With a furious shout, Yanluo Shaozun saw a cloud light roll out in the distance, and the four figures of the crimson-faced Chi Yue Shenjun burst forth from the cloud mass.

The Three Divine Palaces contingent moved with extreme swiftness in their cloud light, arriving before him in the blink of an eye. Chi Yue Shenjun stared at Yanluo and shouted sharply, "Yanluo Shaozun, for the sake of Yuanluo Tianzun, this matter has nothing to do with you. Bring forth the Evil Dragon Venerable; this Lord has words for him!"

Gu Xichen smiled, his hands behind his back, just about to step out of the cloud carriage, but Yanluo placed a hand on Gu Xichen’s shoulder.

Glaring coldly at Chi Yue Shenjun for a moment, Yanluo Shaozun sneered, "Just you lot? You presume to speak of acting on my father's behalf?"

Chi Yue Shenjun’s expression shifted. What Yanluo Shaozun said was harsh, but it was the truth; he had no grounds for rebuttal. What sort of figure was Yuanluo Tianzun? He was one of the few peak Existences at the Great Overarching Golden Immortal level across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. Given the strength of their Three Divine Palaces, they truly were in no position to utter such words.

His face cycled through a shade of ashen uncertainty for a moment. Chi Yue Shenjun coldly chuckled, "If Yuanluo Tianzun were here in person, that would be one thing, but since the Young Lord is present, we must settle some matters properly."

With a flash of cloud light, Chi Yue Shenjun and his three companions formed a perfect tetrahedron, surrounding the planet—not yet renamed—where Gu Xichen’s new grotto-heaven was located, adopting a posture that forbade anyone from entering or leaving.

Yanluo Shaozun was enraged. He leaped up abruptly, pointing at Chi Yue Shenjun and roaring fiercely, "Chi Yue, don't think that just because you possess the cultivation of a high-grade Great Overarching Golden Immortal, you can act presumptuously before this Lord! Your Daoist techniques and divine powers are merely commonplace; even against me, you will not gain any advantage!"

Chi Yue Shenjun grinned menacingly, "Indeed, the profound Daoist arts of the Yuanluo Palace are something this Lord has always admired. But there are four of us—my brothers and nephews—here. Can your solitary power stand against the four of us? My two brothers will keep you occupied, and the rest of us will certainly extinguish the Evil Dragon lineage!"

Qingyang Shenjun could no longer suppress the fire in his heart. He drew his Azure Gold Ruyi and unleashed a fierce beam of azure light toward them.

Yanluo Shaozun’s expression changed. A venerable, bronze-like great umbrella suddenly sprang from above his head, shooting out ten thousand zhang of azure light to shield himself and Gu Xichen. Although this umbrella was a post-celestial artifact, the restrictions upon it were miraculous. With Gu Xichen’s sight, the umbrella seemed to originate from the hands of the ancient, famous sage, Emperor Xuanyuan himself; at the very least, the ninety-five Yin Kui divine runes inscribed on the umbrella were genuine.

The azure light was dense and constantly erupted. Although the high-temperature azure flame spat out by Qingyang Shenjun was immensely powerful, it was helpless against Yanluo Shaozun, who was focused solely on defense. The azure light shot out by the great umbrella shattered in layers but constantly regenerated. No matter how many layers of azure light the azure flame destroyed, a thick stack of them remained waiting ahead.

The stalemate lasted for a full half an hour until Qingyang Shenjun’s initial fervor waned. He unleashed nearly a hundred balls of azure lightning, the size of finger-tips, from his Azure Gold Ruyi, bombarding Yanluo Shaozun. This shook the great umbrella violently, causing Yanluo Shaozun’s face to pale momentarily, yet the umbrella’s defense remained unbroken. Qingyang Shenjun then retracted his divine power, gritting his teeth and glaring fiercely in their direction.

"Good, good, good, very good!" Yanluo Shaozun applauded loudly, his voice filled with rage. "After all these years, someone finally dares to lay hands on this Lord! The three of you, the three Shenjuns of the Three Divine Palaces, are you truly not afraid that my father will grind your bones to dust?"

Baishui Shenjun shouted sternly, "The Great Wei Mountain lineage has been annihilated; what do we have to fear?"

Eh? The entire Great Wei Mountain lineage was wiped out? Yanluo Shaozun looked at Gu Xichen in shock.

Gu Xichen nodded, calmly recounting the entire sequence of events leading to the conflict between him and the Three Divine Palaces. Yanluo Shaozun, hearing Gu Xichen’s understated description of how an entire great force was effortlessly crumbled by his group of Taiyi Golden Immortals, was left speechless. No wonder the three Shenjuns of the Three Divine Palaces attacked him without hesitation; this enmity was truly too deep.

However, Gu Xichen was now an Elder of the Yuanluo Palace.

Taking a deep breath, Yanluo Shaozun pointed his sword art toward the bronze great umbrella above his head and slowly drifted out of the cloud carriage, stepping on the cloud mass. He roared, "So that is how it is. Everyone from Great Wei Mountain is dead and gone, so how have the four of you miscreants survived?" He glanced coldly at Chi Yue, Qingyang, Baishui, and Tianyuan Xiaonan, then suddenly lowered his voice to command Gu Xichen, "I will expend my vital energy to entangle those three old ghosts for a quarter of an hour using Yuanluo Profound Art. Capture Tianyuan Xiaonan, and we will be entirely without worry."

Gu Xichen understood the implication of Yanluo’s words. If they could not capture Tianyuan Nan to threaten Chi Yue Shenjun and the other two, given their ferocious demeanor upon arrival, it was likely they were prepared to kill Yanluo Shaozun along with them in one fell swoop.

Three high-grade Great Overarching Golden Immortals going all out was a terrifying force. Capturing Tianyuan Xiaonan alive was the best solution to break the current predicament. But could Yanluo Shaozun, with only a post-celestial bronze umbrella, truly withstand the siege of three high-grade Great Overarching Golden Immortals, especially those wielding three innate magical artifacts?

However, seeing Yanluo Shaozun’s solemn yet confident expression, Gu Xichen nodded and firmly patted his shoulder.

Why was this fellow acting so righteously? Shouldering the burden of three high-grade Great Overarching Golden Immortals alone—Gu Xichen felt a little awkward calculating his debt.

Narrowing his eyes, Gu Xichen pulled a Leizhenzi from his pocket, which pulsed with the dense stellar energy fluctuations of the Luo Zhu star. This was an Yin Thunder refined by the Corpse Emperor over recent idle days, achieved by forcefully compressing the mixed energies within his own body and combining them with top-grade materials provided by Gu Xichen, such as the Taiyin Stone, the Taiyang Stone, the True Magnetic Two Poles Light, and the Reverse Five Elements God-Slaying True Light.

Identical to the Yin Thunder he had previously shown Yuanluo Tianzun, this Leizhenzi, leveraging the extraordinarily powerful physical compression of the Luo Zhu Star Lord's mana, contained power nearly equivalent to the full might of a mid-grade Great Overarching Golden Immortal's strike. While the disparity in mana and divine power between Great Overarching Golden Immortals was vast, the physical integrity of their bodies was roughly similar. If this Leizhenzi was used well, it might serve as an unexpected trump card.

Yanluo Shaozun paused, snatched the Leizhenzi, and gave Gu Xichen a knowing smile.

Gu Xichen remained silent. He turned, expanding his divine sense to quickly send a message to Penghua and the others.

Yanluo Shaozun suddenly transformed into a rain of azure light and flew upward. A grand, resounding bell clang erupted from within the bronze umbrella above his head. The ninety-five faintly visible golden seals within the umbrella flew out as ninety-five streams of brilliant light, instantly coalescing into a shimmering golden projection of a great seal that slammed down toward Chi Yue Shenjun.

While the great umbrella fully engaged Chi Yue Shenjun in an attack, Yanluo Shaozun backhanded a thumb-sized red bead, trailing an extremely fine red streak that shot toward Qingyang Shenjun’s chest. Without shifting his stance, he subtly flicked his toe, launching a palm-sized yellow clod of earth that silently slapped toward Baishui Shenjun’s face.

Chi Yue Shenjun sneered. The red magic mirror behind him vibrated, holding the projection of the golden seal suspended in the void, unable to descend.

Qingyang Shenjun repeatedly swung his Azure Gold Ruyi, stirring up vast sheets of azure flames to meet the red bead. However, the origin essence of his Azure Gold Ruyi had been significantly depleted, greatly reducing the innate artifact's might. The bead pressed determinedly toward his chest.

As for Baishui Shenjun, his fate was the worst. Having suffered serious damage to his divine soul from the Qing Shen Bottle and the Huncheng Seven Treasures Sword wielded by Wuai Ren, his cultivation level had barely limped back to the threshold of a high-grade Great Overarching Golden Immortal. Compared to Yanluo Shaozun now, he was only marginally stronger.

Baishui Shenjun relied somewhat on his slightly superior magical power cultivation compared to Yanluo Shaozun. However, with his damaged divine soul, he could not even properly control his remaining mana. The true strength he could deploy was barely a fraction stronger than that of his own nephew.

The three Shenjuns had aggressively intended to wipe out the Evil Dragon Sect lineage claimed by Gu Xichen, even harboring the murderous intent to destroy Yanluo Shaozun as well. Yet, they overlooked that Baishui Shenjun’s current strength was nowhere near his peak period.

Baishui Shenjun’s life-bound magical artifact was also an innate treasure: a water bowl that appeared crude, as if casually molded from pottery clay by an inferior craftsman. Upon closer inspection, however, the material of the water bowl seemed as smooth as jade, exuding a refreshing, moist luster from within.

Within the water bowl was a small amount of milky-white Innate Taiyin True Water, three liang and three qian. Every drop could transform into the waters of three rivers and four seas to confront the enemy, its power truly extraordinary.

But the nature of Taiyin True Water was inherently heavy, and water itself is fluid and unpredictable. Baishui Zhenjun’s heavily wounded divine soul meant that his spiritual connection with the water bowl was severely compromised. He could not summon his prized artifact to fight for quite some time.

Years of habit dictated that upon encountering an enemy, Baishui Shenjun would immediately deploy his strongest treasure. But now, failing to activate his life-bound artifact in the crucial first moment, the yellow clod of earth summoned by Yanluo Shaozun landed squarely on Baishui Shenjun’s face without any obstruction.

This yellow clod of earth was not some rare item; it was merely a lump of earth condensed by Yuanluo Tianzun after collecting the essence of the post-celestial earth element for countless years and tempering it repeatedly with his own life-bound true fire. It possessed no other divine abilities, only immense weight. The weight of this single yellow clod was comparable to the combined weight of all the veins in half of Great Wei Mountain.

With a sharp smack, Baishui Shenjun’s face caved in. He was smashed into a daze, his soul nearly knocked out of his physical body.

Immortal combat is often the most brutal; a moment of distraction can lead to certain death. In the ancient legends of the Investiture of the Gods battle, how many supreme experts perished due to a single oversight, struck down by juniors whose Daoist cultivation was far inferior, relying on a superior magical artifact?

Due to his single misstep, Baishui Shenjun was immediately knocked senseless and unconscious.

The eight hundred Taiyi Golden Immortals of the War God Hall seized the opportunity, immediately summoning their personal artifacts and bombarding Baishui Shenjun.

A rain of radiant light and auspicious energy smashed onto Baishui Shenjun's body, causing his spiritual flames to surge. His physical body convulsed erratically, becoming tattered and shredded like a rotten sack within moments.

Chi Yue and Qingyang were suddenly jolted awake. Their third brother’s cultivation and power had severely regressed. Yanluo Shaozun inherited profound knowledge from his lineage and possessed artifacts and techniques secretly gifted by Yuanluo Tianzun. How could Baishui Shenjun, in his current state, possibly match Yanluo Shaozun?

Seeing the cultivators of the War Immortal Academy beating their fallen comrade so brutally, Chi Yue and Qingyang cried out in pain, rushing toward the fray. Their life-bound artifacts swept up terrifying waves of treasure light, shooting toward the scene from afar.

Yanluo Shaozun violently spun his bronze great umbrella. The divine light emitted by the ninety-five talismans clashed heavily with the azure and red beams of light.

Chi Yue and Qingyang’s bodies trembled slightly, their forward momentum slowing momentarily. Yanluo Shaozun, however, felt a jolt to his heart meridians, spitting a stream of blood from all seven orifices. After all, they were two high-grade Great Overarching Golden Immortals, their cultivation and mana tens of thousands of times greater than his own. Yanluo Shaozun enduring the combined strike of two opponents through the miracle of his artifact would, if spread abroad, be an astonishing feat worthy of fame across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

During this momentary delay, Baishui Shenjun’s physical body could not withstand the continuous strikes from so many Taiyi Golden Immortals. He shrieked, and his body suddenly transformed into a white wave soaring into the sky. Hundreds of top-grade immortal artifacts, trailing brilliant light, hammered onto this white wave, only splashing countless droplets but failing to inflict fatal damage.

Baishui Shenjun’s water escape technique possessed a subtle mystery belonging to ancient Water Immortals. The white wave carried wisps of Taiyin Qi; unless one specialized in Taiyin divine arts, most spells and magical techniques would struggle to inflict substantial harm upon him.

Among the immortals of the War Immortal Academy, a few specialized in Xuanbing-type curses. Seeing Baishui Shenjun flee as a white wave, they immediately used their powers to the fullest.

Vast stretches of Xuanbing suddenly condensed in the void. In the blink of an eye, space spanning a million li was frozen into a gigantic block of ice. Eerie coldness spread everywhere, causing the air on nearby planets to drop sharply, instantly freezing into ice crystals clinging to the ground.

But Baishui Shenjun’s escape art was profound; the wisps of Taiyin Qi shielded him, allowing him to move freely within the Xuanbing. The Xuanbing, hard as diamond, parted like soft tofu wherever the white wave passed. Shenjun of the White Wave let out a triumphant laugh. Even though his cultivation had diminished, his divine abilities were not something these Taiyi Golden Immortals could match.

A crude water bowl, the size of a palm, rose above the white wave. Baishui Shenjun was just about to summon his life-bound artifact to injure foes with the Taiyin True Water.

It happened faster than words. From the side, a grayish-white bead shot out, spinning rapidly. The white wave that was Baishui Shenjun did not even utter a sound before it was sucked into the grayish-white bead. The Taiyin True Water in the bowl rushed toward the bead like a solitary bird finding its mother, instantly merging into the misty white aura emanating from the bead. The grayish-white bead appeared abruptly and vanished just as mysteriously. Before anyone could clearly discern what was shrouded within the white mist, the bead, along with Baishui Shenjun, vanished without a trace. By the time Chi Yue and Qingyang realized something was wrong and turned their heads, Baishui was nowhere in sight.

"Third Brother!" Chi Yue and Qingyang wailed mournfully. Baishui Shenjun’s aura had completely disappeared; it was easy to imagine his fate was grim.

Yanluo Shaozun seized this opportunity to unleash an aggressive offensive. The bronze great umbrella scattered wide beams of light to protect himself, and the ninety-five talismans rained down like projectiles toward Chi Yue and Qingyang. The distracted Chi Yue and Qingyang were so mentally shaken that their strength to wield their life-bound artifacts weakened slightly, causing them to stagger backward under Yanluo Shaozun’s assault.

Especially Chi Yue: everything began because of his son, Tianyuan Xiaonan. His third brother was injured because of him, and now he had inexplicably vanished, clearly having fallen victim to the enemy. Chi Yue Shenjun was consumed by self-reproach, shame, and rage; how could he maintain the composure expected of a Great Overarching Golden Immortal?

Yanluo Shaozun recognized the advantage and immediately took out a powerful life-preservation talisman refined for him by Yuanluo Tianzun, shaking it out.

The talisman, made of purple gold fused with green jade, depicted ninety-nine fierce tigers. Each tiger held a bolt of lightning in its mouth, and every bolt was densely etched with countless runes. Each rune emanated rising purple energy and faint immortal light, projecting strong immortal power fluctuations.

As soon as the talisman was unleashed, a piercingly high and clear tiger roar echoed in the void. Lightning filled the sky, instantly transforming into ninety-nine terrifying beams of electricity, each hundreds of miles thick, crashing down upon Chi Yue Shenjun.

Given Yuanluo Tianzun’s power, any life-preservation talisman he crafted for his son was the equivalent of a casual strike from a high-grade Great Overarching Golden Immortal...

Chi Yue Shenjun, whose mind was in chaos, was caught completely off guard. He grunted, and the crimson glow projected by the mirror behind him shattered. Thirteen consecutive lightning beams struck him fiercely, blasting his close-fitting protective armor to tatters.

Chi Yue Shenjun roared in agony. He hurriedly collected his thoughts, exhaling several bursts of immortal energy to urge his life-bound artifact to emit a vortex-like crimson halo to swallow the lightning.

At that precise moment, Yanluo Shaozun launched the Luo Zhu Thunder Seed that Gu Xichen had secretly slipped him. It exploded right against Chi Yue Shenjun's body.

With thunder roaring from above and the domineering, strange Luo Zhu stellar energy exploding against his body—especially since it contained treacherous forces like the True Magnetic Two Poles Light and the God-Slaying True Light—Chi Yue Shenjun suffered a major blow when he lowered his guard. His entire left arm and left leg silently turned to nothingness amidst the pitch-black lightning.

The intense pain shocked Chi Yue Shenjun’s throbbing, boiling brain into clarity. He suddenly realized that although Yanluo Shaozun’s cultivation was lower than his, as he claimed, he was Yuanluo Tianzun’s eldest son. Which of his divine arts and miraculous methods could Chi Yue possibly surpass? Not to mention the wealth of powerful items Yuanluo Tianzun must have equipped his son with for safety.

Even though Yanluo Shaozun did not possess an innate artifact for defense, his bronze great umbrella was no less powerful than an ordinary innate artifact, and he had an overwhelmingly powerful life-preservation talisman on hand. To defeat or kill him was undoubtedly a fool’s errand.

His rashness and gamble today had been his mistake; he should not have confronted Yanluo Shaozun head-on.

A series of thoughts flashed through Chi Yue Shenjun’s mind. He was about to open his mouth to negotiate a truce.

At that very moment, Gu Xichen had already lunged toward Tianyuan Xiaonan. He was furious that Tianyuan Xiaonan had dared to attack Fuya, and even more annoyed that this pretty boy dared to covet Fuya, so he showed no mercy in his attack.

The Three Styles of the Indestructible Yellow Heaven Body rained down like hail. Gu Xichen, his face grim, met Tianyuan Xiaonan head-on.

The Haotian Pagoda flickered faintly in Gu Xichen’s sea of consciousness, continuously pouring immense primordial Yellow Heaven Qi into his body, drifting out through his pores to coat his skin with a faint layer of Yellow Heaven aura. Protected by this Yellow Heaven Qi, which was impervious to all arts and invulnerable to all methods, Gu Xichen’s fists struck Tianyuan Xiaonan’s protective treasure light like falling meteors, yet he never feared the light damaging his own fists.

Tianyuan Xiaonan was thrown into disarray by Gu Xichen’s fierce barrage of blows. He was a orthodox immortal, excelling in long-distance combat and the casting of divine techniques and spells. He was utterly inept at this close-quarters entanglement unique to body cultivators, a style popular only in antiquity.

His heavy fists landed on the protective treasure light, shaking it to the point of near collapse with every strike. Even more alarming to Tianyuan Xiaonan was that Gu Xichen’s fists acted like invisible black holes, corroding a portion of his protective light with every impact.

In less than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, Tianyuan Xiaonan’s protective light had dimmed to the faint glow of a firefly, on the verge of extinguishing.

Tianyuan Xiaonan was greatly alarmed. He hastily formed an imprint and hurriedly unleashed a lightning technique toward Gu Xichen.

Gu Xichen merely offered Tianyuan Xiaonan a strange smile. He suddenly soared into the air, spinning to evade to the other side. A grayish-white bead shot out of Gu Xichen’s mouth, instantly traversing the void, and swallowed the white-wave-transformed Baishui Shenjun. Simultaneously, he successfully dodged the lightning strike launched by Tianyuan Xiaonan.

Tianyuan Xiaonan was overjoyed when he saw Gu Xichen retreating. However, he became frantic again upon seeing his third uncle captured by Gu Xichen using some strange bead.

Nevertheless, relying on the instinct of a Great Overarching Golden Immortal, Tianyuan Xiaonan pulled out one of his prized magical artifacts and summoned it. A green beam of light enveloped a palm-sized meteor hammer that shot out from Tianyuan Xiaonan’s brow, striking toward Gu Xichen’s back with lightning speed. Before the meteor hammer was a few hundred zhang away from Gu Xichen, countless sharp, jagged green crystal fragments began to crackle and shoot out from within it, rapidly bombarding Gu Xichen.

From the side, a figure with large wings swooped in quickly, casually tossing a slender, petite figure toward Tianyuan Xiaonan.

The succubus Yao Meier, whom Gu Xichen had subdued, trembled as she flew before Tianyuan Xiaonan. With tears welling in her eyes, the delicate Yao Meier called out to Tianyuan Xiaonan like a fragile orchid in a secluded valley, "Young Master, save me!"

That single cry of "Young Master, save me!" ignited a surge of wicked desire in Tianyuan Xiaonan, who was already a known libertine.

It was in this brief moment that a minuscule gap appeared in Tianyuan Xiaonan's concentration—a gap sufficient for certain others to exploit.

Dozens of thousands of impossibly heavy yet utterly sinister blows slammed into the back of Tian Yuan Nan’s heart. In an instant, the protective radiance around him was obliterated. The brothers Banruo and Mo He, wielding two pitch-black, ponderous demon-subduing pestles, mercilessly battered Tian Yuan Xiao Nan, instantly shattering every defensive artifact on his body and reducing the flesh on his back to a bloody pulp.

Arya floated far off in the void. She unleashed hundreds of fist-sized, inky black fireballs in rapid succession. Each one struck Tian Yuan Xiao Nan’s pale face—a face that made her deeply uneasy. The fireballs, saturated with corrosive dark power, blackened his features, causing sheets of flesh to peel and curl away from his face.

Siren delivered a vicious, stealthy thrust from below, aiming directly at Tian Huan Xiao Nan's lower region. Amidst Tian Yuan Xiao Nan’s piercing shriek, Siren’s rapier, imbued with the mysterious power to sever fate itself, effortlessly sheared away a piece of flesh the size of a human fist. This strike not only severed Tian Yuan Xiao Nan’s physical member, but also cut the very wellspring of his vitality from his destiny. From this day forward, even if Tian Yuan Xiao Nan were to reconstruct his physical body, that particular organ would forever be functionally inert. The might of Siren’s ‘Fate-Severing Blade’ was truly subtle to the extreme.

Gu Xiechen, whose body was pitted and riddled with fractures from the barrage of green crystal shards, forced back a surge of agonizing pain and shot back, clamping one hand around Tian Yuan Xiao Nan’s throat. He hoisted him high into the air. “Crimson Moon Divine Lord, look here!” Gu Xiechen roared. Crimson Moon Divine Lord, who had been preparing to sue for peace with Young Master Yan Luo, suddenly spun around, only to stare in horror as his own son, bleeding profusely, was captured alive by Gu Xiechen. “Tian Yuan, my son!” Crimson Moon Divine Lord froze, his body rigid. “Tian Huan, where is my grandson!” Peng Hua, who had always been quick to exploit an advantage, flew over and delivered a slap that sent Tian Yuan Xiao Nan’s teeth showering out.

Young Master Yan Luo, spitting blood from all seven orifices, laughed triumphantly as he retreated, casting a satisfied glance at the ashen-faced Crimson Moon and Qing Yang. Crimson Moon Divine Lord and Qing Yang Divine Lord were utterly shaken, staring dumbly at the captured Tian Yuan Nan. For a moment, their minds went completely blank. Just as Gu Xiechen, still clutching Tian Yuan Xiao Nan, was about to speak, he suddenly spotted a fleeting shadow behind Qing Yang Divine Lord and immediately cried out, “Qing Yang, watch out!” Watch out for what? Qing Yang Divine Lord hadn't even registered the warning before a long halberd plunged through his brow from behind. What followed was a relentless barrage of tens of thousands of dense attacks, which pulverized his immortal body into dust. Boundless, demonic winds and clouds roiled in every direction. A great host of Demon Immortals and concubines swept in, as if to... if you wish to know what happens next, please log on to Jizhu. More chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!