That palm strike, imbued with murderous intent potent enough to annihilate any Ghost God Realm expert, descended with overwhelming, crashing might, colliding head-on with the protective divine flames shrouding the Divine Flame Armor, causing them both to shatter.
"What!" Young Master Feng watched his divine power palm print dissipate under Ye Chen’s assault, registering a slight shock. He then narrowed his eyes at the armor Ye Chen wore, a look of understanding dawning. "So, he stumbled upon some sheer luck somewhere and acquired a set of High-Tier Demigod gear!" "Hmph!"
"You think that's enough to escape death?" Young Master Feng’s expression was tinged with disdain. He flipped his hand, retrieving a pure gold talisman from his robes. It was inlaid with numerous metallic light spots, each seeming to compress an immense amount of divine power and Core Aurora.
"Even with High-Tier Demigod armor, you will still perish!" Young Master Feng’s face was chillingly cold. "Forcing me to waste a peak-tier Demigod attack talisman! You deserve to die without pity!"
The moment the talisman left his hand, it erupted in blinding divine light, rocketing forward like an arrow, seemingly self-guided. It hurtled towards Ye Chen, stopping three feet from his chest before detonating violently. The metallic light spots on the talisman manifested an innate intelligence, transforming into countless beams of light that pierced toward Ye Chen’s face.
A sharp murderous intent flared in Ye Chen’s eyes. Facing the surging golden light, his dark pupils seemed to be dyed entirely crimson gold. He suddenly clenched his fist. The surging power within his body poured out, and the 0.1% Divine Blood Power guarding his chest burst forth like a breached, raging river, carrying an unstoppable, violent aura.
Slowly, he raised a hand.
A searing golden light began to bloom softly across the vast hall packed with tens of thousands of people.
The previously noisy hall, for some unknown reason, seemed to fall utterly silent.
"Die!" Ye Chen’s voice was chilling and merciless, the golden radiance condensed at his fingertip exploding outward like an aurora piercing through eons of void, its speed rivaling light itself!
Crash!
A hollow, heavy sound of shattering broke the silence, resonating with startling loudness.
Where Young Master Feng's brow met his forehead, there was now a finger-sized black hole, leaking no blood. His eyes were wide with stupefaction, as if he couldn't believe in a dream that a mere nobody from the Ghost God Realm could unleash such power to threaten him.
His fingers trembled slightly, his lips moved twice, but no sound emerged. Feeling his life force rapidly draining away, a sense of utter disbelief washed over him.
"You deserve..." He stared at Ye Chen, his body stiffening, then collapsed to the ground with a thud. His eyes dulled, all signs of life extinguished.
The once harmonious hall felt as if it had been instantly encased in ice.
Everyone watched the sudden turn of events, utterly unprepared for how the Ghost God Realm figure, who was moments from death, could suddenly unleash a devastating divine power and strike his opponent down.
Amidst the stunned silence, Ye Chen retracted the Divine Blood Power, took a deep breath while staring at the corpse on the ground, and then proceeded toward it with steady steps.
Whoosh!
The people in the hall snapped back to reality, erupting into clamor.
If it had been an ordinary Demigod who was killed, the reaction wouldn't be this extreme. However, what they witnessed was too bizarre and shocking.
A Ghost God Realm cultivator killing a Demigod Realm expert?
And one from the Fengyue family, no less?
Everyone looked at Ye Chen with a measure of fear. To dare kill someone from the Fengyue family in Azure Water City meant either possessing an incredibly powerful backing or being utterly fearless and unconcerned about future retribution.
While the crowd buzzed, Ye Chen reached the fallen Young Master Feng, grabbed hold of him, and stripped off his armor. He then opened his bracelet and began extracting the special light matter from the corpse.
As the special light matter was drawn out, Young Master Feng’s smooth flesh immediately decomposed into rotten, wrinkled scrap meat. His hair turned stark white, his skin covered in deep creases—a horrifying sight.
Ye Chen flickered and swiftly moved toward the main entrance of the hall.
"Where do you think you're going!" Several sharp shouts rang out from behind, followed immediately by the on-site security enforcers, who had been observing from the sidelines, charging forward with synchronized roars.
It was no laughing matter. The young master of the Fengyue family had been killed here. If they didn't show some reaction, they would face severe consequences during the ensuing investigation.
Ye Chen turned his head, shot them a cold glance, paid them no further mind, flickered once more, and dashed out the main door, vanishing into the throng of people on the street.
Swish!
As Ye Chen departed, everyone inside the establishment flooded out, terrified of being caught in the crossfire or held responsible by the Fengyue family. The service staff behind the counter looked at the pile of decaying flesh on the floor with clear panic in their eyes.
The girl who had been pursued by Young Master Feng was particularly pale, every ounce of color drained from her face. It wasn't sorrow, but terror: with Young Master Feng dead, she would undoubtedly be the first person interrogated.
Ye Chen couldn't spare any thought for them. As soon as he left the doorway, he activated his facial skeletal structure to alter his appearance. While an investigation might eventually lead to him, this could buy him some time.
The action had been rash, perhaps, but when someone seeks your life, resistance is inevitable.
Ye Chen bypassed the sect entrance and headed straight for the Seven-Colored Stone Depository. There, he cataloged everything belonging to Young Master Feng and sold it off.
"One Middle-Tier Demigod Set, twelve Beginner-Tier Demigod Artifacts, two High-Tier Demigod Weapons, ninety-eight High-Tier Demigod Attack Talismans..."
"Total price: 36,308 Demigod Stones!"
Ye Chen liquidated all the useless items. As a scion of a prominent family, Young Master Feng’s wealth exceeded that of the Yu Yue pair combined. Furthermore, Ye Chen found a storage card in his spatial folding bag, which was useless to him, so he crushed it instantly.
Young Master Feng’s World-Anchoring Stone was of the Middle-Tier Demigod level, as was his spatial folding bag—the bag alone fetched 500 Demigod Stones. The Middle-Tier Demigod World-Anchoring Stone, capable of supporting a volume of 5,000 cubic meters, he kept for himself, selling the Beginner-Tier one from his Rune Space instead.
With the power of this Middle-Tier World-Anchoring Stone, he still couldn't open the Civilization of Fire ruins; that site was massive, roughly the size of Asia, requiring at least a Pseudo-God level anchor stone!
Instant wealth through robbery.
Ye Chen didn't linger at the depository. He left and entered another establishment, using the virtual system to search for items like large quantities of Ghost Qi replenishment elixirs and various camouflage secret techniques.
Given Young Master Feng’s prominent background, his sudden death would surely cause a huge stir. Ye Chen needed to be prepared for whatever came next.
He spent 1,000 Demigod Stones to purchase ten thousand Supreme Ghost Stones!
One Supreme Ghost Stone held fifty thousand points of Ghost Qi!
This quantity of Supreme Ghost Stones was more than enough for Ye Chen to use freely; in any battle, he would never need to worry about his Ghost Qi reserves running low.
For someone in the Ghost God Realm, Ye Chen was now practically wealthy. Ordinary Ghost God experts without powerful backing might never acquire a single Demigod Stone in their lifetime, rarely even catching sight of a Supreme Ghost Stone.
He recalled that in his previous life, Ye Chen had spent centuries struggling just to earn a dozen High-Grade Ghost Stones.
Next, Ye Chen queried the section on Secret Manuals and Techniques, searching for camouflage arts. Immediately, a vast list appeared, including techniques like the Turtle Breath Art, Qi Concealment Formula, Shadow Codex, Myriad Changes True Scripture, and others.
Ye Chen searched but failed to find any disguise manual that could truly hide his identity. Some powerful camouflage techniques claimed they could even alter the iris beyond machine detection, but they were prohibitively expensive, costing tens of thousands of Demigod Stones.
Moreover, such techniques were largely useless to him. If the Fengyue family tracked the establishment and reviewed the surveillance records, they would immediately see his original appearance and could use that likeness to trace him.
Ye Chen sighed internally. His gaze drifted, catching sight of another category of manuals: a body-tempering technique originating from the Dinosaur Civilization, titled True Dragon Art!
True Dragon Art: Devours positive energy from the universe to temper the physical body. It can absorb free-floating life energy from the air or the vitality of flora and fauna, or even ingest divine blood to convert it into energy for tempering genetic cells.
True Dragon Art First Level Sale Price: 10 Supreme Ghost Stones!
True Dragon Art Second Level Sale Price: 100 Demigod Stones!
True Dragon Art Third Level Sale Price: 100 Pseudo-God Stones!
Ye Chen couldn't help but study it. The True Dragon Art from the Dinosaur Civilization was an extremely famous cultivation method, reportedly comprising five total layers. Mastering it to its peak could elevate one to the level of a true Deity!
This was a Deity-level auxiliary technique!
In terms of value, it was slightly inferior to the Nine Palaces Secret Manual, which offered integrated offense and defense, and at its pinnacle, even conferred a spatial domain—placing it among the peak-tier Deity manuals!
As for the Nine Absolute Spears, that was a Beginner-Tier Deity manual.
Ye Chen pondered for a moment, then purchased the first three layers of the True Dragon Art. According to the cultivation stages of the True Dragon Art, completing the first layer would grant him a Myriad-Level Physique!
Completing the second layer would elevate him to the Hundred-Thousand-Level Demigod Realm!
Completing the third layer would bring him to the Million-Level Regretful God Realm!
As for the fourth layer of the True Dragon Art, it wasn't available here, and even if it were, Ye Chen couldn't afford it; it would cost at least a million Demigod Stones, perhaps more!
100 Pseudo-God Stones equaled ten thousand Demigod Stones.
After completing the transaction, Ye Chen immediately retrieved the first three layers of the manual from the store's backend, stored in three memory crystal spheres. Each sphere had a small groove; inserting a light beam and using a memory helmet would transmit the data directly into his mind, branding it onto his memory cells permanently.
Ye Chen learned the three sets of manuals on the spot.
Thump-thump-thump!
The three crystal spheres shattered into dust as the information they contained imprinted itself onto Ye Chen's mind.
Ye Chen reviewed the content and found the True Dragon Art was not inherently difficult, though its cultivation demanded massive amounts of energy. The meridians required to open for the first layer had already been cleared when he broke through to the Ghost God Realm, so he mastered the first layer instantly upon reviewing it.
The five layers of the True Dragon Art were sequentially linked. Although mastering the first layer offered no immediate increase in Ye Chen's combat strength, without its foundation, he couldn't cultivate the second layer even if he possessed it.