Slaying Demons: Starting with Upgrading my Calligraphy-Chapter 406 - 366: The Seal

The world was shrouded in darkness.

Heaven wept and the earth trembled; the Netherworld descended upon this place. Amidst the rolling black fog, endless calamities manifested, extinguishing all life. An ominous spectacle of a boundless sea of corpses appeared, stirring an incomparably bone-chilling netherwind across the entire White Bone Plains.

"Kill!"

With the power acquired through Wei Changhen’s self-sacrifice, Wei Ling’s strength underwent a qualitative growth. Behind him, a colossal figure wearing a black robe slowly emerged. Beneath his feet, surging black rivers flowed, with countless arms struggling in the water.

With a single step, Wei Ling’s figure flashed violently. His power to annihilate everything split the void into countless fissures, transforming this domain into an ominous land filled with ruin and death.

"WOOO—"

Mournful wails echoed all around, like slender swords attempting to pierce Qi Xiu’s ears.

The Taoist Robe on his body began to decay and turn yellow, as if the breath of death had already entwined around him.

Lowering his eyes to notice the strange state of his clothes, Qi Xiu’s fingertips gently slid. Golden lights, formed by Suppressing Talismans, infused into his body, quickly dispersing the encroaching shadows of death.

"DIE!!!"

Exceeding the limits of his strength, Wei Ling propelled the Nine Nether Gathering Shriek Divine Sword to its extreme, wielding a force of myriad killings to slash at Qi Xiu.

BOOM—

Like a fallen star of destruction, Wei Ling was unstoppable. The mighty combat power he now burst forth with was even close to rivaling a Dao Expert.

The black sword, exuding a thick aura of slaughter, split the void. It descended with a sure-kill force, looking from afar as if it aimed to cut down the entire world along with its target!

In an instant, it arrived!

The sword blade collided with the Primordial Sword Circle in the blink of an eye. The boundless killing force of Nine Nether made it impossible for the sword circle to absorb all of the power; the vast Vigor brushed through Qi Xiu’s black hair.

His clear, black-and-white eyes remained calmly fixed on what was before him.

"Is this your full-powered strike? Too bad. Had you not come here, there would have been a place for you among the True Monarchs of the Dao Body..."

BOOM—

A thunderous roar, as if heralding the beginning of the world, spread across the entire White Bone Plains.

Heaven and earth flickered between light and dark, as though something colossal was descending. Layers of immensely heavy temporal fluctuations spread out, seeming to suppress all the myriad beings below.

Having seen enough of the tricks and means of these two before him, Qi Xiu finally stopped holding back. His hands formed an ancient and profound Taoist Seal. Behind him in the void, spheres of Hunyuan light, as bright as stars, subtly shaped into a Zhou Tian diagram.

The next moment, an invisible, majestic Hunyuan Palace slowly surfaced. It was ethereal and dream-like, filled with an aura of chronal light and Cosmic Bi, as if a river of time flowed within.

"Hunyuan Palace! Suppress!"

With the Zen Meditation Seal formed, Qi Xiu’s lips quivered with a low shout. The Hunyuan Palace descended with a rumble, an invisible force like a million mountains directly pressing down on the blond man and Wei Ling.

Under the suppression of an entire miniature world, Wei Ling and the blond man’s expressions contorted wildly. Blood spurted from all seven orifices as their bodies trembled uncontrollably, nearly collapsing to the ground.

"What is... this..."

Releasing wave upon wave of force, Wei Ling tried to break free from the suppression, but no matter how much effort he exerted, he could not budge the invisible force in the slightest.

Barely lifting his head, Wei Ling looked at Qi Xiu, who was within arm’s reach.

He saw the young Daoist as if transcendent of this space and time, not belonging to this world. He stood at the very edge of time, surrounded by faint immortal light, looking down upon all beings with neither joy nor sorrow.

Before "The Secret of the Primordial Dragon-Tiger Scripture" was raised to the Sixth Realm, the Hunyuan Palace was merely a tool to assist Qi Xiu’s cultivation. Firstly, its activation was slow, and secondly, its area of effect was too small. Used against enemies, it was hardly effective and would prematurely reveal his techniques.

But after "The Secret of the Primordial Dragon-Tiger Scripture" ascended to the Sixth Realm, the Divine Marvel of the Hunyuan Palace also experienced a dramatic increase. The area it could originally cover, accommodating only three to five people, surged to several acres in size.

Suppressed by the Hunyuan Palace and isolated by this complete miniature world, Wei Ling felt as if he had been exiled to a desolate land Outside the Domain.

The enhancement afforded to him by the Nine Nether Land was gradually dissipating.

"How is this possible!?"

For the first time, panic appeared in his extreme and ominous eyes. Wei Ling flailed his hands, struggling, but as time passed, his strength began to plummet drastically.

This was the inherent flaw of cultivating the Nine Nether Gathering Shriek Divine Sword. Cultivators of this Divine Sword used themselves as conduits, sacrificing slaughter to gain power. While they could indeed grow at an unimaginable rate, far surpassing ordinary people, they also faced a fatal weakness: almost all their overwhelming and fierce power originated from the Nine Nether Land. Once their connection with the Nine Nether Land was severed by some means, their power would rapidly fade, leaving them weaker than an ordinary person.

This was precisely Wei Ling’s situation at this moment.

The Suppressing Heaven Seal!

Qi Xiu’s hands slowly spread open. Within the Hunyuan Palace, escape had become a delusional fantasy. Familiar, dazzling white light flashed again, accompanied by an immense rumble signaling the end.

"AH!"

Wei Ling screamed, his crushed body bursting with countless rays of light as he desperately tried to weather this ordeal.

But the suppression of the Hunyuan Palace was too horrifying. It was a complete miniature world, something from another realm entirely, and he simply could not endure it.

"I refuse to accept this!"

At the brink of life and death, endless resentment surged like a raging tide. This was an extremely mournful and venomous roar. In the instant between life and death, Wei Ling sacrificed all his strength, his aura shaking the Hunyuan Palace. Ice-cold, dark blue blood gushed forth, its gloomy radiance shining through the ages.

He roared, blood bursting from the corners of his eyes. Having burned all his power, he cast his final Curse upon Qi Xiu:

"In the name of the Sovereign of the Nine Nether Divine Heavens Sword, I bestow upon you a Curse. May you suffer The Five Decays of Heaven and Man, your spirit scattered and soul vanished, never to be freed between Heaven and Earth!"

Blood streamed from all seven of his orifices as Wei Ling screamed in madness. Today, he was unable to seize the Demonic Devouring Inheritance.

Still, even so, he would not let this Daoist off easily!

"HEHE, HAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHA! None of you shall have it easy! None of you!!!"

He laughed hysterically. A dense, dark fog rose from the crown of Wei Ling’s head and penetrated layer upon layer of the void, transforming into numerous winding Dao patterns creeping silently towards Qi Xiu.

The Curse slowly approached, but Qi Xiu seemed completely unaware.

Just as the Curse turned into fine threads seeking to enter Qi Xiu’s body through unfathomable fissures of the Cosmic Bi, the next second, a brilliantly bright light burst forth from the back of his head. A dazzling and splendid halo slowly appeared.

In the center of the halo, a simple, rustic Lamp trembled slightly. The Curse, just about to take effect, was instantly dispersed, and an extremely mournful wail echoed faintly through the void.

"The protective body of Human Path Merit!"

Seeing this scene, Wei Ling’s eyes widened. After a long moment, a grim smile appeared on his face. "Very well, very well. Your Excellency is truly flawless. I, Wei, have lost! Utterly lost!"

With a long sigh towards the heavens, knowing he was utterly vanquished, the master of the Nine Nether Gathering Shriek Divine Sword died on the spot, collapsing to the ground, breathless.

With Wei Ling dead, only the golden-haired man remained before Qi Xiu.

"I have seen you before. You once used a divination Skill System and Methodology to spy on me."

Gazing at the golden-haired man before him, Qi Xiu smiled faintly. "Your aura is very familiar; it seems I’ve encountered it somewhere. May I ask your name?"

Having personally witnessed Qi Xiu’s powerful methods, the golden-haired man seemed resigned to his fate and shrugged. "Jiang Peng, a discarded disciple of the Star Mansion Sea Cliff."

"Star Mansion Sea Cliff? Heh, I didn’t expect us to be from the same region."

Qi Xiu’s brows rose slightly. Seeing that the golden-haired man’s many techniques, or Dharma Gates, were primarily based on starlight and constellations, Qi Xiu already had some suspicions.

"From the same region?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"I am Qi Xiu, a Sect Member of the Shenxiao Sect."

"Eh, is it such a coincidence?"

Laughing wryly, Jiang Peng pointed to his shoulders. "Since we’re from the same region, could you release this suppression? It’s really unbearable. I know I’m no match for you and won’t fight you to the death anymore."

Qi Xiu’s gaze shifted on Jiang Peng for a moment, then with a wave of his hand, he withdrew the Hunyuan Palace.

"PHEW! Much better."

With the suppression of the Hunyuan Palace lifted, Jiang Peng let out a long breath. Being crushed by an entire small world did not just affect the physical body; it felt as though even his soul would be squeezed out of his Ancestral Aperture.

"Don’t look at me like that. I was already a dead man walking. Coming here was my last desperate attempt, but I never expected to run into a monster like you."

There was a hint of regret in his voice. Jiang Peng shook his robe, sat down cross-legged, and propped his cheek with one hand, his eyes expressing a touch of helplessness.

"Only three survivors out of ten inheritors are allowed to enter this deathmatch battlefield to claim the inheritance. For 750 years, I’ve used various methods, laying traps to kill the seven inheritors who came before me. But I calculated everything except for an anomaly like you. One wrong move, and the entire game is lost."

Jiang Peng slowly recounted the hardships of many years. As he spoke each phrase, he appeared to age a bit more. By the time he had revealed all his secrets, the once extremely handsome golden-haired man had transformed into a wizened old man with sallow, thinning hair.

His lifespan was at its end. For many years, he had been sustained only by a thread of conviction and hope. After witnessing Qi Xiu’s various methods and confirming that he had no chance of defeating him, this fighting spirit dissipated, and Jiang Peng reverted to this aged and decrepit state.

"Seeing as we’re from the same region, I’ll tell you a secret."

His shriveled lips moving, Jiang Peng lifted his dim and turbid eyes to look at Qi Xiu.

"Please, go ahead."

Facing his fellow countryman’s final moments, Qi Xiu showed him sufficient respect.

"The Demonic Devouring Inheritance is of great significance, but do you know why this inheritance was placed in the Evernight Ancient Kingdom?"

"Why?"

"HEHEHE, because it’s not only an inheritance, but also a seal."

"A seal?"

Upon hearing this, Qi Xiu’s eyes flashed with Divine Light; his previous suspicions vaguely connected after this revelation.

"That’s right! A seal directed at the entire Evernight Ancient Kingdom!"