Ye Yuande tore at his own arm as though ants were gnawing at it. Flesh and blood became a mangled mess. Killing someone was not frightening, but hearing those agonised howls and seeing the blood-soaked arm made everyone’s skin crawl.
Ye Yuanwang could not accept this reality either. He had originally believed Ye Yuande was more than enough to deal with Ye Chu. Who could have imagined Ye Chu had grown so powerful? His younger brother was not even a match for a single move. Ye Yuanwang now understood clearly that Ye Chu must have obtained some enviable fortune inside the tomb, allowing his strength to skyrocket to such a degree.
He walked over to Ye Yuande. Spiritual energy flowed into his brother’s body in an attempt to dispel Ye Chu’s power. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not ease his brother’s suffering.
“Disperse the killing aura inside my brother!” Ye Yuanwang glared at Ye Chu with a grim expression. His voice was cold and sharp.
“If you beg me, perhaps I might help you,” Ye Chu said, smiling at Ye Yuanwang. Although the killing aura had been refined by him and transformed into spiritual energy that could merge with his body, it was no longer as terrifying as before. Still, it carried the attributes of killing aura. Not just anyone could remove it.
Though Ye Yuanwang possessed Primordial Spirit Realm strength, he was helpless against the power that had already invaded Ye Yuande’s body.
“You are courting death!” Ye Yuande was an arrogant man. Begging Ye Chu was impossible. No matter what, he would never show weakness to someone he considered trash.
“If you want to kill me, then come!” Ye Chu’s voice was not loud, yet it startled quite a few cultivators. Pang Shao and Ye Jingyun could not help staring at Ye Chu in disbelief. They felt his words were outrageously arrogant.
Even if Ye Chu’s strength had increased, the opponent was still a Primordial Spirit Realm cultivator. The gap between Primordial Spirit Realm and Innate Realm was immense. Fighting him head-on was simply asking for suffering.
“Do not be reckless!” Even Qing Wenting could not help tugging at Ye Chu, signalling him not to act rashly.
Ye Yuanwang turned his gaze towards Ji Die and Ye Jingyun, hoping they would step in to save Ye Yuande. Ye Jingyun signalled the great cultivator beside her to help dispel the power Ye Chu had implanted in Ye Yuande.
Though she disliked the two brothers, she could not allow outsiders to accuse her of standing by while a family member suffered. No matter their internal discord, appearances still had to be maintained. Ye Yuande was, after all, a member of the Ye family.
Just as the old man prepared to step forward, Ji Die suddenly activated her jade bracelet. It landed on Ye Yuande. Radiance flowed over him. Ye Yuande’s miserable cries finally stopped. A surge of power erupted from his body. The force Ye Chu had implanted was forced out. He fainted on the spot.
“Thank you, Cousin Ji Die!” Ye Yuanwang said gratefully to Ji Die. Ji Die nodded and stood to one side without speaking. Ye Yuande was the second young master of her eldest uncle’s line. How could she not save him?
“Ye Chu!” After having Ye Yuande carried away, Ye Yuanwang fixed Ye Chu with a grim stare and shouted.
“Do not shout so loudly. People who do not know better might think I slept with your woman,” Ye Chu shook his head and said. “I promised you a battle at the general’s tomb. Now I will fulfil it.”
Ye Chu stepped forward. Though he knew full well how powerful a Primordial Spirit Realm cultivator was, he refused to show weakness. If it was a fight, then fight!
Many cultivators were present. They held considerable respect for Ye Chu. With only Innate Realm strength, he had dared to charge into the tomb, something they could not do. Among them were those who had reached the Innate Realm, yet they had been forced to retreat shortly after entering.
Yet Ye Chu had gone all the way to the deepest part. The moment he emerged, he challenged a Primordial Spirit Realm cultivator. His courage was truly impressive.
Seeing Ye Chu show no fear towards him, Ye Yuanwang could not help frowning. He wondered whether this fellow had obtained some supreme treasure inside, which gave him such confidence. Thinking of this, Ye Yuanwang actually felt some hesitation.
As though sensing Ye Yuanwang’s concern, a great cultivator standing beside Shangguan Minda suddenly spoke up. “Young Master Ye, feel free to act. He did indeed have an extraordinary encounter inside the tomb, but he only advanced three levels and stepped into the fifth level of the Innate Realm.”
This great cultivator was one of the few who had survived and emerged from the tomb. He had also obtained a sun-and-moon-grade artifact. Knowing Shangguan Minda wanted to deal with Ye Chu, he naturally gave Ye Chu a subtle push downward.
Everyone sucked in a breath. Advancing three levels in such a short time was enough to inspire jealousy. But unfortunately, the fifth level of the Innate Realm was still worlds apart from the Primordial Spirit Realm. Ye Chu was still no match for Ye Yuanwang.
“I thought you were something special!” Ye Yuanwang suddenly understood. Any remaining hesitation vanished. He struck out with one move, sweeping directly towards Ye Chu’s chest.
The Primordial Spirit Realm meant the primordial spirit had taken form. This doubled the capacity of the body to contain power. Moreover, because of the depth of the primordial spirit, control over power was extremely refined. A cultivator who reached this realm had already laid a solid foundation on their path of cultivation. Once they broke through to the Primordial Spirit Realm, they would leap like a fish into the dragon gate. Their lifespan would greatly increase, giving them ample time for further cultivation.
The Primordial Spirit Realm: “cultivating one’s own primordial spirit” was the most important realm, and also the final one. It represented the pinnacle strength within the path of “cultivating one’s own primordial spirit”.
Thus, when Ye Yuanwang struck, the power he unleashed astonished many cultivators. Even Ye Chu felt shaken by it.
Had this happened before his breakthrough, such a strike would have been enough to take his life. This was truly not power an Innate Realm cultivator could withstand. Even with Ye Chu’s explosive increase in strength, the gap remained vast.
Yet Ye Chu did not retreat because of this. In terms of raw power, he naturally could not compare to his opponent. But his power carried the attributes of killing aura.
“Draw the Ground as Prison!”
As Ye Chu moved, his power surged like layered ocean waves. Strike after strike crashed outward, slamming towards Ye Yuanwang.
Ye Chu had unleashed an Innate-level martial technique right from the start. Artistic conception surged within it, combining hardness and softness. His power rose dramatically.
Even so, Ye Chu was still blasted backwards by his opponent. His arms went numb. His blood and qi roiled inside him. But compared to before entering the tomb, when he had been chased by Ye Yuanwang with no ability to fight back, this was already far better.
The corrosive power of the Three-Yin Coloured Pattern Killing Spider’s killing aura was no small thing. It carried bone-chilling yin-cold and could suppress primordial spirits. Ye Chu, possessing its attributes, could naturally bring them forth.
Such power surged outward. Ye Yuanwang did not dare underestimate it. Though he forced Ye Chu back, the impact of that force required him to counter with several times his strength.
This was the terror of a killing aura practitioner. When a killing aura practitioner unleashed their unique power, others often needed several times the force just to match it. Under such circumstances, fighting above one’s level naturally became possible.
“Come again!” Ye Chu shook his arm to dispel the numbness, then shouted and charged forward proactively.
Pang Shao found it unbelievable. Ye Chu had actually blocked a strike from a Primordial Spirit Realm cultivator. Though he had fallen slightly behind, Ye Chu was still only at the Innate Realm?
Pang Shao felt as though he had been struck hard. When he first met Ye Chu, the difference in strength had not been so vast. Yet in just over a year, Ye Chu had left him far behind.
“Damn it, I hope Ye Yuanwang beats you to death!” Pang Shao muttered inwardly, cursing with great imbalance.