Chapter 472: Overwhelming
The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor stared nervously at the wasteland ruins, seemingly concerned for Qin Mu's safety. His worry clouded his judgment, finally revealing a flaw.
The flaw that True Heaven Old Mother had long awaited was right before her eyes!
"Eeyah—"
True Heaven Old Mother opened her mouth and let out a strange, piercing shriek—sharp, prolonged, and grating. Her divine power erupted, and countless muscles within her body swelled, instantly tearing her skin apart!
Her flesh burst outward with a series of thumping sounds. Tian Siyu's body was not her true form at all. Now, fully unleashing her divine power and letting her divine might surge forth, she exploded the petite woman's frame!
At the same time, the Flame Desert seemed to come alive. For hundreds of miles around, countless grains of sand howled and flowed. The sand beneath the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor's feet transformed into a massive, spinning mouth that sucked him in!
The mouth was like an abyss, emitting a terrifying pull. Simultaneously, countless grains of sand linked together, forming swords that stabbed toward the trapped Imperial Preceptor!
True Heaven Old Mother's shriek had not yet ceased as her body swelled to a hundred zhang in height, like a towering giant, her divine might overwhelming the heavens.
She had prepared for this ambush for a long time. This sudden eruption was utterly domineering, a stark contrast to the gentle, virtuous, and demure Tian Siyu she had been along the way.
Domineering was often used to describe men, but in the Western Lands, where women ruled the household, it was more fitting for women.
True Heaven Old Mother raised her hand, and the deserts on both sides surged upward, becoming two massive, thick walls that crashed toward the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor in the center!
"Die!"
The moment True Heaven Old Mother uttered this word, a sword light appeared out of nowhere, piercing through the back of her head and emerging from her brow.
True Heaven Old Mother froze. The boiling desert suddenly stilled. The towering sand walls, hundreds of zhang high and a li thick, collapsed into flowing sand, cascading down like a terrifying flood.
Meanwhile, the spinning mouth beneath the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor's feet stopped rotating, filled with flowing sand. The sand swords around his body also fell to the ground.
"Which little brat is this? This is the divine wine meant for the upper gods—how dare you touch it?"
The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor turned around, looking up at the hundred-zhang-tall, imposing True Heaven Old Mother, and said softly: "In the mural, the goddess kicked away by Sect Master Qin said those words, nineteen characters in total. Along the way, Sect Master Qin said many things to you, and you repeated all nineteen of those words. He is very clever. He knew that if he asked you to say that sentence directly, you would change your tone and style. But by scattering those nineteen characters among many sentences, you wouldn't be on guard."
True Heaven Old Mother's voice was hoarse as she rasped, "So, you never believed in me from start to finish?"
The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor's gaze was peculiar, and he shook his head: "Sect Master Qin is bold and reckless. When he stuffed the Xuanwu Pearl into your hand, even I was startled. If you had suddenly erupted then and activated the power of the Xuanwu Pearl, I might not have been able to deal with you. He overestimated my strength, and I had no choice but to pretend to be calm. You think he and I were testing you, but in truth, it was that bastard acting on his own. I was on edge the whole time. You missed many opportunities."
"That bastard again..."
True Heaven Old Mother sighed. Suddenly, the wound on her brow burst open, and she laughed: "But if you think this can deal with me, you are too shallow..."
The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor's expression changed slightly. What flowed from the wound on True Heaven Old Mother's brow was not blood, but sand.
True Heaven Old Mother smiled, the wounds on her brow and the back of her head growing larger, more and more sand pouring out. She cackled: "Don't you know that the Myriad Spirits Natural Divine Art was created by me? This desert was also created by me. Trying to kill me in a place I created is a fool's dream!"
Her body collapsed with a crash, and True Heaven Old Mother's voice came from all directions: "I fought over a dozen sun ships and moon ships here and killed over a dozen Sun Guardians and Moon Guardians. Do you think I earned my reputation for nothing?"
The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor shot into the sky, heading straight for the sun ship lying collapsed in the desert. His sword flashed, the sword light like a phantom—shadow without light, light without form, shadow where there was no light, form where there was no light!
He thrust his sword, but before he could reach the sun ship, the massive vessel suddenly came to life. With a rumble, it stood up on its legs, chains clattering. The black sun was shaken free from the sand and shot into the sky.
The black sun rolled through the air, accompanied by earth-shattering roars, compressing space so that thunderclaps erupted from the desert, crackling wildly in all directions!
The sun ship charged toward the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor. This colossal vessel racing across the desolate, empty desert gave a surreal and twisted feeling.
"This is the masterpiece of the Heavenly Works Department from the Kaihuang Era! They thought they could use human effort to create divine weapons, allowing a mortal to wield the power of a god!"
At the center of the sun ship, between four massive pillars, a goddess-like woman slowly rose. Her four arms tightly gripped the four pillars, laughing heartily: "But they only made weapons for me! In the battle of the Flame Desert, they were almost completely annihilated, all by my hand!"
Whoosh—
Desert snakes formed from countless grains of sand, their massive bodies burrowing through the desert, howling and surging like enormous sand serpents, stirring up chaos as they charged at the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor!
"Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor, can you feel it? Can you feel my divine power rampaging and rising?"
True Heaven Old Mother drove the sun ship at full speed, swinging the black sun to smash down at the approaching Imperial Preceptor, laughing: "Let me show you what true despair is! Eeyah—"
The long, piercing sound echoed across the desert, accompanied by the massive moving ship, the howling black sun sweeping in arcs, and countless enormous sand serpents swirling and battling around a tiny figure.
The scene was earth-shattering.
True Heaven Old Mother was utterly brutal. Her body was enormous, and the sun ship was even larger. In comparison, the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor's figure was insignificant. True Heaven Old Mother drove the sun ship in an overwhelming assault against the Imperial Preceptor, each strike carrying unimaginable power. Her attacks were varied, the sea of sand boiling, the entire desert seeming to be her body, her weapon!
The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor kept retreating, his tiny figure repeatedly breaking through True Heaven Old Mother's attacks. Though he retreated, the distance between him and the sun ship was steadily closing.
True Heaven Old Mother grew tense. The Imperial Preceptor's retreat seemed like a disadvantage, and the sun ship's advance, closing the distance, seemed like an advantage. But this did not mean she had the upper hand. Instead, she felt an intensely strong sense of danger.
If the Imperial Preceptor closed the distance to a certain point, she would face his most ferocious attack. Being approached by him would surely be her death!
Now, she was in a dilemma. Aboard the sun ship, borrowing its power, she possessed such vast and terrifying divine power. But standing on the ship and borrowing its strength came with a major drawback: she had to stand between the four pillars, gripping them.
This restricted her movement, and if the Imperial Preceptor got close, she would be helpless.
Yet without the sun ship's power and without the Four Spirit Pearls, her combat strength was inferior to the Imperial Preceptor's.
Now, she could only kill the Imperial Preceptor from this distance before he got closer!
The shorter the distance, the closer her death.
True Heaven Old Mother's divine power grew more violent, her attacks more dense, pressing forward step by step. The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor kept retreating but steadily approached. Each inch closer was like death tightening a spring, waiting for the final harvest.
True Heaven Old Mother's shrieks grew louder, sweat beading on her forehead, falling like rain.
Now, the sun ship and the Imperial Preceptor were far from the ruins. In the ruins, Qin Mu and Ban Gongcuo stood at opposite ends of the dilapidated hall's roof.
When True Heaven Old Mother launched her attack and the Imperial Preceptor struck her down with a single sword strike, the commotion startled Ban Gongcuo, nearly making him flee.
How formidable was the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor? The battle at True Heaven Palace had already crushed any thought Ban Gongcuo had of competing with him in this era. He only planned to cultivate to the Divine Bridge realm and then kill him in the afterlife.
But when he saw True Heaven Old Mother's false body escape and realized the Imperial Preceptor had only killed a sand giant, he relaxed and abandoned the idea of fleeing.
When he saw True Heaven Old Mother controlling the sun ship and suppressing the Imperial Preceptor, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Ban Gongcuo smiled, leisurely saying: "Sect Master Qin's calculations are indeed shrewd, bringing the Imperial Preceptor and True Heaven Old Mother to find me. I know your little scheme—it's nothing but killing two birds with one stone. The Imperial Preceptor ambushes and assassinates True Heaven Old Mother, and while I am shocked, you ambush and assassinate me. A fine plan, but unfortunately, heaven's calculations are better than man's. You didn't account for True Heaven Old Mother's strength. That is your first mistake."
He clasped his hands behind his back, continuing leisurely: "Your second mistake is misjudging me. You treat me like an ordinary cultivator, and that is your greatest mistake. I have undergone over a dozen reincarnations. The speed of my cultivation progress is beyond your imagination, and the speed of my power increase is also beyond your imagination!"
His aura exploded, his violent vital energy twisting the surrounding air into tornadoes that spun wildly around the ruined hall, lifting countless tiles and even rolling up massive pillars from the ruins, creating a terrifying spectacle!
"What ability do you have to fight me?"
Ban Gongcuo roared. His cultivation had improved significantly since their last encounter in the desert, showing rapid progress!
Ban Gongcuo strode forward, the shadows of countless celestial Buddhas appearing behind him, forming layers of realms. His body shone with golden light like a Buddha, activating the Tathagata Mahayana Sutra, his cultivation reaching the Great Eloquence Heaven realm!
Ban Gongcuo raised his hand and struck, stirring up wind and thunder. Thunder roared, flowers rained down from the sky as he slapped toward Qin Mu!
Qin Mu raised his hand. Boom!
Half the hall collapsed, and Ban Gongcuo fell with the ruins, landing face down on the ground in a spread-eagle position.
Qin Mu stretched his body, then stomped down hard. The remaining hall collapsed with a crash, creating a large pit in the ground. Ban Gongcuo was deeply stomped into the desert.
"Great Venerable, what did you say?" Qin Mu tilted his head and asked.