Chapter Ninety-One: Slaying the Wicked

The stone palace had already departed, and the remaining martial artists, including Chu Jie, numbered twenty-nine in all. They had all been left beneath the earth; if they could not find a way out, they might very well be trapped here until death.

Chu Jie, however, believed there must be many passages leading to the surface. It would only take time to find them.

“Now that the peerless fiend is gone, what do we do?” one of the martial artists asked in bewilderment. They had come here hoping to become experts of the Star Core Realm, but the great fortune had already been taken by Zhou Jie. All of them had been left behind, and the peerless fiend had not even spared them a glance.

They had been completely abandoned.

“What else can we do? Let’s go look around and see if there’s any heavenly treasure or earthly treasure nearby. This place is so strange—maybe there really are some good things here.” The soot-faced martial artist, carrying an axe, made a circuit of the surroundings, then hacked the cave wall with his axe, leaving a few indentations. Using those footholds, he climbed out of the cavern step by step.

Fortunately, this cavern was rather small; otherwise, climbing out would have been extremely difficult. The cavern Chu Jie had originally entered was far more troublesome to get out of, which was one of the reasons he had not continued exploring back then.

Seeing the soot-faced man leave first, the others were somewhat tempted to follow.

But at that moment, someone noticed Chu Jie.

The one who stepped forward was a cultivator at the seventh level of the Spirit-Condensing Realm. He was thin in build, but his eyes were sharp and glinting with cold light whenever he looked at someone.

He took a step forward and said to Chu Jie, “My name is Li Xiuping. I am at the seventh level of the Spirit-Condensing Realm. May I ask if you could introduce yourself?”

As soon as he spoke, the surrounding martial artists all turned to look at Chu Jie. Before, they had not paid him much heed; their attention had been fixed on the peerless fiend and the stone palace, and Chu Jie had been almost entirely overlooked. But now, everyone had noticed him.

“No need for him to say it. I know who he is. He is one of the two peerless fiends who stirred up a bloodbath outside, only his cultivation is merely at the Spirit-Condensing Realm.” Another martial artist stepped forward. He had triangular eyes, and even his voice carried a faint, sinister edge. “My name is Sun Guanyu, and I am likewise at the seventh level of the Spirit-Condensing Realm.”

Li Xiuping and Sun Guanyu exchanged a glance. Among these martial artists, the two of them had the highest cultivation, both at the seventh level of the Spirit-Condensing Realm. There was one other seventh-level cultivator, the soot-faced martial artist from before, but he had already left alone. Thus, at present, these two were the highest-ranked among the group.

The rest were all between the fourth and sixth levels of the Spirit-Condensing Realm; not a single one was below the fourth level.

A faint light immediately shone around Chu Jie’s fist, and Duan Kun’s shuttle-shaped magical treasure also appeared. Behind Chu Jie, Wu Long and the other six instantly activated their combined defensive formation, surrounding their bodies with a blue protective barrier.

The seven of them, working together, were still formidable.

“What do the two of you intend to do?” Chu Jie asked coldly. If they wanted to fight, he was not afraid. Although the other side had twenty people, they might not necessarily lose. He and Duan Kun could each take on a seventh-level Spirit-Condensing cultivator, while Wu Long and the others should be more than enough to hold the rest in check.

Li Xiuping smiled. “Outside, the names of the two fiends are very well known. So many people hunted you, yet they didn’t even manage to pluck a single hair from you. I didn’t expect that you were merely hiding under the peerless fiend’s shadow to survive. I hear you possess a supreme treasure. Would you mind letting us admire it?”

In his view, Chu Jie and the others had low cultivation and must have relied on the peerless fiend’s protection, or obtained some magical artifact from him, to escape pursuit time and again.

By now, in the entire Abyss of Gods and Demons, Chu Jie and Duan Kun’s names were even more renowned than those of the true peerless fiend.

The reason was simple: those who had actually seen the true peerless fiend were basically all dead.

Still, although Chu Jie and the others appeared to be no more than fifth-level Spirit-Condensing cultivators at most, their reputation for ruthlessness was intimidating, so these people were somewhat wary. But they had not given up.

These twenty men, led by Li Xiuping and Sun Guanyu, gathered together, preparing to give battle to Chu Jie’s nine-man party.

“You want to see my supreme treasure?” Chu Jie asked with an amused smile.

Li Xiuping’s heart tightened for a moment. For some reason, he felt that something was off. But then he thought of how many people he had on his side, and that their cultivation was higher than the other side’s, and his fear vanished.

“Bring it out at once. Don’t dally. Be careful, or we’ll take your head and bury your bones here,” Li Xiuping barked.

The martial artists behind him were all coveting the treasures on Chu Jie’s person. Moreover, once Chu Jie was killed, they could take his severed head outside and exchange it for a reward.

In other words, both Chu Jie himself and the supreme treasure on his body had aroused their greed.

Brilliant light gathered on Chu Jie’s fist, and a streak of radiance flew out from it, hovering before him as it transformed into the Cosmic Treasure Wheel.

“A high-grade treasure artifact! The Cosmic Treasure Wheel, the Luo family’s supreme treasure, has actually fallen into your hands!” Li Xiuping recognized it at a glance, though he failed to recognize Chu Jie. He merely assumed that the two of them had killed Chu Jie and seized this supreme treasure.

Sun Guanyu laughed. “Fine treasure. You’re quite sensible after all. Cut off all contact at once and present this treasure to the two of us, and we’ll spare your lives.”

Chu Jie sneered. He had taken out the Cosmic Treasure Wheel not to let them admire it.

While these people were off guard, the wheel abruptly enlarged by a full circle, spinning wildly in the air as it slashed toward them.

These people deserved to die. They had already slaughtered countless others, and now they had set their sights on Chu Jie.

The high-grade treasure artifact, the Cosmic Treasure Wheel, became a streak of flowing light as it spun at high speed, trailing a gleam behind it and carving a blazing arc through the cavern. Wherever it passed, the martial artists all scrambled away, but one unlucky man failed to evade in time and was instantly cleaved in two.

The wretched martial artist died with his eyes wide open. He had been at the fifth level, and at that cultivation, he had also relied on plunder and murder to reach his position. He had never imagined that he would one day be killed by another.

A spray of blood burst forth, and the unfortunate man collapsed to the ground.

The Cosmic Treasure Wheel traced a curved path through the air, slammed into the opposite rock wall with a thunderous boom, and blasted a huge hole into it. Then, as the tremor died down, it circled back and returned to Chu Jie, settling once more upon his fist.

“Kill!” Chu Jie let out a long cry, and a blazing sun appeared over his fist as he charged at Li Xiuping.

Duan Kun’s shuttle-shaped treasure spun rapidly as it flew out. After killing a fourth-level cultivator, it surged toward Sun Guanyu, while black mist billowed around its path, coalescing into a dark blur that kept launching attacks at him.

Seeing that the two strongest opponents had both been pinned down, Wu Long and the other six formed a battle array and charged the remaining martial artists. With the blue defensive formation shielding them, they had a powerful layer of protection.

Whether attacking or defending, all seven were linked together now, and their momentum was astonishing.

Within the small cavern, the battle entered a fever pitch almost immediately.

When dealing with Li Xiuping, Chu Jie did not dare to be careless. The other man was at the seventh level of the Spirit-Condensing Realm, and to defeat him, Chu Jie had to bring every treasure on his person into play.

He was only at the fifth level of the Spirit-Condensing Realm. Although he was two levels below Li Xiuping, he still had confidence that he could kill him.

“Blood Slaughter Thirteen Forms, Immortal-Slaying Fist!”

As Li Xiuping’s fists danced, streaks of murderous intent manifested, crossing and intertwining like slashes of blood, layering wave after wave of killing force over Chu Jie.

Before Chu Jie’s Great Sun Heavenly Flame Fist could even draw near, the blazing sun upon it had already been consumed entirely. Chu Jie was startled inwardly. As expected of one chosen by the peerless fiend—he truly was formidable.

The Wheel of Reincarnation within him churned furiously, and spiritual power surged wildly across his body. By the time the Wheel of Reincarnation had turned to its limit, Li Xiuping’s Immortal-Slaying Fist had already reached him.

Chu Jie’s eyes suddenly widened, and he thrust out the Nine Sun Heaven-Rending Claw, instantly expending two-tenths of his spiritual power.

A golden dragon claw, almost tangible, crashed into Li Xiuping’s Immortal-Slaying Fist. Though the Immortal-Slaying Fist was powerful, it still fell short of Chu Jie’s Nine Sun Heaven-Rending Claw by a fair margin.

Under the golden dragon claw, those streaks of blood shattered one after another. Li Xiuping was instantly horrified and retreated rapidly to avoid Chu Jie’s attack.

But Chu Jie’s golden dragon claw had locked onto him from the start, leaving him nowhere to flee.

“Blood Slaughter Thirteen Forms, Blood Cloud Canopy!”

A blood-red cloud suddenly appeared above Li Xiuping’s head, and faint cries seemed to echo from within it. A technique like this could never have been cultivated without killing many people.

Chu Jie’s golden dragon claw smashed into the blood cloud and tore through it, but he found that the cloud was extremely viscous, as though bound by some unseen force. Under that entangling power, the golden dragon claw gradually lost its strength, eventually dissolving into a mere phantom and vanishing.

“Die!” Li Xiuping’s expression twisted viciously as he rushed at Chu Jie. “Blood Slaughter Thirteen Forms, Ascending Cloud Palm!”

A massive blood-colored hand came down over Chu Jie. The patterns within its palm were all formed from thin threads of blood, throbbing faintly in the center of the palm, an utterly terrifying sight.

The pressure on Chu Jie multiplied. He summoned the Savage Cauldron, which rose above his head to shield him.

From the Savage Cauldron, one layer of luminous curtains after another descended, enclosing him within. This technique had only recently been studied out; he had known before that the Savage Cauldron could provide protection, but he had not yet developed a specific method of application. Today, however, it released these light curtains at last.

The Blood Cloud Palm pressed onto the luminous barrier above Chu Jie, while at the same time he felt his spiritual power draining away at a terrifying pace. Controlling the Savage Cauldron already consumed vast amounts of spiritual power, and now that he was also defending against his opponent’s attack, the expenditure was even more frightening. With each tenth of power lost, Chu Jie bit through the blue pill he held under his tongue, and only then did the strain ease somewhat.

Li Xiuping, too, consumed enormous spiritual power in using the Blood Cloud Palm. But because he had already reached the seventh level of the Spirit-Condensing Realm, his spiritual foundation was far deeper than Chu Jie’s, so he was still able to sustain the attack.

The huge Blood Cloud Palm descended from time to time, hammering down upon the barrier of light above Chu Jie’s head.

Chu Jie used the Nine Sun Heaven-Rending Claw once more, and although he tore apart three Blood Cloud Palms, he exhausted himself in the process. Li Xiuping, relying on the depth of his spiritual power, continued bombarding Chu Jie with the Blood Cloud Palm.

“Chu Jie!” Duan Kun wanted to come to his aid, but he was helplessly entangled by Sun Guanyu and could not break free.

Wu Long and the others were likewise pinned down by the enemy martial artists and could not assist Chu Jie.

Everything could only depend on Chu Jie himself.