Volume 1 Volume 6 Chapter 68

Volume 6 Chapter 68: The Original Soul’s Body, Turning Defeat Into Victory

"It’s with me."

A graceful and gentle figure echoed in the empty forest, mysterious and ethereal, yet it was impossible to tell where the sound came from.

At the same time, this graceful and gentle voice inexplicably gave Xu Qingfan a sense of familiarity, but in his haste, he could not distinguish it.

Startled by the sudden voice, Xu Qingfan quickly turned his head to look around, but he still could not find out who had spoken.

"Taoist Friend Xu, it has been a long time since we last met."

The graceful and gentle voice came again, and this time Xu Qingfan finally realized it was someone speaking behind him. He was even more surprised that, at his current level of skill, he had not noticed someone approaching him silently.

Startled, Xu Qingfan quickly moved sideways and then turned to look at the speaker, forming a triangle shape with Zhang Yi and the person speaking.

"Liu Ziqing, it’s you!"

When he focused his eyes, Xu Qingfan was astonished to discover that the sudden appearance was Liu Ziqing, a traitor from the Qingxu lineage whom he had not seen for a hundred years.

How skilled was Immortal Zizhen? At that time, he nearly wiped out the entire Qingxu lineage right under Liu Ziqing’s nose. Later, when Xu Qingfan helped Zizhen escape, Liu Ziqing still caused the Qingxu lineage to lose half of its strength. One can imagine how dangerous he was.

But Xu Qingfan was not so much surprised by Liu Ziqing’s sudden appearance as he was by Liu Ziqing’s current appearance.

He saw Liu Ziqing quietly floating in the air above the forest, without any signs of power, and his body was actually transparent; through him, he could faintly see the scenery behind him. It seemed that what was in front of Xu Qingfan was not Liu Ziqing himself, but a shadow of Liu Ziqing cast here.

But with Xu Qingfan’s level, how could he confuse a shadow with a real entity? This seemingly shadowy Liu Ziqing was indeed Liu Ziqing’s true form.

"This is not the Nascent Soul’s astral projection technique; what is going on? How did Liu Ziqing end up like this? His body seems to be made entirely of energy."

Xu Qingfan thought to himself.

Though surprised, Xu Qingfan remained calm, simply observing Liu Ziqing to figure out why he looked this way, and he slowly said, "So it is Taoist Friend Liu; it really has been a long time."

While speaking, Xu Qingfan turned to Zhang Yi and asked, "But I wonder when Taoist Friend Zhang Yi and Taoist Friend Liu became a couple?"

"Three and a half years ago." Zhang Yi just looked coldly at Xu Qingfan, but it was Liu Ziqing who answered for her, "After Taoist Friend Zhang could not take back the ‘World Defying Sword’ from you, he had no choice but to team up with me. I must thank you, Taoist Friend Xu."

Xu Qingfan had come to see Zhang Yi to persuade her to join the Righteous Alliance to face Zhang Xusheng together, but he never expected Zhang Yi to be with Liu Ziqing, so he had to give up.

Xu Qingfan thought that with his own strength, if Zhang Yi was unwilling to join the Righteous Alliance, then taking the "Poison of Ice Lotus" antidote from her hand would not be an easy task, but it was certainly not impossible. However, with Liu Ziqing’s sudden appearance, although he did not know what powers Liu Ziqing had gained to look this way at that moment, Xu Qingfan felt a sense of unease in his heart.

Seeing Zhang Yi still silent, Xu Qingfan turned to Liu Ziqing and asked, "So, does that mean that the ‘World Defying Sword’ is also something Taoist Friend Liu wants?"

Liu Ziqing replied with a smile, "The ‘World Defying Sword’ is a rare treasure in the cultivation world. I certainly want it and one day, I plan to use it against an old acquaintance of mine. Taoist Friend Xu has held such a precious item for all these years without using it, probably because he is worried that the ‘World Defying Sword’ is too evil and bloody. Therefore, it would be a waste for such a powerful sword to remain in the hands of Taoist Friend. Why not give it to someone like us who truly needs it? If Taoist Friend gives us the ‘World Defying Sword’, we will not only trade the antidote for the ‘Poison of Ice Lotus’ with Taoist Friend but also owe Taoist Friend a favor. What do you think?"

Xu Qingfan looked deeply at Liu Ziqing and slowly said, "If I had any intention of exchanging the antidote for the ‘World Defying Sword’, then seeing you here has made me resolve to never let the ‘World Defying Sword’ fall into your hands. If the ‘World Defying Sword’ is given to Taoist Friend Zhang Yi, although she may cause trouble at first to enhance its power, if the sword falls into your hands, the entire Shenzhou Continent would probably be engulfed in a storm of blood and chaos, never finding peace."

Looking at Xu Qingfan’s determined expression, Liu Ziqing was not angry and simply said, "So, does that mean Taoist Friend will absolutely not give the ‘World Defying Sword’ to us?"

"No."

Xu Qingfan answered very firmly.

"What a pity," Liu Ziqing sighed slowly. "It could have been resolved peacefully, but now I have no choice but to keep both you and the ‘World Defying Sword’ here."

Just as Liu Ziqing sighed, Zhang Yi suddenly made her move.

Zhang Yi’s bright eyes suddenly flashed with a silver light as the "Great Method of Extinguishing Gods" was activated, attacking Xu Qingfan’s Original Soul.

Compared to when Zhang Yi first met Xu Qingfan, the power of her "Great Method of Extinguishing Gods" had more than doubled at this moment. Although the Original Soul attack was silent, the waves of her divine consciousness caused the space around her to shake.

With one strike, she held nothing back, determined to defeat Xu Qingfan in one blow.

Zhang Yi’s attack was so sudden that Xu Qingfan seemed completely unaware, allowing her to strike at his Original Soul.

But in the next moment, it was Zhang Yi who was surprised because her "Great Method of Extinguishing Gods" had no effect on Xu Qingfan at all!

"This is Xu Qingfan’s clone; it has no Original Soul. Don’t use the ‘Great Method of Extinguishing Gods’ to attack; it won’t work. You hold off this clone, and I will find Xu Qingfan’s real body!"

Seeing that Zhang Yi’s attack was ineffective, Liu Ziqing was also shocked but quickly figured out the reason. He shouted at Zhang Yi. Although he had not seen Xu Qingfan for over a hundred years, he was very familiar with Xu Qingfan’s tactics. He slowly closed his eyes and began to search for Xu Qingfan’s real body.

As it turned out, from the beginning until now, what Liu Ziqing and Zhang Yi faced was never Xu Qingfan’s real body, but one of his clones.

After suffering setbacks in the Southern Wasteland battle, Xu Qingfan repeatedly reviewed his strategies and realized that he had used his two clones too simply before, always summoning them only during battles. This not only wasted their hidden abilities and identical characteristics but also gave his opponents a chance to prepare. So, Xu Qingfan devised a strategy to let his clone replace his real body, achieving great success with this method twice.

When Zhang Yi heard Liu Ziqing, a flash of anger flickered in her eyes. She raised her hand, and a black longsword appeared in her grip. Then, under her control, the black longsword transformed into a long black rainbow and stabbed toward Xu Qingfan’s clone like lightning.

Because she wanted to use the "World Defying Sword" against Zhang Xusheng in the future, Zhang Yi had been practicing sword techniques over the years. At this moment, her power was nearly as strong as the "Great Method of Extinguishing Gods."

Facing the incoming black rainbow, Xu Qingfan’s clone did not dodge. It watched for the right moment and struck hard at the side of the black rainbow with a fist. The punch was not very fast, but when the black rainbow came within three yards of the clone, its speed suddenly decreased and was ultimately knocked aside by the clone’s strike.

Tough as iron and strong as a mountain, Xu Ying was one of Xu Qingfan’s clones, and within three yards of him, the gravity increased greatly.

However, Xu Ying was supposed to attack Liu Ziqing under Xu Qingfan’s command, but this delay allowed Zhang Yi to entangle him.

Meanwhile, as Liu Ziqing closed his eyes to search for the true location of Xu Qingfan’s main body, he noticed the space around him ripple. In the next moment, another clone of Xu Qingfan, Xu Zhiyuan, suddenly appeared, waving his hands. Fiery boulders, golden light, and torrents of water, over a hundred different Five Elements Taoist techniques, all attacked Liu Ziqing.

But at that moment, something strange happened.

Both the all-consuming flames and the incredibly sharp golden light could not harm Liu Ziqing; they simply passed through him, and his body felt a moment of dizziness before quickly returning to normal, as if he were truly just an illusion.

Although Xu Zhiyuan could not harm him, he interrupted Liu Ziqing’s spellcasting. Liu Ziqing frowned and turned to look at Xu Zhiyuan, his eyes flashing with brilliance. Xu Zhiyuan suddenly seemed to be struck hard and was knocked far back, while Zhang Yi took out a red longsword and charged at Xu Zhiyuan.

Without the ability to use the "Great Method of Extinguishing Gods," Zhang Yi became much weaker. It was hard for her to hold off two clones with powers similar to hers, and she gradually began to struggle. However, Liu Ziqing ignored this and focused on finding the real location of Xu Qingfan.

"I’ve found you!"

After a moment, Liu Ziqing suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked deep into the forest below while speaking.

As he spoke, Liu Ziqing’s figure flashed, and he charged toward Xu Qingfan.

But just before Liu Ziqing could make his move, Xu Qingfan appeared first and quickly attacked Liu Ziqing.

At first, Xu Qingfan wanted to use the two clones to probe Liu Ziqing’s abilities and powers, but he did not expect that Zhang Yi could tie him up alone. Left with no choice, he had to rely on himself.

However, seeing over a hundred beams of the Five Elements Taoist Method pass through Liu Ziqing’s body without causing any harm shocked Xu Qingfan greatly.

Then, seven colorful rainbows suddenly appeared under Liu Ziqing’s feet and rushed toward him. Since the Five Elements Taoist Method couldn’t hurt him, Xu Qingfan decided to test him with magic tools.

The result disappointed Xu Qingfan. The seven rainbow lights passed through Liu Ziqing’s body, and aside from making Liu Ziqing pause slightly, they caused him no harm at all.

When Liu Ziqing ran deep into the forest, he looked at the dense trees around him, the light was dim, and he could not see Xu Qingfan. His eyes widened, shining brightly, and in an instant, the countless trees around Liu Ziqing shattered, turning into many wooden fragments that fell to the ground. Then Xu Qingfan appeared, no longer hidden from view.

Liu Ziqing smiled slightly, his eyes sparkling again. Xu Qingfan was testing if the "Life and Death Finger" could harm Liu Ziqing. Just after shooting out more than ten fingers, he suddenly felt a tremendous force rushing towards him, like ten thousand pounds. With this impact, Xu Qingfan was lifted off the ground and fell heavily backward. He was pushed back over a hundred feet before he could finally stop, having collided with countless giant rocks and trees along the way, feeling a sharp pain throughout his body.

On the other side, facing Xu Qingfan’s "Life and Death Finger" attack, Liu Ziqing remained unconcerned, allowing the "Life and Death Finger" to pass through him. But just as he prepared to attack Xu Qingfan again, his body suddenly stopped. As each "Life and Death Finger" passed through him, he felt a stabbing pain. After more than ten "Life and Death Fingers" passed through his body, he felt a little disoriented, but after a moment, he regained his stability.

While Zhang Yi and Xu Ying Xu Zhiyuan were engaged in an exciting battle in the sky, Xu Qingfan and Liu Ziqing in the forest involuntarily stopped their attacks, looking at each other in disbelief. Xu Qingfan was surprised that his unstoppable "Life and Death Finger" could not handle Liu Ziqing, while Liu Ziqing was astonished that he had actually been injured by Xu Qingfan’s methods. Although the injury was not severe, it was indeed a wound!

At this point, it is necessary to talk about Liu Ziqing’s training over the years.

Liu Ziqing was truly a genius. He had created a method to absorb others’ Original Souls and strengthen himself. It was also because of this that he wanted to destroy the Qingxu sect. The Qingxu cultivators, due to their cultivation methods, generally had stronger Original Souls and divine awareness than other cultivators. Although later Xu Qingfan accidentally uncovered his plot, he still escaped with half of the Qingxu sect’s experts. No one stopped him, allowing him to successfully absorb the Original Souls and divine awareness of those Qingxu sect members who left with him. His strength greatly increased, making his Original Soul more powerful than most Mahayana Stage masters.

However, the reason Liu Ziqing was able to absorb the Original Souls of Qingxu cultivators back then was that he deceived them into practicing a flawed cultivation method he had created. This cultivation method could quickly strengthen their Original Souls and divine awareness but also caused their Original Souls to start repelling their bodies. Otherwise, if a cultivator’s Original Soul and body were so tightly connected, how could they be easily absorbed?

The reason Liu Ziqing sought to ally with Zhang Yi was because of the 《Great Method of Extinguishing Gods》 that Zhang Yi practiced. The Original Soul attacks from the 《Great Method of Extinguishing Gods》 could make a cultivator’s Original Soul less inseparable from their body, allowing Liu Ziqing to freely absorb the Original Souls of others to strengthen himself.

For a hundred years, Liu Ziqing continuously captured the cultivators he encountered. In recent years, with Zhang Yi’s attacks, he has been devouring the Original Souls and divine awareness of many cultivators. Now, his Original Soul’s power is likely greater than that of the Qingxu ancestor from back then.

When Liu Ziqing’s Original Soul became powerful to its limit, he created another cultivation method. This method involved refining and merging his Original Soul with his body using his spirit, allowing the Original Soul to gain some physical traits, enabling it to exist separately from the body and ultimately replacing his flesh with a solidified Original Soul.

This idea was very crazy, but a year ago, it had successfully been realized in him.

It could be said that at this moment, Liu Ziqing was more like a ghost than a human. However, while a ghost consists of the thoughts of the deceased, which makes its body extremely fragile, Liu Ziqing’s body was made of a pure and strong Original Soul.

After replacing his body with the Original Soul, Liu Ziqing lost all his previous cultivation methods but gained four supernatural abilities: psychic power, illusion, body transformation, and possession. The method he used to attack Xu Qingfan was his powerful psychic power.

Most importantly, the techniques of most cultivators were ineffective against him. This was because, whether they used the Five Elements Taoist Method or dark energy, they needed their energy to remain in the opponent’s body to cause harm. For fire Spirit Qi to burn an opponent or dark energy to damage them, the energy must linger inside. However, since his body was a pure Original Soul, most energies could not stay within him. This was one of the reasons he said even Zhang Xusheng couldn’t hurt him.

However, Liu Ziqing did not know that Xu Qingfan’s "Life and Death Finger" was different from most techniques in the cultivation world. It did not rely on invading the opponent’s body first. The power of the "Life and Death Finger" came from the terrifying destructive force generated by the collision of life and death energies, which exploded instantly. It could cause damage to both solid bodies and spirit bodies.

Nonetheless, even so, the "Life and Death Finger" was still more destructive to physical bodies, and the damage it caused to Liu Ziqing’s body was not very significant.

Even so, it was enough to astonish Liu Ziqing.

"Interesting!"

After a moment of surprise, Liu Ziqing muttered and charged at Xu Qingfan again. This time, he still relied on his incredibly strong psychic power, but he dared not ignore Xu Qingfan’s tactics, constantly changing his position around Xu Qingfan.

Psychic power is invisible and silent, showing no warning when used. Although Xu Qingfan tried to dodge, he was still pushed back by Liu Ziqing again, his body colliding repeatedly with the trees behind him, the loud sound of breaking branches echoing in the air.

The "Life and Death Finger" did not visibly harm Liu Ziqing, but it was the only known way to hurt him at that moment.

Unfortunately, Liu Ziqing moved so quickly that Xu Qingfan’s "Life and Death Finger" missed him completely.

After becoming entirely composed of Original Soul, Liu Ziqing’s speed reached the limit of this world, even faster than a human’s reaction. How could he be hit? This is also one of the two reasons Liu Ziqing believed even Zhang Xusheng could not harm him.

Xu Qingfan was barely able to stop his body after being struck by the great force. He suffered significant injuries and felt blood trickle from the corner of his mouth. This time, he dared not attack again. With a wave of his hand, the "Five Spirit Bell" transformed into a colorful shield, protecting his entire body.

Just as the "Five Spirit Bell" had just shielded Xu Qingfan, the second and third waves of attacks came one after another. The "Five Spirit Bell" trembled continuously, the ancient and melodious ringing echoing loudly, yet it could no longer harm Xu Qingfan.

Watching his psychic power attacks be blocked by Xu Qingfan’s protective artifact, a hint of sigh flashed in Liu Ziqing’s eyes. After his body transformed into pure Original Soul, he gained countless benefits, but the drawbacks were quite obvious. He had only the psychic power attack as a means of offense, which, despite being hidden, was too simple and weak. It could be easily blocked by opponents, leading to many awkward situations where he was clearly stronger, yet neither side could gain the upper hand.

This is also one of the reasons Liu Ziqing must obtain the "World Defying Sword." The "World Defying Sword" is one of the few magical treasures that can be driven solely by Original Soul.

Seeing Xu Qingfan, who was unaffected by his attacks, Liu Ziqing frowned and looked up at Zhang Yi, who was fighting against two of Xu Qingfan’s clones in the sky. He planned to switch places with Zhang Yi so she could use her "Great Method of Extinguishing Gods," while he could suppress Xu Qingfan’s clone, giving both sides an advantage.

But then, something unexpected happened.

Little Black, who had not appeared before, suddenly made a move at that moment.

Just as Zhang Yi had just pushed back the attacking clone Xu Ying and was about to launch her next attack, the hidden Little Black suddenly appeared behind Xu Zhiyuan and quickly darted in front of Zhang Yi, aiming to peck at her.

After reflecting on the Southern Wasteland battle, Xu Qingfan’s tactics were indeed much more treacherous than before.

Zhang Yi was alarmed and hurried to dodge, but Little Black came too fast and too suddenly, tearing a large piece of flesh from her right arm, causing blood to rain down. Because of Xu Qingfan’s warnings, Little Black didn’t use any deadly energy.

In pain, Zhang Yi’s speed slowed significantly, and she was pushed to her back by Xu Ying, who held a golden sword made of Golden Spirit Qi against her back.

Zhang Yi was thus restrained.

Seeing the scene in the sky, Liu Ziqing was shocked, but at that moment, Xu Qingfan also took action.

Xu Qingfan waved his hands quickly, and countless glowing yellow charms flew towards Liu Ziqing; they were the "Spirit Sealing Talismans"!

Although Liu Ziqing was momentarily shocked by Zhang Yi’s situation, he still reacted very quickly, dodging the charms that Xu Qingfan shot at him. He didn’t believe that any charm could hurt him, but the lesson from the "Life and Death Finger" was fresh in his mind, so Liu Ziqing decided to be cautious.

However, Xu Qingfan had already anticipated Liu Ziqing’s speed, so he shot out all the "Spirit Sealing Talismans" he had gathered in one breath. Three thousand "Spirit Sealing Talismans" connected together to form a giant net nearly a thousand feet wide. Although Liu Ziqing was incredibly fast, he still couldn’t move a thousand feet in an instant and found himself trapped in the net made of "Spirit Sealing Talismans."

By now, Xu Qingfan suspected that Liu Ziqing’s body was made of Original Soul, which still belonged to energy—though a very special kind of energy—and the "Spirit Sealing Talismans" were created specifically to seal energies!