Chapter 253: Reverse Strike

The purple heavenly saber descended swiftly, striking directly against Saintly Son Xuan's life-lamp protection and causing numerous ripples. Simultaneously, Saintly Son Xuan's own heavenly saber slashed out, colliding with Xu Qing's, and both shattered. Amidst the shockwaves from the collapsing sabers, Saintly Son Xuan's body rapidly recoiled.

However, Xu Qing's assault was far from over. Everything before had been a feint, a prelude to the full-power strike from the Vajra Sect Ancestor, contained within the black iron spike. Streaks of lightning instantly burst forth from Xu Qing's shattered heavenly saber, moving with extreme speed. The lightning on the iron spike, clearly controlled, coiled in a spiral, causing the black iron spike's velocity to surge once more. The Vajra Sect Ancestor, acutely aware of the mission's importance—especially after witnessing the shadow's critical role in this battle—was already consumed by anxiety. Fearing failure, he grew desperate, detonating all the lightning runes on the spike at any cost, exchanging them for even more astonishing speed and power. Like a genuine bolt of heavenly lightning, it directly slammed into Saintly Son Xuan's life-lamp protection as he recoiled.

With a thunderous crash, the life-lamp protection proved astonishingly resilient; it did not collapse and remained intact. Yet, under the black iron spike's extreme speed and impact, a small hole was punctured through it. But in the very next instant, the black iron spike was violently repelled by the protection's rebound force, becoming incredibly dim. Faintly, the Vajra Sect Ancestor within let out a tragic shriek; clearly, this backlash had caused him considerable harm. As for the small hole that had been blasted open, it rapidly healed, returning to normal in an instant.

"If you can't break through my life-lamp protection, it's ultimately useless," a cold smile played on Saintly Son Xuan's lips. Yet, his body was still forced to retreat by the impact. Xu Qing's preceding attacks had been like a torrential storm—wave after wave, incredibly swift. First the ancient dragon, then the self-detonating Dharma boat, followed by the heavenly saber—though none could truly shake Saintly Son Xuan's life-lamp protection, these successive impacts possessed considerable power. While the protection remained, he couldn't be truly shaken, just as Saintly Son Xuan's earlier attack couldn't shake Xu Qing, only shattering his protective barrier. Overall, however, Saintly Son Xuan still held a slight advantage. He clearly possessed more divine abilities. As he retreated, his eyes gleamed; he had discerned Xu Qing's weakness. "Your spells are too few, and you lack divine abilities that can display great power!" Saintly Son Xuan's gaze was like lightning. Since the battle began, Xu Qing had been evenly matched with him, but now he finally saw Xu Qing's vulnerability. Hearing Saintly Son Xuan's words, Xu Qing's eyes grew colder, and he remained silent.

Saintly Son Xuan let out a long laugh and formed hand seals, preparing to exploit Xu Qing's weakness and secure a kill. Just as he was about to unleash a divine ability, his expression suddenly darkened. His life-lamp protection, outside his body, had now dimmed slightly, and its surface rippled. Especially at the spot where the black iron spike had punctured a small hole and then healed, a sense of corrosion emerged in Saintly Son Xuan's mind. This reminded him of the poison he had once felt on the battlefield between Xu Qing and Sima Ling within the Seven Blood Eyes. "Petty poison arts cannot achieve the Great Dao," Saintly Son Xuan snorted dismissively. He had a special constitution since childhood and didn't care for ordinary poisons. With a casual wave, his life-lamp shone, emitting light that caused the corrosion on the protection to vanish instantly, as if purified. After doing all this, he was just about to attack when, in the very next instant, his expression drastically changed. An intense stinging pain immediately spread throughout his body. His skin instantly turned bruised black, and a dense foreign substance permeated his body, causing his life-fire to flicker precariously. "This is!!" Saintly Son Xuan's breathing quickened, and his mind reeled. He felt that his body had been afflicted with a potent poison. This poison was so swift and fierce that his vision blurred, and a sense of crisis enveloped his entire being. This poison was precisely the little black bugs. In fact, the little black bugs had been clinging steadfastly to Saintly Son Xuan's life-lamp protection from the beginning, unable to penetrate it, waiting for an opportunity. The Vajra Sect Ancestor's penetration gave them this chance. In that brief moment, a large number of little black bugs had already passed through that small hole and burrowed inside. Saintly Son Xuan was actually right; Xu Qing indeed lacked powerful divine abilities. But he was also wrong; while Xu Qing didn't have many powerful divine abilities, he *did* have poison. At the moment the little black bug poison erupted, Xu Qing's eyes blazed with intense killing intent, and he suddenly charged towards Saintly Son Xuan.

He had been waiting for this opportunity throughout the battle. Now, seeing Saintly Son Xuan poisoned, he unleashed his full speed, closing the distance in an instant and striking with a punch. Behind him, the Golden Crow manifested, fire erupted, and his life-lamp formed above his head, its black cover astonishing the heavens. Combined with Xu Qing's five-fire combat strength, this punch was earth-shattering, possessing immense destructive power. Poisoned, Saintly Son Xuan was utterly unable to evade. Even as he rapidly retreated, Xu Qing caught up and directly smashed into his protection. A thunderous sound echoed as Saintly Son Xuan's whole body violently shook, his body reeling back like a kite with a broken string. Xu Qing pursued him, delivering another punch. Saintly Son Xuan's breathing was ragged, and his eyes were bloodshot. While resisting with his protective force, he rapidly activated his Emperor-level cultivation technique, causing the Miemeng to emit a sharp cry and rush into his body to expel the poison. At the same time, the seven-colored glazed umbrella above his head emitted brilliant light, attempting to force the toxins out of his body. But with a wave of Xu Qing's hand, the large black umbrella directly shrouded Saintly Son Xuan's head, pressing down forcefully. Booming sounds reverberated. Saintly Son Xuan spat out blood. At this moment, he was in crisis both internally and externally, unable to fully deal with it all at once. As an unprecedented sense of life and death emerged, Xu Qing's fist descended. A sound rang out, and Saintly Son Xuan's body recoiled again. Xu Qing was as fast as lightning, catching up directly, delivering punch after punch. Heavenly sabers also slashed down one after another, and the Golden Crow exerted its full power to absorb, while the Vajra Sect Ancestor desperately tried to penetrate him. Meanwhile, the shadow also seized the opportunity. As Saintly Son Xuan was forced to reduce his suppression of it and focus on expelling the poison, it began to spread towards the second Dharma Aperture. It was a full-scale assault.

In the sky, Saintly Son Xuan was completely overwhelmed, continuously retreating and spitting out blood. Each mouthful of blood contained potent poison, corroding the ground upon impact. His life-lamp protection outside his body also flickered violently until finally, Xu Qing grasped it with both hands and slammed it down forcefully. With an earth-shattering roar, Saintly Son Xuan's life-lamp protection finally couldn't resist, dissipating away. The surrounding poison surged in over a wider area, and Saintly Son Xuan also spewed blood, his body reeling back, his expression filled with fury. But he didn't continue the battle; instead, he rapidly charged towards the forbidden zone. "What kind of poison is this?!" Saintly Son Xuan roared internally, filled with intense unwillingness. He was originally a six-fire cultivator, capable of overwhelming his opponent, but it was all because of that black shadow that his combat strength had decreased, and now the opponent's poison was terrifyingly potent. This drove him almost insane. At this moment, his hair was disheveled, and he looked extremely disheveled. His golden robe was also dim, and his entire being appeared wretched. If any disciples of the Seven Sects Alliance were here and witnessed this scene, they would undoubtedly be horrified, for they had never seen Saintly Son Xuan in such a state.

Saintly Son Xuan's heart was filled with frustration and extreme anger, but seeing Xu Qing's overwhelming killing intent as he charged again, he gasped and accelerated his escape. At the same time, he took out a jade slip and rapidly transmitted a message, summoning his three protectors, whom he had sent out to search for needed items, to return immediately. However, his protectors had been away for a long time and hadn't expected Saintly Son Xuan to encounter such peril here. So, even if they received the message now, it would still take time for them to return. What Saintly Son Xuan lacked now was time. The poison in his body was still erupting, and all his combat strength was plummeting. At this critical juncture, Xu Qing pursued him, his eyes filled with immense killing intent. The Golden Crow abruptly surged forward, intending to refine Saintly Son Xuan alive. The Miemeng appeared, resisting with all its might. Xu Qing directly unleashed a punch. Saintly Son Xuan barely resisted, and as blood once again spilled from the corner of his mouth, Xu Qing's face was distorted, and he fiercely slammed his head forward, directly hitting Saintly Son Xuan's face. Saintly Son Xuan let out a pained groan, his face covered in blood, madness showing in his eyes. He tried to struggle and retreat, but black fiend-fire erupted from Xu Qing's entire body, forming a large maw that enveloped Saintly Son Xuan. Cruelty appeared in his eyes; he wanted to refine Saintly Son Xuan's soul alive to use it for opening his own Dharma Apertures. Seeing this, Saintly Son Xuan's eyes grew even more frantic, and he let out a tragic cry. The golden Daoist robe outside his body suddenly swelled up and directly exploded. This robe was also a treasure. As it exploded, it generated a furious force. Saintly Son Xuan used this force to suddenly retreat, and after this amount of time, his life-lamp finally managed to somewhat suppress the poison within his body. This caused his life-fire's flickering to stabilize slightly, but he knew it wouldn't last long. With Xu Qing's formidable aura and astonishing killing intent, Saintly Son Xuan didn't hesitate. In the instant his injuries momentarily stabilized, he let out a low roar and took out an item from his storage ring!

This was a piece of wood, somewhat broken, likely part of a wooden object. After he took it out, the wood immediately erupted with terrifying fluctuations. The strength of these fluctuations made Xu Qing's expression change. He felt as if his life-fire was about to extinguish, his Dharma Apertures were trembling, and his divine soul felt as if it wanted to leave his body. Even the sky was affected at this instant, and the earth too. Plants and trees in all directions withered in a flash. Countless life forces frantically converged from all directions, causing the piece of wood, in the blink of an eye, to transform into an entirely black wooden door covered with countless claw marks. A bizarre and eerie aura spread with the appearance of this door. Especially the nail marks on this black wooden door were horrifying to behold, with some even showing brownish blood within them. Furthermore, these claw marks varied in depth and seemed to have been left at different times, giving the impression that countless individuals had once frantically clawed at this door. A sense of terror spread uncontrollably. Xu Qing's eyes suddenly narrowed, and he rapidly retreated. Madness intensified in Saintly Son Xuan's eyes. He rose into the air behind the door and pointed at Xu Qing. "Open!" The black wooden door creaked open, slowly revealing itself towards Xu Qing.