When Mad Sword felt the familiar aura, he smiled.

“Well, then, it looks like Dao Brother will have the chance to prove it.”

****

Shu! Shu! Shu!

Several figures shot out from the city and stood atop the city walls. They observed the phenomenon in the distance with serious expressions. Even Long Di and the others arrived before peering at the horizon with the same level of curiosity.

They had to leave the Sun siblings behind since they couldn’t bring the latter with them everywhere they went.

“It’s not just the Heavenly Sun Noble.” Jingyi Yu noted. “It’s many powerful auras rushing over at an incredible pace.”

Boom!

Another explosion echoed out with flashing lights dotting the horizon.

“It’s a fight!” Mad Sword Haoran was delighted. “It seems Heavenly Sun Noble is fighting!”

An expert noticed Mad Sword Haoran and approached him respectfully with cupped fists. “Does Sir Mad Sword Haoran know who could possibly be competing with Heavenly Sun Noble? Is it another one of the Five Nobles?”

Everyone present looked at Mad Sword Haoran for some explanation, as he was the strongest among those of the younger generation present right now.

Long Di and the others were atop Lord Whiskers right now and only directed their gazes forward.

Mad Sword Haoran kept his composure and felt the aura in the distance before his expression turned strange.

“It’s certainly Heavenly Sun Noble, but it’s not any of the Five Nobles that I know of,” Mad Sword Haoran said, now equally surprised.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several more explosions spread out, cutting their conversations short.

Dum!

A terrifying pressure descended as a massive flaming sword appeared in the distance. The sword was so colossal that its tip was surrounded by clouds!

The powerful fluctuations it released were a clear indicator of its power. A feeling of powerlessness washed over the present experts as this fight clearly drew a line between a normal genius and an apex existence!

“Heavens!”

“What kind of attack is that!?”

“It’s Heavenly Sun Noble’s Heaven Piercing Slash!” Mad Sword Haoran was surprised there was someone else other than the Five Nobles who was able to push his Master this far!

Dark energy surged and roiled on the horizon before it engulfed the giant blade.

Mad Sword Haoran’s expression changed when the dark energy enveloped the giant blade before crushing it!

“What!?”

The crowd couldn’t believe what they were seeing. That attack wasn’t something they could even dream of defending against, yet whatever Heavenly Sun Noble was fighting broke it so easily!

Shu! Shu! Shu!

Suddenly, several powerful auras appeared before assuming a higher position on the city wall.

They were all grey-haired old men with extremely condensed auras. Their expressions as they observed the fight were grave.

They all wore golden robes with an insignia of a gate with a lion’s face embroidered on it. The lion on the gate appeared extremely animated, as if it would devour all those who came near.

“That thing has appeared once more, and in this generation no less.”

“Rumours of the Di Ming awakening have spread as well.”

The elders were discussing among themselves several subjects that went over the younger generation’s heads.

“Great elders of Golden Lion Gate, do you know who Heavenly Sun Noble is fighting right now?”

Mad Sword Haoran heard the faint whispers of their conversation and believed they knew what was going on.

“Ah yes, young hero Haoran Jian,” one of the elders spoke. “The young noble isn’t fighting a contemporary.”

“You mean he’s fighting an elder-level existence!?” If this was the case, then that meant no one in the younger generation could match his master!

Unfortunately, the elder shook his head to indicate this wasn’t the case. “An elder-level existence is not something that even Heavenly Sun Noble is able to take on, even though the talent is top-notch. What the young noble is fighting right now is something much more ominous and much more dangerous.”

Shu!

A shadow rocketed from beyond the horizon and headed to the city wall. After scaling the wall, everyone was able to see the new arrival.

It was a burly man with knuckle bracers with spikes on it. Injuries decked his body and a powerful aura of death wafted from him, hindering his ability to heal his injuries.

Black veins spread across his entire body, lending him a frightening appearance. His body spasmed at irregular intervals.

“That’s Black Fortress Guo Da!” One person said in shock.

“Thank you, miscellaneous expert,” Long Di’s voice echoed out, warming that miscellaneous expert’s heart once again.

“That’s one of the Seven Heroes, on the same level as Mad Sword Haoran.” Another expert blurted out. That person waited for Long Di’s praise, but it never came, drawing a scowl from him.

“Black Fortress Guo Da!?” Mad Sword Haoran was surprised to see this person here and in such a state at that.

“Were you fighting Heavenly Sun Noble!? Wait, no…” Mad Sword Haoran didn’t feel this was right. He had fought Black Fortress Guo Da before and they were more or less evenly matched.

The Five Nobles were at an entirely different level. There’s no way that Black Fortress Guo Dao would have been able to force the young noble to unleash the Heaven Piercing Slash.

Not only that, the type of injuries he suffered from were not something that Heavenly Sun Noble was known for handing out.

“Ack!” Black Fortress Guo Da coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“!”

The crowd saw that the blood was black and that it released a pungent odour that stung the nose.

They were shocked that one of the Seven Heroes ended up like this, especially Black Fortress Guo Da.

As a human, he took on the very rare path of body cultivation. Instead of spiritual qi, somatic essence reforged his body into a living weapon. Not even sword strikes from normal cultivators could harm him, but his injuries now were on a different level.

One Golden Lion Gate’s elder saw this and rushed towards Black Fortress Guo Da. He placed his hand on his body and after sensing the condition of Guo Dao’s body, he sighed in relief.

“It’s not too bad.”

He then took out a white medicinal pill from his storage ring, causing a medicinal fragrance to spread.

Just the smell alone indicated that this was a high-grade medicinal pill. Many of the experts present salivated while sniffing it, but didn’t dare to act.

“Here, this will help to expel the death qi that’s rotting your body. Once it’s expelled, your body’s natural regenerative abilities should allow you to live.” The elder handed it to Black Fortress Guo Da.

Black Fortress Guo Da didn’t even question it and took the pill and immediately entered the lotus position to recover as fast as he could.

Immediately, the black veins that stretched across his body like the root of a terminal disease slowly receded as he channelled forward the medicinal energy of the pill.

“How did Black Fortress Guo Da end up like this!?” Mad Sword Haoran was still confused.

“He was most likely attacked by what is fighting Heavenly Sun Noble right now.” An elder that stood at the front of the group of elders spoke.

“Grand Elder Jin Ya,” Mad Sword Haoran cupped his fist in respect to this illustrious figure. This person is the one with the most authority in Golden Lion Gate, barring the sect master.

He waved to let Mad Sword Haoran know he needn’t worry about useless formalities.

“Can Grand Elder Jin Ya let us know what Heavenly Sun Noble is fighting against?” Mad Sword Haoran.

An audible sigh escaped the aged cultivator before he stated. “It is best for you to see it with your own eyes.”

The juniors here were even more curious after hearing the Grand Elder’s words.

Shu! Shu! Shu!

Suddenly two other figures shot from the direction of the fight towards the city. People gasped once they got close enough to recognise the two people.

“That’s Violet Flame Noble and Sabre Demon Gu!”

The two cultivators shot up the wall and they were in the same condition as Black Fortress Guo Da.

Sabre Demon Gu was one of the Seven Heroes. He wore a mad expression as dark lines crawled all over his body like a thousand centipedes.

He fell to the ground with only his sabre to support him.

“Damn it! Young Noble!”

When Mad Sword Haoran heard this, his blood ran cold. He then ran over to Sabre Demon Gu in a rush.

“Sabre Demon Gu, what happened to master!?”

Mad Sword Haoran and Sabre Demon Gu had an odd relationship with each, as they shared one of the most intense rivalries among the Seven Heroes, but they were also under the banner of Heavenly Sun Noble.

Violet Flame Noble wasn’t any better off. He was, as his title suggested, one of the Five Nobles. His entire body was wreathed in violet flames that burned furiously, melting the ground he stood on, but there was a bright red colour mixed in with tendrils of darkness.

When the bright red colour was spotted, the elders of Golden Lion Gate were shocked.

“You’re burning your blood essence!? Cease this Violet Flame Noble!”

The flames eventually petered out, revealing Violet Flame Noble’s body, causing everyone to reel back in shock. Much like Black Fortress Guo Da and Sabre Demon Gu, Violet Flame Noble’s body was covered in the same marks of death energy.

What was so jarring, however, was that his hair was white and wrinkles covered his skin. In addition, the marks had covered a great portion of his body.

“Sh*t, his vitality was affected!” The Elders cursed and several of them made a move to assist the young noble, while another went to assist Sabre Demon Gu.

If anything happened to any of the Five Nobles or the Seven Heroes while they were in the territory of Golden Lion Gate, this wasn’t something they would be able to endure.

This was also why one of the elders gave away such a valuable pill to Black Fortress Guo Da without hesitation.

They focused their energy and used a secret technique to first fight against the spread of the death energy.

“Damn it! The spread has gone too far!” One of them stated.

Another’s expression was grave. “The lack of essence-blood caused his defensive capabilities to plummet. Once the death energy reaches his bone marrow, we won’t be able to save him!”

“Here, take this!” Another elder offered the same white medicinal pill to Violet Flame Noble.

“D-Don’t bother!” Violet Flame Noble spoke as he struggled to resist the encroachment of the dark energy.

He knew that the most these elders could do were resist the dark energy. It had gone too deep for them to have any hope of expelling it.

But then… what else could they do? He had burned his essence blood to increase the power of his flames to fight what was coming, but the overdraft had damaged his vitality.

If they didn’t get rid of the death energy soon, the damage would be irreparable. There was no doubt that they would be held accountable by his sect and backer, Dao Flame Mansion, one of the ten great sects.

“Ah!”

Violet Flame Noble’s body took on a darker shade as a whole while death energy seeped from his body.

This forced the elders who were helping him to back off.

“It’s too late!” One of the elders said, finally giving up.

“It’s reached the bone marrow! It‘s too deep for us to reverse it!” One shook his head in defeat.

“A generational genius will die just like this!?” Another lamented.

Krrsh!

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning struck the dying body of Violet Flame Noble, catching everyone off guard!

Who would be able to stupid enough to attack at a time like this!?

Surprisingly, however, the dark shade of skin lightened a great deal, which was a sign of reversal, something that should be impossible!

“Told you it would work.”

“Fine, I lost the bet. I’ll be nice to the next idiot we encounter.”