Chapter 175: Bite the Divine Elephant! Shocking the Galaxy Gate! I

Chen Zheng stood inside the Tai Ji Star Palace, snapped his fingers, and caused Deng Ao to be imprinted on the floor like a shadow, a bizarre scene that terrified countless people inside the Galaxy Gate.

A brief silence fell over heaven and earth.

Whether it was Xing Mie Xie and other true‑transmission disciples, the forty inner‑gate disciples guarding the mountain gate, or the ancient titans such as the Star‑Shifting Elder and Star‑Punishment Elder inside the Tai Ji Star Palace, all their throats bobbed as they struggled to swallow their saliva.

Even the Star Lord's face was full of shock, speechless.

The next moment, many highly cultivated peers snapped back to reality, unleashing a thunderous roar that swept the entire Galaxy Gate like a primeval storm.

"What on earth did Chen Zheng do to Deng Ao? How could he flatten Deng Ao's body into a human‑shaped imprint on the ground? It's terrifying—how can such a dreadful method exist in the world?"

"He's the infamous Demon‑Slaying Immortal from millennia ago, a Supreme Elder of the Feather Ascension Gate! By age, even Linglong Immortal would have to respectfully call Deng Ao 'senior', yet Chen Zheng easily turned him into that ghastly shape—am I dreaming?"

"Chen Zheng is only at the Eighth Level of Divine Power, just newly promoted, and can already suppress beings of Supreme Elder rank. What invincible cultivation is that? It would scare the life out of this old bone of mine! When he reaches the Realm of Eternal Life and becomes an ancient titan, won't he rival the Headmaster Supremes of the major sects and dominate the world?"

Someone let out an incredulous roar.

Someone frantically rubbed their eyes, trying to see if they had misread the scene.

It's not their loss of composure; what they witnessed was simply too unbelievable.

If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, even beating them to death wouldn't make them believe Chen Zheng could be that terrifying.

Come to think of it, Chen Zheng's past feats—slaying Wan Luo, Wan Lianshan, Si Ma Teng and others, crushing countless foes—were dazzling and shocking, drawing the awe of innumerable cultivators.

But those were still battles among juniors.

Now it is entirely different.

Chen Zheng's actions have crossed beyond the younger generation—not just that, they have completely surpassed the older generation.

Moreover, Deng Ao is at the Third Tier of Eternal Life, Cave Heaven Realm, having comprehended the existence of spatial rules.

A being that controls the power of those rules striking an opponent below its own realm is equivalent to a dimensional reduction attack.

It's no exaggeration to say Deng Ao is tens of thousands of times stronger than a cultivator at the Eighth Level of Divine Power.

Yet, despite that massive gap, Deng Ao did not land a dimensional strike on Chen Zheng; instead, Chen Zheng reduced him.

It's like an ant biting a massive elephant dead, an ancient giant elephant.

No, a divine elephant!

The ant bit the divine elephant to death!

With such absurd results, who would dare believe it?

How could the people of the Galaxy Gate not be horrified to the point of despair?

The imprint of Deng Ao on the gate's floor also howled in terror, shouting wildly, "How could I, the Demon‑Slaying Immortal, be imprisoned by you, evil devil? Impossible! Chen Zheng, what dark art did you inject into my brow? Release me now!"

Deng Ao thrashed wildly on the floor, shattering his flesh into countless specks that scattered in all directions, trying to break free.

He even summoned the power of spatial rules, attempting to break the spatial shackles.

But it was all in vain.

He was like a being confined to a tiny plane, only a hundred zhang across, like a sheet of paper; even wielding spatial power he could not rip the paper nor slip out from its edges.

Even his roar could not be transmitted for the people of the Galaxy Gate to hear.

Chen Zheng, however, could hear Deng Ao's voice.

He stepped forward to the gate's entrance, looked down at Deng Ao on the floor, shook his head and laughed, "You already called me an evil devil—do you think I'd be kind enough to let you out? Stop dreaming; from the moment you offended me, death has been your only fate."

Deng Ao fell silent for a moment, then earnestly said, "Chen Zheng, I misspoke earlier; you are not a demon but an immortal. If you release me, it proves you are a true immortal with no trace of demonic qi. Moreover, I can set aside past grievances and turn swords into silk. I could even persuade Patriarch Wu Mingkong to spare you, re‑recruit you into the Feather Ascension Gate, make you a deputy Headmaster, and fully support you to become the next Headmaster Supreme."

"Ha ha."

Chen Zheng was genuinely amused by Deng Ao.

He truly wondered whether this person's head was filled with water to utter such shameless words.

Swords are swords, silk is silk.

Chen Zheng cultivates for two goals: first, longevity; second, freedom.

What is freedom?

To act according to one's will, with thoughts unimpeded, that is freedom.

Repaying kindness with kindness, vengeance with vengeance, is also freedom.

So why turn swords into silk?

As for the Headmaster position in the Feather Ascension Gate, does he covet it?

Whether Wu Mingkong spares him or not, what does it matter?

And the distinction between immortal and demon—who cares?

When you meet an enemy outside and they intend to kill you, do they first ask whether you're an immortal or a demon before striking?

How could the Feather Ascension Gate have a fool like Deng Ao? He's beyond cure; even at the brink of death he wouldn't utter a few pleasant pleading words.

Having such a fool as a Supreme Elder, after the master of the Three Sacred of Feather Ascension passes, the Feather Ascension Gate will decline step by step, day after day.

From now on, extinction is inevitable.

Chen Zheng, too lazy to continue speaking with this fool, lifted his leg and stepped on Deng Ao's shadow, immobilizing him.

Then genuine fire bearing the character "Lian" flowed from his foot into the "painting", enveloping Deng Ao and beginning to refine him.

"Ah! Chen Zheng, the Feather Ascension Gate has cultivated you for so long, granting you such cultivation, and you still want to kill me, you mad devil! I'll fight you to the death!"

Deng Ao, engulfed in raging fire, screamed loudly, knowing death was certain, and in desperation unleashed the Life‑Consuming Secret Technique "White Sun Ascension" recorded in the Feather Ascension Ascension Scripture, attempting to abandon his body, explode the plane he occupied, and perish together with Chen Zheng.

His body began to swell, destructive power coursing within.

But what power does Chen Zheng possess?

Earlier, inside the Tai Ji Star Palace, even before ascending to the Eighth Level of Divine Power, he already surpassed a hundred Primeval Celestial Dragon forces, stronger than the eighty Primeval Celestial Dragon powers wielded by Deng Ao.

Now, having passed the Wind‑and‑Fire Great Tribulation, his power has risen to two hundred and forty Primeval Celestial Dragon forces—three times Deng Ao's—so he cannot allow Deng Ao to self‑detonate while trying to kill him.

Moreover, when Chen Zheng advanced, he also comprehended a new calamity character on the Sheep Skin Scroll.

The character is "Zhu", terrifyingly capable of banishing a person into a lower‑dimensional plane.

Deng Ao was eternally exiled by Chen Zheng.

No matter how powerful Deng Ao is, he cannot return.

Even self-detonation cannot reach Chen Zheng in another dimension, unless Chen Zheng lifts the exile.

Thus Deng Ao cannot escape calamity.

Even before he could self-detonate, he was already melted by true fire, leaving only bone fragments.

However, Deng Ao is not yet completely dead.

Chen Zheng also had no intention to kill him; he reached out and grabbed the ground, and a transparent phantom was pulled from Deng Ao's bone fragments.

This is Deng Ao's lingering soul imprint.

"What... what do you want? Aren't you going to kill me? The victor becomes king, the loser becomes bandit—I only ask for one death!" Deng Ao roared, stern outwardly but fearful inside, with a bad premonition.

Chen Zheng patiently explained: "Killing you directly would be too cheap; I've changed my mind. I will make your soul imprint eternally suffer the torment of flames, so you can personally see how I will later kill Wu Mingkong."

"You... you..."

Deng Ao felt an indescribable surge of despair rise in his heart.

Compared to death, he fears more the torment of never seeing daylight.

He wanted to beg for mercy, to apologize and repent to Chen Zheng.

Chen Zheng no longer paid him any heed; he condensed an oil lamp in his hand, flicked his finger, and Deng Ao's soul was imprisoned upon the lamp flame, screaming and struggling wildly, yet each struggle produced a sizzling sound as it was scorched.

Seeing this, many Star Sect elders and true-transmission disciples felt a chill run down their spines and instinctively stepped back.

Chen Zheng is too brutal.

The Star Master stepped forward, standing at the exit of the Supreme Ultimate Star Palace, and loudly praised: "Good, someone like Deng Ao, a scum of the Correct Path, should have the heavenly lamp lit by Fellow Cultivator Chen!"

"The Supreme Headmaster is right, Fellow Cultivator Chen has done well!"

"Senior Brother Chen truly is a model of the Correct Path!"

Xing Miexie, the Star-Shifting Thus we have Title: Elder, and other wise and thoughtful individuals immediately voiced their agreement, thereby driving countless Star Sect disciples to shout.

In an instant, cheers shook the Star Sect, the aura shot up to the heavens, as if wanting to fling the primordial meteorite outward, so that all people would hear of Chen Zheng's righteous act of punishing Deng Ao.

"This Star Master."

Chen Zheng shook his head helplessly, paid no mind, and stored the oil lamp inside the Ten Directions Five Elements Pagoda.

"This... this person is the Demon-Slaying Great Immortal of the Feather Ascension Sect? You actually managed to suppress his soul!"

In the tower's space, Yan Shuiyi all saw Deng Ao upon the lamp wick, and were shocked to the point of losing color.

"Mm, it's him. Watch over him, don't let him die." Chen Zheng's voice transmitted into the tower.

"Yes, Master."

Yan Shuiyi suppressed his shock, bowed, and accepted the order; shouting "Master" came more easily than before.

At the mountain gate outside, Chen Zheng had already absorbed everything refined from Deng Ao into his body, raising his magical power to 280 dragon, and gaining several dozen new divine abilities, including the Feather Ascension Sect's Sect-Suppressing Great Yin-Yang Technique, as well as the Daylight Ascension that Deng Ao had previously employed.

He clapped his hands, stepped forward, and had already arrived inside the Supreme Ultimate Star Palace, smiling at the Star Master: "Fellow Cultivator Star Master, thank you for upholding justice when Deng Ao came calling; this is a small token I present to the Star Sect, please accept it."

He casually waved his hand, and hundreds of jade scrolls flew out from himself, drifting to the Star Master's presence.

The Star Master did not reach out to take them, laughing heartily: "Fellow Cultivator Chen, you're being too polite, just..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Chen Zheng flick his hand with a half-smile, and those hundreds of jade scrolls automatically opened, displaying all the great divine abilities recorded within, fully presented before the Star Master, whose eyes widened and he could no longer utter a refusal.

The Star-Shifting Elder and others also saw the contents of many jade scrolls, nearly popping their eyeballs out, even more shocking than seeing the Great Star Technique.

(End of chapter)