Chapter 1495: A Lone Palm Supports the City, Unshakable Beast; Dao-Infused Life Fills the Devouring Abyss

"A mermaid? Such a beautiful mermaid!"

In Yujing City, the crowd seemed momentarily entranced by the stunning Xinghai Meiren, as if their souls had been captured.

The Si Sheng on the city walls, however, appeared deep in thought, connecting the dots to something significant.

"Xingjiao Holy Body!"

Dao Bu Chief Yu Zhiwen was known for her exceptional mastery of Tianji Arts, which she displayed openly year after year.

But only now did everyone recall that she was also a descendant of the Kunpeng Divine Envoy Yu Lao.

The deep sea hid immense mysteries!

It had given birth to saints like Yu Lao, the Kunpeng, and also passed down the ancient and rare bloodline of the Xingjiao.

Yu Zhiwen's uniqueness seemed to go even further.

With the Xingjiao Holy Body activated, her form changed, and around her, the Xinghai phenomenon continuously spawned schools of starfish.

These fish varied in size.

The smallest were tinier than goldfish, while the largest, ethereal and transparent, resembled a Kunpeng shadow!

The Xinghai trembled and suddenly condensed into a massive sea beast that blocked out the sky, with double wings drooping from its back and water flowing like clouds.

The sacred image: Kunpeng!

This rapid transformation in mere moments left all the saints astounded, and Fang Wenxin watched in sheer shock.

The bloodline power of the Kunpeng clan was so formidable.

If he had such a bloodline and holy body, what would he have to fear from Xu Xiaoshou?

With the Blood Shadow Coins in hand, he could have chased down the Jiuwei Juren and fought back!

"Woo—"

In her Xingjiao form, Yu Zhiwen let out a long, resonant cry, its strange frequency seeming to align with Yu Lao's.

In midair, Yu Lao in his Kunpeng form hesitated slightly in his headlong charge.

Seizing this opportunity, Yu Zhiwen harnessed the power of her sacred blood and sacred image, her Zhuji Star Pupils bursting with brilliant starlight.

She manipulated the shattered Xuanji Great Array at an extraordinary speed that belied her abilities, rapidly repairing everything.

Yujing City reconstructed its water curtain barrier.

It rose from the ground, passed over the high buildings, ascended into the sky, and quickly sealed at the highest point.

Under her control, countless Tianji Dao patterns reformed on it, layer upon layer of defenses unfolding!

The Si Sheng reacted in unison...

Yu Zhiwen's impromptu action aimed to restart the Xuanji Great Array amid this fierce battle, protecting Yujing City.

"It must hold!"

In the Xinghai, Yu Zhiwen's eyes were full of worry.

High above, Ye Xiaotian responded first, unfolding the array diagram of his profound principles beneath his feet.

"Tianwai World!"

The world shifted abruptly.

The battlefield split into two layers.

Though it seemed right before them, it felt as if countless dimensions lay in between.

"I'll join in."

Zhong Yuanzi followed suit, a somewhat unstable Great Dao Diagram spinning under his feet, his entire body turning a watery green.

He appeared transformed from within, becoming a jade sculpture with an explosive head of hair.

"Shen Yu Xiang!"

Zhong Yuanzi's body rippled with majestic sacred power as he struggled to extend his hand and press it against Yujing City's Xuanji Great Array.

The entire soft water curtain barrier instantly turned to jade, hard as rock.

"Jade attribute..."

Yu Zhiwen glanced back in surprise.

In Dao Bu, she had once seen a senior woman with the same attribute, but that person couldn't use it for combat and had to focus on support and healing.

Zhong Yuanzi's jade attribute seemed even stronger in defense than earth or metal attributes?

"Luo Ying Jie."

Mei Siren drew his sword with a resolute ring, his sword spirit rising behind him.

The jade-transformed Yujing City, under the fluttering red plum blossoms, turned from solid to ethereal, entering a state of nothingness.

"No!"

In the distance, Yu Lao had just heard his precious great-granddaughter's voice and realized something was wrong, pulling back his force slightly.

From the ghost qi vortex, the Jiuwei Juren's fist, layered with immense additional powers, surged forward.

It transcended space and time, slamming into Yu Lao's Kunpeng head.

"Boom!!!"

Upon impact, a thunderous explosion shattered the nine heavens, and the world's sounds fell silent once more.

The gray destructive energy, now fully materialized, spread as shockwaves, rapidly assaulting everything in all directions.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

The golden osmanthus trees on the official road vanished outright, the paths outside the city exploded and were ground away bit by bit with the wind and snow.

In the distant mountains, the greenery was swallowed by the gray, and even the mountains themselves melted away silently like ice.

The red plum blossoms falling gracefully over Yujing City resisted fiercely but were torn to shreds as sword qi.

Even the Qing Wu Er Sword in the sword spirit's hand struggled to fully block this explosive assault.

"Pfft!"

Mei Siren spat out blood.

The body of an ancient sword cultivator was too fragile, even more so than that of a spirit refiner.

He was knocked out of the void principles, his face pale and ashen, and in the high air, he was blasted back step by step by the gray energy.

With a buzz...

As Mei Siren retreated, Yujing City shifted from ethereal to solid.

The next to bear the impact was Zhong Yuanzi!

The jade-transformed water curtain barrier cracked rapidly under the gray energy's assault, finally exploding into fragments with a boom.

Zhong Yuanzi grunted, blood spilling from his lips.

As an elemental divine envoy, not an ancient martial divine envoy, when his self-created sacred martial spirit technique was broken, he suffered massive backlash.

Fortunately, Mei Siren had taken the brunt of the impact, so his injuries weren't severe. As long as he withdrew, he could recover quickly.

At the city's edge, Ye Xiaotian stood with his hands behind his back, his feet on the Space Profound Principles Array, exuding an air of arrogance.

The surging gray energy had broken through the first and second saints' defenses, but by the time it reached him, it couldn't penetrate the "Tianwai World" at all!

The battlefield and Yujing City were indeed separated into another dimension by Ye Xiaotian.

The gray energy entered it, sweeping from west to east across the entire secondary dimension, like ravaging a miniaturized Shengshen Continent from the eastern domain to the western, but it couldn't escape.

"Just like that."

Ye Xiaotian chuckled lightly.

How could the power of space profound principles be imagined by ordinary semi-saints?

This defense didn't even need others to add unnecessary efforts—as long as he was still there and able to move, Xu Xiaoshou and Yu Lao couldn't harm anyone in Yujing City!

"Uh..."

Just then, from the corner of his eye, Ye Xiaotian saw Yu Zhiwen, who was manipulating the Xuanji Great Array below, tremble and let out a muffled groan, nearly collapsing.

Her face turned deathly pale, and even the Kunpeng sacred image behind her was on the verge of shattering.

"What happened?"

A quick sacred thought scan revealed that part of the energy had bypassed his Tianwai World, ignoring the Xuanji Great Array and seeping into Yujing City!

Yu Zhiwen, ever vigilant, had detected it first and bound the massive force with the Xuanji Great Array, bearing it alone!

"This..."

Ye Xiaotian was startled.

He could withstand a strike from the Jiuwei Juren and Yu Lao, but how could Yu Zhiwen, even after consuming sacred blood and activating her sacred image, handle even a fraction of the impact?

She wasn't even a semi-saint!

"Don't act recklessly..."

"Palm World!"

Ye Xiaotian raised his hand overhead.

Yu Zhiwen, who was taking the risk, suddenly felt her control over the Xuanji Great Array slip away.

Her star pupils trembled as she looked up, only to see that the original location of Yujing City—the city walls, high buildings, crowds, osmanthus trees—everything had vanished!

The ground beneath the city remained, but Yujing City itself had disappeared without a trace!

Looking up...

In the palm of Ye Xiaotian's raised hand, a miniaturized version of Yujing City appeared, filled with all the panicked people!

"This..."

Before Yu Zhiwen could process it, without the Xuanji Great Array's protection, she should have been vulnerable to the gray energy's assault.

Suddenly, the world around her grew immensely vast!

Mei Siren, Zhong Yuanzi, and even Ye Xiaotian towered like giants thousands of feet tall!

"What is this?"

Yu Zhiwen realized—she had also entered the Palm World and was under Ye Xiaotian's protection.

The people inside Yujing City, now protected as well, were overcome with shock.

"Heavens!"

"How did Ye Ban Sheng become so huge?"

"I feel like I'm no longer in Yujing City... Wait, look below!"

It was as if people on the ground had been suddenly teleported to an airborne pavilion.

When the city's inhabitants scanned their spiritual senses downward, they saw only the original Yujing land, ravaged and shattered by the gray energy.

Yet they themselves were unharmed!

This was all thanks to Ye Xiaotian's masterful Palm World.

Truly...

When the sky falls, the shorter one holds it up?

Whether it was Mei Siren, Zhong Yuanzi, or Fang Wenxin, their gazes toward Ye Xiaotian had completely changed.

In their impressions, this guy was always the one getting beaten wherever he went.

On Void Island, after obtaining his semi-saint status, he didn't dare seize any opportunities and just ran away.

When he achieved semi-sainthood in Zhongyuan Realm with his space profound principles, his fame had barely spread before he was chased by the Wangze Saint Emperor, fleeing from spatial fragments to the Shengong Shengxuan Gate for refuge.

And now, he'd just arrived in Yujing and was immediately caught by the Xuanji Great Array, unable to do anything.

It was as if his space profound principles were counterfeit.

Compared to another profound principles semi-saint like the Shui Gui, he couldn't even match a fraction of that one's brilliance!

But now...

Only now did the saints realize it wasn't that Ye Xiaotian was weak—his experiences were just tragically unlucky.

Just this single move of holding Yujing City in his palm showed how vast his sacred power reserves must be!

His mastery of the space dao far surpassed other spirit refiners' understanding of their own attributes!

Under everyone's gaze, Ye Xiaotian felt a surge of pride. Wasn't this the moment he had cultivated for?

He felt he needed to say something.

Recalling Xu Xiaoshou's defiant figure, Ye Xiaotian's expression returned to calm as he said lightly:

"Even if your Xuanji acts like a mad dog biting at people, I, Ye Xiaotian, will hold Yujing City in my palm alone, saving them from peril, for a semi-saint's compassion for the world."

With that, Ye Xiaotian gently released his hand.

The Yujing City in his palm, like a toy, was returned to the shattered ground by his semi-saint power, restoring it to its original size.

Whoosh!

Yujing City erupted in excitement.

This experience of being transported to another world was a first in their lives!

"Ye Ban Sheng is mighty!"

"Thank you, Xiaotian Ban Sheng, for saving us!"

"Space profound principles, Palm World... Truly terrifying!"

A smile tugged at Ye Xiaotian's lips before he quickly suppressed it, standing proudly.

He suddenly understood what Xu Xiaoshou had been seeking with his showmanship.

"Ah?"

Beibei, descending from Gui Zhe Sheng Mountain with a freshly written challenge letter in hand, entered the battlefield and encountered the chaotic storms. After avoiding the front lines and not seeing Yujing City, her first thought was that she had come to the wrong place.

Was this the central domain?

Could the central domain be this desolate?

Even the mountains were gone, and the world was in ruins—worse than the sinful lands of the southern domain, which had never suffered such heavenly punishment!

Suddenly...

Yujing City reappeared!

Unscathed, it was released from Ye Xiaotian's space profound principles palm.

And all of this wasn't the semi-saints playing around for fun—it was because Yu Lao and... that Jiuwei Juren were fighting?

The aftermath of their battle had caused such devastation?

After a closer look, Beibei recognized that if you removed the nine tails and the ghost qi vortex's cover from the giant...

Didn't it resemble the enlarged version of Xu Xiaoshou who had torn apart the Shengdi Qilin?

—Bad memories resurfaced!

Beibei had almost forgotten about the Shengdi Qilin incident.

But seeing this Jiuwei Juren, and glancing down at the fresh challenge letter in her hand...

She fell silent.

Did she really want to challenge this guy?

Even if Xu Xiaoshou agreed to a duel in the ancient sword cultivator style, what if things escalated and he unleashed this form...

"Could I survive?"

Beibei suddenly felt her head throbbing.

She couldn't understand what kind of twisted logic the Xuanji Hall Master had to send her to challenge such a monster!

If it were the Dao Hall Master...

He must have another way, right?

Glancing back, the two ancient sword cultivators behind her—Liu Fuyu's expression remained unchanged, unfazed as ever.

In contrast, Old Gu Yu's face was filled with gravity and hesitation.

Beibei didn't need to ask to know his thoughts were probably similar to hers.

"You can think it over again."

She never forced others into things she herself didn't want to do or might fail at.

Liu Fuyu gazed into the void without responding.

Gu Yu hesitated, withdrawing his gaze from Mei Siren's distant figure, and sighed:

"An old bag of bones..."

"But whether it works or not, I have to give it a try."

Beibei was surprised.

He still wanted to try?

Was Old Gu Yu truly fearless, or had the semi-saint status gone to his head?

"Alright."

She didn't press further.

Turning back to the sky, she quietly began to wait.

Challenging Xu Xiaoshou in this state was impossible and unwise.

She just hoped he would regain his senses quickly!

Before the ghost qi vortex.

Yu Lao, in his Kunpeng form, was struck so hard his head buzzed.

For the first time in his life, he had lost in raw physical strength to someone who wasn't even a semi-saint.

This shocked Yu Lao!

In his memory, the only one who might match him in physical power was that kid named "Shen Yi," though they'd never tested it.

And now, Xu Xiaoshou had surpassed him and reached this level?

"Jiuwei Juren..."

With a swish, Yu Lao retracted his Kunpeng form, ceased fighting, and returned to Fang Wenxin's side.

"Can't fight it."

He said earnestly.

When he had received the message from his little fish earlier, he knew he had acted impulsively and shouldn't have tested it.

Fortunately, Ye Xiaotian had protected Yujing City in the end; otherwise, he would have been the one guilty of destroying the capital.

"Thank you for stepping in."

Yu Lao nodded remotely to Ye Xiaotian in gratitude, then turned back to Fang Wenxin.

With a heavy expression, he pointed at the Jiuwei Juren in the ghost qi vortex and gave his evaluation after their direct clash:

"Cannot clash head-on, cannot stop it, beyond what mortals can separate!"

"In my view, unless Xu Xiaoshou fails to contract the ghost beast himself, even if we all attacked together, the ones injured would be Yujing City, not him."

Pausing, Yu Lao added:

"Don't forget, his recovery is strong."

"And my strike earlier didn't even hurt him much in this state..."

Yu Lao clicked his tongue twice, shaking his head like a rattle. "Truly hard to assess!"

Fang Wenxin fell silent.

He knew that when even Yu Lao said these words, there was no turning back—Xu Xiaoshou's ghost beast contract was unstoppable.

"I understand."

Nodding heavily, Fang Wenxin put away the nine Blood Shadow Coins and spoke helplessly.

The path was one Xu Xiaoshou had chosen himself.

His only hope now was that the guy wasn't just talking big and could truly reach heights beyond him!

"Don't mess around!"

Yu Lao gave a serious final warning...

Then his old face twitched, and he rushed to Yu Zhiwen's side, pinching her hands and cheeks with worry.

"Oh, my little darling!"

"How are you? Are you hurt?"

"Ah, I told you not to act recklessly—it's all Fang Wenxin's fault. Xu Xiaoshou contracting a ghost beast is his business; why drag us into it? We're just meddling..."

"Oh, alright, alright, I won't say it. Grandpa Yu won't mention it. As long as you're okay!"

"Later, Grandpa Yu will catch you some big crabs to nourish you. We can go to the Han Gong Secret Realm, or back to Nanming... Nanming is more fun!"

Yu Zhiwen, with pale lips, held a pile of bottles and jars in her arms, containing various rare pills and even sacred blood from unknown sources.

But Yu Lao's overwhelming affection couldn't draw her gaze back.

She had forgotten to retract her Xingjiao Holy Body, her mind still echoing with Grandpa Yu's evaluation, as she stared blankly at the Jiuwei Juren.

Since it couldn't be stopped...

It had to succeed!

In the ghost qi vortex.

The sudden extreme gigantification wasn't part of Xu Xiaoshou's plan at all.

After throwing the punch.

In just a few breaths, he felt himself being drained dry.

Though the Jiuwei Juren still had strength to spare against the Kunpeng form, which was surprising.

But the aftermath of battling the Shengdi Qilin was still fresh, and Xu Xiaoshou had no desire to experience exhaustion again.

"Come back!"

Relying on "Spiritual Awakening," he forcibly snapped himself and the Tanlan Shen, which was constantly influencing his mental state, out of the frenzy.

The path to contracting the ghost beast was bumpy, but it could still be steered back on track.

Yet upon clearing his thoughts, Xu Xiaoshou was shocked to find that what was rapidly depleting him wasn't just the extreme giant form—it was also the Tanlan Shen's bottomless devouring body.

—It had been ceaselessly siphoning his life force!

"I signed a contract with you, not to become your meal, you little fat cat—wake up!"

With a step, he unfurled the Life Dao, entering the state of unity with heaven and earth, directly integrating it.

"Devour!"

He manipulated the gluttonous feast, the breathing method, and even transcended himself, attempting to control the Tanlan Shen's devouring body!

Xu Xiaoshou inhaled vast amounts of spiritual energy and life force from the world, replenishing himself.

This time, he clearly sensed...

The amount exceeded expectations!

The bulk of this replenishment was unmistakably from the devouring body!

"Has the contract succeeded?"

"Can I start controlling the Tanlan Shen's devouring body for my own recovery?"

Xu Xiaoshou was overjoyed.

But he was still monitoring the Tanlan Shen's state and its unconscious draining of his life force.

"No, it's not fully under control yet, but at least half of it is done."

"This remaining half is a bit tricky..."

"But it's not impossible!"

Xu Xiaoshou rarely acted without confidence, and this contract was no exception—it stemmed from careful planning, not just impulse from Fang Wenxin.

After tearing apart the Shengdi Qilin in Zhongyuan Realm, he had realized how high the limit of extreme gigantification could go.

But the threshold for this second awakening technique was equally high.

So, during his slumber, Xu Xiaoshou had pondered this and come up with an idea:

"If I could resolve the 'input-output imbalance' and keep extreme gigantification in a stable, normal state, what level could my combat power reach?"

"Peak semi-saint, or even low-level Saint Emperor?"

"Fighting a Saint Emperor's true body might be out of reach, but at least against their thought incarnations, I wouldn't be so strained..."

"So, how to fix the input-output issue?"

Upon entering the king seat and after the system evolved, Xu Xiaoshou gained ten Great Dao discs.

Apart from the body, spirit, and intent discs, which offered some auxiliary boosts but were limited, only the Life Dao disc focused on recovery and vitality.

"If I fully illuminate the Life Dao disc to the true 'Life Profound Principles' level, could it offset the consumption of extreme gigantification?"

"If not, and extreme gigantification needs to break through its limits—swords in giant form, full divine thoughts, or even weaving the heavenly dao..."

"Then it would have to be self-sustaining in battle!"

"But just with 'Breathing Method' and 'Gluttonous Feast,' it's not enough—I need something bigger..."

"Something as massive as the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, where fighting a night owl could yield an indestructible body, regenerating even after self-destruction—essentially an near-infinite recovery freak, which is..."

"The devouring body!"

Xu Xiaoshou had no intention of seizing the Tanlan Shen's devouring body.

He wasn't a child who would settle for just one option between the two.

I want it all!

The Life Dao disc, plus the devouring body!

Self-sustenance at the base, and if that's not enough, devour others to convert into my own—achieving stable extreme gigantification!

That way, even if the Yujing semi-saints returned, or I didn't need to run at all, I could storm Sheng Mountain and rescue Elder Sang...

This was a bold idea.

And now, Xu Xiaoshou was putting it into action.

He not only wanted to successfully contract the Tanlan Shen but also make it work for him, eliminating the drawbacks of extreme gigantification.

But first, he had to fix its tendency to "devour its master"—who knew where it picked that up from!

Xu Xiaoshou wouldn't eliminate the Tanlan Shen at the root.

Since it wanted to devour, he'd let it— and see if this bottomless pit of a devouring body had any limits!

"Dao Seed: 100,000 passive points."

"Passive points: 83,128,840."

One Dao Seed for 100,000 passive points.

Based on past experience, it could advance the Great Dao disc by about one percent.

Even if it exceeded later and the experience gain slowed with accumulation...

With my 80 million passive points, theoretically, I can create eight mature profound principles arrays. I don't believe I can't force out a 'Life Profound Principles'!

Xu Xiaoshou gritted his teeth and started exchanging for Dao Seeds, smashing them directly onto the Life Dao disc.

"Come on!"

"Let's see if your Tanlan Shen's stomach is bigger, or if my Xu Xiaoshou's reserves are greater... Charge!"