Chapter 161 Dust Settles

Xiong Bin gritted his teeth and swung his axe down with all his might. The massive axe radiance seemed as though it would split heaven and earth in two. The clothes on his upper body instantly shattered into countless fragments and burst apart, revealing a sturdy and well-defined physique of solid muscle.

Along the two arms gripping the axe handle, a trail of blood crept upward from each shoulder, eventually connecting directly with the giant battleaxe in his hands. A mesmerizing, alluring crimson hue was subtly mixed within the blinding axe glare.

"Blood Slash—!" Xiong Bin burned the vital essence within his body to fuel this fierce attack. Just as the lingering sorrowful aura in the surroundings dissipated, the descending giant sword hovering mid-air caused a shudder to run through Xiong Bin's heart. That sword appeared ordinary on the surface, yet his acute spiritual perception keenly captured a wisp of deathly stillness. It was a sensation of extreme peril—a danger hidden silently beneath a veneer of calm.

Hence, he dared not underestimate this sword strike in the slightest. Unleashing his ultimate technique, the "Blood Slash," and sacrificing his inner vital essence, he was determined not to let Long Yun defeat him so easily.

Seeing that Xiong Bin had exhausted his every ounce of strength, Long Yun's face remained completely expressionless. The profound insights gained from his successive trials filled him with absolute confidence in this particular sword stroke.

"Boom—!" The surging sword qi violently collided on impact. The tranquil sword, the very moment it made contact with the opponent's onslaught, completely ignited all its hidden, pent-up emotions.

Indeed, sorrow might exist, and memories might linger, but those were forever merely recollections—memories quietly settling at the bottom of one's heart. Yet, when these very memories were set ablaze, the sheer power erupted from them became the most formidable and devastating force of all.

Long Yun grasped this precise timing with immaculate accuracy. His sword stroke had thus reached its most terrifying peak. Consequently, the moment the two gigantic beams of light crashed against each other, the earth-shattering explosion instantly captivated everyone's gaze.

"Big brother is still as fierce as ever!" Qu Chong gazed at Long Yun, who was swallowed by the raging shockwave, his eyes brimming with unadulterated reverence. The battles between him and Xiong Bin had occurred more than once.

In truth, Xiong Bin had always regarded him as a formidable rival, constantly striving to catch up to his pace. Qu Chong knew that while Xiong Bin appeared rough and untamed on the outside, his grasp of the heavenly Dao was remarkably delicate and profound.

If he were to engage in a fierce duel with him, it would be impossible to determine the victor within three hundred moves. Among the four outer cities, Xiong Bin was the sole peer of the younger generation capable of standing on equal footing with him.

Yet right now, Xiong Bin had been driven into such a miserable, battered state by Long Yun, who was merely at the Connecting Heaven Realm. This left Qu Chong simultaneously astonished and genuinely happy for Long Yun.

Every pair of eyes converged upon the colossal tempest of energy churning in mid-air. This time, even Chen Chang's expression shifted drastically, though not because of the sheer might of Long Yun's technique.

In his view, while Long Yun's attack far exceeded the limits of combat prowess attainable at the Connecting Heaven Realm, he himself was not necessarily incapable of blocking it. More than that, what truly concerned him was Long Yun's true background.

A disciple hailing from an ordinary sect could never possess such terrifying combat strength. Much like the scions of the prominent aristocratic families within the Central City, aside from innate talent, they invariably relied upon the immense resources and backing of their clans to far surpass independent cultivators from the outside world.

Such was the formidable power of a great family, and Long Yun before him was precisely such a case. Which supreme faction could possibly have cultivated such an peerless prodigy with such terrifying combat capability?

Could it be one of the Eight Super Sects of Central Province? Chen Chang mused inwardly.恐怕 only the Eight Super Sects could ever nurture such a fierce and monstrous talented disciple.

Naturally, Chen Chang did not consider the Three Mysterious Factions, for they had remained hidden from the world for a millennium—so long that some disciples of the younger generation had faintly forgotten their very existence.

Had Chen Chang guessed that Long Yun originated from one of the Three Mysterious Factions, he would certainly not have dared to maintain his arrogant stance a moment longer.

Although the Eight Super Sects of Central Province were formidable, the united forces of the Profound Heaven Realm might not necessarily fear them. Furthermore, constrained by the checks and balances among the other major sects, no single major faction would dare to blatantly trespass into the Profound Heaven Realm on its own accord.

The blinding radiance gradually dissipated! Long Yun stood tall against the howling wind, his complexion somewhat pale. Yet the arm gripping the Qinghe Formeless Sword remained perfectly steady, devoid of the slightest deviation or even a tremor.

Xiong Bin, on the other hand, presented a truly wretched sight. Leaning heavily upon his Opening Heaven Battleaxe to prop himself up against the ground, his body teetered precariously. Blood streamed profusely from the webbed skin between his thumbs and forefingers, flowing down the shaft of the giant axe to drip onto the earth below.

He could hardly believe that everything unfolding before his eyes was real! He found it even more incomprehensible that a puny brat at the Connecting Heaven Realm could possess the horrifying strength to rival him—and not just match him, but drive him into such a thoroughly humiliated and battered state.

A bitter smile tugged at the corners of Xiong Bin's lips. Matters having reached this juncture, he could only attribute it to terrible luck. Running into a freakish genius of this caliber, even in defeat, was simply a cruel twist of fate!

"You win. Do as you please, whether you wish to kill or dismember me!" Xiong Bin sighed helplessly, lifting his gaze toward Long Yun. He was, after all, a man of grit and backbone, refusing to grovel in the face of death.

Long Yun walked up to him, pressing a single hand onto his shoulder to seal all the meridians throughout his body.

However, rather than executing him on the spot, Long Yun completely sealed away his circulating true essence and tossed him aside. His gaze then shifted directly onto Chen Chang.

"Chen Chang, it is your turn!" Long Yun slowly spoke. To defeat Xiong Bin, he had exhausted his entire strength and even borrowed the power of the Reincarnation Mirror, yet he had still not truly pushed himself to his ultimate limit.

Chen Chang's formidable strength might just allow him to break through further. Battles fought under immense pressure were precisely what yielded genuine enlightenment and the most direct breakthroughs in cultivation realm.

Chen Chang was at the Revolving Heaven Realm. Facing him, Long Yun held not a shred of confidence in winning. Yet he harbored absolute zero fear toward combat. He craved this kind of pressure—the grueling trial of sustaining injuries and completely overdrawing his latent potential.

"Hoo—" Chen Chang stepped forward, his calves trembling ever so slightly. Suspicion regarding Long Yun's mysterious background made him hesitant to act rashly. Thus, when Long Yun called him out by name, deep hesitation took root in his heart.

"Chen Chang, whether it was abducting Qingqing or injuring Qu Chong, you were the principal mastermind behind all of it today. However, too many lives have already been taken, and I have no desire to add further to the slaughter. Therefore, I shall grant you a chance: cripple your own cultivation, sever one of your arms, and I will spare your life!" Long Yun's voice was not loud, yet falling into Chen Chang's ears, it sounded like the ultimate mockery.

When had he ever suffered such humiliation? Demanding that he cripple his own cultivation was far more agonizing than death itself. Since Long Yun refused to leave any room for negotiation, they might as well tear the net apart and perish together!

With this thought, Chen Chang could not help raising his head to let out a burst of wild laughter. "Long Yun, I care not which faction you hail from; within the Profound Heaven Realm, the Chen family has never once endured such an insult. Since you refuse to know what is good for you today, so be it! I shall eliminate you first, and as for cleaning up the aftermath, we can deliberate upon it slowly!"

With that, the true essence within his body surged. Thanks to these few moments of self-treatment, the injuries inside him had healed by more than half. While he had not fully returned to his peak condition, retaining eighty percent of his strength was unquestionable.

And eighty percent of his power was more than enough to deal with Long Yun!

Long Yun laughed heartily, pointing the tip of the Qinghe Formeless Sword toward the center of Chen Chang's brows. The blade vibrated intensely, generating an emotional sword intent that wove visible, distorted ripples in the air around the weapon.

"Stop right there!" A figure flashed gracefully across the sky, a vast and overwhelming aura rippling outward in all directions. Wherever it passed, the tense atmosphere instantly evaporated, forcing even the fiercely deadlocked Long Yun and Chen Chang to retreat hastily!

"Father!" Catching sight of that familiar figure, tiny droplets of tears welled up in the corners of Chen Chang's eyes. His father had finally arrived! With this, no matter how arrogant Long Yun might be, what could he possibly do? With his father present here, even if a hundred more of those Revolving Heaven Realm lackeys of Long Yun were to step forward, they would still be no match for his father.

Emboldened by this realization, his self-assurance surged back instantly as he took a few strides toward his father, Chen Tianyi!

Long Yun furrowed his brows deeply. From Chen Tianyi, he sensed an overwhelming sense of gravity and an unfathomable mystery, allowing Long Yun to instantly deduce that Chen Chang's father was likely an apex powerhouse on par with the aged monk Duyu.

The Chen family was indeed formidable to possess such a towering figure anchoring their clan. No wonder Chen Chang had been acting so unbridled. Thoughts raced through his mind at lightning speed as he frantically pondered potential escape routes.

"Slap—!" A crisp, resonant sound echoed through the air. Chen Chang, who had just rushed to Chen Tianyi's side, was caught completely off guard as his father delivered a ferocious backhand slap across his face, sending him spinning in a full circle before he finally stumbled to a halt in a daze, looking at his father with utter incomprehension.

In all his memories, Chen Tianyi had never struck him—this was the very first time!

"You reckless bastard! Look at the fine mess you've caused! Apologize to this young master at once!" Chen Tianyi's subsequent words nearly caused Chen Chang to faint on the spot from sheer shock!