"Boom!"
In an instant, Xu Chu was engulfed in golden flames, above which flowed powerful, domineering golden energy. A pair of scarlet eyes faintly condensed above Xu Chu's head.
Xu Chu's eyes were tightly closed, beads of sweat adorning his forehead. Within his body, a terrifyingly potent blood energy surged through his veins. His arms, closest to the golden skeletal structure, now shone with a golden hue, as if forged from pure gold, radiating brilliance.
"Ah~~"
Xu Chu roared to the heavens. The gold spread from his arms, creeping towards his chest and head.
With Xu Chu's roar, deep crimson bloodstains appeared on his arms, each as wide as three fingers.
Emperor Wu clenched his fists. He knew Xu Chu was at a critical juncture. The gold was the pure essence from the Emperor's skeleton, while the red marks were Xu Chu's flesh and blood.
The fusion of skeleton and flesh was more than just bone melding; it required harmonizing the skeleton with the blood energy, making them compatible.
Unusually, Xu Chu's entire physique was now exceptionally robust, appearing more than twice its usual size. Already powerfully built, he now resembled a divine being.
"Roar!"
Xu Chu let out a long, piercing cry, not human, but the roar of a tiger. The entire grand hall rumbled and split open, golden light suffused the space, and it instantly collapsed.
The gold covered Xu Chu's entire upper body. Like his arms, bloodstains appeared on his chest. This sight genuinely startled Emperor Wu.
From afar, Xu Chu's upper body resembled a golden divine tiger, the bloodstains appearing as dense tiger stripes.
"Bang!"
An immense force, capable of toppling heaven and earth, erupted from Xu Chu's body.
"Kachakaka~~"
A fissure appeared above the heads of Xu Chu and the other. Gentle sunlight spilled through, and the dense primal energy within the secret realm began to wane.
"This..."
Emperor Wu was shocked. Even Wu Yang, who was in the Venerable realm, had been unable to break through the secret realm he had painstakingly refined. Now, a mere release of blood energy had cracked the realm he had crafted with his own hands.
Could Xu Chu withstand such a terrifying aura?
The current situation had surpassed all of Emperor Wu's numerous simulations. For the years Xu Chu had been undergoing blood transformation, he had prepared for this day. Now, the unfolding scene played out in his mind, a constant loop of deduction.
He had calculated hundreds of thousands, even millions, of possibilities, yet none had accounted for this. Such a terrifying power, enough to make him tremble, was far more despair-inducing than what Wu Yang had brought a million years ago.
"Suppress!"
"Suppress!"
"Suppress!"
Xu Chu's eyes flew open, two beams of golden light shooting out, piercing the peak of the secret realm and, like divine wood, soaring into the heavens!
"What is that?"
On a fortress atop an endless mountain range in the far north, Qi Jiguang and Li Wenzhong were inspecting the fortress's defenses, the troops' regular training, and battle formations. They witnessed two beams of golden light shooting into the sky from the holy land of the far north. From a distance, within the golden light, a ferocious tiger was striking the heavens!
"This aura must be at the Venerable realm!"
Qi Jiguang's face paled. Within his defense perimeter, right under his nose, a cultivator of the Venerable realm was lurking. This was his dereliction of duty.
"Let's go!"
This matter was beyond the scope of scouts. Even if he and Li Wenzhong went personally, they might not be able to resolve it.
But, it was his duty! Sudan Novel Network.
...
"Boom!!"
A deafening roar, as if the very world was about to collapse. Terrifying primal energy, unhidden, accompanied by the immense thunder, completely obscured the entire Dragon Palace.
High in the sky, golden light permeated. The surging roar shattered seals and shackles. In that moment of spatial detonation, cultivators below the Nirvana realm were reduced to blood mist, as if a rain of blood had overturned the Dragon Palace!
"Puff!"
Cultivators at or above the Nirvana realm had their eyes dim. Their upright chests caved in by more than three inches. A mouthful of blood nearly claimed the lives of the orthodox bloodline Azure-Green Flood Dragon cultivators!
The terrifying primal energy, capable of destroying the Dragon Palace in an instant, dissipated completely upon reaching the area where Ao Qing was imprisoned.
"General Yan?"
"It's General Yan!"
At this moment, Ao Qing's massive body was sealed within a prison by nine Dragon Suppressing Nails. His body was covered in blood, his flesh deep crimson. His outer skin had been flayed off.
Translucent, jade-like dragon sinews, extending over ten feet from his body, were clearly in the process of being stripped. However, before it could be completed, Yan Tiancheng's hammer blow saved Ao Qing's life.
"Who... who is it?"
Ao Hong, the Great Elder of the orthodox bloodline Azure-Green Flood Dragon clan, leaned on a massive pillar, supporting his weakened body. His eyes narrowed as he looked towards the golden, light-filled void.
Above the Dragon Palace, a golden hammer, condensed from divine light, shone brilliantly, like a divine being descending upon the world. A celestial phenomenon. Shockwaves continuously emanated from beneath the golden hammer.
With each ripple that swept over the Dragon Palace, trenches as deep as ten feet were carved throughout the entire complex.
Countless tribal powerhouses near the Dragon Palace turned pale, gazing at the colossal golden hammer in the sky.
This hammer held immense divine power. More importantly, it had struck the ancestral land of a paramount figure of the Crimson Night Imperial Dynasty!
That was the ancestral clan of Ao Ye, one of the Four Kings!
Who was Ao Ye? He was a Venerable of the fifth level, standing at the pinnacle of martial arts in this realm, and one of the Four Kings personally appointed by Emperor Crimson Night!
Who dared to attack the Dragon Palace?
"Yan Tiancheng of the Great Han Dynasty is here! You have unjustly imprisoned my dynasty's naval commander and dare to threaten to execute Ao Qing by tribal law!"
"Who gave you the guts!"
With a thunderous roar, the already dilapidated palaces crumbled into dust. The entire Dragon Palace resembled a ruin, even the layers of paving stones rising from the ground!
A bloody, weakened Ao Qing was instantly captured by Yan Tiancheng!
Flaying and stripping sinews!!
"You all...!"
"Deserve to die!!"
"By order of the Human Emperor, I shall exterminate your clan!"
Seeing the blood-soaked Ao Qing, resembling a corpse, the boundless rage suppressed by Yan Tiancheng finally erupted. This roar, though not as earth-shattering as before, was filled with a deathly stillness.
"Boom!!"
A figure, clad in white armor, with a white tiger divine beast emblazoned on his chest, wielded a pair of golden hammers radiating infinite, brilliant divine light!
The Great Han's top general—Yan Tiancheng!