Chapter 149: Chilling Witchcraft Power

Through the information conveyed by the Impermanence of Black and White, Qingxu roughly understood the whole story and learned the origin of the three-headed hound.

The three-headed hellhound was reputed to be the guardian beast of the netherworld. It could manifest thousands of clones, and its most terrifying capability was the power to freely shuttle back and forth through the eighteen layers of hell. A single head roaring could shatter a mortal's courage, two heads howling could scatter ghostly spirits, three heads shouting could disperse souls, its eyes could flash thousands of blades of gloomy light, and its mouth could spew raging, ferocious nether winds.

Because the Impermanence of Black and White had become Taiyi Yin Immortals, setting a precedent, other Yin Immortals were subsequently produced in the netherworld under the influence of karma. This three-headed hellhound was precisely the very first guardian Yin Immortal to be born.

Unlike the Impermanence of Black and White, the three-headed hellhound was born out of nothingness under the opportune moment of the Heavenly Dao. From birth, it possessed the cultivation base of the early Taiyi True Immortal stage, but its mind was pure and innocent like a blank sheet of paper. As soon as it came into the world, it sought out the Impermanence of Black and White. In its heart, the two predecessors of Impermanence were its sole reliance.

"A blessed person has nothing to worry about! Why bother searching for the entrance to hell now? With the three-headed hellhound, the eighteen layers of the netherworld are completely unobstructed!" Qingxu was immensely excited. He never imagined his fortune would reach such a degree, which was simply defying the heavens. Previously, he had complained about endless bad luck, but now it had all vanished.

Woof, woof, woof...

The continuous barking echoed endlessly. Upon seeing the Impermanence of Black and White, the three-headed hellhound was overjoyed and hurriedly stepped through the void, running frantically toward them. After a few afterimages, it reached their side, sometimes rubbing against the hem of Black Impermanence's robe, and other times licking White Impermanence's lower leg. Its sense of dependency was fully expressed. Understandablely so, the three-headed hellhound had arrived in the world like an infant, possessing an innate sense of fear and an urgent need for parental care. This was a matter of innate nature, entirely different from the level of cultivation and strength.

Under Qingxu's control, Black Impermanence affectionately patted the middle head of the three-headed hellhound, causing it to blissfully squint its gloomy eyes.

"My Lord possesses boundless fortune and blessings. This subordinate offers my utmost congratulations," Ying Kui's flattering voice came over, making Qingxu feel somewhat carried away. After all, this was an ancient Taiyi True Immortal mighty figure!

"Alright, let's first deal with this undead skeletal beast! Now with Little San (the name given to the three-headed hellhound) joining in, our strength has greatly increased, making us much more secure." Having said this, Qingxu assigned the roles: "Shadow, along with the Impermanence of Black and White and Little San, will be responsible for the main offense, while Kunlun will assist from the side, and I shall refine it with the Samadhi True Fire."

At Qingxu's command, Ying Kui took the lead and charged forward first, followed closely by the Impermanence of Black and White and Little San. Little Kunlun executed a secret technique, brewing her magic power, communicating with the Kunlun Mirror, borrowing the power of time and space, and preparing to unleash space blades. Qingxu also exhaled a blazing golden-red Samadhi True Fire from his mouth and nose, rolling it toward the undead skeletal beast.

The undead skeletal beast lacked independent intelligence. Seeing Ying Kui, the Impermanence of Black and White, and Little San attacking, it immediately leaped with all four limbs to meet them. A chilling aura erupted wildly, frosting the ground within a radius of ten feet.

Boom! Bang, crack, crack, crack...

Thud, thud, thud...

Under the frontal assault, the skeleton of the undead skeletal beast immediately shattered into pieces over a small half of its body, and its form was repeatedly forced back more than ten steps under a tremendous, overwhelming force. Although it was at the half-step Daluo stage, it was fighting four opponents after all. Not to mention the others, Ying Kui alone—being an antique—had a reserve of magic power several times denser than its own, and could fight it evenly in a one-on-one duel, let alone with the added assistance of the Impermanence of Black and White and Little San?

Swish! Bang!

Little Kunlun seized the golden opportunity and used a space blade to directly slash right into the undead skeletal beast, splitting it in two. Immediately afterward, Qingxu's Samadhi True Fire enveloped a single beast bone to refine it, causing it to slowly melt and disintegrate. Qingxu deeply understood the principle that biting off more than one can chew—injuring all ten fingers is not as effective as breaking one—so he prepared to melt and refine the undead skeletal beast bone by bone. This was also the fastest shortcut; otherwise, attempting to melt all of them at once would exceed his current cultivation level.

Swish, swish, swish...

Amidst the sound of piercing through the air, the scattered bones instantly reassembled, restoring the undead skeletal beast. However, the small branch bone that had been melted by Qingxu's Samadhi True Fire struggled desperately for a while, but ultimately failed to escape, and as time passed, it gradually vanished into thin air.

Lacking that small bone, the strength of the undead skeletal beast decreased by a fraction.

The battle continued. The undead skeletal beast possessed no techniques, relying entirely on brute force to frontally attack Ying Kui, the trio, and the hound. Little Kunlun leisurely reaped the benefits, while Qingxu boredly wielded the Samadhi True Fire.

"Too simple, not the slightest bit challenging." Under the siege of Ying Kui, the trio, and the hound, the skeletal beast lost all its temper. Originally, it still had the ability to fight back, but as Qingxu melted several of its bones, its strength plummeted sharply. It was now reduced to merely parrying, and even its parrying was fraught with perilous moments.

Victory was within grasp!

In truth, this was also due to Qingxu's good fortune. Without the three-headed hellhound, relying solely on Ying Kui, the Impermanence of Black and White, and Little Kunlun, the outcome would truly have been uncertain.

One bone melted and annihilated!

Two bones melted and annihilated!

Three bones melted and annihilated!

...

Before long, the entire body of the undead skeletal beast was battered and broken, missing arms and legs, and its strength diminished again and again. Having dropped from the half-step Daluo stage to the early Taiyi True Immortal stage, it no longer posed the slightest threat to Ying Kui, the trio, and the hound. Little Kunlun had long since stopped fighting.

The Impermanence of Black and White and the three-headed hellhound simply coasted along, while Ying Kui alone easily toyed with and abused the undead skeletal beast.

Awoo! Awoo! Awoo! ...

A heart-rending, mournful wolf howl pierced the sky. The two clusters of grayish-black light flames in the eye sockets of the undead skeletal beast suddenly flared several times more violently, and its shattered skeletal body burst into fine dust with a "bang." Dancing all over the sky, the dust converged into a cluster, and its glistening jade-like form vanished without a trace. Then, amidst the flashing of a snow-white brilliance, a snow-white ice ball the size of a palm floated in mid-air, radiating a bizarre and chilling aura.

Sensing the aura emanating from the ice ball, Qingxu felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen it before, yet for a moment he could not recall where.

Boom!

The ice ball exploded, transforming into a terrifyingly chilling and bizarre force that surged toward Ying Kui, the Impermanence of Black and White, and the three-headed hellhound.

Puff, puff, puff, puff!

Under the chilling and bizarre force, Ying Kui, the Impermanence of Black and White, and the three-headed hellhound simultaneously spat out blood, flying backward and tumbling more than ten zhang before crashing heavily onto the ground. All of them sustained heavy injuries.

"Right, the Power of the Wu!" A flash of inspiration crossed his mind, solving his puzzle. The aura emanating from the snow-white ice ball shared similarities with that of the Fire Wu Guard, the Youqiong Clan, and the Yousin Clan brothers back in the Red Rock Hills. It was precisely the power of the Wu clan.

"Could the one who descended ahead of me be a member of the Wu Clan? She excels in the power of chilling frost, and can basically be confirmed to be a female cultivator. Her cultivation base is at least at the peak of the Daluo Golden Immortal stage, or even Quasi-Sage. Among the Wu Clan, few meet these conditions, especially since very few powerful individuals in the Wu Clan are female. Eliminating them one by one, there is only... her!" Qingxu thought of one among the Twelve Ancestral Witches.

The Ancestral Witch of Rain, Houtu's sister Xuanming. She was a renowned and powerful figure among the Ancestral Witches, one of the Twelve Ancestral Witches. She shared roughly the same domain of expertise as Gonggong, the Ancestral Witch of Water, but leaned more heavily toward chilling cold and freezing frost. What made Qingxu ponder the most was this undead skeletal beast. According to his memories from his past life, the true form of the Ancestral Witch Xuanming was a giant bone-spiked beast, making it not difficult to deduce that she also excelled in white bone secret arts. Following these various speculations, the conclusion was already quite obvious.

Having unleashed the terrifying chilling Wu power at the cost of her life, the undead skeletal beast also vanished into smoke.

Ying Kui, the trio, and the hound spent half a day healing their injuries, eventually recovering roughly seven or eight-tenths of their strength. At this point, Qingxu no longer wished to proceed to the Magical Beast Mountain Range. With the ability of the three-headed hellhound, they could easily shuttle directly into the Iron Tree Hell.

After spending some effort pacifying Little Kunlun, signing several unequal treaties, and promising to invite her to eat her fill once back in the Primordial World, he finally managed to dispel her idea of continuing toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

At the request of the Impermanence of Black and White, the three heads of the three-headed hellhound roared in unison. A mysterious and profound rune flashed across the center of its brow, and a pitch-black passageway materialized out of thin air before it, spacious enough for several people to walk side by side.

As he was about to step into the third layer of the netherworld, the Iron Tree Hell, Qingxu's heart grew apprehensive. He was unsure what had happened to the Xuanhuang Avatar, but he could almost certainly determine that it had encountered significant trouble; otherwise, why would he be unable to control it? It was fine in the Primordial World, but now that he had reached the netherworld as well, it truly gave him no peace, and a trace of gloom lingered persistently in the bottom of his heart.

"Forget it, no use overthinking it. Blessings are no disasters, and disasters cannot be avoided. What must be faced will eventually have to be faced. Besides, my current strength is not low either. Ying Kui, the Impermanence of Black and White, the three-headed hellhound, Little Kunlun, and myself—five individuals and one hound working in concerted effort—as long as it's not a Quasi-Sage, we can fight a Daluo Golden Immortal!" Among these people, Qingxu had the lowest strength. After all, Little Kunlun could freely control space blades, while his own Yin-Yang Taiji Diagram could launch attacks but not retract them. However, his Dao body defense was not bad either; the peak bottleneck of the fourth layer of the Moral Golden Body had been somewhat shaken, and it was estimated that breaking through to the fifth layer would not be far off. Even now, purely in terms of the sturdiness of his Dao body, it was by no means inferior to that of a Mysterious Immortal. Combined with his magic power, he could even fight a Celestial Immortal, and this was not yet factoring in his Xiantian spiritual treasures.

Advancing in the Dao of Immortals was extremely rigorous, and the gap between each level was as vast as heaven and earth. A minor realm could form an overwhelming advantage, while a major realm made one look like a crawling infant compared to an adult. The thought of leap-level combat was almost utterly impossible. Only Qingxu possessed numerous advantages that allowed him to leap a level, though that was only between Earth Immortals and Celestial Immortals. Once reaching the Mysterious Immortal and Taiyi True Immortal stages, wanting to leap-level combat was sheer courting of death—unless, of course, one possessed a supreme attacking treasure of the Primordial World like the Pangu Banner, which was a different story entirely.

Under normal circumstances, without borrowing any spiritual treasures, Qingxu's current strength was roughly comparable to the mid-stage Celestial Immortal realm. Borrowing spiritual treasures, he could fight a late-stage or peak Celestial Immortal. Using the maximum power of the Yin-Yang Taiji Diagram, instantly killing a Mysterious Immortal was a walk in the park, and grinding a Taiyi True Immortal to death over a long period was also possible. However, against a Daluo Golden Immortal, he had not a single sliver of a chance of winning.

His strength was somewhat low, but that was also normal. After all, Qingxu had been practicing immortality for merely a hundred-odd years, not even two hundred years by any full calculation. In the eyes of those mighty figures, this amount of time was no more than a nap. Moreover, his Dao attainment and realm far surpassed his magic power. Once his magic power rose to match his realm level, his strength would experience another massive surge.

He had been busy with matters concerning the Xuanhuang Avatar all these days and had no time to peacefully elevate his magic power or cultivate the Moral Golden Body. However, as long as Qingxu spent less than half a year, he could reach the peak of the Celestial Immortal realm, and his Moral Golden Body would surely break through to the fifth Mysterious Immortal stage. By then, perhaps he would be truly capable of fighting a Mysterious Immortal.

[Thanks to the fellow student Yan Lai Fengya for your patronage and support, and I am also immensely grateful to Senior Brother Huangpu River for your enthusiastic patronage. I've been overwhelmed with busyness these days and failed to express my gratitude immediately; I am truly sorry.]