War Begins, Three Gods Battle Taowu

Guiyuan said nothing more, moving with a single thought.

The Heavenly Sha Pagoda, one of the Thirty-Three Heavens Fierce Sha Treasures, hung suspended at his side, wreathed in roiling Sha Qi. It trembled faintly, and the gate at its base swung open.

In an instant, tens of thousands of Essence Qi Pills, each the size of a thumb joint, tumbled out like droplets of blood. He held them aloft with his dharma power and sent them before Xuanming.

The pills hung in the air, radiating vast and pure flesh-and-blood essence, causing the thin ambient spiritual energy to ripple faintly.

Xuanming glanced at them, a flicker of barely perceptible surprise passing through her cold, beautiful brows.

She extended two slender fingers, casually picked up one pill, and pressed lightly.

Crack.

The pill shattered—not into dust, but bursting into a thick, blood-red cloud of essence so dense it was almost tangible. She inhaled it with a slight flare of her nostrils.

A surge of warmth instantly spread through her limbs and bones, nourishing her severely damaged True Body of the Wu Clan.

The purity of this essence far surpassed any blood-meat she had ever devoured. It required almost no refinement, directly replenishing her expended energy.

"...Passable."

Xuanming finally spoke, her voice still icy, but at least no longer outright rejecting.

She hesitated no longer, sweeping the tens of thousands of Essence Qi Pills before her into her mouth in one gulp.

Boom!

An even greater surge of essence exploded within her body, like warm currents madly repairing her cracked bones and damaged internal organs.

A dark light rippled across her skin as Sha Qi spontaneously shielded her body. Her injuries began to heal at a visible rate.

Yet she soon shook her head, a hint of gravity flashing in her beautiful eyes: "That strand of Chaos Sha he struck into me with his dying counterattack carries a trace of true Daluo might. It's stubbornly entrenched."

"I need time to grind it away completely."

Guiyuan sighed at this, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness: "You knew that guy wasn't easy to deal with. Without absolute certainty, why charge in alone to clash head-on?"

Xuanming's icy eyes narrowed sharply, and the Sha Qi around her instantly turned dangerous, a biting chill threatening to freeze the very air.

If not for the fact that this fellow had just helped her, pulling her from Taowu's claws, she would have made him taste the fist of an Ancestral Wu for that lecturing tone!

Guiyuan sensed the almost tangible chill, rubbed his nose, and said no more.

As for the Chaos Sha entangled with Daluo might inside Xuanming's body, he truly had no good solution for now. She would have to dissolve it herself through slow, painstaking effort.

Time flowed on, and several hundred years quietly passed in these desolate northern mountain ranges.

Xuanming sat cross-legged with eyes closed, her Sha Qi locked in struggle with that stubborn strand of Chaos Sha, her aura slowly but steadily recovering.

On the other side, Guiyuan sat opposite Styx, not wasting the years.

"Slaughter is not born of butchery, but a blade to purify heaven and earth and sever karma. The heart harbors killing intent while the spirit remains unstained; the mind moves toward slaughter while the Dao stays untainted..."

Guiyuan slowly voiced his own insights on the Great Slaughter Technique.

What he spoke was not the inherent Dao of Slaughter of the Primordial World, but insights refined from countless killings in the Eternal Life Great World, elevated to a higher conceptual plane, sharp and unique.

At first, Styx merely listened, but the more he heard, the brighter his eyes grew.

By the end, a startling brilliance burst from his scarlet pupils.

He had never expected that this Daoist Guiyuan, who had taken form in the North Sea and seemed to have no Origin Foundation tied to the Dao of Slaughter, could possess such profound and original understanding of "slaughter." Many points opened new doors for him, as if pushing aside a gate he had never seen.

"Wonderful! Wonderful!"

Styx clapped in admiration, the phantom images of his twin swords, Yuanshu and Abi, humming excitedly behind him.

"Daoist Guiyuan's words strike straight at the essence of slaughter. Styx has been enlightened!"

He no longer held back, laying out in full the Primordial World's Dao of Slaughter he had comprehended since birth in the Sea of Blood—observing the killing intent of heaven and earth, the end of all things.

It was more primal, more direct, a logic of annihilation that bore the will of heaven and earth.

The two exchanged insights, their auras resonating.

Guiyuan felt that Styx's pure and majestic killing intent was like the sharpest whetstone, constantly honing the Great Slaughter Technique rune within his heart.

That divine ability talisman, representing the origin of slaughter, trembled violently within his true spirit. Countless mysteries of slaughter flowed, merged, and sublimated.

None knew how long passed before Guiyuan's mind jolted.

A phantom rune, dark red, shaped like a heart, beating incessantly, suddenly condensed and took form deep within his sea of consciousness!

The Heart of Slaughter!

Once this resolve was set, the faint strands of killing intent that Guiyuan naturally carried from years of battle instantly converged and vanished without a trace, leaving him plain and unadorned.

Yet with a shift of his mind, he could erupt with overwhelming murderous intent at any moment, wielding it as easily as moving his own limbs, with no further obstruction.

At their level, the pinnacle of Taiyi, spiritual perception was exceedingly sharp, and their sensitivity to killing intent was especially terrifying.

Gaining this "Heart of Slaughter" was equivalent to acquiring an exceptional means of controlling one's own aura.

Whether for ambushes, concealment, or resisting the impact of others' killing intent, it was immensely beneficial.

Guiyuan slowly opened his eyes, looking at Styx across from him, who had also gained something and whose aura had grown even sharper. He smiled slightly:

"Your efforts, fellow Daoist, helped me condense the Heart of Slaughter. Many thanks."

Styx's smile was equally hearty: "Mutual benefit!

Discussing the Dao with you, fellow Daoist, surpasses ten thousand years of my bitter cultivation!

Once this matter is concluded, I must seek you out again for a hearty drink and a discussion on slaughter!"

Just then, another icy and vast aura surged into the sky, interrupting their exchange.

Xuanming, who had been sitting quietly healing her injuries, rose to her full height. The Sha Qi around her flowed in perfect harmony.

That troublesome strand of Chaos Sha had been completely eradicated.

Though not yet restored to her peak, her beautiful eyes gleamed with cold light, and her battle intent had been rekindled.

She looked at Guiyuan and Styx, speaking succinctly:

"We can make our move."

"Let's go!"

Guiyuan gave a low shout, and three figures shot through the gray, overcast sky like meteors, making no attempt to conceal their auras as they plunged straight toward the core of the Ancestral Vein on Changbai Mountain!

The overwhelming Sha Qi, like stagnant water struck by a boulder, instantly erupted into a boil!

"ROAR—!!!"

A roar filled with fury exploded from the mountaintop, shaking heaven and earth.

The Taowu King's massive, mountain-like figure lurched upright, its blood-red giant eyes locking instantly onto these three uninvited guests.

Especially that one who had barely escaped from under its claws not long ago!

Enemies meeting, eyes blazing with hatred!

"Stick to the plan!" Guiyuan transmitted his voice.

The three figures flickered, and in an instant, they had formed a "Three Talents" formation, encircling the Taowu.

Xuanming took the lead position, facing the Taowu's edge head-on.

Guiyuan and Styx flanked the sides, their auras linked.

The strategy was set in a single moment.

Xuanming, with the strongest physical body and the greatest skill in close combat, would take the main assault, while Guiyuan and Styx would suppress and assassinate from the flanks using their spiritual treasures and divine abilities!

"Kill!"

Xuanming struck first, with no embellishment, directly manifesting her True Form of the Ancestral Wu.

A human face on a beast's body, ears adorned with green serpents, vast icy Sha Qi condensed on her fists like two ancient, unchanging glaciers, smashing fiercely toward the still-unhealed massive bloody hole in the Taowu's chest!

Simple, brutal, yet devastatingly effective!