Chapter 266: Human Yin Metal

Just as Wang Ping pressed his advantage, intending to hunt down a few more divine ability cultivators to bolster his own momentum, a sudden sense of danger flared through his intuition.

"Hm!?"

In the next instant, he whipped around, his five fingers hooking into claws. He instantly clamped down on a sword blade that had thrust out from the void, aiming straight for the back of his head.

What met his eyes was a longsword composed of overlapping layers—hundreds of golden copper coins strung together. With a mere shake of the blade, the coins collided, instantly producing a sword hum that sounded like shattering jade. Then, the entire weapon exploded, turning into a sky full of coins that rained down upon him with a clatter!

The Origin-Channeling Coin Sword!

Wang Ping glanced around. He felt the circulation of his qi and blood stagnate. It was as if he suddenly bore the weight of countless mountains, sending his entire body plummeting downward.

"Boom!"

A flurry of golden light dazzled Wang Ping's vision. He realized he had fallen into a massive formation, its perimeter lined entirely with various types of coins.

Looking up, he saw that the countless coins that had just suppressed him had already reassembled into a coin sword, now held by a Daoist wearing a crane cloak.

"Money can move the gods, thousands of towering peaks!"

With those words, he pointed the sword tip forward.

In the blink of an eye, a majestic mountain peak materialized out of thin air right above Wang Ping's head. It stretched from the earth to the heavens, looking as if it could pierce straight through the Cosmic Deep Space.

Then, it crashed down!

Trapped between the peak and the array, Wang Ping had nowhere to run. He took the collision of the towering mountain head-on, and the formation beneath his feet exploded into pieces!

Anyone else, even a Major Divine Ability cultivator, would have inevitably suffered severe injuries. Yet upon seeing this, the crane-cloaked Daoist showed no joy. Instead, he shook his head helplessly. Without the slightest hesitation, he backhanded the coin sword against himself, simultaneously forming hand seals and muttering an incantation: "Money can move the gods, Hidden Dragon Meridian Circulation!"

A dark, murky current surged out from beneath the crane-cloaked Daoist's feet, washing his figure away and making him vanish from his original spot in the blink of an eye.

Almost simultaneously.

"Bang!"

Wang Ping's fist punched right through the spot where the Daoist had just been standing, only to hit empty air. He slowly retracted his fist and looked up with great interest. "So it's Senior Brother Quan."

Cosmic Deep Space could not transmit sound, so Wang Ping used his divine sense to send the message. As long as he didn't use it directly in combat, this minor Immortal Dao trick was harmless.

"The eleventh True Transmission—why the need to hide? Besides, Senior Brother cultivates Human Yin Metal. Your methods are far too conspicuous; you couldn't hide even if you tried."

The eleventh True Transmission, Quan Zhenhong.

Among the Immortal Gate's True Transmissions, the top ten were all at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer, currently in the accumulation period before their life tribulation. As long as their life tribulation had not yet arrived, they absolutely would not emerge into the world.

Therefore, this true transmission disciple ranked eleventh, with a cultivation at the Major Divine Ability tier, could basically be considered the number one expert among the Immortal Gate's divine abilities. Because of this, the intelligence provided by Xianfu contained the most comprehensive information on this True Transmission, allowing Wang Ping to recognize him instantly.

"Alas..."

A moment later, the murky current and dim light reappeared in the Deep Space not far away. The crane-cloaked Daoist strolled out, his face full of helplessness. "Senior Brother Xianfu has no immortal morals."

"He sold out my information entirely."

"Junior Brother Dousheng, you mustn't fall for that scoundrel Xianfu's tricks. He's borrowing a knife to kill, hoping to ruin the relationship between you and my Divine Weapon Courtyard."

Indeed, that was the case.

Quan Zhenhong was a True Transmission of the Divine Weapon Courtyard, while Xianfu came from the Immortal Prescription Courtyard. The two sides had always been as incompatible as fire and water; how could they not entertain thoughts of borrowing a knife to kill?

However—

"Did we even have a relationship before this?" Wang Ping blinked.

"We didn't before, but we can cultivate one in the future," Quan Zhenhong replied with a faint smile. "For instance, right now is an excellent time to foster that relationship."

"Oh? How do we foster it?"

"The higher-ups have issued a strict order," Quan Zhenhong explained. "They want me to ruin your achievements. As long as Junior Brother Dousheng cooperates, wouldn't we then have a relationship?"

"And if I don't cooperate?"

Wang Ping countered with a smile.

"Then I'll just try my best." Quan Zhenhong shook his head, completely unbothered. "If Junior Brother's skills truly prove superior, the worst that happens is I give up."

At these words, Wang Ping narrowed his eyes, catching Quan Zhenhong's underlying meaning. Behind the seemingly weak words lay extreme confidence. Obviously, he didn't think he would lose at all—or rather, he possessed absolute certainty that even if he did lose, he wouldn't die.

Thinking of this, Wang Ping suddenly said, "Speaking of which, the person who made those divine ability cultivators attack together just now, preventing me from escaping and forcing me into a head-on clash, must have also been you, Senior Brother Quan."

Hearing this, Quan Zhenhong innocently tilted his head. "If I apologize to you and admit I was wrong, will you cooperate with me later?"

"No."

"Then I wasn't wrong!"

Before his voice could even fade, Wang Ping's vision was once again filled with a blinding brilliance. The blazing light carried a terrifying might meant to incinerate all things, swallowing him instantly!

However, in the next second, Wang Ping's figure appeared hundreds of miles away. What the light engulfed and incinerated in his original spot was merely a shell of flesh and blood.

Quan Zhenhong had watched the entire process clearly with his divine sense and couldn't help but say, "Junior Brother Dousheng, do you really think what you're using right now is that Mortal Martial Dao? I've never heard of mortals being able to infinitely proliferate their own flesh and blood, let alone survive in the Cosmos."

"Forget about mortals, you don't even look human anymore."

Wang Ping's expression didn't change. "You see that I have hands and feet, a nose and eyes—what part of me doesn't look human? I'm just a little bit more special than ordinary people."

With that, he clapped his hands together.

"Rumble!"

Instantly, Wang Ping's flesh and blood expanded. The thousand-zhang giant reappeared in the Deep Space, blooming with hundreds of millions of arms across its back. They formed hand seals and unleashed the Tathagata Divine Palm once more!

"Hiss..."

Seeing this scene, Quan Zhenhong did not dare to be careless. He immediately formed a seal with one hand while holding the coin sword upright with the other, then gently tapped it against his brow.

"Money can move the gods, Radiant Universal Illumination!"

As the incantation rose, the blinding brilliance that had nearly swallowed Wang Ping earlier reappeared. Tribulation fire flared brightly, transforming into a streak of crimson light that pierced through the Cosmos and smashed forward!

Upon collision, the Tathagata Divine Palm disintegrated on the spot. The thousand-zhang giant that Wang Ping had transformed into took a direct hit through the chest. Firelight danced at the edges of the wound, searing flesh and burning bone. The flames spread all the way into Wang Ping's sea of consciousness, attempting to incinerate his mind, only to be finally blocked by the Heavenly Martial Campaign Profound Armor.

"Bang!"

A moment later, a chunk of flesh ejected from the thousand-zhang giant's body. It expanded in the void, reshaping back into Wang Ping's figure, his expression slightly pale.

Despite this, his demeanor remained calm.

'That makes three.'

'So far, Quan Zhenhong has successively executed three methods related to the qi of heaven and earth, and every single one involved a different kind of heaven and earth qi!'

'The towering peak that suppressed me the first time was the Thousands of Towering Peaks Demon-Subduing. The second time, he dodged my attack with the Hidden Dragon Meridian Circulation Netherworld Communication. This most recent one was the Radiant Universal Illumination Six Harmonies Qi. Just as Xianfu said, his divine ability is extremely versatile, equally possessing the power of Governing Myriad Spells.'

The path that the other party cultivated flashed through Wang Ping's mind.

Human Yin Metal.

Its technical name was Divine Mansion Heavenly Metal Spirit-Channeling. Just as its outward appearance displayed, the primary imagery of this heaven and earth qi was 'coins.'

As for Quan Zhenhong's Major Divine Ability, it was called the Heavenly Mandate Coin. Its profound mechanism lay in quantifying all things in heaven and earth. As long as something existed—whether a concept, a physical object, or even karma—this divine ability could quantify it into coins, store it away, and then summon it forth when necessary.

This reminded Wang Ping of something else.

'The dharma currency!'

The dharma currency that circulated throughout the Immortal Gate and was used by everyone... wasn't it just a type of coin? Behind it, there might very well stand a Refining Practitioner who had mastered Human Yin Metal.

It might even be a True Person!

Beyond that, Divine Mansion Heavenly Metal Spirit-Channeling and the Three Rivers Guild Profit Flow were famous within the Immortal Gate as two paths that mutually synergized.

The imagery of the former was 'coins,' while the imagery of the latter was 'trade.' The two complemented each other, and since both belonged to the human qi, they were unbound by elemental generation or suppression. Their combined might was far greater than a simple one plus one. From this, it was evident that Quan Zhenhong very likely still kept a trump card hidden and had not yet gone all out.

Relying solely on the Martial Dao was indeed a bit of a stretch.

Ultimately, his Martial Dao had only just broken through. Under normal circumstances, it was merely at the standard divine ability level, not even reaching the tier of the Immortal Gate's Major Divine Ability.

The reason he could fight bitterly until now relied not on his foundation in the Martial Dao, but rather on the enhancement of the martial Spiritual Treasure he wore, the Heavenly Martial Campaign Profound Armor.

He just didn't know if the First Seat were here instead, wearing the Heavenly Martial Campaign Profound Armor, whether she would be able to fight a Qi Refining practitioner... it would probably still be a close call. After all, the Martial Dao had not yet truly taken shape. Although the Heavenly Martial Campaign Profound Armor possessed the essence of a Spiritual Treasure, it had nowhere to draw power from, so its true might had not yet been realized.

Then, how could the Martial Dao be made to take shape?

Wang Ping already had the answer in his heart: it lay exactly within the profound mechanism of Conquering the Profound. 'I will probably need to rely on this to crush and suppress the Twenty-Four Qi of heaven and earth!'

Right at this moment.

Not far away, Quan Zhenhong suddenly let out a long sigh. With a sweep of his large sleeve, a talisman completely covered in a dense array of incantations appeared in his hand.

"Junior Brother Dousheng, pardon the offense."

As his words fell, the coin sword in Quan Zhenhong's hand violently pierced through the talisman held in his other hand. In an instant, the two profound imageries melded together into one.

'Here it comes!'

Wang Ping's pupils shrank, instantly recognizing this transformation. That talisman fell under the domain of the Three Rivers Guild Profit Flow. This was exactly the fusion of the two phases!

In a flash, Wang Ping's Divine Intent screamed frantic warnings at him. An intense sense of crisis flooded his soul, and astonishment gradually climbed into the eyes that stared at Quan Zhenhong.

Looking over, he saw Quan Zhenhong holding his sword horizontally across his chest, his crane cloak fluttering. His figure gradually faded away. In its place, a towering projection of light surfaced from the torrent of destiny and finally manifested in the present world. Shockingly, it was a balance scale, its two trays perfectly parallel without the slightest tilt.

"This is...!?"

In that moment, it wasn't just Wang Ping. Even the Immortal Gate disciples who had fled far away but couldn't resist their curiosity, continuing to watch the battle from a distance, all widened their eyes.

It was because this was the ultimate dream of all divine ability cultivators.

A destiny form!

Using divine abilities as a brush and dharmic power as ink to trace the physical shape of one's own will within the torrent of destiny—this was the very foundation for entering the Dao at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer.

Yet right at this moment, Quan Zhenhong, an Immortal Gate True Transmission at merely the Tribulation Transcending Second Layer, had somehow used an unknown profound method to forcefully execute such a technique!