Chapter 141: True Form

In the desolate wilderness, vegetation flourished.

In an open clearing, a group of about twenty people surrounded a stone statue, kowtowing and worshiping with utmost piety.

The stone statue possessed flowing robes, exquisite features, and breathtaking beauty, looking so lifelike that it seemed as though she were a living person.

"This appears to be that female maiden stone statue. Why are people worshiping it?"

Although Fang Yue had never seen the maiden stone statue before, he had heard descriptions of it from villagers in Bridge-End Village who had encountered it.

He found it rather baffling; this stone statue looked nothing like a deity.

Upon seeing Fang Yue, one of the people in the crowd shouted, "We've been discovered! Kill him!"

The score of individuals all grabbed their weapons, wearing ferocious expressions and gnashing their teeth as they charged toward Fang Yue, as if harborers of a deep, irreconcilable hatred.

Fang Yue drew the treasured sword at his waist, his blade flashing like the wind.

Although the very tip of the sword had been melted away by that grayish space, it did not affect its usability.

These twenty-odd people were merely slightly stronger than ordinary mortals, and before long, all of them fell beneath Fang Yue's sword.

Their corpses collapsed to the ground, only to vanish moments later without emitting any worldly grievances or resentment. They were not spirits or demons, but rather something akin to mere illusions.

Fang Yue sheathed his sword, his gaze shifting to the maiden stone statue resting upon the crude altar.

"Is this the sculpture of the Nether-Walking Maiden?"

Fang Yue felt a twinge of doubt. This time period predated the outside world by at least a thousand years.

If the stone statue was indeed the Nether-Walking Maiden, could such a woman really persist for so long?

One had to know that these heretical practitioners were all short-lived; even with various life-extension techniques at their disposal, none could live for a millennium.

"Unless she has become an evil god."

Fang Yue's expression turned solemn. Only by ascending to the rank of an evil god could one shed a mortal physical vessel and transcend the limits of lifespan.

Judging by how the crowd worshiped this stone statue, there was indeed a high probability that she was an evil god.

"If she is an evil god, she will be difficult to deal with. Even if her current power level is merely at the late-Xiantian stage, approaching the peak of Xiantian, who knows what trump cards she might still hold."

Just as Fang Yue was preparing to figure out a way to escape this grayish-white wilderness, the maiden stone statue moved.

The stone material covering her body rapidly transformed into flesh and blood.

In the blink of an eye, the statue turned into a beautiful woman and stepped down from the altar.

"Young Master Fang, I previously possessed a man's body, and you seemed displeased. Are you satisfied with my current appearance, Young Master?"

The Nether-Walking Maiden asked with a charming smile, even standing on tiptoe to spin around once before Fang Yue, her sleeves fluttering and skirts dancing in a breathtaking display.

Upon seeing her manifest, Fang Yue suppressed the other emotions in his heart, his expression instead relaxing considerably.

Looking her up and down carefully, Fang Yue smiled with the tone of one who had seen it all. "The maiden possesses a graceful figure and a gentle voice; you must certainly be a woman of passion and wit. You mentioned earlier about taking me in as your kept companion—does that offer still stand?"

Even as he spoke, he suddenly lashed out with a palm strike.

The wind from this palm was scorching hot, as though it intended to set the air ablaze. Fang Yue had exerted himself to the fullest without holding back the slightest bit.

The Nether-Walking Maiden let out a giggle and countered with a delicate palm strike of her own.

Their palm forces collided, sending shockwaves rippling through the air.

Fang Yue took two steps back, feeling a freezing, chilly current burrowing into his body, leaving his palm somewhat numb.

Glancing down at his hand, he saw a layer of grayish-white stone material beginning to condense upon his skin.

However, at that moment, Fang Yue's entire body was brimming with Xiantian true qi, and his palm was further fueled by his Flaming Palm technique, which quickly burned the grayish-white stone material into vapor with its searing heat.

"Hehe, men are all the same. You talk a good game, but you strike harder than anyone else," the Nether-Walking Maiden sneered.

Fang Yue was in no rush to attack again, replying, "I had no wish to do so either, but I suddenly recalled you mentioning earlier that you needed my vital essence and yang energy to prolong your life. To protect myself, I had no other choice."

The Nether-Walking Maiden suddenly sighed. "You heartless wretch, are you really so unwilling to part with even this tiny bit of vital essence and yang energy? Am I, this humble maiden, not pretty enough to be worth that small sacrifice on your part? Or do you harbor someone else in your heart, looking down on a plain and ordinary woman like me?"

Fang Yue shook his head. "When it's a matter of life and death, does the maiden truly believe she is worth someone else's life?"

"Alas, it seems you still view this humble maiden as common trash. Very well, I suppose I have no choice but to handle this myself."

As the Nether-Walking Maiden spoke, an aura of bone-chilling eeriness erupted from her body, and the entire grayish-white wilderness seemed to spring to life.

The stones upon the ground transformed into stone men of various shapes and sizes—some tall, some short, some large, some small. The tallest reached one or two zhang in height, while the shortest were merely the size of a fist, all surging toward Fang Yue in a chaotic swarm.

With overwhelming momentum and a terrifying presence, they charged like an army composed entirely of stone.

Fang Yue channeled his Flaming Palm and shattered a half-man-tall stone man that charged at him first with a single blow.

Then, using his bare palms with sweeping, open-and-close movements, he engaged the oncoming stone soldiers in melee combat.

These stone men varied in strength, which was fundamentally tied to their size.

Any stone man shorter than half a man could be smashed to pieces by Fang Yue with a single application of his Flaming Palm.

Those taller than a man required two or three strikes.

Countless stone men flooded forward. Devoid of concepts like life and death, they fought with reckless disregard for their own destruction, closing in from all directions to seal off any paths of movement available to Fang Yue.

Unfazed, Fang Yue engaged them in brutal, head-on combat.

His hard Qigong technique, the "Fiery Iron Body," had already reached the third stage. When activated, his entire body became as hard as iron, surpassing even these stubborn rocks.

With whistling palm winds carrying scorching fire-attribute damage, Fang Yue carved a bloody path straight through the encirclement of stone men and charged directly toward the Nether-Walking Maiden.

Killing these stone men provided no merit points and merely wasted physical stamina and true qi to no avail.

"To capture the bandits, capture their leader first." Attacking the Nether-Walking Maiden was the optimal strategy.

With a crisp clang, the treasured sword at Fang Yue's waist leaped from its scabbard. With a single thrust, it spawned boundless sword qi that completely enshrouded the Nether-Walking Maiden's petite form.

The sword qi struck the Nether-Walking Maiden, producing the sound of clashing metal and stone. It turned out that the Nether-Walking Maiden's body, including her clothing, was not made of flesh and blood at all, but rather stone.

"I wonder if this is her true physical form?"

Fang Yue could not confirm it just yet, for the Nether-Walking Maiden had already struck with a palm.

She had suddenly materialized directly behind Fang Yue and pressed her palm firmly against his back.

Just like Fang Yue's divine body, which could appear and vanish at will and move freely within the domain of Fish Head Town, the Nether-Walking Maiden possessed the exact same capability within this grayish-white region.

Caught completely off guard, Fang Yue took the full force of her palm. The cold and malevolent palm strength bypassed even the defenses of his third-stage hard Qigong, drilling straight into his body and paralyzing half of his side.

Coughing up a mouthful of blood with a sharp gasp, Fang Yue whirled around and unleashed a palm strike.

His Flaming Palm swept through empty air; the Nether-Walking Maiden had vanished once more.

*Boom.*

Fang Yue took another direct palm strike to the chest, sending him flying backward to crash onto the ground.

Fighting on someone else's turf while being outmatched in cultivation realm essentially guaranteed a thorough beating.

"How does the Young Master feel? Was the massage from my technique comfortable enough for you?"

The Nether-Walking Maiden giggled, wearing the expression of one who had already secured victory.

This was her domain. As long as the intruder was not a Martial Sage or a Pill-Condensation cultivator, she feared no one, not even a peak Xiantian martial artist or a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Ignoring her, Fang Yue wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and chanted, "Illumine."

An archaic bronze mirror appeared in his palm.

"Sacrifice."

The surface of the bronze mirror rippled, and the newly formed reflection displayed none other than the Nether-Walking Maiden before him.

"It seems this is indeed your true physical form."