Chapter Sixty-Three: Fierce Battle of the Primordial Spirits

With his head down, Xu Cheng ran madly forward. After dashing for three miles, a sudden warning flared in his heart, and he abruptly stopped. With a thunderous crash, a massive sword of light stabbed down before him, its blade shattering instantly to dust. Yet even so, Xu Cheng could not run any further—the enemy was far faster than he!

These two Nascent Soul experts were truly ruthless!

"Keep running, why don't you?" came a voice from above.

"Must you two really fight to the bitter end?" Xu Cheng clasped his fists and spoke.

"The Emperor's decree is clear: aside from those of the Blackwater Sect, all other spellcasters are to be killed without mercy!"

As the man spoke, his whole body radiated with brilliant light—clearly, he was preparing a formidable technique.

The other man was not idle either. Drawing a circle in the air, he conjured a black cage around Xu Cheng.

Sensing that a killing blow was imminent, Xu Cheng tried to use the Earth Escape method from the Five Elements Creation Art, but found himself blocked by the power within the cage.

He thought grimly, "If I don't fight with everything I have, there's no chance!"

Though he had only barely begun to master the Origin Feathered Immortal Art, it was still a technique that could multiply his power. If not now, when would he use it?

He unleashed it suddenly, and his reserves of energy just managed to reach the level of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

The Netherworld River Immortal Art and the Great Radiance Boundless Wisdom Immortal Art—one an ultimate offense, the other absolute defense.

The attack from the Netherworld River Immortal Art was too unpredictable, and could be used only once.

He chose the Great Radiance Boundless Wisdom Immortal Art, and at full power, a golden Buddha's silhouette rose up around him, radiating endless light.

The martial artist's attack was ready. The light swirling around him suddenly vanished, making him seem like an ordinary man, but his strike was swift beyond compare.

In a blink, he was before Xu Cheng, his palm slamming against the golden Buddha's form.

With a deep hum, the ground cracked in layers, and rifts split the air all around. Fortunately, the protective power of the Great Radiance Boundless Wisdom Immortal Art shielded Xu Cheng from serious harm.

Yet his cultivation began to wane, with a risk of falling back to the Golden Core stage.

The forceful palm lasted nearly half a minute, leaving the attacker utterly spent.

The next moment, Xu Cheng instantly dispelled the protective art and the power-multiplying technique. Had he persisted another half-minute, he truly would have dropped to the Golden Core stage.

"You've got more tricks than I thought, boy. To force the two of us Nascent Soul cultivators into this state—there's no shame in your death! Hahaha!" one of the Nascent Soul cultivators laughed.

He stood guard beside his exhausted companion, wary of a sneak attack from Xu Cheng.

"But if you honestly tell us the secret of that immortal technique you just used, perhaps we'll let you go," the Blackwater Sect cultivator said, his greed ignited.

"What nonsense! Just kill him—once we've refined his soul, we'll know everything!" the Xia Dynasty martial artist said urgently, even though he was too weak to move.

"You're right—soul refining!"

As he spoke, black mist swirled from his hand, wrapping toward Xu Cheng.

At that instant, a giant, humanoid elephant crashed down from the sky, landing squarely on the Xia Dynasty martial artist, crushing his body in an instant. With a wave, the elephant swept up the fleeing soul, still lingering after bodily death.

A Nascent Soul master, killed simply by being sat on! Perhaps his soul might have escaped, but who would ever imagine dying in such a manner? That hesitation sealed his fate.

Looking closer, Xu Cheng realized that the giant, humanoid elephant was none other than Yan Mengdie! Her appearance had changed once again, but he could still sense her familiar aura. Strangely, her presence was now on par with a Nascent Soul master.

"You—!"

Seeing a new arrival, and another at the Nascent Soul level, the Blackwater Sect cultivator rushed to kill Xu Cheng before aid could arrive.

Yan Mengdie spun gracefully, conjuring a toad-shaped avatar from thin air to suppress the man's attack.

Countless white threads appeared, binding the man tightly.

"The Thousand Silken Seals! It's you—!" he cried, eyes wide.

Though cracks appeared in the cocoon, within moments he burst free of Yan Mengdie's spell, transforming into a gigantic spider!

So, he was a spider demon, his eight eyes blazing with crimson hatred for Yan Mengdie.

She snorted coldly. "So it was you, fiend!"

Since mastering the Jade Toad Nine Shedding Immortal Art, Yan Mengdie's voice had grown ever more beautiful—though it hardly matched her current formidable form.

She glared at the spider before her. It was this monster who, using his trickster arts, had once hunted down the Luoyu Clan as food for himself. If not for the intervention of a powerful Daoist, the clan would have been wiped out, and the spider slain. After this defeat, the spider demon, once at the Pure Yang Nascent Soul level, had fallen to the Wandering Spirit stage, and only after years of effort returned to the level of controlling objects.

Enemies reunited, their hatred was palpable; yet neither struck first.

Taking advantage of their standoff, Xu Cheng quietly retreated to the side to recover, swallowing all his remaining pills at once.

As his aura stabilized, Yan Mengdie and the spider demon clashed. To his surprise, she had truly advanced to the Nascent Soul realm. Her avatar was a jade-green toad, while the spider demon's avatar was a lotus. The two collided constantly.

The spider's lotus avatar held a slight advantage—cultivation made the difference.

At this rate, Yan Mengdie might not win.

Barely recovered, Xu Cheng wondered why that foolish girl insisted on matching brute force with the old demon's newly-formed Nascent Soul.

In his previous life, wouldn't he have dodged, used spells, and avoided such a head-on clash? This way, she was bound to suffer!

He resolved to take a risk—better that than seeing her avatar shattered and her realm fall.

He used the power-multiplying technique once more, and unleashed the Netherworld River Immortal Art.

The air split open; this time, the river's spectral scene was clearer and more precise than before.

The immortal art unfurled beneath the spider demon's feet.

Seizing the moment, Yan Mengdie's jade toad avatar slammed into the spider's black lotus.

The impact staggered the spider demon, sending him reeling into the Netherworld River.

The river split open, and the spider's physical body was consumed in flames, leaving only his soul.

His soul, stripped of all talismans and memories, was swept away into the cycle of reincarnation.

Xu Cheng withdrew his art and felt a surge of reward replenishing him.

After a long while, his cultivation, which had dropped to the Golden Core stage, not only recovered but showed signs of further growth, finally halting just short of the Nascent Soul realm.

Restored, Xu Cheng stood and asked, "Silly girl, why did you insist on matching brute force with that spider demon back there?"

"Because I had a grudge—a deep one," Yan Mengdie replied, her face somber, still brooding over not having slain her enemy with her own hands.