Chapter 474 - Arbiter Immortal!

"A Gu infestation?" Yun Xiao's brow furrowed deeply. "The Three Immortals are Gu experts. Could this man have been harmed by them...?

"With the Mystic Earth Immortal dead and the Sky Source Immortal trapped in the Immortal Asylum, that only leaves the Human Zenith Immortal..."

Of course, this was only speculation. Yun Xiao was unsure of who was stronger, the person within the sword-shaped divine vessel or the Human Zenith Immortal.

Yun Xiao summoned the Heaven Burial Sword Soul and transformed it into a six-foot Sovereign Sword. When it came to raw power, the Sovereign Sword was unrivaled!

He swiftly retreated, flipping the Sovereign Sword beneath his feet and surfing through the sky. With a focused gaze, he set his sights on the Skyruler Sword Vessel.

"Charge!" His body surged with sacred power merging into the Sovereign Sword beneath him. With a press of his right foot, the Heaven Burial Sword Soul accelerated, unleashing a tempest towards the Skyruler Sword Vessel with the force of the Primordial Triforce Sword Art, storming heavenward!

The speed of the Sovereign Sword increased exponentially. Yun Xiao accelerated as his black hair and white robes fluttered wildly in the wind. His azure sword pierced the sky and left behind a trail of light, his figure almost smoking from the air friction!

The tip of the Heaven Burial Sword Soul pointed straight at the center of the sword vessel!

Then, in an instant, the Sovereign Sword collided with the Skyruler Sword Vessel.

BOOM!

A piercing, ear-shattering sound echoed through the heavens and earth.

Yun Xiao and his Sovereign Sword were sent flying. His legs had gone numb from the impact! In contrast, the Skyruler Sword Vessel remained unmoved, bearing only traces of the collision.

Yun Xiao noticed that his strike had shaken the vessel's core, speeding up the release of its power, on the verge of a violent breakdown.

"I can't break through!" Yun Xiao said with urgency.

"This vessel's material is beyond ordinary, brute force won't do," Blue Star commented, "Where's your body double? Have it use its claws to pry open the door of this sword vessel."

"It's nearby."

After leaving the Primordial Ruins, Moon Fairy hadn't strayed far; Yun Xiao always needed his combat power close at hand.

As soon as his conversation with Blue Star concluded, a silver Six-Tailed Demon Fox descended from the clouds. The bloodstains on its body had vanished. Having consumed 100,000 lives, it continued to digest, looking even more vibrant and spirited!

Moon Fairy's strength grew along two distinct paths: the cultivation—Will of Divine Desolation and the regenerative devouring of the Nian. Both methods fortified his flesh, harmoniously intertwined without conflict.

Leveraging the desolate Gu, Moon Fairy had reached the Establishment Yin Immortal Realm. His combat prowess primarily stemmed from the Nian. Yet, with Yun Xiao's plunder from the Primordial Ruins, his Divine Desolation Physique had also seen rapid ascension within mere days.

The four-eyed, Six-Tailed Demon Fox looked even more sinister and bewitching. The brutish calamity of the Nian and Moon Fairy's cold charm merged perfectly, marking it as a peerless demon.

Upon its arrival, it pounced on the Skyruler Sword Vessel, its sharp claws gripping the vessel's circular door frame, beginning to forcefully tug.

"An Immortal Sword Vessel? A fine piece, what a pity it must be destroyed," the Nian commented with its dull yellow eyes glowing faintly.

"Do you recognize it?" Moon Fairy asked

"In the true path of cultivation, such things are quite ordinary," the Nian said with disdain.

Its former height meant the things it deemed common might not necessarily be ordinary. Its memory was a chaotic mess, akin to a madman's, making Yun Xiao selective in believing its words.

"Is that your true form?" The Nian's dull yellow eyes, swirling like the rivers of the underworld, shifted their gaze backward. With four eyes, two looking forward and two backward, it indeed appeared quite eerie.

"Yes," Moon Fairy growled, his body tensed, unleashing all his power as his flesh burned with raging desolate flames.

"Why don't we join forces, overthrow your true self, and turn the tables?" the Nian suggested with a cold laugh.

"Are you mad? Me killing myself?!" With a roar, Moon Fairy exerted himself to the utmost, pulling with all his might!

Under his tremendous force, the circular door of the Skyruler Sword Vessel finally began to creak.

With a loud crash, the door burst open, exploding apart.

"Move! It's going to explode!" Blue Star warned.

In a flash, the Six-Tailed Demon Fox extended its tongue, wrapping it around the person inside the boat, then kicked back and retreated!

Meanwhile, Yun Xiao had already flown away on his Sovereign Sword.

Their true form and body double veered left, while the Skyruler Sword Vessel went right.

Behind them, the air thickened with an explosive aura.

Suddenly, a devastating explosion rocked the heavens, sending a scorching wave of heat surging forward!

In that instant, it felt like the end of the world.

Yun Xiao, in the face of this lethal moment, believed he'd be torn to shreds by this power. So, in the blink of an eye, he made a choice—

"Divine Desolation Physique, come forth!"

Moon Fairy, in a swift motion, ejected the person from the sword vessel and then transformed into a silver mist, crashing into Yun Xiao's back with a thunderous impact.

BOOM!

Yun Xiao's body underwent a heaven-defying transformation at that moment, with silver smoke rising and his organs thundering explosively.

"What is happening?" The Nian howled, its worldview utterly shattered.

It watched, wide-eyed, as Yun Xiao and Moon Fairy merged into one, with the terrifying physical strength of both the Nian and the Divine Desolation Physique now embodied in this young man!

What sort of miracle was this?

"Impossible! Impossible! Where have I gone?" The Nian was in shock.

In this terrifying fusion of flesh, its remaining bloodline felt awkward, as if it had nowhere to go.

Before it could come to terms with this reality, the explosion of the Celestial Sourcecore was already enveloping them!

Yun Xiao swiftly embraced the person from the sword vessel, then was blasted hundreds of miles away. The robustness of the Divine Desolation Physique held against this wave of destruction, minimizing their losses!

Looking back, the entire sky was engulfed in the explosion's light, with the heavens of at least a dozen worlds trembling, even triggering earthquakes.

"This is merely the power of a miniature Celestial Sourcecore!" Yun Xiao was profoundly shaken. And to think, the Nian had deemed such a thing common?

Without the Divine Desolation Physique, he couldn't have withstood it. The Primordial Martial Dao was merely adjacent to the Primordial Void Technique, certainly not on par with the Will of Divine Desolation.

"You dead fox!!" The Nian roared, stewing in the darkness. Finally, under Yun Xiao's gaze, it managed to open two dull yellow eyes swirling like the whirlpools of the underworld.

Those eyes, full of shock, roamed over Yun Xiao's body.

"Where is my body?" The Nian asked in alarm.

"From the moment you devoured my body double, your body ceased to exist in this world," Yun Xiao said with a cold smile. "Now, it's merely a part of mine."

"Ah! Impossible!" The Nian was in turmoil, its essence overtaken by Moon Fairy, leaving it in a state of collapse. It had harbored hopes of reclaiming its freedom and resurgence one day, but now it found itself swallowed by its own original form.

What had it become now?

It couldn't even claim the status of a body double.

"Stop your howling," Yun Xiao said, tired of its lamentations.

Now, with Moon Fairy's essence imbued with such dense demonic energy, Yun Xiao summoned the Divine Desolation Physique. Merged, he retained his human essence but was enveloped in a surge of demonic energy.

Such a form was hard to explain to others.

Testing the waters, he discovered that the Nian's bloodline couldn't take control or influence the Divine Desolation Physique. So, there was no issue!

In short, apart from wailing, the Nian was powerless to interfere.

With a hum, Yun Xiao dispatched this body double.

The silver mist transformed into a four-eyed, silver-haired youth, floating in the air, his aura becoming even more demonic.

"This appearance of my body double is androgynous at best, unlike the true femininity of the Mirage Immortal, who possesses something extra..."

Crucially, above the navel, the Mirage Immortal was genuinely feminine, and of a splendid figure at that.

With a sigh, the Nian relaxed only when Yun Xiao's original form and the body double separated.

"There's no need to pretend any nobility or grandeur before me. You'll soon realize that serving me is a fortune you couldn't have dreamt of before your imprisonment," Yun Xiao said, facing Moon Fairy's dull yellow eyes.

The Nian could only muster a laugh but dared not retort. This fusion, seemingly straightforward, defied all norms—an undertaking not just anyone could achieve.

After dealing with him for so long, the Nian truly understood the terror that was this young man.

"It was that fox who took my body, and now, I am nothing!"

It seemed as if it had no stake in anything anymore, overwhelmed by a profound sense of injustice.

In a moment that seemed suspended between calamity and calm, Yun Xiao asked the Nian about the identity of the unconscious individual from the sword vessel.

The Nian, with a huff, closed its dull yellow eyes, feigning death right then and there. Yun Xiao paid it no further mind.

Upon closer inspection, the person from the sword vessel wore white-gold chainmail of a deceptively simple design. Each scale was etched with runes that danced across the surface.

"A token at the waist?" Yun Xiao examined the token, finding it engraved on one side with the characters,

Thunder Department

, composed of thunder dragon motifs, and on the other,

Skyruler Immortal Manor

, crafted from sword strokes.

"Thunder Department, Skyruler Immortal Manor? What place is this?" Yun Xiao was unfamiliar with the terms, but he suspected that Dean Yu, Shen Cang, and others might have some insight.

Further examination revealed the person's dire state, with a complexion as dark as pitch black and recently vomited black blood containing dozens of visible parasites. These worms, devoid of eyes or tentacles, bore gaping maws at both ends, filled with countless layers of teeth.

"This Gu worm is a visible menace..."

Without removing these parasites, Yun Xiao doubted the person could even awaken.

"Let's head back for now."

The explosion of the Celestial Sourcecore had already alerted the human cultivators of the Nine Hells. Upon his return, Yun Xiao was met by Dean Yu and Shen Cang awaiting him above the clouds.

Naturally, Lian Xi was there too, setting aside her apprehensions to face Yun Xiao, especially given the turn of events. Had she not fled midway, Yun Xiao would have been too preoccupied to save the person from the sword vessel.

"Dean Yu, Shen Cang, please examine this individual," Yun Xiao requested, laying the bloodied figure from the sword vessel onto Dean Yu's lotus platform.

The man appeared in his twenties, tall and lean, seemingly younger than Dean Yu, though his true age was difficult to ascertain.

Dean Yu and Shen Cang hurriedly inspected him, their expressions shifting with concern.

"Yun Xiao, what caused that explosion?" Shen Cang inquired.

"A flying vessel known as the Skyruler Sword Vessel, containing a miniature Celestial Sourcecore. I rescued him before the vessel exploded," Yun Xiao explained.

Shen Cang, visibly shaken, confirmed, "Thunder Department, Skyruler Immortal Manor!"

"Indeed," Yun Xiao revealed, showing the waist token. With Shen Cang recognizing the individual's origins, he surely knew more.

"An Arbiter Immortal of the Skyruler Immortal Manor!" Shen Cang said, a mix of shock and excitement in his voice.

"Arbiter Immortal?" Yun Xiao murmured, "Elder, please share the details of his identity. And, is he friend or foe?"