Ma Henggu's face was frozen in extreme cold. Although the Hall of Primordial Beginning was not one of the five great sects, it still possessed more than two experts above the fifth rank.
One was his father, the sect master himself.
The other was the Supreme Elder of the Hall, who had already reached the peak of the sixth rank.
Ma Henggu himself was also the fourth captain of the Sanitation Bureau. If he could maintain his current path, becoming a member of the council was as good as guaranteed.
Even the sect masters of the five great sects showed them a measure of respect.
Yet this unknown nobody before him actually dared to look down on them.
The more Ma Henggu thought about it, the hotter the fury in his heart burned.
Whoosh!
He transformed into a beam of light and struck toward Ye Chen.
Ye Chen let out a cold laugh. "Since you're asking for death, don't blame me!"
The golden light on Ye Chen's body blazed brilliantly. Gazing at the incoming Ma Henggu, he threw a punch.
Seeing this, Ma Henggu swung his own fist in response.
Boom!
Their Qi collided violently, and a terrifying storm erupted all around them.
The two held their ground for about a second or two, then the burst of Qi suddenly exploded outward. Ma Henggu was forced back a full three steps.
Ye Chen only stepped back a single pace before steadying himself. His expression remained calm. "We're both at the early stage of Transcending Mortality. You're indeed a bit stronger than the ones I faced before, but so what? Leave now, or I will kill you without mercy!"
Ma Henggu's face twisted with viciousness. As a genius of the Hall of Primordial Beginning,
he was used to fighting above his level. Unless it was against one of those true prodigies, who did this person before him think he was?
"Primordial Beginning Sword!"
Dust swirled into existence all around Ma Henggu's body, converging together to form a longsword.
The blade took on the appearance of yellow earth, with a cyclone of swirling dust wrapped around its edge.
He grabbed the sword and lunged at Ye Chen.
Wherever the sword passed, it left behind a trail of dust.
Ye Chen sneered. Golden light shimmered over his hands, materializing into golden scales that completely covered both of his arms.
Whoosh!
Ma Henggu flew through the air with his sword, aiming at Xu Mu. "Dust Explosion!"
With one swing, he released not a sword energy, but a tornado like a raging sandstorm.
The dust completely swallowed Ye Chen whole.
Meanwhile, Xu Mu sat quietly on a rock, calmly watching the battle unfold.
That Ye Chen had entered the Transcending Mortality realm came as no surprise to him at all.
What was happening now had long since deviated from the original plot.
In the original story, Ye Chen had not clashed with Ma Henggu in the early stages.
Ye Chen had killed a disciple of the Hall of Primordial Beginning and stolen a heavenly treasure, only to be wounded by an elder of the Hall later, who took the treasure back.
Because of this, Ye Chen harbored a deep grudge.
But he had some brains—he wouldn't dare directly provoke the Hall.
Instead, he learned that members of the Hall were heading to some ruin to find treasures.
So he called in Xiao Ran and several other experts and set up an ambush at the ruin to intercept them.
What he hadn't expected was that both Ma Henggu and his sect master father would be present at that ruin.
Ye Chen had kicked an iron plate. Xiao Ran died saving him.
He was severely wounded and nearly killed.
But now, Ye Chen and Ma Henggu had met ahead of schedule.
Xu Mu thought it over and decided to lend a hand. Even if he couldn't kill Ye Chen, he could still earn some Mandate of Heaven power.
...
At the same time.
The dust tornado continued to ravage Ye Chen—until two massive golden dragon claws tore the cyclone apart outright.
Swish!
In an instant, Ye Chen's form transformed into a flash of golden light, darting toward Ma Henggu.
Though there were still over ten meters between them, the dragon claws had already pierced through Ma Henggu's chest.
The Second Elder saw this and immediately raised his hand.
Ma Henggu's body was enclosed in a coffin of rock.
Boom!
Ye Chen's second attack followed immediately, his fist slamming into the stone coffin.
Crack!
The coffin sprouted countless spreading cracks as Ye Chen's punch sent it flying, crashing into a distant boulder.
The stone coffin shattered completely, and Ma Henggu tumbled out from among the broken chunks of stone.
He lowered his head to look at the wound on his chest, then pulled out a healing pill and stuffed it into his mouth.
Ye Chen now stood atop a rock, contempt gleaming in his eyes. "Trash! You don't even put as much pressure on me as that Grandmaster I once faced."
At this moment, Xu Mu was already lurking not far behind Ye Chen. Of course, he knew the person Ye Chen referred to was the live-in son-in-law, Fang Chu.
Regardless, Fang Chu was a protagonist—naturally no comparison to Ma Henggu.
Ma Henggu's face contorted with rage. "Strike now!"
Swish!
The Second Elder of the Hall of Primordial Beginning unleashed his full power. The Hall had sent him precisely because his cultivation was at the peak of the second rank of Reality-Breaking.
The First Elder had surpassed the second rank and would be restricted here.
Whoosh!
Second Elder Wu Chao suddenly flickered to Ye Chen's flank. The dust around them rapidly condensed into stone spikes, sealing off every possible escape route.
"Dragon's Blood Boiling!"
Ye Chen clenched his fists, and golden radiance surged from his body. By now, the golden scales had covered his whole frame, and behind him appeared a vast phantom of a dragon's head.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
The stone spikes shot toward Ye Chen's body one after another.
The relentless barrage shattered the golden scales on his body.
But even as they broke apart, new scales regenerated in their place.
Enduring the assault, Ye Chen launched his own attack at Wu Chao.
He swung his arms, his fingers already transformed into dragon claws, nails as sharp as blades.
Wu Chao also erupted with power, his arms and fists coated in rock.
Bang, bang, bang...
Every exchange between them sent deep, muffled detonations through the air, with waves of force exploding outward after each strike.
Though Ye Chen was forced back step by step, he managed to defend against every single attack Wu Chao threw at him.
Ma Henggu's face grew increasingly savage. Who in the hell was this brat?
He was only at the early peak of Transcending Mortality, yet he could fight someone at the second rank of Reality-Breaking for this long!
"Dragon's Pull!"
Suddenly, Ye Chen unleashed a technique. The dragon head phantom behind him opened its jaws wide.
A terrifying suction force threw Wu Chao's balance off as he prepared to throw a punch.
Ye Chen seized the moment and stabbed his hand toward Wu Chao's waist.
Wu Chao knew things were going wrong. At the critical moment, his expression froze—he realized he was suddenly standing on a rock.
Looking closely, he saw that someone else had appeared beside Ye Chen.
Ma Henggu's eyes flew wide. "Xu Mu!"
Swish!
Xu Mu swept his blade—the dark edge coated with the Burning Heaven Sword Qi—straight at Ye Chen's arm.
Crack!
The golden scales shattered, and blood splattered from his arm.
"It's you!"
Ye Chen's face twitched. He immediately spread golden wings and leaped into the sky to retreat.
[Mandate of Heaven Power -10]
Xu Mu activated Cloud Steps and soared into the air after him, giving chase.
Ma Henggu's twisted face finally relaxed. "Second Elder! Join forces with Xu Mu to kill him!"
Wu Chao nodded and soared into the sky.
Seeing this, Ye Chen flew off into the distance. That single strike alone told him Xu Mu had also entered the Transcending Mortality realm.
One-on-one, he might not even be able to beat Xu Mu—let alone with a second-rank expert backing him up.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, Xu Mu and Ye Chen swapped positions, and Ye Chen found himself sandwiched between Xu Mu and Wu Chao.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
