Useless in life, divine after death? Ding Songyan was shaken by those words.

Such a martial art exists?

This isn’t even cultivating for the next life; it’s cultivating for after death!

Ding Songyan also came to understand why Brother Youyang always said "life is short, so one might as well live with abandon."

His martial art dictated that once he cultivated to a certain degree, he would have to die. Naturally he should live freely and indulge in pleasure while alive, so as not to waste his time in this world.

Ding Songyan also understood why the Celestial Maiden Sect had sent a Grandmaster while the True Spirit Sect had not. No danger? Then all the better. Danger? Ren Youyang was stronger dead!

Su Qingli watched Ren Youyang face off against Ma Hanjiang without blinking, her little mouth chattering away nonstop, "It’s actually not as exaggerated as the Useless Divine Art itself claims. It’s merely an extension of two traits—summoning gods and commanding ghosts as well as the inextinguishable soul. Mm, it is quite miraculous though. The first death directly elevates one by an entire major realm and grants formidable abilities.

"In the past, many Sages even tried grooming cultivators of the Useless Divine Art to the Spirit Platform Realm, hoping that upon death they could break through the greatest restriction imposed by the heaven and earth severance and successfully cross into the Mystic Realm, or even the Myriad Wonders Realm. Unfortunately, they never succeeded. Cultivators of the Useless Divine Art can at most survive without dying up to the Heaven-Man Realm, and then inevitably die from various causes."

Summoning gods or commanding ghosts, inextinguishable soul? I think I’ve seen those in the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas... Ding Songyan asked in astonishment, "The first death? He can die multiple times?"

"It depends on one’s realm. For Ren Youyang, if he dies once more now, he’ll be utterly annihilated. If he can later cultivate to the perfected Dharma Realm, he can die once more. At the perfected Heaven-Man Realm, he can die yet again. But the subsequent deaths won’t allow him to directly break through a major realm. It will only elevate him by a minor realm or enhance his strength to a certain degree." Su Qingli suddenly grew somewhat emotional. "Ren Youyang really is quite gallant. He originally should have wanted to wait until reaching Grandmaster before dying—that way he’d leap straight into the Heaven-Man Realm. Erm, but right now he’s also saving himself."

Before Ding Songyan could speak, Yan Changqing on his back interjected in the tone of an elder instructing a junior, "The Useless Divine Art defies the heavens. Before dying the first time, practitioners will face all manner of deathly tribulations. Young lady of the Su family, when you encounter such a person, keep your distance, lest you be dragged down with them.

"You’re not members of the Zhen family, yet that Grandmaster consumed by killing intent kept pursuing you relentlessly. Even after being lured away by the Great Void Illusory Realm, he turned back to search for you again. Haven’t you wondered why?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Ah, is that so..." Su Qingli blinked.

Ding Songyan, for his part, didn’t mind. After all, Brother Youyang had already died.

In the courtyard, Ren Youyang had been restored to perfect wholeness, no longer even carrying that soft, plump appearance.

His face was tinged with spectral green, his features sharper and more angular. His two canine-ears stood tall and erect, lending him an obvious air of authority and a touch of menace.

Around him, golden light swirled, seeming to coalesce into golden armor, a golden crown, and a golden sword.

Ma Hanjiang’s foundation was unstable. After the Heart-Confounding, Mind-Disrupting Grand Art had affected his mind, killing intent had quickly consumed his mind and he’d lost all reason. Now he felt no fear either. His muscles swelled as though carrying the force of surging river waters, and he threw another punch at Ren Youyang.

Ren Youyang raised his golden-light-covered left palm and caught the punch with flawless timing.

There was no sound of collision, nor the slightest sway of Ren Youyang’s body.

He immediately switched from palm to grip, yanking backward and pulling Ma Hanjiang involuntarily toward him. His right palm rose vertically and swept toward the other man’s face.

Seeing this, Ma Hanjiang wasn’t alarmed but was delighted. He closed his eyes, letting his face take on the thick, heavy texture of a tortoise shell.

My Black Turtle Divine Art has been cultivated to the Dharma Realm! Without finding its weak weak point, even a fellow Grandmaster cannot break my defense!

In a close-range fight, few can withstand my suicidal style of combat!

Ren Youyang’s right palm brushed across Ma Hanjiang’s face. It failed to leave so much as a faint red mark, much less create a wound.

Yet with this utterly gentle stroke, Ma Hanjiang suddenly froze and turned into a stone statue.

Almost simultaneously, a spectral image flew out from within his body, an image identical to him in every way.

This was his soul, struggling desperately, unwilling to fully separate from the body.

Ren Youyang’s left palm released Ma Hanjiang’s fist and gripped a phantasmal golden sword formed from the swirling golden light. With a whoosh, he slashed forward.

The phantasmal golden sword struck squarely into Ma Hanjiang’s soul.

Ma Hanjiang’s soul immediately let out a soundless scream, rapidly fading, on the verge of collapse.

The golden-light-radiating sword slashed down once more.

In an instant, Yan Changqing’s aged, hoarse voice reverberated within Ding Songyan’s consciousness: "Let’s go!"

Ding Songyan involuntarily shifted the qi to his feet, then spun and dove through the window on the far side of the room, crashing through it and escaping.

Another leap carried him over the low wall behind.

He kept using the qi to shift positions while Yan Changqing continually replenished him.

After passing through several courtyards, he ducked into an unoccupied room.

"Set me down on the rattan bed," Yan Changqing said, his voice calm.

Once Ding Songyan had helped him lie down, the former sect master of the Sage-Severing Way spoke gravely, "We still need to extract the strange object that Zhen Qianfan forced me to swallow. Otherwise he’ll catch up very quickly, and if he catches up, Ji Hanyi is sure to come as well."

"Alright." Ding Songyan retrieved the dagger he had stowed earlier and drew it from its sheath.

Looking at the cold gleam flickering along the blade, a few more traces of a smile appeared on Yan Changqing’s face.

"Make it quick."

Ding Songyan followed his instructions without wasting time. He sliced open the cyan lined robe in a single stroke, exposing the gaunt, pale chest and abdomen beneath.

Then Ding Songyan swallowed hard and drove the dagger into Yan Changqing’s belly.

Through the sensation of piercing layer after layer, blood gushed out. Ding Songyan wrenched the dagger sharply upward, splitting the torso in two.

Throughout the entire process, Yan Changqing didn’t so much as grunt. Only his complexion grew considerably paler.

As his chest and abdomen were laid open, Ding Songyan saw the state of things within.

Yan Changqing’s stomach had lost all semblance of shape. It was a patch of darkness so deep that even the light filtering through the window was drawn into it. His heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, along with several bizarre organs, were all crowded tightly beside the stomach, displaced entirely from their original positions.

Such a person was actually still alive.

Within that dark "stomach" protruded the upper half of a fist-sized yellow object.

Inside the yellow object, a crimson flame seemed to burn, and at the flame’s core lay a knot of darkness.

"Cut that yellow thing free, and Zhen Qianfan will never be able to find us again." Yan Changqing’s voice sounded gently in Ding Songyan’s ears and consciousness.

Ding Songyan obediently raised the dagger, now stained with bright red blood.

In the midst of Yan Changqing’s expectant gaze, he moved before the other could react. He plunged his intent downward, instantaneously igniting the candle-flame-like twilight yellow sword intent within his Shanzhong acupoint.

The sword intent from Zheng Zhuxi!

The next instant, that sword intent blazed with radiance. Twilight yellow yet warm light illuminated the surrounding darkness and flooded Ding Songyan’s consciousness.

Within his consciousness, Yan Changqing’s figure raised a hand to shield his eyes. The hazy "seed" dove downward, hiding within the shimmering golden phantom sea.

Ding Songyan used this to briefly break free from the other’s control.

His steel dagger stabbed downward with ferocity, aimed at Yan Changqing’s eye socket.

I want you dead!

The soft sensation was swiftly pierced through. Ding Songyan’s dagger was already halfway buried in his enemy’s startled eyeball, bursting it apart.

Then Ding Songyan’s movements inexplicably slowed. The Yan Changqing within his consciousness had weathered the candlelight sword intent’s radiance and was reasserting control over his thoughts.

Within the shimmering golden phantom sea, several shadows suddenly darted up, weaving into a dim and spectral net that enclosed Yan Changqing’s figure within.

Ding Songyan immediately understood.

This was the Celestial Heart imprint that Ji Hanyi had left behind.

Ding Songyan regained control over his own thoughts, and could even command the hazy "seed," splitting half its force to surge with the violence of a flash flood into the right hand gripping the dagger.

The dagger sank another length into the eye socket.

In Yan Changqing’s remaining intact eye, the black pupil expanded rapidly until it consumed everything.

The dagger then met the resistance of an invisible barrier.

Yan Changqing was using his own qi!

It could likewise protect his body!

...

Near the collapsed small building.

Tiger-eared and tiger-tailed Ji Hanyi’s gaze suddenly shifted, as though she had sensed something.

She abruptly drifted backward ten feet, evading Tao Wenshu’s Northern Dipper Killing Sword, then returned her tiger claws to the shape of normal hands, raising them before her.

Those ten slender, pale fingers began flicking rapidly, as though coaxing a flower into bloom or mimicking some kind of seal.

Without a sound, the dark, overcast sky split open with a dazzling, blazing bolt of silver-white lightning that struck between Ji Hanyi and Tao Wenshu, forcing Tao Wenshu back several steps.

Boom!

Ji Hanyi harnessed the special weather that Yan Changqing had created, calling bolt after bolt of lightning down upon the area as gale-force winds swept in, howling and raging, obscuring all visibility.

The rain finally came pouring down, splashing up clouds of mist.

By the time the lightning subsided, Tao Wenshu could no longer see Ji Hanyi anywhere before her.

...

Ding Songyan clenched his teeth, using Yan Changqing’s own qi as he struggled with all his might to drive the dagger deeper into the man’s skull.

The figure of Yan Changqing within his consciousness had vanished, returning to the body to resist the lethal attack with full force, waiting for the moment Ding Songyan’s qi ran out.

Within the invisible barrier woven from qi, the dagger advanced very slowly, slower and slower.

Ding Songyan’s qi originated from Yan Changqing in the first place. Beyond that initial element of surprise, how could it possibly overcome the other’s protective qi?

This won’t work! I need to think of something! My qi won’t hold much longer... Ding Songyan’s entire face had turned red from the strain.

Suddenly, several things occurred to him at once:

Ji Hanyi had been defeated by Feng Yining, leaving a flaw in her heart;

Yan Changqing spoke of man being supremacy, emphasizing wisdom, spirit, and the Spirit Platform;

Their divine art derives from the Sutra of Celestial Heart Wisdom;

The celestial heart, one’s own heart, the hearts of others...

Their art emphasizes the heart and mind. If I can shake Yan Changqing’s heart and spirit, could I disrupt his control over the qi, his use of it, and create an opening to kill him? Ding Songyan tried it the instant the thought came, sneering as he spoke, "You must be quite curious. When exactly did I start to suspect, and when did I start preparing?

"Earlier, in the dungeon, you promised to replenish my qi. But once I dealt with the Zhen estate’s men and removed the blindfold, you seemed to have forgotten the matter entirely—only urging me to extract the so-called strange object from your belly.

"At the time I wondered: aren’t you worried about something going wrong? Don’t you want to flee the moment the extraction is done? Why the rush?

"My guess was that once the so-called strange object is removed, a powerhouse like you would recover your original strength.

"In that case, you’d have no need for me to carry you. I would no longer be of any use, so naturally you wouldn’t waste qi on me. What would a dead man need qi for?

"At the time I still couldn’t determine what exactly this strange object was, not until you told your dear disciple about the Chaos remains!"

The moment his words fell, Ding Songyan suddenly felt the invisible qi blocking the dagger loosen slightly, allowing the weapon to sink a fraction deeper.

It works!

The approach works!