Chapter 151: Young Master Yan III

I've set my sights on that magical treasure of yours. Hand it over willingly, and I can spare your life. Otherwise, prepare to meet your maker! The young man looked down from above, his internal spiritual power surging, completely arrogant.

Yet, he certainly possessed the capital to be arrogant.

His cultivation realm alone surpassed Xu Zhong, and an aura of innate primordial energy swirled around him, clearly indicating that he had already caught a glimpse of the threshold of the External Scenery realm.

The moment he spoke, his voice was deafening, sounding like the beating of war drums and making one's eardrums ache.

Clearly, this was a deliberate intimidation tactic aimed at Xu Zhong and his companions.

"Is your brain kicked by a donkey!" Xu Zhong's chest undulated as the Thunder Marsh God within his Metal-Splendour Treasury erupted with lightning.

As Xu Zhong spat out words, thunderous sounds rolled across the skies. Moreover, the vital energies of Geng metal and Xin metal transformed into Yin-Yang Golden Thunder that bloomed on the tip of his tongue and surged forward.

In an instant, he shattered the young man's sonic wave and directly pierced straight through the young man's lackey.

The lackey's head exploded, turning into a rain of red and white blood that showered the ground.

"Third Young Master Yan, please avenge me!" Before perishing, the lackey's undying spiritual light emerged, managing only to utter these words of resentment before the undying spiritual light was likewise blasted to pieces.

"So it's the Third Young Master of the Yan family." Yue Yue stepped past Xu Zhong, clearly recognizing the opponent. "Aren't you guys supposed to be the Nine Dragons City Guards, protecting your motherland generation after generation? Why aren't you staying in Nine Dragons City instead of running wild in Mingzhao?"

Xu Zhong had heard of the Yan family of the Divine Capital.

They were a noble clan of the Yu Kingdom, renowned as a prestigious house with four generations of ducal ministers, a celebrated aristocratic family.

Judging by his cultivation level, the Yan family was not merely an aristocratic clan within the mortal realm of the Yu Kingdom, but a prominent family within the immortal cultivation world as well.

He simply wondered whether the Yang family and the Liu family, who were renowned on par with the Yan family, were equally famous across both the immortal and mortal realms just like them.

"Traveling with demonic women of the fiendish sects, you clearly aren't anything good either." Third Young Master Yan dismissed the others. "Watch me eliminate the demons and uphold the righteous path for the world today."

The innate primordial energy within Third Young Master Yan surged outward, and various divine radiances cascaded from his body, pressing down upon the air and making it heavier by a fraction. Xu Zhong and the others felt as though they were carrying a mountain on their backs; the ground beneath their feet cracked and splintered extensively, with vast patches of stone paving turning into powder.

This was merely the leakage of his innate primordial energy.

Xu Zhong's expression turned solemn as he simultaneously awakened the Thunder Marsh God within his body.

Facing a Qi refiner who was half a step into the External Scenery realm, his thunder techniques were his greatest reliance.

Even so, a sword pellet hovered behind the back of Xu Zhong's head.

Streaks of lightning poured out from his facial apertures, and his pitch-black hair instantly transformed into crackling lightning.

The Golden Elixir Dao Tree within his body rustled, and endless lightning poured from the tree leaves, reinforcing his hidden treasuries.

At this moment, Xu Zhong looked like a demon king, his hair disheveled, his gaze ice-cold, and his killing intent soaring to the heavens.

Yun Yong and Yue Yue were so awed that they involuntarily took a step back.

"Mayflies trying to shake a giant tree!" Third Young Master Yan reached out and blasted forth nine true dragons.

These nine dragons hoisted up a divine capital, with towering halls, myriad-mile-long city walls, and the manifestations of Nine Dragons City all materializing in turn—this was the power brought forth by rivers and mountains.

This Nine Dragons City seemed like a genuine city, carrying the weight of ten thousand jun, pressing down with a rumbling sound.

Xu Zhong's expression remained unchanged as his entire body bloomed with divine lightning. The thunder and tribulation forces between heaven and earth gathered upon him. Behind Xu Zhong, the manifestation of a Thunder Marsh God arose, a hundred zhang tall and entirely crimson-gold in hue.

At Xu Zhong's mental command, this Thunder Marsh God raised its fist and smashed the Nine Dragons City to pieces with a single punch, various fractured visions being swallowed by a torrent of light.

Meanwhile, Third Young Master Yan surged out from behind that torrent of light, his entire body radiating divine mist as if he were still situated within Nine Dragons City.

Xu Zhong found himself inside this Nine Dragons City, looking all around, yet he could see nothing at all.

"Is this a domain?" Xu Zhong understood in his heart.

Third Young Master Yan used Nine Dragons City as his domain.

Feathers represented the embryonic form of the External Scenery.

Third Young Master Yan harbored great ambitions, wishing to recreate Nine Dragons City within his External Scenery realm.

At this moment, every street within Nine Dragons City seemed to spring to life, transforming into countless divine swords that slashed toward Xu Zhong.

The streets intersected and intertwined, arranged in perfect order.

Xu Zhong was placed within an Eight Trigrams sword formation.

These tens of thousands of divine swords formed an Eight Trigrams grand formation, possessing as many as sixteen thousand variations.

Caught within it, Xu Zhong felt that no matter what action he took, it would trigger the divine might of the sword formation and cause him to be swallowed up in return.

"Watch me break your sword formation with my own!"

The Muddy Pill palace behind Xu Zhong rotated leisurely, and seven hundred and twenty streams of flowing light danced incessantly, transforming into the Jade Pool Sword Formation.

Twelve streams of Jade Pool water crisscrossed and swept through, and wherever they passed, everything was annihilated.

Simultaneously, Xu Zhong unleashed a thunder seal.

He struck out with a lightning marsh composed of overlapping thunderbolts, surging forward.

The sword formation in front and the thunder seal in the rear, both reinforcing each other, filled the entire domain with a mighty and vast light of destruction. Revolving back and forth, they forcibly tore the domain apart.

Third Young Master Yan's divine soul rushed out from the shattered region to suppress the fracturing domain.

"You actually have some tricks up your sleeve!" Third Young Master Yan's divine soul blazed with a fiery, dazzling light, appearing utterly ferocious.

In his hand was a purple-gold lamp, atop which the candle flame flickered uncertainly—it was his Samadhi True Fire.

This Samadhi True Fire symbolized pure Yang within the Yin-Yang duality of the domain.

The transformation of pure Yang gave birth to flames of various colors.

Nine Dragons City suddenly transformed into a divine phoenix that soared into the sky, crying out with a voice that shook the highest heavens.

Its phoenix flames flickered with crimson and gold, intersecting like a pair of gigantic shears that snipped toward Xu Zhong. In an instant, the phoenix flames ignited Xu Zhong's internal spiritual power, Yang energy, vital essence, soul, and even his undying spiritual light.

If left unchecked, he would undoubtedly die without a doubt.

"Six-Evil Divine Thunder!" Xu Zhong roared angrily.

Six types of baleful qi erupted from his hidden treasuries.

These six types of baleful qi were the Heavenly Evil, Earthly Evil, Year Evil, Month Evil, Day Evil, and Hour Evil.

These six evils originated from the three souls within the Muddy Pill palace.

The heavenly and earthly evils originated from the heavenly and earthly souls, while the year, month, day, and hour evils originated from the human soul.

This was baleful qi that burned one's life force—a thunder technique that consumed one's lifespan.

These Six-Evil Divine Thunderbolts moved forward.

The first two evils invaded heaven and earth, causing the heavens and earth to decay and turning Yin and Yang into chaos.

These first two evils manifested in the domain, serving as the power to shatter the domain.

The latter four evils manifested upon the human body and divine soul.

In an instant, the year, month, day, and hour evils invaded Third Young Master Yan's divine soul.

His expression changed instantly as time accelerated rapidly within his physical body; a single breath of time was equivalent to ten years in the mortal world.

Light pierced in from the outside.

In an instant, the domain was blasted to pieces by Xu Zhong, and within the domain, the divine soul of Third Young Master Yan showed clear signs of extreme aging.

Third Young Master Yan hurriedly tossed Yun Yong aside and recalled his divine soul.

In an instant, his sideburns turned completely gray.

In just that brief moment, he had lost two hundred years of lifespan.

"You really do have some skills!" Third Young Master Yan was not angered; two hundred years of lifespan meant little to him. "State your name; you are worthy of being remembered by me."

"Count back eighteen generations in your family tree, and that's my name." Xu Zhong snorted coldly.

He had likewise lost two hundred years of lifespan.

The lifespan of someone in the Truth-Preserving realm amounted to a full twelve hundred years.

At this moment, although his lifespan was now under a thousand years, it was still vast and enduring.

Following the Six-Evil Divine Thunder, lightning re-emerged within Xu Zhong's body—it was the Void Divine Thunder and the Great Void Divine Thunder.

These two types of divine thunder were concealed within his pupils, formless and substance-less, yet possessing boundless might.

Furthermore, Yin-Yang Divine Thunder permeated his physical body and Muddy Pill palace.

"It seems you are truly courting death!" Third Young Master Yan integrated Yin and Yang, fusing his divine soul and physical body into one. As Yin and Yang merged, the power of ten hidden treasuries erupted from within his body.

"Oh no, it seems I have to fight for my life." Xu Zhong could sense that he was no match for Third Young Master Yan, who possessed ten hidden treasuries.

Behind Third Young Master Yan, flames raged fiercely—a formless and substance-less kind of fire.

This flame was divided into nine colors, emitting fluctuations that were supremely Yang and rigid, transforming into nine true dragons.

These nine dragons flashed with divine light, dense and countless, resembling a vast starry sky.

The nine dragons merged into one, transforming into a gigantic divine cauldron that pressed downward.

Xu Zhong felt his ears buzz incessantly, and the blood throughout his body evaporated bit by bit.

The flames permeating this starry sky infiltrated Xu Zhong's body, likewise transforming into divine cauldrons.

There were nine divine cauldrons, sealing Xu Zhong's golden elixir, undying spiritual light, Muddy Pill palace, and divine soul.

At this moment, Xu Zhong felt as though he had lost all his power, reduced to a mere mortal.

Trapped within that divine cauldron, the Samadhi True Fire scorched his body and refined his soul.

Once a flesh-and-blood body was burned by the Samadhi True Fire, all of one's vital essence, spiritual power, soul, and undying spiritual light would be fused together and refined into a pill.

The pills produced by the Qi refiners burned to death by Xu Zhong's Samadhi True Fire still lay in his storage pouch to this day, numbering over ten thousand.

"Do you really think you can seal me?" Xu Zhong said disdainfully.

His Golden Elixir Dao Tree trembled, uprooting the small cauldron covering his golden elixir, and similarly uprooting all the other small cauldrons by their roots.

Pulled up along with them was that gigantic divine cauldron hovering outside his body.

Six branches erupted from within Xu Zhong's body and lashed out fiercely, instantly shattering the Nine Dragons Life-and-Death Curse unleashed by Third Young Master Yan, and proceeding straight for his head.

The Purple Jade Gourd flew out from his waist, exhaling mighty sword qi, and all of his sequential magical treasures hovered behind him. Furthermore, the sword pellets formed a sword formation, aligned in a row, with eleven layers of thunderclouds vaguely shrouding his back, flashing with various thunderous radiances amidst rumbling sounds.

Third Young Master Yan looked with utter disdain at the six branches flying out from Xu Zhong's body, reaching out to grab a stellar fire dragon.

This fire dragon surged forward, engulfing those six branches in an attempt to burn them to ashes completely.

Yet the next moment, this stellar fire dragon was blasted to pieces, and two branches landed directly on the face of the astonished Third Young Master Yan.

"Your golden elixir—!" Before Third Young Master Yan could finish his sentence, a mouthful of stagnant blood gushed out, turning into a hazy bloody mist.

His physical body was torn to shreds, and his Muddy Pill palace suffered the same fate; only his divine soul narrowly escaped.

However, no sooner had his divine soul emerged than it was sucked by Xu Zhong into the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cauldron.

The Samadhi True Fire rolled, refining it into a medicinal pill.

Xu Zhong wiped the bloodstain from the corner of his mouth.

"Your golden elixir is refined quite well!" The slaying of Third Young Master Yan exposed some of the formidable might of Xu Zhong's own golden elixir.

Third Young Master Yan was not the only one who had come to contend for the Book of Life and Death; rather, he had simply acted first while the others watched from the shadows.

The stance Xu Zhong had struck was also meant to deal with those peeking from the dark. Although it wasn't entirely effective, the display of power was sufficient.

From the palace ahead, three External Scenery Qi refiners walked out.

"We were just worrying about gaining nothing within the White Tiger Divine Palace," the leading elder continued his thought, "and yet you delivered yourselves right to our doorstep."

They stepped through the void, but the next moment, a flash of sword qi soared forth, cutting down all three of them with the momentum of splitting bamboo.

Their heads were separated from their bodies, and the sword qi returned.

"So noisy!" The sword qi coiled around Fu Xuan's fingertip as he spoke icily.

"You!" He looked at Xu Zhong, pointing a finger, just as he was about to continue speaking.

Suddenly, a violent tiger roar echoed from within the White Tiger Divine Palace, instantly drawing everyone's gaze.