413: Chapter 413 Substitute Escape - Breaking the Formation

War Lions spun around in horror—only to find Jiang Chen standing three paces behind him at some unknown point, his robes still and his aura steady as ever.

Meanwhile, the body bound by the demonic chains at the original spot quietly turned into a wisp of blue smoke and silently dissipated.

“This is impossible! Under the Taboo Chains, how could you still deceive the heavens and escape?!” War Lions' pupils shrank abruptly as he cried out in shock.

Jiang Chen’s expression remained calm: “How could you possibly fathom the subtle mysteries of the Ancient Three Thousand Divine Arts? Among them are supreme secret methods capable of overturning heaven and earth and rewriting the course of battle.”

War Lions suddenly realized and growled through gritted teeth: “I see... it's the ‘Great Substitute’ from the lower-ranked Divine Arts! It doesn't harm enemies or attack; it consists of only one move to vanish without a trace, and is hailed as the number one escape technique!”

“War Lions, you do have some knowledge.”

Jiang Chen’s voice was low. “To witness the Three Thousand Divine Arts with your own eyes, your life can be considered worthwhile.”

War Lions' eyes glowed red with uncontrollable ecstasy: “As long as I suppress you and refine your Primordial Spirit, I can seize all your fortunes! Even the long-lost Great Destruction Divine Art belongs to you; there must be even more heaven-defying opportunities... My luck is truly overwhelming! By devouring you and comprehending the realm of the Daluo Golden Immortal, it might not just be a dream!”

The corners of Jiang Chen’s lips curled slightly, his tone playful: “Greed and arrogance will eventually cause your soul to scatter. Don't believe me? Feel free to try.”

“Survival of the fittest has always been the eternal law!” War Lions roared to the sky. “And you, Jiang Chen—you are merely a stepping stone on my path to the summit. You should feel honored!”

Before his voice had even faded, the Ancient Demonic Lion he had summoned raised its head and roared. A visible black soundwave exploded outward, carrying the weight of a thousand tons as it pounced toward Jiang Chen like an overwhelming tide!

“Survival of the fittest is indeed a fundamental truth of the Great Dao.” Jiang Chen’s brows shot up, his fighting spirit boiling as he struck out with a palm!

The void trembled as a golden giant palm that blotted out the sun materialized out of thin air. Its palm lines were like thunder and its momentum like a prison. It pressed down against the soundwave—and shattered it with a boom!

The giant palm’s momentum didn't stop; it reached out like a hand catching a sparrow, lightly clenching to firmly capture the roaring, struggling Ancient Demonic Lion.

The demonic lion hissed, clawed, and bit, but it was like an ant trying to shake a tree; its strength was pathetically weak beneath the golden palm.

With a thought from Jiang Chen, the giant palm suddenly snapped shut—

Crack!

The demonic lion exploded on the spot into a mist of blood, its remains falling like rain.

War Lions felt a sweetness in his throat as his face turned pale as paper. He spat out mouthfuls of blood, his aura instantly withering.

“Jiang Chen! What other trump cards are you hiding?!” he shrieked hoarsely. “This Immeasurable Saint-Refining Array has been running for so long. Even if you are a Taiyi Golden Immortal, your divine power should have been drained dry! So how can this palm strike be even more overbearing than when you were at your peak?!”

“The answer is simple—” Jiang Chen’s gaze was clear. “From the very beginning, this Saint-Refining Array has been useless against me.”

War Lions felt as if he had been struck by lightning, roaring out of control: “Absolutely impossible! This array can even refine a Taiyi Golden Immortal alive! No matter how heaven-defying you are, you can't possibly be a Daluo Golden Immortal!!”

Jiang Chen sighed deeply, his expression appearing both pitying and merciful: “Fine, since you are about to die, I will grant you clarity.”

As he spoke, a glow flashed at the center of his brow, and nine golden ancient talisman characters flowing with Dao charm rose into the air—

Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lie, Zai, Qian!

Among them, the character ‘Zhen’ shone brilliantly, its divine light cascading like a waterfall, piercing straight into the sky.

The majestic divine power absorbed by the Immeasurable Saint-Refining Array actually flowed like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, pouring entirely into that ancient formation character.

The ‘Zhen’ character vibrated slightly, then immediately poured the entire force without reservation into Jiang Chen’s body.

“The Nine Secrets Divine Arts! It’s the Array Secret that has been lost for ten thousand years!” War Lions' pupils shrank, his voice trembling. “Once this secret appears, ten thousand arrays bow before it, and the path of formations is held within one's palm! You... you actually refined this Immeasurable Saint-Refining Array into your own arm without anyone noticing!”

The corners of Jiang Chen’s lips curled up in a cold smile: “Therefore, you are completely out of the game.”

Before his voice had even faded, he swung his sleeve. The entire array lit up with a roar, golden light pouring down like a waterfall, so bright that people couldn't open their eyes. Immediately after, an invisible but extremely overbearing suction force was born out of thin air, frantically extracting the divine power from within War Lions' body.

War Lions' entire body shook violently, his face turning ashen. He roared as he mobilized his entire cultivation to resist, but under the empowerment of the Array Secret, how many hundredfold had the array's power increased? He was like a fly pinned to a spiderweb; the more he struggled, the faster he disintegrated.

In just a few breaths, his dantian went dry, his spiritual meridians became desolate, and his entire peerless cultivation evaporated, leaving behind only an empty shell. His knees buckled, and he collapsed straight to the ground, no longer having the strength even to lift a hand.

Jiang Chen stepped forward slowly, the sole of his boot grinding heavily onto the bridge of the other man's nose. The bones made a sickening muffled sound, and the entire face instantly collapsed and deformed.

“You just claimed you would stomp me into the mud—now, I’ll return that to you with triple the weight.”

He leaned down and whispered, cold light bursting from his eyes. A sharp divine glow pierced into War Lions' sea of qi, instantly incinerating his meridians, shattering his dantian, and erasing his very origin.

From now on, he was no longer a general of the Ferocious Beast Clan, but merely a mundane crippled body that struggled even to breathe.

War Lions' eyeballs bulged in pain, his hatred churning like magma, yet he didn't even dare to spit out a single harsh word—at the slightest movement, he feared he wouldn't even be able to swallow this last breath of turbid air.

As War Lions fell, the restriction outside the second level of the palace dissipated. Jiang Chen kicked him away like a broken sack, not even glancing at the curled-up, wailing body on the ground as he turned to step into the deep passage.

Just as he entered the second level, several powerful auras stood across the path like iron gates—the experts of the Ferocious Beast Clan were already prepared and waiting. Clearly, the news of the first restriction's collapse had already reached their ears.

“Little brat, you’ve got some nerve, daring to run wild in the heart of our Ferocious Beast Clan?”

The speaker’s physique was as burly as a mountain; standing still, he was like an insurmountable bronze wall. A grey-white long tail hung behind him; he was the famous gate-keeping general of the Sky Wolf Clan—Gang Kong.

Jiang Chen’s expression was calm, his gaze sharp as a blade: “It remains to be seen who is causing trouble for whom. Gang Kong, my name is Jiang Chen. I’ll give you one chance to live: kneel and swear loyalty, and personally open the gateway to the third level. Then you will still see tomorrow’s sunrise.”

Gang Kong laughed wildly towards the sky, his laughter shaking the ceiling and causing dust to fall: “Ha! That joke is cold enough—so cold it makes the marrow of my bones itch!”

He licked his canine teeth and said ferociously: “Since you’ve delivered yourself to my door, I’ll be merciful for once—leave your head behind, and the rest will be my extra meal.”

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow and chuckled: “What a coincidence. Sky Wolf Clan meat is quite nourishing, and after a thousand years of tempering the bones and muscles, the aroma of it being roasted can drift for ten miles. Once I slaughter you and chop you into pieces to distribute to my soldiers, perhaps everyone will break through their bottlenecks. That would actually count as a merit for you.”

“Arrogance!” Gang Kong’s eyes widened in anger, his voice like a thunderclap. “It has always been me tearing others apart. You want to skin me? Not a chance!”

“If we don't try, how will we know if it's a door or a coffin?”

As Jiang Chen’s voice fell, killing intent suddenly flared, and he struck out boldly!

Rumble—!

With a single punch, thunder exploded from the ground. Thousands of divine bolts of judgment tore out from the void, carrying a vast pressure that judged all living beings and cleansed sin as they crashed down towards Gang Kong!

“A firefly dares to compete with the moon?” Gang Kong sneered, opening his massive mouth. A thick white tornado rose from the ground, whistling and spinning, actually swallowing the sky full of lightning!

What was even more eerie was that the lightning did not dissipate; instead, it was refined by the tornado and coiled around it, turning into crackling purple and white electric snakes. The entire tornado instantly transformed into a destructive lightning storm!

“Jiang Chen—” Gang Kong laughed ferociously and roared, “Be ground into powder for me!”

The lightning storm, carrying the force of ten thousand tons, swirled wildly towards Jiang Chen, tearing and scorching the air wherever it passed.