The monster appeared so suddenly and silently that no one could react. Long Chen, seasoned on the battlefield, was extremely sensitive to danger. He hadn't sensed the monster, but he did, so he attacked with full force immediately.
Yet even so, Long Chen was still shaken into a disheveled state, his blood and energy surging, feeling as if he was about to fall apart.
The most terrifying part was that after the strike, the golden monster's figure moved and lunged straight at Long Chen. As soon as it moved, it appeared right in front of him. This was no longer a matter of speed but a kind of void-breaking law, where distance seemed to fail in front of it.
"Boom!"
Long Chen was terrified, unable to defend himself. At that moment, a silver-white spear shot toward him, blocking the golden monster's strike at the critical moment.
"Whoosh."
At that moment, a branch like a monstrous python wrapped around Long Chen, dragging him back into the formation.
"Long Chen, are you alright?" Yu Qingxuan hurriedly pulled Long Chen along, her face full of concern.
"I'm fine. What is that monster? How did it suddenly appear so quietly?"
At this moment, Long Chen broke out in a cold sweat. He never dreamed that a monster could bypass his senses and rush to his side.
"That's the Dark Lord, the strongest monster we've encountered in the Dark World. Ordinary Celestial Venerables are like ants before him." A powerful member of the Moonwatching Clan said in a deep voice.
"Boom boom boom...
At that moment, Xu Jianxiong in the distance had already engaged the dark lord. His silver spear struck the dark lord, sending sparks flying as if stabbing a divine weapon.
As soon as Xu Jianxiong made his move, his blood surged skyward. The phenomenon behind him roared and exploded, his aura swallowing all worlds. His move was simple: bold and forceful, brutal combat.
With each strike, the void shattered like a mirror, endless fragments of time and space flew about, and the whole world trembled, as if unable to withstand the power of two people and about to explode.
"The clan leader is so strong." Guo Ran and the others said in shock.
Every move Xu Jianxiong made was concise and clear, turning complexity into simplicity, yet masterful to the finest level, reaching a state of returning to simplicity.
What shocked everyone even more was that the power of each of Xu Jianxiong's strikes seemed ordinary, but when it touched the Dark Lord, it exploded instantly. His entire power was wasted and not leaked at all—this was the ultimate mastery of power.
"Is the clan leader now an Immortal Realm expert? Or has he already reached the half-step immortality? Xia Chen probed.
"No, the clan leader is still at the Heavenly Venerable realm, the Immortal Realm. How dare you dream of that!" The Moonwatching Clan expert sighed.
"The clan leader is also a Celestial Venerable?" But ... everyone, surprised.
"The Heavenly Venerable realm is divided into innate and postnatal realms. We are all postnatal, but the clan leader is an innate Heavenly Venerable." said the elder of the Moonwatching Clan.
"Is there really such a distinction?"
"The key to innate and acquired realms refers to the timing of breaking through to Heavenly Venerable. If it is when one's vital energy and blood are rising, the Heavenly Dao's fortune is grand, and advancing to Heavenly Venerable grants blessings from heaven and earth, allowing one to control the fortune of heaven and earth, the sun and moon, gathering the energy of stars and seas, and possessing power capable of swallowing the heavens.
After passing the ascent phase and reaching the plateau stage, relying on time accumulation to reach the Heavenly Venerable realm, one will no longer receive the blessing of fortune.
To put it plainly, we have already been abandoned by the Heavenly Dao, and we refuse to accept the status quo, defying the heavens and forcing a breakthrough.
The Heavenly Dao will not help us at all. To maintain one's realm without falling, one must burn one's own lifespan.
Not only that, for us postnatal Celestial Lords, every battle consumes a certain amount of lifespan. The more battles we fight, the closer we are to death. The Celestial Venerable elder of the Moonwatching Clan sighed.
"I see, there's also the concept of innate and acquired ones." Guo Ran and the others suddenly understood.
"If our human race ascends to Celestial Venerable before the age of a hundred, does that mean we are already Innate Celestial Venerable?" Xia Chen asked.
The old man shook his head and said, "That's hard to say. You humans have relatively short lifespans and weak vitality, but you are the spirits of heaven and earth, favored by heaven. As humans, the gap is vast."
Some people have already reached a plateau at thirty, while others have lived thousands of years and are still improving.
Our Moonwatching Clan is relatively stable. If you haven't stepped into the Celestial Venerable stage before three hundred years old, you lose hope of ascending to Innate Heavenly Venerable.
Our clan leader is a prodigy, a prodigy who ascended to the Heavenly Venerable level at fifty-seven, ranking sixth in history. He originally had great hope of ascending to immortality, but our Moonwatch Clan is trapped here. Sigh..." The old man spoke but eventually stopped, as if his heart was filled with countless sorrows.
With a thunderous explosion, the earth cracked and dust flew. Endless stones shot out from underground, crashing into the formation and bursting into fireworks like fireworks.
After the stone shattered, countless crystals scattered inside. These crystals contained strange fluctuations; when they appeared, they were like countless meteors streaking across the night sky, radiating dazzling divine brilliance.
"Realm King Crystals"
When Xia Chen and Guo Ran saw those crystals, their eyes nearly popped out. The crystals were even more advanced than Immortal King Crystals.
"Oh my god, there's an immortal crystal mine underground." Guo Ran cried out in alarm.
"Boom boom boom... The
earth shattered continuously, endless ores flying out, exploding in the void, a dreamlike divine radiance filling the sky.
"Boom!"
Another earth-shattering explosion rang out. Xu Jianxiong and the dark lord retreated simultaneously. Long Chen saw that Xu Jianxiong's aura fluctuations were extremely violent, clearly reaching some extreme point.
The Dark Lord, with golden divine radiance burning all over his body, must be attacking with full force.
Just moments ago, the two of them clashed with full force, fighting evenly. They each retreated, facing each other. To Long Chen and the others' surprise, a look of fear appeared in the dark lord's eyes.
"Patriarch, we're here to help you. Together, summon the ancestral spirit totem and slay this Dark Lord." At this moment, all the elders of the Moonwatching Clan rushed out, standing behind Xu Jianxiong and forming their formation.
"No!" To their surprise,
several people shouted in unison.
The people who called out "No" were Xu Jianxiong, Long Chen, Xia Chen, and Guo Ran. The Moonwatching Clan's experts were all stunned.
Seeing everyone looking at them, Xia Chen and Guo Ran hurriedly said, "Don't fight here! The crystals have already been destroyed. You're not fighting, you're fighting money. With this money, what's the point of doing it?" It
turned out that Xu Jianxiong had been fiercely battling the Dark Lord. The immense force shattered countless crystals, causing the essence inside to leak out, rendering them useless. Xia Chen and Guo Ran were heartbroken.
These were all top-grade Realm King Crystals, treasures for Realm Kings to cultivate. They were real money, the hard currency of the cultivation world. Looking at the scattered crystal fragments on the ground, they almost cried in pain.
"Uncle Xiong, keep this Dark Lord to trainHands like that, such an enemy is truly rare. Long Chen said.
"Hahahaha..."
Hearing Long Chen's words, the elders of the Moonwatching Clan were terrified, but Xu Jianxiong burst out laughing:
"Good kid, you're thinking just as I was."
"Roar!"
At that moment, the dark lord seemed to understand their meaning, as if deeply humiliated, roared angrily, and charged forward.