Evil Venerable of the Sword Dao
Chapter 170 - 067 Not Qualified

Chapter 170: Chapter 067 Not Qualified

Zhou Yan’s gaze sharpened, the situation was somewhat unexpected!

His sensing power was already extremely strong, but now, he couldn’t sense the tactics of another hidden person!

The tactics used by that hidden person were clearly the same as those from the ancient sacrificial platform within the Sacrificial Heaven Ancient City; only now, this person’s way of hiding seemed much cleverer.

Such a person, if they had acted earlier, even Ji TaiXu would probably not be their match.

Hearing Wang Ze’s exclamation calling out this person’s name, Zhou Yan’s heart stirred slightly; he had long known that Jia Yongheng was not as simple as he seemed.

Even though he bore the reputation of a True Spirit Level genius, his way of conducting himself seemed extremely low-key, which was a major contrast to his latent strength.

Yet now, it wasn’t until Wang Ze shouted out his name that Zhou Yan understood that this person was the one who had hidden at the ancient sacrificial platform! Moreover, it was likely that at that time, Jia Yongheng didn’t regard anyone present as worthy of attention, hence even his hiding tactics were only weakly utilized!

This could only explain why Zhou Yan, with his previously lower realm, was able to sense the hidden presence of Jia Yongheng, but now as his realm had strengthened, he could no longer sense this person.

"Oh dear, Zhou Yan Spirit, please move aside quickly."

Wang Ze, unable to control himself, still had the composure to remind Zhou Yan, causing a flicker of clarity in Zhou Yan’s thoughtful eyes.

He slapped and pulled his hand through the Void, instantly bringing Zhou Gucheng and two others away from his side, and in a flash, they appeared a kilometer away in an open space.

In such an underground space, although still spacious, the range was nevertheless limited, so the distance that could be moved was not large.

For Jia Yongheng to shuttle through such an environment with such ease definitely required tremendous capability.

In the moment Zhou Yan moved aside, a "boom" resounded, and suddenly the entire heaven and earth trembled, followed by many stones from the Void rolling down and crashing.

Even the most ordinary stone, after being accelerated by the tremendous gravity of this environment, would become extremely terrifying! Not to mention, the stones in the underground containing ancient Sword Intent and malign energy falling from the Void, even Zhou Yan had to concentrate hard to handle them.

"Not good! Zhou Spirit, be careful!"

From afar, Mo Yuchou was startled, soon surrounding Pan Yuming, who was near her, with a ring of light and flying them to another side.

At this moment, Zhou Yan, also far from being heedless, directly unleashed an ancient Sword Intent. This Sword Intent evolved the embryonic form of a Sword Array, and Zhou Yan subsequently combined several ancient runes to link them together, forming a simplified version of the Seven Star Sword Formation.

This Sword Formation, bearing an indescribable ancient charm, significantly increased its defensive power, far stronger than the previous Sword Formations.

Its defensive power, indeed, had far surpassed the defensive power of Zhou Yan’s physical body such that even casually summoning such a Sword Formation didn’t cause Zhou Yan any worry.

As a master of ancient arrays, no one understood more than he did the formidable defensive power of the Seven Star Sword Formation that carried an ancient charm.

"There’s no need to worry."

Zhou Yan murmured softly, giving Mo Yuchou a reassuring look.

With his capabilities, he naturally sensed Mo Yuchou’s inexplicable fondness and affection for him, yet now he disregarded these feelings somewhat.

As he rapidly retreated, he actually did not respond to the tremendous impact fired by Wang Ze.

Wang Ze’s strength was not weak; otherwise, he would not have been able to challenge someone like Jia Yongheng. But when Jia Yongheng struck him down and he flew backward, if Zhou Yan had acted at that moment, the likelihood of Wang Ze’s demise would have been very high.

Therefore, Zhou Yan did not act, and Wang Ze secretly sighed in relief.

He knew about Zhou Yan because he had witnessed everything about him at the Blood Water Lake.

Actually, his initial focus was not on Zhou Yan but on Jia Yongheng because he knew Jia Yongheng had infiltrated Zhou Yan’s team and even had changed his appearance to look respectable.

This was something only he knew, for if others recognized that this Jia Yongheng was the "Body of Natural Destiny - Eternal Spirit" who could cause terror across the lands, everyone would have surely focused on him.

However, while keeping an eye on Jia Yongheng, he discovered that among these people, there was also the presence of Emperor Qi Sword Body Zhou Yan, a name known throughout Carefree Main City and even the Water Domain!

In Wang Ze’s view, in these chaotic times, an Emperor Qi Sword Body is just a waste. Yet despite thinking this way, he couldn’t help but pay attention to Zhou Yan, similarly to Mo Yuchou, although this was merely incidental.

Yet, when his attention focused on Zhou Yan, he found it hard to shift it to anyone else.

Because this Zhou Yan was even more formidable and terrifying than rumored!

This was not because of Zhou Yan’s capabilities or realm, which in his eyes, were only mediocre, even slightly too weak for his liking!

What truly shocked him was Zhou Yan’s speed and ability in condensing Ancient Essence Blood!

That was just too horrifying!

Not entering the Sword Spirit Realm, condensing all the ancient essence blood of a million powerful ancient demon beasts!

How terrifying is that?

An ancient demon beast—its entire essence blood fully condensed would amount to at least ten drops of essential ancient essence blood!

Therefore, for a million ancient demon beasts, that amounts to tens of millions of ancient essence blood!

Comparatively speaking... even the Three Sword Souls could not achieve such a terrifying result!

The Three Sword Souls: the first Sword Soul would have at least five hundred thousand essence blood, the second Sword Soul is estimated to also be around a million, and the third Sword Soul, preliminarily estimated at two million, together nearly amounting to four million ancient essence blood... But even if this number is just the minimum standard, compared to the maximum standard, the difference would at most be a million essence blood!

According to the highest standard, five million ancient essence blood would be enough to certify the top-tier Three Sword Souls!

But Zhou Yan, when he was merely at the Sword Heart Three Realms, had already condensed tens of millions of ancient essence blood, even a mighty Three Sword Souls expert would be instantly obliterated by this figure!

Thus, after a series of calculations, Wang Ze developed a deep reverence for this Emperor Qi Sword Body!

Even with Zhou Yan’s realm being just the Sword Heart Third Layer Heaven, Wang Ze had already taken him extremely seriously!

Indeed, as expected, the hidden prodigy of the Ji Family, Ji Taiyuan at the Sword Soul First Layer Heaven, immensely powerful and even possessing Dual Sword Souls, was still killed by a single palm strike from Zhou Yan, his Sword Soul unable to escape, his soul shattered, completely annihilated!

At this time, Zhou Yan was only at the Sword Spirit First Layer Heaven, but his combat power was absolutely beyond five!

A combat power absolutely beyond five qualifies him as a supremely terrifying genius!

This battle, witnessed only by him together with Jia Yongheng, Mo Yuchou, and four others around Zhou Yan, made those who saw this scene develop a sense of awe towards Zhou Yan.

Even Jia Yongheng, when striking at him, Wang Ze, also held back, daring not to fully utilize Wang Ze’s body to really charge at Zhou Yan!

At this time, seeing Zhou Yan retreat and even invisibly fortifying the ground with a mysterious layer of energy to prevent a massive shock that might tear Wang Ze apart, he was filled with endless gratitude.

The world is cruel, and Zhou Yan was certainly no ordinary figure, nor was he a kind soul, but Zhou Yan’s actions made Wang Ze suddenly feel that his respect for Zhou Yan was truly justified.

...

"Zhou Lingzhe, we have no grudge or enmity. I merely came to the Sacrificial Heaven Ancient City intending to seize a treasure unrelated to you, yet I nearly got killed by you, not to mention my favorite protective treasure, the Purple Light Glass Bead, was also destroyed!

My heart aches! If it were someone else, I would torment them through hundreds of cycles of reincarnation, but for you, Zhou Lingzhe—you can consider that previous blow as my revenge!

Besides, you just need to relinquish the treasure here, and I will gift you another opportunity."

Wang Ze landed, the impact causing the ground to crack, and the void seemed to collapse, sending stones rolling.

But at this moment, Jia Yongheng suddenly stood in the void, his feet circled by a halo of light, supporting his body.

He stood aloft, his voice tinged with helplessness and pain as he addressed Zhou Yan.

His tone was calm and showed no intent of targeting Zhou Yan, his demeanor suggesting he was forcibly suppressing something.

"Ridiculous, how could the opportunity you offer compare with the treasure beneath this land? Let’s rely on our own skills then!"

Zhou Yan lifted his gaze, staring at Jia Yongheng in the void, his tone cold.

"Zhou Lingzhe, those ancient essence blood you had earlier, I really did my best to help you condense them, you can’t just turn your back on me now!"

A twitch appeared on Jia Yongheng’s face, his expression growing slightly complicated, but he still did not show any aura or killing intent.

"What you did earlier, I’m aware of, those ancient demon beasts’ essence blood, you didn’t need them, but those inner cores you condensed vanished. You might say you also used me, I won’t point it out, because those inner cores are indeed of no use to me."

Zhou Yan’s words were calm, yet he spoke them deliberately, one word at a time.

On hearing this, Jia Yongheng’s handsome face assumed an incredulous expression, his originally calm eyes suddenly shone brightly, as if illuminated.

"Alright, you obviously knew, I felt you had already figured it out, that’s why I spared no effort in helping you.

I am determined to get the treasure here, but I don’t want to be your enemy. Emperor Qi Sword Body and Natural Destiny Body have no need to be enemies; it’s only mutual destruction.

But, I speak of the you who might grow in the future, the current you... still doesn’t have the qualifications!"

Jia Yongheng said, then suddenly laughed, showing a set of very white teeth.

Zhou Yan remained silent.