286: Chapter 280 The Appearance of Daoist Tianxuan

"So that's how it is."

Watching this unusual scene, Chen Zhiwen didn't show the slightest hint of fear; instead, a playful smile appeared on his Face.

With his hands behind his back, he allowed the poisonous insects and Yao Beasts to tighten their circle around him.

"I was originally worried that this basin was too large, making it difficult to find your hiding place."

"Now it seems you're the one who couldn't keep your cool and exposed yourself voluntarily."

If these were wild Yao Beasts, no matter how ferocious, they would have fled with their tails between their legs after sensing the power of Chen Zhiwen's previous sword strike.

But these creatures were like moths to a flame, continuously rushing to their deaths.

This indicated one thing.

Someone was controlling them from the shadows!

Moreover, that person was in a hurry.

Hurrying to keep him here, or... stalling for time?

"Since you've so enthusiastically sent this greeting gift, wouldn't it be quite disrespectful of me not to accept it?"

Chen Zhiwen slowly raised his right hand.

In his palm, a long sword, emerald-green throughout and simple without ornamentation, appeared out of thin air.

It was indeed the green lotus sword.

As the long sword entered his hand, Chen Zhiwen's aura underwent a sudden transformation.

His previous gentleness vanished instantly, replaced by a suffocating sharpness.

It was as if his entire being had turned into a divine sword capable of piercing the heavens.

"Kill!"

He uttered a single word softly.

Boom!

With him as the center, a terrifying storm of Sword Intent suddenly erupted!

Countless streaks of green Sword Qi bloomed in all directions like a lotus flower in full bloom.

Every petal was a life-taking sword flash!

Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!

It was a massacre without suspense.

The moment the charging poisonous insects and Yao Beasts touched the Sword Qi storm, they were like ice and snow thrown into a furnace, instantly disintegrating and shattering.

Severed limbs flew everywhere, and flesh was turned to pulp.

Whether it was the thick-skinned Iron-wire Centipedes or the agile Blood-sucking Bats.

Before absolute power, all living beings were equal.

In just three breaths of time.

The originally dense swarm of beasts was cleared away in a large area.

Leaving behind only a ground full of mangled corpses and a nauseating stench.

But Chen Zhiwen did not stop.

His gaze pierced through layers of blood mist, locking onto a massive stone palace in the center of the basin, which was entangled by countless vines.

He could feel it.

Deep within that stone palace, a cold and obscure Divine Sense was watching this place with intense malice.

That Divine Sense fluctuation was constantly sending commands to the surroundings, driving more Yao Beasts to come and die.

"Still making such futile struggles?"

Chen Zhiwen shook his head, a flash of disdain in his eyes.

"Have you played enough of these childish tricks?"

After saying that.

He stomped his foot abruptly.

Thump!

The earth trembled violently.

An invisible shockwave spread out from beneath his feet, blasting away all the remaining poisonous insects in the vicinity.

Immediately after.

Chen Zhiwen's figure soared into the air!

Ignoring the potential spatial cracks in the high altitude of this forbidden zone, he flew directly a hundred zhang into the sky.

His green robes fluttered, and his black hair danced wildly.

He hovered in mid-air, looking down upon the entire basin like a God King judging the world.

The spiritual power within his body was released without reservation.

The terrifying pressure of the Peak Early Nascent Soul Stage descended at this moment like Mount Tai crushing down!

Rumble!

In the basin below, countless giant trees were bent low by this pressure, emitting the sound of snapping under the unbearable weight.

The swarms of Yao Beasts that were still rushing forward frantically finally regained a sliver of instinctive fear under this absolute pressure from a superior being.

They whimpered and lay prostrate on the ground, shivering, not daring to take another step forward.

The entire world instantly fell silent.

Chen Zhiwen's gaze was like lightning, firmly locked onto the vine-covered stone palace.

He took a deep breath, sinking his Qi into his Dantian.

His voice, like rolling heavenly thunder mixed with majestic spiritual power, exploded over the entire basin!

"Old Ghost Tian Xuan!"

"I know you're hiding inside!"

This voice was almost tangible, causing the Black Water Pool below to surge with massive waves and the vines on the stone palace to shake violently.

"It's been three years."

Chen Zhiwen's voice carried a hint of mockery, and even more so, a chilling killing intent.

"Hiding in this dark, sunless hellhole, lingering on like a rat—how does it feel?"

The only response he received was a deathly silence.

And the sound of the wind wailing through the treetops.

The stone palace remained standing there quietly, as if there were no living thing inside at all.

Chen Zhiwen was in no hurry.

Floating in the air, he slowly drew the green lotus sword, pointing the tip directly at the stone palace's gate.

"What? You dare to do it but don't dare to Face the consequences?"

"Weren't you quite formidable just now when you were driving these beasts to surround and kill me?"

"Now that I've arrived at your doorstep, you're acting like a shrinking turtle instead?"

Chen Zhiwen sneered, the killing intent in his eyes growing even more intense.

"I'll count to three."

"If you don't crawl out yourself, I'll tear down this turtle shell of yours and drag you out like a dead dog!"

"One!"

As this word fell.

The light from the green lotus sword in Chen Zhiwen's hand flared brilliantly. A terrifying sword beam dozens of zhang long was rapidly condensing, and the space around the blade's edge showed faint signs of distorted cracks.

That destructive aura caused the air in the entire basin to solidify.

"Two!"

The Sword Qi swelled to a hundred zhang!

Like a green sword of heavenly punishment, it hung over the stone palace, ready to fall at any moment.

The Yao Beasts below were so terrified they buried their heads deep into the soil, not even daring to breathe.

Just as Chen Zhiwen was about to shout "Three".

Finally.

The stone palace, which had remained motionless, underwent a change.

Creak... Creak...

A grating sound of friction rang out.

The two heavy stone doors, which had been closed for an unknown number of years, slowly opened a crack.

An extremely dense surge of blood-fiend energy, accompanied by a sinister and piercing laugh, gushed out from the gap!

“Jie jie jie jie...”

"What an arrogant junior!"

"What a fool who doesn't know the meaning of death!"

The laughter shifted from left to right, as if coming from the depths of Hell, carrying a magic that caused one's soul to waver.

Along with the laughter.

A figure as thin as a dried stick, completely wrapped in blood-red robes, slowly drifted out from the darkness.

His Face was as pale as paper, without a hint of blood.

His eyes were deep-set, surrounded by dark purple patterns, but his pupils were a weird blood-red.

He looked like a dried corpse that had just crawled out of a coffin.

But the aura emanating from him was extremely terrifying.

It was a powerful aura belonging to the Mid Nascent Soul Stage; though unstable and flickering, it still essentially reigned supreme over all living beings!

The Blood Fiend Sect Old Ancestor—Daoist Tian Xuan!

He had finally appeared!

Daoist Tian Xuan hovered in front of the stone palace, looking up at Chen Zhiwen in the sky with poisonous eyes, like a venomous snake staring at its prey.

"There was a path to Heaven, yet you refused to take it; there was no gate to Hell, yet you forced your way in."

He extended a finger like a withered claw and gently licked his crimson lips, his voice raspy.

"I was just worrying about my unhealed injuries and lacking a good Physical Body to use as a cultivation vessel."

"I didn't expect the heavens to send me such a top-grade specimen."

His gaze swept greedily over Chen Zhiwen, as if appraising a rare treasure.

"Such a young Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, such vigorous blood vitality..."

"Wonderful! Simply wonderful!"

"By devouring your Nascent Soul and draining your essence blood, not only will my injuries heal, but I might even be able to take a step further!"

Facing the old demon's threats and greed.

Chen Zhiwen just looked at him indifferently, as if watching a clown.

He withdrew the sword strike he was about to unleash and held the green lotus sword horizontally before him.

The corners of his mouth curled into a contemptuous arc.

"Old ghost, it seems these three years of hardship haven't made you sober; instead, they've starved your brain silly."

"You want to devour me?"

Green light exploded in Chen Zhiwen's eyes as his Sword Intent soared into the sky, instantly dispersing the pervasive blood-fiend energy!

"Then let's see if your teeth are sharp enough!"

"Today, this Netherworld Forbidden Zone shall be your burial ground!"

Boom!

Before his voice had even faded.

The auras of both men erupted simultaneously, clashing violently in mid-air!

The storm begins!