Climbing to immortality step by step

Chapter 45 Reinforcements

As soon as Wang Zihan's words fell, the shimmering waves of multicolored butterflies abruptly shifted. The swarming light that once stretched into long, colorful ribbons rapidly condensed into clusters. In the next moment, these vibrant butterfly formations merged, surging forward in a dazzling tide, crashing toward Pang Tianshan's Dust Wind Net.

Pang Tianshan sneered, "Eighty-four thousand drops of Pure Water? Who are you trying to fool! Not even Wugou Shinni could achieve that. Since you remain stubborn, I'll make sure you don't leave here alive."

He didn't believe for a second that Wang Zihan could conjure such an extraordinary number of Pure Water droplets. In the Buddhist sects, the number eighty-four thousand held immense significance, symbolizing the ultimate boundary. Countless Buddhist figures throughout history had been bound by this mystical limit, never surpassing it.

Even the most revered masters of the Nascent Soul and Primordial Spirit realms in the Buddhist world could rarely reach such heights. At best, they might manipulate droplets of Pure Water in the thousands, but they could never breach that sacred number. Even if Wugou Shinni herself were here, at the peak of her strength, she might only be able to control eight types of virtuous waters, each containing eighty-four thousand droplets.

Given Wang Zihan's cultivation, her control over the multicolored butterflies and the Pure Water was laughably insufficient. Her energy, while vast, was far from that sacred threshold. At most, it could only conjure a few thousand droplets—nowhere near the eighty-four thousand mark.

Having calculated this, Pang Tianshan relaxed slightly, manipulating the Dust Wind Net to capture wave after wave of Wang Zihan's shimmering butterflies. With each gust, the Dust Wind tore through the light butterflies, grinding them into dust.

This Dust Wind Net may have seemed like nothing more than a swirling cloud of sand and wind, confined to a two-zhang radius. But in reality, it was far more dangerous. Even the strongest cultivators in the Dragon Realm would find themselves ensnared and helpless within its grasp. The Dust Wind possessed the power to shred through not just steel and iron but even the enchanted treasures of immortals.

As the butterflies disintegrated, their sparkling lights extinguishing one by one, Wang Zihan coughed up blood and staggered back a step, almost collapsing. She had no choice but to pull the remaining butterflies together, forming a tight formation to hold off the relentless onslaught of the Dust Wind Net. But Pang Tianshan had already decided: Wang Zihan must die. There would be no mercy.

He swung the yellow flag in his hand, determined to exterminate her butterflies completely.

Though his clan's remaining elites had barely escaped Wang Zihan's pursuit, fewer than thirty had survived. His fury swelled, and he channeled that anger into the flag, pushing it harder. Yet, as he waved it, something felt wrong—his spiritual energy was being swallowed whole, as though it had vanished into the void.

"Damn you!" Pang Tianshan growled. "I'll tear you apart, piece by piece!"

To his horror, the Dust Wind Net's attack had been quietly neutralized. Countless silver specks now flickered in the sky, like stars glimmering in the night. The remnants of the multicolored butterflies had melded perfectly with the Dust Wind Net, leaving no space for the dust and wind to move. The Dust Wind began to dissipate, melting away like snow under the sun.

Unwittingly, Pang Tianshan had suffered a devastating blow yet again, just as he had before. He had been too focused on attacking and had neglected his defense. Now, with a third of his Dust Wind Net gone, Pang Tianshan grunted, swallowing a mouthful of blood.

"Wang Zihan, I swear I'll kill you!"

He hadn't anticipated that her light butterflies, which had seemed so fragile, could counter his Dust Wind Net so effectively. Her earlier vulnerability had been a deception; she too was a formidable Foundation Establishment cultivator with her own hidden techniques.