Chapter 502 - 471: Dou Shanhe, Zuo Qinlong

Chapter 502: Chapter 471: Dou Shanhe, Zuo Qinlong

BOOM—

Ominous clouds completely blotted out the sky, and flickering lightning cast Celestial Ghost Ridge in alternating light and shadow.

In the distance, endless rumbles echoed from within Ghost Mother Peak.

Ding Haochuan and the other five Golden Core cultivators had already stepped into Celestial Ghost City.

"Why haven’t you made a move yet?!"

Just then, Zhao Shifeng couldn’t hold back any longer. But as the words left his mouth, a thunderous roar echoed as Zuo Qinlong’s aura erupted with ferocious power.

The aura of a Golden Core Eighth Layer cultivator was terrifying beyond measure.

In a single instant, it froze the ominous clouds overhead. It even caused the expressions of the few Golden Core cultivators who had just entered Celestial Ghost City to shift drastically, nearly making them cry out, ’It’s an ambush!’

But surprisingly, Zuo Qinlong’s target was Chen Che. He took a step forward, and with a flip of his hands, a powerful black spear appeared in his palms. As he thrust the spearpoint forward, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi stirred, and even the ominous clouds overhead were drawn down.

SWOOSH—

Before the eyes of countless cultivators in the city, a dark haze descended. The vast expanse of ominous clouds was swept up by Zuo Qinlong’s spear, coiling around the shaft and transforming into a black dragon that stretched across Celestial Ghost City.

The attack was nothing short of swift and brutal, enough to make the blood of the other Golden Core cultivators present run cold.

’Infighting?’

’Or is it...’

No one understood why Zuo Qinlong had suddenly attacked, but no one dared deny the power behind that spear thrust.

Had it been them, they could only have dodged; they wouldn’t even have the courage to block it.

"Valley Master Chen!"

Inside the city, Lei Boyu had seen the Golden Core cultivators enter and was preparing for a desperate fight to the death. When he suddenly witnessed this scene, he couldn’t help but cry out, "Get out of the way—!"

It seemed as if this single spear strike could raze the entire Celestial Ghost City to the ground.

In fact, the faces of Ding Haochuan and the other Golden Core cultivators who had entered the city turned pale. A thought rose unbidden in their minds: ’Even if the six of us joined forces, we might not be able to block this strike!’

Yet, under everyone’s watchful eyes, Chen Che didn’t budge an inch. Instead, he raised a hand, and with a flip of his wrist, a gourd shot into the air and hurtled toward his opponent.

The gourd looked exquisite, with an appearance like gold-plated jade. Although luxurious, it seemed incredibly fragile. In everyone’s eyes, it looked as if it would be swallowed by the sky-spanning black dragon in an instant.

But the result was the exact opposite. Wherever the gourd passed, the ominous clouds scattered.

Like a dagger tearing through a long piece of cloth, it ripped through the black dragon, creating a vacuum in its wake.

BOOM—

The shattered remnants of the ominous clouds billowed outward, engulfing the surroundings like a tempest and plunging everyone into what felt like a sea of black clouds.

Then, this sea of clouds was torn apart by the hurricane-force winds generated by the clash of the spear and the gourd. The only sound left in anyone’s ears was the howling gale. WHOOSH! No one could have imagined the gourd’s might. They only saw Zuo Qinlong’s body get thrown back uncontrollably, his feet dragging across the ground and carving a deep trench.

"What kind of magical artifact is this?"

Amid his surprise, Zuo Qinlong stomped his foot, sending a tremor through Celestial Ghost City and finally halting his retreat. Everyone could see that the hand gripping his spear was trembling slightly, shaken by the immense force carried by the gourd.

He had never seen such a bizarre magical artifact.

Then, he gritted his teeth. The tip of his spear jabbed out in a blur, and the scattered clouds reconverged, forming into a host of frenzied dragons.

The moment they formed, they thrashed their bodies and surged forward from the left, the right, above, and below. They appeared and swarmed in from all directions, completely surrounding Chen Che.

"Absorb!"

But Chen Che just shouted a single word. The gourd spun into the air, its mouth aimed toward the void.

WHOOSH—

A fierce wind howled. The frenzied dragons, formed from clouds and infused with True Essence, were swept up by the gale. They merged into a single torrent and were sucked into the gourd like a murky flood.

"Huh?"

A trace of astonishment flickered in Zuo Qinlong’s eyes. He was thoroughly surprised.

It wasn’t just him; even Dou Shanhe frowned.

’It wasn’t that magical artifacts had to specialize in a single function.’

’It’s just that only by specializing could an artifact unleash its maximum power.’

’The flashier and more varied an artifact’s abilities, the more its power is diluted. But this gourd’s might far exceeded his imagination. Neither its weight nor its unique absorptive power was something that could be matched even by two specialized magical artifacts combined.’

Before he could even react, Chen Che made a sharp downward motion with his hand, and the hovering gourd spun as it plummeted.

’Not good!’

To onlookers, the gourd seemed to drift down as gently as a feather, not worth a second glance. But Zuo Qinlong, having already experienced its power, knew its terror all too well. He hurriedly retracted his spear and retreated.

THUD—

Just as everyone was wondering why Zuo Qinlong would retreat without a fight, the Thunder Jade Gourd hit the ground.

The impact was like the sky falling and the earth shattering.

The entire Celestial Ghost City shuddered violently. Many felt the ground tremble and the mountains sway. The spot where the gourd landed instantly fractured. Countless cracks spread out like a mad tide, and wherever they passed, city walls crumbled and buildings exploded.

In a single instant, a massive crater several miles wide appeared, centered on the gourd.

"This power... You’re the one who killed Pei Chu of the Ten Thousand Gods Sect!"

Dou Shanhe, who had been staring dumbfounded, was suddenly jolted by a realization.

After obtaining a Memory Bead from Ten Thousand Gods Mountain post-battle, he had tried to deduce the identity of the mysterious expert responsible. But all traces on the mountain had been wiped clean, leaving only the shattered remains of Ten Thousand Gods Mountain itself.

Now, seeing the impact of the gourd striking the ground, he was immediately reminded of the massive fissure on Ten Thousand Gods Mountain.

"What?"

Zuo Qinlong’s eyes were filled with shock.

He too had speculated about who was responsible, but Chen Che had been the first person he ruled out. Thinking back now, he realized it must have been Chen Che acting alongside Chen Xi and Hermit Fushan. Even though it was three people, annihilating the entire Ten Thousand Gods Sect without letting a single Golden Core cultivator escape was a testament to their terrifying strength.

His bold claim of having a seventy percent chance of killing Chen Che had long since vanished like smoke.

As shock filled his heart, he flicked his hand, and a ring shot off his finger.

VMM! VMM! VMM!

The body of the ring suddenly trembled. It split from one into two, two into four, then hundreds, then thousands. In an instant, it had multiplied into tens of thousands. With a point of his finger, the countless rings whirred as they spun and charged forward.

An earth-shattering roar erupted, so powerful that it caused the cultivators below the Foundation Establishment realm to bleed from all seven orifices.

Meanwhile, Dou Shanhe was not idle.

Killing intent had sparked within him the moment he saw Zuo Qinlong at a disadvantage. After guessing that Chen Che was the mastermind behind the destruction of Ten Thousand Gods Mountain, his desire to kill grew to its peak. He snapped open his folding fan and gave it a swift wave.

A hurricane-force wind swept up the rubble from the city walls, instantly pulverizing it into a raging sandstorm. With another wave of the fan, it transformed into a sandstorm that blotted out the sky.

"The Wind and Cloud Fan! He’s Dou Shanhe, the Great Protector of the Star-Picking Sect!"

Previously, no one had understood what was happening, but the moment this fan appeared, everyone present recognized him. Zhao Shifeng, in particular, cried out in shock.

Someone of a lower status wouldn’t even know his name.

But in a sect full of Golden Core cultivators, to hold the seat of Great Protector, one’s strength could hardly be ordinary. This Great Protector’s cultivation was at the Golden Core Eighth Layer; he was an old monster who had undergone Core Formation four hundred years ago.

He had become famous even earlier than Zuo Qinlong. Three hundred years ago, his Wind and Cloud Fan was known by nearly everyone in the territories under the Star-Picking Sect’s control.

"Dou Shanhe and Zuo Qinlong are actually ganging up on Valley Master Chen..."

"Could it be that the City Lord has already submitted to the Star-Picking Sect?"

Amid the crowd’s exclamations, the wind stirred up by the fan swept past the surrounding cultivators. Instantly, their flesh was stripped from their bones, and their entire bodies disintegrated into piles of sand.

The sandstorm, now mixed with blood and sand, rapidly transformed under countless terrified gazes. Its leading edge morphed into tens of thousands of majestic, lion-like demon beasts, their footsteps like rolling thunder.

The manes of the pride of lions, conjured from wind and sand, rippled as they ran. Each time their paws struck the ground, they left a deep claw print. They charged toward Chen Che on the city wall in an overwhelming tide.

WHOOSH—

The combined might of two Golden Core Eighth Layer cultivators was terrifying to behold. In an instant, their power enveloped the entire Celestial Ghost City.

In fact, even the attacking Golden Core cultivators like Ding Haochuan and the defending Zhao Shifeng found their expressions changing drastically. They all retreated in unison, terrified of being swept into the battle.

However, Chen Che simply stomped his foot, pushing his True Essence to its absolute limit. He waved a hand, formed a seal technique, and the Thunder Jade Gourd on the ground shot up, releasing a brilliant light.

SWOOSH—

A violent suction force erupted from the gourd.

RIP!

Under this force, the fully-formed lion beasts were immediately torn apart. They collapsed on the spot, turning into a roiling current. Like a hundred rivers flowing into one, the suction condensed the sand into a single stream, which swirled in mid-air before being swallowed by the gourd.

In no more than three breaths’ time, the sky-blotting sandstorm had vanished into nothing.

"This... how is this possible..."

Dou Shanhe’s eyes were wide with fury and disbelief.

At the same time, Chen Che raised two fingers of his other hand. His Sword Pill flew out, and in the blink of an eye, it multiplied into thousands!

CLANG—

Thousands of collisions overlapped, merging into a single, thunderous explosion. Amid a brilliant bloom of spiritual light, each flying sword precisely shattered one of the descending rings, leaving only a single, dark-gold ring to spin back before Zuo Qinlong.

"Cough! Cough!"

Zuo Qinlong stumbled back several steps, coughing violently as a trickle of tainted blood sprayed from his throat. When he stopped, he stared at Chen Che, his face a mask of utter shock.

"You..."