The Tide Turns: Stacking Waves and a Sudden Awakening

Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu!

The Slovenly True Immortal’s six hands were like six venomous vipers, swift and fierce to the extreme! He had launched a tempestuous storm of wild attacks, each move a killing blow, clearly intent on taking advantage of Ninefate Recluse’s lost arm to crush her. After all, she only had five arms now.

“Hahaha, hahaha…!” Ninefate Recluse let out a triumphant laugh. Every palm strike she delivered seemed to contain the profound mystery of life and death itself, making those who watched feel a strange tightness in their chests. She frantically fended off the Slovenly True Immortal’s assault, sometimes even using her body as a shield, seizing a mere instant of time.

The Slovenly True Immortal launched a furious offensive, while Ninefate Recluse held on with all her might, enduring until her severed arm had fully grown back.

“This is bad!”

Watching from the sidelines, Ji Ning, Yu Wei, and Yuchi Xiyue all felt their hearts tighten. Earlier, when Ninefate Recluse had only five arms, the Slovenly True Immortal had been unable to break through her defense and overwhelm her in one go. Now that she had managed to hold on until her arm had regrown… it would be even harder for the Slovenly True Immortal to defeat her.

“Is this the disciple Lord Darkmarsh judged worthy of keeping such an eye on?”

“Can’t he even defeat this loose immortal, Ninefate Recluse?” The Celestial Immortal Patriarchs within the Heavenly Tribulation Hall were puzzled. In their eyes, the status of Lord Darkmarsh was tremendous; naturally, his disciples should be extraordinary. For the Slovenly True Immortal to struggle so would be an embarrassment to Lord Darkmarsh.

Lu Dongbin, however, watched from afar, a smile on his face. “This battle is interesting. This Ninefate Recluse’s insight into the Grand Dao of Life and Death is extremely deep. I even suspect she might possess memories from several past lives… She is definitely a formidable opponent. Could it be that the Slovenly True Immortal will actually lose?”

“Losing wouldn’t be strange,” Red Pole True Lord agreed.

“Does being capable of becoming a Celestial Immortal in the future mean he must never lose today?” Emperor Hao shook his head.

These Pure Yang True Immortals also felt the battle was turning dangerous. From their perspective, both the Slovenly True Immortal and Ninefate Recluse had already displayed all their abilities. The Slovenly True Immortal’s defense was perfect, and his offense was savagely wild, yet he still couldn’t finish her. It indeed looked very dangerous.

Suddenly, the Slovenly True Immortal’s frenzied assault halted, and a new rhythm took over his combat style.

“What is this?” Ninefate Recluse’s expression changed.

The Slovenly True Immortal was now completely calm. His six hands moved with unfathomable unpredictability, yet almost every moment he kept four hands defending and two hands attacking. It felt like waves of the ocean, each surge stronger than the last. The Slovenly True Immortal’s attacks were exactly the same. When he defended, it was as though he was storing power; when he attacked, it was like an eruption!

Storing power… erupting!

Locked in this bizarre rhythm, the Slovenly True Immortal’s attacks grew more furious with each passing moment, each wave of assault piling atop the last, until Ninefate Recluse was stifled and trapped.

“What… what is happening?” Ninefate Recluse couldn’t even comprehend it.

The waves grew increasingly ferocious.

“Boom!” The Slovenly True Immortal suddenly struck out with all six hands at once, forming them into fists. It was vaguely like a giant black tortoise crashing violently against a pillar of heaven. “Boom!” The defending Ninefate Recluse was sent flying backward, her body covered in a web of cracks from the impact as blood poured forth.

“Hua.” The Slovenly True Immortal took a single step, immediately arriving before her, his six fists once again poised to strike.

“I concede!” Ninefate Recluse’s voice rang out, filled with unwillingness, as she barely managed to dodge away.

The Slovenly True Immortal stopped and withdrew his attack, the tortoise-shell patterns on his body fading as he returned to normal.

Ninefate Recluse’s dirty face was filled with frustration as she looked at him. “Slovenly True Immortal, our Daos are at a comparable level. I can block both your offense and defense. But why did your final technique… make it so much harder for me? In the end, I just directly lost?”

The Slovenly True Immortal laughed. This was a combat method he had comprehended after studying the Lord Darkmarsh Divine Ability. He had sworn a Heavenly Dao Oath upon inheriting that technique; unless permitted, he could not reveal a single bit of it. It touched upon the profound mysteries of the Lord Darkmarsh Divine Ability, so naturally, he could not teach it.

“What is this combat method called?” Ninefate Recluse pressed.

“Stacking Waves,” the Slovenly True Immortal answered.

“Stacking Waves… wave after wave, constantly stacking. Once I was caught within it, I only had the path to defeat. Clearly, I am not weaker than you, yet I still lost… Stacking Waves… Stacking Waves…” Ninefate Recluse walked away, murmuring the phrase “Stacking Waves” over and over. She even had a feeling that if she could comprehend the secrets of Stacking Waves, she would have hope of overcoming her tribulation and becoming a Celestial Immortal!

This was a stroke of destiny for her! But if she couldn’t understand it, this ninth life of hers might still end in tribulation failure.

Inside the main hall of the Heavenly Tribulation Hall, nearly a thousand Celestial Immortal Patriarchs frowned. Although their vision was excellent, they still couldn’t comprehend why, despite the two combatants being so close in Fiendgod Body Refining, divine abilities, and Dao insight—with Ninefate Recluse even having a slight advantage—she had lost in the end.

It was as though Ninefate Recluse had fallen into an endless wave, struggling in vain until she was swallowed by the tide.

“What happened?”

“How could this be?”

“I don’t understand.”

The Celestial Immortal Patriarchs felt that there was some strange, profound secret hidden within. It should be considered a type of combat secret art, but they simply could not fathom it.

“As expected of Lord Darkmarsh’s disciple,” they could only think to themselves.

“Stacking Waves!” the Grand Xia Emperor and the other eight Pure Yang True Immortals revealed expressions of amazement.

“Truly a sight to behold, a sight to behold indeed,” the Northern Dipper Immortal Elder sighed in admiration. “This Slovenly True Immortal truly has astonishing insight, capable of grasping even the essence of the profound Lord Darkmarsh secret art… Watching his battle just now, I was reminded of the days when I attended the lectures of his master.”

“Extraordinary!” Lu Dongbin exclaimed in amazement.

“Impressive.” The Grand Xia Emperor’s voice carried a hint of envy.

“Lord Darkmarsh… truly a supreme Daofather!” Red Pole True Immortal’s eyes were filled with admiration.

At their level of cultivation, they could actually understand the profound mystery of the Slovenly True Immortal’s “Stacking Waves” technique. It was a method of endlessly stacking power, building up momentum the longer it was stored, making the eruption ever more terrifying. But even if one fully understood this secret art, it did not mean one could execute it. It depended on one’s heart, on one’s insight… They understood some of the mystery, but as the saying goes, “Knowledge is one thing; practice is another!”

“We can see the mystery behind the Slovenly True Immortal’s Stacking Waves,” Lu Dongbin sighed, “but when Lord Darkmarsh himself uses it, its profundity is multiplied tens of millions of times over. The true essence of Lord Darkmarsh’s supreme divine ability lies in this single character: ‘Stacking.'”

Ji Ning watched with a frown. He vaguely felt that the Slovenly True Immortal’s final combat technique seemed to contain some inconceivably profound mystery. He even felt the flavor of the “Dao of the Taiji” within it, but since he had not walked that path, he could not comprehend it at all.

“Yu Wei, what do you think?” Ji Ning asked Yu Wei, who was walking the Dao of the Taiji.

“I don’t understand. It’s very mysterious, unfathomable. I vaguely feel that the essence of the Dao of the Taiji is merely a part of this secret art. Big Brother has likely only grasped the barest surface of it,” Yu Wei replied, completely unable to figure it out.

Amidst the confusion of the Celestial Immortal Patriarchs, and the utter bafflement of Ji Ning and the others, the battle came to an end.

The number one candidate of the top six had been decided—the Slovenly True Immortal!

“Huum…”

Suddenly, a wave of the Dao descended within the main hall of the Heavenly Tribulation Hall.

“Hm?”

Every single person present turned to look at the source of the wave. Behind a Celestial Immortal Patriarch of the Cangwu clan, the seated Cangwu Jiu was surrounded by faint black wind.

“He has awakened to the Dao?”

“He’s comprehended another complete Dao?”

“He’s comprehended a complete Dao from merely watching?”

Everyone present was utterly shocked. Usually, it was common for breakthroughs to happen in the midst of life-and-death combat. But Cangwu Jiu was simply sitting to the side, observing. Under such tense circumstances, he had actually broken through and comprehended a complete Dao.

Ji Ning, Xiamang Zishan, Shaoyan Xuan, Blackstone Recluse, Woodchuan Recluse, White Dragon Recluse, Golden Crow Recluse, and the other Wanxiang Adepts among the top twelve all felt the threat.

Cangwu Jiu had already been very strong. Now that he had comprehended another complete Dao… he had immediately become a truly formidable enemy!

“This, this…” the Grand Xia Emperor, seated high above in the hall, shook his head and smiled wryly. He looked at the other eight Pure Yang True Immortals. “Everyone, what do you think I should do about the matchups now? With this breakthrough, he has grasped a total of five Daos. Moreover, the Dao he has comprehended is one of the Five Elements, the Dao of the Wind. He was already known for his speed, so now he will be even more impressive.”

He had already thought up the matchups before.

But Cangwu Jiu’s sudden comprehension of another Dao—he had already been very strong, and now he was even more astonishing.

“I think highly of this Cangwu Jiu,” Lu Dongbin said with a laugh. “To be able to break through while watching a battle, he must have extremely high karma. He was already formidable before, but had never truly unleashed his full power. Now, with this breakthrough, his strength is probably not inferior to Ninefate Recluse.”

“Troublesome.” The Grand Xia Emperor pondered for a moment.

He immediately adjusted the matchups in his mind. Originally, he had ranked Cangwu Jiu somewhere in the middle of the top twelve. Now, he felt that he could be ranked third or fourth.

Having a breakthrough inside the main hall of the Heavenly Tribulation Hall naturally attracted a great deal of attention. The long-browed Celestial Immortal Patriarch of the Cangwu clan was beside himself with excitement. As his clansman Cangwu Jiu opened his eyes, the long-browed patriarch immediately said, “Excellent, excellent, excellent! Jiu, your breakthrough is wonderful! To have a breakthrough here in the Heavenly Tribulation Hall, it is a sign of Heaven’s favor. You will surely break into the top…”

This Celestial Immortal Patriarch could already see the future glory of the Cangwu clan.

Why must the Cangwu clan always submit to the Xiamang clan?

With Daofather Crimsonbright backing them, the Cangwu clan would one day be able to stand on equal footing with the Xiamang clan!

“The second match of the fourth round will be the White Dragon Recluse of the Divine Dragon Mountain against Cangwu Jiu of the Cangwu clan!” The Grand Xia Emperor’s voice suddenly rang through the entire main hall of the Heavenly Tribulation Hall, echoing through the vast imperial city square below.