Ji Die also felt a chill in her heart. The face that had just regained a little colour turned pale once again. She stared blankly at the lifeless man standing before her. This man’s identity was far too shocking. Rumours had once said he had the potential to walk the path to becoming a Supreme Venerable, yet even he had died here and turned into a corpse spirit blocking their way.
Ji Die took a deep breath. A golden book shining with brilliant light appeared in her hand. Ye Chu was no stranger to this page of the golden book; it was exactly the one Ji Die had obtained in the General’s Tomb.
The golden book was extraordinary, forged from rare materials, and its might was absolutely no less than that of a heaven-and-earth artefact. However, Ye Chu did not believe this page of the golden book could withstand the man in front of them. The Heavenly Feather Holy Lord was far too astonishing. Thousands of years ago he had already shaken the world with his power. He was an unparalleled existence capable of shattering the heavens and the earth.
Although the golden book was remarkable, it was ultimately not a Supreme Venerable artefact. How could it possibly block the opponent?
Just as Ji Die gritted her teeth, preparing to risk her life in a desperate struggle, a voice filled with heart-rending grief exploded through the space. Behind Ye Chu and Ji Die, a figure holding a multicoloured artefact sent dried corpses flying and appeared in front of Ji Die and Ye Chu.
“Holy Lord!” The voice carried a sobbing tone. The figure knelt to the ground, tears falling, utterly heartbroken.
Ye Chu and Ji Die turned to look at this person. The newcomer was a young man, not much older than they were. He wore armour entwined with seven colours, a dragon crown on his head, and held a radiant artefact in his hand. An aura of supreme nobility burst forth from his entire body. But this was not what shocked Ye Chu the most. What truly horrified Ye Chu was the golden imprint on the young man’s forehead, identical to the one on the Heavenly Feather Holy Lord’s forehead. The imprint flickered with dazzling light, carrying world-shaking majesty. Ye Chu felt as though he had encountered an absolute powerhouse.
“Heavenly Feather Prince!” Ji Die stared at the young man in shock. She had never expected him to be the prince of the current generation of the Heavenly Feather Clan, a supreme genius whose fame resounded far and wide. Rumours said that in thousands of years, no one among the Supreme Venerable’s bloodline had purer blood than him. He walked the same path as his ancestral Supreme Venerable.
Ye Chu was equally stunned by Ji Die’s exclamation. He stared straight at the young man kneeling on the ground, crying out in grief. No one had expected that he would turn out to be a descendant of a Supreme Venerable, a supreme genius of his generation.
A supreme genius was a special title reserved for those with astonishing, heaven-defying talent. Only those with the potential to walk the path to becoming a Supreme Venerable could be called supreme geniuses.
Ye Chu’s talent was limited. The old madman had told him as much when he first climbed the mountain. But what Ye Chu remembered most deeply was one sentence from the old madman: your physique is special, incomparable to ordinary supreme geniuses. Yet at the same time, your talent cannot compare to that of supreme geniuses. Compared to them, there is a gulf as wide as the heavens and the earth.
Those words had completely wounded Ye Chu and left him in awe of how monstrous supreme geniuses could be. He had never imagined he would encounter a descendant of a Supreme Venerable here.
“Holy Lord!” The Heavenly Feather Prince knelt on the ground, crying and kowtowing, his heart filled with boundless desolation. Looking at the Heavenly Feather Holy Lord in front of him, whose eyes were empty and soulless, he knew the man had become a corpse spirit.
While feeling extreme grief, the Heavenly Feather Prince also hated the Ancient Nightmare Forbidden Land to the utmost. The Heavenly Feather Holy Lord, as a descendant of a Supreme Venerable and the former Holy Lord of the Heavenly Feather Clan, had been refined into a corpse spirit by the Ancient Nightmare. This was an insult to his bloodline and an insult to their ancestral Supreme Venerable.
“One day I will surely flatten the Ancient Nightmare Forbidden Land!” The Heavenly Feather Prince threw his head back and roared to the sky. His voice carried endless hatred and shook the nine heavens.
“Holy Lord! Come back with me!” The Heavenly Feather Prince reached out, wanting to take the middle-aged man’s body away.
But before his hand could touch the other man, the Heavenly Feather Holy Lord pressed down with a palm. That palm could shatter the heavens and the earth, as if anything standing in its way would be obliterated.
“Your Highness!” The few people who had followed the Heavenly Feather Prince had drastic changes in expression and shouted loudly, “Retreat!”
The Heavenly Feather Prince’s expression changed dramatically. The radiant artefact in his hand erupted with world-shaking light as he met the palm head-on. But the result was the same as with Ji Die. The radiant artefact in his hand was directly shattered, and he was sent flying backwards, blood spraying from his mouth.
“Holy Lord!” The Heavenly Feather Prince stared in horror at the middle-aged man, his face filled with misery. “Why is this happening? I am your descendant. Why? Why?”
“Your Highness! The Holy Lord has already become a corpse spirit. He has no spiritual sense left!” The few people who had come with the Heavenly Feather Prince shouted loudly. They reached out to pull him up and urged him in panic, “Your Highness, please leave quickly. Even when the Holy Lord shook the world in his lifetime, as a corpse spirit now we have no means to oppose him.”
“I will not leave!” The Heavenly Feather Prince was stubborn. He stared at the Heavenly Feather Holy Lord. “The bloodline of a Supreme Venerable, the Holy Lord of the Heavenly Feather Clan, cannot become a puppet. Even if I die, I must take the Holy Lord out of the Ancient Nightmare Forbidden Land.”
“Your Highness!” Several powerhouses were horrified. As they watched the Heavenly Feather Holy Lord walking towards them, they shouted in panic, trying to drag the Heavenly Feather Prince away.
“No one can humiliate the Heavenly Feather Clan. No one can, not even if the Ancient Nightmare himself comes.” The Heavenly Feather Prince roared. The golden imprint on his forehead suddenly erupted with world-shaking light. The light burst forth, carrying unparalleled might. A power from deep within his bloodline surged out and enveloped the Heavenly Feather Holy Lord.
Under the cover of this light, the golden imprint on the originally lifeless and empty-eyed Heavenly Feather Holy Lord’s forehead also shot out rays of light, resonating with the Heavenly Feather Prince’s golden light. The Heavenly Feather Holy Lord, whose entire body had been shrouded in chilling yin energy, suddenly halted his steps. A trace of confusion appeared in his hollow eyes.
“Holy Lord! Come back with me, come back with your descendant!” The Heavenly Feather Prince kowtowed on the ground. With every kowtow, the golden light surged brighter, and the armour on his body erupted with world-shaking majesty.
The armour flew off his body and landed on the Heavenly Feather Holy Lord. The light was dazzling as it seeped into his body.
Ye Chu and Ji Die exchanged a glance. Their gazes fell on the Heavenly Feather Prince, who kept kowtowing on the ground with a voice full of misery. With every kowtow, it was as though the heavens and earth were moved. The same emotion enveloped the world and directly covered the Heavenly Feather Prince.
“So powerful! Truly worthy of being a descendant of a Supreme Venerable, truly worthy of being a supreme genius!”
Ye Chu’s heart was shaken. He stared straight at the Heavenly Feather Prince. What seemed like ordinary kowtowing actually carried the grand momentum of the heavens and earth. This was a secret art, terrifying beyond measure.
The Heavenly Feather Prince continued kowtowing, tears falling like rain. His face grew paler and paler. Even with the bloodline of a Supreme Venerable, driving such a secret art was still beyond what he could endure. If not for the energy from the artefact supporting him, he would probably have collapsed long ago.
Under his constant kowtowing, the Heavenly Feather Holy Lord stood frozen in place, wearing the armour that had flown from the Heavenly Feather Prince. The golden light on his forehead flashed brilliantly.
“Boom…”
Just as the Heavenly Feather Holy Lord slowly closed his eyes, as though he was about to come to his senses, a huge thunderous roar suddenly erupted from the altar. With the sound of this thunder, the Heavenly Feather Holy Lord’s eyes, which had been about to close, snapped open wide and shot out two beams of chilling light.
“Crack…”
The armour on his body shattered instantly. The golden light on his forehead vanished completely. He returned to his empty, soulless state and suddenly struck out towards the Heavenly Feather Prince, intending to kill him.
“It’s over!” This thought filled everyone’s mind, including Ji Die and Ye Chu. Even when the Heavenly Feather Prince used a secret art and drew on the power of his bloodline, he could not do anything to the Heavenly Feather Holy Lord. Who else could possibly stand against him?
This time, they were truly going to die here!