173: Chapter 173 Still Unconvinced?

The heavy black stone doors slammed shut.

Inside the Lingxiao Pavilion's Divine Soul Training Ground, there was a deathly silence.

Densely packed Breath-Concealing Spirit-Severing Formation patterns on the surrounding walls instantly lit up with a faint, eerie glow.

The moment one stepped inside, the connection between the Physical Body and the external Immortal Qi was forcibly severed.

Meridians dried up, and magic power fell dormant.

Only the power of the Primordial Spirit within the Niwan Palace was infinitely amplified in this special magnetic field.

Xiao Jiankuang stopped in his tracks.

He turned around; his face, originally pale from the destruction of his Magical Artifact, was now contorted with a hideous expression.

The other two Brocade-Clothed Youths in cloud-patterned robes quickly spread out, forming a triangular Formation to pin Su Yun firmly in the center of the Formation's eye.

"In this Divine Soul Training Ground, what matters is the purest Foundation of the Primordial Spirit. That Lower Realm brute force you take so much pride in is utterly useless here."

Xiao Jiankuang's hands quickly formed seals, and a golden light split open at the center of his brow.

"An ant like you, who crawled up from an inferior plane where even the Laws of Heaven and Earth are incomplete, thinks you're worthy of discussing Foundations with a direct descendant of the Xiao Family?"

"Soul-Severing Slaughter Formation, rise!"

Accompanied by a violent shout, the Primordial Spirit power of three Nine Heavens Profound Immortals poured out without reservation.

The eerie blue Soul fires above the dojo shook violently.

Invisible Primordial Spirit power filled the air, intertwining and twisting to condense out of thin air into hundreds and thousands of transparent Soul-path blades and swords.

Every single blade and sword was locked onto Su Yun's Sea of Consciousness.

This was pure Soul obliteration.

As long as one was struck by a single blade, the Primordial Spirit would be torn apart bit by bit until one became a mindless walking corpse.

Su Yun stood in place, forming no seals and making no defensive moves. His deep black eyes reflected the Soul weapons raining down from the sky.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, the vast and boundless Lower Realm Heavenly Dao Origin was slowly revolving.

The map of mountains and rivers, floating in the center of the Heavenly Dao Origin, sensed the pure Divine Soul energy surging in from the outside.

Inside the scroll, the group of old monsters from the Taiyi Holy Land looked up at the sky.

"Such pure Upper Realm Primordial Spirit power! This is a great tonic!"

"The Holy Lord truly cares for this old man. I've just undergone Ascension, and he's already sending delivery to my door."

A very faint curve tugged at the corner of Su Yun's mouth.

His eyelids lowered slightly as he proactively dispersed the final layer of defense around his Sea of Consciousness.

The sky full of Soul weapons crashed down.

They plunged directly into the center of Su Yun's brow.

Xiao Jiankuang's mouth split open as he let out a wild laugh.

"A hit! Even an Immortal Lord wouldn't dare take this strike head-on with their Primordial Spirit. Die, you lowly—"

The laughter came to an abrupt halt.

Those Soul weapons that rushed into Su Yun's Sea of Consciousness didn't cause even a ripple.

Along with the Divine Soul pressure surrounding Su Yun, they all vanished like clay oxen into the sea the moment they touched the center of his brow.

A terrifying reverse-devouring force that exceeded Xiao Jiankuang's understanding erupted from Su Yun's brow.

A corner of the map of mountains and rivers was lifted by Su Yun.

This wasn't the Divine Soul capacity of a single Cultivator; this was the appetite of an entire plane's Heavenly Dao.

The massive suction followed the energy connection of the Formation and directly coiled around the Primordial Spirit Origins of Xiao Jiankuang and the other two.

"This... what is this thing! My Primordial Spirit!" The Brocade-Clothed Youth on the left let out a shrill, miserable scream.

He felt as if his Soul was being frantically chewed by a giant mouth.

That suction was domineering to the extreme, forcibly tearing his connection to the Formation.

The bodies of the three men trembled violently. Shocking black blood sprayed from their seven facial orifices simultaneously.

The transparent blades in the air above the dojo disintegrated, turning into the purest turbulent energy, all of which was sucked into the center of Su Yun's brow.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Three bodies collapsed one after another onto the cold bluestone bricks.

In just two short breaths, thirty percent of their Divine Soul Origin had been forcibly drained dry.

The agonizing pain of having one's Soul torn away while still alive far exceeded that of physical dismemberment.

Su Yun opened his eyes, a flash of satisfaction appearing in their depths.

The quality of the Origins of these Upper Realm Prodigies was indeed quite good; the elites of the Taiyi Holy Land within the map of mountains and rivers had received a great deal of nourishment.

He stepped forward and walked up to Xiao Jiankuang.

His white cloud-patterned brocade boots stopped before Xiao Jiankuang's blood-stained eyes.

"This is the Foundation of the Upper Realm?" Su Yun looked down at him from above, "It's a bit lackluster."

Xiao Jiankuang's entire body was twitching. His hands clawed desperately at the floor tiles, his fingernails breaking and peeling back.

The massive sense of disparity and the fear of his Primordial Spirit being crippled completely crushed his sanity.

How could a mud-legged peasant from the Lower Realm possess such world-devouring Divine Soul power!

He refused to accept it!

Xiao Jiankuang suddenly lifted his head, his eyes turning blood-red from hemorrhaging.

He tore open the front of his robes and, with his right hand, forcibly dug out a three-inch-long dark red bone nail from beneath his bloody heart-protecting scale.

This was not a Magic Treasure he had refined himself. It was a Forbidden Artifact sealed within his body by a Family elder—the Soul-Extinguishing Nail.

This item was tempered with Nine Nether Blood Fiend energy and was specifically designed to break through the Primordial Spirit.

Once unleashed, neither gods nor ghosts could escape it.

Using such an external object in the Divine Soul Training Ground violated all the rules.

But Xiao Jiankuang didn't care about any of that; he wanted Su Yun dead.

"Let's all die together!"

Xiao Jiankuang roared, spitting a mouthful of essence blood onto the bone nail.

The Soul-Extinguishing Nail turned into a streak of dark red lightning, carrying a nauseating blood-fiend aura as it shot straight for Su Yun's face.

The distance was too close, and the speed was too fast.

Su Yun looked at the blood-red light and steadily raised his right hand, preparing to mobilize the Heavenly Dao Origin to forcibly crush it.

Screech—

The Void Realm in front of him split open without any warning.

The Divine Soul Training Ground's Formation patterns, which were said to be able to block the probes of an Immortal King, were like useless decorations in the face of this sudden burst of violence.

A pair of fair and slender jade hands reached out from the spatial rift, gripped the edges, and tore it open with force.

Spatial turbulence raged.

A silhouette in an ice-blue gown stepped out.

Zi Yun didn't even look at that blood-fiend lightning. She raised her right hand, nine-colored divine light exploding from her palm, and slapped the Soul-Extinguishing Nail.

Clang!

The Forbidden Artifact, capable of heavily wounding an Immortal Lord, was sent flying by this incredibly overbearing slap.

The bone nail was driven hard into the black stone wall to the side, sinking deep into it and emitting a piercing hum.

Zi Yun landed, and without a single word of nonsense, she tapped the ground with her toes, her figure turning into a streak of blue light.

Bang!

With a dull thud, Zi Yun's jade foot, clad in an exquisite embroidered shoe, stepped squarely onto Xiao Jiankuang's face.

The massive impact caused the back of Xiao Jiankuang's head to smash a deep pit into the floor tiles.

Stone fragments flew, slicing into Xiao Jiankuang's cheeks.

Zi Yun lowered her head, looking down at the broken body beneath her feet.

On her stunningly beautiful face was a gentle smile that one couldn't find any fault with.

Her eyes were curved, and her mouth even showed two shallow dimples.

But in this pitch-black, silent dojo, this kind of smile made one's marrow run cold.

"Didn't you see Lin Aotian's fate?" Zi Yun's voice was sweet and crisp, with a slight drawl at the end.

Xiao Jiankuang, his face being stepped on, spat out bloody foam and couldn't form complete words: "Goddess... spare... me... I..."

Zi Yun's sole slowly ground down, the crisp sound of bones rubbing together echoing in the empty dojo.

"Whoever dares to be disrespectful to my husband again, I will strip away his Divine Soul and hang him over the Nether Fire at the peak of the Divine Mountain, lighting him as a sky lantern for forty-nine days."

Zi Yun leaned down slightly, looking at Xiao Jiankuang's bulging eyeballs, and added a sentence in a gentle tone.

"I will even send your elders in to be buried with you. Do you understand?"

The other two Prodigies cowering in the corner had already wet their pants.

They nodded frantically, slamming their heads onto the floor tiles with all their might until they left bloody marks.

This was not at all the cold, aloof Goddess they knew.

This was a lunatic who had been completely brainwashed by a Lower Realm freak.

Zi Yun frowned in disgust and lifted her foot, kicking Xiao Jiankuang toward the dojo doors as if kicking away a bag of Trash.

Boom.

The heavy stone doors were knocked open.

"Take this Trash and get out of Lingxiao Pavilion. Don't dirty the place where my husband reads."

Zi Yun stood with her back to them, pulling out a snow-white silk handkerchief to carefully wipe the hand she had used to slap away the Soul-Extinguishing Nail.

The three Prodigies felt as if they had been granted a grand amnesty. Two of them dragged the unconscious Xiao Jiankuang and scrambled out of the dojo, stumbling as they rushed out of Lingxiao Pavilion.

A gust of wind blew past. The three of them hid behind a rockery outside Lingxiao Pavilion, gasping for breath.

"She's crazy... the Goddess has been completely controlled by that demon."

The Brocade-Clothed Youth's face was covered in cold sweat, but his eyes flickered with an extremely intense resentment and unwillingness.

Not only had they lost a top-grade Immortal Artifact, but even thirty percent of their Divine Soul Origin had been drained.

If this grudge wasn't avenged, their Dao Hearts would surely shatter.

"In the Xiao Family, no one can handle the Goddess."

The other person gritted his teeth, his hands trembling with extreme fear and anger.

He pulled a black transmission Jade Slip carved with Big Dipper patterns from his storage ring.

"We can't deal with her, but someone can."

He stared at the Jade Slip in his hand, his voice dark.

"Contact Tianshu Palace immediately. Tell Young Lord Ye Wuhun everything about how the Goddess is shielding a Lower Realm demon and has destroyed our Foundations, without missing a single word."

"Young Lord Night has heaven-reaching means and is determined to have the Goddess. By borrowing the blade of Tianshu Palace, this bastard from the Lower Realm won't live past three days!"

The Jade Slip was crushed with force.

A faint starlight vanished into the Void Realm, hurtling toward Tianshu Palace.

...

Inside the Lingxiao Pavilion's Divine Soul Training Ground.

The stone doors closed once again, isolating all external presence.

Zi Yun threw away the silk handkerchief she used to wipe her hands.

The ruthlessness and morbidity on her face instantly vanished without a trace.

She turned around and jogged over to Su Yun.

Without hesitation, she threw herself into Su Yun's arms, her hands tightly encircling his neck.

She looked up, her cold eyes now filled with grievance and a desire to please.

"Husband, was my entrance just now timely?"

Zi Yun rubbed against Su Yun's chest, her voice so soft it could almost drip water.

"That thing was so hard, my hand hurts from hitting it. You have to compensate me."

Su Yun looked down at the woman in his arms, who changed her face faster than flipping a book.

He reached out and pinched her nose.

"How do you want to be compensated?" Su Yun's tone was calm.

He didn't care about the three pieces of Trash who had escaped.

Pigs in a pen always have to squeal a few times to attract a bigger fat sheep.

Someone had already taken the initiative to move the stepping stone that was Ye Wuhun over to him.

While the two were being intimate in the empty dojo,

Deep within the clouds a hundred thousand feet above the Xiao Family Divine Mountain,

The flow of time nearly ground to a halt at this moment.

Amidst the churning sea of clouds, a pair of silver eyes devoid of any warmth appeared.

Through the layers of the Xiao Family's Sect-Protecting Formation, through the Lingxiao Pavilion's Spirit-Severing Formation patterns, they quietly watched everything inside the Divine Soul Training Ground.

The gaze swept over Zi Yun and finally fixed on Su Yun's calm and expressionless face.

High in the sky, there was no sound of wind, only a low murmur slowly drifting away.

"A variable..."