Chapter 1913: I Don't Like You

Boom! Rumble!

The heavens and earth trembled, with thunderous roars shaking the nine heavens.

With Tianzhi and Jiu Chen joining the battle, the melee among the emperor's sons had escalated from thirty to thirty-four participants.

That expanse of sky was enveloped in utter destruction, shrouded in darkness with no light.

Terrifying visions appeared one after another, as if the world were ending, with the sky collapsing and the ground splitting.

Below, Ye Chen sat in meditation like an ancient monk, completely still.

He had passed through the most difficult phase, erasing most of the Zhuxian killing aura. His cracked Primordial Sacred Body had healed, his fractured sacred bones had mended, and the killing force that had ravaged his origin and Dao roots had been completely eliminated.

"Kid, another Honghuang emperor's son is coming, hurry!" Mingjue transmitted his message, his tone urgent.

Before Ye Chen could respond, a section of the void sky exploded. A figure emerged amid surging Honghuang energy, wielding a golden trident. Though humanoid, it had the head of a dog, with overwhelming vital energy.

"Huodou." Ye Chen, though his eyes were closed, could see clearly with his divine sense. That was the Huodou emperor's son, and Huodou was a type of fierce Honghuang beast, resembling a dog but far more ferocious.

"What a lively scene." The Huodou emperor's son scanned the area. Over a dozen battle circles raged fiercely, each involving emperor's sons. This level of confrontation was absolutely unprecedented.

Finally, his gaze settled on Ye Chen. His blood-red eyes gleamed with intense fire, for his keen insight allowed him to see that Ye Chen was in a healing state and unable to focus elsewhere.

"Ye Chen, you've finally met your match." The Huodou emperor's son sneered wickedly and hurled his golden trident through the air toward Ye Chen. This trident was no ordinary weapon—it was a Di Bing, more precisely, an emperor weapon suppressed to the Saint King level, with devastating power.

The other emperors' sons noticed and wanted to intervene, but their opponents were too formidable, leaving no opportunity. They could only watch helplessly as the trident shot toward Ye Chen. Unless something unexpected happened, he would be impaled.

Under their watchful eyes, the trident drew infinitely closer to Ye Chen, radiating a chilling gleam.

Ye Chen didn't move until the trident was just three inches away. Then, he suddenly opened his eyes and thrust out his hand, gripping the trident's tip tightly. With a surge of force from his palm, he sent it spinning away, and he rose to his feet.

The Huodou emperor's son advanced, retrieving the golden trident and narrowing his eyes at Ye Chen.

"Attacking with a sneak? That's beneath an emperor's son." Ye Chen twisted his neck in annoyance, mobilizing his origin, Dao principles, and bloodline to eradicate the last trace of Zhuxian killing aura. His sacred Dao circulated at top speed, fully healing his sacred body and instantly restoring his combat power to its peak. His golden divine eyes resembled a vast starry sky.

"Even with your power back, I'll still cut you down." The Huodou emperor's son snorted coldly and charged forward, swinging his golden trident.

"Laozi looks down on you." Ye Chen glanced dismissively and soared into the sky, heading straight for Ji Ningshuang's location.

Ignored by Ye Chen, the Huodou emperor's son erupted in fury and pursued him with several swift leaps, his killing intent overwhelming.

Ahead, Ye Chen had already arrived at the area where Ji Ningshuang was battling the Zhuxian Jian.

Ji Ningshuang was injured, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. The ancient clan goddess, controlled by the Zhuxian Jian, fared no better, covered in dozens of ghastly sword wounds, while the Zhuxian Jian's immortal light had dimmed considerably.

Even so, the Zhuxian Jian was stronger than most emperor's sons—at least stronger than the Huodou emperor's son.

"Hand over the Zhuxian Jian to me." Ye Chen arrived and immediately attacked the Zhuxian Jian, his strikes decisive and domineering, unleashing world-shaking divine abilities and not lacking imperial Dao immortal techniques. Having been ambushed by the Zhuxian Jian earlier, he harbored a belly full of rage. Now, with his power restored, he intended to settle the score once and for all, resolving the grudges from past and present lives.

The Zhuxian Jian retreated, its immortal light growing even dimmer, yet its attacks remained peerlessly sharp, each one aimed straight at the primordial spirit.

Ji Ningshuang withdrew and turned to face the Huodou emperor's son. Compared to the Zhuxian Jian, he was still a step short. The moment he entered that space, she struck him with a sword, sending him flying.

The Huodou emperor's son roared and transformed into his true form—a massive dog-like shape, towering like a mountain peak. His enormous dog eyes were larger than wine vats.

But size didn't equate to strength. Even in his true form, he was no match for Ji Ningshuang. Sword after sword struck him, sending blood and bones flying, leaving him no chance to unleash his imperial Dao immortal techniques.

The other dozen or so battle circles were equally intense. The Zhutian emperor's sons were all holding their own with pride, dominating in one-on-one fights and making the Honghuang emperor's sons howl in pain.

The most formidable was Jiu Chen, the Honghuang Qilin, the last of its kind in the world. Its combat power was unmatched, relentlessly beating the Bixi emperor's son and nearly killing him several times.

The noisiest scene was Ye Chen's. The Zhuxian Jian was an enigmatic existence, sometimes weak and sometimes strong, with bizarre Dao laws that fully exploited the ancient clan goddess's hidden bloodline power, unlocking all her divine treasuries. The multicolored immortal light in the heavens was dazzling yet devastating.

Ye Chen showed no fear. He was no longer the minor cultivator of the past. After one cycle of reincarnation and the nirvana of life and death, both his combat power and Dao principles had transformed. In this Tianzun relic, he truly qualified to stand on equal footing with the Zhuxian Jian. Bearing the blood debts of his predecessors and the invincible faith of the sacred body, he pressed on.

Due to his assaults, the Zhuxian Jian's momentum was repeatedly suppressed, leaving it struggling to defend.

"Get out of my body." The spirit of the ancient clan goddess constantly scolded, disrupting the Zhuxian Jian's sword spirit. Her resistance greatly aided Ye Chen, weakening the Zhuxian Jian's aura while he grew fiercer in battle. Their coordination with the ancient clan goddess effectively contained the Zhuxian Jian.

In the end, the Zhuxian Jian proved no match. It abandoned the ancient clan goddess and fled like a wisp of immortal light. It must have regretted missing the best chance to kill Ye Chen, allowing him to survive his most vulnerable moment. Now, with Ye Chen at his peak, it had almost no hope of destroying him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ye Chen snorted coldly and pursued relentlessly.

"Where do you think you're going?" The ancient clan goddess also shrieked and chased after it, one on the left and one on the right. Her peerless face was as cold as frost. As the goddess of the ancient clan, it was utterly shameful and hateful to have her mind controlled by a sword, causing a massacre in the Tianzun relic.

On another note, she also had to thank the Zhuxian Jian. It was precisely because of it that her bloodline's hidden power had been awakened, and all her divine treasuries opened, granting her the qualification to battle an emperor's son.

The sword fled ahead, while the two pursued, streaking across the sky.

In terms of speed, both Ye Chen and the ancient clan goddess were half a step behind, falling thousands of zhang behind the Zhuxian Jian.

Ye Chen was unfazed, well aware of the Zhuxian Jian's strangeness and its unparalleled escaping ability.

The ancient clan goddess, however, was shocked. She had always considered Ye Chen's speed unmatched in the world, yet the sword's speed surpassed even his. Her curiosity about the Zhuxian Jian reached its peak.

"Don't move, let me handle this." Mingjue's avatar leaped out from Ye Chen's bronze furnace.

Borrowing ninety percent of his true self's power, he pointed at the void and declared,

"Imperial Dao immortal technique: Absolute Stillness."

His move was spot-on. Time froze, and the world stood still. The fleeing Zhuxian Jian was halted in mid-air. The only ones unaffected were Ye Chen and the ancient clan goddess.

"Now's the time." Ye Chen's voice rang out firmly. He stepped forward, shrinking the distance in an instant, manifesting a Dao sword in his hand and slashing at the Zhuxian Jian. The ancient clan goddess simultaneously unleashed a world-shaking divine ability.

However, they had underestimated the Zhuxian Jian. It broke free from the restraints in less than a moment, narrowly evading their strikes, shattering the void, and vanishing in an instant.

"Damn it." Ye Chen cursed in anger, slashing his sword at that patch of void. Though he split the vast sky, he missed the Zhuxian Jian once again. Now that it had escaped, catching it would be as difficult as ascending to heaven. The Zhuxian Jian, ever fond of ambushes, would surely bring another bloodbath upon its next appearance.

"What exactly is the origin of that sword?" The ancient clan goddess looked at Ye Chen.

"It has quite the background. I'll explain in detail once we're back." Ye Chen replied, then turned and headed back. Though the Zhuxian Jian had escaped, the battle between the Zhutian and Honghuang emperor's sons was still raging, and he needed to lend a hand.

The ancient clan goddess said nothing and also turned abruptly, her combat power surging, now capable of facing a Honghuang emperor's son.

Returning to the battle circle, Ye Chen activated his external manifestation and sacred body, gripping the Chaos Cauldron as he rushed toward Ji Ningshuang's area.

"It got away?" Ji Ningshuang transmitted.

"It slipped away too fast; couldn't stop it." Ye Chen's tone was awkward, but his actions were straightforward. With one swing of the cauldron, he smashed the Huodou emperor's son to the ground with a thunderous crash, nearly turning his massive body into a pulp.

"We'll plan carefully once we're out." Ji Ningshuang said as she advanced, killing intent in her eyes. With a sword of absolute extinction, she pierced the Huodou emperor's son's skull, stabbed through his sea of consciousness, and severely wounded his primordial spirit.

The Huodou emperor's son wailed and fled his physical body with his primordial spirit, soaring into the sky as he shrieked in terror, "Save me!"

Hearing his cry, the other Honghuang emperor's sons nearly laughed. Are you blind? In these one-on-one fights, who has time to save you? We're all barely holding our own—do you think we have the luxury to help?

"Save me!" The Huodou emperor's son persisted, shouting desperately, convinced he could still be rescued. As an emperor's son, he refused to die.

"Among all the emperor's sons I've fought, you're the weakest, and you still want to run?" Ye Chen instantly crossed space, blocking the Huodou emperor's son and slashing his sword across the heavens, decapitating the primordial spirit's head.

"Perish." Ji Ningshuang scolded coldly, firing a wisp of immortal light from her brow—it was the small shield Ye Chen had given her, forged from Di Bing fragments, specialized in guarding and severing primordial spirits, the perfect counter to one's true form.

Thud!

The Huodou emperor's son's primordial spirit body was instantly obliterated, exploding in the void, not even granting him a final scream.

"I won't accept this." Another roar followed, this time from the Bixi emperor's son, who was jointly slain by Jiu Chen and the ancient clan goddess. Whether his emperor's son body or primordial spirit, it all turned to historical dust. His death was almost comical—arriving with such momentum, only to deliver himself to his doom.

With the Zhuxian Jian's escape, the Huodou emperor's son's death, the Bixi emperor's son's destruction, and the ancient clan goddess's return, the Zhutian side now had four more emperor's son-level fighters. In terms of numbers, they had surpassed the Honghuang emperor's sons.

"Retreat!" The Taotie emperor's son roared, the first to flee. The other Honghuang emperor's sons also withdrew one after another. Facing four additional emperor's son-level opponents wasn't a joke; continuing the fight would lead to being picked off one by one.

"It's rare for us all to gather—don't run away!" Mingjue was the most excited, chasing with the greatest enthusiasm.

The Zhutian emperor's sons were full of energy too, pursuing and attacking relentlessly. It was a rare opportunity when half of the Honghuang emperor's sons hadn't arrived yet, so they were determined to take full advantage. Previously, they had been suppressed in two-on-one or even five-on-one fights; now, for once, they had the upper hand.

But as they chased, they suddenly turned tail and fled back.

What was once a pursuit of the Honghuang emperor's sons had flipped—the roles reversed, and now they were the ones being chased.

It wasn't their fault; it was because the other Honghuang emperor's sons had arrived, dozens of them in total.

This force, this number, was at least four times that of the Zhutian emperor's sons. Even the excited Mingjue faltered, and the usually invincible sacred body Ye Chen wilted. A direct confrontation would definitely end in defeat, so escape was the only option.