A stunning blow

The broadsword flowed like water, its fierce whistle like thunder. Long Chen's broadsword, carrying the will to cleave the heavens, descended upon the man in white.

With that single strike, the clouds churned in all directions. That sword was no longer a mere combat skill; it was more akin to a Dao art, defying heaven and overturning earth.

Seeing Long Chen's sword slash towards him, the man in white sent his tortoiseshell shield flying. To everyone's astonishment, the shield, originally only palm-sized,

expanded instantly the moment it left his hand, swelling to a diameter of ten feet, shielding him from the front.

BOOM!

The Sword Qi slammed heavily onto the tortoiseshell shield. The shield's strange patterns lit up briefly, and then something bizarre occurred.

Long Chen's Sword Qi, like a beam of light hitting a mirror, had most of its power reflected away.

CRACK!

After blocking Long Chen's strike, the tortoiseshell shield, unable to withstand the terrifying force, exploded into fragments. White shards scattered across the ground.

The man in white behind the shield didn't fare well either. He vomited several mouthfuls of blood in succession. Clearly, the shield couldn't completely neutralize the power of the 'Cleaving Heaven' technique. As its master, he also suffered immense shock.

Even with that bizarre tortoiseshell shield protecting him and blocking most of the force, he still sustained such severe internal injuries. This showed just how terrifying Long Chen's strike was.

Looking at the shattered tortoiseshell pieces on the ground and the man in white violently spitting blood, everyone fell into a daze. They gazed at Long Chen, their hearts filled with awe and reverence.

CRACK!

People followed the sound and looked. They suddenly noticed Long Chen staring at the broadsword in his hand, which was now covered in cracks.

POP!

The broadsword exploded, scattering into a pile of fragments on the ground.

Long Chen looked at the pile of debris and couldn't help but sigh. The quality of the broadsword was still insufficient; it couldn't withstand the might of 'Cleaving Heaven'.

At that moment, a sharp pain surged through Long Chen's meridians, as if they were being scorched by raging flames. This was the aftereffect of using 'Cleaving Heaven'.

Even after advancing to the Coagulated Blood realm, with his meridians widened considerably, and even after being tempered by a Spirit Realm expert, Long Chen's meridians still couldn't fully bear that terrifying impact.

However, this time was much better than the last. His meridians were only slightly damaged, not split open, and would recover quickly.

Most importantly, this time Long Chen had unleashed the power of 'Cleaving Heaven' to its greatest extent yet, and his meridians had withstood it. This was a pleasantly surprising discovery.

Yet, there was an even greater surprise. Long Chen realized that even when exerting his full strength, 'Cleaving Heaven' was still far from reaching its saturation point. It was like a deep well; what he had explored was merely its edge.

Not killing the man in white was regrettable. Who could have imagined he possessed such a bizarre life-saving method?

That tortoiseshell shield was clearly no ordinary object. In the mundane world, such a thing was unheard of. This was probably the kind of foundation a Sect Disciple possessed, something he couldn't compare to.

Long Chen's body was now almost completely depleted of Spiritual Qi. Even the divine ring behind him had vanished. His body was utterly exhausted, on the verge of collapse. It could be said he was at his weakest.

However, Long Chen knew the man in white wasn't in much better shape. Judging by his state of violently vomiting blood, his internal injuries were extremely severe. They were now evenly matched, both in dire straits.

But Long Chen held a significant advantage. On his side, he still had two Tendon Transformation realm experts whose combat power wasn't heavily depleted, along with Xiao Xue and Chu Yao. The man in white was undoubtedly doomed.

CRACK!

Another sound of something cracking echoed. Everyone was stunned, carefully examining Long Chen and the man in white, but they saw nothing unusual about them.

CRACK!

The sound continued, but this time everyone could tell it was coming from a distance.

"It's the city gate!" someone shouted.

People hurriedly looked towards the city gate. Unnoticed by anyone, the majestic gate tower, over a hundred feet tall, was now covered in cracks.

"It was Long Chen's strike! It shook the city wall until it cracked!"

Someone exclaimed in shock. They discovered a deep trench stretching from the city gate all the way to the front of the man in white.

Only then did everyone realize. The man in white had used the tortoiseshell shield to reflect part of Long Chen's attack. That terrifying force had actually impacted the city gate several miles away.

Although it didn't smash the gate tower to pieces, it had cracked it. People's hearts trembled violently.

What kind of power was this? It could actually destroy a city wall! Was this still a power possessed by humans?

And this wasn't even a direct hit! It was just the reflected portion, with some of its force already neutralized by the tortoiseshell shield. If it had been a direct hit, the entire city gate would have been obliterated in an instant! Everyone's jaws dropped as they stared at the city gate in utter horror.

CRACK!

Another loud sound echoed as the city wall continued to fracture. Finally, under the crowd's horrified and despairing gazes, it collapsed with a thunderous roar!

"NO!"

Unexpectedly, the man in white stared at the city gate with a face full of terror and let out a heart-wrenching scream.

BOOM!

In the end, the city wall still collapsed with a deafening crash. Countless flying stones tumbled down, a terrifying spectacle.

HUMMM…

Suddenly, from the ruins of the city wall, a pillar of light roughly ten feet thick shot straight into the sky, piercing the clouds. Simultaneously, an incredibly dense Spiritual Qi rushed towards them.

Everyone stared at the scene before them in shock, stunned by this phenomenon that defied common sense.

Long Tianxiao looked at the light pillar, and a flash of understanding crossed his face. A mystery that had puzzled him for years was finally solved at this moment.

"It's a Spirit Stone mine! There's a Spirit Stone mine beneath the city wall!" someone shouted loudly. The entire imperial capital erupted into chaos.

Spirit Stones were treasures of heaven and earth, formed over hundreds of millions of years underground, absorbing endless Spiritual Qi, a type of Ore.

They were considered the lifeblood of cultivators. It was said such veins were extremely rare, and most were occupied by the great Sects.

With the support of Spirit Stones, Sect Disciples could advance by leaps and bounds in their cultivation. That was the fundamental basis of a Sect's strength.

Long Tianxiao looked at the Fourth Prince in the distance with a complex expression, shaking his head and saying, "Was it for this mine that you wanted to silence me?"

The Fourth Prince's face was ashen. He knew his doom had arrived. Faced with Long Tianxiao's words, he didn't have the slightest interest in responding.

"Years ago, after drinking, His Majesty mentioned to me that there was a mine near the imperial capital. If excavated, it could elevate Phoenix Cry above all other Empires.

At the time, I thought His Majesty was referring to a rare iron mine for forging High Grade weapons. I just smiled slightly, not paying it much mind.

I never imagined that from then on, you all assumed I knew this secret, which is why you tried to wipe me out. How ironic," Long Tianxiao shook his head and sighed.

"What?!"

The Fourth Prince stared at Long Tianxiao in shock. He too hadn't expected that Long Tianxiao was completely unaware of the mine.

It turned out that over twenty years ago, to avoid conflict between the two nations, the Great Xia Empire married its most beautiful princess to Phoenix Cry, forming a marital alliance.

However, the Great Xia princess's mission wasn't to promote peace. She carried a greater purpose: to gain control over all of Phoenix Cry, paving the way for Great Xia's future annexation.

This Great Xia princess was extremely cunning. After arriving in Phoenix Cry, she served the emperor diligently and wholeheartedly. Her skills in the bedchamber were quite exquisite, and she was "deeply" favored by the emperor.

Not long after, she bore the emperor a son. That person was the Fourth Prince. The Great Xia princess was very low-key, never competing for favor with any other consort, yielding in all matters, and even becoming close sisters with the empress.

Originally, Great Xia's plan was to subvert Phoenix Cry. However, during this process, the Fourth Prince's mother discovered a shocking secret.

That was, once when the emperor was drunk, he told her Phoenix Cry was about to become the greatest Empire in history. This aroused her vigilance. Through flattery in the bedchamber, the Phoenix Cry emperor became her puppet, revealing the secret of the discovered Spirit Stone mine.

Originally, the Phoenix Cry emperor wanted to construct a secret tunnel. After all, even an emperor needed to think of danger in times of peace. If enemies attacked the city, he could escape unnoticed, leaving himself a way out.

However, halfway through digging the tunnel, something felt wrong. The rock ahead became increasingly hard, and cobalt stones appeared.

Cobalt stones were the companion Ore of Spirit Stones. Where there were cobalt stones, there were bound to be Spirit Stones. This discovery thrilled the emperor.

He directly killed everyone involved in digging the secret tunnel, completely preserving this secret. But this Your Majesty wasn't a man who kept secrets well. And then, this Your Majesty was… 'laid to rest'.

Your Majesty was 'laid to rest' in the empress's palace, specifically on the empress's bed. Most importantly, the time he was 'laid to rest' was during a crucial moment of passionate intimacy with the empress.

At that time, the empress was frightened out of her wits, her Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering. And right at that moment, the Fourth Prince's mother 'happened' to barge in.

As a result, in her panic, the empress listened to the advice of her 'good sister' and fabricated the excuse that the emperor was in seclusion.

The idea was to later spread the news that Your Majesty had died from Qi Deviation, so it wouldn't seem too abrupt. They just needed to choose a suitable time.

Later, under her planning and advice, the empress very smoothly took control of power. They simply let Your Majesty remain in 'seclusion' indefinitely, better not to come out at all.

The empress remained unaware of the Spirit Stone mine. Whenever she faced difficulties, she would seek her help, and thus she became the empress's confidante.

The Fourth Prince's mother leaked the news of the Spirit Stone mine to her father. However, the matter was too significant, and he didn't dare act rashly.

Coincidentally, the Xia family had an expert in a Sect at that time, though not as a Disciple, but as a menial laborer. They hoped this news could help that Xia family member officially enter the Sect as a proper Disciple.

At the time, things went smoothly. That Sect secretly sent people to survey the terrain and confirmed there was indeed a Spirit Stone mine there.

However, mining recklessly would expose the Spiritual Qi and alert surrounding forces. They gave the order: quickly take control of Phoenix Cry and construct a Spirit-Concealing Array to completely mask the aura of the Spirit Stone mine.

This Spirit-Concealing Array was the current city gate tower, connected directly to the underground Spirit Stone mine, completely isolating its aura.

This way, they could secretly mine it later. But as members of a Sect, they couldn't appear freely in the mundane world to avoid alerting other forces.

So they had to rely on mundane forces to solve the problem, depending solely on the Great Xia Empire to infiltrate Phoenix Cry. To avoid causing major disturbances, they adopted the method of boiling a frog in warm water.

The only regret was that Long Tianxiao, who knew of this news, became their心病 (heart disease / thorn in their side). Hence, everything that followed happened.

But now, Long Tianxiao actually said he didn't know about the Spirit Stone mine. What a great irony! They could have obtained the Spirit Stone mine completely silently.

"AHH… You deserve to die… All of you, go to hell!"

A voice filled with boundless hatred rang out. The man in white stared at Long Chen and the others like a wild beast, his eyes brimming with insane killing intent.