Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 288 The Witch Clan Comes to the Door
When Zhao Yifu returned to Baiyun Mountain, he encountered Li Wenqing lingering in front of the gate.

He stepped forward and greeted him, "Brother Yunzheng, what brings you here?"

Li Wenqing looked at Zhao Yifu with a mournful expression and said, "Master was worried that you were going too far, so he specifically sent me to remind you to know when to stop."

Zhao Yifu looked bewildered for a moment and asked, "Where...did I go too far?"

Li Wenqing was at a loss for words.

Finally, he could only sigh and say, "I guess it's because Master wasn't prepared to give you a reward, so he wants you to wait a little longer for His Venerable One."

Zhao Yifu: ...

This was truly a reason he hadn't anticipated.

No, what did he do wrong by diligently completing the task?
Zhao Yifu asked in bewilderment, "Venerable Youquan has existed for countless years. Wouldn't it be enough to give him just a tiny bit of what he has accumulated over these years as a reward? Why wasn't he prepared?"

Li Wenqing was also completely baffled by this, and could only guess: "Perhaps the void is barren."

Zhao Yifu felt there was a tiny bit of truth to it, but not much.

The void is indeed barren, but its dark energy is boundless.

With so much power capable of creating all things, you can do whatever you want.

But when people told him to slow down, he couldn't do anything about it and could only say, "Okay, then I won't go out for now."

"I'll go talk to the Witch Clan when Your Excellency is ready."

Li Wenqing sighed, then felt somewhat ashamed for his master.

He also began to have doubts. If things continued like this, would his master be able to control this virtuous brother Junxin?

I'm afraid not...

Li Wenqing began to feel worried.

He was terrified that his master would be killed by Zhao Yifu.

In any case, the forces under Youquan's command are already feeling like they're half-paralyzed.

The Eight Demon Lords are basically crippled; they are either dead or have betrayed the cause, making it impossible for them to complete the mission assigned by Youquan.

Of course, they were originally only supposed to complete some relatively simple tasks; things like contacting the dragons or witches would never have been assigned to them.

But now, even the most basic administrative abilities of the Eight Demon Lords are almost gone.

The organizations other than the Eight Demon Lords were originally used for intelligence gathering and expanding their network.

But now this peripheral organization has almost become Zhao Yifu's exclusive service department... searching the world for rare and precious materials to see if they can meet Zhao Yifu's reward requirements.

I finally managed to summon a Ten Thousand Souls Banner a while ago, and now I have to prepare things for Zhao Yifu... It's really worrying me to death.

Zhao Yifu bid farewell to Li Wenqing and returned to Baiyun Mountain feeling relieved.

When he returned to the mountain, he saw Ah Chou standing in front of a group of cats, puffing out his chest and meowing. Then, when he came back, Ah Chou gave him a look of surprise and disgust...

What do you mean? You think he came back too early?
Yes, Ah Chou hasn't had enough fun yet.

Zhao Yifu reached out and picked up Ah Chou, rubbing and kneading her until she lay limp and soft like a snow-white quilt.

Then he met his grandmaster Xuandu, but Master Zhang was no longer there.

He said, "Grandmaster, Youquan can't afford to give me a reward right now. Please wait."

"How come He, a powerful being at the level of an ancestral god, is so poor?"

He was truly unrestrained in his criticism of his own grandmaster.

Xuan Du smiled and said, "Because there really is nothing in the dark void."

"To be able to generate primordial chaos from such empty darkness is truly a great blessing."

"In fact, the teacher once suspected that Youquan's consciousness could only gradually emerge when the primordial chaos was born."

"Because when chaos appeared, the River of Darkness was nothingness, without any concept of existence."

Zhao Yifu listened with great longing and said, "Then is the ultimate goal of us cultivators to go to the River of Darkness?"

Xuandu said irritably, "Do you want to return to nothingness?"

Zhao Yifu quickly shook his head.

Xuandu said, "The way of cultivation is to follow the trend of adversity."

"Those who follow the natural order observe the development of all things and precede all things."

“Those who go against the grain trace back to the source and understand the principles of nature.”

"The Dark River is the source, but what we need to pursue is the principle of the source, not the state of returning to the source. Do you understand?"

Zhao Yifu nodded to indicate that he understood.

Then Xuandu added, "This Nether Spring is pitiful. In the dark void, there is nothing but endless dark energy. It can't offer you anything of value."

"But in other words, if you were to actually receive something... it would undoubtedly be an extraordinary treasure."

Zhao Yifu also became hopeful; if that were the case, he would make a fortune.

Since that's the case, let's just wait and see what surprises Boss Youquan will bring us.

However, he still said with some concern, "It's just that Venerable Youquan always hides some personal items in the things he gives, and I'm really worried."

Xuan Du pondered for a moment and said, "Don't worry, I will find a way to remind you when the time comes."

Zhao Yifu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, thinking to himself that his master was indeed reliable.

He waited with a clear conscience.

This wait, however, caused misfortune to ordinary cultivators in the celestial realm.

The witch clan members, who had been living in seclusion in the secret realm, all rushed out, each one acting arrogantly and domineeringly, searching everywhere for news of the three people who had fought that day.

Many people know about the monkey and Yang Jian, but fewer people know about Zhao Yifu.

But the Wu tribe happened to choose Zhao Yifu, and in no time, Zhao Yifu's reputation as the "Sword-wielding Mad Scholar" became well-known.

Zhao Yifu's list of strange and unusual names has grown even more.

Later, the fact that Zhao Yifu single-handedly destroyed the Sword Immortal Alliance was also brought to light, and his reputation became famous, with a strange prefix added to him: Mad Demon Swordsman.

So the Wu tribe finally found Baiyun Mountain after inquiring around, and stormed up the mountain to take Zhao Yifu away.

The problem is, they were disgusted by the illusion array of Baiyun Mountain.

Is this illusion array something a decent person would create?
Various incomprehensible circuits overlapped in this illusion array. The Wu Clan was already most afraid of illusions because they did not cultivate the primordial spirit, and now they had come to this illusion array that even top array masters could not understand, which was a real headache.

However, despite their already volatile tempers, these witches all acted with remarkable restraint.

Since no one could enter this illusion array anyway, people kept coming in and trying to enter it.

They seemed determined to achieve their goal no matter what.

Zhao Yifu felt annoyed just looking at it from Baiyun Mountain. He wanted to speed up the progress of this mission, but he had to stop and wait for Boss Youquan. Otherwise, if he completed the mission but Youquan didn't give him the reward, wouldn't that be embarrassing?

However, the unreasonable Wu tribe would not let Zhao Yifu have an easy time. They continued to send people, each one tall and large, taking up a large area wherever they stood, as if they wanted to fill his entire hillside.

Then something even more outrageous happened: a tall, rugged-looking barbarian woman dressed in animal skins arrived at the foot of the mountain. Without a word, she suddenly unleashed a burst of intense blood energy, and her body swelled up, revealing herself as a giant bird with nine phoenix heads.

The true form of the nine-headed giant bird pressed down on Baiyun Mountain, its massive size completely ignoring the illusion array on the mountain and crushing it to pieces. Then, the nine heads, intertwined, appeared on the summit of Baiyun Mountain, their eighteen large eyes staring fiercely at Zhao Yifu.

Zhao Yifu felt a chill run down his spine and felt indignant.

He exclaimed, "What kind of demon came from, daring to disrupt my sacred site!"

He didn't feel particularly regretful, after all, the illusion array around him was just a practice piece, and he could just make another one if it broke.

However, this enormous body has destroyed the entire landscape of Baiyun Mountain, which is quite troublesome. But facing such a terrifying existence...

Zhao Yifu originally didn't have any 'megalophobia', but this thing was truly terrifying.

When this huge thing appeared at the foot of the mountain, he began to accumulate dark source power in his body.

Dark energy gushed from the source of darkness within his spiritual aperture, gathering and accumulating within his body. This dark energy was difficult to store; once it entered this world, it would quickly dissipate and merge into the Three Realms.

Therefore, it is impossible to accumulate them on a regular basis; they are only used when needed.

What effect would it have if a certain amount of dark source power were accumulated and then unleashed all at once?
Zhao Yifu didn't know.

When he was consistently dealing damage, he was able to fight alongside Monkey King and Yang Jian without being at a disadvantage.

As for now...

The nine phoenix heads spoke in unison: "Follow me."

Zhao Yifu released all the dark source power he had accumulated, and then poured it all into his body, causing his body to undergo an exaggerated and extreme enhancement.

Under this enhancement, Zhao Yifu's body began to swell uncontrollably.

This power filled every corner of his body, and then caused his body to begin to change in the way he wanted.

His body expanded to its limit, and his body became incredibly large.

Soon, a giant ape-man appeared, squatting on the hilltop.

Clearly, the infiltration of this power activated certain ancient factors hidden in his bloodline, causing his appearance to revert to its ancestral form.

This was the appearance of the first generation of humans, causing the Nine Phoenixes, who had transformed into a nine-headed giant bird, to tremble and almost lose their footing.

Because Zhao Yifu's transformation into the appearance of the progenitor human, especially this giant form, is too similar to the ancestral god in her inherited memories!

Even Xuan Du, who was almost stomped on by Zhao Yifu, widened his eyes upon seeing this. He never expected that Zhao Yifu would create such an awesome form for him.

Zhao Yifu, in his ancestral human form, roared and shouted, "Get out!"

Jiufeng did not move.

Or rather, before she could even move, Zhao Yifu [the progenitor] slapped her, knocking one of the bird's heads askew.

Then the two behemoths began to fight amidst a deafening roar.

Zhao Yifu [the progenitor] is now a numerical monster; his power is so fierce that it can split mountains and shatter the earth.

What's even more terrifying is that Zhao Yifu can incorporate the martial arts skills he learned since childhood into it.

That would be really creepy.

He grabbed one of Jiu Feng's heads and was about to twist it off.

But at that moment, the nine bird heads simultaneously spewed out extremely cold profound energy, freezing the mountains surrounding Zhao Yifu. Even the once fiery Liaoshan was frozen, instantly turning it into an ice field.

This Nine Phoenix is ​​the greatest witch below the Ancestral Witch, the younger sister of the Ancestral Witch Qiangliang, and also inherited the Xuanming witchcraft. Therefore, the Xuanming cold energy is icy cold and is the coldest power in the world.

Suddenly, the weather turned bitterly cold, and all things fell silent. Every living thing withered in the chill. The deadly winter enveloped Liaoshan for the first time.

Seeing that Liaocheng, not far away, was about to be affected, Zhao Yifu

With a roar, he unleashed a surge of pure yang demonic fire that dispelled the surrounding yin and yang energy as much as possible.

This time, the demonic fire was not meant to destroy, but rather to protect—to protect the mountains and lands he knew so well.

Therefore, although this demonic fire was equally intense, it also possessed a unique warmth and charm characteristic of celestial fire.

Zhao Yifu was initially unaware, and simply used his immense power to crash into the body of the Nine Phoenix True Form, pushing it all the way into the depths of Liaoshan.

But then he gradually realized that this was exactly the 'civil and martial fire' that he had been trying to comprehend.

It turns out this wasn't about separating the fires of literature and martial arts, but rather about 'when the Daoist heart is unified, literature and martial arts unite!'

At this point, there was no need to distinguish between demonic fire and immortal fire; it was simply Zhao Yifu's 'fire of the mind'.

Xuandu saw this scene from afar, nodded slightly and sighed, "This is truly a genius, the destiny of our Human Sect is not yet over."

The two colossal creatures then engaged in a fierce battle deep within Liaoshan.

The battle raged so fiercely that the heavens and earth trembled.

Volcanoes erupted even more terrifyingly.

However, due to Jiufeng's Xuanming witchcraft, the erupting volcano was quickly frozen, thus suppressing the pressure that should have erupted, causing a continuous rumbling sound from beneath the earth's veins, as if the sky and earth were about to collapse at any moment.

Zhao Yifu knew this wouldn't work, but he used the advantages of his position as a mountain god to stomp on the ground, releasing the pressure accumulated in the earth with each step, which also became a means of attacking Jiufeng.

Pillars of magma shot into the sky and slammed into Jiufeng's body, causing her to stumble and fall.

The collision of magma and primordial energy produced a large amount of steam, creating a hazy atmosphere in the surrounding area.

At this moment, Zhao Yifu felt the dark source power accumulated in his body being rapidly depleted, and he was about to lose his 'ancestor' state.

However, seeing this situation, he simply changed his approach.

His body shrank rapidly, returning to its original size.

At the same time, he used the 'Mirage Secret Technique'.

In the mist, he created a very chaotic yet realistic scene, making Jiufeng believe that she was still fighting Zhao Yifu.

Zhao Yifu, on the other hand, had already returned to his original state and then pondered for a moment...

'Like a Dream of Immortal Travel' was modified, and then he suddenly appeared in front of Jiu Feng and cast an unprecedented illusion.

He made Jiufeng believe that she was in a dream.

And indeed, in his dazed state, his consciousness was pulled into a dream and sent into the dream world.

Then Zhao Yifu himself created a dream avatar and entered Jiufeng's dream to try to trap her within the dream.

Outside, the previously volatile nine-headed giant bird gradually calmed down.

The nine-headed bird lowered its head and lay prone on the ground, seemingly fast asleep.

Zhao Yifu let out a long sigh of relief, thinking to himself that he might have found the weakness of the Wu tribe.

'Dream Building and Bewitching Gods' is the name of the illusion technique newly developed by Zhao Yifu.

The principle is to confuse the opponent with the dream world, making them doubt themselves, thinking, "Am I dreaming?" At this moment, he can seize the opportunity to truly bring their consciousness into the dream world and generate a dream.

Next comes the matter of guiding the dream. As long as his dream realm spirit guides the dream well, the person under the spell can even fall into a permanent slumber.

Of course, this illusion technique is not very effective against those with strong primordial spirits. In any case, Zhao Yifu was not confident that he could imprison someone like the Pure Yang Ancestor in the dream world.

However, this secret technique might be an absolute suppression for the Wu Clan.

(End of this chapter)