The gigantic fist wrapped in lightning and fire came crashing down. The instant the axe light collided with the fist shadow, fine cracks spread across Luo Tianxiong's spiritual energy armor.
"What the hell is this?" Luo Tianxiong was both shocked and enraged. Just as he was about to pull back, ripples suddenly spread through the void to his left.
An Asura Furnace tore through the air, Lu Chen's avatar pressing forward with the Qi and Blood Domain:
"Suppress!"
A ten-meter expanse of blood light restrained Luo Tianxiong like shackles, while the furnace's suction force slowed his movements.
But the true killing intent came from behind.
Lu Chen's true body flashed like a ghost, the Soul Severing Saber gleaming like a star.
Wrapped in an unstoppable surge of blood qi, the blade pierced through Luo Tianxiong's back and emerged from his chest!
"Pfft!"
Luo Tianxiong lowered his head to stare at the blade tip protruding from his chest, disbelief written all over his face.
Gang qi ravaged his body, while his golden core rapidly dimmed beneath the devouring pull of the furnace in his sea of qi.
"You... will die a horrible death!"
Before his hoarse curse was finished, the furnace's ghostly light swept over him, and his corpse turned into a streak of dim light that vanished into the Asura Furnace.
The long street fell deathly silent.
Drops of blood from the Soul Severing Saber struck the bluestone, their crisp taps jolting the spectators awake.
No wonder this bastard dared challenge the Son of Heavenly Dao—he really had the strength!
"Lu Ran, get out here!" Carrying the might of having slain Luo Tianxiong, Lu Chen called out once more.
"Lu Ran is in seclusion, stabilizing his realm. If you want to settle your grudges with him, you will see him at the year-end celebration tournament!"
An old man walked out from the academy, his expression icy as he spoke.
"So he really is a coward!" Lu Chen sneered and sheathed his blade.
"What, you think you can just leave like this?" The old man stepped forward, and a terrifying aura swept over them like towering waves.
Bang!
The aura was suddenly blocked and surged back in reverse. As if a catalyst had been added, it became even more violent.
The old man was horrified. He spat out a mouthful of blood and crashed into the academy like a bomb.
Old Ancestor Tianyan hovered in the air and sneered.
"The little ones can't do it, so the old ones are coming out? Come on, come on! This old man will trade a few moves with you!"
Everyone shuddered, and streams of divine sense retreated like the ebbing tide.
"I am Ding Yun, Fifth Level Golden Core Realm. Do you dare fight me?"
The disciple who had been surrounded by others stepped forward.
"I came to settle grudges, not to trade moves with you. I'm not interested!"
Lu Chen cast him a glance.
"Where did all that swagger from before go?" The other man sneered.
Lu Chen narrowed his eyes. "A battle to the death. Are you coming or not?"
The other man's pupils contracted sharply.
"Too scared, huh?" Lu Chen shrugged. "That beast Lu Ran is a coward, and it turns out those who follow him are cowards too. Birds of a feather flock together!"
"A death match, then! Fight!"
Cold light flickered from Ding Yun's spear tip, and the pressure of the Fifth Level Golden Core Realm stirred the winds and clouds.
Lu Chen wiped the blood from his lips. The Soul Severing Saber pointed diagonally at the ground, its saber qi flickering like sparks.
He suddenly grinned. "You're far stronger than that piece of trash Lu Ran!"
"Cut the nonsense!" Ding Yun roared. Thousands upon thousands of spear shadows danced like frenzied golden snakes, sealing off every route of retreat.
Lu Chen lightly tapped the ground with his toes and used Wind and Thunder Steps to flash three times, yet the spear qi still shredded his robe.
He flung out the Asura Furnace with a backhand motion. A phantom with three heads and six arms roared as it collided with the spear shadows, and the clangor of metal rang through the heavens.
Ding Yun's pupils suddenly shrank—the furnace was actually devouring the source within the spear shadows!
He bit through his tongue and sprayed out Essence Blood. Beast-shaped runes appeared over his spear as he charged straight at Lu Chen.
But this was precisely the moment Lu Chen had been waiting for. The Asura Furnace rose from his dantian, ghostly light at its mouth as deep as an abyss, swallowing the beast-shaped runes whole.
"Take it back!" The furnace trembled, and the refined metal spiritual energy condensed into nine flying swords that shot back at him.
Ding Yun swung his spear to block them, but Lu Chen had already closed in at his side. The Soul Severing Saber carried the sharp metal force it had just devoured and shattered Ding Yun's protective Spiritual Light in a single slash.
The instant the blade entered flesh, the Asura Furnace's ghostly light swept over him. Ding Yun and his spear both turned into streaks of light and vanished within.
Before the watching cultivators could recover, another black figure swept into the battlefield.
Wood-attributed spiritual energy transformed into a cage of vines, trapping Lu Chen within in an instant.
"Ten Thousand Woods Strangulation!" The newcomer formed a hand seal. Barbs sprouted from the vines, and venom rained down like a storm.
Gang qi surged around Lu Chen's body. Within the furnace, Ding Yun's refined metal-attributed essence transformed into a storm of blades that tore the wooden cage into fragments.
He charged forward amid the flying wood chips, saber qi condensing into a scarlet firebird that burned his opponent into charred remains.
The third challenger was shrouded in black mist, and wherever he passed, the stone slabs corroded into dust.
The bone-eroding poisonous miasma driven by his dark spiritual root formed into a gigantic python, foul-smelling slime dripping from its fangs.
Lu Chen sneered. The refined wood-attributed energy within the furnace burst with vitality, giving rise to a patch of emerald spiritual vines amid the poisonous miasma.
The vines wrapped around the python's vital point. He flashed behind his opponent, and the motion of his blade tip flicking away the man's head was as elegant as plucking a flower.
When the fourth lightning-attributed cultivator entered carrying crackling thunder, Lu Chen simply sat down cross-legged.
The Asura Furnace hovered above his head, swallowing every bolt of lightning that crashed down.
"Not strong enough." He flicked out a thread of Lightning Fire Essence, electrocuting the other man until his hair stood on end.
In the end, that cultivator suffered backlash from the heavenly lightning he had summoned and turned to ash in the furnace's ghostly light.
"Anyone below the Fifth Level Golden Core Realm, come challenge me if you dare!"
Lu Chen planted his saber into the bluestone, his voice shaking the area for miles.
The four corpses within the furnace were being refined, and the energy feeding back into him made the blood light in his eyes even fiercer.
The Imperial Loyalists' hidden agents exchanged glances within the crowd, and five people immediately leaped out one after another.
The first cultivator wielded a demon-subduing vajra pestle, his spiritual energy forming an Arhat manifestation.
Lu Chen used the poison vine seeds refined by the furnace to borrow force against force. The instant they entangled the vajra pestle, his saber qi pierced through the man's brow.
The second man's water-attributed spells flowed without end, yet the furnace drained him dry of spiritual power, then condensed it into an ice spike that pierced through his throat.
By the time the fifth fire-attributed cultivator was sent flying by a single slash, the setting sun had already dyed the long street blood-red.
Lu Chen suddenly pointed his blade southeast. "Wutu, you've watched for half a day. Do you dare fight?"
This was a hint secretly transmitted by the only cultivator who had been sent flying and survived.
Wutu, the leader of the Radical Faction spies who had infiltrated the Imperial Loyalists.
Wutu's eyes narrowed. Remembering his three Golden Core subordinates who had been killed, rage surged within him.
The pressure of the Fifth Level Golden Core Realm exploded outward. He shattered the ground beneath his feet and shot forward.
"Die!"
Wutu pressed his palms together, dark spiritual energy condensing into the gaping maw of Taotie.
Lu Chen inverted the furnace. The five-element essence refined earlier gushed out, exploding into a chaotic vortex inside Taotie's mouth.
While Wutu's spiritual power was in turmoil, three avatars launched surprise attacks from different directions.
Meanwhile, his true body drew upon all the energy within the furnace in his sea of qi and slashed out with a blade fused with the power of the five elements.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Pfft!
Wutu blasted back the three avatars with three punches, but he could not stop the violent strike from Lu Chen's true body.
He could only watch helplessly as the saber qi cleaved him in two.
The Asura Furnace swept over him, and Wutu's corpse vanished without a trace.
Rumble...
The furnace energy within his sea of qi was extremely condensed, refining a blood mark upon the central sphere.
Undying Blood Mark.
It could increase the recovery speed of injuries and expenditure.
At the Eighth Level of Qi Surge Realm, one had to refine nine Undying Blood Marks before advancing to the next level.
Sensing the change in his aura, many people's expressions changed.
He had actually broken through during battle. What terrifying talent.
When they saw Lu Chen place two drops of mysterious liquid into his mouth, even the space around him became distorted.
Blood qi flickered indistinctly over his body, and even the strength of his flesh was rising.
What kind of treasure was that?
After killing ten Golden Core experts in succession, the scene fell utterly silent.
"For the sake of one coward, you've made so many people accompany him to their graves. Tianyu Academy, you really are both cold-blooded and generous!"
Lu Chen's single sentence made even Old Ancestor Tianyan, hovering in the air, stagger.
With one sentence, he had shifted the hatred for killing so many people straight onto Tianyu Academy.
Damn it, was that mouth blessed or something?
Before you continue