Heaven-Surpassing Divine Emperor

"Revenge?"

Zifeng Jun was stunned. He shook his head and said, "Jiang Chen, don’t be reckless. That’s Zhang Ruhai, an unparalleled genius ranked twenty-seventh on the Human Venerable List. He’s much, much stronger than Bing Xiao. You’re no match for him..."

For Jiang Chen to stand up for him at a time like this truly moved Zifeng Jun.

But...

He had personally experienced Zhang Ruhai’s methods and knew just how terrifying his power was.

In Zifeng Jun’s opinion, there was no way Jiang Chen could be Zhang Ruhai’s opponent.

Zhang Ruhai had naturally heard Jiang Chen’s words. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he covered it with his hand as he chuckled like a woman, his narrowed eyes filled with thick ridicule. "Your friend is right, you’re no match for me. Don’t think killing Bing Xiao is some great achievement. If I wanted to kill Bing Xiao, I’d only need one strike. As for you... though you’re a bit stronger than him, I only need three strikes to cut you down!"

Behind Zhang Ruhai, Senior Brother Rui declared with a smug look, "Kid, you were so arrogant just now. But now that our senior-most brother is here, you’re dead meat. Of course, if you kneel to me right now and kowtow to beg for mercy, Fatty here might be able to ask our senior-most brother to spare your miserable life."

A smug smile played on Zhang Ruhai’s face.

From the very beginning, he hadn’t taken Jiang Chen seriously at all.

Jiang Chen glanced indifferently at the short, fat man and spat out two cold words: "Shut up!"

A sharp glint shot out from his eyes.

Divine Thought Shock!

SWISH!

The formless Divine Thought coalesced into a sharp blade, flashed past, and instantly struck the short, fat man.

The smug look was still on the short, fat man’s face, but the focus in his eyes was completely gone.

"Senior Brother Rui, what—what’s wrong with you?"

"Ah... Senior Brother Rui is dead?"

The young woman who had been leaning against the short, fat man’s chest noticed something was amiss. Upon checking, her face paled in terror as she cried out in alarm.

"What?"

Zhang Ruhai’s expression changed drastically. He looked over at the short, fat man and saw that he was, indeed, dead!

His expression was incredibly grim.

’What the hell is going on?’

Jiang Chen clicked his tongue and said with a laugh, "So this is a disciple of the Celestial Fire Sect? Don’t tell me this fatty overindulged in debauchery, got too excited, and literally laughed himself to death?"

As soon as he said this, the surrounding onlookers began to chatter amongst themselves. "Look at how puffy and bloated he is. It’s really possible he was so unhealthy he just laughed himself to death!"

"Are the people from the Celestial Fire Sect that pathetic?"

"In the Celestial Fire Sect, only Zhang Ruhai is anybody of note. As for the rest..."

The crowd’s gazes toward the Celestial Fire Sect disciples were all filled with a thick sense of disdain and mockery.

Zhang Ruhai’s expression flickered uncertainly. ’Could that guy have really just laughed himself to death?’

Just as Zhang Ruhai was wavering in suspicion, his expression twitched slightly. A teasing voice sounded in his mind: "Zhang Ruhai, you’ve been fooled by that kid. Your junior brother didn’t laugh to death. That Jiang Chen is a Divine Thought Master. Your junior brother was killed by him!"

"Hm? A Divine Thought Master?"

Zhang Ruhai’s expression changed drastically again. He shot a venomous glare at Jiang Chen. "Damn you, how dare you trick me? Junior Brother Rui was clearly killed by you using the methods of a Divine Thought Master!"

Jiang Chen frowned.

His Divine Thought perception was incredibly sharp; he had sensed that someone had just sent a voice transmission to Zhang Ruhai to warn him.

His gaze swept over the crowd, and Jiang Chen spotted Zifeng Jie. Seeing that Jiang Chen had noticed him, Zifeng Jie grinned, a mocking expression on his face.

Anger flared in Jiang Chen’s heart. He sent a voice transmission: "Zifeng Jie, you’re courting death!"

"You should worry about solving the problem in front of you first, hahaha!" Zifeng Jie shrugged, his reply dripping with schadenfreude.

Jiang Chen snorted coldly.

Zhang Ruhai’s red robes billowed around him. As the eyeshadow at the corners of his eyes seemed to twitch, a grim killing intent emerged. "Jiang Chen, a piece of trash like you originally wasn’t qualified to die by my sword. But since you dared to kill a disciple of my Celestial Fire Sect right in front of me, today, I will use this sword to take your head and prove the might of my Celestial Fire Sect."

"So you’re that confident you can kill me?" Jiang Chen asked with a playful smile.

Zhang Ruhai snorted. "Killing you will be a simple matter. I only need three strikes to take your head!"

Three strikes!

Only someone with absolute confidence would dare say such a thing!

Gasps of shock rippled through the crowd. "This Zhang Ruhai is really arrogant!"

"That’s not arrogance, it’s confidence!"

"Jiang Chen was able to kill Bing Xiao, so his strength is probably around the top one hundred on the Human Venerable List. But Zhang Ruhai is ranked twenty-seventh. The gap between them is just too wide!"

"I bet he won’t even need three strikes. Two might be enough to finish it!"

"He might not even be able to block a single strike!"

Listening to the crowd’s discussions, a ruthless expression appeared on Zhang Ruhai’s heavily made-up face. "Jiang Chen, within three strikes, I will cut you down!"

"Three strikes?"

Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes and smiled. "I’ll grant you three strikes. Come on!"

"Grant me?"

Zhang Ruhai’s face darkened, his eyes flashing with humiliation and rage. He ground his teeth. "You are far too arrogant. How dare you say you’ll ’grant’ me strikes? Hahaha, when I, Zhang Ruhai, decide to kill someone, do I need your permission? Die!"

The first strike.

A blood-red light erupted from the tip of his sword.

After this blood-red Sword Aura shot out, it flickered in the void and vanished.

"Such a fast strike!"

"Zhang Ruhai practices the Sunflower Sword Technique. It’s said that this style is unconventional and renowned for its Fast Sword principles!"

"Look, Jiang Chen isn’t even reacting. He must be scared stiff!"

Under the crowd’s watchful eyes, Jiang Chen indeed showed no reaction.

SWOOSH!

The void trembled slightly, and a wisp of blood-red Sword Aura suddenly appeared before Jiang Chen’s neck.

Only an instant passed between the Sword Aura’s disappearance and reappearance. When it emerged, it was only a finger’s width from Jiang Chen’s neck. At such a distance, there was no time to defend, not even to dodge.

PFFT!

The blood-red Sword Aura struck Jiang Chen’s neck.

Joy appeared on Zhang Ruhai’s face. "Killed in just one strike? What a piece of trash!"

However...

To Zhang Ruhai’s disappointment, there wasn’t even a single scratch on Jiang Chen’s neck. He raised a hand to rub it and said nonchalantly, "Decent speed, but unfortunately, the power is too weak."

"You..."

Zhang Ruhai’s face was as black as charcoal, an incredibly ugly sight.

A moment ago, he thought he had killed Jiang Chen with one strike, but the man had actually taken it head-on, and he hadn’t even managed to break his skin!

"Just how strong is this guy’s physical body?"

"It’s unbelievable!"

Everyone gasped in astonishment.

The strength of Jiang Chen’s physical body was astounding.

Zhang Ruhai took a deep breath and snorted coldly. "That last strike was just me testing your strength. This next one is a real killing blow!"

SWISH!

The second strike arrived abruptly.

The speed of this swordsmanship was even faster than before, the blade pulsing with blood-red light as it aimed straight for Jiang Chen’s heart.

"The power and speed are faster than before, but still too weak!" Jiang Chen commented as if giving a lesson, raising two fingers. With a CLANG, he caught the Sword Aura in mid-air, then flung his arm to the side. The Sword Aura was thrown away, plunging into the ground with a PFFT.

RUMBLE!

A series of rumbles echoed from beneath the ground.

The entire cliff face trembled.

’How is this possible? He blocked two of my strikes so easily? Damn it, with this third strike, I have to kill this piece of trash!’

A grim killing intent flickered in Zhang Ruhai’s eyes. With a furious roar, his True Essence surged, causing his fiery red robes to whip about wildly.

His long hair flew about chaotically, making him look like a bloodthirsty Demon!

BUZZ...

Behind Zhang Ruhai, sharp Sword Auras suddenly appeared, hovering in the air. Thousands upon thousands of them pulsed and bobbed. He spread his arms wide, then pointed at Jiang Chen. "Kuixing Three Thousand Slashes!"

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

The thousands of Sword Auras shot toward Jiang Chen in unison.

A cold glint flashed in Jiang Chen’s eyes, and the corner of his mouth curved into an icy arc. "Your three strikes are over. Now it’s your turn to take a finger from me!"

Jiang Chen suddenly split into ten clones.

They rushed at Zhang Ruhai from different directions. The thousands of Sword Auras managed to destroy nine of the clones, but it was too late to destroy the last one—Jiang Chen’s true self. Jiang Chen had already appeared before Zhang Ruhai, and he thrust a finger forward through the air. "Star Pointing Finger—Breaking Sun!"

PFFT!

An unparalleled beam of light shot out from his finger.

Its speed was incredible.

Before Zhang Ruhai could even react, it had already struck him in the chest.

"WAH!"

Zhang Ruhai’s entire body convulsed. He was flung high into the air, flying backward.

As he flew, his robes exploded inch by inch. With a loud BOOM, Zhang Ruhai slammed heavily onto the ground.

Jiang Chen strode forward and planted his foot on Zhang Ruhai’s chest. "You kept calling me trash," he said flatly, "but you couldn’t even block a single finger from me. So what does that make you?"