Chapter 75: Karma and Reincarnation Tribulation
Blood mist surged from the rift of the bronze casket, staining the Taiyi Pavilion Seven Elders's purple-gold crown a dark red.
Lu Qingyang stepped on his collapsed chest, the qingmu spirit pearl suspended in his palm, emitting a radiant glow.
The Ficus religiosa illusion within the pearl had already sprouted its seventh branch—a testament to the consumption of three Nascent Soul Cultivator's lifelong cultivation.
"Ye Wuchen's Nascent Soul tasted exquisite," he said, his boot tip crushing the Seven Elders's throat bone as he casually pulled off the gilded Storage Pouch from his waist.
"But your old scoundrel's Nascent Soul stinks like a rotten rat; even a dog would find it too tough to chew."
Three zhang away, Su Li's Ice Soul Sword pinned the last Law enforcement Disciple, the twelve Restriction jade plaques hanging from its tassel jingling.
She watched Lu Qingyang's practiced corpse-looting, her usually clear and cold eyes tinged with helplessness: "Daoist Lu's 'Scraping the Earth Three Feet' skill is probably even more refined than Taiyi Pavilion's 'Supreme Void Sword Manual'."
"Fairy Su's words are quite sour," Lu Qingyang said, tossing the Profound Yin Mirror he had just acquired.
The mirror's surface reflected the sneer on his lips, "Who was it that secretly took three thousand-year-old Ghost Face Mushrooms from the Nether Abyss back then?"
Before he finished speaking, a dazzling blood-red light suddenly burst from the mirror.
He spun around and threw out twelve Xun Wind Talismans, which transformed into azure luan phantoms, catching the incoming blood-red chains.
The Void Realm cracked with a spiderweb pattern, and a white-haired old man stepped out, treading on broken Law.
Seven golden lotus petals on his cuff glowed brightly, and the bronze compass hanging at his waist was of the same origin as the Old Drunkard's Relics.
Lu Qingyang's pupils contracted sharply, and the Ficus religiosa, which had been silent for a long time within the qingmu spirit pearl, suddenly trembled—this was the unique Heavenly might of a Soul Transformation Stage Cultivator.
"A mere Golden Core dares to covet the qingmu spirit pearl?" the old man flicked a finger, and the twelve layers of defensive formations Lu Qingyang had set up tore like thin paper.
Su Li's Ice Soul Sword disintegrated inch by inch, and amid the sword spirit's mournful cries, Lu Qingyang suddenly grinned: "Ye Xuanji, is the Soul-Chasing Gu worm in your crotch still doing well?"
The old man's expression changed drastically.
Lu Qingyang seized the opportunity to crush the jade bottle in his sleeve.
As the foul-smelling liquid splashed, a bronze Medicine Cauldron flew out from his Dantian.
The taotie pattern on the cauldron's body bit into the old man's protective spiritual light.
Su Li seized the chance to form a hand seal, and the fragments of the bronze casket transformed into streams of light, piercing into the old man's glabella.
The Taiyi Pavilion's mountain-protecting formation actually collapsed at this moment.
"How does the Old Drunkard's Corrupting Heart Water taste?" Lu Qingyang stepped on the Medicine Cauldron and leaped into the sky, the qingmu spirit pearl frantically drawing Spiritual Qi from the earth's veins.
Within a hundred li radius, the plants instantly withered and yellowed, and the Ficus religiosa illusion surged to a hundred zhang.
The profound patterns appearing on its branches were identical to the murals in Taiyi Pavilion's underground palace.
Black blood seeped from Ye Xuanji's seven orifices, and the Nascent Soul Avatar above his head was actually disintegrating: "How do you know..."
"You drink the heart blood of virgins every third quarter of the Zi hour to suppress the Gu poison," Lu Qingyang's fingertips ignited with a cyan flame.
That was the mutated Ficus religiosa spirit flame after devouring alchemy fire.
"The 'Southern Border Gu Arts' on the third floor of the Scripture Pavilion is missing seven pages, which just happen to record the solution for the Corrupting Heart Gu—Elder Ye, can you wipe your drool when you read?"
Su Li seized the opportunity to throw out the core fragments of the bronze casket, and the sound of chains breaking echoed between heaven and earth.
Nine blood pillars rose from Taiyi Pavilion's Forbidden Land, and the ancestral tablets of successive Pavilion Masters all shattered, revealing wriggling flesh tumors inside—they were actually blood puppets refined from thousands of Heavenly Spiritual Root Cultivator.
"What a prestigious sect!" Lu Qingyang threw out seventy-two Formation Flag, the taotie patterns on their surfaces resonating with the Medicine Cauldron.
The blood puppets were absorbed into the cauldron before they could fully awaken, and the Sanwei True Fire inside the cauldron, mixed with the Ficus religiosa spirit flame, refined the impure blood Qi into pure spiritual liquid.
His Adam's apple bobbed as he drank heartily, and the spiritual liquid that splashed to the ground left scorch marks.
Ye Xuanji roared and formed a seal, his Soul Transformation Stage Domain fully open.
The flow of time suddenly slowed, and Lu Qingyang's raised arm stretched into an afterimage.
Frost spread through Su Li's temples, but she bit her tongue and spat out her vital essence blood: "Qingyang! Three steps to the Xun position!"
The bronze Medicine Cauldron suddenly inverted, and the unrefined blood puppet remains inside poured out like rain.
Lu Qingyang seized the opportunity to chant a spell, and the flow of time within the Ficus religiosa spirit pearl increased a hundredfold.
When he stepped out of the time Domain, a Soul-Reaping Banner, refined from the spine of a Nascent Soul Cultivator, was already in his hand.
"Here's a big gift for you!" The evil spirits on the banner tore at Ye Xuanji's Avatar, and thirty-six thunder talismans flew out from Lu Qingyang's sleeve.
As the Purple Xiao Divine Thunder struck, he didn't forget to grab the Storage Ring that the old man had dropped.
The sound of bones shattering came from the dust, but Su Li's Ice Soul Sword Intent suddenly changed direction: "Watch out behind you!"
A pale hand reaching out from the Void Realm crushed the lightning, and the seven golden lotus petals on the newcomer's black robe flowed with Dao charm.
Lu Qingyang's pupils contracted—this was clearly the Taiyi Pavilion Saint, Ye Lingxiao, whom he had trapped in Burial Dragon Abyss three months ago!
"Daoist Lu's 'Scraping the Earth' skill has become even more exquisite," the Saint said, Karma threads entwined around his fingertips, each one connected to the remnant souls of the Cultivator Lu Qingyang had devoured.
"Unfortunately, being too greedy can lead to choking."
He raised his hand and made a grasping motion, and cracks actually appeared on the surface of the Ficus religiosa spirit pearl.
Lu Qingyang suddenly sneered, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, yet he still didn't forget to mock: "Ye Lingxiao, your belt is on backward."
Before he finished speaking, the Saint's jade belt suddenly exploded, revealing the Hehuan Sect emblem embroidered inside.
Su Li's Ice Soul Sword seized the opportunity to stab three inches below his ribs, which was the vital point recorded in the 'Supreme Void Sword Manual'.
"When did you administer the Spirit-Corroding Powder?" The Saint's Avatar swayed, and the Karma threads broke inch by inch.
Lu Qingyang seized the opportunity to press the qingmu spirit pearl into the Ficus religiosa illusion, and the entire Divine Beast transformed into a stream of light, disappearing into the earth's veins: "From the moment you pretended to fall for my trap and entered Burial Dragon Abyss—did you really think I couldn't see through your clumsy ruse?"
Amidst the trembling of the earth, Taiyi Pavilion's main peak began to collapse.
Lu Qingyang dragged Su Li onto the Medicine Cauldron, and the taotie patterns on the cauldron's body opened a huge mouth, swallowing the Treasure Pavilion along with three Spirit Stone veins whole.
The mournful cries of the mountain-guarding Divine Beast came from afar; the ancient mirror embedded in its forehead was actually the mother body of the Profound Yin Mirror in his hand.
"We'll meet again!" He laughed as he threw out the last fragment of the bronze casket, and the Void Realm crack swallowed their figures.
Ye Xuanji burned his essence blood, wanting to pursue, but was entangled into a cocoon by the Ficus religiosa roots that suddenly shot out from underground—the patterns on those roots were identical to the cracks on the spiritual pearl in Lu Qingyang's palm.
Three thousand li away, in an unnamed cave, Lu Qingyang collapsed amidst a pile of Spirit Stone, coughing incessantly.
Su Li looked at him, still counting his spoils even with blood flowing from his seven orifices, and finally sighed, handing him a jade bottle: "Is it worth it?"
"Why wouldn't it be worth it?" He shook the Soul-Nourishing Bottle filled with Nascent Soul, the scarlet reflection in his eyes mirrored on the bottle's surface.
"There's a Blood Bodhi in Taiyi Pavilion's treasury that can cure your sister's Gu poison."
As he spoke, he suddenly coughed violently, and the drops of blood that leaked between his fingers actually condensed into miniature Ficus religiosa in the Void Realm.
Su Li's trembling fingertips traced the hideous wound on his back, where Ficus religiosa patterns were appearing, devouring the remaining Sword Qi.
Outside the cave, a sudden clap of thunder exploded, and an ancient chant could be faintly heard in the rain—that was a premonition of Karma backlash.