stjorthotic Chapter 96 Plundering the Origin
Chapter 96 Plundering the Origin
Chapter 96 Plundering the Origin (3K)
In the desolate realm of Chenhuang, at the main hall of the Tianheng Sect's main peak.
The atmosphere was so oppressive it was almost frozen.
On the bluestone floor in the center of the main hall, dozens of jade tablets, shattered into pieces, were scattered haphazardly.
The leaders of the five sects—Qingshan, Xiangyun, Baihua, Jinliu, and Baiqiao—all had grim expressions as they stared intently at Luo Zhenfeng, the sect master of Tianheng Sect, who sat on the main seat.
"Sect Master Luo, is this what you meant by 'absolutely foolproof'?" An elder of the Green Mountain Sect kicked away a piece of jade engraved with the name of one of their core disciples. "Three days! Only three days since entering the secret realm! Almost all of the thirty promising young disciples of the Green Mountain Sect who entered at the Tendon Transformation Realm have had their life tablets shattered!"
The elder of Xiangyun Sect was so angry that he puffed out his beard and glared at the broken pieces on the ground, cursing, "More than a dozen of my sect's sword-cultivating geniuses died at the same time! Luo Zhenfeng, if you don't give me an explanation today, this matter is not over!"
The female elder of the Hundred Flowers Sect, her eyes red-rimmed, clutched several pieces of broken jade in her hand: "My several female disciples were exceptionally talented, and they died inside so inexplicably. Luo Zhenfeng, you must compensate me for my disciples!"
In the main seat.
Luo Zhenfeng held the jade teacup, not even lifting his eyelids.
He was also furious.
Several disciples sent in by the Tianheng Sect have died, but this matter must not be admitted.
The oppressive aura of the Divine Transformation Realm cultivator emanated faintly, making the air in the hall feel heavy.
He slowly skimmed off the tea foam and took a small sip of tea.
"Elders, please calm down." Luo Zhenfeng put down his teacup, his tone calm. "Experiences in secret realms are inherently accompanied by life and death. Although the peasants of Tianqing Continent are just lowly blood bags, even a rabbit will bite when cornered. Besides, there are many rare and precious materials in secret realms, which often cause a few ferocious beasts to mutate—"
"What utter nonsense about a ferocious beast mutation!" The Grand Elder of the Green Mountain Sect cursed out. "What kind of ferocious beast is specifically targeting our few families? Why aren't the soul tablets of your Tianheng Sect disciples shattered so badly?"
Luo Zhenfeng slammed his teacup down: "Elder Zhao, watch your words! This secret realm is originally the territory of my Tianheng Sect. Letting you five sects in to share the spoils was already more than generous. Now that something has gone wrong, you're trying to pin the blame on my Tianheng Sect?"
"A share of the pie? We paid a lot of spirit stones for the array plates!" The elder of the Golden Flow Sect was calculating loudly. "Sect Master Luo, let's settle the accounts clearly. Your Heavenly Heng Sect has to cover this loss."
The main hall was in complete chaos, with spittle flying everywhere.
Several usually aloof and powerful figures in the cultivation world were now behaving like vendors haggling over a few pounds of rotten vegetables in a market.
Luo Zhenfeng leaned back in his chair, his tone radiating absolute confidence, "With Ming Cheng here, there won't be any major trouble. If you all feel sorry for a few disciples, once the secret realm opens, my Tianheng Sect will give up an extra 20% of the spiritual herbs."
Upon hearing this, the five sect elders' expressions turned even uglier, but due to Luo Zhenfeng's peak Golden Core cultivation, they were forced to retaliate.
"Sect Master Luo, you're really talking without understanding the pain," the Green Mountain Sect elder gritted his teeth. "It's our people who died, so naturally you don't feel any pain. But what if it were your precious son—"
Before he could finish speaking...
Three of the soul tablets of the Tianheng Sect disciples enshrined in the very center of the main hall shattered instantly.
Immediately afterwards, an extremely piercing buzzing sound suddenly came from the top row of soul tablets.
Everyone instinctively shut their mouths and turned to look.
This is the Purple Gold Soul Token of Luo Mingcheng, the young sect master of Tianheng Sect.
At this moment, the purple-gold soul tablet, which represents the future hope of Tianheng Sect and was tempered with countless rare and precious materials, is flashing a blinding blood-red warning light.
"Mingcheng?" Luo Zhenfeng suddenly stood up, his pupils shrinking.
Before he could even take a step...
Snapped.
A crack appeared in the middle of the purple-gold soul tablet, and then, in full view of everyone, this indestructible soul tablet exploded into a cloud of dust, which fell onto the offering table.
The main hall was deathly silent.
The five elders exchanged glances, and the arrogant Grand Elder of the Green Mountain Sect silently withdrew his foot.
The young sect leader is dead.
They died in their own backyard, a secret place, leaving not even ashes behind.
Luo Zhenfeng stood frozen in place, the astonishment in his eyes instantly swallowed by the raging bloodshot veins.
boom!
A terrifying pressure, belonging to the peak of the Golden Core stage and comparable to the Divine Transformation Realm of the Tianqing Continent, erupted from his body without reservation.
The sturdy bluestone floor tiles of the main hall crumbled inch by inch, and the thick, coiled dragon pillars groaned under the weight of the broken stone.
The violent spiritual energy transformed into a tangible hurricane, directly blasting the glazed dome of the main hall into the air.
The five sect elders were forced to retreat repeatedly by this oppressive force, desperately resisting by circulating their true energy.
Luo Zhenfeng's eyes were bloodshot, his hair was disheveled, and he looked like a mad beast. His roar, which shook the entire Tianheng Sect's main peak, resounded for miles around.
"How dare you, you brat!"
Xu Hao walked up to Luo Mingcheng, his boots stomping on the other's blood-stained pale white robe, making a sticky, squeezing sound.
Luo Mingcheng coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, his voice trembling with fear: "You bastard of Tianqing—if you kill me, my father will surely cross over to this realm and banish your soul to the Netherworld, where it will never be reincarnated."
Xu Hao smiled and slowly rolled his toes against the other man's lower abdomen.
"Your father is quite far from here, but my feet are quite close to your lower abdomen."
puff.
Luo Mingcheng's eyes suddenly bulged out, and his body curled up like a boiled shrimp.
His spiritual energy, cultivated through years of hard work, leaked wildly out of his shattered dantian, stirring up a ring of murky mud.
"My cultivation—you dare to cripple it!"
"Boss, this young master has a loud voice, so it seems he's not really hurt yet." Chen Yuanzhi walked over carrying a small, bright green bottle and squatted down next to Luo Mingcheng. "This is Heart-Piercing Bone-Eating Powder. I tripled the dosage, but I haven't tried it on anyone yet."
Xu Hao withdrew his foot and stood aside.
Chen Yuanzhi grabbed Luo Mingcheng's chin and forcibly poured the medicine from the bottle into his mouth.
In less than three breaths, Luo Mingcheng's screams completely changed, losing their previous arrogance and leaving only pure despair.
He banged his head against the ground desperately, his forehead becoming bloody and mangled, and he even tried to bite off his own tongue.
"Kill me—please kill me—"
"So cultivation doesn't stop pain? Heh, tell me, besides herbs, what else in this secret realm could you treasure?" Xu Hao squatted down and looked him straight in the eye.
Luo Mingcheng convulsed, foaming at the mouth: "Under the Spirit Lake—at the core of the Cloud Hidden Earth Vein—this is the origin of the secret realm—please, give me a quick death—"
Xu Hao stood up and looked at Chen Yuanzhi.
Chen Yuanzhi put away the medicine bottle and nodded, saying, "He wouldn't dare to lie at a time like this."
Xu Hao drew his Devouring Sea Blade with a backhand motion.
"I'll grant your wish."
With a flash of light, Luo Mingcheng's head rolled into the muddy water, his eyes wide open in death.
Luo Tianheng, who was standing to the side, was already paralyzed with fear. He scrambled and tried to crawl into the woods, but a bone-spiky, fleshy tendril shot out from the lake and tightly wrapped around his ankle, pulling him back to the open space.
"Alliance Leader Luo, why are you running?" Xu Hao walked over, carrying a blood-dripping knife.
This former leader of the righteous path in Shengzhou was so frightened that he wet his pants, leaving a foul stench beneath him.
Seeing Xu Hao looking over, Luo Tianheng disregarded his damaged meridians and scrambled over, his head hitting the muddy water with a loud thud.
"Sir! Sir! Spare my life! I'm also from Tianqing! We're of the same clan, the same clan! I was forced into this situation by this little beast!"
"Same kind?" Xu Hao scoffed. "Didn't you say before that pig farmers don't treat their livestock like brothers?"
Luo Tianheng's expression froze, and he wanted to beg for mercy again.
Xu Hao didn't give him a chance, and with a backhand slash, he directly cleaved Luo Tian in two.
Luo Tianheng was cut in half at the waist, and his two severed bodies writhed wildly on the ground.
The Devouring Sea Blade emitted a greedy buzzing sound, instantly absorbing all the vital energy in his body.
"Mud Monkey, collect these young masters' storage bags. And clean them up while you're at it," Xu Hao shouted towards the boat.
"Alright! Boss, just you wait and see!" Mud Monkey jumped three feet high and ran off the boat happily.
Xu Hao turned to look at the churning Spirit Lake.
"The core of the earth's veins—"
Before long, Mud Monkey cleaned the corpses on the ground, piled them together, took out the Bone-Melting Poison Smoke from his pocket, and casually threw it on the corpses.
zizi.
Yellow smoke rose, leaving only a pool of foul-smelling water in the spot.
"The Second Boss's bone-dissolving smoke is getting better and better. There's not even a trace left. If he went back to Shengzhou to open a black market, he would definitely be a master."
Xu Hao led the group back to Zhenyuan, wiped the blood splattered on his face, and threw all the storage bags on his body to Chen Yuanzhi.
"Mud Monkey, give all the storage bags to Second Master. Second Master, Mud Monkey, lock the hatch. Let's go to the bottom of the lake and uproot this secret realm."
The Zhenyuan plunged into the lake.
A layer of dark blue water-repelling energy spread out around the hull, causing the lake water to automatically roll and recede to both sides.
Luo Meng clung tightly to the helm. The water pressure at the bottom of the lake increased, and the black tortoise-like bone armor outside the cabin emitted a dull grating sound.
"Boss, we've reached the bottom! It's all rocks, there's no way out!" Luo Meng shouted at the top of his lungs.
Xu Hao stood at the bow of the boat, his gaze piercing through the murky water: "Smash it."
With a deep roar, the Zhenyuan rammed its menacing tortoise-head horn into the lakebed rock with tremendous force.
Boom!
The hard rock layers cracked inch by inch, and blinding white light shone through the cracks, illuminating the dark lake bottom as bright as day.
Beneath the rock strata, a huge ball of light floated silently, emanating a spiritual energy so dense it was almost tangible.
This is the core of the Hidden Cloud Vein.
The mud monkey clung to the window crack in the lower deck, its eyes brimming with tears from the glare, yet it refused to close them: "Mother! What a huge spirit stone this is! If we took this back, we could buy the entire capital of Daheng!"
Chen Yuan slapped him on the back of the head: "You money-grubbing idiot, this is the root of the secret realm, try moving one yourself."
Xu Hao did not hesitate at all, and his mind was set on it.
Xu Hao's lips curled up: "Good stuff. Same rules as always, take it all."
Inside the lower deck, thousands upon thousands of fleshy tendrils covered in dark blue bone spikes shot out, piercing the light sphere with unparalleled precision and frantically devouring the earth's ley line essence.
As the primordial power rapidly dissipated, the entire Hidden Cloud Realm began to tremble violently.