Nine Heavens Martial Emperor

"Yang Qingtian, are you trying to stand up for them?" He Jundao and Young Master Moon’s eyes narrowed as they stared at him, speaking in unison.

Yang Qingtian smiled and shook his head. Ignoring the other two, he turned directly to Yang Peng and his three companions. "Are you willing to follow me?"

"Yang Qingtian, you’re courting death!" He Jundao roared.

"Yang Qingtian, do you really think you can withstand the two of us combined?" Young Master Moon didn’t show any anger, which was more terrifying than if he had.

Yang Qingtian glanced back and simply laughed off Young Master Moon’s threat.

Then, Yang Qingtian turned back again to Yang Peng and his companions, who were coughing up mouthfuls of blood. "You’ll die if you don’t agree."

"COUGH, COUGH... I think I overestimated the so-called ’Ten Great Young Masters.’ They’re not even fit to carry our senior brother’s shoes. What do you think?" Yang Peng coughed up blood, ignoring Yang Qingtian and the other two as he spoke to Lin Tian beside him.

"This calls for a toast. A pity we have no wine," Lin Tian replied with a smile.

"That guy has the wine. He’ll drink it for us," Lin Yuan chimed in.

Lin Xiao didn’t speak, but his gaze shifted toward the first celestial Ancient Road.

Suddenly, Lin Xiao’s eyes lit up.

At the end of the celestial Ancient Road, a figure had appeared.

The man wore nothing but an animal hide loincloth, his upper body completely bare.

The man seemed to notice Lin Xiao as well. After a brief pause, his figure vanished on the spot.

In the next instant, he reappeared in front of Lin Xiao.

"Are you the ones who hurt my brothers?!" The moment he appeared, he pointed the object in his hand directly at Yang Qingtian and the other two.

The three of them—Yang Qingtian, He Jundao, and Young Master Moon—sized up the newcomer, their eyes narrowing in unison.

The newcomer didn’t look old, perhaps in his late teens, but he stood over two meters tall. His body was a mass of powerful muscle, giving him the appearance of an iron pagoda.

He also wielded a massive white bone club.

As he pointed the bone club at the trio, they could feel a surging wave of power emanating from him.

His cultivation level wasn’t high—only the Fifth Layer of the Soul Gathering Realm—but the three of them knew he was far more terrifying than the four men on the ground.

"Shenshan, get out of here!" Lin Yuan yelled to the tower-like young man.

But Shenshan didn’t move. His gaze swept over the surrounding Martial Artists, pausing for a moment on Lu Dieyi and Wenren Yuxin, before turning back to the trio. "I asked you a question!"

"It was us," He Jundao and Young Master Moon replied in unison.

Without another word, Shenshan swung his great bone club and attacked.

Despite his burly frame, his movements were shockingly fast, even surpassing Yang Peng’s Golden Roc Soaring Body Technique.

He Jundao and Young Master Moon struck simultaneously.

But their joint attack hit nothing but air.

In the next instant, their expressions turned foul. The flames of fury in Young Master Moon’s eyes looked intense enough to incinerate Shenshan.

It turned out Shenshan’s targets had been Lu Dieyi and Wenren Yuxin all along.

Shenshan’s move completely changed the dynamic of the fight.

Not only were Yang Peng and his three companions back on their feet, but the seals restricting Lu Dieyi and Wenren Yuxin had also been broken.

"Good. Very good," Young Master Moon said, his face a mask of fury.

"All of you will die today!" He Jundao snarled.

A mere Martial Artist at the Fifth Layer of the Soul Gathering Realm had managed to trick them and rescue people right under their noses. It was a blatant slap in the face.

"Who’s that guy? He’s even more arrogant than me," Shenshan said, scratching his head as he turned to Yang Peng.

Hearing this, He Jundao and Young Master Moon both flinched, their imposing auras faltering for a moment.

"Those are He Jundao and Young Master Moon, two of the Ten Great Young Masters. Shenshan, don’t underestimate them," Yang Peng reminded him with a straight face.

Shenshan looked puzzled. "I’ve heard of them, but... are you sure they aren’t impostors? They couldn’t even stop me."

"You’re dead!" He Jundao and Young Master Moon were utterly enraged. Roaring, they attacked simultaneously.

BANG!

A deafening blast echoed, threatening to tear the very sky and earth apart.

He Jundao and Young Master Moon were forced back. By the time they steadied themselves, blood was trickling from the corners of their mouths.

On the other side, Yang Peng and his group were also sent flying backward.

The moment He Jundao and Young Master Moon had attacked, Yang Peng, Shenshan, and the others had struck as well.

Aside from Lu Dieyi and Wenren Yuxin, the other five had all unleashed their Divine Souls.

It took the combined force of all seven of them to barely hold back the two young masters.

Their combat strength was staggering!

Standing off to the side, Yang Qingtian stared at Shenshan, his eyes burning with fervor.

He realized that this Shenshan’s Divine Soul was even more terrifying than those of the other four.

’If I could recruit someone like that,’ Yang Qingtian thought, ’he would undoubtedly become my greatest warrior.’

Just as Yang Qingtian was about to speak, Young Master Moon beat him to it.

"Yang Qingtian, the three of us should join forces and eliminate them. If they’re allowed to mature, they will become a grave threat to us all."

Feeling several gazes fall upon him, a flicker of anger crossed Yang Qingtian’s eyes.

"I’m not like you two. I’ve always been used to acting alone," Yang Qingtian said, shaking his head to clarify his stance.

"Good. Very good! Yang Qingtian, I never knew you were so two-faced. Do you really think we can’t take them down without you?!" Young Master Moon said with venom in his voice.

The next moment, he commanded, "All Martial Artists of the Moon Worship Empire, heed my order..."

He Jundao also cried out, "All Martial Artists of the Celestial Star Empire, heed my order..."

At the same moment, Gao Hong of the Cangnan Empire made his move.

He led the charge, rushing toward Yang Peng’s group.

Young Master Moon and He Jundao were clearly about to mobilize the forces of their respective empires. As a Martial Artist from the Cangnan Empire, he had to make a choice.

As soon as Gao Hong moved, the other Martial Artists from the Cangnan Empire followed suit.

If they didn’t help Yang Peng’s group now, a massacre would surely await them once Young Master Moon and his allies were victorious.

"Hmph!"

Young Master Moon and He Jundao snorted in unison, then unleashed a slaughter upon the Martial Artists of the Cangnan Empire.

The two of them were unstoppable. Ordinary Martial Artists had no power to resist, and within moments, several from the Cangnan Empire had been cut down.

Just then, Shenshan made his move.

His eyes widened, and a spectral image erupted from his back.

As the phantom shot forth, Yang Peng pressed both his hands against Shenshan’s back.

Behind him, Lin Tian simultaneously pressed his hands onto Yang Peng’s back.

They formed a chain, and in no time, all five men were connected in a straight line.

The spectral image that had emerged from Shenshan began to rapidly solidify.

A moment later, the phantom took the form of a Devil Beast over ten meters long, materializing in the air.

The Devil Beast wasn’t huge, but it radiated an overwhelming pressure.

This was Shenshan’s Divine Soul!

All the Martial Artists present, aside from the three great young masters, collapsed to the ground, paralyzed and unable to move.

Some of the Martial Artists began to bleed.

It started from their noses, then from other places. Before long, several of them were bleeding from all seven facial orifices.

This was a sign that their internal organs had been severely damaged.

The bodies of the three great young masters began to glow.

Shenshan’s Divine Soul had solidified to such a degree that even they had to unleash their own Divine Souls to resist it.

The next moment, Shenshan’s Divine Soul charged forward.

The ten-meter-long Devil Beast stretched out its claw, swiping toward He Jundao and Young Master Moon...