Slaughter Like Butchery, a Pure White Fist

How profound was Luo Chen's killing intent? It was beyond measure! Throughout his life, corpses had piled high in his wake, and bloody battles had been unending. He had a particular fondness for wide-range offensive spells. The living beings that had died by his hand were beyond count. During his ordinary cultivation, he frequently used the Cleansing Art and the Dragon Slaying Art to purge the bloody baleful qi clinging to him, fearing that the lingering malice from slaughtering so many lives might taint his mind. Yet though the baleful qi was washed away, his killing intent only became purer and more condensed. For so many years, that killing intent had remained suppressed. Until this very moment! When that monstrous killing intent unreservedly surged outward, all those of comparable cultivation felt dread in their hearts, as if thorns were pressed against their backs. Moreover, when they saw that the darkness previously shrouding Luo Chen had vanished without a trace, everyone understood all too clearly what the scene signified. Demon Sovereign Wuguang had fallen! Yet another Tier 4 Demon Sovereign had died at his hand! Now, who in the Blade Dominance Domain could possibly stand in his way? Once he intervened in any battlefield, what confidence could the demon race muster when they were already struggling to hold their ground? Almost the instant Luo Chen's killing intent spread, subtle shifts occurred across the various clashes. The Demon Sovereigns' attacks grew fiercer, and their movements roamed across wider expanses. The aftershocks unleashed by battles at the Nascent Soul level wrought incalculable havoc upon the earth. Boom! Boom! Boom! Earth veins were breached, sending blistering magma shooting into the sky. Beneath the wind and rain of gore, the brilliant fires of war blazed even brighter. Standing atop a geyser of magma, Luo Chen had no intention of wading into a battle among peers of his tier. A pair of brilliantly gleaming spiritual eyes swept in all directions. The crimson sword in his hand hummed crisply. "Are you excited as well?" "Thrilled by this completely uninhibited killing intent of mine?" Luo Chen slowly raised his right hand. The Yuantu Sword mirrored his youthful, bewitching face. "If so, then go!" As if talking to himself, Luo Chen tossed it casually, his hands forming incantation seals. With a low drone, the Yuantu Sword pierced through the air. Transforming into a crimson beam of light, it tore into the low-tier demon beasts swarming the earth like headless flies. *Chi! Chi! Chi!*... Its speed was so blinding that the naked eye could barely track it. Its momentum was so sharp that flesh and blood could not resist it. Wherever the sword light passed, not a single living soul remained. A Tier 3 demon king several tens of zhang tall gaped with bloody jaws, forcibly swallowing the sword light. Yet in the blink of an eye, the Yuantu Sword burst out from its body. The colossal demon king froze in place before crashing down with a resounding boom. As if drawn by some unseen pull, the blood within its carcass chased after the sword light. The sword light showed not the slightest sign of slowing. Centered on Luo Chen himself, it swept across a thousand-li radius, dominating the expanse without meeting a single match. Leaping from one fiery pillar to another, Luo Chen moved swiftly across the brutal battlefield drenched in blood, stench, and billowing black smoke. In his sight, only the ever-thickening blood cloud grew. *Swish!* A brilliant sword light swelled to a height of thousands of zhang and cleaved down with a thunderous roar. The beast tide besieging the Black Iron Daoist Abbey saw a fourth of its numbers wiped out beneath this single strike. The remaining demon beasts collapsed into utter panic, their survival instincts driving them to flee toward the borders of the Blade Dominance Domain. Luo Chen exchanged a glance with Daoist Tieguan. Saying nothing, he shifted to another battlefield. The latter acknowledged the favor and seized the opportunity to recall the abbey's two guardian protectors, the Tortoise and the Snake, to flank the bare-chested Demon Sovereign. The scales of victory had tipped decisively. Luo Chen hardly cared whether the man felt indebted. He had unleashed that strike merely because the demon beasts gathered there were sufficiently dense. He continued guiding the Yuantu Sword to hunt down low-tier beasts, and the cloud of blood trailing behind the blade grew steadily denser. Suddenly! A blade thin as a cicada's wing grazed past his cheek. It truly skimmed his face, coming within a hair's breadth of piercing his skull. A cicada's hum echoed from the void, as though stunned that this lethal strike had failed. Luo Chen's expression remained unchanged as he reached out toward the blade. A golden brilliance erupted violently, seemingly capable of severing all things. Yet Luo Chen did not flinch in the slightest. Before the blade could slip away, he seized it in the nick of time. With a ferocious yank! *Splatter!* A torrent of blood burst from the void. Looking down at the cicada-wing blade in Luo Chen's hand, it was no flying sword at all—it was truly nothing more than a gossamer-thin golden cicada wing! "Six-Winged Golden Cicada, Demon Sovereign Anming?" In the void, Anming appeared in a wretched state. No longer possessing the magnificent six wings, she was left with only five. Indignation flared in her eyes. "Bullying the weak and slaughtering low-tier demon beasts at will—Alchemy Grandmaster, do you not have even a shred of a True Person's grace?" "Grace?" Luo Chen let out a scornful laugh. "Ambushing me without warning—is that the grace befitting a Demon Sovereign?" Then, he barked in a low voice, "How many low-tier disciples of my sect have died at the hands of your demon kings and Demon Sovereigns? Did any of you speak of grace then?" Anming was taken aback. Before she could reply, an instinct of extreme peril struck her. *Chi!* A streak of sword light cleaved down from behind her without warning. Anming evaded by a hairsbreadth, but another golden cicada wing remained behind in the void. Just as Anming reappeared in panic, a golden-armored giant resembling a heavenly soldier descended from the sky and reached out toward her. Panting, Elder Fu stood atop the golden-armored giant's head, looking at Luo Chen with an apologetic expression. "Forgive me. This old man failed to restrain this beast, allowing her to disturb you, Fellow Daoist." Luo Chen pinched the two cicada wings, offering a slight smile. "No matter. I leave the rest to you." With that, he stowed the steaming wings into his storage ring and stepped into the blood cloud. The Yuantu Sword gave a crisp hum and flew toward the perimeter of the Blade Dominance Domain. Countless low-tier demon beasts, unable to face a clash of Nascent Soul scale, had been forced toward the border. They wanted to flee! Yet constrained by the Twelve Divine Baleful Array of Dutian, they were trapped within the Blade Dominance Domain. At this moment, before Luo Chen, they were lambs awaiting the slaughter. The Yuantu Sword rose and fell, spewing and spraying magic power. Luo Chen could sense the sword spirit sealed in the third layer radiating a vibrant, lively will. Looking down at the blood cloud beneath his feet, Luo Chen showed a contemplative expression. Compared to the Crimson Firmament Sword Qi he had forcibly refined into it, it seemed this cloud of blood following the slaughter was what the Yuantu sword spirit truly craved. Why was that? *When this sword first appeared in the world, it was named the God Slaying Sword because of rumors that it had slain a Soul Formation grandmaster.* *And that grandmaster, if nothing went amiss, should have been the Yuan Demon Sect's Blood Sea Patriarch.* *Could the Yuantu sword spirit have inherited the Blood Sea Patriarch's nature as well?* While Luo Chen was lost in thought, an urgent cry rang out near his ear. "Fellow Daoist Luo, be careful!" Luo Chen snapped his head up. In his vision, a massive fist pierced through the light curtain of the grand array, crashing down from outside the domain toward him. Without the slightest hesitation, he threw a punch of his own. Boom! The void trembled, and the blood cloud shattered. Luo Chen stood resolute in midair, letting the blood cloud gather once more beneath his feet. His eyes followed the slowly retracting giant fist, locking onto the furious gaze of its master. A Tier 4 Demon Sovereign who cultivated both body and magic? It was a bald man. Glaring at the sword light that had still not ceased its slaughter, he roared in fury, "Come out!" The corner of Luo Chen's mouth twitched, but he did not answer him at all. Instead, he looked toward another figure that had arrived a step too late. "Is this the interception you promised?" True Person Shenhuo gave a sheepish smile. "My apologies. That beast caught an opening. It won't happen again." "Hmph!" Luo Chen snorted coldly and turned away. A cloud of blood spanned the heavens, casting shadows over the earth. The slaughter continued. The fires of war blazed on. A wretched shriek shook heaven and earth. It signified that yet another Tier 4 Demon Sovereign had completely perished. Luo Chen even watched with his own eyes as True Person Jinling shattered the physical body of a Demon Sovereign. The demon's Nascent Soul teleported continuously, only to be firmly blocked by the Twelve Divine Baleful Array of Dutian. A golden feather pierced through the Nascent Soul, skewering it like a candied hawthorn. Looking at the Nascent Soul shaped like a young beast, True Person Jinling said contemptuously in Luo Chen's presence, "Not of our human race, yet insisting on imitating methods of transformation and spirit refinement, only to end up as neither fish nor fowl." With a flick of the golden feather, the Nascent Soul abruptly shattered. True Person Jinling cast a deep glance at Luo Chen before drifting away to pursue another Demon Sovereign that had previously besieged him. Luo Chen's expression remained tranquil, utterly unconcerned by the provocative act. Standing atop the blood cloud, he continued his butchery. Only, unlike his earlier sweeping, unrestrained slaughter, he grew increasingly adept in the techniques of the Myriad Firmaments Myriad Transformations Sword Scripture as he manipulated the Yuantu Sword. Sword light splitting, sword qi transforming into dragons. Myriad sword threads, and even the Great Sword Technique, merging with the blade to flee... Techniques that had once seemed exceptionally profound grew smoother and more natural with every battle. Pavilion Master Li of Wan Jian Pavilion, who had long since dispatched his opponent, fell in behind Luo Chen at some point. Watching him test and explore, his eyes were filled with complex emotions. Others treated this as a perilously fraught raid. Yet in Luo Chen's hands, it had become a trial used to temper himself. *Using life-and-death combat as a whetstone to hone oneself—such a temperament implicitly aligns with my path as a sword cultivator.* *No wonder he agreed to discuss the Jade Sovereign Clear Pupil Liquid in detail with me!* *That medicine would be of immense use to him as well!* Luo Chen paid no heed to Pavilion Master Li's scrutiny. His current behavior differed greatly from his usual style. He rarely treated life-and-death clashes as a means to sharpen his skills; typically, he went all out from the start. The only reason he acted this way now was that the overall situation was already decided! When the Twelve Divine Baleful Array of Dutian descended, and six mid Nascent Soul combatants—even a powerhouse comparable to a great cultivator like Sovereign Jiuling—charged into the Blade Dominance Domain together, the outcome had been preordained. *Buzz...* A terrifying cicada hum suddenly echoed across thousands of li. Luo Chen looked up to see a golden-armored giant collapse with a deafening crash. Afterward, Elder Fu emerged from within, looking battered. Though disheveled, he had survived. And after Luo Chen broke two of the Six-Winged Golden Cicada's wings, she had no hope of overcoming Elder Fu. *Swish!* A Daoist holding an iron ruler flew near Luo Chen and Pavilion Master Li. It was Daoist Tieguan. "My side has been settled." Pavilion Master Li praised, "Daoist Tieguan has formidable methods. To slay a powerful Demon Sovereign under the siege of so many demon beasts is no small feat." Daoist Tieguan showed neither joy nor sorrow, his expression calm. "You flatter me. My humble skills cannot compare to the Alchemy Grandmaster's swift destruction of his foes, nor to Daoist Jinling fighting one against two. Even Pavilion Master Li personally slaying one of the only two mid Tier 4 Demon Sovereigns present is something I cannot match." Pavilion Master Li laughed freely, stroking his flowing beard with a trace of pride. Yet as his gaze swept over the Nascent Soul True Persons scattered about, a hint of wariness crept into his heart. In times of peace, everyone kept their abilities hidden, judging superiority solely by realm. Because sword cultivators excelled at lethal combat, they had earned the reputation of being unrivaled among peers over time. Yet when it truly came to life-and-death struggles, every single one of these figures possessed endless methods, none genuinely weaker than sword cultivators. Especially Sovereign Jiuling! People used to say that she had immense magic power but unrefined methods. Yet now, having forcibly trapped the Thunder Prison Divine Roc and fought it fiercely for a day and a night, who would dare say her methods were lacking? Five Nascent Souls stood in their respective positions, looking down at a battle that had reached deep into the earth's veins at some point. The nine-colored river of light continued to churn without pause. The surging lightning grew increasingly faint. "That beast will soon fall!" Pavilion Master Li observed for a while before concluding. The others nodded in tacit agreement. Rumor had it that this Thunder Prison Divine Roc had once engaged in a fierce battle with Supreme Elder Shenyuan of the Five Elements Divine Sect and survived, which should have granted it the capabilities of a great cultivator. Now it seemed that estimate had been overly generous. Luo Chen's eyes flickered, murmuring to himself. A hundred years had passed, yet the Thunder Prison Divine Roc's realm had shown no noticeable advancement! Was the cultivation speed of the demon race naturally sluggish? Or had the injuries from that battle a century ago been so severe that it had spent the entire century recuperating without making any progress? If Sovereign Jiuling truly managed to kill it, that would be a blessing. No matter how dull that beast was, it likely still remembered him. If news of his presence were carried back to Mount Cangwu, it would invite needless trouble. *Whether Sovereign Jiuling can kill it or not, so long as that beast remains alive, I will deliver a finishing blow to grind its bones to dust!* While Luo Chen muttered to himself, the battle deep within the earth drew near its end. *Thump! Thump! Thump!* The crust shuddered, and the earth split open. Countless torrents of magma erupted, only to cascade back down. The previously faint lightning suddenly flared with immense brilliance. Boom! With an explosive roar, the nine-colored river of light tore apart. A streak of light shot out from within. Looking closely, there was no longer any majestic thunder roc—only a flickering ball of light. It was the Thunder Prison Divine Roc's Nascent Soul! "Do not let that scoundrel escape!" Luo Chen barked decisively. The others attacked without hesitation as well. In the night sky, sword light, an iron ruler, a golden feather, and talismans struck toward the Nascent Soul from every direction. Luo Chen's strike was among them as the Yuantu Sword turned into a streak of crimson light, hurtling through the air. At that critical juncture, the light curtain of the grand array enveloping the Blade Dominance Domain dissolved in an instant. Ripples stirred within the void. A pure white fist slowly reached out from the void's ripples. The fist opened, seizing the Thunder Prison Divine Roc's Nascent Soul orb in a single grasp, treating the incoming attacks as though they did not exist. Boom! With an explosive detonation, all the attacks blossomed like fireworks. Beautiful, yet entirely harmless. The moment Luo Chen saw that pure white fist, his pupils shrank violently, but he did not stop. The crimson sword spun its tip frantically, thrusting against the fist. *Clang!* As if struck by an immense weight, the crimson sword bounced back. A muffled roar echoed from the depths of the earth. Like a deity, Sovereign Jiuling soared into the sky, nine colored ribbons of light wrapping around her form. Yet as fast as she appeared, she was cast back just as swiftly. Scarcely anyone could see how the master of that pure white fist had struck. In the next breath, Sovereign Jiuling plummeted into the dust, her shoulder drooping limply. The ripples in the void slowly dispersed. The six cultivators, who had just secured fruitful spoils of war, now stared at one another in disbelief. The turbulent Blade Dominance Domain remained clamorous, yet the space around them was eerily silent. Clutching the crimson sword, Luo Chen's right hand trembled uncontrollably. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a speck of red upon the blade's tip.