151: Chapter 151 The Four Symbols Binding Spirits

"Eighteenth Prince! Can you only cower and hide like a rat in a gutter?!"

Third Prince Wu Huang's face was twisted in a savage grimace, the veins on his forehead bulging and writhing like earthworms as he let out a deafening roar filled with humiliation and rage.

His voice was no longer just a provocation; it sounded more like a beast trapped in a desperate situation, howling inside a cage, attempting to use the most vicious and grating language to tear through the opponent's chillingly calm exterior:

"If you have any guts, get over here and fight me head-on! Relying on these underhanded tricks and crooked paths, what kind of royal descendant are you! What kind of hero are you! Coward! Trash! You will only ever hide behind those rotten Formations of yours!"

Amidst his furious roars, his offensive grew even more urgent. His fists and kicks formed an almost solid crimson-gold storm of death, each strike carrying a madness that sought to shatter the Void Realm, attempting to use absolute violence to tear his opponent and those annoying Formations into shreds and grind them into dust!

Eighteenth Prince Wu Zhenkan heard this and utilized the subtle reverse thrust generated by the final Spirit Binding Technique to retreat several steps with a grace that defied conventional logic—like an autumn leaf, or willow catkins in the wind—putting exactly a zhang of distance between himself and the crazed Third Prince Wu Huang.

This distance was subtle yet safe, as if it had been calculated with the utmost precision.

He stood still, even finding the leisure to gently brush off his pristine moon-white sleeves, despite there being no dust on them.

On his refined and handsome face, rather than being stirred to anger by the insults, a faint, deeply detached smile slowly emerged.

This smile was like the first ray of morning light hitting ice in winter—it was chilling to the bone.

He lifted his eyes, which were as deep as the starry sky, and looked calmly at the furious Third Prince Wu Huang. His voice was not loud, yet it seemed to contain a strange penetrating power, clearly echoing over the suddenly quiet Martial Arts Arena, reaching the ears of everyone holding their breath, and going straight into the depths of their Souls:

"Since Third Imperial Brother is so insistent on witnessing what a true 'Formation' is..."

He paused slightly, his tone as calm as water, yet carrying an unquestionable determination, as if stating a long-predestined fact:

"Then today, this younger brother shall... fulfill your wish."

Before the final note of the word "wish" had faded—

His hands, which had been dancing like butterflies in front of him, tracing countless mysterious trajectories, suddenly slammed together in front of his chest!

"Clap!"

A clear, ethereal sound, like the striking of a jade chime or the sudden breaking of invisible shackles, rang out in all directions, exploding against everyone's eardrums!

In that instant, within his eyes, those ancient runes that had been slowly rotating like a galaxy suddenly erupted with a dazzling, intense light, like the rising sun! The light was not blinding, but it carried a majesty and vastness that reached straight to the Soul, as if an ancient god had opened its eyes to overlook all living beings!

"Boom—!!!"

With him as the center, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi within ten zhang, a hundred zhang... and even above the entire arena, erupted into a frantic, violent riot, as if it had heard the command of an emperor!

Countless visible, multicolored torrents of Spiritual Qi were forcibly extracted from the Void Realm and converged, emitting a shrill, wailing whistle like ghosts crying and gods howling, rushing headlong and overwhelmingly toward his joined palms!

There, a cosmic singularity that devoured all Spiritual Qi seemed to have been born—even light was sucked into it, distorted, and annihilated!

"Four Symbols Spirit Binding..."

Eighteenth Prince Wu Zhenkan parted his lips slightly and uttered the four words. Each word seemed to carry immense weight, triggering a resonance with the Dao of Heaven and Earth, causing the floor of the arena to emit a low, rhythmic tremor, like the heartbeat of the earth.

He slowly pulled his joined hands apart to the sides.

The movement was very slow, slow enough to see the trajectory of every inch of movement, yet it carried a weight and resoluteness as if opening heaven and earth—as if he were not pulling his hands apart, but the veil between heaven and earth.

"...Formation!"

"...Rise!"

The final word "Rise" was not shouted, but fell softly like the whisper of a god, carrying the supreme majesty of one's words becoming Law.

However—

"Dong—!!!"

A dull, massive boom, as if coming from the ancient primordial era, and also from the deepest part of everyone's heart, erupted violently!

The entire arena space suddenly sank, then vibrated violently as if rebounding!

The protective barrier surrounding the area, which was capable of withstanding a full-force blow from a Nascent Soul Cultivator, actually rippled with unprecedented intensity as if struck by an invisible giant hammer, layer upon layer, almost on the verge of shattering!

"Roar—!!!!"

To the east, a clear, impassioned dragon roar that reached the Nine Heavens tore through the sky!

A cyan-green Spiritual light rose up like a massive pillar of light connecting heaven and earth, piercing straight into the clouds!

Inside the pillar of light, an imposing and sacred Azure Dragon phantom with flying scales and claws circled proudly, its dragon eyes like lightning, overlooking all living beings!

Every dragon scale shimmered with a bone-chilling cold light, and its dragon whiskers fluttered, as if it were about to break out of the light pillar!

"Awoo—!!!!"

To the west, an aura of slaughter soared into the sky!

A snow-white, incomparably sharp pillar of light stood firmly on the ground. Inside the pillar, a snow-white, winged White Tiger phantom roared at the sky, its Evil Qi chilling, its fangs ghastly, as if it wanted to tear apart every living creature before it!

Every breath it took exhaled Geng Metal Evil Qi capable of severing all things!

"Screech—!!!!"

To the south, a scorching heat that could boil the seas and burn the heavens suddenly descended!

A blood-red pillar of flame roared and burned. A majestic Vermilion Bird phantom with gorgeous tail feathers spread its wings and cried out in the flames. With every flap, endless Nanming Li Fire rained down, scorching the space until it distorted and deformed slightly; the air before it was on the verge of burning out!

"Ang—!!!!"

To the north, a pressure as heavy as a mountain and as deep as the sea permeated the air!

A pitch-black pillar of Profound Water stood quietly. A Black Tortoise phantom with a snake head, turtle body, and a black shell on its back raised its head and moaned. Its movements were as slow as an eternal mountain, yet it carried infinite power capable of suppressing the eight wildernesses and the six harmonies! Every breath it took made the earth tremble!

Azure Dragon! White Tiger! Vermilion Bird! Black Tortoise!

Four majestic pillars of light, each containing a strand of supreme majesty from an ancient Sacred Beast, rose from the four corners of the arena, shooting straight into the clouds!

The tops of the pillars vanished deep into the firmament, as if connecting to another world!

Between the pillars, dazzling, rune-filled Spiritual light lines crisscrossed, instantly weaving into a giant web of light that covered every corner of the arena!

The light web was as magnificent as a net of heaven, as tight as a net of earth!

Countless ancient and mysterious runes on the web rotated like a galaxy, endless and ceaseless. Each rune exuded a heart-palpitating pressure, as if containing the primordial power from when the world was first created.

The phantoms of the Four Symbols Sacred Beasts circled and roamed the light web. The sounds of roaring, howling, crying, and moaning intertwined, forming a vast Divine Might that caused the heavens and earth to change color and made the Soul tremble instinctively!

This was no longer just a Formation.

This was—a miniature "Heavenly Prison" descended from the age of myths!

The Four Symbols Spirit Binding Formation, complete!

The moment the light web formed—

"Hum...!"

An indescribable, irresistible, terrifying binding force, as if from the Origin of heaven and earth, descended with a boom!

It was as if the weight of the entire world had instantly pressed down onto the center of the arena, upon that crimson-gold figure!

"Urgh, ah—!"

Third Prince Wu Huang's savage, furious expression froze instantly, then turned into boundless horror and pain!

He felt the space around him turn into ten-thousand-year black ice in an instant, or perhaps solidified amber, sealing him tightly within it. Even the act of blinking required exhausting all his strength!

His limbs, every inch of muscle, every bone, and even every wisp of flowing True Qi were tightly wrapped and imprisoned by countless invisible, intangible, yet extremely tough "Law chains"!

No, it was not just wrapping! It was more like falling into the legendary Abyss of Return to Ruins from which not even light could escape. Every slightest movement became as heavy as a star, slowed down a thousand times over!

Every movement required a thousand times more strength than before!

Every breath felt like moving a mountain!

What made him even more terrified, as if falling into an ice cellar, was that the "Imperial True Qi" within his body, which had previously been roaring like a great river and was scorching and fierce, was now emitting an instinctive wail of fear, as if encountering a supreme monarch!

The speed of his True Qi circulation plummeted to a crawl, becoming unprecedentedly obscure and stagnant, with faint signs of completely freezing and extinguishing!

It was like a rushing river encountering the extreme cold of deep winter, freezing into ice inch by inch, from the surface to the bottom!

His Imperial True Qi, known for its unparalleled dominance and supremacy! At this moment, it was trembling, being suppressed, and... submitting!

"No! I've been tricked! All of this... was a trap!!"

Third Prince Wu Huang's face instantly turned as pale as paper, devoid of all blood. Cold sweat the size of beans instantly poured from his forehead and spine, soaking his inner and outer robes. The cold, sticky sensation made him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, and even his heartbeat skipped a beat.

Only now, the spiritual platform that had been blinded by rage and contempt was suddenly cleared, as if doused with ice water!

The previous skirmishes, the dodging, those seemingly passive defenses, those seemingly vulnerable basic small Formations... all of it, damn it, was a disguise!

It was a setup!

It was a smoke screen to numb his perception!

Eighteenth Prince Wu Zhenkan was not merely hanging on by a thread; he was using himself as bait, his steps as a ruler, and time as a thread—amidst the intense offense and defense, in the gaps of every evasion, behind every seemingly insignificant Formation rune, he had been silently guiding, gathering, and weaving this heaven-shocking killing net capable of trapping dragons!

The "Four Symbols Spirit Binding Formation"—this was his true... decisive strike!

"Break—for—me—!!!"

Boundless fear instantly turned into hysterical madness. Third Prince Wu Huang let out a roar like a dying beast, his eyes blood-red and splitting, his eyeballs covered in spiderweb-like bloodshot lines. He recklessly, and without regard for damaging his very foundation of Meridians, crazily stimulated his Dantian!

He squeezed, ignited, and exploded every drop, every wisp of remaining "Imperial True Qi" without reservation! Even the tearing pain coming from his Meridians could not make him stop!

"Boom!"

A crimson-gold radiance, like the sun on its deathbed, desperately erupted from every pore of his body, attempting to use the most brutal, most desperate power to burst open this damned, despair-inducing light web, along with all the restraints imposed upon him! To tear it apart!

However—

The Four Symbols light web did not move at all!

No, it did not move.

The runes on the light web flowed even faster, the cyan, white, red, and black four-colored divine lights reflecting off each other, becoming even more solid, even heavier! It was as if it were mocking his futility!

The Azure Dragon's binding force became increasingly lingering and tenacious, like ten-thousand-year vines wrapping around his body, tightening the more he struggled!

The White Tiger's Geng Metal Evil Qi was pervasive, like thousands of steel needles piercing his pores simultaneously, cutting through his Meridians!

The Vermilion Bird's Nanming Li Fire scorched his True Qi, making every wisp of circulating True Qi feel as if it were walking on fire, burning out inch by inch!

The Black Tortoise's sealing intent was as heavy as a mountain, sealing and suppressing his Dantian, Meridians, and bones layer by layer!

The four powers were not simply superimposed, but perfectly fused, mutually generating and supporting each other, constituting a natural, flawless cage of Law—water and fire aiding each other, metal and wood generating each other, the earth virtue residing in the center, cycling back and forth, endless and ceaseless!

Brute force?

In front of a Formation of this level, it appeared so ridiculous and pale, like an ant attempting to shake a towering tree!

Eighteenth Prince Wu Zhenkan stood quietly outside the light web, his robes fluttering, pristine and spotless.

His eyes were calm and waveless, like a god from the Nine Heavens, indifferently overlooking the trapped beast struggling in the net.

In this gaze, there was no triumph, no mockery, only a bottomless indifference—as if everything before him was merely a chess piece destined to be captured on the board.

He raised a hand, his five fingers slender like white jade, and gently pressed down toward the crimson-gold figure roaring and flickering with unstable light within the net.

From his mouth, only one word was uttered, yet it was as heavy as a mountain, deciding the fate of the world:

"Suppress."

As the words were spoken, the Law followed!

"Rumble—!!!"

The giant Four Symbols light web covering the arena contracted sharply in response! It was as if the firmament had collapsed, the four directions closed in, and heaven and earth merged into one at this moment!

The four-colored divine light—green, white, red, and black—erupted with unprecedented brightness, intertwining and dazzling to the point where one could not look directly at it, as if all the light in the world had gathered here!

On the light net, those ancient runes flickered and flowed with unprecedented speed, as if they had come alive, each one emitting a silent roar!

That terrifying power, which suppressed the heavens and earth and bound all living things, surged several times over in an instant! Ten times! It was as if the power of the entire world was pressing down!

"Crackle... crack... creak..."

A terrifying sound that made one's scalp tingle and teeth ache clearly emanated from the center of the light net, like thousands of ants gnawing on bones!

It was the sound of bones being crushed and ground by an invisible, immense force!

It was the sound of muscle fibers stretched to their limit and about to snap!

It was the sound of protective True Qi being ruthlessly ground to dust!

"Ugh, ahhhh—!!!"

Third Prince Wu Huang let out a miserable, twisted howl of pain that did not sound human at all!

The sound was so sharp it felt like it could tear eardrums, sending a chill rising from the depths of one's heart!

He felt as if four real, primordial sacred mountains that supported the heavens and earth were crushing and closing in on him simultaneously and mercilessly from all four directions!

They intended to grind him, along with his pride, his fury, and his everything, into the smallest dust in the Universe! Leaving not even a trace!

The bones throughout his body were wailing under the unbearable burden; his internal organs seemed to have been squeezed into a corner of his chest cavity. Every breath carried a scorching, bloody scent and tearing pain, as if ten thousand knives were churning inside his body!

His handsome yet ferocious face was completely distorted and deformed by the extreme pain and the backlash of power. Veins bulged and throbbed terrifyingly beneath his skin, like countless venomous snakes drilling under his flesh, ready to burst out at any moment!

"Pfft—!!!"

Unable to suppress it any longer, a mouthful of scorching, bright red blood mixed with fragments of internal organs sprayed from his mouth like a fountain, staining his chin, his lapels, and the shattered arena floor beneath his feet—a shocking sight!

That once blazing, red-gold light, like a small sun, was now like a candle in the wind, rapidly dimming and extinguishing, leaving only a thin, flickering glimmer that could dissipate at any moment.

The Four Symbols light net tightened further and further. The dark red and gold figure inside struggled less and less, and the power of his resistance flowed away and dissipated as quickly as a receding tide.

It was over.

On the arena, the winner had been decided.

In the audience, countless people had involuntarily stood up, mouths agape, eyes wide, hearts in their throats, waiting only for the final judgment to descend, waiting only for the cheers of that shocking reversal to burst from their throats.

The Four Symbols light net was like an inverted firmament, slowly closing in. The green, white, red, and black flowing lights surged and circulated, emitting a low hum that completely locked and solidified the space in the center.

Every ray of light was as sharp as a blade of the Heavenly Dao, radiating a terrifying sharpness capable of tearing through the Void Realm and severing the Law. Even the light itself seemed to be cut and twisted, turning into colorful fragments near the light net.

At the edges of the light net, the phantoms of the four Sacred Beasts were now condensed until they were almost tangible!

Every scale on the Azure Dragon shimmered with biting frost that froze the Soul, and its dragon whiskers drifted in the Void Realm, as if it were about to leap out from the pillar of light at any moment!

Every fang of the White Tiger spat out a grim white light that took lives, and cold, bloodthirsty light flashed within its tiger eyes!

The wingtips and tail feathers of the Vermilion Bird burned with an inextinguishable flame that incinerated all things, and every flap of its wings scattered a sky full of fire rain!

On the thick turtle shell of the Xuanwu, profound earth patterns appeared, carrying the earth and enduring through the ages without being extinguished, with the deepest power of the earth flowing within the lines!

The power of the Four Symbols, layered and circulating, was endless. It was like the waters of the four seas overturning, like the five great mountains crashing down!

This destructive power was about to grind every inch of flesh and blood, every wisp of Divine Soul of that tiny figure in the net, completely into the most basic particles of dust, returning them to the heavens and earth!

The outcome seemed to be at the final breath.

The cheers were already on their lips.

However—at this critical juncture, this final moment when the outcome was about to be decided!

At the very instant when everyone thought the dust had settled and the miracle had ended!

A roar suddenly exploded from the very center of that inescapable net, from within the body of the figure almost completely swallowed by the four-colored divine light!

"Roar—!!!"

That was a roar that no human could possibly emit!

It was as if an ancient, slumbering Vicious Beast of the primordial era, in a desperate, near-death situation, had had its deepest reverse scale and ferocity touched. It was the most violent, most insane, and most... unwilling roar emitted from the deepest part of its Bloodline, from the very bottom of its Soul!

The sound was vast, barbaric, and filled with the most primitive desire for destruction. It instantly overwhelmed the hissing of the Four Symbols, shaking the incredibly solid ground of the Martial Arts Arena so that it trembled, as if a violent earthquake had occurred!

Even the air was trembling, and the light was twisting!

Even the low-level Cultivators far away on the outermost edge of the stands felt their Divine Souls shake violently, their eardrums ache, their Qi and blood surge, and their vision darken, almost fainting!

In the center of the light net, Third Prince Wu Huang suddenly raised his head!

The moment he raised his head, his pair of eyes completely transformed into two wheels of viscous, scorching, red—like a mixture of lava and blood!

This was not the red of anger; it was the red of madness, the red of destruction, the red of... some ancient, forbidden, and incredibly tyrannical power being completely ignited and released!

Viscous blood-color surged and boiled at the bottom of his eyes, as if it were about to flow out and burn everything it saw!

Wherever his gaze fell, the air even emitted a "sizzling" sound from being scorched!

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

On his forehead, neck, and arms, all the exposed skin, veins and blood vessels bulged, coiled, and rose terrifyingly like awakened evil dragons! The blood vessels beneath his skin throbbed madly, their color rapidly turning from green to black, and then into a dark, solidified blood-red!

It was as if scorching lava was roaring and rushing deep within his blood vessels, ready to break through his body at any moment and burn everything to ashes!

A terrifying pressure, far exceeding the previous one, completely different, filled with an ancient, domineering, fierce, and supreme aura, slowly... awakened like a Demon God that had slept for eternity!

That pressure was tangible, pressing the surrounding air until it solidified into ice, causing even the operation of the Four Symbols light net to pause!

"Imperial—Extreme—Hegemonic—Bloodline—!!!"

Third Prince Wu Huang's voice was hoarse and broken, yet carried a Soul-tearing determination and madness. Every word was like a demon crawling out from the depths of Hell, roaring:

"Give me..."

His muscles expanded against all reason once again. Under the fragments of his torn brocade robe, his body was exposed, appearing as if cast from refined iron yet covered in eerie dark red patterns. These patterns seemed like living things, swimming beneath his skin, emitting a heart-stopping aura, with every squirm carrying the power of destruction.

"...Open!!!"

The final word "Open" was no longer a roar, but like the first explosion at the beginning of the Universe, resonating fiercely with a terrifying will to destroy everything and reshape everything!

"Boom—!!!"

An indescribable, massive sound erupted from within Third Prince Wu Huang's body, from the depths of every inch of his bones and every drop of his blood!

This was not an explosion of True Qi; it was—the roar of the Bloodline!

It was the complete awakening and burning of some slumbering, forbidden, ancient, and most domineering Origin power belonging to the Wu Imperial Clan's Legacy!

The previously dazzling yet futile red-gold "Imperial Extreme True Qi" light was instantly overwhelmed, swallowed, and replaced, like fragile glaze, by a deeper, more violent, and more... terrifying power surging from within!

A dark red blood-Qi, as dark as ten-thousand-year-old coagulated blood, as viscous as lava, yet containing a terrifying aura capable of tearing the heavens and rending the earth, and supreme in its uniqueness, erupted from every pore of Third Prince Wu Huang's body!

This blood-Qi light was not blazing or dazzling; on the contrary, it carried a strange darkness that swallowed light, as if it were the terminator of light itself, the Incarnation of darkness.

But the moment it appeared, the temperature of the entire arena—no, the entire Martial Arts Arena—seemed to drop to below freezing instantly. An extreme sense of oppression and fear, stemming from the instinct of life facing a higher-level predator, gripped the throat of every onlooker like an invisible iron pincer! It made people suffocate, tremble, and want to kneel and submit!

The dark red blood-Qi, with Third Prince Wu Huang as the center, turned into a visible, tangible, ring-shaped shockwave, like the first ripple of the creation of the world, and exploded outwards...

"Hum—!!!"

The Four Symbols light net that trapped him emitted a sharp, unbearable wail the moment it touched this dark red blood-Qi! That wail was like the dying cry of a person, heartbreakingly miserable!

The originally indestructible and ceaselessly flowing light net was now trembling and twisting violently, like fragile ice struck by a giant boulder! The runes on the light net flickered madly, dimming and brightening, as if struggling in fear!

On the light net, the green, white, red, and black divine lights flickered and dimmed with unprecedented speed, attempting to mobilize all the power of the "Four Symbols Binding Spirit" to suppress this sudden, unreasonably barbaric and terrifying power.

But, it was only... for an instant!

"Crackle—!!!"

The first incomparably clear, crisp sound, like glass shattering, tore through everyone's expectations and slammed into everyone's heart!

The sound was terrifyingly crisp, like the footsteps of death stepping on the tip of everyone's heart!

At the southeast corner of the light net, the most blazing phantom of the Vermilion Bird, representing the incineration of all things, let out a miserable wail—that wail was like the final struggle of a bird having its throat crushed.

The Nanming Li Fire burning on its body, as if splashed with Nine Nether Mysterious Water, instantly dimmed and withered. The flames extinguished one by one, like candle flames blown out by the wind, and finally, with a "pfft" sound, completely extinguished and dissipated! It turned into a sky full of red sparks, like blood scattering!

Immediately after— "Crackle—!!!"

A continuous, heart-shattering sound of breaking rang out like a death knell! Each sound was like a heavy hammer striking everyone's heart!

On the majestic dragon head of the Azure Dragon phantom, scales cracked one by one, like a landslide or ground-splitting, frost shattered completely, dragon horns broke, and it let out an unwilling dragon roar—that roar carried endless sorrow and helplessness, turning into a sky full of green light spots, like falling stars.

The White Tiger phantom's body, filled with Evil Qi, showed spiderweb-like cracks from the center, like the earth cracking. Fangs broke, the light in its tiger eyes instantly extinguished, and it collapsed into white flowing light with a low tiger roar, like snow scattering.

And the Xuanwu phantom, representing absolute defense, had cracks spreading and intertwining at an astonishing speed on the ancient Xuan shell it carried, like cracks on ice. Finally, amidst a low wail of the turtle and snake, it collapsed with a bang, turning into black light rain, falling rustlingly, like the arrival of night.

The four Sacred Beast phantoms, symbolizing the four poles of heaven and earth and possessing supreme majesty, collapsed one after another under the impact of this dark red, domineering, and destructive blood-Qi, like bubbles under the sun, turning into a sky full of gorgeous yet short-lived light rain, and finally completely dissipated in the solidified air.

Leaving only a ground full of light spots, like broken stars, gradually dimming and disappearing in the dark red light.