The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

BOOM!

Wu Xing's Celestial Spirit Giant Hand was shattered in an instant. An Outer Appearance is an Outer Appearance, after all, not a mere condensation of Celestial Spirit. Wu Xing's Star-Picking Claw was naturally no match for it.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Wu Xing roared in disbelief. "He took the brunt of such a violent explosion all by himself! He can't be completely unscathed. Even if he is, his True Qi must be completely drained by now. He's just putting up a desperate last stand! Elders, lend me a hand and help me take him down! I'm willing to share the Mingxi Grass with both of you!"

The Mingxi Grass was the very thing the two elderly men were after. Spurred on by Wu Xing's promise, they attacked at once.

Shrouding themselves in Celestial Spirit, they charged straight at Chen Dong, preparing for close-quarters combat.

Watching the situation unfold, Huang Yongfeng gave Chen Dong a wretched smile. "Serves you right for meddling. You'll probably die before I do!"

Chen Dong gritted his teeth and fell back, forcing the two Elders to retreat with a sweep of the Outer Appearance's giant hand.

"I followed my heart and gained self-awareness. How is that meddling?"

Wu Xing advanced again, forming a triangular encirclement with the two Elders. He roared, "The kid's a cornered beast! All members of the Star-Picking Sect, attack!"

At Wu Xing's command, twelve Grandmasters—including the Sect Leader's Wife, Huang Xiaoyu—formed up and charged straight at Chen Dong.

Murderous intent flashed in Chen Dong's eyes. "I never thought the Star-Picking Sect was such a den of vipers," he said coldly. "Killing you all will be an act of self-purification!"

As Chen Dong spoke, his astonishingly powerful Outer Appearance slowly rose from the ground. It straightened its majestic body, towering high into the clouds. Even with its blank, featureless face, it now seemed to look down on everyone with contempt. Countless inscriptions swirled across its body like a suit of armor, making Chen Dong's Outer Appearance even more imposing. At the same time, a suffocating pressure washed over the members of the Star-Picking Sect!

The coordinated attack from the twelve Grandmasters' formation was something not even a Celestial Spirit Peak expert would dare to receive head-on. Yet, when their attacks struck the Outer Appearance, it didn't even budge. Instead, a massive repulsive force sent all twelve Grandmasters flying.

This time, the members of the Star-Picking Sect were completely stupefied! They had assumed that Chen Dong could, at most, manifest a single giant hand. Who would have guessed that the seemingly-faltering Chen Dong would summon his entire Outer Appearance!

"How can he still manifest his Outer Appearance!" Wu Xing cried out in terror.

Chen Dong's cold voice drifted over. "It's true my True Qi is in turmoil, preventing me from manifesting Celestial Spirit. But who said I couldn't manifest my Outer Appearance? You dare attack me without even a superficial understanding of what an Outer Appearance is. You're courting death!"

As he spoke, lightning crackled to life on Chen Dong's Outer Appearance. With a wave of its giant hand, a torrent of lightning bolts swept toward the members of the Star-Picking Sect.

The Grandmasters, unprotected by Celestial Spirit, were like balloons in a shooting gallery. Even with their True Qi sealed perfectly within them, they were pierced through by the lightning, one after another.

In the blinding flash of lightning, the twelve Grandmasters of the Star-Picking Sect were all sent to their graves. Only the three who wielded Celestial Spirit were left, desperately struggling to survive.

Looking at Huang Xiaoyu's corpse, Wu Xing was filled with immense regret. He shouldn't have been so reckless as to attack Chen Dong, but the temptation of the Mingxi Grass had been too strong, and Chen Dong's injuries had made him see an opportunity.

The two Elders had already lost their will to fight the moment Chen Dong summoned his Outer Appearance.

While desperately reinforcing their Celestial Spirit defenses against the lightning, they shouted, "Senior, we are willing to surrender! We beg you to stay your hand!"

Chen Dong said coldly, "I already gave you a chance."

Seeing their pleas for mercy fail, the two Elders dodged out of the lightning's path and attacked Chen Dong again from the left and right. Their only hope was to gamble that Chen Dong was actually incredibly weak and had only enough strength left for that one strike.

Clearly, they had bet wrong. Chen Dong's Outer Appearance Giant Fist rained down furiously upon the two Elders.

Wu Xing seized the opportunity to once again strike Chen Dong's Outer Appearance with all his might, but he couldn't even scratch the inscriptions on its surface.

When the dust settled, two large craters had appeared where the Elders once stood. Within them lay nothing but two mangled corpses.

Wu Xing was left speechless. He turned and fled for his life. In the next moment, a Thunder Spear shot out, piercing clean through his chest.

In just a few short minutes, the entire upper echelon of the Star-Picking Sect had been annihilated.

The remaining fifteen True Qi Realm cultivators fell to their knees before Chen Dong one after another. Some were grateful that he had saved their lives; others were simply terrified. Chen Dong paid them no mind, dismissing them with a casual wave of his hand and allowing them to leave.

Huang Yongfeng walked over to Huang Xiaoyu's body. His head was bowed, his expression unreadable, as he continuously murmured something under his breath.

Chen Dong approached and said, "I had intended to kill you, but now... I feel I shouldn't..."

"Sigh... Forget it."

Chen Dong didn't finish his sentence, because Huang Yongfeng was already dead. He had used Huang Xiaoyu's hand to guide his own Magical Artifact Knife into his heart.

Perhaps, in his plan, the outcome had never changed.

Perhaps it was because of Huang Yongfeng, or perhaps it was a choice dictated by his Inner Realm Mystic Passage, but Chen Dong detonated the remaining explosives. The massive crater from the blast buried Huang Yongfeng, Huang Xiaoyu, and the members of the Star-Picking Sect right there.

This, too, was a case of different paths leading to the same end.

Chen Dong felt his Dao Heart grow a little stronger.

Just then, his phone rang. The call was from Li Huiran.

He answered the call. Li Huiran asked, "Chen Dong, Zhao Yiniann wants to meet. Can you come with me?"

Before Chen Dong could answer, Li Huiran added, "I'll feel safer if you're there!"

Chen Dong replied simply, "Okay."