176: Chapter 176 Defeat

"Taiji Yin-Yang Divine Body!"

"Ancient Forbidden Treasure Art!"

These two terms, like two divine thunders falling from the Nine Heavens, exploded amidst the crowd, triggering a series of successive gasps that surged into a tidal wave!

Each syllable carried the weight of ten thousand jun, striking the heart of every Cultivator.

The Taiji Yin-Yang Divine Body is rarely seen in ten thousand years. According to ancient fragmented records, when it reaches Major Achievement, one can control Yin and Yang, reverse life and death, and make one's words become Law, nearly becoming a god!

And the Ancient Forbidden Treasure Art is a supreme Legacy that exists only in legends, enough to drive all the forces on the continent insane!

It is rumored that once a single move is unleashed, it is enough to overturn mountains and rivers and change the sky and earth!

"No wonder... no wonder!!" The old man was trembling all over, muttering to himself, his cloudy eyes filled with shock and lingering fear. "No wonder he could crush Second Prince Wu Yuanchen! No wonder he could achieve true, and in the true sense of the word, invincibility among his peers!!"

He stared fixedly at the light screen, his voice hoarse from extreme shock: "In front of a true Taiji Yin-Yang Divine Body, what is the so-called Imperial-grade Spirit Weapon different from scrap iron on the side of the road?! It doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath at all!!"

On the high platform, Emperor Wu Tianba stood up abruptly from the dragon chair that symbolized supreme power!

"Swish—!"

The bright yellow dragon robe moved without wind, dancing wildly and flapping loudly, as if a True Dragon were circling upon it.

In his eyes, two beams of sharp light shot out like substance, locking tightly onto the solitary figure in black robes within the light screen. His voice carried a tremor even he hadn't noticed, along with... uncontrollable fanaticism:

"Taiji Yin-Yang Divine Body... I didn't expect that this discarded son, whom everyone looked down upon, Xuanyuan, actually inherited her Divine Body!!"

Beside him, Yuxuanzi, who had been sitting like an old monk in meditation with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes!

In an instant, two terrifyingly sharp glints shot out from his originally cloudy eyes, as if they could pierce the Void Realm and penetrate the human heart!

His knuckles turned white from excessive force, even emitting a slight "crack" sound. He squeezed a few words through his teeth, each word like ice, carrying a murderous determination:

"This child... possesses the Taiji Yin-Yang Divine Body and has also learned the Ancient Forbidden Treasure Art... He has become a climate, a great threat to the world! This child must not be left alive!!"

"Hiss—"

This declaration was like a silent decree, instantly igniting the entire Martial Arts Arena.

Countless gazes—greedy, shocked, and filled with murderous intent—shot like tangible arrows from all directions towards that corner that had been overlooked all along—where Chu Changsheng was!

The Taiji Yin-Yang Divine Body is destined by fate and is the foundation for becoming a god!

The Ancient Forbidden Treasure Art is the ultimate Treasure Trove that can make any force go crazy and be willing to do anything to seize it!

Such a supreme Opportunity was right before their eyes!

But when everyone's Divine Sense subconsciously swept over the young man leaning lazily against the broken pillar, this greed that was about to burst forth was instantly extinguished as if by a basin of ten-thousand-year-old icy water from the Nine Netherworlds. Replacing it was the purest, bone-chilling dread!

They remembered the old news that had caused a huge uproar in the cultivation world—this seemingly ordinary young man had once single-handedly killed his way through the layers of defenses of the Great Wu Dynasty, as if entering an empty land!

Such a battle record forced all malicious thoughts to be suppressed under this invisible, suffocating pressure.

Many people subconsciously took half a step back, as if getting even an inch closer to him would cause them to be crushed into powder by that bottomless, terrifying aura.

Chu Changsheng continued to lean against the broken pillar, seemingly indifferent to everything around him, as if he were just taking a nap.

But under his slightly closed eyelids, his eyeballs moved slightly, taking in all those gazes of shock, fear, greed, or murderous intent.

Then, the corners of his lips curved into a very faint, very cold arc, which vanished in a flash.

Beside him, Xiao held his blade with one hand, his eyes as sharp as a goshawk, guarding this square inch of land; meanwhile, Qian Wanguan's back was already soaked with cold sweat, his clothes clinging to his body, icy and bone-chilling, yet he still held on, standing there without taking a single step back.

He knew that if he retreated now, he would lose this noble person who could change the fate of his life forever.

The gaze was pulled back to the Eternal Graveyard shrouded in the aura of death.

Second Prince Wu Yuanchen's eyes were already blood-red, filled with hideous bloodshot veins.

He was crazily and recklessly burning the most essential thing in his life—his Life Essence Blood!

"Pfft!"

He suddenly spat out a mouthful of pitch-black blood, and his hair turned gray and withered from the roots at a speed visible to the naked eye, while his skin rapidly lost its luster, developing wrinkles like old tree bark.

But the "Overlord" long spear in his hand erupted with a final, blazing golden light, like a flash of light before death!

The broken spear body, already covered in cracks, trembled violently in a mournful cry. Above the spear tip, a fragmented, blood-colored Dragon shadow, condensed from Life Essence Blood and spiritual power, shot up into the sky!

Although the Dragon shadow was broken, it carried a Dragon roar that shook the Nine Heavens. That unyielding pride, belonging to the heir of the Imperial Dynasty, turned into this final blow of mutual destruction!

As the Dragon claws waved, even the bone powder floating in the sky, formed from the remains of countless experts, was shaken into nothingness!

This was the final and most violent counterattack launched by the heir of the Great Wu Dynasty at the cost of his own life!

"Roar—!!"

The blood-colored Dragon shadow roared, carrying the determination to perish together, and charged towards Xuanyuan Zhanxian, who was high in the Void Realm, like a god and a demon.

Wherever it passed, the black and white Qi flow that was originally circulating endlessly and controlling life and death suddenly experienced a moment of disorder, and those indestructible chains of Law emitted a subtle, teeth-grinding cracking sound.

However, facing this desperate strike exchanged for his life, Xuanyuan Zhanxian only raised his eyes indifferently.

His gaze fell upon that blood-colored Dragon shadow, without a hint of emotion or solemnity, only a kind of... indifference, like looking down upon a mayfly rushing recklessly into the fire.

The ancient sword in his hand, which had already transformed, was swung casually and lightly.

His voice was calm, yet it was like a divine decree descending, carrying the majesty to judge all living beings:

"The light of an ant, yet you dare to vie for brilliance with the bright moon?"

He pointed his sword lightly.

The vast, sea-like Yin and Yang Qi behind him gathered instantly like a celestial river reversing its flow.

Black and white, two terrifying Qi flows that were completely opposite yet complemented each other to the extreme, condensed rapidly around Xuanyuan Zhanxian, turning into a suit of battle armor imbued with ink-wash mist and natural Dao charm!

On that armor, there were no complex decorations or gorgeous patterns, only the ancient totem of the intertwining Kunpeng, slowly circulating, endless and continuous.

The white Peng bird was poised to spread its wings and fly, its feathers marked with clear Dao patterns, each containing the supreme will to tear apart the firmament;

The black Kun fish swam through the Great Void, ripples appearing along its trajectory, each carrying the terrifying pressure to swallow the sea of stars and annihilate the Void Realm.

"Yin and Yang as the edge, Kunpeng as the guard."

Xuanyuan Zhanxian slowly reached out, his five fingers slender and well-defined, and firmly grasped the ancient sword that had completed its final transformation.

At this moment—

The wind stopped.

The light froze.

The sound vanished.

The Laws of the entire Eternal Graveyard stopped functioning in the face of this supreme power, bowing down to that dark figure.

Only the Yin and Yang Qi around him, like the breathing of heaven and earth, circulated slowly and lingeringly, guiding the pulse of the entire world.

He swung his sword casually.

"Shhh—"

Where the sword edge passed, space was cut open neatly and smoothly, like a hot knife through butter.

To the left of the sword edge was the daytime, full of vitality and all things turning towards the sun, with sunlight shining and warmth permeating;

To the right of the sword edge was the night, dead silent and lifeless, with no starlight or moonlight, and bone-chilling cold.

Even the light stopped abruptly at that dividing line, distinct and clear!

The blood-colored Dragon shadow, which Second Prince Wu Yuanchen had burned everything to create and condensed his final dignity into, the moment it collided with this sword of judgment—

Like ice and snow meeting the blazing sun, like morning dew meeting the dawn.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no evenly matched resistance, and not even a single ripple was stirred up.

This hideous Dragon head, transformed from Life Essence Blood, disintegrated inch by inch under the cutting of the Law, turning into nothingness and dust.

That once earth-shattering Dragon roar was completely swallowed by the extreme "stillness" contained within that Sword Intent, returning to eternal deathly silence.

Second Prince Wu Yuanchen stood frozen in place.

His body, which had burned out and was already exhausted, was like a sand tower drained of all support, tottering and about to collapse.

He looked at the "Overlord" long spear in his hand, which had been completely shattered into golden powder filling the sky, and then raised his head with great difficulty, bit by bit, to look at that figure high in the Void Realm, who was like a god and a demon, viewing all living beings as straw dogs.

In his eyes, that last shred of pride belonging to the heir of the Imperial Dynasty was finally completely swallowed by that boundless, bottomless abyss of despair.

Second Prince Wu Yuanchen's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of needle points, and the knotted bloodshot veins on his eyeballs were like a dying, desperate spider web.

In his field of vision, that black and white sword light that had split heaven and earth was falling with a nearly elegant, unhurried posture, slowly yet irresistibly.

Wherever the sword edge reached, space emitted an unbearable, teeth-grinding wail, shattering into pieces and revealing the deep, all-consuming nothingness behind it.

The radiance of the sun, moon, and stars was completely swallowed. Between heaven and earth, only that sword light that judged life and death remained, along with that deathly silence that was enough to freeze the Divine Soul.

"I am the heir of the Great Wu Dynasty—!!"

He used up all the remaining strength of his life to let out a hoarse, unwilling roar, attempting to use his ethereal status and glory to resist this destined, unavoidable fatal blow.

However, his voice stopped abruptly the moment it touched the sword light, as if his throat had been tightly strangled by an invisible giant hand from the Nine Heavens, and he could no longer utter a single word.

Time, at this moment, seemed to have been pressed with a pause button, completely solidified.

The sword light swept past, lightly and casually.

Second Prince Wu Yuanchen, maintaining that forward-leaning posture as if prepared for a life-or-death struggle, was permanently and eternally frozen in mid-air by that supreme Sword Intent.

Immediately after, an extremely thin red blood line quietly appeared from his brow.

That blood line extended straight and cold along his nose bridge, throat, and chest, all the way down to his lower abdomen.

The skin and flesh on both sides of the blood line separated silently and neatly.

The scalding blood belonging to the heir of the Imperial Dynasty, before it could even splash out, was instantly evaporated and annihilated by the extreme Yin and Yang Law contained within the Sword Intent, turning into nothingness.

He looked down in disbelief, watching his own body, under the tearing force of two completely opposite yet equally terrifying Law powers, head towards a complete and irreversible disintegration.

The left half of his body, with the power of Ultimate Yang, erupted instantly like a prairie fire!

In a thousandth of a second, his skin was carbonized and peeled off, revealing the charred flesh beneath. His flesh and bones, as if thrown into the Pill Furnace of the Supreme Old Lord, melted rapidly, turning into ashes that drifted through the sky with a pungent, burnt smell.

The right half of his body, with the power of Ultimate Yin, invaded crazily like an eternal cold wave!

Bone-chilling, visible white frost instantly covered the surface of his body. His surging, warm blood solidified in an instant, turning into scarlet, crystal-clear ice crystals.

His Meridians and bones froze inch by inch amidst the teeth-grinding "crack, crack" sounds, finally turning into a lifelike but lifeless—ice sculpture.

Extreme heat and extreme cold, two completely opposite powers that should have annihilated each other, were now crazily colliding and slaughtering each other within his remaining, fragmented shell!

Every surge of energy brought an unspeakable, excruciating pain, like the slow slicing of his Divine Soul.

His soul, under this extreme torture from the Laws themselves, trembled violently, its light dimming rapidly like a candle in the wind, heading towards complete and eternal dissipation at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Just at that last moment when the faint soul light, representing the Origin of his life, was about to be completely swallowed by that eternal darkness.

A dark figure appeared before his eyes like a dream.

Xuanyuan Zhanxian slowly raised his hand.

His five fingers were slender and well-defined, and his fingertips were flowing with a luster that was as warm and moist as jade, yet made one feel a bone-chilling cold.

The originally incomparably violent Yin and Yang Qi, which was enough to tear apart the Void Realm and annihilate stars, was now as docile as a flock of tamed sheep, instantly retracting all its sharpness!

It turned into wisps of black and white intertwined, nimble silk threads, winding obediently and tamely around his fingers, emitting a low and satisfied humming sound.

Second Prince Wu Yuanchen's remaining, fragmented Divine Soul pieces were trembling violently and desperately on the edge of life and death.

He gathered that last shred of will, already weak to the extreme, and looked up with great difficulty, bit by bit, meeting those bottomless eyes that were like the ancient starry sky.

These eyes had no pity, no anger, no murderous intent, only a kind of... purest, irresistible trembling stemming from the instinct of life.

"Wh... why..."

His soul sound was hoarse and broken, flickering under the impact of the residual Yin and Yang Qi, like a candle in the wind, that last faint light about to be extinguished at any moment.

"Second Prince Wu Yuanchen,"

Xuanyuan Zhanxian's voice was as calm as an ancient deep pool, without a single ripple, yet it was ten thousand times sharper and ten thousand times colder than the Yin and Yang sword light that had destroyed his Physical Body, piercing fiercely and precisely through the core of Second Prince Wu Yuanchen's already riddled and tottering Divine Soul.

"I have never regarded you as an opponent."

He paused, as if stating the most basic and irrefutable truth in the Universe.

"The imperial power you crave, the influence you pursue, and everything you have sacrificed everything for and held as a golden rule... to me, are nothing more than shackles that bind my true self and hinder the Dao."

These words, spoken so lightly yet piercing the heart with every syllable, were like an invisible, most vicious curse, completely shattering Second Prince Wu Yuanchen's already broken beliefs.

The imperial throne he pursued all his life, the power he regarded as his life, and everything he had exchanged for by sacrificing all family, friendship, and love—in the eyes of the other party, he didn't even possess the qualification to be an "opponent"!

"No... impossible!!"

Second Prince Wu Yuanchen let out a final, desperate, and hysterical scream.

This faint light, due to extreme pain, humiliation, and unwillingness, flickered violently and crazily, as if in the next second, unable to bear this huge gap, it would completely burst and return to nothingness.

"Then why... why did you make me your enemy... why!!"