Chapter 1134: The Apex of Tian Zhu Jing

Fierce slaughter erupted outside the blood pool. The sky was filled with howling violent phase force fluctuations and malevolent aura. High in the air, one magnificent Heavenly Xiang Diagram after another slowly unfurled, drawing in the energy of heaven and earth, while simultaneously raining down torrents of overwhelmingly powerful phase force, like divine punishment.

On the side of the two great academies, top-tier Da Tian Xiang Jing students such as Feng Lingyuan, Wang Kong, Yin Yue Zhiyu, Duanmu, and Wei Chonglou formed the strongest defensive line. Each of them entangled two or more great evil ghouls, unleashing powerful marquess arts one after another, their momentum grand and fierce.

The rest, meanwhile, were doing their utmost to clear out some evil ghouls and the strange creatures that had taken on the guise of students.

From the very start, the clash between both sides had escalated into a white-hot slaughter. As the strange creatures were cleared, students also suffered casualties.

There was no helping it. After all, this was no gentle academy trial, but a life-or-death killing match. To speak of going easy with emotionless strange creatures was obviously laughable.

Everyone's eyes had gone red from killing. The phase force within their bodies was pushed to the limit, and even their meridians ached from the strain, yet still no one dared to stop, continuing to cut down the strange creatures charging at them.

Senior Zong Sha, Jiang Jiang Wanyu, Lu Lu Jinci and others grouped together. Among them, Jiang Jiang Wanyu was the weakest. In truth, her strength had only risen to Five-Star Tian Zhu Jing because of the "Scarlet Heavenly Pill" she had been allocated earlier. Yet even so, in this situation she was constantly in grave danger. Without Senior Zong Sha and the others' help, she would have been ambushed by the strange creatures several times.

This mission was too perilous. For those at Tian Zhu Jing, it could only be said to barely allow self-preservation.

After all, not everyone's Tian Zhu Jing was as monstrous as Li Luo's.

Senior Zong Sha held his long spear, with a "Heavenly Xiang Golden Seal" hovering above his head. The golden seal spewed out beams of Jin Guang, blasting back all the strange creatures surging toward them—except for one evil ghoul that pushed through the Jin Guang and charged at him.

Senior Zong Sha's spear transformed into a fierce spear gleam, clashing head-on with it.

Clang!

It was as if the sound of metal on metal erupted. Senior Zong Sha was sent staggering back several steps. That evil ghoul's strength was in no way inferior to his. Moreover, the instant he was forced back, a gap appeared in the defensive line here. Another evil ghoul shot in with bizarre movements, its sharp claws carrying piercing sonic booms and cold, viscous malevolent aura, charging toward the Tian Zhu Jing students like Jiang Jiang Wanyu behind them.

Senior Zong Sha's face changed and he hurried to rescue them, but the evil ghoul in front of him was already attacking wrapped in surging malevolent aura, forcing him to defend himself.

Lu Lu Jinci and Deng Zhu were slightly stronger, but only at the level of Seven-Star Tian Zhu. They unleashed all their phase force, executing their strongest attacks and hurling them at the charging evil ghoul.

Boom!

But in this clash, the two were instead As If Struck Heavily. Their qi and blood churned within them, and they spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, shooting backward and tumbling across the ground like gourts.

Malevolent aura coiled around them, and countless strange, eerie whispers sounded in their hearts, causing their eyes to glaze over for a moment.

Jiang Jiang Wanyu saw this, gritted her teeth, and the five resplendent Tian Zhu behind her erupted with dazzling light. One of them even developed fine cracks.

She was decisive. Knowing the gap between herself and the evil ghoul before her, she simply self-detonated one Tian Zhu to buy her companions breathing room.

Hum!

But at that very instant, a fierce, unmatched blade gleam wrapped in a domineering dragon's roar suddenly came howling in. The blade gleam swept past, completely sweeping away the dense malevolent aura around the evil ghoul, then in a single slash, severed the evil ghoul's neck clean off.

The headless evil ghoul still maintained its charging posture, but Jiang Jiang Wanyu's sword gleam swept through, and mighty phase force roared out. The void cracked open, and a fire dragon roared forth.

"Scarlet Dragon Departing Fire Banner!"

The fire dragon bared its fangs and claws and collided directly with the headless evil ghoul. The latter had been heavily wounded, its malevolent aura already thin, so the fire dragon pierced straight through and melted it away.

Jiang Jiang Wanyu let out a breath of relief, then looked toward where the blade gleam had come from, and saw Li Luo holding the Dragon Elephant Blade, striding forward to once again meet the charging evil ghoul.

"Thanks," Jiang Jiang Wanyu said gratefully.

But Li Luo did not respond. Only then did Jiang Jiang Wanyu notice that Li Luo's current state seemed somewhat off. He appeared to be immersed in this fierce slaughter, and what astonished her most was that the phase force fluctuations emanating from Li Luo's body were climbing at a startling speed.

Jiang Jiang Wanyu's gaze suddenly fixed behind Li Luo, where eight Tian Zhu had actually appeared!

"He's broken through to Eight-Star Tian Zhu Jing?!" Jiang Jiang Wanyu was somewhat shocked, because she could sense that the Tian Zhu behind Li Luo were resplendent and mighty, entirely transformed from his own phase force, not bolstered by external power.

"He's refining the 'Mystic Lotus Essence' and Scarlet Heavenly Pill he obtained earlier? Is he trying to..."

"Break through to Nine-Star Tian Zhu Jing?!"

A towering wave surged in Jiang Jiang Wanyu's heart. She gazed at Li Luo's figure, her eyes somewhat dazed. When they had first met in the Spirit Phase Cave Heaven, his phase force level had been even lower than hers. Yet now, while she was only at Five-Star Tian Zhu Jing, Li Luo was attempting to break through to the ultimate realm of Tian Zhu Jing!

The Nine-Star Tianzhu Sutra—how many prodigies had dreamed of reaching this realm, only to fail in the end. Only those with both profound foundations and extraordinary opportunities could complete this step.

And now, Li Luo was also attempting this step?

Truly... what enormous ambition.

Jiang Jiang Wanyu's heart was complicated. She had seen Nine-Star Tian Zhu before, but for someone to reach this step while still in the Three-Star House—even within the ancient academies, it would absolutely be considered exceedingly rare.

"Li Luo, good luck."

Jiang Jiang Wanyu watched Li Luo, who was clearly using high-intensity combat to draw out all his latent potential, and understood that he was at the critical moment of his breakthrough. So she did not disturb him, only offering a soft blessing.

And at this moment, Li Luo had indeed Bi Le Wai Zhong Jie of all interference. He held the Dragon Elephant Blade, with only the strange creatures continuously charging at him before his eyes. His mind was clear and still. He seemed able to perceive the flow of every trace of phase force within his body. Meanwhile, in his chest, blood washed over and over the orb of light formed from the "Mystic Lotus Essence" and "Scarlet Heavenly Pill," continuously dissolving it, and the vast energy was swept into his limbs and bones.

Surging power roared within his body like an enraged dragon.

The phase force within the three phase palaces had also reached its utmost at this moment.

In the Water Light Phase Palace, the bright, clear lake continuously expanded, while giant waves rose on its surface. Every drop of lake water shimmered with bright luster, emanating a sacred aura.

In the Wood Earth Phase Palace, the towering tree rooted in the brown earth grew joyfully without cease, its vigorous vitality filling the phase palace.

In the Dragon Thunder Phase Palace, thunderclouds continuously surged, thunder exploded, and within the clouds, a majestic, ferocious thunder dragon slowly swam, allowing Lei Guang to trace across its scales.

Even the mysterious golden wheel deep within his body seemed to bloom with a faint radiance at this moment.

The "Minor Formless Fire" at the center of the golden wheel grew vigorous along with it.

Li Luo felt as if he now possessed endless power. Every slash of the Dragon Elephant Blade in his hand was accompanied by the sound of dragons and elephants roaring in unison, and the sound of air bursting never ceased.

The strange creatures before him—even the slightly weaker evil ghouls—could not withstand the might of a single slash from him.

Beside the eighth Tian Zhu behind him, a tiny point of light began to bloom with bright radiance.

All the power within his body seemed to have found a floodgate, pouring toward that spot in a swarm.

Hiss!

Li Luo swept through the strange creatures. One evil ghoul, blood-red all over with a burly build, had set its sights on him. This evil ghoul possessed True Seal-level power, and judging by its build and scarlet color, it was clearly one of those strange creatures with the potential to break through to great evil ghoul.

Previously, two True Seal-level students had already been wounded by it, and one Void Seal-level student had its body twisted and broken by it, with fresh blood poured over its face. The hideous, twisted "evil" character there was like a bloody maw, swallowing all that fresh blood.

It let out a piercing shriek, its figure transforming into streaks of afterimages as it charged straight at Li Luo.

"Li Luo, be careful, it's coming for you!" The two True Seal-level students tasked with entangling this top evil ghoul saw this, their faces immediately changing, and they shouted a warning.

At the same time, they shot forward, attempting to intercept it.

Yet Li Luo did not retreat. He slowly raised the Dragon Elephant Blade in his hand, where cold light flowed. His toes touched down, his ankle bent slightly, and the ground instantly shattered.

His figure shot forth.

The power within his body surged to its absolute peak at this moment.

The Heavenly Pearls behind him spun wildly, as if forming a ring of brilliant light.

The three Xiang Palaces thundered and trembled.

Above Li Luo's blade-light, violent lightning leapt up, and at the same time the signature halo of dual-phase power emerged; the blade-light slashed down, and the void instantly split open with a crack.

From within, boundless Lei Guang roared out, and within the Lei Guang a massive dragon head revealed itself—majestic and ferocious, with lightning flowing between its fangs.

This is...

Silver Dragon Heavenly Thunder Banner!

At this nearly perfect moment, Li Luo had finally completed cultivating this Marquis-grade technique, and because it was a peak breakthrough, the Xiang power contained within was stronger and more domineering than ever before.

The thunder dragon and blade-light swept forward together, colliding head-on with the top-tier Evil Specter in the very next instant.

That astonishing energy fluctuation drew stunned gazes from nearby students at the Da Tian Xiang Jing realm, one after another casting their eyes over.

Under the watch of those gazes, Li Luo's figure crossed directly past the top-tier Evil Specter.

Boom!

Huge cracks spread across the ground at the point of crossing.

The violent energy shockwave directly obliterated and dissolved some of the nearby aberrations.

The top-tier Evil Specter's body kept its forward-charging posture, but after a dozen or so steps, lightning-like cracks suddenly appeared on its body's surface; then the Lei Guang burst forth, and amid a thunderous roar, the Evil Specter's body exploded outright.

The many students all widened their eyes.

Senior Zong Sha, Lu Lu Jinci and the others sucked in a cold breath—even that top-tier Evil Specter that none of them combined could handle had been cut down in a single slash by Li Luo.

Only Jiang Jiang Wanyu, after a momentary freeze, suddenly turned her beautiful eyes toward Li Luo.

Then she saw that behind the figure standing with blade before them, Heavenly Pearls spun one after another, dazzling and resplendent...

One... three... five... eight...

Jiang Jiang Wanyu's gaze finally froze beside the eighth Heavenly Pearl.

There, a startlingly brilliant, resplendent Heavenly Pearl drifted quietly.

This Heavenly Pearl was more than several times stronger than the others.

Because that was... the ninth Heavenly Pearl.

The ultimate of Heavenly Pearls—Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl!

Li Luo had finally completed his breakthrough.