bookbashuk Chapter 39 One Thought, One Palm
Chapter 39 One Thought, One Palm
Chapter 39 One thought and one palm
"boom--!!!"
In the real world, time passes in the blink of an eye.
Just as Zhou Yi's battered body was about to make its final contact with the cold earth, the people on the city wall closed their eyes in despair, and the 100,000 demon army erupted with a triumphant roar, a sudden change occurred, descending with the most violent and undeniable force!
Centered on the point where the I Ching fell, a terrifying aura, indescribable in any language, arose as if an ancient beast, dormant for countless eons, had been completely awakened, or as if a volcano, suppressed by the laws of heaven and earth for millennia, had broken free from all its restraints, appearing without warning—
It erupted with a deafening roar!
"Buzz—!!!"
A visible shockwave, a mixture of dark gold and blazing white, formed a perfect ring and swept wildly in all directions with an almost tyrannical force! Wherever it passed, rubble, broken weapons, the remains of demons and humans, and filthy soil already soaked in blood—all tangible things were pushed aside and lifted up by this shockwave, which was purely composed of "momentum." In mid-air, the irresistible force pulverized them into the finest dust, turning them into a pervasive, blood-smelling dust cloud!
In the center of the battlefield, it was as if an invisible giant hand had instantly smoothed out and cleared out a strange "pure land".
Before the smoke and dust had cleared, an outline gradually became clear within the hazy, grayish-yellow curtain.
He first knelt on one knee and supported himself with his hands.
Then, the figure began to slowly, inch by inch, rise upwards.
The movements were slow, even sluggish and heavy with the effects of severe injury; every subtle change in angle seemed to be a struggle against the gravity and hostility of the entire world. But the stability and unshakeable force emanating from his very bones sent shivers down the spines of all who witnessed it!
Finally, he stood up!
It's the Lone Peak Sword!
That Lone Peak Sword should have been extinguished and turned into minced meat!
"How is that possible?!"
The demons were shocked!
He was still covered in blood, the piercing wound in his chest was gruesome, his right arm hung limply, and his right eye was charred black. The wound had not healed, and his mangled body was even more shocking than before the fall, like a piece of glass that would shatter at the slightest touch.
But things have changed!
Everything has changed!
That aura, which had been completely extinguished and ashen, was now surging wildly at a speed that defied common sense and overturned cognition! It was not a recovery, but a breakthrough! Like a dried-up, dying galaxy, it suddenly reversed course, flowing upstream, breaking through all the established channels and dikes, and instantly shattering all the peaks of power he had ever possessed in his life, the peaks known to people, and even the peaks he himself thought he had reached!
This aura was so unfamiliar, so—lofty!
It carries a purity that comes from washing away all artifice, a clarity that comes from understanding the origin, and contains an absolute confidence of "I am the only one who can do it, and I will go even if there are thousands of people against me", and a boundless fighting spirit that can burn the sky and boil the sea!
On the distant mountain peak, Yang Yifang suddenly felt a needle-like stinging pain on the golden eye mark on his forehead, his vision blurred for a moment, and he involuntarily groaned, taking half a step back. For the first time, a look of near horror appeared on his face!
High above, Huan Du Qingtian, who had always looked down indifferently as if everything was under his control, frowned slightly for the first time on his usually calm face. His hands, which were behind his back, twitched almost imperceptibly. In the Demon Emperor's perception, the aura below, which had been as dim as dust, was now like a star suddenly ignited in the darkness, its light dazzling, even carrying a "qualitative change" that surprised him.
"Oh----"
A low laugh came from the smoke and dust.
At first, it was a suppressed, breathy sound, as if squeezed out from deep in the throat.
Then, the laughter grew louder and clearer, carrying a sense of cathartic release after being suppressed for too long, and a cold mockery after seeing through one's fate.
"Hehehe————"
"Hahahahahahaha!"
Finally, it turned into a wild, unrestrained laugh that shook the entire region!
"Hahahahahahaha—!!!"
Zhou Yi tilted his head back, his remaining left eye no longer looking at any specific enemy, but piercing through the thick demonic clouds and breaking through the sky, as if he were having the most direct and provocative eye contact with the invisible and intangible yet omnipresent "fate" itself!
The laughter subsided, but its echoes still reverberated across the battlefield.
The arrogance on his face vanished swiftly, replaced by a rock-solid calm and steely resolve. When he spoke, his voice was no longer weak or muffled; each word was like the clang of metal, resolute and decisive, carrying the weight of a vow, clearly imprinted in every inch of air: "I, Zhou Yi, swear to Heaven..."
"From this day forward, I will never again be afraid! I will never again abandon anyone I should protect because of weakness!"
He suddenly lowered his head!
His gaze, like two blood-red lightning bolts that had been tempered and refined, finally shedding all impurities and rust, shot out from the smoke and dust, carrying a bone-chilling cold and a burning heat, and fixed firmly and undeniably on Huan Du Qingtian in the high sky!
"Fate—!!!"
He suddenly looked down, and the light, like a blood-red lightning bolt tearing through the sky, firmly pinned Huan Du Qing Tian high in the sky!
"I will never let you take anyone I care about from me again!!!"
"Come!"
He slowly raised his scarred right hand, which seemed to be supporting an immense weight, his five fingers loosely clenched, palm facing upward, and made the simplest yet most arrogant invitation gesture toward Huan Du Qingtian.
"Come and fight!!!"
The moment the word "war" left his lips, the already surging and terrifying aura emanating from him did not stop growing; instead, it began a new and even more frightening transformation!
It is no longer a simple expansion and elevation, but a collapse inward and a convergence towards the core!
It's as if a vast nebula is collapsing madly towards its center under the irresistible pull of gravity! Or like thousands of rivers and streams, summoned by the ocean's source, rushing and converging towards their only destination!
The murderous aura permeating the battlefield, the final burst of energy erupting from Zhou Yi's broken body, the resentment and anger buried deep in his heart over the years, all the shattered sword intent and unfulfilled vows—all the intangible yet real "momentum" was now forcibly governed, bound, and compressed by a more magnificent and purer "will"!
With a thought, the void behind him trembled violently, and ten thousand palm phantoms appeared out of thin air! Layer upon layer, densely packed, covering the sky and the sun, it was as if countless "I Ching" masters had raised their palms at the same time. Each phantom contained a unique Daoist charm and a chilling killing intent, turning the entire sky into a domain of palm intent!
With a focused thought, ten thousand palms resounded! As if drawn by an invisible hand, the illusory figures began to frantically converge and merge inward! Amidst the interplay of light and shadow, their number decreased sharply, but their power increased exponentially! Finally, they transformed into a thousand true palm forms, slowly circulating around the Book of Changes. Each true form was incredibly solid, its palm lines clearly visible, flowing with a profound and self-contained Daoist rhythm of endless life, subtly resonating with the laws of heaven and earth!
With renewed focus, the thousand palms resonated with a deep, resonant sound, like the beating of war drums! They collapsed and condensed inward once more! Fewer in number, yet their forms grew increasingly heavy and ancient, as if bearing the weight of mountains and rivers! The hundred palms materialized! Each palm was tangible, its golden light contained, its mere presence causing a slight distortion in the surrounding space, radiating a suffocating, overwhelming force capable of splitting mountains and severing seas!
Ultimately, all thoughts return to their source. All intentions, all compressed power, all pent-up despair and resentment, all remorse for the deceased and the desire to protect the living—everything collapses, merges, and is reborn, ultimately returning to—
That one and only palm strike!
The palm is the Way. The Way is the palm.
One thought and ten thousand palms!
One thought and a thousand palms!
One thought and a hundred palms!
One thought——One palm!
"boom-!!!"
There was no sound, yet it seemed to resonate deep within the souls of all living beings!
The heavens and earth paled in comparison! The winds and clouds surged! Light, sound, color—all the rules perceptible to the senses—fell into brief disarray and retreat before the "principle" contained in this palm!
In the most secretive and incomplete ancient records of the Dao Alliance, the first brilliant chapter of the legendary account of the man revered as the "Supreme Grandmaster of the Human Race" begins here, in this city, on this day, with a single palm strike!
Palm strikes.
invisible.
Formless.
Yet it is everywhere.
Time seemed to be stretched infinitely, or perhaps frozen in an instant.
In the eyes of the 100,000 demon soldiers, more than 30 demon kings, three seriously injured great demon kings, and even the remaining humans on the city wall, all they saw was a circle of transparent "ripples" visible to the naked eye, centered on that black figure, spreading gently yet unstoppably in all directions at a speed that seemed slow but actually surpassed thought.
Wherever the ripples passed, the charging demon soldiers, maintaining their ferocious expressions and postures, silently crumbled like sand sculptures, turning into the finest dust.
The roaring demon generals, along with their magical weapons and sorcery, melted away instantly, like ice and snow under the sun, leaving no trace.
The thirty-odd demon kings, who had formed the "Ten Thousand Demons Locking the Sky Array" in the air and were still in shock and doubt, did not even have time to react. Their protective demonic light, along with their incomparably hard demonic bodies, were as if they were burst apart from the inside by an invisible force. They shook together and then turned into countless fragments of demonic power that shimmered with a faint light, falling like rain.
The Poison Frog King, the Water Spider Queen, and the Flying Centipede General, three great demon kings, revealed extreme fear in their eyes. They frantically burned their demon blood and used their life-saving supernatural powers, transforming into poisonous mist, escaping into the void, or shrinking the earth to an inch—however, in the face of those gentle, rippling waves, all their struggles seemed futile and laughable.
Ripples spread across the surface.
Purification of toxic fumes.
The void is stable.
The technique of shrinking the distance was forcibly interrupted.
The three demons stiffened, then crumbled and peeled away inch by inch from head to toe like weathered rocks, eventually turning into three slightly larger clumps of light that blended into the tragic "rain of light."
Just a breath, or perhaps even less.
One hundred thousand demon soldiers, thirty demon kings, and three great demon kings—all vanished into thin air!
On the battlefield, the clamor abruptly ceased, and deathly silence descended. Only the swirling, still-settling specks of light and dust silently recounted the incomprehensible terror that had just occurred in that fleeting moment.
The moment Zhou Yi unleashed that palm strike, his figure vanished from his original spot.
Huan Du Qingtian, the demon emperor of the Southern Kingdom and the master of all poisons, had his unchanging indifference and control on his face replaced for the first time by a near-stiff shock.
He "saw" the intent behind that palm strike, but couldn't fully grasp its essence. He sensed the extraordinary power, yet couldn't believe its terrifying effect!
In an instant! Just an instant!
One hundred thousand demon soldiers, thirty demon kings, and three great demon kings—were all wiped out?!
This is something that even he, the Demon Emperor Huan Duqingtian, could never accomplish, despite his ability to control the power of heaven and earth!
A cold, long-lost chill, a sense of "danger" or even "death," instantly gripped his heart!
escape!
We must leave here immediately!
He didn't even have time to ponder what strange changes had occurred in Zhou Yi's body. Instinct drove him to make the most direct reaction—he turned around abruptly, and his withered right hand shot out like lightning, grabbing at the Poison Old Man behind him who was already dumbfounded!
As long as we capture the younger brother, with his supernatural powers, we can instantly escape thousands of miles away and get away from this strange and unpredictable dangerous place!
However, his hand grasped at empty air.
No, it's not about missing out.
But just as his fingertips were about to touch the Poison Master's clothes, the void in front of the Poison Master rippled silently, like a stone being thrown into a calm lake.
A palm print, about the size of an ordinary hand, crystal clear, seemingly formed from the purest energy and laws, appeared out of thin air without warning, as if it had always been there.
The moment it appeared, it was "imprinted" on the center of Poison Master's body.
Before the old man's face could fully contort in shock, his pupils had just reflected the small, beautiful palm print that carried an aura of absolute death.
"Buzz—"
The palm print shimmered faintly.
There was no loud noise, no flying blood and flesh.
Poison Master's entire body, from head to toe, including the poisonous essence and divine soul he had cultivated for thousands of years, as well as the ancient zither called "Immortal Chess," was as if it had been polished by the most skilled craftsman with the finest sandpaper, or as if it had been thrown into absolute nothingness—in an instant, it turned into a cloud of extremely fine, even dust, shimmering with a faint poisonous light.
A gentle breeze swept by, and the dust scattered, leaving no trace.
The Southern Kingdom's royal uncle, a master of poisons, Huan Du Qingtian's most trusted right-hand man and blood relative, Poison Master, was annihilated, his soul and body destroyed, his death clean and swift, without even leaving behind a scream.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye, right before Huan Du Qingtian's eyes, just before he was about to grab his younger brother's fingertips.
Huan Du Qingtian's outstretched hand froze in mid-air.
He turned his head slowly, extremely slowly.
Zhou Yi's figure had appeared silently and without a sound in the void less than a foot behind him.
He was still wearing that tattered black robe, still covered in horrific wounds, and even his aura seemed to have become much more restrained.
But at this moment, in Huan Du Qingtian's perception, the person in front of him was no longer the "fallen genius" who was worth regretting, but had become an unfathomable, threatening being that made his soul feel pain—an unknown existence!
Zhou Yi remained expressionless, not even glancing at the direction where the Poison Old Man had vanished. His gaze, like ancient ice, coldly settled on Huan Du Qingtian's eyes.
Then, to Huan Du Qingtian's astonishment, he casually extended his right palm.
One thought and one palm!
The true, complete, unified mind and spirit, where the palm reveals the Dao—one thought, one palm!
Palm strikes.
"Snap—!!!"
It was not the sound of striking flesh, but rather—the mournful cry of space itself shattering!
Centered on Zhou Yi's palm, the space within a radius of several dozen feet in front of him was like a shattered glass mirror, instantly covered with dense, dark, and deep cracks! Violent and chaotic spatial turbulence roared and surged out from the cracks, frantically tearing and devouring all matter and energy within the area!
Zhou Yi's figure was also slightly affected by the uncontrolled spatial collapse caused by his own palm strike. He was instantly swallowed up by the silver-black spatial turbulence and disappeared from the spot.
But in the moment before his figure was swept away by the turbulence and disappeared completely, everyone heard his voice, a cold and resolute voice that transcended space and reached everyone's ears.
"Huan Du Qing Tian—!!!"
"escape!"
"Run for your life!"
"Go back to your southern lair, tuck your tail between your legs, and flee in constant fear!!!"
"But remember today."
"One day, I, Zhou Yi—will personally take your dog's life!!!"
Before the roar had even subsided, the palm strike, imbued with the true essence of the three supernatural powers of [Lock-on], [Instantaneous Movement], and [Inevitable Hit], had already disregarded the laws of space and was imprinted on the Demon Emperor's back at the same instant the palm was struck, or rather, in the "inevitability" of an earlier causal level!
The palm print is crystal clear, like glass. It appears to move slowly, but in fact it transcends the realm of "fast and slow". The "position" it is in is where it "should hit".
Death is just around the corner!
Huan Du Qingtian, the Demon King of Ten Thousand Poisons who had dominated the Southern Kingdom for thousands of years and had long since etched "composure" into his very bones, suddenly felt his demon blood turn icy cold. A great terror called "fall," originating from the most ancient instinct of life, was like the coldest venomous snake, fiercely biting his soul!
Huan Du Qingtian's soul is in great danger!
Faced with this bizarre, terrifying, and completely incomprehensible palm strike, he couldn't even muster the slightest thought of taking it head-on!
escape!
We have no choice but to run!
The vast, ocean-like power of the Demon Emperor within him erupted with a roar, and he unleashed his trump card, the Ten Thousand Poisons Rainbow, at any cost!
"call out--!"
His figure instantly transformed into a strange, multicolored rainbow of light with incredible speed. It wasn't a straight line, but rather followed a trajectory that distorted space, frantically fleeing south! Only a gradually dissipating poisonous shadow remained in his place.
A rainbow of light flashed, and he appeared for the first time behind a towering, imposing mountain range thousands of feet high! He attempted to use the mountain as a shield to block the ever-present palm print.
However, as soon as he appeared, he didn't even have time to catch his breath.
The thick mountain cliffs in front of him seemed to be nothing at all.
The crystal-clear palm print, seemingly slow but actually transcending the boundaries of time and space, had silently "pierced" through the mountain and appeared just inches from his chest, as if it had been waiting there all along!
Huan Du Qingtian's pupils shrank suddenly, and the rainbow light flashed again!
"puff!"
This time, he appeared in a desolate place a hundred miles away, shrouded in dark green poisonous miasma and churning with highly toxic swamps year-round.
The moment his figure appeared, a barely perceptible disturbance appeared in his aura. The palm print had already "shifted" to the sky above the poisonous swamp, ignoring the terrifying poisonous miasma below that was capable of corroding magical artifacts, and precisely locked onto it like a sword hanging overhead!
"Sizzle!"
On his third teleportation, he appeared in a secluded poisonous valley on the southern border, his face pale.
The palm print, still there—followed closely behind!
"boom!"
The final, extreme teleportation nearly exhausted his demonic power. Huan Du Qingtian appeared a thousand miles away from Nantian City, above a long-dormant giant volcano. Below lay a bottomless, dark abyss filled with the stench of sulfur, surrounded by desolate silence.
However, the palm print symbolizing death and the end remains—like a shadow, close to his body!
It was as if all his struggles and escape techniques were nothing but futile jokes before this divine power of "one thought, one palm." The moment he was first locked on, it was already destined that he would suffer this blow. No matter how powerful his escape techniques were, no matter how far he fled to, it would only make this "predestined" end a little more hurried and miserable.
Yang Yifang, who was watching the battle from a distant mountaintop, opened the golden eye mark on his forehead, his face filled with disbelief and shock.
On the city wall of Nantian, those survivors who witnessed this mind-blowing scene stared wide-eyed, breathless, their minds blank.
In a more distant place, the cultivators from various forces who were "watching" through the water mirror and their divine sense were all deeply shaken!
The terrifying palm print that had pursued the Southern Demon Emperor four times and traversed thousands of miles finally appeared for the fifth time, gently imprinting itself on the Myriad Poison Shield that Huan Du Qingtian had hastily condensed on his chest, a shield that contained his life's cultivation and a portion of the Southern Kingdom's fortune.
"Pfft—!"
A strange, muffled sound, somewhere between a splash of liquid and the shattering of metal and stone, suddenly exploded!
The seemingly indestructible dark shield, which contained the essence of all poisons in the Southern Kingdom and the laws of the Demon Emperor, was like oil pressed onto a red-hot iron the moment it touched that ancient palm print. It let out a mournful cry of being unable to bear the weight, and then disintegrated inch by inch in the extremely dazzling light of the palm force, collapsing with a bang!
Behind the shield, Huan Du Qingtian's face, which had always maintained an air of majesty and indifference, revealed for the first time an undisguised, distorted expression—a mixture of astonishment, rage, and a hint of horror. Before he could even make a further defensive move, the palm print, condensed to its ultimate form, carrying unparalleled power to shatter all laws and reshape the universe, had already firmly imprinted itself upon his chest!
"Bang—!!!"
It was no longer a soft sound, but a dull, deafening roar like stars colliding!
Huan Du Qingtian's short but mountain-like body trembled violently, and his imperial aura was instantly suppressed and extinguished! He suddenly opened his mouth, and a large mouthful of dark purple, viscous demon blood, shimmering with eerie runes, gushed out like a fountain, drawing a tragic arc in the air!
Then, under the gaze of countless terrified and speechless eyes, "BOOM—!!!"
Huan Du Qingtian's body was completely engulfed by the terrifying power contained in that palm print, which seemed capable of moving continental plates. He was transformed into an uncontrollable streak of light and afterimages, shooting backward!
That speed was beyond the limits of visual perception!
The first explosion rang out, and the summit of the first majestic mountain a hundred miles away was pierced straight through, blasting open a huge hole with smooth, mirror-like edges. Before the falling debris could even fall, the light had already vanished.
Second tone, third tone, fourth tone —
Like a string of candied hawthorns, a series of deep, terrifying, piercing roars echoed across the vast land! One after another, ancient mountains, as hard as iron and standing for millions of years, became as fragile as paper before that stream of light, their trunks easily pierced, leaving behind shockingly huge holes. Rocks collapsed, and dust rose like dragons into the sky!
Ultimately, this devastating trajectory caused Wolf to crash into the massive volcanic cone at the edge of the horizon, a volcano that had remained in a semi-dormant state!
"Thump!!!"
A terrifying impact, far heavier and longer than any previous sound, as if striking the very bones of heaven and earth, accompanied by a violent, visible tremor from the volcanic cone, resounded throughout the surrounding area!
At the point of impact, a massive circular crater with a diameter of over a thousand feet was instantly blasted open on the mountain's surface. Countless giant rocks burning with dark red sparks were thrown into the sky and then crashed back to earth like meteorites.
The profound palm print, which remained solid and still exuded a majestic divine power, along with Huan Du Qing Tian, which it was firmly "embedded" in, had already penetrated deep into the mountain and disappeared behind the churning dust and collapsed rocks.
"Boom—Boom boom—"
The entire volcano roared in pain and rage, like a primordial beast violently awakened from its ancient slumber. From within the mountain came a sickening, incessant sound of rocks crushing and cracking, countless bottomless fissures appearing on the surface, spewing forth scorching heat mixed with the acrid smell of sulfur. Deep within, the once slowly undulating dark red lava lake now surged violently as if boiling, its molten foam constantly bursting, casting a blinding red light upon the billowing dust, creating an eerie and terrifying sight.
a long time.
The billowing smoke and dust slowly dissipated in the hot wind mixed with sparks.
Through the billowing dust and drifting sparks, one can vaguely see the terrifying, hundreds-of-foot-deep crater carved into the inner wall of the volcano.
In the center of the depression, there was a huge, clear handprint with golden, lava-like patterns flowing around its edges!
Within the palm print.
Huan Du Qingtian's diminutive body was as if driven firmly into the rock wall by the heaviest divine nails, embedded deeply in a "T" shape. His limbs were bent back in an extremely unnatural way, and his magnificent demon emperor's robes, which symbolized the supreme power of the Southern Kingdom, had long since turned into tattered strips of cloth, stained with rock ash and the dark purple demon blood he had splattered. The once vast and majestic aura of a king that commanded the submission of all demons was now dimmed and almost completely extinguished, leaving only a few faint wisps of light, like candles flickering in the wind, on the surface of his broken body.
His head was bowed, his long hair disheveled, obscuring his face. Only from the corner of his mouth, thick, dark purple blood continued to overflow, dripping heavily onto the scalding, slowly melting rock wall below, making a hissing sound as it burned.
breath----
It was so faint as to be almost imperceptible, like the last spark in a blizzard, flickering uncertainly, as if it might at any moment return to eternal cold and silence.
Life or death—unknown.
The world was completely silent.
The wind stopped.
The clouds have gathered.
Even the volcano, which had been boiling and roaring, seemed to hold its breath at this moment.
On the distant mountaintop, Yang Yifang's pupils constricted. Behind him, Yang Yan stared blankly at the unimaginable scene, her mouth agape. Mu Mie even forgot to breathe, her face flushed red, her eyes bulging as if they were about to pop out.
Further back, those powerful figures from various factions and aristocratic families who were "watching" through the water mirror—whether they had previously sighed, remained indifferent, or felt fortunate—were now met with a deathly silence before the mirror. Only the gasps of shock and the faint cracking sounds of the handrails, whisks, and jade cups unconsciously crumbling in their hands silently testified to the turmoil in their hearts.
The waves surged to the heavens, terrifying our souls!
I've read all the comments.
Well, how should I put it?
While time-travel stories are meant to be exciting, writing the same story in every world makes them too repetitive and monotonous.
I will try my best to make the protagonist of each world different.
Each has its own appeal.
We'll accept that you call me a literary youth.
Here's the last 7k, please vote and tip!