Qin Yun extended his hand as the Grotto-heaven Sword Calabash shrank rapidly and flew to his palm. He then carefully put it away.
“I’ll first recover my Dharmic powers. I have waited a year for this battle. I can take an additional two hours.” Qin Yun sat cross-legged on the grass in front of his wooden hut and silently meditated. Other than draining his Dharmic powers, the releasing of all that Sword Qi drained him mentally.
About two hours later, the sky turned gloomy as dark clouds gathered a distance away. An impending thunderstorm loomed.
Qin Yun opened his eyes.
A vertical eye also opened in his glabella as he looked at distant Fiendcelestial Jiwu’s cave abode through the Eye of Lightning.
“He’s still refining pills? Good, with his mind on pill refinement, it’s the perfect time to attack.” Qin Yun flipped his hand and put away the Two World Picture that had enveloped the mountain for the past year. Then, he took out a dark purple wooden tablet.
…
Inside the alchemy chamber.
There was a gigantic alchemical cauldron with alchemical fires burning vigorously inside.
By the side of the cauldron was the wrinkled Fiendcelestial Jiwu. He sat cross-legged as he stared at the cauldron. He carefully controlled the cauldron as Fiendcelestial Quzhong had his mouth open, spewing green flames. The green flames’ surface suffused a purple and black light. This was the mark of having gained initial success in the Nine Tunes Divine Fire. If he achieved phenomenal success, it would have nine different colors, making it look like a flame made of nine-colored silk.
After the Nine Tunes Divine Fire was mixed in, the cauldron’s fire might increased drastically. The cauldron’s interior began to suffuse a red glow.
“Alright. Stop!” Jiwu suddenly shouted.
Quzhong immediately sucked, pulling the Nine Tunes Divine Fire back into his stomach. He was somewhat exhausted as he could not help but say, “It’s said that alchemy is complicated. Fire is also categorized as scholastic and martial fires. Scholastic Fires should be used for about ninety percent of the alchemical refinement. So why do you frequently ask me to spew my Nine Tunes Divine Fire… I kind of regret the promise I made.”
“Brother Quzhong, you were the one who agreed to it. Once the pills are done, I’ll give you fifteen percent,” said Jiwu with a smile. “Just rest for now. Come back again in five days. Remember, you have to come the instant I summon for you.”
“I understand.” Quzhong felt helpless. “I agreed to help you for three years. I will stand by my promise for these three years.”
“Hahaha, there are only two years left… When the time comes, I’ll naturally hand over the pills,” said Jiwu with a laugh. He was stronger than Quzhong so he did not believe that Quzhong would not dare to pull a stunt at the critical moment.
A somewhat exhausted Quzhong left.
The door to the chamber rumbled to a close as Jiwu quietly continued refining his pills.
Jiwu was definitely ranked top three in the Great Chu world among all the cultivators of the fiendcelestial lineage, even including the various Monarchs.
Most fiendcelestials were savage and pursued only strength. As for refining pills and artifacts, many of them were not skilled in such complex and intricate matters. Very few could claim to be alchemical masters.
When Jiwu was still weak, he had relied on his alchemical attainments to strengthen himself! And now, he had been stuck at the peak third Firmament Essence Soul realm for ages. Therefore, he put all his efforts into alchemy. Alchemy required the comprehension of various mystical elements… In a way, it was also a cultivation path. And it could facilitate him into truly overcoming the bottleneck to becoming a Skyfiend.
“Hum.” Suddenly, space distorted in the alchemical chamber.
Although Jiwu’s attention was on the refinement, he was still an expert. How could he not sense the spatial fluctuations?
“What happened?”
Jiwu was naturally alarmed as he turned his head.
He saw a black-dressed youth walk out from the distorted space. The youth held a bronze calabash in his left hand and hisright hand was placed on a stopper. He looked at the wizened and ugly Jiwu.
“Who are you—” Jiwu immediately stood up. He diverted some attention away from the cauldron as he focused the rest of it on the mysterious black-dressed youth. While speaking, he secretly began activating the array formation of his lair.
“Pop!”
Qin Yun’s right hand instantly removed the stopper as he looked coldly at Jiwu.
“Kill!” At the instant Qin Yun pulled off the stopper, he activated the array formation within the calabash.
“Boom!”
Soon, what seemed like countless Sword Qi surged from the mouth of the calabash. The Sword Qi had a terrifying might. It was a lot more terrifying than what Qin Yun had injected. This was because the million Sword Qi had long formed a sword array of pure destruction! Like a maelstrom, it gushed out, joining together to form a much more massive vortex storm. The void shattered wherever it passed.
They were simply too close to each other.
All Jiwu could do was lift his palms up. They enlarged, one golden in color and the other scarlet-red. He held them up in front of him like gigantic shields.
Jiwu had Dharma treasure gauntlets on both hands that allowed him to withstand the Sword Qi storm of destruction but the clothes on his body were instantly torn apart. Although there were fiendish runes circulating across his body, even they began to rupture. Jiwu endured the feeling of being sliced numerous times but he was horrified by the Sword Qi’s might.
“He’s too powerful! He’s an existence at the Skyfiend realm! It won’t be long before I’m pulverized!” That was Jiwu’s first reaction. The might of the Grotto-heaven Sword Calabash made him misjudge Qin Yun’s strength.
He was so frightened that he did not hesitate to retreat!
Boom!
He fled frantically.
“Boom!” The Sword Qi storm destroyed the chamber as Qin Yun directed it to pursue Jiwu.
Boom! The world shook. Using all the power of the entire sect’s array formation, winds and clouds gathered instantly. Jiwu released a black chain Dharma treasure. Soon, it turned translucent as it moved around like flowing water, forming a gigantic vortex to fend off the Sword Qi! However… be it his array formation or his Dharma treasure, they were completely overrun by the million Sword Qi.
However, the Dharma treasure remained undamaged as the array formation’s might constantly empowered it.
If he had sufficient time, he could constantly drain a million wisps of Sword Qi, eventually reducing its threat. This was because it did not have a way to replenish itself.
But time was the one thing Jiwu lacked the most!
He could not withstand the barrage of attacks even with his array formation and Dharma treasure. The Sword Qi inundated Jiwu, causing him to lose layers of flesh and blood.
“Why would an existence at the Skyfiend realm attack me?” Jiwu was appalled. “I know all the Monarchs in the world but I have never seen him before. Could he be from an Other Realm?”
As Jiwu fled, he contacted the Monarch he served using his transmission treasure—Monarch Thousand Eyes.
“Jiwu, what’s the matter?” He heard when he finally made contact.
“Monarch, a Skyfiend existence has ambushed me,” said Jiwu urgently. “He’s in my cave abode. Monarch, please save my life!”
“A Skyfiend existence?” Monarch Thousand Eyes was shocked as well. “Who is it?”
“I can’t last much longer,” replied Jiwu frantically. “I do not know him. I’m guessing that he comes from another Realm.”
“The Sword Qi storm is just too terrifying.” Jiwu instantly came to this realization. “The surrounding space has been frozen and the Sword Qi destroys space itself. I can’t use Void Transference at all. If this continues, I’m doomed.”
“Seal!”
In order to survive, Jiwu frenetically launched a counteroffensive.
His body grew rapidly to the point that one foot of his was bigger than the building beneath him. He towered over all, dwarfing even mountains. His palms actually looked like two mountains. One was a golden palm mountain and the other was a red palm mountain. They forcibly intercepted the Sword Qi.
The millions of Sword Qi turned to strike Jiwu’s massive body, decimating large amounts of flesh and blood.
“Go!” Jiwu showed no hesitation.
Sou!
A blob of sanguine light enveloped his Essence Soul as he abandoned his massive physical body. Instantly he fled at a speed more than ten times what his physical body was capable of.
When Qin Yun saw this, his eyes lit up. The Sword Qi instantly gave up pursuing Jiwu’s Essence Soul and instead turned to attack one of the arms on Jiwu’s massive body. It caused the golden gauntlet to fly off of it. Without even bothering to refine it for himself, Qin Yun immediately opened the Two World Picture and pulled the golden gauntlet into it.
“Target acquired.” Qin Yun revealed a joyous look. “I’ve finally acquired the last gauntlet! I now have the entire Empyrean Lord Divine Armor set.”
His goal was not to kill Jiwu but to get the gauntlet!
“What? The Sword Qi storm did not pursue my Essence Soul and instead went for my arm to snatch my gauntlet?” The escaping Jiwu was alarmed. “Could it be that he is the one who murdered Tantong and Yugu?”