Chapter 143: Explosion of ten thousand waste jade marrow beads, instant kill

"Eighth-layer Qi Refining!"

Gao Tingyuan stared fixedly at Luo Chen, saying these words through gritted teeth.

Luo Chen raised an eyebrow.

Sure enough, when the spiritual power fluctuation was too great, the Great Perfection-level Concealment Technique could no longer hide his true realm.

He had been disguising himself as a seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivator, hoping to catch the other side off guard.

It was a pity that Gao Tingyuan was determined to have him; the moment he struck, it was a fierce blow, leaving no room for error.

Gao Tingyuan scrutinized Luo Chen, his expression filled with shock and doubt.

A high-grade offensive magic tool, a high-grade defensive magic treasure, and the high-grade Daoist robe he was wearing.

Just the wealth displayed on the outside was enough to make ninety-nine percent of ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivators envious.

How long had he, Luo Chen, been cultivating?

"No wonder Wang Yang was determined to have him; being able to earn this wealth in such a short time, I'm afraid it's all thanks to his identity as an alchemist."

"I must not let him fall into Wang Yang's hands, otherwise I will have no hope of revenge!"

With this thought, the two short halberds in his hands began to flicker with spiritual light.

However, Luo Chen's movements were faster than he had imagined.

The spear tip spat out, and a rain of fire filled the sky, blooming open.

Gao Tingyuan took a deep breath, and a round bead emerged from his chest, then turned into a light barrier, wrapping him inside.

The rain of fire fell on the light barrier, emitting a hissing sound.

The scorching high-temperature steam permeated the area, blocking his vision.

"Wrong!"

Whoosh!

Gao Tingyuan's ears twitched, and he dodged to the side.

He waved his large hand, and large swaths of raindrops were scattered, pushing away the rain of fire in front of him.

At this moment, he looked closely, but Luo Chen's figure was nowhere to be seen.

"So fast!"

"Where did he go?"

Suddenly, he looked back.

A person was acting crazily, striking out with large swaths of black light, suppressing two eighth-layer Qi Refining cultivators.

"Shan Xiu, be careful!"

Shan Xiu was startled and subconsciously wanted to look back.

However, it was already too late.

A strange bell sound rang out abruptly.

The sound wave entered his ears, causing him to pause slightly.

In a life-and-death battle, a moment of distraction was enough to decide life and death.

"It's that little bell of Lu Huaiben's!"

Just as he regained his senses, all he saw in his eyes was a streak of black light mixed into the night, arriving in an instant.

He only had time to activate the defensive light barrier on his magic robe; as for other actions, everything was already too late.

"This is..."

He looked down at his chest, where his heart should have been, now pierced by a long iron nail.

Shan Xiu tried to force it out with spiritual power, but the moment he mobilized his spiritual power, it began to dissipate.

Soul-Breaking Nail! Spirit-Disrupting Powder!

Luo Chen smiled slightly, the Jade Saber flew in front of him, and with a circular cut, Shan Xiu's head fell into his hand.

"Go help Hall Master Murong, kill that blue-clothed one first."

After giving an order to the pale-faced Zhou Yuanli and his companion, Luo Chen turned around, holding the head.

"Brother Gao, when Shan Xiu led people to intercept and kill me, you must have had a hand in it too!"

Looking at the head that died with eyes wide open, Gao Tingyuan felt a chill erupt in his heart.

He wanted to speak, but his gaze suddenly fell on Shan Xiu's corpse lying on the ground.

The large black nail in his chest was so glaring and conspicuous.

"Soul-Breaking Nail! Soul-Breaking Nail!"

"So it was you who killed my brother!"

Luo Chen was stunned, and with a pull of his spiritual power, the black nail flew back into his hand.

It was indeed this high-grade magic tool that had pierced Gao Ting'e's defense back then.

But it was just a magic tool; how did Gao Tingyuan figure it out?

Gao Tingyuan's eyes spewed fire, and infinite anger erupted.

"My brother carried the Earth-Defense Talisman; ordinary high-grade magic tools couldn't have killed him instantly, and he could have held out until help arrived."

"Only the Soul-Breaking Nail, refined by the Soul-Refining Rogue Cultivator himself, could ignore the Five Elements defense and forcibly injure the enemy."

"Back then, the Soul-Refining Cave Mansion was broken open by Li Da and me, and most of the legacy was obtained by us, except for this Soul-Breaking Nail, which was nowhere to be found."

"Later, I found out it was secretly taken by those guys, Li Zixiong and Chen Xiao."

"As far as I know, they all died at Wang Yuan's hands!"

"That's it, that's it!"

Gao Tingyuan became more and more deranged as he spoke, all the confusion lingering in his heart being washed away like a dam bursting.

For a moment, it flowed clearly and distinctly.

"Wang Yuan has a close relationship with you; if it were an ordinary high-grade magic tool, you wouldn't have been able to use it at your realm back then."

"But the Soul-Breaking Nail is a one-way trip; there's no need to consider too much about the control."

"If you had this treasure, killing my little brother back then would have been like adding wings to a tiger."

"And the realm!"

Gao Tingyuan stared fixedly at Luo Chen, his aura rising constantly.

"You were concealing your true realm just now; there's no reason a person could advance from third-layer Qi Refining to eighth-layer Qi Refining in a year."

"Therefore, you have always had a method to conceal your realm."

"Back then, you must have also hidden your realm, killing my brother in a sudden burst."

"No wonder you, a loose cultivator, dared to live in such a remote place; you really were bold because of your high skills!"

Listening to these words, Luo Chen's mouth twitched.

The previous speculations were still somewhat reasonable.

Even if not entirely correct, they were mostly right.

He had two Soul-Breaking Nails, and one of them did indeed come from Wang Yuan.

Li Zixiong and Chen Xiao were indeed among the three who besieged Wang Yuan back then.

But the matter of hiding his realm was too exaggerated.

He was only at the fourth layer of Qi Refining back then; it wasn't as exaggerated as Gao Tingyuan said.

"Luo Chen, the evidence is conclusive; will you admit it or not!" Gao Tingyuan shouted angrily.

Luo Chen sighed helplessly: "At this point, is there any meaning in saying these things? Besides..."

Looking around, he realized that without him noticing, seven late-stage Qi Refining cultivators had already surrounded him.

"Brother Gao is quite capable, setting a trap for me without me noticing."

Seeing the encirclement complete, Gao Tingyuan couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.

He was still filled with anger, but his heart was extremely calm.

"The speed you exposed in such a short time just now forced me to do this!"

As he spoke, a ferocious grin appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Today, I'll send you to hell to avenge my little brother!"

With a wave of his hand, the seven late-stage Qi Refining cultivators immediately manipulated their magic tools and struck at Luo Chen.

The surging and complex spiritual power illuminated the entire night sky for a moment.

Luo Chen let out a long breath, held the Fire-Tip Spear, and flew toward the sky like an arrow from a bowstring.

Gao Tingyuan watched this scene and sneered incessantly.

Flying?

How high can you fly!

The wind whistled, and a white cloud suddenly appeared, supporting Luo Chen.

Gao Tingyuan's eyes widened. Riding a cloud? A Foundation Establishment method?

The next moment, he was horrified, the bead on his chest shrinking frantically, turning into a close-fitting light barrier to protect him firmly.

"Retreat quickly!"

However, it was already too late.

Luo Chen stepped on the white cloud, his hands pressing down into the void, and he shouted lightly.

"Explode!"

One of the seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivators closest to Luo Chen looked in surprise at the small black dot in front of him.

Was that a bead?

Green, like jade or glaze.

What was this?

The next moment, the bead in his pupils exploded.

The cultivator frowned and pushed out a wave of spiritual power.

Just this much power?

However, a surging giant wave rolled in from all directions.

The explosive force blasted his body into powder.

The waste jade marrow beads originated from the failed products during Luo Chen's alchemy process.

Every time a batch of raw materials failed, twenty waste beads would be produced.

So, how many times had Luo Chen failed since he started refining Jade Marrow Pills?

The exact number couldn't be calculated.

But the failure rate was extremely high in the beginning; even with Grandmaster-level proficiency, there was still a fifty percent failure rate.

Accumulating over the past year, Luo Chen's failure count definitely reached several thousand times.

In other words, the waste jade marrow beads he had accumulated numbered in the tens of thousands!

Even though practicing the "Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers" technique consumed many, his stock only seemed to increase.

Just now, Gao Tingyuan had used words to disturb his mind and set up a net to cut off his escape route.

How could he not be playing along, secretly using his own methods?

Silently, he used the "Seven Nights Star" hidden weapon technique from the "Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers," borrowing the cover of night to bury ten thousand tampered waste jade marrow beads.

Now, the ambush was set!

The final step was actually simple.

Just detonate them using the "Primordial Bead" technique.

Following Luo Chen's shout of "Explode," the ten thousand waste jade marrow beads exploded simultaneously under the guidance of his spiritual power.

Perhaps the power of each individual waste bead was mediocre, not even comparable to a single strike from a low-grade magic tool.

But ten thousand of them were enough to form a qualitative change!

Luo Chen stood above the clouds, and although he was far away, the massive shockwave still pushed him several miles away.

If it weren't for the Four-Image Cauldron protecting him, even Luo Chen, the caster, would have suffered a massive blow.

However, it was all worth it!

The surging spiritual power turbulence swept through the surroundings.

The dust filling the sky turned into raging flames in the explosion, illuminating the entire battlefield.

A crater several hundred meters wide remained conspicuously in place.

All the cultivators on the battlefield looked over in shock.

They looked at the scene in fear; who below Foundation Establishment could withstand such a terrifying strike?

Was this really a method that a Qi Refining cultivator could display?

Luo Chen, the Hall Master of the Alchemy Hall, was actually this powerful!

Gulp!

The sound of swallowing, which should have been slight, sounded so clear in the silent night.

Luo Chen's face was slightly pale; detonating so many waste jade marrow beads at once consumed more spiritual power than he had expected.

Naturally, he couldn't control every single waste bead.

The reason he could achieve this level was by taking a shortcut.

He left a wisp of spiritual power in every hundred waste jade marrow beads and then detonated them.

In this way, the other tampered waste jade marrow beads would also explode simultaneously.

"This was originally prepared to escape Dajiang Workshop and deal with demonic beasts, but I didn't expect it to be used on these people."

"Fortunately, the power didn't disappoint me."

Luo Chen breathed a sigh of relief; under such an attack, even the "River-Mixing Dragon" Gao Tingyuan couldn't have survived, right!

Suddenly, he raised an eyebrow.

"Brother Gao, where are you going?"

In the dust filling the sky, a blue spiritual dragon, wrapping around a short figure, stumbled and flew toward the distance.

Luo Chen withdrew the floating cloud, activated the "Carefree Wind-Riding," and swooped down from the clouds like a Great Peng.

The Fire-Tip Spear in his hand hummed.

It then turned into a Fire Phoenix and broke through the air!

Not only that, the two Soul-Breaking Nails accompanied it, turning into black light, piercing the clouds and the moon.

The Fire Phoenix arrived first, and the blue dragon was extinguished upon impact.

A round bead full of cracks also turned into powder.

The spear tip revealed itself, piercing through the high-grade magic robe and barely stopping on Gao Tingyuan's back.

But immediately, two streaks of black light simultaneously pierced Gao Tingyuan's chest.

Puff! Puff!

Gao Tingyuan fell to the ground, rolling like a gourd.

He forcibly stood up, couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of fresh blood, and looked at Luo Chen with panicked eyes.

"Luo Chen, must you kill them all?"

"Yes!"

Luo Chen mobilized his spiritual power again, and the Fire-Tip Spear on the ground flew toward Gao Tingyuan.

Gao Tingyuan couldn't dodge in time and was pierced through.

He looked at the large hole in his chest in astonishment, then collapsed with a crash.

Seeing this, the heavy stone in Luo Chen's heart finally fell.

Shan Xiu was dead, and Gao Tingyuan was dead too.

Even if he left Dajiang Workshop now, he would have no more worries.

"But Brother Gao, you still owe me five spirit stones, so I'll graciously accept your storage bag."

He walked to a distance from Gao Tingyuan and fixed his gaze on the dusty storage bag.

Suddenly, his expression changed, and his whole body stiffened.

Gao Tingyuan, who should have been completely dead, suddenly sat up.

A pair of green, ghostly eyes stared fixedly at him.

They were far apart, but under the gaze of those green eyes, Luo Chen couldn't move at all.

"Damn it, what kind of evil technique is this!"

Luo Chen shouted in his heart, feeling that he had completely lost control of his body.

In his vision, Gao Tingyuan just sat there, staring at him.

The two of them stalemated.

"A spell targeting the soul?"

Luo Chen calmed down instantly; he didn't feel anything wrong, he just couldn't move.

Moreover, he couldn't move.

Gao Tingyuan couldn't move either.

"I want to see how long you can stalemate with me!"

"Besides, I'm not without a way!"

Subconsciously, the method of "Bright Spirit Breaking Evil" flowed through his heart, and a powerful will surged up.

This will was very strong; although it hadn't reached the level of a rich soul, it could already mobilize the spiritual power hidden near various acupuncture points.

With a thought, thirty-six major acupuncture points all over his body were injured simultaneously.

A sharp pain, from his flesh, from his soul, erupted instantly.

"Ah!!!"

Luo Chen screamed in pain, his footsteps staggering as he retreated.

And opposite him, Gao Tingyuan seemed to have suffered a severe backlash, his mouth mumbling, and finally, he collapsed powerlessly.

Luo Chen's face was extremely pale; the pain of fully operating "Bright Spirit Breaking Evil" was not something an ordinary person could withstand.

Since he started, he had only completed it a few times.

He didn't expect to use it in battle this time.

Looking around, he was stunned to find.

It felt like a long time had passed, but outside, it seemed like only an instant.

"This Gao Tingyuan has too many tricks; I still wasn't careful enough."

Luo Chen asked himself if he had been careful enough.

Two Soul-Breaking Nails pierced his left and right chest, and the Fire-Tip Spear pierced through his body.

If you added the explosion of ten thousand waste jade marrow beads, this kind of injury would be fatal for any Qi Refining cultivator.

He didn't expect Gao Tingyuan to still have the strength for one final strike.

It could only be said that he was worthy of being the powerhouse who killed Xu Renke on the Dao-Discussion Platform.

Even without a substitute puppet, he was still so tenacious.

"Fortunately, that thing was destroyed by Xu Renke, otherwise killing him today would have taken some effort."

Luo Chen reached out, the Fire-Tip Spear picked up Gao Tingyuan's storage bag, and the two Soul-Breaking Nails also flew out instantly.

Following that, a Fireball Technique was smashed directly down.

"Second Brother!"

A sharp, miserable cry rang out in mid-air.

Luo Chen was stunned; was that blue-clothed cultivator still alive?

He looked up and saw Murong Qinglian and Gu Caiyi, plus Zhou Yuanli and Liu Qiang, four experts surrounding and attacking, yet the blue-clothed cultivator was still struggling to support himself.

"Are Sister-in-law and the others too weak? Or is this person too strong?"

While Luo Chen was puzzled, a green flag slipped from his hand.

A vague sense of danger made the blue-clothed cultivator's pupils shrink.

He glared fiercely at Luo Chen, then let out a low roar.

He took out a talisman.

Then, wave after wave of ripples expanded, forcibly pushing the four people back.

He withdrew, his gaze still fixed on Luo Chen.

"I, Lan Tianyun, will remember this grudge!"

After throwing down the harsh words, he accelerated, intending to leave.

However, the next moment, a sword tip emerged from the void.

Su Su Yinyin, the sound of waves in the river and sea rang out.

Lan Tianyun clutched his neck in astonishment, then fell from the sky headfirst.

"Sorry, I'm late."

A figure as straight as a sword landed beside Luo Chen.

He reached out, and a flying sword returned to his hand.

Luo Chen looked at Duan Feng and grinned.

"Not late, there are still many prey here." ===== CHAPTER 144 =====