"What is this guy trying to do?" Everyone was shocked. The Four Symbols Divine Beasts were beings that could not be profaned, yet Chen Fan had actually raised his sword and charged straight at them, hoping to fight them head-on?
"Kid, stop!" Li Tieniu roared, cursing the young man's arrogance in his heart. He had already sent word to Qin Xian'er. If they could just hold on a little longer, the crisis would naturally be resolved. But the situation had gone completely against his expectations: Chen Fan had actually charged at the Four Symbols Divine Beasts with his sword. Wasn't he asking to die?
"Hmph, he's digging his own grave." A trace of a cold smile curled at the corner of Qingyue's mouth.
A flash of light burst from Chen Fan's eyes.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
His longsword thrust four times in succession, each strike aimed at one of the four phantoms. Sword Qi burst forth, and the trembling blade seemed to link the four phantoms together.
"Since ancient times, the Four Symbols Divine Beasts have each corresponded to one of the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north. Only when each occupies its own position are they called the Four Symbols! Yet you've tossed out such a secret talisman so carelessly. Your ignorance is utterly appalling!" Chen Fan lightly touched the air with his toe and looked down at Qingyue as he scolded her, like a lofty celestial immortal looking down from on high!
"Little bastard, you're at death's door and still have so much to say. What four cardinal directions? That's complete nonsense. No one can save you now!" Being lectured by someone at Qi Refining Layer 6 left Qingyue utterly humiliated. She cursed Chen Fan furiously.
She had heard a little about the Four Symbols' positions from Mu Yunshui, but she had considered it nothing more than nonsense and had never taken it seriously.
"Ignorant!" Chen Fan snorted. This formation was somewhat similar to the Five Elements Strange Sword Talisman, except that it had only four elements. The Azure Dragon represented wood, the White Tiger represented metal, the Vermilion Bird represented fire, and the Black Tortoise represented water.
So the missing element, earth, was the key to breaking the formation.
He used his longsword, channeling True Qi through it, to disrupt the spiritual energy between the Four Symbols. The so-called Four Symbols Divine Beasts were nothing but empty shells, mere clumps of condensed spiritual energy.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
At that moment, faint sounds of something breaking through the air came from afar. Two graceful figures, one black and one white, streaked toward them at tremendous speed.
"Senior Martial Sister is back!" One of the Immortal Sect disciples spotted Mu Yunshui.
"Hmph, you witch. Even if you've come, you can't turn the tide." Qingyue also spotted Qin Xian'er and could barely hide her glee.
"The Four Symbols Secret Talisman?" From a distance, Qin Xian'er saw Chen Fan trapped inside the formation and was astonished.
"Senior Sister, how generous of you—to give Qingyue the Four Symbols Secret Talisman to kill Chen Fan?" Qin Xian'er turned to Mu Yunshui and laughed angrily. Chen Fan was her pawn; she wouldn't allow anyone else to lay a finger on him.
"I told them to capture him alive. I never told them to use the Four Symbols Secret Talisman." Mu Yunshui's face was equally icy as she hurried toward the entrance to Demon King Valley.
"Senior Martial Sister, you've come just in time. This man killed Junior Brother Lin and ten other fellow disciples. According to the sect rules, he should be executed on the spot." Seeing Mu Yunshui arrive with a cold expression, Qingyue quickly spoke first.
"Killed Junior Brother Lin? How is that possible?" Mu Yunshui frowned as she looked toward Chen Fan, then froze.
"He's at Qi Refining Layer 6 now?" she exclaimed in surprise.
"Hmph, enough talk. Save him." Qin Xian'er had obviously noticed Chen Fan's cultivation level too, and that only strengthened her resolve to keep this pawn alive.
"It's too late. The Four Symbols have already taken shape." Mu Yunshui shook her head, then suddenly stiffened and cried out, "Is he breaking the formation?"
Rumble!!
No sooner had Mu Yunshui spoken than a muffled, thunderous roar suddenly rang through the air. The four phantoms began to blur, one after another. The dense, surging spiritual energy around them seemed to be seized and drawn by an invisible hand, slowly gathering toward Chen Fan.
Qingyue stared in shock as the Four Symbols phantoms blurred again and again. Looking at Chen Fan, standing high above with his sword angled downward, she was suddenly gripped by a nameless panic.
"Watch out!" Mu Yunshui's expression changed as she shouted to Qingyue and the others.
Boom!
A deafening roar suddenly exploded beside everyone's ears!
The Four Symbols phantoms shattered in an instant, scattering into tiny streams of light that flew in every direction amid the churning spiritual energy.
"Ha!" Chen Fan roared, his eyes blazing with fury!
He raised his longsword high. Everyone felt their hearts give a hard thump.
Rumble!
Amid rolling waves of thunderous noise, Chen Fan pulled at his longsword as if he were dragging something weighing a thousand catties. Slowly and heavily, he swung it down toward the ground!
The spiritual energy above him, deep and vast as an abyss or an ocean, was completely stirred into motion. With Chen Fan's swing, it crashed down toward the ground!
Boom!
The entire earth shook beneath it!!
Qingyue suddenly felt a terrifying pressure descend from above. It was as if a boulder weighing thousands upon thousands of catties had landed on her back, leaving her chest so tight she could barely breathe. She could only watch helplessly as an overwhelming sense of danger crashed down upon her!
"Pfft!"
Qingyue suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. She was slammed straight into the ground, and her clothes burst open, revealing skin red as a cooked prawn.
Blood poured uncontrollably from her mouth and nose like a spring!
It wasn't just her. The other disciples bled from every orifice, and those with lower cultivation even died on the spot. Even Mu Yunshui and Qin Xian'er, high in the air, had to put up a layer of True Qi to shield themselves from the oncoming aftershock of the surging spiritual energy.
High in the air, Chen Fan stood proudly, his sword angled downward!
"Bzz!"
The sword blade began to vibrate at high speed. Chen Fan's figure suddenly blurred and turned into a shadow as he drifted down.
"Ugh..." Through her blurred vision, Qingyue saw a pair of feet. She opened her eyes wide and followed them upward, then saw Chen Fan's calm face.
Whoosh!
A flash of silver-white sword light filled her vision.
With a splurt, a spray of bright red blood burst from Qingyue's neck.
Chen Fan shook the blood from his sword and sheathed it as if no one else were there, then walked calmly toward the valley exit. The Rogue Cultivators who had gathered to watch instinctively moved aside to make way for him.
"Stop right there!" Mu Yunshui barked, her face dark with fury. The Immortal Sect had suffered heavy losses this time. Not only had Junior Brother Lin, a genius who specialized in the Dao of Talismans, died, but her junior sister Qingyue had also been killed. Meanwhile, just a few days ago, their opponent had been at Qi Refining Layer 4; now he had risen to Qi Refining Layer 6.
The one who was happiest, naturally, was Qin Xian'er. Seeing Chen Fan's extraordinary talent, she had decided to help him grow so that one day he could throw the Immortal Sect into chaos. She hadn't expected him to cause an uproar right now.
Qingyue's death lifted the hatred from Qin Xian'er's heart, and she moved to block Mu Yunshui.
"Junior Sister, this is no time for you to act on a whim," Mu Yunshui said coldly.
"Senior Sister, I've never acted on a whim. You think I'm playing around, but I truly want the Immortal Sect to perish." Qin Xian'er's voice grew serious, and the chill in her eyes made Mu Yunshui's heart tremble.
She had never seen Qin Xian'er look at anyone like that before.
"What happened?" Mu Yunshui asked with a pained expression. They had grown up together, and she regarded her junior sister as her own younger sister.
"Ask your sect master." Qin Xian'er could barely conceal her hatred, as if she bore a deep grudge.
The two stood facing each other while Chen Fan continued on at an unhurried pace. With his Divine Sense, he could hear their conversation clearly. He had no interest in what had happened to Qin Xian'er. She wanted to use him, and he didn't care. He had only one principle: if no one provoked him, he wouldn't provoke anyone!
As for the Immortal Sect, one day he would go there in person and reclaim his Wuya.
"This man's talent is terrifying." Li Tieniu watched Chen Fan slowly walk away, his expression grave.
The next day, Chen Fan appeared outside Heavy Sword City, covered in blood.
These were the last clothes he had, so he had no choice but to return like this. As the residents of Heavy Sword City stared at him strangely and pointed, he slowly made his way home.
"Isn't that the Chen Clan boy? How'd he end up coming back in that state?" a middle-aged man asked in bewilderment.
"Dad, his name is Chen Fan," said the boy beside him.
"You know him?"
"Of course I do. He's famous on Heavy Sword Peak. A while back, he went alone into Demon King Valley for Miss Nalan, and our Senior Brother had to rescue him. Did he go to Demon King Valley again, looking like this? Why's that kid so devoted?" The boy shook his head.
"Brat, have you been skipping cultivation on Heavy Sword Peak again these past few days?" A young woman in a yellow dress beside him heard that and rapped him hard on the head, narrowing her eyes.
"Big Sister, why'd you hit me? What's so fun about Heavy Sword Peak? I can cultivate at home just as well." The boy looked very put out.
"That's because your information's already out of date. Chen Fan advanced to Qi Refining Layer 4 a few days ago, and he even fought Zhang Ting from the Inner Court in a Life and Death duel," the girl in the yellow dress said.
"What? Zhang Ting was at Qi Refining Layer 6! That guy... Wait, a Life and Death duel? Did Chen Fan just go up on stage and surrender? Otherwise, how could he still be alive?"
"Zhang Ting died. He lost in two moves." The girl in the yellow dress gazed at Chen Fan's retreating figure, her eyes sparkling.
The boy gaped in astonishment, speechless.
The middle-aged man, however, watched Chen Fan's retreating figure, narrowed his eyes slightly, and murmured, "That boy's at Qi Refining Layer 6 now."
"What? Qi Refining Layer 6?" The boy and the girl in the yellow dress stared in shock and cried out together.
Heavy Sword City had been built at the foot of Heavy Sword Peak, surrounded by a city wall. It was just an ordinary ancient city, so it wasn't very large.
Even walking as slowly as he could, Chen Fan took only twenty minutes to reach home.
He pushed open the door and stepped inside.
Two familiar figures in the hall turned around at the same time. When Chen Jingjing and Zhang Rumeng saw Chen Fan's face, delight appeared on both their faces, but then they noticed the blood covering him and couldn't help covering their mouths.
"Chen Fan, you... you're hurt?" Chen Jingjing jumped up anxiously and ran toward him.
"I'll go get Little Medicine Boy and his master."
Zhang Rumeng hurriedly started for the door, but Chen Fan stopped her with a raised hand.
"I'm fine. This isn't my blood." Chen Fan shook his head with a faint smile. The expressions on their faces stirred a trace of warmth in his heart.
"Really?" Chen Jingjing looked him up and down skeptically. Seeing that the blood had indeed dried long ago, she finally relaxed a little.
Then she puffed out her cheeks and said, "Didn't you say you'd only be gone for seven days? It's already the ninth day. Do you know how worried we were?"
"That's right. Jingjing was just talking with me about going to Demon King Valley to look for you this afternoon. Luckily, you came back, or I wouldn't have been able to talk her out of it." Zhang Rumeng grinned.
"You're the one who's a kid." Chen Jingjing blushed and pinched Zhang Rumeng's cheek.
Only then did Chen Fan look at Chen Jingjing and Zhang Rumeng and realize they had both advanced to Qi Refining Layer 5.
"You broke through?" Chen Fan asked in surprise.
"Mm. We followed your instructions on how to use the Five Elements Strange Sword Talisman and successfully passed the First Layer of the Heavenly Court. We even got a 'Grade B' rating. I still can't quite believe we got Grade B." Zhang Rumeng's eyes were still bright with excitement as she spoke.
"Chen Fan, you... you broke through too?" Chen Jingjing only then noticed the aura around him. He was clearly a powerhouse at Qi Refining Layer 6.
"Mm." Chen Fan nodded in confirmation, leaving both girls stunned.
"Then you should enter the Heavenly Court later. At your current level, the First Layer of the Heavenly Court shouldn't be difficult for you anymore," Zhang Rumeng said.
"I've already passed it." Chen Fan shook his head calmly.
"You passed it? Did you enter the Heavenly Court while you were in Demon King Valley? That was too dangerous. If a Monster Beast or an enemy disturbed you, your physical body could die, and your Divine Soul would also be destroyed in the Heavenly Court." Zhang Rumeng was startled.
"No." Chen Fan shook his head lightly again. "I'll go take a bath and change clothes first."
"Wait. You're not leaving." Chen Jingjing's expression changed as if she had thought of something. She grabbed Chen Fan's clothes and looked up at him. "When did you pass the trial?"
Chen Fan thought for a moment and said, "The day I explained the correct way to use the Five Elements Strange Sword Talisman to you two."
"You mean the day Senior Brother Wang Feng passed the trial?" Zhang Rumeng's eyes widened as she asked in disbelief.
Before you continue