The blood sword soared into the heavens, its sword light spraying like rain.
The chaotic world spiritual energy in the surroundings surged toward that towering sword light as though it had found its anchor.
Within the tornado-like sword light, a white-clad figure flickered in and out of view, his true appearance veiled.
Yet that earlier contemptuous and disparaging laugh was recognized at once.
"Desolate Hermit!"
Yu Xu gasped in a low voice, her face turning deathly pale.
Swish!
A figure materialized beside her and seized her arm without a word—it was Perfected Tianshan.
Wasting no breath, he uttered a single syllable:
"Go!"
A tiny, pangolin-like beast flew out from him. A gaping maw seemed to open faintly, swallowing him and Yu Xu whole; then the mouth snapped shut, and with a swift flip, it burrowed instantly into the earth.
On the other side.
Having been quietly surrounded by the others for pocketing mirage cores earlier, Shi Ju did not take advantage of the breach in the encirclement to flee. Instead, he looked up with keen interest.
Before his eyes spread a sea of biting sword light, yet his pupils reflected only that illusory silhouette wavering amidst the majestic brilliance.
"Is that the Desolate Hermit?"
With the giant gourd tucked under his arm, Qi Xiongcheng nodded with a grave expression, a trace of wary fear tinting his voice. "He has grown stronger again!"
Shi Ju shook his head. "It is not that he has grown stronger, but that he has been building up his momentum for a long time, unleashing every ounce of his Dharmic powers to create such terrifying might. But once this strike passes, he will inevitably be drained of qi and strength. When that time comes, it will be the prime moment for me to capture him and seize the Heavenly Mechanism Pill!"
Qi Xiongcheng started, looking closely, and found it was indeed so!
In fact, everyone present had realized this.
A disturbance of this magnitude was by no means something a Nascent Soul Perfected cultivator could produce offhandedly.
Expending all of his Dharmic powers, the man clearly intended to accomplish everything in a single stroke.
Aside from Yu Xu and Perfected Tianshan, who had witnessed Luo Chen's prowess before, none among those present intended to flee.
In every heart, three words surfaced: Heavenly Mechanism Pill.
That was an elixir pill personally concocted by the Alchemy Saint. Whether taken by a Nascent Soul true disciple of this realm or brought back as an offering to their clan patriarch, it would yield immense benefits.
All they needed to do was withstand this strike, and the depleted Luo Chen would be at their mercy!
Above all!
The one who hated Luo Chen the most right now was not them, but Gu Daosu, who had been plotted against and jarred out of his state of sudden enlightenment.
The Wuwang Treasure Mirror in his hand, shining ever brighter, spoke volumes of the fury in his heart.
He would take the brunt at the very forefront!
No one moved forward to try and disrupt Luo Chen.
For no one knew when he would release this strike.
Over such a distance, if someone advanced halfway only to suffer a sudden strike to the head, or if he focused his attack on whoever stuck their neck out first, the losses would far outweigh the gains.
Everyone was waiting.
Waiting for that sword to fall.
Evidently, Luo Chen would not keep them waiting long.
Under the earlier slaughter and now the terrifying sword light, the surviving mirage beasts in the vicinity were already beginning to scatter and flee.
These were all his prey—how could he bear to let them get away?
From high in the sky came a resounding roar:
"Cleave!"
In the next instant!
The majestic sword light came crashing down.
Between heaven and earth, all turned a shade of bloody crimson!
Everyone acted in unison to withstand the might of this strike.
Gu Daosu held the mirror in one hand, reflecting heaven and earth as a beam of light as thick as a water barrel erupted forth, meeting the sword head-on.
Gu Chen leaped forward, landing before Gu Yuan. Raising both hands to the sky, his golden robe billowed furiously, sweeping backward across the sky and turning into a golden light barrier that shielded them both.
Shi Ju let out a cold snort, snapped his folding fan shut, and struck the treasure gourd tucked under Qi Xiongcheng's arm with his palm. The gourd trembled, spewing a resplendent golden haze that enveloped them both.
The others also displayed their respective talents.
The Wang clan elder tapped his bamboo staff repeatedly, causing a bamboo grove to spring up from the ground.
Perfected Longyuan and Mingyan exchanged a glance, joining their twin swords in unison—substituting attack for defense as they surged upward against the tide.
Faced with all of this, Luo Chen remained unfazed.
Joining his fingers into a sword hand, he brazenly drove the Yuan Tu Blood Sword downward.
Bearing the brunt was the beam of light shot from the treasure mirror.
Chhh!
At the slightest contact, the mirror's beam—which had previously repelled a white eagle rivaling the mid Nascent Soul stage—was severed cleanly in two.
With momentum undiminished, the sword light continued its descent.
Seeing this, everyone froze.
Was this strike truly so formidable?
Yet they were given virtually no time to react.
Chhh! Chhh! Chhh!
Like a knife through bean curd, the biting sword light swept across a hundred li.
Before this blood-red sword light, the sword qi from the twin swords' combined strike seemed like fireflies compared to the bright moon, shattering in an instant.
Seeing this, Perfected Longyuan's expression drastically shifted. Without hesitation, he grabbed the waist of the woman beside him and thrust his other palm outward, venting all his majestic Dharmic powers.
Boom!
Spitting blood, his hair bun undone, he tumbled pathetically toward the earth while clutching Mingyan.
Elsewhere.
The verdant bamboo grove was sheared clean through the middle.
With a sharp crack, a long fissure split across the dripping-green bamboo staff in the Wang clan elder's hands.
Before he could mourn this magic treasure he had painstakingly refined, a scream behind him grabbed his attention.
He spun around, eyes bulging, corners tearing with rage.
Without the bamboo grove's cover, his young master was submerged in the blood-red sword light, a look of despair on his face.
The Wang clan elder had time only to roar, "Activate your mirage chess piece! Leave the grotto-heaven!"
Amidst his agonizing pain, the youth managed to keep his wits and activated the mirage chess piece.
Black-and-white light swirled outward, enveloping him and forming a vortex as it prepared to breach the realm and depart.
Yet just as he was about to leave, a streak of blood-red sword light actually pursued him inside.
Boom!
Gu Chen stumbled backward, his face flushing crimson.
Yet just as he fell back before Gu Yuan, he gritted his teeth and spat out a mouthful of blood essence.
The honeycombed golden light barrier before them immediately knit back together, sheltering them both inside.
Seeing this, Gu Yuan's previously placid countenance could not help changing.
"Gu Chen, how could this be?"
He understood the prowess of Gu Chen's golden robe better than anyone.
Named the Golden Iron Robe, it had been forged entirely from a high-grade meteorite ore bestowed by their clan, capable of fusing a cultivator's Dharmic powers with their blood vitality.
In battle, the sleeves swung like iron maces.
In defense, the golden curtain was like a copper wall and iron bastion.
When first crafted, it was already a rare, high-grade magic treasure.
After Gu Chen painstakingly refined it for several centuries, upon his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage, mighty experts from their clan helped him advance it in one breath into a true artifact.
Coupled with Gu Chen's dual cultivation of both Dharmic methods and physical body, its might was exceptional!
How could merely withstanding a single beam of sword light bring him to this state?
Grave-faced, Gu Chen's arms trembled slightly.
"That sword... is extraordinary!"
That sword?
Gu Yuan was taken aback.
Atop the shattered Three Rainbows Falls, Gu Daosu's expression flickered. The treasure mirror in his hand was actually jarred loose by the monstrous force.
Upon his picturesque, handsome face, the biting sword qi even carved a thin trail of blood.
In his eyes, the majestic sword light continued to rain down incessantly.
"What kind of magic treasure is this?"
"Su'er, stay focused!"
An alarmed cry came from behind. Madame Xu had risen to her feet at some point; biting her fingertip, she smeared blood onto the bronze mirror.
Seeing this, Gu Daosu's expression shifted drastically.
"Auntie, you...!"
"I used that secret art to boost my realm, and going forward I can be of no use to you, only a burden. Now, let me use this final bit of strength to perish together with that thief!"
The Wuwang Treasure Mirror rose once more, its mirror light rekindling.
A dazzling beam of light burst from the mountain, surging straight toward the source of the sword light.
Watching this, Gu Daosu parted his lips, but said nothing more.
To perish together was likely impossible.
How terrifically peerless was that strike!
To merely block it was hard enough, let alone taking the enemy down with them.
Yet in the next moment, delight surfaced in his eyes.
In his vision, the blood-red sword light actually bypassed the mirror's beam, falling toward Shi Ju instead.
In this manner, with nothing in its way, the mirror's beam could strike directly at Luo Chen, who was currently making hand seals in midair to control his flying sword.
"Huh?"
Shi Ju looked at the descending sword light in bewilderment.
"Instead of going after Gu Daosu, why come after me? However, if you think you can target me, you are gravely mistaken."
He struck the Purple Sun Gourd again. Raging flames spewed forth, conjuring the shape of a golden crow in midair.
The golden crow circled him once, raised its head, and lunged toward the radiant sword light.
Upon collision, it was like snow melting before fire.
Vast swathes of blood-red sword light dissolved into thin air.
Seeing this, Shi Ju smiled coldly.
"Foul and blood-stained—it is plainly a treasure of the demonic path. My gourd has stored a great deal of Solar True Fire, the ultimate bane of such crooked heresies."
Chhh, chhh, chhh...
When the golden crow dispersed, little remained of the once-majestic sword light.
A ferocious blood-red longsword steeped in terrifying killing intent revealed its true form.
"At your wit's end? Is that all you have?" Shi Ju licked his lips. Eyes flashing with greed, he reached out to seize the blood sword.
With his discerning eye, he naturally recognized the extraordinary nature of this weapon.
Even if it was not a spirit treasure, its lethality was by no means inferior to non-offensive spirit treasures.
If he could capture it, he might gain another great asset.
As he reached out, copious golden flames began to envelop his hand—the very source of his confidence to catch a naked blade barehanded!
Right at that moment.
"Go!"
A soft shout reached his ears. The blood sword swerved abruptly, bypassing his fiery hand with uncanny precision.
Then, before everyone's eyes, it struck toward the giant gourd.
Qi Xiongcheng's face fell, and he instinctively raised an arm to block.
Snap!
His right arm was cleaved in two.
Without pausing in the slightest, the blood sword landed upon the giant gourd.
Under Shi Ju's shock and Qi Xiongcheng's helpless gaze, the Purple Sun Gourd took a catastrophic blow.
Fractures spread continuously like tortoise shell patterns.
Until...
Bang!
The gourd burst apart. Huge billows of white mist erupted instantly, within which mirage cores spun frantically, fleeing in every direction.
"You bastard!"
Shi Ju could no longer maintain his composure and cursed vehemently.
These were all the mirage cores he and Qi Xiongcheng had spent twenty years gathering!
Without the Purple Sun Gourd to seal them, what was he supposed to do!
Qi Xiongcheng was desperately deploying techniques to recapture the fleeing mirage cores.
Yet having broken free of their cage, how could these mirage cores willingly return to captivity?
Veiled by the vast clouds and mist, the mirage cores streaked like shooting stars, trailing long tails as they flew toward every quadrant.
"Freeze!"
Mustering what strength he had left, Perfected Longyuan immobilized a mirage core and caught it in his hand.
"Let's go!"
Mingyan glared furiously at Luo Chen in the distance. "He is already exhausted of qi and strength! Are we just going to let the Desolate Hermit go?"
Perfected Longyuan said urgently, "Rogue cultivators from the Northern Sea have many tricks up their sleeves—he is not so easily slain! I am heavily injured and have no strength left to fight. Leaving is our best course!"
Mingyan could feel her companion's rapidly waning aura, and dared dally no longer.
Before leaving, however, she cast one last resentful glance at Luo Chen.
It was precisely that glance that made her face drain of color.
The beam from the treasure mirror, which had ripped through the void, clearly pierced straight through Luo Chen's body. Yet with a flicker, Luo Chen's figure reappeared in the void.
Meanwhile, the beam landed upon a massive mountain behind him.
Silently, the mountain turned to dust, billowing upward in plumes behind Luo Chen.
Mingyan parted her red lips, stunned with disbelief.
It missed?
"How could it miss?"
Watching this, Gu Daosu's eyes were filled with disbelief.
The Wuwang Treasure Mirror possessed the wondrous function of locking onto an enemy's divine sense; even if its power fell short, its attacks rarely went wide.
"Perhaps my consciousness was hazy, and my divine sense failed to track him," Madame Xu sighed, holding the treasure mirror in both hands, her face ashen with defeat. "Su'er, you will have to rely on yourself from here on out. Your aunt can no longer hold on."
As she spoke, a mirage chess piece flew forth, enveloping her in black-and-white light, and she slowly vanished.
Before leaving, she sent a voice transmission warning him: "Without my protection, you cannot stay here long. Although the Desolate Hermit plotted against you, that strike was aimed at Shi Ju; what he truly covets are the mirage cores and spiritual opportunity. After I leave, do not seek trouble with him. Find a quiet place and use the mirage cores I leave behind to attempt comprehending the true meaning of nomological edicts once more. You are only one step away—there is no need to squabble in petty rivalry with them..."
Watching the vortex dissolve in the air, Gu Daosu looked grim.
He turned his gaze toward the white mist outside the mountains and the white-robed man still hovering serenely in the void.
Unwilling as he was, he had no choice but to heed his elder's advice and quietly withdraw.
Just after he departed, two furious shouts roared from the foot of the mountain:
"Desolate Hermit!"
"I will have your life!"
With bloodshot eyes, the Wang clan elder soared into the sky, while Shi Ju broke through the mist in fury.
Moreover, the two members of the Gu clan stepped forward from the pervading white mist, stride by stride.
All glared at Luo Chen, their divine senses locked firmly onto him.
Even a giant eagle struggled to flap its wings from a col and took flight toward Luo Chen.
The coverage of that earlier sword strike had been immense, targeting far more than just these Nascent Soul cultivators.
The mirage beasts were targets as well!
Save for the white eagle and a few other formidable mirage beasts, all the others had been blasted apart into formlessness.
That was precisely why, after the sweep of sword light, the surrounding hundreds of li remained shrouded in vast, roiling white mist.
Astride a mountain ridge, two figures slowly materialized.
Yu Xu's small face was pale, lingering dread etched across her features.
Just where had Fu Qinglan found such a Dao Protector? The might of a single strike was this horrifying!
The sword strike had not singled out any individual, diffusing its force considerably.
Otherwise, not a single person present could have withstood it alone.
Even so, it had left one heavily wounded and eliminated a great clan's Nascent Soul true disciple from the grotto-heaven.
Had she known that Madame Xu had also been unable to hold on and had been forced to leave, her dread would have been all the greater.
Yet even as it stood, her heart thumped wildly with lingering panic.
"Fellow Daoist Tianshan, thank goodness for your sharp foresight in pulling me away."
Looking down at the pangolin gu insect resting languidly in his hand, Perfected Tianshan shook his head.
"Having learned a lesson before, how could I make the same mistake twice?"
He remembered vividly!
Back when he and the Wrathful Vajra joined forces to besiege Luo Chen, their opponent had used no treasures other than defensive ones.
This time, however, he had manipulated his flying sword with such gravity after building up power for so long; one could only imagine how terrifying the strike would be.
At the very least, it surpassed that fire phoenix and flame dragon!
Yet seeing the outcome—a single sword strike overpowering a host of Nascent Soul cultivators—he realized he had still underestimated the man.
"Fellow Daoist, should we take advantage of the Desolate Hermit's depleted Dharmic powers to join the fray and kill him?"
"Depleted Dharmic powers?"
Perfected Tianshan broke into a wry chuckle and pointed into the distance.
Yu Xu followed the direction of his finger, only to see the boundless white mist converging toward the vast lake beneath Luo Chen's feet like a dragon of qi.
"Does that look like someone running out of Dharmic powers, lacking the strength to fight?"
Yu Xu froze.
By her ear, Perfected Tianshan sighed once more.
"Furthermore, do not forget his monstrous physique that could tear apart the Wrathful Vajra with bare hands. Even at his worst, he could drag someone down with him before falling. We had best not wade into these muddy waters."
...
"This Devils and Gods Disperse is truly useful—confounding divine sense and evading locks, especially against long-range attacks."
Luo Chen smiled faintly and reached out with an open hand.
Whoosh!
A streak of blood light cut through the clouds and mist, settling into his grip.
Holding the longsword, Luo Chen looked at the enemies closing in from several directions.
The Wang clan elder, a Dao Protector who had failed to safeguard his true disciple, eyes bloodshot, wishing he could hack Luo Chen into a thousand pieces.
Shi Ju, a prodigy of a prominent clan whose gourd had been shattered, his decades of hard work wiped out in a single moment.
The golden-robed Dao Protector of the Gu clan, fully intact, glaring hungrily with blazing battle intent.
And a white eagle mirage beast, screeching in rabid fury, its formidable aura turning heads.
Luo Chen shook his head.
"Under normal circumstances, Luo would not mind sparring with you all, but there is no need for it right now."
He beckoned with a hand.
The vast lake below rumbled with deafening roars.
Immeasurable lake waters parted as a giant cauldron broke through the surface, vast quantities of clouds and mist pouring into it.
Within the cauldron, more than a dozen mirage cores struggled wildly, yet were suppressed by an illusory soul driving the treasure cauldron.
"That should be enough."
Luo Chen murmured softly. The treasure cauldron shrank instantly, and his split soul returned to his sea of consciousness.
Without sparing a glance for the enemies charging madly at him upon sensing something amiss, he tossed out an array disc.
Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, instantaneous shift!
Dim azure light beamed forth, and Luo Chen stepped within.
Boom!
In merely a single breath, the azure light soared into the sky.
Towering golden flames swept past, the horrifying heat instantly vaporizing the lake water below.
Yet in the surroundings, there was no longer any sign of Luo Chen.
Chapter 762