17: Chapter 17: First, deal with the foul-mouthed ones.

He abruptly straightened his body. Though his robes were tattered, he was bathed in blood, and his figure even swayed slightly.

Yet that Battle Intent, capable of piercing the heavens, burned fiercer than at any time before.

"Are you prepared to die?"

Before his words had even faded, Jiang Hao moved.

He actually took the initiative to attack, his target directly aimed at the one whose words were the most domineering and whose threat was the greatest—Haotian Zun.

Jiang Hao understood deeply that this battle must be resolved swiftly. By using overwhelming force to first severely injure or kill one, he could intimidate the other, as well as all the covetous presences surrounding them.

"Chaos Sundering Heaven Slash!"

The Chaos Heavenly Blade in his hand emitted a tremor that shook the Nine Netherworlds. The originally somewhat dim blade instantly erupted with an unprecedented radiance.

A terrifying blade light, as if capable of redefining the elements of earth, fire, wind, and water, tore through the myriad Laws, ignored spatial distance, and ruthlessly descended upon Haotian Zun.

"Stubborn fool, Heaven's Dao Judgment!"

Haotian Zun's face darkened. He hadn't expected Jiang Hao, gravely injured to this extent, to dare attack him first, and with such terrifying force.

He dared not be negligent. As his hands traced through the air, he invoked the myriad Daos of the heavens. Boundless Heavenly Dao Laws converged, transforming into a colossal Heavenly Punishment Sword entwined with divine lightning of order, which met the Chaos Blade Force head-on.

At the same time, seeing Jiang Hao actively attack Haotian Zun, a flash of ruthlessness passed through the eyes of the Myriad Devouring Insect Mother. She let out a sharp shriek and swung the Myriad Devourer Scepter in her hand.

"Myriad Devourer Domain, Devour Heaven and Earth!"

In an instant, endless, bizarre insect shadows surged forth from the scepter. These insect shadows were not physical entities.

Rather, they were composed of pure Devouring Laws and the power of desire, transforming into a vast, colorful, sky-scraping torrent that swept toward Jiang Hao from the side and rear.

This insect sea could not only devour Divine Power and corrode the body but could also directly invade the Primordial Spirit, stir inner demons, and was utterly vicious.

Jiang Hao was instantly caught in a pincer attack, fighting one against two.

"Boom!"

The Heavenly Dao Sword and the Chaos Blade Light collided.

A terrifying power erupted. The surrounding starry sky instantly dimmed, as if the Great Dao itself had been ground to nothing.

Simultaneously, that bizarre, colorful Myriad Devourer insect sea had already reached his body.

Countless insect shadows emitted silent shrieks, pouncing toward Jiang Hao's emperor body and Primordial Spirit, desiring to gnaw away at everything.

At this critical juncture, a fierce glint flashed in Jiang Hao's eyes.

"I've been waiting for this moment, Insect Mother. You're not up to it. Your Dao... is too muddled!"

He actually split off a portion of his focus and directly threw another punch.

Chaos is the progenitor of all qi. Although the power of the Myriad Devouring Insect Mother was bizarre, its Foundation still could not escape the scope of energy and Laws.

Faced with the higher-level Chaos Great Dao, these colorful insect shadows disintegrated within the Chaos Great Dao as if they had encountered their natural nemesis.

"What?!"

The Myriad Devouring Insect Mother's face changed drastically. She felt her power being rapidly dissolved by the opponent, which completely overturned her understanding.

What kind of ghostly ability was this?

Haotian Zun was also shocked. He hadn't expected Jiang Hao's combat power to be so strong and his abilities so bizarre.

And at the very moment when the two were shaken in spirit, their offensive showing a trace of hesitation...

Jiang Hao seized that fleeting opportunity.

"Chaos Return to Origin!"

He fiercely merged the Chaos Vortex before him with the Heavenly Blade. The vortex, which had devoured part of the Heavenly Dao's power, abruptly collapsed.

Condensing at the tip of the blade into a single point, it transformed into a terrifying, grayish blade ray.

This single blade strike contained not only the Concept of splitting heaven and earth but also harbored the Concept of termination, directly targeting the source of the Great Dao.

With a flash of blade light, it seemed to transcend the constraints of time and space.

Haotian Zun's pupils contracted sharply. He sensed a lethal threat.

The power level of this blade strike actually faintly surpassed his Heavenly Dao Laws.

He frantically activated Heavenly Dao runes in an attempt to defend, but the grayish blade ray passed through them as if they were nothing, directly penetrating layer upon layer of divine chains of order. It was as if his Heavenly Dao defenses had become illusory bubbles at this moment.

"No, this is impossi..."

Before the word "possible" could be uttered, the grayish blade ray had already silently swept past his body.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

Haotian Zun's majestic, awe-inspiring figure, surrounded by billions of Heavenly Dao runes, suddenly froze.

He looked down in disbelief as his divine body, starting from the chest, began to transform into the finest streams of Chaos Qi, like a sand sculpture weathering away.

Along with his Heavenly Dao Primordial Spirit, condensed over many tens of thousands of years, it also disintegrated inch by inch under this Return to Origin blade strike, reverting to the most fundamental energy form of heaven and earth.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no mournful scream. An ancient Paragon from the Heavenly Realm had been utterly Dao-dissolved in complete silence.

Dissipated into nothingness, not a single trace remained, as if he had never existed in this world.

Even in death, he could not understand. Why was Jiang Hao's combat power so strong? Hadn't he not yet finished merging with the Heavenly Heart to prove his Dao?

How could he be so terrifying? He finished his tribulation gravely injured, then fought one of the nine heavenly venerables of the mythological era.

How could he still manage to kill him?

And why did he attack him first? Why not attack the Insect Mother first? Wasn't the Insect Mother also an enemy?

He could not comprehend it.

Jiang Hao was unaware of Haotian Zun's thoughts. If he knew, he would have said: You're so pretentious, so arrogant—who else would I hit first if not you?

Everyone knows that in a fight, you have to hit the one with the foulest mouth first.

Silence.

A deathly silence once again enveloped the Heavens and Myriad Worlds.

All watching presences, no matter who they were, felt a chill rising from the soles of their feet to the crown of their heads. Their very Souls trembled.

A Paragon from the Heavenly Realm in peak condition... just... Dao-dissolved by a single blade strike?

Was this real?

Were they not dreaming?

This was the thought of all the observers.

It was too exaggerated.

However, after unleashing this earth-shattering blade strike, Jiang Hao's aura also plummeted like a deflated balloon. His figure staggered, clearly having paid a tremendous price.

And it was precisely this seemingly perfect opportunity that was seized by the Myriad Devouring Insect Mother, who was both horrified to the extreme and yet still harboring treacherous ambitions.

"Myriad Devourer, God-Slaying Thorn!"

She shrieked, abandoning all large-scale divine abilities, and thrust directly at the vital point on Jiang Hao's back.

However, at the very instant that dark beam was about to reach Jiang Hao...

"Seeking death!"

As if he had eyes on his back, Jiang Hao suddenly turned his head. Those eyes, though weary, still burned with a terrifying, fierce light, locking firmly onto the Insect Mother.

Completely disregarding the decline of his own aura, his left fist had long been poised. His remaining Divine Power erupted.

Transforming into a simple, unadorned yet concentrated imprint of his lifelong martial will, it arrived later but struck first, meeting the God-Slaying Thorn head-on with a fierce punch.

The fist imprint and the dark beam collided violently in mid-air.

"Bang!"

The imagined stalemate did not occur. The God-Slaying Thorn, condensed from the Insect Mother's full-power strike, actually shattered like paper before the Chaos Fist Imprint, instantly annihilated!

The fist imprint's momentum did not diminish. Carrying an indomitable, domineering force, it directly blasted toward the Myriad Devouring Insect Mother, whose face was filled with astonishment and disbelief.

"How is this possible?!"

The Myriad Devouring Insect Mother was scared out of her wits. In her haste, she could only raise the Myriad Devourer Scepter horizontally in front of her to block.

"Thud! Crack!"

The fist imprint solidly smashed onto the scepter.

The indestructible imperial scepter emitted a groan of unbearable strain. Bent by this punch, clear cracks appeared on it.