352: Martyrdom for freedom

Chi Yao did not pursue him.

She knelt on one knee, breathing heavily, with blood seeping from her seven orifices—that strike just now had almost completely drained her vital essence.

Although "Burning Heaven Transformation Body" was powerful, her Physical Body's reconstruction was not yet at Perfection, and forcibly unleashing it had damaged her foundation.

Lei Liao slowly rose from the ruins, his black armor shattered, blood at the corner of his mouth, and for the first time, a trace of fear appeared in his eyes.

"Impossible, a Red Slaves, a lowly bastard, how could you block my full-power strike?!"

Chi Yao slowly raised her head, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, her eyes like fire, her voice hoarse but firm:

"You say we are lowly bastards, but today—I used the 'inferior Bloodline' in your eyes to shatter your nobility."

She stood up, Crimson Flame surged again, and a golden-red light membrane once more covered her entire body.

"Again."

At this moment—

Even the most numb, most submissive Red Slaves, who had long considered themselves "walking mining picks," were stunned.

They had spent their lives bowing and scraping, born with numbers branded on them, driven, whipped, and worked to death like livestock.

They had long forgotten they were human, only remembering that receiving a mouthful of moldy mining rations each day meant "living."

But now... they saw with their own eyes—

A Red Slaves just like them, a "Number 711" who should have coughed up blood and died in the mine shaft,

actually fought head-on against the Soul Transformation Lei Liao!

She fought bathed in blood, not retreating a single step; she broke thunder with fire, acting in a Heaven-Defying manner!

Finally, a hoarse but fervent shout tore through the silent crowd:

"Number 711!! Go! Kill these Overseers!! We've had enough!!"

It was an old mine slave, his back hunched, his face full of wrinkles, his voice trembling, yet he roared out these words with all his might.

"Today! I want to see you beasts pay your debts!!"

"You dog-damned Overseers, you have your day too!"

One after another, like a surging tide!

Amidst these shouts from the masses, Chi Yao stood tall, covered in blood, her voice shaking the Nine Heavens:

"I am not Number 711! My name is—Chi Yao! From today onwards, I hope every one of us of the Chi Clan will have a name! No more numbers! No more slave status! We are no longer slaves to be slaughtered! We will—be our own masters!!"

Her voice, like a thunderclap, rolled through the Seventh Mining District, deeply imprinted in the depths of everyone's Soul.

Lei Liao slowly rose from the ruins, his face contorted, his eyes boiling with murderous intent!

"How dare you boast! An ant dares to speak of being its own master! Today, I will let you know—what true power is!!"

He suddenly spread his arms, the lightning around him abruptly converged, and the world fell into an eerie silence.

Immediately after! Buzz—

An indescribable pressure descended!

The rocks of the entire Soul-Severing Cliff began to crack and float!

The air solidified, and time seemed to stand still!

Even the tens of thousands of Red Slaves below felt suffocated, kneeling on the ground, trembling!

Lei Liao raised his hands, and an object slowly emerged from his glabella—

【Thunder Prison · nine tribulations heaven nail】

—Immortal Rank Magic Treasure · Ancient Punishment Artifact

This object was completely black, less than three feet long, shaped like a pointed nail, its surface covered with ancient thunder patterns!

Legend has it that this nail was refined by the ancient "Thunder Punishment Heavenly Venerate," specifically used to suppress Heaven-Defying individuals.

Once, a Grand Unity Golden Immortal rebelled against the Immortal Court, and it was this nail that pierced his Primordial Spirit, trapping him in the Thunder Prison for eternity, enduring the Nine Heavens Heavenly Tribulation in rotation, unable to transcend for ten thousand years!

Lei Liao laughed wildly towards the sky:

"This was obtained by my Lei family ancestors when they followed the Emperor to quell chaos, and it has been Sealed until now! It is never activated unless it is a matter of life and death!"

"Chi Yao, a mere Nascent Soul Peak Red Slaves like you, to die under the 'nine tribulations heaven nail'—"

"Is your glory!!"

Before his words finished, he formed a hand Seal and chanted a forbidden incantation:

"Nine Tribulations descend upon the world, heavenly thunder locks the Soul!"

"Where the nail falls, all living beings perish!!"

In an instant—

Nine huge fissures tore open in the sky!

From each fissure, a giant chain made of pure lightning extended, like nine Heavenly Dragons, directly pouncing on Chi Yao!

And the "nine tribulations heaven nail" hovered in mid-air, suddenly rotating, releasing a terrifying suction force!

Chi Yao's blood within her body began to boil uncontrollably, and the Crimson Flame True Fire in her Meridians was forcibly drawn out!

Her body began to float off the ground, her Soul being torn out!

Chi Yao gritted her teeth and resisted, the Crimson Flame protective light membrane vibrated violently, collapsing several times in an instant!

Blood began to flow from her seven orifices, and her bones groaned under the unbearable pressure!

This was no longer a battle—this was a crushing force at the level of rules!

The Red Slaves below watched with eyes wide with fury:

"No!!! Chi Yao!!"

The Red Slaves foreman was heartbroken: "I've said it before, Red Slaves should honestly mine. Now look, we've offended the Overseer, it's over, it's over, we Red Slaves are completely finished!"

The Iron Lady tried to rush to her rescue but was struck by a lightning chain, falling to the ground severely injured!

Red Tiger, Crimson Thorn, and other members desperately tried to block, but were forced back by the other eight giant lightning chains!

The entire battlefield was left with only Chi Yao, suspended in mid-air, facing that which was about to pierce her head—

The might of a True Immortal, the punishment of the Heaven Nail!

Chi Yao slowly opened her eyes, a cold smile actually playing on her lips.

"What's wrong with dying? Rather than living like a beast for a lifetime, it's better to die honorably!

She clasped her hands together, the last trace of vital essence in her body ignited, and the third stage of the Crimson Flame Art · Burning Heaven Transformation Body—pushed to its limit!

Chi Yao roared towards the sky, her entire body's crimson patterns burned into golden-red flames, and she, herself, became like a falling sun—

"Crimson Flame Art—Final Form · Crimson Flame Burns the Heavens!!"

Even though Chi Yao had pushed the "Crimson Flame Art" to its limit, burning blood for fire, fighting for her life, reality was cruel and merciless.

She was, after all, only at the Nascent Soul Peak.

Lei Liao's nine tribulations heaven nail was a Sacred Artifact of punishment forged by an ancient True Immortal, which had once pierced the Primordial Spirit of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal and suppressed a Heaven-Defying demon god!

This level of disparity had long surpassed the scope of Cultivation Technique and will—

This was a crushing force of rules, a chasm between immortals and mortals!

The black-as-abyss Heaven Nail, guided by countless lightning chains, ignored the surging Crimson Flame True Fire around Chi Yao, and pierced directly through her protective light membrane as if cutting tofu!

The flames were useless before it—because this nail was specifically designed to counter "Heaven-Defying power"!

Chi Yao's seven orifices bled, her Sea of Consciousness vibrated, and her Soul was almost shattered by the "tribulation power" of the nail's tip.

She looked at the approaching nail tip, but a look of relief appeared on her lips:

"At least I showed them hope."

She closed her eyes, waiting for the strike to fall—

Martyred for freedom, she had no regrets.

Just at this critical moment—

Whoosh.

An extremely soft, extremely faint sound of something breaking through the air cut through the dead silent world.

A pebble.

Ordinary, grayish-brown, with worn edges, like a piece of Broken Rock picked up casually from the mine.

It flew neither fast nor brightly, without even a trace of Qi fluctuation.

Before anyone could react—

Clink.

A crisp, bell-like sound.

The pebble, with incredible precision, struck the core talisman eye of the nine tribulations heaven nail—precisely the most crucial Restriction node of the entire Magic Treasure!

In an instant—

The nine lightning prison fissures that had opened in the sky violently trembled!

The eight giant lightning chains wrapped around Chi Yao "bang" exploded!

And the arrogant "nine tribulations heaven nail," like a collapsing sandcastle, began to disintegrate inch by inch from within!

Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the black nail body, liquid lightning overflowed and evaporated, and finally—

Boom!!!

It transformed into a violent thunder explosion, completely annihilated in the Void Realm!

The entire scene was dead silent.

Lei Liao's eyes widened, his body stiff, as if his Soul had been drawn out.

He stared intently at the ordinary pebble slowly falling and finally landing in the dust, his voice trembling uncontrollably:

"This... impossible, that's an Immortal Rank Magic Treasure, a 'Heaven Nail' that even a Grand Unity Golden Immortal couldn't break free from, how could it... be shattered by a stone?!"