Translator: CinderTL
Whoosh!
Myriads of sword lights shattered the Great Yin-Yang Grinding Wheel, then surged forward like a tidal wave, tearing into the Yin-Yang Twofold Harmony Diagram, a Dao Artifact.
This sight widened Hong Qianjue's eyes in disbelief.
"Fifth Layer of the Mind Realm!?"
The Fifth Layer of the Mind Realm!?
To have reached this level in just thirty years of cultivation...
What kind of monster was this!?
What sin had he, Hong Qianjue, committed to provoke such a monstrous genius and be forced into a life-or-death struggle with him!?
"Who exactly are you!?" Hong Qianjue roared in fury.
His powerful Divine Sense, carrying this message of bitter resentment, crashed against Li Chunjun.
Yet still, there was no response.
This unwavering resolve plunged Hong Qianjue's heart into an abyss of despair.
As his lifebound Dao Artifact gradually crumbled under the sword qi storm unleashed by the Scarlet Sky Sword, a flicker of despair appeared in the Void Refining Heavenly Monarch's eyes. "I spent my life hunting geese, only to have one peck out my eyes!"
He glared at Li Chunjun. "No matter who you are now! To have cultivated such Dao cultivation and Qi in thirty years, to have reached the Fifth Layer of the Mind Realm, and to wield a High-Grade Dao Artifact... you must be hiding a secret of immense magnitude! I will sacrifice my life to give my sect a chance for revenge. Li Chunjun, from this day forward, you will never know peace! You will eventually fall at the hands of the greedy!"
Tear!
The Yin-Yang Twofold Harmony Diagram was torn apart!
Sword Qi, crisscrossing and slashing, surged through the gap in the Dao Artifact, instantly piercing the Void Refining Heavenly Monarch's body.
Yet he let out a mournful, triumphant laugh.
"Li Chunjun, I'll be waiting for you in the Netherworld!"
In the next moment, his entire being erupted in dazzling Hua Guang.
As his body was shredded by the Sword Qi, the surrounding Void seemed to resonate with a Dao Artifact that existed in the depths of the cosmos.
The Soul Mirror!
It had recorded this scene!
Yet Li Chunjun's expression remained unchanged.
In this world, strength and background ultimately spoke the loudest.
Even with surveillance cameras, the footage could be dismissed as blurry. The scenes reflected by the Soul Mirror were also susceptible to forgery.
If he possessed sufficient strength, he could simply deny the incident, claiming Hong Qianjue had been corrupted by a Heart Demon. Could the Immortal Alliance's enforcement department truly investigate the matter thoroughly?
As for the Immortal Alliance's enforcement department upholding the authority of its rules...
If they truly possessed such resolve, Hong Qianjue and his ilk wouldn't have acted so brazenly in killing outside the Human Territory.
The higher one's cultivation, the more one disregards the rules.
Outside the Human Territory, where the False God Realm provides coverage, the rule forbidding Human Void Refining cultivators from harming each other is largely ignored by Void Refining cultivators of other Foreign Races.
As long as there's no conflict of interest, things are fine.
Old friends meet old friends.
But when sufficient profit is at stake, they'll turn on each other with ruthless savagery.
Lost in thought, Li Chunjun clenched his empty hand, drawing the shattered remnants of the Yin-Yang Twofold Harmony Diagram toward him.
However, the Dao Artifact had already been damaged by the Scarlet Sky Sword's Sword Qi. Moreover, Hong Qianjue, unwilling to let his possessions fall into Li Chunjun's hands, had further destroyed it before his death, rendering it almost worthless.
"Although I'm stronger than Hong Qianjue, I didn't use my Dharma Manifestation Armament during this battle to verify my true combat strength. As a result, I never gained an overwhelming advantage, allowing him to destroy his Dao Artifact and storage space before dying."
Li Chunjun sighed inwardly.
A battle that yields no spoils of war is clearly a losing proposition.
Fortunately...
It wasn't entirely without gains.
"Defeated a Level 32 creature! Experience +10,815!"
[Life Level: 36 (160,985/600,000)]
"No! No! No!"
As Li Chunjun's Heart-Mind examined the Human Emperor Banner, Hong Yan, who had been leading the charge to slaughter everyone on the Golden Crow Battleship, was plunged into uncontrollable despair.
She watched the figure she had revered as a Divine Being transform into a ten-thousand-zhang-tall pillar of Hua Guang before vanishing into nothingness. Unable to accept this brutal reality, she let out a bloodcurdling scream.
"How could our founding ancestor possibly lose... He's been a Void Refining master for sixty thousand years! How could he lose? He can't possibly lose!"
The earth-shattering impact shook her to her core, shattering her mental stability and causing her cultivation to plummet.
"No... this isn't real! This isn't real!"
Her desperate cries of denial were inconsequential.
But the sudden collapse of her aura drew Li Chunjun's gaze away from the Human Emperor Banner.
This Heaven's Chosen of the Hong Clan had also cultivated Mind Power, and her cultivation had reached the Second Realm of Primordial Spirit True Monarchs.
With Second Realm Mind Power, her chances of breaking through to Void Refining were as high as one in ten!
She could truly be considered a promising candidate for Void Refining!
If she were lucky, she might even possess Sixth-Rank combat strength.
Sixth-Rank combat strength would at least be worth over a thousand experience points.
Therefore, before her Mind Realm could deteriorate too much, Li Chunjun pointed a finger.
A streak of Sword Qi pierced through the air.
In an instant, it pierced through Hong Yan's skull.
Her insane screams, born from the collapse of her mental pillar, abruptly ceased.
Li Chunjun glanced at the Human Emperor Banner again, a slight frown creasing his brow.
"So weak?"
She wasn't even considered a Sixth-Rank creature?
Li Chunjun paused to consider this, then turned his attention back to Hong Qianjue's Life Level assessment.
"Level 32... That matches his strength. The Human Emperor Banner's specialty is refining a living being's Essence, Qi, and Spirit, with a particular focus on Qi and Spirit... which means... Dao cultivation?"
Li Chunjun mused.
If it truly focused on Dao cultivation...
Dao cultivation of over ten thousand years should be rated at Level 33, while twenty thousand years would earn a Level 34 rating.
Even without condensing a Dharma Manifestation, he likely would have received such an evaluation.
After all, a Dharma Manifestation is, in a sense, the ultimate offensive technique of a Void Refinement Realm cultivator—more akin to a dao technique, Mystical Power, or Mystic Treasure than a mere cultivation realm.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, his hand moved with unwavering speed.
With a light wave, the Scarlet Sky Sword shot down.
Within moments of its launch, the sword split into ten, then a hundred, then a thousand, instantly forming tens of thousands of sword shadows that rained down upon the fleeing True Monarchs of the Hong Clan.
"Cut the weeds by the roots, or they'll grow back with the spring breeze."
Though the remaining members of the Hong Clan posed little threat, and Li Chunjun was confident that even if some genius among them could rapidly advance, they could never surpass him, he knew he couldn't afford to leave any loose ends.
The Hong Clan had repeatedly vowed to pursue him relentlessly, demonstrating unwavering determination. He would grant them their wish.
Having instantly annihilated numerous True Monarchs of the Hong Clan, Li Chunjun sheathed the Scarlet Sky Sword and fell into thought.
"The Soul Mirror is still a bit of a nuisance. To be safe, I should stay in the Land of Buried Demons for another two years and raise my Life Level to 37!"
Reaching Life Level 37 would not only mark his entry into the Ninth-Tier Life Realm but also allow him to cultivate the Void Dao Physique, a body perfectly suited for stealth and concealment.
He had already experienced the profound mysteries of the Great Void Destruction Sword Intent.
With this Sword Intent, he had dominated all three stages of the Spirit Refinement Great Realm.
If he could cultivate the Void Dao Physique and master Void Sword Momentum...
Due to the absence of the Void Law, achieving such rapid progress as he had in the Spirit Refinement Great Realm would be difficult. However, he would undoubtedly gain an unparalleled advantage in stealth and concealment.
Even evading the perception and detection of Dharma Manifestations would likely become effortless.
Moreover, with the Void Dao Physique, he might even be able to attempt entry into a Lesser Thousand World.
If a Dharma Manifestation dared to pursue him, the backlash from the Lesser Thousand World's Dao essence would be enough to cripple it.
If the pursuing Dharma Manifestation was truly stubborn, Li Chunjun could wait until it was severely wounded by the Lesser Thousand World's Dao Rhythm backlash before launching a surprise attack...
The outcome of the battle remained uncertain.
At this moment, Yu Jin, Zuo Cheng, Huang Tian, Su Fang, and others aboard the Golden Crow Battleship also took flight.
One by one, they bowed deeply to Li Chunjun, their faces filled with awe.
"Sword Master."
"Celestial Sovereign."
Li Chunjun immediately sensed the shift in their emotions.
Beyond their respect, admiration, and fervor, there was a profound sense of awe.
Achieving Void Refining was already considered a legendary feat, a miracle in the eyes of these Primordial Spirit True Monarchs!
And to achieve Void Refining and then slay another Void Refining cultivator—one who had been renowned in the Azure Sea Domain for tens of thousands of years, a figure whose name had been whispered in their ears since childhood: Ancestor Hong Qianjue of the Hong Clan...
Such power was enough to strike fear and awe into the heart of any Primordial Spirit True Monarch.
Li Chunjun remained silent. He immediately asked, "How severe is the damage to the Golden Crow Battleship's engine room? How long will it take to repair?"
"The damage is severe," Yu Jin replied immediately. "Although we have a considerable stockpile of materials obtained from the Titans, Hong Qianjue's Seeker Battleship specifically targeted our power core for complete destruction. The damage is thorough. To fully repair it..."
Yu Jin immediately responded, "Although we have a substantial reserve of materials obtained from the Titan Race, Hong Qianjue's Pathseeker was specifically targeting our engine room for complete destruction. The damage was thorough. To fully repair it... it might take more than a year."
"A year."
Li Chunjun glanced at Hong Qianjue's Pathseeker.
This warship...
Under his unrestrained attacks, the damage seemed even more severe than that of the Golden Crow Battleship.
"Then let's stay for another year or two," Li Chunjun said. "This Land of Buried Demons, a territory teeming with Heart Demons, is a rare opportunity. It would be a shame not to maximize our gains while we're here."
Maximize gains?
Rather than objecting to Li Chunjun's decision, everyone aboard the Golden Crow Battleship was overjoyed, practically clapping their hands in delight.
"We'll follow the Sword Master's arrangements," they said in unison.
Over the past six months, Li Chunjun had brought numerous ordinary Heart Demons that were no longer useful to him, allowing the Primordial Spirits aboard the Golden Crow Battleship to hone their minds. If they could stay in the Land of Buried Demons for another year or two...
Once they had fully digested the benefits of this Heart Demon cultivation, they might even receive such treatment again.
This would lay a solid foundation for many to advance their Mind Power to the Second Realm.
Once they reached the Second Realm of Mind, Void Refining would no longer be an unattainable dream.
At the very least, they would have a full ten percent chance of attempting it.
Just this alone surpassed over ninety-nine percent of Primordial Spirit True Monarchs.
"The Lesser Thousand World you're currently in is quite decent. There will be another aftershock soon, though it won't be large. But with this Lesser Thousand World as a buffer, the effects will be even better."
Li Chunjun arranged the tasks for everyone.
Everyone listened with complete conviction.
Swordmaster Li had already achieved Void Refining, yet he was still willing to spend his time and energy on them, mere Primordial Spirits. Their hearts were filled with gratitude and satisfaction.
After spending a day settling matters on the Golden Crow Battleship, Li Chunjun quickly turned his attention to hunting Heart Demons to elevate his Life Level, as planned.
Unbeknownst to him, Void Refining cultivator Luo Yao of the Heavenly Palace had arrived at the Immortal Great Wall long ago, patiently awaiting his arrival.
But she only had to wait for two short years.
For her, this wait was hardly worth a moment's thought.
(End of the Chapter)
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