Chapter 466: Settling Old and New Grievances Together (4)

Chapter 466: Settling All Scores, Old and New (Part IV)

"If you will not let me live as a human, then I shall become a god. Takamagahara is the true reality; you are nothing but illusions and phantoms!"

Beneath the world-spanning colossal tree, Akechi Haruhide’s expression was frantic and mad.

Innumerable Yatagarasu crows resembled a boundless dark cloud, bearing down upon Chen Qisheng and Zou Sijiu with crushing momentum.

"Time for me to get to work."

Zou Sijiu slowly drew his hands from his trouser pockets, smoothing them past his clean-shaven, bluish temples before binding his fingers into an obscure hand seal in front of his chest.

"In the name of the Yin-Yang Alchemist, Master of the Yellow Millet. I am Zou Sijiu, and by the title of Yin-Yang Sequence Five, Ranyi, I seize the authority of this dream realm!"

Amidst his resonant voice, pure white cloud-qi drifted up from the vast sea of clouds below, condensing behind Zou Sijiu into a massive, grand character: 'Xiong'—Misfortune.

The cloud-wrought character was not static; it remained in a perpetual state of flux, transitioning at a measured pace toward the character 'Jiu'—Fault.

Chen Qisheng had never clashed with the Yin-Yang Sequence inside a Yellow Millet dream before, but that did not prevent him from understanding what these cloud characters signified.

This was the progress indicator of the Yin-Yang Sequence stealing the authority of the Yellow Millet dream. The moment the cloud character behind Zou Sijiu transformed into 'Da Ji'—Great Auspiciousness—would be the exact instant this dream realm completely changed hands.

"A mere Sequence Five Ranyi actually hopes to steal something from my grasp? Overestimating your capabilities!"

Akechi Haruhide’s shrill voice carried an unmasked, biting ridicule.

The flock of Yatagarasu, whose appearances differed little from common crows, simultaneously parted their razor-sharp beaks and let loose piercing, sky-shattering shrieks.

The sound waves coalesced into an invisible gale of Xun-wind. Wherever it passed, it cleaved through the heavy cloud layers like a sharp sword, exposing a terrifying world below that resembled a hell of lightning and fire.

Aboard his flying sword, Chen Qisheng narrowed his eyes slightly. The Daoist glyphs etched along both his arms rippled like living creatures, rising and falling in sync with his breathing.

"Don't fret. This little bit of wind and wave doesn't amount to much."

Zou Sijiu's calm voice drifted over from behind. Chen Qisheng raised an eyebrow, casting a glance out of the corner of his eye.

He saw that the massive cloud character had not collapsed within the violent gale; it did not even quiver. It continued to flow effortlessly, gradually solidifying into the character 'Jiu'.

"How is this possible?"

Akechi Haruhide's astonished gasp seemed to ring right beside their ears.

"Do you know there's a little thing called a backdoor?"

Zou Sijiu picked at his ear and said in a slow, deliberate manner, "Looking at your panicked, making-a-fuss expression, you clearly don't. But that's normal. After all, you're just a ghost of the Yellow Millet, not an authentic member of the Yin-Yang Sequence."

What was a backdoor? To put it plainly, it was essentially a unique and esoteric method.

This sort of method was incredibly bizarre, capable of bypassing the architect of the dream and directly wresting control of the dream's authority from their hands.

This was a hidden contingency planted within the Yellow Millet dream by the Yin-Yang Sequence long ago, and it was also the primary reliance that allowed them to survive after falling out with the Daoist Sequence in the past.

Back on Mount Longhu, Chen Qisheng had once heard his master mention that when the Yellow Millet dream was initially constructed, the Daoist Sequence had merely played a role of coordination and planning. The imperial family and the Legalist Sequence were simply overseers, and even the Mohist Sequence was only responsible for manufacturing the Yellow Millet mainframe.

Throughout the entire construction process, the main force that contributed the most was actually the Yin-Yang Sequence. By that same token, they were also the very first to be swept out the door.

Over the years, a saying had persisted within the Daoist Sequence: if the Daoists hadn't struck faster and more ruthlessly back then, one of the Three Doctrines today wouldn't be them, but the Yin-Yang Sequence instead.

Furthermore, after Chen Qisheng became an official Human Immortal, he also learned that those Earth Immortals dwelling within Baiyu Jing were constantly searching for various backdoors while undergoing their reincarnations and cultivation within the dreams.

Whenever they discovered one, they would decisively destroy it. No sentimentality was tolerated whatsoever.

However, all of these actions occurred beneath the surface. On the face of things, the Daoist Sequence and the Yin-Yang Sequence had already turned their swords into plowshares, and at least among the high-ranking sequences of both sides, everything appeared perfectly harmonious.

Of course, Chen Qisheng had also heard another even more terrifying rumor, which claimed that if the Yin-Yang Sequence ever gained absolute control over the entirety of the Yellow Millet dream, there would no longer be any distinction between dream and reality, nor any difference between humans and gods.

Though the truth of this rumor could not be verified, Chen Qisheng always felt that this was precisely the primary reason the Yin-Yang Sequence had been targeted.

To the Three Doctrines and even the imperial family, it was utterly unacceptable for the Daoist Ancestor, the Buddha, the Sages, and the Emperor to degenerate into mere mortals.

Although the ultimate dream of all these sequences was to ascend to godhood from a mortal frame, before they could successfully replace them, they all required the spiritual establishment of an unreachably high entity in the unseen realm, used to anchor the faith or ideology of the entire sequence line.

After all, genetic traits only ever dictated whether one was compatible or more compatible with a sequence, rather than an absolute indicator of capability or incapability.

The crucial factor influencing a person’s choice of sequence was their faith and ideology.

This was the true reason why the various factions of the Three Doctrines and Nine Schools fought so fiercely to secure their fundamental domains.

And the answer provided by history, in some respects, corroborated Chen Qisheng’s hypothesis. After all, when the Daoist Sequence made its move against the Yin-Yang Sequence back then, whether it was the other sequences or the imperial family, they had all coincidentally chosen to stand by and watch.

"You court death!"

Akechi Haruhide’s maddened scream pierced into his ears, interrupting Chen Qisheng’s tangled web of thoughts.

Every single one of Zou Sijiu's provocations possessed immense lethality, easily pushing Akechi Haruhide to the brink of losing her sanity.

Suddenly, the dark cloud composed of the Yatagarasu flock had already lunged right before their eyes.

"This Yellow Millet ghost is probably about to lose her mind. The crazier she gets, the easier it is for me to steal. Taoist, buy me some time!"

Zou Sijiu's expression was grim, sweat pouring down his forehead like rain. The cloud character behind him expanded and solidified repeatedly, yet it still failed to smoothly transition to the next stage of progress.

Evidently, usurping the authority of Takamagahara was not nearly as effortless for him as his words implied.

"Fighting in reality, and now fighting in dreams. Truly, not a single moment of peace."

Chen Qisheng let out a soft sigh, resting his hands on his knees as he stood up straight atop the flying sword.

With one hand, he formed a sword incantation, and the minute Daoist glyphs engraved upon his right arm flew outward one after another.

Ten characters, a hundred characters, a thousand characters.

A dense, overlapping sea of azure Daoist glyphs blotted out the sun, hurtling like missiles toward the oncoming flock of Yatagarasu.

The Daoist Ancestor's artifact from the Ministry of Fire and Thunder of Mount Longhu: The Demon-Slaying Evil-Vanquishing Curse.

If the clash between Li Jun and Arase Restu on Mount Tenpo was a martial confrontation of blood-sprayed blades and flesh-striking fists,

Then at this moment within Takamagahara, it was a battle of immortals that exhausted the limits of imagination!

One black wave and one azure wave collided violently. The Yatagarasu and the demon-slaying Daoist glyphs clashed and annihilated one another, the squelching sounds of flesh being pierced ringing out endlessly.

The azure wave of scriptures summoned by Chen Qisheng was clearly superior, washing through the Yatagarasu flock with an irresistible momentum, shattering them into bursts of black mist.

At the same time, the cloud character behind Zou Sijiu finally shifted from 'Jiu' to 'Li'—Severe.

Thirty percent of Takamagahara's authority was now in Zou Sijiu's hands!

"Why? Why is it that after I have done so much for you all, in the end, you are still unwilling to grant me a single path of survival?"

Amidst the surging black mist, Akechi Haruhide materialized clad in her white robe and scarlet hakama. Her delicate, fair face was filled with utter bewilderment, her eyes staring fixedly at Zou Sijiu.

"You did not do it for me, and I am not them."

Zou Sijiu's tone was solemn and heavy as he said, "An error is something that must be corrected."

"Why must I be an error? Is the creation of a dream realm not the ultimate dream of the Yin-Yang Sequence?"

"I am not them."

Zou Sijiu offered no further explanation, only repeating those words with quiet calm.

"Since you refuse to acknowledge me, then you can go to hell!"

A voice of supreme fury resonated through heaven and earth.

The spreading black mist churned like boiling water. An unimaginably massive, terrifying beast head suddenly leaped out from the misty surface, swallowing Akechi Haruhide in a single bite.

Extending behind the beast's head was a long, slender serpentine neck, dancing and coiling as it lowered its head to glare down at the two figures before it, who appeared as small as specks of dust.

The black mist dissipated, revealing seven more dragon-like, serpent-like heads, eyes bloodshot and heavy, as a massive serpentine torso, covered in thunder and fire, seeped piercing red blood from beneath shattered scales; the sheer agony incited the foul beast to unleash an endless, bloodthirsty roar.

The pirate abomination, Yamata no Orochi.

"Though this is all a dream, conjuring up a thing like this—isn't it a bit too theatrical?"

Chen Qisheng rubbed the space between his brows; as an old-school cultivator, he had never dabbled much in the cultivation of the Yellow Millet Dreamscape.

Facing the hideous, world-spanning fiend before him, Chen Qisheng felt less of a shock in his heart than he did a profound sense of helplessness.

So colossal, how was one to fight it? This Taoist was never adept at such grand scales.

Amidst his bewilderment, a mocking shout rang out from behind him.

"Hey, Ox-nose! Want to taste what it feels like to play a god for once?"

"Hmm?"

Chen Qisheng turned his head in astonishment, only to see Zou Sijiu unbuttoning his coat and tearing loose the tie around his neck, sweat-drenched strands of hair scattered across his forehead, a faint smile gracing his pale countenance.

And that giant cloud-character, somewhere along the way, had already shifted from 'Stern' to 'Stingy'!

"Forty percent authority should suffice."

Zou Sijiu whispered with lowered head, his features suddenly hardening into a mask of grim severity as he roared fiercely, "The Great Exorcism walks the dream, the starving beast devours the ghost! My name is Zou Sijiu; in the name of the Yin-Yang Order's Fifth, Ranyi, I seize the authority of this dreamscape to execute the malice of the Yellow Millet!"

"Taoist Sect Lord Wang Lingguan, arise!"

With that explosive shout, a bolt of lightning as thick as a structural pillar crashed straight down from the high clouds; Zou Sijiu's figure dissolved in that instant into a brilliant sphere of golden light, enveloping Chen Qisheng.

Roar!

The foul beast struck first to seize the initiative, a terrifying serpent head the size of a mountain peak swinging wide its maw, lunging forward to swallow the colossal figure before it had even fully solidified.

Pfft!

A phantom sword clashed out of the golden light, plunging directly into the serpent's mouth, shattering a row of sharp fangs and cleanly decapitating the beast!

The monster unleashed a soul-wrenching shriek, its severed neck flailing wildly on its own as the sprayed blood fell like a torrential downpour.

Boom!

Heaven and earth shuddered, while thunder and fire raged unchecked.

His body now as towering as a mountain, Chen Qisheng shattered the golden light around him; his Taoist vestments had miraculously transformed into golden armor and crimson robes, a longsword gripped in his hand, the incantations previously etched into his arms now swirling around the sharp edge of the blade, his divine eyes like lightning, looking down upon the world!

"Slay!"

"Roar!"

The two godlike fiends moved simultaneously, blade and fang colliding without trickery, the sound of the impact echoing like heavenly thunder.

Chen Qisheng held the longsword with a two-handed grip, striking with grand, sweeping motions, calmly and deliberately repelling every single lunging serpent maw.

The Taoist scripts manifesting upon the blade held an immense suppression over the foul beast; the strength of its scales could not hold back the sharpness of the edge at all.

After only a brief moment of fierce battle, the beast that Akechi Haruhide had transformed into was already riddled with wounds, five of its eight heads already severed.

Yet even grievously wounded like this, she still did not halt her advance; two serpent heads desperately bit down upon the dharma sword's blade, while her mountain-range-like torso dragged itself out from the inferno of thunder and fire, coiling tightly around Chen Qisheng's lower half.

Creak, creak, creak, creak!

Edges ground against sharp teeth, and the serpent's body crushed against the armor.

The two monoliths pitted their strength against one another, neither yielding an inch.

Roar!

The final serpent head suddenly reared high, its crimson reptilian eyes mirroring Akechi Haruhide's own maddened gaze.

Roar!

Chen Qisheng abruptly let go of the sword with both hands, his left arm thrusting horizontally to block the downward-snapping snake head; beneath the clamped jaws, blood sprayed, armor and flesh simultaneously mangled into a bloody pulp.

No change passed over Chen Qisheng's expression, as though he were incapable of feeling any pain; the fingers of his right hand balled tightly into a fist, relentlessly hammering the serpent head that was gnawing at his left arm.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The hammering sounded like heavenly beings beating war drums, the muffled thuds vibrating through heaven and earth.

The eyes of the arm-biting serpent head burst, blood flowing in torrents, yet its tightly locked jaws refused to let go.

The other two heads hastily spat out the longsword from their mouths, lunging from left and right toward Chen Qisheng's skull.

At the absolute critical juncture, the two incantations belonging to Chen Qisheng—'Evil Spirits Depart' and 'Slay Demons and Sever Evil'—detached from the sword blade simultaneously, coalescing into two phantom arms behind him, catching and pinning the two attacking, vicious serpent heads respectively!

Chen Qisheng remained utterly oblivious to the shocking transformations around him, his gaze as still as a placid lake, yet his fist-shadows fell with the violent fury of heavenly thunder, each punch heavier than the last, continuously smashing into the serpent head.

Even when the foul beast could bear it no longer, choosing to miserably loosen its grip and prepare to retreat, it was pinned by Chen Qisheng's left arm—now reduced to bare bone—pressed into his chest as he continued to swing his fists.

And precisely at this moment, that cloud-character floating in the distance had quietly shifted from 'Stingy' to 'Regret'!

Fifty percent of the authority had been stolen; at this moment, Takamagahara no longer possessed a true master!

Roar!

A roar steeped in tyranny suddenly erupted; the two beast heads that had been snapping at Chen Qisheng's skull broke free of their restraints, yet instead of fleeing, they turned around and charged right into Chen Qisheng's embrace.

Caught off guard, Chen Qisheng had his breastplate shattered by the serpent heads, staggering backward.

Having succeeded in its strike, the foul beast unexpectedly chose not to press the advantage, but rather retreated, pulling away from Chen Qisheng.

The only two intact serpent heads remaining coiled and crossed over one another, staring at the middle head which had been pounded into a virtual lump of ruined flesh, their mouths emitting an oddly meaningful low growl.

It sounded like long-lost friends, excitedly greeting one another.

"It's you?! Tokugawa Hiroshi, you're not dead?!"

The shrill female voice carried an unbelievable dread.

"Of course I am not dead, and I am going to take back everything that belongs to me!"

Amidst delighted, roaring laughter, the two bloody maws savagely tore into the serpent head situated in the middle.

"Quick, Old Chen, this bastard wants to intercept our spoils!"

Zou Sijiu's urgent shout rang in his ears; the placid lake in Chen Qisheng's eyes suddenly whipped into raging waves as he lunged forward, reaching down to snatch the longsword embedded in the mountain peak, shifting his stance and twisting his body to unleash a horizontal slash!

Clang!

Amidst the high-pitched hum of the blade, Chen Qisheng suddenly felt a powerful, overwhelming sensation of weightlessness rise within his body, as though falling from the heavenly realms down to the mortal dirt. Everything within his sight was expanding at an extreme velocity.

In the blink of an eye, that behemoth gorging itself on its own flesh entirely occupied his field of vision, whereas just a moment ago, his body and the opponent's had been roughly equal in size.

Did it grow larger, or did I grow smaller?

The wind whistling past his ears solved the riddle in Chen Qisheng's heart.

Because his mind, frozen and numbed by the divine possession, was also gradually thawing at this moment; only then did Chen Qisheng discover that he had reverted from the Lingguan state back to his original form, tumbling endlessly down toward the bottomless abyss of thunder and fire.

Boom!

A sphere of thunder and fire swept past, instantly submerging the heavily injured and powerless Chen Qisheng.

His vision darkened and then brightened; the tumultuous sound of the wind drifted from near to far, becoming faint and imperceptible. The sound of torrential rain moved from far to near, turning deafening in an instant.

Cold air rushed into his lungs; Chen Qisheng snapped back to reality, and before him stood none other than the Osaka Castle Pacification Office!

They had been thrown out of Takamagahara!

“Just one layer left.” Zuo Siqiu slumped behind, his face as pale as paper, breath as faint as a whisper. Chen Qiusheng, however, had no time to glance back—his battered corpse, half-destroyed and lying on the official chair, was now lifted by a talisman, hovering in midair. A pressure of Dao Order Four spread like a storm. The featureless, terrifying face before him split open with a black fissure, emitting a low, aged male voice. “So this is what you desire? A yellow-blooded ghost like you truly disappoints.” Chen Qiusheng stood rigid, sword planted in the ground, as if facing a calamity. “Turns out it’s truly a cursed omen.” Zuo Siqiu chuckled bitterly. “Cow-nose, looks like we’ll both be stuck here.” Chen Qiusheng didn’t turn his head. “Do you Yin-Yang practitioners have anything like the Art of Breaking Soldiers?” Zuo Siqiu understood, his face twisting into a hollow smile. “Of course.” “Then you go first.” “You go first. Old man, I must see what this son of mine is up to!” “Then none of us leave.” “Neither do I. I don’t plan to let him off.” Chen Qiusheng exhaled sharply, his trembling sword tip rising inch by inch. Suddenly, heavy footsteps echoed outside the official gate. An old man, one arm and half a face, slowly crossed the high threshold, brushing past Chen Qiusheng, who stood frozen. “You’re really not dead…” A voice laced with indescribable complexity. Toyotomi Hideyoshi stared at the faceless visage. “Tokugawa Ieyasu.” Chen Qiusheng jolted, grabbing Zuo Siqiu, who squirmed on the ground, and fled without looking back.