Chapter 76 — The Mountains and Rivers, the State and the Altars of Soil and Grain

"God of Slaughter?! Ha! Ha!" Bai Qi burst into wild laughter. The otherworldly, aloof air about him vanished utterly; he became a man who looked upon all under heaven as beneath his notice, his aura swelling to a frenzy. Zhou Xuan felt as though heaven and earth alike had bowed down at Bai Qi's feet. For a moment the bright sun hanging on high, the drifting white clouds, the gentle breeze—all seemed to fear Bai Qi and winked out of existence. Time itself seemed to freeze, and in the whole of heaven and earth there remained only the sound of Bai Qi's roaring laughter.

"If heaven blocks my way, I shall destroy heaven! If earth blocks my way, I shall lay waste to earth! If a god blocks my way, I shall slay the god! The title of God of Slaughter—I, Bai Qi, can well bear it!"

There was in Bai Qi's bearing and his words a vast, matchless pressure, and hidden within it a killing intent that split the liver and shattered the gall, forcing Zhou Xuan to summon every ounce of his power to withstand it. "You are no ordinary man! To think you could break through the primordial space and come into this Mountains and Rivers, State and Altars Diagram! It seems I have not traded blows with anyone in over two thousand years—the loneliness has long been unbearable. You dress outlandishly, and your cultivation is uncommon as well. Come, exchange a couple of moves with me!"

Before Zhou Xuan could even begin to ponder the meaning of Bai Qi's words, a fist swelled with terrifying speed before his eyes. In an instant, Bai Qi's fist seemed to fill the whole of heaven and earth, and everything in creation vanished without a trace! To gather heaven and earth into a single mustard seed—what divine power was this! Zhou Xuan knew the sight before him was no illusion. The Eight-Nine Mystic Art he cultivated was the supreme method for tempering divine consciousness, one that could see through all false appearances and strike straight at the thing itself! The heaven and earth that had vanished had truly vanished!

Facing this fist that could not be evaded, Zhou Xuan had no time to think of any stratagem. He roused the Second Primordial Derivative and met it head-on! Bang! Zhou Xuan was blasted three zhang back by the blow, and the Second Primordial Derivative was shaken clean out of his body, revealing its true form: a great silkworm ten zhang long and thick as a water barrel, with four wings upon its back, its whole body gleaming with golden light as though sheathed in gold leaf, yet giving off an impression of invulnerability. Zhou Xuan knew his own business best: the golden silkworm's shell already bore fine cracks, and the thread of divine consciousness he had attached to it had nearly been shattered by the shock! Zhou Xuan's true body suffered the backlash—his qi and blood choked in his chest, and he nearly fainted dead away.

"Has this Bai Qi been cooped up so long he's gone mad? If my divine consciousness hadn't grown so greatly, and my cultivation and true essence not risen with it, that one punch would have scrapped my Second Primordial Derivative for good!" Zhou Xuan cursed and grumbled, yet he was not angry at the other's sudden strike—rather, he rather admired Bai Qi, because he himself was that sort of man. Had the two of them not been unable to tell friend from foe just now, Zhou Xuan would truly have liked to have a talk with this great devil of legend, fierce and vicious, who killed men as easily as drinking water! To exchange a few pointers on experience!

"Oh? A six-winged golden silkworm? The boy has even cultivated a Second Primordial Derivative—no wonder he could block one of my punches!" Having delivered his blow, Bai Qi clasped his hands behind his back and stood there, his killing intent gone in an instant, restored to his former immortal air, ethereal and graceful. A fresh breeze came blowing, and heaven and earth were once more lively and animated. Zhou Xuan, who had been braced as though facing a great enemy, let out a breath of relief and hastily recalled his Derivative, smiling bitterly. "So General Bai Qi was only testing my cultivation!" Having just witnessed Bai Qi's divine power of gathering heaven and earth into a mustard seed, Zhou Xuan had long since given up any thought of fighting him; such divine power would likely be beyond even the true immortals of heaven. "How did this Bai Qi cultivate? Even that old demon, Dharma King Xuanyuan, probably could not withstand a single punch from this fellow. Is Bai Qi a god or a devil?"

As Zhou Xuan pondered, he suddenly recalled what Bai Qi had said earlier! "The Mountains and Rivers, State and Altars Diagram?! Could this heaven and earth here be transformed from the Diagram?" Zhou Xuan had been startled many times today, running into one strange and uncanny thing after another.

"Is this not the place where Xu Fu sealed the General together with the souls of those four hundred thousand soldiers buried alive?" Sensing that Bai Qi seemed to bear him no ill will, Zhou Xuan quickly asked.

Legend had it that this Mountains and Rivers, State and Altars Diagram was the treasure of the ancient goddess Nüwa, of boundless power, able to form a world of its own. To possess this Diagram was to possess a world under one's own command! Within the Diagram, its master could rule over all things; even a heavenly god who fell into it would be at his mercy. The treasure's fame shook the Three Realms; legend said it had appeared only once, in the war of the Investiture of the Gods, and thereafter vanished with Nüwa! No one knew where it had gone.

"What four hundred thousand soldier souls buried alive?" Hearing Zhou Xuan's words, Bai Qi asked in return—an exception to his usual silence. Zhou Xuan hastened to explain the purpose of his coming, including the secret knowledge that Dharma King Xuanyuan possessed, and along with it the history of the more than two thousand years that followed, telling it all to Bai Qi in rough outline. This account took several hours. For all Zhou Xuan's deep cultivation, talking on and on like that left his mouth dry and his throat parched, and he wished he could throw himself into the great river below and drink his fill.

Bai Qi listened to the end and was silent for a long while, no one knew what he was thinking. Zhou Xuan could not hold back; he walked to the edge of the altar and made a sword seal with a flick of his fingers, drawing at the great river below, meaning to draw up some water to drink. The azure sword seal shot out over the great river, whose waves rolled and whose waters rushed with an unending roar; out of empty air a blue light flashed and shattered Zhou Xuan's sword seal to pieces. Not only that, the blue light came sweeping toward Zhou Xuan like a great serpent. From afar it had not seemed much, but the closer it came, the uglier Zhou Xuan's expression grew. That blue light was no trifle—it was at least three zhang thick and several dozen zhang long, wreathed in lightning, thunder rumbling, its might matchless, crashing down upon Zhou Xuan.

"I just wanted a drink of water—who did I offend this time! To greet me with such a great Gui-water yin thunder!" Seeing the force of it, Zhou Xuan dared not take it head-on. He leaped into the air and dodged wildly aside—and saw the Gui-water yin thunder hurtle straight at Bai Qi, who stood there lost in thought!

"Hmph! That treacherous wretch Xu Fu—not content with ambushing me, he must twist the truth as well!" Bai Qi gave a great sweep of his sleeve; a mighty wind arose, and a whirlwind blew that menacing Gui-water yin thunder off to who knew where. Zhou Xuan gaped, tongue-tied.