Chapter 173: Chapter 173

The sight of Lu Kangnian smearing the blood from between his brows struck Guan Youzi dumb with horror. He let out a shrill scream. “You’ve lost it! You’ve completely fucking lost it! Han Tiange! He’s trying to call the immortal! I’ll give you back the spirit stones! I’m not doing this anymore!”

Lu Kangnian’s eyes brimmed with killing intent. He murmured, “You’re too late.”

The blood between Lu Kangnian’s eyebrows burst into flames. Ling Daoyan glanced toward the two vital force domains a hundred zhang away. Then, without a word, he and Han Tiange both retreated several hundred zhang in a flash.

Han Tiange withdrew his domain. His body was soaked in blood, and his once-glowing Daoist robes were now in tatters.

However, Han Tiange ignored his injuries. He flew up into the sky and swung his sword, releasing a terrifying, hundred-zhang-long ray of sword light.

The golden arc, empowered by the devastating strength of a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator, surged toward the sect’s barrier, slightly distorting the air in its wake.

Ling Daoyan’s eyes narrowed. In an instant, he vanished behind the barrier and pressed a palm to its surface. The quaking shield immediately steadied, but his gaze locked grimly on Lu Kangnian.

Lu Kangnian clasped his hands together, and with utmost sincerity in his eyes, murmured, “Today, I, Lu Kangnian, thirty-eighth sect master of the Daxia Sword Sect, beseech the ancestors to descend in spirit! With great humility, I invoke the Taiyi True Immortal, Ye Hongqian!”

The tension in the air was palpable. Even the hundreds of light pillars and the sword light shooting from Han Tiange’s sword paused for the briefest moment. A streak of light descended from the sky, revealing a towering hologram—a stern old man, his gaze sharp as a knife. Seeing him, Han Tiange considered retreating.

Lu Kangnian had been blessed by an immortal. In all the Northern Territory, only a tiny handful could invoke such power.

When Han Tiange saw Guan Youzi flee, he cursed under his breath, “Fucking coward! I knew he couldn’t be trusted!”

The old man’s projection glowed with a faint, milky-white halo, ethereal and otherworldly. He tapped the air before him, and a streak of light shot into Lu Kangnian.

Lu Kangnian’s body lit up with the same white glow. His aura surged, and within the blink of an eye, he broke into the mid Divine Transformation Realm. A few breaths later, he had already reached the late Divine Transformation Realm.

A terrifying pressure swept the space around him. The old man’s hologram cast one last, unreadable look toward the Daxia Sword Sect, then slowly vanished.

It had all happened in seconds.

Lu Kangnian didn’t pursue Guan Youzi. Instead, he rose above the sect and raised his hand. His vital force surged in powerful waves that reinforced the protective barrier.

The sword light and light pillars from the rune cannons landed on the barrier at the same time.

A loud crack echoed in all directions, then layers upon layers of reinforcement blasted open. Lu Kangnian stood in the sky and roared, “Ahhhhh! You’d better stay up!”

Boom! Crack, crack, crack!

More cracks followed. The sheer might of hundreds of light pillars was overwhelming. Even Lu Kangnian at full power struggled to hold them back.

Ling Daoyan could watch no longer. He prepared to rush out, but Lu Kangnian sensed his intent and bellowed, “You are forbidden from leaving! Hold the barrier!”

Ling Daoyan stiffened, clenched his fists tightly, and gazed at Lu Kangnian with turmoil in his eyes. “Yes, Sect Master!”

The reinforced barrier finally gave way, and blast after blast rained directly onto Lu Kangnian.

The impact sprayed blood everywhere and pulverized his sleeves. His palms turned bloody, and chunks of flesh ripped away, exposing pale bone beneath.

From within the sect, the disciples and elders looked on with tightened chests. Li Guanqi pressed both palms to the barrier, channeling his vital force into it.

“Sect Master! Sect Master!”

Cries rang out across the mountaintop, but Lu Kangnian didn’t move. He hovered in the air, reinforcing and rebuilding the barrier again and again.

The final remnants of Han Tiange’s sword light and dozens of light pillars slammed into the barrier, defying Lu Kangnian’s desperate attempts to stop them.

The eight-colored barrier shook violently. The sound of explosions was a near-constant ring in their ears.

A piercing crack filled the air, and the barrier shattered like an ice sheet.

With a great sweep of his arm, Ling Daoyan hurled everyone back more than a hundred zhang. He spread his arms wide and tried to take the full brunt of the attacks.

The sect plaza exploded into rubble, stones tumbling down the mountain. The once-grand sect gates collapsed.

The explosions ceased, leaving Ling Daoyan alone, blood-soaked, on the shattered plaza. Blood flowed from every orifice on his head. His white robes and inner hemp clothing were in tatters. And yet, Ling Daoyan stood tall and proud.

An overwhelming pressure radiated from him. Fire energy burst uncontrollably from his body, and flames erupted across the space within a hundred-zhang radius of him.

Ling Daoyan braced himself, then leaped from the ground. Every stone tile within a ten-zhang radius shattered. Sword in hand, he shot toward the cloud boats a thousand zhang away. He traveled hundreds of zhang in a single second. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on noᴠelfire.net

Han Tiange’s face fell. He crushed several purple scrolls in his grip. A mysterious domain wrapped around the boats, and light began to pulse. The cloud boats were about to escape.

But the flaming Ling Daoyan reached them before they could get away. He grabbed one boat with his bare hands. He glared coldly, and his cold voice echoed across the skies. “Hmmph! You think you can come and go as you please?”

Gasps of shock filled the air as Ling Daoyan, wreathed in fire, slashed down again and again upon the hundred-zhang-long cloud boat.

To their horror, the gigantic cloud boat broke into several fragments.

And Ling Daoyan wasn’t done. The next moment, he was a few hundred zhang away, approaching another cloud boat.

Han Tiange’s eyes turned red from rage. He charged forward, shrieking‌, “You old bastard! You wouldn’t dare!”

The only replies he received were the cloud boats exploding, one after another.