Imperial Cultivation

Chapter 1355 - 1351: First Probe

He had never imagined this demon would be so formidable; even bound by the God-Binding Rope, he could still go for Jade and Stone Burning, almost dragging him down as a scapegoat.

He turned his head to look toward the forest across the mountain.

But he couldn’t see Chu Zhiyuan’s figure.

He knew Chu Zhiyuan was preparing to perform the Ascension Technique, needing to hide his form to avoid being discovered and alerted.

He suddenly whipped his head around to look.

He saw the headless corpse embedded in the tree trunk suddenly flash with light.

Strands of light swiftly shuttled across the surface of the corpse.

The light formed patterns, and the patterns grew denser and denser, vaguely forming a rose.

The rose shone brilliantly, suddenly flaring, dazzling to the point of being impossible to look at directly.

Then it suddenly dimmed.

Extreme brightness and extreme darkness were separated by only an instant.

The blinding light turned into a beam of light, shooting straight up into the sky, punching through the firmament and vanishing from sight.

"Damn it!"

Huang Zhengyang stomped his foot viciously.

The demon had escaped!

Even using the God-Binding Rope, he still managed to escape, escaping back to Dan Yang Heaven!

No matter how powerful the Spiritual Artifact, it could not withstand the erosion of time; the God-Binding Rope was growing older and older, on the verge of collapse.

From what he knew, the God-Binding Rope was already tottering and could not endure being Mastered many more times.

There might be only three chances left, or even just two.

This attempt that failed to capture the demon was a wasted use.

He was still too weak!

Anger and unwillingness surged through his chest; he wanted nothing more than to throw his head back and roar at the sky.

With his current ability, he could no longer Master the God-Binding Rope, which meant he had lost the chance to capture the demon and force out information.

This was a failed operation.

"Boom boom boom boom..."

The muffled booms were like thunder; one transparent blossom after another fought with the Strange Beasts, wild winds carrying sand and grass branches rolled and surged, blocking out their sight.

His body trembled lightly, anger driving him almost mad.

Yet he was powerless.

For now, all he could do was see whether the six Tributes could exterminate those two demons.

At this point, he no longer hoped to capture them alive, only to behead them so they could not wreak further havoc.

If even one actually escaped, that would be true failure.

The disaster they would cause would be his responsibility.

He turned his head to look toward the forest on the opposite mountainside.

In the woods halfway up the mountain, he still could not see Chu Zhiyuan’s figure.

He guessed inwardly that Chu Zhiyuan must have already performed the Ascension Technique.

"Haha..." A loud laugh suddenly rang out.

Immediately, a mass of blinding radiance spread outward, forming a violent force that blasted the six Strange Beasts away.

At the same time, two transparent and brilliant roses shot off into the distance, unbelievably fast.

The six Strange Beasts were in midair and had no time to give chase; they could only watch helplessly as the two transparent roses drifted farther and farther away, about to disappear beyond the range of their sight.

"Chi! Chi!"

Two soft whistles suddenly sounded.

Two crimson blood columns suddenly shot up from within the two transparent roses, soaring into the sky, vivid and eye-catching.

The transparent roses suddenly dimmed, revealing two silhouettes.

Those two figures were wrapped in bands of light; these bands of light formed the petals of roses.

Their heads had already rolled to the ground, and their bodies spouted blood columns, emitting soft "chi chi" whistles.

Their bodies flew for a dozen meters, then lost all strength and stopped, falling to the ground with a "thud."

The bands of light on their bodies rapidly grew brighter, then suddenly swelled and turned into a mass of blinding radiance.

The light mass contracted once, then shot up into the sky, forming a straight light pillar that pierced the firmament and vanished.

Huang Zhengyang’s taut body relaxed all at once; he let out a long breath and cursed viciously: "Bastards!"

The two demons had ultimately failed to escape.

He turned his gaze toward Chu Zhiyuan.

There was no need to ask; he knew these two severed heads were the work of the Golden Sword.

He sighed inwardly at how the Golden Sword’s power was growing ever more terrifying—impossible to defend against, ghostly and unfathomable.

Forcing himself to endure the pain all over his body, he lifted off lightly, skimming the treetops to reach the opposite peak, dropping into the woods halfway up the mountainside and coming to stand before Chu Zhiyuan.

Chu Zhiyuan was sitting cross-legged, utterly still, with a dignified, solemn air.

His hands were joined in a strange handprint below his lower abdomen, and there was not a trace of aura from his body.

His Spiritual were all absent; it was as if the person before him was only an empty shell. If not for his extremely slow, long, and faint breathing still present, one would have thought he was already dead.

Huang Zhengyang let out a long breath, then hurriedly suppressed it so as not to make a sound.

He knew Chu Zhiyuan was performing the Ascension Technique, tracking those three beams of light that had soared into the sky; his soul was going to ascend to Dan Yang Heaven.

The rustle of fluttering robes rose.

The six old men had gloomy expressions; their originally ruddy faces had turned pale, even a bit livid.

They were silent and stern, saying not a word as they came to Huang Zhengyang’s side.

Huang Zhengyang raised his hand in advance, signaling them not to speak.

If this were before the fighting, they would not have heeded Huang Zhengyang’s instruction.

But now they shut their mouths, saying nothing as they stared fixedly at Chu Zhiyuan.

The four experts of the Mysterious Robe Evil Suppression Bureau also drifted over; their faces were pale and their auras weak—they’d taken no light injuries.

A round-faced old man finally couldn’t hold back and sent a Sound Transmission into Secret: "Xiaohuang, this is...?"

Huang Zhengyang answered with Sound Transmission into Secret, lowering his voice: "The Ascension Technique. Brother Chu’s Heart and Spirit followed them over."

"So this is the Ascension Technique?"

The six Tributes all looked Chu Zhiyuan over with curiosity.

Not long ago there had been a great stir, with talk that the Court had personally granted a Miracle Technique to Chu Zhiyuan to counter the Undying Evil Venerable—that was this Ascension Technique.

They had heard of this Ascension Technique, but never seen it with their own eyes.

Now, seeing Chu Zhiyuan like this, they studied him curiously, carefully sensing.

One of the old men couldn’t help sending a Sound Transmission into Secret: "Using this Ascension Technique is too dangerous!"

"This Xiao Chu clearly trusts Xiaohuang a great deal."

"If he didn’t trust him, he wouldn’t dare cast it. Right now, even a single finger could kill him."

"Can the Ascension Technique really find those three demons?"

"It should be able to. We all underestimated those three demons; we’ve disgraced ourselves today!"

"That one that appeared earlier was far weaker than these three, and now we had three at once!"

"We were careless!"

"Careful or not, it would’ve been the same—we still couldn’t hold them."

"It’s a disgrace!"

"There’s nothing to be done. Our skills are inferior; all we can do is sigh!"

The six of them argued smoothly with Sound Transmission into Secret.

Chu Zhiyuan suddenly opened his eyes.

Two cold rays shot out; his pupils were invisible, only an unlookable radiance remained.

At the same time, a vast power descended from the heavens, pressing down like a mountain and plunging into Chu Zhiyuan’s body in an instant.

The deep and majestic force spread out from his body as the center in a flash.

The overbearing aura surged like furious waves battering the sky, pressing their chests so hard they couldn’t breathe and forcing them to retreat.

"Brother Chu?" Huang Zhengyang called hurriedly.

The sharp light in Chu Zhiyuan’s eyes contracted, and the violent aura shrank in an instant, all drawing back into his body.

The raging waves turned to a gentle breeze, as if they had never appeared.

Chu Zhiyuan revealed a smile. "I’ve found them."

Huang Zhengyang quickly asked, "It’s Dan Yang Heaven, right?"

Chu Zhiyuan nodded slowly. "Dan Yang Heaven, the Flower God Sect—this was a premeditated incursion."

Huang Zhengyang said, "Incursion?"

"They set up an Array over there and drove the Array to send their experts over."

"Those bastards!" Huang Zhengyang said through gritted teeth. "Then can that Array be destroyed?"

Chu Zhiyuan tilted his head. "There’s no hurry to destroy it."

Huang Zhengyang was taken aback.

Chu Zhiyuan said, "Even if the Array is destroyed, they can build another. We need to shatter their confidence completely."

"How do we do that?" Huang Zhengyang asked urgently.

He glanced at the six Tributes and said helplessly, "If it happens again, if another three come, I’m afraid..."

The strength of the Flower God Sect demons was beyond imagination; even the combined Array of the six Tributes couldn’t suppress them.

If four or five came, or even six, there was even less chance of stopping them.

Just thinking of the catastrophe they could cause made him shiver.

Chu Zhiyuan smiled faintly. "I’ll probe more carefully and find their weak points. There’s always a way."

"Good!" Huang Zhengyang clenched his teeth. "If we can give them a ruthless thrashing, all the better."