"What's going on?"
Suddenly, Jiang Li felt his body become lighter."Was the array in the Gongyuan broken?"
Although he didn't know what was happening outside, he subconsciously mobilized his spiritual power and opened a protective shield for himself.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Even louder explosions rang out one after another.
The moment Jiang Li looked up, he sensed a powerful energy surging towards him from a distance.
After a wave of impact, a fire wave swept over immediately.
It directly blew off the roofs on all four sides of the examination room where he was. He saw...
In the southeast direction, a ball of sparks exploded, and thick black smoke billowed.
The examination rooms made of wooden frames were shattered, and a large number of debris flew around, mixed with human body parts.
The Gongyuan seemed to have pressed the pause button at this moment and then quickly started up again.
Screams and wails lingered all around.
Bang!
Just as Jiang Li stood up, he was hit by a huge force, and his whole body crashed through the wooden board at the back of the examination room and flew backward.
Propping himself up, he saw a damaged human head in front of him. There were still blood vessels and shreds of flesh hanging from the neck. The hair had been burned off, and there was only horror in the eyes. Obviously, this person had been right in the center of the explosion.
Jiang Li still looked a bit dazed.
He raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and shook his buzzing head.
A huge explosion had occurred at the provincial examination venue! Such a thing had never happened in the entire history of the Great Han Dynasty, yet he had encountered it today.
"Help... Help..."
Not far away from him, a moan came.
The voice wasn't very clear. Jiang Li mechanically turned his head and saw a young man.
The young man was lying on his side on the ground, with a wooden board piercing through his chest.
"Help me..."
Just as Jiang Li was about to step forward to lend a hand, he saw that the lower half of the young man's body was gone. The scene of his intestines spilling out was truly tragic.
[It's... too late to save him.]
Fortunately, the array in the Gongyuan had been broken, allowing him to have spiritual power protection. Otherwise, those flying wooden spikes would have easily pierced through him as well.
People without cultivation were as fragile as ants... Just like how I used to be.
Although Jiang Li had opened the protective shield in time to protect his heart meridian, he was still injured by the powerful energy of the explosion just now.
"Jiang Zhenting!!!"
A shrill roar echoed throughout the Gongyuan.
Immediately after that, another powerful wave of air was stirred up. Jiang Li stabilized his body, and the examinee who had just called for help was blown away to an unknown place.
Jiang Li looked up.
In the midst of the raging fire and thick smoke, there seemed to be an inexplicable purple light bursting out.
Even though it was obscured by the thick fog, he could vaguely make out that it was a person.
Hovering alone in mid-air, Jiang Li knew clearly that the minimum requirement for being able to fly in the air was to be a Martial King. Moreover, judging from this imposing manner, this person was going to deal with Jiang Zhenting.
"To think that you, the esteemed Ling Xiao, would kill so indiscriminately. Is this the path you've cultivated after years of meditation?"
Jiang Zhenting flew up to meet him, with his hands clasped behind his back and said casually.
"Indiscriminate killing? Are you even qualified to say these two words?" The corner of Ling Zuo's mouth curled into a sarcastic smile, but his eyes, which were as bright as stars, had gradually turned cold.
Jiang Zhenting raised his hand and waved it, blowing away the thick smoke. He looked at Ling Zuo indifferently and said,"Are mere ants even worth your attention?"
While he was speaking, the grand array around them was set up again, completely isolating them from the outside world.
Ling Zuo's expression didn't change. He pulled with both hands, and a fierce blade burning with black flames took shape in his palm.
"You haven't changed at all from before. You're a scoundrel who grew up by sucking the blood of the Xuandu Temple!"
Black flames suddenly rose from Ling Zuo's body.
They burned fiercely, as if they were stretching out their claws.
This caused the surrounding space to distort slightly.
At the age of eighteen, with this technique of setting the prairie ablaze, he had burned thousands of enemy generals to death and struck fear into the hearts of people in the border regions!
Jiang Li was lying on the ground, constantly shocked in his heart.
[The Ling Xiao Venerable was a top figure thirty years ago. He used to be the Marquis of Zhenbei in the Great Han Dynasty and a mighty Martial Venerable. However, later there were rumors that he had colluded with the enemy, which led to the Great Han Dynasty's pursuit of him. His life or death was unknown. Now he unexpectedly showed up here, and clearly had a feud with his own father, and it also involved the Xuandu Temple!]
Jiang Zhenting, on the contrary, said casually,"So many years have passed, yet you're still a Venerable. You really are lacking in ambition."
Ling Zuo soared into the sky, his long hair flying in the wind, his momentum fierce. With one hand forming a spell and the other waving the blade, he instantly flashed in front of Jiang Zhenting and slashed straight at his forehead.
But the blade halted in front of Jiang Zhenting and was actually blocked by Jiang Zhenting with just one hand.
The hot stream of black flames was diverted to both sides and flowed downward. Many of the scholars below had nowhere to hide and were directly swallowed up by the black flames without even having a chance to let out a scream.
Even Jiang Li could only do his best to flee into the distance. The red waves spread to half of the Gongyuan in the blink of an eye, creating a sea of fire.
The veins on Ling Zuo's forehead bulged, and his expression was solemn.
Jiang Zhenting pushed against the black-flamed blade, his long hair moving without wind."Ling Zuo, if you surrender now, I can still leave your body intact."
After saying that, the white light emerging from his fingertips grew even stronger, like a small, blazing sun, with a dazzling light.
As Jiang Zhenting gave a gentle push, the white light rushed along the black-flamed blade and suddenly counterattacked towards Ling Zuo.
Ling Zuo only felt an irresistible force surging towards him. With no way to avoid it, his figure rapidly retreated backward. He flipped several somersaults in the air before barely dissipating the impact force.
Even so, his arms were still numbed by the shock, and his chest felt a rush of surging blood.
"Stubborn! I'll arrest you on behalf of the Emperor!"
"Hah, you and that Xuanyuan Tian are just birds of a feather. How dare you say such things!"
Intense black flames instantly burst out from his body and spread in all directions. Everything along the way was turned into ashes.
Ling Zuo's expression was frenzied, and his emotions were intense. Obviously, he had already lost his sanity.
"The hatred that fills the sky and the sea will never cease even if I die!"
During the great battle at the Xuandu Temple, he seemed to hear the mournful voices of thousands of Taoist disciples.
It was also as if he saw his bosom friends in the raging fire... as if they were saying something to him.
Ling Zuo laughed loudly, laughing until tears flowed from his eyes, but the tears were instantly dried up by the heat.
[This is... Body Combustion!]
Jiang Li had read about this in books before. There used to be a cultivation method that allowed cultivators to obtain an extreme boost by burning their own souls, spiritual power, and bodies, but it also had irreversible side effects.
Whichever part is burned will be lost forever. The most serious consequence is related to the body. This technique can only be used once in a lifetime, and after using it, the user will surely become a cripple. What is burned are the meridians in the body.
Therefore, this cultivation method was listed as an evil technique and had already been lost. Unexpectedly, someone was able to perform it now.
Ling Zuo in such a state was clearly burning everything and merging himself into the fire.
"Who can kill me! Who dares to kill me!"
At this moment, Ling Zuo's aura had already climbed to the peak of Martial Venerable.
In his eyes burning with black flames, finally all emotions disappeared, and only the coldest killing intent remained, which was fixed on Jiang Zhenting.
"Die!"
Ling Zuo let out a heaven-shaking roar. Jiang Li's eardrums burst instantly, blood flowing out, and he fell to the ground once again.
Some of the weaker scholars had their heads explode on the spot and died completely.
At this time, a cold light flashed by.
Jiang Li just caught a glimpse of it from the corner of his eye, and he had an illusion that his eyes were being cut!
It was so sharp!
There was no time to explore further because in just the instant that he saw it, the cold light had already rushed to Ling Zuo's front and circled around him!
Ling Zuo's roar came to an abrupt halt.
"Stop your incessant noise."
Jiang Zhenting was floating in mid-air. He waved his hand, and his voice was so flat that there wasn't the slightest ripple of emotion.
Ling Zuo's head suddenly dropped and rolled on the ground for two rounds.
[Dead! A person at the peak of Martial Venerable died just like that! How powerful is Jiang Zhenting!]
Jiang Li was extremely shocked in his heart. How powerful had he become now, considering that he had already reached the peak of Martial Venerable more than ten years ago?
Jiang Zhenting casually waved his hand again, this time towards Ling Zuo's head, and it exploded on the spot.
He scattered Ling Zuo's spiritual soul and sent it flying in all directions. However, due to the surrounding grand array, the fragments of the spiritual soul could only wander around within the Gongyuan.
Jiang Zhenting opened his palm, and countless fragments of the remaining spiritual soul were sucked into his palm. With a tightening of his grip, they were completely turned into wisps of smoke.
However, Jiang Zhenting didn't know that one wisp of the spiritual soul had sneaked into Jiang Li's head, who had been watching the whole scene.
At this moment, Jiang Li felt as if a hundred people were trying to squeeze through a threshold that was only meant for one person at a time. Such a huge thing had suddenly rushed into his spiritual soul.
His eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
Several surviving scholars saw Jiang Zhenting killing the attacker and kowtowed to Jiang Zhenting, who was floating in mid-air, saying:
"Lord Jiang Guo is mighty! Thank you, Lord Jiang Guo, for coming to..."
Before they could finish their words, they turned into a pile of fine powder.
Jiang Zhenting looked coldly at the scene below. He released his spiritual soul to sense the remaining survivors and killed them all.
When he saw Jiang Li, who was in a sorry state, he just snorted coldly and flew past, and then removed the seal around the area.
Soon, a large number of guards rushed over to this place and were shocked by the scene in front of them.
Half of the Gongyuan had been razed to the ground, leaving only a ground full of broken limbs and severed arms.