"I gave you a few days' grace. Who's going to give me any?"
The Upper Sect envoy said coldly, "Xu Liguo is a disciple of the Tiangang Sect, the greatest sect in the Tiangang Kingdom. What do you expect me to do to bring him back?"
Zhao Chuanliang immediately replied, "Senior, Xu Liguo recently used a secret technique to call for help. We've already found his location, but... he was taken away by a Spirit Severing Realm expert."
"A Spirit Severing Realm expert?"
The Upper Sect envoy's face twitched. He looked at Zhao Chuanliang with a rather odd expression and asked, "Since when has a Spirit Severing Realm expert appeared in the Huofen Kingdom?"
Zhao Chuanliang didn't dare delay. He told the Upper Sect envoy everything that had happened, because this was no longer something he could handle on his own.
After all, a Spirit Severing Realm cultivator could kill him with a casual slap. Without the Upper Sect's help, all that awaited him was death.
The Upper Sect envoy's expression turned solemn. After a long moment of thought, he said, "I'll arrange for a Mid Spirit Severing Realm expert to help you. But if you dare deceive me, I'll grind your bones to dust!"
"Rest assured, Envoy. As long as you can arrange for a Spirit Severing Realm senior to come in person, I'll bring Xu Liguo back."
The Corpse Yin Sect's Upper Sect envoy sighed deeply, then turned around and said indifferently,
"In light of our past relations, I'll give you ten days. If you haven't succeeded by then, don't blame me for showing no mercy."
"Thank you, Envoy!"
Zhao Chuanliang said coldly, "Pass down my order. Every Corpse Yin Sect cultivator at Core Formation Stage or above will come with me to find this man and bring our sect's disciple back!"
"Yes!"
Meanwhile, deep in the Demon Cultivation Sea, Luo Chuan remained seated cross-legged, trying to break through to the Late Spirit Severing Realm. As for Xu Liguo, that turncoat, he had no intention of interfering.
The Demon Cultivation Sea was already more turbulent than ordinary waters. Now, drawn by the aura of Luo Chuan's breakthrough, its waves surged sky-high. Black swells, like ravenous beasts ready to devour their prey, churned wildly within several hundred yards of him.
The spiritual energy around Luo Chuan had grown so dense it had become tangible, transforming into streaks of gleaming white spiritual dragons that spiraled into his crown.
The vortex of spiritual energy in his dantian spun at high speed, rumbling like thunder. With every turn, it devoured and refined vast amounts of the world's spiritual energy.
The bottleneck that had held him at the peak of the Mid Spirit Severing Realm for so long finally developed a tiny crack under his ceaseless assault.
Now!
Luo Chuan crushed several high-grade spirit stones he had prepared in advance. Their overwhelming spiritual energy flooded into his meridians.
He circulated his cultivation art, guiding all that power into his dantian. Like a sword drawn from its sheath, it stabbed fiercely at the crack.
"Crack—"
A crisp snapping sound rang through Luo Chuan's sea of consciousness. The bottleneck blocking his breakthrough collapsed with a crash.
The instant he broke through, an aura several times stronger than before erupted from his body. The surging waves around him were instantly flattened, and even the reefs on the seafloor trembled beneath his pressure.
Luo Chuan slowly opened his eyes, a glint flashing in them. With a casual wave, an invisible force slapped apart the waves rushing toward him from afar.
Feeling the abundant, refined spiritual energy in his dantian, Luo Chuan smiled. "Late Spirit Severing Realm. I did it."
His gaze happened to fall on Xu Liguo, who was obediently waiting nearby, not daring even to breathe loudly. Luo Chuan's eyes were indifferent. This little nobody was no different from an ant to him now.
Luo Chuan slowly rose to his feet, his robes snapping in the sea breeze. The spiritual energy around him gradually settled, leaving only the pressure of a Late Spirit Severing Realm expert spreading quietly through this region of the Demon Cultivation Sea.
[Congratulations, host, on successfully breaking through to the Late Spirit Severing Realm. The Immortal Exile System has been triggered. Reward: Thunderclap Finger]
[System Name: Exiled Immortal]
[Host: Luo Chuan]
[Age: 32]
[Cultivation: Late Spirit Severing Realm]
[Identity: Progenitor of the Hengyue Sect]
[Treasures: Cloud Clear Flute, Luo God Sword, Dragon Cry Sword]
[Cultivation Arts: Ancient God Art, Thunderclap Finger]
[Monthly Sign-In: 0/1]
[Next Breakthrough Reward: 1,000 Immortal Jades]
Looking at the system panel that had appeared before him, Luo Chuan remained calm. He raised a hand and studied the cave dwelling ahead, deciding to test the true power of Thunderclap Finger.
As fierce winds gathered around him, the white light at his fingertip grew ever more dazzling. At last, it shone like a blazing sun in the sky.
"Thunderclap Finger!"
In an instant, the air around Luo Chuan froze. He pointed sharply into the distance and let out a shout. White light flashed at his fingertip, and an extremely thin beam shot out.
The beam moved at a terrifying speed. Space trembled in its wake, and a pitch-black trace remained across the blue sky, stark and jarring.
The instant this terrifying technique shot forth, the entire world trembled. Even the clouds above the Demon Cultivation Sea were shattered by Luo Chuan's Thunderclap Finger.
As soon as Thunderclap Finger appeared, the experts in the distant Demon Cultivation Sea all changed expression at once. They hurriedly retreated a hundred yards, as though fleeing for their lives.
It was plain to see that they were filled with fear and shock at the technique before them.
Luo Chuan looked at the trench left behind by Thunderclap Finger and nodded in satisfaction. "Its power is decent. Even someone at the peak of the Late Spirit Severing Realm might not be able to withstand it."
Xu Liguo had also seen what happened. He immediately dropped to his knees and clung to Luo Chuan's leg. "Congratulations, Master! Congratulations on successfully cultivating such an overbearing technique!"
"You're noisy."
Luo Chuan's gaze sharpened. Xu Liguo trembled in fright and sprawled on the ground, not daring to move, afraid of offending the fiend before him and being reduced to ashes.
Just then, Luo Chuan slowly turned around. His calm gaze settled on a distant point, his eyes showing not the slightest ripple.
A hundred miles away, a handsome young man in a silver-white robe watched him coldly. Above the young man's head floated a blood-red character: "Execution."
"Could this be... the Ten Thousand Demon Hundred-Day Kill Order?"
Luo Chuan held one hand behind his back. In his mind surfaced the ancient, special restriction from the original story that could enhance a cultivator's power: the Ten Thousand Demon Hundred-Day Kill Order.
This item had been handed down from ancient times, and the craft of making it had long since been lost. Even in the Demon Cultivation Sea, fewer than ten remained.
The conditions for activating this order were extraordinarily strict: it required the life of a cultivator at Core Formation Stage or above. Anyone who killed the person named in the order could obtain the entire cultivation of the one who had offered the sacrifice. Yet since time immemorial, no one had ever survived.
If the target did survive, the one who issued the order would gain all the sacrificial victim's cultivation. It was, without a doubt, an extremely powerful ancient restriction.