263: Chapter 36: Ancient Battlefield 263: Chapter 36: Ancient Battlefield Phoenix Fire struck directly at his soul.
In the midst of excruciating pain,
Qing Sun’s blank Heart Lake reflected one fragmented memory after another…
So scorching hot, so searingly painful, it all felt so familiar.
Even though the memories in his mind had been erased,
this agony… was firmly remembered by his body.
“Is this, Phoenix Fire?”
Qing Sun stared intently at the youth before him.
He recalled a scene from the small courtyard on Lotus Peak, where it seemed he’d been attacked by Phoenix Fire.
But why?
How could Xie Zhen wield Phoenix Fire?
“…”
Of course, Xie Xuanyi wouldn’t answer any of Qing Sun’s questions.
This greatsword stabbed in from above Qing Sun’s head, scattering countless sparks.
Phoenix Fire invaded his entrails!
Xie Xuanyi knew how difficult it was to kill a Yin God with Cave Heaven Realm power.
However…
Qing Sun was an exception because of his “Fire Devouring” condition; he was already hanging by a thread.
After the Phoenix Fire entered his body,
the “Fire Devouring” condition of this Innate Separation Fire Saint Body reached its peak—
The sword, carrying an immense force, made Qing Sun kneel down forcibly, his hands pressed onto the ground as he let out pained howls.
“Ah…”
Xie Xuanyi’s expression was grave as he brought his palms together again.
The flames roared!
The Little Phoenix Fire Array unleashed its killing power at this moment!
Thousands of strands of Sword Qi injected into the armor!
The entire Snow Mountain shattered under the greatsword’s blow, slowly collapsing, with endless torrents of snow flooding in all directions.
Around the two of them, layers of crimson light rippled out, forming a sphere with a hundred zhang radius.
The great snow torrents caused by the Snow Mountain collapse, upon entering the sphere of crimson light, were ignited in an instant, turning into scalding steam that resembled divine radiance.
“Boom!”
Qing Sun, with a fierce look, kneeled on the ground, enduring the pain of the greatsword piercing his Divine Sea.
The fireflow outlined tortuous cracks on his armor as if it was a fragile piece of porcelain.
It also resembled a volcano that could erupt at any moment.
The Fire Qilin Armor could have suppressed the “Fire Devouring” of the Fire Saint Body, but the foreign Phoenix Fire disrupted this balance… At this moment, he no longer had the strength to ponder; exerting all his energy, he could only lift his head, his crimson eyes fixed on the black-robed youth in front of him.
In Qing Sun’s world, there was only this one figure.
Xie Xuanyi and Qing Sun locked eyes.
He was calm, continuously releasing Sword Intent.
This battle.
It seemed like an “overpowering” one.
But in fact… it wasn’t like that at all.
What’s the biggest difference between Cave Heaven Realm and Yin God?
Dao!
To ascend to Yin God, one needs Perfect Cave Heaven, and then to condense Tao Rules…
But the condensation of Tao Rules is actually a “slow” process.
Some cultivators, although having Perfect Cave Heaven, are extremely slow in “comprehending the Dao”; after years or even half a year, they only comprehend a small fragment of Tao Rules, unable to form a complete Dao… Thus, they are considered a “Half-step Yin God,” one foot stepping into the threshold of Yin God Realm, while the other has already transcended beyond Cave Heaven!
Do not underestimate this strand of Tao Rules.
Even an incomplete Dao possesses an extremely formidable power.
Xie Xuanyi had comprehended a Dao that could be summed up in a single word back then.
Annihilation.
The Path of Annihilation.
He had already walked this path once, and theoretically, comprehending and condensing the Tao Rules should have taken only a very short time…
But he had not chosen to do so because in this life, he wanted to cultivate two Sword Daos simultaneously.
The Primordial Master had reminded him before in the Xuanshui Cave Heaven.
In this world, there is Yin and Yang, only when they coexist can they be complete.
Similarly,
there is Annihilation, there must also be Creation.
If possible…
Xie Xuanyi wished to comprehend the “Path of Creation.”
To cultivate both Creation and Annihilation would make one an extremely formidable Yin God!
The “Path of Annihilation” he had comprehended back then had now become Xie Xuanyi’s trump card in suppressing Qing Sun—the fiery brilliance was already gushing beneath the Fire Qilin Armor, ready to burst out at any moment, but Xie Xuanyi had infused the incomplete “Rule of Annihilation” into the Sword Intent he had unleashed.
After advancing to the Cave Heaven Realm,
he had been constantly exploring how to condense the “Rule of Annihilation,” to refine the “Path of Annihilation” as much as possible, without necessarily ascending to the Yin God Realm.
Fragments of Tao Rules.
They could only be condensed to ninety percent at most.
Any more, and this path would be considered to have reached perfection.
What Xie Xuanyi was now employing was the condensation of the “Rule of Annihilation” at ninety percent, which placed an enormous strain on his current body when utilized, and required control over the force exerted.
It was precisely because of these nearly perfect, yet slightly incomplete Tao Rules that Xie Xuanyi was able to completely suppress Qing Sun—
This was, in fact, a battle of “subjugation.” Any problem with the trap he had set could cause Qing Sun to “go berserk.”
And furthermore,
subduing Qing Sun was easy, killing Qing Sun was hard.
Xie Xuanyi was well aware that, even with Tao Rules suppression, the wounds Qing Sun had sustained to date were serious but not necessarily “fatal.”
The two plunged from the top of the Snow Mountain to the ground.
Because the Sword Intent of the Phoenix Fire Array was too sharp, after the Long Sword penetrated Qing Sun, the Rule of Annihilation split the entire ground open, tearing a narrow crack.
After the ground cracked, an abyss-like fissure burst forth.
Xie Xuanyi squinted his eyes, and a bad premonition surged within his Heart Lake…
However, this ominous feeling did not stem from Qing Sun.
It is said that Resentful Ghost Ridge was once a mass grave for tens of thousands.
Beneath the heavy snow lie endless resentful spirits.
After the snow mountain shattered, a dense evil aura surged out, turning into swathes of black smoke visible to the naked eye!
“Heh…
Hehehe…”
A low laughter erupted from Qing Sun’s mouth.
Clearly,
he too sensed the strangeness of the abyss below.
The rumors of Resentful Ghost Ridge had never been confirmed, but if this was indeed an Ancient Battlefield…
where evil aura lingered heavily, ordinary cultivators who step in would only meet death.
Even a Yin God might not be able to leave “alive!”
Qing Sun, who was suppressed by the sword to the point of being unable to stand, struggled to raise his head, coldly gazing at Xie Zhen.
The meaning in that look was clear.
If the sword struck again, both would fall into the abyss together!
“…”
Xie Xuanyi hesitated but a moment, then made his decision.
Looking at Qing Sun, he spoke, serious and deliberate, “Today, I will kill you!”
The Phoenix Fire Sword once again burst forth with resplendent, blazing flames.
Like a spear, it carried Qing Sun and crashed into the Dark Abyss.
And Xie Xuanyi, the caster, also fell with Qing Sun; the huge crimson orb, with a radius of a hundred zhang~(a unit of length), shrunk rapidly under the impact of countless evil spirits, from one hundred zhang to fifty zhang, then to thirty zhang…
In just a few moments, it condensed down to only a ten-zhang radius, merely enough to envelop the two of them.
Xie Xuanyi stood on the shattered chest plate of Qing Sun, using his Divine Thought to control the Phoenix Fire that pierced into Qing Sun’s Divine Sea.
At the same time.
He drew out the swords Spring Breeze and Wild Grass once again, thrusting them into Qing Sun’s chest.
Then there was a loud “bang!”
Two figures fell to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust!
The impact from hitting the ground was immense.
Even though Xie Xuanyi fell atop Qing Sun, the heavy impact still made him grunt.
The Phoenix Fire finally burned out, slowly dissipating.
Xie Xuanyi took a deep breath, his hands tightly gripping the sword sheath and long sword that had been plunged deep into Qing Sun’s flesh, leaving only the hilt exposed.
It was clear how deep the sword had gone.
But even so.
Qing Sun was still not “dead”.
The shattered armor peeled away like petals, revealing a body charred to a crisp that was still struggling and writhing.
Three swords had pierced through his Divine Sea and flesh.
Yet in the silent abyss below, one could still hear a faint thumping sound.
It was the sound of a beating heart.
“He’s really hard to kill…”
Even Xie Xuanyi, a man who’d killed countless others, couldn’t help but let out a heartfelt sigh.
By now.
It wasn’t just that a Yin God was hard to kill.
Qing Sun was absolutely an exception.
The only thing sustaining him now was his “will”.
What has this guy been through?
Why is his will to live so strong?
Is he that desperate…
to stay alive?
“Crack, crack, crack…”
The sounds of breaking started to drown out the heartbeat.
The charred skin truly crumbled like porcelain, as the Phoenix Fire completely ignited the body.
This Yin God Realm being with the Fire Saint Body could no longer suppress the Fire Devouring, leaving him no choice but to let the fire burning his organs and innards rage across the surface of his body…
Xie Xuanyi’s Sword Qi was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Qing Sun raised his head, as if wanting to say something.
But in the end.
His motion stopped at that moment, frozen.
His Divine Soul shattered, and his flesh was obliterated.
Dead beyond any doubt…
Xie Xuanyi looked at the withered and dead man, feeling a bit conflicted.
The ordeal following the crashing of the Jiageng had been nothing in comparison.
It was only this battle that made him feel “weary”.
The Jiageng was full of evil cultivators from the South Border, plus the Heavenly Puppet Sect’s geniuses, along with the Demon Race’s Dragon Girl, and the Death Soldiers of Chi Ling City…
All together.
They were nowhere near as difficult as this battle.
Qing Sun had died without unleashing a single strike…
To suppress this crippled Yin God, Xie Xuanyi had expended a tremendous amount of mental effort.
“A Cave Heaven contending against a Yin God is still too strenuous.”
Xie Xuanyi shook his head, casting aside his distracting thoughts.
If he had cultivated only the Sword Dao…
and ascended to Yin God as quickly as possible, this battle certainly wouldn’t have been so troublesome.
But if he had done that.
What would have been the point of living this life over again?
“I need to find the Divine Fruit as soon as possible, forge a Perfect Golden Body, and shape the Divine Embryo…”
Xie Xuanyi lifted his head, preparing to leave this shattered abyss with his Qi Control.
But the next moment.
His movements were slightly stiff.
Above where he had fallen, darkness prevailed without a hint of light.
Xie Xuanyi’s expression turned unsightly as he drew out the sword named Spring Breeze Wild Grass and used Qi Control to soar upwards, but after only a hundred zhang, he reached the “top.”
The rift in the abyss had seemingly been mended.
A layer of pitch-black evil energy enshrouded it.
Xie Xuanyi flicked his fingers, sending Sword Qi slashing through.
The evil energy shattered but quickly reconverged…
A single stroke of his sword could slash tens of zhang, but now the black evil that had solidified into a canopy overhead was at least several hundred zhang thick, possibly even more!
“The evil energy of Resentful Ghost Ridge has formed a natural grand array…”
Xie Xuanyi carefully observed this scene.
The evil energy peeled away, flowing from outside in, unaffected.
But to try to leave,
Was monstrously difficult.
Xie Xuanyi frowned and waved his sleeve, whereupon the body of Qing Sun suddenly trembled, and the shattered pieces of the Fire Qilin Armor were drawn towards him.
“Go!”
He channeled a wisp of Sword Intent into the fragments of the Fire Qilin Armor, then flung them out with a sweep of his sleeve.
Boom.
The fragment shot out like a swift arrow.
With Sword Intent injected by Xie Xuanyi, the power of the fragment soared massively, cleaving through the layers of evil energy like parting the sea.
But the moment it crashed into the sea of evil energy,
The luminescence of the Fire Qilin shard rapidly dimmed—
“Evil energy corrodes everything.”
As Xie Xuanyi watched this happen, he pondered momentarily and decided against drawing Chen Ke to try breaching the Black Evil.
He wasn’t sure if a full-powered strike from Chen Ke could cut far enough, let alone completely shatter the Black Evil.
But of one thing he was certain—
If he attacked the Black Evil with Chen Ke and failed to succeed in one go, it was highly likely that his Lifebound Flying Sword would suffer extensive corrosion from the evil energy on its way back…
Xie Xuanyi landed back where he started.
He looked into the boundless darkness around him and tried to release his Divine Thought.
Black Evil loomed like fog, sealing off the land.
Even Divine Thought was greatly restricted.
“The rumors about the Ancient Battlefield of Resentful Ghost Ridge are actually true…”
Xie Xuanyi was somewhat surprised.
He knew that a thousand years ago, beyond the borders of the Dachu Dynasty, an extremely brutal battle had erupted.
But the “ancient history” from a millennium ago had been destroyed.
What this battle signified was no longer traceable.
The area around Resentful Ghost Ridge had been covered by countless heavy snows for many years, erasing all traces of conflict.
Cultivators from Dachu had excavated here many years ago and had not even found a single drop of blood.
Many people said
that this ancient battlefield had been leveled by great mana.
The past had become the past.
However, looking at it now…
the past of this ancient battlefield had not been eradicated; it was merely obscured by evil energy and dense fog.
Xie Xuanyi decided to see for himself what this ancient battlefield from a thousand years ago really looked like.
Before he set off,
he used Divine Thought to inspect the remains of Qing Sun.
This Yin God esteemed one possessed almost nothing of value, save for that shattered Fire Qilin Armor—not a single thing was left.
Even Xie Xuanyi felt a bit sorry for Qing Sun.
After all, he was an envoy of the Imperial City, playing an important role in serving the Holy Empress.
To think that one’s entire possessions could be so meager.