"What happened?"
Palace Master Yuanxiu watched from afar; he could only see a vast dark world, unable to peer into what was occurring inside.
"Poof."
Suddenly, a sword light pierced through the membrane of the dark world and escaped instantly.
Seeing this, Palace Master Yuanxiu was somewhat surprised. "Just after the fight started, Hua Jing Little Saint is already fleeing?"
Among the Chaos Realm Transcendents of the Origin Continent, even in one-on-one battles, those who could force Hua Jing to flee were few and far between. Not to mention this time, he had the assistance of Spirit Star Saint and City Lord Huang Feng.
"Escaped." Hua Jing Little Saint, having fled to a distant place, finally breathed a sigh of relief. She glanced at Palace Master Yuanxiu.
"Hua Jing Little Saint," Palace Master Yuanxiu said politely. Regardless of individual strength or background, Hua Jing Little Saint was superior to him.
"Brother Yuanxiu, you are truly wise," Hua Jing Little Saint said. "If you had gotten involved, this true body of yours would probably be gone."
Palace Master Yuanxiu was shocked. "Hua Jing Little Saint, what exactly happened inside that dark world? What about Spirit Star Saint and City Lord Huang Feng?"
Great Sage Bi Yun shook her head and said, "These Blood Spirit Flowers have nothing to do with us anymore."
After speaking, she vanished into the distance.
Palace Master Yuanxiu was secretly astonished. Observing the vast dark world in the distance and based on Hua Jing Little Saint's reaction, he could infer part of what had happened.
"It seems it was one-sided! Three against one, yet they were swept away." Knowing the general outcome, Palace Master Yuanxiu didn't wait any longer. "For us, the mission to obtain the Blood Spirit Golden Pearls is over."
He quietly departed as well.
In the expansive white-dark world, only Luo Feng and City Lord Huang Feng remained.
"The Thunderstorm Ancient Nation and the Flame Wind Ancient Nation are equally matched, and the royal family of the entire Thunderstorm Ancient Nation primarily cultivates the Hunyuan Bloodline," Luo Feng said, looking at the towering figure of City Lord Huang Feng.
The royal family of the Flame Wind Ancient Nation also has those who have cultivated the Hunyuan Bloodline. However, the threshold over there is lower; one doesn't have to become a God King and go through multiple layers of scrutiny to embark on the Hunyuan Bloodline path.
According to Luo Feng's information, among the eighteen Emperors of the Flame Wind Ancient Nation, several have cultivated the Hunyuan Bloodline. This shows the attractiveness of that faction.
City Lord Huang Feng, for example, can only be considered to have just entered the Hunyuan Bloodline system, at the most basic level. As for Marquis Chu Yuan, whom Luo He had previously beaten into liquid, he couldn't even be counted as an entry-level cultivator.
"Slash." Looking at City Lord Huang Feng, Luo Feng thought, and 800,000 White Rivers transformed into dense white blade lights, all executing the 'Blade River Slash'.
Rumble!
Wherever the endless white blade lights passed, everything was destroyed, even causing numerous fine cracks in the membrane walls of the prison world. Such terrifying might was fully endured by City Lord Huang Feng; he couldn't dodge at all.
"Ssshhh~~~" Dense wounds appeared on City Lord Huang Feng's body, as if he had been sliced by thousands of blades, his body covered in green blood.
But as the power of the blade lights subsided, the countless wounds on his body naturally healed.
"Well, my skin is broken, and I'm bleeding," City Lord Huang Feng laughed loudly. "Luo He, I admit your power is formidable, but unfortunately, I haven't lost a single drop of divine power."
Luo He also noticed this.
With his body cultivated to such a degree, mere superficial wounds meant nothing to City Lord Huang Feng; only by completely annihilating parts of his flesh and blood would he lose divine power reserves.
"I advise you not to waste your efforts," City Lord Huang Feng said confidently. Though he was being enveloped by the endless white rivers, making it difficult to resist, he continued to approach Luo Feng.
"I might as well try," Luo Feng replied, looking at him.
The 800,000 blade lights performing 'Blade River Slash' in long-range attacks contained profound mysteries and unparalleled sharpness, even causing fine cracks in the membrane walls of the prison world.
But in close combat, Luo Feng could mobilize nearly ten billion White Rivers—pure power!
"Unite."
With a single thought, Luo Feng absorbed all the endless White Rivers into his body, even retracting most of the White Rivers merged into the white-dark world, maintaining it with only one billion White Rivers.
In the white-dark world, the more White Rivers merged, the stronger it became. One billion White Rivers were still enough to seal most Chaos Realm Transcendents.
"Hmm?" City Lord Huang Feng watched as the surrounding white rivers rapidly flowed toward Luo He, and he himself was swiftly carried closer.
Suddenly, Luo Feng, whose body had rapidly shrunk, reached out and grabbed City Lord Huang Feng's neck.
At this moment, Luo Feng possessed the power of nearly four billion White Rivers.
"Release me." City Lord Huang Feng struggled, even swinging both arms, but Luo He's one arm was immovable, firmly gripping his neck.
"Shatter!"
Holding City Lord Huang Feng's neck with his right hand, Luo Feng thrust the five fingers of his left hand directly into his body.
Puff—
Luo Feng felt that City Lord Huang Feng's body was incredibly tough; most of his strength was naturally dissipated by the skin. However, his fingers still forcefully pierced into the flesh layer. The flesh layer offered even more resistance, like countless ropes entangling and resisting him. Further inside was the bone armor layer, densely packed bones. Luo Feng's five fingers seemed to be penetrating a treasure weapon, barely penetrating part of the bone armor before stopping.
Luo Feng's arm had penetrated more than half into City Lord Huang Feng's body but could not advance further.
"Too tough," Luo Feng was astonished.
"I—I..." City Lord Huang Feng was shocked. Being pierced more than halfway through his body by a bare hand? He had a strong body at the entry level of the Hunyuan Bloodline!
Puff! Boom! Rip!
With one hand gripping City Lord Huang Feng's neck, Luo Feng used his other hand—whether as a hand blade, claw, or fist—to fully unleash the power of nearly four billion White Rivers, repeatedly tearing his body apart.
"Luo Feng, how did you cultivate your body? I can confirm you haven't cultivated the Hunyuan Bloodline, but how is your body even stronger than mine?" City Lord Huang Feng asked, even as he was being beaten.
"Don't waste your efforts. It seems like I'm getting hurt repeatedly, but in fact, I haven't consumed a single drop of divine power," City Lord Huang Feng said while taking the blows. "You can't defeat me, the vitality of the Hunyuan Bloodline is beyond your imagination."
Luo Feng stopped and nodded. "Your body is indeed very tough."
As he spoke, a massive Blood Shadow Blade appeared out of thin air in Luo Feng's left hand.
"A blade?" City Lord Huang Feng remained unconcerned.
"Slash!"
Holding City Lord Huang Feng's neck with his right hand, Luo Feng casually tossed him aside while his left hand swung the blade.
At that moment, the power of nearly four billion White Rivers condensed into one, channeled through the light and incomparably sharp Blood Shadow Blade, forcefully cleaving at City Lord Huang Feng's waist.
Thick skin, tough flesh, bone armor...
The Blood Shadow Blade, transformed by Master Emperor Chu, had the foundation pointing directly to the ultimate realm of God King weapons. Luo Feng's power converged on the blade edge, making it far more terrifying than bare hands.
Puff—
City Lord Huang Feng's waist was completely severed, his body split in two.
"Useless—you can't—what?" City Lord Huang Feng's eyes widened.
At this moment, white rivers flew out from Luo He's body, rolling and immediately enveloping the two severed halves of City Lord Huang Feng. After his body was split, the power each half could unleash was decreasing.
"Slash!"
"Slash!"
"Slash!"
"Slash!"
"Slash!" "Slash!"
Luo Feng continuously swung the Blood Shadow Blade, repeatedly slashing at the already severed body of City Lord Huang Feng. In just a blink, he was chopped into dozens of pieces of flesh, each condensed into a lump.
The dozens of flesh lumps were still tough, filled with endless vitality.
"Even if I'm turned into lumps of flesh, into meat paste, into fragments... I still won't die, hahaha..." The dozens of flesh lumps, with vast divine power, still emitted voices.
The huge flesh lumps continued to struggle, but all were wrapped by the White Rivers.
"Cutting you up like this, it seems your strength hasn't diminished much?" Luo Feng observed. After being split into dozens of pieces, the resisting power of each part had greatly reduced, now resembling that of a peak Chaos Realm being.
"Being able to chop up my instinctual body, I admire you, but you can't kill me. Even if you were several times stronger, you couldn't kill me," City Lord Huang Feng's voice echoed around.
"The Hunyuan Bloodline's vitality is indeed strong," Luo Feng nodded in praise.
"Luo He, you can't possibly suppress me all the time, right? Continually distracting yourself to suppress me would affect your cultivation," City Lord Huang Feng said.
Cultivation requires being free from distractions and sufficiently focused.
Using the White Rivers to suppress City Lord Huang Feng would indeed require diverting part of his mental energy, which would affect cultivation.
"So, you should let me go," City Lord Huang Feng advised. "This time I offended you. If you let me go, I'll give you ten billion universe crystals as compensation, okay?"
"Let you go?" Luo He smiled. "Your true body is a valuable asset."
Even if City Lord Huang Feng were to actively annihilate this body, the weapons and treasures carried by his true body were highly valuable.
Moreover, Luo Feng knew very well that the true body of the Hunyuan Bloodline is extremely important. If he actively annihilated it, cultivating it again would be very troublesome and costly.
"You intend to suppress me indefinitely?" City Lord Huang Feng continued to struggle; the dozens of flesh pieces were struggling with considerable might. Luo He immediately suppressed them with the White Rivers. "You will be constantly distracted suppressing me; how will you cultivate?"
"Collect."
Luo Feng wrapped each flesh lump with the White Rivers and sent them into the Star Tower.
In one of the spaces inside the Star Tower, which was naturally divided into over a thousand large spaces, Luo Feng placed the dozens of flesh lumps into separate spaces.
"Suppress." The Star Tower inherently has the ability to suppress and seal.
"Hmm?"
The dozens of flesh lumps twisted and formed into images of City Lord Huang Feng.
The multiple City Lord Huang Fengs looked around in astonishment. They could even see each other across the distant large spaces but couldn't get close.
"Let me out!" They furiously attacked the large spaces but couldn't shake them at all.
The stability of the Star Tower was such that even if Luo Feng went all out, he couldn't shake it in the slightest. Luo Feng believed that this was far beyond what a God King First-Tier palace treasure could achieve. Now that City Lord Huang Feng was split, his resistance strength was only at the peak Chaos Realm level, even less able to resist.
"Let me out, let me out!" The multiple City Lord Huang Fengs were extremely shocked and angry, but within the sealed large spaces, their voices couldn't spread out.
"A God King-level palace treasure? He actually has a God King-level palace treasure?" City Lord Huang Feng couldn't believe it.
Even Hua Jing Little Saint only had one God King-level weapon, the 'Heaven-Severing Sword'.
A God King-level palace treasure, even the lowest tier, is far more valuable.
"You suppress me inside a God King-level palace treasure; you don't need to distract yourself with me at all. You're just going to keep me suppressed like this?" City Lord Huang Feng realized things were bad. Originally, he thought that Luo Feng, for the sake of cultivation, wouldn't be distracted long-term to suppress him and would eventually let him go.
"Abandon this body?"
City Lord Huang Feng was very unwilling. To cultivate this Hunyuan Bloodline body, he had paid too much. He didn't even have a God King-level weapon; almost all his resources had been used on this body.
"Luo He, tell me, what conditions must be met for you to let me go," City Lord Huang Feng lowered his head. "As long as I can do it, I will."
"How many treasures can you offer?" Luo Feng finally spoke.
"I'll find a way to gather; I can collect 40 billion universe crystals," City Lord Huang Feng said.
"Forty billion universe crystals?" Luo Feng couldn't help but say, "You, a Chaos Realm Transcendent, can only bring out 40 billion universe crystals?" That was too little; when he offered a reward for perfect chaos-level biological materials, he prepared over a trillion universe crystals.
City Lord Huang Feng felt aggrieved.
If not for selling 12 Blood Spirit Golden Pearls to the Two-World Palace not long ago, earning 36 billion universe crystals, he wouldn't be able to bring out even 40 billion.
"Cultivating the Hunyuan Bloodline consumes a lot of resources," City Lord Huang Feng said. "Forty billion universe crystals—I have already exhausted all I have."
"I can't accept that," Luo Feng said. "Forty billion universe crystals can only buy the most ordinary God King First-Tier weapon; you want to exchange it for your body?"
City Lord Huang Feng was silent.
He had one option left. As a member of the royal family of the Thunderstorm Ancient Nation, he could ask them to help redeem him. However, he would have to repay the cost later.
Luo Feng stood beside the Blood Spirit Star, sensing City Lord Huang Feng imprisoned inside the Star Tower.
"A Hunyuan Bloodline body is valuable; how could I possibly let it go?" Luo Feng looked up at the Blood Spirit Star. The flames were erupting, and at this moment, four more Blood Spirit Flowers flew out, wrapped by the white-dark world and delivered into his hand.
Luo Feng looked at the four Blood Spirit Golden Pearls floating above his palm.
"This mission for the Blood Spirit Golden Pearls no longer has any competitors. Brother Chu Yu, I have fulfilled my promise to you." Luo Feng smiled slightly.
At this moment, he sensed a transmission token vibrating within his body.
"Hmm?" Luo He took out the transmission token, and a message came through: "Luo He, can you come to the Chu Royal Palace?"
It was Marquis Chu Yu.
"Marquis Chu Yu is looking for me?" Luo Feng wondered. "Is it about the Blood Spirit Flowers?"
Without delay, Luo Feng left the Blood Spirit Star, heading directly toward the Chu Royal Palace.
...
Within the Chu Royal Palace.
Marquis Chu Yu, dressed in black armor, stood in a garden, his expression somewhat anxious. When he saw Luo Feng arriving, he immediately smiled and greeted him.
"Brother Luo He."
"Brother Chu Yu," Luo Feng smiled. "I was just about to deliver the Blood Spirit Flowers to you."
Marquis Chu Yu waved his hand. "No rush about that. I have an important matter and need your help."
"Oh?" Luo Feng was curious.
Marquis Chu Yu took a deep breath and said, "Brother Luo He, you know that the competition among the First-Class Marquises has been intense recently. I... I might have offended someone I shouldn't have."
"Who?" Luo Feng asked.
"Marquis Qing," Chu Yu said with a bitter smile.
"Marquis Qing?" Luo Feng was slightly surprised.
Marquis Qing was one of the seven First-Class Marquises, known for his unpredictable temper and ruthless methods. Even within the imperial family, few dared to provoke him.
"I didn't know it was him at the time," Chu Yu explained. "Now, he's targeting me. I fear he might take action against me. Brother Luo He, could you protect me for a while?"
Luo Feng pondered for a moment and nodded. "Since you and I are friends, I will naturally help you."
"Thank you, Brother Luo He," Chu Yu was overjoyed.
Just then, a cold voice echoed throughout the Chu Royal Palace: "Chu Yu, you dare to hide from me?"
A figure appeared above the palace—a man in azure robes, exuding a terrifying aura that suppressed the entire area.
"Marquis Qing!" Chu Yu's expression changed dramatically.
Luo Feng looked up at Marquis Qing, sensing his formidable strength.
"Who are you?" Marquis Qing's gaze fell on Luo Feng. "A mere Chaos Realm Transcendent dares to meddle in my affairs?"
"Brother Luo He, be careful!" Chu Yu warned anxiously.
Luo Feng stepped forward calmly. "Marquis Qing, Brother Chu Yu is under my protection."
"Hahaha..." Marquis Qing laughed wildly. "Interesting. Then I'll eliminate you first!"
Without further words, Marquis Qing raised his hand, and the surrounding space instantly froze. Countless azure blades materialized, slashing toward Luo Feng.
Luo Feng remained unflustered. With a thought, the White River World unfolded, and billions of white rivers surged out, forming an impenetrable barrier.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The azure blades collided with the white rivers, causing massive shockwaves. The entire Chu Royal Palace trembled.
"What's this?" Marquis Qing's eyes narrowed. "You have some ability."
"Marquis Qing, please stop," Luo Feng said calmly. "I don't wish to fight you."
"Not up to you!" Marquis Qing's aura intensified. "Since you dare to oppose me, prepare to die!"
At this moment, a majestic voice resounded: "Enough!"
An overwhelming pressure descended, and Emperor Chu appeared in mid-air, his presence like that of a towering mountain.
"Father!" Chu Yu exclaimed in relief.
"Your Majesty," Luo Feng and Marquis Qing both cupped their hands respectfully.
"Marquis Qing, this is the Chu Royal Palace, not a place for you to act recklessly," Emperor Chu said sternly.
Marquis Qing's expression changed slightly but quickly recovered. "Your Majesty, Chu Yu has offended me. I was merely teaching him a lesson."
"Whatever grievances you have can be resolved elsewhere," Emperor Chu replied. "Not here."
Marquis Qing gritted his teeth but finally bowed. "As you command, Your Majesty."
He shot a cold glance at Chu Yu and Luo Feng before disappearing into the void.
Emperor Chu turned to Chu Yu. "You are Chu Yu?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Chu Yu replied respectfully.
"I've heard of you," Emperor Chu nodded. "You have some talent."
"Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty," Chu Yu said.
Emperor Chu then looked at Chu Yu. "You must be careful in your actions. Don't cause unnecessary trouble."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Chu Yu lowered his head.
With that, Emperor Chu disappeared.
Chu Yu let out a sigh of relief. "Brother Luo He, thank you for standing by me."
"It's nothing," Luo Feng smiled. "But you should be cautious. Marquis Qing won't let this go easily."
"I understand," Chu Yu nodded solemnly.
...
After leaving the Chu Royal Palace, Luo Feng returned to his residence in the Chu Capital.
He sat in meditation, reflecting on the recent events.
"Marquis Qing's strength is formidable. If not for Emperor Chu's intervention, it would have been a tough battle," Luo Feng thought.
At this moment, he felt a fluctuation from the Star Tower within him.
"Hmm?" Luo Feng focused his mind.
Inside the Star Tower, City Lord Huang Feng, still imprisoned, was attempting to break free but to no avail.
"Still struggling," Luo Feng shook his head. "Unless you become a God King, it's impossible to escape from the Star Tower."
He withdrew his attention and continued to meditate, contemplating his next steps on the path of cultivation.