Chapter 227 : Ancient Ruins
Chapter 227: Ancient Ruins
Amidst the gloomy thunderclouds, a golden flood dragon more than ten zhang long loomed in and out of the mist.
Its horns were majestic, its four claws razor sharp, and clouds rose from beneath its abdomen. It released a boundless ferocity that made Foundation Establishment cultivators choke on their breath, not daring to move in the slightest.
"Impossible, what kind of secret art is this!"
An indescribable shock and terror surged through Luo Yongjie’s heart.
It was one thing for Chen Zi’ang to have seemingly comprehended the sword intent that shattered all techniques, but how could a mere mid-Foundation Establishment little loach break through two minor realms and one great tier, instantly ascending into a Golden Core flood dragon?
Its pressure was so immense that even the Ashen Tribulation mana within his body stagnated, as if he were facing a Golden Core elder of the sect.
"Roar!"
Feeling the nearly inexhaustible mana within his body, Golden Egg stirred the thunderclouds with his thick flood-dragon tail, bringing forth the sound of wind and thunder.
A pair of cold, merciless golden vertical pupils instantly locked onto Luo Yongjie below, who was no more than an ant in its eyes, making his eyelids twitch.
"Prairie Hundred-Rend · Ashen Six Harmonies!" Luo Yongjie roared furiously, pushing his Blazing Flame true essence to the extreme.
The Chixiao Spear shone brilliantly and let out a humming sound, in an instant transforming into a red thread so fine it was invisible to the naked eye.
That crimson thread was the immortal spirituality of the third-tier artifact, which Luo Yongjie could only awaken by gathering all his strength. The power it unleashed was comparable to a strike from a Golden Core True Person.
Facing the spear momentum that bore the weight of a thousand catties, Golden Egg did not unleash any innate divine ability, but merely raised his dragon claw casually and grabbed.
Boom!
Before absolute strength, everything was futile.
That thread of immortal spirituality, formidable enough to kill multiple False Core True Persons with ease, was caught in Golden Egg’s palm and crushed piece by piece, vanishing into nothingness.
The Chixiao Spear trembled violently, let out a mournful cry, its flames extinguished entirely, its spirituality gravely damaged.
"Pu!"
Suffering backlash from the spear’s artifact intent, Luo Yongjie coughed up blood, his face turning deathly pale.
Seeing those golden vertical pupils fixed upon him, pain, fear, disbelief, and countless emotions surged in an instant.
"Damn it, you forced me to this!" A flash of heartache crossed Luo Yongjie’s eyes as he pulled out a crimson-gold jade talisman the size of a baby’s fist.
This was a life-saving talisman bestowed by the sect’s Golden Core elder upon the top three true disciples. Once activated with divine sense, it could unleash a strike equivalent to the early Golden Core stage.
"Explode!"
Luo Yongjie crushed the jade talisman. The fire-attribute spiritual energy within the hall suddenly rioted, and a terrifying pressure a hundred times stronger than any Foundation Establishment cultivator erupted at once.
The shattered jade talisman transformed into a crimson-gold stream of light that soared into the sky, condensing into the phantom of a volcano entirely formed from flames of annihilation.
The next moment, the volcano phantom erupted.
What it spewed forth was not magma, but the third-tier treasure flame — 【Blazing-Heaven True Flame】 — that only a Golden Core True Person could refine to the utmost.
Chen Beiwu’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he subconsciously took out the one-time-use third-tier artifact 【Great Wilderness Calamity Needle】 that his master had given him.
"Roar!"
At the sound of a thunderous dragon’s roar, Chen Beiwu’s eyes grew firm. He let Golden Egg, clad in the Gilded Body, charge forward, his fleshly body withstanding the power of a third-tier talisman treasure head-on.
Meanwhile, Chen Beiwu’s figure vanished, and with the help of Golden Egg’s Truth-or-Illusion spiritual art, he silently appeared behind Luo Yongjie and Yan Yue.
"Hurry, activate the Boundary-Breaking Talisman!"
Exhausted from using both a third-tier artifact and talisman treasure, Luo Yongjie had no strength left to activate a talisman. He threw a third-tier talisman treasure, the 【Boundary-Breaking Talisman】, toward the terrified Yan Yue.
That Golden Core flood dragon was far too terrifying. Even the Blazing-Heaven True Flame might not kill it; at most, it could buy them a chance to escape.
But the next instant, Luo Yongjie’s body froze. An overwhelming surge of mana erupted from his heart, extinguishing his life force like tearing rotten paper.
He looked down at his chest, eyes filled with unwillingness. His lips moved, wanting to say something, but no words came out.
Chen Beiwu slowly sheathed his sword, the clear cry of the Cold-Pool Spirit Sword echoing sharply in the deathly silence of the grand hall.
‘Senior Brother is actually dead!’
Seeing this, Yan Yue’s heart sank. She could hardly believe her own eyes.
Overcome by instinctive terror, she dropped to her knees and begged for mercy.
"Daoist friend’s methods are peerless. I am willing to offer up my storage ring, only begging for a thread of life." Yan Yue presented the Boundary-Breaking Talisman with both hands.
Activating the talisman required a breath’s time, and she had no chance to use it now.
Yan Yue did not want to die.
Once dead, everything would be gone!
Chen Beiwu did not speak. He glanced at Golden Egg, then breathed a sigh of relief.
The Blazing-Heaven True Flame was powerful, but it had failed to break through Golden Egg’s defense.
Moments later, after three breaths had passed, the volcano phantom vanished. Golden Egg’s scales were slightly reddened, and hot air spewed from his mouth.
"Roar."
Golden Egg tilted his head back to roar in victory, but his vision went black and he fell into slumber. The dragon horns and dragon claws he had grown also receded.
Seeing this, Chen Beiwu was not surprised. He placed Golden Egg back into the Spirit Beast Pouch.
Though Immortal Alliance cultivators could empower their Companion Beasts with the Beast Scenery, allowing them to battle across realms, it came at a cost.
This time, under the stimulation of the True Spirit Diagram of the Dragon Gate, Golden Egg’s cultivation years had surged to 499.
His bloodline had risen to nearly that of a third-tier flood dragon, but the price was at least a month, or even up to three months, of deep slumber.
Of course, during his slumber, the thin dragon blood within Golden Egg would become even purer thanks to the True Spirit Diagram of the Dragon Gate.
What surprised Chen Beiwu most was how remarkably effective the True Spirit Diagram’s empowerment was this first time. It rivaled the rudimentary Beast Scenery, nearly breaching the boundary of the Golden Core realm.
It was foreseeable that if he could further evolve the True Spirit Diagram of the Dragon Gate into a complete Rudimentary Scenery,
Golden Egg, under the empowerment of the Beast Scenery, might even cross realms to contend with Golden Core True Persons.
Not as now, where Golden Egg had merely withstood two Golden Core strikes before exhausting the True Spirit Diagram’s blessing.
Extending his divine sense, Chen Beiwu plundered the two third-tier artifacts from Luo Yongjie’s body, removed his storage ring, then turned to the tense Yan Yue.
"Interesting. If I kill you, not only will I take your storage ring, but I will also eliminate any future threat."
Chen Beiwu accepted the Boundary-Breaking Talisman with a playful tone. "I even killed the first true disciple of the Blazing Flame Sect. What reason would I have to spare you?"
Hearing this, Yan Yue’s heart tightened, her expression wavering.
"It seems you lack any reason convincing enough to move me."
As his voice fell, the Cold-Pool Spirit Sword leapt from its sheath, radiating cold light.
"Wait, I can let you plant a Heart-Demon Blood Pact and become your servant," Yan Yue said decisively.
Once the pact was forged, Chen Zi’ang could extinguish her life with a mere thought.
"Not enough. Even the Heart-Demon Blood Pact can be broken." Chen Beiwu’s expression remained calm as the Cold-Pool Spirit Sword gleamed behind him.
"I know of an ancient ruin — that ruin holds an ancient teleportation array leading to the Eastern Lands."