Chapter 163: A Technique Rivaling Grand Destiny! Enter the Gate of Immortality!

Under Seal Demon Ridge.

Chen Zheng, seizing the crucial moment when Che Yuan Shenzi, Hen Tian Shenhuang, and Fan Qingying were offering the three supreme Dao artifacts to suppress the Imperial Pen, brazenly launched the Great Calamity Ancient Cannon.

Target: Che Yuan Shenzi.

As soon as he saw this person performing the Great Sealing Art, Chen Zheng calculated the divine power within his body, terrifyingly massive, reaching the strength of twenty Primordial Celestial Dragon powers.

What does that even mean?

For a typical Second Stage Immortality, undying body cultivator, even at the limit of their magical power, it's only twenty dragons.

Yet Che Yuan Shenzi has already attained the First Stage Immortality, Ten Thousand Years Realm, sufficient to leap a whole realm and cut down foes.

Even Hen Tian Shenhuang possesses six Primordial Celestial Dragon powers, three times that of Ruyi Zi.

One can only say the Divine Clan truly are the favored children of heaven and earth, uniquely blessed, each capable of reigning supreme within the same realm.

If Chen Zheng refines Che Yuan Shenzi and Hen Tian Shenhuang, his magical power will inevitably surge, granting him the strength to sweep through the Second Stage Immortality realm.

Boom—

The Great Calamity Ancient Cannon's firestorm was unmatched, like a rolling demonic sun plunging from the heavens, vaporizing vast swaths of soil and rock ahead, capable of shattering the mortal world.

"Not good!"

Hen Tian Shenhuang and Fan Qingying both sensed the intense danger, their hearts pounding, their livers trembling wildly.

Although the cannon fire wasn't striking them, they each felt a trend of their bodies disintegrating and their primordial spirits collapsing.

If it were aimed at them, they'd be erased into void in an instant, leaving not even a speck of residue.

"Damn it, who's ambushing me from behind? What is this power? I sense the great calamity of heaven and earth descending; if I'm not careful, I'll die!"

Believing he was about to suppress the Imperial Pen and become a Divine Clan meritorious officer, Che Yuan Shenzi's primordial spirit throbbed wildly, a layer of dust settling over his mind.

His Dao heart clouded with dust, a great terror!

He wanted to roar, to retrieve the supreme Dao artifact he had offered to suppress the Imperial Pen, to protect himself and fend off the surging terrifying cannon fire.

But it was too late.

Chen Zheng's timing for firing was too precise, coinciding exactly with his full-force execution of the Great Sealing Art.

The cannon fire's speed was excessive, catching him off guard, leaving no chance to employ Shentong Wu Chong to resist.

Bang!

Che Yuan Shenzi only managed to gather a radiant layer of divine power behind him, forming a turtle‑shell‑like sturdy shield, which was then struck by the fierce cannon fire.

His shell offered no protection; the cannon fire tore it apart, flames blazing to the heavens and earth, completely engulfing him.

"Aaaah..."

"Quick, save Lord Shenzi!"

Hen Tian Shenhuang could no longer see Che Yuan Shenzi amid the flames, only hearing his anguished cries as if enduring the world's most vicious torment; his heart burned with urgency, he called for Fan Qingying, intending to use water Shentong to extinguish the fire and rescue Che Yuan Shenzi.

At that moment, Chen Zheng stepped forward from afar, his hand flashing like lightning, reaching into the blazing sky; with a single grab, he seized a figure whose whole body was charred and smoking, flesh rotting and curling, a massive black hole in the chest, all limbs gone, resembling a ripe roasted sausage pulled out.

That roasted sausage was indeed Che Yuan Shenzi, no longer possessing his former divinity and flair, his aura withered, eyes bulging as he stared at Chen Zheng who held him, shouting, "Who are you, and why did you ambush me?"

He harbored deep hatred, thinking that had his supreme Dao war chariot not been sent to suppress the Imperial Pen, he could have easily withstood that cannon fire, and would not have been gravely wounded and seized by Chen Zheng.

"So it's you, Chen Zheng! You've attained the Seventh Level Shentong? How could you be so powerful as to grievously wound Che Yuan Shenzi?"

Before Chen Zheng could answer Che Yuan Shenzi's question, Fan Qingying let out an incredulous exclamation.

She naturally remembered Chen Zheng vividly.

Back then she led the Four Great Divine Kings and the Forty Great Thieves—including the Executioner Immortal Thief, the Moon‑piercing Thief, the Star‑annihilating Thief—to raid the Xuan Gui Pavilion, but the plan failed; everyone except her was wiped out, the primary target Xuan Gui Pavilion was lost, and she herself nearly perished.

All of this was owed to Chen Zheng.

Her resentment toward Chen Zheng was boundless.

She could even recognize him turned to ash!

Since that incident ended, she has been seeking revenge against Chen Zheng, but found no opportunity; moreover, needing to summon external aid and scheme for the Imperial Pen, she temporarily postponed it.

But she never imagined, even in her dreams, that before she could avenge Chen Zheng, he would appear before her first, and with a single blast strike the lofty Che Yuan Shenzi, reducing him to a wretched state and seizing him outright.

He was, after all, the son of a Divine Clan Grand Leader.

What kind of power does Chen Zheng truly possess, and what sort of cross‑realm challenge ability is this? It's downright terrifying.

She felt fear, retreating repeatedly like a startled rabbit.

"So it's this one?"

In the distance, within the Celestial Crystal Stone entangled by the three supreme Dao artifacts and countless white hairs, the silhouette of the Imperial Pen appeared, recognizing Chen Zheng, its tiger‑like eyes filled with astonishment and disbelief.

She recalled that the last chance encounter with Chen Zheng, he was only at the Fifth Level Shentong, Tianren Realm; yet in such a short span he had advanced two realms, reaching the Seventh Level Golden Core Realm.

Advancing realms that quickly is simply absurd.

In his ancient era, top‑tier monsters were as common as fish crossing a river; some monsters cultivated as easily as eating and drinking, their speed not far behind Chen Zheng's.

Yet no one possessed Chen Zheng's god‑defying combat power, able to, with a Seventh Level Shentong body, seize a Divine Clan of the Second Stage Immortality.

The strongest monsters of the ancient era could at most surpass two realms to defeat foes, still far below even a tenth or a twelfth of Chen Zheng's strength.

The two sides had no comparable footing whatsoever.

Thus Chen Zheng's performance was not merely astonishing, but shocking—completely beyond imagination.

Could it be that he is seeking the great fate‑bearing peer capable of opposing the Divine Clan's Great Calamity, namely Chen Zheng?

The primordial source of the Xuan Huang Xuan Xuan Huang Da Shijie Shijie Great World sensed the impending Great Calamity and thus bestowed an entire realm of fortune upon Chen Zheng.

Yet even the greatest fortune could not spawn such a god‑defying aberration.

The Imperial Pen could not comprehend at all.

While the Imperial Pen was in disbelief, Chen Zheng already unleashed the true fire of the character "Lian," and before everyone began refining Che Yuan Shenzi, his charred body continuously oozing oil, he screamed loudly.

"Chen Zheng, stop! Do you know what you're doing? This is the noble Che Yuan Shenzi, son of Grand Leader Che Yuan Shenhuang, a high‑born of our Divine Clan! If you dare harm even a single hair of his, Grand Leader Che Yuan Shenhuang will immediately lead hundreds of millions of troops to descend upon the Xuan Huang Xuan Xuan Huang Da Shijie Shijie Great World and attack your Feathered Ascension Gate."

Hen Tian Shenhuang wished to rescue Che Yuan Shenzi but dared not advance; he could only proclaim Che Yuan Shenzi's identity, hoping to restrain Chen Zheng and instill fear in him.

Then let the Che Yuan Divine Emperor go and attack.

Chen Zheng smiled indifferently, raised his other hand, grabbed the Hate Heaven Divine Emperor, and in the man's terrified gaze pinched his neck, lifted him up, while the same Chain True Fire dripped from his hand, forging a pig‑slaughter‑like wail from the man.

What does the Divine Clan's attack on the Feather Ascension Sect have to do with him?

Even if the Divine Clan does not annihilate the Feather Ascension Sect, he will later storm this school's Golden Immortal Hall, slaughtering the Three Sacred Saints of Feather Ascension and those idle Supreme Thus we have Title: Elder, and plunder all the Pure Yang Crystal Mountains there.

Indeed, within the Feather Ascension Sect lies a supreme sacred place deep in the Feather Ascension Heavenly Palace, where the Three Sacred Saints of Feather Ascension and over a hundred Supreme Thus we have Title: Elder reside, each occupying a Crystal Mountain formed from condensed Pure Yang vital energy.

Each Pure Yang Crystal Mountain, if converted into Pure Yang Pills, is worth several hundred billion.

Even at a one‑to‑ten‑thousand conversion to White Yang Pills, it reaches several hundred trillion.

Adding up hundreds of Pure Yang Crystal Mountains amounts to a value of tens of thousands of trillion White Yang Pills; if tens of thousands of inner and outer sect disciples each receive ten White Yang Pills daily, the entire sect's disciples would have enough resources to cultivate for hundreds of billions of days, a full twenty to thirty million years!

But the Feather Ascension Sect has never distributed any White Yang Pills to its disciples, not even a single one, and Chen Zheng has never seen any.

The Essence Pill and the Grain‑Breaking Pill, which are one and two grades below the White Yang Pill, Chen Zheng did receive ten of each, earned by bringing back an Asura corpse and earning merit in the Inner Immortal Courtyard.

However, these two low‑grade pills are ignored by ordinary major sect disciples; only Free Cultivator and small forces like the Chen family of Golden Feather Island treat them as treasures to supply their clan's youths for cultivation.

Thus it is evident how stingy the upper echelons of the Feather Ascension Sect are.

Next time Chen Zheng goes to the Feather Ascension Sect, his first task will be to make them spit out all the sect's resources and see what face those upper echelons show.

Returning to the main story.

The Hate Heaven Divine Emperor was first refined and vaporized by Chen Zheng amid a harrowing wail, leaving only the powerful Che Yuan Divine Son still frantically struggling.

His body had already been melted away by the 'Refine' character True Fire, leaving only a skeletal frame with a little flesh, yet he still shouted stubbornly, "Chen Zheng, you truly are a world‑shaking prodigy, but you cannot even imagine the terrible fate of offending me! You can still turn back now, quickly release me, then kneel and submit to me; I will later take you to the Immortal Realm to cultivate, I may even accept you as a disciple, teach you the Divine Clan's supreme art comparable to the Great Destiny Art, and give you a chance to enter the Gate of Eternal Life with me!"

"Enter the Gate of Eternal Life with you? Just because you're this fool? Even the Divine Clan's Ancestor Saint King wouldn't dare make such a claim; where does your courage come from?"

Chen Zheng almost laughed at the Che Yuan Divine Son; a mere first‑rank Immortal Divine Emperor, placed among the countless heavens and realms where even ants are insignificant, dares to claim he can bring him into the Gate of Eternal Life that creates all things?

It's simply absurd.

Clap—Clap!

For such nonsense, Chen Zheng reached out and slapped twice, cracking the Che Yuan Divine Son's skull, his primordial spirit on the verge of collapse.

"Chen Zheng, speak properly, spare me…"

The Che Yuan Divine Son, stunned by the blow, finally saw reality and, utterly weak, begged for mercy.

Chen Zheng ignored him, intensifying the Chain True Fire, abruptly silencing his pleas; the skeletal frame and primordial spirit were completely melted in the raging flames.

Che Yuan Divine Son, fallen.

The essence of his melted body, including all the divine abilities within his primordial spirit and everything the Hate Heaven Divine Emperor left behind, was fully absorbed by Chen Zheng.

In an instant, the magical power within Chen Zheng surged wildly: twelve strands… fifteen… twenty… until twenty‑four Ancient Celestial Dragon forces finally ceased.

Such power already surpasses the limit of the second‑rank Immortal, enough to stride across this realm.

Moreover, Chen Zheng also obtained a lot of haphazard Divine Clan abilities from the two.

These numerous abilities are hardly worth mentioning.

Worth mentioning is that the two mastered several of the Three Thousand Dao Paths.

The first is the so‑called fastest of the heavens, the Great Translocation Art; once fully attained, a single thought can pierce spacetime barriers, travel across infinite universes, even transgress the world's walls from the lower realms to the Immortal Realm.

Unfortunately, Chen Zheng possesses the True Demon Tribulation Wave Illusion Divine Path, rendering the Great Translocation Art completely unusable.

The second is the most vicious Great Curse Art, as the name suggests, capable of cursing others from afar.

The third is the Great Sealing Art they just employed, also powerful, specifically to imprison enemies.

However, these three Three Thousand Dao Paths are not the strongest; Chen Zheng also obtained from the Che Yuan Divine Son a flagship Divine Clan ability that surpasses countless Three Thousand Dao Paths.

This ability consists of countless bright and dim flashing Divine Clan characters, forming a scripture that praises the gods creating the world, the gods' governing laws, the gods ruling the heavens, the gods destroying the world due to sentient greed, and then recreating a new cosmos.

The text is called 'Genesis', and the ability within it is the supreme art the Che Yuan Divine Son promised to pass to Chen Zheng in life, comparable to the Great Destiny Art, called 'Divine Creation of the Gods'.

Chen Zheng has heard of this ability; it is said to have been created over countless years and great effort by the Divine Clan's Ancestor Saint King, claimed to counter the top‑ranked Great Destiny Art among the Three Thousand Dao Paths.

Obviously, Divine Creation of the Gods is all hype; its power is far below the Great Destiny Art, otherwise in antiquity the Divine Clan's Ancestor Saint King would have already defeated the Three Emperors' Master 'Hongmeng Daoist' who guarded the Primordial Great World.

Nevertheless, Divine Creation of the Gods is somewhat stronger than many Three Thousand Dao Paths, and Chen Zheng still integrated this art and other Divine Clan abilities into his life‑born Golden Core, bringing his total abilities to four hundred and eighty.

The more abilities he has, the sturdier his Golden Core; when it transforms into his primordial spirit, it becomes ever more powerful and wondrous.

It is unknown what his primordial spirit will look like after Chen Zheng cultivates to the ninth level of the Heavenly Earth Law Realm of abilities.

He is not in a hurry; he now lacks two realms before the ninth level of abilities, needing only to pass the eighth level's Wind‑Fire Great Tribulation to strike the ninth.

But not now.

Although the Che Yuan Divine Son and the Hate Heaven Divine Emperor are dead, their Supreme Dao Artifacts have not yet been retrieved from the Human Emperor Pen's body.

Especially the Che Yuan Divine Son's war chariot, which wields the power of the world, surpasses all the treasures Chen Zheng possesses.

Boom—!

Chen Zheng thrust out his large hand, seized the Hate Heaven Compass and the Che Yuan War Chariot—both trying to fly away after their master's death—and the Great Chaotic Thunder Sword, gave a strong shake, causing the three great artifact spirits inside to reel.

He then performed the Great Sealing Art, forming three boundless divine‑light hexagonal diagrams, the six corners representing confinement, exile, void, sealing, shackling, and suppression, embedding them into the three Supreme Dao Artifacts to seal the artifact spirits.

Having done all this, Chen Zheng pulled back the car curtain, ignored the Human Emperor Pen that came to greet him, stepped directly into the Che Yuan War Chariot's cabin and sat, urging the chariot to drive upward across the earth, emitting a series of booming roars, its momentum spreading like a vast ocean.

He intends to pursue Fan Qingying.

Indeed, Fan Qingying, seeing the unfavorable situation, had long abandoned the Che Yuan Divine Emperor and the Hate Heaven Divine Emperor, fleeing far away.

She even discarded the Great Chaotic Thunder Sword.

This woman cannot escape Chen Zheng's grasp.

Just now Chen Zheng had already recorded her aura and could locate her at any time using the Great Tracking Art.

Moreover, at her speed, even if Chen Zheng let her escape for three years, she still could not get away.

Boom—Boom—!

The Che Yuan War Chariot crushed through the void, instantly arriving above Sealing Demon Ridge, ready to chase Fan Qingying, when a tall figure suddenly appeared beside the cabin, clasped his hands and laughed, "Companion Chen, hold on."

It was the Human Emperor Pen.

"I am merely a junior; how could I deserve to be called a fellow Daoist by your esteemed self, Senior Ren Huang Bi?"

From within the Che Yuan war chariot came Chen Zheng's aloof voice, keeping people at a thousand li away.

Back when he first met Ren Huang Bi underground at Seal Demon Ridge, he addressed Ren Huang Bi as a fellow Daoist, but Ren Huang Bi, relying on his status, thought he lacked etiquette and even overstepped.

Finally, Chen Zheng left a single "Thank you, senior," and he and Ren Huang Bi parted on bad terms.

Now Ren Huang Bi caught up and addressed him as a fellow Daoist, but he naturally would not give this person a pleasant look.

Moreover, the favor of Ren Huang Bi helping him slay Wan Qing Shan that day has been repaid, for today he helped Ren Huang Bi slay the Che Yuan Divine Son and the Hate-Heaven Divine Emperor.

Neither side owes the other anything.

"……"

Ren Huang Bi was left speechless by Chen Zheng's single sentence, the smile on his face stiffening, utterly embarrassed.

Back then he misjudged, his attitude toward Chen Zheng was poor, and he looked down on him.

Now, having witnessed Chen Zheng's heaven-defying extent, to say he has no regrets would be false.

That is why he voluntarily lowered his stature and caught up, hoping to make up for his past mistake and resolve his grudge with Chen Zheng.

But he never expected Chen Zheng to give him no face at all.

Even his war chariot didn't pause for a moment, sweeping straight past him.

"Chen fellow Daoist, you are a great fortune-bearer nurtured by the Xuan Huang Xuan Xuan Huang Da Shijie Shijie Grand World, and also the key to resisting the great calamity in the future; I wish to impart to you three hundred Great Daos, hoping you can shoulder the responsibility of resisting the Divine Clan's great calamity and saving countless myriad beings." Ren Huang Bi took a deep breath and shouted at the departing Che Yuan war chariot.

"I have no need for so-called three hundred Great Daos. As for saving myriad beings, what does it have to do with me?"

Chen Zheng's cold voice drifted from afar on the wind, causing Ren Huang Bi's heart to sink to the depths.

He repeatedly wanted to speak but stopped, ultimately only letting out a bitter sigh.

If I had known this would happen, why bother in the first place?

The Che Yuan war chariot trampled through the void, quickly traveling millions of li away, tracing Fan Qingying's aura, and arrived within the Nine Heavens Gale Wind Layer atop the Azure Firmament.

Chen Zheng finally saw Fan Qingying.

To his surprise, she appeared delicate and pitiful, and several men in star robes stood guard beside her like floral escorts.

(End of Chapter)