Three Heads and Six Arms! Heaven Swallowing!

Within Peach Valley.

Only three auras remained within it. Two of them clashed back and forth, while the third lingered not far away.

Clang!

The sounds of collision rose and fell in succession, like monks striking bells in a temple, wave after wave.

Killing power flooded Peach Valley. Slender peach branches snapped continuously, and spirit peaches scattered across the ground. Taishu Jing stopped gathering the spirit peaches and instead watched their battle intently. His Divine Eye opened as he silently comprehended the battle techniques displayed by the Sky-Piercing Ape.

Roar!

The Sky-Piercing Ape roared again, but this time it was a roar of shock and fury. From just moments ago, the little runt opposite it had begun to fight back. It had clearly suppressed him completely before, yet that obvious advantage was gradually being overturned. A trace of fear rose in its heart.

Its battle instincts told it that if this continued, it would surely lose. The Sky-Piercing Ape had begun to grow restless. Its bloodline boiled, and the phantom of a peculiar ape appeared behind it—white-headed and red-footed, exuding a savage and violent aura.

"Zhu Yan!"

Taishu Yun stared fixedly at the phantom and instantly recognized the ancient ferocious beast. So the ancestral bloodline of this Sky-Piercing Ape was Zhu Yan. The moment the phantom appeared, the Sky-Piercing Ape's aura surged dramatically. Taishu Yun felt immense pressure. He was only one step away from Battle Technique Attainment; he absolutely could not let this opportunity slip away.

Roar!

The Sky-Piercing Ape threw back its head and let out an earth-shaking howl. The black staff in its hand smashed heavily into the ground, and the Zhu Yan phantom instantly merged into its body. At once, a head abruptly grew beside its original one, followed immediately by a second.

It was not over yet!

After growing two additional heads, arms suddenly extended from behind the Sky-Piercing Ape. Two appeared on each side, giving it a total of six arms, like a Buddhist dharma manifestation.

Three heads and six arms!

This was Zhu Yan's Innate Divine Technique. With three heads and six arms unleashed, it could hold up the heavens with its strength and possessed the might to pierce sky and earth. No one had expected this Sky-Piercing Ape to be capable of using such an Innate Divine Technique. It was truly astonishing.

Rumble!

The entire Peach Valley trembled. The Sky-Piercing Ape's aura had drawn infinitely close to the sixth tier. Before it, Taishu Yun sensed the threat of death, yet no fear showed on his face. His gaze remained calm and resolute. He remembered something Taishu Jing had once told him: between life and death lay great terror, but also great opportunity.

If that was true, then he, Taishu Yun, would seize this great opportunity amidst life and death.

"Come!"

Taishu Yun roared inwardly. Holding the Star Cloud Bell, he stepped forth with Divine Step. Golden ripples spread through the air, and after his figure flickered several times, he arrived before the Sky-Piercing Ape and brought the Star Cloud Bell down upon it in suppression.

"Heaven Swallowing!"

Roar!

A deep and ancient roar rang out from the air, like the roar of a dragon. The engraving of the Sky Swallowing Howl upon the Star Cloud Bell seemed to come alive. A phantom of the Sky Swallowing Howl emerged, carrying the momentum to swallow all beneath heaven. A gray vortex condensed from nothingness, devouring everything like a black hole as it swallowed toward the Sky-Piercing Ape.

The Sky-Piercing Ape moved all three heads and six arms at once, as though swinging a divine mountain a thousand zhang high. The black staff in its hands traced an astonishing arc as it smashed down at the vortex, piercing it apart in a single blow.

Boom!

The gray vortex exploded violently. This was the Sky Swallowing Howl's Innate Divine Technique, but in Taishu Yun's hands, it had failed to display its proper power and was shattered by the Sky-Piercing Ape in one strike.

The Sky Swallowing Howl was a primordial ferocious beast, so the power of its Innate Divine Technique naturally surpassed all reason. As an ancient ferocious beast, Zhu Yan was naturally inferior to the Sky Swallowing Howl. Yet the Sky-Piercing Ape had used Three Heads and Six Arms to break Taishu Yun's Heaven Swallowing divine technique. This was because Taishu Yun had not fully mastered this Innate Divine Technique, and because his battle techniques were still shallow, leaving him unable to bring out its might.

Pfft!

Taishu Yun and the Star Cloud Bell were blasted away. Golden Divine Blood scattered across the sky. He carved a deep trench through the ground and crashed through more than a dozen peach trees before finally coming to a stop.

Just a little more. Only a little more.

Taishu Yun rose wearily to his feet, his entire body stained in blood, gold mixed with crimson-black. His body had suffered injuries. They would not endanger his life, but they were far from light.

"Brother, I know you won't give up."

Watching Taishu Yun suffer injuries, Taishu Jing clenched his fist, then slowly loosened it. In terms of offensive power, Taishu Jing's Arrow Dao surpassed his. If it were Taishu Jing, he could certainly break through the Sky-Piercing Ape's defenses quickly, though he would still have to endure a hard battle.

Taishu Jing believed that Taishu Yun would have his own judgment. He would absolutely not die here, because he was the protagonist!

"Fight!"

Sure enough, even injured, Taishu Yun had no intention of retreating. His eyes grew brighter, as though he were about to grasp something. Sparks of inspiration burst in his mind. That layer of obstruction grew thinner and thinner, soon to be broken through.

Divine Blood surged through his body, and his cracked flesh slowly healed. Rather than weakening, Taishu Yun's momentum rose. Never had his will to battle burned as fiercely as it did now, like a volcano on the verge of eruption, shaking heaven and earth.

Holding the Star Cloud Bell, Taishu Yun moved with Divine Step. Golden ripples spread out as his eyes held only the Sky-Piercing Ape's figure. His mind completely immersed itself in battle, body and mind becoming one. His movements became as instinctive as breathing, his body following his heart.

"Heaven Swallowing!"

He unleashed the Innate Divine Technique Heaven Swallowing once more. A gray vortex appeared from nothingness. This time, there was no phantom of the Sky Swallowing Howl roaring, nor any earth-shaking display. The gray vortex turned slowly, swallowing everything around it.

To Taishu Jing, that gray vortex resembled the abyssal maw of the Sky Swallowing Howl. Invisibly, it seemed as though a pair of eyes gleamed with the light of a hunter that had spotted its prey. That light was exactly like the look in Taishu Yun's eyes at this moment.

At this moment, Taishu Yun finally comprehended it.

Battle Technique Attainment—he had finally succeeded in merging his spirit and will into his body, immersing his mind into battle, grasping every part of himself. He could also merge his will into slaughter. Only from this moment onward could it be said that he had mastered the Sky Swallowing Howl's Innate Divine Technique.

The gray vortex was soundless, yet it devoured everything with eerie hunger. Whether spiritual energy, stones, or grass and trees, all were swept into it and vanished. An invisible will governed the vortex, as though the Sky Swallowing Howl itself were wielding it—except it lacked that imperial aura of supremacy over the world.

Roar!

Faced with the same vortex, the Sky-Piercing Ape sensed a terrifying aura. That vortex, like a gaping bloody maw, seemed to have come alive. A pair of invisible eyes watched it, carrying the breath of death.

The Sky-Piercing Ape had already begun to entertain thoughts of retreat. Though it was a ferocious beast that loved to nourish itself through battle, it would still feel fear in the face of death. That was instinct, impossible to resist.

Taishu Yun took a miraculous step. A pale golden ripple flashed beneath his feet and vanished. Compared with the golden ripples from before, it was undoubtedly less dazzling, but carried greater profundity. After attaining Battle Technique Attainment, his spirit and will permeated his entire body. Every movement possessed a naturally perfect smoothness, contained within rather than displayed outwardly.

That tiny figure, whose presence was like that of a giant, was about to reach it. The Sky-Piercing Ape's eyes turned bloodshot. The fear in its heart instead provoked its beastly nature. Its bloodline boiled again, and a layer of Sha Qi emerged across its body, crimson as fresh blood.

Sizzle!

Sha Qi spread and surged onto the black staff in the Sky-Piercing Ape's hands, wrapping around it. Countless runes emerged, only to be stained blood-red by the Sha Qi. Baleful Intent and killing intent intertwined, soaring into the heavens.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The Sky-Piercing Ape swung the black staff. Clear beast roars sounded from within it—an omen that its Weapon Soul was about to condense. Once it succeeded, the Weapon Soul would possess life-like awareness. As the deity within a Spirit Weapon, it would resonate with its wielder.

Moreover, with further cultivation, the Weapon Soul could even evolve a physical form, equivalent to the wielder's avatar. Even if the wielder was not nearby, it could control the Spirit Weapon and unleash part of its power.

Roar!

The Sky-Piercing Ape fixed its blood-red eyes upon the petite figure before it. The black staff in its hands smashed down from above, intending to pierce the vortex apart with one blow just as before. Countless currents of spiritual energy in the air erupted into turmoil. Peach trees throughout Peach Valley shed their leaves, which scattered through the sky on the wind like countless green butterflies dancing gracefully.

Ding!

The black staff slammed heavily into the gray vortex. Strangely, the vortex was not pierced apart. Instead, like an abyssal maw, it seized the Sky-Piercing Ape's Spirit Weapon. Terrifying devouring power erupted, swallowing all the Blood Fiend Power clinging to it—and even attempting to devour the Spirit Weapon itself.