Chapter 40: Late Stage Core Formation Monster
"Lin Yuan! Get out here and answer for your actions against the Xu Clan!"
The voice echoed like a clap of thunder, rattling the very foundations of the courtyard. Even muffled by the barrier, the sheer, oppressive malice contained within the shout caused the walls of the house to groan in protest.
Inside, the serene, melancholic atmosphere was instantly shattered.
Bai Chen’s face drained of all color, his hand instinctively flying to the hilt of his sword. Beside him, Bai Qingyue gasped, her delicate fingers freezing over the strings of her zither.
The two of them immediately understood the gravity of the situation.
The Xu Clan!
In the vast Azure Cloud City, millions of cultivators and mortals were ruled by a delicate balance of power held by the Three Great Clans: the Bai Clan, the Wang Clan, and the Xu Clan. They were the absolute apex of the region. To offend one of them was to invite the wrath of a behemoth that controlled countless resources. Lin Yuan had spared Xu Tianyang three weeks ago, but a clan of such immense pride would never allow the crippling of their Dao protector to go unpunished. They had tracked him down.
"Stay inside the main hall, Cousin!" Bai Chen ordered, his voice tight with adrenaline.
Without waiting for her reply, the young man bolted from the porch and sprinted to the edge of the courtyard. Through the barrier, he looked up into the sky just above the alleyway.
Hovering in the air, riding upon flying swords and a gilded war-chariot pulled by spirit beasts, were six figures.
Five of them were elderly men, dressed in the robes of the Xu Clan’s inner circle. Standing at the forefront of the war-chariot was a young woman.
She was dressed in extravagant, flowing silks, her face heavily powdered and her chin tilted upward at an angle that screamed absolute entitlement. This was a young miss of the Xu Clan’s main branch.
As the arrogant and annoying young miss looked down through the barrier, her sharp, disdainful gaze locked onto Bai Chen. She immediately recognized the standard-issue uniform of a Bai Clan disciple. Her heavily painted lips curled into a mocking sneer.
"A dog of the Bai Clan?" the young miss spat, her voice dripping with arrogance. "I heard rumors that the crippled First Miss of your clan was exiled to this filthy slum, but I didn’t think the Bai Clan would actually sink this low! You and your disgraced cousin shouldn’t be involved with a wretched low-life who dares to strike the Xu Clan! That outer-city rat dared to cripple the Dao protector of the Xu Clan’s young master, who happens to be my senior brother!"
She crossed her arms, her eyes flashing with cruel delight. "Hand over Lin Yuan and the crippled woman immediately, and perhaps we will leave your corpse intact!"
Bai Chen ignored her screeching insults. His heart was hammering wildly against his ribs, not because of the young miss, but because of the five elderly men standing behind her.
Using his senses, Bai Chen carefully analyzed their auras. The moment his perception brushed against them, he felt as though a massive mountain had been dropped onto his chest. He staggered backward, fighting the urge to fall to his knees.
They were all Core Formation experts!
His terrified gaze swept over them. The three elders flanking the young miss possessed auras that were deep and terrifying, standing firmly at the mid-stage of Core Formation. But the two elders standing at the rear, their eyes closed in silent, arrogant meditation, were entirely different monsters. Their spiritual pressure distorted the very air around them, radiating the suffocating density of late stage of Core Formation!
Such powerhouses! Bai Chen screamed internally, cold sweat instantly soaking his robes.
To dispatch three mid-stage and two late-stage Core Formation experts for a single outer-city hit... the Xu Clan wasn’t just seeking revenge; they were seeking absolute annihilation.
"The rat hides behind a turtle shell," one of the mid-stage elders sneered, looking at the barrier. "Break it."
The three mid-stage elders simultaneously unleashed a barrage of blazing fireballs, sword qi, and heavy handprints. The attacks crashed into the Barrier like a meteor shower. The Rain Blade hovering high above the house hummed loudly, rippling to absorb and neutralize the destructive force.
For several moments, the barrier held strong. But a formation, no matter how strong it was, could only stand for so long.
Seeing that the mid-stage elders were failing to breach the dome quickly, one of the late-stage Core Formation experts finally opened his eyes. He let out a cold, dismissive snort and stepped off his flying sword, floating down to stand directly in front of the barrier.
"A decent array, but ultimately futile," the late-stage elder declared.
He raised his right hand, his palm glowing with a terrifying white light.
BANG!
The elder delivered a devastating palm strike directly to the dome. The entire courtyard violently shook. The Rain Blade above let out a shrill.
BANG!
The second palm strike fell. A massive, spider-web fracture appeared on the surface of the barrier.
BANG! BANG!
The third and fourth strikes hit in rapid succession. The azure light flickered violently, the rain blade struggling to mend the massive tears in the structure. The late-stage elder possessed too much brute force, his spiritual energy completely overpowering the barrier.
"Shatter," the elder commanded.
BOOM!
The fifth palm strike landed with the force of a falling meteor.
The dome exploded into a million dissipating shards of light. The Rain Blade, entirely depleted of its energy, lost its glow and plummeted from the sky, embedding itself deeply into the mud of the courtyard. The absolute defense had been broken.
The suffocating pressure of five Core Formation experts immediately crashed into the courtyard.
Bai Chen was forced to one knee, the sheer spiritual weight threatening to crush his body. But as the late-stage elder took a step forward, his eyes locking onto the main hall where Bai Qingyue was hiding, Bai Chen clenched his fists.
He remembered the vow he had made to Lin Yuan. I swear upon my soul! Even if the heavens fall and the earth shatters, I will not let a single speck of dust harm her!
With a furious roar, Bai Chen forced himself to his feet. He ignited every single drop of his 9th level Qi Condensation cultivation, wrapped both hands around his sword, and lunged directly at the late-stage Core Formation elder.
"I will kill you!" Bai Chen screamed, swinging his blade with everything he had.
The late-stage elder didn’t even blink. He looked at the charging youth with the absolute boredom of a man swatting a mildly annoying fly.
"Ignorant ant," the elder scoffed.
The elder casually raised his hand, and merely flicked his fingers against the flat of Bai Chen’s descending blade.
CLANG!
The sword shattered into a dozen pieces. The recoil was instantly transferred into Bai Chen’s body.
SNAP!
A sickening crunch echoed through the courtyard as Bai Chen’s sword-wielding arm was effortlessly broken. The bone jutted out at a horrifying angle. Before the young man could even scream in agony, the elder casually backhanded him. Bai Chen was tossed away like a broken ragdoll, flying through the air and crashing violently through the wooden railing of the porch, entirely incapacitated.
"Now," the late-stage elder said coldly, stepping over Bai Chen’s bleeding body. "Drag the woman out."
But the elder never took a second step.
Because at that exact moment, miles away on a distant mountain peak, Lin Yuan successfully solidified his Golden Core, crossing the great chasm into the Core Formation realm.
And the moment he broke through, something else did.
The sky above the courtyard abruptly turned pitch black.
The arrogant young miss and the other four elders looked up in sudden shock.
High above the rooftop, the Eye of Heavenly Retribution tore open the void. Previously, because its power had been limited to the Foundation Establishment Realm, the Xu Clan elders remained unaffected despite their overwhelming killing intent. But now, empowered by Lin Yuan’s breakthrough into the Core Formation Realm, the colossal eye had grown several times larger, radiating an aura that dripped with the terrifying intent of absolute death. Its limit had been shattered, and its judgment now extended to all cultivators at or below the Core Formation Realm!
The pupil of the giant eye instantly locked onto the late-stage elder standing in the courtyard. The elder was radiating killing intent toward Bai Qingyue. The condition for execution was met.
"What is—" the late-stage elder began, a sudden terror gripping his heart as he looked up.
He didn’t even have time to take any further action.
CRACKLE!
A bolt of black lightning shot from the giant eye. It descended with the speed of thought, bypassing all physical laws. It struck the late-stage Core Formation elder directly in the crown of his head.
The black lightning struck his Sea of Consciousness. The elder’s eyes rolled back into his head, his terrifying aura instantly evaporating into nothingness. His soul was completely annihilated in a fraction of a breath.
With a heavy thud, one of the powerhouses of the Xu Clan collapsed face-first, dead before his body even hit the ground.