Chapter 178 Cruelty!

In this mysterious and terrifying Tianjue Ruins, the sky seemed drenched in blood, presenting a scarlet hue.

On the gray earth, bones piled up like mountains, rolling and surging like a turbulent tide.

Countless ghastly white skeletal arms stretched out from the cold, damp soil, grasping tightly at the desperate young geniuses like the claws of demons.

Here, there was no sympathy or pity. There was only the purest, most primal desire for slaughter and an extreme longing for life—only the strong could survive.

"Get lost! You damn bastards!" A roar echoed throughout the ruins; it was a disciple of the Ice Soul Palace from the frozen northern lands.

His face was hideous, twisted by fear, and his eyes were bloodshot, revealing deep terror.

Due to the influence of some powerful force, his originally vast spiritual power was forcibly suppressed by a full seventy percent!

For this Ice Soul Palace disciple, who had always prided himself on his strength, this was an extremely heavy blow, but even so, he did not give up resistance.

He gripped a crystal-clear ice sword, waving it continuously, attempting to use his proficient ice techniques to stop the endless stream of skeleton monsters.

Unfortunately, the ice techniques he could display at this moment were far inferior to before, only enough to deal with a few of the most fragile minions.

Meanwhile, more and more of the army of withered bones continued to charge forward fearlessly, stepping over the corpses and remains of their kin, launching wave after wave of fierce and sharp offensives at this Ice Soul Palace disciple trapped in a desperate situation...

"Squelch!"

A rusty bone knife pierced deeply into his thigh.

"Ah—!!"

The scream had just begun before it was abruptly cut short.

A large hand emerged silently from the shadows behind him.

With a gentle twist.

Snap.

The crisp sound of a breaking neck seemed insignificant in this chaotic battlefield.

Ye Haocheng let go.

The disciple's corpse fell softly and was instantly submerged by the surging skeletons.

"The one hundred and third."

Ye Haocheng stood in the shadows, his expression as calm as stagnant water.

He glanced at the system panel flashing on his retina.

[Killed holder of golden luck points, plundered luck points: 350,000.]

"Too little."

Ye Haocheng shook his head, wiping the blood from his hands with some dissatisfaction.

His gaze pierced through the dense sea of bones, looking at the figures still fighting desperately ahead.

There, there was an even more dazzling radiance.

That was the golden luck belonging to top-tier geniuses, so rich it seemed about to drip.

"Palace Master, this is a profitable business!"

Jin Daoming crawled out from a pile of bones nearby, holding two blood-stained storage bags.

Chen Pufan walked slowly toward them, carrying that incredibly heavy giant sword.

His steps were steady and powerful, as if the entire earth trembled slightly with his movements.

With every step he took, the mountain of white bones beneath his feet would emit a crisp cracking sound, then crumble into a pile of powder and drift away.

The seemingly ordinary, edgeless heavy sword was now like something dredged from the depths of hell, its blade stained with a thick layer of dark red blood, which continuously flowed down the sharp tip, forming eerie blood streaks.

"The bone generals ahead are more numerous and stronger than before; these are the truly troublesome ones! And their movement speed has clearly slowed down a lot..." Hearing what Chen Pufan said, Ye Haocheng raised his head and looked forward.

Sure enough, at the end of the previously empty road, a startling number of giant skeletons had appeared at some point.

These monsters were each over a zhang tall, their bodies as massive as small hills. They held various heavy weapons in their hands, such as giant battle axes, hideous maces, and so on, exuding a terrifying aura that made one's heart palpitate, not at all inferior to the legendary experts of the Martial Venerable Realm.

Facing such strong enemies, even peerless geniuses with exceptional strength like the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect and the Sword Enthusiast had to stop their advance at this moment, focusing all their attention on dealing with this unprecedented crisis.

"It's good that they've slowed down."

A cruel arc curled at the corner of Ye Haocheng's mouth.

His eyes became unfathomably deep, like a hungry wolf staring at a flock of sheep.

"When the road is blocked, people will crowd together."

"When people are crowded together, it's easier to harvest."

"Let's go, we'll go help them."

...

In the center of the battlefield, the wind and clouds changed color, purple energy surged like angry waves, and sword light crisscrossed like lightning.

The Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect was currently besieged, engaged in a thrilling life-and-death struggle with strong enemies.

Before him stood three mighty, brawny skeleton generals holding giant shields, each exuding a heart-palpitating aura.

Although the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect exhausted all his means and unleashed various sharp offensives with all his might, those indestructible bone shields were like copper walls and iron bastards, remaining as stable as Mount Tai without a single sign of damage.

"Damn it! What secrets are hidden in this eerie place? Why is the Dao magic I'm proficient in suppressed so severely?" The Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect muttered to himself with a solemn expression, beads of sweat the size of beans rolling down his forehead.

Facing such a predicament, he had to temporarily abandon his reliance on Dao magic and instead rely on his own incomparably powerful physical strength and the peerless magic treasure held in his hand to struggle and support himself.

Just then, a breeze blew by, accompanied by a gentle and steady voice: "Brother Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect, blindly fighting hard here is by no means a good strategy. It would be better for us to work together and face the enemy, perhaps there might be a glimmer of hope."

Hearing this, the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect turned his head abruptly.

He saw a young man draped in a kasaya with an otherworldly temperament stepping on a lotus pedestal, flying over as lightly and gracefully as an immortal descending to the mortal world.

This person was the high monk of the Buddhist sect from the Western Region—Monk Wuxin.

However, the Buddha light on his body was slightly dim at this moment, clearly having consumed quite a bit of true essence and magic power.

"Join forces?" The Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect snorted coldly upon hearing this, waving his long sword rapidly, drawing a dazzling sword arc, instantly cutting down a skeleton that had attempted to take advantage of the situation and sneak an attack. His sharp, hawk-like eyes stared fixedly at Monk Wuxin, full of vigilance.

After all, in such a dangerous environment filled with crises and deceit, any person could become a deadly threat.

"How do you propose we join forces?"

"To break this shield formation, we must have one person attract the firepower, and one person lead the attack."

Monk Wuxin put his palms together, still wearing that compassionate smile on his face.

"This humble monk is willing to guard for Brother Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect and block the little ghosts around."

"Brother Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect only needs to strike with full force to break this bone shield."

The Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect hesitated for a moment.

The Tianjue Palace ahead was close at hand; if he delayed any longer, he was afraid others would snatch the opportunity.

"Fine!"

The Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect gritted his teeth fiercely.

"Then I'll trust you once!"

"If you dare to stab me in the back, my Heavenly Dao Sect will definitely destroy your Leiyin Temple!"

After saying this, he took a deep breath, his whole body's purple energy surging wildly, gathering at the tip of his sword.

"Purple Extremity · Void Breaking!"

He roared, and his whole body turned into a purple meteor, rushing toward the three skeleton generals.

However.

Just as he was about to collide with the bone shield.

Monk Wuxin, who had originally promised to guard for him, suddenly revealed a strange smile at the corner of his mouth.

The Buddhist beads in his hand turned sharply.

He did not block the skeletons surging around.

Instead, he flicked a finger, and an invisible force struck the back of the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect's knee.

"You!!"

The Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect's body tilted violently, and his originally fatal sword strike instantly veered off course.

Boom!

The sword energy grazed the bone shield and hit empty air.

And those three skeleton generals seized the opportunity, their giant axes carrying the whistling sound of the wind, slashing fiercely toward the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect, who had exhausted his old strength and had not yet generated new strength.

"Bald donkey! I'll screw your ancestors!!"

The Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect let out a desperate roar.

He could only barely sacrifice a heart-protecting mirror to hard-carry this fatal blow.

Bang!

The heart-protecting mirror shattered instantly.

The Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect flew backward like a kite with a broken string, blood spraying wildly from his mouth.

"Amitabha."

Monk Wuxin recited a Buddhist chant, his figure like lightning, taking advantage of the gap exposed by the bone shield to pass through instantly.

"All is fair in war, Brother Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect, I concede."

Watching this scene.

Ye Haocheng, hiding in the shadows, couldn't help but clap his hands.

"Brilliant."

"Truly brilliant."

He looked at the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect, who had fallen to the ground seriously injured, and the skeletons swarming up around him smelling the scent of blood.

There was no sympathy in his eyes.

Instead, he was even more excited.

"This monk is quite to my liking."

Ye Haocheng moved, like a ghost, appearing silently behind the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect.

At this moment, the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect was struggling to get up.

One of his arms was broken, and his chest was collapsed by a large chunk.

"Get lost! I am the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect! You group of dead things dare to touch me?!"

He waved his broken sword, trying to drive away those skeletons.

But fear had already occupied his heart.

"Brother Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect, do you need help?"

A gentle voice sounded in his ear.

The Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect turned his head abruptly.

He saw that delicate face with a faint smile.

Ye Haocheng?

That bumpkin from the Eastern Continent?

"You... what do you want to do?"

The Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect subconsciously shrank back.

His intuition told him that this young man who looked harmless to humans and animals was ten thousand times more dangerous than those skeletons.

"Nothing much."

Ye Haocheng squatted down, his line of sight level with the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect.

He looked at the golden luck pillar on the top of the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect's head, which was like a pillar supporting the sky.

How dazzling it was.

How tempting.

"Just want to borrow something from you."

"Borrow... borrow what?"

The Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect asked tremblingly.

He took out a storage ring from his bosom and handed it over tremblingly.

"Money? Magic treasure? It's all here! Take it all! Take me out!"

Ye Haocheng did not take the storage ring.

He stretched out a finger and tapped lightly on the center of the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect's eyebrows.

"Borrow your life."

"To pave the way."

Pfft.

A sharp finger wind instantly pierced through the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect's skull.

This number one person of the younger generation in the Central Region.

The future hope of the Heavenly Dao Sect.

Even without touching the gate of the ruins, he died so aggrievedly among a group of withered bones.

[Ding! Killed holder of deep golden luck points, plundered luck points: 580,000!]

[Triggered critical hit reward! Obtained luck points: 100,000!]

The cold system prompt sounded like the most beautiful music in the world to Ye Haocheng.

"680,000..."

Ye Haocheng closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The pleasure of soul sublimation made the pores of his whole body relax.

"Not enough."

"Still far from enough."

He opened his eyes suddenly and looked at Monk Wuxin, Sword Enthusiast, and others who had broken through the blockade line ahead.

The desire for slaughter was completely ignited.

...

In front of the Tianjue Palace, a magnificent building stood before them.

This palace was imposing and solemn, as if connecting the mysterious power between heaven and earth.

However, in stark contrast to such a majestic scene was the huge white jade square beneath their feet.

At this moment, the white jade square had long lost its past purity and luster, replaced by shocking scarlet. Fresh blood covered the ground like a thick carpet, dyeing the entire square red.

These bloodstains came from those who had once been brave and fearless, fighting their way here—they were all the best of the younger generation of the Four Regions, each of them a top-level expert!

The original mighty team of thousands, after baptism by one cruel and fierce battle after another, now had only a handful of less than fifty people left.

The survivors were all covered in scars and exhausted, but their eyes revealed an indescribable perseverance and unyielding spirit.

"Hoo... hoo..." The Sword Enthusiast of the Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion leaned on his long sword, his body trembling slightly, panting heavily. His black clothes were already tattered, swaying like a candle in the wind;

And the body hidden under the clothing was covered with dense, deep and shallow hideous wounds, which made one unbearable to look at.

"This damn place... is simply hell!" The Sword Enthusiast lifted his head with difficulty, his gaze cast toward the palace gate close at hand.

Although he was only one step away from the destination, his heart was still filled with lingering fear for the life-and-death trials he had just experienced and the luck of surviving: "Finally arrived..."

Not far from the Sword Enthusiast, Monk Wuxin sat cross-legged on the ground, eyes closed, hands forming seals on his knees, fully operating his internal energy to repair damaged meridians and replenish exhausted true qi as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, the Poison Prince on the side was pale as paper, cold sweat streaming down his forehead. He gritted his teeth, took out a packet of powder emitting an eerie green light from his arms with one hand, and sprinkled it on the wound on his severed arm that was continuously oozing blood without hesitation.

Looking at the other side, the Saintess of the Ice Soul Palace, Xue'er, stood quietly there, like a snow lotus blooming in a pool of blood. Her originally snow-white, spotless long dress had now been soaked into dark red by blood, looking particularly poignant and moving.

However, even in such a desperate situation, the beautiful and refined face of Xue'er still maintained a calm and composed expression, and her beautiful eyes flashed with firm and resolute light.

"Everyone."

Monk Wuxin slowly opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping across the audience.

"It seems we have passed the first level."

"However..."

His gaze suddenly became a bit playful.

"Is something missing?"

Everyone was stunned upon hearing this.

Then they looked around.

"Where is the Saint Son of the Heavenly Dao Sect?"

"Why aren't any people from the Heavenly Dao Sect seen?"

"And that person from the Great Chu Dynasty..."