543: Chapter 543 The Eternal Ice Plains

Wang Tianba looked at the black stone slab in Li Heng's hand, and his face instantly became paler than a dead man's.

His lips trembled, and his eyes were filled with extreme terror, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world.

"Sen... Senior... this... this thing, you cannot take it!"

His voice became sharp and distorted due to fear.

"Oh?"

Li Heng raised an eyebrow, looking at him with great interest.

"Why can't I take it?"

"This... this is an ominous object! It was obtained by chance by my Wang family ancestors. Even after years of research, its mysteries have never been deciphered. Instead, it brought calamity upon us! I beg Senior... to put it back in its place to avoid being tainted by Karma!"

Wang Tianba spoke with tears and sincerity, as if he were truly concerned for Li Heng's well-being.

Li Heng laughed.

"Keep spinning your tales, go on."

He weighed the stone slab in his hand, his tone flat.

"This thing is meant to work in tandem with that heart in the Black Wind Abyss, right?"

"Let me guess, your Wang family wasn't the discoverer of this thing, but its... guardian?"

"Or rather, the... watchdog for a certain existence?"

Boom!

Every word from Li Heng was like a heavy hammer, smashing ruthlessly into Wang Tianba's heart.

Wang Tianba's body swayed violently, nearly collapsing to the ground.

How did he know?!

This was the highest secret passed down in the Wang family for tens of thousands of years, known only to successive family heads and Old Ancestors!

"You... who exactly are you?!"

Wang Tianba could no longer maintain his composure and roared out in shock.

"Who I am is not important,"

Li Heng said indifferently.

"What matters is that your Wang family has betrayed this world."

As soon as he finished speaking, an indescribable, terrifying aura erupted from the deepest part of the treasury!

The entire underground palace shook violently.

Countless blood-red runes emerged on the walls, circulating frantically.

The ground in the center of the treasury slowly cracked open, and an ancient black altar rose from within.

A figure sat cross-legged upon the altar.

It was an old man as thin as a stick, looking like a skeleton. His body had completely petrified, without a single trace of life force.

But as the altar rose, his eyes, which had been closed for countless millennia, slowly opened.

Two beams of blood-red light pierced through the Void Realm, locking firmly onto Li Heng.

A terrifying pressure that surpassed the Nascent Soul and reached the Peak of the Soul Transformation Stage instantly enveloped the entire treasury!

"Who... dares... to trespass into my clan's Forbidden Ground!"

A dry, raspy voice, sounding like metal grinding, came from the petrified old man's mouth.

The members of the Wang family, including Wang Tianba, all knelt down in excitement, kowtowing frantically.

"We welcome the Supreme Old Ancestor back to the world!"

"We request the Supreme Old Ancestor to take action, slay this scoundrel, and display our Wang family's Divine Might!"

This person was the Wang family's true trump card!

An old monster at the Soul Transformation Stage who had lived for nearly ten thousand years, using a secret technique to enter a state of suspended animation to linger on until today!

The petrified old man ignored his clansmen; his gaze never left Li Heng.

"Young man, your strength is very great, exceeding this old man's imagination."

"But you should not have taken that item."

"Now, put it down, cripple your own cultivation, and leave this place. This old man can spare your life."

His tone carried a sense of high-and-mighty charity.

As if sparing Li Heng's life was a massive boon.

After hearing this, Li Heng couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Hahaha..."

He laughed so hard he leaned back and forth, tears nearly coming out.

"Old thing, have you slept for so long that your brain has turned to mush?"

"With your pathetic state of having half a foot in the grave, you dare say such things to me?"

"Do you believe that with one slap, I can send you and this crappy altar flying back into your mother's womb?"

Arrogant!

Limitlessly arrogant!

The blood-red light in the petrified old man's eyes surged; he was clearly thoroughly enraged.

"Brat! You seek death!"

He suddenly raised his withered claws and made a grasping motion from a distance.

"Blood Demon Cage!"

The blood-red runes on the altar instantly came to life, transforming into thousands of blood-colored chains that shot toward Li Heng from all directions, sealing off all his retreats.

Each chain carried a dense scent of blood and a venomous power of curses, enough to easily corrode a Nascent Soul Cultivator's Physical Body and Divine Soul.

Cruel satisfaction appeared on the faces of the Wang family members.

In their eyes, Li Heng was a dead man!

However, facing this world-destroying strike,

Li Heng merely curled his lip in annoyance.

"Noisy."

He softly spat out a single word.

"Extinguish."

His words became Law.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Those thousands of unstoppable blood-colored chains came to an abrupt halt three feet away from Li Heng.

Then, like snow under the sun, they silently began to melt, decompose, and turn into the most primitive energy particles, dissipating into the air.

The entire process took less than a single breath.

"This... this is impossible!"

For the first time, a look of absolute horror appeared on the petrified old man's face.

This was power at the level of Law!

His Soul Transformation Stage cultivation, which he was so proud of, was like a three-year-old's joke in front of the opponent!

"Nothing is impossible."

Li Heng's figure appeared before the petrified old man without any warning. One hand had already gripped his withered neck, lifting him off the altar.

"An old man who refuses to die is a thief."

"Tell me, what exactly is this 'Lord' you worship?"

"Perhaps I can give you a quick death."

Feeling the power from that hand—power enough to crush the stars—the petrified old man's Dao Heart completely collapsed.

The blood-red light in his eyes flickered frantically, and a hideous smile appeared on his face.

"You... will never... know..."

"The Lord... shall eventually return!"

"This world... shall all become... the Lord's pasture!"

As soon as he finished speaking, his body suddenly began to swell.

He wanted to self-detonate!

The self-detonation of a Peak Soul Transformation Cultivator was enough to level everything within a thousand miles!

"Want to die? Have I given my consent?"

Li Heng snorted coldly, and his five fingers applied a slight pressure.

Crack!

A crisp sound rang out.

The petrified old man's neck was snapped directly.

The violent energy within him, like a punctured balloon, instantly poured out, only to be completely swallowed by an invisible vortex in Li Heng's palm, failing to stir even a single ripple.

A Soul Transformation old monster who had lived for ten thousand years died just like that, in such a pathetic manner.

He didn't even get the chance to self-detonate.

Li Heng casually tossed the body, which had lost all its energy and turned into an ordinary Dried Corpse, onto the ground.

His gaze fell upon that black altar.

"It seems the clues are all on this."

He reached out, preparing to uproot the entire altar and take it back for thorough study.

After finishing this, he seemed to remember something and turned around, looking at Wang Tianba and the other high-level members of the Wang family, who were now paralyzed on the ground, having soiled themselves in terror.

"Oh, right."

"Your Wang family colluded with Otherworldly Demons with the intent to subvert the world. According to the Law, all nine generations should be executed, right?"

He rubbed his chin, seemingly in deep thought.

The members of the Wang family looked ashen, their bodies shaking like sieves.

It was over.

Everything was over.

Li Heng carried the black stone slab in one hand and shouldered the massive black altar with the other, leisurely walking out of the treasury.

He didn't spare the Wang family members another glance.

Because in his eyes, these people were already no different from the dead.

When Li Heng's figure reappeared in the Qilin Hall, the entire imperial court fell into a deathly silence once again.

Everyone's eyes were focused on the black altar he was carrying, which radiated an endless aura of evil, and the Dried Corpse he had casually tossed onto the floor.

Emperor Xuanyuan Hong's pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks.

He recognized the clothing on that Dried Corpse!

That was the style worn by the Wang family's Supreme Old Ancestor!

Li Heng set the altar down with a 'thud' in the center of the hall, the impact shaking the earth and mountains.

He brushed the dust off his hands and grinned at Xuanyuan Hong on the dragon throne.

"Your Majesty, I've brought you a great gift."

"The Wang family are traitors."

"This is the evidence. That over there is the witness—oh wait, the corpse witness."

"As for what to do next, that's your business as the Emperor."

After speaking, he glanced at the sinister altar, lost in thought.

"It seems the waters of this world are much deeper than I imagined."

"I'll have to find some time to take a good stroll through that 'Eternal Ice Plains'."