Dao Equaling the Heavens
Chapter 253 - 174: The Arrival of the Golden Core Demi Immortal’s True Form

Chapter 253: Chapter 174: The Arrival of the Golden Core Demi Immortal’s True Form

The voice boomed like thunder, shaking Baidi Xun’s spirit. The rage in his tiger eyes was extinguished in an instant, as a hint of clarity emerged.

The difference between a genius and a mediocrity is comprehensive; they are boundlessly arrogant but certainly not lacking in the wit to discern danger.

Before him, Gu Wen gripped the Immortal Sword within its sheath, his eyes sharp as an unbeatable three-foot Qingfeng, instilling in Baidi Xun a desire to retreat as if the sword was piercing into his vitals.

"If I retreat like this, how can I ascend to immortality with an invincible heart in this great era?"

A surge of aura suddenly swelled; the intent to retreat in Baidi Xun’s eyes vanished, his breathing steadied, and the rate of his dharma form’s healing abruptly increased.

The Dao heart is an entity formed after birth and stems from one’s true nature; external forces can hardly perceive it, and even oneself might struggle to discern it clearly. Is your Dao heart driven by some desire, or is it sunk in the unwillingness to accept failure?

Mortals may study until they are seventy years old to become a learned scholar; cultivators too are not lacking those who die of old age at five hundred years as Golden Core practitioners.

Only in the face of life and death can one truly discern the Dao heart.

Better to die than to retreat, better to fail than to flee!

With mentality and mana interconnected, Baidi Xun’s mana flowed like a raging river, seemingly reclaiming the elegance of thirty thousand years past in an instant.

The long sleep of thirty thousand years had long caused him to lose his previous cultivation. To freeze the lifespan within his body, cultivation, Dao foundation, and divine soul all became barriers. Just as the decay of a living being starts with the internal organs, the greatest risk of self-sealing is an active mana and divine soul.

One moment of carelessness, and one’s lifespan might reach its endpoint, dying silently of old age.

Self-sealing is akin to rebuilding, which is why only the truly peerless geniuses consider it.

Baidi Xun’s aura subtly stepped a half stance forward, seemingly on the verge of breaking through the Seventh Level foundation at any moment.

Crack!

Gu Wen propped open his dharma form’s arm with one hand, revealing cracks in the golden light. He decisively stepped back to disengage from the dharma form, while his right hand slowly drew the Immortal Sword.

By now, Baidi Xun had no more room to retreat; any attempt by Ao Heng below at rescue was too late to make a difference.

At the bottom, the Four Symbols’ Saint Heirs also began to stir; the Fire Phoenix soared into the sky, the White Tiger tread the void, the Xuan Turtle made its flying escape, and the Devil Clan boiled with frenzy.

Jun Yan stomped down on the Xuan Turtle; Xiao Yunyi slashed down the White Tiger with his sword and then, with strength to spare, sent tens of thousands of swords flying, attacking the numerous Devil Clansmen that were as abundant as small fry.

The situation was tense; Gu Wen was not alone.

The Immortal Sword glided out of its sheath, the sound sharp as winter dew forming ice, crisp and piercingly cold.

As it barely revealed half an inch, its cold light shone upon the clouds, overshadowing the brilliance of the daytime sun.

The undulating mana vanished as if it were the breath of waves; a third of the mana was instantly drained by the Immortal Sword, causing Gu Wen’s aura to seem to disappear in that moment.

Above the firmament, a sliver of bright moon appeared.

True Sword Dao, Fifth Level, Moonlight Reflecting the Void.

Gu Wen had thought that once he cultivated the Nine Revolutions Golden Core, he could wield the True Sword Dao and the Immortal Sword’s sheath at will. However, when the True Sword Dao ascended a level, he realized that there was a fundamental difference between the Immortal Sword’s semblance and the True Sword Dao.

True Sword Dao was an immortal skill, whereas the semblance of the Immortal Sword was an item of immortality.

There was a distinction in rank between the two, reflected in the consumption of mana and the difference in power.

Taking peers of the same tier as an example and not counting practitioners of non-immortal skills, possessing Yuqing Daoji as a Human Immortal Skill would make him unbeatable at the same tier. The True Sword Dao’s attacking prowess could outperform by one tier, and with the Immortal Sword, even two, and if coupled with the Golden Light Spell, exceeding by three tiers was also possible.

All this depended on the opponent; if they were strong, it would be exceedingly difficult to kill across tiers.

Just like the one in front of him, Baidi Xun, two tiers above himself – any mediocrity would likely be slain by his sword, yet he had managed to block Gu Wen’s two strikes.

"To block my two strikes and not die, you truly are a genius," Gu Wen candidly stated. With half the Immortal Sword unsheathed, the surrounding noise vanished as he charged, as if the sweeping sharpness in the void severed the sounds themselves.

Now, it was Baidi Xun’s turn to be speechless; words in a contest of magic were the leisure of those in a superior position.

At this moment, as the roles of attacker and defender switched, he was no longer entitled to speak, needing to resist Gu Wen with all his might, or else he would be the one to die.

Gu Wen fully drew the Immortal Sword, the boundless sword light flew to all directions like pillars of light, followed by a straightforward and unadorned sword raise, and then another slash.

As the sword fell, a bright moon slowly descended, tearing the sky asunder—half the heavens fell with the moon.

The White Tiger dharma form completely healed, Baidi Xun’s true form vanished, his eyes like giant stones in the mountains, blazing with spirit.

Within those green and purple eyes, countless scriptures swirled, golden patterns began to spread into the void, branding themselves within it, like billions of stars.

A vast and ancient aura, like a long and lingering tiger’s roar.

Jun Yan’s message arrived telepathically.

"Red Dust, this is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Skill, the White Tiger Skill of the Four Symbols. According to legend, it can scatter the enemy’s soul with a mere glance, and when cultivated to its extreme, it could touch upon the power of the Four Symbols. The Four Symbols, the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Xuan Turtle, are the grand forces of the world, corresponding to the elemental foundations of the Five Elements."

The Four Symbols and the Five Elements form the most basic Laws of the world. If one wishes to cultivate Qi, one cannot avoid encountering the Five Elements; and if one wishes to practice magic, then one must touch upon the Four Symbols.

The Five Elements are the earth; the Four Symbols, the firmament.

Cultivation seeks to return to the truth; at this moment, Baidi Xun holds a quarter of the firmament, leveraging the momentum to pressure his opponent.

A measure of strength borrowed tenfold from heaven and earth.

"There’s no turning back now. You attack in place of defense. If you can’t hold on later, I will take action. If you can, then I’ll make a sneak attack and try for a forceful kill."

A thought can convey what hundreds of words might in cultivation. A cultivator’s Divine Soul can also process tens of thousands of pieces of information and complete their thinking in a half-breath.

Jun Yan did not feel the slightest issue with a sneak attack. In his view, this was a slaughter between humans and devils, with no place for mercy or morals. Just like the Qingcang Immortal’s phrase "humans and devils cannot coexist," which is very popular among the younger generation within the Demon Path.