by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
But even if there was no one present, the landscape was enough to show their power. The surrounding mountains shattered and the terrain had completely transformed. The place they were standing over was rapidly subsiding.
The two of them were both shocked by the other’s strength. They poured in all their energy, wanting to suppress their opponent.
As the ground beneath them sank, the surrounding ground actually began to rise, forming a huge basin with the two of them at the core.
Furthermore, this basin was growing deeper as the two of them increased their power. In just a few breaths, it was already hundreds of miles deep.
Suddenly, the two of them stopped descending. They had gotten so low that they had run into a certain kind of rock. That rock instantly burst upon being struck by their force.
Following that rock’s shattering, lava erupted. A terrifying heat enveloped the two of them.
The lava incessantly spurted out, quickly filling the basin. But the creators of the basin had already disappeared.
Two figures wrapped in flames shot out of the lava, soaring into the sky.
Huo Wufang’s Heavenly Dao runes had formed two wings behind him, allowing him to fly in the sky.
As for Long Chen, flame runes rapidly condensed behind him forming a pair of thirty-meter wings.
With those raging flame wings, Long Chen looked just like a flame god. He seemed incomparably domineering.
“Flamecloud Wings!” Huo Wufang’s expression became slightly envious. He had once trained in the Flamecloud Wings, but his Spiritual Strength hadn’t been enough to keep up with the exhaustion of using it.
Not only was Long San’s alchemy talent greater than his, but his Spiritual Strength was also miles ahead. Now, he had already merged with a rank two Celestial’s bones, but he was still unable to suppress him. That made him go almost crazy.
“DIE!” The more Huo Wufang thought about it, the more furious he became. His wings suddenly trembled, and he shot forward at Long Chen. His fist became covered in runes.
BOOM!
Long Chen hastily blocked. He didn’t know what magical art Huo Wufang had used, but Long Chen was smashed back hundreds of meters away.
Huo Wufang continued pressing his advantage, another fist coming for Long Chen.
“This fist is strange.” Long Chen’s heart shook. He changed his fist into a palm, using technique instead of brute strength. Slamming his palm into Huo Wufang’s wrist, he forced his attack to miss.
Originally, Long Chen had been planning on giving Huo Wufang a vicious kick to his abdomen to injure him.
But when he saw Huo Wufang’s sinister and tray-shaped face, he instinctively swung out his hand, sending him flying with a slap.
As soon as he did that, Long Chen felt regret. This was truly an occupational disease. What was the point of slapping him now? It didn’t hurt him. It would have been so much more beneficial to kick him in the crotch!
“Long San!”
While Long Chen felt regret, Huo Wufang went crazy with rage. Only one person had slapped him in his life, and that had been incredibly shameful to him. Later, that person had died in the chaos region and he had forgotten that humiliation. But now, this slap immediately sparked that old fury of his.
With a furious roar, his wings trembled and his body became covered in runes. It was as if he was wearing runic armor as he shot at Long Chen.
BOOM!
Long Chen was shocked. Now that Huo Wufang had summoned this runic armor, his strength had grown explosively. Long Chen was sent flying, and a burst of pain came from his arm. His bones had been broken.
Consecutive explosive sounds rang out. Long Chen was forced back repeatedly by Huo Wufang. This was his first time fighting someone with such terrifying strength.
BOOM!
Long Chen was once more sent flying. These repeated exchanges made Long Chen feel like his entire skeleton was about to shatter. Huo Wufang’s bones were truly too hard.
What Long Chen didn’t know was that Huo Wufang was using a powerful Battle Skill, the strongest Battle Skill the original owner of his skeleton had trained in. Back when this skeleton had been merged into Huo Wufang, its master’s soul had also been merged into it. That was so he could obtain all the Battle Skills he had possessed.
Then during the finals of the Pill Emperor Competition, Huo Wufang had sacrificed that soul. At that time, he had already absorbed all that soul’s useful memories, so it had been useless to him.
Furthermore, this skeleton’s master had been a body cultivator. All his life’s cultivation had been focused on his bones. So after merging with this skeleton, Huo Wufang had gained at least eighty percent of its original master’s combat strength.
“Long San, you can die now!” Huo Wufang’s face was twisted in a sinister expression. It seemed like he wanted to viciously bite Long Chen to death.
Long Chen sighed. “Fine, I admit that fighting as an alchemist is too sullen. I’ll change back to my old profession. Divine ring!”
Chapter 695 Absolute Strength
Following Long Chen’s shout, a divine ring appeared behind his back. A terrifying pressure descended and an intense rumbling raged.
The divine ring was incredibly imposing and brilliant. But it still consisted of three colors. There was no sign of the fourth color at all.
That was within Long Chen’s expectations. After all, he had only just condensed the cyclone of the Enlightenment Palace Star. There was no way to bring out the fourth color. But even so, with the divine ring, Long Chen felt endless energy crazily pouring into him.
Long Chen was in the air. The Flamecloud Wings kept him afloat with the three-hundred-meter divine ring right behind him.
“You… you…” Huo Wufang was shocked.
“Is this technique very familiar to you?” Long Chen wiped his hand over his face, revealing his original appearance. There was no need for him to disguise himself any longer.
“Long Chen!”
Huo Wufang finally called out this name. His expression became twisted in fury, but Long Chen surprisingly saw some confusion in his eyes, as if he was trying to remember something.
“So that’s what it was. No wonder it was so easy to fool you. All the proof I prepared ended up being useless.” Seeing Huo Wufang’s expression, Long Chen immediately understood something that had confused him. Huo Wufang’s memories regarding him had definitely been erased.
This purge had to have been similar to hypnosis. It was an extremely profound and difficult to use spiritual art.
If they had completely erased Huo Wufang’s memories regarding a person, then that would have been extremely harmful to his soul. The Huo family’s experts hadn’t done that. They had only erased a portion of his memories pertaining to how Long Chen had tormented him. Those memories were gone, but they hadn’t been able to erase his hatred for Long Chen.
So seeing Long Chen, Huo Wufang’s hatred soared and he knew Long Chen was definitely his mortal enemy, but he couldn’t remember how Long Chen had made him hate him so much.
He didn’t understand what was going on, but Long Chen did. The Huo family had erased Huo Wufang’s heart-devil. Otherwise, it would have been very possible that he would have never advanced again.
“No matter what’s going on, you have to die today!” Huo Wufang roared furiously and he shot towards Long Chen.
Long Chen also punched out. Their fists collided and space almost exploded.
Huo Wufang was the one to suffer this time. He was sent flying, almost vomiting blood.
He felt like he had just tried to punch an immovable mountain which resulted in a burst of pain from his wrist. It had almost broken from the impact just now.
“The Nine Star Hegemon Body Art really is the most dependable.” Long Chen looked at his fist. Sensing endless energy surging within him, he was filled with excitement.
He had only just condensed the Enlightenment Palace Star’s cyclone. But with the divine ring, his power had
leaped to this level. If he fully condensed the star, what would happen when he summoned the four-color divine ring? What would happen when he summoned the Four Star Battle Armor?
“Huo Wufang, hand over your life!” Long Chen suddenly took the initiative. He had recalled Ye Zhiqiu and Lu Fang-er.
It was because of Huo Wufang that the two of them had fallen. Later, Ye Zhiqiu had been taken away by a peerless expert. It was unknown whether or not she had been revived. But Lu Fang-er was completely dead.
Each time he thought of his time with Lu Fang-er, Long Chen would feel a burst of pain. Seeing the person who had caused this pain in front of him, his killing intent soared.
Long Chen’s fist fell upon Huo Wufang. Huo Wufang’s hasty block ended up wasted, as he was shocked to realize this attack was a fake. He suddenly felt a burst of pain from his side.
The sound of bones breaking rang out. Long Chen’s kick landed on his ribs and sent him flying.
Huo Wufang was horrified. Although he had acquired some of his new bones’ memories, that only referred to the Battle Skills. He hadn’t dared to completely absorb that expert’s soul, as it was all too easy for his mind to split.
So right now, he truly did have eighty percent of a rank two Celestial’s combat strength, but his close-range fighting experience was still at his old level.
As an alchemist, Huo Wufang had trained in using Pill Flame to fight. He wasn’t used to this kind of fighting. As a result, under continuous attacks from Long Chen, he began to suffer injury after injury.
Long Chen’s attack power had risen to a new level. Each one of his attacks was as heavy as a mountain, and Huo Wufang was horrified to see his bones begin to break. They were actually unable to bear Long Chen’s force.
These bones had come from a powerful body cultivator and a rank two Celestial, but they were still unable to bear Long Chen’s force. If this continued, Huo Wufang would definitely die.
“Bastard! I’ll kill you no matter what! Dao runes, return to my bones!”
BOOM!
The Heavenly Dao runes behind Huo Wufang disappeared. Huo Wufang’s entire body began to shine as light could be seen coming out from his bones.
In that instant, Huo Wufang’s aura grew explosively, as if a volcano had erupted and was releasing a constant stream of power.
Huo Wufang charged at Long Chen. His aura was incredibly shocking, and space was constantly twisting around him.
Long Chen’s eyes brightened. At this time, Huo Wufang’s strength had erupted to an unprecedented level, but Long Chen felt no fear. Just like that, he unleashed a flurry of punches, fighting against Huo Wufang without the slightest fanciness.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM…! Continuous explosive sounds rang out. Huo Wufang’s body was surrounded by his runic light, and his energy came in an unending stream.
As for Long Chen, his divine ring began to slowly revolve. Divine rumbling sounds came from it, and he didn’t appear lacking compared to Huo Wufang.
BOOM!
Once more, the two of them collided and separated. Huo Wufang’s long hair danced as he suddenly raised his head and roared. His eyes were filled with a crazy light.
“I’ll take your life with this move!” Huo Wufang shot forward. In that instant, the light surrounding him faded. All of it focused on his right fist.
His fist seemed like a blazing sun, lighting up the entire sky with its endless runes. This fist contained endless killing intent.
Suddenly, his fist exploded. Even his right arm disappeared all the way to his shoulder. Huo Wufang had an expression of disbelief. He felt like the world had suddenly lost all its sound.
In front of Huo Wufang, Long Chen stood calmly. Three stars had appeared in his eyes.
“In terms of alchemy, you’re trash. Even after obtaining a new skeleton and becoming a fake rank two Celestial, you still aren’t able to change the fact that you’re trash.
“The reason experts are experts isn’t because they have so much power, but because they have a powerful heart. Other people’s strength will never be yours. Even if you can borrow it, it won’t have any use. Die in peace!” Long Chen pointed his finger at Huo Wufang’s forehead.
Just now, he had summoned the Three Star Battle Armor. With a single attack, he had broken Huo Wufang’s arm, as well as shattering all his internal organs and even his muscles.
Right now, Huo Wufang was like porcelain that had been wrapped up in skin. The porcelain was already broken. If he didn’t have this layer of skin, he’d have already fallen apart.
“No…”
Huo Wufang was horrified, but he was powerless to resist.
A ray of thunderforce pierced through Huo Wufang’s forehead, coming out through the back of his head. Huo Wufang’s soul was directly destroyed.
His corpse collapsed. His eyes had lost any life, but they still seemed to contain endless unwillingness and confusion, as if he still couldn’t believe that he would die.
The Huo family had spent endless wealth to give him a new skeleton, making him a rank two Celestial. Moreover, they had even obtained the first rank beast flame for him. His future prospects were supposed to be unlimited. How could he have died here?
“You really are unlucky. If we had fought before I condensed the Enlightenment Palace Star’s cyclone, you would have at least had a thirty percent chance of beating me. But then again, before I condensed that cyclone, you had yet to perfectly merge with your skeleton. So this is just your fate.”
Once his enemy was dead and his soul dispersed, the hate in Long Chen’s heart also disappeared. Suddenly, countless runes flew out of Huo Wufang’s body.
A lightning blade directly shattered all these runes. The primal chaos space trembled and those destroyed Heavenly Dao runes merged into the Heavenly Dao Tree.
A new Heavenly Dao Fruit was born. Long Chen couldn’t help being delighted. This wasn’t the same as his other Heavenly Dao Fruits.
Those other ones had only had one Dao mark on them. But this one had two different Dao marks.
“Rank two Heavenly Dao Fruit!” Long Chen was delighted. Assuming he wasn’t wrong, this could raise a rank two Celestial!
A rank two Celestial was a terrifying existence. Huo Wufang had merely obtained a new skeleton, but he already possessed such power.
The fact that Long Chen could defeat Huo Wufang wasn’t because Huo Wufang was weak. It was just that he was comparatively unlucky. Long Chen’s strongest point was his close-range combat, and he had incomparable experience in that regard. For an alchemist to fight in close quarters with him was simply asking to die.
Furthermore, he hadn’t originally been a Celestial. Just through refining a skeleton, his power was definitely limited. If Long Chen had met a true rank two Celestial instead, he really would have no assurance in defeating one.
“Since you’ve died, I’ll help you protect your things.” Long Chen took off Huo Wufang’s spatial ring. That was the silver spatial ring he had obtained from the Tower Ancestor. “Damn, it’s actually a life ring, and a huge three-hundred-mile one!”
This was Long Chen’s first time seeing such a vast life ring. Its value was inestimable.
“There’s too much stuff in here. Just looking at it gives me a headache. When I get back, I’ll have Meng Qi help me tidy up this space. She’s the best at this.” Long Chen had originally been thinking of categorizing the things inside, but it was too chaotic. He gave up.
Long Chen placed his palm over Huo Wufang’s Dantian, and a golden flame answered his call. That was the Earth Dragon Golden Blaze. Long Chen directly sucked it out for Huo Long.
Long Chen then released a mass of flames that incinerated Huo Wufang’s body. Even a rank two Celestial’s bones weren’t able to resist the Earth Flame.
After tidying up, Long Chen began rushing back to Pill Yang City. He wanted to know what had happened with the Fang family. He had to go over and help.
Chapter 696 A Sudden Attack
Long Chen had only been rush
ing for an incense stick’s worth of time, and Pill Yang City was not yet in view, when he saw a group of people up ahead.
“Long Chen, are you alright?”
The people who had come were actually Fang Mingyuan and Chai Gaoyang. The two of them were leading a dozen Sea Expansion experts.
“Haha, I’m fine. I just suffered some minor injuries. Looking at your state, it seems everything went smoothly?” Long Chen smiled.
Fang Mingyuan said, “It went extremely well. That old fellow Huo Changsheng felt too secure in his position, thinking the Huo family was still the same Huo family of the past.
“Over many years, we’ve established secret alliances with quite a few sects, and we’ve even bought some of the members of the Huo family. With our coordination from inside and outside, the Huo family was completely destroyed. Out of their three thousand members, not one managed to escape.”
Hearing that the Huo family had been completely destroyed, Long Chen frowned slightly. Although the Huo family was trash, he still felt a bit unwell to hear that the women and children had also been killed.
“Did you end up encountering Huo Wufang?” asked Fang Mingyuan.
“He ran. I ended up killing a few of his Celestials, and the others got too scared to fight. I couldn’t catch up to them, and I was worried about what was happening, so I returned,” said Long Chen.
Long Chen didn’t want to expose too much of what had happened with Huo Wufang. Furthermore, he had a bad feeling for some reason. Perhaps it was because he felt uncomfortable with the Huo family being exterminated to the last man.
“It’s fine if he got away. We’ll chase. Without the Huo family’s support, he’s just a random dog.” Chai Gaoyang smiled and walked up to Long Chen. He patted him on the shoulder. “Long Chen, it’s all thanks to you.”
“Senior is too courteous. In truth-”
PFFT!
Long Chen suddenly felt a burst of pain from his chest. He saw a black thorn sticking out from it. Space suddenly trembled and the surroundings changed. Long Chen found himself in a barren land.
Chai Gaoyang, who had previously been talking so amicably to him, now had a slightly cold expression. As for Fang Mingyuan, he retreated a bit, staring closely at Long Chen.