22: Laws of murder, life and death

"Poof—!"

Mu Changqing, at the edge of the explosion, didn't even have a chance to react.

He was like being hit head-on by an invisible giant hammer, his entire body flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing through a dozen trees as thick as an embrace before heavily falling to the ground.

His Lifebound Treasure, the "azure wood cauldron," also flew from his hand, rolling dimly to a distant spot.

The Yi Wood Divine Fire, having lost his control, greatly diminished in power.

But this was not the most fatal blow.

The most fatal was the gray, hazy "mixed toxic miasma" that filled the air after the explosion!

That was the product of the annihilation reaction between the Yi Wood Divine Fire and the Earth Fiend Corrosive Qi!

It carried both the scorching heat of flames and the defilement of Death Qi!

"Ugh..."

Mu Changqing struggled to stand, accidentally inhaling a mouthful of the toxic miasma.

A cold, decaying power instantly invaded his Meridians.

His verdant Golden Core within his Dantian, under the erosion of this power, visibly developed gray, withered spots at a speed discernible to the naked eye!

The "Azure Wood Transformation Technique" was endlessly regenerating and best suited for prolonged battles.

Its fatal flaw was its extreme repulsion of defiled Death Qi!

Ghost Hand's intelligence was perfectly accurate!

"My... my cultivation..."

Mu Changqing discovered in horror that his wood-attribute spiritual power was withering and dissipating!

His Late Stage Golden Core cultivation was suppressed in this toxic miasma, becoming even weaker than an Early Stage Golden Core!

He was completely restrained!

He was thoroughly restrained!

The fate of the surviving Hundred Herb Valley Disciples was even more tragic.

They did not possess the formidable Physical Body of a Golden Core Cultivator; in this mixed toxic miasma, they couldn't even endure a single breath before their bodies rotted, turning into puddles of pus, silently dying on the very land they had intended to burn.

At the center of the explosion.

At the bottom of the deep pit.

Jiang Chen sat cross-legged, completely unharmed.

The Myriad Laws Dao Body, at this moment, displayed its true terror.

The mixed toxic miasma, capable of causing a Golden Core Cultivator's cultivation to regress, was an unparalleled tonic for him!

His body, like a greedy black hole, frantically devoured the "purified," purest vitality and Death Qi that had dissipated from the explosion!

Within the Dantian Star Sea.

The green stars representing "life" and the black stars representing "death" shone brightly!

Two acupoints, under the washing of this immense energy, became incredibly solid and brilliant.

His Early Stage Foundation Establishment cultivation was thoroughly stabilized.

He even showed faint signs of Breakthrough towards the Middle Stage!

This was his Dao!

Drawing nourishment from destruction, gaining new life from termination!

After a long while.

Jiang Chen slowly opened his eyes.

He felt an unprecedented surge of power within him as he stood up.

One step.

He stepped out of the giant pit, dozens of feet deep.

His figure appeared within the pervasive toxic miasma.

Mu Changqing in the distance had just used his last ounce of strength to struggle to his feet.

As he looked up, he saw the figure slowly walking out of the toxic miasma.

Completely unharmed.

His aura was even stronger and more unfathomable than before.

Mu Changqing's pupils constricted to the size of a needlepoint.

A chill originating from the depths of his Soul made him feel cold all over.

Devil!

This guy was an out-and-out devil!

He wasn't fighting; he was... eating!

He treated this battlefield as his dining plate!

Jiang Chen walked up to him.

In his hand, Ye Liuyun's broken sword slowly lifted.

Upon the sword's body, it was no longer merely the Ai Yu Sword Intent.

Strands of gray-black aura, representing deathly stillness and termination, entwined around it.

That was the power of "death" he had just comprehended from this explosion.

With this sword, he had absolute confidence that he could sever the vitality of this Golden Core Cultivator before him.

Mu Changqing felt the cold killing intent locking onto him.

He wanted to escape.

But all his spiritual power was suppressed by that damned toxic miasma, making it incredibly difficult to even move a finger.

He could only watch helplessly as the broken sword, entwined with the aura of death, continuously grew larger in his vision.

Despair instantly engulfed him.

Jiang Chen's figure moved.

He transformed into an afterimage and thrust out his sword!

The sword's tip aimed directly at Mu Changqing's glabella!

The sword's tip stopped an inch from Mu Changqing's glabella.

The biting Sword Qi had already pierced his skin, leaving a shallow streak of blood.

Mu Changqing's body stiffened, and he even forgot to breathe.

He thought he was dead for sure.

However, the next moment.

Jiang Chen's figure brushed past him.

The deadly broken sword suddenly changed direction, drawing a strange arc.

"Clang!!"

A crisp sound of metal clashing echoed through the silent forest.

Jiang Chen's sword did not stab Mu Changqing.

Instead, it precisely struck the dimly glowing "azure wood cauldron" that had rolled not far away!

"You..."

Mu Changqing was stunned.

He didn't understand.

Why?

Why didn't he kill him?

Jiang Chen's face was devoid of any expression.

Kill a Golden Core Cultivator who was already crippled?

It was meaningless.

And it would thoroughly enrage the Hundred Herb Valley, bringing endless pursuit.

From the beginning, he wasn't here to kill.

His true target was this Magic Treasure!

A Lifebound Treasure containing vast wood-attribute Origin and intimately connected to a Golden Core Cultivator's mind!

This was the most valuable "ingredient"!

Ghost Hand's intelligence had mentioned it.

This cauldron had been damaged in an early battle of Mu Changqing's, leaving an extremely hidden crack on its body.

And Jiang Chen's sword strike just now landed precisely on that crack!

"Crack..."

An extremely faint cracking sound came from the azure wood cauldron.

The cauldron's body, which had only been dimly glowing, instantly developed spiderweb-like cracks!

"Poof—!"

Mu Changqing, whose mind was connected to the Magic Treasure, felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

He violently spat out a large mouthful of heart's blood, his aura instantly becoming extremely weak, as if all his essence, Qi, and spirit had been drained, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

With his Lifebound Treasure destroyed, his Dao foundation also collapsed.

Even if he survived, he would only be a cripple.

This was even more cruel than directly killing him.

Jiang Chen didn't even spare him a glance.

His gaze fell upon the cracked azure wood cauldron.

Vast, pure wood-attribute Origin was constantly dissipating from the cracks.

He reached out, about to collect this war trophy.

Just then.

An indescribably terrifying pressure, without any warning, descended from the sky!

That was not spiritual power pressure.

That was a higher-level suppression, originating from the Soul level!

As if the sky had collapsed.

As if the entire world, at this moment, regarded him as its sole enemy!

Jiang Chen's body suddenly stiffened.

His Myriad Laws Dao Body hummed under the strain for the first time.

His Soul felt as if it was being tightly gripped by an invisible large hand, making it incredibly difficult to even move a thought.

Too strong!

This power was ten, a hundred times stronger than Mu Changqing's!

This was not a Golden Core!

This was... a Nascent Soul!

"Junior, how dare you!!"

An ancient voice, filled with endless rage, like divine thunder from the Nine Heavens, boomed within Jiang Chen's Soul!

That voice, spanning thousands of miles, directly locked onto his existence!

Hundred Herb Valley.

Deep within the Sect.

That Nascent Soul Ancestor, who had been in seclusion for over a hundred years, like a living fossil, had been alarmed!

Terrifying Divine Thought, like an invisible eye, opened in the sky, coldly watching this "ant" in the Mist Forest.

Before absolute power, all schemes seemed so pale and powerless.

Jiang Chen's hand stopped in mid-air, less than half a foot from the azure wood cauldron.

If he moved even a fraction further, he could grasp the war trophy.

But he couldn't move.

The Nascent Soul Ancestor's Divine Thought had completely sealed off the space around him!

Give up?

Flee?

Jiang Chen's mind frantically calculated the possibilities of breaking the situation.

But all the deductions led to only one result.

Death.