Intense killing intent surged forward, so thick it felt almost tangible.
Lu Yuan also realized that heaven and earth in all directions had been sealed off. The space within a certain radius was locked down, plainly meant to choke off any chance of his escape.
"Lu Yuan of the human race!"
In the next instant, a thunderous roar erupted. Three figures bolted out from not far away, every one of them exuding a formidable aura.
Leading them was Lei Xuan, the tenth sequence of the Celestial Clan. Beside him stood the sequence prodigies of the Three-Headed Ghost Clan and the Origin Demon Clan.
They were indeed far more powerful than the kinsmen who had descended in the same batch. The power churning within their bodies surged like tidal waves. Once unleashed, it would be utterly terrifying—the very reason they were hailed as sequence prodigies.
After all, they hailed from prominent clans among the top hundred star sectors and had stood out from among countless peers. Who could dare underestimate them upon meeting them?
And yet, when Lu Yuan saw the three sequence prodigies, he simply stood his ground, his gaze unchanging. He had anticipated this would happen; it was merely a matter of sooner or later.
"Lu Yuan of the human race, we know you obtained the opportunities and legacy left by the immortal Guangchengzi in the hall. If you hand them over, we can choose to stay our hand and let you leave safely," Lei Xuan spoke, hovering midair. As his wings of wind and thunder beat, the aura radiating from his body grew increasingly terrifying.
He was exceptionally strong. Compared to him, the so-called Winged Celestial from before was on an entirely different level—the gap was vast.
Beside him, the sequences of the Three-Headed Ghost Clan and the Origin Demon Clan stood shoulder to shoulder. Boundless waves of power continuously erupted from them.
Every recognized prodigy of a prominent star sector clan had previously been capable of fighting across realms, blessed with peerless talent. Even kinsmen at the same stage fell vastly behind them in combat strength. Otherwise, how could they have earned the title of sequence?
"Oh?"
Below, a faint smile appeared on Lu Yuan's face as he heard the words. "And if I refuse?"
"We have already laid an inescapable net here. Today, even with wings, you cannot flee."
"The legacy and fortune of an immortal are not yours alone to hoard. Handing them over to quell disaster is your best choice."
The sequence prodigies of the other two clans spoke, their gazes sharp and their words dripping with condescension and menace. Naturally, their desire for the legacy was genuine, while their promise to spare him was nothing more than empty talk. In their eyes, he was already a dead man today.
Lu Yuan understood this clearly. Consequently, he wasted no breath on further pleasantries.
Facing the three, he took a step forward and spoke calmly, "Then I suppose I have no choice but to start slaughtering again."
The moment his voice fell, an overwhelming, intimidating power erupted from his body. Golden vitality surged forth, swirling around him.
"If you seek death, we shall grant it!"
Lei Xuan narrowed his eyes. With a flap of his wind-and-thunder wings, he raised his right hand and snatched a bolt of lightning straight out of thin air. A violent, shrieking aura burst forth as he hurled it directly at Lu Yuan.
Rumble!
Thunder crashed, and murderous intent enveloped the surroundings.
Seeing this, Lu Yuan stepped forward and raised his palm in the same manner. In an instant, a deafening boom shook the sky within the mystic realm. A bolt of lightning several meters wide materialized, looking like divine punishment descending from heaven itself. This was the Jade Emperor Orthodox Heavenly Thunder Art!
The Celestial Clan possessed a formidable innate talent for controlling wind and thunder. Yet the moment that heavenly lightning appeared, Lei Xuan's expression changed abruptly.
Flapping his wings, countless arcs of lightning swirled around Lei Xuan's body as he fought with all his might against the Heavenly Thunder Art.
Rumble!
A colossal roar echoed through heaven and earth. Accompanied by chilling brilliance, it shattered the ground below. Soon, a figure flew backward out of the glare—it was Lei Xuan, his body scorched black in several places, looking utterly disheveled.
In that single exchange, he had suffered a loss.
The sequences of the Three-Headed Ghost Clan and the Origin Demon Clan frowned. Stepping forward in unison, they unleashed their respective methods. Truth be told, their combat prowess and talents defied conventional reason. As the two joined forces, dazzling radiance mingled with dense black mist, completely shrouding the area in turbulent, frenzied power.
Seeing this, Lei Xuan hesitated no longer. He strode forward, lightning raging around him as he erupted with brilliant light. Shock filled him; he knew that relying purely on his own strength, he was no match for this human. He was the tenth sequence of the Celestial Clan, yet he had just suffered a setback. His murderous intent burned even fiercer than before.
The earth trembled, the air roared, and destructive might rippled outward in a terrifying spectacle. Lu Yuan's figure was completely swallowed, lost to sight.
"With the three of us joining forces, let's see how much strength you have left to resist!" Lei Xuan bellowed, enveloped in arcs of lightning. He refused to believe that the three sequence prodigies combined could fail to suppress this human.
Boom!
Yet no sooner had his words landed than a furious roar erupted from within the maelstrom.
In the next instant, golden vitality surged like an ocean, tossing in violent waves. At the same time, a great sun rose, carrying an excruciating heat that distorted the surrounding air.
"Sequence prodigies?"
"Mediocre!"
Lu Yuan's voice rang out from within, calm and indifferent as ever.
Immediately after, an even more terrifying power burst forth. Facing the three sequences, he made no flashy moves—he simply drove forward a single punch, imbued with an unstoppable momentum.
Thump!
The ground split open and caved in.
Under the dreadful impact, Lei Xuan and the other two held on for only a split second before being blasted away. Caught in the shockwave, their bodies shuddered violently as though struck by a battering ram, and they crashed to the ground.
Lu Yuan stepped out from the clearing storm, his eyes aloof as he took another stride forward.
Boom!
The power inside him continued to climb. The Great Sun Smelting Furnace behind him shone brighter than ever. The heat was so intense that nearby boulders glowed red, on the verge of turning into molten lava.
"This man is too strong! Hold nothing back, or we are the ones who die!" Lei Xuan yelled in sheer alarm. He knew there was no backing down now; the consequences would be unthinkable.
Without hesitation, he produced the Soul-Shaking Hammer. Coiled in electric arcs, it radiated an eerie might that targeted not the physical body, but the most vulnerable aspect of any living being—the soul.
The sequence prodigy of the Origin Demon Clan did not hesitate either. A small silver sword appeared, carrying wisps of lethal sword intent.
Swiftly pouring their power into the two divine armaments, the two launched their assault once more.
Admittedly, the methods of the three prodigies were formidable indeed—sealing the surroundings while launching coordinated strikes against both soul and body. The Soul-Shaking Hammer and the small silver sword turned into streaks of light, arriving before Lu Yuan almost instantaneously.
At that moment, both his physical body and his divine soul flashed warnings. These were two extraordinarily powerful secret artifacts.
Yet Lu Yuan remained entirely fearless.
Reaching out, he caught the small silver sword firmly between two fingers. Having integrated the Great Sun Flame God Furnace and the Eleven-Tier Blood Pagoda, his physical body had long reached an appalling level of toughness; threatening him on that front was out of the question.
However, on the other side, the Soul-Shaking Hammer abruptly vanished. When it reappeared, it was already inside Lu Yuan's sea of consciousness, poised to strike heavily downward.
Yet precisely at that moment, the small golden figure that had been sitting quietly beneath the Ancient Bodhi Tree snapped its eyes open. Wisps of purple qi radiated from its form.
It was as if an incarnation of the Heavenly Emperor had descended to bring all living beings to heel. Reaching out a small hand, it caught the Soul-Shaking Hammer.
Crack!
As the Ancient Bodhi Tree quivered, the innate spirit crushed the hammer to pieces.
This was his soul—even stronger than his physique. Once unleashed, its might was boundless.
Boom!
Outside, Lu Yuan was not idle either. His internal organs resonated, and the Great Sun Smelting Furnace surged. Grasping the small silver sword directly in his palm, he swung another punch toward the three sequence prodigies.
All of this took place in a single breath.
Boom!
The surrounding world detonated with sound.
Led by Lei Xuan, the bodies of all three sequence prodigies fractured with cracks. Drops of fresh blood spilled from their wounds.
Horror filled their eyes.
A crushing defeat. Once again, it was an indisputable, one-sided crush!
"It's one thing for his body to be tough, but why is his soul just as terrifying?!"
"This man harbors monstrous power! We can't kill him—we have to leave!"
"Right! Fortunately, we still have the Three-Headed Heaven-Sealing Banners; they'll definitely buy us some time!"
Both attacks had failed, and beneath his single fist, they had possessed no power to resist. In an instant, they made their decision: this man was unbeatable. If they stubbornly kept fighting, death would be their only outcome!
Flee!
That was the unanimous thought shared by all three.
They were prodigies, after all; even after taking such heavy blows, they had not entirely lost their fighting capacity. Had it been the previous cultivators, that punch would have blasted them into dust.
Transforming into streaks of light, the three bolted hundreds of meters away in a flash, fleeing toward the exit of the mystic realm.
Seeing this, Lu Yuan's expression remained steady. He took a stride and rose into the air.
Soon, however, banners appeared before his eyes, exuding a strange power that sealed the eight directions and blocked his path.
"Troublesome," he murmured.
With a hum, the Daluo sword core appeared, chilling sword intent radiating from its blade. Gripping the sword core, Lu Yuan slashed down at the sealed sky.
Clang!
The sword sang clear and sharp. A brilliant sword beam flashed as if eternal.
Rip!
Beneath the sword radiance, the eight Three-Headed Heaven-Sealing Banners were torn apart. The locked-down space was freed, no longer bound.
Having cleared the way, Lu Yuan stowed the sword core and narrowed his eyes toward the direction the three prodigies had fled.
Today, he would kill them to the last!
Boom!
With a thought, his figure shot forward, breaking straight through the sound barrier.
Still, they were three sequence prodigies; their speed was extraordinarily fast, and they were already out of sight. To Lu Yuan, of course, this posed little problem. Under his Martial Dao Heavenly Eye, as long as they were not too far away, he could track them effortlessly.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Zhu Qingyu, Ice Fairy, Little Heavenly Master Chunyang, and the rest had all made considerable progress after days of tempering within the realm. They were currently heading toward the exit, intending to wait for Lu Yuan.
Before long, however, everyone sensed several turbulent auras and immediately looked up.
"It's the sequence prodigies of the three clans? Why are they coming this way? Could it be because of us?"
Ice Fairy looked into the distance and saw Lei Xuan and the other two, her face instantly draining of color. If those three attacked, not a single person present could stand against them.
"No... wait," Zhu Qingyu said after looking closer, stunned. "They look completely disheveled and injured. It doesn't seem like they're coming for us. In fact... are they fleeing?"
Chapter 152