"Boom—"

Rumbles of thunder reached Dinghu, accompanied by dark clouds coming from the west covering the waning moon, obscuring the moonlight.

"Kui Drum."

On a small island in the middle of Dinghu, Elder Tianquan, dressed as a scholar, sat in a small pavilion. Hearing the thunder, his expression darkened, and he slowly uttered two words.

Opposite him, another person appeared calm, saying, "It seems that the Jiang family's child is not fortunate after all. Ultimately, he was caught up by the Great Grandmaster."

This person was dressed in white, wearing a large cloak and a Huayang cloth on his head. Appearing to be in his thirties, he had a three-strand beard and exuded a scholarly yet profound sense of authority.

He and Elder Tianquan sat opposite each other with a stone table between them, on which a chessboard lay. The pieces of black and white were interspersed, indicating that they had been playing for a long time, and the game was entering an intense phase.

"You tried to delay me, to facilitate Jiang Li's escape, but unfortunately, he wasn't lucky and was intercepted before reaching Dinghu."

The scholarly man spoke indifferently, picked up a piece, and said, "Let's continue the game."

Now, the situation had reversed, and it was his turn to delay Elder Tianquan.

Elder Tianquan looked across and saw his opponent unmovable as a mountain, seemingly impervious to any disturbance.

But Elder Tianquan still wanted to try; it was all he could do.

The opponent had once been a Five Classics Doctor at the Imperial College, ranked only below the Sacrificial Officer Mo Yiling. When Elder Tianquan attended lectures at the college, he had heard this scholar speak. Now both were of the fourth-rank, but there were still differences at this level.

Elder Tianquan needed to exert all his strength to hold back his opponent, while the other could easily restrain Elder Tianquan.

With him here, Elder Tianquan couldn't leave.

"Mr. Hui'an, this is a messy situation; why bother getting involved?" Elder Tianquan advised. "The Zhu family was originally detached from these affairs. If you get dragged into this whirlpool, could you really bear it in your heart?"

"What if I had already been involved?"

Mr. Hui'an remained unfazed, merely retorting softly, then while lifting his piece he said, "Cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world, these have always been my lifelong wishes. For these, I will spare no cost."

A simple sentence, filled with determination, made Elder Tianquan visibly shake.

In Great Zhou, governing the state was the Emperor's concern; all learnings were meant to serve the Emperor. Yet, Mr. Hui'an's words suggested an attempt to make his thoughts the guidelines, clearly contradicting the existing order.

That meant, to achieve his ambitions, he would first have to overthrow the current system. Even if not completely overthrowing it, substantial changes were definitely necessary.

And at this moment, a group was silently pushing for just such a change.

"So it is," Elder Tianquan's expression gradually grew stern. "So you too are one of them."

...

...

"Roar!"

Beneath the sound of drums, the Kui Niu beast seemed divinely empowered. Its skin vibrated, emitting successive peals of thunder. It exerted force through its hoof and leapt dramatically, striking towards Jiang Li like a massive mountain.

Layers of thunder compressed the air, forming diamond-hard barriers. The giant beast's body surged forward, a display of brutal force akin to Mount Tai crushing an egg.

Unlike his previous confrontation with Ji Jiji's transformation, the Grandmaster relied on sheer violence in his Demon Form, which was a poor match for Jiang Li. Previously, he had used raw power to overcome Ji Jiji's transformation; now someone intended to use the same strategy against Jiang Li.

Jiang Li was better at handling fancy Magic Practitioners or those Cultivators skilled in True Qi and techniques; with these tough-skinned adversaries, his advantages were less pronounced.

However, the Grandmaster's power was still not enough to overcome Jiang Li by a factor of ten.

"One Qi Transforms Three Thousand."

As Jiang Li pushed his palms forward, True Qi flowed out of his acupoints forming up to a thousand layers of barriers in front of him.

The small mountain-like Kui Niu slammed into it, countless electric snakes expanding and crawling, thunderous sounds accompanying the beast as it shattered layer after layer of the Qi walls. The thousand-layer barrier was breached eighty percent in the blink of an eye.

But that blink was enough.

With a thought, Outer Object Transformation occurred, a massive Array Map formed, heaven as its body pulling wind, thunder, water, and fire. Utilizing the Dragon and Snake Body to enhance his physical efficiency, he drove the Unified Innate Qi originating from the Qi Body.

The already gloomy sky amassed clouds heavy as lead, twisting into a profound vortex.

Vaguely, a voice seemed to be chanting.

"When heaven fiercely contends, the spirit angrily slays, mercilessly abandoning the plains."

The natural atmosphere melded with the Innate Qi, and the vortex in the sky spiraled downward, merging with the sky-reaching Sword Light.

"Kill!"

With a shout, the Sword Light swept across the heavens, dragging water, fire, wind, and thunder. Nature itself seemed to become the enemy of the Kui Niu, the sword light slicing through the universe.

Externally leveraging the force of heaven and earth, and internally channeling the Heavenly Escape Sword Intent, the sword transformed into an escape, invisibly supreme, slicing thoughts, annihilating consciousness. With inner and outer forces unified, the sword acted as a heavenly executioner, with water, fire, wind, and thunder wreaking havoc.

"Boom!"

In the flash of lightning, the Kui Niu bent its knee, and the sword struck its back. The Thunder Sound created tangible fluctuations, shattering the atmosphere of Water, Fire, Wind, and Thunder, but it could not stop the Sword Light. The azure body, always glowing, immediately bore a sword mark, and fresh blood poured out like a fountain.

"Roar!"

In pain, the Kui Niu lunged forward, forcefully brushing past the Sword Light and charging toward Jiang Li, breaking the array with violent Thunder Sound and lightning.

"One Qi Transforms Three Thousand."

Jiang Li didn't hesitate to use the defensive move again, his True Qi inexhaustible, pouring out like a flood, and Kui Niu collided with it—

"Bang!"

The sword wound burst, a large volume of blood surged forth while thunder and Thunder Sound burst out together, shattering layers of Qi walls, coloring Jiang Li in blood.

Repeatedly using "One Qi Transforms Three Thousand" in such a short duration didn't risk exhausting his True Qi, but his physical body had to endure the strain. Additionally, with the impact, numerous blood vessels on Jiang Li burst, and blood seeped out.

However, with the Origin of the Qi Body, the burst blood vessels quickly healed, and even the bloodstains faded.

The force of the Qi created waves, causing rivers to churn. The giant rocks where Jiang Li had been standing were fragmented, further shaking the earth. Under the gloomy night sky, only the enormous beast's frenzied collisions were visible, and the tiny figure manipulating Water, Fire, Wind, and Thunder, clashing with it.

Jiang Li held the Godslayer Spear in one hand and the Great Circle Sword in the other, sweeping past the Kui Niu like a whirlwind, his sword and spear continuously slicing through flesh, leaving behind trails of blood.

The Kui Niu, though in pain, became increasingly frenzied. Its thick leg bent then straightened, propelling it into the air, pressing down like a heavenly pillar.

Heavenly Thunder exploded beneath its foot, Thunderbolt Lightning interweaving, forming an unparalleled thunderstorm instantaneously, engulfing the rivers and lands below.

Violently and fiercely, this was the intention of Great Grandmaster— to harm others by using his fourth-rank foundation, even if it meant damaging himself more than the enemy. As a Demon Cultivator, his essence energy far exceeded other Cultivators, not to mention his practice of the Form Tomb Cultivation Technique.

Yet, Jiang Li's True Qi appeared inexhaustible, never showing signs of faltering.

He precisely managed his own consumption, largely leveraging the forces of nature, using himself as a fulcrum to move heaven and earth. With Qimen Dunjia, he continuously ensured that the One-foot Hammer could be used to its maximum potential.

When it became excessive, he directly drew on the Innate Qi from the Divine Farmer's Cauldron for slow replenishment, aligned with Dao Fruit Divine Power, fully capable of perfect stamina maintenance.

Now, facing the Kui Niu's thunderstorm, Jiang Li crossed his spear and sword over his head. Innate Eight Qi conflicted and transformed, annulled one Qi upon collision with the thunderstorm, while the rest surged together like a group of dragons devouring a tiger, breaking through the thunderstorm and striking the Kui Niu's single leg.

The enormous beast was actually blasted back mid-air, hesitated briefly, and suddenly a Dragon Shadow emerged below.

The talismanic seeds from twenty-four acupoints fully integrated into the physical body. Flesh stretched, bones shifted, and a several-zhang-long Divine Dragon emerged.

Yinglong Transformation!

Having practiced the Yinglong Transformation until now, Jiang Li had finally fully transformed his physical body, revealing the Yinglong Dharma Body.

It resembled the transformation into Fuxi's Dharma and even bore characteristics of the Dragon and Snake Body. The color of the Dragon Scales neared silver, glittering like crystals, with traces of red flowing between, and the horns spiraled, the long dragon body carrying intrinsic divinity and wild vastness.

"Roar!"

A pair of Dragon Wings unfolded behind him, the body of Yinglong coiled, and suddenly vanished into the spreading ripples.

"Boom!"

Kui Niu's single leg hit the riverbed, causing the ground to fracture and the river water to surge turbulently. The sheer force was impressive, but the emptiness of missing the target startled him.

"Not good!"

Great Grandmaster immediately attempted to shift, but—

It was too late.

The figure of Yinglong appeared above him, the Godslayer Spear in its claws densely covered in electric light, forming an invisible field.

While also mastering the art of controlling lightning, in the hands of Yinglong, this art revealed not the life and death nature of lightning but a form of extreme violence.

"Bang!"

The air was pierced, and before the sonic boom could sound, the Godslayer Spear had already turned into a black line, piercing into the body of the Kui Niu.

That enormous body, like a collapsing mountain, was forcefully nailed to the ground, then Yinglong swooped down, pressing a claw onto the Kui Niu, forcefully pressing it into the river, the shockwaves emptied the surrounding river water.

"Jiang family's child!"

Kui Niu roared loudly, struggling to free itself, but it found its strength subconsciously weakening to the point where it could no longer compete with its opponent. In this drawn-out battle, it, the Fourth Grade Demon Cultivator, was the first to falter.

And to its struggles, Yinglong pierced its Dragon Claw into the body of Kui Niu, carving the flesh and releasing a copious amount of blood. Innate Qi transformed into Five Vile Qi surged in wildly.

"I've tolerated you for long enough, you Old Deng."

With its dragon head held high, it scoffed, those dragon eyes deeply watching the defeated under its claw, "A loser should look like a loser, and now, it's time to pay the price."

Sword Qi emerged from the other dragon claw, gathering Qi into form, transforming into a ten-zhang long giant sword.

Jiang Li pressed a claw onto Kui Niu, holding the Great Circle Sword in the other, like slaughtering livestock, he raised the sword high and then, brought it down!

Blood Light flashed, and a huge bull head rolled into the river.

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