As a Father, I Just Want to Watch You Achieve Immortality Chapter 1785: By My Calculations, the Underworld Needs a Scholar—Three vs. Five, the Advantage Is with Me, Li Che
Previously on As a Father, I Just Want to Watch You Achieve Immortality...
A number of individuals have now joined the fray to claim opportunities within the Qitian Inner City.
When Fang Hanshu witnessed the Divine Tribulation Venerable from the Jiangnan Dao Fang family arrive to compete for assets, utter dejection washed over his features.
Boom—
The clashes continued unabated!
Fang Hanshu was alive with fervor, recklessly channeling the techniques of the Great Supervising Minister. By invoking the essence of Heaven and Earth to fortify his own form, his presence steadily intensified.
The entire Mysterious Temple trembled beneath the pressure.
With toes dancing across the stone, swift as a lightning strike, he wielded the Vast Spear in a wide arc, driving it toward the five antagonists.
Their skirmish was a blur of motion, dazzling to behold, as space itself fractured and mended in a relentless, ravaging storm.
Tang, tang, tang, tang—
The floor tiles of the Qitian Temple were shattered and restored in a rapid, repetitive cycle.
Fang Hanshu began to labor for breath, his Confucian robe now stained a deep, visceral crimson.
Such a robe was intended for the writing of poetry, yet it proved equally suitable for brandishing a spear to cull bandits!
However, the bandits...
They were simply too numerous.
Fang Hanshu felt as though his vital essence had been drained, yet he remained indifferent; having tapped into the Great Supervising Minister’s power to command the forces of Heaven and Earth, he had already embraced his fate: to offer himself up for the sake of righteousness.
"He is spent."
"Do not delay any further."
Zhang Wuji held the recovered Silver Orb, a subtle frown marking his features as he spoke with chilling composure.
High above the firmament, the monumental energies of the ongoing battle seemed to wane, losing their ferocity, signaling that the supreme confrontation was nearing its conclusion.
In reality, all these formidable experts understood that their high-level techniques were never truly meant to suppress the Temple Guardian Curse Corpse King.
After all, without the arrival of a genuine supreme being, how could they hope to subdue such a master?
Nevertheless, they were bound by the necessity of winning their race against time.
Zhang Wuji chanted an incantation, and the following moment, a Divine Shrine manifested behind him.
Surging, divine energy and Dao Yun poured from the shrine. The Silver Orb began to shudder violently, emitting a shrill drone before launching forth, tearing through space to strike the exhausted Fang Hanshu.
Fang Hanshu slumped against the ground, his body convulsing in rhythmic, uncontrollable spasms.
Staving off five foes alone, he was, at the end of the day, no true Second Calamity Divine Tribulation Venerable; he had merely achieved such a level through external, borrowed influence.
His reserves were thoroughly depleted.
"So, this is the end..."
Fang Hanshu breathed out, his expression possessed of an eerie tranquility.
Death was inevitable; as a man of letters, if one can fulfill their internal code, why harbor fear?
Furthermore...
"Elder Li should be capable of saving me, right?"
"I suspect the Underworld is in dire need of a scholar."
He coughed, a thin spray of blood misting the air.
Watching the encroaching venerables, he shook his head, a sense of vastness radiating from his frame as his very soul ignited.
"Come again!"
The Vast Spear in his grip detonated instantly, transmuting into a Vast River, a belt of jade stretched across his path, serving as his final line of defense.
With that final act performed.
Fang Hanshu was completely hollowed out.
His elegant beard had grown brittle, matted with clotted blood.
He remained desolate upon the ground, his voluminous sleeves fluttering as he shuddered; beyond the river, the crushing attacks hammered down, causing the moat to quake as it teetered on the brink of collapse.
Regardless, Fang Hanshu had given his utmost.
"A scholar battles without regret, departing without remorse."
He sighed softly.
Fang Hanshu retrieved a blood-smeared Holy Sage Book from within his sleeves.
He straightened his posture.
With fingers trembling, he moistened his tongue and began to turn the pages, his hands shaking rhythmically.
There were still a few passages within this tome he had yet to internalize.
The ancient sages truly were possessed of infinite wisdom.
Boom—!!!
The Vast River was annihilated.
Figures emerged one after another, brilliant as flare-lights, piercing the river’s remnants. Buddha Light bathed the arena. A monk wielded a staff, his expression twisted in wrath as the cicada patterns pulsed.
A Taoist approached, robes billowing, cradling the Silver Orb as naturally as an immortal.
There was the presence of Emperor Qi Fortune, winding and grand.
The five powerful figures watched the lone, desolate man with cold, detached eyes as he calmly perused his book.
"Why insist on this?"
"The Fang Family of today is not the Fang Family of the past. Even without this sacrifice, no one would hold you accountable."
"In this cultivation world, who else even recognizes your righteousness or your resolve?"
Zhang Wuji clutched the Silver Orb, sighing in disappointment.
Fang Hanshu also sighed, closing the book. "You are all so noisy... I can no longer read in peace."
"Faced with the threshold of the afterlife, my heart is, at last, somewhat unsettled."
Zhang Wuji shook his head: "When you chose to channel the Great Supervising Minister’s power and invoke the potency of Heaven and Earth, your fate was sealed. You selected death long before now. Your heart remains agitated only because there are people you cannot bring yourself to abandon."
Fang Hanshu tilted his head back, the Holy Sage Book curling as he rested it upon his lap.
His gaze swept past the five powerhouses, settling calmly on the distant horizon.
"Indeed..."
"Old Lv, I can no longer stand beside you, nor assist in guiding the Divine Sect..."
"And Xi Xi, there will be no one left to monitor your studies. How can you call the study hall a Demon Cave? Little one, you must apply yourself; you are far too mischievous. Cultivation of knowledge will soothe your spirit, making you both reasonable and knowledgeable—perhaps then you shall be lovable..."
"And Li Che..."
Fang Hanshu’s complexion was deathly white.
His eyes, however, remained serene, untainted by the fear of mortality, filled only with the melancholy of one unable to bid farewell to his companions.
"The world is beautiful; the human realm is so expansive..."
"A realm of men such as this should not be extinguished beneath the Divine Tide."
Fang Hanshu murmered.
Zhang Wuji shook his head: "Such is the cycle of the times. If the gods fall, the human realm is of little consequence."
No powerful aura lingered upon Fang Hanshu; he now seemed as frail as an ancient scholar who lacked the strength to lift a finger.
Nevertheless, his spine remained unbowed.
The five experts ignored him, bypassing his frail form to charge toward the stone casket.
Suddenly.
Zhang Wuji’s expression shifted, his sleeve lashing out as he hurled the Silver Orb with lethal intent.
The space rippled!
A gargantuan pillar tore through the void, descending with force enough to topple mountains, instantly causing the sky to spiderweb with cracks.
Thud—
The Silver Orb recoiled, falling back to Zhang Wuji’s grasp.
Thick, chaotic demon energy poured forth!
The Black Bull Demon God Venerable, wielding the Sea-crossing Purple Gold Beam, stepped out of the rift with a boastful swagger.
Zhang Wuji halted, brows knitting as he stared down the Black Bull Demon God Venerable.
"You..."
Beside the Black Bull, space shattered once more. A murderous, swirling mass of demon energy shook the very foundations of the void!
Six heads swayed in a frenzied dance, leathery wings burst from a back, four limbs pounded the earth, and a tail as thick as a Divine Whip lashed out, annihilating the surrounding space.
A peerless beast manifested with unbridled ferocity!
The power of the Second Calamity Level permeated the area.
Those who had just moved past Fang Hanshu paled as they sensed the shift.
"The Demon Race of Ten Thousand Rivers... they actually held such a trump card?!"
"A second Second Calamity Level Demon God Venerable, and Ten Thousand Rivers has produced yet another newly ascended Demon God?!"
The Ascetic Monk, the Witch God Priest, and the Emperor of Dajing were all clearly shaken.
The Demon Race...
They had hidden their true strength the best of all!
Fang Hanshu watched the developments with a blank stare, a faint smile touching his pale lips as if a realization had finally dawned upon him.
"Great Elder... did you really need to go to such lengths?"
A voice, resonant with helplessness, reached Fang Hanshu’s ears.
Fang Hanshu turned his head.
He saw Li Che, adorned in a Divine Monkey Mask, the Treasure Stick balanced on his shoulder, kneeling beside him.
"You succeeded?"
Fang Hanshu’s eyes brightened as he spoke.
Li Che nodded; he understood the implication of the query.
He made no attempt to hide the truth—he had indeed cleared the path, having dealt with the Black Bull Demon God Venerable.
Fang Hanshu laughed heartily.
"At last, I can read in peace."
Fang Hanshu chuckled as he spoke, his voice fading into a whisper.
With a gentle tap on Fang Hanshu’s shoulder, a single thought flickered, and the old man was transported away to Mo City Fengdu.
"There, read in some other place."
"As for the remainder... leave it to me."
"Three against five..."
"I have the upper hand now."