and a fire cloud appeared in the sky, just happening to block Bai Chen's path.

It was Shi Caiming who had timely activated his Martial Dao Domain!

Bai Chen was blocked; before he could strike with his sword to break Shi Caiming's Martial Dao Domain, Li Fei had already teleported behind him, using 【Primordial Sword Realm】 to shroud him.

Immediately after, Huo Huo Hansi's Martial Dao Domain also pressed down.

Bai Chen sighed in his heart.

Shi Caiming could actually explode with more than two strikes; he had deliberately held back just to cut off his retreat at the critical moment!

After all, a powerhouse like him was not that easy to kill if he was determined to escape.

He fell once again into the siege of Li Fei, Huo Huo Hansi, and Qiu Zi'an.

After exchanging a few moves, a sword light appeared abruptly, seizing the opportunity to leave a wound on Bai Chen's left arm.

Xiao Ruihang had arrived!

Under the protection of Xiao Tao, he drove his flying sword to strike at Bai Chen.

And Xiao Tao fully activated all his divine abilities to form a Bodhisattva Dharma Image, forming interference against Bai Chen's Martial Dao Domain.

He was a Martial Dao Master of six divine abilities; to the current Bai Chen, this was equivalent to adding another heavy burden!

Bai Chen had completely entered a defensive posture, relying on his superb sword art to resist the attacks of several people.

His Martial Dao Domain was being suppressed to become weaker and weaker, causing the power his divine abilities could exert to become weaker and weaker, and the power of his sword art naturally weakened along with it.

As one fell, the other rose; the divine abilities of Li Fei and the others could exert more and more power.

Especially Li Fei; as time passed, his power had already reached an astonishing level.

A casual slash of his blade, just the shockwave alone, could leave a deep gully on the ground, or shatter a great hall in the distance!

Bai Chen could initially block Li Fei's blade edge with his sword art of using softness to overcome hardness, but with others besieging him, he gradually could only rely on dodging.

Xiao Tao, guarding beside Xiao Ruihang, felt his heart and mind become more and more agitated as he watched!

He walked the "Dao of Force," so he felt the stimulation most deeply.

Even if he bolstered his 【Dragon Elephant】 divine ability to the level of "Ten Dragons and Ten Elephants," the power he exploded with in front of the current Li Fei was like that of a three-year-old child!

"No wonder he could reverse-slay a Grandmaster."

Xiao Tao only felt that his previous defeat was not unjust at all.

When Li Fei's power amplification reached six times, 【Primordial Sword Realm】 reached its limit of endurance.

He did not continue to refine Blood Souls to reinforce the Sword Realm to raise the upper limit. He paused the bolstering of Dragon Elephant power, and with the majestic power equivalent to 16,800 Blood Rage power, he slashed repeatedly!

Qiu Zi'an, Xiao Ruihang, and even Grandmaster Huo Huo Hansi were consciously cooperating with Li Fei, creating offensive opportunities for him.

Because in terms of killing power alone, Li Fei was currently number one on the field!

The wounds on Bai Chen's body became more and more numerous, and his injuries became more and more severe.

If not for Li Fei, he might not have lacked the opportunity to turn defeat into victory; after all, Shi Caiming couldn't strike many times.

But Li Fei, who grew stronger the more he fought, completely cut off Bai Chen's path to survival!

At a certain moment, he was forced back by the joint efforts of Huo Huo Hansi and Qiu Zi'an, and in the direction he retreated, Li Fei appeared instantly, raising his blade to hack down.

Nine small emerald swords appeared out of thin air, blocking before the blade edge.

It was Bai Chen's 【Jade Sword】 that had recovered.

It was just that under the suppression of the Martial Dao Domain, its power was far inferior to before.

The golden blade radiance slashed down, and the nine small swords were slashed apart one by one!

The blade radiance slashed straight down along the top of Bai Chen's head, finally slashing into the earth beneath his feet; the shockwave formed, mixed with internal energy, reached over ten meters, like a golden tide, pushing and slashing forward all the way.

Boom!!!!

The earth shook, as if over a dozen artillery shells had landed simultaneously, then exploded with a roar; the ground cracked, and broken stones shot toward the surroundings like bullets.

The golden tide spread forward for hundreds of meters, encountering several great halls along the way, collapsing them all like rubble!

The golden tide spread until it reached the front of the main hall used by the Hooking Sword Sect for discussions.

Following a series of crackling sounds, this magnificent main hall also collapsed, turning into a ruin.

Smoke and dust filled the air, and a huge gully hundreds of meters long appeared on the ground; the Hooking Sword Sect's encampment seemed to have been slashed into two halves by a single blade!

As for Bai Chen, this Hooking Sword Master, he also turned into two halves under Li Fei's blade, and died once again!

As Li Fei's blade slashed down, a figure just happened to transform into a white flowing firefly and disappear into the horizon.

It was Hong Zhi, the Supreme Elder of Mount Mount Baituo; he had fled.

Seeing that Bai Chen had been slow to come and support him, Hong Zhi realized the situation was not good.

He had no need to throw his own life away here for the Hooking Sword Sect, so he risked being severely wounded by Liu Liu Changwen, forcibly created an opportunity to break out, and quickly escaped.

Although Liu Liu Changwen led a group of Martial Dao Masters in a siege and had already gained the upper hand, few were willing to fight for their lives, and they all fought very conservatively, so they couldn't keep Hong Zhi.

"According to the plan, continue to sweep the Hooking Sword Sect!"

Li Fei ordered.

After witnessing his terrifying might just now with their own eyes, even Grandmaster Huo Huo Hansi felt a few more points of awe toward him, honestly executing his orders and continuing to throw himself into the battle.

As Hong Zhi fled, the powerhouses who had come to support from Mount Mount Baituo also began to withdraw one after another.

Relying solely on the people of the Hooking Sword Sect, they couldn't stop the slaughter that would follow!

When everyone had scattered, Li Fei looked at Bai Chen's corpse on the ground.

For some reason, he always felt that this Hooking Sword Master probably hadn't died completely!

"Principal, why was he able to return from the dead?"

Li Fei turned his head to ask Shi Caiming, who was walking over.

Shi Caiming looked at Bai Chen's corpse and frowned slightly:

"His Martial Dao Domain was clearly composed of five divine abilities, but whether it was last time or this time, he only used four divine abilities from beginning to end; that last divine ability was never used, which is clearly not normal.

I suspect that the reason he was able to return from the dead should be related to this last unused divine ability."

Li Fei narrowed his eyes: "So, it's possible he can still be resurrected?"

Shi Caiming: "It's possible. However, I don't believe there is any means in this world that can resurrect without limit; he must have restrictions."

Li Fei nodded and stopped looking at the corpse on the ground:

"If he can still live, then we'll just kill him again."

The setting sun in the distance was like blood, and the last bit of afterglow was also slowly disappearing.

49th Year of Emperor Hongguang, July 18th.

Marquis of Jing'an Li Fei led a surprise force to support Baisha Province, launching a surprise attack on the Hooking Sword Sect's encampment.

Joining hands with everyone, they once again slew the Hooking Sword Master Bai Chen.

One of the "Three Mountains, Four Sects, Seven Great Families," the top-tier Jianghu Great Sect, the Hooking Sword Sect—

Annihilated!

Hundreds of years of foundation, all turned to nothing.

In the darkness where one could not see one's fingers, there was silence.

Suddenly, two points of light ignited in the darkness, followed by the sound of light breathing.

Inhale—exhale—inhale—exhale—

As the breathing grew heavier, the air began to flow.

Then, a 'swish-swish' sound of flowing water arose.

This was the sound of blood flowing within a human body!

A sharp sword intent appeared in the darkness, cleaving it open—

This was an underground cavern of unknown depth.

The stone walls surrounding the cavern were carved with complex incantations, and these incantations were currently glowing.

In the center of the cavern sat a stone platform, and on the platform lay a completely naked person.

When this person opened their eyes, the Master of the Gouchen Sword was reborn in this place!

Bai Chen stood up from the stone platform; his face looked younger, and the aura on his body was even more powerful.

Only his eyes were gloomy, filled with hatred!

Not many people knew what his fifth divine ability was, because he had never displayed it before others.

This divine ability was called—【Three-Body Buddha】.

It was a top-tier divine ability of the Buddhist school, taking the Buddhist 'Three Bodies' as its core, capable of allowing a martial artist to construct three different clones: the 'Response Body', the 'Reward Body', and the 'Dharma Body'.

However, unlike ordinary clone divine abilities, 【Three-Body Buddha】 could not allow a martial artist to control all three clones simultaneously.

Only after one clone died could the martial artist 'resurrect' in another clone, and their strength would advance a step further!

This divine ability was equivalent to giving a martial artist two extra lives while also enhancing their strength; it was indeed extremely powerful, but the cost was also immense.

For Bai Chen to nurture the 'Three Bodies', he needed to pay three times the resources.

In other words, over these years, he had already consumed enough resources to cultivate three Grandmaster-level experts of the Spirit Manifestation Realm!

This was a terrifying figure.

After becoming a Grandmaster, although there was no need to incorporate more implants, maintaining the daily consumption of oneself and the implants required the intake of vast amounts of energy.

Not to mention practicing divine abilities, cultivating a Martial Dao Domain, or engaging in combat with others, which consumed even more.

Even being able to absorb the world's origin Qi with a Dao Foundation was still insufficient to maintain the needs of a Grandmaster.

Even if a Grandmaster never fought with others, if they didn't rely on elixirs to replenish energy and only relied on absorbing the world's origin Qi, their cultivation efficiency would be extremely low, and they could practically forget about breaking through to a higher realm.

Even with a divine ability like 【Heaven-Mixing Golden Palace】 that accelerated the absorption of the world's origin Qi, it was not as efficient as directly consuming elixirs; after all, divine abilities also had consumption.

Therefore, Grandmasters also needed elixirs, and elixirs of extremely high quality at that!

Only major factions could afford to support a Grandmaster.

Bai Chen needed to support the 'Three Bodies', so the resources consumed were three times that of cultivating a Grandmaster, and the resources for daily maintenance were likewise several times higher.

Relying solely on the resources held by the Gouchen Sword Sect, supporting two Grandmasters was already the limit.

The extra portion of resources was provided secretly by the Third Imperial Prince.

The divine ability 【Three-Body Buddha】, from the perspective of divine ability combinations, could not efficiently pair with Bai Chen's other divine abilities, nor could it enhance his sword cultivation.

In fact, this divine ability was not even that compatible with Bai Chen's Martial Dao Domain; not only did this divine ability fail to enhance his combat power, it actually affected the performance of his sword techniques.

If he had switched to a more compatible divine ability, his combat power could have completely ascended to another level, perhaps even rivaling a Grandmaster of the Establishing Dao Realm!

But Bai Chen had resolutely chosen 【Three-Body Buddha】 back then, simply because his gaze had never stopped merely at the realm of a Grandmaster.

From Grandmaster to Martial Saint, the most critical step was to determine one's own 'Dao', and then 'attain the Dao'.

For example, Bai Yan's 'Dao' was the Dao of Slaughter of the military school.

He led troops to slaughter into the Northern Barbarians; if he could ultimately succeed in beheading the Northern Barbarian King and wipe out a few more Northern Barbarian tribes, he would have a certain chance to break through and become a Martial Saint!

Or for example, Qi Ming's 'Dao' was the Cursing of the Nation; if the national destiny of the Great Lan Dynasty were weakened under his influence, he could seize the opportunity to attain the Dao.

Ultimately, he utilized a once-in-a-century blizzard and the power of resentment from five provinces to 'attain the Dao'.

As for Bai Chen, the divine ability 【Three-Body Buddha】 was his 'opportunity to attain the Dao'.

Among the twelve Creation Sword Techniques of the Gouchen Sword Sect, there was one sword technique named "Slashing Karma".

This was a sword technique combined from the Daoist theory of "Slashing the Three Corpses" and the Buddhist concept of "Karmic Obstacles".

Among the twelve Creation Sword Techniques, only the Creation Realm of this sword technique existed in theory, because the person who created this sword technique had also failed to practice it to the Creation Realm.

Bai Chen had succeeded!

When he took over the position of Sect Master more than forty years ago, he had already mastered four Creation Sword Techniques and practiced them all to the Creation Realm.

Over forty years, he had practiced another sword technique and brought it to the Creation Realm, and that was this "Slashing Karma"!

By combining "Slashing Karma" with 【Three-Body Buddha】, the 'Dao' Bai Chen chose was to slash his own body to attain the Dao—

First, slash the 'Response Body', thereby breaking through to the Establishing Dao Realm.

Then, slash the 'Reward Body', reaching the peak of the Establishing Dao Realm, a half-step Martial Saint.

Finally, use the 'Dharma Body' to slash karma, eliminating all karmic obstacles to attain the Dao, achieving the realm of a Martial Saint!

To achieve all this, the person who beheaded Bai Chen had to be sufficiently strong, preferably a Martial Saint, and preferably possess karma related to karmic obstacles!

After the 'Response Body' and 'Reward Body' were slashed, Bai Chen finally had to use the 'Dharma Body' to turn the tables and behead his opponent, resolving the karma and eliminating the karmic obstacles; only then would he have a chance to break through.

The difficulty in this was naturally immense; even if he could join forces with others to behead the opponent in the end, how could a Martial Saint be so easily killed?

But before meeting the Third Imperial Prince, Bai Chen already had such ambition.

The appearance of the Third Imperial Prince merely gave his ambition a greater opportunity to be realized!

Originally, everything was proceeding according to plan, but accidents happened one after another.

First, the 'Response Body' was slashed by Li Fei, Shi Caiming, and others joining forces, leading to the enhancement gained by the 'Reward Body' failing to meet expectations, and he failed to break through to the Establishing Dao Realm in one go.

As a result, before Bai Chen could patch the flaws, the 'Reward Body' was slashed again.

"Li Fei!"

In the cavern, Bai Chen's gaze was icy as he whispered this name.

Li Fei had beheaded him twice and led people to wipe out the Gouchen Sword Sect.

In the dark, the karma had been formed, and karmic obstacles had been born.

Begging for monthly votes.

(End of chapter)