Lan Xiaobu’s first act upon rushing out of the Holy Sword Palace was to activate the grand array that unleashed chaotic qi.
The palace’s protective array, already tampered with by Lan Xiaobu, collapsed instantly upon activation. Endless chaotic qi, driven by the dao rules of his boundaries, surged wildly into the Holy Sword Palace.
“Someone’s tampered with the Sword Palace Tree…” A piercing alarm blared across the entire palace.
The Sword Palace Tree wasn’t just a tree—it housed the Chaos Dao Bodies. If it was compromised, how could the palace answer to the Eternal Life Conference?
Almost immediately after the alarm, every disciple still in the palace rushed out. To dare touch the Sword Palace Tree? Unthinkable.
But the next moment, a more terrifying sound of tearing rang out: “Chaotic qi is flooding the Holy Sword Palace!”
Chaotic qi flooding the palace meant the protective array had failed. Low-level cultivators fled in droves. Chaotic qi was valuable, but being enveloped by it was deadly.
This wasn’t even pure chaotic qi, but chaotic qi laced with mottled dao rules. If it annihilated one’s Great Path, death was certain.
Even high-level cultivators hesitated to approach the Sword Palace Tree. Being caught in chaotic qi was no small matter. The tree, however precious, was just a tree—lives were their own.
At that moment, a horrific explosion erupted, followed by endless divine path rules detonating, rampaging through the palace.
A shroud of deathly aura descended, and the palace’s cosmic rules descended into chaos.
Several elders stood in shock. As dao rules carrying destructive force rained down, pulverizing peaks into dust, one elder cried out in terror, “Great Destruction Technique dao rules…”
But this was only the beginning. Amid the Great Destruction Technique, cutting dao rules capable of tearing the Central World itself fell, shredding the palace in moments. A single brush with these cutting rules could split or collapse a body.
“Leave now! Someone’s set up Great Destruction and Great Severance divine path rules to wipe out the Holy Sword Palace…” A fifth-step Great Path expert roared, charging out frantically.
Though he could block these techniques, he couldn’t stop their rampage across the palace. Powered by chaotic qi, how could they be stopped?
“No, there’s also Great Demise Technique, curse dao rules…” Before escaping, the fifth-step expert sensed more terrifying primordial divine techniques.
His heart sank. This was a deliberate plan to obliterate the palace. Who could deploy so many devastating primordial divine path rules? It wasn’t one person—it had to be another sect.
Even without his warning, the cultivators felt the explosive power of the primordial divine boundaries. Everyone rushed outward, the Chaos Dao Bodies in the Sword Palace Tree forgotten.
Lan Xiaobu, gripping his Longevity Halberd, stood in the void outside the palace, ready to ambush any sixth-step experts. Yet, to his surprise, no sixth-step cultivators emerged. As he puzzled over this, a brown-robed cultivator rushed out, his dao aura clearly beyond the fourth step.
Though not quite sixth-step, Lan Xiaobu sensed he was close. Having stayed to eradicate all threats, he couldn’t let anyone escape.
Before the man could tear through Lan Xiaobu’s trapping-killing boundary, the Longevity Halberd struck.
One breath, one cycle; one halberd, three lives crossed.
Against such a foe, Lan Xiaobu held nothing back, unleashing reincarnation dao patterns.
In an instant, six dao rules formed an entry reincarnation channel and a creation reincarnation channel, poised to envelop the brown-robed cultivator. No ordinary figure, the cultivator instantly recognized Lan Xiaobu’s reincarnation divine technique. If he entered the channel, even if he could overpower Lan Xiaobu, he couldn’t unleash his full strength.
He must not enter the reincarnation channel—retreat was his only option.
Most would be trapped by reincarnation dao rules, but this cultivator managed to pull back.
Lan Xiaobu knew the fifth-step expert would charge again immediately. Without pause, he circulated his dao charm and unleashed the Great Destruction Technique.
The boundary-triggered Great Destruction was potent, but not enough to ensure the palace’s total ruin. Determined to leave no loose ends, Lan Xiaobu took matters into his own hands, starting with Great Destruction.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Destructive dao rules surged from Lan Xiaobu, ravaging the space around the palace. Hundreds of cultivators who had just escaped the boundary’s self-detonation were caught in Lan Xiaobu’s full-force Great Destruction, amplified by chaotic qi and the boundary’s killing dao rules.
Almost none survived.
Even Lan Xiaobu was stunned. He hadn’t anticipated the Great Destruction Technique at the fourth step being so terrifying. Confined to the palace, it was devastating; unleashed freely, it could have obliterated One Pure Holy City.
Under the Great Destruction dao rules, the palace crumbled. The rules ignited the chaotic qi, and with the boundary’s detonation, the palace became a powder keg, spiraling out of control.
The ferocious destructive dao rules plowed through the palace repeatedly, leaving silence in their wake.
The remnants of the Holy Sword Palace, including the Sword Palace Tree, were reduced to dust.
Lan Xiaobu was certain no sixth-step experts were present—otherwise, they’d have disrupted him. Fifth-step experts were likely present, though he didn’t know how many. Under Great Destruction, they were probably eliminated.
He wanted to inspect but felt an ominous danger, knowing he couldn’t risk it.
Even if one or two survived, so what? Lan Xiaobu activated a teleportation talisman. After it carried him a million miles, he began using his ruleless teleportation technique frantically.
Moments after his departure, a figure appeared above the palace—a red-haired man with fair skin, carrying a wide sword. Seeing the palace reduced to dust, he let out a furious roar. Without checking the ruins, he sent out several flying swords and rushed off.
In less than half an incense stick’s time, he stopped where Lan Xiaobu’s talisman had landed.
There, he lost Lan Xiaobu’s trail. At the sixth step, he couldn’t track Lan Xiaobu’s ruleless teleportation.
Meanwhile, more figures descended on the palace’s ruins, their powerful auras filling the air.
“What happened?” asked a man who had just arrived—Da Suoxian, the Central World’s Right Pivot Holy Chancellor.
The destruction of the Holy Sword Palace was a major event for the Central Heavenly Court, especially since the palace was tasked with providing Chaos Dao Bodies for the Eternal Life Conference. Who could bear such a failure?
No one could answer Da Suoxian. They had all just arrived, finding the palace in ruins but no clue who was responsible.
“There’s Great Destruction Technique aura, Great Severance Technique aura, Great Curse Technique aura, Great Demise Technique aura… and traces of reincarnation dao rules,” a sharp, unsettling voice said.
The speaker’s voice alone caused discomfort. Many averted their gaze upon seeing him—Feng Jietian, the Central Heavenly Court’s Holy Inspectorate Chief.
Feng Jietian, always squinting, looked frail but was notorious for his cruelty. He could torment a person for ten thousand years, keeping them conscious and in pain.
Unless necessary, no one wanted to deal with him.
“So, this wasn’t one person’s doing, but a faction’s?” Da Suoxian’s face darkened.
