Chapter 849: Welcome back to the sect, Grand Elder |
The vast ocean vortex encompassed all the cultivators on the battlefield.
Hai Teng's move, which once spanned at most ten thousand miles, had now, after fifty years, expanded to a hundred thousand miles in radius.
Everyone was trapped in the vortex, unable to escape in either physical or primordial spirit form, being drawn toward the center.
Xu Hei fully activated the White Emperor Sutra, compressing his true essence frantically at his throat, forming a black light orb that condensed in his mouth.
His form transformed into a black flood dragon, revealing Xu Hei's true self.
He opened his menacing jaws, aimed at the ocean vortex, pushing his cultivation technique to the limit.
"Dragon Shatter Roar!!"
With a furious roar, Xu Hei unleashed a terrifying sonic wave from his mouth, crashing into the ocean. Instantly, the heavens and earth shook, and the vortex stirred up a monstrous tsunami, surging toward everyone.
"Ah!!"
The Dragon Shatter Roar was a technique specifically targeting primordial spirits!
Xu Hei had been able to use it for a long time, but now, with the enhancement of the White Emperor Sutra, its power was incomparable, making it a deadly threat to these primordial spirits.
With a thought, Hai Teng caused the waves to be swallowed by the ocean, creating a frenzied vibration frequency, shaking millions of times per second.
Anyone affected by the vibrations was reduced to dust, their form and spirit annihilated, turning the ocean blood-red.
This move was purely improvised, borrowing the tsunami Xu Hei stirred up, merging and improving it to create a new divine ability in an instant.
"I shall name this move Ocean Current Kill!" Hai Teng thought to himself.
"Boom!" "Boom!"
Suddenly, the Thousand Mechanisms Grand Formation was breached, and puppets were sent flying. Two figures, one after the other, burst out of the formation's range.
It was Wei Wudao and Ji Qing!
As cultivators at the Great Perfection of the Divine Transformation Stage, although they couldn't break through the Thousand Mechanisms Grand Formation, Daoist Sparrow couldn't stop them from leaving.
Especially with the severe depletion of spirit stones, Wei Wudao and his companions could come and go almost at will.
"Trying to escape?"
Xu Hei's gaze turned cold; this was the moment he had been waiting for.
Above the Thousand Mechanisms Grand Formation, the void suddenly cracked open, and a swarm of black figures emerged, numbering in the thousands, densely packed, targeting Wei Wudao and his companions.
It was the long-ambushed Black Needle Ants and Purple Lightning Locusts.
The Purple Lightning Locusts, born from devouring the Thousand Thunder Centipede, carried divine lightning, highly lethal to ghost cultivators like Wei Wudao, specifically restraining evil and demonic paths!
"Is this... the Thousand Thunder Centipede? No, that's not right!"
Wei Wudao's pupils contracted, and grabbing Ji Qing, he exploded two legs, burning soul blood, and soared into the sky. The soul banner grew in the wind, enveloping the two completely, instantly escaping thousands of miles away.
At this moment, he didn't hesitate to use the Ancient Tomb Sect's strongest escape technique, the Blood Spirit Escape!
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."
Black needles fell like a storm, piercing the soul banner, creating numerous holes, from which countless green light spots flew out, all wandering souls released by Wei Wudao.
As soon as these wandering souls appeared, the Purple Lightning Locusts let out a sharp screech, activating the lightning.
"Boom!!"
Lightning filled the void, the heavens exploded, turning day into night. The green light spots were obliterated before they could act, leaving not even a trace.
Wei Wudao and Ji Qing were struck black, their soul banner shredded, and their aura plummeted by thirty percent.
The once confident pair were severely injured in an instant.
"Damn it! Disappearing at a time like this, what is the Blood Refining Sect doing?"
Wei Wudao cursed inwardly.
He was confident that after using his trump card, he could contend with Xu Hei, but the problem was, the Blood Refining Sect was nowhere to be seen, leaving him uncertain and unwilling to risk his life!
His only thought now was to retreat, to live to fight another day.
Wei Wudao burned his primordial spirit, setting the soul banner ablaze, transforming into a black streak, soaring to the edge of the sky.
"Boom!!"
Li Changge and Lin Ya, two ancestors of the Tianhen Sword Sect, had just stepped out of the Thousand Mechanisms Grand Formation, only to be caught in the swarm of spirit insects.
Lin Ya was pierced by black needles, and Li Changge was struck by divine lightning on the head, his black hair scorched away, his clothes tattered, and his life-bound flying sword cracked.
"Ugh!"
Li Changge spat blood, retreating thousands of feet.
All four cultivators at the Great Perfection of the Divine Transformation Stage suffered varying degrees of injury!
"Leave those in the vortex to you; I'll deal with them!"
Xu Hei instructed Hai Teng, then pursued Wei Wudao and Ji Qing.
He swung his dragon tail, his body covered in a thick layer of crystal, teleporting ten thousand miles at a time, rapidly closing the distance.
Li Changge's eyes flickered, and he stepped on his flying sword, fleeing in another direction.
"Get back here!"
Xu Hei struck from afar, shattering the space, and from ten thousand miles away, a palm imprint hit Li Changge's chest. His flying sword shattered, and he spewed blood, plummeting downward.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Li Changge coughed violently, his face pale as paper.
"One Sword to Open the Heavenly Gate!"
Li Changge drew his sword, slicing open a rift in the space before him, revealing a void gate.
Just as he was about to step through, a hand grabbed his leg.
Li Changge turned to see a golden puppet from within the Thousand Mechanisms Grand Formation.
This puppet was one of the ancestors of the Divine Puppet Sect. He had seen this person before but didn't know his name, only that he had recently fallen in the formation.
There were over a hundred puppets in the Thousand Mechanisms Grand Formation, with the strongest concentrated in the earlier ancestors. This puppet's strength was average, not worth noting.
But at this moment, as he unleashed a desperate sword strike to open the void gate and escape, the golden puppet acted on its own?
The golden puppet grabbed Li Changge's leg, and suddenly, a frenzied divine sense transformed into a steel blade, stabbing into Li Changge's brow.
"Ah!!"
Li Changge let out a piercing scream, blood flowing from his seven orifices. After struggling for a moment, he collapsed stiffly to the ground.
In the sky, the illusory heavenly gate flickered, about to disappear.
Seeing this, Lin Ya no longer paid attention to Li Changge and flashed toward the heavenly gate.
Before he could enter, countless black needles pierced his body, and fifty thousand Spirit-Eating Ants swarmed him, biting chaotically.
In the end, Lin Ya, the Grand Elder of the Tianhen Sword Sect, perished under the assault of spirit insects, his form and spirit annihilated.
Li Changge, after a moment of wailing, became rigid, his eyes filled with confusion.
Deep in his brow, in his sea of consciousness, two primordial spirits were fiercely battling, vying for control of his body.
"Who are you? How are you not dead?!"
Li Changge's primordial spirit cried out in shock.
The opposing primordial spirit coldly replied, "Of course, I'm dead, killed by Mo Xingtian with a flick, like squashing an ant! Died without value, forgotten by all!"
The primordial spirit seemed unhurried, occupying half of Li Changge's sea of consciousness, saying, "But I've faced countless life-and-death crises in my life, long accustomed to it! Before my death, I prepared a contingency."
The Soul Splitting Art split the primordial spirit into two, creating two equal primordial spirits, both as main souls. This was his contingency.
Though the cost was halving his divine sense and risking backlash from the split soul, the benefit was having two lives. Even if the main soul died, the split soul could replace it, rebuilding as the main soul. This was the brilliance of the Soul Splitting Art.
His split soul had always hidden within his golden puppet body. After his true self died, the split soul in the puppet took over his body.
But he never dared to reveal it, always hiding, even within the Thousand Mechanisms Grand Formation, not leaking a trace.
Until now, he acted!
Qin Xuanji, throughout his life, walked on thin ice, surviving countless near-death experiences, knowing that a single misstep could lead to eternal damnation.
He had faced death numerous times, yet never once truly died. His survival was not merely luck!
"Li Changge, your body is mine!"
Qin Xuanji's primordial spirit roared, burning fiercely, transforming into a golden flame, instantly engulfing Li Changge's primordial spirit.
…………
On the Divine Continent Star, above the nine heavens.
Xu Hei traversed the void, closing in on Wei Wudao and Ji Qing, the distance between them shrinking. Yet each time he closed in, Wei Wudao managed to burn his primordial spirit, widening the gap again.
Xu Hei could sense that his opponent was nearing his limit.
Suddenly, a yellow light appeared in the distant sky, suspended high above. Wei Wudao looked closely and saw it was Liu Wuji, the second strongest of the Yan Dao Sect, at the late-stage Divine Transformation.
A glimmer of joy flashed in Wei Wudao's eyes, and he quickly called out, "Daoist Liu, you're just in time. Xu Hei is at his wits' end. Let's join forces and take down this villain!"
Simultaneously, Wei Wudao turned and waved his banner, countless wandering souls forming a giant scythe, slashing toward Xu Hei, feigning a desperate battle.
Liu Wuji immediately noticed Xu Hei, initially stunned, then his eyes lit up with joy.
He knew well that Xu Hei was wanted by Spirit Realm cultivators. Just because the Blood Refining Sect dispatched a Flame Demon Ancestor, they reaped countless benefits.
If he could kill Xu Hei, once the Spirit Realm cultivators arrived, Yan Dao Sect would undoubtedly soar, surpassing all others to become the top sect!
Moreover, with Wei Wudao and Ji Qing taking the lead, the three of them together shouldn't fear a Divine Transformation cultivator.
Liu Wuji's thoughts raced, and in just a moment, he made his decision.
He was stationed here under the Blood Refining Sect's orders to construct a trapping formation, preventing any cultivators from Divine Continent Star from escaping.
Now seeing Xu Hei approaching, even without Wei Wudao's words, he would intercept him.
And he was unaware of the events outside the Divine Puppet Sect, being stationed in the outer universe.
"Trapping formation, suppress him for me!"
Liu Wuji gripped the formation disk, and with a gentle squeeze, a yellow light formation descended from the sky, like the majestic Mount Tai, pressing down on Xu Hei.
A bright smile appeared on Liu Wuji's face, as if he could already see Xu Hei being crushed to dust.
And at that moment.
Wei Wudao, who had been counterattacking, suddenly retracted the scythe, changed direction, and fled! The ghostly mist beneath him exploded, creating a terrifying force, escaping the trapping formation's range in an instant.
Liu Wuji was momentarily stunned, not understanding what had happened, when he saw Xu Hei's body collide with the trapping formation.
"Boom!!!"
The formation, said to be capable of trapping those at the Great Perfection of the Divine Transformation Stage, collapsed instantly under Xu Hei's impact, not lasting even a breath. Liu Wuji's formation disk shattered, and he suffered backlash, spitting a mouthful of blood.
"How..."
Before the shocked Liu Wuji could finish, he saw an iron fist imprinted on his face.
"Smack!!"
Xu Hei teleported in, delivering a punch right on target.
Liu Wuji was obliterated from head to toe, turned into a blood mist without even a moment to react, dying at light speed, along with the surrounding void, shattered to pieces.
His primordial spirit was also obliterated.
Poor Liu Wuji, never understanding what happened, was crushed by Xu Hei's fist.
Taking advantage of this, Wei Wudao and Ji Qing transformed into countless ghostly mists, scattering and disappearing, their whereabouts unknown.
Xu Hei watched the retreating ghostly mists, his expression somber. After a moment of contemplation, he turned and left.
He had a feeling that Wei Wudao still had a trump card unused, but the cost of that move was significant, and he wouldn't use it unless cornered.
Normally, Xu Hei would pursue them to the ends of the earth to kill Wei Wudao and Ji Qing.
But now, he had more pressing matters to attend to.
"The Blood Refining Sect has vanished, leaving only a lookout, not a single person in sight."
"Who knows what scheme they're plotting."
Xu Hei wanted to storm Flame Star, to wreak havoc in the Blood Refining Sect's lair, but now was not the time.
Xu Hei wouldn't let anger cloud his judgment. He knew what needed to be done now and what could wait. He wouldn't forget this grudge.
Before long, Xu Hei returned to the Divine Puppet Sect's gates.
By now, Hai Teng had dealt with all the enemies on the battlefield. Apart from Wei Wudao and Ji Qing escaping, everyone else was wiped out completely.
The land was scarred, filled with pits and ruins, desolate and broken. The dead bodies had merged into the shattered earth, sinking underground.
According to the laws of heaven, spiritual qi doesn't disappear but transfers.
In time, the bodies would become nutrients, returning to nature. By then, the spiritual qi on Divine Continent Star would reach a peak.
The spiritual qi stripped by the Spirit Absorption Formation would be returned manifold.
"Ancestor Xu Hei!"
"Ancestor Xu Hei!"
Seeing Xu Hei's return, everyone in the Divine Puppet Sect was overjoyed, the disciples trembling, their eyes red with tears of excitement.
Daoist Sparrow and Night Owl stood silently, watching Xu Hei return, walking to the sect's gates.
Daoist Sparrow took a deep breath and loudly declared, "Welcome back, Grand Elder Xu Hei, to the sect!"
"Welcome back, Grand Elder, to the sect!"
The thirty surviving cultivators of the Divine Puppet Sect all cupped their fists in salute, their unified voices echoing across the heavens and earth.
