The Forbidden Path to Immortality - Chapter 200

Part 2 Episode 19 The Dust Settles Chapter 3 The Oath

Jade Wanderer roared and trembled within his Niwan Palace, yet he exerted no effort at all.

The Blood God Son cultivated by Li Xun was considered the highest of all demonic arts. Through various cultivation methods, he transformed himself into a demon, gaining incredible vitality and great supernatural powers.

This demonization was a complete and irreversible process, transforming not only the physical body but also every level of essence, energy, and spiritual will, ultimately completing the final transformation.

Both Li Xun and Master Tianzhi, at certain times, developed a bloodthirsty streak, a gradual adaptation to the demonization process.

Jade Wanderer was truly a master in this realm, his knowledge and skills comparable to Yin Wanderer’s, and he possessed innate advantages. In a clash of their primordial spirits, his chances of victory were even greater than Li Xun’s. However, his most crucial flaw was his complete lack of understanding of the Blood God Son’s operations and transformations!

At the highest levels of the Blood God Son’s cultivation, his entire body became a mist, dispersing and gathering at will, transforming into a blood-shadow demonic body. At this point, strictly speaking, he was no longer a human.

As for forging the Blood God Body, forging the cultivator’s spirit and energy into one with this demonic body, indistinguishable from one another, is an even higher level of skill.

After the battle at Razor Peak, Li Xun, disregarding life and death, harnessed the immense power of the Blue Luan to master the “Blood God Body” to perfection. Further advancements were entirely a matter of advancing Dao Heart, unconnected to the physical body.

In other words, speaking solely of the “Dharma Body,” Li Xun had reached the pinnacle of this demonic skill, or more specifically, the ultimate state of the “Indestructible Dharma Body” extant in this realm.

Theoretically, at this level, one is invulnerable to water, fire, sword, or weapons, nor can wind, thunder, or demons destroy them. One’s lifespan is infinite, practically coexisting with heaven and earth…

Of course, this Dharma Body, forged through the secret techniques of the Heavenly Demon, was not yet indestructible. However, due to the unique properties of the Blood Shadow Demon Body, even if shattered by an irresistible external force, as long as a shred of flesh and blood remained, he could recover.

Working backwards from this, how could such a result be achieved with flesh and blood, and a soul like that of an ordinary cultivator?

Therefore, at this stage, Li Xun’s ability to control his soul and transform his body was vastly different from that of a normal cultivator. However, he had mastered the art of the Bone Meridians-Connecting Heart technique, allowing him to freely switch between a human and a demonic body. While in human form, the flow of vital energy and the manifestation of his soul remained the same as those of an ordinary cultivator. But after transforming into a blood-shadow demonic body, his flesh became demonized, and a flow of his own vital energy flowed through his flesh and blood. Body and soul merged into one, so what was the point of the Niwan Palace?

From the moment Yu Sanren unlocked some meridian acupoints, enabling Li Xun to transform into a blood-shadow demonic body, the balance of power shifted completely.

Of course, Yu Sanren was a Grandmaster after all. Though his current state was off, after roaring for a while, he had found a way to exert his strength. He disregarded all else and simply channeled his soul and consciousness outward, not seeking to control this demonic body, but to wreak havoc within.

Because his spirit possessed a natural ability to restrain Li Xun, a concentrated, fierce attack would indeed disrupt the harmonious union of Li Xun’s spirit and body, complicating his control.

Li Xun knew that allowing Yu Sanren’s spirit to remain was not a long-term solution. Ideally, he would have some means of attacking his spirit, which he could apply directly to Yu Sanren, ultimately destroying him. The safest option, of course, was to enlist the help of Yin Sanren and Shui Dielan. However, the former, as a puppet, had numerous limitations, and the latter, still recovering from her injuries, might not be effective.

After a moment’s deliberation, Li Xun ultimately decided to risk attacking the battlefield overhead. As soon as he regained control of his body, he broke through the Wuyinxuan barrier and soared upwards.

Only after leaving Wuyin Pavilion did Li Xun realize the surge of calamity in the sky, the overwhelming pressure even greater than before. Especially so was the ever-expanding red cloud. He could clearly sense the strange interplay of thunder, fire, and yin within it, a demonic and ferocious aura permeating his senses, comparable to that of a 49th-level

cultivator. Upon closer inspection, the red cloud looked remarkably familiar!

Li Xun’s grasp of information was far superior to that of Qingming and the others. Although he focused most of his attention on controlling Yu Sanren, he only hesitated for a moment before grasping the key. “Gu Yin’s cultivation must be unrivaled at this moment, attracting the calamity of heaven and earth. Hehe! She’s clearly entangled with Zhong Yin. Isn’t this the calamity that Zhong Yin encountered during his ascension?”

As he soared another thousand feet, Li Xun’s sense of the shifting vital energy above him grew clearer. The fierce, evil energy streaming down from the sky seemed imminent, even from a distance of over ten miles. It was thick and turbid, like a veil. Every gulp of it was filled with a heavy, sinister, foul aura.

However, for Li Xun’s Blood Shadow Demon Body, this foul miasma was a nourishing nutrient. As he flew, he absorbed the blood-colored light, finding it a small boost. “This must be the foul light cloud from the outer realm! What exploded overhead must be the Red Yin Lihua Divine Thunder.”

Despite his limited knowledge of heavenly tribulations, Li Xun was able to immediately identify its type because the Blood God Son’s scriptures contained detailed descriptions of these types of tribulations. Throughout the ages, cultivators who honed their skills in the Blood God’s way had committed monstrous sins during their practice. When faced with a heavenly tribulation, six or seven out of ten encountered this type of calamity, giving him ample experience.

He was well aware of the power of the foul light cloud from the outer realm and the millions of demons hidden within it. While a significant tonic, the Red Yin Lihua Divine Thunder posed a far greater threat.

Especially since it destroyed all true energy and damaged all primordial spirits, it was the ultimate nemesis for an “immortal Dharma body” like the Blood Shadow Demon Body, where primordial spirit and physical body merged seamlessly. A direct hit would have severely injured him on the spot.

Li Xun was already regretting his decision and was considering turning back when a cold flash of light flashed outside, revealing a falling sword. He glanced hastily, his heart trembling.

“The Sword of Heart Light?”

He wondered if he had misjudged it. At that moment, dozens of miles to the east, a blood-red rainbow light suddenly erupted from the ground, even faster than his own.

The rainbow light surged, stirring the atmosphere and absorbing the foul clouds of light hanging from the sky, making its brilliance even more dazzling and blinding.

“That’s Tianzhi…” Li Xun’s thoughts had barely spun when another wave of sound echoed from the sky: “…Tonight’s farewell will be forever!”

The blood-shadow demon’s speed was so swift that by the time he finished speaking, Li Xun was only a thousand feet away from the battlefield. Gu Yin, controlling the true fire of the sun, could clearly see his figure moving back and forth. From here, he clearly saw thousands of flames emanating from Qingming’s falling form. In an instant, they turned to ash, dissipated by the strong winds from high above.

Li Xun’s heart was shaken. At that moment, Yu Sanren’s spirit within the Niwan Palace, somehow triggered, roared and shook, unleashing its strongest attack since the two had met. The impact disturbed the Blood Shadow Demon’s state, causing it to become unstable and causing his speed to drop sharply.

From the side and rear, Tianzhi’s rainbow light suddenly reflected back. The two blood-colored rainbow lights intersected in the void, their shared source of burning blood energy colliding with each other, creating a faint thunderous sound.

At this moment, just as Ramash and Bancheng Jushi were combining their forces, a ferocious beast with horns roared silently in the raging wind that tore through the void. Ramash had already unleashed the Succubus Sect’s supreme magic skill, “Three Soul-Snatching Transformations.”

The image of the ferocious beast was the product of Ramashī’s lifelong magical cultivation. It contained the resentment of billions of lives, condensed into a tangible essence. It devoured souls and spirits, corroding the essence and blood of anyone it touched, a truly sinister act.

Bancheng Jushi, instead of using the techniques he had cultivated in the Western Zen sect, harnessed his innate magical power to harness the wind, stimulating Ramashī’s essence to its peak state. The two of them coordinated flawlessly.

The beast leaped over a distance of over ten miles in one stride, slamming its head and horns into the barrier of Sunfire erected by Gu Yin. The immense force of the collision was enough to cause even Gu Yin’s power to pause, but in an instant, the full might of the Sunfire was fully unleashed. Blazing white flames erupted, instantly engulfing the beast’s image. In the distance, Ramash and Bancheng Jushi were both in pain.

However, in the intervening moment, a barrage of lightning rained down, one after another. In a flash, dozens of bolts of lightning and fire pounded around the flames.

The flames surged, completely dissolving the entire wave of lightning and fire. However, this wave of tribulation lightning was several times more powerful than the combined power of Ramash and Bancheng Jushi. Outside Gu Yin’s body, the Sunfire trembled endlessly, distorting the surrounding void as it moved, seemingly threatening to rupture into hundreds of cracks.

At this moment, Tianzhi, transformed into a blood-red rainbow light, charged into the battlefield, charging directly towards Gu Yin.

Gu Yin didn’t seem surprised by the blood-colored rainbow light that appeared from the side. Her vision was wider than one might imagine, and she even had time to glance at the other blood-colored rainbow. Her interest in the reason for the appearance of the two blood demons in the sky was greater than that of the blood demons themselves.

The timing of this attack was impeccable. Tian Zhi had already spotted her defenses at their weakest point, but it wasn’t enough to threaten her!

The blood-colored rainbow light collided with the barrier of the Sun’s True Fire. A dull explosion was followed by a series of crackling sounds. The extremely yang and powerful Sun’s True Fire had a strong inhibitory effect on celestial demonic bodies like the Blood Shadow Demon Body, which was one of the reasons why Gu Yin ignored its attack.

But then, she was still slightly startled.

Blue, yellow, red, white, and black radiances spread across the void, like a fan or a wheel, sweeping across the sky. This exquisite display of the five elements’ intricate interplay of life and death was truly unstoppable. Even the pure Sun’s True Fire was breached, and the blood-colored rainbow light instantly vaporized and charged in.

“It’s really Tianzhi!”

Gu Yin was indeed surprised, but she couldn’t let Master Tianzhi take advantage of her situation. She stirred her true fire a second time, creating a new barrier, intending to trap Tianzhi within these two layers of sun’s true fire…

At that moment, she suddenly froze and looked up.

Almost instantly, Li Xunzhuo’s spiritual sense below him registered a response. It was like the dark clouds before a thunderstorm, blanketing the sky and earth. A thick, suffocating feeling enveloped him for no apparent reason, temporarily obscuring the dazzling light and fire in the distance.

This feeling, with an irresistible power, seized Li Xun’s entire mind, and he gazed higher into the sky.

At that moment, beneath the crimson clouds, thousands of red Yin-transforming divine thunderbolts erupted, pouring down. The crimson flames threatened to set the very sky ablaze. However, the raging thunder and fire could not obscure the dazzling sword light!

“Clang!”

By the time the unsheathed divine sword’s ringing sound reached everyone’s ears, a sword light far more brilliant than the blazing thunder and fire had already pierced the vast web of lightning and fire, like an inverted Milky Way, a stream of stars cascading down.

However, the cultivators on the battlefield automatically blocked out this outer layer of splendor, only seeing the peerless brilliance hidden behind the stream of stars.

Among the cultivators, two, though intimidated by the sword’s radiance, still saw a layer more clearly than the others. Li Xun, below, and Gu Yin, above, their eyes pierced through the unparalleled blade and saw a familiar figure burst forth from the clouds, sword raised. Under the sky shrouded in a dazzling crimson glow, this figure’s long, cloud-like halberd was shrouded in a thick layer of darkness, leaving only the frosty blade, like snow, piercing the heart.

The sword light, the sword chant, and the sword wielder were clearly one, yet their movements were distinct, their intensity distinct. It would have been fine if they were merely blinded by a single incident, but Gu Yin and Li Xun saw it all too clearly. A sharp sense of disharmony struck them, and even with their cultivation, they felt a daze.

In that moment, the sword light arrived.

Its swiftness is hard to describe. Everyone thought they had caught the flash, but as they tried to react, they were stunned to find that, compared to the lightning-fast sword light, their own movements were like a snail’s. The stark contrast between speed and slowness truly revealed the disparity between the two.

A clear sword mark was carved into the air, and everyone could see the path of the sword light, but that was all they could see.

At that moment, Master Tianzhi’s innate five-colored divine light had barely begun to move, and Gu Yin’s second solar true fire barrier had barely begun to take shape. The sword light had already swept across the area surrounding the clash between the two female cultivators and continued to sweep downward.

In that instant, Gu Yin’s expression suddenly became utterly strange.

Further below, Li Xun couldn’t understand why he’d noticed such a trivial detail, but in that instant, the situation on the high-altitude battlefield was completely reversed!

The Sun’s True Fire… had gone out!

It was said to be extinguished. In reality, it was a blink of an eye, or a billionth of a second, but in that instant, the blazing flames had indeed vanished. A vast void, like an absurd dream, appeared between Gu Yin and Tian Zhi.

The distance between them was only three feet.

The innate five-colored divine light exploded with dazzling brilliance, then dimmed again, perhaps because Tian Zhi’s right hand, harnessing the divine light, had deeply penetrated Gu Yin’s side. The next moment, the five-colored divine light emerged from Gu Yin’s other ribs, its brilliance as dazzling as ever.

The Sun’s True Fire roared, but it seemed meaningless.

Everyone stared in amazement at the sudden change, unsure how to react. Only Li Xun stood apart—or rather, severed from all connection to the outside world by the peerless brilliance.

Below, Yin Sanren and Shui Dielan flew towards him, but to Li Xun, they seemed to be receding. Only the dazzling sword light held all that was in this world.

Others only saw the sword light splitting the air, but to Li Xun, as that light appeared before his eyes, the boundless void suddenly filled.

Countless visible and invisible lines flickered with bright flames, perhaps the result of the pull of Qi, the flow of vital energy, or the transformation of forbidden patterns. At first glance, it seemed complex and chaotic, but the moment the sword light passed through the outer layer of the ancient sound’s flame, a bright trajectory stretched out from the center of the chaotic lines, like a butcher cutting an ox, and the situation suddenly became clear.

“The six guardians of the four directions, multiplying and antagonizing each other, only now is the balance of power and restraint complete. Is this the true nature of Zhong Yin’s forbidden technique?”

In Li Xun’s eyes, this brilliant moment truly exhausted the mysteries of the forbidden technique’s evolution. As the sword light passed, the world before him, controlled by the forbidden technique, tilted completely. With the sword light as its core, a near-perfect structure was reconstructed, and the dominance of this world suddenly shifted hands.

Gu Yin was isolated, though only for a brief moment.

When the power controlled by the forbidden technique was poured into the sword, the instantly formed perfect structure was restored to the purest sharpness, and now the peerless edge had achieved an unparalleled sublimation. Wherever the sword light passed, it wiped out all chaos and cut through all complexity.

But for some reason, Li Xun’s gaze finally passed through the sword light and met the familiar pair of bright eyes behind it, their eyes clear and bright. The bottom was visible, and at the deepest point, a dazzling edge shone, pure and singular, without a trace of impurities. It merged with the external sword light, resonating with a humming sound.

It was Qing Yin, but also not…

Li Xun had never seen Qing Yin like this before. Stripped of the dark and gloomy veneer, stripped of the beautiful and exquisite glitz, what appeared before him was a cultivator who became sword intent, severing all things. Against this peerless edge, no foul aura could remain, and so-called elegance and grace were meaningless.

Li Xun suddenly realized how absurd it was to think Qing Yin would indulge in carnal passion with Yu San Ren!

“Qing Yin!”

Yu San Ren roared within the Niwan Palace. Perhaps Yu San Ren himself didn’t realize the frenzied nature of his cries, but rather a deep sense of fear within. This emotion, seemingly tangible, broke free from Li Xun’s control, materializing as if intangibly, transforming into tangible sound waves that echoed through the sky.

It was certainly not Li Xun’s voice.

Qing Yin smiled. In that moment, her brilliance remained undimmed, yet she radiated a peerless grace, a faint remnant of her past. In that smile, a message pierced Li Xun’s eyes, a profound yet clear message: “You filthy, ugly creature, how dare you stand with me under the blue sky!”

With a smile, a sword flashed!

Yu San Ren felt as if an invisible hand had grasped his throat. His cries ceased, leaving only the meaningless vibrations of his consciousness. Yu San Ren, now, was no longer the once-dominant Grandmaster, but a madman on the verge of collapse.

Strangely enough, at this moment, Li Xun remained unaffected by Yu Sanren, his mind becoming even calmer. At that moment, a thought occurred to him: “Can the Sky-Cutting Divine Sword sever my Blood Shadow Demon Body?” A

chilling sword energy surged from the front, piercing flesh and bone, reaching its final peak. At that moment, the void darkened, and You Yi’s imposing figure stood before Li Xun.

With a single thought, the puppets could move through the air. Li Xun used this method to eliminate the speed gap between him and Qing Yin, a prudent approach. The

void flickered, and while some normal physiological changes had vanished in the Blood Shadow Demon Body state, Li Xun still felt a chill. You Yi’s nearly indestructible form, like rotten wood, was cleaved in two by the Sky-Cutting Divine Sword!

The cold sword energy soared with a long, piercing roar, severing a Youxuan puppet, its edge undimmed, continuing its advance.

Impossible!

Li Xun only had time to form this thought before, relying solely on instinct, he repeated his old trick and summoned his puppet for the second time.

Instantly, the void cracked, and a hazy white shadow flew out.

A jade plaque, two inches long and an inch and a half wide, barely the size of half a palm, stood between him and Qing Yin. Li Xun could clearly see the faint glimmer of light on it, and the freehand landscape sketched with a few strokes.

This was definitely not Yin Sanren!

The jade plaque shattered with a loud bang. Under the scattered light, Qing Yin’s face, once calm, seemed to come alive again, a touch of magnificence, a touch of mockery.

The sword pierced through him.

An icy feeling spread throughout him, like an unreal dream, like time reversing, a replay of that day. An indescribable impulse surged within him, materializing into an unwavering vow: “If I ever feel the slightest remorse towards Immortal Master Qing Yin in this life, let… let her behead me with her own hands!”

Behead!

Water Die Lan’s scream echoed in her ears, then faded away.

A brilliant blood flower exploded in mid-air. Li Xun’s body, no longer able to maintain its atomized form, disintegrated into a pool of blood, splattering everywhere.

Most of the splashing blood evaporated in the sword energy and thunder and fire, but some still fell.

The sword light solidified, and the sound of the whirring continued. But even after the echo faded, the cultivators in the air remained motionless. Only the sound of Chi Yin Li’s divine thunder continued to explode, thundering down like rain.

Qing Yin sheathed her sword. The simple movement was graceful and calm, but more so, it carried the same chilling coldness as the sword itself.

Occasionally, a few bursts of thunder and fire fell, fading silently three feet away from her. She ignored them, simply completing her tasks step by step, before raising her head to gaze higher.

The sun’s true fire rapidly expanded, generating a tremendous repulsive force that sent Master Tian Zhi flying away. The flames remained bright and brilliant, undimmed by the wound Gu Qi had inflicted through her chest and abdomen.

Tianzhi, having fallen far away, had transformed into a humanoid form. The hand that had pierced Gu Yin’s body bore no trace of blood, only a blazing layer of dark blue flames, tumbling and scattering.

The cultivators who noticed this moment tensed. That wasn’t fire, it was blood!

At this moment, Gu Yin ignored everyone else, staring intently at Qing Yin. Behind her calm, clear eyes seemed to lie a trembling storm.

At this moment, Ramash, Li Douliang, Bancheng Jushi, Chu Chen, and even the Venerable Tianzhi, who had just dealt Gu Yin a severe blow, became negligible supporting characters. As for the water butterfly orchid at Mu Li’s side, and the Yin Sanren who had suddenly vanished into thin air, no one paid any attention.

However, this invisible storm was ultimately not as direct as the Heaven and Earth Power Demon.

In that moment, the crimson clouds above had undergone a dramatic transformation. Within the thick cloud layer, a massive vortex seemed to form, manifesting itself externally.

High in the sky, crimson clouds swirled like flowing water, a dagger-thin black hole sunk in its center. Its base seemed secretly connected to the boundless outer realms. Millions of demons poured out endlessly, harnessing rolling thunder and fire to charge down in a relentless assault.

The force of the calamity demons was even more formidable than before, though with a subtle shift.

The foul clouds of outer space and the crimson Yin-transforming divine thunder had originally been directed solely at Gu Yin. The threat of thunder and fire that had previously threatened Li Douliang and the others was merely aftermath, with no connection to their energy. However, this wave of thunder and fire demons was clearly different.

Those present possessed keen perceptions. They immediately sensed that this calamity demon had clearly engulfed Qing Yin as well!

The earliest wave of thunder and fire blasted down, encompassing an area several feet in radius. At first glance, it appeared entirely aglow with crimson flames, shimmering with light, yet surrounded by a veil of pale green light.

Qing Yin smiled brightly at this, her second smile of the night. Smiling, she gazed up at the rapidly descending thunder and fire, her expression utterly focused.

Gu Yin was momentarily startled, then stopped talking. Like Qing Yin, she also looked up.

With a prolonged “chi,” the oncoming Thunder and Fire Demon vanished silently even three feet away. Qing Yin hadn’t unsheathed her sword, relying solely on the sword energy coursing through her body to achieve this. While not as powerful as Gu Yin’s Sun True Fire, its composure and poise surpassed it.

Gu Yin, too, suffered the Thunder and Fire Demon’s assault, but she turned away again, her eyes cold and clear, her complete attention focused on Qing Yin. Even though the Chi Yin Li Transformation Divine Thunder shook the surrounding Sun True Fire, it couldn’t distract her in the slightest.

Qing Yin’s expression was calm, her eyes seemingly oblivious to Gu Yin’s gaze. A second wave of thunder and fire descended, this time three in number. Surrounding them were countless demons, and the momentum was much stronger than before. Finally, she could no longer afford to be complacent. She pressed her bare hand against the hilt of her sword, and with a faint effort, the Sky-Cutting Sword unsheathed three-quarters of its original length with a clang. The

sword energy surrounding her instantly grew tenfold stronger!