Luo Chuan clasped one hand behind his back, his long black hair stirring in the wind. His expression remained calm and composed. "Senior truly has remarkable powers. To deal with a mere junior in the Spirit Severing Realm, you even used immortal power. What an amusing joke."
"Shut your mouth!"
The Giant Devil Race Progenitor's face was livid. Feeling the immortal power draining from his body, he glared with eyes as big as copper bells. "If it weren't for you, brat, would I have needed to use immortal power?"
"Today, no matter what, I'll suppress your soul for ten thousand years and make you suffer the agony of a thousand arrows piercing your heart, day and night!!!"
Luo Chuan smiled mockingly. "You? A fellow who just broke through to the Yingbian Realm? I'm afraid that after this battle, if you're injured, your cultivation will fall back to the Spirit Severing Realm."
Hearing this, the Giant Devil Race Progenitor gripped the axe in his hands tightly. He had broken through to the Yingbian Realm only a few days ago. He had originally planned to wait until his cultivation had stabilized before coming to the Zhao Kingdom to kill Luo Chuan and Lin Yi.
But when he thought of how astonishingly talented Luo Chuan was, he decided to come early, lest Luo Chuan successfully break through to the Yingbian Realm in the future and bring about unforeseen complications.
He had never expected Luo Chuan's strength to be so formidable. Their earlier clash had even made him suspect that the brat had already reached the great circle of the Spirit Severing Realm.
"The arrow is already on the string; there's no choice but to let it fly!"
The Giant Devil Race Progenitor thought to himself, "If I let him leave here alive, within a hundred years this boy will surely break through to the Yingbian Realm. By then, my Giant Devil Race will be slaughtered to the last."
"Even if I can't kill him today, I'll send him to another cultivation star domain. That way, it'll take him thousands of years just to return to Vermilion Bird Planet."
Thinking this, the Giant Devil Race Progenitor decided to try once more. If he couldn't find an opportunity, he would use his divine ability to send Luo Chuan to another cultivation star domain.
Luo Chuan slowly raised the hand he had kept behind his back. A speck of pearly white light formed at his fingertip, utterly untouched by worldly dust, like moonlight refined in the celestial river.
The moment it appeared, the surrounding air seemed to grow clear and pure.
"Since you refuse to see reason, Senior, then taste the power of Exiled Immortal Guidance."
Luo Chuan's voice was gentle, but the light at his fingertip suddenly blazed. It transformed into a translucent immortal rune, winding through the air like a living serpent.
The Giant Devil Race Progenitor felt an invisible pressure descend upon him. It did not come from brute force.
Instead, it seeped into every crack like spring rain, making the demonic energy churning within him feel sluggish. Even the hand gripping his giant axe grew slightly heavy.
The Giant Devil Race Progenitor let out an enraged roar and poured what little immortal power he had left into the axe. Its pitch-black blade slashed out a demonic light that tore through heaven and earth, cleaving straight toward the immortal rune.
But the rune seemed sentient. It slipped lightly to the side, evaded the demonic light, then wrapped around the giant axe. Wherever its pearly radiance touched, the demonic energy on the axe melted away like ice and snow, revealing the axe's mottled body beneath.
Luo Chuan didn't move. He condensed a second immortal rune at his fingertip. The two runes intertwined into a net and descended over the Giant Devil Race Progenitor.
The instant the immortal net fell, the Giant Devil Race Progenitor felt a gentle yet inescapable force bind every limb and bone. The flow of immortal power and demonic energy within him slowed by more than half. At last, fear appeared in his copper-bell eyes.
He had never imagined that a junior in the Spirit Severing Realm could wield the Spirit Severing Intent Domain with such consummate skill. Could a human truly reach such a level?
"This won't do. If this battle continues, my cultivation will surely fall back to the Spirit Severing Realm today. Then my standing in the clan will plummet from its lofty heights!"
Thinking this, the Giant Devil Race elder fell silent, then said in a low voice, "Luo Chuan, you forced my hand. Since breaking through to the Yingbian Realm, this is the first time I've used my innate divine ability. You—take this!"
In an instant, the Giant Devil Race Progenitor drew a deep breath and let out a low growl. Veins bulged across his face, and he looked as though he were enduring unimaginable pain. A massive vortex appeared behind him.
Black light flickered inside the vortex. As it slowly turned, a strange force spread from within, pressing down so heavily that every living thing in the area felt oppressed.
But to the Giant Devil Race Progenitor's astonishment, Luo Chuan had already appeared a hundred miles away. In other words, Luo Chuan had retreated before he even released his divine ability.
"You!"
The Giant Devil Race Progenitor glared with his copper-bell eyes and bellowed, "Luo Chuan, you dare toy with me!"
Luo Chuan's voice carried over.
"How am I toying with you? I've long heard of the Giant Devil Race's divine ability. I'm merely keeping a safe distance. Once you're finished, I'll fight you for another three hundred rounds."
The Giant Devil Race Progenitor trembled all over, so furious that he spat out a mouthful of blood. He gripped his giant axe tightly and thought, "Wretched Luo Chuan!"
"This won't do. I've used up too much immortal power. If I keep fighting, the Yingbian Realm I struggled so hard to reach will truly go to waste."
Thinking this, the Giant Devil Race Progenitor didn't hesitate. His figure flashed, and he shot rapidly into the distance.
"Luo Chuan, once I've fully stabilized my Yingbian Realm cultivation, I'll slaughter every cultivator in the entire Zhao Kingdom!"
The Giant Devil Race Progenitor tore through the void, and his body vanished with it, leaving behind only a scene of utter devastation and mountains and lands shattered by the shockwaves.
Luo Chuan clasped one hand behind his back and put away the Dragon Cry Sword he had summoned earlier. Gazing at the scene before him, he spoke calmly:
"Worthy of a powerhouse in the Yingbian Realm. His reputation is well deserved. If not for the abundant spiritual energy within me, I would truly have paid a price today."
"Giant Devil Race... Once I break through to the Yingbian Realm, I'll personally come and destroy your lineage."
Luo Chuan turned around with a flourish. In his mind appeared the Giant Devil Race powerhouse from the Corpse Yin Sect—the being who had been the Giant Devil Race's Progenitor back then: Lei Ji!
According to the original story, the giant sealed beneath the Corpse Yin Sect was named Lei Ji. He was a member of the Giant Devil Race, and his body was enormous; just his head alone was larger than a human's entire body.
His strength was astonishing. He stood above the Spirit Severing Realm and had already come infinitely close to the Ascendant Realm.
Unfortunately, he was unlucky. After arriving on Vermilion Bird Planet, he was targeted by the Immortal Remnant Clan and then attacked by a group of their experts.
The Immortal Remnant Clan had strength in numbers, and among them were two top-tier curse masters. Lei Ji could withstand all kinds of spells, but not curses. In the end, he was gravely wounded and could only flee.
As if one misfortune weren't enough, while fleeing, Lei Ji ran into people from the Corpse Yin Sect. They seized him while he was gravely wounded, then sealed him beneath the Corpse Yin Sect.
It had to be said: the Giant Devil Race's bodies were extraordinarily formidable. Their function was much like that of the Star Compass, but they were far more powerful, making them the perfect means of traveling through the starry skies.
Moreover, the Giant Devil Race's bodies could pass through places where cultivators could not, without being hindered in the slightest.