Heaven-Dominating Martial Emperor

Luoyun City, at the Li family estate.

The spacious courtyard of the Li family was now a sea of crimson.

It was a floor soaked in fresh blood, dyeing the entire Li family estate a ghastly red!

A thick, metallic stench of blood rose to the heavens. The horrific scene, a veritable mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, was enough to give even seasoned Cultivators nightmares!

And yet, in the very center of this carnage, there was a single survivor.

It was an elderly figure, his body almost completely covered in wounds.

His left cheek was split open, and his right eyeball had fallen out of its socket.

His two arms hung limply on the ground like mounds of soft clay, the bones within shattered to dust, one by one.

As for his legs, his left was gone, the stump a clean cut. A residual power seemed to linger, constantly corroding the wound.

His right leg was bent at a grotesque angle, twisted like a pretzel.

His abdomen had been ripped open with a massive gash, and his intestines spilled out, trailing across the ground...

It was a sight so horrifyingly wretched that even Cultivators who had weathered countless bloody battles could not bear to look!

The stench of blood spread throughout the Li family estate. Although the onlookers knew of the tragedy within, not a single one dared to approach.

This was because the one who had wrought this slaughter was the abbot of Vajra Temple!!!

That terrifying existence who stood at the apex of the Lei Province Cultivation Realm!

SWOOSH!

A figure suddenly flashed into the scene, landing directly beside the body that was on the verge of death, but still clinging to a final breath.

Looking at the chunks of flesh strewn across the ground, Ye Chen's brow furrowed, and his heart seemed to clench.

"Is... is that you?"

"Sect... Sect Leader Ye..."

On the ground, Li Yunxiao struggled, seemingly trying to sit up.

But in his current state, he clearly couldn't even manage that. He struggled for a brief moment before giving up.

Gazing into Li Yunxiao's hollow eye, Ye Chen knew the old man couldn't see him at all.

He had merely sensed someone's arrival.

The only reason he could call out his name was likely because, in a situation like this, no one else would dare to set foot here.

Ye Chen took out the highest-grade Healing Elixir he had ever refined and placed it directly into Li Yunxiao's mouth.

"Cough... cough..."

However, Li Yunxiao suddenly began to cough.

"No... Sect Leader... don't give it to me..."

"Don't waste it... the elixir... it's useless on me..."

His vocal cords seemed to have been half-severed; his voice was intermittent and difficult to understand clearly.

But Ye Chen leaned down patiently to listen.

No matter how slowly Li Yunxiao spoke, he committed every single word to heart.

"Your cultivation... it was crippled, too?"

Ye Chen said suddenly, after staring at Li Yunxiao for a long time.

"Yes... it was..."

Li Yunxiao seemed to want to make a bitter smile, but his entire face twisted into a hideous, terrifying grimace.

"I... I received your elixir, Sect Leader..."

"I finally... finally broke through... to the second level of the Primordial Mansion Realm..."

"I had only just broken through, and my cultivation was crippled... What a... what a waste..."

"Haaa..." Ye Chen let out a long breath.

He clenched his fists, an endless rage burning wantonly in his heart.

Ye Chen had never been so furious, so close to madness.

'Now that I think about it,' he thought, 'only the moment I discovered the Luoyun Sect had betrayed me can compare to how I feel right now.'

"All of this... was done by the abbot of Vajra Temple, correct?"

Ye Chen forced his voice to remain calm.

He didn't want to agitate Li Yunxiao any further at a time like this.

"Ye-yes..."

"All... all of it was done by him... alone..."

'I see... so he did all this alone...' Ye Chen's eyes glinted, his killing intent practically soaring into the sky!

'Vajra Temple. So much for being the leader of the three great sects of Lei Province!'

'As the leader of the Righteous Dao's forces, why in the world would the abbot of Vajra Temple do something so utterly atrocious?'

"Where is he now?"

Ye Chen suppressed the fury in his heart and asked in a placid voice.

"He... he went back. Back to Vajra Temple..."

"He couldn't find you, couldn't be bothered to search, so he left..."

Li Yunxiao trembled all over.

He seemed to be reliving the events of last night. The corners of his eyes reddened, but though he wanted to cry, no tears would come.

The old man's tears had already run dry.

"He must have told you to come find me, didn't he?"

"Why... why didn't you?"

Ye Chen took a deep breath, his expression frighteningly cold.

'Don't tell me he didn't know where I was. Li Yunxiao is a Primordial Mansion Realm Cultivator. With a whole night, he should have been able to find some news about me, right? At the very least, it would have been better than staying at the Li family estate and fighting the abbot of Vajra Temple head-on!'

"I... I couldn't find you. Couldn't. He was killing people. I saw him... chop off the head of one of my descendants."

"I couldn't stand it. I fought him. I couldn't win. He nailed my legs to the ground. He killed them, right in front of me..."

"..."

Listening to Li Yunxiao's fragmented words, filled with blood, tears, and resentment.

Ye Chen nodded slowly. "I understand."

Then, he rose to his feet.

"Sect Leader, where... are you going..."

Li Yunxiao seemed to sense something and asked suddenly.

"First, I'm taking you back."

"Then, I'm going to Vajra Temple to settle the score."

Ye Chen said, his face devoid of expression.

"No, don't..."

"Don't?" Ye Chen was taken aback.

"If you go to him, you'll die... The Li family is counting on you for revenge... You can't die..."

Hearing this, Li Yunxiao seemed to grow anxious.

He struggled with all his might to sit up.

But his injuries were far too severe. Despite taking the Healing Elixir, he was still on the brink of death.

Ye Chen knew that unless he could refine a legendary Spirit Pill capable of bringing the dead back to life and regrowing flesh on bones...

...it would be nearly impossible to save Li Yunxiao.

Li Yunxiao's injuries were far, far too grave, and most importantly, his cultivation had been crippled.

Without the protection of his Spiritual Power, he was now no different from an ordinary person.

Any one of his fatal wounds was now enough to take his life.

The only reason he had managed to cling to life this long was likely that he was waiting for Ye Chen.

However, what Ye Chen hadn't expected was that after he announced he was going to Vajra Temple for revenge, Li Yunxiao would be the one to stop him!

"He's that dangerous?"

Ye Chen frowned.

For years, the abbot of Vajra Temple had always been one of the most powerful Cultivators in Lei Province.