Chapter 1552: Coffin as Shell, Departure as Turtle; A Single Thrust in the Water, Thoughts Turn to Ashes

Boom!

The golden light giant's foot descended once more, causing the ground to collapse entirely.

One foot crushed Nian, a dark department leader, and another crushed the semi-saint, Yue Gongli.

Zhou Tianshen, cradling his pregnant belly, watched with eyelids twitching wildly, overwhelmed by the brutal artistry of it all.

Along his journey, from Tian Sang Ling Gong to Pi Shou Zong, Zhou Tianshen had heard countless stories about Xu Xiaoshou.

Shape-shifting...

Growing larger...

Changing gender!

All sorts of tales!

Yet, hearsay was still just hearsay.

Seeing is believing, and witnessing this ultimate emotional outburst of violent force firsthand was even more mesmerizing than the earlier strike that severed his own connection.

"Too terrifying!"

The crowd trapped in Long Rong Jie all turned pale with fear.

The golden light giant's enormous size, its raw destructive power, and its agility and reactions that defied any notions of clumsiness or slowness combined to evoke a profound sense of helplessness.

His sword, his saintly power, his Zu Yuan Zhi Li, and his Che Shen Nian—none of them had even been unleashed yet!

It was just two stomps...

"Has Lord Yue Gongli been crushed to death?"

As curiosity gripped the masses, the raging giant slowly lifted its golden foot.

Unlike what the onlookers saw, Xu Xiaoshou felt the most precise feedback from his own stomp.

He knew Yue Gongli hadn't been shattered.

The raging giant had merely stepped on something like a massive turtle, its sturdy body and shock-absorbing passive skills causing it to ache painfully.

"What on earth is that?"

Not just Xu Xiaoshou—everyone stared in wonder.

As the foot rose, Yue Gongli was gone, replaced by a gray-blue coffin.

The coffin was sizable, sealed with a faint aura of sinister evil and covered in yellow talisman papers.

Even in its restrained state, the raging giant stood over thirty zhang tall.

This dark-toned coffin was half the size of the giant's foot, measuring over three zhang in length by estimation.

Insignificant to the giant, perhaps, but enormous to ordinary people.

Clearly, it wasn't meant for burying humans.

"This large coffin..."

Even among the veterans present, who had lived for many years, few recognized it.

Its defensive strength was evident—it had withstood the raging giant's stomp, proving its power beyond doubt.

But was that all?

The key was the faint sinister energy still seeping from its sealed seams...

This was what truly inspired terror!

"What is it?"

"Zu Yuan Zhi Li?"

"I don't recognize it, but it feels pretty strong..."

Everyone backed away hastily, trying to distance themselves from the battlefield.

If not for Long Rong Jie sealing the area, and Xu Xiaoshou clearly not wanting anyone to leave, some might have fled without even watching.

When gods fight, mortals suffer.

Watching any longer would only invite disaster.

"Yin Ling Jiu?"

Xu Xiaoshou stared at the coffin beneath his foot, Li Fugui's intelligence flashing through his mind.

The battlefield fell into dead silence.

A coffin lay under the giant's foot, with spiderweb cracks spreading across the ground for kilometers.

Within Long Rong Jie, the temperature dropped to an icy chill, the yin leng piercing to the bone and making all observers shiver uncontrollably.

"Not bad!"

This eerie atmosphere was soon shattered by a voice of exaggerated praise from inside the coffin:

"Xu Xiaoshou, you really know your stuff. This is one of the ten great anomalous weapons—the Yin Ling Jiu."

"Regardless of its other abilities, in my hands, you're absolutely powerless to break its defense."

"Now, can we calm down and have a proper talk?"

The people at the battlefield's edge watched on.

Zhou Tianshen stroked his large belly as he watched.

Everyone widened their eyes, a ridiculous thought crossing their minds simultaneously...

"He's threatening Xu Xiaoshou?"

In the next second!

It was shocking to behold!

The golden light giant, in the form of Xu Xiaoshou, unleashed a flurry of stomps right after Yue Gongli finished speaking, pounding down relentlessly.

"Boom boom boom boom boom boom!"

The ground was pulverized!

The Yin Ling Jiu was driven deep into a pit!

Centered on the raging giant, the battlefield collapsed further with each stomp as the earth shook violently...

"I... damn!"

Amid the thunderous booms, Yue Gongli's voice grew frantic:

"Don't... bro!"

"It's shaking... shaking me!"

"Damn it! Stop stomping... it's pinning me down!"

"Stop! Stop! Stop—"

Everyone clutched their foreheads, watching with scalp-tingling horror.

Zhou Tianshen sucked in a sharp breath: "I knew the size was off—it would slip out..."

A giant's coffin holding a smaller human—wouldn't that just shake them to death inside?

Hearing this, the raging giant mercifully halted its brutal assault.

A relieved sigh came from Yue Gongli inside: "Xu Xiao..."

But before he could finish!

To everyone's horror, the giant shrank, bent down, and plunged its hands into the ground.

It yanked the gray-blue Yin Ling Jiu from the earth and hoisted it high!

"Hey! Hey! Hey..."

Yue Gongli's trembling voice drifted out, laced with a sob: "Don't mess around, don't mess around... ah!"

The raging giant swung violently, bending the Yin Ling Jiu and shattering space and earth.

"Thud!"

A sound of vomiting blood echoed from within.

Another swing from left to right carved a half-moon arc in the air, smashing space and earth on the right.

"Wo... save... me..."

Then it swung to the left.

Then to the right.

Left...

Right...

"Stop! Xu Xiaoshou, stop!" In a brief pause of the onslaught, Yue Gongli seized the chance to shout, "Give me a moment to get out..."

Bang bang bang bang bang bang...

The calm before the storm ended as the furious barrage reached its peak!

Under the flickering white flames of Long Rong Jie, the golden giant planted its feet firmly in the earth, its upper body blurring into a high-speed frenzy.

Its seemingly cumbersome form and massive arms turned the Yin Ling Jiu into a blur, like a violent pendulum swinging back and forth.

"Thud."

Below Long Rong Jie, someone watching collapsed to the ground, face ashen.

"What's wrong?"

Zhou Tianshen turned his head instinctively to help, but remembered this person was from the pursuing legion and withdrew his kindness.

"A Sheng Shen Dian Tang guy, right?" A sharp-faced man nearby smirked, "If you're scared, just off yourself—that's the quickest way out, and you can go report to your Cang Sheng Emperor."

"If you end up in Xu Xiaoshou's hands, you're lucky if one hit kills you. If you're tough and have strong defenses..."

He pointed to the distant giant toying with the coffin: "That's what you'll get!"

In the crowd, a man of average height, looks, and cultivation glanced back at the speaker, then at the scene outside Long Rong Jie, before silently turning his gaze back to the battlefield.

He hadn't said a word.

His expressions had been appropriately fearful and shocked, going with the flow.

He hadn't even dared to think about running.

Just one extra curious glance...

Whoosh.

A gust of wind hit his face.

Time seemed to slow.

Dust swirled around him as everyone, including the pregnant Zhou Tianshen and the untouched bag of Shen Zhi Ming Xing, was sent flying with cries.

Golden light filled their vision!

The giant had crossed the distance in an instant, swinging the Yin Ling Jiu like an axe cleaving a sacred mountain, slamming it straight toward his face:

"Looking at what, damn you!"

"If Yue Gongli can see things outside Long Rong Jie, do you think some random extra can too?!"

In that moment, Nian's heartbeat skipped.

Xu Xiaoshou fighting Yue Gongli was a ruse—his real focus was on everyone's movements?

Killing the "Nian" outside Long Rong Jie was fake; this was a calculated trap?

Swinging the Yin Ling Jiu in anger was fake; his desire for revenge over that single dagger strike was real?

The sudden space traversal...

The overhead coffin strike...

It all came so abruptly.

Nian took a phantom step, not only reacting but vanishing from the spot.

"Phantom Spirit Pierce!"

As the golden light closed in, this unremarkable figure in the crowd drew the Huan Nian Dagger and appeared behind the giant's head...

One strike!

"Sacred Soul Extinction!"

A illusory, ancient, vast shadow of a sacred god formed behind him and shattered into surging energy.

Terrifying divine power flooded his body, even making Nian's calm, indifferent eyes well with agony.

Yet, he endured it all for this deadly blow!

Whoosh!

Even the dullest among the onlookers realized now, except for Zhou Tianshen.

The silent strike earlier had failed and allowed escape.

Xu Xiaoshou hadn't let anyone escape; he'd reacted and crushed that "Nian."

But this Nian knew Xu Xiaoshou inside out. The decoy who died outside Long Rong Jie was likely just a Sheng Shen Dian Tang pawn.

Now, with the plot exposed and no retreat, it was an all-or-nothing fight.

That sudden ancestral god shadow, that overwhelming divine power, all channeled into the Huan Nian Dagger—one of the nine supreme divine artifacts—for a soul-targeting kill...

Could Xu Xiaoshou block it?

"... Stop!"

Only then did a delayed cry of alarm come from inside the Yin Ling Jiu, as if choked by blood.

Boom!

The giant's coffin slammed into the ground.

The resulting dust and shockwave blasted everyone away, tearing some to pieces.

"Damn..."

Zhou Tianshen dove forward, seizing the Shen Zhi Ming Xing and activating its power to barely protect himself.

Those nearby without defenses were obliterated into starlight, forever losing their chance at the Zhan Shen Guan inheritance.

"Watch out!"

Zhou Tianshen cared only for others, shouting a warning.

Since the Yin Ling Jiu had hit the ground and Nian had evaded, the empty-handed giant Xu Xiaoshou was exposed...

Right?

Schick!

Without mercy!

The Huan Nian Dagger pierced straight through the raging giant's head, breaking through layers of barriers.

Nian's momentum carried him forward, slamming into the coffin's lid and fracturing his arm.

Thud!

The coffin shook.

A heavy sigh mixed with coughing blood emerged from inside:

"You shouldn't have struck..."

"He was prepared; there are two of him."

The entire field fell silent.

Deathly quiet!

Zhou Tianshen stared blankly at the golden giant with its head run through, then at the injured Nian...

What?

What just happened?

Who won, and what was Yue Gongli saying?

"This sword..."

"West Wind Withering Snow."

From far beyond the battlefield, a faint voice suddenly rang out.

Zhou Tianshen didn't catch it clearly; his head spun as he looked toward the source.

There stood a dashing figure in black, turned slightly aside, his face in profile as a black sword with four blades spun twice before him and slowly sheathed.

Click.

As it fully sheathed, Zhou Tianshen's vision blurred for a moment.

A sword with four blades?

Xu Xiaoshou?

Wasn't he transformed into a giant here, getting pierced through...

In a blink, snowflakes landed on his nose.

Turning back, the central battlefield's golden giant exploded into mirror shards, dissolving into illusory red plums and flying snow that fluttered between reality and illusion.

Schick!

Nian, who had just struggled up on the Yin Ling Jiu, had a ring of black sword energy sweep across his neck.

The cut was neither deep nor shallow—no sword intent, just enough to sever veins without decapitating.

Clearly, the wielder had a masterful grasp of inflicting peak pain.

Nian winced, pain flashing in his eyes as he clutched his neck.

Schick schick schick!

As his hand moved, his upper arm, forearm, and wrist were each slashed by rings of black sword energy.

His neck uncovered, his hands' tendons shredded and hung limp, slapping against his thighs.

Schick schick schick schick schick!

With a violent jolt, his chest, back, thighs, knees, ankles...

His entire body!

In staggered patterns!

Countless black sword energies erupted, shooting into the distant sky like beautiful black orchids!

"I..."

Even Zhou Tianshen, a burly man, was stunned by this artistic swordplay, his pores tingling.

He watched layer upon layer of sword energy strip away Nian's flesh, then glanced at where the golden giant had been...

"Illusion Sword Technique?"

He looked again at the stylish swordsman Xu Xiaoshou standing outside the battlefield...

"West Wind Withering Snow?"

Wasn't that his minor sword move from Tian Sang Ling Gong?

How did this black flower relate to West Wind Withering Snow? He was just making things up!

"Oh, yeah..."

Watching Xu Xiaoshou in the distance, still savoring the afterglow with a light breath and entranced expression, Zhou Tianshen clenched his fist and held back.

Pi Shou Zong was inevitable!

Even if it took generations of his descendants, they had to beat him once—he was too insufferable!

Bang—

The sword energy petals scattered into dust.

When the demonic energy from the sword with four blades reached its peak, even Xu Xiaoshou couldn't suppress it, and Nian was consumed by the demonic assault, exploding into a bloody, unrecognizable mess.

Like Lao Sang after being struck.

"Urgh..."

Even so, Xu Xiaoshou turned to the so-called new dark department leader, who only managed a muffled groan.

"Cursed, passive value: 1."

Cursed?

Xu Xiaoshou raised an eyebrow.

Besides his junior sister, was there really someone cursing openly after a fair fight?

He was startled again.

It couldn't be the Tian Ren Wu Shuo curse, could it?

Yet, his body, spirit, and intent were all fine, and his spiritual awakening showed no anomalies.

As a non-ancient sword cultivator with a sword of four blades, Nian clearly couldn't strike again—this was the loser's final defiance?

"Xu Xiaoshou..."

Amid the swirling demonic energy, Xu Xiaoshou finally saw this cross-dressing operative's true face.

Her features were revealed—utterly ordinary.

Her clothes were torn, her skin exposed—nothing like snow-white fairness, just a bloody mess, still ordinary.

She gripped the Huan Nian Dagger tightly, drawing it across her own neck before sending a spiritual message, her expression unchanged:

"We will meet again."

Nian's body slowly dissolved into starlight.

Xu Xiaoshou didn't even bother to look, turning away with a smile:

"Pray that Ran Ming shows some mercy and cleans up your mess when he sends you to the ruins."

"Otherwise, when you get home, you'll still be a wreck."

"Oh, and by the way!"

With a wave, Xu Xiaoshou summoned the large bag from Zhou Tianshen's hand, including a Shen Zhi Ming Xing that had fallen and been left untouched.

Now, he held seven Shen Zhi Ming Xing.

"Go back and relay a message to Ai Cang Sheng."

"Seven represents separation... No reunion for the moon on the seventh eve, tears of parting for humans on the seventh eve. Tell him, for the sake of that 'tears,' it's not too late to abandon darkness and embrace the light."

Turning back, Xu Xiaoshou finally faced the dark department leader directly.

Her body had fully faded into starlight, leaving only her eyes—once calm, now tinged with vulnerability and pain.

"Cursed, passive value: 1."

Xu Xiaoshou parted his lips casually:

"The same goes for you."

"I know who you are."

"Shocked, passive value: 1."