Chapter 198: War Between Venerables!
-----
BOOOM!
The Pagoda collapsed into the ground the moment Fan Gu Lan pierced through it, its entire structure fell down. The few dozens of Immortals and couple of Primordials inside quickly ran away as the entire structure exploded into flames, spreading corrupted Ki energies.
“Lord Venerable!”
“H-He was punched down?!”
“Didn’t he say that he was stronger than her?!”
“T-That’s…!”
The Immortals began to doubt Fang Gu Lan’s words. As they descended to find him, he was already standing on the ground, glaring at Bing Xue while unsheathing his sword; his face had yet to regenerate as he was bleeding from his broken nose.
He used his hand to quickly place it back where it was, making loud cracking sounds; it seemed he didn’t even mind the pain, focused on Bing Xue.
His Aura suddenly changed; the Immortals quickly flew away from his Immortal Intent!
RUMBLE!
“Bing… Xueee…”
His eyes turned red as they began to spiral around, as his long black hair waved by the energy and winds that his aura generated.
“I will never forgive you.”
CLASH!
He disappeared from where he was, resembling a blur of seven different colors as he reached Bing Xue in a split second.
Bing Xue looked down at him from above, as suddenly, two little lights of silver and white color emerged.
“Hm?!”
CLAAASH! CLAAASH!
The moment Fang Gu Lan was about to clash against Bing Xue, these little lights emerged, pushing him down with immense force.
“This strength… Peak Realm Primordials?!” he thought. “Did she have them with her this entire time? Hmph! Begone!”
However, as much as he tried to push back, they quickly clashed against him again, their auras rapidly dissipating as they fought him, revealing their true appearance.
Children!
“What?!”
“How dare you bully mama!”
“We’ll beat you down!”
They were beautiful children no older than eight or nine in appearance, with rainbow eyes, long silvery-white hair, wolf ears and tail, and claws and paws, with fur around their arms, legs, and neck.
They wore similar clothes to Bing Xue as well, aside from their clear appearance and resemblance to her.
Fang Gu Lan, however, couldn’t believe that mere children were managing to keep up with his Intent!
“What is the meaning of this?! You damn brats! You think you are capable of even holding a candle against me?!”
Fang Gu Lan swung moved rapidly and dexterously, clashing against the boy; his claws, kicks, and bites, accompanied by his ever-growing aura, continued holding him back despite the odds!
The venerable responded with dexterous kicks and punches, and whenever he swung his sword, the boy would swing his long claws, releasing manifested blade auras that somehow could compare to them.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
“Impossible! A mere child of this level?! Even for me, it took me years to reach this power!” Fan Gu Lan screamed angrily. “Die!”
He unleashed his Intent in full; seven gigantic dragons came down towards the boy, who faced the man bravely, his Aura erupting as well.
“AWOOOOO!”
He howled, his beastly appearance becoming more accentuated and his body growing slightly more muscular and taller; at the same time, the boy’s Aura temporarily evolved.
“ROOAARR!”
“GRAAARR!”
“ROOAARR!”
The roars of wolves echoed from the boy’s Aura, as hundreds of gigantic wolves manifested from the silver and golden light, clashing and biting the seven-headed dragon’s neck, overwhelming the seven heads with numbers.
“T-That’s… A Venerable Aura?!”
“{Divine White Heaven Formation Arts}: {Heavenly Restriction Formation}!”
And right as he was focusing too much on the boy and not the girl, a formation appeared below him, above him, from his left, right, front, and back at the same time, enveloping him in a white cube.
“This…?!”
His eyes widened, noticing thousands of chains wrapping around his body, draining his energy and attempting to seal it away.
“A formation of this caliber, conjured so easily?”
He glanced at its origins; the girl that was with the boy; they were both likely twins too, as they looked very alike.
The thing is, as he recalled what they said, he became shocked.
“They called you their mother?”
He asked Bing Xue that question, glancing at her from above the skies; she was nodding, looking at her children working hard.
“That’s right, they’re my children.”
“…Adopted?”
“No! They’re my children; they have my blood.”
“…”
Fang Gu Lan couldn’t believe it! All this time, Bing Xue already had settled down and even had children?! After all of this time believing she didn’t like men, she ended up getting married and having kids? He simply… he couldn’t accept this!
“What sort of monsters are these? Children aren’t born with Venerable-level Ki!” screamed the frustrated villain.
“The only thing you do is complain,” said Bing Xue. “So I thought I should leave you to my kids, seeing how much of a wimp you are.”
“Tch….! Hahah… Fucking hell.”
CRAAASH!
With his sheer physical strength, Fang Gu Lan shattered the entire formation instantly, breaking apart from it.
Then, another second later, he reached the boy attacking his Venerable Intent, swinging his sword and aiming to slice him into two halves.
SLAAASH!
Once sliced apart, he moved towards the girl, grabbing her head and crushing it like a balloon.
BOOOM!
“They’re strong, but not enough. Now show me your crying face; I slaughtered your children- Eh?”
Fang Gu Lan blinked, realizing he hadn’t harmed them at all!
Instead, what he destroyed were perfect replicas, made out of their own Venerable Aura.
Doppelgangers!
“He’s strong!” Orion said. “He crushed my Doppelganger instantly!”
“Hmm… he freed himself from the prototype formation,” Athena analyzed. “I’ll create a stronger one then.”
“HAH?!” Fang Gu Lan couldn’t believe it. “How did they fool me?! What sort of trick are you…?”
“Fang Gu Lan,” said Bing Xue. “I am not the only one that’s a Venerable around here, you know? It’s rare in Murim, if not impossible. But these children here, they inherited all my powers upon birth, and since then, they had been only improving and growing stronger.”
“T-That’s… Venerables giving birth to Venerables?! Preposterous! To reach such a Realm, you have to work hard for years and years… It shouldn’t be something a child is born with!”
Bing Xue’s children were actually Rank 21 upon birth, the same Rank as her Primordial Immemorial Venerables.
However, for their own safety and that of everyone else around them, she suppressed their power tremendously and helped them slowly get used to it, gradually unlocking it.
Even now, around fifty percent of their power was still sealed, although she released a lot of it this moment, finally finding out a punching bag her kids could fight to their hearts’ content without worry.
“I would have thought the same thing, but here we are, and they’re cute, aren’t they? I love them!” Bing Xue smiled. “I’m so proud of them… And I was also quite sad. I had to hold them back because they’re so strong. You came right at the perfect timing, to be honest. Become their punching bags, please.”
Bing Xue waved her hand as a storm of slashing attacks engulfed Fang Gu Lan from every angle, cutting through his defenses and his Aura, and beginning to cover his body with small slashing wounds. The attacks then began to explode into Red Heaven Inferno Flames, strengthening the damage dealt!
“{Seven Heavenly Paths}: {Blue Heaven Protection}”
However, Fang Gu Lan wasn’t going to allow her to look down on him anymore! Activating another of his personal techniques, his Aura flickered, turning completely blue as blue clouds encompassed his entire body. The wounds he was taking were instantly healed, and the flames turned off!
“I see, so you’re using Blue Heaven against Red Heaven; I guess you have the level of intelligence of a small dog now,” said Bing Xue, smiling. “How about this?”
FLASH!
A massive beam of black void was fired, reaching Fang Gu Lan. He furiously encompassed his body with the same Aura, now changing again.
“{Seven Heavenly Paths}: {White Heaven Armor}!”
An armor of white metal manifested from the blue clouds, which turned white before transforming, protecting him from the Void Beam directly.
BOOOM!
“Hmm, I see…”
Bing Xue seemed calm; however, she was calculating how far he could go by testing him with various attacks while keeping her distance from him.
Meanwhile, Orion and Athena continued their onslaught, rushing down to fight directly this time! Orion encompassed his body with his growing Venerable Aura, the wolves rapidly merging into a giant white werewolf.
“ROOAAARRR!”
“{White Wolf’s Heaven-Slicing Claws}!”
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Orion swung his hands against Fang Gu Lan, unleashing a barrage of slicing waves of white and silver light, hitting the Venerable constantly. His white armor gained scratches that began to grow into cracks.
Crack, crack…!
“He’s capable of even shattering my armor?!”
The Venerable gritted his teeth; being humiliated by children wasn’t in his plans right after finally being revived.
He quickly rushed towards the boy, ignoring the girl coming from behind him again as her Aura emerged, becoming a gigantic, multi-tailed white wolf with red eyes.
“{Divine White Heaven Formation Arts}: {Heavenly Restriction Formation}!”
“Again with that one, huh? Damn child.”
Fang Gu Lan quickly manifested his powers again, part of his Aura materializing into a giant, blazing red axe.
“{Seven Heavenly Paths}: {Red Heaven Cleaver}!”
SLAASH!
He swung the Red Heaven Cleaver against Athena right as he was encompassed by the same white cube! The attack was massive, generating a gigantic explosion the moment it reached the girl.
BOOOM!
Yet… she appeared amidst the explosions; her body encompassed by a nine-colored armor-like barrier. The girl smiled confidently.
“Echo!”
FLUOSH!
“Huh?!”
Fang Gu Lan realized the formation wasn’t just the same; the girl manifested an Echo of it instantly, using the power and damage she tanked and applying it into the cube.
“{Heavenly Punishment Formation}!”
The energy erupted from every single angle around the Venerable as a massive explosion of white and golden flames engulfed him; the explosion wasn’t one though, but dozens of consecutive ones within a small area.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Graaaggh?!”
Fang Gu Lan vomited blood as he felt the insides of his body being crushed, as his armor shattered completely and even his weapon…
Was stolen!
“Gotcha!”
Orion giggled as he grabbed the Red Heaven Cleaver and swung it down against Fang Gu Lan the moment he found the opportunity.
“You brat! That’s my weapon!”
Fang Gu Lan cried, closing his hand and controlling the weapon as he smiled, making the giant cleaver spin around, hitting Orion with immense force.
CRAAASH!
However, Orion used his claws to hold back the massive Heavenly Weapon and then grabbed it forcefully, his powers infused into it, turning it into a silver and red color.
“I said it’s mine now!”
The boy roared angrily; his Werewolf-like Aura roared mightily. As he swung the weapon down, a gigantic slicing wave hit Fang Gu Lan.
SLAAASH!
“Nnngggh!”
Fang Gu Lan activated several techniques at the same time, creating the White Heaven Armor again, then the Blue Heaven Protection, and then…
“Insolent child!” he screamed.
“{Seven Heavenly Paths}: {Green Heaven’s Storm}”
FLUOOOSH!
A massive storm made of the Green Heavens themselves manifested. As Bing Xue squinted her eyes, the storm pushed Orion and Athena away for several kilometers, as Fang Gu Lan began to create various Doppelgangers with his Aura.
“Go kill them!”
He sent over a dozen of them after the children before setting his gaze towards Bing Xue, manifesting angelic wings made out of the White Heavens, encompassed by Red Heaven Flames.
“Face me already!”
He used his sword again, swinging it a dozen times upwards, to the left and right consecutively, attacking Bing Xue with dexterous attacks, aiming at her joints and vitals.
Bing Xue responded with her Yin & Yang sword, both of them unleashing powerful swordsmanship techniques that released explosions everywhere, slowly ascending further into the skies.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Your swordsmanship isn’t as sloppy anymore…!” he smiled. “You’ve become much better after… How long since I died? A few thousands of years? Hah! To think it took you this long to reach my level, Bing Xue! So pathetic!”
“What level? All of that was done by your beloved system doing everything for you,” Bing Xue giggled. “Have you ever put any effort into anything through your entire life, Fang Gu Lan?”
Bing Xue nonchalantly overcame his swordsmanship with one-handed strokes, while at the same time using every opening to punch his face.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
“Nnggh…! Arrggh!”
As he struggled to keep up, Fang Gu Lan didn’t show despair in his eyes, as Bing Xue was expecting, but confidence and malice.
“{Seven Heavenly Paths}: {Black Heaven’s Void}!”
FLUOSH!
Black clouds manifested out of nowhere, devouring Bing Xue completely and beginning to rapidly disintegrate her barriers and aura.
“This is…?!”
“Surprised?! You say I have never put effort into anything… But look at this! I’ve even managed to learn the powers of the Black Heaven Arts!” he laughed. “My Seven Paths are finally complete! And this is just the beginning!”
As Bing Xue was being devoured by the black clouds, she noticed Fang Gu Lan concentrating all Seven Paths into his Aura and then his entire body, the rainbow colors fusing together into a chaotic sphere.
“{Seven Heavenly Paths Convergence}: {Primordial Chaos}!”
What existed before the Heavens were born, what existed before even Murim existed…
The Primordial Chaos where the Heavenly Wills were born!
“I have attained supreme power! Dieeee!”
He fired the sphere towards Bing Xue, as it distorted, warped, and shattered space and even time itself.
TRUUUM!
“I see…”
Bing Xue smiled, her eyes shining with rainbow light as she took the attack head-on.
BOOOMMM!!!
The explosion was so massive that a gigantic black hole opened within the fabric of space, beginning to absorb the clouds surrounding the skies and even large pieces of stone from the ground beneath.
“Nothing remained of her?!” Fang Gu Lan smiled. “I can’t sense her Fate either! She died! She truly died so easily?! It ended too quickly, dammit! Well, I’ll have fun with her children…”
As he looked down, suddenly…
CRASH!
“Uuh?”
He noticed a hand piercing his chest, grabbing his beating heart.
“W-Wha…?!”
He glanced behind him. Bing Xue had emerged from the black hole and was now piercing his body; her clothes were slightly torn, and she had a few bruises.
But she was fine.
“How does it feel, Fang Gu Lan? To have your heart crushed while you look?”
“A-Aah…! Y-You…!”
Fang Gu Lan finally showed a hint of despair in his eyes.
Bing Xue was happy now.
“Yes, this is the method that you used to kill countless orthodox faction cultivators… Some of them were once my allies,” said Bing Xue. “The only thing you’re doing by coming back to me… is giving me the pleasure of enjoying your suffering, Fang Gu Lan.”
“L-let go of my heart!!!”
Fang Gu Lan screamed; thousands of weapons manifested out of his Primordial Chaos, rushing towards Bing Xue.
However…
SPLAT!
She crushed his Venerable’s Heart, blood and energy leaking and splattering everywhere.
“Uuuaarrgghh!”
Venerables had hearts; they were like a core to their energy and the vessel of their Auras, although it kept itself non-corporeal and ethereal most of the time, so it couldn’t be easily touched.
Bing Xue had long ago perfected Divine Photon Essence Manipulation, specifically designed to target non-corporeal and ethereal beings.
Yes, Bing Xue’s power was, from the beginning, designed to kill Venerables.
With his energies leaking out, countless explosions and warping distortions emerged around Fang Gu Lan.
His flesh and blood distorted into masses of colorful clouds and chaotic darkness, revealing his “true form” without a Heart to stabilize his existence.
Venerables were… beings made of pure refined energy after all.
“GRAAARRGGH!”
He wasn’t dead though; a new heart was beginning to slowly form within his chest. His massive, monstrous arms hit Bing Xue, pushing her away as his chaotic weapons reached her, countless explosions engulfing her.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“BING XUEEEE! YOU WILL PAAAAAY! GRUUUAAARRGH! YOU WILL PAY! DIE! DIE! DIEEEAAARRGH!”
Resembling an eldritch aberration, the Venerable of the Seven Paths of Heaven’s “True form” unleashed an all-out assault.
-----