Chapter 1596: Everyone Has Schemes
Editor: Atlas Studios

At that moment, the Aurora Immortal Flood was still suppressing it, forming a stalemate with Xu Qing’s five-element cycle.

However, Xu Qing knew that this stalemate was only temporary.

At most, it would last for dozens of breaths!

There was only one way to completely neutralize this Aurora Immortal Flood, and that was to kill Li Mengtu.

As long as the other party died, the spell would disperse on its own.

Hence, the instant Li Mengtu retreated…

Xu Qing’s entire person transformed into an afterimage as he rushed over at an incomparably astonishing speed, creating a sharp sonic boom.

His speed was so fast that it was as though time had slowed down.

The coldness in his eyes grew even more. His left hand formed a seal and pressed down.

Immediately, spatial power appeared.

The world changed color, wind blew, and clouds surged. The void churned and grids appeared one after another.

These grids formed a separate space and appeared around Li Mengtu, sealing his escape path, isolating his teleportation, and suppressing his counterattack.

Li Mengtu’s heart trembled.

He knew that the person before him, Xu Qing, was anything but ordinary. The previous use of the decree authority on the Main Dao Cliff had already revealed the formidable strength of his opponent, and he had prepared himself accordingly. Yet, even with all his precautions, he still found the situation difficult to handle.

In a battle with Xu Qing, absolute focus was necessary—there was no room for the slightest lapse. Just one moment of carelessness could give Xu Qing the opportunity to unleash a devastating onslaught, just like the overwhelming surge he was facing now.

To make matters worse, Xu Qing was exceptionally skilled at seizing such moments.

This made the mental strain of the fight even greater than in Li Mengtu’s past battles that had earned him his reputation.

These thoughts flashed through Li Mengtu’s mind, but they didn’t hinder his immediate response. Even though the surrounding space was sealed off, he decisively bit down on his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood in retaliation.

He used his blood to cast a spell, forming blood-colored runes that erupted forward.

At the same time, mirror flowers surrounded his body. Each of them shone, wanting to resist the violent storm that was about to descend upon him.

However, the same tactic rarely succeeded against Xu Qing more than once unless it was flawless.

And the mirror flower technique was far from perfect.<segment 125357 ¶>

While it had the element of surprise the first time it was used, Xu Qing had already discerned its underlying mechanism.

The technique was not a manipulation of cause and effect but rather a powerful ability that harnessed the power of space.

It harnessed the power of space, creating overlapping dimensions through a method of refraction. This allowed it to silently and imperceptibly direct lethal force.

Though the flaws in this technique were deeply hidden, they still existed.

The main vulnerabilities lay in the refraction itself and the invisible overlapping space it created.

Xu Qing had already countered the latter by using his own spatial abilities to isolate the overlapping dimensions.

As for the former, he summoned Little Shadow precisely to exploit this weakness.

Little Shadow’s body turned pitch-black and instantly enlarged, forming a cover.

As such, what the mirror flowers reflected was pitch-black. Moreover, its overlapping space was also isolated and couldn’t spill over or materialize fully.

All of this took a long time to describe but in reality, it happened in the blink of an eye.

In that instant, the mirror flowers were restricted and Xu Qing’s immortal art activated.

First was the Six Thieves Delusions.

The seven emotions and six desires transformed by this immortal art erupted in Li Mengtu’s mind like a demon, tainting his emotions, devouring his will, and tainting his Dao heart.

Next was Five Dogs Sheltering Immortal.

The dogs entered the house and mixed into his memories.

It formed a gate that opened, causing the greedy dog to rush in.

It bound his soul.

After that, the deluded dog was formed, trying to send him into the cycle of life and death. The evil dog arrived and tried to send him to hell.

And once the cliff dog appeared, he would forever lose his human form!

A heart-rending voice rang out from Li Mengtu’s mouth.

His expression was distorted and his body trembled violently. In all the battles he had fought, he had never encountered such a spell. To be precise, this was no longer a spell.

This was more like a strange curse!

This caused him to bleed from his seven orifices and the three souls and seven spirits in his body to wail. His memories also fell into chaos.

Xu Qing’s killing move wasn’t over. It had only just begun.

The mirror flowers were restricted and the immortal arts caused chaos. After that, a shocking sword energy erupted.

The last of the three streams of sword energy that Old Ninth had given Xu Qing was activated.

This sword energy shone in the sky, forming a destructive might, transforming into a sharp sword image that pierced through everything and slashed at Li Mengtu.

Li Mengtu’s body trembled and a wound appeared on his chest, causing blood to gush out.

Immediately after, the Golden Crow stirred up monstrous black flames, forming a black spear. Xu Qing, who instantly rushed out of the black flames, grabbed it.

All the cultivation in his body erupted, and time and space were activated at the same time.

They gathered on his body and fused into the spear.

He stabbed out with his spear!

A rumbling sound echoed. This spear had pierced into the place where Old Ninth’s sword energy had broken through.

It entered the flesh, touched the heart, and penetrated it!

The aurora dissipated and the five elements returned.

However, Xu Qing didn’t reveal the slightest hint of relaxation. On the contrary, his pupils constricted. He didn’t hesitate to give up on the thought of destroying the corpse and retreated abruptly.

His speed was extremely fast, so he instantly left.

The instant his body retreated, a terrifying eruption suddenly spread out from Li Mengtu’s corpse.

It covered five hundred kilometers.

It caused everything in this range to be directly annihilated!

Xu Qing’s expression was solemn. At that moment, even from a thousand miles away, he could sense the terrifying explosive force in front of him.

If he had been a little slower earlier, he would have been heavily injured even if he didn’t die.

At the same time, a hoarse voice slowly rang out from the annihilated place in front of Xu Qing.

“To be able to make me have no choice but to use the third authority once, you’re indeed extraordinary!”

As the voice echoed, Li Mengtu’s figure walked out of the land of destruction step by step.

His clothes were torn but the injuries on his body… had all disappeared.

Regardless of whether it was his aura, state, or cultivation, he was still at his original peak.

This was his third authority. This authority was heaven-defying and was called regeneration!

As he walked, Li Mengtu looked at Xu Qing. His eyes revealed a solemn expression, and there was also a hint of complexity.

“Before I met you, I thought that my aptitude was already at the peak. Even if someone surpassed me, it’s impossible for them to surpass me by much.”

“Until today… My cultivation base is at early stage Ruler, and you are at the Soul Accumulation realm, yet our combat strength is evenly matched. So, in terms of talent, I am inferior to you. But this world only offers relative fairness, never absolute.”

“There’s no need to talk so much nonsense,” Xu Qing calmly said.

After experiencing the Ruler who relied on words to activate a formation restriction back then, Xu Qing was quite vigilant against this method. Hence, while interrupting the other party, the erase authority also flickered in his eyes.

He erased all traces in the surroundings.

When Li Mengtu heard this, his gaze was deep. He suddenly raised his right hand and waved it forward.

Immediately, the fragrance of flowers filled the air. With Li Mengtu as the center, countless flowers appeared out of thin air and spread out for millions of kilometers.

It transformed this endless range into a sea of flowers.

As for the flowers inside… Some were beautiful, some were ugly, some seemed to be rotting, and some were extremely sinister.

Moreover, they were all… poisonous flowers and poisonous grass!

The fragrance of the flowers was the aura emitted by countless poisonous grass which then mixed to form a powerful poison!

This poison instantly erupted, enveloping Xu Qing.

If it were anyone else, they would undoubtedly be facing a life-and-death crisis at this moment. However, Xu Qing’s mastery of the Dao of plants and vegetation was already profound. Although he didn’t have any herbs on him, he did have a large supply of medicinal pills.

Medicinal pills were all refined from plants and vegetation, containing the very substance he needed.

With a swift motion, Xu Qing took out a handful of carefully selected medicinal pills. As each one appeared, he immediately crushed it, extracting the necessary substances within. He then dispersed these around him, blending and adjusting them with his own deep understanding.

This was to neutralize the poison here.

Although he couldn’t completely resolve it due to time, he could still maintain his combat strength in this sea of flowers.

However, the instant Xu Qing’s medicinal pill dissolved the poison in the surroundings, Li Mengtu took a step forward, creating a sonic boom. He crossed a thousand miles and arrived in front of Xu Qing.

He punched.

Xu Qing raised his head and counterattacked.

A deafening boom immediately rang out. Li Mengtu’s attacks were like a storm, not stopping at all. With no regards to defense, he used his body and spells.

This method was completely different from what he did before.

Facing these attacks that was like a storm, Xu Qing went all out. The black spear in his hand shone and the five elements authorities intertwined and erupted. Time and spatial power fluctuated.

The two sides exchanged numerous powerful blows instantly.

The rumbling didn’t stop for even a moment.

As for the injuries, they appeared on Xu Qing’s body and even soul.

This caused his entire body to be covered in blood, and more blood kept gushing out of his mouth.

However, the strange thing was that… Li Mengtu was completely unscathed!

To be precise, every time his injuries appeared, they would immediately recover as though he had regenerated!

It was as though the current him was within the authority of regeneration and could recover infinitely.

This scene caused Xu Qing’s heart to sink.

The authority of regeneration was heaven-defying to begin with, and now, it looked like this authority could actually be maintained…

This ability could no longer be described as heaven-defying.

Xu Qing had never seen it before.

It also didn’t match his understanding.

However, he had a similar ability, which was time reversal. Hence, he had his own understanding of this authority.

“My time reversal is also heaven-defying, so I can’t use it a second time within a short period. Then Li Mengtu…”

“It’s impossible for his authority to not have a price.”

“He can’t maintain this for long. Moreover, after it loses its effect, the price will definitely appear!”

At the thought of this, Xu Qing gritted his teeth and changed from attacking to defending. Under the other party’s violent storm, he kept retreating.

Although it delayed time, Li Mengtu’s attacks became increasingly sharp, causing Xu Qing’s injuries to increase and continue to worsen. In the end, he was completely soaked in blood.

Seeing this, Li Mengtu’s eyes flashed.

His regeneration authority was extraordinary and it could be maintained for some time. However, there was a huge price to pay. Once this state disappeared, he would suffer a backlash.

Moreover, it couldn’t be used again within a short time.

Xu Qing’s previous use of time reversal hadn’t seemed to concern Li Mengtu too much, but inwardly, he was highly vigilant. As a result, his current actions had two purposes.

First, although his words at the start wasted his time, they also delayed Xu Qing’s time.

Based on his assessment, the time reversal ability Xu Qing used must have a limit—likely lasting no more than fifteen minutes, and perhaps even just a matter of tens of breaths.

Second, given his understanding of the time reversal’s limitations, Li Mengtu refrained from unleashing his most devastating killing techniques. Instead, he chose to continuously attack, causing Xu Qing’s injuries to accumulate.

This way, even if Xu Qing could still reverse time, if he hesitated because he believed his injuries weren’t yet fatal, he might miss the optimal moment. As a result, he wouldn’t be able to revert to his peak state, but would instead return to a point in time where his injuries had already started to accumulate.

This was a vicious cycle.

“Now, I can verify if he has that ability!”

“If he has, I might have no choice but to use that method…”

“If not, this battle is over!”

At the thought of this, Li Mengtu estimated the remaining time he had in the regeneration authority. He then took out a wooden carving.

This wooden carving was pitch-black and emitted an evil aura. The carving was of an old man.

It was lifelike.

The old man’s features were twisted in extreme agony, his face was contorted with pain, and his body bent unnaturally as if on the brink of death.

The instant he took out this wooden carving, Li Mengtu did something that caused Xu Qing to suddenly turn gloomy.

Li Mengtu held the wooden carving in one hand and his other hand directly pierced into his chest. With a fierce grip, he yanked out his heart and then crushed it with a powerful squeeze!