453: Chapter 453 Sword Qi Kunpeng

On Li Wuji's thunder armor, most of the ancient thunder patterns had been lit up.

With every additional pattern lit, his Aura surged, as if without limit.

Wherever he stepped, the surface of the stone steps was scorched into spiderweb-like cracks by the thunder, with golden electric sparks flickering within, refusing to extinguish for a long time.

He was no longer running, but—trampling! With the most barbaric posture, he trampled upon this heavenly path leading to the immortal palace!

Five hundred and fifty steps!

Five hundred and eighty steps!

Six hundred steps!!!

The moment they crossed the six-hundredth step of the Cyan Heavenly Ladder—

Above, at the seven-hundredth step.

Those seven figures, who had been moving forward calmly as if they were not in the same world as the crowd below, paused almost simultaneously.

Wutian tilted his head slightly.

His demon eyes, pure black like an abyss, glanced downward. His gaze, like tangible icicles, pierced through hundreds of steps and landed on the four of them.

The evil smile at the corners of his mouth slowly widened until it almost reached his ears, but there was no warmth in his eyes, only the cold scrutiny of ten-thousand-year black ice, and a trace of... amusement.

"Bugs..."

He whispered, but his voice was as clear as a ghost's, reaching the four below and ringing directly in their Divine Souls:

"...have grown fangs?"

The next moment, his pace, which had always been steady as if measured by a ruler and elegant as a dance, changed for the first time—

One step, covering three steps!

It was not a simple acceleration, but a complete tearing away of that leisurely and calm disguise, revealing the naked aggression that belonged to a demon!

Kasyapa softly chanted a Buddhist name.

Between his brows, the vertical eye—the Eye of Three Lives—saw countless golden lines of Karma intertwining, extending, and colliding, eventually condensing into four thick, blood-red lines of Karma that connected to the four figures below.

The blood color symbolized variables, disasters, and... an endless fight to the death.

He looked down deeply, his eyes showing gravity for the first time, the gravity of a prophet seeing an established destiny being forcibly twisted.

"The variable has arisen, the calamity has arrived."

He sighed, and the illusory golden lotus beneath his feet, which had been rotating slowly, suddenly doubled its speed! As the lotus petals opened and closed, Buddhist chants echoed, lifting him upward rapidly!

The Divine Son of Holy Brilliance let out a cold snort.

This cold snort was like a winter wind sweeping past, carrying biting contempt and disgust.

The Holy Light around him, already dazzling, suddenly became ten times more intense, as if a miniature sun had exploded within his body!

The piercing white light poured down like a tide, dyeing hundreds of steps below into a brilliant white, as if wanting to purify all "Impurities" with this pure light.

"Ants in the darkness, are you worthy of chasing the light?"

His voice was grand and holy, yet carried an air of condescending judgment.

Blood Butcher licked his lips.

His scarlet tongue slid slowly over his pale teeth, making an ear-piercing grinding sound.

A low growl issued from his throat, like a Vicious Beast that had been starving for ten thousand years finally smelling blood. The blood-red light in his eyes was almost overflowing, and his viscous killing intent was so tangible that it made the surrounding air smell bloody and sweet.

"Such fresh blood Qi... such vigorous vitality..."

He murmured, his voice hoarse and greedy:

"Climb higher, climb even higher... A feast of slaughter always needs a main course with enough substance to be worth savoring carefully... I will crush your bones, inch by inch... and suck dry the last drop of marrow..."

Burial Son and Prince of the Nether exchanged a silent look.

Both were shrouded in wide black robes, their faces unclear, with only the occasional dim light flashing in their eyes revealing their inner turmoil. That glance lasted only a moment, without any words, yet they had exchanged countless pieces of information.

The next moment, their speed surged simultaneously!

There was no earth-shattering momentum, no dazzling brilliance; their figures suddenly became blurred and illusory, as if they had turned into two phantoms merging with the shadows, drifting upward along the stone steps at an eerily fast speed.

Only the white-clad figure at the very front remained unhurried.

He had not even looked back.

As if everything happening behind him, whether it was the explosion of the Human Race or the reactions of other young Supreme beings, was not worth a single glance from him.

Yet—

His footsteps, always as steady as a pendulum and as precise as a ruler, paused imperceptibly... for a mere instant.

A short instant, so short that most people would think it was just an illusion.

But on the entire Cyan Heavenly Ladder, the ubiquitous, mountain-heavy Dao pressure suddenly—became three-tenths heavier!

It was not deliberate suppression, nor an angry outburst.

It was a form of indifference, a natural occurrence, like the slight leakage of dragon might when a Dragon turns over, a curious probe from someone dwelling in the clouds toward the ants jumping below.

Seven hundred and eighty steps. Seven hundred and ninety steps. Eight hundred steps were already in sight.

The outline of the immortal palace gate became clearer, towering like a mountain, ancient and desolate. From the cracks in the door, the flowing immortal light was no longer thin wisps, but poured down like a waterfall, flowing slowly along the cyan stone steps.

Wherever the immortal light passed, more complex and profound Dao patterns appeared on the surface of the stone steps, as if they had been reawakened.

And below—

At the six hundred and thirtieth step.

Chen Shenhuang looked up slightly.

Within his double pupils, illusions of the Universe being born and destroyed slowly rotated, clearly reflecting the seven god-like and demon-like figures high above, and in the very front, that white-clad figure who seemed to be one with heaven and earth, existing alongside the Dao.

The corners of his lips slowly curled up.

It was an arc as cold as ten-thousand-year ice, yet as hot as the molten lava at the core of the earth.

In that arc was a Battle Intent that had been suppressed for too long, almost burning through his internal organs; a peerless sharpness that had been settled for hundreds or thousands of years, long since restrained; it was the—unyielding and arrogance—engraved in the bones and flowing in the blood of a Human Race Prodigy!

"This is more like it."

He said softly, his voice not loud, but like the sharpest sword, cutting through layers of Dao pressure, flowing against the current, and clearly entering the ears of everyone above, striking directly at their Divine Souls:

"If you only had that slow, sluggish disposition from before..."

He paused, the Universe in his double pupils exploded with a boom, then instantly reorganized, erupting with dazzling silver light:

"...are you even worthy of being called 'Supreme'?"

The moment his voice fell—

"Boom—!!!"

The starlight originally restrained within his body exploded!

It was not a simple burst of light, but the expansion and eruption of an entire miniature Universe! Hundreds of millions of star fragments shot out from his body like a volcanic eruption, dragging a dazzling starry river trail behind him.

One step, covering ten steps!

Not walking, not running, but—shrinking the earth into an inch! The starry river reversing!

"Hahahaha—!!!"

Behind him, Ji Tianming laughed loudly, his laughter heroic and unrestrained, like an emperor holding court, looking down on all directions. The emperor phantom behind him roared at the sky with his laughter, and the rolling imperial might swept out like a tangible force!

One step, covering eight steps! The golden lotus beneath his feet bloomed with a boom, repelling the Dao pressure!

"Crackle—Boom—!!!"

All the thunder patterns on Li Wuji's thunder armor lit up to the extreme, and he turned into a humanoid golden thunder ball, exploding with thousands of bucket-thick golden electric pythons! He was no longer stepping, but—crashing!

Like a meteor, charging against the firmament! Wherever he passed, the stone steps cracked, and thunder marks spread!

"Clang, clang, clang, clang—!!!"

Inside the sword sheath, the long sword hummed, connecting into a rapid sound of slaughter, like gold and iron horses, like troops gathering on the battlefield. He remained silent, but the "Empty" Concept around him suddenly became extremely sharp and extremely violent!

One step forward, and the stone steps beneath his feet did not crack, but silently—annihilated! Not shattered, but completely turned into void dust! A straight, forward-extending void sword mark spread rapidly upward with his footsteps!

The chase had just begun.

And the game of hunting... the positions of hunter and prey were yet to be known.

Above the heavenly ladder, the wind and clouds changed suddenly, and dark currents surged.

The true bloody confrontation, at this moment—

Had just barely pulled back its scarlet curtain.

And that towering immortal palace gate stood quietly at the peak of the ten thousand steps, with immortal light flowing, coldly watching this impending... bloodshed of Prodigies below.

The Cyan Heavenly Ladder, like a cyan rainbow spanning the ancient Void Realm, with Dao rules flowing and heavy pressure filling the sky.

Since the four of them—Chen Shenhuang, Ji Tianming, Li Wuji, and the Sword Child—broke through the six-hundred-step limit like dragons shaking off their shackles, the entire viewing platform, gathered by powerful clans and ancient Dao traditions, had become like a boiling cauldron, with noise reaching the sky, the sound waves almost overturning this world stabilized by secret power.

All gazes were drawn by an invisible magnet, locked tightly on the high part of the ladder—between those four figures rushing against the trend, the seven young Supreme beings higher up who were like the sun at its zenith, and the white-clad figure in the very front who was always half a step ahead and mysterious; an earth-shattering chase was tugging at every heart.

However—

Just as all eyes were focused on the battle at the clouds.

In the middle section of the ladder, which was ignored by everyone, on those cold stone steps defaulted to the "exhaustion zone" and "elimination ground."

The one hundred and third step.

Several figures, who had stood stiff for a long time like stone statues and had been branded by countless gazes as "Human Race trash" and "at the end of their tether."

Moved.

The first to move was Xuanyuan Zhanxian.

His movement was minimal, merely a very slight sway of his body.

Like a dormant volcano, before waking up, the deepest tremor in the depths of the crust.

Immediately after—

An indescribable, overwhelming force of Yin and Yang erupted from the deepest part of his body!

This power was no longer as sharp and cutting through the Void Realm as it was at the beginning, nor was it as obscure and difficult as when resisting the pressure later.

It had become restrained, condensed, and integrated into one.

As if in the long, dead silence before, it had experienced thousands of silent disintegrations and reshapes, tempered in the furnace of pitch-black darkness, shedding all vanity and Impurities, and finally achieving this—

The essence of Yin and Yang, tempered into steel!

One step taken.

"Zheng—!"

The cyan stone steps beneath his feet actually emitted a sharp sword hum like metal clashing! That was not a release of power, but a mysterious resonance between his Sword Intent and the ancient Dao rule stone steps!

Two steps! Three steps! Four steps!

His speed increased in a stable and terrifying manner!

Every step taken was accompanied by a clear sword hum, each one progressing, at first like a murmuring stream, then like a rushing river, and finally converging into a continuous, heaven-piercing sword roar!

One hundred and eight steps, one hundred and eight sword hums.

When he crossed the one hundred and eighth step, the Yin and Yang force lingering around his body had turned into two tangible Sword Qi Kunpeng, circling around him, with the faint sound of Kunpeng roaring in harmony!