Chapter 915: Chapter 637: Your Thoughts Are Too Slow
Lu Chenzhou beckoned with his hand, and the flame-shaped form that Fang Xingyu had become was firmly seized in his right palm.
"Kill me."
Lu Chenzhou originally intended to swallow Fang Xingyu, but a sudden heat bloomed in his chest, and a translucent, purple bead entwined with an aura of destructive thunder floated slowly out.
Miracle Treasure: Mysterious Sky Thunder Realm.
Lu Chenzhou had been busy in seclusion breaking through cultivation, and had not yet had time to refine this Supreme Treasure in its embryonic form; now, however, some of the spiritual nature possessed within this treasure showed extreme interest in the Fang Xingyu before him.
Lu Chenzhou sent his consciousness within the Thunder Realm.
In the sky, a creature somewhat resembling Lei Wanliu, master of the Sixth Rank Thunder Dao, let out a low growl.
[Eat... want to eat.]
[Eat... eat, then I can advance...]
A surge of spiritual communication flooded in.
Lu Chenzhou’s expression was surprised.
The Mysterious Sky Thunder Realm, does it also like to swallow souls?
Or perhaps, it has its eyes set on something else.
The thought flickered—
He used a Secret Technique to temporarily confine Fang Xingyu, not daring to feed him to the Thunder Realm before refining it, fearing the treasure might turn on him after advancing.
The Dharma Eye between his brows opened.
"Thunder Realm Venerable’s clone has already broken the boundary and escaped. His only thought was to run; it was difficult for me to hold him back. But Yin Jiujiao, Fang Bifan... you two won’t be so lucky."
He picked up Fang Xingyu’s Storage Bag.
He transformed into lightning, disappearing between heaven and earth.
...
"Undying, undying, undying..." Thunder Realm Venerable muttered. If he had not seen it with his own eyes, he couldn’t have imagined that a human who had cultivated for less than a century could achieve Undying and Unperishing! Achilles being killed in reversal at last made sense.
"It must have been Achilles letting his guard down, just like Fang Xingyu, allowing Lu Chenzhou to approach with a feigned death, then erupting in sudden attack, dying before many of his trump cards could even be used, and thus perishing, his Dao dissipated."
Thunder Realm Venerable felt inward relief.
"Fortunately I ran fast; whether or not I reach the Eighth Realm, the moment someone steps into Unperishing, in this Great Universe, aside from a few Third Step beings, there is no one else who can kill Lu Chenzhou. If I keep fighting, it would be a complete waste of time and power."
For now, there is only one thing to do—wait!
Wait for Yan Ming Realm Venerable to step into the Third Step and wield the power of the Clan’s Sacred Artifact, erasing Lu Chenzhou in an instant!
...
"No wonder Achilles is dead. So you’ve succeeded in forging the Undying Body. Sigh, you’ve grown so far already." Fang Bifan sighed.
He stopped and gazed into the void ahead.
A figure in white robes strode forward with unhurried steps.
"Lu Chenzhou, it has been a long time."
Lu Chenzhou’s expression shifted as he stared at Fang Bifan.
"Witch?"
"Indeed, your old friend."
Fang Bifan’s countenance gradually grew aged, finally transforming into the kindly visage of an old man in white robes and hair. He gripped a staff, surrounded by illusions of earth fire, wind, and water.
"You truly have a fine calculation, turning God’s Alliance into your blade whilst hiding yourself away behind the scenes."
Lu Chenzhou spoke calmly.
The Witch replied helplessly, "A pity that blade was too rotten, too dull. Not only did it fail to remove you, but delivered you plenty of opportunities instead. You ought to thank me."
Lu Chenzhou raised his hand,
Thunder surged in his palm.
A Thunder Dragon roared forth, obliterating the white-robed figure into dust; the Witch’s projection gradually dissipated.
"Lu Chenzhou, the promise I made before still stands—should you return to the embrace of the stars, the throne of the gods will be yours."
"Don’t even dream. One day, I will expel all of you invaders!"
Lu Chenzhou pronounced each word with steely resolve.
"Invaders? Heh..."
The Witch’s voice faded away.
Next,
Lu Chenzhou continued his pursuit of other powerful Divine Race members. The Realm Kings that could not flee in time were as fragile as paper before him, all becoming nourishment for the Martial Arts Tree’s advancement, while the Mysterious Sky Thunder Realm showed strong hunger as well for the corpses of these Realm Kings.
Lu Chenzhou experimented with the corpse of a Demon Venerable, and found the Mysterious Sky Thunder Realm held no special interest.
"Only desires to eat the Divine Race?"
Lu Chenzhou couldn’t help but ponder the origin of this Miracle Treasure, forged in the Thunder Treasure Land by melting down Lei Wanliu.
...
"This must be a nightmare, or perhaps Lu Chenzhou using Illusion Realm Dao’s trickery. In this era, someone has actually forged an Undying Body? Since the Dragon Emperor pioneered the Body Dao, only two hands’ worth have ever attained the Undying Realm."
A swift gale traversed the Ruins Sea.
It was Yin Jiujiao. Though not at the Eighth Realm, he wielded the Chasing Wind Bow, which possessed Void-breaking power.
"The Mysterious Sky Realm is no longer safe. This time, once I return to Gale Great World, I must enter seclusion—until I become a Realm Venerable, I will not emerge." Yin Jiujiao muttered to himself.
The Three Thousand Worlds have changed.
In the past, it would be thousands of years before an Eighth Realm expert fell, but in just a few months, three had perished.
The Priest, Achilles, Fang Xingyu...
All of them connected to Lu Chenzhou.
Lu Chenzhou is the star of disaster!
Yin Jiujiao did not know how long he had flown; finally, at his limit, a small world appeared ahead.
"Recover some strength first."
Yin Jiujiao plunged down, before him a stretch of endless Snow Mountains, with White Tower temples scattered amidst the peaks.
"What a weak world."
His telekinesis, close to Eighth Realm, spread out, sensing that this was only a low-level world, its strongest merely at mid-Sixth Realm.
"This place will do. Lu Chenzhou would never think I would hide in a world with such thin primordial power. If he still finds me, I’ll take the lives of all this world’s beings as hostages—that may yet yield a slim chance of survival."
...
Lantuo Temple.
"After the Great Dream Patriarch ascended, a new era was born in this world. Only then did countless cultivators learn there were heavens beyond heaven, discover the Nine Realms of cultivation, and realize we are but a grain in the vast seas."
A storyteller recited tales in a teahouse.
In the decades the Great Dream Patriarch propagated the Dao, Hanhai World produced over a dozen at Sixth Realm, with Fourth and Fifth Realm experts numbering in the hundreds; strength far surpassed the past.
Body and spiritual cultivation advanced hand in hand.
Four Symbols Martial Artists, Great Dream Cultivators...
All manners of Extraordinary Paths, a hundred schools in bloom.
The Human World ushered in an age of great peace; demon monsters nearly vanished, and the population multiplied tenfold in mere decades.
"Is the Great Dream Patriarch an Immortal?"
A young child asked.
"By today’s view, the Great Dream Patriarch is probably only a Seventh Realm cultivator, on par with the True Buddha. Yet to us, that is no different than an Immortal..." The storyteller chuckled as he replied.
"Great Dream Patriarch?"
In the corner,
The incognito Yin Jiujiao murmured.
"Four Symbols, Great Dream, Martial Arts... This so-called Great Dream Patriarch, why does that sound a bit familiar?"
Unease gnawed at him.
These elements all seemed present in another man: Lu Chenzhou.
"Could this be a colony of the Tianxia Civilization? Is Lu Chenzhou the Patriarch who spread the Dao here?"
He had a grim premonition.
"Damn!"
Yin Jiujiao suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. He burst from the restaurant, becoming a gust of wind rising to the heavens. As he was about to break through to another world, he saw a flash of lightning ripping through the universe above the Ruins Sea. With a curse, he turned back.
He drew the Divine Bow, burning half his strength to form a Wind Arrow a thousand miles long.
"A fight to the death, then."
The might of the Peak of the Seventh Realm swept heaven and earth. From monks of the Snow Mountains in the west to fishermen on the eastern seas, every living soul in this lowly world raised their heads.
"What... what is that?"
"Is that a god?"
"Feels stronger than Patriarch Sajia!"
"More than that—the old man saw the Great Dream Patriarch before; this being’s presence is even more imposing than his."
Great Snow Mountain.
Patriarch Sajia sensed the terrifying power, hurriedly flying forth to gaze at the majestic form above the sky.
"What formidable power; even a hundred of me would be less than a shred of him! Not even the True Buddha I met compares. Who knows why this Divine Person wielding a bow has descended to our world?"
Patriarch Sajia understood.
If this Divine Person wished, a single arrow could destroy this world; the heavens would collapse, everything would be engulfed!
The lord of the Spiritual Weapon Pavilion shook in terror.
"Rumor says only Eighth Realm experts can shatter the void and descend at will into other worlds. This bow-wielding Divine Person must be Eighth Realm... What is such a powerhouse, at the very pinnacle of the Great Universe, doing in a backwater like Hanhai World? Even obliterating the entire world wouldn’t yield him enough resources to fill the gap between his teeth—utter waste of time."
Whoosh!
The thousand-mile arrow tore through the void, revealing behind it the Ruins Sea, and the figure in white robes. He merely lifted his hand, thousands of shields clinging to his body like scales, transforming into a titanic Dragon Claw that seized the arrow lightly.
Boom!
The arrow exploded, boundless fierce gales shattering shield after shield, swirling around the white-robed figure. At last, all shields were gone, but the remaining Gale was entirely blocked by the purple leather armor that shimmered around the figure.
"Lei Wanliu’s Purple Thunder Armor..."
Yin Jiujiao despaired.
The gap was too great; his full-force strike could only shatter the opponent’s Divine Power Defense, but his foe still possessed Eighth Rank Spiritual Weapons, and the Undying Body.
Even a hundred of himself could not kill Lu Chenzhou.
This was the Heavenly Chasm between the Seventh and Eighth Realms!
Yin Jiujiao pressed his hands together, igniting the wind god’s divine blood within him, transforming into a colossal being with fifteen wings, neither bird nor fish. In the Gale Divine Race, fourteen wings marked the Seventh Realm, sixteen the Eighth. He, with fifteen wings, was one step from advancing to Realm Venerable; then, even if he could not defeat Lu Chenzhou, he could at least escape with his life.
"Lu Chenzhou, if you dare kill me, I will, with a single thought, invoke the Wind Power of this world, and let sixty million people of the Human Clan perish with me!"
Buzz buzz!
Above the Hanhai Realm’s high sky, eight vast wind vortices, each thousands of miles wide, had appeared at some unknown moment.
These vortices were dangerously unstable, ready to explode at any moment—unleashing power equal to an Eighth Realm blow, eradicating a world without reservation.
From Patriarch Sajia down to commoners, all were shaken by this unforeseen calamity.
How could they not know—their survival hung on the whim of the two titans above their world.
"Why would the gods destroy us?"
"This is no god, but a demon!"
The people wailed in despair.
"I am god! Before the stars descended, our ancestors ruled all. Why should it be, with the gods slain, you ants yet live?"
Yin Jiujiao’s eyes glowed blood-red and cold. The terrifying majesty killed many mortals outright; had he not wished to use these people to threaten Lu Chenzhou, that divine might could have slain half the populace with ease.
Lu Chenzhou’s gaze brimmed with killing intent.
He had still underestimated the Divine Race’s ruthlessness.
His figure vanished—he struck decisively.
"So be it—even in death, I’ll have companions for the grave." With a single thought, Yin Jiujiao detonated all the wind vortices together.
But then, a blinding golden light swept through the world, swallowing up each exploding wind vortex. In less than one tenth of a breath, it was at his side, manifesting those endless golden wings of wind and thunder.
In Yin Jiujiao’s divine gaze was reflected a great Peng, radiant gold, wings stretching a hundred miles, as if a creature out of legend.
He had not even had time to self-destruct before a golden talon crushed his body, piercing through his soul.
The Peng spoke coldly.
"Your thought was far too slow."