Chapter 345: I Am Already Standing Upon Your Destiny!

Baohu fell into a daze, momentarily incapable of action. Wang Ping, however, would not wait for her. The divine power he had kept hidden for so long, 'the gentleman should hide his implements at the right time,' finally erupted with a resounding boom.

And it was not just his divine power. The destiny form Wang Ping had forged earlier, the Dormant Dragon Kun, leaped out from the torrent of destiny to manifest in the world. As it soared upward, its shape transformed—spreading its wings to rise upon the winds, it turned into a Peng, perfectly echoing the variations of 'the gentleman should hide his implements at the right time'!

'What is he trying to do?'

Only now did Baohu's mind finally clear under the intense pressure of the divine power. As she regained her calm, her thoughts began racing.

'I must admit, his ambush succeeded.'

'Tribulation Transcending Third Layer, a water-attribute divine power, and he has even achieved a destiny form... If he was just a chess piece before, he now has every chance of flipping the board.'

'He truly is my tribulation...'

Baohu lamented inwardly, but she did not panic. Regaining her composure, she quickly realized another fact: no matter what, he did not possess a Spiritual Treasure!

That was the most crucial point.

Breaking through to the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer was indeed terrifying and outrageous, but at the end of the day, it was still only the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer. Without a Spiritual Treasure, he lacked a qualitative leap in power.

In contrast, she still had her Seven Hearts Linked Gourd. Even without the Three-Diamond Vajra Hook, suppressing a Tribulation Transcending Third Layer cultivator with the might of a Spiritual Treasure should not be a problem. She was not actually in that much danger; the moment just now had merely been too shocking.

'No matter what, I can fight him!'

With that thought, the gourd in Baohu's hand lit up. The yellow gourd, symbolizing an indestructible vajra body, swayed slightly as it reinforced her Dharma body.

Of course, Baohu also understood.

At this moment, Wang Ping was a complete unknown wielding a deadly first-strike advantage. Whether it was his divine powers or his destiny form, she knew absolutely nothing about him.

Therefore, despite her confidence, she remained cautious.

'I'll use the yellow gourd to defend for a moment and test the profundity of his divine power. Then I'll look for a way to break it. That should be the safest approach...'

And then, she froze once more.

Because she found that after Wang Ping revealed his true form, neither his destiny form nor the radiance of his divine power caused her even the slightest bit of harm.

True to its corresponding lineage—Hidden Dragon Meridian Circulation and Netherworld Communication—the subterranean yin water nourished things silently. Throughout the entire process, she felt no destructive force. It simply felt as if a veil had been drawn back by the radiance of Wang Ping's divine power, and the numerous strange feelings she had experienced during their previous battle resurfaced.

'That's right.'

'Why did I think it was unimportant before? My Deep Blue Eyes Phase could not see the future... which means karma and the heavenly mysteries were forcibly obscured by some profound method!'

'To build merit, one must remain hidden.'

No, it was more than that!

Endless realizations burst forth in Baohu's mind one after another as the radiance of Wang Ping's divine power circulated, unraveling the dense layers of mystery from earlier.

'How could I have been so foolish? If Heaven-Reversing Sun-Turning had reversed time on my body, how could my Grand Vow Golden Body still be trapping Xianfu and the others?'

'It's fake. It's all fake!'

'There was no turning back of time at all!'

'The so-called Heaven-Reversing Sun-Turning reversing time was a complete scam crafted intentionally to make me misunderstand his methods.'

'That wasn't reversing time. It was another method of influencing time altogether.'

Wang Ping looked at Baohu and smiled slightly.

'The gentleman should hide his implements at the right time'—by hiding his implements outside his body, he could obscure karma, mask fate, and conceal the years. This final path was precisely a Major Divine Ability that interfered with time!

Wang Ping had not actually reversed time. Instead, he had used his divine power to secretly hide the segment of time's influence that Baohu believed had been reversed. Even though the resulting effect looked quite similar to Heaven-Reversing Sun-Turning, its core nature was entirely different, and it did not require him to expend his lifespan at all!

As for Wang Ping himself.

He was able to escape the gourd's spatial dimension, and even recover from his injuries, not because time had flowed backward, but due to another application of 'the gentleman should hide his implements at the right time'.

By hiding his implements within his body, he could conceal his injuries, evade calamities, and hide mystical arts.

It rendered laws unable to bind him, and the Dao unable to destroy him.

'I was misled.'

At that moment, the many strange feelings in Baohu's heart slotted together like puzzle pieces, finally sketching out the complete picture of the deception that had been running since the very start of their battle.

'Every part of his setup was to make me think his killing move was Heaven-Reversing Sun-Turning, tricking me into believing he shifted me out of the pure land by rewinding time. I should have realized something was wrong, but the heavenly mysteries were hidden and karma was obscured. In the end, my attention was completely diverted by the avatar and main body he intentionally exposed!'

'To establish a legacy, one must arrange their forces.'

With this realization, Baohu understood, yet one thing remained utterly confounding: what was the purpose of meticulously crafting such a deception?

That avatar was still refined away by her.

The main body's ambush might have created a massive commotion just now, but it did not seem to hold any actual, tangible destructive power. It merely seemed to have tricked her for a single round.

'If this is it, how is he going to kill me?'

"Rumble!"

The next second, a massive boom interrupted Baohu's thoughts. She looked up to see Wang Ping standing with his hands behind his back, a fiery glow silhouetting him as layer upon layer of grand gateways opened wide.

Heavenly Craft Cave Abode!

Seeing this heavenly abode suddenly appear here, Baohu's first reaction was pure terror. 'Has this man... actually gained control of the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode?'

After all, without control, it was impossible to move a heavenly abode. For the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode—originally situated within Jingyuan Pass—to be transferred out here into deep space, he clearly had to have become its master. But to open the heavenly abode now... could it be that he wanted to knock her inside?

'It's a beautiful dream.'

Indeed, a heavenly abode could serve perfectly as a dead end to trap and kill her. If she died inside this heavenly abode, the Heavenly Frost Cave Abode definitely would not be triggered to manifest in the world.

But what right did Wang Ping have?

'With such a massive cave abode placed right here, and lacking any divine power to suck me inside, how exactly are you going to knock me in? Do you think I won't just run? Do you take me for an idiot?'

However, Baohu was ultimately cautious.

Even though she told herself she was not stupid enough to be knocked into the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode, she made an immediate decision, summoning a streak of escaping light to fly far away from Wang Ping.

'I'll retreat first!'

No matter what, since her opponent had opened the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode, he definitely possessed the certainty to strike her down into it. In that case, her best response was to flee.

This decision was undoubtedly correct, but just as Baohu was about to move, a bone-chilling coldness abruptly surged in her heart—

'I can't move?'

Yes, she could not move. She had already summoned her escaping light, yet she had not pulled even half a step away from Wang Ping. She frantically tried to retreat, but she remained completely motionless.

In an instant, she felt as if she had been turned into a stone statue, or as if she had been plunged to the bottom of the ocean where tens of thousands of tons of seawater crushed down on her body, rendering her immobile. And on the other side of that sea, the young Daoist draped in an obscure radiance smiled faintly and slowly uttered a single sentence: "The merit of eradicating the fire, if not you, then who?"

Those eight words were like the final touch of a masterpiece. Every syllable was a jewel, slamming resoundingly into Baohu's sea of consciousness. They shook her mind to the core, instantly throwing her into a bewildered trance.

'Made manifest to the world.'

'It is a great feat...'

She understood.

Under the deception of Wang Ping, who had hidden in the dark, she was the one who had struck down and killed his avatar. And the Immortal Physique held by that avatar corresponded perfectly to the Earth Yang Fire.

That was the very last thing in the world related to the Earth Yang Fire.

She had personally killed that avatar.

She had completely eradicated the Earth Yang Fire.

'Everything was orchestrated to make me achieve this outcome. And now, this process has been transformed by a divine power into a great feat, and I am the main character of it!'

In Wang Ping's palm, the divine power bloomed.

This was a brand new feat—the feat of 'Baohu Eradicating the Earth Yang Fire.' Having gained the acknowledgment of destiny, it shockingly manifested in the world.

At this moment, this great feat was like a massive mountain pressing down heavily upon Baohu. The reason she could not move originated from the binding chains of this feat—because right in front of her, the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode had shockingly appeared, and inside it piled countless spiritual items of the Earth Yang Fire.

Therefore, she had to fulfill the great feat placed upon her shoulders.

To go forward and eradicate the Earth Yang Fire!

"I..."

Baohu's heart was filled with refusal, but she had no way to reject it. This was a great feat she had completed herself. Anyone else in the world could deny this feat, but she alone could not!

And so, she stepped forward.

No one forced her, and no one struck her. She just walked voluntarily, step by step, into the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode, watching helplessly as the grand doors slammed shut behind her with a boom.

All her senses from the outside world and everything out there faded away as the doors closed, subsequently plunging her into darkness. Only then did Baohu finally regain her mobility. Her square, emerald-colored pupils were already overflowing with despair as she looked toward the Daoist standing in front of the heavenly abode's profound throne, gazing down at her.

In this moment, she finally understood the profundity of Wang Ping's divine power.

'To build merit, one must remain hidden; to establish a legacy, one must arrange their forces.'

'A dragon appears in the field, made manifest to the world.'

Baohu gave a miserable laugh. "What an amazing water qi divine power. What a brilliant 'the gentleman should hide his implements at the right time.' You actually hid your implements within me, using me to add glory to your great feat!"

She had lost!

Even though she was only trapped inside the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode and still possessed all her profound divine powers, and even her Spiritual Treasure was still there, Baohu could already see her own end.

The reason was simple.

How could a lowly cultivator like her possibly bear the great feat of 'Eradicating the Earth Yang Fire'? In the massive Heavenly Craft Cave Abode, among the ruins of the Great Rebellion, what could she possibly use to eradicate it?

Therefore, the only outcome was that to fulfill this feat forced upon her, she would exert all her strength and recklessly bash herself to death inside the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode. She would ram herself against it until her physical body shattered and her soul scattered, continuing until Wang Ping was satisfied and withdrew the great feat!

And what if he did not withdraw it?

'Then even if my true spirit reincarnates—whether I become a human, a beast, or a blade of grass... I will still have to come back and continue fulfilling this feat, continuing to smash myself to death in front of this heavenly abode!'

Baohu's heart was filled with utter dejection.

She had never seen such a divine power before. Water qi... even in the Brahma Nation's records of water qi divine powers, there was nothing like this. It could not even be called a Major Divine Ability anymore.

It should be a Supreme Divine Ability!

"How tyrannical..."

Only now did the young Daoist, who had maintained his calm in front of the profound throne of the heavenly abode, finally gaze down. A hint of laughter slipped into his voice. "Fellow Daoist Baohu."

"I am already standing upon your destiny."