Chapter Fifty-Three: Narrow Victory

Chapter Fifty-Three: Narrow Victory

Dust billowed in all directions as Chu Jie rose from the ground. At this moment, his spiritual energy was nearly depleted, a result of having just used the Barbaric Cauldron to unleash the power to devour all things. But it was worth it—this move had utterly crippled the formidable Chen Wansheng.

“Heh, what’s wrong? Where’s all your bravado now?” Chu Jie hauled Chen Wansheng up, rifling through his belongings until he found a few blue pills. “What are these pills?” he demanded.

Chen Wansheng was still in shock, his face blank. Just moments ago, he had been displaying his might, forced into the eighth stage of the Spirit Convergence Realm, but in the blink of an eye, he’d been captured by Chu Jie.

“No answer?” Chu Jie landed a punch with all his remaining strength, shattering Chen Wansheng’s other arm.

“Aah!” Chen Wansheng gritted his teeth against the pain. Having just ingested the Infernal Red Lotus Pill, his body was in turmoil and hyper-sensitive to agony.

Seeing Chen Wansheng’s state, Chu Jie knew the man was no longer a threat. The sole danger left was Li Feng, but with his own energy so low, Chu Jie needed time to recover.

He deliberately continued attacking Chen Wansheng, using the opportunity to restore his strength.

In the distance, Li Feng’s expression flickered with indecision. He wanted to strike at Chu Jie, but hesitated. Chen Wansheng had reached the eighth stage and still been defeated—Li Feng himself was only at the seventh. How could he hope to win?

In truth, Chu Jie had merely used the Barbaric Cauldron to sever Chen Wansheng from his pill-enhanced state, making victory easy.

Having witnessed the power of the eighth stage, Chu Jie yearned to advance himself. With so many profound crystals in hand, his chances of ascension were high.

Once some energy was restored, Chu Jie unleashed the Great Sun Heavenly Flame Fist, shattering Chen Wansheng’s skull.

He tossed the corpse aside and turned to Li Feng. “I repeat—if you cripple your cultivation, I’ll let you leave.”

The air grew tense. Li Feng’s face contorted, but ultimately, his hand gripped the blue longsword.

“Very well. I hope you won’t regret this.” Chu Jie let out a long howl and charged at Li Feng.

The two clashed with force; from afar, it appeared as if a blazing sun collided with a massive blue lotus.

Under the sunlight, the blue lotus withered rapidly. In moments, it was much diminished from its original grandeur.

Sensing it could not withstand the assault, the blue lotus changed form, splitting into nine smaller blue lotuses.

These lotuses were dazzlingly beautiful yet deadly, each born from Li Feng’s blue swordsmanship performed to its utmost.

The petals looked lifelike from a distance, flickering between illusion and reality, but sword energy shattered the air around them, reducing nearby rocks to dust.

“Nine Suns Heaven-Sundering Claw!”

With enough energy amassed, Chu Jie finally unleashed his ultimate technique.

Nine blazing suns appeared behind him, and for a moment, he looked every bit a war god descended. The dazzling radiance illuminated the entire cavern.

“Die!” Chu Jie roared, and suddenly, a rift opened above Li Feng’s head, from which a golden dragon’s claw emerged.

Li Feng immediately spun a blue lotus above his head, and the golden claw seized the massive lotus.

Everything seemed to freeze—the golden claw gripped Li Feng’s sword.

Air currents surged. Li Feng shouted in fury, his body glowing faintly as he desperately summoned his energy.

Chu Jie began to feel the pressure. As the dragon’s claw struggled to hold on, the nine blazing suns behind Chu Jie flew forth.

The nine blue lotuses around Li Feng reappeared and collided with Chu Jie’s nine suns.

A chain of explosions and blinding light erupted. Chu Jie’s nine suns each blazed brightly before fading one by one.

When only a single sun remained, Chu Jie suddenly charged forward. As he drew near Li Feng, he sensed sword energy swirling everywhere—the lotus petals exuded lethal intent.

Only now did Chu Jie fully appreciate Li Feng’s swordsmanship; this was clearly a top-tier martial art.

“Impressive. But you’re doomed all the same,” Chu Jie said coldly.

Li Feng gave no reply. His blue sword danced, extinguishing Chu Jie’s last sun. Countless fine sword energies curled around him, and as he finally stilled his blade, the lotuses faded away.

The blue longsword now pointed diagonally to the ground, its tip already gone, destroyed earlier by Chu Jie.

But at that moment, a thin line of blood appeared on Li Feng’s forehead. The line grew, and a phantom golden dragon’s claw emerged, dissolving into the air.

Li Feng’s body stiffened in disbelief.

Despite his desperate defense, Chu Jie’s Heaven-Sundering Claw retained a trace of power, piercing his skull from behind and emerging from his brow.

The broken blue sword fell to the ground as all residual sword energy dissipated.

Chu Jie drew a deep breath. He had finally won—a narrow, perilous victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Only now did he feel how severely depleted his energy was. Without swift recovery, his future cultivation could suffer.

“Boss has won!” the Mad Dog Camp brothers shouted with joy.

They had wanted to join the fray, but Chu Jie and Li Feng’s battle had been too swift for them to intervene. In no time, the outcome was decided.

Li Feng was dead, and Chu Jie had prevailed by a hair’s breadth.

To single-handedly defeat two seventh-stage Spirit Convergence experts—one of whom reached the eighth stage—such an achievement inspired utter awe. Even those who had once been Wang Ye’s followers now looked at Chu Jie with admiration.

In Bloodslaughter City, strength was everything. If you were strong enough, you would earn everyone’s respect.

Having drawn such formidable foes, Chu Jie knew others would soon follow. He immediately ordered the Mad Dog Camp and Wang Ye’s men to continue excavating the remaining profound crystals.

He himself roasted several Wind Serpents to restore his strength. As for the blue pills, he would not waste them; once back in the Lingyun District, he’d find someone to appraise them.

A seventh-stage expert’s personal pills were surely extraordinary.

“Boss, this man was carrying a storage pouch. There are some items inside,” a subordinate said, handing over a small bag.

Chu Jie had heard of such pouches—they could hold many things inside—though he hadn’t expected to find one here.

Inspecting it, he found the space was small, only a few cubic meters. Inside were nearly a hundred high-grade profound crystals and a few daily necessities, nothing more.

Though not as capacious as the Barbaric Cauldron, this storage item could serve as a useful disguise. In Bloodslaughter City, such containers were valuable—not everyone possessed one.

Soon, another subordinate arrived and handed Chu Jie a second pouch, larger and more luxurious than the first, taken from Steward Luo.

Inside were over a hundred Spirit-Gathering Herbs and little else—clearly, Steward Luo hadn’t brought much with him.

Chu Jie chose not to use Luo’s pouch—it could expose his identity, which he wished to keep secret for now.

Stowing everything away, Chu Jie’s men burned the bodies. Then, everyone returned to mining the last of the profound crystals. After this crisis, all worked with renewed vigor, knowing the area was no longer safe and they must finish quickly.

Fortunately, the remaining crystals were concentrated in one area. Chu Jie used the Heaven-and-Earth Treasure Wheel to cut the stone, while the others dug out the crystals.

By day’s end, over three thousand crystals were piled on the ground.

Exhausted, the men lay sprawled out. Chu Jie then used the Barbaric Cauldron to store all the crystals.

Harvesting over thirteen thousand profound crystals here was a monumental stroke of fortune. With such resources, he would rise far more easily in the future.

Yet, these crystals were useless in the Chaos District—they only had value in the Outer City.

However, Chu Jie still intended to remain in the Chaos District a while longer.

“Let’s eat one last meal, then we’ll leave,” Chu Jie declared.

With the crystals all mined, the cave was plunged into darkness, so Chu Jie summoned the Heaven-and-Earth Treasure Wheel to provide light.

Since he’d slain the Wind Serpent King, not a single serpent had dared approach—a fact unsurprising, as without their king, the ordinary serpents would hardly dare return.

Suddenly, he recalled the strange crystal he had extracted from the serpent king’s brain; he would have to study it later.

The crystals here had been completely harvested, so Chu Jie could leave without worry—even if the Abyss of Gods and Demons changed dramatically, it would matter little to him now.

Just then, several subordinates achieved breakthroughs. Perhaps the battle with the Luo family’s forces had inspired them, for now, they had advanced.

Jiang Ziwen and Liang Bo both reached the eighth stage of the Body-Tempering Realm, along with several others.

Chu Jie’s goal of training his men was nearly complete.

However, to help these subordinates stabilize their new realms, Chu Jie decided to remain here a while longer.