Chapter 216 – Dragon Roars, Tiger Howls—Twin Sword Formation's Might, Slaying Fiends

In the Jade Bamboo Forest.

Hong Hua’s heart grew incredibly heavy as he watched Cui Chengyun fuse his body with his Gu.

The Cui Chengyun before him was no longer an ordinary Three Realms Gu Cultivator.

He had reached the level of a high-tier Three Realms cultivator.

In terms of cultivators, Cui Chengyun was now roughly equivalent to the sixth or seventh revolution of the Golden Core Stage.

His cultivation realm was secondary; the most crucial aspect was the effect of temporarily fusing the three Gu insects within his body.

The Three Lives Righteous Gu—this was the special Gu insect Cui Chengyun obtained after merging the power of his three Gu.

It was also why he had nurtured the Violet Lightning Gu-worm and the Three Flames Blazing Gu.

These two Gu insects had a high degree of compatibility with his Righteous Qi Gu.

There was a certain probability that fusing them could elevate his Righteous Qi Gu to a quality above Heaven-Grade.

Only by doing so could a Three Realms Gu Cultivator break the shackles of their realm and ascend to the fourth realm.

However, fusing three Gu was no simple matter. It required a very critical item: the absorption of sufficient ‘Dao essence’.

Another manifestation of ‘Dao essence’ was a cultivator ‘above the Dao Entry Realm’.

In other words, if a Three Realms Gu Cultivator wanted to break through to the fourth realm, they needed to hunt a sufficient number of Dao Entry Realm cultivators, or even those in the Dao Integration Realm above it.

This was undoubtedly no easy task.

The current Cui Chengyun seemed to have fused his three Gu insects.

But he had only achieved this by relying on the unique nature of his Righteous Qi Gu and his own ‘Heavenly Mandate Art’.

He had exchanged a certain amount of his lifespan for this immense power.

At this point, the situation between Cui Chengyun and Immortal Fiends like Hong Hua had become a matter of life and death.

If he couldn’t kill Hong Hua and the others and use their bodies to replenish his depleted lifespan, then Cui Chengyun’s venture would be a complete loss.

Hong Hua and the others likewise felt the terrifying killing intent emanating from Cui Chengyun.

Without any hesitation, Hong Hua immediately turned to flee, having no intention of getting entangled in a fight.

As for their original plan, it had long been cast to the back of his mind.

Facing the current Cui Chengyun, even if all seven of them attacked together, they might not be his match.

Not running meant death.

But while Hong Hua wanted to run, Cui Chengyun was not about to let them escape so easily.

The white vertical eye on Cui Chengyun’s brow suddenly lit up, bursting forth with a terrifying divine light.

At an astonishing speed, the light pierced directly through Hong Hua’s lower body.

In an instant, the Yao Beast form that Hong Hua had manifested through his secret art was reduced by a third.

More critically, the divine light seemed to possess some special power, making it impossible for Hong Hua to regenerate his physical body.

Severely injured, Hong Hua could no longer maintain his ‘Immortal Beast Body’ and fell heavily to the ground.

Gazing at Cui Chengyun not far away, the one Hong Hua resented was not him, but rather Lu Chen, who had yet to appear.

At this stage, how could Hong Hua not realize that they had been used as pawns by Lu Chen?

It seemed that from the very beginning, the other party had no intention of saving them.

He even intended to wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

Otherwise, with such a huge commotion here, it was impossible for Lu Chen to be unaware.

The only explanation was that Lu Chen knew but deliberately chose not to appear, allowing them to be killed by Cui Chengyun.

Hong Hua couldn’t understand what benefit their deaths would bring Lu Chen.

In a strange, vast world, shouldn’t they, the Immortal Fiends, set aside their disputes and cooperate as much as possible?

The Immortal Cultivation World was so large; Lu Chen couldn’t possibly conquer it all by himself.

He couldn’t even handle a single Azure Cloud Sect!

Could it be that Lu Chen wasn’t actually a cultivator?!

When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

At this thought, despair filled Hong Hua’s eyes.

Before them was the monster Cui Chengyun, and in the distance, a Dao Integration Realm Sword Cultivator was likely lying in ambush.

The seven of them truly had no path to heaven and no gate to earth.

The only reason they were still alive was that Cui Chengyun needed to capture them alive to feed them to his life-bound Gu.

Otherwise, Cui Chengyun could have killed him instantly in their first exchange.

And if Hong Hua, the strongest of the seven, was in such a state, the remaining six were naturally not faring much better.

The Immortal Fiend from the Corpse Fiend Cave was the second one Cui Chengyun targeted.

The Corpse Fiend Immortal Fiend commanded his Human Corpse Fiend to charge at Cui Chengyun.

Cui Chengyun snorted coldly. A terrifying layer of purple lightning suddenly covered his right hand as he threw a punch.

Bang!

The Human Corpse Fiend’s tough body was like paper under Cui Chengyun’s Three Realms cultivation, blasted into a shower of flesh and gore by a single punch.

The death of the Human Corpse Fiend immediately caused a terrifying backlash to the Immortal Fiend from the Corpse Fiend Cave.

He instantly clutched his head and let out a miserable scream.

To this, Cui Chengyun calmly said, “Second.”

In a flash, two Immortal Fiends had been dealt with by Cui Chengyun.

One of them was even the strongest, Hong Hua.

The few Immortal Fiends who had already run some distance away were immediately scared into silence.

Faced with such a life-and-death crisis, they had no other thought but to quicken their escape.

The two Immortal Fiends from Giant Spirit Gate, the two from Black Lotus Sect, and the last rogue Immortal Fiend tacitly split up to flee.

Watching the figures scattering in all directions, Cui Chengyun first went after the two Black Lotus Sect Immortal Fiends.

In an instant, Cui Chengyun blocked their path.

With their lives on the line, the two Black Lotus Sect Immortal Fiends instinctively used their trump cards.

A black lotus appeared on each of their foreheads.

With the appearance of this black lotus, their original ‘Godhead Bodies’ were once again partially enhanced, bringing them to a level comparable to low-tier Golden Core Stage cultivators.

If it were any other Three Realms Gu Cultivator, facing two Black Lotus Sect Immortal Fiends comparable to low-tier Golden Core Stage cultivators might have been a bit troublesome.

But for the current Cui Chengyun, these two posed no threat at all.

With no fancy techniques, Cui Chengyun’s body instantly vanished.

When he reappeared, he was already behind the two of them.

Although they had already sensed the killing intent from behind, Cui Chengyun’s strength had far surpassed what they could handle.

Pfft!

Cui Chengyun’s arms pierced through their chests, giving them a chillingly thorough wound.

As Cui Chengyun withdrew his arms, the two Black Lotus Sect Immortal Fiends collapsed to the ground, severely injured.

It was only because of their special bodies that they survived.

Otherwise, such an injury would have been enough to claim their lives.

It was hard to say if Cui Chengyun had seen this and thus dared to attack them so directly, unafraid of accidentally killing them.

“Four.”

Just as Cui Chengyun was about to hunt down the last three Immortal Fiends, a terrifying Sword Intent surged from the distance.

From that Sword Intent, Cui Chengyun actually felt a sense of threat.

One must know that he was currently in his ‘Three Lives Gu’ state.

In this state, throughout the entire Great Ying Dynasty, aside from the Palace of Heavenly Inquiry which stood apart from the ‘mortal world’, Cui Chengyun felt that even if he wasn’t number one under the heavens, he was definitely in the top three.

Yet even so, he could still be threatened by the Sword Intent from afar.

The terror of that Sword Intent was self-evident.

Before Cui Chengyun could react further, a massive golden true dragon suddenly flew out and swiped a claw at him.

In response, a golden barrier suddenly materialized around Cui Chengyun, blocking the attack.

Bang!

The terrifying dragon’s claw collided with Cui Chengyun’s protective barrier, unleashing a terrifying shockwave.

But the one who came out worse was not the seemingly tiny Cui Chengyun.

It was the massive golden true dragon.

The golden true dragon temporarily retreated, circling in the air.

The claw it had just used to attack Cui Chengyun now showed slight cracks, a clear sign that it had suffered a loss.

But strangely, Cui Chengyun did not press the attack. Instead, he looked down at a spot not far away.

Lu Chen walked out from the bamboo forest. Behind him lay three corpses, their heads severed from their bodies.

These three corpses were precisely the two Immortal Fiends from Giant Spirit Gate and the one rogue Immortal Fiend.

Until the moment of their deaths, the three of them could not understand why Lu Chen had attacked them.

Weren’t they allies?

To this, Lu Chen couldn’t be bothered to explain.

Because at this point, these few Immortal Fiends had no more value to be exploited.

In Lu Chen’s plan, they were originally meant to be probes to test the Gu Cultivators of the Great Ying Dynasty.

Long ago, Lu Chen had sensed a powerful aura from the Great Ying Dynasty’s side.

Although Lu Chen was confident he could defeat that opponent, his confidence wasn’t absolute—only about eighty percent.

Therefore, Lu Chen proposed a plan to ambush the Gu Cultivators and defeat them one by one.

This plan seemed good, but it had a very critical flaw.

If a truly powerful expert appeared, the others in the vicinity might not have time to provide support before the ambushing cultivator was slain by the Gu Cultivator expert.

Hong Hua and the others had actually considered this problem.

But they were too confident in their own strength.

So confident that they believed even if a powerful expert appeared, they could hold on until the others arrived.

The one thing they never expected was that although they held on for quite some time, the person who was supposed to reinforce them not only didn’t arrive quickly, but upon arrival, even joined the enemy to attack them.

This situation was something they had never anticipated.

And after the ‘selfless contribution’ of Hong Hua and the others, Lu Chen had basically seen through Cui Chengyun’s true nature.

His active appearance before Cui Chengyun meant he was now over ninety-eight percent confident that he could defeat him.

Although Cui Chengyun didn’t know why Lu Chen had killed his ‘allies’, he knew very well that the Lu Chen before him was completely different from Hong Hua’s group. He was an existence that required his full attention.

Wasting no time, the vertical eye on Cui Chengyun’s brow immediately unleashed a terrifying divine light, flying towards Lu Chen at an astonishing speed.

In response, Lu Chen’s Lotus Pupils spun.

The next second, a special, emerald-green stone stele appeared before Lu Chen.

In the distance, the severely injured and fallen Hong Hua and the others showed looks of astonishment upon seeing this stele.

Because this was, shockingly, the Double Pupils technique that originally belonged to the Martial God Mountain’s Quasi-Celestial, Xing Li… the Heaven Sealing Stele!

Bang!

Cui Chengyun’s divine light struck Lu Chen’s copied Heaven Sealing Stele, yet it failed to cause even the slightest damage.

Seeing this, Cui Chengyun was stunned.

This was the first time he had ever encountered a situation where his Three Lives Divine Light was ineffective.

One must know that his Three Lives Divine Light could simultaneously attack an enemy’s physical body, soul, and lifespan, making it exceptionally tyrannical.

It could be dodged, or resisted with special methods.

But a situation where it was completely ineffective had never occurred.

Seeing this, Cui Chengyun’s expression instantly turned grim.

If the Three Lives Divine Light was useless against Lu Chen, it was equivalent to severing one of Cui Chengyun’s arms.

Without giving Cui Chengyun much time to think, just as the Three Lives Divine Light dissipated, a Crimson Spirit Sword suddenly flew out from behind the ‘Heaven Sealing Stele (Replica)’.

Then, countless streams of blood were released from the Crimson Spirit Sword, weaving together like a bamboo net, quickly forming muscles, bones, organs…

Before long, a mysterious creature that had never appeared in the Great Ying Dynasty materialized.

The Four Fiends… Taotie.

“Roar!”

Its head resembled a tiger’s, and it let out a deafening roar the moment it appeared.

Looking at this behemoth, over a hundred meters long, the sense of crisis in Cui Chengyun’s heart intensified.

He wasn’t afraid of a single Taotie, but if you added the golden dragon above and Lu Chen behind them, everything was different.

What made Cui Chengyun’s heart palpitate even more was the change in the world’s energy after these two special creatures appeared.

Above was a deep, dark, and heavy layer of black clouds, like an abyss.

The ground was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

Dao Integration Realm Sword Domain. Cui Chengyun recognized at a glance what surrounded the golden true dragon and the Vicious Beast Taotie.

This couldn’t help but make Cui Chengyun think of the great Devil Head, Gu Liqing, who had appeared in the Great Ying Dynasty fifteen hundred years ago.

According to the court historian’s records, Gu Liqing had relied on his ‘Dao Integration Realm’ Sword Domain and some special arts and Divine Abilities to bathe the Great Ying Dynasty in blood.

Although the current Great Ying Dynasty had accumulated strength over so many years and was considerably stronger than it was fifteen hundred years ago, the enemy before him now had not only mastered a Dao Integration Realm Sword Domain, but two of them.

This was undoubtedly even more terrifying than Gu Liqing back then.

Thinking of this, Cui Chengyun had already made his decision.

Flee. He had to get the information about this place out!

“Thinking of leaving now? It’s too late.”

Hearing Lu Chen’s words, Cui Chengyun seemed to notice something and whipped his head around to look at his surroundings.

He saw the golden true dragon and the Vicious Beast Taotie occupying two directions.

The other two directions were occupied by two other Spirit Swords.

Judging from the aura emanating from these two Spirit Swords, they also seemed capable of unleashing Dao Integration Realm Sword Domains.

Without realizing it, he had been completely surrounded by Lu Chen’s Sword Formation.

At this point, how could Cui Chengyun not know he had fallen into Lu Chen’s trap?

He had found it strange earlier. He had clearly sensed a powerful Sword Intent in the bamboo forest.

Although the Sword Intent vanished in a flash, he had still pursued it immediately.

But after catching up, he only saw Hong Hua and the others, not the one who had released the Sword Intent.

This was why he hadn’t dared to use his full strength at the beginning and had instead kept probing.

It seemed now that the person who had unleashed the Sword Intent back then was definitely the man before him.

And his goal was to use his own hands to kill or severely injure the original seven devils, and to use those devils to probe his own strength.

He and those seven devils had all been played by this man.

This feeling of being used as a pawn made Cui Chengyun feel admiration amidst his anger.

The plan was simple, but very effective.

And he had indeed fallen for it.

Thinking of this, Cui Chengyun took a deep breath and looked at Lu Chen. “To hunt geese all day, only to have my eyes pecked out by a goose. May I know who you are?”

Hearing this, Lu Chen said calmly, “Azure Cloud Sect, Lu Chen.”

The moment the words “Azure Cloud Sect” were spoken, Cui Chengyun was instantly reminded of something.

‘The one who kills you is the Dao Child of the Azure Cloud Sect, Gu Liqing.’

Recalling the words he had read in the historian’s notes, Cui Chengyun understood that he would likely not make it back alive today.

Gu Liqing was from the Azure Cloud Sect, and the Lu Chen before him was also from the Azure Cloud Sect.

Moreover, the strength Lu Chen displayed now was even greater than Gu Liqing’s back then.

Thinking of his family back in the Great Ying Dynasty, Cui Chengyun’s expression gradually became resolute.

Then, he actually began to recklessly operate his Three Lives Gu, no longer caring about his lifespan.

In a short time, Cui Chengyun’s hair turned snow-white in an instant, and his entire person seemed to age by several decades.

But in exchange, his current cultivation was unprecedentedly powerful!

Feeling the immense power within his body, Cui Chengyun cast a lingering glance in the direction of the Great Ying Dynasty’s imperial capital and muttered to himself, “Father, Mother, your son is unfilial. I will go on ahead…”

After speaking, Cui Chengyun turned to look at Lu Chen, the vertical eye on his brow widening.

A Three Lives Divine Light, even more terrifying than before, began to gather in his eye.

To this, Lu Chen remained unmoved, seemingly not at all worried that he would be harmed by this divine light…

(End of Chapter)