Divine Transcendence

"Whoosh"

Three blood-red bats flew out from the blood light between Sha Hao’s brows.

Without hesitation, Sha Hao stepped into the valley, moving briskly. The three blood bats danced within a dozen yards of him, constantly scanning the surroundings.

He didn’t notice anything unusual along the way, but suspicion grew in his heart, and his pace began to slow.

After another dozen yards, he suddenly turned back with a shiver.

The path he had come from was now drifting with strands of white mist, creating an unreal, dreamlike sensation. Unbeknownst to him, the air had also acquired a faint, sweet smell.

Sha Hao snapped to alertness, held his breath, and tried to retreat, but his movements were already sluggish.

"Boom," the ground at his feet suddenly burst open, and a cloud of dust rose, engulfing everything in the valley.

"Crack"

Four or five cyan wooden dragons burst from the ground, each one four or five yards long and as thick as a water barrel, clawing and snapping at Sha Hao.

Under the cover of the wooden dragons and dust, the Cold Star Sword and Willow Leaf Chain Blades shot out from the nearby jungle, aiming for Sha Hao’s body.

Sha Hao, startled but not panicked, slapped his waist and a yellow light suddenly soared, forming an oval shield around him.

The wooden dragons, Cold Star Sword, and Willow Leaf Chain Blades struck the shield, which trembled violently but did not collapse.

From the nearby jungle, there was a "boom" as it exploded, and a white phantom shot out, reaching Sha Hao in an instant—it was the White Ape King Kong.

The King Kong’s arms flew up and down, its fists pounding down fiercely on the yellow shield.

Waves of tremendous force erupted from the fists, and the yellow light screen shattered in response.

Without any pause, the King Kong’s arms, like iron hoops, tightly grasped Sha Hao’s body and violently tore it apart.

Sha Hao’s body "plop" was torn into two bloody halves, with red viscera scattering everywhere.

Hidden in the nearby jungle, Yuan Ming, clad in a grey cloak, had concealed all his aura, blending his body with the surrounding grass.

Witnessing this scene, his expression changed drastically, and he rolled to the side to dodge.

A streak of silver light shot towards him, grazing his ear and leaving several bloody marks on his ear and cheek.

Sha Hao’s torn body on the ground turned into a cluster of white light bubbles that rapidly dispersed and vanished. "Illusion!" Yuan Ming’s face darkened, disbelief creeping in.

Since Sha Hao had entered the valley, Yuan Ming had been on guard. When had he fallen for Sha Hao’s illusion?

Yuan Ming didn’t panic. He recalled several magical instruments and frantically ran the Death Moon method, trying to break the illusion as before.

But no matter how he channeled his soul power, he couldn’t find any breakthrough.

Silver light flickered nearby, and four or five streaks of silver light, just like before, shot towards him.

Just as Yuan Ming was about to defend himself, the King Kong appeared beside him, its body shining brightly, and two more ape arms emerged from its back, meeting the silver light.

The expected collision didn’t occur as the King Kong’s fists easily passed through the silver light, which turned out to be another false illusion.

Yuan Ming’s eyes darkened. The silver light, in both aura and appearance, was identical to the previous ones. His divine sense detected nothing amiss, yet they were illusions. It seemed Sha Hao’s illusions were more terrifying than he had anticipated.

At that moment, the environment changed again, and a vast expanse of grey-white mist appeared out of nowhere, completely altering the visual scene.

The White Ape King Kong became restless, attacking the surroundings with its four fists.

Waves of tremendous fist strength hit the grey-white mist, but like a clay ox entering the sea, they had no effect other than stirring the mist.

"King Kong, there’s no need to waste your strength. I have a question for you. How did you break free from Sha Hao’s illusion before?" Yuan Ming called to the White Ape, asking.

"I don’t know how, but I suddenly came to. Wasn’t it you, Master, who helped me break the illusion?" The King Kong said, somewhat confused.

Yuan Ming fell silent. He had intended to break the illusion affecting the King Kong and the others, but before he could act, they had returned to normal.

He carefully recalled the situation at that time. The King Kong and the others had suddenly awakened when he was soaring into the sky on the White Jade Flying Shuttle.

"Could it be that Sha Hao’s illusion can only be cast at close range, and once out of range, the illusion automatically fails?" Yuan Ming suddenly thought of a possibility, decisively summoned the White Jade Flying Shuttle, and with the King Kong, leaped onto it.

The flying shuttle’s spiritual light intensified and soared into the sky.

However, not far into the flight, there was a "bang" as he and the shuttle crashed into something thick and hard, seemingly a mountain wall.

"I was flying upwards; how could I hit a mountain wall? Has my sense of direction also been disrupted?" Yuan Ming flipped to stabilize his form, his expression growing even darker.

At that moment, a strange expression flashed across his face, then returned to normal. He turned and flew back to the ground, quickly casting the Fire Cloud Secret Technique with both hands.

A column of red light shot up dozens of yards into the sky, instantly forming a dense cloud of fire.

As soon as the fire cloud formed, silver light flickered in the void again, with more than a dozen streaks of silver light whistling towards Yuan Ming from all directions.

Although the King Kong was brave, it couldn’t stop all the silver light.

Yuan Ming’s expression was unusually calm as he made a hand gesture.

Dozens of huge red fireballs fell from the sky, colliding with the silver light.

Boom!

All the fireballs exploded, creating a surging sea of fire that engulfed all the silver light.

Almost all the silver light was illusory, with only one real streak of silver light penetrating the fire sea and heading straight for Yuan Ming’s head at an extremely fast speed.

A white shadow flashed, and the King Kong stood behind Yuan Ming, a newly grown ape arm emitting dazzling golden light, blocking the silver light.

The King Kong’s fist was pierced by the silver light, forming a bloody hole with blood splattering, but it didn’t even flinch as if it wasn’t its own injury.

Yuan Ming glanced at the wound on the King Kong’s fist, a pained expression on his face, and accelerated the manipulation of the fire cloud in the sky.

Huge fireballs rained down like droplets.

Boom!

Everything nearby was engulfed in flames, the grey-white mist was completely torn apart, and the quiet valley was revealed once again.

The cliffs on both sides had collapsed significantly, the vegetation in the valley was devastated, dust shot up into the sky, and the ground was blasted with huge cracks.

However, Sha Hao was nowhere to be seen, nor was there any fluctuation of his aura.

Yuan Ming didn’t stop the Fire Cloud Secret Technique. While holding a medium-grade spirit stone to replenish his mana, he continued to cast the fire cloud technique, sending fireballs towards various parts of the valley, seemingly intent on leveling the entire valley.

In the rolling dust, Sha Hao’s body turned into an invisible figure, dodging the falling fireballs and slowly approaching Yuan Ming.

The three blood bats hovered above his head, their mouths open as if spitting something at Yuan Ming.

Sha Hao quickly closed within ten yards of Yuan Ming, grabbed the silver orb, and infused it with mana!

The silver orb spun, activating all four runes, and a streak of silver light shot out.

This silver light was different from before, extremely fine and twice as fast.

Yuan Ming had no time to react and was pierced through the chest, tumbling to the ground.

The fire cloud in the sky became chaotic and quickly disintegrated.

Sha Hao nodded in satisfaction. The fine silver light was a special attack he had activated from the orb at great mana cost. Not only was it powerful and fast, but even a Foundation Establishment cultivator at their peak might not be able to dodge it.

The only drawback of this move was its narrow range of attack; the master had to hold the magical instrument and activate it at close range.

Sha Hao put away the silver orb and approached Yuan Ming’s corpse.

The Central Plains were even more oppressive to soul cultivators than the Southern Borders. Encountering a soul cultivator here was completely unexpected.

Now that Yuan Ming was dead, it was pointless to pursue this matter. However, soul cultivators were rare, and Sha Hao was curious about Yuan Ming’s lineage and the soul cultivation techniques he practiced. He reached for the storage ring on Yuan Ming’s hand but grasped at nothing.

Yuan Ming’s body suddenly turned into an illusion and vanished into thin air.

"Illusion!" Sha Hao’s face changed drastically, and his hands quickly formed a strange seal.

His soul radiated strands of crystal light, then violently shook, causing a huge disturbance in the sea of consciousness, rapidly spreading throughout.

Sha Hao’s vision shattered like a mirror, freeing him from the illusion.

The next moment, he felt a scorching wave of heat from above, as seven or eight huge fireballs flew towards him, already within three feet.

Sha Hao hurriedly retreated, but his speed couldn’t match the exploding fireballs, and in the blink of an eye, he was caught up, and the fireballs exploded simultaneously.

A thunderous explosion resounded, and deep red flames engulfed Sha Hao’s body, then turned into a mushroom-shaped pillar of fire, shooting dozens of yards into the sky.

The scorching blast swept out, the ground shook, and the entire valley trembled.

However, the next moment, Sha Hao’s figure swept out of the fire pillar, fleeing into the distance.

His clothes were torn, revealing a golden inner armor on his upper body that was unscathed even under the fierce attack of the Fire Cloud Secret Technique, not even a scratch.

The golden inner armor protected Sha Hao’s upper body, but his lower body was bloodied and in some places, bones were exposed, making his escape stagger.

A figure chased after him from behind—it was Yuan Ming, pointing at the fire cloud in the sky.

Whoosh!

Four or five more huge fireballs shot down, their mana even stronger than before, howling as they chased after Sha Hao.

Sha Hao’s legs were injured, and in the blink of an eye, the fireballs caught up. Gritting his teeth, he took out a yellow talisman and crushed it, immediately creating a yellow formation beneath his feet.

Blinding yellow light burst forth, and his figure flickered before diving into the ground, rapidly escaping into the distance.

The fireballs hit empty space, striking the mountain wall behind and exploding with a bang.

The mountain wall collapsed, and a flood of large and small rocks poured down.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming didn’t pursue but stood still, spreading his divine sense to sense Sha Hao’s aura.