Taking a Loss
Rumble!!
Before the shockwave subsided, Chen Fan landed steadily atop a collapsed, isolated peak in the very center of Copper Furnace Fortress.
The boy's clothes were torn in several places, revealing his bronze skin, which was as white as jade yet indestructible.
With a smile playing on his lips, the Broken Saber pointed diagonally at the Firmament. The gray Qi and Blood surging around him not only did not weaken, but became even more intense and scorching after the fierce clash, like a newborn savage sun rising over ruins.
A thousand feet away, the Void trembled.
The Redfire Old Monster's cloak was torn apart by the shockwave, his red beard was charred black, and his face twitched violently.
The Mountain-Shaking Venerable's arms trembled slightly, and blood seeped from the mouth of his hands.
The Wind-Splitting Swordsman clutched his shattered armor, his face deathly pale.
Three Eighth-Order giants who had ruled the Red Rock Main City for hundreds of years joined forces, but were actually repelled head-on by an unknown ten-year-old barbarian boy!
Humiliation! Outrage!
Even more chilling is the kind of dread that seeps into your very bones!
"This child is no ordinary body cultivator; his Qi and Blood contain the two extremes of Yin-Yang, life and death, which are unfathomable..."
The Redfire Old Monster stared intently at Chen Fan, his voice dry and hoarse, suppressing a boundless killing intent.
The Mountain-Shaking Venerable and the Wind-Splitting Swordsman exchanged a glance, their previously arrogant and scornful eyes now completely replaced by solemnity and madness.
If this brat is allowed to leave, the Red Rock Main City will have no place to stand within three years!
"Gentlemen, we cannot let him live today."
The Redfire Old Monster took a deep breath, a look of determination and heartache flashing in his eyes. He suddenly bit his tongue, and a mouthful of blood containing the essence of Eighth-Order Peak life force spurted out.
Without the slightest hesitation, the Mountain-Shaking Venerable and the Wind-Splitting Swordsman beside him bit their tongues at the same time, and the three streams of blood essence merged and fused in mid-air.
Buzz!!
An ancient, tattered animal hide, exuding an aura of vicissitude, slowly emerged from the depths of the Redfire Old Monster's brow.
On the tattered scroll, crimson, yellow, and cyan blood-red runes writhed wildly like snakes, and a terrifying aura of destruction far exceeding the Eighth-Order revived from the tattered scroll!
"You little bastard, you managed to force us to unleash this incomplete scroll of the Redrock Sect's founding divine array, the Three-Aspect Heaven-Burning Fragment. Even if your Divine Soul are annihilated, you have every right to be proud!"
The Redfire Old Monster sneered coldly, his hands forming a hand seal. The ancient formation swelled in the wind, pressing down and blotting out the sky!
The heavens are mourning.
The tattered animal hide scroll unfurled in the air, its crimson, earthy yellow, and cyan rays tearing wildly at the spiritual energy.
The Void collapsed inch by inch, and the runes converged into a three-legged cauldron that stood a thousand feet tall, which slammed down on the solitary peak of Copper Furnace Fortress.
Thousands of fiery waterfalls cascaded down around the giant cauldron, pressing down on the black iron ore on the ground and turning it directly into liquid.
This strike had already crossed the Eighth-Order limit and vaguely touched the threshold of the Ninth Tier power.
"Youngster, you've forced the three of us to burn half of our life essence; you can die in peace even in hell!"
Redfire Old Monster, his face contorted in a maniacal laugh.
Both the Mountain-Shaking Venerable and the Wind-Splitting Swordsman were sluggish, their eyes filled with a frenzied killing intent.
"Old man, if you can't win, you tear up your own family's assets? Is it a family tradition in Red Rock City to flip the table when you can't win?"
With a blade of grass stuffed in his mouth, Chen Fan's expression completely changed, abandoning his previous playful demeanor.
That giant cauldron locked down the area within a hundred miles.
The pure Destruction Law coursed through the cauldron; an ordinary Eighth-Order Peak cultivator would have been instantly refined into a pool of pus and blood.
We can't tough it out.
This Mortal World Clone is still shallow in its foundation; if it is suppressed head-on, it will undoubtedly be destroyed.
"Want to take me in? Let's see if your appetite is tough enough!"
Chen Fan spat out the grass stem, and the water, fire, Qi and Blood in his body were completely reversed.
The Blackwater Totem roared, and the fiery Fire Crows cried out.
Two completely opposite forces collided violently in his Meridians, Life-and-Death Millstone in his palm suddenly shrank, transforming into a solid disc the size of a palm, suspended above the Broken Saber blade.
"Open the Kun Position Wind Eye!"
Chen Fan stepped on the gravel, his figure leaving a twisted blood trail. Instead of retreating, he charged forward towards the extremely fine line of blue and yellow at the southeast of the giant cauldron.
That was the point where the formation was sluggish due to the insufficient essence and blood of the Wind-Splitting Swordsman.
Boom!
The Broken Saber collided with the three-colored divine cauldron.
There was no stalemate, only a pure explosion of power.
The Life-and-Death Millstone exploded at the tip of the blade, tearing a three-foot-wide gash in the array pattern.
But at the same instant, the raging Three-Aspect True Fire surged back up the blade like a raging torrent.
The blazing lava fire and the raging, tearing Wind Blade and blades instantly engulfed Chen Fan.
The muffled sounds of flesh and blood tearing apart were drowned out by the thunderous roar.
Chen Fan's protective true energy shattered into dust like Glazed Crystal, and his lower body and left ribs were instantly torn into blood mist by the violent Earth Vein True Fire.
The excruciating pain shot straight to my Divine Soul.
"Walk!"
Chen Fan remained unfazed. Taking advantage of the massive shockwave caused by the collapse of the great formation, he gripped the Broken Saber tightly in his right hand, and the last remaining Qi and Blood in his body transformed into a sharp, bloody light, shooting out through the torn opening.
Faster than lightning, it vanished in the blink of an eye into the vast wilderness.
High in the sky, the giant cauldron collapsed with a deafening roar.
A burst of spiritual light exploded, and the three tattered animal hides transformed back into withered leaves and fell to the ground.
The Redfire Old Monster spat out a mouthful of black blood three zhang away, and his body swayed as he fell from mid-air, only to be caught by the pale-faced Mountain-Shaking Venerable.
"Chase... chase after them!" the Redfire Old Monster roared hoarsely.
"I can't keep up." The Wind-Splitting Swordsman's longsword broke, and he shook his head bitterly. "My life essence is exhausted; if I take another step, my Golden Core will shatter on the spot."
The Mountain-Shaking Venerable stared intently at the direction Chen Fan had fled, his chest heaving violently.
"He suffered a backlash from the great formation; half of his body was destroyed. Even a god couldn't save him. Return to the city and dispatch men to search the mountain!"
The former site of the Black Fiend Gate, on the mountain path behind the mountain.
Several veteran hunters from the Fire Crow Tribe, who were on patrol, were changing shifts, carrying long spears.
Suddenly, a charred, blood-red shadow streaked across the sky and crashed heavily onto the bluestone plaza in front of the mountain gate.
Boom!
Shattered rocks and collapsing clouds.
"Be on alert! Enemy attack!"
The veteran hunters instantly leveled their spears, and the Totem Power surged forth.
Wang Dafu scrambled out of the side hall, clutching an account book tightly in his arms.
"Which fool dares to come and cause trouble? Don't they know our leader..."
The words got stuck in my throat.
As the smoke and dust cleared, the scene in the center of the pit was revealed.
That's hardly a complete person.
Chen Fan lay at the bottom of the pit, his entire left arm and half of his body charred black, his legs completely gone, his abdomen revealing stark white bones, and his chest rising and falling slightly.
Broken Saber lay beside him, its blade riddled with cracks.
"The... leader?!"
The ledger in Wang Dafu's hand fell to the ground with a thud. He was so frightened that his fat body trembled, and he knelt down with a thud.
Several veteran hunters turned deathly pale, their eyes instantly turning red. They dropped their weapons and rushed forward, shouting, "Quick! Call the priest! Bring the best herbs!"
"What's all the noise about?"
Chen Fan half-opened his eyes, coughing up a clump of charred blood from the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse, "I'm not dead yet, who are you trying to waile for?"
A jumble of footsteps sounded.
A thin figure stumbled and ran out of the inner courtyard.
Seeing the horrific scene on the ground, Chen Fan's mother's legs went weak, and she knelt down in the rubble and mud. Her hands trembled as she tried to hug him, but she couldn't find a single patch of undamaged flesh. Tears streamed down her face like a broken dam.
"Fan'er... my Fan'er... how could this happen... who did this!"
The woman wept uncontrollably, her heart aching so much she felt like she was suffocating.