Chapter 267: Great Sage Conquering Heaven!

Wang Ping had to admit that, even with ample mental preparation, the sight of that profound scale manifesting still sent a massive shock through him.

'The Tribulation Transcending Second Layer... he actually manifested a destiny form?!'

How did he do it?

The gap between the Tribulation Transcending Second Layer and the Third Layer was vast as heaven and earth. Yet, Quan Zhenhong had forcefully bridged it—a feat completely absent from Xianfu's intelligence!

Before Wang Ping could think further, the scale moved.

"Clang—!"

A melodious Daoist chime rippled outward like water. Wang Ping watched as translucent, shimmering golden coins fell onto one side of the scale, slightly lifting the other.

Instantly, a blinding light engulfed his vision. Reacting with lightning speed, Wang Ping repeated his old trick—shedding his skin like a golden cicada. He left behind an empty husk of flesh and blood while his true body retreated rapidly. This exact move had already saved him from Quan Zhenhong's killing blows multiple times.

But this time, it failed.

The mighty power emanating from the scale seemed to lock directly onto his true spirit. Ignoring the discarded husk, it swept right into his face in the blink of an eye.

Wang Ping forcefully squeezed his eyes shut.

There was no sound, no flash of light, not even the slightest ripple of profound energy. Wang Ping's body instantly collapsed before launching backward like a falling meteor!

In the blink of an eye, he was swept straight back into the Eight Trigrams Furnace, crashing headfirst into it. His trajectory parted boundless murky waves. His supersonic plummet ignited his body into a blazing fireball. Tearing through the groaning, overwhelmed atmosphere, he plummeted uncontrollably until he smashed heavily into the Eastern Sea on the borders of Great Shun!

"I never expected Junior Brother Quan to hold such a trick in reserve..."

Over in Guanchao City, Xianfu looked up at the sky. His divine sense had captured the entire collision, and genuine surprise flickered in his eyes.

Beside him, Kunlun couldn't help but ask,

"Was that really a destiny form?"

"Yes, and no."

Xianfu shook his head. "Junior Brother Quan acquired it through collateral. Among the Twenty-Four Qi of heaven and earth, I'm afraid only the Divine Mansion Heavenly Gold Spirit-Channeling Qi makes this possible."

"Collateral?" Kunlun blinked.

"Exactly."

Xianfu explained, "He used the coins accumulated over a lifetime of cultivating his divine powers, combined with a talisman of the Three Rivers Guild Profit Flow Market Qi, to orchestrate a transaction."

"Trading directly with the qi of heaven and earth to leverage a massive return. He convinced the Divine Mansion Heavenly Gold Spirit-Channeling Qi to loan him his future destiny form in advance. Afterward, he must return it in full along with interest. Furthermore, since he lacks the proper foundation, the borrowed destiny form is merely passable."

"Even so, it's still a destiny form!"

Kunlun shook his head. His gaze shifted toward the Eastern Sea where Wang Ping had fallen. "After a strike like that, all his Great Rebellion Exploits have been washed down the drain."

"Not necessarily."

Xianfu held a different opinion. His eyes shone brightly, and an excited smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Junior Brother Kunlun, you simply know too little."

"Or perhaps, Senior Brother Gan never told you?"

What? Kunlun turned his head in surprise.

He then heard Xianfu say quietly, "A Tribulation Transcending Second Layer slaying a Third Layer against all odds is rare since ancient times, but it is far from impossible."

"At the very least, Senior Brother Gan accomplished it back in his day."

...

"Rumble!"

At the bottom of the Eastern Sea, Wang Ping slowly pushed himself to his feet. The seawater he had blasted away upon impact was finally surging back to fill the crater.

'I know what that was.'

At this moment, his vitality was thoroughly withered. Web-like cracks covered his entire body. If not for the Divine Armor holding him together, he would have exploded on the spot.

'He's buying my life. He used something to directly purchase my destiny, steering me straight into a lethal outcome. That scale's attack isn't a conventional divine power; it has nothing to do with raw numerical strength. It operates on pure mechanics, making it impossible to block with ordinary methods.'

He looked up at the sky.

The clouds parted above. The majestic, luminous phantom of the scale still hung across the firmament, and once again, a crisp, melodious chime echoed.

A new gold coin dropped onto one end of the scale.

Without warning and without offering a sliver of a chance to dodge, a blinding light exploded before Wang Ping's eyes once more, drilling into his body like a slithering snake.

"Crack, crack, crack!"

Pieces of flesh began sloughing off Wang Ping's body, crashing down heavily, and this time, they did not regenerate. The beads of blood seeping from his wounds gleamed with an eerie metallic luster.

He continuously circulated the Great Law of the Azure Sky, trying to draw upon the world's magnetic field to push his own and accelerate his healing, but he couldn't stop his body from crumbling. Endless streams of light were locked tightly within his decaying husk, while his armor forcefully bound the crumbling flesh to maintain its human shape.

"Not enough!"

Wang Ping grinned ferociously. The catastrophic injuries only provoked his brutal aura. His physical body was teetering on the brink of death, yet his Divine Intent raged on, stronger than ever!

More than just strong.

Pushed to this absolute limit, his Divine Intent surpassed anything he had ever achieved!

Furthermore, this liminal state between life and death perfectly aligned with his core nature of Rebellion. The greater the oppression, the more fiercely his heart burned to overthrow it.

At that thought, Wang Ping slammed his palms together.

It was time.

"Divine Communion, Manifesting Divinity—"

Boundless Divine Intent surged explosively. Those four simple words caused the Heavenly Martial Campaign Profound Armor on his body to emit a fanatic, trembling hum of excitement.

A brilliant pillar of blood qi erupted from Wang Ping's glabella, piercing straight into the firmament. It dyed the clear blue sea and sky with a layer of blood-red, unfurling like a massive cape. A large, furry hand suddenly grabbed it and violently hoisted it up as a ferocious Mind Monkey leapt out from within.

Its eyes brimmed with wild arrogance and unyielding defiance.

It wore the Phoenix-Winged Purple-Gold Crown, was clad in the Chain Golden Armor, and stood upon Lotus-Silk Cloud-Stepping Boots. Gripping the As-You-Will Divine Treasure Iron, it gazed haughtily toward the zenith of the sky.

"—Great Sage Conquering Heaven!"

A Manifesting Divinity form!

This was Wang Ping's mental landscape—the absolute zenith of his Divine Intent! Entirely unshackled from the devastating injuries ravaging his physical body, it thrust his combat power to its absolute peak!

Simultaneously, the scales across the Heavenly Martial Campaign Profound Armor flared to life inch by inch. The deepest and most fundamental profundity of this Martial Dao Spiritual Treasure answered the call.

True Martial.

Amplifying the Manifesting Divinity form!

In an instant, the already colossal Mind Monkey expanded even further. Hoisting the As-You-Will Divine Treasure Iron high, it swung the staff directly at the scale suspended in the sky!

Abruptly, the entire Eastern Sea fell silent.

As the staff swung upward, an invisible yet tangible surge of boundless might crushed the turbulent, churning waves, turning the ocean surface as flat and smooth as a mirror. Not a single ripple dared to form.

Wang Ping's physical body was still disintegrating. Beneath his ruined flesh lay thoroughly pulverized bones and meridians. Yet, the closer he drew to an unsalvageable death, the more intensely his Divine Intent burned. The worldly manifestation of the Mind Monkey grew vastly more magnificent, actually causing the scale high in the firmament to tremble!

Quan Zhenhong's expression instantly changed.

He understood his own destiny form—orchestrated through the profundity of his divine powers and acquired via a cosmic loan—intimately. These World-Weighing Scales were specifically designed to completely counter brute force.

Pure brute force could never break it.

But now, from the staff barreling toward him, Quan Zhenhong sensed a pure "weight"—a weight so immense that his destiny form was buckling under the pressure!

'How could this be?'

'Isn't this Martial Dao supposed to be nothing more than empty brute force?'

Reacting with lightning speed, Quan Zhenhong didn't hesitate to hurl a massive fistful of coins onto the scale. Only this time, he wasn't buying Wang Ping's destiny.

It was quite the opposite.

"Boom!"

A colossal explosion detonated as the Mind Monkey's staff smashed dead center into the scale. The clouds and winds across ten thousand miles were instantly obliterated, and the luminous phantom of the scale shattered, dissolving back into the void.

Thus, the firmament was cleared.

The next second, the Mind Monkey flipped backward, transforming into billowing blood qi that surged straight back into Wang Ping's body. It cascaded into him like a clear spring, injecting a fresh burst of life.

The destiny that had been purchased was entirely returned. The flesh and blood that had stopped regenerating rapidly knit itself back together. The light that had previously fused into his very bones and blood was completely purged, expelled from his body in a single breath. After just a few breaths, he had already regained his mobility, staggering to his feet.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Wang Ping hacked violently, coughing up a few more strands of light. As they hit the ground, they morphed into metallic coins, clinking into the water before sinking to the seafloor.

"Fuck, that packed a punch!"

Wang Ping wiped the corner of his mouth, smearing away another trace of light. As time flowed on, the Great Rebellion Exploits falling upon him began to swell once more!

In tandem, his Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart grew increasingly unstable. He vaguely felt that his head had completely broken free from the divine power's suppression!

Meanwhile, in the Cosmic Deep Space.

Quan Zhenhong, draped in his crane cloak, drifted quietly down to a spot. He was completely unscathed. The light of his divine power had dimmed slightly, but his core foundation was untouched.

Suddenly, a celestial voice echoed from above.

"You held back."

Quan Zhenhong immediately waved his hands defensively upon hearing this. "Martial Uncle Tianxing, you can't just spout nonsense. If I had tried to take that strike head-on, the World-Weighing Scales would have undoubtedly been damaged."

"If that happened, not only would I have to pay interest on the Divine Mansion Heavenly Gold Spirit-Channeling Qi, but I would also have to compensate for the damaged portions. Where would I get that kind of capital? It was better to cut my losses in time and retreat in one piece. I already did my best. Fighting any longer would have ruined my Dao path."

"..."

Tianxing naturally understood the subtext. It was true—Quan Zhenhong could have taken the hit, but why would he risk damaging his own Dao path for it?

'How much are you even paying me, to expect me to risk my life?'

'Forget it!'

Furthermore—

"Even if I put my life on the line, I still couldn't kill him." Quan Zhenhong shook his head. "Martial Uncle, don't forget: so far, he has only used the Martial Dao."

"And with just that, he was already strong enough to force mutual destruction. Do you honestly think that, pushed to the absolute brink of life and death, he'd be so rigidly stubborn as to not use his immortal Dao divine powers? Impossible. So even if I threw my life away, I'd probably just force him to reveal his divine powers, and he'd likely still win in the end."

At that, Quan Zhenhong narrowed his eyes.

"Or perhaps, Martial Uncle, you were just planning to use my life to force his immortal Dao divine powers out into the open? If that's the case, I'll have to have a word with my Master."

"How could that be?"

Tianxing fell silent for a moment before laughing aloud. "Martial Nephew, you're truly overthinking things. You're a true transmission disciple of my Divine Weapon Courtyard! Why would I plot against you?"

Quan Zhenhong sneered. "Isn't Senior Brother Kunyun one as well?"

Tianxing: "..."

'As if that's the same thing!'

"Never mind. In any case, since you're unwilling to strike, Martial Nephew, I won't force the issue... It's just a pity to let this person's majestic qi destiny go to waste."

"Looks like the inner sect is going to get a bargain."

"Oh?"

Quan Zhenhong paused in surprise. Then, as if realizing something, he abruptly spun around. Casting his divine sense into the distance, he looked toward Wang Ping, who was still in the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

Almost simultaneously.

"Squelch!"

Wang Ping—whose Great Rebellion Exploits had swelled to the point where they were on the verge of completely toppling the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart—had his chest abruptly pierced through by a peerless sword edge!