Chapter 73

Xia Changfeng never would have thought that the killer he had kept hidden for so long would be held back by a sudden, seemingly foolish giant.

After all, Wang Mang's combat strength was such that even Huang Shang couldn't last ten moves, yet this foolish giant had already lasted over thirty moves and still seemed to have energy to spare. How could this not shock him?

Back at the Juying Tower, Ah Man had once blocked Huang Shang's attack with a full-strength punch. Afterwards, Xia Changfeng had asked Huang Shang about it.

Huang Shang had said at the time that the strength of this foolish giant was somewhat strange, but he didn't take it seriously and could easily kill him.

But now, the person Huang Shang said he could "easily kill" was fighting on par with the person who could "easily kill" Huang Shang.

"Whoosh"

Just as Xia Changfeng was secretly shocked, he suddenly sensed danger and, without hesitation, threw a punch.

"Bang"

Long Chen's silent punch was blocked, and Xia Changfeng used the momentum to drift away. At this moment, the guards reacted, drawing their weapons and rushing towards Long Chen.

Long Chen let out a cold snort, formed a seal with his hands, and a ball of light rapidly condensed between his palms. The intense heat began to distort the space, and flames surged like a sea.

"Quickly retreat"

When Xia Changfeng saw the light in Long Chen's hands, his face changed drastically, and he urgently shouted.

However, because their eardrums had been damaged earlier, the guards reacted much slower. By the time they understood Xia Changfeng's meaning, Long Chen had already moved.

A light ball the size of an egg instantly flew out, leaving a trail of light, and the space along its path began to distort.

"Boom"

The light ball exploded in the crowd, and terrifying red flames ravaged, engulfing everyone.

"Ahh"

A piercing scream echoed, and the terrifying flames covered a ten-zhang radius, with all the guards within the attack range.

The flames were not ordinary; they were Long Chen's alchemy fire. He had condensed all the alchemy fire in his body, forced it out, and highly compressed it into a fireball.

This fireball was called Alchemy Flame, and usually, only experts at the Alchemy Master level could condense such an Alchemy Flame.

Condensing such an Alchemy Flame required not only powerful alchemy fire but also extremely strong soul power, as the process was very dangerous and could easily lead to self-immolation.

Long Chen not only had powerful beast fire but also incredibly strong soul power. Most importantly, he had the memories of an Alchemy Emperor, making the use of alchemy fire child's play for him.

Although this was just a basic technique for alchemy cultivators, its power was so great that even Blood Condensation Realm experts couldn't withstand it.

The dozen guards were instantly ignited. Alchemy fire was not ordinary fire and could not be extinguished. There was no pond nearby, and the dozen guards didn't last a few breaths before they fell silent, lying on the ground, the air filled with the smell of burning.

Xia Changfeng, seeing his capable subordinates disappear, turned pale, his eyes blazing with fury.

Long Chen's face was slightly pale, a side effect of fully extracting the alchemy fire. Such a powerful consumption was a significant sacrifice for him.

Those guards were Xia Changfeng's elite troops, mostly at the mid-Blood Condensation stage. Long Chen could only resolve them quickly in this way.

Although the sacrifice was great and he couldn't use alchemy fire for a short time, it was all worth it. Now, only he and Xia Changfeng were left, and he didn't have to worry about being ambushed.

"Long Chen..." Xia Changfeng glared at Long Chen through gritted teeth.

"Is there something?" Long Chen dusted off his clothes and said indifferently.

"I will kill you." Xia Changfeng's voice trembled, his anger reaching a breaking point.

"That's exactly what I was going to say." Long Chen said, "But before that, I want to know who did this to Chu Yao?"

"Want to know? Ha, dream on."

Xia Changfeng's face twisted. "Do you really think you can kill me? I'll show you how ridiculous your thoughts are."

"Boom"

Xia Changfeng's blood qi erupted, a powerful aura spreading out. With Xia Changfeng at the center, the air within several zhang was turbulent and terrifying.

"Do you really think I'm just a pampered prince, a useless rich kid?"

"Stupid to the point of wanting to assassinate me, do you really think you're the only genius in the world? Today, you will pay for your stupidity, and the price is—death."

At this moment, Xia Changfeng's aura was overwhelming, the air around him turbulent and terrifying, his blood qi so dense that it was suffocating.

"Peak Blood Condensation?"

Long Chen nodded. Indeed, Xia Changfeng had a trump card, which explained why he had felt uneasy all day, as if a great calamity was approaching.

This made sense; a Peak Blood Condensation expert was the strongest opponent Long Chen had faced so far.

However, no matter what, he would do everything to kill Xia Changfeng, not just because Xia Changfeng might be involved in the plot against him.

Most importantly, Xia Changfeng had touched a sore spot in Long Chen's heart. Thinking of Chu Yao being imprisoned alone in the palace, his killing intent boiled.

"Die!"

Xia Changfeng roared, stomping the ground, creating a large pit. He pounced towards Long Chen.

At the same time, a fierce aura locked onto Long Chen, indicating that Xia Changfeng was a true expert who had been through life and death.

Seeing Xia Changfeng pounce, Long Chen clenched his fists tightly. His whole body moved without wind, his black hair slowly floating, his eyes like sharp blades, his internal qi vortexes rapidly spinning as he threw a punch.

"Bang"

The two fists collided, producing a loud explosion. Xia Changfeng stumbled, never expecting Long Chen to be even more terrifying than when he killed Huang Shang.

"Whoosh"

The hard-fought punch didn't give him any advantage, and Long Chen's foot was already kicking towards his abdomen.

Xia Changfeng let out a cold snort, trying to suppress his shock. His right hand, like a knife, slashed down on Long Chen's calf, producing a dull sound. Both retreated a few steps.

Xia Changfeng was shaken to the core. Long Chen was like a monster. When they first met at Juying Tower, he could have killed him with a finger.

But in subsequent meetings, Long Chen's cultivation had skyrocketed, now matching a Peak Blood Condensation expert.

This made him both angry and fearful. If this continued, Long Chen would eventually become an uncontrollable monster.

With a roar, Xia Changfeng's blood qi instantly disappeared, and he slapped out. His normal hand instantly turned blood red, condensing all his blood qi, the bloody aura overwhelming.

"Blood Demon Palm"

The moment Xia Changfeng slapped out, Long Chen felt a chill run down his spine, a deep sense of dread. The palm carried a fatal threat, extremely terrifying.

He didn't expect Xia Changfeng to use such a terrifying move so quickly. The Wind Mansion Star in his foot rapidly spun, sending a stream of spirit energy to his dantian.

The twelve large qi vortexes in his dantian instantly expanded, rapidly spinning. The spirit energy within a hundred zhang was drained, the first time Long Chen had used his full strength since reaching the twelfth level of Qi Gathering.

"Fire Cloud Palm"

Long Chen let out a low shout, slapping out with a palm surrounded by flames, colliding with Xia Changfeng's palm.

"Boom"

The ground cracked, and debris flew. A large pit several zhang wide appeared where they stood. Long Chen felt a surge in his chest, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and flying backward.

At the same time, his palm felt a burning pain. Looking down, he saw his palm turn blood red, the color spreading up his arm.

Long Chen's face changed, and he quickly swallowed a detoxifying pill. He didn't expect Xia Changfeng's palm to contain blood poison, which had invaded his palm through the collision.

Just as Long Chen instinctively used the Fire Cloud Palm instead of the Wind Breaking Fist, he secretly rejoiced at his instinct.

His Fire Cloud Palm, due to the use of Alchemy Flame, was almost depleted. The Fire Cloud Palm had used up the last bit of flame power that had just recovered.

But it was this last bit of flame power that blocked most of the blood poison from entering his body. If he had used the Wind Breaking Fist, it might have been more powerful, but he would likely be unable to move now.

Despite blocking most of the blood poison and swallowing a detoxifying pill, his entire arm was still being eroded by the blood poison, becoming numb. Despite all his calculations, he hadn't expected to be poisoned.

Long Chen was shocked, but Xia Changfeng was in even worse shape. Long Chen's full-strength palm was terrifying, shattering his entire arm.

What infuriated him most was that the flame power in Long Chen's palm had dispersed the blood poison he had condensed with his blood qi.

"Whoosh"

A cold light flashed, and a long sword appeared in Long Chen's left hand. He moved, the sword slicing through the air towards Xia Changfeng.

Xia Changfeng was taken aback, not expecting Long Chen to be unaffected by the blood poison and able to attack so quickly. He didn't have time to draw his weapon from his ring.

He quickly rolled to the side, the sharp sword passing by his cheek, the coldness of the blade almost touching his skin.

Just as Xia Changfeng avoided the fatal blow, he saw Long Chen's sword coming at his throat. With no place to retreat, he decided to attack Long Chen's dantian.

The dantian was the center of a cultivator's cultivation. If destroyed, one would become a cripple for life. This was a classic strategy of attacking the enemy's vital point to force a reaction.

But to his shock, Long Chen seemed to ignore his kick and continued to slash at Xia Changfeng.

"No..."

Long Chen's madness caught Xia Changfeng off guard. He didn't expect Long Chen to be willing to become a cripple just to kill him. It was too late to change his move, and he was filled with fear.

But Long Chen's eyes were cold, devoid of emotion, like a cold-blooded war god, completely ignoring Xia Changfeng's fear. The sword mercilessly slashed down.

"Thud"

"Bang"

Two sounds rang out almost simultaneously. Blood splattered, a head rolled, and a figure was kicked away.