69: The Medicine Man (End)

"Heh... merely a pseudo-god, nothing more."

Tang Yiliang's voice was not loud, yet it exploded in the ears of everyone in the Xuanxian Grotto-Heaven, deafening them.

That quasi-god expert from the Central Plains narrowed his eyes, his gaze turning dangerous.

Pseudo-god?

He had stepped into the half-step God Realm for a millennium; beneath the God Realm, all living beings were but ants. When had he ever suffered such contempt?

"Arrogant!"

The quasi-god expert shouted angrily, wasting no more words.

He took a step forward, his Aura astonishing.

A colossal hand, condensed from endless Spiritual Qi and carrying the power of Law unique to the God Realm, pressed down upon Tang Yiliang and his group.

This palm strike was enough to raze a mountain range to the ground.

However, Tang Yiliang merely flicked his finger.

A jet-black Sword Qi tore through the Void Realm, striking the center of that giant palm.

Without a sound, the giant hand began to disintegrate, turning into Spiritual Qi that dissipated across the sky.

Everyone's eyes widened, their faces filled with shock.

The arrogant quasi-god expert's expression of rage turned into horror.

"You..."

He had barely uttered a single word when Tang Yiliang moved.

Tang Yiliang did not look at him; his target had been the same from start to finish.

Si Yun!

His figure flashed rapidly across the sky, a powerful Aura of the Grotto-Heaven Realm erupting without reservation as he lunged straight for Si Yun.

"Protect Si Yun!"

The Xuanxian Old Ancestor roared; he knew that Si Yun was the last hope of the Xuanxian Grotto-Heaven.

He burned his Divine Soul, transforming into a streak of light to block the path in front of Si Yun.

"Trying to stop a chariot with a mantis's arm."

Tang Yiliang's expression was indifferent; without even glancing at him, he backhanded a palm strike.

"Boom!"

The Xuanxian Old Ancestor's protective spiritual light shattered inch by inch, his entire body struck heavily, flying backward as blood stained the sky red.

An Old Ancestor of the Grotto-Heaven Realm could not even withstand a single move.

Si Yun's heart turned ice cold.

It was over.

Just before Tang Yiliang's attack was about to land on him, the quasi-god from the Central Plains finally reacted, shouting as he attacked Tang Yiliang's back, attempting to rescue the besieged by attacking the besieger.

This time, Tang Yiliang did not dodge; he spun around, facing the quasi-god expert head-on.

There was cold mockery in Tang Yiliang's eyes.

"Pseudo-god? Today, I will let you know what true power is!"

A fierce battle erupted right then and there.

The quasi-god expert used all his means, the power of Law constantly surging toward Tang Yiliang. Yet Tang Yiliang moved as if in an empty land; his figure was ghostly, his sword light like a waterfall, every strike containing extreme killing intent. Each collision caused the Void Realm to tremble, with a terrifying Aura.

There was only one battlefield left in the sky.

The Peak duel between Tang Yiliang and the quasi-god expert.

On the other side, the experts brought by Tang Yiliang launched a one-sided battle against the Xuanxian Grotto-Heaven.

Under the siege of several Guiyi Realm experts, Si Yun was struggling, constantly in danger.

From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the Xuanxian Grotto-Heaven's mountain gate being breached, countless Disciples dying in wails, and the familiar halls and pavilions turning into a sea of fire.

His heart ached intensely.

This should have been the Peak of his glory, the beginning of him overlooking the Western Desert with his Revered Master in the God Realm as his backing.

But now, it had become his desperate situation.

"Ah!"

A shrill scream pulled Si Yun's gaze back to the sky.

The quasi-god expert from the Central Plains had his chest pierced through by Tang Yiliang's sword, his eyes filled with endless fear and unwillingness as he fell from the sky, his life force extinguished.

A quasi-god, fallen!

Si Yun trembled, feeling a chill.

His greatest reliance was gone.

He did not hesitate any longer and violently crushed the jade pendant at his waist.

"Go!"

He shouted to the few loyal Disciples beside him, and at the same time, a mysterious light gate suddenly appeared behind him.

That was the final retreat he had spent forty years of heart's blood preparing.

"Want to run?"

Tang Yiliang's cold voice rang in his ears.

A sword light containing endless resentment and killing intent crossed the distance of space, slashing down in an instant.

"Pfft!"

Si Yun only felt his back turn cold, and a tearing pain followed.

His whole body was pushed into the light gate by this immense force; at the very last instant before the teleportation passage closed, he looked back.

He saw Tang Yiliang floating in the air, raising his hand expressionlessly and gently pressing down toward the Xuanxian Grotto-Heaven below, which had already turned into ruins.

The entire Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land, along with the remaining mountain ranges, collapsed and was completely swallowed by the endless Void Realm.

Eastern Region, an uninhabited mountain range.

Space twisted, a light gate appeared out of thin air, and several disheveled figures tumbled out.

Leading them, Si Yun's face was extremely pale, a sword scar on his back deep enough to see bone, almost splitting him in two.

He struggled to stand up, watching the light gate twist and disappear behind him; he could no longer suppress a mouthful of blood and spewed it out violently.

His Aura weakened at an alarming rate.

His cultivation of the Peak Three Origin Realm dropped, and dropped again.

Finally, it barely stopped at the Early Stage of the Three Origins Realm.

What made him even more desperate was that he could clearly feel that his dao foundation within his body had been covered in spiderweb-like cracks from that sword strike.

The Guiyi Realm—it would be difficult to make any further progress in this life.

"Haha... hahahaha!"

Si Yun let out a maniacal laugh, filled with unwillingness and self-mockery.

Decades later.

In an inconspicuous corner of the Eastern Region, a small Sect named "Xuanyun Sect" appeared.

The Sect Master called himself Yun Yin; his attainments in the Dao of Pills were extremely high, but his cultivation was mediocre, and he hid from the world all day.

He took in Disciples and passed down the Dao of Pills, seemingly wanting only to live a peaceful life.

No one knew that this Sect Master Yun Yin was the Pill Emperor Yun who had stirred up bloody storms in the Western Desert back then.

Si Yun hid here to heal his wounds and escape Tang Yiliang's pursuit.

Another few decades passed.

The injuries in Si Yun's body finally healed, and his cultivation returned to the Peak Three Origin Realm, but the cracks in his dao foundation could not be repaired, becoming a permanent regret in his heart.

He was not resigned.

He decided to go to the Central Plains to find his Revered Master and seek that last glimmer of opportunity for a Breakthrough.

Relying on his Dao of Pills as a Great Pill Emperor, he easily made a deal with a top Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land in the Eastern Region, exchanging for the opportunity to use a cross-region Teleportation Array.

A flash of light passed, and he stepped onto the land of the Central Plains.

The Spiritual Qi here was far denser than in the Eastern Region, Western Desert, or Southern Border.

However, before he could even begin to search for his Revered Master's whereabouts, he stumbled into a forbidden land shrouded by ancient Restrictions.

Inside the forbidden land, it was deathly still, yet it contained a trace of heart-palpitating heat.

Yun Yin ventured deep inside cautiously.

At the deepest part of the forbidden land, he saw a ball of fire.

A ball of fire floating in the air, presenting nine colors, burning quietly.

Divine Fire!

Si Yun's breathing stopped at this moment.

His heart, which had long since died, began to beat violently once more.

Repair the dao foundation!

Breakthrough to the Pill Ancestor Realm!

Perhaps even reach the pinnacle of the God Realm!

All hope was reignited the moment he saw this Divine Fire.

A crazy thought sprouted in his mind.

He wanted to refine it!

Even if it meant death!

Si Yun did not hesitate; he set up layers of Restrictions around the Divine Fire to isolate the inside from the outside.

Then, he sat cross-legged and drew upon that Nine-Colored Divine Fire.

"Boom!"

The moment the Divine Fire entered his body, an indescribable, intense pain swept through his entire body.

His Physical Body was burning, his Divine Soul was being torn apart.

Every inch of flesh and blood, every cell, was burned by this powerful fire, then reconstructed, and then burned again.

Si Yun gritted his teeth tightly, relying on that unwilling obsession to hold on desperately.

One day.

Two days.

One year.

Ten years.

The Aura on his body became stronger and stronger; the damaged dao foundation actually began to slowly heal under the tempering of the strange fire.

Just at the moment when he was about to completely refine the core of the strange fire and complete the final transformation.

One move short.

His already cracked dao foundation ultimately could not withstand the final impact of the strange fire and shattered with a bang.

"Pfft—"

Yun Yin's body was torn to pieces, the strange fire lost control and began to backlash crazily.

It was over.

In the end, had he failed after all?

At the last moment before his consciousness dissipated, there was determination in Si Yun's eyes.

He exhausted his last remaining Soul power and, using an incredible secret technique of the Dao of Pills, Sealed his own remnant Soul together with this rampaging strange fire, along with this entire space.

A faint will echoed in the Void Realm.

"If I cannot refine you in this life, then I will return in the next!"