Fusion with a Divine Artifact

Divine artifacts were not without weaknesses.

The Murong Clan's Starshift was said to be capable of transferring and rebounding any force, but it could not transfer a purely physical assault.

Murong Qing had held the Divine-Artifact Avatar of Starshift back until the end, intending to use it to save his life.

Yet he had never expected that what would truly take his life was not Jiang Kaitai's formidable Blood Fiend Power, but a grappling technique used by lowly martial wanderers—something he had always looked down upon!

"Chen Yuan! You're courting death!"

Murong Qing's face twisted viciously. "The Murong Clan will never let you go! Even if you flee to the ends of the earth, my Murong Clan will tear you into ten thousand pieces!"

At this moment, Murong Qing was filled with unbearable regret.

He finally realized that both he and Jiang Kaitai had been played by Chen Yuan!

Chen Yuan had made him and Jiang Kaitai fight until both were crippled, then reaped the rewards without lifting a finger.

Then Murong Qing seemed to think of something and suddenly burst into laughter. "Chen Yuan, no matter how thoroughly you scheme, it's useless! You can't take the Seven Kill Stele!

"Jiang Kaitai has already exhausted all the power from the blood sacrifice. What will you use to seize the Seven Kill Stele?

"After all that scheming, won't it all amount to nothing in the end?"

"Too noisy!"

Chen Yuan frowned. He directly picked up Murong Qing's Dragon-Pattern Azuregold Sword, shoved it into his mouth, and minced his tongue.

Murong Qing howled, his mouth full of blood as he glared venomously at Chen Yuan.

"Who told you that the Seven Kill Stele could only be fused through a blood sacrifice?"

Chen Yuan turned his gaze toward the Seven Kill Stele.

There were many ways to gain control of Divine Weapons and Demonic Arms. Some relied on strength, some on bloodlines, some on the artifact taking a liking to its wielder, while others relied on blood sacrifices, formations, and all sorts of other methods.

The Murong Clan's divine artifact, Starshift, relied on bloodline power. As long as one was a direct descendant possessing the Murong Clan's bloodline, they could wield Starshift's Divine-Artifact Avatar.

And the strongest member of each generation of the Murong Clan could naturally take control of Starshift and become its weapon master. This method of inheriting Divine Weapons and Demonic Arms was the most stable, and also the most envied.

The small clan that had discovered the Seven Kill Stele back then believed that its nature required a blood sacrifice. They thought they had failed only because they had not sacrificed enough blood.

After seeing those murals, Jiang Kaitai and Murong Qing had also assumed that the Seven Kill Stele required a blood sacrifice to be successfully fused and controlled.

In truth, they had been utterly wrong!

The method had been wrong from the very beginning.

A blood sacrifice could indeed draw out the Seven Kill Stele's power, but only temporarily.

Once the power of the blood sacrifice dissipated, the Source of Killing Intent would immediately return to the Seven Kill Stele.

The true method of fusing with the Seven Kill Stele was to rely on one's own willpower and actively accept and merge with the Source of Killing Intent.

The Seven-Kill Stele Fragment had appeared several times in the future, and at first, everyone believed a blood sacrifice was necessary.

It was not until its third appearance that someone successfully fused with the Seven Kill Stele. Only then did the martial world learn that a blood sacrifice was not needed to truly fuse with it.

However, fusing with the Seven Kill Stele was extremely dangerous. Once the Source of Killing Intent entered the body, anyone with weak willpower would be overwhelmed in an instant and turned into a puppet that knew only slaughter.

Moreover, the Blood Fiend Power carried by the Source of Killing Intent would enter the body. Those with insufficient strength would be directly burst apart.

Thus, fusing with the Seven Kill Stele required two strict conditions.

First, one had to have fought countless battles and gone through endless slaughter in order to resonate with the Source of Killing Intent.

Of course, this killing did not mean massacring the weak. It meant the killing intent accumulated through life-and-death duels and bloody battles against powerful experts.

Second was strength. At the very least, one needed the cultivation of the sixth martial realm, the True Condensation Realm.

Only by transforming internal energy from insubstantial to tangible, turning it into true essence and gaining greater power, could one withstand the impact of Blood Fiend Power entering the body.

The first condition seemed as though Chen Yuan did not meet it, but in the game, he had truly experienced countless bloody battles.

He had even once slaughtered his way through an entire guild by himself.

After crossing over, Chen Yuan had originally thought those virtual combat experiences were useless.

Yet when fighting others, Chen Yuan discovered that his state of mind was incomparably calm. Any martial technique in his hands could unleash devastating power.

He also felt no psychological burden whatsoever when killing. Every swing of his saber, every burst of blood, felt immensely familiar to him, as though he had experienced countless life-and-death battles before.

Since his combat experience from before crossing over remained, he naturally counted as someone who had endured countless bloody battles and could withstand the Source of Killing Intent.

As for Blood Fiend Power entering his body, that was easy to resolve as well.

Murong Qing was the most crucial part of Chen Yuan's plan to fuse with the Seven Kill Stele.

The Murong Clan's Divine-Artifact Avatar, Starshift, could transfer any force.

Divine Weapons and Demonic Arms also varied in strength. Although Starshift was far inferior to the Seven Kill Stele, both were divine artifacts, so it could naturally transfer the Seven Kill Stele's power as well.

Chen Yuan had kept Murong Qing alive precisely because Starshift needed the Murong Clan's bloodline power to activate.

He could do without people from the One Qi Piercing Sun Alliance to seize the Seven Kill Stele, but he could not do without someone from the Murong Clan.

That was also why Chen Yuan had gone to such lengths to have Wen Rou deliver the news to the Murong Clan.

Chen Yuan dragged Murong Qing before the Seven Kill Stele. Then he stepped forward and reached toward it.

The Seven Kill Stele before him appeared solid, but it was actually only a fragment. Everything around it had been formed from an incomparably dense Source of Killing Intent.

In an instant, the Source of Killing Intent merged with Chen Yuan's mind.

Chen Yuan's vision immediately turned blood-red as endless illusions flooded his mind.

Boundless killing intent surged toward him, and only one voice remained in Chen Yuan's mind: kill!

The disloyal deserve death! The unfilial deserve death!

The unkind deserve death! The unrighteous deserve death!

Those without propriety, wisdom, or trustworthiness deserve death! Carry out Heaven's judgment—kill, kill, kill!

Slaughter all filth under heaven, massacre all evil in the world! Use violence to suppress violence, use killing to end killing!

Amid the invasion of the boundless Source of Killing Intent, Chen Yuan's eyes turned crimson, yet he clung tightly to a trace of clarity.

The Source of Killing Intent gradually merged with Chen Yuan's consciousness, and that trace of clarity steadily grew.

At that moment, an overwhelmingly powerful surge of Blood Fiend Power rushed forth. Using the tiny shred of clarity he had left, Chen Yuan violently tore open Murong Qing's artery.

Holding Starshift, Chen Yuan placed it beneath the spraying blood. At the same time, he activated his internal energy, and a brilliant golden radiance immediately appeared on the ancient jade.

The next moment, the Blood Fiend Power surging from the Seven Kill Stele was instantly absorbed by Starshift.

As the blood continued to pour over it, the golden radiance on Starshift grew increasingly dazzling.

Murong Qing felt the blood draining from his body and the cold spreading through his limbs. He kept twisting his body, howling and whimpering.

When Starshift's golden radiance reached its limit, Chen Yuan fiercely hurled the ancient jade away. The berserk Blood Fiend Power instantly blasted through the ground, creating a crater several yards wide and of immeasurable depth.

Chen Yuan brought his foot down and directly snapped Murong Qing's neck.

Murong Qing was no longer useful. Now he could die.

The strongest wave of Blood Fiend Power had been transferred away by Starshift. Chen Yuan could fully absorb and refine the remaining Blood Fiend Power that surged into his body.

At the same time, the phantom of the Seven Kill Stele continuously shrank and gradually merged into Chen Yuan's body.

In the end, it turned into a small stone and imprinted itself directly onto Chen Yuan's chest, resembling a tattoo.

At the same time, a great deal of information flooded into Chen Yuan's mind.

Of course, this time it was not an invasion of killing intent, but information on how to use the Seven-Kill Stele Fragment.

The reason the Seven Kill Stele had been the supreme divine artifact of the first version was that most Divine Weapons and Demonic Arms required at least one-half or one-third of their fragments before they could be used.

The Seven Kill Stele was different. One-seventh was enough.

And with every fragment gathered, its power grew another degree stronger.

Chen Yuan sat cross-legged on the ground and let out a long breath.

By now, his internal energy was nearly exhausted, and his meridians were also burning with intense pain.

That was the backlash from the Fire Dragon Pill's medicinal power running out.

But compared to the gains from this venture, such minor damage was utterly negligible.

After fusing with the Seven-Kill Stele Fragment, Chen Yuan could lightly burn his vitality and blood to draw Blood Fiend Power into his body.

If he burned his vitality and blood intensely, he could even summon the Source of Killing Intent itself. Its power would become even more terrifying.

With every Seven-Kill Stele Fragment he collected, this power would increase, and more changes would emerge.

If he gathered the entire Seven Kill Stele, the complete Source of Killing Intent could transform into the Bloodslaughter Divine Body. It would be like the descent of a true god of slaughter.

Furthermore, every Seven-Kill Stele Fragment carried a powerful cultivation method derived from the Source of Killing Intent.

The cultivation method carried by this Seven-Kill Stele Fragment was called the Bloodslaughter Heaven-Calamity Hand.

Condense blood fiend energy and bring down a killing calamity. Its palm force was fierce and tyrannical, capable of suppressing and destroying true energy of most attributes.

However, the prerequisite for using this cultivation method was activating the Source of Killing Intent, and it consumed an enormous amount of Blood Fiend Power.

Chen Yuan estimated that, with his current strength, one palm strike was already his limit.

Yet this cultivation method possessed astonishing power, enough to rank among Heaven Tier techniques!

One Seven-Kill Stele Fragment contained one Heaven Tier cultivation method. Seven fragments meant seven such methods.

There was a reason the Seven Kill Stele ranked among the supreme divine weapons of the first version. The value of these seven Heaven Tier cultivation methods alone rivaled some Divine Weapons and Demonic Arms.

Its only flaw was that the cultivation methods carried by the Seven Kill Stele were all derived from the Source of Killing Intent.

Only someone possessing the Seven Kill Stele could use them, so they could not be taught to others.

After barely recovering some internal energy, Chen Yuan immediately prepared to leave.

Delays invited complications. Who knew whether the Murong Clan or the One Qi Piercing Sun Alliance might suddenly send more people? He had to leave Linked Mountains City at once.

Before leaving, Chen Yuan took only the fragments of his Wild Goose Feather Saber.

Although the Wild Goose Feather Saber had merely been an ordinary standard-issue weapon, its hilt bore the mark "Chen Yuan" carved by the Chen Yuan from before crossing over. He could not leave it behind.

As for the corpses of Murong Qing and Jiang Kaitai within the hidden area, Chen Yuan had no need to destroy them.

The corpses could be destroyed, but this hidden ruin left behind from the late ancient era could not. Therefore, once the Murong Clan arrived, they would certainly discover that the Seven Kill Stele had once appeared here.

And everyone who knew Chen Yuan had participated in the struggle for the Seven Kill Stele was already dead. No one knew of his existence.

Perhaps Wen Rou could guess some of it, but she would not speak carelessly.

The Skywind Rain-Listening Tower had existed for over a thousand years and had always followed its rules. It would not break them because of Chen Yuan.

Of course, even if Wen Rou did not follow the rules, Chen Yuan was not afraid.

The Murong Clan's sphere of influence covered only half of Youzhou. Beyond Youzhou, the world was vast; for the Murong Clan to find him would be like searching for a needle in the sea.