Chapter 68: Finger Shattering Ten vs. Longevity Realm

As Chen Hongxu’s signature rank skill, aside from the couple of times the cowardly Fan had witnessed it when they were shuttling back from small worlds, Chen Hongxu rarely had the opportunity to use "Finger Collapse" under normal circumstances.

Disregarding the sheer might of this technique, one only needed to look at Chen Hongxu’s fingertips, where a ring of white light spiraled and continuously corroded his flesh, leaving circles of bloodstains around his index finger, to realize that this was a vicious and baleful technique that inflicted self-harm before injuring others.

A few beads of sweat oozed from between Chen Hongxu's brows. The muscles on his arms tightened, and staring with wide eyes, he shouted, "Open!"

"Rumble..."

Intertwined within the white light at Chen Hongxu’s fingertips was a trace of purple energy, slithering through the air like a small snake. As Chen Hongxu shouted, the little snake grew larger and larger, eventually weaving into a dense purple lightning net that crackled as it blanketed toward the Daoists Chenfeng and Qinghua.

Chen Feng’s expression altered drastically. He discovered that his body had been immobilized from the very beginning by those rippling, wave-like forces. If he were to break this binding restriction, he would inevitably be unable to fully fend off the descending lightning net.

Weighing the pros and cons, Chen Feng took a deep breath, and the horsetail whisk in his hand burst apart. The whisk hairs, of an unknown material, stood completely erect and distinct before him, forming a wall-like barrier.

Seemingly feeling that this was still not secure enough, Chen Feng raised a hand to remove his Daoist crown, squeezing it hard. A visible surge of dense primordial energy diffused outward, instantly enveloping him within.

Enveloped in the primordial energy, Chen Feng let out a sigh of relief, appearing extremely confident in his defenses. He glanced sideways at Qinghua, only to find the latter’s expression deeply gloomy.

The veteran Daoist Qinghua knew how formidable Chen Feng’s defenses were, yet for some reason, he still felt a palpitation in his heart. At his level of cultivation, trust in one's instincts was sometimes even more accurate than what the eyes could see.

Qinghua raised a hand, waved it lightly, and shouted in a low voice, "Senior Brother, retreat quickly! Chen Hongxu's technique is probably far more complicated than it appears on the surface."

Naturally, Chen Feng knew this technique was not as simple as it looked. If he could retreat, how could he possibly stubbornly stand his ground and resist head-on? One had to know that the Daoist crown he wore, however unremarkable it looked, was a long-inherited defensive artifact of the Kongtong Sect. To imagine that this item could not withstand even a single strike from Chen Hongxu would be nothing short of an absolute fantasy.

"I am bound by these bizarre ripples; I cannot dodge away," Chen Feng said with a bitter expression. Hesitating for a moment, he reached back to grab his Daoist robe and tapped repeatedly upon the Yin-Yang symbol embroidered on it.

Chen Feng’s robe billowed backward as if caught in a fierce gale. The Yin-Yang symbol emerged from the fabric, transforming into a complete circular disk that hovered above Chen Feng’s head, continuously showering down dual rays of black and white light.

Qinghua knew the origins of this Daoist robe. It was an artifact won back in the day by the Patriarch XuanKun from Mount Longhu, ranked alongside the Peach Charm Divine Sword as one of the three great Daoist inheritances. Its defensive power was so immense that even Kunlun, the ancestral origin of the cultivation world, might not necessarily be able to produce such an item.

The anxiety in his heart eased slightly. He shifted his gaze toward the sky full of purple light, a myriad of emotions churning within him. Once upon a time, he had been a rather proud individual, but now, asking himself honestly, he knew he could never have achieved such feats at Chen Hongxu’s age.

What made him even more disheartened was that Chen Hongxu’s approach to dealing with matters differed vastly from his own. He was certain that even if he were to live his life over again, he would never defy the entire world simply for the sake of a woman.

Suddenly, his Dao heart was thrown into turmoil. Qinghua knew that having encountered Chen Hongxu, he would likely never have another chance in this lifetime to break through to the Human King realm. He sighed, opened his mouth to spit out a breath of black Qi, caught it in his palm, and kneaded it into a sphere.

Qinghua knew he could not afford to delay. If he waited any longer, leaving aside how terrifying Chen Hongxu’s attack was, his own realm might once again drop back down from its current rank.

He stamped his foot heavily into the void, kicking out a ripple that moved in the opposite direction of the one Chen Hongxu had created. Utilizing this counterforce, he rapidly broke free from the binding restraint and shot anxiously toward Chen Hongxu.

On the ground, Elder Ge sighed with a somewhat desolate expression and said, "Dead Qi. Old Daoist Qinghua has cast aside the ethereal and mysterious Paper Immortality realm, freezing his cultivation permanently at the Death Realm. Not to mention having no chance to advance to the higher Human King realm in this lifetime, even regardless of whether he wins or loses this battle, he will forever fall into the mortal dust."

Dong Lian half-understood. Her brows flickered with golden light, and her eyes were entirely filled with Chen Hongxu, who, relying solely on his own strength, was forcing two terrifyingly senior Daoists of the Kongtong Sect to pull out all their trump cards.

A sneer hung on the corner of Chen Hongxu’s mouth. If the "Finger Collapse" technique was not completely dodged from the very beginning, and the opponent failed to desperately hinder him thereafter, then even a Human King would have to endure the full force of his rank skill dead-on.

Seeing the veteran Daoist Qinghua flashing toward him with a black sphere clutched in his hands, Chen Hongxu neither dodged nor evaded, and instead chuckled softly, "Too late."

As he spoke, Chen Hongxu spread his ten fingers wide and pressed them forcefully toward the empty air.

"Boom—"

The air in front of Chen Hongxu exploded like ignited gasoline. The sky was filled with white flames, and intertwined within these flames were wisps of purple lightning that flickered incessantly, presenting a deeply terrifying sight.

Qinghua could not advance even a single step forward. He felt as though he were a tiny boat lost amidst towering ocean waves, drifting with the current, completely stripped of any control over his own body.

"Ah—" Qinghua roared up at the heavens. For a master of his caliber, this feeling of losing control was simply too agonizing. He fiercely slammed the black Qi in his hand toward the void, contending with the ripples surging through the air.

Leaving Qinghua’s hand, the black sphere rapidly expanded from the size of a chicken egg into a terrifying existence that blotted out the sky. The black sphere continuously radiated dead Qi, and within a hundred-meter radius on the ground, all trees were affected and withered to their deaths.

One by one, thick, ancient trees withered and died, turning into flying ash.

The tens of thousands of people on the ground would likely have suffered massive casualties once again had they not retreated far back earlier under Elder Ge’s warning.

Chen Hongxu was shaken by the pressure and resistance of the black sphere, coughing up a mouthful of frothy blood. He felt a jolt of shock, realizing that he had underestimated the heroes of the world; his consecutive breakthroughs and personal growth had bred a trace of arrogance within him.

Swallowing the bloody taste in his mouth, Chen Hongxu wore a fierce expression as his arms rapidly pulled back and then shot out again. Repeating this motion, he continuously tapped the void with his ten fingers well over a hundred times.

"Farewell!" Chen Hongxu slowly withdrew his hands and waved expressionlessly.

Suddenly, the heavens somehow turned completely purple, and purple bolts of light the size of millstones continuously slashed down from the sky, pounding mercilessly against the black sphere.

"Ah..."

A miserable, piercing scream echoed across the entire battlefield. Qinghua’s eyes turned blood red as he turned his head to look, only to see that Chenfeng—who should have been protected with absolute security—was now engulfed in purple light, while all the protective measures surrounding him had vanished into thin air at some unknown moment.

"Senior Brother!" Qinghua shouted loudly, flying backward to Chenfeng’s side and reaching out to grab him. However, the moment he made contact, his body spasmed, and he jerked his hand back as if he had touched an electric shock.

Breathing heavily, he raised his hand to try and stop it, but the purple light on Chenfeng simply circled his body once before being reabsorbed by the purple clouds in the sky.

"Puff!" Qinghua spat out a mouthful of blood. Looking at Chenfeng, who had been charred to a crisp by the purple light, a desolate sense of sorrow for a fallen comrade suddenly welled up within him.

He raised a hand to knock off his Daoist crown, then turned around with disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes, glaring at Chen Hongxu as he said, "I will make your life a living hell!"