Dao Equaling the Heavens
Chapter 100 - 86: When the Youthful Spirits Are High

Chapter 100: Chapter 86: When the Youthful Spirits Are High

At a magnificent family estate by the Luo River, a golden plaque emblazoned with the character for "Wang" hung over the gate, framed by stone lions.

The strength of the high gate lay in the Wang family, an ancient lineage that had controlled the Luo River generation after generation, with influence permeating every industry.

Gu Wen and his companions seemed like travelers from a martial world, leaping over rooftops along the way. Before even touching the ground, a sword light soared into the sky, splitting the opulent plaque of the Wang estate in two, with cracks extending all the way to the ridge beast atop the roof.

Boom!

With a soundless landing, He Huan’s eyes widened slightly as he said, "Brother Hongchen, we’re here to rob, right?"

"Of course."

Gu Wen nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He was obviously there to rob; it wouldn’t make sense to harm others without benefiting oneself, would it?

Inside the estate, a powerful aura soared, a True Monarch at the fulfilled Sixth Level.

At this age, reaching the Sixth Level was once estimated to barely make the top fifty, or even just nearing fifty, given that some prodigies would die along the way. But now they weren’t yet a hundred years old, not even close to the other’s lesser years.

The Immortal Land was a place where the superior reigned, but there was still an inherent gap in heritage.

Their talent could bridge this gap, but why not launch a surprise attack for a sure kill? All five present were within the top ten of the sect, joining forces to ambush a True Monarch should leave no room for slip-ups.

Lu Chan couldn’t help but retort, "You brute, since they dared to hoard a thousand jin of Spiritual Medicine, they must have secretly agreed to prevent Lord Emperor from settling scores. What will you do if the other four families come?"

She wanted eighty percent from the Wang family. With Gu Wen acting like this, how could she smoothly obliterate the Wang family and acquire a large amount of Spiritual Medicine for Alchemy to refine her foundation?

On the rooftop ahead, a white-clad elderly woman floated down, her back to the moonlight, a peacock dharma form slowly unfolding behind her.

Perhaps disturbed in the dead of night, she spoke with a hint of anger, "Who dares to intrude? State your names."

In the next moment, the old woman was stunned to see Lu Chan, then her gaze shifted to the man in plain black robes beside her, Gu Wen, a sense of foreboding rising within her.

The scion of the sect mixed up with a madman, coupled with recent conflicts, her arrival with a throng – it all spoke volumes.

They were here to demand Spiritual Objects, bringing with them four prodigies of the new generation. Among them, Gu Wen had recently fought to a draw with Broken Sword Mountain’s top prodigy, ranking among the elite of the elites.

This was also an opportunity in the Immortal Land; each gathering of prodigies represented a reshuffling of future power brokers.

The old woman’s tone softened as she spoke again, "So it’s the Saint Daughter who visits. Why didn’t you notify me in advance?"

A sneer crossed Lu Chan’s delicate face as she replied, "Just days ago, your letter didn’t say that. According to the rules, the Major Sect supports the industry in Immortal Land, and I should get at least half, yet you were not planning to give me anything."

Immortal Land’s entry does require a lot of resources, but in order for the scion to cultivate more smoothly and for long-term management, Major Sects send some of their True Monarchs to manage industries outside of the world to give back.

These people usually enter early and spread their arrival over time to lessen the burden on resources.

Some great powers with profound cultivation levels never leave the Immortal Land; they have transcended the limitations of lifespan.

If the other party gave her thirty percent, considering her weak position, Lu Chan might have endured it, but offering her nothing was an insult. After all, as a member of the previous generation, she had enjoyed the same help from the sect, failing to refine a higher foundation level last time, so it was possible to make up for that.

But it was egregious to monopolize resources that rightfully belonged to her and hog them all!

This was obstructing the grand path and could be grounds for a deadly feud.

The old woman glanced at Gu Wen, begrudgingly saying, "I’ll give you thirty percent; please, Saint Daughter, grant me this opportunity. With this Spiritual Medicine, I can fulfill another level of my foundation, which might give me a chance to reach a higher level."

"..."

Lu Chan pondered, but in the next moment, a large hand rested on her partially exposed shoulder, its searing heat flooding into her body, making her shudder involuntarily.

Turning her head, she looked up at Gu Wen, who stood half a head taller, his gaze profound. A red dragon coiled beside them as he spoke with a gentle smile, "Why waste words? You want eighty percent? Kill her then. However much you can take depends on how much effort you put in. Help me kill her within one move, I’ll give you eighty percent; in two moves, forty; in three, twenty."

A boundless killing intent enveloped the Qianfeng Sect True Monarch as her face paled, hastily she spoke again, "I’ll give fifty percent, fifty!"

"There isn’t a fourth move because she would not last more than three under my hand."

Gu Wen paid no heed to her, his eyes fixed on the petite Lu Chan as he counted down, "Three, two, one."

As the final number was spoken, Gu Wen took a step forward, hands empty, as if the moonlight itself transformed into a sword blade, gathering in his grip.

The shimmering moonlight, an ornament for his boundless slaughter.

He declared boldly, "I am Gu Wen, here to destroy."

His voice carried, and with his sword, Frost emerged, the essence of Sword Intent at its peak, cleaving directly at the soul.

The elderly woman activated her dharma form for defense, the pain already present in her soul as the sword light approached, rendering her protective Daoist Skills and defenses useless.

She had means to defend against spiritual attacks, although they may not be as robust as physical defenses.

As the sword light passed like a gentle breeze, it felt as if a massive chunk of her soul had been torn away.

Pu!

The old woman fell from the roof, crashing heavily to the ground.

Gu Wen advanced deliberately, sword in hand; he faintly grasped the mysteries of the Yuqing Sword Skill and tested the might of the heart-sword.

Ultimate in will, nothing can resist.

And a True Monarch at the fulfilled Sixth Level, similar to him, surely had not condensed a Primordial Spirit capable of transcendence; thus, she had no right to stand on equal footing.

If you’re not higher than me by one level, what gives you the right to stand before me?

Escape! I must escape!

The elderly woman turned around, risking being crushed to death by the force of fate, and soared into the sky. Whether it was providence’s favor or not, she actually broke free from the constraints of fate and didn’t feel any heaviness as she flew away.

Soaring a hundred zhang, a thousand zhang, ten thousand zhang!

Once she broke out of the accursed Immortal Land, she would be a supreme True Monarch, able to crush this junior with just a flick of her wrist.

Yet she was not willing to give up!

Pff!

A jade sword pierced straight into the elderly woman’s face, leaving no wound or blood, only the dispersal of her divine soul with dots of starlight.

Everything reverted to where it began, with the elderly woman still kneeling on the ground. She had fallen into Lu Chan’s illusion, perhaps just for an instant. But against Gu Wen’s monstrous combat power, a momentary mistake was enough for her to die ten times over.

The elderly woman’s divine soul was greatly damaged, but her life-saving measures protected her last thread of vitality. She rose into the air with a thunderous sound, only to find that Crane Qing had already blocked her way at some point. His arm swelled to more than three times its size, and he struck her down fiercely with the force of ten thousand jun.

Boom!

Though she was a True Monarch in a crippled body, she didn’t have the chance to use any measures to escape before Hee Huan’s silver spear and Murong Suyue’s giant iron hammer snuffed out her last bit of vitality.

All this happened within the span of five breaths.

Dead?

Everyone was dumbfounded. They had never imagined that a True Monarch could die so easily.

But it seemed more surprising that she didn’t die, controlled by the illusion, severely injured twice by Gu Wen, and then attacked by the group.

The key role was played by Gu Wen. He struck the opponent decisively without giving her time to react. Although it was not a sneak attack, it was as good as one.

For Gu Wen, at the fourth level of Daoist foundation and a fulfilled third level, his standing was on par with her.

In an instant, they couldn’t help but think, a True Monarch was nothing special after all!

Gu Wen bent down to search the corpse and took a Spiritual Treasure from her body. Then he turned to look at Lu Chan, who was still in a daze, and smiled, "Two moves, but your use of the illusion technique was pretty good. I’ll give you fifty percent."

"As for the Wang family, you can kill them if you want. I have no interest in slaughtering mortals. Just remember to give me fifty percent of the Spiritual Objects."

Noble families and major clans were never clean. If it were a month ago, Gu Wen might have had some interest.

Lu Chan came back to her senses and nodded, "I will. But what do you plan to do next?"

Gu Wen replied, "By dawn, we will have killed them all."

Far away, two other presences soared into the sky, both at the seventh level of Daoist foundation, with one at the fulfilled first level.

One at the ninth level, one at the eighth.

A bearded strong man suddenly appeared and blocked the former. With a single hand transforming into a dragon claw, he grabbed and instantly killed one of them.

The hierarchy was omnipresent; these two, merely at the fulfilled second level, were like ants in front of Ao Tang, a Divine Beast of The Three Pure Ones.

Gu Wen raised his eyebrows. This unrestrained Ao Tang seemed to be even stronger than Wenren Wu.

The other True Monarch, realizing something was wrong, turned around to flee.

By now, Gu Wen and the others had already given chase, while the rest didn’t know what they were doing. Pursuing a True Monarch two whole levels above them in cultivation was sheer madness.

But since Gu Wen had charged out, they naturally followed suit.

He was like a born leader, inadvertently gathering a group that wasn’t particularly familiar with each other.

Hee Huan called out with a trembling voice, "Brother Hongchen, that’s a True Monarch with a seventh level Daoist foundation, and you’ve even skipped a level of Daoist foundation!"

"Mr. Hee! Even if it’s not just one level, even if it were two, I will still slay him! Today, I will let you experience the thrill of killing two True Monarchs across levels!"

Gu Wen, running at the forefront, had his voice carried by the wind.

"True prodigies should kill enemies across levels, should crush the mediocre, and should do what ordinary people cannot! What does living a thousand years amount to if one remains mediocre?"

A True Monarch possessed at least one Spiritual Treasure, and one Spiritual Treasure was worth decades of Heavenly Marrow!

He turned his head slightly to reveal a wide grin full of gleaming teeth and said, "You fear True Monarchs like they are tigers, but if you follow me, you’ll see that they can be knocked down with one punch, leaving them red and white all over the ground."

The others felt a surge of energy rushing to their foreheads, as if just standing with Gu Wen and breathing the same air could grant them a strand of his madness.

Others were merely proud, but he was mad!

Complete and utter madness, believing he naturally transcended common folks, believing he was meant to do what they could not.

"In this life, I only take my hat off to you!" Hee Huan exclaimed.

Hee Huan whipped out a godspeed talisman, affixed one to each person, and their speed suddenly increased.

Treasures meant for saving one’s life were now being used to chase after a True Monarch.

Years later, when they stood at the pinnacle of the Immortal Path, with countless cultivators, and even ordinary True Monarchs, bowing down before them, they would still reminisce about this day’s madness. It was the most vigorous moment of their lives.

This ’True Qi’ was better than any Immortal Elixir.

The commotion had already drawn countless gazes, including Xiao Yunyi and others who had entered the world; they used their movement techniques to appear on rooftops and saw Gu Wen pursuing a True Monarch.

Witnessing for the first time in thousands of years of the Immortal Land, a fourth level of Daoist foundation chasing after a True Monarch, the first time a young prodigy had dared to point his sword at a True Monarch before fully maturing.

Ao Tang’s mouth twitched as he said, "This kid is truly boundlessly mad."

Divine eyes were already casting their gaze from the heavens above, as True Monarchs from the five major clans behind the major sects fueled by anger, attempted to project their avatars through secret techniques.

The Immortal Land had existed for many years, and the Human Race cultivators were extremely skilled at researching methods to evade Heaven’s Punishment, forming special magic skills. These methods were limited in power, just as one must not copy openly when cheating.

One true body was worth ten avatars, even a hundred.

Ao Tang transformed into a dragon and soared into the clouds, where the wind and clouds gathered and changed.