Chapter 144: Killing Li Changqing
Seeing that Lu Xiaoyao was charging at him instead of fleeing, Li Changqing's expression turned ugly.
"How interesting. Very well — let me see what you're made of."
Li Changqing attributed Lu Xiaoyao's survival of his attack to the Twelfth-Grade Spirit Armor.
Without that armor, how could Lu Xiaoyao possibly be a match for him?
In an instant, the two were locked in fierce combat in midair, exchanging hundreds of blows.
And in the moment they clashed, Li Changqing's heart was gripped by the same shock that had seized those two Late Saint Emperor Realm cultivators before their deaths.
Was this really someone at the Early Saint Emperor Realm?
How did he feel even more powerful than a Peak Saint Emperor?
But Li Changqing did not retreat. As a prodigy who had cultivated to the Peak of the Saint Emperor Realm in less than five thousand years, he had his pride.
Today, either Lu Xiaoyao would die, or he would!
Li Changqing pulled back from Lu Xiaoyao, and with a series of hand seals, several flying swords shimmering with purple light shot out from his Storage Ring and streaked toward Lu Xiaoyao.
Each of those purple flying swords was a Twelfth-Grade Spirit Sword, devastatingly powerful. Together, they could combine into the formidable Purple Firmament Sword Formation — certain death for anyone below the Immortal stage!
Sensing the terrifying power contained within the Purple Firmament Sword Formation, Lu Xiaoyao dared not take it lightly.
"Primordial Saint Body!"
"Torrential Battle Armor!"
"Heavenly Emperor Fist!"
Lu Xiaoyao roared, and golden runic patterns surfaced across his skin, as though imbued with the aura of the ancient Great Dao.
Behind him materialized the phantom of an ancient Heavenly Emperor, as if it had crossed the River of Time from the primordial era to descend upon the present.
Then a set of crimson-gold battle armor emerged from Lu Xiaoyao's Storage Ring. The moment he donned it, his realm surged from the Early Saint Emperor Realm all the way to the Peak of the Saint Emperor Realm before finally stabilizing.
Lu Xiaoyao gathered his strength and threw a single punch.
That punch seemed to carry the weight of the ancient Great Dao, its power absolutely terrifying.
And as Lu Xiaoyao threw his fist, the Heavenly Emperor phantom behind him mirrored the strike.
Across from him, Li Changqing's expression changed dramatically.
From the current Lu Xiaoyao, he could feel the threat of death.
"This is bad!"
There was no time for hesitation. Li Changqing threw out every last trump card he possessed, hoping only to withstand this single punch from Lu Xiaoyao.
The Heavenly Emperor Fist was a genuine Immortal Art. Even for Lu Xiaoyao's current self, unleashing it placed an enormous burden on his body.
Were it not for the Purple Firmament Sword Formation's devastating power, combined with his desire to test the limits of his current strength, he would never have risked using the Heavenly Emperor Fist.
Under the Heavenly Emperor Fist, the Purple Firmament Sword Formation — reputed to be capable of killing anyone below the Immortal stage — held for a mere three breaths before shattering entirely.
Every technique Li Changqing deployed afterward proved equally futile in halting the Heavenly Emperor Fist.
The punch landed, and Li Changqing was blasted ten thousand feet beneath the earth's surface.
The formerly tranquil ground was blasted open, leaving behind a massive, gaping crater.
At the bottom of the crater, Li Changqing clung to life by a thread, his divine soul on the verge of annihilation.
Though he had not yet perished, death was only a hair's breadth away.
After confirming that Li Changqing had lost all ability to resist, Lu Xiaoyao finally dismissed the Torrential Battle Armor, and his realm dropped back to the Early Saint Emperor Realm.
Once all his trump cards were deactivated, Lu Xiaoyao's complexion went deathly pale and his body went limp. He nearly lost consciousness on the spot.
He hurriedly retrieved some immortal pills from his Storage Ring and swallowed them, which helped somewhat.
Looking toward the nearby crater, Lu Xiaoyao thought for a moment, then closed his eyes to scan his surroundings. Detecting no approaching enemies, he walked to the edge of the crater and peered down.
At the bottom, Li Changqing lay on the verge of death. He raised his head to look up at Lu Xiaoyao, his expression filled with bitterness.
"Who... are you, exactly?"
"Me? Just a passing prodigy."
Lu Xiaoyao replied calmly, shaking his head.
Li Changqing was stunned for a moment, then failed to draw his next breath and perished.
Wasting no time, Lu Xiaoyao went down to loot the body. He stripped Li Changqing of everything of value before swiftly fleeing into the distance.
The battle with Li Changqing had been enormously taxing, but the rewards were clearly well worth it.
He could feel it — he only needed to find a secure location and go into brief seclusion to break through to the Mid Saint Emperor Realm.
Not long after Lu Xiaoyao departed, several Wuwang Sect disciples rushed over from afar.
When they reached the crater and recognized the figure lying within as Li Changqing, their faces went white.
"This is terrible. The Sect Master's beloved grandson is dead. The heavens are about to fall on the Wuwang Sect."
Indeed, Li Changqing's identity was no simple matter — he was the eldest grandson of the Wuwang Sect's Sect Master. Why else would he have possessed something as fearsome as the Purple Firmament Sword Formation?
Upon seeing Li Changqing's corpse, the Wuwang Sect disciples knew this matter would not end quietly. The Sect Master would undoubtedly make Li Changqing's killer pay a devastating price.
On the other side, Lu Xiaoyao knew nothing of this.
After finding a cave, he applied the lesson from his earlier experience and set up an aura-concealing formation before beginning his assault on the Mid Saint Emperor Realm.
Gathering his energy and focusing his mind, he began breaking through.
Before long, Lu Xiaoyao was on the cusp of reaching the Mid Saint Emperor Realm — but at that very moment, something went terribly wrong.
The power of the Law of Frost that had been lurking within his body erupted violently, as though it sought to devour him whole.
Caught completely off guard, Lu Xiaoyao was overwhelmed by the Law of Frost's erosion and fell unconscious.
In the Thirty-Three Heavens, Lu Xunxian sensed the change in Lu Xiaoyao's condition and gazed gravely toward the Ancient Immortal Secret Realm.
"Given Xiaoyao's situation, his chances are slim — maybe one in ten. But if he can refine the power of the Law of Frost, it would definitely elevate his strength to the next level."
Lu Xunxian thought to himself.
So he did not intervene rashly.
However, he had left a safeguard within Lu Xiaoyao's body. If his son truly died and his Dao was extinguished, his divine soul could still be preserved. At that point, Lu Xunxian could simply forge a new body for Xiaoyao.
The situation inside Lu Xiaoyao's body was as follows: the Law of Frost was eroding him from within. If the erosion ran its full course, his body would perish and his Dao would be extinguished.
Any ordinary Saint Emperor facing this situation would be as good as dead.
But because Lu Xiaoyao had previously gained insight into the Law of Space, the moment the Law of Frost began its assault, the Law of Space within his body rose to resist it.
During this time, his Primordial Saint Body would also begin comprehending the Law of Frost.
If he could refine the Law of Frost during this window, the boost to Lu Xiaoyao's strength would be far greater than one plus one.
Withdrawing his attention, Lu Xunxian turned his gaze toward Heavenly Dao Mountain within the Thirty-Three Heavens.
He could sense that numerous human Immortal Emperors resided atop Heavenly Dao Mountain. More importantly, he could feel that Heavenly Dao Mountain was the place in the Immortal Realm closest to that other world.
Perhaps the Immortal Emperors atop Heavenly Dao Mountain knew something about the world beyond the Immortal Realm?
