417: Chapter 417 Half-Step to the Peak - Suppressing Evil with One Force

Right then, Mu Fan threw his head back and laughed. "Haha! Mie Qing, do you really think that being a Taiyi Golden Immortal means you can suppress others with just your cultivation realm?"

"How unfortunate—you picked the wrong person! Along the path I've fought, those I've crushed were all Taiyi Golden Immortals an entire major realm above me!"

Before his voice even faded, a world-shaking aura suddenly exploded from Jiang Chen's body. Like an angry sea flipping the heavens or a galaxy pouring downward, it shot straight into the nine heavens, tearing through the clouds!

"Indestructible War Armor—Activate!"

He let out a sharp shout, his voice echoing like a clap of thunder.

In an instant, ten thousand rays of golden light spilled out, and a set of spiritual armor condensed from the void. Purple flames and golden patterns flowed across the armor's body; auspicious mist steamed off it, and its precious radiance blazed brilliantly, as if the pressure of the entire firmament had been forged into the suit.

That vast and boundless defensive power made the Old Taoists' backs tingle and their breathing turn sluggish even from a hundred zhang away.

Facing the cold-blooded and ruthless Great Handprint striking toward him, Jiang Chen did not retreat. Instead, he stepped forward, shattering the void. Like an arrow leaving a bowstring, he carried a heaven-toppling fighting spirit and threw a punch with brutal force!

That punch was so fast it tore the air and so heavy it cracked time and space. The intent behind the fist was pure to the extreme, like the first bolt of lightning at the dawn of creation—all laws broken, only I am supreme!

Boom—!!!

The giant palm and the iron fist collided with a deafening blast. The violent airwaves rolled across the ground like knives, and the turbulent energy swept in all directions, blowing the Old Taoists' robes and white hair into a wild dance, making it impossible for them to even stand steady.

Yet they ignored it entirely, their eyes wide and their faces bursting with wild joy—a way to live had truly appeared!

"This young friend Jiang Chen possesses profound dharmic power and heaven-shaking methods! A Half-step Taiyi head-on against a peak Taiyi... I think it's truly possible for him to slay Mie Qing. Our lives are saved!"

"Based solely on the spirit of that punch just now, I can only use the words 'shining through the ages' to describe it! I have no doubt about his chances of winning!"

"I believe in him too! With that overbearing strength that crushes everything, I'm afraid even I couldn't take three hits! It's simply inconceivable... He must have a shocking heritage behind him! The Ferocious Beast Clan dares to plot the resurrection of the ten great ferocious beasts? We aren't the only ones watching this—I fear even more ancient great powers have already placed their pieces in secret," the Old Taoist analyzed in a heavy voice, his gaze sharp as a knife.

"Exactly! Without a heaven-defying foundation, how could a mere Half-step Taiyi dare to go head-to-head with Mie Qing?"

"Impossible!!!"

The one most out of composure was none other than Mie Qing.

His Cold-Blooded Ruthless Great Handprint had once suppressed and killed an opponent in the mid-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal realm; it was considered an unbeatable technique.

But this Jiang Chen before him hadn't even crossed the threshold of Taiyi, yet he had actually shattered his palm print with a single punch?

Thoughts flashed like lightning, and he came to a sudden realization—

"So that's it! You have a supreme treasure hidden on you! At least an Innate Spirit Treasure, or perhaps... it's already approaching an innate supreme treasure!"

"Heh... Heavens help me! As long as I slay you and seize your providence, legacy, and treasures, I can leap into the Daluo Golden Immortal realm in one go!"

Mie Qing was well-traveled and knowledgeable; he saw at a glance that Jiang Chen was a walking treasure trove.

Even if the opponent's trump cards were startling, in his eyes, he was just a piece of fat meat—the gap between realms was there, and a single hair's breadth of difference was the distance between life and death.

"I've seen too many faces as greedy and stupid as yours," Jiang Chen spoke coldly, his voice without a single ripple. "Living is a desecration of heaven and earth. Today, I will personally erase you."

As his voice fell, the spiritual armor on his body suddenly blazed. Ten thousand rays of divine radiance gushed out, and majestic divine power poured like a heavenly river into Jiang Chen's limbs and bones—

His combat power soared! In a single breath, it surged a thousandfold!

The Old Taoists froze on the spot, their mouths hanging open wide enough to fit an egg.

All their previous deductions were smashed to pieces by this scene.

Was this a cultivator? He was clearly a humanoid ferocious beast!

He feared that only a Daluo Golden Immortal appearing in person would be worthy of a battle with him.

If Taiyi Golden Immortals dared to step forward, if one came, one would be shattered; if a pair came, a pair would collapse!

"Mie Qing—" Jiang Chen looked up, his gaze like an unsheathed ice blade, his aura like a dragon's roar and a tiger's howl, fiercely intimidating. "Why haven't you crawled up here to die?"

Mie Qing was actually pinned in place by that gaze. His Adam's apple bobbed, and his feet uncontrollably staggered back half a step.

"Oh?" The corners of Jiang Chen's mouth curled slightly as he spoke with mockery, "Are you... afraid?"

Mie Qing's expression instantly changed to one of fury as he shouted harshly, "You little beast, you don't understand at all that the gap between a Taiyi Golden Immortal and a Half-step Golden Immortal is a chasm, not a step! What I control in my palm is the source of laws; you haven't even touched the edge. Even ten of you tied together would just be ants crushed to ash with a flick of my sleeve!"

"You want to kill me? Not in this lifetime. The next? You won't even have the qualification for reincarnation—"

"I will thoroughly erase everything from your soul to your mark, along with every trace of your existence, as if you had never lived in this world," Jiang Chen's voice was low and heavy like iron, every word carved into the void.

He had always been one to leave his enemies no room. Whether the opponent was a Sect Master famous in the Three Realms or an old monster hidden for a thousand years, as long as they refused to bow their heads, there was only one path: to be buried on the spot.

This was Jiang Chen's rule.

"A hard mouth is no match for a fast hand! Let's see who crumbles into ash first—shouting alone won't kill anyone!" Mie Qing sneered. His pupils suddenly flared with light, and two beams of silver-white divine radiance burst from his eyes, colliding violently in mid-air!

The divine radiance twisted, rose, and spread out, instantly condensing into a vast Immortal Map. In the map, the mountains were towering, the pines and cypresses were verdant, and the streams meandered. Birds flapped their wings across flower bushes, and the breathing of the plants had a rhythm, as if the vitality of an entire grotto-heaven had been compressed into this small space.

The spiritual energy of the entire palace was instantly drained, all of it pouring into the map. The Immortal Map hummed and expanded violently; the mountain shadows pressed down like peaks, and the clouds surged like an angry tide. Carrying the power to tear heaven and earth apart, it suppressed down toward Mu Fan's head!

"Jiang Chen, no matter how much you struggle, it is merely adding to your pain. An early death and early reincarnation is already a mercy for you."

Mie Qing stood with his hands behind his back, the reflection of the Immortal Map pressing down in his eyes. The corners of his lips were slightly raised, his smile full of the coldness of having victory in his grasp.

Jiang Chen, however, lazily shrugged his shoulders, his tone carrying unconcealed boredom. "You're right, fighting you really is a waste of time. Seeing you like this truly makes me lose interest—you don't even have a decent level of skill, how are you fit to force me to reveal my trump cards? If you really want to play, don't hold back. Whether it's forbidden arts or secret techniques, bring them all out. Otherwise... in the next breath, I'll send you on your way."

Before his voice finished, a cold light flashed in his eyes. A sharp sword intent shot into the clouds, making the air crackle and pop!

Then, he joined his fingers like a blade and slashed down fiercely—

Boom!!!

The void split open at the sound. A blazing golden beam of light surged from his fingertips. The sharp aura sliced the surrounding spiritual energy, causing it to hiss and scatter, and even space was cut open like thin paper!

The Old Taoist and the others only caught a glimpse before their hearts suddenly tightened, and cold sweat soaked their backs—

...More than thirty Taiyi Golden Immortals fell silent together. No one dared to bet whether they would lose their lives on the spot or have their remnant souls drift away if this sword strike landed on them.

"Is this Jiang Chen's true combat power? A Half-step Taiyi body, yet he has already crushed the Taiyi threshold... Back then, I was known as the 'Starfall Sword Venerable,' but looking at it now, it was just a joke," the Old Taoist murmured, no longer having a trace of arrogance in his eyes, only sincere shock.

...

"Comparing people really can drive one to madness! Young friend Jiang Chen... no, he should be called Senior now. These methods are truly staggering; to think such a person exists in this world!"

"If that great calamity of the Ferocious Beast Clan is truly unstoppable, perhaps... it will really fall upon his shoulders. There must be a reason for the Heavenly Dao's favor."