Chapter 29: A Glimpse of Their Power (2)

Some distance away from the place where the Cause and Effect Tree had once stood before being refined by the Three Lives Covenant Array, a flying boat moved steadily through the sky.

Seated at the front was an old man with a long beard, Shen Wuchen, a cultivator from the Qin Dynasty, while behind him sat his two disciples.

"Master, did we really have to come all the way to this desolate region?" Qin Feng asked, unable to hide the disdain in his voice. "Is there really anything worth the trip?"

Shen Wuchen stroked his beard and calmly replied, "The Azure Plains Region may have declined, but it was once one of the most prosperous regions in the entire Canglan Continent. Even now, some formidable sects remain here."

"Even so, none of them should be a match for Master, right?"

Shen Wuchen laughed. "Hahaha. You can never be certain. There are plenty of cultivators who conceal their cultivation and pretend to be weak while waiting for an opportunity to strike. Never judge a cultivator by appearances alone."

Despite his words of caution, the quiet confidence in his tone made it clear he still held firm belief in his own strength. Both Qin Feng and Bai Xue nodded, each privately thinking that their master was indeed the strongest.

"Master, we originally came here to reinforce the Crimson Flame Sect against the Black Desolation Sect," Bai Xue said. "But we’ve already heard along the way that the war has ended. Do we still need to go there?"

A faint gleam passed through Shen Wuchen’s eyes.

"Precisely because the Crimson Flame Sect lost, we need to go there even more."

"The Crimson Fire, the sect’s treasured flame, cannot be allowed to remain in the hands of the evil Black Desolation Sect."

Qin Feng’s eyes lit up with curiosity. "Is the Crimson Fire really that powerful?"

"Yes." Shen Wuchen nodded. "Among all the Treasure Flames known to have appeared in this world, it ranks among the top five."

"That’s why we need to obtain it first and keep it in our possession until the Crimson Flame Sect has recovered enough to stand on its own feet again."

His tone was solemn, his words carrying the righteousness of someone determined to protect another sect’s treasure from falling into the hands of an evil force.

Whether he would actually return the Crimson Fire once it was in his hands was another matter entirely.

Neither of his disciples questioned him, however. To them, their master’s reasoning was perfectly sound. If they helped the Crimson Flame Sect recover, then naturally the sect should be grateful to them for their assistance.

Bai Xue suddenly sighed. "It’s just a shame that Senior Brother Haoyu couldn’t come with us."

"It can’t be helped," Qin Feng replied. "He’s searching for an opportunity to break through into the Spiritual Core Realm."

Shen Wuchen was listening quietly from the side, when his expression suddenly changed, and his eyes turned toward a particular direction.

He could sense a trace of aura, of something so profound that he had never felt anything like it, not even from his sect master or the strongest cultivators he had encountered in the Qin Dynasty.

Shen Wuchen immediately changed direction.

The greed in his eyes seemed to overwhelm everything else. What kind of treasure could possess an aura like this?

Before long, he reached the source.

His gaze first fell upon the Array Formation engraved across the ground. Shen Wuchen’s eyes narrowed as he studied it, and the more he looked, the more astonished he became.

What kind of Array Formation was this?

He had seen Earth and Heaven Grade Array Formations before, but even those seemed crude compared to the intricate formation before him. The sheer complexity of its inscriptions was beyond anything he had encountered.

What kind of treasure was being sealed here?

The greed in his eyes grew even stronger.

Only then did Shen Wuchen notice the three cultivators standing within the formation. One of them was sitting cross-legged, clearly having just broken through, while the other two stood nearby.

His gaze lingered on the women.

Both possessed beauty far beyond what he had expected to encounter in such a remote and seemingly backward region. A different kind of greed appeared in his eyes as his attention settled on the silver-haired woman, who was clearly the strongest among the three.

He immediately flew closer.

"Little girl," Shen Wuchen called out with a smile that carried little sincerity, "I sensed the fluctuation of spiritual power and came here. Other cultivators will undoubtedly notice it soon and flock here as well. Why don’t you hand over the treasure you’re guarding? In exchange, I can protect you from the others."

Ji Yue did not reply.

Her gaze remained on him, but the look in her eyes was so indifferent that Shen Wuchen almost felt as though she were looking at an ant crawling on the ground.

She raised a hand, and a sword made of ice, more than three zhang in length materialized and shot toward Shen Wuchen with terrifying speed.

He blocked it with ease.

"Young lady, to carry jade is to invite guilt," Shen Wuchen said, his tone growing sharper. "Do you really think you can protect such a treasure?"

Ji Yue still didn’t answer. She stepped onto the air and rose gracefully until she stood at the same height as Shen Wuchen. Then, without wasting another word, she raised her hand again.

This time, nine swords appeared.

They shot forward simultaneously, their blades tearing through the air as they surrounded Shen Wuchen from different directions.

"I gave you a chance, but you didn’t cherish it."

Shen Wuchen’s face darkened. He swung his palm forward, and a tremendous force erupted from it, meeting the nine swords head-on.

The clash between them shook the surrounding air, and what had begun as a seemingly casual encounter quickly turned into a fierce battle.

Watching from the ground, Gu Yuan could only sigh.

So... it really had come to this.

He had hoped this trip would proceed smoothly and peacefully, but this was a cultivation world. Perhaps he had simply been expecting too much.

Gu Yuan shook his head and put those distracting thoughts aside. There was no time to dwell on them, especially when the two young cultivators who had accompanied that elder suddenly descended toward him.

One was at the first stage of the Golden Core Realm, while the other was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Both had higher cultivation than him, yet strangely, Gu Yuan felt no fear.

Was it because the twins were here, or because his own strength had grown considerably?

He didn’t know.

Either way, he took out his saber and settled into a ready stance.

"What? You’re going to resist with a first-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation?" Qin Feng sneered.

First-stage Foundation Establishment?

Gu Yuan blinked.

It was only then that he remembered, he had already reached the seventh stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm, but he had never bothered to adjust the cultivation level displayed by the Thousand Forms Ring.

So, in Qin Feng’s eyes, he was still a first-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"You can’t know unless you try."

Gu Yuan naturally had no intention of correcting him. If Qin Feng wanted to underestimate him, he was more than happy to let him.

Taking a deep breath, Gu Yuan suddenly moved.

His saber descended in a heavy vertical strike, carrying a force far beyond what Qin Feng had expected from him. The blade seemed capable of overwhelming everything in its path, crushing through all defenses with sheer might.

The second move of the Heaven Rend Saber Technique.

Breaking the Mountain.

The saber fell... and Qin Feng’s body was split cleanly in two, his eyes still wide with disbelief as his life came to an abrupt end.

As shocked as Qin Feng had been, Gu Yuan himself was not much better. The second move had drained most of his Spirit Qi. Even so...

Wasn’t this a little too powerful?

A smile almost appeared on Gu Yuan’s face. He couldn’t help but feel quite pleased with the strength he had gained.

His gaze shifted toward Bai Xue, who was still standing nearby. He hadn’t forgotten about her.

The aloofness she had displayed earlier was long gone. Her hands trembled as she looked toward her master, but Shen Wuchen was still locked in an intense battle with Ji Yue and showed no sign of being able to come down and help her anytime soon.

"Please spare my life!" she suddenly dropped to her knees and begged, catching Gu Yuan by surprise.

In that brief moment of hesitation, Bai Xue, who had been carefully observing him, and had already noticed how exhausted he appeared. Seizing the opportunity, she rose and thrust her sword toward him.

But instead of piercing flesh, the sword cut through empty air.

Using the Nine Phantom Steps he had received from Luo Yunjin, Gu Yuan was already standing behind her.

Bai Xue mechanically turned her head.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean-"

She never finished the sentence. A flash of saber light passed through her neck, and her head fell to the ground.

Drawing the Horizon, the first move of the Heaven-Rending Saber Technique.

Gu Yuan had finished her instantly as well.

"Not bad."

Ji Yan’s voice suddenly came from behind him.

Gu Yuan turned toward her, only to find that the spot where she had been meditating was already empty.

When did she move?

He hadn’t sensed her approaching at all.

"They underestimated me," Gu Yuan said, glancing at the two corpses. "Otherwise, this battle wouldn’t have been this easy."

Ji Yan shook her head.

"That’s their problem. You can’t expect an enemy to reveal all their cards before attacking. If they chose to lower their guard after seeing only what you allowed them to see, then they have only themselves to blame."

Gu Yuan nodded. That was indeed how he saw it as well. He had no obligation to fight according to his opponent’s expectations.

"Anyway, wait a little longer. The battle over there will be finished soon."

With those words, Ji Yan rose into the air and flew toward the still-fighting Ji Yue.

"Yan, you can fight already?" Ji Yue asked.

"Yes. Leave him to me."

Although she had only just broken through into the Spiritual Core Realm and hadn’t had time to consolidate her cultivation, and her opponent was a peak Spiritual Core Realm, Ji Yan wasn’t worried in the slightest.

If anything, this was the perfect opportunity to test the strength she had gained from her breakthrough.

Shen Wuchen, who until now had shown little reaction even to the deaths of his disciples, suddenly his expression changed slightly, and he seemed to realize something as he looked at the two women standing together.

"You... are the Heavenly Twin Stars of the Black Desolation Sect?"

"Why?" Ji Yan smirked. "Did you suddenly become afraid?"

Shen Wuchen merely snorted.

"Acting upon Heaven’s will, today I shall slay the two great evils of the Azure Plains Region!"

Ji Yan stared at him for a moment, then she scoffed.

"Heaven’s will? Don’t make me laugh. You’re just another greedy old bastard who saw something he wanted and decided to dress up robbery as righteousness."

Before the last word fully left her mouth, she punched.

A fist of flame erupted from her hand, its terrifying heat distorting the air as it surged forward.

For an instant, the blazing fist seemed to blot out the sun itself.

Shen Wuchen’s expression changed, and he immediately raised his hand to defend.

The battle intensified. Yet Ji Yue didn’t interfere.

Instead, she calmly descended and came to stand beside Gu Yuan, leaving Ji Yan to face Shen Wuchen alone.

Gu Yuan watched the battle in silence.

The difference was obvious.

Even though Shen Wuchen was a peak Spiritual Core Realm cultivator, Ji Yan, who had only just entered the same major realm, was overwhelming him.

Was this the difference between ordinary cultivators and these two monsters?

Gu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

He really did have a long way to go.

Shen Wuchen was already struggling to defend himself. Every collision sent shockwaves through the surrounding air, and his expression grew increasingly ugly as he realized that he was gradually losing ground.

He couldn’t win... the thought had barely appeared in his mind before Shen Wuchen abruptly turned and fled.

Waiting for him was a spear of ice more than ten zhang long. He had no time to avoid it.

In desperation he took out a small bronze bell, his trump card, a defensive treasure that he had never used during the earlier exchange.

The bell expanded rapidly and enveloped him in a layer of golden light just as the ice spear arrived.

BOOM!

The impact sent Shen Wuchen flying backward.

He had barely managed to block it.

His face was pale, and before he could even steady himself, a familiar, terrifying aura suddenly appeared behind him.

Shen Wuchen froze. It was the same aura that had originally drawn him here.

The aura that had made him greedy enough to throw caution aside.

Shen Wuchen’s pupils grew vacant. Facing that pure intent of Destruction, he seemed to lose all capacity for thought. He did not even notice when his body was completely obliterated beneath Ji Yan’s descending fist.

Ash scattered in the wind.

The clearing fell silent once more.

Ji Yan floated down and landed lightly beside her sister and Gu Yuan. She brushed a speck of ash from her sleeve as though it were nothing more than dust.

"Trash," she muttered.

Gu Yuan looked at the empty sky where a peak Spiritual Core cultivator had just been standing, then at the two women standing calmly beside him.

A moment ago, that man had been confident enough to speak of Heaven’s will and slaying the "evils" of the Azure Plains Region.

Now, he was no more.

Gu Yuan had originally thought that breaking through to the seventh stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm and mastering the second move of the Heaven-Rending Saber Technique had made his strength quite impressive.

And it was.

But after witnessing this battle...

He suddenly felt that he still had a very, very long way to go.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ji Yan asked playfully, noticing his gaze.

"Nothing. I’m just thinking that I should probably cultivate a little harder."