Chapter 1379: The Plot Unfolds with a Ruthless Strike, Scheming Life and Death in the Holy Realm's Tent

He was practically dying of laughter.

Jin Ren had overestimated Dao Qiong Cang far too much.

Yet now, he realized that even if he used star anise, Sichuan pepper, cassia bark, fennel, and ginger chunks as the main ingredients, with the Sang Oldhead's inherited artifact "Long Feng Cheng Xiang" as the pot, and tossed Dao Qiong Cang in to refine him for eighty-one days, that old Daoist's pervasive aura of sleaziness probably still wouldn't dissipate!

This jade slip of "Jie Kou Da Quan" – if it were published as a book and circulated in the markets – could destroy a Three Emperors figure with just its textual power alone.

Some people die, yet they still live on.

Some people live, yet they are already dead.

"Article forty-seven: Dao Dianzhu, I was wrong, but Xu Xiaoshou being hastily appointed as Sword Saint had nothing to do with me. He used Rao Yao Yao's semi-saint status for it, so if anyone is to blame, it's Rao Yao Yao. How can you blame me? But regardless, as the Blade Saint, I failed to capture this newly risen Sword Saint, so I am guilty, and I admit my fault."

"Article forty-eight..."

At the entrance of the Ran Ming Site passageway, the voice recited with dramatic flair, echoing from all directions with piercing clarity and wide reach, yet without a fixed source that anyone could pinpoint.

Even the identity of the reciter would fade from memory after each deliberate pause.

Beneath the dark cyan Yan Wang Yan, Wei Feng knelt on both knees, his head hanging limply as if the power of words had already killed him.

He had turned into a puddle of mush; apart from the arm gripping his broad blade, which trembled slightly with bulging veins, there was no sign that this was actually a living person...

A living saint.

Mo Mo stood at the wall opening, holding a small bronze furnace, her presence completely vanishing as she blended perfectly into the static giant stone carvings on the murals, as if turned to stone.

"This Xu Xiaoshou! This Xu Xiaoshou..."

In her mind, Feng Yu Jin twisted into a chaotic mess, only forming a coherent sentence after a long while:

"He! Is! Not! Human!"

He had merely put himself in Wei Feng's shoes a little, and he had died three thousand times over.

The little white weasel huddled in the hole it had dug for itself, shivering and not daring to poke its head out, overwhelmed by a sense of impending doom like storm clouds gathering.

"Stop reading, Lord Xu, please stop... I beg you, give him a way out..."

"Saints cannot be insulted; even a cornered dog will jump the fence!"

Outside the passageway, there was a brief sound of hurried footsteps, as if someone had appeared.

But it came quickly and vanished even faster!

The frantic retreat of those footsteps was like a child accidentally barging into an adult's room, standing there stunned for a moment, then rushing off to wash their eyes – or perhaps their ears with black water.

"Jie Kou Da Quan" was written far too perfectly!

When Jin Ren reached the seventy-sixth article, the mockery and teasing in his voice faded, turning serious.

By the ninety-third article, his tone carried a hint of gravity.

But when the count exceeded a hundred, Jin Ren's heart skipped a beat, sensing something was wrong.

"This old Daoist is sleazy, sure, but how does he know me so well?"

"This isn't just 'Jie Kou Da Quan' – it's clearly laying out all the possible variables in my battle with Wei Feng, exhaustively informing him!"

"With a commander like that scheming from behind, how could Wei Feng possibly lose?"

Jin Ren paused, feeling the jade slip grow hot in his mouth, unable to continue reading.

He glanced up at Wei Feng...

Wei Feng was on his last breath.

The stimulation was visible to the naked eye, but it seemed he had been overstimulated.

"Is that all it takes to break him?"

Jin Ren's heart sank, not daring to read more. His spiritual sense quickly scanned the rest of "Jie Kou Da Quan."

"Article one hundred seventy-two..."

"Article two hundred thirty-four..."

Compared to the total of three hundred thirty-two articles, what he had read was less than a third.

Wei Feng was defeated before the battle even began.

But this last article looked a bit strange?

"Article three hundred thirty-two: Sorry, I scared you..."

Jin Ren was stunned, staring at the unfinished symbol that followed, lost in thought.

Why did it stop?

Was it all build-up and no payoff?

What came next? Nothing?

Suddenly, Jin Ren thought of something, and his hairs stood on end. In his mind flashed the image of Dao Qiong Cang's smiling face when they first met on Void Island.

In the vanished world, his hand trembled slightly, and he slowly flipped the purple jade slip over.

"Buzz."

A crude Tianji Array formed inside, and as Jin Ren turned the jade slip, the full text of "Jie Kou Da Quan" disappeared, revealing a few new characters:

"Article three hundred thirty-three..."

"Ran Ming Site, Xu Xiaoshou sees you."

Below was a simple "handshake" pattern, conveying the friendliness and courtesy of an old friend meeting from afar.

"Damn it!"

Jin Ren wore a ghostly expression, chilled to the bone, his legs starting to tremble.

He nearly lost control and fell into qi deviation.

It was just an experiment...

He had suddenly remembered Dao Qiong Cang telling him on Void Island to "turn it over"...

He had flipped the jade slip on instinct, and unexpectedly, there was content!

He recalled that when parsing the Xuanxu Box on Void Island, Dao Qiong Cang had used a 520 Tianji Array to trick him.

Back then, the line "Void Island, Xu Xiaoshou sees you" had scared him half to death.

At the time, he could still deceive himself – Dao Qiong Cang's Tianji techniques were incredibly advanced, so maybe he had tampered with it on the spot without Jin Ren noticing. That old Daoist couldn't have predicted that Jin Ren would obtain the Xuanxu Box before landing on Void Island, right?

But now...

First "Void Island, Xu Xiaoshou sees you," then "Ran Ming Site, Xu Xiaoshou sees you."

Even if Jin Ren wanted to cling to wishful thinking or say things happen in threes, he could accept two...

He still couldn't believe this was pure coincidence.

"What kind of terrifying coincidence is this?"

"I've been calculated again!"

In his vanished state, Jin Ren looked at the utterly dejected Wei Feng, unable to make sense of everything happening.

There was another explanation: Wei Feng was faking it!

He had deliberately let Jin Ren get this jade slip!

But if so, then Wei Feng was the real acting emperor?

Those injuries he sustained didn't seem like something his personality could endure.

"Stop deceiving yourself, Xu Xiaoshou..."

Jin Ren felt his psychological trauma was no less than Wei Feng's. He desperately needed his true self to come and bear this, while he went back to fish in peace.

He shook his head in distress, yet remained painfully clear-headed as he told himself:

"Choosing to forget this could lead to terrible consequences!"

After the Void Island battle ended with the Saint Slaves' great victory and the Saint Divine Hall's crushing defeat, he had long cast "Void Island, Xu Xiaoshou sees you" to the back of his mind – such frightening things only invited nightmares if dwelled upon.

But now...

"What the hell are you doing, you old bastard!"

He couldn't figure it out, and not thinking about it wasn't an option.

Jin Ren activated his sword techniques, drawing the qi deviation demonic energy back into his body. Like a madman, he threw the scalding purple jade slip away, intending to detonate it from afar.

He couldn't stand having such a disgusting thing linger in his palm, not even for a millisecond.

The thought of having held that jade slip and recited Dao Qiong Cang's lines for so long made Jin Ren feel like he had been virtually impregnated – all he wanted to do was vomit!

Damn Dao Qiong Cang!

Damn Tianji techniques!

"Swoosh."

But before he could detonate it, the jade slip named "Jie Kou Da Quan" slipped from his skin and transformed into a Tianji pattern of light, shooting back and striking his palm.

"Oh, crap!"

Jin Ren's eyes bulged in utter terror.

He acted decisively, using his left hand to sever his right arm. Blood spurted out with a hiss, and the arm was gone.

Flipping it over for a look, he saw that the Tianji pattern light hadn't carried any special power; it had simply turned into a crude "handshake" design etched into his palm.

A friendly "handshake" pattern, with a small hand grasping a large one, fully embodying the enthusiasm of old friends meeting from afar – lingering and returning.

The world suddenly fell silent.

In his vanished state, Jin Ren was quiet for a long while, his eyes losing their light for a moment, as if his soul had left his body.

I'm tainted...

In his mind, the warning from Xiang Yi before the Four Symbols Secret Realm operation echoed:

"Never underestimate that sleazy old Daoist!"

I wasn't just talking; I never underestimated him, so how could this happen...

"Crack."

Jin Ren gritted his back teeth tightly.

With a bang, he crushed the severed right arm.

His gaze turned fierce, and with a whoosh, the pieces of flesh were incinerated from afar, vanishing completely from the world.

The "handshake" pattern disappeared.

The power forming it was so simple – just a single Tianji array mark – that it easily vanished from the severed palm.

But that Tianji array mark's power was terrifying – it had gripped into Jin Ren's heart.

"Just a 'handshake'?"

"Merely that?"

Jin Ren didn't believe it. He refused to think Dao Qiong Cang's Tianji techniques were this straightforward; there might be some hidden force that had infiltrated his body unnoticed.

He searched himself at lightning speed, inside and out, over and over at least ten times, but found nothing unusual or out of place.

In fact, with "Saint Emperor Lv.0" textile mastery, he could tell that the Tianji array mark was just that – once gone, it was gone, incapable of seeping into his divine soul.

But that bird Dao Qiong Cang had pulled off "Void Island, Xu Xiaoshou sees you" and "Ran Ming Site, Xu Xiaoshou sees you"...

And this "Jie Kou Da Quan" had twisted through eighteen mountain bends to end up in his hands, all just for a "handshake"...

Who would believe that!

"You should kill yourself."

His true self's thoughts transmitted over, straight to the point.

Jin Ren knew he had many secrets.

If this second true body was tainted but the source couldn't be found, suicide was indeed the best choice.

He cried.

Crying, he sent his thoughts back:

"But boss, if I really kill myself, that bird might succeed in his plan!"

"He only used one 'Jie Kou Da Quan'!"

"From a thousand miles away, taking an enemy's head is as easy as reaching into a bag, and we'd die without even seeing his face – just from a handshake! That's humiliation! If word gets out, we'd be the second Wei Feng! We'd just be side characters in the story!"

"I get the logic." Xu Xiaoshou seriously corrected his second true body's slip: "But remember, old two, it's you who lost, not 'we'. That's important."

"You're me, and I'm you, and you're drawing lines now?" Jin Ren wailed. "Then what would you do?"

"No ifs, and even if there were, I wouldn't switch."

"Waah! Born with a father but no mother!"

The second true body was just venting; he knew how to prioritize. The Ran Ming Site operation could fail – after all, the real goal was the Qilin, and even if the second true body died, it could be reborn.

But if his secrets were exposed, that would be disastrous.

Who knew what unfathomable methods Dao Qiong Cang might use to confirm his abilities? That jade slip had stayed with him in the vanished state for a long time.

Just as he was about to commit this humiliating act of suicide, Wei Feng moved below.

"Heh heh heh..."

This black-robed elder suddenly propped himself up with his broad blade and stood, letting out a dismal and eerie laugh.

He abruptly lifted his gaze, his face greenish and ferocious with fangs, like a mad beast.

"Kill!"

"Kill them all!"

"As long as they're all dead, I am still I... secrets are still secrets..."

Wei Feng yanked Yan Wang Yan from the ground with a clang.

This dark cyan broad blade emitted a faint glow, its dragon scale patterns activating and shining with blood light.

"Kill them all!"

Wei Feng roared skyward, his surging and delusional killing intent solidifying into a torrent of blood-red fury.

This aura pierced through the Ran Ming Site entrance's massive stone dome, blasted through the thousand-zhang abyss of Black Water Stream, expelled the black fog, and finally shattered the heavens of the Four Symbols Secret Realm.

"Boom!"

Blood light appeared in the world.

In the Four Symbols Secret Realm, whether trial participants, trial officials, or stowaways, all witnessed this phenomenon.

"Heavenly anomaly – there must be a great treasure!"

As greed arose in some, a frenzied killing roar thundered from the nine heavens:

"Kill! Kill! Kill them all!"

This roar carried bloody killing force. With a saint's single thought, body and intent merged, intent and energy merged, the three uniting as one into substance, sweeping in all directions. All who heard it went mad.

Even the trial officials at the Severing Dao or Taixu levels, or those in red or white robes, lost control on the spot, driven by killing intent to slaughter those around them. Only when the sounds of weapons clashing pierced the air did they snap back to their senses.

The trial participants at the innate or grandmaster levels fared even worse.

The weak bled from all seven orifices upon hearing it and collapsed.

The strong lost their minds but could still move, falling into qi deviation.

Until the high heavens of the Four Symbols Secret Realm manifested a white-robed figure wreathed in saintly halo, waving a hand to envelop all trial participants in light shields.

Only then was the influence of this bloody killing intent barely halted.

Yet issues like treating the injured and addressing the psychological effects of saintly force remained problems.

Wei An was truly furious.

But now, he didn't dare leave the Four Symbols Secret Realm for a moment, fearing that as soon as he left to find Dao Qiong Cang, more chaos would erupt here.

This was clearly Wei Feng the Killing God's killing intent!

If Dao Qiong Cang didn't give an account this time, it wouldn't be enough.

But...

"Why so sudden?"

Semi-saints couldn't unleash full power on the Saint Divine Continent – that was a rule set by the Saint Divine Hall.

And if it wasn't allowed on the Saint Divine Continent, other-dimensional spaces were even less so; the Three Emperors had to exercise restraint.

"'Killing Thought' has emerged..."

"Next won't be 'Killing God Domain,' will it? Who provoked this madman?"

On Gui Zhe Saint Mountain.

"Array eye thirty-six, Zhou Rang in position, we've been attacked by saintly force. This power..."

"Array eye one hundred twenty-two, Zhao Cheng in position, I'm affected here too, but I quickly shook off the killing intent..."

"Array eye three, Cheng Huan in position, was that Wei Feng? Do we need to evacuate?"

"Ran Ming Site, Bei Bei in position, Dao Dianzhu, I'm stuck in the middle of Black Water Stream. What should I do next?"

In an instant, the Tianzu combat channel received countless messages.

Dao Qiong Cang, steadily fishing, just smiled and moved his fingers.

Everyone who reported received a response, their minds settling as they knew with the hall master in charge, things wouldn't spiral out of control.

"Ran Ming Site, Bei Bei in position, Dao Dianzhu, I'm too close here. Senior Wei Feng seems to have gone mad..." Bei Bei said urgently.

"How so? How so? I'm Yue Gong Li, and I'm outside the Four Symbols Secret Realm right now. Little girl, how did you get stuck in Black Water Stream? Tell me the details – I'm bored."

"Ran Ming Site, Bei Bei in position, Senior Yue Gong Li, I heard..."

"What did you hear?" Dao Qiong Cang's voice interjected.

"Uh, Bei Bei heard nothing." Bei Bei realized Wei Feng could hear through the channel.

"Then wait. Get a little closer, but don't get caught by the 'Killing God Domain.' Watch carefully, and learn well."

Killing God Domain?

That hadn't appeared yet, right?

So Senior Wei Feng was definitely about to go on a rampage?

Was all of this planned in advance by Dao Dianzhu?

"Okay..." Bei Bei responded with surprise and doubt.

"Dao Qiong Cang, are you sick? I'm so bored here, and you won't let her talk..." Yue Gong Li's voice abruptly vanished from the Tianzu combat channel.

Dao Qiong Cang finished replying to everyone, his eyes darting around, his lips curling up.

He glanced at Ai Cang Sheng, then quickly looked away, only to glance again, his movements subtle.

His fingers fiddled with the star scoop on the Tianji Compass, faster and more absentmindedly than usual.

"Speak."

Ai Cang Sheng didn't turn his head, but his Great Dao Eye saw everything.

People have a desire to share, and Dao Qiong Cang was no exception.

His behavior clearly meant he had discovered some shocking secret, one that even made him struggle to contain it, wanting to share.

It must be related to the sudden emergence of the Killing Thought that pierced Bow Yang Mountain.

"You're quite sharp-eyed." Dao Qiong Cang chuckled.

"Not sharp-eyed, just not blind."

"Alright, I'll be honest – I found something terrifying."

"What thing?"

"See this?" Dao Qiong Cang dipped a drop of water from his cup onto the table.

Ai Cang Sheng turned his head to look; it was just a drop of water, transparent, pure, and ordinary, with nothing special about it.

"Yu Ling Drop joined the Saint Slaves?" Ai Cang Sheng asked, surprised as he lifted his gaze.

"Uh." Dao Qiong Cang's expression froze for a moment, muttering silently, "You're really letting your imagination run wild..."

"It's not?"

"It's not."

"Then what is it?"

"It's water, obviously. Can't you tell?"

Ai Cang Sheng fell silent.

Dao Qiong Cang's fingertip flicked, and a Tianji Array shot out, accelerating the flow of time for the water on the table.

Soon, it evaporated naturally and vanished.

"Now?" Dao Qiong Cang asked with interest, his eyes hiding excitement. "What do you see?"

Ai Cang Sheng remained silent.

"It's gone!" Dao Qiong Cang didn't need an answer; he slapped his thigh and stood up excitedly, losing all his usual composure and seriousness:

"It's gone!"

"It's actually gone!"

"It vanished from this world, yet essentially exists... My dear Cang Sheng Great Emperor, do you know how it vanished?"

Ai Cang Sheng's lips parted, holding back for a long time before saying, "Don't delve too deep into Tianji techniques, or one day Wei Feng might not go mad, but you'll go first."

Dao Qiong Cang thus calmly sat back down.

He was indeed someone with a desire to share, but his was very restrained.

"Ai Cang Sheng, aren't you curious?"

"Speak." Ai Cang Sheng wasn't very curious at first, but now he truly wanted to know why a drop of water could make Dao Qiong Cang so agitated.

If it wasn't Yu Ling Drop...

Was Yu Mo a double agent?

Or had Yu Mo's father risen from his coffin?

Dao Qiong Cang lifted his chin, lounging lazily against the chair back, glancing sideways at Ai Cang Sheng to build suspense before saying:

"Tianji cannot be revealed."

(The end of the chapter)