Sects of the Northern Region

Lu Chen had wiped out the six members of the Divine Ring Gate who had come to ambush him-two Dao Palace Realm elders and four Sea of Bitterness Realm disciples-and learned what kind of sect it was.

The Divine Ring Gate lay three hundred li from Qingyun Oasis, in a small oasis only a few dozen li across, all of which belonged to the sect.

Although it was a cultivation sect, it would have been more fitting to call it a bandit stronghold. Its members not only plundered nearby cultivators but also squeezed the surrounding mortals dry.

Whenever they discovered a mineral vein, they captured large numbers of mortals to mine source for them. When the vein ran dry, those mortals were buried along with it, without exception, because mortals were no more than ants.

When Lu Chen learned of those mortals' wretched fate from a Divine Ring Gate disciple's sea of consciousness, he sighed deeply. But he understood that this was the norm throughout the Northern Region, and no one could change it.

Even the Desolate Ancient Families and Holy Lands were much the same. Countless mortal bones lay buried beneath their source mines as well. Whether those mortals were lured by wealth or forced into service, exceedingly few ever returned home whole.

For the sake of appearances, major powers and great sects often enticed mortals into mining with gold and silver.

Ordinary sects like the Divine Ring Gate, however, had no such scruples. They simply seized people by force, and anyone who refused died.

Before long, Lu Chen arrived at the small oasis where the Divine Ring Gate stood. Peaks towered amid hazy white mist, and waterfalls a hundred zhang high cascaded down some of them. Clear green waters wound around the mountains. It could certainly be considered a place of natural grace.

Such scenery was common in other regions, but rare in the Northern Region, where gravel and barren red earth stretched everywhere, with little sign of life.

Vegetation flourished amid the swirling clouds and mist. Halls could be glimpsed on several peaks-that was where the Divine Ring Gate stood.

"Who dares trespass on the Divine Ring Gate?" a disciple guarding the mountain gate shouted.

Clad in pristine white, Lu Chen approached through the air. Without a word, he flicked a finger, and the enormous stone stele engraved with "Divine Ring Gate" shattered into a heap of rubble.

"What... how dare you!" The disciples at the gate were first startled, then furious. The newcomer had attacked without a word and smashed their sect's stone monument. He clearly bore a grudge against them.

All the gate guards brought forth their magical treasures. Sabers, swords, spears, and other weapons became a blaze of light as they shot toward him.

Lu Chen's expression did not change in the slightest. He merely swept his broad white sleeve, and a series of cracks rang out as every incoming magical treasure shattered and fell to the ground.

These were merely Sea of Bitterness Realm cultivators. No matter how many came, they could not contend with him. Even ordinary Dao Palace cultivators would struggle to withstand more than a few of his moves.

He abruptly pressed his fair hand against the empty air. Everyone at the mountain gate spat blood and was hurled more than a hundred zhang away, plunging beneath a waterfall.

"Have your sect master come out." Standing in midair, Lu Chen looked down at them calmly. His clear, cool voice carried across the peaks, audible throughout the Divine Ring Gate.

"A powerful enemy is attacking! Hurry and fetch the elders and sect master!" By now, someone had realized the sect was in trouble. The newcomer's strength was unfathomable.

Sensing the panic within the Divine Ring Gate, Lu Chen felt little emotion. He ascended the steps with a light tread, without the slightest trace of killing intent.

Although this sect's members had attacked first, he had not come out of anger, much less to seek justice for those buried mortals. It was simply because he had the strength.

Whether seizing treasures or displaying his might, he acted as his heart pleased. He pursued power through cultivation so that he could roam freely beyond the mortal world, live as long as heaven and earth, and transcend every constraint.

Inside the Divine Ring Gate, bluestone paved the paths, and countless steps stretched like a reclining dragon into the depths of the mountains. Flowers and lush greenery flourished on either side, while streams wound through the terrain. The place did possess a certain poetic charm.

"Who dares behave so outrageously here?" A fierce shout soon rang out from deep among the peaks. A middle-aged man led five white-haired elders toward him, streaking through the air like meteors.

Lu Chen remained calm and composed. Watching the six approach, he said lightly, "Just a Loose Cultivator. You wouldn't recognize my name even if I told you."

"Why did you destroy my mountain gate and come here to cause trouble?" The middle-aged man was the Divine Ring Gate's sect master. His gaze was cold, his expression dark, and a powerful aura radiated from him. He was a cultivator who had entered the Four Extremes Realm.

"Two of your elders and several disciples encountered me today. Now they're dead," Lu Chen said, as unruffled as a clear breeze beneath light clouds.

"So you were the one they went out to find..." One elder's expression shifted slightly at those words. Understanding what had happened, he immediately explained the whole affair to the sect master through a voice transmission.

"You're quite strong for one so young, but you killed my elders and still dared to come here. How arrogant!" Thick killing intent spread from the Divine Ring Gate's sect master. He had no intention of determining who was right or wrong.

Murdering others for their source was utterly commonplace in the Northern Region. The only distinction was who was strong and who was weak, who died and who lived.

"Even an heir of a Holy Land might not be able to challenge my Divine Ring Gate alone at your age. You're merely a Loose Cultivator. No matter how talented you are, your bones will be buried here today."

The five Divine Ring Gate elders quickly surrounded Lu Chen. They exchanged glances, killing intent laid bare on their faces, and one of them said, "Kill him!"

Murder written across his face, the Divine Ring Gate's sect master shouted in a low voice to the distant disciples, "Activate the formation! Seal off the sect!"

Although he could see that Lu Chen was only at the Dao Palace Fourth Heaven, comparable to the elders in cultivation, the young man had killed two elders alone. His combat prowess had to be extraordinary, and he surely had something to rely on.

Yet the sect master had never considered that he might face danger today. He had already reached the third level of the Four Extremes Realm, a full four levels above this young man.

With such a gulf between them, even the great Holy Lords in their youth would probably have been no match for him.

"Whether you're a Loose Cultivator or someone with a powerful background, once we kill you, it will all amount to nothing!"

Seeing that the sect's great formation had sealed the place, the five elders sneered, making it clear that they intended to kill Lu Chen here.

"Then let's see whether my bones are buried here today, or your Divine Ring Gate is destroyed!" Lu Chen's robes fluttered, his white clothing untouched by a speck of dust. Though he exuded no killing intent, he made the five elders' hearts tremble.

"Attack!"

Several cultivators at the fourth and fifth levels of the Dao Palace Realm attacked together, a truly terrifying sight. Their weapons blazed with rosy light, and the deities nurtured within their Dao Palaces surged out to merge with those weapons, unleashing tremendous power as they struck from multiple directions.

One elder, for instance, brought forth a crimson divine pearl and fused it with the deity born within his Heart Divine Treasury. It illuminated the sky as though a small sun had descended.

Billowing flames poured from it, burning the void. The searing heat instantly reduced the vegetation below to ash and burst the mountain rocks apart.

Boom!

Lu Chen swung his fist, crystalline as jade, straight at the crimson divine pearl. Having cultivated the Solar True Scripture, flames were what he feared least.

Crack!

His fist's force surged like ocean waves, sweeping away the ragged clouds and blasting through the sky. In an instant, it smashed the flame-wreathed divine pearl into fragments that filled the air.