txolops Chapter 159 Breaking Through Emptiness, Entering the Body from the Void
Chapter 159 Breaking Through Emptiness, Entering the Body from the Void
Gu Yan stood in front of the narrow gap that only allowed one person to pass through, turned sideways, and stepped inside.
Upon entering the gate, a straight, long bluestone bridge comes into view.
The long bridge floats in the endless void, without railings, stretching as far as the eye can see, with bottomless darkness beneath one's feet.
The bridge surface is paved with rough gray stone slabs, mottled with moss, and filled with the cold ash smell of burnt sandalwood.
Gu Yan stepped onto the stone slab, but instead of moving forward, he stopped and looked down at his hands.
He discovered that the flow of spiritual energy within his body was extremely sluggish, and his divine sense was firmly suppressed within three feet of his body.
Gu Yan frowned, but did not panic. He simply straightened the hem of his black robe and stepped forward across the long stone bridge.
After walking about a hundred feet, a hazy, soft light appeared in the darkness ahead.
The twinkling starlight dominated his vision, and the scene before Gu Yan suddenly changed.
The long blue stone bridge beneath their feet transformed into a heavenly avenue paved with top-grade spiritual stones.
On both sides of the avenue, hundreds or even thousands of beautiful female cultivators with tattered clothes and alluring figures knelt in submission.
Their skin was as white as snow, their eyes held a captivating allure, and their lips exhaled... She stretched out her slender arms and tried to tug at Gu Yan's clothes.
Countless jade slips radiating golden light floated in the sky, filled with peerless cultivation techniques such as the "Great Sun Tathagata True Scripture" and the "Supreme Record of Forgetfulness," which were enough to stir up a bloodbath in the cultivation world.
This is the manifestation of lust and greed that evolved from the remaining power of the Taixu Demon-Suppressing Tower.
If an ordinary rogue cultivator were to arrive here, faced with such readily available wealth, beauty, and power, he would involuntarily become breathless and lose his composure.
Once a single thought of greed arises in one's heart, and one reaches out to touch these illusions, one's spiritual realm will be devoured by karmic obstacles, turning one into a wandering soul guarding the gate of this ancient pagoda.
Gu Yan stopped and looked at the small hands that had just touched his boots.
He didn't deliberately close his eyes or recite the Heart-Cleansing Mantra. Instead, he squatted down with great interest and carefully examined the incredibly beautiful female cultivator phantom in front of him.
However, he just shook his head and sighed that her figure was not even half as hot as Senior Sister Su's; her appearance was not even as good as a single strand of Senior Sister Shen's hair; and as for her cold and aloof temperament, she was not even as good as that arrogant Nangong Yue.
Gu Yan stood up, his face full of disdain, and patted the dust off his boots with disgust.
They completely ignored the peerless martial arts techniques floating in the sky and the top-grade spirit stones under their feet.
After all, he had been swindling, cheating, murdering, and robbing along the way.
The spirit stones in his storage ring, if piled up, could circle Changning County several times over. Using such counterfeit goods to test his Dao heart is far too perfunctory.
Just as he took a step forward and his foot landed, the scene became even more dangerous.
The delicate beauty transformed into a hideous demon.
Those were the Shadow Tower assassins who died at Gu Yan's hands, as well as the countless sect disciples who had just perished outside.
They bled from all seven orifices, their bodies ablaze with karmic fire, and stretched out their skeletal claws, howling shrilly as they lunged at Gu Yan, as if to drag him into the deepest hell.
Gu Yan glanced at the souls rushing towards him, his smile gradually fading, replaced by an icy indifference. He scoffed, "If I could kill you once, I can kill you a second time. You were my defeated foe when you were alive, so what if you've become ghosts?"
Dark demonic energy spread out from Gu Yan's right eye.
Black, ominous light erupted from his body.
This demonic energy is purer and more violent than the resentment emanating from those evil spirits.
The moment those menacing demons came into contact with the demonic light, it was as if they had encountered the most terrifying demon lord in the world. They didn't even have time to utter a scream for mercy before they were completely dissolved and vanished into thin air.
Gu Yan withdrew his demonic energy and walked steadily, as if strolling in his own backyard, leisurely and naturally.
Wherever it went, whether it was the allure of mountains of gold and seas of silver or the terror of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, all turned into nothingness under the alternation of these two forces, black and white.
In less than half an incense stick's time.
All the illusions before my eyes were wiped away by a pair of invisible hands, and it returned to the long blue stone bridge.
Gu Yan crossed the long bridge and saw at the end of the bridge a huge stone platform suspended in the dark void.
The stone platform is circular, and a black and white yin-yang symbol that occupies the entire surface is outlined on it with extremely bold lines.
On the Tai Chi diagram, half is white as frost and snow, and the other half is black as ink, rotating at a slow and steady speed.
As soon as Gu Yan stepped onto the edge of the stone platform, he sensed that something was wrong.
This stone platform is a vacuum zone, where two completely opposite and terrifying forces are tearing each other apart.
Taoism emphasizes that Wuji (the ultimate void) gives rise to Taiji (the supreme ultimate), and Taiji gives rise to Yin and Yang (the two polarities). It also states that Yin alone cannot generate anything, and Yang alone cannot grow.
If a cultivator stands on this Tai Chi diagram, the spiritual energy within their body will be instantly divided.
If Gu Yan mobilizes the sacred incense power on the left side to resist, the black Yin fish on the Taiji diagram will immediately unleash a tenfold backlash and engulf him.
Conversely, if demonic energy is used, the white Yang Fish will burn him to ashes.
This is a dual test of cultivation and mental state; any bias or extremism will bring destruction here.
After understanding this, Gu Yan smiled.
Who in the world understands this mutually exclusive yet coexisting force better than him?
Because the Divine Demon Golden Core within his body is itself a miniature version of the Immortal Tai Chi.
Gods and demons, good and evil, have long since formed a perfect cycle under the shaping of the rules of the God Transformation.
Gu Yan closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He abandoned any thought of resistance and decided to follow nature and govern by non-interference.
Since the formation needs to be balanced, then I'll give you the balance.
Gu Yan released the deliberate suppression of the Divine Demon Golden Core.
In an instant.
A faint white divine light emanated from the left half of his body, while a faint black demonic aura emanated from the right half.
These two forces were not violent at all; instead, they flowed like two gentle streams along his meridians, eventually resonating perfectly with the huge Tai Chi diagram beneath his feet.
Gu Yan opened his eyes, his gaze clear, and walked into the center of the Tai Chi diagram.
As he walked, the array beneath his feet seemed to encounter its long-lost master, emitting a pleasant humming sound.
The white light soothed the hidden injuries in his body, while the black energy widened his blocked meridians.
On this perilous and dangerous chessboard, Gu Yan moved with ease and natural grace.
This should have been a terrifying killing formation capable of annihilating a Nascent Soul stage expert, but in front of him, who cultivated both gods and demons, it became an incredibly comfortable cleansing of his marrow and meridians.
When Gu Yan walked to the very center of the Tai Chi stone platform, the rotating formation stopped.
Suddenly, a blue stone staircase descended from the void directly in front of the stone platform.
There are nine stone steps, each covered with green moss.
At the very top of the stone steps, a square bronze altar floats.
Above the altar, a transparent pagoda, only the size of a fist, floats like a miniature sand table.
The pagoda has seven stories and is made entirely of a material that Gu Yan couldn't name. It looks as fragile as glass, but inside there is a silver galaxy flowing. If you look closely, you can see void storms rising and falling within it.
Layer upon layer of mysterious spatial ripples, like water waves, slowly spread outward from the pagoda as the center.
Those are fragments of the Taixu Demon-Suppressing Tower!
This remnant, bearing the ultimate understanding of the laws of space by an ancient powerful being, is the reward that has driven all the geniuses of the sects crazy for this Eastern Continent Grand Competition.
Now, it stands quietly before Gu Yan.
Gu Yan walked up the blue stone steps, and with each step he took, the gravity of the surrounding space increased exponentially.
When he stepped onto the ninth stone step and stood in front of the bronze altar.
His robes were soaked with sweat, and his bones creaked under the weight.
Faced with this opportunity that is about to be within easy reach.
Gu Yan extended his right hand, his palm surging with both holy white light and dark demonic energy, weaving the two forces into an invisible net, slowly reaching for the fragment.
Suddenly, the fist-sized transparent pagoda trembled violently, and a terrifying spatial cutting force erupted instantly, attempting to tear apart the net of gods and demons.
Gu Yan snorted coldly, circulated the Divine Demon Golden Core within his body to its limit, and unleashed all his spiritual power.
With his hands clasped together in mid-air, the net of gods and demons tightened instantly, locking the fragments of the void tightly.
The fragments struggled violently in the net, emitting a whistling sound like thunder.
Gu Yan gritted his teeth, his hands trembled violently, and the veins on the back of his hands bulged.
"Take it!"
With a loud shout from Gu Yanxin.
The fist-sized fragment of the void transformed into a streak of light, shooting suddenly into the sky. It then turned back in mid-air, carrying immense power, and shot directly into Gu Yan's brow.
The next second, the faint blue light in the underground space went out, and absolute darkness descended.
Gu Yan's body remained frozen in front of the bronze altar.
His eyes suddenly widened, and his eyeballs were covered with horrifying blood vessels.
An indescribable, excruciating pain surged from the depths of my mind.
This is not the pain of flesh being torn apart, but the agony of space being forcibly ripped apart and the soul being crushed on a millstone.
The fragments of the Void are not so easy to subdue.
When it entered Gu Yan's body, it carried with it that domineering and unparalleled spatial law, heading straight for the Divine Demon Golden Core deep within Gu Yan's Qi Sea.
This fragment was once a supreme treasure that suppressed heaven and earth; it could not tolerate any filth or impurity.
When it saw the golden core that was half-god and half-demon, it immediately regarded it as an anomaly and released a series of silver spatial blades, intending to shatter the golden core along with Gu Yan's dantian.
The divine and demonic forces, which were originally in harmony on the Taiji diagram, were enraged after being invaded by foreign enemies, and released even more powerful energy.
The sacred power of incense transformed into a golden barrier, fiercely resisting the cutting force of the spatial blades.
The extreme karmic demonic energy transformed into a black spear, frantically stabbing back at the transparent pagoda fragment.
Gu Yan's body became the battlefield where three peerless forces fought each other.
His skin rapidly cracked open with fine, bloody gashes at a speed visible to the naked eye. Before the blood could flow out, it was shredded into a bloody mist by the violent spatial force.
The meridians are broken inch by inch, and the internal organs feel as if they are being scorched on fire.
Gu Yan pursed his lips tightly, his tongue already bitten raw, his mouth filled with the metallic taste of iron.
No, he can't faint yet.
Once he loses consciousness, these three forces will completely burst him apart, leaving no trace of his body.
Right on the edge of life and death.
Gu Yan roared hysterically in his heart, concentrating all his energy in his dantian, trying to suppress the rampaging fragment of the void into the center of the Divine Demon Golden Core.
The silvery spatial storm pierced through flesh and blood.
A blinding white light burst forth from Gu Yan's seven orifices.
His body began to tremble violently before the bronze altar, and cracks appeared on the surface of the divine and demonic golden pill.
Silver light shone through the crack.
Just as Gu Yan was single-mindedly merging with the fragments of the Great Void.
Tens of thousands of miles away, on the outskirts of Meteorite Abyss, lies a desolate wasteland of withered bones.
A massive, brutal, and absurd battle—the most devastating in the history of cultivation in the Eastern Continent in a century—has begun.
……
The yellow sand that filled the sky was stained dark red with blood.
Tens of thousands of sect cultivators, like a group of fanatical believers who had lost their minds, fought each other in this desolate wasteland with bloodshot eyes.
In the sky, enormous flying magical artifacts collided with each other, and broken fragments, accompanied by blazing fireballs, fell like meteorites.
On the ground, thousands of high-level demonic beasts driven by the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain formed an insurmountable flesh and blood defense line, frantically tearing at any cultivators who dared to approach.
Tuoba Ye stood on the back of a two-winged bone dragon as large as a mountain, playing a soul-stirring war song on his bone flute.
When he saw the scene of blood flowing like a river below, his fanaticism intensified.
Everyone believed that Mo Lao Er was currently underground in this desolate wasteland.
The legendary Taixu Demon-Suppressing Tower and countless star fragments lay beneath their feet.
As long as they kill all their competitors and break the ancient formation here, they can enjoy this incredible opportunity all to themselves.
And at the very center of the battlefield, on the tallest skull-shaped boulder.
The Blood Swordsman stood against the wind.
His dark red robe fluttered in the gale, and the hideous demon mask on his face, reflecting the intense light of the magic, made him appear particularly terrifying.
Beside him, two paper sword servants, one in white and one in black, stood quietly on either side.
The white robe is like that of an immortal, the demon robe is like that of an abyss.
These three monsters, infamous in the Meteor Abyss, have inexplicably joined forces.
The Blood Swordsman slowly raised his dark red longsword, its tip pointing directly at the tens of thousands of bloodthirsty sect cultivators before him. His hoarse, piercing laughter echoed throughout the desolate wasteland.
"A bunch of ants, how dare they covet the opportunities of the Taixu Demon-Suppressing Tower?"
This extremely arrogant provocation drove the geniuses present into complete madness.
Zhao Wujiu of the Azure Dragon Sect was the first to lose his composure.
The longsword in his hand transformed into a several-zhang-long azure dragon, pointing directly at the blood swordsman on the skull with unwavering determination.
"Stop your madness, you fiend! Prepare to die!"
Zhao Wujiu's sword strikes were like a rainbow, and his figure was as swift as lightning, but before he could get close to the boulder...
The black-robed paper sword attendant, who had been silent all along, suddenly moved.
A thick, inky cloud of mist burst forth from the sleeve of the black-robed paper sword attendant, completely engulfing the azure dragon.
Zhao Wujiu's proud sword intent dissolved completely the moment it came into contact with the karmic demonic energy, not even lasting half a breath.
Then, the black clouds transformed into a ten-zhang-long paper sword, which slashed through the air.
Zhao Wujiu's protective aura shattered inch by inch, and he screamed repeatedly, emitting whimpering sounds. He was directly cleaved into the depths of the yellow sand, his fate unknown.
This scene made the crowd, who had been charging forward frantically, feel a chill run down their spines and subconsciously slow down.
It seemed unbelievable that Zhao Wujiu, a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, couldn't even block a single move.
Tuoba Ye snorted coldly, a hint of apprehension flashing in his eyes, but his desire for the Taixu Demon Suppression Tower made it impossible for him to turn around and leave.
He commanded the winged bone dragon beneath his feet, letting out a deafening roar, and spewing out a gray dragon breath containing death energy, which enveloped the three people on the boulder.
"All beasts of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, charge with me!"
Led by the bone dragon, thousands of demonic beasts launched an attack like a black tsunami.
At this moment, the white-robed servant with the paper sword stepped forward.
A pure and flawless, righteous sword intent erupted from his body.
The white mist, like a spring rain, gently enveloped the hundreds of demonic beasts at the forefront.
The monsters touched by the white mist did not bleed or struggle.
Their eyes, once filled with endless slaughter, were replaced by peace and tranquility, and then their enormous bodies turned into nothingness and dust amidst a sacred chant.
This chilling method of salvation is more despairing than direct killing.
In the distant pile of rubble.
Qi Da and Sun San dug a pit several meters deep and huddled inside like two mice, shivering as they observed the battle outside through a very narrow crack in the ground.
"Big brother, is second brother a human or a ghost? Are those two henchmen monsters crawled out of hell?"
Sun San was terrified and trembled all over.
He watched as the group of arrogant sect prodigies outside fell one after another at the feet of the Blood Swordsman and the two Faceless Men, like harvesting wheat, and felt as if the whole world had gone mad.
"Shut up, don't make a sound."
Qi Da covered Sun San's mouth tightly, his voice trembling.
He originally thought he had taken advantage of Mo Lao Er, but now he realized that he, like the tens of thousands of so-called elites outside, was just a group of pitiful worms being played with by that monster called Mo Lao Er.
And less than ten miles from the edge of the battlefield.
The Guixu Sect's troops were stationed behind a sheltered sand dune.
Zhou Tianqi crossed his arms inside his wide sleeves, his gaze fixed intently on the blood and flesh.
"Senior Brother, are we really not going to intervene? If we keep killing like this, the elite forces in Meteor Abyss will be wiped out."
One of the disciples standing next to Zhou Tianqi spoke up.
Zhou Tianqi shook his head, his tone indifferent: "Make a move? Go and fight to the death with three monsters whose backgrounds are unknown and whose methods of killing are so unpredictable?"
Zhou Tianqi's eyes gleamed. He put his hands behind his back and said in a deep voice, "The person who spread this message never intended for everyone to go in. He just threw a bloody bone here to lure all the vicious dogs into tearing each other apart. We, the Guixu Sect, will never be that kind of dog wagging its tail and begging for mercy. Pass down the order: everyone retreat thirty miles and set up an impenetrable fortress. Just observe; do not participate in the battle."
On another high ground not far from the Guixu Sect.
Nangong Yue, Shen Youwei, and Su Hongxiu of the Liuyun Sect were hiding beneath a huge monster skeleton, watching the terrifying carnage unfold.
"Could that faceless man in white robes be using our Flowing Cloud Sect's Myriad Transformations Sword Technique?"
Su Hongxiu was astonished as she watched the white-robed paper sword servant summon clouds and mist to annihilate the demonic beast. She pondered the matter.
"Impossible. Even the sect leader hasn't reached that level of effortless mastery; how could a rogue cultivator possibly have such a powerful assistant!"
Nangong Yue's face turned pale, and she forcefully denied it.
But her intuition told her that the sword intent emanating from the man in white did indeed carry the purest and most righteous spirit of the Flowing Cloud Sect.
Looking at the arrogant and domineering Blood Swordsman standing on the boulder, Shen Youwei felt a strange and absurd sense of disbelief.
For some reason, that ruthless killer from the Demonic Sect, and those two incredibly powerful faceless guards...
Despite being at the heart of the carnage, she felt as if an unseen puppeteer was calmly manipulating everything from behind the scenes.
The image of the puppeteer gradually overlapped in her mind with that carefree junior brother who waved a tattered folding fan.
No, how could that be?
Junior Brother Changsheng had clearly fallen into the underground cave and had no chance of survival.
Shen Youwei shook her head frantically in her mind, trying to dispel this far-fetched idea.
Just as she was finding her own thoughts amusing, a blurry figure was slowly coalescing deep within her consciousness, without her even realizing it…
……
At the most intense and brutal moment of the war outside.
Deep within the underground space of Meteorite Abyss.
Gu Yan suddenly opened his eyes.
His pupils were no longer simply black and white, but flashed with a dazzling seven-colored light.
That is the core law of the Taixu Immortal Tower.
A powerful storm of spiritual energy exploded outwards from him, blasting several floating rocks weighing tens of thousands of kilograms into dust.
"It's done."
Gu Yan stood up, clenched his fist, and felt the unprecedented surge of power within his body.
After merging with the fragments of the Great Void, the massive spatial energy nourished his meridians and Qi Sea.
The cultivation bottleneck that had blocked him for a year was also broken, allowing him to successfully enter the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.
Moreover, his paper-crafting supernatural power and spatial laws have been perfectly integrated, giving rise to a terrifying new ability called spatial folding.
Gu Yan probed his divine sense into the Meteorite Token belonging to Mo Lao Er at his waist.
Due to the massacre in the outside world, the points on the Meteorite Token have reached an unprecedented number: 36,000 points.
This number has far surpassed Zhou Tianqi, who was previously in first place, and firmly secured the top spot.
In short, as long as you don't die and survive until the Eastern Continent Grand Competition ends in 3 days, you can lock in all the rewards for first place in this competition and also obtain a fragment of the Taixu Demon Suppression Tower.
Now that the show has come to this point, it's time to wrap it up.
If he continues to kill, those Nascent Soul stage monsters from those super sects will probably break through the secret realm and rush in to fight him to the death.
Gu Yan unfolded the tattered folding fan in his hand with a whoosh.
He had already absorbed the fragments of the void, and the underground space, having lost the support of its core energy, was collapsing at a visible speed.
The surrounding starry illusion shattered, revealing the thick black rock layer outside.
Gu Yan smiled slightly, feeling it was time for their Flowing Cloud Sect's true disciple, Gu Changsheng, to miraculously survive.
He quickly formed a sword incantation with both hands, and the power of the spatial laws within his body surged.
The void before him transformed into a fragile sheet of paper, which he easily folded, revealing a spatial rift leading directly to the edge of the desolate wasteland.
Gu Yan placed Mo Lao Er's jade pendant into the deepest part of his storage ring, then ruffled his hair, cut several realistic slits in the black Taoist robe, and professionally smeared mud and ash on his face.
In a disheveled state, he plunged headfirst into the spatial rift.
A perfect tale of possession and resurrection is about to unfold, bringing Gu Yan's perfect farewell.