Volume 1 Volume 6 Chapter 163

Volume 6 Chapter 163: The End of the Great Battle

"Do you remember what I said when I killed you back then?"

At this moment, even though Liu Ziqing had the upper hand, he felt increasingly alarmed. Zhang Xusheng had completely grasped the pattern of his attacks. With each swing of his hands, he could always anticipate where Liu Ziqing would strike, and under the storm of attacks, he seemed so calm, even able to speak easily, as if he still had strength left.

This made Liu Ziqing’s face turn pale, but he did not respond. He continued to attack Zhang Xusheng with his sword, moving faster and hitting harder. Ever since he received not the "World Defying Sword" but the "Heavenly Paragon Sword," he no longer hoped to defeat Zhang Xusheng himself. He acted this way only to leave hope for Immortal Zizhen and Mr. Liu to see, so they would come and help him.

Seeing Immortal Zizhen and Mr. Liu after the fight, they seemed to be moved. What Liu Ziqing needed to do now was to gain a greater advantage to truly impress Immortal Zizhen and Mr. Liu, breaking the balance between him and Zhang Xusheng.

Zhang Xusheng clearly saw through his thoughts, but he was not anxious at all. After Liu Ziqing did not respond to his question, he showed no signs of unhappiness. Instead, while defending against Liu Ziqing’s fierce attacks, he calmly said to himself, "When I told you that in some ways you are very much like me, it’s a pity that your potential is too low. You have become a ripe fruit too early, and if I let you keep growing, you will surely rot. Instead of that, I would rather plant you when you are in your brightest moment."

Zhang Xusheng’s words seemed to carry a seductive charm. As he spoke, the scene that had caused Liu Ziqing pain and hatred for a lifetime flashed back into Liu Ziqing’s mind. The disdain he saw in Zhang Xusheng’s face all those years ago still pierced into Liu Ziqing’s soul. Without thinking, Liu Ziqing attacked even faster, but his strikes became more chaotic, while Zhang Xusheng easily defended against them.

"The more I tell you that you will never amount to anything, the more you seem to prove me right. When you first appeared so suddenly, I was truly startled by your current form. I thought you had finally surprised me and found a way to evolve that I could not have imagined. But after some research, I was incredibly disappointed. Although your body now is hard to injure and has reached a speed that is the limit of this world, you have forever lost the possibility of further progress. Not only that, but you have also lost all your attacking abilities, relying only on the God Weapon to harm me. Have you really placed all your hopes on these God Weapons? Just as I said back then, you have already become a rotten fruit, and you hold no value. Many treasures are powerful, but they are created by humans, and in the end, their power cannot reach the height of humankind itself. Humanity is the foundation, and tools are just tools. Treasures can at most add some strength and methods for cultivators. I didn’t expect that after all these years, you forgot the most basic things."

As he spoke, a mocking smile grew on Zhang Xusheng’s lips, just like the first time he killed Liu Ziqing.

"Moreover, do you really think that with your current body I can’t harm you? Reshaping your body with your Original Soul and the energy inside you is a clever idea, but you forget that the creation of the universe has gone through countless years of evolution to become its current form, and there is a reason for that. If an opponent directly attacks your Original Soul without the protection of a physical body, the damage you would suffer would at least triple…"

As he spoke, Zhang Xusheng suddenly stopped defending, letting Liu Ziqing’s sword come at him. At the same time, his eyes turned silver, and with a powerful wave of energy, the space around his eyes twisted.

Seeing Zhang Xusheng no longer defend, Liu Ziqing was incredibly happy and swung his sword toward Zhang Xusheng’s head. However, at the moment Zhang Xusheng’s eyes flashed silver, Liu Ziqing suddenly felt an intense pain in his body. His body, which should not have been harmed, nearly shattered in that instant!

The "Heavenly Paragon Sword" had already pierced within a foot of Zhang Xusheng’s forehead. If it had been pushed just a little further, it could have turned Zhang Xusheng’s head to dust. However, due to the excruciating pain in his body, that sword could not go down.

As Zhang Xusheng’s silver eyes glowed even brighter, Liu Ziqing finally could not help but let out a painful groan, stepping back as he exclaimed, "The ‘Great Method of Extinguishing Gods’, you actually know the ‘Great Method of Extinguishing Gods’!"

Zhang Xusheng smiled slightly and said, "Zhang Yi, who I watched closely, suddenly disappeared many years ago. I never understood why, as she should not have had such ways with her abilities. Now I think, you must have helped her, right? Only she could help you shape this body, and only her knowledge of the ‘Great Method of Extinguishing Gods,’ which attacks the Original Soul directly, could truly harm you. What a clever plan. But what you don’t know is that when I killed Zhang Yi’s master back then, I obtained all the secrets of the ‘Great Method of Extinguishing Gods,’ even more complete than what Zhang Yi learned…"

Listening to Zhang Xusheng, Liu Ziqing stared at him blankly, looking lost and sorrowful.

Liu Ziqing had prepared for revenge for many years, putting in endless effort. He abandoned his physical body to create the one he had now. He devised plans to seize the world’s God Weapons, and he had calculated the current situation countless times…

After fighting with the Righteous Alliance, Zhang Xusheng’s ‘Immortal Body’ was destroyed. After battling the "Ming" organization and the Shura Clan, he lost energy. When he broke ties with the Righteous Alliance and left in a hurry, and then relaxed after his success, he considered his ambush’s position and timing, the support from the Zhong family ancestor, and the changing attitudes of the Righteous Alliance members…

Everything was within his expectations. In fact, if it weren’t for Xu Qingfan’s accidental actions, he would have found a way to inform the Righteous Alliance of Zhang Xusheng’s base and strongly pushed for an alliance between both sides after the great battle.

Although somewhat surprised, everything was unfolding as he predicted. However, Liu Ziqing never imagined he would be defeated by Zhang Xusheng so easily.

Years of hatred, endless effort, and countless nights dreaming of the pleasure of avenging himself on Zhang Xusheng now seemed so powerless…

With no joy left… his heart felt like ash… This was the second time Liu Ziqing experienced this feeling with Zhang Xusheng, and it was much stronger than the first time.

"What a pity, I couldn’t kill you at your brightest moment, and instead let you rot for so many years. Now, it’s time for you, this rotten fruit, to turn to dust…"

Zhang Xusheng seemed to think that hurting Liu Ziqing wasn’t enough. With a look of appreciation on his face, he calmly said the most hurtful thing Liu Ziqing would ever hear in his life.

"Poor and weak little guy, you never understand that even if a donkey tries hard, it can never catch up to a fine horse. A donkey is only good for grinding."

Liu Ziqing shook with anger. If it weren’t for his current state, he would have definitely spat blood from Zhang Xusheng’s words. In fact, there was nothing Zhang Xusheng enjoyed more than crushing his enemy’s hope at the moment they thought they would succeed and watching their expressions as their plans fell apart.

As soon as Zhang Xusheng finished speaking, a crazed look flashed across Liu Ziqing’s face. With a howl, he lunged at Zhang Xusheng again, like a wounded and desperate wolf.

Zhang Xusheng sneered, but the silver light in his eyes grew even brighter.

Just as Liu Ziqing had guessed before, despite the threat of the "Spirit Eater," when they saw Liu Ziqing suddenly appear and severely injure Zhang Xusheng, Immortal Zizhen and Mr. Liu exchanged glances and prepared to act. Unless forced by the situation, they did not want to let Zhang Xusheng, this disaster, leave so easily.

However, no one expected that Liu Ziqing would be defeated by Zhang Xusheng in just a few sentences.

Seeing Liu Ziqing charge at Zhang Xusheng as if he were committing suicide, and with Zhang Xusheng about to unleash the "Great Method of Extinguishing Gods," Immortal Zizhen couldn’t just watch as his own disciple was killed by Zhang Xusheng, even though he had already left the sect. With a cold snort, he shouted, "Zhang Xusheng, how dare you!"

As he spoke, a powerful pressure burst forth from him, ready to take action.

Sensing the threat from Immortal Zizhen, Zhang Xusheng smiled slightly and said, "Forget it, I have no interest in harming a rotten fruit."

As he spoke, Zhang Xusheng disappeared into the "Disaster Cloud" above him. Before leaving, he said to Liu Ziqing, "In fact, I don’t need to kill you. I don’t know how you took the ‘Heavenly Paragon Sword’ from ‘Xuan,’ but be careful from now on. That guy may seem friendly in other ways, but after you tricked him out of his sword, it will be a situation of you or him never ending."

Watching Zhang Xusheng enter the "Disaster Cloud" and controlling it to fly away, Immortal Zizhen and Mr. Liu both snorted coldly. Unfortunately, with a "Spirit Eater" beneath them that could absorb any energy to help it grow, their skills did not allow them to act freely; they could only watch helplessly as Zhang Xusheng left.

"Liu Ziqing, come here!"

Immortal Zizhen looked at the dazed Liu Ziqing with a complex expression and suddenly spoke.

However, Liu Ziqing seemed not to hear and just blankly glanced at Immortal Zizhen and then at the direction Zhang Xusheng had gone, and then he left.

With his speed, and needing to deal with the "Spirit Eater," no one could catch up to stop him for a while.

After being tricked by Xu Qingfan, believing that Zhang Xusheng had taken the precious treasure from his clan, he agreed to Liu Ziqing’s proposal to join forces to eliminate Zhang Xusheng. But because of Liu Ziqing’s unique ability to hide nearby without being noticed, the Zhong family ancestor could not do the same and had to hide a hundred miles away from the battlefield.

When Liu Ziqing launched his attack, the Zhong family ancestor was also controlling the "Cloud of Death" to crash into the "Disaster Cloud." Although a master could cover a hundred miles in just the time it takes to brew half a cup of tea, he did not expect Zhang Xusheng to defeat Liu Ziqing in even less time. By the time he finally arrived, Zhang Xusheng had already entered the "Disaster Cloud" and was fleeing into the distance.

"Don’t run away, return my treasure!"

Seeing this scene, the ancestor of the Zhong family secretly cursed Liu Ziqing for being useless, but he did not greet Immortal Zizhen and Mr. Liu. Instead, he chased after Zhang Xusheng, and in the blink of an eye, the two large clouds of black and white had already vanished at the edge of the sky.

※※※※

Watching Zhang Xusheng, Liu Ziqing, and the ancestor of the Zhong family leave one after another, Mr. Liu suddenly sighed deeply, then looked down again at the "Spirit Eater" that was roaring and scratching.

During this time, the "Spirit Eater" continued to attack the many human cultivators in the sky, trying to swallow everyone in front of it. However, it was too weak, and in the face of the full resistance from many human cultivators, it was repeatedly unsuccessful. Yet, even so, in such a short time, the "Spirit Eater" seemed to have grown a little larger.

Knowing that Liu Ziqing was a weak point for Immortal Zizhen, Mr. Liu stopped asking further. Looking at the "Spirit Eater" beneath him, he crushed a few black tentacles that attacked him and asked Immortal Zizhen, "This ‘Spirit Eater’ is hard to attack and hard to keep; what should we do?"

Taoist Crane interjected, "Let’s use ‘Demon Slaying’ and turn this ‘Spirit Eater’ into nothingness!"

Immortal Zizhen had calmed down by this time and shook his head, saying, "I’m just afraid that if we don’t destroy it completely, it will absorb the power of ‘Demon Slaying’, or explode into just a bit of flesh and blood, and while we think it’s dead, it could rebuild its body…"

"Then what should we do?" Master Tianhan asked with a furrowed brow.

"Even if we cannot destroy it for now, we must not let it grow and evolve any further. Activate the ‘All Immortals Formation’ and change it to ‘Absolute Spirit,’ transforming the area within thirty miles into a place without any Spirit Qi. Then, use the formation ‘Seal the Gods’ to imprison this ‘Spirit Eater’ here forever!"

Immortal Zizhen said firmly.

Everyone nodded silently. Until they found a way to kill the ‘Spirit Eater,’ this seemed to be the only option.

At that moment, just as the masters were about to take action, they all felt a shiver and turned to look north. They saw a glimmer of golden light appearing at the edge of the northern horizon, hundreds of miles away, accompanied by the sound of Buddha’s music and heavenly melodies. As time passed, the golden light rapidly expanded, revealing the scene to everyone.

They saw the brilliant golden light as golden lotuses floated down from the sky, with countless Buddhas and Arhats appearing and disappearing in the air.

Among all the wondrous sights, one golden lotus was especially large, and standing on it were Jin Qinghan, with a stern face and a powerful presence, and Lv Qingshang.

Speaking of grandeur, among all the masters in the cultivation world, Jin Qinghan was the greatest. This was not because he intended to show off, but the moment he combined the gold-type power of the Five Elements with the Buddhist teachings of the ‘Pure Land Sect,’ and understood the path of the golden lotus, such phenomena were bound to accompany him. Wherever he went, golden light radiated, and it became a pure land.

If one day, all these phenomena disappeared and returned to simplicity, it would mean that Jin Qinghan’s cultivation had at least reached the level of Mr. Liu and Immortal Zizhen.

Unfortunately, despite hurrying, when Jin Qinghan arrived, he ultimately could not take part in the battle.

Seeing Jin Qinghan’s strength, the people of Jiuhua subtly cheered. After Zhang Hualing’s death and Xu Qingfan’s fall into darkness, Jiuhua had suffered greatly. They felt that other groups looked at them strangely. At this moment, they desperately needed a new pillar, and Jin Qinghan, who had reached the master level, was undoubtedly the best choice.

※※※※

After exchanging congratulations with Jin Qinghan, all the masters joined the "All Immortals Formation." According to Immortal Zizhen, they first cast the "Spirit Nullification" spell, draining all Spirit Qi within a thirty-mile radius. Without Spirit Qi, the "Spirit Eater" became restless, like a hungry tiger submerged in water or a shark dragged onto land, constantly striking around, trying to escape.

However, the defenses of the "All Immortals Formation" were extremely solid, making it impossible for it to break through.

Next, the "Divine Sealing" spell was cast, enveloping the entire thirty-mile area in a misty white fog that trapped the "Spirit Eater" inside.

After observing for a while and seeing that Immortal Zizhen’s method worked, everyone in the Righteous Alliance let out a sigh of relief.

If they truly allowed this "Spirit Eater" to continue growing, it might become like it was hundreds of thousands of years ago, with a body so huge that it occupied most of the Shenzhou Continent.

During this time, Qinglingzi had also calculated the casualties of the Righteous Alliance in this battle.

"In total, over eight hundred fellow Taoists have died, including more than five hundred who were at the Fake Golden Core level, over two hundred at the Real Golden Core Stage, and more than seventy at the Golden Core Stage."

Listening to Qinglingzi’s report, Immortal Zizhen sighed deeply. In this battle, the Righteous Alliance could be said to have lost. Although they defeated the "Ming" organization, the Shura Clan was still released. Even though they rushed into battle before the Shura Clan regained their strength, they only managed to eliminate nearly fifty of the weakest Shura Clan members, while all the top fighters from the Shura Clan escaped. In the end, Zhang Xusheng got away, and during this time, they also released a fearsome monster known as the "Spirit Eater."

The battle was over, but the threat of revenge from the Shura Clan and the danger of Zhang Xusheng’s possible changes, along with the temporarily suppressed "Spirit Eater," left Immortal Zizhen very worried.

"There is no time to sigh; we have many more things to do."

On the other side, Mr. Liu said coldly, "After just experiencing a great battle, the Shura Clan won’t act too quickly. Now we need to do three things: First, send cultivators to various places in the Shenzhou Continent to gather the remaining mortals near ‘Ronghua Mountain.’ After the disaster, the number of mortals is only about one or two percent of what it used to be. We must not let the Shura Clan take revenge on them. Second, collect a lot of resources to strengthen the defenses of ‘Ronghua Mountain’ against any attacks from the Shura Clan or Zhang Xusheng. Third, gather elite cultivators to practice the ‘All Immortals Formation.’ If we control the ‘All Immortals Formation’ better this time, the situation would have been different."

As he spoke, Mr. Liu sighed and said, "With the Shura Clan hunting us and Zhang Xusheng’s growing power, the Shenzhou Continent will no longer be our Shenzhou Continent."

Meanwhile, Li Yuhan was also sharing experiences with Lv Qingshang and Jin Qinghan after their separation.

After Li Yuhan received the sect leader order and the green slips with the records of "Indefinite Sutra" and "Substitute for Heaven" from Lv Qingshang and Jin Qinghan, he looked complicated and slowly said after a long while, "Everything will go according to plan. Once we return to Ronghua Mountain, our Jiuhua can finally clear its name."

Everyone around nodded in agreement.

Li Yuhan finally couldn’t help but ask Jin Qinghan, "Martial Uncle Xu and White Martial Uncle, will they really not come back?"

Jin Qinghan looked towards the distant horizon and softly said, "Since we have decided to live as hermits, we will naturally not appear again."