Within Incense Valley, the battle still raged in full fury.
Outside, numerous rogue cultivators watched intently, unwilling to miss a single detail of the combat.
As Luo Chen's slaughter intensified and the tides of battle tilted ever further in his direction, Diwu Qi sighed and shook his head with feeling. "I take back my earlier disdain for him. First, he led the Luotian Association to hold out against the Yan Alliance, showing his strength is formidable. Then he united disparate forces from all directions, driving each of them to serve his ends, proving his remarkable shrewdness and exceptional disposition.
"And in this grand clash, he spearheaded the charge, crumbling mountains and cleaving the earth to shatter one of the Yan Alliance's potent maneuvers. He well deserves the praise of being bold and decisive.
"Had it been merely that, it would still be noteworthy.
"Yet he can cast aside his pride to bully the weak—an act many would disdain—which shows he is not bound by trivial conventions and acts solely in his own best interest.
"Such a figure..."
Beside him, a voice chimed in:
"Fellow Daoist, you missed a point. This man sees through the dynamics between the sects—and indeed the entire battlefield—with absolute clarity. That keenness of observation is exceptionally acute, even among Golden Core cultivators like us!"
Diwu Qi paused, then slowly nodded.
"Indeed! He is strong, shrewd, sharp-eyed, and exceptionally minded. What is more, he disregards petty formalities and avenges every grievance... If such a man survives this battle and happens to attain the Golden Core stage in the future, he will surely be a champion of his generation across the thirty-six domains of the Eastern Desolation!"
What was a champion of his generation?
One who stood alone as a powerhouse of their era, who could claim a spiritual mountain or great river and establish their own sect—that was a champion in the cultivation world!
"Tsk, tsk. Fellow Daoist, your appraisal of him is truly that high?"
"He deserves it."
"Wait, you said if he survives? Could it be...?"
Diwu Qi's eyes turned profound as he looked into the high skies.
"If he keeps killing like this, the Yan Alliance's roots will be completely severed. You don't think a fellow like Qin Tairan will just sit by and watch, do you?"
***
On the battlefield.
Luo Chen held his breath, his eyes cold as ice while the killing intent in his heart blazed like fire.
One, two, three...
Roving across the battlefield in the span of dozens of breaths.
Relying on a flight speed far beyond the Foundation Establishment realm, the longsword in his hand flashed repeatedly, leaving almost no one able to withstand a single blow.
In just a short time, over thirty Foundation Establishment True Cultivators had fallen beneath his blade.
Most were early Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Yet even late Foundation Establishment great cultivators numbered six or seven.
It truly was like slaughtering chickens and butchering dogs, sweeping across the field unhindered!
Even if his methods were unglamorous—mostly ambushes and interceptions—he was undeniably altering the course of the battle single-handedly!
If he repeated this a few more times, then regardless of how the Golden Core battle fared high up in the heavens, the Yan Alliance's foundation would undoubtedly be severed by force.
Naturally, such wanton slaughter could not go unnoticed.
In truth, halfway through, the Yan Alliance cultivators had already realized what was happening.
Amid Xiao Lian's fierce shouts, several Yan Alliance deacons began pursuing and trying to intercept him.
Most of those six or seven late Foundation Establishment cultivators had been among those hunting him down.
Yet faced with them, Luo Chen ignored the troublesome ones and forcefully dispatched the weaker ones using his peerless physique and incredible speed.
"Not enough!"
"Far from enough!"
"How you blockaded the doors of my Luotian Association to butcher our people back then—I will repay it ten-fold, a hundred-fold!"
Luo Chen's killing intent boiled to its peak.
His figure suddenly came to a halt.
He landed atop the roof of a towering palace within Incense Valley.
At that very instant, ten Yan Alliance cultivators surrounded him from all directions.
"We've finally cornered him!"
"He was too fast. His speed was simply too ridiculous to keep up with."
"Still, speed like that couldn't possibly last. His stamina has run dry!"
"Everyone, prepare to strike and kill Danchenzi to avenge our fallen brothers!"
Among these ten were cultivators of the fifth and sixth layers of Foundation Establishment, as well as those at the late Foundation Establishment stage.
Such a lineup would easily rank among the cream of the crop for any secondary power below the first-rate sects.
Even inside a major sect, they could never be underestimated.
Yet, facing the ten surrounding him, Luo Chen only gave a sinister smile.
"You surrounded me?"
"No!"
"I surrounded you!"
In the next moment!
The Profound Fire Sword erupted with layers of spiritual light as a blazing sun rose into the air.
Wielding spells through weapons—Blazing Sun Art!
This was unquestionably the second-rank spell he had mastered the most thoroughly among all his arts.
Sublimated from the first-rank Fireball Art, continuously practiced and optimized, and then re-cultivated to Grandmaster perfection using the original formula of the Blazing Sun Art.
By now, with his potent divine sense and spiritual power, he could cast it instantaneously.
Even if its destructive force did not equal Landslide, a Grandmaster-level Blazing Sun Art was more than enough to look down upon any peer in the Foundation Establishment realm!
When that blazing sun arose,
the ten Foundation Establishment cultivators looked grim, yet remained dismissive.
It was merely a second-rank Blazing Sun Art!
However, as the tip of Luo Chen's sword pulsed incessantly, sending forth one massive fireball after another, their expressions shifted in collective horror.
"Fall back!"
"Retreat quickly!"
Watching the ten scramble backward in panic, Luo Chen grinned savagely.
"Too late!"
In the next instant,
ten suns spanned the sky, and torrents of flame erupted!
Boom! Boom! Boom...
Deafening blasts resounded in relentless succession.
One explosion followed another, an unending wave triggering a violent chain reaction.
A terrifying force swept out across all directions.
Wherever it passed, buildings crumbled and the earth fractured.
Caught within the blast radius, the ten Yan Alliance True Cultivators scrambled to deploy their life-saving methods.
Yet even a Golden Core master could not take such stacked explosive power lightly.
How could they hope to withstand it?
In just a few breaths, the ten fell one after another amid shrill, frenzied screams.
Not only that!
Waves of scorching air surged straight into the clouds.
A mushroom-shaped cloud billowed upward.
Wherever it reached, Qi Refinement cultivators were annihilated on contact, while Foundation Establishment cultivators vomited blood and retreated frantically.
Across the dozens of li spanning Incense Valley, the surging shockwaves instantly cleared the battlefield.
Countless cultivators who had retreated to the rear involuntarily paused their fighting, staring in sheer terror at the spectacle.
With a single strike!
Luo Chen had inflicted catastrophic casualties upon the Yan Alliance!
Right then,
a shrill cry tore from the throat of Yan Alliance Sect Master Xiao Lian, piercing metal and splitting stone as it shot toward the heavens.
"Elder!"
Answering his roar was Qin Tairan's incandescent fury.
"Vile beast!"
In the next moment,
a massive furnace plummeted like a meteor, trailing tails of flame with a thunderous roar.
Its overwhelming momentum struck terror into everyone.
Astride the furnace, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, Qin Tairan glared at Luo Chen in boundless fury.
He had taken hits directly from both Fei Ming and Jueqing, leaving him gravely wounded.
And yet!
Today, he would kill Luo Chen at all costs to vent the hatred burning in his chest!
Behind him, Fei Ming and Jueqing chased in frantic haste, faces taut with urgency.
Yet Qin Tairan cared nothing for them now.
In his eyes, there was only Luo Chen!
Within Incense Valley.
After the explosion of the ten Blazing Sun Arts, Luo Chen's spiritual power suffered a brief vacuum.
It was not completely exhausted.
Given his optimizations of the spell and his spiritual power reserves that rivaled late Foundation Establishment perfection, his qi had not run completely dry.
It was merely that drawing upon so much spiritual power at once had fatigued his soul, preventing him from extracting any more for the moment.
Amid the thick smoke and dust, Luo Chen stood in the rubble, gazing up at the colossal furnace rumbling down toward him.
A ruthless sneer suddenly curled on his lips.
"Old bastard, I've been waiting for you!"
Before the words faded, his body had already transformed.
Nourished by the surge of vitality and blood, the ethereal wings behind his back solidified rapidly, swelling and expanding.
Stretching to their limits, their combined span reached nearly ten zhang!
His physical frame underwent a frenzied metamorphosis as well.
His hands morphed into sharp talons, his bones lengthened and spread, and the vast reservoir of flesh and blood nurtured over many years expanded outward.
Inside him, his blood, which had completed its first blood-replacement, crashed like titanic waves in an ocean of blood.
In the blink of an eye, a thirty-foot giant form appeared before the eyes of countless onlookers—one that conceded nothing to Wang Yuan, and perhaps surpassed him.
Yet unlike the initial form of the Heavenly Roc True Form,
Luo Chen's thirty-foot giant body still retained its human facial features.
This was a variation born after the Convergence of Myriad Paths cultivation technique assimilated Wang Yuan's Giant Spirit Transformation.
Yet the transformation had not ended!
Streams of blood vitality and spiritual qi burst from his body, merging into a pure white haze.
These vapors settled upon Luo Chen, crystallizing into pure white scales of armor.
From afar, they resembled the feathers of a great kunpeng roc.
By now, Luo Chen towered over the floor of Incense Valley: transformed into a giant spirit, wings sprouting from his back, half-demon and half-human, looking like a primeval primordial beast stepping out of ancient times.
All of this took long to describe,
yet the transformation occurred in a mere instant.
In the sky, Qin Tairan had only just descended astride his lifebound magic treasure, the Taiyang Furnace.
Fairy Jueqing and Master Fei Ming were just behind him.
At this sight, Fairy Jueqing paused, disbelief flashing in her eyes.
Fei Ming frowned slightly, though his pace did not slacken.
Qin Tairan's pupils contracted first, then he snarled, "A half-demon mutation dares act so insolent!"
Surging dharmic powers rolled through him, sending the Taiyang Furnace crashing down even faster and harder.
In Incense Valley,
Luo Chen drew a deep breath and opened his gaping maw.
With a violent exhale,
he spat out a cloud of crimson mist!
The crimson mist swelled rapidly, turning into layered sheets of miasma.
No!
It was not miasma—it was fiend qi!
And its grade was not low, at least of the third rank, a spectacle that made observers turn pale.
Should a dharma artifact or magic treasure be tainted by such fiend qi, years of refinement might well be undone in an instant.
Blazing Fire Miasma!
A third-rank spell that accompanied his Heavenly Roc True Form transformation.
His wings snapped violently, stirring up a ferocious gale that propelled the crimson miasma straight into the sky.
"You think this trick can stop me? Delusional!"
Thoughts flashed through Qin Tairan's mind, and from the Taiyang Furnace, an overwhelmingly powerful fiend qi erupted as well.
It was precisely the Flaming Sun True Fiend he had harvested not long ago, its quality far surpassing the hodgepodge of earthly fire fiend qi Luo Chen had cobbled together from various tiers.
Very quickly,
the Blazing Fire Miasma clashed with the Flaming Sun True Fiend.
The moment they collided, Luo Chen's Blazing Fire Miasma melted away inch by inch like snow under the sun.
It offered not the slightest resistance!
Behind Qin Tairan,
the pursuing Fei Ming's expression shifted slightly. "That Luo Chen is too arrogant. How could mere body refinement methods contend with a Golden Core master?"
Just as he prepared to summon his magic treasure to strike down Qin Tairan,
his ears twitched.
"Get back!"
"Fellow Daoist, pull back quickly!"
Fei Ming froze in midair, looking up in bewilderment at Fairy Jueqing.
"Why..."
Before Fairy Jueqing could answer,
Qin Tairan's shrill shriek provided the answer for her.
In Qin Tairan's vision,
the cloud of Blazing Fire Miasma had been obliterated effortlessly by the Flaming Sun True Fiend pouring from his lifebound treasure.
His dive met no further resistance.
And yet!
The moment the Blazing Fire Miasma dissolved, a black bead suddenly emerged.
Gazing upon that object,
Qin Tairan felt his soul nearly leap from his skin in terror. He only had time to shield himself with his lifebound treasure.
"Immortal Thunder Bead!!!"
A bolt from the blue detonated without warning.
The instant the black bead fractured, lightning snaked like dragons, and thunder rocked the firmament!
Terrifying thunderous power bared its fangs, tearing the sky asunder.
Boom!!!
An appalling power detonated in that split second.
Its devastating might drained the color from every face and set hearts trembling with dread.
The countless onlookers broke into an uproar.
In the sky,
Fei Ming looked dazed and muttered, "Is that... the Immortal Thunder Bead that surfaced from the cave abode of the mighty cultivator Bai Ye?"
Fairy Jueqing nodded gravely. "Undoubtedly. Such single-use magic treasures possess immense might and hold terrifying lethal power against Golden Core cultivators like us. Had you gotten too close just now, you would have been gravely wounded if not dead."
"Thank you for the warning, Fellow Daoist. I shall keep this favor in mind." Fei Ming collected himself, swallowing hard with lingering dread.
Watching the smoke and clouds in the sky, where bolts of lightning danced like dragons and serpents,
he could not help asking, "Under an attack like that, can Qin Tairan survive?"
Fairy Jueqing frowned. "Ordinarily, at such close range, no one could survive. But Qin Tairan is the Disciplinary Elder of the Yan Alliance; though his realm is not high, his combat strength is exceedingly formidable. In particular, that Taiyang Furnace of his has been tempered day and night ever since it was a magic treasure embryo. It combines offense and defense, so resilient that even the two of us joining forces would struggle to break it."
Could he survive?
In that moment, Qin Tairan's fate hung over the hearts of everyone present.
Except for one person!
Within Incense Valley, half-kneeling on the earth with most of his protective qi armor shattered, Luo Chen suddenly looked up.
His dark eyes overflowed with killing intent!
He did not know whether the old man was still alive; by all rights, an Immortal Thunder Bead detonating at point-blank range should have killed him.
Yet he could not fathom the true depths of a Golden Core master's resilience.
Therefore!
Snapping his wings, enduring the heavy injuries his body had suffered from being caught on the periphery of the bead's blast, he soared into the sky.
Reaching toward the area enveloped in thunderclouds, he thrust out a massive claw.
The colossal talon parted clouds and broke through mist, plunging straight into the center.
Cloud-Seeking Divine Claw!
Clang!
The sharp chime of clashing metal suddenly rang out.
Luo Chen's face hardened with ruthlessness. "Old dog, I knew you wouldn't die so easily!"
Withdrawing his arm, he struck with another claw!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Under his relentless battering, the thunderclouds dispersed.
The Taiyang Furnace had shattered into fragments, which rained down upon the earth.
Pallid and drenched in blood, Qin Tairan pinched sword incantations, his magic treasure flying sword frantically deflecting Luo Chen's strikes.
With every parry, a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed from his lips.
The destruction of his lifebound magic treasure, intimately tied to his spirit, had inflicted unimaginable damage upon him.
At this moment, his condition was abysmal.
Strike while he is down!
Gritting his teeth, Luo Chen knew his own condition was far from ideal, yet this battle had to end in life or death.
The wings at his back flapped furiously.
In the next moment, whipping up fierce winds, he flew at high speed through Incense Valley.
His clawed hands lashed out repeatedly.
Each strike was no weaker than the assault of a third-rank demonic beast.
Yet even so, the teetering Qin Tairan somehow parried them all.
Suddenly!
Luo Chen appeared on the ground.
He threw his arms around a massive stone pillar a hundred zhang tall standing on the valley floor.
Squelch! Squelch!
His talons sank into the stone like knives through tofu.
Then!
"Up!"
Rumble!!!
Under the watchful gaze of thousands,
the hundred-zhang stone pillar was violently uprooted by his raw strength.
Clasping the gigantic pillar with both hands, Luo Chen wore a vicious expression.
Without a word of nonsense, he smashed it down toward the swaying Qin Tairan.
Confronted by this strike, Qin Tairan gripped his flying sword with both hands. Infused with his dharmic powers, the sword ballooned in size.
In a flash, a giant sword formed and cleaved downward.
Crack, crack, crack...
Wherever the giant sword passed, the stone pillar shattered inch by inch.
Yet when the pillar was only half-destroyed, a giant claw reached forth once more.
This time, as if traversing thousands of li in a heartbeat, the talon seized Qin Tairan's body directly.
"Old dog, die!"
Luo Chen moved to crush him, but his tremendous strength met an unyielding resistance.
A crimson barrier shivered continuously, halting Luo Chen's fatal grasp.
Qin Tairan looked at him with tragic despair, blood leaking steadily from his mouth.
Looking around, gaze after gaze in the empty air met his, looking at him as though watching a dying dog struggle in vain.
In this battle, he had lost!
An utter, crushing defeat!
"If I die... you're coming to hell with me!"
Suddenly!
The crimson barrier vanished instantly.
The giant claw snapped shut.
Qin Tairan's mortal flesh disintegrated into powder in an instant.
Yet before Luo Chen could feel any joy,
within his field of vision,
a golden core slammed into him with unimaginable speed!
Boom!
With just this single strike, Luo Chen felt as though he had been hit by a mountain. With his colossal size, he had no way to evade, and was hurled straight down into the subterranean depths of Incense Valley.
A gaping black pit was revealed to the world.
This sudden turn of events caught everyone off guard.
Yet seeing the golden core spinning away into the distance, Fei Ming's face changed.
"Qin Tairan isn't dead yet! Intercept that golden core!"
Even as he spoke, he shot off in pursuit of Qin Tairan's golden core.
Fairy Jueqing hesitated briefly before shouting fiercely, "Everyone, annihilate all Yan Alliance disciples! Let none escape!"
With that, she flew down into Incense Valley.
She could sense Luo Chen's aura waning rapidly.
The dying strike of a Golden Core master was not something easily endured.
Just as she moved, a figure moved even faster, hurtling toward Incense Valley like lightning.
"Damn it!"
"Damn it!"
"That is mine!"
Fairy Jueqing frowned and immediately directed her flying sword to strike the man.
The man swept his sleeve, unleashing a sweeping wave of fiery light.
"Bitch, get out of my way!"
Fairy Jueqing's expression chilled. This time, instead of merely manipulating her sword, two talismans appeared in her hands.
"Little Xuyang, you are courting death!"
Those words fell like a bucket of icy water over Master Xuyang.
How could he dare offend Fairy Jueqing, a fourth-layer Golden Core cultivator?!
Startled awake from his greed, he cast a reluctant glance into the depths of the underground cavern, then gritted his teeth and fled into the distance.
Fairy Jueqing activated the talismans, sending two ice dragons tearing through the void in pursuit of Master Xuyang.
Had she followed up, she could have certainly killed him.
Yet before taking a step, she halted.
"Better save that kid first! Otherwise, it will be hard to give an account to Eldest Senior Sister once I return.
"Besides, that brat Xuyang won't get far."
Her gaze swept over the surroundings.
Sure enough!
The countless onlookers were already descending upon Incense Valley like a swarm of locusts.
Among them, several Golden Core cultivators moved with blinding speed.
Some flew to intercept Master Xuyang; others went to besiege the Yan Alliance's Elder Wang.
What was more, two Golden Core masters descended in unison above Incense Valley, their voices echoing in grand resonance:
"From this day forth, this third-rank spiritual vein belongs to my Wind Rain Mountain Villa!"
Having already touched down on the ground, Fairy Jueqing glanced back and gave a cold snort.
The Qifeng Sect of the Fenghua Domain and the Yu family of the Medicine King Domain.
When had those two joined hands and dared come to their Jade Cauldron Domain to snatch scraps?
Still, she had no time to worry about that now.
Fairy Jueqing lowered herself and leapt into the cavernous pit.
Her body plummeted.
Soon, her feet touched the ground, and she took in the subterranean depths of Incense Valley.
As far as the eye could see, massive pillars stood in rows, and streams of flame flowed back from every direction.
Right in the center sat a cross-legged figure.
Beneath his feet, a formation was operating continuously—resembling the earlier Fiery Conflagration Formation, yet seeming like an entirely different array.
Fairy Jueqing frowned; this person was not Luo Chen!
She recalled that he seemed to be Luo Chen's subordinate, a formation master named Min Longyu.
Then where was Luo Chen?
With a sweep of her divine sense, she immediately discovered a huge crater before Min Longyu.
Within it lay Luo Chen, soaked in blood.
A deep emerald firelight enveloped his entire body.
The fiery streams flowing back from all directions were continuously gathering upon him as well.
She could clearly perceive that Luo Chen had not lost consciousness. Instead, he was straining to run a secret technique, refining something within the flames.
Fairy Jueqing's expression changed drastically. "What reckless gall! Do you have a death wish?!"
Faced with her stern interrogation,
Min Longyu trembled inwardly, yet still replied, "The Association Leader said that Master would not stand by and let him die."
Fairy Jueqing pressed her red lips together, forcefully suppressing the anger in her chest.
Shooting a cold glare at Min Longyu, she walked over to the fiery pit and looked down at Luo Chen, who had his eyes closed in silence, holding on with sheer grit.
"I thought you were merely an enraged brute come for revenge.
"I never expected you had such calculations in play!
"Were it not for our sect's Supreme Elder's command, with you scheming against me like this, I wouldn't have lifted a finger even if you died right in front of my eyes today."
As she spoke, a talisman abruptly appeared in her hand.
Ice God Talisman!
Unlike ordinary talismans that stored offensive or defensive spells, this was an advanced talisman derived from the Ice Fort's Ice God Jade.
It possessed a potent effect of calming the spirit and stilling the mind.
In the entire Ice Fort, only Fairy Jueqing and Supreme Elder Master Canglong could craft it.
Once drawn, the talisman adhered to Luo Chen's glabella in an instant.
Next, with a wave of Fairy Jueqing's delicate hand, an ice coffin appeared before her.
The coffin lid slid open, and her dharmic power guided Luo Chen's body gently inside.
Only then did the blazing teal firelight enveloping him dim by several degrees.
Seeing this, Min Longyu could not help letting out a long breath of relief.
Storing away the formation plate, he rose to his feet and bowed deeply to Fairy Jueqing.
"Thank you, Master, for delivering our Association Leader from dire peril."
"Hmph!"
Fairy Jueqing snorted coldly. Guiding the ice coffin with her dharmic power, she turned on her heel and departed.
"Scram back to where you belong!
"Luo Chen is coming with me to the Ice Fort. He won't be returning anytime soon."
Chapter 428