Chapter 1564: Blood Shadow Thousand Illusions
Yu Bi’s natal magic treasure—the Nine Corpse-Suppressing Nails—suddenly materialized before him.
Each nail was about a foot long, jet-black, and meticulously engraved with bizarre talismans finer than a strand of hair.
The moment the nine nails appeared, a torrent of icy, malevolent qi erupted from them.
With a wave of his withered hand, nine streaks of black light tore through the air, targeting Song Wen’s vital points while deliberately avoiding fatal strikes.
Even before the black light struck, a series of piercing, ghostly wails assaulted Song Wen’s ears, emanating from the vibrating Corpse-Suppressing Nails.
These wails, like ten thousand steel needles, pierced directly into Song Wen’s sea of consciousness.
The Corpse-Suppressing Nails’ divine soul attack was merely one of their many powers, not particularly potent, but more than sufficient to overwhelm a mere peak body integration stage cultivator.
Yu Bi glared at Song Wen, his eyes burning with venomous hatred.
He already envisioned the scene: “Gu Huang” would be crippled, clutching his head and howling in agony, before being subdued by the nine Corpse-Suppressing Nails, collapsing like a dead dog, utterly at his mercy.
Old grudges and fresh hatreds burned like poisonous fire in his heart.
Today, he would ensure “Gu Huang” neither lived nor died in peace!
Yet, in the next instant, Yu Bi noticed something astonishing. When the ghostly wails pierced “Gu Huang’s” sea of consciousness, the cultivator merely furrowed his brow slightly, showing no other signs of discomfort.
Immediately afterward, Gu Huang raised his hand and shattered his own skull with a single palm strike.
At that moment, nine streaks of black light shot forth, piercing the mutilated corpse’s limbs and chest. But the corpse was no longer Gu Huang’s body; it was merely a mummified husk.
Five thousand miles away, high in the sky, a figure materialized.
Song Wen turned to glance in Yu Bi’s direction, a flicker of resentment in his eyes.
The sword strike unleashed by the Nine Calamity Heaven-Measuring Sword had been executed with no reservations, channeling all his spiritual power and physical strength. The timing had been impeccable, representing the absolute limit of what he could achieve.
Yet… it had still missed its mark.
The gap between the peak body integration stage and the middle-stage great ascension was simply too vast. Even a Profound Heaven Spirit Treasure used in a surprise attack stood no chance.
“Gu Huang, this old man will see how many Substitute Puppets you have left!”
“Today, we settle this once and for all!”
Yu Bi’s roar, amplified by his spiritual power, reverberated like thunder, shaking the surrounding clouds.
Nine streaks of black light tore through the sky, carrying overwhelming Yin Fiend Qi as they surged toward Song Wen once more.
This time, Yu Bi held nothing back.
Song Wen remained calm, showing no panic or attempt to flee.
In his hand, five blood-red crystals had materialized.
The crimson crystal shattered abruptly.
His magical power surged like boiling water, while his blood essence drained away at an alarming rate.
In an instant, countless identical figures erupted from his body, streaking across the sky and diving into the earth in all directions.
Each figure’s escape speed instantly skyrocketed, far surpassing the limits achievable by a Body Integration Stage cultivator.
Watching the swarm of ‘Gu Huangs’ scattering across the sky, Yu Bi’s eyes flashed with disbelief.
“This is… Blood Shadow Thousand Illusions?”
“How did Gu Huang even learn this secret art?”
A disturbing thought suddenly surfaced in his mind:
‘Gu Huang’ seemed to have mastered numerous top-tier cultivation techniques and secret arts considered the Divine Blood Gate’s most treasured assets. Even… his mastery surpassed that of Yu Bi himself, an inner sect elder of the Divine Blood Gate, and exceeded that of nearly all the sect’s disciples.
Take the Blood Sea Seal, for example.
Yu Bi had never seen a Divine Blood Gate disciple refine the Blood Sea Seal to the point where it could withstand attacks from a mid-stage great ascension cultivator while still at the Body Integration Stage.
Though inwardly shaken, Yu Bi reacted swiftly.
The Nine Corpse-Suppressing Nails possessed formidable power, but they were outnumbered. Against the swarm of ‘Gu Huangs’ scattering across the sky, their numbers simply weren’t enough.
Boundless corpse qi erupted from his body, surging forth like dark storm clouds before a tempest or a raging black flood, rapidly sweeping toward the Gu Huang.
The corpse qi blotted out the sun, plunging the sky into an instant, night-like darkness.
Yu Bi, clearly well-versed in the properties of the Blood Shadow Thousand Illusions, had deliberately sacrificed power for extreme speed in his corpse qi surge, aiming to prevent Song Wen’s escape.
Even the Gu Huang’s swiftness couldn’t outpace the sweeping tide of corpse qi.
The black corpse qi washed over each Gu Huang, yet none immediately dissipated. Instead, they staggered slightly before regaining their footing, now trapped within the swirling miasma.
In the end, over four hundred Gu Huang figures were engulfed by the corpse qi. The rest either soared into the sky, plunged into the lake below, or fled toward the distant horizon.
Yu Bi’s eyes blazed with fury, yet a hint of helplessness lingered within them.
He had exerted every ounce of his strength to prevent the Gu Huang’s escape, but the Blood Shadow Thousand Illusions proved to be an exceptionally mystical escape art. Combined with the five thousand li distance separating him from the Gu Huang, he ultimately failed to capture them all.
He could only place his hopes on the over four hundred trapped Gu Huang, praying that the true body of the Gu Huang was among them.
However, as he channeled his corpse qi to strangle the Gu Huang one by one, only bursts of blood fiendish qi erupted, leaving no trace of flesh or blood.
Yu Bi refused to give up. After a moment’s hesitation, he streaked toward a distant horizon.
He had clearly seen five Gu Huang fleeing in that direction earlier.
Song Wen fled over several million miles in a single breath. When he saw that Yu Bi wasn’t pursuing him, he randomly found an underground cave and hid inside.
He didn’t bother setting up a concealment formation, simply hiding beneath a pile of rubble in the cave, remaining perfectly still.
“Gu Que, will five Sky-Blue Glazed Fruits be enough for me to cultivate the Ten Thousand Poisons Body?” Song Wen asked in his sea of consciousness.
“It should be barely sufficient. If you had two or three more, I could guarantee success,” Gu Que replied.
“Then should I consume them immediately to temper my physical body, or wait until I’m about to break through a bottleneck?” Song Wen asked.
Gu Que slowly explained, “You can consume them at any time. Tempering the physical body is different from refining spiritual power.”
“Physical tempering relies on accumulation. It’s a process of relentless refinement, like a drop of water wearing away stone. You must repeatedly hone your flesh, bones, and organs to achieve true mastery.”
“Refining spiritual power also requires gradual accumulation. However, consuming Spirit Herbs to rapidly condense your spiritual power in a short period can greatly assist you in breaking through bottlenecks.”
Hearing Gu Que’s clear explanation, Song Wen said gratefully, “Thank you for your guidance.”
(End of the Chapter)