The elder floating up looked crazed. His hair was in disarray, his eyes were red. There was a large bloodstain around his mouth.

Seeing that elder, Long Chen worriedly asked, “Are you alright? Did you not accomplish your dreams before dying?”

“Patriarch!” Zhao Wuji let out a startled cry upon seeing that elder.

The elder suddenly extended his hand, and a blood-colored sword appeared. At the same time, his body became covered in a sinister set of armor. Like a wild beast, he charged at Long Chen.

Hearing that this was the patriarch, Long Chen had a bad feeling. He barely had time to take out Evilmoon before the elder arrived in front of him.

BOOM!

Relying on his intuition, Long Chen managed to properly raise Evilmoon in time to block this attack, but there was an irresistible power behind his enemy’s sword that he couldn’t stop.

Long Chen smashed into the ground, leaving a long ditch. He was shocked by this elder’s power. It seemed that his power didn’t come entirely from his armor because Long Chen’s bones had been broken by this one attack.

Before Long Chen even came to a stop, eight chains shot out of the elder’s back. At the ends of the chains were sinister ghost heads that wailed as they shot at Long Chen. Every single one of those chains caused an ear-piercing sound as they tore through the air.

BOOM!

With a shout, Long Chen slashed Evilmoon into the first chain. The chain was knocked back, while Long Chen was sent flying once more by the berserk power within the chain.

“His power…” Long Chen’s expression changed.

The chains continued whistling toward Long Chen, and he couldn’t take them out directly. He repeatedly dodged, causing the chains to pierce deep into the ground.

BOOM! However, the chains were extremely fast, so fast that others wouldn’t be able to react. Unable to dodge them all, Long Chen could only block it again.

It was like a giant hammer had struck him. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, but now he was sure of this elder’s cultivation base. He was at the fourth step of Netherpassage.

A fourth step Netherpassage expert could control Samsara energy. It was a kind of law, the law of reincarnation, a law of an endless cycle. Long Chen’s own power was sucked away by that cycle and slowly ground away until it vanished.

Once when he had been injured, Daoist Heavenly Feather had helped him out a bit so that he could heal. It was at that moment that he had gained a glimmer of insight into the Samsara realm.

All the Daos of heaven and earth were contained within this realm of reincarnation. Upon encountering this kind of power, there was no way to counterattack. Unless Long Chen’s power could surpass his opponent’s Samsara power, all his attacks would be useless.

Long Chen repeatedly blocked with Evilmoon, each strike causing him to cough up a large mouthful of blood and be blown back.

In front of this Samsara power, his own power was unable to do anything. Each blow made him feel like his body would fall apart.

He had a thought to use the eighth form of Split the Heavens and see if that could do anything, but the elder’s attacks were coming too fast for him to do that. There were eight chains continuously striking at him. Hence, there was no chance for him to unleash it.

“Old man, if you still don’t do anything, I’m going to be beaten to death!” shouted Long Chen suddenly.

“Fool, what did I teach you? Have you already forgotten it?” The old man’s scolding voice rang out from the sky. “When I taught you the sixth form of Split the Heavens, didn’t I teach you about the sixth sense? No matter how the ten thousand Daos cycle, my one saber can break them. All transformations are empty, all changes do not leave the source, all twists and turns are the same in front of the sixth sense. Little fellow, have you already forgotten it all?”

The old man’s large figure appeared in the sky, and Long Chen cursed at him inside. It was easy for him to talk, but this Samsara power was shaking the very spatial laws and Daos of the surroundings. Just how was he supposed to open his sixth sense in this scenario?

This so-called sixth sense referred to not even looking at his opponent’s moves. It relied entirely on feeling. The idea was to rely entirely on this feeling to dodge as you activated Split the Heavens.

However, with the surrounding space disturbed by the elder’s Samsara power, just what was Long Chen supposed to sense? If he blindly attacked, that was no different than suicide.

“What are you hesitating for? How will you know whether or not it will work if you don’t try? When did you become as cowardly as a mouse?” shouted the old man.

If he had to die, then he had to die. The old man’s opinion of him was dropping. Clenching his teeth, Long Chen calmed himself and expelled all his distracting thoughts. He raised Evilmoon toward the sky with both hands.

A black saber-image tore into the sky, causing the world to change color. The entire minor world shuddered.

Although Long Chen had also used the eighth form of Split the Heavens previously, that hadn’t been a full-force attack. Upon seeing that the ancient tower was most likely the hub of the entire Mechanism Sect, Long Chen had simply used the amount of power he deemed necessary to destroy it.

In the face of a fourth step Netherpassage expert, he had no choice but to use his full power. Otherwise, his attack would just be an itch.

When Long Chen fully immersed himself in the eighth form of Split the Heavens, he suddenly felt this chaotic space become clear. It was like time had slowed down.

The chain attacks coming toward him seemed to naturally go past his body without him even having to dodge.

Those attacks weren’t actually missing, it was just that Long Chen’s body was automatically sensing danger and dodging as he used the eighth form of Split the Heavens.

“So this is what the sixth sense, sense the heavens means.” Long Chen only understood it now. Split the Heavens was truly a mystical art.

The old man finally smiled upon seeing Long Chen seeming to swim through the elder’s attacks.

The nine forms of Split the Heavens were the most precious treasures of the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect and their foundation. It was their only Battle Skill, but back in the day, it had been enough to make them the leader of the three great heavenly sects.

The founder of the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect had taken all the complexities and secrets of the Dao and distilled them into nine simple arts, creating an unprecedented inheritance for the future. The wisdom and intelligence required to create such a thing were shocking.

The Mechanism Sect’s patriarch's attacks were unable to find Long Chen. More and more energy gathered within his saber-image until space twisted so badly that it began to collapse.

Seeing how powerful the saber-image was growing, even the old man was amazed. He hadn’t expected Long Chen to possess a strong enough will to control so much energy.

Using Split the Heavens didn’t just require a large amount of spiritual yuan, but it also required a powerful will. In fact, the latter was even more important than the former.

That was because you needed to have the will to actually split the heavens before using the skill. It was a will to break the heavens and escape from any bindings.

As for cultivators, they normally needed to conform with the Heavenly Daos, following their laws. The only way to ascend was to reach such a level of immersion with the Heavenly Daos that you became one with the Heavenly Daos.

However, the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect’s path was different. Although they had respect for the Heavenly Daos, they did not follow them. There was a vague sense of fighting against the Heavenly Daos.

That was why all the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect’s disciples were tough and stubborn. It was related to their cultivation.

They needed a will to fight against the very heavens. That was the only way for them to fully unleash the divine essence of Split the Heavens. As for the will that Long Chen was currently expressing, it was no longer a will to split the heavens, but to crush the heavens into pieces, to trample all Daos beneath his feet.

“Split - the - Heavens - 8!”

Long Chen spat out the name of this technique one word at a time. Every word howled throughout the world. His voice was like a thundering divine drum.

Finally, his saber fell. It was like a black river of stars was chopping down from the cosmos, going straight toward the elder.

The elder suddenly pulled back his chains. With a howl, the blood-colored sword in his hand unleashed a brilliant ray of light. All the scales on his body lit up, a strange rune floating out of each of them. They flowed into his attack like the tide. A sound like crashing waves resounded through the air.

BOOOM!

Their two attacks crashed together. The void buzzed and quivered. As the sword-light exploded, Long Chen’s saber-image sent the elder flying.

The elder coughed up a mouthful of blood, a large opening appearing in his armor.

“Well done!” the old man exclaimed. This attack of Long Chen truly unleashed the will of Split the Heavens. That was the only reason why he had managed to break his opponent’s attack which contained the will of reincarnation.

After unleashing this attack, Long Chen immediately felt a wave of weakness. That one attack had almost sucked up all his power.

However, to have injured a fourth step Netherpassage expert, he was filled with pride. He would be able to brag about this for a long time.

Suddenly, rumbling rang out. The earth split open, and chains shot out of the ground, shooting toward the elder.

“Patriarch, you can’t!”

Seeing this scene, Zhao Wuji and the survivors of the Mechanism Sect let out horrified cries.

Long Chen was also startled. Those chains contained the fluctuations of heaven and earth divine elixir. That was the foundation of any sect, a manifestation of their karmic luck.

“Has he gone insane?!” demanded Long Chen.

“You only noticed now? Your flame lotus disturbed him during a critical juncture. He was in seclusion underground attacking a barrier, and your disturbance caused him to become bedeviled. His mind is no longer clear. Did you not notice that he hasn’t said a single word the entire time?” said the old man.

“Ah? Is that true?”

“What do you think? He was fighting purely instinctively. Did you not see how stiff his attacks were? Do you really think a fourth step Netherpassage expert would be unable to do anything to you?” snorted the old man.

“Stop the patriarch! Otherwise, the Mechanism Sect is done for!” shouted Zhao Wuji. Only then did the other experts rush over to break the chains.

“Those who block me will die!”

The patriarch suddenly roared. The light from the chains exploded in power. The Mechanism Sect’s experts that had rushed over were blasted to smithereens.

“How could this happen?!” Zhao Wuji was pale with despair. “It’s over. The Mechanism Sect is finished.”