White and gray rain ran down the shaft of Liang Chen's spear, dripping down the maw-shaped spearhead like drool, hungering for the blood of his enemies. For a short moment, the only sound to be heard within the city was the roar of countless bolts of lightning tearing apart the heavenly tribulation, Liang Chen and Yu Jiang silently staring at each other, measuring each other.
The starting shot for the battle was not fired by Liang Chen or Yu Jiang, it was fired by the heavenly tribulation that tried to end Liang Chen. The earth beneath the bone scaffolding rapidly rose up into a thick pillar shaped like an arrow, piercing through the scaffolding directly beneath Liang Chen.
Liang Chen lightly kicked off the scaffolding the moment the pillar of earth started to rise, his body shooting to the side like a blur. Contrary to what Yu Jiang and the others expected, Liang Chen didn't go directly for Yu Jiang, his first targets were the two Soaring Immortal realm junior disciples that Yu Jiang had brought along.
He arrived right in front of the black-haired and brown-eyed man that had pierced his sword through Liang Chen's abdomen earlier. Liang Chen's eyes were cold and emotionless as his spear swept out, the man hastily raising his right arm and creating a two-layered shield of metal and wood in front of the incoming attack.
But as the spear made contact with the shield, the man's eyes opened wide in shock, the shield simply started to dissipate, unable to even slow the spear. It was a hastily put together defense, Liang Chen had moved too fast for the man to put up anything more than that. As such, he didn't have enough control over the energy in the shield, once the time of the Qi within it started to flow at different speeds, he was unable to adjust in time and the shield ended up falling apart.
The tip of Liang Chen's spear cut through the torso of the man, another strange scene taking place. The man's lower body started to age at a rapid pace once it was cut, his clothes drying up and turning to dust as his skin started to wrinkle and sag. His upper body, however, was the exact opposite, it seemed to completely freeze after being severed from his lower body. The upper body hung in the air for half a second, not even bleeding, when time suddenly seemed to resume for it, blood pouring out of the cut as it fell to the ground with a dull thud.
Liang Chen glanced at the tip of his spear, his cold eyes not allowing anyone to read his thoughts. His attack just now had produced a rather spectacular scene, but it was actually just a different application of what he used to pierce through the man's shield, he had simply had time around the tip of his spear flow at different speeds, making it harder for the man to defend against the attack once the energy invaded him. It was just a stroke of inspiration he got when he blocked the first attack of the heavenly tribulation, but it proved quite effective.
Liang Chen suddenly took a step back, an invisible arrow whizzing past his face and crashing into a building, causing it to twist and distort into a mangled mess. Liang Chen turned his head to the side, glancing at the woman that had fired the arrow, one of the two newly advanced Primordial Immortals that Yu Jiang had brought along.
The woman quickly nocked another arrow, invisible energy gathering in her hand and transferring to the bow-string. Looking at how red and bloodshot her eyes were, it seemed like the man he had just killed had been very dear to her. The woman let the arrow fly, but Liang Chen didn't make any moves to dodge it, he simpled raised his spear and slammed it down in an overhead smash.
Yu Jiang and the three others frowned at Liang Chen's move, he had unleashed it far too early for it to block the arrow. Yu Jiang suddenly hazarded a guess at what Liang Chen was planning, his eyes raising slightly and then shooting open wide as he shouted out and charged forward.
"Change the path! Move the arrow!"
Before anyone had time to react, the tip of Liang Chen's spear clashed with a javelin of ice sent down by the heavenly tribulation. But the javelin didn't shatter under the tip of the spear, Liang Chen had hit it on the tip with just enough force to change the angle and direction of the javelin, causing it to fly forward and collide with the arrow that was aimed at him.
A thunderous roar erupted from the remaining blue clouds as the javelin hit the arrow and shattered, a drizzle of rain falling down from the clouds. The water felt like razor-sharp knives as it landed on Liang Chen, cutting through his robe and leaving long bloody scars on his body. But the rain didn't just land on him, it also landed on the woman that had fired the arrow, cutting through her flesh far worse than when it hit Liang Chen's strong body. By destroying a part of the tribulation, she was considered to have interfered and would now be targeted by the tribulation alongside Liang Chen.
Liang Chen moved his spear slightly, ignoring the two other junior disciples that were coming at him, the tip of his spear pointing directly at Yu Jiang. A multitude of lightning bolts rained down from the black clouds that tore through half of the heavenly tribulation, raining down on Yu Jiang and forcing him to halt his charge to defend. Gray and white drops of rain were mixed in with the lightning, as were sharp blades of wind and drops of rain mixed with the law of poison and death.
Yu Jiang could only grit his teeth and temporarily defend against the attack, he knew that it would only last for a few moments at best. Liang Chen continued to temporarily ignore the two incoming people, his gaze remaining on Yu Jiang as he spoke.
"You wanted me to watch as you stole her from me, so you just sit there and watch as I steal them from you."
Liang Chen finally moved his gaze away from Yu Jiang and turned his attention to the two attacking people, which were already right beside him and launched their attacks. The girl who fired the arrow was busy defending against the attacks from the tribulation, so she was unable to join in on the fray.
Liang Chen took a step back just as the earth beneath him rose into another arrow-shaped pillar and then tilted his torso to the right just as several javelins of metal shot at him from behind, just barely missing him. With the addition of an extra person, the heavenly tribulation had increased its intensity a little.
The two attackers were aiming for this exact moment with their attacks, one of them aiming her sword at Liang Chen's legs while the other one angled her saber into an upward slash that aimed at Liang Chen's tilted torso. Liang Chen let go of his spear and calmly tilted his torso further to the side, stretching out his arm and actually grabbing onto the wrist that was holding the incoming saber.
He placed all his weight on the wrist and used it as a support to raise himself into a handstand, pushing down the incoming saber and dodging the sweeping sword that was coming for his legs at the same time. As his legs swung up and he moved into a handstand, he clamped his feet around one of the metal javelins that had soared past him half a second ago.
Once his legs were pointing straight into the air, he slammed them down onto the head of the woman whose wrist he was grabbing onto. The woman quickly moved her head to the side to dodge the attack, but the metal javelin clamped between Liang Chen's feet still ended up stabbing into her shoulder.
She quickly exerted all her strength and flung out her hand, throwing off Liang Chen and punching out with her other arm. But as her shoulder had just been stabbed by a metal javelin, her strength didn't have enough power to penetrate Liang Chen's defenses. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and blocked the punch, the blood within his arms becoming restless for a short second before he forced it to quiet down. He allowed himself to be flung backward by the attack, stuffing a pill into his mouth and muttering quietly.
"Descend."
The black clouds released a deafening roar and unleashed countless bolts of lightning that pelted the area in front of Liang Chen. The most consuming part of summoning and attacking with lightning wasn't the creation part, it was controlling the violent lightning and having it strike where you wanted it to. But with the metal javelin stuck in the shoulder of the girl, Liang Chen didn't have to control and aim his lightning, he could just unleash it at full force, it would find its way to her on its own.
He heard a shrill scream mix in with the roar of lightning, but several javelins of ice and metal descending from the sky, along with several pillars of earth rising up beneath him, forced him to focus on dodging rather than check the damage he did. He spun his body in the air and kicked off several platforms of hardened air to continuously change his position to dodge the attacks, eventually landing on the ground.
He stretched out his right arm, the spear he dropped earlier turning into a puddle of blood before flying over to him and reforming in his grasp. The bolts of lightning were already dying down, allowing Liang Chen to check up on the state of the two women. The one who had suffered the brunt of everything was the green-haired woman who had the javelin stabbed into her shoulder, her entire left arm had been torn off by the shoulder thanks to the force of the lightning. Arcing burns spread across the rest of her body, her skin charred black and cracked as blood leaked out.
The other woman was better off, but her robe and some of her skin was still scorched thanks to the fact that she had been so close to the lightning. The lightning had also torn their defenses open, allowing the gray and white rain to land on them, the touched skin slowly turning gray and lifeless, the affected area spreading on its own.
Liang Chen didn't even wait for the lightning to stop, he grabbed onto the shaft of his spear and pulled his arm back, gathering all his might into it and throwing the spear forward, a quiet mutter ringing out within his mind.
"First step shatters the body."
As he threw the spear, Liang Chen also tapped into his new Dragon Lotus, drawing out a sliver of the power that came with the new bloodline. He didn't know exactly what law he got along with the bloodline, but thanks to the instincts within the bloodline, he knew a little on how to control it.
The spear broke the speed of sound with a thunderous roar, a shockwave spreading out around it and cracking the earth. The spear reached the wounded woman, who was still reeling from the pain and was thus not able to react properly in time. The spear made contact with her abdomen, and then simply passed through her and continued flying into the distance for a bit.
There was a hole in her chest where the spear had pierced her, but no blood poured forth from it. Even stranger, the areas touched by the gray and white rain started to vanish once his spear passed through her, more and more chunks of her body vanishing. It was like she was getting eaten by an invisible beast, her expression frozen in abject horror as she looked at her own body disappearing.
In less than two seconds, her entire body had vanished, not even leaving behind a drop of blood or trace of Qi. Liang Chen wasn't the only one surprised by the result, Yu Jiang and the other two were also completely shocked. Liang Chen quickly shook himself out of his surprise, his eyes drifting to the side for a short moment before he waved his hand.
As he waved his hand, some of the air in the distance hardened and created a shield above a woman and her son that had been slower to flee from the scene, blocking a wayward bolt of lightning that was about to hit them. Liang Chen wasn't the type to lose himself to his rage, it would only sharpen him further, concentrate his mind, he hadn't forgotten who he was and what morals he had.
The two people looked at the hardened air in surprise for a bit before glancing at Liang Chen, the mother quickly gave Liang Chen a terrified bow before continuing to flee, pulling her son away as quickly as she could. After finishing his side business, Liang Chen returned his gaze to the still shocked woman and took advantage of her shock.
He dashed forward as fast as he could, dodging a few javelins of ice and metal as he ran. He quickly reached the front of the woman and aimed a punch at her chest, his fist almost moving faster than the eye could see thanks to the law of time. He also slowed down time around the woman's head while punching out, slowing her reaction to a point where she could only cross her arms in front of her chest to block the attack.
Liang Chen opened his fist just as he was about to reach her blocked arms, grabbing a hold of her arm and clenching it so hard that her wrist shattered. He cultivated not only his Qi, but also his body and his soul, this woman might have reached the Primordial Immortal realm in Qi, but her body was weaker than his.
Liang Chen quickly raised his knee and slammed it into her stomach, lifting her into the air and knocking not only the wind out of her, but also the contents of her stomach. He flung his arm upwards to lift her higher into the air and then slammed her down into the ground with all his might, shattering the earth. He raised her up and slammed her down repeatedly, flinging her around like a sack of potatoes while occasionally kicking her in the head while she was down, making sure that she was too disoriented to muster up a counter attack.
Liang Chen had been able to kill Qian Liao, who was at the peak of the early stage of the Primordial Immortal realm, he was also considered strong even among other early-stage Primordial Immortals. Compared to him, these people who had just entered the Primordial Immortal realm were nothing. Of course, Liang Chen knew that they would be dangerous if they ganged up on him, which was why he focused on taking them out one by one.
Liang Chen slammed the woman down onto the ground once more, but she seemed to have become able to somewhat endure the pain by now. She slashed out with her sword, actually cutting off her own wrist so that Liang Chen was able to lift her up once more. She then quickly sprung up from the ground and jumped a few steps back to put some distance between herself and Liang Chen. She glared at him with bloodshot and bloody eyes, letting out a deep breath that was quickly caught in her throat.
She turned her gaze downward with somewhat jerky movements, the maw-like tip of Liang Chen's spear protruding from her chest. Liang Chen hadn't called back his spear after throwing it out, but now that she had escaped his grasp he decided to use a strong wind to propel his spear through the air and back to him. And standing between him and the spear was the woman, who was promptly pierced by the merciless tip of the spear.
"Yo..."
The woman opened her mouth to utter a few words, but Liang Chen merely flicked his finger and had the spear unleash a torrent of poison into the woman, her soul rotting away without resistance and causing her to fall to the ground. Liang Chen stretched out his arm, the spear turning into a puddle of blood and flying back to him once more.
With the spear in his grasp again, he turned to look at the woman who was still doing her best to defend against the heavenly tribulation. She wasn't as freakish as Liang Chen, she couldn't evade and defend against the tribulation as easily as he could, her body already riddled with injuries.
She could feel Liang Chen's cold gaze land on her, raising her head to look at him. She knew that asking for forgiveness here was pointless, begging was also pointless at this stage, she knew that their actions had already made them mortal enemies. As such, she chose her final words to be ones of defiance rather than pleading ones.
"Someone like you will never be accepted by the universe, I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to converse once we meet again in hell."
Liang Chen didn't bother responding to her words of defiance, hefting his spear and throwing it once more. The woman had to defend against the tribulation, so the spear was able to tear through her chest with a crackle of lightning, roasting her flesh and reaping her life. Liang Chen recalled the spear once more and finally turned his attention to Yu Jiang, who was just about to finish dealing with all the attacks that Liang Chen had sent his way to prevent him from moving. Yu Jiang grit his teeth as he surveyed the scene, his expression grim as he looked at Liang Chen.
"I see why Venerable Master wanted you dead so badly, you truly are a monster in human form. Tell me, do you think saving those two people made you any less of a monster?"
Liang Chen remained cold in the face of Yu Jiang's taunts, his spear raising to once again point its tip at him. He glanced at the ruined city center around him, he had grown up here, and now he had been the one to destroy it. He took his eyes off the destruction and returned his gaze to Yu Jiang, the energy within his body starting to seethe and roar.
"You're right, I am a monster, I have always been a monster of wrath. But know this, you are the ones who unleashed me, and now you will suffer the punishment for that sin."