128: Meteoric Mountains, the hunt begins

Deep within the Yun Shen Mountain Range, on the edge of a Soul-Devouring Swamp shrouded in gray mist. The air was filled with a strong stench of decay and deathly silence. From time to time, huge bubbles would emerge from the swamp, releasing soul-corroding poisonous miasma when they burst. Twisted dead trees reached towards the sky like ghost claws, and the ground was littered with the white bones of unknown giant beasts. The space here was extremely unstable, with fine spatial crack visible to the naked eye, appearing and disappearing like a spiderweb, emitting destructive fluctuations.

A figure in a green shirt, like a ghost, silently appeared on a huge black reef. It was Xiao Chen. He had reined in all his aura, and his Heavenly Realm Soul Power, like an invisible spiderweb, covered an area of several thousand zhang, taking in every movement in the swamp.

“The Soul-Devouring Swamp… The poisonous miasma here can corrode the soul, and spatial crack are dense. This is an excellent place for an ambush.” Xiao Chen’s sharp gaze swept over the surrounding terrain, and he quickly strategized in his mind. He chose this place as the battlefield precisely because of its harsh environment, which countered the Soul Hall’s death aura cultivation techniques and favored his flexible movements and spatial perception.

He sat down cross-legged and took out a positioning jade charm that emitted faint spatial fluctuations. This was the counterpart to the fake intelligence he had previously allowed Feng Xian to “leak.” On the jade charm, a light dot was slowly moving towards the swamp, representing the Soul Hall pursuers who had “received the intelligence.”

“The fish have taken the bait.” Xiao Chen’s lips curled into a cold arc. He wasn’t worried about Feng Xian’s safety; the Starfall Pavilion’s concealment methods were extraordinary, and he would have surely relocated after leaking the false intelligence. Now, what he had to do was to wait here, at leisure, and give the Soul Hall a bloody lesson!

He did not set up complex formations or traps, as that would be too easy to alert the enemy. In such a dangerous place, the best trap was the environment itself. What he needed to do was to guide the enemy into a desperate situation and use his familiarity with the environment and the advantage of his Heavenly Realm Soul to launch a fatal blow.

Xiao Chen closed his eyes, his Spirit Realm Soul power subtly resonating with the star origin imprint between his brows, and began to mobilize the thin Power of Starlight around him. At the same time, he quietly merged the newly comprehended Star Immortal Body’s artistic conception with the surrounding environment, making his aura blend with the swamp’s deathly silence, like a lurking venomous snake.

Time passed by minute by minute. Besides the sound of the wind and bubbles, the swamp was utterly silent.

Suddenly, at the edge of Xiao Chen’s soul perception, several powerful and sinister auras abruptly appeared, rapidly approaching the swamp!

“They’re here!” Xiao Chen’s eyes snapped open, a cold glint flashing within them. His soul perception clearly captured that there were five assailants! The leader’s aura was vast, his death aura condensed like a solid, clearly a Peak Three-Star Dou Zun of the Soul Hall Heavenly Venerable! Behind him were four others: two Two-star Dou Zun and two One-star Dou Zun Peak!

“A Peak Three-Star, two Two-star, and two Peak One-Star… They really think highly of me.” Xiao Chen sneered inwardly. The pressure was immense, but his fighting spirit burned even brighter! This was exactly the whetstone he wanted!

Five dark figures, like phantoms, passed through the gray mist and appeared at the edge of the swamp. The leading Three-Star Heavenly Venerable was gaunt, his face shrouded in the shadows of his black robe, only a pair of green-glowing eyes scanning the swamp. His voice was hoarse as he said, “The locator shows the target is deep within this swamp. Proceed with caution; the environment here is strange, and that brat is cunning.”

“Hmph, what kind of waves can a heavily injured junior who fled stir up? Let’s finish this quickly, capture him, and go back for the reward!” A Two-star Heavenly Venerable scoffed, his body surging with death aura, about to forcefully enter the swamp.

“Wait!” The Three-Star Heavenly Venerable was more cautious. His soul power swept over the swamp, and he frowned slightly. “The poisonous miasma and spatial crack here greatly interfere with soul perception. Do not rush in. Form the ‘Five Ghosts Soul Search Formation’ and advance steadily!”

The five Soul Hall Heavenly Venerable immediately formed a formation. Five pillars of death aura connected, forming a moving formation shield, slowly advancing into the swamp. Under the formation, the poisonous miasma was pushed away, and the fluctuations of the spatial crack were suppressed to a certain extent.

“As expected, they’re cautious… Unfortunately, you underestimate the advantage of a Heavenly Realm Soul in this place.” Xiao Chen, hidden in the dark, saw their every move clearly. His soul perception was less affected by the environment, allowing him to grasp every detail of the enemy.

He waited patiently, like the most experienced hunter. It wasn’t until the “Five Ghosts Soul Search Formation” had fully entered the depths of the swamp, arriving at an area where spatial crack were particularly dense and underground currents surged, that Xiao Chen moved!

He didn’t directly attack the core of the formation. Instead, with a thought, his Heavenly Realm Soul Power transformed into several invisible threads, precisely pulling several extremely unstable spatial crack nearby! At the same time, a hidden force silently struck the underground currents!

“Buzz! Crack!”

The pulled spatial crack suddenly lost control, twisting and expanding like venomous snakes, instantly colliding with the “Five Ghosts Soul Search Formation”’s shield! At the same time, the underground currents were ignited, and turbid mud, mixed with corrosive poisonous water, shot into the sky, violently impacting the bottom of the formation!

“Not good! An ambush!” The Three-Star Heavenly Venerable’s face changed drastically, and he roared sharply! The formation shield vibrated violently, its light rapidly dimming under the dual assault of the spatial crack and mud impact!

Now!

Xiao Chen shot out like lightning! He did not use the immensely powerful Nine Axes of Heaven Opening, but instead pushed his speed to the extreme. The Illusory Spirit Steps, combined with preliminary spatial distortion, made his figure appear as if teleporting to the flank of the formation—behind the two weakest One-star Dou Zun Peak!

“Die!”

Xiao Chen’s fingers converged like blades, Power of Starlight and Heaven Opening Axe Intent condensing at his fingertips, transforming into two extremely refined star finger-swords. They struck like lightning at the backs of the two men’s hearts! This strike contained the artistic conception of Void Breaking, ignoring part of the formation’s defense and striking directly at their essence!

“Puff! Puff!”

The two One-star Dou Zun Peak had no time to react. Their protective death aura was pierced like paper! The finger-swords passed through their bodies, and the Power of Starlight and destructive will they contained instantly destroyed their heart pulse and souls! Their eyes instantly dimmed, their bodies slumped, and their auras vanished!

Instant kill! And an instant kill under the protection of a formation!

“Little beast! How dare you!” The other three Heavenly Venerable were both shocked and enraged, and the formation instantly broke! The Three-Star Heavenly Venerable roared, and a huge Nether Ghost Claw tore through the air, grabbing at Xiao Chen! The other two Two-star Heavenly Venerable also attacked simultaneously, with death aura chains and soul thorns flanking him from both sides!

Facing the enraged attacks of the three great Heavenly Venerable, Xiao Chen’s expression remained unchanged. His body twisted bizarrely, like a swimming fish, slipping through the gaps in the attacks. At the same time, he struck out with a backhanded palm strike!

“Star Immortal Body, Spatial Folding!”

Where the palm strike passed, space subtly twisted, as if folding! The Three-Star Heavenly Venerable’s ghost claw and the attacks of the two Two-star Heavenly Venerable actually collided with each other in a bizarre manner!

“Boom!”

Death aura clashed and exploded! The three Heavenly Venerable were shaken by the aftershocks of their own attacks, their footing completely disrupted!

“How is this possible?! How could he twist our attack trajectories?!” The Three-Star Heavenly Venerable was horrified. Xiao Chen’s control over space far exceeded his imagination!

Seizing this opportune moment, Xiao Chen’s figure moved again, his target directed at the Two-star Heavenly Venerable on the left! He cupped his hands, and the phantom of a dark-gold battle axe instantly condensed!

“Nine Axes of Heaven Opening — Fourth Form, Meteor!”

This time, “Meteor” integrated the protective artistic conception of the Star Immortal Body. The axe aura was no longer purely destructive, but carried a dual characteristic of suppression and collapse! The axe light, like a falling meteor, locked onto that Two-star Heavenly Venerable and fiercely chopped down!

“Nether Shield!” The Two-star Heavenly Venerable was terrified, frantically urging his death aura to condense into a shield!

“Clang — Crack!”

The Meteor Axe Aura fiercely struck the Nether Shield! The shield vibrated violently, cracks spreading, but it did not immediately shatter! However, the “Star Suppression” intent contained within the axe aura pressed down like a mountain, causing the Two-star Heavenly Venerable’s movements to stall!

It was in this instant of stalling that Xiao Chen’s second wave of attack arrived! It wasn’t an axe technique, but a Heavenly Realm Soul Impact!

“Soul Thorn, God Extinguisher!”

An invisible, intangible soul thorn, yet containing the will to sever the soul, arrived first, instantly piercing into the Two-star Heavenly Venerable’s glabella!

“Ah—!” The Two-star Heavenly Venerable let out a shrill scream, clutching his head and rolling, his soul severely wounded, instantly losing combat effectiveness!

In a flash of lightning, three out of five were gone! Only one Three-Star Heavenly Venerable and one injured Two-star Heavenly Venerable remained!

“Bastard! I’ll tear you to shreds!” The Three-Star Heavenly Venerable went completely mad, burning his essence blood, his aura skyrocketing as he unleashed a forbidden technique of the Soul Hall! “Nine Nether Yellow Springs, Ten Thousand Souls Devouring Heart!”

Terrifying death aura transformed into a Nether Realm, enveloping Xiao Chen! Within the realm, ten thousand souls wailed, inner demons proliferated, corroding the soul!

“Petty tricks!” Xiao Chen snorted coldly, his Heavenly Realm Soul Power fully erupting. The Indestructible Soul Armor shone brightly with golden light, isolating all soul attacks! At the same time, the star origin imprint between his brows flashed, and a pure Power of Starlight poured into his battle axe!

“star origin, empower! Nine Axes of Heaven Opening — Fifth Form, Void Breaking! Slash!”

This time’s “Void Breaking” was far more powerful than before! Above the axe aura, stars revolved, spatial ripples undulated, as if it could sever causality and shatter all laws! With one axe strike, the Nether Realm shattered like fragile glass!

The axe aura continued its momentum, fiercely chopping towards the Three-Star Heavenly Venerable!

“No!!!” The Three-Star Heavenly Venerable’s pupils constricted, feeling a fatal threat! He desperately activated all his defenses!

“Boom—!!!”

A deafening roar! The Three-Star Heavenly Venerable’s defense was split open by one axe, and his body flew backward like a broken kite, spitting blood, his aura instantly withered! Although not dead, he was severely wounded!

The injured Two-star Heavenly Venerable, seeing the unfavorable situation, turned and tried to escape!

“Trying to leave?” Xiao Chen’s eyes were cold. He pointed a finger through the air! A star finger-sword arrived first, piercing through his dantian and qi sea! The Two-star Heavenly Venerable screamed and fell from the sky, his cultivation crippled!

The battle, from beginning to end, lasted only a brief ten breaths!

Five great Heavenly Venerable of the Soul Hall: two dead, three severely wounded! And Xiao Chen, apart from significant consumption of Dou Qi and soul power, was completely unharmed!

Xiao Chen floated in mid-air, his body’s starlight contained, his aura stable. He coldly swept his gaze over the tragic battlefield below, his heart without much ripple. Being merciful to enemies was being cruel to himself. The Soul Hall and he were already irreconcilable.

He quickly cleared the battlefield, collected the spoils (Heavenly Venerable’s storage rings, Soul Hall tokens, etc.), and then burned the bodies to ashes with a single fire, erasing all traces.

“After this battle, the Soul Hall should quiet down for a while.” Xiao Chen looked deeper into the Yun Shen Mountain Range, his gaze profound. “But the Emperor Hunting Plan will never stop. I must quickly improve my strength to cope with the coming storm.”

He sensed that after this life-and-death struggle, especially after using the star origin and integrating new artistic conceptions, the barrier of his One-star Dou Zun Peak had completely loosened, and a breakthrough was imminent!

“First, I’ll find a place to go into seclusion and break through to Two-star Dou Zun!”

Xiao Chen’s figure moved, fleeing towards a valley deep in the mountain range that had relatively stable energy and natural concealment effects.

A beautiful counter-hunt thus concluded. But Xiao Chen knew that this was just the beginning. The Soul Hall’s retaliation, and the “Emperor Hunting” shadow shrouding the continent, would surely follow. And his path to becoming a powerhouse would also go further and further in this baptism of blood and fire!