Chapter 1152: Sensing

Malevolent qi cascaded like a waterfall across the sky. The long halberd stood amidst the darkness, resembling a bright sun, allowing pink light and malevolent fire to crisscross around it, yet unable to approach even an inch.

Li Zhouwei's golden eyes swept across the horizon like lightning, perceiving the rising profound qi or shifting Yin light, as he recognized face after face.

In front of Helian Wujiang, a mid-stage Malevolent Qi Purple Mansion cultivator, and Helian Wumeng, an early-stage one, stood Situ Huo, wielding a golden-red saber. Meanwhile, Ting Lan and Wen Qing, two Purple Qi cultivators, advanced to shield Murong Yan, casting the sky in hues of black and purple.

Sima Yuanli, standing on his green gourd, used the Sun-Deriving Light Pouch to repel Zhelu. Yin water surged as Ning Wan entangled Nu Zi of the Great Desire Path. Lin Chensheng, his face grim as if facing a formidable foe, watched Ming Xiang, who stood before him with hands clasped.

On the lake surface below, Xuan masters emerged one by one. The Three Sons of Mingyang led the charge with fire, while Chen Wenyao, Sima Xunhui, and other newly promoted Xuan masters followed, wielding their treasures. Streaks of water and fire swayed down, tearing holes in the merciful emanations of the Buddhist practitioners.

‘I don't know what's happening on the lake, but Shanjia... must be guarded by Louying Pavilion!'

He watched silently as Tuoba Ci landed beside Zhelu, staring at him from a distance with complex emotions. The Xuan platform in Tuoba Ci's hand gleamed, clearly the Xi Qi spiritual treasure.

The entire Xianhu Lake churned, and under the suppression of numerous divine abilities, its waters fearfully receded, exposing fragmented patches of the lakebed. The lakeshore began to crumble at an alarming rate, and the estuary rapidly widened, showing signs of the lake bursting into the sea!

The divine abilities across heaven and earth reached a strange stalemate.

‘Once the battle begins, it's highly probable that the Xianhu Lake region will be devastated, the land will sink, and seawater will pour in, turning Jianmen, Shanjia, and Xuanmiao into shattered islands!'

Li Zhouwei also waited, his gaze lowered.

As if in an instant, the lake water, which had been forced to the bottom and even retreated into its hidden veins, suddenly found release. It surged back up with a thunderous roar, and every inch of the soil beneath emitted a mysterious glow, as if forged from refined iron.

All the divine abilities in the sky flared, and then simultaneously struck!

"Boom!"

It was the Grand Void that first cried out in anguish.

Each divine ability flickered, distinctly enveloping separate sections of the sky. The Grand Void simultaneously fractured, becoming riddled with voids of various sizes and spots.

A streak of golden light shot forth.

"Thud!"

The sun's light on Zhelu had not fully faded when he felt gold shattering before his eyes, as if a dye house had been overturned. Multicolored illusions exploded in his vision, leaving his eyes sore and painful, and a secret dread crept over him.

The Qianyang Bracelet!

Pitch-black hues engulfed the sky as the King of Wei leaped forth. His golden halberd, like a solid piece of gold held in hand, shone majestically. Although the Threefold Lotus of Worldly Retribution had appeared, it could not provide aid at that moment. Instead, a man in a feathered robe descended, forming hand seals, and summoned the massive Great Liang Xuan Seal!

Li Zhouwei's long halberd swayed, and a dense color converged within it, yet it did not radiate outward. Instead, what lit up was the magnificent Huaijiang Map, depicting grand mountains and rivers!

The Tuoba clan's treasured seal was renowned throughout the world and had long accumulated immense power, making it difficult to resist with a single divine ability. However, as Li Zhouwei's spiritual treasure lit up, it transformed into a bright golden pass emerging from amidst towering rock formations, blocking the descending treasured seal and bathing Li Zhouwei in brilliant light.

Divine Light Ripple!

As a spiritual treasure, the Huaijiang Map possessed boundless divine power, and its first manifestation was this Light Ripple ability!

This divine ability could only be activated by a Mingyang cultivator. Resonating with the three Mingyang divine abilities within Li Zhouwei, it enhanced his life-force and amplified his magic power, even illuminating three layers of heavenly gates behind him!

These bright heavenly gates overlapped, their center hazy, and shone down directly onto Zhelu. Having just been stunned by the Qianyang Bracelet, the Maha could neither move nor react, and was instantly caught squarely in the light!

He felt a heavy hammer strike his face, rendering him immobile. The darkness shrouding the sky instantly receded. Li Zhouwei, with a calm gaze, swept his long halberd forward, bringing it right before Zhelu!

Tuoba Ci's expression subtly shifted. He took a step forward, his eyes turning a mysterious yellow as he powerfully activated his divine ability:

Dark Heaven Calamity!

Li Zhouwei felt a series of golden rings crash down before his eyes. The chaotic power surged into his mind but was dispelled by a cool sensation, while profound qi surged from his limbs and bones.

As Jun Daowei charged, he should have been able to resolve the situation, but the profound qi divine ability transformed into countless fragments. As the man before him suddenly formed hand seals, it unexpectedly responded by hindering the divine ability's proxy functions, manifesting Xi Qi divine power both within and outside his Dharma body!

Yet, Li Zhouwei remained undeterred.

Illustrious Sun and Moon!

His superior control over his Dharma body, with his life-force residing in a single mansion, caused all surging Xi Qi to temporarily halt. However, the golden patterns of Jun Daowei instantly brightened, activated by the surrounding attacks. The halberd tip had already reached Zhelu, and Li Zhouwei's other hand simultaneously drew out a golden battle-axe!

Zhelu was indeed a long-renowned Maha. Though the Qianyang Bracelet had accumulated power for a long time and he found it difficult to break free in that brief instant, millions of pink eyes suddenly responded, flashing forth a white lotus as bright as a star before him.

Each of this Maha's thousand eyes possessed its own spiritual essence, entirely unconnected to his main soul!

"Boom!"

The long halberd clanged down upon the lotus, erupting in a blast of blue-white light. The Maha, who had been submerged in colorful illusions, suddenly awoke!

Over the years, Zhelu had cultivated various life-saving spells, and this was one of his crucial trump cards: this wondrous lotus of myriad eyes, formed from Xuanto spiritual materials, could, once shattered, awaken him.

Without the slightest hesitation, a burst of pink light exploded, and he moved dozens of feet sideways, his face filled with lingering dread. His first action was to activate his life-force to sense the Pure Land.

Even though the Pure Land of Emptiness was in decline, Zhelu, as a Maha of immense power, could still borrow incredibly vast magic power and divine abilities from it!

However, his spiritual perception was empty; darkness enveloped everything, near and far. He could only vaguely discern a Degraded Qi Nether Hall, locked away in an invisible, shadowy realm.

‘Degraded Qi!'

His expression changed drastically. He immediately formed hand seals with both hands, about to summon the Golden Mountain.

But in that brief delay, the sky had already become completely dark. The King of Wei, his eyes cold, charged forward, wielding his battle-axe and halberd, his royal cloak fluttering. With two fingers pressed together before him, a tiny, bean-sized bright flame instantly leaped forth.

The Xi Qi fire within his Dharma body unleashed itself to the extreme, causing him to spit out a stream of golden-yellow blood that landed precisely on the flame.

Southern Emperor Xuanhuo.

Immediately, streaks of diverging light appeared, like golden suns emerging from the clouds, falling towards Zhelu's Dharma body.

Zhelu had experienced this spell before and had a premonition, yet he never imagined that what descended would not be golden nets, but a surging, flame-like diverging light!

This diverging light, like fire yet not fire, instead resembled a stirred flame. Its color was terrifying as it malevolently bored towards his forehead!

Zhelu sensed an extreme danger. The color in his eyes shifted slightly, and his face was ghostly pale as if his soul had fled his body. The myriad eyes on his form abruptly turned, emitting a hazy purple light, attempting to fix the attacking object in place.

But this Mingyang diverging light was like a small boat in a raging storm; no matter how the waves surged, it could not be capsized. His purple light, cultivated for many years, proved utterly useless, allowing the attack to descend like a swimming dragon!

‘Ah?!'

His horror instantly spread from his face to his very core.

‘This is... Jun Daowei?!!'

But all his thoughts quickly vanished. The diverging light, appearing as tiny points, first landed on his glittering golden forehead, then swiftly pierced downward at a terrifying speed, smashing into the core of his Dharma body.

"Boom!"

A massive diverging firestorm, wrapped in Mingyang heavenly light, instantly erupted across the sky. The terrifying blast caused almost all divine abilities to turn and gaze in shock.

‘How many exchanges has it been?!'

When Li Zhouwei chose this particular spell years ago, his primary consideration was its life-force resonance. It could both trap and kill, required minimal resources, and due to his own unique life-force, they were perfectly complementary.

In Li Zhouwei's hands, this set of spells immediately displayed a completely different power!

Furthermore, the Chongyang Xiaxing Treasure Plate, having been absorbed into his brow, provided inherent amplification, and the Huaijiang Map also possessed the ability to strengthen its master's life-force. Most importantly, besieged at this moment, he had already sensed the White Qilin's destiny!

If Li Jiangqian's Talisman Qi Gluttonous Xuanli was the result of greatly amplifying life-force resonance, then Li Zhouwei, by harnessing the White Qilin's destiny, fundamentally caused the spell's power to surge. He crossed the threshold of that mysterious connection, achieving mastery, and reached the second of the spell's three stages, "Diverging Light," which was filled with murderous intent!

It was precisely for this reason that Li Zhouwei chose to charge forward when wielding the Southern Emperor Xuanhuo! This diverging light was a life-force resonance, intimately connected to Li Zhouwei's being. With his advanced cultivation, he instantly deepened this connection by forcing out essence blood. As he charged, the power of Jun Daowei immediately enveloped the spell!

This was precisely what led to Zhelu's blunder due to overconfidence!

As this streak of diverging light exploded in the sky, the head of the powerful Maha was instantly pulverized into dust. His empty neck bore marks of complete fragmentation, and pulsating strings of bright diverging flames flowed down his golden body, scorching it into patches of lava-like golden-red.

The myriad eyes, which had always been open, all closed simultaneously, suddenly shedding tears.

Although Li Zhouwei's White Qilin destiny had only resonated to 40% of its capacity, this diverging light carried the formidable power of surprise, for the first time inflicting fundamental damage upon Zhelu!

Although the terrifying consumption of Southern Emperor Xuanhuo left Li Zhouwei pale, the King of Wei was far from finished. He pressed on, riding the charging force of Jun Daowei. His Red Breaking Arrow divine ability was profound, allowing him to maneuver as if riding an immortal chariot, easily dodging the descending Xi Light Divider Treasure Platform.

The heavy, dark-gold battle-axe was drawn, its Qilin patterns leaping, revealing full murderous intent.

All of this unfolded in a flash. Only then did the brilliant, illusory colors of Mingyang appear in Tuoba Ci's pupils. The heart of this Great Liang descendant grew dim; for the first time, he felt such powerlessness.

Mingyang favored the honorable and disdained the humble. This hadn't been evident when Li Zhouwei possessed one or two divine abilities, nor even when he had just broken through to three. But now, wielding various spiritual treasures and artifacts, he truly understood the crushing suppression of a high-level Mingyang. For the first time, he felt a deep sense of frustration towards a cultivator who was also in the mid-stage Purple Mansion.

‘As long as Mingyang gains even a slight advantage, the situation becomes an avalanche!'

Tuoba Ci couldn't help but fall into a momentary trance:

‘Mingyang's favor rests with the Qilin; how can mere mortals compare?'

Witnessing the King of Wei's battle-axe gleam, Zhelu's headless form trembled violently. Yet, the surging diverging light continued to course through him, paralyzing his myriad eyes!

Southern Emperor Xuanhuo was not only a killing technique but also a method of confinement!

Just at this moment of crisis, a purple silk ribbon leaped through the air, hooking onto Zhelu's waist. With a sudden pull, it teleported the Maha away.

Li Zhouwei's reaction seemed even faster. The instant he saw the purple silk, the patterns on his brow instantly lit up.

The Chongyang patterns became extremely complex; the outer circle shifted from bright to dark, while mysterious runes rotated within. Four points of glittering golden light separated, forming an inverted manifestation where "Upper Radiance" was below and "Yang Pole" was above.

The ultimate form of the Chongyang Xiaxing Treasure Plate!

As four glittering golden stars rose, the slender, small silver stick struck directly upon the drum's surface.

"Thump!"

Dazzling silver light burst forth, spanning across the sky, continuously blasting apart the four stars. Almost in the very next instant, it struck the spot where Li Zhouwei had just been, unleashing a thunderous storm that swept in all directions!

This fierce mysterious thunder light, imbued with majestic heavenly might, caused all divine abilities to change expression simultaneously. Helian Wujiang and his nephew, who wielded malevolent wind, turned pale with alarm and hastily retreated. Meanwhile, Sima Yuanli, engaged in a fierce struggle with Bashan at the edge of the battlefield, had no time to dodge. Both were sent flying backward, spitting blood!

The might of a single drumbeat was truly immense!

Li Zhouwei, possessing Cha You, reacted with extreme speed, having already avoided the thunder's core damage. Though shaken down in mid-air, he was surrounded by silver light and expelled a burst of thunder.

The gleaming golden light indeed surged forth, trapping him in place!

A young man, wearing a tall crown and dressed in a black cloud robe with mysterious patterns, appeared beside him. With red lips, white teeth, and a cold expression,

Qi Lanyan!

The young man's figure was agile and swift. He held a plain, antique-colored spell sword, about four feet long, in one hand. A red ribbon was tied to its hilt, fluttering in the thunder light, and an obscure incantation condensed into a swirling mass around it.

"I invoke the upright nature and dedicated position, drawing upon water and fire, through gold."

From the spell sword, water and fire dripped, and pure metal swept forth. A pinpoint of brilliant light, hard as gold, fell precisely and shot towards Li Zhouwei's brow!

Before the light arrived, a stinging sensation of danger radiated. Li Zhouwei's pupils turned entirely golden as he suddenly met Qi Lanyan's eyes.

Both gazes were utterly calm.

‘There's nothing left but to fight!'

His dark robe suddenly blazed with light, revealing an elegant yet majestic armor. All its golden patterns flashed in unison:

Primal Transformation!

The light of the Yang Pole suddenly appeared, and the instant it flashed upon his armor, the Chongyang Xiaxing at Li Zhouwei's brow also brightened. Mutually empowered, he instantly broke through the golden light restraint within his body and abruptly vanished!

Qi Lanyan, however, remained unperturbed. With a slight tremor of his other hand, the mysterious drum was struck.

This strike was not as loud as the previous one, but it condensed into a visible streak of thunder light that rapidly pursued. The moment Li Zhouwei reappeared not far away, the thunder light arrived in quick succession, intending to pin him down once more!

‘What a formidable spiritual treasure!'

Li Zhouwei seized a moment to breathe. His eyes suddenly blazed as raging dark flames surged forth. That heavenly gate materialized out of thin air, descending from above, meeting the thunder light and smashing towards Qi Lanyan!

"Boom!"

Silver-white thunder instantly exploded. Qi Lanyan's footwork became mysteriously erratic, clearly indicating his preparedness. With a flick of his sleeve, he revealed a white porcelain piece, from which Xi Qi surged forth, shining towards the heavenly gate.

He coldly brandished his spell sword, lightly lifting it in the air. Just as he was about to chant a spell, a gust of autumn wind swept over his face, and crystalline objects seemed to continuously dart past his eyes.

Qi Lanyan's expression subtly changed.

"Drip."

A single drop of autumn dew slipped from thin air, landing squarely on the sword's spine and sending a wave of chill outwards.

The successor of the Guanhuatianlou Dao felt a jolt in his heart. Silently clasping the jade talisman in his sleeve, he slowly raised his head, discovering that black clouds filled the heavens and earth. Not far away, in the darkness, was a streak of autumn-white light.

It was sword light.

Behind the sword light were a pair of bright white, sword-like pupils—long, sharp eyes, cold and piercing, as if poised to strike him through.