Paragon of Sin

"He's divided his spirit into two? He actually cultivated the method recorded on the Monolith exactly!" He was shocked not that Long Chen had two Spirits of Qi, if he succeeded, others should be able too as well; he was shocked that Long Chen cultivated the Haven Heart Qi Method.

After meeting the Black Skeleton, Wei Wuyin came into direct contact with his soul and gained greater control over it. Due to this, he could split his soul into a spirit without the described method of severing a pre-existing spirit into two. He had remodeled the Haven Heart Qi Method into something entirely different.

In truth, even he wasn't sure how he had done it. When he tried to teach Su Mei the newly changed Qi Method of his, she failed to catch a second glimpse of her soul. Typically, only those at the ascending state of the Qi Condensation Realm would get a flash of the soul, enough to create a spirit needed to control the Heart of Qi. This was essential, but after, it was nearly, if not entirely, impossible for others.

He chalked it up to the Bloodline of Sin priming his soul for the Calamities of Hell, which was why his soul control and awareness were so refined and crystal clear. It was his only logical deduction formulated by his own personal experiences.

Now that he saw the true Haven Heart Qi Method cultivated to completion, his heart trembled as his senses peered into the mixed aura and its intricacies as well as its differences with his own, comparing the two. A bout of enlightenment entered his mind as he came to an abrupt yet apt realization: the original Haven Heart Qi Method was horrendously flawed.

The number one reason, and the reason that was most impactful overall, was developmental dependence. Each one of his spirits were independent existences, but due to the Haven Heart Qi Method's way of severing the whole spirit into two, nurturing and protecting them until they become somewhat one, it gained a natural dependence. If one ignited a spirit, so did the other. If one exploded, so did the other.

The spirits were one, as they originally and fundamentally were, so they could only be cultivated with slight differences. If Long Chen tried, it would likely be unable to make an Alchemic Heart and a Divine Heart. They would both either have to be Alchemic or Divine, not split. This was truly limiting to their diversity and uniqueness. Consequently, if one spirit wanted to ascend a phase, the other must be able to as well at the same time otherwise it was impossible.

While having two was like having two cultivation bases supporting each other, it seemed to be riddled with weaknesses. That dependence being the greatest. The other flaw was definitely the potential spirituality of the spirits. Due to the severance, they were lacking compared to other spirits. While nurturing can eliminate this somewhat, and even slightly make their combined spirituality greater, it still would suffer inevitable defects.

Even with all this being said, the benefits were still impressive nevertheless.

Long Chen and King Wu's initial clash shook the crowd, but their next clash was truly invigorating and opened the eyes of these spectators.

Long Chen stood upright, his bearing was comparable to a god of slaughter, transcendent and murderous. Within his right hand was an obsidian sword that was two feet long, and two centimeters thick. The world's ambient force swirled around him, highlighting him in a radiant and eye-catching glow.

Everyone was quite intimidated by his aura, further heightened by his abnormal cultivation base that was brutal and sharp.

King Wu didn't lose out in aura or bearing. His back was as straight as a pillar of heaven, eyes bearing down on the world with invincible prestige, and all of these were backed by Spiritual Qi infused with Qi Essence. It truly seemed matchless, worthy of being the second strongest figure in all of Wu Country.

Yet Long Chen was undeterred by this frightening momentum, seeking to disprove this assumption.

Woosh!

「Sword Art: Slicing Comet」

Long Chen erupted with astonishing speed with both his movements and attack. With his obsidian sword in hand, he pierced towards King Wu with ruthless killing intent. A piercing beam of sword qi sliced through the skies and descended on King Wu.

「Royal Wu Art: Metallic World Fist」

King Wu calmly stepped forward, not retreating the slightest in the face of this attack. He clenched his majestic fist and punched out. The image of a spherical world flashed in the world, seemingly shadowing the very skies for a mere moment. This spherical image condensed into a small silver dot, between King Wu's knuckles. It rotated rapidly but then shot forward to meet the deadly sword beam.

Boom! Screech!

A thundering explosion followed by a screen reminiscent of blade scraping metal occurred. The small silver dot halted the sword beam completely, not allowing it to take a single step forward. It was thoroughly suppressed!

Long Chen's blade was still connected to the sword beam and he violently roared, his aura flaring to intense levels as the world seemed to tremble beneath his will. His sword and slaughter spiritual qi started to come to lift, pouring water from a recently shattered dam. The additional fuel was blinding as light, piercing and painful, shone from the comet's enlarging form.

The world rippled and the small silver dot that seemed to contain a world of metal and steel dimmed. It trembled as it held on, unwilling to give even an inch. Yet the worldly force seemed to be too powerful as the light dimmed to an absolute limit. Others could see the spherical world that was the tiny orb undulating incredible spiritual strength.

King Wu frowned, "He can use the world force while in the Qi Condensation Realm?" While his outward appearance remained calm, his inner heart was screaming with disbelief and shock. He couldn't fathom how such a force was being bent to the will of a Qi Condensation Realm cultivator, even if he had two Spirits of Qi.

However, he didn't feel threatened or fear as he simply opened his palm and thrust forward.

「Royal Wu Spell: Metallic World Collapse」

An unprecedented spiritual strength entered the spherical orb and it started to once more brighten with astonishing, breathtaking silver light. Its brilliance was unparalleled!

Long Chen's heart quivered. This felt like the last moment of a dying sun, incredible and beautiful! But within this beauty was death and destruction that could not be stopped. With haste, he shifted his means and slashed his sword down on the orb with the full intent to snuff it out before the spell could complete.

King Wu sneered. The spiritual strength had already been triggered, and there was no stopping it. With a thrust, the spherical orb became sharp and penetrating, piercing through the comet of sword qi and arriving next to Long Chen in a blink.

Long Chen's pupil shrunk to needles.

"Die!" King Wu declared a death sentence and clenched his palm.

BOOM!!!

The spherical ball of condensed metal erupted in a world-shaking explosion that produced a sharp spiritual storm of metal energies and qi. It was mincing everything within a hundred meters of it, and this included Long Chen.

Wei Wuyin watched this exchange from below. Between experts, fights rarely lasted more than a few exchanges. This was even more so where probing attacks were thrown out and replaced with lethal moves. Without the song and dance, fights typically ended quickly and this one showed King Wu's cultivation superiority perfectly.

While Long Chen had two Spirits of Qi, Sword and Slaughter, with the shocking ability to utilize a worldly force to suppress his opponent, it simply wasn't enough to face King Wu's Spiritual Qi infused with Qi Essence.

King Wu also was very adept at fighting, understanding his opponent's weaknesses. From Long Chen's dual Spirit of Qi and usage of an unknown suppressive force, winning off reserves of qi was a fool's goal. Instead, he swiftly shifted to a Spiritual Spell and attacked Long Chen's weakness: his severed spirit.

If Wei Wuyin was in the same situation, he too would've done the same.

Woosh! Buuush! Bang!!

A crimson figure shot out of the spiritual storm of metal and death, smashing heavily against the ground while drenched in crimson blood and tattered robes. In its wake was a line of blood, shattered tables, and chairs. From the size and shape of this figure, it definitely belonged to Long Chen.

Both sides went silent.

Except a small girl who floated up in the skies while wreathed in violet qi. Her cute, small eyes widened with tears as she screamed in shock, "Big Brother!" Her heart was nearly torn apart at the scene. Unfortunately, Ba Chen was a merciless woman who would not allow this chance to slip. Her movements were decisive and lethal, palming the girl's head with the intent to turn it into mush.

"Ah!" The little girl screamed as she made a hasty, haphazardly retreat that led to her chest being blasted with water qi. She spat out a wad of clear, violet blood as she shot backwards with a sorrowful shriek of pain. Ba Chen didn't hesitate to pursue. Her spiritual water qi moved to claim a young life.

Fortunately, the little girl was quite impressive as she executed a self-harming movement art that provided her with a burst of speed, damaging herself to create some distance and regulating her form. Her violet spiritual qi may be a little weaker, but her eyes burned with murder. A cute little girl like this started to stare with the intent to see the world burn at its roots. It was quite a shocking sight.

She roared and unleashed her attacks. Ba Chen didn't shy, meeting her without a hint of hesitation or mercy.

Wei Wuyin had expected this, but he still felt somewhat shocked in the end. To think you came here with demands and a force strong enough to fight against the Imperial Clan, yet ended up like this.

Just as Wei Wuyin was about to make his move on Lin Ziyan, a muffled grunt sounded from the bloodied figure. A cracking sound echoed that was especially noticeable, like bones cracking.

King Wu looked at Long Chen's struggling body with disdain and contempt. He seemed to want to wait, as if in control of the entire world.

Internally, Wei Wuyin was screaming. "Why the fuck aren't you killing him? Are you an idiot?!" He felt his mind itch with irritation as no one seemed to deal the final blow to Long Chen who seemed to be struggling to rise up.

A pinch of pain surged in his right arm. He looked at it momentarily and felt a brief moment of hesitation. Right now, the Heavenly Daos was most definitely influencing these people to stay their hand, targeting their egos, influencing their fates.

"Was this a benefit of being a Blessed?" The Heavenly Daos was twisting thoughts and beliefs to benefit their Blessed individuals, those with karmic luck. How biased! He took a deep breath as he understood a little more about how the Heavenly Daos operated. It seemed Long Chen had enough Karmic Luck to avoid this calamity, likely even benefit from it.

It's entirely possible that King Wu was about to die. A price for his idiocy and being born without luck.

"Tch," clicking his tongue, he sent Su Mei a signal, and she knowingly nodded. They were currently at the neutral area situated between battles, staying away from any engagements. However, Su Mei started to move towards the beast-holding platform.

Wei Wuyin's gaze saw that beautiful brunette figure whose eyes burned with worry, her hand held together as if praying to some religious figure. After getting a good judgment of distance, his foot started to move.

But then…

Boom!!

An aura so imposing, so violent and vicious, so powerful that everyone immediately halted, even Ba Chen, as their full attention was forcefully drawn to a certain area. White and sanguine energies shot into the skies like a tower piercing the heavens, even the Qi Array was pierced, unable to stop this energy.

It originated from Long Chen, and it seemed this energy originated from his bursting aura and it was constantly on the rise!