This was...
Di Xin sensed the Knockoff Heaven-Flipping Seal falter, and his expression sharpened.
No matter how one looked at it, Jiang Ziya was the Child of Calamity for the Investiture of the Gods Calamity. A Sage had selected him to carry out the Investiture of the Gods, and Hongjun might even have arranged it all behind the scenes. Naturally, he carried the protective power of the Heavenly Dao's resonance!
Now, sensing that the Heaven-Flipping Seal was about to fall, that protective power had activated on its own to safeguard Jiang Ziya.
The Heaven-Flipping Seal hadn't come crashing down?!
Wild joy surged through Jiang Ziya. Without the slightest hesitation, he spun around, activated his Escape Technique, and fled into the distance.
"Five-Road Gods, stop him for me!"
Moreover, as he fled, Jiang Ziya released the Five-Road Gods without hesitation, hoping to use their lives to hold Di Xin back.
Whoosh... rumble...
The instant the Five-Road Gods appeared, fierce winds swept through heaven and earth, sending sand flying and stones tumbling. Sinister flames surged amid coils of black smoke, while vividly colored faces with blue-green features and bared fangs flickered in and out of the gale and dark mist. Demonic miasma and fierce flames pierced the heavens, revealing the savage monsters of Dragon Ridge in all their glory!
"You five little demons, take a good look! Isn't this Qingqiu Fox beside me one of your own kind? It was pitiful enough that Jiang Ziya dragged you out of the Pure-Cultivation Grounds where you'd spent so many years. Are you really going to trade your lives for his today? Don't you want revenge?"
The moment Di Xin saw those five hideous faces, he understood what was happening. He immediately shouted in a deep voice at the faces amid the uncanny flames and black smoke!
Hearing his words, then sensing the Qingqiu Fox aura radiating from Daji, the Five-Road Gods faltered.
"Brothers, this Jiang Ziya has no decency! He dragged us out of the Pure-Cultivation Grounds, then used us to parade his divine powers before others. Today, he even wants to exchange our lives for his! How can we endure this? If we don't act now, what are we waiting for?!"
The Water-Road God's gaze shifted, and he immediately shouted repeatedly in a deep voice amid the demonic winds.
"Brother Water is right! Jiang Ziya is utterly unreasonable and treats us like ants. Today, we'll stop him!"
Hearing this, the other four Road Gods shouted in unison. The demonic winds sweeping toward Di Xin immediately reversed direction. In an instant, uncanny gales, black smoke, and sinister flames rushed toward the fleeing Jiang Ziya, intent on blocking him so Di Xin could crush him to death with the Heaven-Flipping Seal.
[Negative Emotion Points from Jiang Ziya: +1999...]
Misery! Misery! This tyrant truly deserves to die!
At the sight, Jiang Ziya inwardly bemoaned his fate again and again, pushing his Escape Technique for all he was worth.
Under the protection of the Heavenly Dao's resonance, his thoughts suddenly flowed freely, and his entire body seemed filled with inexhaustible strength. His Escape Technique carried him through heaven and earth so swiftly that even Di Xin struggled to catch him.
"Insolent Daoist! How dare you hurt my elder sister!"
Just then, a piercing cry suddenly rang out in the distance. A girl wearing a brilliantly colored feather robe appeared, her hair tied into two little buns. She looked no more than fourteen or fifteen, yet her wicked curves surpassed even Daji's. Fury blazed in her eyes, and the red feathers on her robe immediately shone with dazzling light.
"Scree!"
In an instant, another piercing cry rang out. An enormous Fire Phoenix swooped down and landed before Jiang Ziya. Towering flames roared to life, forcibly halting his flight.
"Accursed beasts, you deserve to die!"
Jiang Ziya had thought he could escape with his life. Never had he imagined he would suffer such a disaster. He cursed aloud, but two streams of clear tears were already running from his eyes. He felt certain he would turn to ashes in these flames, his decades of bitter cultivation destroyed in an instant, and the wealth and honor his master had promised him before he descended the mountain would vanish like clouds and smoke.
Yet almost the instant those words left his mouth, he suddenly sensed the strange energy and power within him stir. He abruptly felt as though his body could turn into flame. If he slipped into this blazing fire, the world was vast enough for him to go anywhere he pleased!
"Heavenly Venerable above, if this disciple escapes this disaster, I will surely kowtow to you in earnest!"
Sensing this change, Jiang Ziya was overjoyed. He cheered, then prepared to turn into flame, slip into the fire, and flee far from this place.
"Damn it!"
Di Xin immediately frowned at the sight.
If Jiang Ziya escaped, capturing him again would be difficult!
Still, with the Heavenly Dao's resonance protecting him, taking his life with the Knockoff Heaven-Flipping Seal truly was rather difficult!
Just then, Di Xin suddenly noticed a girl standing nearby in purple robes. She was exquisitely beautiful, with ear-length hair and a pipa strapped to her back. With her naturally ditzy air, she looked as though she had stepped straight out of an anime, and she was watching the scene at a complete loss.
Who else could this naturally ditzy girl be but the Jade Pipa Spirit!
The sight also made Di Xin marvel inwardly. No wonder King Zhou in the Investiture of the Gods had been bewitched until he could hardly tell up from down!
Even a modern man like him, who had watched a thousand films without finding the one and had long been steeped in anime culture, found it hard to withstand. What hope did these ancient men, who had seen so little of the world, have!
"Little Pipa, come here! Lend me your body so I can play a tune!"
At the sight of the Jade Pipa Spirit, Di Xin was overjoyed. He reached toward her and spoke in a deep voice.
Though the protection of the Heavenly Dao's resonance was formidable, the Jade Pipa Spirit was an acquired Merit Spiritual Treasure-the first pipa born after heaven and earth were created. Her merit might be able to break through that protection and take Jiang Ziya's life.
[Negative Emotion Points from Yu Linglong: +1...]
As Di Xin spoke, a value immediately flashed through the system's backend. What left him dumbfounded, however, was how pitifully few Negative Emotion Points there were.
Still, that was hardly surprising. The Jade Pipa Spirit was an acquired Merit Spiritual Treasure, innocent by nature and fond of lively scenes. Otherwise, when she first arrived in Chaoge City, she would not have stopped to watch Jiang Ziya tell fortunes, only to be trapped by him and burned back into her true form.
But as Di Xin thought about it now, Jiang Ziya's attempt to refine the Jade Pipa Spirit back then might have involved more than that wretched business of slaying demons. Perhaps he had discovered her identity and origins, sensed the merit stored within her, and intended to use a secret art to extract that Heavenly Dao Merit to make up for his own lack of affinity for immortality, thereby securing a chance at eternal life!
Though Yu Linglong had given him Negative Emotion Points, she did not hesitate. Her body turned into a streak of light and flew into Di Xin's arms. For an instant, his embrace was filled with warm fragrance and soft jade, before she transformed into a translucent jade pipa wreathed in strands of brilliant treasure-light!
After all, Di Xin was pursuing Jiang Ziya, and he had immediately revealed that her true form could be used as an acquired Merit Spiritual Treasure. From those two things, she concluded that Daji must have told him everything!
Moreover, since Daji had told Di Xin this secret known only to the three sisters, that meant he could be trusted too!
"Jiang Ziya, today is your last day!"
Clutching the jade pipa, Di Xin's hair bristled with fury. He threw his head back and laughed, unleashing the full power of the Qi Refining into Spirit Realm as he swept his hand heavily across the strings!
Strum... trill...
With a crystalline twang, a golden streak of light immediately flew from the jade pipa. Like a heavenly saber, it slashed fiercely at Jiang Ziya's mind.
"Shing!"
An acquired Merit Spiritual Treasure possessed extraordinary power. Even though Yu Linglong's true form had once been injured, its sound could still drive the three souls and seven spirits out of someone in the True Immortal Realm. As the sound waves swept over him, Jiang Ziya's mind immediately fell into a daze.
"Sizzle... aah..."
In that instant of bewilderment, one arm of his body, which had been on the verge of merging with the flames, returned to flesh and caught the fire Hu Ximei had unleashed. With the scorched hiss of fat meeting flame, that arm turned to ashes in an instant and scattered into the blazing fire.
In the next breath, his body dissolved into the flames as well, disappearing without a trace!
[Negative Emotion Points from Jiang Ziya: +5555...]
But the value flashing through the system's backend showed that this strike had not taken his life. This Child of Calamity would continue riding the tides of the calamity—only now, he would do so with one arm!
Before you continue