Chapter 1122: The Root of Calamity, The Guide of Death

"Retreat!"

Inside the maze, shrouded in dark, misty gloom, a cry of terror echoed.

True Master Huang Yang held a blood bead in his left hand and a whisk in his right. He poured all his spiritual energy into the blood bead, and his terrified, bloodshot eyes darted wildly, trembling uncontrollably.

"Retreat! Retreat! I order you to retreat!"

The blood bead remained unresponsive, but the booming footsteps ahead grew louder and more frantic.

True Master Huang Yang was on the verge of madness, for he could now see a black reflection on the blood bead's smooth, mirror-like surface.

It was entirely black!

He stared up, his gaze meeting an unprecedented sight: a black giant, hundreds of feet tall!

"ROAR—"

The giant bent down and roared, sending out sound waves like a massive tide that threatened to shatter True Master Huang Yang's spiritual resolve.

"I'll let you absorb anything you want, just take it!"

"But please, drive it back! If it doesn't retreat, I'll surely perish here!"

The former successor of the Xuanmen Daoist lineage could no longer suppress his inner terror and shrieked hysterically at the blood bead.

This Giant Realm truly harbored such colossal beings!

A hundred-foot black giant could crush any so-called Spirit Refining Realm expert with a single stomp!

What use was Grand Void, or Xuanmen heritage, or even the precious blood bead...?

True Master Huang Yang would have traded any one of them, or even all of them, without a moment's hesitation, just to make the giant retreat.

Yet, despite his prolonged pleas, the black giant continued its slow advance, and the blood bead remained utterly unresponsive.

"Useless!"

True Master Huang Yang desperately wanted to smash the wretched thing, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He grudgingly put it away, then shakily raised his gaze to meet the black giant's... ankle!

"Hoo..."

After a long, shaky breath, True Master Huang Yang, despite his faltering spirit, tried to brave it out: "Big brother, show some respect. I am a human expert of the Xuanmen Daoist lineage, a future Half-Saint. I trust you understand what I'm saying. If you spare my life today..."

"ROAR!" The Void Attendant didn't wait for him to finish, bringing its foot down with crushing force.

"Damn it... Three Upper Thunder Mirror!" True Master Huang Yang swiftly dodged, flipping his hand to form a seal. His dwindling spiritual energy was drained to its limit, forming a glowing mirror over two men tall and more than ten feet wide.

The mirror's uneven surface refracted purple light, then, in the next second, converged into a torrent of Nine Heavens Thunder. Like a soaring serpent, it surged forward, striking the black giant's... toe.

"Whoosh."

This spiritual technique, powerful enough to critically wound an unprepared Grand Void expert, seemed to have merely singed a single hair on the black giant's body. Afterward, it vanished without a trace, as if completely absorbed.

At that moment, True Master Huang Yang's face paled from green to white, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"Pfft... damn it!"

The blood bead had already drained most of his energy and even his vitality. He never imagined that following some inexplicable guidance to this place would lead him to encounter such a terrifying giant.

Fear, both for the present and for what was to come, instantly overwhelmed True Master Huang Yang's mind.

"No, I cannot fall here..."

"My path to ascension has only just begun! This should be my place of opportunity, a spontaneous discovery... a sudden inspiration... Why!!!"

The black foot swallowed everything in his vision.

True Master Huang Yang, utterly incapable of resistance, stared with wide, lifeless eyes, filled only with despair.

"BOOM—"

The colossal foot descended, shaking the very earth. Sound waves, propelled by the air current, surged outward, violently distorting space as if the world were on the verge of collapse.

"Huh?"

True Master Huang Yang, slumped on the ground, stared blankly at the enormous black foot hovering just above his head.

The foot hadn't come down? No!

Someone had blocked the attack for him!

True Master Huang Yang's pupils abruptly constricted. With a jolt of extreme horror, he twisted his head to glance behind him.

Behind him should have been the maze wall, the kind that no amount of assault, not even a thousand hammer blows and a hundred chisels combined with spiritual energy, could breach.

Yet now, a man-sized hole had been corroded through it! Behind the hole, a masked figure in an orange robe stood, holding up the giant's foot with one hand.

He appeared utterly at ease. Facing an absolute force capable of crushing even a Grand Void, he effortlessly held it back with a single hand. From his eyes, as dry as a parched well, not a flicker of emotion could be discerned; it was as if this feat came to him with practiced ease.

"Gulp," True Master Huang Yang swallowed hard.

His intuition screamed that this person was even more dangerous than the black giant!

"May I ask, Daoist friend—" "King Yama, Five Decays of Heaven and Man."

*Thump.* True Master Huang Yang felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.

King Yama's people... True Master Huang Yang knew of King Yama and had learned about him, but he never imagined that any random member of King Yama could withstand a giant's attack with one hand. Was this person primarily a body cultivator?

As his mind processed this, True Master Huang Yang suddenly realized something even more terrifying!

The point where the black giant's foot met the Five Decays of Heaven and Man was changing color at an alarming rate, turning gray and radiating an aura of decay.

Soon after, the giant's foot festered with rotten flesh, which then fell off in large, thudding chunks.

"ROOOAR—"

The black giant roared in pain, swiftly recoiling its foot and hastily retreating.

The moment they separated, the rapidly spreading gray coloration ceased, and then, much like the previous lightning attack, it was absorbed by the giant.

"I am... Huang Yang..." True Master Huang Yang stammered, finding everything unfolding before him utterly inconceivable.

A giant capable of crushing him with a single foot had its own foot incapacitated by this "Five Decays of Heaven and Man" with just one hand?

And what's more, this "Five Decays of Heaven and Man" didn't even seem to be fighting seriously!

"Thank you..."

"Are you afraid of Void Attendants?"

Before True Master Huang Yang's thanks could fully escape his lips, the Five Decays of Heaven and Man leaned in, a hint of amusement flickering in his eyes, which were as dead as stagnant water. The question rendered him speechless.

"There's no need to fear Void Attendants; they are merely remnants that should have perished," the Five Decays of Heaven and Man stated. His words seemed to possess a comforting magic, yet True Master Huang Yang felt only profound terror.

The three fluttering gray flowers, the dizzying speed of his pupils' rotation, the murmuring voice like a demon's whisper... every detail sent shivers down his spine!

Fortunately, the Five Decays of Heaven and Man seemed to be benevolent, as he did not attack.

True Master Huang Yang watched as this envoy of King Yama shifted his gaze, turning his enigmatic eyes toward the sky.

"Kneel."

The words, spoken as casually as a conversation, echoed throughout the vast maze.

In the next second, the hundred-foot-tall dark giant slammed down on both knees, ramming its head into the ground with such violent force that its skull twisted unnaturally onto its back, its eyes staring up at the sky.

A chill shot from the soles of True Master Huang Yang's feet to the crown of his head. Goosebumps erupted all over his body, and he sprang up in shock as if doused with boiling water. "Th-th-this..."

"Life should be like a fleeting meteor," the Five Decays of Heaven and Man said slowly, turning his masked face towards him, his eyes now back to their normal black and white. "Even if it's destined to eventually decay, at least it shone brightly and was remembered. Don't you agree?"

True Master Huang Yang gasped, then nodded numbly. "Senior is right."

In his eyes, this person was likely beyond Grand Void; they were undoubtedly a legendary Half-Saint.

Only a Half-Saint could command such power with their words, compelling the giant to its knees with a single utterance. That command, "Kneel," would be etched in True Master Huang Yang's memory forever.

"Hiss..."

Ahead, the void shimmered with faint, star-like points of light as the dark giant's body completely rotted away, transforming into an aura of decay. This aura swept past True Master Huang Yang's feet and was entirely absorbed into the Five Decays of Heaven and Man's robes.

"The power of the Decaying Body amazes me every time I witness it," a sigh suddenly came from behind him.

True Master Huang Yang felt as if his head had been struck hard once more. He couldn't resist turning to look, but a frantic voice roared in his mind: "Stay down! Keep your head bowed!"

*This Saint!* The newcomer had referred to himself as a "Half-Saint"!

The consequences of facing a Saint...

But the very essence of being human lay in unbridled curiosity. True Master Huang Yang ultimately couldn't suppress his urge, stealing a quick, disbelieving glance.

Senior Five Decays of Heaven and Man had been so friendly... "Aargh!"

A scream instantly ripped through the walls of the Sin Hall One maze.

True Master Huang Yang, bleeding from seven orifices and gasping for breath, softly collapsed to the ground with a thud, nearly losing consciousness. Fortunately, the blood bead flared, granting him one last surge of vitality.

"What is this?" the voice calling itself "this Saint" continued. True Master Huang Yang tried to move, but he was powerless.

He could only watch, helpless, as the blood bead in his embrace was picked up by an old man's hand, clad in an orange robe.

"The World Blood Bead?" The Half-Saint's footsteps approached his ear. "The root of worldly calamity, the guide of death, the 'World Blood Bead'—one of the Ten Great Psychic Weapons. How could it be in the hands of such a fellow?" *The World Blood Bead?*

*So that's what it's called?*

*It's actually one of the famed Ten Great Psychic Weapons!*

"Give it back to me..." True Master Huang Yang felt a surge of strength, and madness gleamed in his eyes. Yet he was so weak he could barely hear his own voice. "It... it belongs to me..."

"Don't kill him yet; let's ask about the situation." The Half-Saint's voice suddenly made him feel as if his body had been plunged into the Nine Nether Cold Realm, leaving him frozen and unable to move.

"From your words, I hear 'want'?" Through his blurry vision, the Five Decays of Heaven and Man seemed to turn back.

"..." The voice from behind ceased abruptly.

The orange form drew closer, magnified in his hazy vision.

True Master Huang Yang struggled to discern who it was; it was the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, who had squatted down, bringing his faceless, eerie orange mask close.

"Did you ever shine brightly?" His voice remained dead silent and cold, utterly unlike that of a living being.

"I... I..." True Master Huang Yang's toes twitched, unable to complete his sentence.

"Regardless, you have reached the end of your starry night, and are about to fall into eternal darkness." The Five Decays of Heaven and Man finished speaking and stood.

True Master Huang Yang suddenly perceived a faint, obscure light.

How could there be specks of starlight in the sky of Sin Hall One?

No, in Sin Hall One, the sky had been invisible from the very beginning!

"I... I... how did I even get in... here...?"

As the aura of decay merged into the Five Decays of Heaven and Man's robes, only two figures remained in that part of the maze.

Jiang Buyi silently watched everything unfold without interfering. Truth be told, he didn't want to waste his limited opportunities to act by obstructing the figure before him.

After entering Sin Hall One with him, he had come to understand just how terrifying the "Decaying Body"—one of the Five Great Ultimate Bodies—truly was!

When the Five Decays of Heaven and Man first encountered a Void Attendant, he was so weak that he was sent tumbling and crawling under the behemoth's assault. All his attacks were ineffective, completely absorbed.

His survival ultimately came from relentlessly using his decaying aura and curse power to wear down the giant until it perished.

But what followed was different!

After the Void Attendant died, it surprisingly transformed into an aura of decay, which the Five Decays of Heaven and Man completely devoured.

After devouring this wave of decaying aura, the man's physical strength seemed to undergo a qualitative transformation. The next Void Attendant he encountered didn't overwhelm him; he could occasionally use his physical body, spiritual energy, and decaying power to withstand a heavy punch.

One, two, three...

These colossal Void Attendants were like precious elixirs; before the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, their only fate was complete absorption.

This was the seventh Void Attendant the Five Decays of Heaven and Man had devoured. By the time he had absorbed five, he was already able to withstand the Void Attendants' attacks with his bare body, trading blows with the giants.

Combined with his Decaying Body and Three Abhorrence Eyes, this individual could now instantly dispatch Void Attendants!

Upon arriving at Sin Hall One, Jiang Buyi hadn't immediately found the "Exemption Order," but he had witnessed the transformation of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man.

He realized that this monster's physical body was now on par with that of the giants.

The Five Decays of Heaven and Man could no longer be considered merely "Grand Void"; he was a Half-Saint in disguise, and now he had even acquired the "World Blood Bead"...

"If I recover, can I truly defeat him?" Jiang Buyi found himself contemplating this.

He realized he might have fallen into a trap.

The Five Decays of Heaven and Man's objective was clear. Unaware of the dangers of Sin Hall One beforehand, he had likely been brought here to serve as a bodyguard.

This was evident from how thoroughly the first Void Attendant had thrashed him.

Once he realized he no longer needed assistance, the man took matters into his own hands, keeping all the spoils for himself—though Jiang Buyi had no desire for the decaying aura from the Void Attendants' corpses anyway. "What a pity," Jiang Buyi sighed, recognizing the futility of his plan. This was an open scheme, a trial he might have been destined to face his entire life.

"If you want it, just say so, and I'll give it to you," the Five Decays of Heaven and Man said from ahead. Seeing Half-Saint Jiang sigh, he raised the World Blood Bead high, his eyes perfectly calm, as if he were offering an orange instead of one of the Ten Great Psychic Weapons.

"No need," Jiang Buyi replied without hesitation. "Everything you've gained by resolving these troubles is yours. My sole objective is the 'Exemption Order.' As long as you don't secretly hinder me, you and I will remain friends forever."

"Friends..." the Five Decays of Heaven and Man murmured softly, then chuckled after a long pause. "Half-Saint Jiang, don't speak lightly of 'forever.' In this world, there are no absolutes, only relatives."

*Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!*

As they spoke, the rustling hum of swords came from around the corner at the far end of the right wall.

Both men turned their heads simultaneously, seeing dozens of small void swords emerge. They showed no intent to harm, simply navigating every bend and slipping through every crevice.

One of them coincidentally flew past the two men, entering the hole the Five Decays of Heaven and Man had corroded in the wall, brushing past another small void sword that was emerging from inside.

Both swords paused for half a breath, seemingly surprised by the sudden appearance of their counterpart.

The next second, they each resumed their flight, continuing to scout ahead.

"An ancient sword master, a simple application of the Ten Thousand Swords Technique..." Jiang Buyi mused. "This is truly convenient within the maze; even I, a Saint, possess no scouting spiritual technique that can compare."

"Sword Intent..." the Five Decays of Heaven and Man murmured, a hint of something in his eyes beneath the mask. "Half-Saint Jiang, I know Xu Xiaoshou's location. Would you like to go and see?"

"Xu Xiaoshou?" Jiang Buyi abruptly turned his head. Honestly, until that moment, he hadn't believed Xu Xiaoshou was still alive; the boy had been clearly doomed.

The Five Decays of Heaven and Man chuckled, but his laughter was chilling.

"Consider this: how many ancient sword masters are there on the Saint God Continent? How many on Void Island? Since they all came for Xu Xiaoshou, why would they not be together now?"

"After all, they were destined to visit Sin Hall One anyway."