Haswula was not in a daze when trapped within the Qiankun Sleeve, fully aware of his situation. He understood he had encountered a grand arcane skill related to Emptiness. As for the upcoming changes, he could guess them partially. Since Kuang Dao, Su Meng, dared to come here, he must have a method to seize the fleeting opportunity to escape. The Grasslands and the Lefteous Alliance would experience brief chaos due to his capture, giving Zangjian Lou a chance to recover.
Thinking about these matters caused blood to rush to his face, making him feel deeply humiliated and filled with self-reproach. If not for his pride, believing he could easily block that single slash and intercept Kuang Dao instead of choosing to evade, the outcome would have been completely different. At the very least, things wouldn’t have turned chaotic, even if he might not necessarily have captured Su Meng.
Damn that brat! He’s nothing but a novice who has just reached the Grandmaster level, relying solely on his extraordinary encounters to act so recklessly. Once I break free, I will make sure you pay! Haswula made a silent vow while striving to break through the barrier. Therefore, the moment he was freed, he had already made a decision. As soon as he was thrown out, he slashed immediately, like lightning flashing in the night.
Clang! Meng Qi’s returning slash was deflected by him.
With a fierce expression, Haswula seemed to merge with his blade, transforming into a streak of light, slicing toward Meng Qi at a speed countless times faster than sound, so fast that perception and mind could barely catch up.
His martial cultivation belief and sword techniques focused on speed; his Grandmaster Domain was also based on speed. When combined, the speed surpassed imagination, sufficient to free a normal person from Earth’s constraints and propel him into the vast starry sky. Thus, he was fully confident that when Meng Qi slashed, he could escape the Qiankun Sleeve’s influence range.
There is no invincible martial skill in the world other than speed!
And speed does not mean weakness; fast-moving objects often create greater damage and cause more powerful explosions.
After converting his anger and humiliation into power, Haswula unleashed his sword to the limit. As an Outer Scenery Peak expert, he lacked nothing—his cultivation realm, strength, Dharmakaya techniques, or martial cultivation insights!
Meng Qi barely saw a flash of light, hadn’t even blinked, and the sword light was already upon him. He barely managed to tilt his head slightly, avoiding the fatal point between his eyebrows.
Boom! The sword light struck Meng Qi’s towering Dharma Heaven Manifestation body, over ten zhang in height, landing a blow from his neck down to his left shoulder. The clash between the sword light and the pale golden radiance unleashed terrifying shockwaves, generating a violent gale that tore through the pale gold, sending the colossal figure reeling backward. The attack clung relentlessly, impossible to shake off—it sliced through the clearly defined skin, cleaved into the dense pale golden flesh, and finally struck the glazed collarbone beneath.
At this point, the sword’s momentum had been exhausted and could no longer advance. As it attempted to withdraw for another strike to tear through the inner world, it was gripped tightly by the collarbone and the writhing flesh, slowing its retreat, and its speed advantage vanished instantly.
Feeling his saber embedded in flesh, Haswula’s heart clenched. Before he could react, another slash descended with terrifying force—poised and deliberate, shifting from stillness to motion like an unstoppable cleaving strike.
In a flash, he exerted all his strength and finally pulled his precious saber back, using the momentum to shift slightly to the right, without time to activate the Golden Tent Warrior Robe.
Crack! Amidst the crisp sound, Haswula saw a tear open on the shoulder of his Golden Tent Warrior Robe. A chill ran through his body, and his left arm was severed at the shoulder, the cut smooth and flat, exuding an almost supernatural craftsmanship.
Boom! The sound of him piercing through layers of air currents finally echoed, followed by a gush of blood.
As the sword light flashed again, Haswula retreated into the high sky, only to see Meng Qi holding the Jade-Cutting Blade in his right hand, his expression calm, showing no sign of pain. His Yuan Shen vibrated through the void, coldly declaring, “One slash for one slash. Come again!”
Are you kidding? Haswula naturally wouldn’t be foolish enough to exchange slashes with someone whose physical prowess had reached the Grandmaster level—that would be tempting death. He let his muscles twitch, stopping the bleeding from his severed arm, and merged once more with his blade, transforming into a streak of light to slash at Meng Qi again.
This time, he learned from his previous mistake: excess leads to overflow, and rigidity leads to breakage. He held back, delivering slashes only strong enough to leave white marks on the pale golden glow. After landing a hit, he immediately evaded.
His plan was to accumulate small gains into a larger advantage, gradually wearing Meng Qi down with speed, creating more wounds he couldn’t defend against. Finally, by repeatedly striking the same spot, he would deepen and widen certain injuries until the blade could penetrate Meng Qi’s internal organs and head, damaging the inner world and Yuan Shen.
This was one of the primary methods for fighting against someone with powerful physical defenses, often paired with targeting weak points.
Meng Qi’s left shoulder had sustained a serious injury, the flesh unable to regenerate temporarily. He simply grew two more arms, wielding Tianzhi Shang and Xuanguai Jian. Unable to match Haswula’s speed or lock onto him, he first used the sword and blade to manifest the “Immovable Golden Lotus,” creating blooming light lotuses. His essence, energy, spirit, and intent flowed through the acupoints in his feet, connecting with the earth dozens of zhang below, defending so thoroughly it was nearly impervious.
After stabilizing the initial wave, Meng Qi relied on his physical toughness to attempt the “Glorious Funeral of the Star River,” aiming to wound Haswula with a wide-area attack. Unfortunately, Haswula’s speed was otherworldly. After landing a slash, he could still retreat over ten miles before Meng Qi could launch his attack, avoiding the core of the area attack with minimal impact. If Meng Qi had used the “Yang Lei Purifying Evil” technique, which had consistent power across its range, he could currently maintain a radius of about ten miles.
The Dharma Heaven Manifestation couldn’t last much longer. Meng Qi shifted his thoughts, no longer holding back, revealing his Dharmakaya and expanding his Grandmaster Domain.
Haswula immediately sensed the sky change—half daylight, half darkness. In the daylight, he could see the sun and the golden crow dancing together; in the darkness, the night was infinitely deep, filled with countless stars and cold moons, hiding the Primordial Void within.
Beneath him, the ground seemed like a round ball carried by a turtle, surrounded by mountains and rivers, flames and waves, the polar magnetic forces, as if all things in the world were contained within, manifesting layer upon layer of unique worlds, depicting vast and distant universes. Around Su Meng was a series of hazy, transcendent realms, and beyond them was Haswula’s own world.
Before Haswula could even form a thought, the multiple universes, different worlds, his own world, and the transcendent fairyland rapidly collapsed toward Su Meng’s back. Matter, energy, time, and space all collapsed inward.
Suddenly, the surroundings became chaotic, countless “energies” collapsing into an extremely small area, thick and heavy, causing Haswula’s speed to plummet. Combined with the chaos of space and time, he felt as if bound within the chaos, barely able to slash toward Su Meng at a decent speed.
Since stabilizing his Grandmaster realm, this was the first time Meng Qi fully displayed his Grandmaster Domain. During his battle with the Evil Heaven Demon King, he had only utilized the crude ability of the current “Yuanshi” chaotic state to disorder up, down, front, and back. Now, he felt as if the boundless sea of Yuan Qi around him was collapsing into his Immortal Yuanshi Dharmakaya, the surrounding energy condensing to the point of binding him, as if he were about to be crushed, followed by the collapse.
Behind Meng Qi, the Daoist Dharmakaya sat calmly, as if merely a point, while the surrounding sea of Yuan Qi collapsed toward it, approaching his limit. Going further would result in his physical body and Yuan Shen being compressed into a small ball and exploding, reverting to the original state.
At this moment, Yuanshi opened his eyes, initiating “Creation of Heaven and Earth,” incorporating the latter half of the transformation—”Heaven and Earth Do Not Exist, My Body Alone Exists”—including the differentiation of Yin and Yang and the spontaneous generation of a self-contained world.
As Meng Qi prepared to slash, a sudden thought struck him:
In the end, it’s the “Singularity” of the Multiverse?
Yes! According to the structure of his Inner Scenery, each acupoint was equivalent to a Multiverse, with his personal world and all heavens above, all born from “Yuanshi.”
In that case, isn’t “Yuanshi” like the “Singularity”?
If it’s a “Singularity,” then after “Creation of Heaven and Earth,” it shouldn’t be followed by the differentiation of Yin and Yang, the birth of Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water, and other transformations. These changes should naturally arise with the sword momentum, and the sword momentum should naturally erupt after “Creation of Heaven and Earth”!
In a flash, Meng Qi suddenly had an inspiration and wanted to try a new idea.
This was the kind of insight gained only through the tempering of battle against a powerful enemy.
Feeling the surrounding energy and matter condense and bind him, Meng Qi had already formed an idea. Suddenly, his eyes opened, his Dharmakaya still present, and he fiercely slashed with his long blade.
This was a desperate, all-or-nothing slash, leaving no retreat, unstoppable.
Haswula’s sword light was still slicing forward at a decent speed toward Su Meng and the Daoist Dharmakaya behind him when suddenly he saw a flash of blade light cut through the chaos, heading straight for him.
As he was about to raise his blade to defend, he suddenly noticed the condensed, collapsing energy being severed by this slash, violently expanding and unleashing an unimaginable explosion.
After the “Creation of Heaven and Earth” comes the Big Bang of the universe!
In the Big Bang, Yin and Yang differentiated, Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water emerged, and matter was born naturally!
Influenced by the insights gained from the Six Slashes of the Overlord, Meng Qi had nearly gone down the wrong path, diverging from his own Inner Scenery. Fortunately, he realized his mistake today.
One can only refer to others’ paths, never fully believe them!
The two slashes collided. Haswula’s sword light scattered, and then an explosion, countless times more violent than a storm, instantly engulfed him!
Boom!
After an unknown duration following the blinding light, the surrounding wilderness had been flattened, as if directly erased from existence. Within a radius of a hundred li, only a deep crater remained, the high-altitude clouds scattered, directly facing the sun.
At the bottom of the crater, a figure staggered to his feet—Haswula. His hair was mostly gone, his body bare, his bones sunken, with countless wounds exposing his flesh and charred areas. His right hand gripped a top-grade treasure saber covered in dust, the blade bearing a rice-grain-sized notch and several mottled scars.
At the last moment, he had used every trick in his arsenal, sparing no bottom-line techniques, treasures, or self-harming methods, finally dodging the direct impact and withstanding the explosion, surviving. But currently, his injuries were extremely severe, teetering on the brink of death, making movement difficult.
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed as he saw someone descending from the sky—none other than Kuang Dao, Su Meng. Although he had returned to a normal body from his towering, four-armed form, his aura remained terrifying, his gaze sharp, ready to swing his blade at Haswula.
Again! Haswula’s heart sank, mustering his remaining strength, merging with his blade light, fleeing desperately at a speed 90% slower than his peak, instantly vanishing over a mile away, soon disappearing from sight.
Only after confirming his escape did Meng Qi plummet straight down, lying in the crater, not wanting to move at all.
Never again will I test newly created techniques in battle!
That upgraded “Creation of Heaven and Earth” had drained all his strength in one strike. The Big Bang didn’t distinguish between friend and foe. Fortunately, he was at the core, spreading the impact outward in all directions, avoiding direct shock. Even so, he had to squeeze out the last bit of strength to activate the Kunlun Daoist Robe, fully utilizing the Eight-Nine Mystical Art to maintain his appearance, faking his aura slightly to trigger Haswula’s fear, scaring him off.
If he had stayed, Meng Qi might not have had the strength to use the “Tianxin Woyi Jue,” and would have had to rely on his barely intact, hard body to kill him, with roughly a 30-70 chance of survival—not worth the risk. Who knows what other unpredictable techniques that guy might have?
However, this slash managed to reduce an Outer Scenery Peak expert, who was only lightly injured and had barely expended any energy, to this pitiful state. That was indeed something to be proud of. But it was a double-edged sword, injuring the enemy while also harming oneself. He should avoid using it casually.
Meng Qi spat out a mouthful of blood, suffering from a serious internal injury, frantically absorbing heavenly and earthly Yuan Qi to recover his strength.
…
Across the sky for a thousand li, axe light slashed back and forth, sometimes manifesting the Primordial Void, sometimes appearing to strip opponents of their cultivation realm, forcing Master Lu into a defensive position. However, his sword techniques were exquisite, his sword light capable of stirring the tiniest structures, always drawing upon the Yuan Qi sea and the Five Elements, as well as the power of the void, to block Gourdo’s Heavenly Execution Axe.
Since Gourdo activated the Immortal Force, the two had not clashed blade-to-blade even once. However, Daoist Chonghe had found an opportunity, drawing both into the Sword Array of Slaying Immortals. The four sword lights of red, cyan, black, and white continuously rained down, striking Gourdo, collapsing Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water, twisting the void, disrupting time, transforming matter entirely into energy, and destroying the axe light.
Yet, whenever the Heavenly Execution Axe turned and the Immortal Force emerged, the four sword lights of red, cyan, black, and white were struck down in cultivation realm, dissipating into nothingness.
Even with Daoist Chonghe and Master Lu working together, they were still slightly outmatched, barely holding on, waiting for the moment when Gourdo’s use of the divine weapon beyond his level would reach its limit.
As his right hand trembled, the red sword light fell, and Chonghe saw a purple meteor streak across the sky, and the north darkened, realizing that Cui Qinghe and Da Man had both perished, two omens appearing simultaneously.
Not every Dharma Body’s death has omens, and not every method of death has omens, but when an omen of death appears, it definitely means that the Dharma Body has perished!
His gaze turned profound, and suddenly, a lingering voice in his mind resurfaced:
“The sixth death mission: in this great battle, kill Master Lu Zhiping. Success grants a fragment of the Hao Tian Mirror; failure means annihilation.”
…
When Cui Qinghe was impaled by Tai Li’s spear, Kong Wen was already holding the relic of Master Yuan Kong, the sixth-generation patriarch of Shaolin. Beams of glazed light emanated from it, enveloping the void. The Arhat Golden Body expanded accordingly, as if transforming into a colossal golden Buddha that filled the heavens and earth, while ethereal Buddhist chants resonated, striking directly at the heart.
“All sentient beings are inherently pure; from the beginning, there is no birth, no death. This body and mind are but illusions; within the illusions, there is no sin or fortune.”
The White Tiger Demon King’s heart trembled, his thoughts racing, nearly blurting out: “Sacrifice the body! Does the bald monk Kong Wen no longer wish to live?”
The “Golden Colossal Buddha” displayed neither sorrow nor joy upon its countenance, as if pitying all living beings, or as if awakening to the Zen mind. With its right hand raised, the thumb and middle finger gently pressed together, forming a flower-plucking gesture. A phantom golden Udumbara flower drifted down from the sky, landing precisely between its fingers.
This scene brimmed with Chan (Zen) implications, as if expounding profound and mysterious principles, yet none could be articulated or described.
The Baihu (White Tiger) Demon King and Kuiniu (Kui Ox) Demon King were simultaneously stunned, countless thoughts surging and fading in their minds, as if realizing the meaning of Emptiness, the concept of the Four Elements’ Illusory Union, and the wisdom of the Twelve Observational Insights. They felt a sense of spiritual clarity and physical ease, as though they were on the verge of ultimate purity, supreme joy, profound stillness, and boundless freedom.
Compared to the previous “Flower-Gazing Smile,” this moment was even closer to the essence of Chan Buddhism.
Kongwen (Empty Hearing) extended his right hand, which had been holding a Bodhi flower, transformed the fingers into a palm, and struck toward the Baihu Demon King’s head, as though delivering a thunderous awakening.
The Chan resonance changed abruptly, becoming even more ethereal:
“When the mind arises, all dharmas arise; when the mind ceases, all dharmas cease!”
Within this Chan resonance, the purple lightning and azure thunder in the void, the golden winds and sharp implements—all vanished at will, leaving everything utterly empty!
Bang! The Baihu Demon King, already gravely wounded, only regained awareness when the palm struck its head, realizing it had not truly attained enlightenment.
“Roar—!” A sorrowful tiger’s cry pierced the heavens. Though the White Tiger Demon King’s skull remained intact, it was completely crushed inward. Its primordial spirit teetered on the brink, its consciousness plunged into stillness, its vision nearly pitch-black—its heart had perished, and so had its soul!
It flew backward, relying solely on its formidable physical form to remain alive, though barely, now on the brink of death and stripped of its combat ability.
Kongwen did not pursue the Baihu to finish it off. Instead, he took a step forward, his left hand flicking out fingers in rapid succession. The “No-Form Robbery Finger” emerged from the void, targeting Taili (Taoli), the Peacock Demon King. For at this moment, the colorless flame had completely incinerated Cui Qinghe’s Dharmakaya (truth body), and the heavens and earth responded with the omen of purple meteors streaking across the sky. Taili raised his long spear and thrust upward, instantly reducing the “Myriad Phenomena Formation” to boundless flames. Thunder and lightning became fuel for the fire, stars became fuel, and even the azure wood and golden winds followed suit. The formation quickly crumbled.
It was imperative to severely wound Taili, the Peacock Demon King, while the “Sacrificial Body” effect still persisted!
The Baihu Demon King’s vision darkened. With great effort, it maintained a sliver of consciousness, seeing Kuiniu abandoning the assault on Yunhe Zhenren (Cloud Crane True Man) to come to its aid. Its heart relaxed slightly—indeed, after forming the demon pact, internal strife had diminished.
At that moment, a pale, nearly translucent finger extended from the void, pointing directly at its body.
A clear voice rang out: “Wusheng Laomu, the homeland of absolute emptiness.”
A series of crimson lights rushed swiftly from the Baihu Demon King’s body into that finger. Its demonic form withered rapidly. It turned its head in shock, meeting a pair of merciless eyes.
Dushi Dharma King’s gaze carried a trace of mockery. “Though the ‘Wusheng Finger’ cannot absorb the Dharmakaya of those bound by pacts, it works perfectly on you sneaky demon kings of the orthodox path!”
In the current situation, the most important thing was self-enhancement!
The Baihu King was both startled and furious, but in an instant, it plunged into eternal darkness.
Kuiniu swung his thunderous warhammer, but the Baihu had already been completely drained—its physical form and Yuan Shen alike absorbed into Dushi Dharma King’s Vacuum Dharmakaya, boosting his power to new heights.
Dushi vanished into the void, reappearing behind Kuiniu. Two translucent short blades pierced out. A fierce battle erupted between the human and the demon.
Meanwhile, Yunhe Zhenren, relying on the “Primordial Unity Supreme Divine Talisman,” once again set up layers of formations, holding his own against the Blood Sea Rakshasi in a balanced confrontation.
Taili, the Peacock Demon King, seeing the “Golden Giant Buddha” rushing toward him, flicked out the No-Form Robbery Finger several times with a cold laugh. Behind him, five radiant beams of crimson, azure, yellow, white, and black swept downward simultaneously.
Although my “Five-Color Divine Light” is not yet fully perfected, you are no Buddha either.
With a single sweep of the five-colored radiance, the golden giant Buddha was instantly drawn inside.
Taili was currently in his demonic true form, wielding the Demon Saint Spear in both claws. Just as he was about to replicate the previous battle with Cui Qinghe, the five-colored divine light behind him suddenly trembled violently, splitting apart to reveal a colossal golden Vajra (diamond body) resembling a Buddha.
The golden Vajra extended both hands, seizing Taili’s wings, then smashed its head downward.
This was Shaolin’s most basic supreme skill—the Iron Head Technique. Yet Kongwen’s application of it at this moment was perfectly timed.
Crash! Taili was struck so hard his back arched, spitting out a mouthful of blood. In desperation, he thrust the Demon Saint Spear upward, evading the “Golden Giant Buddha.”
Despite sacrificing his form, he had nearly reached the level of a Bodhisattva!
…
Outside the Sword Pavilion, after brief consultation, the grassland forces and the Left Path Alliance decided to send five Grandmasters to rescue Hasuwula. Among them were three Golden Tent Warriors and two Shamans, while the rest continued besieging the Sword Pavilion, striving to breach it as soon as possible.
“I am Gao Lan, Sovereign of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Wherever there are people of my Great Zhou, there am I!”
The majestic voice reverberated in the ears of the Cao family head, who was manipulating the remains of a deceased Earth Immortal. Fearing an attack on his ancestral home in the capital, he had entrusted the Purple Lightning Jade Ruler to other Grandmasters for its defense.
At this moment, upon hearing the familiar voice, two streams of turbid tears flowed from the Cao family head’s eyes, mingling with a trace of liberation and cruel amusement, before he directly activated the Earth Immortal remains, triggering their self-destruction!
According to the pact, those who attacked each other would die—but if I fear death no longer, what need do I have to fear the pact?
The Earth Immortal remains expanded rapidly. Joyful Bodhisattva, the present Joyful Buddha, and others reacted in alarm, some attempting to flee, others trying to halt the catastrophe.
Boom! Rolling flames and radiant light engulfed an area spanning thousands of miles in all directions and thousands of feet above and below. The silhouette of Lankesi Temple flickered in and out of view once more.
The Cao family head, writhing in pain, saw brightness flash before his eyes, then darkness. His Yuan Shen scattered, only fragments of consciousness lingering:
The balance of mid-level forces between Northern Zhou and the steppe has shifted today!
Xianzhi, your death was not in vain!
The “Human Emperor” will protect the Cao family, bestowing supreme cultivation techniques!
In the current situation, stagnation means regression—only advancement ensures survival!
…
Master Lu was doing his utmost to contend with Gourduo, relying on his mighty divine weapon. Yet even the strongest eventually tire, while his own energy consumption was minimal. As long as he maintained his stance and advanced steadily, he could eventually repel or even severely wound Gourduo.
At that moment, he sensed a shift in space-time—an arrival from the familiar Chonghe Daoist.
“Huh?” After shielding himself with sword light, Master Lu did not resist, realizing Chonghe’s intent. He found himself instantly removed from the “Sword Array of Slaying Immortals.”
Then he saw Chonghe Daoist push off his Daoist cap, ignite his Yuan Shen, and the four-colored sword lights of the Sword Array—crimson, azure, white, and black—surged forth, rapidly contracting around Gourduo.
Gourduo suddenly felt the sword qi of the Sword Array no longer merely destructive but evolving into countless transformations, each consuming energy and his axe-light to spawn even more changes. Once this trend began, it became irreversible and unstoppable. Chaos increased, while wandering energies diminished. Everything was heading toward ultimate stillness. In the end, even his Dharmakaya might be drawn into it!
He activated the Tianzhu Axe, unleashing waves of Immortal-Sundering Power, but could only delay the inevitable, soon becoming part of the chaos.
“What is Chonghe doing?” He looked up, unable to see Chonghe’s figure, yet sensing a pair of serene and gentle eyes watching.
Chonghe’s consciousness merged into the Sword Array, his Dharmakaya fueling its intensification. His mind remained calm, yet a memory surfaced.
When first entering the cycle, he had been merely an ordinary disciple of the Pure Yang Sect, surviving only through the care of Brother Zi Yun.
Back then, they had been delighted by the wonders of reincarnation and the richness of its rewards, feeling it surpassed any other adventure. They had no confusion, while Brother Zi Yun was the first to grow troubled, posing a question: If the tasks assigned by the Lord of the Six Realms of Reincarnation contradicted one’s true nature—such as killing one’s parents or betraying one’s sect—what should one do?
At the time, he had been naive, failing to grasp the gravity of the question, offering no reply. Before Zi Yun could face such a trial, he perished within the cycle.
Now, after enduring countless trials, he had finally attained clarity, able to give Zi Yun an answer.
The Sword Array surged in might. Chonghe’s Dharmakaya fused with the array, his consciousness drifting outward, answering the question of the past:
“The only truly difficult thing throughout history is to die!”
Chonghe—serene and moderate, humble and upholding righteousness.
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