Chapter 1464: Open Strategies and Divine Ghost Arts A Chain of Poisonous Schemes Solely for Xu

In the Disorder Spirit World, the sky acts as a barricade, and mountains are no longer mountains.

All manner of refined spirits and eerie entities manifest in the air, transforming the world inside the ancient bronze gate into something beyond north, south, east, or west—like a true hell.

Dao Qiong Cang strides through the dim mid-air, sometimes standing upright, sometimes tilting sideways.

His form sways unpredictably with gravity, yet he remains as straight as a spear.

An ethereal voice emerges from his mouth or pieces together from all directions, easily coalescing into comprehensible words once they reach the ear:

"True despair isn’t the final breath after powerless resistance, nor is it the soul’s demise in a fallen peril."

"It’s the waiting and solitude, the conscious agony, a life worse than death, ending in bitter regret."

Hanging upside down in the void, Dao Qiong Cang lowers his gaze to the darkness below, the Tian Ji Si Nan glowing faintly, casting a terrifying pallor on his face:

"I sought to kill you by setting up the Four Symbols Secret Realm, luring Sheng Di Qilin into the fray, and using Bei Huai’s power to restrain..."

"I sought to kill you by guiding through the Ran Ming Yizhi site, evading the Shen Guan Si’s fateful ties, and cutting off Sheng Nu’s backup plans..."

"I sought to kill you by openly using Xiang Yao Yao as bait, secretly forcing Cao Yi Han to stay put, driving Rao Zhu Ye to extremes on a grand scale, pressuring the Sheng Gong, and even guarding against every Jin Men technique..."

"I cleared everyone else from the field, minimizing variables to the lowest, weakest, and smallest within my control."

"Even so, the Tian Ren Wu Shui still outmaneuvered me. Ha, Xu Xiao Shou, you’re incredibly hard to kill."

Dao Qiong Cang sighs with a self-deprecating smile, as if regretting his own shortcomings.

Yet, the calm tone in which he delivers these words sends a chill straight to the heart.

Mei Si Ren unconsciously grips the array disk in his hand tighter.

He’s heard of these events!

Later, he received a message from Ba Zun An requesting support, which brought him to Qing Yuan Shan.

But he never imagined that the root of all this chaos was Dao Qiong Cang targeting Xu Xiao Shou?

That doesn’t make sense...

The turmoil after the Four Symbols Secret Realm and Sheng Gong trials began with Sheng Nu, starting with Cen Qiao Fu’s sealing as a saint—this was an attack by Sheng Nu!

The emergence of Ran Ming Yizhi drew in the various saints, sucking people into the site, all due to the lingering will of the Shen Guan—it’s the remnant intent of someone on par with the Ten Ancestors, something no outsider could manipulate!

Sheng Di Bei Huai did send an avatar to wage an epic battle with Xu Xiao Shou, seemingly just for the ghost beast... and that battle ended with the Extreme Giant tearing apart Sheng Di Qilin in fury—this was a victory!

Then, Wang Ze Sheng Di chased the space mystic Yi Xiao Tian to the Sheng Gong, where he clashed with the fellow Sheng Di, the White Dragon. The scene of that battle was unseen, and its outcome unknown...

But why use a bull’s knife to kill a chicken?

This isn’t just an internal conflict between the Sheng Gong and the Sheng Di families!

If it was merely to draw out Wang Ze Sheng Di to restrain Yi Xiao Tian, wouldn’t that be absurdly overkill?

Yet now...

Dao Qiong Cang claims it was all aimed at Xu Xiao Shou?

"Deceitful words to confuse!"

Mei Si Ren sneers.

Anyone can play hindsight—who wouldn’t exaggerate such events to elevate themselves and intimidate others?

"Not at all, not at all..." Dao Qiong Cang waves his hand:

"I’m saying all this not to glorify myself or turn myself into a god, but only so he dies with full understanding."

"In helplessness while conscious, in pain while in despair!"

As he speaks, gravity shifts, and Dao Qiong Cang’s form rights itself from being upside down.

With a slightly unsettling smile on his face, he points at the array disk and says softly:

"He himself said that the Great Dao struggle must see blood—what kind of blood is child’s play? I want him to witness the true ‘Great Dao struggle’!"

"Oh?" Jin Ren speaks up. "Say that, and I’m quite curious to hear what you consider the real ‘Great Dao struggle’."

A glint flashes in Dao Qiong Cang’s eyes as he counts on his fingers:

"Figuring it out, you were severely wounded by Bei Huai, fell into a coma from overexertion, then treated with various sacred medicines, plus that life-attribute mystic array, and even unknown life-saving methods... You should be waking up soon?"

Jin Ren’s heart skips a beat upon hearing this.

Has Dao Qiong Cang been factoring this in all along?

"You know why you’ve survived this long?"

Dao Qiong Cang smiles ambiguously. "Was it your delay tactics that succeeded, or did I overlook everything?"

Jin Ren feels an inexplicable unease, suddenly understanding why Sheng Di Long Lin was reacting so intensely.

Dao Qiong Cang is waiting too?

His intent isn’t on himself, but on the original—Sheng Di Long Lin foresaw danger for the original!

But what is he waiting for?

"Exactly!"

"I’m waiting!"

Dao Qiong Cang bursts into laughter. "But unlike you, I’m not waiting for people, or for fate, or for any messy changes... I’m simply waiting for you."

He pauses, his gaze piercing through the dim, enclosed environment beneath the ancient gate, his tone turning mocking:

"Oh, maybe not so simply?"

"I’m also waiting for you to save Xiang Yao Yao, for Zhu Yi Ke to swap you out, for Si Ren mister to arrive and defeat me... I’m waiting for you to succeed!"

Suddenly, Dao Qiong Cang’s expression turns ice-cold:

"When you’ve risen to heaven in success, I’ll drag you down to hell—that’s true despair, and that’s how I’ll define your so-called ‘Great Dao struggle’!"

This madman...

Jin Ren’s emotions are complex. Can the “flamboyance” of that showy old daoist be interpreted this way?

"Is this hell now?" He scans his surroundings with spiritual sense, seeing only blurred darkness, with directions utterly confused and the concept of space nearly lost, yet he forces a laugh and says firmly:

"Showy old daoist, you can’t kill me!"

"Heh..." Dao Qiong Cang seems amused, wagging his finger. "No, no, I only said you’re hard to kill, not that you won’t die."

"You want me to die with understanding, right?"

Jin Ren calms down instead, even in this chaos, his thoughts begin to unravel like a cocoon seeking an escape, his words steady: "I’m all ears!"

"No need to rush—you’ll die fully aware, consider that my apology for bullying the lesser with the greater..."

"And if you can find a way out while fully aware, I’ll gladly stake my lifetime reputation on you and admit my inferiority."

Dao Qiong Cang’s expression is subtle.

The more Jin Ren listens, the more his heart chills.

If it were anyone else acting like this, spilling all their schemes before killing, he’d be laughing by now!

Isn’t that just handing over opportunities?

But Dao Qiong Cang...

This guy is known for being unfathomably mysterious. If he dares to lay it all out, doesn’t that mean he’s even more confident?

And in this game, he entered early and has followed through from the start, which indirectly proves he’s already got it all planned.

"Remember this person?"

As his thoughts wander, Dao Qiong Cang flicks his finger, using Tian Ji Dao Wen to sketch a slender female figure in the air.

Dong Dong?

Jin Ren recognizes her.

He’d heard about her when his spiritual sense was attached to Li Fu Gui—she’s Xiang Yi’s personal maid.

After switching to Zhu Yi Ke, he even spotted traces of her using Tian Ji techniques.

Later, she sacrificed herself, summoning Dao Qiong Cang’s semi-saint avatar!

"Wait..."

"Summoning?"

Even now, recalling that scene, Jin Ren still feels a shiver.

Because back then, Dao Qiong Cang stepped out from within Dong Dong’s body, while she crumbled away piece by piece.

Exchanging life for the dao—the sight was eerie and horrifying.

This kind of Tian Ji technique surpasses even the evil arts of the Southern Domain!

Dao Qiong Cang waves his hand, dispersing the female shadow, and says meaningfully:

"Very good, you’ve probably guessed what I’m getting at."

"After all, on her, there’s likely only one thing you’re pondering without resolution..."

"So, what’s your theory?"

Dao Qiong Cang asks curiously, probing: "Possession? Summoning? Or Southern Domain evil arts, or perhaps ghost beast parasitism?"

Jin Ren falls silent.

He can’t reach a conclusion.

It should be a Tian Ji technique, but one he’s never seen...

Just from the surface, even with his mastery of weaving and array disks, he can’t decipher Dao Qiong Cang’s heavily obscured “entrance technique.”

"Actually, you’ve seen it!"

Dao Qiong Cang suddenly drops a bombshell. "In the past few days, I’ve given you multiple hints about your method of death... and you noticed none of them."

Hints?

Jin Ren’s mind stirs.

He feels like Dao Qiong Cang is treating this as a game, with himself as the player navigating a maze.

The uncertainty ahead isn’t pleasant!

Realizing his mindset is destabilizing from the verbal prodding, Jin Ren quickly calms himself.

Perhaps...

The showy old daoist can’t kill him after all!

He’s just scheming to disrupt my composure and find an opening, like Bei Huai did!

"Showy old daoist, your jokes aren’t funny at all." Jin Ren retorts sarcastically.

Dao Qiong Cang closes his eyes and shakes his head, seeming disappointed that Xu Xiao Shou interprets his prized technique as a joke and his backups as nonexistent.

"What about now?"

He beckons, and from behind him emerges a damaged Tian Ji spirit—it’s Xiao Qi!

Xiao Qi is now enveloped in swirling purple lightning, clearly still suffering from the unresolved Shen Fa Xing Jie.

Even flying is a struggle for it; after appearing, it tries to greet, "Uh..." for a long time.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle..."

Only that sound comes out.

Jin Ren suddenly realizes that even Dao Qiong Cang can’t fully withstand the damage from the initial Che Shen Nian’s Shen Fa Xing Jie.

He’s passed most of what he can’t handle to the Tian Ji spirit, Xiao Qi?

"Of course, even a sword intent breaking the body can prevent wounds from healing properly."

"If Dao Qiong Cang’s head was blown off by the Shen Fa Xing Jie and he didn’t handle the attached Che Shen Nian effects well, he probably couldn’t return to the battlefield in time..."

Thinking this, Jin Ren looks up again at Cao Er Zhu, still bowing respectfully in the air.

This big guy is truly foolish—easily trapped by an illusion.

But if someone pulls him out, his combat power is genuinely formidable!

The last time he saw someone this strong was with Shen Yi...

Soon, Jin Ren realizes his thoughts have strayed.

Dao Qiong Cang released Xiao Qi not to show how badly he was injured—it must have deeper meaning.

Yet...

Staring at the weakened, near-death Tian Ji spirit, Jin Ren can’t spot any clues.

"Sorry, in this state, you probably can’t connect the dots either."

"So, what about now?"

Dao Qiong Cang chuckles, changes his demeanor, turns to the Tian Ji spirit, and says gravely:

"Xiao Qi, get ready..."

In an instant, Jin Ren’s mind is struck by lightning, booming.

He knows what Dao Qiong Cang is about to do!

This scene is just like what the Long Xing Spirit transmitted from the Apricot Realm—the final moment before Tian Ren Wu Shui’s self-destruction!

Back then, Dao Qiong Cang used successive methods to control Tian Ren Wu Shui completely, stripping it of self-will, but it still struggled and tried to escape.

Yet, with Dao Qiong Cang’s final words, Tian Ren Wu Shui must have sensed something on a whim.

It chose to self-destruct without hesitation!

A semi-saint’s self-destruction—at that time, it was likely his true self, since a semi-saint avatar probably doesn’t have the Blood World Pearl...

Even so, he didn’t hesitate at all and exploded on the spot!

What lingers in Jin Ren’s mind is Dao Qiong Cang’s final glance piercing through time and space, and the words repeated by the Long Xing Spirit...

With hesitation and confusion, he said word by word:

"Da Shen Jiang Shu?"

A smile spreads across Dao Qiong Cang’s face.

His lips curl higher and higher, and the flesh on his cheeks pushes upward bit by bit—it’s frightening!

He doesn’t speak.

He just beckons again, summoning a scene.

The background is Chang De Town, with the town below peaceful, except for a hole in the roof of the Cao family blacksmith shed.

In the scene, Dao Qiong Cang extends his hand friendly toward the void before him.

"Xiao Qi..." Still the same words, "Get ready, Da Shen Jiang Shu."

"Okay!" In the scene, the intact Xiao Qi spins and jumps, revealing a simple Tian Ji pattern on its belly...

And right now, in front of him!

Dao Qiong Cang extends his hand friendly toward the void.

The battle-damaged Tian Ji spirit, still sparking with purple lightning, struggles to turn around and position itself in front of Dao Qiong Cang.

It reveals its belly too!

On its belly is also a simple Tian Ji pattern...

At this moment, in Ran Ming Yizhi, Jin Ren’s mind explodes with impact, leaving him briefly dazed.

That pattern—he’s seen it!

"The handshake pattern!"

Jin Ren is on the verge of breaking.

Thoughts flash like thunder, waves crash in his heart, and after the shock, all related scenes string together like beads.

From his spiritual sense...

In the scene Dao Qiong Cang summoned, he’s already grasped that handshake pattern;

Right now, in Disorder Spirit World, Dao Qiong Cang has grasped the pattern on Xiao Qi’s belly!

And in his mind...

This handshake pattern appears in a jade slip called “Excuses Compendium,” after the 333rd excuse, presented in an ethereal way:

"Ran Ming Yizhi, Xu Xiao Shou see."

Jin Ren feels like he’s hearing things.

He actually hears Dao Qiong Cang reading those words aloud.

When he snaps back, he realizes it’s not an illusion!

Right now, Dao Qiong Cang is truly reciting, as if reading his mind, that long-hidden greeting with perfect accuracy:

"Ran Ming Yizhi, Xu Xiao Shou see."

Terror peaks in an instant!

Jin Ren is genuinely frightened—can the showy old daoist know exactly what he’s thinking, right down to where?

Is this even human?

He’s more precise than a Tian Ji puppet! More terrifying than a monster!

But it’s not over...

By now, Jin Ren understands what the so-called “Da Shen Jiang Shu” is.

Because in his spiritual sense, once all the irrelevant parts fade, what remains is in the scene Dao Qiong Cang summoned...

After grasping the handshake pattern on Xiao Qi’s belly, he disappears!

The scene shifts: outside the Ugly Pig Beast Hide Shop, Dong Dong holds a city exit token, her body rigid.

When the token drops, a handshake pattern that wasn’t there before lights up in her palm.

The scene shifts again: as the handshake pattern continues to glow in an unnoticed corner, Dao Qiong Cang steps out from her body!

"Da Shen Jiang Shu..."

"Is this Da Shen Jiang Shu?!"

In Ran Ming Yizhi, deep in the dim underground.

After his stupor, Jin Ren hurriedly looks down at his own palm.

"Thankfully, it’s not there..."

He breathes a sigh of relief, grateful that back then, disturbed by the strangeness of “Excuses Compendium,” he acted decisively, chopping off his entire arm.

Later, when he searched himself, his spirit and soul showed no hidden Tian Ji techniques.

That’s why he felt at ease.

Then, because Bei Huai’s ability affected the original, he needed Jin Ren to bear the weeping instead, so he didn’t self-destruct right away...

Wait!

Jin Ren’s pupils dilate.

Is this part of the scheme too?

After that, the original fell into a coma, forcing him to split off a spiritual sense to join the rescue of Xiang Yao Yao, and thus he still couldn’t self-destruct...

Is this also calculated?

"Impossible."

Jin Ren laughs at himself.

Dao Qiong Cang is mysterious, but not to that extent...

Buzz!

Jin Ren’s thoughts freeze.

Because he suddenly sees a handshake pattern light up in his palm, right after Dao Qiong Cang grasps the pattern on Xiao Qi’s belly in Qing Yuan Shan.

"Damn!"

Jin Ren uses his finger as a sword to chop off his regenerated arm again, but it’s futile.

His left hand lights up with a handshake pattern...

His chest lights up with one...

His head, abdomen, thighs, back... they’re all covered in dense handshake patterns!

Beneath Qing Yuan Shan, amid the chaos where everything disintegrates into myriad spirits and eerie forms, in the enclosed environment of the ancient, oppressive bronze gate, Dao Qiong Cang grins and slowly opens his mouth.

He says the same words, calm and composed, just with the order reversed:

"Ran Ming Yizhi see, Xu Xiao Shou."

Thank you to the leader Dandan Tiansheng Meng for the 100,000 reward! The leader mentioned it on QQ, and I never expected it to come through the next night—such generosity! The plot is at a critical point now, so I can’t speed it up; I need to sort out the lines and stabilize before adding more updates. Thank you!