Volume One: The Cloud Veiled Immortal Palace Arc, Chapter Ninety-One: Entering the Fray-Chronicles of the Immortal Realm(Three Red Beauties of the Western Waters)

At that instant, a violent upheaval shook the Immortal Abode world, and heaven and earth quivered together.

Far out on the horizon, the vault of the sky broke with a horrifying crack. The firmament split open, black fissures spreading in all directions like a spiderweb, all of it caused by a single beam of deep blue light. It was so brilliant it seemed like a blue sun crossing the heavens, the void along its path keening in agony.

As for Dengtu Lang, his body had already shrunk to normal human size. The yellow gourd in his hand was fully awakened; from its mouth burst a dazzling white radiance. In an instant, sword energy intertwined throughout the space around him, and a terrifying killing intent began to surge, as though it would slaughter every living thing in the world in the blink of an eye.

Blue light shot forth, piercing the void as sword energy soared to the heavens and transformed into a white pillar of light. One struck horizontally, one vertically; one attacked, one defended. The two powers seemed to become the only things in the world. The deep blue beam was like a flying spear, breaking through all obstruction with unstoppable force as it shot toward Dengtu Lang, who stood several hundred yards away, arriving almost in the time it took to blink. The white sword light gathered into a towering shield of radiance before Dengtu Lang, smooth as a mirror yet surging with murderous force.

Spear against shield.

The invincible spear met the unbreakable shield. The two blazes of light, dazzling beyond measure, illuminated the entire abode world. All living beings were instantly blinded, unable even to open their eyes. The void rippled like a stone cast into a tranquil pond, wave after wave spreading outward, and the sky could not endure such apocalyptic tremors; it collapsed directly.

It took a full fifteen seconds before the light gradually faded. Below, on the heart-shaped island, Zhou Hao and the others stood gaping, marveling that the battle of immortals was so tyrannical it could even shatter the heavens. The sky above them had changed beyond recognition.

The lava and fire vomited by the volcano had once hidden the lofty firmament, but now all the flames had vanished in an instant, revealing a sky without sky. In the cold black canopy above, primal chaos roiled. Though one could see the chaos, it seemed far away, like a mirage. After the heavens shattered, what lay exposed was the disordered, boundless time-space of primordial void, where even light would be swallowed. An ancient, first-born aura filled that patch of “sky”; whenever the volcano’s flames surged toward it, they were frozen into ashes at once and fell back to where they came from.

Bang.

When the destructive aftershock finally dispersed, a massive figure dropped rapidly from the void: Luo Tianyi in her dragon-headed peacock form. Both her wings were stained with blood, and her once resplendent feathers were falling off one by one in the air. She looked like a plucked chicken. Then she plunged into the sea and became drenched through and through.

Yes, Luo Tianyi was wounded. For the second time, she had learned just how terrifying the yellow gourd truly was. That sword light capable of cleaving through the void was a lethal weapon of the world. If Dengtu Lang had not been a wisp of immortal consciousness but a full primordial spirit driving the gourd, Luo Tianyi would surely have died on the spot.

At the same moment, the yellow gourd also fell onto the heart-shaped island. Zhou Hao reacted with lightning speed and sent out a golden hand, snatching it back from dozens of yards away in one grab. By now his cultivation had reached the early Golden Immortal stage, and all kinds of immortal arts and wondrous techniques came to him without instruction, as naturally as breathing. He no longer needed to study them deliberately; it was all instinct. For in the end, the so-called divine powers and immortal arts all came from force. As long as one possessed formidable immortal power, casting an immortal technique was a matter of a single thought.

The gourd stood seven inches tall, pale yellow all over, plain to the eye and utterly unremarkable. It looked like the most common wine gourd one might find anywhere in the mortal world. Yet this humble-looking object had just defeated Luo Tianyi, a peak late-stage Great Immortal expert. Even holding it in his hand made Zhou Hao shiver, as though the next instant he himself might be shredded by sword energy.

“Kid, I’m almost spent. I used all my immortal power in that strike just now, and this wisp of immortal consciousness is about to dissipate as well. It’s a pity Luo Tianyi is truly formidable; I couldn’t kill her with one blow. So everything still depends on you. I’ll use my last strength to help you. Do exactly as I say now...”

A weak voice suddenly sounded in Zhou Hao’s mind. It was Dengtu Lang.

“Rest assured, senior. Luo Tianyi is not only your enemy, she is also my roadblock. Only by killing her can I return to the outside world. In this battle, I will give it everything I have. If I do not prevail, then I die.”

Zhou Hao’s gaze gradually turned cold, and his grip on the gourd tightened.

At the summit of Green Peak Mountain, the young man in white stood with a dashing bearing. In his left hand he held the yellow gourd; in his right, a pitch-black stone sword. Beside him stood two women, one tall and one small. The taller one had a graceful, exquisitely curved figure and a flawless, jade-white face as beautiful as a painting, radiant with natural charm. She needed only to stand there to become a scene in herself, more graceful than orchids blooming in a secluded valley. The smaller one was delicate and adorable, her exquisite pink face instantly stirring affection. Her large eyes were brimming with spirit, like the brightest stars in the night sky.

“Zhou Hao, are you really going into the sea? Must you really kill Luo Tianyi? In my view, she hasn’t come to kill us yet. Why don’t we hurry and find an exit to flee?” Huahuo glanced at the stormy sea in the distance and quickly shook her head.

“Don’t worry. Luo Tianyi won’t let us escape. From the moment the box was opened, this abode world was already occupied by her will. If I don’t kill her, she will kill us!” Zhou Hao stared straight ahead, where sea and sky met, calm and without a ripple.

“I’ll go with you. Even though senior is helping you, I still don’t think you, at the Golden Immortal stage, can kill a Great Immortal master. The gap is far too great.” Su Qing looked worried, her fingers whitening around the hilt of her sword. She knew that if Zhou Hao went this time, it would be a near-certain death. And unlike before, the enemy he faced now was simply one he could not possibly defeat.

Who could possibly believe that a young man in the early Golden Immortal stage could kill an extraordinary expert at the peak of the late Great Immortal stage?

“I’m going too! I’m going too! We’ll go together!” Hearing that Su Qing wanted to go, Huahuo hurriedly raised her own pair of childlike, snow-white arms and cried out that she too wanted to go.

“You’re both staying.” Zhou Hao brushed her off with a single sentence, and Huahuo pouted, clearly unhappy.

“This battle is far too dangerous. I have no certainty at all. If I do not win, I die. I do not want you two buried with me.”

Su Qing’s red lips trembled slightly. “If you die... if you die, then we can’t live either. What I mean is... after Luo Tianyi kills you, she still won’t let the two of us leave. In that case, it would be better for all of us to settle this with her together.”

Huahuo nodded in agreement.

Zhou Hao turned to look at the two women. Their peerless beauty stood out so clearly in his eyes. Suddenly, the corners of his mouth lifted, and he could not help but smile.

“What are you laughing at?” Huahuo shot Zhou Hao a glare, visibly annoyed.

“At a time like this, you still feel like laughing? Have you no thought for the fact that I’ve only been out for a few days and already suffered so much? If you die, what am I supposed to do? Looking back, I should never have saved you in that place deep within the earth. You were going to die anyway, hmph!”

“Ah, don’t be angry. Let me explain! I’m laughing because I’m looking at two such peerless beauties. Think about it: I, a newly risen immortal, just a nobody, am about to spend my final moment in the company of the two of you. Even if I die, what of it? As the saying goes, better to die beneath peonies than to be a ghost without charm. I think it’s worth it, so I’m very happy—very happy indeed!” Zhou Hao said with a sunshine-bright smile.

“Bah, shameless!” Huahuo spat lightly, her face full of disgust.

“All right, you two stay on the island. Don’t go anywhere. Just watch how this immortal wields his sword to slay a dragon. I’ll be off!” With that, Zhou Hao laughed freely and strode forward. Using the immortal trace-step, he sprang up into the void and headed for the sea.

“Zhou Hao!”

One light, one heavy; one small, one large—the two voices echoed across Green Peak Mountain, carrying with them all the worry and tangled feeling that rose in their hearts, and all of it drifted after the receding figure in white.

Out over the sea, the colossal sea beasts still besieged the heart-shaped island, which drifted like a lone skiff, but thanks to the impregnable shield, the island remained as steady as Mount Tai and had yet to be breached.

A figure raced through the air like a phantom gale, so fast that only afterimages remained in the sky. Zhou Hao now hovered above the heads of the sea beasts.

“I’ll use you to test my cultivation first!”

With a hiss, Zhou Hao dropped onto the head of a giant octopus, then swung his sword down with all his strength. The octopus exploded on the spot, flesh and blood flying everywhere, and the already crimson sea became even more blood-soaked.

“Again!”

With a leap, Zhou Hao sprang onto the back of a whale shark. Having just witnessed the octopus die so miserably, the creature’s heart had already been consumed by fear. Now disaster was at hand; it plunged downward, trying to dive into the ocean depths and flee. But how could Zhou Hao’s stone sword let it escape? Three seconds later, the whale shark’s blood surged to the surface, red enough to frighten the eye.

Then Zhou Hao kept hacking down sea beasts with the stone sword. He did not use immortal arts or immortal power at all—just one strike, one beast, relying solely on the strength of his arms to swing the blade and cut them down, simple and brutal.

Before long, dozens of sea beasts floated dead upon the sea forever.

“There are too many of them. If I just keep cutting, it’ll take forever. Looks like I’ll have to use immortal arts after all.”

Zhou Hao shook his head and put away the stone sword. His right hand suddenly lifted.

“Die!”

His right hand swelled with the wind, becoming as huge as a mountain in the blink of an eye. He clenched his fist and struck. The heads of two sea beasts burst on impact like melons dashed to the ground. He swung again; the light of his fist shone brilliantly and pierced through the chests of ten sea beasts in a row. Their cultivation levels were around the peak of the Lower Immortal stage, yet they could not withstand even a single punch...

After killing four hundred and twenty-seven sea beasts, the surface of the sea directly ahead of Zhou Hao suddenly surged into monstrous waves, raising a thousand heaps of spray. He saw a huge dragon head appear above the sea, its bluish scales flashing with a cold sheen, and a pair of deep blue eyes filled with hatred.

“Dengtu Lang, I will make every living thing in this abode sacrifice for me, and use them to rebuild my dragon body to repay the debt you owe me!”