78: Chapter 78 Thunder Dragon Breaks Shield, City Lord Receives Execution

The wind at Black Wind Pass froze completely at that moment.

It did not cease; it was nailed in place, pinned down by the two intertwined, tearing, and mutually devouring streaks of lightning and black Qi in the sky.

Lin Yue and the Lord of Black Stone City's figures crisscrossed at the center of the violent shockwaves, moving too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Only the ripples of spiritual power that exploded with each clash of sword and shield carved glaring cracks in the air.

The thunder patterns on the dragon thunder sword blazed like molten lava, while the dark glow of the black iron shield was as somber as an abyss.

At the point of impact, space itself wailed, emitting a fine, sharp, crackling sound like shattering glass.

"Clang!!!"

Another full-force collision.

The dragon thunder sword's blade bit fiercely into the edge of the black iron shield, the thunder patterns on the sword erupting with a blinding white-hot radiance in that instant.

Countless purple lightning snakes, fine as hairs, madly darted out from the contact point between the sword's edge and the shield's surface, scattering and slithering along the shield's smooth arc, emitting a sizzling, corrosive hiss like a venomous snake's tongue.

The Lord of Black Stone City's expression changed abruptly.

He felt a savage, violent thunderous force, imbued with the righteous energy of heaven and earth, surge into him like a bursting flood through the connection between the black iron shield and the Meridians in his arm!

That power was not pure brute force; it carried a fundamental will to burn away filth and cleanse away yin evil!

From the tiger's mouth, to the wrist, to the forearm, it swept through like a raging fire.

His Meridians, tempered for three hundred years and infused with Black Evil Qi to be as tough as iron, were like thin paper before this thunderous force, torn open with countless fine cracks.

"Pfft!"

A jet of blood shot out from the tiger's mouth.

Blood trickled down the cold outer edge of the black iron shield, instantly evaporating into a crimson mist when stimulated by the residual Black Evil Qi on the shield's surface.

"This sword... can actually damage my black iron shield?!"

The Lord of Black Stone City's voice was filled with shock and fury, mixed with an uncontrollable tremor.

He lowered his head, staring fixedly at the slowly expanding, hair-thin yet glaringly bright shallow mark on the shield's surface.

This shield had once withstood a casual strike from a Nascent Soul Cultivator, leaving only a faint white mark.

Now, it had been made to bleed by a single sword strike from a junior who had just advanced to the Golden Core Stage three days ago!

Humiliation.

And even more, fear.

"Black Evil Spirit Devourer!"

He roared, holding nothing back. The damaged Golden Core within him spun wildly, swallowing all the spiritual power forcibly extracted from the five thousand Cultivators in the Black Fiend Formation into his own body, then recklessly pouring it into the black iron shield!

The shield's black light exploded forth!

That was not light; it was a nearly tangible darkness carrying endless greed and a devouring will.

The darkness rapidly expanded and condensed, transforming into a three-headed, six-armed evil ghost phantom in mid-air, its mouth dripping with black saliva!

The evil ghost opened its maw, large enough to swallow mountains, and lunged down toward Lin Yue!

Wherever it passed, the air was sucked into a vacuum. The rock surfaces on both sides of the pass visibly lost their luster, turning gray and brittle, crumbling into dust at the slightest touch.

This was the ultimate form of plunder; even inanimate objects had their last trace of spirituality squeezed dry.

"Well met!"

In Lin Yue's eyes, there was no fear; instead, a blazing Battle Intent ignited.

Within his Dantian, that meticulously tempered Golden Core spun at an unprecedented, frenzied speed!

The golden patterns on the Golden Core's surface, sharing the same Origin as the World Tree, burst forth with a radiance like the sun, drawing out without reservation the power from the newly formed thunder pattern crystal ore vein deep within the cave heaven, which contained terrifying spiritual essence.

"Dragon Soul·Thunder Prison!"

The dragon thunder sword flew out of his hand.

The moment the sword left his grasp, all its thunder patterns simultaneously brightened to their peak, and the sword itself transformed into liquid light in that instant.

Then it expanded, stretched, and solidified into a thirty-zhang-long five-clawed Thunder Dragon, its dragon scales bristling, each scale dancing with purple lightning and thunder sparks, spanning the sky above the pass!

The dragon's pupils lowered, cold and majestic.

Its mouth slightly opened, not to roar, but to release a sky-covering, solidified sea of thunder!

Thunderlight poured down like a waterfall, drenching the evil ghost phantom lunging toward it.

"Sizzle!!!"

Not a roar, but a boiling.

A boiling like hot oil poured on snow.

The evil ghost phantom's head was submerged in thunderlight, emitting an inhuman, sharp, piercing soul-shriek.

The Black Evil Qi forming its body melted, disintegrated, and evaporated at a visible rate under theflushing of the thunderous force, like thin mist under a scorching sun!

Every strand of plundered spiritual power briefly revealed the residual, feeble aura of its original owner before completely dissipating.

Those were the fragments of cultivation stolen from the five thousand Black Stone City Cultivators enslaved by the Black Fiend Formation for years.

"Ah!!!"

Outside the pass, waves of shrill, agonized screams suddenly erupted.

Those were the Cultivators forming the Foundation of the Black Fiend Formation. When the evil ghost phantom was severely wounded by the Thunder Prison, the Formation's spiritual power connected to their Divine Souls backlashed like a bursting flood!

Hundreds of Cultivators clutched their chests simultaneously, black blood spurting from their mouths and noses, the residual spiritual power in their Meridians completely chaotic, like millions of steel needles rampaging inside their bodies.

Some fell to the ground on the spot, limbs convulsing, unable to rise again.

Some clutched their Meridians, which were breaking inch by inch, emitting inhuman wails.

The last remaining main flag of the Black Fiend Formation, its surface covered in talismanic runes, trembled violently. The evil ghost phantom in mid-air twisted and expanded wildly, until finally, "Boom!"

Like a pustule filled with foul blood, it exploded in mid-air!

The dispersing Evil Qi mixed with residual spiritual power transformed into a foul-smelling gale, sweeping out in all directions.

Wherever it passed, Black Stone City Cultivators fell in droves, the Formation completely collapsing.

"Trash! A bunch of trash!"

The Lord of Black Stone City's eyes nearly burst from their sockets, two lines of bloody tears seeping from the corners.

He did not care about these Cultivators' lives; what pained him was that the Black Fiend Formation he had spent thirty years refining had been so thoroughly countered by a junior's thunder technique, like a paper tiger that collapses at a poke!

"I refuse to accept this!!"

He suddenly slapped his own chest with a palm.

"Pfft!"

A mouthful of vital essence blood sprayed out, entirely splattering onto the dimmed surface of the black iron shield.

As the essence blood touched the shield, those ancient and evil runes on the shield's body writhed madly as if coming to life!

The black light surged again, though much weaker than before, it was even more frenzied, more reckless!

The black iron shield, carrying the final power gained from the Lord of Black Stone City burning his vital essence, forcefully pushed back the diving, biting Thunder Dragon by a full three chi!

"Brat!"

The Lord of Black Stone City raised his head. The old scar running from his brow bone to his jaw on his left face split open anew from excessive distortion, blood smearing his entire face.

His voice was hoarse like a leaky broken gong, mixed with blood foam and venom:

"You have successfully enraged me."

He spoke word by word.

"Today, I will not use your Divine Soul to sacrifice to my shield!"

"I will use your entire clan to sacrifice to my Dao!"

He crouched, then kicked off the ground!

With the black iron shield leading, his entire body shot toward Lin Yue like a black meteor burning everything, trailing a tail of destruction!

Where the shield's edge pointed, the ground was plowed into two ditches over a foot deep, their edges charred black!

Broken rocks shot out like bullets to both sides, striking the cliff walls and creating dense clusters of pits!

Lin Yue did not retreat.

He stood in place, his figure as steady as a mountain.

The dragon thunder sword had already flown back into his hand. The residual thunder sparks on the sword flowed, compressed, and condensed between his fingers into a white-hot point of light only the size of a grain of rice, yet so blinding it was impossible to look at directly.

His gaze passed over the ferocious front of the black iron shield, locking firmly on its lower left edge, where there was a crescent-shaped old wound, noticeably duller in color.

When the black light flowed to that point on the shield, it would noticeably slow and thin.

That was the flaw Li Tu had revealed before his death, bought with countless lives.

It was also the only wound on the black iron shield that had not healed in three hundred years.

Now was the time.

Lin Yue's figure suddenly sank downward!

He did not meet the black iron shield's charge head-on; instead, like a withered leaf blown down by a gale, he skimmed swiftly along the ground, following the violent airflow stirred by the Lord of Black Stone City's charge!

Avoiding itsSharpness!

Holding the dragon thunder sword horizontally, its tip dragging along the ground, he traced a blazing thunder arc!

The sword's edge aimed with precise accuracy at the edge of that crescent-shaped old wound!

"Clang!!!"

This sound was clearer and sharper than all the previous collisions combined!

Like a silver vase shattering, like an ice river cracking its banks.

The tip of the dragon thunder sword sank half an inch into the old wound of the black iron shield!

The dim black light accumulated there for three hundred years scattered like a punctured pustule!

Beneath the shield's surface, those fine, spiderweb-like cracks forcibly held together by Black Evil Qi now lost their restraint, spreading wildly at a visible rate!

"Crack... crackle..."

The sound of shattering, crisp,dense, unstoppable.

The Lord of Black Stone City was as if struck by lightning.

He let out a wretched howl, his entire shield-holding left arm exploding in a mist of blood. His whole body flew backward like a severed kite, tumbling several times on the ground, plowing a blood trail over five zhang long.

The black iron shield flew out of his hand, spinning through the air before crashing heavily onto a large rock.

Those ancient runes on the shield, passed down for millennia, were now all dimmed, as if dead.

The cracks on the shield's surface were now as dense and shocking as shattered porcelain.

"No... impossible..."

The Lord of Black Stone City slumped in a pool of blood, looking up at the shield that had accompanied him through a lifetime of battles. The venom and madness in his eyes were gradually replaced by an older, more primitive emotion: fear.

"My shield... my black iron shield..."

He muttered, as if having lost his soul.

"Nothing is impossible."

Lin Yuedraw sword, walking toward him step by step.

On the dragon thunder sword, the residual thunder sparks still jumped quietly, instantly evaporating the blood flowing on the sword into faint mist.

The sword's edge pointed directly at the Lord of Black Stone City's throat.

"Power gained through plunder is ultimately an illusion."

His voice was calm.

"You used it to suppress the Spiritual Vein for three hundred years, but have you ever truly refined even an inch of spiritual power that belongs to you?"

The Lord of Black Stone City's lips trembled violently, but he could not utter a single word.

At that moment, earth-shaking battle cries suddenly erupted from both sides of the pass!

"Elite Soldiers Camp! Follow me and charge!"

Lin Hu took the lead, bursting out from the Formation gate of the Seven Star Formation!

His thunder pattern armor was drenched in blood, making him appear even more ferocious. The thunderous glow on the longsword in his hand extended several feet as he swept it horizontally, sending three Black Stone City Cultivators who tried to resist flying along with their shields!

Behind him, thirty Elite Soldiers Camp Cultivators formed a Wedge Formation, like a red-hot blade, slicing fiercely into the already completely collapsed Formation of the Black Stone City remnants!

The twanging of thunder pattern armor-piercing crossbow strings merged into a deathly hum!

Arrows fell like locusts, each trailing a purple lightning tail, precisely tearing through the already faltering Spiritual Qi shields, raising puffs of blood mist!

"thunder dragon cannon, fire!"

Lin Shi's hoarse roar drowned out the clamor of the battlefield.

The massive bronze cannon mounted high on the pass, its barrel engraved with intricate thunder patterns, suddenly erupted with a blinding white light from its muzzle!

"Boom!!!"

A thunderous cannonball trailing a dragon-shaped phantom tore through the sky, accurately striking the last tottering main flag of the Black Fiend Formation!

The cannonball exploded, and the translucent thunder dragon phantom swooped down, biting through the flagpole with its jaws, its claws shredding the tattered flag and the flag bearer's remains into pieces!

The Black Fiend Formation was completely annihilated.

The vast Spiritual Qi, no longer suppressed by the Formation, surged back like floodwaters breaching a dam!

Centered on the wreckage of the main flag, a visible black shockwave spread outward. Wherever it passed, the already exhausted Black Stone City Cultivators fell in droves, blood gushing from their mouths and noses, falling silent forever.

"Retreat... retreat quickly..."

The Deputy General, his face smeared with blood, staggered as he turned to flee.

"Whoosh!"

A thunder pattern armor-piercing arrow accurately pierced through the back of his knee. The numbing bone grass poison smeared on the arrowhead took effect instantly.

The Deputy General screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his completely numb right leg, writhing in the bloody mud like a maggot.

The battle was lost.

There was no longer any doubt.

The Lord of Black Stone City watched all this, watching the Foundation he had built over three hundred years crumble and collapse before his eyes like a sandcastle.

He suddenly threw his head back and let out a bitter laugh.

The laughter was hoarse, shrill, filled with endless resentment, and a kind of last-gasp madness.

"I refuse to accept this... I refuse to accept this!"

He grabbed a shattered shield fragment beside him and, with his last ounce of strength, hurled it at Lin Yue!

At the same time, the remaining Spiritual Qi in his body surged wildly in reverse toward his Dantian—he was going to self-detonate his Golden Core!

"Let's die together!"

Lin Yue's eyes sharpened.

He did not dodge. Instead, he simply raised his left hand and made a grasping motion in the air.

"Spiritual Vein·Bind."

His voice was soft.

But the ground beneath his feet suddenly cracked open!

Countless silver-gray World Tree roots, thick as an adult's arm and covered in thunder patterns, burst forth from the earth like giant pythons that had lain dormant underground for years!

They did not thrash about aimlessly but moved with a cold, precise, and irresistible will, coiling like spirit snakes around the Lord of Black Stone City's ankles, calves, knees, and waist!

The moment the roots touched his body, countless fine purple lightning snakes shot out from the thunder patterns, burrowing into his already ravaged Meridians!

"Ah!"

The Lord of Black Stone City let out a shrill scream. The self-detonation Spiritual Qi he was frantically channeling was sucked away by these roots like a water pump!

He struggled desperately, and with each movement, the roots tightened further, cutting into his flesh and snapping his bones!

"Thud!"

He was dragged to the ground by the roots, his face slamming heavily into the bloody mud.

With great difficulty, he twisted his head around, using his already glazing eyes to stare fixedly at the young man walking toward him with a sword.

Lin Yue looked down at him from above.

There was no fervor of victory in his eyes, no glee of revenge.

Only calmness.

Just like when he watched Li Tu bound by the Spirit-Locking Chain under the tree, just like when he watched those Foundation Establishment Stage captives being sent into the Grotto-Heaven.

This was not hatred.

This was judgment.

"You!"

The Lord of Black Stone City's lips trembled violently, as if he wanted to utter a curse or a threat.

But Lin Yue gave him no more chances.

The dragon thunder sword was thrust forward.

The sword tip pierced through his tattered protective Spiritual Qi and stabbed into his heart, already corroded and full of holes by the Black Evil Spiritual Qi.

The residual thunderous glow on the sword exploded violently inside him, shattering the nearly fragmented, broken Golden Core into dust.

The Lord of Black Stone City's body convulsed violently once, then went completely limp.

In his wide-open eyes, greed, resentment, fear, unwillingness... all intense emotions faded like a receding tide, leaving only empty, lifeless gray.

He died with his eyes wide open.

Lin Yue slowly withdrew the sword.

The black blood clinging to the blade sizzled and evaporated in the residual heat of the thunder patterns, turning into wisps of dark red, foul-smelling mist that drifted into the dusk.

Clang.

In the distance, the last fragment of the black iron shield slid off a boulder, emitting a crisp, mournful echo.

With the death of the city lord, the last shred of fighting spirit among the Black Stone City remnants was completely extinguished.

"Clatter" "clatter," the sound of weapons hitting the ground rose and fell, merging into a continuous chorus.

The surviving Cultivators, their faces ashen, went weak at the knees, kneeling in droves in the blood and rubble, raising their hands high above their heads, no longer daring to resist.

Lin Hu led his men forward, moving swiftly and skillfully.

Foundation Establishment Stage captives were escorted separately to the Back Mountain, where the Clan Chief would decide their fate.

Qi Refinement Stage captives were bound and detained, to be assigned to the Mineral Vein after the battle for fixed labor to atone for their crimes.

This was the established rule Sunset Town had followed after repeated victories over the past six months.

Efficient, ruthless, and making the most of everything.

The sun finally sank below the horizon.

The last crimson glow of twilight dyed every inch of Black Wind Pass a dark red.

Corpses, blood pools, shattered shields, broken flags... everything gradually blurred into silhouettes in the rapidly cooling dusk.

Only the pile of spoils heaped in the center of the pass still shimmered with alluring spiritual light in the deepening night.

Refined Spirit Iron Ore, finished Magical Artifacts, Medicinal Pills, Talismans, Spirit Stones... so many that they were more than enough to upgrade Sunset Town's Magical Artifact Workshop, Pill Workshop, and Spirit Fields all at once.

The Elite Soldiers Camp Cultivators leaned wearily against the cliffside, gasping for breath. They glanced at each other, and suddenly, someone laughed.

The laughter seemed contagious, spreading from one to another, starting as low chuckles and growing into hearty, unrestrained guffaws.

Some slapped their comrades' shoulders hard, making their armor clatter.

Some slid down against the rock wall, looking up at the rising stars, their eyes inexplicably growing warm.

Three years ago, they were still bowing and smiling before Black Stone City's tax collectors.

Three years later, they had personally crushed Black Stone City's main force and slain its Middle Golden Core Stage city lord.

It all felt like a dream, yet more real than any dream.

Lin Yue stood alone beside the city lord's corpse.

The dragon thunder sword was sheathed, but the residual warmth of the hilt still lingered in his palm.

He looked down at the gradually cooling body.

Three hundred years ago, this man might have been a young Cultivator full of ideals.

When did he start seeing plunder as natural, refining others' Foundations into his own path?

No one would ever know.

Lin Yue withdrew his gaze and looked toward Black Stone City.

In the dusk, the outline of the mighty city loomed faintly, like a giant beast that had lost its heart, lying quietly in the distance.

"Clan Chief, what's next?" Lin Hu approached. The bloodstains on his thunder pattern armor had dried into black scabs in the night wind, but he looked even more formidable.

"Rest for the night," Lin Yue's voice was calm, carrying a certainty that needed no embellishment.

"At the hour of Yin tomorrow, we march on Black Stone City."

He paused.

"Since we've made our move, we leave no loose ends."

Lin Hu nodded heavily and turned to arrange Sentry Duties and Rotations.

Lin Yue did not join the gradually growing Bonfire Feast.

He walked alone to a secluded spot in the pass, set up an Isolation Formation, and activated the Grotto-Heaven entrance.

Deep within the Grotto-Heaven, the World Tree stood majestically.

The golden light flowing through its branches and leaves was denser than usual. The dragon-shaped phantom circling the treetop was now almost solid, its scales clearly visible, slowly swimming and breathing in the increasingly pure Chaos Spiritual Qi within the Grotto-Heaven.

Under the tree, the newly delivered twenty-plus Foundation Establishment Stage captives were bound by Spirit-Locking Chains, mixed in with Li Tu and the others.

Li Tu lifted his head with difficulty, seeing the increasingly restrained yet profound Golden Core aura around Lin Yue, and the fragment of the broken Golden Core belonging to the Lord of Black Stone City slowly dissolving at Lin Yue's fingertips.

His lips trembled violently several times, but not a single word came out.

In the end, he just lowered his head, like a withered tree completely drained of moisture, unable to straighten up again.

Lin Yue did not look at him.

He walked to the main trunk of the World Tree and lightly pressed his palm against the bark.

A clear thought, like ripples, flowed from the tree's heart into his Divine Sense.

[Intermediate Grotto-Heaven (Rank: 8)]

[Spiritual Qi Concentration: 570 (Ordinary external environment is 1)]

[New: Devoured Middle Golden Core Stage Origin Spiritual Qi. World Tree intelligence core gestation progress significantly increased. Current progress: 47%]

[Unlocked new Grotto-Heaven function: Spiritual Vein Teleportation (Can teleport designated targets to any Spiritual Vein node marked and covered by the Grotto-Heaven. Consumes 50 points of Chaos Spiritual Qi per use.)]

The pulse in Lin Yue's palm resonated with the World Tree's gentle tremor at the same frequency.

Spiritual Vein Teleportation.

The corner of his lips lifted slightly.

"Lin Shi."

He summoned Lin Shi, who was cleaning the thunder dragon cannon, using a Communication Talisman.

"Tomorrow, when we attack the city, there's no need to storm the gates."

He paused.

"We'll go directly to the core of Black Stone City's Spiritual Vein as guests."