424: Heaven's Way Backfires

The massive Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao trembled continuously.

Streams of Qi, converging and integrating within it, constantly destroyed the internal structure of the Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao, seeking to completely annihilate it.

Both sides of Great Wu Crown Prince's face gazed intently at the Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao before him.

One side maintained a calm and composed expression, confident of victory.

The other side was numb and hollow, devoid of any emotion in its eyes.

Although Xiao Shi's Heavenly Dao was extraordinarily unique,

far surpassing any Heavenly Dao Great Wu Crown Prince had ever witnessed,

as long as he found a flaw in Xiao Shi's Heavenly Dao, he would be able to calmly resolve it.

In an instant,

three shocking, massive cracks suddenly appeared on Xiao Shi's Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao, tearing through half of it and causing immense damage.

However, after Great Wu Crown Prince witnessed this scene,

his right eyebrow furrowed tightly.

This was not quite what he had anticipated!

Firstly, the identity information about Xiao Shi that Great Wu Crown Prince had just stated consisted of four pieces of information.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, Xiao Shi's Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao should have displayed four cracks.

But only three cracks had appeared… This indicated that

one of the four pieces of information Great Wu Crown Prince had previously stated was incorrect!

Secondly,

the three cracks now appearing on the Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao only covered a small portion of it.

This also indicated that even if all four pieces of information Great Wu Crown Prince had just stated were correct, it would not be enough to destroy Xiao Shi's Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao.

Xiao Shi still possessed other identities that Great Wu Crown Prince was unaware of!

Only by revealing all these identities

could Xiao Shi's Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao be completely destroyed!

This immediately caused the right side of Great Wu Crown Prince's face to darken.

He had not expected the other party to have other identities!

Furthermore, not all the information Great Wu Crown Prince knew was correct; one piece of information was wrong!

But he was currently unable to determine which piece of information was incorrect.

This completely exceeded his expectations.

After all, according to the information he had gathered, when Great Wu Crown Prince had intended to deal with Xiao Shi, he had already conducted a detailed investigation into Xiao Shi.

He had even used Fate Diviners to deduce all of Xiao Shi's information and data.

Therefore, in his view,

Great Wu Crown Prince should have already grasped all of Xiao Shi's information and intelligence.

However, the current outcome… made him realize that Great Wu Crown Prince's understanding of Xiao Shi was merely the information he revealed on the surface; in reality, the other party possessed many identities that Great Wu Crown Prince was unaware of.

Even though these three cracks on the Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao had caused some damage to it,

given the power of Xiao Shi's Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao, if it couldn't be destroyed in one go, then his Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao would subsequently recover.

“I underestimated you!”

The right side of Great Wu Crown Prince's face stared deeply at Xiao Shi's Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao.

He knew that his attempt to break the Dao this time had failed.

To break such a Heavenly Dao… not only did he need to know all of the opponent's identities, but there could also be no errors whatsoever.

He had not expected… that even with the use of Fate Diviners, Great Wu Crown Prince had failed to ascertain all of the opponent's identities.

This also made him deeply realize that

this person was far from as simple as he had perceived.

Just then,

Buzz!

Xiao Shi's Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao once again vibrated violently.

And with the continuous vibrations,

streams of dark, dim light continuously emanated from within the Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao, shining directly onto Great Wu Crown Prince.

This caused Great Wu Crown Prince's expression to suddenly change dramatically.

“This is…”

Sizzle!

His body seemed to ignite.

Large patches of black flames instantly flared up from his body.

Even though Great Wu Crown Prince had, at the first instant, tried his best to suppress and extinguish the flames on his body, these flames were not ordinary and were difficult to put out.

What was even more terrifying was… when these flames appeared on Great Wu Crown Prince's body,

they actually caused a kind of activation, prompting the power within Great Wu Crown Prince's body, under the inducement of these flames, to also transform into the same flames, resulting in the flames on his body not only failing to extinguish in the slightest, but burning even more intensely.

In an instant,

Great Wu Crown Prince's entire body was engulfed by numerous flames.

“Heavenly Dao backlash!!”

Even the right half of Great Wu Crown Prince's face, which had always remained calm and composed, now showed an expression of terror.

Although he had known early on that

after a failed attempt to break the Dao,

one would suffer a backlash.

Especially the Heavenly Dao backlash, which was the most ferocious.

But he had never imagined that the opponent's Heavenly Dao backlash… would be so terrifying!

This was a terrifying backlash that could directly lead to the extinction of life!

And this extinction… was actually driven and formed by the power of the Martial Dao Ninth Realm!

This also led to the fact that this power of extinction was simply irresistible.

It left the soul within Great Wu Crown Prince's body incredibly surprised and shocked.

Due to certain reasons,

he was currently unable to exert his own strength within Great Wu Crown Prince's body.

Facing such a backlash,

he was utterly powerless to resist.

“Why does his Heavenly Dao contain the power of the Martial Dao Ninth Realm?!”

“Whose Martial Dao Ninth Realm power is this!?”

“How did he do it!?”

The soul within Great Wu Crown Prince's body was completely astonished by Xiao Shi's Heavenly Dao.

Although he had previously seen through the secrets within Xiao Shi's Heavenly Dao,

he had failed to discover that Xiao Shi's Heavenly Dao actually contained the power of the Martial Dao Ninth Realm.

Of course, Xiao Shi himself could not use this power…

It was more like a power that was attached to his Heavenly Dao, automatically providing protection and blessings to his Heavenly Dao.

Whoosh!

Under the burning of numerous black flames,

in just a short moment,

Great Wu Crown Prince's body had already been reduced to ashes by the flames, leaving no trace of his corpse.

Even the soul within him was incinerated into dust and smoke during the burning.

On the golden altar,

the figure completely shrouded in a black cloak stared blankly and in shock at the Dao River above.

His entire being seemed to have turned into a statue, unmoving.

His mind was buzzing with a deafening roar.

His thoughts were in disarray.

His entire brain was blank.

He was completely stunned!

“How is this possible…”

“How is this possible!!”

He continuously let out unconscious growls.

His voice grew louder and louder.

The body beneath the black cloak also began to tremble.

This outcome was something he had never expected!

From beginning to end,

he had never doubted that Great Wu Crown Prince would fail!

He had originally thought that Great Wu Crown Prince's action to break Xiao Shi's Heavenly Dao was a foregone conclusion.

However, the final result… was not only a failure to break the Dao.

He was even reduced to ashes and smoke under the backlash of the other party's Heavenly Dao!!

Trying to steal a chicken but losing a handful of rice!

Such a result

was completely unacceptable to the mysterious man in the black cloak.

He had even killed Demigod Yao Xi, one of the strongest demigods of the current era.

Yet, he had no way to deal with Xiao Shi, the Dao Master, and was even counter-killed by him… “What kind of Heavenly Dao… is this?!”

The Black Robed Man was now filled with intense apprehension towards Xiao Shi's Heavenly Dao.

At the same time, the anxiety in his heart grew even more intense.

Originally, he had advanced his plan because Xiao Shi had suddenly become a Dao Master, which had caught him off guard.

He was worried that if Xiao Shi continued to grow at this rate, he would completely lose control.

Now, after witnessing the extraordinary nature of Xiao Shi's Heavenly Dao,

the Black Robed Man's desire to eliminate Xiao Shi had reached an unprecedented level.

“Can't delay any longer!!”

“Not a single day can be delayed!”

“He must be killed as soon as possible!!”

… Xiao Shi's expression was solemn.

He did not feel joy because Great Wu Crown Prince had been reduced to ashes under the backlash of his Heavenly Dao.

With the opponent's death,

he noticed two things.

First, Great Wu Crown Prince's death did not drop any items!

There were only two possibilities for such a situation.

One was that the backlash Great Wu Crown Prince suffered this time was not considered a kill caused by Xiao Shi himself.

Therefore, no items were dropped.

But Xiao Shi felt that this possibility was not high.

Whether he died from a Heavenly Dao backlash or was killed by him using the Heavenly Dao, it was essentially the same.

Both were considered killed by him.

Items would definitely be dropped.

Now that not a single item had dropped, there was only one other possibility.

“This person… is not dead!!”

A cold glint flashed in Xiao Shi's eyes.

It was certain that

Great Wu Crown Prince's body, along with the soul within him, had all been reduced to ashes in the Heavenly Dao's backlash.

There was no possibility of feigned death.

If the opponent was still not dead after this… then it proved that what died this time was merely a remnant soul of the opponent, or just a clone of the opponent!

This made Xiao Shi clearly realize that

his crisis had not been resolved by Great Wu Crown Prince's failure this time.

On the contrary,

the other thing he noticed was that

an extremely strong crisis warning suddenly came from the tianji plate!

However, the crisis warning from the tianji plate this time was somewhat different from before.

It did not allow Xiao Shi to see future dangerous scenes through the crisis warning.

He guessed that the reason for this was

twofold.

One was that the crisis he was about to face had already exceeded the tianji plate's visual prediction.

After all, although the tianji plate was an extremely powerful treasure,

the crisis Xiao Shi was about to face was most likely above the Demigod level!

Currently, demigods could not threaten him.

At this level of crisis… even the tianji plate could, at most, issue a crisis warning, but could not predict future scenes.

The second was that the crisis he was about to face was not an immediate crisis that would occur in a short period of time.

There might still be some time before the crisis arrived.

However, this crisis was stronger than any previous crisis he had encountered!

“Time is running out…”

Xiao Shi took a deep breath.

Through this incident, he was almost certain that there were still some powerful individuals hidden within the Tianwu Continent!

He even suspected that the current Tianwu Continent might be hiding a Martial Dao Ninth Realm existence!

Whether it was the death of Demigod Yao Xi,

or Great Wu Crown Prince's attempt to break his Heavenly Dao this time,

these were not things ordinary demigods could achieve!

It was just that Xiao Shi couldn't quite understand why… if the person hiding behind the scenes was truly a Martial Dao Ninth Realm existence,

the opponent was already the strongest in the current era, capable of suppressing three Demigod Heavenly Kings, so why would he need to hide?

Moreover, everyone who reached the Martial Dao Ninth Realm would inevitably create an era at the first opportunity, thereby preventing the appearance of a second Martial Dao Ninth Realm.

If the person behind the scenes was truly a Martial Dao Ninth Realm… then his current actions were all illogical.

This led Xiao Shi to rule out the possibility of the person behind the scenes being a Martial Dao Ninth Realm.

But he also couldn't explain why the opponent was able to kill Demigod Yao Xi, or why he was able to use Great Wu Crown Prince's body to break his Heavenly Dao.

He felt that there must be some important information he was unaware of.

At the same time, he also realized that this might involve the deepest secrets of the current Tianwu Continent!

“No matter what, my top priority is to quickly advance to Demigod!”

“Only by becoming a Demigod will I have enough self-preservation capabilities!”

Xiao Shi now had a strong sense of impending storm.

He could only, before this storm arrived,

become a Demigod at the fastest possible speed!

… This attempt by Great Wu Crown Prince to break Xiao Shi's Behind-the-Scenes Heavenly Dao, although it also attracted the attention of Demigod Xing Kui and Demigod Mu Wen,

due to the great distance,

they could only see a figure rushing into the Dao River.

But they couldn't clearly see the figure's face.

At the same time, because the entire process was too brief,

although their hearts were somewhat shaken, they did not pay too much attention to the matter.

The fall of Demigod Yao Xi had simply caused too great an impact on them.

So much so that these two demigods, who had been in an invincible state since the fall of the Martial Emperor, felt a strong sense of crisis for the first time.

And their understanding of the Tianwu Continent was clearly deeper than Xiao Shi's; they knew more secrets.

They both had some vague guesses about the fall of Demigod Yao Xi.

This led the two Demigod Heavenly Kings, after returning to their respective great domains, to resolutely refuse to step out of their great domains even one step.

Even now, after the fall of Demigod Yao Xi,

and his entire great domain falling apart, the two Demigod Heavenly Kings no longer had any desire to seize Heavenly King Yao Xi's great domain.

If it were in normal times,

they would have undoubtedly seized Heavenly King Yao Xi's great domain at the first opportunity to expand their own great domains.

But now, when they felt the crisis,

they would not step out of their great domains for anything.

Only by staying within their own great domains did they feel a sufficient sense of security.

Soon,

two days later,

Crack! Crack!

After some effort,

Xiao Shi finally managed to unlock the seal on his heart.

“Thump thump! Thump thump!”

A dull thumping sound suddenly echoed in his ears.

Drum-like sounds constantly resounded, growing more intense, and the heart in his chest, like an overloaded motor, pounded frantically, while also producing a tearing pain.

Xiao Shi clutched his chest, able to see his entire chest visibly rise and fall, as if something inside was about to burst through his flesh and jump out!

His skin rapidly turned dark, and black blood vessels protruded from his pupils.