Beneath a towering, snow-capped peak, a figure emerged from a cavern at the base of the mountain.
Having made it out, he was about to flee for his life when he suddenly halted midair, his expression shifting erratically.
Finally, he gritted his teeth and snarled, "Given that brat Luo Chen's vindictive nature, he will never let go of his hatred for me. If I simply run, his flight speed in open terrain means he will overtake me before long.
"So be it!
"Since this battle has begun, it must be seen through to the very end!"
Taking a deep breath, Helian Yun drew several items from his storage bag in succession.
"Of the contingencies I laid in the tunnel, seven were not triggered at all, and only three went off. Those Foundation Establishment measures likely had no effect on him.
"That being the case, everything hinges on these."
A medicinal pill!
A talisman!
A brick-shaped magic treasure!
Helian Yun swallowed the pill without hesitation.
As its medicinal potency was refined within his body, rolling waves of heat surged relentlessly from his sea of qi. Under this battering impact, his cultivation—already at Foundation Establishment perfection—churned with turbulence.
His aura underwent continuous transformation, surging straight past Foundation Establishment perfection by nearly half again as much.
Though he remained far from the Golden Core stage, he was scarcely distinguishable from the rumored Pseudo-Core cultivators.
More medicinal power still churned within him, but Helian Yun could no longer refine it.
A flicker of regret crossed his face.
After ingesting this pill, he likely would be unable to attempt a realm breakthrough for a decade, postponing his Core Formation even further.
Yet at such a moment of crisis, he could not afford to worry about anything else.
Exhaling a mouthful of turbid air, Helian Yun poured that surging spiritual power into the golden brick, then raised both hands aloft.
The golden brick magic treasure flew straight up into the clouds shrouding the snow-capped mountain.
Next, his fingers moved in a blur as he formed hand seals, keeping the talisman in his grip in a semi-activated state.
Not stopping there, he buried three Soul Breaking Nails deep into the snow.
A glimmer of light rippled over his body, accompanied by the resonant sound of rushing waves.
"I shall offer myself as bait and lure the enemy before me.
"With three fatal moves primed and waiting, even if a Golden Core cultivator were to come, I would make him suffer more than he could bear!"
Once Helian Yun had prepared everything, before he could even calm his surging agitation, a shattering roar erupted from deep beneath the snow mountain.
Helian Yun's eyes went wide, and he bellowed in fury, "Brat Luo Chen, do you dare come take my life!"
With that fierce roar, the flying sword in his hand shot forth.
At the mountain's base, Luo Chen looked at Helian Yun—who was poised for a fight to the death—with a look of surprise on his face.
He had assumed that once he emerged, he would have to chase the man for quite some time.
He had not expected the other party not only to refrain from running, but to be waiting for him instead.
"Very well. Since you seek death, I shall grant it to you!"
Luo Chen gave a low cry and swept his wide sleeve. Amid the gusting tempest, the incoming flying sword was deflected several inches off course.
This flying sword magic treasure had clearly not been tempered with much care.
Otherwise, its power would never be so pathetic.
Then, leaping into the air, he flew toward Helian Yun.
As he closed the distance, the Profound Fire Sword in his hand swept out repeatedly, sending fiery meteors hurtling forward one after another.
Yet every fiery meteor vanished unnaturally upon reaching Helian Yun, as though swallowed by something unseen.
Luo Chen focused spiritual power into his eyes and finally saw what that shimmering aquatic radiance was.
A painted scroll had unrolled in midair, enveloping Helian Yun's body within.
A water-attribute defensive magic treasure!
"So Nangong Jin's Marsh Country Gui Chart is on you after all!"
Helian Yun sneered. "So what if it is? Treasures naturally belong to those blessed with the fortune to hold them! A mere early Foundation Establishment cultivator carrying such a paramount treasure deserved nothing less than that fate."
Luo Chen's brow furrowed slightly.
He had known Nangong Jin died on the battlefield of Mount Thunder Accumulation and had assumed it was merely bad luck.
Now it seemed this old scoundrel had a hand in it.
"What, do you intend to avenge your fellow townsman?" Helian Yun looked at Luo Chen with a mocking sneer.
"Fortune and misfortune come through no door of their own; people summon them upon themselves. Though he and I were acquaintances, there was no great bond between us. However..."
Luo Chen shook his head and said softly, "The retribution of good and evil follows like a shadow. This treasure originally belonged to my friend's clan. Today your fortune has run out, so you had best return that thing to me!"
As he spoke, he raised the tip of his sword, and surging spiritual energy faintly surged.
Seeing this, Helian Yun's expression changed instantly.
The Blazing Sun Art!
He had heard tales of Luo Chen's combat methods: the man could already bypass hand seals and unleash high-power arts without relying on traditional, complex casting methods.
And his most acclaimed fire arts were renowned throughout the Jade Cauldron Domain.
Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped onto his sword and turned to flee.
Watching his retreating back, Luo Chen was momentarily stunned. Had the man not just struck a posture of fighting to the death?
The wings on Luo Chen's back vibrated, and he gave chase at extreme speed.
The distance between them closed rapidly.
"Old bastard, you nearly had me fooled."
Luo Chen swung the Profound Fire Sword, instantly releasing the fully gathered Blazing Sun Art.
A blinding golden radiance detonated.
Helian Yun, who was focused entirely on fleeing, reacted to this strike by driving the Marsh Country Gui Chart to its absolute limit.
The scroll unfurled, waves churning within as though it contained an ocean of its own.
The full destructive fury of the Blazing Sun Art was completely absorbed by it.
Luo Chen had anticipated this outcome.
Water naturally countered fire to begin with, not to mention that the other party had used some unknown method to cause his strength to swell considerably.
Thinking he could kill him with a hastily condensed Blazing Sun Art was wishful thinking.
Still, as long as he halted the man's flight, the subsequent strikes...
"Wait!"
Luo Chen snapped his head up.
That dazzling golden glare was not his Blazing Sun Art!
A massive golden brick was hurtling down like a meteor with a thunderous roar.
"I wondered where your confidence came from.
"So this was it!"
Luo Chen snorted coldly. His left hand formed a single seal, and vast spiritual power surged steadily from his broad meridians.
As he raised his left hand, an azure expanse of glazed light stretched across the sky like a luminous curtain.
The Glazed Sky Canopy—a pinnacle second-rank water-attribute defensive art.
At minor accomplishment, it protected the whole body, with power no weaker than a high-grade defensive spiritual tool.
Once mastered to proficiency, it could be retracted and deployed at will, offering defense on par with a top-grade defensive spiritual tool.
If cultivated to great accomplishment, once unfurled, it could shelter an entire swathe of the heavens with power comparable to a sect-guarding grand formation!
Its present power was already enough to rival an ordinary defensive magic treasure.
In particular, now that Luo Chen had trained it to Great Perfection, he had pushed this art to its absolute zenith.
Not only could it be deployed and retracted at will, almost instantaneously, but its defensive resilience was also extraordinary!
Back on the battlefield of Mount Thunder Accumulation, he had relied on this art to withstand a strike from Di Wanyun.
One had to remember that the man was a Golden Core figure!
It was also by relying on this art that Luo Chen had emerged from the earlier magic treasure detonation in the underground cavern at the mere cost of a shattered qi armor.
It could be said that through this art combined with his formidable physique, Luo Chen's need for defensive magic treasures had been reduced to the absolute minimum.
Magic treasures required refining and priming.
How could they ever match the sheer convenience and speed of his instinctive arts and naturally agile body?
Now, facing this strike from the golden brick magic treasure, Luo Chen remained calm and unhurried.
In his line of sight, the golden brick slammed into the Glazed Sky Canopy, sinking into it as if into layer upon layer of mire, unable to unleash its crushing momentum all at once.
However!
Since the man possessed such a trick, he surely had more in store.
Inexplicably, Luo Chen was reminded of his own tactic when he killed Di Wanyun at Mount Thunder Accumulation.
Amid his utmost vigilance—sure enough!
Three black beams of light burst from the ground below, arranged in a triangular formation as they flew toward him in rapid succession.
"These Three Soul Breaking Nails again!"
Luo Chen gave a low cry. His right hand brandished the Profound Fire Sword repeatedly, sending out arcs of sword light to disrupt their trajectories.
At the same time, he had no intention of lingering where he stood.
His wings fluttered lightly, and he stepped forward.
The Soaring Dragon Steps he had learned from Wang Yuan allowed him at this moment to shift ten paces sideways through pure physical force without expending a shred of spiritual power.
Having slipped clear of the attack range of both the golden brick and the Three Soul Breaking Nails, Luo Chen reached out to seize Helian Yun.
Surging vitality billowed forth, condensing into a gigantic claw that swiped down through the empty air as if intent on crushing the man alive.
Yet the moment the giant claw shot out, Luo Chen caught sight of the sneer hanging on the old man's lips.
And then!
That golden talisman suspended in midair.
"Die!"
Helian Yun roared, funneling every drop of his spiritual power into the golden talisman.
Having already been primed in a semi-activated state, the talisman caught fire without any wind the moment it received the spiritual influx.
When the talisman burned to ash, what appeared before him was an innumerable sea of sword silhouettes.
At that moment, Luo Chen's face changed!
A Ten Thousand Swords Talisman!
The Jade Cauldron Sword Sect's proudest third-rank talisman, containing ten thousand strands of sword qi, each equal to the attack of a Foundation Establishment sword cultivator.
When ten thousand swords converged, their slaughtering might was no less than a strike from a Golden Core cultivator!
It was already too late to deploy the Glazed Sky Canopy again.
Moreover, metal generated water; according to the principles of mutual generation and overcoming among the five elements, the Glazed Sky Canopy could not withstand such an attack either.
Although that golden brick was also a metal-attribute magic treasure, it followed the path of heavy, blunt force, allowing the Glazed Sky Canopy to use softness to overcome hardness and stall the assault.
These ten thousand strands of sword qi, however, were concentrated point-by-point piercings.
In an instant, Luo Chen bellowed and unleashed the Heavenly Roc Transformation without hesitation.
*Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!*
A seemingly boundless torrent of sword qi flooded heaven and earth.
Shrill howls whipped violently through the air, echoing among the snow-capped mountain peaks to chilling effect.
Having unleashed three supreme killing moves in a row, Helian Yun was now utterly exhausted, his qi drained, his spirit spent, and his soul weary.
Panting heavily, he stood on the ground, his weathered eyes staring fixedly at the epicenter of the endless sword barrage.
"Luo Chen, you forced my hand.
"If you had obediently handed over the Nether Origin Pills back then, why would you have met such an end?"
Reaching out, he recalled the Three Soul Breaking Nails.
Just as he was about to recall the golden brick magic treasure, an ominous premonition suddenly seized his heart.
*Even a Golden Core cultivator had such a hard time killing him. Can this single talisman from the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect truly take his life?*
Amid his muttered thoughts, a sudden impulse took hold of him, and he directed the golden brick magic treasure to smash toward the sky where the mist of blood was spraying.
Yet in the very next instant—
*Boom!*
A colossal claw crashed out.
With just a single blow, the golden brick magic treasure was hammered straight into the neighboring mountain.
The tremendous impact seemed to trigger something.
A deep rumbling resonated between heaven and earth.
It sounded like thunder, yet also like a collapsing mountain.
Before Helian Yun could even trace where the sound was coming from, the sight that met his eyes sent sheer terror through his heart and guts.
Up in the sky, the sword qi had dissipated, and the clouds had cleared to reveal the light of day.
All that remained was a massive, blood-drenched figure imprinted upon his pupils, which had shrunk to the size of needle tips.
Luo Chen's voice boomed down from high above like rolling thunder.
"Grand Elder Lianyun, I already held you in high regard, yet it seems I still underestimated your wealth.
"However!
"It all ends here!"
The next instant, a giant claw condensed from vitality crashed down with boundless, peerless momentum.
Helian Yun gritted his teeth and lashed out, sending three black beams shooting toward that enormous figure.
The Armor-Piercing Nail struck home!
The Qi-Piercing Nail struck home!
The Soul Breaking Nail missed!
Landing two out of three nails would normally have brought Helian Yun boundless joy.
Yet against that figure spanning several dozen paces with its wings unfurled, the two black nails appeared utterly insignificant.
Even if they pierced through, so what?
Just as terror seized Helian Yun's heart, the giant claw reached down from the clouds, seizing his body in an unyielding grip.
The true form of the Marsh Country Gui Chart—a painted scroll—still wrapped tightly around his frame, preventing the massive claw from destroying his Dao body.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...*
Amid the howling wind, the giant claw drew back.
A pair of eyes as large as lanterns stared directly at Helian Yun's aged face.
One gaze was callous, the other panic-stricken.
"Helian Yun, you are the first True Cultivator of Foundation Establishment who has managed to force me into revealing my Heavenly Roc True Form.
"Dying beneath my Cloud-Seeking Divine Claw is an honorable enough end for you."
Even as he spoke, the giant claw tightened relentlessly, crushing the Marsh Country Gui Chart with immense physical power.
Helian Yun opened his mouth, but could not utter a single word.
He poured every shred of spiritual power in his body into an attempt to sustain the Marsh Country Gui Chart.
Yet—
*Splat!*
A shower of blood rained down.
Pinching the unfurled scroll between his talons, Luo Chen slipped it into his storage bag without hesitation, along with the three Soul Breaking Nails.
With no time for reflection or lament, Luo Chen whipped his head around.
The towering snow-capped peak behind him was crumbling with a thunderous roar.
It was not a rockfall, but an avalanche!
This was the origin of that immense sound from moments before.
The battle between him and Helian Yun had produced such tremendous commotion that it had triggered the wrath of heaven and earth—an avalanche across the entire mountain.
At this moment, snow that had accumulated for untold years came tumbling down.
Countless waves of white tore through the descent, resembling giant dragons of snow and pythons.
Resembling?
No!
What placed Luo Chen on such high alert was naturally not the avalanche itself.
It was the innumerable black-ringed giant pythons hissing and roaring within that avalanche.
In particular, the one leading the pack, possessing a body dozens of paces long and vertical pupils blazing with furious malice, sent a chill straight to Luo Chen's core.
*I should have realized it sooner!*
*From the moment that vicious fight broke out in the underground cavern, there was no way to hide it from the snow python colony of the Myriad Python Cavern.*
*And now, even this early third-rank Seven-Ring Snow Python King has awakened from its hibernation.*
*Trouble is brewing now!*
His exceptional vision allowed him to see it with absolute clarity.
Upon the body of the Seven-Ring Snow Python King, an eighth black ring had faintly begun to manifest.
That was a sign of an impending breakthrough!
A wry smile appeared on Luo Chen's massive avian face.
Yet beneath that wry smile lay an even deeper layer of ruthlessness.
With a tremor of his massive wings, Luo Chen ascended higher.
His talons moved with deft agility as incantations poured from his beak one after another.
This time, he was not using weapon-guided arts.
He was casting the art in its absolute, complete form!
His crimson form shimmered with restless spiritual light as waves of surging spiritual power poured from his body.
Among them, wisps of emerald-green flame curled around the tips of his talons.
In the distance, the Seven-Ring Snow Python King was beside itself with fury.
The Nine-Pattern Snake Saliva Fruit it had nurtured for so many years had actually been stolen!
Even the fruit tree itself had been destroyed.
That was its crucial opportunity to ascend to eight rings, and perhaps even break through to ten rings to shatter the constraints of its bloodline!
*A human!*
*It's a human!*
*It's that human in the distance, disguised as a blazing cloud roc!*
A faint, lingering scent guided it toward the true location of its enemy.
In its rage, it issued commands through the crushing pressure of a king.
*Capture that human! I will let him know what it means to be bound by ten thousand pythons, suffering a fate worse than death!*
Suddenly!
Its vertical pupils shrank as an intensely perilous premonition surfaced in its mind.
Instinct warned it that calamity was at hand.
Without the slightest hesitation, it coiled itself tightly into a ball.
Not only that, but from all directions, countless snow pythons of its brood slithered over, wrapping themselves around it layer upon layer.
A massive "snowball" promptly formed upon the snow-capped mountain.
Right at that instant, a cold, indifferent voice descended from the sky.
"Landslide!"
*Boom!*
A sky-shattering blast shook heaven and earth.
The momentum of the avalanche forged the devastating might of a landslide.
The earth quaked, and waves of snow reared in fury.
At this moment, the mountain that pierced the clouds burst apart with an explosive roar.
Emerald-green flames scattered through the collapsing peak, melting snow into water upon contact and turning stone into molten slag.
Bluish-green magma poured downward in a rolling torrent.
Wherever it passed, countless giant pythons wailed in agony.
That massive snowball shrank continuously until the true form of the Seven-Ring Snow Python King was finally exposed.
Upon its snow-white body, seven and a half black rings squirmed erratically.
Ultimately, the eighth black ring that had yet to fully take shape was forced to disperse beneath the scorch of the bluish-green flame.
With that, it was once again a Seven-Ring Snow Python in the truest sense.
Yet at what cost?
"Human, I will have your life!"
A furious roar, part python and part dragon, echoed across the sprawling mountain range.
With a sweep of its serpentine body that whipped up thousands of drifts of snow, it paid no heed to its suffering brood and gave relentless chase in the direction where the crimson silhouette had flown.
Chapter 446