Chapter 157: Newly Advanced Deity Transformation
Deng Jingyao’s eyes flickered. “Ancestor Chu, has it come to this, and you still wish to frame our Profound Intent Sect? To achieve hegemony over the Dome Realm, you spared no effort to use the Ninth Prince of the Liulan Kingdom as bait, murdering several disciples of the Profound Intent Sect. Did you truly believe that, with the Liulan Kingdom residing tens of thousands of miles away, the truth of this matter would remain obscured?”
Luo Tangyu’s expression turned remarkably dark. Chu Gu took in his subtle micro-expressions, and his mind was instantly made up.
King Chi had indeed betrayed them.
Hua Xianglian covered her mouth in a feigned display of shock. “What a wicked sin! To think that the fine Ninth Prince of the Liulan Kingdom has been murdered by the number-one sect in the world!”
Zhang Shoubo leaped forward, pointing an accusing finger at Luo Tangyu and Su Xichen. “You truly are heartless! Setting aside Chi Yushu’s noble status, he was your eldest apprentice for over twenty years, Su Xichen—do you even have a heart? How could you bear to frame your own flesh-and-blood disciple?!”
Chu Gongming, who had been coldly watching from the sidelines and speaking very little, let out a sudden, faint chuckle. “Several centuries ago, didn’t Su Xichen do the exact same thing to his junior martial brother?”
As soon as these words were spoken, long-buried memories surged once more into the minds of everyone present.
“Tee-hee-hee!”
An abrupt, dainty laugh rang out.
Hua Xianglian’s brows curved with a smile as she swept a disdainful glance over Su Xichen. “Indeed, he has always been such a person—ruthless and devoid of loyalty, with room in his eyes for none but himself!”
“Little Xianglian, if you cannot obtain something, you destroy it. How does such conduct differ from that of the demonic witches of the Joyous Sect?” Chu Gu stroked his beard with utter calmness.
A flash of intense hatred crossed the depths of Hua Xianglian’s eyes as she smiled and said, “Ancestor Chu, this Sect Master has come here today to uphold righteousness, to eradicate the ambitious Sky Evolution Sect, and it has not the slightest connection to Su Xichen!”
“Heh…” A trace of faint mockery curled the handsome profile of Chu Gongming’s face.
The expressions on the faces of both Chu Gu and Luo Tangyu turned somewhat peculiar.
“Who could possibly believe such ghost stories?” Yuan Zhengqing could not help muttering under his breath.
Yet everyone present heard his words with absolute clarity.
Zhang Shoubo and Zhou Guanghui, the leaders of the other two sects, cast spectator-like glances toward Hua Xianglian and Su Xichen, as if trying to discern something out of the ordinary from their expressions.
“Have you all made enough of a spectacle?” Su Xichen’s thin lips parted slightly, his frigid gaze sweeping with chilling indifference across the group opposite him.
That single glance was enough to send a bone-chilling cold straight to the soles of their feet.
Deng Jingyao’s gaze abruptly sharpened as he shouted, “Su Xichen, are you only capable of playing such petty tricks? You, the former Slaughter God—why is it that today, you dare not strike?”
Boom!
Following Deng Jingyao’s voice, Su Xichen leaped up instantaneously. With the palm of his right hand aimed squarely at Deng Jingyao, purple lightning crackled and flashed with blinding brilliance, instantly blasting Deng Jingyao several zhang away.
“Sect Master Deng!” Huahuang Hong felt a cold gust of wind sweep past his body. Turning his head, he saw that Deng Jingyao, who had been standing right beside him, had already been struck down to the ground by Su Xichen.
Huahuang Hong’s expression shifted as he looked at Su Xichen, instantly turning grave and cautious.
What was going on? Could Wu Dingshan have deceived them?
Huahuang Hong’s eyes darted slightly as his thoughts raced, and he immediately began to doubt the intelligence transmitted by Wu Dingshan.
Deng Jingyao clutched his chest in disbelief, where a pitch-black purple palm print had pierced right through his sixth-grade magical robe and struck his physical body directly.
“Xichen, why are you still so impulsive?” Chu Gu abruptly lowered the hand that had been stroking his beard, shaking his head helplessly as he gazed at Su Xichen’s back.
“This…” Zhang Shoubo’s eyes widened in sheer astonishment, leaving him frozen in place, utterly too terrified to draw closer.
The shock within Hua Xianglian’s heart was no less than that of Deng Jingyao and his companions. Covering her agape red lips, she cast a suspicious look toward Deng Jingyao.
“Is Sect Master Deng’s intelligence accurate at all? Could he be tricking everyone into fighting to the death with him and the Sky Evolution Sect?”
At this moment, Chu Gongming, Zhang Shoubo, Zhou Guanghui, Shi Changli, and Hua Xianglian all shared the singular thought that they had been deceived.
Ni Qiansong stared fixedly at the fallen Deng Jingyao, his eyes narrowing into mere slits.
“Little fellow Xichen, your Violet Thunderbolt is quite impressive!”
Su Xichen took a step forward, causing Deng Jingyao’s pupils to contract in sheer terror. Propping himself up with his elbows, he hurriedly scrambled back several steps and screamed at the top of his lungs, “The Sky Evolution Sect is finally showing its true colors! Did everyone see that? Su Xichen is simply trying to silence me by killing me!”
Ni Qiansong stepped in at the precise moment to place himself before Deng Jingyao, casting a majestic and stern rebuke toward Su Xichen. “If you dare to take another step forward, do not blame this deity for turning his hand against you!”
Su Xichen lifted his gaze slightly, and an endless, tyrannical aura billowed outward from his entire body. “Late-stage Divine Transformation! That is a realm I have long wished to cross swords with!”
“Su Xichen—Su Xichen has advanced to the early stage of Divine Transformation!” Hua Xianglian’s delicate frame swayed unsteadily as she stared in absolute disbelief at Su Xichen’s back.
“Early-stage Divine Transformation!” Zhang Shoubo, Zhou Guanghui, and the others cried out in simultaneous astonishment.
Ni Qiansong’s expression instantly turned several shades heavier, his narrowed eyes gleaming with dangerous intent. “Su Xichen, you were capable of slaying a Divine Transformation expert back when you were at the late stage of Nascent Soul, yet within the span of a mere few years, you have actually broken through to Divine Transformation itself?”
“Xichen!” Chu Gu wore an expression of profound astonishment, shifting his gaze toward Luo Tangyu with eyes brimming with silent inquiry.
Luo Tangyu was simultaneously astounded and overjoyed. Meeting Chu Gu’s questioning gaze, he could only shake his head helplessly.
He had no earthly idea when Su Xichen had broken through to the early stage of Divine Transformation either!
Luo Tangyu gazed at Su Xichen with a complex expression, forced to acknowledge that Su Xichen’s might was truly formidable.
“Ni Qiansong, do you dare to engage me in a one-on-one duel?” The frost radiating from Su Xichen’s entire body was biting and marrow-deep.
Ni Qiansong instantly felt the piercingly freezing chill and hurriedly circulated his spiritual energy internally to resist the onslaught.
“Strange, this fellow clearly possesses the utterly unremarkable dual spiritual roots of Metal and Earth; how is he capable of unleashing such terrifying freezing might?”
Ni Qiansong pondered deeply within his heart, scrutinizing Su Xichen from head to toe while a trace of hesitant uncertainty flickered across his expression.
Yuan Zhengqing’s eyes lit up. Observing the subtle shift in Ni Qiansong’s expression and feeling he had caught the other party’s vulnerability, he leaped forward and shouted, “Ancestor Ni, are you afraid? Why do you not dare answer the Peak Master’s words?”
“Indeed, indeed! Ancestor Ni, go on and fight a round with our Peak Master!” The disciples gathered within the mountain gates of the Sky Evolution Sect, who had long endured the overbearing arrogance of the Profound Intent Sect and waited through a grueling vigil, finally witnessed Su Xichen’s decisive strike. The sight instantly ignited boundless passion within their hearts.
Peak Master Su had not lost his cultivation, nor had his realm plummeted!
Su Xichen’s actions instilled boundless hope into the hearts of the Sky Evolution Sect disciples.
Luo Tangyu attentively monitored the shifting expressions of everyone present, feeling a slight sense of inward comfort, yet Su Xichen’s voice transmission from two days prior still echoed faintly in his ears.
That journey to the Asura Prison Palace had indeed caused his cultivation to drop by several major realms.
What, then, was the deal with the early-stage Divine Transformation realm he was displaying at this moment?
Silently, he gazed upon Su Xichen’s straight and unyielding posture as an absurd notion flashed fleetingly through his mind.
Could it be…
Luo Tangyu’s heart beat wildly against his ribs, his drooping eyelids lowering to mask the unsettled panic in his eyes.