“Submit or die, I didn’t expect to be the one to hear these words first from someone else!”
Submit or die, the most common ultimatum between the strong and the weak.
He had never imagined that he would one day be on the receiving end of such words.
“My choice is very simple.”
“Have you made your decision, fellow Daoist?”
“Yes,” Wang Sheng nodded, then suddenly his Qi-Blood Power erupted, “Why can’t it be you who dies?”
Qiao Nian was very powerful, not inferior to the White Lotus Spirit King, and even in terms of methods, he was even more deceitful than the White Lotus Spirit King.
But that was it!
Shocking Dragon!
An eruption of Blood Qi burst forth, and above the palace skies, it was as though a Fierce Yang had appeared, instantly suppressing the operation of the entire altar.
A blood-colored dragon swirled around Wang Sheng, with an aura that seemed to be impervious to all evil!
Spiritual Martial Arts?
Sorry, what I’m best at right now is Blood Qi!
Boom!
Around the altar, countless people trembled under the force of the Fierce Yang, under this tremendous pressure, even if their faith was strong, it could not match the instinct of their bodies.
Their bodies were in fear!
At the same time, near the tiger cart at the foot of the mountain, Wang Sheng’s flying sword emitted a gentle glow, protecting the entire tiger cart, not letting the Fierce Yang affect the tiger cart.
However, inside the tiger cart, a black spear trembled slightly, then like a swift arrow, it suddenly flew out.
Boom!
The Black Dragon Spear pierced directly through the palace, landing in Wang Sheng’s hand, the Shocking Dragon Divine Ability swirling around the spear, as if possessing a spirit.
“Sorry, Divine Thought Secret Techniques are not my specialty!”
The potential of Divine Thought was high, not weaker than Qi-Blood.
But right now, Wang Sheng knew only a few Divine Thought Secret Techniques, so his temporary combat power wasn’t strong. His own Blood Qi and Qi-Blood Power were his biggest trump cards.
Qiao Nian, looking at Wang Sheng, who seemed like a god or demon, was momentarily unable to respond.
He never expected that the man he had debated “Spirit” with for three days excelled not in spiritual methods.
“Truly terrifying!”
But even so, he wasn’t scared. After all, this was his home ground!
“Divine. Heavenly Thunder!”
Above the palace, where it had been enveloped by Wang Sheng’s Blood Qi, a sky-reaching thunderbolt appeared out of nowhere in the daylight, striking at Wang Sheng.
Qiao Nian was very confident.
This was his secret technique, not revealed during their debates, and through spiritual methods, he could communicate with heaven and bring down divine punishment.
“Look, this is the power of the Heavenly Father, this is divine punishment!”
But this wild and powerful lightning hadn’t even come close to Wang Sheng’s true form when the Shocking Dragon Divine Ability was activated. With a flick of its dragon tail, it directly clashed with the Heavenly Thunder.
Crackling!
The Heavenly Thunder was shattered, dispersing in all directions, causing the palace to teeter on the brink of collapse.
Qiao Nian hadn’t planned on defeating Wang Sheng in one go. The Heavenly Thunder was a delaying tactic, and he quickly made a new move.
“Endless Descent!”
Under Qiao Nian’s influence, Wang Sheng felt as if the entire altar was glowing, and at the same time, everyone in Yunze City fell, an endless accumulation of spiritual power then fiercely pressed down on Wang Sheng, trying to envelope him.
“Fall into the endless abyss, this is the Heavenly Father’s test of your heart!”
Wang Sheng only felt an extremely immense spiritual force acting upon him, as if it wanted to drag him into that endless slumber.
Luckily, his power was unified, and his vast Qi-Blood supported his Divine Thought, allowing him to stay conscious.
But this was not a long-term solution.
Qiao Nian was using “All Living Beings Thought” against him.
Though not reaching the level of true All Living Beings, the thoughts of an entire city’s people, along with Qiao Nian’s own, were terrifying.
“If that’s the case, then I’ll just destroy your altar directly!”
Wang Sheng, recalling the earlier change in the altar, didn’t hesitate, and the Black Dragon Spear pointed downward.
“Crack Earth!”
Countless Qi-Blood Power erupted, strong momentum directly infused into the strike.
Rumble!
The massive altar immediately began to tremble.
Qiao Nian hadn’t expected his specially constructed altar to be shattered with one blow and wanted to stop it.
“Divine. Great Pusher!”
It seemed like an infinite spiritual force turned into two invisible giant hands, trying to control the collapse of the altar.
Unfortunately, Wang Sheng’s Qi-Blood Power and the destructive force were simply too powerful, full of the essence of destruction, and mere spiritual power could not stop the altar’s collapse.
Even because his spirit came directly into contact with the force, Qiao Nian felt a sting in his spirit.
Thus—
The altar collapsed, the altar that had taken who knows how much material and effort to build shattered, slowly turning into ruins.
Qiao Nian knew it was futile and gave up trying to prevent it.
Without the altar, he wasn’t without a trump card, one he had never used before.
“Spiritual Visualization Technique, Heavenly Father Descend!”
His spiritual power turned into tangible force, an endless radiance fell directly from the sky, and in that instant, even the brilliance of Wang Sheng’s Blood Qi Fierce Yang was suppressed.
The Blood Qi Divine Ability refused to submit, soaring into the sky to confront the radiant figure above.
It was a figure like that of a deity, a hundred meters tall, its body pure and clear as crystal, radiating its own majestic aura.
The Shocking Dragon, transformed by the Blood Qi Divine Ability, instantly grew larger to face the figure, and in the sky, two extremely powerful forces collided, whipping up a fierce wind!
Whoosh!
Countless particles of dust were dispersed as the pure, crystalline figure collided with the great dragon of Blood Qi, each determined to annihilate the other.
Wang Sheng didn’t hesitate; he raised his spear, marshaling the force of the Eight Extremes, as boundless Qi Blood Power surged, with innumerable forces converging as one.
“Shocking World Dragon Spear!”
This was Wang Sheng’s unrivaled spear technique, combining the force-projecting techniques of the Eight Extremes Fist, the momentum of the Six Harmonies Spear, and the Blood Qi Divine Ability, capable of annihilating everything.
As the spear technique was executed, the great dragon of Blood Qi suddenly returned, then merged with the spear-shadow in the void, striking towards the crystalline figure.
Roar!
As if a dragon’s cry had sounded!
The crystalline figure tried to intercept, but faced with such an overwhelmingly powerful force, it simply couldn’t obstruct in any way, and was directly penetrated.
Qiao Nian groaned, his eyes seeming to be filled with confusion, yet also clarity.
The crystalline figure slowly began to disperse, and at that moment, it seemed to undergo a change.
The body that had once been pure turned pitch black, and numerous flesh lumps grew from it, each with its own ferocious human face, seemingly unwilling to accept this fate.
At the same time, Qiao Nian’s agonized and hoarse screams could be heard.
“What’s going on, Heavenly Father? Are You abandoning me? Ah!”
It seemed he was in extreme agony.
But Wang Sheng had no time to pay attention to this.
He was focused on the repulsive figure.
From the start of the battle, he had noticed that the so-called descent of the Heavenly Father was excessively powerful.
It seemed to exceed the level of the White Lotus Spirit King and was only a little weaker than himself.
This disparity did not match with Qiao Nian’s perceived strength, so he had executed one of his ultimate moves.
As expected, after penetrating the massive figure, it immediately transformed into another state.
From pure and godlike, it had turned into the disgusting form now before him.
However, the trend of its disappearance did not halt, continuing to fade slowly.
But the resentful aura let Wang Sheng know that this matter was probably not yet at an end.
Of course, no matter how spiteful, nothing could escape dissolution.
Soon, only Wang Sheng’s Blood Qi Dragon remained in the sky.
Wang Sheng retracted his Divine Ability, then approached Qiao Nian.
At this point, Qiao Nian was bleeding from every orifice, his expression twisted and malevolent, clearly in tremendous pain, but still alive.
Wang Sheng didn’t immediately kill him.
He wanted to understand what this so-called “Heavenly Father” truly was.
Yet before he could ask, Qiao Nian began to mutter to himself.
“It interfered, didn’t it? It won’t allow us to follow another path. I was targeted forty years ago, tampered with, forced onto the wrong path. Friend, my path was mistaken!”
It turned out he wasn’t speaking to himself, but to Wang Sheng.
Wang Sheng sensed Qiao Nian’s inner collapse.
Qiao Nian had been a very pure Seeker, but now, he seemed to have discovered something; the path he had been proud of was influenced by an external force and was not the one he had initially sought.
Such a blow would be too much to bear, even if he had been healthy, and his life force plummeted significantly.
Wang Sheng wanted to intervene to save his life.
It seemed Qiao Nian had comprehended many secrets, and he wanted to clarify them.
“I’ll save you first!”
“No need, my fate was already sealed from the moment I practiced the spiritual visualization technique and visualized it!”
This “it” was clearly the so-called “Heavenly Father.”
“Friend, our world is ill. Once one steps onto another path, it will be interfered with by the Heavenly Father. No… perhaps it’s not just other paths, even Qi Blood Martial Arts might not be exempt. It could be its means of harvesting—a boundless abyss!”
Qiao Nian seemed to have understood even more, growing increasingly despondent.
“What exactly is the Heavenly Father? An external aberration, or what? And what do you mean by interference?”
Wang Sheng straightforwardly asked all of his questions.
He could feel Qiao Nian’s life force descending again, and even with his own power sustaining it, he couldn’t stop this decline; there was simply no saving life left.
He had to get to the bottom of things quickly.
Don’t die at the critical moment!
Perhaps driven by his obsession, Qiao Nian managed to hold on for a moment.
“What the Heavenly Father is, I do not know, even now I cannot escape its influence… that’s right, it is a thief, a grand thief reaping the entire realm! Interfering with the entirety of the Da Zhou dynasty, even the world, not an external force, and also…”
Qiao Nian wanted to say more, but suddenly stopped.
His life force persisted, yet he could not speak.
Tears streamed down from the corners of his eyes. “Heavenly Father, you won’t let me go after all?”
Wang Sheng sharply realized that Qiao Nian was being interfered with, some things he could not say, thus he could only weep.
Realizing this, Qiao Nian ceased speaking of these matters, and instead took out a well-preserved book from his embrace.
Then, with a violent tear, he shredded most of the book, and with the last of his spiritual power, he destroyed this majority portion.
Countless fragments of paper scattered with the wind.
And with the remaining part, Qiao Nian used his spiritual power once more, presenting it to Wang Sheng.
“This is the research from before the interference, please, my fellow seeker, carry it on. This is the proof of my existence…”