Undying Life

Chapter 1027: The End of Zilu

The four figures with vertical lines of color on their foreheads briefly glanced in Zhong Shan's direction, their eyes filled with indifference. However, they did not retaliate. It was as if they were completely detached from the ongoing Qin-Confucian war. They neither interfered nor defended, as long as no one bothered them, they would not engage.

The other powerful figures on the battlefield seemed to recognize this peculiarity and carefully avoided those four.

Bodhi stood beside Ying, unmoving. Zhong Shan also remained still.

But Tathagata had already made his move.

Lan stepped forward as well, accompanied by his two subordinates.

In the heart of the battlefield, the Ancestral Immortals clashed, their Heavenly Daos intertwined.

When Lan unleashed his Heavenly Dao, the entire area seemed to transform into a world of blue, with vast water vapor surging toward the Great Confucian Way.

With Lan, his two subordinates, and Tathagata, there were now four Heavenly Daos on one side.

On the opposing side, the Confucian sages, led by their Ancestral Immortals, had no choice but to respond. Six Ancestral Immortals stepped forward. In an instant, the skies above the Holy Capital of Xianyang were filled with the collision of ten Heavenly Daos. The sheer intensity of the battle made the world itself seem unreal, with countless black holes appearing where the forces clashed. The power of the Ancestral Immortals was unmatched.

Thanks to the protection of Ying's temporal treasure, the citizens of Xianyang were able to witness this monumental battle.

Tathagata and Lan each faced off against two Ancestral Immortals. Despite the odds, both seemed to have the upper hand.

The Righteous Energy Swords, wielded by the Confucian sages, met the onslaught of the Qin generals. Though the Confucian sages drew power from the Great Confucian Way, Bai Qi and the others were no ordinary foes. Their overwhelming killing intent, honed through countless battles, manifested as phantoms of vast armies. Bai Qi alone charged forward like a stampede of a thousand horses.

Of the eleven Ancestral Immortals on the Confucian side, excluding the four with colored lines on their foreheads, only seven were left to fight. Six of them were already engaged with Lan, Tathagata, and their allies, leaving only Zilu.

Zhong Shan had been watching Zilu from the start. Out of the thousands of Confucian scholars, Zhong Shan only had to kill one—Zilu—due to the life-and-death contract on the Book of Life and Death. To Zhong Shan, Zilu's death was inevitable.

People also noticed that the Eight Extremities Heavenly Tail, which usually accompanied Zhong Shan, had disappeared. No one could find it, no matter how hard they searched. However, this was a minor detail, and most did not pay much attention, as they were focused on the battle raging ahead.

The battle of Ancestral Immortals was a rare sight, and a battle involving so many was something seen perhaps once in a millennium. Everyone kept their eyes wide open, not daring to blink.

At the site of the Great Confucian Way, massive Righteous Energy Swords continued to rain down, turning the area into yet another focal point of the battlefield.

"Ah!"

With a powerful slash, Bai Qi cut down one of the Confucian sages wielding a Righteous Energy Sword, killing him instantly. The sudden death of one of their own caused the remaining Confucian sages to hesitate for a brief moment.

The first casualty had fallen! The brutality of the battle was beginning to show. The Confucian sages, who had once been as close as brothers, were now driven to madness by the loss of one of their own. The slaughter continued, more ferocious than ever.

"Slash!"

Bai Qi's blade swept through the air again, cutting another Confucian sage in half at the waist.

The Confucian sages were enraged. Their previous composure was gone, replaced by bloodshot eyes filled with fury.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Zilu, standing at the rear, had not moved. As soon as the battle had begun, there was no one left to help him purge the poison. Although he was an Ancestral Immortal, the poison Zhong Shan had inflicted upon him made it impossible for him to merge with his Heavenly Dao.

Zilu finally understood what Sekong had meant—Zhong Shan was indeed a monster. Zhong Shan had been watching him this whole time, like a venomous snake ready to strike, making him too scared to act recklessly.

If he could merge with his Heavenly Dao, ten Zhong Shans wouldn't be a threat. But without that, Zilu was only slightly stronger than an Ancient Immortal, powerful but without the security of his full potential.

And Zhong Shan, with his endless schemes, knew this perfectly well. Zilu's death was a matter of time.

Zilu had been holding back, remaining vigilant and cautious, his nerves on edge.

But when Bai Qi struck down the eighth Confucian sage, Zilu could no longer contain himself.

"Zhong Shan is still far away. He can't possibly scheme against me from this distance, and that subordinate of his—there's no way his arrows could be faster than my divine sense!" Zilu reassured himself silently.

"Kill!" Bai Qi roared as his blade descended upon the ninth Confucian sage.

"Boom!"

The Righteous Energy Sword of the Confucian sage shattered under Bai Qi's powerful strike. The blade, carrying the momentum of a thousand armies, cleaved toward the Confucian sage.

"Damned bastard!"

With a furious shout, Zilu finally made his move. A golden brush materialized in his hand, radiating blinding light. The brush moved with swift precision, aiming directly at Bai Qi's side.

"Boom!"

Bai Qi was forced to abandon his assault and turned to block the strike with his blade. The collision resulted in a massive explosion, and Zilu's overwhelming power was immediately apparent, forcing Bai Qi onto the defensive.

Though Bai Qi was an Ancient Immortal, Zilu was still an Ancestral Immortal. Even without merging with his Heavenly Dao, Zilu's strength far surpassed that of an Ancient Immortal. The golden brush in his hand drew upon the power of the surrounding Heavenly Dao, pressing down on Bai Qi.

Bai Qi was being suppressed!

Seeing this, seven or eight Confucian sages seized the opportunity, raising their Righteous Energy Swords to strike down Bai Qi.

While suppressing Bai Qi, Zilu kept a wary eye on Zhong Shan's direction.

But then, Zhong Shan suddenly smiled.

Seeing that smile, Zilu instinctively felt a surge of dread. But where was the danger coming from? The archer wielding the Xuanyuan Bow? He had just nocked an arrow—there was no way he could pose a threat to Zilu now.

Where? Where was it coming from?

Zilu felt a cold sweat break out across his back as a deep sense of mortal danger washed over him.

His first instinct was to flee.

But it was too late. A massive maw appeared behind Zilu, engulfing both him and his golden brush in an instant.

"Chomp!"

With a muffled sound, Zilu was swallowed whole. Even in his final moments, Zilu couldn't understand how this fearsome beast had appeared behind him.

Impossible! How could it be here?

It wasn't just Zilu—no one else could comprehend how the Eight Extremities Heavenly Tail had managed to get behind him. That area had been covered by the divine senses of Ancestral Immortals. Unless it was a sage—no, even a sage couldn't have moved in such a way without detection. It was absolutely impossible.

Yet the reality was undeniable: the Eight Extremities Heavenly Tail had somehow made it there.

How did the Eight Extremities Heavenly Tail manage this? Because it wasn't just an ordinary beast. It was an extension of Zhong Shan's root consciousness. Unlike typical beasts or treasures, a root consciousness could move through the owner's divine sense instantly to any location within its reach.

Of course, after this initial manifestation, it would lose the ability to teleport like this. But for the first appearance, it was as simple as that.

With one bite, the Eight Extremities Heavenly Tail devoured Zilu, allowing Zhong Shan to fulfill his long-held objective.

"Bastard! Bastard!"

The deaths of the other Confucian sages had been bearable, but Zilu's death sent waves of fury through the remaining Confucian sages. Their angry voices echoed across the battlefield.

Righteous Energy Swords rained down in anger, and even one of the figures with the colorful line on his forehead cast a furious glance at the Eight Extremities Heavenly Tail, flipping his hand to unleash a powerful strike against it.

In that brief moment after swallowing Zilu, the Eight Extremities Heavenly Tail felt the surrounding space solidify as if trapping it in place. If it had been an ordinary entity, escape would have been impossible. But as a root consciousness, it could vanish from its current location and return to Zhong Shan's Niwan Palace in an instant, evading any attempts to pin it down.

The intense clash caused the space in that area to collapse, but even so, the Eight Extremities Heavenly Tail had vanished without a trace, leaving everyone stunned. All eyes turned back to Zhong Shan.

At the rear of the Confucian ranks, Sekong trembled slightly.

"Thank heavens I'm smart. Easy victory, they said... Zhong Shan hadn't even made a direct move, and you got eaten by his pet. This place is too dangerous to stay in!" Sekong's eyes darted around, clearly planning his escape.

Meanwhile, Zhong Shan had become the focal point of the Confucians' hatred.

"Four Elders, are you still not going to act at a time like this?" Zai Wo called out in desperation.

"Boom!" In the distance, with Zilu's death, the Confucian Ancestral Immortals were momentarily distracted, leading to one of them being seriously injured by Tathagata.

The four men with colorful lines on their foreheads exchanged troubled looks. With Zilu dead, the confidence of the Confucian faction had plummeted, weakening the power of the Great Confucian Way. The Righteous Energy Swords wielded by the Confucian sages were becoming increasingly feeble. The balance was tipping, and the Confucians were on the verge of defeat.

Would they act? The four elders seemed hesitant, unwilling to intervene.

"Four Elders! This is the family patriarch's scepter, entrusted to me by our master before we set out. Holding this scepter is the same as holding the authority of the patriarch. If you don't act now to save Brother Zilu, then seize Zhong Shan—he commands that beast! Seize him, and you can avenge our brother. Hurry, hurry!" Zai Wo shouted, brandishing the scepter.

The four elders exchanged another glance before one of them finally moved, his figure blurring as he sped towards Chongtian Hall.

It seemed the Ancestral Immortals on the battlefield had been keeping an eye on this side. The moment the elder made his move, Tathagata also sprang into action.

Tathagata abruptly abandoned his current opponents and rushed to intercept the elder.

"Buddha's Divine Palm!" Tathagata, fully merged with his Heavenly Dao, unleashed a massive handprint that bore down with the might of the Heavenly Dao.

Meanwhile, Lan, who had been watching, immediately stepped forward to take on Tathagata's former opponents.

One against four, Lan alone faced four Ancestral Immortals!

The elder, seemingly in a hurry, saw Tathagata's attack coming and, with a fierce glint in his eyes, flicked his sleeve.

"Shhhh!" A sharp, piercing sound echoed through the heavens, so intense that those below the level of Celestial Immortals felt as if steel needles were stabbing their eardrums.

But the sound was only a byproduct. A burst of seven-colored light shot out from the elder's sleeve, spreading across the sky in an instant, dazzling all who saw it.

The seven-colored divine light washed over Tathagata's Divine Palm, wiping it out in a flash.

The terrifying force of the impact sent Tathagata reeling back ten steps before he could regain his footing.

Even Tathagata, the Buddha himself, had been forced back by the fearsome seven-colored divine light.

One of the Four Elders had acted, and his power was astonishing. How terrifying would the other three be?

Tathagata steadied himself and didn't back down, stepping forward to confront the elder once more.

"Step aside, Tathagata! If you don't, the Kong family will ensure the destruction of your Great Thunderclap Temple!" the elder threatened.

Tathagata shook his head and replied, "Kong family's Four Elders, this is not your fight."

"And if we insist?" another elder's cold voice rang out from behind.

Initially, one elder would have sufficed, but Tathagata's stubborn resistance forced another elder to speak up. As he did, the sky filled with a blinding seven-colored light, identical to the one that had just erased Tathagata's Divine Palm—an awe-inspiring and soul-shaking display.

Just as the Kong family's Four Elders unleashed their overwhelming aura, a voice echoed across the battlefield.

"Is that so? Have you four old men forgotten the rules of the Kong family?" The voice reverberated, causing the faces of the Four Elders to change slightly.

Meanwhile, Zhong Shan, standing in Chongtian Hall, grew serious. He recognized the voice—it was Kong Xuan.

To read the manga version, please click the YouTube link https://youtu.be/GnU613H6xm8