"Do you also want to ask why you can't control my mind?"
Qi Zhimu lowered his gaze and suddenly let out a series of chilling, low laughs.
"Yaoshi can grant you supreme power, but naturally, there's a price to pay—just like the Mara-Struck state, the price of the Xianzhou people's longevity, and..."
"...The Self-Actualization Aspect, which turns one into something neither human nor ghost, an abomination more wretched than any other Abominations."
"I see..."
Shuhu let out a long sigh, then instantly changed expression and burst into wild laughter.
"I am a divine miracle, an envoy of Yaoshi, what you call an Aeon Emanator. With the level of the blessing of The Self-Actualization Aspect you three possess, it is absolutely impossible for you to contend with me."
"In my eyes, you are no different from chunks of flesh imbued with the majestic power of the blessing of abundance."
"Before long, my upper half will be able to slaughter the Luofu, seize the Ambrosial Arbor, and truly achieve eternal immortality!"
"Tell me: how do you plan to kill me?"
Hearing this, Qi Zhimu sneered.
"You are just like me—merely a product of plundering countless blessings of abundance and concentrating them into one body. At our core, we are both lowly existences who trample upon Yaoshi's true will."
At this point, an undisguised look of mockery appeared on his face.
"Claiming to be immortal? Do you even deserve it?"
The moment the words fell, Qi Zhimu's figure vanished from the spot.
When he reappeared, he was in the center of countless writhing roots, his right arm transformed into a bone blade as black as ink, emitting a pungent, nauseating stench.
That was an ability plundered after devouring an abomination called the Night-Mad Bone Spider.
Pshhh!
The bone blade stabbed fiercely into a thick root that looked like a coiling dragon, instantly injecting a purple-black venom.
The root convulsed violently, and its tough skin quickly rotted and disintegrated.
Shuhu let out a roar, and the sound waves exploded in the minds of the three.
Countless roots danced into an airtight net, frantically closing in on Qi Zhimu from all directions to strangle him.
"Sister!"
Clear Cold and Sleeping Snow exchanged a glance and lunged forward simultaneously.
The broad wings on their backs disappeared, replaced by pairs of transparent, dragonfly-like wings.
The high-speed vibrations produced a hair-raising buzz as they darted through the gaps in the dense roots.
Sleeping Snow pressed her palms together, and a surging torrent of eerie, bluish-white flames erupted.
The flames clung to Shuhu's roots like maggots on a corpse, impossible to extinguish; then, Gray Thunder followed closely, striking in unison.
Clear Cold's palms were covered in fine scales, and her fingertips shot out countless hair-thin, sharp water blades, recklessly using this water-cutting ability derived from a certain deep-sea abomination race.
Water and fire intertwined, and thunder roared.
This slaughter was reduced to the most primitive and bloody collision, filled with a defensive-less madness where wounds were traded for wounds.
A giant root swept across, smashing half of Qi Zhimu's body to pieces.
Amidst the splashing flesh, the gore writhed frantically, like shuttles on a loom rapidly weaving and reconstructing.
In the blink of an eye, Qi Zhimu was restored to his original state. Expressionless, without even a furrow of his brow, he launched a counterattack.
His arm expanded dozens of times, covered in an unknown hard keratin, forming a massive rock-like limb that forcibly tore the ambushing root apart.
"Is this your power? The so-called Self-Actualization Aspect technique?"
Shuhu's voice echoed through the world, filled with mockery.
In reality, its injuries were even heavier than those of the three.
Countless roots were severed, charred, and corroded.
But it was an Emanator of Abundance, the agent of the God of Life.
Even before the severed roots hit the ground, new sprouts emerged from the cuts, and in this battlefield filled with the aura of violent slaughter, delicate and charming flowers actually bloomed.
As the flowers bloomed, familiar faces of the three appeared within them, letting out sharp, mocking laughs in unison.
"You can't kill us... We are eternal..."
"Join us... Pain is meaningless..."
Not a hint of surprise showed on Qi Zhimu's face. He stomped his foot, and his body swelled with the wind, transforming into a ten-thousand-foot-tall giant within a few breaths.
The massive cracks covering the ground now became mere fine lines beneath his feet.
"Rise!"
With a thought, Qi Zhimu's acupoints opened wide, and tens of thousands of flying swords made entirely of bone and keratin burst from his body.
Each blade was a hundred meters long, carrying a suffocating baleful aura as they struck at Shuhu like falling stars.
Not to be outdone, Shuhu's remaining massive root system lurking underground completely broke through the surface.
Mountains on the entire continent collapsed, rivers flowed backward, and countless roots entangled and merged, its body also swelling gigantically.
Although it was a body composed only of roots and stumps, it still radiated a sense of despairing pressure.
Boom—!
Qi Zhimu's fist, larger than a mountain peak, slammed heavily into Shuhu's trunk.
A terrifying shockwave swept out, causing the land for thousands of miles to shake violently and crack into more bottomless, pitch-black fissures.
Every punch left a huge hole in Shuhu's body, sending wood chips flying and sap splashing.
But in the next second, that hole would be filled by surging life force.
Shuhu wasn't just taking hits; it pierced Qi Zhimu's chest, thighs, and even his head multiple times.
Qi Zhimu did not dodge or avoid, letting his body be impaled.
As long as he wasn't instantly reduced to dust, injuries were meaningless to him.
Although Sleeping Snow and Clear Cold could not transform into ten-thousand-foot giants, they each performed their own divine techniques.
Their bodies grew to over a thousand feet, their arms transforming into two bone blades specifically to clear away the small roots trying to entwine Qi Zhimu's limbs.
"Left side!"
The two cooperated with seamless tacit understanding, their bone blades swinging like the wind. Each strike severed hundreds of incoming vines... Did you see the PV yesterday? I didn't expect the joke from my last book that traumatized people would come true (scratches head)... It seems the gender-swapped Jingyan CP part was still too conservative.