"His Thunderous Jade Pivot Great Method can't last much longer."
Yang Bi's eyes flickered as they landed on Chen Shi. At this moment Chen Shi had activated a combat method, the Thunderous Jade Pivot Great Method, merging his physical body, Primordial Spirit, and Dao Field into one. His body assumed the form of the Heavenly Lord of Universal Transformation of Thunder Sounds Responding to the Origin of the Nine Heavens, a third eye opened at his forehead, and he commanded all thunder Dao power.
The Heavenly Lord of Universal Transformation of Thunder Sounds Responding to the Origin of the Nine Heavens, known as the Thunder Ancestor, when he used the Thunder Ancestor true form his combat strength soared. Even those at the Sever the Three Corpses stage would not dare take his attacks head-on.
But this combat method consumed vital energy and blood terribly.
Yang Bi had studied Chen Shi's past battles and selected those where Chen Shi used the Thunderous Jade Pivot Great Method. He found that as Chen Shi's cultivation improved, the time Chen Shi could maintain that method did not correspondingly increase. That meant one thing: as Chen Shi's realm rose, the method's consumption of vital energy rose accordingly.
In other words, the duration Chen Shi could maintain the Thunderous Jade Pivot Great Method was fixed; he could not hold it longer.
Yang Bi could not match Chen Shi while Chen Shi used this combat method, but once Chen Shi dispersed the Thunder Ancestor true form and his vital energy flagged, Yang Bi would have a chance to defeat him!
"Four breaths until he disperses the Thunderous Jade Pivot Great Method."
Yang Bi breathed slowly.
First breath.
Just now, in their clash Chen Shi and he had exchanged offense and defense several times within a short span. Yang Bi felt Chen Shi's close-combat power deeply; his arms were numb and sore and needed time to bring his body back to peak condition.
Second breath.
His breathing smoothed, the numbness in his arms gradually fading. He summoned his Primordial Spirit and deployed a Dao Field; the miniature shrine at the back of his head glowed, and a Divine Embryo sat inside it.
His Divine Embryo was not first-grade; it was only a third-grade Prajna Divine Embryo.
Third breath.
His Divine Embryo fused with his Primordial Spirit; Dao Field merged with his body; body and Primordial Spirit became one. In an instant the four achieved a perfect unity.
Yang Bi activated the third technique of the Jade Emperor Nine Heavens Register, using its spellcasting without utilizing its cultivation method. Above the nine heavens, nine-heaven mother Dao sovereign talismans formed, like an immortal plucking a zither, the strings’ notes intermingling as they descended from the sky.
Yang Bi stepped forward. This time he used the Minor Tribulation Salvation Formula. The Minor Tribulation Salvation Formula was a technique founded by the Li Family's ancients, profound and recorded among the Ten Books of Cultivation; it is a method that can cross tribulation and ascend.
This method was naturally inferior to immortal-grade techniques, but Yang Bi could not perfect the immortal-grade methods, only mastering fragments—some moves and forms. That later required higher realms, stronger divine sense, and deeper comprehension.
But the Minor Tribulation Salvation Formula was different. He could fully comprehend it, and on that foundation innovate and breakthrough to make it stronger!
Therefore, even compared to simpler methods, it could exhibit power surpassing some immortal arts!
The Minor Tribulation Salvation Formula controlled thunder, using thunder techniques to transform the void and all things, constructing a Primordial Spirit Dao Field, opening a Realm of Emptiness, and in the thunder enlightenment experiencing endless life cycles to refine a pure Yang Dao Body.
Chen Shi had a weakness he had long since noticed.
His Peng Qiao was terrifyingly strong!
Peng Qiao's strength meant there remained Yin energy in Chen Shi’s body; he had not achieved a pure Yang Dao Body, so the Minor Tribulation Salvation Formula could wound him!
Fourth breath.
Thunderous roars shook Yang Bi, like a thunder god beating a great drum, booming as they charged toward Chen Shi!
Time had arrived.
It coincided with the decay of Chen Shi's Thunder Ancestor true form; his vital energy was failing, while Yang Bi was at his peak. Using thunder techniques to smash the opponent's strongest Thunder Ancestor true form would be a grand irony!
That fact could seriously strike at Chen Shi's Dao Heart!
Above Chen Shi's head, among the nine heavens, the nine-heaven mother Dao sovereign plucked the immortal zither; the notes descended through the thunder, sound without shape, yet it was a deadliest attack!
"Not right!"
The distance between them shrank. Yang Bi noticed Chen Shi's Thunder Ancestor true form was not waning; instead, it grew stronger. Alarm shot through him. He suddenly remembered Chen Shi wielding the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade, and the vision of the Blood Sea Hell behind his head flashed before him.
"That demonic cultivation method keeps his vital energy at peak at all times! Therefore his Thunder Ancestor true form can sustain longer than before!"
By the time he realized this, he had already intruded into Chen Shi's Dao Field.
Yang Bi felt his thunder control rebelling and biting back at him, yet he did not change method. The Minor Tribulation Salvation Formula was his best and most-practiced technique.
He rushed at Chen Shi even faster, also triggering the Thunderous Jade Pivot Great Method. His body transformed, revealing the Thunder Ancestor true form, the third eye at his brow opening.
Thunder Ancestor true form against Thunder Ancestor true form!
In ordinary times he would never use such a body-damaging combat method. He usually met foes from the mindset of the weaker party—if weaker, win with cunning as much as possible, reduce strength clashes.
Winning with wisdom reduced personal damage and preserved his power.
But that did not mean he lacked strength; his world, the Upper Realm, had limits. He positioned himself as the weaker because he considered the Upper Realm's conflict with Despair Slope. This time he put himself in the strong seat, determined to win by force.
He was taking a gamble!
Gamble Chen Shi's Blood Lake Sutra, but it couldn't let the Thunder Ancestor true form last long.
Gamble Chen Shi's internal Yin energy, believing it could not withstand pure Yang thunder's crushing blow!
"Boom!"
Inside Chen Shi's Dao Field a thunderstorm erupted; countless thunders writhed like entangled dragons, electric light scattering, thunder raining down and continuously detonating, striking both their bodies!
With the zither accompaniment from the nine heavens, Yang Bi pierced the thunder sea, invisible blades cutting off the bolts aimed at him; thunderlight cascaded down like water.
The two met amid countless thunders!
"Crack—"
In the violent shock, Yang Bi suddenly saw the thunder within the Dao Field change, becoming wind, sky, earth, water and fire, mountains and marshes!
It was as though he had fallen into an unimaginably chaotic world. The Dao powers of heaven and earth, water and fire, mountains and marshes, wind and thunder twisted and rushed into his body.
Chen Shi had taken the Supreme Eight Trigrams Body Protection Art as a base and evolved it into the Ghost and God Sixty-Four Variations, forming an utterly terrifying Dao Field. This field was no longer a single Ghost and God Domain but an overlay of sixty-four Ghost and God Domains, with horrifying power unmatched!
By rank, the Supreme Eight Trigrams Body Protection Art could not match the Minor Tribulation Salvation Formula, but Chen Shi had pushed this method to higher levels. Once the Ghost and God Sixty-Four Variations appeared, they actually showed pressure over the Minor Tribulation Salvation Formula!
Yang Bi plunged into that Dao Field and immediately felt his thunder Dao power distort, transforming into wind, water, fire, mountains, marshes, heaven and earth, weakening his force!
"Let's see who collapses first, you or me!"
An inexhaustible fighting spirit rose in Yang Bi's heart.
Two Thunder Ancestor true forms, inside the sixty-four-fold Ghost and God variation field, under countless pouring thunders, bathed in thunder in a life-or-death struggle.
Xia Tianjie, Yan Shaoxuan, and the others could only see a colossal, frenzied Dao Field where wind, fire, mountains and marshes continually evolved. Bolts of thunder lit it up, outlining the two figures dodging and weaving among thunder and flame, pure masculine dominance on display.
But Xia Tianjie and the others could no longer discern their precise techniques.
They only saw that each collision between the two sent countless bolts of thunder pouring outwards like sudden celestial lightning, striking mountains, felling trees, or detonating on river surfaces.
"Found where your Yin energy hides!"
Chen Shi's vital energy faltered and Yang Bi immediately detected it. His third eye at the brow opened, and innumerable pure Yang divine thunders poured down, forming a bolt that pierced through Chen Shi's body and shredded his Thunder Ancestor true form, flesh flying.
His Thunder Ancestor true form badly broke Chen Shi’s form; the third eye even blasted open Chen Shi's Heavenly Aperture, and lightning poured in!
Chen Shi's skull at the Heavenly Aperture had already been melted by the lightning; his brain was exposed under Yang Bi's gaze. His third eye's thunder poured forth, about to invade Chen Shi's mind!
At the same time, Chen Shi's toes pressed against Yang Bi's chest, five fingers plunged into his throat and gripped the hyoid bone, yanking it outward!
Yang Bi's throat skin was torn, his hyoid bone pulled out. Chen Shi was about to wrench it completely free. Simultaneously Chen Shi's other hand thrust into his heart, the earlier kick having broken Yang Bi's Thunder Ancestor true form's ribs; that hand came to pluck out his heart and lungs!
While plucking organs, Chen Shi prepared to pull in the sixty-four-fold Ghost and God Variation into Yang Bi's body.
"Stop." Yang Bi suddenly laughed. The thunderlight shot from his third eye halted before Chen Shi's brain.
Chen Shi pushed the hyoid bone back; his other hand hovered over Yang Bi's beating heart, smiling: "No need to continue."
The thunderlight slowly retracted back into Yang Bi's brow; the third eye gradually closed.
Chen Shi dispersed his Dao Field. The crazily evolving heaven-and-earth wind-and-thunder around them ebbed and clarity returned.
Yang Bi's throat skin was completely gone, the bloody hyoid bone exposed; ribs at his chest were broken and driven inward, piercing lung lobes; his heart lay bare.
Chen Shi's body had scarcely any intact skin; exploded flesh covered him. His cultivation had been shattered, blasted to pieces by Yang Bi's pure Yang thunder; his skull was melted, brain exposed, a small beating mass like a tiny heart, thumping.
Neither dared move, for even the slightest motion might kill them.
"I'm not seriously hurt."
Yang Bi cautiously summoned his Primordial Spirit. The Primordial Spirit produced healing medicine and said, "My wounds are lighter than yours; after taking the medicine my injuries will stabilize. I'll recover faster than you."
He suddenly coughed violently, blood spurting from his throat.
Chen Shi's Primordial Spirit took out spirit medicine from the small temple, channeled its medicinal power into his body to stimulate skin and bone growth, and said, "Don't speak. Didn't you notice? I've been refining away much of your cultivation. My Dao Field has already started invading your body and destroying your viscera. If my field isn't removed, you'll grow weaker until you die."
Yang Bi did not dare argue. Using his Primordial Spirit to speak, he laughed and said, "Your Ghost and God Sixty-Four Variations are indeed formidable, but I know many immortal arts; refining them away is not hard. Besides, your Three Corpses Gods are too strong, causing your cultivation to fail to become pure Yang; your Yin energy is too heavy. I used pure Yang methods to damage your cultivation, wrecking the foundation of your great Dao! Even if you survive, you'll be crippled!"
He spat blood again.
He had also used the Thunderous Jade Pivot Great Method. Now the method’s drawbacks emerged, causing his vital energy to fail and his cultivation to rapidly decline.
Seeing this, Chen Shi laughed: "You used the Thunder Ancestor true form. Now disperse it and your cultivation will be greatly harmed; the Dao Field I left inside you will refine you to death! You won't live!"
He laughed, then his expression suddenly changed. He felt the medicine's power spreading and his vital energy surge, but his cultivation spiraled uncontrollably with the medicine's power!
The spirit medicine from his small temple was gathered from the sun, moon, and stars of the Divine Continent. Its potency was incomparable to medicines from the Western Ox New Continent. If he had been injured earlier, this spirit medicine would have cured him at once and healed him quickly. But now his cultivation was chaotic; the medicine's power amplified the disorder, making chaos worse and worsening his injury!
"Hahahaha!"
Yang Bi laughed while spitting blood. "I severely wounded you; your Yin and Yang are imbalanced. Now you can count down to your death! Start from ten: ten, nine..."
A flash of spiritual light passed through Chen Shi's mind. He activated the Sixth New Talisman, used yin-yang purgation, and indeed gathered his chaotic cultivation into greater order. His condition gradually improved as he laughed: "My life is not meant to end. You didn't expect that, did you? My Sixty-Four Variations are not something you can refine with a few immortal arts. Except for a flaw in the Heaven-Earth Variation, the other sixty-three Ghost and God Domains have no flaws!"
Yang Bi's heart stirred. He inspected his viscera and indeed found the flaw in the Heaven-Earth Variation. He immediately triggered the Supreme Purity Nine Truths Inner Formula to first dispel the Heaven-Earth Variation that Chen Shi had left inside him.
When the Heaven-Earth Variation was broken, undoing the other Ghost and God Domains became much easier.
Yang Bi laughed loudly: "Your Ghost and God Sixty-Four Variations can't touch me! In my spare time I reached these achievements. If I devote myself to cultivation, I will definitely surpass you!"
Chen Shi laughed loudly: "I only cultivated three years and already beat you so badly. A few more months and I will be better than years of your hard training!"
A thousand-zhang deity approached them, waving a hand to summon a cloud; the cloud lifted Yang Bi.
Yang Bi hurried: "Take him with you."
The deity waved, and Chen Shi also lay on the cloud. The deity carried both of them toward the distant White Pearl Palace.
Yang Bi laughed: "I'll heal faster than you!"
Chen Shi laughed: "My physical body is a Corpse Liberation Immortal, so I'll recover even faster... Elder, please tilt my head up a bit. I'm worried my brain matter will drip out."
The deity lifted a finger slightly and the cloud behind Chen Shi's head rose a bit.
A few days later, Xia Tianjie and the others' wounds had improved enough for free movement. When they visited Chen Shi and Yang Bi at the White Pearl Palace, they heard the two still teasing and taunting one another relentlessly.
"What's wrong with those two?" Yan Shaoxuan asked.
Li Qianyun guessed: "They probably can't beat each other and can't think of a method to defeat the other, so they compete with words. If one can verbally best the other, that counts as a victory."
Yan Shaoxuan smiled wryly: "Men's strange pride."
More than ten days passed. Chen Shi's injuries had basically healed, skin and skull grown back, so he prepared to take his leave.
The ancients of the Thirteen Great Clans were still exploring that shattered world and had not returned, so Yang Bi, Zhang You and others accompanied him out.
At parting, Chen Shi pondered for a moment and said: "Brother Yang, you have exceptional talent and high comprehension. I must earnestly warn you: you disperse your focus too much."
Yang Bi slightly startled, replied: "The Thirteen Great Clans haven't consolidated power yet; I need to invest my energy..."
Chen Shi interrupted, shaking his head: "The Thirteen Great Clans are decayed. Only the thirteen ancients and you are marginally watchable. Your Upper Realm and the Nether Court look grand, but against peerless experts they're fragile."
He spoke earnestly: "The path of cultivation is to concentrate world-changing Dao power upon oneself. You have talent and comprehension. Abandon the Thirteen Great Clans and you could become such an unrivaled master."
Yang Bi lowered his head, thoughtful.
Chen Shi boarded the Cloud-Green Grand Chariot and waved farewell.
Yang Bi waved back.
Xia Tianjie and the others also waved. Zhai Yuanyuan suddenly said: "Though the Child Prodigy is formidable, Brother Yang isn't far behind; at worst he matches him."
Yang Bi shook his head: "He has no Divine Embryo, while I used my Divine Embryo."
Zhai Yuanyuan was taken aback, then hurriedly said, smiling: "Your Divine Embryo is third-grade, its power not great. Also, Divine Embryos are a part of strength..."
Yang Bi turned away and said softly: "If his Innate Dao Embryo still exists, then how great must the gap between us be?"
