Taiyi Zhenren's patience had clearly run out.
The way he looked at Shi Ji was like he was looking at an ant that did not know its own limits yet still stubbornly resisted.
"You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!"
Taiyi Zhenren snorted coldly. The arrogance belonging to a Chan Sect Golden Immortal on his face had now transformed into undisguised killing intent.
"Since you, fiend, are so determined to die, I shall uphold the heavens today and send you to the Investiture of the Gods!"
Before his words had faded, he flicked his wrist, and a palm-sized crimson cover with an ancient design appeared out of thin air, hovering above his palm.
The cover appeared ordinary, yet the instant it emerged, the temperature within a hundred miles of Skeleton Mountain soared. The air itself seemed to ignite, becoming scorching and distorted.
Qin Feng's Spiritual Sense felt an instinctive tremor from the depths of his soul.
Danger!
Utterly extreme danger!
"Houtian Merit Spirit Treasure, the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover!"
Shi Ji's pupils suddenly contracted, and for the first time, alarm appeared on her cold, beautiful face.
She recognized this treasure.
It was a protective treasure personally refined by Yuanshi Tianzun and bestowed upon Taiyi Zhenren. Its power was boundless, especially effective against immortal bodies and Primordial Spirits.
"So you do know something!"
A cruel curve appeared at the corner of Taiyi Zhenren's lips. With a flick of his finger, the Divine Fire Cover expanded with the wind, instantly becoming as large as a small mountain as it hovered over Skeleton Mountain.
The nine lifelike Fire Dragon patterns upon its surface seemed to come alive. Their dragon eyes opened, revealing terrifying, savage light capable of burning all things to ash.
"By my command!"
Taiyi Zhenren formed a hand seal.
"Roar—!"
Nine earthshaking dragon roars echoed through the clouds. Nine hundred-zhang Fire Dragons condensed from primordial divine fire roared out of the cover, carrying a terrifying force capable of incinerating mountains and boiling seas as they swept toward Shi Ji!
Under the glow of the flames, Taiyi Zhenren's arrogant face looked incomparably ferocious.
At that moment, he was no longer an enlightened True Immortal. He looked more like a demon who delighted in tormenting the weak.
Before the flames even arrived, their horrifying heat had already begun melting Skeleton Mountain itself. Hard rock turned into crimson magma that gurgled across the ground.
Countless Spirit Monsters hidden within the mountain did not even have time to scream before the residual force of the divine fire reduced them to ashes.
This was the strength of a Chan Sect Golden Immortal!
This was the tyranny of the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover!
Shi Ji clenched her silver teeth and did not dare let her guard down in the slightest. She offered up the Eight Trigrams Dragon Beard Scarf, transforming it into a barrier before her. At the same time, the Tai'a Sword blazed with light as she slashed out a fierce sword aura, attempting to carve out a path of survival.
However, it was useless.
All her resistance seemed so pale and powerless before those nine dragons of divine fire.
The instant the sword aura touched the flames, it vanished like a clay ox sinking into the sea.
The barrier formed by the Eight Trigrams Dragon Beard Scarf lasted less than a breath before releasing strained wails beneath the divine fire's scorching heat. Its spiritual radiance rapidly dimmed.
"Pfft!"
With her treasure damaged, the backlash struck Shi Ji's mind, and she spat out a mouthful of blood. An unhealthy pallor appeared on her exquisite face.
The aftershock of the fire waves forced her back again and again. Each step left a deep footprint in the ground, and her delicate body swayed as though she might collapse at any moment.
Yet her gaze remained unyielding.
It was the pride of someone who would rather die standing than live on her knees.
"Heh, futile struggles."
Taiyi Zhenren curled his lips disdainfully, his eyes filled with the mocking amusement of a cat toying with a mouse.
One hand rested behind his back while the other leisurely controlled the Divine Fire Cover. The nine Fire Dragons circled through the air, forming an inescapable net that continuously compressed Shi Ji's space to survive, yet did not openly burn her to death at once.
What he wanted was not merely to kill her. He wanted to utterly crush her dignity and destroy her Dao Heart.
Let you see what despair your birth brings!
Let you understand that your so-called ten thousand years of cultivation are nothing but a joke before a Chan Sect Golden Immortal like me!
Shi Ji was forced back step by step, and soon she had reached the entrance of White Bone Cave.
Behind her lay the Daoist sanctuary she had painstakingly managed for thousands of years.
There was nowhere left to retreat!
She felt the Magic Power rapidly draining from her body and the searing agony of divine fire burning her Primordial Spirit. A profound sense of helplessness welled up in her heart.
Her master was far away in Biyou Palace, tens of thousands of miles distant. He could not possibly arrive in time.
Nor did any of her fellow disciples from the Interception Sect know of the calamity she faced today.
Was she truly destined to meet her tribulation here today?
She looked around, her gaze sweeping across the cave dwelling she had opened with her own hands, across the mountain spirits that had once timidly poked their heads out while she preached the Dao, and across this Skeleton Mountain she had regarded as home.
Now, everything had become a sea of flames and scorched earth.
Finally, her gaze inadvertently fell upon the unremarkable stubborn stone before the cave dwelling.
That stone had already been there when she first arrived. For thousands of years, through wind and rain, it had never changed in the slightest, as though it had existed since time immemorial.
As she looked at that stone, a trace of confusion and desolation appeared in Shi Ji's eyes, though even she did not notice it.
She recalled Tongtian Jiaozhu's teaching that all could receive instruction without distinction.
All things possessed spirit and could seek the Dao.
But what was reality?
Reality was that the disciples of the Chan Sect stood high above all others, treating those with fur and horns as ants.
Reality was that Shi Ji's true origin was a stubborn stone born of heaven and earth. Even after cultivating bitterly for ten thousand years and attaining the rank of Taiyi, she was still regarded as an "outsider," oppressed at will, with her life and death beyond her own control.
An overwhelming grief, fury, and unwillingness surged up from the depths of her heart.
She raised her head and looked at the face in the sky, written with contempt and cruelty. With a sorrowful smile, she murmured to herself.
The sound was soft, so soft that it seemed meant only for herself.
"Is the Heavenly Dao truly unjust? Can even a stubborn stone never attain the Dao?"
"I, Shi Ji, have cultivated bitterly until this day. Yet when this calamity befalls me, do I truly have no backer to rely on?"
She was not begging anyone.
This was merely the most despairing cry against fate from a proud female immortal driven into a corner.
Yet those two sentences were like two thunderclaps that created the world, crashing violently into the core of Qin Feng's consciousness!
Even a stubborn stone could never attain the Dao!
No backer to rely on!
Boom!
Qin Feng felt his Spiritual Sense—no, his entire soul—ignite at that moment.
He had transmigrated ten thousand years ago and been trapped inside this stone, enduring endless solitude and despair.
He had only just sworn a solemn oath to protect the woman who had accompanied him for thousands of years and kept him from losing his mind entirely!
And now, her sorrowful cry pierced precisely the softest and most furious place in his heart!
No!
This was unfair!
Why?!
Who said a stubborn stone could not attain the Dao?!
Who said you had no backer?!
Me!
I am your backer!
The unyielding obsession in Qin Feng's heart and Shi Ji's despairing cry crossed the boundaries of matter and soul at that moment, producing an incomparably powerful resonance!
His Dao Heart, which had only just condensed with protection as its core and Defy Fate as its edge, instantly shone with boundless brilliance!
And at that very instant!
A cold, mechanical electronic voice that nevertheless sounded like heavenly music exploded without warning in the depths of his mind!
[Ding! Intense resonance detected. Mission target locked: Goddess Shi Ji!] [Detected Goddess Shi Ji's "request for a backer." The host's Dao Heart perfectly matches the request!] [Backing System officially activated!] [Novice mission issued: Will you accept the mission and become Niangniang Shi Ji's backer?]
The mechanical question echoed in his mind.
Qin Feng did not hesitate in the slightest.
Ten thousand years of suppression, endless rage, and the obsession to protect her converged at that moment into a roar that resounded through his soul.
"Accepted!"
"I'll be her backer, no matter what!"
Before you continue