Unceasing Battle

The giant fist, wreathed in lightning and fire, smashed down. The instant the axe light and fist shadow collided, Luo Tianxiong's spiritual energy armor cracked.

"What the hell is that?" Luo Tianxiong exclaimed, a mix of shock and anger on his face. Just as he tried to disengage, ripples suddenly appeared in the void to his left.

A furnace broke through the air, and Lu Chen's clone, carrying his Qi and Blood Domain, pressed down fiercely.

"Suppress!"

Ten meters of bloody light bound Luo Tianxiong like shackles, and the furnace's suction momentarily halted his movement.

But the true killing intent came from behind.

Lu Chen's main body teleported like a phantom, his Soul Severing Saber shining like a star.

The blade, infused with an indestructible blood energy, pierced through Luo Tianxiong's back and emerged from his chest!

"Pfft!"

Luo Tianxiong looked down at the tip of the blade in his chest, his face filled with disbelief.

The protective energy rampaged within his body, and his Golden Core rapidly dimmed under the devouring power of the furnace in his sea of qi.

"You... will die a horrible death!"

Before the hoarse curse could finish, the furnace's eerie light swept over him, and his corpse turned into a beam of light, entering the Asura Furnace.

The long street fell silent.

The blood drops falling from the Soul Severing Saber hit the bluestone, their crisp sound startling the spectators.

This bastard isn't wrong to dare challenge the Son of Heavenly Dao; he really has the strength!

"Lu Ran, get out here!" Lu Chen's voice boomed again, carrying the might of his victory over Luo Tianxiong.

"Lu Ran is in seclusion, consolidating his realm. If you wish to settle your grievances, you will see him at the New Year's Martial Arts Exhibition at the end of the year!"

An old man emerged from the academy, his expression cold.

"As expected, a coward!" Lu Chen sneered and sheathed his saber.

"What, you're just going to leave like this?" The old man took a step forward, his terrifying aura surging like a massive wave.

Bang!

The aura was suddenly blocked and repelled, as if catalyzed, becoming even more violent.

The old man was horrified. He spat out a mouthful of blood, which smashed into the academy like a bomb.

Old Ancestor Tianyan hovered in the air, sneering, "The juniors aren't enough, so the elders come? Come, come, let this old man spar with you!"

The crowd shivered, and waves of divine sense retreated.

"I am Ding Yun, Golden Core fifth layer. Do you dare to fight!"

A disciple, surrounded by others, stepped forward.

"I came to settle a grievance, not to spar with you. I'm not interested!" Lu Chen glanced at him.

"Where did your spirit and energy go just now?" the opponent taunted with a smile.

Lu Chen's eyes narrowed. "A fight to the death. Are you in or out?"

The opponent's gaze became extremely focused.

"Scared now?" Lu Chen shrugged. "That beast Lu Ran is a coward, and it seems those who follow him are also cowards. Truly, birds of a feather flock together!"

"A fight to the death, then!"

Ding Yun's spear tip spat out cold light, and the pressure of his Golden Core fifth layer stirred the winds and clouds.

Lu Chen wiped the blood from his lips, pointing his Soul Severing Saber diagonally at the ground, its saber energy flickering like sparks.

He suddenly grinned. "You're much stronger than that trash Lu Ran!"

"Enough nonsense!" Ding Yun roared. A thousand spear shadows danced like golden snakes, blocking all of Lu Chen's escape routes.

Lu Chen lightly tapped his toes, using the Wind and Thunder Steps to teleport three times, yet he was still grazed by the spear energy, his clothes tearing.

He flung the Asura Furnace behind him. The phantom of its three heads and six arms roared as it collided with the spear shadows, the sound of metal clashing echoing through the heavens.

Ding Yun's pupils contracted—that furnace was actually devouring the origin energy within the spear shadows!

He bit his tongue, spitting out vital blood. Beast-like runes appeared on his spear, and he lunged at Lu Chen.

However, Lu Chen had been waiting for this moment. The Asura Furnace emerged from his dantian, its mouth emitting an abyss-like eerie light, swallowing the beast-like runes whole.

"Here you go!" The furnace trembled, and the refined Golden spiritual energy condensed into nine flying swords that shot backward.

Ding Yun swung his spear to block, but Lu Chen closed in, his Soul Severing Saber, imbued with the newly absorbed Golden attribute sharpness, shattering Ding Yun's protective spiritual light with a single slash.

The instant the blade cut into flesh, the Asura Furnace's eerie light swept over, and Ding Yun, along with his spear, turned into a stream of light and disappeared into it.

The surrounding cultivators hadn't recovered from their shock when another dark shadow streaked into the battlefield.

Wood attribute spiritual energy transformed into a vine cage, instantly trapping Lu Chen within.

"Myriad Wood Strangulation!" The newcomer formed hand seals, and thorny vines emerged, raining down poison.

Lu Chen's protective qi surged, and the Golden attribute essence refined in the furnace transformed into a storm of blades, shredding the wooden cage into pieces.

He charged forward amidst the splashing wood chips, his blade aura condensing into a fiery red bird that incinerated his opponent into charcoal.

The third challenger was shrouded in black mist, and the flagstones he passed over corroded into dust.

The bone-corroding miasma, fueled by a dark spirit root, manifested as a giant python, its fangs dripping with foul-smelling mucus.

Lu Chen sneered. The Wood attribute energy refined in his furnace burst forth with vitality, sprouting verdant spirit vines within the miasma.

The vines wrapped around the python's vulnerable spot. He teleported behind his opponent, his blade tip elegantly flicking away the man's head as if plucking a flower.

When the fourth lightning-attribute cultivator arrived with thunderous crackles, Lu Chen simply sat down cross-legged.

The Asura Furnace hovered above his head, swallowing all the descending lightning.

"Not strong enough," he casually flicked out a wisp of lightning-fire essence, electrocuting the opponent until his hair stood on end.

Ultimately, the cultivator was backfired by his own summoned heavenly lightning and turned to ash within the furnace's eerie glow.

"Anyone below Golden Core fifth layer, come and fight!"

Lu Chen plunged his saber into the bluestone, his voice echoing for miles.

Four corpses were being refined in the furnace, and the feedback energy made the blood-red glow in his eyes intensify.

A secret operative from the Royalist faction exchanged a glance in the crowd, and five people immediately leaped out.

The first combatant wielded a demon-subduing staff, his spiritual energy coalescing into an Arhat manifestation.

Lu Chen used the poison vine seeds refined by the furnace to leverage his opponent's strength. The moment the staff was entangled, his blade aura pierced the opponent's brow.

The second cultivator's water-attribute techniques were relentless, but the furnace drained his spiritual energy, which then condensed into ice cones that pierced his throat.

After the fifth fire-attribute cultivator was cleaved and sent flying, the setting sun had dyed the long street a bloody crimson.

Lu Chen suddenly pointed his saber southeast: "Wutu, you've been watching for a while, dare to fight?"

This was a telepathic hint from the only surviving cultivator who had been cleaved and sent flying.

Wutu, the leader of the radical faction's spies who had infiltrated the Royalist faction.

Wutu's eyes narrowed. Recalling his three Golden Core subordinates who had been killed, his rage flared.

The pressure of a Golden Core fifth-layer cultivator exploded, shattering the ground as it shot towards him.

"Die!"

Wutu clasped his palms together, and dark spiritual energy formed a giant Taotie maw.

Lu Chen inverted the furnace, and the previously refined Five Elements essence surged out, creating a chaotic vortex within the Taotie's maw.

Taking advantage of Wutu's unstable spiritual energy, three clones attacked from different directions.

His main body then drew upon all the energy in his sea of qi and furnace, unleashing a strike that fused the power of the Five Elements.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Squelch!

Wutu repelled the three clones with three punches but couldn't stop Lu Chen's main body's brutal attack.

He watched helplessly as the blade aura split him in two.

The Asura Furnace swept over, and Wutu's corpse disappeared.

Rumble...

The energy in his sea of qi furnace became extremely concentrated, condensing a blood-red mark on the central sphere.

The Undying Blood Mark.

It could enhance the recovery speed of injuries and consumption.

An eighth-level Qi Surge Realm cultivator needed to condense nine Undying Blood Marks to advance to the next level.

Sensing the change in his aura, many people's expressions shifted.

To improve during battle, what terrifying potential.

When they saw Lu Chen put two drops of mysterious liquid into his mouth, the space around him became turbulent.

The blood qi on his body flickered, and his physical strength was also increasing.

What kind of treasure was that?

After defeating ten Golden Core experts consecutively, the scene fell into dead silence.

"To let so many people be buried for a coward, Tianyu Academy is truly ruthless and generous!"

Lu Chen's words caused Old Ancestor Tianyan, who was suspended in mid-air, to stumble.

After killing so many people, he had shifted the blame to Tianyu Academy with a single sentence.

Damn, was his mouth blessed?