Shushan Earthly Immortal

Chapter 324 Curse-Slaying Fire Sword, Four Edicts and One Song (5K+, please vote at the beginning of the month~)

Cheng Xinzhan transformed into a fiery rainbow and sped through the Dragon Cave. He suddenly discovered that in such a complex cave, the "Heavenly Light Rainbow Technique" was particularly useful for traveling – there was no need to worry about the road suddenly narrowing, no need to worry about crashing into stone bells or pillars, and no need to worry about arrows flying out from a side road and injuring people. He could just keep speeding along.

That's why Cheng Xinzhan quickly arrived at Lu Linqing's location. This was also a huge cave, and Lu Linqing had been forced there by Lie Xingye.

Cheng Xinzhan was not surprised, because Lie Xingye was at the Fourth Realm, and regardless of the lineage, entering the Fourth Realm would elevate one's understanding of Void Magic to a new level. In a narrow passage, the space for maneuvering would be limited, greatly reducing the effectiveness of Void Magic, and the Demon King would naturally not choose to give up this huge advantage.

At this moment, Cheng Xinzhan also saw the so-called Nascent Soul spirit body of the Demon King in the cave.

This nascent soul is not in the infant form at the time of conception. In fact, after the pregnancy is full-term, the appearance of the nascent soul is a reflection of the mind, just like the appearance of the primordial spirit. For most people, they will unconsciously transform the appearance of their primordial spirit and nascent soul into their youth or their most successful and fulfilling time.

When the primordial spirit or nascent soul leaves the body, its size will naturally change. Or rather, it doesn't actually change. It's just that when it's in the acupoint, the primordial spirit and nascent soul are like Mount Sumeru hidden in a mustard seed, appearing very small, but in reality, they are the same size as the physical body. When it leaves the body and returns to the world, it returns to its original size.

For example, this Five Poisons Heavenly King's nascent soul was the size of an adult, and judging from his appearance, he was no less ordinary; he was the old demon in his youth, a handsome man. The old demon used his magic to conjure a black robe with five insects on it, which gave him an extremely sinister aura, a stark contrast to his aged and emaciated physical body when he escaped.

Besides their appearance, there is another significant difference between the nascent soul and the physical body: the nascent soul has no shadow. At this moment, the cave was filled with flashing magical light, and Lu Linqing and the lion were rapidly moving through the air. Their shadows appeared in various places on the cave walls. Although they were very bright, they were still clearly visible, but the Five Poison Heavenly King was nowhere to be seen.

At this moment, Lie Xingye used his escape technique to traverse the void, his nascent soul's ability to appear and disappear without a trace making him seem like a ghost. This demon wielded a sharp spear, sometimes appearing behind Lu Linqing to stab him in the back, sometimes appearing in front of Lu Linqing to stab him in the brow.

Fortunately, Lu Linqing possessed a protective magic treasure, a jade exquisite ball, which had the ability to automatically protect its master. It was not visible in normal times, nor when Lu Linqing dodged or parried the demon's spear. It would only suddenly appear when he was truly unable to withstand the attack and the demon's spear was about to pierce his body, thus blocking the blow for its master.

However, the Jade Exquisite Orb flashed almost every second, demonstrating the demon's unpredictable appearance and cunning attacks. In other words, without this protective magic treasure, Lu Linqing's physical body would have been pierced to pieces in that short time.

Furthermore, each time the old demon swung his spear, the spearhead pierced through the void with a sharp whistle, and when it struck the Jade Exquisite Ball, it produced a clanging sound, creating a cacophony of clanging and clashing. Under such an onslaught, cracks began to appear on this rare magical artifact, the Jade Exquisite Ball, which could protect its owner on its own.

This is because the spear in the old demon's hand was just an ordinary item that he had reforged after escaping. If his Five Poison Thorn, which he had always kept by his side and nurtured, were still there, the Jade Exquisite Ball would probably have been destroyed long ago.

Of course, Lu Linqing was not a useless scarecrow. He wielded a flying sword, but the end of the sword was curved into an eagle's beak shape, which could also be called a flying hook, somewhat similar in style to his master's "Jade-Breaking Hook".

Cheng Xinzhan had heard Lu Linqing say that this treasure was called "Lieque Hook," an ancient relic that Miechenzi had obtained from an ancient ruin. It possessed the ability to break through the void and escape through space, and he had given it to Cheng Xinzhan. At this moment, under Lu Linqing's control, the flying hook was also flashing and shuttling through the void, chasing after the old demon.

As everyone knows, protective treasures are far more difficult to forge and far rarer than offensive treasures. Lie Xingye originally possessed a protective magic treasure called the Five Poisons Armor, which he had nurtured from a low level to a high level. It was a secret magic treasure of the Five Poisons Sect, but it was taken away when the Old Demon was sealed away. The Old Demon had been freed for less than ten years; he could forge a barely usable spear, but he was unable to forge a usable protective treasure.

At this moment, the ancient treasure "Lieque Hook" flew through the void, its sword trajectory unpredictable. Each time it grazed the old demon, it could cut a ray of spiritual light from his nascent soul. Therefore, relying on the advantage of the magic weapon, Lu Linqing was able to fight the demonic path to a standstill, and was not completely overwhelmed and unable to fight back.

On the other side, the lion was trapped by five poisonous insects: a snake, a scorpion, a centipede, a bee, and a spider.

Black water snakes spewing cold mist, red-headed centipedes spitting fire smoke, glittering white jade scorpions swishing their tails, tiger-striped green bees the size of jackals endlessly shooting wooden spikes, and earth-yellow six-eyed spiders leaping back and forth on the cave walls, weaving webs in the void, occasionally opening their mouths to spew out earth and sand.

These five poisonous insects actually all seem to have a cultivation level of around 3000!
It's really strange. Lie Xingye has only been out of danger for a short time. How could he have cultivated five such high-level poisonous insects so quickly?

Moreover, Cheng Xinzhan immediately recognized that these five insects were significant, embodying all five elements. They flew rapidly through the void, their attacks swift and powerful, their advances and retreats measured, and they even subtly formed a five-element formation, forcing the lion to retreat continuously, seemingly about to be trapped in the venomous web woven by the six-eyed yellow spider.

"burn!"

Cheng Xinzhan made a hand seal and pointed it at the poisonous net behind the lion.

At this moment, there was no need to hold back any longer. Golden Yang Fire ignited from the void and fell onto the poisonous net.

"call!"

Poisonous substances are excellent kindling for yang fire, igniting easily. When the yang fire landed on the poisonous net, it immediately began to burn rapidly, forcing all five poisons back.

The lion immediately reacted, took a few steps in the air, jumped out of the encirclement of the five insects, and came to Cheng Xinzhan's side.

"You came!"

Lu Linqing naturally saw it too and shouted happily.

Then he saw the blazing, golden flames and exclaimed in delight,
"Yang Fire! You said you had a method to suppress the Five Poisons. I thought it was the lightning magic you just used. It turns out you also know Yang Fire. What a wonderful method!"

Upon seeing this, the Five Poisons King's face immediately turned cold, and he was filled with even more astonishment and suspicion. He recognized Lu Linqing; he was the disciple of the Killing Star, Mie Chenzi, who had reached the pinnacle of the Three Realms. But who was this person before him? He had killed the dragon worm he had raised for so long, and while his mastery of thunder magic was one thing, how could he also wield Yang Fire?
In fact, Cheng Xinzhan was present when the demon escaped, but at that time the demon was in a state of smugness and did not pay close attention to the people present, nor did he have any impression of Cheng Xinzhan. Later, after Cheng Xinzhan underwent the second Dan Tribulation, he rarely made a move in Xikang, so it was normal for the demon not to recognize him.

At this moment, although the Five Insects feared the Yang Fire, the Five Poisons King himself was also annoyed by it and did not want to fight it. Moreover, the Five Insects could be reborn after they died, but he had already destroyed his physical body and dared not lose his spirit again. Therefore, the demon made a decision: kill Lu Linqing first, and then deal with this nameless person slowly.

So, at the demon's command, the poisonous insects leaped through the air once more, swooping down on Cheng Xinzhan.

Cheng Xinzhan remained completely calm. While others might struggle to cope with the Five Elements and Five Poisons, he was an expert in the Five Elements and a natural counter to the Five Insects.

Therefore, upon seeing the five insects flying towards him, he remained calm and composed. He raised his hand and first summoned his flying sword, "Moon Soul." Moon Soul is the master of the Seven Yin, feeding on the five poisonous insects. Because of its cold and yin nature, it is especially effective against fire poison. Therefore, Cheng Xinzhan piloted the flying sword to first stab at the red-headed centipede that was spewing smoke and fire.

This centipede was ferocious, with a black body and a red head, and looked somewhat similar to the dragon centipede. However, it did not have dragon blood in its body and was just an ordinary insect. It was far from being as long as the dragon centipede, which was dozens of feet long.

The flying sword moved with incredible speed, emitting a beam of icy divine light that struck the fire centipede directly, instantly suppressing the thick smoke and poison. The fire centipede, possessing its current level of power, was naturally quite intelligent and was startled, quickly twisting to dodge the flying sword. However, its hasty dodge created a flaw in the Five Elements Mutual Generation Array formed by the five insects.

"Moon Soul" was full of spirituality and went to chase the fire centipede. Cheng Xinzhan no longer paid attention to it and looked at the tiger-striped green bee of the wood element. The poisonous bee instantly shot out nine foot-long wooden spikes, which flew over like short spears. Moreover, the arrangement was very particular, blocking Cheng Xinzhan's escape routes in all directions.

"escape!"

Cheng Xinzhan made a hand seal and used the "Heavenly Light Transformation Rainbow Technique" again. His whole body dispersed into a ball of blue flames and flew towards the poisonous bees.

Nine wooden spikes pierced through the fire and were quickly ignited by the flames. Cheng Xinzhan transformed into a streak of blue light and crashed head-on into the blue bee.

The green bee was then set ablaze, emitting a mournful buzzing sound.

It is fire within wood.

"burn!"

After lighting the green bee, Huo Hong transformed back into human form. Cheng Xinzhan made a hand seal, and another crimson flame descended from the sky, landing on the Six-Eyed Yellow Spider.

"call!"

Flames roared up.

The six-eyed yellow spider hissed, opened its mouth and spat out a stream of earth and sand, which landed on itself, attempting to extinguish the flames. Using earth to extinguish fire—the six-eyed yellow spider's idea wasn't wrong. Although earth's ability to control fire wasn't as swift as water's, it still conformed to the principles of the five elements' generation and destruction.

However, covering fire with soil is for ordinary earth fire. The soil and sand of the poisonous spider cannot be said to be ordinary, but it is not particularly rare either. However, the fire that Cheng Xinzhan put on the poisonous spider is quite different. The flames burned even more fiercely after the soil and sand were covered on it!

It's like a spark from a rock!
In just three rounds, the fire centipede, wood bee, and earth spider were powerless to fight back.

Fire overcomes metal, and the golden scorpion, seeing this situation, immediately became terrified and retreated instead of advancing.

Whether the venomous snake reacted too slowly or thought that water could overcome fire, it maintained its offensive, spitting out a blast of cold mist and opening its mouth to bite.

"burn!"

Cheng Xinzhan chanted the incantation again, and the fire of the sun fell on the cold mist, quickly igniting and burning directly onto the poisonous snake along with the mist.

"Yunlai, so you're an expert at arson! Hahaha!"

On the other side, Lu Linqing, who had been keeping an eye on the area, burst into laughter.

The Five Poisons King's face was naturally grim. He hadn't even had a chance to unleash the full power of his five insects before the Taoist priest had defeated him as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

A ruthless glint flashed in the demon's eyes. With a thought, the hesitant golden scorpion seemed to be controlled, transforming into a golden light and charging towards Cheng Xinzhan.

Cheng Xinzhan clearly saw fear filling the golden scorpion's eyes, as if it were powerless to resist, and the magical energy fluctuations around the scorpion began to change drastically. As the saying goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire," and seeing the venomous insect's posture, Cheng Xinzhan immediately realized that this demonic creature might be about to self-destruct! Therefore, he didn't try to take the hit head-on, nor did he transform into a rainbow; instead, he chose to fly backward, pointing at the approaching golden scorpion and chanting,
"trap!"

With Cheng Xinzhan's current mastery of the void, casting this spell was quite different from before. The void seemed to collapse, and the golden scorpion was trapped in the void swamp, unable to break free. As a result, the despair in the poisonous insect's eyes deepened.

"boom!"

A loud bang, blood mist flew everywhere, and the cave trembled.

The poisonous insect truly did self-destruct, and its golden core and physical body collapsed together, with immense power. Ripples spread through the void from the insect's core, extending in all directions. Cheng Xinzhan, being nearby, was the first to be affected.

"Disperse!"

Gazing at the ripples in the void, Cheng Xinzhan pointed forward and recited another incantation.

Then, the void before him, like a wrinkled cloth, was forcibly smoothed out at this moment. Only the surging air waves had not yet subsided and continued to blow, causing Cheng Xinzhan's robes to billow and flutter.

But that's it.

"Imperial edict to suppress!"

"Ban by imperial decree!"

"Imperial Conferment!"

"By imperial decree!"

The deafening roar of the golden scorpion's self-destruction had not yet subsided and was still echoing in the cave, but Cheng Xinzhan's shout immediately followed, drowning out the noise. He chanted four incantations in succession, pointing in four directions, and the incantations landed on the remaining four insects respectively.

The four demonic insects froze for a moment.

Now, the old demon is trapped like a turtle in a jar. He's so desperate he's capable of anything. If he were to control four Golden Core Realm poisonous insects to self-destruct, that would be a real problem.

The four demonic insects were briefly imprisoned by the curse, while the void ripples caused by the golden scorpion's self-destruction did not distinguish between friend and foe. Cheng Xinzhan used the "Disperse" spell to dispel the ripples surging towards him, but the other four poisonous insects did not have such means and were also imprisoned and unable to move, so they truly suffered a wave of impact.

At the same time, Cheng Xinzhan could only maintain the spell binding the four Golden Core Poisonous Insects for two breaths, but that was enough.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, fire in the air, fire in the stone, and fire in the wood suddenly erupted, burning fiercely and crackling loudly. The "Moon Soul" flying sword burst forth with dazzling sword light, piercing the poisonous insects.

Two breaths later, the curse dissipated, but the four poisonous insects had also lost their life force and fell to the ground without a sound.

Upon seeing this result, even Lu Linqing and Lie Xingye, who were engaged in battle, were momentarily stunned.

Is this how you fight a three-realm opponent? Isn't it too shocking?

Cheng Xinzhan glanced down. The wood bees, water snakes, and earth spiders had been burned to ashes, leaving only three golden cores. The fire centipede had been gutted by the flying sword, its flesh and blood scattered on the ground. He stared at the pool of blood, his gaze sharpening as he discovered a human head among the centipede's organs.

A broken and blurry human head, but upon closer inspection, one can still vaguely make out the human features—it was none other than the Five Poisons King.

It turned out to be the case.

Cheng Xinzhan looked at the Five Poisons Heavenly King's nascent soul. It turned out that this demon had fed his destroyed physical body to the five poisonous insects! No wonder there were suddenly five poisonous insects at the Third Washing Realm. Even though this demon was old and his physical body was dead, it was still a Fourth Realm body, more than enough to summon several poisonous insects.

However, this devil is really ruthless to himself.

Having confirmed that the four insects were completely dead, Cheng Xinzhan felt a little relieved, but at that moment, his legs went weak, his body swayed in the air, and he almost fell.

The continuous use of lightning spells, burning spells, and forbidden spells to instantly kill six Golden Core Realm poisonous insects also greatly depleted Cheng Xinzhan's magical power. At that moment, even he felt a little exhausted.

The lion, which had been following Cheng Xinzhan, immediately flew to his side to support him upon seeing the situation.

Cheng Xinzhan also took the opportunity to fall onto the lion's back.

Not far away, the Five Poisons King also noticed this scene. At this moment, Lu Linqing's Jade Exquisite Ball was covered with cracks and seemed to be about to shatter with the next blow. However, a glint flashed in the Demon King's eyes, and he stopped his attack on Lu Linqing. He then swung his spear and shot it towards Cheng Xinzhan.

The spear had barely left the Five Poisons King's hand when it disappeared into the void, like a fish entering water, vanishing without a trace.

"Roar--"

The lion, carrying Cheng Xinzhan, was extremely vigilant. Seeing that the spear had disappeared, it opened its mouth and roared in the direction where the spear had vanished.

The lion unleashed its supernatural power, and its roar stirred up ripples in the void, causing the spear to spring forth from the void once more. In that instant, the spear had already covered most of the distance between Cheng Xinzhan and Lie Xingye, now standing no more than three zhang away from Cheng Xinzhan.

But at the same time, the "Moon Soul" flying sword, which had already killed the fire centipede, had returned to Cheng Xinzhan's side. Upon seeing the spear, it flew towards it without Cheng Xinzhan needing to perform any hand seals.

"Ding!"

A crisp symphony.

The combined power of the Four Realms was still somewhat overwhelming for "Moon Soul," which was protecting its master. After the collision, it was sent flying back. However, "Moon Soul" was forged by the Long-Browed Immortal before his ascension to immortality, and now, without anyone to control it, it possessed substance but lacked power. On the other hand, the demon's spear was empowered by the magic of the Four Realms, but its own origin was too low, making it powerful but lacking substance. When it collided head-on with "Moon Soul," the spear knocked "Moon Soul" away, but broke itself in two.

The Five Poison Kings were shocked and enraged, and were about to attack, but at that moment, amidst the echoes of the lion's roar, a new voice rang out:
"Alas—"

It's a whale song.

A whale song echoed from the Dragon Cave.

Thus, in the vast and interconnected Dragon Cave, covering tens of thousands of acres, spiritual energy from all directions seemed to obey orders, surging towards the Dragon Cave and stirring up another hurricane.

Cheng Xinzhan was the eye of this hurricane. The spiritual energy coming from all directions condensed into a white dragon-shaped mist in front of him, which he then inhaled.

The "Qi She" acupoint in the life palace possesses supernatural powers, including "whale inhalation".

The spiritual energy in the Dragon Cave was abundant, and Cheng Xinzhan felt his magical power recovering rapidly.

Upon seeing this, the Five Poisons King, who was about to make a move, abruptly stopped, glared hatefully at Cheng Xinzhan, and then fled into the void.

Upon seeing this, Lu Linqing immediately put away the Jade Exquisite Ball with a heavy heart and decided not to use it again. This was a rare self-protecting magic treasure. Although it was cracked beyond recognition, it could be repaired with time. If it were to shatter into pieces, there would be no way to fix it.

Then, he went to Cheng Xinzhan's side and asked,

"How are you?"

Cheng Xinzhan nodded and replied,

"I was a little exhausted just now, but I've recovered now."

Lu Linqing looked Cheng Xinzhan up and down and smiled.

"I really didn't expect you to have so many tricks up your sleeve! No wonder you dared to come and attack Zhuanxu Dragon Cave."

Cheng Xinzhan then returned.
"Linqing dragged that demon king along from beginning to end, that's truly impressive."

Lu Linqing smiled, and then said,
"Where do you think the Demon King went after suddenly leaving?"

Cheng Xinzhan answered without hesitation.

"The old demon initially wanted to divide and annihilate us, so he found the outer perimeter. Now that he knows this is unlikely to succeed, he must have returned to the central Dragon Palace. After all, he has not managed the outer perimeter. The central Dragon Cave is his lair, where there are many restrictions and poisonous insects. Moreover, it is a much larger place."

Cheng Xinzhan looked at Lu Linqing,
"Don't forget, he hasn't used his Dharma Form or Dao Domain yet."

Lu Linqing didn't take it seriously. After exchanging blows with the four realms, he became even bolder.

"Shall we go over there?"

"Let's go, let's finish this quickly, or things might change."

Cheng Xinzhan patted the lion and collected the four golden pills on the ground. He handed the two short spears to Lu Linqing. The weapons that the Four Realms carried with them couldn't be too bad.

Lu Linqing didn't refuse, took it, smiled, and said...
"We're knowingly heading into the tiger's den!"

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(End of this chapter)