Chapter 205: A Thousand Tribulations Cultivated the Xuanyin Title, in a Single Morning Collapsing into a Water-Cloud Body

Xuanyin already knew something was wrong.

Stumbling in his escape light, Xuanyin brushed his face, only to find a hideous, glaring gash carved from his left temple down to his right jaw.

A moment later, blue light washed over his cheeks, bathing his face like a clear spring. With a flick of his wrist, the light swept the wound away. It landed in the distance and detonated, bursting into a dense swarm of blade qi that shredded the void.

Lesser Pure Emptiness Resolution and Transformation Method.

True to its name, this was the resolution and transformation incantation he had mastered. Derived from the spell Cane Transfer, it could shunt any physical injuries into profound light condensed from magical power.

Yet this merely treated the symptoms, not the root cause.

Healing this way burned through a tremendous amount of magical power. Once his reserves ran dry, suffering far worse injuries would only be a matter of time.

Beyond that, he faced an even graver problem.

I can't go back!?

This was the realization that left Xuanyin reeling, even terrified: he had no way to leave the Eight Trigrams Furnace!

His escape light surged from the ground, piercing straight toward the firmament. Normally, with his speed, it would take a few breaths at most to tear through the sky curtain and enter the Cosmos beyond. But now, over a dozen breaths had passed, and his surroundings remained a hazy, endless sky.

"What is going on!?"

More terrifying still, when Xuanyin looked around to peer into the distance, he found the faraway world entirely shrouded in gray haze.

Only one place remained clear.

The plain beneath his feet, the towering Capital situated upon it, and the young Daoist hovering above the Capital with his hands clasped behind his back, watching him with a smile.

Only two questions remained in Xuanyin's mind.

What divine power is this?

When did I fall for it!?

Even more unbelievable was that his opponent shouldn't have recovered his mobility so quickly. What was the heavenly tribulation even doing? Had he passed it just like that?

How is that possible!

Back when I underwent my heavenly tribulation, the Bi Wind nearly blew away my flesh and bones, almost scattering my newly condensed divine power, and the Yin Fire nearly boiled my sea of consciousness dry...

For that very reason, he had prepared countless spiritual materials beforehand, and in the end, it was only by relying on the reinforcement of his Corpse Immortal Liberation Cave-Heaven that he had barely endured it.

Compared to him back then, what preparations did this person have? Even if he cultivated a Major Divine Ability and possessed higher resistance against the Bi Wind, what about his sea of consciousness? Under the burning of the Yin Fire, what right did he have to hold on? And even if he managed it, how did he still have the spare energy to strike?

Was he not injured at all?

Boundless questions swirled in Xuanyin's mind, but the crisis of being trapped eclipsed them all. He had no choice but to call out toward Wang Ping:

"You are not Kunlun!"

His answer was a second blade chopping straight at his face—no, he didn't even see the blade. His newly restored cheek instantly gained another gash!

Following closely behind were hundreds of blade lights!

Skipping the process and directly inflicting the result. The instant the new wound appeared on Xuanyin's face, hundreds of equally powerful blade lights abruptly carved themselves into his dharma body.

Yet Xuanyin showed absolutely no sign of fear.

"This move again... Do you think I'll fall for the same trick twice!?"

In a flash, he struck back in anger. He formed the exact same incantation gesture, and with a grasp of his hand, the surrounding heaven and earth instantly blurred.

It was none other than the Time-Stealing Thief!

In an instant, the time Wang Ping had just stolen was stolen right back. The blade lights that had already reached his body suddenly receded into the distance as time reversed.

Not far away, Wang Ping couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

The Five Thieves Heaven-Stealing Series again... Could it be that all these Immortal Gate disciples of Biyang's really used to be bandit cultivators?

On the other side, Xuanyin seized the opening he had created to calmly retreat. Parting his lips, he commanded:

"Freeze!"

Instantly, the Profound Silence Thunder Sound surfaced once more. The surging sea of ink and crashing thunder opened like a gaping bloody maw, ready to swallow Wang Ping whole in the blink of an eye!

As long as he was swallowed, Xuanyin was confident he could take him down using the might of the Profound Silence Thunder Sound. So what if it was a Major Divine Ability? These clashes depended on foundational pedigree. Among the Twenty-Four Qi, only the water-aligned qi remained completely intact, making its related divine powers inherently superior to all others!

A Middle Divine Ability of water qi is no worse than an ordinary Major Divine Ability!

Xuanyin was certain of this.

In the very next second, however, all his confidence was blown away by a wild gale. Radiant colors bloomed within the wind, revealing countless talismans flashing in rapid succession.

The Profound Silence Thunder Sound that Xuanyin had placed such high hopes in was swept away without the slightest resistance. The vast sea of ink instantly dissolved into nothingness.

Xuanyin's eyes went wide.

Are you kidding me!

This was wrong! It shouldn't be like this. Even a Major Divine Ability required magical power to operate, meaning it absolutely had to be affected by the thunder of the Profound Silence Thunder Sound.

Even if a Major Divine Ability possessed higher precision and deeper profundity, the Profound Silence Thunder Sound specifically targeted magical power. Even if it couldn't kill him in a single strike like an ordinary cultivator, it still should have significantly weakened him. So why was his opponent's divine power completely unaffected?

Could it be that he cultivates a qi that counters mine?

Xuanyin's mind raced. Although he didn't understand the profound mysteries of mutual generation and restriction among the Twenty-Four Qi, he had once spent a heavy sum to have a true transmission disciple offer him guidance.

Thus, he knew exactly which qi countered his own.

Heavenly Yang Earth, Sun-Dwelling Mysterious Rainbow Inconstant Qi. Yang earth represents Wu, central and orthodox. Could it be that this person cultivates a Wu-earth divine power, which perfectly suppresses me?

That wasn't right.

Xuanyin looked up at the sky. The surrounding spiritual energy environment was exactly Turbid Earth and Darkened Heavens. In theory, it should suppress any yang-attributed qi located in the Heaven aspect of the Three Talents.

The Hanging River Endlessly Circulating Qi he cultivated was heavenly yang water. He had been outside the Eight Trigrams Furnace before, keeping him safe and sound, but now that he had fallen into the Eight Trigrams Furnace, he was naturally suppressed as well... If his opponent truly cultivated the Sun-Dwelling Mysterious Rainbow Inconstant Qi, he should have been suppressed too.

But looking at this momentum, how did it look weakened in the slightest?

"This makes no sense!"

Was the noble water qi divine power no longer noble?

Xuanyin couldn't make sense of it no matter how hard he pondered, yet Wang Ping's mind was perfectly clear. Why were water qi divine powers noble? Put plainly, it was because of Purging the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens.

Out of the thirty qi of heaven and earth, six qi had been purged. This involved metal, wood, fire, and earth; four of the Five Elements had been broken. Only water qi remained perfectly intact, and thus, water qi was naturally considered noble.

However, exactly which qi had accomplished the great feat of Purging the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens back then?

It was precisely human yang earth, the Origin-Governing Battle-Axe-Wielding Fate-Governing Qi!

Water qi merely survived Purging the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens unharmed, but human yang earth was the executor of Purging the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens! Which one is nobler!?

Naturally, it was the latter!

Because of this, the divine power imagery of the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart included the saying: "Governing Myriad Spells, pacing all qi, Subduing Immortals and Demons, possessing the merit of a Heavenly Being."

The first three all subtly alluded to the great feat of Purging the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens. As for the "merit of a Heavenly Being," Wang Ping suspected it referred to another great feat: the event that detached human qi from the sequence of heaven and earth, permanently severing it from the cycle of mutual generation and restriction... All these imageries stacked together amounted to a single phrase:

A stat monster!

"Boom!"

A vigorous brilliance smashed down, striking right on target. It hit Xuanyin's escape light, swatting it out of the sky like a giant hand and sending him crashing into the wilderness below.

Instantly, billowing smoke and dust whipped up yellow sand, and the earth shook while the mountains swayed. Xuanyin had summoned his Corpse Immortal Liberation Cave-Heaven and barely escaped with only coughing up a mouthful of blood, but when he looked up, he saw the Cave-Heaven he had painstakingly cultivated cracking inch by inch, on the verge of shattering!

"Up!"

Xuanyin struggled on the spot, trying to shake it off, but the seemingly weightless colored light pinning his body felt like an entire continent pressing down upon his shoulders.

It rendered him completely immobile!

Immediately after, another three hundred and sixty fierce blade lights slashed out. A rolling river of blade light blanketed his body, and this time, Xuanyin had no leeway to dodge or flee.

"Ah!"

Xuanyin suddenly began to thrash his body madly. His magical power poured out like a flood, and faint thunder sounds once again echoed through heaven and earth.

A sense of crisis!

His intuition told him that if he didn't break free from the divine power currently pinning him down, he would truly die here, with absolutely no chance of survival!

But no matter how he transformed his body into a sea of ink or vibrated with thunder, going all out to throw off the suppressing light, that radiance remained as steadfast as a sea-calming divine needle, firmly crushing him in place. At most, under his continuous impacts, it peeled back layer by layer, gradually revealing its true form within the light.

It was a sprawling complex of palaces.

Pavilions, towers, and layer upon layer of temples. Inside every temple sat a dignified deity. Standing side by side in an endless expanse, together they forged a magnificent divine court.

A single glance revealed tens of thousands of them. Combined like this, they corresponded to the celestial stars above and connected to the earth veins below, forming an impenetrable block of absolute suppression.

He couldn't escape! Much less break it!

Understanding his predicament in a split second, Xuanyin could only fully retract his Cave-Heaven, compress his divine power, and condense his magical power to guard his surroundings.

Block it, I have to block it!

The next second, Xuanyin's pupils abruptly dilated. The world in his eyes spun wildly, and all his thoughts were smashed to pieces by a calm command:

"Slash."

Battle-Victorious Demon-Quelling Blade!

Wang Ping unleashed the profundity of this divine weapon to its absolute limit. Augmented by his divine power, it was as if all the gods of heaven and earth were issuing the command in unison.

Encompassing the numbers of the universal cycles, transforming heaven and earth into a single slash!

"Squelch!"

Stripped of any ability to resist, his Cave-Heaven, divine power, magical power, and even physical body were effortlessly cleaved open by this defense-ignoring slash.

Immediately after, the divine light suppressing Xuanyin took advantage of the opening. Flowing through the blade wound, it rushed madly into his body, aiming to suppress his magical power and even freeze his thoughts—but right at that moment, Wang Ping suddenly heard a crisp crack.

"Crack..."

Wang Ping's gaze sharpened. He instantly saw that deep within Xuanyin's sea of consciousness, a crystal-clear precious orb was quietly shattering, bursting with boundless light.

This was originally Xuanyin's lifesaver.

In the next second, however, as if seeing something incredibly terrifying, his pupils suddenly shrank. His mouth parted slightly, as if he wanted to say something.

But in the end, his expression morphed into helplessness and unwillingness as he let out a faint sigh:

"A thousand tribulations cultivated the Xuanyin title, in a single morning collapsing into a water-cloud body."

Boom!

In the unseen realm, it was as if a clap of startling thunder exploded between heaven and earth.

"Hm?"

Almost simultaneously, Wang Ping also felt something. He lowered his eyes and happened to meet "Xuanyin's" gaze, only to see a completely different pair of eyes.

Previously, although Xuanyin had maintained calm in his eyes, he couldn't help but show some panic and anxiety—a lack of confidence born from the gap in their strength. But now, Wang Ping only saw peace and indifference. The other party even looked him up and down with keen interest.

In a flash, Wang Ping recognized him.

Immortal Gate True Transmission, Kunyun!