Confucian and Taoist scholar

"impossible!"

The man stared in horror at the collapsing Dharma Image and Divine Realm.

He simply couldn't believe that Lu Zheng was so powerful that he could inflict such great harm on him.

The entire space collapsed so rapidly that the man didn't even have time to think before he was engulfed by the terrifying shockwave...

Outside, the old man with an air of otherworldly wisdom frowned, his figure instantly turning into a blur as he fled into the distance.

"Ok?"

The demon man, who was observing the surrounding movements, felt a sense of unease.

He glanced to the side and saw a sudden flash of white light appear in the sky.

That point of white expanded in an instant, releasing endless light and heat.

In an instant, it was as if a sun had descended upon this world, and then it exploded just as quickly.

The terrifying energy waves released by the explosion spread in all directions.

Caught off guard, the demon man was enveloped in the intense heat and light, and immediately felt extremely uncomfortable.

The power containing divine aura is not a good thing for a demon saint like him.

The demon man quickly retreated, moving away from the center of the explosion in the blink of an eye, but he was still injured and looked somewhat disheveled.

At another location, the Chu god Dongjun had lost his demeanor as a great god and was staggering southwards.

Along the way, he couldn't help coughing up large amounts of blood.

The golden blood coughed up was quickly reduced to nothingness by its own intense heat.

His eyes revealed a strange expression. He thought that since he held the power of the Eastern Lord of the Divine Path, he would not be as easily restrained by the righteous energy of heaven and earth as other powerful beings, and that he had enough means to deal with Lu Zheng.

As a result, he was defeated so quickly, directly and severely injured by Lu Zheng's attack.

Even now, he still doesn't understand how Lu Zheng did it.

Suddenly, the man's heart skipped a beat.

A quick scan of the surroundings with his divine sense revealed that Lu Zheng was actually nearby.

Lu Zheng was enveloped in a dazzling white light.

In a daze, the man sensed a tall, almost invisible figure behind Lu Zheng.

A stirring within the man's heart arose, as if that figure were the true embodiment of the sun.

Lu Zheng faced the man and slowly raised his hand.

A golden Buddhist mark appeared out of thin air and quickly suppressed the man, briefly severing his connection with the Chu Kingdom's incense and religious rites.

At the same time, Lu Zheng's right hand made a grasping motion, and a bolt of lightning transformed into a Daoist sword, radiating an aura that even immortals and gods feared.

The man was horrified and wanted to get away from Lu Zheng.

However, the thought had barely formed when Lu Zheng was already standing in front of him.

The lightning-struck longsword pierced the man's chest in an instant.

The man was shaken to his core, his body and soul were crumbling at an extremely rapid pace, and the power of the divine source was flowing out of his body at breakneck speed.

The scent of death quickly filled his heart, and the man stared at Lu Zheng with eyes full of fear.

"Do not……"

The man opened his mouth as if to say something, but could no longer utter a complete sentence.

As Lu Zheng watched the man gradually dissipate, he calmly said, "This power, which did not belong to you, should be returned."

The incense offerings of the gods, the wishes of all living beings... Lu Zheng's understanding of the gods in the Chu Kingdom was even more thorough than that of ordinary priests in the Chu Kingdom.

Yun Fuyao had discussed these topics with him many times before, and had given him a lot of guidance, such as how to slay a god...

These so-called great gods of Chu inherited the divine ways of the previous dynasty and misappropriated the names of ancient true gods. Their divine power, accumulated bit by bit, was not their own.

They are nothing but empty-headed false gods, beings with connections; even a dog could sit in the position of a great god.

These Chu gods might be able to display their divine might to others.

But when facing Lu Zheng, it's a different story.

Lu Zheng possesses a powerful divine artifact from the previous dynasty, the Taiping Codex that suppresses the divine path, and he himself controls the hearts and minds of heaven and earth...

Lu Zheng has enough means and trump cards to influence the power of these gods, thereby finding their fatal weaknesses.

Lu Zheng looked at the empty space before him. The great god of Chu was finally dead, and it could not be said that he had killed him.

A sun god who was unworthy of his position, his last remaining divine soul was destroyed by the backlash of the power of the sun god's way.

……

High in the sky, two figures appeared and disappeared intermittently, quickly heading towards the light on the distant horizon.

From a distance, that area looked as if a sun had appeared, its light shining brightly for a time.

Although they didn't know what had happened over there, something must have gone wrong, otherwise they wouldn't have made such a commotion.

Suddenly, both of them felt a chill and stopped in their tracks, adopting a defensive posture.

Both of them sensed a powerful aura locking onto them.

In the blink of an eye, a figure appeared in front of the two.

The newcomer was a distinguished-looking, imposing old man.

Upon seeing the newcomer, one of the men was startled and quickly greeted him, "Senior Ao!"

Ao Yuan looked at the two of them and said calmly, "Are you going to intercept and kill Lu Zheng?"

The two were surprised to hear Ao Yuan's question, not expecting him to be so frank.

One of them, without showing any emotion, said, "Senior, why do you say that? We saw that something seemed to have happened over there, so we went to check it out... If you say that, does that mean something has happened to Lu Zheng?"

There are many people in the world who want Lu Zheng dead, but it's not easy to say it outright.

Ao Yuan's eyes flashed with a deep blue light as he grinned and said, "You still dare to lie in front of me? It seems you really don't know your own limitations..."

Before he could finish speaking, Ao Yuan raised his right hand and waved it.

Suddenly, a ferocious dragon claw the size of a small mountain appeared before the two of them, and an incomparably powerful pressure descended upon them.

……

The demon man looked ahead, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

The most terrifying impact of the explosion has passed, and a gleaming light still shines in the sky.

A huge crater, spanning a thousand miles, appeared in what was originally that area.

The giant pit still retained a scorching divine aura, and molten lava formed from soil was still slowly flowing.

The old man holding a whisk approached the demon man, his expression somewhat solemn.

The old man said in a deep voice, "It seems that... that one's Dharma form exploded."

The demon man raised an eyebrow. A divine image of a great god exploded? That was the Eastern Lord of Chu! What happened to cause such a commotion?

The demon man said, "I have not found any trace of them."

The old man shook his head upon hearing this.

The explosion was so terrifying that, with their presence concealed, he couldn't find any trace of the two people for a while.

The demon man pondered, "They...couldn't have perished together, could they?"

The old man thought to himself that he hoped so. Judging from the situation, the one from Chu must have been seriously injured. If Lu Zheng hadn't died, that would be a bit of an exaggeration.

However, I've heard that Lu Zheng possesses many sacred artifacts. If he dies in that divine realm, finding those treasures will be quite troublesome. The old man stroked his beard, deep in thought.

As the two were pondering their next move, they suddenly vanished from their previous positions.

Almost simultaneously, a sharp sword light arrived in an instant, slashing towards the spot where they had been standing.

The old man couldn't help but become wary and turned to look in one direction.

Lu Zheng's figure moved gracefully and calmly as he approached from afar.

"Are you staying because you're waiting for me?"

Lu Zheng looked at the two powerful figures who had reached the Saint Realm, without any fear in his heart.

With a thought, several sacred objects within his small world released their aura.

Lu Zheng's aura instantly surged, and a terrifying pressure descended upon the world.

Lu Zheng's gaze turned indifferent, and he only glanced at the demon man.

The man was startled and raised his hand to take out an object, activating the power within it to defend himself.

At the same time, righteous energy gathered in the world, carrying the might of heaven and earth to suppress the man.

Under the might of righteousness, no evil spirit can withstand it.

The man suddenly felt his body sink.

Seeing this, the old man not far away said in a deep voice, "I'll help you!"

After saying that, the old man waved his hand and took out an array plate.

The array plate flashed with light, releasing a pure power of the Great Dao, which then enveloped Lu Zheng and the demon man within the array.

The great formation had just been deployed when the old man vanished, having fled in terror.

As the saying goes, a friend dies rather than a poor one.

Seeing Lu Zheng's overwhelming strength, the old man didn't think he could handle him at all. Even if he could barely defeat him, it would come at a great cost.

Rather than doing that, it would be better to sell out teammates to buy time.

To be honest, he and this demon saint didn't have any life-or-death relationship; they were just cooperating temporarily.

So, at this point, the old man showed absolutely no remorse for choosing to betray his teammates.

Upon seeing the old man's actions, the demon man's face darkened, and his Dao heart wavered.

A terrifying bolt of lightning struck the demon man.

The man couldn't help but grimace. Even with his Saint-level physique, he was still in trouble against this kind of thunderous power that contained the righteous principles of heaven and earth.

A torrent of sharp lightning bolts poured down like rain, engulfing the man completely.

The man tried to escape using magic, but was restricted by invisible forces and unable to leave.

He was both shocked and furious, and said, "Lu Zheng, why don't we stop for now and join forces to chase after him? I'll apologize to you afterwards..."

When Lu Zheng was intercepted earlier, he didn't necessarily exude a very powerful aura.

But now he felt that the young man he was facing was capable of killing him.

The fate of the Eastern Lord of Chu is now unknown, yet that old Taoist priest, whose cultivation is even higher than his, has so cleanly and efficiently betrayed him.

If he still can't figure out his own situation, then he's really wasted all these years.

"No offense."

Lu Zheng's voice was indifferent, and his whole body was filled with Daoist energy.

A towering figure, as majestic as a mountain, appeared behind Lu Zheng.

In this world, another terrifying aura of a saint has been added.

The man felt inexplicably uneasy; this was the first time since he became a demon saint that he had felt like he was facing a life-or-death crisis.

Lu Zheng pointed his finger at the man, and the entire world trembled.

Terrifying forces of heaven and earth relentlessly crushed towards the man.

Under the combined influence of several great powers, the man's body could not withstand it and instantly turned into dust.

Amidst the chaotic currents of the Dao principles, a wisp of the man's thought managed to escape through space.

However, he hadn't gone far when an invisible hand caught up with him and wiped out the last trace of the demon saint's existence.

"call……"

After killing two Saint Realm experts in one fell swoop, Lu Zheng felt somewhat exhausted.

Lu Zheng wasn't afraid of fighting those powerful figures to the death, after all, his current realm was already close to sainthood, and he had various methods at his disposal.

He was actually worried that someone would run away when they saw him. If a Saint Realm expert had the thought of escaping, it would be the most troublesome thing to do to completely kill the other party.

It was also thanks to Yun Fuyao's many years of experience that he was able to eliminate these sacred realms.

Lu Zheng took a breath and was about to chase after the old man who had just fled.

However, before he could even move, he sensed a powerful aura approaching.

A burly figure descended in the blink of an eye, carrying a person whose fate was unknown.

It was the old Taoist priest who had just betrayed his teammates and fled.

Ao Yuan looked at Lu Zheng and said with a smile, "You've come at the right time, better late than early. Are you done fighting over here? How many did you kill?"

Seeing how badly this place was destroyed, he thought that neither side was still there.

As a result, Lu Zheng was still there as if nothing had happened.

Ao Yuan looked around and could only sense the residual presence of other people.

Lu Zheng looked at Ao Yuan but did not respond immediately.

The aura emanating from Ao Yuan was much stronger than that of the previous Saint Realm figures, forcing him to be cautious and wary.

Suddenly remembering something, Ao Yuan smiled and said, "Oh, you don't recognize me! I am from the East Sea Dragon Clan, Ao Yuan... I still have two direct descendants in the Taiping Domain New Kingdom training! When they returned to the East Sea in the past, they always praised you and admired you very much!"

Ao Yuan had been to Taiping Domain before, but he did not show up or have any real contact with Lu Zheng.

This was the first time the two of them had met.

Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng recalled some information about the East Sea Dragon Clan and couldn't help but smile in response, "So it's Senior Ao."

"Hehe... This young man is quite capable."

Ao Yuan grinned and said, "I just happened to be passing by and saw someone trying to harm you, so I took care of it for you. Take a look."

Having said that, Ao Yuan opened his mouth and spat it out.

Two stiff, mummified corpses appeared before Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng glanced at them, not recognizing the two, but judging from their lingering aura, they must have reached the Saint Realm in life.

Ao Yuan then lifted the old man in his hand, "This one, does he have a grudge against you too?"

Lu Zheng replied, "I suppose so, that's why we have this grudge."

To be honest, Lu Zheng had never seen any of these people who came to kill him before, and he didn't even know the origins of some of them.

Ao Yuan said leisurely, "So many people want your life, aren't you afraid or surprised at all?"

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "If they were afraid, would they stop doing this? I had already foreseen this day before I had even fully embarked on this path, so there's nothing surprising about it."

Ao Yuan's eyes flickered. "As expected of a young man valued by all the sages. The Kong family sent someone to ask for my help before, but I didn't agree... It seems that not making an enemy of you was the right thing to do."

Ao Yuan, unhurriedly, opened his mouth and exhaled a breath that completely obliterated the corpses of the three Saint Realm experts before him. (End of Chapter)