Freedom

Xie Lang was, after all, a Half-Step to the Innate Realm expert, and his reactions were extremely fast. Facing that heavy punch, he kicked off with both feet and flew backward.

But Luo Zheng's punch was too fast and still struck Xie Lang head-on. Though Xie Lang had shed half its force by retreating, the remaining power still made his blood and qi churn. After landing, Xie Lang spat out a mouthful of blood and said with a complicated expression, "You're not dead?"

"Thanks to you, I'm not dead yet!" Luo Zheng said, clenching his fists. He was secretly alarmed as well. He had stepped into the Viscera Refining Realm, and his strength had reached the power of three cauldrons. With the power awakened by the dragon scale on the Azure Dragon relief, his strength had more than doubled. In that punch just now, he had nearly mobilized all the strength in his body, intending to catch Xie Lang off guard and kill him with one blow.

He had not expected Xie Lang's reaction to be so fast. In almost an instant, he had evaded that highly threatening punch.

Compared to Luo Zheng, Xie Lang was even more shocked. This kid was merely in the Viscera Refining Realm. Such strength was not worth mentioning and should have been easy to capture, yet after being tossed into the Smelting Furnace and refined, how had his strength suddenly surged so dramatically?

If he had not dodged that punch quickly enough, he might have been beaten to death by this kid.

"Where is my Karma Fire Sword?" Xie Lang demanded. Compared to anything else, he cared most about his treasure.

Luo Zheng smiled, spread his hands toward Xie Lang, and bared two rows of white teeth. "Of course, I ate it!"

"You ate it?" Disbelief appeared on Xie Lang's face. A High-Grade Profound Artifact was incomparably hard. How could a person possibly eat it? Yet this kid was naked from head to toe, with nowhere to hide the Karma Fire Sword, and the Smelting Furnace was empty as well. There was not even a shadow of his Karma Fire Sword anywhere.

Xie Lang roared furiously, "Where exactly did my Karma Fire Sword go?"

"I already said I ate it..." Luo Zheng felt that he was telling the truth. The Karma Fire Sword had been refined by the Black Flame into Iron Essence, then devoured by the Azure Dragon in his mind. It could indeed be considered that he had "eaten" it.

"Fine. Since you said you ate it, I'll cut open your belly and see whether it's really inside!" The moment he spoke, Xie Lang shot forward. His hands, as withered as dead branches, clawed toward Luo Zheng's chest. He actually intended to rip open Luo Zheng's stomach alive.

How could Luo Zheng allow Xie Lang to get his hands on him so easily? After being tempered by true fire, his body's strength had risen once more. His body was now comparable to a Middle Grade Profound Artifact. He shifted his feet lightly, and as he exerted force, the bones throughout his body exploded with sharp cracks that echoed through the Mountain Cave like Tathagata, as if bolts of Startling Thunder were crashing one after another, deafening the ears.

Rosewood Inch Strength!

In a head-on clash, Luo Zheng feared nothing now. In terms of physical strength, Luo Zheng possessed the body of a Mysterious Artifact. After being seared by true fire, it was even comparable to a Middle Grade Profound Artifact. In terms of power, although he was only in the Viscera Refining Realm, with the strength awakened by a dragon scale, he was no weaker than even a Half-Step to the Innate Realm expert!

Moreover, Xie Lang had used his Origin True Fire to burn him for ten hours, nearly an entire day and night. The strength in his entire body had already been exhausted. He was a powerful crossbow at the end of its flight.

Just as the two were about to collide, Xie Lang suddenly twisted his body aside. At incredible speed, he drew an arc through the air and slashed over with a hand blade!

Flame Blade!

Clang!

A Half-Step to the Innate Realm expert possessed astonishing strength, and Xie Lang's strike also carried the burning force of his Origin True Fire. This hand blade actually cleaved open a crack in Luo Zheng's skin.

Both Luo Zheng and Xie Lang were greatly shocked!

What shocked Xie Lang was that Luo Zheng's body was actually this hard. In Xie Lang's memory, not even the bodies of those special races from the wildlands could be so hard. His Flame Blade contained the power of his true fire; even steel sinews and iron bones could be split apart with one slash.

Yet when that strike had landed on Luo Zheng, cutting through his skin and striking his bones, it had produced the sound of clashing gold and iron. What was going on? Could it be that this kid's body was itself a Mysterious Artifact?

What surprised Luo Zheng was that Xie Lang still possessed such swift speed under these circumstances. He could not catch Xie Lang's figure at all.

"Hmph. So what if your body is hard? You are only in the Viscera Refining Realm. Today, you are destined to die here. Then I'll refine your body; perhaps I can make up for my losses!" As soon as Xie Lang finished speaking, he charged down at Luo Zheng again, trailing a string of afterimages.

Clang!

Another gash appeared on Luo Zheng's body, and blood flowed freely.

Crash!

Bang!

Every time Xie Lang launched a charge at Luo Zheng, another horrifying wound appeared on his body.

The situation was extremely unfavorable for Luo Zheng. Though his body was terrifyingly strong now, Xie Lang relied on his speed advantage to attack him without pause. Luo Zheng had no chance of victory and would be worn to death by Xie Lang.

Under such circumstances, he could only take a risk!

Luo Zheng suddenly closed his eyes and let his hands hang at his sides, looking as though he had completely given up resisting.

Since he could not catch Xie Lang at all, no matter how hard he tried, it would be futile.

"Giving up already?" Xie Lang was also a battle-hardened man. Seeing Luo Zheng like this, he did not lower his guard. Instead, he struck Luo Zheng twice more with Flame Blade at extremely high speed, leaving two more wounds on Luo Zheng's body.

"Hehe, let's see how long you can endure!"

With a piercing laugh, Xie Lang lunged at Luo Zheng again. This time, he appeared to be planning another slash, but the instant he neared Luo Zheng, he darted behind Luo Zheng's head. Blossoms of lotus-like blazing fire ignited in his hands.

With another burst of shrill laughter, Xie Lang twisted his hands toward Luo Zheng's head. He actually intended to wrench Luo Zheng's head off alive.

Here it comes!

At that critical moment, Luo Zheng's eyes snapped open. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for. In an instant, he raised both arms to protect his head.

The moment Xie Lang's hands touched Luo Zheng's arms, Luo Zheng twisted both hands backward and firmly locked onto Xie Lang's arms, which were as thin as firewood sticks. Then he roared, "Get down here!"

Bang!

Under the impact of that enormous force, Luo Zheng slammed Xie Lang onto the ground. The cave floor was made of hard stone, but it could not withstand such power. The ground split in all directions, sinking into a Great Pit.

Xie Lang still struggled desperately, trying to crawl out of the Great Pit, but Luo Zheng gave him no chance. Xie Lang was too fast. If he climbed out, Luo Zheng feared he would never catch him again. He had only one chance!

Like a maddened beast, Luo Zheng threw punch after punch. Every punch carried several thousand jin of force as he smashed desperately into the pit. Only after throwing dozens of punches in succession did he finally stop.

He panted heavily and looked at Xie Lang lying amid the shattered stones in the pit, no longer showing any sign of life.

Using the strength of the Viscera Refining Realm to deal with a Half-Step to the Innate Realm expert had still been far too difficult.

Xie Lang had exhausted all the true fire within his body, and Luo Zheng had even succeeded in ambushing him.

Yet even under such circumstances, he had still been able to fight back. If Luo Zheng's reaction had been even a little slower just now, and Xie Lang had twisted his neck, then the one lying on the ground now would probably have been Luo Zheng.

The twists and turns of life were as unpredictable as shifting clouds.

That notorious Innate Realm expert had ultimately been beaten to death alive by him.

After calming himself, Luo Zheng went to inspect the eight living people on the Smelting Furnace. Their flesh and blood had been completely sucked dry, and they had long since become corpses.

He then inspected the iron cages. Only when he drew near did he discover that the people inside had all been roasted alive by Xie Lang's true fire. Their deaths were too horrifying to bear witness to.

Luo Zheng silently mourned for them, then wandered around the vast Mountain Cave twice. Other than some worthless scraps of metal, he found nothing.

That should not have been the case. Artifact refiners were generally quite wealthy, especially a famous artifact refiner like Xie Lang. He could not possibly have been so poor.

After searching for a long while, Luo Zheng seemed to remember something. He turned back and dragged Xie Lang's corpse out of the Great Pit. Xie Lang's skeleton-like body had already been smashed beyond recognition by Luo Zheng's immense strength. There was not a single intact place on his body.

Yet Luo Zheng's gaze fell upon Xie Lang's right hand. On the middle finger of that hand was a blackish ring.

With a thought, he took the ring, and a cold awareness flowed along his finger.

Sure enough, it was a Sumeru Ring.

A Sumeru Ring contained a space within it and could store all things in the world.

Such Sumeru Rings were exceptionally precious. Even the smallest Sumeru Ring was worth as much as a High-Grade Profound Artifact.

Not even the Luo Family had ever possessed such a treasure.

Though Luo Zheng had never seen one before, he had encountered descriptions of such miraculous objects in countless books.

Now that Xie Lang was dead and his soul had dispersed, this Sumeru Ring had become an ownerless object.

With a slight movement of his consciousness, it merged with the thread of cold Divine Sense transmitted from the ring. Then Luo Zheng glimpsed the items contained within it.

The space inside this Sumeru Ring was not particularly large. By estimation, it was roughly several meters wide and belonged to the lowest grade of Sumeru Rings. But there were truly quite a few things inside.

First were all kinds of precious ores used for artifact refining, such as refined iron, Red Seal Stone, Blood Amber Steel, and other ores. They were stacked neatly in a corner. To artifact refiners, these ores were extremely precious treasures and could fetch a considerable price outside.

Beside the ores was a pile of transparent crystals. Luo Zheng recognized these crystals. They were called Square Crystal Stones, commonly known as square crystals.

These square crystals were the true currency of the empire. Gold and silver were merely currencies used by ordinary people for trade, but to true cultivators, gold was as worthless as dung. Square crystals, however, were different!

These highly regular Square Crystal Stones stored pure true qi within them. They were essential to experts who had entered the Innate Secret Realm.

Because Square Crystal Stones were easy to cut and convenient to carry, they had gradually become the currency used by cultivators in this world.

Luo Zheng gave them a rough count. There were no fewer than several hundred Square Crystal Stones stacked neatly together. This was a huge fortune.

Besides that, several treasures were placed on the other side: a longsword gleaming with an enchanting light, a blood-colored warhammer, and so on. Judging by their grades, these treasures were not low-ranked either, likely Low-Grade Mysterious Artifacts and Middle Grade Mysterious Artifacts.

On the other side of the Sumeru Space were various artifact-refining books, unknown medicinal pills, and a pile of miscellaneous items scattered about.

However, Luo Zheng's gaze was drawn to a flying knife within that pile of miscellaneous items.

That flying knife was extremely old. Its surface was pitted and uneven, more than half its handle had broken away, and its blade was completely curled. Some places were even charred black, making it look terribly damaged.

Yet such a Broken Flying Knife emitted an exceptionally strange aura. It was this special aura that strongly attracted Luo Zheng. This Broken Flying Knife was definitely no ordinary item!

With a thought, Luo Zheng took the Broken Flying Knife out of the Sumeru Ring and played with it in his hand for a while. The aura it gave off became even clearer—sharp, as though it could cut through everything in the world.

For a treasure like this, even after being destroyed to such a state, to retain such an acute aura meant that its grade was likely unimaginably high. Xie Lang had also known that this flying knife was no ordinary object. He had probably lacked the ability to repair it, which was why he had stored it in the Sumeru Ring.

Even Xie Lang had been unable to repair it, so Luo Zheng likely had no way to do so for now either. After examining it for a while, he placed the flying knife back into the Sumeru Ring and headed outside the cave.

Following the winding, spiraling passage all the way to the cave's outermost point, Luo Zheng stepped onto the great tree and began climbing forcefully toward the top of the cliff. The cliff face was dotted with protruding barbs along the way, making it not too difficult to climb. After borrowing force several times, Luo Zheng quickly climbed to the mountaintop.

Standing atop the cliff, Luo Zheng took a deep breath of fresh air. Bathed in warm sunlight, a brilliant smile finally appeared on his face.

On this journey, being able to leave the Luo Family safely and escape death at Xie Lang's hands could only be called a stroke of immense luck. Now, he had also gained greatly, obtaining Xie Lang's entire fortune.

More importantly, he had gained freedom.

After being bound in the Luo Family's cellar for two years, he had finally broken free from the Luo Family. From now on, the sky was high enough for birds to fly!

Fixing his eyes on a direction, he sprinted wildly ahead.

Though he was in a good mood, Luo Zheng did not lose himself in triumph. He knew he still had more important things to do.

His destination was the imperial capital.

The legendary heart of the Burning Heaven Empire was located there, and the Azure Cloud Sect was established there as well. His younger sister, Luo Yan, was trapped on Purgatory Mountain within the Azure Cloud Sect.