Crack.

Yuan Chang’s eyes opened, turning completely silver-white, but his neck was twisted by Zhang Rongfang’s single hand, and he quickly collapsed to the ground, turning into black ash.

"This is what I wanted to tell you all." Zhang Rongfang spread his arms, smiling as he spoke.

"The correct path."

"...!!?" Zhou Yan was dumbfounded, his heart numb with shock, and he was completely oblivious to the fact that his own arm was rapidly healing.

In just that instant.... Yuan Chang actually...!!?

This guy... this guy... who on earth is he!!!?

"Today’s Daoist sect has long strayed from the path...." Zhang Rongfang took a step forward.

"Those of us who cultivate must seize the wonders of heaven and earth, refining the infinite of all living things. Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, Five Qi Toward the Origin!!"

He slowly turned his body, revealing the blood lotus pattern blossoming behind him.

"Now I have cultivated the first blood essence flower! Truly stepping onto the path of high cultivation in the Daoist sect!"

"No worship of gods!"

"No Extreme Realm!"

"Cultivate oneself alone! Comprehend the changes of the heavens, and speak the infinite of all things!!"

Zhang Rongfang’s expression was filled with a sense of deep concern, like an ancient, solemn energy cultivator pursuing the path of the Dao.

Zhou Yan watched him approach with wide eyes.

He could see that Zhang Rongfang truly had not worshiped gods!

And he truly was not of the Extreme Realm!

Without a moment’s hesitation, even in this state similar to the final form, he completely crushed everything.

Can a person... truly reach this level??

No worship of gods? And still reach such heights!?

Then why did he worship gods in the first place?

Why entrust his life and death to deities and Buddhas!?

Why?

If only he had met this person sooner....

No, that’s not right!!

"Disturbing my Dao heart! You must die!!"

Zhou Yan suddenly snapped back to reality.

In his final form, clarity returned to his eyes in an instant.

His feet stomped on the ground, muscles compressed like springs, twisting and writhing.

’Secret Kill! Stepping into the Void · Soaring in the Sky · Shadow Vanquish!!!’

In an instant, without a sound, his figure disappeared from where he stood.

In that moment, Zhou Yan suddenly appeared in midair behind Zhang Rongfang.

His silhouette scattered into a fan shape, each shadow’s fingertip glowing silver, pointing downward.

At the same time, a total of eighteen shadows, indistinguishable between real and illusory, descended from various angles.

Every shadow’s finger strike was real!

Zhang Rongfang took a deep breath, retracting his arms to form a circle.

’Twelve Immortal Techniques!’

’Dark Rainbow!!’

In an instant, his arms spread wide, his skin exuding a multitude of blood droplets, and with a wave of his hands like a whirlpool, forming a massive dark red vortex in front of him.

It was a real vortex formed by the combination of blood droplets and airflow!!

Sizzle sizzle sizzle!!!!!

Finger shadows collided one by one into the blood-red vortex, producing ear-piercing shrieks.

Zhang Rongfang’s body trembled incessantly, yet he remained unmoved, his legs sinking deeper into the ground.

In a tenth of a second.

Zhou Yan’s last finger strike descended.

Both of them were simultaneously blown apart and separated.

Zhou Yan landed on the ground, retreating more than ten steps, raising his hands in astonishment.

His hands, at this moment, appeared to be covered in countless wrinkled pits like those of an old man.

"Demon Technique!!" he shouted sharply.

Zhang Rongfang steadied his feet, his Essence Qi, Spirit, and Spirit State seemingly improved.

Though his chest bore several more blood holes, judging by the speed of their healing, they’d be restored in a matter of seconds.

"This is Immortal Technique! You demons, feeding on human lives, how could you understand the true essence of our Immortal Path?"

His expression remained unchanged, unfazed.

By this time, he already fully understood his limits.

As a Grandmaster of the Snow Rainbow Pavilion, Zhou Yan was on par with him in preemptive combat; earlier, Congshan was even inferior in this aspect.

In terms of physical strength, he and Zhou Yan were evenly matched.

The only difference lay in Recovery Power and martial arts techniques.

"I see...." Zhou Yan watched him, as if realizing something all at once.

"The Immortal Path is your Grandmaster’s heart, is it?"

"If so, then I shall destroy your Dao heart!!"

He spread his legs into a T-shape.

"Let you truly understand.... what it means to worship a god!!"

Shua!

He suddenly widened his eyes.

His pupils quickly changed from black to silver-white.

Swoosh!

An invisible stream of air spread outward from him, dispersing the surrounding mist.

Soon, the mist cleared, and the surrounding environment became visible once more.

They stood on a hilly highland.

Behind them was a vast, foul-smelling, rotten black swamp.

Further away, explosive sounds of fierce battles rumbled like thunder.

But at this moment, Zhang Rongfang had no time to care about any other disturbances.

He focused intently on Zhou Yan.

He sensed a special threat from him.

It was the same feeling as when he first saw the Blood Demon, Wish Girl.

Swoosh.

A stream of air slowly dissipated around Zhou Yan.

His eyes now completely silver, he stood in place, head down, gazing at Zhang Rongfang.

"Kill!!!"

With a snap, he stepped forward.

A blurred silver shadow rose from his back.

It was the multitude of heat emitted from his body, gathering and weaving into a Daoist silhouette several meters high.

From afar, the Daoist silhouette had empty eyes, and one could vaguely see it wearing a Daoist robe, with a Daoist crown on its head, holding a Ruyi in its left hand and a golden whip in its right hand.

Boom!

The airflow exploded, and Zhou Yan charged at Zhang Rongfang once again.

This time, his speed and power were not much greater than before.

Yet an inexplicable feeling of trepidation caused Zhang Rongfang’s heart to race even before Zhou Yan approached.

He stared at Zhou Yan intensely, slowly, as Zhou Yan drew closer.

Everything around seemed to slow down.

This was a special state Zhang Rongfang discovered during the training with Emperor Jiang.

He found that whenever he entered this state, everything nearby would slow down.

Right in front of him.

Zhou Yan approached like a cannonball, body half-floating, parallel to the ground, coming closer.

He swung his right fist, and the Daoist’s shadow behind him also threw a right punch.

The invisible airflow fist wrapped around the actual fist, seemingly fused into one, striking at Zhang Rongfang.

"I..." Zhang Rongfang flexed his muscles, ready to use the Twelve Immortal Techniques to counter.

But... a sudden, sharp pain blurred his vision.

He... couldn’t see clearly!?

And that was not all.

An inexplicable fear surged from behind him, as if a dangerous thing was approaching from behind.

Swish!

He swung his fist backward fiercely.

But hit nothing. There was nothing behind him.

In this brief moment of distraction, Zhou Yan had gotten closer again.

The white Qi mixed with the powerful punch, viewed from above, was like a pale shockwave.

Flying, crashing, hitting!

Boom!!!

Without any surprise, the punch perfectly hit Zhang Rongfang’s chest and heart.

His eyes widened, unable to discern where the attack came from.

Bam!!

Zhang Rongfang’s chest caved in, bones cracked, causing a slight protrusion in his back.

"Did you see it?" Zhou Yan raised his silver-white eyes, staring at him. "Who do you think you are!? Suppression? Humans can never be a match for us... It was so back then, and now, it is too...."

At that moment, he seemed like a different person, as if his humanity merged with something else to form another Zhou Yan.

Poof!

Zhang Rongfang suddenly opened his mouth, blood spilling from the corners.

Just then, a subtle, unique sound rose from their point of contact.

That sound grew from small to large, weak to strong...

"!!?" Suddenly Zhou Yan sensed something wrong and looked down.

He was horrified to find that the skin at the point where his arm touched Zhang Rongfang was rapidly aging, losing its luster and moisture.

In contrast, the injuries on Zhang Rongfang’s body were healing at a terrifying speed.

"Die for me!!" Zhou Yan drove his knee forward, brutally hitting Zhang Rongfang’s abdomen.

But the terrifying body hardness prevented him from breaking Zhang Rongfang, only damaging his muscles.

Poof.

Zhang Rongfang opened his arms wide, tightly hugging Zhou Yan.

He was smiling, even while coughing up blood, the corners of his mouth remained smiling!

And increasingly joyful! More and more ecstatic!

Boom boom boom boom!!

Zhou Yan sensed that something was wrong, and frantically tried to break free. He kicked out repeatedly, hitting Zhang Rongfang’s body.

If it were any other Grandmaster of Worship, their body would probably have been shattered by now.

But on the present Zhang Rongfang, who activated the Blood Lotus, it was only at the level of just breaking bones.

His current body strength has exceeded that of Worship.

Blood continued to flow from his mouth, yet his arms were like iron clamps, holding Zhou Yan tightly.

"You can’t kill me....."

He whispered.

"I have gathered the Three Flowers... In the future, the Five Qi will be directed towards the source!"

"I... am the true Immortal Path!!"

Poof poof poof poof!!

In an instant, countless silver lines penetrated his body, like a silver stream, stabbing into the ground, stretching out to unknown distances.

While bleeding and laughing, Zhang Rongfang dodged a punch aimed at his face.

He lunged forward, fiercely biting onto Zhou Yan’s cheek.

A torrent of blood flowed into his mouth.

The injuries on his body accelerated in healing once again.

Zhang Rongfang crazily sucked in, feeling the damage and rebirth in his body.

Pain didn’t matter.

Injury didn’t matter.

He only wanted to win!

Time passed bit by bit....

Finally, after who knows how long.

He felt his body steadily improving, injuries diminishing.

Zhou Yan’s struggles within his arms grew weaker.

That eerie state seemed to exist only after the Descent of the God, making him completely unable to predict the attack routes.

The advantage of defending first was completely nullified.

Moreover, there was some kind of mental interference, affecting his perception.

Making it impossible for him to counter the attacks.

But it didn’t matter....

It didn’t matter...

Clatter.

Zhang Rongfang released the now-mummified Zhou Yan, tumbling to the side, covered in blood, facing the sky.

"I can gather the Three Flowers.... No evil or unnatural path can kill me!!"

"Can’t kill me!!"

"Can’t kill....!!"

"Ha... haha... hahahahaha!!!" Suddenly he burst into laughter.

His body twitched, like someone in a frenzy, laughing towards the sky.

In that moment, lying on the ground by the dried corpse, he felt a peace he had never felt before.

Snap.

A familiar boot slowly came into his line of sight from behind.

Emperor Jiang held a wine jar in his hand, gentle in demeanor, saying nothing.

He raised his head and drank a mouthful of wine, quietly listening to the laughter and the distant wind crying.