Tang Bai Li

Chapter 163 Wine Exhausted, Heavenly Script

The waves struck the Heavenly Tree Spirit’s body, and a terrifying pain surged through it, shocking the spirit instantly.

It hadn't expected Xu Mu’s soul to be so powerful.

“As expected of a descendant of that race.”

The Heavenly Tree Spirit’s heart grew solemn; Xu Mu’s soul power was beyond its expectations.

But it was only surprised. As a peak sixth-stage being, it would still make this human pay a price.

The Heavenly Tree Spirit roared and waved its phantom branches.

Rustle, rustle, rustle…

Boundless radiance from the Heavenly Tree cascaded down, ancient and sacred, falling into space and calming the raging waves.

This turn of events was something Xu Mu hadn't anticipated.

In his own sea of consciousness, could the Heavenly Tree Spirit still fight back?

“Human, is that all you have!”

The Heavenly Tree Spirit taunted, then thrust countless branches down, piercing the muddy seabed of Xu Mu’s sea of consciousness.

Immediately, Xu Mu felt his head splitting with pain, his physical body outside unconsciously swaying, his face turning pale.

“Don’t underestimate it. It’s a peak sixth-stage creature. Use your full strength to fight it!”

Charles’s voice jolted Xu Mu back to reality from his daze. Then, for no reason, a surge of anger welled up from his heart.

It was one thing to be outmatched outside, but if the Heavenly Tree could still defeat him in his divinely bestowed sea of consciousness, it would only mean he was incompetent, a failure. But Xu Mu refused to admit he was a failure, so he roared and stirred up a violent tidal wave in his sea of consciousness once more!

Boom!

The Heavenly Tree Spirit, which had been shattering the barrier of his consciousness, was struck with countless cracks across its phantom body. It stumbled, nearly falling into the sea several times.

But almost falling was still not falling.

Bang!

With a muffled thud, the main trunk of the Heavenly Tree Spirit leaped up and stomped heavily on Xu Mu’s sea of consciousness barrier, unleashing a torrent of thunderous roars that exploded in his mind, wave after wave.

Xu Mu grunted, enduring the splitting headache and dizziness, and then, unwilling to concede, he stirred the sea again, conjuring a colossal vortex of spiritual power out of thin air. The Heavenly Tree Spirit was caught in it, disoriented, its spiritual power constantly draining.

Yet, even so, it hadn't forgotten to attack Xu Mu’s sea of consciousness barrier.

Boom!

Thud!

*Pfft!*

The Heavenly Tree Spirit parried Xu Mu’s attacks while simultaneously assaulting his sea of consciousness barrier. Both sides’ energy and spiritual power were being drastically depleted.

For a time, this seemingly unequal battle had, against all odds, reached a stalemate.

Outside, at the Heavenly Tree Tomb.

Since the Heavenly Tree Spirit’s soul had entered Xu Mu’s sea of consciousness, its massive body outside remained motionless, and its domain had been lifted.

Consequently, the Wang family ancestor’s smile froze, and Yao Huo, in his shock, forgot to wipe the blood from his lips. All the other domain lords stared in bewilderment.

They had all seen the Heavenly Tree, which was about to crush Xu Mu into a pulp, suddenly stop after a violent tremor.

Then, the roots that had bound Xu Mu’s body began to retract, shrinking until they finally released him. His body then fell from dozens of meters in the air and, relying on instinctive reflexes, landed steadily on the ground.

The Heavenly Tree remained still, and Xu Mu, who had been released, didn't flee. The two, one colossal, one small, who had been on the verge of killing each other, stood facing each other peacefully, no more than fifty meters apart.

The scene was eerily harmonious.

“Damn it, what’s going on now!” The Wang family ancestor stood beside He He of the Demon Extermination Division, who had been taunted by Xu Mu about his impotence, and exclaimed in fury. They couldn't understand what had happened.

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you running!”

The Wine Immortal cautiously moved towards Xu Mu, simultaneously transmitting a message to him, but received no reply.

He then looked at Xu Mu’s pale face and furrowed brow, and at the Heavenly Tree, whose body occasionally trembled. An absurdly bold idea formed in his mind.

“This kid has so many secrets, but I can’t worry about that now. Since he’s not dead, I can’t abandon him a second time. I absolutely cannot let him be disturbed!”

The Wine Immortal took out his wine gourd and then signaled to Qiong Qi, indicating for it to stand guard with him around Xu Mu.

Just then, the Wine Immortal turned his head and saw a shadow, composed entirely of spiritual essence, rushing towards Xu Mu in the space.

Such a peculiar existence, reminiscent of the ‘Ascension’ described in Taoist temple legends, startled the Wine Immortal, who immediately swung his wine gourd.

He didn’t know who the shadow was, but he knew he had to protect Xu Mu, so the wine gourd in his hand sprayed wine as vast as a river.

*Sizzle!*

Containing countless elemental spirits, it broke through all obstacles in its path.

Sensing danger, the spirit shadow hurriedly employed divine soul techniques to resist, surging mists erupting and isolating the river of wine.

Bang!

The collision of their spiritual powers clearly favored the Wine Immortal, but the shadow didn't suffer any disadvantage.

Moreover, to the Taoist’s astonishment, the mist then abruptly transformed into a small boat, assisting the spirit in its forward flow through the river of wine, once again rushing towards Xu Mu.

“What!”

The Wine Immortal’s expression was shocked. He had lived for so long, yet this was the first time he had encountered someone who wielded spiritual power with such profound mastery.

Furthermore, he could sense that the entity’s spirit wasn’t like a soul that had been projected using supernatural abilities, but rather a pure spirit, much like some specters he had slain!

“Stop him!”

As these thoughts ran through his mind, the Wine Immortal moved at great speed, but the distance was too great. He had no other recourse but to call out to Qiong Qi.

“Roar!”

The Heavenly Tree’s domain had been lifted, and Qiong Qi, with no further constraints, plunged into the space and instantly appeared in front of Xu Mu.

The Samadhi True Fire it exhaled met the swirling grey mist, and the space was filled with a sizzling sound of burning.

“Ah… damn it!”

A venomous and pained howl rang out. The grey mist was completely consumed by the Samadhi True Fire, and its original spirit was even tainted with a trace of it. Therefore, the spirit quickly retreated, no longer daring to approach Xu Mu.

“This person looks so familiar?”

As the spirit’s appearance was revealed, the domain lords present recognized it as familiar, yet couldn’t recall who it was.

“Velitan! It’s the long-lost Velitan, the owner of half the Heavenly Book! He’s here too!”

He He of the Demon Extermination Division exclaimed, causing an uproar among the assembled crowd.

Countless domain lords were shocked. Velitan was in this dark palace, and had even reached the third level. Had he followed them in, or had he been here all along?

Could it be… he had been by their side the entire time, and they had never noticed?

“Hand over the Heavenly Book!”

Just as everyone was stunned into disbelief, Yao Huo made his move.

The boundless flames surged from his supreme Dharma appearance, and then suddenly poured down towards Velitan’s location.

“Are you insane? Xu Mu is still there! He’ll die if he’s touched by your fire!”

Seeing Yao Huo’s Dharma appearance unleash flames, the Wine Immortal roared, and then summoned his own Dharma appearance. A hundred-zhang-long wooden sword slashed into the fire, and the potent Taoist origin devoured and destroyed all the flames.

“I’m not trying to kill Xu Mu, and he’s one of us from the Demon Extermination Division! What business is it of yours!”

Yao Huo, seeing his attack blocked while Velitan was rapidly escaping, couldn't help but question as he gave chase.

“You still remember he’s from the Demon Extermination Division?” The Wine Immortal snorted, then added, “Your attack was indeed aimed at Velitan, but it would have affected Xu Mu. Don’t you know that yourself!”

“So what if it affected him? That’s the Heavenly Book!” Yao Huo manipulated his Dharma appearance as it traversed space, his flames blazing, causing many domain lords who were also chasing Velitan to become anxious.

Yao Huo was right. With a sacred artifact at stake, no one could remain calm. Sacrificing a few people was even acceptable, and that sacrifice could be not just Xu Mu, but also those competing for the artifact.

The Wang family ancestor circled around from the side, attempting to intercept Velitan.

He knew that if necessary, Yao Huo would undoubtedly command his Dharma appearance to attack them.

Of course, he was no different. With opportunity at hand, he would do anything!

“If you continue to obstruct me, I will break your wooden sword!”

Yao Huo spoke, and a thousand-meter-wide vortex of flames erupted around his Dharma appearance. Everything in its path was consumed by fire. Some domain lords were naturally within his range of burning, but they dared not speak out in anger and could only silently manipulate their abilities to stay away.

The Wine Immortal snorted and did not speak further.

Now was not the time to clash with Yao Huo. He also desired the Heavenly Book, but Xu Mu’s life was clearly more important. He had to protect him!

“Leave this place to me, you go compete with them!”

The Wine Immortal patted Qiong Qi’s body. The latter grunted, then with a swipe of its claws, it tore through space and instantly vanished from its position.

“Alas, you absolutely must not be harmed.”

The Wine Immortal gazed at Xu Mu with a worried expression. If this kid died, his senior brother’s successor might never be found in this lifetime.

At that point, he would only be like these Heavenly Trees, leaving behind a tomb and inheritance to await future generations.

“Forget it, my senior brother’s inheritance is naturally my inheritance.” The Wine Immortal looked at the trembling Xu Mu, sighed, and seemed to have made a decision.

He raised the wine gourd in his hand, aiming its mouth at Xu Mu’s brow. Concentrated essences of origin suddenly flowed out, their purpose unknown.

They entered Xu Mu’s mind, and the young man’s pale complexion instantly became ruddy. His trembling body slowly calmed.

Drip…

After an unknown amount of time, the Wine Immortal retracted his wine gourd, then, with a weary sigh, tilted his head back, intending to take a drink. But not a single drop of wine flowed from the gourd.

It was depleted. The Taoist smiled bitterly, put away the wine gourd, and sighed with heartache:

“All these years of savings, not for my disciple, but all used up on you today.”

“To this extent, if you still don’t return to the monastery with me.”

“Then this old Taoist will truly have to resort to force!”