Chapter 427: Opening the Heavenly Gate with a Sword, a Single Lotus in the Eternal Green Sky

Zhou Chen was immersed in the System prompts, ignoring Gu Ming's gaze that seemed ready to devour him.

Just as he stepped out of the auction house's main gate, a figure blocked his path.

The person was none other than Gu Ming.

Behind him stood an old man in black with a cold aura and a cultivation of the Fifth Layer of True Immortal Realm, his eyes locked tightly onto Zhou Chen.

“Kid, hand over the chaos divine iron.”

Gu Ming's face was gloomy as he spoke coldly in an unquestionable tone.

Zhou Chen looked at him and smiled.

“On what grounds?”

A thick sense of disdain and arrogance flashed in Gu Ming's eyes.

“On the grounds that I am a direct son of the Gu Family. The Gu Family—have you heard of it?”

“And on the grounds that you are just a Quasi-Immortal Realm ant hiding your head and tail.”

Zhou Chen shook his head, a hint of pity in his smile.

“A direct son of the Gu Family? Is that so impressive?”

“In my eyes, you are no different from an ant; you will die just the same.”

“You're looking for death!”

Gu Ming flew into a rage and let out a sharp shout.

The old man in black behind him understood instantly. He took a step forward, and a terrifying immortal pressure erupted as he slammed a palm toward Zhou Chen's crown!

“Kid, how arrogant!”

Before the palm force even arrived, the sharp astral wind was already stinging his cheeks.

Zhou Chen, however, stood in place without even flickering an eyelid.

He simply extended a finger and lightly tapped toward the whistling palm print.

Buzz—

An imperceptible strand of Sword Qi burst from his fingertip.

There was no earth-shattering momentum or dazzling brilliance; it was extremely fast and extremely simple.

The old man's pupils constricted suddenly, and a fear originating from the depths of his Soul made his spirit tremble.

“This… this is…”

He wanted to dodge, but found his body as if suppressed by a mountain, unable to move an inch.

Puchi!

A line of blood emerged from his neck.

In the next moment, his head soared into the sky, his face still frozen in endless terror.

The headless corpse crashed to the ground, blood staining the long street red.

Dead silence filled the area.

The rage on Gu Ming's face instantly froze. He was struck dumb as if hit by lightning, staring blankly at the corpse, his mind a total blank.

Insta… insta-killed?

A dao protector of the Fifth Layer of True Immortal Realm was actually… insta-killed by a single finger?!

How is this possible?!

Zhou Chen withdrew his finger, his gaze calmly falling on Gu Ming.

“Now, do you still want the chaos divine iron?”

Gu Ming's body trembled violently, his teeth chattered, and a chill rushed from the soles of his feet straight to his crown.

He knew how strong his dao protector was. The reason he hadn't asked the Family to send a stronger protector was that he wanted to temper himself.

He hadn't expected to run into such a tough character today.

Gu Ming fell silent.

Always proud and arrogant, he actually felt a sense of powerlessness and shame upon seeing Zhou Chen's terrifying strength.

It was highly likely that Gu Ming had other protectors, and since this Treasure-Hunting Rat's opportunity panel could still be farmed, Zhou Chen decided to play it safe.

“Scram.”

Zhou Chen spat out a single word indifferently.

“You just wait.”

Gu Ming didn't linger any further and instantly disappeared at the end of the street.

Zhou Chen shook his head and casually stored the chaos divine iron into his Small World.

Outside Tianbao City, the lingering prestige of Zhou Chen's one-finger kill of a True Immortal remained. To avoid trouble, Zhou Chen slipped away early and returned to his Immortal Cave within the Zixia Sect.

The most important thing now was to transform the resources in his hands into actual combat power.

Zhou Chen sat cross-legged in the center of the secret room, his mind sinking into the vast Small World within his body.

The World Tree reached from the heavens to the earth, its branches and leaves swaying as they scattered endless Chaos aura, as if every leaf carried the weight of a galaxy.

“chaos divine iron, rise.”

Zhou Chen raised his hand, and the black divine iron he had won for two hundred million immortal crystals floated before him.

Next, he took out the main trunk of the Ancient Sky-Reaching Jianmu, which emitted an ancient aura, from the System space.

As soon as the two appeared, the previously dormant immortal mark in Zhou Chen's body—the qingping sword phantom—instantly erupted with a yearning hum.

“Jianmu as the bone, divine iron as the edge, burned by Samadhi True Fire, refine for me!”

Zhou Chen shouted low, his hands forming seals as he struck out series of profound techniques.

The World Tree in the Small World seemed to sense its master's will, dropping billions of Law divine chains that transformed into the purest Origin fire, enveloping the Jianmu and divine iron within.

There was no clanging noise of metal as imagined, only the echoes of the Great Dao.

Under the forging of the Law fire, the chaos divine iron gradually turned into a mass of black-gold liquid. The naturally formed Dao patterns on it did not disappear but instead became deeper and more spiritual.

The Sky-Reaching Jianmu turned into a green stream of light, perfectly blending with the black-gold liquid.

Time lost its meaning during cultivation.

After an unknown amount of time, the blended liquid began to elongate and take shape.

The outline of a long sword gradually became clear.

The sword was three feet, six inches, and five points long, following the three hundred and sixty-five degrees of the Zhou Heaven; the blade was eight points and four milli-inches wide, following the twenty-four solar terms.

The entire sword body presented a strange green-gold color, appearing like metal yet not metal, like jade yet not jade. Chaos currents flowed over it, and a budding green lotus was carved on the hilt.

The moment the sword was completed.

Zheng—!

A clear sword chime resounded through the Small World in Zhou Chen's body, even penetrating his Physical Body to vibrate in the sky above the Zixia Sect.

The originally clear sky instantly turned pitch black as ink.

A terrifying pressure enveloped a radius of tens of thousands of miles. Countless Cultivators looked up in horror to see purple lightning roaring and tumbling like angry dragons in the sky.

“Is this… the Lightning Tribulation for the birth of a Top-Grade Immortal Artifact?!”

“No! How can the pressure of this Lightning Tribulation be even more terrifying than when the Old Ancestor crossed the Immortal King Tribulation?!”

The power of this Lightning Tribulation was comparable to the Endless Void Divine Thunder from when Zhou Chen advanced.

In the depths of the Zixia Sect, several old monsters in seclusion were startled awake, their interweaving Divine Thoughts filled with shock.

“When did such a peerless Prodigy appear in our Zixia Sect?”

“My Zixia Sect has hope to reach the top of the Spirit Realm!”

“Old ghost! If you don't act now, are you waiting for others to spy on us?”

Several people took action one after another to obscure the heavenly secrets.

Zhou Chen looked up, his gaze piercing through the Immortal Cave to look directly at the sky.

“Is the birth of a Lifebound Treasure not tolerated by the Heavenly Dao?”

A cold arc curled at the corner of his mouth.

If it were his former self, he might have been somewhat wary.

But now, he possessed the World Tree within him and controlled the embryonic form of a Small World's Heavenly Dao. A mere Lightning Tribulation was nothing more than a delivered supplement.

“Go.”

Zhou Chen had a thought.

The newly formed qingping sword turned into a green rainbow and soared into the sky.

Rumble!

Above the sky, the first world-destroying thunder that had been brewing for a long time crashed down. The thick pillar of lightning was enough to level a main peak.

However, a scene that made jaws drop occurred.

The qingping sword did not dodge, its tip pointing directly at the lightning.

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

The moment that terrifying lightning touched the sword tip, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, directly swallowed by the Chaos vortex on the sword body!

The body of the qingping sword trembled slightly, letting out a joyful clear chime, and the green lotus patterns on the sword lit up with a trace of luster.

Then came the second, the third…

Thunder fell like raindrops all over the sky, yet they all became nourishment for the qingping sword.

The originally violent Lightning Tribulation now appeared somewhat weak, as if it had met its natural enemy.

“This… how is this possible?!”