There was no way the three intruders didn't know which one was Chen Kuang.
Of the three people standing before the small temple, two were monks, one old and one young, both with clean-shaven, gleaming heads. The only one remaining, a young man with flowing black hair, could only be Chen Kuang. There was no room for mistake.
Even if they didn't know what Chen Kuang looked like, the Elixir of Immortality was enough to identify him. No one would mistake a monk for the bearer of such a treasure.
The question from the leading attacker was merely a ruse, meant to lower their guard and disrupt their judgment.
Before his words even finished echoing, he suddenly struck. A long sword flashed from its scabbard, unleashing a storm of sword light.
He was a cultivator of the Master Realm!
If any of the three had been even slightly distracted by his earlier words, this sword would likely have been a killing blow.
Duguan frowned. His reaction was swift. His eyes bulged as he unleashed a powerful palm strike, accompanied by a thunderous "Lion's Roar".
The roar surged out in waves, sweeping away the sand and wind, forming a small-scale sandstorm.
The booming sound rolled like thunder, the churning dust seemingly taking the shape of majestic lion phantoms, adorned with golden crowns and bejeweled ornaments.
The roar was deafening, so powerful it felt as though it could shatter one's very heart and lungs.
The expressions of the three attackers changed. One of them quickly threw out a powerful Spiritual Treasure, which turned into a heavy bronze screen. It absorbed part of the roar and reflected a portion of it back.
But Duguan didn't rely on the Lion's Roar alone. He followed up with a "Prajna Palm", striking the screen and causing visible cracks to splinter through its surface. The force of the sound waves leaked through once again.
Two of the attackers channeled their energy to resist, their Spiritual Energy surging wildly. But it was like trying to hold back a flood, they were overwhelmed. Their faces turned pale before they both coughed up blood.
At the same time, the reflected shockwaves from the bronze screen forced Duguan back three steps. He shook his kasaya robe, drew a deep breath, and narrowed his eyes, clearly suppressing a not-so-light injury.
The leader, however, seized the moment when the Lion's Roar had weakened. He leapt over the screen and launched a new flurry of sword strikes against Duguan, blades like relentless, crashing waves.
Only now did his appearance become visible through the wind and dust: he had flaming red hair and beard, a high nose and deep-set eyes, and wore strange foreign garb, clearly a barbarian from the Western Regions.
In Cangyuan, aside from the vast Central Domain and the Northern Expanse, there was a smaller territory to the west known as the Western Regions, a desert land around an inland sea called the Shicha Desert, where many tribes of various hair colors had formed small kingdoms.
People of the Central Domain scorned all outsiders, labeling them all as "barbarians": Night Barbarians, Southern Barbarians, and so forth. Because the Western Regions housed too many different ethnic groups, they were all collectively referred to as "Barbarians".
Since the entrance to the Pure Land was located in the desert, the presence of barbarians nearby was not unusual.
But what was unusual, was how quickly even the barbarians of the Western Regions had heard that Chen Kuang possessed the Elixir of Immortality.
Chen Kuang narrowed his eyes.
This was one of the outcomes he had most feared.
From the moment he stepped into the Ancient Battlefield of Meditation, enough time had passed for the increasingly reckless Emperor Wenxian of the Yang Kingdom to package and distribute Chen Kuang's identity, whereabouts, and possession of the Elixir of Immortality far and wide.
In this world, the spread of information could be slow, or blazingly fast, depending on how valuable it was, and how much people were willing to pay to spread it.
Back then, it had taken two weeks and the fame from the Battle of Zhou and Liang and the Canglang Evaluation for Chen Kuang to enter public awareness.
Now, the mere phrase "Elixir of Immortality" was enough to have even desert barbarians of the far west utter the name "Chen Kuang" within mere days.
At this point, in the world of Cangyuan, it was likely that the phrase "Chen Kuang holds the Elixir of Immortality" had already become common knowledge.
If Ji Chengtian had obtained it, then even if the secret had leaked, few would dare to act, after all, the Zhou Nation's strength was not something to be trifled with.
But in Chen Kuang's hands, no matter his record of killing Grandmasters, nothing could restrain the greed of others.
In this world, Grandmasters were not common, but far from rare.
It was even possible that this would stir some long-hidden Profound Realm monsters out of seclusion.
In other words, Chen Kuang now found himself..
An enemy of the entire world.
...
"Boom!"
Centered on the clash between Duguan and the Western barbarian, a blast of sand and wind erupted outward, filling the air with choking dust.
Chen Kuang and Xiuzhu had already retreated dozens of zhang to avoid being caught in the Grandmaster battle.
Chen Kuang wasn't afraid. But since Duguan had stepped in, he was perfectly happy to conserve his strength.
The other two attackers were also Western barbarians. Seeing the battle unfold, they didn't interfere with the Grandmasters. Instead, they exchanged glances and charged directly toward Chen Kuang.
Chen Kuang cast a glance at them. Both had Moon-Embracing Realm cultivation. Even his "Invincible Before the Divine" passive didn't stir much in response.
"... l... l"
Chen Kuang shook his head and sighed.
He almost missed the days when enemies far beyond his cultivation realm hunted him down.
At those times, his passives offered boosts that exceeded his actual strength by hundreds or even thousands of times. The danger was real, but to Chen Kuang, that danger was a kind of ecstasy.
He had never feared death. What he feared was a meaningless life.
These emotions, born from his very soul, were one of the ways he confirmed he was truly alive.
Now, his enemies were no longer vastly superior in cultivation. While it meant he could easily dispatch them, it also meant something felt... missing.
Chen Kuang was about to finish off both attackers at once-
When Xiuzhu suddenly stepped forward, tense but eager:
"Benefactor Chen, no, Junior Brother Chen, allow me to help with one of them!"
He declared righteously:
"Rest assured, in front of the Pure Land's gate, I will never allow you to fall victim to these greedy villains!"
... Though it's quite possible you might become one of those villains yourself someday...
Chen Kuang raised an eyebrow, then nodded.
"Fine. You take the right, I'll take the left."
At a glance, he had already seen the right-side opponent had slightly higher cultivation. Since Xiuzhu volunteered, this was a great opportunity to observe.
That mysterious 'second personality', whatever it truly was, had once borrowed Xiuzhu's body. At the very least, its capabilities shouldn't exceed Xiuzhu's own.
It was worth taking a look at Xiuzhu's true strength.
Xiuzhu responded immediately, flying into battle against the barbarian on the right.
Chen Kuang turned to face the one on the left. He didn't even bother drawing his three-foot sword.
He merely raised a hand, and in the void, countless invisible zither strings appeared, glowing softly. The runes "Yu," "Jue," and "Zhi" on his palm resonated in harmony.
"Zheng-"
As his fingers swept across the unseen strings, a sharp, explosive series of notes rang out, piercing, violent, almost like detonations.
The barbarian froze mid-step. His body went rigid. His face twisted into terror, then madness, like a man staring directly into a nightmare.
He staggered backward, trembling, muttering in the barbarian tongue:
"Great Barbarian God... I Barbarian God... I Loutuo Luo... I I didn't mean to look... l don't kill me... I no... l no... AAAAAAAAHHHHH-!!!"
The next moment, a crack split open on the top of his skull.
And then-
BOOM!
He exploded into a cloud of blood mist.
Chen Kuang's expression did not relax, instead, it grew more grave.
By now, there was no difference between sword and zither to him. He could use either as the other.
With the passive effect of "Heavenly Demon Law", Chen Kuang could summon the deepest fears and memories buried in his opponent's soul.
But just now, he hadn't intended to kill.
"Barbarian God" Loutuo Luo...
Chen Kuang couldn't understand the barbarian's words, but he instinctively felt the name was a person, or something.
He repeated the name silently in his mind.
And suddenly, a chill ran through him.
A strange sense of heart-pounding dread rose within.
His expression hardened, and he forcibly stopped thinking.
He emptied his mind.