Chapter 476: Effective, But Useless
Yan Shaoxuan stood silently at the foot of the yellow earth slope. A strand of hair broke off from her forehead and drifted past her eyes.
"Zhong Wuwang and Yang Bi weren't wrong. Chen Shi is indeed arrogant and overconfident, thinking he's the best in the world and that no one else can compare to him. So, I have a chance."
Chen Shi walked down the yellow earth slope and came before her.
Scholar Zhu, Jue Yangzi, Daoist Willow, and the others each showed expressions of surprise. They all looked at Yan Shaoxuan. Scholar Zhu asked doubtfully, "Does this girl not know that everyone here could easily kill her?"
There were simply too many experts gathered near the yellow earth slope.
Besides them, there were also Chen Yindu, Creation Little Five, Little Duan Immortal, Blue Goat, Du Yiran, Xuan Shan, the Qianyang Mountain Lord, Chen Tang, and so on. This force was enough to rival any of the great clans!
Yan Shaoxuan was only in the Unity realm, not yet having cultivated to the Spirit Refining realm. Rashly coming here to kill Chen Shi was, in their eyes, clearly seeking death.
"This girl must have lost her mind," Jue Yangzi said, shaking his head.
Chen Shi looked at Yan Shaoxuan and smiled. "Since Shaoxuan has already escaped, why come back? I've already eliminated the main force of the Yan family. My next step is to annex Liuzhou Province while guarding against counterattacks from the other great clans. I won't deploy more forces to hunt down those of your Yan family who escaped. If you go into hiding and change your name, you can survive this tribulation."
Yan Shaoxuan's face was solemn. "Between you and me, there is a deep, irreconcilable hatred. It is only natural for me to come and kill you. Why say more?"
Chen Shi felt a surge of respect for her. "Well said. It is only right for Shaoxuan to seek revenge for the Yan family. However, Shaoxuan, I have always been ruthless and merciless. I won't hold back. You must be careful. You just said that Zhong Er Niu taught you twelve divine abilities, and Yang Bi added two more. How did you meet them?"
Yan Shaoxuan briefly recounted how she passed through Lingzhou and encountered Zhong Wuwang's former residence, where Zhong Wuwang passed down his teachings; then, passing through Tianyu County, she happened upon Yang Bi, who supplemented the techniques.
Chen Shi looked up at the sky around him and smiled. "Zhong Wuwang is nearby. The techniques he taught you probably hid two moves. He deliberately sent you here to die, to see if I could crack them when faced with your attack."
Yan Shaoxuan was startled and looked around, but saw only white clouds drifting leisurely under a quiet blue sky, unable to discern where Zhong Wuwang was hiding.
"As for Yang Bi, he wants to compete with me and with Zhong Wuwang. He's proud and aloof, thinking he's not inferior to either of us, so he's taking the chance to make a comparison."
Chen Shi withdrew his gaze and said, "Shaoxuan, you may make your move now."
Without hesitation, Yan Shaoxuan immediately executed the move Blazing Star Offends the Southern Dipper. But just as she started the technique, she froze on the spot.
Chen Shi saw that her technique was already formed and her spell had taken shape, yet she was delaying her attack. He was surprised, then suddenly understood, and smiled. "It's my fault. When facing you, I indeed don't need to deploy my Dao field. But if I were facing Zhong Er Niu or Yang Bi, I'd need to activate my Dao field immediately, lest I be killed in a single blow."
He released his demonic Dao field.
Yan Shaoxuan was about to strike, but then she froze again.
Seeing this, Chen Shi understood the implication and smiled. "Er Niu didn't crack my demonic Dao field? Right, then it must be the Blood Sea Hell!"
He gripped the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade, activated the Blood Lake Sutra, and spread out the Blood Sea Hell.
Yan Shaoxuan's face turned pale.
"Still not right."
Seeing her expression, Chen Shi knew he was wrong again. He immediately activated his Yin-Yang Dao field and smiled. "It's correct now, isn't it?"
Far away, on the Blue Phoenix carriage, Zhong Wuwang watched this scene, his expression darkening.
He had indeed started his plan to crack Chen Shi's Dao techniques from the Yin-Yang Dao field. When Chen Shi had single-handedly stormed the Yan family and killed many of their experts, he had watched from afar, knowing that Chen Shi had another Dao field hidden within the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade.
He had formulated a plan to break both these Dao fields. But what he never expected was that Chen Shi actually had a third Dao field!
"Good thing I let Yan Shaoxuan probe him. If I had rashly clashed with Chen Shi, I might have suffered from his third Dao field," he thought to himself.
Now that he knew about Chen Shi's third Dao field, he had one more layer of defense.
Yan Shaoxuan finally struck!
The move Blazing Star Offends the Southern Dipper invaded Chen Shi's Dao field. Using the sudden arrival of a calamitous star, it disrupted the starry sky balance within Chen Shi's Dao field.
The Blazing Star was just a single star, but its entry into Chen Shi's Dao field's starry sky disrupted the movement of all the stars.
Chen Shi's Dao field's starry sky was visualized from star charts, sensing the starry sky beyond the heavens. It formed part of the small world within his Dao field.
The Blazing Star of Calamity, however, was the Blazing Star of the Divine Continent of China. Cracking Chen Shi's starry sky was indeed feasible!
Chen Shi immediately sensed his weakness. If Zhong Wuwang or Yang Bi had executed this move, they could have put him in a disadvantageous position with this single strike!
Before he could defend, Yan Shaoxuan had already executed the second move, Guardian Star Enters the End Gate. Her movements were swift and fluid. She stepped into the central palace, her palms turning over like hundreds or thousands of arms, disrupting the starry sky. While Chen Shi's starry sky was in chaos, she leaped up, activated her divine ability, transformed into a Celestial Dog, and devoured the sun and moon.
Chen Shi's aura became disordered. The circulation of Yin and Yang energy malfunctioned. He looked up to see Yan Shaoxuan surrounded by swirling sword energy. Thick, massive sword qi pierced into the earth of his Dao field, cutting off water veins. Floods erupted across the land.
Chen Shi's aura grew even more chaotic. The cultivation he could mobilize was reduced by nearly half.
Yan Shaoxuan pressed her advantage. The fifth move, Venus Shifts the Northern Dipper. The sixth move, Buzhou Mountain, Heaven and Earth Tilt. The seventh move, Darkness Shines on All Lands. She executed them all in one breath, causing great chaos in Chen Shi's Dao field's celestial phenomena. Heaven tilted, earth slanted, and the Dao field plunged into darkness.
The next move was Darkness Veils the Eyes. Taking advantage of the night, she went for Chen Shi's eyes, her fingers stabbing toward his eyelids.
Joy surged in her heart, but then she felt her fingers bounce off Chen Shi's eyelids.
Her heart sank. She knew that her cultivation was far inferior to Chen Shi's. Even if her techniques gained the upper hand, she couldn't hurt him. So she simply unleashed all the remaining moves.
Starting from the tenth move, Chen Shi was hit repeatedly!
Yan Shaoxuan drew on the power of the stars and the river of stars within his Dao field. Her cultivation surged. She struck him repeatedly with hand seals at the Heavenly Aperture, Yintang, throat, heart, Renzhong, Guanyuan, Qihai, and tailbone. But hitting Chen Shi was like striking dry leather—it made a thumping sound but had no lethal effect.
Yan Shaoxuan shattered the mountains and rivers within Chen Shi's Dao field. Borrowing the power of the land's fragmentation, she attacked wildly. Then she "severely injured" Chen Shi's Primordial Spirit.
A mournful wind blew through Chen Shi's Dao field, which became desolate and withered. By the time Yan Shaoxuan executed her final move, the sun rose in the east. Spells, swordsmanship, and divine abilities merged into one, engulfing Chen Shi.
Yan Shaoxuan had exhausted all fourteen moves. Chen Shi was still standing there, his clothes tattered, but he was unharmed.
All her moves had landed on him. These techniques exploited Chen Shi's weaknesses and could even use his cultivation to boost her own attacks. But the gap between her and Chen Shi was simply too vast, so these exquisite methods only left various tears on his clothes.
"Why won't you die? Why won't you die?"
Yan Shaoxuan pounded Chen Shi's chest furiously, venting her rage like a madwoman.
Chen Shi raised a finger and lightly tapped her head. Yan Shaoxuan was sent flying backward involuntarily, landing flat more than ten zhang away.
His expression turned somewhat grave. He looked down at the "wounds" on his clothes.
"Zhong Er Niu and Yang Bi are indeed formidable."
On the yellow earth slope, Scholar Zhu, Jue Yangzi, and the others also wore grave expressions.
Scholar Zhu murmured, "Fortunately, it was the Yan family girl who made the move this time. If it had been an expert like Zhong Wuwang, Little Ten might have been seriously injured or even dead."
Jue Yangzi shook his head. "He would be dead."
He hesitated for a moment, then added, "If the True King had switched to a different Dao field, then these fourteen ultimate killing moves would have been useless."
Daoist Willow also praised, "The two who figured out how to break Brother Chen's Yin-Yang Dao field are both geniuses!"
Far away on the Blue Phoenix carriage, Zhong Wuwang's face was ashen.
He hadn't taught the last two moves to Yan Shaoxuan. He knew Yan Shaoxuan couldn't kill Chen Shi, so he wanted to use her hand to see if the weaknesses he had deduced were feasible.
The remaining two moves were the real trump cards. Especially the final one—it could take Chen Shi's life.
But what he didn't expect was that Yan Shaoxuan actually executed those two moves in front of Chen Shi!
"Yan Shaoxuan certainly doesn't have that ability. So who helped her deduce those two moves?"
Zhong Wuwang pondered briefly, then thought of the person who had used the Upper Realm as a chessboard to play against him, forcing him to reveal himself.
That previous confrontation had seemed like a clash between the Upper Realm and Despair Slope, but it was actually a contest between him and Yang Bi.
He hadn't been able to find the Upper Realm, but Yang Bi had successfully forced him out, defeating him once.
"But I later used that opportunity to find the Upper Realm's roots. So it was a draw. After the Upper Realm fell, I thought you had already died. I didn't expect you to have survived."
Zhong Wuwang's eyes flickered. There was a joy in finding a worthy opponent.
Just then, he felt a gaze upon him. Alarmed, he turned to look and saw Creation Little Five, dressed in a light pink Xiucai Daoist robe, lying by a cloud edge, making funny faces at Fang Zhenxiu, who was beside him.
Creation Little Five suddenly opened his mouth. His mouth was bigger than his head, and he pointed into it.
Fang Zhenxiu was entranced. He was about to step down from the carriage and walk into Creation Little Five's mouth on his own.
Without hesitation, Zhong Wuwang grabbed Fang Zhenxiu, activated the Blue Phoenix carriage. The blue phoenix spread its wings, and the carriage broke through the air and sped away.
Creation Little Five burst out laughing, running wildly through the sky at lightning speed, chasing after the Blue Phoenix carriage.
"Boom!"
The carriage exploded. Zhong Wuwang charged out of the shattered carriage, dragging Fang Zhenxiu. With one hand, he exchanged a blow with Creation Little Five. He became even faster, transforming into a rainbow of light and fleeing into the distance.
Chen Yindu, Scholar Zhu, Jue Yangzi, Little Duan Immortal, and Chen Shi's four main disciples all soared into the air, chasing after Zhong Wuwang.
From a distance, Chen Yindu reached out and drew a line, cutting off the rainbow light.
Zhong Wuwang tumbled out of the rainbow. He immediately activated the Innate Dao Embryo. The Dao Embryo merged with his Primordial Spirit, becoming like a Celestial True God. He struck out with a palm. Everyone raised their defenses, only to feel their qi and blood churning uncontrollably. When they looked up again, Zhong Wuwang had already taken Fang Zhenxiu far away.
Chen Shi transmitted his voice. "Everyone, no need to chase. Guarding the Empress Temple is the priority. As for my Innate Dao Embryo, I will personally retrieve it."
Everyone stopped.
"Yan Shaoxuan has fled!"
Chen Tang looked around but couldn't find Yan Shaoxuan. "I'll go after her!"
Chen Shi shook his head. "No need to chase. She took one of my fingers. Her life force has already been severed."
His gaze turned toward the direction in which Zhong Wuwang had fled. He thought silently to himself, "His cultivation is even stronger now. No, it should be the Innate Dao Embryo's cultivation that's stronger!"
Far away, Yan Shaoxuan fled with all her might. When she reached the sky above the Dejiang River, a thunderclap suddenly seemed to ring out in her mind, scattering her Primordial Spirit.
Her body went limp. She fell from the sky, plunged into the river, and drifted away with the current.