NOVEL NEXT Chapter 447: No Pillars Left Standing
At the Dragon Roar Thousand-Mile Waterfall, You Shaojun's team and Liang Youwen's stood locked in a tense silence.
Suddenly, the transmission jade tokens in their hands trembled.
Captured already? Did Jiang Chen fall? The same thought flashed through their minds.
But the moment they read the message with their divine sense, their eyes almost popped out of their heads.
"What?!" You Shaojun's roar cracked the air. "Yuan Liangjun and the others—all wiped out at once?!"
"Impossible!" He nearly shook with rage.
Liang Youwen, usually calm as stone, lost all composure. "Wen Renxiu and his group, too? Gone?!"
His whole body trembled as his face twisted, fury turning him into something monstrous. "What in the heavens is going on?!"
If even leaders like You Shaojun and Liang Youwen were shaken to the core, it was hard to imagine what the rest were feeling.
The Nirvana Cleansing realm powerhouses stood frozen, disbelief and rage boiling inside them until it nearly smothered their reason.
None were hit harder than Sun Xiangyuan and the Purple Crest Immortal Sect elders.
Sun Tianhan and his group weren't just talented disciples—they were the sect's pride, its future pillars.
Now they were gone. Not only killed, but slaughtered here, on their own ground.
It felt like enemies had stormed into their homes and butchered their children before their eyes.
"No! The Life Tablets must be wrong. Tianhan and the others wouldn't fall so easily—they're too strong!" Sun Anming shook all over, fury and denial twisting his face.
Before anyone could answer, another message flickered across their transmission jade tokens. An image appeared, taken by the Jade Stone Rubbing Talisman on Sun Tianhan's body in the moment before his death.
The killer was Jiang Chen.
"Jiang Chen?!" Sun Xiangyuan's roar cracked with disbelief. "How could it be him? How could he wipe out all of them in an instant? Impossible! This has to be fake!" His voice broke into something raw and heart-wrenching, closer to a cry than a shout.
The elders from the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace were struck silent, staring at the image as if their minds refused to accept it.
The blue-crowned elder finally managed to rasp out, "Jiang Chen… was the one?!"
Liang Youwen, pale and shaken, muttered, "Wen Renxiu's team was fighting Sun Tianhan's group. Both sides annihilated—and it was all… Jiang Chen?"
He could barely breathe as the words left him. "How could Jiang Chen possibly have that kind of strength?"
Jiang Chen was the same man who had wiped out Zhong Yushan and his squad.
Now he had gone even further—slaughtering Wen Renxiu and six other Nirvana Peering realm experts in one stroke.
Liang Youwen and the rest felt blood rush to their heads. Rage and hatred exploded inside them like thunder.
Sun Xiangyuan snapped. "That little bastard Jiang Chen! I'll tear him apart piece by piece—I'll make him suffer every torment under the heavens before he dies! Argh—!" He shot off at once toward the Southern Breeze Mountain Range.
"Supreme Elder!" You Shaojun cried, rushing after him. Sun Anming followed close behind, sending a quick signal to the trio stationed at Giant Spirit Ghost Mountain to regroup.
The standoff dissolved in an instant. Their fury left no room for anything else—and with Jiang Chen at the center of it all, their earlier reasons for fighting each other no longer mattered.
The Purple Crest Immortal Sect had just lost all of its pillars.
Only their Nirvana Cleansing realm powerhouses could hope to turn things around now.
But if they stepped in, would Liang Youwen and his group really stay on the sidelines? Of course not—they'd fight too.
Pulling back to the sect's headquarters was the only smart choice left.
Otherwise, what then? Start a full-scale battle here at the Dragon Roar Thousand-Mile Waterfall while leaving their own home wide open and undefended?
As the Purple Crest Immortal Sect forces pulled back, Liang Youwen and his group finally snapped out of their shock, knowing exactly what they had to do.
"After them! This is the best chance for the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace to take the Prosperous Stone Immortal Star!" Liang Youwen barked.
His eyes burned with hatred. "And Jiang Chen—I'll tear that bastard apart myself." With a twist of space, he stepped forward and vanished in a blink, crossing mountains in an instant.
The other Nirvana Cleansing realm powerhouses from the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace surged after him without hesitation.
For the moment, everything was in their favor.
Wen Renxiu's side might have been wiped out, but Qiu Feng had already found Lu Yi and the True Dragon, Ying Luo—and was chasing them without rest.
With the Purple Crest Immortal Sect stripped of its support, it seemed certain that Lu Yi and the True Dragon would soon fall into the hands of the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace.
As for Jiang Chen—even after wiping out fifteen Nirvana Peering realm experts in an instant—no one believed he could stand against a group of seasoned Nirvana Cleansing realm powerhouses. To them, the outcome was obvious. He was nothing more than prey on the butcher's block, waiting to be carved apart.
What none of them knew was that Jiang Chen had already stepped into the Nirvana Cleansing realm, his true strength now at the middle stage.
Even more terrifying, by slaughtering fifteen Late-stage and Peak-stage Nirvana Peering realm cultivators, he had just claimed an immense trove of resources.
...
Ten million kilometers west of the Southern Breeze Mountain Range, space rippled—and Jiang Chen stepped out.
A pulse from the soul magatamas under his control brought him fresh news.
Oh? They spotted a large group of Nirvana Cleansing realm powerhouses flying across the skies?
He smirked to himself. So, the Purple Crest Immortal Sect's higher-ups finally couldn't sit still. No surprise—after all, I've nearly wiped out their entire Nirvana Peering realm force. And the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace… they'd never pass up a chance like this. Seizing control of the Prosperous Stone Immortal Star now would be too tempting.
But before they move against each other, they'll come for me first. In that case, my current Middle-stage Nirvana Cleansing-level strength may not be enough. Best to give it a little push.
With that thought, Jiang Chen pressed onward, already preparing to raise his power once again.
"Wan'er, Ning'er—prepare a Nirvana Cleansing-level cultivation method for me," Jiang Chen sent through his soul connection to Nangong Wan and Shangguan Ning. Without delay, he drew out a heap of spiritual plants and swallowed them down.
This time was different. After cutting down Sun Tianhan, Wen Renxiu, and the other top Nirvana Peering realm elites, the spoils he gained were far richer than anything before.
In his hands were thirty-nine Nirvana Cleansing-level spiritual plants—an astonishing harvest.
And that wasn't all. He also held an even greater pile of Nirvana Peering-level and Transcendence-level spiritual plants.
The Nirvana Peering-level spiritual plants don't do much for me anymore. This time, I'll focus on the Nirvana Cleansing-level ones. With the pure cultivation base I've built up, that should be enough to push me solidly into the Middle-stage of the Nirvana Cleansing realm, Jiang Chen thought as he tossed one into his mouth.
Boom!
A flood of medicinal power poured straight into the Burning World Red Lotus.
For a moment, its petals glowed brilliantly.
Pure cultivation surged through his body, leaving him sharper, stronger—revitalized. At the same time, a faint, mysterious energy worked at his foundation, slowly sharpening his natural talent. The growth was subtle, but it was real.
Crunch. Jiang Chen swallowed another spiritual plant.
Another torrent of power streamed into the Burning World Red Lotus. The lotus quivered, and a new, dazzling petal unfurled on the fourth layer of the bud.
Perfect. The fourth layer is restored. If the fifth appears… that should mark its step into the Void Tribulation realm.
A faint smile tugged at Jiang Chen's lips as he continued devouring the spiritual plants one after another.