Chapter 286
Chapter 286
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Translator: Ace
Chapter:
Chapter Title: "Murder?"
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"Murder?"
Yu Lingzi's heart jolted. "Who are we killing? Didn't we come here to reason with them? Why resort to killing?" His scalp tingled. In this Dawn Glow Palace, aside from these scions of noble families, who else was there?
Could Uncle-Master Chen be planning to kill these noble scions? That would be defying the world at large!
If the noble families flew into a rage, even a sacred ground like Taihua Azure Palace wouldn't withstand it!
The thought had barely crossed his mind when lightning and thunder crackled around Chen Shi's body. He took a single step forward, his foot treading on bolts of thunder, charging straight at Jiang Fangshu! Jiang Fangshu squeezed his aching eyes shut, tears streaming down, but his primordial spirit force field had already unfurled.
What he cultivated was the Three Transformations of the Jade Platform from the *Jade Platform True Essence Collection*. Though the technique itself hadn't made it into the top ten canon of cultivation arts, the Three Transformations—Zhurong Transformation, Gonggong Transformation, and Chiyou Transformation—were renowned as domineering methods among divine transformation arts!
The Three Transformations of the Jade Platform first refined qi and blood changes, then fleshly body changes, and finally primordial spirit changes.
Once flesh and primordial spirit could transform together, one could achieve body fusion in the Body Fusion Realm, manifesting Dharma Heaven Earth effects, as if a true god had descended!
"Chen Shi! We weren't even coming after you, yet here you come charging at us! No matter what the clan elders say today, we must punish you!"
Jiang Fangshu sensed Chen Shi's assault and immediately activated the Gonggong Transformation variant of the Three Transformations. His qi and blood condensed to an extreme degree, his body swelling massively, becoming burly and towering, roughly the same height as Chen Shi's Thunder Ancestor form.
Snake scales emerged on his skin's surface, and his qi and blood coalesced beneath his feet into an immensely thick snake tail. Human-faced with a serpentine body, his primordial spirit force field resembled a vast ocean. Crimson hair sprouted from his head, his features twisting into ferocity as he forced his eyes open.
He hadn't yet cultivated the fleshly body transformation, so his body couldn't fully become Gonggong's true divine form, but the highly condensed qi and blood already held the embryonic shape of a true divine body. Though its power fell short of the true divine body, it was still extraordinary!
"Chen Shi, you think us noble scions are weaker than you? That's only because we've disdained to lift a hand against you!"
Jiang Fangshu bellowed, voicing the sentiments of every noble scion present. "If not for the family's orders, you'd have died countless times over by now!"
His primordial spirit stood behind him, manifesting Gonggong's divine form. Vast divine power mobilized, transforming his qi and blood into a Gonggong longsword that slashed toward Chen Shi, with raging floodwaters surging behind!
This sword carried the power of catastrophic floods from antiquity sweeping all before them. Wherever it passed, houses collapsed, roofs caved, all civilization was obliterated, and the people became floating corpses in the water, fodder for fish and shrimp.
The Gonggong Transformation wielded the supreme water god's majestic divine power to dominate mortal life and death, purging all civilization! Beyond this vast divine might, his sword also embodied water's myriad forms.
Water was supremely soft, infiltrating without gap, breaching fortifications, shattering metal and stone, overwhelming all!
His sword light shifted like water's forms. Those cultivators from rural backgrounds or minor families—even at the same realm—simply couldn't contend with him, unable to comprehend his moves or know how to defend.
When facing such cultivators, he often ended them in one strike, never needing a second. "Boom!"
Chen Shi's fist carried terrifying thunderlight, punching through Gonggong's primordial spirit force field and colliding with the sword light of the Gonggong Transformation. With a crack, the sword light shattered, and the raging floodwaters rebounded!
Jiang Fangshu grunted, his qi and blood flow disrupted. Chen Shi's fist met the hand gripping the sword—crack, crack—his fingers snapped one by one, pulverized.
His shoulder bones jolted backward, dislocating, then his humerus pierced through the scapula, stabbing out from behind. Chen Shi's five fingers splayed, clamping onto his face. With a boom, he slammed him backward, burying his head into the earth!
Gonggong's body was indeed formidable. Jiang Fangshu wasn't dead yet and immediately mobilized his primordial spirit to strike at Chen Shi!
The primordial spirit resided in the void, not the same world as the fleshly body. It could directly penetrate a person's body, ignoring all defenses, to rip out hearts and livers or even extract an entire brain intact.
As long as his primordial spirit neared Chen Shi, killing him would be effortless.
Chen Shi spun around, swinging a fist wreathed in lightning that smashed into the primordial spirit's face! Jiang Fangshu's primordial spirit head was punched clean through!
Chen Shi withdrew his fist. In the center of Jiang Fangshu's primordial spirit head gaped a massive hole, transparent from front to back. Primordial spirits were indeed mighty, impervious to myriad arts, standing in the void where attacks passed harmlessly through. But thunder arts were the exception.
In his Thunder Ancestor form, Chen Shi generated rumbling thunder with every motion, striking the primordial spirit with ease. Jiang Fangshu's body twitched twice, then went still.
Without thinking, Yu Lingzi lunged forward, seizing Jiang Fangshu's other intact arm and snapping it forcefully, breaking his fingers. But Jiang Fangshu offered no resistance.
Startled, Yu Lingzi hurriedly dropped him and retreated, stumbling over the unconscious Ma Xueqing and falling flat.
Terror gripped his heart as he stared at Jiang Fangshu's corpse. "Jiang Fangshu... dead?!"
Just now, Chen Shi's fist that shattered Jiang Fangshu's primordial spirit head had unleashed thunderous power that pulverized even the soul within, leaving him deader than dead. Lightning flashed beneath Chen Shi's feet as he charged toward Yang Sheng.
"Murder!" The opera troupe leader's voice rang out from the stage.
On the stage, the troupe's instruments and dances had halted. The singers, dancers, drummers, zitherists, pipa players, and other musicians gazed down in panic. When Chen Shi obliterated Jiang Fangshu's primordial spirit and the troupe leader cried "Murder!", the troupe members panicked further, ready to scatter.
Blackie Pot leaped onto the stage, and the troupe instantly calmed, resuming their playing. The singers opened their throats, the dancers twirled gracefully.
The *Heroes' Demon-Suppressing Melody* had reached a critical juncture. Several women raised their mallets, striking the stone chimes for a grand foundation, layered with the guqin strings' heavy accents and the sheng and xiao's soaring notes, building the melody's intensity.
On stage, the dancers representing the thirteen noble ancestors shifted to powerful, vigorous moves—graceful yet agile. Below, Xia Dingtian, Cui Zheng, and the others pushed their cultivation to the limit.
Yang Sheng had already summoned his primordial spirit, spreading its force field. His legs powered him forward to meet Chen Shi.
He cultivated the Heavenly Ultimate Jade Pearl Art from the Yang family's *Golden Soaring Annotated Scripture*. When activated, the primordial spirit force field formed a heavenly vault like an overturned dome, shielding him within. His qi and blood swirled, condensing into pearls that roamed his body, emitting sun and moon radiances that illuminated bones, flesh, sinews, and organs, refining away impurities.
When the qi-blood pearls emerged, they transformed into sun and moon, circulating in the heavenly vault to illuminate flesh and primordial spirit.
At this moment, the stage featured a solo guzheng performance. The guzheng's tones brimmed with killing intent, sonorous and forceful, igniting murderous fervor in his heart. Rage filled him, his mindset aligning with that of his ancestors arriving in West Ox New Continent to face evil spirits and demons!
Chen Shi was the demon in his eyes!
As a core scion of a noble family, his days were far from easy. Family tutors drilled him relentlessly in qi refining, spells, combat, music, chess, etiquette, and more.
Through such grinding, Yang Sheng forged his skills and demeanor, his strength extraordinary.
He had toiled in cultivation, honing his arts, all to rid the world of evil and exterminate malevolent spirits and demons!
Chen Shi arrived treading thunder, then abruptly veered, brushing past his primordial spirit force field to charge at Xia Dingtian to the side. "He's afraid of me!" Yang Sheng thought.
Sun and moon shone in his primordial spirit force field, yin and yang in harmony. Enemies entering would be incinerated by twin solar-lunar fires!
In the instant Chen Shi brushed past, his left sword finger thrust at him.
Crack!
A bolt of electric sword qi pierced his primordial spirit force field like lightning, drilling through his brow and out the back of his skull.
After passing through his body, the sword qi struck his primordial spirit's heart, exploding within. The thunder power hidden in the sword light obliterated it utterly! Yang Sheng was still charging forward, his flesh yet to register pain, only a numb tingling in his brain.
His eyes still worked, catching sight of Chen Shi's thirty-foot true form bursting into Xia Dingtian's primordial spirit dragon-script force field.
Xia Dingtian cultivated the Eight Majestic Dragon Scripts from the Xia family's *Nan'gung Collection*. Divine dragons writhed in his primordial spirit force field, dragon patterns clung to his body, his strength freakish.
His muscles bulged, strange dragon scripts covering his face, neck, and exposed skin. Beneath, it seemed his muscles had become coiling flood dragons and pythons, writhing inside. Human musculature was underdeveloped—only nineteen muscles in the forearm—while a dragon's forelimb had over three hundred, nearly twenty times more, yielding terrifying power. The Eight Majestic Dragon Scripts both refined dragon-form spells and tempered the body into a true dragon's!
Xia Dingtian's palm grabbed at Chen Shi's incoming fist. The moment their monstrous strengths clashed, Xia Dingtian heard cracking sounds, thinking he'd crushed Chen Shi's fist—only to see his own arm bones snap, shards piercing out from under his forearm skin!
Chen Shi's hands clapped down left and right onto his head, thunder booming into Xia Dingtian's brain from his palms.
Two thunderous booms echoed. Chen Shi's body swayed slightly—Yao Hao and Gao Yu had attacked from behind, striking his back.
Yan Hao activated the Nine Cauldrons Dragon-Tiger Art from the *Bell Mountain Hall Collection*. Nine cauldrons floated in his primordial spirit force field, gathering the qi of the nine provinces into his primordial spirit, which shifted between azure dragon and white tiger forms.
Gao Yu cultivated the Wenxiang Righteous Qi Art from the Gao family's *Lord Wenxiang Collection*, refining heaven-earth-three-qi into his own vast righteous qi. Purple haze cloaked him, with banners of text—several zhang long and short—standing behind, inscribed with vigorous, forceful script.
Though mere words, they held infinite power, as if each character were a talisman. As the saying went: words give birth to law.
Both struck with flesh and primordial spirit at once, channeling Nine Cauldrons Dragon-Tiger and Righteous Qi Arts at Chen Shi—only to feel massive rebound force blocking their attacks. Even their primordial spirit strikes were neutralized by thunder.
Chen Shi whirled, attacking the pair.
Yan Hao and Gao Yu flanked him left and right, channeling spells and force fields to block while retreating.
Chen Shi's power was overwhelming. His thunder arts directly shattered their spells and divine abilities, jolting their flesh and spirits like lightning strikes—agonizing, forcing retreat. The three clashed at blinding speeds, in moments crossing from one end of the palace to the other!
Fei Yuer, Zhai Jiaojiao, and Xu Minggang charged simultaneously from left, right, and rear. Five now arrayed their five primordial spirit force fields, trapping Chen Shi from all sides in a flurry of rapid strikes. One-on-one differed from a group assault.
One-on-one was hands against hands—no matter the opponent's arsenal, only two hands. But a group was two hands against four, six, or now, ten!
On stage, the guzheng reached its peak, pausing briefly.
Suddenly, the guzheng erupted, all twenty-one strings vibrating as the musician's fingers blurred into phantoms. Other musicians pounded war drums and tolled great bells, killing aura suffusing as they drove the *Heroes' Demon-Suppressing Melody* to a roaring climax!
Yan Hao, Gao Yu, Fei Yuer, Zhai Jiaojiao, and Xu Minggang brimmed with boiling killing intent, heroic fervor surging as they pushed their Dao arts to the utmost!
Behind their heads, divine shrines and divine embryos blazed brilliantly. The divine embryos channeled true qi, massively boosting everyone's strength—far beyond before! At this pivotal moment, the *Heroes' Demon-Suppressing Melody* synced with their mindsets, making them ever stronger.
Five people, ten figures, five fleshly bodies—weaving around Chen Shi like hares and falcons in flight—while their five primordial spirits shuttled the void, leaving him no respite.
Amid the roaring music, Chen Shi elevated his Great Thunder Jade Pivot Method to the extreme. Qi and blood churned with thunder as twin golden whips materialized in his hands. Each whip had twenty-eight segments, each segment a mere three inches long.
Square rings like palace eaves linked the segments, their four walls etched with myriad bizarre thunder talismans.
This whip embodied the thunder of twenty-eight heavenly layers—one lash summoned all twenty-eight layers' thunder, wielding inconceivable might!
The twin whips in Chen Shi's hands were mere qi-blood phantoms, far inferior to the Thunder Ancestor's own, but even so, their condensed power was formidable. Channeling the Great Thunder Jade Pivot Method consumed vast qi and blood; adding the whips strained even Chen Shi's mighty frame.
He wouldn't have resorted to them against fewer than five experts.
Wielding the twin whips, he lashed in all directions. His left shattered Xu Minggang's crown; his right bisected Gao Yu's primordial spirit mid-waist. Treading lightning, he pursued Fei Yuer, thrusting a whip through her back to pierce force field and body alike!
Thunder exploded from the whip, reducing Fei Yuer to fragments!
He swept the other side, snapping Zhai Jiaojiao's legs, then kicked up into Yan Hao's groin.
Chen Shi's whips crossed left and right. As Zhai Jiaojiao pushed up with her arms, a falling whip cracked her skull wide. Yan Hao's primordial spirit hoisted his body to flee, only for an incoming whip to impale its back—thunder detonating inside.
Zhai Jiaojiao's primordial spirit tried to escape; a soaring whip descended with lightning, smashing the woman to oblivion. On stage, the music abruptly ceased.
The troupe members rose for their curtain call. The *Heroes' Demon-Suppressing Melody* concluded. In Dawn Glow Palace, crackling electric arcs flickered everywhere.
Below the stage, everything lay in ruins, only the stage itself somewhat intact.
Of the twelve noble scions, only Cui Zheng of the Cui family still stood.
Even Yu Lingzi sat on the ground now, hands braced behind, stunned by the carnage.
While the others fought, Cui Zheng alone had stood motionless, never joining the attack on Chen Shi. Chen Shi approached him.
Cui Zheng tilted his head up at Chen Shi's Thunder Ancestor true form, expression unchanged. He said gravely, "Chen Shi, I hold you and Lord Chen Tang in utmost respect. I won't strike at you. I'm different from them..."
Chen Shi looked down. In Cui Zheng's divine shrine hovered two divine embryos, one large and one small. Cui Zheng's face was serene. "Compared to the young master, I'd rather serve you..."
Chen Shi said nothing, seizing a flying golden whip and smashing it down on his crown. Cui Zheng's skull split, brains spilling as his corpse toppled.
Chen Shi lashed again, exploding his primordial spirit. "I have no need of that," he rasped lowly.