It was such a gruish pen that just looking at it caused Xu Qing’s pupils to constrict!
It was as tall as an ordinary person; its shaft was made of a spine, the tip from a head, and the brush hairs were the head’s hair. There was still bloody flesh on the spine, and though the head still had skin on it, that skin was green, making it look like an evil ghost. When it spoke, its voice was profoundly sinister, causing Xu Qing to frown.
Master Shengyun ignored the words, grabbed the pen, and drew a red circle in the air. The instant the circle appeared, it became corporeal, and it began expanding rapidly, like a rushing wind.
Xu Qing immediately fell back.
The composite grue was shaken. As the ox body fell back in retreat, it shivered and then exploded into four parts. The four parts then also exploded into bits.
Master Shengyun gripped the pen as he looked with bloodshot eyes at Xu Qing.
Master Shengyun had been bizarre from birth; he had been born with a conjoined twin attached to his waist. That wasn’t necessarily a rarity on the Revered Ancient mainland. Truth be told, things like that happened a lot because of the effects of mutagen, and how the properties of life force changed with the arrival of the god above. Even people who looked normal, and didn’t seem like they had any mutagen in them… might have those changes built into their blood. It was only a matter of finding out which generation it would manifest in.
Despite all that, Master Shengyun had been unwilling to accept his lot in life, and from the moment he realized how different he was from everyone else, had wanted to kill his brother. His younger brother had felt the same way. Eventually, Master Shengyun came out on top. He suppressed his conjoined twin, assimilated him, and turned him into this treasure. The patriarch of his clan knew about it, as did many people in his sect. That didn’t matter. The patriarch tacitly approved of the situation, as long as one of them lived. Therefore, no one else had any say in the matter.
The pen in Master Shengyun’s hand looked at Xu Qing with a serene look in his eyes. Then, a long tongue emerged from his mouth. Licking his lips, the head said, “Is he the one you want dead, big brother? He’s so pretty. After we get him, why don’t you do the same thing to him that you did to me? Assimilate him, steal his natural aptitude, and create a second pen brush?”
Master Shengyun snorted coldly. “That’s fine. Kill him, and I’ll make it happen.”
The little brother’s eyes lit up, and he suddenly erupted with a shocking level of mutagen. His eyes turned black, and his expression became one of greed. Then Master Shengyun waved his hand, and the gruish pen slashed left and right to create an X.
The X glittered with red light as it turned corporeal. The pen’s ink was as red as blood, making the X seem like it was made from flesh. You could even see veins on its surface, wriggling horrifically.
The X of flesh and blood then shot toward Xu Qing. As it neared, its gruish aura grew stronger, and winds screamed in the area.
Xu Qing’s expression turned grim as he pulled out a jade slip, making sure Master Shengyun couldn’t see it clearly. It looked like he was about to snap it, but in the end, decided not to.
A boom rang out as the X of flesh and blood arrived and slammed into Xu Qing. Blood sprayed out of Xu Qing’s mouth as he staggered backward. Gruish laughter rang out from the X as it prepared to chase Xu Qing. However, Xu Qing was very quick, and it couldn’t catch up easily.
At this point in the battle, both Xu Qing and Master Shengyun had sustained serious injuries. Furthermore, Xu Qing’s weakness had become very apparent. He lacked divine abilities and magical techniques, especially when compared to Master Shengyun.
Truth be told, if his opponent was anyone other than Master Shengyun, then his techniques could be considered satisfactory. But Master Shengyun was a chosen from the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect, who they hoped to groom into walking the path of the Ancient Emperors and Imperial Sovereigns. It was only natural that he would have a lot of techniques and magical devices.
I lack divine abilities and magical techniques. And my magical devices aren’t as gruish as his. But as the saying goes… overwhelming power can defeat someone even ten times as skilled!
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered as the power of the violet crystal surged within him. As this battle went on, it had become more and more obvious how impressive the crystal was in its ability to heal him.
What was more, the 1,500-meter spirit seas in his dharma apertures ensured that he could stay in the profound radiance state for a very long time. In fact, his current plan was to rely on that advantage to crush his opponent.
.
Therefore, as the X of flesh and blood closed in again, Xu Qing suddenly shot up into the air, raised his right hand, and pointed to the dome of heaven. Simultaneously, his 92 dharma apertures erupted, causing intense heat to sweep upward. Next, a 1,500-meter hand appeared above him in the sky! That hand was the manifestation of only one of the spirit seas in one of his dharma apertures. And thus, after the hand formed, a second one appeared, which superimposed over the first one, doubling its power. Things weren’t over. As Xu Qing tapped into his dharma apertures, a third hand was added. Then a tenth. Then a thirtieth…. One hand after another superimposed, creating something almost impossible to describe. Intense winds swept through the area, and immense pressure built.
Master Shengyun’s eyes went wide, and his heart pounded with astonishment. The spirit seas in Xu Qing’s dharma apertures were absolutely shocking. In fact, in Master Shengyun’s entire life, he had never seen spirit seas so terrifying.
Even he only had spirit seas that were a bit over 600 meters!
“You….” he murmured, his face falling. He knew that the size of one’s spirit seas correlated to the majesty of the dharma force one commanded. At lower levels, that didn’t matter much. But as one’s cultivation base got stronger, and one opened more and more dharma apertures, then it could lead to a very big difference between two people. And that’s what was happening right now.
In the shortest of moments, the hand above Xu Qing became a composite of ninety-two!
From a distance, it was possible to see a giant, ninety-two level hand hovering in the air. Wind whipped across the trembling lands, and massive pressure weighed down. Lightning crackled across the surface of the hand like dragons or snakes. A will surged that could devour heaven and end the earth!
Even the X of flesh and blood quivered in midair as if from fear.
Xu Qing was not like Master Shengyun with his three peerless swords and amazing gruish items. He couldn’t summon a black door, did not have a special treasure that could become a brush pen of flesh and blood.
But he did have ninety-two spirit seas, each of which were 1,500 meters in size!
Regardless of how gruish you were, regardless of what magical techniques you had, and regardless of what special items you possessed, he had the power to crush you!
Veins bulged on Xu Qing’s forehead as massive pressure weighed down from the hand. Cracking sounds could be heard from within him as the tendons in his arms grew tight. Then, he shoved his hand in the direction of the X of flesh and blood… and Master Shengyun!
The giant hand overhead, pulsing with might to crush mountains and seas, smashed into the gruish X. Rumbling sounds echoed into the sky as the X stood strong for five breaths of time. Then it couldn’t take the force and exploded into bits.
More rumbling sounds echoed out as the hand crushed everything in its path. Behind it, even Xu Qing had to work hard to stand up to the pressure of all the spirit seas.
The ground quaked and trees crumbled into ash from the terrifying power on display. A moment later, the hand was right in front of the pale-faced and astonished Master Shengyun. In that critical moment, his eyes flickered with determination. Howling, he thrust his gruish pen out in front of him like a sword, stabbing it toward the hand.
All of his dharma apertures erupted, imbuing the gruish pen with dharma force. His brother’s face looked ferocious, but simultaneously astonished. In fact, his expression made it seem like, in his madness, he sought death!
Thunderous booms rang out one after another, shaking the surrounding forbidden ground.
Xu Qing and Master Shengyun both coughed up blood, and both fought with all their might against the power, their expressions vicious.
Blinding light shot out of Master Shengyun’s gruish pen. Shockwaves rolled out in all directions as, in the blink of an eye, thirty-three of the layers of the composite hand were destroyed.
That was when the light from the pen began to fade. A howl erupted from within as Master Shengyun’s younger brother fought with madness. However, even if his madness were more intense, it wasn’t enough. Forty-three more layers of the hand collapsed, and then the pen began to shatter and collapse into ash.
The madness in the eyes of Master Shengyun’s brother changed. He seemed to experience a sudden release, and a fierce smile appeared on his face. With another surge of force, he destroyed thirteen layers of Xu Qing’s composite hand. Then his head collapsed. In the final moment before falling into ultimate destruction, he spoke his final words, shrill and full of venom. 𝘦𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝑙.
“Chu Shengyun, do you remember how I cursed you when you assimilated me? I said that you would suffer the same fate as me. You would be assimilated by someone else. You would also have your life taken away. Maybe you erased the power of my curse with the fragment of that taboo magical item, but it seems that the curse is effective!”
His words turned into a stream of laughter as Xu Qing’s giant hand crushed into the body of the pen, absolutely destroying it. Then, with the final three that remained, the hand hit Master Shengyun. Blood sprayed out of his mouth as his life flames flickered on the verge of being extinguished. His hair was now completely disheveled, and he was bedraggled from head to toe. However, as he tumbled backward, the killing intent in his eyes flickered just as strongly as before.
“Curse me however you want. Your death was worth it!” He slammed both hands onto the ground in front of him and shouted, “Flesh Curse: Myriad Blood Convergence!”
Xu Qing’s face fell.
Instantly, the shattered remnants of the gruish pen melded into the mud on the ground. Then, numerous bloody arms stretched up from the ground, thousands of them, all stretching with mad speed toward Xu Qing.
At the same time, it was with bloodshot eyes that Master Shengyun threw his head back, and in a bizarre, vile voice shouted, “I hereby summon a projection of the Soaring Cloud taboo treasure!”