Chapter Forty-Eight: Contest at the Domain Gate

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Wild sand surged, the heavens and earth reversed, and the old man’s fist, wielding the might of ten thousand mountains, was unstoppable as it crashed straight toward Fasheng. Murderous intent flashed in Fasheng’s vertical eye as he watched his hundred-zhang barrier of light torn asunder. From both flanks, the six Void Children advanced in a pincer attack, but the old man showed no fear. His blood-red crystalline armor blazed with a dazzling radiance; from his crown surged ten thousand zhang of incandescent light, scorching the sky and piercing the high heavens, while waves of heat cascaded down from above, rolling with the sound of a raging sea.

It seemed as though the firmament itself had been pierced by his radiance. The blazing sun hung in the sky, connected to the old man’s burning light, and in a flash, a torrent of brilliant light swept across from the heavens, carrying the power of a star. Fasheng and the other six Void Children paled, hastily dodging, but the light was too fast—wherever it passed, the earth was reduced to molten lava, the heat so intense that even Elder Ge and the others could not withstand it, forcing them to retreat.

Three Void Children were instantly annihilated by the light, leaving not even ashes behind. The brilliance quickly faded. In less than a minute, half the Eight Children of the Void were lost; the remaining four stood warily, watching the old man, not daring to make a move.

“Calling down the Celestial Fire of the Corpse Path… It seems you’ve completed the genetic engineering that the First Era could not.” Fasheng held his scepter across his chest.

The old man said nothing. Crystals gleamed around him in the sunlight as a pair of crystalline blades extended from his hands, sharp as razors, refracting countless rays of cold light.

Fasheng glanced up at the blazing sun. Sensing something, one of the Void Children shot into the sky, raising his hand to generate a massive magnetic field. As positive and negative poles clashed, the air grew damp, summoning dark clouds that completely shrouded the sunlight. The Void Child himself radiated a gentle glow, like a full moon in the night.

“Without sunlight, your energy is severed.” Fasheng’s tone was cold as two more Void Children charged, force fields crushing everything in their path, even snuffing out magma in silence.

The old man’s brow furrowed in secret—this was the Rending Force Field!

At the side, Young Lord Tong Wu’s eyes focused, observing the battlefield. His voice was grave: “They’re creating a force field, trying to suppress the Corpse Path with overwhelming intensity.”

“Ha! The Corpse Path is famed for its iron sinew and steel bones. They won’t tear him apart,” said Zuo Baixing with casual ease.

Elder Ge shook his head. “They don’t need to tear him apart. Suppression is enough. The Void Spirits are deeply interested in the Corpse Path; they’d never destroy him. After all, the Corpse Path is a perfect union of silicon and carbon—something even the Void Spirits can’t replicate at their current level of civilization.”

The old man’s crystalline blades suddenly grew to nearly a hundred zhang, slashing up and down, hurricanes cleaving through all things. Yet, as they entered the hundred-meter radius around the Void Children, the blades’ speed was utterly suppressed, unable to draw near—the force field was simply too immense.

“Calculating transfer portal coordinates—open the portal!” The two Void Children joined hands, forming a seal. The crystalline blades were instantly enveloped in a strange glow and, in the next moment, exchanged positions. The old man’s attack struck nothing but air.

Zuo Baixing stared in astonishment. “What… what kind of move is that?”

Beside him, Bai Li Zhuihun stroked his chin thoughtfully. “It’s similar to spatial transfer technology. The two blades are shifted for a moment into another space, then released from another portal, essentially relocating the Corpse Path’s strike to the other side. It negates his attack—quite like my own spatial displacement, though it requires immense computational and spatial control.”

As he spoke, the old man glanced at the encroaching force field, his power rising to the limit as he struck out. Yet the transfer portal appeared once more, instantly shifting him before Fasheng. Fasheng’s scepter traced a rift in space, swallowing the old man as he emerged.

As the spatial fissure closed and the old man vanished, Elder Ge and the others felt a chill in their hearts.

Banished to an unknown domain, the two Void Children dove toward the subterranean magma. If they could control Luo Longyu’s true body, the old man’s fusion would naturally unravel.

The great yellow dog roared, its form swelling a hundredfold. Its claws, like the vault of heaven, swept at the two Void Children, engaging them head-on. Long Shaoxian, throwing caution aside, charged as well, his dragon halberd blazing with lethal force—only to have it caught in one Void Child’s single hand. Long Shaoxian released the halberd, which instantly transformed into a million dragon scales, enveloping the Void Child like a cocoon.

Long Shaoxian flipped back, his hands forming seals as dragon power surged within him. His eyes became dragon’s eyes as he shouted: “Azure Dragon Descends!”

A dragon’s roar shook the heavens. The million scales tightened around the Void Child, and in the void, a shadowy azure dragon pressed its claws upon the cocoon of scales.

“Five, now!” Long Shaoxian bellowed with all his might.

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“Understood! Yin Eye, open—Deep Space Exile!” Tong Wu’s right eye became a gate to the Netherworld, forcibly opening a passage. The azure dragon’s shadow, cocoon and all, rushed toward the portal, intent on banishing the Void Child into the cold, remote reaches of deep space.

Another Void Child tried to disrupt the energy stabilizing the portal, but was held back by the massive yellow dog.

Fasheng watched the enormous portal coldly, pointing with one hand, his vertical eye grim. The force field around the portal instantly reversed, forming a new gate. As the energy of Tong Wu’s Nether Gate wavered on the brink of collapse, Tong Wu abruptly shut his right eye and opened his left.

The negative energy forming the Nether Gate rapidly reversed into positive energy. For a moment, positive and negative energies inverted; the Nether Gate became a Solar Gate, while Fasheng’s portal’s energies were precisely opposed. The contrary fields neutralized each other, fusing the two portals into one.

At that instant, Bai Li Zhuihun activated his own transfer portal, stepping into the merged gate created by Tong Wu.

Fasheng was startled—for he had intended to transfer the trapped Void Child to his own position. Now, with Tong Wu’s manipulation of magnetic polarity, Bai Li Zhuihun would pass through the channel Fasheng had opened and emerge beside him for a surprise attack!

Realizing their intent, Fasheng hesitated not at all. He immediately closed his own portal. As the passage collapsed, Bai Li Zhuihun—already within—would, at best, be exiled beyond space and time, or at worst, torn apart by the spatial turbulence.

Yet just as Fasheng closed his portal, a new gateway appeared above another Void Child, from which a cold blade swept down. The Void Child looked up only to see a flash of cold light before half his head was severed, and the great yellow dog swallowed him whole. Zuo Baixing tumbled from the portal, landing steadily beside the dog, his blade gleaming.

On the other side, Bai Li Zhuihun remained at Elder Ge’s side, his position unchanged.

Meanwhile, the Void Child cocooned in dragon scales was sucked into the newly opened Nether Gate, his fate unknown.

Tong Wu opened three portals in quick succession, nearly exhausting his strength. After all, he was still young; opening a portal required the alignment and mobilization of immense positive and negative energies, far beyond his capacity.

The yin-yang Taiji beneath Elder Ge’s feet slowly faded, and all seemed to return to normal.

Fasheng’s vertical eye swept over the group. After a moment, he spoke slowly: “I see now. Of you, two can open transfer portals, and one is a master of matter transfer using positive and negative polarity. From the start, your target was not me. You had the Dragon Maiden trap Liu Shang, the Tong heir open a negative portal to force my hand in creating a channel, then the Tong heir, supported by the vast yin-yang field, inverted the negative to positive, neutralizing my portal. I thought I was about to be ambushed and closed my channel, but in truth, another used the opportunity to open his own, and as I was about to enter, through quantum exchange, the one wielding the blade was transferred over to slay Na Xie. Then, the Tong heir opened another Nether Gate and banished Liu Shang. I must admit, your coordination was flawless—you completely deceived me.”

With that, Fasheng’s gaze settled on Elder Ge. “Outwardly, you did nothing, but in secret, you used yin-yang arts to continually invert positive and negative energies by the law of extremes. Who are you? I wish to know your name.”

“Ge Wangshan,” the old man replied, looking up.

Fasheng nodded, turning to Bai Li Zhuihun. “If I’m not mistaken, he is also a fake—an image you created through molecular fusion.”

Elder Ge offered a wry smile, withdrawing his spell; the figure of Bai Li Zhuihun dissolved into nothingness. “Somewhat embarrassing, but you saw through it.”

“Then, where did you send him? Let me guess—it must be…”

Boom!

Before Fasheng could finish, his scepter blazed with light as he spun and struck, tearing open the void. A crystalline blade swung down, clashing with the staff; the shock sent Fasheng flying. The old man leapt from the rift, vanishing, then in the next instant appeared at Fasheng’s side, his fist smashing down and driving Fasheng deep into the earth. The ground shook, sand and stones flying.

Bai Li Zhuihun reappeared where Fasheng had stood, drenched in sweat and nearly fainting, only to be caught by Zuo Baixing.

“Are you alright?” Zuo Baixing asked.

Bai Li Zhuihun shook his head. “This Prison of the Gods is almost impossible to find—I felt I searched through countless times and spaces for years before I finally found it. I barely made it back.”

After Fasheng was struck into the dust, the crystals on the old man’s body dulled.

Elder Ge’s brow creased. “This is bad. The elder’s body is exhausted; the fusion won’t hold much longer.”

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The great yellow dog raised its head and let out a long howl, gazing at the Void Child blocking the sunlight. In a flash, it charged, wind swirling at its feet. The Void Child swiftly tried to alter the surrounding force field to block him, but the yellow dog crashed into him head-on, then opened its massive jaws and devoured him whole.

“Heavenly Dog Devours the Moon…” Long Shaoxian murmured, watching as the yellow dog swallowed the Void Child, whose soft radiance was reminiscent of a full moon.

Sunlight bathed the land again. The yellow dog crashed to the ground, shivering with cold. The Void Child’s power was too great for its body to contain; now it suffered the backlash from the Void Child’s dying rampage.

Battered and bloodied, Fasheng leapt up, leaning on his scepter. The old man’s punch had punched a crater into his chest, blue blood streaming out.

Seeing the old man’s dulled crystals and sluggish movements, Fasheng forced himself upright. “I told you, the Corpse Path is not something you can bear. Now your body is spent; you can no longer fight me.”

Even as the words left his lips, the crystals on the old man’s body fell away. He dropped from the void to the earth, staggering, his withered frame unable to stand straight. His face was gaunt as a corpse, and his eyes were twin black holes—utterly terrifying.

Elder Ge hastily traced a Taiji to sustain the old man’s life force.

“It’s useless. His soul has been burned as fuel for the fusion; you cannot save him. Now that the greatest threat is gone, it’s time for the three thousand Void Spirit warriors to take the field.” Despite his injuries, Fasheng drove his scepter into the earth. The distant wasteland trembled and split open, monstrous roars echoing from below to the sky.

“He… he’s been hiding three thousand Void Spirit warriors!” Long Shaoxian gripped his halberd, teeth clenched, as he watched the armored Void Clan soldiers claw their way out of the ground.

Void Spirit warriors were the true regular army of the Void Clan, their combat power over ten times that of Void Slaves. Void Slaves were expendables created through genetic engineering, mindlessly obedient with no independent consciousness. But Void Spirit warriors were genuine Void Clan—true Void Spirits with their own will!

Now, Bai Li Zhuihun and Tong Wu were both exhausted. Only Elder Ge, Long Shaoxian, and Zuo Baixing remained at full strength. Yet even at their peak, the first squad could never withstand a charge from three thousand Void Spirit warriors.

Previously, Fasheng had held them back for fear of the old man, who would have slaughtered them all. But now, with the old man’s body failing, Fasheng no longer hesitated.

“Leave me and hold back those Void warriors—do what is most valuable,” the old man’s fading spirit whispered to Elder Ge.

The three thousand Void soldiers swiftly formed into two ranks. Over two thousand bone-bladed warriors charged, so fast they left afterimages in their wake. As Long Shaoxian prepared to strike, the rearmost Void warriors raised their arms, which had evolved into mirror-like bone surfaces. These rapidly gathered their inner power, blasting beams of death at range.

“Take cover!” Elder Ge’s hoarse cry shook the heavens.

Death beams bombarded the land, turning everything to dust where they struck, covering the advance of the other Void Spirits. Long Shaoxian had just lifted his halberd when a death beam hit him squarely, knocking him to the ground with his chest smoking. If not for the protection of dragon energy, this blow would have pierced him through.

Elder Ge glanced at the old man, then at Long Shaoxian, and roared in grief and fury. He rushed to Long Shaoxian’s side, unleashing yin and yang to disrupt the Void soldiers’ field, tearing dozens apart and slowing the rest with the sudden reversal.

But this counterattack drew even fiercer death beams. Elder Ge dragged Long Shaoxian to his feet, shouting, “Retreat! Retreat!”

As his enemies reeled under the onslaught of his three thousand Void warriors, Fasheng leapt into the magma—his target still Luo Longyu’s true body.

Just as he was about to plunge in, a stone coffin shot from the lava, smashing into Fasheng’s chest and driving him back to the ground.

“Now, I am your opponent!” A chilling voice echoed from the coffin. The lid blasted off, revealing a pair of blood-red eyes—silver irises gleaming with the murderous intent of a thousand slaughters…

(Due to a name conflict, Mu Yimian has been changed to Luo Mengxuan. If anyone finds the name ‘Mu Yimian’ before this chapter, please comment below, and the author will correct it immediately.)