Outside the Ninth Peak.
A streak of golden light tore through the void, hurtling forward.
The instant he crossed into the domain of the Ninth Peak, he hesitated for a fleeting breath, but then plunged straight inside.
Di Wanyun's face was utterly grim.
What he had assumed would be effortless vengeance had run into one snag after another.
Whether it was Luo Chen's astonishingly robust defensive arts or Chu Kui's unnatural ability to wield Golden Core methods through another person's core, both had wildly exceeded his expectations.
So much so that he had been forced to unravel the Wither-Bloom Seal that suppressed his cultivation.
The Yan Alliance's Wither-Bloom Seal was exceedingly peculiar.
It was a seal formed with the aid of Wither-Bloom Fire by a Golden Core cultivator whose path had begun to decline and whose lifespan was nearing its end.
By reducing consumption and accelerating physical waning, it preserved and extended longevity.
This was the "wither" aspect of the Wither-Bloom Fire.
Yet once unsealed, it was like dormant ashes catching fire anew, surging back to the absolute pinnacle of blooming vitality.
It appeared resplendent and dazzling, a true resurgence of peak strength.
In reality, it was merely pouring oil onto a raging flame—such brilliance was destined to peak and then precipitously wane.
And once the bloom turned to wither, the previously suppressed loss of lifespan would accelerate at an insane pace.
*I must kill Luo Chen quickly and return to the Yan Alliance, or the consequences will be dire!*
Though he thought so, Di Wanyun grew increasingly irritated as he felt the stubborn gap between them refuse to close.
What kind of flying art had this brat mastered to be this fast?
His flight speed was practically on par with that of a Golden Core cultivator!
*Wait...*
*He seems to be slowing down!*
A flicker of anticipation stirred in Di Wanyun's heart. He could sense that Luo Chen's speed was gradually decelerating.
Though still extraordinarily swift—far beyond the reach of ordinary Foundation Establishment True Cultivators—it was finally slow enough for Di Wanyun to steadily close the distance.
A cold sneer crept onto the corners of Di Wanyun's lips.
"Executing such a secret technique must carry an immense toll!"
"Now that you can't keep it up, you can wait for death!"
He glanced back over his shoulder, then surged forward with a burst of accelerated speed.
***
Outside the mountain range, Fairy Jueqing was only just catching up.
Di Wanyun could track Luo Chen's approximate position through the Wither-Bloom Mark, but she had her own means of sensing his whereabouts as well.
The Profound Ice Talisman!
Back above Azure Pill Valley's Heavenly Palace, she had personally bestowed that life-saving talisman upon him.
She had crafted it with her own hands.
Within it was sealed both an offensive and a defensive technique.
Naturally, she could use it to swiftly trace his whereabouts. Otherwise, were he truly to face mortal danger, she would have had no way to rush across a thousand li to his aid.
At this moment, however, Fairy Jueqing's delicate brows were knitted tight.
*What in the world is Luo Chen doing?*
*Why isn't he fleeing toward me? Why is he running in the exact opposite direction, widening the gap between us?*
Restlessness surged within her.
Even if Luo Chen would no longer belong solely to her in the future, she would still be the biggest beneficiary once he joined the Ice Fort.
Unlike Yinyue, whose attitude toward Luo Chen had become indifferent.
Yinyue hardly cared whether he lived or died.
*I must rescue him.*
*Otherwise, I won't be able to give an account to the Supreme Elder.*
Fairy Jueqing took a deep breath. A layer of frost frosted over the cloud shuttle beneath her feet, and under the infusion of her magic power, her overall speed surged by thirty percent.
Like a streak of white light slashing across the firmament, she plunged straight into the Ninth Peak.
***
Sunken Void Valley!
Once a strange and wondrous location in the Ninth Peak where birds could not fly and thunder left no trace.
Following a previous ferocious battle, its unique topography had been completely shattered by Luo Chen's Landslide technique.
*Whoosh!*
A red silhouette flashed by like lightning, coming to an abrupt halt.
Luo Chen looked up toward the terrifying thunderclouds that seemed not to have dissipated for ten million years, a glint of ferocity flickering in his eyes.
"This place shall be the battlefield!"
A flash of spiritual light crossed his hand, and over a hundred plump, round seeds appeared.
Second-order Thorn Flower seeds!
Long before departing Tianlan, he had specially treated them.
This allowed them to be sprouted rapidly to cast the Vine Technique.
Each seed could produce a thick vine, and bolstered by Luo Chen's Great Circle Vine Technique and the pure wood spiritual power of his master-level Eternal Verdant Art, the might of each vine was no weaker than a strike from a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator.
On earlier battlefields, this technique had rendered immense service in helping Luo Chen and Chu Kui hunt down enemies.
Whether laying an advance ambush or binding and restricting foes, its performance was outstanding.
Even the renowned Flash Thunder Sword, Jiang Cheng, had been ensnared by it, creating the perfect opportunity for Luo Chen and Chu Kui to launch a counterattack.
Back then, he had only used ten seeds.
Now, there were a hundred seeds—every last reserve Luo Chen possessed!
With a casual flick of his wrist, over a hundred seeds scattered in all directions, sinking deep into the earth.
With a thought, Luo Chen channeled his spiritual power.
Deep beneath the soil, sprout after sprout emerged from the Thorn Flower seeds, poised and ready to erupt.
*Over a hundred strikes equivalent to a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator... Even for a Golden Core cultivator, that will give him quite a headache!*
*Still, it's not enough!*
Luo Chen shook his sleeve, and a fairly large mountain-shaped object appeared before him.
Peak-grade magical implement—Thousandfold Peak!
Originally an earth-path treasure forged in imitation of the magic treasure Thousand-Turn Seal, it had ultimately failed to condense multiple peaks into one harmonious whole and barely reached the rank of a peak-grade magical implement.
Yet while its condensed power was imperfect, its oppressive weight remained immense.
After reaching Foundation Establishment, it had become one of Luo Chen's most handily wielded weapons, second only to his sword pill!
Luo Chen looked to the sky, raising Thousandfold Peak in his palm and sending it hurtling upward.
*The Vine Technique will pull and bind, while Thousandfold Peak suppresses and seals. Combining both will form the first killing move!*
*Even if it cannot heavily wound Di Wanyun, it will buy me enough time to unleash the second killing move, Landslide.*
*Between them, I can weave other spell attacks as feints to confuse him.*
Luo Chen rapidly calculated the limits of his explosive combat power.
Golden Core cultivators were still mortal; they were not unkillable.
After slaying Yanleizi, Luo Chen had gathered intelligence on Di Wanyun.
This man had few methods, yet at the same time had countless methods.
Such a contradictory description arose because Di Wanyun had poured his entire focus into refining his natal magic treasure, the Thousand-Transformation Golden Cloud.
It was the cloud-like treasure Luo Chen had seen earlier.
Metal was inherently rigid in form, yet Di Wanyun had forged a path of his own by crafting a magic treasure capable of myriad shapes and variations.
Consequently, during his younger years, his adaptability in combat was extraordinary!
Whatever the circumstances, he could transform it into the appropriate weapon to deliver strikes of entirely different natures.
Earlier, when the golden light rushed toward Luo Chen, it was an assassination technique akin to concealed weapons.
The subsequent golden cloud flying sword moved like a fish through water, effortlessly dismantling Luo Chen's defensive art, the Glazed Heavenly Canopy.
Had Chu Kui not used a secret technique to interrupt it, that single strike alone would have claimed Luo Chen's life off-guard.
And the giant warhammer form used later had been aimed at delivering a decisive, thunderous coup de grâce.
*In the end, I was intimidated by the prestige of a Golden Core earlier and surrendered the initiative.*
*Therefore, in this upcoming fight, I must seize the advantage and never let up for a single instant!*
The Landslide art, pushed to its very peak through deduction, was the second killing move Luo Chen had prepared for Di Wanyun.
Yet Luo Chen's means did not end there.
A grey sword scabbard materialized before him!
Luo Chen turned his palm, and six silent, dormant sword pills appeared in his grasp.
Of the six sword pills, three had been acquired from the open-trade fair at Golden Sand Floating Island.
The other three were spoils from his battles.
They had belonged, respectively, to an early Foundation Establishment cultivator, a mid Foundation Establishment cultivator, and that formidable True Cultivator, True Disciple Lan.
Every single one was a treasure nurtured and refined for years by the Sword Sect's sword cultivators!
Had these cultivators not fallen, upon reaching the Golden Core realm, the sword pills inside their bodies would have had a chance to ascend to natal magic treasures.
A sword pill itself was a weapon forged in the mold of a magic treasure embryo.
With utmost care, Luo Chen slotted the six sword pills one by one into the six apertures along the grey scabbard.
With one pill embedded, the scabbard possessed the might of a low-grade magical implement, capable of unleashing the sword rays that only Foundation Establishment sword cultivators could wield.
With two pills sheathed, it reached middle-grade.
By the fourth, it had climbed into the realm of peak-grade magical implements.
Yet the potential of this scabbard went far beyond that.
Years ago, Tianxingzi had commissioned Duan Qiankun to forge this item, likely to prepare for the current war between the two sects.
Learn the enemy's arts to conquer the enemy!
Match sword with sword, sustaining battle through battle!
If all seven sword pills could be assembled, a Foundation Establishment cultivator could fight above their realm against even stronger sword cultivators.
With the fifth sword pill sheathed, it still held the might of a peak-grade magical implement.
However, the moment True Disciple Lan's sword pill was slotted into the outer aperture, the scabbard began to tremble violently, and the aura of a magic treasure began to emanate from it!
Not only that, a terrifying sharpness billowed outward.
Across the palms of Luo Chen's body—tempered to absolute physical limits—deep, bone-revealing cuts split open one after another.
Uncontrollable power!
Luo Chen's expression shifted slightly.
*It lacks a commanding core!*
*So be it. Since I am to battle a Golden Core Master, how can I hold anything back?*
He opened his mouth and spat, sending a blood-red sword pill whirling out.
It was the very sword pill he had blood-sacrificed and nurtured for years since his days in Great River Market.
As he pressed this final pill into the grey scabbard, the violent trembling fell calm in an instant.
And yet!
Within that stillness brewed an intensely terrifying, razor-sharp intent!
With that, the third killing move was ready!
"Not enough!"
"Still not enough!"
"It's still nowhere near enough!"
A wild madness surfaced in Luo Chen's eyes as he pressed a block of bone-chilling ice directly into his chest.
The Profound Ice Talisman!
The item bestowed by Fairy Jueqing.
This object was part magical implement, part talisman.
It contained a strike of Fairy Jueqing's power. Furthermore, in moments of dire peril, it could seal the user in profound ice, impenetrable to anything below the Golden Core realm.
As the Profound Ice Talisman sank into Luo Chen's chest, an extreme chill spread throughout his body.
His agitated, frantic mind instantly cooled to absolute composure.
*Four killing moves are enough to slaughter any Foundation Establishment cultivator—even the Dao Children of the Seven Sects would struggle to withstand them.*
*Yet Di Wanyun has been renowned for years. Even if the strength he displayed earlier was inexplicably diminished, once he bursts out with everything he has, these four moves might not thoroughly destroy him.*
*I must use that item!*
Taking a deep breath, Luo Chen gingerly retrieved a compass from his storage bag.
The Eighteen Wandering Formation Disks!
A masterwork magic treasure of formation arts from Ghost-God Valley!
Luo Chen had chanced upon it years ago when it was damaged, subsequently gifting it to Min Longyu.
Later, through the joint efforts of Min Longyu and Duan Feng, it was restored and perfected, reviving its glory as a magic treasure.
Along his journey, this formation disk had repeatedly performed miraculous feats.
In the battle of Danxia, it wiped out the Geng family siblings.
In the battle of the Divine Craft Sect, its Eight-Fold Fire Dragon shattered the mountain-protecting array, and the nine-fold iteration even cowed two late Foundation Establishment experts.
Upon reaching the Seventh Peak battlefield, its power remained undiminished; a five-fold heavenly thunder strike obliterated five Foundation Establishment True Cultivators, earning Min Longyu the Daoist title of Leizhenzi.
Even if that moniker circulated only in a small circle and Min Longyu himself might not even know of it, it was ample proof of the treasure's terrifying might.
When Luo Chen departed Danxia, Min Longyu had returned this treasure to its original master and passed on a third-order offensive grand formation.
Ever since arriving at the front lines, Luo Chen had continually nurtured this treasure according to Min Longyu's instructions.
By now, everything was prepared!
All that was lacking was an east wind!
Luo Chen abruptly looked up—the east wind was right above his head in the sky.
This was the primary reason he had chosen the ruins of Sunken Void Valley as his battlefield.
A third-order grand formation channeling thunderclouds accumulated over a millennium across Mount Thunder Accumulation's Nine Peaks—who could withstand that?
He carefully buried the formation disk deep into the subterranean bedrock of Sunken Void Valley.
He placed it in a location where Di Wanyun would never discover it—by that ancient stone gate!
Such a relic had remained undiscovered for a thousand years, demonstrating its peerless concealing properties.
Had the valley's terrain not been overturned by Luo Chen, he and Wang Yuan would never have stumbled upon it.
He did not believe Di Wanyun's divine sense could detect this spot.
After all, even the Sword Sect's cultivators hadn't noticed it for ages.
*With this, five great killing moves are prepared. All I need to do now is wait for the hare to run into the trap.*
Luo Chen surveyed his surroundings, a surge of heroic resolve welling in his chest.
All that remained was to rest and await the exhausted enemy.
Glancing across the expanse, Luo Chen's gaze settled upon a certain spot, and his mind suddenly moved.
An object appeared in his palm.
*He will surely appreciate this grand gift!*
Having completed every preparation, Luo Chen sat cross-legged atop the ruins of Sunken Void Valley. Holding medicinal pills in his mouth and spirit stones in his hands, he recovered his spiritual energy as swiftly as possible.
After approximately a dozen breaths, Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes.
In the distance, an intensely sharp and domineering aura was tearing forward.
Even from far away, the pressure stung like needles against his skin.
*He's here!*
Watching the golden streak pierce through mist and clouds, Luo Chen's pupils constricted for a split second before returning to normal.
*Whoosh!*
Before the man arrived, the golden light shot ahead.
Shaped as a sword!
Luo Chen drew a deep breath, rising to his full height as the Profound Fire Sword flew into his hand.
Backpedaling steadily, the tip of his blade traced circles in the air, vibrating continuously.
Layer upon layer of crimson rings materialized, barring the path of the golden flying sword!
It was none other than the fire-attribute defensive art Luo Chen had comprehended in his earlier years, carrying the intent to smelt the void and grind away all incoming attacks.
*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!*
Wherever the flying sword passed, the spiritual rings shattered in rapid succession.
The fire element was never renowned for defense, and Luo Chen had not delved particularly deep into this art.
Of course, his repertoire was hardly limited to this.
His left hand pushed outward, appearing slow yet striking with blinding speed.
An azure light shield, condensed to the absolute limit, formed before him.
The flying sword pierced the shield like a fish diving into water!
Yet this time, it was swimming against the current from the inside out.
Luo Chen had already suffered this trick once; how could he fall for it a second time?
His Great Circle Glazed Heavenly Canopy allowed him to cast it at will with boundless flexibility.
It was merely a small trick of altering the direction of spiritual flow.
This time, the golden flying sword swam through the curtain of light at an excruciatingly sluggish pace.
Even so, this remained the strike of a Golden Core cultivator.
Furthermore, it was Di Wanyun's full-power attack after releasing his seal!
When an ultimate second-order water-attribute defensive art met a metal-attribute flying sword renowned for piercing offenses, it was ultimately outmatched.
*Swish!*
The fish breached the water in a desperate leap!
Luo Chen's Red Cloud Daoist Robe billowed wildly without wind, swelling like a massive balloon.
*Rip!*
The instant the peak-grade defensive robe met the golden flying sword, it was pierced through.
At this moment, all of Luo Chen's defensive methods seemed exhausted.
Yet!
The instant the flying sword pricked toward his chest, thick, dusky armor plates layered three rows deep inside and out stopped the sword's advance dead in its tracks.
Second-order spell—Tortoise Spirit Armor!
Luo Chen had clad himself in armor beforehand—yet another layer of absolute defense!
Finally, the flying sword's momentum was spent, unable to advance even an inch further.
Seeing the golden light withdraw to prepare for another attack, a fierce glint flashed in Luo Chen's eyes.
"Courtesy demands reciprocity!"
"Old bastard, take a strike from me as well!"
Just as Di Wanyun crossed into the territory of Sunken Void Valley with a face twisted in rage, his eyes snapped toward the ground.
*Swish! Swish! Swish!*
Vines erupted from the earth, their surging aura creating an instant forest.
Every single vine was covered in jagged, terrifying thorns.
Not only that!
Aloft the vines, buds unfurled into blossoms. Pink flowers released their stamens, accompanied by a faint floral fragrance.
The brighter the flower, the deadlier the poison!
The true menace of Thorn Flower seeds lay not in the vines, but in the blossoms!
In previous battles, Luo Chen had only used them to rapidly sprout vines against enemies.
This time, he held nothing back.
In the blink of an eye, a hundred blooming vines converged into a thorny floral cage that was as grotesque as it was beautiful.
Di Wanyun paused his step, disdain dripping from his eyes.
"You dare flaunt a mere first-order spell?"
With a flick of his sleeve, the once fiercely thrashing vines were twisted and tossed aside, carving an open path through the floral thicket.
A path for him to butcher Luo Chen.
In the distance, Luo Chen's left hand slammed downward!
"You think that is all I have?!"
From high above, an enormous mountain came roaring down from the heavens, descending even before Di Wanyun could finish clearing the briar cage.
Faced with this mountain-crushing blow, the wizened elder opened his mouth and spat a torrent of vast magic power into the sky.
Midway through the air, the colossal mountain was blasted into smithereens.
"Hm?"
Di Wanyun's disdain curdled into a frown.
Beneath the shattered outer shell, another small mountain emerged.
Thousandfold Peak was more than just Thousandfold Peak!
Luo Chen had cast weapon-guided arts beforehand, gathering a massive mass of ore and bedrock around it.
Only now was its true core revealed.
*This alone cannot suppress him.*
Luo Chen's left hand held the descending Thousandfold Peak in remote suspension. The moment it closed to within thirty feet of the elder—
"Detonate!"
With a low bark, the peak-grade magical implement that had accompanied Luo Chen for years self-destructed with a deafening roar!
Instantly, a tremendous blast rolled outward in all directions with Di Wanyun at its epicenter.
At the very center of the explosion, Di Wanyun recalled the Thousand-Transformation Golden Cloud, coating it in a sheen of golden radiance.
"Self-detonating a magical implement... Bold indeed. But against me, it is useless!"
Through the billowing dust, the old man strolled out unhurriedly.
Unhurried, and completely unscathed!
His cloudy eyes settled on the young man currently brandishing a longsword.
In that instant, his expression finally changed!
The earth trembled violently as spiritual pressure surged.
High above, an illusory mountain materialized once more.
This time, it was neither Thousandfold Peak nor the Earthen Peak Art.
Yet its suppressive force far surpassed everything that had come before.
Di Wanyun snorted coldly and thrust a palm outward.
A colossal pillar of magic light blasted forth, yet ripples of light washed over the illusory mountain without nudging its descent.
"Not an earth-attribute art?"
Di Wanyun froze.
The next instant, with a low roar, the illusory mountain collapsed into ruin.
"Landslide!"
The apocalyptic fury of collapsing mountains and tearing earth swept forward, layer upon layer of terrifying spiritual detonations rolling like an unrelenting tide.
Di Wanyun's face grew dead serious.
This art had reached the might of the third order!
Even he had to treat it with caution.
Golden radiance wrapped around his frame, forming an impenetrable barrier.
His hands slashed rapidly, brilliant golden rays severing the collapsing intent.
Again and again, the vast destructive power was chopped to ribbons.
After several breaths, Di Wanyun emerged from the perimeter of the Landslide, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
He was injured!
No one could have imagined that a Golden Core cultivator hunting down a Foundation Establishment junior would actually suffer wounds.
Even if it was merely internal shock to his organs—the lightest of minor injuries—he had still been hurt!
Were word of this to spread, the entire Jade Cauldron Domain would be sent into an uproar.
He stared at Luo Chen with solemn eyes. For the first time, all disdain vanished, replaced by profound wariness.
"Ultimate defensive arts, ultimate offensive arts, near-instantaneous casting of the Vine Technique and Earthen Peak Art..."
"Your talent in spells is the greatest this old man has ever witnessed!"
"All the more reason you must die!"
"Pay with your life for my son!"
Just as he was about to unleash the Thousand-Transformation Golden Cloud, Luo Chen smiled.
"Do you want to see your son?"
"He's right over there. Can't you see him?"
With a flick of Luo Chen's hand, a pile of shattered rock turned over.
A severed head, eyes wide in lingering death and face marred with scars, lay there staring back.
Di Wanyun froze.
The next instant, a mirror appeared in the air.
Amidst shimmering ripples of light, flowers in a mirror and the moon in water surfaced.
A vivid scene flashed across the mirror's face:
Thunderclouds roared, lightning cracked.
A longsword thrust from behind, sword pills screaming through the air.
After a split second of daze, the flower in the mirror dispersed, and the moon in the water shattered.
"Wrong!"
"He isn't my son!"
*Pfft!*
As the Mirror Flower, Water Moon art was broken, Luo Chen coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, his head throbbing with a splitting agony.
A brand-new crack split across the bronze mirror in his grasp.
That head had indeed not belonged to Yanleizi.
He had merely utilized the Ghost-God Heart-Questioning Mirror while Di Wanyun was momentarily disoriented by his words to forcefully cast the third-order illusion art, Mirror Flower, Water Moon.
He was far from proficient with this third-order illusion. He had only managed to pull it off by relying on the blossoms of the Thorn Flowers to secretly execute Flower Fairy, complementing it with the Water Mirror Art and the Spirit-Befuddling Technique, and finally anchoring it with the Ghost-God Heart-Questioning Mirror.
His goal, naturally, was not to permanently trap the man in an illusion.
What he needed was that single, fleeting opening.
Enduring the agonizing backlash of the broken spell, Luo Chen gripped the grey scabbard with one hand while forming a sword gesture with the other, slashing outward with savage force.
When the enraged Di Wanyun snapped out of that momentary trance, he saw an earth-shattering wave of sword qi bearing down on him in an instant.
A Golden Core sword cultivator's materialized sword qi?!
Terror flashed across his face!
Instinctively, he summoned a defensive magic treasure.
The Thousand-Transformation Golden Cloud was his natal magic treasure, refined the most.
Both offensive and defensive, it could adapt to nearly any combat situation.
Yet that did not mean it was his only tool.
However, the hastily deployed defensive treasure had barely unfurled before the blindingly brilliant sword qi demolished it in a single blow.
It was not just one stream!
It was seven!
In a flash, seven stars aligned in a piercing chain, ruthlessly shattering the defensive magic treasure and stabbing straight toward Di Wanyun's brow.
Only then did a layer of golden radiance expand from Di Wanyun's forehead, causing the terrifying sword qi to momentarily stall.
In the distance, Luo Chen's face twisted savagely as his sword-fingers thrust forward.
"Break!"
With his command, the terrifying sword qi merged from seven into one, erupting with a final burst of blinding brilliance.
*Ding!*
Di Wanyun's hands dropped, staring at the ground in sheer disbelief.
A drop of blood fell from between his eyebrows, splattering against the earth.
The next instant, he snapped his head up.
"I will tear you to pieces!"
Stepping into the ruins of Sunken Void Valley, he reshaped the Thousand-Transformation Golden Cloud into a colossal golden warhammer, preparing to bring it crashing down.
Luo Chen stared with bitter regret at the small red dot on the elder's forehead.
*Did a strike conceived with such meticulous effort only achieve this much?*
*Did he mobilize his Golden Core's power just now?*
Rumor had it that once a cultivator attained Golden Core, their spiritual awareness fused with their soul to evolve into divine sense. They no longer needed to deliberately project it; it could be deployed instantaneously at a mere thought.
Was that how he had managed to block a strike comparable to a Golden Core sword cultivator at the critical juncture?
What a pity!
Swallowing his sigh, Luo Chen pushed a palm out slowly.
"A mantis trying to stop a carriage—still daring to put up a futile struggle!"
Seeing Luo Chen thrust out his palm, Di Wanyun brought the golden hammer smashing down.
*Boom!*
The next moment, an illusory silhouette materialized behind Luo Chen.
Slender in figure and serene in expression, yet her eyes were unimaginably icy.
Following Luo Chen's palm strike, the phantom figure likewise pushed a palm toward the sky.
An infinite aura of profound ice swept outward.
In the blink of an eye, ten thousand li were frozen over.
The giant golden hammer was frozen solid mid-air.
Di Wanyun stared in fury at the apparition.
"The Profound Ice Talisman!"
"That wretched woman... still shielding him!"
"Die!"
With a furious roar, the golden hammer shattered layer upon layer of profound ice, crashing downward.
*Boom!*
With just that single hammer strike, Luo Chen was driven deep into the bowels of the earth, vanishing from sight.
The Profound Ice Talisman was, at the end of the day, merely a talisman crafted by a Golden Core Master.
Even with a full-power strike sealed within, so what?
Even if Fairy Jueqing arrived in person, Di Wanyun would not fear her in the least.
And yet, that brat still wasn't dead.
Di Wanyun could sense that his aura still lingered, remarkably robust.
If his eyes had not deceived him, not only were the youth's spells terrifying and his tricks endless, but his physical body was also exceedingly formidable.
A rare dual cultivator of spell and body!
With that wretched woman's talisman absorbing the brunt of the blow, the strike had failed to finish him off.
Just as Di Wanyun was about to charge down the massive crater leading into the depths, an icy, piercing voice drifted from the frigid gale in the distance.
"Fellow Daoist, stay your hand!"
"Spare his life, and I will give you three pieces of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice."
Di Wanyun snorted coldly, sending his potent divine sense sweeping out.
Not toward Fairy Jueqing, but stabbing straight down into the subterranean abyss.
He had originally intended to capture the boy and subject him to agonizing torture.
Now that Fairy Jueqing had arrived, he could no longer afford to take his time.
A divine sense strike would wipe the boy out directly!
Yet when his divine sense swept through, it returned completely empty-handed.
Di Wanyun froze, shock painting his face.
The soul of a Foundation Establishment cultivator could actually withstand his divine sense attack?!
He took a single step to the edge of the crater and peered downward.
Deep beneath the earth, the battered, disheveled young man held his longsword, murmuring incantations that were already nearing their end.
Abruptly, he pointed his longsword straight toward the heavens!
The next instant, a formation compass burst forth, all eighteen restrictions activating in unison.
Innumerable bizarre patterns spread outward like a spider's web, covering the ten-li expanse of Sunken Void Valley in a fraction of a breath.
A profound, enigmatic aura surged forth.
High in the heavens, the thunderclouds roared, answering in resonance.
Di Wanyun jerked his head toward the sky, utter terror flooding his features.
He leaped into the air, desperate to flee.
And yet!
"Dread heavenly thunder, summoned by the divine sword!"
A deep, resonant chant reverberated across all directions.
A pillar of lightning as thick as a water barrel crashed down with apocalyptic fury!
Struck dead-on, Di Wanyun's entire body stiffened, and he plummeted toward the earth.
Midway through his fall, his frame shuddered violently, and he forcefully twisted himself in an attempt to flee once more.
And yet!
*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Boundless lightning surged like the tempestuous waves of a raging ocean, rising and falling in relentless, overlapping cascades.
Countless pillars of lightning roared down from the accumulated black clouds of heaven.
Within that ocean of thunder and lightning, a golden figure drifted like a seabird tossed upon the stormy waves, unable to rise again.
The golden light grew dimmer and dimmer, before finally dissolving into nothingness.
*Whoosh!*
Fairy Jueqing halted abruptly, her forward momentum stirring up a tempest of wind and clouds.
Her face had drained of all color as she stared in terror at the scene unfolding before her.
"Did Luo Chen trigger that heavenly thunder?"
"Such awe-inspiring might of heaven and earth... How could Golden Core cultivators like us ever withstand it?"
"Di Wanyun is done for!"
Murmuring to herself, she stood frozen where she was, not daring to take a single step closer to Sunken Void Valley.
Even with her heart gripped by concern for Luo Chen's safety, she could only wait.
A thunderstorm of such colossal scale and overwhelming intensity could never last long.
All she could do was wait!
Yet as time ticked by, her heart sank lower and lower.
Against such wrath of heaven and earth, not even a Golden Core cultivator could endure.
Luo Chen, standing at its very center, could hardly have survived.
Just as despair began to take root in her heart—
Suddenly!
A boundless pillar of light erupted from the earth!
In a single instant, it pierced straight through the myriad layers of thunderclouds.
At that moment, the dark clouds that had blanketed Mount Thunder Accumulation's Nine Peaks for thousands of years rapidly dispersed amid the howling gale.
Leaving behind only radiant skies and cleared clouds—the jade cosmos swept clean of ten thousand li of dust!
Chapter 390