A Chaotic World

Lu Tianzi looked at the seven dark figures, then let out a helpless sigh.

There was no reason to waste his time on insects like these, so he might as well just get it over and done with.

Towards the six of them gathered together in front of him, Lu Tianzi directly threw out his sword. At the same time, the five swords circling behind him shot forward as well, following right behind the Moon Culler.

"Block it!" one of the Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm martial artists shouted as he fired out over a hundred bolts of black lightning.

Beside him, the other Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist did not need to be told twice. Seven cranes, each of a different colour, appeared in front of him before charging forward, as though they were living bombs of pure energy.

Facing the current Lu Tianzi, neither of them dared to hold anything back and immediately unleashed their strongest moves. As compared to these magnificent and powerful attacks from the two, Lu Tianzi's six flying swords could not look to be more ordinary.

But just as the six flying swords were about to be engulfed by the black lightning and energy cranes, they suddenly spread out in all directions, avoiding a head on collision. It was as though the swords were alive as they nimbly dodged the incoming damage before continuing on their path towards the six dark figures.

"What?!" everyone was shocked by this turn of events.

They were not entirely surprised that the flying swords could be controlled freely. Any Origin Core realm martial artist would be able to do so by exerting their Origin Force.

Rather than that, they were confused that Lu Tianzi actually chose to do so.

This way, even though the flying swords would continue unhindered towards the six of them, their attacks would also continue forward towards Lu Tianzi!

Was Lu Tianzi unexpectedly seeking to go down together with them?

Such a thought gave them a great confidence boost.

They had been too intimidated by Lu Tianzi earlier, but perhaps that was just paranoia on their part. It appeared that Lu Tianzi could be just as wary of them as they were of him!

Regardless of whether that was the case, the most important thing now was to defend against the six flying swords.

Having just executed their strongest attacks, the six martial artists were unable to immediately follow up with another powerful move. Nevertheless, they still struck out with their weapons to fend off the six flying swords.

But right at this moment, all six of them felt their surroundings turn dark. Nothing was left in their visions except for a ghastly apparition that approached with its jaws wide open.

Now that he had attained a certain level of mastery over the Eternal Wraith Sword, Lu Tianzi was able to execute the Howling Wraith Sword with his flying swords as well!

The six dark figures were all experts in their own right, so they instantly recognised that they had fallen to an illusion technique.

"Break!" they shouted in unison, driving their origin cores to the limit.

But to their horror, even after trying with all their might, none of them were able to dispelling this dark world.

Slash-!

The six flying swords continued unabated, each sword targeting one of the dark figures. Not a single one of them was spared as all six of them were decapitated simultaneously.

"No!" the Eighth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist was horrified by what he saw, and immediately turned to run.

He had initially wanted to hide and wait for a prime opportunity to strike. But now, that was already the last thing on his mind.

To hell with the mission!

Even though the opponent was just a Third Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist, his cultivation level was no longer relevant. The more important point was the fact that this seemingly weak and helpless young brat was essentially a monster in disguise, capable of jumping ranks to kill opponent with absolute ease!

Even though he was the leader and also the strongest in the group, he had to admit that it would be difficult for him to defeat his own subordinates in a similar fashion.

There was no longer any doubt in his mind – this young brat was stronger than him!

It had been a painstaking journey for him to reach his current cultivation level. Rather than putting his life on the line for the mission, he might as well just escape while Lu Tianzi was busy dealing with the attacks from his subordinates.

Faced with the attacks from his two Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm subordinates, even he would have to spend quite a bit of effort to defend himself, so Lu Tianzi would probably need some time to do so as well.

That should buy him the time needed to get far enough that Lu Tianzi would no longer be able to track him down.

As an assassin by profession, he was extremely confident in his stealthy movement techniques.

Even if Lu Tianzi managed to uncover his tracks in the end, a good amount of time should have passed. As long as he could return to the Jade Shadow Gate by then, even this monstrous young brat would no longer be able to do anything to him!

Unfortunately for him, things did not go as planned.

Just as the black lightning and energy cranes attacks from his subordinates were about to hit Lu Tianzi, the silvery light in Lu Tianzi's eyes intensified for a moment, and the powerful attacks in front of him suddenly vanished.

The next instant, they reappeared at the same spot, but their target had changed.

Now, they were headed straight for the Eighth Cycle Origin Core realm dark figure who had been hiding in the shadows!

"Spatial powers?!" the dark figure exclaimed in shock.

Again and again, this monster just kept showing more incredible cards at his disposal!

Spatial powers were abilities almost exclusive to Overlord realm powerhouses, and only the most talented of geniuses were able to touch upon them in the Origin Core realm. Even if they did, it was usually at the last few cycles.

He had never heard of anyone capable of using spatial powers at the Third Origin Cycle, not even those on the Heaven's Warrior List!

Nevertheless, this was not the time to be awed.

The dark figure summoned his Origin Totem, driving his origin core to the limit as he busted out his strongest attack.

Flames erupted from his palms, colliding with the black lightning and energy cranes. These flames immediately halted the advance of the black lightning and energy cranes, slowly burning them down into nothingness.

No matter what, he was still the leader of the group for a reason, and being able to deal with his subordinates' attacks was a given.

But right at this moment, the single wing on Lu Tianzi's back flapped, and he appeared behind the dark figure in an instant.

Lu Tianzi did not say a word, decisively striking out with his palm that was now covered in a layer of black mist.

Palm of Thousand Venoms!

"Damn it!" the dark figure executed a secret art without hesitation, allowing him to go past his limits for a short period of time.

The searing flames from his palms intensified. With one hand still dealing with the attacks from his subordinates, he retracted his other hand to strike out towards Lu Tianzi, planning to exchange palm strikes.

Lu Tianzi saw through his intentions, but did not avoid the confrontation.

Bang-!

The two palms met, and a powerful shockwave was sent in all directions.

Pu-!

The dark figure spat out a mouthful of blood as he staggered back into a tree.

This exchange with Lu Tianzi had forced him to expend every last bit of strength within him, rendering the current him extremely weakened. Thankfully, he had managed to suppress his subordinates' attacks just in time. Otherwise, the attacks would have devoured him in an instant.

Still, he managed to get away relatively unharmed apart from sustaining a few light injuries.

As for Lu Tianzi, he was sent flying backwards from the collision too. But when the dust settled, Lu Tianzi was just hovering in the air with absolute confidence, looking as though he was completely unscathed.

"Just who are you?" the dark figure asked bitterly.

"Who sent you?" Lu Tianzi answered with a question of his own.

"Heh!" The dark figure scoffed. " I guess neither of us are going to talk th- argh!"

Before he could even finish, the dark figure choked and coughed out a mouthful of black blood. At the same time, the dark figure fell to all fours, and then flat onto the ground as he felt all of his strength escaping from his body. "This is... poison?!"

A sharp and intense pain assaulted his senses, making him feel as though he was burning from the inside. It was a feeling of complete agony!

Even worse was that at this point, he realised that he no longer had the strength to commit suicide!

Lu Tianzi's body slowly reverted to normal as he landed back onto the ground. He knew that the fight was over.

"Tell me who sent you, and I will grant you a swift death. Otherwise, you can stay here and wait for someone to come along. Just that given how secluded this area is, and the fact that we are even in the Valley of Finesse that is usually prohibited to others, who knows when that will be?"

The dark figure simply lay there and gritted his teeth as he groaned in agony, yet still refusing to answer Lu Tianzi.

"You can slowly think about it," Lu Tianzi was not bothered. "Whether you speak or not is not of much concern to me anyway."

He left the dark figure to slowly suffer as he went on to collect the belongings of the corpses. Ignoring the screams of pain that were now coming from the dark figure, Lu Tianzi nonchalantly proceeded to sit under the Silver Blossoms Tree and meditate.

Lu Tianzi might have won the fight in a seemingly easy fashion, but he had actually expended quite a bit of energy. Activating his beastial bloodline transformation also placed quite a huge strain on his body.

Therefore, it was imperative that he got himself back to top condition as soon as possible.

After all, who knew when such an incident would repeated itself?

***

Nanlan Qianxue, Longshao Wenqin, and Ruan Ling, kept on fighting as they ran down the empty streets.

Multiple dark figures were hot in pursuit, constantly firing off attacks that the three of them could barely handle.

They had no idea how many people were pursuing them anymore, but it seemed that more of them kept appearing from the front and sides.

In order to move away from them, the group of three had been forced to make multiple turns that they did not intend to make. It almost felt as though their pursuers were herding them in a specific direction, but the trio had no other choice but to follow.

If they were to clash head on, it was extremely unlikely that they would come out on top.

All this time, Ruan Ling and Longshao Wenqin were pleasantly surprised by how well Nanlan Qianxue was doing.

She might only be at the Second Cycle Origin Core realm, but she was able to keep up perfectly, and even had the time to throw out random talismans every once in a while.

These talismans varied from creating white clouds of frost to walls of flames, from balls of iron spikes to a barrage of flying daggers. The sheer variety actually managed to throw off their pursuers' tempo multiple times.

Every time she threw out a talisman, their pursuers would slow down slightly, wary of the hidden power behind it.

After all, talismans vary greatly in terms of strength. The weak ones could be completely harmless, while the obscenely strong ones could even take out powerful half-step Overlords!

It was difficult to tell the strength of a talisman in an instant, unless it was something that had been widely used.

That was why the pursuers were reluctant to rush in headfirst, instead choosing to hang back and observe the might of each talisman.

Things were still going as they planned, so there was no need to take unnecessary risks. The last thing they wanted was to throw away their lives for nothing!

However, they soon realised that all the talismans thrown out by Nanlan Qianxue were only of a rather low grade. These talismans might be able to threaten martial artists at the First or Second Origin Cycles, but that was the limit.

Because of that, they were no longer afraid of these talismans, and their pursuit became much fiercer than before. Many a times, they simply charged through the talismans, ignoring the insignificant amount of damage that they would receive!

Before long, the trio found themselves standing together with their backs against the wall in an extremely secluded corner of the city.

More than a dozen dark figures stood around them, be it on the ground or hovering in the air.

There was no longer any way out.

"Damn it! Since it has come to this, then let's fight till the end!" Longshao Wenqin cursed as he drew out a huge bronze cauldron from his spatial ring, leaving it to float freely in the air above them.

Along with the appearance of the cauldron, a powerful surge of energy rushed out in all directions, disrupting the flow of World Origin Energy in the surroundings.

It was the Cauldron of Draconic Force, the same half-step Overlord rank treasure that had terrorised the Scarlet Moon Army during the war.

But facing this treasure, the dark figures merely exchanged glances for a second before turning their attention back onto the trio.

Rather than fear of the treasure, their eyes lit up in greed instead!