Chapter 304: Worlds Apart

Before Jingyuan Pass.

Staring at the unfamiliar nun who had suddenly appeared, Wang Ping felt no apprehension—only boundless joy. 'I knew the Brahma Nation wouldn't sit this out!'

How could the True Persons be the only ones plotting in the Immortal-Brahma Sword Battle?

How could the four great Wisdom Kings and the Brahma Nation's Arhats allow these True Persons to leisurely lay their plans and reap the rewards, leaving themselves with nothing?

Wang Ping had been prepared for this from the start. As the crux of the True Persons' schemes, bearing the identity and legacy of the Great Rebellion, he was bound to be a prime target for the Brahma Nation. They would inevitably send someone to contact him, and this was the perfect opportunity to probe their stance on the True Persons' machinations.

'It has to be her.'

His gaze landed on Baohu before drifting slightly to the purple gourd resting in her palm. His Divine Intent immediately throbbed with a sense of crisis.

'A Spiritual Treasure.'

Without a doubt, this nun had earned the acknowledgment of a Spiritual Treasure, just as he had. Furthermore, her cultivation base was higher than his—comparable to the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer of the Immortal Gate.

"Clang!"

In the next second, Wang Ping drew his blade and slashed. Billowing golden flames illuminated the world once more, veiling the edge of his blade as it closed in on the space between Baohu's brows in the blink of an eye.

Although he was ready to negotiate with the Brahma Nation, he had no intention of surrendering the initiative. Bearing the identity and legacy of the Great Rebellion, he was the center of the grand chessboard. He had no reason to accommodate them; the Brahma Nation needed to prove their sincerity to win a share of the spoils!

"Amitabha."

Baohu remained utterly unruffled. The gourd in her hand instantly shifted color, radiating a limpid, golden-yellow light that enveloped her and rooted her in place.

An instant later, the blade struck.

"Clang!"

This peerless strike—brimming with the immense might of Clasping Mountains and Leaping Seas, a force Zhongjian had failed to withstand—rang out with the metallic crash of an evenly matched collision against Baohu.

'Does the yellow gourd grant an indestructible diamond physique...?'

Wang Ping pondered this, yet his movements never slowed. He immediately drove the Great Law of the Azure Sky, rotating his magnetic field to unleash hundreds, even thousands of slashes in a single blink.

Seeing this, Baohu remained unfazed and let out a light, silvery chuckle. At the same time, her gourd shifted hues once more—first to green, then to azure—before an endless torrent of water and fire surged outward. The elements wove across the sky, crashing headlong into Wang Ping's face.

"When water and fire clash, the extremes invoke change."

"The cycle begins anew, beasts rise as men fall."

The melodious chant slipped past the nun's crimson lips. It sounded gentle, but the anomaly evoked by the incantation was far more ferocious than Wang Ping could have ever imagined.

"Command!"

Water and fire intertwined. The flames acted like flaying blades, peeling away his surrounding vitality and magical power, while the swirling water twisted in eighteen bends, binding him in place.

Using both in tandem to overcome hardness with softness, she completely dissolved the immense force of his Clasping Mountains and Leaping Seas. Before Wang Ping could react, a Red Gourd was cast into the sky. Radiant as a roaring flame, it swelled rapidly against the wind, instantly transforming into a majestic, towering divine mountain of ten thousand ren.

"Boom!"

The descending strike possessed world-shattering might. Had they not been standing right beside Jingyuan Pass, which locked the earth veins in place, the blow would have been enough to sink an entire continent!

A short distance away, Baohu narrowed her emerald eyes.

A fierce gale howled past, whipping her kasaya around her. Yet, at that exact moment, she turned around preemptively, pointing a slender, jade-like finger forward.

Almost simultaneously, Wang Ping's figure materialized!

The previous strike had been incredibly profound, but it couldn't trap him. With a slight pull from the Ever-Suppressing Six Harmonies Cauldron, he had executed Land-Walking to escape.

To his surprise, however, his evasion—which he had intended as a sneak attack, even using the Profound Nether Pearl to enter Latent Concealment and mask his aura—had been predicted. Baohu anticipated his ambush, casting a spell ahead of time to block his surefire blade at the critical moment.

"Boom!"

It was the yellow gourd once again. The indestructible diamond color coated Baohu's fingertip, sending sparks flying in all directions upon impact. Once more, she didn't retreat a single half-step, matching him evenly.

"Quite the skill..."

Wang Ping pulled back. The Profound Nether Pearl spun at his glabella, radiating a murky light that wrapped around him. Growing still, he vanished from the spot once more.

Seeing this, Baohu shook her head and chuckled lightly.

"Benefactor, there is no need to waste your strength..."

Before she even finished speaking, Wang Ping emerged from his concealment, drawing his blade to slash. Yet Baohu stepped in first, moving to block him as if she had expected the attack all along.

In a flash, the two exchanged hundreds, then thousands of blows. As time passed, Baohu's elegant brows gradually furrowed. Wang Ping's blade was growing heavier and denser, its edge far more vicious, steadily chipping away at the profound light of her supposedly indestructible physique.

Conquering the Profound!

It wasn't that Wang Ping's power was increasing, but rather that the more they clashed, the more he was able to counter her, achieving ten parts of effect with only one part of effort.

Once this profound momentum accumulated to its absolute peak, he would unleash his full strength, shattering the Fourfold War God to deliver his invincible blade intent—the Heavenly Martial Conquering the Profound First Blade.

'Let's give it a try...'

Wang Ping's lips curled into a smirk, thrilled by the hunt. But right at that moment, an urgent shout rang out from the other end of the battlefield.

"Junior Brother, save—save me...!"

It was Kunlun.

Scanning the area, Wang Ping saw that the Rigid Flame Furnace Kunlun had transformed into was on the verge of collapsing under the combined assault of Nurong, Suoze, and Zhongjian.

'Are you kidding me?'

Wang Ping sighed. The times were changing too quickly. Was an Immortal Gate True Transmission—a status that had once seemed utterly unreachable to him—now just a stray dog on the side of the road?

Meanwhile, the wretchedly fleeing Kunlun noticed Wang Ping's gaze and practically went mad with rage. 'Fuck your mother, I'm fighting three on one here! Is it my fault I'm losing? And stop just looking at the outcome of the battle—it completely invalidates a person's hard work!'

Kunlun felt incredibly aggrieved.

Earlier, he had been confident in taking on three opponents without fear, provided those Brahma Cultivators served under a Wisdom King. But Zhongjian, who had suddenly shown up, was of the Arhat Seats.

That single variable changed everything.

Even though Wang Ping had heavily injured Zhongjian, the monk was still of the Arhat Seats and had skills to match. He retained seventy percent of his combat prowess and had not withdrawn from the fight.

As a result, in just a few short moments, Kunlun could no longer hold on.

'I'll fall back to Jingyuan Pass first. With the city's formations backing me, I can still fight! Or I can just wait for Xianfu to reinforce us. Either way, it's not my turn to risk my life!'

Kunlun's mind spun rapidly. Truth be told, he had his own trump card: the Ghost Axe Immortal Physique he had painstakingly cultivated. However, unlike Wang Ping's, his immortal physique wasn't suited for combat, and it was still accumulating power. As his ace in the hole for eradicating the Heavenly Craft Supreme Yang Nine Smeltings Qi, he couldn't use it lightly.

"...What a pity."

Seeing this, Wang Ping shook his head and abandoned his continued accumulation of Conquering the Profound. He took a step back, and four blurry figures quickly materialized around him.

Fourfold War God, manifest!

In an instant, the four figures shattered one after another. Taking Wang Ping's entire body of true astral energy with them, they empowered his blade, carving a magnificent arc across the sky.

Heavenly Martial Conquering the Profound First Blade!

The blade light was blindingly bright. Baohu originally intended to block it with the indestructible yellow gourd, but a fraction of a second before the blade arrived, her brows furrowed.

Decisively abandoning her initial plan, she shifted the gourd to red. Peerless divine power surged out, flooding her graceful body. She then reached down and unhooked the Vajra Pestle tied at her waist. Gripping it tightly, she raised it with understated ease and tapped it against the sweeping blade light.

Secret Traces Vajra Pestle!

"Bang!"

The blade light instantly dimmed. All of its profound momentum was knocked away before it completely shattered, utterly unable to withstand the might of the nun's pestle.

A second Spiritual Treasure!

Wang Ping's expression filled with shock. Earning the acknowledgment of a single Spiritual Treasure was already absurd, yet this nun had actually pulled out a second one.

'This isn't just power; this is heaven-defying backing. Zhongjian, Jin Hai, Wu Chi... compared to this nun, they are worlds apart.'

This was a true direct disciple of the Brahma Nation!

Wang Ping marveled inwardly, yet his mindset remained steady. His Invincible Divine Intent didn't waver in the slightest. After all, his opponent was comparable to the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer, while he was only at the Tribulation Transcending Second Layer.

'Strictly speaking, I'm fighting above my realm.'

'If she were at the Tribulation Transcending Second Layer like me, she definitely wouldn't be my match... So, while it looks like I'm at a disadvantage, I'm actually the winner!'

Besides, he had already achieved his goal.

When he unleashed that lethal slash, Zhongjian and the other two—who had been pursuing Kunlun—were frightened into a rapid retreat, buying Kunlun the time he needed.

"Save—save... That's it?!"

The moment Kunlun landed inside Jingyuan Pass, bolstered by the formation arrays, his confidence instantly returned. He formed a hand seal and pointed, causing the layered formations within the city to surge up from the ground!

He was safe, but after executing that strike, Wang Ping's qi and strength were drained. He was forced to halt in place and adjust his vitality to recover for a split second... Yet in that momentary opening, as if she had expected it all along, Baohu's emerald eyes flared with light, and the gourd in her hand shifted back to purple.

"Absorb!"

The purple radiance reappeared!

Her timing was impeccable, perfectly catching Wang Ping in the exact moment he gathered his breath. Unable to dodge, he was swept up by the purple light head-on.

Immediately after, the world in Wang Ping's eyes began to invert.

Heaven, earth, and all of creation shrank, sinking into a hazy river of purple mist. A moment later, the purple mist dissipated, revealing his new surroundings.

All he saw was absolute emptiness.

There was no distinction of up, down, left, or right, no boundary of Cosmos or time.

There was only a vast, rolling expanse of purple mist.

Yet as he surveyed this scene, not a trace of panic appeared on Wang Ping's face. Instead, he smiled, cupping his hands in a polite bow toward the boundless purple sky.

"May I ask which senior of the Brahma Nation wishes to see me?"