Chapter 1315: Douzhan Ape, Chao Yue Dragon!
Chapter 1315: Chapter 1315: Douzhan Ape, Chao Yue Dragon!
[What defines the good and evil of a flower, by what should its fate be sealed?]
[What determines the right and wrong of a star, by what should its length be judged?]
[If lost for long enough, is retrieving it an act of sin?]
[If survival is all about plundering, do those plundered see themselves as innocent?]
[If the world’s good and evil are ever-changing, why is despicability worth disdain?]
[If destruction is but a return, why is life worth celebrating?]
[If only the fit can survive, how can the weak dare to seek equality?]
[If livestock are all food, is nurturing worth resentment?]
[If all beings are gods, are gods not akin to mortals?]
[If arable land was once the sea, is returning to the sea its wish?]
[I come for the starry sky, why do the stars remain silent?]
[If you ignore me, I’ll pluck you down and eat you.]
[But you’re so hard, just like monkey bones, unpleasant to taste. Such a thing, I won’t want to eat again...]
[If you ignore me, I will do the same to you, never speaking in our lifetime, even if I speak it will be lies, not truth.]
[I know the starry sky has reasons not to speak, and that things cannot be forced, but what if I insist?]
Seeing Ziwei Demon Monarch about to unleash power again, Ning Fan quickly tried to stop him. Despite Ning Fan’s swift actions, the Ziwei Demon Monarch’s attack prediction was even faster, swiftly sending a torrent of purple will crashing into Ning Fan’s divine sense.
The same interruption seemingly wouldn’t work on the Great Transformation Freedom Immortal a second time.
The purple will accompanied by a complex and chaotic stream of information surged in, causing Ning Fan’s thoughts to become muddled and blocked, with countless indistinct voices echoing in his divine sense.
Those voices overlapped, like demonic incantations or Buddhist chants, making it impossible to discern their contents, intending specifically to disturb the Six Senses Purification.
Vaguely it could be discerned that they were the words of a woman named Purple Star Dust Flower, conversing day by day, year after year, with the starry sky.
If one added up all of Ning Fan’s lifetime utterances, the dialogue count would be no more than a minor number; yet this woman’s voice collage reached a scale of billions of mortals, making Ning Fan’s head throb like being afflicted by the Tightening Spell and Heavenly Chaos Spell.
But as Ning Fan closed off his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, all demon sounds and false words instantly vanished without a trace.
This was merely the beginning, since the purple will that had rushed into his divine sense still lingered, starting a new round of mischief, birthing vigorous violet flames that threatened to burn through Ning Fan’s divine sense.
As if a flame fell into boiling oil, it triggered a blaze across the sea, and among all the violet flames grew a Bodhi tree that had been withered for countless years, with its Buddhist light dead, and its spiritual root obscure.
This tree bore forty-nine flower buds; all were wilted and could never bloom again; at the roots lay billions of bronze material roots, exuding an eternal aura, still alive, writhing oddly.
The writhing suddenly intensified, and innumerable roots protruded sharp spikes, wildly stabbing into Ning Fan’s divine sense. The bronze light on the spikes seemed capable of penetrating all things, making the divine sense, firm as rock, appear like tofu blocks before them.
Even though Ning Fan cut off the copper-beard thorns instantly, some roots still pierced his divine sense, siphoning parts of his divine sense, causing slight damage.
After absorbing Ning Fan’s divine sense, the withered Bodhi tree abruptly revived, the originally dead flower buds began to bloom one by one.
The blooming lasted but a moment, yet Ning Fan felt a prolonged span of five million years: seeing the flower buds open every five million years, transforming into Dust Flowers; seeing the flowers wither in three breaths, scattering into billions of particles of Red Dust; watching the Red Dust fall, trying to flatten the divine sense, bury the will, turn the seas into fields...
These scenes were somewhat reminiscent of the Dust Tree and Dust Flowers Ning Fan had seen, yet there were differences.
With the similarity, there’s a rough idea of how to handle it.
Ning Fan, who dared to swallow the Tribulation Master Dust Tree and dared to engage the immense will of the Star Sky Silkworm, wouldn’t fear the purple will in this second step.
Thus, before the Red Dust could flatten the divine sense, Ning Fan’s own will surged forth, transforming into a deep abyssal maw, swallowing up the rolling Red Dust whole!
After devouring the Red Dust, he didn’t stop, consuming the Bodhi tree down to the roots and flowers completely!
Once the withered Bodhi was cleaned, he gulped down the purple flames igniting the divine sense.
Seeing Ning Fan’s will so ferocious, the Ziwei will was greatly alarmed, trying to retreat, but it was too late, getting caught by Ning Fan’s maw, unable to break free. During the tussle, Ning Fan consumed a significant portion of the will, the rest barely escaping, no longer daring to readily attack Ning Fan with its will.
By swallowing part of Ziwei’s will, not only did Ning Fan’s divine sense return to peace, the portions of divine sense previously damaged were replenished, even gaining surplus, evidently absorbing ample nutrition, resulting in profit rather than loss.
Yet, there wasn’t a trace of happiness, instead his expression turned more solemn.
The opponent’s purpose for this strike was not to injure him, but merely to delay him.
Though there were losses, Zi Wei’s goal was still achieved!
He successfully opened the void shield of "All Dharma Void" and summoned countless protective moonlights; amid the rolling "Emperor Void" violet flames, he transformed into a gigantic purple ape!
This was not the Eternal True Body, but the "Holy Body Golden Body", a technique only available to those at the third step, yet Zi Wei managed to master it at the second step.
This Holy Body Golden Body is not a common type, but a majestic Battle Golden Body, which cannot be attained through acquired cultivation. However, Zi Wei once acquired great fortune, allowing him to simulate the power of the Fighting Saint Ape using the "One Hundred and Eight Transformations" power of "All Dharma Void".
If the divine skill of Great Transformation Freedom focuses on the concept of "transformation", the essence of All Dharma Void is on the concept of "change", differentiating only between the external and internal.
Upon transforming into an ape, Zi Wei’s aura instantly surged by more than tenfold, his entire Mana cultivation surpassed even some Initial Saints who have undergone sixteen or seventeen cycles!
Even in the second-step cultivation path, Zi Wei’s combat power was overwhelming, and one can only imagine how dangerous he is at this moment, with his berserk aura seemingly capable of overturning heaven and earth, shattering the sun and moon!
The situation reversed in an instant!
The structure of the Immortal and Divine Spirit domains on the field instantly changed to nine against one, with Zi Wei gaining absolute advantage, thoroughly dominating, and his Immortal Spirit domain was even tinged with the color of Demon Spirits!
The giant ape he transformed into has three eyes, with the third eye being a vertical eye on the forehead, all three eyes are protected by black moonlight, seemingly able to penetrate all "void phases" of the world.
With a thought from the giant ape, purple flames burned around him, forming a flame robe draped over him, exuding endless Brahma monastic aura that makes all methods impenetrable.
The purple fire is the Emperor Void Fire, hence it emanates supreme imperial aura pressure, enough to intimidate all directions, but it intimidates and does not kill.
Emperor Void Fire does not burn the masses, it only burns the self. Only by burning away one’s own stubbornness can one achieve the "Emperor Void Phase"!
However, the true Emperor Void Fire should be purple and gold, but Zi Wei’s Emperor Void power doesn’t harmonize with his Six Senses, making it difficult to sever demons and return to the original Spirit.
Thus, within his purple fire is only a trace of golden light, empty but not imperial, not the true Emperor Void, only able to mimic three parts of its flavor.
Even so, the Zi Wei Demon Monarch, transformed into a giant ape, ultimately gained the power of the Ancient Demon Spirit that didn’t belong to him, enough to shock the heavens!
At this moment, he is no longer a simple Immortal Spirit, but a Demon Immortal, with his demonic aura shaking heaven and earth, and at the same time, there is an ethereal and peerless celestial aura, indescribably mystical!
The Taiyi Dream made it impossible to see each other’s faces. From Ning Fan’s perspective, all he could see was a faceless giant ape, surrounded by destructive demonic flames, enigmatic and dark moonlight; though the eye sockets of the giant ape had no visible pupils, black moonlight seemingly intertwined there, real yet illusory, extremely dangerous.
A vast power of illusory dreams hovered in the moonlight, with endless Brahma chanting resonating in it.
The chants flowed continuously in the moonlight, ten thousand reciting, a hundred thousand reciting, millions reciting, endlessly, corroding all things, with overwhelming illusionary intent.
Such a form of the giant ape seemed like a mere glance could trap an Initial Saint within an illusion, unable to extricate themselves!
This black moonlight made Ning Fan feel familiar and dangerous, subconsciously generating guesses but immediately severing all distractions.
Faced with the overwhelming illusory gaze of the giant ape, Ning Fan dared not be distracted in the least, he must exert himself fully to resist! The instinct of life and death warned him that any moment of distraction would immediately plunge him into the other’s unknown illusion; even with Tianren’s third realm discerning truth from illusion, he must tightly guard the Five Aggregates and Six Consciousness to barely withstand it!
Thus, the silver-haired ghost-faced Ning Fan, his eyes once again flickering with azure light, and he operated the Tianren Eye Technique to the extreme, converting all Twenty-Seven Yin Yang within him into Dark Yin Yang power to further enhance his illusion defense.
While maximizing his illusion defense, Ning Fan also understood that the opponent was using "Two Phases" level of Void Spirit Dao Skill.
Void Spirit Dao Skill comprises four phases: Void Phase, Emperor Void Phase, Mixed Void Phase, Brahma Void Phase.
There is no hierarchical difference among the four phases, but within a single phase there are mutual creations and destructions, combined, they form the original Void Spirit Dao. Simply put, the more void phases cultivated, the closer one approaches the realm of the ancestral Void Spirit.
It seems only that ancient Void Spirit ancestor cultivated all three void spirit phases, besides him, even the Reverse Saint could only possess three phases, unable to reverse the void.
The Zi Wei Demon Monarch’s use of Void Spirit Dual Phases combines the power of Void Phase and Emperor Void Phase. Among them, Void Phase is the ultimate spirit, and Emperor Void Phase is the ultimate physical body.
Zi Wei possesses the Void Spirit Dual Phases before becoming a Saint, such innate aptitude is rare throughout ancient and modern times, living up to the name of the Red Dust Flower.
This battle today, it seems difficult to win, even if he miraculously manages to escape, he will inevitably meet his demise at the hands of fate in the future, all paths leading to the same end.
The affairs of the world cannot be forced, it might be better to offer oneself up rather than suffer endless humiliation under another’s knife...
Might overwhelming like pulling mountains, spirit covering the world, yet fortune was unkind as the butterfly failed to perish...
Ning Fan let out a long sigh, feeling his heart turn to ash, then flipped his hand and summoned the Reverse Sea Sword, pressing it against his throat, about to offer himself up immediately.
But at the brink of self-slaughter, he forcibly regained control of his will, utterly shocked in his heart.
Even with defenses maximized, I still fell victim to the opponent’s illusion!
With just a gaze from this ape, it had such immense power, merely closing off the Six Consciousness was far from sufficient!
The scary part wasn’t the act of slashing his own throat. As an indestructible creature, wanting to die is hard, and self-slashing is trivial.
The frightening part was the opponent’s illusory art, which seemed capable of directly altering another’s will, and its power was enough to disregard even the defenses of the Third Realm of Tianren...
If closing off the six senses wasn’t enough, then close off even more senses!
The Seventh sense, Manas consciousness, closed!
The Eighth sense, Alaya consciousness, closed!
The Ninth sense, Anmola consciousness, closed!
Ning Fan sequentially closed the nine senses to unravel the void phase illusion cast by the giant ape and completely broke free from the illusion.
By doing so, Ning Fan’s nine senses were all closed, as if he had fallen into the Hell of Ignorance, losing all perception of the outside world and himself. The nine senses were enveloped in nothingness; the heavens were void, the earth was void, and he himself was void.
It was a world that even the ninth sense couldn’t touch!
In such a situation, Ning Fan naturally wouldn’t be affected by the illusion of the void phase, but the side effects were also apparent: Once the nine senses are closed, an ordinary person would just stand there waiting to die, unable to take action in life-and-death struggles, causing more harm than good.
At this moment, Ning Fan’s consciousness could no longer control his body, nor could he perceive the outside world. What should he do?
Then hand over all actions to his body to handle!
In the instant the nine senses were tightly shut, Ning Fan activated his killing intent perception, handing over his body’s actions to his instinctual killing drive. Just like breathing is a physical instinct, killing could similarly become an instinct, as natural as breathing for Ning Fan.
As the Slaughter Emperor of this era, using a lifetime’s instinct for killing to perceive the outside world and battle with others is quite reasonable, right?
Relying solely on his instinctual killing drive, the moment Ning Fan closed his nine senses, he immediately chose a direction and retreated swiftly.
It was with this retreat that Ning Fan successfully dodged a "Void Arrow" formed by black moonlight, avoiding being shot by the arrow.
The illusion of the void phase not only trapped the nine senses but also could form arrows to erase the consciousness of the trapped!
If Ning Fan couldn’t dodge this arrow, even as an immortal creature, his consciousness would disappear after being hit, reduced to a pathetic living corpse whose body alone remains eternally undead...
Just like the colossal Star Sky Silkworm, its body forever undead, but its consciousness long gone, living yet dead...
Having dodged the "Void Arrow," Ning Fan flew back again, further dodging the second, third, and fourth "Void Arrows."
And eventually, he even successfully avoided the fifth "Void Arrow."
The power of the "Void Arrow" was such that each one was stronger than the last, yet none could hit Ning Fan. Therefore, all power was reduced to mere talk; if they couldn’t hit, they dealt zero damage.
Whether the arrows came from the past or attacked toward the future, Ning Fan could rely on his instinctual killing to predict and evade. The more he killed, the thicker the evil aura, making his sense of killing even sharper.
It’s like when a mortal closes their visual senses, their hearing becomes sharper. At this moment, with Ning Fan’s nine senses all shut, his instinctual response naturally reached unprecedented heights.
When arrows are shot, there is always a drawing motion. No matter how fast the arrow, as long as one can capture this drawing motion, traces can be found, making them possible to evade.
This might be exceedingly difficult for ordinary people, but for Ning Fan at this time, it was merely a routine operation.
After evading five arrows, Ziwei did not fire the sixth arrow at Ning Fan.
The reason being that the "Void Arrow" is a technique that if it doesn’t injure the opponent, it harms the wielder; each missed arrow leads Ziwei to suffer a bit of backlash. After missing five arrows, the backlash had already accumulated deeply. If it continued to miss, it might harm his Taoist path, forcing him to give up.
Yet, at the moment when the bow was being withdrawn and the arrow being retracted, Ning Fan caught the flaw in the act, revealing the movement of withdrawing the bow.
Thus, in the next moment, where Ning Fan was dodging and retreating in the east, he suddenly advanced instead. He stepped into the Divine Spirit Domain, directly swinging the Reverse Sea Sword in a certain direction, instantly slicing out several billion Sword Blades of Yin-Yang Five Swords, successfully hitting the Ziwei Demon Monarch who was freely switching between different time points in the River of Time.
The Yin-Yang Five Swords are reputed to slash nothing that it cannot cut, and the several billion sword blades slashed by Ning Fan possessed a presence strong enough to obliterate the Great Dao, but that depends on the opponent.
Seeing the sword blades approaching, Ziwei, more astonished than scared, also instantly reacted. The Sacred Body Golden Body was operated to the extreme, taking the several billion sword blades hard, as if unbreakable, being absolutely invincible in defense!
The Holy Body Golden Body of ordinary saints possesses nearly indestructible defense, and the Battle Golden Body is one of the rarest. Common attacks would struggle even to cut a strand of monkey hair. Upon seeing the Battle Golden Body, even the Second Step Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor would have to shake his head and sigh.
Although Ning Fan did not breach Ziwei Demon Monarch’s defense, he used several billion sword blades to plant several billion Reverse-Fate Thunder Technique marks on Ziwei Demon Monarch. The Five Swords were mere appearances; the marks were the true purpose!
This was the tactic of Immortal Emperor Hui Shi! Though Ziwei’s methods are endless, Ning Fan’s methods are not lacking at all.
Across the many timelines of past, present, and future, the Reverse-Fate Thunder Technique marked several billion potential locations of Ziwei Demon Monarch.
In the next moment, Ning Fan transformed into a flash of lightning, shuttling among the marked locations, instantly time-space jumping several billion times, and from several billion temporal directions, launched a second round of slashes at Ziwei Demon Monarch! Ordinary creatures couldn’t manage such frenzied time-space jumps, and Ziwei dared not either, perhaps because the body couldn’t withstand the violent change in the cycle of rebirth, but Ning Fan was an indestructible creature, his body robust, so it was of no consequence!
Alas, the result remained the same!
No attack from any timeline could break the golden body defense of the Ziwei Giant Ape, yet it offered the opportunity to plant more space-time marks on the ape.
First, there were billions to the power of billions, and then billions to the power again, repeated countless times, the exact number of marks unknown even to Ning Fan’s instinct for slaughter.
Ziwei, relying on the Long River Cutting Technique, could switch with any past self in the river anytime, but was limited by his cultivation, and the past and future range he could touch was not infinite.
Ning Fan’s number of marks was also not infinite, but sufficient to cover Ziwei’s movement range and, due to the time-space leap speed of the Against-Fate Thunder Technique being faster than the Long River Cutting Technique, could hinder the latter constantly.
Seeing that Ning Fan, with his Ninth Sense closed, could still achieve such a level, Ziwei was greatly astonished.
The first surprise was the Butterfly’s Third Realm of Tianren with extraordinary strength! Ordinary Third Realm Masters couldn’t close their Ninth Sense, yet this Butterfly could!
The second surprise was that with the Ninth Sense closed, the Butterfly had a method to fight purely relying on the instinct for slaughter! In the Three Worlds, only the North Dipper Immortal Emperor had been heard of utilizing the instinct to such a degree, yet this Butterfly had the same potential!
No, not just that!
This Butterfly was not solely relying on the instinct for slaughter, which led to the third surprise!
"Slaughter instinct is the main aspect, but if it were merely the instinct, this Butterfly wouldn’t be able to accurately predict my time-space trajectory of the Long River Cutting!"
"This Butterfly even mimicked my [Great Transformation Freedom] technique, attempting to enter the state of free will, optimizing the behavior logic of the slaughter instinct... Could an ordinary Butterfly achieve this?"
Unfortunately, Ning Fan was not an Ancient Immortal Spirit and couldn’t mimic the full Immortal Spirit Talent of Great Transformation Freedom.
Yet, what shocked Ziwei was that Ning Fan’s mimicry, despite possibly having 9900 flaws and imperfections, truly captured a hint of the essence of Great Transformation Freedom...
It was not much, but genuinely present, with further improvement and perfection conceivable!
Due to this presence of a hint of Great Transformation Freedom’s essence, Ning Fan’s slaughter instinct operated more smoothly and perfectly, like finely-tuned gears getting lubricated.
At this moment, Ning Fan, with his Ninth Sense closed, no longer fought impulsively as before nor exploded randomly; his actions became more rational, meticulous, and logical, like a perfectly functioning machine, yet not pursuing extremity deliberately, rather following instinct and choosing naturally; his mana operated more delicately, without the slightest excess and waste, presenting a seamless fluidity in movement and offensive, with his combat power not diminished but actually increased!
If the slaughter instinct represents his North Dipper potential, then Great Transformation Freedom embodies his Zi Wei’s potential, and when combined, it shows the Purple Dou potential!
To Ning Fan, he first knew of the Purple Dou Immortal Sovereign, then Ziwei.
But to Ziwei at this moment, it was his first time seeing a carrier of the Purple Dou potential, the disparity in his heart is imaginable, even leading to a renewed clear understanding of his own inferiority.
His true form was born from the chaos as the Ziwei Dust Flower, a Heavenly Spirit Root, whose life’s level was inherently of the Fourth Step, with cultivation merely a journey to regain past strength.
Others’ path in cultivation akin to a traveler, he was like a returnee.
Others pursue the endpoint of the journey; he cared more about the landscape of the homeward path.
To Ziwei, born above all living beings, his pride was justified, not even considering the current Reverse Saint a worthy opponent.
Yet, such arrogance led him twice to recognize his own mediocrity and insignificance, baseness and ugliness.
The first to impart such feelings was an entity known as [Purple Sky] Heart Ape. This ape held the light of the Void Spirit Four Phases, pristine and flawless, beauty enough to move souls, yet daringly audacious to battle five adversaries alone, meeting demise honorably. Compared to this ape, all worldly wonders seemed like mere flickers, even the proud Ziwei Dust Flower felt its own inadequacy for the first time.
He immensely admired the Heart Ape’s beauty, yet upon its fall, the Void Spirit ancestor gone, that moment Ziwei Dust Flower understood life’s fragility.
Perishing is a return, but some even view returning home a luxury, never to come back again; even changing into Heart Ape turning to the world, still could not escape its own doom—isn’t this profoundly sad...
The Heart Ape’s remains lost in chaos, transferring countless times, finally consumed by Ziwei Dust Flower. Hence, aided by dual Immortal Spirit Talent, Ziwei barely manifested three fractions of the Fighting Saint Ape’s strength.
His second transformation came upon becoming human, stepping from chaos into a certain starry sky. Not the Ancient Demon Spirit Starry Sky transformed by Sky Silkworm, but another shatter-scarred starry sky filled with crimson tears. It was a graveyard of stars, burying ancient star shadows of Seven Thousand Ancient Stars of Red Dust; therein the starlight, crimson and biased, silent and sorrowful, yet mesmerizingly beautiful to the unavertable eye. Thus, he lingered therein, sharing many heartful talks with stars, attempting consolation for their sadness, yet stars paid no heed to his words...
Ultimately, he left with regret...
He thought he could always return, but never could again...
He learned from the stars about eternity’s fragility, yet thus more devastating became the loss of starry sky.
And now comes the third great impression!
The butterfly before him was of mundane foundation, poles apart — one underground, the other aloft! One mundane, one Heavenly!
But in true fight to the death, this Butterfly became the greatest foe he’d ever seen in life, more dangerous than any Innate Spirit he had fought, forcing him to wager his life!
Can the obsession of a weak life form truly grow to such vastness!
The flaming obsession capable of burning through the Great Thousand World is truly... astonishingly beautiful.
Yet, the more beautiful something is, the harder it is to last.
Like the moon, like the stars, like the butterfly now step by step toward its ruin.
If beauty must meet its demise, then it’s better that I capture this butterfly flame, tenderly treasure it, and wisely use it.
"With your ninth sense tightly shut, perhaps you can no longer hear me, but I’ve long been accustomed to talking to myself, so it doesn’t matter."
"You came to seize me, and I will take everything from you. Nevertheless, your obsession, like moonlight and galaxies, is equally beautiful, worth all my efforts to plunder."
"Our encounter may have been orchestrated by someone’s meticulous plan, but this slaughter is indeed to my liking!"
"I must pluck the stars, but before that, your butterfly flame must also become mine!"
Buzz... Buzz...
Lightning flashed, and currents crackled. Ning Fan transformed into a beam of lightning, continually jumping through time and space, suddenly appearing behind Zi Wei. His body swelled abruptly, and without hesitation executed an unbreakable Gengwu self-destruct!
The instinct for slaughter only seeks rationality, but if it judges that ordinary methods cannot harm Zi Wei’s battle golden body, then this body should not spare itself!
Having been bombed so many times, Zi Wei’s Great Transformation Freedom naturally responds to the Gengwu self-destruct. Instantly switching times and spaces within the long river, trying to evade the attack.
However, the mark from the Against-Fate Thunder Technique means the Gengwu self-destruct relentlessly pursues Zi Wei.
Zi Wei continually jumps through time and space, yet fails to escape, caught on the seventeenth leap, consumed by the butterfly’s radiant light.
After the hit, Ning Fan returns from the unbreakable state, his aura increasingly weak.
Zi Wei gets half of his ape body blown off, one half scorched, the other revealing purple-gold Demon Immortal bones, seriously injured.
This is a blow capable of destroying the Great Thousand World, enough to terminate the life of the Three Saints in a single strike, yet still unable to completely obliterate the battle golden body, truly astonishing.
If one strike is insufficient, then add another blow!
As Ning Fan’s slaughter instinct prepares to self-destruct a second time, Zi Wei naturally won’t stand idly by. As he took the first explosion, he was already accumulating the power of the Void Phase, now fully charged, he won’t allow Ning Fan to treat self-destruction as a regular tactic again.
Thus, he concentrated the world-filling moonlight into a black Moon Seal, taking advantage of the moment when Ning Fan just returned from the unbreakable state, with instincts still dull, striking it into Ning Fan’s body!
The Void Phase granted Zi Wei not only the power of Illusory Art but also supreme-level Puppet Technique, Bodhi Technique, and the power to dominate dreams!
The black Moon Seal that Zi Wei now cast employed the sealing power of the Void Phase. If struck without strong will, one would be sealed as a puppet from the blow.
Ning Fan’s will is strong enough not to become a puppet, but parts of his power will be sealed, and this time, it’s the Gengwu self-destruct technique that’s being sealed.
Zi Wei wished to seal Ning Fan’s slaughter instinct as well, but it couldn’t be done: this butterfly’s lifetime of killings have been too immense, its obsession boundless, utterly uncontainable!
To seal some divine skill techniques of Ning Fan was Zi Wei’s limit.
Thus, Ning Fan, who intended to self-destruct twice, suddenly found himself unable to self-destruct, his slaughter instinct encountering a momentary error, experiencing a brief pause.
Zi Wei wouldn’t possibly miss such a golden opportunity, thus exhaled a gust of Purple Qi, instantly restoring the damage to his golden body, while immediately flashing to Ning Fan’s front, delivering a punch as heavy as the Great Thousand World to Ning Fan’s face.
The punch, immense as heaven and earth, concentrated all its power into a point, without the slightest waste or leakage, making the punch impossibly heavy to endure.
It smashed Ning Fan’s head, shattered his Beidou Ghost Face, and eradicated the ghost-faced silver-haired aspect! Yet the body remained standing, unmoving!
The unbreakable state was scattered from Ning Fan! Yet because his slaughter instinct reacted quickly, the unbreakable state was instantly reconstructed, with a regenerated head immediately enduring a second punch.
This punch landed on Ning Fan’s stomach, but instead of smashing through his body, it transformed from a punch into a palm upon impact, imprinting a five-finger black moon seal, again sealing more of Ning Fan’s divine skills while also marking Ning Fan.
Sss!
As the third punch arrived, Ning Fan became a beam of lightning, instinctively dodging the fist’s brilliance.
But Zi Wei relied on the black moon mark, instantly appearing behind Ning Fan, successfully landing the third punch on Ning Fan’s back.
Easily bypassing all Ning Fan’s defenses, furthermore, transforming a punch into a claw, extracting Ning Fan’s Divine Heart, and consuming it in one gulp!
Even if I swallow your Divine Heart, even should you resurrect, this heart is unreturnable, though living feels like dying!
Yet unexpectedly, Ning Fan’s rebirth this time didn’t originate from the corpse but from the heart, hence directly reborn within the giant ape’s belly.
If self-destruction were possible, delivering a Gengwu self-destruct from inside at this moment might just take Zi Wei down in one strike.
Though unable to self-destruct, Ning Fan still stirred up havoc within Zi Wei’s belly, attacking everything within reach, causing so much pain Zi Wei had to expel him, no longer daring easily to consume Ning Fan’s remnants.
Ning Fan, however, leveraged the spit-out saliva from Zi Wei to directly activate the Rain Dragon Technique.
But not using the conventional method to unleash the Rain Dragon, instead exploiting instinct to transform himself into a Rain Dragon!
Having witnessed Ziwei’s Transformation Technique many times and having slain three of Ziwei’s Purple Qi Divinities, Ning Fan has undoubtedly learned much. If Ziwei can transform into a giant ape, why can’t he transform into a Rain Dragon!
However, if it were just an ordinary Rain Dragon, it naturally wouldn’t be a match for the mighty Fighting Saint Ape!
Thus, there was a subsequent transformation!
Using the Rain Dragon Technique as a template, blending in Immortal Power as a harmonizing point, and using the Nightmare Dragon Yingxuan he had beaten up as a reference, he fused the power of twenty-seven Dao Sources within his body, instantly undergoing a second stage transformation into a giant dragon fused with twenty-seven kinds of Dao Sources.
Further merging the twenty-seven Dao Sources into one, undergoing a third stage transformation, he transformed into a Daoist giant dragon several dozen times larger than Nightmare Dragon Yingxuan, possessing the might of immortality and a hint of indestructibility!
This dragon was larger than Yingxuan, its form filled with the characteristics of the Chaoyue Dragon Clan, resembling an oversized Yingxuan, with only differences in coloration, its body symbolizing immortality with a black hue.
Ning Fan has cultivated the Dao of Rain and Moon, and among the nine Divine Yin-Yangs, rain is the beginning and moon is the end, making him naturally very compatible with the Chaoyue Dragon. Therefore, transforming into this dragon aligns with the Dao.
At first glance, the dragon’s body is pure black, but its dragon scales have twenty-seven variations of dark light, exuding the aura of an Immortal Creature all over, with a pair of dragon horns shimmering with mysterious moonlight, clear and immaculate like the moon of Chaoyue.
And when the power of the Fragment of Divine Annihilation Shield was activated by the Black Dragon, an additional layer of faint golden light appeared on its dragon scales, transforming into a combination of black and gold!
Having seen the many magical treasures of Ziwei’s transformations and consumed three of Ziwei’s Purple Qi Divinities, isn’t it quite reasonable for Ning Fan to transform the power of the God-Extinguishing Shield within his body?
A Rain Dragon couldn’t defeat the Fighting Saint Ape, but what if it was a Chaoyue Dragon protected by the God-Extinguishing Shield!
I may not have a Sacred Body Golden Body, but I can be gilded!
"He actually grew during his battle with me, what kind of Primordial Spirit talent is this!"
Ziwei was deeply shocked, but his battle intent grew even stronger, influenced by the Fighting Saint Ape at this moment, his heart grew increasingly violent and belligerent over time!
Ning Fan, however, was like a killing machine with his nine consciousnesses sealed, cold and unfeeling. The Black Dragon he transformed into had five fingers on each dragon claw, each corresponding to a power of the Yin-Yang Five Swords, capable of breaking through fortune, momentum, destiny, Dao, and thought.
With just a single move of raising its claw, the Black Dragon caused the reincarnation to become unstable, time and space to become chaotic, then fiercely tore towards Ziwei Giant Ape in a Moon-Tearing Dragon stance!
Ziwei Giant Ape did not dodge, driven by battle intent, it faced the sharp claws of the Black Dragon and unleashed its Demon Immortal Fist.
The black-gold and purple-gold colors clashed in an instant, colliding a hundred million times in a moment, evenly matched, neither could gain the upper hand!
It was the Taiyi Dream’s time and space that suffered from excessive impact, gradually showing signs of instability! If Ning Fan’s Divine Arts were unsealed at this moment, and he could communicate with all things, he would surely hear the complaints of the Taiyi Dream: This is not a battle between two Second Steps! Even the Primordial Sacred City might not cause such a commotion!
With merely a Second Step-level Taiyi Dream battlefield, it simply couldn’t withstand the full forces of these two!
Ultimately, due to the ferocity of the Black Dragon and Giant Ape, this Taiyi Dream was pierced through by the fluctuation of the duel.
The scene left Manzhi in the One Realm wide-eyed and speechless.
"This is trouble! Never mind the script, the entire theater has been smashed, what shall we do now, hopefully not too many unforeseen changes occur... The Taiyi Dream is not just one layer, but countless. Once one is broken through, one will fall into other layers of dreams, where I have no arrangements, and who knows what changes might happen..."
"Still, it’s fortunate that I didn’t step in personally, otherwise with my mere Nine Epoch cultivation, facing this butterfly would likely mean no return. In the face of absolute power, all strategies are futile. But if I could recover some of my former power, perhaps... alas, it’s difficult. Those ungrateful ones will not tolerate me retrieving my power, after all, I am..."
...
The Taiyi Dream is the source of all dreams in the world, not a single dreamscape, but one connected to another, named Taiyi, yet immeasurable in reality.
Because Ning Fan and Ziwei fought too fiercely, their original dreamscape shattered, causing them to fall into other dream zones.
Throughout history, countless beings have entered the Taiyi Dream to steal the Dao Fruits of others, and there’s as many Taiyi Dreams as there are grievances and injustices in the world!
It wasn’t until the Taiyi Wheel was destroyed that things gradually calmed down, and soul stealing became explicitly prohibited.
Countless bloody mists and karmas accumulated within the Taiyi Wheel, unknown to the world, and thus the Taiyi Wheel ultimately became one of the most ominous objects in the world, with the vast accumulated karma, not even the Rebel Holy City dared to touch it lightly, fearing the great terror it might bring.
At this moment, a karma, due to Ning Fan’s inadvertent entry, turned the gears of fate.
In ancient times, there was a mountain called Sumeru, but it was destroyed during the era of the Ancient Kingdom’s Divine Spirits for unknown reasons. Later generations constructed Sumeru Mountains merely in imitation of this mountain.
The world only knows that the Ancient Sumeru Mountain was destroyed by some powerful figure through soul stealing, but who exactly was responsible remains unknown.
Because the karma within the Taiyi Dream is difficult for ordinary people to detect from the outside, and thus, many secrets of the world are sealed here.
Manzhi can observe the Taiyi Dream, proving he is not ordinary. If it were someone else, even among the Rebels, only a few could do it—in other words, Manzhi’s observational skill even surpasses some Omni-saints’ omniscience.
Setting aside idle talk, let us discuss the past of the Sumeru Mountain.
No one knows who stole the soul of the Sumeru Mountain; only the perpetrator knows the truth, yet they dare not speak out for fear of drawing trouble to themselves for life.
At that time, Duobao Tathagata had just converted to Sha Men, not yet a saint, but with the ambition to achieve sainthood.
Greed, anger, and ignorance are great taboos in Buddhism, yet if it pertains to achieving sainthood, then even the destruction of Sumeru Mountain was not beyond Duobao Tathagata’s willingness.
This matter defies the dictates of heaven, and naturally cannot be made public, but must be plotted in secrecy.
To achieve his desires, Duobao Tathagata has schemed for a long time, calculating countless plans before finally finding an opportunity during a major calamity.
Sumeru Mountain is an ancient divine mountain of the Ancient Country and was one of the many domains of the Third Divine King. If he can capture the spirit of Sumeru Mountain, not only would it be sufficient to enter sainthood via Buddhism, but he might even seize the divine status of the mountain and become an acquired deity!
Deities are a worldly taboo, a matter arising after the destruction of the Ancient Country.
At this time, to Duobao, becoming a deity is an unparalleled glory and a lifelong pursuit. All living beings consider becoming a deity their highest wish, and he is no exception to this common desire.
Amidst all his calculations, he set the Taiyi Dream, finally luring Sumeru Mountain into the trap, and now is the time to reap the rewards!
"No one stands in the heavens from the start; the three Divine Kings and the ancient kings of the world all rose to prominence later. If they can, so can I."
"Now that I have obtained Sumeru Mountain, there will come a time when I alone am revered above heaven and earth!"
Duobao Tathagata pointed one hand to the sky and the other to the ground, walked seven steps around, and looked in all directions with the posture of a victor.
In front of him is the weakened Sumeru Mountain, having succumbed to numerous plots and traps, ready to be devoured by Duobao at any moment.
"You will not succeed... The Divine King once read my fate. My god can be destroyed, but my destiny will not end in this lifetime, and may even become the cornerstone for the next era. You may seize my Dao Fruit, but you cannot kill me..." Sumeru Mountain said weakly.
"The next era? What does the donor mean by the next era? The deities created the Supreme Divine Dynasty, never perishing through ancient and modern times. How can there be a next era... Do not attempt to confuse my mind with words; I will surely consume you to become a deity, silence you, and in this Taiyi Dream, no one can save you."
"I do not expect anyone to save me. As the former nine mountains of the Divine King, to fall into the hands of a mere boy now is proof of the Divine King’s unreturning. Otherwise, would you even be worthy of touching the Divine King’s possessions! Do you think the masses have no greed towards me? They merely dare not! That is why someone attempted to destroy me through you, and hence, your clumsy scheme succeeded. Schemes in the world are only conspiracies to those unaware, but to the true supreme, the second and even the third steps are no secret. Your pursuit of supremacy is merely an illusion, laughable, and pitiful..." Sumeru Mountain, already on the brink of death, mocked Duobao’s ignorance and lamented the folly of all beings.
"Namo Amitabha... the donor’s deluded words are unworthy of hearing, let this be the donor’s passing..."
Having spoken, he no longer said more, but instead initiated the Five Finger Mountain Technique to turn Sumeru Mountain into one of the five fingers.
Yet at this moment, a sudden change occurred!
The seemingly indestructible Taiyi Dream was penetrated from sky to earth by something, and a dragon and an ape fell from the sky rift.
"Not good!"
Though Duobao’s greed is immense, he understands the weight of the situation. The sudden appearance of these two fierce creatures bears unmatched might, and though they are not saints, their auras are even more terrifying than that of an Initial Saint. How dare he get involved?
He immediately intended to swallow Sumeru Mountain and run away.
But he couldn’t escape!
He was targeted by the giant ape!
The giant ape extended its palm, drawing ever closer to him. Even as he traversed between past and future, he could not evade that palm, ultimately getting pinched like a bug and swallowed by the giant ape.
Though he possessed the Battle Golden Body, he was still inflicted with numerous injuries by the Black Dragon, and at this moment, he urgently needed to replenish his nutrition. Encountering a plump Buddha, he naturally couldn’t let it go.
Poor Duobao Tathagata, being swallowed into the giant ape’s tummy, his Three Corpse Gods turned pale: Even I, invincible at the second step, couldn’t even fight back against this giant ape! And the giant ape is clearly only at the second step! What kind of monster have I encountered! Is Taiyi Dream really this terrifying! My fate is doomed...
As he lamented, he was suddenly swept away by a torrent, along with the giant ape’s stomach acid and blood, expelled by the giant ape.
Why was this?
It was because the Black Dragon saw the giant ape attempting to replenish its nutrition, which it could not tolerate. How could it allow its enemy to restore its strength? Using its instinct for slaughter, it immediately made a judgment and launched a fierce attack on the giant ape’s stomach, forcing the Buddha within to be spat out, even causing the giant ape to vomit blood.
"Th-thank you, senior, for the rescue..."
Though Duobao was accustomed to life and death situations, he was still shaken to the core by what had just transpired.
The giant ape is already among the fiercest creatures in the world, yet the Black Dragon is perhaps even stronger, capable of making the giant ape vomit! Could this be a clash between the Ancient Ten Spirits that I have encountered? I must leave immediately!
Though he spoke words of gratitude, in his heart, there was no sense of thankfulness, and even when he noticed the golden light on the Black Dragon’s scales, he conceived new greed: Could this light possibly be a Heaven-Opening Artifact...
Though he had greed, he dared not truly make a move against the Black Dragon: it was clear he was no match for it and couldn’t seize its treasure anyway!
Realizing the situation was hopeless, Duobao quickly quelled his greed, only wishing to flee quickly. Yet due to his earlier greed, he was once again unable to escape!
Though the giant ape was no good, the Black Dragon was no saint either.
And at this moment, the Black Dragon, acting purely on a slaughtering instinct, suddenly perceived malice and greed from Duobao, immediately judging him as an enemy.
Thus, Duobao, who had just escaped the giant ape’s stomach, found himself eaten again by the Black Dragon, which refined his Taoist cultivation, gaining considerable nutrition.
"No—" Duobao regretted it. He should never have greedily entered the Taiyi Dream, but it was too late to repent, as he had already become food in another’s stomach...
Seeing the Black Dragon gain an advantage, the Giant Ape refused to concede. He and the Black Dragon barely managed a draw, and if the Black Dragon gained an advantage, he would fall into a disadvantage.
Fortunately, he noticed that although the Black Dragon had swallowed Duobao, it had not devoured the Sumeru Mountain along with him. The opponent’s killing instinct clearly did not intend to kill indiscriminately.
Thus, the Giant Ape benefited!
"Void Order, Dream Marriage Technique!"
"In the dream, all creatures heed my command! Ancient Mountain Sumeru, submit to me!"
The Giant Ape unleashed the power of the Void Phase to its fullest, and the black moonlight instantly covered Taiyi Dream’s battlefield, descending the Black Moon Mark upon Sumeru Mountain.
The Void Phase possesses the power to manipulate dreams, and in Taiyi Dream, any beings whose strength is far inferior to his can be directly controlled by the Giant Ape and transformed into Black Moon Puppets!
He wanted to control Sumeru Mountain, to make it his puppet and leverage it against the Black Dragon, thereby leveling the playing field!
Sumeru Mountain, being an Ancient Divine Mountain, was unwilling to submit, but the Black Moon Mark was a means of its former master, and when imposed upon it, it could not resist the Black Moon’s command and had to comply.
Thus, its will was suppressed by the Black Moon Mark, completely manipulated by the Giant Ape.
At this moment, the Giant Ape possessed a weapon, the colossal Sumeru Divine Mountain, which in the hands of the Giant Ape was only the size of a small stone projectile, perfect for stealth attacks.
Therefore, he summoned the small Sumeru stone to strike the Black Dragon.
The first strike hit the target; after all, it was Sumeru Divine Mountain, endowed with the Spirit Capturing Technique, capable of capturing the essence of all things, guaranteed accuracy.
However, after the second hit, he could no longer land any strikes.
The Black Dragon, having both killing instinct and a touch of Great Transformation Freedom, continued to grow more potent during the skirmish with the Giant Ape.
The same attack could not take effect against the Great Transformation Self-free Immortal twice, even if it was merely a counterfeit version of the Great Transformation Self-free Immortal!
Seeing the Sumeru stone fail, the Giant Ape instantly felt discontent and summoned more power from Taiyi’s Dream, using the ultimate Heavenly Gang Skill of Mediation Creation, directly transforming Sumeru Mountain into an Ancient Deity!
This was incredibly astounding; not even the second step Zi Wei, let alone the fourth step Zi Wei, could achieve it!
Who in this world was qualified to transform a deity? Only the Ancient God King held such privilege, uncontested authority by all the reverse saints!
But in Taiyi Dream’s realm, this was possible. Simply because Taiyi’s Dream was originally the God King’s relic, Sumeru Mountain also held remnants of the ancient divine status, and Zi Wei merely needed to borrow a small portion of the ancient God King’s authority to transform the naturally divine-qualifed being into a pseudo-god.
It was merely borrowing authority, incapable of producing a true god; once separated from Taiyi’s Dream, Sumeru Mountain would revert to its original state.
Yet, as long as it resided within the dream, it was an Ancient Deity, wielding supreme divine power, serving as leverage for the Giant Ape against the Black Dragon!
Under the glow of Mediation Creation, Sumeru Mountain transformed into a Stone Body Mountain God with Ten Epoch Cultivation; additionally, due to the control of the Black Moon Mark, Sumeru Mountain, though titled a deity, was essentially just a Stone Warrior puppet of the Giant Ape.
"Evil God... must suppress..."
"Steal spirit... seize its divine status..."
The Sumeru Mountain God fell under the Black Moon Mark, losing all reason.
It naturally perceived the Black Dragon had divine lineage, esteemed as a father god.
Yet, it couldn’t help but launch an attack on the Black Dragon unexpectedly.
Thus...
Was torn apart into countless fragments by the Black Dragon’s Moon-Tearing Dragon claw.
"Useless!" shouted the Giant Ape.
But when he saw the fragments reconsolidating into the Sumeru Mountain God, launching another attack on the Black Dragon, the Giant Ape grudgingly acknowledged Sumeru Mountain God’s prowess.
Weak as it was, it still managed to withstand assaults effectively, sufficient to distract the Black Dragon to some extent.
It turned out Sumeru Divine Mountain also possessed a trace of the unbreakable power, though not self-cultivated, but granted by an Ancient God King through certain means. With the existence of the unbreakable power, the Mountain God’s transformed by the Divine Mountain was naturally challenging to eliminate, the trace of unbreakable entered the Giant Ape’s sight, therefore allowing Mediation Creation transformation.
But this trace of unbreakable power disturbed something.
The disturbance surprisingly came from what was supposed to be devoured by Ning Fan, now transformed into Black Dragon Scale Armor—the Ancient Kingdom’s God-Destroying Shield!
The God-Extinguishing Shield sensed its ancient power from the unbreakable power of the Sumeru Divine Mountain!
That trace of unbreakable power was originally its relic, today, it sought to reclaim it!