EBE Chapter 369: Crazy
Chapter 369: Crazy
A NOTE FROM D.C. HAENLIEN
I'm back. Sorry for the lack of updates until now. Those of you in my discord will know, but I learned that close family member passed away during my week long vacation. So I needed some to myself. I can't say I'm completely over it, but updates will resume.
Another thing to note is that I might not update a few times this month. I'm going to need to drive to New York to attend a funeral among other things.
Thank you for understanding.
Jiangshi were corpses that underwent a special process to turn them into flesh golems for combat. Martial cultivators, demons, or any other lifeforms with particularly strong flesh were prime materials to create jiangshi, but due to its nature, it was often seen as an unorthodox method that veered toward the devilish path.
They were divided into seven grades: white-haired, black-haired, jumping, flying, plague, and devil.
No matter the realm a jiangshi was created in, they all started as white-haired jiangshi. White-haired jiangshi had no hope of upgrading beyond their realm, and black-haired jiangshi only had a modicum of hope. The highest grade of jiangshi, devil jiangshi, could ascend like regular cultivators as long as they absorbed enough blood, but that was because they developed their own will and could no longer be controlled. As such, the most powerful jiangshi were plague-grade jiangshi, as devil jiangshi were exterminated at birth, regardless of their power.
After Daoyi returned from the Fu Dynasty, Tianyi researched a bit on jiangshi. So, after smelling the fresh blood wafting from the plague-grade jiangshi, he knew it was a freshly made one, likely not even a decade old.
Tianyi gripped the wrist of the fist embedded in his stomach and smashed down with his free hand. The screech of tearing metal reverberated in the surroundings, much to Tianyi's shock. His strength had only warped the arm.
He reared his fist back, intent on tearing off the jiangshi's arm. The plague-grade jiangshi resisted, punching and kicking with his free limbs and even biting Tianyi. The jiangshi's teeth tore through the latter's robes but only left white marks on his skin.
In the end, Tianyi only managed to land two more attacks on the jiangshi, causing the jiangshi's arm to be bent to nearly ninety degrees before Emperor Soulsilk knocked him away from behind, freeing the jiangshi. Emperor Soulsilk took this chance and launched hundreds of phantom, web-like strings that bound every part of Tianyi.
The images of spiders sucking out the juices of their cocooned victims entered Tianyi's mind. Suppressing a shiver, black flames fueled by immortal qi of primordial chaos burst from his body, burning the phantom web binding him. He moved to attack the two emperor-level experts but stopped.
Tianyi's brows pursed when he saw the similarities between Emperor Soulsilk and the jiangshi, well the portrait of Emperor Soulsilk, not his current abomination of a form.
"You're crazy," Tianyi finally said after a period of silence. "You actually turned your body into a jiangshi."
Ignoring the morality of the act, among the three orthodox paths, a soul cultivator's body was the worst material to transform into a jiangshi. Even if a soul emperor no longer needed to be bound by flesh, the creation of a jiangshi still required a portion of the original soul, meaning Emperor Soulsilk had split a part of his soul in the Immortal Realm.
Splitting a soul in the Immortal Realm was not like in the Mortal Realm, especially for those in the Seamless Realm and above. Each part of the soul carries the immortal's insight and comprehension of the worldly laws. No matter how minute, the lost comprehension would become incredibly hard to recover, and the soul would likely never heal from the act.
Emperor Soulsilk said nothing, he just stared at Tianyi with his vengeance-filled eyes. Tianyi recoiled slightly and averted his gaze directly from the former's eyes. He destroyed the Eight Pillar Sect, so the hate was justified. However, he didn't think that Emperor Soulsilk's jiangshi was a burst of impulse but a deliberate act—one that was in the making for over a decade.
The air exploded as the emperor jiangshi charged at Tianyi and Emperor Soulsilk pincered Tianyi from behind. Tianyi focused more on the jiangshi than Emperor Soulsilk. His form of existence was the natural enemy of soul cultivators.
Although he seemed directly in front of Emperor Soulsilk, his true body was a universe, and his soul was at the center of that universe, an infinity away. Soul attacks simply couldn't reach him. Even if they did, their effects were minimal.
In contrast, the emperor jiangshi composed a more significant threat. If Tianyi's current conduit were destroyed, it would take hundreds of years to create another one of equal strength and power. However, Tianyi's worries were for naught.
Once the barrier shrunk to less than fifty meters in diameter, Tianyi didn't bother absorbing anymore and reached out to grab Emperor Soulsilk directly. It took a few tries, but Tianyi finally clasped both his hands around Emperor Soulsilk.
Just as Tianyi was about to absorb him, Emperor Soulsilk lost its integrity, turning into an amorphous blob of soul qi. Simultaneously, the barrier trapped within the dreamsilk net lost its integrity, becoming slime-like. He easily absorbed it and then turned toward the yin-yang temple.
When he had absorbed the blob Emperor Soulsilk's form had transformed into, he couldn't detect a soul at all—meaning Emperor Soulsilk had likely escaped. Tianyi didn't doubt his abilities to flee, but with that hatred-filled gaze, he believed that Emperor Soulsilk would not flee. At least, not yet.
As Tianyi expected, the taiji sphere began to change. Eight legs—four white ones on the left and four black ones on the right—sprouted from the sphere. Additionally, another sphere, this one depicting the eight trigrams, materialized from the back. In essence, it was a ten thousand meter large spider, a hundred times Tianyi's current size.
Tianyi couldn't stop himself from shivering once the eight spider-like gazes zeroed in on him.
When the yin-yang spider appeared, its aura skyrocketed to the peak of the Extremity Immortal Realm. With a shriek, it caused Tianyi's Five Phase Stellar Formation to halt in its tracks as cracks appeared in it.
He frowned and dispelled the formation, recalling the five constellations he used to form the formation. Next, immortal qi of primordial chaos erupted from him in large quantities impossible for even ten immortal emperors.
But before Tianyi could form the Chaos Refining Formation, the yin-yang spider slammed Tianyi into the ground, splitting the land and pinning him to the ground with its legs.
Tianyi tried to absorb the yin-yang spider, but it actually stabilized the dimensional boundaries of his inner universe. When it pierced his body, it deformed his arms and legs. In essence, Tianyi couldn't absorb the yin-yang spider at all.
Beams of white and black shot out of the yin-yang spider's eight eyes at Tianyi. The beams pierced into Tianyi's inner universe, where they continued on endlessly, leaving him unharmed.
Despite the difference in size between the two, Tianyi started to push the yin-yang spider back. After getting back on his feet, he aimed a palm at the spider, shooting out numerous Stellar Silences. The spell bombarded the yin-yang spider, causing it to shriek and take a few steps back.
Taking this chance, Tianyi charged at the spider, but the eight legs prevented him from nearing the main body. At this time, the optimal choice would be to increase his size, but if he grew any larger, the heavenly punishment would descend.
And, forming the cosmos giant would be a waste of qi since it couldn't compare to the yin-yang spider. Tianyi's best choice would be to grind it out. There must be a reason that Emperor Soulsilk didn't summon the yin-yang spider. As with all things, the likeliest possibility would be energy consumption. As long as he stalled long enough, the yin-yang spider would dissipate, and he could kill Emperor Soulsilk and attain the yin-yang temple.
Hours passed as Tianyi, and the yin-yang spider exchanged thousands of blows, neither able to clearly defeat the other. Suddenly, Tianyi's movements halted, and the yin-yang spider took this chance to attack the immobile Tianyi.
Once pinned, the yin-yang spider continually stabbed Tianyi with its legs. Emperor Soulsilk and the other immortals inside the yin-yang temple had learned neither spells nor soul attacks could restrain Tianyi. The best option was to use physical attacks.
The ground quaked as the continuous spear-like thrust forced Tianyi deeper into the ground. It was as if the yin-yang spider wanted to push Tianyi out of the Huang Realm through the lower boundary.
Emperor Soulsilk and the other immortals grew excited upon seeing no defense or reaction from Tianyi. Confident that they had him on the ropes, they increased the intensity of the attacks.
"XIA YUSHAN!!!" a monstrous bellow shook the surrounding area. So loud was it that even mortals near the edge of the Earth Continent heard the faint words.
Before Emperor Soulsilk and the others could sense what happened, the ground beneath them turned into something akin to the Vast Void, only filled with numerous stars and planets. They were instantaneously swallowed, and the portal to the Nine Heavens Universe shrunk and disappeared.
And not a moment too soon as heavenly punishment descended, destroying the land even further. In the foreseeable future, a storm would rage on for thousands, if not tens of thousands of years.