Chapter 1920 - Come Up

No one dared disturb Liu Wuxie. Even Gongye Zhang and Ye Guhai, despite the concern clouding their eyes, could do nothing except watch in silence.

Before the crowd's unwavering gaze, the Form Rune slowly sank into the blade. The instant the fusion became complete, the weapon transformed. Its edge sharpened further as a formidable blade force surged outward.

"What monstrous blade force!" people exclaimed.

At first glance, the blade looked perfectly ordinary, yet the boundless force pouring from it overwhelmed even many profound immortals and drove them backward.

As soon as the Form Rune settled firmly within the blade, the Solar Rune and Lunar Rune entered it almost simultaneously.

The blade immediately began shaking with alarming violence, seemingly moments away from exploding. Every heart tightened at once. No one dared get closer as they watched anxiously from afar.

"Explode already! Hurry up and explode," Li Baoshu bellowed.

Although he had escaped death earlier, fear kept him from advancing even a single step. He could only watch from a distance.

Every mentor and student from the Celestial Moon Dao Hall secretly prayed for Liu Wuxie's blade to explode. If it did, Zhu Gaoyang would claim victory without needing to continue the contest.

The blade expanded and contracted at a frantic pace, repeatedly teetering on the verge of detonation. Despite its violent instability, it ultimately endured.

Once the Solar Rune and Lunar Rune entered the blade, Liu Wuxie traced patterns through the air with both hands. Vast numbers of runes rapidly appeared around him, though these consisted only of ordinary blacksmithing runes.

As those runes tempered the blade without pause, its violent trembling gradually subsided.

"Damn it! Why is the thing still intact?!" Li Baoshu roared, flailing his arms in fury. He knew that if Liu Wuxie succeeded, death would come for him next.

Disappointment settled across the faces of the Celestial Moon Dao Hall's mentors. They could already sense that Liu Wuxie's artifact refinement was nearing completion.

Without warning, terrifying yin and yang energies erupted from the blade. Powerful ripples rolled through the surrounding space, creating an astonishing spectacle.

"The Solar Rune and Lunar Rune truly fused?" Shen Guang asked, unable to conceal his disappointment. Like the Celestial Moon Dao Hall, he had hoped to witness Liu Wuxie fail.

Conflicting emotions churned through the spectators. Admiration inevitably gave birth to jealousy, for such was human nature.

Liu Wuxie was only a Spirit Immortal, and among the many experts gathered there, his cultivation could scarcely be called remarkable. Yet this seemingly ordinary cultivator had repeatedly stunned everyone into silence.

"Return!" Liu Wuxie called, drawing the demonic flame back and completing his refinement before Zhu Gaoyang.

He had used no extravagant methods and produced no heaven-shaking disturbance. The refinement concluded with almost startling simplicity, yet everyone found themselves longing to witness more.

"Wuxie, would you let me examine that blade?" Ye Guhai asked as he walked forward.

Liu Wuxie answered with a simple nod.

As soon as Ye Guhai accepted the blade, he sensed the residual heat lingering within it. He swung it gently, and a succession of piercing whistles rang out as its edge sliced through the air.

Ye Guhai channeled a wisp of immortal energy into the weapon, prompting it to erupt with a powerful gleam that stunned countless onlookers.

"What an exceptional blade!" Ye Guhai exclaimed, almost unwilling to let it go. Its quality already rivaled that of an artifact at the Origin Immortal Realm. The mere fact that Liu Wuxie, only a Spirit Immortal, had forged a weapon of such caliber was astonishing.

Liu Wuxie could do more than fight cultivators above his level. He could also forge artifacts that transcended his own cultivation realm.

"Hand it over. Let me see it," Xiang Zicheng said as he snatched the blade from Ye Guhai, earning an irritated eye roll in response.

Once the blade entered his grasp, Xiang Zicheng did not settle for a casual swing. He immediately performed a blade technique, every movement flowing as smoothly as water. The weapon felt nearly weightless in his hand and cut through space effortlessly, allowing him to conserve almost one-third of his strength.

When the demonstration ended, a brilliant gleam lit up Xiang Zicheng's eyes.

"The weight of this blade is balanced to perfection. Once immortal energy enters it, its speed rises by roughly one-third compared to ordinary artifacts. Any immortal art channeled through it will also gain nearly fifty percent more power," Xiang Zicheng said, delivering his judgment.

Sharp hisses of disbelief swept through the crowd as countless eyes fastened upon the blade. Xiang Zicheng was at the pinnacle of the Divine Immortal Realm, and everyone knew an expert of his stature had no reason to deceive them.

"Can it truly be that powerful?"

Many still doubted his assessment, yet no one dared step forward to test the weapon. They had no relationship with Liu Wuxie, so who would bear responsibility if the artifact were damaged in their hands? Shen Guang's earlier attempt to frame Xiang Zicheng had already established a precedent.

While the crowd continued discussing Liu Wuxie's blade, Zhu Gaoyang finally finished refining his own artifact. He had forged a sword, but neither its aura nor the laws it radiated could compare with Liu Wuxie's weapon.

"We'll proceed with the evaluation," Qian Yao announced, signaling for the testing phase to begin.

A formal test hardly seemed necessary, for everyone already knew the outcome. Liu Wuxie had successfully integrated the Solar Rune and Lunar Rune into his blade, placing it above Zhu Gaoyang's sword in virtually every respect.

Xiang Zicheng hurled the blade forward and sent it flying directly toward Zhu Gaoyang's sword. Everyone observed him carefully this time, yet not the slightest trace of Divine Immortal Realm laws appeared. He had thrown the weapon using nothing but brute force.

Sparks burst in every direction the instant the two weapons collided.

Zhu Gaoyang's sword then exploded into countless fragments.

At that moment, every Celestial Moon Dao Hall mentor felt as though their own heart had shattered alongside the sword.

"We are done for!" Li Baoshu cried as he crumpled to the ground. The destruction of Zhu Gaoyang's sword confirmed their complete defeat.

The blood drained from Zhu Gaoyang's face. Although he had anticipated this outcome, he still could not accept the sight of the sword he had personally forged shattering before his eyes.

"I won't accept this!" Zhu Gaoyang howled hysterically, raving across the arena like a madman.

Everyone regarded him as though he had lost his mind. He alone bore responsibility for everything that had happened. Had Zhu Gaoyang not provoked Liu Wuxie repeatedly from the outset, the competition would never have spiraled so out of control. No one could summon even the slightest sympathy for him now.

Instead, many openly celebrated his downfall. Even the Celestial Moon Dao Hall's mentors looked satisfied. Zhu Gaoyang had driven every one of them to the verge of disaster, so they naturally wanted his quick demise.

"Liu Wuxie, spare me! Please don't kill me!" Zhu Gaoyang begged as he suddenly dropped to his knees and crawled toward Liu Wuxie.

Gongye Zhang swiftly stepped into his path, preventing him from approaching Liu Wuxie and launching another sneak attack.

Zhu Gaoyang now resembled a dog groveling for mercy. Not a shred of an expert's dignity remained, nor did he appear like a mentor. Disheveled hair covered his face, and desperate fawning had replaced all his former arrogance.

Many students spat at the sight of his contemptible behavior. None had imagined that the once-revered Zhu Gaoyang would reveal himself as such a coward.

"You brought this upon yourself," Liu Wuxie said coldly.

A sweep of Liu Wuxie's hand summoned a Heavenly Dao's shackle from the sky.

"Please, don't kill me! I know I was wrong!" Zhu Gaoyang screamed. As soon as the shackle bound his primordial spirit, he began kowtowing with frantic desperation. He had cultivated for more than half a century to reach the ninth-level Origin Immortal Realm and refused to die there.

Zhu Gaoyang repeatedly hammered his forehead against the ground, but Liu Wuxie watched emotionlessly, his expression utterly unchanged.

Liu Wuxie closed his right hand into a fist. Zhu Gaoyang released one final, miserable scream as his primordial spirit shattered instantly.

His body slowly withered while the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron consumed every trace of energy and every law it contained.

"Run for your lives!" the remaining Celestial Moon Dao Hall mentors cried as they turned and fled, unwilling to linger for even another moment.

"Anyone who takes another step will be executed," Liu Wuxie warned coldly.

If the Celestial Moon Dao Hall's mentors escaped, they would effectively forfeit the competition. Liu Wuxie could then invoke their oath and slaughter every last one of them.

Sure enough, the fleeing mentors froze the moment his warning reached them. They slowly turned around, their faces displaying a tangled storm of anger, pleading, resentment, and malice.

Liu Wuxie swept both hands through the air, calling down nine Heavenly Dao shackles that instantly claimed nine mentors' lives. Every law and trace of energy within their bodies became nourishment for him.

By this point, the Celestial Moon Dao Hall had scarcely any mentors left.

The poison art, magic art, soul art, and blacksmithing categories had all concluded, exacting a total price of forty mentors' lives.

Combined with those who had already perished during the student competition, the mounting deaths left every surviving Celestial Moon Dao Hall mentor deathly pale.

As the Origin Immortal Realm laws flowed into Liu Wuxie, they stabilized his cultivation even further. Yet despite refining the laws of so many Origin Immortals, he still lacked enough power to trigger another breakthrough.

Liu Wuxie had no intention of refining the sixth-grade immortal pill yet. Instead, he entered the spiritual array arena and prepared to continue the competition.

Unable to sway Liu Wuxie themselves, the surviving mentors desperately appealed to the Celestial Moon Dao Hall's hall master. "Hall Master, negotiate with Liu Wuxie. None of us wants to die!" They hoped he could strike an agreement with Liu Wuxie and bring the competition to an end.

Their Heavenly Daos had already become bound by the oath, leaving them only two paths of escape. They could endure until the competition concluded, or they could convince Liu Wuxie to annul the oath through mutual agreement.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall's hall master wrestled with the same conflict. Begging Liu Wuxie to abandon the competition would humiliate him more deeply than death, especially after he had brazenly attacked Liu Wuxie and nearly killed him. Seeking reconciliation now would be no different from slapping himself in the face.

"Hall Master, you have to say something!" the mentors demanded angrily. Did he truly intend to stand aside and watch them march toward death?

"What are you panicking about? Four matches still remain," Elder Gu rebuked.

At such a critical moment, they needed unity, not tears and complaints.

"Of course that's easy for you to say! No one is sending you to your death," Li Baoshu shouted back, pointing straight at Elder Gu.

Elder Gu had never participated in the oath. Regardless of how many matches the Celestial Moon Dao Hall lost, Liu Wuxie could not invoke the Heavenly Dao's power to kill him.

The accusation left Elder Gu speechless. In the past, these mentors had constantly flattered him and competed for his favor. Now they had all turned upon him, stirring a wave of sorrow within his heart.

"Liu Wuxie caused all of this. Your only way forward is to kill him and bring the oath to an end," Elder Gu said, softening his voice as he attempted to reassure everyone and restore their unity.

Under Elder Gu's consolation, the mentors gradually regained self-control and redirected all their hatred toward Liu Wuxie. They blamed him for refusing to end the competition. Had he agreed to stop, they believed that so many people would never have died.

Executing Zhu Gaoyang had eased part of the anger within Liu Wuxie, but the reckoning remained unfinished. As long as the Celestial Moon Dao Hall survived, it would remain a threat and inevitably seek another chance to kill him. To eliminate every future danger, Liu Wuxie had to destroy them all.

Liu Wuxie waited in the spiritual array arena, where Li Baoshu would become his next opponent. As only a second-level Origin Immortal, Li Baoshu posed little danger to him. Gongye Zhang remained outside the arena because he still needed to guard against the Celestial Moon Dao Hall's hall master.

"Get up here," Liu Wuxie ordered, pointing directly at Li Baoshu.

In the blacksmithing category, Li Baoshu had launched a sneak attack on Liu Wuxie and successfully awakened his murderous intent.