I Cheated While Cultivating

Chapter 185: Chapter 185 The Scheme of Yu Long, the Loose Immortal

The projection of Yan Shouyi transformed into a radiant Great Sun, falling down majestically.

Just like the descent of the Golden Crow into the world, almost burning everything in the human realm to ashes.

Yet this intensely scorching power was incredibly refined, not leaking a single bit outward, and all of it surged towards Yu Long, the Loose Immortal.

There was only one target!

“No matter how powerful you are, you’re just a projection after all,” laughed Yu Long, the Loose Immortal, as he tossed an object in his hand into the air—it was a talisman inscribed with a profound rune in cinnabar.

Forbid!

The prohibition of forbidding!

“Projections cannot harm me!” roared Yu Long, the Loose Immortal, as the talisman suddenly caught fire and vanished, creating ripples in the void as if the fundamental principles of Taoist formulas were being temporarily altered.

Consequently, the searing brilliance of the Great Sun passed directly through Yu Long, the Loose Immortal, without causing him any damage whatsoever.

It was as if the two existed in two parallel worlds, unable to interact, hence incapable of inflicting harm upon each other.

To the current Yu Long, the Loose Immortal, Yan Shouyi’s projection as a Celestial Man might as well have been nonexistent.

“This, this…” Zhou Heng gaped in shock.

He had not anticipated such a development at all and his face showed an expression of disbelief.

This Yu Long, the Loose Immortal, was indeed unimaginably powerful.

Compared to the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal, whom a single five-colored divine light had easily dealt with before, Yu Long, the Loose Immortal, was incomparably mightier.

“Hahaha! What tricks do you have left?” Yu Long, the Loose Immortal, laughed heartily, “The realm of Celestial Men already involves the rules of the grand dao, and although we, as Loose Immortals, no longer possess the divine skills of Celestial Men, we have other means to easily control your projection technique.”

The projection of Yan Shouyi disbanded the radiance of the Great Sun’s Dharma Body and returned to his original form, standing above Huangtong Mansion City, yet his eyes were still fixed on Yu Long, the Loose Immortal.

“What should I do next?” Zhou Heng pondered deeply while gathering his senses.

He was currently using the perception of Yan Shouyi’s projection as a relay to explore the outside world.

He did not look directly at Yu Long, the Loose Immortal, nor did he directly sense him.

Lest his head be blown apart again by the true form of Yu Long, the Loose Immortal.

Boom!

Just then, the void abruptly erupted with a loud noise; the previously ethereal fingertip had become nearly solid, and the layers of dark clouds pressed down further, causing the void to truly begin to shatter piece by piece.

For the people within Huangtong Mansion City, there was only one sensation—that the sky was falling!

The heaven’s dome shattered!

Dark clouds loomed over the city!

This was the sky collapsing, the heavens pouring down!

The people inside Huangtong Mansion City suddenly plunged into panic and chaos.

Some were so frightened they were trembling in their corners, others were running wildly in the streets, some were looting, while those who thought they were certain to die began to release all sorts of their inner darkness, only to be injured and captured by the warriors of various families or officers of the Prefectural city.

Complete chaos!

“Hahaha! It has appeared, it has appeared! I have not failed the Demon Lord’s trust!” A voice full of joy bellowed from the collapsing firmament.

This was the Ghost Immortal who was dueling with Pei Hongdao.

“Nonsense, die!!”

Pei Hongdao’s roar, like a thunderbolt, immediately overpowered the voice of the Ghost Immortal Lian Feng. His figure flickered with a surge of light, and as he grew taller in the face of the wind, a dharma body of ten thousand zhang appeared.

This dharma body was of an old man holding a scroll, wearing a Bagua robe, surrounded by numerous hexagrams embodying all things in the world. Beneath his feet lay a long river, its silvery waves sparkling and frothing with the principle of the old and new alternating, seeming to flow from the past through the present and into the future.

The “Ten Thousand Manifestations Expanse Dharma Body” cultivated from the world-securing divine skill “Ten Thousand Images Manifest Expanse Secret Volume” of the Pei Family in Pingzhou.

Once Pei Hongdao’s dharma body was revealed, the empty space within a radius of hundreds of miles suddenly became stagnant. Clear and tranquil light floated above all things within this area, converging towards this dharma body.

These lights contained various pieces of information of these things, these countless lights were streams of information, all converging on the dharma body and forming the luminance that twined around it.

Then, the ten thousand zhang dharma body launched a stream of converged information with a flick of its hand toward the Ghost Immortal Lian Feng. This was the most common attack of the Ten Thousand Manifestations Expanse Dharma Body, gathering information streams to break down the opponent’s spirit.

Within a few hundred miles, all things, except sentient beings, from flying birds and walking beasts to flowers, birds, bugs, and even mountains and trees, contained uncountable amounts of information.

Under such a massive onslaught of information, even a Ghost Immortal like Lian Feng, who had survived the fire calamity, found it difficult to cope in the moment, experiencing a brief sluggishness in perception and action.

However, it was in that split second that Yan Shouyi’s projection raised a palm, which became a sky-covering, sun-blocking hand of fire, reaching through the air to capture and pinch the Ghost Immortal Lian Feng.

By the time Lian Feng came to his senses,

it was already too late.

The extreme heat of the Power of Pure Yang enveloped the entire body of the Ghost Immortal. The grand principle of eradicating dark and evil energy was as substantive as a brand, imprinted within this Power of Pure Yang.

“Celestial, Celestial Man??!!” Lian Feng screamed in terror, utterly horrified, “No! No, no! No!! Demon Lord save me, save me!”

Until now, he had been fully focused on battling Pei Hongdao, not daring to be distracted in the slightest, so much so that he hadn’t noticed the appearance of a Celestial Man projection like Yan Shouyi’s.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Pure Yang golden flames burned, giving off whisps and streams of blue smoke.

This Ghost Immortal, who had passed the fire calamity and whose strength was comparable to an ordinary Loose Immortal, was instantly reduced to ash in the presence of Yan Shouyi’s projection’s Pure Yang golden flames, ceasing to exist.

Demons are hard to kill, and Ghost Immortals even harder.

But in the face of a Celestial Man’s might, this so-called undying trait was not worth mentioning at all.

And the Demon Lord it called out for never showed up from the beginning to the end.

“Congratulations! Your projection has slain the hardly challenging enemy ‘Lian Feng.’ Fortune Bag [Copper] +1.”

Reward notification sounded.

When the projection killed, the power comparison took the levels of the projections as the reference but seemed to have some degree of conversion, so that not all enemies became worthless, and there would still be some rewards.

Crack, crack, crack!

The sound of exploding and shattering void suddenly spread again.

Zhou Heng, using the perception of Yan Shouyi’s projection, looked over and saw that the half-materialized finger was becoming more substantial, seemingly about to completely solidify, the empty space around Huangtong Mansion City was already half broken, and a space storm filled with the aura of destruction was about to sweep over this great city.

Therefore, Zhou Heng willed a thought.

After Yan Shouyi’s projection had annihilated the Ghost Immortal Lian Feng, it immediately transformed into a great sun of golden light, intertwining layers upon layers of principles and essence, pressing down on that half-materialized finger.

This town, like clearing clouds to see the sun, instantly dispersed the thick black clouds, quelled the space storm, and even the rifts in the fabric of space quickly mended under the glory of the golden solar entity’s light.

The various negative energies that permeated the surroundings melted away as quickly as winter snow under a warm sun, and the half-formed finger that was about to solidify completely began to regress under the suppression of the golden solar entity, gradually becoming illusory once more.

After all, this half-formed finger was incomplete, and no matter how powerful its whole body was, or how high its essence, it was now merely a half-formed finger. Under the suppression of the Celestial Man, what chance did it have to resist?

It was swiftly being suppressed back into its seal.

However, such suppressive state needed to be maintained for a while, which meant that Yan Shouyi’s projection couldn’t afford to divert its attention to other matters at the moment.

At most, it could continue to serve as Zhou Heng’s sensory relay.

“Oh? That is somewhat intriguing,” said Yu Long, his lips curling slightly upwards with a smile after seeing the actions of Yan Shouyi’s projection. “Since this projection cannot kill me, let it suppress the demon entities. It’s indeed a fine idea.

“But what will you do next? The divine light of the Five Elements’ true meaning is ineffective, and this projection of a Celestial Man is now useless. Let me think, what else do you have? That technique that causes everything to regress in state?

“Won’t you give it a try?”

He spoke as if to himself, seemingly very leisurely, not in a rush at all, as though he wasn’t afraid of being pursued, possessing an air of confidence.

“What’s happening, what is this Yu Long Loose Immortal trying to do?” Zhou Heng wondered, unable to comprehend the intention behind Yu Long Loose Immortal’s actions.

If Yu Long Loose Immortal was there to kill him, then now would be the prime opportunity for action. The longer the delay, the greater the risk, as undoubtedly, more experts would soon arrive.

Eighth Rank Martial Artists and even Celestial Men might be possible respondents.

Yet, this Yu Long Immortal appeared to be stalling for time, as if waiting for something. But what could he possibly be awaiting that warranted such a risk?

Dare this Yu Long Immortal not fear the arrival of a Celestial Man?

Or had he ascertained through some means that no Celestial Men would come at this point in time?

One doubt after another surfaced in Zhou Heng’s mind.

Of course, at the same time, he was also pondering what means he still had to annihilate this incredulously strong Loose Immortal.

Among the reserves from before, there was a Peak Card, and the methods of prophecy were of no use.

But the Peak Card could at most carry out Absolute Fourth Rank Martial Arts, and prophecy required logical consistency to work, yet there was no logical scenario where killing Yu Long Loose Immortal was possible.

After all, Pei Hongdao was the only one here capable of combating Yu Long Loose Immortal.

Even if this ultimate Grandmaster could defeat a Ghost Immortal like Lian Feng, compared to Yu Long Loose Immortal, he would likely fall short.

Then, there was the matter of the items obtained from opening the Fortune Bag earlier, some of which could kill Yu Long Loose Immortal.

For example, the projection from the Ziwei Star Palace. If it could exert its full power, suppressing Yu Long Loose Immortal would certainly pose no problem.

But the problem was that it was a Magic Weapon’s projection.

Given Zhou Heng’s Eighth Rank position on the Martial Path, it was impossible to unleash its full potential.

Then there was the Paralysis Card, but even though the Paralysis Card could immobilize, to kill Yu Long Loose Immortal, one would still need an attack that could truly finish him.

Boom!!

A loud rumble came from the sky; Pei Hongdao had already clashed with Yu Long Loose Immortal.

This top-notch Great Grandmaster truly deserved his rank as the seventh on the terrestrial list, being a top Fourth Rank powerhouse, he faced off against the Jade Dragon Loose Immortal, whose level was above the Fourth Rank, and surprisingly did not fall into a disadvantage from the beginning, showing signs of being evenly matched.

However, it was quite evident that there was a significant gap in strength between Pei Hongdao and the Jade Dragon Loose Immortal, and although Pei Hongdao maintained a semblance of resistance with his aggressive attacks at the start, it was clear that it would be difficult for him to keep up over time.

“If a few more top-notch Great Grandmasters could come and besiege the Jade Dragon Loose Immortal, perhaps with the Paralysis Card and the prophecy combined, we could kill him!”

Zhou Heng thought to himself, yet he knew this was unrealistic.

The reason why the top-notch Great Grandmasters were called ‘top-notch’ was that at this level, the powerful individuals were essentially the pinnacle of martial artists in the human world, the extraordinary hermits, with those above them being the Loose Immortals who transcended the mortal realm.

Such revered figures were undoubtedly very rare; it was impossible for several of them to appear here all at once.

Yet, as he was thinking this.

Suddenly a streak of sword light flew in from the horizon, plunging directly into the fray, joining Pei Hongdao to attack the Jade Dragon Loose Immortal—it was unmistakably another top-notch Great Grandmaster.

Zhou Heng clearly saw the person through Yan Shouyi’s projection, and it was none other than a beautiful woman in her thirties wearing a Pure Yang Palace Taoist robe; it was actually Qi Rui, the master of Jade Qiong Peak.

She was Cheng Jianjian’s master.

Following that, another streak of red lightning flew from afar. This person immediately manifested their Dharma Body, turning the sky into a sea of red thunder, engulfing the Jade Dragon Loose Immortal.

This crimson lightning had some resemblance to the Red Sky Nine Styles Chu Qingchuan used earlier, likely a top-notch Great Grandmaster from the Shenxiao Sect, probably Chu Qingchuan’s master, most likely drawn here due to his disciple’s sudden “resurrection” back at the sect.

Now, the Jade Dragon Loose Immortal was facing the assault of three top-notch Great Grandmasters, yet he still held his ground without showing signs of fatigue or falling behind. After bursting out from the sea of thunder, he even attempted to overpower all three by himself.

“Monstrous! How can he be so powerful?” Zhou Heng watched with a tingling scalp, feeling that the true Celestial Man would probably possess this kind of might, incredibly formidable.

It was utterly outrageous!

However, under these circumstances, if one were to use the Paralysis spell and then declare with prophecy that the Jade Dragon Loose Immortal was destined to be defeated and perish, then the chances of success would probably be quite substantial.

Just at this moment, a streak of golden radiance flew from afar—astonishingly, it was a Golden Dragon.

But the Golden Dragon was just a Dharma Body.

The actual person was a man within the Golden Dragon, wearing a dragon-patterned golden robe, donning a mask with two dragon horns drawn on it.

Zhou Tian Boundary Officer!

Azure Dragon horn constellation!

He too was a Fourth Rank top-notch Great Grandmaster.

This was the fourth one!

Zhou Heng felt immense joy.

But before this constellation could join the battle, the Jade Dragon Loose Immortal’s aura soared dramatically, becoming several times more powerful than before.

His strength seemed to have no limits.

The mana flared all over the Jade Dragon Loose Immortal’s body; with a shake of his form, he instantly transformed into a Green Jade Dragon, surrounded by clouds of mist, soaring above the sea of red thunder, weaving through the streams of information and dodging sword lights, he charged at the newly-arrived constellation.

To be precise, he charged at the constellation’s Golden Dragon Dharma Body.

“My risky wait was not in vain; you have finally arrived, as my successor, your Dharma Body is not bad at all!

“But now, it is mine! Hahahaha!!”