Killing the Yaksha King

Two great powerhouses sped across the river, their feet churning the waves. Every step the Yaksha King took sent towering breakers surging from the Yangtze, thunderous roars echoing through the air. But before Xiao Chen, all the white-capped waves crashed straight back into the river, held fast by a powerful field that prevented them from even nearing him.

A shred of sword-light tore through the void, shooting from Xiao Chen's fingertip like a flood dragon diving into the Yangtze. It carved a watery path through the surging river, cleaving toward the Yaksha King's back, sending waves tens of meters high. Had Xiao Chen not anchored them, they would have swept to both banks, unleashing a terrible disaster.

The Yaksha King let out a long howl. He pushed the Boundless Distance technique to its utmost, keeping an eternal, unchanging distance between himself and Xiao Chen. The sword-strike missed, carving a long spatial rift where it struck.

Not all attacks could be kept at bay by the Boundless Distance divine power. The Four Killing Moves posed a grave threat to the Yaksha King; his left arm had already been shattered by one of them. And now Xiao Chen was battering him with the power of the Eight Aspect Worlds. The gates of those worlds swung open in turn, surging with overwhelming pressure, sweeping forward to devour the Yaksha King.

Today, the Yaksha King was utterly disgraced. His Inviolable Divine Art had been broken, and now he could only rely on the Blazing Sword Fire to resist. Green light blazed all around him, an endless conflagration burning at his side. Wherever it passed, the Yangtze seemed to boil, steaming white vapor rising and forming cloud-like mists.

But the Blazing Sword Fire could only hold out for so long. He was already grievously wounded, and under Xiao Chen's relentless assault, he gradually faltered, on the verge of being annihilated at any moment.

"Weng!"

The Origin Eight Sounds were deployed again and again. The Yaksha King's right shoulder burst open with a thunderous crack, leaving a gaping, light-penetrating hole. His right arm went limp at once.

Had he been any other mighty warrior, he would surely have been utterly destroyed—soul and body—by that solid strike of the Weng Syllable Heavenly Sound. Only the Peerless Yaksha King could have endured this much.

The Yaksha King's long hair was drenched in his own splattered blood. For the first time, he felt the approach of death and defeat. But he was deeply unwilling—having only recently perfected his divine arts, he could not accept that he might 'die before the battle was truly joined.'

Xiao Chen pursued him all the way up the Yangtze. The two powerhouses stirred up towering waves, as if an ocean had been poured back into an inland river. Cultivators on both banks gasped in astonishment.

And when they recognized the fleeing figure as the Yaksha King, their shock only deepened. A Heavenly King at the Perfected Man realm, a figure who dominated the kings of the Hundred Races, was now so utterly desperate. Everyone who saw it found it unbelievable.

Was it truly Xiao Chen, come back from the dead? A few who glimpsed his face were astounded.

The defeat of the Yaksha King was a major event in itself, sending tremors along both banks of the Yangtze. And the rumor that Xiao Chen, who had been thought dead, had reappeared in the world was hotly debated in small circles.

The two powerhouses raced against the current, soon leaving the Nine Provinces behind and entering the western plateau. Amid the thunderous clamor of battle, more than a dozen gaping, blood-spitting holes appeared on the Yaksha King's flesh.

This was an uninhabited region, vast and empty. Xiao Chen attacked without restraint, shattering the Blazing Sword Fire with his divine combat techniques. The Yaksha King's death was imminent.

"Ah...!" The Yaksha King roared, his long hair flying wildly. His Voluminous Demonic Fist and the Blazing Sword Fire rose together, tearing the earth apart. The plateau collapsed, and from the shattered strata countless massive boulders flew up, gathering into a tidal wave of stone that rolled across the sky and earth.

The terrifying stone tide swept in all directions, carrying the Yaksha King's unwillingness and fighting spirit, scouring the heavens. When a Perfected Man realm expert fights for his life, the consequences are immense. This was the struggle of a cornered beast, and heaven and earth shattered.

But Xiao Chen did not retreat a single step. His killing intent shot straight to the heavens; he was determined to take the Yaksha King's life. He had grasped the essence of the Heavenly Stele Profound Art. As he executed the ancient combat technique, a colossal phantom of a Heavenly Stele charged straight into the endless stone tide.

"Boom!"

A sound that shook the world rang out. The monstrous wave of stone and earth was pierced through, as if a calm passage had been opened within the turbulent energies. The phantom stele streaked across the void, bearing down heavily on the Yaksha King.

The Yaksha King screamed, maddened, struggling with all his might. But the great stele phantom still sent him flying, and his remaining right arm shattered in an instant, dissolving into a cloud of blood mist that scattered among the rubble.

Without the Inviolable Divine Art—which could not be manifested so quickly again—and lacking Xiao Chen's freakish Martial Body, he could not possibly withstand such an overwhelming assault.

Not only were both arms annihilated; dozens of bones throughout his body were cracked, and his internal organs had long since ruptured. It was clear that he could not hold on.

"I don't want to die!" Even now, the Yaksha King refused to fall. He burned his life force, fleeing across the plateau toward the bitter cold of the southwest.

An unbroken chain of snow-capped peaks blocked the two powerhouses. Rolling frigid energy rushed toward them. Though it was midsummer, heavy snow fell here, and the biting air slashed across the sky like blades.

"Farewell, Yaksha King!" Xiao Chen raised his right arm high and shouted, "Rest in peace among the snow-capped mountains!"

With a single great cry, he triggered an avalanche. It was as if ten thousand horses were stampeding among the peaks; an endless cascade of snow thundered down. As Xiao Chen swept his palm down like a blade, a colossal phantom of a Heavenly Stele swept toward the Yaksha King.

"Rumble!"

Heaven and earth shook. Where the stele passed, the peaks of dozens of ten-thousand-meter-high snow-capped mountains were severed. They crashed down with a roar, crushing the Yaksha King as he fell among them. In the entire mountain range, not a single ten-thousand-meter peak remained.

"KABOOM!"

The Yaksha King was buried in the avalanche, plunging into the peaks the locals called Mount Everest. His body split into four or five pieces.

An overwhelming pressure descended upon the earth. All the snow-capped mountains trembled. A small, gaunt old Yaksha appeared above the peaks, his wide sleeves fluttering, his green hair standing on end. He glared at Xiao Chen with fury.

Terrifying fluctuations rolled through the sky like a starry universe shaking, like a vast ocean surging. Every direction trembled. The Yaksha clan's Half-Ancestor had appeared!

"How dare you!" A spiritual fluctuation that could shake a person's soul slammed into Xiao Chen like a mountain, sending him flying hundreds of meters. If he had not possessed a peerless Martial Body, any other cultivator would have been utterly destroyed—body and soul—under such a Half-Ancestor's spiritual attack.

"Ya ya…" Keke, who had been watching from behind, charged forward instantly. She opened Paradise Lost, trying to envelop Xiao Chen.

Within Paradise Lost, the little beast was invincible, and even a Half-Ancestor could do little. But the old Yaksha knew this well. With a wave of his right hand, he gently tore through space.

Boundless Distance!

Xiao Chen and Keke were separated into two different realms. Although Paradise Lost could break all divine arts, it could do nothing when Xiao Chen had not yet been drawn inside.

Keke swept away the old Yaksha's divine domain with Paradise Lost, closing in rapidly. But the space before Xiao Chen also fled at extreme speed, an eternal, unchanging distance stretching between them.

The snow-white little beast glared furiously up at the gaunt old Yaksha in the sky.

Xiao Chen coughed up two mouthfuls of blood, straightened himself, wiped the blood from his lips, and said, "The venerable Half-Ancestor of the Yaksha clan, seeing that a junior could not defeat his opponent, can't help but intervene? Come, come, come, let you and me fight three thousand rounds. Summon all the Half-Ancestors of the Five Realms to watch and judge."

Though he spoke in a tone of mockery, his words were sharper than a blade, and even the old Yaksha's face flushed red with shame. But soon his murderous aura spread, thickening the cold, biting air among the snow-capped mountains. His voice, like metal striking stone, echoed mercilessly through the peaks: "The Great Trial has not truly begun, yet you have already struck and killed your opponent. You have committed a major taboo. Even if I kill you now, no one can say a word."

The Half-Ancestor of the Yaksha clan had Xiao Chen locked in his sights. It was clear he truly intended to kill; immense pressure descended like a billion great mountains.

"Killed my opponent? How do you figure that? If we follow that reasoning, can we understand that the Nine Provinces and the Four Worlds are now to be peaceful and harmonious, with no strife or great battles? But then why do I see Asura and Yaksha treating human lives like grass, slaughtering the innocent? Are the 'taboos' you speak of a double standard—only the privileged may burn their lamps while the common people may not light a single flame?"

"Are you challenging the dignity of a Half-Ancestor?" The old Yaksha's face was ashen; immeasurable pressure descended, and the snow-capped peaks beneath Xiao Chen's feet collapsed with a roar.

Amid the great avalanche, eight indistinct worlds materialized around Xiao Chen. Eight mysterious gates all aimed at the old Yaksha at once.

"Truly reckless. I intended to give you some pain and spare your life, but you repeatedly offend the dignity of a Half-Ancestor. Now I will extract two of your souls and six of your spirits, so you understand that a Half-Ancestor is not to be profaned!"

A massive green hand, thousands of meters across, formed into a claw and reached for Xiao Chen. The terrifying pressure shattered the surrounding peaks, sending snow and ice surging like a tidal wave.

"Old Yaksha, you go too far! Do you treat our human race as nothing?!" Tianwaitian tore through space and appeared, raising his arm. A mountain-like hand met the green claw.

"BOOM!"

The two hands collided in midair, tearing out hundreds of spatial rifts, each stretching for over ten miles. Below, countless mountains collapsed, and avalanches rolled like a stampede of ten thousand horses.

Tianwaitian, his hair a tangle of yellow, like a rebellious youth, stood in the air above the great snow peaks, leering at the old Yaksha.

The Half-Ancestor of the Yaksha clan snorted coldly. His right hand reached out, tracing a line in the void. The shattered remains of the Yaksha King on Mount Everest gathered together and flew up into the sky. He channeled streaks of green light into the Yaksha King's corpse, moving his hands in a complex pattern. Myriad beams shot forth, and finally, a light cocoon formed around the Yaksha King's body.

"Crack, crack…"

The Yaksha King broke out of the cocoon, completely unharmed, reborn from death! He scanned his surroundings coldly, understood the situation, and turned a sinister smile on Xiao Chen.

"The Great Trial hasn't even started yet, and you've already re-formed his flesh and saved his life. That's a serious breach of the rules." Tianwaitian eyed the old Yaksha sidelong.

The old Yaksha said nothing. He swept his gaze over Xiao Chen and said, "The Great Trial will begin in one month. If you strike again without cause in the meantime, I will directly erase your three souls and seven spirits. The crime of profaning a Half-Ancestor... I will let it pass this time..."

Hearing this, Tianwaitian immediately bristled, cutting him off. "What 'striking the opponent without cause'? What 'profaning a Half-Ancestor'?" He struck suddenly, a giant hand appearing out of nowhere to seize the Yaksha King. Half-Ancestor divine power surged, and the Yaksha King's body creaked; every joint trembled.

The newly revived Yaksha King fought with all his might, but how could he withstand the power of a Half-Ancestor? His whole skeleton was on the verge of shattering.

"What are you doing?" The old Yaksha was both startled and furious.

"He profaned the dignity of a Half-Ancestor, acting arrogantly before me. By your logic, he deserves to die!"

"Stop!" the old Yaksha shouted.

"I will follow your example and reluctantly let this pass. Next time, it will be different." Tianwaitian threw the Yaksha King heavily down the snowy mountain.

The Half-Ancestor of the Yaksha clan glared at him, his beard and hair bristling with rage.

Just then, Xiao Chen suddenly moved. The Extreme Speed of the Eight Aspect Worlds could make even a Half-Ancestor blanch. It was infinitely fast. The God-Slaying Style, the Collapse Style, the Demon-Suppressing Style, and the Chaos-Reversing Style all struck at once. A colossal stele phantom swept across the falling Yaksha King.

"BOOM!"

The Yaksha King, whom the Half-Ancestor of his clan had just revived, was instantly obliterated—body and soul, utterly annihilated without even a trace of residue. At the same time, Keke tore through space, opened Paradise Lost, and drew Xiao Chen inside.

The two of them coordinated seamlessly. Even the enraged old Yaksha was a step too late. His green-light-shrouded giant claw brushed past them, tearing out a thousand spatial rifts and silently pulverizing dozens of snow-capped mountains ahead.

Right under the nose of the Yaksha clan's Half-Ancestor, Xiao Chen had slaughtered the Yaksha King. It was a resounding slap to the face.

Whether or not the Yaksha King was killed, today's events had already planted a thorn in the old Yaksha's heart. Xiao Chen decided to return to the World of the Dead with Keke and come back only after reaching the Half-Ancestor realm.

The old Yaksha had just saved the Yaksha King, only to have Xiao Chen kill him again.

Even Tianwaitian was stunned. He had not expected Xiao Chen to dare such a thing.

The old Yaksha's eyes bulged with rage; his beard trembled. He sealed off all ten directions, cutting off this stretch of space, blocking every escape route.

The old Yaksha was completely enraged, startling the snow-white little beast. She quickly sealed Paradise Lost, leaving only a crack to peek out.

A Half-Ancestor in a frenzy was terrifying beyond measure. If he resorted to some forbidden ancient arts at any cost, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Tianwaitian, however, burst into laughter. He descended and said, "Old Yaksha, what are you doing? Aren't you afraid of being laughed at? This was a fair fight between them. You intervened without cause, but in the end, the result could not be changed."

"Tianwaitian, get out of my way!" The old Yaksha's face was ashen.

"And if I don't?" Tianwaitian's expression hardened in turn, the two of them confronting each other.

The Half-Ancestor of the Yaksha clan, though small and withered, had abundant energy. Above the snowy peaks, it was as if a billion stars were shaking at once; the heavens above trembled, the depths below stirred, and heaven and earth quaked.

"Can you protect him forever? Can you protect him for a lifetime? Can he stay inside Paradise Lost forever and never come out?" The old Yaksha's voice was sinisterly cold. "I will give him a chance. Come out of Paradise Lost. If he can survive for half an hour, the debt between us will be settled."

"How dare you say that!" Tianwaitian's bearing changed entirely in that instant. He was as steady as a mountain, no longer the wild youth. The demeanor of a supreme expert was fully revealed as he prepared to do battle.

The old Yaksha said flatly, "His speed is on par with a Half-Ancestor's. It's not impossible for him to hold out for half an hour. I have given him a chance to live. It depends on whether he can seize it."

Xiao Chen, after killing the Yaksha King, had already decided not to stay in the Nine Provinces any longer. He meant to return to the World of the Dead and come back only after reaching the Half-Ancestor realm. But when he heard the Half-Ancestor of the Yaksha clan say these words, he stepped to the entrance of Paradise Lost and said, "If you keep your word, then what is half an hour to me? Even half a month would be nothing."

"A Half-Ancestor never breaks his word!" The old Yaksha's face was deathly cold.

"Don't make this wager with him." Tianwaitian's expression changed. "Even with your extreme speed, you cannot escape a Half-Ancestor's pursuit."

"If it were any other Half-Ancestor, I would not dare to be so bold. But I have some confidence in escaping a Yaksha Half-Ancestor's pursuit."

Another soft slap landed on the Yaksha Half-Ancestor's face. But he had already calmed down, as still as an ancient well. "Come out and try, then."

Inside Paradise Lost, Xiao Chen whispered a few instructions to Keke. Then he ruffled Tianya's little face and said, "Be good. Don't stir up trouble."

Little Tianya pouted. "I wonder who's the one stirring up trouble..."

"Swish!"

Xiao Chen flew out of Paradise Lost, shooting into the distance with the Extreme Speed of the Eight Aspect Worlds. "Yaksha Half-Ancestor, come and see me off!"

The old Yaksha's face was ice-cold; the murderous intent in his eyes was undisguised. He tore through space and pursued.

It was truly 'Boundless Distance'!

"He's really coming after me?!" Xiao Chen turned his head in shock.

The old Yaksha drew closer and closer, on the verge of catching up.

In an instant, they had covered hundreds of miles, already flying over the Nine Provinces. Just as the Yaksha Half-Ancestor was about to catch him, he began to seal off space, ready to annihilate Xiao Chen.

"Thank you, Yaksha Half-Ancestor, for seeing me off. Farewell until we meet again." Following the method the Divine Clan elder Li Mu had taught him, Xiao Chen instantly dispersed all his power. In that moment, he was summoned back by the power of the World of the Dead.

He vanished into thin air!

The Half-Ancestor of the Yaksha clan stared in shock, then was so enraged that smoke practically poured from his seven orifices.