"Lord Shou, the capital's great array extends beyond the capital!" Li Fugui exclaimed, his voice filled with panic.
Xu Xiaoshou, seemingly unfazed, merely responded, "I know."
"What? You knew? Why didn't you say so earlier?" Li Fugui was incredulous.
Xu Xiaoshou gave a wry smile. "I thought it was common sense… But never mind, I think I understand Bazhun'an a little better now."
Li Fugui, still unsure of how to proceed, asked urgently, "What do we do now?"
"Don't panic," Xu Xiaoshou said calmly. "When the Tower Master summoned another wisp of spiritual sense, I decided to give Elder Dao the Flamboyant a special gift—let him know that my array wheel isn't something to be taken lightly."
"What gift?" Li Fugui asked, his curiosity piqued.
Xu Xiaoshou waved dismissively. "That's not important. The real question is, do you want to deliver it yourself, or should we let someone else handle it?"
Li Fugui paled. "This… this isn't a problem," he stammered, clearly not volunteering to die for the cause. He placed the gift down, quickly drove the carriage away, and destroyed it after changing into new clothes.
Soon, another carriage approached from a nearby road. The coachman, full of energy, picked up the broken arm of the Divine Puppet from the Apricot Realm and set off again. As he reached the Southern Zone gate of Jade Capital City, he boldly lifted the arm high and shouted, "Hallmaster Dao, your gift is from Xu Xiaoshou!"
Dao Qiongcang, who had just avoided a direct attack, glanced at the coachman. His eyes narrowed when he saw the arm thrown into the air. The moment it left the coachman's hand, the arm began to buzz with energy, emitting the familiar scent of Divine Path Principles infused with life force and rhythm. It was alive in its own right, forming hand seals with incredible speed, each one more intricate than the last. The seals flickered through the air like butterflies, their profound mysteries unfolding one by one.
"What kind of seal is this?" Dao Qiongcang muttered to himself, his brows furrowing in concentration. "I've never seen anything like it…"
The longer Dao Qiongcang observed, the more anxious he became. Although the arm only formed half of the complete seal, it was far different from the divine secrets he usually relied on. In fact, it came from an entirely different school of thought. And yet, some aspects of the seal were more perfectly attuned to the Great Path than his own methods.
As Dao Qiongcang continued watching, he entered a state of epiphany. His understanding of the Path deepened, and he instinctively began to decipher the seals being formed. He could recognize parts of it from his own vast library of seals, though the process was foreign to him.
"Space, guide, void, return…" Dao Qiongcang whispered. "Penetration, or perhaps complete transformation…"
Suddenly, a realization hit him like a bolt of lightning. "It's trying to forcefully access my spatial ring!"
Dao Qiongcang's heart raced. His spatial ring had thirty thousand path restrictions—it was supposed to be impenetrable. But if Xu Xiaoshou's seal bypassed the direct cracking of the Divine Secret and instead targeted its space manipulation properties… it might actually work!
"He has an incomplete Spatial Upanishad… He must have found the coordinates of my spatial ring!"
Without hesitation, Dao Qiongcang threw the array wheel out of his spatial ring. He had no time to waste. Using the Greater Teleportation Technique, he quickly transferred the remaining items from the ring to a secondary one.
Just as he finished, a loud "Bang!" erupted from his finger. His spatial ring shattered, forming a small black hole that threatened to pull even Dao Qiongcang's demi-saint incarnation into the void. But Dao Qiongcang was prepared. His fingertip lit up with a divine secret rune, forming a barrier of Holy Power around him. The explosion, though powerful, left him unscathed.
"We've been tricked," Dao Qiongcang muttered, his lips curving into an amused smile. "His goal wasn't to detonate the ring… It was to steal the array wheel."
He glanced up at the severed arm still forming seals in the air. The divine restrictions he had placed on the array wheel had already been broken. Xu Xiaoshou had played him like a masterful strategist, forcing Dao Qiongcang to react instead of seizing control.
He could have taken more time to properly seal or dismantle the array wheel… but the urgency of the situation had forced his hand. Xu Xiaoshou had capitalized on that weakness.
Dao Qiongcang's laughter echoed through the sky. "Good, good, good!" He praised Xu Xiaoshou three times in succession, genuinely impressed by his adversary's cunning.
Though he had always considered Xu Xiaoshou a mere junior, Dao Qiongcang now realized that the young man had evolved. No longer just a pawn, Xu Xiaoshou was beginning to play the game as a true Go master—just like Bazhun'an.
Bazhun'an had already withdrawn from the stage, leaving Xu Xiaoshou to hold the reins. Dao Qiongcang had underestimated him before, but no longer. Now, he faced a true adversary.
"You want to play this game?" Dao Qiongcang's eyes gleamed with resolve. "Then I'll accompany you to the end!"
As he steeled himself for the next round, the Nine Heavens Saint Calamity descended upon the battlefield. Quan Sanqing's momentum faltered as the calamity's force smashed into him, breaking through the spatial fragment. The air filled with the crackling of divine energy as the conflict reached its peak.
But now, with the game fully in motion, Dao Qiongcang was ready for whatever Xu Xiaoshou threw at him next.
The Ghostface Eagle, despite its tremendous speed, flailed helplessly like a headless fly under the influence of Dao Qiongcang's mastery of the Greater Teleportation Technique. Its sharp battle instincts and swift movements couldn't keep pace with Dao Qiongcang's precision. Unable to even graze Dao Qiongcang's clothes, it was clear that the Ghostface Eagle was entirely outclassed.
Dao Qiongcang, with a grim look, decided to stop toying with his opponents. His demi-saint aura flared, and he invoked the "Divine Thirty-Six Form." Instantly, the Celestial Scroll, with the power of a tidal wave, cascaded from the heavens, enveloping the sky and land. Behind him, a colossal Saint Statue materialized, its likeness a mirror of Dao Qiongcang himself, but on a vastly grander scale.
The Saint Statue stood tens of thousands of feet tall, adorned with a golden crown, cradling billions of stars in its hands. It towered above the Sacred Mountain Gui Zhe, its eyes cold and ancient. Its presence was so overwhelming that people across the entire region could see it towering above the landscape, casting its gaze upon them like an ancient god. Its voice thundered through the air:
"Great Suppression Technique!"
With a single shout, the Celestial Scroll transformed into a holy realm. The Saint Statue tossed the stars in its hands, unleashing a terrifying wave of Saint pressure that tore through the fabric of space.
The sheer force of the pressure caused the calamity cloud above to descend rapidly, forced into a lower altitude. Quan Sanqing, despite using the sunflower sacred physique to mitigate much of the saint calamity's devastating power, remained utterly overwhelmed. Though he survived the first thunder calamity, he became dispirited, his strength waning. Blood spurted from his mouth as the overwhelming power of the Saint Statue sent him crashing to the ground, his soul fractured and his consciousness teetering on the edge.
The Ghostface Eagle also raised its head to gaze upon the Saint Statue, but it could barely comprehend what it saw. The majestic, godlike figure before it shattered any illusion that Dao Qiongcang was simply an overpowered mortal. With just one look, the Ghostface Eagle bled from its seven orifices. The bones in its knees and wings shattered as it collapsed to the ground, utterly broken.
Aunt Xiang's voice cut through the chaos, filled with despair and urgency. "Run!" she cried.
She had known all along the dire situation they were in. It wasn't that Ghostface or Quan Sanqing had been holding their own due to their strength; Dao Qiongcang had simply chosen to prolong the battle, waiting for a greater opportunity. When he decided to act, the results were devastating. The realization of the power gap between a demi-saint of Dao Qiongcang's caliber and even the most elite of higher void cultivators was staggering.
Dongdong, clutching Aunt Xiang and Ah Yao, attempted to flee under the cover provided by Ghostface and Quan Sanqing's sacrifices. But before she could fully escape the array's reach, she felt an immense force strike her from behind, launching her into the air. She coughed up blood as she crashed to the ground, teetering on the brink of death.
In that moment, the spatial ring that Aunt Xiang had given her shattered, releasing a jade talisman. The talisman immediately transformed into a protective barrier of light, enveloping Dongdong and dispelling the crushing weight of the Great Suppression Technique. As warmth flooded her body, her injuries began to heal. Dongdong's eyes widened in astonishment.
"A Saint Protection Talisman!" she whispered in awe. Treasures like these were exceedingly rare, even among the scions of demi-saint families, and yet Aunt Xiang had gifted them three of such talismans before they had even left the Yougui Pavilion.
Dongdong glanced to her side and saw that Ah Yao, who should have been completely destroyed by the Saint pressure, had also been protected by a talisman. Ah Yao's body began to rapidly heal, though she remained unconscious.
Aunt Xiang, though aware of the powerlessness around her, recognized that Dao Qiongcang had been holding back against them. He had shown mercy, allowing them to survive longer than expected. Still, the lingering pressure of the Saint weighed heavily on all of them.
With tears streaming down her face, Aunt Xiang urged Dongdong, "Run… Don't look back!"
Dongdong, trembling, struggled to her feet. She dared not use her spiritual senses to see how close Dao Qiongcang might be. Fear gripped her heart, but she carried Aunt Xiang and Ah Yao forward, each step a monumental effort. The golden osmanthus tree, their goal, lay just six steps away, but the distance felt insurmountable.
Meanwhile, the calamity cloud in the sky dissipated as the Dao Qiongcang Saint Statue lowered its gaze. Quan Sanqing's path to sanctification was severed. Dao Qiongcang, sensing that further experimentation could lead to unforeseen variables, ended the conflict decisively.
Quan Sanqing, lying in a deep crater, gazed up at the sky. Lightning snakes still writhed in the air, forming and dissolving into human shapes before disintegrating completely. A faint smile tugged at his lips. His inner body was destroyed by the saint calamity, and his outer body ravaged beyond repair.
Though his sunflower sacred physique had been shattered, and he lay at death's door, Quan Sanqing smiled—an expression of peace and satisfaction. With his last breath, he let go of the world, allowing himself to slip into the eternal darkness that had awaited him for so many years.
As the tension in the air reached its peak, Ghostface continued to push himself beyond his limits, even though his body was deteriorating under the relentless Saint pressure. His ancient martial arts training, along with the burning of his lifespan, allowed him to momentarily resist. Starlight emerged from his acupuncture points, corresponding to the Eight Doors and Seven Constellations, giving him the power to lift his head defiantly against the overwhelming force pressing him down. He roared like a god challenging the heavens.
But his roar was cut short when Dao Qiongcang, in an almost casual gesture, stepped on Ghostface's head, forcing it back into the earth. The once-proud beast was silenced, his mouth filled with dirt and stones, unable to see anything but darkness. His power and struggle were utterly futile before Dao Qiongcang's mastery.
Dao Qiongcang moved forward slowly, his expression distant and cold, seemingly unconcerned with the carnage he left behind. He was not focused on Dongdong and Aunt Xiang, who were desperately trying to escape the golden osmanthus formation. His eyes were fixed on something else entirely—the mysterious arm still floating in the air, weaving intricate hand signs and spells. Despite the Saint pressure and chaos around it, the arm moved with even greater speed and precision.
Moments later, the shattering array wheel cracked open, and golden osmanthus trees, once chaotic and dangerous, reverted to their peaceful state, their threat neutralized. The vast array that had trapped Dongdong and the others was undone, leaving behind only harmless "little spider" arrays. A small hole in the formation provided the survivors with a potential path to freedom.
Dao Qiongcang sighed with a mixture of appreciation and frustration. The shattering array wheel had once again unraveled one of his arrays, just as it had done with the Hundred World spiritual array. Although he was prepared for such a possibility, it was still vexing to see his divine formations so easily undone.
With the array dispelled and Ghostface and Quan Sanqing subdued, Dao Qiongcang's focus turned to the remnants—Dongdong, Aunt Xiang, and the mortal Ah Yao. He knew they posed no significant threat. The power of the Saint Protection Talisman had already been exhausted, and Dongdong was unable to take the final step out of the formation. It seemed all hope was lost for them.
However, Dao Qiongcang did not immediately capture them. Instead, he directed his attention elsewhere—to a shadow that had been lingering on the outskirts of the battle, observing from a distance without ever showing itself. Dao Qiongcang, fully aware of the presence, smirked. The shadow had watched from morning until night but never dared to interfere, fearing for its life.
Recognizing that his unseen opponent had withdrawn, Dao Qiongcang activated the Greater Teleportation Technique, his Celestial Scroll vanishing. Despite not catching the elusive figure, Dao Qiongcang still felt victorious. He reached out with a gesture and sent three beams of starlight towards Dongdong and her companions, expecting to transport them directly to him.
But when the teleportation completed, what appeared before Dao Qiongcang was not what he expected.
Instead of Dongdong, Aunt Xiang, and Ah Yao, Dao Qiongcang found himself holding half a pair of black knee-length tulle socks, a faintly scented light pink pair of male underwear decorated with bunnies, and a thick purple bra.
For a moment, Dao Qiongcang was stunned. His mind raced, but no logical explanation for the bizarre items came to mind. He quickly discarded the tulle socks and the underwear, but hesitated when his fingers brushed against the thick, soft bra. He prodded it gently, feeling the residual warmth still clinging to it.
Dao Qiongcang, the powerful and composed Hallmaster, who had remained calm through battle and destruction, now found himself truly shocked. It was the first time since the battle had begun that he felt utterly bewildered.
"What… is this?" he murmured to himself, staring in disbelief at the absurdity of the situation.