Chapter 61:False Immortal Palmstrike
[False Immortal Palmstrike]: Generates a flawless illusion of a heavenly messenger tearing open the void and unleashing a devastating palm strike. The technique perfectly replicates the overwhelming aura and pressure of a True Immortal, making it nearly indistinguishable from a genuine immortal attack. To those who witness it, it feels as though the heavens themselves have descended to deliver judgment.
Standing in the bedroom, Lin Yuan kept his eyes focused on the translucent panel floating in his vision. He then slowly opened his full system panel.
[Millionfold Return System]
[Host:] Lin Yuan
[Wife:] Bai Qingyue
[Root Bone:] Supreme Heavenly Talent
[Comprehension:] 12500 (God-Tier Perception)
[Lifespan:] 20/1000 years
[Physique: Ancient Beast Body (Rank 1)]
[Realm:] Nascent Soul Realm (Early Stage)
[Divine Skills:] Death Gaze, Thunder Rain Dao Intent, Immortal Cloud Step, Thunder Step, Eye of Heavenly Retribution (Autonomous), False Immortal Palmstrike
The skill was perfectly listed. It was an illusion—it possessed no actual destructive energy that could flatten a mountain or vaporize a sea. But in the cultivation world, where spiritual pressure could dictate life and death, a flawless aura was still a weapon. He began contemplating the boundless possibilities this immortal spell could grant him. If an enemy believed they were facing a True Immortal, they wouldn’t even attempt to defend themselves; their Dao Hearts would simply shatter in absolute despair.
Lin Yuan exhaled a slow, and steady breath. He wanted to see this spell in action.
He stepped back from the bed, his demeanor shifting slightly. "Excuse me for just a moment, Qingyue," Lin Yuan requested softly. He leaned down and pressed a tender kiss against her forehead.
She smiled warmly, nodding her head. "I will be right here."
Lin Yuan straightened up and turned toward the doorway. "Bai Chen, follow me."
The young man, who was still in his state from his cousin zither melody, immediately snapped to attention. "Yes, Lord Lin!"
Lin Yuan led Bai Chen out of the bedroom, crossing the main hall and stepping out onto the wooden porch. The cool air of the outer city washed over them. Lin Yuan stood at the entrance of the door, his eyes darting across the sprawling horizon of the City. His gaze went outward until he saw a specific, towering mountain peak situated far beyond the city limits.
The mountain was truly far from his home. Between his courtyard and that distant peak lay dozens of winding trade routes, dense forests, and thousands of mortal settlements. There were plenty of roads that led to the mountain, intersecting and diverging in a chaotic web. Because of this sheer distance and the complexity, it would be fundamentally impossible for anyone to trace the origin of an event occurring above that peak back to this specific home.
It was the perfect target. He wanted to test out the spell.
If this spell truly generated an aura akin to a true immortal attack, then every cultivator within a thousand miles would feel its weight.
"Watch closely, Bai Chen," Lin Yuan murmured. He wanted Bai Chen to witness the spell’s manifestation firsthand, to observe his reaction and, through it, gauge just how extraordinary the technique truly was.
With a single thought, Lin Yuan activated the False Immortal Palmstrike.
High above the distant mountain peak, the very fabric of reality violently ruptured. The sky split apart, revealing a colossal, blinding rift that stretched across it. A deafening, world-shaking roar erupted from within, like the grinding of ancient celestial gears mingled with the mournful cries of ten thousand dragons. The sound reverberated across the mountains, shaking the very earth beneath it.
From within the terrifying depths of the torn void, a massive, brilliant golden head slowly emerged. Its eyes remained closed, while its features were obscured beneath a blinding radiance that made it impossible to discern its true appearance. Yet its sheer, unfathomable size was enough to blot out the stars, casting the surrounding heavens into shadow.
Then, the aura exploded outward.
The spiritual pressure was so heavenly and profoundly saturated with the primordial laws of the Upper World that the mortal plane itself seemed to reject its presence. It was an aura imbued with such immense spiritual weight that only those possessing a cultivation base could perceive and be affected by it. Inside the house, Bai Qingyue, whose meridians were completely sealed and whose cultivation had long been destroyed, remained entirely unaffected. To her, nothing had happened at all. She merely thought the wind had suddenly picked up outside.
But out on the porch, Bai Chen immediately crashed to the floor.
Blargh!
The young Qi Condensation man vomited a massive pool of blood onto the floor. His eyes rolled back in his head, his internal organs instantly rupturing under the sheer weight of a True Immortal’s presence. He was dying in a matter of milliseconds, his fragile soul cracking like thin glass under the foot of a giant.
Seeing this, Lin Yuan’s expression changed drastically. He immediately cast a rapid series of hand seals, projecting his Nascent Soul domain outward to forcefully envelop Bai Chen. He shared his spiritual defense with the boy, shielding Bai Chen’s crumbling consciousness from the immortal aura so he wouldn’t collapse completely or have his soul damaged.
But even with his Nascent Soul foundation and his Ancient Beast Body, Lin Yuan was not spared.
The moment he extended his aura, the immortal pressure slammed into him.
Thud.
Lin Yuan went directly to his knees. The porch groaned under his sudden weight. A hot, metallic taste filled his mouth, and a thick trail of blood began dripping from the corner of his lips.
Then, from the rift, the Palm descended.
It felt as though Heaven itself had torn free from the firmament and was descending upon the earth, carrying with it the absolute might of a Heavenly Tribulation. If the heavens were an anvil, then this descending golden palm was the hammer. Its weight was heavier than the accumulated karma of a million lifetimes, an endless ocean of destruction condensed into a single palm, preparing to crash down upon a lone grain of sand.
The sheer scale of its power defied all reason. Beneath that colossal palm, the towering mountain appeared no more significant than a fragile blade of grass awaiting the foot of a giant. The very space surrounding it trembled under the palm’s descent, as though the world itself understood that it was powerless to withstand what was coming.
Lin Yuan’s pupils contracted. The killing intent radiating from the descending palm was so pure and devastatingly absolute that it bypassed rational thought altogether. It was not merely fear. It was a terror that seeped directly into his body and soul, making every instinct within him scream in warning.
The aura was so terrifyingly authentic that any cultivator without an exceptionally firm and unyielding Dao Heart would instantly lose themselves beneath its pressure. Their minds would collapse under the overwhelming sense of impending death, driving them into madness or even forcing them to take their own lives in a desperate attempt to escape the judgment descending from the heavens.
Lin Yuan gritted his teeth. The aura was far too invasive. An insidious sense of insignificance began to seep into the depths of his Dao Heart, slowly eroding his will and making him feel as though his existence was nothing more than an insignificant speck beneath the heavens.
During this time, Lin Yuan found himself wavering.
The illusion was so overwhelmingly that even he was beginning to believe it was real.
To be absolutely cautious, knowing that prolonged exposure might permanently warp his Dao Heart, Lin Yuan immediately severed the spell. He turned it off before the palm could even descend halfway toward the mountain peak.
Instantly, the rift snapped shut. The golden head and the devastating palm vanished like a popped bubble. The immortal aura evaporated from the world, leaving behind a deafening, ringing silence.
But the damage to the region’s psyche was already done.
Within the surrounding area, encompassing the entirety of Azure Cloud City and the vast sects nestled in the distant valleys, utter pandemonium erupted.
Thousands of miles away, deep within a secluded underground cavern, an old mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator who had been in closed-door seclusion for three centuries suddenly jolted awake. A violent tremor ran through his body, and he immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood.
His aged face was drained of color as he stared toward the ceiling of his cavern, his body trembling uncontrollably.
For a moment, his mind went completely blank.
Then, an overwhelming sense of dread surged through his soul.
"Has... Heaven finally come for me?"
The old ancestor’s voice trembled with terror. He had forcefully defied the natural limits of his lifespan for centuries, relying on secret techniques and pills to prolong his existence. Now, faced with this terrifying aura, he instinctively believed that the Heavenly Dao had finally noticed his transgression and descended to erase him from existence.
In the Inner City, the Core Formation experts of the other two great clans suddenly plummeted from the sky like birds struck down by an invisible arrow. Their bodies crashed violently into their respective pavilions, sending debris and dust billowing into the air.
Crack!
The terrifying pressure caused their Golden Cores to tremble violently, audible fractures spreading across their surfaces beneath the overwhelming force.
The cultivators scrambled to their feet, their faces pale and their minds completely shaken. The immortal killing intent had pierced straight through their defenses, leaving them unable to think clearly, let alone resist.
As for those at the lower realms? The Foundation Establishment and the Qi Condensation disciples scattered throughout the city were plunged so deep into the abyss of death that they could not even scream. Thousands of them simply fainted, pissing themselves as their bodies instinctively shut down to protect their fragile minds from the pressure. For one agonizing moment, every single cultivator in the region was forced to look directly into the eyes of their own absolute mortality.
On the porch, Lin Yuan slowly wiped the blood from his lips, his chest heaving as he stared at the distant mountain peak. He helped the gasping Bai Chen sit up.
Lin Yuan’s eyes flickered with a profound realization regarding the true value of the spell.
"Even if this spell has no true attack in it," Lin Yuan said, his voice trembling with awe, "the overwhelming aura will cause any cultivator, even a Soul Transformation monster, to flee..."
He stood up, his Daoist robes catching the wind. "...Who would dare stand before the palm strike of a True Immortal?!"