170: Chapter 170 The Power of the Divine Thorn

Simultaneously, a powerful surge of Primordial Spirit Power, like an invisible flame, rose from his sea of consciousness.

No longer limited to mental offense and defense, it burned directly, merging strand by strand into his four limbs, hundred bones, and all the apertures of his body, becoming one with his flesh, blood, tendons, and bones—which had been tempered to the limit of the late Bright Moon Realm.

Instantly, a faint silver radiance seemed to flow beneath Li Wen's skin, and his aura suddenly surged upward by a significant margin.

Facing the claw shadows that were enough to leave him heavily injured, Li Wen unsheathed his long blade!

The blade light was no longer purely fast as before; it condensed the extreme power brought by the burning Primordial Spirit and the profound mysteries of the "Profound Vault Rainbow Silence Chapter." With the faint sound of thunder and the sudden appearance of starlight, it was impressively his Transcendent-level "Profound Vault · Thunder Strike."

Clang!

The ear-piercing clash of metal rang through the clouds! A visible shockwave expanded violently in a circular ring!

The expression in the eyes of the Snake Division assassin beneath the mask changed abruptly, filled with disbelief.

His full-strength claw strike, which was enough to instantly kill an ordinary peak Great Sun Realm expert, had actually been blocked head-on by the opponent.

Although Li Wen was sent flying backward by the massive impact, his blood and qi churning and a trace of fresh blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, he had indeed blocked it.

Moreover, the power and Concept contained within the Blade Technique were definitely not something an ordinary late Bright Moon Realm cultivator could possess.

"This kid really is strange! The intelligence was severely underestimated!" The assassin's heart sank, but at this moment, the arrow was already on the string and had to be fired.

He silently counted the seconds in his mind, and his offensive instantly became even more violent.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Claw shadows filled the sky!

Every claw contained the Tearing Intent of the Dao Realm, and the power was even more vast and majestic, sealing off all directions.

The sky seemed to be torn open by countless black fissures.

Li Wen, meanwhile, was like a small boat in a violent storm.

In a state of absolute focus, his five senses were heightened to the extreme.

The explosive power brought by the Fusion of Primordial Spirit Power into his Physical Body allowed his speed to reach its peak.

The long blade in his hand swung like a wheel, sometimes using "Star Gallop" to move and avoid sharp edges, and sometimes using "Thunder Strike" to block head-on.

The first two forms of the Xuanqiong Five Styles reached an unprecedented level of harmony in his hands.

However, the gap was massive! The chasm between Realms was difficult to bridge completely.

The opponent's power was too strong, and his level of skill was also a notch higher.

With every collision, Li Wen felt as if he were being struck by a heavy divine mountain. His arms were in agonizing pain and went numb, his internal organs vibrated, the webbing between his thumb and forefinger had long since split, and blood stained the hilt of the blade.

His body, strengthened by the Fusion of Primordial Spirit Power, also showed many fine lacerations.

In just half a minute, Li Wen was already in a perilous situation. Wounds continued to pile up on his body, and his aura became erratic.

Every block and dodge was a walk along the edge of life and death.

Seeing Li Wen struggling under the fierce attack, with more wounds appearing and his aura becoming increasingly unstable, a trace of hard-to-detect wild joy and urgency flashed in the masked assassin's eyes.

"Die for me!!!"

The assassin counted down in his heart, knowing he couldn't delay any longer and had to end the battle within these few seconds.

He mobilized all the power in his body, completely abandoning his own defense; even his protective energy was fully channeled into the attack.

His figure crashed toward the retreating Li Wen like a falling star. Dark light flared intensely on his hands, condensing into two sickle shadows that seemed capable of snatching souls, which slashed down in a cross.

This was a finishing move that condensed his life's cultivation. Even space produced visible ripples under this strike.

The ultimate threat of death loomed overhead.

At this critical juncture, the light of calm that had been tightly held to the limit and had been searching for an opportunity throughout the battle suddenly lit up in Li Wen's eyes.

Now was the time! To pursue absolute killing efficiency, the opponent had poured all his power into the attack, and his own defense had dropped to an absolute low.

Deep within his sea of consciousness, the seated Primordial Spirit figure suddenly opened its eyes, which shone with golden light!

It slightly opened its mouth, and an intangible, needle-thin point of light, condensing a terrifying Primordial Spirit charm, was spat out silently.

Buzz—!

The moment this point of light appeared, it vanished from Li Wen's sea of consciousness, ignoring all physical distance as if teleporting, appearing directly in front of the pouncing Snake Division assassin's forehead.

What?!

The assassin only felt an indescribable, bone-chilling sense of fatal crisis instantly overwhelm all his senses.

Fast! It was too fast!

So fast that his brain had no time to react at all, as all his Divine Thoughts were busy driving those two fatal sickle shadows to slash down.

Puff!

There was no earth-shaking sound.

The invisible Shocking Spirit Spike treated the powerful mental defense barrier of the Dao Realm expert as if it were nothing, silently piercing into his forehead.

With incomparable precision, it pierced through the horrified Primordial Spirit figure within his sea of consciousness.

The agonizing pain of the Primordial Spirit being pierced and the ensuing sense of void caused the assassin's peak-condensed offensive to instantly disintegrate like a dream bubble.

The dual sickle light shadows, which had condensed vast energy, dissipated silently.

His forward-charging figure suddenly stiffened, and the light in his eyes rapidly dimmed and scattered, filled with extreme fear and disbelief.

"How... could... this..." His raspy voice came to an abrupt halt.

Thud!

The lifeless corpse fell powerlessly from the air, slamming heavily onto the desolate hillside below, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Huff— huff— Li Wen panted heavily, hovering in mid-air.

The massive exhaustion from merging Primordial Spirit Power into his whole body and the waves of pain from his wounds hit him, but his gaze remained as sharp as a blade.

Without staying for a moment, he endured the pain and dove down, landing beside the corpse.

After confirming the opponent was completely dead, he acted nimbly.

His fingertip flicked out a cluster of condensed thunder-fire, which instantly enveloped the corpse on the ground.

Amidst the sizzling sounds, the corpse, along with the snake-patterned mask and everything else that could identify him, was incinerated to ash in the thunder-fire.

Next, his incredibly perceptive Primordial Spirit Power spread out like spilled mercury, carefully scanning the surrounding several hundred meters again and again to erase all possible residual energy traces and mental imprints, ensuring no future trouble remained.

After doing all this, Li Wen looked toward Antai County once more. No longer hesitating, he forcefully summoned a breath of true essence.

He didn't take the damaged aircraft, which was now relatively slow, but instead transformed into a bolt of lightning, streaking across the sky at maximum speed toward the true battlefield—the Antai County Stargate Fortress.

In the distant starry background, the figures of Cloud Dragon King and the Leader of the Snake Division had long since vanished, having chased each other to parts unknown.

Only a faint burnt smell remained on the desolate mountain, quickly dissipating in the night wind.

In the high altitude between Qingshi County and Antai County, wherever two figures passed, space distorted and energy tides surged violently, as if the void itself were groaning under an unbearable burden.

The one fleeing in panic ahead was the leader of the Shadow Organization's Snake Division, an expert who had barely managed to step across the threshold of the King Sealing Grade through special means.

And the one in hot pursuit behind him, relentlessly unleashing devastating attacks, was Cloud Dragon King, who possessed top-tier King Sealing Grade combat power.

The battle was a complete one-sided crushing.

Every time Cloud Dragon King's figure flickered, it was accompanied by silver streaks that tore through the long sky. These were highly condensed spear glows,

capable of annihilating stars.

The Leader of the Snake Division did his best to block and dodge. Thick, ink-like black mist surged around him, attempting to corrode and neutralize the attacks.

But in the face of Cloud Dragon King's brilliant, upright, and extremely yang power, this black mist melted and dissipated as quickly as boiling water poured on snow.

Every time a spear glow fell, it brought a muffled explosion like thunder.

The protective armor on the Leader of the Snake Division's body was already covered in cracks, and purple-black blood constantly spilled from his mouth.

He was beaten back repeatedly by the massive force, his body vibrating violently, and his internal organs felt as if they had been displaced.

Once above the Marquis-Rank, pure differences in Physical Body Realm levels can no longer dominate the outcome between those of the same rank.

What truly decided superiority was the classification of combat power levels: Threshold, Normal, Top-tier, and Peak.

At the King Sealing Grade level, Cloud Dragon King, as a top-tier King, possessed power, mastery of rules, and combat techniques that were an insurmountable chasm for the Leader of the Snake Division, who had just squeezed into the threshold.

The gap was not just a little bit; it was the difference between a giant swan and a sparrow.

However, despite being beaten as pathetically as a broken sack, the depths of the Leader of the Snake Division's cold, snake-like pupils did not show the fear of a dead end.

He endured the pain, and every time he was knocked back, he used the force to adjust his direction, fleeing desperately toward the southeast.

There, he had a carefully arranged trump card.

As long as he could reach the pre-set coordinates, he was confident he could escape from Cloud Dragon King, even if the opponent was a top-tier King.

Cloud Dragon King's expression was as cold as an icy peak, his offensive was continuous, yet his gaze was as clear as fire.

He saw the Leader of the Snake Division's intentions clearly.

He understood perfectly. His pursuit speed and attack intensity did not decrease in the slightest, yet he carried a kind of certainty that came from controlling the entire situation.

Since he had personally stepped out to set the trap for the kill, how could he not be absolutely certain of keeping a threshold King Sealing Grade behind?

Allowing the opponent to flee here was merely to thoroughly exhaust their strength and sever the last possibility of a desperate burst of resistance.

Finally, as Cloud Dragon King condensed the power of heaven and earth, a terrifying spear strike, as if the silver river of the Nine Heavens were pouring down, once again pierced through the defense of the Leader of the Snake Division.

The strike blasted his left shoulder along with a portion of his body into a bloody, charred mess, causing him to let out a shrill scream. At the moment his figure faltered, Cloud Dragon King thought, "Now is the time!"

A sharp light exploded in Cloud Dragon King's eyes; he no longer held back.

He flipped his left hand abruptly, and a palm-sized, ancient, and desolate-looking disk that was neither metal nor jade appeared in his palm.

The disk seemed ordinary, but its surface flowed with the patterns of the Four Symbols. Under the injection of Cloud Dragon King's majestic King-level Primordial Power, it instantly burst forth with a profound light so brilliant it was impossible to look at directly.

"Go!" Cloud Dragon King shouted low. The disk flew out from his hand, silent yet faster than lightning.

The disk did not attack the Leader of the Snake Division but instead hovered a hundred zhang high in the sky above his head.

Immediately after—

"Hum—!!!"

A resonant hum vibrated through the universe!

Four streaks of Black-Yellow Qi suddenly shot out from the center of the disk, connecting heaven and earth!

The green Qi of the east transformed into the phantom of a towering giant tree; the white Qi of the west condensed into a sharp giant weapon; the red Qi of the south ignited the sky with raging flames; and the black Qi of the north surged like a turbulent marsh.

The shadows of the Four Divine Beasts flickered within the pillars of Qi, roaring toward the heavens.

In an instant, the space within a ten-mile radius around the Leader of the Snake Division was completely locked down and sealed.

The invisible barrier was indestructible, isolating all energy and spatial fluctuations between the inside and outside, forming a massive four-colored cage.

"No—!!" The Leader of the Snake Division, who had still held a glimmer of hope just moments ago, saw the color instantly drain from his face.

His eyes were filled with extreme horror and disbelief, as if he were seeing the most impossible thing in the world.

His voice was distorted and shrill with fear: "The... The four symbols heaven sealing disc?!"

"This... this is impossible! One of the ultimate treasures of the Kindling Hall! How could you be allowed to leave the Kindling Hall with it?!"

He fell into complete despair.

Faced with the crushing power of a top-tier King-level expert, he had still harbored the fluke of using a secret treasure to escape.

But the appearance of the Kindling Hall's heavy artifact, the "four symbols heaven sealing disc," completely shattered all his hopes.

This was a supreme treasure capable of suppressing King-level experts and even contending with higher existences. Under its lockdown, a mere inch might as well be the ends of the earth.

Any life-saving escape methods were as useless as scrap paper before the Four Symbols Heaven-Sealing Domain formed by such a heavy artifact.

Cloud Dragon King did not answer his question; his eyes held only cold killing intent.

When dealing with the minions of the Yao Race and traitors of the Human Race, he would never be soft-hearted, nor would he allow the opponent to escape and leak any information regarding Li Wen's value.

At the instant the Leader of the Snake Division's mind faltered due to shock and despair, Cloud Dragon King's long-prepared fatal spear strike finally descended.

This spear was like a blue dragon emerging from the sea, channeling the majestic energy bolstered by the four symbols heaven sealing disc.

Wherever the silver spear tip pointed, time seemed to freeze and then instantly accelerate!

Poof!

There was no world-shaking explosion, only a faint but crisp and clean sound of penetration.

Cloud Dragon King's figure appeared behind the Leader of the Snake Division.

The Leader of the Snake Division's body froze in mid-air. He slowly lowered his head and saw a bowl-sized hole, with edges as smooth as a mirror, where his heart should be.

No blood gushed out, because the destructive force contained in the spear energy had instantly annihilated his internal vitality and even his Primordial Spirit.

The last thing he saw was the majestic gaze of the Four Divine Beasts' phantoms; then, his consciousness sank into boundless darkness.

The leader of the Shadow Organization's Snake Division, a newly ascended threshold King-level expert, was completely fallen under the combined assault of Cloud Dragon King's absolute strength and the Kindling Hall's heavy artifact, the "four symbols heaven sealing disc," leaving no remains behind.

Cloud Dragon King withdrew his long spear. The heart-palpitating phantoms of the Four Symbols also contracted, their light gradually fading, as the four symbols heaven sealing disc returned to its ancient original form and flew back into his hand.

He didn't even look at the place where the Leader of the Snake Division had dissipated, instead turning his gaze toward Antai County.

"As expected, he is unharmed. I wonder what trump card the Principal gave this little fellow," Cloud Dragon King muttered to himself. With a slight flicker of his figure, he merged into the void and rushed toward the Antai County Stargate Fortress battlefield.

Wudao Peak's back mountain, the pavilion.

The news of Cloud Dragon King slaying the Leader of the Snake Division had just been sent back through a special channel, still carrying a hint of murderous aura.

Cloud Dragon King also mentioned what happened before he arrived—the assassin at the peak of the Great Sun Realm who had ambushed Li Wen,

and who had stepped into the "Dao Realm," had already seen his aura vanish.

This was completely beyond the Principal's expectations.

The tiny sword-shaped mark he had buried deep behind Li Wen's neck had not been triggered even once.

Cloud Dragon King's message could not be wrong.

This meant that in the face of a life-threatening ambush, Li Wen had not truly fallen into a desperate situation, and he had even—

not used the life-saving means the Principal had left for him.

"He relied on his own strength..." the Principal repeated in a low voice, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the smooth ebony tabletop.

He knew Li Wen had practiced the "Shocking Spirit Spike"; he was the one who had personally recommended this difficult Primordial Spirit secret technique to Li Wen.

A genuine God-Fiend at the peak of the Great Sun Realm in the Dao Realm had a threat level approaching the threshold of a "Marquis-level" expert.

Such an existence was killed by someone in the Bright Moon Realm?

The only reasonable explanation was that the sixth level of the "Shocking Spirit Spike" had been mastered.

Only the extremely condensed and devastatingly powerful Primordial Spirit attack of the sixth level could penetrate the opponent's more refined Primordial Spirit defense after they had stepped into the "Dao Realm," causing a fatal injury despite the vast difference in Realms.

An extremely absurd feeling, like a stone thrown into a calm lake, rippled through the Principal's heart.

With a Physical Body cultivation at the late stage of the Bright Moon Realm, his Primordial Spirit... was already approaching the fourth level!

"The fourth level of the Primordial Spirit..." The Principal picked up his teacup. The clear tea liquid rippled slightly, reflecting his furrowed brows.

How many King-level God-Fiends have spent long years and endured countless hardships without reaching this height?

One must know that one of the basic requirements to step into the legendary "Venerable" Realm is only the fifth level of the Primordial Spirit.

A young man barely in his early twenties, a little fellow in the late stage of the Bright Moon Realm, yet his Primordial Spirit attainment had advanced so rapidly, approaching the threshold that many top-tier King-level experts dream of.

This could no longer be described simply as a Primordial Spirit Awakener.

It almost broke certain established cognitive barriers of cultivation.

"His Primordial Spirit is improving so fast..." the Principal murmured, sharp light flickering in his deep eyes. "Could it be that the path of 'Primordial Spirit Dao Manifestation'—the one verified as a dead end by countless sages, where even the God-Fiend who created it eventually fell—truly has some kind of feasible opportunity? Within him?"

Once this thought arose, it was like a spark on the wilderness, instantly igniting the dry meadows.

The expectation for the Human Race's future top-tier combat power, which had been dormant in the Principal's chest for a long time, was ignited like never before, becoming burning hot and clear.

For the first time, he developed a vague longing for a young Disciple's future that surpassed the "Venerable" or even the "Saint Realm."

This longing was not illusory but a natural inference of possibility born from the impact of the unbelievable reality before him.

The Principal set down his teacup and looked out the window at the deep night sky.

In the direction of Qingshi County, he seemed to see the calm yet world-shakingly sharp figure of that young man.

He decided that when Li Wen returned, it would be time for a more in-depth conversation.

The scene cut back to the Antai County Stargate Fortress, where the flames of war had just begun to subside.

Cloud Dragon King's figure stood like a spear above the scorched battlefield before Li Wen arrived.

His speed far exceeded imagination; for a King-level existence, traversing space was almost instantaneous.

The scene in the fortress below was exceptionally tragic.

The human defense forces were nearly exhausted. Only the last two blood-soaked Bright Moon Realm God-Fiends remained, leading five equally wounded and exhausted Meteor Realm members. They leaned on each other in a broken formation, being frantically assaulted by a tide-like wave of Yao Race experts.

The defensive line was teetering on the brink, seemingly about to collapse completely in the next second.

"Hmph!" A cold snort, not loud, yet like muffled thunder from the Nine Heavens rolling across the battlefield. The clear voice reached the ears of every tense defensive God-Fiend, bringing a strange sense of soothing power.