Chapter 192: Battle Against the Cangyan Sect – Golden Core, Triple Kill

Chapter 192: Battle Against the Cangyan Sect – Golden Core, Triple Kill

“Xiao Chen, don’t act recklessly yet,” Zhenren Mingyan dissuaded, his voice calm but firm. “Right now, they’re exposed while we remain hidden. We can wait for them to charge into the formation before striking together with a coordinated attack.”

His words weren’t unreasonable, but circumstances mattered. Xiao Chen had just acquired the Hex, eager to test the thrill of a Heaven-tier cultivator facing Yellow-rank foes. Before the Golden Core Formation, he’d hidden from other Golden Core experts out of necessity. Now, staying cooped up in the formation would make his breakthrough meaningless. Besides, he had the Night’s Blade as a safety net—no risk of failure.

Waving a hand dismissively, he grinned. “No need for such trouble. These clowns are barely worth the effort, let alone a formation.”

Zhenren Mingyan froze.

Huh? Why are they both so reckless?

Earlier, Zhenren Yun Xiang insisted on fighting despite her injuries, and now Xiao Chen wanted to charge out alone. Anyone would think the Lihuo Sect was the aggressor, not the Cangyan Sect.

“Xiao Chen, it’s good to feel confident after your Golden Core Formation,” Mingyan said, his tone gentle but persuasive. “But Golden Core duels differ slightly from Foundation Building battles. Let’s play it safe.”

“With Junior Sect Brother’s talent, you’ll gain the upper hand soon enough. There’s no rush to settle scores with the Cangyan Sect.”

As he spoke, Mingyan noticed something odd. Why was he the only one arguing? Why hadn’t Yun Xiang spoken up?

He turned, only to find Yun Xiang staring blankly at Xiao Chen, her mind clearly adrift.

“Senior Sister, are you alright?” he asked, concern creeping in. Did forcing her recovery worsen her injuries?

Snapping back to reality, Yun Xiang shook her head. “I’m fine. That is… Xiao Chen’s words were truly inspiring.”

She glanced at Mingyan, her tone firm. “Why not follow his plan? Let’s open the formation and fight together.”

Makes sense, but this feels… wrong. Mingyan frowned, sensing an unspoken tension. With both insisting, he relented, resolving to stay vigilant once outside.

---

Beyond Qiyun Peak, the Cangyan Sect’s routine assault suddenly paused. The Lihuo Sect’s formation dimmed, shifting from full defense to partial openness.

Zhenren Jin Jian’s eyes lit up. Could their spirit stones be running low?

But his hope faded as three Golden Core-level figures soared toward them.

Zhenren Gui Yan stiffened. “Three people? Did Feihong return?”

“No,” Zhenren Zi Xiao shook his head. “Feihong’s no youth, and he’d strike from the shadows if he returned.”

Jin Jian squinted at the rightmost figure—Xiao Chen, whom he’d glimpsed in Hezhou. “It’s that false-core brat from Lihuo. Didn’t expect him to form a Golden Core so fast.”

In the Southern Domain, false-core cultivators were rare, and Lihuo’s Xiao Chen was a recent anomaly.

“Golden Core so soon? He must hold a great secret!” Gui Yan’s eyes gleamed. “Perhaps a new Heaven-tier legacy. I’ll claim him.”

“Perfect,” Zi Xiao added. “Test his strength while probing Yun Xiang’s injuries. Xiao Chen is mine.”

Jin Jian nodded, weaving a trio of magic shields before advancing. Golden Core duels followed an unspoken rule: fight aloft, away from ground-level cultivators. Their power could devastate allies if unleashed recklessly.

Xiao Chen, recalling tales of such battles, ascended calmly, distancing himself from lower cultivators. Moments later, the six clashed at 100 li altitude, their radiant auras repelling the howling gales—a breeze to Golden Core experts.

Jin Jian struck first, unleashing 36 Scarlet Flame Thunder Beads—orange-red spheres the size of chariots, each hiding a hidden thunder core. A single bead slipping through would shred defenses.

Xiao Chen responded with the Qiongtai Fire Lotus. A three-foot Qiongtai materialized beneath him, erupting into a crimson lotus that shielded him within its blooming petals.

Jin Jian smirked. A defensive spell? How naive!

The beads detonated in rapid succession—Boom! Boom!—yet the lotus remained unscathed.

Impossible! Jin Jian’s face paled. Scarlet Flame Thunder Beads pierce any defense!

Thirty-six direct hits, and Xiao Chen stood untouched. The implications chilled him. This prodigy could dominate Li Zhou if left unchecked. No mercy.

He drew a Jade Talisman, channeling it into a 163-meter fire dragon—a legacy artifact from Cangyan’s previous generation. The heavens trembled as the beast roared, its presence halting nearby gales.

The other four Golden Cores froze.

Gui Yan gaped. Already resorting to the sect’s ace?

Zi Xiao sighed, eyeing Xiao Chen with regret. What a waste—born under Lihuo’s banner.

Mingyan shifted to avoid the dragon’s path, but Yun Xiang lunged forward, only to be ensnared by Zi Xiao’s 66 chains of purple qi.

“Die!” Jin Jian roared, the fire dragon diving to swallow Xiao Chen whole.

“True Yang Dragon, arise!” Xiao Chen intoned, summoning a colossal fire dragon—1,200 zhang long, a blazing storm eclipsing the sky.

Mingyan nearly choked. The True Yang Nine Dragon Dance?!

He knew the technique well—his own fire dragon spanned 12 zhang. Xiao Chen’s was a hundredfold larger, a living inferno.

“Crush it!” Xiao Chen commanded. His dragon descended, devouring Jin Jian’s beast in a single sweep.

The battle had ended before it even began, as if the sheer scale of the attack had utterly overwhelmed the opponent. Not even a single spark had managed to rise from the clash.

Was it really that easy? The duel following Xiao Chen's Golden Core Formation seemed far simpler than he had anticipated. Or perhaps the combined effect of the two hexes had exceeded his expectations by an absurd margin. When the disparity in power was this vast, there was no duel—only one-sided annihilation.

"Sever the flames!" Jin Jian Zhenren raised his hand, hurling a Jade Talisman forward. This was the Severing Flame Talisman, specifically designed to counter fire-based spells. A sea-blue glow flashed, and a massive section of the fire dragon’s body dissolved into nothingness.

In an instant, the once-mammoth dragon shrank by 660 meters, leaving behind a still-imposing 3,300-meter-long beast. The battlefield fell into an eerie silence, broken only by the sound of someone nervously swallowing. Jin Jian Zhenren’s throat bobbed as he struggled to process the grim reality.

What was there left to fight for? This wasn’t the power of a newly promoted Golden Core cultivator—it was something else entirely.

Run.

Without hesitation or warning, Jin Jian Zhenren turned and fled, scattering every talisman from his storage bag behind him in a desperate bid to buy time. He didn’t even glance at his companions, pouring all his energy into his escape technique as he bolted toward Cangyan Sect. If he could reach the sect’s borders, the Mountain Defense Formation might offer a temporary reprieve from Xiao Chen. Staying here meant certain death.

Unfortunately, his plan was doomed from the start.

Xiao Chen’s mind stirred, and the fire dragon lunged forward, swallowing the talismans in a single breath. Whatever effects they carried were reduced to muffled detonations. A streak of flame then tore across the sky, landing mere meters ahead of Jin Jian Zhenren. The distance between them collapsed to less than 30 meters—a hair’s breadth for Golden Core cultivators.

"Why the rush to leave without saying goodbye?" Xiao Chen chuckled. "Fellow cultivator, you’ve come all this way. As your host, I haven’t even had the chance to properly welcome you."

You came all this way—now you think you can just run?

Yet Jin Jian Zhenren’s eyes lit up. How many years had passed since anyone dared stand this close to him after his reputation spread? His golden quadrangular maces, each weighing 23,500 kilograms, were infamous for their deadly reach. A glancing blow would wound, a direct hit would kill. Even through shields and armor, they could crush life from their targets.

The only flaw was their weight—too heavy to throw, making them nearly impossible to land a hit with. Jin Jian Zhenren had assumed the fire dragon would keep him at bay. But now, Xiao Chen had practically thrown himself into range.

This was a golden opportunity.

In the span of a heartbeat, Jin Jian Zhenren drew his twin maces and roared, "Die, brat!" The left mace aimed for Xiao Chen’s lower dantian, the right for his crown.

But in that critical moment, a shield etched with a demon’s face materialized between them. A top-tier defensive spiritual artifact, it radiated a blood-red light, shielding Xiao Chen completely.

Clang!

The golden maces struck the shield like a mountain, sending a jolt up Jin Jian Zhenren’s arms, nearly wrenching the weapons from his grip.

Xiao Chen didn’t bother checking the result. Even if the demon-faced shield failed, he still had Night’s Blade. His proximity wasn’t just for taunting—it was to let the White Bone Soul Summoning Banner absorb Jin Jian’s soul fragment.

Soul fragments differed from ordinary soul essences, requiring extraction from living beings. Xiao Chen couldn’t yet manipulate the three souls and seven spirits directly, but the principle was similar. This technique, learned from refining a spiritual artifact in a volcano crater, demanded a soul fragment to activate the banner’s true power. Without one, it was merely an enhanced magic artifact. To unleash its full potential, he needed three, five, seven, or even nine soul fragments. Using Foundation Building or lower-tier cultivators would weaken its potency, but absorbing a Golden Core soul fragment would transform it into a top-tier offensive artifact.

"Far is the path to the Yellow Springs, but I summon your soul to seize your essence!" Xiao Chen chanted, sweeping the banner toward Jin Jian Zhenren. A pale light erupted from the banner, striking him before he could react. His eyes glazed over, dazed.

"What are you waiting for? Return to me!" Xiao Chen barked, sweeping the banner again. Another pale light flashed, and Jin Jian Zhenren’s consciousness shattered. His body slumped, blood streaming from his eyes into the banner—a soul fragment claimed.

Xiao Chen retrieved Jin Jian’s fallen maces and storage bag, incinerating the corpse with a flick of his mysterious flame before returning to the battlefield.

Gui Yan Zhenren and Zi Xiao Zhenren had tried to flee during the chaos, but Mingyan Zhenren and Yun Xiang Zhenren clung to them relentlessly. Yun Xiang, in particular, threw herself at Zi Xiao, blocking his escape at the cost of her life. By the time Xiao Chen returned, he targeted the weakest opponent first.

"Seven Star Sword Technique—Tianji!"

He chose this second-tier spell over the True Yang Nine Dragon Dance to avoid killing Gui Yan outright. The fire dragon’s power had proven too overwhelming, and he needed a living soul fragment.

Gui Yan Zhenren smashed a jade pendant, summoning a golden light technique to deflect the sword beam. He then fled, his flying sword propelling him hundreds of meters forward—before his upper body remained behind. Tianji’s edgeless blade had been a decoy.

Xiao Chen swept the banner again, claiming another soul fragment. Zi Xiao Zhenren followed, his essence absorbed into the banner.

With Cangyan Sect’s three Golden Core cultivators now soulless puppets, the sect’s destruction was all but sealed. The remaining Foundation Building cultivators posed no threat.

A cloud drifted across the sky. Xiao Chen’s spiritual sense detected Qianzhu Zhenren hiding within it, watching but never intervening. Since Qianzhu had no quarrel with him, Xiao Chen let him go. He wasn’t one to kill needlessly.

"Evil must be eradicated completely. Now that this is settled, I’ll visit Cangyan Sect’s treasure vault." He turned to Mingyan. "Senior sect brother and senior apprentice sister—shall we go together?"

The two shook their heads in unison, declining the offer to share the spoils. They’d barely restrained the enemies, feeling unworthy of the rewards. Yun Xiang, injured and weakened, still planned to reclaim Lihuo Bazaar, handling the lower-tier battlefield with her spiritual artifact. Mingyan, meanwhile, had his own task: returning to Qiyun Peak to seal the mountain and lead the Enforcement Hall in hunting the Jiang Family.

The Enforcement Hall’s honorary elder blinked in confusion. "Master, what crime has the Jiang Family committed to warrant this?"

"Arrest them all—no one escapes. As for the reason…" Mingyan paused, then added, "I’ll explain later."

The hall’s disciples gawked. The Jiang Family, one of the Five Great Families, had long acted with impunity behind their third-tier Pill Forging Master. What had changed?

The Jiang Family’s Pill Forging Master groveled, begging to see Yun Xiang. "The Fuling Huiqing Pill is a third-tier healing treasure! Surely there’s been a mistake!"

But when Yun Xiang returned, she beheaded him without hesitation. Third-tier Pill Forging Masters, though revered, were no match for Golden Core cultivators. She wouldn’t risk offending Xiao Chen for the sake of a single family.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end