The Might of the Thunder Emperor

The concealment formation was like a thin veil melted into the shadows, enveloping Mo Yuan and the other three as they moved through jagged rocks and pervasive blood-red mist.

The closer they drew to the canyon entrance, the heavier that pressure mixed with bloodlust, resentment, and ancient chaos became, as though it could freeze and twist one's very soul. Light flickered at Luo Li's fingertips as she continuously fine-tuned the formation, allowing it to perfectly adapt to the turbulent energy field around them.

Ying Wuhen was like a true shadow, his aura completely absent. If he had not been visible to the naked eye, his presence would have been nearly impossible to detect.

Zhang Tianyun held his breath and focused. The sword on his back hummed faintly, poised to strike.

Mo Yuan followed close behind Luo Li, thunder True Essence slowly circulating within him like a volcano ready to erupt.

He deliberately restrained the natural pressure of the Thunder Emperor's Will so as not to alert the enemy too early, but his sharp eyes

had already locked onto the three relatively isolated dark-red totem pillars behind them. Their energy fluctuations were unusually intense—these were the key points Qing Yun's Martial Grand-Uncle had identified, points that could be destroyed simultaneously to disrupt the blood sacrifice to the greatest extent.

Ahead of them, deafening explosions and battle cries had already erupted.

Martial Uncle Xuan Ji and Elder Qing Ming's diversionary force launched its attack like an unsheathed sword.

Brilliant golden lightning arts, fierce Dragon-Tiger Taoist Arts, and profound Gezao Formation techniques violently collided with the Black Fiend Sect and Netherworld Organization's sinister black arts, ghostfire, and skulls, instantly igniting the battle at the canyon entrance.

Just as expected, the enemy's main force, including the late Foundation Establishment Netherworld Elder and most of the Foundation Establishment cultivators, was immediately drawn to the powerful frontal assault and charged forward with furious roars.

The guards around the totem pillars were noticeably weaker now. Only a handful of patrolling cultists and an early Foundation Establishment Netherworld assassin stationed near the target area remained.

"Now!"

Luo Li shouted softly. Her hands formed seals, and the concealment formation flashed. The four of them suddenly accelerated like ghosts, rushing straight at the three totem pillars.

"Enemy attack! On the flank, there's—"

A Qi Refinement cultist had only managed half a cry of alarm before an almost invisible phantom swept past his throat. Ying Wuhen had struck, swift as lightning, killing him in a single blow.

But that slight disturbance had already caught the Netherworld assassin's attention.

He spun around sharply, his sickly green gaze instantly locking onto them, especially Mo Yuan and Zhang Tianyun, whose presences were the most obvious.

"You're courting death!"

The assassin shrieked, his body turning into a twisted plume of black smoke. The two poisoned daggers in his hands shot out like venomous snakes, carrying a bone-piercing yin wind as they stabbed toward Mo Yuan and Zhang Tianyun respectively.

His speed was incomparably fast. It was clearly one of the Netherworld Organization's assassination techniques.

"Your opponent is me!"

Zhang Tianyun roared. His sword flew from its sheath with a clang, transforming into a resplendent golden sword aura like the rising sun breaking through dawn, accurately slashing at the black smoke and intercepting its attack.

The sword aura collided with the daggers with a metallic ring, and violent force scattered in every direction.

At the same time, Mo Yuan moved.

His target was not the assassin, but the three totem pillars within reach.

He unleashed Swift Lightning Step, leaving behind a series of lightning afterimages as he instantly circled past Zhang Tianyun and the assassin, who were locked in combat, and charged toward the thickest central totem pillar.

"Stop him!"

The assassin panicked and tried to break free of Zhang Tianyun, only to be tightly entangled by the fierce and forceful Dragon-Tiger Sword Art.

The remaining seven or eight Qi Refinement cultists also reacted, roaring as they rushed at Mo Yuan. All manner of sinister arts and bone arrows rained down upon him.

"Get lost!"

Mo Yuan's eyes turned cold. He did not even look back as the thunder True Essence within him erupted. Purple-gold lightning coiled around his body, forming a brief thunder force field! Those low-level sinister arts struck the field like snow meeting the sun and promptly scattered.

He slashed backward with a hand blade. A condensed lightning aura swept out like a crescent moon, instantly cutting the three cultists charging at the front in half at the waist.

Ferocious! Tyrannical!

Taking advantage of that instant of opening, he had already reached the central totem pillar.

The pillar stood thirty zhang tall and required several people to encircle it. Its surface was covered in twisted blood-sucking runes, greedily drawing in the river of blood converging across the ground, giving off a nauseating stench and powerful energy fluctuations.

He could not delay! Every second meant the blood sacrifice came one step closer to completion.

Mo Yuan fiercely planted the Thunder Dragon Evil-Slaying Spear beside him and rapidly formed hand seals.

This was no longer talisman arts from the Nine Heavens Thunder Talisman Grand Codex. Instead, he invoked the indestructible strand of Thunder Emperor's Will fused into his Dao Foundation, along with the introductory mantra of the Five Thunder Righteous Method - Heavenly Heart Scroll he had just obtained through check-in.

"Majestic heavenly might, drawn forth by thunder! Five Thunder Divine Method, slay evil and shatter delusion!"

He recited the incantation. His voice was not loud, yet it seemed to stir the thunderous Great Dao lurking in the unseen.

The purple-gold lake of True Essence within his Dantian boiled. That strand of Thunder Emperor's Will let out a silent roar, and a terrifying thunder intent far purer and more majestic than when he had drawn lightning to establish his foundation surged skyward from within him, as though it represented the punishment of heaven and earth.

In an instant, the space within several dozen zhang around him seemed to freeze.

The disciples fighting on both sides, righteous and wicked alike, felt a shudder and reverence rising from the depths of their souls. Their movements involuntarily stalled.

Even the late Foundation Establishment Netherworld Elder and Martial Uncle Xuan Ji, who were engaged in fierce combat, turned to look in shock.

Behind Mo Yuan, the hazy phantom of the Thunder Emperor appeared once more. This time, however, it was several times clearer than during his Foundation Establishment, though its face still could not be seen. Yet the supreme majesty of one who commanded all thunder and held punishment in his grasp spread outward as though it were tangible.

"What is that?!"

"What terrifying thunder might!"

Under everyone's stunned gaze, Mo Yuan held two fingers together like a sword, directing the vast thunder energy gathered from the Thunder Emperor's Will and the Five Thunder Divine Method toward the central totem pillar before him, then fiercely pointed.

"Perish!"

There was no earth-shaking explosion, only a heart-palpitating hum, as though the laws themselves had been erased!

A beam of light only as thick as an arm, yet chaotic in color, with countless miniature worlds of lightning seemingly being born and destroyed within it, shot from Mo Yuan's fingertips and silently struck the totem pillar.

The dark-red pillar, which could withstand repeated attacks from Foundation Establishment cultivators, seemed to meet its nemesis the instant it was struck by the chaotic lightning.

The blood-sucking runes on its surface shrieked miserably like living things before instantly dimming and shattering.

The pillar itself crumbled and dissipated from the point of impact like a sand sculpture. Not even a trace of debris remained, as though it had been completely erased from this world.

And that was not all!

After destroying the central pillar, the chaotic lightning showed no sign of weakening. As though possessed of intelligence, it split into two slightly thinner streams, whipping like the tails of lightning dragons as they precisely struck the two subsidiary pillars beside it.

Bang! Bang!

The other two totem pillars suffered the same fate, silently breaking down and vanishing beneath the chaotic lightning.

All three pillars had been destroyed!

The entire process had taken no more than an instant.

"No—!!!" The Netherworld assassin fighting Zhang Tianyun let out a despairing howl.

With the destruction of the three core totem pillars, the entire blood sacrifice site seemed to have had its spine ripped out.

The blood-filled channels across the ground instantly stopped flowing. The blood light around the four remaining totem pillars rapidly dimmed, and their connection with the warped space deep within the canyon became extremely unstable, shaking violently.

The blood sacrifice ritual had been forcibly interrupted.

"We did it!" Zhang Tianyun rejoiced. His sword attacks grew even fiercer, forcing the distracted assassin back again and again.

Luo Li and Ying Wuhen swiftly dealt with the remaining cultists and gathered beside them.

Mo Yuan panted lightly, his face somewhat pale.

That strike had nearly drained more than half his True Essence and mental strength. It had also used the fundamental power of the Thunder Emperor's Will and Five Thunder Divine Method, making the expenditure enormous.

But the results were equally obvious.

He looked toward the depths of the canyon. With its energy supply suddenly severed, the warped spatial entrance had become extremely unstable, expanding and contracting intermittently. The chaotic roars and pressure pouring from within had also grown even more violent.

"You bastard! You ruined my sacred sect's grand plan! I'll rip out your soul and refine your spirit!"

A roar filled with boundless fury came from the frontal battlefield. The late Foundation Establishment Netherworld Elder abandoned Martial Uncle Xuan Ji, transforming into a ghostly shadow that blotted out the sky. Carrying suffocating pressure, he lunged madly at Mo Yuan and the other three.

He had clearly realized that Mo Yuan, this unexpected variable, was the key to ruining the plan.

How terrifying was an enraged strike from a late Foundation Establishment cultivator?

Before the ghostly shadow even arrived, its icy killing intent and soul-shaking pressure had already drained the color from Zhang Tianyun, Luo Li, and Ying Wuhen's faces, leaving them nearly unable to move.

"Watch out!"

Martial Uncle Xuan Ji and Elder Qing Ming wanted to rescue them, but the other two mid Foundation Establishment evil cultivators held them tightly in check.

Faced with this killing strike, a trace of madness and resolve flashed through Mo Yuan's eyes.

Not only did he not retreat, he instead stepped forward and shielded the severely depleted Zhang Tianyun and the others behind him.

He took a deep breath. In his sea of consciousness, the Soul Cleansing Banner radiated clear brilliance, firmly protecting his soul.

At the same time, he once again connected with that indestructible strand of Thunder Emperor's Will and gathered all the remaining True Essence in his body, along with the strand of Chaos Qi he had just received through check-in and had not yet carefully studied.

He intended to use his final strength to meet a late Foundation Establishment cultivator head-on.

At that critical moment, another change occurred.

The ruin entrance, already extremely unstable due to the interrupted blood sacrifice, suddenly collapsed inward, forming a massive black hole.

A suction force far purer, older, more chaotic, and more terrifying than before abruptly erupted.

The first to be struck was the Netherworld Elder's ghostly shadow rushing toward Mo Yuan.

He let out a scream of utter horror as his body was uncontrollably dragged toward the black hole.

"No—!!!"

Under everyone's horrified gaze, the late Foundation Establishment Netherworld Elder, along with the vast ghostly qi surrounding him, was seized by an invisible giant hand and instantly dragged into the bottomless black hole, vanishing without a trace.

Only his abruptly cut-off scream echoed through the canyon.

After swallowing the Netherworld Elder, the black hole seemed satisfied. Its suction weakened sharply, but it continued to rotate slowly, emanating a heart-palpitating aura.

The battlefield fell into an eerie silence.

Everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events.

Mo Yuan also let out a breath of relief. He dispersed the power he had gathered, and a wave of intense weakness washed over him, which he forcibly suppressed.

He stared solemnly at the deep black hole, understanding that the true adventure might only just be beginning.

These Ancient Demon Ruins were even more dangerous and bizarre than he had imagined.

Martial Uncle Xuan Ji and Elder Qing Ming seized the opportunity to force back their opponents, then quickly joined Mo Yuan and the others.

"We cannot stay here any longer! The ruin entrance has undergone a strange change, and there is no telling what else may happen. Retreat first and discuss our next move later!" Martial Uncle Xuan Ji decided without hesitation.

Although they had not completely destroyed every totem pillar, the core blood sacrifice had been interrupted and the ruin entrance had become extremely unstable. Their objective had already been achieved.

The disciples of the three sects swiftly assembled, bringing the wounded aboard the flying vessel. It streaked away as a ray of light, retreating from this place of trouble without hesitation.

On the flying vessel, the survivors still felt lingering fear, but their gazes could not help focusing on Mo Yuan.

Had he not erupted at the crucial moment, destroyed the totem pillars, and indirectly triggered the ruin's mutation to devour their powerful enemy, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Mo Yuan sat cross-legged and silently restored his True Essence.