Translator: CinderTL
Heavenly Palace.
The loss of Luo Yao, a peak void refining cultivator backed by an Elder of the Council of Elders, naturally ignited fury throughout the Heavenly Palace.
Their rage intensified after they joined forces with the Wu Ji Sect to ambush Li Chunjun in the Star Abyss, suffering yet another devastating defeat. Forced to reach a consensus, the Heavenly Palace Elder Council dispatched over fifty void refining cultivators into the Star Abyss during Li Chunjun's stay in the Inheritance Hall, all to carry out their revenge plan.
As a major power openly boasting three Dao Venerables, the Heavenly Palace wielded influence within the Immortal Alliance Council nearly equal to that of senior councilor-level powers.
Their profound foundation allowed their void refining cultivators to surpass those of the Wu Ji Sect in both quality and combat prowess.
Even though both the Wu Ji Sect and the Heavenly Palace were members of the Immortal Alliance Council, the Heavenly Palace void refining cultivators still regarded their Wu Ji Sect counterparts with the condescension of city dwellers looking down on country bumpkins, reflecting the disparity in their respective foundations.
Precisely because of this, despite having only fifty-odd void refining cultivators—far fewer than the Wu Ji Sect's one hundred and fifty—they were confident in splitting up from the sect to encircle and eliminate Li Chunjun.
This was the arrogance of a Great Sect's void refining cultivators.
In fact, when they first encountered Li Chunjun's attack, not only were they unafraid, but they seemed rather excited. They vowed to accomplish what even the Wu Ji Sect's one hundred and fifty void refining cultivators had failed to do: capture or kill Li Chunjun.
That is, until...
After being utterly defeated by Li Chunjun alone, their performance barely better than the Wu Ji Sect's, the Heavenly Palace void refining cultivators finally panicked.
They called for reinforcements!
Though filled with resentment and humiliation, in the face of death, the Heavenly Palace void refining cultivators lowered their proud heads and sought aid from the Wu Ji Sect.
As a result, the Heavenly Palace's request for assistance from the Wu Ji Sect came far later than the Aurora Special Forces had anticipated.
Furthermore, the Aurora Special Forces deliberately delayed their arrival. By the time they finally descended onto the battlefield, the Heavenly Palace void refining cultivators had already lost more than half their number!
In other words...
Nearly thirty void refining cultivators had perished at Li Chunjun's hands.
Boom!
The Aurora Special Forces' streak of light pierced through the Star Abyss, descending from the heavens.
Their arrival was accompanied by the immense momentum of tearing through the Star Abyss.
Li Chunjun, who had unleashed a sword qi storm with the True Spirit Incineration Secret Art, looked up, his expression remarkably calm.
He glanced at the Human Emperor Banner.
[Life Level: 38 (790211/800000)]
He didn't even feel the Aurora Special Forces were late. In fact, he found their reinforcements arrived more promptly than he'd anticipated.
As humans, everyone has their own thoughts. When a hundred people gather, strange things happen. Even if they were from the same sect, like Senior Brothers or siblings, they couldn't achieve perfect unity.
No individual, force, or method could unify the minds of dozens or hundreds of distinct individuals.
Therefore, facing a group as an individual wasn't as difficult as it seemed!
Destroying a nation of ten million didn't require killing all ten million. Having the strength to match a thousand was more than sufficient!
Charging into a battle formation of fifty Void Refining cultivators didn't necessarily require the combined power of all fifty. Being able to simultaneously withstand the attacks of ten was enough to move freely.
The previous Li Chunjun couldn't have pulled this off. He would have just charged headlong into battle. But now...
His extensive combat experience allowed him to ensure he always faced only a few opponents, only endured the concentrated attacks of a small group, and could deliver lethal strikes to only a few targets at a time.
The encirclement by over fifty Void Refining cultivators was effectively reduced to facing only twenty or so, thanks to his increasingly refined tactical maneuvers.
This was the primary reason he could achieve such a glorious victory against such overwhelming odds.
"Li Chunjun!"
The Aurora Special Forces captain, leading his team's arrival, was surprised to see Li Chunjun hadn't immediately fled. A flicker of joy crossed his eyes, but it was mostly relief at finally cornering him.
"The audacity of this fool! Still here, as if we're beneath his notice!"
Without a command, the six special forces members took up positions, each unfurling a flag. The surrounding space rapidly warped, transforming into chaos.
Within this chaos, all laws seemed to be jumbled and distorted. The dao techniques and Mystical Powers of Cultivators were reduced to their weakest forms.
Even Li Chunjun was taken aback by this sight.
Of course, what surprised him wasn't the Dao Arts and Divine Powers of the Aurora Special Forces' six members, but the six flags.
If he hadn't misread them, those six flags...
...were all Superior Dao Artifacts!
It had to be said, the Wu Ji Sect, a Council-level Power that had once rivaled the Taixu Sword Sect for dominance over the Profound Yellow Great World, possessed a truly profound foundation!
To casually deploy six Superior Dao Artifacts at once was astonishing!
And even these six weren't their entire arsenal!
Their ability to traverse the Star Abyss and return safely clearly didn't rely solely on their own strength.
"Truly extravagant," Li Chunjun mused, his hand movements never faltering.
The sword qi storm expanded further, engulfing the other Void Refining cultivators of the Heavenly Palace.
In an instant, two more Heavenly Palace Void Refining cultivators, already on the brink of death, were shredded to pieces.
"Just one or two more to go."
"How dare you!"
Enraged by this sight, the Aurora Special Forces members unleashed their chaos law. It billowed like a terrifying black cloud, blotting out the sun and rapidly corroding the swirling sword qi storm.
Instantly, the sword qi, corrupted by the chaos power, faltered. Like unmanned combat drones disrupted by electronic interference, they plummeted to the ground, their mental power and Law Mysteries disrupted and dissipating into nothingness.
As the two forces clashed, thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of sword qi were annihilated into nothingness.
The chaos power surged forward like a tidal wave, seemingly poised to completely suppress Li Chunjun's sword qi storm.
But Li Chunjun showed no surprise.
With a casual flick of his wrist, the rampaging sword qi storm split in two. One part continued to tear through the remaining twenty-odd Void Refining cultivators of the Heavenly Palace, while the other surged toward the chaos cloud unleashed by the Aurora Special Forces.
The profound mysteries of the Void Law and the Destruction Dao resonated through the Scarlet Sky Sword, disrupting the chaos cloud. It seemed as though he sought to restore order to the chaos, paving a path for Void and Destruction to emerge from the chaos and strike directly at the Aurora Special Forces members controlling the cloud.
Seeing that Li Chunjun was forced to divide his attention, a Void Refining cultivator from the Heavenly Palace channeled his mental power: "Hold him back!"
Instantly, the remaining twenty-odd Heavenly Palace Void Refining cultivators unleashed their dao techniques, clashing fiercely with the sword qi storm sweeping toward them.
With their lives on the line, these Heavenly Palace Void Refining cultivators pushed themselves beyond their limits. For a moment, they managed to barely withstand the storm's onslaught.
For the first time!
They had gained the upper hand against Li Chunjun!
At this rate...
Once the Aurora Special Forces have eroded and shattered half of the sword qi storm, and then joined forces with the remaining twenty-two Void Refining cultivators from the Heavenly Palace...
Li Chunjun's demise would be within their grasp!
"That's right!"
The Aurora Special Forces captain's mental power surged forth. "Li Chunjun, this time, you won't escape!"
Li Chunjun seemed not to hear the Aurora Special Forces' words.
His gaze didn't linger on them, but remained fixed on the remaining twenty-two Void Refining cultivators from the Heavenly Palace.
In the next moment, his True Spirit Incineration Secret Art, already pushed to its limit, seemed to ascend to a new peak.
The sword qi storm sweeping toward the Heavenly Palace Void Refining cultivators intensified dramatically.
The surging sword qi formed a crushing pressure, advancing layer by layer, forcing the leading Heavenly Palace Void Refining cultivator, who was maintaining the defensive formation, to strain under immense pressure.
In a moment of carelessness, hundreds of sword qi strands, precisely controlled by Li Chunjun, surged toward the two weakest veteran Void Refining cultivators.
This sudden turn of events left the two cultivators with no chance to defend themselves.
Their life-preserving dao artifacts managed to block most of the sword qi, but they still couldn't escape the fate of being pierced and incinerated by the remaining strands!
"Damn it!"
The leading Heavenly Palace Void Refining cultivator's eyes blazed with fury at the sight.
But it also stirred their Divine Sense: "He's making his last stand, burning his Essence, Qi, and Spirit to the limit! If we can withstand this final, desperate counterattack, victory will be ours!"
The six members of the Aurora Special Forces roared in unison, their Divine Sense erupting.
"Li Chunjun, is this all you've got? Your sword qi storm is about to be shattered by my chaos ash disaster! The Void in this area has been corrupted by chaos power, making any teleportation impossible! You have nowhere left to run today!"
Perhaps their shouts had an effect, or perhaps Li Chunjun truly was at the end of his rope.
For a fleeting moment, the speed of the chaos ash disaster's corruption and the pressure faced by the twenty Heavenly Palace Void Refining Cultivators all seemed to ease.
This shift caused both the Aurora Special Forces and the surviving Heavenly Palace Void Refining Cultivators to momentarily brighten with hope.
But in the next instant...
Li Chunjun's aura changed.
His Essence, Qi, and Spirit, which had been rapidly weakening due to True Spirit Incineration, not only instantly returned to their peak but...
surpassed that peak, ascending to a whole new realm!
An aura far beyond what any Void Refinement Realm Cultivator could possess erupted from him.
At that moment, every aspect of his cultivation—Dao cultivation, Qi, innate talent, divine abilities, even Mind Power—seemed to have been elevated to a new plane.
Especially his mind power...
The moment it erupted from him, it instantly disrupted and repelled everyone's divine sense perception and probing.
The sheer weight, immensity, and unique searing intensity of mind power caused the Aurora Special Forces and the Heavenly Palace members, who had just glimpsed hope, to turn ashen.
"This is..."
"The sixth layer!? Mind power's sixth layer!?"
"He... he broke through on the battlefield!? How is this possible!"
Amidst their incredulous gazes and utter shock, Li Chunjun raised his right hand, holding it high as if supporting the heavens, without targeting anyone in particular.
A brilliant sword light slowly rose from within him, passing through his right hand and roaring out like the rising sun. It carried the sharp, killing intent of heaven and earth, soaring straight into the clouds.
When this sword light reached a sufficient height, it suddenly exploded.
An even more massive and dense wave of sword light burst forth.
Part of it, like the radiant Great Sun, instantly illuminated the world, proclaiming its existence with sharpness and destruction. It swept away the chaos ash disaster, which had been jointly conjured by six superior dao artifacts, with overwhelming force!
The other part rained down like shooting stars...
A torrential storm of sword light rained down upon the twenty Void Refining cultivators of the Heavenly Palace, instantly engulfing their figures completely!
(End of the Chapter)
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