The Dragon Binding Rope and Demon-Reflecting Mirror: The Heavenly Court Unleashed Another Deadly Move!

The smell of blood had yet to fade.

Shattered armor littered the ground before the ruined temple.

Yang Jian stood amid the corpses, slowly lowering his fists, his chest heaving.

Those Heavenly Soldiers and Generals had been so high and mighty moments ago, declaring over and over that they would take him and his sister back to the Heavenly Court to answer for their crimes.

Now, every last one lay at his feet.

His clothes were soaked in immortal blood. His eyes, which had still held a trace of boyish innocence, now held only cold resolve and suppressed emotion.

Yang Jian lowered his head and looked at his hands.

His knuckles were unscathed.

Every joint was clearly defined.

The hands that had been all but crippled moments ago now bore not even a single scar.

Yet these very hands had shattered the Heavenly Net with one punch and beaten those insufferably arrogant Heavenly Soldiers and Generals into utter rout.

Eight particles still trembled within his body.

Heavy power flooded every limb and bone, as though eight primordial divine elephants were stamping and trumpeting deep within his flesh.

This was the art his master had bestowed upon him.

"Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Force."

Yang Jian swallowed, the shock in his eyes growing ever deeper.

He had once believed the Heavenly Court could not be defied.

He had once believed immortals and gods could not be defeated.

Only now did he understand that even so-called heavenly might could be shattered by a fist.

He needed no magical treasure to bolster him, no immortal art to shield his body.

Once his blood and vital energy surged, his fists became the strongest weapons of all.

Just eight particles had transformed him from a boy hunted for his life into someone with the strength to crush heavenly soldiers and divine generals head-on.

What about eighty particles?

Eight hundred?

What if, one day, all eight hundred and forty million particles within his body awakened?

Would he then be able to storm the Heavenly Court?

Would he be able to cleave Peach Mountain apart?

Would he be able to rescue his mother from that endless suffering?

Yang Jian's gaze burned brighter by the moment.

Just then, a trembling voice came from behind the temple door.

"Brother..."

Yang Jian stiffened.

He whipped his head around.

Yang Chan hid behind the battered door, her little face deathly pale, both hands clutching the frame.

She stared at the shattered armor and blood covering the ground, tears falling one after another.

Her eyes held both fear and worry.

The killing intent in Yang Jian's heart instantly dissipated.

He strode over and crouched before his sister.

The hands that had just slaughtered heavenly soldiers now moved with the utmost gentleness as he wiped the tears from her face.

"Xiao Chan, don't be afraid."

He kept his voice very low, as though afraid of frightening her.

"They can't hurt you anymore. I'm here."

Yang Chan could no longer hold back. She threw herself into his arms and clung desperately to his neck.

"Brother, I'm scared..."

"I'm scared they'll take you away too..."

Yang Jian's hand paused.

Their father was dead.

Their mother was imprisoned beneath Peach Mountain.

Now his sister had only him left.

If he fell, Yang Chan would have no one to depend on.

Yang Jian gently patted his sister's back, but a chill gathered inch by inch in his eyes.

"Xiao Chan, I won't fall."

"From now on, whoever dares lay a hand on you, I'll smash them to pieces."

Yang Chan cried even harder.

Yang Jian said nothing more. He simply held her, letting her cry out all the terror of their flight.

A little while later, he picked up his sister and returned to the ruined temple.

The statue stood silently upon the altar.

The golden light had long since scattered its dust.

A faint divine radiance seemed to flow across its clay surface, as though an ancient god had truly opened his eyes from slumber within this dilapidated little temple.

Holding his sister, Yang Jian knelt.

He kowtowed heavily.

"Your disciple, Yang Jian, thanks you for saving our lives, Master."

"Thank you, Master, for bestowing this art upon me!"

Yang Chan knelt as well, her eyes red, and whispered, "Thank you, immortal grandpa, for saving me and my brother..."

The statue gave no response.

Yet the reverence in Yang Jian's heart only deepened.

An existence like his master thought nothing even of the Heavenly Court. Why would he care about a few words of thanks?

Within the altar.

Gu Changqing's soul resided deep within the golden light, continuously tempered by the power of the ten-thousandfold return.

Wave after wave of pure energy surged into the statue.

The once-ordinary clay sculpture had already undergone its initial transformation.

Its clay body had become a divine substance that was neither gold nor jade. Ordinary immortal arts could scarcely damage it now.

Gu Changqing could clearly feel his soul becoming more substantial.

His once-faint consciousness now possessed true weight.

The strength of his soul was faintly approaching the level of a golden immortal primordial spirit.

What drew his attention even more was that sliver of a law fragment from the Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Force.

That power was supremely domineering.

Pure.

Heavy.

It seemed that, if he continued comprehending it, he could suppress all arts through sheer strength.

Gu Changqing felt pleased.

Yang Jian really was worth investing in.

With just eight particles, he could smash the Heavenly Court's standard-issue magical treasures. If he kept growing, he might overturn half the chessboard of the Investiture of the Gods.

He did not speak to reassure Yang Jian.

A true chess master had no need to reveal himself at every turn.

Nor was praise what Yang Jian needed most right now.

It was danger.

After suffering such a great loss, the Heavenly Court would never let the matter rest.

Those who came next would certainly be stronger.

Gu Changqing's gaze passed beyond the ruined temple and settled on the distant corpses.

Suddenly, his soul stirred slightly.

Someone was still alive.

Beneath shattered armor, a heavenly soldier whose body had been nearly crushed to pulp on one side gave a faint twitch of his fingers.

He had remained pinned beneath the corpses, using the Turtle-Breathing Technique to cling to his final breath.

Terror had kept him from moving.

Only after Yang Jian carried Yang Chan back into the temple did he expend the last of his strength to pull a bloodstained talisman from his robes.

A Blood Escape Talisman.

A lifesaving item issued to the Heavenly Court's Vanguard Camp.

Using blood essence as a catalyst, it could carry its user back to the South Heaven Gate in an instant.

The heavenly soldier's eyes were filled with terror.

He bit through the tip of his tongue and spat his last mouthful of blood essence onto the talisman.

Hum!

Blood-red light abruptly flared.

Yang Jian sensed the disturbance, his expression changing sharply as he spun

around and rushed out through the temple door.

But just as he reached out, the blood-red light swept up the heavenly soldier and vanished.

Only a patch of charred talisman ash remained on the ground.

Yang Jian's gaze instantly darkened.

"One got away."

At those words, Yang Chan's little face grew even paler inside the temple.

Yang Jian slowly clenched his fists.

He knew what this meant.

Everything that had happened at Guanjiangkou would soon reach the Heavenly Court.

Next time, it would not be merely a few dozen heavenly soldiers.

There would be more men.

Stronger magical treasures.

More ruthless orders to kill.

Yang Jian turned to look at the statue.

He did not ask his master to intervene again.

His master had already given him a path.

He had to walk the rest himself.

Yang Jian settled Yang Chan beside the altar and draped his worn outer robe over her.

"Xiao Chan, get some rest."

"I'll be right outside."

Yang Chan caught his sleeve, her eyes red.

"Brother, don't go far."

Yang Jian stroked her head.

"I won't."

With that, he turned and went to the clearing before the temple.

The night wind blew past, but the smell of blood remained thick.

Yang Jian sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began circulating his blood and vital energy according to the Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Force.

Eight particles were still nowhere near enough.

Before the Heavenly Court descended again, he had to awaken more of those slumbering divine elephant particles.

He had to survive.

Protect his sister.

Rescue his mother.

One day, he would storm the Lingxiao Treasure Hall himself and question the uncle who sat high upon the Heavenly Emperor's Throne.

What crime had the Yang Family committed?!

The Thirty-Three Heavens.

Outside the South Heaven Gate.

Space suddenly twisted.

A streak of blood-red light burst from the sea of clouds.

The next instant, a heavenly soldier drenched in blood tumbled out of the light and slammed heavily onto the jade steps.

The soldiers guarding the gate blanched.

"Someone's returned by blood escape!"

"He's from the Vanguard Camp under the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King! How did he get so badly wounded?"

The Four Heavenly Kings rushed over at the news. At the sight of the heavenly soldier's wretched state, their expressions darkened as one.

Half the heavenly soldier's body had caved in, his immortal armor lay shattered, and his breath was so faint it could cease at any moment.

He struggled to raise his head, the terror in his eyes almost taking solid form.

"A fiend..."

"There's a fiend in the mortal realm!"

The faces of the surrounding immortals and gods all changed.

One of them asked urgently, "Where are the rest of the Vanguard Camp? Where is the divine general who led them?"

The heavenly soldier convulsed, spending his last breath on a roar.

"They're all dead!"

"The Heavenly Net was shattered too!"

"That Yang Family remnant... his body is like a demon god's! His fists can shatter the Heavenly Net!"

As his words faded, his head slumped sideways, and he died on the spot.

Outside the South Heaven Gate, dead silence fell in an instant.

All the immortals and gods exchanged looks.

The Heavenly Net was shattered?

The Vanguard Camp was wiped out?

A young fugitive of the Yang Family in the mortal realm had actually managed all that?

Before long, the news reached the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

Bang!

The glazed jade cup exploded into powder in Haotian's hand.

He rose abruptly, the Emperor's Might sweeping through the hall.

The assembled immortals bowed their heads.

No one dared speak at that moment.

Haotian's face was as dark as it could possibly be.

"Useless."

"Dozens of heavenly soldiers, a vanguard divine general, and a Heavenly Net-and they still couldn't capture a single Yang Jian?"

"And they let him slaughter the entire force?"

As his words fell, the entire Lingxiao Treasure Hall shook.

Taibai Jinxing braced himself and stepped forward, bowing. "Please quell your anger, Your Majesty. Yang Jian was previously a mere mortal and could never have possessed such abilities. I fear some powerful figure has intervened behind the scenes."

A cold gleam surged in Haotian's eyes.

"A powerful figure?"

"To dare meddle in the Heavenly Court's family affairs is to defy Heaven!"

He swept his hand, his voice icy.

"Issue my decree!"

"Order the Giant Spirit God to muster one thousand heavenly soldiers and descend to the mortal realm with the Dragon Binding Rope and the Demon-Reflecting Mirror!"

"Bring Yang Jian and his sister back to the Heavenly Court to answer for their crimes."

"Seize the being behind him as well, and imprison them in the Heavenly Prison Thunder Hell, where heavenly lightning will temper their soul day after day!"

The assembled immortals answered in unison, "As you decree!"

A short while later.

The South Heaven Gate thundered open.

The Giant Spirit God strode out with his massive axe, a thousand heavenly soldiers marching in formation behind him.

The Dragon Binding Rope coiled like a golden serpent.

The Demon-Reflecting Mirror hung among the clouds, its cold gleam shining straight down upon the mortal realm.

The sea of clouds churned.

The kill order pointed straight at Guanjiangkou!