Chapter 1775: Killing

It is said that this individual suffered from vitiligo in his youth and endured much ridicule. After he sought immortals and entered the Dao, he returned and killed all those who had laughed at him. However, he always refused to remove the white spots from his face, claiming he wanted to keep them as a memento of his mortal days.

True Monarch Zangxi possessed boundless magical power and was a renowned great immortal in ancient times. Qianhuan held him in high respect. When outer realm demons invaded, he slew dozens of them, but unfortunately, he was ultimately defeated by Saint Lord Lingxu and perished on the Guhe battlefield.

From then on, Saint Lord Lingxu gained great renown and became known to the world.

When this person, with this face, suddenly appeared within the Inverted Sea, Elder Liu was first astonished, then felt his blood run cold.

True Monarch Zangxi had perished long ago, so who then was hiding within this body now? Or, to rephrase the question, which demon would be worthy of assuming the form of an ancient true immortal?

The lighthouse, the Eye of Truth, and True Monarch Zangxi, who perished before Saint Lord Lingxu back then...

"Miao Zhantian has arrived!" Elder Liu urgently shouted to his junior disciples. "Retreat, all of you retreat!"

He Xiao was right; this demon god had indeed appeared in person, and what's more, it was using True Monarch Zangxi's body. That's right, an ordinary immortal's body would struggle to bear his power.

With Miao Zhantian himself present, Elder Liu absolutely did not want to remain within its barrier.

All the immortals were startled, and, heeding the advice, transformed into streaks of light and retreated. But True Monarch Zangxi moved even faster than them, forcefully thrusting a sharp awl into the spire.

Though only a foot long and silvery-white, the awl, at first glance, seemed less potent than the Thunder Peak Thorn in Elder Xu's hand. But as soon as True Monarch Zangxi let go, the Eye of Truth on the lighthouse closed, then rotated ninety degrees, becoming a vertical eye.

True Monarch Zangxi gracefully stepped back, first interlacing his fingers, then making a gesture as if prying something open with both hands, and shouted loudly:

"Open!"

Even with his profound cultivation, the gesture appeared exceptionally strenuous, as if he were truly prying open an unseen object, like a tightly shut giant clam.

A tremendous rending sound echoed in the night sky. The Eye of Truth opened again, but this time it was no longer an eye, but a rift. Within the rift lay a darkness even deeper than the night sky.

It seemed the hardest part was the initial tearing; once open, it became unstoppable. With a tearing sound, it instantly grew from a few feet long to several zhang, then further ripped into a colossal, irregularly shaped gash, dozens of zhang long and three to five zhang wide!

The immortals were terrified: "A spatial rift!"

The Illusion Sect immortals had imagined many methods Miao Zhantian might employ, but they never dreamed he would use this. For a moment, they redoubled their efforts, flying even faster.

But it was too late.

From within the gash came an astonishing and surging suction force; the larger the rift, the stronger the pull. Its power and ferocity left the Carefree Sect's Midnight Divine Wind far behind.

Elder Liu, who was closest to it, was instantly sucked in with a whoosh, without even the strength to resist.

The speed at which he was pulled in was several times faster than his flight on an artifact to escape.

The other two elders used every trick in the book but were still doomed. Elder Xu flashed towards the ground.

Miao Zhantian's lighthouse barrier was still active, preventing him from using earth-burrowing spells. So, he directly blasted a large hole, intending to tunnel deep underground to escape the rift's suction.

His thinking was sound. He even aimed his impact towards the base of the Banqiu Lighthouse. Although things happened in a hurry, Elder Xu acutely grasped an opportunity:

Ultimately, it was the lighthouse that powered this terrifying rift. If the lighthouse were destroyed and the spatial rift's energy supply cut off, this catastrophe might just stop.

But the one thing he overlooked was that the entire section of land he burrowed into was also sucked up. Elder Xu was like a scallion caught in a steamed flower bun, about to be swept along and thrown into the rift. However, the great axe in his hand ultimately cleaved into the lighthouse's base, getting temporarily stuck there.

Relying on this axe, Elder Xu was temporarily not swept away. But his broken left arm couldn't exert any strength, making it impossible to further embed himself in the lighthouse.

At the same time, a demon-subduing vajra flew in from an angle, smashing violently towards the lighthouse's base with a dazzling red light.

Elder Liu had moved to rescue his fellow disciple.

His position was fortuitously behind the rift, temporarily shielding him from its full impact. The demons who had retreated behind True Monarch Zangxi immediately moved to intercept.

But Elder Liu's strike was unleashed with full power. The vajra shattered the intercepting artifact, its momentum unabated. The lotus petals on the vajra's tip opened up, swelled into a mallet, and then smashed violently onto the tower's base.

With a muffled, thunderous crash, the tower's base shattered instantly.

As expected, the rift on the spire slowly closed, its suction weakening accordingly, and then completely vanishing after a few breaths.

Before Elder Liu could rejoice, silver light flashed before his eyes. Over a hundred sword shadows struck down from above.

He dodged, but the sword formation followed him like a shadow, pursuing him faster and faster.

Elder Liu repeatedly tried to burrow underground to escape, only to find his escape spells were still ineffective.

That's right, the lighthouse barrier was broken, but Miao Zhantian's true self was right here; how could he allow disciples of the Mirage Immortal Sect to come and go as they pleased?

True Monarch Zangxi's attacks were relentless, and Elder Liu couldn't even pull out a pen to draw an arbitrary door.

Of course, with Miao Zhantian present, it was unknown if the Spirit Immortal Pen would even work.

From the lighthouse ruins, a figure moved, leaping up to strike True Monarch Zangxi directly in the back just as he landed.

Elder Xu had broken free and came filled with rage.

Elder Liu shouted: "Go quickly! Go find the sect leader!"

Elder Xu turned a deaf ear. His axe swung faster than before, each strike capable of splitting mountains. The axe's force was several zhang wide, substantial enough to violently furrow the ground for over ten zhang when it struck.

His suicidal momentum even made the two other demons who had rushed over shy away from his assault.

Elder Liu, however, knew the situation was extremely perilous. Just as he considered risking a charge to link up with Elder Xu, Elder Xu's axe flew straight towards him.

This axe was originally part of a pair, but Elder Xu was injured and could only wield it with one hand.

Elder Liu stretched out a hand and caught the axe, only then noticing a rune flashing on the handle.

"Yi." It was the art of transposition!

Sure enough, the very next second, he and the axe had swapped places, finding themselves at the base of a dirt slope two li away.

It turned out Elder Xu had hidden the other axe here beforehand. Elder Liu's ears still echoed with Elder Xu's last words: "Go!"

He flew into mid-air and looked again towards Banqiu, seeing only a ravaged landscape.

The lighthouse had fallen, and the barrier had vanished. He clearly saw Elder Xu pinned to the ground by a great spear, unable to move.

As if sensing his gaze, True Monarch Zangxi glanced at him, then brought a palm down onto Elder Xu's crown.

But the scene of his brains splattering did not occur. Because the moment before the palm struck, white light erupted from Elder Xu's seven orifices.

Although the light was exceptionally dazzling, Elder Liu watched unblinkingly as Elder Xu transformed into a ball of white light, and then an inward-sucking black hole.

Soul self-detonation!

Its scope was vast, covering the entire Banqiu. "Fourth Elder Xu!"

Elder Liu's eyes were bloodshot with rage, and hatred surged like a spring in his heart. Fourth Elder Xu had given him the chance to survive, perishing with the enemy himself.

The two of them had been fellow townsmen since childhood, entered the same sect, and supported each other on their cultivation journey, jointly repelling countless powerful enemies. They had long been like brothers.

But he knew that even the power of an immortal's primordial spirit self-detonation could not kill Miao Zhantian. Fourth Elder Xu had sacrificed his life to send him out, and would absolutely not wish for him to charge back alone to his death.

Elder Liu gritted his teeth, summoned the Haoyuan Golden Mirror, and stepped back through it.

As Elder Liu emerged from the mirror, Xiao Wencheng immediately asked, "What happened at Banqiu?" He and He Lingchuan, standing before the mirror, could see the Banqiu Lighthouse extinguished and collapsed, and the barrier gone. However, the battlefield where True Monarch Zangxi fought the Illusion Sect elders remained shrouded in mist, like looking through frosted glass. They knew there were shadows moving, but they couldn't see clearly.

He had a mind to go there himself, but everything happened too quickly; the battle concluded in mere seconds.

Now the image in the mirror was clear, but he couldn't see any combat, and the Illusion Sect elders were gone. Instead, there was a gigantic deep pit in the lighthouse ruins, which made Xiao Wencheng's heart pound with fear.

Behind the original Banqiu Lighthouse, a portion of the army, comprised of forces from the Heavenly Palace and the Illusion Sect, stood with faces filled with horror and confusion.

Was that a scene that should appear in the mortal realm?

"Miao Zhantian acted personally!" Elder Liu gritted his teeth, his first words making everyone look at each other in dismay. "He used True Monarch Zangxi's body!"

"What?" Xiao Wencheng gasped. "True Monarch Zangxi!"

He Lingchuan's gaze swept across the mirror's surface. Had Miao Zhantian truly begun to reveal his trump cards? The war was about to accelerate from this point.

In ancient times, numerous immortals stood like a forest, but in the current era, their names were rarely heard. However, the mention of True Monarch Zangxi's name always resonated powerfully with He Lingchuan.

He Lingchuan had heard this great immortal's name long ago during a public lecture in Panlong City, because True Monarch Zangxi was the founder of both the Mountain Shifting Array and the Lesser Mountain Shifting Array.

His understanding of spatial divine abilities certainly far surpassed that of other immortals. It was truly a pity that such a master perished in the early stages of the Immortal-Demon War.

He Lingchuan also remembered Dean Xu of Shuming Academy saying that when the demons first invaded this realm, the immortals didn't understand them. They merely thought they were ordinary demonic creatures that could be easily driven away, and consequently suffered great losses due to their carelessness.

Perhaps at that time, because True Monarch Zangxi underestimated Saint Lord Lingxu, and the latter initiated with a sneak attack, True Monarch Zangxi suffered a bitter defeat, and even his body was taken away.

"True Monarch Zangxi perished at the hands of Saint Lord Lingxu, and his body was likely collected and nurtured into a demon's shell!" Elder Liu said mournfully. "Several of my fellow disciples... they all sacrificed themselves. Fourth Elder Xu gave his life to save me, otherwise..."

Otherwise, all five of them would have been wiped out. These words were truly astounding.

Xiao Wencheng's body swayed, blood rushed to his head, and his face flushed beet red. Gone? Four great immortals of the Illusion Sect, gone so silently within a mere dozen breaths?

How could this be possible! Even if they couldn't defeat him, couldn't they at least escape?

His fellow senior disciples, each understood combat and self-preservation more profoundly than the last. Even if an Immortal Venerable acted personally, trapping four immortals at once would be exceptionally difficult.

Precisely for this reason, he had dared to send out five immortals to attack Banqiu at once.