The Four Techniques

The young Purple Dragon was a legendary Accompanying Dragon King. Surely, with it by their side, even if the dragon clans discovered them, they would not strike to kill. The group consoled themselves with this thought. The heavenly soldiers and yin soldiers behind seemed hesitant, unwilling to approach, watching from a distance.

A low roar rang out. The Purple Dragon King skirted the area near the divine stele and made its way upstream along the blood river. The stench of corpses was overwhelming, and the river wound with countless bends.

A thunderous crash shook the air. The divine stele blazed with skyward light. The golden divine halberd and the dark-iron seal were sent flying. Xiao Chen's mind reeled, for when the radiance was at its peak, they had come to the reverse side of the stele. In that holy light, he glimpsed images!

His heart surged with an excitement he could barely contain. It was the continuation of the Heaven-Bestowed Qi-Refining Diagram—the very supplementary cultivation art he had long dreamed of. The divine stele on Dragon Island was indeed profoundly connected to the ancient stele that eternally settled the Yellow River.

"Xiao Chen, what are you staring at? Move!" Liu Mu tugged at his robes, seeing him frozen.

"You go first. I'll follow," Xiao Chen said, his mind elsewhere, utterly captivated by the half-glimpsed diagram.

"Have you gone mad?" Liu Mu shoved him hard.

Beside them, Dugu Jianmo let out a cold laugh. "Heh. You want to memorize the Qi-Refining Diagram from the ancient stele? I advise you to give up that hope. Every single person who has cultivated the diagram from Dragon Island's stele has died without exception."

Yizhen the monk approached as well, saying, "Xiao Chen, do not try to memorize that diagram. It is a method that cannot be cultivated. It is said that in the past, people obtained fragments of it, but everyone who practiced it died horribly."

"It's fine. You go ahead," Xiao Chen said, as if possessed, his gaze locked on the ancient stele. But the light had already faded, and the images were gone.

Just then, shouts rang out from ahead. It seemed the Purple Dragon King had led them to an extraordinary place. Liu Mu and Yizhen exchanged a glance, then each took one of Xiao Chen's arms and half-carried him forward, clearly worried he would fall into trouble.

At the same time, the Ancestral Dragon Horn, the Buddha's Dharma Wheel, the Bronze Eight Trigrams, and the incantations of countless fierce dragons once again hammered against the divine stele. Dazzling light erupted from the ancient monument. The celestial diagram reappeared!

This time, two piercing beams shot from Xiao Chen's eyes, almost tangible. It felt as though his very spirit had leaped free of his body. In that moment, he sensed a vast, weathered, ancient aura rushing toward him. An old stone-carved diagram seared itself deep into his mind.

Without a doubt, it was the continuation of the celestial diagram he had been cultivating. And among the layered, intricate engravings, he discovered four isolated killing strokes—secret techniques of destruction. Though just four in number, their impact on Xiao Chen was overwhelming.

He could not possibly absorb the entire sequence of the Heaven-Bestowed Qi-Refining Diagram in such a short time; he could only commit it to memory. However, the four killing strokes felt strangely familiar. As he scrutinized them, he realized he had seen fragments before.

The first of the four strokes was very much like the Slay the Gods Strike, but far deeper. The more he studied it, the more astonished he became. The Slay the Gods Strike he had discovered earlier near the stone balustrade was to this first stroke as mud to clouds—immeasurably inferior. The profundity within was beyond words.

Then Xiao Chen realized that all four strokes had echoes in the killing techniques recorded on the stone balustrade. The second stroke bore some resemblance to the Three Reverses of Chaos, the third seemed akin to the Eight Methods to Subdue Demons, and the fourth shared similarities with the Five Collapsing Kills.

These four strokes on the ancient divine stele were but four simple gestures, yet such terse engravings encompassed endless variations. Perhaps this was what they meant by "great simplicity." The legendary Three Reverses of Chaos, Eight Methods to Subdue Demons, and Five Collapsing Kills could all be derived from these single strokes, yet the originals were incalculably more profound and exquisite.

Great simplicity... great simplicity! Xiao Chen repeated the words to himself. At last, he named the four strokes: Slay the Gods, Reverse Chaos, Subdue Demons, and Collapse.

"What are you muttering?" Liu Mu and Yizhen, who were still holding him, gave him a hard shake. Xiao Chen snapped out of his trance. His excitement gradually calmed. "I'm fine," he said. Only then did they release him.

"What happened over there?" Xiao Chen asked in surprise, looking ahead. They had fallen more than a hundred meters behind, and a bloody light was flaring into the sky.

"The Purple Dragon King led us here. Perhaps there really is a way out."

In this area, there were few ancient structures. Yin energy pervaded the vicinity of the blood river, and bloody mist drifted. Within the pillar of blood light, there seemed to be an oppressive, ancient platform.

Xiao Chen and the others rushed forward and found it was an ancient altar, fully twenty meters high, built entirely from black boulders. It bore the weathered marks of endless ages. Around it stood stelae more than two meters tall, and the blood light shooting skyward emanated from those stelae, as if they were protecting the altar.

The blood river encircled the altar once before flowing onward into the distance, as though the blood radiance itself was connected to the river. One could not help wondering whether this was the legendary blood sacrifice. Had the blood river been made to flow specifically for this altar?

Nearly all the surviving cultivators from the city had followed the dragon here, but now there were only seventeen or eighteen people; the rest were dead. Among them, Xiao Chen saw his enemy, the genius illusionist spiritist Kailuo. Neither made a move—it was no time to settle personal grudges.

The Purple Dragon King gave a low roar, then leaped, flying over the blood river and the stelae fence, charging into the blood light until it stood before the ancient altar. It turned its head and roared again, as if urging the others to follow.

The cultivators exchanged uncertain glances. Could rushing to the altar really let them escape the dead city? It seemed unlikely. But they had no more time to deliberate. Distant tremors announced the arrival of heavenly soldiers and yin soldiers, who had circumvented the divine stele, along with a growing tide of evil spirits. The sky was dense with skeletal birds.

Worse still, many of the ancient houses were no longer quiet. Ferocious howls echoed from within—these were undoubtedly supreme evil spirits!

The cultivators no longer hesitated. With no other path of escape, they might as well follow the Purple Dragon King and try. One by one, they leaped over the blood river and crossed the stelae fence.

Together with the Purple Dragon King, they ascended the ancient altar's timeworn stone steps. The altar, weathered by endless ages, was carved not only with images of sun, moon, and stars but also with figures from ancient eras, though nothing could be discerned from them.

When they reached the top of the altar, they discovered many blood-drenched engravings depicting sacrifices of fierce dragons. The Purple Dragon King, standing upon it, seemed deeply angered and growled continuously.

At that moment, a vast horde of evil spirits gathered before the altar. Black mist roiled; a fierce, baleful aura filled the air. The sky, too, was thick with skeletal birds and many unfamiliar flying evil spirits, all staring with murderous intent at the people on the altar, though for now they did not attack.

"What is happening? I have a bad feeling," someone said uneasily. "These evil spirits are surrounding us. Could they be... treating us as offerings? Are we to be sacrificed alive?"

The evil spirits kept gathering, and finally they all raised a chorus of howls that made the entire region tremble. Even the Purple Dragon King seemed anxious, repeatedly lifting its head to look. Through the gaps among the mass of evil spirits floating in the air, they could see a blood-red sun about to hang directly over the city.

The closer the blood sun drew to its zenith, the more wildly the ancient altar's blood light blazed. This altar, which had existed for untold ages, seemed to come alive, madly drinking in the blood river that surrounded it. A dazzling light shot straight into the sky.

The encircling evil spirits fell into chaos, shrieking endlessly, as if witnessing the birth of a living sacrifice.

Just then, a violent commotion erupted from a cluster of buildings near the altar. The most magnificent among them collapsed with a thunderous crash. An ear-splitting howl shook the air, as if a supreme malevolent ghost had been unleashed.

Everyone was horrified. Nothing like this had happened since they entered the city. Though many ancient houses had emitted strange sounds, none had collapsed before.

A flash of white light shot forth. A fluffy, adorable little beast appeared on the roof of another ancient house. Snow-white and perfect, the creature huffed angrily, blinking its bright, large eyes at the rubble. It let out a series of "Ya-ya" sounds that reached the listeners' ears.

"Roar!" The howl of a fierce ghost shook the very flying evil spirits in the sky, nearly sending them tumbling. A tall man in archaic attire crawled out from the ruins.

"Ah!"

"Impossible!"

"That is..."

The crowd was stunned. It was a headless angel, and yet it could still make sounds. It possessed golden wings—that meant it was a legendary deity! How could it have been inside an ancient house? And why was it missing its head? But if they focused closely, they could sense that there was nothing sacred about it now. Its entire body radiated a sinister, chilling murderous aura.

The headless golden-winged angel lunged at the snow-white little beast, instantly shattering the ancient house in a cloud of dust. The little beast moved with incredible speed; the headless angel could not catch it. Then it dashed into another ancient house, the headless angel hot on its heels.

Every ancient house held a powerful evil spirit. As several houses collapsed, more fierce spirits in archaic garments emerged. There was nothing outwardly unusual about them, but their terrifying power was staggering—far beyond the evil spirits the group had faced before.

Such a cute little snow-white beast had stirred up this enormous commotion. The fact that it had charged into several ancient houses and emerged unscathed was simply unbelievable.

"Keke!" Xiao Chen cried out in shock. He had recognized her. He had never imagined that she had also entered the dead city.

Some of those present had seen this little beast following Xiao Chen before, and they remembered now. But they had never imagined she was so extraordinary. Many cultivators who had entered ancient houses had never come out, becoming food for the malevolent ghosts. Yet this adorable little creature had charged in again and again, still unscathed.

Not only did she seem unafraid, but she also appeared thoroughly annoyed. It was both amusing and miraculous.

Keke heard Xiao Chen's call. Her bright, intelligent eyes turned toward him, and then she bounded over joyfully, hopping from rooftop to rooftop across the ancient houses.

Now the real chaos erupted. The headless golden-winged angel and the other fierce spirits pursued her in a frenzy, smashing ancient houses one after another. Dust and debris billowed into the sky.

The crowd was utterly dumbfounded. Was this little beast... just too brazen? Or simply too innocent? She charged over without a care, stirring up this huge disturbance. It was beyond words.

Xiao Chen was both worried for Keke and quietly speculating. Could the figures behind the golden-winged angel be immortals from ages past? He had recognized one of them earlier. Though these faces were unfamiliar, they might hold a similar identity.

A thunderous crash came as ancient houses collapsed in succession. Keke was nearly caught by one of the fierce spirits. Xiao Chen's tension peaked, and he finally could not help it—he was about to leap off the altar to help her.

"Don't!" Liu Mu and the woman in the colored mist both reached out at the same time. The power of space and the principle of time locked Xiao Chen in place.

Fortunately, Keke was unharmed. In fact, she even had time to shake her tiny paw at the golden-winged angel in irritation.

Then, with a swoosh, Keke turned into a streak of white light. She crossed several dozen meters in the air, bypassing the crowd of evil spirits gathered before the altar, then leaped again over the blood river and landed on the ancient altar.

Keke was truly extraordinary. Her entire body was pure white; her flawless fur shimmered with crystalline luster, as if each strand was carved from the softest, most translucent jade. With her bright, lively eyes, she was adorableness itself—a little beast born of heaven and earth's abundant spiritual energy.