Even Immortals Must Abide by the Laws of Great Xia

The corpse finger had not yet fallen.

Yet the lands of the Western Wastes had already begun to sink.

Countless mountains and rivers were corroded by corpse qi.

The rivers turned ash-gray.

Grass and trees withered in an instant.

The corpse beasts born from the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s rotting flesh all fell to their knees.

They were not worshipping.

They were terrified.

A single finger of the Rotten Immortal—

even the monsters he himself had spawned would be wiped out along with everything else.

Wang Hao stood beneath the shadow of the fingerprint.

At last, he understood why the Corpse Liberation Immortal was so enraged.

The coffin containing his right foot had been taken.

It was not merely the loss of a leg.

It had severed one-ninth of his immortal foundation.

This immortal corpse had slumbered for countless years.

It had long since decayed beyond the point of sustaining itself.

The so-called nine ancient bronze coffins of immortals

were not vessels for holding a corpse.

They were nine life destinies stolen from death itself.

The Corpse Liberation Immortal had divided himself into nine parts.

Each part was buried within a coffin.

So long as the nine coffins endured,

the Corpse Liberation Immortal could not die.

And what Wang Hao had picked up

was not merely a coffin.

It was one life of an immortal.

“No wonder he’s in such a hurry.”

Wang Hao raised both palms.

“If it were me—

if someone stole one-ninth of my life—

I’d chase them down to collect that debt too.”

The Dragon-Slayer had already raised his woodcutter’s blade.

“What use is saying that now?”

“It is useful.”

Wang Hao stared at the descending immortal finger.

“At least it proves I picked up the right thing.”

Boom!

The first groove of the fingerprint came crashing down.

The Dragon-Slayer swung his blade.

The blade-light had barely drawn near

before it was torn apart by countless corpse phantoms crawling from the groove.

Those phantoms surged back along the path of the blade intent.

Hundreds of corpse spots instantly appeared across the Dragon-Slayer’s body.

He let out a muffled groan.

Yet his feet did not retreat a single step.

“Dragon-Slaying Blade, Sever the Veins!”

The woodcutter’s blade fell once more.

This strike

did not target the immortal finger itself.

Instead, it slashed at the corpse-path channels between the fingerprint ridges.

Crack!

An ash-white vein snapped.

The immortal finger, spanning a million miles, tilted slightly.

Wang Hao seized the opportunity.

The Imperial Dao River stretched across the sky behind him.

“Heaven-Imprisoning, Earth-Overturning Palm!”

Palm shadows rained down in succession.

The first three palms shattered the corpse phantoms filling the sky.

The next three slammed into the fingerprint grooves.

The final three stacked upon one another, layer by layer.

When the ninth palm descended,

a golden dragon of national fortune soared into the heavens from the Great Xia territory.

Its body coiled around Wang Hao’s arm

and struck toward the corpse finger together with his palm.

Rumble!

For the first time, the immortal finger’s descent halted.

Wang Hao’s legs sank into the void.

His bones gave cries of unbearable strain.

He had now entered the Transcendence Realm.

Empowered by the Dao of Transcendence, the might of his divine martial art far surpassed what it had been during his Martial God days.

Nine palms in a continuous barrage

were enough to suppress and kill a mid-stage Martial God.

But before true immortal power,

it was still not enough.

The rotten immortal finger paused for only an instant

before continuing its descent.

The golden palm imprints shattered one after another.

The Imperial Dao River shook violently.

Throughout Great Xia,

countless commoners suddenly felt a tightness in their chests.

They did not know what was happening.

Yet instinctively, they raised their heads

and looked westward.

Streams of heartfelt will crossed mountains and rivers,

pouring into Wang Hao’s body.

A pale golden shield gradually formed around him.

This was a protective divine ability born naturally once the people’s collective faith had reached a certain density.

Whenever Wang Hao suffered a fatal attack,

the shield of willing power would erupt automatically.

At its current strength,

it could withstand one full-force strike from a peak Martial God.

But the immortal finger before him

far surpassed even a peak Martial God.

If it descended completely,

the shield of willing power could at most buy Wang Hao a single breath.

“One breath is enough.”

There was no retreat in Wang Hao’s eyes.

He raised his hand.

Two immortal-copper coffin nails appeared in his palm.

The Corpse Liberation Immortal’s decayed finger suddenly twitched.

Wang Hao noticed it at once.

The corpse-path laws within the immortal finger.

They were resonating intensely with the coffin nails.

He looked at the Right-Foot Coffin behind him.

“Senior.”

“Split open the coffin lid.”

The Dragon-Slayer frowned.

“This coffin is tied to the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s life.”

“If we open it rashly,”

“we might release something even more terrifying than that leg.”

Wang Hao handed him one of the coffin nails.

“If we don’t open it,”

“we’ll be crushed to death by something even more terrifying right now.”

The Dragon-Slayer took the nail.

He said no more.

His woodcutter’s knife came down along the seam of the coffin lid.

Clang!

Sparks flew from the ancient immortal-copper coffin.

The Dragon-Slayer’s tiger web split open.

Yet the woodcutter’s knife left only a white mark on the lid.

Wang Hao saw this.

He was even more satisfied.

“What a fine coffin.”

“If I die one day,”

“it’ll be perfect for my burial.”

The Dragon-Slayer said coldly,

“If you keep talking nonsense,”

“you can use it right now.”

Wang Hao fell silent.

The Myriad Contracts, Same Origin Seal covered the ancient coffin.

Dark contract runes flowed along the patterns etched into its surface.

He made no attempt to contract the Corpse Liberation Immortal.

With his current cultivation,

forcibly contracting a decayed immortal corpse

would be no different from sticking his head into an immortal’s mouth.

What Wang Hao wanted to contract

was only the coffin itself.

“Myriad Contracts, Same Origin.”

“Resonance of the same origin.”

The Right-Foot Coffin trembled faintly.

The immortal-copper coffin nails seemed to have received a summons.

They flew into the holes on either side of the coffin lid of their own accord.

Boom!

The coffin lid opened a narrow crack.

There was no corpse.

No flesh.

Inside the coffin was only a ball of gray-white flame.

At the center of the flame,

a miniature Corpse Liberation Immortal sat cross-legged.

He had no distorted body

and no rotting flesh.

Instead, he was an ordinary-looking young man in white.

Only his right leg

had already vanished.

He opened his eyes

and looked at Wang Hao through the crack in the coffin.

“Close it!”

At the center of the battlefield,

the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s true body let out a terrified roar.

The decayed immortal finger pressing down on Wang Hao trembled violently.

The countless corpse-shadows within its fingerprints all turned their heads at once.

Every one of them began crawling toward the Right-Foot Coffin.

Wang Hao understood instantly.

The young man in white inside the coffin

was a portion of the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s true destiny that had been severed away.

As long as this flame was destroyed,

the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s right leg would never be restored.

“You tell me to close it, and I just obey?”

“Where would that leave My Majesty’s dignity?”

Wang Hao raised his hand.

The other coffin nail came crashing down.

It did not pierce the coffin lid.

Instead, it drove into the stump of the young man in white’s right leg.

“Ah!”

The Corpse Liberation Immortal’s true body let out a shrill scream.

The hundred-million-li-long decayed immortal finger shattered in midair.

Countless corpse-shadows lost control

and fell in every direction.

The Xuanming Immortal-Devouring Fiend’s Dharma Form pounced forward at once.

Its twelve pairs of wings coiled around the Corpse Liberation Immortal.

A gigantic mouth split open across its chest, stretching across the starry sky.

It bit down on the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s shoulder.

Large chunks of decayed immortal flesh were torn away by Xuanming.

Among the nine ancient immortal-copper coffins,

the one corresponding to the right shoulder began shaking violently.

The hollow eye sockets of the Heaven-Deficient Sword Immortal turned.

He, too, seemed to have realized what was happening.

A decayed broken sword slashed across the sky.

It struck the chain of the Right-Shoulder Coffin with pinpoint accuracy.

The Corpse Liberation Immortal abruptly turned his head.

“Blind Man!”

“How dare you!”

The Heaven-Deficient Sword Immortal remained expressionless.

“One fewer coffin,”

“one fewer life.”

“Two fewer coffins—”

“it should work the same way.”

The Corpse Liberation Immortal was both shocked and furious.

He tried to pull all his life coffins back.

But at that moment, the Blood Luo Immortal Lord stirred up a sea of blood.

The sea of blood condensed into tens of thousands of arms.

Seize three of the ancient coffins.

“This Immortal happens to be in need of vessels to hold blood.”

“I’ll borrow these three.”

The head embedded in the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s chest twisted violently.

“Blood Rakshasa!”

“This Immortal will kill you first!”

The melee between the five Immortal-level beings grew ever more brutal.

Meanwhile, Wang Hao swiftly shut the right-foot coffin.

The two coffin nails fell back into place.

The young man in white within the coffin was sealed inside once more.

The severed stump of the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s right leg completely withered away.

Not a shred of flesh could grow from it again.

[The life-flame of the Corpse Liberation Immortal’s right foot has been sealed!]

[The Corpse Liberation Immortal’s undying origin has been damaged!]

[Current number of intact Life Coffins: Eight!]

Wang Hao’s eyes shone brighter and brighter.

“So it really is one life.”

The Dragon-Slayer looked at the right-foot coffin.

His expression was grave.

“This thing cannot remain in Great Xia.”

“Once the Corpse Liberation Immortal falls…”

“The life-flame in the coffin may revive on its own.”

“When that happens…”

“Great Xia may gain another Corpse Liberation Immortal.”

Wang Hao nodded.

“You are right, Senior.”

“So I’ve decided…”

“To keep it for research first.”

The Dragon-Slayer had long expected that answer.

He could not even be bothered to argue.

He merely pointed at Wang Hao’s right arm.

“Deal with the corpse poison first.”

Wang Hao lowered his head.

When he had clashed head-on with the decayed Immortal finger just now,

a corpse-path mark had already burrowed into his arm.

Grayish-white lines crept through his veins toward his heart.

With every inch they advanced,

the corresponding portion of Wang Hao’s flesh lost its vitality.

His transcendent blood and qi continuously scoured it.

They could only slow it down.

They could not eradicate it completely.

Wang Hao raised his right hand.

The New Emperor Sword immediately sidled over.

“Master.”

“How about I eat it for you?”

Wang Hao looked at the silver-haired youth.

“Are you sure that if you eat it…”

“you won’t grow another tongue?”

The silver-haired youth’s expression changed.

He silently stepped back.

“Not sure.”

“Then forget it.”

Wang Hao was just about to use the nation’s destiny to suppress it,

when a long, resonant bell sounded in the distance.

Dong—

The bell’s chime spread into the territory of Great Xia.

The corpse-path mark on Wang Hao’s right arm actually paused slightly.

Yet he showed no delight.

For accompanying the bell was

an immense pulling force.

Within Great Xia,

the collective faith that had only just gathered was suddenly intercepted by a golden river.

The Taiyi Ancient Immortal stood upon the river of incense and faith.

Greed showed on half of his decayed face.

“What pure faith of all living beings.”

“No sects to keep it apart.”

“No idols to divide it.”

“All of it converges upon one man.”

“Mortal.”

“You wield the path of an incense-and-faith Immortal while bearing the identity of a human emperor.”

“What a waste.”

The smile vanished from Wang Hao’s face.

He could pick up Immortal blood.

He could steal Immortal lightning.

He could take ancient coffins.

He could even haggle with the Dragon-Slayer over a half-share of the spoils.

Because those things

had fallen from Immortal corpses in the first place.

But the faith of Great Xia’s people

was not ownerless.

It was the trust that hundreds of millions of citizens placed in Great Xia.

It was the courage of border soldiers standing beneath the rain of corpses without retreating.

It was the grateful thanks of three hundred thousand people in Jingbian City after surviving disaster.

For the Taiyi Ancient Immortal to simply reach out and take it

was no different from digging up the foundations of Great Xia’s national destiny.

“Taiyi.”

Wang Hao raised his head.

His voice was ice-cold.

“Take your hand back.”

The Taiyi Ancient Immortal smiled.

“All living beings offer worship to the strong.”

“Such has been the way since ancient times.”

“This Immortal shielded them from calamities in the Immortal Domain.”

“Now, collecting some incense and faith from them…”

“is merely having them repay the karma.”

Wang Hao asked,

“What did you ever shield the Nine Provinces from?”

The Taiyi Ancient Immortal’s expression stiffened slightly.

“This Immortal once guarded a region in the Immortal Domain.”

“When the Immortal Domain shattered…”

“This Immortal too was bathed in blood.”

“And then?”

“And then…”

Taiyi Ancient Immortal did not continue.

After the Immortal Realm shattered,

he fled into the Nine Provinces.

He buried his immortal body,

and placed one inheritance after another in the Seventy-Two Sacred Grounds.

He had future cultivators gather incense offerings for him.

The Nine Provinces had endured countless calamities.

Yet he had never awakened.

Not until Xuanming appeared.

Not until he sensed the aura capable of prolonging his immortal life.

Wang Hao sneered.

“While you were alive, you pretended to be dead.”

“The moment it was time to divide the spoils, you rose from the grave.”

“You certainly understand karma.”

The immortal flame in Taiyi Ancient Immortal’s eyes sank.

The golden ancient bell rang once more.

“Insufferable mortal.”

“Kneel!”

Boom!

The great river of incense offerings crossed the Nine Provinces.

Countless golden threads descended upon Great Xia.

At the other end of each thread,

was every citizen of Great Xia.

Some were plowing the fields.

Some were practicing martial arts.

Some were repairing cracks in the city walls.

Some were clutching their children as they hid from the aftermath of the immortal battle.

When the bell rang in their ears,

their bodies bent against their will.

Their knees slowly sank toward the ground.

Behind Wang Hao, the great river of the Imperial Path shook violently.

The golden dragon of national fortune let out an enraged roar.

Taiyi Ancient Immortal stood at the far end of the river.

His voice resounded throughout Great Xia.

“Kneel.”

“Accept this immortal as your ancestor.”

“Offer me your incense.”

“And I shall grant you eternal life.”

In the imperial capital of Great Xia,

an old blacksmith’s knees trembled as he worked.

The bones were already cracking.

Yet he used his hammer to brace himself upright.

“Eternal life?”

“I spent my whole life barely managing to get a full meal.”

“It was His Majesty who executed the corrupt officials.”

“Who opened the granaries.”

“That was what allowed this old man to live until today.”

“And now you crawl out from beneath the earth”

“and demand that I worship you?”

The old blacksmith spat out a mouthful of blood.

“What the hell are you supposed to be!”

On the border city walls,

eight thousand soldiers of the Border Guard drove their spears into the battlements.

Using the shafts to support their falling bodies,

they refused to kneel.

The old general at their head already had shattered knees.

Even so, he did not bow.

He raised his head toward the sky.

“Border Guard!”

“We may die!”

“But we will never bow our heads to an enemy!”

At the Imperial Academy,

countless students’ faces were pale.

Some could not withstand the immortal might

and had already fallen to their knees.

But they braced themselves with both hands against the ground

and slowly stood up again.

The elderly.

Children.

Martial artists.

Common people.

Billions of living beings struggled beneath the immortal might.

Within the great river of the Imperial Path behind Wang Hao,

the phantoms of countless beings slowly raised their heads.

They possessed no formidable cultivation.

No immortal artifacts.

They could not even make out Taiyi Ancient Immortal’s features.

But they were unwilling to kneel.

Wang Hao grasped the New Emperor Sword.

Its blade pointed toward the great river of incense offerings.

“Taiyi.”

“Did you hear that?”

“The people of Great Xia”

“do not acknowledge you as their ancestor.”

Taiyi Ancient Immortal’s expression darkened.

“These mortals know nothing of awe.”

“Then break their legs.”

“They will kneel eventually.”

Upon the golden ancient bell,

the phantoms of countless kneeling beings opened their eyes at the same time.

An even more terrifying peal was gathering.

Behind Wang Hao,

the phantoms of billions of living beings straightened their backs at that very moment.

The great river of the Imperial Path roared.

A voice rose from every inch of Great Xia’s land.

“People of Great Xia.”

“We bow to no Rotten Immortal!”