With each strike, the cracks on the ground spread wider and wider. With each hammering, Cui Qiuyuan’s struggles grew weaker and weaker.

Bang!

In the end, Cui Qiuyuan never managed to escape. With one last strike, Cui Qiuyuan’s head finally burst into a shower of brain matter and gore. As for his body? It had been pounded into a pile of goo a long time ago.

That wasn’t the end of it though. As soon as he shattered Cui Qiuyuan’s head, a ball of light shot out of his head as swift as lightning.

Ye Qing was prepared for it, however. Ye Qing tapped the space in front of him, and his demonic thought manifested into existence as an impenetrable web. Like a fish caught in a net, there was nowhere for the ball of light to escape.

The ball of light contained Cui Qiuyuan’s yang god, of course. A Spirit Master was a warrior who had created their yin god, but a yin god was afraid of sunlight and could only roam freely at night. A Grandmaster was someone who had purified their yin god with origin qi until it transformed into a yang god. No longer weak to sunlight, it could roam freely both during the day and the night. That was why it was called a yang god.

As long as the yang god still existed, the Grandmaster would never die. Although Ye Qing had destroyed Cui Qiuyuan’s body via brute force, he did not quite possess the spiritual power to extinguish the opponent’s yang god as well. That was why he was prepared for this outcome.

If you’re going to do something, don’t do it halfway. From the moment Ye Qing made up his mind to kill Cui Qiuyuan, he was going for total annihilation.

What happened next came as a complete surprise to Ye Qing, however. The ball of light had passed right through his web of demonic thought like it didn’t exist.

Ye Qing couldn’t believe it. If Cui Qiuyuan’s yang god had punched through his web of demonic thought via brute force, he would not be surprised one bit. However, his demonic thought wasn’t damaged in the slightest, nor had he felt anything when contact was made. It was almost as if the ball of light existed in a completely different space.

“Kekeke… to think that an ant who isn’t even a Grandmaster had destroyed my body and pushed me to this extent. Interesting. How very interesting.”

Cui Qiuyuan could’ve escaped immediately, but instead, he hovered a short distance away from Ye Qing and manifested his yang god’s true form.

Cui Qiuyuan’s yang god looked exactly the same as Cui Qiuyuan. If anything, it looked even more flawless than the actual person himself. However, a closer inspection would reveal that there were thread lines around Cui Qiuyuan’s limbs, necks, and other areas. It was as if his body was sewn together from multiple body parts.

“It is quite interesting. Who would’ve thought that the forty-fourth warrior on the Earth Champions Ranking, the so-called ‘Mortician’ would fall to a mere ant’s ambush?”

Ye Qing’s laughter seemed to come from every direction as the world abruptly turned illusory once more. Sitting high above the nine heavens, a grand silhouette pointed a finger at Cui Qiuyuan’s yang god. Distorted space and howling thunder immediately raced forth to annihilate the Grandmaster.

Ye Qing knew it would be difficult to kill Cui Qiuyuan’s yang god. Naturally, he didn’t have just one plan to kill him. If the web of demonic thought was the appetizer, then the “Boundless Heart Demon Tribulation” was the main course.

The “Boundless Heart Demon Tribulation” transformed the myriad red dust into the Paranirmita Vasavartin Heaven, and inside the Paranirmita Vasavartin Heaven, he was almost as powerful as a real god or demon.

However, the distorted space and howling thunder passed harmlessly through Cui Qiuyuan’s yang god just like his web of demonic thought. It failed to leave even a scratch on the man’s yang god.

“You know my name?” Cui Qiuyuan did not try to dodge the attack either. He sneered.

Unwilling to give up just yet, Ye Qing controlled his Heavenly Demon Yin God and tried to crush Cui Qiuyuan’s yang god with his bare hands. Unfortunately, it still failed to do anything.

It looked like spiritual attacks would not reach Cui Qiuyuan, so he transformed into the Chaos Demon Ape, covered his fists in flames, and tried to punch the Grandmaster. However, the attempt still ended in failure.

“Stop wasting your energy. You cannot kill me.”

Cui Qiuyuan did not even try to dodge. He kept talking while Ye Qing attacked his yang god, “Do you see the feather in my forehead?”

“The Undying Phoenix Feather?!”

It was only now Ye Qing noticed that a rainbow-colored feather was sewn to Cui Qiuyuan’s forehead. It was about the length of a finger, and it was giving off a beautiful rainbow light.

“You’re surprisingly knowledgeable for an ant. That’s right. This is the Undying Phoenix Feather!” Cui Qiuyuan confirmed.

“To think that such a treasure would fall into your hands… I guess there’s no helping it.”

Ye Qing let out a deep sigh before withdrawing his fists and his Heavenly Demon Yin God.

The Undying Phoenix Feather was a Disaster-class Strange Artifact. Ranked seventy-third on the Strange Artifact Register, it was created using the tail feather of the Ancient-class Stranger, the Undying Nether Phoenix as the main ingredient.

The Undying Phoenix Feather was a Strange Artifact of immense power. While it offered zero offensive power or physical protection, it could protect one’s mind from destruction.

No one underneath the Sage stage could wipe out the mind and consciousness of the owner of the Undying Phoenix Feather. No matter how serious their injuries were, their mind would never fade. Worst case scenario, their mind would simply be reborn in flames. That was why it was called the Undying Phoenix Feather.

Nothing short of a Sage could kill someone wielding the Undying Phoenix Feather. Naturally, it was an insanely powerful life-saving Strange Artifact.

It was said that the Undying Phoenix Feather was the legacy Strange Artifact of the Undying Clan of Wei. However, they had lost it for centuries for some unknown reason. Heavens only know how Cui Qiuyuan managed to come by such a treasure.

One thing for certain, there was no way in hell Ye Qing could destroy Cui Qiuyuan’s yang god and end the threat he posed so long as he still owned the Undying Phoenix Feather.

Luckily, Cui Qiuyuan could not do anything to him either. Once the Undying Phoenix Feather was activated, neither the owner nor the attacker could interact with each other in any way. It would be as if they existed in completely different spaces.

This was one of the most defining characteristics of the Strange Artifact.

“Kekeke… you must be feeling so much regret right now, aren’t you?” Cui Qiuyuan sneered.

“I feel unfortunate, sure, but regret? Are you kidding me?” Ye Qing scoffed.

From the start, he was prepared for the possibility of failure. Cui Qiuyuan was a Grandmaster on the Earth Champions Ranking. Even at his weakest, he must possess a good number of table-turning or life-saving trump cards. He never thought he had a one hundred percent chance of killing Cui Qiuyuan in the first place, but he still acted anyway. So, why on earth would he regret his decision?

“Oh? Is that so?” A sick grin slowly spread across Cui Qiuyuan’s face. “You will regret it though.”

“I will turn you into my Corpse Spirit one day. Then, I will make you kill your own parents, brothers, relatives, friends, acquaintances, all of them. You will become the murderer of everyone you ever loved or cared for.”

“Not only that, I will make sure you preserve your consciousness. Only then can you experience the pain and regret of killing your loved ones. I promise you I will extend your misery until eternity. If nothing else, it would be a most pleasant experience for one of us.”

Cui Qiuyuan was laughing, but his eyes were as cold as they were cruel. “An ant is just an ant. An ant should be self-conscious and never try to scheme against a tiger. After all, a tiger would make the ant wish that it never lived.”

“Well said. I can’t deny that that’s the truth.”

Ye Qing slow-clapped. “Unfortunately for you, I am not an ant, and you are not a tiger. After all, there isn’t a tiger in this world who would be bitten blue and black by a mere ant—not unless that tiger is a paper tiger[1]. And since you’re a paper tiger, why on earth would I be afraid of you?”

“Today, I was able to shatter your body and turn you into a helpless dog who’s all bark and no bite. In the future, I will surely be able to extinguish your soul and grant you the true death you deserve.”

“Hahaha! Are you being serious right now?” Cui Qiuyuan burst out laughing like he just heard the funniest joke in the world. “Who do you think you are?”

“I am Chu Wangsun, and my teacher is the Chief Libationist of the Jixia Academy! So tell me, do you still think I cannot crush you one day?” Ye Qing declared.

“Chu Wangsun? You’re Mister Nine?” Cui Qiuyuan’s laughter abruptly cut short.

“Oh? To think that the Mortician had heard of my name. How honored I am!” Ye Qing laughed as he dispelled his Chaos Demon Ape Body and assumed Chu Wangsun’s appearance. Even his aura was exactly the same as Chu Wangsun’s.

It wasn’t like Cui Qiuyuan knew Chu Wangsun in person, much less a nobody named Ye Qing, so he was free to slander the scholar to his heart’s content.

Best case scenario, he would make Chu Wangsun a new enemy. Worst case scenario, he could at least annoy Cui Qiuyuan a little. It was a win-win situation no matter how he looked at it.

1. This actually makes sense since termites eat paper. ?