Run Away

The instant Duan De was sent flying, he saw crystalline petals dancing around the Woman in White.

Immortal Flowers filled the sky, immortal aura curling through the air. Everything looked so sacred. The woman seemed like a fairy descended to the mortal world, her glossy black hair flying behind her as her white robes fluttered loudly.

Crystalline petals surrounded her, each one incomparably tender, as though they had just blossomed. Boundless holy light burst forth from the pink petals.

But Duan De had no time to admire her. He felt an extreme sense of danger, his Nascent Soul repeatedly warning him: danger.

"A Thought Blooms, Reign Over the World."

As soon as the Woman in White spoke, the petals filling the sky transformed into Divine Embryos, each bearing her appearance.

The moment she unleashed this move, her combat strength surged.

Boom!

The next moment, Duan De flared up as well. He directly unleashed an unfamiliar heavenly art and collided with the Woman in White's Divine Embryos. In that instant, the aura of a Heavenly Tribulation locked onto the Woman in White.

Duan De formed hand seals with both hands, light shining from between his brows. Dense runes and threads spread from his palms, while an ancient purple character floated above his index finger.

His plump body was surrounded by endless lightning. A terrifying tribulation aura filled heaven and earth, as though someone were truly undergoing tribulation.

Duan De pointed toward the sky, then moved his finger before the Woman in White. With his index finger aimed at her, he lightly flicked out the ancient character.

Boom!

The next instant, a vast purple Saint King Heavenly Tribulation descended from the heavens and drowned the Woman in White.

Duan De himself had no idea why he knew this move. There was a peerless cultivation art called the Tribulation Crossing Heavenly Art in his mind. Crossing tribulation referred to one's own tribulation, but one could also unleash calamities to make others cross tribulation.

I hope I wasn't too strong and killed her. Duan De muttered, a regretful expression on his face. "I still haven't seen her True Appearance."

Buzz!

Suddenly, a black hole appeared in the Sea of Lightning that engulfed the world. It spun frantically, ultimately absorbing even the Heavenly Tribulation comparable to that of a Saint King. Waves of demonic qi leaked out, making the entire world tremble.

A Black Great Dao Treasure Bottle floated in the sky. Its mouth suddenly expanded, aimed at the Sea of Lightning, and fiercely inhaled.

The purple Sea of Lightning flowed backward into it like a waterfall.

The Great Dao Treasure Bottle seemed to be the vessel of all Great Dao. Patterns spread across its surface, profound laws gleamed, and Chaos Qi spewed from its mouth.

Duan De was utterly dumbfounded by the sight. He had never seen anything like this before. Could someone actually absorb another person's attack?

Moreover, this was a Heavenly Tribulation comparable to a Saint King. How could a mere woman possibly withstand it?

Looks like this is her trump card. Thinking this, Duan De immediately relaxed. As long as it was not the woman's own strength, it was fine.

Boom!

An even more violent aura erupted from the Sea of Lightning. That aura could slay the Heavenly Dao. The Woman in White, originally at the Ninth Heaven of the Saint Realm, doubled her combat strength after using Heaven Slaying Dao.

The secret technique of Heaven Slaying Dao merged with the essence of the Heaven Swallowing Demonic Art.

The Great Dao Treasure Bottle absorbed the Lightning Tribulation completely, then sprayed out countless strands of dazzling Immortal Light. It was extraordinarily enchanting, like sweet rain falling from the heavens after someone ascended to immortality.

An aura surpassing that of a Saint spread outward, even comparable to that of an expert at the Eighth Heaven of Saint King Realm.

"Divine Prohibition!" Duan De was truly stunned now.

Damn it, someone who had come to rob his tomb was a being capable of entering Divine Prohibition—and she did so with such ease.

What sin had he committed?

Duan De could not understand it. What had he done? Had he dug too many graves and brought retribution upon himself?

Tens of millions of strands of Immortal Light transformed into an azure dragon, then a Divine Phoenix, and finally countless blades and swords that directly surrounded Duan De.

The flesh on Duan De's face could not help trembling as the corners of his mouth twitched. Clenching his teeth, he said, "Fairy, this poor Daoist failed to recognize Mount Tai. Please continue digging. I'll pretend I never saw anything."

There was no benefit in fighting for him, and offending a Heavenly Pride capable of Divine Prohibition was no good thing.

Moreover, the strength the woman had displayed was simply too shocking. It was utterly unlike the aura a Saint should possess. Her strength had suddenly soared; calling it beyond Divine Prohibition would not be excessive.

But he had entered Divine Prohibition before too. Why was he not this powerful?

Screech!

Heaven and earth blazed brightly as countless attacks slashed toward Duan De. The azure dragon was enormous, formed from Immortal Light and wrapped in Chaos Qi, while countless swords and blades swirled wildly around the Chaos Qi.

Yet that plump body was astonishingly nimble. Amid the chaotic dance of weapons, he frantically twisted his fat body, narrowly evading every attack.

The Woman in White moved as gracefully as a startled swan. Her figure became extremely strange and illusory. Her slender jade legs stepped forward, and with every step, countless white figures flickered behind her before vanishing.

In an instant, she arrived beside Duan De. With a flip of her right hand, a Great Dao Treasure Bottle appeared in her palm. She aimed its mouth at Duan De's navel and struck forward.

Buzz!

As her palm moved, the entire void twisted, intricate runes forming an array.

Danger!

Cold sweat appeared on Duan De's forehead. Gritting his teeth, he ignored the other attacks and first dodged the woman's palm.

Pfft!

The dense rain of swords and blades in the sky pierced directly into Duan De's body. Yet they did not sink fully into him as expected. Their tips merely broke through a layer of skin and could not reach his bones.

He evaded the Woman in White's sudden attack, but Duan De was still injured.

Ultimately, he was now merely a new Nascent Soul, with only a few heaven-defying cultivation arts in his mind. His entire being was still within reincarnation.

At his current strength, he was simply no match for the Woman in White.

But his physical body was truly powerful. Even when the Woman in White attacked with all her strength, she could only make him look battered; she could not chop him into eight pieces at all.

This discovery made the Woman in White frown as well. In the Saint Realm, how could anyone block her strike without suffering severe injuries? Moreover, that fatty had not entered the Forbidden Domain. His physical body alone was absurdly strong.

Even that man would have been chopped into eight pieces by this move of hers.

She continuously attacked Duan De, but Duan De would rather endure the blades, swords, and creatures transformed from Heaven Slaying Dao than let the Woman in White touch him even once.

In less than three minutes, Duan De was covered in blood. Dense runes circulated across his plump body.

Seeing this, the Woman in White knew she could not delay any longer. She directly unleashed the rudimentary form of a secret Nascent Soul attack technique. It had originally been meant to deal with Xu Changqing's strange secret technique, yet now she was using it on this fatty.

Buzz!

Light shone from between the Woman in White's brows as a strange fluctuation spread outward. Golden ripples spread in waves, and an eerie aura permeated the air.

She intended to forcibly enslave the Fat Daoist named Duan De.

Yet the Woman in White never expected that the fatty would be completely unaffected. He was even still jumping about lively amid the rain of blades and swords, utterly untouched by it.

Duan De cast a disdainful glance at the Woman in White. His Dao techniques might not be up to par, but his physical body and Nascent Soul were absurdly powerful.

Trying to affect him with such a weak fluctuation? How naive!

The next moment, the Woman in White stopped using Nascent Soul secret techniques. Instead, she unleashed her full combat strength and frantically attacked Duan De.

Boom!

She once again used the secret technique A Thought Blooms, Reign Over the World, combining it with the Heaven Swallowing Demonic Art and finally exposing an opening in Duan De's defense.

At that very instant, her palm struck Duan De, and a strange energy forcibly invaded his essence.

Very soon, the Woman in White sensed a vast and majestic aura. There was something strange within that essence—cold and devoid of vitality, like that of a dead man.

She pushed her Dao techniques with all her strength, trying to absorb all of Duan De's essence. Yet an incomparably terrifying aura directly sent her flying. She coughed up blood as she was flung backward.

However, she had still absorbed some of Duan De's essence, flesh, blood, and Great Dao Laws.

Duan De's face turned somewhat pale as he stared at the Woman in White, who had fallen to the ground, with horror in his eyes. He swallowed. "What kind of bizarre cultivation art is this? It can even absorb my flesh, my Great Dao Laws, and my essence. It's too strange."

At that moment, he felt weak, as though his kidneys had been drained. Dark circles appeared beneath his eyes, and his chubby face looked thinner.

"Run, run! This woman can't be provoked."

"Damn it, running into her means I've had eight lifetimes of bad luck. This is the first time I've seen such a bizarre Dao technique."

"If this goes on, I'll sooner or later die by her hand. I'm scared, I'm scared. Time to run."

Strange memories surfaced in his mind from time to time, but none of them contained such a cultivation art. There was not even a concept of absorbing an enemy's Great Dao Laws or essence.

Duan De ran without looking back, his face pale and body covered in blood. Flesh was missing from some places, and he looked as though his kidneys had been drained.

Without looking back, he plunged headfirst into the Starry Sky, intending to find a good place to hide.

He did not know what era this was, nor did he know where he was.

The place where he had been buried moved about constantly, so he had no idea where he had ended up.

After traveling through the Starry Sky for several days, he discovered a white-haired man standing bare-chested atop a field of corpses on a Broken Path in the Starry Sky, silently facing the bloodstained wind.

Duan De was dumbfounded. Looking at the corpses scattered everywhere, he could even identify Saint Kings among them. There was also a stone head beneath the man's foot, radiating the pressure of a Saint.

"First wave."

After Xu Changqing approached the Fiftieth Pass of the Human Race, this was the first wave of attacks he encountered. There had been a Saint Spirit expert among them, and it had taken him great effort to kill it.

Moreover, through soul-searching, he learned that the reason he was being hunted and besieged was because an unparalleled Heavenly Pride had emerged from the Saint Spirit Race.

In order to ensure that Saint Spirit could safely be born and attain the Dao afterward, without needing to take part in those so-called struggles for supremacy, they wanted it to attain the Dao immediately upon birth.

Thus, those people voluntarily paved the way for that Saint Spirit.

It was not just Xu Changqing. Experts among the Younger Generation had all been assassinated to varying degrees.

Very soon, Xu Changqing sensed the aura of a dead person approaching, yet it also contained blood qi. The aura carried Death Qi, but also vitality.

He turned and saw a fatty standing atop a river of stars, staring at him with wide eyes.

Xu Changqing inexplicably found him somewhat familiar.