A Mad Thought: Kill Him!

The moment Di Wanyun said, "So it really was you," the surrounding atmosphere turned as bleak and murderous as deep winter. Luo Chen tried to take a step, but found it as agonizingly difficult as if a mountain were pressing down upon him, leaving him scarcely able to breathe. "You truly have nerve!" Di Wanyun sneered. "After killing my son, not only did you not flee, you dared to make such a grand show on the battlefield! I hardly know whether to call you bold or suicidal." Luo Chen rasped, "Senior, I used every means at my disposal to remove this curse mark. How could it still linger upon me?" "Want to die with your eyes open?" Di Wanyun scoffed coldly. Just as Luo Chen braced for an answer, a burst of golden light abruptly erupted. "Go down to the Netherworld and ask my son on your knees!" Just as that golden radiance reached his face, a damaged shield suddenly materialized before Luo Chen. Clang! The instant the golden light collided with the shield, an explosive blast rang out, and the iron shield shattered to pieces! Amid the flying explosion of iron shards, an azure curtain of light blossomed outward. Initially immense, the light curtain looked like a pane of colored glaze. Yet as the golden radiance bore through it unimpeded, the azure barrier contracted continuously until it wrapped tightly around Luo Chen's body. With a ferocious expression, Luo Chen shuddered violently, and the golden light finally ground to a halt. Frowning slightly, the old man recalled the golden glow. It proved to be a cloud-like magic treasure, shifting forms continuously in his hand—at times a saber or sword, at times a spiked mace—infinitely variable and wondrous to behold. "A damaged defensive magic treasure, paired with an ultimate defensive spell. No wonder the two of you had the gall to rampage across the battlefield." Across from him, Chu Kui's expression was grim to the extreme. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined Luo Chen would have provoked a Golden Core nemesis! "Senior, a senior bullying juniors is hardly justified!" "You dare preach reason to me?" Di Wanyun spat out a breath, and the cloud in his hand transformed into a golden flying sword. Luo Chen's expression shifted slightly, and he shouted, "I am a guest elder of Ice Fort, and Fairy Jueqing is an old acquaintance of mine! How dare you kill me?" "My son probably said something similar before he died. Did you spare him? Don't even think of stalling with words—today, you die!" Swoosh! The flying sword shot forth like lightning. Facing this strike, Luo Chen violently surged his spiritual power, forcefully manifesting an instantaneous Glazed Canopy. Yet this time, the flying sword pierced the canopy as effortlessly as a fish slipping through water, encountering not the slightest resistance. Clang! Another resounding crash echoed. A black-and-gold staff abruptly extended, swatting the flying sword away. Once more, the attack was foiled. For the first time, Di Wanyun took serious note of Chu Kui. "There is something wrong with you!" Luo Chen looked at Chu Kui with equal shock and uncertainty. An uncanny aura was actively billowing and rising from Chu Kui's body. Was it the secret art he mentioned before? Right before the two of them, a round pill appeared in Chu Kui's hand, and he swallowed it in a single gulp. That bizarre aura surged to overwhelming heights in an instant. A voice transmission sounded in Luo Chen's ear: "I know your flight technique is extraordinarily fast. Fall back first—I'll follow right behind you!" "But..." "No buts! This Golden Core cultivator isn't that strong; he can't pin me down." Luo Chen gave Chu Kui a deep, lingering look before a pair of illusory wings abruptly unfurled from his back. He rocketed backward, moving with a speed that left onlookers stunned. The voice transmission of a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator naturally could not escape the Golden Core Master before them. Di Wanyun grew anxious. "Trying to flee?!" "As if it were that simple!" He formed hand seals, and the golden cloud magic tool transformed into a colossal hammer. Raised high in the air, it loomed over a one-li radius before smashing down with tremendous force. Confronted by this strike, Chu Kui suddenly snapped his head up. Gripping the Heaven-Equalizing Staff, he thrust it straight upward. Boom! Amid the violent collision, the massive hammer was knocked flying backward. Chu Kui floated slowly into the sky, holding the long staff with both hands. His aura climbed maniacally, eclipsing Di Wanyun's in the blink of an eye. "Magic power—it's magic power!" Di Wanyun's face darkened. "You lucky bastard, where did you get a Golden Core to extract magic power from?!" With a solemn expression, Chu Kui gave no reply. Gripping the staff tightly with his entire body behind it, he brought it crashing down. Facing this earth-shattering blow, the golden cloud in Di Wanyun's hand shifted ceaselessly, manifesting a shield of light. Boom! After the first strike, Chu Kui pressed his advantage without mercy, swinging the staff again. One strike, two strikes... Under the relentless barrage, sparks exploded across the radiant shield, and Di Wanyun was actually beaten back step after step! Such a scene naturally did not escape the eyes of the countless experts across the Eighth Peak battlefield. Several Golden Core cultivators turned their attention toward them all at once. Even more, a figure burst forth at extreme speed from the distance, sprinting in their direction. A Foundation Establishment cultivator was actually suppressing a Golden Core Master in direct combat! Such an appalling spectacle was taking place right before the powerhouses of the Six Jade Cauldron Sects. How absurd, yet how breathtaking! "You deserve to die!" Di Wanyun roared, his face livid as he was forced back stride by stride. He had already sensed Luo Chen getting farther away, as well as the gazes of the other Golden Core cultivators upon him. If he delayed any longer... "Hah!" Di Wanyun tapped a finger between his eyebrows. As if some seal had been undone, his aura surged frantically. Doubling, tripling... In the blink of an eye, he had returned to his peak state. Reaching out, he commanded the golden cloud to reform into a giant hammer and smashed it forward with thunderous momentum. In the distance, the approaching figure extended a slender, delicate hand, raising a wall of solid ice before Chu Kui. Crack! The solid ice held for only an instant before violently shattering. Even Chu Kui's full-force staff strike could not withstand the hammer's sheer might; he was blasted dozens of li away. With a cold snort, Di Wanyun didn't even spare a glance at the white figure. Turning into a streak of golden cloud, he flew straight out of the mountain. "Luo Chen, you cannot escape!" Whoosh! Fairy Jueqing flickered forward and caught Chu Kui by the back. Looking at the unconscious man, she let out a cold huff. "Daring to take another's Golden Core into your body—you truly have a death wish!" Flicking her delicate fingers, a pellet the size of a longan fruit slipped into her palm. Then, with a gentle shove of her hand, Chu Kui's body sailed toward the Seventh Peak, which had already been captured by the Four-Sect Alliance. "Junior Sister Yinyue, watch over this man." From the Seventh Peak, Yinyue let out a soft chuckle. "Senior Sister, you'd better hurry! If that little guy gets killed by the enraged Di Wanyun, you won't have an easy time answering to the Supreme Elder." "Humph!" Fairy Jueqing snorted coldly. A white shuttle appeared beneath her, carrying her away in rapid pursuit of Di Wanyun. ... A crimson figure was fleeing frantically. One moment he was in place; the next, he was dozens of zhang away. Afterimages blurred across the air as the wind howled around him. Touching the space between his eyebrows, Luo Chen looked dark-faced. Impossible! I clearly purged that thing. How could it still exist, and even allow someone to track me down through resonance?! The burning heat between his brows sent a chill through his heart. No, that's not right! My previous methods were definitely effective. Otherwise, Di Wanyun would have hunted me down long ago. He didn't answer my question just now, which means he relied on other methods to confirm I killed Yanleizi. It had to be said that Luo Chen's deduction was remarkably close to the truth. Di Wanyun had arrived at the Mount Thunder Accumulation battlefield long ago. Yet no matter how he stimulated his bloodline perception, he could detect no trace of the wither-bloom imprint. Left with no choice, he had turned to the Yan Alliance's intelligence network to uncover any clues related to his son. In truth, the intelligence was quite straightforward. The only report prior to Yanleizi's disappearance was that he had participated in the assault on the Seventh Peak. Afterward, he had been invited to pursue an enemy. The primary figures involved were two minor characters: Ku Chan (Huo Quan) of Taishan Market and Wang Yuan of the Luotian Association. With that, the scope narrowed dramatically. Wang Yuan's whereabouts were unknown, while Ku Chan was missing, dead or alive. Shortly afterward, Luo Chen and Chu Kui had risen to fame on the battlefield. Today, Di Wanyun had taken a shot in the dark, and to his surprise, he had actually triggered a lingering wither-bloom imprint on Luo Chen's body. At that point, there was no need to parse the finer details. Against the murderer of his son, nothing less than slaughter would suffice! Once he was certain the flame mark was not the factor that had led Di Wanyun straight to him, Luo Chen felt a slight weight lift from his mind. Yet immediately after, another heavy boulder bore down upon his heart. Right now, his best option should be to rely on the extreme speed of Ninety Thousand Li to flee back to the Four-Sect Alliance encampment. That way, Di Wanyun would naturally be powerless against him! He had the confidence for it, too. Ever since escaping the Eighth Peak, the old man had been pursuing him relentlessly from behind, yet had failed to close the distance. Evidently, this Tier 3 flight spell he had painstakingly cultivated truly had remarkable merits. But what about after going back? He would ultimately have to return to Tianlan, back to the Luotian Association. With a Golden Core enemy lurking out there, unless he clung to Fairy Jueqing's coattails day in and day out, it would always be a thorn in his side. As the saying went: a thief can plot for a thousand days, but one cannot guard against a thief for a thousand days! An abrupt thought surfaced in Luo Chen's mind: Kill him! At first glance just now, Di Wanyun's strength hadn't seemed all that formidable. Chu Kui, using his secret art, had even been able to briefly contend with him. If Luo Chen laid an ambush ahead of time, killing him was by no means out of the question! And even if he couldn't kill him, stalling for just a moment or two would guarantee Fairy Jueqing's arrival. When that time came... Luo Chen took a deep breath, turning his gaze toward the heavy, dark clouds that had gathered over the Ninth Peak for a thousand years. A streak of madness flooded his heart!