Firmament Sword

“Leave? These Iron Dolls…” Before Du Qingteng could finish, he saw the army of a million Iron Dolls surge in from all directions, transforming into a torrent of steel that flowed madly toward the space above Xu Luo’s head.

“Holy shit… A guy who carries an entire world inside him is a true badass!”

If before, Du Qingteng calling Xu Luo “boss” had been mostly in jest—the kind of banter between young men—then at this moment… he had a feeling deep down that this person he’d met would, in just a few short years, grow into a true titan standing at the Peak of Jiuzhou!

‘Having a boss like him… actually seems pretty good!’

Du Qingteng was startled by his own thought. At first, it seemed absurd.

‘Who am I? I’m a true Holy Land Inheritor from Weiyu Mountain, one of the three great Holy Lands!’

‘A Holy Land Inheritor like me, even as I travel the world now… if I were to visit any top-tier sect in any province, the one to receive me would have to be an Elder of at least Vice Sect Leader rank!’

‘We are addressed respectfully as Lords!’

‘How could I… treat someone else as my boss? As a Lord?’

But Du Qingteng quickly smiled wryly.

‘Compared to the man beside me, how do I look anything like a Holy Land Inheritor? Where’s my lordly dignity? If anything, this Master Luo… he’s the one who seems more like a Lord, isn’t he?’

Just then, he heard Xu Luo mutter, “I thought I’d be able to deploy the million-strong army at once. I didn’t realize it was tied to my cultivation realm. Right now… I can barely even control one of them. How frustrating.”

‘Holy shit, if you’re frustrated, give it to me!’ Du Qingteng desperately wanted to roar, and then ask Xu Luo, ‘What more could you possibly want?’

Of course, Xu Luo couldn’t hear Du Qingteng’s inner thoughts and continued, “But it’s understandable, I guess. The one who commanded this army back then had reached at least the Saint Venerable realm, possibly even Great Venerable. And I… I’m not even a Supreme yet. It’s only natural that I find them difficult to control.”

“Bro… just be happy with what you’ve got!” Du Qingteng said, looking at Xu Luo with a miserable expression. “If I had your luck, I’d be laughing in my sleep! So what if you can’t control them for now? You still have a super-powered ally!”

“She is my friend,” Xu Luo said seriously.

“Fine… a friend you’ve known for a few hours,” Du Qingteng said, rolling his eyes.

Xu Luo kept a sliver of his Divine Sense focused on the Bronze Divine Hall World. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Lan; he was just genuinely curious about who this Yao’Er she mentioned actually was.

‘I didn’t even know when a Yao’Er appeared in the Bronze Divine Hall World, so how would Lan know?’

Xu Luo rubbed his head. He couldn’t figure it out for the life of him.

Afterward, Xu Luo and Du Qingteng started walking slowly up through the passages of the Earth Palace.

Everything that had happened in the Earth Palace was more than enough for the two of them to process for a while.

As they neared the entrance, Xu Luo’s eyebrow twitched. A moment later, Du Qingteng glanced over and sent a voice transmission, “There are people here.”

Xu Luo nodded. The two of them immediately went on guard, but they feigned nonchalance and walked straight out of the exit.

BONG!

A resonant toll, like a temple’s morning bell, suddenly rang out.

A massive bell descended rapidly, aiming to trap the two of them inside.

Their ambusher hadn’t even bothered to ask a single question before attacking.

Du Qingteng was instantly enraged. With a flick of his finger, he shot out a jet of blue flame.

He had just refined the Flawless Celestial Blue Fire and was itching for a chance to show off its power. Getting attacked the moment he stepped outside, he was instantly invigorated.

Xu Luo, however, stood perfectly still. He wanted to see just how powerful Weiyu Mountain’s Fire Element Technique truly was.

After all, Du Qingteng hadn’t used any fire techniques during their fight in Qingchuan Ancient City. He had certainly hidden his abilities well.

To any onlooker, however, Xu Luo simply looked like he was scared stiff.

The attacker hadn’t even seen the wisp of flame Du Qingteng flicked out.

From a distance, a burst of disdainful laughter echoed.

BOOM!

An incredibly deep, muffled explosion erupted from within the ancient bell.

Immediately after, the massive bell burst apart, its fragments shooting out in all directions.

This was accompanied by an incredulous cry.

“This is impossible!”

Du Qingteng rubbed his bald head. A hint of disdain flashed through his fierce, gleaming eyes as he said coolly, “Before Master Du, nothing is impossible. Now die, you little mutt!”

Du Qingteng’s personality hadn’t changed one bit. He only reined himself in around Xu Luo. To outsiders, he was still the same arrogant and domineering Lord Du!

It was a blessing he didn’t go looking for trouble, but for someone to provoke him first? They were practically asking for a death wish.

After shattering the ancient bell in a single blow, Du Qingteng didn’t hesitate for a second, immediately launching an attack on the person who had wielded it.

‘You didn’t bother asking who I am, so why the hell should I care who you are?’

PFFT!

Another jet of ethereal blue flame shot out, and the resulting heatwave instantly seared a line of pure void into the sky!

The man’s face fell. He hadn’t taken the blue light seriously before, and his ancient bell had shattered as a result.

Now that same blue light was coming for him again. How could he not be on high alert? He immediately threw a palm strike, attempting to swat the flame away.

“Naive!”

Du Qingteng sneered.

SZZT!

The blue light pierced straight through the wave of force from his palm strike without slowing in the slightest and slammed into the man’s shoulder.

“ARGH!”

The man, who appeared to be in his forties, let out a blood-curdling scream. His entire arm, along with his shoulder, was instantly incinerated to ash!

In a flash, the blue light returned to Du Qingteng’s hand.

There were a dozen or so people on the opposing side. They immediately moved to protect the middle-aged man, their gazes fixed on Du Qingteng in horror.

As for Xu Luo… they completely ignored him.

Someone who was clearly scared stiff wasn’t worth their attention.

“Who are you? How dare you attack and injure someone without any provocation?” A man in his fifties, his expression filled with a dignified air, glared coldly at Du Qingteng from among the group.

Du Qingteng glanced back at Xu Luo. “I always thought I was the unreasonable one. Guess I learned something today. There are people even more unreasonable than me.”

With that, Du Qingteng turned back to the group and sneered, “You don’t even recognize Master Du? What’s the point of you all being alive? Go die!”

As he spoke, Du Qingteng summoned his Square Ancient Inkstone. This time, however, what emerged from it wasn’t black ink, but an ethereal blue flame!

The Celestial Blue Fire!

The Ancient Inkstone bore down on the group, releasing a terrifying pressure woven from countless threads of energy that sought to immobilize them all.

Then, the Ancient Inkstone tilted, pouring out the ethereal blue flames within.

In an instant, a sea of blue fire formed in the air!

The surging heat wave radiated an aura that threatened to incinerate everything, scaring the group below out of their wits.

The face of the dignified man in his fifties flushed red as he roared, “You’ve gone too far!”

He immediately summoned a treasured artifact—a dark green gourd that radiated a powerful, verdant aura. A torrent of green light spewed from the gourd, attempting to extinguish the sea of blue fire.

“Bullying people is what Master Du likes to do most!”

He couldn’t be bothered to argue, even when he was in the right. That was the style of Du Qingteng, the great Master Du.

He laughed wildly as he controlled the Celestial Blue Fire, instantly enveloping the entire group.

Although the light from the dark green gourd managed to lower the temperature of some of the flames, it was utterly incapable of stopping the terrifying blaze from closing in.

One man in the crowd, unable to bear the terror, screamed and made a break for it.

“Don’t!” the man in his fifties shouted.

But it was too late. The instant the man passed through the curtain of Celestial Blue Fire, he was completely obliterated, not even a speck of dust remaining.

This sight scared the remaining people senseless. Only then did they realize just who they had provoked.

The man in his fifties shouted, “Spare us! We are from the Jin Family of Xi Hezhou! This is all a misunderstanding!”

“The Jin Family?” Xu Luo’s eyebrow arched, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

The moment Du Qingteng heard “Jin Family,” he let out a sinister chuckle and said coldly, “Die!”

BOOM!

The fiery curtain of Celestial Blue Fire instantly engulfed the entire group.

The man in his fifties never expected that revealing his family name would only provoke an even more ferocious attack. In that instant, he seemed to realize something and roared in fury, “You’re with Celestial Brilliance! My masters won’t let you get away with this! The Young Master won’t let you go!”

FWOOSH!

The curtain of Celestial Blue Fire swept past, burning the entire group to cinders.

A few who seemed more powerful tried to break through, but they only met a more miserable end, their bodies engulfed in blue flames as they burned to death with blood-curdling screams.

“How cruel!” Du Qingteng sighed, muttering, “Such a sin, such a sin.”

Xu Luo looked at Du Qingteng, utterly speechless. He facepalmed, having no words for the man.

Master Mao, on the other hand, looked thrilled. “Xiaodu, nice one!”

“Xiaodu…” Du Qingteng’s face instantly darkened. The ethereal blue flames in his hand flickered wildly as he looked threateningly at Master Mao. “If you dare call me Xiaodu again, I’ll be having roast cat for dinner tonight!”

“Okay, Xiaodu!” Master Mao immediately leaped behind Xu Luo, peeked his head out, and started making faces. “Xiaodu! Xiaodu! Xiaodu!”

“That’s it! I’m gonna kill you!” Du Qingteng roared, looking ready to fight Master Mao to the bitter end.

Xu Luo sighed and shrugged. “Stop fooling around. We’ve still got an audience.”

“Hm?” Du Qingteng froze for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction Xu Luo indicated.

A few people were standing there.

They were watching the scene with great interest.

There were four men and one woman. Among the men were an elder well into his later years, a middle-aged man, and two youths.

The woman, who looked to be in her twenties, was quite beautiful. She stared at the two balls of fire in Du Qingteng’s hands, a peculiar light shining in her eyes.