Battle Through the Heavens: Starting with Cao Ying as an apprentice

His face was withered, but his eyes were as deep as an abyss. Although his aura was contained and not revealed, the pressure that seemed to surpass heaven and earth was clearly a sign that he had stepped into the level of a half-saint!

"Slap, slap, slap."

He clapped softly, the dry applause sounding particularly jarring in the silent void.

"Not bad, not bad at all." The old man's gaze swept over Zi Yan and Cai Die, and especially after sensing their surging ancient bloodline aura, a hint of undisguised greed and satisfaction flashed in his eyes.

"Although Su Baichen died and we failed to capture him alive, which is a bit of a pity... However, being able to unexpectedly capture a pure-blooded Ancient Void Dragon, plus a descendant of an ancient celestial serpent, makes this trip worthwhile."

His voice was calm, yet it carried an absolute indifference as if he regarded everything as a plaything in the palm of his hand.

Chapter 252 Annihilating the Soul Palace Half-Saint!

The old man from the Soul Palace, with a cultivation level of early-stage Half-Saint, is one of the nine Heavenly Venerables of the Soul Palace, along with the Heavenly Venerable from before.

They are the Three Venerables of the Soul Palace!

This person is very careful and cautious; no one knew of his arrival this time.

In the arena!

The old man in black robes looked at the two women with a teasing, cat-and-mouse expression.

He didn't rush to make a move; instead, he leisurely sized up the two women in front of him, who were already sitting ducks in his eyes.

“Ancient Void Dragon? And…Ancient Celestial Serpent? Tsk tsk, what a rare bloodline.” A greedy glint flashed in the turbid eyes of the Three Venerables.

"If we capture them, they will be excellent materials, whether for making medicine or extracting bloodline power."

Before he finished speaking, a chilling, viscous, and terrifying pressure, seemingly originating from the deepest abyss, suddenly descended without warning!

That wasn't just a simple imposing aura; it was a unique "power" belonging to a semi-saint, a fusion of soul-shaking and spatial stagnation.

The air instantly became as heavy as deep sea water, suffocatingly so.

Zi Yan's delicate body trembled violently, the veins on her arms, which were tightly gripping the Dragon Phoenix Ancient Spear, became visibly prominent, and her bones creaked under the strain.

She felt as if an invisible mountain was pressing down on her, not only suppressing her physical body but also striking her soul.

The dragon-phoenix bloodline within her body instinctively boiled and resisted, emitting a low roar, but it only allowed her to barely maintain her standing position, unable to move even half a step.

The immense power that was once enough to tear apart space was now firmly imprisoned within his body, making even lifting the spear incredibly difficult.

Cai Die's condition was equally bad. Her pretty face was deathly pale, her pearly teeth were tightly biting her lower lip, and the knuckles of her fingers gripping the sword had turned white from excessive force.

The aura of battle qi that automatically appeared around his body fluctuated violently under the pressure of the half-saint's might, flickering uncertainly like a candle in the wind.

Her mind raced, several options flashing through her mind—forcefully activate her bloodline power? Use a spatial secret technique to escape? Or fight to the death to buy Zi Yan a chance to survive?

However, every option ultimately leads to despair.

The difference in strength is too great; the gap between a Half-Saint and a Dou Zun is too vast.

Faced with absolute power, any skill or decisiveness seems pale and powerless.

The Three Venerables clearly understood the principle that even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit, and they were also cautious in their actions, never giving their prey any chance to catch its breath or turn the tables.

A mocking sneer still lingered at the corner of his mouth as he casually raised his right hand, making a pressing motion in the air.

There was no earth-shattering display, no dazzling energy radiance. Simply a huge, pitch-black handprint formed from boundless battle energy quietly appeared above the two women's heads.

The handprint was incredibly solid, with clear lines, radiating a dark aura that devoured light and a chilling cold that froze the soul, sealing off all space for escape in all directions, and slowly pressing down with the force of Mount Tai.

The movements were fluid and graceful, with an overwhelming sense of power that first intimidated and swayed the opponent's mind, then immobilized them, before delivering a fatal blow. There was no hesitation or hesitation; it was ruthless and efficient, a consistent style of the Soul Hall in hunting down powerful individuals.

【It’s over! 】

In the pupils of both Cai Die and Zi Yan, the ever-growing shadow of death was reflected, and their hearts sank simultaneously, chilled to the bone.

boom--!!!

Amidst the deafening explosion, a violent energy shockwave spread wildly in a ring outwards, distorting space itself.

Cai Die and Zi Yan instinctively closed their eyes, bracing themselves for the excruciating pain of being shattered to pieces.

However, the anticipated destruction did not come to pass.

A gentle yet irresistible force quietly enveloped them at the critical moment, completely isolating them from the destructive palm strike.

The roar filled my ears, but all I could feel was a gentle breeze.

Immediately afterwards—

call out!

A terrifying sword aura, condensed to its extreme and almost tearing through space, suddenly slashed out from the core of the billowing dust!

The sword energy possessed an eerie, semi-transparent hue, silent yet moving faster than thought could perceive. Wherever it passed, even the air itself was slashed with fine, black streaks that lingered for a long time—a sign that space had been briefly torn apart.

The mockery on the faces of the Three Venerables of the Soul Palace hadn't even fully developed before it was replaced by extreme horror and bewilderment.

He didn't have time to make any defensive or dodge movements; he only felt a chill on his waist and his vision was strangely shifted vertically.

He looked down and, incredulously, saw his lower body moving away...

puff!

With a soft sound, the body of the demigod was split in two! Before the blood could be spilled, it was evaporated into scarlet mist by the remaining sharp sword energy.

A somewhat ethereal, terrified, and panicked soul burst forth from the mangled body, screaming.

"Do not--!!!"

Without the slightest hesitation, the soul of the Three Venerables instinctively tried to tear through space and escape.

As the Celestial Venerable of the Soul Palace, survival and information transmission are instincts ingrained in his very bones.

However, to his horror, he discovered that the surrounding spatial barriers were more solid than he had imagined. No matter how much he tried to activate his soul power, it was like an ant trying to shake a tree, and he couldn't budge it.

The entire area had long been completely sealed off and imprisoned by a vast and unfathomable spatial force!

"Hey, you actually survived my sword strike?" A voice, slightly surprised yet tinged with laziness and dissatisfaction, came from the dissipating dust.

"It seems that my fighting skills are indeed lagging behind my current cultivation level."

"Tsk, I need to come up with some new ideas when I have some free time."

The wind swept away the dust.

That familiar figure, with one hand behind his back and the other casually waving to dispel the last wisps of smoke, appeared before Cai Die and Zi Yan.

Dressed in the same blue robe, spotless, with a faint, ambiguous smile on his lips, who else could it be but Su Baichen?

"You...you...you! This is impossible!!!" The soul of the Three Venerables fluctuated violently, emitting a piercing scream filled with incomprehensible shock.

He witnessed it with his own eyes. Just moments before, in that hidden place in the void, Su Baichen was driven to a dead end and ultimately chose a tragic self-destruction. The destructive energy fluctuations were undeniable! Why now…

What made his soul tremble even more was the aura that naturally emanated from Su Baichen!

Vast and unfathomable, its mere unconsciously released pressure caused his semi-saint soul to feel waves of stinging pain and suffocation.

He had only ever felt this way from someone like the Vice Hall Master of the Soul Hall!

A three-star Dou Sheng in the late stage? Or even stronger? How is that possible!

He knew Su Baichen's file in the Soul Hall by heart. More than ten years ago, he was just a beginner in Dou Zun. Even if he was exceptionally talented and had extraordinary opportunities, it was already astonishing that he could advance to Dou Sheng in such a short time. How could he possibly reach the late stage of three-star Dou Sheng in one step?!

In just over a decade, he's gone from a low-level Dou Zun to a late-stage three-star Dou Sheng? This is utterly absurd and defies all reason!

Su Baichen ignored his shock and collapse, his gaze sweeping over the illusory soul as if it were an insignificant trinket.

"Go to hell, I can't be bothered by your nonsense."

Before he finished speaking, his figure had vanished from the spot. There were no violent spatial fluctuations; it was as if he had only taken a small step, directly traversing a distance of dozens of feet, and appeared in front of the Three Venerable Soul Body.

The slender, pale hand seemed to slowly reach out, yet it precisely and accurately grasped the head of the soul entity (virtually holding its soul core).

Chapter 253 The Killing Reappears; Luo Cheng Reappears!

"You...you want to search my soul?! Don't even think about it!"

As a high-ranking member of the Soul Palace, the Three Venerables instantly understood Su Baichen's intentions. In despair, his soul body suddenly expanded, and extremely dangerous destructive waves burst forth from its core—he was going to self-destruct his soul, preferring to shatter like jade rather than allow the other party to probe his memories, and even attempted to perish together with them!

"You think you can just self-destruct in front of me?" Su Baichen's lips curled into a mocking smile.

The next moment, a point of pure white light suddenly appeared from the fingertip of his hand that was holding the soul.

The light was not dazzling, but it carried an absolute will to sever everything and end all things.

Skill: Execute!

A flash of white light disappeared in an instant.

The expansion of the Three Venerables' souls came to an abrupt halt, and the destructive energy condensed at their core dissipated silently like a burst bubble.

His ferocious and resolute expression froze forever, and the light of his soul body quickly dimmed and dissipated, turning into the purest and most primal soul power, which Su Baichen casually collected.

The entire process was clean and efficient, without any earth-shattering explosions, only utter annihilation.

The once formidable Soul Palace Three Venerables, a half-saint powerhouse, who once dominated the world and struck fear into the hearts of countless people, were annihilated without leaving a trace.

Su Baichen acted as if he had only done a trivial thing, casually putting away the remaining corpse of the Third Heavenly Venerable and the pitch-black storage ring that represented the identity of the Soul Palace Heavenly Venerable before turning around leisurely to look at the two women behind him who were still in a petrified state.

Cai Die's beautiful eyes were wide open, her red lips were slightly parted, and the tips of her fingers holding the sword were slightly white.

Zi Yan's purple eyes widened in disbelief, and she even forgot to put away the Dragon Phoenix Ancient Spear in her hand. Her little face was filled with questions: "Who am I? Where am I? What just happened?"

Su Baichen found their expressions somewhat amusing and raised an eyebrow: "Hmm? What's wrong? Scared?"

Butterfly was the first to recover from the extreme shock. She took a deep breath, suppressing her turbulent emotions, her voice still trembling slightly: "You...you didn't self-destruct? We all saw it with our own eyes, that energy..."

"Oh, that's just a puppet. It was an experiment I made when I was bored. It's quite realistic, isn't it?" Su Baichen waved his hand casually, his tone as relaxed as if he were discussing the weather.

A puppet? An experimental subject?

Cai Die and Zi Yan exchanged a glance, both seeing disbelief in each other's eyes.

A puppet that can deceive the perception of a half-saint powerhouse of the Soul Palace and even simulate the energy fluctuations of a self-destruction.

Moreover, the strength that puppet had previously displayed was clearly that of a genuine peak seventh-level Dou Zun! Such methods were unheard of!

Looking at their expressions, Su Baichen understood their doubts after a moment's thought and chuckled, "That's the most successful one so far."

"The higher the realm, the greater the energy the puppet must bear, and the higher the requirements for the compatibility of materials, runes, and energy core. If there is even the slightest mistake in the production, the whole thing will be ruined."