Volcanic Age

KA-BOOM!

Maybe this was what a thunderbolt out of the blue felt like? At least that was what the expressions of the people visible beyond the falling dust and debris seemed to say.

Zhou Xuchuan quickly scanned the area ahead to figure out how many Seven Stars Division warriors they'd be facing. They were exactly eighteen in number.

"Who—?!"

One of the Seven Stars Division warriors was about to yell only to fall silent, his eyes widening as he seemed to recognize the intruders.

"Zhou Xuchuan!"

Sure enough, Zhou Xuchuan's name echoed through the underground space.

"How?!"

Despite the confusion, the warriors responded swiftly. A baldy, his scalp shining as if freshly shaven, urgently brought his podao down in a heavy chop.

His momentum was fierce and overbearing, yet not enough to intimidate Zhou Xuchuan, who calmly met the incoming strike with his own heavy sword attack.

"Uwhack?!"

This bald warrior's strike was clean and swift. But it lacked the usual sharpness after the sudden intrusion had unsettled him.

Zhou Xuchuan seized the opening. He swung his sword diagonally upward to deflect the baldy's attack with relative ease before slashing downward immediately.

On the surface, at least, his attacks seemed plain. However, the power behind them was nothing to scoff at. With the weapon's weight doubled, it acted more like a greatsword instead.

The baldy didn't even have a chance to scream. Zhou Xuchuan's sword shattered his skull and crushed his brain before cleaving right through to his groin.

This sight was as gruesome as it could get, but no one batted an eyelid.

"Retreat! Regroup!"

Someone urgently cried out. The dust cloud, kicked up by the crumbling stone wall, obstructed their view and made it too difficult to fight the intruders.

When suddenly attacked like this, people would usually try to counterattack right away, but not these warriors. Although they were initially stunned, they quickly regained their composure and reacted rationally.

"Not so fast!"

Not wanting to let any of them go, Zhou Xuchuan unleashed the Hundred Divine Transformations. He instantly removed the additional weight from his sword and lightened his body. He closed in on the nearest Seven Stars Division warrior and thrust his sword toward the latter's chest.

"Heuh-hhph!"

The targeted warrior stopped running and counterattacked. He imbued his sword with sword qi and tried to fight back to the best of his abilities.

Shuffle…!

The warrior's tense face twisted with frustration as he swung his sword to deflect the attack, only to slice through empty air.

Zhou Xuchuan moved the tip of his sword around to create several afterimages, and the Seven Stars Division warrior had fallen for it. The optical illusion vanished, and the actual attack punctured a hole through the warrior's chest.

"Kuhk!"

A brief death throe of a man echoed in the surroundings.

The rest of the warriors quickly retreated and stood in a defensive formation.

"I really don't like you bastards," said Zhou Xuchuan.

Their reactions were impressively quick. Despite the ambush, they didn't panic and took the most effective actions for the situation.

They recognized their numerical advantage but didn't rely on it, choosing instead to retreat and create a more favorable environment for themselves.

"Zhou Xuchuan!"

One of the remaining warriors muttered. A cloth mask obscured his face, but judging from the wrinkles around his eyes, he must be an older man.

His physique was also smaller than those around him. Zhou Xuchuan could see that the old man was slender and not muscular at all. In other words, he didn't seem to be a martial artist.

Could he be from the Blessed Existence division?

Anyone with exceptional talent could join the Dark Heavens Association even if they were not a cultivator.

Since this old man didn't seem like a warrior but more of a scholar, the odds of him being Blessed Existence were around eighty percent. Or, he could also be Twisted Melody, tasked with dispatching spies for the Association.

"Are you the Jiangsu branch head?" Zhou Xuchuan asked.

"…"

They simply glared murderously back at Zhou Xuchuan.

'They were expecting us?'

Their reactions helped Zhou Xuchuan roughly deduce the current situation.

I see. The Dark Heavens also didn't trust Meng Gang.

This organization didn't trust its own members and created a division called Pure Faith to monitor them, executing anyone who displayed suspicious behavior. Since that was the case, of course they would never trust someone in a mere cooperative relationship.

Besides, you installed so many traps and even deployed Seven Stars warriors in the rear, too? How much of a twisted bastard are you, really?

Even a Harmony Realm expert would have found all the traps in the corridor quite tricky to deal with. Unless said expert enjoyed an eternal spring-like supply of qi, they would end up depleting their qi reserve while trying to survive.

With vajra qi, one could cut through everything like tofu, unless the room trapping them was constructed from ten-thousand year-old cold steel… Provided they had an infinite source of qi, of course.

Vajra qi took an enormous toll on one's qi reserve, so not even an accomplished cultivator could freely use it whenever they wanted.

"How did you get past everything?" The head of the Jiangsu branch asked Zhou Xuchuan, unable to hide his curiosity.

Getting past the traps should have been impossible. Carelessly touching the walls would have triggered the avalanche of traps. In a way, one could say the entire branch was one giant trap mechanism.

Zhou Xuchuan replied flatly, "Why don't you ask the grim reaper? I'm sure he's friendly enough to let you know."

"You have a glib tongue, Zhou Xuchuan!" the branch head growled, his eyes burning fiercely. "Your sudden attack surprised us, but that's about it. You think you have the upperhand? Thinking that way is a big mistake!"

The corners of the branch head's lips twisted upward.

"Whether you walk, run or fly, in the end, you're Sun Wukong on Buddha's palm. No, even Buddha is dancing on our palms!"

He sounded insanely arrogant, but his confidence was met with mocking laughter instead.

"Are you really Blessed Existence?"

"…!"

The smirk on the branch head's face vanished, his expression stiffening, while the wrinkles around his eyes twitched.

Even the Seven Stars warriors who hadn't reacted before now showed visible agitation, which spread through their ranks like a tidal wave.

Zhou Xuchuan spoke up again. "It sounds like you're getting too full of yourself with all these trivial tricks, but that's going to be your downfall. Then again, knowing Blessed Existence's personality, he wouldn't have deployed a stupidly arrogant bastard in an important location."

"What was that?!"

The branch head looked completely stunned. The cloth mask hid his jaw, but seeing how the fabric had caved in, his mouth must be open in shock.

"What are you so surprised about, members of the Dark Heavens?" Zhou Xuchuan smirked deeply. "Didn't you say something about dancing on Buddha's palm?"

Flick!

A thin line suddenly appeared on the throat of a Seven Stars warrior to the right. It was a line of blood! The lifeless warrior collapsed to his side.

Zhou Xuchuan hadn't made the move, but Little Ghost had.

As the stone wall crumbled, she hid herself within the dust cloud, holding her breath and erasing her presence entirely. While Zhou Xuchuan drew their attention, she stealthily closed the distance and cut through the warrior's artery.

"Capture Zhou Xuchuan, alive!"

The branch head's order prompted the remaining fourteen Seven Stars warriors to move. The group split into two, one group with ten warriors and the other, four.

The group of ten rushed toward Zhou Xuchuan. His eyes swiftly tracked the other four.

Those four split into two groups of two to attack Little Ghost and Luo Xiaoyue. They didn't bother with Zhuge Shengji hiding behind the wall.

That's a relief.

The Seven Stars warriors hadn't ignored Zhuge Shengji's presence, they likely assumed they could deal with him at any time.

This was better for Zhou Xuchuan. The battle would've been much trickier if the enemy had divided their forces to target Zhuge Shengji as well.

Just as he allowed himself a moment of inner relief, six swords simultaneously rained down on him from the front.

All six sword strikes seemed extraordinary. Judging from qi radiating from their sword tips, these warriors were, at the very least, Peak realm cultivators.

Heuph!

Zhou Xuchuan took a deep breath before increasing the weight of his sword. The qi circulation was slow but stable and firm.

He didn't bother to create a barrier. Instead, he thickened the sword qi around his sword before concentrating on defense.

Clang, clang, clang!

The metallic clangor rang out in the underground space.

Six pairs of eyes staring at Zhou Xuchuan were instantly filled with disbelief.

To think he defended against all six attacks!

They thought Zhou Xuchuan would deflect one or two and evade the rest, but he didn't do that. Not only did he successfully defend himself, but he didn't even move an inch, either!

Wait, that's not the Plum Blossom Sword?

Since the Dark Heavens Association designated Zhou Xuchuan as a target for elimination, its agents were given information about him, specifically his martial arts.

He was known to favor dodging and relying on illusory swords or ever-shifting sword arts, or even sudden pointed strikes. The Seven Stars warriors were planning to exploit this knowledge, but what was happening here?

All three pieces of information turned out to be wrong. Besides, 'heavy sword' was not a part of Mount Hua's sword arts, either!

"Haph!"

Zhou Xuchuan let out a spirited yell and swung his sword powerfully, sending a forceful gust of wind toward the warriors, pushing them back.

The six warriors stumbled back while hurriedly retracting their swords. In the meantime, four warriors emerged from behind them to break through the wind pressure and close in on Zhou Xuchuan.

Not a chance!

Zhou Xuchuan quickly canceled the heavy sword art and shifted his stance before thrusting his sword forward. The sword tip subtly shook to create illusions.

Three of the warriors fell for the illusion, their swords stabbing at empty air. Zhou Xuchuan deflected the only correct strike with ease.

"Cough!"

The difference in cultivation was too much. The warrior couldn't withstand Zhou Xuchuan's qi and suffered internal injuries. He even coughed out a mouthful of blood.

Pah-baht!

Zhou Xuchuan's sword flashed coldly. Several strikes rained down on the Seven Stars warrior, but he couldn't defend himself in the end. The sword pierced his chest near his heart, leaving a gaping wound.

After taking care of one, down, Zhou Xuchuan turned his attention to the three who had just recovered from the illusion, struggling to regain their balance. He quickly stomped on the ground.

BANG!

He was applying the Thousand Catty Ballast art, with the Ten Thousand Jin Sword increasing his weight even further. He didn't stomp that hard, yet the ground still caved in deeply.

The three warriors tried to regain their balance with their slipping feet, wasting precious time.

Zhou Xuchuan's sword swung out like a bolt of lightning.

Whoooooosh!

The blade tore through the air with a chilling sound, making the hair on the warriors' necks stand on end.

The Ten-Thousand Jin Sword vanished, only to be replaced by Zhou Xuchuan's specialty, Twenty-Four Sword Forms of the Plum Blossom. The sword qi radiated eye-catching rays of light.

"Ku-aaaaahk!"

"Kuh-hurhk!"

The Seven Stars warriors failed to regain their footing and lost their balance. Soon, they all collapsed to the ground as mists of blood erupted from their bodies.

"What are you all doing?!" the branch head roared in anger.

Warped Valor was supposed to be the strongest division within the Dark Heavens Association. However, its warriors were instantly killed off before they could do anything meaningful.

How can he be so strong?

Even if Zhou Xuchuan was a prodigy with overflowing talent, he was merely nineteen years old. His lack of battle experience should have meant his inability to unleash his full power.

Yet the Seven Stars warriors, who had experienced all sorts of battles, were being toyed with by Zhou Xuchuan. Despite witnessing it, the branch head couldn't believe it.

Pah-ahhng!

The air exploded with force, seeming to split the atmosphere in two. That didn't just happen in one spot, those noises came from everywhere.

The culprits were the six Seven Stars warriors who got pushed back earlier. They had gotten back up to unleash their full-powered strikes.

Peak-realm experts unleashing their full power in one direction led to the phenomenon of qi dispersed in the air exploding.

"This is the end!" the branch head cried out in excitement.

"Oh, really?"

Zhou Xuchuan's eyes burned ferociously. He directed his qi from his dantian, through his arm, and into his sword.

The internal energy boiling up from below his navel rapidly circulated to every corner of his body, eventually creating a defensive layer just above his skin.

Someone cried out in shock.

"Defensive qi barrier!"

Clang-!

Even the combined, full-powered attacks of the six Peak Realm martial artists were no match for the qi barrier, so pure and solid it was visible to the naked eye.

All the sword qi and saber qi tearing the air apart instantly vanished the moment the defensive qi barrier joined the fray.

Time seemed to slow. The shocked voices coming from behind the cloth masks entered Zhou Xuchuan's ears.

Swoosh!

Something came flying from the side. Zhou Xuchuan peered at it closely, and the object turned out to be a hidden dagger. But he wasn't its target.

Stab!

The Seven Stars warrior's eyes in front of Zhou Xuchuan widened as the thrown dagger embedded itself deeply into his temple.

As time seemed to crawl forward, Zhou Xuchuan glanced to his side. He saw Little Ghost straddling a Seven Stars warrior in the distance, her thighs wrapped around the man's neck.

While her left arm was tightly wrapped around the warrior's neck, her right hand was extended in Zhou Xuchuan's direction, her palm wide open.

As expected of her. Did she choose to assist me after determining that there was no danger to Zhuge Shengji?

Zhou Xuchuan gained a new understanding of the Phantoms. If they believed their primary orders could be carried out without a problem, they would assist the Phantom Sovereign on their own volition.

Zhou Xuchuan yanked out the dagger from the dead warrior's head with his left hand.

Five!

Flick!

He lightly flicked the dagger. The weapon swiftly lodged itself into the throat of another Seven Stars warrior to the left as he tried to make his next move.

Zhou Xuchuan's attacks weren't over yet. While turning around, he directly cut down a Seven Stars warrior to his right.

The warrior instinctively recoiled and tried to defend himself with his sword, but it was useless before Zhou Xuchuan's sword aura.

As if a block of tofu got cut, the warrior's torso and sword got cleaved in half. He died on the spot.

Six became four. The remaining four warriors watched, wide-eyed in sheer disbelief.

"Senior Brother!"

Zhou Xuchuan urgently bent backward, his torso nearly arching to the breaking point, just as Luo Xiaoyue's blade sliced horizontally through the space above him.

"Kuwaaaahk!"

Unleashing a full-powered strike proved to be a fatal mistake. It allowed an attack they could've easily been dodged or defended against to hit them dead-on.

"Huh-urhk!"

"Heuh-huph!"

The two remaining Seven Stars warriors freaked out and hurriedly stumbled back. Terror was clearly visible in their eyes now.

"How… How could this be!"

The head of the Jiangsu branch stared in disbelief, his slack jaw refusing to clamp shut.

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