Going It Alone, the Void Desolate Dragon Claw!

The waterfall roared.

The wind howled too!

Li Daochen stood proudly at the cliff's edge, his black robes snapping in the wind.

The prodigies around him were scared out of their wits. They backed away helplessly, none daring to utter a single harsh word.

At the sight of the corpses strewn across the ground, they had already been beaten into terror by Li Daochen.

"Ruthless, he's far too ruthless! Ordinary prodigies can't even stand up to a single exchange with him!"

"Run! If we don't run now, we'll all die!"

Cold sweat poured down their faces as they backed away a hundred zhang, facing Li Daochen all the while. Then they turned and fled madly.

Li Daochen watched coldly, making no move to pursue them.

He closed his eyes slightly and sensed wisps of presence steadily moving away from him.

This was one of the Sea of Bitterness Devil Phoenix Fist's special effects. Any enemy struck by this divine ability would retain traces of the Sea of Bitterness intent, and Li Daochen could use the divine ability to sense their approximate location.

Beat the useless ones to death; let the useful ones run.

Killing was nothing. Only by putting trash to use again could one be a proper Old Devil!

Li Daochen glanced back.

Clouds and mist veiled the mountains, which appeared and disappeared from view—a magnificent sight of mountains and rivers.

This place truly deserved its reputation as one of the Yunmeng Dragon Grotto's most famous sights.

But.

Li Daochen did not give it a second glance.

In his previous life, he had spent a thousand years on the move. Though the scenery along the way had been beautiful, he had never stopped.

This life would be the same.

Without another thought, Li Daochen fixed on a presence that was still moving and rushed after it at full speed.

Ten breaths later.

Li Daochen's figure had vanished completely.

Soon, two women swept over from afar. They were Nangong Meng'er and Zhu Lingye.

Looking at the corpses strewn across the ground, both women's expressions grew somewhat grave.

"Sure enough, my investigation wasn't wrong. This man is ruthless and cunning. Nine times out of ten, his earlier arrogance was an act." Nangong Meng'er's expression was also somewhat unpleasant.

She realized that Li Daochen had probably already seen through her methods and even used them to his advantage.

Zhu Lingye silently turned over a corpse. After a while, she said, "This man's strength is terrifying. Even with my Sacred Physique, I'm not confident I can kill him. Meng'er, are we still going to continue?"

Nangong Meng'er thought for a moment, then gritted her teeth. "Continue! I have the Yunmeng Like Smoke divine ability. There's no way he can detect us. He's killing so indiscriminately; he must have some goal. Let's follow him and wait until he shows an opening before we strike!"

After the two women had gone far away, another young man poked his head out. It was Lü Chunyang, who had earlier declared that he would kill Li Daochen.

He wiped away his cold sweat.

"Good thing I got lost and arrived a step late. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'd have been beaten to death too," Lü Chunyang muttered. He turned and ran in the opposite direction from Li Daochen.

He could do without killing a mere Lower Profound Sect prodigy!

Meanwhile, Li Daochen was pursuing the True Talisman Profound Sect's prodigy.

Presumably, the sect's prodigies had a way to contact one another. By following him, Li Daochen had a good chance of finding Xie Tianfu.

"I'm close to reaching the Divine Bridge Fifth Layer too!"

Li Daochen murmured to himself.

Having gained four divine abilities at the fourth layer, Li Daochen had begun to consider unlocking nine.

Cultivating this way should also help him achieve the great perfection of the Divine Bridge Peak and touch the Heaven and Earth Shackles.

"To touch the Heaven and Earth Shackles in this realm, it seems I have to condense a tenth Divine Bridge, something rarely seen in all the world. I never heard of anyone accomplishing it in my previous life. Presumably, it's incredibly difficult," Li Daochen thought.

The higher one's realm, the harder it was to touch the Heaven and Earth Shackles.

Li Daochen did not absolutely have to reach that level, but if it could be done, he would naturally try with everything he had.

"It's too early to think about that. First, I'll seize the fortune this place holds!"

The killing intent in Li Daochen's eyes grew stronger and stronger.

Since his rebirth, he had yet to kill to his heart's content.

The Thousand Sect Grand Competition was his chance!

Since they had come to participate, life and death were up to fate. The strong would live!

The southwestern part of the Dragon Grotto's first layer.

A mountain range stretched across the area, home to quite a few spirit beasts.

Suddenly.

A disheveled young man dodged a venomous snake's attack and, with a flick of his hand, snapped it in two.

"Too miserable," he murmured. He was not talking about the snake or himself, but the prodigies Li Daochen had beaten to death at the Heavenly River Great Waterfall.

If Li Daochen's power had not been so radiant and upright, he would have thought him a demonic cultivator.

"I'll find Senior Brother and have him beat that man to death! With what little strength I have, I'm no match for him at all!" the young man said through clenched teeth.

The young man was called Sun Yu, a prodigy of the True Talisman Profound Sect. The senior brother he spoke of was naturally Xie Tianfu!

Among those taking part in this Thousand Sect Grand Competition, Xie Tianfu's strength ranked in the top ten!

In Sun Yu's eyes, Xie Tianfu could definitely deal with Li Daochen!

Whoosh!

Sun Yu sped off in one direction.

Soon.

He found Xie Tianfu in a large mountain valley.

But Xie Tianfu was not alone. Qi Muyang and Qi Kongyue of the Nine Artifact Sect were there too, as were Lu Tianqiu and other prodigies of the Heavenly Wilds Sect.

They had gathered before a huge cave opening that faced the ground.

Sun Yu was startled. Seeing their solemn expressions, he lowered the shout that had been on the tip of his tongue.

"Sun Yu, what happened to you?" Xie Tianfu, whose appearance carried an air of authority even without anger, asked coldly.

"Senior Brother, I went to the Heavenly River Great Waterfall earlier, and then..." Sun Yu recounted what had happened.

The prodigies there were somewhat surprised to hear it.

"If he could beat Jiang Hanluan and Yu Jinshan to death, it seems Li Daochen is good for more than running his mouth," Lu Tianqiu said with a faint smile.

The Heavenly Wilds Sect's physiques were connected to ancient heavenly pythons, so its members all had a somewhat sinister, cold look. Lu Tianqiu was no exception.

He was surprised to hear this, but that was all.

He could have beaten those two to death as well!

Xie Tianfu frowned. "You want me to deal with him?"

"Uh..." For a moment, Sun Yu did not know what to say. "He... he should still be waiting at the Heavenly River Great Waterfall."

But Xie Tianfu waved the matter aside. "We'll talk about it later."

"What's the rush? Once we have time, we can just go beat him to death. We cultivators of the Upper Profound Sects can't very well let a piece of Lower Profound Sect trash kill indiscriminately without restraint, can we?" Qi Muyang said calmly.

He and Qi Kongyue were twins, their faces almost cast from the same mold.

The Nine Artifact Sect specialized in artifact refinement, and the two of them carried a great many treasures. It was said that each had a treasure that, when used together, could unleash the power of a half-step Saint Weapon. Their strength was formidable.

"Right, there's no hurry!" Lu Tianqiu chimed in. His pupils had narrowed like a python's, continuously contracting as he looked at the cave opening.

This was a treasured site discovered by the previous generation of disciples from their sects. The treasure had not yet emerged then, but they had recorded its location.

"The Sha Qi inside has mostly been driven away. Let's go in," Xie Tianfu suddenly said.

Then.

The group jumped in.

Soon, Li Daochen appeared.

"Just as I thought. This should be where that treasure is hidden." Li Daochen jumped in without hesitation as well.

Though there were many prodigies here, and they were far stronger than the group at the Heavenly River Great Waterfall.

But.

This was exactly what Li Daochen had come for. There was no way he would give up.

In the dim cave, Li Daochen crept forward without a sound.

Soon.

A light appeared ahead, accompanied by the sounds of battle.

They had already started fighting?

Li Daochen quickened his pace slightly.

The passage ahead suddenly opened into an enormous cavern.

Li Daochen looked over, and his pupils instantly contracted.

Directly ahead stood the enormous skeleton of a true dragon.

This... was a real dragon's skeleton!

Though a great deal of the power in the dragon bones had been lost over the long years.

But.

Even if only a thousandth remained, it was still an immense fortune!

What made Li Daochen's eyes light up was a dragon claw near the dragon's head.

The claw was dark red, completely unlike the snow-white skeleton. The space around it was faintly distorted, and it emanated a strange spatial power.

"A Saint Weapon, the Void Desolate Dragon Claw!" Li Daochen murmured, unable to keep himself from tightening his grip on the Dragon-Slaying Sword.