Chapter 270 - 268: Victory
Watching Zuo Tianyuan’s head roll to the ground, Chen Yuan couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief.
With people blessed by destiny like him, it was best to watch them die with his own eyes, to make absolutely sure they were gone. Only then could he feel at ease.
’In the original storyline, this man would have eventually reached the Martial Dao Ninth Realm Celestial Profound.’
The Alliance Leader of the Nine Swords Alliance, a man who would have one day replaced Zhenwu Hall to rule Ning Province, a master of social maneuvering and political scheming, had finally been cut down by Chen Yuan while still in the Primordial Pill Realm.
It sounded strange, but that’s what Chen Yuan had just done: snuffed out a Grandmaster of the Primordial Pill Realm.
In truth, Zuo Tianyuan’s loss was somewhat undeserved.
Strictly speaking, he didn’t lose to Chen Yuan, but to Xu Baiwei.
The power within the Demon-Drinking Saber had been personally infused into it by Xu Baiwei, a Grandmaster of the Divine Platform Realm.
And, afraid that it wouldn’t be enough for her son, she had frantically compressed the power when she infused the Demonic Qi, even compressing the Demonic Qi to its absolute limit.
With such terrifying power suddenly erupting, how could Zuo Tianyuan possibly have withstood it?
After testing the Demon-Drinking Saber today, however, Chen Yuan couldn’t help but feel that Xu Baiwei was also responsible for Xu Tianhong’s death.
She doted on her son too much and didn’t trust him, so she had frantically compressed the Demonic Qi in the Demon-Drinking Saber.
But once this Demonic Qi power was compressed to its limit, someone with Xu Tianhong’s Cultivation Realm and power foundation simply couldn’t handle it.
The more Xu Baiwei compressed it, the less power Xu Tianhong could actually wield.
Only someone with Chen Yuan’s power foundation and physical strength could barely control the full force of Xu Baiwei’s compressed power. One could only imagine how little power Xu Tianhong could normally draw from the Demon-Drinking Saber—a tenth of it at most.
If Xu Baiwei had compressed the Demonic Qi power normally, Xu Tianhong might not have been able to use the Demon-Drinking Saber to its full potential, but he could have at least wielded an additional twenty or thirty percent of its power.
Not dwelling on these thoughts, Chen Yuan immediately grabbed a handful of Elixirs and shoved them into his mouth, quickly recovering his strength.
He turned his head and saw a rather gruesome scene.
The hundred or so men from the Murong Family were the elite of the elite.
Chen Yuan’s men had already fought an intense battle against the Nine Swords Alliance and the Vigorous Martial Army and were exhausted. Now, facing the Murong Family’s forces, they were being pushed back step by step.
Moreover, among this group from the Murong Family, several Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artists were armed with Star Shifting. A eunuch at the Condensing Truth Realm under Feng Tianbao was directly killed by a blast of power redirected by Star Shifting.
Fei Tiancheng from the Twelve Blade Halls was severely injured by Star Shifting, losing an arm. It was unlikely he would ever be able to use his Wind and Thunder Dual Sabers again.
As a result, Chen Yuan’s Martial Artists fought with even greater restraint.
If they struck with too much power, they feared their opponent would use Star Shifting to redirect the force back at them, which would just be asking for trouble.
But if they struck with too little power, they would be suppressed by their opponents, making the fight increasingly frustrating.
In fact, the way to break Star Shifting was simple: just overwhelm the opponent with absolute physical strength.
Star Shifting could only redirect True Qi Power, but it couldn’t redirect a simple punch.
But among the Martial Artists present, who could guarantee they could defeat an opponent relying on physical strength alone?
Not even Pei Zhan, his second-in-command with the most explosive power, could do it.
So, after recovering some of his strength, Chen Yuan attacked directly, lunging toward a Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artist from the Murong Family.
Seeing Chen Yuan charge, the man immediately prepared to use Star Shifting to redirect his attack at any moment.
But to everyone’s surprise, Chen Yuan didn’t even release his True Qi. Instead, he simply crushed the man to death with raw physical power!
This scene horrified the Murong Family Martial Artists who possessed Star Shifting, and they felt a wave of helplessness.
It was the first time they felt that the Murong Family’s Divine Artifact Incarnation wasn’t as powerful or useful as they had thought.
Meanwhile, when Murong Jing saw Chen Yuan slaughtering the disciples of the Murong Family, his expression changed drastically.
The Murong Family’s population wasn’t small. The Branch Families from outside had all returned, bringing a great number of people with them. Since the family made no distinction between the Side Branches and the Direct Lineage, there were as many as a hundred thousand people with Murong blood in all of Longcheng.
However, the bloodline belonging to Murong Jing’s Branch Family was not large, only a few hundred people. The hundred or so men here were all the elites of his branch, and he couldn’t afford to suffer such losses.
In that brief moment of distraction, Feng Tianbao suddenly let out a roar. A blinding golden light flared, and the battle intent from the Nine Dragon Spear surged as if to pierce the heavens. It tore directly through Murong Jing’s Protective True Qi and punched a bloody hole in his abdomen!
Murong Jing grunted, his face filled with horror. He quickly formed a Seal Technique with his hands, gathering True Qi to seal the wound.
’If I hadn’t shifted that half-inch, that spear would have directly shattered my Dantian and torn my Primordial Pill to pieces!’
Meanwhile, Feng Tianbao wasn’t in good shape either. Tiny cracks had appeared all over his body, but not a single drop of blood flowed out.
That was because the power of Nine Dragons Pressing Down was still active, its force barely holding his physical body together. Once that power dissipated, his entire body would surely shatter.
So Feng Tianbao had no more time to dally with Murong Jing. It was time to finish him off while he was wounded.
Dragons roared furiously from the Nine Dragon Spear, and the boundless golden light of the Dragon Vein blazed.
The spear thrust out—Nine Dragons Ascending to Heaven, an unstoppable advance!
A sharp glint appeared in Murong Jing’s eyes. This was the moment he had been waiting for!
A piece of Jade appeared in Murong Jing’s hand. He poured his Qi Blood into it, and in an instant, a dazzling cyan light bloomed before him.
Star Shifting!
The cyan light instantly swallowed the power of the nine dragons erupting from the spear thrust. The next moment, the same brilliant golden light shot straight back at Feng Tianbao!
Chen Yuan frowned slightly, wondering how Feng Tianbao would deal with this.
Feng Tianbao should have known the properties of Star Shifting, yet he still acted this way. Either he had a countermeasure prepared, or he had lost his cool in the heat of battle.
The next moment, a blinding golden light burst from Feng Tianbao’s body. Nine dragons circled him, and he actually absorbed the power that Star Shifting had redirected!
Chen Yuan suddenly realized what was happening. Feng Tianbao was using his own body as a vessel to absorb the reflected power!
Normally, once a power is unleashed, it’s unleashed. Just because you were the one who launched it doesn’t mean it won’t harm you.
But the power of the Dragon Vein was extremely special; it was a type of power born from heaven and earth.
Feng Tianbao, under the effect of Nine Dragons Pressing Down, could be considered a vessel for the Dragon Vein.
Therefore, the reflected Dragon Vein power would now return to him, its vessel. The process would, however, cause a certain amount of impact on his physical body.
But for Feng Tianbao, that was nothing he couldn’t handle.
Golden light enveloped his body as nine dragons howled. The cracks on Feng Tianbao’s body grew even larger.
But as if he didn’t feel a thing, he roared and thrust his spear out again. It was the same Nine Dragons Ascending to Heaven, but this time, it was even more powerful than before!
Murong Jing never imagined that the power of Star Shifting could be broken like this.
He formed a Seal Technique with his hands and frantically burned his Qi Blood.
But he already had a bloody hole in his abdomen, and Murong Jing’s Physical Cultivation was average. With that hole there, the moment he began to burn his Qi Blood, the wound burst open, and his Blood Qi began to spill out uncontrollably.
Just then, Feng Tianbao’s spear shot forth—Nine Dragons Ascending to Heaven, a soul-severing strike!
Murong Jing’s Protective True Qi was instantly torn apart. The spear pierced through his chest, killing him on the spot!
Feng Tianbao gasped for breath but didn’t pause for a moment. He pulled the Nine Dragon Spear from Murong Jing’s body, gathered the last shred of his strength, and hurled it straight at Wei Chaoge!
With Zuo Tianyuan and Murong Jing dead one after another, Wei Chaoge’s heart trembled. He never expected Feng Tianbao’s final attack to be aimed at him.
Wei Chaoge frantically swung his Stepping White Profound Spear to meet Feng Tianbao’s throw. But under that overwhelming force, his entire right arm was twisted and shattered, and the Stepping White Profound Spear was sent flying.
Seizing the opportunity, Duan Hengshan roared. His Horse-Cutting Saber came down like a mountain, shattering Wei Chaoge’s Protective True Qi and sending him flying over a hundred feet.
A huge dent appeared on Wei Chaoge’s chest Battle Armor. Even the bones in his chest were shattered, and he was vomiting mouthfuls of blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs.
Just as Duan Hengshan was about to cut down Wei Chaoge with a single slash, Feng Tianbao suddenly shouted, "Wait!"
A mouthful of blood sprayed from Feng Tianbao’s mouth, and his aura instantly plummeted to its lowest point. His entire body looked as if it had been subjected to death by a thousand cuts, covered in dense cracks from which blood gushed out madly. Chen Yuan even wondered if he would bleed to death.
But as the Steward of the Flying Dragon Institute, Feng Tianbao had deep pockets.
He took out a Healing Divine Pill and swallowed it. Instantly, a potent medicinal power filled his body, which had been on the verge of collapse, sealing his leaking Qi Blood.
Taking a breath, Feng Tianbao said in a low voice, "Wei Chaoge is crippled. I’m not sparing him today out of mercy. He made an unauthorized decision to give the Southern Borderlands to the Murong Family. A crime of this magnitude must be reviewed by the Ministry of Justice, not punished privately by me."
Duan Hengshan had already held back when Feng Tianbao shouted "Wait!"
In today’s battle, his Twelve Blade Halls were only after control of the Youning Border.
Now that the Nine Swords Alliance was gone, Qifeng Mountain would naturally fall to his Twelve Blade Halls. His objective had been achieved.
Therefore, whether Wei Chaoge lived or died didn’t matter to him.
Besides, if Feng Tianbao hadn’t suddenly erupted at the end to kill Murong Jing, they wouldn’t have won this battle.
Although Feng Tianbao was a eunuch, Duan Hengshan was very impressed with him at this moment. So he held back and let him take charge of the situation.
Then, Feng Tianbao turned his gaze to Chen Yuan. "Master Chen, may I take Wei Chaoge with me?"
Chen Yuan replied directly, "Steward Feng, you can decide for yourself."
Zuo Tianyuan was dead. His objective was achieved.
As for whether Wei Chaoge died, it didn’t really matter.
If the Vigorous Martial Army caused trouble in the future, the Imperial Secretariat would naturally handle it.
Besides, Wei Chaoge had truly crossed a major line this time. Even if he didn’t die now, there was no way he would survive after returning to the Court.