Fire Dragon Island was an unknown volcanic island deep in the Eastern Sea.
The island was covered in jagged rocks, with not a blade of grass growing anywhere. Thick smoke poured from the volcano's crater at its center all year round, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of sulfur.
The spiritual energy here was thin, and the environment harsh. Ordinary living creatures would never come near.
Zhao Gongming rode Black Tiger down near the volcanic crater.
Feeling the scorching power of earth fire beneath his feet, he nodded with satisfaction.
"Just as I thought. This is a fine place."
Without a trace of doubt, he sat cross-legged, took out the mountain-sized Sky-Turning Seal, and prepared to refine it.
Just as he closed his eyes and sent his divine sense into the Sky-Turning Seal,
a sharp shout rang out behind him.
"Zhao Gongming! Prepare to die!"
A fierce sword beam, brimming with murderous intent, shot straight for the vital point in his back!
The attacker was none other than Chijingzi, who had followed him here!
He had watched for a long time. Seeing that Zhao Gongming had begun refining the treasure and was distracted, he had decided this was the perfect moment to launch a sneak attack.
However, he had still underestimated Zhao Gongming.
As the foremost outer disciple of the Interception Sect, Zhao Gongming had fought countless battles and possessed rich experience in combat. Although he was refining the treasure, he had kept his divine sense extended, watching for danger.
The moment Chijingzi attacked, he reacted.
"Rats from the Sect of Explanation! You just won't leave me alone!"
Without even turning around, Zhao Gongming sent the twenty-four Sea Calming Divine Beads behind his head flying out. They formed a curtain of light that blocked the attack behind him.
Clang!
Chijingzi's flying sword struck the curtain of light formed by the Sea Calming Divine Beads with a resounding metallic clang, but was easily deflected.
"What?"
Chijingzi was stunned. He hadn't expected Zhao Gongming to react so quickly while distracted by refining a treasure.
His attack had failed. He immediately withdrew and retreated, facing Zhao Gongming from a distance.
Zhao Gongming slowly rose to his feet and turned to look at Chijingzi, his eyes glinting coldly.
"So that's who it is. Fellow Daoist Chijingzi. What, didn't you see what happened to Guangchengzi? You still dare come here alone to die?"
"Zhao Gongming! Don't get carried away!" Chijingzi was furious and shocked. "You killed my senior brother. This is a grudge that can never be settled! Today, I'll use your blood to honor his spirit in the afterlife!"
"Big words!" Zhao Gongming sneered. "You think you can beat me? You Twelve Golden Immortals of the Sect of Explanation are all hypocrites who do nothing but talk pretty. If you've got the guts, come at me! Let's see how I send you to the Investiture of the Gods today!"
"Die!"
Chijingzi was thoroughly enraged. He stopped wasting words and brought out his signature treasures.
He held a sword in one hand and a simple, ancient-looking precious mirror in the other. The mirror had a black side and a white side, and radiated the profound aura of life and death turning in a cycle.
It was none other than his proof-of-the-Dao treasure, the Yin Yang Mirror!
This mirror was boundlessly powerful. Its white side could restore life, while its black side could kill with a single glance. Unless one possessed a special defensive treasure or cultivation far superior to his own, even a Grand Unity Golden Immortal could not escape death.
"Zhao Gongming, you should consider it an honor to die by my Yin Yang Mirror!"
Chijingzi pointed the black side of the Yin Yang Mirror at Zhao Gongming and shone it at him!
A beam of black light shot from the mirror, silent and formless. It pierced through space itself and struck at Zhao Gongming's primordial spirit.
An ordinary opponent would have been killed on the spot, without even having time to react to this fatal attack.
But Zhao Gongming only sneered.
The twenty-four Sea Calming Divine Beads above his head suddenly blazed with light. Five-colored radiance flowed around them in a perfect cycle, enveloping his entire body.
The black light struck the curtain of light formed by the beads, only to vanish without a trace, like a stone dropped into the sea.
"What?!"
Chijingzi's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
His Yin Yang Mirror had actually failed?
How was that possible?!
He didn't know that Zhao Gongming's twenty-four Sea Calming Divine Beads were formed from fragments of the Primordial Chaos Bead, each of them a world of its own. Together, the twenty-four beads bestowed upon their wielder the power of twenty-four minor worlds. All magic was ineffective against them, and all evil was repelled.
The Yin Yang Mirror's laws of life and death were powerful, but they weren't enough to pierce the barriers of twenty-four worlds.
"Have you run out of tricks?" Zhao Gongming taunted. "Then it's my turn!"
He pointed, and the twenty-four Sea Calming Divine Beads transformed into twenty-four streaks of light. Like twenty-four meteors descending from the heavens, they rained down on Chijingzi.
Each bead weighed as much as a mountain and contained the power of a world.
With all twenty-four unleashed, their might was several times more terrifying than Guangchengzi's Sky-Turning Seal had been!
Chijingzi was so terrified that his soul nearly fled his body.
At last, he understood why his senior brother Guangchengzi had lost.
These Sea Calming Divine Beads were far too powerful!
Daring not to let his guard down for an instant, he quickly recalled the Yin Yang Mirror and brought out another treasure.
It was a scroll. When unfurled, it revealed the two forces of yin and yang, which transformed into a golden bridge spanning the void and shielded him completely.
It was a supreme defensive treasure that Venerable Yuanshi had forged for him in imitation of Grand Supreme Elder Laozi's Taiji Diagram.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
One Sea Calming Divine Bead after another slammed into the golden bridge.
The bridge shook violently. The forces of yin and yang swirled across it, repeatedly breaking apart beneath the blows, only to reform again.
Standing on the bridge, Chijingzi turned deathly pale and poured all his strength into holding it up.
He could feel his magical power draining with every blow. At this rate, he would soon run out of strength and be beaten to death.
This won't do! I have to find a way to escape!
Chijingzi was frantic with anxiety.
As he struggled to hold on, he searched for a chance to flee.
Inside the Investiture of the Gods Space.
Watching Chijingzi get beaten down, Shen Zhaochi put on a "kind" smile.
"Trying to run? Not a chance."
"Time to give you a little something extra."
His thoughts locked onto Chijingzi once more.
"Bad luck, strike!"
As Chijingzi struggled to hold up the golden bridge, his foot suddenly slipped.
He looked down, but there was nothing there.
Yet that sudden slip caused his magical power to falter for one fatal instant.
The golden bridge protecting him dimmed at once.
When experts fought, victory or defeat could turn on the slightest detail!
Zhao Gongming was far too formidable to let such a fleeting opportunity pass!
"Break!"
He roared and poured all his magical power into the Sea Calming Divine Beads.
At that moment, the dozen or so remaining beads seemed to merge into one. They became a dazzling, five-colored beam of light and slammed into the weakest point of the golden bridge.
Crack!
A sharp snap rang out.
The golden bridge, formed from the forces of yin and yang, could no longer hold. It shattered with a crash.
Pfft!
Chijingzi was struck as if by lightning and spat out a large mouthful of blood. The violent force hurled him from the air, and he crashed heavily onto the volcanic rock below.
He tried to struggle to his feet, only to find that his internal organs had been shattered. His immortal body was covered in cracks, and he couldn't even move a finger.
He stared at Zhao Gongming hovering in midair, divine beads in hand, like a god or demon. His eyes brimmed with fear and despair.
"No..."
Only then did he realize that he had fallen into a trap from the very start.
A trap with no way out.
Before you continue