Chapter 348 - 185: Slaying the Celestial Bull, Meeting Senior Brother

’To suffer an unexpected defeat at the hands of these natives from the Celestial Essence Realm would be an unbearable humiliation.’

It wasn’t without precedent among the tens of thousands of worlds in the vast Cangwu Immortal Continent. There had been a Tribulation Cosmos Venerable who roamed the starry sky with a lifespan of ten thousand years. Relying on his Heaven-Reaching Cultivation, he had forcibly broken through a world’s World Power, entered its domain, and attempted to devour its World Origin. But in the end, he was ganged up on and killed by that world’s peak experts. His demise even ended up nourishing that world’s World Origin—a true laughingstock across the Immortal Continent!

’Since those wastes have fallen, I can only hope Blood Evil doesn’t disappoint me...’

To devour a world’s World Origin, he naturally wouldn’t bet everything on a single plan. He had, of course, arranged for multiple contingencies.

However, he had paid a great price to open a spatio-temporal passage and forcibly send in the Demon Fiends Xue Ying, Nether Tiger, and the others. It was fair to say his expectations had been high.

Logically, five Tongxuan Realm Demon Fiends hiding in such a secret location should have been extremely difficult to discover. Yet now, not only had they been found, but they had all been killed!

If Blood Evil also failed in the end, then he could only reconsider his plans.

...

「Celestial Essence Realm, Southern Wilderness, Silent Extinction Abyss」

High in the dim, shattered sky, Gu Yun’s white robes fluttered in the wind. He watched as the powerfully built Demon Fiend before him—the one with bull horns and eyes like bronze bells—finally perished.

At the same time, several lines of text scrolled across the Skill Level panel deep in his mind.

[You expertly utilized the Three Thousand Roaming Dragon Steps in battle. Body like a wandering dragon, fast as thunder. Three Thousand Roaming Dragon Steps Skill Level +2%.]

[You masterfully used the Divine Skill: Dragon Moving Nine Heavens in battle, annihilating the Void Celestial and crushing the firmament. Dragon Moving Nine Heavens Skill Level +1%.]

[You used the Eight Desolates Star Slash in fierce combat. Blade like a star, slashing across thousands. Eight Desolates Star Slash Skill Level +2%.]

...

Gu Yun hovered in the void, his Divine Thought spreading out to cover a radius of five hundred miles as he searched for any clues. His deep eyes gazed solemnly at the scarlet Barrier ahead, which enveloped an area of thousands of miles.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the Demon Fiend from just now must have escaped from within that Array Barrier.

’Why did it escape? Perhaps the two Tongxuan Realm experts inside were so powerful that the Demon Fiend was terrified and had no choice but to flee.’

Just as Gu Yun was lost in thought,

Inside the Array Barrier,

Amidst the shattered earth and beneath the scarlet sky, two figures hovered in the air.

Ye Xuantian’s gaze, as deep as a starry sky, swept across the scarlet Barrier, piercing through everything. He perceived five points of Blood Evil Qi, hidden within space, rotating ceaselessly and supporting the entire Array Barrier. ’The five nexuses are rotating. They must all be broken simultaneously to destroy the array!’

For an ordinary person, even finding the array eyes would be difficult, let alone destroying five nexuses hidden within the fabric of the world at the same time. But for him, it was nothing.

"Brother Ye, how is it?" Shen Qing asked from the side.

"Brother Shen, no need to worry. I am quite confident I can break it," Ye Xuantian said with a slight nod, a faint smile playing on his lips.

The next moment, Ye Xuantian circulated his Magical Power. A terrifying Dao Rhythm swirled around him, his robes fluttering and his long hair whipping wildly. A cold glint flashed in his eyes.

With a raise of his hand, five Magic Power Balls shot out in five different directions, whistling through the air with the sound of Powerful Qi. Like meteors from beyond the heavens, they tore through layers of space and hurtled violently toward the five array eyes hidden in the void!

"So strong!!"

’’As expected of Brother Ye! To possess such tyrannical might with Magical Power alone!’’ Shen Qing was inwardly astonished as he watched the Magic Power Balls Ye Xuantian had casually created, sensing a dangerous aura from them.

"BOOM!!"

In the next instant, the five meteor-like Magic Power Balls whistled through the air, shattering the sky as they slammed into the five Blood Evil Array Eyes hidden in the void. Five bursts of tyrannical power erupted, shattering space. The devastating shockwaves blasted outward in all directions!

CRACK! CRACK!

High in the sky, the scarlet Barrier that spanned thousands of miles suddenly tore open, covered in a spiderweb of cracks.

"BANG!!"

The next moment, the scarlet Barrier shattered!!

At the same time,

Gu Yun, who was hovering in the sky outside the Barrier, felt his pupils constrict.

’The Barrier was actually broken!’

He had launched several powerful attacks against it himself and failed to damage it in the slightest.

He had just been wondering how to get inside, and now the Barrier had shattered right before his eyes!!

"Hm?!"

"That’s...!!"

As the swirling dust in the void gradually settled, two figures radiating terrifying auras were revealed hovering in the sky. Gu Yun’s pupils shrank, a look of shock appearing on his face.

It was because one of the figures in the void ahead was someone he knew very well: the Profound Celestial Sect’s Senior Brother, Ye Xuantian.

"Senior Brother!" Gu Yun exclaimed, his voice filled with surprised delight.

"Hm?!" Ye Xuantian, hovering in the sky, seemed to hear something. His deep eyes focused ahead, and he saw a rather familiar figure floating before him. In a tone of utter surprise and disbelief, he said, "You... you’re Junior Brother Gu!"

Gu Yun smiled faintly and nodded.

"You...!!"

Sensing that Gu Yun had reached Tongxuan Realm Early Stage Cultivation and that his aura was so powerful it was probably not much weaker than Shen Qing’s,

Ye Xuantian’s deep pupils constricted, his face a mask of shock.

’This junior brother of mine... his talent is truly terrifying!’

"Junior Brother Gu," Ye Xuantian said, the surprise in his eyes still lingering as he laughed heartily. "It’s true what they say: seeing is believing! Those old masters’ assessment of you was far too low. Far, far too low."

"Senior Brother Ye, you praise me too much." Gu Yun replied with a smile. "Compared to you, Senior Brother, I am still far behind!"

He could feel the other’s unfathomably terrifying strength. The aura he exuded far surpassed that of any other Tongxuan Realm cultivator he had ever met.

’His strength is likely far above my own.’

"Brother Ye, is... is he the junior brother you were talking about?" Shen Qing stammered from the side, his face a picture of utter shock.

His gaze swept over the imposing Demon Fiend with bull horns and bronze-bell eyes. It was now completely dead, without a trace of life. That was a Demon Fiend even he would have had to take seriously, yet now it had fallen at this young man’s hands.

’Doesn’t that mean his strength is not inferior to my own?!’

’And looking at his aura, he’s only in the Tongxuan Realm Early Stage, yet his combat strength reaches the Tongxuan Late Stage? That’s Heaven-Defying!!’

"Yes," Ye Xuantian nodded.

"In his thirties?" Shen Qing asked again.

"In his thirties!" Ye Xuantian paused for a moment, then confirmed.

’Good heavens! As expected of disciples from the same Sect. They’re all monstrously talented geniuses!!’

’In his thirties... back then, I was probably still fumbling around in the True Essence Realm, yet this young man is already a True Monarch. The gap is just too wide.’

Ye Xuantian turned to look at Shen Qing, the shock on his face not yet faded. His eyes seemed to say, ’Brother Shen, I know you’re surprised, but so am I.’

"Junior Brother Gu, let me introduce you. This is Shen Qing, one of the Six Great Peak Masters of the Supreme Sword Sect," Ye Xuantian said to Gu Yun.

’The Supreme Sword Sect, one of the Three Top Sects of the Southern Wilderness.’

’No wonder he radiates such a terrifying Sword Intent.’

"Greetings, Elder Shen!"

After hearing his senior brother’s introduction, Gu Yun immediately saluted him with cupped fists.

But when Shen Qing heard this form of address, he grew flustered and quickly said:

"Fellow Daoist, please don’t call me Elder. I am unworthy of the title."

"How about this:

I am a few years your senior, so you can just call me Brother Shen."

’This man is a monstrously talented genius, and his strength is likely no less than my own. How could I dare let him call me Elder?’

’Besides, I’m not even two hundred years old yet. Within the eight-hundred-year lifespan of the Tongxuan Realm, I’m still considered part of the younger generation. What’s wrong with being called Brother Shen?’

"Brother Shen!

I have long heard of Brother Shen’s great renown,"

Gu Yun said with a smile. "They say, ’One sword’s frost chills nineteen continents; its Sword Intent sweeps across thirty thousand li.’ You are known as the First Sword of the Southern Wilderness.

It seems the rumors are true!"

"Oh, now!

Brother Gu, you’re exaggerating.

How could I, Shen, possess such Heaven-Reaching strength?" A wide smile Shen Qing couldn’t suppress spread across his face. He then said to Gu Yun, "But you, Brother Gu—your talent is supreme, one of the greatest I have ever seen in my life. It could be called unprecedented!"