Killing People and Destroying Hearts

Lu Chen's seven orifices bled, but he grinned and laughed maniacally.

Three clones shot out, each holding an external furnace and smashing towards the fist shadows.

Amidst the explosive shockwaves, Lu Chen closed in like a phantom, the Soul Severing Saber aimed directly at Wan Tong's throat.

"Seeking death!" Scales appeared on Wan Tong's neck, the saber tip sparking blindingly.

He seized Lu Chen's wrist as he moved, his right knee, wreathed in gale force, driving towards Lu Chen's chest and abdomen.

This "close-quarters smash" had once pulverized the protective magic treasures of Golden Core cultivators into dust.

At the critical moment, astonishing Blood Essence erupted from Lu Chen's body.

Layer upon layer condensed.

The instant they collided, the Blood Essence shattered. Lu Chen used the force to fly backward, fresh blood arcing through the air in a tragic, beautiful curve.

"Exhilarating!" He wiped the blood from his lips, his eyes blazing with even greater fighting spirit.

The three clones suddenly converged, and the external furnaces exploded simultaneously.

The violent energy tore apart the Asura phantom, and Wan Tong's protective gale-force energy finally showed cracks.

Wan Tong roared in fury, forming seals with his hands.

The sky suddenly darkened, and nine bolts of blood lightning struck down, condensing into a giant hammer crackling with electricity in his palm.

A warhammer imbued with a portion of the lightning law.

"Die!"

The moment the giant hammer descended, Lu Chen actually put away his furnace.

He spread his arms wide to meet the lightning, blood mist spraying from every pore—he intended to temper his body with the heavenly lightning!

"Madman!" The elder watching from the sidelines gasped in disbelief.

The instant the lightning coursed through his body, Lu Chen trembled violently. The Myriad Manifestations Furnace worked with all its might, swallowing it all.

Simultaneously, waves of energy surged out from within, replenishing his stamina and repairing his injuries.

The lightning dissipated. Lu Chen climbed up from the scorched arena and sneered, "It's my turn!"

"Impossible!" Wan Tong exclaimed, swinging his hammer to meet the incoming blade light.

This saber strike had incorporated the lightning law fed back by the Myriad Manifestations Furnace, making it even sharper and more ferocious.

Bang!

The lightning warhammer exploded on the spot. The saber energy, undiminished, slammed into Wan Tong's bronze skin.

The skin tore like paper.

The Asura phantom wailed and vanished. Wan Tong knelt on the ground.

He stared in disbelief at the Soul Severing Saber plunged into his chest.

A gurgling sound came from his throat.

Lu Chen withdrew the saber and turned. The blade flashed, and Wan Tong's head flew off. Before it could fall, it was captured by the external furnace.

His corpse was also taken.

The supervising elder stumbled, nearly falling headfirst.

When he looked up, his face was filled with rage, his eyes like those of a predator, and he roared:

"Who told you to kill him?"

"Sorry, I couldn't control my blade. I accidentally killed him!"

Pfft!

The elder spat out a mouthful of hot blood.

One part was due to Lu Chen's provocation, and the other was the three flying statues.

They lost again.

"Junior Brother, you're so cool, roooar..." Xiong Yao shouted excitedly, waving her iron hammer.

"Haha, Junior Brother, you've fulfilled the unfulfilled wishes of many ancestors of the academy. You're too awesome! Look at those idiots, they've all turned into stunned chickens, haha..."

Fang Jiuding was so excited he was babbling incoherently.

"Let's go!" The elder roared, knowing that staying would only bring greater humiliation.

"Hey, hey, hey, can't you send out a fifth-level Golden Core expert? Don't you have any?" Lu Chen continued to taunt.

The elder's head spun.

Damn it, he's not done yet, he wants more!

But no matter what, he couldn't take any more risks.

If they failed again, their heads would be chopped off on the spot.

"What about you guys? Are you all just here to watch the fun?"

Your grandpa...

Many people almost swore.

Splash...

Scattered like birds and beasts, they vanished instantly.

"Hey, hey, hey, the arena hasn't been taken away yet!" Lu Chen continued to provoke.

Many people's minds were on the verge of collapse.

They had never been so embarrassed before!

"Pfft, so they're just a mob!"

Mmm, mmm, mmm...

Many were so angry they wanted to go back and fight to the death.

This was a stab to the heart!

Rumble...

Tianyan Academy's great mountain rumbled.

As the statues were put back in place one by one, twenty-seven beams of will shot up into the sky, converging into a golden vortex in the clouds.

The dilapidated palace trembled, and emerald vines grew from the cracks in the tiles;

The dried-up spirit springs gushed forth again.

Xiong Yao's Black Iron Hammer floated up automatically, revealing ancient inscriptions after its rust flaked off;

Fang Jiuding's broken pot spewed out radiant light, and the bottom of the pot revealed a map of mountains and rivers.

"Martial Dao River..." Old Ancestor Tianyan looked up at the sky, tears welling up in his cloudy old eyes.

A fortune dragon, visible only to the mighty, coiled around the mountaintop, its roar causing the protective array of Yanjing to flicker.

Behind the beaded curtain on the top floor of the Drunken Immortal Tower, the masked woman stood up abruptly.

The jade cup she crushed with her fingertips turned to dust, and her voice trembled with suppressed emotion: "Twenty-seven placed back in position..."

The Shadow Guard leader knelt on one knee: "Shall we activate the plan?"

"No!" the woman raised her hand to stop him, "If those lunatics sense the resurgence of Tianyan's fortune, they will spare no expense..."

She looked in the direction of the imperial palace, her cherry lips biting to the point of bleeding under the mask, her eyes filled with worry.

The autumn sky of Yanjing was churned by the light beams from the twenty-seven Martial Dao Will statues.

Tianyan Academy's broken mountain gate, entwined by the fortune dragon, exuded a hint of majesty. Even the old man selling sugar figurines by the roadside felt an indescribable pressure emanating from the broken walls.

Yanjing was in an uproar, which even spread throughout the country.

Chixiao City, Lu Family Ancestral Hall.

Three columns of green smoke curled from the incense burner, but they couldn't hide the anxiety filling the room.

The memorial tablet of Lu Ran's father was cracked in half, and the elders kneeling below trembled in their knees—they had just received a recording from Yanjing.

"Lu Chen... he really did that to Tianyu Academy's Wan Tong..." The Third Elder, Lu Changqing, stared at the rolling head in the water mirror, his throat making a clicking sound.

Outside the hall, the autumn wind whipped dead leaves against the window, reminiscent of the day Lu Chen swept through the Lu Family.

"Issue an order!" The First Elder suddenly smashed the table, "Withdraw the spirit stones we are supplying to Tianyu Academy!"

"But what about young master Lu Ran..."

"Idiot! Can't you see Lu Chen's current combat power? Martial Dao Second Realm, killing Golden Cores like slaughtering dogs. Can Lu Ran do that? Huh!"

The First Elder's hair and beard stood on end: "We can't be foolish anymore. Lu Chen didn't attack us last time out of gratitude for the Lu Family's upbringing. We can't ruin it all!"

"Whether it's Lu Ran or Lu Chen, they are both my Lu family. Whoever wins or loses is up to fate. My Lu Family can't afford to gamble!"

The First Elder finished speaking, his face filled with sorrow.

If Lu Chen hadn't had his bloodline plundered, Lu Ran would have stayed in the Lu Family to inherit the position of Patriarch, and Lu Chen would have 100% entered Tianyu Academy to become the Dean's personal disciple.

The Lu Family would have certainly risen strongly.

But now...

Lu Chen was still so monstrous, and he had become sworn enemies with Lu Ran. What should have been a joyous occasion had turned the Lu Family into a national laughingstock.

A good hand played poorly, how tragic!

The same scene unfolded in the various families of Chixiao City.

The Zhao Family threw the plaque inscribed with "Congratulations to Lu Ran for entering Tianyu" into the trash overnight.

In the backyard of the Qian Mansion, eight carriages turned around, and the resources originally intended for the Lu Family were put away again.

Families that had intended to curry favor with the Lu Family also stopped their actions, waiting to see what would happen.

The back mountain of Tianyan Academy, the furnace roared like thunder.

Lu Chen sat cross-legged beneath a statue, a fragment of Martial Dao Will floating above his palm.

This was obtained from the Myriad Manifestations Furnace refining Wan Tong's corpse.

Mysterious patterns on the fragment's surface vaguely outlined an Asura phantom.

"This is the true meaning only possessed by Martial Dao True Form, it's a bit of a waste to use it now!"

Lu Chen hesitated, unwilling to use it.

It was rare to encounter a Martial Dao Cultivator, and even rarer to kill one.

Using it now would be a waste, and he had deeper considerations.

Afterward, he took out seven more Golden Core Law Fragments.