Liu Mei lay on the ground, her jade-white hands clenched tight. Under the moonlight, her smooth, delicate skin seemed to shimmer with translucent brilliance.
Luo Chuan stood with one hand behind his back, regarding Liu Mei before him with an icy expression. He understood that the one occupying her body now was likely a wisp of Mu Bingmei's divine sense.
But having crossed through time and space, that divine sense couldn't bring its full power to bear. It posed no threat whatsoever to the Luo Chuan before her.
Liu Mei clenched her jade-white hands, her brows knitting as she threatened viciously, "Luo Chuan, I'll remember this humiliation. When I emerge from seclusion, I'll tear you limb from limb and grind your bones to dust!"
"Then we'll see whether you have what it takes."
Luo Chuan appeared before Liu Mei in an instant and pressed a finger to the spot between her brows. As a torrent of energy poured into her body, Mu Bingmei's faint wisp of divine sense vanished in an instant.
With Mu Bingmei's divine sense gone, Liu Mei returned to normal. But when she realized she was standing naked before Luo Chuan, her pretty face flushed scarlet.
Liu Mei bit her lip, her eyes brimming with affection and embarrassment. "Master, what are you..."
Luo Chuan slowly rose, took off his clothes, and draped them over Liu Mei. He said softly,
"I'll find a way to free you from your true self completely. Whether you're willing is up to you."
Although Liu Mei was Mu Bingmei's clone, she had feelings of her own. All that was needed was to break the other party's control, and the problem could be resolved perfectly.
Liu Mei had no idea what had happened. She was just about to say something when Luo Chuan vanished from before her, leaving behind only the lingering scent of a man in the air.
As time went by, a year passed in the blink of an eye, and before anyone knew it, the day the Outer Realm Battlefield opened had arrived.
The purge came once every five hundred years, and the cultivators within Zhao Kingdom had long been itching to get in.
After all, they believed that as long as they could enter the Outer Realm Battlefield and take in a breath of spiritual energy, their cultivation would surge.
And if they could obtain pills inside, breaking through to the Core Formation Stage in the future would be only a matter of time.
This valley had been established by a powerful cultivator of the Spirit Severing Realm from a Level 4 Cultivation Country. Any cultivator who had reached the Core Formation Stage was barred from entering. Even Nascent Soul Realm elders could not enter.
Only those who had reached the Spirit Severing Realm qualified to enter Jueming Valley. Anyone else would be considered to have issued a challenge, and a Spirit Severing Realm powerhouse would kill them on the spot.
By this time, the Nascent Soul Realm elders had already been waiting here for a long while. The three-month battle in Jueming Valley was about to end, and the emissary from the Outer Realm Battlefield had arrived.
This powerhouse in the late Spirit Severing Realm was a cultivator of the Giant Devil Race. His strength was terrifying; a single word from him could scatter the souls of every living being here.
The Giant Devil Race powerhouse looked solemn. He formed a seal with his right hand and sent several hand seals toward the sky.
The clouds immediately churned. A beam of red light descended from the heavens and struck the plaza near the Heaven-Reaching Tower, forming a barrier that completely enclosed it.
At the same time, the clouds in the sky gradually dispersed, revealing a colossal vortex a hundred zhang across, with what seemed to be Canglongs circling on either side.
Only after the Giant Devil Race powerhouse used a drop of his blood essence did the dilapidated scene inside the Outer Realm Battlefield become visible.
The Giant Devil Race powerhouse transformed to human size and appeared beside Lin Yi, the Heaven-Reaching Tower's emissary. He said calmly, "Only three of the seven tokens remain. Looks like the competition's fierce this year. This should be quite a show."
Lin Yi stroked his white goatee and nodded. "Something did happen in there. I just never thought it would come to this."
The Giant Devil Race powerhouse looked toward Luo Chuan, who was drinking tea, and narrowed his eyes. He murmured to himself, "I told our ancestor about this, but he couldn't believe that a cultivator in his twenties had broken through to the Spirit Severing Realm..."
"Looks like I'll have to find a chance to invite him to the Giant Devil Race."
Luo Chuan's gaze rested on Teng Huayuan, whose body was steeped in resentment. Frowning slightly, he asked, "Teng Huayuan, come here."
Teng Huayuan turned at the sound of his voice and immediately flew over to Luo Chuan without hesitation. Bowing, he said, "Greetings, senior."
"You're covered in baleful energy, and you've been staring at Jueming Valley without blinking. Has something happened to the Teng Clan lately?"
Teng Huayuan clenched his fists, the veins on his forehead bulging. Fury filled his eyes; something serious had clearly happened.
"There was a whelp named Wang Lin... He killed my grandson Teng Li and used the Foundation Seizing Technique to break through to the early Foundation Establishment Realm..."
Though Teng Huayuan knew that Senior Luo Chuan had warned him about this years ago, the death of Li'er had left him unable to control himself. All he wanted now was to tear Wang Lin limb from limb and suppress him for ten thousand years!
Luo Chuan looked at Teng Huayuan and said calmly, "I already warned you back then. Do you really want the Teng Clan destroyed?"
"Teng Li's death was his own tribulation. You ignored my warning, and your deaths would be no great loss. Do you really want the entire Teng Clan buried with Teng Li?"
Teng Huayuan immediately looked up at Luo Chuan, who sat in his chair. Gritting his teeth, he said, "But Li'er was the most outstanding disciple of my Teng Clan! Wang Lin killed him. I want to tear that whelp limb from limb and grind his bones to dust!"
Seeing the depth of Teng Huayuan's hatred for Wang Lin, Luo Chuan stopped what he was doing and asked in a steady voice, "Have you been to Wang Family Village?"
"I have..."
"Did you kill all the mortals in Wang Family Village?"
Teng Huayuan's expression changed at once. He didn't hesitate for a moment before dropping to his knees.
"Wang Lin killed my great-grandson, so I wiped out his entire clan... Senior, I did it to honor the spirit of my Li'er!"
Learning that Teng Huayuan had massacred Wang Family Village to the last, Luo Chuan's right hand paused as he lifted his teacup. He sighed, but said nothing more.
After all, Wang Lin's Extreme Realm had come about because he'd witnessed his family die before his eyes. Now the Wang Clan had been slaughtered once more, which meant that the Teng Clan would be utterly destroyed just as it was in the original story.
Luo Chuan reached forward with one hand and said calmly, "Hand over your soul."
Teng Huayuan suddenly raised his head and stared at Luo Chuan in confusion. "Senior, what do you mean?"
"Originally, I didn't want to interfere in your affairs. But since you once gave me the Dragon Turtle Armor, I'll give your Teng Clan one last chance."
"If you take your own life in front of Wang Lin, the Teng Clan may yet survive. But if you insist on going your own way, every disciple in Teng Family City will die without exception."