The Art of Chaotic Divinity

"May I ask what compensation Young Master Long requires before you'll be satisfied?"

Ao Jue clenched his fists tightly.

They were weaker than the other side, so they had no choice but to swallow this humiliation.

As long as the price remained within acceptable limits, it was not entirely impossible to agree.

"Haha, don't worry. I never expected to squeeze much out of ants like you."

Long Tengyuan swept his gaze across the crowd and spoke slowly, emphasizing every word.

"Just hand over every single storage spirit ring you have. How about it? I'm already being quite generous, don't you think?"

"What did you say?"

The geniuses of the Dongling Region thought they had misheard him.

Every one of them had to hand over their storage spirit rings?

This was more ruthless than banditry.

Not to mention that it also meant surrendering every opportunity and treasure they had obtained within the Sunset Ancient City.

He intended to strip the Dongling Region dry and squeeze out every last drop of value.

Everyone was utterly stunned by his shamelessness.

"Not satisfied?"

Long Tengyuan snorted.

"If you refuse, then prepare to be wiped out. After I kill you all, I can still take your storage spirit rings anyway."

"You're going too far!"

Shi Haoxuan could no longer contain his anger. Great Sun True Energy surged around him as he glared at Long Tengyuan.

"If you want to slaughter everyone from the Dongling Region, you'll have to step over my corpse first!"

"Hehe, then you'll be the first one I kill."

Long Tengyuan let out a sinister laugh and made a throat-cutting gesture toward the swordsman behind him.

"Long Shan, do it."

"Understood."

Long Shan grinned and slowly drew his sword. His cold gaze swept across the crowd.

"Hehe. So you're the leader here. I'd like to see just how capable the trash of the Dongling Region really is."

In an instant, a terrifying pressure swept through the hall.

The expressions of every genius from the Dongling Region changed drastically.

This swordsman named Long Shan had clearly comprehended an advanced level sword force. Once it erupted, ordinary martial practitioners simply could not withstand it.

Even Shi Haoxuan's expression turned grave, as though he were facing a formidable enemy.

Without hesitation, he summoned a drop of Golden Crow blood essence and unleashed his Golden Crow Avatar.

Nine suns shone together.

The moment the battle began, Shi Haoxuan had already used his strongest move.

"Hehe. Interesting."

Long Shan sneered.

In the next instant, he casually slashed out with his sword.

Buzz!

The void trembled.

That sword strike seemed capable of splitting mountains apart. The already dilapidated hall suffered even more damage as ancient pillars cracked open with huge fissures. The ground split apart, and Shi Haoxuan's black hair danced wildly.

He felt as though his entire body were about to be cleaved apart.

He could not block it.

The power of that sword was simply too terrifying.

"Pfft!"

Shi Haoxuan spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying by a single strike.

As for Long Shan, his body merely swayed slightly.

One move was all it took to determine the difference between them.

Shi Haoxuan, one of the top geniuses of the Dongling Region, had been defeated.

Of course, the main reason was that he had already suffered serious injuries while fighting an expert from the Xijian Region earlier. Those injuries had yet to recover.

Otherwise, a mere Long Shan might not have pushed him this far.

"Hehe. Ants are still ants. You truly don't know your place."

Long Tengyuan narrowed his eyes and smiled.

The reason he had given the Dongling Region a choice in the first place was because he had witnessed Shi Haoxuan's strength and felt some apprehension toward him.

Now that he had seen Shi Haoxuan's weakened state, he became even more fearless.

"Long Shan, show no mercy. Kill them all!"

Cold.

Cruel.

Merciless.

In Long Tengyuan's eyes, everyone from the Dongling Region was nothing more than livestock awaiting slaughter.

The geniuses of the Dongling Region all drew their weapons, their expressions grave.

"Even if we die, we'll make you pay in blood!"

One after another, they unleashed their ultimate techniques and charged at Long Shan and Long Tengyuan.

Boom!

The hall exploded.

Ruined walls collapsed all around them, and the ground cracked open as countless impacts rang out.

"You overestimate yourselves."

Long Shan swung his sword.

An even more terrifying wave of sword qi descended.

In an instant, more than a dozen geniuses of the Dongling Region were sent flying, coughing up blood as they crashed to the ground.

Long Shan stood with his hands behind his back and swept his gaze over everyone before sneering.

"Not a single one of you can fight."

The gap in strength was simply too great.

No amount of numbers could bridge it.

"Die!"

With a furious shout filled with killing intent, Long Shan attacked again.

A massive sword light descended like a mountain-cleaving blade, slashing toward the geniuses of the Dongling Region amid the ruins of the hall.

"Get the hell out!"

A furious roar shook the heavens.

Immediately afterward, a figure seemed to emerge from thin air.

No.

To be precise, it was a figure engulfed in blazing flames.

He thrust a palm toward the void ahead.

"Mmph!"

A muffled groan rang out.

Long Shan's body flew backward as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

He had actually been blasted away by a single palm.

"You... how is this possible?"

Long Shan stared at the figure before him, shock filling his eyes.

The figure wreathed in flames was none other than Shi Haoxuan.

He could still unleash such power?

"Get out!"

Shi Haoxuan sent Long Shan flying with one palm strike and glared at Long Tengyuan.

Every word he spoke exploded like thunder, shaking everyone's eardrums.

"Senior Brother Shi!"

The geniuses of the Dongling Region looked at Shi Haoxuan floating in midair, their eyes filled with admiration.

"Hehe. Very good! Shi Haoxuan, is it? Just wait. I'll be back! Next time, all of you are going to die!"

Long Tengyuan glared at Shi Haoxuan, anger evident in his voice. With a cold snort, he turned and left.

After Long Tengyuan and Long Shan departed, the flames around Shi Haoxuan instantly disappeared.

His body fell helplessly from the sky.

"Senior Brother Shi!"

The martial practitioners of the Dongling Region hurried over, their faces filled with concern.

"Pfft!"

Shi Haoxuan spat out another mouthful of blood.

Only then did everyone realize that he had used a secret art that burned his life force to barely force Long Shan back.

If another expert of the same level appeared, he would be utterly powerless.

"Sigh. It seems the opportunity within those ruins is destined to have nothing to do with our Dongling Region."

Shi Haoxuan sighed, swallowed a large handful of medicinal pills, and forcibly suppressed his injuries.

"We can't wait any longer. Everyone, leave the ancient city immediately!"

He had never imagined that there would come a day when he would choose to flee.

But this was reality.

Compared to the experts of the Xijian Region, the Dongling Region was simply too weak.

"It was clearly Senior Brother Shi who first discovered the entrance to the ruins, and yet..."

A disciple of the Dongling Immortal Pool clenched his fists tightly.

"Damn that Dragon Sword Heavenly Manor! They're utterly shameless!"

"But... can we even escape?"

Someone else sighed.

Under the pursuit of the geniuses of the Xijian Region, how many of them could truly survive?

"I'll stay behind and hold them off for a while."

Shi Haoxuan took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "I was the one who gathered everyone here. Therefore, I should be the one to stand until the very end."

"Brother Shi..."

Ao Jue looked deeply at him, clenched his fists, and gritted his teeth.

"Fine. I'll stay too. One more person means a little more time."

"I'll stay as well!"

"So will I!"

At this moment, the martial practitioners of the Dongling Region displayed an unprecedented resolve.

Even though they knew death awaited them, not a single person retreated.

...

"Hm? It sounds like something is happening outside."

In the rear courtyard, Ling Feng was at the critical moment of breaking through to the Great Perfection level of sword will.

When he sensed the sounds of battle outside, he immediately opened his eyes.

"Just a little more. I can't lose focus now."

Ling Feng took a deep breath and closed his eyes once more, continuing to devour and refine the Sword Soul Crystals.

With his current strength, he still could not gain much advantage against the top experts of the Xijian Region.

Only by breaking through to Great Perfection in sword will could he truly resolve this crisis.

At a time like this, he had to remain calm.

"Heaven-Seizing! Sword Condensation!"

Ling Feng steadied his mind and took out another large handful of Sword Soul Crystals.

Success or failure would be decided in this final moment.