High in the sky.
Qin Wuxiang and the other eleven Foundation Establishment cultivators rapidly descended on their flying swords. When they saw the Lu Household members gather in one place after moving from another, cold sneers appeared on their lips in unison.
"What are those Lu Household people playing at? They know the gap in strength, yet they're still not running. Going here and there-are they playing hide-and-seek? Do they think our Divine Sense is just for show?"
"Hahahaha, perhaps they know they can't escape and have decided to give up resisting."
"Hmph, a bunch of ants. Obediently become stepping stones on our path to the Great Dao!"
As those scornful taunts reached his ears, Qin Wuxiang's brows furrowed slightly.
He was a relatively cautious, steady man.
"Don't get careless. The Lu Household might have a trump card."
Those words truly became a prophecy.
The Lu Household really did have a trump card.
But only Lu Chenxing knew its true power.
Now, before all the Lu Household cultivators, he jumped down from Lu Changfeng's shoulder and walked to the nuclear weapon launcher's control console under everyone's puzzled gazes.
He quickly operated it and locked onto the target.
The Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator leading the group.
The twelve Foundation Establishment cultivators were clustered together. Unless the others dodged in advance and put some distance between them, they would die alongside him without even a place to bury their bodies.
"Grandpa Patriarch, Grandpa Changgeng, Grandpa Xuanming, follow my orders in a moment!"
The three old men stirred inwardly at his words and readied themselves.
Then Lu Chenxing decisively pressed the launch button.
Boom!
The earth shook violently.
Terrifying infrasound rippled in every direction.
Even Foundation Establishment cultivators like Lu Changfeng lost their hearing at that moment.
Their eyes widened, their gazes filled with disbelief.
Then they saw an extremely thick, unknown cylindrical object blast into the sky, shooting toward the twelve black-robed figures approaching on flying swords at a terrifying speed.
There were no Spiritual Power fluctuations from the object.
Yet, for some reason, as Lu Changfeng and the other two stared at it, their hearts involuntarily palpitated.
Lu Chenxing swiftly put the nuclear weapon launcher into his storage ring.
Then he shouted sharply.
"Run in the opposite direction!"
Elsewhere.
Qin Wuxiang and the others abruptly stopped.
Looking at the strange thing charging straight toward them and the Lu Household members fleeing in the opposite direction, they were momentarily bewildered.
"What the hell is that?"
"Dunno. I can't sense any Spiritual Power fluctuations. A mundane object?"
"Are you kidding? How could a mundane object move that fast?"
"Who cares what it is? I'll find out with one slash."
Qin Wuxiang, Li Taichu, and Zhao Donglai spoke at the same time to stop him.
"No! Don't!"
Because at that very moment, the secret treasures inside their bodies suddenly trembled, conveying an emotion called fear.
The three immediately realized something was wrong.
When they looked again at the unknown object drawing steadily closer, terror filled their eyes.
They shouted in unison.
"Run! Hurry!"
With that, they could no longer spare any attention for the fleeing Lu Household members. They turned and fled at full speed in the opposite direction.
But soon, they discovered something.
The distance between them and the strange, unknown object behind them kept shrinking.
Those whose cultivation was slightly weaker were especially frightened out of their wits.
"Scatter! There's only one of those things!"
"Use your Secret Methods! Whatever you do, don't touch it, and don't attack it!"
At Qin Wuxiang's command, the twelve Foundation Establishment cultivators immediately scattered in different directions.
As they fled, they suddenly realized something.
Huh?
The threat behind them was gone?
In the end, only Qin Wuxiang remained drenched in sweat.
Remembering how he had just told everyone to scatter, he nearly spat blood in anger.
Had he known this thing had singled him out, he would never have given such a stupid order.
With eleven other Foundation Establishment cultivators beside him, they could at least have helped him withstand it.
But now.
Qin Wuxiang discovered that even after using his Secret Method, he still could not widen the distance between himself and this strange thing.
After running for who knew how long, he finally realized this could not go on.
"Fuck! I'll fight you to the death!"
Qin Wuxiang stopped. He had decided to stake his life on one final fight.
He would clash head-on with this strange thing whose true nature he still could not fathom.
He brought out his defensive Law Artifact and raised a Spiritual Power barrier, then drove his supreme-grade Spirit Artifact flying sword at full power into a head-on collision with the incoming nuclear missile.
The next second.
The night became as bright as day.
All sounds fell silent.
Everything within several li was scorched black, not a blade of grass left growing.
Qin Wuxiang, at the center of the explosion, melted directly into nothingness, along with everything on him: his Storage Bag, defensive Law Artifact, and supreme-grade Spirit Artifact flying sword.
Only a mirror fragment fell from midair onto the blackened earth.
Elsewhere.
Zhao Donglai, Li Taichu, and the other nine Foundation Establishment cultivators stopped when they discovered that the thing was pursuing Qin Wuxiang rather than them.
In their ignorance, they recklessly followed in Qin Wuxiang's direction, trailing far behind.
They thought there should be no danger at such a great distance.
Little did they know what they were facing.
Meanwhile, under Lu Chenxing's lead, the Lu Household members fled for their lives, not daring to look back, much less stop.
They feared that if they ran too slowly, they would be caught in the heart of the nuclear explosion.
Even if it was only the shock waves.
The few Foundation Establishment cultivators among them could withstand them.
But the Lu Household's other Qi Refining disciples would suffer.
They would not necessarily die, but some injuries would be unavoidable.
Of course, these were all Lu Chenxing's guesses. This was his first time using a nuclear weapon, and he did not know how much power it would unleash either.
All he knew was to get far away, farther away, and farther still.
There could be absolutely nothing wrong with that!
At the same time.
Lu Chenxing also noticed some inconvenient aspects of nuclear weapons.
First, the blast covered too wide an area.
It simply destroyed friend and foe indiscriminately.
He really had to consider the circumstances before using one.
In today's case, if he had not reacted quickly and immediately led the Lu Household members away.
And if the enemy had not cooperated by fleeing too, stretching out the time before the explosion.
Everyone might have been done for.
There was also another point.
"Why hasn't it exploded yet?"
After all this time, the nuclear missile still had not caught its target. The target was only at Foundation Establishment Peak. Even using a Secret Method to burst forth with speed, how fast could he possibly be?
If it could not even catch him.
How could it kill Golden Core or Nascent Soul cultivators?
Beings at those levels would certainly move even faster. The nuclear missile probably could not catch them at all.
Perhaps the correct way to use nuclear weapons was only to strike fixed locations from afar, such as some faction's base?
If that really was the case, its limitations were a little too great.
It completely lacked the badass presence it ought to have.
"Maybe I can ask Great Xia to improve it."
That idea would have to wait until the passage between the two worlds opened, when he could mention it in a letter to Great Xia.
He could also explain his current situation.
And ask Great Xia for a second nuclear missile to replenish what he had used.
Just as Lu Chenxing was thinking, a mushroom cloud quietly rose behind him.
His ears instantly rang incessantly.
He hurriedly sealed his five senses, and only then did he feel much better.
A terrifying blast wave formed at the center of the nuclear explosion and swept outward in every direction.
"Grandpas, quick! Hurry and mobilize your Spiritual Power to raise defensive barriers!"
Lu Chenxing urgently transmitted his voice and immediately raised a Spiritual Power barrier, continually expanding it outward to shelter the Lu Household's other Qi Refining disciples as well.
Lu Changfeng, Lu Changgeng, and Lu Xuanming hurriedly did the same.
Four defensive barriers from Foundation Establishment cultivators rose, overlapping to withstand the shock waves from the nuclear explosion.
Fortunately, they had fled far enough that the shock waves had little power left by the time they reached them.
The Spiritual Power barriers successfully blocked them.
But as the Lu Household members looked at that fully blossoming mushroom cloud, their faces turned deathly pale in an instant.
Just what was that thing?
How terrifying!
With such terrifying power, even a Golden Core cultivator caught inside would probably be reduced to ashes!
Though its speed was lacking, to be fair.
The nuclear missile's power still held up very well.
Never mind mere Foundation Establishment cultivators-even someone in the Golden Core Realm would be finished inside that raging core.
Even if they really could withstand it.
The nuclear missile's yield could still be increased!
This one was only the most basic ten-million-ton class, sent over by Great Xia for Lu Chenxing to test the waters. If its power was insufficient, Lu Chenxing could request a higher yield with a letter at any time.
The next one Great Xia provided might be fifty million tons, a hundred million tons, or even a billion or ten billion tons.
Great Xia could provide a ten-billion-ton one too; it was just a little too excessive.
Detonating a nuclear missile with such a huge yield would send all of Blue Star flying.
Unless Lu Chenxing strongly demanded it, Great Xia's higher-ups would never offer one on their own.
"Little Chenxing, th-this..."