Transcending the Nine Heavens

Xiao Se retreated a step, indignant as he retorted, “What sort of opinion would I have! I just thought that it was a shame!”

His countenance actually harbored a hint of false bravado.

If he suffered the same thing in the hands of this woman, then... he might as well go and die.

A sneering Zi Xieqing replied, “A hero who speaks up in the name of justice indeed!”

Xiao Se flushed crimson red.

Right at this moment, the Dharma Supreme’s voice rang out. “However, no matter how powerful one’s cultivation may be, it doesn’t mean that they’re omnipotent!”

Zi Xieqing was indifferent. “Oh?”

In a cold and emotionless voice, the Dharma Supreme said, “Activate the array! It officially commences this instant — Slaying of the Tao!”

Under his command, Zhuge Hutu activated the great array right away!

Immediately, the skies turned dark and gloomy, chilly gusts of wind blowing sinisterly as the sky canopy that had just been ripped open by Zi Xieqing fused back together! This time, it was truly pitch black.

Ye Di and the others retreated in an orderly manner and faded into the dark.

Wu Juecheng drifted over and occupied the eye of the array. With a slight smile, he said, “Woman, are you from the Black Blood Forest?”

Sporting a similarly distant smile, Zi Xieqing replied, “Even your ancestor Chen Feng wouldn’t dare to address me as ‘woman’; Wu Juecheng, how audacious of you.”

With a soft laugh, Wu Juecheng said, “One on one, I may not be your match. But now... it wouldn’t be so easy even if you want to get out of this array! Why wouldn’t I dare to?”

Zi Xieqing started to laugh coldly.

This moment, tremors could be felt from the sky. A seated Bu Liuqing slowly rose to his feet, his cultivation fully recovered.

Zi Xieqing raised her head and glanced over. Then, with a wry smile, she said, “Brother Bu, looks like you can’t leave just yet. The array has blocked out even Heavenly Secrets!”

“Even if I can, I won’t!” Bu Liuqing spoke dispassionately, “Old Ning hasn’t recovered from his grave injuries yet, how can I bring myself to leave?”

When he was sinking the heavens and breaking through the void earlier, his divine sense at that moment was incredibly keen, allowing him to sense that Ning Tianya was still alive. This set his mind at ease tremendously.

“You can leave with peace of mind after today. I advise you to ascend early if possible,” Zi Xieqing continued, “A lot of people will be ascending in the future too. If you go up first, you can explore and seek a path first...”

Bu Liuqing sank into deep thought.

The malevolent aura in the array was getting increasingly stronger at this point. A heavy and oppressive pressure, as if connected with the universe, came crushing down on them.

Zi Xieqing, as if completely unaware, allowed them to catalyze the power of the array to its greatest. She said to Bu Liuqing, “When the battle begins later, you only need to take care of Feng and Yue. Leave the rest to me.”

“Be careful,” said Bu Liuqing somberly, “This is no simple array.”

Zi Xieqing replied calmly, “If I wasn’t sure, how would I have allowed them to set up the array?”

“Haha!” Bu Liuqing chortled. He said, “But since you’ve come, the other side is now weakened. Once they meet danger, we probably won’t get to them in time.”

Zi Xieqing was silent for a while before she said, “We can’t be there to protect them forever after all. Even if we can, we mustn’t; they eventually have to walk their own path. That is why I advised you to leave right after this. I foresee casualties this time... though it will not be a complete wipe-out. The occasional casualty... is also a lesson to them. Should there not be any... that would of course be for the best.”

Bu Liuqing heaved a sigh, lost in silence for a while before he finally said, “Alright!”

Then, he went on, “Once we leave, with Old Ning gravely injured and Moon Breeze, in their current state, requiring at least a year of rest and recuperation, they would be left without any powerful backing for a year!”

“And that is why they will grow!” Zi Xieqing responded.

Bu Liuqing frowned. “But the other side...”

“They won’t have any backing anymore either after this battle!” Murderous intent flared in Zi Xieqing’s eyes and she kicked Shi Jing and Chen Mengchi away with a loud bam. With a resounding thud, they were flung against the rocks. Both of them were thoroughly mashed in the fall, their flesh and parts intermingled with each other.

There wasn’t even time for them to cry out before they died a violent death!

It was also at this point where the wind suddenly began to blow violently, howling as if an endless horde of ghosts was crying out as one.

A voice rang out. “Great Nebula Divide of Heavenly Secrets Array! Slaying of the Tao!”

The next moment, Wu Juecheng bellowed, “Kill!”

In the shadows, flecks of starlight suddenly lit up, darting about quickly! They seemed to be moving according to a peculiar orbit and rhythm.

Not a single human figure could be seen yet one could sense numerous shadows moving around, and definitely not a small number.

A savage and violent air current came crashing toward them.

The strength of the gale caused the blood to drain from Bu Liuqing’s face. The might of this gust of wind was easily five times the joint strength of Ning Tianya and himself!

With a flourish of her arm, Zi Xieqing channeled a wisp of divine consciousness into Bu Liuqing. She instructed, “Protect them, and do not move under any circumstances!”

After she spoke, she spun around and shot toward the gale, her slender form as though forming a white arrow flying straight ahead. She catapulted toward the tempestuous current, using her body to punch a hole in this insane gale through sheer brute force! And flew swift and fierce through it!

Bu Liuqing at the back was struck dumb.

What the f*ck! Is this even possible?!

Only till now did Zi Xieqing really display her true power! Her true power was way beyond what the Dharma Supreme and Wu Juecheng had expected! And higher than Chu Yang’s surmise as well!

In particular, Zi Xieqing, whose Tao state had reached an exceptional level after receiving so much Primordial Violet Vapor from Chu Yang, was at least double her original strength!

Zi Xieqing had already agreed to this final battle before her Tao state had reached such a level!

Now, after her Tao state had improved, how would it be?

As expected, it was the fifty Supreme Martial Artists of the Ling Clan who had blasted out this palm strike from the back where the starlight twinkled in the shadows. Through the capability of the Great Nebula Divide of Heavenly Secrets Array, they fused the power of fifty Supreme Martial Artists into one! Compared to an individual’s power, such a combined palm strike wasn’t just a few hundred times stronger!

Moreover, there was an additional power boost from the array. Everyone was chock-full of confidence — Although this was just a trial attack, Zi Xieqing would definitely be extremely flustered, perhaps even suffer injuries there and then!

But what happened was something that no one had expected — As an odd sound reached their ears, Zi Xieqing suddenly appeared before them all and hit a palm strike right at them with a flourish of her arm!

And the area where she stood was surprisingly within the strike zone of the palm strike they had dealt!

Ling Fengyun’s expression changed drastically. He bellowed, “Retreat! Disperse!”

Her standing right there meant that the dense wind impact of the palm strike was useless on her! Under such circumstances, they needed to come up with an alternate strategy.

However, though his shout was timely, it was still too late after all!

Since Zi Xieqing had decided to strike and came brimming with murderous intent, how could she allow them to escape?

She hit a palm strike, her fair palm multiplying into hundreds and thousands, as though a towering mountain made out of pure white lotuses, and came crashing down on them!

The Supreme Martial Artists of the Ling Clan had only just dealt their palm strike and were awaiting the results at that point. They didn’t expect disaster to befall them! Her palm, as though she were smacking mosquitoes, landed with a deafening boom. More than thirty Supreme Martial Artists were flattened into a mess of flesh and pulp in one strike!

A numb and tingly feeling spread all over Ling Fengyun’s scalp. Bringing his men with him, he flipped and retreated behind. Under the cover of the array, they turned into starlight and faded away.

Snorting lightly, Zi Xieqing sprung into the air and chased after them. She hit out two palm strikes in succession but they didn’t hit anything.

Both strikes landed on the mountainous rocks of Mount Xingyun, and two tiny handprints were indented into its solid and sturdy rock!

Everyone in the shadows gasped in horror!

Even someone like Bu Liuqing couldn’t even nudge a stone. Yet Zi Xieqing directly blasted two pits that were three feet deep?!

“Rip the sky!” The Dharma Supreme commanded.

Zhuge Hutu let out a long howl, which was followed by similar corresponding howls from eight different directions around them. Starlight twinkled and thirty people came over to the Ling Clan to supplement them.

The Shi Clan, Chen Clan and Lan Clan had already lost their leaders, so the Dharma Supreme had sent high-level Supreme Martial Artists over as temporary commanders in charge.

Starlight shining upon him, Wu Juecheng stood at the highest point. Suddenly, he let out a long howl. In that instant, the surroundings shook vigorously from the impact!

“First star point!” Zhuge Hutu shouted.

From where the Ye Clan was, a ray of white light shot upward and breached a tiny hole in the dark night sky formed by the array. Following that, the starlight in the whole Great Nebula Array started to shake and vibrate rapidly, shooting here and there randomly before they finally converged as one where the tiny hole was. The next moment, a thin bolt of lightning shot downward with explosive force, its girth getting thicker as it descended. When it finally landed, it had reached the girth of a bucket!

It came crashing down right at Zi Xieqing!

Frowning, Zi Xieqing quickly ducked to the side, covering 300 feet in just that one movement. However, as though that bolt of lightning had eyes, it turned the corner and went after her again!

As if a malignant tumor that just wouldn’t go away, it was hot on her pursuit!

Zi Xieqing was astounded. This thing was certainly strange!

She dashed about in different directions intentionally, guiding the lightning bolt here and there to see if she could eventually wear down its intensity. However, even after 110 rounds, it was still hot on her heels! With no sign of waning at all...

Alarmed, she decided to simply come to a stop and stand still. With a flourish of her arm, she met it head-on with her palm!

With a deafening explosion, Zi Xieqing was thrown back violently. The lightning bolt, however, dissipated and reverted into starlight, disappearing.

Zi Xieqing released a long pent-up breath, her countenance finally turning grim. She thought of what Chu Yang had said —”Perhaps the power of humans cannot take your life. But in this universe, what can kill you is not merely the power of humans alone!”

Right now, Zi Xieqing was starting to agree with him.

At the very least, the bizarre lightning power from the attack earlier was more than ten times of the Ling Clan’s attack from before! In addition, the power had fused as one and didn’t scatter at all. It was even able to home in on and chase after its target, making it impossible to evade!

If they could launch such attacks without any limit, she might really just perish in here. However, what Zi Xieqing was even more confident in was — It’s impossible for them to be able to use it without any limit!

Because she would never believe that such an attack didn’t consume a tremendous amount of energy!

In the dark, a few muffled grunts could be heard.

At where the Ye Clan was, Ye Di’s face turned ghastly pale. Behind him, a ghostly figure drifted over; it was the Dharma Supreme. The first thing he asked was, “How’s the effect?”

“Three dead and six injured from the recoil!” Ye Di took in a long intake of air.

“The enemy doesn’t have it easy either! I heard a muffled grunt from her just now... while there are only three dead here!” The Dharma Supreme actually relaxed, knowing that three fatalities and six casualties had occurred in exchange for a grunt from the enemy. He went on, “How many more times can the Ye Clan use this attack?”