As Lu Xuan’s divine sense expanded outward, the old man sitting in front of him finally reacted.
The old man’s eyes suddenly flew wide open, and his withered body began inexplicably tensing up.
It was as if he had sensed an aura that made his hair stand on end, a terrifying presence that raised every hair on his body.
This indescribable, crushing pressure—how could it be exactly like facing those few Grand Elders in the Holy Sect? Like standing before the boundless and majestic heavens themselves.
This was impossible!
Everyone knew that the Holy Sect’s Grand Elders were all beings who had reached that fearsome realm.
The Divine Palace Realm.
Could it be that the man now standing before him was, like the sect’s Grand Elders, a being at the level of a Divine Palace True Master?
Seeing Lu Xuan stop without making any move, the old man’s eyes flashed with a vicious glint.
His bony, desiccated hands, hidden within his sleeves, quietly began channeling the Gang Yuan power inside him.
“Drop dead!”
To hell with it—there was no way he would believe this young brat in front of him was a true Divine Palace expert.
A lie!
All of it was a lie.
A streak of white Gang Yuan force shot through the sky, straight at Lu Xuan’s face.
But Lu Xuan seemed completely oblivious. He did not even blink, remaining steady and unmoving where he stood.
Only when that razor-sharp gale was right upon him, whipping his hair into a wild frenzy—
At that final, most critical moment—did he abruptly raise his head, fix his gaze ahead, and, with a sudden narrowing of his eyes, flash a mysterious purple light from their depths.
It looked effortless, casual. Yet it was as if a colossal, invisible force had erupted outward.
When the white streak of Gang Yuan slammed into this power, it instantly collapsed like a stream crashing against an iron wall.
It scattered into glittering, fragmented motes of light that faded into nothing in midair, leaving only the faintest remnants of rippling energy, trembling and whimpering through the air.
What?!
Seeing this, the old man’s mind went completely blank. He had no idea how to react.
A full-force strike from a warrior at the great-perfection stage of the Outer Gang Master realm—just shattered by this young man before his eyes.
And seemingly with nothing more than a single glance.
While the old man stood paralyzed in extreme shock, Lu Xuan’s expression was cold as ice. His eyes, fixed on the old man, brimmed with limitless killing intent.
Every last one of these demon worshippers from the Pure World White Lotus Sect deserved to die!
Lu Xuan gave the old man no further opportunity to strike. A thought rose from his divine sense.
In an instant, the space around Lu Xuan began to warp, and the air twisted upward in violent currents.
The floor of the white lotus platform split apart with incredible speed, cracks spreading like a spider’s web until, in the blink of an eye, they covered the entire surface.
The old man, meanwhile, felt the terrifying force of heaven and earth closing in on him.
His whole body was trapped within the warping space and the raging torrents of air. He staggered, barely able to stand, the horror on his face growing deeper still.
Can’t move…?
When the old man madly channeled his Gang Yuan in a desperate attempt to flee from Lu Xuan, he realized he was somehow completely restrained.
Gang Yuan surged and roared turbulently through his withered body, letting out dull, howling booms, yet the invisible binding force all around him did not budge in the slightest.
The old man’s feet felt as though they had taken root in the ground. Every ounce of struggle was completely useless.
Above the old man’s head, a giant hand of purple air currents was diving down at high speed.
That massive purple hand came crashing down with a power that could topple mountains and overturn seas. The air in its path was brutally compressed, issuing a series of sharp, crackling booms.
The old man tilted his head back to gaze at the sky-shrouding giant hand. The terror in his eyes soared to its ultimate peak in that instant, his pupils contracting violently. His mouth opened, wanting to scream—
But an invisible force choked off his throat, producing only a few dry, rasping sounds.
A Divine Palace True Master!
Damnation!
Why had a being of the Divine Palace Realm appeared in Ming Province?
Shouldn’t those who had reached this realm all be ancient monsters hidden away from the world?
Of course, no one was going to answer the old man’s question now.
BOOM!
The purple giant hand in the sky destroyed everything with irresistible, unstoppable force.
The entire white lotus platform collapsed with a thunderous roar. Rubble and dust shot into the sky, blotting out the sun.
The devastating shockwave spread wildly in all directions like raging tidal waves, blasting some of those death-defying Pure World White Lotus Sect zealots straight into powder.
High in the air, Lu Xuan stood indifferent, treading on the void. His eyes were like an abyss of ice as he silently gazed down from above.
It was very clear that the strike just now had not affected Lu Xuan in the slightest.
Suddenly!
Within the dense smoke below, an illusory white figure burst through the swirling clouds of dust—as if tearing through space itself—and, carrying a chill yin aura, shot straight at Lu Xuan’s chest.
It was so fast that even Lu Xuan, a Divine Palace True Master, could not react.
Thud!
A bloody hole instantly tore open in Lu Xuan’s chest, as thick as a man’s arm. Blood gushed out like a fountain, immediately staining the clothes on his body a deep red.
And that dreamlike, illusion-like white figure did not dissipate even after piercing through Lu Xuan’s chest.
Instead, it began slowly coalescing in midair into a giant white energy silhouette over a dozen meters tall.
That white energy apparition was the face of an incredibly ancient crone, her eyes flickering with white light.
That light was like ghost-fire in a frigid winter night—dark, haunting, and exuding a profoundly terrifying chill.
The wrinkles on the crone’s face were as deep as if carved by a knife. Each furrow seemed steeped in the decay and darkness of countless ages.
Now, the crone’s face, a dozen meters wide, looked down imperiously at Lu Xuan from high above. Her gigantic eyes seemed to harbor a rage of the highest order.
“You damnable blood sacrifice, how dare you destroy the White Lotus Nightmare Blossom!”
“Die for me!”
That furious roar exploded like a colossal bell, shaking the surrounding air into a humming frenzy, layer after layer of sound waves churning outward in all directions.
The thick clouds nearby rolled away toward the far distance like floodwaters raging out of control.
By now, the dense dust and smoke below had finally cleared, revealing a fully visible scene.
The old man who had just been attacked by Lu Xuan was not dead.
However, having taken a direct hit from Lu Xuan, he was not exactly in good shape.
Not a single spot on the old man’s body was intact, and his chest had completely caved in.
The ribs on his torso had snapped one by one, piercing through his flesh to protrude in stark, ghastly white.
The old man’s face was as pale as paper, his lips bloodless and trembling with shivers. Every labored breath sounded like a broken, decrepit bellows, each one a rough, agonized rasp.
Injuries like these, if suffered by anyone else, would mean they were long dead and gone.
But this old man had cultivated the Pure World White Lotus Sect’s martial arts technique, the Pure World White Lotus Scripture.
Under the influence of that martial arts technique, his physical body’s healing ability had long since become unlike that of an ordinary human martial artist.
As long as his head wasn’t instantly blown apart, he simply could not die.
Thank goodness, it’s the Grand Elder!
I’m saved!
Kneeling on one knee, the old man lifted his head with great difficulty, gazing up in near-worship toward that enormous white apparition in the sky!
That was the Third Grand Elder of the Holy Sect—a being who had reached the great-perfection stage of the Divine Palace Realm, a being known as a Primordial Spirit True Master.
It was said that after one reached the great perfection of the Divine Palace Realm, one’s divine sense would evolve into an even more solidified Primordial Spirit!
The power of heaven and earth that Primordial Spirit power could command far exceeded that of any warrior below the great-perfection level of the Divine Palace Realm.
Thankfully, before setting out, the Third Grand Elder had left a wisp of her Primordial Spirit power inside his body.
Otherwise, a mere Outer Gang Master like him would never have survived an attack from a Divine Palace True Master.
Lu Xuan, with his back to that white apparition, looked rather calm. His eyes narrowed slightly, and the blood from the wound had already begun to staunch.
And then, from the gaping, penetrating hole in Lu Xuan’s chest, a faint golden light shimmered out, and flesh tissue began madly growing.
The red, wriggling flesh tissue grew like living tendrils, intertwining, twisting, and in the blink of an eye filling the ghastly wound’s void.
The damaged skin healed at a rate visible to the naked eye. In just the span of a few breaths, what had been a terrifying injury was gone without a trace.
Once the wound was fully healed, an enigmatic golden afterglow still lingered across Lu Xuan’s entire body, making him look like some supremely majestic Buddha descending upon the world.
Threads of that golden light traced across Lu Xuan’s skin, outlining a silhouette both sacred and intensely imposing.
Even the void beneath Lu Xuan’s feet rippled with circles of golden light, spreading outward in all directions.
“Such powerful divine sense!”
Lu Xuan turned to face that white apparition. At some unknown moment, the Wind-Fire Blade had appeared in his right hand.
Who would have thought the Pure World White Lotus Sect would harbor a Divine Palace Realm martial artist so terrifyingly strong?
Even Lu Xuan, a Divine Palace Realm martial artist himself, had been completely unable to dodge that attack just now.
The martial realm of the one who owned this wisp of divine sense must be far, far above Lu Xuan’s current level.
However, Lu Xuan did not feel much wariness toward the Primordial Spirit apparition before him.
It was merely a portion of the opponent’s power. It couldn’t really do anything to him.
Unless that person descended here in person!
That white Primordial Spirit apparition seemed slightly taken aback when it saw the wound on Lu Xuan’s chest instantly heal.
This junior, seemingly so young, was not only a Divine Palace Realm martial artist, but also possessed such terrifying healing ability.
Even the Holy Sect’s own Pure World White Lotus Scripture likely couldn’t achieve that level.
He must be eliminated!
The crone’s Primordial Spirit apparition, hovering in midair, now had one sole thought: immediately eliminate this unknown Divine Palace Realm martial artist before her.
Otherwise… she had an inexplicable and foreboding feeling.
She sensed that this young upstart would, in the future, become a devastating bane to the Holy Sect.
“Whoever opposes my Holy Sect—dies!”
With that thought, the crone’s ancient apparition opened its mouth wide and spewed forth a dense, viscous white mist.
The mist seemed almost alive, rapidly twisting and coiling through the air.
In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a mass of hideous mist-snakes, baring fangs and brandishing claws as they surged toward Lu Xuan to bite and tear.
They were determined to swallow Lu Xuan whole in an instant, to snuff out this future threat.
Suddenly!
Between heaven and earth, a dazzling, brilliant purple flame-light rose up—like the sun blazing from the highest heavens.
This surge of purple flame roared in with overwhelming momentum, dyeing half the sky purple in the blink of an eye.
In the next moment, a scorching, searing heat surged outward like furious tidal waves.
Everything it passed was baked and twisted beyond shape. Stones on the ground instantly cracked and crumbled to dust in the heat.
And the source of this deep, majestic purple flame-light—
was none other than the Wind-Fire Blade in Lu Xuan’s hand.
“Burn the Heavens!”
Lu Xuan bellowed, his voice like a sudden clap of thunder. Those two words reverberated across the whole world.
With a fluid sweep of the Wind-Fire Blade in his hand, the purple flame-light on the blade answered as if summoned, transforming into a roaring dragon of fire.
A writhing, clawing purple flame dragon, dozens of meters long, burst forth and surged straight toward that terrifying white mist.
Purple flames blazed furiously across the dragon’s entire body, each scale like a burning blade.
Along its path, it carried a world-ending, heaven-destroying aura. Even the empty void in its way was set ablaze.
It dyed the entire boundless horizon a deeply mysterious and majestic purple.
These two mighty attacks of divine sense collided mercilessly. In that instant, it was as if the heavens were falling and the earth splitting apart!
The blinding purple flame-light and the white mist bursting from the white apparition intertwined and clashed, throwing up a piercing, searing brilliance.
It shone almost brighter than the blazing sun itself, making it utterly impossible to look directly.
The void rumbled with one deafening, sustained boom after another. Ring after ring of indescribable, formless force rippled madly outward in every direction.
Everywhere it passed, deep furrows were gouged into the earth. Even the towering, majestic walls of Flying Crane Prefecture—
under the erosive power of this force, were gradually laced with countless cracks before violently collapsing, sending clouds of dust, earth, and bricks erupting into the air.
The remaining chunks of buildings were directly pulverized into powder. Billowing smoke and dust rocketed skyward, blotting out the sun and sky. Like the darkness before a storm, they shrouded more than half the firmament.
And Lu Xuan, standing at the very heart of this maelstrom, silently swept his divine sense outward at will, scanning the distance.
He locked the vast power of his divine sense onto that crone’s Primordial Spirit remnant.
“Brat… very well!”
From a distance, the Primordial Spirit remnant was now being ravaged by the surging purple flames.
The fire blazed with a fury that seemed to swallow the sky and boil the seas, burning so intensely the surrounding air warped. Under the scorching of these terrible purple flames, the Primordial Spirit remnant gradually grew illusory, hazy, and indistinct.
The crone’s Primordial Spirit apparition completely ignored the raging purple flames consuming her. Enduring the searing pain, she fixed her dying glare on Lu Xuan, as if trying to sear his likeness into her memory.
This brat—from the day she was born, he was the most monstrously talented person she had ever seen. Bar none.
Even when the Holy Mother herself descended into the world all those years ago, she could not compare to this man.
Especially this terrifying flame technique—it could even ignite her own Primordial Spirit power!
“Grand Elder, no—!”
At that moment, the old man below, his body as if under some external control, let out a cry of ultimate despair.
As soon as the old man detected this abnormality, he instantly understood what he was about to face next.
I don’t understand!
The Grand Elder is a Primordial Spirit True Master—how could she lose to that man?
We were clearly the ones with all the advantages here!
Before he knew it, the old man had somehow arrived before those three White Lotus Nightmare Blossoms.
Around the Nightmare Blossoms, there seemed to be a faint, distorted red glow flickering at the edges, like living, pulsing blood—giving off an indescribable sense of strangeness and danger.
In the next instant, the old man’s face was a mask of deathly gray. His entire body was completely out of his control. He could only watch, utterly helpless.
As the largest White Lotus Nightmare Blossom in the middle extended countless, horrifyingly ferocious root-spikes.
The root-spikes faintly gleamed with a pale red luster as they mercilessly pierced through the old man’s body.
The old man’s already withered physical body rapidly shriveled, and his eyes turned deathly hollow and lifeless.
In less than the space of a single breath, the old man—once a martial artist at the great-perfection stage of the Outer Gang Master realm—was reduced to a pile of white ash. He had become nothing more than nourishment for the White Lotus Nightmare Blossom.
