Shi Wanshan Makes His Move

"Roar—!"

Kuxuan abruptly threw his head back, letting out a hoarse roar that sounded entirely inhuman. The sound was brimming with endless malice and a bitter accusation against the Heavenly Dao!

The death aura, originally somewhat dim due to his decaying vitality, erupted as if boiling oil had been poured over it. It exploded outwards, becoming even more frenzied and venomous!

A sea of death aura boiled around Kuxuan. The withering of the entire valley instantly accelerated; vegetation turned to ash in a flash, and rocks silently annihilated into dust.

Even the void began to manifest unstable, pitch-black cracks resembling spiderwebs, as if the very world could not withstand the ultimate resentment and destructive will of his dying moments!

"Let us all... perish together!"

Before his words even faded, under everyone's horrified gazes, Venerable Kuxuan's shriveled body suddenly inflated like a balloon. Death aura surged madly beneath his skin, radiating a highly unstable, soul-trembling wave of destruction!

He was actually burning the last of his Saint Soul origin, detonating his own Saint Source to launch the most absolute and insane self-destructing strike!

"Not good!"

Xiao Ruobai, Fang Hanyu, and Ling Xi's pupils shrank abruptly. They instantly felt that terrifying aura, capable of annihilating everything, lock firmly onto them. The surrounding space seemed to solidify, trapping them like flies in amber, making it nearly impossible to break free!

"There's no retreat, we brace for it!"

Xiao Ruobai roared wildly. His Golden War God Avatar widened its furious eyes, and his battle intent materialized into a solid golden wall blocking the forefront!

Fang Hanyu plunged his Absolute Beginning Sword into the ground. His Chaos Sword Domain compressed to its absolute limit, forming a gray singularity as he attempted to channel the destructive energy into nothingness.

Ling Xi formed hand seals, her Devouring Vortex transforming into a profound black hole that fearlessly met the monstrous death aura head-on.

"I'm going all out!"

Fatty Wang was so scared his face went pale and his hands shook, yet he threw out a thick stack of talismans at an astonishing speed—Vajra Body Protection, Black Turtle Mountain Suppression, Void Bulwark... Spiritual light flashed explosively as layers of barriers were instantly erected!

The cultivators spectating from afar were scared out of their wits, frantically retreating backward in terror of being caught in the aftermath of a Saint's self-detonation.

Right at this critical, hair-raising moment—

"Hmph!"

A low, cold snort that seemed capable of shaking mountains rang out from an unknown location, echoing clearly in everyone's ears!

Immediately after, a mountain-like, burly figure shrouded in blurred light and shadows appeared in the center of the valley without any warning, as if by teleportation, standing perfectly between Xiao Ruobai's group of four and Kuxuan!

The newcomer was tall and majestic, like an iron tower. However, his face and aura were obscured by a strange power, making it impossible to see him clearly or discern his origins. The only thing palpable was a vast, majestic, and heart-palpitatingly terrifying force of vitality surging around him!

He didn't even make any superfluous movements. Facing the Kuxuan who was on the verge of exploding, he simply threw a punch!

At this moment, Kuxuan's self-detonating Saint Power had reached its zenith. His ashen body had swelled to over ten feet tall, and the death aura around him churned like a tsunami, even corroding black holes into the space itself. He was just about to burst!

Yet the burly figure didn't even shift his gaze.

He merely raised his right arm slowly and, in an utterly unremarkable manner, threw a punch in the direction of Venerable Kuxuan!

Buzz—!

A visibly crimson-gold fist imprint formed out of thin air, its edges wreathed in shattered fragments of space. Wherever it passed, Kuxuan's death aura—which was potent enough to annihilate Kings—evaporated instantly, like snow meeting the blazing sun!

"No—!!!"

Kuxuan finally revealed an expression of ultimate terror. He wanted to accelerate his self-detonation, wanted to flee, wanted to beg for mercy—

But locked on by that fist imprint, he found he couldn't even move a single finger!

The laws of the Saint Dao were forcibly imprisoned, and his Saint Soul felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible giant hand. He couldn't even transmit the thought of self-detonation!

Pfft!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a muffled sound like a piece of rag being torn apart.

The crimson-gold fist imprint pierced through Kuxuan's chest without any resistance, blasting all the Saint Power, Saint Soul, and even that wisp of origin life force that had lingered for thousands of years within him, entirely into ash!

His ashen body froze in place, ultimate despair still lingering in his pupils. In the next second, like weathered stone, he crumbled into dust, not even leaving behind a speck of bone!

An old Saint who had lived for over five thousand years and personally suppressed three eras didn't even have the right to self-destruct. He was blasted into soul-shattering oblivion with a single punch, not even leaving him a chance at reincarnation!

Silence!

A deathly silence!

The spectating cultivators in the distance were all dumbfounded, their minds completely blank!

One punch! Just one punch! And it effortlessly obliterated a Saint on the verge of a dying counterattack?! This... what kind of terrifying strength was this?!

"A Sa... Saint! And a Saint with such flourishing vitality, right at their absolute peak!"

A white-haired, white-bearded old cultivator's voice trembled, almost unable to stand steady.

"The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is no longer what it was in ancient times. The path to Sainthood is arduous today, and every contemporary Saint is the cornerstone of a sect's rise or fall. Even if our sects exhaust all our resources, it is hard to produce a single Saint!

Only top-tier powers like Sacred Grounds and Imperial Dynasties, with inheritances spanning eons, could possibly possess a Saint in such peak condition as part of their foundation! Who on earth is this person?"

"He... he protected those four fiends! Could it be... could he be the Dao Protector who has been hiding behind those four all along?!"

"Heavens! So there really is such a terrifying powerhouse standing behind them! No wonder they dared to be so unbridled!"

Everyone's gazes toward that burly figure were filled with awe, fear, and intense curiosity! The background of those four became increasingly mysterious and unfathomable!

Having survived the calamity, Xiao Ruobai and the other three felt their minds reeling, their eyes entirely focused on that mysterious, mountain-like figure with boundless vitality.

Xiao Ruobai's eyes were sharp, staring intently at the silhouette shrouded in blurred light and shadows.

Although his face was unclear and his aura deliberately concealed, that steady and majestic vitality fluctuation, akin to a towering mountain, as well as his domineering, direct style of overcoming all techniques with absolute power...

"It's Martial Uncle Shi!"

Realization instantly dawned in Xiao Ruobai's heart, and a surge of warmth mixed with shock welled up within him.

He never expected that this martial uncle, who usually seemed so gruff on Heaven-Supporting Peak and often joked and cursed with his master, would have such terrifying strength!

Let alone that he had been silently following behind to protect them, capable of resolving even a Saint-level crisis with a single punch!

Meanwhile, Fatty Wang, watching this scene of a Saint being one-shot, dropped his jaw in shock. His small eyes widened perfectly round, and his chubby face was pale white. That was an old Saint who had lived for five thousand years!

Blasted into ash just like that. What kind of terrifying strength was this?!

But before he could recover from the shock of having a Saint as a Dao Protector, an inexplicable, hair-raising sense of familiarity wrapped around his heart like creeping vines.

He subconsciously leaned forward, narrowing his eyes as he stared fixedly at the burly figure's stance—the broad shoulders and thick back, the bulging curve of his arm muscles, and even that unreasonable, tyrannical vibe of 'I can smash through a mountain with one punch' when he raised his hand...

"W-wait! This physique... this domineering vitality... and that completely unreasonable way of beating people up..."

Fatty Wang's small eyes went perfectly round, his plump face turning slightly pale. He subconsciously touched his head, where a phantom pain seemed to linger, and the humiliating memory of being stripped bare instantly surged up along with it!

He took a sudden step back. His chubby face shifted from deathly pale to bruised purple, and then flushed a deep crimson. His small eyes were filled with unbelievable horror.

"No... it couldn't be?! That... that goddamn black-hearted thief who knocked Lord Fatty out, stripped me bare, and almost took my very underwear... is actually a Saint? No way?"

This thought struck him like a bolt of lightning from the nine heavens, blasting him to a crisp. He had previously sworn to himself that once his cultivation grew stronger, he would definitely track down the guy who stripped him and get his revenge!

But looking at it now, let alone getting revenge, the man could squash him into a meat patty with a single finger!

"No, no, no!"

Fatty Wang shook his head vigorously, trying to dispel this absurd thought.

"What kind of Saint would be so wicked? I must be overthinking it! With a Saint's exalted status, how could they possibly care about my meager scraps? And to personally sneak up and knock someone out from behind? That would be far beneath them!"

He tried hard to convince himself: "It must be a coincidence! There are plenty of burly body cultivators with tyrannical vitality in this world! They can't all be back-alley muggers, right?

"Right! That has to be it! This senior is so tall and valiant! He absolutely cannot be the same person as that black-hearted thief..."