Chapter 32 : Isn’t it good to be alive?

The reason Chen Yuyang was in such a hurry to send Yan Luo away wasn’t because he cared for her, or was particularly concerned about her.

It was simply that if Yan Luo remained present, he wouldn’t be able to perform properly.

What he was about to reveal involved his true secrets and stakes.

Pure white light tore through the dull gray shroud hanging between heaven and earth.

Boom——

A low, rolling thunder echoed.

Beneath the swirling vortex of thunderclouds, the cloth binding the boy’s hair snapped apart, his long black hair flowing wildly in the raging wind.

The lightning tribulation was still forming, but in a matter of breaths, the purple lightning shifted completely to a brilliant golden hue.

“This is…”

Hu Tianshuang felt her heart tremble.

The intensity of this lightning tribulation instilled a terrifying pressure even on her at the Consolidation stage.

And this was just the tribulation for his Qi Condensation to Core formation breakthrough!

“A Nine Heavens Dragon’s Roar Tribulation? Though it’s a rushed breakthrough, it’s still quite decent.”

Looking up at the sky, Chen Yuyang’s expression remained calm and composed, showing no sign of panic or nervousness.

As if all of this was entirely within his expectations.

Turning his gaze, Chen Yuyang swept a glance at Hu Tianshuang.

“Woman, aren’t you eager to fight? What are you waiting for?”

Hearing the boy’s words, Hu Tianshuang was stunned.

He actually wanted her to fight him right now?

Was he crazy?

He was currently under a lightning tribulation!

Or perhaps, he was so desperate for death that he didn’t care if he was annihilated between her and the heavenly tribulation?

Or…

Maybe he didn’t take the tribulation seriously at all?

Hu Tianshuang didn’t know which it was, but…

Her intuition told her she had to give her all.

Perhaps the only way to defeat him was to strike before he fully broke through and truly reached the Core Formation realm.

Attack!

In the next moment, Hu Tianshuang moved, accompanied by the white fox phantom behind her, soaring towards the boy standing in midair.

Chen Yuyang arrogantly lifted his head and raised his right hand.

A blood-colored longsword, seemingly rusted all over, appeared in his hand the next second.

At the exact moment the sword appeared,

A chilling sensation ran through Hu Tianshuang’s body, making every hair stand on end.

That was…

A Ninth-Rank Immortal Artifact!

Alarm bells rang in her mind as Hu Tianshuang immediately tried to halt her movement and create distance.

But the sword strike came too fast.

And it was fierce.

At that instant, Hu Tianshuang felt the sky and earth before her turn blood red; the mountains beneath became heaps of corpses, and the rivers flowed with endless blood.

At that moment, she seemed to hear and see countless lives cruelly slaughtered wailing in agony.

Those innumerable wails converged into a scream that chilled her very soul.

“Ninth-Rank Immortal Artifact—Jin Jue.”

This was obtained by Chen Yuyang from a half-step True Immortal Demon cultivator twenty-seven lifetimes ago.

That demon cultivator had slaughtered over a hundred million lives to temper this sword.

Chen Yuyang had slain the demon cultivator and claimed the sword.

He disliked the sword’s ferocious aura,

But at this moment, that deadly aura allowed him to transcend multiple realms and directly assault Hu Tianshuang’s soul.

Even though they were less than twenty zhang apart, to seize this fleeting opportunity, Chen Yuyang used a spatial talisman to cross the distance instantly.

Taking advantage of Hu Tianshuang’s momentary shock from the sword’s fierce aura, Chen Yuyang fiercely struck her chest with a palm.

Within his body, the Primordial Fire gathered and erupted without reservation.

“Ah—”

A scream of pain snapped Hu Tianshuang out of her daze, but the palm contained the Primordial Fire that could refine all things.

Nothing could withstand this seemingly ordinary strike.

Not even Hu Tianshuang’s Consolidation-stage body.

The extreme heat pierced through her clothes, burning a palm-shaped wound on her chest, and the searing heat rapidly spread across her entire body.

“What is this!”

Hu Tianshuang shouted in terror and instantly teleported a hundred zhang away.

Feeling the raging flames rapidly corroding her flesh, she gritted her teeth hard.

Immediately, the phantom behind her solidified into a physical form, while her human body became a phantom.

The phantom was reduced to ashes within a few breaths, and the corporeal white fox took on a humanoid form again.

“Divine Skill—Substitute Body!”

This was a technique that allowed her to transfer damage to a substitute when mortally wounded.

It consumed enormous energy, and the substitute required vast amounts of essence and blood to nurture.

But now, Hu Tianshuang had no choice but to use it.

Because she sensed that if she didn’t, she would perish under the terrifying flames.

“Tsk…”

Seeing Hu Tianshuang block his strike using the Substitute Body technique with the Jin Jue sword, Chen Yuyang let out a light snort.

But the next second, he spread his arms wide, releasing an aura that shattered his robes.

Golden dragon scales appeared neatly arranged on the boy’s body.

From his jet-black hair sprouted a pair of sharp, slender, golden, semi-transparent dragon horns.

As his body transformed, a terrifying dragon aura burst forth from him.

“True Dragon’s Might?”

“No, no… this is the Ancestral Dragon’s Might!”

Hu Tianshuang exclaimed in shock.

Beneath the dreadful dragon aura, she felt her blood and qi surge violently, her movements stiffening under the overwhelming pressure.

Dragon might alone could intimidate all.

Let alone the Ancestral Dragon’s Might.

That was absolute dominance through bloodline.

It was Chen Yuyang’s second choice to slay Hu Tianshuang.

Under the Ancestral Dragon’s oppression, Hu Tianshuang’s strength was further suppressed, her fighting spirit drained to its limit.

The Jin Jue sword disappeared, replaced the next moment by a seal in Chen Yuyang’s hand.

This was also a Ninth-Rank Immortal Artifact.

It was the Imperial Seal “Sifang” used by the Great Xia Dynasty sixteen lifetimes ago when it stood atop the Eastern Region Cultivation World.

The Great Xia Dynasty had stirred the wrath of countless sects across the Eastern Region, eventually falling under their combined assault.

The seal’s whereabouts had been unknown since the war.

But in truth, it had fallen into Chen Yuyang’s hands right after the Great Xia Dynasty was destroyed, as he had participated in that battle as an elder of a hidden sect.

He had arranged for himself to be “killed” in the war, severing ties with that sect and taking the seal with him into his next life’s Infant Refining stage.

This was the first time Chen Yuyang used the seal.

To activate the seal required not only vast spiritual energy but also the True Dragon’s Might.

Raising his hand, the Imperial Seal instantly manifested a golden phantom towering like a mountain.

Coiling atop it were the Nine Dragons.

The Sifang Seal rolled toward Hu Tianshuang.

Her face drained of all color.

At this moment, she had no fighting spirit left, only the desire to tear open space and flee.

But…

She couldn’t.

The space within the seal’s coverage was completely sealed.

She hadn’t expected this boy to possess so many terrifying means.

Instantly breaking through from Foundation Establishment fourth stage to Core Formation.

A peerless ferocious weapon that had slaughtered billions.

A strange flame that could instantly break through her defenses.

Dragon transformation and the overwhelming Ancestral Dragon’s Might.

And this seal, activated to unleash Nine Dragons’ phantoms, which also sealed off the space around her…

“Wait, wait a moment!”

“Kid, wait, no—stop, stop!”

“No, Master, Master, I swear loyalty to you… please, don’t kill me!”

Hu Tianshuang’s beautiful face flickered with desperation as she began to plead and beg.

But the Sifang Seal descended unhurriedly, without a trace of hesitation.

Boom——

The earth trembled.

Within a mile radius, mountains and hills alike were flattened by the strike.

Hu Tianshuang’s body shattered into fragments under the blow.

Only…

From her broken flesh flickered a faint, ghostly blue soul flame.

The spirit dared not linger and fled at top speed into the distance.

“Trying to escape!?”

Chen Yuyang snorted coldly, shooting a beam of light from between his brows.

This was a soul attack.

A technique only usable after reaching Core Formation.

It was the main reason Chen Yuyang had decided to breakthrough Core Formation.

Because relying solely on talismans, he couldn’t be certain to stop Hu Tianshuang’s desperate escape.

But if he could unleash a soul attack…

The vast soul power refined over countless lifetimes would manifest its most terrifying destructive force.

Of course, as a Core Formation cultivator, Chen Yuyang couldn’t fully unleash his soul power.

But it was enough to severely wound Hu Tianshuang’s soul, which had lost all fighting spirit, crushed by fear and despair, and desperate only to flee.

“Ah—”

Silent, yet a sorrowful wail rang out.

Hu Tianshuang’s soul was severely injured as Chen Yuyang swiftly charged toward her remaining spirit, flinging seven or eight talismans.

“Burn Soul!”

The soul howled in agony without end.

When the last Burn Soul talisman turned to ashes, the world returned to silence.

Hu Tianshuang’s soul had been completely erased.

Only then did Chen Yuyang exhale deeply.

Finally…

Why did this damned Fox Spirit have to force him like this?

Wouldn’t it have been better to just live?

Thinking so, Chen Yuyang looked up at the tribulation clouds swirling in the sky.

He didn’t wait in place but, after a brief moment of thought, transformed into a streak of light and shot upward, plunging into the lightning tribulation cloud to actively face it.

Boom boom boom boom boom.

Golden thunder and dragon might resounded through the sky eighty-one times before finally ceasing.

The clouds dispersed, and the sky cleared.

Chen Yuyang stood beneath the blue sky; the dragon horns atop his head solidified further after bathing in the tribulation.

Pulling out a robe to wear, the scales on his body and the horns on his forehead vanished.

He glanced around to confirm no extra eyes were watching, then swiftly left the scene.

One hour, two hours…

After six hours of departure,

Beneath the flattened ruins,

A wisp of ghostly blue soul fire flickered to life.

“Divine Skill—Reincarnation.”