Xia Zhenhai, surrounded by the golden-purple Qi light, could clearly feel that the unfamiliar Qi was now flowing through his body and settling into his dantian.
A shining golden aura radiated from him, the air around his body trembling, and then burst out. This made the three-headed serpent that rushed toward him bounce away and be destroyed.
The three Grand Elders were in shock, realizing what had happened before them. They didn't dare to attack the opponent now, since they knew such action would cost them their lives for interfering with the heavens.
They gazed at the sky, looking past the swirling golden-purple clouds above their head. They noticed that the Blood Moon was gone. They silently cursed their own fate—this entire event was a huge defeat for them.
Surrounded by the golden aura, Xia Zhenhai gazed at the enemies with an indifferent eye. Currently, he couldn't move as the heavens were blessing him with the merit.
The Grand Elders felt the threat from the look in the opponent's eyes. They moved immediately. Even though they couldn't attack the opponent yet, nothing prevented them from setting the advantageous stage.
With a quick movement, one of the Grand Elders placed the killing formation around Xia Zhenhai, prepared to activate it immediately at the moment when their fight resumed.
Shortly, the golden-purple light from heaven gradually faded.
The Grand Elder's eyes narrowed. At the moment when the golden cloud and the aura around the opponent had gone, he immediately activated the killing formation. The octagonal formation circle glowed with crimson light, surged toward Xia Zhenhai at the center, and then exploded.
BOOM!
The explosion from the killing formation was extremely deadly, its power bolstered by three peak experts.
However, this wasn't enough to take Xia Zhenhai down. The Ice Qi surged out from where the explosion occurred, freezing the explosion event in stillness.
"What?!" The Grand Elder was shocked.
Then Xia Zhenhai appeared before him with the powerful, chilling aura that enveloped him.
"NO!" the other two Grand Elders shouted in warning, but it was too late.
Xia Zhenhai slashed the sword, cutting off the head of the Grand Elder who controlled the killing formation immediately.
The two Qi attacks were coming toward Xia Zhenhai from behind. His eyes gazed at them.
The next scene shocked the two Grand Elders as their attacks were stopped midair, as if they were being frozen.
There was no need for an extra explanation of what had just happened. The two Grand Elders knew what they faced; the opponent already surpassed them in the Dao.
SHING!
The sound of the sword being slashed rang, and then the bodies of the Grand Elders were divided into a million pieces. They died before they even realized it.
Xia Zhenhai flew away from the scene, flying toward where Blood Prince had gone. His expression was filled with shame. This was because he had to use a portion of the Merit Qi to instantly raise his cultivation realm in order to get out of the killing formation unscathed.
In his opinion, using the Merit Qi this way was such a waste; he could have used it for other things that would benefit him more, but what was done was done—there was no need for more regret.
With the tier 7 cultivation realm, the Dao Threshold Realm, his strength and speed increased a thousand times higher than before. What's more, the new cultivation realm's trait allowed him to perceive the fabric of reality more clearly.
He closed his eyes, and he sensed the flow of spacetime, dimension, and void that flowed through reality around him.
His Divine Sense quickly caught a tail of his target's aura. Then, his eyes snapped open as he raised his sword and slashed toward the empty space before him.
SHING!
The space was torn apart, creating a space tunnel midair. Without hesitation, Xia Zhenhai disappeared into it.
The next moment, he reappeared in a completely different place, crossing the distance between two points of space and time. Before him was the Blood Prince, who had a shocked expression when he saw who had appeared in front of him.
The Blood Prince sensed the aura from the opponent, and he was even more shocked.
He quickly attempted to escape, but how could Xia Zhenhai let that happen?
Before the Blood Prince could react, countless Sword Lights appeared before him, attempting to cut him into pieces.
However, the sword lights never reach the Blood Prince.
Crack!
One of the rings on the Blood Prince's hand cracked and shattered, unleashing a surge of crimson Qi outward.
A crimson barrier formed instantly in front of him just before the countless sword lights were about to strike, blocking the deadly attack completely and protecting him from certain death.
Seeing his Sword Qi attacks fail, Xia Zhenhai raised his sword, intending to attack again; however, before he had a chance to do so, he saw the crimson barrier transform and envelop the Blood Prince entirely, and then he disappeared from this place.
"Protection treasure…" Xia Zhenhai murmured. He was surprised that the Prince carried such a life-saving treasure around. The protection treasure that could block his attack was clearly at the Divine Rank—it was something rarely seen in this Seventh Heaven, even rarer than the Divine Artifact.
He closed his eyes as he focused. He tried to sense the Blood Prince's aura, but to his disappointment, the life-saving treasure had erased all traces—he couldn't find the other party's aura at all. Instead, he noticed an unexpected person appear behind him.
Xia Zhenhai opened his eyes and turned around to meet that person.
…
"Congratulations, Patriarch Xia, for breaking through to the Dao Threshold Realm," Hengsheng greeted the other party politely—genuine politeness, not just pretended—because the other side was worth the respect from him. Even in his Lan Clan, experts at this level were considered honorable.
Xia Zhenhai's eyes narrowed, wondering how this person could appear in this place and at such a time, as if he had been watching all along.
"Chairman Lan… I thought you wouldn't come," Xia Zhenhai replied to the greeting.
"How could I not? I am always on the battlefield, watching to ensure things are in our favor," Hengsheng said.
"Then it seems like I misunderstood," Xia Zhenhai nodded in understanding and offered a light apology to the other party. He somehow found the other party's words believable, even though he hadn't sensed this person's presence anywhere on the battlefield like the other claimed.
Hengsheng didn't mind, glanced at the surroundings, the sky, and then back at Xia Zhenhai.
"Patriarch Xia… With your current situation, you shouldn't act any further." Hengsheng warned.
Xia Zhenhai listened and remembered something he had almost forgotten.
"Thank you, Chairman Lan, for reminding me of this, but we still have countless rats to get rid of…" Xia Zhenhai said, but before he could finish, Hengsheng cut him off.
"Don't worry about them. I will move to eliminate them myself," Hengsheng said.
He didn't want Xia Zhenhai to act, since now that he had become a Dao Threshold expert, his every action he made that could affect worldly matters in this heaven—especially killing those who had a lower cultivation realm than him—would reduce the time the Heavenly Dao allowed him to remain in this realm. The less he moved, the more time he would have.
Seeing Lan Hengsheng insist on not letting him take action, he immediately understood the other party's intention: he wanted him to remain in this Seventh Heaven as long as possible as a strong backer.
"If you say so, I will leave this matter to you," Xia Zhenhai said. He turned to leave, as he still had to learn about his new strength.
"By the way, about the Blood Prince… you don't need to regret that he got away," Hengsheng said.
"Someone else has already taken care of him," Hengsheng added.
Xia Zhenhai paused, narrowing his eyes as he absorbed the news. Relief washed over him, though he still regretted not being the one to end the Blood Prince's life. With nothing left to do here, he tore open a space and disappeared.
"Only us left," Hengsheng murmured.
The next moment, Yunsu suddenly jumped out of nowhere and appeared above his shoulder.
"Meow!" Yunsu meowed and hugged Hengsheng's arm, asking for a cuddle.
She said she felt uncomfortable under Xia Zhenhai's aura. This was understandable—her whole life, she had often been the most powerful being anywhere. This was the first time she stood before someone clearly superior to her in terms of strength, which made her feel very uncomfortable and frustrated.
"That's alright, you will soon suppress everyone and become a feline godqueen!" Hengsheng said.
Yunsu received the praise, stood on her two feet, and slapped her chest with her front paws, becoming once again confident, thinking her human's words were the ultimate truth.
"Yunsu, protect me. I have to work," Hengsheng said.
"Meow," Yunsu replied.
Hengsheng nodded, then searched for a suitable spot nearby and sat in a lotus position.
He closed his eyes and silently cast a spell.
And then he opened both of his palms.
A yellow flame sphere appeared and slowly rose from his palms.