Immortal Martial Emperor

The trial on the Path of Heart Refinement continued.

After the lesson taught by that Celestial Soul Realm powerhouse, the other restless experts became much more subdued.

No one wanted to be the next unfortunate soul slapped to death by the Gatekeeper Puppet.

Feeling utterly helpless, the vast majority had no choice but to continue following the Gatekeeper Puppet, running aimlessly down the endless Path of Heart Refinement.

Of course...

Some of the more cunning experts, while limited by their own talent and comprehension, hadn’t been able to grasp the mysteries of the Path of Heart Refinement from the Gatekeeper Puppet’s recent attack.

However, they picked up on the subtle clues from watching Yao Yueye and the other top experts enter a state of enlightenment.

So, one after another, they began to imitate them.

Of course, there were also those who were lost. Seeing no hope and finding no path to a breakthrough, they lost the motivation to persevere on the tedious, endless Path of Heart Refinement and dejectedly gave up on the trial.

Then there were the truly depraved experts. ’I have no hope,’ they thought, ’but I refuse to be eliminated in such a pathetic state.’

Darker thoughts began to take root in their minds.

In other words, on the Path of Heart Refinement, their Martial Arts Hearts were gradually led down a twisted and evil road!

’Damn it! With people like Yao Yueye around, I have no chance of becoming a True Dragon Genius. My fate is to be eliminated in the end anyway, but there’s no way in hell I’m giving up without getting anything out of this...’

This was a deranged madman from the Celestial Star Kingdom.

He cultivated an Evil Cultivation Technique called the *King Slayer Technique*, said to have been passed down by a legendary king of assassins from an evil path.

Ever since he started cultivating the *King Slayer Technique*, his cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds.

In just five short years, he had broken through from the Early-stage Earth Soul Realm to the Peak of the Celestial Soul Realm.

His cold, sharp gaze swept across the crowd, suddenly landing on Hong Yu.

A sinister, ghostly light flickered in his eyes. ’That guy... I hear he’s the captain from the Qin Kingdom? Rumor has it he killed a Primordial Core Realm expert, but it seems he used some kind of powerful Treasure to do it. A Treasure like that... he probably just got lucky and found it in some ancient ruins. Once it’s used, it’s gone for good.’

’But ancient ruins are full of valuables. This kid must have plenty of good stuff on him.’

He licked the corner of his mouth with a scarlet tongue, his eyes revealing a crazed, feverish glint as he stared intently at Hong Yu. ’I’ll risk it. The worst that can happen is I kill him and immediately withdraw from the Land of Trial. No matter how powerful the Qin Kingdom and the Guiyuan Sect are, they’re not going to hunt me down over a genius who’s already dead!’

At this thought, the man began to slowly close in on Hong Yu.

He drew closer and closer.

Hong Yu kept his eyes lightly closed. The vast majority of his Spiritual Power and attention were focused within his Shadow Martial Space, deconstructing the profound mysteries contained within every move the Gatekeeper Puppet had just executed.

The expert from the Celestial Star Kingdom was now only three meters away from Hong Yu.

’Hahaha, the heavens themselves are helping me! He’s actually meditating? Heheheh, kid, you brought this on yourself. Don’t blame me for what comes next!’

He chuckled sinisterly to himself.

The man was now only a meter and a half from Hong Yu.

Among the crowd, everyone was either deep in meditation or trudging along in a daze. No one noticed the faint, cold glint that appeared in his hand.

’Now!’

He pushed the *King Slayer Technique* to its absolute limit.

A Bloodthirsty light surged around him. In his palm, a dagger of ancient design glinted with a sinister cold light. As if sensing its master’s killing intent, it began to thrum with a greedy aura, unbearably eager to taste blood!

"Die!"

He thrust his arm forward, the dagger spitting a sharp, cold glint as it flew toward the spot on Hong Yu’s back that covered his heart.

A direct path to the heart!

He was very confident!

’With my strength at the Peak of the Celestial Soul Realm, even if my target is shielded by a powerful Body-Protecting Divine Technique, they can’t possibly block my assassination attempt at this range.’

「Inside the Shadow Martial Space...」

The shadow, having already transformed from a faint cyan to a murky bluish-brown, was practicing punches relentlessly.

The force of the punches was incredibly sharp.

But after each strike, the Fist Force would show signs of collapsing.

Hong Yu shook his head and gave a wry smile. ’As expected of the Path of Heart Refinement’s Gatekeeper Puppet. Such a simple punch contains such terrifying Profound Mysteries. It’s also an application of Vibrating Power, but the Gatekeeper Puppet’s mastery of it is worlds beyond my own!’

’Compared to it, my control over Vibrating Power is like a toddler’s fumbling attempt.’

Hong Yu continued using his Spiritual Power to drive the shadow.

Suddenly, his expression tightened as he sensed an approaching threat. ’An ambush?’

Though it takes time to describe, everything happened in an instant.

Hong Yu’s eyes snapped open.

He spun around and reflexively threw a punch...

In the past few hours, Hong Yu had already practiced punching tens of thousands of times within the Shadow Martial Space. This punch, thrown subconsciously, integrated all the insights he had gained there.

The punch seemed incredibly slow!

But a closer look would reveal a very subtle difference.

If the motion were slowed down tenfold, one would discover that the punch was actually made of overlapping layers.

To use a very concrete analogy:

Hong Yu’s punch was actually a combination of hundreds of punches.

As the first punch flew, the second, third, and fourth followed with virtually no interval, layering one on top of the other. This layering of fist-shadows was also a layering and sublimation of power.

The space in front of this punch also underwent a subtle change.

The extreme speed of the punch sent tremors through the air, causing ripples to appear in the space before it, like those from a stone dropped into a still well.

’Wh-what’s going on?’

The triumphant expression on the face of the expert, who had been so sure of his success in assassinating Hong Yu, suddenly froze solid.

For a brief moment, he found that his dagger and even his own body refused to obey his commands.

It felt as if some invisible, mysterious force had seized control of his body, preventing him from moving even an inch.

Although the binding force was weak, only immobilizing him for a third of a second, in a battle between masters, life and death are often decided in such fractions of a moment!

In that instant of hesitation, by the time he could react, he had already missed the optimal window for his assassination.

An iron fist suddenly filled his vision, expanding infinitely within his pupils!

"BAM!"

A single punch smashed viciously into the bridge of his nose.

"CRACK!"

An explosion of searing pain erupted from his nose.

"ARGHH!"

The expert from the Celestial Star Kingdom cried out in agony, but before he could react, another wave of Fist Force struck him.

One, two, three...

Hundreds of waves of Fist Force impacted him almost simultaneously. The mighty Celestial Soul Peak Powerhouse, like a ripe watermelon struck by a Heavy Hammer, burst apart with a BOOM. Red and white matter flew everywhere.

A headshot!

A genius expert at the Peak of the Celestial Soul Realm had his head blown clean off by a single, simple punch from Hong Yu!

"HISS!"

Blood splattered onto many of the surrounding experts.

Every person qualified to participate in this grand assembly was proud and arrogant. But this time... watching Hong Yu obliterate a Celestial Soul Peak Powerhouse with a single punch, the faces of the geniuses splattered with his blood began to twitch. They laughed nervously and quickly backed away from Hong Yu.

"Holy shit, a Celestial Soul Peak expert, head blown off in one punch? Is this guy at the True Dragon Level too?"

"They said Hong Yu had killed a Primordial Core Realm expert before. I didn’t believe it, thought it was an exaggeration. I believe it now!"

"Believe it? I more than believe it! Lord Hong Yu, please accept my knees! I’ll kneel to you right now!"

The other experts all shared the sentiment, looking as if they were about to prostrate themselves in worship.

Faced with the crowd’s fawning, Hong Yu felt nothing. He simply stared blankly at his own fist.

’It’s true that I already had the power to kill a Celestial Soul Peak Powerhouse!’

’But that was only by using all of my trump cards!’

’This last strike didn’t require any of my trump cards. Yes, my opponent was careless and underestimated me, but there’s no denying that the power of that punch was a massive improvement.’

’In fact, you could even say...’

’That punch was the strongest attack my physical body is currently capable of unleashing!’

’This feeling... That’s right, the Gatekeeper Puppet’s punch felt just like this! Hahaha, I get it! I finally get it...’

’So I’ve been wrong from the very beginning.’

’This isn’t how you’re supposed to use Vibrating Power at all! Hahaha, I finally understand!’

’Half an hour. I’m confident that in half an hour, I can raise my Vibrating Rune Technique to the Realm of Perfection, break past the Gatekeeper Puppet’s defense, and clear this Path of Heart Refinement!’

Hong Yu once again closed his eyes.

「Meanwhile...」

Outside Land of Trial No. 37, the middle-aged man in Black Armor was discussing matters with the woman in white armor.

"Old Hei, there are a few decent youngsters among the geniuses from the Southern Ten Nations this time," the woman in white armor said with a smile.

The man in Black Armor replied indifferently, "Aside from Yao Yueye, who has reached the level of a First Transformation Heavenly True Dragon genius, the rest are all mediocre. They might be considered geniuses in a backwater place like the Southern Ten Nations, but if you put them in one of the Ancient Kingdoms, or even among the Five Domains, they’d be nothing but cannon fodder!"

"Yao Yueye is indeed impressive. From the looks of it, he should be able to grasp the profundities of the Gatekeeper Puppet’s punch in about half an hour," the woman in white armor commented.

The man in Black Armor snorted. "It has been five hours since the Gatekeeper Puppet threw that punch, and he still hasn’t grasped its Profound Mysteries. I am truly disappointed."

"Hahaha, if you’re measuring them against Prince Xiahuang Shang’s speed of comprehending it in ten minutes, then of course they look like trash. But don’t you forget, Prince Xiahuang Shang is a Fifth Transformation Heavenly True Dragon!" The woman in white armor said, waving her hand dismissively.

The man in Black Armor fell silent for a moment before sighing softly. "Prince Xiahuang Shang is indeed incredible. However, even with the talent of a Fifth Transformation Heavenly True Dragon, I’m afraid it will still be difficult to win a good ranking for our Southern Border Profound Domain at the Five Domains Holy Assembly!"

As they were speaking, their attention was suddenly drawn to the Path of Heart Refinement, where Hong Yu had just blown a Celestial Soul Peak expert to bits with a single punch.

They glanced at each other, a look of surprise and intrigue appearing on both of their faces...

"That kid actually grasped a hint of the essence? From the looks of it, he’ll probably finish his comprehension at around the same time as Yao Yueye."

As they spoke, a look of curiosity crossed both their faces...

"I just wonder... between the two of them, who will be the first to pass the Path of Heart Refinement?"

[Guaranteed eight Chapters tomorrow!]