Chapter 1 A Swift Cut

Lan Qie's blade nearly tore Han Dang's head apart.

The strike seemed gentle, but it detonated upon contact, almost cleaving through Han Dang's spiritual sea. Fortunately, the power of the Wine God's Throne covered his face.

Continuous divine power enveloped the wound.

The deep, bone-visible cut on his cheek rapidly healed.

Gu Nanfeng witnessed this.

Han Dang clutched the knife wound on his cheek... Although the injury had healed completely in a few breaths, the pain had been real. He looked at the young titled powerhouse returning from the Northern Continent with lingering fear.

This one strike gave him even greater pressure than Mr. Shan!

"Teacher..."

Han Dang gritted his teeth, a hint of despair in his eyes.

"I will break out with you!"

Zhu Wang took a deep breath and made a calm decision.

Behind them, Zhou Wei, the guardian of the Golden Gate, and the Chief Inquisitor would soon catch up. In front of them, there was only Gu Nanfeng!

A forced breakthrough might offer a chance!

If the titled powerhouses behind them caught up, even with the Wine God's Throne power, they would be doomed.

"Kill!"

Han Dang, usually refined and gentle, went completely mad at that moment.

He unleashed his [Truth Domain] with all his might... Their opponent seemed to have many people, but most of the transcendents were ordinary. His teacher was a titled powerhouse, and he was only a step away from the title. Now, with the Wine God's Throne power, breaking a bloody path was not impossible!

So, he chose to attack the flip-flop youth with wings on his back.

Because that youth didn't give him much pressure.

The mental power of the Truth Domain swept over like a tidal wave.

Han Dang had already planned his strategy. Once he pulled his opponent into his domain, he would use all his divine power to kill him!

However.

The youth in flip-flops just watched coldly.

The distance between them closed instantly.

The next moment.

Song Ci spat out the grass stem in his mouth, twisted his waist, and delivered a knee strike!

With a muffled thud, the knee struck Han Dang's chest, and the sound of a dozen bones shattering rang out.

Han Dang's mind went blank.

The mental tide of the [Truth] Domain crashed against the flip-flop youth, but it didn't cause any substantial damage.

Or rather, no damage at all.

The [Truth] was like a wave that had run out of steam, breaking apart in scattered fragments.

Song Ci, who had been bombarded by Han Dang's mental power, only frowned. He reached out to brush the dust off his shoulder, feeling like something had tickled him just now.

As an apostle of the Light God's Throne.

The amount of divine power he possessed was many times greater than Han Dang's.

Leaving aside divine power.

At the eleventh layer of the Deep Sea, Song Ci's close combat was virtually invincible.

Han Dang's tactic of trying to hypnotize him at close range... was simply courting death.

With just one blow, Song Ci crushed Han Dang directly.

Han Dang felt that his spine was broken. Before his divine power could repair it, a pure, vast, and scorching force surged in, and a large hand lifted him up.

Song Ci said calmly, "I know you. You're called Han Dang. You bullied my brothers in Qinghe District."

Han Dang was stunned.

He was a little confused.

Qinghe District...?

"It doesn't matter if you don't recognize me." Song Ci said calmly, "This slap is for Gu Shen."

"Slap!"

A simple, unadorned slap almost twisted Han Dang's head 180 degrees.

Song Ci released his hand as he delivered the slap.

So, Han Dang spun out like a broken sack filled with stones and fell heavily to the ground... This time, he completely lost his ability to think, his mind buzzing and seeing stars.

It wasn't over yet.

Song Ci grabbed his collar again. "There's another slap. This one is for Little Lu."

"Little Lu..."

Han Dang shrank his neck in horror, frantically circulating the remaining Wine God's Throne power in his body, blocking his left cheek. The last one had hit his right cheek, so this one should hit his left.

"Lu Nanjin, my wife." Song Ci said faintly, "She said she doesn't like you very much."

"Slap!!"

The second slap landed.

Still on the right cheek.

Song Ci never changed sides when he hit people. He always focused on one spot and beat it relentlessly...

Even so, the Wine God's Throne power that Han Dang was using was shattered.

The force of this slap was too powerful. Even with his defense, Han Dang couldn't stop it. He felt like he was being trampled by a wild beast, completely helpless.

He flew out again.

This time, Han Dang was truly terrified.

He had never encountered such a hard fist before. One punch and all the bones in his body felt like they were breaking.

This youth was not someone to be trifled with!

He would rather be beaten by Mr. Shan than by Song Ci!

Han Dang looked at the approaching figure and cried out, "Don't... don't hit me..."

A disappointed sigh.

Song Ci looked at the disheveled Han Dang and shook his head.

"I am a man of great martial virtue, and I always try to reason with people. Logically speaking, two slaps are enough."

He exerted force, pulling Han Dang's feet off the ground, and said earnestly, "But... you look so cowardly now. It's embarrassing. Makes me want to punch you again."

With that.

Song Ci clenched his fist and pulled it back.

Han Dang's pupils contracted.

...

...

Zhu Wang unfolded his domain.

Thousands of reverse-spinning petals bloomed, each as sharp as a sword. With the power of the Wine God's Throne, these petals swept towards one person, covering the sky and earth.

Gu Nanfeng drew his wooden sword.

His figure instantly blurred, and the streamer of Lan Qie shuttled between the reverse-edged petals.

Gu Nanfeng had no intention of fighting Zhu Wang to the death.

What he was doing was simple.

Just hold Zhu Wang back!

Not far away, the auras of Mr. Shan and Zhou Wei were approaching. Soon, the other titled powerhouses of Nagano would arrive to support them!

The two exchanged hundreds of blows in an instant. Zhu Wang's sharp petals couldn't even touch Gu Nanfeng's sleeves. Gu Nanfeng wore the treasure Mist Cloak of the [Rusted Bone General], as if transformed into a truly invisible flowing wind in this domain!

Before Zhu Wang could continue to use his abilities.

A burst of loud rumbling came from behind.

One punch.

Just one punch.

His beloved disciple, Han Dang, was sent flying nearly a hundred meters, crashing heavily into the mountainside of a small hill. After shattering the mountainside, he collapsed powerlessly forward, kneeling on the ground.

Strands of purple light were drawn from Han Dang's body.

His wounds no longer healed quickly.

The Wine God's Throne power abandoned him, rushing towards the cemetery.

No... this divine power was not just abandoning Han Dang.

Zhu Wang could also feel his "killing power" rapidly weakening. The divine power attached to the edges of these sharp flowers was rapidly dissipating.

The Wine God's Throne... had withdrawn its power!

The sound of air being torn apart came from afar. Mr. Shan's stone prison spread out with a rumble, creating a circular giant wall in a radius of one li.

Zhu Wang stared blankly at the purple light streaking across the dome.

He understood that he and Han Dang had become abandoned pawns.

The dome of the stone prison was covered by a layer of water curtain.

Zhou Wei and Mr. Shan arrived at the same time. The two titled powerhouses were slightly relieved to see Gu Nanfeng, but they still took full precautions to prevent Han Dang and Zhu Wang from putting up a final "desperate struggle."

However... judging from the scene at the moment.

The possibility of that happening was small.

At least Han Dang had lost his fighting ability... His face was covered in blood, his bones were broken, and he was on the verge of death. Zhou Wei and Mr. Shan exchanged glances. They hadn't seen a Deep Sea eleventh layer transcendent with such grievous injuries in a long time.

Han Dang was the ace adjudicator of the Tribunal. Just now, he had used the Wine God's Throne power to launch a successful sneak attack on Mr. Shan... How did he get beaten into this state in the blink of an eye?

All of this was done by a simple, unadorned, flip-flop-wearing, slovenly man. Song Ci plucked a wild grass root from the ground, blew on it hard, and put it back in his mouth. He began humming a tune.

Behind him, the holy light wings folded up.

Han Dang's consciousness was on the verge of shattering. He slowly fell down.

"Splatter..."

A flip-flop stepped on Han Dang without any pity.

Song Ci chewed on the wild grass and greeted vaguely, "Hey... good evening, you two big shots."

He waved to Zhou Wei and Mr. Shan from afar.

The two titled powerhouses had complicated expressions. The transcendent aura of this young man seemed to be a distance away from the title... but the combat power he displayed was moving.

This should be the only apostle of the Eastern Continent, Song Yingji from the Dadu District.

On the other side.

Gu Nanfeng's battle also came to an end.

Zhu Wang took the initiative to withdraw his domain, and the thousands of sharp "blade flowers" slowly drifted down.

The chief adjudicator looked at the heavily injured Han Dang not far away, and the killing intent in his eyes slowly faded, replaced by... endless exhaustion.

He raised his hands.

"I... confess."

Zhou Wei and Mr. Shan did not let their guard down because of Zhu Wang's surrender.

Zhou Wei put strong logic shackles on Zhu Wang.

Mr. Shan used the power of stone to restrain Han Dang.

After taking layers of protective measures... they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

This pair of master and disciple, who almost controlled the transcendent power of the entire Tribunal, were officially arrested at this moment.

What awaited them was the most severe review and judgment in the Eastern Continent.

...

...

Not long after.

A group of people arrived in front of the huge golden gate.

After listening to the information from the cemetery, Song Ci frowned and looked at Zhou Wei, "You're saying... my brother Gu is still inside the gate?"

Old Man Zhou Wei was a little embarrassed.

He sighed and could only nod.

There were too many transcendents in the cemetery... and the opening and closing of the "Golden Gate" seemed to have certain conditions, faintly, vaguely, and only a limited number of transcendents could escape each time.

The closed cemetery was able to open the Golden Gate because Master Qianye's mysterious second disciple used divination to find the gate coordinates in the real world. It was said that the girl's surname was Chu.

And these transcendents were able to evacuate safely.

It was because Gu Shen resisted the collapsing snow tide with array patterns.

"I'll be right back."

After hearing this, Song Ci rolled up his sleeves and was about to rush in.

But the next moment, Song Ci was stopped by Gu Nanfeng.

"Brother Song, don't be impulsive."

Gu Nanfeng persuaded in a deep voice, "A large-scale source collapse is happening in Qingzhong Cemetery... Everyone is desperately evacuating now. We don't know why this collapse happened. Even if you go in, what can you do?"

Song Ci fell silent.

He knew that he was always a reckless man. He could easily handle rough and heavy work such as fighting or being beaten.

He couldn't help with things like cracking secrets.

Gu Nanfeng was right.

Rushing into the cemetery now would only add to Gu Shen's troubles.

"So... we're just going to watch?"

Song Ci thought for a long time and asked this question.

He looked at Zhou Wei, Mr. Shan, and the big shots of the Nagano family not far away.

Wherever his gaze passed, the big shots who had received favors from Gu Shen had complicated expressions.

"Just watch... of course not." Gu Nanfeng said softly, "But..."

But... besides watching, what else could they do?

Besides the avalanche, there was likely a divine war going on... Even if they went in, it wouldn't make any difference. Instead, they would put themselves in a dangerous situation.

Leave the cemetery, the farther the better.

That was the wisest thing to do.

Song Ci chewed on the grass root and smiled, "Everyone has no reason to risk their lives here... I understand. But my life isn't that valuable. After thinking it over, I still feel itchy and want to go in and take a look. Not for Gu Shen, but also to broaden my horizons. I haven't been to Nagano since I was a kid, and I haven't seen what Qingzhong Cemetery looks like."

Zhou Wei, who wanted to say something, was blocked by this sentence.

Mr. Shan was also speechless.

Song Ci said silently in his heart that there was another important reason that he didn't tell these people.

He had heard that Gu Shen had a close relationship with a girl surnamed Chu, and that they had saved thousands of people together and were now stuck in the cemetery.

That girl Chu... should be Gu Shen's wife?

Gu Shen was in trouble. At this critical moment, how could he, who had the blood of the "Undying," retreat?

Scattered transcendents were helped out... It seemed that the inside of Qingzhong Cemetery should be almost evacuated.

Song Ci came to the golden gate.

The wind howled, blowing his colorful shirt.

Before entering the gate, he sensed the terrifying energy. The transcendent source in the cemetery was terrifyingly scary and could explode at any time. Even he felt great pressure.

The pure white wings on his back spread out.

Song Ci waited for a moment.

No one came out of the golden gate...

Gu Shen had not appeared.

He took a deep breath and stepped into the cemetery.

At that moment.

A violent roar shook the area. Song Ci's face was swept by the majestic wind and twisted. All eight pairs of wings on his back spread out, and the blazing spiritual tsunami blasted over... It looked like a cold avalanche wave, but upon contact, it was a terrifying scorching force that could almost completely obliterate a person.

The Light God's Throne relic burst out with a strong glow!

With a "boom"!

Song Ci realized something was wrong the moment he stepped into the golden gate and immediately began to retreat.

It was too late.

Almost the moment he stepped in, the entire huge golden gate was shattered by the magnificent divine power.

Everyone stared blankly at this scene.

Shattered.

Endless shattering.

The golden gate exploded under the impact of the avalanche, turning into millions of pieces, like a shattered golden dream.

A charred body landed in front of everyone. Song Ci's body was scorched beyond recognition. He was still alive... but he had suffered heavy injuries again, and the blood of the Undying was rapidly healing his wounds.

However, the scene after the Dadu God War appeared on his body again.

Every inch of his skin was charred.

The recovery was extremely slow.

A heavy voice sounded.

"Brother Song!"

"Brother Song!"

It was Gu Nanfeng's concerned inquiry.

And Zhou Wei, Bai Xiaochi... but these voices were no longer important. His injuries were not important.

Song Ci lay on the ground.

His memory was still stuck at the moment he stepped into the golden gate, when an endless wave swept over him.

Before he was engulfed by the explosion.

He saw a familiar figure.

Gu Shen.

Gu Shen... had endured an explosion several times more violent than himself.