by Translator: Pokka; Author: 我本纯洁 (I Am Pure); Licensed From: Migu
"You really think you'll win for sure? Emperor's Dragon Transformation!" Huang Tianji was unwilling to be tormented to death. He roared and pushed his Royal War Aura to the limits. A white dragon with five claws burst out of his back before merging with his body. It was as though he himself had transformed into a true dragon as he proceeded to charge Xiang Shaoyun.
A dragon trailed through the air, seemingly splitting the gorge into two. Even with Xiang Shaoyun's speed, Xiang Shaoyun couldn't dodge the sudden attack, and he was struck on his chest.
Clank!
Huang Tianji had believed that he could end Xiang Shaoyun with this attack, but alas, his sovereign weapon had failed to penetrate Xiang Shaoyun's saint armor. The only thing he had done was send Xiang Shaoyun flying from the impact.
Xiang Shaoyun swiftly grabbed Huang Tianji's spear and borrowed the impact of the hit to pull in Huang Tianji. He then used his other hand and swung his saber at Huang Tianji's head.
The ruthless counterattack gave Huang Tianji a scare. He lowered his head in panic, and his crown was sent flying away. His hair cascaded down his head, making him look even more miserable.
Just as Xiang Shaoyun was about to intensify his attacks, Huang Tianji's battle aura enveloping his spear shook, numbing Xiang Shaoyun's hand. He was forced to release the spear, creating an opening that Huang Tianji swiftly took advantage of. Huang Tianji swept his spear toward Xiang Shaoyun, forcing him to retreat as he took the chance to quickly retreat outside of the gorge.
"Xiang Shaoyun, I will definitely slay you after I finish breaking through," said Huang Tianji as he fled the gorge.
Xiang Shaoyun was unwilling to let Huang Tianji slip away. After all, he was much faster. But as soon as he left the gorge, Pan Yun's voice rang out, causing him to stop. "Overlord, Lady Shura is here!"
When Xiang Shaoyun looked over, he saw Pan Yun guarding the unconscious Lady Shura at a corner.
He frowned and dashed over, giving up on Huang Tianji. He asked, "What's going on?"
They hadn't been able to find Lady Shura before this. He had thought that she had withdrawn from the battleground.
Pan Yun heaved a sigh of relief and said, "I have no idea. I only saw Young Master Ghost bringing her here. When I chased after him and demanded that he release her, he did so because he seemed much more interested in the treasures. But whatever I tried, I haven't been able to wake her."
Xiang Shaoyun's heart tightened as he scanned Lady Shura's aura. When he saw that she did not seem injured, his worry lessened.
"I think she's fine. We'll talk about taking you out of this place. It's too dangerous here," said Xiang Shaoyun.
He then lifted Lady Shura with one hand and dragged Pan Yun with the other. They then flew away. With his current strength, charging out of the perimeter formed by the immortal dead tree and blood devil vine was not an issue. In any case, the two plants had been greatly weakened by the joint attack of many disciples.
While flying away with Pan Yun and Lady Shura, Xiang Shaoyun caught a glimpse of the battle between Han Chenfei and Gui Mochou. Killing intent flickered in his eyes as he muttered, "With a glance, it is obvious enough that he is nothing good. He must have done something to Lady Shura."
Xiang Shaoyun decided to capture Young Master Ghost and interrogate him.
His body flickered about as he broke through the perimeter of vines and branches. After leaving the perimeter, he handed Lady Shura to Pan Yun and said, "Regroup with the legion and take good care of her. I'll come back soon."
He then dove into the gorge once again. Although his target was Gui Mochou, he was also targeting the blood devil vine and the immortal dead tree. He was well-read and had once read about the value of the two plants from an ancient text. He naturally wouldn't let go of the plants after encountering them. Equipped with a saint sword, he was totally capable of uprooting them entirely.
In a flash, Xiang Shaoyun arrived near Han Chenfei and Gui Mochou. As he observed their fight, he found that Han Chenfei was actually suppressed by Gui Mochou.
Han Chenfei's absolute frost energy might be powerful, but the blood devil vine was proving to be too big of a disturbance. Thus, Gui Mochou held the upper hand with his movement technique. If this continued, it would only be a matter of time before Han Chenfei was defeated.
"Hehehe, Han Chenfei, you're nothing special," said Gui Mochou as he let loose a sinister laugh. His laughter sounded incredibly spooky, as though it could disturb one's mindset. As a result, Han Chenfei's mental stability was disturbed, and her attacks began to weaken, allowing Gui Mochou's attacks to claw her more and more.
If Han Chenfei wasn't protected by her ice armor, she would have been ripped into shreds.
"Where does this piece of garbage come from? You dare bully a member of the Overlord Legion?" roared Xiang Shaoyun when he couldn't take it anymore. He charged over and stomped his foot at Gui Mochou's head.
Overlord's Nine Nether Steps!
Chapter 869: Devil Vine's Blood Heart
When Gui Mochou turned his head to see that Xiang Shaoyun was the newcomer, the eyes behind his mask lit up with an indescribable splendor. He roared, "Xiang Shaoyun!"
Alas, he wasn't given any time to think as he could immediately feel an immense pressure crushing down at him, as though a mountain was collapsing on him, causing him to feel extremely unwell.
Xiang Shaoyun took his second step, sending numerous lightning tendrils downward. The immense power of the step made Gui Mochou feel as if someone had stepped right on his heart. His aura dropped, and he immediately retreated, not giving Xiang Shaoyun a chance to harm him.
However, Xiang Shaoyun's speed was way too astonishing. It was as though he could cross the world with a single step. With a flicker, he reappeared in the air above Gui Mochou.
Rumble! Rumble!
The lightning power below his foot reached an unparalleled level, and the pressure his step exuded had reached a level that was completely unbearable for Gui Mochou.
Body Substitution Technique!
Suddenly, a puppet appeared before Gui Mochou and took on Xiang Shaoyun's stomp on his behalf.
Bang!
The pressure of Xiang Shaoyun's step directly crushed the puppet to smithereens. Gui Mochou took the chance to slip away, transforming into numerous afterimages.
Xiang Shaoyun wanted to give chase, but the blood devil vine interrupted him as a large amount of poisonous gas surrounded him. He was forced to dodge to the side, and he could only watch as Gui Mochou fled.
From far away, Gui Mochou sneered inwardly, Xiang Shaoyun, you will become my substitute puppet soon as well. Just you wait. Haha!
Xiang Shaoyun was naturally unaware of Gui Mochou's plan. He said to Han Chenfei, "You won't be able to take on the blood devil vine alone. Let me help you with it."
"Sure. With the size of this blood devil vine, it definitely has a lot of roots. We can share it equally," Han Chenfei gladly agreed.
Xiang Shaoyun nodded and didn't say anything else. He started heading toward the base of the blood devil vine.
The base was filled with vines and poisonous gas. An Emperor would directly be strangled or poisoned to death the moment they entered. It was incredibly hard to actually approach the blood devil vine's roots.
Xiang Shaoyun shrouded his body with flame and burned the poisonous gas into nothingness, leaving him to focus on all the vines.
Even with the Overlord Skyslaying Saber, he wouldn't be able to harm them. He had to use the Radiant Saint Sword if he wished to do something. Without any hesitation, he drew the Radiant Saint Sword and used it to easily sever the vines before keeping the vines into his astral cosmos sea.
As for Han Chenfei, she blocked the poisonous gas with the ice armor she had formed with her absolute frost energy. She also wielded a high-tier sovereign sword capable of severing the vines, but she wasn't able to cut them as effortlessly as Xiang Shaoyun.
She wasn't nimble enough to travel in the midst of so many vines.
Many times, she found herself nearly trapped.
If I can't even overcome something like this, how can I hope to stand side by side with the others? Break, all of you! thought Han Chenfei as a stubborn look covered her face. The energy she was releasing intensified, greatly decreasing the temperature of her surroundings. Snowflakes started falling around her as ice crystals started rippling out of her sword. In her current form, she could freeze everything in her path with a single slash.
The vines were completely frozen, allowing her to continue traveling downward.
Xiang Shaoyun was the first to reach the blood devil vine's base. He found that the roots were wrapped around a massive blood cocoon. It looked like a heart, with half of it buried in the soil. Around him was a thick concentration of poisonous gas and vines. If it wasn't for his powerful vision that could see through the dense poisonous gas, he wouldn't have been able to notice the blood cocoon or identify the blood devil vine's life source so quickly.
"Devil vine's blood heart!" Xiang Shaoyun exclaimed in alarm. He had not imagined that something like this had actually grown here. A blood heart was something that would only grow through the nourishment of a massive amount of blood materials. Furthermore, it would take more than 10,000 years for a single blood heart to form.
Since this blood devil vine actually had a blood heart, it had definitely reached the level of a top-tier sovereign medicine.
If he could refine and absorb this blood heart, he would be able to greatly improve his bloodline power and gain a large amount of energy, pushing him to a higher realm of cultivation. The blood heart would be especially helpful for a peak Emperor. With the help of a blood heart, one would be able to easily form a soul foundation.
"The five jade cases are not the only great treasures beyond the secret door. This blood heart is one of them!" muttered Xiang Shaoyun as excitement covered his eyes.
He then raised his Radiant Saint Sword and charged toward the blood heart. The poisonous gas around it was too dense and strong. Xiang Shaoyun was only able to withstand the poison after using the profundity of flame, but doing so for an extended period of time would exhaust too much of his energy.
Moreover, the vines were coming at him relentlessly, whipping him again and again. If it wasn't for the protection his saint armor provided, he would have been whipped to death.
Xiang Shaoyun swung his saint sword repeatedly without even attempting to apply any sort of technique to his swings. In any case, wherever his sword reached, vines would be cut. Not a single vine could survive the saint sword in his hand.
Han Chenfei was following behind him, and she was having a hard time penetrating deeper. She was barely hanging on at the outer perimeter, but she had also been able to get several tiny pieces of roots from the devil vine. At the very least, she had at least gained something from this.
She wouldn't be able to keep resisting the poisonous gas and the countless vines around her. When Xiang Shaoyun was no longer visible, she exclaimed in astonishment, "Without me realizing it, he has actually grown to such a level. It is only a matter of time before he takes the number one spot on the Dragon Phoenix List."
Han Chenfei had always been a proud and arrogant individual. Few people could earn her respect. Even someone as outstanding as Huang Tianji was nothing to her. In her opinion, he had only reached such height with the help of his father. On the other hand, Xiang Shaoyun came from the grassroots and rose from nothing. His rise was much more captivating compared to the other freaks.
Without realizing it, an odd feeling surfaced in her heart. It distracted her momentarily, nearly causing her to be killed by the vines. She quickly retreated in panic.
Some other disciples were also trying to target the blood devil vine. They hadn't bothered earlier because they had all been attracted to the treasures. Now that they had gotten some time to think, they had naturally shifted their focus to the two plants that were treasures in their own right.
If they could kill the two plants, they would be able to reap great harvests. After all, even the severed vines and branches would grant them points. The more valuable parts of the two plants were also extremely useful for cultivators. It was clear how much one could earn from slaying them.
Near the immortal dead tree, a green figure was swiftly moving amid the branches, and it seemed like that person was about to be the one to harvest the most valuable part of the immortal dead tree.
Chapter 870: Harvesting the Devil Vine's Blood Heart
Xiang Shaoyun was still unaware of what was happening outside. Although the blood heart looked near, it was actually still quite far from him. Furthermore, there were many obstructions. He had to go through a lot of effort before he was able to reach the blood heart.
Looking at the blood heart that was the size of a regular stone, he noted that it was surrounded by numerous roots that looked more like the meridians of a human body. The red blood heart throbbed every now and then, and its immediate surroundings were filled with life force. It gave rise to an urge within Xiang Shaoyun to immediately refine it.
With a burning look in his eyes, Xiang Shaoyun exclaimed, "The Soul Foundation Realm does not seem that far away anymore."
By obtaining the blood heart, he could rely on it to easily enter the Soul Foundation Realm upon reaching peak Emperor Realm. He was now a seventh-stage Dragon Ascension Realm cultivator, and his soul had grown to an unimaginable level. If it wasn't for the fact that his flesh was lagging behind, he could have already started forming his soul foundation.
Now was not the time to consider all that. Swinging the saint sword around, he cut off the vines around the blood heart before finally aiming at the roots. The moment he harvested the blood heart, the blood devil vine would die.
The blood devil vine knew this very well. It had already formed a low-level sentience and had the desire to survive. When it felt threatened, it started pulling back all its vines. At the same time, a massive amount of poisonous gas swept inward, not giving Xiang Shaoyun any chance to kill it.
The people at the outer perimeter were greatly puzzled when they saw that the vines were withdrawing instead of attacking them. As for Han Chenfei, the massive amount of retreating poisonous gas and vines forced her to retreat.
An unsightly expression covered her face as she muttered, "The devil vine is going to use its full power against the overlord."
She erupted with her full strength and started attacking the retreating vines. At the same time, she yelled to the others, "What are you waiting for? Work together and slay this devil vine!"
The crowd seemed to show her a great deal of respect and started attacking the vines en masse. Their motivation for doing so was for the sake of earning more points by cutting off more vines. That way, they would look better with a better ranking upon leaving the battleground.
However, with all the vines gathered together, their defensive prowess increased greatly. All the attacks were blocked, and the disciples failed to harm the vines no matter what they did. Only attacks at the Sovereign level could damage the vines.
However, the elite disciples with the combat prowess of a Sovereign weren't interested in getting involved. Some of the disciples were also distracted by the immortal dead tree as someone had leaked the rumor that one would obtain an energy called the immortal energy if one refined the tree's dead trunk. This proved fatally attractive, especially to the wood cultivators.
As the rumor spread, more and more disciples targeted the immortal dead tree, leaving Han Chenfei with no choice but to seek help from the Overlord Legion members.
Prior to this, Tang Longfei, Xuan Yuantian, and the others were brought into the gorge by Xiang Shaoyun. However, they were unable to resist the Devil Sovereign puppets and had long withdrawn from the gorge. Some of them were forced to leave the battleground during their struggle with the vines, but fortunately, a decent number of them still remained. They came together and started attacking the vines.
Rumble! Rumble!
A
ttack after attack landed on the blood devil vine's defensive barrier, the barrage reaching a level beyond the barrier's endurance. More importantly, Xiang Shaoyun was right beside its blood heart and had severed many of its roots. It relied on its roots to live, and their destruction played a part in the weakening of its defensive barrier.
Of course, Xiang Shaoyun was constantly attacked by the vines and poisonous gas, and he had several close calls with death. He was eventually forced to wear the halo he had received from the angels, protecting himself from the numerous vines' sneak attacks.
With the halo, he finally no longer needed to watch his back. He utilized the Dazzling Sky Sword Technique and cut through a large number of roots. With the Overlord Legion members attacking at the same time from the outside, the barrier started shrinking.
Finally, the blood heart was within Xiang Shaoyun's reach. He cleaned the roots around it before plucking the heart and putting it into his astral cosmos sea. The instant the heart was plucked, the plant rapidly lost strength. Its many vines weakened and could no longer deal much damage.
Xiang Shaoyun then swiftly harvested even more of the roots around him before spreading his senses outward. When he noticed the Overlord Legion members madly attacking, he cried out, "Brothers and sisters, stop. I'm coming out!"
The Overlord Legion members hurriedly stopped attacking, giving Xiang Shaoyun a chance to blast a path out. By the time Xiang Shaoyun reappeared outside, the blood devil vine had died.
After all, the essence of its life was concentrated in the blood heart. It could still survive without the heart, but with its roots cut off as well, it had no hope of surviving. Perhaps a new blood devil vine would grow here again after an extended period of time.
However, Xiang Shaoyun did not intend to give the blood devil vine a second chance at life. He commanded the Overlord Legion members, "There are still a lot of roots down there. Go harvest them all, but watch out for the poison."