The dragons roared sharply, bringing vibrations that crumbled the debris around the two mountain seals about to strike Zhi Xuan. Their roars were not sounds from the vocal cords of mortal creatures, but the resonance of torn natural laws.

  The six dragons—three pitch-black like hell’s soot, and three brilliant white like eternal snow—entwined around the blade of the Heavenly Sword before soaring into the sky, forming a massive vortex formation that defied the oppressive direction of Elder Cao’s spiritual mountains.

  "Yin-Yang Heavenly Dragon: Cruel Heavens!"

  Zhi Xuan’s voice thundered, carrying the karmic burden he had borne since leaving the Ancient Devil Land. As the word Cruel was uttered, the crimson glow from the mark on his forehead was absorbed into the bodies of the dragons. The dragons, which originally represented the balance of Yin and Yang, now mutated into slaughtering entities thirsty for life essence.

  BOOM! BOOM!

  Elder Cao’s two spiritual mountains, which should have been capable of splitting a continent, came to an abrupt halt in mid-air. The dragons did not crash into the mountains; instead, they coiled around them with their long, sharp-scaled bodies. In an instant, the golden mountains began to rust and crack, their spiritual essence forcibly drained by the fangs of Zhi Xuan’s mental dragons.

  "What?! What kind of technique is this?!" Elder Cao screamed, his face filled with horror as he felt his own inner energy being pulled out in an agonizing flow. "You... you are devouring my Law of the Mountains?!"

  Zhi Xuan did not answer with words. He shot upward amidst the created energy storm. His body seemed to be pulled by the dragons, piercing through the ruins of the mountains that were now disintegrating into spiritual dust. High in the air, Zhi Xuan raised his Heavenly Sword above his head.

  WHUSH!

  With a sharp boom, Zhi Xuan lunged toward Elder Cao, forcing him into close-quarters combat so as not to allow the Elder to trouble him further with Mountain Seals. Elder Cao gnashed his teeth, retaliating by manifesting chains that bore the weight of soul-scourging.

  The chains darted like silver serpents hungry for bone marrow, each link carved with Soul-Binding seals capable of tearing a mortal’s consciousness apart just by the sound of their clinking. Elder Cao, his face flushed with rage and shame, twisted his wrist, creating a spiritual iron net that tried to lock every angle of Zhi Xuan’s movement.

  "Arrogant youth! Do you think your Demonic Body can withstand this soul-severing lash?!" Elder Cao roared as he jerked his hands.

  Zhi Xuan did not dodge. Instead, his sapphire eyes now glowed with the golden radiance of his divine physique merged with the red aura of the Annihilator mark. He charged forward, letting the chains lash against his shoulders and chest.

  CLANG! CLANG!

  The sound of the impact did not resemble iron meeting flesh, but rather a giant hammer striking a plate of heavenly metal. Every time a chain hit Zhi Xuan’s skin, golden sparks exploded, yet not a single wound was scratched. His Heavenly-Blood Body law had reached a level where every drop of his blood was as heavy as a frozen river and every bone was as hard as ancient diamond.

  "Is this all?" Zhi Xuan hissed as he darted into the reach of Elder Cao’s arms.

  He threw his left fist, wrapped in twilight-gray energy. The air in front of his fist exploded due to the immense pressure, creating a momentary vacuum. Elder Cao flinched, instinctively crossing his arms to block the onslaught.

  BUM!

  Elder Cao was thrown back several zhang, his arms feeling numb as if he had just been hit by a falling meteor. However, as a late-stage Soul Transformation practitioner, his mental ocean was vast and boundless. With one breath, he consolidated his essence, creating an energy burst that pushed Zhi Xuan away.

  "Get away from me, Devil!" Elder Cao screamed. He knew all too well that engaging in a physical contest with this monster of heavenly blood was an act of suicide. He stomped his foot in the air, triggering a technique to create a distance of thousands of zhang in an instant.

  But Zhi Xuan did not let him breathe. Every time Elder Cao relocated, Zhi Xuan reappeared in his shadow using his mastery of the Nine Heavens Shadow. The distance created by the Elder meant nothing before the master of darkness.

  "You wish to stay away? This world is my shadow; where can you run?" Zhi Xuan’s voice sounded right behind the nape of Elder Cao’s neck.

  Zhi Xuan swung his Heavenly Sword in a horizontal slash carrying the weight of a thousand mountains. Elder Cao was forced to use his soul chains as an emergency shield. The chains wrapped around Zhi Xuan’s blade, creating sparks that illuminated the now-dark sky of Mist Valley.

  This close combat turned into a brutal dance of death. Zhi Xuan unleashed a series of devastating punches and slashes, each movement carrying pure killing intent. Elder Cao, despite being continuously pressed, demonstrated the incredible wealth of his essence. Every time he was injured, the abundant spiritual essence from his mental ocean immediately closed the wound and reinforced his defenses.

  "So stubborn," Zhi Xuan murmured.

  He realized that although he was physically superior, killing a late-stage expert with energy reserves as vast as an ocean was no simple feat. Elder Cao’s essence seemed inexhaustible, allowing him to keep manifesting shields and counterattacks even as his body trembled violently.

  Elder Cao noticed a slight fatigue in Zhi Xuan’s rhythm. He shouted loudly, "Fourth Mountain: Diamond Prison!"

  Four giant stone pillars manifested instantly around Zhi Xuan, trapping him in a narrow, crushing space. Elder Cao used this momentum to dart even further back, his hands forming a seal more complex than any before.

  "Gu Fengyan! You have a powerful body, but let us see if your soul can withstand the weight of the entire southern region!"

  Zhi Xuan was squeezed between the pillars, yet his smile only grew more terrifying. He let the mark on his forehead burn to its peak. "The weight of the southern region? I have carried hell on my shoulders; these mountains of yours are but grains of dust!"

  Zhi Xuan released his full spiritual pressure, letting the six dragons hovering around him dive back into his body. His frame expanded for a moment, radiating a gray aura capable of cracking the prison pillars with just a mental vibration.

  CRACK!

  The pillars shattered into tiny fragments. Zhi Xuan shot out like an arrow released from a God's bow, leaving a trail of crimson lightning in his wake. He pursued Elder Cao, who had already begun to chant his Fifth Mountain technique.

  "No more mountains, old man! Only a grave!"

  Zhi Xuan slammed his elbow into Elder Cao’s chest with a force capable of toppling a city fortress. The sound of snapping ribs was heard clearly, followed by a spray of blood containing fragments of internal organs. At the same time, however, Elder Cao managed to touch his soul chain to Zhi Xuan’s ankle, trying to drag the youth's consciousness into an endless soul torture.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  The two were now locked in a lethal energy struggle in the air—a collision between matchless physical strength and bottomless essence depth. Beneath them, Mist Valley continued to tremble, as if the earth itself feared the outcome of these two monsters' battle.

  The massive shock of the physical clash created a vacuum at the center of Mist Valley, where spiritual dust swirled like a dying galaxy. Zhi Xuan felt his ankle entwined by the cold of the Soul-Severing Chain, but instead of pulling away, he used the chain as an anchor to pull Elder Cao closer to his destruction.

  "You wish to drag me into your mental hell?" Zhi Xuan hissed, his voice hoarse from the thickening red haze. "Know this—I am the ruler there!"

  Zhi Xuan jerked his leg with raw strength that could shift tectonic plates. Elder Cao, who had intended to pull Zhi Xuan's consciousness, was instead dragged like a rag doll toward the youth. Within a distance of less than a span, Zhi Xuan released the hilt of his Heavenly Sword and delivered a rapid succession of punches to the Elder's solar plexus and face.

  DUAK! BUM! PRAK!

  Every blow Zhi Xuan landed bore the weight of the Heavenly-Blood Body law. His left fist struck Elder Cao’s jaw, crushing his facial bones, while his right knee slammed into his opponent's chest, shattering Cao’s spiritual earth armor into pieces.

  Elder Cao’s eyes bulged, now filled with burst capillaries. He felt every cell in his body screaming in pain from the vibrations of Zhi Xuan’s physical power that surpassed all limits. Yet, as a late-stage practitioner, his mental ocean was an seemingly shoreless sea.

  As his body broke, his overflowing spiritual essence exploded from his pores like a flood, forcibly pushing Zhi Xuan away to create a gap for breath.

  "Release... me... Devil!" Elder Cao roared. With his remaining strength, he triggered his Divine Essence to explode, creating a giant bell-shaped shield that pushed Zhi Xuan back dozens of zhang.

  However, Zhi Xuan was like a shadow attached to the body. As soon as he was pushed back, he stepped on the air—using shadow steps—and reappeared at Elder Cao’s blind side. His right hand gripped the Heavenly Sword once more, swinging it in a path that split the air.

  SRASSS!

  The blade tore through Elder Cao’s shoulder down to the spine, but something strange happened. Instead of spraying red blood, the wound emitted a thick golden light—late-stage spiritual essence instinctively patching the wound in the blink of an eye.

  "Truly annoying," Zhi Xuan growled. "This old body may be decayed, but its energy reserves are as if supplied by the entire spiritual pulse of the southern region."

  Zhi Xuan continued to rain brutal physical attacks upon Elder Cao. Elbows, knees, and palms became killing weapons that incessantly struck the opponent's meridian points. He moved with a speed that made mortal eyes see only black-and-white flashes surrounding a dimming golden light.

  Elder Cao tried to retaliate with a palm strike containing the weight of the "Sixth Mountain: Sky Crusher," but Zhi Xuan easily tilted his head and caught the Elder's wrist. With one cruel twisting motion, Zhi Xuan snapped the arm until the bone protruded.

  "ARRGGHH!" Elder Cao’s scream split the sky.

  But again, the rich spiritual essence from his mental ocean flowed like mercury, pulling the broken bone back into place and knitting the torn flesh in seconds. Elder Cao was an expert who had built his foundation for hundreds of years; for him, physical wounds were but a small consumption of mental energy. He looked for an opportunity—each time Zhi Xuan landed an attack, Cao tried to spread spiritual poison through the Soul-Severing Chains still waving wildly around them.

  "If I cannot match your body, I will drown you in the sea of my energy!" Elder Cao screamed madly. He released ten thousand mental chains from beneath his robes, forming a giant spherical cage that imprisoned himself and Zhi Xuan in the air.

  Inside the cage, spiritual pressure rose to a harrowing level. Every inch of air was filled with a crushing mountain intent. Zhi Xuan felt his movements slow slightly, as if moving through mud made of solid gold.

  "This is my domain now!" Elder Cao launched thousands of spiritual palm strikes from all directions, utilizing his wealth of essence to create an unrelenting, tireless assault.

  Zhi Xuan snorted, crossing his arms in front of his face, receiving the storm of blows with his divine body. Every thud made his muscles vibrate, but the fire in his eyes only burned brighter. The Annihilator mark on his forehead began to suck the pressure from the cage, converting that weight into a surge of raw power.

  "You want to use numbers?" Zhi Xuan laughed coldly, his eyes flashing wildly. "Let’s see if your ocean of energy can contain a dragon’s rampage!"

  Zhi Xuan grabbed the two nearest chains with his bare hands, and with a jerk that collapsed the cage formation, he pulled himself forward with sharp speed. He slammed his forehead directly into Elder Cao’s.

  DUAG!

  The collision of the two heads created a shockwave that collapsed the chain cage. Elder Cao faltered, his consciousness wavering for the first time. Zhi Xuan did not waste this chance. He gripped Elder Cao’s neck, lifting him high into the sky, while his right hand pulled back the Heavenly Sword, now shrouded in the purest crimson lightning.

  "Even if your essence is as vast as an ocean, I will dry it to the very bottom!"

  Zhi Xuan drove his Heavenly Sword straight into Elder Cao’s abdomen, piercing the opponent’s mental ocean. Crimson lightning exploded inside Elder Cao’s body, beginning to burn the Divine Wheel—the spiritual energy reserve that had always been his pride.

  "N-No... this is impossible!" Elder Cao coughed blood, but this time his blood was dark red, a sign that his mental foundation had been touched by Zhi Xuan’s Annihilator power.

  The physical battle reached its climax as Zhi Xuan continued to deliver crushing blows while his sword remained impaled in his opponent’s body. Elder Cao tried to push Zhi Xuan away by exploding his final essence in the form of the "Seventh Mountain: Great Ruin," but Zhi Xuan only tightened his grip, letting his divine body take the explosion directly to ensure the opponent had no way to flee.

  "If I must die, I will drag you with me, Gu Fengyan!"

  Elder Cao’s face turned a terrifying shade of crimson; the veins across his entire body bulged like the roots of an old tree about to explode. He had lost his dignity, his body was ruined, and his mental foundation was being torn apart by Zhi Xuan’s crimson lightning. In the desperation of a fallen ruler, he chose the path most feared by every being under the sky: Self-Detonation.

  "If I must die, I will drag you with me, Gu Fengyan!" Elder Cao roared. His voice was no longer human, but the roar of unstable spiritual essence.

  Zhi Xuan, with his sharp mental senses, felt Elder Cao’s heart throb with a sound that deafened his inner ears. The golden light that had originally flowed to heal wounds now condensed into a single point—the center of Elder Cao’s Sea of Consciousness—before warping at a speed beyond reason.

  "Madman!" Zhi Xuan hissed.

  Without a second's hesitation, Zhi Xuan ripped his Heavenly Sword from his opponent's stomach with one rough jerk. He stomped his foot onto Elder Cao’s chest as a springboard, darting backward like black lightning splitting the horizon.

  In the air, the cultivators from various factions who had originally surrounded him with greed instantly turned into a collection of scurrying ants.

  "He’s self-detonating! Elder Cao is committing self-destruction!" screamed an elder from the Elephant Mountain Sect, his face pale as death. "Run! Get at least fifty li away!"

  Chaos broke out instantly. The other Soul Transformation practitioners pushed their essence to the limit, darting away with the fastest movement techniques they possessed.

  However, for the practitioners below the Five Element realm and the Mo Family guards who were closer, that panic was a death knell. They tried to fly, but the air pressure created by Elder Cao’s gathering energy made the pressure at that location thousands of times heavier.

  "Help! Don't leave us—!" The words were cut short. The world seemed to lose its sound for a single heartbeat. A harrowing silence enveloped Mist Valley, before finally exploding.

  BOOOOOOOMMM!!!

  The explosion of a late-stage Soul Transformation practitioner was not just an explosion of fire. It was the collapse of a god. A blinding golden light erupted, forming a giant fireball that swallowed everything within a radius of dozens of li. The shockwave hit the air with a force capable of flattening mountain ranges.

  Zhi Xuan, already several miles away, immediately crossed the Heavenly Sword in front of his chest, calling the six Yin-Yang dragons to entwine around his body as a shield. Even so, the heatwave and spiritual pressure from the explosion still slammed into him, throwing him further away like a leaf in the middle of an apocalyptic storm.

  Below, Mist Valley no longer existed. The spiritual stone mine that was previously empty was now completely wiped off the world map. The ground sank hundreds of zhang deep, creating a giant, smoldering crater. All the spiritual pulses of the earth in that place were severed, releasing the remnants of spiritual energy that exploded like lethal fireworks into the sky.

  Hundreds of guards and cultivators who did not have time to escape left no corpses; their bodies evaporated instantly, decomposed into basic universal particles in a matter of breaths. The forests around the cliffs were burned to ash, and a dust cloud thousands of feet high billowed, blocking the morning sunlight that had just touched the earth.

  It was terrifying. The heavens of the southern region shook violently, sending energy ripples that could be felt as far as the capital cities of distant great sects. Zhi Xuan landed on the summit of a scorched hill, gasping with his essence drained. He stared toward the giant crater emitting thick black smoke.

  "One late-stage life... to flatten a valley," Zhi Xuan murmured, wiping blood from the corner of his lips. "Old man, you truly gave yourself a lavish funeral."

  "This will certainly prevent me from reaching the Mo Family auction normally," Zhi Xuan hissed coldly. "Everyone will now look at me with pure hatred and killing intent. Thus, I will force the Mo Family to hand over the Night Petal Root Fruit. If not... then I can only compel them."