Chapter 131: Could It Be That I Am Invincible Under Heaven?

Raging flames and soaring plumes of smoke tore through Iron City Mountain, carrying destructive shockwaves. Earth, water, wind, and fire collapsed all at once.

The vast majority of Iron City Mountain's cultivators were turned to powder on the spot before they could even react. The few who survived were gravely injured and buried beneath the collapsing ground, waiting in agony for death. As for the pavilions, towers, and immortal scenery, they were utterly swept away.

An eerie silence fell over the world.

After the direct impact of the falling star, not even wails of agony were permitted to linger. All that remained was destruction, and scorched earth nearly buried beneath the dust.

Only after a long moment did a voice finally shatter the quiet.

"Bastard! Bastard!"

As the dust settled, three streaks of escape light tore through the air and came to a steady halt in midair. The light vanished in an instant, revealing the livid faces of Iron City Mountain's three Loose Immortals.

"Just who did this?!"

"This was no accident! Someone planned this in advance, using magic to pull a falling star from the sky! Otherwise, we could have easily sent it back beyond the heavens!"

This was no boast. In truth, all three of them possessed the divine power of the Da Li technique. They were body cultivators with immense strength. Though it would have cost them a bit of time, lifting a fragment of a star and sending it out of the Eight Trigrams Furnace would have cost them nothing more than a little extra magic power.

Provided there was no outside interference.

Once an outside force interfered, the terrifying might of the star fragment was no longer something they could withstand... And even if they could, casualties were inevitable.

As the saying went: better a dead fellow Daoist than a poor Daoist.

Though they were merely independent cultivators under the Immortal Gate—sent into the Eight Trigrams Furnace as disciples to add kindling—they had learned the ways of the Immortal Gate to perfection.

In the face of crisis, they had not hesitated for a second.

They had decisively abandoned Iron City Mountain and its twenty-four mass graves, letting the meteor crash down while they scrambled to salvage their own valuables.

"As long as the three of us brothers remain, Iron City Mountain endures!"

"They were just disciples. We can always recruit more from scratch. The Eight Trigrams Furnace lacks many things, but it never lacks Human Firewood. It will just take a little time..."

The three seemed to be conversing, but they were actually standing back-to-back in solemn vigilance, their guard raised to the absolute limit. After all, their sect had just suffered a devastating blow. The caster might very well be lurking nearby, watching them like a tiger, ready to launch a sneak attack and wipe them all out.

Yet after waiting patiently for a long time, everything remained calm.

"...How is it?"

"I can't divine it. Their destiny is clearly higher than ours. Just like before, everything is hazy and blurred. I can't see the true culprit at all."

"Tsk!"

Just as the three were finally losing their patience and preparing to leave, a strand of divine sense swept toward them, instantly triggering a sharp response.

"Halt!"

The three Loose Immortals roared in unison, their voices laced with magic power that instantly shattered the approaching divine sense. A muffled groan echoed from the distant horizon.

"Ugh..."

The three fixed their gaze on the sky and saw a young man in a Daoist robe tumbling downward, wavering unsteadily for several moments before finding his balance.

"Wh-what evil monster are you?!"

The youth appeared terrified. He immediately pulled a token from his robes and shouted, "I am Ye Chao, a disciple of Book Mountain! Who dares kill me?"

The three Loose Immortals paused, taken aback.

"Mm... That is indeed the insignia of a Book Mountain disciple."

"His cultivation... is not that of a Loose Immortal. There are no fluctuations of magic power. He has nothing but divine sense, and for flight, he can only use this sluggish, pointless cloud-crawling technique."

"A passerby?"

Frankly, had it been an ordinary independent cultivator without a background passing by, the three would have turned him into flying ash on the spot out of caution.

A disciple of Book Mountain, however, was another matter entirely. That sect's patriarch was currently outside tending to the furnace. Moreover, Book Mountain had dominated Shuzhong for years and was known for its overwhelming strength as the leader of the righteous path. Killing one of their disciples would be improper on all counts and bring endless trouble.

With this thought in mind, one of them formed a hand seal.

Vast magic power stirred the wind and clouds, manifesting a massive hand that seized the youth, dragged him through the air, and set him down before the three.

Swish, swish!

Almost simultaneously, the three Loose Immortals of Iron City Mountain drew all their defensive artifacts, remaining fully on guard. They did not underestimate the youth in the slightest.

Seeing that the youth made no sudden move to attack, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Little friend, are you from Book Mountain?"

One of the Loose Immortals of Iron City Mountain asked in a deep voice, "I am Loose Immortal Chiyin of Iron City Mountain. Let me ask you: have you encountered any Loose Immortals around here who do not belong to our sect?"

"Ah?"

The youth seemed completely dazed, not grasping what was happening. Loose Immortal Chiyin had no choice but to ask again. Only then did the youth finally regain his senses.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

"I discovered traces of a Dharma treasure outside Iron City Mountain and followed it all the way here. I thought it was my lucky chance, but I never expected to run into a falling star..."

The three Loose Immortals stared blankly. "A Dharma treasure?"

"Yes, this very thing..."

The youth reached into his robes. With a flash of radiance, he produced a guillotine blade and held it in his hands, its sharp edge glinting cold beneath the sky.

Swish!

Almost at once, the three skittish Loose Immortals vanished from where they stood, leaving the youth alone, his eyes filled with pure bewilderment.

After a brief pause, seeing that the youth truly had no intention of ambushing them with the blade, the three Loose Immortals returned unhurriedly. None of them showed the slightest embarrassment. After all, face had zero value in the Immortal Gate. Surviving was the true foundation of cultivation.

"Hand over the treasure," Loose Immortal Chiyin said coldly.

The youth looked reluctant, but knowing he was outmatched, he begrudgingly offered the guillotine blade.

Loose Immortal Chiyin did not approach. He merely channeled his magic power again, seizing it from a distance.

The entire process went without a hitch.

At this point, the three Loose Immortals finally let down their guard a fraction and leaned in to inspect the guillotine blade, appraising the treasure.

Then they saw it.

On the hilt of the guillotine blade, a dragon pattern they had assumed to be mere decoration suddenly detached. Expanding in the wind as flesh and blood rapidly grew, it transformed in the blink of an eye into a burly young man, his hand gripping the hilt. He had appeared right before their eyes!

This... Not good!

In an instant, their expressions twisted in sheer horror.

Yet it was already too late. Wang Ping, who had used the False Form spell to conceal himself on the Dragon Head Guillotine waiting for this very moment, would never let such an opportunity slip away.

The Mind Monkey reached Divine Communion, leaping into action.

In the next instant, the three Loose Immortals of Iron City Mountain saw their vision blur. A divine monkey swung a staff through the air, bringing it crashing down right toward their heads!

The monkey wore a purple-gold crown, a suit of golden armor, and cloud-treading boots. In its grasp was the Divine Treasure Iron. Its fur blazed like rising flames, its cape trailing sparks behind it. As the staff crashed downward, it seemed to carry the surrounding world along with it, bearing the full weight of mountains, rivers, the sun, and the moon!

"..."

Absolute silence fell. The three Loose Immortals lost their senses on the spot, their seas of consciousness descending into chaotic turmoil. It was as if they had truly been struck by the staff, with fractures spreading inch by inch!

Immediately after, all the visions vanished. The clouds rolled, the wind stirred, and the divine monkey was gone. The three Loose Immortals returned to the real world.

Even so, the strike of that staff had felt so real that two of the Loose Immortals remained in a daze, unable to pull themselves out. Only the sect master of Iron City Mountain managed to snap awake in time as a radiant golden figure suddenly rose in his sea of consciousness, shattering the confusion.

This person isn't a Book Mountain disciple! He's a martial artist!

From the Tribute Hall?!

In that split second, the sect master of Iron City Mountain did not dare hesitate for a single instant. He immediately summoned the radiant golden figure, merged with it, and shot into the sky as a streak of escape light.

Run! The faster, the better!

Fortunately, as the sect master, he carried the sect's sole Dharma treasure, the Profound Heaven Golden Corpse, which protected his sea of consciousness and allowed him to escape disaster.

Just you wait!

Soaring through the air, the sect master of Iron City Mountain gritted his teeth in fury. Once I get out of here, I will report this to the Immortal Gate! Damned martial brute, to actually dare lay such a vicious hand on us...

Outrageous!

At this thought, he could not resist glancing back, only to see that the ambusher had already severed the heads of his two junior brothers with a single slash.

Good brothers!

You used your lives to hold back the enemy and helped me escape this disaster. I will remember this kindness. In the future, the sect's inheritance won't go to you.

Spurred by that thought, the sect master flew even faster.

Yet in the very next second, the Profound Heaven Golden Corpse he rode came to an abrupt halt. A searing white blade burst through his chest from behind.

Clang—!

The ringing of the blade only arrived a beat later.

With a flash of white light, the Profound Heaven Golden Corpse snapped cleanly into two halves, and the sect master of Iron City Mountain exploded into pieces in midair!

The spray of blood dissipated into the sky.

On the other side, having unleashed that strike, Wang Ping was completely exhausted. Without the slightest hesitation, he looted their bodies and fled, executing the entire sequence in one seamless motion.

In the blink of an eye, he had vanished beyond the horizon.

As for the young Daoist who had claimed to be a Book Mountain disciple, the moment Wang Ping left, his form shifted rapidly until he turned back into a single strand of hair. Floating gently down through the air, it caught the mountain fire and burned into ash, disappearing without a trace.

...

"Phew!"

Leaving Iron City Mountain behind, Wang Ping cast the False Form spell once more, turning into a common fly that buzzed all the way to the nearest county town.

He resumed human form and found an inn.

He rented a room and went upstairs.

Thud!

The moment Wang Ping entered the room, the breath he had been holding escaped him. He collapsed powerlessly onto the bed, the agonizing exhaustion of his drained body catching up to him all at once.

That was far too grueling. That godspeed slash is terrifyingly powerful, enough to practically kill a Loose Immortal in an instant. But if I fail to finish them in one blow, I'm the one who ends up dead. Unless my physique improves further... But I'm already at the Grandmaster Rank. Martial arts has already pushed my physical potential to its limit.

As the saying went, human strength had its bounds.

The Great Shun Martial Dao ultimately transcended the physical body to seek Divine Intent within the unseen. Even legendary experts of the Great Grandmaster Rank were not revered for their physical strength alone.

"I hope the Da Li technique brings me a pleasant surprise."

After resting for a moment, Wang Ping eagerly pulled out the pouches the three Loose Immortals of Iron City Mountain had "gifted" him before their deaths, examining the items one by one.

"Found it!"

Just as he expected, given the selfish and arrogant nature of Immortal Gate cultivators, important items were always kept on their own persons.

Such as the jade slip recording the core secrets of the Da Li spell.

Naturally, it carried the ward of Iron City Mountain.

With Divine Possession at his disposal, however, Wang Ping simply summoned the sect master he had just slain to possess his body, using him to unravel the ward on the jade slip.

This went a little too smoothly...

From the moment he launched the surprise attack on Iron City Mountain to getting what he wanted, less than a single day had passed. It was so smooth that Wang Ping found it almost unbelievable.

Granted, an ambush had been involved, but these were three genuine Loose Immortals whose cultivation levels were comparable to Daoist Nun You. Yet he had slain them without breaking a sweat.

Now that he possessed the Da Li technique, his final weakness was patched. With infinite divine strength, he could unleash his blade at full power without any restraint. Looked at from that angle, even if he faced Daoist Nun You in her peak condition, he might not lose. He might even have the winning odds!

Looked at that way... could it be that I am already invincible under heaven?

Knock, knock, knock.

Suddenly, knocking came from outside the door.

"Who is it?!"

Wang Ping froze, his head snapping up. His divine sense had blanketed the entire room and its surroundings, yet until this very second, he had not sensed anyone standing outside!

The next moment, the door was pushed open.

A young Daoist stepped inside with complete ease, looking as though he were the rightful master of the room. He sat down directly across from Wang Ping and looked at him calmly.

"This humble Daoist is Xuanhe."

"May I ask, fellow Daoist... where have you hidden Ye Chao?"