Divine Transcendence

"Be careful."

As Yuan Ming’s voice rang out in warning, he had already maneuvered the black inkstone to block the attack from above once more.

In the next instant, a bolt of lightning exploded with a bang.

The green thunderball burst open, emitting a dazzling green light, and three green thunder spears shot out, targeting Yuan Ming and his two companions.

With a loud "boom," the green thunder spears struck the black inkstone, causing a large web of green electric light to crackle and burst forth.

The black inkstone spun back and fell to the ground, its surface now marred with fine cracks.

On the other side, three earthen walls on the ground shattered, and behind them, Elder Lu Shen’s shoulder was charred black, his face showing fear that for the first time surpassed his anger.

Bai Ye had a talisman stuck to his chest, propping up a white protective shield around him, his face pale.

At first glance, the white shield seemed unremarkable, but upon closer inspection, its light flickered slightly, as if it too was on the verge of collapse.

"We can’t go on like this; the array’s offensive power is too strong," Bai Ye said, clutching a mid-grade spirit stone and infusing mana into the shield while speaking.

"Let’s just hold on for now," Lu Shen said with a somber expression.

Yuan Ming crouched on the ground, one hand on the earth, as a slender vine emerged from the ground and touched his palm.

He closed his eyes slightly, as if sensing something.

But as he sensed, his frown deepened, and his expression grew increasingly grim.

He had previously sent out flower tendrils underground to probe the array’s layout, hoping to use their power to disrupt the array from below and help them escape.

However, the tendrils brought back the news that there was also a thunder barrier underground, untouchable.

...

Meanwhile, outside the array.

"Shi Dian, make it quick. How is it that the Xiao family’s array has such little power?" Sha Hao complained.

Hearing this, Shi Dian’s chest heaved slightly, his hands on his sword, and he let out a fierce shout.

The next moment, a green light shone around him, flowing like a tide into the bronze giant sword he was leaning on.

The patterns on the giant sword lit up as well, and the ground within dozens of feet around the pit began to tremble. The entire thunder array surged with green light, electricity spilling out in all directions, and it was clear to anyone that the next strike would be no small feat.

Yuan Ming’s heart sank, and he desperately absorbed the mid-grade spirit stone in his hand.

"Ha Gong, I’ve doomed you!" Bai Ye said, pressing a round protective mirror over his heart.

As the mirror shielded his chest, a torrent of golden light emerged, spreading out to form a set of translucent golden armor, protecting his vital areas.

Lu Shen also took out a fist-sized bronze bell and tossed it above his head.

The bell spun, casting the shadow of a yellow bronze bell that enveloped Elder Lu Shen entirely.

Outside the shadow of the bell, three layers of yellow earthen walls enveloped him completely.

At this point, they could only fend for themselves.

"Boom, boom, boom," three consecutive thunderous explosions rang out as three thick beams of green light fell straight from above the array, striking Lu Shen, Bai Ye, and Yuan Ming in succession.

Lu Shen, hiding behind layers of earthen shields, couldn’t escape the fate of being pierced by the green thunder light. The protective bronze bell rang only once before shattering.

Bai Ye’s golden armor fared no better, also being shattered as the protective mirror at his chest broke, and the golden armor dissipated like sparks.

Yuan Ming propped up the black inkstone to defend himself, while dense vines surged from the ground in front of him, forming several layers of vine armor to meet the descending column of light.

With a loud "boom," the moment the green column of light hit the black inkstone, the already overburdened inkstone exploded into countless black crystal fragments.

The green column of light diminished slightly but still pierced straight down, landing on the purple-black vine shield.

The first layer of vine shield offered only brief resistance before turning to ash, and the column of light shrank a bit more.

The second layer lasted a little longer but was also torn apart by the green light, and the column shrank again.

The third layer held out even longer, but it too could not withstand...

"Thank you!" For the first time, Yuan Ming used the communication talisman Xiying had given him!

Layer by layer, the vine shields were penetrated, but the green column of light was rapidly depleted.

In the end, however, the green column of light still struck Yuan Ming, and a crackling sound ensued as his entire body was enveloped in the green light.

The three within the thunder array, despite deploying their ultimate defensive measures, were struck down by this wave of lightning, falling to the ground as charred figures.

Thunder attacks in the world of cultivation are known to surpass fire magic, rightfully earning the title of the most powerful offensive force, and the enhancement of the array made it even more formidable. After this attack, the entire thunder array seemed to have expended most of its power, becoming dim and maintaining only its most basic form.

The iron tower-like brute Shi Dian, now with sunken cheeks and a haggard expression, looked as if half his life had been drained, completely lacking his previous oppressive aura.

He let go of the bronze giant sword, barely managing to sit on the ground, not speaking, just taking out a medicinal pill to swallow and beginning to recover his breath.

"Are they all dead?" After a while, He Wendao tentatively asked.

"Shut up, who could survive that?" Shi Dian suddenly opened his eyes and snapped angrily.

"I trust in Brother Shi’s abilities, of course. This time, Brother Shi’s contribution is immense. You can choose a treasure first. Let’s collect the array and you rest for a while," He Wendao immediately said with a smile.

"That’s more like it!" Shi Dian snorted and stood up, walking towards the pile of rubble, pulling the bronze giant sword from the ground, the thunder-attribute spirit stone at the hilt already gone, and Shi Dian shook his head in regret.

He then walked to a corner, bent down, and reached into the ground, pulling out a three-foot-long green engraved bronze pillar from beneath the earth, storing it in his storage ring. Following a certain order, he pulled out seven identical pillars, dismantling the entire array and sitting down to recuperate.

Sha Hao released his divine sense to probe and nodded, "There’s no sign of any spiritual energy fluctuations from those three anymore."

He Wendao circled the charred bodies of Yuan Ming and his companions.

"Shi Dian, the bronze thunder pattern array you brought from the Xiao family is powerful, but it’s too troublesome to set up and consumes too many spirit stones. This time, the consumption is so great. If it weren’t for killing three Foundation Establishment cultivators at once, we wouldn’t just fail to profit, we’d be at a loss..." He Wendao said, shaking his head.

As he spoke, he stepped forward and took off Bai Ye’s storage ring, then fished a storage bag from his chest. Naturally, he couldn’t just pocket it in front of Sha Hao and Shi Dian, so he also took Elder Lu Shen’s storage ring.

"Old man, you put on airs in front of me; you must have quite a few pills," He Wendao spat and couldn’t help but kick Elder Lu Shen.

After that, he walked towards Yuan Ming.

The weakest of the three was this "Ha Gong," who had been recommended by Bai Ye to skip the strength test, which had irked him. Now, as the last to be dealt with, he naturally planned to take his possessions and destroy his body as well.

"Spit, pretending to be from the Southern Border," He Wendao muttered as he approached Yuan Ming.

Then, he bent down and took the storage ring from Yuan Ming’s charred finger.

Just as he was about to inspect the contents of the ring, a chill ran through his heart.

At the same time, Sha Hao also noticed a sudden surge of powerful mana from Yuan Ming’s body. Just as he was about to warn, he felt a cold sensation at the back of his neck and swiftly dodged, turning to look.

A slender black shadow flashed in the void and then disappeared.

When he looked back at He Wendao, he saw Yuan Ming holding a short dagger with the sheen of peacock tail feathers, plunged into his chest.

He Wendao didn’t even have time to activate his protective light before his heart was pierced.

Blood gushed from He Wendao’s chest, and before he could utter a word, the blood turned black, and his life force rapidly dissipated.

Sha Hao frowned and muttered, "Feigning death!"

He could tell that He Wendao was beyond saving, but he didn’t understand how Yuan Ming had managed to perfectly conceal his mana and even the breath of a living person.

Before he could figure it out, Yuan Ming tossed aside He Wendao’s body, took back the storage artifacts he had collected along with his own storage ring, and a lot of the charred material on his body fell away, revealing something resembling wood shavings.

In the next moment, Yuan Ming used the Shadowless Step, wielding the Cold Star Sword, and charged at Sha Hao.

In the final moments of the thunder strike, the flower tendrils had abandoned most of their body to form a vine armor covering Yuan Ming’s entire body, isolating the electricity and bearing the final attack, allowing him to escape death.

At the last moment, he also pushed his Zang Yuan Technique to the limit, completely concealing his mana and creating a false appearance of death.

Seeing this, Sha Hao’s eyebrows furrowed, and with a light wave in front of him, the void seemed to ripple slightly.

But as he made his move, his brow furrowed suddenly, his expression changed drastically, and he immediately warned the iron tower-like giant Shi Dian, "Be careful, he’s targeting you."

As he shouted, he tapped the ground with the tip of his foot, lunging directly at Yuan Ming. Yuan Ming, as if "cooperating" with his words, actually turned halfway through his charge and headed towards Shi Dian.

Shi Dian stopped his breathing exercises, grabbed the bronze giant sword, took a large step, and leaped towards the oncoming Yuan Ming.

As he swung his sword, three ancient runes on the blade lit up, and immediately a crackling of electricity covered the entire sword.

The giant sword, now enveloped in green thunder, turned into a six-foot-long column of thunder and lightning, slashing down at Yuan Ming.

With this change in the situation, Yuan Ming went from being the attacker to being caught in a pincer attack.

With Shi Dian’s giant sword in front and Sha Hao’s sneak attack from behind, Yuan Ming’s situation suddenly turned dire.

Just as he was about to engage Shi Dian, Yuan Ming stopped in his tracks, twisted his body, and flung his arm back at Sha Hao, throwing the short emerald dagger.

The dagger turned into a streak of ghostly light, shooting out as Yuan Ming’s back was wide open, seemingly intending to take Shi Dian’s giant sword slash with his flesh and blood.