Hubalake spoke with utter courtesy, but his figure had already darted forward to seize the initiative!
Employing a technique swift as a whirlwind, he closed in behind Sevenfold Killing Monarch, his scimitar slashing toward the other's left leg.
Sevenfold Killing Monarch did not turn his sword to block, merely dodging slightly to the side to evade the blow.
Failing to hit his mark, Hubalake instantly shifted his tactic. With a flick of his intent, the scimitar in his right hand abruptly transformed into a gleaming cyan claw that tightly encased his arm. Accompanied by a piercing chill and the howling of a gale, with a series of sharp, whistling reports, the claw lashed out in an indiscriminate fury toward Sevenfold Killing Monarch's face, chest, lower body, and limbs!
Sevenfold Killing Monarch's right arm curved and whipped upward sharply. The towering, cyan-blue giant sword he wielded—taller than a man and a foot wide across the blade—seemed completely weightless as it fluttered lightly with the motion of his wrist, deflecting the enemy's massive claw away from his upper, middle, and lower paths respectively.
Sevenfold Killing Monarch's giant sword was named Invincible. It was a treasured blade passed down through generations of the Xie family ancestors, forged, so it was said, from the spine of an ancient Azure Dragon combined with the vital essence of heaven and earth. Past ancestors of the Xie family had served as the prime ministers of Qixian State, excelling in both civil and martial arts. When they ascended together with successive monarchs, they purposely left this sword behind, serving only as civil officials in the Upper Heavenly Realm, which allowed the blade to be handed down through the generations.
The cyan claw struck the cyan blade, bursting forth with golden sparks. Accompanied by the teeth-grinding screech of clashing metal, the temperature in the air grew colder and colder.
The sky, calm for barely a moment, was once again blanketed by dense clouds and rolling thunder. Soon, fierce gales and torrential rain arrived simultaneously; the earth trembled, and demons wreaked havoc!
As the heavy rain fell upon the peak of Daxian Mountain, it was infected by the externalized auras of the two powerful Primordial Spirits on the mountain, swirling and condensing into frost blossoms filling the sky.
Having launched dozens of lightning-fast close-quarters attacks without gaining the slightest advantage, Hubalake's figure flickered as he leaped backward by a zhang. Raising both hands, he unleashed a dozen objects shaped like inverted golden plates from his wide sleeves. From these plates tumbled a chaotic heap of dark brown poisonous snakes, which hissed as their forked tongues flickered and instantly grew in size the moment they touched the ground.
In the blink of an eye, venomous serpents and skeleton warriors blanketed the mountainside once more, swarming forward like a tidal wave. Wherever they passed, the vital energy of flowers, grass, and trees was thoroughly devoured, instantly withering into ash.
Sevenfold Killing Monarch let out a heavy, cold snort from his nose. "Golden plate poison Gu," he proclaimed, "mere sorcery of the demonic gate, and you dare act so insolent!"
The arts of witchcraft and Gu have been passed down across various lands since ancient times, numbering roughly eleven types: snake Gu, golden silkworm Gu, bamboo-strip Gu, stone Gu, loach Gu, harm-bringing spirit, aphid Gu, swelling Gu, epilepsy Gu, hidden snake Gu, and live snake Gu. The golden plate poison Gu, however, was a terrifying Gu art that had suddenly emerged in recent years. It was said that a certain unscrupulous mighty figure had discovered a Gu vessel called the Profound Iron Golden Plate, refined from meteorites flying from beyond the heavens. Used as a vessel for snake Gu, the resulting creatures feared neither water nor fire, and their venom was the most ferocious of all!
The corner of Sevenfold Killing Monarch's mouth curled up slightly as he unhurriedly sat cross-legged, slowly channeling his Primordial Spirit into the blade of the giant sword Invincible.
A moment later, a low reprimand escaped his lips. As he pushed his palms straight out, Invincible soared into the sky, radiating layer upon layer of dazzling cyan light. Expanding ever larger, the entire sword finally transformed into an Azure Dragon that soared straight up into the clouds.
The Azure Dragon's eyes were like bolts of lightning, and the scales on its body gleamed brilliantly. Lifting its neck, it let out a roar toward the heavens that caused the beasts of the mountains to drop to their knees and the demons to tremble as if facing a severe trial!
Hovering half-suspended in the air, it gathered breath within its belly and opened its jaws to spew a torrent of profound white, glittering chaotic fire. Wherever the fire reached, ghosts wept and wolves howled, instantly turning the ground below into a sea of flames. Those fire-and-water-defying Gu insects, skeletons, demons, and ghosts, upon touching even a speck of it, began to boil from within, instantly turning to flying ash!
Fire is the origin of all things growing, yet it is divided into many categories. Among the most formidable are ten types with varying powers: Samadhi True Fire, Southern Ming Departing Fire, Sun True Fire, Six-Ding Divine Fire, Supreme Yin True Fire, Ziwei True Fire, Nine Heavens Mysterious Fire, Red Lotus Karmic Fire, Nirvana Fire, and Nether Ghost Fire.
Yet when these ten supreme flames encountered the chaotic fire, every last one of them had to tuck in its tail and behave!
This was because the chaotic fire is the ancestor of all fires, the fire of creation and destruction among all things in the universe, formed by condensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Majestic and awe-inspiring, the Azure Dragon swept away swathes of enemies with the flames from its mouth. From the peak to the foot of the mountain, it burned those demons and ghosts until they pissed their pants and scampered in all directions. In the blink of an eye, Daxian Mountain was transformed into a roasting purgatory on earth for demons and monsters, their varied screams blending into a continuous chorus!
The cultivators hiding within the nation-protecting magic array watched from afar, their hearts surging with emotion. They clapped in delight, one after another wielding their swords to fly outward, unleashing a succession of talismans and Daoist arts that plunged the enemy camp back into wailing and lamentation!
The tide of battle showed signs of turning!
Joy blossomed on Dai Qianfan's face, a trace of color seeming to return to his pale complexion, which, set against the glow of the fire, appeared mesmerizingly alluring!
Hubalake gnashed his back teeth in fury. Flames seemed to burn within the pupils of his eyes, and his expression shifted bizarrely as if he were hardening his heart to perform some momentous deed! With a final grit of his teeth, he leaped forward, his feet landing atop a boulder. Before he had even steadied himself, he impatiently drove all his true essence into his palms.
A whirlwind erupted from his palms, sweeping upward to envelop the dozen golden plates suspended in mid-air. Pulled by his palm-force, the golden plates stacked one atop another like arhats.
Next, a strange thing happened. Influenced by the force, the Gu snakes ceased their random crawling. Instead, acting with a sense of purpose, they stacked themselves up like arhats one by one. Before long, the vague shape of a colossal beast stood proudly and abruptly between heaven and earth. Its entire body was pitch black, resembling a rhinoceros or a wild buffalo. A massive, crescent-moon-like horn stood proudly atop its head, its eyes flashed with fierce light like twin bolts of lightning, and its four limbs pressed against the ground as its body continually swelled and expanded like an inflating balloon!
Dai Qianfan and Sevenfold Killing Monarch turned pale with shock, crying out in unison: "Dharmakaya Manifestation! This madman is actually using Dharmakaya Manifestation to drive the Gu insects!"
Dharmakaya Manifestation involved condensing one's magic power and Primordial Spirit to forge an avatar. It was a divine ability that consumed an immense amount of magical energy, but its power was utterly irresistible.
Enraged at this moment, Hubalake had forsaken several eons' worth of magic power to cast this mystical technique.
It was said that the primordial creator god Pangu of ancient times had cleaved heaven and earth apart using a supreme realm of Dharmakaya Manifestation.
Yet once this technique was unleashed, because its avatar was so gargantuan, a casual step could plunge the living into misery and harm the innocent. Consequently, it had once been classified as a forbidden art by the immortal officials of the Upper Heavenly Realm, its manual guarded by heavy forces to strictly prevent leakage, to the extent that over hundreds of millions of years, it had nearly been lost to the world!
As a demonic cultivator, how could Hubalake have ascended to the heavenly realm to steal this manual?
Could some other secluded mighty figure have mastered this art and passed it on to him?
If so, that mighty figure would truly be terrifying beyond measure, and his tier was likely far too profound to be simply dubbed a "great demon lord"!
That colossal beast, now growing as massive as Mount Tai, raised its head and roared into the empty air, causing the earth to shake. Wobbling unsteadily, it lifted a left foot and brought it down stomping toward Dai Qianfan's position!
Without time for careful thought amidst the crisis, Sevenfold Killing Monarch immediately flew forward, swept Dai Qianfan up in his arms, and leaped backward a dozen or so zhang, narrowly dodging the giant beast's massive foot!
With a deafening "boom," a small hill crumbled and disintegrated instantly as if built of sand. A whole squad of majestic, armor-clad skeleton warriors atop that hill was instantly reduced to a pile of literal bones, shattered beyond recognition.
Clutched tightly in Sevenfold Killing Monarch's embrace, Dai Qianfan's face instantly flushed crimson. He urged anxiously, "Put me down! This is nothing, I can still handle it. You just focus on the fight!"
With those words, he groped into his bosom, fished out an embroidered brocade pouch depicting dragons and phoenixes, and nimbly shook out a thumb-sized Jade Gourd.
That gourd was crystal clear and jade-green, and under the continuous chanting of Dai Qianfan's incantations, it grew to the size of a small boat in an instant.
Dai Qianfan leaped forward lightly, sitting down steadily upon it. Before he even had time to catch his breath, the giant beast swept over with another kick.
Quietly reciting the incantation, Dai Qianfan sent the Jade Gourd soaring into the air, darting erratically east and west like a ghost as it circled the giant beast's flanks.
Provoked to the point of exasperation by its target, the giant beast lifted its front paws off the ground and thrashed wildly at its own body, looking thoroughly wretched!
Seeing that the timing was right, Dai Qianfan hurriedly searched all around for Sevenfold Killing Monarch, calling out for him to seize the opportunity and launch an attack.
Just as he was looking about in a daze, he suddenly heard a low chuckle from behind him, followed by the question, "What are you looking at? Trying to find me?"
Turning his head, he saw that Sevenfold Killing Monarch had squatted down behind him at some point, his knees folded, sticking to the Jade Gourd like maltose candy, looking thoroughly content!
Feeling a mixture of exasperation and delight, he snapped, "What time is it, and you're still smiling? Hurry up and get down!"
Sevenfold Killing Monarch arched an eyebrow. "What's the rush! This ugly thing is slaughtering its own kind, crushing countless skeletons with every step—how wonderful, it saves me the trouble of exerting extra energy! Besides, since the legendary Qiankun Ruyi Treasure Gourd has taken to the skies as a mount, you've got to let me ride it a bit longer to get my fix!"