Pei Yan knew exactly what Xu Yunfan wanted to do. The man possessed a great treasure and obviously didn’t want anyone else to know about it. That Qi of Ginseng... it was simply astonishing.

He fell silent for a moment, a plan already forming in his mind. ’Once we’re out of here, how can a treasure like that be left in the hands of an outsider?’

He gave a slight nod.

"Go right ahead, Brother Xu."

After blindfolding Pei Yan, Xu Yunfan tapped the Profound Steel Mechanism Box with two fingers. A series of clicks from the mechanism followed.

A faint, peculiar fragrance instantly wafted to his nose, and Pei Yan felt the Blood Qi throughout his body quicken.

The instant the mechanism sprang open, two points of crimson light flared deep within Xu Yunfan’s pupils.

In a flash, the Dragon Scale Armor Leaves along his spine flared upwards, layer by layer. The muscles in his right arm coiled like constricting pythons as the unique, metallic sheen of the Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body spiraled up from beneath his ribs.

CRACK!

Seven concentric shockwaves of Qi erupted from Pei Yan’s throat. His larynx, which should have been crushed, was instead held firm by the Hexagonal Armor extending from his Divine Armor.

Xu Yunfan’s fingers dug into the armor’s surface like hooks. His Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength transformed into thousands of scorching steel needles, stabbing relentlessly.

"Xu Yunfan, you...!"

Pei Yan’s furious roar was laced with the coppery tang of blood. The Spiritual nature of his Divine Weapon Chest Armor was provoked and flared to life, its intricate patterns suddenly glowing.

Reacting in an instant, Pei Yan tore the blindfold from his eyes. Simultaneously, he formed his right hand into a sword-finger, and a wisp of Sword Qi shot from his fingertip, slicing three inches of hair from Xu Yunfan’s brow.

Xu Yunfan tilted his head back slightly, his expression unchanging. The arch of his foot slammed down, pulverizing the rock beneath. The unique Dissipation ripples of the Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body spread out from the sole of his foot.

As the rock in a thirty-foot radius exploded into dust, the Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace was already whistling through the air from behind him.

CLANG!

The shockwave from the collision between the mace and the Frost Blade threw the molten rock of the Earth Fire Pool into a thirty-foot-high wave of fire.

Pei Yan used the momentum to leap back seven steps, his toes creating two ripples on the surface of the molten rock. His eyes swirled with fury and horror. "Why?!"

"You must be joking, Brother Pei. This was inevitable from the moment you taught me the Empty Clarity Sword Washing Technique."

As he spoke, Xu Yunfan formed the Linn Character Seal before his chest. The emotion in his eyes rapidly faded, replaced by a profound calm.

The Heavy Mace in his hand, which had been buzzing incessantly, also grew quiet, now emitting only a low thrum with his movements.

He spun, evading three blasts of Sword Qi skimming across the ground, and closed the distance. The Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace swung through the air, tracing nine crescent moons.

As the Qiu Long patterns on the mace lit up one by one, a roar like shifting tectonic plates erupted from his shoulder blades. Twelve layers of overlapping Red Flood Dragon Force burst forth like a volcano.

As the force left his body, the Molten Rock Pool at Xu Yunfan’s feet began to boil violently!

The dark purple Earth Fire formed nine chains that snaked toward Pei Yan, only to solidify into glass-like pillars the instant they touched his Treasure Armor.

A cold glint flashed in Xu Yunfan’s eyes. ’Just as I thought. This Divine Weapon Armor counters the Earth Fire’s Fire Attribute. No wonder it released a layer of frost when Pei Yan was burned by it earlier.’

"BREAK!"

With a roar, Pei Yan shattered the chains. His chest armor glowed brilliantly, unleashing waves of frost so cold they nearly froze the molten rock at the pool’s edge into a charred, black crust.

Xu Yunfan could clearly see Pei Yan’s Tiantu Acupoint swell like a ball as the residual Qi of Ginseng in his Triple Jiao Meridians was frantically converted into Sword Qi.

HISS!

A spiral of Sword Qi, blending green and gold, shot through the air. In its wake, the molten rock froze into dark-green, venomous-looking crystals.

Xu Yunfan didn’t dodge or retreat. The Hexagonal Crystal Format on his Dragon Scale Armor’s Heart Protection Mirror flipped outward with a rumble. The moment he took the desperate blast of Sword Qi head-on, the muscles in his right arm bizarrely atrophied by three inches.

’This is the moment I’ve been waiting for!’

He activated the unique Dissipation effect of his Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body, using the Heavenly Cicada Linked Body Technique he once practiced in concert with his Celestial Cicada Force. Xu Yunfan slipped into the Sword Qi’s blind spot like a nimble fish.

The fiery tail trailing his Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace suddenly flared. The Armor-Piercing Awl at the end of the mace’s hilt precisely struck a major acupoint at the base of Pei Yan’s thigh.

Pei Yan felt half his body go numb, instantly losing all his strength. He could no longer even maintain the Divine Weapon Armor he wore.

Before the black blood Pei Yan coughed up could hit the ground, Xu Yunfan’s left hand had already seized his chin.

"You!"

Pei Yan’s pupils contracted as he stared at Xu Yunfan’s face, which was devoid of joy or sorrow. His eyes were utterly calm, without even a hint of killing intent. Green-gold Sword Qi began to circulate wildly in his throat.

However, Xu Yunfan opened his mouth first, spewing forth a blast of Sword Force that completely defied Pei Yan’s expectations.

HISS!

As a white mist rose, thousands of golden threads suddenly erupted around Pei Yan’s body.

Xu Yunfan instantly let go, rapidly retreating a hundred feet while holding the Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace horizontally before his chest.

Pei Yan’s skin began to turn jade-like at a visible rate as the Sword Qi within his Triple Jiao Meridians burst from his body uncontrollably.

"Using your body as a sheath... I wonder what kind of Sword Qi you’ve been storing?"

Xu Yunfan’s expression was placid. He understood that Pei Yan was now betting his life on this. This was his final resort.

BOOM!

The Molten Rock Pool erupted. Seven Beidou Sword Shadows shot out from Pei Yan’s shattering body.

In this desperate place where ice crystals and molten rock intertwined, the disciple from the Sword Pavilion used the final form of a Secret Martial Art from the Sword Pavilion—Soldier Resolution Transformation Dao—to condense his life’s Sword Qi into a final, deadly gambit.

Xu Yunfan pushed his Linn Character Technique to its absolute limit. The Self God seated within his Sea of Consciousness shone brilliantly, suppressing all negative emotions.

The world slowed to a crawl in his eyes. The trajectories of the seven Sword Qis became clear: Celestial Pivot Soul Lock, Merak Sealing Vein, Phecda Bone Breaking, Megrez Armor Shattering, Jade Balance Bone-breaking, Kaiyang Burning Blood, and Shaking Light Godslayer!

The Beidou Seven Swords.

The Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace suddenly began to hum of its own accord.

The nine Qiu Long patterns began to seep a molten, blood-red light, and wisps of the Divine Weapon’s Qi Force coiled around the mace.

Inspiration struck Xu Yunfan. He poured all his Strength into the ferocious weapon, which had lain dormant for a century, and unleashed the final form of the Nine Profound Dragon Whip to meet the Beidou Sword Array.

The air distorted where the mace passed, and the molten Earth Fire was drawn into a vacuum vortex.

The seven Sword Qis seemed to sink into a quagmire, disintegrating inch by inch within the Qiu Long’s blood-red flames.

"AHH!!"

Pei Yan’s eyes widened as if they would tear from their sockets. He watched as his own Sword Qi was effortlessly shattered by Xu Yunfan. The Sword Spirit formed from his Soldier Resolution let out an indignant shriek before vanishing into thin air the moment it touched the mace.

’If only I still had my Cyan Bamboo Sword...’

Unreconciled, he poured every last bit of his strength into his Treasure Armor, hoping to block the blow.

However, the Dragon Scale Armor Leaves on Xu Yunfan’s body began to pulse, spewing out streams of scorching, lava-like air.

A strange ripple suddenly burst from the Dragon Scale Armor. It instantly washed over the Treasure Armor Pei Yan wore, suppressing all of its Extraordinary Anomalies.

Pei Yan’s spirit trembled violently, and he cried out in shock.

"A Tier Eight Divine Weapon?!"

The Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace, wreathed in a wave of molten-hot Qi, came crashing down.

The Big Dipper pattern on Pei Yan’s chest armor had just begun to glimmer with frost when it was snuffed out by the nine Qiu Long patterns coiled around the mace. The scorching breath erupting from the bristling Dragon Scale Armor Leaves was so intense it sucked the very Earth Fire Pool into a vacuum!

The fascia in Xu Yunfan’s body snapped like thunder as he unleashed nearly the entirety of his Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength. The moment the mace touched the Treasure Armor, Pei Yan was horrified to find the Sword Qi in his Triple Jiao Meridians dissolving like snow in boiling oil. It was the oppressive might of a Tier Eight Divine Weapon seeping from the gaps between the Dragon Scale Armor Leaves—a pressure capable of melting the very essence of one’s strength!