Chapter 1924 - Refining the Sixth-Grade Immortal Pill

Beyond his superior cultivation, Chen Kun possessed no other advantage over Liu Wuxie. With his aura failing to suppress his opponent, Liu Wuxie could sustain his guerrilla hit-and-run strategy through the Divine Ninefold Step and slip past every attack Chen Kun unleashed.

Liu Wuxie knew he could not evade forever; however, every movement placed a considerable strain upon his immortal energy.

Chen Kun had recognized that weakness as well, prompting him to gradually reduce the force of his attacks and conserve his strength.

"Keep running, Liu Wuxie! Let's see how long you can continue dodging," he shouted.

The surrounding space instantly hardened as boundless lightning poured in from every direction. It transformed into shackles that sealed the entire arena, making escape difficult even if Liu Wuxie chose to concede.

The fortified space also severely restricted Liu Wuxie's movement speed. Evasion no longer offered him a path forward, leaving him no choice but to confront Chen Kun directly.

"Kill him!" one voice thundered.

"Kill him!" another answered.

"Kill him!" the rest roared.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall's remaining mentors and students erupted into furious cheers, urging Chen Kun to avenge every mentor Liu Wuxie had killed.

Chen Kun's hammer howled through the air as it hurtled toward Liu Wuxie's face. Liu Wuxie's eyes narrowed instantly, and an intense fighting spirit erupted from within him.

"Marsh Blade!" Liu Wuxie called as he unleashed the fourth form of the Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art, its movements flowing as smoothly as water between heaven and earth.

Waves surged into existence the moment the Marsh Blade appeared, gathering into a natural barrier that intercepted every one of Chen Kun's attacks. Among the forms of the Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art, the Marsh Blade emphasized defense above all else.

Chen Kun's hammer crashed into the surging tide and produced a succession of muffled impacts. The unnatural sounds left everyone who heard them deeply unsettled.

The cultivators beneath the arena exchanged stunned glances, each seeing their own disbelief reflected in the others' eyes. None could believe that Liu Wuxie had blocked an attack from an expert at the pinnacle of the Origin Immortal Realm.

The divine immortals gathered together and quietly exchanged their observations, hoping to uncover more of Liu Wuxie's secrets. "What a terrifying blade technique! It contains several different powers of heaven and earth."

"Break apart!" Chen Kun roared.

The power within his hammer suddenly intensified, blasting the surging water to pieces. Their violent collision sent a powerful shockwave sweeping through the surroundings. Rain born from the transformed laws of heaven and earth immediately poured over the arena, drenching every nearby cultivator from head to toe.

After destroying the tide, Chen Kun's hammer continued its charge toward Liu Wuxie's chest.

"Divine Fire Blade!" Liu Wuxie thundered.

Flames instantly swallowed the sky, engulfing the entire arena and preventing ordinary divine sense from penetrating them. A Fire God manifested within the inferno and strode toward Chen Kun.

The Fire God drove one fist forward. Its tremendous power knocked the hammer from Chen Kun's hands and sent it crashing to the ground, making him stare at his fallen weapon in disbelief.

Chen Kun was a dignified expert at the pinnacle of the Origin Immortal Realm, with half a foot already inside the Divine Immortal Realm. He could not accept that Liu Wuxie had dismantled his attack with such ease.

"Let's see how much longer you can endure," Chen Kun roared as his fury intensified. The fallen hammer immediately shot back into the air and resumed its assault upon Liu Wuxie.

Chen Kun's cultivation at the pinnacle of the Origin Immortal Realm granted him terrifying strength. This had become the most grueling battle Liu Wuxie had fought since ascending to the celestial realm.

"Mountain Blade!" Liu Wuxie roared, unleashing another form of the Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art. He planned to continue wearing down Chen Kun, confident that his own reserves of immortal energy were no weaker. Such a strategy would turn the confrontation into a prolonged battle, with victory belonging to whoever endured until the final moment.

Boundless earth energy surged across the arena, lifting the scattered stones and assembling them into an enormous wall that blocked Chen Kun's attack once again. By now, no one could describe their emotions. Watching Liu Wuxie block one attack had already shocked them, yet he had now stopped three in succession and completely overturned their understanding.

Countless spectators pounded their chests, unable to find words to express their feelings. "He truly is a monster!" they roared.

The Celestial Moon Dao Hall's mentors suffered the most. They had finally glimpsed hope of winning the competition, only for Liu Wuxie to crush that hope repeatedly. Their torment felt worse than being roasted over a furnace.

A web of cracks spread across the stone wall before it exploded into countless fragments. Against Chen Kun's overwhelming strength, it had endured for only half a breath.

The hammer had already closed within three meters of Liu Wuxie and would crush him in less than a thousandth of an instant. Just before impact, however, Liu Wuxie executed Flash and vanished once again, catching Chen Kun completely off guard.

The hammer demolished the spot where Liu Wuxie had stood moments earlier, ravaging the arena until the ground became almost unrecognizable.

"He's far too cunning," the Stormcloud Sect's elders roared.

Roughly fifteen minutes had passed since the battle had begun, yet Liu Wuxie had not confronted Chen Kun head-on even once. He devoted himself entirely to defense and evasion, launching no counterattacks.

"He can't keep this up much longer. One mistake is all it will take to kill him," a Celestial Moon Dao Hall mentor said, his eyes bloodshot.

His judgment was not wrong. Liu Wuxie could not afford even the smallest error, or Chen Kun's hammer would smash him to death.

That danger forced Liu Wuxie to remain exceptionally cautious. Through the Ghost Pupil and Divine Tribulation Pupil, he could clearly follow the trajectories of the laws of heaven and earth. The Ghost Pupil also exposed every weakness concealed within Chen Kun's techniques.

Those abilities allowed Liu Wuxie to hold his ground. He occasionally struck back, but Chen Kun continued accelerating his attacks and steadily reduced the space available for Liu Wuxie to evade.

"An entire hour has passed, yet Liu Wuxie is still alive!"

Engrossed in the spectacle, the crowd didn't even notice that Liu Wuxie and Chen Kun had already fought for a full hour without breaking the deadlock. Liu Wuxie maintained his evasive strategy throughout, while Chen Kun pressed the attack without mercy.

The prolonged battle rapidly depleted both of their immortal energy reserves. Liu Wuxie had consumed a tremendous amount, but Chen Kun fared no better.

"Liu Wuxie is an absolute freak! How can his immortal energy possibly last this long?"

Abnormal was the only word the spectators could find to describe Liu Wuxie.

No one found it strange that Chen Kun, an Origin Immortal, could endure such a prolonged battle. Liu Wuxie, however, was merely a sixth-level Spirit Immortal. His immortal energy reserves should never have sustained him for so long.

"Sixth-grade immortal pill, everything depends on you now," Liu Wuxie murmured. He had deliberately drained his immortal energy. Only by completely emptying his reserves could he use the sixth-grade immortal pill to attempt a breakthrough into the seventh-level Spirit Immortal Realm.

After its compression, the Desolate World had become even more stable and resilient. Since the competition had started, Liu Wuxie had achieved three consecutive breakthroughs and advanced from the third- to the sixth-level Spirit Immortal Realm. He had not yet properly stabilized those gains, so he intended to use this battle to consolidate his foundation.

"This is bad! Liu Wuxie has been exploiting Chen Kun's cultivation to stabilize his own," Elder Gu exclaimed, finally discerning Liu Wuxie's true intentions.

Only then did the crowd understand why Liu Wuxie had refused to counterattack. His genuine objective had always been to use Chen Kun's pressure to further temper his cultivation. From the beginning, Liu Wuxie had deceived every one of them.

The revelation surprised everyone, including the Azure Flame Dao Hall's mentors. They had feared that Liu Wuxie was incapable of defeating Chen Kun, never imagining that he had been using Chen Kun as a tool to temper himself throughout the battle.

"Damn you! I'll rip you into pieces!" Chen Kun roared. He had never imagined that their battle would ultimately benefit Liu Wuxie, and his frustration was obvious.

Liu Wuxie cast the sixth-grade immortal pill into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, where it began dissolving rapidly. He had deliberately avoided swallowing it directly because it would take too much time. Refinement through the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron would accelerate his breakthrough considerably.

Worthy of its status as a sixth-grade immortal pill, it released a terrifying torrent of energy beneath the demonic flames. That energy flooded the nearly depleted Desolate World, and the gateway to the seventh-level Spirit Immortal Realm manifested without Liu Wuxie even summoning it.

"Mysterious axe imprint, lend me your strength!" Liu Wuxie roared. Knowing that every moment mattered, he summoned the mysterious axe imprint and brought it crashing against the gateway.

A thunderous rumble erupted as the gateway shattered into fragments, and boundless laws of the Spirit Immortal Realm poured into the Desolate World. The cauldron devoured those laws and immediately converted them into dozens of Primal Chaos Shards, which fused with the Desolate World.

In the next instant, Liu Wuxie's aura began climbing at a terrifying pace.

"Chen Kun, kill him now," Elder Gu shouted anxiously.

Reaching the seventh-level Spirit Immortal Realm would carry Liu Wuxie into the late phase and drastically transform his combat strength. Chen Kun already struggled to kill him at the sixth-level Spirit Immortal Realm. Once Liu Wuxie completed this breakthrough, the task would become even more difficult.

Chen Kun brought his hands together, causing the enormous hammer to divide into two. The twin hammers attacked Liu Wuxie from both sides, sealing every avenue of retreat and attempting to prevent him from completing his breakthrough.

Breaking through in the midst of battle carried extraordinary danger, yet Liu Wuxie had no alternative. Since the match had already begun, no one could pause it, and even Gongye Zhang lacked the authority to interfere. The competition could have been suspended only if Liu Wuxie had initiated his breakthrough before the battle started.

Liu Wuxie regarded the approaching hammers with indifference, a faint trace of mockery lingering on his face. The Ghost Pupil revealed both weapons' trajectories with perfect clarity, while even the surrounding airflow appeared to slow before his eyes.

Combined with his mental energy, Liu Wuxie could perceive everything within a hundred-meter radius.

Liu Wuxie immediately moved, though he did not execute the Divine Ninefold Step because his breakthrough had reached its most critical point.

As the hammers closed in, their terrifying pressure crashed down upon him. Liu Wuxie understood that a single impact would tear him apart. The hammer approaching from the left moved at blinding speed, producing deafening sonic booms through friction that nearly ruptured his eardrums.

"Move, Wuxie!" Lao Kaiyu roared.

The hammers had already entered arm's reach, and failure to evade meant certain death. Despite the Azure Flame Dao Hall mentors' frantic warnings, Liu Wuxie remained perfectly composed. He merely inclined his body slightly to one side and shifted his right foot a single step backward.

The hammer screamed past Liu Wuxie's chest and ripped through his clothes, yet failed to leave even the slightest wound.

"How did he do that...?" Everyone stared in utter disbelief, unable to comprehend what they had witnessed.

The hammer traveled faster than a meteor, and even an eighth-level Origin Immortal could not have evaded it from such close range. Liu Wuxie had not only dodged in time, but escaped by the narrowest possible margin with barely any movement.

At that exact moment, the second hammer arrived and hurtled toward Liu Wuxie's right ribs. It moved even faster than the first, releasing a succession of deafening sonic booms as it tore through the air.