Translator: CinderTL
In the starry sky, still a considerable distance from the Azure Star Minor Realm, Hong Yan stared at the message from his clan, his eyes filled with anguish.
"How could this be?!"
The message, personally confirmed by Hong Guang, claimed that Li Chunjun had purportedly attained peak Sixth-Rank strength, plunging Hong Yan into suffocating despair.
What did peak Sixth-Rank strength mean? A level capable of challenging the top ten on the Cosmic Light List! Even after cultivating his Mind Power to the second realm and wielding the Supreme Treasure left by their founding ancestor, Hong Yan could at best muster combat power comparable to a Sixth-Rank cultivator. With luck, he might briefly appear on the Cosmic Light List. Without it... he would become cannon fodder for the list.
Compared to Li Chunjun, who could potentially crack the top ten, the gap was immeasurable. Even if Hong Yan harbored thoughts of vengeance against Li Chunjun, he was powerless to act.
Reading the final instructions in Hong Guang's message, the Hong Clan's Heaven's Chosen abruptly waved his hand.
"Go! Execute the worst-case scenario—abandon this Starfield immediately!"
Gritting his teeth, he declared, "This isn't over! Li Chunjun, unless we all die here and are unable to transmit this message, the Hong Clan will repay today's humiliation a hundredfold!"
Upon receiving the command, the Hong Clan warship, which had been heading towards the Azure Star Minor Realm, swiftly changed course, plunging deeper into the Cosmic Void.
"Killed a Level 29 creature! Experience +5101!"
"Killed a Level 28 creature! Experience +2215!"
"Killed a Level 27 creature! Experience +985!"
[ Life Level: 33 (235,985/300,000) ]
A vast wave of destructive power surged outward from the Hong Clan Ancestral Shrine.
Under the onslaught of the Void Bridge dao technique, the Primordial Spirits at the epicenter were nearly annihilated in an instant.
The few survivors...
...fell one by one to the crisscrossing Sword Qi of the Scarlet Sky Sword, meeting their bitter end.
Cut the grass but not the roots, and it will spring anew with the spring breeze.
Since the Hong Clan had meticulously plotted against him for so long, Li Chunjun showed no mercy in his retaliation.
Amidst the dazzling light and raging flames, Li Chunjun stood as if anchored in another dimension, impervious to all attacks, untouched by the chaos.
Yet in his hand glowed a pale green light.
As this light radiated outward, it acted like a deadly poison upon reaching Li Chunjun, corroding the Spatial Mysteries surrounding him.
This was the Hong Clan's Supreme Treasure—the Eternal Light—a top-tier quasi-Dao Artifact!
The materials used in its construction radiated a dense Dao Rhythm of the Primordial Great Dao.
It was immediately clear that this Supreme Treasure had been specially crafted by Hong Qianjue, the Hong Clan's Void Refining Ancestor, for future generations. Imbued within it was a Countermeasure Technique left by the ancestor: any non-Hong Clan member who wielded it would find the Primordial Power within the Eternal Light transformed into a corrosive force.
The potency of this corrosive force was such that even ordinary Sixth-Rank cultivators would struggle to resist it.
For Li Chunjun, however, holding it briefly posed no immediate threat.
"The most valuable part of this Supreme Treasure is the material imbued with the Primordial Great Dao Rhythm," Li Chunjun mused, his Divine Sense probing the artifact's interior.
As his Divine Sense reached the core, a tremendous burst of divine sense power erupted, surging back along his probing tendrils with the force of a thunderclap, striking deep into his mind.
"Who dares defile my Hong Clan's Supreme Treasure?!" A soul-shaking wave of information crashed against his consciousness.
The sheer intensity of that psychic blast...
Even Li Chunjun, whose mind had been honed to the third level of the Heavenly Heart Eternal Method's Mind Realm, found his mental defenses momentarily shaken.
"Is this... a safeguard left by the Hong Clan's Void Refining Ancestor?"
Li Chunjun steeled his heart, swiftly suppressing the Divine Sense assault, a flicker of surprise crossing his face.
In the brief moment his heart-mind had wavered, the power of the Eternal Light had already begun corroding his right hand, visibly decaying and rotting before his eyes.
"Impressive technique!" Li Chunjun exclaimed genuinely. "A Divine Sense strike infused with Mind Power to shake the soul, followed by the Primordial Power of the Eternal Light to corrode the body... Even the most formidable Sixth-Rank cultivators, unless their Mind Realm has reached the third tier, would undoubtedly perish."
The methods of Void Refining were truly astonishing. Even a Supreme Treasure left behind in the mortal realm possessed the power to annihilate nearly any being below the Seventh-Rank.
Fortunately, Li Chunjun's Heavenly Heart Eternal Method had forged his Mind Realm into an impenetrable fortress. He reacted instantly, dodging the full force of the Eternal Light's corrosive power before it could take full effect.
"This corrosion... it strikes at the very foundation?" Li Chunjun mused. "To completely expel it, even from such brief exposure, would likely take a year or two. Still... it's manageable."
Li Chunjun refocused his attention on the Eternal Light.
His divine sense power continued to penetrate the Supreme Treasure.
The imprint left by Hong Qianjue, the Hong Clan Ancestor, was triggered once more, unleashing another surge of divine sense energy.
Though this blast still carried the overwhelming mental pressure of a thunderclap, its impact on Li Chunjun's mind was now negligible.
After easily withstanding the shockwave, he readjusted his focus and resumed probing with his divine sense.
Ultimately, the Supreme Treasure contained only a single strand of Hong Qianjue's divine sense power.
Though nurtured by the Primordial Dao Rhythm, allowing it to recover quickly, it remained adrift like rootless duckweed without conscious control.
Each time Li Chunjun probed, he triggered the Supreme Treasure's divine sense bursts, effectively grinding away at the lingering imprint.
Within mere hours, Li Chunjun had completely obliterated Hong Qianjue's Heart-Mind imprint from the Supreme Treasure.
"Ancestor Hong Qianjue's Mind Realm, though perhaps not yet at the Fourth Layer, must have reached the pinnacle of the Third," Li Chunjun mused.
It made sense. Those who achieved Void Refining rarely had a Mind Realm below the Second Layer.
Hong Qianjue had long since reached the Void Refining stage. After countless years of cultivation, it was no surprise that his Mind Realm had reached the Third Layer, or even the Fourth.
As he erased the mark of the Eternal Light and imprinted his own, the Supreme Treasure swiftly radiated its brilliance upon him. Replenished by the Primordial Dao Rhythm, both his depleted Essence Qi and mental energy rapidly recovered. Even the corroded wounds on his hands began to heal slowly.
However, while destruction came easily, restoration proved arduous. The process would still take a month or two.
"This treasure greatly enhances a cultivator's endurance," Li Chunjun remarked, glancing at the Eternal Light before turning his gaze to the Scarlet Sky Sword.
The Primordial Great Dao's Dao Rhythm was nearly equivalent to the Nethersea Dark Crystal he had once exchanged to fortify the Scarlet Sky Sword's durability.
After all, Dao Artifacts were ever-changing, coalescing and dispersing at will. The concept of "durability" held little meaning for such entities. As long as their power remained inexhaustible, they were virtually indestructible.
"For the Scarlet Sky Sword to evolve into a Dao Artifact, the core Dao Rhythms must naturally be those of Destruction and Void. But for the third, the Primordial Dao Rhythm, which enhances endurance, would work, as would the Streamlight Dao Rhythm, which boosts speed, or the Slaughter Great Dao, which amplifies offensive power."
Li Chunjun gazed at the Eternal Light, his mind made up. Once the Scarlet Sky Sword had absorbed the Gold Fusion, he would dismantle the Eternal Light, refining its Primordial Dao Rhythm-infused materials into the sword.
Then, all that remained was to add a material imbued with the Void Dao Rhythm...
The Scarlet Sky Sword would finally undergo its complete transformation, ascending to become a true Dao Artifact.
"The Scarlet Sky Sword already has two Seventh-Tier materials waiting in line. I need to hurry..."
Sensing his current state, Li Chunjun soared from the endless flames and storms, rapidly ascending to an altitude of ten thousand meters.
As he rose, his powerful Divine Sense radiated outward, harmonizing with the entirety of the Hong Clan's Lesser Thousand World.
The moment his Heart-Mind fused with the world, an overwhelming torrent of information, like a tidal wave capable of toppling mountains and draining seas, crashed into his spiritual realm, causing it to groan under the unbearable strain.
Yet Li Chunjun's expression remained serene.
His formidable Mind Realm, like a tranquil lake, absorbed and neutralized the storm, allowing his Divine Sense to gradually detach from the deluge of information. He then consciously began searching for the specific information he sought: the Heart Demon.
Moments later, ten thousand meters above, Li Chunjun's gaze shifted, locking onto a distant point.
In an instant, the Scarlet Sky Sword tore through the Void, harnessing the profound Spatial Mysteries to traverse thousands of miles in a heartbeat and slam into a palace.
Three figures materialized within the palace, attempting to flee, but against the Scarlet Sky Sword's razor-sharp edge, they were utterly helpless. The Spatial Mysteries unleashed by the blade crushed them into dust.
One of them, a Heart Demon, didn't even have time to escape its host's body before the divine sense power—or rather, the Mind Power—emanating from the Scarlet Sky Sword, belonging to Li Chunjun, swept it away and dragged it back into his own body.
As the Heart Demon re-entered his body, Li Chunjun's increasingly potent Mental Power Fire incinerated it without hesitation, swiftly reducing it to ashes and fueling the growth of his Heavenly Heart Eternal Method.
"Seal off the Lesser Thousand World to prevent any puppet hosts or Heart Demons from escaping," Li Chunjun's divine sense echoed in Yu Jin's mind.
"Yes, sir!" Yu Jin and his men responded with renewed fervor.
Even though they had witnessed Li Chunjun's immense will, which seemed to permeate the entire world, before, the sheer vastness, grandeur, and omnipresence of his power still left their commander in awe.
In a daze, he momentarily wondered if Swordmaster Li was actually a Primordial Spirit or a Void Refining Ancestor.
Yu Jin swiftly piloted the Silver Leaf to the edge of the Hong Clan's Lesser Thousand World, taking precautions to prevent any Heart Demons from escaping.
Meanwhile, Li Chunjun, having merged his own heart with the Heavenly Heart, precisely tracked the location of every Heart Demon.
Normally, a dormant Heart Demon within a Lesser Thousand World would awaken and attract hundreds of others from the surrounding areas. The Hong Clan's realm was no exception. In addition to their original 120-odd Heart Demons, they now harbored over sixty more from the Jade Mound Minor Thousand World, bringing their total to a staggering 191.
These Heart Demons had nowhere to hide from Li Chunjun. He hunted them down with ruthless efficiency, systematically eliminating them. After slaying just fifty-two, his Life Level reached the cusp of advancement.
The sudden annihilation of so many Heart Demons threw the remaining creatures—still numbering well over a hundred—into a state of panic, their collective impulse now to flee in disarray.
After a moment's deliberation, Li Chunjun abandoned his time-consuming method. He abruptly withdrew from his Heart-Heavenly Heart state, his aura plummeting dramatically.
Immediately upon disengaging, he activated the Eternal Light, enveloping himself completely in the Primordial Great Dao Power. He deliberately projected the image of a man who had exhausted his resources and was relying on the Supreme Treasure to recover at full speed.
This display gave the Heart Demons—terrified by the slaughter and eager to escape the Lesser Thousand World—pause.
(End of the Chapter)
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