The roar of the Three-Horned Blood Nether Wyrm shook the Deathmist Trench like an earthquake born in the nine hells.Ten-thousand-ton boulders sheared away from the sheer basalt cliffs, tumbling down into the bone heaps with the sound of collapsing mountains. The beast’s hundred-zhang body surged from the subterranean chasm, its crimson chitinous scales scraping against the rock with the deafening screech of grinding iron plates. From its cavernous maw, clouds of foul green-and-crimson Nether Corrosive Blood Miasma poured out, melting ancient dragon ribs into bubbling black sludge upon contact.This was an authentic Fifth-Rank Peak demonic beast—a creature whose combat power was comparable to a Stage 8 Heavenly Astral powerhouse!In the imperial capital, even a high elder of the Imperial Dragon Guard would think twice before facing such a terror in enclosed terrain. For ordinary cultivators, a single breath of that corrosive miasma would liquefy their

The mountain wind atop the Blood Dragon Altar had died, strangled into absolute stillness by the suffocating gravity pouring from Chu Yuan’s frame.Five desolate stars turned above his head in slow, rhythmic counter-rotation. The newly awakened Desolate Calamity Star burned with a sinister, incandescent violet-black radiance, casting long, razor-sharp shadows across the cracked flagstones. One hundred and forty thousand jin of pure sovereign physical force pressed down upon the plateau with the weight of an unmoored mountain peak.Prince Ji Ming’s breath hitched in his throat. His knuckles tightened around the shaft of his seven-foot Blood Dragon Battle Halberd until the golden dragon scale engravings bit deep into his palms. The golden dragon armor covering his broad chest groaned under the unseen pressure, fine stress fractures spreading along the auric plating.Around him, the forty elite deathsworn guards of the Ji Clan were already swaying on their feet. Those whose cultivation l

The howling mountain wind above the three hundredth step carried the bite of celestial frost, but Chu Yuan's steps never wavered.Each stride he took upon the crystalline jade staircase was measured, calm, and inexorable. Behind him, Liu Changqing carried the limp, bloodied form of Prince Ji Ming, while Ye Shuang and the fourteen northern disciples advanced with heads held high. The crushing draconic pressure that normally ground competitors to dust was parted by the five desolate stars revolving above Chu Yuan, shielding his companions behind an impenetrable wall of starlight and calamity fire.A hundred paces above them, on the three hundred and sixtieth step, the four premier prodigies of the imperial capital stood arrayed in battle formation.Murong Tian held his deep-blue Autumn Frost Sword horizontally before his chest, his eyes cold and disdainful. To his left, Nangong Lie swung two flaming iron meteor hammers, sending waves of scorching heat curling into the frosty air. To his

The vast expanse of the White Jade Square was so quiet that the whistling of the high-altitude winds sounded like the mournful weeping of ancient spirits.One hundred thousand spectators—imperial officials in embroidered silk, veteran commanders in heavy armor, disciples from eighty-one sects across Grand Chu, and citizens packed behind the balustrades—stared in frozen disbelief at the youth standing before the imperial dais.Chu Yuan’s black robes fluttered gently in the wind. Behind him, the fourteen northern disciples stood tall, their bloodstained uniforms bearing testament to the slaughter they had survived. At their feet lay Prince Ji Ming, the proud third prince of the empire, breathing shallowly with his golden armor shattered and his right wrist bandaged in tattered cloth. And held loosely in Chu Yuan’s right hand, radiating an unearthly golden-crimson luster, was the Ancient Dragon-Phoenix Sovereign Seal."Step down from your high seat and f

Thirty li north of the Grand Chu Imperial Capital, the Nine Dragon Mountain Range rose abruptly into the clouds like the serrated spine of a prehistoric beast.Suspended among the highest snow-capped peaks were eighteen floating celestial islands, connected to one another by glittering bridges of solidified starlight. Dense spirit mist poured down the cliffs like waterfalls of liquefied essence, nourishing forests of purple bamboo and thousand-year-old ironwood groves. This was the Heavenly Star Academy, the cradle of sovereigns and the supreme martial sanctuary of Grand Chu for over eight hundred years.A sleek silver void vessel, bearing the celestial star crest of the academy, descended smoothly toward the central reception plaza of the Dragon-Cleansing Peak.Chu Yuan stood at the prow, his black robes fluttering in the high-altitude chill. Beside him, Fairy Luo Ningxue pointed toward the highest floating island, surrounded by a swirling halo of se