Volume 4, Chapter 162 – The Abyss of Heavenly Essence, Breaking the Pool Art by Force (Two-in-One)

“Bai Zhixing! You’ve gone too far!”

Everything had happened too fast.

For those in the audience who were still inside the venue, unable to see through the dust-cloud with the naked eye and equally unable to sort through the heavenly-essence currents on site well enough to sense what was happening, all they had time to hear was Chang Hongyuan let out a furious roar. Then an incomparably violent storm of heavenly essence came surging back, suddenly blasting away all the dust.

“Why did these two start fighting each other directly?”

At the highest point above, Daoist Luoying’s expression changed, and he hurriedly called to the disciples beside him, “We’re leaving! Fly higher!”

The other Venerables noticed the people of Qianyuan Sect rapidly ascending into the sky, and for a moment still did not understand why. But very quickly, when that storm of heavenly essence swept over, all of their faces changed drastically, and only then did they start desperately trying to flee upward through the air.

Whoosh—whoosh—

The wind sliced through the air, letting out a desolate wail. Everyone saw streaks of black storm-clouds flowing down from every direction, as though violently drawn by something. At incredible speed they gathered toward the arena, until in the end they formed an enormous storm-abyss, so vast that the eye of the storm alone nearly covered the entire venue.

“‘Great Luo Heavenly Abyss.’” Yang Chen stood close beside Daoist Luoying, his gaze icy as he looked downward.

At that moment, they were already floating nearly a thousand meters above the ground. Even so, if they had not all been at the Immortal Venerable level, with far stronger control over qi presence and heavenly essence than mortal spirits, they too would likely have been dragged down by that gigantic storm-abyss and become nourishment for its further growth.

“I originally thought we’d have to wait at least another hour to see this move. Even if Chang Hongyuan went all out against that demoness, the battlefield should have shifted from the ground to the heavens above.”

Yang Chen shook his head.

“But who would have thought he’d open it right down there… What exactly did that demoness do to make Chang Hongyuan this furious?”

The ones who understood you best were usually your enemies. That held true for Yang Chen and Chang Hongyuan as well.

Although Chang Hongyuan had always ranked below Yang Chen, and even his recent ascent to first place on the Heaven’s Pride List had been thanks to Yang Chen’s disappearance, Yang Chen did not dare underestimate him too much. The reason was the gigantic storm-abyss now spreading across the earth below.

It stirred the wind and clouds, with the central pillar of wind seeming to connect heaven and earth. Under the influence of the “heavenly abyss” at its core, everything caught within it, air, cloud, water, lightning, flying sand, shattered stone, anything at all, met only one end: decomposition. It would be broken down into the purest, most primordial heavenly-and-earth origin qi, the thing everyone habitually called heavenly essence.

Once the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss was unleashed, this was what it looked like. It was this overbearing, this violent, this unreasonable. Even Chang Hongyuan himself could not fully control this divine pool. Once it opened, he himself became an utterly terrifying black hole of heavenly essence. Everything within nearly a thousand meters would be helplessly drawn in by a force of suction, broken down and digested. Only when Chang Hongyuan himself was exhausted and could no longer maintain the divine pool would the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss vanish.

This thing was the perfect counter to Yang Chen’s “Heaven-Contending Chessboard.” What Yang Chen liked most was laying out his chessboard and controlling the whole field, while once the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss opened, it would forcibly destroy everything in the arena.

Then what was there left for the Heaven-Contending Chessboard to control?

It was like the two of them were playing chess. Yang Chen was clearly a supreme master of the game, but when he ran into Chang Hongyuan, it was like running into an unreasonable madman. He would not even play five-in-a-row with him. He just wanted to smash the chessboard.

That was why Yang Chen remained somewhat wary of Chang Hongyuan.

When the two sides clashed, many of Yang Chen’s refined moves simply could not be used, forcing him into the crudest, most straightforward stage of “comparing hard power.” Even if he won, it would still cost him enormous effort. No matter how he looked at it, it was not a very worthwhile exchange.

That demoness should be having a headache too.

Thinking of this, Yang Chen felt a bit of schadenfreude.

Heaven always leaves a flaw; one thing subdues another.

He could still withdraw his chessboard, but that demoness’s pool art… rumor had it that she used the changing forms of heavenly-essence energy to create a hundred thousand tribulation lotuses, forming a vibrating domain while bombarding people with the lotuses.

It sounded impressive enough, but now all the heavenly essence in the surrounding area had been sucked dry by the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss. So where exactly was she supposed to condense her lotuses from?

In Yang Chen’s view, Bai Xiang should be defeated very soon.

But Daoist Luoying beside him seemed to have a different opinion. Yang Chen noticed his master’s brows tightly furrowed, his gaze fixed on the storm-abyss with great gravity.

“Master.” Yang Chen narrowed his eyes. “Why are you…”

“Just now down below, you heard what those fools were discussing, didn’t you?” Daoist Luoying asked.

“Yes.”

“They said that the sword-pellet path was so formidable, and could only truly be used in Shenming’s hands, entirely because of the strange nature of the new method Bai Zhixing created. They said it was only because that so-called ‘qi-force’ excelled at subtle variations that the path could succeed. Do you think they were right?”

Isn’t that right?

Yang Chen did not understand, because that was what he himself had thought as well.

“Bai Zhuqing’s finishing move in the end was just smashing people head-on with splitting-light sword pellets.” Daoist Luoying only shook his head. “A method like that, where does one see any mastery of subtle transformations?”

“Master means…” Yang Chen suddenly understood. “The advantage of the qi method lies in hardness and toughness, not in trickery?”

“Exactly.” Daoist Luoying bared his teeth slightly, seriousness in his eyes.

“It may differ a little from person to person, but no matter what, its foundation is sharpness and toughness. It is harder than diamond.”

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“The sturdiness of the qi method may well surpass even the sacred methods.”

Is that so?

Yang Chen narrowed his eyes and looked back down again.

If that was really the case, then Chang Hongyuan might still need to expend quite a bit of effort to bring down that demoness.

While they were speaking, some disheveled cultivators also stumbled out of the black storm-clouds below. While adjusting themselves, they still could not help looking back. It was obvious they were shaken.

Too dangerous.

Just a tiny bit more and they would not have made it out. They would have been sucked into the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss.

So what exactly had happened to Chang Hongyuan?

Zhengtian Dao’s senior brother had always been known throughout the world as upright and mild in temperament. Though there were rumors that he could be somewhat harsh toward disciples within the sect, no one had ever heard of him becoming this enraged.

Elsewhere, Gu Xi had only just managed to bring the people of Zhengtian Dao out through the storm.

Chang Hongyuan still retained his reason. The winds blowing toward their side were clearly weaker. Gu Xi had also opened her own divine pool, the Hanging River of Ice Threads, turning the descending waterfall into nine zither strings. With vibrating sound to cut open a path, she swept aside the storm-winds and only then managed to break out.

Even so, the way things were developing made her uneasy. She had Xu Shaolian watch over the disciples she had brought out, while she herself still planned to return to the eye of the storm and investigate.

“Sister Xi’er!” Xu Shaolian grabbed her worriedly.

“As long as that ‘abyss-eye’ is still there, that means Senior Brother is not in any serious danger.”

“Everyone needs you right now, so why must you still…”

“You all got out. What about the others?” Gu Xi shook off her hand so hard her sleeve tore loose. “Those Shenming disciples are far inferior to her. I need to go help protect them a little.”

“Shenming disciples? But they…”

“Shaolian.” Gu Xi cut her off and said word by word, “Our sect has no grudge with Shenming.”

“No matter what happened just now, we cannot let the misunderstanding deepen further.”

Leaving Xu Shaolian behind, Gu Xi turned and left.

She plunged back into the ring of storm once more, feeling her way to the venue against the fiercely blowing black clouds and cyclones. Using sound-vibration to sense her surroundings, she then discovered that this gigantic structure was rapidly disintegrating under the storm’s assault.

The steel-reinforced concrete stairs and walls were being torn away layer by layer, swept into the storm to be broken down and digested. Inside, everything was already in ruins. Only in the direction where Shenming’s people stood had a screen of green light been raised, standing immovable no matter how the storm raged across it.

Aside from Bai Zhixing, they have another expert protecting them?

Gu Xi’s eyelids twitched a few times, and her heart relaxed slightly. Only then did she have the leisure to turn her attention to the center of the storm, wanting to see how Chang Hongyuan and Bai Xiang were faring.

That was no easy task. Because she specialized in sound and rhythm, she understood a little of the principles of sonar. But the suction in the eye of the storm was simply too strong, as though even space itself had been distorted. She could sense nothing at all.

“That little girl has some conscience after all.”

On Shenming’s side, Zhu Qingluo kept up the wall of green light while staring at Gu Xi and muttering.

“She knows her manners, and she doesn’t look bad either.”

“Hmph. If not for the Heavenly Stem Precious Jade, why would I bother choosing a rude demoness like you…”

“Sister Qingluo!”

Zhu Qingluo felt someone tug at her sleeve.

She looked down. It was Bai Maoxu.

Bai Maoxu looked up at her with eager eyes and asked, “Sister Qingluo! Grandpa had me come ask you… He’s very worried about Sister Xiang!”

This kind of little brat…

Zhu Qingluo had originally intended not to answer. But the light in Bai Maoxu’s eyes was too blinding, and she found herself unable to withstand it.

She could only turn her head aside and say, “Guh… Your sister will be fine!”

“Really?”

“Does anyone seriously think she lives off those tribulation lotuses?” Zhu Qingluo poured her resentment onto the opponent in the void and mocked with all her might.

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“Just watch.”

“I’m very curious to see how those people will look at body cultivators after today.”

After getting his answer, Bai Maoxu turned around and flashed a V sign at Xu Shu, Ma Yue, Hu Hu, and the others.

They all gave him a thumbs-up as well, expressing their approval of his sacrifice.

But they could hardly be blamed for their anxiety and worry. The Great Luo Heavenly Abyss was simply too overwhelming. When unleashed, it was even more outrageous than the sword-wind tornado of Frightened Bamboo Sword Dao, practically creating a scene of heaven and earth darkening as though the apocalypse had come.

In fact, by that point, all nearby internet and telecommunications had already been cut off.

Online, the livestream chats were nothing but screens full of question marks, with countless people asking what exactly had happened.

That question could probably only be answered by the two people involved, along with Bai Zhuqing, whom Bai Xiang had shielded behind her.

The storm of the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss was too fierce. The girl had been flung back at the very first moment. Then Bai Xiang swept her sleeve once, scattering the storm-wind. She took a single step to the side, and the stretched shadow spreading behind her became a zone of safety, perfectly covering Bai Zhuqing within it.

So the girl was left sitting there on the ground, watching the world outside the shadow howl with wind and flying sand and shattered stone, while she herself stayed tucked within the shadow in perfect peace.

At the center of the arena, two figures were facing each other.

Chang Hongyuan’s eyes were faintly red. In his right hand he held a sword locked against Feixiang Heaven, while his left hand was clenched into a fist, mid-punch, only for Bai Xiang’s five fingers to close around it in midair.

Even facing the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss, Bai Xiang had not retreated a single step.

No matter how Chang Hongyuan exerted force, he could not move her in the slightest.

Staring at him with a faint frown, she said, “If this is for the sake of giving your master an explanation, then going this far is enough.”

Chang Hongyuan froze, and the anger on his face grew even stronger.

Who tried to persuade people like that?

Even Bai Zhuqing listening from behind clicked her tongue.

Even if that really was what Chang Hongyuan meant, once it was stated so directly, there was no way he could admit it openly.

But in truth, Chang Hongyuan was even more shaken by Bai Xiang’s outward ease.

The Great Luo Heavenly Abyss absorbs all things and all energy, let alone with her standing this close to me. How could she possibly not be affected?

“Venerable Bai still won’t concede?” Chang Hongyuan suppressed the shock in his heart and maintained his expression as he spoke. “Let me say this first: once the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss is opened, I can no longer control it. I can only let myself become the abyss-eye that continually draws in everything around me.”

“So?” Bai Xiang replied.

“?” Chang Hongyuan looked at her in surprise. “So if you don’t want to be stripped of everything by me, and don’t want too many innocents injured, then of course we should stop the fight as soon as possible and let my junior sister ‘deal’ with me.”

Even now he was still thinking of other people’s safety.

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes.

With a temperament like this, Zhou Yi absolutely could not have been his arrangement.

Having understood that much, she no longer intended to waste time.

“This matter indeed requires an explanation.” She parted her lips slightly and said to Chang Hongyuan, “But it isn’t me giving you an explanation, and even less you giving one to your master.”

“Venerable Bai?”

Feeling the force on Bai Xiang’s side still increasing step by step, even beginning to push him backward, Chang Hongyuan’s expression became more and more shocked.

Impossible.

This is against the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss.

How can she have so much strength?

“…It is your master, the Ten-Extremes Daoist, Immortal Venerable Haoran—”

“—who must give me an explanation.”

With the last words, Bai Xiang began stepping forward.

Her hand and sword were pressed together against Chang Hongyuan’s person. If she stepped forward, then naturally Chang Hongyuan had to be driven backward.

But the problem was that this should have been impossible.

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Ever since the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss was first used, no cultivator of the same realm had ever shaken it. The Venerable Net’s evaluation of it was that unless an Exalted Saint intervened, it could not be suppressed by force. One could only brace against its momentum, exhaust its power, or simply wait for it to disperse on its own.

And so with every step Chang Hongyuan took backward, his eyes widened by another fraction.

A flicker of unreality suddenly came over him, as though he had not actually activated the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss at all, as though he had simply fallen into disadvantage while crossing swords with Bai Xiang and was being pushed back in the most straightforward way possible.

But it was not like that.

It was absolutely not like that.

The howling gale in his ears reminded him.

The black storm-winds before his eyes warned him.

All of it proved that the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss was active.

Then why—

Why, in this state, am I being pushed back and shaken by her so easily?

“Hm?”

Outside, quite a few watching Venerables immediately noticed something new.

To their surprise, they saw the entire storm slowly beginning to tilt, as though something inside was affecting the eye of the storm and steadily forcing it backward.

“How can this be?” Yang Chen stared blankly from the sky above.

He had imagined countless possibilities, and none of them looked like this.

Impossible.

Absolutely impossible.

Chang Hongyuan must be moving on his own.

Yes… he must already have the upper hand. This is not retreat, but advance—he must be pressing the demoness while pursuing victory.

Inside the eye of the storm, Bai Xiang vibrated her sword and swept it sideways, forcing Chang Hongyuan back three or four steps.

He was just about to raise his head in shock and fury when, in the next instant, Bai Xiang lifted Feixiang Heaven and smashed it downward. He was forced to raise his own sword crosswise in midair to block.

Clang—!

The crossing blades erupted with an immensely ancient, immensely huge peal like the ringing of a bronze bell and a great ritual chime. It spread far along the eye of the storm and directly scattered the dark clouds in the sky.

As for Chang Hongyuan himself, he was hammered straight into the earth by that sword like a nail. From the point where he struck, cracks spread outward with a crunching sound, instantly widening across seventy or eighty meters.

Chang Hongyuan was enraged and shocked to the extreme. He discovered that he simply could not understand… truly could not understand what kind of sword technique Bai Xiang was using.

She was not using any refined sword formula.

Because her sword was slow, and he could see through it with ease.

Nor was she using any pool art or divine ability.

Because Chang Hongyuan also knew that her greatest trump card was the hundred thousand tribulation lotuses. In his view, that card happened to be countered by his divine pool. Under the interference of the Great Luo Heavenly Abyss, she should not have been able to condense even a thread of heavenly essence.

And yet…

He still could not stop her sword.

The reason he kept describing Bai Xiang’s sword as “smashing” was that although it was slow, its sword momentum was terrifyingly heavy.

The Yu sword in her hand looked light and unremarkable from the outside. But when it actually fell, when it actually smashed down on his blade, it felt to him as though an entire mountain-palace had crashed into him.

He could not stop it.

He simply could not stop it.

Bai Zhuqing was staring in a daze too.

She was doing slightly better than Chang Hongyuan, at least. She could just barely recognize that the sword moves Bai Xiang was using were all in fact drawn from the Void-Imagination Divine Sword.

Only, every single move had been dismantled.

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All flourish, all ornament, had been broken apart in that moment, turned into the most direct possible chop, thrust, slice, lift, and smash.

Bang!

Clang!

Ring!

Clatter—!

She watched with her own eyes as Bai Xiang slowly smashed down one sword after another, smashing until Chang Hongyuan’s face turned red and he retreated step by step, going from “trying to resist” at first to gradually becoming “gritting his teeth and glaring.” But even with all his strength, he still could not stop it, and Feixiang Heaven knocked him back again and again.

The black wind peeled back the snow-white hair at Bai Xiang’s temples, while those golden pupils shone like twin suns, illuminating the gloom before her.

That’s it…

Watching this scene, Bai Zhuqing suddenly understood something.

Because Sister’s visibly refined orifice meridians had been unbalanced before…

Although the progress in her right arm had once been the greatest, uneven force would in turn damage bones and sinew, so Sister had never once fully unleashed all of her strength.

Only not long ago had she gained new insight and visibly refined some of the orifice meridians in her left arm and both legs as well, thereby achieving balance across all four limbs through the Heavenly Pillar meridian.

In that state, even if she exerted all her force, it would not cause too much damage to her bones and sinews.

Sister finally can unleash this power freely…

Bang!

Bang!

The girl stared wide-eyed, entranced by Feixiang Heaven.

That truly was a path different from her own sword pellets.

There was no finesse.

No fine control.

What there was, was only absolute power.

Under the wrapping of violent sword qi, it launched a brutal suppression.

Clang!

With another huge crash, Chang Hongyuan’s weapon flew from his hand, and Feixiang Heaven slapped him flat across the left side of his face.

Pfft!

Then it struck his right cheek as well. Bearing confusion and incomprehension, he staggered a few steps, spun once, and collapsed.

Huu…

Huu…

The wind gradually died away.

The Great Luo Heavenly Abyss had been stopped.

When Gu Xi reached the center of the arena, this was the scene she saw.

That woman in the black dress stood there with her head slightly lowered, looking at what lay before her, and her own senior brother was sprawled at her feet.

Sunlight came through the clouds and enveloped her whole body.

That serenity, that calm, made it seem as though she had done nothing at all, as though she had merely been standing there without ever moving.

The wind lifted strands of her snow-white hair, and she raised her head in turn to look this way.

And facing those golden pupils,

Gu Xi unconsciously

stiffened as she took a step back.