You call me good-for-nothing?

The saying goes that a person who lives to an old age without dying becomes a thief.

The Crimson Fiend was immensely craftier than it appeared.

Chen Huangpi was no match for it in games of cunning.

Yet, he possessed the Liver Temple.

Once the construction of the Liver Temple was completed, one only needed to swing the temple gates wide open.

Regardless of whether you were a malevolent entity or a divinity, regardless of how terrifying your presence or how overwhelming your mortal following, you would inevitably be captivated by an irresistible and bizarre gravitational pull, plunging headlong into the temple with no hope of escape.

In a sense, Chen Huangpi still possessed four opportunities for absolute invincibility.

However, this time, those opportunities would not be wasted on the Crimson Fiend.

At present, Chen Huangpi’s Liver Temple was merely a rough outline, far from complete.

The brass oil lamp was fully aware of this fact.

Yet, it felt neither worry nor fear.

Because Chen Huangpi himself was not afraid.

Seeing this, the Crimson Fiend could not help but ask, "Chen Huangpi, why do you not struggle?"

"Why should I struggle?"

"I intend to devour and refine you. Are you not afraid?"

This Chen Huangpi was, after all, that legendary egg.

Though it had not witnessed with its own eyes that egg falling into the Immortal Realm all those years ago, the Crimson Fiend knew very well what it signified.

A profound upheaval of heaven and earth.

The old heavens replaced by the new.

A descent of true immortals—genuine, unadulterated true immortals.

Had it not been for the fact that the egg was stillborn, the Crimson Fiend would not have dared harbor even the faintest ambition, even upon the moment of its hatching.

Therefore, Chen Huangpi’s current composed demeanor stirred a vague and inexplicable dread and unease within the fiend, as if an unseen pair of eyes were silently watching its every move from the shadows.

This made it hesitate.

"Crimson Fiend, oh Crimson Fiend, you do not understand me at all."

Chen Huangpi said earnestly, "The only thing I am truly afraid of is caterpillars. I am not afraid of you. Not only am I unafraid, but I also know that no matter how grandiose your clever schemes may be, you can never harm me in the slightest."

"Arrogant!"

The Crimson Fiend laughed out of sheer fury. "I am the master of the Lesser Crimson Heaven, while you are merely a yellow-skinned whelp. As for strength, though I have fallen to this state, I remain vastly superior to ordinary evil entities. Furthermore, my primordial spark still burns within me. How could I fail to kill you?"

"In both strength and intellect, I surpass you entirely."

"How can you even compare yourself to me?"

Within the flesh-and-blood temple, crimson flames resembling gushing blood surged ceaselessly.

Accompanying them, the voice of the Crimson Fiend became laced with a mesmerizing, demonic quality.

Chen Huangpi said with disdain, "It is useless. My Dao heart is as firm as a rock; even the bamboo switch of my master could not shake my resolve. Mere demonic murmurs like yours cannot affect me."

"Is that true?"

The tone of the Crimson Fiend turned uncertain and suspicious.

Could it be real?

Was Chen Huangpi’s Dao heart truly so unyielding?

Not even the Dao Master had managed to alter his mindset?

If that were the case, then these meager tricks of its own were indeed nothing more than a self-inflicted joke.

And yet, within the depths of Chen Huangpi’s blood-red pupils, its own primordial spark was burning brightly.

This was clearly the sign of a mind influenced by demonic whispers.

With just a single thought from itself, his soul would shatter, leaving him entirely at its mercy.

"As expected, you still have hidden trump cards."

The Crimson Fiend sneered as it maneuvered the surrounding malevolent flames away from Chen Huangpi, saying with extreme wariness, "I knew it. You are the sole disciple of the Dao Master, born from that miraculous egg. Even if your birth was a failure, you are bound to be extraordinary."

"Had I been anyone else, I would have treated you as an ignorant child and fallen straight into your trap."

"It is only unfortunate for you that you encountered me."

"I am the master of the Lesser Crimson Heaven, having survived countless battles over a lifetime. Your depth of mind is as transparent as a window paper before me—pierced with a single touch."

"Huang Er, what is it talking about?"

Chen Huangpi asked, perplexed. "Why can I not understand a word of it?"

Before the brass oil lamp could reply, however, the Crimson Fiend coldly interrupted, "You are still putting on an act? Do you truly think I would fall for such a trick?"

"When the sun and moon intersect, massive changes will occur within this old Daoist temple."

"By then, even if you want to leave, you won't be able to."

"The one who should be anxious is not me, but you. Stop hiding your hand. Whatever trump cards you have left, use them now."

Hearing this, Chen Huangpi asked in astonishment, "How did you know I had a trump card?"

"You dare to humiliate me to this extent!"

The Crimson Fiend raged, "You are, after all, the personal disciple of the Dao Master. Yet, after your flaws were exposed by me, you continue to play dumb over and over again. Very well, very well! Since that is how you want it, let us see who outlasts whom."

It had made up its mind.

Until Chen Huangpi made a move, it would not strike.

After all, the one under pressure was certainly not it.

Standing to the side, the brass oil lamp watched this exchange in utter bewilderment.

It simply could not understand.

Nor could it see through the situation.

Had Chen Huangpi’s Liver Temple not remained unfinished?

How, then, had it already begun to suppress the Crimson Fiend?

"Master, you hide your depths far too well..."

The brass oil lamp whispered secretly in the depths of Chen Huangpi’s mind, "Just what is your trump card, to make even this Crimson Fiend so deeply terrified of you?"

"Naturally, it has every reason to fear me."

Chen Huangpi replied smugly, "This is the old temple. I only need to shout, 'Third Master, save me!' and no matter how monstrous the abilities of this Crimson Fiend might be, what waves could it possibly hope to stir up?"

"All of this has been meticulously arranged by Third Master."

"Is that so?"

The brass oil lamp wore an expression of total confusion and shock.

While it was true that the Temple Master, being the Heavenly Dao of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, had long since arranged everything and paved the path for Chen Huangpi, the Crimson Fiend certainly could not have known about it.

Had it known, it would never have dared to act in this manner.

The more the brass oil lamp pondered, the more wrong everything felt.

Yet, no matter how hard it tried, it could not make sense of it.

Thus, it urged him, "I have a lingering feeling that this Crimson Fiend might not be entirely right in the head. Once your Liver Temple is fully forged later on, make sure not to absorb it—lest it corrupt your own mind."

Chen Huangpi agreed readily. "I also think its brain is abnormal. It muttered a bunch of incomprehensible nonsense—truly bizarre."

With that thought, Chen Huangpi took a deep breath.

To the Crimson Fiend, however, this action clearly signaled that Chen Huangpi could no longer hold back and was preparing to unleash his ultimate techniques against it.

Therefore, it silently channeled its primordial spark, igniting the entire mass of flesh and blood that constituted the temple.

In an instant, the blood-colored flames within the temple erupted with a deafening roar.

Though its strength was a fraction of what it once was, a full-powered strike from it was enough to make even immortals retreat three stages.

If such a method still failed to defeat this Chen Huangpi, it would have no choice but to admit defeat with absolute resignation.

Yet, at that very moment, something completely unexpected happened to the Crimson Fiend.

It heard Chen Huangpi scream in agony.

"It hurts, it hurts so much!"

Chen Huangpi wailed, "I feel as though a fire is burning within my heart! Why is this flame so devilish?"

The Crimson Fiend instinctively replied, "This fire is my primordial life spark; any stray thought will be ignited by it. As the saying goes, where the mind stirs, the flame naturally follows to burn within your breast. But your Dao heart..."

"..."

"Your Dao heart is actually this pathetic?"

The tone of the Crimson Fiend was one of shock, bewilderment, and an emotion too complex to put into words.

Finally, it flew into a rage. "My fire was poised and ready, waiting only for you to make your move so we could clash properly. Yet, before I even struck, mere collateral shockwaves have utterly defeated you."

"Where are your techniques?"

"Where is your profound cunning?"

The Crimson Fiend demanded, desperate for an answer.

However, Chen Huangpi’s face was deathly pale, his hands clutched over his chest, his expression contorted with excruciating pain.

His eyes were stained an intense crimson, as if blood were about to drip from them.

He was entirely incapable of uttering a single word.

Enraged, the Crimson Fiend commanded, "Come here!"

Hearing this, Chen Huangpi immediately walked forward.

At that sight, the Crimson Fiend could not help but laugh.

A laugh filled with furious indignation and bitter humiliation.

"I should not have overestimated you."

The Crimson Fiend ground its teeth. "I originally thought you were merely pretending, but it turns out to be real. Very well, very well! Chen Huangpi, you truly are what you appear to be, and you think precisely what you say."

"I never lie."

"Shut your mouth!"

The entire flesh-and-blood temple bellowed in fury, "You are nothing more than a good-for-nothing! Why on earth did the Dao Master take you as a disciple? If it were me, I would have extracted that dual gold and black Qi of yours to serve as the foundation of my own Dao!"

The word "good-for-nothing" echoed loudly.

Chen Huangpi froze right where he stood.

The single word—good-for-nothing—reverberated endlessly within the chambers of his mind.

The last person to call him a good-for-nothing had been Emperor Chen, because despite consuming countless resources of the Great Gan Immortal Realm, Chen Huangpi had failed to achieve a successful birth and remained a stillborn fetus.

On that occasion, Chen Huangpi had felt immense anger and profound grief.

He knew his origins were extraordinary.

He also knew that countless people undoubtedly pinned high hopes upon him.

For the moment he was successfully born, he would unquestionably be a true immortal.

His cultivation would leap forward by bounds, soaring through realms day by day.

Yet, things had turned out contrary to his wishes. His master had done so much for him—letting him devour the nether soil of the Yellow Springs, enabling him to transform from a dead fetus into the shape of a man, and even mapping out his entire path—and yet, his strength remained barely equivalent to the boundary between the Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation stages.

At his age, his master had already attained the status of a true immortal long ago.

He was inferior to his master, and inferior to many others as well.

"Master, stay calm!"

The brass oil lamp urged anxiously, "You are no good-for-nothing! You are a genius—the greatest genius in the entire world! That Crimson Fiend is merely a defeated underling of the Temple Master, and compared to you, it isn't even worth a fart!"

"Ridiculous!"

The Crimson Fiend cackled hideously. "His mind and spirit are controlled by me. Even if you spout a thousand or ten thousand such words, he cannot hear a single one."

"He is nothing more than a worthless piece of trash."

"I am not..."

Chen Huangpi abruptly raised his head. His blood-red eyes suddenly cleared entirely.

His expression was utterly detached.

Not a trace of emotion could be discerned.

The thoughts within his mind were no longer ignited by those malevolent flames.

Instead, a different kind of fire had begun to burn within his chest.

It was the fire of liver-heat...

An immensely ferocious surge of liver-heat.

The Liver Temple, which until now had only existed as a blurred outline, began to vibrate violently.

Rip...

On his cheek, just beneath his left eye, the flesh and skin suddenly split open, and a dark, bluish-green eye crawled out from within—crystal clear, yet radiating an indescribable, baleful aura.

The expression of the Crimson Fiend shifted slightly.

It had no idea what was happening, but that dark, bluish-green eye gave it an intensely ominous premonition.

Merely meeting its gaze gave it the illusory sensation that its own mind was about to be seized.

And that was not all.

Chen Huangpi covered his face with both hands.

Rip! Rip!

The sounds of tearing flesh rang out one after another.

When Chen Huangpi lowered his palms, one could see that a dark, bluish-green eye had emerged from the center of each palm.

Across his entire body, hundreds of eyes opened simultaneously.

"I see you."

"What?!"

The voice of the Crimson Fiend was fraught with extreme panic. Long before it realized that Chen Huangpi lacked any real depth of cunning, it had quietly concealed its true form right here, creating the illusion that this path was a viable escape route.

In truth, the moment Chen Huangpi dared to approach, he would instantly fall into the trap.

This was the classic cunning of a hare with three burrows.

Yet now, all of its elaborate preparations had been rendered completely illusory in the eyes of Chen Huangpi.

The dark, bluish-green eye at the back of Chen Huangpi’s head contracted slightly, ripples shimmering within its pupil.

The next second.

The brass oil lamp materialized in Chen Huangpi’s hand.

A dark, bluish-green eye slithered out, crawling from the back of Chen Huangpi’s hand onto the body of the brass oil lamp, before embedding itself firmly into the metal.

In an instant.

The brass oil lamp transformed into the Nine-Nether Divine Lamp.

A biting, desolate nether-fire surged forth from the lamp body in a overwhelming torrent.

"Chen Huangpi, you have fallen into demonic obsession!"

The brass oil lamp shrieked in terror, "Second Temple..."

Before it could finish its sentence, the eye embedded in its body manipulated it into snapping shut.

Chen Huangpi said indifferently, "Huang Er, I am no good-for-nothing."