Gale-force winds swept past, Blade Qi howled.
The area before the former divine hall was in complete disarray. Heavily wounded figures lay everywhere, each one gripped by unprecedented terror, feeling as though they had been scraped by a tornado of Blade Qi.
"Run!"
"Get out of here!"
"Young Hero Lu, I bear you no ill will! I only came to watch the show!"
"I came to spread civilization. I am willing to be your friend..."
"Young Hero Lu, listen to my explanation..."
They screamed at all costs as they shot toward the skies, attempting to flee this place and rush into the Outer Realm.
Every one of them looked as though their souls were about to scatter.
They had no idea just how strong Lu Chen's cultivation was, but they could clearly sense that he was absolutely in the late stage Divine Spirit!
The seventh, eighth, and ninth levels of Divine Spirit could all be considered the late stage Divine Spirit!
Even across the Outer Realm Battlefield, such a realm was exceedingly rare!
This situation had thoroughly shattered their emotions.
Whether they were descendants of top aristocratic clans or disciples of sacred lands, all of them were now fleeing desperately.
They cursed and raged inwardly.
Lu Chen had previously worn the face of a petty man drunk on sudden success.
Who could have imagined that his cultivation was so terrifying?
But since Lu Chen had made his move, how could he possibly let them leave?
His gaze was clear yet indifferent.
Under the Martial Intent Heavenly Principles, everyone was riddled with flaws.
At this moment.
The people fleeing into the sky were like moths hurling themselves into flames.
BOOM!
Another overwhelmingly powerful slash hacked viciously downward.
The terrifying, dazzling Blade Qi descended from the heavens with an indescribable sense of destruction and suffocation, making everyone's bodies tremble again as they let out waves of agonized cries.
BANG BANG BANG BANG!
"Aah!"
Quite a few souls were slashed apart again, collapsing completely.
Yuwen Feng of the Yuwen Clan did not hesitate for even a moment. He hurriedly tossed out an exquisitely lifelike wooden carving.
Carved upon it was an old man in azure robes. He had an elegant expression, a noble bearing, and deep, dark eyes that gave people the illusion that he was an unparalleled sage.
One who held everything in his grasp.
One who saw through everything!
Sssh!
The instant the wooden carving was thrown out, it began to glow and rapidly expand, transforming directly into a towering, terrifying azure figure. It was entirely formed from divine light, its azure radiance hazy and its aura vast.
The moment it appeared, the aura of a top-tier Divine Spirit spread outward.
"The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao!"
"The name that can be named is not the eternal name!"
The azure-robed old man spoke a passage of ancient Dao sounds, wisdom gleaming in his eyes.
BOOM!
Heaven and earth changed, as though some mysterious force in the unseen had been affected. The entire Divine Mountain immediately trembled, every mountain body glowing as enormous runes condensed one after another and surged toward Lu Chen like an overwhelming tide.
It even gave Lu Chen a hazy illusion.
It was as though the countless runes rushing at him had suddenly transformed into a sky full of stars.
Suppressing everything!
Even Lu Chen frowned, feeling waves of intense pressure.
It was as if he had returned to the Yang Realm, where the powerful seal of heaven and earth suppressed all things.
Even his cultivation was affected.
But he made a decisive choice. Almost instantly, he drew the Hell Demon Sword and activated it. Deathly Killing Intent erupted forth, and the sky immediately turned black and crimson, as though the gates of hell had been flung open.
Heavenly Will Sword!
BOOM!
With one sword strike, all the netherworld and death power between heaven and earth swept over, as though a terrifying netherworld itself had smashed down.
All the runes shooting through the air rapidly collapsed and exploded.
The earlier illusion vanished completely.
The incomparably terrifying Sword Qi slashed fiercely against the azure figure.
An even more brilliant radiance immediately lit up across the azure figure's body.
"Nameless, the beginning of heaven and earth; named, the mother of all things..."
He continued to utter ancient Dao sounds.
But this time, they were utterly useless.
The defensive radiance over his body lasted only a brief moment before exploding on the spot. The terrifying Sword Qi then surged into the azure figure's body, covering its surface with countless cracks.
This ancient and mysterious treasure could no longer hold on. With a bang, it exploded completely.
With that brief obstruction, many souls scrambled and fled toward the skies.
Even more souls were seized by fear and fled in other directions across the Divine Mountain.
They knew Lu Chen had sealed off the sky, so they did not dare flee that way at all.
They could only hope to escape elsewhere and hide for the moment, praying that their reinforcements would arrive quickly.
Even now, the events of today still felt absurd beyond belief to them.
What exactly had happened to this fallen world?
Swoosh!
As Lu Chen's sword struck down, his left hand had already gripped his waist. A brilliant, dazzling sword light flashed from his waist and slashed at the souls rushing into the sky with extreme speed.
Sword Draw Slay Heavens Art!
"No!"
"Young Hero Lu, I am willing to be your friend!"
"Young Hero Lu, please spare me!"
"I come from a major Outer Realm faction! If you kill me, my family will never let you off!"
BANG BANG BANG BANG!
Like fireworks blooming.
The souls that had just risen into the air exploded again, their forms and spirits annihilated as they died miserable deaths.
Lines of Merit Points rapidly appeared.
Yuwen Feng was filled with terror. He had already fled toward the outskirts of the Divine Mountain along with the others.
Today, he had completely resigned himself to his fate.
The peerless treasure he had painstakingly obtained had actually been shattered by Lu Chen with a single sword strike!
That treasure had once helped him escape who knew how many deadly predicaments.
The Dao sounds upon it were profound and unfathomable; even his Master had praised them highly.
But today, it had been utterly shattered.
His entire heart convulsed with piercing pain.
Chaotic energy shot wildly in every direction through the sky.
Boundless gale-force winds roared and swept about.
Lu Chen walked through the area with an indifferent expression, his black coat gently rippling like flowing water amid the shockwaves.
The Golden Softsword and Hell Demon Sword had already been put away again.
"You ran quite fast, but with me here, where can you possibly escape to?"
Lu Chen's voice was calm.
He waved his hand.
Swish!
The people he had casually slain earlier were immediately summoned forth again by his Lord of the Netherworld talent.
"Go. Slaughter every one of those who escaped."
"Yes, my Lord!"
The group answered respectfully.
Then, led by Chu Yunxiao, they all chased into the distance.
Lu Chen's gaze fell on the mysterious treasure hall ahead, and a thoughtful look appeared on his face.
No wonder those people had only watched from the perimeter earlier rather than entering.
There was actually a seal outside this treasure hall as well.
As he stepped forward, he could clearly feel the dense rejection emanating from within the hall.
"It seems this treasure hall has not reached the time for its true unsealing. Only this Divine Mountain has been unsealed..."
Lu Chen frowned.
He focused his gaze and quietly activated the Karma Secret Art.
At once, threads appeared before his eyes, crisscrossing and glimmering with crystalline light.
The seal outside the treasure hall seemed to have been scanned by infrared rays. It emerged piece by piece, revealing itself before his eyes.
Originally, he could only see several dozen meters away, but under the Karma Secret Art, his vision instantly penetrated over five hundred meters.
Many walls and trees were directly pierced by his gaze.
Very soon, Lu Chen revealed a shocked expression.
A massive Dragon Vein had actually appeared within the treasure hall. Glowing with rosy light and containing immense energy, it writhed beneath the earth like an enormous true dragon.
All kinds of heavenly treasures grew upon the Dragon Vein.
At the very center was even a Divine Spring. The entire spring shone with dazzling light like the sun.
"The energy within this Divine Spring is astonishing. It is quite rare."
A bold idea surfaced in his mind. With a casual wave of his hand, he unleashed the Chaos Returns to Origin Sword Array, driving it into the grand formation outside the treasure hall like needles slipping through cracks.
He was attempting to exploit its flaws, just as he had done in the underwater Dragon Palace before.
As strands of Sword Qi pierced downward, the surrounding rejection truly weakened bit by bit, as though it had been isolated.
Lu Chen's eyes blazed. Suppressing the agitation in his heart, he began to increase his speed.
Just like that.
He advanced step by step, breaking the formation step by step.
Before he realized it, he had completely entered the place.
This greatly encouraged him.
Meanwhile.
The people who had escaped earlier were equally unable to calm themselves. Their hearts were frantic, filled with fear and tension, as they desperately used their tokens to contact the Outer Realm and warn its people not to descend recklessly.
They wanted to spread the news that Lu Chen had reached the late stage Divine Spirit.
Yet upon this immense Divine Mountain, every means of communication on them seemed to have lost its effect.
All their messages vanished like clay oxen entering the sea, without a single reply.
This filled every one of them with terror beyond the limit.
They could hardly imagine what fate awaited the others from their sects after they descended.
That Lu Chen was a monster beyond all reason!
He had completely become a demon, become a devil.
Rumble!
Sure enough, amid the survivors' tension and terror, lights intertwined in the sky as more powerful figures began crossing realms one after another.
Without the suppression of the world, figures descended upon the Divine Mountain like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
"It's over! They've come down!"
"Don't come over! Run! Hurry up and run!"
"That Lu Chen is a monster! Run for your lives!"
Many people wailed.
But the descending figures seemed not to hear their voices at all.
Each one seemed godlike and devilish, their expressions cold, their bodies emanating the aura of a Devil Master as they continued their descent.
Suddenly, Chu Yunxiao led a group of experts to discover the remaining survivors on the ground. Without a word, they immediately charged over and launched their attack.
"Chu Yunxiao, you're actually not dead?"
"Have you gone mad? What are you doing?"
"Chu Yunxiao, you dare attack me?"
"No, something is wrong! They seem to have all become puppets!"
The survivors screamed in terror.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM...
Chaotic battle erupted once more, blazing with light.
The descending figures seemed not to notice any of it. Their auras were cold and domineering, like heavenly soldiers and generals high above, their eyes firmly fixed on the divine hall below.
"What a magnificent divine hall—its grandeur stretches beyond measure, its light burns fiercely, and it contains heaven-shaking fortune!"
"Unless I am mistaken, this divine hall appears to be the core of the entire Divine Mountain!"
"Refine the divine temple and seize its providence!"
The descendents spoke coldly.
Rumble...
Heaven-shaking, earth-shattering waves erupted one after another.
At last, those descendents had completely descended in a god-and-devil-like posture.
There were even more of them than before.
Their gazes were icy as they swept across the surroundings.
"There is a restriction around the divine temple, repelling our bodies!"
A tall figure spoke with a frown.
He possessed Divine Spirit Fourth Level strength and had rushed over from a distant region, which was why he had arrived later than the first batch of descendents.
"So what if there is a restriction? If we join forces, we can break this place wide open!"
The second figure spoke coldly.
He wore a blue robe, noble and luxurious, with peerless bearing.
Clearly, he had also attained heaven-defying achievements in the art of the soul.
Suddenly, someone frowned again and stared toward the divine temple, his pupils shrinking. "Something is wrong. There is someone inside the divine temple. That is... Lu Chen!"
"What? Lu Chen?"
The descendents were startled, their gazes turning sharp as they immediately focused and swept their eyes over.
Very quickly, they saw an exceedingly blurry figure standing in the deepest part of the divine temple. Divine light flickered all around him, as though he were refining something.
"It really is him!"
"Courting death! That native actually ran inside!"
"Damn it, native, get out here!"
"Bastard, get out here!"
The many descendents flew into a rage and shouted toward the inside.
Some even erupted with blazing light and blasted toward the front.
Terrifying ripples rang out in succession, rumbling without end.
The commotion outside jolted Lu Chen awake from the baptism of absorbing the Divine Spring. He frowned and looked back.
He immediately discovered that, at some unknown time, many descendents had appeared outside the divine temple again.
There were great numbers of them, nearly twice as many as before.
Many of them were attacking, continuously trying to break the formation.
Lu Chen remained expressionless as he sensed the energy within his body.
These Divine Springs truly were formidable.
He had only absorbed them for a short while, yet the bottleneck of his original realm already showed faint signs of loosening once more.
More importantly, there was his physical body.
At this very moment, he almost felt as if his flesh had become holy.
If I absorb this Divine Spring for a long time, the benefits will be boundless. I might even break through again!
Lu Chen thought to himself.
This area truly was a blessed land.
Moreover, he had examined it carefully.
This divine peak occupied a peculiar position in the middle of the Sword Realm. It seemed to be the ancestral core vein of the entire Sword Realm, nourishing the whole realm.
He looked toward the Dragon Vein farther ahead.
In the deepest part of that Dragon Vein, a figure seemed to be sleeping, utterly motionless. Its aura was terrifying; merely looking at it gave him the feeling that his soul would scatter and fly away.
"Who is that?"
Lu Chen was secretly astonished.
Someone was actually sleeping within the Dragon Vein?
In the end, he slowly retreated.
He planned to deal with the newly arrived enemies first, then return to slowly absorb the divine liquid.
This divine temple seemed to hold many secrets, ones that would be difficult to see through in a short time.
"Native, get out here!"
"Bastard, come out and meet your death!"
Angry shouts rang out one after another from outside.
Before you continue