Chapter 214: The Rising Morning Sun
“Li Xun, are you really planning to perish with me in this tribulation?!”
Elder Hong roared at the top of his lungs.
Qin Xueyi’s sudden breakthrough had caused a massive upheaval.
The terrifying pressure of her impending tribulation had split all the battlefields apart, forcing everyone else to flee to a safe distance. Only Li Xun and Elder Hong remained inside the range of the incoming heavenly tribulation.
Once the tribulation descended, neither of them would be able to escape unscathed.
Li Xun was undeniably an unparalleled genius, but he was still only at the peak of the Life and Death Realm. Against a Saint Tribulation, he’d have almost no chance of survival. When it came down, he, Elder Hong, and even Qin Xueyi might all be annihilated.
Elder Hong had tried multiple times to break out of the danger zone, but Li Xun blocked him every single time.
The Azure Dragon Halberd was like a divine weapon, heavy as a mountain and fierce as a raging dragon. With strike after strike, it crushed Elder Hong into the ground, leaving his body battered and broken.
Elder Hong, once proud of his invincible body refining cultivation path, could hardly believe he was being completely suppressed by Li Xun.
“I’m a Divine Palace realm expert! There’s just a quarter-hour left until the tribulation strikes! Once it begins, it’ll instantly escalate into a Saint Tribulation—are you really going to die with me here, Li Xun?!”
Elder Hong shouted again, truly panicked this time.
Li Xun’s strength had exceeded all his expectations. His body was clearly enhanced by some terrifying cultivation method, and combined with the innate advantage of a divine physique, Li Xun’s raw physical power was already on par with his own, or maybe even stronger.
“A quarter-hour?”
Li Xun gripped his halberd tightly, divine power surging around him. His tone was calm and steady:
“That’s more than enough.”
“Arrogant fool!”
Elder Hong bellowed. He swung his massive black axe once more, splitting the sky in two. At this point, he no longer held anything back—his only goal was to drive Li Xun away and escape from this death trap.
Buzz!
But Li Xun didn’t dodge.
Instead, his expression turned solemn. He used his peerless physique to power the Azure Dragon Halberd, meeting the axe head-on with a thunderous clash.
BOOOOOM!
A deafening, unnatural explosion echoed through the battlefield.
Elder Hong’s eyes widened in shock. He stared at his axe in disbelief—at the point of impact between the two weapons, the axe’s blade, then the axe’s body, and finally the handle—all began to fracture. Cracks spread like spiderwebs, visible to the naked eye.
‘This is bad!’
Elder Hong’s heart sank.
His weapon—a mid-grade Dao Weapon—had been overwhelmed by Li Xun’s Supreme-Grade Dao Weapon. After countless previous clashes, the black axe had long been at its limit.
And now, It is completely shattered.
BOOM!—a final, explosive burst of sound as the weapon broke apart entirely.
The black axe shattered into countless divine lights, scattering across the sky in all directions.
Elder Hong swiftly tried to retreat—but there was something even faster than him: a black halberd. Before he could react—
THUD!
—The halberd came crashing down, burying Elder Hong completely.
“Li Xun! You and I are now mortal enemies! This will never end until one of us dies!”
Elder Hong roared, his voice filled with bitter hatred. He had lost battles before in his life, but never like this—defeated so thoroughly, so humiliatingly, and by someone so much younger.
If he couldn’t defeat or kill Li Xun, this loss would haunt his mind forever. Forget becoming a Saint—even taking another step forward in his cultivation would become nearly impossible.
“Mortal enemies?”
Li Xun’s voice was calm, cold. “Then go die.”
From above, he descended like a thunderbolt. With one punch, he obliterated Elder Hong’s physical body, reducing it to a mist of blood and scattered flesh that splattered across the battlefield—some of it even reaching the spectators in the distance.
“AHHH—!”
Elder Hong’s soul burst free, letting out a shrill scream. Desperate to escape death, his nascent spirit soared upward, hoping to flee before it was too late.
But—
“Pfft!”
Li Xun gave him no chance.
Standing tall like a celestial demon, he raised one golden hand, which reached into the clouds and crushed the soul like it was dust.
And just like that, Elder Hong of the Star-Moon Divine Sect—a late-stage Divine Palace Realm powerhouse—was erased from existence.
The crowd watching from afar was utterly frozen in place.
It had all happened too fast.
In addition to the two Divine Palace Realm experts Li Xun had already defeated, yet another had fallen to him. And not just any cultivator—a Star-Moon Divine Sect elder!
Everyone had seen it clearly: Li Xun used no tricks, no sneak attacks. It was pure, overwhelming strength that brought victory.
Could a Life and Death Realm cultivator really have this kind of power?
“Senior Brother!”
Just then, the other white-haired elder of the Star-Moon Divine Sect finally made it past Qin Xueyi’s tribulation field only to arrive in time to see the horrific sight:
His fellow elder is dead, body and soul both destroyed.
This was no minor loss. The death of a Divine Palace Realm elder was a crippling blow to the sect’s prestige and its legacy.
Killed with a single punch, and then to make it worse, even the soul had been obliterated?
That was an utter humiliation.
How many years had it been… since anyone had dared to shame the Star-Moon Divine Sect like this?
Beneath the thunderclouds, Li Xun stepped forward. His robes fluttered, hair billowing. His eyes shone like stars. He stood calmly above the heavens, facing down the white-haired elder with an aura that made the world hold its breath.
“Do you wish to fight me too?”
Li Xun asked softly.
He stood there like a celestial demon, still only at the peak of the Life and Death Realm, but with the pressure of a god. He had just slain a Divine Palace Realm expert—his killing intent and dominance were enough to make anyone tremble.
Even this seasoned elder’s pupils shrank. His face twitched. His lips moved, but no words came out.
He looked at the pool of blood not far away, then looked back at the completely unscathed Li Xun.
After a long inner struggle, he turned and left without a word.
“Hiss—!”
The spectators gasped.
Slaying one Divine Palace Realm expert… then forcing another to retreat without a fight—It was unbelievable.
Especially since both were from the Star-Moon Divine Sect.
It was clear now: after today, the Star-Moon Divine Sect’s reputation would be in shambles.
“It’s as if I’ve witnessed the rise of a young Emperor… like the newborn sun, slowly rising in brilliance!”
An old cultivator couldn’t help but sigh in awe.