Night.
The night in the Black Wind Mountain Range was cold and deathly still.
At the edge of the cliffside fissure, Wang Zhan sat cross-legged, like a lifeless statue.
He had kept watch here for three days and three nights.
For three days, he had not closed his eyes once. His powerful Spiritual Sense spread over the fissure entrance like a spiderweb, missing not even the slightest rustle of wind or grass.
He firmly believed that little beast could never have survived such a desperate place.
The reason he had remained here was only for peace of mind—to personally dig up that brat's corpse, grind his bones to ash, and vent the hatred in his heart!
Yet three days had passed, and below the fissure, there was still only deathly silence.
Even his "Soul Chasing Mother Jade," which could sense the location of its paired jade, now flickered erratically. Its signal was exceedingly faint, as though it might be completely severed at any moment.
This meant that the paired jade had either been destroyed, or it had entered some extremely deep place capable of blocking all perception.
"Hmph. Dead or alive, this ends here."
Wang Zhan slowly opened his eyes, a trace of impatience and exhaustion flashing through them.
He decided to wait one final hour. If there was still no movement, he would return to Qingyang City.
The Lineage could not go a single day without a leader. He had been gone too long; trouble was bound to arise.
He rose to his feet, stretched his somewhat stiff body, and habitually swept his gaze around the area.
However, at that very instant, his pupils abruptly contracted!
He saw that atop a towering tree a hundred meters to his left stood a black figure, who had somehow appeared there without a sound.
That figure was like a ghost, perfectly blending into the night.
Had he not happened to look in that direction, even with his Ninth Level of Body Tempering perception, he would not have noticed it immediately!
"Who's there?!"
Wang Zhan bellowed. The blood and qi within him instantly boiled, and with a sharp clang, the blood-red saber was in his hand.
The figure atop the tree slowly turned around, revealing a young and indifferent face.
The instant he saw that face, Wang Zhan's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets!
"Chen... Chen?!"
He cried out involuntarily, his face filled with disbelief!
"You... you're actually alive?!"
How was that possible?!
After falling into such a certain-death abyss and suffering the backlash of berserk energy, let alone a Body Tempering Realm cultivator, even a Qi Condensation Realm cultivator would have had no chance of survival!
Yet he had not only emerged alive, but...
Wang Zhan's gaze locked tightly onto Chen Chen.
He could sense that the aura of the youth before him was more than a level stronger than it had been three days ago!
The faint blood-red Killing Intent radiating from him even made Wang Zhan's heart palpitate!
"Seventh Level of Body Tempering?!"
Even Wang Zhan's voice changed pitch.
Three days!
In just three short days, he had surged from the Fourth Level of Body Tempering all the way to the Seventh Level?
This... what kind of monster was he?!
"Wang Zhan, I trust you've been well."
Chen Chen looked down at him from above, his voice cold and devoid of emotion. "You failed to take my life. Today, it's my turn to take yours."
"Arrogant!"
After the brief shock passed, endless savagery and killing intent surfaced on Wang Zhan's face.
"So what if you stumbled into dog-shit luck and broke through to the Seventh Level of Body Tempering?"
"Between the seventh and ninth levels lies a Heavenly Chasm that you will never cross!"
"Today, I'll make you understand what true despair is!"
Before his words had even faded, the Flying Sword Artifact beneath his feet blazed with crimson light!
His entire body became a streak of blood-red light. Man and sword became one as he shot toward Chen Chen atop the tree!
This time, he held nothing back. The instant he attacked, it was a killing move with the force of thunder!
Yet in the face of this fatal blow, not a trace of fear appeared on Chen Chen's face.
Instead, the corner of his mouth curled into a mocking arc.
Just as Wang Zhan was about to reach the treetop, Chen Chen's figure suddenly turned into a wisp of green smoke and vanished from where he stood.
Seven Shadows Step!
Wang Zhan's sword struck empty air. Its tremendous force tore straight through the middle of the giant tree, which required several people to encircle, and shredded it to pieces!
"Trying to run?!"
Wang Zhan roared, his Spiritual Sense spreading over the heavens and earth as it instantly locked onto Chen Chen's position.
Chen Chen had already appeared a hundred meters away and was fleeing into the depths of the forest without looking back.
"The same move again! Do you think the same trick will still work on me?!"
Wang Zhan sneered and urged his flying sword forward, ready to pursue.
However, the instant he turned around, an intense sense of danger rose from beneath his feet without warning!
He looked down, and his face changed drastically!
The ground beneath him had somehow been rigged with a crude yet deadly trap!
Dozens of sharpened, poison-coated vines burst from the earth like venomous snakes, winding around his feet and flying sword!
And among those vines was a rope flickering with an eerie glow!
Spirit Binding Rope!
The instant Chen Chen fled, he had thrown out the damaged artifact he had just acquired!
"Child's play!"
Wang Zhan roared as the blood and qi protecting his body erupted, intending to shatter the vines and rope apart.
But although that Spirit Binding Rope was damaged, it was still a genuine artifact!
It wrapped tightly around Wang Zhan's flying sword, causing the spiritual radiance on the blade to dim for an instant!
That instant of delay was already enough!
A cold voice filled with endless killing intent seemed to rise from Nine Nether Hell, suddenly ringing by his ear!
"Wang Zhan, your time to die... has come!"
Chen Chen appeared behind Wang Zhan as if he had teleported!
He had never intended to flee!
Everything before this had merely been to lull Wang Zhan into carelessness and make him expose this fatal opening!
Eye of Asura, open!
The Bronze Broken Sword in his hand fused with the blood-baleful qi of the Asura God Transformation Art, becoming a blood-red rainbow that pierced the heavens. It stabbed viciously toward Wang Zhan's heart, at the weakest energy node exposed when he activated his protective blood and qi!
"Little beast, how dare you!"
Wang Zhan's eyes split with fury. Feeling the fatal threat behind him, he unleashed every ounce of his potential.
The blood-red saber in his hand swung back to block at an unimaginable angle!
Clang—!
The broken sword and saber collided explosively!
A terrifying shockwave erupted from the two of them and spread wildly in every direction!
The earth cracked, and trees toppled!
"Pfft!"
Chen Chen felt an irresistible force crash into him. It was as though he had been struck by lightning. He spat out a mouthful of blood and was blasted backward.
Wang Zhan did not fare much better either!
Though he had blocked the fatal strike, the hurried defense still sent his blood and qi churning. The web between his thumb and forefinger split open from the impact, blood flowing freely!
What terrified him even more was that a cold, tyrannical blood-baleful qi had invaded his body through the saber, madly ravaging his meridians!
He stared fixedly at Chen Chen, who was slowly climbing to his feet in the distance. For the first time, genuine horror appeared in his eyes.
This brat...
He had actually managed to injure him!
"Old dog, this is only the beginning!"
Chen Chen wiped the blood from his lips. Battle intent surged to the heavens in his crimson eyes!
With a tap of his foot, he transformed into a blood shadow once more and took the initiative to attack!
A life-and-death battle between the Seventh Level and Ninth Level of Body Tempering erupted fiercely in this utterly devastated forest!
Saber light and sword shadows flashed as blood and qi thundered!
The aftershocks of the battle flattened everything within several hundred meters!
The longer Wang Zhan fought, the more alarmed he became.
He discovered that Chen Chen's fighting style was nothing like that of a human!
He was vicious and crazed, fighting with his life on the line!
Every attack struck directly at Wang Zhan's vital points, without any attempt at defense!
And the wounds on his body were healing continuously at a speed visible to the naked eye!
What... what monstrous cultivation art was this?!
This child could not be allowed to live!
Killing intent overflowed from Wang Zhan's eyes. He decided to hold back no longer!
"Little beast, you should be proud to have forced me to use this move!"
He abruptly drove Chen Chen back and spat a mouthful of essence blood onto the blood-red saber in his hand!
Bzzzz—!
The saber let out a shrill wail. The bloody light upon its blade swelled to the extreme, as though blood might drip from it!
A destructive aura erupted with a bang!
Secret Skill: Blood Sacrifice Mad Saber!
At this moment, Wang Zhan's aura faintly touched the threshold of the Qi Condensation Realm!
He leaped high into the air, gripping the saber with both hands as he transformed into a burning blood-red meteor and cleaved down at Chen Chen's head!
This strike drained nearly half the blood and qi from his entire body!
But it was enough to kill any opponent in the Body Tempering Realm!
Yet facing this world-destroying strike, Chen Chen's eyes showed no fear whatsoever.
Instead, a smile of... triumph appeared.
"I've been waiting for this move!"
He took a deep breath and mobilized every remaining Cultivation Point within his body!
[Consumed 65 Cultivation Points. Temporary system function activated: Energy Berserk!] [For three seconds, all host attributes increased by 100%!]
Boom!
A force even more terrifying than the one from his breakthrough exploded within Chen Chen's body!
His aura surged instantly!
Seventh Level of Body Tempering, peak!
Eighth Level of Body Tempering!
Ninth Level of Body Tempering!
In that instant, his cultivation had been forcibly raised to the same level as Wang Zhan's!
The Bronze Broken Sword in his hand likewise gave a strained hum!
"Asura... One Sword!"
He poured all his strength, all his hatred, and all his killing intent into this sword strike!
An equally heaven-shaking blood-red sword radiance shot into the sky!
It met the falling blood-red meteor head-on!
Sword and saber collided explosively in midair!
There was no earth-shattering boom.
Only an instant of... dead silence.
The entire world seemed to lose its sound and color.
The next second.
Crack!
The blood-red saber in Wang Zhan's hand, that high-grade artifact which had accompanied him for decades, began to break and shatter inch by inch from the middle!
Then came his body.
A thin line of blood spread from his forehead all the way to his lower abdomen.
"Im... possible..."
Extreme shock and unwillingness still lingered in Wang Zhan's eyes.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, nothing came out.
His body split into two down the middle.
A rain of blood filled the sky.
[Ding! Killed a Ninth Level of Body Tempering martial artist. Cultivation Points +100!] [Ding! Congratulations, host, for completing the Main Quest: Prologue of Revenge (Kill Wang Zhan).] [Quest reward: Cultivation Points +400, Random Cultivation Art Treasure Chest ×1!]
Chen Chen dropped to one knee with a thud, and the broken sword in his hand crumbled completely into powder.
The time of Energy Berserk had passed, and an endless wave of weakness surged over him like the tide.
But he smiled.
He raised his head, looked at the blood-red sky, and threw back his head in laughter.
"Father! Mother! I have... avenged the first of your grievances!"
His laughter carried boundless grief and fierce satisfaction.
Yet at that very moment, his laughter came to an abrupt halt.
He suddenly looked up toward the dense forest not far away.
At some unknown point, three figures had appeared there.
Leading them was the very woman he had encountered in the mountain ravine three days ago... the White-robed Woman.
Through her veil, she gazed quietly at him with those cool, waterlike eyes.
As though she had been watching him for a long time.
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