Chapter 117: Fate-Fixing Bead, Time-Stealing Thief!

In theory, cultivators did not take a shit.

This was especially true for those who had refined magic power. Having long since shed their mortal shells, their bodies were pure and their spirits clear. Free of any impurities, they naturally had no need to excrete.

However, the effect of the Dharma Covenant was absolute. Because Wang Ping's command carried virtually no lethality, from the perspective of curse equivalence, its compulsion was actually much higher. Under its influence, Kongzhi's magical body uncontrollably sought a way to take a shit.

"Pfft!"

And it actually found one.

The act of taking a shit was nothing more than expelling bodily impurities. To put it bluntly, it targeted foreign objects—things completely incompatible with the body's normal functions.

Shit, Kongzhi had none.

But a foreign object? He certainly had one inside him. It was the secret treasure he used to conceal the heavenly secrets, evade destiny, and infiltrate the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

It was a string of prayer beads.

To be safe, Kongzhi had always kept it stored within his dantian, bound to his very flesh and blood to maximize its ability to obscure the heavenly secrets.

Yet now, his body began operating completely out of his control. One by one, he excreted the Fate-Fixing Bead that served as his lifeline. Almost instantly, as his heavenly secrets were exposed, dense and oppressive thunderclouds began to gather in the sky.

"No...!"

Kongzhi's expression twisted, completely losing its previous calm composure. He wanted to stop it, only to realize he had no way to do so.

His magic power was still abundant.

His spells could still be cast.

His movements were completely unaffected—he could still fly into the sky or burrow into the earth—but he simply could not control his sphincter, nor could he hold back the prayer beads being expelled from his body.

'My heavenly secrets must not be exposed!'

'Otherwise, the Eight Trigrams Furnace will definitely sound the alarm! A short moment is fine—Daoist Xuanhe would be afraid of taking the blame and try to cover for me—but if it drags on...'

Thinking this, Kongzhi didn't even spare Wang Ping and Ji Wuhen a glance. He reached back, grabbed the excreted Fate-Fixing Bead, and shoved it right back in.

However, how could Wang Ping and Ji Wuhen let this opportunity slip away?

Bang!

A gunshot rang out. It was Ji Wuhen. He had already hurled the Hegemon Spear, but now, a hand cannon had appeared in his grasp.

Aiming the pitch-black muzzle at Kongzhi from afar, Ji Wuhen pulled the trigger without a hint of hesitation. Explosive fire surged from the barrel, propelling a cold-gleaming bullet covered in countless talismans and incantations straight toward the center of Kongzhi's brow!

This was Ji Wuhen's true trump card!

Although he had gained fame and entered the Armament Manual with the Hegemon Spear, he had not forged that divine weapon himself. It was merely a fortuitous encounter.

The weapon truly bound to his life was this hand cannon!

In a flash, nine more explosions rang out consecutively. Nine bullets shot forth one after another, filling the sky and earth, sealing off almost every route Kongzhi could take to retreat!

What was even more terrifying was the Art of War imbued in the bullets.

The ten bullets seemed faintly connected by a thread of blood, penetrating cause and effect. The very instant he fired, the outcome of a guaranteed hit was already set in stone!

Witnessing such momentum, Wang Ping couldn't help but twitch his brow.

Truth be told, prior to this, he had no clear concept of this Hegemon Spear. He had only vaguely felt that the man was quite scheming.

Now, however, he saw Ji Wuhen's true colors.

'A ruthless bastard!'

Wang Ping could tell that although the hand cannon was only a semi-divine weapon, it was inextricably linked to Ji Wuhen's life. What it fired looked like bullets, but it was actually Ji Wuhen's own essence, energy, and spirit. Frankly speaking, every shot he took was risking his life. Once the bullets ran out, Ji Wuhen would be on the brink of death.

Yet he had still fired.

Ten bullets, one hundred percent of his essence, energy, and spirit. Ji Wuhen did not hesitate; he completely drained his own body to unleash his strongest strike!

Such a ruthless person was actually incredibly difficult to deal with.

Because when he decided to put his life on the line, he simply did it. It was so abrupt that sometimes, his enemies wouldn't even have time to react, completely failing to understand why Ji Wuhen was fighting to the death in the first place.

Take the current Kongzhi, for example.

His attention was still focused on Wang Ping. As for Ji Wuhen, though Kongzhi was on guard, he never expected the man to immediately throw his life away.

Thus, until the bullets sank into his body, he was still somewhat bewildered.

Did they really have such a massive grudge?

True, I did briefly think about conveniently converting you into a sect protector, but that was it. I didn't want your life.

"Amitabha..."

At this moment, Kongzhi genuinely felt a trace of regret.

Because he realized that these crude martial artists actually wanted to kill him—and they truly had the ability to do so. He had undeniably fallen into peril.

How did they dare?!

Mere food that had reincarnated poorly actually dared to strike back against a Brahma Cultivator like him, someone who had reincarnated well and offered universal salvation. In Kongzhi's eyes, this was simply reversing the celestial order.

If he died, what had the common people done to deserve such a loss?

How many living beings would lose the chance for a swift reincarnation and miss their opportunity to step onto the Immortal Dao because of his death? Did these Mortals understand anything at all?

"...Ignorant!"

In a fit of violent rage, Kongzhi's four arms suddenly drew inward. Then, his twenty fingers bloomed like a lotus, forming a hand seal that he held steadily in front of his chest.

During this process, his twenty fingers continued to shift with ethereal speed, constantly cycling through hand seals. There were a full nine variations from start to finish, and after completing one cycle, he instantly restarted from the beginning. It repeated endlessly, as though a Treasure Wheel was rumbling in his palms.

"Respectfully inviting the Great Golden Wheel Wisdom King..."

His voice came to a screeching halt.

Right in front of him, Wang Ping glared with icy eyes. His left and right eyes each bloomed with a profound light as all of his spiritual sense erupted without holding anything back.

Soul Pursuing!

Soul Seizing!

Spells tailored specifically against the soul, fueled by Wang Ping pouring in his entire spiritual sense without holding anything back, finally managed to shake the current Kongzhi.

This was solely because Kongzhi's sea of consciousness had already been struck by Chenlong's Heavenly Blade Peerless Slash, leaving cracks behind. That hidden danger had yet to be eliminated!

Therefore, facing Wang Ping's two soul spells, even though he resisted with all his might, his sea of consciousness inevitably suffered further injury. The constantly shifting hand seal in his grasp suddenly stalled. The Buddhist light and Sanskrit chanting that had been gradually brightening were instantly interrupted, forcing him to take a moment to recover before casting the spell again.

This delay was incredibly short, less than an instant.

In the end, the disparity in cultivation between Wang Ping and Kongzhi was simply too massive. Even if Wang Ping drained all of his spiritual sense, it wasn't enough to cause Kongzhi much trouble.

On the contrary, he himself would suffer severe backlash.

Because his spiritual sense had been drawn dry, Wang Ping's eyes were already blood-red. A violent agony spread from the center of his brow throughout his head, as if a fire had been lit inside his skull.

Yet he still assumed the posture to swing his blade.

Admittedly, in terms of Immortal Dao cultivation, the current Wang Ping had only just stabilized his Mind Monkey. He was still a long way from Borrowing Qi to Manifest Magic, completely unable to match Kongzhi no matter how hard he tried.

However, when it came to the martial dao, things were different.

Pushing his Divine Intent to its absolute limit, the world in Wang Ping's eyes gradually slowed down until it finally froze. Yet he ignored his surroundings, turning his gaze inward toward his own physical body instead.

He was going to attempt Seeing Divinity!

A qualitative change in the physical body, a qualitative change in Divine Intent, and a divine weapon. He met all the conditions and could already attempt Seeing Divinity to break through to the Martial Dao Grandmaster Rank!

'There is no need to succeed in one try. I haven't completed the Sacred Lord of Five Weapons yet, and I still have plenty of untapped potential at the Titled Martial Master level. All I need is a brief, one-time burst of Grandmaster Rank power to ensure my next strike genuinely wounds him.'

Rustle, rustle...

As if drawing back a curtain, his Divine Intent entered his body, illuminating his internal organs. This was an entirely different internal landscape compared to when observing with his spiritual sense.

His meridians and organs operated in perfect order.

The flow of blood transported oxygen to every tissue in his body, sustaining his physical vitality with a sort of uncanny, breathtaking beauty.

Soon, he saw his own heart. After being transformed by the Martial God Pictorial Record, he possessed a primary and a secondary heart, both beating at the same frequency. The former circulated blood, while the latter transmitted Internal Force. Moreover, even if the primary heart suffered unexpected damage, the secondary heart could seamlessly take over in an instant.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The sound of his heartbeat echoed in Wang Ping's ears, steady and powerful. In a daze, he seemed to see the spiritual monkey residing within his heart once again.

But soon, he shifted his gaze away.

'It's not time to see the divinity of the heart yet. I only have one chance, and my time is limited. For this attempt at Seeing Divinity, I must choose the one with the highest odds of success.'

The next second, he concentrated his Divine Intent on his lungs. This organ was already connected to the Dragon Head Guillotine, and at this moment, it decisively responded to his Divine Intent.

"Hoo..."

Wang Ping let out a deep breath, and his lungs worked in tandem. Under the vision of his Divine Intent, he immediately saw a light hidden deep within his lungs.

That was the 'divinity'.

"The world is vast; twenty-four types of qi dwell in Sumeru. The human body is dense; twenty-four divinities hide in mustard seeds. Only in the most minute details can one find the chance for Seeing Divinity."

Wang Ping slowly channeled his Divine Intent, approaching that speck of bright light deep within his lungs. During this process, he clearly felt his own transformation. Originally, his Divine Intent would have been unable to reach it, but the Dragon Head Guillotine—this divine weapon—became the bridge connecting him to it.

Finally, his Divine Intent gently touched it.

Boom!

In an instant, it was as if he had unlocked a sealed secret realm. A violent agony exploded from his lungs, but after the pain came an indescribable comfort.

Breathing at this point met no more obstructions!

What he inhaled into his lungs was no longer just air. There was a sweet scent, an aroma capable of completely remolding his body—it was the spiritual energy of heaven and earth!

'It worked!'

Wang Ping opened his eyes. Heat surged within his body as the spiritual energy inhaled into his lungs circulated through his blood to his entire body, instantly igniting his skin with a bloody hue.

Spiritual energy merged with his Internal Force, bolstered by his vital blood. It was like throwing materials into a furnace to be refined nine times over, finally transforming into a divine edge as fierce as a dragon or a tiger.

Astral Force!

Almost at the same time, Kongzhi noticed the sudden change in Wang Ping's body. Yet his expression remained composed, for Wang Ping was still one step too slow.

After all, this was Wang Ping's first time Seeing Divinity. Even if Wang Ping was fast, Kongzhi wasn't just a punching bag waiting to be hit. He was also constantly adjusting. Comparing the two, the one with higher cultivation was ultimately faster. The tiny opening Wang Ping had just exhausted his spiritual sense to create was already gone.

'I'm faster!'

Kongzhi rotated the Treasure Wheel in his palms, immediately seeking to summon the Great Golden Wheel Wisdom King to descend and absolutely crush these two Mortals before him.

However—nothing happened.

"Ah?"

Kongzhi blanked. His hand seal was already complete, and in theory, the Great Golden Wheel Wisdom King should have appeared the very next instant. Yet, time felt as if it had been stretched out...

...No, it wasn't just a feeling.

Time truly had been stretched out!

An event that should have occurred in an instant was suddenly stuffed with new fragments of time, forcibly prolonging it to around seven instants.

Time-Stealing Thief!

The time Wang Ping had stolen just now finally reached the end of its duration. It was returned in full, creating the most crucial time difference for Wang Ping!

'''html