Xu Qing drained the Fire Corpse's magical power, once again stacking the Celestial Spirit Axe up to the thirty-third layer. However, this time he did not target the Witch Sacrifice, who could 'borrow the corpse to return the soul', but instead aimed at the Witch Qi who excelled in voodoo curses.
The influence of Witch Qi on the mundane world far exceeded that of the Witch Sacrifice. Those plagues and disasters were the root cause of Yaozhou's fall into the abyss and were also the key for the Daluo Sect to end Yaozhou's catastrophe.
As for the Witch Sacrifice, who relied on corpses to 'resurrect', Xu Qing already had a strategy in mind to deal with them.
However, just as Xu Qing was determined to resist one stroke from the Witch Sacrifice, even at the cost of destroying the altar first, the Witch Sacrifice, who was right in front of him, swung the giant axe in his hand at one of Xu Qing's avatars.
When the avatar turned into corpse hair and fell into the turbulent poison sea, countless ghostly clawed hands lifted the dull corpse hair and delivered it to the altar where Witch Qi was located.
"..."
Xu Qing glanced at the headless giant indifferently watching by the poison sea, then looked at Witch Qi on the altar, who was giving him a mocking smile.
Are you amusing yourselves?
Xu Qing broke free from the constraints of the poison sea and stood floating in the air, with the altar right in front of him, just within reach.
Witch Qi raised his face, engraved with witch patterns, and just looked at the young man who had broken through layers of obstacles to stand before him.
At the moment Xu Qing raised the Ghost-slaying Treasure Sword, Witch Qi not only did not choose to retreat but smiled even more wantonly.
Xu Qing frowned slightly, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the human-faced skull in front of Witch Qi.
On the top of that skull was a soul lamp flickering with a ghostly blue flame.
Additionally, two more soul lamps were burning on the skull's left and right shoulders.
Is this life flame?
Xu Qing was puzzled. Although the skull in front of him bore a strong resemblance to himself, he could confirm that the life flame was not his.
He was nothing more than an utterly dead zombie; where would he get a life flame?
The only explanation was that the flames burning in the lamps were just ordinary ghost fire.
"Young man, do you think your sword is faster, or my arrow?"
Witch Qi held a treasure bow inscribed with strange runes, and on the bowstring, a dark-hued bone arrow was aiming right at the skull that matched Xu Qing's stature.
Xu Qing couldn't help but remind, "I'm right here! Your arrow's gone astray to your granny's place!"
As he spoke, Xu Qing tentatively took a step forward.
Witch Qi dismissed it casually, then sneered coldly, "One more step and you'll lose sight in your left eye; two more steps and you'll be blinded completely! If you dare to swing your sword, you'll die on the spot!"
Xu Qing gauged the distance required to fully unleash the power of the Celestial Spirit Axe, then silently edged another step forward.
Witch Qi, seeing this, said nothing more and shot an arrow aiming at the skull's left eye!
Xu Qing blinked and silently stepped forward again, crossing the void.
"..."
Witch Qi became visibly tense and hastily aimed another arrow at the skull's right eye.
"..."
This time, Xu Qing strode three steps toward the altar, arriving within just ten feet of Witch Qi.
Witch Qi was greatly alarmed and could no longer afford to play with bows and arrows. Instead, he stepped forward, raised his bone staff, and smashed it onto the soul lamps on the skull's head and shoulders!
With three crisp sounds, the ghost fires extinguished, and by this time Xu Qing was already above Witch Qi's head, raising the large, dark Ghost-slaying Treasure Sword in his hand.
The terrifying aura contained within the treasure sword directly crushed the skull before Witch Qi into powder.
Witch Qi raised his head in horror and exclaimed, "You are..."
"I'm your father!"
In response to Witch Qi was Xu Qing's weighty paternal love and an all-out strike condensed from his thousands of years of cultivation!
The sacrificial altar, just inches from the Ghost-slaying Treasure Sword, instantly disintegrated, and the white rainbow axe shadow, compressed to the extreme, tore open an abyssal rift over several thousand feet deep and more than a thousand miles wide from the center of the altar.
As the dust settled, Xu Qing sheathed the Ghost-slaying Treasure Sword and leapt into the thousand-foot-deep abyss.
At the bottom of the abyss, the gravely injured Witch Qi still refused to give up. He chanted witchcraft spells, intending to exchange a temporary restoration of physical magical power at the cost of a drop in his realm.
However, before Witch Qi could perform any divine techniques, a demonic whisper sounded in his ear.
"It's a bit late for repentance now, don't you think?"
Witch Qi lowered his head to look at his chest, pierced by the Emperor's Sword representing underworld authority.
At the same time, the youth behind him used the eightfold underworld emperor's luck as fuel, offering the Mountain and River Cauldron, sealing all of his apertures and preventing him from casting any witchcraft divine techniques.
Witch Qi was unable to express his shock, looking at the youth who had thrown him into the cauldron, using his last strength to ask:
"Who are you really?"
The response to Witch Qi was the treasure cover sealed by the Mountain and River Cauldron, and Xu Qing's light words.
"I've told you, I'm your father! You foolish child, how can you still not understand human speech, no wonder you only do inhumane things..."
...
The Ancient Yin River Dao, the Witch Priest's gaze fell onto the silent abyss crack, but the unease in his heart grew stronger.
In the distance, Ascendant Fuluan, responsible for restraining the twelve skeletal warriors, was avoiding in a panic while shouting:
"The evil forces are overwhelming! The Sect Leader is likely doomed, we might as well return to the mortal world first and then devise a countermeasure!"
Monk Xinyuan did not respond to Ascendant Fuluan, tearing off his patchwork monk's robe, he said: "Quickly, go rescue the Sect Leader, even bring back his corpse!"
On the robe, hundreds of thousands of Buddha lights blossomed simultaneously, yet Monk Xinyuan was willing to abandon the virtues accumulated over a millennium to lend Xu Qing a hand.
In this chaotic world, losing one who dares to stand up for the common people will lead to countless individuals suffering from calamity.
Zhang Pingsheng similarly awakened the primordial spirit of his past life, donning the yin-yang robe, forming the Tai Chi seal with his hand, the elder flew out just to fight for a glimmer of hope for the Sect Leader.
Ascendant Fuluan was a self-interested person, the past incident when Xu Qing and the Demon Exorcism True Monarch slaughtered Ghost Law causing the True Monarch to return to oblivion was still vivid in his memory.
He certainly did not want to follow in the True Monarch's footsteps.
But seeing two fellow Taoists fighting to the death without retreat, Ascendant Fuluan too unexpectedly clenched his teeth tightly, offering all the treasure swords from the Sword Box, forming the Big Dipper Sword Array, obstructing the path of the skeletal warriors heading toward the abyss.
Ascendant Fuluan had hard-to-express feelings.
Two thousand years ago, the founding Emperor gave him hope of cultivation, yet now Xu Qing has given him hope of ascending to immortality.
If he were to retreat now, everything he had done for the Daluo Sect would be in vain.
If he had the chance to ascend to immortality before presiding over the Grand Celestial Array, but after sustaining the array, harming his foundation, he would only share the glory and ruin with the Daluo Sect.
Unless he did not wish to ascend to immortality!
But having started and abandoned his oath, betraying the founding Emperor, wasn't it all to ascend to immortality?
Ascendant Fuluan suddenly realized, from the moment he met Xu Qing, he had lost all choice.
The sunk cost he invested in Xu Qing had reached a point where he could not turn back!
Not far away, Zhang Pingsheng saw Ascendant Fuluan suddenly exerting himself, and finally sighed in relief.
Though he did not understand why this cowardly Immortal suddenly changed his ways, as long as it could buy more time for the Sect Leader, it was better than anything.
At a certain moment, within the silent abyss crack.
A robe blooming with Buddha light suddenly flew out like it had encountered something filthy.
Following behind the robe, a figure clad in the Immortal Lady's attire leaped out of the abyss.
Xu Qing stepped onto the ground in an instant, coming before the three of them.
He looked at the patchwork robe on Monk Xinyuan, eyes filled with disdain.
This shabby monk's ragged robe surprisingly disliked him while the Immortal Lady's attire had no dislike for him!
Xu Qing brushed off his own mystical feather cloak, his heart finally feeling comforted.
"Sect Leader, that witch demon..."
Xu Qing's gaze landed on the distant, uncertain Witch Priest, speaking calmly: "Take him."
In the distance, the Witch Priest angrily said: "In the face of filthy calamities, your orthodox methods stand no chance of subduing us, who are you really?"
"..."
It would have been better if the Witch Priest hadn't spoken, but as soon as he did, Xu Qing immediately reacted: "Who is this old witch demon cursing! I am the Daluo Sect Leader, successor of the Nine Heavens Profound Lady's sword techniques, sworn godfather of the great disciple of the Sea Convergence Deity, you old corpse ghost, how dare you try to shift the blame!"
Xu Qing instantly took out the Shouyang Great Axe, striking towards the Witch Priest in front.
Ascendant Fuluan watched as the Sect Leader attacked without another word, for some reason he just felt this moment the Sect Leader wasn't subduing demons but rather silencing them...