40: Battle against Jindan

Silence!

After the violent commotion, the entire scene was followed by an oppressive and deathly stillness!

Smoke and dust billowed across the field.

The air was filled with wisps of Sword Qi that had not yet completely dissipated.

Until…

The dust cleared.

The Sword Qi vanished completely.

Above the entire Altar of Heaven Square, there was no longer any sign of Fang Ran or Jian Shijiu; all that remained was a deep, striking, massive sword mark, telling everyone present of Chen Qingfeng’s astonishing talent in that single sword strike!

“Did they lose?”

“Two of the top ten Prodigies on the Heaven’s Pride Ranking, and they even consumed Juyuan Pills, yet they still lost?”

“Although they are far from true Golden Core Cultivators, they have at least reached the False Core Realm. Two False Core Realm Cultivators, that’s almost comparable to a Half-step Golden Core Cultivator. They still couldn’t win?”

They were stunned.

Looking at the square, where only Chen Qingfeng stood alone, all the Tianyi Sect Disciples present were almost completely dumbfounded.

It is said that in the cultivation world, Geniuses are everywhere.

But someone as Heaven-Defying as Chen Qingfeng, they had truly never seen before.

“Fang Ran—”

“Jian Shijiu—”

“Damn it, my Disciples—”

“Isn’t this kid only at the seventh layer of the Late-stage Core Formation Realm? How can he, alone, contend against two False Core Realm Cultivators and instantly kill them with one sword strike?”

“How?!”

Cries of lament echoed throughout the entire venue.

At this moment.

Among the three Peaks of Eight Treasures Peak, Qiqing Peak, and Wuping Peak, from the three Peak Masters Lu Xuanzong, Qiao Zhenfeng, and Wan Jianyi, down to the various Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation Disciples, almost all wore ashen expressions, as if all their Qi and blood had been instantly drained.

One Qi Chunshan!

One Zhu Zi!

One He Zihui!

One Fang Ran!

Plus one Jian Shijiu!

Two among the top hundred on the Heaven’s Pride Ranking!

Three among the top ten Sect Prodigies on the Heaven’s Pride Ranking!

Such combat power…

Yet they failed to even slightly injure Chen Qingfeng; instead, in just half an hour, they were all completely wiped out!

What does this mean?

Even slaughtering five cultivating pigs would take some effort, wouldn’t it?

How could they lose so cleanly and thoroughly?

“This child’s strength cannot be underestimated; I fear this isn’t even his strongest trump card yet!”

“No wonder he dared to disregard the authority of the three Peaks and directly challenge all the Disciples of the three Peaks!”

“Just based on that one sword strike, I fear no one below the Golden Core Realm can stop him!”

Among the vast crowd.

He Qianqiu and Yang Dingtian, among others, couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

“The three of you—”

“According to the agreement between me and your three Peaks, if none of your Disciples can fight me again, then all of you must be confined to your respective Peaks for a hundred years!”

“However, I am a person who values sentiment and cannot bear to see any Elder of the Sect suffer any grievances. Therefore, I have a proposal; I wonder if you are interested?”

Standing in the center of Altar of Heaven Square.

Chen Qingfeng, with imposing Qi around him, slowly faced Lu Xuanzong and the others from the three Peaks, and suddenly spoke.

Sentiment?

Proposal?

How does it sound more like a malicious scheme?

“What do you mean?”

In unison.

Lu Xuanzong.

Qiao Zhenfeng.

Wan Jianyi, the three of them, almost simultaneously looked at Chen Qingfeng and asked.

“Let’s add another match. Whether it’s one of your three Peak Masters or any of your various managing Elders from the three Peaks, pick anyone to come out and fight. I will not refuse anyone!”

“If I lose, the hundred-year confinement for your three Peaks will be completely canceled!”

“But if I win, I want all the Elder Tokens from all the Elders of your three Peaks, not a single one can be left out!!!”

Chen Qingfeng spoke slowly, enunciating each word.

His voice was like thunder.

Resounding throughout the entire area.

As soon as the idea of an additional match was brought up, the vast Altar of Heaven Square erupted into chaos.

“What does he mean?”

“This kid wants to challenge the Peak Masters or Elders of the three Peaks?”

“Is he crazy?”

“He is only in the Late-stage Core Formation Realm, but the Peak Masters and Elders of the three Peaks are all true Golden Core Cultivators!”

“Does he want to confront a Golden Core Cultivator with his Core Formation Realm cultivation?”

Boom.

Realizing Chen Qingfeng’s intention.

He Qianqiu was stunned.

Luo Hongchen was bewildered.

The entire Sect, from the Peak Masters of the various Peaks down to countless Sect Disciples, almost all froze at this moment.

What exactly does this Chen Qingfeng want to do?

Why would he suddenly challenge Lu Xuanzong and the Peak Masters or Elders of their three Peaks?

Peak Masters!

Elders!

These are all Cultivators above the Golden Core Realm!

How can a mere Sect Disciple compare to them?

Perhaps.

In terms of talent, some of them might indeed be inferior to certain Prodigies.

But they have lived longer!

If talent is insufficient, time will make up for it.

No matter if you are among the top hundred on the Heaven’s Pride Ranking or one of the top ten Prodigies.

From this point alone, they could ruthlessly crush all Disciples.

“You damn dog, you want to collect all our Elder Tokens from the three Peaks to help you activate the Heaven’s Pride Ranking and open the Earth Vein Forbidden Ground, right?”

Lu Xuanzong couldn’t help but laugh immediately.

Apart from serving as an Elder’s identity Jade Slip, the only other use for the entire Sect’s Elder Tokens was to activate the Heaven’s Pride Ranking.

The Heaven’s Pride Ranking connects to the Earth Vein Forbidden Ground.

It is the only passage for Tianyi Sect to enter the Earth Vein.

To open this passage, one only needs to be on the Heaven’s Pride Ranking and use the Heaven’s Pride Ranking imprint.

Even one Elder Token can open it.

Chen Qingfeng wants thirty-six Elder Tokens?

If he’s not a fool, then he is…

“Collecting more than thirty Elder Tokens means he doesn’t want to enter the first layer of the Earth Vein Forbidden Ground; he wants to enter the fourth layer of the Earth Vein Forbidden Ground!!!”

Wan Jianyi slowly stood to the side and immediately added.

The Earth Vein has five layers.

For every ten Heaven’s Pride Ranking imprints, one layer can be opened.

In other words.

One to ten imprints can only open the first layer.

Eleven to twenty imprints can open the second layer.

Twenty-one to thirty imprints can open the third layer.

More than thirty Elder Tokens means the fourth layer of the Earth Vein!

“No one in the entire Tianyi Sect, from its founding until now, has ever been to the fourth layer of the Earth Vein…”

“What exactly does he want to obtain by entering the Earth Vein? He’s making such a huge fuss at all costs!”

Lu Xuanzong and the other two couldn’t help but feel a little confused.

Should they agree?

Once they agree, using their Elder Tokens to help Chen Qingfeng activate the Heaven’s Pride Ranking would be tantamount to tacitly becoming Chen Qingfeng’s recommenders and his guarantors.

If he passes the Heaven’s Pride Ranking, then everything will be fine, and no one will have any problems.

But if he fails…

Every single Elder from their three Peaks would be affected, unable to escape, and would suffer a backlash from the Heaven’s Pride Ranking, damaging their own cultivation Realm.

But if he passes…

Damn it!!!

With the difficulty of more than thirty Elder Tokens, how could he possibly pass?!

“What do you two think?”

Lu Xuanzong couldn’t help but look at Qiao Zhenfeng and Wan Jianyi.

After all.

Compared to a hundred years of confinement, damaging his cultivation Realm didn’t seem like an unacceptable thing to him.

Moreover.

They might not necessarily lose!

“His cultivation Realm is at the seventh layer of Core Formation, his Sword Dao cultivation is at the sixth stage, and his Formation Dao cultivation is also at the sixth stage. His overall strength should be above the Peak Core Formation Realm, below the Golden Core Realm, which is commonly known as Half-step Golden Core!”

“Almost all the Elders of our three Peaks are above the Golden Core Realm, and the three of us even have two Peak Golden Core Cultivators and one Late Stage Golden Core Cultivator. As long as we are shameless, are we afraid we can’t win this round?”

“Agree!”

“We must agree!”

“This is simply a sure-win deal!!!”

After careful consideration, Qiao Zhenfeng suddenly looked up, also somewhat tempted.