"He... he actually took a punch from a Martial Saint?!"
In the various vantage points around the battlefield, many of the originally composed spectators shot to their feet in shock!
As for those who remained seated, it wasn't because they didn't want to stand up. It was because they had gone completely dumbstruck on the spot.
That purple-robed elder widened his eyes in disbelief. He had just been about to leave, but now his footsteps froze in place, as if caught in a dream.
He raised a hesitant hand and rubbed his eyes, beginning to suspect that age had made his vision unreliable...
Yet, Chen Kuang remained standing energetically in the middle of the river, while the Martial Saint before him, resembled nothing so much as a sprinkler, spraying blood in every direction.
"Er..."
The purple-robed elder twitched at the corner of his mouth, barely suppressing a chuckle.
Yet deep within, he was feeling a kind of fear he hadn't felt in many years.
A punch from a Martial Saint!
How many people in the world could take that and live?!
Even among Profound Realm cultivators, how many dared to take such a blow head-on?!
Even if it had only been a borrowed body, simply daring to take that step forward was already a testament to a heaven-piercing courage!
And what's more, Chen Kuang not only survived unharmed, but actually managed to injure the Martial Saint in return!
This story, once it spread, would be like an ant tripping an elephant, an impossibility that would nonetheless be remembered by the world, regardless of whether Chen Kuang lived or died.
Besides... the Martial Saint's conduct this time wasn't exactly righteous.
Others might not have noticed, but the purple-robed elder saw it clearly: the body the Martial Saint had borrowed was already on the verge of collapse, just to unleash its maximum power.
Regardless of whether the body's owner was willing or not, this was an abuse.
After this battle, the body would be completely beyond repair, incapable of cultivation ever again.
No matter what Martial Saint Pavilion had promised this youth, it was all empty talk.
He may have had talent. He might have risen to stand among the top of the younger generation.
But now... all of that was gone.
"Sigh..."
The elder slowly descended onto the peak of the stone summit. From his waist, he took out his jade flute and gently caressed it.
His gaze darkened, and he murmured:
"So be it. Do all one can, and leave the rest to fate."
...
Lin Eryou stared blankly at the board before him.
The game had reached its end.
Black had fallen into a deadlock.
He had even had the illusion earlier that he might be able to turn things around.
Step by step, he had fought to reclaim ground, carefully reversing his losing position. But in the end, he realized... nothing had changed.
Even after exhausting himself trying to turn the tide, he felt as though he'd been caught in a vast, invisible net, no matter which path he took, it would end in a cornered death.
Zhang Zhizhou smiled and said:
"Well? Have you found a way out?"
Then shook his head again:
"This game was doomed from the start, younger brother. You still don't believe it? No matter how you try, this is a death game. You may as well concede now, and we can take our leave."
He glanced toward the distance, muttering under his breath:
"Can't let him escape again... This time, we must catch him."
Lin Eryou was silent for a long moment. Then, without speaking, he placed another black piece on the board.
Zhang Zhizhou tilted his head with a grin:
"Fine then. I'll play it out with you to the very end."
He glanced at Lin Eryou's expression and added:
"In cultivation, lasting friendships are rare and precious. Flowers bloom and wither, seasons change, all of it is fleeting as smoke. You're still young, but your senior here has seen many such things."
"Sometimes I think... maybe it's good that one dies. Out with the old, in with the new, right?"
Same madman as always... Lin Eryou laughed bitterly.
But he knew Zhang Zhizhou was trying to console him.
Still, his mind was on something else.
There was no doubt that Chen Kuang couldn't defeat "Mu Zhao."
This time, there would be no miracle. Chen Kuang's Dao Domain had already been shattered, his only chance to confront a Martial Saint was gone.
Even with all his impossible feats, he hadn't even earned the right to sit on the same board across from a Martial Saint.
Because, "Mu Zhao" hadn't even used his own Dao Domain.
Yes, with nothing but a single punch from a borrowed body, "Mu Zhao" had utterly destroyed the Profound Realm Dao Domain Wen Si had lent to Chen Kuang.
Now that "Mu Zhao" had been angered, he would no doubt strike with full power.
But the truth was, Chen Kuang had a chance to escape.
In that fleeting moment, he could have run.
But not only did he not flee, he had even gone so far as to provoke "Mu Zhao."
That was... bizarre.
Lin Eryou's heart trembled with suspicion.
Why would Chen Kuang do that?
Could he really be trying to die?
No, that's Impossible!
Lin Eryou shook his head.
Chen Kuang was a cunning bastard, there was no way he'd suddenly throw his life away for something so irrational.
Unless... there was another possibility.
A flash of clarity emerged in Lin Eryou's heart as a theory was already taking shape.
He... might really be seeking "death."
...
Wen Si had already escorted Chu Wenruo, Su Huaiying, and Qingcuo to the Liangyang border.
Just ahead was a dilapidated sentry outpost, hidden in the forested hills.
This place had been destroyed by the earlier punch from the Martial Saint, buried halfway in a landslide of stone and earth.
And along the way, they had witnessed the terrain-altering aftermath of "Mu Zhao's" march.
He had come straight from the Martial Saint Pavilion.
And not quietly.
He had walked openly upon the river, each step leaving behind a crater in the riverbed.
When mountains blocked the way, he split them open. When forests stood in his path, he crushed them flat.
Thus, he had left behind a straight and broad road of utter destruction, a sight to make one's hair stand on end.
Wen Si stopped before the ruined checkpoint and said:
"Beyond this point lies the Yang Kingdom. I can accompany you a bit farther."
Chu Wenruo, carrying Su Huaiying, turned back every few steps to glance behind them. She seemed distracted.
"Many thanks, Senior..."
Before she could finish speaking, there was a sudden flash in the sky.
A great Kunpeng spread its wings, followed by "Mu Zhao's" cold voice that thundered across the heavens...
The earth trembled violently.
And then, the Kunpeng fell..
Wen Si sighed, he could sense the Dao Domain returning to him.
Chu Wenruo's face turned pale in an instant, her voice trembling:
"He... is he dead?"
Wen Si shook his head, then smiled:
"No. This time, he really humiliated the Martial Saint. Mu Zhao will hate him for it."
Chu Wenruo had barely begun to relax, when Wen Si added:
"But the odds of him surviving are still not high."
He didn't say it outright... After all, his junior wasn't really going to die.
"Then, then that means... there's still a chance, right?"
Chu Wenruo forced a smile, patting her chest and murmuring:
"He's that kind of scheming bastard... there's no way he'd die so easily."
"It's good that you can think that way..."
Wen Si smiled, then turned his head and looked toward the ruined outpost.
"Come out now. If you have something to say, say it. No need to lurk in the shadows like rats."
Moments later, from the darkness, three people stepped forward.
They were none other than the Rain Master, Wind Master, and Grain Master of the Department of Shennong.
Three Grandmasters?!
Qingcuo's pupils contracted as she immediately stepped in front of Chu Wenruo and Su Huaiying to shield them.
The Rain Master said:
"This path is blocked. Please rest here for the time being."
Wen Si swept his cold gaze over them:
"Just three Grandmasters, and you think you can stop me?"
The Wind Master casually removed his folded fan and smiled insincerely:
"You've only just entered Profound Realm, and you've lent away your Dao Domain. Three Grandmasters might not be enough... but how about one Domain Anchor?"
Wen Si's heart skipped a beat as he sharply raised his head and saw a black-robed woman standing silently in the night, her presence completely undetected until now.
The aura around her was Grandmaster level as well, but the danger she radiated... far exceeded that.
"Shen Xingzhu..." Qingcuo murmured, her face turning grim.
Shen Xingzhu spoke calmly:
"I'm not here to kill any person today."
She drew her sword and pointed it downward:
"I only kill monsters."
...
As for "Mu Zhao", such superficial wounds were nothing to him.
Not even a scratch, truth be told.
The passive "Shifting Flowers and Grafting Trees" that Chen Kuang had relied on... merely offered a ten percent chance of reflecting 10% to 200% of the damage he received.
It was a roll of the dice.
...
This time, Chen Kuang's luck could truly be considered pretty good, at the very least, the damage really did get reflected back, and with a high multiplier to boot. Otherwise, he might not have even inflicted so much as a superficial wound.
But even if that previous blow had returned all the damage he'd received in its original form, to someone like "Mu Zhao," it still would not count as "injury."
Because the reflected damage was fixed, but the physical cultivation between the two was entirely different. The gap between them was astronomical.
Mu Zhao had achieved sainthood through martial arts; his fleshly body alone likely already stood at the absolute pinnacle of the world.
No matter how fiercely Chen Kuang fought, it was akin to child's play, like brandishing a toy sword before Guan Yu. Even invoking the Dao Domain meant little; Mu Zhao could simply take it head-on and shatter it through brute force.
That was the reason why Mu Zhao had been so confident that his opponent could never inflict any real harm.
What he hadn't expected, and what almost no one else could possibly have anticipated, was that Chen Kuang had such a shameless and unreasonable passive skill.
And the real problem... lay in the fact that Mu Zhao's body was borrowed!
No matter how Mu Zhao had optimized it to best fit his combat style, it was still fundamentally not his own.
Worse, the body hadn't even reached its optimal state. In fact, it was already teetering on the brink of collapse...
Using his Piercing Insight passive, Chen Kuang saw it with perfect clarity.
The borrowed body, this youth's vessel, had been stretched to its very limits. The immense force of a Martial Saint had been forcibly poured into every bone, muscle, and organ, forcibly elevating its strength without the slightest regard for the consequences.
In Chen Kuang's field of vision, countless fine cracks had already formed across the youth's meridians.
The moment Mu Zhao departed this vessel, the body would be utterly crippled, worse than an ordinary mortal, let alone capable of cultivation ever again.
And it was under this enormous strain and pain that the boy's original consciousness had, for just a moment, diverged from the Martial Saint occupying his body.
This vessel was defective.
Which was precisely why Chen Kuang's passive could achieve results so far beyond expectation.
Those many wounds disrupted the final threads of equilibrium, causing the body to collapse in an instant, hence the blood-sprinkling spectacle before their eyes...
And more importantly, in that same instant, Chen Kuang had plucked his zither once, unleashing a note filled with the resonance of the Heavenly Demon Law.
Through the rage of being suppressed, he in turn gifted the Martial Saint with a fury potent enough to shake even divine will.
Fortunately, in this world, cultivation only required sincerity toward one's path, one's dao.
You didn't actually need to purify your mind, as long as you gave lip service to righteousness and virtue, that was good enough.
Mu Zhao, indeed, felt an ancient and uncontrollable rage erupt within him like a flood breaking through a dam.
How many years had it been?
Never had someone dared to act so wantonly before him!
This Chen Kuang, this ant, had killed his direct disciple. Then he'd killed three full members of the Martial Saint Pavilion, dragging the Pavilion's reputation through the mud.
And now, right before his very eyes, with the world as their audience, he loudly mocked him!
Implying that he was the evil one?!
Time and again! Again and again!
Outrageous!
This was a man who knew no mercy, cruel and venomous in his actions.
Back when Li Hongling could have escaped with her life, Chen Kuang had clearly been surrounded and pressed on all sides, he should have taken the detour.
Yet he chose to confront her directly, and beat her to death.
Li Hongling had merely crippled one of his legs..
He responded by taking her life!
Such conduct was repugnant, was this not the very definition of an evil cultivator?!
And now this upside-down charlatan dared to try to bite back?
Mu Zhao's fury was like a vat of boiling oil, but after the instant of facial distortion, his expression abruptly cooled, settling into a frightening calm.
The wounds on his body began to forcibly knit back together.
But this borrowed body's internal balance had already been destroyed. It would only be a short time before even he could no longer control it.
He could also sense, just moments ago, many people had indeed seen that shameful scene...
But... did Chen Kuang really think that would help him?
The owner of this body had volunteered to serve as Mu Zhao's vessel. In exchange, he had been promised one of the Pavilion's advanced martial arts techniques and had been fully informed of the risks.
No one had forced him.
For many, simply glimpsing a Saint was a lifelong honor. To be chosen by a Martial Saint to serve as a host vessel was a glory far beyond imagining.
Once this was over, the spectators would no doubt be invited to the Martial Saint Pavilion, where members would explain everything in due form.
With the Pavilion's reputation, it would be easy to dispel any doubts.
"Huuuuh..."
Mu Zhao looked at Chen Kuang and exhaled slowly, speaking in a deep voice:
"It seems... I have indeed underestimated you."
"I admit, you have exceeded my expectations."
The punch he'd delivered earlier hadn't been his full power, but it would've been more than enough to kill any Grandmaster.
And yet not only had it failed to kill Chen Kuang, it had resulted in his own injury.
There was no denying it: in his long list of battle records, this would be a stain, a humiliation.
Chen Kuang shrugged:
"You're not the first to say that. At least three others have said something similar."
"And all three of them ended up dead by my hand."
"Oh, right..."
He looked at Mu Zhao with a grin:
"One of them... was named Li Hongling."
Mu Zhao paused for a moment, then let out a cold, amused snort:
"You really have no will to live, do you."
Chen Kuang chuckled:
"I've offended far too many people. Either way, I might as well go out with a bang."
Surprisingly, Mu Zhao's expression softened slightly.
"Dying at my hands, could indeed be called going out with a bang."
This shameless old bastard really does love his reputation.
Chen Kuang rolled his eyes inwardly.
Even after he'd gone all-in, practically screaming in Mu Zhao's face, and now Mu Zhao was smiling because it sounded like a compliment?
But Mu Zhao had no way of knowing the inner mockery.
While his expression was now calm, it didn't mean he was letting Chen Kuang off.
On the contrary, precisely because Chen Kuang was a dead man walking, Mu Zhao no longer had any emotional attachment.
A dead man, what did it matter if he insulted you or praised you?
Still, Mu Zhao intended to let Chen Kuang die with weight.
There was no denying that Chen Kuang's strength had gone far beyond his initial expectations. In Mu Zhao's mind, he now ranked higher than even Shen Xingzhu.
If allowed to live, he would inevitably reach Sainthood, it was only a matter of time.
A pity, really.
Had he known sooner that Chen Kuang was such a talent, he would've personally gone to recruit him, even made Li Hongling apologize. With a bit of humility, Chen Kuang could've become a fierce general of the Martial Saint Pavilion.
Whether it was Ji Chengtian or any other rival, if he spoke, who would dare not show face?
But there were no ifs.
Today, Chen Kuang would die as an evil cultivator.
He would die at Mu Zhao's hands.
Mu Zhao raised his hand, assuming a stance that Chen Kuang recognized instantly.
He had seen this exact form before, when fighting Li Hongling.
Chen Kuang's pupils constricted.
That was... a Martial Saint's Absolute Technique!
"Tyrant Storm of Wind and Rain-"
Mu Zhao took a deep breath, one hand behind his back, the other palm raised to the heavens, then suddenly flipped it downward and pressed!
"When fortune comes, Heaven and Earth move as one!"
BOOM!!!!
The entire sky and earth seemed to collapse in that instant, condensing into a singular force that pressed downward with his palm.
Wind, clouds, rain, and qi, all converged in that single strike.
It crashed down with the fury of divine wrath!
And with it, Mu Zhao's Dao Domain fully unfurled.
This Domain was named "Dominion".
The Path of Tyranny, there is no equal but me!
In just an instant, Chen Kuang was pounded into the river bed, along with the river water itself, crushed directly into the floor of the river.
If one were to describe it metaphorically, he felt like a block of compressed biscuit being forcibly shaped and molded.
From the crown of his skull down to his very toes, a violent, shattering pain erupted through him, and in that moment, he was nearly reduced to a puddle of mangled flesh and bone.
This was the first time that even with the body-recovery speed granted by his passive ability, Invincible Before the Divine, he was unable to keep up with the speed of destruction.
No matter how fast the healing was, it could only regenerate a superficial layer, in other words, a hollow shell.
"Saints... really are insurmountable. Not even cheating helps."
Chen Kuang sighed inwardly.
"No... the real problem is that my cheats aren't broken enough."
"Still... after this, I think I can finally lie low and farm passives in peace..."
"...right?"
Somehow, deep inside, he felt an ominous premonition creeping up on him.
And then, everything began to blur.
But this kind of agony, he had already experienced it countless times in the Great Void Illusion Realm, in those endings where he failed to escape the capital. So to him, it wasn't unbearable.
This time, his Shifting Flowers and Grafting Trees passive had not triggered.
To his surprise, that gave him a sense of relief.
After all, even if it returned twice the damage, the person he'd kill would only be a pitiable youth whose cultivation future had already been destroyed by the Martial Saint's possession.
The real Mu Zhao, his true body, was still in seclusion.
Its better that it didn't trigger.
As darkness enveloped his vision, Chen Kuang relied on the final breath protecting his heart meridian. With a final surge of will, he opened the mouth of his storage pouch.
At that same moment, in the Illusory Realm, Chen Kuang had already stilled his breathing, steadied his mind, and conjured the Dragon Gums Zither, plucking the strings with Anonymous, stabilizing his divine sense for the next technique..
For the Demon Shedding Method.
"Wuuu-"
Suddenly, from above the river's surface, a mournful sound of a bamboo flute drifted through the air.
As a trained orthodox sound cultivator, Chen Kuang immediately recognized the profound artistry in the tune, he was briefly stunned.
This flute melody... it's helping me resist the Martial Saint?!
The music wept and pleaded like tears and sorrow.
Then came Mu Zhao's voice, cold and cutting, echoing across the river:
"Zhu Yiming, Pavilion Lord Zhu... does the Heavenly Sound Pavilion truly have so much idle time, that it dares meddle in my affairs?"
"Or is it... that you walk the same path as this evil cultivator?"
A raspy old man's voice sighed in reply:
"It is merely that I saw injustice and could not look away."
He seemed unwilling to engage in verbal sparring as the flute melody continued to resound.
Mu Zhao sneered coldly, and at once, the wind and clouds surged once more atop the river, forcing the flute melody to retreat.
Zhu Yiming did his utmost to maintain the musical resistance and was indeed able to delay Mu Zhao, if only briefly.
This man was likewise of the Profound Realm, but clearly his cultivation was far deeper than that of Wen Si. Only thus could he restrain a Martial Saint using a borrowed body.
The pressure on Chen Kuang's body abruptly lightened. His flesh and bones began to regenerate, he now had a chance to survive...
Chen Kuang, however, twitched the corner of his mouth and cursed inwardly.
Damn it, don't help me!
Usually, all he ever met were pitch-black, utterly rotten bastards, so why was it now that some upright, good-hearted soul who "couldn't watch injustice go unpunished" had to show up?!
For the first time in his life, Chen Kuang seriously wished the world had more bad people...
"Forget it, I'll do it myself."
He released the mouth of his storage pouch.
The box containing the Mermaid's Tear dissolved instantly, turning into dust. The tear dropped into the river and melted into the current, transforming into a barely perceptible bubble.
Pop!
The bubble drifted forward, and swallowed the next item that floated out of the pouch, the brand-new cloth doll hand-sewn by Gan Tang.
At this moment, the doll was soaked in blood and shredded flesh, an ideal curse medium.
The water bubble locked in place, enveloped the doll, and blood swirled into runes across its surface, fusing into the whirlpools beneath the water and disappearing into the river's depths...
At the bottom of the river, Chen Kuang finally let go of the force that had been protecting his heart meridian.
Above, the flute melody faltered and then fell silent..
...
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Wen Si was locked in battle with the three Department of Shennong Grandmasters. Though he was not at a disadvantage, he had no spare energy to look after Chu Wenruo and the two others behind him.
Fortunately, it seemed these Shennong cultivators had truly come only to slay the "demon," and not to harm innocents.
They hadn't targeted Chu Wenruo and company at all.
Still, Wen Si couldn't help but frown inwardly.
Why would they show up now, only to attack him, and not the others?
But soon, his question was answered.
Far off on the river's surface, where only moments before there had been wild and thunderous activity, everything had gone deathly silent.
Then came Mu Zhao's cold, mocking voice:
"Chen Kuang is dead! Those who dare oppose the Martial Saint Pavilion will all meet the same end!"
He said more, but Chu Wenruo had already gone rigid.
She didn't hear another word.
Her limbs gave way, and Qingcuo had to rush forward to support her, speaking in a grave tone:
"Madam... whether it takes a hundred years or a thousand, so long as I live, I will avenge him. Blood for blood. It will not end until I perish."
"A hundred years? A thousand?"
Chu Wenruo shook her head slowly, and let out a long deep sigh:
"That's far too long... I truly thought that this time, I had finally learned how to be human... to love... or at least... to hate."
Qingcuo was suddenly seized by a sense of extreme impending dread.
Her thoughts froze and her entire body stopped moving as if locked in place an unseen gaze.
And in that exact moment, Chu Wenruo reached down and grabbed the sword hanging at Qingcuo's waist.
Shing!
Snow-bright swordlight flashed, reflecting in the darkness of her eyes.
This stunning, delicate woman spun with the blade in her hand, her robes fluttering in tandem with the crimson spray of blood, like a flower blooming in midair.
Su Huaiying was struck dumb.
She reached out tremblingly, gently pushing at the woman who had just collapsed before her, utterly lost.
"...Mother?"
In the distant sky, the first glimmers of dawn finally broke.
A pale round sun slowly began to rise on the horizon.
"Dawn has come!"
The three Grandmasters of the Department of Shennong tensed in alarm.
Yet... the ancient demon, Hengwo, did not appear...
Just as confusion began to creep into their eyes..
Wind Master's expression suddenly froze.
He raised a trembling finger and pointed toward the slowly rising, dim sun.
The other two turned to him, completely startled:
"What is it?!"
Wind Master's face contorted in deep terror, his voice cracked with fear:
"The... the... m-m-moon... o-o-opened..."
The other two followed his pointing finger.
That sun-like orb, its shape rough and uneven, casting a faint light..
It was not a sun, it was a full moon!
And at that moment, the moon opened its eyes..
Vast, luminous, and azure-blue, a glorious giant eye revealed itself within that pale lunar disk.