Chapter 161: Who is in Dao Proving Mountain?

"Rumble!"

The battle erupted instantly. After all, the Daoist Nun You inside Dao Proving Mountain was merely a mark incarnation; she knew no hesitation and struck without the slightest delay.

In an instant, Wang Ping felt as if the weight of boundless mountains and rivers had crashed onto his back. Even twitching a finger took tremendous effort. A moment later, a brilliant sword light reflected in his eyes. The mountains, rivers, and forests manifested by the six hundred and sixty-sixth level were uprooted on the spot by explosive, churning waves of sword qi.

Sword Art!

Once upon a time, when Wang Ping first witnessed this sight, he had been awestruck, believing a sword strike comparable to a nuclear explosion was a power no Mortal could ever hope to attain.

Now, however, it no longer surprised him. 'Immobilization first, followed by Sword Art, is it...?'

Terrifying sword qi howled toward him, but under the influence of his Divine Intent, Wang Ping's thoughts accelerated wildly. He calmly analyzed the situation, evaluating his current predicament.

He recalled how Daoist Nun You had subdued him with Immobilization back then. At the time, he had been utterly powerless against the spell, completely ignorant of its mechanics. Now, with his spiritual sense flowing through his entire body, he could clearly see the spell descending upon him.

It was nothing special.

'It's nothing more than using magical power to alter reality, locking down the concept of motion on my body to render me paralyzed.'

The countermeasure was equally simple.

'I can either counter magical power with magical power, or use a conflicting spell to cancel out the Immobilization effect... Well, I haven't learned how to do the latter, so I'll go with the former.'

Wang Ping felt completely relaxed. He held many cards in his hand now; playing any one of them would be enough to deal with the spell that had once left him helpless.

The next second, magical power as black as ink flowed from his body. Like an eraser, it instantly wiped away his presence in this world. Immobilization missed its mark entirely, and the subsequent Sword Art could not find its target, leaving it to destroy the battlefield in vain.

This was the wonder of magical power that had undergone a qualitative change.

At this level, Latent Concealment was no longer just hiding; it was truly erasing one's existence from heaven and earth, escaping the Three Realms and the Five Elements.

It couldn't be more perfect for dodging attacks.

Of course, the restrictions were severe. He had to return to the exact spot he disappeared from. While concealed, Wang Ping could neither move nor attack.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be called concealment.

Even so, it worked wonders at critical moments.

Soon, the residual shockwaves of the sword qi dissipated.

Wang Ping's figure reappeared. He stood in the exact same spot, as if he had never left, raising the Battle-Victorious Demon-Quelling Blade high above his head.

"Clang—!"

It was another invisible, unrivaled slash. Tearing through the rifts in time and space, it struck Daoist Nun You in the blink of an eye, only to be blocked by a thin halo of light.

Within the halo, an azure dragon raised its head and roared, its inverted claws shielding Daoist Nun You. After taking the hit from Wang Ping's blade, it instantly erupted. Gathering its might, it rebounded the attack with even greater speed, forcing Wang Ping to strike again to shatter the halo.

'It's the same move she used in Longxing County...'

Wang Ping's expression remained tranquil. He had seen this technique before. Back then, he had barely managed to break it using a sub-lightspeed slash, but he no longer needed to exert such strenuous effort.

"Again!"

Wang Ping didn't stop. Gripping his blade, he unleashed dozens, then hundreds of slashes in an instant. Blazing arcs of blade light churned like a tide, merging into a sweeping river of blade force.

Under the scouring force of this river, Daoist Nun You continuously formed hand seals and manipulated light. Like a steadfast reef beneath crashing waves, she remained motionless and unyielding against his fierce assault.

In a flash, three hundred and sixty slashes had landed.

Wang Ping circulated his true astral energy. Delivering a backhanded slash, he activated his Art of War. The very heaven and earth he had just cleaved began to split apart along the edge of his blade.

"Sever!"

Encompassing the grand cycle of the heavens, nothing could escape being severed!

In this moment, no matter how powerful the protective divine light, it could not stop Wang Ping's blade. Everything was split in two before its peerless edge.

Yet almost simultaneously, the hand seals in Daoist Nun You's grasp shifted.

Then, Wang Ping heard this mark incarnation actually speak. Her red lips parted to release a soft, aloof command that nevertheless carried an inexplicable charm: "Decree!"

As her voice fell, the heaven and earth surrounding Daoist Nun You changed. A completely new space was forged by magical power, filling her immediate surroundings. The space marked by Wang Ping's blade, commanded to separate by his Dharma Covenant, was entirely displaced outward, pushed far away from her body.

Scenery Shifting!

Wang Ping had transformed heaven and earth into a single slash, but Daoist Nun You had fabricated a small domain devoid of blade marks, completely evading this fatal strike!

"That works too." Wang Ping's gaze was icy. "This just makes crushing you all the more worthwhile..."

Opposite him, Daoist Nun You's mark was incapable of answering. The seals in her hands shifted again, producing another technique Wang Ping recognized.

"Proclaim unto all dharmas, let all laws bear witness."

Command Spirits!

As the name implied, this spell could grant sentience to other techniques, allowing them to undergo a metamorphosis. It turned the mundane into the miraculous, letting them unleash far greater destructive might!

Previously, when facing the bandit cultivators, Daoist Nun You had used spells enhanced by Command Spirits to briefly hold off their Heaven Within the Pot. Although it was only a minor Divine Power, a Divine Power's might remained vast no matter how small. Wang Ping still remembered its world-forging power vividly.

"Clang, clang!"

A clear, resonant sword chime echoed out.

Evidently, Daoist Nun You had applied Command Spirits to her Sword Art. A brilliant sword light now gathered into a single, concentrated beam at the tip of her finger.

Immediately following—

"Boom!"

Wang Ping narrowed his eyes. The distance between him and Daoist Nun You was instantly erased. A span of thousands of miles was suddenly reduced to a single step.

Within that step, the sword light flared!

In an instant, the entire world sank into utter silence once more. It was as if, before this sword, even heaven and earth knew to hold their breath, staring fixedly at this single beam of light.

It detached from Daoist Nun You's fingertip and bloomed across heaven and earth, much like fine pine-soot ink dropped into clear water. It started as a dense cluster, then unraveled thread by thread. No sharp edge could be seen; there was only a warm, gentle azure hue that silently sliced through everything in its path.

"Excellent sword!"

With his Divine Intent surging, Wang Ping's laughter echoed through the realm of his mind within that silent world. It carried admiration and surprise, but notably absent was fear.

'After all... I am stronger!'

In a flash, Wang Ping cycled his spiritual sense. Five fragmented talismans leaped from the depths of his sea of consciousness, imbuing themselves onto the Battle-Victorious Demon-Quelling Blade.

Heaven's Will Profound Blade!

The name of the spiritual treasure was a power in itself. It endowed Wang Ping's blade with a trace of its ultimate charm: Heaven's will wielding the profound, a blade's edge hovering over the boundary of the world!

In this moment, it felt as though Wang Ping was no longer holding a blade, but rather a vast heaven and earth spanning thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, with the sun and moon hanging in the sky. And he, holding the blade, was the "heaven's will" of this world! To swing the blade forward was to command the grand might of an entire world to execute his enemy!

But it didn't stop there.

Into this strike, Wang Ping poured not only all his vitality, true astral energy, spiritual sense, and divine weapon, but he also cycled his magical power, aggressively activating the technique he had mastered.

"Nine Profound Demon-Subduing Transformations!"

In an instant, nine Heavenly Demon Totems spun like a roulette wheel in Wang Ping's mind, flashing by one after another until he made his choice, stopping on a single one.

Sorrowless Flower!

One of the Eight Great Royal Clans. It bloomed as fleetingly as a night-blooming cereus, but when its petals unfurled, every witness would have their sanity stolen, plunging into a state of absolute, carefree bliss.

The next second, Wang Ping's body shattered inch by inch. Copious amounts of blood sprayed outward, transforming in midair into countless flower buds that bloomed in unison.

"No action, no limit, no life, no demise,

The true empty pure land where immortals rise.

Roots in Mount Tai, precious fruits shower,

The Sorrowless Tree blooms the Sorrowless Flower!"

Almost simultaneously, Wang Ping's chanting broke the silent world. Rhythmic and sonorous, it gathered his magical power and abruptly conjured a sea of flowers right before him.

For a moment, the overwhelming floral fragrance danced along Wang Ping's blade light, sweeping across and snatching away the cognitive faculties of all things. It forcibly caused Daoist Nun You's mark to freeze in a daze for a split second. At the same time, the stolen time was returned to its rightful place, causing Daoist Nun You's seemingly inevitable sword strike to slow down by a half beat.

Wang Ping's blade light, striking later, arrived first.

"Boom!"

The sword snapped, and the light extinguished.

At almost the exact same moment on Dao Proving Mountain, Daoist Nun You's mark incarnation split cleanly down the middle. A line of blood spread downward from her glabella before she exploded into pieces!

Within a deep mountain cave residence on Bliss Immortal Peak.

The Immortal Gate true transmission disciple whom Wang Ping dreamed about and obsessed over day and night, You Xuexin, was currently dressed in thin robes, meditating in a state of deep trance, silently accumulating power to endure her heavenly tribulation.

However, at the precise moment Wang Ping shattered her mark incarnation, she was jolted awake by the earth-shattering, clear chime of a blade. She violently snapped her beautiful eyes open.

Water immediately flowed out.

In an instant, You Xuexin's delicate body was drenched in sweat. Her thin clothes clung to her skin, turning translucent to reveal a graceful and magnificent sight.

Yet, You Xuexin had no mind to care about any of that.

Even now, her thoughts lingered on that sudden strike. The blade's edge was so sharp it felt as though it could cleave straight through her memories.

Following that, finally realizing what had happened, You Xuexin's beautiful face turned deathly pale.

"No... my Qi-fate!?"

Her mark incarnation had been shattered. The loss of her Qi-fate meant that all her recent accumulation had been entirely for naught; she was even operating at a heavy deficit.

"Who is it..."

Feeling the rapid drain of her Qi-fate, and sensing her Divine Power—which had been just within her grasp—suddenly pull away, Daoist Nun You finally couldn't hold back a piercing shriek. "Who is in Dao Proving Mountain!?"

Outside Dao Proving Mountain.

At this moment, everyone raised their heads: the major blessed lands on the periphery, the countless independent cultivators watching the broadcast, the outer sect disciples in the inner circle, and the observing inner sect disciples.

What met their eyes was Dao Proving Mountain, which normally appeared as nothing more than a single arc of light, now revealing far more of its true form. The silhouette of the mountain could be faintly seen. This was a spectacle that hadn't occurred in many years. According to the rules, only changes involving a true transmission disciple would trigger such an anomaly.

"What happened?"

Among the inner sect disciples, Fairy Qixia, dressed in rosy cloud-patterned robes, couldn't help but guess, "Did a true transmission disciple successfully etch their name onto Dao Proving Mountain?"

"Not necessarily."

Daoist Chimei shook his head. "An anomaly like this could also mean that the mark incarnation left behind by a true transmission disciple in Dao Proving Mountain has been shattered."

Before he could even finish speaking, Daoist Xuanhe shuddered and shot him a cold glare.

Why would you say such an unlucky thing?

Then, feeling somewhat like a death row inmate walking to the execution grounds, he gritted his teeth and looked toward Dao Proving Mountain. 'It can't be, right? Could it really be...'

Soon, everyone saw the result.

Right in front of Dao Proving Mountain, which was manifesting its true form, an etched name on the stele recording all registered challengers shattered spectacularly under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

[You Xuexin].

Immediately following, a brand-new Daoist name took its place, leaping onto the stone stele. Like a lit fuse hitting dynamite, it ignited an uproar that surged to the heavens among the crowd:

[Dousheng]

Almost simultaneously, Daoist Xuanhe squeezed his eyes shut in agony.

'It's over!!'

'My money!!!'