Volume 3 Chapter 26

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Volume 3 Chapter 26: The Next Day (Part 6)—Forbidden

"Senior Brother Xu, do your best to withstand Deng Tianao’s attacks and buy me the time it takes to drink three cups of tea. I will take him down."

Although Xu Qingfan was doing his best to fend off the surrounding mud, he paused slightly upon hearing Feng Qingtian’s words. Unable to resist, he turned his head to look at Feng Qingtian, only to see a determined expression in Feng Qingtian’s eyes.

After being surrounded by the "Dark Rain Barrier," Feng Qingtian’s strength was significantly reduced, only able to perform at two or three-tenths of his peak capability. Perhaps accustomed to always having strong powers on his side, Feng Qingtian seemed hesitant when the battle began, reducing his strength even further.

Yet, in that moment, as Xu Qingfan looked into Feng Qingtian’s determined eyes, he clearly felt that the once proud and aloof Feng Qingtian had returned.

Although unsure of what Feng Qingtian would do, out of his consistent trust in Feng Qingtian’s abilities, Xu Qingfan gave a slight nod of agreement. Then he spared no effort, commanding the Flame Phoenix to swiftly soar around them. Under Xu Qingfan’s full exertion, the invading mud was immediately forced back by over three feet.

At the same time, Feng Qingtian raised his hands, and a splendid long staff appeared in his grasp. The staff was adorned with a phoenix head at the top and a phoenix tail at the bottom, emitting a faint red glow. It was the Feng family heirloom artifact—the "Phoenix Feather Staff"!

After obtaining the "Phoenix Feather Staff," Feng Qingtian slowly closed his eyes. Fire Spirit Qi surged from his body, channeling into the "Phoenix Feather Staff." With the large influx of Spirit Qi, a fireball the size of a millstone emerged at the head of the staff, radiating intense fire Spirit Qi, clearly showing significant power.

Soon after, the fireball began to shrink slowly to the size of a grain of rice, nearly invisible, but its color deepened greatly. The fireball then grew larger and shrank repeatedly until it finally stabilized as a deep red, rice-sized fireball at the head of the staff. It emitted no fire Spirit Qi and did not burn fiercely like ordinary fireballs; it simply hovered quietly on the "Phoenix Feather Staff," occasionally trembling, causing Feng Qingtian’s complexion to pale each time it did.

As Feng Qingtian continued to channel his fire Spirit Qi into the "Phoenix Feather Staff," his internal Spirit Qi gradually depleted, leaving him unable to maintain the fiery shield around him. Sharp blue rain slashed long, deep wounds on his body without any obstruction, but Feng Qingtian remained focused solely on controlling the dark red fireball on the "Phoenix Feather Staff."

Finally, the dark red fireball stabilized.

After the fireball stabilized, it was about the time it would take to drink three cups of tea since he had spoken.

Suddenly, Feng Qingtian’s eyes flew open.

…

Because the Flame Phoenix kept circling around Xu Qingfan and Feng Qingtian, Deng Tianao didn’t see Feng Qingtian’s actions.

Under the combined attack of his water and earth spells, Xu Qingfan’s resistance grew weaker, the Flame Phoenix he controlled became smaller, and the ground beneath them was about to be swallowed by the mire. Deng Tianao couldn’t help but smile smugly, especially after seeing Xu Qingfan forced by the situation to spit a mouthful of blood onto the Flame Phoenix.

But strangely, it wasn’t long before that ominous feeling arose in his heart again, just like when he almost got defeated by Xu Qingfan’s Flame Phoenix when he thought victory was assured.

"This feeling again, could it be that I developed a psychological shadow from my duel with those from Jiuhua Gate?" Deng Tianao frowned and thought to himself.

Although Deng Tianao trusted in his own strength over vague and unreliable premonitions, he still decided not to hold back any longer and resolved to deal with Xu Qingfan and Feng Qingtian with full force. He knew that with Chou Xuan’s abilities, their side of the fight would soon conclude.

So Deng Tianao’s expression became more solemn, he moved his fingers swiftly, and the earth Spirit Qi within him surged powerfully, merging with the Water Spirit Qi in the "Dark Rain Barrier." Instantly, the ground’s mire surged fiercely, transforming into massive waves of mud relentlessly crashing towards Xu Qingfan.

Beneath the muddy waves, countless beastly faces appeared, and Xu Qingfan distinctly sensed faint roars of creatures emerging from within the mud.

"I’m going all out," Xu Qingfan thought, as he faced the oncoming mud wave, his expression serious. He was about to use a forbidden technique from the "Spirit Purging Sutra" called "Forced Fusion Technique," when suddenly, he felt a faint, reddish glow dart past his ear and quickly shoot towards the approaching mud wave.

Focusing his eyes, Xu Qingfan discovered that the red glow was actually a small, dark red sphere, about the size of a rice grain, flying swiftly—clearly Feng Qingtian’s doing.

The dark red sphere seemed to be a manifestation of fire Spirit Qi, yet it carried none of the expected ferocity or any Spirit Qi fluctuation, and its tiny size left Xu Qingfan wondering what it could possibly do.

To Xu Qingfan’s astonishment, the small dark red sphere easily pierced through the oncoming mud wave without any hesitation, rapidly aiming towards Deng Tianao.

The once mighty mud wave suddenly transformed into a wave-shaped stone sculpture, silently frozen in place. It seemed that at the moment the dark red sphere pierced through, all the contained Water Spirit Qi was expelled.

Because the dark red sphere was silent, tiny, and incredibly fast, Deng Tianao realized its presence too late to evade, and could only watch in shock and anger as the sphere pierced through his chest.

It was only after Deng Tianao fell from the air, hit by the dark red sphere, that Xu Qingfan snapped out of his state of shock.

"What was that move just now?" Xu Qingfan turned and asked Feng Qingtian.

Feng Qingtian’s protective flame shield faded until it was almost invisible. As Blue Rain continued to tear wounds into him, it quickly expanded the protective range of the Green Spirit Arm Protector to include Feng Qingtian as well. At this moment, Feng Qingtian’s complexion was so pale it seemed almost transparent, clearly due to serious injuries and a severe depletion of Spirit Qi. But Xu Qingfan knew his own face couldn’t look much better.

Feng Qingtian frowned as he watched Deng Tianao’s body fall from the sky, with a hint of frustration in his voice, he slowly said, "The ‘Phoenix Feather Staff’ was supposed to compress fire Spirit Qi, but it seems it was useless."

Hearing Feng Qingtian’s words, Xu Qingfan had a sudden realization. The dark red ball from earlier was the result of Feng Qingtian compressing all his Spirit Qi. To gather all that Spirit Qi into such a small size, no wonder its power was so great. Moreover, since a large amount of Spirit Qi was compressed together, the originally violent fire Spirit Qi aura was instead contained, making it untraceable.

It’s important to know that the distribution of Spirit Qi follows its own natural rules, and forcibly compressing it is very dangerous. Only when cultivators from the Immortal Realm advance do they guide it naturally. Doing this during regular times can lead to minor issues like explosions if control is lost, but the real danger lies in being backfired by Spirit Qi due to forced compression, which can result in cultivator Qi deviation, loss of cultivation, and an extremely high possibility of immediate death.

Yet the ‘Phoenix Feather Staff’ being able to help cultivators easily compress Spirit Qi certainly qualifies it as a rare treasure, truly deserving of being the Feng family’s ancestral artifact.

But after hearing Feng Qingtian say it was useless, Xu Qingfan was slightly taken aback too and looked towards Deng Tianao’s falling body. He then noticed that at some point, Deng Tianao’s body had turned into a statue on the ground, while his true self stood quietly three zhang away from the statue, glaring fiercely at both of them.

Deng Tianao’s appearance at this moment left Xu Qingfan and his companion stunned. After being injured again, Deng Tianao looked even older, his face once that of a man in his thirties now full of wrinkles, his hair white, appearing as an aged, weathered old man. His previously dim gaze was now filled with hatred.

Seeing Deng Tianao’s current appearance, Xu Qingfan was startled, then as if suddenly realizing something, a thoughtful expression appeared in his eyes.

"Originally, I only intended to take your Seven-colored Deer, but you have continuously angered me, so now I’ve changed my mind," Deng Tianao said coldly, his words brimming with murderous intent.

Xu Qingfan suddenly spoke coldly, "Oh really? Did you change your mind because we angered you, or because you’re afraid the secret of cultivating the ‘Purple Womb Car’ will be discovered?"

As he spoke, Xu Qingfan’s tone carried a deep anger, even more profound than the anger he felt when Deng Tianao ambushed him.

Hearing Xu Qingfan’s words, both Deng Tianao and Feng Qingtian were greatly astonished.

The "Purple Womb Car" is a cultivation method that has been passed down for a very long time in the Immortal Realm. Many cultivators know the training method, but very few practice it because the method is too evil.

To cultivate the "Purple Womb Car," one must first dissect the wombs of ninety-nine pregnant women and refine them, along with the unborn babies, into "flesh pills," to be consumed daily during practice. Each time the cultivation method progresses, the required number of wombs increases greatly, to obtain the innate energy within.

Although this cultivation method is extremely evil, its power is immense once mastered. Even a slight achievement allows one to extend lifespan, maintain eternal youth, and create puppets to save one’s life in critical moments. With each advancement, one more life-saving puppet can be crafted.

Looking at Deng Tianao now, it’s clear he has reached the second level, which explains why Xu Qingfan and Feng Qingtian couldn’t kill him before, and why he appears so young even though he’s almost a hundred years old, at the cost of thousands of infants and pregnant women’s lives.

Because the cultivation method is too evil and causes great harm to the mortal world, the major sects in the cultivation world have issued a strict order prohibiting cultivators from practicing it. If any cultivator violates this rule, they will be hunted down by all cultivators together.

Xu Qingfan knew many cultivators couldn’t resist the temptation and secretly practiced this cultivation method, but he didn’t expect to encounter one now. If Deng Tianao’s cultivation of the "Purple Womb Car" is discovered, he will be finished.

"Quite an experience, I am indeed practicing the ‘Purple Womb Car’. Fortunately, the ‘Dark Rain Barrier’ blocked it this time, or those old folks on the Zhantai would have discovered my actions." Deng Tianao seemed calm again and said softly, "But to keep the secret, I’m afraid I have to trouble you two fellow disciples."

Just as Xu Qingfan was about to say something, a terrifying roar suddenly came from outside the barrier, shaking everyone’s eardrums painfully even through the barrier.

Then, everyone saw cracks slowly appearing in the blue ‘Dark Rain Barrier’ in the sky with the roar, and the dense blue rain instantly stopped, causing everyone’s faces to change dramatically.