The Might of a Venerate, Renowned Throughout Sacred Pill City

Xiao Chen's words were like icy steel needles, piercing everyone's eardrums.

"Just you?"

"You're not qualified."

He actually dared to utter such arrogant words before a Five Star Dou Venerate?!

Across the plaza, countless people sucked in cold breaths, wondering if Xiao Chen had gone mad. Even if he had displayed extraordinary strength before, a Five Star Dou Venerate was a giant capable of founding a sect and dominating an entire region even in the Central Plains!

The black mist around the Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerate in the sky churned violently like boiling water. He was clearly furious to the extreme. Ever since becoming a Heavenly Venerate, when had he ever suffered such contempt? Especially from someone who appeared so young!

"You arrogant brat! Today, I'll show you what it means to know the immensity of heaven and earth!"

The Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerate roared, forming seals with both hands. Vast black Dou Qi surged forth like a tide, condensing behind him into the phantom of a massive black skeleton! Green ghostfire flickered within its eye sockets, emitting terrifying fluctuations that seemed capable of devouring souls!

"Myriad Souls Devour Heaven Palm!"

The skeleton phantom let out a silent roar. A gigantic black palm that blotted out the sky descended viciously upon the area where Xiao Chen and Xiao Yan stood, carrying countless distorted, wailing soul phantoms as though it had come from the netherworld. Wherever its palm wind passed, space collapsed inch by inch, revealing pitch-black void. Its terrifying might caused many spectators below the Dou Zong realm to collapse limply to the ground!

This single palm strike was enough to level nearly half of Sacred Pill City's plaza!

"Be careful!" Xiao Yan's face turned deathly pale. Before such an attack, he felt as insignificant as an ant.

Xuan Kongzi, Xuan Yi, and Tian Lei Zi all changed expressions at once, preparing to join forces and stop it. Though they were powerful, they still had to treat an enraged strike from a Five Star Dou Venerate with utmost seriousness.

Yet Xiao Chen, standing at the center of the storm, remained as calm as ever. He did not even look at the world-destroying giant palm, his gaze still fixed steadily upon the Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerate within the black mist.

Only when the giant palm was about to strike him, when the terrifying wind pressure had already whipped his green robes into loud flapping, did he slowly raise his right hand.

There was no dazzling radiance of Dou Qi, no earth-shaking eruption of power.

He merely spread his fingers slightly and gave the crushing black palm a gentle squeeze.

The movement was soft, as though he were trying to catch a falling snowflake.

"Shatter."

With a single word, reality obeyed!

The Myriad Souls Devour Heaven Palm, containing the full-force strike of a Five Star Dou Venerate and capable of destroying mountains, abruptly froze when it was still thirty meters above Xiao Chen's head!

Then, beneath countless stunned gazes, the enormous black palm and the innumerable soul phantoms upon it became like fragile porcelain gripped by an invisible giant hand. Dense cracks instantly spread across their surface!

"Crack... crack..."

A dense series of teeth-grating fractures rang out.

The next moment—

"Boom!!!"

With a muffled explosion, the sky-covering palm shattered completely! It turned into the purest black motes of energy, drifting down like black snowflakes before vanishing entirely between heaven and earth without even reaching the ground!

There was no energy shockwave, no spatial storm.

There was only an absolute, tyrannical, suffocating... control and annihilation!

A full-force strike from a Five Star Dou Venerate had been... crushed barehanded?!

Dead Silence!

Absolute Dead Silence!

Throughout the entire Myriad Medicine Plaza, hundreds of thousands of people seemed to have stopped breathing.

Every expression froze in place, filled with absurdity and disbelief.

Cao Ying's seductive peach-blossom eyes widened round, her red lips slightly parted wide enough to fit an egg.

Dan Chen covered her mouth tightly with her small hands, her watery eyes filled with shock.

Although Han Yue had faith in Xiao Chen, witnessing him so effortlessly crush a Five Star Dou Venerate still set her heart trembling. Brilliant light nearly overflowed from her cool eyes.

Tang Huo'er had somehow appeared at the edge of a Viewing Platform as well. Looking at the green-robed figure in the sky, unprecedentedly fierce fighting intent burned in her beautiful eyes, along with a trace of... fluttering emotion that even she had not noticed.

On the high platform, Xuan Kongzi and the other two exchanged glances, each seeing profound shock in the others' eyes. Crushing a Five Star Dou Venerate's full-force attack barehanded—such strength... a Seven Star Dou Venerate? Or perhaps... an Eight Star?!

The Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerate in the sky twisted the black mist around him violently and let out a shocked, furious shriek. "Impossible! You... who exactly are you?!"

He could neither understand nor accept it! How could someone so young possess such terrifying strength?!

Xiao Chen slowly withdrew his hand, as though he had merely done something insignificant. He raised his eyes, his gaze piercing through the black mist as if he could see the Heavenly Venerate's horrified soul.

"Who I am is not important."

"What matters is that you touched someone you shouldn't have."

Xiao Chen's voice remained calm, but the icy killing intent within it caused the surrounding temperature to plummet.

He took one step forward, his figure crossing several hundred meters in an instant like a ghost and appearing before the Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerate.

"Spatial traversal?! So proficient?!" The Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerate was scared out of his wits and instinctively tried to tear open space to flee.

However, the space around him had already become tens of thousands of times more solid than black iron! He felt as though he had fallen into a swamp, unable to move even a single step!

"You struck once just now." Xiao Chen looked at him as though looking at a corpse. "Now, take one finger from me."

He extended the index finger of his right hand. That wisp of Chaos-Colored Flame emerged at his fingertip once more. This time, the flame was no longer weak. It emitted a terrifying aura that threw the energy of heaven and earth into disorder and made souls tremble!

"Annihilation Finger."

With one finger extended, the winds and clouds changed color!

The space before his fingertip collapsed layer by layer like fragile glass. A Chaos-colored finger beam silently tore through the air, and wherever it passed, all things returned to the Return to Void!

The Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerate let out a desperate roar, frantically mobilizing all his Dou Qi and Soul Power to create layer upon layer of black defenses before himself.

Yet before that Chaos finger beam, every defense was as flimsy as paper, easily pierced through and annihilated!

The finger beam struck precisely upon the Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerate's chest.

"Urgh..."

The Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerate's movements abruptly froze. The black mist around him instantly dispersed, revealing the pale, terrified face of a middle-aged man. He lowered his head and looked at the inconspicuous little hole in his chest, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The next moment, his body became like a weathered sand sculpture. Countless cracks rapidly spread from that small hole, and then, with a "boom," he shattered completely into motes of light. Not even a fragment of his soul remained!

A Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerate at the level of a Five Star Dou Venerate had fallen!

Body and soul utterly destroyed!

From the moment Xiao Chen acted until the Heavenly Venerate's death, the entire process had taken only a few breaths.

Between heaven and earth, only the residual destructive aura of the Chaos finger beam and the energy motes drifting through the air, not yet fully dissipated, bore witness to that earth-shattering scene.

Xiao Chen stood suspended in the air, his green robes fluttering, spotless and untouched by dust. He slowly withdrew his finger, as though he had merely crushed a noisy fly to death.

His gaze swept across the silent plaza below, across the dumbfounded spectators, before finally landing on the pale-faced Xiao Yan. He gave a slight nod.

Then he turned around and took a step. Amid Spatial Fluctuation, he had already returned to the Han Family's Viewing Platform and sat back down beside Han Yue as though he had never left.

Only then did frozen time seem to start flowing again.

"Gulp..." Someone swallowed with difficulty.

Immediately afterward, an uproar like a volcanic eruption thundered throughout all of Sacred Pill City!

"A Five Star Heavenly Venerate... was... was killed instantly?!"

"One finger! Just one finger! That was a Five Star Dou Venerate!"

"Who exactly is this Xiao Chen?! Just how powerful is he?!"

"With a brother like Xiao Chen... who would dare provoke Xiao Yan?!"

Countless cries of alarm, discussions, and horrified exclamations intertwined into a massive wave of sound that nearly overturned the sky.

After today, the name "Xiao Chen" would no longer be associated merely with "mysterious alchemist" or "Xiao Yan's brother." Instead, it would be deeply branded into the hearts of every faction in the Central Plains through absolute, overwhelming power! A young expert capable of instantly killing a Five Star Dou Venerate carried enough weight to shake and intimidate any faction!

Cao Ying looked at the green-robed figure who had returned to his seat. Her alluring face held an incomparably complicated expression, which ultimately turned into a soft sigh and an even deeper curiosity... along with admiration she had yet to examine herself.

Dan Chen's little face was flushed red as she looked at Xiao Chen, her sparkling eyes filled with worship.

Tang Huo'er clenched her fists tightly, the fighting intent in her eyes nearly becoming tangible. "Xiao Chen... I'll definitely catch up to you!"

Xiao Yan looked at his brother, his heart filled with pride and warmth, while even stronger motivation surged within him. He wanted to grow stronger—strong enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with his brother, rather than remain forever sheltered beneath his wings!

Xuan Kongzi and the other two giants looked at Xiao Chen with incomparably grave expressions. This child was no ordinary figure! The skies of the Central Plains would likely change because of him.

Soul Hall's scheme had been crushed, and a Five Star Heavenly Venerate had fallen. It was foreseeable that Soul Hall would not let the matter rest. An even greater storm was brewing.

And Xiao Chen had already established his supreme prestige in Sacred Pill City!

The might of a Venerate, renowned throughout Sacred Pill City!