"Two hundred years... A full two hundred years... It’s truly chilling."
A hoarse, trembling sound escaped Guo Lang’s throat.
Since the founding of the Great Zhou, Ninth Realm experts had either passed away peacefully in their Grotto Heaven Blessed Lands or fallen in disputes between Sects. Only a handful had truly died in combat. When had there ever been a precedent of three dying on the same day, all at the hands of one person?
What was even more horrifying was that Xu Yunfan had also cleanly slaughtered the few Ninth Realm old eunuchs secretly cultivated by the Imperial Court.
Over ten Record Officers were prostrated behind Guo Lang. Some had even lost control of their bladders and fainted.
On the roof of a teahouse three hundred zhang away, a nosy Swordsman’s wine flask fell with a CLANG.
Beside him, a lay disciple from Mituo Temple chattered his teeth.
"C-Could the ’Celestial Demon Descent’ my grand-uncle-master spoke of... be..."
Before he could finish, Xu Yunfan’s icy gaze swept over them. All at once, the Mortal Wanderers along the entire street took three steps back in unison, the clatter of falling weapons rising and falling.
Xu Yunfan’s expression was frosty, but a hint of unfulfilled regret flickered in his eyes.
’These three Ninth Realm Grandmasters were strong, but they ultimately failed to push me to my limit. The battle ended before I even had to use the Linn Character Technique.’
’My body, infused with Profound Yellow Qi, is like a bottomless abyss. That furious barrage of Ten Extremes True Qi just now used less than thirty percent of my reserves.’
’And as the Ten Extremes Martial Arts circulates through my flesh and blood, the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is being rapidly absorbed into my body like a whale swallowing water, restoring my expended True Qi.’
Xu Yunfan looked up, his gaze like lightning, and instantly locked onto Guo Lang, who was hiding behind the Astronomical Bureau’s entourage.
The Supervisor was currently slumped against a broken wall in the distance, his expression numb.
"Supervisor Guo."
Xu Yunfan’s voice was wrapped in the roar of True Qi. Before the sound arrived, he had already appeared in front of Guo Lang.
"You proposed the blood sacrifice of thirty-six million people to the Empress. Do you remember the withered bones, drained of their Essence Blood? You people... you’re worse than pigs and dogs."
A flicker of change crossed Guo Lang’s face. That blood sacrifice was indeed the method he had devised by using the *Dragon Burial Scripture* to "mend the heavens’ flaws with human lives."
Guo Lang offered no defense, merely staring intently at Xu Yunfan before sighing, "You are the true variable."
BOOM!
Before the tip of the mace even reached him, the Ten Extremes True Qi had already crushed every bone in Guo Lang’s body.
The moment the Heavy Mace lightly touched Guo Lang’s shoulder, his official robes exploded in a wave of energy. True Qi surged through the mace’s shaft and into Guo Lang’s seven orifices, and the Supervisor let out an inhuman scream.
His skin began to crack, and his ravaged body quickly weathered away into a charred skeleton draped in official robes.
Having finished this cleanly, Xu Yunfan glanced at the commander of the Imperial Guard, who was trembling like a leaf in the wind. When the master of Refining the Internal Organs saw Xu Yunfan’s gaze sweep over him, he felt a chill run through his entire body.
He saw Xu Yunfan glance away and turn around. Before he could even let out a sigh of relief, a pebble tore through the air with a sharp whistle. His vision went black, and he was silenced forever.
Then, Xu Yunfan walked slowly toward the Senior Steward cowering in the shadow of a broken wall. The soles of his boots crunched over the wet bloodstains on the green bricks, making a soft, grinding sound.
The three-hundred-zhang distance was covered in an instant.
"Does the tournament continue tomorrow?"
Xu Yunfan asked with his gaze lowered, his voice as calm as if he were inquiring about the weather.
The Senior Steward’s withered fingers clutched the tournament schedule tightly. The pages were still dotted with flecks of blood that had spattered from Daoist Guanshan from afar.
He was hunched over, not daring to look up. His Adam’s apple bobbed several times before he managed to squeeze out a reply, "The tournament... the tournament is an ancestral tradition of Great Zhou... As long as Her Majesty has not decreed its suspension..."
"Very good."
Xu Yunfan cut off the man’s trembling voice. As he turned, he glanced toward the palaces of the Great Zhou Imperial Court.
With a slight flicker, he vanished on the spot.
-----------------
「In Jade Capital City, a palace deep within the Great Zhou Imperial Court.」
"A report!"
A spy from the Imperial City Department, drenched in blood, stumbled and knelt outside the hall. "Daoist Guanshan of the Profound Daoist Sect... his Vitality is extinguished! Venerable Chu Sheng of the Jiuyao Sect was beaten to death by Xu Yunfan with a single mace strike... Yun Lan of Penglai... was nailed to the base of the Martial Arts Arena..."
This earth-shattering news made everyone present hold their breath. The great hall fell instantly silent.
"Very good."
After a long moment, the Empress suddenly let out a soft laugh.
That soft laugh made the temperature in the hall plummet.
The Empress slowly unfolded the blood-stained battle report. Hearing of Xu Yunfan’s accomplishments, her heart sank. ’This man is no longer human!’
The Empress’s hoarse voice was like the rustling of old branches.
"With every match Xu Yunfan wins, he is infused with more Profound Yellow Qi. By the time he steps into this Purple Extreme Hall..."
Her fingertips traced over the withered Dragon Vein on the Sheji Map. "What you will all have to face is a Land Immortal who has drained the entire Destiny of Great Zhou."
The aged Empress looked up, a faint, unreadable smile on her face as she looked at the gathered masters of the Five Great Sects, seemingly unconcerned that the Great Zhou Dragon Vein was being drained.
"This man is narrow-minded. He came from the Blood Sacrifice Land. When the time comes for him to settle scores, it will be with all of you. I fear your great Sects will be annihilated because of it."
The purple-robed Elder from the Jiuyao Sect was the first to break the silence. "Xu Yunfan’s Ten Extremes True Qi is no longer something that can be broken by human strength. Our Sect’s Venerable Lieyang, Chu Sheng, found his Heaven-Burning Force disintegrated on contact with the man’s body. I fear this child has already touched the Extreme Realm."
He shook his hand and said lightly, "At the bottom of the Nine Luminaries Tower, we still have a ’Great Sun Meteor Core’ sealed away. If activated with a Secret Technique, it can summon celestial fire to incinerate his Divine Soul. It was left behind by Ancestral Master Jiuyao two thousand years ago when the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was abundant. The only price is the complete destruction of the caster. I’m afraid..."
The cyan-robed Daoist from the Profound Daoist Sect sneered, "And which of your Sect’s Ninth Realm experts are you willing to sacrifice?"
He continued, "Our Sect’s Cyan Mountain Profound Truth Mirror can reveal the flaws in his True Qi’s circulation, but it requires three people to form an Array and hold him off for fifteen minutes... Now that our Senior Brother Guanshan has fallen, the Array is incomplete. It would only work if the Merak Sword Master from the Sword Pavilion is willing to fill the spot."
Hearing this, the white-bearded old man from the Jiangnan Dao Sword Pavilion snorted angrily, "The Merak lineage cultivates the ’Lifeless Sword Dao’! Every sword strike is a matter of life and death! We never learned any damn Arrays... If Xu Yunfan dies, the Taoist Sect will surely retaliate with their full force in a final, desperate struggle. Who among you will stop Bi Yuan then?"
For a moment, everyone began arguing at once, unable to reach an agreement. It was clear that none of them wanted to commit any more of their people.
A trace of mockery flashed in the Empress’s eyes as she watched.
’The Six Great Sects of Great Zhou... if they were ever truly united, there would have been no place for the Great Zhou long ago. This disunity is their normal state.’ A strange sense of satisfaction rose in her heart.
Just then, black mist roiled from the scabbard in Ci Ku Nan E’s hand. "The three of us can set up the ’Three Talents Lock Demon Array’ and use the Dragon-Suppressing Seal to temporarily sever his connection to the Profound Yellow Qi. This blade can also catch him off guard and kill him."
He revealed dense, blood-red Sanskrit characters under his Kasaya. "Mituo Temple’s secret ’Vajra Demon Subduing Curse’ can immobilize his True Qi for ten breaths... but it requires the Jiuyao Sect to detonate the Meteor Core to break his physical defenses."
The purple-robed Elder suddenly sneered, "A brilliant calculation, Master! You want my Sect’s disciples to die so you can reap the rewards?"
He violently flipped over a small table. "Why don’t we talk about the Dragon-Suppressing Seal first? That is the ultimate treasure of the Great Zhou Royal Family. Is Her Majesty the Empress truly willing to part with it?"
"Naturally. I am the one bestowing it."
The Empress’s expression was playful. "I am willing to abandon even the Destiny of my nation. What is a single seal in comparison?"
Her gaze swept over the crowd. "But if you all continue to hold back... in a few more days, I’m afraid even the gates to your own Sects will be crushed flat by that Xu Yunfan."