Achieving physical sainthood begins with the Iron Shirt technique!

Lu Chen's bloody spit was a hundred times louder than a slap to the branch leader's face.

The dignified leader of the Qingxiao Sword Sect's Eastern Xuan branch, who has cultivated for over two hundred years, is treated like a living ancestor in every vassal state he has ever been. Yet today, he is being called a spineless coward by a lowly commoner whose body is still covered in filth.

"brute!"

The branch leader's face twitched uncontrollably; his centuries-old air of otherworldly composure shattered completely before those two words. He roared fiercely.

"A mere useless embryo that can't even be sensed for spiritual energy dares to bark arrogantly before the grand formation of the immortal sect!"

The branch leader's purple-gold array flag creaked under his grip, his face contorted in agony. "Disciples, heed my command! Unleash the full ferocity of the array! Indiscriminate slaughter! Leave not a single stray cultivator alive in this Boundless Black Market!"

Once a high and mighty cultivator breaks down, their sanctimonious facade crumbles, revealing them to be more vicious than the lowest-ranking bandits in the black market.

Upon hearing this order to exterminate any remaining members of the family, the hundred elite sword cultivators in mid-air dared not delay.

One hundred people opened their mouths in unison and bit down hard on their tongues.

"puff!"

One hundred mouthfuls of scorching life essence blood were sprayed onto the array plate in the void.

"Heaven-Locking Demon-Slaying Formation, turn to the Gate of Death! Kill!"

The already crumbling formation was forced to its limit after absorbing so much essence blood. Vast swaths of silvery-white spiritual light gathered in the clouds. Immediately afterwards, tens of thousands of fierce sword rains, accompanied by sharp whistles that tore through the air, poured down relentlessly.

This was no ordinary sword energy; each sword rain was coated with a layer of visible frost. It was an extremely cold, bone-piercing Yin energy capable of directly severing the protective true essence of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. The immortal sect clearly intended to use sheer numbers and the Yin energy of the Five Elements to freeze and shred Lu Chen's fiery pure Yang blood.

The sword energy sealed off everything, from the sky to the ground, from all directions, even the smallest gap where one could hide.

Lu Chen didn't even frown.

"You think you can freeze my bones with such a paltry trick?"

He stepped firmly on the rubble amidst the ruins, his large, calloused hands gripping the century-old black iron chain. With a surge of power from his right arm, he twisted his lumbar spine sharply backward.

He forcefully lifted the 100,000-jin [Suppressing Heaven Desolate Bone Primordial Evil Stele] with one arm and held it above his head.

Whoops!

The ear-piercing howl of the wind instantly intensified. He actually swung the 100,000-pound weight around his head with unparalleled ferocity!

The black monument transformed into an extremely dense black force field. This unreasonable death force directly created an absolute defensive shield in this desperate situation, isolating all fancy spells.

Ping pong!

The dense cracking sounds were like a torrential downpour hitting an iron pot, continuous and relentless. Those innate sword energies, which were said to be able to pierce through fine steel and freeze to the bone marrow, crashed headlong into this ancient and malevolent monument.

It couldn't cut even a fraction of the way in!

Sparks flew everywhere. The silver-white blade instantly curled up and shattered into a pile of dull iron filings, which clattered and fell into the ruins at Lu Chen's feet. The absolute defense, clearly superior, had carved out a patch of pure land amidst the rain of swords.

Just then, the fat pavilion master of Wanbaoge, who was lying paralyzed deep in the ruins, had an extremely venomous glint in his beady green eyes.

He had just suffered enough, and he knew perfectly well that he couldn't possibly defeat this big man head-on. But he could see clearly that the wolfskin on the man's chest was covering a completely unsuspecting little girl, which was the man's most tightly guarded weak point.

The fat pavilion master took out three jet-black nails from his sleeve.

This is a highly sought-after and extremely poisonous item in the Boundless Black Market, called the "Absolutely Deadly Bone-Piercing Soul-Destroying Nail." It is coated with a deadly poison that even Golden Core cultivators find difficult to detect. It is invisible and can turn a person into a puddle of yellow liquid as soon as it enters the flesh.

"You peasant, take your broken stone to hell!"

The fat pavilion master flicked his finger.

Under the cover of the rain of swords, three Yin Nails shot out silently, heading straight for Lu Chen's back, intending to deliver a penetrating blow and kill the little blind girl inside. The treacherous nature of the cultivator-merchant was on full display at this moment.

Three nails were about to pierce Lu Chen's broad back.

Lu Chen didn't turn around at all.

His body, honed to the level of a thousand-layered Xuan Iron Realm expert, had long since reached the point where even his pores could sense killing intent. Just as the three Soul-Destroying Nails were about to pierce his flesh, the entire black membrane on Lu Chen's back suddenly contracted inward to its limit!

That piece of flesh instantly became a hundred times tougher than millennia-old steel. The muscle fibers twisted together, transforming into a sheer cliff.

Ding!Ding!Ding!

Three crisp, teeth-grinding crackling sounds exploded out.

The three deadly poison-laden nails failed to pierce even a speck of skin when they struck Lu Chen's back. Faced with the absolute hardness of flesh, the nail tips snapped off cleanly at the base.

The scrap metal lump rolled helplessly into the muddy water.

The fat pavilion master's face turned deathly pale instantly, and his courage nearly burst.

Lu Chen let out a wild, raucous laugh that made people's eardrums ache.

"Trying to tickle me with this piece of junk?" Lu Chen tilted his head back, his laughter abruptly ceasing. "I'm not playing with you anymore!"

Deep within his chest, the temperature of the Supreme Blood Furnace surged to its boiling point. His massive heartbeat sounded like the drumming of an ancient war god. The raging, dark red pure yang energy, no longer suppressed, erupted forth from his large pores!

chi chi-

Within three feet of Lu Chen, all the rainwater and sword energy residue were instantly evaporated by this domineering and unparalleled high temperature.

A three-foot-thick layer of scorching blood energy enveloped his entire body. This blood fire not only burned his blood and qi, but also incinerated the immortal laws that attempted to approach. The domineering nature of a body cultivator, capable of burning everything in its path, was fully revealed!

"Get the hell down here!"

Lu Chen stomped his foot hard on the ground. The ruins collapsed again, creating a huge crater.

He was like a dark red, malevolent star that defied the heavens and charged forward, rising directly from the ground and forcefully penetrating the seemingly impenetrable array in mid-air amidst a rain of icy swords!

The bloody carnage of wolves pouncing on sheep has officially begun.

He didn't bother looking for any array core, nor did he bother trying to decipher the array's illusions. A top-grade natal flying sword, radiating a deep blue light, thrust straight at him, its tip aimed directly at his face.

Lu Chen didn't even try to dodge. His large, fan-like hand shot out, fingers spread wide, and he gripped the sharp blade tightly!

clack clack...

The flying sword struggled desperately in Lu Chen's palm, emitting a mournful cry of unbearable strain.

"This worthless junk dares to call itself a divine soldier in front of me!"

Lu Chen grinned, unleashing a torrent of pure Yang heat from his palm. The flying sword, originally capable of slicing hair in an instant and imbued with extreme Yin energy, was instantly scorched red and brittle by this intense heat. Lu Chen exerted force with both hands, forcefully snapping it apart to the sides.

Snapped!

The indestructible immortal flying sword was broken into two pieces of dull scrap iron, just like a withered piece of rotten wood!

That was a sword cultivator's natal weapon, cultivated using their divine soul. The moment the flying sword was destroyed, the late-stage Foundation Establishment sword cultivator hovering in mid-air not far away let out a shrill, inhuman scream. He clutched his head with both hands, blood gushing from his seven orifices, and plummeted straight down from mid-air like a tattered sack.

But this is just the beginning.

Lu Chen was like a farmer harvesting cabbages in a field while he was in mid-air. He used both hands simultaneously, his iron hands never having a chance to close.

With his left hand, he grabbed a longsword and snapped it in two; with his right hand, he grabbed a short blade and crushed it on the spot. The visual dominance was simply too savage. The divine soul weapons that cultivators were most proud of were as fragile as firewood in the hands of this body cultivator.

In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, more than a dozen of his natal flying swords were torn in two.

A rain of human flesh and blood fell directly from the sky.

A dozen or so sword cultivators, suffering from the backlash to their souls, coughed up blood, their limbs twitching, and crashed one after another into the ruins, instantly turning into unrecognizable pools of flesh and blood. Wherever they went, people and horses fell over, and the so-called unbreakable formation was riddled with holes in an instant.

Lu Chen, suspended in mid-air, had reached the peak of his momentum.

He reeked of a pungent, overwhelming stench of blood. The two sword cultivators in front of him, screaming and falling, were still clinging to life. Lu Chen's large black iron boots stomped down on them without mercy.

Click!

The swordsman's shoulder blade shattered on the spot, and he was crushed into a fleshy cannonball by the enormous recoil force, smashing the three shops below.

Lu Chen actually used the broken bodies of these celestial beings as leverage to leap into the air once again!

That magnificent, dark black body left a blinding crimson afterimage in mid-air, like an indescribable ancient Asura, heading straight for the face of the branch leader at the highest point!

The distance was reduced to less than five zhang. Lu Chen's fleshy face magnified rapidly in the branch leader's field of vision.

At this moment, the branch leader's heart and soul were completely shattered.

He sensed a profound despair, a sense of utter defeat, emanating from this burly, uncouth man. These Foundation Establishment disciples were utterly incapable of stopping this monster, who could crush them with sheer physical strength!

"You peasant, you forced me into this!"

The branch leader let out a desperate roar. He suddenly reached into the void and pulled out his most treasured life-saving artifact.

"The Seven Absolute Swords of Profound Ice, devour him!"

He swung a short sword, its entire body gleaming ice-blue, with tremendous force. The branch leader, also risking his life, spat out three large mouthfuls of his Golden Core essence blood, pouring it all onto the sword.

The short sword absorbed the essence blood and instantly swelled in size. Extremely cold true energy twisted and churned in mid-air, transforming in just two breaths into a gigantic frost python tens of meters long! The python's entire body was covered in sharp icicles, and the surrounding air instantly plummeted to a freezing point. It opened its gaping maw, covered in ice spikes, and with a deadly chilling force, lunged at the charging Lu Chen, ready to devour him whole!

midair.

Lu Chen roared as he faced the colossal, earth-devouring frost python.

That shout was truly like a thunderclap in early spring, splitting the gloom!

His knees bent in mid-air, his waist and stance becoming one, and he gathered all the immense, deadly power he possessed—a hundred thousand jin—into his arms without reservation. The power rose from the void, perfectly natural.

"My spark will be used to smash all of you rotten ice and broken glass!"

The 100,000-jin black stele he had held above his head transformed into a gigantic, pitch-black axe. Lu Chen gripped the chains tightly with both arms and brought it down furiously towards the giant python's head!

The massive monument, imbued with the remnants of the ancient wilderness, resembled a raging black dragon that had undergone a massive overturn. This pure, extreme pressure, carrying an unparalleled aura capable of shattering the void, slammed down upon the head of the dozens-of-zhang-long frost python.