Chapter 228

A youth like a golden heavenly deity descended into the universe where Mu Ye Young Master was.

Like Mu Ye Young Master, the youth also had four Heavenly Immortal‑level figures attending on his left and right, making an imposing entourage; at a glance his background was extraordinary.

"Huh? It's you—you've also come to the Xuanhuang Grand World, intending to loot the treasures inside the Taiyuan Immortal Mansion?"

Mu Ye Young Master, who had originally intended to go to the Linglong Blessed Land to devour Chen Zheng, halted his steps, his eyes flashing with cold light as he gazed at the golden heavenly deity youth, his look as if beholding an unmatched foe.

As everyone knows, among the three thousand great worlds, the Central Great World ranks first, ruled by the Mu Ye clan, whose bloodline was left in the mortal realm by the Immortal Realm's War King Heavenly Sovereign.

The clan's head is the Central Emperor, whose cultivation is earth‑shaking; he is a Divine Immortal.

He is not even an ordinary Divine Immortal.

The second‑ranked great world is called the Heavenly King Great World, honoring the Li clan; its Family Head is Li Tianwang, who likewise attained the Divine Immortal realm countless ages ago.

This golden heavenly deity youth who has appeared now is the outstanding son of Li Tianwang, named Li Zha; his cultivation is not inferior to Mu Ye Young Master's, and he is also at the peak of the Heavenly Immortal realm.

"Mu Ye Young Master, if you can come to the Taiyuan Immortal Mansion to seek treasure, why can't I?" Li Zha stared at Mu Ye Young Master, his eyes bursting with boundless fighting spirit: "After the Divine Clan's great tribulation passes, my father will ascend to the Immortal Realm, and then I shall become the new lord of the Heavenly King Great World. And you, as the heir‑designate of the next generation of the Mu Ye clan's Family Head, will also become the lord of the Central Great World. Why don't we now measure ourselves, to see whose great world truly deserves to be first?"

"Measure against me?" Mu Ye Young Master snorted coldly: "What qualifications do you have to measure against me? The strength of my Central Great World is who knows how many times greater than your Heavenly King Great World."

Li Zha's expression was arrogant: "If the Central Emperor ascends to the Immortal Realm and you inherit the Family Head's position, the Central Great World might decline like the Xuanhuang Great World, allowing my Heavenly King Great World to occupy the top spot. For you, Mu Ye Young Master, are too arrogant and overbearing, which blinds your eyes; when you are defeated by someone, you will never recover and become a mediocrity."

"Hahaha!" Mu Ye Young Master laughed arrogantly, his voice shaking the nine heavens and ten earths: "Among the three thousand great worlds and the boundless universe, who could defeat me? Could it be you? Don't indulge in daydreams—I'd beat you with ease."

He knew Li Zha's strength well enough—it could be called invincible among Heavenly Immortals, yet compared to him it still lacked a hair's breadth of timing.

If they were to fight, going all out with their trump cards, the odds would be three to seven—Li Zha three, he seven.

"Is that so?" Li Zha's fighting spirit flared in his eyes, as if he wanted to battle Mu Ye Young Master right away, but then he reined it in and smiled: "Well then, how about we make a wager, letting the gamble decide the victor?"

Mu Ye Young Master looked down on him: "Any kind of wager is fine with me—spill it."

Li Zha did not answer but instead asked: "Do you know that a stunning talent has recently appeared in the Xuanhuang Great World?"

Mu Ye Young Master, impatient, replied: "Isn't that stunning talent you're talking about Chen Zheng? This kid certainly has some skill; could his victory in the Taihuang's wager be related to him?"

Li Zha exclaimed in surprise: "You're well‑informed. Indeed, the wager I propose with you is to see who first captures and kills Chen Zheng—the winner takes all. The stake is that the loser must thereafter bow to the winner each time they meet, plus ten Supreme Dao Artifacts that have survived the Heavenly Tribulation, and one Immortal Artifact."

"You actually want to use an Immortal Artifact as a stake?" Mu Ye Young Master said, slightly startled.

"Are you afraid? If you only have this much guts, then forget the wager—from now on you'd better not claim to be the Central Great World's top genius; you might as well call yourself the number one turtle." Li Zha lifted his head.

"Afraid?" Mu Ye Young Master's black hair floated without wind, his arrogance fully displayed: "Nonsense—though Immortal Artifacts are rare, to me they're nothing special; I'm not unable to afford the stake. I accept your wager, but I want to add one condition to it."

"What condition?" Li Zha blinked—ten Supreme Dao Artifacts and one Immortal Artifact weren't enough, yet he wanted to add more?

Mu Ye Young Master suddenly said: "If anyone loses, they must not only offer up an Immortal Artifact, but also abolish their own cultivation and sever all their internal laws! This stake—do you dare or not?"

"Abolish cultivation and sever the laws?" Li Zha shuddered all over—clearly the stake was too heavy for him to bear.

Not only him, but the four Heavenly Immortals flanking him on either side, as well as the four Heavenly Immortals beside Mu Ye Young Master, all changed color, wanting to speak yet holding back; yet out of respect for their exalted status and terrifying power, none dared to urge them to stop.

Seeing Li Zha silent and speechless, Mu Ye Young Master couldn't help but sneer: "You don't dare? Then get lost!"

Li Zha drew a deep breath and said: "You truly deserve to have the bloodline of the Immortal Realm's War King Heavenly Sovereign, with some kind of mad gene flowing in your veins. Still, I accept."

Mu Ye Young Master burst out laughing: "Good! That's worthy of being my opponent."

"Come on, let's leave the Taiyuan Immortal Mansion now and head to the Linglong Blessed Land to hunt down Chen Zheng!" He greeted the four attendants on his left and right.

"Then let's see who is truly the top hunter!" Li Zha clenched his fists tightly, refusing to yield.

A grand wager began.

Both were full of confidence, each displaying their divine abilities, leading their respective subordinates through universe after universe at full speed, each convinced they would be the first to seize Chen Zheng.

As for Chen Zheng himself, not only the two of them, but even the great Heavenly Immortals accompanying them paid him no heed.

A mere Xuanhuang native, even if he possessed astonishing power, could not overturn the heavens; as soon as the two young masters reached the Linglong Blessed Land, Chen Zheng was as good as dead.

The only difference would be whose hand he died by.

But they did not know that Chen Zheng had already sensed their every move and placed them on his death list.

…………

"The Taiyuan Immortal Mansion is indeed extraordinary—it actually stores primordial qi from the ancient ages."

Outside a treasure vault, Chen Zheng's face lit up with joy; he thrust out a big hand and seized a mass of cloud‑like qi.

The vapor gathered and did not disperse, dense and soft, as if it were a strand of qi born before heaven and earth first opened; it was also the purest, the most ancient, the most vibrant—qi belonging to the source of all things.

This is the legendary primordial qi, countless times superior to pure yang qi, towering above all vapors, and one of the necessary conditions for a True Immortal to ascend to Heavenly Immortal.

For a True Immortal to become a Heavenly Immortal is extremely difficult—a process of transforming the very essence of life that takes an immense amount of time, requiring the circulation of life‑and‑death laws to completely transmute flesh, blood, and bones into immortality.

Moreover, the True Immortal's internal mana must be transformed into primordial true gang; to complete this step perfectly, one needs the primordial qi that Chen Zheng holds in his hand.

"Not bad—my mana has increased considerably."

Chen Zheng unleashed the True Fire of the character "Refine" to envelop the primordial qi.

In an instant he refined that mass of qi.

His mana surged, rising from the strength of five Heavenly Immortals to that of six.

Comfortable.

It's also time to move about.

Whoosh!

He split off fourteen clones that superimposed upon his true body, raising his mana to the strength of ninety Heavenly Immortals.

Then he raised his right hand straight up, pointing to heaven and treading earth, like a peerless heavenly blade cleaving forward.

Splinter!

The boundless spacetime, like a torn sack, was split by his single hand, opening a great dark rift whose length was unknown billions of light‑years, piercing straight through to beyond the universe and continuing to extend forward at an astonishing speed.

Extending, extending further.

In the blink of an eye, one vast universe after another was pierced by the dark rift, like a string of candied haws on a skewer, reaching straight to the rear of Li Zha and company as they rushed toward the outside of the Taiyuan Immortal Mansion.

"Who!"

Li Zha and the others sensed the disturbance, hastily halted their forms, and with doubtful gazes looked backward—immediately Chen Zheng appeared at the end of the dark rift, his stature lofty, demonic yet divine, impossible to stare at directly.

"It's you, this waste, who made a bet with Mu Ye Yuan and boasted about hunting me?" Chen Zheng's face was calm as an ancient well, step by step he advanced through the great dark rift, pressing straight toward Li Zha.

"Are you Chen Zheng?"

Li Zha recognized Chen Zheng at a glance; regarding the other's information, he knew more than Mu Ye Gongzi did, having personally inquired about it in the Xuan Huang Xuan Xuan Huang Da Shijie Shijie Xuan Xuan Huang Da Shijie Shijie before coming.

However, Chen Zheng dared to call him trash, making him feel insulted.

Especially the way Chen Zheng looked at him, like a soaring eagle in the sky looking down on lowly crawling creatures on the ground.

He is the supreme genius of the Second World; coming to the Xuan Huang Xuan Xuan Huang Da Shijie Shijie Xuan Xuan Huang Da Shijie Shijie, he had the mindset of an emperor inspecting the countryside, full of superiority—who would have thought he'd be despised by this native Chen Zheng? It's utterly unreasonable.

However, before he could react, a heavenly immortal beside him turned cold, stepped forward, pointed at Chen Zheng's nose and shouted: "Chen Zheng, we've heard of your deeds—defeating the Supreme Imperial Heaven and even slaying whatever those Feather-Transformation Saints are—but that's no reason for your arrogance. I tell you, we come from the Heavenly King Great World, the second of the myriad heavens; we are all supreme experts. Before us, you're at most a tiny shrimp. I advise you to keep a low profile, quickly kneel and kowtow to apologize to Lord Li, or you're doomed."

This heavenly immortal wore a great black-gold cloak that shimmered with a dreamlike luster; on his thumb he wore a large ancient armguard, bluish-green and crystal clear, as if grasping supreme authority, his aura threefold greater than that of the Absolute Martial God, imposing and formidable—clearly he held an extremely high status in the Heavenly King Great World, believing he could easily toy with Chen Zheng.

"Yes, Chen Zheng, quickly kneel and apologize to Lord Li, or else nowhere in heaven or earth will anyone be able to save you!"

"Hehe, we haven't even reached the Exquisite Bliss Land yet, and you kid just delivered yourself to our door—looks like this bet is destined for our Lord Li to defeat Mu Ye Yuan and lead the Heavenly King Great World to become the foremost among all realms."

The other three heavenly immortals stepped forward with arms crossed, standing beside the black-gold-cloaked heavenly immortal, their faces sneering, as if they had already secured Chen Zheng.

But just as their words fell and the echoes still lingered in the void, a series of four booming explosions rang out—like the sound of flesh being smashed flat.

Exactly, they were smashed flat—Chen Zheng's single slap turned the three, including that black-gold-cloaked heavenly immortal, into meat patties.

Moreover, it was a meat patty made of the four mixed together, meat layered with meat, a bloody blur.

"Chen Zheng, you dare to lay a hand on me?"

"How could a mere native of the Xuan Huang Xuan Xuan Huang Da Shijie Shijie Xuan Xuan Huang Da Shijie Shijie be this strong, able to smash us four heavenly immortals with one palm……"

From the meat patty came the earth-shaking roars of the four heavenly immortals, filled with disbelief, while they tried to separate their own flesh from the others and restore their human forms.

But before they could wriggle their flesh, Chen Zheng grabbed the meat patty in his hand.

Blazing true fire erupted from his palm, wrapping the meat patty and beginning to roast it.

"Don't kill me, don't kill me……"

The black-gold-cloaked heavenly immortal and the others all sensed impending death, they were terrified out of their wits, no longer imposing as before, desperately begging Chen Zheng for mercy while trying to mobilize their magic to break free.

Alas, to no avail; in an instant the four perished in the blazing fire.

"Still, killing people is the quickest way to boost one's power."

Chen Zheng flipped his hand, absorbing the life essence of the four into his body, smacking his lips as if savoring a cup of unforgettable ginseng tea.

After absorbing these four heavenly immortals, he instantly reached the power of ten heavenly immortals.

Know this: since he advanced to the Third Stage of Longevity, the "split" character can already produce fifteen clones, plus his main body makes sixteen.

However, one clone is stationed in the Exquisite Bliss Land to guard against troublemakers.

So he can only produce fourteen clones, but now possessing the power of ten heavenly immortals is already terrifying; after overlaying the "union" character onto his main body, he directly reached the terrifying power of one hundred fifty heavenly immortals.

Too strong!

Without exaggeration, among the myriad heavens and worlds, no heavenly immortal can match him anymore.

A single strike would be enough to kill him.

"My subordinates I brought from the Heavenly King Great World—he actually killed them all?" Li Zha was shocked by this scene, a bone-chilling chill surging in his heart.

Just now Chen Zheng slapped the four heavenly immortals flat, then refined and absorbed them right in front of him—so fast it was unimaginable; he couldn't even react.

Even a heavenly immortal at his peak, slaughtering four such heavenly immortals is as easy as eating and drinking, yet it's impossible to be as fast as Chen Zheng.

His technique is surely too skillful, isn't it?

Moreover, according to the information he gathered, Chen Zheng wasn't supposed to be only able to defeat the Supreme Imperial Heaven—why has he become so tyrannically strong?

This isn't just as simple as defeating a true immortal; it's practically on par with a god‑level terrifying existence.

Just what kind of person has he provoked?

Can he truly stand against that opponent?

If he can't prevail……

Upon thinking this, Li Zha dared not ponder further, fearing loss of fighting spirit—then he'd really be doomed to capsize in a gutter.

"Slayer King Great Halberd, kill!"

Li Zha roared, clad in golden battle armor, a massive Fangtian halberd appearing in his hand.

As soon as the halberd appeared, musical notes and streams of five‑colored light filled the heavens and earth.

This is clearly an immortal artifact, and it's even stronger than the Primordial Chaos Infinite Diagram and the Ape Demon Chaos Divine Staff; within its vast immortal aura lies boundless ferocity, within which the souls of myriad demon gods are entwined—evidently it has slain untold numbers of beings, reeking of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Boom—

Li Zha swept the great halberd, as if cleaving heaven and earth; strands of killing intent turned into heavenly tracks, sweeping toward Chen Zheng in a rolling charge— instantly the aura of corpses and blood expanded, filling the universe, crowding the cosmos, squeezing heaven and earth to the point of explosion, leaving Chen Zheng nowhere to hide, forced to meet it head‑on.

(End of chapter)