Chapter 266: Facing Off Against the Elder! Old Dog, Did You Not Have Breakfast?

"Why don't you old geezers come up and play with me?"

Gu Lan's words were like throwing a ladle of ice water into a pot of boiling oil.

After a brief, deadly silence, an earth-shattering roar erupted above the Sunset Plain, capable of overturning the heavens!

"Arrogant! Utterly arrogant to the extreme!"

"A demonic cult dog who betrayed his master and ancestors dares to insult our Righteous Path, claiming we have no true men?!"

"Kill him! Cut him into a thousand pieces to set the record straight!"

The hundred thousand Cultivators in the Righteous Path camp completely went berserk. Those Elders from various sects, who were usually high and mighty, were all so enraged that their eyes turned blood-red, their bodies trembled, and their beards nearly flew into the sky.

Utterly outrageous!

Pointing at their noses and calling them "old geezers" in front of the world's heroes was practically tearing off the entire Righteous Path's face and rubbing it violently on the ground with the soles of his shoes!

"Arrogant brat! Even if this old man risks his life today, I will purge our ranks!"

Accompanied by a furious roar like thunder.

Qingyun Sect's Law Enforcement Grand Elder, Elder Lei Yan, could no longer suppress the rage in his heart. He had watched with his own eyes as his favorite Disciples were kicked off the arena stage by Gu Lan like helpless children, and now he was being insulted to his face by this traitor in public.

If he could endure this insult, he would have lived his hundreds of years in vain!

"Boom!"

Grand Elder Elder Lei Yan suddenly burst forth with the terrifying pressure of the Peak Nascent Soul Stage Late Stage.

This pressure was like a tangible storm, directly forcing the young Disciples around him to retreat again and again, struggling to breathe.

His eyes were blood-red, and the purple-black lightning-attribute Spiritual Qi crackled and flashed frantically on his body, emitting ear-splitting pops like a god of slaughter controlling divine lightning punishment.

"Elder Lei, wait! This goes against the rules!"

The Qingyun Sect Master reached out to stop him, as the competition rules stated that only the younger generation could take the field; it wouldn't be honorable for the older generation to step in and win.

"Sect Master! Rules are set for humans, but this little beast is no longer human; he is a demon!"

Elder Lei Yan ignored the warning entirely. Stomping heavily on the ground, his whole body transformed into a thick purple lightning bolt, charging straight toward Gu Lan on the arena in a violent posture that tore through the sky!

"Gu Lan! You beast who betrayed your master and ancestors, give me your life!"

Mid-air, Grand Elder Elder Lei Yan formed hand seals, causing the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to converge frantically.

"Purple Cloud Divine Lightning—Wild Lightning Heavenly Prison!"

Rumble—!!!

Dark clouds instantly filled the sky as dozens of purple heavenly lightnings, thick as water barrels, rushed out like wild pythons. Carrying world-destroying terrifying power, they intertwined into a massive lightning cage, descending straight down onto Gu Lan!

A full-power attack from a Peak Nascent Soul Stage Late Stage powerhouse!

An attack of this level—let alone for a Golden Core Stage—even an ordinary Nascent Soul Stage Early Stage Cultivator trapped inside would instantly be turned to ashes!

"Old Dog Lei, you really have no sense of sportsmanship."

Standing in the center of the arena, Gu Lan looked up at the apocalyptic lightning cage. Not only was there no fear in his eyes, but a manic Battle Intent ignited within them instead.

He didn't dodge.

At this distance, with an area attack like this, it was impossible to dodge!

"blood moon demon sickle! Get back here!"

Gu Lan gestured with his right hand.

"Clang—!"

The blood moon demon sickle, which had been kicked away and embedded in the edge of the arena earlier, let out a bloodthirsty hum and turned into a streak of red light, instantly flying back into his hand.

"Purple Extreme Golden Core, explode for me!"

Gu Lan roared wildly in his heart as the ten-pattern purple extreme golden core inside his Dantian began spinning crazily at a terrifying frequency.

Without holding back in the slightest, he poured the highly compressed Pure Yang Qi and domineering devilish essence in his body into the blood moon demon sickle all at once.

"Green Lotus Core Flame! Red Lotus Karmic Fire! Come forth!"

Boom!

Two heavenly flames, one green and one red, spread along his arms onto the scythe. The originally pitch-black blade instantly burst into soaring flames!

"Slash!"

Gu Lan gripped the long bone handle with both hands, exerted sudden force from his waist, and facing the descending purple lightning, slashed upward fiercely with a crescent-shaped flame blade Aura!

"Clang—!!!"

A deafening metallic clash echoed across the Sunset Plain.

Mid-air.

The flame blade Aura, intertwined with green and red, collided violently against the purple lightning cage.

A terrifying storm of energy swept outward frantically from the point of impact. The hard obsidian tiles on the arena floor were ripped away and ground into dust in mid-air.

"What?!"

Grand Elder Elder Lei Yan's eyes widened, full of disbelief.

He felt that his strike, powerful enough to slay a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, was forcefully blocked by an extremely domineering force filled with destructive Aura!

Not only was it blocked, but the green-and-red heavenly flames were even creeping upward along his lightning, attempting to burn his true essence!

"This kid's power… how can it be this strong?! He's clearly only at the Golden Core Stage!"

Elder Lei Yan was horrified in his heart.

"Rumble!"

Accompanied by an earth-shattering loud noise.

The lightning cage and the flame blade Aura exploded simultaneously.

Violent recoil force swept over like a tsunami.

"Pfft!"

As if hit by a heavy sledgehammer, a sweet taste filled Gu Lan's throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Uncontrollably, his entire body skidded back tens of feet, his feet plowing two deep trenches into the obsidian arena floor before barely stopping at the edge of the stage.

"Drip, drip, drip…"

Blood dripped down onto the ground from the corner of his mouth.

But he did not fall.

He leaned heavily on his blood moon demon sickle with both hands, forcibly holding his ground against the full-power strike of a Nascent Soul Stage Late Stage powerhouse!

The entire field fell dead silent.

You could hear a pin drop.

Over one hundred thousand Righteous Path Cultivators stood with their mouths agape, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

He held it off?!

A young Disciple at the Golden Core Stage actually withstood the deadly lightning strike of the Nascent Soul Stage Late Stage Law Enforcement Grand Elder?! And wasn't instantly killed?!

Is he even human?! He's practically a human-shaped Vicious Beast in human skin!

Meanwhile, in a corner of the Righteous Path camp…

Jiang Wanqing looked at that tall black silhouette with blood at the corner of his mouth yet standing unyielding, unable to hold back her tears any longer as they burst through like a dam.

"Junior Brother…"

She bit her lip hard to keep from crying out, but her fingers dug deeply into the flesh of her palms.

Under her invincible over-imagination filter, Gu Lan's actions just now weren't a provocation at all, but a tragic act of "self-sacrifice"!

"Why did he provoke Elder Lei? He could have just stepped off the stage!"

"He did it for me! For the younger generation of the Qingyun Sect!"

"He knew that if he continued to challenge the younger generation, the Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters of the Righteous Path wouldn't be his match, and casualties would be inevitable. So he intentionally provoked the Elder, drawing all the hatred and killing intent onto himself!"

"He would rather be beaten by a Nascent Soul Stage powerhouse until he vomited blood and was gravely injured, just to protect us this way!"

"Junior Brother, you carried all the suffering alone. How can I ever repay you?!"

Jiang Wanqing screamed wildly in her heart, her distress and love for Gu Lan reaching an unsurpassable Peak.

On the arena.

Gu Lan casually wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

He felt his internal organs churning and his arms numb, but instead of inspiring fear, it made his blood boil completely.

The ten-pattern purple extreme golden core was wildly healing his injuries.

"Cough, cough…"

Gu Lan coughed twice, raised his head, and his eerie purple eyes glared fixedly at Grand Elder Elder Lei Yan in mid-air.

Then, under everyone's shocked gazes…

…he grinned, flashing an extremely arrogant and even taunting smile.

"Old Dog Lei, is that all the strength you've got?"

Gu Lan's voice was raspy, yet it exuded a Supreme, matchless arrogance.

"Did you forget to eat breakfast this morning?"

"You couldn't even scratch my skin, and you still have the nerve to come out and purge the portal?"

"Go home and cultivate for another hundred years!"

Boom!

This sentence did little damage, but it was profoundly insulting.

Grand Elder Elder Lei Yan's old face instantly flushed purplish-red, trembling all over from rage.

He, a dignified Nascent Soul Stage Late Stage powerhouse, failing to instantly kill a junior with a full-power strike was embarrassing enough—yet he was publicly mocked for not eating breakfast?!

If word got out, how could he, Lei Yan, ever show his face in the cultivation world again?!

"Little beast! Today, I will skin you alive, rip out your tendons, and chop you into ten thousand pieces!"

Lei Yan completely lost his mind.

He bit the tip of his tongue hard, spitting a mouthful of essence blood onto the lightning sword in his hand.

"Qingyun Heavenly Lightning Art Forbidden Technique—Thunder God's Demise!"

This move was a lethal technique executed at the cost of his Origin essence blood, its power nearing half-step Soul Transformation! Once unleashed, it leaves no survivors!

In the sky, purple thunderclouds compressed frantically, turning into a massive hundred-foot lightning sword emanating destructive Aura that locked onto Gu Lan's Qi and slashed down with a rumble!

"This old guy has gone mad!"

Gu Lan's expression changed slightly.

There was no way he could block this move; taking it head-on meant certain death!

Just as Gu Lan prepared to crush the Blood-Burning Jade to desperately dodge…

"Heh."

A lazy, enchanting, yet infinitely cold and domineering chuckle suddenly echoed hauntingly over the entire Sunset Plain.

The laugh seemed to hold some magical power; the moment it sounded, the violent howling of wind and thunder strangely came to a complete standstill.

Immediately after, a graceful black figure stepped out as if from the Void Realm, appearing above the arena without any warning.

Ye Hongzhuang!

This demonic cult Supreme had left her throne at some unknown moment.

She was still draped in that loose snow-fox cloak, barefoot, standing in mid-air.

Facing the hundred-foot giant lightning sword slashing down with world-destroying momentum, Ye Hongzhuang didn't even bat an eyelid.

She merely raised her right hand slowly—fair as jade, her nails painted with dark red balsam.

Then, toward that giant lightning sword, she nonchalantly… flicked her finger.

"Sizzle—!"

A wisp of Origin Devilish Qi, thin as silk yet black enough to swallow light itself, shot forth from her fingertip.

"Crack! Bang!!!"

The majestic giant lightning sword, powerful enough to level the entire obsidian arena, shattered in mid-air like fragile glass the instant it touched that black Devilish Qi!

The thunderous light filling the sky vanished instantly, swallowed whole by the black Devilish Qi.

"What?!"

Grand Elder Elder Lei Yan's pupils shrank, his face—previously filled with killing intent—instantly replaced by endless terror.

But it wasn't over yet.

The black Devilish Qi continued unabated. After shattering the lightning, it instantly bloomed into a black spider lily, striking his chest violently at a terrifying speed that defied Lei Yan's comprehension.

"Pfft-wah—!!!"

Grand Elder Elder Lei Yan's eyes bulged as he felt as though a primordial giant beast had slammed head-on into his chest.

He spat out a large mouthful of blood mixed with visceral fragments, flying backward like a shot meteor ten times faster than he had arrived!

"Rumble!"

He slammed heavily into the defense Formation in front of the Righteous Path camp, causing violent spatial ripples across the light-blue light curtain. Then, falling to the ground like a lump of mud, he skidded for over ten meters before coming to a stop.

The clothes on his chest were completely corroded, exposing bone-deep wounds beneath. It was unknown how many rib bones were broken as he passed out on the spot!

Silence.

A deathly silence.

A light breeze blew across the Sunset Plain, kicking up the bloody foam spat out by Grand Elder Elder Lei Yan; a thick metallic stench drifted into the noses of the hundred thousand Righteous Path Disciples.

One hit!

Just a casual flick of her finger!

Qingyun Sect's world-renowned Law Enforcement Grand Elder, a top powerhouse at the Peak Nascent Soul Stage Late Stage, was actually flicked away like a fly so casually?! Without even a chance to resist!

Ye Hongzhuang pulled back her hand, not even sparing a glance at the half-dead Lei Yan.

She slowly lowered her head, her deep Phoenix eyes looking down at Gu Lan on the arena stage.

"Old dog."

Ye Hongzhuang parted her red lips. Though her voice was lazy, it carried an unquestionable empress-like pressure that rang clearly across the field.

"My dog is mine to beat."

"Since when was it your place to teach him a lesson?"

Gu Lan stood on the arena stage, looking up at the domineering Female Demon Lord above him.

He quietly swallowed his saliva, practically blooming with joy in his heart.

"Holy shit, living off a powerful woman like this is so damn glorious!"

Gu Lan immediately put on a lapdog expression of abusing someone else's authority, cupped his hands toward Ye Hongzhuang in mid-air while holding his sword in one hand, and shouted loudly:

"Thank you, Your Lordship, for your intervention! Your Lordship's Divine Might is peerless, invincible under heaven!"

Ye Hongzhuang glanced at him, the corner of her lips curving up in a barely perceptible arc.

Just as the demonic cult's momentum rose like a rainbow and the Righteous Path side looked as solemn as at a funeral…

In the center of the Righteous Path camp, a pressure terrifying to the extreme surged up like a sleeping Dragon awakening!

Qingyun Sect's Master Zhenren, a true Soul Transformation Stage powerhouse, could finally sit still no longer.

Stepping through the Void Realm, he walked upward step by step. With every step he took, the space beneath his feet seemed to freeze.

"Ye Hongzhuang!"

Master Zhenren's face was dark, his eyes fixed glaring at the Female Demon Lord in mid-air, his Soul Transformation voice sounding like rolling thunder.

"You openly intervened in the junior competition and severely injured our sect's Elder!"

"Do you truly think our Righteous Path has no one left and fears your Heavenly Demon Palace?!"