272: Chapter 270 They actually wanted to kill the old man

The extremely cold layer of ice started from the center of the Fire Spirit Old Monster's forehead, rapidly spreading across his face, neck, and body.

"Aaaaaah!"

The Fire Spirit Old Monster let out a shrill, miserable howl.

He desperately circulated the Origin True Fire within his body, attempting to disperse this bone-deep chill.

The survival instinct of a Mahayana Stage powerhouse allowed him to burst forth with astonishing potential. A blinding red light reignited in his previously frozen chest—a sign that he was preparing to self-detonate his Primordial Spirit.

"In your dreams! Trap him tightly for me!"

Gu Qiuyue shouted repeatedly, her hand Seals changing frantically.

Under her direction, the phantoms of the thirty-six Ancient Divine Mountains, forged from top-grade immortal gold, contracted at high speed.

The golden cage transformed into physical golden chains, coiling tightly around the Fire Spirit Old Monster layer after layer, forcibly suppressing the red light of his impending self-detonation within his body.

The golden pressure and the ice-blue extreme cold converged perfectly.

The Fire Spirit Old Monster's body could no longer withstand the crushing weight of these two extreme forces.

Boom!

Accompanied by a dull, massive explosion, the Fire Spirit Old Monster's powerful Mahayana Stage Physical Body, along with the Primordial Spirit inside that hadn't had time to self-detonate, shattered directly under the dual strangulation of profound ice and refined gold.

Ice crystals mixed with golden light dust flew in all directions. A Mahayana Stage Old Ancestor, capable of founding his own Sect in the cultivation world, had fallen completely like this, without even a scrap of remains left behind.

"Whew... I'm exhausted."

Gu Qiuyue wiped the sweat from her forehead, her eyes full of heartache as she watched the dispersing light dust.

She quickly recalled the thirty-six abacus beads. Seeing the several fine cracks on them caused by forcibly suppressing a Mahayana Stage self-detonation, her heart bled.

"These damned bandits! They damaged my Lifebound Treasure and broke the Seals on so many top-grade Spiritual Veins!

I'll make the Revered Masters behind them pay this debt back a hundredfold!"

Mu Qingxue's expression was cold as she floated down from mid-air. The ice soul concentration tassel in her hand swayed gently, emitting waves of white mist.

She didn't even spare a glance at the dead Fire Spirit Old Monster, turning her gaze instead toward the battlefield where Su Lin was.

At this moment, Su Lin was facing the bald burly man holding the blood-colored heavy hammer alone.

Seeing his companion killed by the joint efforts of two female Cultivators in just a few breaths, the bald man's horror had reached its Peak.

But he also knew clearly that if he retreated today, it would be a certain dead end.

"Go to Hell!"

The bald man's eyes were blood-red, his blood and Qi surging. He poured all of his Mahayana Stage magic power into the blood-colored heavy hammer in his hand.

The heavy hammer expanded against the wind, transforming into a thousand-zhang giant Peak flowing with thick blood-water, smashing down toward Su Lin's head with a momentum that could destroy everything.

The surrounding crystal walkways shattered one after another under this terrifying pressure, and the Spiritual Vein light orbs below shook violently.

Facing this thunderous strike, Su Lin's figure did not move an inch.

He slowly raised his right hand, palm upward.

The phantom of the Myriad Heavens Star Chart flowed in the depths of his eyes, and the vast Star Law formed an absolute independent space around him.

The half-step Immortal Artifact, destiny, which integrated multiple Heaven-Defying Laws, flew out from his forehead accompanied by a clear sword hum.

Sword light flashed, and heaven and earth lost their color.

The dark golden sword light turned into a thin line that pierced through heaven and earth, lightly slicing toward the falling thousand-zhang blood-colored giant hammer.

Crack.

The blood-colored heavy hammer, capable of flattening an entire mountain range, was as neatly divided in two as tofu cut by a sharp knife the moment it touched the dark golden sword light.

The violent energy contained within the hammer didn't even have time to explode before it was completely decomposed and devoured by the Star Chaos power attached to the sword blade.

"How is this possible?!"

The bald man's face was full of horror, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

That was his Lifebound Weapon, which he had refined for thousands of years, and it was sliced open so effortlessly?

But this was only the beginning.

The dark golden sword light's momentum did not decrease. After slicing the hammer, its speed suddenly surged, leaving a dazzling light trail in the air as it passed directly through the bald man's body.

The bald man's movements froze.

He lowered his head, staring blankly at his chest.

An extremely smooth thin line appeared on his dharma robes.

His upper body and lower body began to shift out of alignment.

The powerful life force of the Mahayana Stage seemed utterly meaningless at this moment.

The cutting of Space Law directly erased the connection of his body, and along with his Primordial Spirit, he was slashed into two absolute segments by that sword light.

Thud.

The two halves of the corpse fell onto the broken crystal walkway, their life force severed.

With a casual wave from Su Lin, the ancient sword destiny let out a light hum and flew back to his hand, the blade untainted by even a drop of blood.

On the other side.

The leading Tribulation Transcendence Stage elder took all of this in, feeling his scalp tingle as a chill rushed from the soles of his feet to his head.

Two Mahayana Stage subordinates had been dealt with like chopping melons and vegetables in just a few breaths.

It was one thing for the two female Cultivators' cooperation to be seamless, but the young man he had viewed as a burden displayed combat power that made him feel a fatal threat.

That was definitely power that transcended the Mahayana Stage!

"Retreat!"

The Tribulation Transcendence Stage elder no longer had any of his previous greed or arrogance.

He let out a wild roar, slammed his hands together in front of his chest, and spat out a mouthful of essence blood.

"Blood Void Great Escape!"

He didn't even care about the other two Mahayana Stage subordinates who were still struggling to hold on, directly burning a thousand years of his Lifespan.

The surrounding space was forcibly corroded by him into a blood-colored wormhole.

He grabbed the other two Mahayana Stage Cultivators closest to him and threw them behind him like broken sacks to delay any possible pursuit, then dove into the blood-colored wormhole without hesitation.

"Thinking of running? Leave your life behind!"

A cold light flared in Mu Qingxue's eyes as she brandished her long sword, sending several hundred-zhang-long frost Sword Qi tearing through the sky directly toward that blood-colored wormhole.

Gu Qiuyue also quickly activated her remaining golden abacus beads, turning them into streaks of light in pursuit.

However, that Tribulation Transcendence Stage elder had truly exhausted all his strength to escape.

The blood-colored wormhole suddenly contracted and completely disappeared into the Void Realm a moment before the frost Sword Qi and golden light arrived.

"Damn it! That old fox got away!"

Gu Qiuyue stamped her feet in anger, her heart bleeding as she looked at the mess in the Star Sea Treasury.

"Revered Master, why didn't you stop them?

With your strength, if that sword slash just now had been aimed at that old fellow, he definitely wouldn't have escaped!"

Su Lin recalled the ancient sword destiny into his Sea of Consciousness, his expression remaining calm.

"The spatial structure of this vault was already extremely unstable due to the battle just now.

That elder is a Tribulation Transcendence Stage Cultivator after all. If pushed into a corner, and he forcibly self-detonated before death, the top-grade Spiritual Veins and all the treasures here would instantly turn into nothingness.

Even the foundation of Tianzhou City would be completely destroyed."

Su Lin looked at Gu Qiuyue and explained in a gentle tone.

"They're just a few stray dogs; they won't be able to stir up much trouble. Protecting your assets is what's most important."

Hearing this, much of the resentment in Gu Qiuyue's heart instantly dissipated.

Revered Master was still concerned about her property even during battle; this consideration moved her deeply.

"Revered Master is right; the safety of the treasury is most important.

As for those thieves, I, Qiuyue, will definitely use all the power of the Jiuzhou Chamber of Commerce to dig them out and tear them into pieces in the future!"

Just then.

A violent fluctuation suddenly came from the Void Realm above the vault.

The spatial crack that had been forcibly torn open by the Tribulation Transcendence elder using a boundary-breaking divine talisman and was slowly healing was suddenly smashed to pieces from the outside in an even more violent manner.

A large amount of brick and stone debris fell from above.

A petite figure emitting terrifying poisonous gas charged in from the crack like green lightning.

The newcomer was Su Hongling.

Su Hongling's feet landed heavily, the massive impact making the entire Star Sea Treasury tremble violently. The countless floating top-grade Spiritual Vein light orbs below rippled intensely like water.

"Old Man!!"

As soon as Su Hongling landed, she instantly locked onto Su Lin's figure in the messy vault.

When she saw that although Su Lin's clothes were a bit disheveled, he was standing there completely unharmed, her tensed muscles relaxed slightly.

But immediately following that, she saw the remains of Mahayana Stage Cultivators all over the floor, as well as the lingering aura of terrifying pressure belonging to a Tribulation Transcendence powerhouse in the air.

"What happened?!"

Su Hongling instantly ignited a fury capable of boiling the heavens and seas. She slammed her great sword into the ground and roared, "Who did this?! Where did these bastards come from to run wild here?!"

Standing to the side, Gu Qiuyue was looking heartache-stricken at the destroyed Formations and scattered Spirit Stones. Hearing Su Hongling's roar, her golden eyes flickered slightly, and she immediately put on an expression of lingering fear.

She walked quickly to Su Hongling's side, grabbed her arm, and said loudly with undisguised grievance and anger, pointing at the blood-colored spatial crack that hadn't fully closed yet:

"Second Senior Sister! You've come at the right time! Just now, five masked rats forcibly broke into my Star Sea Treasury!"

"The leading Tribulation Transcendence old dog among them actually sneak-attacked Revered Master while Seventh Junior Sister and I were tied up by the other four Mahayana Stage Cultivators!

That claw strike of his just now was aimed at killing Revered Master by striking his crown! If it weren't for Revered Master's world-topping cultivation and profound foundation, I'm afraid that now..."

Gu Qiuyue deliberately paused, her tone carrying a perfectly timed sob, "I'm afraid that now, we would be collecting Revered Master's corpse!"

"What?!"

"They wanted to kill Revered Master?!"

A blood Qi ten times more terrifying than before erupted like a volcano from Su Hongling's petite body and soared into the sky!

"Kill the Old Man... they actually wanted to kill the Old Man..."

Su Hongling lowered her head. "Unforgivable..."

"DIE FOR ME!!!"

With a loud bang, she didn't even fly through the air. Instead, relying on the reaction force of her Physical Body honed to the absolute extreme, she charged directly into that nearly-healed blood-colored spatial crack!

"Hong Ling!"

Seeing this, Su Lin instinctively wanted to call her back.

That Blood Void Great Escape was an escape secret technique performed by a Tribulation Transcendence old monster burning their Origin. The internal spatial turbulence was extremely terrifying; even a Body Integration Peak Cultivator would be instantly shredded into pieces upon entering.

However, Su Hongling's speed was simply too fast. Within half a breath of Gu Qiuyue's words falling, she had already plunged headfirst into that violent void passage.

Mu Qingxue walked slowly to Su Lin's side, her pale blue eyes quietly watching the now-closed spatial crack, her tone cold and certain.

"Second Senior Sister's Physical Body has long since been tempered to an incredible Realm through slaughter.

That level of spatial turbulence is, at most, like a slightly stronger gust of wind to her."

"Besides..." Mu Qingxue turned her head slightly, glancing at Gu Qiuyue who was still secretly smug, "With Sixth Senior Sister fanning the flames like this, those few escaping rats probably won't even have ashes left today."

Gu Qiuyue puffed out her full chest righteously. "What do you mean 'fanning the flames'?

Every word I said was the truth! They dared to steal my money on my territory and even dared to touch our Revered Master?

He wasn't worried about Su Hongling's safety; with that girl's current Mahayana Stage Body Cultivator strength, it was the escaping unlucky bastards who should be worried.

He just felt that he, a Revered Master who was supposed to be highly respected and profound, was becoming more and more like a gang leader who only knew how to let his disciples loose to bite people.

...

Meanwhile, within the endless spatial turbulence.

"Cough, cough... Pfft!"

The heavily injured Tribulation Transcendence Stage elder was desperately traversing the violent spatial passage with his two surviving Mahayana Stage subordinates.

"Grand Elder, are we... are we safe?"

One of the Mahayana Stage Cultivators' faces was deathly pale. His right arm had been struck by Mu Qingxue's ice sword during the battle, and now the entire arm had been frozen purple-black, losing all sensation.

"Safe my ass! Stop talking! Burn your essence blood and activate the escape technique with everything you've got!"

The Tribulation Transcendence Stage elder was also in a wretched state. His grey robe, which could originally withstand attacks from top-tier Magic Treasures, was now tattered, and his chest was churning with blood and Qi—clearly an internal injury from Su Lin's earlier palm strike was acting up.

His eyes were full of lingering fear and resentment.

"That Su Lin... he is definitely not some Body Integration Stage Cultivator!

That power, that Chaos aura that transcends Laws... he is at least a reclusive Mahayana Stage old monster!

Those useless trash in the intelligence department actually sent us to our deaths!"

"Once we get back to the Sect, I will definitely pull out the souls of those idiots responsible for intelligence and refine them!"

"However, fortunately, we managed to escape."

The other Mahayana Stage Cultivator let out a long breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "As long as we pass through this spatial turbulence and reach our secret stronghold, even if they have heaven-reaching abilities, they won't be able to find us..."

"Is that so?"

Just as the Cultivator's words fell, a cold voice that seemed to come from the depths of Hell exploded without warning in this violent spatial passage!

This voice didn't just penetrate the whistling of the spatial turbulence; it echoed directly within their three Seas of Consciousness, shaking their Primordial Spirits so much that they couldn't help but tremble violently!

"Who is it?!"

The Tribulation Transcendence Stage elder was terrified and turned his head sharply.

He saw that in the spatial passage behind them, the turbulence that should have been a chaotic mess due to the lack of spatial coordinates was now being forcibly torn open to both sides by an extremely overbearing and irrational power!