“You must be Jiang Chen. No wonder you need to possess a junior… This head is all that’s left of you, isn’t it? Your very life hangs by a thread, it seems.” [1] Xing Chen looked at the head with a forbidding curl of his lip.

Flames of three different colors flared from his eyes as the Emerald Mistfire, Lucent Voidfire, and Daevic Skyfire inside him blazed simultaneously. Sheathed in the three immortal fires, the heart gifted by Ashu pounded and generated a mighty force that revolved inside Xing Chen. Meanwhile, the giant lungs began to inhale the energy of the land and convert it into a tremendous power that circulated around him.

The only issue was that the heart was of the fire attribute, while the lungs were of the metal attribute. The two elements were diametrically opposed, so an ever so slight friction resulting from the conflict prevented them from operating in complete harmony. Even so, the generated power was more than enough for Lu Yun’s purposes.

“Xing Chen?” The eyes of the giant head shot wide open. Dozens of kilometers in size, they were immense. But rotten as they were, they looked more like two giant lakes filled with wastewater.

“Die!!” came Jiang Chen’s sudden roar, producing frightening sonic waves that turned into a hurricane howling toward Xing Chen.

The storm was filled to the brim with corpse and yin energies. If not for Xing Chen being from the Nine Yin Soul-Parting Wood and by the lungs and heart of heaven and earth, he would’ve been spontaneously zombified.

Even so, his heart lurched and his skin felt as though it was being gnawed upon by millions of ants.

“Piss off!”

Crackle!

Three immortal fires erupted along with his shout, the raging inferno splitting the black hurricane. Then, a hundred and eight thousand swords illuminated by violet sword radiance rose behind Xing Chen and struck at the same time.

Dancing in perfect coordination, the swarm of swords coalesced into a single entity in the air and drew an enormous purple sword projection. Struck by the giant sword, the enormous hurricane instantly vanished.

Jiang Chen gaped, and a gasp of dread escaped his lips. “Sword dao!!”

Sword dao, wielding dao through the sword!

The violet sword swung with the mysteries of sword dao and tore through space, slicing down toward Jiang Chen’s head. In response, the head squirted out an endless river of pus and blood that corroded the earth and destroyed all life when it landed on the ground.

Right before the projection found its target, a young, red-haired man suddenly descended from above and punched out at the giant illusory sword.

Rumble!!

A clap of thunder rang in the air as the sword dao that Lu Yun had unleashed through Xing Chen’s hundred and eight thousand immortal swords shattered from the weight of the punch.

A sudden weight bearing down on his chest, Xing Chen violently coughed up a mouthful of blood while the impact sent him flying north from Outré Province all the way into the North Sea.

The red-haired young man stood in the void, unflinchingly releasing the aura of a peak arcane dao immortal.

Indeed, a peak arcane dao immortal with nine arcane dao fruits!

But rather than a contemporary immortal… he was one from the primordial times! Compared to the group of barbarous fur seals, his combat arts and strength were on an entirely different level.

Inside Dusk Province, the scarlet ape’s eyes began burning, a hint of fear flashing deep inside them as he looked at the red-haired young man. While the young man’s aura did indeed belong to that of a peak arcane dao immortal, the scarlet ape could clearly tell that his true strength went far beyond his cultivation realm.

“Jiuying… you’ve emerged from seclusion?” a hoarse voice rasped from Jiang Chen’s giant mouth.

“Go back and look for an appropriate junior to possess.” Yin Jiuying’s voice was somewhat somber. “A mere golden immortal almost killed you...”

Jiang Chen turned his gaze toward Dusk Province and stared intensely at Jiangchen Xie. Without a doubt, Jiangchen Xie was one of the possession candidates on his list.

“Forget Jiangchen Xie, he’s the Demon Sovereign’s heir now. We Corpse Refiners can’t afford to offend the demon sovereign at the moment.” Yin Jiuying glanced sideways at Jiang Chen.

The latter’s head deflated like a balloon as he beat a hasty retreat out of Nephrite Major. He’d sensed a fearsome presence incoming and the newcomer already had him in his sights. If he were to tarry… he might very well die today.

Striding through empty air, Yin Jiuying sauntered into Dusk Province, each of his steps generating a ripple in the void. Inside Dusk, a scintillating pair of giant eyes slowly manifested in the sky and stared at Yin Juiying’s approaching figure without a word.

“I can’t overcome the immortal restriction, but if you dare show yourself, I’ll make certain to eradicate you.” Yin Jiuying didn’t even look up as his voice spread through Dusk Province.

It was a challenge to the restriction, pure and simple! Irreverent and delivered without care. Onlookers froze stiff at this display of sheer power.

Yin Jiuying!

It was a name that’d once been unfamiliar to most, but after the Corpse Refiners seized control of Truespirit Major, he’d made a name for himself by killing many of the powerhouses who launched invasions at the foremost hated sect of the world, including several crippled origin dao immortals!

No one had expected him to appear in Dusk Province on the day of Lu Yun establishing his sacred land.

The man in question continued walking at an even pace, shortening the distance between him and the governor. Space rippled with each of his steps, and in the sky above, a crack spiderwebbed through the human demon’s eyes.

Crackle crackle bang!

Nine steps were all it took to shatter the eyes conjured by the human demon and the immortal restriction.

“Who are you going to eradicate?” A voice frivolous yet sinister echoed when the eyes fell into dust, followed by the rise of an evil wind. An eerie figure radiating dense ghostly energy slowly floated out of the emptiness.

Ashu.

He’d once said that he wouldn’t help Lu Yun, yet here he was nonetheless. He was even hefting a rotten head in his hand.

Jiang Chen’s head.

Yin Jiuying stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

“A holy lord from the underworld, I see.” Yin Jiuying flashed an ominous smile. “I don’t mind fighting you… but do you think this measly Dusk Province can withstand an all-out battle between us?”

“The Corpse Refiners’ lair won’t be able to withstand a palm strike from me, either.” Ashu’s grin was positively wicked. “Let’s fight beyond this world, my dear, or I’ll eradicate your sect right this instant.

“I am a living dead, after all. The palace of the Green Firmament can’t stop me, and the Purple Firmament can’t restrict my actions. I can snuff out whomever I want. Want to give it a try?”

Yin Jiuying’s face fell. “Fine, since you wish to die, I will fulfill your wish. We fight outside this world!”

The two powerhouses streaked into two pillars of light and shot up into the clouds, soaring past the highest reaches of the heavens and arriving outside the world of immortals.

Silence returned to Dusk Province.

Hovering beneath the Dao Flower, Lu Yun gracefully refined the light pouring down from the flower’s petals while the Sugato Sword floated over his head.

Meanwhile, after witnessing the obliteration of the human demon’s eyes by Yin Jiuying, the dao immortals lingering outside Dusk Province mustered their courage and charged past the borders.

But the moment they set foot inside the province, they found themselves annihilated by a fearsome force.

However, no one paid attention to the death of those dao immortals at that particular moment in time, because scarlet had dyed the sky above the province, and a stifling presence like no other descended from the heavens. Every living creature in the province felt a smothering sensation of suffocation.

Boom!

In an earsplitting explosion, a bloodstained avenue slowly unfurled from the sky above, admitting passage for a monster covered in long black fur from head to toe, a somewhat crude-looking axe in hand.

1. HELLO SOTR! Jiang Chen is the forefather who couldn’t be bothered using Jiangchen Wushang as a backup body.