Chapter 1517: Primordial Heart

Boom!

Endless black thunderbolts poured out mightily from behind Shen Shen Jinxiao, like a black ocean, but the thunderbolts, which originally carried a dazzling majesty, now revealed a cold, eerie aura in his hands.

The black thunderbolts coiled together like giant black pythons, giving off a clammy, chilling sensation.

Yet no one dared underestimate their power, for as the black sea of thunder spread, the very void kept collapsing and shattering, and whenever a black thunderbolt fell, it reduced the broken ancient buildings below to fine powder.

Shen Shen Jinxiao formed a seal with one hand, and the black sea of thunder suddenly surged up into a vast tide of thunder pulp, condensing into a black thunder hand seal thousands of zhang in size, its roar shaking the air for thousands of miles.

Diwu Mingxuan and the others recognized this Marquis-grade art at a glance—it was Zhou Jun's signature technique, the Purple Pole Thunder Tribulation Palm.

However, this Marquis-grade art, now wielded by Shen Shen Jinxiao, emanated an even more bizarre and terrifying fluctuation.

The black thunder hand seal was like a thunder meteor radiating an aura of destruction, tearing across the heavens and colliding head-on with everyone's attacks.

At the moment of impact, it seemed as though an earth-shattering sound erupted, but to the ear, it was like absolute silence.

Only an overwhelmingly terrifying energy storm raged outward, leveling everything in its path, while enormous fissures, deep as abysses, spread across the ground below.

Diwu Mingxuan, Sheng Que'er, and the others saw their attacks dissipate into smoke, their figures blasted back over a thousand zhang, the blood and Qi within them churning violently, and even the Marquis Platforms above their heads flickered with an unsteady light.

They steadied themselves, their gazes solemn as they looked toward the void ahead; the black sea of thunder lingering there had been torn apart by the earlier tremendous collision, but Shen Shen Jinxiao's figure still stood firm and unshaken.

Above his head, nine Marquis Platforms towered like mountain peaks, swallowing the energy of heaven and earth and radiating an oppressive pressure.

At the same time, this grey-black domain was ceaselessly eroding and devouring the phase force of those within it, feeding it back to Shen Shen Jinxiao.

The Nine-Pin Marquis Realm revealed an astonishing suppressive power at this moment.

Shen Shen Jinxiao, single-handedly, fought against these top mentors from the Academy Alliance, showing not the slightest disadvantage, and instead seizing a slight upper hand.

Diwu Mingxuan's expression darkened. Without a single wasted word, he was the first to charge out again the next moment, vast phase force sweeping forth, transforming into a fierce assault as he attacked Shen Shen Jinxiao once more.

The rest immediately coordinated with him.

Meanwhile, the Heavenly Dragon that Li Luo had transformed into looked upward, where Jiang Jiang Qinge's exquisitely beautiful figure had once again landed on the dragon's head. He sent a voice transmission: "Sister Qing'e, it seems their strength alone cannot kill Shen Shen Jinxiao."

"It looks like I'll have to use the Sword Array."

Jiang Jiang Qinge's eyes were crystalline as amber, a mysterious and profound light flowing within their golden glow. She pondered briefly and said, "Li Luo, although your Sword Array is powerful, it may not kill him in one strike. Besides, that Unparalleled Embryonic Art consumes too much—you still need to conserve strength for obtaining the 'Great Formless Divine Forging Art' later."

"If we don't get rid of this guy, we can't get close to that altar either."

"Leave it to me," Jiang Jiang Qinge said.

Li Luo's heart stirred, and he said in some surprise, "Sister Qing'e, what are you planning to do?"

Jiang Jiang Qinge gave a light laugh, her laughter as pleasant as a clear spring, and said, "You'll know in a moment. And I'll need your assistance when the time comes. For now, let's borrow the strength of Diwu Mingxuan and the others to hold Shen Shen Jinxiao at bay."

Hearing this, Li Luo said no more. Vast phase force surged up, and he swept through the air, joining the others in their encirclement and assault on Shen Shen Jinxiao.

An extremely fierce great battle erupted once more.

Facing the encirclement and killing strikes of everyone giving their all, Shen Shen Jinxiao, leveraging the suppression of his Nine-Pin domain and the phase force grade advantage brought by his nine Marquis Platforms, dissolved wave after wave of their ferocious attacks.

In this great battle, both sides revealed a fierce killing intent, daring to hold nothing back.

Such a scene could be called the most intense and brutal since the opening of the Heavenly Mirror Tower trial.

The great battle triggered vast, violent surges of heaven and earth energy, the roar tearing across the horizon.

However, as the battle wore on, after Shen Shen Jinxiao once again forced everyone back, he flicked his sleeve, and Zhou Jun's corpse was flung out from within it, shooting backward like an arrow and landing heavily atop the towering ancient altar that pierced the clouds.

The crowd looked over and saw, between Zhou Jun's brows, a black incense stick had been inserted. The black incense was lit, sending up black smoke.

And as the smoke rose, Zhou Jun's corpse was actually gradually melting, as though being absorbed by that black incense stick.

Black smoke curled upward, coiling above the altar, and faintly, within it, a terrifying power seemed about to descend.

Under that power, everyone present sensed a fearful aura.

The entire thirty-fourth floor of the Heavenly Mirror Tower suddenly began to tremble at this moment.

At the same time, above the Heavenly Mirror City, Wang Xuanjin, Jin Xi, and Bai Yu were the first to sense the anomaly on the thirty-fourth floor of the Heavenly Mirror Tower.

Wang Xuanjin waved his hand, and the void before him transformed into a light screen, projecting the thirty-fourth floor. They then saw the rising black smoke, and their faces all changed dramatically.

"That pawn of the Guiyi Hui is channeling the true body of a Heavenly King of the Guiyi Hui to descend!"

"We cannot allow him to do this!"

Wang Xuanjin said sharply. At the same time, the three-layered mysterious, primordial King's Crown above his head shed boundless profound light, each strand of profound light transformed from origin phase force, possessing unimaginable might.

The profound light whistled toward the light screen, as he attempted to use his remaining control over the Heavenly Mirror Tower to interfere with the situation on the thirty-fourth floor.

But the moment the profound light descended, everyone in the Heavenly Mirror City suddenly felt a surge of terror rise from within their hearts, and looked up in horror to see the edge of the heavens being torn apart. A hand beyond description slowly reached out, pressing down toward Wang Xuanjin and the others.

Wang Xuanjin's expression darkened. The power of this great hand came from a Heavenly King avatar channeled down from the thirty-third floor.

Clearly, the other party had no intention of letting him interfere with the situation on the thirty-fourth floor.

And facing a Heavenly King avatar, even Wang Xuanjin, a peak Three-Crowned King, dared not show the slightest negligence. Moreover, there were still many mentors from the Academy Alliance within the Heavenly Mirror City; if he allowed the other's attack to fall unchecked, everyone would perish on the spot.

Thus, Wang Xuanjin could only join the two elders, Jin Xi and Bai Yu, to activate their King's Crowns, transforming them into a vast force of origin power to meet that great hand.

The only thing he could do was send a voice transmission into the thirty-fourth floor.

"Everyone, this beast intends to channel the true body of a Guiyi Hui Heavenly King to descend—you must stop him!"

This voice echoed ceaselessly within the thirty-fourth floor, causing Diwu Mingxuan, Sheng Que'er, and the others to change color one after another.

"Hahaha!"

Shen Shen Jinxiao let out a great laugh. He pressed his hands together, his seals shifting, and the nine Marquis Platforms above his head spewed forth rolling grey-black evil light. The evil light blotted out the sky, ultimately condensing into a grey-black long banner.

That long banner was covered in sinister runes, which flickered with a dim red light.

At the same time, the banner's surface writhed ceaselessly, faintly revealing twisted faces of agony—faces of people whose hearts Shen Shen Jinxiao had once devoured, for among them, the crowd actually saw the faces of Lin Ju and Zhou Jun.

This scene was bizarre and ghastly.

Shen Shen Jinxiao's long hair hung loose, his hand gripping the black demonic banner, and the twisted, agonized faces upon the demonic banner spewed out streams of black light, dissolving all of Diwu Mingxuan and the others' attacks.

At this moment, Shen Shen Jinxiao's towering demonic flames could be said to have reached their peak.

This scene also made Diwu Mingxuan and the others feel a sense of helplessness in their hearts—Shen Shen Jinxiao's strength was indeed unimaginably formidable.

And Shen Shen Jinxiao let out a sinister laugh, while his gaze turned toward Jiang Jiang Qinge and Li Luo in the rear, and he said with a smile, "Jiang Jiang Qinge, Li Luo, the two of you have been quiet for half a day—the tricks you've been brewing must be about ready, yes?"

Although earlier the crowd had almost made the Fifth Mingxuan the center of attention, Shen Shen Jinxiao had never for a moment relaxed his vigilance over Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge, and he knew these two far too well — given the depth of their hatred for him, they would certainly not let things rest so easily.

Fifth Mingxuan, Sheng Que'er, and the others all looked toward Jiang Jiang Qinge and Li Luo with a touch of astonishment. Given the present situation, facing a Ninth-Rank Marquis-tier expert, could these two possibly still have some means to resist?

Under everyone's gaze, Jiang Jiang Qinge, who stood prettily atop the dragon's head, turned her amber-like, deep, and exquisitely beautiful golden eyes — flowing with cold indifference and killing intent — toward Shen Shen Jinxiao.

She did not respond to Shen Shen Jinxiao with words. Her slender jade-like fingers formed a seal, and the Holy Thorn Crown in her hair vanished at that moment. Her long hair immediately cascaded down like a waterfall, falling to her waist, shimmering with dazzling radiance.

Her long hair swayed gently in the wind, and at this moment Jiang Jiang Qinge possessed a breathtaking, heart-stirring beauty.

At her smooth brow, the three halos formed by the Ancient Tracing Phase Marks began to rapidly condense and compress.

At the same time, the incomparably sacred Light Heart within her body underwent a strange transformation at this moment.

An aura so ancient it seemed as if it had existed since the very dawn of heaven and earth welled up from within her heart.

As if... a Primordial Heart.