Inside the Underground Palace, the atmosphere had become unbearably oppressive.
When the Mountain God staggered violently, the hearts of the cultivators, who were already on the verge of collapse, sank even further.
They didn’t know what was happening outside. They could only feel that their supposedly indestructible shelter was spiraling out of control.
"Can’t it hold on any longer...?"
"My Spiritual Power is almost depleted. In the end, this is just a dead end."
Many faces were ashen. Some had even despaired, letting their hands fall from the Array Patterns and slumping to the ground to await their final judgment.
However, the few people at the very core of the altar had no choice but to rally every last bit of their focus.
This was especially true for Xia Xing. Positioned just half a step behind Chu Bai, his hands were pressed firmly against the Array Core. He was the crucial node connecting Chu Bai to the torrent of Spiritual Power from the thousands of cultivators behind them.
Even if everyone else gave up, he could not withdraw. If he did, the torrent of Spiritual Power would instantly backlash and blast Chu Bai to smithereens.
"Daoist Chu! Hold steady! If even you lose your composure, we’re really all sunk!"
Xia Xing roared through gritted teeth, trying to rouse Chu Bai from the bizarre state he seemed to have fallen into.
At that moment, Chu Bai’s eyes were shut tight. His skin had a strange, flushed red hue, and scalding white steam billowed from his Skull Cap, enveloping him in a hazy mist.
He seemed completely deaf to the outside world, merely breathing in and out mechanically—one might even say greedily.
INHALE—EXHALE—
Each breath was accompanied by a low, thunderous rumble.
At first, Xia Xing thought Chu Bai was overdrawing his own life force to keep the Divine Body running, and his heart filled with a sense of tragic heroism and pity.
But gradually, he realized something was wrong.
Very wrong.
"What... what is this?"
Xia Xing’s bloodshot eyes flew wide, his pupils reflecting a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.
He saw that Chu Bai’s aura, far from weakening with the massive consumption of Spiritual Power, was instead like an active volcano building up magma, climbing higher and higher at a terrifying rate!
The aura, initially just the weighty presence of the Ninth-Layer Perfection of Qi Cultivation, shattered some invisible barrier in an instant. It became profound and vast, even carrying a hint of pressure that made Xia Xing’s very soul tremble.
The air in the Underground Palace suddenly grew thick.
The Five Element Spiritual Energy, gathered from over two thousand cultivators and originally a chaotic mess, now seemed to have answered the call of some supreme authority. It no longer poured crudely into the Array but instead began to whirl frantically around Chu Bai.
A vortex of Spiritual Qi, visible to the naked eye and shimmering with five brilliant colors, erupted into existence in the center of the Underground Palace with Chu Bai at its eye!
’Is... is the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism flowing backward?’
Xia Xing was so shocked he could barely speak.
He watched, transfixed, as Chu Bai operated some unknown Micro-level Technique. The vast Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism, filtering in from the outside world through the Divine Body, was being forcibly compressed and purified.
Under such terrifying pressure, the once-formless Spiritual Qi materialized into tens of millions of crystalline Spirit Silks.
These Spirit Silks were surreal and dreamlike, each one exquisitely translucent. They wove and coiled through the air like a school of countless fish returning to the sea, all vying to be the first to burrow into the acupoints on Chu Bai’s body.
What made Xia Xing’s scalp tingle even more was that an impossibly profound rhythm began to faintly emerge from the flow of the Spirit Silks.
It was an ancient, desolate rhythm, like the breathing of the earth or the pulse of the mountains and rivers.
’Dao... Dao Charm?!’
Xia Xing knew what he was looking at; he had read about it in his family’s ancient texts. Only during Foundation Establishment, when a cultivator glimpsed the gateway between heaven and earth, could they draw a trace of Dao Charm to temper their mortal coil.
’He’s... he’s breaking through?!’
The moment that thought surfaced, it was as if a bomb went off in Xia Xing’s mind. He was completely dumbfounded.
’On a battlefield of life and death?’
’While being hunted down by three Foundation Establishment Divine Spirits?’
’While piloting a hundred-zhang-tall Divine Body that could collapse at any moment?’
’This Daoist Chu was actually using the Divine Body’s ability to devour the heavens and earth to force a breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment stage—a realm that countless Qi Cultivation Cultivators dreamed of but regarded as an insurmountable chasm?!’
’How can he break through to Foundation Establishment without a Cyan Talisman? Isn’t that a violation of the Great Zhou Laws...?’
’He’s insane... completely insane...’
Xia Xing stared at Chu Bai, who was enveloped in countless Spirit Silks like a God descending to the mortal realm. He was utterly horrified and at a complete loss.
He didn’t know what to do.
’If I interrupt him, Chu Bai will suffer a backlash, and we’ll all die together.’
’If I don’t, he’s attempting a breakthrough on a chaotic battlefield. The slightest mistake will lead to Qi deviation, and we’ll still all die together.’
But this rising momentum was already unstoppable.
As the myriad Spirit Silks integrated with him, the mundane aura of the Qi Cultivation Stage around Chu Bai began to rapidly transform. A higher-level pressure, one closer to the "Dao," was gestating within the Five-Colored Light Cocoon.
RUMBLE—
The towering body of the Lingma Mountain God thundered across the barren plains. Each footstep carved deep cracks into the crumbling earth.
At this moment, however, the massive shell was no longer as unshakable as a mountain.
Its right arm had been completely shattered, leaving only a jagged stump of rock. The Five Elements Body-Protecting Divine Light on its back had grown dim, flickering like a candle in the wind, on the verge of collapse under the relentless bombardment of the three Deities.
"ROAR—!!!"
High in the sky, the Prison-Suppressing Evil Flood Dragon circled in pursuit. Its deep blue draconic eyes now held not only rage, but also a profound sense of alarm and killing intent.

Comments

Loading...