Chapter 491: Slaying the Royal Bloodline
The explosion of countless microscopic sword energies carried a lethal destructive force, clinging to Chu Tianzhen like an inescapable curse.
A chilling sense of death instantly enveloped him.
Even as a cultivator of the Immortal Lord Realm, he could not escape unscathed—he could feel the terrifying energy consuming him from within.
At the same time, his immortal body cracked apart from the inside out, the unbearable agony and rupture leaving his mind momentarily blank.
He was being crippled.
By a True Immortal.
And staring directly into the face of death.
Impossible!
Whoosh!
Chu Tianzhen hurriedly activated the Power of Fate Reversal.
His aura fluctuated violently, his very presence shifting as he forcibly pulled a thread of fate from the True Realm, altering his own destiny in an instant.
The so-called "Fate Reversal" was the true power to change one's life force.
As a royal bloodline descendant, he naturally possessed limited opportunities to reverse fate—typically reserved for emergencies during battle, allowing him to avoid or redirect incoming fatal damage.
Although the effect of Fate Reversal was limited against True Immortals, it was enough to momentarily obscure the lethal destruction that had begun to unravel him.
That deadly force, which could annihilate an Immortal Lord, was temporarily suppressed and redirected elsewhere—as if it had been negated by an opposing law of nature.
But it was too late.
Li Hao never intended to rely solely on that attack to kill him.
While Chu Tianzhen activated Fate Reversal, causing a fleeting pause in destruction, Li Hao's hand had already pierced through the shattered hole in his immortal armor, gripping directly onto his immortal body and yanking him downward.
Yan Dao – Execution Blade.
The power of Li Hao's divine soul erupted from his palm, transforming into a black infernal flame, burning like the fire of the abyss.
This dark fire seeped into Chu Tianzhen's body, its heatless devouring nature targeting his soul, aiming to reduce his immortal spirit to nothingness.
This battle had already transcended the level of physical combat.
Now, it was a battle of divine souls.
And with 560 golden bones, Li Hao's divine soul strength surpassed even high-level Immortal Lords—let alone a mere second-stage Immortal Lord like Chu Tianzhen.
A terrifying soul-suppressing pressure spread outward.
The black flames wrapped around Chu Tianzhen's spirit, an unstoppable inferno.
What… is this power?!
Chu Tianzhen's pupils dilated, his mind utterly shaken, but there was no one to answer his question.
There was no time to think.
As soon as the black flames engulfed his soul, an excruciating agony took hold—
It felt as if his very essence was being flayed apart, sliced into pieces layer by layer.
He let out a horrifying scream, his immortal soul instinctively breaking free from his physical body, escaping hundreds of feet away.
Hovering in midair, he stared at Li Hao with undisguised terror.
On his ethereal divine form, countless golden filaments ran through his being like a network of veins, gleaming brilliantly like a golden deity.
But Li Hao could see through it at a glance.
This was merely the sign of a divine soul surpassing its foundational limits, reaching a gold-threaded state, yet not even forming a single golden bone.
Had their realms been equal, Chu Tianzhen's divine soul would have been obliterated instantly, unable to last a single breath.
Now that he had lost his physical form, the immortal body that had just escaped destruction due to Fate Reversal was rendered powerless once more.
Li Hao clenched his fist.
A sudden immortal force fluctuation erupted within Chu Tianzhen's discarded physical body—
The scattered immortal energy within his frame twisted violently, forcefully compressed into a single imploding core.
With a loud crack, a shocking explosion rang out—
The bones inside his body fractured in dozens of places, collapsing all at once!
Li Hao raised his gaze.
His golden eyes glowed brightly, his divine soul energy wrapped around him like an imperial mantle, teetering on the verge of fully unleashing itself.
His gaze locked onto the disembodied royal soul hovering in the air.
The cold ruthlessness in his eyes and the overwhelming pressure of his divine soul made Chu Tianzhen's mind buzz in confusion—for a moment, he doubted whether what he was seeing was even real.
But the sheer suffocating pressure reminded him—
The youth before him was no ordinary True Immortal.
His divine soul power was terrifying—utterly beyond reason.
For a moment, the once ferocious battle came to a standstill.
The immortal platform fell into a suffocating silence.
The onlookers who had initially regarded the duel with amusement and curiosity now bore grim expressions, their gazes locked on the golden, soul-cloaked youth.
Even though Li Hao's divine soul had not fully emerged, they could already sense its monstrous nature.
That was not the divine soul of a True Immortal.
Impossible.
Utterly absurd.
Divine soul cultivation was infinitely harder than body refinement—it progressed at an agonizingly slow pace.
This was why ancient demonic beings could dominate countless races across the True Realm—
Among the countless immortal clans and emperors, even those with indestructible bodies still fell helplessly before soul destruction.
"Am I seeing this wrong?"
"What is happening?"
"Did Chu Tianzhen actually abandon his physical body?!"
"He's an Immortal Lord! How is he losing?!"
"Impossible. This must be an illusion. Did someone from the Phantom Sea Sect intervene?"
The entire immortal platform erupted into a frenzy.
Disciples and elders from various sects stared in disbelief.
A True Immortal had forced an Immortal Lord's soul out of his body—this was beyond comprehension!
The elders watching were even more shocked than their disciples.
They had seen the intricacies of the battle, and one thing was clear—
That boy's sword strike was not just a single technique.
At the moment he drew his sword, four terrifying ancient immortal arts erupted simultaneously.
And the sheer power behind that strike was beyond reason.
Had Chu Tianzhen not been wearing a powerful immortal-grade armor, his immortal body would have been split apart on the spot!
A True Immortal forcing an Immortal Lord to rely on defensive artifacts—this alone was a blatant disgrace.
"Could that boy have mastered more than one Nine-Sequenced Dao Origin?"
"He's only a True Immortal, how could his comprehension be so terrifying?! What's his Immortal Seal grade?!"
The elders locked their gazes on Li Hao, their eyes gleaming hungrily, as if looking at a rare and priceless treasure.
"He actually… won?"
Within Great Dream Nine Abysses Sect, the elders from various factions were utterly stunned.
They had all doubted him earlier.
Even they had wondered whether their sect master or Elder Li had secretly given him top-tier immortal weapons to help him.
Some had even looked away, unwilling to watch the inevitable tragedy unfold.
But in a matter of moments—
Everything reversed.
Li Tie Mu stood frozen.
As Li Hao's master, even he had not expected this outcome.
Only now did he realize that, regarding his so-called "disciple", he knew next to nothing.
Ancient Abyss Peak—
Gu Yan, Yue Xi, and the others all stood in stunned silence, struggling to process the scene before them.
A True Immortal had not only defeated an Immortal Lord—
But had forced a royal heir to flee his own body!
In Spear Abyss, Lin Yufeng was shaken.
He had spent years wandering the True Realm, witnessing countless battles.
He understood far better than most—
The sheer difficulty of challenging a higher realm opponent.
But Li Hao had done more than just challenge—
He had utterly crushed his foe.
This was the kind of monstrosity who, in just a few short years, had been acknowledged as an Emperor's direct disciple.
It was impossible not to admire him.
Among the crowd, a young woman in a pale yellow dress, Gu Xingwan, covered her mouth with her hands, her wide eyes filled with disbelief.
At the same time—
This entire scene was broadcasted across all of the Nine Thousand Immortal Cities of Yan Chu.
Everywhere, silence fell.
People were completely stunned.
A royal-blooded Immortal Lord had been forced out of his body by a True Immortal.
This overturned everything they knew.
It was as if the laws of reality had crumbled before their eyes.
And in certain hidden places within the Nine Thousand Cities, figures who had long faded into obscurity suddenly opened their ancient, cloudy eyes, staring blankly at the sky.
That boy—
The four lost ancient immortal arts he had displayed—
Those techniques had once shaken the entire True Realm ten thousand years ago!
But over time, they had faded into legend, forgotten by history.
Few had ever seen them with their own eyes.
Fewer still had even heard of them.
Yet today—
In the most unexpected of circumstances—
These long-buried techniques had once again shone upon the world!
"That's Purple Forbidden… the legendary Purple Forbidden Immortal Art!"
"That's Unyielding—the absolute defense of the Earth Dao! Even a True Immortal can use it to block an Immortal Lord's attack for a brief instant!"
"That's the legendary sword technique—Azure Sky! The strongest sword art of the True Immortal Realm!"
"Four ancient immortal arts… appearing all at once… Who is that boy?! What is his name?!"
"Ten thousand years… I thought we would never see these arts again… But now… Could it be… Could the legacy of the past have never truly vanished?!"
Across the Nine Thousand Cities, figures rose from their seats.
Some had been playing chess in their courtyards, their aged faces etched with time.
Some looked like disheveled beggars, wandering the streets, dressed in rags and filth.
Some were chained deep in dungeons, sealed away in utter darkness, with only a tiny window allowing a single ray of light to shine through.
Through that tiny sliver of sky, they saw the reflected image of the battle above.
The iron chains trembled violently.
The darkness echoed with whispered murmurs—
And then, a sudden burst of laughter, wild and manic.
Elsewhere—
Figures who had long remained hidden, unnoticed by the world, all turned their eyes skyward.
Their voices trembled, muttering in disbelief.
Some had tears streaming down their faces, their bodies shaking with emotion.
If one person had awakened a single lost technique, it could be dismissed as mere coincidence—
A fortunate youth who stumbled upon an ancient inheritance.
But if four different lost arts had all manifested at once—
Then the meaning was entirely different.
Ten thousand years ago—
Only the supreme forces of the True Realm, or the Emperor's own secret archives, had ever been capable of gathering all ten legendary immortal arts in one place.
"The legacy has returned… Could it really be happening?!"
"Hahaha! Who is that boy?! What competition is this?! The Southern Territory War? I must see this for myself!"
All across the Nine Thousand Cities, those who had vanished from history, those who had faded into obscurity,
All turned their eyes to the sky.
The thousands of years had passed too long. They had witnessed countless events, and while the Southern Territory War was a grand event for the various sects, to them, it was just a droplet of rain falling, like countless ordinary rainy nights—nothing special.
But at this very moment, the raindrop they had ignored revealed the four lost immortal arts, the aura sealed by time, lighting up their eyes.
Within the Ancient Immortal Realm, on the immortal platform,
Li Hao glanced at Chu Tianzhen's soul, suddenly raising his hand, preparing to use his soul power to capture him.
To him, the soul was no different from flesh and meat—it could easily be crushed with a casual movement!
But just as he was about to strike, suddenly a powerful force enveloped the space, forming a copper wall of law power that blocked his way, separating him from Chu Tianzhen.
At that moment, Chu Xiangtian, who was watching from the ancestral dragon, made his move. As the top powerhouse of the Immortal Lord Realm, though he was shocked, his reaction was quick. If he let that boy strike again, his royal brother, who held no deep feelings for him, would be in grave danger—his soul could be destroyed!
If this were in the wilds, with their "brotherly bond," he likely wouldn't even have bothered to look.
But now, in front of the vast public, with the royal face at stake, and as the presiding leader of the event, he couldn't just sit idly by.
Li Hao looked at Chu Xiangtian, seeing the serious expression in his eyes, knowing that it was no longer possible to strike.
However, just as he was about to give up, the barrier of immortal power that separated him and Chu Tianzhen suddenly gave way. The latter, recovering his composure, roared:
"Don't stop me! I'll kill him!"
As he spoke, his soul tore through the heavens, summoning his purple immortal weapon once more, preparing to use it to crush Li Hao.
Chu Xiangtian's expression changed slightly as he shouted, "Isn't this enough humiliation?"
At his command, the power around the purple immortal weapon, glowing with thunder, suddenly shrunk with a mournful cry, its light dimming and fading.
Chu Tianzhen was jolted awake by his shout, his face turning dark with fury.
At this moment, the two thousand genius disciples and the Nine Thousand Immortal Cities were all watching.
The attention of all Yan Chu, except for the frontier army, was now focused here. He had lost, and if he had the power of the Time Dao, he would make time reverse, and everything would start over.
What made it harder to accept was the Imperial Palace, reflected in the clouds above, even though its gates hadn't opened. He knew that his father, the Emperor, was within, watching everything unfold.
Nothing in the Ancient Immortal Realm could escape the Emperor's gaze.
"Give me back my body!"
Chu Tianzhen gritted his teeth, and his anger surged like a golden flame, burning with intensity. He spoke through clenched teeth, his voice filled with humiliation.
Li Hao heard him, but instead, he threw Chu Tianzhen's broken immortal body to the ground, stepping on his chest with one foot, standing on top of him.
"You doubted I could reach the tenth rank? Then let your body prove me right!"
Standing on his royal body, Li Hao raised his posture a little, positioning himself at the same height as the tenth step.
Hearing his words, Chu Tianzhen's eyes nearly bled. His soul almost went out of control, and he angrily shouted, "I'll say it again—give me back my body!!"
"Too afraid to come and take it yourself?"
Li Hao looked coldly at him, not hiding the killing intent in his eyes.
If he didn't have this kind of power, he would probably have been crippled and thrown back outside.
As a cultivator, being crippled in public, with Nine Thousand Immortal Cities watching, his Dao heart would collapse, and his life would be ruined. He could only reincarnate and start over.
Li Hao's words pierced through Chu Tianzhen's heart, and his anger felt like it was about to explode. He realized that Li Hao was right—he didn't dare.
His position was high, but he was facing someone who had no regard for life. The deadly shadow that had infiltrated his body earlier had already announced Li Hao's killing intent.
"You brat, don't push me too far. You're just a commoner, stepping on the body of the royalty. Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
At that moment, a voice echoed in Li Hao's ears, cool but full of anger.
Li Hao turned to see the royal princess, still standing with her arms crossed, her gaze filled with arrogance, looking down at him from the clouds.
"By your logic, would anyone who wears royal robes be invincible in a duel?"
Li Hao sneered faintly and said, "In a duel, there's no difference in status. If that were the case, would you even win with pride?"