192: Ambush

As he spoke, he flipped his palm, and a round wheel, burning with dark red flames and inscribed with countless profound runes, appeared in his hand.

The moment the wheel appeared, the surrounding space slightly twisted from the high temperature, and a terrifying aura of incinerating all things and scorching Divine Souls permeated the area—it was his Lifebound Treasure, the Skyflame Wheel!

Xiao Zhuo finally stopped, looking up at Chi Li with calm eyes, as if looking at a dead man: "Noisy."

"Courting death!" Chi Li was completely enraged. As the Young Lord of the Starfire Palace, how could he ever be treated with such contempt?

Killing intent boiled, and without another word, the Skyflame Wheel in his hand suddenly glowed. A dark red pillar of fire, condensed to the extreme and carrying the destructive power to burn mountains and boil seas, instantly tore through space and shot straight towards Xiao Zhuo's chest!

This strike contained his immense magical power from the Early Tribulation Crossing Stage and the Nine Nether Prison Flame inherent to the Skyflame Wheel. Its power was enough to severely wound or even kill a Cultivator of the same stage!

Facing this terrifying attack, Xiao Zhuo neither dodged nor summoned a defensive Magic Treasure.

He didn't dodge or evade, not even fully activating his protective spiritual light. Instead, the muscles of his right arm bulged slightly, and a faint, bronze-colored luster, seemingly condensed from pure Qi and blood, covered his arm as he directly punched out!

To meet a Tribulation Crossing Prodigy's Lifebound Treasure's ultimate strike with his Physical Body!

"Clang—!!!"

A deafening roar, like a great bell, exploded!

A violent energy shockwave spread out madly in a ring, plowing trenches several feet deep into the ground. The remaining Demonic Path and Sword Cultivator Disciples around were flung away like leaves in a gale, severely injured and spitting blood.

When the light faded, the scene in the field made everyone's pupils constrict and their livers and gallbladders split!

Xiao Zhuo still stood steadily in his original spot, his right fist directly meeting the destructive pillar of fire emitted by the Skyflame Wheel.

The ground beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, sinking several feet, yet his body remained as unmoving as a rock!

The Nine Nether Prison Flame, capable of melting metal and scorching Divine Souls, failed to leave the slightest mark on his bronze-colored fist, not even igniting a corner of his clothes!

Completely unharmed!

Chi Li's arrogant expression completely froze, replaced by an incredulous horror: "How is this possible?! Your... your Physical Body..."

He had never imagined that someone could withstand the full force of his Skyflame Wheel with only their Physical Body, completely unscathed!

Xiao Zhuo slowly retracted his fist, flicking his wrist as if merely brushing off some dust, his tone still indifferent: "Nothing more than this. It's my turn."

Before his words finished, Xiao Zhuo's figure had already vanished from his original spot.

Chi Li's heart screamed with alarm, his soul scattering in fright. He frantically activated the Skyflame Wheel to protect himself, while his crimson-gold battle robe erupted in dazzling light, and several defensive Magic Treasure light shields instantly lit up!

However, everything was too late.

A bronze-colored palm, ignoring the layers of defensive light shields as if passing through thin paper, precisely landed on Chi Li's chest.

"Pfft—!"

Chi Li's defensive light shields burst like bubbles one after another, his crimson-gold battle robe's light instantly dimmed, and his entire body, as if struck head-on by an ancient savage elephant, visibly caved in at the chest, the sound of bones shattering clearly audible.

He spat out blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, his eyes filled with extreme fear and bewilderment, and his body flew backward like a broken sack, crashing heavily against the distant barrier/boundary light curtain, stirring up ripples, his life or death unknown.

"Young Lord!" The remaining three Integration Stage Cultivators from the Starfire Palace had bloodshot eyes, utterly horrified, almost unable to believe their eyes.

Their strongest Tribulation Crossing Young Lord was actually severely wounded to the brink of death by a single palm strike?

Fear instantly engulfed them. Without thinking, the three turned and tried to flee.

Xiao Zhuo's eyes were cold. Without him seeming to move, three solidified finger-winds shot through the air, moving so fast they surpassed the limits of Divine Sense capture!

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

Three soft sounds, like sharp blades piercing through rotten leather.

The bodies of the three Integration Stage Cultivators stiffened abruptly, a blood-hole appearing simultaneously through their foreheads, front to back. The light in their eyes rapidly dimmed, and their corpses toppled to the ground.

The entire battlefield fell into a deadly silence.

The remaining Demonic Path and Sword Cultivator Disciples collapsed to the ground, trembling, not daring to even breathe heavily, looking at Xiao Zhuo as if he were a demon god crawled out from the Nine Hells.

Xiao Zhuo casually pointed out several streaks of blood-light, instantly annihilating all remaining living individuals.

Then, his figure flickered, appearing beside the several nine-turn soul returning grass. He skillfully dug them out completely, along with a large chunk of spiritual soil, and put them into his storage pouch.

Next, his gaze swept across the battlefield.

The bodies of Chi Li and his three subordinates, as well as the remains of the Demonic Path and Sword Cultivator Cultivators he had killed earlier, lay quietly there. With a wave of his hand, he collected all their storage items.

Xiao Zhuo was expressionless. Source Blood surged from his glabella, draining the essence blood from all the dead on the field.

Another wisp of purple flame, brilliant as a galaxy, flew from his fingertip. The flame, like a living thing, accurately landed on each corpse.

The purple flame burned silently. Regardless of Physical Body, bones, or Magic Treasure fragments, everything turned into the smallest particles upon contact with the flame, completely annihilated into the Void Realm, leaving not even a speck of dust.

Only some scorched black marks remained, testifying to the fierce battle that had just occurred.

Looting the bodies and destroying the evidence, all in one smooth motion.

Having completed all this, Xiao Zhuo seemed to have only done a trivial matter. He looked up at the spirit-Qi-shrouded, herb-fragrant medicine garden deep within the barrier/boundary light curtain. His figure once again transformed into a faint phantom, passing through the light curtain and disappearing into the dense Evergreen Immortal Power.

Only a desolate, silent land lay outside the barrier/boundary, telling of the brief yet terrifying crushing defeat that had just taken place.

Not long after he left, a figure appeared in the center of the battlefield, his eyes filled with apprehension as he looked in the direction Xiao Zhuo had departed.

This figure then took out a jade talisman and sent out several streaks of spiritual light, then also disappeared.

And the news of a supremely powerful Devil Head, who killed and destroyed all traces, appearing in the medicine garden area, subsequently spread throughout the medicine garden area.

Xiao Zhuo, however, had no idea that his actions of killing and destroying evidence had already been spread!

As he walked, he found that many medicine gardens had already been harvested.

Leaving behind many traces of harvesting.

However, there were still many medicine gardens around which intense rumbling sounds were coming.

These were all the sounds of Cultivators breaking Restrictions.

Among the numerous medicine gardens here, there were indeed ten-thousand-year Spiritual Roots. Even after the Myriad Ages Evergreen Realm had been opened multiple times, many medicine garden Restrictions remained unbroken, and the quality of the Spirit Medicine within them was imaginable.

Many Sect Disciples who entered this place had these medicine gardens as their target. After all, while the core area yielded greater rewards, it was also more dangerous. Many chose to spend the entire month that the Myriad Ages Evergreen Realm was open doing their best to break into an unexploited medicine garden.

If successful, the rewards would undoubtedly be immense.

But the Restrictions left by the Evergreen True Immortal were not so easy to break. Most of these people might struggle for a month to break the Restrictions and still not get what they wished for. This was a huge gamble.

If they won the gamble, the Restriction would break, and they would earn a fortune. If they lost, they would have wasted an opportunity to enter the Myriad Ages Evergreen Realm.

There were tens of thousands of medicine plots in the medicine garden area, and to this day, more than half of them had not been successfully broken into.

Along the way, Xiao Zhuo also saw many ten-thousand-year Spiritual Roots through the Restrictions that even tempted him. With his strength, he might be able to break a Restriction in a day or two, but it would be somewhat not worth the effort.

After all, the true top Prodigies of the four Middle Thousand Worlds had probably already entered the core area by now.

If he went too late, who knew if the enlightenment tea tree would still be there.

Moreover, he had also promised the Tree God to retrieve that item.

Suddenly, Xiao Zhuo's eyes narrowed slightly, and he shifted his feet, his figure instantly appearing a thousand feet to his left.

The afterimage he left behind was instantly pierced by a profound black immortal sword.

As his Divine Sense spread, five figures emerged one after another.

Each of them was a Prodigy of the Tribulation Crossing Realm. One of them seemed to be a Slaughter Demon Palace Disciple he had seen before, but this person had been extremely well-hidden, yet unexpectedly was also a Tribulation Crossing Prodigy.

Although not as strong as Cao Yunqing, he was still extremely powerful.

And those who ambushed Xiao Zhuo with him all possessed extremely powerful auras, none of them weak.