Ant, have you ever felt despair

A sharp swish—the sound of a blade slicing through flesh.

A spray of crimson blood instantly painted the sky.

Fairy Miaohua appeared eerily hundreds of miles away, her speed surpassing even teleportation. Her face was deathly pale, her jade-like hand clutching her left shoulder tightly, her pristine white robes now stained red with blood.

After all, Fairy Miaohua was an Earth Immortal—one of the finest among them. Even though the ambush had been impossible to predict, at the critical moment, she had still managed to evade a fatal blow with a secret technique.

She turned her gaze back to the void where the attack had come from, but the sinister figure had already vanished without a trace, embodying the principle of striking once and retreating a thousand miles if unsuccessful.

A flash of killing intent flickered in Fairy Miaohua’s eyes. "The Carefree Mountain’s Ghost Hidden!"

"Amitabha. This humble monk, Fa Xu, greets Fairy Miaohua."

Suddenly, a deep and resonant voice, like the tolling of a great bell, echoed through the night. In the distance, a dazzling burst of Buddhist light erupted.

Then, a towering, awe-inspiring figure strode through the air—a stern-faced old monk who exuded the aura of a wrathful Vajra guardian.

Seeing Fa Xu approach, Fairy Miaohua’s expression grew even graver. Fa Xu of the Prajna Temple and Ghost Hidden of the Carefree Mountain—both were opponents no weaker than her.

In a one-on-one fight under normal circumstances, victory would be uncertain. But now, facing two while severely injured? It was an unwinnable battle, a true dead end.

Fairy Miaohua glanced at her still-bleeding wound. The dagger had been coated with a poison unique to the Carefree Mountain—one that even an Earth Immortal couldn’t purge quickly. And with Ghost Hidden lurking in the shadows like a venomous snake, waiting to strike, the situation was dire.

Abruptly, Fairy Miaohua laughed. She knew that in desperate times, showing fear was the worst move. "Fa Xu in the open, Ghost Hidden in the shadows—what a clever scheme. But I must ask, since both of you are famously greedy, which fool was willing to pay enough to hire you both at once?"

"Amitabha. This monk merely collects alms for the Buddha from those destined to give. As for the employer? A promise must be honored, so I cannot reveal their identity. However, if the fairy truly wishes to know… it is not impossible—provided you donate some incense offerings." Fa Xu clasped his hands together in prayer.

"Keh keh keh..."

A wild, sinister laughter suddenly filled the air. Everyone turned to see a strikingly handsome figure emerging from a storm of violet lightning, his gaze imperious, his black hair whipping wildly, strands of purple electricity crackling around him.

It was Gu Qingfeng.

Fairy Miaohua’s eyes widened in shock. "You… you’re unharmed?!"

Ignoring her, Gu Qingfeng instead looked approvingly at the solemn-faced Fa Xu. "Bald donkey, you’ve got talent—especially in finance. Come, be this emperor’s dog."

Fa Xu: "......"

Even after centuries of meditation, Fa Xu nearly lost his composure at those words.

"Amitabha. Such blasphemy is a grave sin. It would be best if you departed for the Western Paradise immediately."

With that, Fa Xu’s body erupted with radiant Buddhist light, his form gleaming like divine metal. Thunderous roars emanated from his limbs, bones, and organs, as if he were a Vajra guardian descending upon the mortal realm.

Buddhist radiance blazed around him, as if to purify all evil in the world.

BOOM—!

Fa Xu’s voice thundered like spring lightning, his fingers forming lotus seals as he solemnly pressed a Buddhist sigil into the void.

An endless golden light surged forth, forming a colossal, ten-thousand-foot Buddhist seal in the sky. The seal pulsed with seven-colored brilliance—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet—each hue radiating terrifying destructive power.

This was the Prajna Temple’s ultimate technique—

The Seven Treasures Buddha Seal!

No one had expected Fa Xu to immediately unleash his strongest attack against what appeared to be a mere mortal.

But Gu Qingfeng’s emergence from the violet lightning had put him on guard. Though his words were arrogant, his actions were ruthless.

Feeling the slightest pressure from the attack, Gu Qingfeng decided not to flick it away. Instead, he raised a pale hand and pressed downward.

A dazzling surge of demonic light erupted, radiant and mesmerizing.

BOOM!

Like a hot knife through butter, the boundless demonic light effortlessly split the Seven Treasures Buddha Seal in half, causing it to explode violently in midair.

Fa Xu’s face twisted in shock. In his hundreds of millions of years of life, he had never seen anything so absurd—a mere mortal, shattering an Earth Immortal’s strike barehanded?!

Fairy Miaohua was equally stunned. Surviving the violet lightning could be attributed to a rare treasure, but this? This was raw, undeniable power!

How could a mortal possess such terrifying strength?

While everyone stood frozen in disbelief, an almost imperceptible ripple of energy flickered behind Gu Qingfeng.

Then, like a phantom, Ghost Hidden materialized behind him, thrusting a pitch-black dagger toward Gu Qingfeng’s heart—just as he had ambushed Fairy Miaohua earlier.

Ghost Hidden’s timing was impeccable, striking precisely when his target’s attention was diverted.

In truth, Gu Qingfeng had recognized Ghost Hidden’s origins the moment he first struck. His methods were similar to the True Immortal who had ambushed him at the Supreme Profound Immortal Sect using soul-possession techniques—only far more refined.

For most, Ghost Hidden’s attacks were impossible to guard against.

But Gu Qingfeng didn’t even need to react.

CLANG!

The dagger struck Gu Qingfeng’s back—only to rebound with a shower of sparks, failing to even scratch his skin.

His body, a hundred times tougher than a True Immortal’s, rendered the Earth Immortal’s assassination attempt utterly useless.

While Earth Immortals were indeed stronger than True Immortals, their physical prowess didn’t come close to a hundredfold increase. Their true advantage lay in their magic power.

True Immortals forged immortal bodies, while Earth Immortals unlocked immortal apertures—potential gates within their bodies.

Opening these apertures not only unleashed greater physical power but also allowed them to store and refine vastly more magic energy.

A newly ascended Earth Immortal might be a dozen times stronger than a True Immortal. With more apertures unlocked, that gap could widen to several dozen times.

But a hundredfold? Impossible.

As for magic power? Even if an Earth Immortal multiplied a True Immortal’s reserves by a hundred, it still wouldn’t compare.

Thus, Ghost Hidden’s strike couldn’t even pierce Gu Qingfeng’s skin.

Ghost Hidden stared blankly at his dagger, then at Gu Qingfeng’s unharmed body, wondering if he was trapped in an illusion.

"How… is this possible?!"

His eyes bulged in disbelief.

Meanwhile, Gu Qingfeng slowly turned, looking down at Ghost Hidden like an ant beneath his gaze.

Ghost Hidden, renowned for his arrogance, was instantly provoked by Gu Qingfeng's piercing gaze, which stabbed at his pride. With a furious roar, he raised his dagger and thrust it viciously toward Gu Qingfeng's throat.

Clang!

Sparks flew!

Not a scratch!

Ghost Hidden was utterly dumbfounded.

Gu Qingfeng tilted his head slightly, looking down at the shorter man before him. A cruel, sinister grin curled his lips, revealing rows of gleaming white teeth.

"Ant, have you ever tasted despair?"