206: An era without saints?! (Part 5)

Darkness, silence.

This was a void space where even light could not reach.

An ancient bronze palace floated quietly, with two ancient seal characters carved on its gates.

Human World.

Legend had it that this was an assassin organization that had existed since the primeval era.

As long as one could pay the price, they could assassinate anyone, including a Saint.

“This commission's target: Gu Yun, the Daozi of the Gu Family, an immortal Ancient Saint Clan.”

“Location: Falling Star Mystic Realm in the Eastern Region.”

A raspy voice echoed within the palace, devoid of any emotion.

“The requirement: stifle him at any cost.”

“The commission fee: one Quasi-Saint-Grade Dao weapon, plus a wisp of ‘Chaos Origin Residual Qi’.”

Inside the palace, several auras hidden in the shadows showed obvious fluctuations.

Assassinating the Daozi of an immortal Ancient Saint Clan was no different from declaring war on a juggernaut power.

But this price was enough to tempt even a Saint.

“The client left a message.”

“If this child does not die, my Dao will be hard to achieve.”

As the raspy voice faded, a black token engraved with the words ‘Ghost Face’, a white token engraved with ‘Painted Skin’, and a final blood-colored Jade Slip slowly drifted down.

On the Jade Slip, there were only two words.

“Impermanence.”

...Falling Star Mystic Realm.

The sky presented a strange dark purple color, as if it were a giant piece of amethyst.

The air was filled with dense Spiritual Qi, as well as a faint sense of oppression.

This was the Law of the Secret Realm, which forcibly suppressed the cultivation of all entrants to the Spirit King Realm.

The Gu Family group had just stepped onto this land.

Led by Gu Zhan, eighteen branch-line elites formed a tight battle formation, protecting the golden war chariot at the center.

Six-year-old Gu Yun sat quietly inside the war chariot.

Three King-sealing level Elders restrained their auras, walking on the periphery of the group like three ordinary old men.

The entire team’s formation was tight, excelling in both offense and defense.

“The Family Head once said that this place is called Dragon Burial Valley, a place of Opportunity.”

The Divine Thought of an Elder echoed in everyone's Sea of Consciousness.

“But the space here is extremely unstable; everyone, stay alert.”

Just as his voice fell.

“Chila!”

Without any warning, the space around them was torn open by several pitch-black cracks.

Immediately after, flat, pitch-black monsters that seemed to be composed of shadows surged frantically from the cracks.

Void Shadow latent Beasts!

“Beast tide! Alert!”

Gu Zhan let out a loud shout, his heavy sword held horizontally before his chest.

The nineteen-man battle formation instantly activated, and spiritual power radiance soared into the sky, forming a solid barrier.

The beast tide surged from all directions, instantly submerging the entire Dragon Burial Valley.

“Roar!”

Countless Shadow latent Beasts frantically slammed into the battle formation's light screen, letting out ear-piercing shrieks.

“Kill!”

Gu Zhan led the charge, his heavy sword swinging and bringing forth a terrifying astral wind.

With every strike, dozens of Shadow latent Beasts were chopped into pieces.

The eighteen guards also displayed their Divine Abilities; sword light, fist prints, and Daoist arts kept the battle formation's defense airtight.

The three Elders were even more at ease, constantly taking action and precisely picking off the strongest beast kings in the tide.

However, the goal of hostile forces like the Ji Family and Wang Family was never to kill them with a beast tide.

What they wanted was only chaos.

Just as the battle between the formation and the beast tide was at its most intense.

A guard had just sent a Shadow latent Beast flying with a punch, leaving a gap as his strength was momentarily spent.

The shadow beneath his feet twisted eerily.

A figure burst out from within.

The assassin, ‘Ghost Face’.”

He held a divine dagger in his hand, his target aimed directly at Gu Yun inside the chariot.

It was fast to the extreme.

Inside the chariot, Gu Yun's Primordial Chaos Sacred Body instinctively sensed the killing intent.

But he was only six years old; his body's reactions simply could not keep up with his consciousness.

“Daozi, watch out!”

Another guard closest to him had bloodshot eyes.

He saw the trajectory of the dagger clearly, but it was already too late to intercept it with a move.

Without the slightest hesitation.

This guard let out a roar and actually used his own body to violently collide with that fatal cold light.

“Puff!”

The dagger was knocked off course, grazing the edge of the chariot as it flew past.

But the guard's chest was slashed open by the dagger, leaving a wound so deep the bone was visible.

At the wound, dark green poisonous blood instantly spread.

“Bang.”

His tall body collapsed heavily, his life force rapidly draining away.

“Xiao Shan!”

Gu Zhan let out a roar of grief and indignation.

“This isn't just a beast tide! It’s a premeditated assassination!”

An Elder's voice was incomparably cold, brimming with killing intent.

The battle formation instantly contracted, firmly protecting the chariot and the injured clansman in the center.

The atmosphere became incredibly heavy.

In the first exchange, the Gu Family had paid the price of an elite disciple being on the verge of death.

However, this was only the beginning.

While Gu Zhan and the others were fully resisting the beast tide and staying alert for a second assassination that could appear at any time.

In the distance, atop an inconspicuous hill.

An assassin named ‘Painted Skin’, wearing colorful clothes and with a flamboyant mask painted on his face, sat cross-legged.

His hands formed seals, and his mouth chanted incantations.

An invisible and intangible power of curse-killing, specifically targeting the Divine Soul and Dao foundation, crossed the distance of space.

It ignored the physical defense of the battle formation and acted directly upon Gu Yun, who was protected layer by layer.

“Not good! It's a curse-killing technique!”

The expressions of the three King-sealing level Elders changed drastically.

They did not dare to be the least bit negligent.

Two of them immediately abandoned their outward attacks, flew to both sides of the chariot, and sat cross-legged.

“Concentrate, protect the Dao!”

Two powerful Divine Soul forces soared into the sky, constructing an invisible barrier above Gu Yun's head to resist that insidious curse-killing for him.

With this, the defensive line originally meant for the beast tide was left with only one Elder and the seventeen-man battle formation led by Gu Zhan.

The pressure suddenly multiplied.

Inside the war chariot.

Six-year-old Gu Yun looked at the clansman who had fallen in a pool of blood and was dying to protect him.

He also sensed that the two King-sealing level Elders were rapidly consuming their Divine Soul Origin to protect him.

In those eyes that were usually calm and ripple-less, for the first time, a fire of rage was ignited.

“Roar!”

At this moment, a beast king with strength comparable to the Peak of the Spirit King Realm seized a loophole in the defensive line.

It broke through Gu Zhan's interception, its sharp giant claws lunging fiercely toward the back of an Elder who was protecting Gu Yun's Dao.

“Elder, watch out!”

Gu Zhan and the others were filled with desperation, but they were too late to help.

At the critical moment.

Gu Yun pointed his fingers like a sword and pointed toward that beast king from a distance.

There was no world-shaking momentum.

There was no dazzling radiance.

An extremely faint glimmer, as if it would go out at any moment, shot out from his fingertip.

That glimmer contained a mysterious and indescribable ‘Initial Dao Rhyme’.”

It instantly vanished into the beast king's body.

The forward movement of that incomparably fierce beast king came to a screeching halt.

Under everyone's horrified gaze, its massive body began to silently decompose and dissipate from the inside.

This strange and domineering scene caused the entire battlefield to fall into a momentary silence.

The Gu Family clansmen were shocked.

In the distance, atop that hill, the Ji Family Divine Maiden, who was about to launch a fatal blow, had eyes full of horror.

In another shadow, the last assassin, ‘Impermanence’, tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.

The same thought rose in all of their hearts.

They must never give this child another chance to grow!

Gu Yun's action became the signal for the general offensive.

“Do it!”

The Ji Family Divine Maiden's cold voice rang out.

She, along with the Wang Family Qilin Son and the leaders of several other forces, simultaneously took out a Formation Plate and activated it.

Buzz!

A light screen reaching the heavens rose from the ground, completely sealing off the entire Dragon Burial Valley.

The destruction Laws within the valley were triggered, and space began to twist and collapse.

“Now!”

Under the cover of the Law riots, that strongest light of slaughter moved.

The strongest assassin, ‘Impermanence’, appeared.

He and his sword became completely one.

Turning into an indestructible stream of deathly light that tore through everything, the target was aimed directly at Gu Yun.

This was a sure-kill strike that gathered all of his essence, energy, and spirit.

“Protect the Daozi!”

Gu Zhan let out a sky-shaking roar.

He slammed the heavy sword from his back into the ground in front of him.

The remaining seventeen guards, without the slightest hesitation, surrounded Gu Zhan and the chariot.

The only remaining King-sealing level Elder also blocked the very front.

At this moment, all of them unhesitatingly used their flesh and blood to build the final line of defense for the Daozi.

Impermanence's sword tip rapidly enlarged within those determined gazes.

It was about to touch Gu Zhan's heavy sword.