Chapter 1889: We Have It Too

On the turbulent Cang Hai sea, Kui Niu and Xiao Yuan Huang were cursing up a storm. "Brainless, the Hong Huang ones are all brainless." They stood their ground, right next to Ye Chen, spitting as they ranted.

The man in the golden robe arrived, his body heavy as he landed on the Cang Hai, stirring up massive waves. His aura of malice and killing intent was overwhelmingly thick, and it was clear without asking that his hands were stained with fresh blood—the blood of cultivators from the various heavens, marking him as an unrepentant killer.

"What pure blood." The man in the golden robe licked his crimson tongue, his eyes gleaming with greed. Though he couldn't tell Ye Chen's bloodline, he could sense an incredibly alluring scent.

"What exactly are you?" Ye Chen scanned the man in the golden robe up and down, seeing through his true form—it was three parts like a male lion, with deer antlers and a body covered in scales, resembling a crocodile.

"Insignificant ant." The man in the golden robe sneered, a divine light from his brow transforming into a silver blade—a yuan shen attack—slashing straight at Ye Chen's true body. In his view, a zhun di suppressed to the level of a sheng wang was far stronger than an ordinary sheng wang, capable of instantly killing one of the same rank.

"I have to stew you." Ye Chen suddenly raised his hand and wiped out the yuan shen blade with a single palm.

"Underestimated you." The man in the golden robe snorted coldly and vanished in an instant, reappearing right in front of Ye Chen. His hand formed a blade as sharp as a god's weapon, etched with seal scripts, and he struck at Ye Chen's head.

Ye Chen was casual about it, merely tilting his head slightly to dodge, then countering with nine paths of divine punishment.

The nine paths merged into one, delivering an intensely painful blow. Even the man in the golden robe was left with his shen hai buzzing. It was lucky he was a zhun di suppressed to sheng wang level—if it had been an ordinary sheng wang, he'd have been on his knees.

With a boom, the man in the golden robe, still dazed, was kicked flying by Ye Chen.

That kick was no joke—it exploded the man's lower abdomen, exposing his stark white bones.

"Nicely done." Kui Niu and Xiao Yuan Huang howled excitedly, having been chased by this old thing for so long and holding back a belly full of rage.

"You deserve to die." The man in the golden robe roared in fury, summoning a treasure pagoda from his body. It radiated glazed light, embedded with ninety-nine divine pearls, each glittering with piercing cold radiance.

It was his life-bound weapon, forged from celestial immortal gold and fused with his own laws.

However, like its owner, this zhun di artifact was also suppressed in level—from a zhun di-grade divine weapon to merely sheng wang grade, limiting its power accordingly.

The pagoda was terrifying, expanding to the size of a mountain and bearing down on Ye Chen, intent on crushing him to dust.

"You have one? Well, we have one too." Ye Chen thought for a moment and summoned the Chaos Cauldron.

His life-bound artifact was just as formidable. Whatever size the pagoda grew to, the cauldron matched it, ancient and natural in appearance. Strands of chaos dao principles were clearly visible, weaving visions of the chaos's origin, with escape armor heavenly characters arranging themselves and profound dao heavenly sounds echoing.

"The Chaos Cauldron?" The man in the golden robe's face changed drastically upon seeing it—he recognized the cauldron and, by extension, Ye Chen's identity. In the myriad domains of the heavens, only Ye Chen possessed such a fearsome divine cauldron.

"You got it right." Ye Chen grinned, baring his teeth, looking completely harmless.

He acted like an innocent child, but his cauldron was vicious, smashing the pagoda in one strike. All that celestial immortal gold, all that zhun di-grade artifact—it was all meaningless.

Puff!

The man in the golden robe spat blood immediately, suffering backlash from his life-bound weapon's destruction, and staggered backward.

In that instant, the Chaos Cauldron struck, its chaos qi pouring out and forcing the man to his knees. In less than three seconds, it ground his body into a lump of flesh.

"Get up!" the man roared, shouldering the Chaos Cauldron as his illusory yuan shen fled desperately. His earlier arrogance was gone. Only after facing Ye Chen did he truly understand the eucharist's terror. Outside, he was zhun di level, able to overturn mountains and seas with a wave, but in this ruins, he was merely a sheng wang, no match for Ye Chen's assaults. His defeat was swift and total.

"Wait until you're in the pot—where do you think you're going?" Ye Chen drew his bow and nocked an arrow, piercing the man's yuan shen with a single shot.

"No!" The man screamed in terror, but it couldn't stop his yuan shen from collapsing and vanishing in an instant.

"I told you! Old Seven makes a move, and it's pure dominance." Kui Niu and Xiao Yuan Huang scampered over, gleefully collecting the man in the golden robe's treasures and secret artifacts—even the pagoda fragments. They were thorough about it.

"Leave some for me." By the time Ye Chen arrived, everything was gone.

"You've got money—these are ours." Kui Niu and Xiao Yuan Huang chuckled.

Ye Chen's face darkened, feeling an urge to rob these two brothers himself. He was wealthy, sure, but that was in the past. His battle with the heavenly demons in the black hole had wiped out his fortune completely.

"Now that you're here, the pressure on the di zi will lighten a lot." Kui Niu patted Ye Chen on the shoulder.

"How bad is it for the di zi? Getting beaten that badly?" Ye Chen asked immediately.

"Basically, it's one against three—what do you think?" Xiao Yuan Huang sighed. "There are way too many Hong Huang clan di zi, and they're all shameless. No one-on-one fights; it's all group beatdowns."

"The old Hong Huang folks are just as low—killing everywhere in the ruins. It looks like they won't stop until they've slaughtered every cultivator from the various heavens."

"This isn't about seeking opportunities or fortunes; it's a straight-up massacre."

"We got separated from Nan Di and Bei Sheng. Who knows if they're still alive."

Kui Niu and Xiao Yuan Huang traded lines, growing more agitated as they spoke, cursing every Hong Huang clan member they could think of.

"Don't linger in the ruins—head out fast." Ye Chen said, then shot off like a divine ray toward the depths.

"Great, now we're baggage again." Kui Niu coughed awkwardly.

"Let's go, I told you this isn't our scene." Xiao Yuan Huang hoisted Kui Niu and hurried off.

By now, Ye Chen had left the Cang Hai, crossed a vast plain, and entered a mountain valley.

The valley was a battlefield, filled with surging Hong Huang qi and rolling blood mist, accompanied by endless wails and screams.

From afar, Ye Chen spotted several familiar faces: Qiong Qi's sixth prince, Tao Tie's fourth prince, Teng She's third prince, Gui Qi's fourth prince, and a Jin Ni clan zhun di.

They had all transformed into their true forms, their massive bodies towering as they opened their bloody maws to devour wildly.

Their victims were all human cultivators from the various heavens, all sheng wang level, but utterly suppressed by bloodline. They were being slaughtered in disarray, trying to flee, only to be blocked by the Hong Huang clan's array formations.

The valley had become a slaughterhouse.

It was just as Kui Niu and Xiao Yuan Huang had said—the Hong Huang great clans aimed to wipe out every human cultivator in the ruins to claim all the opportunities and fortunes for themselves.

Ye Chen charged in, ignoring the array, and stepped into the valley.

"Still not afraid to die." Teng She's third prince sneered and lunged with his enormous body, his massive eyes blood-red and full of savagery, swallowing Ye Chen whole in one bite.

"Swallow me?" Inside the belly, Ye Chen roared, slicing open Teng She's stomach with a sword.

Teng She howled in pain, reverting to human form, blood gushing from his abdomen.

Ye Chen said nothing, summoning a golden hand that covered the sky and crushed Teng She's third prince into a mist of blood.

"Seeking death." The Jin Ni zhun di soared upward, spitting out a red immortal sword and slashing at Ye Chen.

What met him, however, was Ye Chen's Chaos Cauldron—every bit as domineering as before—smashing the red sword to pieces and sending the Jin Ni zhun di flying with a spray of blood.

"The Chaos Cauldron—he's Ye Chen!" Tao Tie's prince shouted hoarsely, shifting to human form and fleeing. They knew Ye Chen's fearsome reputation—an existence invincible in his rank, rivaled only by di zi.

"Think you can escape?" Ye Chen snapped coldly, gripping his dao sword and pursuing Tao Tie's prince. He severed the prince's dao roots with one sword, then smashed him into a puddle of blood with a flip of his palm.

"Retreat, retreat now!" The Jin Ni zhun di stabilized himself and roared, casting escape techniques as he fled.

He didn't need to say it—the remaining Tao Tie's prince, Qiong Qi's prince, and Gui Qi's prince were already escaping. Ye Chen had instantly killed two princes and forced back a zhun di; he could do the same to them.

"Escape?" Ye Chen chuckled coldly but didn't chase, simply drawing his bow and loosing thunder god arrows that tore through everything.

Puff!

Blood splattered as the fastest-fleeing Jin Ni zhun di was shot down from the sky. As he fell, Ye Chen fired another arrow, this one locking onto the zhun di's yuan shen and killing him outright.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Three more bursts of blood followed as Tao Tie's prince, Gui Qi's prince, and Qiong Qi's prince, who had fled the valley, plummeted from the void, their bodies exploding into blood mist mid-fall.

As for their yuan shen, they were pulverized into ash by the Chaos Cauldron, not even getting a chance to scream.

Those princes were left thoroughly frustrated. They had assumed someone as ruthless as Ye Chen would be deep in the ruins battling di zi, but instead, he was out here—and they had the misfortune to run into him.

The result? A total wipeout. They had come to clear the field, but ended up being cleared themselves.

Now, the valley fell silent, with only scarlet blood mist drifting.

The surviving human cultivators stared at Ye Chen like he was a god. In just a few moments, five Hong Huang princes and one Hong Huang zhun di had been dealt with. The eucharist's fame was well-deserved.

"Where are the Hong Huang gathered in the largest numbers?" Ye Chen asked the human cultivators.

"The southwest." An elderly man pointed in that direction.

"Take care of yourselves." Ye Chen left those words and stepped out of the valley. Before going, he collected the spoils of war. He was broke now and counting on them to rebuild his wealth.

After he left, the few remaining human cultivators exchanged glances and sighed, heading straight for the exit. There might be plenty of opportunities and fortunes, but you needed to be alive to enjoy them.

The Hong Huang great clans' goal was crystal clear—they wanted to clear the ruins. Without strength like Ye Chen's or a solid foundation, staying here meant becoming cannon fodder.

This time, they were lucky to have encountered Ye Chen; otherwise, they'd have been doomed. Many other human cultivators were fleeing just like them, including zhun di. The same old saying held: outside, they were zhun di, but here, they were just sheng wang, always at risk of being killed.

Even those zhun di who had been so arrogant before were now as meek as lambs, running faster than anyone, without a shred of their former dignity.