The azure sword radiance struck Hong Di Immortal Town Lord, burning him to a crisp. But a wispy soul reminiscent of a straw doll emerged, entering the black coffin, whose lid slowly came undone, revealing a wooden figurine that slowly stood up. Countless roots, branches and brambles grew from it, transforming the surroundings itself.

"I underestimated you." Tian Gui snickered but was only met with a barrage of attacks from Hou Shu, turning myriad of his branches and brambles to ash.

Countless roots and branches regrew with great vitality, with several dozen sprouting in place of every burned one as if mocking Hou Shu's effort at extinguishing them, extinguishing this body. But they soon stopped, not sprouting a single branch more. This made what resembled a frown appear on the expressionless bark-like face of Tian Gui, "The Thousand Spirit Wisdom Bodhi Body is still incomplete, I shall deal with you with great swiftness, or else both this body and I will perish."

Amidst the branches and brambles, Tian Gui slowly raised his hand with great ease and clenched it into a fist, his actions opposite of his words. He punched out, nothing note than a light jab. But this light jab made countless illusory thorny vines materialize from thin air, which hurled themselves towards Hou Shu.

Hou Shu's heart palpitated from shock and disbelief. Those vines didn't consume anything to materialize, not even Spiritual Qi! But he didn't let his shock affect his actions in a battle, this he thrust out with his twin swords, sending countless needs of azure flames in the blink of an eye.

Alas, the instance the thorny vines and the needles of azure flames clashed, the thorny vines overwhelmed the flame needles without any resistance, instead they grew and increased in speed, striking Hou Shu before he could even raise his swords to block, sending him flying like a comet.

The vines fused together into the figure of Tian Gui, who struck down with his hand, which had morphed into a gargantuan claw.

Hou Shu's eyes gleamed as he rotated his body while mid-flight, using all the torque he could muster to send a sword radiance so powerful that it turned white from azure.

The rebound force resulting from the confrontation sent both Tian Gui and Hou Shu flying back.

Tian Gui's burnt claw regenerated but into one of human proportions. He clenched his claw into a fist, making an illusory wooden hand a dozen zhang tall appear and stopping him in his place.

"Petty tricks! Is that all you have?" Tian Gui snorted as he sat on the hand as if was his throne, but he soon looked down towards his chest, which was burnt to a crisp, turning almost into charcoal.

"To damage me is a remarkable achievement even before 'that' struck." Tian Gui remarked, one could feel the taunting smile, even though one could not see it on his expressionless bark-like face.

"Even though Thousand Spirit Wisdom Bodhi Body is incomplete and you got that woman's inheritance, you are truly the strongest of current times, for you have the strength of the Half-Immortal stage." Muttering this, Tian Gui appeared before Hou Shu in a flash with the illusory hand behind him, which broke apart into countless splinters, shooting toward Hou Shu like poison darts.

"Flame Ancient! I implore you! Raze the malignant and refine the true!" As Hou Shu chanted, countless talismans with the characters of "Fire" and "Protect" appeared before him, which arranged themselves in the shape of a divination compass, creating a great barrier made of the purest of flames.

But the splinters passed through without any resistance, as if they didn't exist in the same plane as they, and struck him.

These splinters had no great force and dissipated the moment they had contact with him. But these splinters made Hou Shu's head thump as if a great gong was repeatedly rung inside his Sea of Consciousness. These splinters were made of soul fragments, soul fragments of Tian Gui.

As the divination compass was fizzling out of existence, Hou Shu coughed out blood, essence blood, dying his goatee deep crimson and his face pale. Yet, his lips curled up into a smile, for despite Tian Gui's overwhelming might, his objective was completed.

Indeed, the area surrounding the coffin and Hou Shu was empty of any living beings, for Hou Shu closed the distance not to attack, but to put every living person in his life storage ring! A storage ring descending from the Immortal Realms!

But Tian Gui was calm as before as if nothing would faze him, leading him to only chuckle lightly, "You are that old hag's inheritor after all, of course, you have the ring."

"Now that your petty tricks are over, we should put an end to this for real." Saying this, Tian Gui flexed his wooden shoulders, making the branches and brambles behind his back crunch and twist and curl as they started to conjoin into one another, forming thousands of hands with ghastly faces on their palms, forming a grotesque rendition of a peacock's enchanting and elegant plumage.

Aiming for Hou Shu, These thousands of hands stretched out, with the faces on the palms letting out shrill wails capable of shaking even the walls of his Sea of Consciousness, rendering him immobile.

Hou Shu's eyes bled streams of blood as he willed the Azure and Crimson Flames in his Sea of Consciousness to turn into beams and pillars, supporting the walls and preventing them from shaking. But he didn't stop there, he started to chant, "Urgently! Six strings of Simings, Illusory Troops of the Flame Ancient, protect the spirit and the divine thoughts, go!"

Six strings made of crimson flames materialize and wrap around the flame pillars, supporting them firmly. Yet, it didn't end there as countless illusory soldiers emerged from the strings, who went and supported every beam and defended against the invasions of the wails.

These countermeasures granted him the ability to move once more as well as finally letting his Sea of Consciousness have a moment of respite.

Yet, his body and soul couldn't relax, for just as he dealt with his Sea of Consciousness, Hou Shu noticed that he was submerged by the hands, which were battering him, dealing grave injuries to both his body and soul.

This made Hou Shu grit his teeth as he let out his Nascent Soul despite the risks. As expected by Hou Shu, the azure illusory figure got struck with soul attacks the instance it appeared but He didn't withdraw it, but willed it to charge towards the twin swords, and made it fuse with them.

A great sword brilliance, a sword brilliance echoed with a silent scream as it spread out in a crescent moon arc in all cardinal directions, uprooting all of the hands as if they were grass.

Hou Shu quickly retreated for a few Li and stopped, his Nascent Soul once again entered his dantian. This time its condition was far worse than before, its visage was almost transparent as its appearance also regressed back to even more of an adolescent one.

Hou Shu himself was not in good shape, for his figure was swaying in mid-air as his body was aching in indomitable lethargy, his thoughts flowed slowly as his Sea of Consciousness dimmed, while his eyes turned dreary as well as hazy as he panted with great difficulty.

Burning one's Nascent Soul twice in such a short period of time had drastic effects and Hou Shu, who burnt it despite the repercussions, had to suffer its consequences, even if he was in a life-and-death battle.

Yet, the Crimson and Azure Flames were miraculous, they quickly spread out on his body, curing it of its lethargy and healing almost all the physical wounds. In conjunction with the illusory troops, Crimson and Azure Flames quickly made the Sea of Consciousness return to its former glory, returning Hou Shu his ability to think rapidly.

But before Hou Shu could rejoice, his heart sank into the deepest abyss as he heard the voice coming from his right, "You are not that smart after all, did you really think I was going all out before?"

Tian Gui was standing leisurely beside him, observing him with great interest, his gaze similar to a cat eyeing its prey. He didn't attack, as if certain of his victory, instead, he chuckled and spoke, "You tell me, old hag's inheritor, why would I use my full extremity of mg power and accidentally kill those guiding flames when I need them?"

Hou Shu twisted his body, his right hand slashed with a wide arc, sending a sword radiance which was followed by another sword radiance. Hou Shu didn't stop as he charged forward and thrust with his sword in quick succession, sending countless needle-like sword radiance towards Tian Gui.

Yet just as the devastating sword radiances hit what should be malleable wood, they themselves scattered away into nothingness, as if the wood was an armor made of the greatest metals of Heaven and Earth.

The scorched wounds on Tian Gui started to close rapidly as countless vines and roots stitched with each other to close them as if no wound could be eternal on this body. But suddenly, the vines and roots unfurled and started to form bizarre thorn-like aberrations, making Tian Gui exclaim, pity evident in his voice, "Despite its performance, thousand Spirit Wisdom Bodhi Body is still incomplete after all!"

Saying this, Tian Gui chopped down towards the aberrations with his right hand as he started to form hand seals, while he chanted, "Fuse Hun with the straw doll! Purge the impurities and leave behind Po! Heaven can't forsake anymore!"

Countless brambles and branches grew from his back once more, but instead of forming hands, they formed many stems, from thousands upon thousands of flowers flowers grew as well as wilted as their petals fell. These petals soon turned into yellow talismans which whizzed towards Hou Shu.

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These may have seemed to have taken a while, but every action of Tian Gui was so swift that it happened in less than one-tenth of a blink of an eye, not even giving Hou Shu the opportunity to raise his swords into a guard, let alone deploy defensive methods.

The moment the talismans collided with him, there were no grand explosions nor great shockwaves. Instead, shrill screams spread around him as a mass of corporeal yet incorporeal flesh materialized, compressing him as they turned into countless hungry ghosts.

Tian Gui nodded at such a sight, for in his mind, even if he is the inheritor of that old hag's inheritance and his strength has regressed quite a lot, to think of opposing him, is truly delusional.

And true to his thought process, Hou Shu was suffering great wounds both on his body and soul. His body bleeding from every orifice while his Nascent Soul had started to crack.

But as if all of this was the final shove, Hou Shu gritted his teeth as his ferocious expression slowly morphed into one of solemnness, as azure dots slowly started to appear around his shoulders and arms.

"I am not that helpless, Tian Gui!" Hou Shu's crisp and sonorous voice rang, even through the screams of the wriggling mass of hungry ghosts, reaching Tian Gui.

This made Tian Gui, lunge towards Hou Shu while he raised his right arm and formed it into a claw without an ounce of hesitation. For some reason, the aura of danger surrounding Hou Shu increased manifold. But before he could reach him, a great azure light, a light so blinding that even the illusory which light won't shine on was revealed.

Two moons dyed in crimson, a river of azure stars meandering about in the sky, the Celestial Dancer turned them into a scarf and two swords, praised even the Emperor of Vast Heavens!

As the mirage dissipated, a dancer clad in a glowing azure scarf and with crimson swords in hand was standing in front of Tian Gui!

Tian Gui froze in his place, his eyes widened as his pupils shrank into thin needles, shaking from incredulity. He uttered words he didn't dare belief despite the proof was right before his eyes, "You... You are not just an inheritor, but Gongsun's disciple, Huo Jing!"

One sword raised, one sword tipped down, Hou Shu's feet gracefully stomped down, cracking the void and spreading ethereal ripples, which merged into countless falling stars, raining down as if the heavens themselves shed tears. A performance so divine that even the lofty immortals would be enchanted.

Yet Tian Gui was cold and somber, for he fully knew the might of the dance before him. Thus without any delay, he raised his hands and formed the hand seals of the Bagua as he roared, "Eight Corpses, Rise! Disgorge out the Boundless Grand Extremity Gu!"

The husks rose from the ground and vomited a gargantuan amount of gu insects, each one the size of a hundred zhang, their jaws unhinging and stretching to an abyssal amount as they did so.

As soon as gu insects appeared, they formed a rotating bagua, which came above Tian Gui akin to an umbrella, to protect from the rain of falling stars.

Surprisingly, this umbrella didn't protect him at all, the stars passed through it as if its existence was a lie.

Yet, despite the stars colliding with him, he wasn't injured in the slightest, but those Half-Immortal husks started to flake and crack instead as if they were the ones struck by those stars.

Tian Gui raised his hands as a giant phantom of a bell appeared before him and started to toll in rapid succession, each of the Grand Unity Extremity Gu exploding into pieces, dying with every toll. He then gestured with his fingers and towards Hou Shu and from the debris of the gu insects a thin vine shot forth towards him as well as binding him.

Hou Shu's azure scarf went berserk as the stars on it connected with each other into countless tiny constellations, charging toward the vines and tearing them apart as if the scarf were alive.

But Tian Gui was already upon him, with countless hands with ghastly faces growing from his back, he struck out in a fashion reminiscent of a herd of a thousand bull's stampede.

Hou Shu's swords glowed in crimson light as he raised them in an arc and with a flick of his wrist, he sent two brilliant crimson sword radiances which formed the illusions of two moons.

Their clash with the thousands of hands was effortless as they glided through them as if they were made of silken tofu, which flung back Tian Gui like an arrow.

Hou Shu didn't stop, he put his swords in parallel to each other and with a graceful spin, he sent a ginormous mirage of a crimson moon towards the flying Tian Gui, engulfing him.

Inside the mirage, Hou Shu appeared as the twin swords became crimson spheres once more, gracefully bouncing off Tian Gui, launching him down before he could even register what happened, creating a massive crater.

Tian Gui slowly rose up. His countless branches and roots were broken, multiple splinters and burnt chunks all throughout his body as well as countless aberrations growing faster and faster like an infestation.

Tian Gui''s situation wasn't looking good, But he still laughed, "Good, Good, Good! You have dealt great damage to me, Thousand Spirit Wisdom Bodhi Body is falling apart. But can you keep up with it? That old hag had already used all the lesser yang of the moon to burn the lesser yin of the sun, even If you use your lifespan to hold on, how long can you last?"

Hou Shu remained silent for what he said was true, quite a large chunk of his hair and goatee had already turned grey. He had no choice but to use his lifespan, even though the lesser in yin and yang had accumulated in the two celestial bodies, they were not nearly enough. Only through the support of his lifespan can he use them.

Suddenly, Tian Gui's laugh turned hysterical, "I won't hold back in fear of Thousand Spirit Wisdom Body collapsing anymore, I can make another one! Let's see who burns first, you or me!"

Tian Gui's wooden visage twisted and contorted, shedding every trace of human resemblance. His limbs splintered into countless thorn-covered tendrils with ghastly wisps at the end, writhing with unholy vitality. His torso swelled as it protruded outwards, sprouting jagged thorns from its side like the horns of a rhinoceros, while his lower abdomen erupted into a dense, bristling bush, draped in leaves that rustled like the feathered plumage of a peacock. His face cracked apart into three grotesque segments, each more monstrous than the last, evoking the image of Naraka-dwelling asuras.

Just as Tian Gui's nightmarish transformation, grotesque evolu— no, degradation ended, the ghastly ends of the thorny tendrils burst out with great power as countless faces of hungry ghosts appeared, which Tian Gui thrust towards Hou Shu like the unstoppable astral wind qi above the ceiling of the sky, completely ravaging everything in his path.

Hou Shu's Azure scarf became animate once more as the dot-like stars expanded, weaving with each other, creating a mesh that wrapped around him akin to a cocoon, protecting him from Tian Gui's barrage, albeit barely as the scarf lost its luster as he was thrown back akin to a taut arrow being fired.

The stars disjointed from one another making the cocoon start to unfurl. But before it could fully return to its original state, Tian Gui appeared above Hou Shu, his agility so swift that it was as if he was always there. His chest started to creak as a crack started to spread along the line where his sternum was, unhinging into a terrifying jaw with countless jagged obsidian-like spikes, which he brought down with his whole body, like a mighty war hammer descending from the heavens, the netherheavens, daring to crush and crunch through the even the armors the world has to offer.

Hou Shu could only gnash his teeth as he witnessed more of his hair turn grey as crossed his swords in front of him, sending a crimson sword radiance towards the maw on Tian Gui's chest, to halt him, to flick himself away from danger, to regain his footing.

Yet, Tian Gui was halted for what seemed to an only a split second, despite Hou Shu's countless wishes to be more.

He appeared before him once more, with that strange sensation of distance being irrelevant to him. He shot out his thorny tendrils, both hammering Hou Shu as well as binding him in place, bringing him closer to Tian Gui.

These tendrils didn't look impressive and only seemed to to damage the material body, but it was far from the truth, even the slightest contact with those faces of hungry ghosts not only deals significant damage to the soul, it also injects a substance that even the soul couldn't defend against!

With large holes in his illusory soul, Hou Shu slashed forward without any care for his lifespan. But as much as Hou Shu burned and destroyed the tendrils, they grew more and more, each time stronger than the last, not letting him create the slightest distance nor letting him perform dance movements. Hou Shu could only use the twin swords in his hand, he couldn't come up with any countermeasures.

Suddenly, even the sword radiances stopped as Hou Shu's swords stopped in mid-movement as his heart sank to the deepest abyss, for the lesser yang of the moon was completely used up, even before his own lifespan ended.

As if responding to this, Tian Gui's three faces slowly crumbled away, leaving behind three jagged, hollow voids where his mouth should have been. From these gaping voids emerged a sound akin to the eerie howls of the winds rushing through tall canyon walls, a shrill and piercing resonance that rippled outwards, fracturing the very surroundings.

"Looks like you reached the end of your path before I reached mine. In the end, I have won this gambit."

Tian Gui's echoed true, for Hou Shu was heavily wounded. His soul was in shambles, with countless fragments of it dissipating into nothingness. While his material body' fared no better as rivers of blood poured out from every orifice and his hair was stark white, making him seem like a rotten tree in its twilight years.

Yet, even in this condition, despite Tian Gui's disbelief, Hou Shu's lips curled up into a smile,

Tian Gui froze, his gaze snapping upward. At the ravine's edge, at the opening of the ravine, appeared three figures he never thought had the capacity to appear. For the first time, Tian Gui seemed to be genuinely shaken as he exclaimed, "T-that's impossible, you shouldn't be able to come here!"

Above him, at the entrance to the ravine, were the three Yan of the current time, Yan Que Zi, Yan Li Yun and Yan Shen Jun!

Yan Que Zi stepped forward, purple flames dancing among his palm, "There is nothing impossible in this world, Lord Tian Gui, you... Are not an Immortal Lord anymore, you have been tainted with mortality..."

Otherworldly and aloof Celestial Flames, sublime and mild Qiankun flames, and tyrannical and domineering White Flower Suppression Flames descended in unison, merging with Hou Shu's swords, who with effortless action swung one sword downward, freeing him, and creating a magnificent crimson moon even the heavens had forgotten with another.

The crimson moon collided with Tian Gui, erupting into a cascade of stars, each fragment glowing in azure. Before they could fall, they merged into three crimson figures once more, each wielding a sword— purple, white, and green.

With terrifying swiftness and precision, they hurled themselves toward Tian Gui, their blades creating colorful flares as they sank into the wooden body of Tian Gui.

"I am unwilling, unwilling to let it end like this!"

Tian Gui made his abominable wooden body erupt into a thunderous explosion, shattering the three figures, and tearing apart the very fabric of reality itself!

Yet, even as the body met its demise, Tian Gui's soul couldn't escape, not for a second time. For his fate was sealed, for he was burned by the true flames, flames of all.

"I won't accept this! I was so close to resurrecting the Immortal Dao! I hate this... I hate it! I hate it all!"

Tian Gui's voice reverberated one last time across the world as his soul fractured into countless particles of light, slowly fading into nothingness, slipping away from the fleeting miracle called life...