Swordholder

Li Wei suddenly turned to look at Zhang Shan, his eyes filled with the same way he looked at a rare treasure.

Seeing this, everyone looked at Zhang Shan with curiosity.

Zhang Shan took a deep breath, cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, and said solemnly, "Brother Wei, if you have any orders, the three of us will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

"Then let me ask you, can you build a spaceship?"

Li Wei's gaze was intense, and he suddenly asked a question.

"..."

Everyone fell silent instantly, their expressions turning astonished.

"Unauthorized construction of large flying magical artifacts is a serious crime, let alone a flying spaceship that can carry multiple people."

Once verified, it will be a heinous crime punishable by confiscation of property and extermination of the entire family!

Zhang Shan was stunned and exclaimed in disbelief. He never expected Li Wei to be so audacious.

"That's right."

Chen Jianming quickly echoed, fearing that Li Wei might not understand the laws of the Great Xiang Empire, and hurriedly explained.

"Flying artifacts are forbidden items explicitly prohibited by the empire. Apart from the Xuanxiang Clan, ordinary humans have no right to privately refine or possess them."

"Breaking the law will at least result in the loss of cultivation and confiscation of the flying magic weapon; at worst, the entire family will be executed!"

Li Wei completely disregarded the warnings of confiscation of his property and extermination of his entire clan.

"Stop with the nonsense, I'm just asking you, can you even build it?"

Li Wei's gaze grew increasingly intense.

"this……"

Zhang Shan paused slightly, but finally nodded slowly. "My Zhang family is a family of weapon refiners, and my own talent for weapon refinement is not bad. It's just that I am not the eldest son and am not valued by the family. As for the flying formation..."

As he spoke, he looked at Li Shouren and said, "Shouren is also proficient in this art. He can set it up, so it's not a problem."

"Haha, that's settled then!"

Li Wei was overjoyed and grabbed Zhang Shan and Li Shouren by the shoulders, extremely excited.

"Then you guys get this ready for me in the next bit of time. Then, Ah Yuan and I will come and check the cards!"

"But it's still a forbidden artifact..."

Chen Jianchu swallowed hard, his expression one of horror.

The others were also trembling with fear and felt extremely uneasy.

"Yes, privately creating forbidden weapons is a crime several times more serious than possession... it's a crime punishable by confiscation of property and extermination of the entire clan!"

Chen Jianming looked bitter.

"Forbidden weapons? Forbidden my foot! We're about to lose our lives, what do we care about forbidden weapons? What do we care about laws?"

Li Wei waved his hand to interrupt him, saying nonchalantly, "Besides, who can prove that we made it?"

We'll just make excuses then, saying we just happened to find a wild spaceship in the Grand Tournament's secret realm, and we just happened to be passing by, just happened to discover it, and just happened to be able to take off..."

·····

Li Wei became more and more excited as he spoke, and his chubby body trembled slightly.

The initial worry and fear gradually turned into fervor, and then into anticipation...

Zhang Shan and his two companions were completely dumbfounded.

Wild spaceships?

Did you step in unintentionally?

It's just the right size to fly?

But upon closer reflection, if they could take off in a spaceship and hide, then reappear after the aristocratic family conference, even if the eight great families wanted to hunt them down, they wouldn't be able to find a single hair on their heads.

Thinking of this...

Chen Jianming and the others exchanged glances, their eyes gradually filled with excitement.

"Damn, why didn't we think of this method before?"

Chen Jianchu sighed in realization.

"Hehe, after the conference ends, we'll quietly hide the spaceship. Who will know we've gone to the sky?"

Li Wei said smugly, "The rules of the Aristocratic Clan Tournament are rigid, but people are flexible. If we can't beat them, can't we just run away?"

Everyone was speechless: "..."

Li Wei had learned about the rules of the aristocratic family assessment competition from Chen Yuan.

The group entered the secret realm within the ruins of gods and demons, where the scions of various noble families fought freely.

Families whose members are still alive when the conference ends will receive a cultivation license for the corresponding number of years.

The more people who survive, the greater the permitted rights and scope for cultivation, alchemy, and business.

Ultimately, the Beastmaster Clan uses the tournament to hunt down human geniuses, thereby controlling the number of future powerhouses among the various clans.

The group carefully considered Li Wei's plan and found it increasingly feasible, greatly increasing their chances of survival.

As a result, the way they looked at Zhang Shan and his two companions became more and more like they were looking at rare treasures.

Only now did they fully understand that Chen Yuan's insistence on saving Zhang Shan and the other two was actually part of a far-reaching plan.

Zhang Shan, Tang Hu, and Li Shouren exchanged glances, their hearts filled with turbulent emotions.

Now that things have come to this, they have no choice but to ally themselves with the Chen family. Otherwise, before the people from Chunmenglou can kill them, the Zhang, Tang, and Li families behind them will grind them to dust.

So they were naturally willing and fearless to build spaceships.

But look at the Chen family's scions, wow, that's real torture!

Are you trying to play a match-3 puzzle game?

··················

Two months passed in the blink of an eye.

In the quiet, secluded room, Chen Yuan held an ancient jade slip in his hand, his heart filled with turbulent emotions.

This jade slip was a keepsake that Lu Chengfeng personally gave him before his death.

At first, only five ancient characters appeared on the surface of the jade slip: Evil Spirit Annihilation God Slayer!

However, after spending some time studying it, he discovered that there were actually two more sets of cultivation techniques hidden inside the jade slip.

The perfect match for the Evil Spirit Annihilation God Slash is the Evil God Devouring Heaven Technique.

In addition, there is another technique called the Demon God Devouring Heaven Technique.

The accompanying combat technique is—Demon Spirit Annihilation Slash.

However, the technique is incomplete, only the first level is available.

Chen Yuan originally practiced the orthodox cultivation methods of the human race, such as the "Xuanhuang Zhengqi Jue" and "Tianguang Zhanyao Jue".

Unable to contain his curiosity, he tried to circulate his demonic spiritual power to cultivate, and was shocked to find that... he could directly cultivate demonic methods without any hindrance.

As the "Demon God Devouring Heaven Technique" was activated, patches of pitch-black scales quietly appeared on his arms!

If you practice the technique for a long time, your five fingers will transform into the claws of a ferocious beast!

This demonic hand is powerful and domineering, with its five fingers transforming into sharp claws over thirty centimeters long, gleaming coldly like diamond blades.

Chen Yuan stared at his claws, which were as sharp as steel blades, and his heart pounded wildly.

He suddenly remembered that when he went on a killing spree in Huaishan County, the Wuxiang Guards had thought he was an orc...

"Could it be that I truly have a mutated species within my body, causing my physical transformation?"

A sense of foreboding washed over me.

Could it be that I am no longer a pure human?

Or is it a different kind of monster?

So, it can devour demonic energy and malevolent energy?

Chen Yuan felt uneasy.

Over the next few days, he repeatedly studied and cultivated, carefully examining himself, but found no potential backlash, so he simply stopped worrying about it.

They come, the security.

Anyway, after becoming demonized or evil, one's physical strength and combat power will increase dramatically, without any backlash, so that's fine.

After finishing these preparations, Chen Yuan composed himself and immediately broke through the barrier.

Amidst the astonished gazes of the guards and maids, he walked straight towards the Chen family's armory.

The warehouse was guarded by an old man with disheveled hair who was drunk all day long; everyone called him—Old Slovenly.

This man was slovenly dressed and never washed, looking filthy. He always had a wine jug in his hand and was half-drunk and half-awake, rarely sober.

When the slovenly old man saw that it was the young master who had come to choose a suitable weapon, he simply grunted through his nose, stood to the side at the entrance of the storeroom, kicked open the heavy door, and gestured for him to come in and choose for himself.

Chen Yuan glanced at the old man a few more times, secretly memorizing his appearance. He nodded politely in greeting and then stepped into the storeroom.

"Um?"

Seeing that Chen Yuan was very polite, the old man's hazy, drunken eyes cleared up a little, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

But half an hour later, his eyes suddenly widened, and his drunkenness vanished instantly.

Chen Yuan strode out of the storeroom, nodded to the old slovenly man, and then walked outside.

The old slovenly man stared at Chen Yuan in astonishment, as Chen Yuan brought out the heaviest ancient black halberd from the storeroom.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The halberd was entirely black and weighed 1,800 jin (approximately 600 kg), yet it felt weightless on Chen Yuan's shoulder.

However, with each step he took, the heavy force caused the bluestone floor to crack inch by inch.

"hiss······"

The old slovenly man looked at Chen Yuan's thin, not-so-robust figure and couldn't help but gasp.

He was filled with disbelief.

How could such a slender body possess such terrifying strength?

Chen Yuan ignored the old man's shocked and bewildered expression.

After two months of secluded cultivation, he felt an immense surge of power coursing through his body and desperately needed a suitable divine weapon to hone his skills.

The kitchen knife of the past is no longer worthy of my current level of cultivation; the iron spikes are only suitable for assassinations in the shadows!

The "Heavenly Light Demon-Slaying Technique" is a sword-based martial art; if used rashly, it can easily expose the hidden identity of the sword wielder.

The newly revamped Evil Spirit God-Slaying Slash and Demon Spirit God-Slaying Slash are both powerful and domineering techniques, best suited for heavy weapons.

After much deliberation, Chen Yuan chose this black halberd that was as heavy as a mountain!

He carried his halberd and walked slowly, attracting everyone's attention and exclamations along the way. The news was quickly reported up the chain of command and reached Chen Qingcang's ears.

When Chen Qingcang rushed to Chen Yuan's courtyard, he saw Chen Yuan wielding his halberd, with strong winds howling, air waves surging, and thunderous sonic booms resounding throughout the surrounding area, his power extremely terrifying.

"drink!!!"

Chen Yuan unleashed his attack with explosive force, shouting and roaring as he executed the Demon God's Annihilation Slash in its entirety.

He deliberately avoided using the Demon God Devouring Heaven Technique and did not spread demonic spiritual power. He relied solely on his powerful physical body to perform the technique, so outsiders could not tell that it was a demonic cultivation method.

At this moment, he felt an inexhaustible power within his body, his muscles and bones bulging, his blood and qi surging like a dragon.

boom!!!

Chen Yuan suddenly leaped forward and slashed down with his halberd, instantly splitting the courtyard ground into a deep ravine tens of meters long, causing the entire Five Finger Peak to tremble violently.

Chen Yuan looked at the cracks in the ground, then glanced at Chen Qingcang, who was frozen in place at the courtyard gate, and scratched his head somewhat awkwardly:

"Old man..."

He pointed to the crack in the ground and asked in a low voice, "This... I won't have to pay for it, will I?"

Chen Qingcang stood frozen in place, and after a long while, he looked up blankly at Chen Yuan: "You...you broke through?"

"Yes, you've broken through."

Chen Yuan nodded, his tone still tinged with disappointment, "It's a pity he's only at the early stage of the Yellow Court Realm."

Chen Qingcang froze abruptly: "...It's just...???"

He stared at Chen Yuan as if he were a monster, both amused and exasperated: "What kind of tone is that? And you look so dissatisfied?"

"The last time I broke through, I went from the early stage of the Dharma Body Realm to the Great Perfection in one go!"

"I wasn't able to reach the Great Perfection stage this time, and I'm only at the initial stage, so naturally I'm not satisfied."

Chen Yuan looked regretful, with a hint of heartache, "What's more, I've used up all the cultivation resources you gave me, Grandpa."

Chen Qingcang's expression froze again!

Holy crap?!