Painting of the Nine Immortals
chapter-71

Chapter 71: Man in Black Against Devils and Beasts

Translator: Alsey/Sophie Wang Editor: - -

“You are absolutely right. My return favor to you then would be to show you the path to hell.”

The words betrayed Ling Xian’s murderous intent.

The four supreme rulers and countless hideous creatures collectively let out a terrifying roar.

“Damn him, this arrogant prick! We must kill him!”

“Yes, we must! How dare he? Doesn’t he know how many of us there are? We’ll bury him!”

“Conceited, egotistical nobody! He dares to mock our rulers! He’s asking for it!”

A thick layer of dust rose from their feet. The army stomped hard on the earth, readying themselves to charge on command.

The Golden-Mooned Wolf was covered from head to toe in a delicate layer of silk-smooth fur that glittered in a dazzling, unadulterated shade of gold, a half-moon shaped mark covering the middle of its forehead. He eyed the youth with an unspeakable look of contempt and said, “Send us to hell? Sounds impressive. Let’s see you try!”

“Come try me.” Ling Xian extended out his left hand and gestured for the Wolf to attack.

“A weakling not yet at the foundational level, but dares to speak with such pride. I think you can’t wait to die. Let me help you then!” The Tiger joined in on the taunting.

An invisible force rose up into the air, which stirred obscurely. The next moment, the invisible killer cloud charged towards Ling Xian at full speed.

It was one of the Snow Tiger’s most deadly skills – the Roar of the Forest.

Ling Xian shut his eyes, unfazed. Extracting powers out through his pores, he formed a transparent shield around his body and effortlessly deflected the invisible weapon.

“Hommmmm!”

An earth-shattering, ear-splitting sound echoed from the point of impact. The enormous force cracked open the earth and sent beasts flying through the air.

The power of a beast of the eighth realm was equivalent to those of a human at the foundational stage of training. The Tiger had only used 70% of its strength in this act.

However, Ling Xian was as firm as a rock. Seeing the Tiger’s shocked face, he mocked, “This child’s play deems you the most powerful of the four rulers? If the rest are anything like you, you are all definitely headed for hell today.”

[He’s got some skills. I see how he managed to kill so many of us.] The Snow Tiger pondered in silence, forgetting to wipe the shocked expression off its face. He had expected that 50% of his powers was more than enough to send this human to his death.

But the truth hurt. This human so effortlessly resisted its attack without moving an inch.

This was unbelievable to him, and the other three leaders of this beastly army had already begun to recoil in fear. They couldn’t grasp how this human had come to be so powerful.

There was truly nothing unusual about this. An average cultivator would have been disintegrated by now. But Ling Xian had broken through to the Undefeatable Realm. This was no challenge whatsoever.

This realm was not known as the Undefeatable Realm for nothing. Its powers were comparable to those of the foundational realm.

On the journey of cultivation, major boundaries were clearly defined. Minor boundaries could sometimes be blurred, such as a cultivator of the second realm being defeated by one from the first, as long as the spells were comparable and skills were leveled.

On the contrary, major boundaries were rarely breached.

When a cultivator broke through to the foundational level, the compounds within his body are fundamentally altered. As such, when battling an enemy still in his meditation period, it could be said that a rock was battling a piece of tofu. There was no battle to speak of.

Similarly, when a cultivator reached the tenth realm or this Undefeatable stage, the chemicals in his body will be altered. Battling an enemy from the foundational realm was no longer a lost cause.

As a result, every cultivator dreamt of entering the Undefeatable Realm, but very few can.

“What? None of you dare to challenge me next?” Ling Xian frowned. Knowing that he could not slaughter all four of the ruling beasts, but according to his own estimates, carving out a bloody path for himself straight to the exit and escaping from this dreadful place was not going to be difficult either.

Therefore, he decided to launch an offensive attack.

“Bastard!”

The Snow Tiger was overcome with fury, but it hesitated to act. It tried but couldn’t deduce the true depth of Ling Xian’s powers.

The other three rulers hesitated as well. Ling Xian had succeeded in implanting fear.

“A bunch of useless morons! Didn’t you just call me a nobody? Why are you hesitating?” Ling Xian threw them a degrading look. “I think you are the nobodies.”

“Goddamn bastard! Everybody! Charge!”

The Snow Tiger roared with hatred. The creature was born with a suspicious nature. It did not wish to take on someone it wasn’t certain it could defeat.

The other three followed suits, barking at their army to attack.

The four rulers had no regard for the lives of their soldiers and fellow creatures.

The earth and sky were instantly covered by a thick, enormous cloud of dust.

Hundreds of thousands of raging beasts charged towards Ling Xian.

Their killer instincts swallowed the stars as everything from rivers to trees recoiled in fear.

A man in black was taking on a giant army of devils and beasts all by his lonesome.

“Ha ha, don’t stop coming!”

Ling Xian raised his head to the sky and let out a sinister laughter.

There was one thing on his mind.

KILL!

Kill until rivers turn to blood!

Fight until corpses become mountains!

Ling Xian stood unfazed in the face of a herculean army.

“Die!” Ling Xian summoned his forces until a boiling point. The clouds turned pitch black. The tails of falling comets lit up the sky. The lights rained down on the incoming army.

Two ginormous hands appeared in the dark sky, circulating the Qi of Yin and Yang in their palms. The hands suddenly flipped, palms to the earth, and came crashing down.

“HOMMMMMMMM!”

The hands struck the earth and split it in two. Beasts too slow to react perished instantly into an unrecognizable pile of slush.

The force disintegrated at least 50 beasts in a flash.

With his Heaven Shadowing Palm Technique, the old Ling Xian could at best destroy a few beasts with a single strike, but the Ling Xian of the Perfect Realm was now infinitely more powerful.

“My God, what is that?”

“Unbelievable! Is he still at the meditational level? So many casualties with a single strike!”

“Goddammit, he’s a thousand times stronger than he was a year ago!”

The army of beasts panicked. Terror and fear descended upon them seemingly out of nowhere. They continued charging at the command of their rulers.

But they had already lost their fighting spirit.

With their spirits gone, they were doomed.

Ling Xian did not rest there. When the enemies were still reeling over the devastations of his first strike, a pair of magnificent wings appeared behind him. With a gentle flap, Ling Xian reappeared inches away from a terrified beast.

In a flash, the poor beast fell over and breathed no more.

Others saw, others came. Working as one, the army charged at Ling Xian from all sides.

Spells massacred the air. Magic lit up the dark sky. Mountains split. Rivers drained.

Unfortunately for them, battles between enemies, unless the enemies come from the same realm, were decided before they even began.

The collective power of thousands of beasts of the ninth realm cannot be disputed. But regardless of where they struck, they could not penetrate Ling Xian’s protective shield. This shield was formed out of powers from a realm way beyond their reach. Naturally, regardless of their number, it would be impossible for them to penetrate this shield.

The boundaries of cultivation were clearly defined for a reason. Enemies from different levels could never compete fairly.

Ling Xian’s powers had reached the levels of a foundational cultivator. He could not be defeated by these inferior opponents.

Of course, if none of the beasts gave up and use every last drop of their powers to carry this fight until the end, then Ling Xian will equally need to draw on every last drop of his powers to defend himself. Eventually, his powers will be drained, and he will die.

He cannot carry on a fight without his powers.

Killer instincts on the battlefield continued to sharpen from all sides. Blood splattered across the delicate fields of green. Ling Xian disappeared and reappears across the battleground, every time taking the life of another enemy with him. Mere moments later, piles of mutilated corpses became mountains of the dead.

Devils and beasts continued to rage but could not help but retreat. Fear controlled their footsteps. The human was too strong, too resilient.

The spirit of the beastly army had all but vanished. Nothing could inspire them to keep fighting as Ling Xian’s sword became bloodier and bloodier.

On the contrary, Ling Xian was as calm as a rock. Every strike took another life. Every strike took him another step closer towards the gate of the Hidden Territory.

His goal was never to slaughter as many enemies as he could lay his sword on. He could but never intended to kill. His goal was to leave. When he reached the door, the Untainted will be there to destroy the Hidden Territory and guide him home.

But just as Ling Xian came within steps away from the Gate, a gigantic golden wolf stepped into his path.

“You goddamn human, this is for killing so many of my subjects!”