Death and the End of the Dao, a Gentleman Among Trees!
"Yeah?"
"Then let's see what your skills are like!"
Qin Lu's face turned cold, his eyes sharp as a hawk's. He had been cultivating for nearly thirty years, and this was the first time he had encountered someone who was not afraid of death...
Want to die?
Alright! I'll grant your wish!
Qin Lu Hand Seals, and his Toxic Miasma Spirit Body was instantly activated. A multicolored poisonous glow spread out from the center like a curtain...
The poison transformed into a rosy glow!
And the Heding Old Child also became serious.
A dark shadow of a tree slowly emerged behind it; words like twisted and eerie were perfectly suited to describe this tree...
A deep purple cloud of poison slowly condensed, and a poisonous dragon suddenly soared out!
Poisonous clouds condense!
The two exchanged a glance, and the venomous dragon and the Qing Centipede charged at each other, the two enormous creatures, one green and one purple, constantly clashing and attacking each other...
There was insect blood, blood splattered across the sky, poisonous clouds torn apart and decomposed by hundreds of insect limbs!
The multicolored poisonous haze and the deep purple poisonous clouds continued to erode and merge, eventually vanishing into Void. A massive Sword-Ray, imbued with a hundred poisons, slashed and struck...
Some giant tree branches also pierced through the Sword-Ray, perishing together with it!
Seeing that all their deadly moves had been used, yet they hadn't achieved any real success.
Qin Lu wasn't in a hurry. Since they were going to fight, they should fight to the very end. It had been many years since he had used his full strength after merging with Mu Xin!
today--
He wanted to see just how far he could go!
"Old man!"
"Don't think you're the only one who can conjure things with poison. You've only managed to conjure a fake dragon, a long worm with a body but no spirit..."
"I'll show you what it truly means to Poison Transforms into Ten Thousand Troops!"
"A hundred poisons shroud the clouds, ten thousand souls drift! Souls enter poisonous bodies, defying even the True Immortal!"
"Poison! Come on!"
Qin Lu, the envoy of a hundred poisons, his robes gleaming with a myriad of poisonous rays, adorned with multicolored hues, his long robes fluttering, the poison gleaming, all held in one hand...
It seems he has the power to control all the poisons in the world!
With robes fluttering, a hundred poisonous rays of light surged forth like a spring, and illusory figures of warriors, their bodies formed from poison and their thoughts from souls, coalesced into physical forms!
The dozen or so poisonous warriors were all Qi Condensation cultivators who had died at Qin Lu's hands...
Following closely behind-
Soldiers slowly took shape, each clad in poison armor and wielding poison weapons, forming ten military formations in total, each consisting of a thousand soldiers!
This is Qin Lu, seemingly a king among poisons, seemingly an emperor among poisons!
Do you think Qin Lu's ruthlessness is only directed at others? You'd be sorely mistaken. Qin Lu's ruthlessness extends even to himself!
Can you guess how these soldiers and generals came to be?
That was Qin Lu, who used a secret technique: Split Divine Sense, to gradually separate it from himself, so that he could see that the entire army was just one person!
He alone is an entire legion!
Do you know that the pain from the very soul being severed is enough to drive a normal person to the brink of collapse...?
"Shaving bones and removing flesh" is merely a description.
But to sever one's own soul is ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times more painful!
So, how do you think Qin Lu managed to divide so many souls?
Each day, a tiny piece is removed, then the Soul-Awakening Tea" is drunk to continuously repair the damage. The next day, this process is repeated, day and night...
They practiced this in a relentless, almost self-destructive way!
Until the very end--
He had even grown accustomed to the pain; under constant torment, Qin Lu's soul became increasingly powerful and resilient...
It can even become addictive!
Just like tearing open a callus, over time it only gets thicker and thicker, becoming more and more indifferent to pain, until it becomes as hard as iron!
What doesn't kill Qin Lu will only make him stronger!
If you lack the qualities of a strong person, then first cultivate the heart of a strong person...
A steadfast heart, like the Way, leads to longevity and enduring vision!
Sitting and observing the vast ocean, I find my true path!
"Madman..."
"A complete madman! Aren't you afraid your soul will collapse and there will be no chance of recovery?!"
Heding Old Child panicked...
This time, he was truly panicked!
He had thought this was a powerful figure, someone with a steadfast Dao heart, but he never expected that someone so reckless would show up!
In an instant--
Tens of thousands of Poison Cloud soldiers, led by more than ten Poison Generals, relentlessly eroded the deep purple poison cloud, tearing it to pieces...
Swallow it!
From afar, the poisonous soldiers and generals amidst the radiant glow of a hundred poisons resembled legendary celestial warriors, treading on clouds to vanquish demons and evil spirits...
"How could this be!"
"My signature poison, a true poison I've refined for hundreds of years!"
"Human Race! How dare you do this!"
The illusory image of the Heding Old Child gradually became transparent until the deep purple poisonous clouds on the horizon disappeared...
Once the poisonous clouds dissipated, the so-called herb garden had transformed into a completely different landscape, revealing the spiritual herbs spirit medicine that had just been seen.
now--
They all turned into piles of White Bone!
The spirit flowers turned into withered, jade-like hands; the spirit herbs into rotting flesh and hair; the spirit trees into White Bone and skeletons; and the spirit fruits into enormous, brain-like flowers...
In the distance, there was only a withered, dark Ancient Wood, several meters tall, rooted in the black soil!
On its trunk, a twisted, aged face dripped thick blood, attempting to unleash its Innate Divine Ability once more...
It conjures up illusory images!
Hehe~
"A Illusory Form Demon Tree stuck at the Second-Tier limit, yet unable to comprehend its own Dao—how truly pathetic..."
"How about it?"
"Now submit to me and acknowledge me as your master, and I might spare your life!"
Qin Lu feigned generosity, flashing his signature friendly smile...
As for the Tai'e Sword, with its twisted tree-like face, it seemed to be saying, "If you don't agree, I'll send you on your way with one sword!"
The Illusory Form Demon Tree remained silent.
Qin Lu didn't speak, but simply shoved the sword into the tree-faced creature's mouth. As the blade slowly rotated, blood dripped out continuously...
A moment later--
The figure of the Heding Old Child reappeared from the demonic tree, his eyes filled with complex emotions, and for a moment he was at a loss for words...
"Actually, you already knew that."
"If you stay in the Flower Willow Courtyard, you'll never be able to build Dao Foundation..."
"Furthermore, it undergoes Third-Tier transformation, manifesting the body of Wood Demon!"
"How could the Dao Foundation cultivator of the Flower Willow Courtyard allow a Dao Foundation from another race to rise up right under their noses?"
You should have understood, and you should have understood long ago.
"Your existence is nothing more than being a lamb raised in a pen, with generation after generation of Flower Willow Courtyard constantly taking from you..."
But can they really set you free?
"I do not know why you are here. Even if I once did you a favor, times have changed, and hundreds of years have passed..."
Don't you yearn for a wider world?
"And yet, they choose to take root amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, watching this scene repeat itself day after day, ultimately decaying and their bodies becoming resources for others?"
Upon hearing this—
The Heding Old Child sighed, bowed respectfully to him, and said:
"Fellow Daoist, regardless of the circumstances, you have won this battle of poison techniques. I humbly admit defeat and am completely convinced of your superiority..."
"However, though I am but a tree, I also Human Race's capacity for gratitude and repaying kindness."
"I was born a thousand years ago, when I was still a sapling, and my lord brought me back to the Flower Willow Courtyard, where I have been carefully cared for for hundreds of years..."
"After my master passed away, his only wish was for me to protect this sect."
"For thousands of years, countless disciples have worshipped me, regarding me as their teacher, father, ancestor, and lineage. And then, before my very eyes, one by one, they have passed away and perished..."
A thousand years!
"People know how to be grateful, and I, being wise, naturally understand that too."
Even if my past aspirations have become heavy shackles, I have no regrets, nor do I have the right to regret them...
"So..."
Kill me!
"I've lived for a thousand years, and I've had enough!"
"Fellow Daoist, your path still lies ahead."