Chapter 1251: I Was Afraid I Might Accidentally Kill You

If Sunlao Taijun was faring this poorly, Old Man of Zhi could only do worse. The moment the Earthly Sovereign Bell rang, nearly every single one of his insects and zhis had disintegrated into ash. Frightened, Old Man of Zhi hurriedly returned to his human form while producing a censer. When the censer tipped over, what looked like incense ash poured down from the sky like a massive waterfall. It looked quite impressive.

The “incense ash” wasn’t really incense ash, however. It was a kind of ash Old Man of Zhi had created from burning his insects and zhis. Not only was it extremely poisonous, it could bewitch and confuse the mind as well.

While the Taoist of Sleep and the others were blinded and confused by the ash, Old Man of Zhi tried to execute his movement art and escape the mountain.

Alas, the profound light caught up to him the next moment and pinned him in place. He wasn’t completely helpless, but took an insane amount of time and effort just to take a single step. His mind was blank and frozen as well.

On the other hand, the Taoist of Sleep his two helpers were perfectly fine. In fact, they felt warm and invigorated as their polluted bodies rapidly recovered from the damage they took from Sunlao Taijun’s power of decline and decay.

There were two reasons. One, the martial arts they practiced were orthodox and upright and so were naturally compatible with the Earthly Sovereign Bell’s power. Two, Ye Qing intentionally made it so that its power would heal them.

As his cultivation level increased, and the Earthly Sovereign Bell regained its former power, his control over the Strange Artifact had become finer as well.

“That’s right. This is the Earthly Sovereign Bell all of you so desire!”

Ye Qing beckoned, and the Earthly Sovereign Bell fell from the sky and landed squarely in Ye Qing’s hand.

The Earthly Sovereign Bell’s light didn’t dim despite this. In fact, it grew brighter and brighter until Ye Qing looked like the sun itself. It made him look like some sort of divine being as dazzling, dark yellow light centered around his body.

A divine being with the sun in his hand, and the power to cower all evils and monsters.

The closer he got to Sunlao Taijun, the greater her pain and fear became.

“The Earthly Sovereign Bell... So this is the Earthly Sovereign Bell!”

Staring at the sun-like bell in his hand stubbornly despite her bleeding eyes, Sunlao Taijun growled hatefully, “You couldn’t have bested me today if not for the Earthly Sovereign Bell.”

“You are wrong!”

Ye Qing shook his head. “You would’ve lost even if I did not have the Earthly Sovereign Bell. In fact, the only reason I’m using it is because I was afraid I might accidentally kill you.”

Although Sunlao Taijun’s face was falling off in multiple places right now, Ye Qing still noticed some hints of scorn and disdain here and there.

“Don’t believe me?”

As soon as Ye Qing said this, a hint of energy capable of extinguishing all life and destroying even yin and yang washed out. Just sensing the energy was enough to shake Sunlao Taijun’s mind and prick her consciousness. Even the profound light Ye Qing was giving off was growing transparent and dim as if it could not bear the energy.

“Do you think you can block this punch?”

Sunlao Taijun did not say anything. If Ye Qing had used this punch against her... he might actually be able to kill her outright.

“You’ve won. Kill me.” Sunlao Taijun let out a weak sigh and closed his eyes. She had lost, so that was that. There was no point in saying anything any longer.

To her surprise, Ye Qing said, “I never said I’m going to kill you, did I?”

“You’re not going to kill me?” Sunlao Taijun sounded bewildered.

“If I was, I wouldn’t bother to talk to you.”

A smile spread across Ye Qing’s lips. “If I killed you, then who will help me deal with Westwind Inn or Ghost Taisui?”

“You think you can deal with Ghost Taisui?”

Sunlao Taijun’s first instinct was that the young man was completely out of his mind. He, a Great Grandmaster, thought he could plot against a Sage? Wasn’t it as futile as an ant trying to topple a great tree?

... But then again, this was just like Ye Qing. When had he not gone against a greater power? And when had he ever lost despite seemingly overwhelmingly unfavorable odds?

As far as she knew, this young man had always been proficient at creating miracles. He had always possessed some sort of mysterious, inexplicable strength.

With that in mind, was it really that impossible for this particular ant to topple the great tree?

Unease and fear suddenly broke like a dam inside Sunlao Taijun’s heart, and she converted it all into a full-throated howl, “You dare to scheme against Taisui?! I will not allow it!”

As she howled, Sunlao Taijun gathered the dredges of her consciousness and tried to detonate her yang god.

She wasn’t trying to kill Ye Qing. She knew he would survive even if she detonated her yang god in his face. She was simply trying to warn Ghost Taisui with her death.

Sunlao Taijun had served under Ghost Taisui since she was a young girl, so Ghost Taisui had left an imprint inside her. If she died, then Ghost Taisui would notice it immediately.

Although Ghost Taisui wouldn’t know how she died, the Sage was a paranoid and cautious man. He would absolutely be on his guard after finding out about her death. He still would be ill-prepared against Ye Qing’s trap, but at least he wouldn’t be completely defenseless.

“Hah. You think you can die without asking for my permission?”

As if predicting that Sunlao Taijun would try something like this from the beginning, Ye Qing tapped his fingers and caused Sunlao Taijun to blank out for a moment. During that period, a black-and-white lotus bloomed soundlessly inside her yang god.

As the demonic lotus rotated, her remaining consciousness faded rapidly into nothing. In the end, all that was left was seemingly infinite chaos and darkness.

Staring into Sunlao Taijun’s confused, murky eyes, Ye Qing put away the Earthly Sovereign Bell and smiled. “Now you know why I bothered to waste so much breath on you.”

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

From the memories he gleaned from Taoist of Sleep, he learned that Sunlao Taijun had followed Ghost Taisui since a young age and was absolutely loyal to him. Therefore, there was little chance she would beg for his mercy and surrender to him.

That was why he had secretly executed the Paranirmita Boundless Heavenly Demon Dependent Magia and injected his invisible and formless demonic thought into her headspace while they were still fighting. She never noticed a thing. After he immobilized her using the Earthly Sovereign Bell, a demonic seed took form inside her heart, and it was simply a matter of waiting for the seed to sprout.

That was why he bothered to waste his breath on her. It was all to find the chinks in her mental armor and accelerate its growth.

Now, Sunlao Taijun was past the point of no return. She was going to have her mind altered, and her undying loyalty to Ghost Taisui transferred over to him right about... now.

“Hmm... the ‘Three Tribulations Canon of Reincarnation’, is it? How interesting!”

After the demonic seed fully matured, Ye Qing slowly gained a full picture of Sunlao Taijun’s memories. He finally learned of Sunlao Taijun’s cultivation art.

Sunlao Taijun practiced a martial art known as the “Three Tribulations Canon of Reincarnation”. Rooted in decline, rot, decay, old and death, it possessed the power to rot one’s vigor and still another’s lifespan. As she grew older, and she accumulated more and more power of decline, rot, decay, old and death, the martial art became increasingly potent as well.

Not only that, the martial art split her life into three stages: young age, middle age, and old age. At each stage, she could create a Tribulation Body that represented a single cycle of reincarnation.

To put it in simpler terms, when the practitioner had lived a full life and reached the end of their lifespan, they would reincarnate back to the previous cycle. First, they would reincarnate from old age to middle age, then from middle age to young age. After the practitioner had returned to their youth, they would start fresh and naturally grow older again.

At each cycle, the “Three Tribulations Canon of Reincarnation” would progress further, and the warrior would become more powerful.

At the same time, each Tribulation Body was equal to a single life. In other words, when the practitioner had created three Tribulation Bodies, it would be as if they had three lives. It was absolutely one of the greatest life-saving Magias out there.

Even better, the Three Tribulations Canon of Reincarnation theoretically did not have a limit. Assuming ideal circumstances, the warrior could technically reincarnate forever and ever and never die.

But of course, theories were just that: theories. Most of the time, they were neither practical nor realistic.