Chapter 732: Righteous Beatdown

Even so, the image on the screen remained extremely blurry. Only after multiple rounds of processing could some outlines be made out.

The person recording was breathing heavily, their face flushed red. “Holy shit! Holy shit! Huge news! Hurry up and contact the Prophet Council! I’m going to sell this for ten million! No, one hundred million… No… I’m going to sell this for a billion Star Coins!”

***

Su Chen held his hands above his head, feeling the blood rushing through his entire body. He let out a slow breath and looked up at the Vajra before him, a stinging sensation spreading across his skin.

He had always been curious about just how far his recent accumulation and foundation could take him. Previously, even when facing the Taixuan Tianyi or Black Tuo, he hadn’t been forced to use his full strength. It wasn’t until now, when Qin Yun’s sudden attack forced him to use every method at his disposal, that he finally reached his absolute peak state.

“Unmoving Vajra combined with Secret Artifact Enhancement is truly absurd. If he can’t shatter me in a single strike, he can’t cause any real injuries—he can only deplete my Physical Strength. Right now, Qin Yun is far past his prime. He can’t even compare to the Chairmen. There’s no way he can shatter my body, which has been elevated to Tier Eight through limit release and augmented by five Tier Nine Secret Artifacts and two Morning Star Secret Artifacts,” Su Chen thought.

He could clearly see the blank look on Qin Yun’s face. Evidently, surviving that strike had vastly exceeded the man’s expectations.

Qin Yun might have been stunned, but Su Chen certainly wasn’t. The muscles in his right leg pulled taut as blood-gold lightning erupted. Infused with terrifying Giant Strength, he raised his leg and delivered a vicious sweeping kick.

Qin Yun didn’t offer any resistance at all. The Vajra figure shot backward, spinning like a top.

However, he didn’t seem to have sustained much damage. Only a trace of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, and his expression remained vacant—as if he still hadn’t processed what happened and found it utterly unbelievable.

Su Chen felt a slight numbness in his right leg and secretly clicked his tongue. “In my current state, I *can* fight him, but there’s no need to.”

He was only able to maintain this state because his Permanent Body reduced his energy consumption while constantly drawing nutrients from the Great Heaven Pill to replenish himself. If he had relied solely on his own power, he probably would have collapsed from exhaustion after taking just one hit. His current rate of depletion had reached an unimaginable level, and the Great Heaven Pill was shrinking at a noticeably faster pace.

“This thing is seriously incredible. If I get the chance in the future, I need to get my hands on a few more,” he thought.

Su Chen’s mind stirred, and a mental fluctuation instantly rippled outward. “Don’t just stand there! Attack!”

Being able to fight didn’t mean he could win. The fundamental gap between him and Qin Yun was simply too vast. He had only managed to withstand the blow by forcibly raising his Tier through limit release and stacking various augmentations. But that was far from enough to actually win; even heavily injured, Qin Yun was still a genuine Morning Star.

However, he wasn’t the only one here.

Ku Baiye, who was the closest, suddenly snapped to his senses and lunged forward. But instead of charging at Qin Yun, he positioned himself protectively in front of Su Chen.

Lin Langtian and the others had also rushed over. He Chengying closed in, wielding a pair of giant axes. His entire body was flushed crimson, and his eyes burned like molten gold. With every raise of his hands, the axe blades spat out tongues of crimson flame.

Lin Langtian was surrounded by turbulent, ash-black yin energy that rolled like furious waves. With a light tap of his finger against the void, talismans condensed from black mist descended. The talismans detonated silently, transforming into countless Soul-Devouring Black Shadows that swarmed toward Qin Yun like locusts.

Five Chairmen, some excelling in close combat and others in ranged attacks, unleashed entirely different torrents of Energy. The attacks intersected and collided in the void, blasting out silent shockwaves.

“How could this happen? How could this happen?” Qin Yun seemed to have gone mad. He recklessly squeezed every drop of his Origin, completely ignoring the incoming attacks. He only wanted to charge at Su Chen, but he was securely locked in the center, unable to break through.

Naturally, Su Chen had no intention of fighting Qin Yun in this state, opting to watch from the periphery.

The combined might of Lin Langtian and the other Chairmen was more than enough to suppress a heavily wounded Qin Yun. In no time at all, he was bound. Suffering from grievous injuries, he was tightly restrained and forced to half-kneel in the void.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” Qin Yun’s hair was disheveled, and he was covered in blood. His face twisted grotesquely as his mental fluctuations rippled wildly. “You’ve all been fooled! You’ve all been deceived! He isn’t Su Chen at all!

“He’s that Residual Spirit! His body was taken over by that Residual Spirit long ago! Idiots! You’re all a bunch of idiots!”

“Residual Spirit?” Lin Langtian’s expression shifted slightly. He looked down at the half-kneeling Qin Yun with a hint of pity. It hadn’t even been a few years since the man was at the zenith of his power, and memories of the past were still vivid in his mind.

With a mere wave of his hand, he completely choked off the transmission of Qin Yun’s mental fluctuations.

Su Chen floated off to the side with his arms crossed. He had already dispelled his various augmentations. After all, they weren’t without their costs—especially limit release, which would result in a stagnation of his developmental progress afterward. The longer it was sustained and the higher the Tier reached, the longer the stagnation period would be.

He looked at Qing Cang, who had just appeared beside him, and frowned. “Senior Brother, how did this guy get out?”

“I still held onto a sliver of hope, after all.” Qing Cang shook his head, his eyes intensely cold as he looked at the disheveled Qin Yun.

“You’ve all been deceived, Qing Cang… He hasn’t been Su Chen for a long time.” Qin Yun stared at Su Chen with a sinister gaze. “Did you really think you could fool everyone?”

No one cared about what Qin Yun was saying.

On one side was Su Chen, the future Ancient King with boundless potential, who had just resolved the Flame Fire crisis in their most critical moment and endured a direct strike from Qin Yun. On the other side was Qin Yun, a traitor who had put on an act to deceive everyone and lure the Royal Court here. It went without saying who they would believe.

Besides, the myriad of incomprehensible things surrounding Su Chen wasn’t a recent development. No one paid him any mind.

Su Chen, somewhat hesitantly, asked, “So, do we lock him up again and wait for the Ancient King to return and kill him?”

“Waiting for the Ancient King’s return is letting him off too easily!” Qing Cang sneered coldly. “The crime of betraying the Sect is unforgivable!”

Earlier, when Qin Yun had killed the Morning Stars of the other Sects in the Flame Space, none of them belonged to the Bronze Sect. That could merely be chalked up to self-preservation on the verge of death. However, his recent attempt to destroy the Copper Shield from the inside and invite the Royal Court in was an ironclad act of treason.

“On behalf of our Master, I sentence him to death for the crime of treason!” Qing Cang’s voice was frigid.

The moment his words fell, the phantom of the Ancient King atop the Copper Heart extended a finger. A streak of data-like lightning descended into Qin Yun’s body.

Killing a Morning Star was extremely troublesome; the Unity of Spirit and Body was not merely an empty phrase. Even though Qin Yun was heavily injured, it would still take a considerable amount of effort for the few of them to thoroughly destroy him.

“You’ve… all been fooled…” Even on the brink of death, Qin Yun continued to murmur those words as the light gradually faded from his eyes.

Su Chen looked at Qin Yun’s corpse, his expression shifting slightly.

While Lin Langtian and the others displayed somewhat complicated expressions, not a trace of pity could be found in Qing Cang’s eyes. He simply turned his head, staring through the resplendent Energy Barrier toward the Royal Court’s fleet.

“Now, it’s time to settle the score.”

With the Flame Fire secure, unless a true Moonlight arrived, breaching this place was a fool’s dream. Consequently, the measures left behind by their Master naturally had other uses.

With a thought from Qing Cang, the massive phantom above the Copper Heart abruptly retracted, transforming into a streak of Flowing Light that shot straight outside the barrier.

***

“There will never be a better opportunity than this,” Peng King said dejectedly, withdrawing his gaze. “Let’s go.”

His enthusiasm waned. There was no longer any point in staying here.

A hint of reluctance lingered in Lu Feng’s eyes, but as he looked at the Energy Barrier shining like cyan-gold, he could only shake his head.

The figures of the group flickered and, along with the Star River Throne, vanished from the mothership.

When they returned to the command room, their expressions involuntarily froze. They saw Han Xiao trembling violently, his face deathly pale and his expression dazed. He wasn’t the only one; the rest of the staff in the command room were in a similar state. Some even appeared to have passed out.

“What happened? This mothership has an energy dampening system. The aftershocks from just now shouldn’t have affected this area,” Peng King asked, thoroughly confused.

Han Xiao, barely clinging to a shred of sanity, answered in a trembling voice. “S-Something… Something happened! The royal capital is under attack! Zhou Lingtian led the Long River Family in a surprise assault on the Royal Court! The three great Deceitful God’s Followers—Crimson, Cunning Fox, and Faceless Ghost—also made their move!”