Chapter 349  : You Are Too Weak

“How did you know?”

Lord Susano questioned as a dark light played in his eyes.

Chen Fan smiled derisively: “Did you expect to fall for your pathetic tricks?”

“Yes, you can live a few hundred years as a Demon God, but it also came at a heavy cost. Your devotees worship you as a god, you need to be responsible for their well being. Yes, you could feed on your soul energy while they pray to you, but it is a double-edged sword. Sooner or later, your own soul energy would be corrupted and you will become deranged as your soul slowly crumbles.”

“It’s a foolish move to survive solely on devotee’s faith without entering Soul Formation state. Without gaining Primordial Essence, you are only a false prophet, but not a real Immortal.”

Chen Fan refuted.

The method of cultivating using devote’s faith was called Divine Dao. It was a very common cultivation method among Immortal cultivators due to its convenience. By amassing as many devotees as possible and harnessing their Devotion Energy, one could reach divinity without even putting too much effort into cultivation.

However, in reality, the most powerful cultivators all human who followed the Immortal Dao instead of deities who practiced Divine Dao.

Divine Dao was a double-edged sword with a huge downside along with its advantages. Over time, the Devotion Energy would start to corrupt the Soul Energy of divine entities, or deities. When the corruption reached a point of no return, the cultivator would become deranged like a schizophrenic patient. The downside could be alleviated only after a cultivator had gained indestructible Primordial Essence. Therefore, Chen Fan would never consider that path at his current stage despite the obvious advantage of the Divine Dao: he wouldn’t even need to cultivate, and all he had to do was to gain as many devotees as possible, as a religious pyramid scheme would.

“You have planned to order your subjects to swarm at me and kill me, but you have changed your mind and tried to persuade me to join you. I believe you are eyeing my body, aren’t you?” Chen Fan narrowed his eyes and asked with a half-smile.

Chen Fan’s body was an Azure Thearch Longevity Body.

In the eyes of an ordinary person, the only thing that set Chen Fan apart from most people was his pristine appearance. However, in the eyes of a Demon God such as Lord Susano, he saw Chen Fan as a precious holy grail of cultivation. His body emanated a strong pulse of Spirit Qi that was common with enlighted monks who had reached nirvana.

Azure Thearch Longevity Body was one of the most powerful Connate Spirit Bodies. Although Chen Fan was still at the introductory level of the art, one drop of his blood was able to bring a man to life from the verge of death. It contained more Spirit Qi than that in an Essence Gathering Pill. For most cultivators on earth, they would consider Chen Fan an Earth Level Deity and Lord Susano simply couldn’t pass up such an opportunity.

The thin old man’s face darkened as Chen Fan exposed his scheme. In the end, his face turned into a contorted laughter.

“Very good! You are right. However, it’s already too late!”

He paused and then he glowered.

“Your body is mine the moment you entered the Shrine. I don’t know, nor do I care how you have gained such a wonderful Spirit Body, I guess I will find out as soon as I possess you and look into your memory. Wverything of yours will be mine.”

“If I could have such a wonderful Divine Body, I might even complete the final step of my cultivation and became an Earth Level Deity, much less regain my lost power.”

Lord Susano smirked.

Even now, Lord Susano didn’t take Chen Fan as a serious threat. After all, he used to be a mighty Immortal State cultivator in Japan. In his mind, those who haven’t achieved the Immortal State were lowly insects. Even though his form was reduced to just a Divine Soul, while in his own Shrine, he should be able to unleash as much power as an Immortal State cultivator would. Otherwise, he would not lure Chen Fan into the Shrine. He had initially planned to make a move on Chen Fan as soon as he fell for his trap, but to his amazement, Chen Fan had a Treasure Body of the Earth Level Deity

At first, Lord Susano was stunned by his discovery.

Earth Level Deities were the stuff of legends. However, Chen Fan’s body had all the signature signs of an Earth Level Deity: Ice Skin, Jade Bones and a constant exchange of energy with nature. Chen Fan was a paragon of the Union of Mortal and Heaven. Only a cultivator with Earth Level Deity Body could have pulled it off.

Greed besting caution, Lord Susano made up his mind to claim Chen Fan’s body for himself without a second thought. If he was able to use Chen Fan’s body, he should be at least completed half of the requirement to become an Earth Level Deity. By then, he could live for another hundred or so years freely outside his current confinement. It would be his dream come true.

“If you kneel before me, I might spare your life. I might even take you in as my chief priest.”

Seeing his conspiracy had been blown, Lord Susano no longer tried to hide his real intentions. He announced confidently as if the victory was already in the bag for him.

Before an Immortal State Overlord, even the title of the most powerful Grandmaster in China seemed pale in comparison.

“That is too bad because I can’t say the same about you. Even if you knelt down before me, I still will not spare your life.” Chen Fan shook his head and heaved a sigh.

“Such arrogance, Chinese boy!”

The dark light in Lord Susano’s eyes surged and a wind gust across the room, making a harrowing scream.

The old man charged up the energy inside of him and caused the dust around him to seemingly start levitating upward. The entire shrine turned pitch black as bouts of agonizing screams came up. A dark mist fell over the room like a thick blanket, within it was otherworldly energy that could corrupt Soul Energy. These deadly mists would make any ordinary Grandmaster’s face turn pale.

“No one, not even the Great Magus of the Dark Witch Sect and the Heavenly Master Sect Master would dare to talk to me like that!” Lord Susano growled as he slowly rose to his feet and extended one arm to grasp something in the air.

“Now, I will show you the real power of Immortal State!”

“Kaboom!”

A large black paw, lined with sharp glinting claws swooped down at Chen Fan. The paw was covered with black shining scales like that of a primordial dragon. Even the thought of peering into the darkness to look at the beast in its full glory would fray an ordinary mortal’s mind.

The paw wheezed in the air, light ran down from the large claw and traced a silvery line in the air. Not even an armored vehicle could endure this attack, much less human’s flesh.

“Humph! Pathetic.”

Chen Fan let out a derisive smirk as Blade Aura surged out from between his fingers.

In a blink, a bright scintillating Azure Blade Aura flashed into view like a lightning. It expelled the darkness of the room and landed squarely on the dark paw.

“Clank!”

The impact of the Blade Qi and the dark scaly paw sounded like metal against metal and spilled sparks into the air. The Azure Wood Qi Blade had a decisive edge and it sliced through the scale into the flesh of the beast and carved a long ugly wound on the paw, nearly cutting it in half.

“uh?”

The thin old man was discouraged a little and staggered back.

The paw was made out of his Divine Soul and was as strong as steel. However, it was nearly cut in half by the True Essence shot out from Chen Fan’s system. How deadly was Chen Fan’s True Essence? It was evident to the old man that Chen Fan’s True Essence was even more powerful than when he was at his prime.

“Humph. I have underestimated you. No wonder you are the most powerful master in China and China is indeed a mighty nation with brilliant talents. Japan simply couldn’t compare.” The thin old man said as his eyes grew darker.

“However, you never entered Immortal State, and therefore, you have no idea how powerful an Immortal State cultivator is.”

So saying, the remaining dark mist drawn toward the wounded paw and filled in the open wound, healing it in a blink of an eye. It looked like the paw had never got injured in the first place.

“I am invincible when I am inside of this shrine. There is nothing you could do to harm me.” The thin old man cracked a menacing smile.

“Really? One cut might not do, what about a thousand cuts?”

Chen Fan jumped himself into the air as the Blade Auras surged again from his hand. He brought the Blade Auras around and hacked at the old man with abandon.

Meanwhile, Chizuru Masahiro and the others were waiting patiently outside of the shrine.

“Looks like Lord Susano is finally at it.”

Seeing the dark mist coming up from inside of the shrine, Chizuru Masahiro narrowed his eyes and said.

“He told us that he would do away with Chen Beixuan as soon as we lured him in there, why did it take Lord Susano so long to take action? Was he talking to him all the while? Why would Lord Susano spent so much time on a little boy?” Genkaza Takeda shook his head and laughed.

As one of the most powerful Overlords in Japan, he was bitter about Chen Fan’s claim as the most powerful Grandmaster in China. He wished he could throw his gloves off and fight Chen Fan face to face.

However, without Lord Susano’s approval, he scarcely dared to defy his master’s orders and act on a whim.

“Our Lord is a mighty Demon God, so don’t you worry your pretty head about it.” Chizuru Masahiro waved displeased and said: “I think Lord Susano is interested in that boy’s body and wanted to possess him. Once Lord Susano is finally free from this confinement, so would we be. With power and freedom, we could easily bring the Ise Grand Shrine to its heels.”

“That would be terrific!” Genkaza Takeda beamed from side to side. “What a shame that I wouldn’t have a chance of beating up Chen Beixuan myself. Otherwise, I am going to show him the might of a real Japanese warrior.”

Genkaza Takeda shook his head and heaved a sigh as he lamented the lack of opportunity to teach the boy a lesson.

Yukishiro Sa’s heart raced as she heard the exchange. These vile men and women pretended she was not there as they talked about their devious plans. She looked to the shrine and prayed that Chen Fan would be victorious.

“Don’t keep your hopes too high, little bird. The shrine is under Lord Susano’s spell that allows him to dictate the life and death of anyone inside. Chen Beixuan is such a gullible dimwit. He walked into the trap without any hesitation. Tell me, little bird, are all Chinese men this stupid?” Violet let out a deadly tantalizing smile.

As Lord Susano’s subject, she was convinced that Lord Susano was invincible. Chen Fan’s fate was sealed unless he was an Immortal State cultivator.

Hearing the words, Yukishiro Sa’s heart sank to the bottom

“Is master really going to die?”

Even as Genkaza Takeda and the others were enjoying the quiet moment before victory, a loud blare erupted.

“Kaboom!”

The gate of the shrine blew open from inside.

A man wrapped in dark mist flew out from the hole and rammed through a dozen structures before it landed on the ground, skidding for another ten meters. It eventually smashed into a large rock and stopped.

“What?.”

Everyone was rendered speechless by the turn of the event.

They watched as a young man with sublime features emerged out from the Shine. He shook his head and lamented: “I told that you are too weak for me.”