Chapter 1586 - Fighting a Quasi-Immortal

The Nalan Clan had turned human greed into a weapon. While a hundred astral crystals were barely enough for a day or two of cultivation at the pinnacle of the Heaven Gaze Realm, they could sustain someone at the Earth Immortal Realm for at least ten days to half a month.

No one wanted to pass up such a bargain, especially when Liu Wuxie wasn't their kin nor did they owe him anything. Besides, countless people burned with jealousy that Liu Wuxie had hauled away a mountain of treasures from the Peach Blossom Cave, and they wished for nothing more than his death.

The Nalan Clan didn't need an elaborate scheme. They used a simple plan to flush Liu Wuxie out. It was direct, ruthless, and effective to dangle astral crystals in front of people until they forced him out in the open.

The Oceanic Clan and the Peach Blossom Gate sealed the surroundings tightly. Once someone proved they weren't Liu Wuxie, they could leave the encirclement.

The pirates of the Seventy-Two Caves guarded the outer perimeter, forming a second ring so dense that even a quasi-immortal would struggle to break free with ease.

"Damn it!" Liu Wuxie cursed inwardly. He hadn't expected the Nalan Clan to ignore the treasures and prioritize hunting him instead.

However, the counterfeit pills had already proven how skilled the Nalan Clan was at plotting. If Liu Wuxie hadn't infiltrated the underground alchemy workshop himself, the scheme behind the counterfeit pills would have remained buried forever.

In the blink of an eye, thousands rushed forward. They couldn't read the desolate characters, and staying served them no purpose. They could earn a hundred astral crystals for free by releasing their aura, and clashing with the Nalan Clan would only invite disaster.

People began stepping out from every direction. Within fifteen minutes, the encirclement thinned drastically, and a large group of experts withdrew to a thousand meters away to wait for a world-shaking battle to erupt.

"The Nalan Clan is smart. They rushed over to form an encirclement immediately and left Liu Wuxie with no room to escape," the retreating cultivators murmured among themselves. The Nalan Clan always moved after careful planning.

"Liu Wuxie might not even be among the crowd," someone argued. Maybe the Nalan Clan was wasting effort and throwing away millions of astral crystals for nothing.

"This world isn't too vast, and a black gate has appeared out of nowhere. It's impossible for Liu Wuxie not to be here," a cultivator at the Heaven Gaze Realm said, shaking his head.

Liu Wuxie wasn't a god, and he couldn't foresee the future. Even he had assumed the gate was a ticket out, only to discover it contained the Great Samsara Mythical Art after arriving. He had wasted time earlier observing the characters, and that delay had given the Nalan Clan the opening they needed to set the trap.

Since Liu Wuxie had found the complete version of the Great Samsara Mythical Art, he would never walk away so easily. He would naturally find a way to record it, no matter the cost.

The crowd at the center continued to shrink, leaving only about a thousand people.

Nalan Qiwen said coldly, "Please cooperate with the Nalan Clan. Otherwise, don't blame us for being ruthless."

If necessary, he would slaughter all the remaining people without hesitation. He would rather kill a thousand than let one slip.

Liu Wuxie had left the Nalan Clan disgraced. He had destroyed their underground alchemy workshop, extracted the Heart-Refining Flame, and shattered the Emperor Refinement Cauldron. The Nalan Clan had suffered an immense loss.

When the crowd remained large, the Nalan Clan relied on persuasion. Now that the crowd had thinned, they bared their fangs and threatened openly.

The combined encirclement of the Peach Blossom Gate, the Nalan Clan, the pirates of the Seventy-Two Caves, and the Oceanic Clan numbered over five thousand people. The thousand who remained had no chance of competing with four superpowers at once. Even if resentment boiled in their chests, they could only grit their teeth and comply.

Right then, Liu Wuxie struck. A powerful blade ray descended from the sky, and he launched his attack to force a way out. He had no other choice. He targeted the weakest sector guarded by the pirates of the Seventy-Two Caves.

"Liu Wuxie, we've been waiting for you for a long time," Nalan Qiwen said, lifting his hand as three domains erupted at once.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

A quasi-immortal's domain carried terrifying force. It rebounded Liu Wuxie's attack and sent everyone fleeing even faster, terrified of becoming cannon fodder as they had in the Peach Blossom Cave.

In another breath, only Liu Wuxie remained on the field.

"The Nalan Clan really knows how to play their cards," Liu Wuxie said. He stopped and removed his mask because escape had become impossible. The moment he had stepped into the Gate of Samsara, he had already expected this outcome.

Even without the black gateway, the Nalan Clan would have found him sooner or later.

"Liu Wuxie, it's best if you surrender. You can't escape this place," Nalan Qiwen said, trying to persuade him rather than spill more blood.

Liu Wuxie's methods were monstrous, and he had seized countless benefits from the Peach Blossom Cave. If battle erupted, it would drag innocents into the crossfire, so they chose the cleanest path to force Liu Wuxie to surrender.

"Come and fight!" Liu Wuxie said, raising the Heretic Blade toward the sky.

Facing a single expert at the Quasi-Immortal Realm would already be difficult, and three quasi-immortal domains had sealed off the surrounding space completely.

"What arrogance! You're still so stubborn even when facing death," Nalan Tiancheng said, stepping forward to strike, but Nalan Qiwen blocked him at once.

News of Liu Wuxie slaying experts at the pinnacle of the Heaven Gaze Realm had spread long ago. Nalan Tiancheng had high cultivation, but he was only at the eighth-level Heaven Gaze Realm. He hadn't reached the pinnacle, and challenging Liu Wuxie would be suicide.

"I'll have to trouble the Oceanic Clan's chieftain and the Peach Blossom Gate's sect master to guard the surroundings and prevent him from escaping," Nalan Qiwen said. He stepped forward, releasing the aura of the Quasi-Immortal Realm that crushed down on Liu Wuxie like a mountain.

Liu Wuxie steadied himself and activated Ghost Pupil, capturing everything within three hundred million miles. The desolate world roared within his dantian, and the Heavenly Deity Monument stirred as if in response to the approaching storm. He felt every cell awakening, and he knew the battle ahead would be brutal.

The cultivators who had retreated sighed, pitying the fall of such a monstrous prodigy. "This Liu Wuxie is dead for sure. With these three quasi-immortals around, there's no way he can leave this place alive." The Heavenly Dragon Sect lay countless miles away, and even if they tried to send reinforcements, it would be too late now.

"This kid came alone to the Spirit Martial Astral Domain and flipped the whole astral domain upside down. He's finally going to get what he deserves," the local cultivators of the Spirit Martial Astral Domain said.

Liu Wuxie was an outsider, and it naturally made them uneasy that he had taken treasures from their astral domain.

Nalan Qiwen struck the moment his aura settled. He drove his palm forward, unleashing a tidal wave that swept debris off the ground. A fierce gale followed, and pressure slammed down on Liu Wuxie until he could barely keep his eyes open. This was the power of a quasi-immortal, carrying a sliver of an immortal's will.

"Heavenly Deity Monument!" Liu Wuxie shouted without hesitation. Even if death awaited him, he would shake heaven and earth. Slay one, and he would not lose. Slay two, and he would come out ahead.

The Heavenly Deity Monument expanded violently until it blotted out the sky. It surged outward, releasing a suffocating pressure that made it hard for everyone even to breathe.

Nalan Qiwen narrowed his eyes because the power emanating from the Heavenly Deity Monument stirred deep unease in his heart.

"Divine Eternal Fist!" Liu Wuxie roared, seizing the initiative without hesitation.

He understood he would not be granted many openings. Before a quasi-immortal, lesser mythical arts were ineffective, and only the Divine Eternal Fist could truly wound such an existence.

A violent surge of immortal energy poured into the Divine Eternal Fist. The punch he unleashed now was ten times stronger than what he had executed in the Peach Blossom Gate, and his strengthened immortal energy made the difference.

After absorbing immortal energy from the immortal stone, Liu Wuxie's immortal energy had become dozens of times stronger than before.

When the Divine Eternal Fist collided with Nalan Qiwen's palm, both sides locked into a dead stalemate.

"Liu Wuxie, it's useless. You have a quasi-immortal artifact, but so do I," Nalan Qiwen said. He summoned a longsword. The blade expanded until it reached over a hundred thousand feet, then cleaved down onto the Heavenly Deity Monument.

A deafening rumble shook the world. Heaven and earth shattered, and the entire region convulsed as countless spatial shards erupted through the air. The world itself began to collapse under the collision. This was the power of a Quasi-Immortal, capable of destroying an entire world.

The Heavenly Deity Monument shuddered violently, and a small notch appeared at its very peak. Nalan Qiwen's quasi-immortal artifact had actually carved a crack into it.

"Damn it!" Liu Wuxie cursed as the Heavenly Deity Monument's pressure weakened, no longer crushing as before. Without the monument's suppression, the Divine Eternal Fist would lose much of its effect.

"Myriad Phase Divine Palm!" Nalan Qiwen roared. His palm swelled and descended over Liu Wuxie's head, carrying the terrifying power of myriad phases.

The force drove the onlookers back even farther, to ten thousand meters. Even then, the aftermath still forced their eyes shut.

"Break!" Liu Wuxie shouted, driving the Divine Eternal Fist straight into the Myriad Phase Divine Palm.

Another thunderous rumble exploded outward. The shockwave rolled like a primordial beast, and it sent the pirates of the Seventy-Two Caves and the Peach Blossom Gate's experts flying.

The moment the attacks collided, Liu Wuxie felt as if his fist had slammed into a steel wall. His Divine Eternal Fist halted, and he flipped back to a hundred meters away.

He crashed into the ground hard enough to dye the Divine Heavenly Feather Robe red. His hair scattered wildly, and he looked like a madman. Flames wrapped around his body as demonic flames surged, making him resemble a demonic fiend.

"Come again!"

Nalan Qiwen stared, shaken that Liu Wuxie had survived that exchange. If it had been anyone else, the Myriad Phase Divine Palm would have killed them outright. However, Liu Wuxie's body had achieved unity with heaven and earth, meaning that as long as heaven and earth existed, he could endure for eternity.

Only by shattering his body completely could someone truly kill him.

Liu Wuxie raised his right hand and shifted into the Heavenbound Immortal Finger stance. The moment his finger lifted, the surrounding space began to collapse, and countless black hurricanes swept in from every direction.

He had already spent seventy percent of his immortal energy casting the Divine Eternal Fist, and only enough immortal energy remained to unleash the Heavenbound Immortal Finger.

For reasons he couldn't name, Nalan Qiwen's heart throbbed violently the instant Liu Wuxie raised that finger, as if another threat lurked in the shadows. For a quasi-immortal to feel threatened, it would have to be another quasi-immortal.

Immortals had not appeared in the world for hundreds of thousands of years, existing only in legend. Still, Nalan Qiwen had no path of retreat, so he recalled the longsword to his hand.

Liu Wuxie quietly retrieved the Heavenly Deity Monument, his gaze empty of emotion.

"Heavenly Sound Sword!" Nalan Qiwen roared, unleashing his strongest attack. It was the supreme mythical art he had comprehended, indefinitely close to a pseudo-immortal art.

"Heavenbound Immortal Finger!" Liu Wuxie yelled, striking the instant Nalan Qiwen's sword came down.