273: Nirvana against Nirvana

“Sshhh—!”

The gray Gui Xu Domain collided fiercely with the countless chains containing the Origin of the Heavenly Tomb's dead silence!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a strange sound that made the Soul ache, emitted as two different rule powers, both belonging to the category of “Nirvana,” eroded, annihilated, and canceled each other out.

Li Ao’s Power of Gui Xu originated from the Dao he had comprehended himself; its core was the cycle of “Return to Nothingness” and “Creation,” leaning more towards a proactive “erasure” and “reshaping” that contained willpower.

What the soul of the heavenly tomb mobilized, however, was the most primitive and pure power of “dead silence” and “ending” accumulated over ten thousand years in this Heavenly Tomb Space—vast, imposing, yet slightly rigid.

At this moment, at the center of the collision between the two powers, space constantly collapsed and reorganized, forming a bizarre and chaotic area.

Although the range of Li Ao’s Gui Xu Domain was compressed, it was incredibly condensed, like the sharpest blade, continuously severing and disintegrating the approaching gray chains.

However, there were simply too many chains, and they seemed endless, drawing power from the entire vacuum zone and even the gray space further away.

More importantly, the heavy pressure emitted by the ten thousand zhang stone stele acted like an invisible shackle, severely restricting Li Ao’s circulation of power and spatial movement.

“Outsider... Your Dao is immature... Merge into me... and you shall see true Nirvana...”

The intent of the soul of the heavenly tomb carried a condescending indifference and longing.

Its blurry phantom shifted again, transforming into a gray giant a thousand zhang tall. It lifted a giant foot condensed from pure Annihilation Rule and trampled down fiercely towards the area where Li Ao was!

This foot seemed to carry the weight of the entire Heavenly Tomb Space! Before it even landed, the ground below had already begun to silently annihilate and collapse!

“Senior Brother!” Xiao Yan’s eyes were splitting with rage; he could feel the destructive power contained within that foot, far exceeding his range of understanding.

Gu Xun’er, Medusa, and Xiao Yi Xian also turned pale; they didn’t even have room to intervene in a confrontation of this level.

“Immature?” Li Ao looked up at the giant foot that blotted out the sky. The light of Chaos swirled wildly in his eyes, and an unyielding pride and boiling Battle Intent erupted!

“Then let me show you how my ‘immature’ Dao will cut down your rotten Soul!”

He no longer defended passively; he actually took the initiative to retract part of his Gui Xu Domain, compressing his power to the limit onto his right fist!

At the same time, the Purification Lotus Demon Flame, which had been nurtured in his Qi Sea, was fully activated by him in battle for the first time!

The milky white, pure flame gushed out. It did not burn but carried a holy aura that purified everything, wrapping around his right fist and intertwining and fusing with the chaotic gray Guixu Sacred Power!

The true meaning of “purification” of the Purification Lotus Demon Flame was exactly what could restrain and dissolve the complex dead silence energy of the soul of the heavenly tomb!

Guixu Great Dao as the bone, Purification Lotus Demon Flame as the edge!

“Nirvana—Purifying World Fist!”

Li Ao let out a low roar, his feet stomping violently on the Void Realm. Instead of retreating, his figure advanced, turning into a gray and white intertwined meteor, rushing upwards against the current!

The fist edge, compressed to the extreme, dragged out a long trajectory that seemed to purify space into nothingness, slamming fiercely into the gray giant foot that was trampling down!

“Boom————!!!”

This time, it was not silent erosion, but a truly earth-shattering, terrifying collision!

The instant the fist and foot made contact, time seemed to freeze for a moment.

Immediately, an indescribable storm of destruction spread wildly outward in a spherical shape, centered on the point of collision!

Wherever it passed, space was covered in cracks like a shattered mirror, and those remaining gray chains snapped inch by inch, turning into dust!

The gray giant foot, a thousand zhang tall, began from the point of contact with Li Ao’s fist; the milky white Purification Lotus Demon Flame spread rapidly like the deadliest virus, continuously purifying and disintegrating the Annihilation Rule inside it!

The domineering Gui Xu fist power followed closely behind, thoroughly “returning to nothingness” those purified structures!

“Roar——!!!”

The giant transformed from the soul of the heavenly tomb let out a roar of pain and anger, and the entire giant foot shattered with a bang in the horrified eyes of everyone!

It turned into gray light spots all over the sky, completely swallowed and purified by the remaining power of Li Ao’s fist edge and the Purification Lotus Demon Flame!

Li Ao’s figure was also shaken by the recoil force, falling from high altitude and smashing heavily onto the ground, creating a huge deep pit, with smoke and dust filling the air.

He knelt halfway at the bottom of the pit, the skin on his right fist split open, revealing bones shining with a dark golden luster, and pale gray blood oozing out. However, the flesh at the wound was squirming and healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, revealing the formidable power of the Nirvana Hegemon Body.

His face was slightly pale, and his breath was fluctuating; clearly, that blow just now had consumed a huge amount of energy.

The giant transformed from the soul of the heavenly tomb, having lost a foot, staggered backward, its phantom becoming much dimmer, and its aura showing obvious disorder.

It seemed not to have expected that Li Ao could erupt with such a terrifying blow, fusing “purification” and “Return to Nothingness,” directly wounding its core will!

“You... actually injured me...” The intent of the soul of the heavenly tomb was filled with shock and anger. The blurry face seemed to be “staring” fixedly at Li Ao in the deep pit. “The mark of ‘Origin’... and that flame... both must be left behind!”

It was completely enraged! The entire vacuum zone began to vibrate violently. The ten thousand zhang stone stele shone brightly, and even more massive energy of dead silence gathered from all directions, pouring into the body of the soul of the heavenly tomb. Its dim phantom began to solidify again, even faintly emitting a more dangerous aura than before!

It began to mobilize the Origin power of the entire Heavenly Tomb at any cost!

“No good! It’s going all out!” Gu Xun’er’s expression changed drastically.

Xiao Yan clenched his fists, veins bulging. He hated himself for his lack of strength, unable to help his Senior Brother at such a critical moment.

Seven-colored light flickered violently in Medusa’s snake eyes; she was already prepared to reveal her true form to fight at any cost.

The gray-purple poison mist around Xiao Yi Xian also became extremely dense.

In the deep pit, Li Ao slowly stood up straight, wiping away a trace of blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth.

His eyes, however, were unusually bright, even carrying a hint of excitement.

That “Nirvana Purifying World Fist” just now was his attempt to initially fuse the Guixu Great Dao with the Purification Lotus Demon Flame, and its power exceeded his expectations.

Through this hard clash, he also perceived more clearly the Nirvana Origin contained in this soul of the heavenly tomb, or rather, this Heavenly Tomb “fragment.”

It was a more ancient, more primitive, and more “empty” Nirvana, different from the “Gui Xu” he obtained from the nirvana star core and his own insights; it was more like the “absolute stillness” after everything ended.

“Want to keep me?” Li Ao looked at the soul of the heavenly tomb that was frantically gathering power. Not only did he show no fear, but he took a deep breath and made a move that no one expected.

Not only did he not continue to mobilize power to defend or attack, but he slowly closed his eyes, completely released his own Gui Xu Domain, and even actively released a trace of the aura of the “nirvana ancient talisman” fragment in his Sea of Consciousness!

What was he doing?!

Just as everyone was in doubt and uncertainty, an unexpected change occurred!

The soul of the heavenly tomb, which was frantically gathering power and preparing to launch a fatal blow, suddenly shook its massive body when it sensed that trace of “nirvana ancient talisman” aura released from Li Ao’s Sea of Consciousness!

Its constantly changing phantom suddenly stagnated, its scarlet, chaotic gaze “staring” fixedly at Li Ao, its intent filled with extreme shock, greed, and... a trace of fear born from instinct?

“That is... the key... fragment... incomplete... but it is indeed... the key...”

Its intent became incoherent, and the process of gathering power came to an abrupt halt.

It was as if the trace of ancient talisman aura released by Li Ao had a certain fatal attraction and suppression over it.

Beneath Li Ao’s tightly closed eyes, the corners of his mouth curled into an imperceptible arc.

He had bet correctly!

This Heavenly Tomb fragment was born because of the aura of the nirvana source core, and this “nirvana ancient talisman,” obtained from the Medicine Clan’s Nirvana Illusionary Domain and suspected to lead to the true “nirvana source core,” was, to the soul of the heavenly tomb, like a subject seeing a monarch’s Seal, or a mouse seeing a cat!

Although the ancient talisman was incomplete and its aura weak, its essential status was far higher than this Heavenly Tomb fragment!

Taking advantage of this fleeting Opportunity when the soul of the heavenly tomb was shocked by the ancient talisman’s aura and lost its composure, Li Ao’s tightly closed eyes suddenly opened, and chaotic gray light and pure lotus white light intertwined in his eyes!

His hands rapidly formed an incredibly profound Seal, and all the power in his body, along with the portion of the Heavenly Tomb’s dead silence energy he had just absorbed and refined, were all poured into it!

“Gui Xu—Soul Suppressing Seal!”

A gray-white Seal, jointly condensed from the Gui Xu rules and the Purification Lotus Demon Flame, formed above Li Ao’s head. On the Seal, a blurry phantom, similar to the patterns of the nirvana ancient talisman, flashed and disappeared, emitting a supreme aura that suppressed the heavens and made ten thousand Souls submit!

Li Ao bit the tip of his tongue, spraying a mouthful of essence blood onto the Seal, and shouted sternly: “Suppress!”

The gray-white Seal turned into a stream of light, ignoring the distance of space, and before the soul of the heavenly tomb could react, it had already been imprinted on the center of its blurry phantom’s forehead!

“No——!!!”

The soul of the heavenly tomb let out a shrill and desperate scream, its entire phantom twisting and struggling violently, but the gray-white Seal was like it had taken root, firmly suppressing its core.

The Purification Lotus Demon Flame on the Seal burned its complex Soul Power, the Power of Gui Xu eroded its Foundation of existence, and that trace of ancient talisman aura formed an essential suppression over it!

Its power began to dissipate rapidly, its aura withered sharply, and the massive body it had re-condensed began to collapse like a sand tower.

“Seal!”

Li Ao formed the Seal again, taking advantage of its weakness to finish it off!

Countless gray-white rule chains spread out from the Seal, wrapping layer by layer around the constantly shrinking phantom of the soul of the heavenly tomb, eventually turning into a fist-sized ball of light with gray-white light constantly flowing through it, which flew back into Li Ao’s hand.

Inside the ball of light, the phantom of the soul of the heavenly tomb was barely visible; it had been completely suppressed and sealed!

The vacuum zone returned to dead silence. Only the ten thousand zhang stone stele still stood, but the pressure it emitted had weakened by more than half, as if it had lost its core.

Li Ao held the sealing ball of light, his face pale as paper, his body swaying slightly. The consecutive eruptions just now, especially the final activation of the ancient talisman aura and essence blood to cast the “Soul Suppressing Seal,” had consumed too much.

But his eyes were filled with a light that intertwined exhaustion and excitement.

He sensed the suppressed, incomparably pure Nirvana Origin will inside the ball of light, as well as this Heavenly Tomb Space, which, having lost its Dominator, was almost no longer guarded against him.

He knew that a massive Opportunity was already in his hands!

And Xiao Yan and the others, who had witnessed the whole process, were already shocked beyond measure, looking at Li Ao as if looking up at a god.