Chapter 274: Sword Battle? Dao Struggle!

Before this, Jin Hai had specifically petitioned his master and ultimately brought in a massive force of Brahma Cultivators as reinforcements. Almost not a single one of the four major factions was missing.

Wu Chi, Nurong, and Suoze were merely the leaders; under their command were hordes of Brahma Cultivators with cultivation equivalent to the Tribulation Transcending Second Layer and Tribulation Transcending First Layer.

Set against them, the Ancient Chan Forest Monastery rang with ethereal chants and bloomed with phantom lotuses across the ground. Various magical powers and divine abilities forged towering, solemn golden bodies. Had it not been for the overwhelming stench of blood from the monster commoners flocking here to worship and beg to be eaten, the place would surely have been a pristine Buddhist paradise.

But at this moment.

As Wang Ping's words fell, the golden-bodied Brahma Cultivators throughout the ancient monastery froze. Pair after pair of blank eyes reflected his figure.

They hadn't even processed what they had just heard.

Even Jin Hai, Wu Chi, Nurong, and Suoze at the very top blinked in a daze, instinctively assuming they had misheard.

What did he mean the highest were True Persons, the middle were Qi refining practitioners, and the absolute lowest were at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer?

Please, this was an Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle, not a Dao struggle.

According to the rules, these sword battles had always been fought by divine ability cultivators at the Tribulation Transcending Second Layer. Even if a Tribulation Transcending Third Layer expert was present to hold the line, they were usually just hosting the sword battle.

Qi refining practitioners basically never participated.

Let alone True Persons.

Therefore, almost not a single Brahma Cultivator took Wang Ping's words seriously. Upon snapping out of his daze, Jin Hai shook his head. "Martial Nephew, what kind of madness are you spouting..."

Hearing this, Wang Ping did not answer.

Instead, a somewhat lighthearted voice behind him gave a reply:

"It doesn't really count as madness."

This voice was deep and powerful, rippling through the ancient monastery just like that. Spreading alongside it were towering palace halls rising from the ground, enshrining tens of thousands of seated immortals and deities.

Chart of True Spirit Ranks and Offices.

'A Major Divine Ability of human-yang wood...'

Jin Hai's gaze shot past Wang Ping and saw the figure that had shuttled in behind him. 'It's Xianfu! That damned True Monarch's Handwritten Manuscript!'

As the third-ranked true transmission disciple, his reputation was naturally considerable.

In that moment, as Jin Hai looked back at Wang Ping, a look of deep hatred surfaced in his eyes:

'So much for bringing me intelligence.'

'Looks to me like you're the one who led the Immortal Gate right here!'

If he had enough time, he would have fiercely cursed him out first. But the situation was urgent, and the divine power's light unleashed by Xianfu was already bearing down on his lotus seat.

The light of this divine power was not intense, but it was stable and constant. As it diffused at this moment, all the Brahma Cultivators covered by it were as if sealed in amber.

Faces that had just surfaced with terror were locked in place. In a split second, Jin Hai and the other three leaders at the top had already transformed into four streaks of escaping light, simultaneously fleeing in four different directions. The few Brahma Cultivators who had not yet been covered also desperately scattered and fled.

"Run!"

Amid the continuous wails, the previously impregnable Brahma Nation instantly disintegrated. Absolutely no one thought of fighting Xianfu head-on.

Even Wu Chi, theoretically the most combative, did the same.

The reason was simple.

'The third-ranked true transmission disciple has openly run in here. How could it really just be him alone? There's probably a large army from the Immortal Gate following right behind him!'

'If we don't run now, it'll be too late!'

'Misery!'

However, right at this moment, the child-like Kunlun suddenly appeared high in the sky. Gripping a treasure hammer in his hand, he swung it heavily downward:

"When birth and death are extinguished, absolute stillness is joy!"

Boom!

In that instant, beneath the treasure hammer, the Buddhist light surrounding all the Brahma Cultivators abruptly stagnated. The figures that had been about to escape were forcibly stalled for a split second.

Such a change made even Wang Ping look sideways in surprise. 'It's the Heavenly Craft Creation Hammer. It turns out this thing can also counter Brahma Cultivators... Does Kunlun actually understand the Brahma Cultivators' Dao? But looking at him, he doesn't seem like someone with very high comprehension. Did the Heaven-Stealing Thief teach him?'

Aside from that, there was also Xianfu's divine power.

Wang Ping studied the Chart of True Spirit Ranks and Offices before him. Deep in his sea of consciousness, he felt the talisman Xianfu had bestowed upon him actually begin to tremble faintly.

'My phenomenon is being suppressed.'

'No, not me, but my divine power... I see! He wants to use the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart to make a move; he has designs on the Human Yang Earth!'

Origin-Governing Battle-Axe-Wielding Fate-Governing Qi.

It was a cosmic qi suspected to be related to the Dani Great Ancestor. Back then, the Great Rebellion had accomplished two monumental feats. The first, naturally, was Purging the Stale Qi of the Six Heavens, heavily crippling the Immortal Dao.

The second was completely detaching the qi of humanity from the natural order of heaven and earth.

'The goal of Xianfu, or rather the True Person behind him, should be to return the human-yang wood, the Profound Firmament Governance-Bestowing Talisman-Wielding Qi, back into the natural order of heaven and earth.'

'That goal probably cannot be achieved without me!'

'Bestowing a title upon me, taking me in as a subordinate minister, suppressing my divine power, and even stifling the phenomenon of the Origin-Governing Battle-Axe-Wielding Fate-Governing Qi—it was all preparation for this.'

Wang Ping pondered in his heart, unraveling a major mystery.

Looking at it this way, this Major Divine Ability, the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart, was simply absurd; it was an absolute root of disaster. Being related to the Dani Great Ancestor meant that whoever cultivated it was bound for terrible luck.

Meanwhile, the light of the divine power continued to spread.

Xianfu drifted upward. On the towering Chart of True Spirit Ranks and Offices, a central throne vividly manifested. The moment he took his seat, heaven and earth abruptly merged into a single entity.

"Bang!"

The divine power crashed down. At the final juncture, blood-red light erupted from Nurong, Wu Chi, and Suoze, as if they had deployed some life-burning secret art.

This allowed them to escape by a hair's breadth, avoiding being enveloped under the rule of the Chart of True Spirit Ranks and Offices. Only Jin Hai, a look of bitter misery on his face, plummeted from midair.

He could have escaped as well, but those three bastards—Nurong, Wu Chi, and Suoze—had actually backhanded him as they fled. Their strike forcefully halted his movements, causing him to be half a beat too slow. In an instant, only infinite grief, fury, and unwillingness remained in his heart.

'These bald bastards!'

He knew why the three of them had prioritized selling him out. Because he had recently established a massive merit, he was currently the Brahma Cultivator most likely to pass the next Buddhist examination.

And in every year's Buddhist examination, the quota for Ascetic Monks was limited.

If someone passed, someone else had to fail.

So during this moment of crisis, Nurong, Wu Chi, and Suoze had chosen to sabotage Jin Hai with almost no hesitation. Ideally, it would just get him killed!

'And it just had to be the Chart of True Spirit Ranks and Offices...'

Jin Hai couldn't help but grit his teeth.

Among the Immortal Gate's Major Divine Abilities, the Chart of True Spirit Ranks and Offices governed above all; its profundity lay in control. Wherever the divine power shrouded, the Three Realms, the Ten Directions, the Four Kinds of Birth, and the Six Paths of Reincarnation were all subject to its rule.

Thinking of this, Jin Hai didn't dare hesitate. He hurriedly took out an object as round as an egg from his sleeve—it was a relic flowing with five-colored light. Chanting under his breath, he tossed it over his head. It immediately cascaded a curtain of brilliant light, shielding his glabella like a five-colored canopy.

Almost simultaneously, Xianfu's voice echoed out:

"The Emperor issues a decree to his subordinate minister: the sovereign commands his minister to die!"

As his words fell, the relic above Jin Hai's head abruptly lost its luster, and the stone egg fractured. Along with it, Jin Hai's expression underwent a drastic change, and he violently threw his head back.

Crack!

A crisp fracturing sound echoed between heaven and earth. It was the clash of Jin Hai's own magical power and divine abilities; his sea of consciousness was running rampant, triggering a backlash because he could no longer control himself.

'Damn it all...'

Jin Hai felt a wave of bitterness. He understood the profundity of this Chart of True Spirit Ranks and Offices—when the sovereign commands his minister to die, the minister has no choice but to die. This was directly ordering him to commit suicide!

Were it an ordinary cultivator, their mind would have likely been wiped on the spot, obediently killing themselves with a look of absolute loyalty. He had only maintained his normalcy because the Heart-Listening Relic was protecting his consciousness. Otherwise, he too would have inexplicably developed a fanatical sense of loyalty. But even so, his entire body's magical power and divine abilities were still rebelling!

'Since my consciousness remained clear, it bypassed my mind and gave the order directly to my magical power and divine abilities.'

'How tyrannical!'

Jin Hai gave a bitter smile. Thankfully, his consciousness was still intact and hadn't descended into confusion. He immediately suppressed his magical power and divine abilities with all his might, forcefully circulated his cultivation, and detonated his Dharma body.

Five Turbidities Evil World!

In an instant, a monstrous sea of filth unfurled, radiating a golden glow that looked holy but reeked of unbearable putrefaction. The sight was so rancid that even Xianfu frowned slightly.

"Withdraw!"

These two simple words were endowed with true profundity by his divine power. Crashing down at this moment, they forced the sea of filth, which had been surging into the sky, to collapse right back down.

Seeing this, Xianfu shook his head. 'The Brahma Cultivators under the rule of the Great Golden Wheel Wisdom King... are always like this!'

Even if they can't defeat you, they will still disgust you.

Immediately after, the sea of filth ignited, ultimately leaving behind a glaring stain within the divine power of the Chart of True Spirit Ranks and Offices. But Jin Hai's figure was gone.

Outside the divine power's reach, Jin Hai's figure stepped out of thin air. Although his face was deathly pale and seventy percent of his magical power had vanished into nothingness, he had ultimately managed to escape. His aura had undergone a complete transformation. Earlier, he had been a condensed mass of filth reeking to high heaven, but now, he emanated a pure, crystalline fragrance.

This was precisely the true secret of the Five Turbidities Evil World.

As the saying goes, when Yin reaches its extreme, Yang is born; after total decay, there must be new life. Jin Hai had borrowed this point of profundity, using his divine power to trade for a chance at escape.

Not only that.

Because all the concepts of rot and decay had been dumped inside Xianfu's divine power when he escaped, leaving such a massive lump of filth would be incredibly difficult to deal with.

Therefore, Xianfu was temporarily unable to attack him again.

Of course, the price was equally immense.

'I dumped out my entire divine power...' Jin Hai inspected his internal state and sighed in his heart. Re-cultivating it would take at least half a year to a year.

'No matter what, I need to leave first!'

With this thought in mind, blood-red light immediately ignited around Jin Hai. He had unexpectedly used a life-burning secret art as well, and his figure vanished into the distance in the blink of an eye.

He moved so fast that even Kunlun couldn't intercept him in time.

As for Wang Ping?

From beginning to end, he hadn't paid any attention to Jin Hai. Instead, he was gleefully swinging the Battle-Victorious Demon-Quelling Blade, utterly slaughtering the Brahma Cultivators who had been suppressed by Xianfu's divine power before they could escape. Although there were no Tribulation Transcending Third Layer experts among them, there were quite a few divine ability cultivators with strength comparable to the Tribulation Transcending Second Layer.

Even mosquito meat was still meat.

At this moment, Wang Ping's understanding was very clear. He was still nursing heavy, unhealed injuries; if he ran off to brute-force a fight with Jin Hai, he would most likely return without any achievement.

After all, no matter how one looked at it, that was attacking a superior from a lower position.

If things went wrong, it might even be risky.

In comparison, killing those Brahma Cultivators who had already been suppressed by Xianfu and had no power to resist was a pure downward strike—and he excelled at that!

"Phew..."

Looking at the Brahma Cultivator corpses littered across the ground, Wang Ping let out a long breath. He once again sensed his Great Rebellion Exploits rising. It wasn't a massive increase, but it was useful nonetheless.

More importantly, having received this wave of exploit enhancement, his previously declining Blood Qi True Gang experienced a boost, and the injuries on his body actually healed without medicine!

'Keep going!'

Wang Ping flashed a savage grin. Setting everything else aside, these Brahma Cultivators were far easier to kill than inner sect disciples, and there were plenty of them!

But right at this moment.

"Boom!"

High up in the vault of the sky, a loud explosion suddenly rang out.

"Hm?"

Wang Ping looked up at the sound, and a look of excitement surfaced in his eyes. On the other side, Xianfu and Kunlun couldn't help but reveal wicked grins of their own.

'They're here!'

The Immortal Gate's 'reinforcements' had arrived.

Filling his vision was a twenty-four-colored rainbow, and positioned beneath the radiant glow were four towering, indistinct silhouettes radiating only sparkling golden light.

At the same time, the fleeing Jin Hai also sensed the shift. He looked up and saw this scene.

"Amita-f*cking-bha..."

That kid hadn't been lying?

In that moment, an unknown number of Brahma Cultivators watched as terror gradually crawled across their faces.

True Persons, Wisdom Kings, Ascetic Monks, Qi refining practitioners... Reaching this stage, it was no longer an ordinary Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle.

This was a Dao struggle!