Those time travelers that year

370. Tiger Soul (Part 2)

The power of the Divine Dance Sound instantly shattered the illusion of the Earth Element Formation, which targeted the deepest desires of people's hearts, and also awakened those who had been affected from the illusion.

Those who had been misled, upon regaining their senses, found themselves as if they had survived a brush with death. Still shaken, they followed the music and approached, where they saw a blonde woman holding a pipa-shaped celestial dance.

"Are they awake?" Xia Er coldly said to the remaining disciples of the Beiming family, "A mere illusion array has rendered you all like this! Honestly!" Apart from those protected by divine weapons, everyone else, except for Xia Er, was trapped in the illusion. Among the Beiming family's group, apart from Wentian, who was protected by the Heavenly Crystal Green Pearl, and Beiming Xue, who was wielding the Shennong Ruler, the rest were all hopelessly trapped in the illusion.

However, just when almost everyone except Xia Er thought they had escaped death, the chain reaction caused by the breaking of the earthen formation occurred. After a violent tremor, the cave ceiling suddenly exploded, and stalactites collapsed. A ball of scarlet light, accompanied by a violent airflow, surged out from the shattered dome, instantly forming a tornado that swept up the unsuspecting crowd. No matter how high your martial arts skills were, you were all helplessly pulled towards the tornado.

For a moment, they were like a lone boat on a raging sea, their lives hanging in the balance, only able to let the red light pull and drag them towards the deepest part of the cave. Although the whirlwind lasted only a short time, those caught in the vortex felt a terrifying sensation of being swept into the abyss, in a daze, as if an eternity had passed.

But eventually, the whirlwind stopped and disappeared. When everyone came to their senses, they found themselves in a large hall. In the center of the hall were four metal statues that looked like they were cast from metal. At the very center of the hall was a triangular golden light shield, and inside the light shield was a war tiger whose entire body looked like it was made of crystal.

Inside Zhanhu's body, there was a large, amber-colored sword.

That's Tiger Soul...

"Back then, Jiang Ziya felt that the Tiger Soul was malevolent, so he used the Xuanbing Tower to imprison it and curb its resentment. After pacifying the world, he used his magic to build the Conferred God Platform and summoned the Four Spirit Generals to move the Conferred God Platform to the Eight Gods Conferred Evil Hall." The Divine Calculator stroked his beard as he spoke eloquently, "In addition to the Xuanbing Tower, the Conferred God Platform, the Four Spirit Generals, and the Eight Great Gods working together to restrict it, the Heavenly Net-like ceiling of the hall also concentrated and gathered magic power, forming a Bagua spiritual light that enveloped it from below. Jiang Ziya used multiple methods to ensure that the Tiger Soul would never be unearthed."

"Truly mysterious and unfathomable, it resonates with the power of heaven and earth. Jiang Taigong truly deserves to be called a celestial immortal and a master of Taoist arts. I am far inferior to him." The diviner sighed with deep emotion, his eyes revealing a longing.

While Zhuo the charlatan was fully displaying his deceptive skills and building connections for his industry, Xia Er, unlike the others, didn't gaze eagerly at the Tiger Soul Blade within the Crystal War Tiger. Instead, his attention was fixed on the stone tablet carved with eight celestial beings. In the original storyline, it was precisely with the divine power remaining within the stone tablet that this group was able to truly shatter the demonized War Tiger.

Unleashing his senses, sure enough, Xia Er sensed a power similar to the divine energy contained in the Heavenly Crystal Power and the Xuanyuan Taixu among the stone tablets engraved with images of celestial gods.

A deafening roar interrupted Xia Er's thoughts just as he sensed the divine power within the stone tablet and was pondering how to extract it without alerting the magic-wielding table spirit. Suddenly, the four metal statues, which had previously appeared lifeless, began to glow, their eyes gleaming. Caught off guard, the martial arts masters were instantly slaughtered by the suddenly activated Four Spirit Generals.

The four invulnerable and incredibly strong spirit generals—the Monkey King, the Golden Roc, the Spider King, and the Precious Elephant—burst into the crowd, instantly unleashing a bloodbath. Chaos erupted. Ordinary weapons were utterly ineffective against these four spirit generals. Even Nangong Tiexin, wielding a second-level divine weapon, could barely manage to fend off the Spider King's relentless attacks. Neither sword blades nor sword energy could leave a single mark on the Spider King.

The same was true for the others, especially since these spirit generals possessed unique abilities, capable of instantly condensing extremely low-temperature cold air to freeze people into ice. In an instant, even several level-two experts among the crowd were knocked to the ground, and some unlucky ones who were accidentally frozen were even pulverized.

"Wentian, Beiming Lei..." Watching the four spirit generals wreaking havoc, Xia Er raised an eyebrow and ordered, "Don't rush in recklessly..." He reached out to stop Wentian, who was about to rush forward to rescue people and fight the enemy. "You stay here and protect Axue, who wields the Shennong Ruler!" Xia Er was annoyed that these four beasts had interrupted his thoughts. He also remembered that these four spirit generals were nothing more than illusions. In reality, all their abilities actually came from their souls.

Four souls that could be considered divine beasts...

"Heaven and Earth Primal Energy Lock!" As the analysis of this world's rules accelerated, Xia Er was able to unleash more and more power. The power of boundless freedom circulated wildly, and instantly, one after another, semi-transparent, illusory chains appeared throughout the hall. "Binding!" The primal energy chains rapidly expanded, binding four spirit generals that were rampaging through the crowd.

"Come here!" Reaching out and grabbing one end of the energy chain, Xia Er pulled hard, causing the four spirit generals, each weighing at least several tons, to tilt and fall to the ground with a thud. Then, the energy chain tightened, and the four spirit generals were pulled directly towards Xia Er's side.

Roar! ! !

The spirit general, pulled over, roared in anger. Clearly, although it wasn't its true form, but merely a materialized portion of its soul and spirit, it was still a primordial, extraordinary divine beast, naturally possessing the pride and dignity of a divine being. Now, having guarded this place for thousands of years, it was being casually dragged around by a mortal, and it was instantly enraged.

However, no matter how angry they were, they couldn't change their fate, simply because they were not facing the mortals they imagined...

'Your souls—are mine!' With a cold laugh, Xia Er faced the four Spirit Generals, pulled towards him by chains of primordial energy and now pouncing on him. In his prime, a single spell could obliterate them; even now, before fully recovering, they were no match for these beasts, regardless of their divine beast titles.

Unleashing his boundless freedom, he forcefully controlled the surrounding primordial energy, using it as a base to manipulate the magnetic field around his body. Then, facing the charging spirit generals, Xia Er fearlessly clenched his fist and redirected the magnetic field to his hand.

Then, it collided head-on with the powerful punch of the most powerful of the Four Spirits, Bao Xiang, which was strong enough to split mountains and shatter peaks.

"burst!!!"

371. Hell War God

The Elephant among the Four Divine Generals possesses astonishing strength, an incredible power. As the saying goes, "strength can overcome technique," and this elephant's every move, from raising a hand to stomping a foot, carries immense force. Martial arts masters who attacked it before either tried to outmaneuver it with speed or simply avoided it from a distance. Anyone who was hit directly by its punch has, to this day, suffered a gruesome end: disemboweled, decapitated, limbs severed, and flesh and bones shattered.

So, when they saw Xia Er use a Heaven and Earth Qi Lock to pull the Four Spirit Generals away from a distance, and drag them all over, the skilled fighters who had been struggling in the battle couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, their fear still lingering. Then they saw the scene of Xia Er clenching his fist and exchanging blows with the Treasure Elephant.

Everyone thought Charles was courting death and secretly mocked his overestimation of his abilities. But the next moment, these martial arts masters, who thought they had seen the end, all stared wide-eyed, because they witnessed the most outrageous sight they had ever seen in their lives.

boom!!!!

Compared to the massive elephant, Xia Er was quite small. Then, when his fist collided with the elephant's enormous fist, with a deafening boom, the elephant's left arm exploded. From the point of impact, crackling and shattering spread across the elephant's body. In the mere instant of impact, the elephant's left arm was blasted to pieces by something.

Awooo! The elephant let out a mournful cry, and then, cracking sounds filled the air as cracks appeared all over its body. Finally, with a loud bang, its entire body exploded into pieces.

Roar!! After the precious elephant exploded, the remaining three spirit generals let out an extremely angry roar. Everyone else assumed it was because they were furious that one of their companions had been directly blasted to smithereens by Xia Er. However, no one present, whether a regular martial arts master or a charlatan like Zhuo Shengun, noticed anything amiss. At the moment the precious elephant died, a smile appeared on Xia Er's face.

The soul and spirit of Baoxiang, who should have been freed after his body was shattered, were nowhere to be found. The others were unaware of this, but the Monkey King, the Golden Roc, and the Spider King, who were also among the Four Spirit Generals, knew very well that the moment Baoxiang died, his soul was devoured by the mortal before them.

Yes, that's right. Although they weren't using their original bodies as divine beasts, they could still sense that something was amiss. When Xia Er annihilated the treasure elephant and instantly devoured its soul, the other three spirit generals sensed—a soul filled with an ominous aura.

The thing in front of me is not a human at all, but a demon disguised as a mortal.

Thus, the Monkey King, the Golden Roc, and the Spider King went berserk. A sudden burst of immense power erupted, forcefully tearing apart the energy chains still binding them. They then unleashed their full strength, charging towards Xia Er, vowing to slay this heretical demon before them. However, in the eyes of the martial arts experts watching from the sidelines, their rage was merely a result of their companions' deaths.

With a swift movement, Xia Er dodged the monkey's attack. Then, he stepped forward and leaped into the air, avoiding the spider king's piercing spears and freezing air. However, while in mid-air, he could not dodge the golden roc that was flying down from the sky, pouncing like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

But Ciel had no need to hide.

While still in mid-air, Xia Er had already grasped Luo Yang and combined the two swords. He then held it horizontally beside him with one hand, and as Jin Peng pounced down, Luo Yang's blade followed closely, striking Jin Peng's body before Jin Peng could react.

A crisscross of blades flashed in mid-air, and by the time Charles landed, the golden roc in mid-air had been cleaved into four pieces. Two strikes in an instant, with no foothold in mid-air? No, it was only one strike, merely a swift, sharp, deadly, and gruesome blade of light. However, Charles had indeed only swung his blade once; the second strike wasn't from him, but from someone else—another… Charles!?

Yes, when they crossed in mid-air, Ciel only made one slash, but at the same time, another Ciel, another semi-transparent Ciel who was only white, appeared next to the Ciel who made the slash in a fraction of a second, and also made a slash that was no less impressive.

Stands?! No, those aren't the Stand users from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, but something else, something even more miraculous.

At first, Xia Er saw Wentian and Xicheng Hideki manifest their so-called Dharma forms using the divine power of the two great gods. Although they were merely illusions, there was no doubt that even as illusions, they possessed extraordinary power. At the very least, those with weak minds would definitely suffer mental damage when faced with those manifested Dharma forms.

However, for Ciel, psychic abilities are sufficient to influence reality; his true form can even instantly superimpose illusory dreams into reality. Or conversely, he can pull the entirety of reality into a dream.

Therefore, even if it's an avatar, and an avatar whose power is suppressed by the world itself, in essence, Xia Er is on the same level as Nuwa and Xuanyuan. Given this, if they could form a Dharma body capable of interfering with reality by having their insignificant remaining power activated by mortals, then there's no reason why Xia Er himself couldn't do the same.

By analyzing the divine powers of Nuwa and Xuanyuan, Xia Erke is gradually breaking free from the shackles imposed by this world.

Therefore, the second Xia Er was not an illusion, but a reality. It was formed from a thought of Xia Er, who forcibly controlled the magnetic field with the power of the carefree and limitless, forming a magnetic field domain. He then injected his own thought and a bit of thinking into the magnetic field domain, thus forming a clone that was different from the clone.

This is,

Free and Unfettered - Magnetic Field Domain · Hell War God

So, what appeared to be a single strike by Charles was actually two. The other strike came from his status as the God of War of Hell. Unfortunately, Jinpeng became the first test subject of Charles's attack, cleaved into four pieces and instantly killed. Moreover, at the same time as being killed by Charles, his soul and spirit were also devoured by Charles himself.

Awooo!!! The death of the Golden Roc drove the remaining Monkey King and Spider King even more mad. They turned their eerie spider spears to stab and their nimble monkey claws to strike at Xia Er. Clearly, the Monkey King and Spider King knew of their second companion's fate.

But what if they fought with all their might? What if their killing intent was overwhelming? Faced with their frenzied attacks, Charles remained as relaxed as if strolling through a garden. He compressed his sense of time; anything without martial will, without extraordinary skill, without a grand power surpassing all others, could not transcend the stretched sense of time. Therefore, after Charles stretched his sense of time, no matter how exquisite the techniques, they were meaningless. Unless, the user's skill surpassed its limits, enabling an ordinary person to slay a god through skill alone.

However, this is impossible. Even if it were possible, it wouldn't be these few wild beasts that have been given the name of gods and called divine beasts.

372. The Four Spirits are wiped out.

Beasts are ultimately just beasts. No matter what divine name they bear, they have no chance of defeating the Shar at this moment. Therefore, their fate is also one of defeat and death; the only difference is the order in which they occur.

Golden Roc was slain, followed by Spirit Monkey. Among the four spirit generals, Treasure Elephant possessed the greatest strength, Golden Roc could fly and had a swift and agile soul, while Spider King was cunning and unpredictable. When they teamed up to face an enemy, their cooperation was crucial to unleashing their full power. However, this time, before they could even coordinate their attack, they were defeated one by one by Xia Er.

Now, it's the monkey's turn.

The frenzied claws couldn't reach Ciel. Even with their impenetrable swings, the stretched sense of time revealed only gaps in Ciel's vision. The next moment, the longsword flashed, accompanied by a ghastly light, and the monkey's head was severed. Unfortunately, he wasn't called Sun Wukong, so he lacked the ability to reattach his head.

After beheading the spirit monkey with a single strike, facing the Spider King's ferocious spider spear attack, Charles swayed his body, easily dodging the spear's attack. Then, a figure flashed past, the Hell War God was activated, and two Charles simultaneously grasped Luoyang in their hands. Then, with both swords striking out, they instantly cut all of the Spider King's spider spears in half, and then killed him.

The entire process was short, lasting only a short while. Yet, it left all the renowned masters of the martial world dumbfounded. They knew how troublesome the Four Spirit Generals were; the moment they awoke, they had stirred up a bloodbath among the martial arts heroes, leaving many skilled fighters helpless. Even their deadly freezing aura could easily extinguish the life of a top-tier expert.

But now, after Xia Er took over, the Four Spirit Generals, who were originally invincible, were actually destroyed and crushed by Xia Er with overwhelming force.

How could the others not be surprised and even terrified? Everyone knew that although they had worked together to seize the Tiger Soul Blade, that was only before the blade appeared. Once the Tiger Soul Blade appeared, an earth-shattering battle awaited them for its survival.

However, judging from the situation, once the chaotic battle for the sword begins, given Xia Er's current strength, wouldn't it mean that the Tiger Soul Sword will ultimately belong to the Beiming family?! For a moment, Xia Er's killing of the Four Spirit Generals did not earn him cheers from the crowd; instead, the surroundings suddenly fell silent.

Without even looking, Xia Er could guess what the situation was like. However, at this moment, Xia Er ignored these guys and instead paused, silently returning to the disciples of the Beiming family, where he sat cross-legged.

"Martial Uncle?!" Bei Ming Lei, Bei Ming Xue, and Wen Tian were all taken aback. Xia Er's displayed combat prowess was their greatest advantage; in fact, based on Xia Er's performance, the Bei Ming family had the best chance of winning this sword-hunting journey. But what was going on now?

"Don't let anyone disturb me!" Xia Er whispered, then sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes, and seemed to enter a meditative state. Seeing this, the disciples of the Beiming family couldn't help but wonder if Xia Er had overexerted his true energy earlier. Beiming Xue, Beiming Lei, and Wentian exchanged glances, then quickly gathered the Beiming family disciples into a circle, surrounding Xia Er.

Of course, everyone else, observing this, generally assumed that Xia Er, facing the attacks of the Four Spirit Generals, had exhausted most of his strength in the battle to quickly defeat his opponents and was now needing to recuperate. They all breathed a sigh of relief; losing a large amount of true energy in one fell swoop wouldn't be so easy to replenish. This meant that before the final battle for the sword even began, Xia Er had already lost more than half of his strength.

But is that really the case?!

While Xia Er sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, Zhuo the charlatan continued to use his deceptive skills. After a lot of persuasion, Wen Tian reluctantly took the Shennong Ruler from Bei Mingxue's hand, and together with Le Wa, who possessed the Divine Dance, and Xi Cheng Xiu Shu, who held the Xuan Yuan Tai Xu, they worked together to simultaneously bombard the golden triangle that trapped Zhan Hu with the three divine weapons.

The divine energy of the three celestial warriors poured into the triangular structure sealing the War Tiger. With a deafening boom, a violent shockwave swept across the entire area. The seal and the celestial warriors clashed head-on. Caught off guard, Wentian and the others were all thrown back like cannonballs by the immense force. However, the combined attack of the three celestial warriors also forcefully shattered the seal into pieces.

However, at that very moment, a deafening tiger's roar echoed from within the Xuanbing Tower. The crystal war tiger, originally trapped within the seal and preserved as the Tiger Soul, suddenly came to life as if it were alive. Its blood-red eyes were filled with endless resentment and overwhelming murderous aura. This war tiger was none other than the manifestation of the Tiger Soul's own power. Because the Tiger Soul had accumulated resentment and hatred for thousands of years, its power had greatly increased, and it had actually seized the ten-thousand-year-old Xuanbing that sealed it. Its primordial spirit materialized, and with a furious roar, it swept through the entire hall, chilling everyone to the bone.

Tiger Soul, now freed with resentment, would never choose the path of repentance and enlightenment. Even if the Buddha himself appeared, it would never yield. Therefore, the moment Tiger Soul regained its freedom, it unleashed a bloodbath. A pounce of claws, a swipe of its tail, a bite—simple movements, but combined with its indestructible body and the resentment accumulated over millennia, in a single exchange, the heroes of the martial world were slaughtered.

Seeing that the situation was not going well, Wentian, Lewa, and Xicheng Xiushu, who were holding the Heavenly Divine Weapon, all made their moves. However, even so, they could not resist the War Tiger with the sharpness of the Heavenly Divine Weapon. They did not even have the ability to harm the War Tiger and were directly knocked away by it.

Wentian was thrown back by the immense force, flying back among the disciples of the Beiming Clan. Zhanhu seemed about to pursue and kill Wentian, but at that moment, he paused… As the incarnation of the Tiger Soul Spirit, Zhanhu clearly sensed Xia Er, who was sitting cross-legged among the Beiming Manor disciples. Then, his previously pouncing figure suddenly turned, biting off the head of a fat monk wearing a cassock, before changing direction and continuing his slaughter.

……

The tiger transformed from Tiger Soul was wreaking havoc, constantly surpassing divine power, which Xia Er naturally sensed. However, he had no time to pay attention to it at this moment. After devouring the Four Spirit Generals, Xia Er immediately began to organize and search their memories. Naturally, Xia Er recalled a scene from these memories: the scene when Jiang Ziya set up the seal to suppress Tiger Soul.

Of course, while the Four Spirit Generals possessed this memory, they couldn't comprehend Jiang Ziya's actions. They simply obeyed orders, becoming part of the seal to suppress the Tiger Soul. But while they didn't understand, Xia Er did!

Or rather, by following the memories of these four spirit generals, Xia Er essentially recounted the entire process of Jiang Ziya sealing the Tiger Soul.

First, Xia Er confirmed one thing: the worldview of the Son of Heaven indeed overlapped with this world of divine weapons. Second, Zhuo the charlatan's claim that Jiang Ziya was a so-called enlightened immortal from the heavens was clearly nonsense; he was merely trying to establish connections for his charlatan profession.

During this process, Xia Er unsurprisingly saw another person, someone even more overpowered than Wen Tian. Searching through the memories of the Four Spirit Generals, he learned that this guy was—King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa.

Bookke raised prices; I only found out today...

373. The Schemes of Gods and Demons

The reason Jiang Ziya was able to suppress and seal the Tiger Soul was not solely due to the mysterious net set up by Fuxi, nor was it because his Taoist arts were truly earth-shattering and awe-inspiring. Rather, it was due to the assistance of Ji Fa, an incredibly powerful figure at the time. This is quite normal; Jiang Ziya's Taoist arts were superb, but clearly not high enough to suppress the Tiger Soul. The one who truly suppressed the Tiger Soul was Ji Fa, the incredibly powerful figure, while Jiang Ziya merely set up the seal.

The so-called demons and monsters who supposedly stole the Tiger Soul Blade to aid and abet the tyrannical King Zhou were actually just desperate fugitives being hunted down after King Zhou had already committed suicide by self-immolation and the Zhou Dynasty had been established. Their aim in searching for the Tiger Soul Blade was to counter Ji Fa's overpowered Heavenly Sword.

Unfortunately, although the sword was found, it was clear that Ji Fa, as the biggest cheater at the time, with the Mandate of Heaven, couldn't take it even with the Tiger Soul Sword. He was directly blasted to dust by this cheater with a devastating attack, and then assisted Jiang Ziya in setting up the Five Elements Formation on Mount Tai to suppress the Tiger Soul Sword.

Relying on his own destiny as an emperor, coupled with the divine dragon energy of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the fact that despite being cut in half by his foolish father, he was still destined to be the supreme ruler, he was no match for the Heavenly Sword with only a Tiger Soul weapon while Chi You lay dead, desperately awaiting his resurrection. Thus, he met a tragic end.

To ensure absolute safety, Jiang Ziya not only sealed the Tiger Soul but also set up numerous obstacles and traps. Unfortunately, as time passed, the seal weakened. The soaring light that had previously appeared was actually the Tiger Soul itself using its accumulated power over thousands of years to continuously challenge the seal.

Of course, this had nothing to do with Xia Er. In fact, Xia Er didn't care at all who owned the Tiger Soul, since he had no use for it anyway. What truly concerned him was the Heaven-Shattering Earth-Shattering Technique used by King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa, a super-powerful character, which, according to his memories, was arguably the most miraculous martial art in history. Xia Er was puzzled: was it truly a martial art, or just a generalized attack disguised as a martial art?

Anyway, it didn't matter. Coincidentally, these four spirit generals had agreed to guard Tiger Soul because they wanted to use the dragon energy of the Zhou Dynasty for cultivation. So, influenced by what they saw and heard, they all remembered the contents of the Innate Qiankun Technique, but that was all. They couldn't understand its contents at all, let alone cultivate or even learn it.

However, this actually benefited Xia Er, as the Four Spirits would not be able to understand it, but it was not difficult for Xia Er.

However, just as Xia Er was about to try out the Innate Qiankun Technique, he suddenly paused and immediately abandoned the idea.

'Interesting, a calculation of cause and effect? ​​No, the concept of cause and effect didn't even exist back then.' Examining the Innate Qiankun Technique extracted from the memories of the Four Spirits, Xia Er showed absolutely no interest. This was because, just moments ago, Xia Er had clearly sensed something very strange. If he were to actually cultivate the Innate Qiankun Technique, he would inevitably be drawn into some troublesome matters.

Think back to those who inherited divine and demonic martial arts; they were all undisputed protagonists of their respective eras. Yet, precisely because of this, they were constantly embroiled in all sorts of problems and troubles. The higher one's cultivation level, the more inexplicably they would get involved in various matters.

'As expected, there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world!' Xia Er sneered inwardly. 'If I learn the martial arts created by these god-level beings, then those gods and demons will inevitably know about them, and there will be some connection between us.'