He activated his strongest defensive abilities. A direct clash was impossible; his only option was to endure the attack by reinforcing his own defenses.

He had just activated the Dragon God Bloodline and the Profound Celestial Divine Technique when the heavy palm strike slammed into him.

BOOM! Yi Tianyun felt as if his body was being torn apart. He was sent flying, slamming heavily against the wall behind him. When his sturdy body crashed into the wall, countless cracks spiderwebbed across its surface; the impact had nearly blasted straight through it.

"Hnngh..."

Yi Tianyun let out a muffled groan and slid down from the wall, landing half-kneeling on the ground. "Cough, cough, cough..." He coughed violently a few times. He had suffered minor injuries, but there were no obvious wounds. However, Yi Tianyun felt as if his internal organs had been violently shifted around. The power of that palm strike was simply too terrifying.

Fortunately, his Defense Power was even more astonishing. Under the combined effects of the Dragon God Bloodline and the Profound Celestial Divine Technique, his defense reached a whole new level. Combined with titles like Guardian, his Defense Power was stacked to a shocking degree. Although he couldn’t block the attack completely, he had at least defended against most of it.

After unleashing that palm strike, the Netherworld Emperor’s phantom gradually faded away. It didn’t launch another attack; the previous one had been too powerful. The Protective Talisman could store a certain amount of energy, but that didn’t mean it was infinite. It ultimately had its limits.

After it dispersed, Yi Tianyun stood up and coughed a few times. His injuries were manageable. If his defense hadn’t been so formidable, he would have been left half-dead right here. A Netherworld Divine Palm with six to seven million Combat Power crashing down on you—if it didn’t kill you, it would cripple you.

Yi Tianyun walked over to Cheng Fen. With only half of his body left, Cheng Fen was on the brink of death. An ordinary person would have died long ago, but he was a Core Formation Stage expert, and his Life Force was more tenacious. Thus, he was still conscious enough to witness the situation.

"Th-this is the Profound Celestial Divine Technique! Y-you’re from the Celestial Extreme Mansion..." Cheng Fen’s eyes widened in utter disbelief.

He had recognized the Profound Celestial Divine Technique the moment he saw it. This Martial Art was one of the reasons they wanted to recruit the Celestial Extreme Mansion—all for the sake of obtaining it. The plan was to bring the Celestial Extreme Mansion into their fold and then slowly pry the secrets of the Celestial Profound Divine Technique from them.

Although the Netherworld Empire had plenty of powerful Martial Arts of its own, who would ever complain about having too many? Some people were particularly suited to cultivating the Profound Celestial Divine Technique, which was why it was so sought after.

If not for the Profound Celestial Divine Technique, the Celestial Extreme Mansion would have been flattened long ago. Recruiting them would add to their strength, but the main goal was always the Profound Celestial Divine Technique! Without the Profound Celestial Divine Technique, the Celestial Extreme Mansion wasn’t worth a damn.

Simply crushing them would have been easy, but that didn’t guarantee they could extract the Profound Celestial Divine Technique. So, they had to opt for a softer approach.

"You guessed right. I am from the Celestial Extreme Mansion." Yi Tianyun took off his veil and even removed the Hundred-Change Mask, looking down at him coldly. "You want to capture the people of my Celestial Extreme Mansion, and you want to flatten my Celestial Extreme Mansion?"

"It’s... it’s you!!" Cheng Fen stared at him, stunned, and then just... died.

He got a huge shock right before he died. He never would have imagined that Yi Tianyun would be the one to assassinate him. A youth so young possessing such terrifying power... In that instant, he understood who the Celestial Extreme Mansion’s mysterious expert was.

But it was all too late. Cheng Fen was dead, his eyes wide open in death.

[Ding! Successfully killed Cheng Fen. Obtained 460,000 Experience Value, 4,500 Madness Value, 200 Sin Value. Obtained Martial Arts Golden Body Technique (Rare). Obtained Netherworld Protection Talisman (Can summon a phantom of the Netherworld Emperor at the peak of the Core Formation Stage), Twentyfold Experience Card (Rare), Spirit Race Prison Key (Rare)!]

[Ding! Congratulations to Player ’Yi Tianyun’ for successfully killing a Super Elite of a higher level. You have received one extra chance at the Enhanced Lottery Wheel and have been leveled up by one level!]

[Ding! Congratulations to Player ’Yi Tianyun’ for successfully breaking through to the peak of the Spirit Pill Stage!]

"What!"

Yi Tianyun was dumbfounded. This time, he didn’t get a Level-up Card; he was leveled up directly. Seeing the Experience Value on his attribute bar wiped clean, he wanted to cry. He had only been a few million EXP away from leveling up, but this bonus level-up had cleared it all.

This meant that the tens of millions of experience he had earned before were all wasted! He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ’Why couldn’t it have been a Level-up Card this time? Why did it have to be a mandatory level-up?’

’Looks like the reward depends on the situation. Getting a Level-up Card would have been much better... I have to say, this guy was pretty poor. He didn’t drop a single weapon. Still, everything that dropped was Rare, so I guess it was worth it.’

Yi Tianyun quickly removed the Storage Ring from Cheng Fen’s body. It didn’t really matter if he dropped items or not; the loot inside his Storage Ring would be more than enough. It contained all the Treasures offered up by the various Mansion Masters. Now, it all belonged to him. He was bound to be filthy rich.

"My lord, what happened?!"

Just then, guards rushed over. Yi Tianyun quickly put his mask back on, and his figure faded, disappearing from the spot. The guards arrived shortly after, but because the area outside had collapsed, they had to climb over the rubble, so they weren’t very fast.

The Netherworld Divine Palm’s power was too immense; the area had been blasted to ruin, naturally preventing them from arriving quickly.

When they finally made their way over, they were stunned to find Cheng Fen’s corpse.

"L-Lord Cheng..." They rushed over, and after a brief check for any sign of life, their faces turned deathly pale. They never imagined Lord Cheng would die just like that!

They couldn’t even bear to look at the gruesome state of the body. Cheng Fen was so powerful; how could he have died here? They couldn’t fathom what kind of expert could have done this.

"Search the entire area, now!" One of the leading generals calmed himself and issued the order to search.

Cheng Fen was dead, but there were still many generals present. An order was immediately given to conduct a full-scale search of the area. One of the guards stood up, took out a flare gun, and quickly fired it. A firework shot into the sky, exploding high above.

The entire Imperial City’s military saw it. Their expressions changed instantly, and they began a comprehensive search for any suspicious individuals.

Yi Tianyun was already sneaking away, but he was beginning to feel the severity of his condition. The power of that palm strike had been too great. Even though he had blocked it, he still felt extremely unwell. This made it difficult for him to maintain his concealment, and his figure flickered in and out of view.

’I need to take a moment to recover from this injury...’ Yi Tianyun felt his vision starting to blur. The Netherworld Divine Palm certainly lived up to its name; it had a special side effect. Anyone hit by it would experience blurred vision for a short time, affecting their combat readiness.

"Check over here!" At that moment, some guards began searching in his direction.

Yi Tianyun quickly looked up. With a flicker of his body, he appeared in front of a house, leaped up, and perfectly jumped through a transom window at the top. But just as he landed, the cold glint of a blade flashed out, pointed right at him.

"Who’s there!" a delicate voice cried out.

Yi Tianyun looked over, using the moonlight to see. The person pointing a sword at him was none other than Yu Shiqian, whom he had met before! He never expected that the room he had hidden in would be Yu Shiqian’s.