Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Advent

After extracting Guangxi from him, interrogate him thoroughly. That hazy golden cosmic seal gives me a sense of foreboding, Qing Tian’e said in a low voice.

“Understood.”

Feng Shang narrowed his eyes. Above his head, a divine halo floated, casting down blazing flames, illuminating the surrounding starscape. He looked coldly at the old man wailing and shrieking in the field, and rebuked him icily:

“Do you yield?”

“Never!” the old Crane Elder roared in fury. Wounds covered his entire body, his flesh scorched and reeking, a picture of utter misery. Upon hearing Feng Shang’s cold rebuke, blood rushed to his face in rage.

Despite his dire straits, his pride would not allow him to bow his head. Veins bulged on his face, his teeth clenched with a grinding sound, and he cursed with abandon:

“You little bastard, just you wait. For today’s humiliation, I will make you pay with your life!”

“We’ll see if you’re still so defiant once your Guangxi is stripped away!”

Feng Shang’s face darkened instantly.

There was no doubt—Feng Shang was truly angry now. This old man would not shed tears until he saw his own coffin; he’d provoked Feng Shang’s arrogance and dominance to the extreme with his repeated defiance.

A spear of light materialized from nothing, as lustrous as jade, brilliant and pristine, yet exuding a chilling aura of murder. Feng Shang gripped it tightly.

Then, he hurled it with force.

The spear’s radiance streaked across the starry sky like a blazing meteor, dazzling and impossible to look upon.

At that moment, a blast of annihilating sword energy also descended, sharp and tyrannical, slashing across Crane Xuan’s left leg. A wound split open instantly, dull light flowing out.

Just as it was about to heal, the spear of light pierced through with a hiss, embedding itself deep, its sharp tip puncturing all the way through the back of Crane Xuan’s left leg.

“Ah!” Crane Xuan screamed, his face twisted in agony. This attack alone drained nearly five percent of his indestructible body’s radiance.

He had no time to pull the spear out, for yet another tribulation struck at him. Terrified, he dodged desperately. The Crimson Star Flood Dragon Ruler flared, dazzling and fiery, spawning a hundred scarlet afterimages, colliding with a golden lightning bolt. Light flickered, arcs danced, and radiant rain fell.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Feng Shang gave him no respite. He flipped his palm, and the magnificent cosmic crystal star radiated light, pouring forth an immense tide of energy into the core of the Ninefold Calamity Prison Array.

A deluge of tribulations once again engulfed Crane Xuan.

Seeing the onrushing wave of disaster, Crane Xuan’s face turned ashen.

A sharp hiss.

Once more, a spear of light appeared in Feng Shang’s hand and was thrown, pinning precisely into Crane Xuan’s left shoulder bone.

The wound was deep, searing with pain. Crane Xuan, enraged, reached to pull it out.

But Feng Shang’s fist crashed down, unstoppable and direct, slamming into his chest. The terrifying force surged like a divine tide, causing a hundred thousand miles of void to collapse.

Crane Xuan’s entire body caved in.

Feng Shang’s hair danced in the wind, his eyes cold and indifferent. He let out a light snort, the cosmic wind howling beneath his feet. With both hands, he conjured another pair of light spears, which pierced with two sharp cracks into Crane Xuan’s right shoulder and right leg, sealing the radiant currents within his body.

“You—”

Crane Xuan was shaken and terrified. All four limbs were pierced by spears, and a mysterious power flowed through the wounds, sealing off the circulation of light energy within him. Now he was paralyzed, utterly at their mercy!

“I’ll strip your Guangxi and shatter your core of light.”

Feng Shang pointed a finger. Suddenly, from nothing, a stream of power drilled into Crane Xuan’s dantian. A radiant, powerful hand seized fiercely, wrenching out the brilliant, resplendent core of light, illuminating the entire starry expanse.

The light core shone gloriously, crystalline, with boundless radiant energy flowing within.

This was a sacred artifact, containing the very essence of the Dao, a thousandfold more precious than the Core of Rebellion.

“No!”

Crane Xuan was frantic. He had not expected Feng Shang to act so decisively and swiftly, not only sealing his body, but forcibly pulling out his core of light.

It all happened so fast.

Caught off guard, Crane Xuan could only watch helplessly as his core was exposed before Feng Shang. A chill ran down his spine, straight to his skull, his whole body doused in icy dread.

“If you dare touch my Guangxi, I’ll self-destruct my core of light! If that happens, you’re as good as dead!”

Suddenly, Crane Xuan’s expression twisted, his eyes flashing with a manic gleam.

Self-destruction of the core was his last resort. Its explosive force, in one instant, rivaled the detonation of a star, and if timed well, could even threaten a master cultivator.

“Oh?”

To Crane Xuan’s surprise, Feng Shang only smiled faintly, his expression filled with indifference.

“Self-detonate? Do you think I’d fear that? When I extract someone’s Guangxi, I always have my ways to ensure it’s done safely.”

As he spoke, a flash of light shimmered in Feng Shang’s hand, and a small yellow bamboo staff appeared. It was orange-yellow, very pale in color, and only six inches long, looking quite ordinary.

“What’s that?” Crane Xuan was taken aback, staring at the little yellow bamboo staff in confusion. Could that really prevent him from self-destructing his core?

He couldn’t be sure. At first, he would have scoffed, but, having witnessed all of Feng Shang’s uncanny methods, instinctive fear and anxiety gnawed at him.

“That looks like the old Sloppy Grandpa’s staff,” Little Phoenix exclaimed in surprise from aboard the Dao Vessel.

She knew the item well; the old Sloppy of Nine Star City often used it to scratch his back. But her brother Feng Shang’s version was much more petite.

“Yes. It’s a treasure crafted by Senior Sloppy, able to sever karmic ties and erase Dao marks,” said Qingming, eyes bright with thought, gazing at the yellow bamboo staff.

“Sever!”

Feng Shang’s voice floated down lightly.

The seemingly ordinary yellow bamboo staff gently tapped the blazing core of light. The action was simple, something any mortal could do, and nothing unusual seemed to occur during the process.

Yet, at the instant the staff touched the core, Crane Xuan’s face changed dramatically, a tempest of shock surging within him!

“My connection to the core… is gone!”

Crane Xuan cried out, eyes wide and bloodshot, his contorted face a mask of horror.

The yellow bamboo staff, unassuming as it was, had instantly severed the link between Crane Xuan and his core of light.

“What on earth is going on!” Crane Xuan rolled his eyes back, his entire body convulsing, an unprecedented terror flooding his heart.

“Extract!”

Feng Shang commanded. The bamboo staff vibrated, and the segment in contact with the core of light lifted upward.

This was not a simple separation. The tip of the staff drew out a strand of luminous Guangxi, brimming with life force, slowly pulling it from the core.

At this moment, the yellow bamboo staff was like a fishing rod, the Guangxi a shining line, and the core of light the quarry it sought.

The connection of these three formed a scene heavy with meaning.

A faint sound of water seemed to ripple in the air.

The stretch of Guangxi between the bamboo staff and the core of light grew longer and brighter, its life force so dense that it raised the spiritual energy of the surrounding starscape to a new height.

“Young man, so rash—extracting someone’s Guangxi and severing their Dao foundation, that’s a cruel thing to do.”

Suddenly, an unpleasant, high-and-mighty voice, muffled and disdainful, pierced through the Ninefold Calamity Prison Array, resounding in the air. The tone was condescending and most disagreeable.