Thirty-Six Heavens Worlds, a Mysterious Stone Pearl, Ran Deng Vomits Blood and Faints!

"Fellow Daoist, it was all a misunderstanding just now. I'm willing to offer compensation..."

Bang!

"Fellow Daoist, don't bully me too far. If I self-destruct..."

Bang!

"Fellow Daoist, stop hitting me, stop hitting me!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In a short span of time, Zhao Gongming had thrown dozens of punches. The terrifying force smashed Ran Deng's physical body until it cracked apart.

Even though he had transformed from the first coffin between Heaven and Earth, and his body was incomparably tough, he now had the illusion that he was about to be beaten to death on the spot!

Seeing Ran Deng's utterly miserable appearance and despairing face, Zhao Gongming calmly stopped.

As the first coffin to take form between Heaven and Earth, although Ran Deng had never attained the Body-Refining Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm, his physical body was so sturdy that it was even more outrageous than a transformed spirit treasure. Though blood flowed everywhere and his injuries looked dreadful, they hadn't touched his foundation. Moreover, strange Great Dao laws lingered around him—the heavier his injuries, the more astonishingly fast he recovered. He was practically an unkillable cockroach!

Clearly, to remain active all the way until the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, leap about beneath the Saints' very noses, then defect to the Western Lands and become the Western Buddhist School's Past Buddha, living free and unfettered—

Ran Deng naturally had his own extraordinary qualities. At the very least, when it came to preserving his life, even ordinary Quasi-Sages likely couldn't compare to him!

"I'll send you on your way!"

Feeling the mana recovering within his body, Zhao Gongming raised his hand. The Hongmeng Heaven-Measuring Ruler in his grasp manifested a terrifying edge and slashed straight down at Ran Deng.

"What?"

Sensing the Hongmeng Heaven-Measuring Ruler's dreadful sharpness, a frenzied warning of danger rose in Ran Deng's heart.

Even with his physical body, under such a Slaughter Supreme Treasure, he would likely be cleaved apart and bleed to death on the spot!

Faced with a life-or-death crisis, determination appeared on Ran Deng's face. He immediately transformed into a streak of blood light and vanished from where he stood.

"Oh? The Blood Escape Technique?"

Zhao Gongming remained calm as he watched Ran Deng disappear, so desperate that he couldn't even spare a thought for the Heaven-Earth Ruler or Spirit Coffin Lamp.

The Blood Escape Technique wasn't something that could be used lightly. It burned one's origin blood essence, and every use exacted an astonishing price, even damaging one's own origin.

One had to know that a cultivator's origin was their very foundation. Once damaged, their cultivation would likely find it difficult to advance another step. In other words, Ran Deng's potential might now end at the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm.

Furthermore, his two natal spirit treasures had also been left behind.

Though Ran Deng hadn't fallen this time, with his origin damaged and his natal spirit treasures stolen, such an outcome was likely even worse than dying and having his Dao vanish.

As for future revenge, he wasn't Zhao Gongming's match even now, and his origin had been damaged besides. The next time they met, Zhao Gongming could simply slap him to death!

With that thought, Zhao Gongming made a grasping motion and seized the Heaven-Earth Ruler. As mana flowed into it, he discovered the Primordial Spirit imprint Ran Deng had left within. Ordinarily, only cultivators of the same realm, or even a higher realm, could erase a Primordial Spirit imprint. Yet beneath Heaven-Defying Comprehension, Zhao Gongming swiftly comprehended and analyzed it, then casually erased it.

"Go!"

At the same moment Zhao Gongming refined the Heaven-Earth Ruler, the remaining twelve Dinghai Divine Pearls emerged, spinning and chiming as their origins resonated with one another.

These two spirit treasures attracted each other. As the Dinghai Divine Pearls evolved, the Heaven-Earth Ruler abruptly transformed into a stream of light and entered the Dinghai Divine Pearls.

Qian was Heaven, Kun was Earth!

As boundless Heaven-Earth Origin unfolded, the worlds inside the Dinghai Divine Pearls rumbled and evolved at an astonishing speed. Zhao Gongming likewise used the Chaos Star Transformation, drawing in Chaos Origin to assist the worlds' evolution. Soon, once all the strange phenomena faded, the twelve Dinghai Divine Pearls and the Heaven-Earth Ruler had completely vanished from the Primordial World. In their place stood twelve Great Thousand World-level Twelve Heavens Worlds. Their origins linked with the Twenty-Four Heavens Worlds Zhao Gongming had evolved earlier, forming a complete Thirty-Six Heavens Worlds!

Rumble!

The Thirty-Six Heavens Worlds had linked origins, and their might far surpassed that of the Twenty-Four Heavens Worlds. Their defensive power alone had reached the level of a true Supreme Treasure.

Moreover, just as the Thirty-Six Heavens Worlds reached completion, the passage connecting them to the Chaos World suddenly expanded a hundredfold. Every moment, the power of Chaos Origin pouring into the Myriad Heavens World also surged a hundredfold. Yet just then, Zhao Gongming, who had been observing the worlds' evolution, made an unexpected discovery. At some unknown moment, a gray-white object had flowed through the passage connecting to the Chaos World, entering the Myriad Heavens World along with the Chaos Origin.

"What is this?"

With a sweep of his hand, Zhao Gongming discovered in surprise that it was a Gray-White Stone Pearl.

What surprised him even more was this.

No matter how he refined it or poured mana into it, it was like a mud ox sinking into the sea. The stone pearl showed no reaction whatsoever.

"Strange!"

Zhao Gongming naturally wouldn't regard it as an ordinary stone pearl. After all, in the Chaos World, even a stubborn stone was Chaos Stone, and even a clump of soil was Chaos Spirit Soil.

Though this Gray-White Stone Pearl looked utterly unremarkable, since it had come from the Chaos World, it naturally possessed something extraordinary.

With that thought, he immersed his mind and immediately began comprehending it.

Buzz!

At this moment, just as Zhao Gongming immersed his mind in comprehending the Gray-White Stone Pearl in his hand—

A figure abruptly appeared trillions upon trillions of miles away. It was Ran Deng, who had escaped using the Blood Escape Technique.

Though he had survived the calamity—

There wasn't the slightest joy on Ran Deng's face. Instead, his complexion was pale, and his aura had withered to the extreme.

The Blood Escape Technique was his life-preserving divine ability, but the cost of using it was simply too great. It had even damaged his origin.

One had to know that once a cultivator's origin was damaged, it meant injuring the very foundation of their cultivation.

In other words, his cultivation might now be permanently stalled at the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm, with no further hope of attaining the Quasi-Sage Dao!

As the saying went, the enmity of blocking one's Dao could not be washed away even by draining the four seas of the Primordial World!

What was more, his two natal spirit treasures, the Heaven-Earth Ruler and Spirit Coffin Lamp, had both fallen into Zhao Gongming's hands.

At that thought, the hatred on Ran Deng's face nearly solidified into substance.

But Zhao Gongming's strength and foundation were too terrifying. As merely a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, he had actually forced Ran Deng into such a state.

Now that his own foundation was damaged, while Zhao Gongming only grew stronger, how could he possibly be Zhao Gongming's opponent?

"Above the Eastern Sea, Eastern King Lord has established the Immortal Alliance. I am one of Purple Cloud Palace's three thousand guests. If I join the Immortal Alliance..."

"The Expounding Sect is also a good destination, with a Saint at its back..."

"The Demon Race is powerful, but I am not of the Demon Race..."

With a gloomy expression, Ran Deng had already begun plotting how to reclaim his natal spirit treasures. Zhao Gongming was merely a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal; even if he had obtained the treasures, he couldn't refine away the Primordial Spirit imprints.

In other words, as long as Ran Deng moved quickly enough, he had every chance to reclaim his natal spirit treasures and even settle their karmic ties.

But at that moment, Ran Deng's expression suddenly changed drastically!

"What?"

Before Ran Deng could react—

An indescribable, agonizing pain suddenly came from within his Primordial Spirit. His vision went black, and the pain nearly made him faint on the spot.

At that moment, it felt as though a piece of his Primordial Spirit had been forcibly carved away. This agony was even hundreds or thousands of times worse than pain to the physical body!

Furthermore, damage to the Primordial Spirit was likewise extremely difficult to recover from.

How could Ran Deng fail to understand now? The Primordial Spirit imprints he had left in the Heaven-Earth Ruler and Spirit Coffin Lamp had been forcibly erased by Zhao Gongming.

"How is that possible?!"

Ran Deng endured the excruciating pain, his face filled with incredulous shock. That fellow was only a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal—how could he erase Ran Deng's Primordial Spirit imprints?

But that was the truth.

The Blood Escape Technique had damaged his origin, and now his Primordial Spirit had suffered injuries as well. His foundation was utterly ruined, and even his two natal spirit treasures had been forcibly refined by Zhao Gongming!

At last, Ran Deng could no longer endure it. He spat out another mouthful of blood, his vision went black, and he fainted on the spot from sheer fury!