Chapter 172: Pave a Road of Blood

Lu Ye stared at the incoming Void Fist.

That technique? He could use it too.

Not just the basic Void Fist—even the original Primordial Void Fist, he had long since mastered.

Lu Ye threw out a punch of his own.

Also the Void Fist.

But unlike Jiang Riying’s version, which made the void itself tremble, Lu Ye’s Void Fist caused the space to ripple like flowing water.

An entire punch formed purely of void—smooth and seamless—arrived in an instant.

Boom!

Jiang Riying was obliterated. Not even dust remained.

The Human Sovereign Banner fluttered above Lu Ye’s head.

He stepped out of the Ascension Pool, eyes sweeping over the dense formation of powerful cultivators around him.

There were hundreds of them.

The weakest among them were at the Grand Completion stage—and they dared come to surround and kill him?

Oh. Fair enough.

From their perspective, Lu Ye had just succeeded in tribulation and, at most, had entered the Grand Completion stage. So a swarm of cultivators at that level might be enough. Even if they didn’t land the killing blow, so long as they participated, they could still claim the Jiang Clan’s reward.

Lu Ye had just blasted apart a powerful Earth Immortal with a single punch—naturally, that shook them.

“Aren’t you looking for me?” Lu Ye asked.

“We are,” said a cultivator from the Eternal Teachings Sect, tone cold.

“Then what are you waiting for? Kill me.”

“Kill him!”

“KILL!!!”

In an instant, all kinds of techniques bombarded toward Lu Ye from every direction.

The Jiang Clan’s orders were clear: leave no survivors.

Lu Ye’s body shimmered faintly, his aura unbreakable, filled with an indestructible presence.

He neither dodged nor blocked—he simply let all those techniques hit him directly.

After a full wave of spells and strikes—

Lu Ye emerged from the light with a calm smile.

He was rather pleased with the Nine Tribulations Indestructible Body’s performance.

Everyone stared in horror. Not a scratch.

“My turn.”

One sword. A horizontal slash.

The blade was like light from the dawn of creation—slicing chaos into heaven and earth.

A keening screech cut through the air—wailing, howling, as if ghosts wept.

Sword energy erupted, sweeping across the battlefield. With that one slash, Lu Ye charged in.

The crowd raised their defenses, some launching simultaneous attacks.

BOOM!

A massive explosion echoed.

Blood mist burst out in waves. The sword light cleaved bodies in two, or turned them into showers of blood.

The sword danced wildly.

A roar of spatial rupture exploded in the crowd.

One man—unleashing an infinite force.

“Not good! He’s too strong—we can’t win!”

The cultivators on the outer perimeter panicked, their scalps tingling. They turned and fled.

The moment they turned, the sound of a blade tearing through the air rang out behind them.

This sword energy was nothing like ordinary sword light. Ordinary sword light was silent, swift, and sharp.

But this—this roared like thunder, crushed like a landslide. Though it was still sword light, its impact alone could reduce bodies to shreds.

Run and die.

Don’t run—and you might survive a few more seconds.

“What a terrifying Earth Immortal...”

Suddenly, an aura belonging to a [N O V E L I G H T] Heavenly God Realm cultivator burst forth from a young man.

He held a long blade, wore a sleek black combat outfit, and his eyes were burning with excitement.

“No wonder he’s ranked first on the Eternal Heaven’s Prodigy List!”

Lu Ye had claimed the number one spot. All Nine Heavens knew of it. Countless younger cultivators had been waiting for him to ascend—waiting for a chance to defeat him.

Many who walked the path of invincibility had made Lu Ye their must-conquer target.

This man—Jiang Lieyue—was one of them.

He was at the Heavenly God Realm. Lu Ye was at the Earth Immortal Realm.

But a prodigy of Lu Ye’s caliber, with the top ranking—killing him as a Heavenly God didn’t count as bullying.

BOOM!

Jiang Lieyue vanished.

CLANG!

Blade and sword clashed—sparks flew.

The two of them hacked at each other, eyes locked.

Clang! Clang! Clang! ...

In the next instant, blade light and sword light spiraled outward like a tornado, sweeping the surroundings.

Countless clashes erupted in the blink of an eye.

The nearby cultivators had it rough—but honestly, most of them were already dead.

Speed!

Jiang Lieyue’s blade was all about speed.

Fast and fierce—so fast it blurred.

Lu Ye responded with speed as well. His sword wasn’t meant for cleaving—but that didn’t matter.

So long as the Stone Sword held—

Faster. Faster. FASTER.

Lu Ye pushed the speed of his strikes ever higher—thousands, tens of thousands of slashes per second.

Jiang Lieyue roared. His arms suddenly burst open, blood spraying everywhere.

Splat!

One sword stroke—

Blade and sword scraped together, sparks flying, blood spraying.

Lu Ye reached out, grabbed the Human Sovereign Banner, and swung it with force.

A wave of black mist surged forth.

Jiang Lieyue’s soul was dragged away on the spot, and his body was split cleanly in two.

Kill.

Since they’d come—no one should even think of leaving.

Lu Ye moved like a phantom. Each sword light not only pierced through people but also carved deep gouges in the ground.

Each time someone died, their soul was snatched away instantly.

Some didn’t even die. They were still running—and yet their souls had already been taken.

Their bodies ran on. But their souls had stopped.

Soon, silence fell over the world.

Lu Ye immediately scavenged the battlefield, rifling through storage rings, melting any needed materials with the Vermilion Bird’s Flame to remove impurities on the spot—then swallowed them down in one gulp.

“People from the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets?”

Lu Ye looked toward a distant spot.

“F-Fellow Daoist, we... we’re not part of this fight...” the cultivators from the Pavilion stammered.

“I know. But I have a message you can spread: From here, I will head straight for the Jiang Clan. If anyone wants to kill me—stop me on the road.”

“For real?!”

The Heavenly Secrets cultivator jolted, trembling with realization.

Lu Ye nodded.

Then stepped forward, speeding toward the Jiang Clan.

The cultivators from the Pavilion knew at once—Second Heaven was about to explode.

Before, many had assumed that since Lu Ye was being hunted by the Jiang Clan, he would vanish quietly in disgrace.

After all, the Jiang Clan was a dominant force with no shortage of experts. Lu Ye had only just ascended—a mere minor cultivator.

But Lu Ye was ranked first on the Eternal Heaven’s Prodigy List!

Even if he were weak, and even if the Jiang Clan were mighty, the number one prodigy had to at least make some noise!

And now, finally—he had made his move.

He would walk in the open. Bold and brazen.

Marching toward the Jiang Clan—that colossal behemoth.

His path was public.

Even if ten thousand... a hundred thousand... a million tried to block him—

He would not retreat.

The Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets immediately broadcast the news.

As expected—

Second Heaven erupted.

Maps of Second Heaven sold out instantly.

From the Heavenly God Realm to the Foundation Pill Realm, there wasn’t a single cultivator who wasn’t paying attention to this thunderous event.

Even babes barely weaned, upon hearing the name Lu Ye, would widen their eyes and listen closely.

They could sense it—even the adults, when they said his name, were filled with awe and excitement.

A sea of cultivators surged toward Lu Ye’s position.

Some came to kill him.

Some came just to watch the carnage.

Second Heaven hadn’t seen this kind of chaos in a long, long time.

The number one on the Eternal Heaven’s Prodigy List—no wonder he was bold enough to write his name there.

He was about to pierce through all of Second Heaven.

And the Jiang Clan?

The Jiang Clan and the Eternal Teachings Sect—

What would their response be?