Chapter 871: Suppression in the Land of Wu Zang

"How dare you!"

At this moment, Ji Dongzi's suppressed emotions—rage, incomprehension, helplessness, and various other negative feelings—could no longer be contained. They surged tempestuously within his mind. He couldn't understand. The ancient Heavenly Dao chains, which he had obtained through immense sacrifice, should have possessed astonishing, earth-shattering power.

He wasn't the first among the Blazing Moon Profound Sky Clan to manifest these chains. In fact, utilizing sacrificial methods to borrow the chains' power was a unique innate talent of the Blazing Moon Profound Sky Clan. However, the cost of deployment was too great, requiring sufficient sacrifice. Thus, it was rarely used unless absolutely necessary. Moreover, the chains summoned by this technique were not real; they were mere projections. Despite this, every time this grand divine ability, unique to the Blazing Moon Profound Sky Clan, was unleashed upon the world, it was always exceptionally formidable. Among other races, those capable of resisting this move were exceedingly rare.

But today, the chain projection he had acquired through sacrifice, after three strikes, not only failed to kill Xu Qing but also seemed to form a connection with him. This filled Ji Dongzi with immense frustration. Especially now, seeing Xu Qing's current state, it was clear he had surpassed his previous condition. The strangeness of this situation was beyond his comprehension, leaving him utterly bewildered and perplexed.

He couldn't understand why this was happening. The feeling that he had sacrificed everything—his Heavenly Dao, vitality, and cultivation—only to empower his opponent, caused Ji Dongzi excruciating chest pain, making him spit out another mouthful of blood. And Xu Qing's words made Ji Dongzi's eyes turn bloodshot, his killing intent at that moment transcending any desire for survival.

He knew very well that this time, he was doomed. Unless a deity personally intervened, the chances of surviving this battle were infinitesimally small. As a great prodigy of the Blazing Moon Profound Sky Clan, he naturally understood the divine rules very well, and he knew that such an intervention was almost impossible. This hunt was meant to nurture the strong by eliminating the weak, like raising poisonous insects in a jar; how could there be any rescue? Deities were high above, devoid of emotion. Therefore, whether one lived or died in this hunt, it was something one had to fight for oneself.

Since that was the case... Ji Dongzi let out a grim laugh. He stopped fleeing, instead staring intently at Xu Qing, the madness within him erupting as he gritted his teeth fiercely. With a rumbling sound, a dangerous aura surged from Ji Dongzi's body. Accompanying terrifying fluctuations, this aura spread outwards from him in all directions. The source of this transformation was his Sea of Consciousness!

The six divine tablet mountains within his Sea of Consciousness trembled in unison. The blood-red holes of the Death God, visible upon them, roared, manifesting as a massive vortex descending upon the world. The vortex rumbled, spinning around Ji Dongzi, growing larger and larger, its pulling force intensifying rapidly. Instantly, the sky turned from red to dim, the ground blurred, seeming to become a dark sea. The entire world seemed to plunge into recurring shadows. Ancient whispers echoed from within this gloom.

At the center of this vortex, Ji Dongzi's dangerous aura grew ever stronger. In the blink of an eye, his body began to crackle and crumble. It seemed his physical body could no longer withstand this eruption, but he didn't care. He had sacrificed his Heavenly Dao, vitality, and cultivation, and now his soul—the true soul hidden within those ninety-odd divine tablets—suddenly flared. With a low roar from Ji Dongzi, his true soul spontaneously disintegrated, transforming into a surge of violent power.

The disintegration of the true soul, which was the core of all his divine tablets and his Sea of Consciousness, affected everything. Under its stimulation, the already trembling divine tablets now vibrated even more violently. The next moment, each of them scattered sacred golden light, which pierced through Ji Dongzi's severely broken physical body. These streaks of light soared into the sky. From a distance, within the dim world, a total of ninety-five golden lights intersected in mid-air, transforming into ninety-five colossal divine tablets.

They floated in all directions, radiating destructive power. Then, they combined to form a massive, closed-eyed face. This face was grotesque, lacking distinct humanoid features, instead resembling an insect, striking fear into the heart. At the same time, Ji Dongzi's body, now withered like a lamp running out of oil, disintegrated into dust. Before vanishing completely, he cast a final glance at Xu Qing, a sinister grin on his lips.

"I'll wait for you in the netherworld," he said, before his entire being dissipated.

Where he had been, only the massive, mountain-like face remained, floating in the sky. Its eyes stirred slightly, then abruptly opened. An ancient wind blew from the void, carrying decay and death into the world, descending upon Xu Qing. Heaven and earth lost their color. Xu Qing's entire body immediately showed signs of mutation. However, Xu Qing was no longer who he once was; repeated encounters with divine energy had granted him a certain resistance. Furthermore, his own Fourth-Layer Divine State was itself divine.

Therefore, he possessed a method to counter the influence of anomalous divine essence. The next moment, as Xu Qing's body swayed, all his mutated parts spontaneously combusted, eventually decomposing into threads of soul. He then looked up, examining the colossal face in the sky, a faint, dark glow appearing in his eyes.

His gaze seemed to commit a blasphemous offense, drawing the wrath of the divine. The face opened its mouth and inhaled sharply towards Xu Qing. Heaven and earth collapsed, the void fractured. A tremendous suction force erupted from all directions, enveloping Xu Qing. Xu Qing's body became uncontrollable, rapidly approaching the face under this suction, as if about to be devoured.

This was Ji Dongzi's final trump card: sacrificing his soul to partially revive all the divine tablets, aiming to perish together with Xu Qing! This was the only method he could conceive of now. Yet, if he displayed his worth and resolve at the moment of death, it wasn't impossible that the deities might be pleased and resurrect him in the future.

Whether the deities were pleased, no one knew, but Xu Qing, with a glint in his eyes, was satisfied in his heart. This was precisely what he wanted to see. From his battle with Ji Dongzi months ago, he knew about the small anomalies within the opponent's Sea of Consciousness. Like 'fishing for the moon in a well,' those more than twenty divine tablets formed from deceased deities were clearly imprinted in his memory.

At the time, he didn't know why, but after comprehending the fragments of the Nine Li's memory and understanding the history of that era, the origin of those divine tablets became perfectly clear to him. Those were the skeletal remains of deities who perished during the ancient conflict between Witches and Gods. Even though they had fallen and no longer possessed the power they held in life, since they could exist within Ji Dongzi's Sea of Consciousness and become his powerful foundation, Xu Qing believed they could also be placed within his own Witch's Repository to become nourishment for his Witchcraft. The prerequisite was for these divine tablets to become active, like they were now.

"Divine tablets formed from deceased deities are merely monuments after all. These ninety-five fallen deities are no match for Xu Qing; he wouldn't fear them, for they would likely crumble with a mere glance." But now, facing these post-mortem divine tablets, he could attempt to suppress them.

Thus, as he rapidly approached the face, purple light surged from his back, resonating in waves, resisting the colossal face. Simultaneously, the soul threads that formed his Fourth-Layer Divine State rapidly writhed, spreading outwards along Xu Qing's raised right hand. They formed a sea of soul threads, larger than the face itself, interposing between Xu Qing and the colossal face.

The suction paused. A dark glow flickered in Xu Qing's eyes as he clenched his raised right hand, gesturing towards the sea of souls blocking the colossal face above. Instantly, this sea of millions of soul threads roared, generating colossal waves that surged violently. It swept towards the colossal face with an encompassing encirclement, immediately enveloping it and rapidly contracting, intending to suppress the face within.

The colossal face's eyes were lifeless, utterly silent, but it opened its mouth, no longer inhaling, but exhaling a golden mist towards the sea of soul threads. This mist instantly collided with the sea of soul threads, exhibiting intense corrosive power. Xu Qing immediately sensed the soul threads vanishing one by one. At the same time, the colossal face's features blurred, overlapping shadows appearing as if it intended to seize the opportunity to escape the sea of soul threads' restraints. Moreover, ninety-five golden beams of light erupted from within it, like ninety-five golden spears, shooting out in all directions.

Wherever they passed, they destroyed everything in their path, and even the soul threads could not block them. But how could Xu Qing allow this colossal face to succeed? He then raised his hand and grabbed. Instantly, the blood sphere that had been suspended in mid-air earlier, halted by the emergence of the ancient Heavenly Dao, arrived. It violently expanded, forming a sea of blood that enveloped the outer perimeter. This created a double encirclement in conjunction with the soul threads. Both began to contract, suppressing the colossal divine tablet face.

At the same time, he took a deep breath, leaped, and sat cross-legged high in the sky. His hands rested on his knees, his forehead slightly bowed, his brow furrowed, and the Witch Seal on his glabella faintly shimmered. From the depths of his heart, he silently called out, "Ancestor Witch!"

Immediately, the Nine Li Witch Armor on his body trembled. Boundless gray mist furiously diffused outwards from it, instantly engulfing Xu Qing and spreading in all directions, covering a vast area. Though Xu Qing's body was submerged in the gray mist, as the mist churned, a majestic, mountain-like figure indistinctly emerged within it! This figure had once guarded the clan for ten thousand years outside the Absolute God Formation, until it later became dust in history, remembered by few. But now, it had reappeared. It was precisely the true Ancestor Witch form of the Profound Sky Grand Witch.

Appearing with it was a supreme aura that shook heaven and earth, trembling the Mountains and Seas Region. The very realm rumbled, countless fierce beasts wailed, and the bloodlines of countless cultivators were affected, inspiring reverence. However, it was somewhat regrettable that this majestic figure remained indistinct, giving the impression that it had only half-formed. Nevertheless, its power was unparalleled. Upon its appearance, it pressed down fiercely upon the colossal face trapped by Xu Qing.

With a boom, the colossal face disintegrated, reforming into ninety-five divine tablets. They were about to reassemble, but it was too late. The millions of soul threads, the hundred-thousand-mile sea of blood, and the half-formed Ancestor Witch figure combined to create overwhelming pressure. Amidst the rumbling, the gray mist also covered them, appearing from afar as if merging with that figure. Moments later, the mist dissipated, revealing Xu Qing's cross-legged figure in mid-air. The colossal face was gone. It had appeared within Xu Qing's Sea of Consciousness, suppressed beneath the earth of the Fifth Witch's Repository, becoming a source of immense nourishment for his Ancestor Witch form.