All Cards Revealed! A Tragic Victory!

On the pier, a fierce wind suddenly rose.

That layer of blood-colored light membrane, like an insurmountable chasm, lay across Lu Chen and Li Changfeng.

Li Changfeng's qi and blood boiled all over his body. His originally dry and thin body now seemed to inflate as if pumped with air. His purple robe fluttered, and a suffocating, scorching aura radiated outwards with the blood-colored bodyguard qi.

"Qi and Blood Manifestation..."

Chen Wanli stared intently at the scene, his fingernails digging deeply into his palms. Blood seeped out, but he was oblivious. His voice trembled with despair originating from the depths of his soul, "This is the true trump card of the Viscera Refining Realm. Qi and blood condensed to the extreme, bursting out of the body to form bodyguard qi. Invulnerable to blades and impervious to water and fire... It's over, all over."

The Black Water Gang members around, whose hopes had been ignited by Lu Chen's previous dominance, were now extinguished as if doused with a basin of ice water.

The oppressive feeling was too strong.

Even from dozens of feet away, they could feel a stinging sensation on their skin, as if the air was filled with tiny steel needles.

Lu Chen, at the center of the storm, felt it most acutely.

"Is this the 'shell' of the Viscera Refining Realm?"

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes, the Hundred Refinements Steel Saber in his hand trembling slightly. He could clearly feel his proud Profound Nether Cold Qi making "sizzling" sounds upon contact with that blood-colored bodyguard qi, like accumulated snow meeting a red-hot iron, rapidly melting away.

The gulf in cultivation realms was laid bare before him at this moment.

"Kid, are you despairing?"

Li Changfeng strode forward. With each step, the flagstones beneath his feet were scorched black and cracked by the searing qi. His voice was hoarse and cruel, laced with the mockery of a cat playing with a mouse, "Your cold qi is indeed extraordinary. If you had reached the Viscera Refining Realm, perhaps I would have had to be wary. But now... your cold qi can't even break through my bodyguard qi. What will you use to fight me?"

"Boom!"

Before his words fell, Li Changfeng exploded forward.

This time, he was no longer passively defending.

His fist, enveloped in blood-colored bodyguard qi, was like a falling meteor, carrying world-destroying momentum as it slammed directly towards Lu Chen's face.

Too fast!

After manifesting Qi and Blood into Qi, Li Changfeng's speed had actually increased by another thirty percent!

Lu Chen's pupils contracted violently. He had no time to dodge and could only block with his saber.

"Clang--!"

A deafening clang that could shatter eardrums.

Lu Chen felt as if he had been hit head-on by a rampaging, savage behemoth.

The Hundred Refinements Steel Saber instantly bent into a terrifying arc. Immediately after, a terrifying, scorching force penetrated the saber and brutally drilled into his body.

"Pfft!"

Lu Chen spat out a stream of blood, and his entire body, like a kite with a broken string, flew backward, crashing heavily into the pile of goods behind him.

Wood chips flew, and dust billowed.

"Hall Master Lu!"

Zhao Tieshan's eyes were about to split. He roared, wanting to rush forward, but Chen Wanli grabbed him tightly.

"Don't go! In a battle of this level, you going up is suicide!" Chen Wanli gritted his teeth, his eyes full of pain. "Now, we can only rely on him..."

From within the dust, Lu Chen staggered to his feet.

His clothes were tattered, and the exposed skin was covered in scorched marks, burned by the qi. Blood hung from the corner of his mouth, and the tiger's mouth holding the saber had cracked open, blood dripping down the hilt.

A piercing pain.

His internal organs felt displaced, and the scorching qi that had invaded his body was still madly destroying his meridians.

"Is this the full power of the Viscera Refining Realm..."

Lu Chen wiped the blood from his mouth. The fighting spirit in his eyes had not diminished; instead, it burned even more fiercely.

Not only did he not retreat, but he grinned, revealing a mouth full of blood-stained teeth, looking particularly ferocious.

"Old man, is that all the strength you have? Are you tickling me?"

"You're courting death!"

Li Changfeng was completely enraged by Lu Chen's appearance, like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water. He, a dignified Viscera Refining Realm expert, had used all his trump cards and still couldn't kill this ant in one move?

This was simply a great humiliation to him!

"Since you want to die a more painful death, this old man will grant your wish!"

Li Changfeng roared, striking out with consecutive palm strikes.

"Primal Chaos--Blazing Sun Collapse!"

Palm shadows filled the sky, carrying bloody qi, engulfing Lu Chen like a storm.

Each palm strike had the power to shatter mountains and split rocks!

Lu Chen was in an unprecedented difficult battle.

He was like a small boat on the vast ocean, struggling to survive in the raging storm.

He couldn't block it!

It's impossible to block!

With every collision, Lu Chen had to pay a heavy price. Even with the Force Dissipation of Iron Cloth Shirt and Thick Skin, and even with bones as hard as iron, he still appeared fragile and不堪 in front of that indestructible罡气.

More and more wounds appeared on his body, and his aura grew weaker.

"It's over."

From the distant crowd of onlookers, someone sighed.

"He's still too young after all. If only he had a few more years..."

"What a pity, there are no 'ifs' in this world. This is the consequence of provoking the Li Family."

Even Wang Xiaoliu, who had always been full of confidence in Lu Chen, closed his eyes in despair at this moment, unable to watch any longer.

However, in his desperate situation, Lu Chen's mind was racing, terrifyingly calm.

He was calculating.

Calculating Li Changfeng's attack frequency, calculating the changes in the strength of the Qi, calculating... his only chance to turn the tables.

Conventional methods were no longer useful.

Although Profound Nether Hand was a Spirit Tier technique, he had only just begun to learn it. The quantity and quality of its cold energy could not compete with the Qi of the Viscera Refining Realm.

To break through this predicament, he had to use unconventional means!

He had to break the whole with a single point!

In Lu Chen's mind, the incomplete scroll of Ice Soul Art he had seen in the Dragon Palace's secret chamber suddenly flashed.

Although he hadn't had time to cultivate that secret manual, a few sentences from its general principles and a suicidal forbidden technique were deeply imprinted in his mind.

Ice Soul Spirit Piercing Stab.

This was an extremely venomous and extremely dangerous killing move recorded in the Ice Soul Art.

It compressed all the cold energy in the body, even overdrafting the vital essence and blood, forcefully condensing it into a single point, transforming it into an invisible ice-cold sharp stab that specifically broke internal Qi and directly attacked the soul!

But this move came at a great cost.

Once unleashed, the lightest consequence was frozen meridians, and the heaviest was instant death on the spot.

Moreover, it required close combat!

He had to stab into the opponent's brow at the moment when the defense of this Viscera Refining Realm expert was at its strongest, and also at its most lax!

This was a gamble.

Win the gamble, live.

Lose the gamble, die.

"Hoo..."

Lu Chen took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surging blood and qi within his body.

His gaze changed.

The originally fervent fighting spirit instantly receded, replaced by a deathly stillness, an icy coldness.

Like the deepest, darkest blue within a glacier that never melts.

"What is he doing? Giving up resistance?"

Li Changfeng keenly sensed the change in Lu Chen's aura, but he didn't pay it any mind. In his eyes, this was merely the last flicker of a dying flame.

"Shatter for this old man!"

Li Changfeng seized the opportunity, his figure flashing, instantly closing to within three feet of Lu Chen.

His right palm was raised high, within his palm, blood-red gang qi was so dense it seemed about to drip blood, smashing down fiercely towards Lu Chen's crown!

With this palm, he intended to smash Lu Chen's head like a watermelon!

Now!

This was the opportunity Lu Chen had been waiting for!

Facing this killing blow, Lu Chen made a move that surprised everyone.

He advanced instead of retreating!

He completely abandoned all defense, even actively dispersing the Iron Cloth Shirt energy on his chest, channeling all his strength, all his blood and qi, all his Profound Nether Cold Qi, madly towards the tip of his right index finger!

"Pfft!"

Li Changfeng's palm strike hit Lu Chen's shoulder first.

The sound of bone shattering was clearly audible.

Lu Chen's left shoulder instantly caved in, half his body drenched in blood.

But he didn't even frown, as if that body wasn't his own.

Using the impact of this palm strike, Lu Chen's figure shot forward, instantly closing the distance with Li Changfeng.

One foot!

Their faces were inches apart, their breaths audible.

Lu Chen looked at Li Changfeng's aged face, slightly contorted in shock, and the corner of his mouth curved into a mad, icy arc.

"Got you."

Li Changfeng's heart leaped, and an unprecedented sense of mortal danger instantly enveloped his entire body.

He instinctively wanted to retreat, to defend.

But it was too late.

Lu Chen's right hand, like a long-hidden venomous snake, revealed its most fatal fangs at this moment.

His index finger flicked out!

There was no earth-shattering momentum.

No dazzling radiance.

Only a point of extreme, pure, ghostly blue that seemed capable of freezing the soul!

"Ice Soul--Spirit Pierce!"

"Chii!"

That layer of blood-colored protective energy, reputed to be impervious to blades and fire, was pierced as easily as thin paper before this finger!

All defenses became a joke in the face of extreme compression and condensation.

Lu Chen's finger, with pinpoint accuracy, poked Li Changfeng's brow.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

On the dock, the wind stopped, the waves calmed.

Everyone stared with wide eyes, fixedly on the two figures frozen together.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

"Crack..."

A faint crisp sound broke the dead silence.

The surging blood-colored protective energy around Li Changfeng suddenly seemed to have been paused, instantly solidifying.

Immediately after, a layer of visible white frost, starting from his brow, spread madly towards his entire body.

Eyebrows, eyelashes, hair, skin...

In the blink of an eye, this Viscera Refining Realm expert, who had been so arrogant moments ago, turned into a lifelike ice sculpture!

His eyes were still wide open, filled with terror, confusion, and despair.

But he could no longer move.

Not only his body, but even his soul was completely frozen by that "Spirit Pierce"!

"Boom!"

The instant Li Changfeng was frozen, Lu Chen also suffered a terrifying backlash.

That finger strike had drained all his essence, qi, and spirit, and the remaining gang qi within Li Changfeng rebounded back along his finger.

Lu Chen was hit head-on like he had been struck by a battering ram, spewing blood and flying backward over ten zhang, crashing heavily onto the ground and rolling several times before stopping.

"Lu Chen!"

"Boss!"

Zhao Tieshan, Wang Xiaoliu, and the others rushed over like madmen.

Lu Chen lay on the ground, his chest heaving violently, each breath accompanied by a large amount of bloody foam. His right index finger had completely turned purplish-black, exhibiting a strangely twisted shape, clearly crippled.

But he was smiling.

Smiling while coughing up blood.

Though his laughter was weak, it carried a heart-palpitating sense of exhilaration.

"Cough, cough... Viscera Refining Realm... is nothing more than this..."

He struggled to stand up but was held by Zhao Tieshan.

"Don't move! Brother, don't move! You're too badly injured!" Zhao Tieshan, a seven-foot-tall man, had red eyes at this moment, his voice trembling.

"Help me... up..."

Lu Chen's voice was weak, but his tone was undeniably firm.

"It's not... over..."

Zhao Tieshan was stunned. Looking at Lu Chen's eyes, which were still burning with flames, he finally gritted his teeth and helped him up.

Lu Chen pushed Zhao Tieshan away and staggered forward.

Every step he took was difficult, dragging a long bloody trail on the ground.

But he never stopped.

His target was the ice sculpture standing motionless in place.

On the dock, thousands of eyes quietly watched the blood-soaked man walk step by step towards the god they once looked up to.

No one spoke.

No one even dared to breathe loudly.

An emotion called "awe" grew wildly in everyone's hearts.

Finally.

Lu Chen walked up to Li Changfeng.

He looked at the frozen old man, at those eyes filled with fear.

"In your next life..."

Lu Chen slowly raised the Hundred Refinements Steel Saber in his left hand.

Although his right hand was crippled, he still had his left.

Although he was severely injured and dying, he still had the strength to kill.

"Remember to keep your eyes open."

A flash of saber light.

"Pfft!"

A frozen, hard head rolled to the ground with a dull thud.

Only at this moment.

The two Li Family Guards who had been standing behind, already scared silly, suddenly snapped back to reality.

"E-Elder... is dead?"

"The Elder has been killed!"

A piercing scream tore through the sky.