Chapter 171: Chapter 164: The Divine Silkworm Sect
"What?!"
Chang Qing’s crimson pupils suddenly shrank to pinpoints!
He snapped his head up, peering through the dark red glow generated by the intense friction at the bottom of the first meteorite.
A second Sinking Abyss Iron Sand Meteorite, equally massive and wreathed in a tail of destructive flames, had already struck the top of the first with unerring precision and even more terrifying kinetic energy!
"BOOM—!!!!!!!!!!"
A colossal sound that defied description erupted.
It wasn’t a simple collision, but an amplification of destruction!
The immense gravity crushing the first meteorite, combined with the fresh impact from the second’s descent, transformed into an irresistible, utterly pure torrent of physical force that traveled down the body of the first meteorite.
In an instant, it was transmitted to Chang Qing’s six arms below, and then to his entire body!
"GRAAAAAAAAH—!!!"
Chang Qing let out a furious roar that no human could possibly produce!
Those six Asura Arms, strong enough to clash with Magical Artifacts, shattered like fragile glass under this crushing force that surpassed all limits. Starting from the fingertips, they exploded inch by inch! Bones pulverized and flesh flew!
The terrifying force drove further into his torso.
His body was like a watermelon struck by an invisible sledgehammer; countless jets of blood instantly shot out from every pore.
His burly Asura Battle Body twisted and deformed at a visible rate.
He was about to be pressed into a meat patty between the two meteorites, his body and Divine Soul utterly annihilated!
In this final moment of his life, an insane and utterly venomous scarlet light suddenly erupted from Chang Qing’s eyes, which were nearly glued shut with blood!
"You want me to die?! Don’t even think about living!!!"
In the next instant, an extremely faint black-and-red magical glint, which nonetheless made Qi Yun’s brow furrow, erupted from Chang Qing’s about-to-be-destroyed body. It ignored the distance between them, spreading out in a flash to cover a hundred-mile radius!
[Asura Technique—All Living Beings Perish!]
A cold, deathly silent ripple of Daoist Intent, carrying the distinct implication of mutual destruction, instantly branded itself onto every living being within that hundred-mile radius.
Qi Yun felt a sudden heat on the back of his hand. A twisted, sinister, black-and-red Asura Demon Pattern had appeared, looking like a living thing and emanating an ominous aura of death.
This was the most ruthless technique of mutual destruction in the Asura Dao!
Once cast, the caster, just before death, would transform all their resentment, Evil Qi, and life essence into a Curse, marking every living creature within range.
The moment the caster dies...
...all those who are marked, regardless of their location, will have their physical bodies resonate with the caster’s death and perish along with them!
’He’s... even more troublesome than I thought.’
Qi Yun watched the Demon Pattern on the back of his hand as it spread rapidly, trying to corrode his flesh. He raised an eyebrow slightly, a trace of gravity finally appearing in his eyes.
He shook his head gently, preparing to activate [Nether Spring Bone Technique—Bone Rebirth].
He would have to pay the price of extinguishing all his own life force to evade this fatal curse.
But just as he was a hair’s breadth away from activating the spell—
"VMMM..."
A completely different kind of fluctuation—profound, vast, as if originating from the sun and moon of primordial times—erupted from deep underground without any warning!
This power was neither Demonic Qi nor Buddha Light.
Instead, it was a cyan-gold light, filled with ancient life force yet tinged with the vicissitudes of time, like a slumbering ancient giant awakening.
Arriving second but acting first, it instantly and forcibly covered and soothed Chang Qing’s frenzied and violent [All Living Beings Perish] Curse.
The burning, sinister Asura Demon Pattern on the back of his hand faded and vanished as quickly as a stain washed away by warm water.
The shadow of death that had been lingering in his mind also dissipated.
"Hm?" This sudden turn of events stunned both Qi Yun and Chang Qing.
Both of them clearly sensed the ancient and esoteric aura contained within the cyan-gold light, an aura far beyond mortal comprehension.
That aura was completely different from the mainstream of the current Cultivation Realm. It carried a sense of the primordial and mysterious, as well as... an unusual flexibility and precision.
Almost instinctively, a name long forgotten by the world flashed through both of their minds—
The Divine Silkworm Sect?!
’There’s still such a terrifying power hidden beneath these ruins, which have been plundered countless times?!’
There was no time for them to think or react.
The surging cyan-gold light quickly intertwined and coalesced in the air.
Finally, it formed a section of an ancient Array Pattern, so complex and precise it was dizzying to behold, as if it contained the fundamental principles of Heaven and Earth.
The Array Pattern spun gently, as if it were alive.
An irresistible suction force, gentle yet immense, pulled at them. Qi Yun and the critically injured, near-death Chang Qing, who was still pinned beneath the two meteorites, felt their vision blur as the world turned upside down.
Their bodies were sucked into that section of the Array Pattern!
The next moment, the cyan-gold light and the Array Pattern abruptly retracted.
Along with Qi Yun and Chang Qing, they vanished without a trace deep beneath the ruins of the Divine Silkworm Sect.
After they disappeared, the cyan-gold light flickered one last time, like a master painter making a light brushstroke.
In an instant, the two massive Sinking Abyss Iron Sand Meteorites on the ground, the countless pits and craters left by the fierce battle, the pervasive Ghost Qi and bone dust, the scattered Asura Evil Qi and Profound Nether Erosive Qi...
...all traces of the intense battle were wiped away, as if by an invisible hand!
The withered mountain remained barren, the ruins still dilapidated, as if the heart-pounding life-and-death struggle had never happened at all.
All that remained was a deathly silent wasteland and a secret passage, sunk deep underground, leading to an unknown ancient sect.
...
After the world-flipping, space-warping disorientation...
The darkness before Qi Yun’s eyes was suddenly replaced by a soft, bright white light.
His vision quickly cleared. When he saw his surroundings, even with his current state of mind, he couldn’t help but be slightly stunned, a flicker of shock flashing in his eyes.
He found himself in a boundless "ocean"!
But this ocean wasn’t made of water. It was formed from countless snow-white elixirs, each the size of a longan—perfectly round, flawless, and emitting a rich medicinal fragrance and pure Spiritual Light!
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but pristine white.
The medicinal aroma condensed into a mist, making it feel as if he were in a vast sea made of elixirs.
"This is..." Qi Yun subconsciously bent down and plucked an elixir from the "surface of the sea." It was warm and smooth to the touch. He sniffed it lightly, and the pure, vast Spiritual Mechanism within made his expression shift slightly:
"A Hundred Essence Pill?"
[Hundred Essence Pill].
A famous Cultivation Elixir for the Qi Refining Late Stage.
It contained refined Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, and its medicinal properties were mellow and gentle, making it one of the most suitable elixirs for nurturing one’s Cultivation and quickly replenishing True Essence.
Normally, only Cultivators at the Qi Refining Eighth Layer or above, who had opened their Hundred Acupoints, had the ability to refine and absorb them. They were quite valuable.
And here...
Qi Yun gazed out, his Divine Thought spreading like a tide, yet he could barely find the edge of this Sea of Elixirs.
Beneath his feet were bottomless Elixir Pills; ahead was an endless expanse of white light.
’There... must be hundreds of millions, maybe even billions of them here...’ Even with Qi Yun’s resolute will, his voice couldn’t help but carry a trace of a daze.
He had only come here to take on a "side job" and earn some cultivation Resources.
Who could have imagined that, by a strange twist of fate, he would stumble into such an unimaginable mountain of gold, one made entirely of elixirs!
Just then, a rustling sound came from nearby, along with a low, hoarse cackle that was suppressed yet filled with both pain and ecstasy.
Qi Yun turned his head and saw Chang Qing not far away in the "Pill Sea," half-buried like a broken, bloody gourd.
The four arms on his back were completely shattered, the wounds ghastly. His aura was feeble to the extreme, and he was only holding on through sheer, tenacious Asura will.
He clutched a handful of Hundred Essence Pills, feeling their pure energy, and grinned, letting out a low laugh that sounded like a broken bellows:
"Hahaha... *cough cough*... Rumor has it that the Divine Silkworm Sect once found a naturally formed [Treasure Furnace] that could automatically draw upon the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi to endlessly produce Hundred Essence Pills..."
"Everyone thought it was just nonsense, but to think... it’s actually real."
"The Divine Silkworm Sect was destroyed so long ago, and no one has been here to collect them. The accumulated elixirs... there must be more than a few hundred million."
"Haha... Heaven has not forsaken me! Heaven has not forsaken me!"
As he spoke, he suddenly noticed Qi Yun not far away. His crimson eyes, somewhat dim from blood loss, instantly erupted with an extremely complicated light.
As if he didn’t sense the killing intent in the other’s gaze, Qi Yun casually scooped up a handful of translucent Hundred Essence Pills, letting them slip through his fingers with a crisp clatter.
A seemingly sincere smile appeared on his face. He brandished the elixirs in his hand at Chang Qing and said in a relaxed tone:
"Why should we keep fighting? We fight to the death for these cultivation Resources, don’t we?"
"How about... we just split this place?"
Hearing this, the ferocity and vigilance on Chang Qing’s face softened slightly. He licked his cracked lips and said hoarsely:
"...Fine. Good."
"We fought tooth and nail for nothing more than this."
"The elixirs here are as vast as mountains and seas..."
Qi Yun immediately picked up the thread, his smile growing even brighter.
"Exactly! Even if we only take one percent, or even one-thousandth of a percent, it will be enough for us to reach Foundation Establishment, or even aim for higher Realms!"
"Fight anymore? What for?!"
"Right! You’re right!" Chang Qing seemed to be infected by the mood, grinning to reveal blood-flecked teeth as he agreed.
"So, we have a deal?" Qi Yun pressed with a smile, his eyes clear and seemingly harmless.
"Deal! Deal!" Chang Qing nodded furiously, looking completely convinced and impatient.
"Hahahahaha!" The two looked at each other and burst into laughter, their voices echoing across the silent Sea of Elixirs.
It was a laugh filled with the sentiment of "letting bygones be bygones" and "sharing the wealth."
Just as this harmonious laughter—which seemed poised to turn hostility into friendship—reached its peak—
"VWOOM!"
"SHLICK!"
A black-and-red longsword, condensed to its absolute limit and wreathed in Asura Evil Qi, materialized without warning in front of his ruined body. Like a viper striking from its den, it shot silently but with lightning speed straight for the point between Qi Yun’s eyebrows!
And in almost the exact same instant, from within the tranquil Pill Sea beneath Qi Yun’s feet, countless grains of Abyssal Iron Sand erupted as if they were alive. They instantly coalesced into a Spiral Steel Awl that glinted with a dark light, impossibly sharp, and met the longsword of Evil Qi with the unerring precision and absolute resolve to tear everything apart!
"CLANG—!!!!"
Sparks flew in all directions!
The ear-piercing shriek of metal on metal completely drowned out the false laughter!
The tremendous impact sent the elixirs around them flying, blasting them into the air.
It was as if a torrential rain of elixirs had begun.
Qi Yun and Chang Qing stood several yards apart, staring coldly at each other, the feigned smiles on their faces long gone.
Only the purest coldness and killing intent remained.
"I knew you’d do that!"
They spoke in unison, their icy words colliding and echoing above the treasure-lit sea of elixirs.
The great battle resumed!
...
