Chapter 153: Xuanjin Python and Pure White Radiance

  At about three thousand meters deep, the protective aura outside Ye Chen's body was compressed to within half a foot of his skin, an extremely dangerous distance. Once the protective aura shattered, it would be very difficult to prop it up again, and then he would have to rely on his personal breath control skills.

  Fortunately, the 3,000-meter depth is close to the bottom of the lake.

  Rumble!

  Intense shockwaves radiated everywhere, and from the front came a faintly transmitted five-colored light. These lights were sharp and unmatched, some were thick and heavy like mountains, and some froze the flowing water into ice blocks, shocking and stirring.

  "There is a battle one thousand two hundred meters ahead, let's go take a look."

  Ye Chen withdrew his spiritual energy and said to the three of them.

  At the bottom of the lake lies a magnificent palace, made of materials that are unknown, like gold but not gold, like jade but not jade, with a seven-colored glow all over its body, giving people a sense of grandeur and mystery.

  The palace is surrounded by a vast white marble square, on which nearly four hundred disciples of the sect are besieging a tens-of-meters-long, scaleless golden-gray giant python.

  This giant python is exceptionally powerful, even when faced with a siege of nearly four hundred people, it remains fiercely dominant and invincible. Ordinary attacks can't even break through its defenses, only those who have entered the realm of embracing the origin and are high-ranking masters on the Hidden Dragon List can cause some damage to it.

  "The ancient Xuanjin snake is formidable, but a solo attack won't have much effect. Everyone, form up and let's attack it together!" The speaker was Lu Zhao, the top disciple of the White Deer Cave, a seventh-rank sect under the White Mysterious Country, as well as the sixty-first ranked young expert from the previous Hidden Dragon Rankings.

  "Lu Zhao is right, everyone get into formation."

  Other powerful Dragon List experts knew that if they continued like this, they wouldn't know when to stop, each using their prestige to unify the disciples of various sects.

  "...all the benefits are monopolized by them, and they only know how to use us when they encounter difficulties."

  "Alas, what can be done? When under someone's roof, one cannot help but lower their head. Anyway, this Xuan Jin Mang will eventually be eliminated, otherwise it won't be possible to enter the Tian Meng War Hall."

  "Endure for now! When you reach the level of embracing the origin, you can be just as arrogant."

  Many sect disciples were not satisfied in their hearts, as many of their senior and junior brothers had been killed by the high-ranking experts on the Hidden Dragon List. At this time, when they heard that the other party wanted to manage them, their subconscious was extremely resistant, and the feeling of oppression can be imagined.

  Ah!

  On the other side, a sect disciple suddenly died miserably. The one who killed him was not the Xuan Jin snake, but the original Hengying eagle that made people tremble with fear.

  "You dare to be shameless after I've given you face, what's the point of keeping you?" With a ruthless smile, Yuan Heng raised his head and said to the others: "Whoever dares not to follow orders will be killed without pardon."

  "Too overbearing, killing people at every turn!"

  Seven or eight hundred meters away, Zhu Mei's face was filled with resentment.

  Lu Hanshan exhaled a breath of air and calmly said, "It's better if we don't go over there for now. Yuan Hengxiong has a very heavy 'killing' nature, who knows, once we go over, he might use us as cannon fodder to fight the Ancient Mystic Golden Python. Although this python is only a fifth-level demon beast, ancient demon beasts are always extremely powerful and have strong defenses. Even mid-stage warriors in the Hugging Yuan realm would retreat three feet away. Ye Shidi, what's going on here..."

  Luo Hanshan thought he could persuade everyone, but unexpectedly Ye Chen was the first to walk out, leaving him stunned.

  After walking a few steps, Ye Chen turned around and said: "There's no need to hide from him, we can pull up our own battle formation, I believe many disciples of the sect who have grievances will join us."

  "Not bad, Ye Shidi's strength is not inferior to that of Yuan Heng. Why hide and not go out?" Xu Jing also walked out.

  Luo Hanshan smiled bitterly.

  The bodyguard's aura was like a sharp blade, cutting off the flow of water from the outside, only allowing the air that people breathed to seep in. Ye Cang took a deep breath and decided to go forward, not because he was full of confidence and could rival Yuan Heng, but because he didn't want to lose the heart of a swordsman. A swordsman must be fearless; when the gap in strength is not insurmountable, avoiding confrontation is not a solution, on the contrary, it will make oneself lose their edge.

  The four of them moved extremely quickly, and in just a few blinks of an eye, they arrived among the disciples of the sect.

  "Is it you?" The horizontal eagle eye swept horizontally, somewhat unexpectedly, and then licked his lips, saying: "You few come over, stand in the front row."

  The disciples of other sects saw this scene, and their hearts were heavy with worry. Yuan Heng had clearly intended to use the four people from Liu Yun Sect as cannon fodder, letting them die in his place. In comparison, they themselves weren't much better off. After all, Xuan Jin Mang wasn't someone who could be stopped by just a few sacrifices. When the time came, there would definitely need to be a second batch of cannon fodder. However, even though they knew they might become cannon fodder, the crowd still had no choice but to endure. They didn't dare disobey Yuan Heng, who killed people like flies. At least resisting Xuan Jin Mang left them with a thread of hope for survival.

  Ye Chen didn't even glance at Yuan Heng, his voice spreading out with his true energy.

  "Who wants to join our battle array and unite with us against the mysterious golden python."

  As soon as this remark came out, it shocked all four sides. Even the battle arrays that were fighting against Xuan Jin Mang couldn't help but glance over here a few times.

  The original hawk was furious and laughed, "One after another, repeatedly challenging my patience, very well, today you will come over, otherwise kill without pardon."

  "Kill me and you'll pay with your life, I'm just afraid you won't be able to take it." Ye Chen's voice was like gold and stone, piercing through the water flow, the sharp aura on his body more fierce and solid than when he was by the lake shore, mixed with an unshakeable iron-blood will.

  The previous fierce battle with Hong Qianjun made Ye Chen's understanding of sword intent even more profound. If it weren't for the limitations of his cultivation, killing Yuan Heng would be as easy as killing a dog. Even so, he currently has a 30% chance of defeating him, and there is no need to retreat at all.

  "Alright, since you want to die, I'll fulfill your wish, Eagle Strike!"

  The original eagle was furious to the extreme, its body shook, and it shot straight up. Then, the true energy of the eagle flew out of its body and swooped towards Ye Chen.

  "Cut!"

  As soon as the sword energy emerged, the water flow reversed and rolled back, and the strong intention of the blade made everyone slightly lose their minds.

  Pfft!

  The majestic eagle's chest was slashed with a deep sword wound, and it let out a long cry. Its wings flapped against the sword energy, emitting a loud metallic explosion sound.

  Next moment!

  The water flow is rolled into this space, forming a huge chaotic water ball of tens of meters in size, rapidly expanding and bursting!

  Boom!

  A deafening crash of thunder shook the air.

  "What? Blocking Yuan Hong's one hit, what kind of deity is this Flowing Cloud Sect disciple?"

  "To know that even if Yuan Hongying only used 80% of his strength, he is still not someone who can be compared to a late-stage True Realm martial artist, it's truly unbelievable."

  "Don't you think it's just like Sword Art Online?"

  "Right! How could I have forgotten? That's definitely a sword intent. No wonder it's not afraid of the Original Horizontal Eagle."

  Everyone was shocked beyond measure.

  His eyes turned red, like a demon, indicating that he had already moved his mind to kill. As for Ye Chen's understanding of the sword intent, it had no effect on him. A dead swordsman, what use is sword intent? If I don't kill him today, it will only bring me a great enemy.

  "You will die today, I wanted to kill you by the lake. You are the one I originally wanted to kill, and no one has ever escaped." Yuan Heng's true energy surged to its limit, a larger true energy eagle took shape, flapping its wings, reversing the flow of water, with an overwhelming momentum.

  "That's enough."

  Suddenly, a clear and cold voice came over.

  The crowd looked up at the sound and saw a strange color on their faces.

  The speaker was Xue Hen, the eldest disciple of the Wuxing Sect, a seventh-grade sect in the Tian She country. In the previous Hidden Dragon List, he ranked fifty-seventh, two places higher than Yuan Heng.

  He said calmly: "Now it's urgent to get rid of Xuan Jin Mang, wait until he's gone, and then you can do whatever you want."

  Yuan Heng turned his head sideways, his face gloomy, "Xue Hen, you and I are like well water not interfering with river water. What right do you have to interfere in my affairs?"

  "I'm just reminding you, don't forget why we entered Tianmeng Ancient Land in the first place, this rivalry will only lead to trouble."

  "Originally, Xuehen said it right. For now, let's get rid of the Xuangin Snake first and open the Tianmeng War Temple gate, other things can be put aside for the time being."

  Lu Zhao, the eldest disciple of Bailu Cave, also spoke up.

  Zhen Qi slightly retracted, Yuan Heng decided to endure for a while longer. Once he reached the Tian Meng War Temple and made some slight progress in his realm, he would immediately go after Ye Chen. As of now, he still didn't have much confidence. The terror of Ye Chen's sword intent was something he had witnessed during the Puanlong Rankings competition, not something an ordinary person could imagine.

  Lu Hanshan was secretly pleased in his heart, and the original horizontal eagle seemed to be not much stronger than Ye Shidi, otherwise he wouldn't need to listen to advice. It seems that Ye Shidi's decision is correct. When one's own strength and the opponent's are not too different, they must not retreat, otherwise it will have a great disadvantage for future growth.

  Ye Chen didn't know what Luo Hanshan was thinking in his heart, and loudly said: "Those who are willing to join our battle array, come over immediately. I can guarantee that you will not be persecuted."

  "I'm in."

  "I'm in too."

  "And also our Seven Mystical Gates."

  At this moment, a large number of sect disciples rushed to Ye Chen's area, most of whom were from the original Hengying battle formation. This scene made the original Hengying furious, with eyes blazing red and bright.

  Hiss...hiss...hiss...

  Xuán Jīn Mǎng did not disappoint as an ancient fifth-grade demon beast, under the joint attack of various battle arrays, it was still incredibly powerful, from time to time two or three sect disciples were split in half by its tail, blood and water overflowing.

  But now, it's a desperate struggle, the top players of the Dragon List all have the strength to challenge across levels. Although the Xuanjin Snake is strong, how can it withstand the joint efforts of everyone? As time goes on, it was defeated and retreated step by step, unable to stop effective attacks.

  "Kill!"

  "Kill!"

  Each piece of air energy fell on the Xuan Jin Mang's body, bursting into blood flowers. As for the hidden dragon list masters, if they didn't take action, it was fine, but once they took action, they would definitely hit their opponent's vital points, with a killing power that was more than ten times that of an ordinary sect disciple, clearly making them the main attacking force.

  About two quarters of an hour later, the Xuan Jin Mang let out a mournful cry, its massive body knocking down the golden mountain and jade pillars, heavily crashing to the ground, losing all breath.

  Creak!

  Xuan Jin Mang died, and the Tian Meng War Temple seemed to have a response. The huge iron gate opened automatically, and the white light shone in all directions, falling on everyone's body.

  Buzz!

  His true energy inside his body fluctuated, and Ye Chen discovered that under the illumination of the pure white light, he had instantly reached the peak of the late stage of the Condensing True Realm. It was as if it was a natural process, without any obstruction whatsoever. For a moment, he was stunned, but then he thought to himself: Perhaps it was because of the intense battle with Hong Qianjun earlier that his true energy cultivation had been tempered, and all he needed was a few days of quiet meditation to reach the peak of the late stage on his own. This pure white light was just a catalyst.