Even after his ultimate move had been broken, Bai Qi refused to give up, struggling in the throes of death.
But in the next moment, Zhou Qing shattered his hopes.
Heaven-Exterminating Claw!
Empowered by fourth-stage Heartforce, a razor-sharp claw image pounced on Bai Qi.
The attack struck Bai Qi, sending him flying backward as he spat blood.
After scrambling to his feet, he sensed the enormous drain on his divine power, and his heart shook.
Was this... the pinnacle of power for Empyrean Gods and True Immortals?
How was that possible?!
Before he could recover from his shock, Zhou Qing's attacks came one after another.
Heaven-Slaughtering Claw!
Heaven-Severing Claw!
Heaven-Trapping Claw!
Three more consecutive attacks, all empowered by fourth-stage Heartforce.
Suppressed by the Dark World, Bai Qi had no time to dodge. He could only take the three attacks head-on, each one comparable to the pinnacle of power for Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With three thunderous crashes, Bai Qi's Empyrean God body was blasted into a bloody mess, its bones exposed.
This won't do!
Faced with Zhou Qing's formidable strength, fear sprang up in Bai Qi's heart.
He felt that if this continued, his divine power would be exhausted in just a few breaths.
For an expert of Fiendgod Body Refining, running out of divine power meant death.
Realizing he was no match for the new Great Emperor of Fengdu before him, Bai Qi made an immediate decision and fled deeper into the mountain range.
As long as he returned to his lair, he might still be able to protect himself with its formations.
However, under the Dark World's suppression, Bai Qi's escape was painfully slow. Before he had gotten far, Zhou Qing's attacks came close on his heels.
And so, in a mere moment, Bai Qi exhausted his divine power and died in despair.
Looking at Bai Qi's corpse, Zhou Qing breathed a sigh of relief.
He finally died.
Heartforce was not inexhaustible like Primordial Power, after all. Under normal circumstances, he would use up almost all of it after a dozen or so full-power attacks.
Even though the Heartforce combat methods in the Heart Sutra greatly reduced his consumption and doubled the number of attacks he could make, Zhou Qing's Heartforce was nearly exhausted after fighting until now.
If the fight had dragged on and his Heartforce had run out, he could only have relied on the Dark World to grind Bai Qi to death.
As for some of the illusion techniques his true body excelled at, Zhou Qing thought it best not to reveal them lightly.
He had never used illusion techniques before, so suddenly displaying third-stage Power of Illusion now would be far too abrupt.
After the battle, Zhou Qing could not help but marvel.
As expected of Fiendgod Body Refining. Its vitality is much greater than that of the Ki Refining Path at the same level.
If I had been fighting a True Immortal expert of the Ki Refining Path at the same level, attacking at full power as I just did, I could have defeated him in seven or eight moves at most.
While Zhou Qing was reflecting, Lord Cui stood to the side, completely dumbfounded.
Bai Qi... Lord Wu'an... This Empyrean God expert, whose fearsome reputation resounded even in the ancient era, has actually fallen?!
Lord Cui then looked at Zhou Qing, respect welling up in his heart.
He knew that another legendary figure was about to rise in the Three Realms.
The great battle between Zhou Qing and Bai Qi had also been witnessed in full by the major powers of the Three Realms.
In the Daoist Sect in the eastern Heaven Realm, for instance, Dao Father Carefree was discussing Zhou Qing's performance with Daoist Sanqing.
Seeing that Zhou Qing had already cultivated the Dark World to the sixth stage, Dao Father Carefree said with a smile, "In only a few hundred years, he has raised his Space Power to the third stage and cultivated the supreme art of the Dark World to a profound level."
"Dao Brother, your good fortune runs deep. You've taken in a fine talent like my martial nephew Taixu, a gem of uncut jade."
As he spoke, a hint of envy showed through.
Daoist Sanqing had taken only a dozen or so disciples, yet several had become True God Dao Ancestors. Among them was even someone like True Immortal Yuding, who was close to the level of a leader.
He, on the other hand, had taken seventy-six personal disciples, over ten thousand nominal disciples, and countless unnamed disciples, yet few of them satisfied him.
Alas...
Comparing oneself to others could truly make one die of frustration.
"My disciple Taixu has the makings of a Dao Ancestor."
Daoist Sanqing did not respond modestly to Dao Father Carefree's praise. Instead, he nodded with a satisfied expression.
"The makings of a Dao Ancestor?" Dao Father Carefree shook his head.
"Dao Brother, surely that's an exaggeration."
It was not that Dao Father Carefree thought little of Zhou Qing, but over the long ages, the Three Realms had produced countless geniuses like him.
Yet only a handful had ultimately become True God Dao Ancestors, including Victorious Fighting Buddha (Sun Wukong), Dao Ancestor Qingyuan (Yang Jian), and Dao Ancestor Sacredfire (Red Boy).
Just then, Zhou Qing suddenly unleashed fourth-stage Heartforce and battered Bai Qi into a sorry state.
"What?!"
Dao Father Carefree looked surprised at the sight.
An ordinary Dao Ancestor could not recognize the power Zhou Qing was using, but Dao Father Carefree, whose own Heartforce had reached the fourth stage, was naturally familiar with it.
"Fourth-stage Heartforce..."
Dao Father Carefree then looked at Daoist Sanqing with a reproachful expression. "Dao Brother, you really kept this well hidden."
In a mere few hundred years, he had raised his Heartforce to the fourth stage.
What might he achieve if given more time?
Perhaps one day his martial nephew would raise his Heartforce to the fifth stage. Then, wouldn't he be another Hou Yi?!
Compared with the makings of a Hou Yi, what did the makings of a Dao Ancestor amount to?
Watching Zhou Qing steal the show, Daoist Sanqing appeared calm and unruffled, but inwardly, he too was astonished.
Only a few years had passed since Zhou Qing took "Seeking the Dao" from the scripture repository, yet his Heartforce had already reached the fourth stage.
Such talent was truly astounding.
As for whether Daoist Sanqing had any doubts about Zhou Qing reaching the fourth stage of Heartforce so quickly?
Naturally, he had none.
First, Zhou Qing's life could be clearly traced. Although his strength had grown quickly, its progress could be followed, and there were no signs that a member of the Chaos race had taken over his body.
Second, Heartforce depended entirely on talent. Hou Yi had broken through to the fifth stage while still an Empyrean God, while many True God Dao Ancestors of the Three Realms remained stuck at the second stage after endless ages.
Zhou Qing's Dao heart had always been extraordinary. Before undergoing his tribulation, he had nearly passed the Heart-Questioning Trial of the Golden Light Cave, so his Heartforce breaking through to the fourth stage now was not beyond acceptance.
Besides the True God Dao Ancestors of the Nuwa Faction, Zhou Qing had naturally also drawn the attention of the Seamless Gate.
Endless Hell.
This was a vast, dark dream world, in which countless devil dens existed for the torment of others.
Within these devil dens, worse even than the Underworld's eighteen levels of hell, countless souls wailed in agony as they were tortured.
Above these devil dens stood a throne ten thousand zhang high, upon which sat none other than Godking, the nominal leader of the Seamless Gate.
"Taixu..."
Watching the person he had wanted to recruit die at another's hands, Godking spoke Zhou Qing's Daoist name without emotion.
He committed that name to memory.
Meanwhile, in a school in a minor world, an old man with a full head of white hair wandered about with a ruler in hand.
Whenever a student grew absent-minded, he would bring the ruler down hard on the student's head.
Whenever a student fluently recited the contents of the textbook, he was equally generous with his praise.
After a long while, the old man suddenly frowned and muttered to himself, "Fourth-stage Heartforce?"
"As expected of a world formed from the collision of two World Hearts. Another being with extraordinary talent in Heartforce has appeared."
With that, he immediately grew excited.
"It would be such a pity if a fine seedling like this didn't become my good child."