“Many thanks, Your Majesty!”
Lu Xuan’s heart trembled as he sensed the vast power and goodwill contained within that imprint.
This sovereign of the Emperor Fall Era did not seem to reject him for being an outsider. On the contrary, he was investing in him.
“Go.”
Emperor Xi waved his hand, his figure gradually merging into the starry sky as his voice drifted over, ethereal and distant.
“When the calamity rises, that will be the day you verify the Dao fruit of your own path. I hope that when the time comes, you can bring a trace of… a different variable.”
Lu Xuan left the Solar Divine Palace, his thoughts surging.
Emperor Xi’s attitude made his understanding of the Emperor Fall Era even more complicated.
This sovereign seemed to have long since seen the tragic ending, yet he was still doing everything in his power, laying down contingencies and seeking that single thread of life.
And he himself seemed to have been regarded by him as part of that thread of life.
“A variable, is it…”
Lu Xuan clenched his fists, feeling the surging power of a True Immortal within his body, as well as that strand of Emperor Xi’s source imprint.
“In that case, I will become the greatest variable!”
He no longer hid himself and began to take the initiative.
With his Supreme cultivation, he challenged the True Immortal-level experts of long-established fame within the divine kingdom, whether they were elders of the Golden Crow clan or masters from other powerful races.
He still swept through them all, incorporating the concept of “Severing the Three Corpses” into battle, with thoughts of good, evil, and self flowing in turn.
At times he was compassionate like a saint, at times cold like a demon, at times transcendent like the Dao. His combat style was ever-changing and unpredictable, driving all his opponents to despair.
His reputation quickly rose from that of a young prodigy to the ranks of true powerhouses!
The name “Golden Crow Lu Xuan” began to resound throughout Emperor Xi’s Divine Kingdom, and even spread toward more distant regions.
He tempered himself through battle and verified the Great Dao through cultivation.
His cultivation rapidly stabilized and improved through combat, advancing toward an even higher level.
At the same time, he also used every opportunity to search for clues about the quasi-Immortal Emperor on the mural.
The dark turmoil erupted in full.
Dark creatures surging from the far shore of the Realm Sea swept through like a plague of locusts. Wherever they passed, stars dimmed, great worlds collapsed, and all living beings were plunged into misery and devastation.
As a forward stronghold, Emperor Xi’s Divine Kingdom saw the flames of war instantly spread across its borders.
The Golden Crow that Lu Xuan had transformed into possessed only Supreme cultivation, yet on the smoke-filled battlefield, he became a streak of golden lightning that even the dark camp could not help but take notice of!
He was no longer limited to arena matches, but truly threw himself into the brutal battlefield of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
His targets were no longer the prodigies of his generation, but those beings radiating terrifying pressure—Dark True Immortals!!
A dark bone dragon, its skeleton wreathed in ominous black mist and ghostly blue soul flames burning in its eye sockets.
It led countless skeletal armies, assaulting a star region guarded by the Golden Crow clan.
This bone dragon was an old Dark True Immortal. Its dragon breath could corrode stars, and its sharp claws could tear through the void.
Lu Xuan charged against the tide. Facing the deathly dragon breath that blotted out the heavens and covered the earth, his wings shook as he unleashed the Chaos Golden Crow Body, fused with the profundities of the Chaos Evolving Yang Chapter!
The dark-golden flames around him were no longer merely scorching.
Instead, they carried a trace of chaos’s devouring and transformative nature, actually swallowing most of that highly corrosive dark dragon breath and transforming it into pure energy to replenish himself!
At the same time, his talons formed a fist seal—not a divine ability of the Golden Crow clan, but the Sun Fist of Annihilation, containing the destructive will of the “Evil Corpse” from the “Severing the Three Corpses” method!
Where the fist edge passed, space did not shatter. Instead, it directly returned to a state of “nothingness,” as though even “existence” itself had been erased!
“Boom!”
The fist seal collided with the bone dragon’s giant claw. Those dragon bones, tough enough to withstand immortal artifacts head-on, fractured inch by inch beneath the annihilating fist intent like rotten wood!
The dark bone dragon let out a furious, startled roar. Its massive body was sent flying by a single punch, its soul flame swaying violently!
Lu Xuan did not give his opponent any chance to recover. His figure followed like a shadow, his wings like heavenly blades, slashing down in a crisscross!
The wing-blades, containing the meaning of chaos’s creation and end, ignored the dark shield around the bone dragon and cut directly into the core of its soul flame!
“No—!”
With a shrill and despairing mental scream, the dark bone dragon’s soul flame abruptly went out. Its enormous skeletal body fell apart, turning into countless fragments swept away by the chaotic currents of energy on the battlefield.
A Supreme had slain a True Immortal!
Victory in the first battle!
When the news spread, not only was the dark camp shaken, even many experts on Emperor Xi’s Divine Kingdom’s side found it hard to believe!
There had always been geniuses capable of fighting above their realm, but to slay an old Dark True Immortal so cleanly and decisively with the body of a Supreme—this simply overturned common sense!
A dark divine vine rooted in a shattered star, its tendrils blotting out the sky and sun and exuding a dense aura of corruption and temptation, had entangled several True Immortals of the divine kingdom, drawing away their life essence.
This was an extremely troublesome Dark True Immortal. Its vines were incomparably tough, and it could release pollen that bewildered the mind.
Lu Xuan took the initiative and charged into the vine domain.
Countless vines containing the laws of corrosion and entanglement swarmed over like venomous snakes.
Yet he neither dodged nor evaded. The phantom of a Glazed Heart Lamp appeared around him, and a gentle yet unwavering purifying Dao rhythm spread outward. That mind-bewitching pollen seemed to have encountered its natural nemesis and dispersed one after another.
At the same time, the tips of his talons condensed chaos flames of ultimate destruction. Wherever they passed, the resilient vines melted away like ice and snow!
The fallen divine vine unleashed a piercing mental assault, attempting to directly destroy Lu Xuan’s divine soul.
However, Lu Xuan’s Dao heart was as firm as bedrock. Having undergone the tempering of “Severing the Three Corpses,” a mental impact of this degree was like a breeze brushing his face.
He locked onto the divine vine’s core, then pointed out with a Sun Judgment Finger fused with the all-commanding intent of the “Obsession Corpse” over myriad laws.
The finger radiance pierced through layer after layer of obstruction and accurately struck the divine vine’s core brand!
“Pfft!”
The core brand shattered, and the fallen divine vine’s enormous body rapidly withered and decayed, finally turning into a puddle of foul-smelling pus.
Another Dark True Immortal slain!
Lu Xuan’s overwhelming strength finally drew the attention of the dark camp.
Three Dark True Immortals with complementary abilities joined forces to set an ambush, luring him into a deathland polluted by the laws of darkness.
One was skilled in concealment and assassination, one was proficient in curses and weakening, and one specialized in frontal assault. Their coordination was flawless.
This was an unprecedented crisis!
The concealed assassin’s dagger silently stabbed toward Lu Xuan’s back. The curse master’s vicious incantations followed like a shadow, weakening his condition. The dark giant spirit attacking from the front swung a war hammer as massive as a mountain and smashed it down with a thunderous crash!
Facing this sure-kill situation, Lu Xuan finally held nothing back!
“Three Corpses, revolve! Chaos, return to one!”
He let out a long roar, and behind him, three illusory figures—Obsession Self, Evil Self, and True Self—manifested briefly for the first time in the Emperor Fall Era.
Though it was only for an instant, it caused the aura around him to surge wildly, as though he had briefly touched the threshold of power at a higher level!
The Obsession Corpse fixed the concealed assassin in place. The Evil Corpse roared as it met the dark giant spirit’s war hammer. The True Self Corpse transformed into an invisible barrier, forcefully withstanding the endless curses!
As for Lu Xuan’s true body, he seized this split-second opportunity and poured all his power into the illusory imprint of the Chaos Bell!
“Dong!”