Chapter 548: Wu Qi Is Dead Again 40

This sky bridge was built by Qingyuan Daoist, connecting to the gateway of Despair Slope. Without the sky bridge, Despair Slope and the Western Ox New Continent would exist in two entirely different worlds.

Chen Yindu's steps did not pause as he hurried away from Tiandao City, heading toward the Imperial Capital of Xinxiang.

"Is Senior Wu Qi not coming out with us?" Li Tianqing kept looking back as he asked.

Yang Bi was also gazing backward but saw no sign of Wu Qi.

"He won't be coming," Chen Shi's voice came through.

The two looked toward him. Chen Shi sat atop the Recreate Heaven-and-Earth Furnace, no longer speaking, instead replaying every detail of the battle between the Celestial Venerable and Wu Qi, trying to find any weakness in the Celestial Venerable.

This opportunity was rare. He currently possessed the Innate Dao Embryo, and his wisdom had reached unprecedented heights. If he still could not find the Celestial Venerable's weakness even now, then there would be no hope of victory.

Seeing this, Yang Bi and Li Tianqing each quieted their minds and thought deeply.

Within Despair Slope, demonic energy and demonic miasma raged in every direction, polluting this void and causing many cultivators within Despair Slope to involuntarily fall into corruption.

At the True God Dao Field, eight Celestial Way Walkers were in the midst of Dao Unification. These eight were at a critical juncture when suddenly demonic energy invaded the True God Dao Field. One Daoist could not help but cry out, his body floating into the air, a mass of demonic light exploding from atop his head and surging toward the sky as he involuntarily fell into corruption.

Seeing this, some of the other Celestial Way Walkers were quick-witted and immediately severed their Dao Unification process, steadying their minds and guarding their Dao Hearts. Others were a step too slow and fell to corruption one after another.

The Daoists who had held firm to their Dao Hearts found corrupted companions attacking them head-on. Caught off guard, they were killed in a single move, their heads severed from their bodies.

At the altar, Qiu Ning the fairy maiden had been guarding this place all along. Though the recent commotion affected her as well, she bore an important responsibility and did not intervene. She assumed that with the Celestial Venerable's strength, he would quickly resolve his opponent. Who would have thought that this battle would change so quickly and so dramatically, catching even her off guard?

First, the Celestial Venerable was on the receiving end of a beating, but then he unexpectedly activated a demonic technique and turned the tide, leaving her dumbfounded and bewildered.

But the flesh invasion and the corruption of heaven and earth that followed left her even more at a loss. By the time she reacted, Chen Yindu had already carved out a path and escaped, but the gateway of Despair Slope had been sealed by flesh, and the opportunity was lost.

Even as a Celestial Way Immortal, she could not help trembling.

"The Celestial Venerable... he truly might be a demonic cult villain."

Her heart pounded wildly. "Could it be that he really is what Zhong Wuwang spoke of, the culprit who corrupts heaven and earth? What should I do?"

Panic filled her heart. Nearly everyone at Despair Slope had achieved their current accomplishments through the Celestial Venerable's teachings and guidance. Everyone was his subordinate, and their reverence for him was second only to the Celestial True God. But the Celestial True God was too distant and illusory, something to gaze upon but never to contact.

Only the Celestial Venerable was approachable, treating everyone with such warmth and without the slightest air of superiority.

One could say that Despair Slope was founded single-handedly by the Celestial Venerable.

The founder of Despair Slope had betrayed Despair Slope and become its greatest enemy?

Such a thing was absurd, yet it had happened!

"I was raised on the Celestial Venerable's teachings since childhood, which is why I am what I am today. Should I strike at him, or should I obey him?"

A flash of inspiration crossed Qiu Ning the fairy maiden's mind, and her state of mind suddenly became clear. "To receive the Celestial Venerable's kindness and repay it is but a person's small righteousness. But the Celestial Venerable seeks to destroy the world and harm all living beings. For us to slay demons and vanquish evil is the great righteousness of the mortal world. When great righteousness is at hand, small righteousness must be set aside!"

She immediately charged toward the Celestial Venerable. But just then, she felt waves of demonic energy invading the small world where she had unified her Dao, and the demonic energy was profound and heavy.

The True God Dao Field should not have been susceptible to demonic energy invasion, but now that the Celestial True God had been corrupted by the Grand Sacrificial Officer and Chu Feng, the True God Dao Field had also become polluted by demonic energy.

Qiu Ning the fairy maiden was only halfway to her target when the demonic energy had already affected her. She could not help but cry out, her essence energy surging skyward, rolling like smoke and blasting into the heavens!

She knew the danger of demonic energy invasion, but by now her Dao Heart could no longer suppress the demonic energy. After all, she was not a true immortal, merely someone who had unified the Dao within another's Dao Field. Even a true immortal would be corrupted when facing such filth, let alone her.

Her body trembled violently, then her flesh began to grow and mutate wildly, her appearance becoming somewhat similar to the corrupted ghost clan. She charged toward the Celestial Venerable and Wu Qi.

Before she could even get close to the two, an invisible divine ability struck her, smashing her into an explosion in midair like a fly being swatted.

Facing Wu Qi and the Celestial Venerable, she simply did not have the strength to participate in the battle.

The battle between Wu Qi and the Celestial Venerable continued.

Wu Qi's offense was even more ferocious than before, his strikes even more ruthless and fierce, a completely suicidal style of fighting.

Earlier, he had still used the Yin Yang Qi Bottle to defend against the Celestial Venerable's attacks, but now he abandoned all defense, freely unleashing the Yin Yang Qi Bottle's power and sweeping it continuously toward the Celestial Venerable!

The Celestial Venerable's strength surpassed his. Earlier, he could rely on the Yin Yang Qi Bottle's power to gain an advantage over the Celestial Venerable, but now the invading flesh surged toward him, suppressing the Yin Yang Qi Bottle's might.

These masses of flesh were being refined by the sea of fire from the Yin Yang Qi Bottle, yet they kept writhing and squirming, endlessly pressing down and covering over. Even the sea of fire would eventually be filled by the flesh!

Wu Qi remained utterly fearless of death, desperately fighting the Celestial Venerable while fully unleashing the Yin Yang Qi Bottle, trying to pull the Celestial Venerable into the jade bottle and refine him!

Around the two, mountains of flesh surrounded them, covering both the ground and the heavens.

"Wu Qi, you've already been abandoned by them."

The Celestial Venerable retreated, no longer engaging him directly, instead disappearing into the writhing layers of flesh. His voice came through, laughing, "You are a discarded piece, just as you once treated the ancestors of the Great Shang Celestial Court as discarded pieces, using them to fight me to the death."

Wu Qi's eyes were bloodshot as he charged forward desperately. His fists and feet struck out, cleaving through mountains of flesh like splitting mountains to open a path, punching through layer after layer of flesh to track the Celestial Venerable's whereabouts!

Radiance burst from the Yin Yang Qi Bottle, transforming into a blazing sea of fire that forced back the surging flesh.

"Back then, you were the last remaining master of the Great Shang."

The Celestial Venerable's voice came from another direction, drawing Wu Qi to immediately change course. The Celestial Venerable laughed from afar, "You knew that only by using their fearless attacks could you have a chance to wound me. So you let the ancestors of the Great Shang die one by one, exhausting my cultivation and strength!"

Wu Qi's heart felt as if it were being twisted with knives. He could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

Back then, he had devised the plan to surround and kill the Celestial Venerable. As the Celestial Venerable said, this plan used the gods of the Great Shang Celestial Court to shatter all the flesh, besieging the Celestial Venerable and draining his strength as much as possible. Meanwhile, he preserved his own power, waiting to deliver a fatal blow at his peak condition.

This plan required sacrificing the gods of the Great Shang Celestial Court as offerings. Truly, it was an act of great treason!

Because the gods of the Great Shang Celestial Court were the ancestors of the Shang people. To sacrifice one's own ancestors, even merely to entertain such a thought, was a grave sin!

But he still went to the Great Shang Celestial Court, knelt before the ancestors, and paid respects to those ancient, majestic deities one by one, presenting his plan.

The deities sat amidst swirling incense offerings. At their head was the first Shang King, the one who had led the remnants of Great Shang across the Dark Sea, enduring decades of migration before finding this place.

Wu Qi still remembered his voice, deep and weathered, speaking unhurriedly: "Grand Guardian need not blame himself. We elders, sustained by the incense offerings of our descendants, is that not precisely to protect those who come after us?"

One by one, the ancient deities stood, divine power surging through the Celestial Court.

"If we are needed as offerings in this time of crisis, then we are willing to be those offerings. Use our spirits to secure your killing blow!"

"Grand Guardian, do not disappoint our hopes!"

In that great battle at the Celestial Court, all the Ancestral Gods died in battle, finally securing for him the hope of victory over the Celestial Venerable. He sacrificed his own life to deliver that strike, sending the Celestial Venerable from the Celestial Court all the way to the moon, blasting him apart. And he too died in the Celestial Venerable's counterattack.

The two perished together!

The Celestial Venerable's voice came from deeper within, laughing: "Grand Guardian, is that what those deities called you? They hoped you would kill me, but I survived. Do you have the face to face them? Ah, but you don't need to face them, because I already blasted their souls to dust."

Wu Qi punched through layer after layer of flesh, chasing to where the voice had come from, but the Celestial Venerable was already gone.

The Celestial Venerable's voice came from further away, laughing: "Grand Guardian, do you feel how useless you are? You sacrificed them, yet you couldn't kill me. They died for nothing..."

Wu Qi followed his voice, charging forward, panting heavily from exhaustion.

Flesh rolled in from all directions, pressing down from every side, causing the sea of fire from the Yin Yang Qi Bottle to shrink continuously.

"Grand Guardian..."

The Celestial Venerable's voice came from even further away. Wu Qi struggled to keep moving, but his steps grew slower and slower. His Dao Realm was now also being invaded by the flesh, shrinking continuously.

He gritted his teeth, then suddenly poured every ounce of his remaining strength into the Yin Yang Qi Bottle.

The Yin Yang Qi Bottle immediately blazed with radiant light, flying out from atop his head, tearing through layers of flesh and whistling away!

The Celestial Venerable was both shocked and furious: "Wu Qi, you're casting away the Yin Yang Qi Bottle to return it to Chen Shi? You're dreaming!"

He mobilized the boundless flesh to block the Yin Yang Qi Bottle.

At the same moment, a sharp light flashed in Wu Qi's eyes. His blood energy surged explosively as he charged out along the Celestial Venerable's voice, cleaving through layers of flesh and appearing before him.

The Celestial Venerable was caught between controlling the flesh to encircle the Yin Yang Qi Bottle and dealing with Wu Qi's onslaught. He was stretched thin!

Wu Qi fought with increasing ferocity, his strikes growing more powerful with each passing moment.

"Boom!"

The Celestial Venerable was struck in the chest by his fist, sent crashing backward, the flesh behind him exploding continuously.

Wu Qi pursued relentlessly. The two fought across several thousand li, and the Celestial Venerable was beaten until he coughed blood. Finally, with the aid of the earth-covering flesh, he managed to intercept the Yin Yang Qi Bottle!

With the treasure in hand, he freed himself up and activated the demonic technique, the Great Wilderness Ming Dao Collection. The Dao power of the Grand Veiled Heaven surged, driving the boundless flesh into a supreme strike!

His fury-fueled blow was naturally no small matter. He would definitely grind Wu Qi to pieces!

Just as his strike was about to land on Wu Qi, suddenly Wu Qi's body shook violently. Cracking and popping sounds erupted from his limbs as his bones shattered inch by inch.

His Primordial Spirit still maintained its attacking posture, then suddenly paused. Like something made of sand, it collapsed and shattered with a thunderous boom!

That frenzied, violent offense from just moments ago had been nothing more than a desperate final struggle before death. In truth, he had long since exhausted his life force.

"King Chen, did you find his weakness?"

A smile appeared on Wu Qi's face, tinged with regret. "Too bad, I couldn't send the Yin Yang Qi Bottle out..."

His pupils suddenly became hollow and pale. His life force was severed.

"If there is a next life..."

The Celestial Venerable's divine ability struck. Wu Qi's physical body was shattered, exploding with a bang into a mist of blood.

The Celestial Venerable withdrew his hand, his face ashen. He urged the flesh to absorb Wu Qi's body and shattered Primordial Spirit, sneering coldly: "No corpse left behind, Primordial Spirit extinguished forever! Wu Qi, I don't believe you can be reborn again!"

In the Imperial Capital of Xinxiang, at the imperial garden of the palace, another Wu Qi dropped off the gourd vine.

He stared in confusion at the Purple Heaven Vine before him. He saw that another Wu Qi had somehow grown on the Purple Heaven Vine, hanging from the vine, swinging back and forth in a dazed, foolish manner.

Wu Qi looked blankly at the other version of himself, then lowered his head to examine his own hands.

He walked over to the nearby pond, looked down at his reflection on the water's surface, and touched his head. The middle of his head was bare and bald. This spot should have been the stem of the gourd vine, which was why no hair grew there.

"Where am I? Why am I here? Didn't I already die?"

Countless questions churned in his mind.

Just then, a young eunuch walked over and froze in surprise upon seeing him.

Wu Qi asked, "What time is this? Who are you? What place is this? Who is the current Shang King?"

After a long silence, Wu Qi stared with his mouth agape, looked up at the sky, and silently left the palace.

The young eunuch Xiao Chengzi hastily called out, "Wu Qi, you can't leave! His Majesty hasn't returned yet! Wu Qi! This is bad!"

At Despair Slope, the flesh writhed lazily, contracting and withdrawing toward the heavens, seemingly reluctant to leave this world.

The Celestial Venerable's expression darkened. He barked, "Get back!"

The flesh in the sky suddenly shook violently, as if enraged, and transformed in midair into a colossal palm.

The Celestial Venerable grew somewhat tense. He hastily summoned a long whip from the Grand Veiled Heaven. The whip was entirely cyan in color, a hundred zhang in length, crackling with flashing cyan-white lightning.

The flesh in the sky seemed to possess consciousness. It appeared quite afraid of that whip and immediately formed a shield of meat, dense and hard, continuously retreating. In the end, the flesh retreated completely, and the meat shield softened, flowing out of Despair Slope like water before vanishing without a trace.

The Celestial Venerable sighed in relief, put away the cyan whip, and returned his Dao Realm to its original place.

"This thing is getting stronger and stronger..."

He looked toward Despair Slope and couldn't help but frown. Now the place was filled with crumbling ruins everywhere. The fairy mountains had been gnawed into bare ground by the flesh, and demonic energy pollution was everywhere.

More critically, the place was now empty and desolate. Nearly all the Celestial Way Immortals and Celestial Way Walkers had perished in this fierce battle.

"Wu Qi came to Despair Slope this time to fight me to the death, but Chen Shi, Zhong Wuwang, and the others did not make a move. They only watched. What are these fellows planning?"

He muttered softly, "But now that Wu Qi is dead, their strongest combat power is lost. Whatever schemes they have are now useless! What a pity about Despair Slope. After all, I built it up with so much hard work..."

He shook his head.

"Now that the greatest obstacle has been removed, and with the Yin Yang Qi Bottle in hand, it's time to sweep across the world and assimilate this realm!"