Black Spirit Demon Subduing Shuttle!

It was an ancient ancestral treasure of the Zhongli Clan that possessed horrific power comparable to a Supreme King Weapon.

Such treasures were usually found in the hands of King stage old monsters.

Evidently, however, in order to give Zhongli Wuji the best chance in the Dao Lantern Festival, the Zhongli Clan had made a huge investment by passing this mighty treasure to Zhongli Wuji to use for self-protection and as a trump card to slaughter his opponents!

"Go!"

With a wave of his sleeve, Zhongli Wuji kept the Black Spirit Demon Subduing Shuttle. He shot an icy glare at Lin Xun before flying toward the divine tree with Sha Liuchan and the others.

"Lin Xun, don't chase them."

Yue Jianming rushed forward to stop Lin Xun. "They’ve already formed an alliance and there’s no benefit in clashing with them here."

"Ah well, I just wanted to see what other trump cards they had." Lin Xun grinned. He hadn’t intended to pursue them.

He also understood that this wasn’t a good time to fight. After all, allowing a battle to break out before the blessing appeared would only create unnecessary risk.

However, this event made Lin Xun realize that Zhongli Wuji and the others did indeed have powerful trump cards up their sleeves.

The Black Spirit Demon Subduing Shuttle earlier, for example, was an extremely powerful Supreme King Weapon. If Lin Xun hadn’t trained his spirit cultivation to the spirit flower convergence stage and preemptively detected that sliver of killing intent, he would have likely been injured by the sneak attack.

Given that Zhongli Wuji possessed such a trump card, it was almost certain that Qing Lian'er, Sha Liuchan, and the others also had something similar.

"Come on, let's move together." Lin Xun decided that he would also have a look at the top of the divine tree.

Unexpectedly, Yue Jianming declined, "If not for you, I would have already been eliminated at the fifth trial. I am already satisfied with how far I’ve gone and do not intend to compete for this blessing."

There was a certain resolve in his calm voice.

This stirred Lin Xun’s emotions. The blessing on the Ancient Dao Lantern Tree would make any cultivator go crazy with desire.

Despite this, Yue Jianming had made the appropriate choice to stop here. It was a decision that undoubtedly required insane willpower and determination!

Even Lin Xun could not help but admire Yue Jianming’s resolve. Although he might not be on the same level as the top heaven prides for now, his resolve and character would sooner or later propel him to greatness.

In the end, Lin Xun set off alone while Yue Jianming chose to stay at the bottom of the ancient tree where it was relatively safe.

After all, since all the top dogs were climbing the divine tree to compete for the blessing, they had neither the energy nor time to spare to deal with Yue Jianming.

……

Boom!

The moment Lin Xun stepped foot onto the Ancient Dao Lantern Tree’s incomparably thick trunk, a concentrated barrage of lightning began to rain down upon him.

Lin Xun did not neutralize the lightning nor face it directly. Instead, he activated the Hornless Ice Dragon Step and avoided each strike with minimal movement as he dashed up the trunk.

He advanced with ease as if he was taking a leisurely stroll, his figure appearing as ethereal as the mist.

The divine tree reached far into the sky. Its trunk was incomparably thick, and its branches resembled pathways extending deep into space, making it feel as if you were walking in a maze.

Moments later, Lin Xun had no choice but to stop because a battle had erupted ahead.

Boom!

An expert turned into a purple python measuring more than a hundred feet long. Divine purple light rose around it like steam as it pounced at its target.

The target was a youngster who was approaching a flower bud. Upon sensing the attack, he suddenly let out a roar as a pair of sharp shining wings emerged from his back and a battle immediately broke out between the two.

Rumble!

Their attacks loudly rumbled as bright light shot everywhere.

The purple python's body was extremely hard as if it were made from immortal-gold. It emitted a harsh clanging noise when struck by the youngster’s wings as a flurry of sparks burst from their contact.

This was an example of the bitter and desperate battle for a blessing. The victor was soon decided. The youngster suffered heavy injuries, with his wings nearly snapped off and his feathers stained in blood. Half of his body was in a mess as he fled.

In a flash of light, the purple python transformed into a young lady. She walked to the flower bud while vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

She was clearly after the blessing in the flower bud. After defeating the youngster, she camped in the area to stop anyone else from approaching.

The woman’s pupils contracted at the sight of Lin Xun, displaying a deep amount of wariness.

Lin Xun ignored her and continued on his way.

It was only after Lin Xun disappeared that the woman finally breathed a long sigh of relief and soon revealed a self-deprecating expression. Right, why would a supreme heaven pride like Demon God Lin compete with her for this blessing...

Boom!

It did not take long for Lin Xun to come across another battle. An expert summoned a thunder talisman, releasing red lightning to attack Li Qinghuan.

Li Qinghuan drew a circle with her hands, causing yin and yang qi to emerge and transform into a black and white disc. The disc rumbled toward the opponent as an intense duel unfurled.

Lin Xun was surprised because although the expert looked unfamiliar, he was obviously also a supreme heaven pride who seemed to be able to match Li Qinghuan blow for blow.

Rustle!

However, when Li Qinghuan noticed Lin Xun in the distance, his expression abruptly changed slightly as he immediately withdrew from the battle and fled.

The expert wielding the thunder talisman was stunned. However, he immediately reacted when he saw Lin Xun and displayed a vigilant expression.

"He ran away quite quickly."

Lin Xun ignored the expert and continued on his way after glancing in the direction Li Qinghuan had left.

He found a few more flower buds along the way, but all of them were being desperately fought over.

"You’re asking for death!" A loud shout suddenly rang out in the distance. It turns out that the Jade Emptiness Temple successor, Mu Jianting, had also encountered an opponent.

His opponent was a Xun Clan expert who moved as fast as the wind. He wielded a pair of blood-colored bronze truncheons that exploded the air with every swing.

The bronze truncheons were clearly a pair of ancient treasures that possessed terrifying destructive power and flashed with blinding blood-colored light with each attack.

On the other side, Mu Jianting looked tall and imposing with his robe fluttering around him. He was clearly angered since the battle was going on longer than anticipated, and decided at this moment to no longer hold back and brought out a pine-patterned ancient sword.

Shiing!

It was followed almost immediately by a dazzling wave of vast and glorious sword light.

It was clearly a Supreme King Weapon. Mu Jianting had channeled power into it without reservation because he did not want to waste any more time.

A split second later, blood splattered as the Xun Clan expert’s head was decapitated, and his headless body crashed into the ground.

It was a shocking death for a top heaven pride!

"AHH!"

Before Lin Xun could react, a scream rang out from another direction. Yet another first-class expert was killed, exploding into chunks of flesh and blood.

His opponent was the Great Desolate Lightning Clan's Lei Qianjun. Chain-like crystalline lightning swirled around him, making him resemble a mighty god of lightning.

He had brutally clobbered his opponent to death, displaying extremely astonishing combat power.

These were examples of how bloody and cutthroat the battles for blessings could get. In here, even the mighty heaven prides could meet their end at any moment.

Moreover, these were only the battles Lin Xun had come across. The Ancient Dao Lantern Tree was humongous, and there was no telling how many other fights were playing out in other areas.

Although the blessings had yet to appear, the flower buds on the divine tree would blossom sooner or later. Hence, in order to secure the best locations and timing, conflict was inevitable.

As such, Lin Xun likewise could not help but become more alert and cautious.

Along the way, he continuously kept a lookout with his spirit sense and made some observations as a result.

Illusory and dreamy dao light drifted from some of the flower buds that seemed to be full of life and ready to blossom at any moment.

On the other hand, there were also flower buds that didn’t move or show any signs of life.

Naturally, the heaven prides were fighting over the first group of flower buds.

They knew that if a blessing descended, it would most definitely appear in the flower buds that were full of life.

In short, the flower buds’ life energy was the basis for judging the size of the blessing!

……

Battles continued to break out as fierce and bloody clashes played out in different areas on the Ancient Dao Lantern Tree.

The original sacred and solemn divine tree seemed to have turned into purgatory.

This was the stage where the dazzling top heaven prides competed!

If it were not for mysterious restriction power covering the divine tree, the destructive undulations generated from the battles alone could probably destroy mountains and cause an unimaginable disaster.

Lin Xun didn’t get involved in any of the fights. After all, his goal was the top of the divine tree.

Hmm?

Suddenly, Lin Xun paused and glanced at a certain flower bud.

The originally silent, motionless, and lifeless flower bud had begun to undergo an astonishing change as if awakening from a deep sleep. Blinding divine light spurted from it, bathing the surroundings in an ethereal and sacred aura.

At this rate, it wouldn’t take long for it to blossom!

Lin Xun was immediately tempted.

Crash!

At that moment, however, a gold-robed man rushed over as a scroll unfurled from his hand.

The scroll depicted the horrifying scenes of the sun being destroyed, the moon falling from the sky, and mountains crumbling.

It was undoubtedly a terrifying secret treasure and a deadly weapon!

The gold-robed man clearly knew how strong Lin Xun was and didn’t underestimate him. Hence, he immediately used his killing move at the start.

Swish!

Lin Xun could not hesitate because the opponent’s secret treasure was too powerful. He also did not hold back and summoned the Broken Blade.

The Broken Blade was a spirit weapon that could display unbelievable power when used with the Spirit Control Art.

Unlike in the past, Lin Xun’s spirit power had now reached the spirit flower convergence stage, allowing him to wield the Broken Blade with much greater ease and power.

The Broken Blade shone brightly as its sharp blade cut through the approaching scroll in a flash of illusory white light.

"You..."

The gold-robed man stiffened, almost unable to believe his eyes. He had only attacked Lin Xun because of his confidence in the scroll. After all, it was an ancient secret treasure imprinted with a Supreme King aura and possessed terrifying and unfathomable power.

Despite this, it was destroyed after a single exchange!

This made the gold-robed man realize that the Broken Blade was even more powerful than the scroll!