Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road

"Hm?" Shi Mo, who had been lost in thought, suddenly looked outside with a change in expression.

"Such intense energy fluctuations—coming from Mount Buzhou? Are mighty Daluo Golden Immortal cultivators fighting?"

"For Daluo cultivators to fight so fiercely, could they be competing for some treasure? A treasure born on Kunlun Mountain is unlikely to be ordinary! Could it be..."

With that thought, Shi Mo willed it, and his figure flickered as if twisting space itself, arriving atop Eight Treasures Peak.

At the same time, dazzling starlight descended. Shi Mo transformed into a meteor-like streak of light and vanished into the eastern horizon in the blink of an eye.

After severing his corpse and becoming a Quasi-Sage, his cultivation realm had undergone a qualitative breakthrough. Borrowing the power of the Heavenly Stellar Formation, Shi Mo's speed of flight had increased by an unknown amount.

Moreover, after reaching the Quasi-Sage realm, every movement he made could easily affect spatial fluctuations.

Coupled with Shi Mo's considerable comprehension of the Dao of Space, twisting and tearing through space to travel made him even faster.

In only a short while, Shi Mo had approached Mount Buzhou, that celestial mountain resembling a pillar holding up the heavens.

"What a Mount Buzhou! Truly worthy of being formed from Pangu's spine," Shi Mo murmured in awe as he felt the mountain's oppressive force bearing down on him. At the same time, he sensed the two clashing energy fluctuations more clearly.

"These auras... Kunpeng and Minghe? Why are the two of them fighting?" The familiar aura fluctuations left Shi Mo surprised.

Growing more curious, Shi Mo hurried toward the place where they were fighting.

Boom! Amid a thunderous explosion, a violent energy storm swept outward, filled with coldness and deathly stillness. In an instant, it had reached Shi Mo.

Yet the storm weakened and dispersed rapidly the moment it neared Shi Mo.

At the same time, Kunpeng and Old Ancestor Minghe, who had sensed his arrival, stopped simultaneously and instinctively looked toward Shi Mo.

"Shi Mo?" Upon seeing him, both Kunpeng and Old Ancestor Minghe changed expressions. Then, sensing the surging and profound aura emanating from him, their expressions changed again. "A Quasi-Sage?"

"So, what madness are you two up to? As expected, you found something good!" Shi Mo had also noticed a spiritual root resembling a banana tree in a nearby mountain hollow.

Shi Mo was all too familiar with the distinctive aura of an innate spiritual root.

Moreover, faint, mysterious light patterns appeared on the banana tree's two enormous leaves, drawing wind, water, and earth elemental energy from heaven and earth into whirlpool-like vortices.

"You may leave now," Shi Mo said directly, his eyes gleaming as he looked at the banana tree.

"Shi Mo, the Innate Banana Tree has two leaves! Don't be so greedy!" Kunpeng could not help roaring angrily.

"Greedy? Kunpeng, if you and Minghe had not both been too greedy, each wanting to take everything for yourselves, you would have divided one leaf apiece long ago. Would you have waited for me to come and snatch them from you?" Shi Mo sneered at Kunpeng.

Kunpeng choked at those words, while Shi Mo coldly shouted, "Get lost!"

"You—" Kunpeng was enraged, but Shi Mo could not be bothered to waste words on him. With a flip of his hand, he produced the Heavenly Stellar Cloud Sword.

Hum— In an instant, as the Heavenly Stellar Cloud Sword hummed and trembled, the power of the Heavenly Stellar Formation seemed to converge. Starlight from across the sky surged toward the Heavenly Stellar Cloud Sword in Shi Mo's hand.

Whoosh! In the next moment, Shi Mo swung his sword. The dazzling sword light of starlight twisted and tore through space as it slashed toward Kunpeng.

Splat! Although Kunpeng had reacted swiftly upon realizing the danger, the moment he transformed into his true form, the brilliant and razor-sharp sword light struck his body. Blood instantly poured from his enormous form like a waterfall.

With a shrill cry of pain, Kunpeng beat his wings and fled back into the Ninth Heaven without looking back.

Seeing Shi Mo injure Kunpeng with a single sword strike, Old Ancestor Minghe's expression changed drastically. Just as he was about to sneak away, Shi Mo, holding the Heavenly Stellar Cloud Sword, turned to look at him. "Old Ancestor Minghe, why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

"Shi Mo, I already yielded my seat to you in Purple Heaven Palace. I do not want the Innate Banana Tree either. What more do you want?" Old Ancestor Minghe gritted his teeth and asked.

"You yielded your seat to me in Purple Heaven Palace. Should I thank you for that?"

Shi Mo looked at Old Ancestor Minghe with a half-smile. "And should I thank you even more for the sword strike you gave me before?"

Old Ancestor Minghe's face darkened as Shi Mo brought up the old matter again. It seemed this matter could not be settled peacefully today.

"Now, I shall properly thank you! It is impolite not to return what one receives. Today, I will return that sword strike to you!"

As he spoke, Shi Mo swung his sword again, drawing together the power of the Heavenly Stellar Formation. The sharp, dazzling sword light carried the might to suppress the void as it viciously slashed down at Old Ancestor Minghe.

Yet, faced with this terrifying sword strike—one that had forced even Kunpeng to flee—Old Ancestor Minghe showed no intention of avoiding its edge. His face merely darkened as blood-colored flames rose around him, and a twelve-petaled blood-red lotus platform appeared beneath his feet.

Rumble— Amid explosive bursts of energy, a terrifying storm swept forth, twisting and shaking even space itself.

Yet that twelve-petaled blood-red lotus platform remained as still as though rooted in place, merely trembling slightly. The blood-colored flames surrounding Old Ancestor Minghe only shuddered and dispersed, but swiftly re-formed.

"The Twelve-Petaled Karma Fire Red Lotus? No wonder it is one of the Primordial World's finest defensive innate spiritual treasures!" Shi Mo's gaze sharpened as he looked at the Twelve-Petaled Karma Fire Red Lotus beneath Old Ancestor Minghe's feet.

Standing atop the Twelve-Petaled Karma Fire Red Lotus, Old Ancestor Minghe spoke calmly. "Shi Mo! I am not Kunpeng. Even if you severed your corpse and became a Quasi-Sage, placing your cultivation above mine, you still cannot do anything to me."

"That's right! You are not Kunpeng. Behind him stand the Monster Emperor Di Jun, Donghuang Taiyi, and the entire Monster Clan. What do you have?" Shi Mo's words made Old Ancestor Minghe's face darken slightly.

"You think that just because this lotus platform protects you, I truly cannot do anything to you?" Shi Mo continued with a cold laugh, making Old Ancestor Minghe's brows twitch.

As he spoke, Shi Mo willed it and used the Heavenly Stellar Cloud Sword to remotely sense and activate the Heavenly Stellar Formation at Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain. Through the formation base set up in the Heavenly Court, he drew down the power of the Heavenly Stellar Formation.

Hum— The void trembled as starlight fell like rain. Now that Shi Mo was a Quasi-Sage, the might of the Heavenly Stellar Formation he activated by borrowing the power of the Heavenly Stellar Formation was naturally incomparable to before.

Feeling the starlight's power gathering, Old Ancestor Minghe finally panicked and hurriedly said:

"Fellow Daoist Shi Mo, let us talk this over! We cannot be said to have any deep hatred between us, can we? Besides, as long as Minghe does not dry up, I will not die. You cannot truly kill me anyway, so why must you—"

"Oh? Is that so? I cannot kill you? Then I truly must give it a try today," Shi Mo sneered, cutting him off as he swung the Heavenly Stellar Cloud Sword in his hand.

In an instant, starlight gathered like a river and, following the downward slash of the Heavenly Stellar Cloud Sword in Shi Mo's hand, engulfed Old Ancestor Minghe.

Knowing he could neither dodge nor escape, Old Ancestor Minghe could only grit his teeth with an ugly expression and pour all his power into the Twelve-Petaled Karma Fire Red Lotus beneath his feet.