Encountering a Powerful Foe, Men of the Demon Master Palace

The saber light fell!

Before that deathly pale saber aura reached him, its bone-piercing killing intent had already seeped into his marrow.

Xuan Chuan could even feel the wail of his protective immortal light—it was absolute suppression in realm!

A Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal condensed the Five Qi within the chest, gathered the Three Flowers atop the crown, and first touched upon the domain of laws. Such a realm stood as far above a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal as clouds above mud, let alone the peak Golden Immortal cultivation he currently displayed.

He could not take it head-on!

A thought flashed through Xuan Chuan's mind, and at the instant the saber light bore down upon him, his body drifted backward like willow fluff in the wind.

He did not retreat in a straight line, but followed an abstruse arc, as though the trajectory of fate had subtly veered somewhere in the unseen.

The One That Escaped circulated silently. Though it could not wholly offset the Daluo Realm pressure, it lent his movement a trace of unfathomable "uncertainty."

Boom—!!!

The deathly pale bone saber struck the black stone platform where Xuan Chuan had just stood. There was no earth-shaking crash, only a dull, strange sound, as if space itself had been sliced apart.

The innate rock, harder than refined iron, was cut open like tofu, leaving behind a smooth fissure that plunged beyond sight. Deathly pale saber intent lingered along the cut, continuously corroding space.

The violent shockwave hurled Xuan Chuan dozens of zhang backward. His blood and qi churned, and his protective immortal light shook violently.

"Hm? A mere Golden Immortal can actually evade one strike from this Saint?" The red-haired Demon Saint raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised, but the expression was swiftly replaced by deeper contempt.

"Your movement technique has some slipperiness to it, but before absolute strength, it is all empty delusion!"

With that door-sized deathly pale bone saber slung over his shoulder, he strode through the air. With every step, black ripples spread across the void beneath his feet.

Demonic qi spread like a tide, staining this space shrouded by the innate formation with a layer of murky darkness.

His gaze rested on Xuan Chuan as though he were inspecting a slightly sturdier ant.

"State your name. This Saint's saber does not slay nameless ghosts." The Demon Saint grinned, baring a mouthful of sharp teeth. "Since you evaded one strike, I shall permit you to leave behind an intact corpse."

Xuan Chuan stood with his sword in hand. Purple lightning hissed along the Fate-Cutting Sword, offsetting the oppressive demonic qi around him. His face remained calm, but his mind was already rapidly assessing the situation.

A newly advanced Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal. His demonic qi is pure and vast, faintly carrying the frigid chill of the Northern Netherworld. His saber intent is brutal and savage, steeped in an ancient air of slaughter... He is no ordinary mountain demon king.

He recalled the other party's earlier roar—"This beast is fated with me"—and his heart stirred. He spoke in a deep voice.

"Since when did the followers of the Demon Master Palace learn the Western Religion's tiresome catchphrase?"

The Demon Saint halted. His crimson brows rose, and the vicious gleam in his eyes deepened. "You have some insight.

"Since you know this Saint comes from the Demon Master Palace, why do you not immediately kneel and offer up your opportunity? Perhaps I may spare your primordial spirit and allow it into reincarnation!"

As expected! Xuan Chuan's heart turned cold.

Demon Master Kunpeng, a remnant of the ancient Demon Court, had secluded himself in the Northern Netherworld and founded the Demon Master Palace. Its influence was tangled and far-reaching. Most of its disciples were ancient exotic beasts or ferocious great demons, overbearing in their actions and vengeful over the slightest grievance.

No wonder this demon was so arrogant, treating him as though he were nothing.

"The Demon Master Palace may have a great name." Xuan Chuan slightly raised his sword tip, pointing toward the thundercloud mass at the center of the platform where the Kui Ox was being nurtured.

"But I discovered this place first. I have already collected the spiritual materials, and this beast is also fated with me. In all things, there should be a first come, first served."

"First come, first served?" The Demon Saint seemed to have heard the greatest joke in the world. He threw back his head and laughed wildly, his voice sending countless columns of water exploding from the sea below. "Hahahaha! The strong devour the weak—that is the iron law of the Primordial World!

"A Golden Immortal brat like you dares speak reason to this Saint?

"That Kui Ox is an ancient thunder beast, born in harmony with the Law of Thunder. Its hide can be made into the Heaven-Shaking Drum, and its bones can be refined into the Baleful-Breaking Saber.

"Moreover, its place of gestation is accompanied by Innate Thunder Marrow, precisely the final main material this Saint requires to forge the Heavenly Demon God-Slaying Saber!

"Such a heaven-bestowed opportunity ought to belong to the Demon Master Palace!"

He wasted no more words. Killing intent surged in his eyes. "Since you refuse to appreciate favor—then die!"

As the final word, "die," left his lips, the Demon Saint's figure suddenly blurred!

It was not high-speed movement. Rather, it was as if he had merged into the murky demonic qi that filled the surroundings, becoming omnipresent!

The next instant, three incomparably solid figures of the Demon Saint appeared behind Xuan Chuan, to his left, and above his head. Each wielded a deathly pale bone saber and unleashed three saber auras that tore through the void!

The saber force was brutal and tyrannical, and it carried the Northern Netherworld's chill capable of freezing the primordial spirit, sealing off every avenue of escape!

Divine ability—Threefold Demon-Shadow Kill!

These were not phantoms. Every figure carried genuine killing intent and power! A Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal's initial use of space and its own laws was already beyond comparison with ordinary clone techniques.

With danger upon him, Xuan Chuan's pupils contracted. He could not evade it! The gap in realms was too great. The opponent's divine ability had already begun to touch upon spatial transformations; mere movement techniques could not completely avoid it.

Since he could not retreat, then—cut!

"Sever!"

Xuan Chuan gave a low shout. Rather than retreat, he advanced, and the Fate-Cutting Sword in his hand erupted with unprecedentedly brilliant purple-gold sword light!

The sword light did not strike at any of the demon shadows. Instead, it followed the perception of The One That Escaped toward—

the fleeting, subtle "connection node" between the three saber auras, born from the fact that their power shared the same origin, and slashed down with one stroke!

Fate-Cutting Sword Intent—sever the connection, shatter the combined assault!

Rip!

The purple-gold sword light swept through the void three feet before Xuan Chuan, producing a strange, soft sound of something breaking.

The three saber auras, once perfectly coordinated and sealing every path of survival, had their qi connections forcibly severed by that single stroke!

Though the saber auras had not weakened, their combined formation had been broken, revealing a tiny yet genuine gap!

Xuan Chuan moved like a swimming fish, perilously brushing past the edge of the saber auras through that sliver of space.

The sharp saber intent made his protective immortal light flicker violently. Several cuts split his robes, and pain pricked his skin, but he had ultimately evaded that killing blow.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Having lost their combined target, the three saber auras each struck empty air, cleaving three enormous, bottomless trenches into the sea below. The seawater could not close over them for a long time.

"Eh?" The three demon shadows merged into one, and the Demon Saint's true body reappeared. At last, a trace of astonishment colored his gaze toward Xuan Chuan. "You actually broke my divine ability? What strange sword intent do you cultivate?"

He could sense that the earlier strike had not used force to break technique. It was some even more mysterious power, as if it had severed the "fated connection" that ensured he would be struck.

Xuan Chuan breathed lightly, and the arm holding his sword was somewhat numb. That stroke had appeared effortless, but it had in fact drawn upon The One That Escaped to empower his sword intent, consuming no small amount of strength.

His heart weighed heavily. He understood that this was only the beginning. The depth of a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal's mana and its use of laws were far beyond what he could match at present. Prolonged defense would inevitably lead to defeat.

"My sword is named Fate-Cutting." Xuan Chuan suppressed his churning blood and qi, pointing his sword at the Demon Saint from afar. "It specializes in cutting opportunities that should not be gained and delusions that should not exist."

"Arrogant!" The Demon Saint flew into a rage. To be "lectured" by a Golden Immortal junior was the greatest humiliation.

"I had intended to grant you a swift death, but this Saint has changed his mind! I will tear out your primordial spirit and refine it into my Heavenly Demon God-Slaying Saber, so that you will suffer demonic flames for all eternity and hear the thunderous beat of the Kui drum every day!"

He no longer held back. Demonic qi surged skyward around him, and behind him, the phantom of a vast, boundless Northern Netherworld—icy, desolate, and deathly still—faintly appeared!

The deathly pale bone saber in his hand buzzed and trembled. Countless savage demon patterns surfaced across its blade, and a terrifying baleful aura that slaughtered all living beings and massacred Gods and Devils spread forth!

"To die beneath the God-Slaying Saber of this Northern Netherworld Demon Saint, Ji Meng, is the honor of an ant like you!"

Ji Meng? A descendant of the ancient Demon God Ji Meng? Xuan Chuan's heart sank. Demon Saint Ji Meng possessed a fearsome reputation; he was no easy opponent!

Before his words faded, Ji Meng took one step forward. The Northern Netherworld phantom behind him seemed to merge with his body. The temperature across the entire space plunged, and frost began to form over the sea.

He gripped the saber in both hands. The deathly pale saber light condensed to the extreme, becoming a thin arc of death that seemed capable of cutting through time itself as it silently swept toward Xuan Chuan's neck!

This strike was faster than before! More condensed! More dangerous! The saber intent locked onto him, leaving no escape!

Every hair on Xuan Chuan's body stood on end as a fatal sense of crisis engulfed him.

Purple-gold light blazed in his eyes. The One That Escaped operated madly, seeking that single thread of life, while thunder surged wildly along the Fate-Cutting Sword, purple lightning coiling around it as he prepared to stake his life on one desperate strike!

At the instant the saber light was about to reach him—

The thundercloud mass at the center of the platform, nurturing the Kui Ox, suddenly erupted with an earth-shaking thunderclap!