Immortality starts from the liver proficiency

Chapter 359 The Empress in Person
Xu Yunfan shook his head slightly. The Vajra Indestructible Body and the Marrow Cleansing Technique of the I Ching of Amitabha Temple are both wonderful methods in the world, but Amitabha Temple cultivates the true meaning of Buddhism. One can make great vows to engrave one's will, seek the Vajra Body of the mind, and attain the Arhatship, which is the realm of terrestrial immortals.

The eastward transmission of Buddhism must be the grand ambition of some old fellow in the Amitabha Temple.

The next morning, leaden clouds hung low over Yujing City, as if even the heavens were pressing down on this ancient imperial city.

The spirit-suppressing jade formation surrounding the martial arts arena had already been shattered by the aftershocks of Xu Yunfan's fierce battle the day before. The traces of the Ministry of Works' overnight repairs were still visible, but they could not conceal the sense of devastation caused by violence.

Xu Yunfan glanced at it from afar, then leaped into the depths of the Great Zhou Imperial Court. When he finally stepped onto the martial arts stage, the blue bricks beneath his feet cracked silently.

His gaze swept across the empty stands. There were no ambushes from the five major sects, no armored Imperial Guards, and even the officials from the Surveillance Bureau had vanished without a trace.

Only at the end of the martial arts arena, a hunched figure stood in the morning mist, leaning on a bone cane.

The imperial city buildings behind the martial arts arena, which should have been magnificent, were now as dark and gloomy as a ghost town.

The vermilion pillars were covered with withered vines, the glazed tiles were covered with gray moss, and even the nine-tiered imperial road with dragon patterns, which symbolized the majesty of the emperor, was cracked with spider web-like gaps.

Xu Yunfan's eyes flickered slightly. He could see clearly that this decay was not caused by the erosion of time, but by some kind of insidious technique that had drained the earth's vitality.

"Is my palace beautiful?"

A hoarse voice came from the fog.

The empress slowly raised her head, her white hair hanging down like withered grass, her wrinkled face adorned with two cloudy eyes, only the scarlet rouge at the corner of her lips still bearing traces of her former ruthlessness.

Her bright yellow dragon robe hung empty, and her exposed wrists were already bluish-gray, like dried corpses.

"Only you?"

Xu Yunfan scrutinized the Empress for a long time, never expecting that she was actually an old woman who looked like she was about to die at any moment. The image of the Empress in his mind from his previous life's books was instantly shattered.

He traced the patterns on the Crimson Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace's mouth with his fingertips.

He sensed that there were indeed no living creatures within a hundred feet radius, not even a sparrow.

The bone staff slammed heavily on the ground, and the Empress scoffed, "Do you really think I'm some kind of street performer?"

Her fleshy cheeks trembled as she spoke, as if they were about to fall off, but she didn't care at all. "Back when I used this 'Dragon Devouring Life Technique' to sacrifice three hundred members of the royal family, your grandfather was still digging for food in the mud."

The mace flashed across the bluestone, sending sparks flying. Xu Yunfan nodded slightly, his expression unchanged: "Old hag, is this all your dying words?"

"Ignorant brat! Born a peasant, you're arrogant and conceited, unaware of your own limitations!"

She stared at the gradually rippling Ten Extremes True Qi around Xu Yunfan, her cloudy old eyes narrowing into slits.

“You are my subject, and should be my helper, but now you are rebelling, which is treason.”

"Treason?"

Xu Yunfan chuckled, "You really think highly of yourself. With war raging across the land, you're responsible for 80% of the damage. And with 80% of the people rebelling, you're responsible for 90% of the damage."

As soon as she finished speaking, the Empress suddenly sprang up, and the purple-gold pill embedded at the top of her bone staff exploded with dazzling light.

Her hunched body straightened instantly, and dark golden true energy surged from beneath her decaying skin, transforming into nine ferocious dragons that coiled around her.

The Nine Dragons Prison Suppression Technique, a secret technique passed down by the Great Zhou royal family.

Xu Yunfan narrowed his eyes. When he had a detailed conversation with Li Haomiao before, the other party mentioned that the martial arts practiced by the Empress were the unique skills created by the founding emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. They were cultivated by borrowing dragon energy, and only members of the royal family and imperial sons could enter the field.

The Empress's first strike tore through the air.

As the bone staff swung down, nine dragon-shaped streams of true energy surged forth, turning all the floor tiles in its path to dust. Xu Yunfan parried with his mace, unleashing a torrent of powerful Ten Extremes True Energy. The crimson flames of his Crimson Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace collided with the dragon energy, and the shockwave from the collision instantly ripped outwards, severing the spirit-suppressing jade pillars at the edge of the martial arts arena.

"interesting."

Xu Yunfan took three steps back to dissipate the force and discovered that ice crystals had formed on the mace.

His gaze fell on the bone staff in the Empress's hand.

"What kind of weapon is that?"

That bone staff was clearly made from a human leg bone, and it carried a fierce aura that could freeze true energy.

The empress's withered fingers slowly caressed the dark gold patterns on the surface of the bone staff, and a cold smile appeared on her decaying lips: "This is the 'Heavenly Pillar Bone' of the Great Zhou Emperor. When he passed away, his bones were even more resilient than divine weapons. Now I am merely making the best use of it."

Xu Yunfan exclaimed, "You're truly rebellious, digging up your own ancestral graves... Oh, you seem to be from another family?"

The Empress's offensive continued relentlessly, her staff flashing like a torrential downpour, each strike accompanied by a dragon's roar.

Her aging body could clearly not withstand such an outburst; blood began to seep from her seven orifices, yet she laughed even more maniacally: "You peasant, do you even know what the Emperor's martial arts are?"

Suddenly, the wind on the staff changed, and the nine dark golden dragon energies devoured each other, eventually condensing into a nearly tangible purple-gold giant blade.

This is the ultimate killing move of the "Nine Dragons Prison Suppression Technique," "Nine-Five Annihilation," which requires burning blood and qi to activate.

Xu Yunfan's expression finally changed, and at the critical moment, he used the "Eight Desolate Dragon Meteor Mace Technique" to meet the attack head-on. The moment the maces and staffs collided, the entire Xuanwu Martial Arts Stage collapsed three zhang!
Amidst the smoke and dust, the Empress staggered backward, her dragon robe torn apart by the backlash of true energy, revealing the purple crystal embedded in her chest—the very Heavenly Demon Purple Gold Pill that Dugu Jiu had mentioned.

She suddenly chuckled mischievously: "Boy, do I look like one of those old guys you drained dry?"

Xu Yunfan was too lazy to reply and was about to give chase when he suddenly saw the Empress's cloudy eyes glow with an eerie purple light.

The Purple Gold Pill trembled violently, her withered body swelled up as if inflated, her white hair turned deep purple in an instant, and a gleaming white barb grew from the tip of her bone staff.

"really……"

Xu Yunfan became wary, and his Ten Extremes True Qi surged into a vortex within his meridians.

He had long realized that the Empress was no longer alive and was only relying on this Purple Gold Pill to prolong her life. Now, she was clearly going to fight desperately.

The empress's voice was no longer human, but like the hissing of a million insects: "I would rather become a demon than let you be buried with me!"

The next instant, the Purple Gold Pill exploded completely, and thick purple mist sprayed from her pores, corroding everything it touched and creating honeycomb-like holes.

The bone staff twisted and deformed like a living thing, eventually transforming into a spinal sword covered with eyeball-like protrusions.

Purple mist enveloped half of the imperial city, and the Empress's attack methods underwent a complete transformation.

Each swing of the spinal sword leaves a viscous, purplish-black trail.

Xu Yunfan was caught off guard and struck in the middle. For the first time, cracks appeared on his dragon scale armor. The purple mist was actually devouring his Ten Extreme True Qi!
"Is your Absorbing True Demon Technique comparable to that of the extraterrestrial demons?"

The Empress laughed wildly, and the Spinal Sword suddenly softened into a whip, coiling around Xu Yunfan's left arm like a venomous snake.

The purple mist poured in wildly from the point of contact, and his entire arm was instantly covered with spiderweb-like purple patterns.

In this critical moment, Xu Yunfan actually curled the corners of his mouth. He let the purple markings spread to his neck, but his right hand suddenly formed the Pure Yang Three Forms Sword Technique taught by Bi Yuan.

(End of this chapter)