Chapter 416: Signs of Defeat

The moment his voice faded, Old Man Guangji struck first. Puffing out his cheeks, he blew a sharp breath into the Golden Lamp resting in his palm, whipping up an intense, blazing flame.

His Golden Lamp was named the Dao-Burning Heart-Lighting Lamp.

Without exaggeration, it was the highest-quality Spiritual Treasure in the Origin Transformation Dao Field, bar none. It contained a full three profound mysteries.

For instance, the flare he had just exhaled was called Dao Ignition. Born from the resonance between the lamp's profound mysteries and fire qi, it was a dao-dissolving spiritual flame. True to its name, it could reduce a cultivator to nothingness and burn away their dao, shattering any profound mystery or phenomenon in the world. In ordinary spell battles, this single flame was enough to render him invincible.

Seeing this, Feng immediately swept his sleeve.

He held a Spiritual Treasure of his own, the Eight Winds Bag, but its quality was far inferior to the Dao-Burning Heart-Lighting Lamp. It could only amplify his own profound mysteries.

"Whoosh...!"

A moment later, Feng opened his mouth and exhaled. Resonating with the Eight Winds Bag, a fierce wind instantly swept from west to north across the Cosmos.

Buzhou Wind!

This profound wind was different from the natural winds of the mortal world. It was more like a flowing mass of cyan light, swirling around Feng to form the profound phenomenon of a dense forest.

Immediately after, Old Man Guangji's dao-dissolving spiritual flame crashed into that cyan light. It instantly burned clear holes through the radiance, but the wind ultimately held for a brief moment without shattering on the spot. Seizing this chance, Feng mounted another profound wind.

Yanrong Wind!

The direction of this wind was completely different from the Buzhou Wind. Blowing from east to north, it contained a vibrant vitality—a phenomenon of all things thriving and fiercely competing to grow.

Riding this wind, Feng's figure instantly scattered like smoke.

Almost simultaneously, another wind galloped forth from the north. Pure white and clear, it was filled with a chilling coldness that sought to slaughter all living things as it bore straight down on Old Man Guangji's face.

Guangmo Wind!

With this profound wind blowing right at his face, Old Man Guangji was forced to recall his dao-dissolving spiritual flame to protect his body, using his fire qi to dispel the chilling slaughter-intent hidden within the gale.

By the time he looked again, Feng had already escaped from the Tomb Star.

"Trying to escape?"

Old Man Guangji frowned slightly, unwilling to let Feng abandon the Tomb Star and flee just like that. At the very least, he had to leave a wound behind.

With this in mind, he reached into his robes and pulled out a slip of yellow paper. The words 'Cosmos-Connecting' were written on it in cinnabar, and surging water qi rippled across its surface. Ignited by Old Man Guangji's magic power, the talisman manifested a monstrous wave of watery light that viciously swept toward the fleeing Feng.

"Splash!"

In an instant, Feng's figure twisted and turned through the watery light. With a blur, he was snatched out of thin air and dragged back to his original spot by Old Man Guangji!

"What?"

Feng's pupils shrank as he instantly recognized the origin of that talisman: 'It's water qi! Human Yang Water, a high-grade talisman of the Three Rivers Guild Profit Flow Market Qi.'

Human Yang Water governed trade and commerce. Old Man Guangji had used a talisman born from this very qi to trade with the void, buying away the distance between himself and Feng.

"Daoist friend, you'd best stop struggling."

Burning a talisman out of nowhere made Old Man Guangji's heart ache. Unwilling to give Feng another chance to escape, he immediately drew another item from his sleeve.

It was a nine-layered pagoda.

"Strike!"

The pagoda instantly soared into the air, its layers blooming with radiance. Pure white as frost, it created a profound phenomenon that instantly transformed a region of Cosmic Deep Space into a world of ice and snow.

Caught within this frosty phenomenon, Feng felt his bodily qi plummet drastically. It was as if he had sunk into a swamp; moving and circulating his energy became extremely difficult. Even the second level of Qi Consumption cultivation that he had practiced for countless years began to loosen, suddenly showing signs of a Realm drop!

'It's Heavenly Yin Metal!' It was the heavenly frost seasonal slaughter premier qi! Wherever this qi existed, it was known as the absolute death zone for five elements yin wood. And the Tianqu Wind-Riding Soaring Qi that he cultivated was precisely Heavenly Yin Wood!

Almost at the same time, Old Man Guangji formed a hand seal and chanted a dao verse: "Twin heavens meet, two yins clash, metal counters wood. Thus it is said, Heavenly Yin Metal directly counters Heavenly Yin Wood!"

"Rumble!"

The coordination between the Spiritual Treasure and his dao doctrine pushed the mutual generation and countering of heaven and earth's qi to its absolute limits, firmly suppressing Feng in place so that he could not move a single inch.

'Not good...'

Feng groaned in inward bitterness. He knew Old Man Guangji had come prepared, because only the Origin Transformation Dao Field possessed a Heavenly Yin Metal Spiritual Treasure.

It was the Hundred Directives Immortal-Cleansing Pagoda right before his eyes.

However, with things having reached this point, he had no energy left to complain. He could only draw upon his qi phenomenon while tearing open the Eight Winds Bag to whip up a profound wind once more.

In an instant, a light as bright as a flame swept in from the east, illuminating the emergence of all things. Wherever it passed, thousands of plants and vines burst from the soil, forcibly injecting a trace of vitality into this five elements yin wood death zone and stubbornly dotting the snowy wasteland with a patch of lush green.

Mingshu Wind!

Situated in the east, this wind illuminated the birth of all things. Carrying an intense killing intent, it temporarily stabilized the situation for Feng and allowed him to execute one more technique.

"Yang qi reaches its dao limit, forming a phenomenon, titled Changying, arriving from the south!"

Feng completed his hand seal, chanted the dao verse, and finally pointed far into the south. That was where the Li Fire lay, and it instantly birthed a profound resonance.

Changying Wind!

The dao voice reverberated, followed by the blowing of another profound wind. Yet, unlike all the previous ones, this wind actually carried a scorching heat.

It was, astonishingly, fire qi!

The wind stoked the flames. Relying on the profound mystery of fire countering metal, he finally shook the icy wasteland created by the Hundred Directives Immortal-Cleansing Pagoda, blasting open a momentary rift.

In that split second, Feng once again rode the Yanrong Wind. Resonating with that thread of life within the death zone, his figure dissolved into the wind as he fled once more.

Seeing this, Old Man Guangji let out a hearty laugh.

"What an Eight Winds! What a pity that such unpredictable profound mysteries can only be witnessed in the Star Grave Sand Sea. Outside of this place, there is no more Heavenly Yin Wood in the Cosmos."

Heavenly Yin Wood, the Tianqu Wind-Riding Soaring Qi.

The so-called Tianqu soaring was the governance of the Eight Winds. This was one of Heavenly Yin Wood's universally known qi phenomena, famously regarded among the many types of heaven and earth qi as a jack-of-all-trades.

The Eight Winds came from eight directions and possessed eight variations that could change at any moment. A qi phenomenon with similar effects was Human Yin Wood's 'Transforming with Objects'. Both belonged to wood qi, and when it came to spell battles, they practically had no natural enemies. Therefore, before suffering heavy losses, wood qi was also a highly renowned dao lineage.

Unfortunately, it had long lost its glory within the Immortal Gate.

Here in the Star Grave Sand Sea, however, because the thirty heaven and earth qi were all present and unaffected, it still retained a bit of wood qi's former might.

However—

"This ends here."

Old Man Guangji's gaze was cold. The Golden Lamp in his palm grew infinitely bright. Suddenly, the sky-blotting dao-dissolving fire abruptly collapsed, falling back into the lamp's basin.

Immediately after, the firelight illuminated Old Man Guangji's sea of consciousness.

Dao attainments and knowledge surfaced one by one in his heart, following the firelight. Without exception, they were all secrets regarding Feng's dao base, rendered clearly visible.

This was the second profound mystery of the Dao-Burning Heart-Lighting Lamp. By illuminating a dao base with its lamplight, one could pry into its foundations. The more profound mysteries the opponent executed and the longer the battle lasted, the clearer the illumination would become. Since Feng had just continuously unleashed profound mysteries, Old Man Guangji had already glimpsed a portion of his dao base's secrets!

This was known as 'Heart-Illumination'!

In a split second, Old Man Guangji looked at the departing Feng. Without any hesitation, the third profound mystery, nurtured for a long time, was instantly activated.

Dao-Burning Heart-Lighting Lamp.

Mystery Ignition!

Paired with 'Heart-Illumination', this profound mystery required dao doctrine as kindling. It could manifest a ray of 'Mystery-Igniting Flame Light' that struck directly at the opponent's dao base.

Having brewed this for a long time, Old Man Guangji ruthlessly activated it now, his dao voice echoing out:

"Yin wood thrives when the six yangs are exhausted. And when the six yangs are exhausted, the head of the six yins is born, leading to brilliant Yin Fire. Therefore, yin wood possesses the trait of generating Yin Fire."

"Just as mortals use vegetable oil and sesame oil for lamps and candles, oil is the fat of yin wood. Poured into the basin, the lamplight burns fiercely. This is exactly the profound mystery within."

According to the relationships of mutual generation and countering, Heavenly Yin Wood was supposed to generate Earth Yang Fire. Yet at this moment, influenced by Old Man Guangji's dao doctrine, the original generation cycle was forcibly deflected, shifting from Earth Yang Fire to Earth Yin Fire. Falling into the mortal plane, it took the form of a brilliant lamplight that illuminated Feng's sea of consciousness.

"Rumble!"

The pitch-black Cosmos was instantly bathed in light. Feng's dharma body split apart in midair just like that. Half of his body fell into the flaming light and dissolved in an instant.

"Ah—!"

His dao base was wounded!

A qi-ingesting practitioner used their dharma body as their foundation. With more than half of it burned away now and no signs of recovery, it was clear that Old Man Guangji's strike had inflicted heavy damage upon him.

What made him suffer even more was that his opponent had planted a streak of fiery light inside his body that was extremely difficult to root out. Since this flame fell under the governance of Earth Yin Fire, capitalizing on the recent shift in the generation and countering cycle, this streak of Earth Yin Fire acted like a maggot in his bones. Using him as fuel, it continuously burned away his Heavenly Yin Wood dao base!

Seeing this scene, Old Man Guangji finally nodded in satisfaction. His gaze burned brightly as he looked directly toward Yi Xuangong, laughing heartily:

"Who else?"