Chapter 33: The Body Tempering Realm

Yang Zhengfeng's face was icy cold.

At this moment, the sense of unease within him intensified—a sensation rarely experienced by those of the Divine Demon Realm. His heart was pounding with an inexplicable dread.

“How could that boy possibly survive? And even erase the imprint of the Great Dao?”

The disciples of the Six Paths Sect and the Cloud Leisure Sect, who had been locked in deadly combat, all halted and looked upward. What they witnessed was unnerving: a sudden bolt of lightning split the clear sky, thunder echoing across the heavens, striking the palace complex below. Then Yang Zhengfeng, a powerful figure of the Divine Demon Realm, inexplicably vomited blood, his face twisted in terror.

But what was even more bizarre was the aura emanating from Yang Zhengfeng, and the true form revealed in his appearance—decay, the stench of death clinging to him. He was barely breathing, transformed into a skin-and-bones figure, sockets hollow, his energy plummeting, vitality replaced by a thick aura of the undead.

He resembled nothing so much as a desiccated corpse.

This battle had drained much of his remaining life force; now, Yang Zhengfeng was closer to death than ever before—closer even than when Jiang Ning had last seen him.

Everyone who looked upon this scene was deeply shaken.

“Sect Leader…”

The disciples of Cloud Leisure Sect were stunned. Less than a month had passed since the outer court trials and the selection of personal disciples; no one had expected to witness such a sight.

“Hahaha! Yang Zhengfeng, you’ve lived nearly four centuries. Everyone says your lifespan should have ended, but you keep surviving! Now I see the truth—your Cloud Leisure Sect is doomed!”

The Six Paths Sect leader laughed heartily to the heavens. This, in fact, was the true motive behind his attack.

The grievances between the two sects ran deep. In truth, the daily conflicts among their disciples were a kind of trial by life and death, and those of the Divine Demon Realm rarely interfered. Life and death were matters of fate; the road of cultivation was long and arduous, each person with their own destiny.

But first, Li Zhenyu, disguised as Jiang Ning, had interfered with his personal disciple; second, the real purpose of this visit was to demand Jiang Ning’s surrender, as a pretext to probe the depths of Cloud Leisure Sect.

Over the past days, Cloud Leisure Sect seemed to have vanished from the world. Aside from a handful of disciples carrying out missions and training under the sect’s name, neither the elders nor Yang Zhengfeng had appeared.

Any reasonable person would be suspicious.

Rumors abounded—whispers that the old monster of Cloud Leisure Sect was nearing the end of his life. The Six Paths Sect leader, who had broken through to the seventh level of the Divine Demon Realm six months prior, was already eager for conflict.

“Today is the day Cloud Leisure Sect faces its doom!”

The morale of the Six Paths Sect disciples soared. The two sects were bitter rivals, as incompatible as fire and water. Seizing the moment as the Cloud Leisure Sect disciples faltered, more struck out with thunderous force.

“Our sect leader—has his lifespan truly reached its end?” The faces of the Cloud Leisure Sect disciples were pale, lips trembling. Fear mingled with disbelief.

After all, as sect disciples, their very survival depended on the sect. If Cloud Leisure Sect fell and the sect leader passed away, they would be hard-pressed to resist the onslaught from the other sects…

Yang Zhengfeng watched coldly, saying nothing.

His unease was overwhelming, but he dared not use his spiritual sense to probe, for the Six Paths Sect leader before him was also a Divine Demon Realm powerhouse. If he used his spiritual sense, both would notice and attempt to block each other—or worse, he might detect the secret chamber…

“You wish to defy fate, sacrificing all the elders of your sect for your own rebirth!”

The Six Paths Sect leader’s voice thundered, shocking all who heard.

“What does he mean…” The disciples of Six Paths Sect halted their attack, looking upward.

“The elders… the elders have the same aura as the sect leader!”

It was uncanny—the main elders of Cloud Leisure Sect stood before Yang Zhengfeng, silent from beginning to end, motionless, as if time itself had stopped.

Soon, a disciple noticed something amiss.

It was hard to perceive on ordinary days, but now the thick aura of decay leaking from Yang Zhengfeng matched the energy released by those elders in combat—they were of the same origin.

Everyone realized it.

“To prolong your lifespan, you’ve suppressed yourself within the palace towers, refining these people into parts of yourself to share the death aura and Dao imprint soon to consume you. No wonder I felt something so strange when we fought!”

The Six Paths Sect leader revealed the truth, and all below were shocked.

“What? The sect leader is really about to pass away…”

“Suppressing himself, dispersing the death aura and Dao imprint…”

The disciples of Cloud Leisure Sect were thrown into panic.

The Grand Elder now stood before Yang Zhengfeng, and spoke—strangely, in Yang Zhengfeng’s own voice!

Expressionless, he said, “And what of it?”

That single sentence sent chills through the disciples of Cloud Leisure Sect.

Who could have imagined that within Cloud Leisure Sect, every elder’s seat was but one person?

Not only them—even the disciples of Six Paths Sect felt a shiver of unease.

“Cloud Leisure Sect…”

They looked up to see a mass of dark clouds gathering overhead, black mist swirling, pressing down heavily upon their hearts, not a single ray of light breaking through.

“Hahaha, you ask what of it?” The Six Paths Sect leader, brimming with confidence, his hair flowing despite the still air, stood in the sky, eyes ablaze, seeing through everything.

“Today is the day Six Paths Sect settles its score with Cloud Leisure Sect, once and for all!”

His declaration left even his own disciples momentarily dazed.

What began as a demand for Cloud Leisure Sect to surrender their personal disciple, Jiang Ning, had transformed into a reckoning between the two sects.

This was a turning point in the history of the sect.

The disciples of Six Paths Sect, after a moment’s surprise, felt a surge of pride. Seeing their leader so assured, their gazes fell on the stunned disciples of Cloud Leisure Sect.

But in the next instant, their expressions changed.

Not only theirs—the face of the Six Paths Sect leader darkened at Yang Zhengfeng’s words.

“In that case, remain here today—all of you will become the vessel for my rebirth!”

As Yang Zhengfeng spoke, an intense aura of death erupted from every mountain and valley of Cloud Leisure Sect. The entire sky became a grand array, weaving a supreme Dao, saturated with the stench of corpses, sealing everyone within.

“Not one will escape!”

Yang Zhengfeng and the elders stood united, death aura spreading, yet their energy was terrifying.

“You madman!”

For the first time, the Six Paths Sect leader’s face changed.

“You’re suppressing yourself with the great terrain array!”

But just then—

Boom!

A thick bolt of lightning struck, shaking the darkness-shrouded world of Cloud Leisure Sect to its core.

Ssss—

Yang Zhengfeng spat blood to the heavens once more.

“Who is it?!”

His formation had barely begun to show its power, and already a hole large enough to see the sky had been blasted open.

“Damn it! It’s that wretched brat!”

Even as the sect leader, he could not help but curse.

…

In the secret chamber, Jiang Ning was lively as ever.

“Damn, I’ve been struck by heavenly punishment!”

He looked utterly comical, lightning having blasted open the formation on the giant cauldron. Inside the chamber, he was jumping around, half his hair singed, his whole body blackened.

Smoke hissed from his backside.

“All I did was step into the Body Refinement Realm, yet I can vaguely sense someone cursing me?”