The Pressure of the Laws, Fish on the Chopping Block

Ten miles away, amidst the swirling fog.

How close, they thought. I was almost spotted by that woman in white, but luckily big brother Liu Yuhe is skilled in the art of breath concealment, or we would have been exposed!

"That woman's gaze is bone-chillingly terrifying. Just one look from her, and I'm still shaking uncontrollably!"

Voices murmured through the mist, the speakers still haunted by lingering fear.

"What is there to be afraid of? The bead in her hand could neutralize the purple herb's poison, so it must be a spirit weapon, just like the cyan-robed youth's thunder-shimmer gauntlets!"

Liu Yuhe turned his head to glare contemptuously at the chatterers, issuing a deep command. "Let's go. Chase them down, kill them, and take the spirit weapons!"

"Understood!"

The eighteen men behind Liu Yuhe nodded heavily, flying out of the mist after him to pursue the direction where Zhang Xingfeng and the other two had vanished.

"Big brother Liu Yuhe, I saw that the longsword on the golden-robed youth's back was as dark as ink. It has to be a spirit weapon too!"

"Then we'll snatch that as well, and grab those purple spirit herbs while we're at it!"

"Big brother Liu Yuhe is mighty! Hahaha, those three would never in their wildest dreams imagine that the purple spirit herbs they worked so hard to get are just wedding clothes prepared for us!"

"Big brother Liu Yuhe, shouldn't we go down and take the storage bags from the Pill Forging Sect people?"

"Who cares about storage bags? Catching those three is what matters!"

"Yes, big brother Liu Yuhe!"

The Qigu Secret Realm.

A certain dense forest.

"There's nobody in this forest yet, and with the thick fog, it's the perfect place for my breakthrough!"

Hua Shijie surveyed the woods and transformed into a ray of light to enter.

He took out ten supreme source stones, dissolved them into liquid, and absorbed them until he had consumed all ten before stopping.

"I never imagined that I, Hua Shijie, who pride myself on being a peerless prodigy, would still need to burn through Source Stones just to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm Ninth Layer."

Hua Shijie sighed, letting out a self-deprecating chuckle.

"Still, the power of the Source Stones is full, so I must break through immediately!"

"Once I break through, who in the realm can possibly match me?"

Free of distracting thoughts, Hua Shijie closed his eyes, steadied his mind, and circulated his Sect's Cultivation Method to begin fusing the power of the Source Stones.

"Boom!"

Three quarters of an hour later, a Pill Cauldron soared into the sky from within the dense forest, sending ten thousand rays of golden light piercing through a radius of a hundred miles.

"What was that? A Source Aspect manifestation? Is someone breaking through inside the secret realm?"

"A Pill Cauldron Source Aspect... could it be Hua Shijie?"

"It must be. It has to be him. He already possesses the cultivation of the Foundation Establishment Realm Eighth Layer, and he might have reached perfection long ago!"

"Despicable! He actually thought of a way to break through a second time while inside the secret realm!"

"Now that he has reached the Foundation Establishment Realm Ninth Layer, wielding his Cultivation Art won't just generate momentum—it will produce oppressive might! This is a qualitative difference. In the secret realm, Hua Shijie is truly invincible!"

"Right, and even worse, cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Realm Ninth Layer also possess Divine Sense. It will be impossible for us to escape his notice. Anyone who encounters Hua Shijie had better stay far away from him!"

Everyone across the secret realm stared at the phenomenon above the dense forest, all of them struck with shock and awe.

Inside the dense forest.

"Whoosh!"

Hua Shijie stepped into the air and flew beneath the Pill Cauldron's phenomenon, waving a hand to instantly scatter the fog across a hundred miles!

"It really is Hua Shijie. With just a casual wave of his hand, he commands the clouds and rain. He is truly peerless!"

Witnessing this scene, the people scattered throughout the secret realm could not help but gasp in amazement.

Beneath the phenomenon, the corners of Hua Shijie's mouth curled upward slightly. "Is this the power of the Foundation Establishment Realm Ninth Layer? Who can stand against me? Who?!"

His expression turned stern, and he transmitted his voice in a sharp shout. "From this moment on, all treasures within the secret realm belong to me! Those who refuse to submit shall die!"

Hearing the voice, the cultivators within a hundred miles felt their bodies tremble, none of them daring to make another move.

"Hahaha..."

Seeing this, Hua Shijie wore an expression of supreme triumph and burst into wild laughter.

"Boom!"

At that very moment, boundless oppressive might abruptly erupted in the skies above the secret realm, violently slamming down toward Hua Shijie.

The pressure was so intense that even the mere wisps spilling out from above the dense forest left the people across the secret realm in agonizing pain!

"It's the pressure of the Laws! Quickly urge your Source Power to resist!"

The pupils of everyone in the secret realm dilated violently as they frantically drove their Source Power, hastily condensing protective barriers around themselves.

"Hm?!"

Feeling the terrifying pressure, Hua Shijie's laughter cut off abruptly, his face contorting with sheer horror.

"Ah!"

Before he even had time to urge his Source Power, he was blasted into absolute nothingness!

"Such terrifying pressure! Good thing it wasn't targeted at us!"

"So this is the might of the Laws? It really kills anyone who violates them!"

Seeing this, everyone in the secret realm felt their hearts leap into their throats.

"Thank goodness Hua Shijie broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm Ninth Layer first, or else we would have been the ones to die!"

A handful of people secretly rejoiced in their hearts.

Like Hua Shijie, they had already reached the perfection of the Foundation Establishment Realm Eighth Layer, and they too had intended to break through within the secret realm to seize more treasures.

"Serves him right for being greedy enough to want all the treasures in the secret realm!"

"Exactly!"

"Ah... why did you suddenly kill me?"

"Because you took something you shouldn't have!"

"Damn you, I'll fight you to the death!"

The fog enshrouded the hundred-mile radius where Hua Shijie had vanished, and the slaughter broke out once more.

The Qigu Secret Realm.

A certain desolate forest.

"Junior brother, junior sister, we've been searching for treasures all this way and we're exhausted. We might as well rest here for a moment."

Zhang Xingfeng sat down on a massive boulder and offered the suggestion.

"Alright."

Dongfang Muxue and Chen Guyu also leaned against the side of the boulder.

"Exhausted?" A sneering voice rang out. "Then go die!"

"Whoosh!"

Before the words faded, Liu Yuhe landed alongside eighteen Foundation Establishment realm cultivators, staring greedily and icily at Zhang Xingfeng and his companions.

"Who are you people?"

Zhang Xingfeng and the other two sprang to their feet instantly, looking at Liu Yuhe's group and asking with displeasure.

"The ones sending you on your way!" Liu Yuhe answered coldly, barking an order. "Charge, surround and kill them!"

"Yes, big brother Liu Yuhe!"

Liu Yuhe and his followers violently surged their Source Power, repeatedly casting Cultivation Arts as they swarmed in to surround and slaughter Zhang Xingfeng's trio.

"Boom!"

In an instant, streams of colorful light flashed across the desolate forest, and myriad phenomena manifested!

The surrounding dead trees turned to fine powder, and the scattered stones on the ground shattered into dust!

"You actually thought you could kill us? Ridiculous!"

Zhang Xingfeng and his companions maintained calm expressions, exchanging a glance before moving like lightning, each charging toward their chosen targets.

"Rumble!"

A bolt of Divine Thunder flashed, roaring toward nine of the cultivators.

"Boom!"

A slash of sword light swept horizontally, cutting toward the other nine cultivators.

"Foundation Establishment Realm Seventh Layer... is this where your confidence comes from?"

Meanwhile, Dongfang Muxue let out a cold, arrogant chuckle as her Ice Soul released ten-thousand-year frost, freezing toward Liu Yuhe.

"Knowing full well that this granddaddy is at the Foundation Establishment Realm Seventh Layer, you still dare to look down on me? You're courting death!"

Feeling insulted, Liu Yuhe was consumed by fury as he drove his Source Power even harder.

He simply could not fathom why Dongfang Muxue dared to be so confident, charging at him all by herself.

Even if the item in Liu Yuhe's hand was a Mortal Weapon while Dongfang Muxue's was a Spirit Weapon, the gap in cultivation realms could not be bridged by a weapon alone!

The gap between a spirit weapon and a mortal weapon was roughly threefold, but the gap between the seventh and sixth layers of the Foundation Establishment Realm was fourfold!

That extra margin of difference meant only one thing awaited Dongfang Muxue: death!

Clearly, the other eighteen Foundation Establishment realm cultivators thought the exact same thing.

Zhang Xingfeng and his trio were nothing more than fish on a chopping board!

"The ridiculous ones are you!"

"Arrogant!" "Die!" "Come die!"

Liu Yuhe and his men were frenzied and ecstatic, their killing intent intensifying as they repeatedly unleashed their Cultivation Arts.

Yet they were wrong—dead wrong!

They had not anticipated that the spirit weapons in the hands of Zhang Xingfeng's trio were far more powerful than ordinary spirit weapons, nor had they expected that all three of them practiced Heaven-Tier Upper Grade cultivation arts!

"Bang!"

In the blink of an eye, the momentum of Liu Yuhe's group was completely extinguished!

"Boom!"

Meanwhile, the momentum of Zhang Xingfeng's trio remained utterly unstoppable, crashing violently into Liu Yuhe and the others.

"How can this be?"

"No! Impossible!"

Seeing this, Liu Yuhe and his men widened their eyes in utter disbelief.

"No!"

The sword light swept past, and the nine cultivators were severed at the waist, split into upper and lower halves!

"Ah!"

Lightning flashed, and the nine men instantly turned into charcoal!

"How could it be like this?"

As for Liu Yuhe, he suffered an even more miserable fate, his entire body freezing solid before shattering into countless pieces.

"Is that all of them wiped out already? I didn't even get to use my full strength yet!"

"Me neither!"

"It seems someone is coming. Let's leave this place first!"

"Alright!"

Zhang Xingfeng and his companions stowed away their respective weapons and transformed into streaks of light, departing the scene.