Chapter Eleven: Gazing at Buzhou Mountain, Seeing Pangu; Tempering the True Body Under the Great Dao's Pressure

He would use the purest strength to crush this strange brat before him.

"Competing in strength? I've never feared anyone."

Ao Chen laughed heartily. Faced with Ci Tie's massive body crashing toward him like a Primordial Divine Mountain, he didn't retreat. Instead, he stepped forward, curled his fingers into a fist, and threw a simple punch.

The punch held no earth-shattering radiance, yet it seemed to carry the weight of the entire Star River Universe within him.

Boundless Stellar Force and Space Law converged on his fist.

Boom~

His fist slammed into Ci Tie's massive body, which was as indestructible as ever and covered in Innate Geng Metal scales.

This time, the collision unleashed a truly earth-shaking roar.

A terrifying shock wave spread like ripples of annihilation, shattering the space for hundreds of millions of miles in every direction.

The earth split apart, the sky groaned, and even the laws seemed to break in that instant.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Unbelievably, Ci Tie, a Grand Unity Demon Saint renowned for his formidable body, was sent reeling several steps by the clash of pure strength.

Each step left a massive crack in the void. A tiny fracture even appeared on his forehead, covered in Innate Geng Metal scales.

Ao Chen, by contrast, only swayed slightly before steadying himself.

The difference was plain to see.

"Y-Your strength..."

Feeling the sharp pain in his forehead and the blood and qi churning inside him, Ci Tie stared at Ao Chen's seemingly unimposing frame, his eyes filled with shock.

How could an Earth Immortal possess such terrifying strength?

This was even more outrageous than the Great Witches of the Wu Clan, who were renowned for their strength.

"A Grand Unity Golden Immortal's strength is nothing special."

Ao Chen shook out his fist, his expression still calm.

After the initial tempering under the pressure of Buzhou Mountain, and with the Star River Universe within him now complete, his physical strength had long since surpassed that of an ordinary Grand Luo.

"I don't believe it."

Ci Tie had gone completely mad. He couldn't accept that he, a mighty Grand Unity Demon Saint, had lost a contest of strength to an Earth Immortal.

"Natural Divine Ability—Devour Metal and Iron."

He suddenly opened his massive jaws, unleashing a terrifying Devouring Power, as though he meant to consume every trace of metal in the world.

At the same time, the horn atop his head blazed with black light, firing a beam that contained the Law of Destruction straight at Ao Chen's brow.

These were his innate divine ability and his strongest attack.

Yet faced with this final, frantic assault, Ao Chen only shook his head gently.

"It's over."

He joined his fingers like a sword, pouring the power of the Star River Universe within him into them without reservation.

The Daoist resonance of the Great Dao Origin Scripture flowed, and the Nirvana true intent of the Grass Extinguishing Sword Art gathered.

A Gray Sword Qi of unprecedented concentration and brilliance, yet steeped in endless deathly stillness, burst from his fingertips.

As this sword strike swept out, even time seemed to stop for an instant.

The terrifying Devouring Power was split apart before the sword qi, like a joke.

The black light from Ci Tie's horn, imbued with the Law of Destruction, failed to raise even the slightest ripple before the Gray Sword Qi extinguished and assimilated it completely.

The sword qi continued onward, crossing the distance between space and time to strike Ci Tie's massive body in an instant.

A soft rip.

There was no earth-shaking boom, only the faint sound of something being cut.

A thin gray line appeared on Ci Tie's massive demonic body, which could withstand the bombardment of an Innate Spiritual Treasure. It began at his horn and ran downward.

Then, on either side of that gray line, his flesh, bones, primordial spirit...

Everything began to silently vanish and disintegrate, as if erased by an invisible force.

"No... I refuse to..."

The last light in Ci Tie's eyes, filled with endless terror and unwillingness, faded away completely.

In just a few breaths, a fearsome early-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal Demon Saint was utterly Form and Spirit Annihilated by that single Gray Sword Qi. He became nothing but the most fundamental particles, vanishing into the Primordial World.

Not a trace remained.

Ao Chen slowly lowered his fingers and gazed at the place where Ci Tie had disappeared, his expression calm.

"So a perfected Mythical Earth Immortal can indeed slay an early-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal."

He now had a more precise understanding of his own strength.

It seemed the path of the Mythical Grand Unity Method was even mightier than he had imagined.

Ao Chen casually gathered the tiny remnant of Innate Geng Metal essence left behind after Ci Tie vanished, then continued on his way.

Slaying a Demon God was nothing much to him, but it was bound to draw the attention of the demon race.

At his current level, he could handle ordinary Grand Unity Golden Immortals. But he would be in trouble against Eastern Emperor Taiyi, who wielded an Innate Supreme Treasure.

He looked up at the outline of Buzhou Mountain, now growing clearer in the distance, and his gaze grew even more resolute.

"Buzhou Mountain, I'm coming."

He flashed out of sight, disappearing into the horizon once more.

Chapter Eleven: Gazing at Buzhou Mountain, Seeing Pangu; Tempering the True Body Under the Great Dao's Pressure

After slaying Ci Tie, Ao Chen continued toward the central region of the Primordial Continent.

The farther he went, the more he sensed the age and extraordinary nature of this land.

The sky seemed more vast, the earth more substantial, and the Innate Spiritual Qi flowing between heaven and earth purer and more vibrant.

He could even faintly make out places where Innate Spiritual Qi gathered, shrouding them in mist and filling them with radiant clouds.

The mountains and terrain grew increasingly rugged and magnificent.

There were towering mountain ranges stretching hundreds of millions of miles, their peaks piercing the clouds. Strange flowers and herbs grew everywhere, including young Innate Spiritual Roots rarely seen elsewhere.

In the vast, boundless primeval forests lived even more powerful creatures of the Primordial Wilderness. He could even sense terrifying beings born at the dawn of creation, their bloodlines rivaling those of Chaos Demon Gods, lurking in hidden corners.

At the same time, he noticed that the laws of heaven and earth in this region seemed clearer and more active, almost within reach.

This was undoubtedly a tremendous boon to his cultivation method of "learning from heaven and earth."

But it came with an even more terrifying pressure!

Especially as he traveled in a certain direction, an indescribable, ancient and imperishable pressure grew ever clearer, as if it came from the very spine of heaven and earth!

At last, after traveling for several thousand more years and passing through a region shrouded in dense Innate clouds and mist, Ao Chen suddenly stopped.

His pupils contracted slightly, and for the first time, an unmistakable look of shock appeared on his face!

At the end of his sight—or rather, at the very center of the world's entire vista—stood a "heavenly pillar" so immense that no words could describe it!

It reached up to the azure firmament of the Nine Heavens and down to the earth of the Nine Netherworlds, as though it held up the entire Primordial World!

Its height was beyond reckoning, stretching hundreds of millions of miles; its breadth was beyond measure, spanning tens of millions. Its entire form was an archaic, mysterious yellow.

Endless Dao Runes coiled around the mountainside, radiating an incomparably supreme aura that suppressed the ages and supported heaven and earth!

Just gazing at it from afar made Ao Chen's primordial spirit tremble. It was as if he had glimpsed the back of Great God Pangu, who had created the world and held heaven and earth aloft!

Buzhou Mountain!

This was Buzhou Mountain, transformed from Pangu's Spine—the pillar that held up the Primordial World!

Compared to Buzhou Mountain, every mountain range he had seen before was as tiny as a speck of dust!

"What a mountain. What a Great God Pangu."

Ao Chen took a deep breath, forcing down the turmoil in his heart.

He could clearly feel that the vast pressure emanating from Buzhou Mountain was more than mere physical force. It was also a supreme pressure originating from the source of the Great Dao and Pangu's Will!

Under this pressure, every living being would instinctively feel insignificant and filled with awe.

At the same time, he sensed that the laws of heaven and earth around Buzhou Mountain were exceptionally active and clear.

The Force Law and Space Law in particular, as well as a Creation and Support Law that seemed to create the world, were practically manifesting in tangible form!

"I came to the right place!"

Ao Chen's eyes shone brightly.

"This is the perfect place for me to comprehend the Great Dao and test myself!"

He didn't choose to approach Buzhou Mountain itself. The pressure there was likely too much for even a Grand Unity Golden Immortal to endure for long.

Instead, he chose a valley on the outskirts of the Buzhou Mountain range, where spiritual energy was relatively abundant and he could clearly sense the mountain's Daoist resonance. He carved out a temporary cave dwelling and once again set up concealment restrictions.