Slaying Demons: Starting with Upgrading my Calligraphy-Chapter 452 - 401: A Single Slash!

"Someone is coming."

The Taiyang Daoist called out softly. The Daoist of the Taiyin, who had been focusing on his true form, heard the call and paused. After careful sensing, his eyes squinted slightly, and he too turned to look towards the entrance of the Valley of Deceased Gods.

On the distant horizon, a man holding a long saber, with long red hair and eyes tightly closed, appeared out of thin air.

The moment this person appeared, a frenzied and demonic cold aura spread through the void. An extreme aura of slaughter and destruction surged between heaven and earth; the Blood Sea engulfed the sky. In an instant, it was as if a world-ending heavenly saber, capable of splitting heaven and earth, had evolved, showing the terrifying spectacle of countless beings perishing and immortals and demons bleeding.

"The visitor bears ill intent."

Sensing the terrifying aura emanating from the man, the Daoist of the Taiyin looked grave.

Dao Body Realm...

"This is trouble."

With a solemn gaze, the Taiyang Daoist glanced at his true form beside him. A Dao Body Realm expert had suddenly arrived, and clearly, he was not here to help. With their current strength, they were definitely unable to stop such a being. After all, they were just bodies evolved from the Hunyuan Dragon-Tiger True Spirit and could not exhibit their full strength.

Perhaps the true form could endure such a presence. But right now...

Sensing the suddenly heavy and oppressive atmosphere, Qi Xiu, whose cultivation had plummeted to rock bottom, slowly opened his eyes. When he caught the grave gazes of the Taiyin and Taiyang Daoists, he too looked in the direction they were watching.

"As expected, what was meant to come has come."

Reflected in his vision was the red-haired man. Qi Xiu flipped his hand, and a Great Pill appeared in his palm, radiating treasure light, teeming with endless vitality, and evolving myriad delicate illusory shadows.

He placed the Treasure Medicine given by the Sect Master in his mouth, held the last divine corpse with one hand, and slowly raised the other, pointing towards the red-haired man.

"Command!"

"Equal under Heaven and Earth!"

A Command Talisman was activated once again. Qi Xiu let out a muffled groan, his throat worked, and he swallowed the Treasure Medicine.

The very next moment, every inch of his skin suddenly fissured with countless tiny cracks. His whole body seemed like shattered porcelain, on the verge of crumbling apart.

PUH...

Spitting out a stream of blood, Qi Xiu raised his hand to stop the approaching Taiyin and Taiyang Daoists. The backlash from the five Command Talismans had almost killed him on the spot. Fortunately, this terrifying backlash lasted only a moment. As the Great Pill he had swallowed began to take effect, the horrific fissures and bloodstains gradually healed.

At the same time, Qi Xiu also drew out the essence of the Great Dao from the last divine corpse. With that, all three hundred and sixty-five Hunyuan Apertures in his body disappeared. He had completely become a mortal with no cultivation whatsoever.

Pale-faced, his voice as faint as a mosquito’s hum, Qi Xiu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He leaned back wearily against a withered rock behind him and slowly closed his eyes.

"I have used the Ling Fu... to suppress that person’s cultivation... down to the Blood-Stained Realm... Do your best to delay... Life and death are fated... whether one achieves the Dao or not will depend on this move."

"Understood."

Nodding, the Taiyang Daoist and the Daoist of the Taiyin exchanged a look, understanding that today was a battle for their very survival.

...

"Interesting. No wonder Sir is personally paying attention to this. To think someone could forcibly suppress my cultivation realm... this method... He deserves to die!"

Looking at his hands with slight surprise, Du Zhong’s mouth curled into a small smile. His tightly closed eyes slowly began to move, his expression gradually becoming excited.

BANG!

He vanished from the spot in an instant, turning into a blood shadow. With astonishing speed, he crossed a great part of the Valley of Deceased Gods, arriving less than fifty li from Qi Xiu.

"He’s here."

With a soft utterance, the Taiyang Daoist took the lead in meeting him.

"Do you think that by suppressing me to the Blood-Stained Realm, you can win... Eh?"

Seeing the white-robed Daoist walking towards him, Du Zhong laughed lightly. But before he could finish speaking, the long saber he held began to tremble and hum rapidly. This was the reaction it had when sensing a powerful enemy.

Looking up with delight, Du Zhong laughed heartily. "A hidden dragon in the mire? Very well, let’s see what you’re made of!"

BOOM!!!

Heaven and earth shook abruptly, and the ground trembled wildly. Within a thousand-li radius, the surface burst open with waves of soil that surged and danced.

In a fraction of a microsecond, two supremely sharp figures traversed the void. Like two resplendent stars piercing the heavens, they collided fiercely!

They struck palm to palm!

BANG—

It was like the collision of two ancient divine mountains. A terrifyingly extreme shockwave filled heaven and earth; blinding light swept across thousands of li in an instant, only to be crushed and washed away by the subsequent, seemingly endless tidal force. The ground was torn open, forming a boundless pit with a diameter of a thousand li.

The two figures separated sharply.

Frowning and flicking his long sleeves, the Taiyang Daoist slowly brought his palms together. A trickle of blood dripped down the edge of his hand.

"This is difficult to handle?"

Noticing the Taiyang Daoist’s injury, the Daoist of the Taiyin’s pupils contracted. He and the Taiyang Daoist were interdependent yet opposed. Therefore, he knew better than anyone how strong the Taiyang Daoist was—the one who wielded the Extreme Yang Force and had created the "Great Sun Only Me True Scripture."

Unmatched in the same realm! That was the best description of him. Yet now, he was injured after a single exchange with the red-haired man. How could this not astonish him?

"This man must be of the highest caliber, a top-tier prodigy," the Taiyang Daoist said slowly, twisting his wrist to soothe his injuries. "I do not have a physical body. This body, an evolution of Dao Spirit True Intent, cannot bear the full might of the Great Solar Sole Self True Scripture."

It wasn’t that he couldn’t defeat the red-haired man. Rather, his current body was unable to unleash the full power of the "Great Sun Only Me True Scripture." If he had a perfectly compatible physical body, he was confident he could have heavily injured, or even directly exterminated, the man with that last palm strike.

"You observe carefully from the side and look for an opportunity," the Taiyang Daoist instructed. "The chances of killing this brute are slim; we can only do our best to delay. As long as our true form successfully transcends the tribulation, we can suppress him with a flip of the hand."

After giving these instructions, the Taiyang Daoist moved forward once again. The path the red-haired man walked was similar to his own; they both followed the approach of "one power breaks ten thousand laws," using overwhelming force to crush everything. The Daoist of the Taiyin felt greatly suppressed by such an enemy; only the Taiyang Daoist could withstand him.

"Good, good, good! This time, it’s a real fight!" Du Zhong’s eyes gleamed with intense brightness. He felt even more excited as he sensed the increasingly robust power within the Taiyang Daoist.

A moment of silence, then a storm unleashed!

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—

The Sky Dome shattered, and the earth wailed. Fists and palms transformed into a limitless wave tearing through the void, clashing and intersecting. In an instant, thousands upon thousands of strikes burst forth. One was majestic and vast, the other profound as an abyss. It was as if tens of thousands of ancient volcanoes had erupted simultaneously. The shockwaves shattered the vacuum, stretching infinitely and conjuring a destructive killing zone out of thin air.

The power in this region was too terrifying. Every slight vibration could crumble a ten-thousand-meter-tall mountain. Even a Blood-Stained Peak expert, if caught within, would not survive the endless aftermath of battle; they would be turned to dust in a breath.

"What a pity. Your body simply cannot withstand your power."

A hint of disappointment in his eyes, Du Zhong shook his head as he realized the Taiyang Daoist’s limitations. He suddenly launched a punch that seemed like ten thousand dragons emerging from the abyss, carrying the power to destroy enemies and rend the heavens!

BANG!

This near-light-speed punch could have killed the Taiyang Daoist.

"White Bone Substitution Skill!"

A sinister and cold voice echoed as the Taiyang Daoist’s figure instantly vanished, replaced by the White Bone Devil God.

BOOM!

The bony figure exploded.

His eyes revealing a streak of malice, Du Zhong, his interest spoiled, turned and swung his leg out in a ferocious whip kick.

CRACK—

It was like an ancient demon dragon swinging its tail for the kill. The Daoist of the Taiyin felt as though his body was about to explode from the impact, as if flayed by a thousand knives. He was sent flying through the void like a meteor, flung thousands of li away.

The Daoist of the Taiyin’s face darkened, stunned by the red-haired man’s reaction. Is the gap this huge? This man’s strength is terrifying, potentially the strongest Dao Body Realm expert we have ever encountered. If our true form hadn’t used the Command Talisman to suppress his strength to the Blood-Stained Realm, the Taiyang Daoist and I might not even be a match for him in a single clash!

"Hmm, it’s about time."

Rubbing his brow, his enthusiasm dampened, Du Zhong’s expression gradually faded. His eyes turned cold and indifferent as he looked at the Taiyin and Taiyang Daoists before him.

The next moment, he grasped the hilt of the long saber cradled in his arms and began to slowly draw it.

CLANG—

Suddenly, a thunderous, tsunami-like clangor resounded between heaven and earth. A boundless Blood Sea surged from every corner of the void, submerging the skies. In that moment, a fearsome long saber appeared, capable of erasing an era and annihilating everything, its gleaming blade threatening to slice the world to shreds. Both the Daoist of the Taiyin and the Taiyang Daoist instantly felt as though they were under a guillotine. Their bodies began to disintegrate, their Essence, Qi, and Spirit became scattered, and even their Consciousness gradually sank into an endless abyss.

"Slash!"

WHOOSH—

The demon saber hung high and then smashed down. The world suddenly filled with the wailing of countless spirits and the mournful cries of all things.

SIZZLING—

The Blood River spanning the sky crushed down!

The Taiyang Daoist’s expression suddenly changed as he shouted in a deep, angry voice, "Not good! His target is our true form!"

Vast mountains and rivers exploded and collapsed; wave after wave of saber light battered and overturned the earth, and space itself shattered indescribably. It was as if reverting to the Chaotic Era of creation—bizarre and perplexing, with no distinction between heaven and earth.

Du Zhong’s slash wasn’t aimed at killing the Taiyin or Taiyang Daoists. His target, from start to finish, had only ever been one person: Qi Xiu!

As the dreadfully mighty saber light struck towards Qi Xiu, countless massive, towering, and multicolored Great Formations, pervaded with endless Divine Marvel, suddenly emerged from the void.

CRACK CRACK CRACK—

Under the overwhelming saber light, these Great Formations, vast in might, shattered in less than a breath. They broke into countless motes of light that fell like a brilliant, dazzling rain above Qi Xiu’s head. Over a hundred Great Formations failed to withstand Du Zhong’s single slash for even three minutes before being utterly cleaved apart.

Just as the saber light continued its downward crush, a figure suddenly rushed out from the void. Enveloped in surging divine light, resembling a peerless deity of the Martial Path, brave and unparalleled, this figure pressed its palms together and forcefully caught the descending saber light.

The Nine Orifices Peach Divine Effigy appeared just in time to block Du Zhong’s slash.

But at that very moment, Du Zhong, wielding the blood saber, had already traversed an immense distance. He appeared emotionlessly before Qi Xiu, the long saber in his hands slowly being raised...