Immortality Starts With Investment

Facing the trio’s onslaught, Ye Chen seemed unfazed, calmly walking toward them. Radiant light flowed around him, wondrous laws manifesting, shielding him, effortlessly dissolving their earth-shattering techniques.

The three Mahayana cultivators were stunned. They were Mahayana! Their strikes shook the heavens. Ye Chen, mere Unity, countered with ease? It was unreal—like a reincarnated powerhouse ignoring realm gaps.

Each step Ye Chen took echoed with a dull ”thud,” resonating through the void, disrupting their heartbeats.

Their faces darkened. They’d prepared for Ye Chen’s prowess, knowing he’d killed Mahayana’s Fang Qing, unleashing lethal moves from the start. Yet his terror exceeded imagination. Despite their higher realm, Ye Chen seemed the senior, rendering the scene bizarre. Even the legendary Heavenly Emperor, with records of slaying Mahayana at Unity, paled beside this. They were three against one. His strength sparked a moment’s hesitation. But the rightmost Mahayana snorted, ”Just Unity. I’ll send you to your grave!”

Shrouded in mist, his body gleamed, blood energy soaring—a physique favoring physical might. He charged like black lightning, reaching Ye Chen in a blink, raising a blood-red hand woven with Dao patterns, aiming to crush him.

Ye Chen didn’t pause. He looked up calmly, his right eye flashing radiant light. A destructive beam erupted, different from before—tinged with phoenix-blood gold, carrying True Phoenix aura.

This was his gain from Ancient Stone Immortal King’s Heavy Pupil insights, not only boosting its power but mastering technique fusion. Heavy Pupil, already terrifying, became invincible with layered secrets. Now, he wielded the True Phoenix Treasure Technique.

The beam blazed, the world’s sole light.

”Agh!”

The attacker wailed. His indestructible, Dao-woven hand was pierced, spilling crimson blood. The beam, unrelenting, flared again, shifting angle, piercing his brow in an instant, spraying blood from the back of his skull. The once-arrogant foe flew back, wretched.

The remaining two gaped, incredulous. Ye Chen critically wounded a Mahayana with one strike? Defying the heavens? Even the Heavenly Emperor couldn’t match this. Unity-stage, yet so lethal—Mahayana peers would fall in one hit.

They were stunned. Seeing their comrade’s state, they gasped. For Mahayana, pierced hands or brows, even shattered skulls, weren’t fatal—recovery was swift. But Ye Chen’s beam carried a suppressive force, stalling recovery, leaving the foe crippled, out of the fight. One strike subdued the enemy.

Ye Chen didn’t pause his steps. The two hesitated, holding back from attacking for the moment. When he was just a kilometer away from them, Ye Chen finally stopped. With his final step, he stomped down heavily.

The void across the entire grand formation churned like a raging sea. A terrifying ”boom” echoed through the air. It carried a strange Dao rhythm, slamming into their hearts.

Both men’s faces paled. One cultivator, whose physique was slightly weaker, spat out a mouthful of blood right then. His eyes filled with disbelief as he stared at Ye Chen.

In that instant, his heart had nearly burst. Just from the footsteps of someone in the Unity stage, his heart almost exploded?

In any case, Ye Chen’s overwhelming dominance left them shocked and uncertain, wondering if they should retreat. But Ye Chen had no intention of letting them go. Divine light bloomed from his chest. A terrifying aura like heavenly punishment spread across this stretch of heaven and earth.

A massive, horrifying hand descended with a boom, reaching straight for the cultivator who had just vomited blood. This was the divine ability of the Supreme Heart: the Hand of Heaven.

Yet this time, its power was more than several times stronger. In a mere instant, the Hand of the Heavens crashed down. It ignored the cultivator’s defensive spells and Daoist robe entirely, clenching shut with a thunderous grip. The next moment, blood mist filled the sky...

Compared to the previous foe whose brow had been pierced, This one was clearly even more unfortunate. He fell right then and there.

Ye Chen glanced over expressionlessly. Then he turned to the last survivor. Among the three, this one was the strongest, but his face was ashen now, his gaze flickering with shock and doubt. Crossing a major realm boundary to blast a Mahayana stage cultivator to death—it was too terrifying.

Sensing Ye Chen’s gaze, the man hesitated for a moment before speaking directly to him: ”I’m the Supreme Elder of the Nether God Holy Land. The reason I ambushed you this time is because when I was young, the Devouring Dao Lineage took notice of me. They granted me many opportunities and arranged for me to enter the Nether God Holy Land. A month ago, the Devouring Dao Lineage sent an order saying the Holy Son commanded me to join this team and head to Great Yan Continent together to assassinate you! As for who the Holy Son is, I have no idea.”

The man spilled everything without hesitation. Then he backed away, eager to escape. The Hand of Heaven had shattered his will to fight. A freak like Ye Chen was just like the Heavenly Emperor from back in the day. If you offended him but couldn’t kill him, he’d surely come back to kill you. So the man was truly panicked.

Hearing this, Ye Chen raised an eyebrow. It was indeed that Alkaid Holy Son bastard. The guy was truly cautious, not coming in person but sending so many others. He really wanted Ye Chen dead, didn’t he?

In Ye Chen’s mind, Alkaid Holy Son shot straight to the top of his must-kill list. As for the Devouring Dao Lineage, they had some tricks up their sleeve. Planting agents in various holy lands—was it to frame others or make hunting easier? He’d gotten the information he wanted, but Ye Chen had no plans to spare the man before him.

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Seeing the other try to flee, he threw out a punch. This punch was domineering to the extreme. The man jolted in alarm and hastily unleashed the Myriad Transformations Holy Art, barely managing to block it. Even so, his face paled.

A trace of madness crept into his eyes as he glared at Ye Chen and roared, ”Are you sure you want to wipe us out completely?”

As his words fell, the man’s black hair whipped wildly, and a terrifying aura flowed from his brow! Vaguely, a horrifying shadow appeared. He hadn’t fully unleashed it—clearly, his fighting spirit was gone. He just wanted to intimidate Ye Chen, make him back off.

But as Ye Chen sensed that aura, a faint smile tugged at his lips. He was all too familiar with this aura. It was the presence of an Extreme Dao Weapon...

Chapter 601: A Cultured Opponent!

He activated the Extreme Dao Weapon hidden in his mind. Feeling the terrifying aura unique to the Extreme Dao Weapon, the man, initially panicked, found reassurance under its power. His heart brimmed with a sense of security.

Extreme Dao Weapons were rare and fearsome. A Mahayana stage cultivator with one was in a league apart from those without. But forging an Extreme Dao Weapon was incredibly difficult. The materials required were astronomical, even for Mahayana cultivators. Many of those materials had nearly vanished in the current era, almost impossible to buy even with spirit stones.

As a result, most Mahayana First Heaven cultivators lacked an Extreme Dao Weapon. Even among Second Heaven cultivators, only the elite or high-ranking members of holy lands typically possessed one. Only at the Third Heaven Realm did Extreme Dao Weapons become common.

Like the four King Realm beings currently battling, each wielded an Extreme Dao Weapon—even the woman from the Heavenly Desire Sect held a small pink lantern that qualified.

As for himself, after breaking through to the Mahayana stage, he had served the Nether God Holy Land diligently for three hundred years. He had also done tasks for the Devouring Lineage, secretly targeting several of the holy land’s prodigies. Only then did he gather enough materials, spending over a decade to finally forge his own Extreme Dao Weapon. He had planned to keep it as a trump card, surprising future enemies. Yet here, it was forced out by a mere Unity stage cultivator.

He made his decision. After forcing Ye Chen to retreat and leaving this place, He would complete the task previously assigned by the Devouring Lineage. He would find a chance to lure their Fifth Nether Maiden into a dangerous situation. Once done, he should have enough resources to break through to Mahayana Second Heaven.

Mid-thought, he looked at Ye Chen, assuming Ye Chen would back off and let him leave. But to his surprise, Ye Chen grinned: ”You’ve got an Extreme Dao Weapon? Now I’m wide awake!”

Before the man could react, spatial rift opened around Ye Chen. In the next moment, an overwhelmingly terrifying aura surged forth.

The man’s face changed. He saw a fearsome long staff slowly emerge from the rift, hovering in the heavens. Its terrifying aura made it hard for him to breathe. He stared in horror at the staff. Its ends were golden, etched with dragon divine patterns. Its middle was crimson, as if countless divine flames flowed within.

This staff was too terrifying. The man’s mind raced, and he shouted in disbelief: ”Is that the Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod? The supreme Extreme Dao Weapon of the Victorious Fighting Ape Clan?”

For Mahayana cultivators, aside from quasi-immortals who could barely wield immortal artifacts, everyone used Extreme Dao Weapons. But Extreme Dao Weapons varied in quality. His own, for instance, was a low-grade Extreme Dao Weapon. To improve it, he would need to keep infusing top-tier materials and weaving in his own insights, gradually raising its grade. From low-grade to mid-grade, to high-grade, then to top-grade.

Beyond top-grade were the supreme Extreme Dao Weapons. These were almost always nurtured by top-tier powerhouses through their cultivation journey. They were the closest things to immortal artifacts, treasured by holy lands and clans, only surpassed by true immortal artifacts. Their power was immense, reaching the absolute limit of Extreme Dao Weapons. Once revealed, they drove not just half-saints mad—even saints and those above would go wild. Yet Ye Chen, a mere Unity cultivator, possessed one.

But considering Ye Chen’s status as the Heavenly Emperor’s successor, the man wasn’t entirely shocked. After all, the Heavenly Emperor had stormed countless gates back then. It wasn’t surprising he’d claimed the Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod.

The man was shocked but not panicked. After all, Ye Chen was only at the Unity stage. He could summon an Extreme Dao Weapon to protect himself with its innate spirituality, but he couldn’t wield it to attack.

The man had no desire to fight anyway. So be it. He was about to speak to Ye Chen, but in an instant, his newly calmed eyes widened again. The spatial rift on Ye Chen’s left had just closed, yet another rift opened on his right.

The man, realizing something, shuddered in disbelief. From the new rift, a massive sword emerged slowly—its blade pitch-black, its hilt azure-gold. Seeing the enormous words ”Heavenly Emperor” etched on the blade, and feeling its aura that compelled reverence,

The man was utterly stunned, roaring, ”The Heavenly Emperor Sword! Another supreme Extreme Dao Weapon! The Heavenly Emperor Sword is in your hands too!”

If you spoke of the most famous Extreme Dao Weapon in today’s cultivation world, it was undoubtedly the Heavenly Emperor Sword. Back then, at Mahayana Ninth Heaven, the Heavenly Emperor wielded it to slay an immortal, bathing the cultivation world in blood. Yet, past Heavenly Emperor successors never used the Heavenly Emperor Sword. Everyone assumed the Emperor had taken it with him. Clearly, that wasn’t the case.

The man quickly grasped why. Past successors were strong but not strong enough to wield the Heavenly Emperor Sword. But Ye Chen’s combat power rivaled the Heavenly Emperor himself. In that case, he was naturally worthy of receiving it.

The man gazed at the two priceless, terrifyingly powerful supreme Extreme Dao Weapons, His eyes burning with longing and admiration. But he still had his wits. Gritting his teeth inwardly, he resolved to spread this news. When he did, even reclusive saints would be roused, eager to seize them.

The man spoke earnestly to Ye Chen: ”The strength of the Heavenly Emperor’s successor surpasses all past successors. Even the Heavenly Emperor himself might only be your equal. The Heavenly Emperor Sword rightfully belongs to you. Though you’re still at Unity and can’t wield Extreme Dao Weapons, with your cultivation, it won’t be long before you reach Mahayana and master them effortlessly!”

The man subtly hinted to Ye Chen: Your Extreme Dao Weapons are incredible, but you’re still at Unity—you can’t use them.

Ye Chen, watching him, smiled with satisfaction. This was the kind of opponent he liked. Knowledgeable, recognizing his treasures instantly, and shocked on the spot. Otherwise, he’d have to explain himself, which felt too low-class.

As for the man’s words, Ye Chen chuckled. A normal Unity cultivator couldn’t wield an Extreme Dao Weapon. But he wasn’t ordinary.

Ye Chen extended both hands to his sides. In an instant, the two Extreme Dao Weapons he’d summoned were gripped firmly in his hands.

Seeing this, the man’s composure shattered. His eyes filled with disbelief. But then, something clicked, and he shouted in shock, ”The Armament Secret? You have the Armament Secret?”

The curve of Ye Chen’s smile widened. He loved fighting cultured opponents like this. The experience was just too perfect…