Hunting Down Wu De and His Brother!

The two young men slowly opened their eyes. Two streaks of cold lightning seemed to flash through the dim burial chamber.

These two were the brothers Wu De and Wu Xing, Golden Core stage guest retainers whom the Great Chu Imperial House had secretly supported for a hundred years. Both were at the Golden Core mid-stage and proficient in combined attacks. Together, they even dared clash head-on with late Golden Core stage cultivators.

"Qin De? A mere mortal general dares covet the great path of the Golden Core?" Wu De sneered, his voice as piercing as a night owl's cry. "Rest assured, Your Majesty. While he's weakened during his tribulation, we brothers will make certain he dies and his cultivation perishes-even his soul will turn to ash!"

"No time to lose. Let's go!" Wu Xing was impatient by nature. With a sweep of his broad sleeve, two brilliant streaks of sword light instantly burst through the ancestral tomb's vaulted ceiling, becoming two meteors that raced toward Black Wind Canyon at an inconceivable speed.

In the Gale Mountains.

Gales howled, sending sand and stones flying.

Overhead, thick tribulation clouds were gathering furiously. Purple lightning serpents rolled and darted through the clouds, radiating heavenly might that could destroy heaven and earth.

Qin De sat cross-legged in the center of the Gale Mountains, his expression grave as he regulated his internal breathing, preparing to face the first bolt of heavenly lightning.

Meanwhile, atop a solitary peak ten li from Qin De, a black-clad youth sat quietly cross-legged on a boulder.

The gale whipped his clothes into a snapping flutter, yet he seemed to have become one with the mountain beneath him, utterly motionless.

It was Qin Chen.

He had not gone to guard his father, because he knew that a heavenly tribulation could only be overcome alone. If anyone else intervened, it would only bring down an even more terrifying punishment from the Heavenly Dao.

His task was to clear away every rat that tried to interfere with his father at this moment.

Suddenly, Qin Chen's tightly closed eyes slowly opened, and a trace of icy killing intent flashed through their depths.

"They're here."

At the edge of the sky, two dazzling streaks of sword light tore through the clouds, heading straight for the Gale Mountains with undisguised, chilling killing intent.

"Hahaha! Qin De, you brat, your time has come!" Carried by his true qi, Wu De's arrogant laughter resounded throughout the mountains like rolling thunder.

Yet before their flying swords could approach the canyon's defensive formation, a black afterimage appeared in their path as though it had teleported, blocking their way.

Wu De and Wu Xing abruptly halted their flight, hovering in midair as they frowned at the youth barring their path.

"Where did this greenhorn come from? You dare block our way? Get lost, or we'll kill you too!" Wu Xing shouted harshly. His spiritual sense swept over Qin Chen, only to find not the slightest fluctuation of true qi. He was entirely a mortal without any cultivation.

Qin Chen slowly raised his head and looked at the two men in midair, his lips curling into a cruel arc. "The Great Chu Imperial House's running dogs? You two pieces of Golden Core mid-stage trash think you can touch my father?"

"You're courting death!"

Wu De flew into a rage. A dignified Golden Core stage immortal had actually been insulted by a mortal youth. He could not even be bothered to form a hand seal. He simply pressed two fingers together like a sword and casually slashed downward.

A thirty-meter-long streak of azure sword qi condensed out of thin air. With a piercing shriek that tore through the air, it cleaved down at Qin Chen's head like Mount Tai crashing down upon him.

Though this was only a casual strike, empowered by Golden Core true qi, it was enough to cleave a small hill in two.

Facing this fierce sword strike, Qin Chen did not dodge. He did not even raise a hand.

"The brat's scared witless," Wu Xing scoffed.

Yet in the next second, both their smiles froze completely.

Clang!

The azure sword qi, powerful enough to split mountains and shatter stone, struck Qin Chen squarely on the crown of his head, yet no flesh or blood went flying.

Instead, accompanied by a metallic clash like the peal of a great bell, the sword qi shattered inch by inch the instant it touched Qin Chen's skin, dissolving into specks of light that filled the air and scattered in the wind.

Not even a single strand of Qin Chen's hair had broken!

"This... how is this possible?!" Wu De's eyes widened as though he had seen a ghost.

"Is that all the strength you have? Haven't you eaten?" Qin Chen rolled his neck.

The next second-

Boom!

The solitary peak beneath Qin Chen's feet instantly collapsed, and countless shattered rocks shot skyward.

He had already become a human missile breaking the sound barrier. Trailing a ring of white sonic vapor visible to the naked eye, he shot before Wu De in an instant.

Too fast! So fast that even a Golden Core stage cultivator's spiritual sense could not track him!

"Big brother, watch out!" Wu Xing roared in utter horror. At the same time, he frantically drove the Golden Core within him. A crimson flying sword instantly left its sheath, becoming a fire dragon that slashed toward Qin Chen's waist.

"Get lost!"

Without even looking at the flying sword, Qin Chen thrust out his left hand and seized the blazing supreme-grade magical flying sword directly in his bare palm.

Sssss-

The flying sword's scorching heat and sharp sword qi frantically sliced at Qin Chen's palm, yet they could only leave white marks on his skin, unable to cut even its surface.

"Shatter!"

Qin Chen's five fingers abruptly tightened, and the terrifying strength bestowed by his two specks of stardust erupted.

Crack!

Under Wu Xing's despairing gaze, the magical flying sword bound to his very life was crushed by Qin Chen into fragments that filled the air!

"Pfft!" With his magical treasure destroyed, Wu Xing violently spat out a large mouthful of blood, his aura instantly weakening.

By then, Qin Chen's right hand had already clenched into a fist. With a terrifying howl that tore through space, it smashed toward Wu De, who was within arm's reach.

"No! Xuanwu Shield, block it!"

Facing mortal danger, Wu De frantically squeezed power from the Golden Core within him. A supreme-grade defensive magical artifact engraved with a phantom image of Xuanwu instantly appeared before him, while three thick layers of true qi shields materialized over his body.

Yet before absolute physical strength, all of this was futile.

Bang!

Qin Chen's fist slammed squarely into the Xuanwu Shield.

The supreme-grade magical artifact, reputedly capable of withstanding a full-power strike from a late Golden Core stage cultivator, let out a mournful cry upon contact and exploded into countless fragments.

The fist continued unabated, tearing through Wu De's three layers of true qi shields like rotten wood before finally smashing into his chest.

Squelch!

There was no earth-shaking explosion, only the hair-raising sound of flesh tearing.

Qin Chen's entire right arm punched straight through Wu De's chest and emerged from his back! Qin Chen seized the Golden Core spinning within Wu De's dantian, then crushed it into powder with a bang.

"You... just what kind of... monster are you..." Wu De stared fixedly at Qin Chen, who was right before him, his eyes filled with endless terror and disbelief. Then his life was extinguished completely.

"Big brother!!!"

Not far away, Wu Xing was scared out of his wits at the sight.

He simply could not understand how a youth without any fluctuations of true qi could instantly kill a Golden Core mid-stage cultivator through physical strength alone!

Run! I have to run!

Without hesitation, Wu Xing bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence. He unleashed the Blood Escape Technique, which exacted the greatest toll on his lifespan, transforming into a streak of bloody light that fled frantically toward the horizon.

"Trying to leave?"

Qin Chen casually shook the blood from his arm, bent his legs slightly, then kicked hard against empty air.

Boom!

The air beneath his feet was forcibly stamped into a sonic boom. Like a meteor surging against the current, he crossed a thousand meters in an instant and appeared directly above that streak of bloody light.

"Down you go!"

Qin Chen raised his right leg high. Like a colossal axe cleaving open the heavens, it chopped down onto Wu Xing's back with crushing force.

Bang!

Wu Xing's body plummeted from the sky like a meteorite and slammed into the rocky ground below, gouging out an enormous crater dozens of meters deep.

By the time Qin Chen slowly landed at the crater's edge, Wu Xing at the bottom had been reduced entirely to a puddle of mangled flesh. Together with the Golden Core within him, he had been pulverized by the terrifying kinetic energy of that kick.

Two old Golden Core stage monsters who had awed Chu State for a hundred years had not even lasted the time it took an incense stick to burn before Qin Chen's pure physical violence battered them apart!

PS: Paid chapters launch at midnight tomorrow. I hope everyone will support me by keeping up with the story. I hope I won't even miss out on the full-attendance bonus.