Chapter 484: Self-Detonation

The Imperial Preceptor severed the threads of karma between himself and the Immortal, causing the Immortal to forget his very existence, rendering him entirely imperceptible.

"Lunar True Fire."

Chanting silently within his heart, he exhaled with a sharp gust, unleashing a mass of flames specifically designed to target the soul—a true fire renowned for dispersing and destroying spirits, rivaling the Solar True Fire, and refined to a point where even half-immortal powerhouses could scarcely withstand it.

The Lunar True Fire clung like maggots on a bone, its soul-targeting power relentlessly corroding the Immortal's spiritual essence.

"I remember!"

The moment the Imperial Preceptor struck, the karmic connection between the two was re-established, and the memories of the past flooded back into the Immortal's mind.

Activating his embryonic Immortal Dao Fruit, his soul was instantly made whole, and the Lunar True Fire was completely purified.

"As expected, the Lunar True Fire alone cannot kill you."

Though he had anticipated this, the Imperial Preceptor was still shaken, unable to discern the nature of the methods his opponent had deployed.

It was not that methods to resolve the Lunar True Fire did not exist, but every single one of them was exceedingly troublesome, never as effortless as the Immortal's display.

"Is it a technique of the embryonic Dao Fruit, related to the soul?"

This battle was proving far more difficult than the Imperial Preceptor had envisioned; he had assumed the Immortal would be easy to handle given that only his soul remained, yet he never expected that soul could reconstitute itself at any moment, turning a vulnerability into the most formidable defense.

The Immortal was also pondering the methods the Imperial Preceptor utilized to force him into oblivion, a transcendent spell he had never heard of before—was this the effect of the Imperial Preceptor's embryonic Dao Fruit?

Ordinary cultivators relied on spells and physical might during combat, but upon reaching the Body Integration and Tribulation Transcision stages, a new element was added: natural laws. However, these laws merely crushed low-and-mid-tier cultivators; against peers of the same realm, they offered little advantage, as everyone could wield the same laws.

Once a Tribulation Transcision cultivator condensed an embryonic Dao Fruit, everything changed completely, for it meant the cultivator possessed a law uniquely their own, each embryonic fruit serving a different function, and the differences between these fruits, along with one's comprehension of them, drew the divide among half-immortal powerhouses.

In a battle between half-immortals, the most critical factor was deciphering exactly what the opponent's embryonic Dao Fruit was.

"Tribulation-Severing Immortal Body!"

A ten-thousand-foot-tall dharma body rose from the ground, spanning heaven and earth, nearly tearing the fabric of space apart with the power to pluck the stars, imbued with an immortal property that rendered it indestructible!

The Imperial Preceptor once again triggered his embryonic Karmic Dao Fruit, severing his relationship with the Immortal.

"Damn it, this trick again..." The Immortal gnashed his teeth in frustration, forced into a perpetual state of passivity without understanding the underlying principle. He quickly used his magic to write down a sequence of words to clarify the situation, but as the embryonic Karmic Dao Fruit activated, the text grew blurred and illegible.

Midway through his thought, his gaze turned vacant, and he once again forgot the existence of the Imperial Preceptor.

Swoosh—

A silver needle materialized out of thin air, leaping through space from the exterior of the dharma body directly into its interior, striking the Immortal squarely between his brows.

The Immortal cried out in pain as weakness washed over his form, leaving him unable to sustain the Myriad-Tribulation Immortal Body, which collapsed with a thunderous roar.

The Imperial Preceptor manifested himself, and the Immortal's memories instantly flooded back.

"This is the Soul-Piercing Needle, forged from the absolute essences of gold and silver."

Every attack the Imperial Preceptor employed was aimed directly at the soul.

"Even if you know, what use is it? The Soul-Piercing Needle will tear your three hun and seven po apart, and I shall see just how you intend to reconstruct your soul this time!" The Imperial Preceptor sneered, though a pang of heartache twinged within him; these needles were extraordinarily difficult to forge, and he had only ever made three. One had been consumed to display his absolute might when he succeeded the title of Imperial Preceptor, leaving only this final one, with replication being an absolute impossibility.

The effect of the Soul-Piercing Needle was instantaneous; the Immortal felt as though his body were being ripped apart, a colossal force surging from within to tear his form asunder.

Ten distinct masses of spiritual energy drifted out, representing the Immortal's three hun and seven po.

The Imperial Preceptor watched intently, eager to see which part of the soul the Immortal would attempt to reconstruct first.

Three breaths passed, yet the ten masses of soul continued to hover aimlessly in the air. The Imperial Preceptor's heart settled with absolute certainty; dispersing the soul had indeed been the correct choice, as the opponent was powerless to mend it.

"Lunar True Fire!"

He aimed directly at one of the Immortal's three hun, intending to destroy them one by one.

Suddenly, that specific mass of soul snapped open a single eye, and the Immortal's voice echoed forth.

"Why should I bother to mend it? Explode!"

The Imperial Preceptor's pupils contracted sharply as a sense of dread washed over him. One of a half-immortal's three hun detonating was something he had never heard of any peer attempting, for it was an act of pure suicide.

The mass of soul erupted violently, blasting the Imperial Preceptor off his feet and slamming him into the ground, his own soul suffering from the peripheral shockwaves.

"Did you think that was the end?"

Another mass of the three hun detonated, whipping up a violent soul storm that howled through the air, filling the skies with a dense black miasma that rendered all five senses and six consciousnesses entirely useless in that instant.

"Again!"

Boom—

The third mass of the three hun erupted once more.

The Immortal's detached voice resonated through the booming echoes of the spiritual detonations: "The Great Master of my Immortal Lineage stands as the chief of the five ancient immortals, traversing past and present without rival. Now that I have returned through rebirth, I shall ascend to the very pinnacle of the Immortal Dao. I would like to see whose Dao Fruit is truly superior between the two of us!"

"Curse it!" The Imperial Preceptor frantically activated his embryonic Karmic Dao Fruit, severing the karmic ties between them.

"Explode again!" The Immortal's voice rang out from one of the seven po, causing the Imperial Preceptor's hair to stand on end.

He had already severed the karma; the Immortal should not have been able to remember him, so how could he still attack?

Before he could fathom the reason, a fresh wave of soul detonations was already upon him.

Boom—Boom—Boom—

The seven po erupted in rapid succession. The Imperial Preceptor had never witnessed such madness; his body felt like a frail skiff tossed upon tempestuous seas, on the verge of capsizing at any moment!

The Immortal had long anticipated this scenario. Recognizing that regardless of the clues he left behind, they would always be forgotten or erased, he chose simply not to leave any information regarding the Imperial Preceptor.

Before the Imperial Preceptor could utilize the embryonic Karmic Dao Fruit, the Immortal had left himself only a single instruction—

Detonate six of the seven po.

With the three hun exploding thrice and the seven po exploding six times, the nine consecutive soul storms battered the Imperial Preceptor's immortal soul until it grew unstable, leaving him in a daze.

"Pant, pant..." The Imperial Preceptor was in a wretched state; the precious robe he wore, capable of defending against attacks from the Tribulation Transcision stage, had been shredded into tatters by the nine rounds of explosions, completely stripped of its defensive capabilities.

The Imperial Preceptor stared deathly at the sole remaining mass of the seven po. With only one left, he wanted to see what the opponent could possibly do!

Then, right before the Imperial Preceptor's wide eyes, the Immortal seamlessly reconstituted his three hun and seven po, returning instantly to his peak condition.

The Imperial Preceptor excelled most in battles of attrition, his customary tactic being to use his embryonic Karmic Dao Fruit to make opponents forget him before launching sneak attacks, repeating the cycle until even a half-immortal could no longer endure the drain.

Yet what he failed to realize was that the Immortal Dao Fruit feared a battle of attrition least of all.

Venerable Black and White looked upon Yun Zhi and the others as if staring at corpses: "What does it matter if you have the numbers? Once the Imperial Preceptor strikes, all of you are doomed!"

"Lord Imperial Preceptor possesses an embryonic Dao Fruit and is a powerhouse of the half-immortal realm. If you release me now, his Lordship might still spare your lives!"

His tone carried an implicit threat; what did a mere crowd of Tribulation Transcision cultivators matter when faced with an embryonic Dao Fruit? They were utterly insignificant!

The second update will be at eleven o'clock.

(End of Chapter)