Unleashing the Sword World to Slay a Four-Tribulation Immortal
The purplish-gold blood of the fourth- Tribulation Immortal fell from the sky, crashing onto the cracked Obsidian street surface, hissing and emitting large plumes of blue smoke.
The broken half of the Nine Netherworlds Yellow Springs Diagram spun and fell downwards, the spiritual light at the gap quickly dimming.
Nangong Lie pressed his left hand firmly against the severed wound on his right shoulder, the immortal blood gushing out between his fingers uncontrollably.
This old monster, who had roamed the Nine Netherworlds Central Domain for forty thousand years, was now experiencing violent chest heaving, his white hair being blown into a mess by the gale and plastered to his face.
The clan's Half-Step Houtian Spirit Treasure was destroyed.
His right arm was gone too.
Even if he manages to escape back to the Nangong Aristocratic Clan today, the severe damage to his cultivation and the guilt of losing the precious treasure would be enough to have him stripped of all his authority by the two Five Tribulations Supreme Elders in the clan!
"You little beast! You destroyed my foundation and shattered my Spirit Treasures! Even if my soul is scattered to the winds today, I will drag you down to the eighteenth level of hell with me!!"
Nangong Lie let out a roar like a broken bellows, and slammed his remaining left hand hard against his chest!
Puff--!
A large mouthful of purplish-gold blood mixed with fragments of internal organs gushed out.
The four halos of life and death Heavenly Tribulations surrounding him rotated in reverse at the same time, and his lifespan of 40,000 years and the origin of the Four-Tribulation Ghost Immortals were completely ignited at this moment without regard to the cost!
Not far away, the two Netherworld Palace Three Tribulations Elders who had just been smashed by the five Avatars and sent flying back while coughing up blood also turned completely red-eyed upon seeing this.
Facing a monster like Chen Changqing, whose speed far surpasses that of a Tribulation Immortal and whose physical body is ridiculously tough, running away is simply exposing your back to the prey.
"Go for it! Help Nangong Daoist Nangong form the Four Tribulations Heavenly Punishment World-Destroying Array and annihilate this fiend!"
The two Netherworld Palace elders, both at the Three Tribulations, simultaneously bit their tongues, burning their respective Three Tribulations essences, transforming into two streaks of black and red blood light that rushed towards Nangong Lie.
Buzz--!
Three incredibly violent and powerful sources of Tribulation Immortal merged in the sky, instantly transforming into a massive blood-red Formation Disk covering an area of ten miles in radius.
Even more ruthless, Nangong Lie used a single hand seal to forcibly break through the bloodline restrictions within the thousands of the Nangong Family and Netherworld Palace elites outside the city gates via the Formation Disk!
"Ancestor?! No! Ancestor, spare my life!"
On the square outside the city gate, thousands of elite allied forces, including Heavenly Monarch and Spirit Transformation Realm, were horrified to discover that their Qi and Blood were completely out of control.
Before they could escape the array's range, the bodies of thousands of people simultaneously swelled and exploded. Endless Essence Blood and soul were forcibly drained by the blood-red Formation Disk high in the sky, converging above Nangong Lie's head and condensing into a Four-Tribulation Natal Tribulation Lightning with a diameter of a hundred feet and crackling with destructive purple-black arcs of electricity!
The entire Tianyuan Giant City shook violently under the pressure of this world-destroying lightning, and large sections of the surrounding abyss cliffs collapsed and fell.
Zhong Cheng and the Grand Manager of the Three Tribulations were forced to retreat repeatedly by this frenzied, Devil Qi at the entrance of the auction house. Their backs slammed heavily against the purple-gold gate, making it extremely difficult for them to breathe.
High in the sky, Chen Changqing stood motionless, watching Nangong Lie and the other two sacrifice their subordinates to gather tribulation lightning. He neither spoke to stop them nor stepped forward to interrupt.
Only after the hundred-zhang-sized Four-Tribulation Natal Tribulation Lightning fully formed did Chen Changqing slowly raise his left hand and gently clench his five fingers towards the void.
"Invincible Sword World, open."
Five simple words were uttered.
Rumble--!
Centered on Chen Changqing himself, the dark sky within a radius of a hundred miles was instantly and forcibly transformed!
Pure Yang Immortal Essence and Chaos Sword Intent intertwine to form a boundless world of swords in broad daylight, with billions of divine swords, emitting a cold, crimson-gold Divine Sword, hanging upside down in the sky.
The originally rampant and raging Four Tribulations Heavenly Punishment Principle suddenly had their operating speed reduced by more than 50% under the suppression of the world rules of this higher dimension!
"Let's do it."
Before Chen Changqing finished speaking, the five Heavenly Monarch Great Perfection Avatar who had been waiting on both sides suddenly attacked!
With the blessing of the rules of the Invincible Sword World, the five Avatars moved at extreme speed, directly bypassing the falling natal tribulation lightning and instantly closing in on the two Netherworld Palace Three Tribulations Elders who were maintaining the formation!
The two Avatars on the left swung their hands up the Top-grade Immortal Artifact, the Haotian Hammer, and unleashed the final move of the "Thirty-Six Chaotic Cloak Hammers," "Return to Void," with all their might!
The three Avatars on the right raised the Top-grade Immortal Artifact, the Dragon-Patterned Sky-Splitting Spear, and thrust out the third strike of the "Immortal-Extinguishing Three Spears," "Heavenly-Immortal Execution!"
"No! Stop his Avatar!"
The Three Tribulations Netherworld Palace elders, who had burned their very essence, were horrified and hurriedly drew upon the Law Power to protect themselves.
However, under the combined bombardment of Immortal Artifact- grade physical body and Top-grade Immortal Artifact, their defenses were incredibly fragile!
Bang! Bang! Splat--!
The two Haotian Hammers shattered the protective Three Tribulations Auras of the two men on the spot, and the three Dragon-Patterned Sky-Splitting Spears that followed pierced through their heads and chests without any hindrance!
The raging Pure Yang Dragon Might and the shocking hammer force exploded simultaneously within the two individuals. These two Three-Tribulation Ghost Immortal Avatar Immortals, who were infamous in the Nine Netherworlds Central Domain, did not even leave behind a single last word before being smashed into two indistinct piles of flesh and blood by the five avatars in mid-air!
Losing the support of two Three Tribulations Elders, Nangong Lie in the sky suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood. The hundred-foot-long Four-Tribulation Natal Tribulation Lightning above his head trembled violently and could no longer be suppressed. It was wrapped in world-destroying purple-black Thunder Light and crashed down on Chen Changqing's main body below!
"Let's die together!!"
Nangong Lie appeared as if he had gone mad, with the veins bulging on his remaining left arm as he poured the last bit of his fourth tribulation Primordial Spirit power into the tribulation lightning.
Faced with this terrifying tribulation lightning that could wipe half of the Tianyuan Giant City off the Map, Chen Changqing himself stepped into the sky!
He did not dodge; his right index finger extended again, and the Primordial Emperor Patterns deep within his finger bone erupted with dazzling purple-gold light.
The Heaven-Stepping Emperor Finger!
Laugh--!
Chen Changqing pointed out with his finger, striking the very core node of the hundred-foot-long tribulation lightning with unparalleled precision!
A trace of the Great Emperor's Principle of Destruction contained in the fingertip rushed straight in, and the extremely violent Four-Tribulation Natal Tribulation Lightning suddenly stopped in front of this finger. Then, countless spider web-like cracks appeared on its surface, and with a muffled sound, it collapsed and dissipated in mid-air, turning into countless harmless sparks of electricity!
"What?! He even shattered my Four-Tribulation Natal Tribulation Lightning with a single finger?!"
Nangong Lie's eyes bulged out of their sockets, his madness completely turning into boundless despair.
Before he could detonate the remaining Primordial Spirit within his body, Chen Changqing had already raised the Quasi-Houtian Spirit Treasure Immortal Execution Sword, high in his left hand.
The vast Divine Sense of the Twelve Primordial Spirits locked tightly around Nangong Lie's limbs and bones.
The Fifth Form of the Immortal Execution Sword Technique: Immortal Execution!
Clang!
A grayish-white Chaos Sword Ray, thousands of feet long, swept across the sky and disappeared directly from Nangong Lie's neck!
Time seemed to stand still for a moment.
The next second, the head of this 40,000-year-old Nangong Aristocratic Clan's fourth-tribulation Supreme Elder. His massive headless corpse and the fourth-tribulation Primordial Spirit within his Sea of Consciousness were instantly shredded by the Chaos Sword Qi, turning into countless ashes that drifted away with the wind!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With the destruction of the array's core commander, Nangong Lie, the remaining crimson array outside the city gate completely lost control and backfired. The hundreds of the Nangong Family and Netherworld Palace elites who remained on the ground didn't even have time to scream before they all exploded and died, turning into a blinding sea of the Blood Sea!
[Ding! You have defeated two Three-Tribulation Ghost Immortals from the Netherworld Palace, gaining 120,000,000 AFK Points!]
[Ding! You have defeated Nangong Aristocratic Clan Lie Four-Tribulation Ghost Immortal of the Nangong Lie family, and his 1,000-strong allied army, gaining 160,000,000 AFK Points!]
[Current AFK Points Balance: 380,000,000 points!]
A series of crisp system notification sounds rang in my mind, and my AFK Points balance soared to 380 million!
Chen Changqing dispersed the Invincible Sword World and the five Avatars. The amplification effect of the "Violence Formula" slowly faded, and his cultivation level returned to the Early Heavenly Monarch Stage. His white robe fluttered in the Xue Feng of the city.
Below, on both sides of the long street, thousands of Ghost Cultivators from the Central Domain who had been hiding behind broken walls and ruins to spy on the figure in white slowly descending from the sky trembled like leaves.
I don't know who was the first to buckle in the knees.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
In the blink of an eye, thousands of Cultivators from all races along the entire Obsidian Street, regardless of their cultivation level, all knelt down in unison, pressing their heads firmly against the cold stone slabs, not daring to even breathe loudly!
With the body of Heavenly Monarch, he directly and forcefully killed a Fourth Tribulation Ancestor and Three Tribulations Elders!
If word of such a feat got out, it would be enough to create a huge hole in the entire Heavenly Capital of the Nine Netherworlds Central Domain!
At the entrance of the Great Thousand Auction House, the Grand Manager, Three-Tribulation Ghost Immortal, swallowed hard, straightened his robes which were soaked with cold sweat, and jogged to a spot three zhang away from Chen Changqing. He held up a purple-gold Storage Ring and a scroll of ancient animal hide map with both hands, bending his waist at a ninety-degree angle.
"Congratulations to our distinguished guest for your unparalleled divine might in vanquishing your formidable foe!"
The head manager's voice trembled, and his posture was extremely humble.
"I was blind earlier and failed to stop the madman outside in time for your honored guest; this was truly an oversight! This ring contains thirty million top-grade Ghost Coins, plus a map of the Southern Central Domain's secret treasures collected by my Tianyuan branch. Consider this my apology to your honored guest; I only hope that you will be magnanimous and not hold it against me!"
Chen Changqing glanced at the trembling shopkeeper, then casually waved his hand, putting the Storage Ring and the animal hide map into his Heaven-Stepping Ring. He also picked up the broken Nine Netherworlds Yellow Springs Diagram Fragment and the spoils of war belonging to Nangong Lie and the others.
Although the Yellow Springs Diagram is broken, its foundation is still that of Half-Step Houtian Spirit Treasure. Once it's repaired using the system's Fusion Function, it will become another powerful weapon.
"You're smart to know what's good for you."
Chen Changqing didn't dwell on it. He turned around and looked at Zhong Cheng, who was still in a daze beside him.
"Have you seen enough? Lead the way to your Zhong family's ancestral home."
"Ah? Yes! Yes! Brother Chen, this way please!"
Zhong Cheng suddenly came to his senses. Looking at the purple-gold bloodstains left by the Four-Tribulation Ghost Immortals all over the ground, he looked at Chen Changqing with nothing but fervent awe and reverence. He quickly turned around and led the way at full speed.
The two transformed into streaks of light and soared into the sky, disappearing instantly into the northern horizon amidst the kneeling farewell of thousands of Cultivators throughout the city.
Two hours later.
In the heart of the Central Domain, a majestic mountain range, perpetually shrouded in dark red Divine Lightning of Punishing Evil, came into view.
The ancestral home of the Zhong family, the sacred mountain of Yanfu!
The two had just landed in front of the towering, hundred-foot-high White Bone Mountain gate, and hadn't even had a chance to step inside.
Boom--!
The Hundred-Mile Golden Fortune Ranking above Jambudvipa Divine Mountain, which had originally been set at eight people, suddenly began to tremble violently without warning!
At the very end of the list, where the blank space that originally belonged to Ninth Young Master [Zhong Wuming] had shattered, a strange, viscous, ink-like death aura suddenly surged forth.
Immediately afterwards, three unfamiliar characters written in thick black blood and exuding a nauseating stench of corpses forcefully squeezed into the ninth position on the Golden Fortune Ranking— [Zhong Jiuyou]!
Seeing the three large black characters that suddenly appeared on the Heavenly Golden List, Zhong Cheng froze in front of the White Bone Mountain gate, his face drained of all color.
"Zhong Jiuyou?! This is impossible! Absolutely impossible!!"
Zhong Cheng pointed to the list high in the sky, his voice trembling.
Chen Changqing, who was standing to the side, looked up and glanced at it.
The newly emerged name was shrouded in a very faint layer of dark purple mist. Ordinary Ghost Cultivators might have just thought it was some kind of Yin Baleful Intent and malevolent technique, but Chen Changqing had just refined the Heaven-Stepping Emperor Finger, immediately realized that the aura was from the same source as the Foreign Races demon body of the Upper Realm suppressed beneath the Senluo Deathland!
Who is this Zhong Jiuyou?
Chen Changqing looked away and asked casually.
Zhong Cheng took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart, and explained in a low voice through gritted teeth.
"Brother Chen, you may not know this, but Zhong Jiuyou is the tenth son of my father, born out of wedlock to a female cultivator from Outer Domain when he was drunk."
"This man was born with deformed meridians. His cultivation of his Lineage's Divine Dao of Punishing Evil not only failed to advance him, but instead led to a qi deviation, Qi Deviation into a bloodthirsty madman! Three thousand years ago, he died from his body exploding after secretly practicing forbidden techniques; his corpse was personally examined by the Discipline Hall!"
"How could the name of a person who died three thousand years ago suddenly reappear on the Lineage's Golden Fortune Ranking, replacing the Ninth's position?!"
At this point, Zhong Cheng suddenly recalled the inside story that Zhong Wansha had revealed before his death in Azure Wolf Plain, and his face instantly turned extremely gloomy.
"It's the Supreme Elder, Zhong Tianba! He's the one in charge of activating the Grand Array of the Golden Fortune Ranking. No one else can force someone in after the ranking is fixed!"
"Let's go. Since the person in question is inside, we'll find out by going in and taking a look."
With his hands behind his back, Chen Changqing strode directly over the towering White Bone Mountain Gate.
Zhong Cheng steadied himself and quickly picked up his Heavy Sword to follow closely behind.
After passing through the long, sacred staircase, the two arrived unimpeded at the core hall atop Jambudvipa Divine Mountain — the Hall of Punishing Evil.
The entire hall was cast from a single piece of Netherworld Darksteel. Inside, there stood eighteen massive judge pillars, each as thick as a water bucket and wrapped with bronze chains. A chilling wind howled between the pillars, causing the pale green candlelight on the elders' seats on both sides to flicker.
At this moment, eight figures were already lined up on the left and right sides of the center of the hall.
Besides the seven powerful Zhong Family prodigies of the same generation, all at the Heavenly Monarch Great Perfection level, there was a strange man standing in the shadows in the farthest corner, wrapped from head to toe in a wide black robe, his face even covered by a black iron mask.
This person stood there without saying a word, his body showing no signs of breathing like a living person. He was none other than Zhong Jiuyou, the ninth candidate who had just been parachuted onto the Golden List!
Behind each candidate stood five elderly men with profound auras, the weakest of whom was One-Tribulation Ghost Immortal, and several others were surrounded by three Life-and-Death Tribulation Rings. They were clearly the Three-Tribulation Ghost Immortal level guardians invited by each branch at great expense!
At the very top of the main hall, on the main seat, a gaunt old man with a hooked nose, wearing a crimson robe of a god of punishment, and surrounded by four terrifying rings of Life-and-Death Tribulation, was resting with his eyes closed.
Zhong Tianba, the Second Supreme Elder of the Zhong Family Four-Tribulation Ghost Immortal Zhong Tianba!
Upon hearing footsteps at the door, dozens of eyes inside the hall turned to look at them.
When Zhong Cheng walked into the main hall unharmed, while the brothers Zhong Wanchou and Zhong Wansha were nowhere to be seen, Zhong Tianba, sitting in the main seat, suddenly opened his eyes, and two tangible, blood-red beams of light shot down!
"Third brother! Where are Wanchou and Wansha? Why did their names shatter one after the other half an hour ago?!"
Zhong Tianba slapped the Black Iron chair beneath him, and the oppressive aura of Four-Tribulation Ghost Immortal suddenly descended.
Facing his powerful second wife, Zhong Cheng braced himself, stepped forward, clasped his hands, and bowed.
"Reporting to the Second Elder! My eldest brother, Zhong Wanchou, violated regulations by mobilizing the Blood Armor Guards to ambush and kill me in Heavenly Wind City, and my second brother, Zhong Wansha, even colluded with assassins from the Netherworld Palace to massacre our compatriots in Azure Wolf Plain! Fortunately, my brother Chen Changqing stepped in to uphold justice and has executed those two scoundrels who violated clan rules on the spot!"
"Now that I am among the nine on the Golden List, I have brought Brother Chen here to fulfill my promise. I request that the Second Elders open the Evil-Punishing Bureau Department and review all the top-secret documents concerning the Senluo Deathland!"
Upon hearing this, the other seven candidates in the hall burst into shrill laughter.
Standing at the head of the left side, the fourth young master Zhong Wandu, waved a white bone-clawed fan and sneered.
"Third brother, have you gone mad from staying in the Outer Domain? Bringing a wild brat from the Early Heavenly Monarch Stage Yang Realm into my Zhong Family's Hall of Punishing Evil, demanding to see the Lineage's top-secret files on the Senluo Deathland, do you think this place is a marketplace?"
When Zhong Tianba, who was sitting in the main seat, heard the words "Chen Changqing" and "Senluo Deathland", a deep murderous intent flashed in the depths of his eyes.
Zhong Wanchou and Zhong Wansha were both pawns he secretly supported and used to make connections with the Netherworld Palace. Now that they've both died at the hands of this Yang Realm brat, how could he let it go so easily!
"Presumptuous!!"
Zhong Tianba suddenly stood up from his seat and roared at Chen Changqing in the center of the hall.
"The position of young master has not yet been decided. Who gave you the authority to access the top-secret files of the Evil-Punishing Bureau without authorization, given that you are merely a candidate?!"
"Moreover, this person is a being from the mortal realm. He has trespassed into the ancestral land of my Zhong family without the permission of the elders. According to the law, he should be executed! Where is the enforcement team? Quickly seize this madman from the mortal realm and throw him into the eighteenth level water dungeon for soul extraction and interrogation!"
"Receive the imperial decree!"
From the shadows on both sides of the main hall, ten elite Heavenly Monarch Realm law enforcement officers, clad in black armor and wielding Soul-Locking Iron Chains, simultaneously sprang into action, unleashing the thick bronze chains and slamming them over Chen Changqing's head.
"Second Elder, no! Brother Chen is my honored guest and protector. According to clan rules, every candidate may bring External Aids into the hall!"