In the Cosmic Deep Space, Mingyou's voice echoed across the heavens and earth, drawing countless amused gazes, along with no small amount of curiosity and scrutiny.
"What nerve!"
"Interesting. Is it because True Persons haven't shown themselves in the world for so long? Even if it is only a True Person's Qi Refining avatar, a mere qi refining practitioner actually dares to provoke it?"
"No, this one is different. He actually possesses a karmic achievement? One completed during the Tribulation Transcending realm... Give him a chance, and he really might have a shot at advancing to a True Person."
"No wonder he dares to come out..."
Up in a higher dimension, True Persons were already weighing in. On the other side, however, the thoughts of Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan were unavoidably tinged with irritation.
If he were merely watching the show, he would undoubtedly be highly amused, tossing out casual critiques and mocking the attacker for being so incompetent they couldn't even suppress a qi refining practitioner. But now, the one making a move was him. That completely changed the feeling.
"Courting death."
Without the slightest hesitation or any intention of letting his Qi Refining avatar handle it, Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan prepared to use his true body to kill Mingyou on the spot.
"Ring!"
A second later, the Heaven's Will Profound Blade let out a timely thrum. A dazzling arc of blade light slashed toward Mingyou, simultaneously blocking Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan.
True, this forced Mingyou to bear the brunt of the Heaven's Will Profound Blade's strike, but it also saved him from being glared to death by Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan's true body. Under these circumstances, if Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan wanted to kill Wang Ping, his only option was to send his Qi Refining avatar inside for a head-on clash!
What a joke. Did they really think Mingyou had charged out in a moment of hot-headedness?
Most qi refining practitioners in the Immortal Gate met bad ends; very few ever died of old age. Mingyou had almost achieved that rare feat, and he had done so by relying on his meticulous mind.
Since he dared to make a move, he naturally had the confidence to back it up!
And this wasn't just a desperate thread of life. He had a thirty to forty percent chance of success—enough to cast aside all misgivings and risk his life in an all-out gamble!
"Mingyou, do you truly intend to stand in my way?"
The Xuanxiao avatar's gaze was icy as he looked at Mingyou inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace. At the same time, he cast a sideways glance at the blazing blade light that was making a mere show of slashing at the man.
'The Heaven's Will Profound Blade... is playing favorites too!'
This Spiritual Treasure was the only one in the world that didn't require a master to unleash its full power, or even surpass its peak state.
Its true might went far beyond this.
Logically speaking, for Mingyou to so brazenly enter the Eight Trigrams Furnace and take seven or eight slashes from this blade, he should have coughed up at least a mouthful of blood by now.
Yet, despite taking seven or eight of those slashes head-on, Mingyou's qi mechanism remained perfectly stable, and he handled the strikes with ease. The Heaven's Will Profound Blade was obviously going easy on him!
'In the end, it is still a Spiritual Treasure left behind by the Great Rebellion—an untamable dog. Whenever something works in our favor, it enforces the rules without an ounce of mercy, refusing to tolerate even a speck of dust. But when a situation works against us, it suddenly bends those rules and turns a blind eye. A perfectly good artifact spirit has actually gone bad from living too long!'
This made Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan's gaze grow even more sinister.
On the other side, Mingyou merely scoffed at Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan's warning.
After all, his primary cultivation was currently Earth Yin Fire, supplemented by Heaven Yang Fire. As long as Wang Ping fully inherited the Martial Dao, Mingyou would smoothly master the final Human Yin Fire.
Once the three strands of fire qi were gathered, he could balance yin and yang. From there, he would be just one karmic achievement away from advancing to a True Person through the Li Trigram, gaining longevity and unfettered freedom. By stepping in now to kill Wang Ping and stop his Martial Dao inheritance, wasn't this bastard severing Mingyou's path to becoming a True Person?
And after all that, he was supposed to cower just because the other party possessed a higher Realm?
At this moment, Mingyou unleashed a ruthless ferocity that would have struck fear into almost every qi refining practitioner in the Immortal Gate. Deep within his eyes, the firelight of the Golden Lamp blazed!
Aid my path, and I will kneel even to a Mortal.
Obstruct my path, and I will kill even an immortal!
"...Very well."
Seeing this, Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan didn't bother making any more threats to invite further humiliation. Instead, he mobilized his Qi Refining avatar and stepped into the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
"Clang! Clang!"
Almost instantly, the Heaven's Will Profound Blade violently trembled, as if it had been waiting for this exact moment. A ferocious blade light carrying a hundred and twenty percent of its might slashed straight toward him!
This strike was entirely different from the ones aimed at Mingyou. Not only did it carry an unparalleled edge, but it also wielded several profound mysteries. Heaven's will as a blade—severing Dao, severing lifespan, severing dharma, severing flesh, and severing qi. The five brilliant colors reflected off one another, ultimately condensing along the weapon to form a single, ultimate arc of blade light.
Yet the Xuanxiao avatar's expression didn't change in the slightest.
"How dare a wicked blade run rampant?"
As his words fell, the auspicious clouds above his head suddenly shifted. A surge of the world's qi churned within them—it was none other than Human Yin Wood, the Adapting to Changes and Yielding for Wholeness Qi.
Boom!
In an instant, a similarly radiant blade light rose from the auspicious clouds. Brimming with profound changes, it merged five colors into one and slashed out in return.
It was actually a blade light as well!
There was not a shred of difference in the essence of the two blade lights. Driven by the Xuanxiao avatar's True Person Dao attainment, there was no profound mystery within the Heaven's Will Profound Blade that he couldn't see through.
The instant the two collided, boundless radiance shattered and scattered. Anyone looking up at the sky from the floor of the Eight Trigrams Furnace would have witnessed the spectacular heavenly phenomenon of the sun and moon vying for brilliance. Neither side gave an inch, yet they were evenly matched, becoming deadlocked against the sky of the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
Immediately after, the Xuanxiao avatar moved again!
Although he wasn't afraid of clashing head-on with the Heaven's Will Profound Blade, the weapon was wicked. With its ability to sever dharma and extinguish the Dao, he would undoubtedly be the one to suffer if the battle dragged on.
Therefore, he needed to end this quickly, lest a long delay breed unexpected complications.
With that thought in mind, he looked at Mingyou, who was close at hand. Having absolutely no intention of holding anything back, he parted his lips and slowly uttered a profound chant:
"Human Position Yin Wood; in adapting to things, there are changes of yielding for wholeness. My Dao is prosperous, and the wood qi submits to this body."
As his words fell, boundless profound visions immediately emerged from the auspicious clouds above the Xuanxiao avatar's head. Heavenly chimes resounded, detonating a boundless might that blasted across the Cosmos.
In an instant, the Eight Trigrams Furnace shuddered!
Previously, quite a few qi refining practitioners had been secretly observing this battle. However, as the Xuanxiao avatar wielded his profound mysteries, they were instantly struck by a wave of dizziness.
Their divine sense was abruptly cut off. Within their perception, the Xuanxiao avatar's light and shadow completely vanished, replaced by an invisible, formless, and ever-shifting azure light. It churned like a towering forest before crashing down onto Mingyou, seemingly intent on burying him alive!
Yet in the very next second...
A heavenly voice, in no way inferior to the Xuanxiao avatar's, boomed: "Earth Position Yin Fire; in its radiance lies the profound mystery of insight. My Dao has reached its zenith, and the fire qi shall submit to this body."
Boom!
In the next instant, the azure light blanketed the world—but from within it, a bright candlelight flared. In the blink of an eye, it blazed as fiercely as the sun, standing completely equal to the azure light!
They were actually fighting!
On the other side of the Cosmic Deep Space, Tianxing stared in dumbfounded shock. He had never expected Mingyou—who had kept a low profile for thousands of years—to bare his fangs at a moment like this.
The key point was—
'Are his fangs really this sharp?'
Tianxing couldn't help but reflect on whether his usual attitude toward Mingyou was flawed. Had he not shown him enough respect? From now on, he would definitely have to start addressing the man with honorifics...
He was far from the only one shocked. Every qi refining practitioner who saw that Mingyou hadn't been instantly crushed by the True Person avatar—and was actually trading blows back and forth—was stunned. Even Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang, observing from a higher dimension, revealed a hint of surprise.
'I underestimated him...'
However, the most astonished—and most furious—of them all was Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan, who had used his strongest methods yet failed to secure a single-strike victory.
It was true that he was also fending off the Heaven's Will Profound Blade.
After all, nine out of ten slashes from that wicked blade were now aimed squarely at him—and every single one was lethal. Meanwhile, it only symbolically swiped at Mingyou a few times.
But even so.
With his status as a True Person, even when controlling a Qi Refining avatar that possessed only a single strand of qi, he should never have fallen into a stalemate with a mere qi refining practitioner!
It wasn't a matter of lacking strength. In fact, he had already begun refining his second avatar. In terms of Dao attainment and cultivation, he was superior to ordinary True Persons.
There was only one reason for this deadlock:
'This Mingyou... is strong. Unbelievably strong!'
He truly couldn't take the man down in a short time!
Up in the higher dimension, Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan shifted his gaze toward the twenty-four-colored radiant light nearby. He didn't say a word, but his meaning was crystal clear.
Your goal of testing me has been achieved.
Are you going to act or not?
If you still don't act and Wang Ping manages to dissolve his Longevity Immortal Physique with the Martial Dao, causing the Tianzhu Cave Abode to vanish into hiding, then don't blame me for turning on you again.
Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang naturally understood the unspoken message. He hadn't been purely spectating just now; the moment Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan attacked, he had already begun gathering his profound mysteries. Now, as he unleashed them, the luminous silhouette of a towering Grotto-Heaven gradually manifested within the Cosmic Deep Space.
Dao Proving Mountain!
At this moment, within this towering Grotto-Heaven renowned throughout the Immortal Gate, layered mountain silhouettes violently thrust upward from the earth.
And upon the 333rd and 666th layers—a figure on each level was illuminated to brilliant transparency by the radiant light, sequentially manifesting into the world.
It was Wang Ping!
Back when he braved Dao Proving Mountain, he had left a phantom body of himself on both of these layers. Now, they were being forcibly extracted by Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang.
The radiant light swirled. The profound mystery—which even someone with the status of a True Person had needed time to prepare—crashed down, fully enveloping Wang Ping's two phantom imprints.
Transformation of Illusion and Reality!
Under the propulsion of Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang's profound mystery, the phantom imprints rapidly solidified, transforming toward reality.
Almost simultaneously, back in the Eight Trigrams Furnace, Wang Ping—who was desperately racing against time to condense his True Martial sacred body—was suddenly gripped by a suffocating sense of crisis.
He immediately raised his eyes and stared at his own hands.
His once-solid palms were suddenly blurring, turning as indistinct as green smoke that would scatter in the wind, or an illusory glow of radiant light.
He was becoming "illusory"!
Not only that, but the scenery before his eyes also began to shift, gradually changing from the interior of the Eight Trigrams Furnace to the environment of Dao Proving Mountain.
'He's trying to drag me out...'
In an instant, Wang Ping felt as if he had been plunged into an icy abyss.
They were using the phantom bodies he had left on Dao Proving Mountain to enact the transformation of illusion and reality, turning the fake into the real in order to forcibly yank him right out of the Eight Trigrams Furnace from afar!
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