197: The might of the Imperial Weapon, the realm of the Fallen Dragon!

"Trying to leave?"

A fierce glint flashed in Mo Yuan's eyes as he raised his hand and sent a bloody claw mark grabbing toward the two women: "Leave that Demon Race remnant behind!"

"Snap!"

A crisp sound echoed through the hall.

Chen Xu's figure appeared on the path of the bloody claw at some unknown moment. He merely casually waved his hand.

That bloody claw mark, powerful enough to crush mountains, burst apart like a soap bubble.

"I said let them go. Who dares to stop them?"

Chen Xu withdrew his hand, his gaze coldly locking onto Mo Yuan.

Mo Yuan's heart chilled. In that instant just now,

he actually hadn't seen clearly how Chen Xu had attacked.

Xu Sen's pupils also contracted slightly, and the feathered fan in his hand paused for a moment.

He watched the retreating figures of the two women and ultimately chose not to block them.

His target was the great treasure on Chen Xu's person.

There was no need to complicate matters for two minor characters.

"Good, very good."

Xu Sen clapped his hands, the smile on his face completely disappearing: "Chen Xu, you are the first junior to dare act so arrogantly before the two of us."

"Since you insist on hoarding the treasure alone, then don't blame us for bullying the weak with our seniority."

"Bullying the weak?"

Chen Xu chuckled lightly. A flash of light appeared in his hand.

A sword, entirely emerald green, appeared in his grasp.

Its name: Everlasting Green.

"Whether it's bullying the weak or not, we'll only know after a fight."

Chen Xu twirled the sword, its tip pointing directly at the two: "Come at me together. I'm in a hurry."

Arrogant!

That was the word that simultaneously popped into the minds of Mo Yuan and Xu Sen.

A young upstart who had just advanced to the Body Integration Stage a few years ago,

actually wanted to challenge two long-famous Body Integration Stage Great Experts at the same time?

What was this if not arrogance?

"You ignorant little beast who doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth!"

Mo Yuan laughed in extreme anger, his withered palm slamming fiercely onto the ground. "Sea of Blood Overwhelms the Heavens!"

Boom—

The ground suddenly cracked, and countless foul-smelling blood gushed forth from beneath, instantly transforming the entire basin into a churning sea of blood.

This blood water possessed extremely strong corrosive properties, directly melting the ground into vapor.

Countless ferocious blood beasts roared within the sea, scrambling over each other to pounce toward Chen Xu.

Xu Sen also moved.

He wasn't as spectacular as Mo Yuan, but with each wave of the feathered fan Magical Artifact in his hand,

several cyan wind blades would appear out of thin air.

These wind blades were as thin as cicada wings, yet sharp enough to slice space.

They silently slashed toward Chen Xu's vital points from various tricky angles.

One rigid, one soft; one overt, one covert.

Although these two usually couldn't stand each other, their cooperation in this joint assault was surprisingly seamless.

Chen Xu, however, remained unmoving.

Facing the blood beasts surging toward him, he simply swung his sword.

No fancy sword techniques.

Only the purest speed and power.

The Everlasting Green sword transformed into a curtain of green light in his hand.

With each swing, a blood beast would inevitably explode.

The terrifying blood water splashing onto the sword's body not only failed to corrode the blade,

but was instantly purified by the green light flowing across the sword's surface.

"Clang clang clang—!"

Dense sounds of impact rang out.

No matter from which angle Xu Sen's treacherous wind blades attacked,

they were all parried away by Chen Xu.

Chen Xu stepped upon the void, strolling leisurely amidst the pincer attack of the blood sea and wind blades.

It was as if he were practicing swordplay in his own backyard.

Every move and stance exuded a sense of effortless fluidity.

"This kid's Physical Body... something's not right!"

After dozens of exchanges, Mo Yuan's expression changed.

He could sense that Chen Xu wasn't using much spiritual power; he was mostly relying on his Physical Body's strength to withstand the attacks.

That seemingly frail body contained terrifying, earth-shaking brute force.

Even a Demon Venerable specializing in body cultivation would probably be no better than this.

"It's the Primordial Chaos Dao Body."

Xu Sen narrowed his eyes, the killing intent within them growing increasingly intense: "Legends say this Physique is impervious to all arts, its body achieving sainthood. If he's allowed to grow, where in the Northern Domain would there be a place for us?"

"We can't hold back any longer!"

Mo Yuan roared, his entire person suddenly merging into the blood sea beneath his feet.

The next moment, a hundred-zhang-tall crimson giant rose from the sea.

This giant's face somewhat resembled Mo Yuan's, its entire body emanating a nauseating bloody stench.

It raised a fist the size of a millstone, carrying a world-destroying momentum,

and smashed it down toward Chen Xu's head.

"Die!"

Simultaneously, Xu Sen also unleashed his killing move.

The feathered fan in his hand suddenly exploded, transforming into thousands of cyan feathers.

These feathers rapidly assembled in the air, actually forming a huge cyan net.

Completely sealing off the space within a hundred zhang radius where Chen Xu stood.

A situation of certain death.

A heavenly net above, a blood demon's giant fist below.

Chen Xu raised his head, looking at the rapidly approaching giant fist.

The indifference in his eyes finally rippled slightly.

"Somewhat interesting."

He murmured softly. The Everlasting Green sword in his hand suddenly emitted a clear, melodious sword cry... In that instant, heaven and earth seemed to stand still.

The Primordial Chaos Nascent Soul within Chen Xu's body abruptly opened its eyes. A vast, ancient Aura surged through his Meridians and into the sword.

The originally emerald-green sword body suddenly turned transparent.

Inside, it seemed as if an ever-flowing green river was coursing.

"Everlasting Green, one year's withering, one year's flourishing."

Chen Xu chanted softly. He didn't perform any earth-shattering slashing motion, only gently placed the sword horizontally before his chest, then slowly pushed it outward.

Hum—

A green ripple, not dazzling and even somewhat gentle, spread outward from Chen Xu as its center.

This ripple seemed to have no killing power, like a spring breeze brushing over water.

But when it touched the descending crimson giant fist, something terrifying happened.

The crimson giant, condensed from Mo Yuan's essence blood, upon contacting the green ripple,

didn't explode violently, but instead began—to age.

The originally fresh, blood-red liquid rapidly turned dull, blackened, like blood that had rotted for millions of years.

The giant's full muscles began to shrivel and atrophy.

Finally, it transformed into a sky full of flying ash, drifting down in a flurry.

"Ah—! My Origin!"

A shrill, miserable scream came from the void.

That crimson giant was connected to his life and cultivation. Its destruction now was like having a chunk of flesh carved out of him.

Mo Yuan's figure tumbled out from the blood sea in disarray.

His already withered body was now so thin it was skin and bones, his hair instantly turning completely white.

But it wasn't over yet.

That green ripple continued to spread, colliding with the cyan net Xu Sen had laid.

Those tough threads formed from the Magic Treasure feathers were like fragile, withered grass before the green light.

They collapsed upon mere contact, all their spirituality stripped away in an instant.

The originally treasure-light-emanating feathers turned into mundane objects.

Clattering as they fell to the ground.

Xu Sen's face turned deathly pale. A mouthful of rebellious blood sprayed out, his whole body shuddering as if struck by lightning.

He retreated dozens of steps before stabilizing his stance.

Staring at the seemingly ordinary ancient sword in Chen Xu's hand, his eyes were full of shock: "This Law... this Aura... This isn't a Heaven-Piercing Spirit Treasure! This is... this is an Emperor's Weapon!"

"An Emperor's Weapon?!"

Mo Yuan, spitting blood on the ground, trembled violently upon hearing these two words.

His eyeballs nearly popped out.

In the Spirit Realm, what did an Emperor's Weapon represent?

It was a vessel of the Great Dao, the materialization of rules.

Possessing an Emperor's Weapon meant having the capital to challenge those above one's stage.

They never imagined that this Chen Xu,

actually held in his hand such a great killing weapon, one that could drive the entire Spirit Realm mad!

"Correct guess."

Chen Xu, sword in hand, stepped upon the void, walking step by step toward the two.

With each step, a cyan lotus flower bloomed in the space beneath his feet.

These weren't illusions, but natural manifestations of the Great Dao's Laws.

At this moment, even with only the cultivation of the Early Stage Body Integration Stage, under the empowerment of the Emperor's Weapon,

his Aura completely overwhelmed the two Late Stage Body Integration Stage experts before him.

"Unfortunately, no prize."

Chen Xu's voice was as cold as a knife, echoing across the empty basin.

"Misunderstanding! City Lord Chen, this is all a misunderstanding!"

Xu Sen, who now bore no trace of his previous immortal demeanor, retreated while

forcing out a smile uglier than crying: "This old man merely wished to spar with City Lord Chen. Since City Lord Chen's divine skill is peerless, then this treasure... naturally belongs to the Chen Family."

"We'll leave right now, leave right now!"

"Yes, yes! This old man was just momentarily confused!"

Mo Yuan, disregarding his injuries, hurriedly chimed in: "City Lord Chen is magnanimous. As long as you let us leave, the Tianyu Holy Land is willing to form an alliance with the Chen Family, never interfering with each other's affairs from now on!"

These two old monsters who had lived for thousands of years, faced with death,

were not showing any more backbone than Mortals.

Because they knew that against Chen Xu wielding an Emperor's Weapon, they had no chance of turning the tables.

That terrifying Law capable of stripping away vitality in an instant—even a trace of it—

would cost them centuries of Lifespan.

Chen Xu stopped walking. Looking at these two "Great Experts" revealing their ugly true colors, a trace of mockery flashed in his eyes.

"Spar? Misunderstanding?"

Chen Xu shook his head, his fingers gently stroking the sword's body: "That's not what you said when you wanted to kill me just now."

"If I were the one lying on the ground now, would you listen to my explanation that this was a misunderstanding?"

Xu Sen and Mo Yuan's faces instantly turned deathly pale.

"Chen Xu! Leave some leeway when dealing with people, so you can meet again in the future!"

Mo Yuan blustered with a show of fierceness: "If you kill us, the Tianyu Holy Land and the Ascending Immortal Gate will never let this go! When the two great Sects mobilize their full forces, even with an Emperor's Weapon, your Chen Family won't be able to withstand it!"

"Whether I can withstand it is my business. As for you two..."

Chen Xu slowly raised his longsword, its tip pointing directly at the heavens: "You won't live to see it."

"Let's fight for our lives!"

Seeing that pleading was hopeless, a trace of ruthlessness flashed in Xu Sen's eyes.

He pulled out a golden Talisman from his bosom and fiercely crushed it.

A terrifying spatial fluctuation instantly erupted. This was an incredibly precious "Ten-Thousand-Mile Divine Travel Talisman."

Once crushed, it could instantly teleport the user ten thousand miles away.

Simultaneously, Mo Yuan also burned his Origin essence blood, transforming into a crimson rainbow.

Frantically fleeing in the opposite direction.

One left, one right, the two instantly shot out several thousand zhang.

"Playing at escape before someone who has mastered the Spatial Law?"

A cold smile appeared on Chen Xu's face: "Naive."

He didn't give chase. He merely gently slashed the void with the Everlasting Green sword in his hand.

"Sever."

A single, simple word.

The space within a hundred li suddenly became like a mirror being cut.

A neat crack appeared.

The golden teleportation light Xu Sen had just activated was abruptly severed by this invisible rift.

He crashed into an invisible wall as if hitting solid rock.

He tumbled out of the void, his face filled with disbelief.

Meanwhile, Mo Yuan on the other side fared even worse.

His proud Blood Escape Technique failed completely because the space he occupied

had been completely stripped away by this single sword strike.

"Time to send you off."

Chen Xu flicked his wrist, his longsword sweeping horizontally.

This sword strike was no longer the gentle ripple from before.

A ten-thousand-zhang-long emerald-green sword radiance spanned the sky like a whip brandished by a Heavenly God.

Carrying the true meaning of "Wither and Flourish," it swept out.

Wherever the sword radiance passed, whether it was black rock or churning Devilish Qi,

everything underwent the full process from birth to decay in an instant, ultimately turning into nothingness.

"NO—!!!"

Mo Yuan let out a hoarse roar.

He desperately deployed all his defensive Magic Treasures: shields, treasure armor, even his Lifebound Beast-Bone Staff.

But before the sword radiance imbued with the might of an Emperor's Weapon,

it was all futile.

"Pfft!"

The sword radiance swept past. Mo Yuan's body stiffened in mid-air for a moment before neatly severing at the waist.

No blood gushed from the break; only gray Death Qi spread.

His upper body was still twitching, his eyes filled with longing and regret for this world.

Then, under the erosion of this Death Qi, he completely turned to flying ash.

An Old Ancestor of the Tianyu Holy Land, who had dominated the Northern Domain for millennia, had fallen.

Xu Sen on the other side was dumbstruck.

Witnessing Mo Yuan turn to ash with his own eyes, he was scared out of his wits.

He knew he couldn't block this sword strike, absolutely not!

"Chen Xu! Spare me! I surrender! I'm willing to be the Chen Family's dog!"

Xu Sen knelt in the void, kowtowing frantically, his forehead hitting the void with dull thuds: "I know many secrets of the Ascending Immortal Gate!"

"I know the layout of Central Continent! Spare my life, I can be of great use to you!"

The sword radiance stopped three inches above his head.

The intense sword wind sheared off his hair crown, leaving him disheveled and in a wretched state.

Xu Sen's heart leaped with joy, thinking Chen Xu was tempted.

"Secrets?"

Chen Xu's voice rang in his ear, devoid of any warmth: "I don't need the secrets you know. Because sooner or later, I'll go to Central Continent myself and take them."

"As for being a dog..."

Chen Xu paused: "At your age, with your teeth all gone, you can't even bite properly. What use would you be to me?"

"What?"

Xu Sen abruptly looked up, the hope in his eyes not yet faded.

The sword radiance fell.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a soft "hiss."

A blood line appeared on Xu Sen's body from between his eyebrows.

Immediately, this blood line rapidly extended downward.

He opened his mouth as if to say something more, but his vitality was already severed.

The two halves of his corpse fell to either side, plummeting into the ruins below.

In the short span of half an incense stick's time,

two Late Stage Body Integration Great Experts had both perished.

Chen Xu sheathed his sword and stood, his chest rising and falling slightly.

The two sword strikes just now seemed effortless, but they had actually consumed a great deal of his mental energy.

After all, using Early Stage Body Integration cultivation to drive an Emperor's Weapon,

even if only eliciting a sliver of its power, was an immense burden.

But he didn't show any sign of weakness.

He slowly descended from the air, made a beckoning gesture, and two storage rings flew out from the ruins.

Landing in his palm.

These were the life savings of two Body Integration Stage Great Experts. Even disregarding everything else, the wealth within these two rings alone

was probably equivalent to half a Holy Land's foundation.

"Indeed, murder and arson are the best paths to riches."

Chen Xu casually swept his gaze over the space inside the rings and nodded in satisfaction.

He lifted his head, looking towards the distant sky.

There, Lan Shuyao and Ye Youluo were hovering in mid-air with the Chen Family's army.

Even from this distance, he could feel the fanaticism and worship in those thousand-plus pairs of eyes.

It was absolute submission to strength.

After this battle, no one in the Northern Domain would dare challenge the Chen Family's position.

Chen Xu's figure flashed, returning to the flying vessel.

"Family Head!"

"Long live the Family Head!"

Thunderous cheers erupted on the deck.

Ba Dao was so excited his face flushed red, itching to rush up and give Chen Xu a bear hug.

But he was glared back by Lan Shuyao's icy stare.

"Clean up the battlefield."

Chen Xu didn't bask in the cheers; his gaze remained calm: "The commotion here was too great. More prying eyes will arrive soon."

"Take everything that can be taken. Destroy what can't."

"Yes!"

Everyone acknowledged the order in unison, moving more briskly than before.

Chen Xu returned to the cabin and spread out the Void Beast Skin Map once more.

His finger lightly tapped on the red mark — "Fallen Dragon Abyss."

Now that the two biggest stumbling blocks had been kicked aside,

the real feast was next.

"Demon Emperor's Legacy..."

Chen Xu's eyes gleamed with sharp light: "I hope the so-called Emperor's Weapon, purgatory tower, doesn't disappoint me."

As they ventured deeper into the core area of Dragon Burial Valley, the surrounding black mist actually thinned somewhat.

But this wasn't a good omen; it was replaced by a bone-piercing deep chill.

This cold wasn't the low temperature brought by ordinary ice and snow, but a kind of Yin-extreme chill that could directly freeze spiritual power flow

and even slow down Divine Sense.

The ground beneath their feet had completely turned into hard permafrost, presenting an eerie purplish-black color.

With each step, the friction between their soles and the ground produced a teeth-grating crunch.

"This is too sinister."

Ba Dao couldn't help but shiver. His robust Physique, which could withstand magma erosion, was now uncontrollably trembling slightly.

The white breath he exhaled turned into fine ice shards the moment it left his mouth, clattering to the ground.

The flying vessel could no longer proceed.

This area seemed to possess some natural Law forbidding flight, combined with that terrifying extreme chill airflow.

If they forced the flying vessel forward, even its hull would likely freeze and crack.

Chen Xu waved his hand, halting the main force.

He only took Lan Shuyao, Ba Dao, and Ye Youluo to continue forward on foot.

"This is the edge of Fallen Dragon Abyss, also the place with the heaviest Taiyin Qi."

Ye Youluo tightened the robe Chen Xu had thrown to her earlier. Though her face was still somewhat pale,

her eyes held a peculiar excitement: "For our Ancient Demon Clan, this is a cultivation Holy Land, but for Human Race Cultivators, it's a graveyard."

Lan Shuyao's fingers lightly brushed her sword hilt, instantly frosting the scabbard with a layer of white frost.

Her delicate brows furrowed slightly as she attempted to extend her Divine Sense to probe ahead, only to feel a sharp pain in her mind.

As if the extended Divine Sense had been stabbed by countless ice needles.

"Family Head, Divine Sense is severely impeded."

Lan Shuyao warned in a low voice: "Even for me, Divine Sense can only extend less than a hundred zhang. Further, and it freezes."

"A hundred zhang?"

Chen Xu stopped walking, his gaze sweeping over the gray void ahead: "For a Body Integration Stage Great Expert, a hundred zhang is indeed no different from being blind. No wonder"

"that old ghost Mo Yuan searched for so long without finding the exact entrance. This place is naturally a perfect barrier."

The cold here targeted not just the Physical Body, but even more so the Soul.

If an ordinary Early Stage Body Integration Cultivator came here, they'd likely struggle with every step,

constantly diverting most of their spiritual power to protect their heart meridian.

But Chen Xu was an anomaly.

The Primordial Chaos Nascent Soul within him was currently sitting cross-legged, showing not the slightest sign of freezing.

Instead, it was like a fish encountering cold water, happily inhaling and exhaling the extreme Yin-cold Qi around it.

"Open."

Chen Xu uttered a soft command, purple light flowing within his eyes.

The chill capable of freezing all things seemed to turn into transparent threads in his vision.

His gaze pierced through layers of mist, through the distorted space,

directly landing on the seemingly empty cliff face straight ahead.

In his field of view, that wasn't a cliff.

It was a spatial node folded up by an extremely sophisticated method.

"Found it."

Chen Xu's lips curled slightly as he stepped forward.

He walked steadily. With each step, a faint Blue Lotus bloomed beneath his feet,

pushing back the surrounding chill by three feet.

Ba Dao and Lan Shuyao hurriedly followed. As long as they stayed behind their Family Head,

that suffocating chill dissipated completely.

Arriving before the cliff face, Chen Xu didn't rush to act. Instead, he extended a finger and lightly tapped the void a few times.

"The spatial fluctuations here are very weak, and the frequency is extremely fast."

Chen Xu seemed to be talking to himself, yet also instructing Lan Shuyao behind him: "If we try to blast it open with brute force, spatial turbulence would instantly shred the entrance, and our trip would be for nothing."

Ye Youluo looked at Chen Xu's back with some surprise.

As a member of the Youyue Royal Clan, she naturally knew how intricate the method to open this entrance was.

It required specific Demon Race incantations and Bloodline Power.

This man had nothing. Did he intend to unravel it out of thin air?

However, the next second, her pupils abruptly contracted.

She saw Chen Xu's palm suddenly become crystalline and translucent, as if holding a Minor Thousand World within his palm.

He didn't chant any incantations, nor did he form any hand seals.

He just pressed his palm seemingly casually onto that spatial node.

"Hum—"

A low hum sounded, like the snore of some long-slumbering giant beast.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no radiant special effects.

That seemingly indestructible cliff face, the moment Chen Xu's palm made contact,

rippled like water.

A fine crack appeared on the originally smooth spatial surface.

Immediately after, Chen Xu's five fingers suddenly clenched and tore outward!

"Rip!"

The sound was like tearing silk.

A massive black vortex with a diameter of ten zhang was forcibly pulled out from the void by Chen Xu.

The vortex edges flickered with dim demonic light.

Its interior was bottomless, with faint sounds of howling wind and thunder.