Chapter 486: The Path After the Summit (Two-in-One)

"I'm in such a good mood today, such a good, good mood."

Fear Bird couldn't help but hum a little tune.

Sitting opposite her, Fei Yu's lower abdomen also bulged slightly. Sweat clung to her temples, and her small face was flushed red as she fought to suppress the air surging up from her stomach. She had truly eaten too much today. It wasn't just the divine souls Yan Jing had collected along the way, but also those of the rest of their team, and those from every team they had defeated.

Yan Jing's defeated opponents essentially encompassed all the top-tier combatants among the players this time. At least two-thirds of their divine souls had been split between her and Fear Bird. By her rough estimate, this God Storage Land held the buried divine souls of at least two Deities—one ancient, one new. Though they were fractured, for someone at her current realm, devouring them was like feeding premium ginseng to a pig.

Even in her father's time, things had never been this extravagant.

"Feeling bloated, huh?"

Fear Bird narrowed her eyes at Fei Yu and smirked:

"I told you not to eat so much. You really went all out just to force his share down, too."

She tilted her head back, whistling a little tune:

"Careful. If you can't hold it down, you'll just end up throwing it back up."

Fei Yu rolled her eyes. Normally, she would have flicked Fear Bird on the forehead, but right now she was simply too stuffed. Seeing this, Fear Bird chuckled, looking even more smug.

She leaned her curvaceous body slowly toward Fei Yu.

"Here, let me rub it for you..."

The next instant, a bolt of lightning struck from above, blasting her to a crisp.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Fear Bird brushed aside her charred hair and yelled in protest at the ceiling:

"I'm a woman, can't you tell?! Damn it, how is this guy fighting someone and still keeping an eye on us... I swear..." Before she could finish, several white ribbons drifted down from above, spiraling and intertwining.

"My mistake."

Fear Bird instantly behaved, bowing her head obediently:

"I just wanted to rub the Third Mistress's stomach so she wouldn't feel bloated."

"Eaten?! Eaten?!"

Fang Xun couldn't believe his ears, repeatedly muttering the word.

His hair was disheveled, and he looked completely deranged, without a trace of his former elegant demeanor.

The numerous arms around his body flailed wildly, completely out of control.

He had waited for this day for thousands of years. He had planned for thousands of years. Every minute of those countless days and nights had been spent clinging to the promise of this exact moment—and now he was being told that his prize had been devoured.

The blow was simply too great.

"No, impossible! You're lying! You're lying to me!!!"

Finally, refusing to believe it, he roared at Yan Jing:

"Hand over the divine souls!!!"

He abandoned the still-incubating pillar of light and charged forward once more, colliding violently with Yan Jing.

"That's more like it."

Yan Jing laughed.

The two clashed again.

This time, Fang Xun's fighting style was no longer passive. He went entirely on the offensive, fighting with exceptional viciousness. Every strike was an attempt to trade injuries.

First, to vent his raging fury; second, to pit his regenerative abilities against Yan Jing's.

Backed by an external source of power like a Deity, he was confident his recovery speed would easily outstrip Yan Jing's.

Surprisingly, Yan Jing didn't back down either. Both men drew blood with every move. The blood pouring from their wounds spread across the trembling earth, and dense, fine grass unexpectedly sprouted out of thin air from the barren soil.

Touching the rising blood vapor, the clouds in the sky gradually turned crimson, and the dry air slowly grew humid.

The two fought until the sky went dark. Only when Fang Xun's anger finally began to recede did he suddenly snap awake, realizing that despite such a grueling contest, Yan Jing barely had any wounds on his body.

Let alone fatal injuries, even tiny cuts that had just been sliced open were already beginning to heal.

What kind of regenerative ability was this?!

Shocked, he slowed his assault as if he had just seen a ghost, his figure retreating slowly.

"Finished?"

Yan Jing seemed unsatisfied. As he stretched his body, his frame appeared even more well-proportioned and lean than before. From head to toe, every single muscle maintained an absolute firmness, coated in a layer of lustrous white light.

With every casual movement, he mobilized all the power within his body. Merely clenching his fist generated a swirling vortex of wind out of thin air beside his hand, sweeping up the dirt near his feet.

Fang Xun's eyelids twitched violently at the sight. According to legends from the fractured eras, a faint glow covering the entire body was a sign only seen after the physical form attempted an immortal transformation. And when that light resembled the morning dawn, with flowing streams visible in every breath—that was the sign of a physical body fully achieving the state of a Celestial Immortal.

His opponent's physical body had transformed into that of a Celestial Immortal! And from the looks of it, he was still advancing toward an even higher level.

Only then did he notice a small pouch clipped to Yan Jing's belt.

It was bulging, seemingly packed with quite a few spherical objects.

Yan Jing followed his gaze to his waist and smiled:

"Looking at this?"

He reached into the pouch and pulled out a dazzling golden pill:

"Exclusively refined. How about it, want one?"

Looking at the pill, Fang Xun instantly understood everything.

The reason his opponent could recover so quickly was because he was taking pills. To be more precise, his opponent was using Fang Xun's own attacks to help refine and absorb the medicinal efficacy. Realizing this, he was instantly filled with shock and fury—fury because his opponent hadn't taken him seriously at all.

And shock, because the scene unfolding before him meant that his opponent still hadn't shown his full strength!

Thoughts of retreat sprouted in his mind. After a brief hesitation, his eyes flickered. He suddenly threw his head back and spat a pitch-black sphere at Yan Jing, then immediately exploded backward. The sphere seemed capable of absorbing the surrounding light; the moment it appeared, visibility plummeted. It also looked extremely unstable, constantly spewing terrifying turbulent currents from its center. Wherever it passed, cracks filled the air.

One glance was enough to tell that this was absolutely nothing good.

Yan Jing frowned and tried to dodge, but he discovered that while the sphere didn't appear fast, it had locked onto him. Even though he widened the distance several times, it continued hurtling toward him, leaving a lifeless trail where not even a blade of grass could grow.

"Looks like the dregs of something."

Yan Jing could have used the Praying for Death Evolution, but he was curious about this lump of energy and wanted to figure out exactly what it was.

As for Fang Xun...

He wasn't particularly worried.

At this moment, Fang Xun's previously bulging stomach quickly deflated after he spat out the black sphere. His feet flew as he dashed toward the pillar of light. Even if nurturing the Divine Seed had failed, a damaged Divine Seed could still serve as a vessel to contain divinity. If he slowly cultivated it, reaching the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm wouldn't be a problem.

Thirty years east, thirty years west. He might have lost today, but that didn't mean he couldn't settle the score next time.

But just as he neared the pillar of light, several silhouettes flashed out from behind it.

The one in the lead wielded a massive Horse-Chopping Saber and slashed it directly across his chest.

"Squelch!"

Pitch-black blood geysered from Fang Xun's chest. Several of his arms had their flesh and skin sheared off, exposing the grim white bone underneath.

"Argh!"

Fang Xun howled in agony.

The Horse-Chopping Saber was nearly two meters long and entirely wreathed in chains. The blade alone was one or two chi wide, speckled with flashing scarlet dots. Upon touching Fang Xun's blood, the blade trembled slightly and let out a crisp hum, as if cheering in joy.

Appearing before him was a group wearing matching uniforms. There were four in total, both men and women, and every single one of them was utterly expressionless.

"We are taking this Divine Seed."

The short-haired woman in the lead held the Horse-Chopping Saber. Her face was as cold as frost. On her left cheek was a long, narrow scar running from her jaw all the way behind her ear. When she spoke, it didn't sound like she was conversing with Fang Xun, but rather issuing a notification.

"Motherfucker!"

Fang Xun clutched his wound. He had just expelled the vast majority of his Deity's power as a trump card, never expecting to be ambushed here. He mobilized the meager Deity's power remaining in his body to heal his injuries. However, the Horse-Chopping Saber also seemed to possess a special energy. The Deity's power could purge it, but only slowly.

"Attack." The woman raised the Horse-Chopping Saber and pointed it at Fang Xun.

The three people behind her instantly swarmed forward, besieging Fang Xun.

She, meanwhile, turned her head to look at Yan Jing in the distance, who was currently studying the black sphere. A trace of imperceptible wariness flashed through her calm eyes.

After entering the God Storage Land, he was the first person who had made her feel on guard.

Of course, it was only a tiny sliver of wariness.

She channeled her weird energy, and the Horse-Chopping Saber automatically slid into the scabbard on her back. Then, she slowly walked until she was a short distance from Yan Jing.

"Cease all actions."

She spoke in an icy tone.

Yan Jing pointed a finger at himself:

"Are you talking to me?"

"Cease all actions."

Cen Ji spoke again. This time, the Horse-Chopping Saber on her back had been drawn a third of the way out.

"All right."

Yan Jing shrugged, obediently lowering the hand he had been about to use to touch the black sphere. "What do you want?"

"Come with us."

Cen Ji's expression was indifferent:

"The rest is not for you to ask."

"And if I insist on asking?"

Yan Jing smiled faintly.

As soon as his voice fell, the Horse-Chopping Saber on Cen Ji's back drew another third of the way out.

"I want to give it a try."

Looking at the Horse-Chopping Saber, Yan Jing immediately sensed a distinct, extraordinary power upon it.

It was a power he was very familiar with.

Divinity.

Unlike Fang Xun's exogenous Deity's power, this power originated from everyone who reached the Summit, and it also determined how far an ascender could go. This was exactly why Yan Jing was so curious. He could sense the divinity on that Horse-Chopping Saber, and although it clearly didn't belong to the woman in front of him, it showed absolutely no rejection toward her.

"Shing!"

His response was a fiercely glinting blade. The sharp edge was stained with dark, murky blood—a silent testament to the countless people the saber had butchered.

"Fine, one punch as usual."

Yan Jing held his breath and concentrated, the light around his body shifting and morphing.

It was the exact same punch he had used against Huo Tong. But after being tempered by his fight with Fang Xun, his current aura seemed even more terrifying. Countless cyclones formed around him, and spiderweb-like cracks spread madly across the ground.

Watching the aura surrounding Yan Jing, Cen Ji's reaction was identical to Huo Tong's.

Her expression shifted drastically, and she slashed out directly.

Yan Jing's strike hadn't yet charged to its peak, so he was forced to release it early.

The punch collided directly with the edge of the blade.

"Buzzz—" Three consecutive hums echoed from the blade. This time, the saber was no longer cheering joyously; instead, it let out a sorrowful wail. Cen Ji felt a monumental force travel down the hilt into her hands—like a massive mountain pressing against her wrists. The impact turned her entire body numb. A metallic sweetness welled up from her throat, and she spat out a large mouthful of blood.

Had the crimson spots of light on the blade not flared at the very last second, she likely would have been heavily wounded by the single blow.

She stared in shock at Yan Jing, completely unaware that he was looking back at her with equal surprise.

"That's a pretty good saber."

Yan Jing felt the faint bloody gash on the back of his hand.

Even though he hadn't gathered enough power to reach his peak state for the punch, he had never expected it to merely make his opponent spit blood.

Clearly, the anomaly lay in her saber.

More accurately, it lay in the crimson dots of light on the saber's blade.

Cen Ji stared at Yan Jing, unsure if he was playing dumb or genuinely had no idea.

Logically speaking, with strength like his, he shouldn't hail from some backwater town. He ought to know exactly what her saber was.

"Are you a candidate?"

When she spoke, Yan Jing was left a little bewildered.

"What candidate?"

Cen Ji scrutinized him carefully but still couldn't tell if he was faking it.

She took a deep breath:

"Have you not walked your own path?"

"What do you mean, my own path?"

Yan Jing was still confused.

He remembered the system's earlier prompt about needing to find one's own path for his other identities, so he simply asked outright:

"Do you know what it means to find one's own path?"

Cen Ji lost her patience. Perhaps she was just overthinking it.

The man in front of her truly did look like someone from a backward place, completely ignorant of candidates and one's own path.

"Forget it. I'll know once I take you back."

She gripped the saber with both hands. Weird energy surged around her body, and her brown pupils instantly turned a crimson hue.

On the blade before her, countless specks of light flickered. She said coldly:

"Sever."

There was no motion of swinging the saber; even the tip of the blade remained perfectly still.

Yet Yan Jing seemed to sense something. He tilted his head slightly. Several strands of his hair drifted into the air, sliced off cleanly by something invisible. Was this her path?

Feeling as though he had gained a sliver of understanding, Yan Jing spoke up:

"To tell you the truth, I don't really know much about divinity, the God Storage Land, divine souls, candidates, one's own path, or even the Summit. Why don't you tell me about them?"

But the woman had clearly made up her mind.

"Sever."

She spoke softly once more.

Yan Jing raised an eyebrow. A sensation several times more dangerous than before surfaced in his heart.

This was completely different from any ability he had encountered before.

If he had to describe it, what the woman was displaying right now felt more like a rule.

She didn't need to swing her saber—she had already struck.

And what he had to anticipate were blades that didn't exist.

This was very difficult.

Even for him, it was incredibly hard.

In just a fraction of a second, he evaded thirty-four slashes but was struck by five: one across his abdomen, two on his arms, and two on his chest.

From the ghastly wounds, threads immediately shot out, attempting to mend the gashes. The faint light surrounding his body also enveloped the cuts, slowly spurring his flesh to regenerate.

But compared to his fight with Fang Xun earlier, this speed was much slower.

"Are you absolutely sure you don't want to talk this over?"

Yan Jing looked at Cen Ji once again.

But watching Cen Ji raise her saber yet again, he sighed.

"You're right. Taking you down should get me the answers I need."

So, he stretched out his hand as well.

"Steal."