282: The power of the god

[Jiang Ci flicked his sleeves, made a 'please' gesture, and said with a faint smile:]

["Fellow Daoist Qin, please."]

[His meaning was clear: he was letting you make the first move.]

[At this level, attacking first does not necessarily grant an advantage; it often means being the first to expose one's tactics.]

[But you didn't care about such formalities. Since he offered, you moved.]

[With a thought, the majestic Primordial Spirit power within your body surged violently.]

[Immediately following,]

[The natal Divine Ability of a Soul Transformation Cultivator—Dharma Idol of Heaven and Earth, was instantly cast!]

[In an instant,]

[The clouds and winds reversed as a towering Primordial Spirit Dharma Idol, a hundred zhang tall and identical in appearance to you, rose into the air. Its entire body flowed with the light of pale golden Daoist charms, standing above the sea of clouds and beneath the starlight, looking like a Heavenly God descending upon the world.]

[Without any fancy tricks, the Dharma Idol raised its mountain-like giant hand and slowly pressed down toward the airspace where Jiang Ci was located.]

[Seeing this, a flash of realization crossed Jiang Ci's eyes, even carrying a hint of faint disappointment—]

[He immediately judged that you must have only recently entered the Soul Transformation stage and had not yet fully mastered the essence of combat at this level.]

[The power of a Primordial Spirit Dharma Idol is indeed immense, but the consumption of Primordial Spirit power is equally terrifying; usually, it is only suddenly unleashed when coordinating with some sort of finishing trump card to decide the victory in one blow.]

[Manifesting a Dharma Idol at the very start of the opening like you did, only to press down with an ordinary palm strike, was like—]

[Showing off!]

[Doing this was both wasteful and appeared immature.]

[However, just as this thought occurred to him—]

[A sudden change occurred!]

[From the center of that seemingly ordinary giant palm, a deep purple light as thick as liquid suddenly emerged—]

[As the light churned, it emitted a bizarre aura that made even the Divine Soul feel numb and decayed!]

[Poison?!]

[Jiang Ci's brow suddenly locked tight, and alarm bells rang in his heart—]

[He never expected that you had actually cultivated poison to the point where it could merge with the Primordial Spirit Dharma Idol and be released along with the palm's force!]

[Could it be that some kind of poison body has reached Perfection?]

[Only when a poison body reaches Perfection does everything about the Cultivator themselves completely transform into deadly poison.]

[However, he was a battle-hardened Soul Transformation Middle Stage Cultivator after all; though startled, he did not panic, and his mind raced—]

["Suppress!"]

[In an instant, the Law Domain unfolded—]

[Buzz!]

[With him as the center, the space within a thousand-zhang radius suddenly solidified.]

[Invisible Law Power wove into a net, attempting to imprison, repel, and annihilate the pressing poison palm along with the terrifying toxic force it contained outside the Domain.]

[The Law Domain is also a natal Divine Ability of a Soul Transformation Cultivator, a means to deal with unconventional attacks—]

[Under the Law, all sorts of Divine Abilities are suppressed.]

[But the scene that happened next caused Jiang Ci's pupils to shrink, and for the first time, his face showed an expression of unbelievable horror!]

[The deep purple poison light surging from your giant palm, the moment it touched his Law Domain—]

[It did not get repelled or canceled out like ordinary energy; instead, like a living thing with life and erosive properties, it emitted a faint but tooth-aching 'sizzle' and actually began to slowly and firmly corrode and dissolve those invisible Law threads!]

["What?!" Jiang Ci cried out in a low voice, his tone filled with shock:]

["Your poison... can actually erode the Law Power?!"]

[This completely contradicted his understanding of 'poison' and 'Law'—]

[Law is the foundation that constitutes the order of heaven and earth; how stable is it?]

[How could it be tainted by ordinary toxins, let alone corroded?]

[To achieve such an effect, several harsh conditions had to be met simultaneously—]

[For example, possessing a supreme poison body, having that poison body reach Perfection, and also needing to Cultivate a powerful poison-path Cultivation Technique.]

[Coincidentally, you possessed all three—]

[Your Ice Fire Fiend Poison Body is a supreme poison body and has reached Perfection; and the Profound Calamity Poison Scripture you Cultivate, though its specific grade is unknown, is absolutely extraordinary.]

[Although the speed of erosion was not fast and was far from being enough to instantly break through his Domain, this phenomenon itself was enough to make him set aside all contempt.]

["I have underestimated you."] Jiang Ci's expression darkened, and a cold light flashed in his eyes—]

[He knew that relying solely on the Law Domain would no longer allow him to cleanly and efficiently neutralize your bizarre poison palm.]

[He no longer acted overconfident, raising his right hand like a flash of lightning, gripping the air with his five fingers, and shouting low:]

["Manifest!"]

[As his voice fell, a small jade tower appeared out of thin air above his palm. It was no more than three feet tall, flowing with thick Xuanhuang Energy. The tower had nine levels, each carved with lifelike mountains, rivers, and ancient runes.]

[Though the tower was small, the moment it appeared, a vast aura of suppressing all directions and being impervious to all methods spread out, causing even the surrounding violent astral winds to fall silent.]

[As soon as this tower appeared, it spun around, trailing down a solidified amber-like Black-Yellow light screen, firmly protecting Jiang Ci's surroundings for a hundred zhang—]

[This was exactly the Spirit Treasure he was famous for, the Black-Yellow Exquisite Tower!]

[Rumor has it that this tower was based on a strand of Innate Xuanhuang Energy and refined by smelting thousands of Earthen Soil Essences. It was best at defense and trapping enemies, with the saying: 'Protected by the Black-Yellow light screen, no method can touch you.']

[The force of your poison palm that corroded Law slammed violently against this Black-Yellow light screen—]

["Dong—!!!"]

[A sound like the tolling of an ancient giant bell not only echoed between the Nine Heavens and the sea of clouds but also penetrated the cloud layers, pressing down like rolling thunder and resounding throughout the entire Imperial City.]

[At the same time,]

[Below, on the wide plaza in front of the Hall of Heavenly Fortune, the crowd inside the hall had already filed out.]

[Ji Wuya, Ji Hui, Empress Han, Prince Ji Kang, Ji Yao, Prime Minister Han... as well as the Cultivators and Imperial Guards under both sides, spread out across the plaza in distinct groups, forming a silent confrontation.]

[But at this moment, it was as if everyone had temporarily forgotten the enemies and allies right in front of them, looking up at the sky in unison—]

[In the dark night sky, even the stars seemed to be trembling.]

["Rumble—!"]

[Amidst the muffled thunder, there was mixed a more piercing, Soul-drilling 'buzzing' sharp sound—]

[That was the violent collision of Soul Transformation level Law Power in the sky, causing a resonance that shook the spatial barriers themselves!]

[A continuous and heart-pounding slight tremor came from the ground of the entire Imperial City; roof tiles rattled, and pond water rippled irregularly.]

[Immediately after, the terrifying aftershocks began to pour down as a literal natural disaster!]

[First, countless house-sized deep blue ice spikes, carrying a Soul-freezing chill, condensed out of thin air from the high-altitude clouds and smashed down...]

[Then, violent tornadoes capable of tearing apart buildings formed without warning, picking up broken stones and wood from all over...]

[Even more, patches of ink-colored rain clouds containing chaotic Spiritual Qi gathered, pouring down corrosive acid rain!]

["Not good! Protect the city!"]

[Ji Wuya's face changed drastically. He gave a sharp shout and unhesitatingly sacrificed the human emperors seal.]

[The jade seal soared into the sky, bursting with unprecedented Black-Yellow light—]

[A semi-transparent, extremely wide-reaching pale golden shield struggled to open, attempting to shroud the core area of the Imperial City, which spanned a hundred miles, within it.]

[However, the Imperial City was simply too large—]

[For him to use his cultivation to drive the human emperors seal to unfold such a massive range of protection, the consumption was not small.]

[Not to mention the impact of that Soul Transformation level energy.]

[His face turned pale at a speed visible to the naked eye, veins popped on his forehead, and his body was trembling slightly.]

[At the critical moment when he was fully focused on resisting the aftershocks of the natural disaster and his defense showed a lag—]

["Move!"]

[A ruthless light burst from the eyes of Prince Ji Heng, who had been watching coldly, as he gave the long-awaited command!]

[Old Ancestor Jin Yuan, who had already been gathering strength, gave a silent, sinister grin, and from his sleeve came a pitch-black, lightless object—]

[A shuttle-shaped Magic Treasure, fast as lightning, suddenly shot out, heading straight for Ji Wuya!]