One Sword Slays a Half-Step Fusion

After setting up the stone tablet, Ye Xuan led Ying'er deeper into the Burial Heavenly Abyss.

At this moment, his aura was completely withdrawn, like a pool of stagnant water, utterly still and calm.

In this forbidden land where every step brought lethal danger and fierce beasts lurked in ambush, a seemingly ordinary mortal strolling through as if on flat ground was, in itself, a bone-chilling terror.

Ying'er followed closely behind Ye Xuan, her sparkling eyes filled with tenderness.

"Husband, there's a very strong spiritual energy fluctuation up ahead!" Ying'er suddenly stopped, pointing toward a blood-tinged valley in the distance.

Ye Xuan lazily raised his eyelids. Above the blood-colored valley a few miles away, a spiritual energy storm had torn the sky into a riot of colors, with dozens of powerful auras colliding recklessly.

"Let's go see what spoils there are to pick up." Ye Xuan's tone was casual.

The two moved as if shrinking the ground beneath their feet, instantly hovering above the valley.

The sight before them made Ying'er gasp sharply.

At the center of the valley lay a colossal white bone dragon, as massive as a mountain, and at the center of its skull, a three-foot-tall spiritual herb was rooted, glowing with rainbow-colored radiance and mysterious dao patterns. The surrounding spiritual energy was so dense it nearly condensed into rain.

"That's the legendary Seven-Colored Dragon Marrow Herb, said to reshape one's foundation and grant physical sainthood!" Ying'er cried out in shock.

At this very moment, surrounding this heaven-defying fortune, dozens of prodigies from the most powerful sects had already slaughtered each other into a frenzy.

"Scram, you lot from the Yaochi Holy Land! This treasure was discovered by our Star River Sword Sect first!" A handsome young man in a starry robe raged, robes billowing as he casually unleashed a city-toppling sword aura dozens of yards long. He was none other than the Star River Sword Sect Saint Son, Chu Xinghe.

"Ridiculous! Treasures in the Burial Heavenly Abyss go to those with the strength to claim them!" Across from him, the Saintess of Yaochi, Luo Qinghan, sneered coldly, her immortal aura transforming into countless strands of killing intent as she refused to yield an inch.

Supreme Heaven Sect, Purple Cloud Holy Land, Primordial Extreme Holy Land…

These top-tier prodigies, normally venerated by millions, had now torn away all pretense, slaughtering one another like street thugs over this Dragon Marrow Herb.

"Enough! All of you, stop!"

Just as the prodigies were locked in bloodshed, a thunderous roar, like a heavenly bolt of lightning, exploded across the valley.

A middle-aged man in purple-gold dao robes, with a lightning mark on his brow, stepped out of the void. With every step he took, a thunder lotus bloomed beneath his feet, and an oppressive, suffocating aura of destruction descended upon the entire scene.

"It's the Supreme Elder of the Purple Cloud Holy Land, Thunder Daoist!" someone gasped in terror.

Thunder Daoist looked down upon the prodigies from his lofty position, his tone carrying unquestionable authority: "This spiritual herb is tied to my breakthrough. Grant me this favor. As compensation, I offer one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones and three realm-breaking pills to split among you. How about that?"

Faced with such absolute dominance, the prodigies, no matter how unwilling, could only grit their teeth and swallow their pride.

In the world of cultivation, power was the only law.

Just as everyone was about to bow to fate—

"Not interested."

A flat, languid, even somewhat bored voice drifted down from above the valley.

Everyone snapped their heads up to see a young man in white robes descending slowly, holding a young girl's hand.

"Who are you?" Thunder Daoist frowned. Even his Late Integration stage divine sense could not discern this man's depth.

"Just passing through." Ye Xuan flicked a speck of dust off his sleeve. "You're making too much noise. It's hurting my ears, so I've come to clear the place out."

"Presumptuous! A mere brat like you dares to speak to me—"

"Wait!" Chu Xinghe's pupils contracted violently as he took in Ye Xuan's face, as if he'd laid eyes on some primordial beast. Even his voice cracked: "You… you're that White-Clad God of Slaughter who's been butchering people at the outer reaches these past few days?"

At those words, the entire valley fell dead silent.

The last few days, a White-Clad Devil had been on a killing spree at the abyss's outer edge, cutting down all who crossed him—whether rogue cultivators or holy land heirs—with a single sword stroke. Clean. Efficient.

Luo Qinghan and the other prodigies felt their scalps crawl, instinctively summoning their natal treasures and staring at Ye Xuan like cornered prey.

Yet, facing dozens of top-tier prodigies and a half-step Integration Elder on high alert, Ye Xuan couldn't even be bothered to raise his eyelids.

His gaze rested solely on the Seven-Colored Dragon Marrow Herb, and he spoke as if stating an obvious fact:

"That herb. I want it."

"Ridiculous to the extreme!"

Thunder Daoist laughed in fury; his half-step Integration dignity had fully ignited his killing intent. "Even if you can kill a few Void Refinement-era trash, you're still just an ant I could crush with a flick of my fingers! Today, I'll do the heavens' work and blast you into ash with my Purple Cloud Divine Thunder!"

His entire body became a seething purple sea of lightning.

"Ten Thousand Thunders, Exterminate the Demon!"

In an instant, heaven and earth turned upside down.

Bolts of Purple Cloud Divine Thunder, thick as water vats, tore through the sky, carrying world-destroying might as they crashed down upon Ye Xuan in an endless barrage!

The sheer force was enough to wipe the entire valley off the map.

The prodigies retreated in terror, filled with awe at the power of half-step Integration.

Faced with this apocalyptic spectacle, Ye Xuan simply dug a finger into his ear with mild annoyance, then lazily raised his right index finger.

"Noisy."

A thin gray thread of sword aura shot from his fingertip.

It was so small it seemed like a speck of dust against the ocean of thunder. Yet the moment that gray thread touched the Purple Cloud Divine Thunder, all the rumbling in the world ceased at once.

There was no deafening explosion. No clash of equals.

Only a cut.

The gray sword thread, like a blade slicing through paper, ignored all spatial and spiritual energy rules and cut the massive thunderstorm cleanly in two from the middle!

Deprived of its sustaining spiritual power, the Purple Cloud Divine Thunder collapsed into nothing midair.

"That's impossible!" Thunder Daoist's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. A unprecedented tremor of fear surged from the depths of his soul.

"Purple Cloud Body Shield!"

He frantically squeezed every drop of his blood essence, condensing hundreds of thunder shields before him.

Shiiiink.

The gray thread pierced through the thunder shields like a needle through tissue paper.

A soft puff.

A tiny bloody hole appeared at Thunder Daoist's brow. He hung frozen in midair, his face still locked in fury, yet the light behind his eyes had already faded completely.

Bang.

The corpse of the legendary Purple Cloud Holy Land Supreme Elder, a half-step Integration overlord, slammed into the dirt like a discarded sack, kicking up a plume of dust.

One strike. Instant kill.

The entire valley fell into a deathly hush. Only the wind moaning through the canyon could be heard.

Chu Xinghe's sword clattered to the ground. His entire body trembled like a leaf in a storm.

Luo Qinghan was white as a ghost, her breath stopped. Every mind went blank, all ability to think completely erased.

Ye Xuan slowly retracted his finger, sweeping his gaze over the trembling prodigies as if they were penned livestock.

"Now. Is there anyone who still wants this herb?"

No one dared answer. No one even dared meet his eyes for a single second.

"Since that's settled, it's mine."

With a flash of movement, Ye Xuan plucked the Seven-Colored Dragon Marrow Herb, roots, bones, and all, and stored it into his ring.

Then, he turned around and delivered his final verdict to this group of the most dazzling prodigies of the Central Divine Land:

"Hand over your storage rings."

The prodigies looked as if they had been struck by lightning, faces twisted with humiliation: "You... this is outright robbery! We are disciples of the holy lands..."

"I'll count to three." Ye Xuan's gaze finally turned cold. "Refuse, and you die. One."

"Two."

Before he even reached three, someone had already broken down and tossed his storage ring to the ground.

Once the dam cracked, there was no stopping the flood. Amid tears of shame, ring after ring stuffed with spirit stones, elixirs, and peerless cultivation techniques was thrown obediently at Ye Xuan's feet.

Faced with this kind of insurmountable crushing disparity in power, they didn't even have the courage to draw their swords.

Ye Xuan calmly swept up every piece of loot, then clapped his hands.

"My husband is so cool!" Ying'er squealed and threw herself into his arms.

"Let's go. On to the next place." He patted her head and turned to leave.

Behind him, Chu Xinghe finally bit through his lip and roared with all the strength he had: "You've robbed everyone of their fortune! The moment we leave the Abyssal Divine Grounds, the fury of the holy lands will tear you apart limb from limb!"

Ye Xuan paused mid-step.

He tilted his head slightly, casting a sidelong glance at Chu Xinghe, the corner of his mouth curling into a sneer of undisguised mockery and contempt.

"Holy lands?"

Ye Xuan let out a derisive laugh.

"In my eyes, they're nothing but a pack of mangy dogs."