Ye Chen's tone was calm, but his words sent Beiming Ancestor into a rage.
It wasn't that he couldn't defeat the Champion King. Using a secret technique, he had refined the deadly Nether Water, shunned by most cultivators, into North Nether Water, capable of corroding even treasured physiques and artifacts.
This skill had earned him a fearsome reputation among Nascent Soul cultivators. But the Champion King's Northern Emperor War Chariot, with its Black Tortoise Spirit, happened to counter him perfectly. Plus, being in Great Chu territory, he had held back, wary of attracting the Great Chu Ancestor's attention.
Even so, he had dominated the Champion King most of the time. Yet, the Champion King had selectively preserved only the moments where Beiming was briefly suppressed, crafting them into a recording stone.
When the footage spread, Beiming Ancestor's reputation took such a hit that he couldn't bear to face his peers. He even skipped a Nascent Soul-stage trade gathering out of shame.
For prodigies, defeating someone above their realm was a badge of honor. But for the defeated, it was utter humiliation. What was a cultivator if they couldn't even beat someone of a lower realm? Behind every genius who triumphed over higher realms stood countless cultivators too ashamed to show their faces.
...
"Die!" Beiming Ancestor roared. After probing and confirming no guardian was nearby, he waved his hand, unleashing a torrent of azure North Nether Water like a cascading celestial waterfall, surging toward Ye Chen to refine him into nothingness.
Simultaneously, Zhanye Ancestor moved with intricate steps, silently appearing behind Ye Chen. With a flash of his eyes, countless terrifying sword intents materialized in the sky, raining down like a storm toward Ye Chen on the war chariot.
Both unleashed their killing moves without hesitation, wary of Ye Chen's background and eager to end the fight swiftly.
Nascent Soul cultivators were formidable, capable of influencing the heavens and earth. Their attacks carried the momentum of the world itself, instilling fear as if one stood alone against the cosmos.
But Ye Chen was unfazed. With a thought, he activated the Heavenly Emperor War Chariot beneath him. It blazed like a radiant sun, and Ye Chen, standing atop it, was bathed in the Black Yellow Primordial Essence from his bell. His black hair whipped wildly, his body glowing with crystalline light, as if he were a Heavenly Emperor reborn.
In the next moment, he charged straight toward Beiming Ancestor, completely ignoring the North Nether Sea before him.
Beiming Ancestor's expression shifted as he sensed the chariot's aura. His North Nether Sea surged even more ferociously, aiming to engulf Ye Chen.
But as the sea neared, a shadowy figure emerged on the chariot—a black-armored, eight-legged creature with an indescribably terrifying presence, too dreadful to gaze upon directly. In an instant, the entire North Nether Sea froze solid.
The chariot smashed through the sea, untouched by the corrosive waters that could erode treasured physiques and artifacts. In a blink, it reached Beiming Ancestor.
Beiming's eyes widened, filled with disbelief. That fleeting shadow—was it a Gu?
The Gu, the most peculiar of the ancient Vicious Ten. Unlike True Dragons, Phoenixes, or Qilins, whose bloodlines were innately fearsome, the Gu were mere aquatic insects, treated as fodder by other waterborne creatures, with pitifully short lifespans.
Yet in ancient times, the Gu Ancestor had defied all odds, rising to the pinnacle of the Immortal Realm with terrifying power, earning its place among the Vicious Ten. Those rare Gu that rose from obscurity were unimaginably fearsome, dreaded even by the Black Tortoise in water. And this chariot carried a Gu Spirit? How was that possible?
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But what shocked Beiming Ancestor even more was yet to come. The chariot's shadow shifted again, transforming into a Kun Peng. The chariot's speed surged, accelerating dozens of times over.
Beiming Ancestor had no time to react as the chariot closed in. The Kun Peng vanished, replaced by a True Dragon shadow. The chariot's destructive force skyrocketed.
In the instant of impact, Beiming Ancestor's body exploded into a mist of blood.
In his final moment, he managed only a desperate cry: "Zhanye, save me!"
At that moment, Zhanye Ancestor's sword rain descended.
Ye Chen didn't even glance at it, completely ignoring the onslaught. The sword rain deliberately avoided the war chariot, targeting Ye Chen himself. But the moment it touched the Black Yellow Primordial Essence surrounding him, it dissolved entirely, leaving only the faint sound of water droplets falling.
Ye Chen turned the chariot, his gaze leisurely settling on Zhanye Ancestor. "You want to be the first?"
Zhanye Ancestor's face darkened. Ye Chen's treasures were absurdly powerful. His sword rain couldn't even breach the Black Yellow Primordial Essence, let alone the war chariot, which harbored three spirits of the Vicious Ten—Gu, True Dragon, and Kun Peng—in just moments. Who knew how many more were hidden within?
Despite Ye Chen being only at the Golden Core stage, this was an impossible fight.
Zhanye Ancestor felt the urge to retreat, but a sinking realization hit him—he might not be able to escape.
"How about we call it quits on this?" he blurted out, swallowing his pride in hopes of leaving alive.
Ye Chen's lips curled into a smirk. "Trying to run now that you can't win? It's not that easy. Besides, you've seen too much."
Speaking calmly, he urged the war chariot forward, charging toward Zhanye Ancestor. The Kun Peng Spirit reappeared, and the chariot's terrifying speed surged once more.
A shadow of dread passed through Zhanye Ancestor's eyes. Without hesitation, he shouted, "Sword, come!"
The sheathed longsword on his back soared into the air, unsheathing just half an inch. In an instant, a sea of terrifying sword intent swept across a hundred miles, soul-shaking in its intensity.
Zhanye Ancestor glared coldly at Ye Chen. "I have a sword, nurtured day and night. As long as it remains sheathed, it grows stronger each day. This sword has been tempered for five hundred years. Once fully drawn, it can split seas, shatter rivers, raze cities, and cleave the heavens. Even a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator would fall, and a late-stage one would be gravely wounded. I urge you to think twice. You're a prodigy, but even with these treasures, you'll be injured—perhaps your foundation will be damaged, severing your immortal path. Is it worth it?"
Ye Chen laughed, his next words igniting Zhanye Ancestor's fury. "Are you even worthy of holding a sword?"
Never had Zhanye Ancestor endured such humiliation. Unable to bear it any longer, his longsword fully unsheathed. The surrounding heavens twisted, spiritual energy boiling. A kilometer-long sword qi, capable of splitting the earth, roared down.
Under this sword intent, both Ye Chen and the Heavenly Emperor War Chariot seemed like mere ants, destined to be crushed in the next moment. The ground a kilometer below was already carved into a canyon-like sword scar by the pressure alone.
Yet Ye Chen remained calm, his gaze steady. As the sword qi descended, a delicate, swaying grass with nine leaves appeared on the war chariot. The leaves fluttered, releasing a tiny sword qi. Though small, it struck terror into Zhanye Ancestor, who had immersed himself in the way of the sword for eight hundred years.
The two forces collided. The massive, world-shattering sword qi, nurtured for three hundred years, exploded into chaos, unleashing endless torrents of energy.
But the tiny sword qi pierced through the turmoil, reaching Zhanye's flying sword and cleaving it apart inch by inch.
Zhanye Ancestor spat blood, his voice trembling with horror. "The Nine-Leaf Sword Grass Spirit?"
The Nine-Leaf Sword Grass, another of the Vicious Ten, was even more extraordinary. A mere grass, not even a spiritual one, but an ordinary plant—it was the first of its kind in the cultivation world.
Ye Chen grinned, nodding approvingly. He loved fighting those who recognized quality—it gave him a sense of accomplishment.
The war chariot didn't slow, charging forward.
Zhanye Ancestor, now utterly despairing, gasped as a realization hit him in his final moment. "This is the lost Heavenly Emperor's Vicious Ten War Chariot… You're the Heavenly Emperor's successor…"
Before he could finish, the chariot crushed him, reducing him to a mist of blood. Zhanye Ancestor was no more.
Ye Chen raised a hand, summoning the Human Emperor Banner, and deftly began collecting the soul. A Nascent Soul cultivator's soul was too valuable to waste. For a treasure like the Human Emperor Banner, which could grow infinitely stronger with powerful souls, Ye Chen spared no effort. When he reached the end of his immortal path, he'd gift it to someone. The system's feedback would surely yield something unimaginable.