The moment Liu Wuxie executed the Origin Blade, the entire valley vanished into the void. Air currents reversed direction, distorting everyone's vision. No one could see where Liu Wuxie had gone.
No one knew the heavenly coffin's internal space better than he did. With bizarre footwork, Liu Wuxie wove through his enemies like a phantom. The Ghost Eye allowed him to perceive their weaknesses with uncanny clarity.
The Origin Blade required only a single strike, but it drained all the spiritual runes and surrounding laws. Its sheer power left no room for error.
The old man's expression changed the instant he saw the blade technique. He instinctively retreated, heading straight toward Chen Shan in hopes that the latter could intercept the strike.
"Die!” Liu Wuxie roared. No one could escape once he marked them for death.
All of his power converged into that single devastating attack.
Fear flickered in Chen Shan's eyes. He couldn't fathom the force behind Liu Wuxie's strike.
"No!" the old man cried. His retreat was too slow. The others' attacks missed, easily dodged by Liu Wuxie's movement.
"Chen Shan, save me!" he screamed as the blade aura closed in.
Chen Shan darted forward to intercept the strike, but it was too late. His speed couldn't match the Origin Blade.
A loud crack split the air. The blade ray tore through space, and the old man's body shattered under the force. The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron devoured all the laws and energy within him.
Since the appearance of Avici Hell within the cauldron, its devouring speed and radius had increased a hundredfold. After absorbing the energy of someone at the pinnacle of the Earth Profound Realm, Liu Wuxie's aura became sharper and more refined.
A heavy silence fell over the battlefield. No one could land a hit. Liu Wuxie slipped through every attack like an eel, his strange footwork making him untouchable.
Had this battle taken place in the outside world, Liu Wuxie wouldn't have had such an advantage. But the heavenly coffin's internal space wasn't real. It was a world built from spiritual arrays and runes.
Liu Wuxie wasn't just a master of Spatial Dao Art. He was also highly skilled in spiritual arrays and blacksmithing. On the True Martial Continent, few could match him.
The coffin's internal laws and arrays far exceeded those of the outside world. Liu Wuxie even suspected the artifact originated from the Celestial Realm.
His enemies didn't understand this world's governing laws, which gave Liu Wuxie the confidence to fight so wildly. Each time an attack neared, he used the coffin's laws to evade it with precision.
Though his movements appeared simple, each step required monstrous soul energy to support. The slaughter had only just begun.
After cutting down the old man, Liu Wuxie's aura surged again. Bathed in fresh blood, the Heretic Blade released a demonic glow.
The Origin Blade wasn't just a single strike. It contained countless variations within.
Liu Wuxie dashed forward once more, ignoring Chen Shan's attacks. He went for the weaker cultivators first, saving the greater threats for last.
His blade ray fell like a curtain from the sky, engulfing seven or eight people at once.
As the blade descended, their faces twisted in shock. It was too late to dodge, as Liu Wuxie had already calculated their every move.
A suffocating force erupted. Even Chen Shan dared not take it head-on; the blow drove him several steps back.
He began to wonder if this was truly the power of someone who had just entered the Earth Profound Realm? Liu Wuxie's strength already rivaled that of the Quasi-Heaven Profound Realm.
Most terrifying of all, conventional standards couldn't measure Liu Wuxie's true essence and physique.
When Elder Madman had made his breakthrough, Liu Wuxie had absorbed part of the Heaven Profound Realm's laws. Those laws had been dormant within him, but now that he had broken through to the Earth Profound Realm, they had begun to integrate with his body, transforming his true essence.
One by one, the bodies of Liu Wuxie's enemies exploded. Liu Wuxie slaughtered over eight cultivators in an instant.
The battlefield turned crimson. The remaining Earth Profound Realm cultivators could no longer hold their composure. They tried to flee.
"Don't you think it's a little too late to run now?" Liu Wuxie's voice was cold. He had no intention of sparing anyone. No one who had seen the third-grade spiritual pill could be allowed to live.
If word spread, more powerful enemies would come, and someone could even try to refine him into a human pill like Chen Shan had planned.
Liu Wuxie didn't fear ordinary cultivators. But Heaven Profound Realm experts were the real threats.
In just a few short days, he had already witnessed multiple heavenly tribulations descend within the coffin's internal space. If any of these cultivators returned to the True Martial Continent, the balance of power would collapse. A massive shift would sweep the Central Plains.
A second-tier clan, with just one Heaven Profound expert, could rise to the top and destroy rival clans to seize more territory.
"Coiling Dragon!" Liu Wuxie roared. He shot into the sky like a dragon and a tiger, twisting through the air with erratic, deadly movements.
"Great Dragon Aspect Art!"
From above, a massive millstone descended, enveloping everyone, including Chen Shan.
"Break!" Chen Shan roared, unleashing the Divine Indigo Sun Sword in an attempt to tear through the Great Dragon Aspect Art.
However, he had vastly underestimated its power. Though the Heavenly Dragon Seal was missing a corner, it was still approaching the might of a heaven-spirit artifact.
When the Heavenly Dragon Seal came crashing down, its destructive force rivaled that of a Quasi-Heaven Profound Realm expert's full-strength strike.
Although Chen Shan and the other Quasi-Heaven Profound Realm experts could resist, the remaining Earth Profound cultivators weren't so fortunate.
With a deafening crack, the seal crushed the remaining cultivators to pieces, splattering their blood into a grotesque, crimson scene across the valley.
The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron swiftly devoured all their energy, humming ominously in the air. The feedback poured into Liu Wuxie, his aura surging until it neared the threshold of the Earth Profound Realm's second level.
If he could refine Chen Shan and the other Quasi-Heaven Profound expert next, he was confident he could break through entirely.
Crossing into a new major realm was difficult, but advancing within the same realm, especially with enough energy and resources, was a different story. Liu Wuxie could continue breaking through stage by stage until he reached the ninth level.
In just a few minutes, only three people remained in the blood-soaked valley: Liu Wuxie, Chen Shan, and the other Quasi-Heaven Profound Realm cultivator.
The air was heavy. None of them moved. The silence was oppressive, broken only by the whisper of wind across the corpses.
Dread filled Chen Shan's eyes. Liu Wuxie's strength had far surpassed anything he had imagined.
"Now, it's your turn." Liu Wuxie raised the Heretic Blade, his gaze fixed on the last two survivors.
"Liu Wuxie, if you insist on fighting, it'll only end in mutual destruction," Chen Shan warned, though his tone lacked its former confidence.
"What a joke,” Liu Wuxie sneered. "You think the two of you are qualified to die with me? Let me show you the true power of dao techniques."
Until now, he had been holding back. Everything they had seen had merely been an appetizer.
After Liu Wuxie had broken through to the Earth Profound Realm, no one beneath the Heaven Profound Realm stood a chance against him, not even those at the Quasi-Heaven Profound Realm. He had only used them to temper and consolidate his cultivation. Now that he had achieved his goal, it was time to end this battle.
Chen Shan and the other expert exchanged a glance and nodded in unison. Together, they raised their swords to the sky, summoning a torrent of lightning that crackled ominously. They were attempting to force a breakthrough into the Heaven Profound Realm, hoping to use that power to kill Liu Wuxie.
"You think a cheap trick like that can kill me?" Liu Wuxie scoffed and raised his right fist toward the sky, assuming the Annihilation Fist stance.
Now that he had reached the Earth Profound Realm, the aura released by the Annihilation Fist was terrifying. It shook the heavens and earth and made both of his enemies tremble.
"That's impossible! How can your strength surpass us by so much?" Chen Shan's voice cracked in panic.
Liu Wuxie unleashed the Annihilation Fist's true power, capable of destroying all things.
As the strike descended, the entire valley disintegrated into dust, replaced by a gray void.
"Death Dao Art." Liu Wuxie didn't stop there. He merged the Death Dao Art into his attack, eroding his opponents' lifespans.
The moment the deathly energy clung to them, the two Quasi-Heaven Profound experts slowed dramatically. They were locked in place, and their escape routes vanished under the pressure of the Annihilation Fist.
"Liu Wuxie! I'll drag you down with me!" the second expert bellowed and charged, desperate to take Liu Wuxie down with him.
They hadn't expected Liu Wuxie to possess such a terrifying trump card.
A deafening rumble shook the heavenly coffin. The entire world trembled as a roar echoed across the internal realm. Countless cultivators halted mid-step, their eyes wide with shock as they looked around.
High above, an immortal rune hovered in the sky, its appearance triggering a violent reaction from the heavenly coffin itself.
Even Liu Wuxie was stunned. The heavenly coffin was absorbing the laws of the immortal rune, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. The Annihilation Fist continued its descent.
"Great Five Elemental Palm!"
"Frost Dao Art!" Two powerful dao techniques erupted simultaneously, intercepting their enemies' last hopes. The Frost Dao Art froze the Divine Indigo Sun Sword in midair, while the Great Five Elemental Palm crushed the other's technique outright.
Just like that, the two experts fell into utter humiliation. As dignified Quasi-Heaven Profound Realm cultivators, they couldn't even suppress someone at the first level of the Earth Profound Realm. No one would believe it if the word got out.
"You can die now,” Liu Wuxie said, his voice flat, as if delivering a routine verdict.
The Annihilation Fist struck.
Chen Shan's expression turned to despair as he realized his body had frozen. Escape was no longer possible.
A thunderous impact followed.
The second Quasi-Heaven Profound Realm expert was the first to fall. His body shattered beneath the force of the blow, and the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron immediately consumed his remains.
The condensed laws of his cultivation transformed into liquid energy, flowing into the desolate realm.
Liu Wuxie had already been on the verge of breaking through to the second level of the Earth Profound Realm. With this nourishment, his aura surged even further.
However, he didn't rush.
Instead, he turned his gaze toward Chen Shan. If he tried to break through mid-battle and ran out of energy, the consequences would be dire.
Chen Shan remained standing as the final obstacle.
Liu Wuxie didn't strike right away. He looked at his opponent with cold eyes and asked, "Chen Shan, tell me, what mission did the Golden Cauldron Pavilion give you in the Eternal Spirit Mountain?"