Chapter 839: The Grim Avenger

"Is this the power of the Golden Totem?"

Ye Xiu forced Stephanie back with a single slash of his blade and asked in surprise.

A fresh, bloody, fleshy arm could actually turn into golden liquid and reconnect with the body.

This was even more bizarre than the Demon Clan’s ability to turn into a blood cloud.

"You don’t know?"

Stephanie froze for a moment, then suddenly understood:

"I get it. Your Dragon God Totem hasn’t fully awakened yet, has it?"

"And if it hasn’t, so what?"

Ye Xiu didn’t care at all that his secret had been seen through by Stephanie, and said coldly:

"Hurry up and answer my question, or I’ll kill you and Kristina."

Stephanie burst out laughing, throwing her head back, laughing so hard she doubled over, clutching her stomach, unable to straighten up.

She laughed Ye Xiu and Kristina into a daze.

"Kristina, Mom isn’t going to die."

Stephanie said to Kristina, still laughing:

"As long as Mom doesn’t die, Ye Xiu won’t dare kill you."

Kristina looked completely bewildered; she couldn’t figure out where her mother’s confidence came from.

"You’re saying I can’t kill you?" Ye Xiu snorted coldly.

"That’s right!"

Stephanie nodded and said:

"The Temple said that the Dragon God is omnipotent. Whoever inherits the Dragon God Totem and fully awakens it will possess all of the Dragon God’s abilities. You don’t even know what the Golden Totem’s power is, which is enough to prove your Dragon God Totem hasn’t fully awakened."

After listening, Ye Xiu suddenly realized he didn’t actually fully understand the Dragon God Totem, and said:

"All right then, I’ll just test whether I can kill you."

"Come on!" Stephanie’s battle intent surged once more, her confidence exploding again. She even took the initiative to attack Ye Xiu.

This time, Ye Xiu no longer responded move for move to test Stephanie’s ability. The Battle Soul Blade in his hand was like a meteor flashing by; with a flash of cold light, the charging Stephanie was cleaved cleanly in two.

"Mom..."

Seeing Stephanie’s corpse split in half on the spot, Kristina let out a wretched scream.

Yet in the very next instant!

Under Ye Xiu’s and Kristina’s gaze, Stephanie’s two halves suddenly both turned into golden liquid, squirmed together into one, and then transformed back into Stephanie.

"Mom, how did you do that?"

Kristina ran over, asking in delighted surprise.

Stephanie didn’t answer. She slowly stood up, looked at Ye Xiu with a smile, and said:

"Well? Didn’t I tell you you can’t kill me?"

She looked like she’d already seized the initiative in this battle, playing Ye Xiu in the palm of her hand.

Ye Xiu carefully scrutinized Stephanie’s body, now fully reconnected and good as new, without a single mark, and he truly was shocked.

What kind of damn ability was this?

She could freely switch between liquid and a normal human body, and emerge completely unscathed.

"Hahaha, Ye Xiu, I thought you were supposed to be so powerful. If you’ve got the guts, kill my mom. From what I can see, your ability is just so-so!"

Kristina was gloating hard.

Puff!

Ye Xiu swung his blade again, chopping off Stephanie’s left arm with one stroke.

"Stop trying. Even if you run a hundred tests, a thousand tests, you still won’t be able to kill me."

Stephanie said with a smile.

Ye Xiu didn’t respond. He just stared extremely seriously and closely as Stephanie’s left arm, which had fallen to the ground, turned into golden liquid again, squirmed up along Stephanie’s leg, and climbed back to the severed shoulder, then transformed back into her left arm.

"This isn’t the power of the Golden Totem!" Ye Xiu said with absolute certainty.

"It is, it really is the Golden Totem’s power." Stephanie retorted.

Ye Xiu locked his gaze on Stephanie’s eyes and expression, then suddenly sneered and said:

"As long as one’s cultivation path doesn’t deviate, a Seventh Realm War God—also known as a ’Convergence Stage’ Martial Artist—has every single cell of their body fused with their own Dao. Their life force is extremely vigorous. They can regrow severed limbs, and even if they’re dismembered, they can reassemble themselves—though it will consume some martial prowess and vital energy."

"And an Eighth Realm War God, also called the Transcendent Realm, can commune with heaven and earth and borrow part of the Heaven and Earth Laws, making death become extremely difficult."

"This ability of yours, where a dismembered body turns into golden liquid and recombines, is very similar to the powers of the Seventh Realm and Eighth Realm. It is absolutely not the ability of the Golden Totem."

Speaking up to this point, Ye Xiu fell silent for a moment, then said with unwavering certainty:

"This is a Martial Arts technique you created yourself by drawing on the Buddha Sect’s Formless Divine Skill and the Demon Clan’s Demon Transformation Technique. After you reached the Seventh Realm and converged with your Dao, you gained the ability to freely switch between liquid and physical body, a near-immortal state."

Listening to Ye Xiu’s analysis, Stephanie’s frame of mind grew more and more shaken. Ye Xiu clearly hadn’t fully awakened his Dragon God Totem and couldn’t perceive the Golden Totem’s ability.

Yet relying on his massive store of knowledge, astonishing insight, and meticulous logic, he had still forced his way to the truth behind her Immortal Body.

"Even if you’ve figured out the secret of why I can’t be killed, so what? Unless you fully awaken your Dragon God Totem, you’ll never be able to kill me."

Stephanie said with a smile.

The way she kept shaking her head and acting cocky made Ye Xiu angry enough to laugh. The Battle Soul Blade slashed out again, chopping off Stephanie’s left arm once more.

"How many times are you planning to test this?"

Stephanie said speechlessly:

"I already told you, even if you try a hundred times, a thousand—this..."

Stephanie didn’t finish her sentence. Her left arm, which had just turned into golden liquid on the ground, was suddenly slapped by Ye Xiu’s palm and turned into golden ice.

"That’s the Mysterious Ice Fiery Palm?"

The smile slowly faded from Stephanie’s face as she asked in shock.

Ye Xiu said expressionlessly, "That’s right. Tell me, if I chop you into eight pieces, use the Mysterious Ice Fiery Palm to ice seal each piece, and imprison each one in a different formation, what do you think will happen?"

Stephanie’s expression turned ugly. She hadn’t expected Ye Xiu to come up with a way to break her Immortal Body.

As soon as Kristina heard that Ye Xiu had found a method to counter her mother’s ability, her face instantly turned liver-colored. So in the end, they still couldn’t escape Ye Xiu’s clutches?

"Kristina!"

Stephanie grabbed her daughter’s hand with her only remaining right hand and said apologetically:

"I’m sorry. Mom won’t be able to protect you anymore."

Kristina burst into tears in an instant. "Mom, don’t say that. I’m the one who harmed you. It’s all that bastard Ye Xiu’s fault. He’s too scheming. He’s going to die a horrible death sooner or later."

Speaking up to here, she glared angrily at Ye Xiu and said:

"Ye Xiu, you devil, this is bullying the weak. You’re just picking on us. You’re a grown man, yet you’re oppressing me and my mom, two women—what kind of ability is that supposed to be?"

"Bullying the weak?"

Ye Xiu’s expression twisted savagely as he roared:

"Twenty-six years ago, when the three Arbiter families decided to use me—a newborn—as an experimental subject, did that count as bullying the weak?"

"Ten years ago, when, based on a decision by the higher-ups of the three Arbiter families, your mother took full charge of tampering with Long Tianba’s memories to make him target me, did that count as bullying the weak?"

"Because of the plan of the three Arbiter families, my mom and my grandparents died tragically in a car accident—does that count as bullying the weak?"