Firmament Sword

“Heh heh, how vicious. A dozen or so people, all burned to death in one fire. Truly cruel,” one of the two young men said with a cold laugh.

“Yes, so cruel. It was hard for even me to watch. Those people were so pitiful, being burned alive,” the other young man added.

The young woman spoke up, “I want that cat! And that fire!”

“Of course! Anything you like is yours,” the first young man said, looking at her with a doting expression.

The middle-aged man looked coldly at Du Qingteng and said, “Hand over that cat and your fire. Then, sever one of your own arms and leave. We’ll spare your lives!”

Du Qingteng looked at Xu Luo and said helplessly, “You know, I’ve realized something. Master Du isn’t arrogant at all. In fact, Master Du has always been a very peaceful person, never one to bully others with his power. Right?”

Xu Luo glanced at the group and said expressionlessly, “It’s not so bad.”

“Not so bad?” Du Qingteng rolled his eyes. “You think this is ‘not so bad’? Look at them… they’re bullying us! Master Du is about to cry!”

“Why are there so many idiots in this world?”

“Or… do they all think they’ve reached the Saint Venerable realm and can completely ignore any opponent?”

Du Qingteng was putting on a show, sighing dramatically.

The young man across from them couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “A Saint Venerable? HAHAHA! Is this idiot living in his own little world?”

The other young man chuckled. “It must be a realm he made up himself.”

Du Qingteng couldn’t help but sneer. If they had hesitated after hearing the words “Saint Venerable,” he would have had to seriously reconsider.

After all, there was always someone stronger out there. Even as a Holy Land Inheritor, he couldn’t guarantee that he was the most knowledgeable person in the world.

Even the Saint Master of a Holy Land wouldn’t dare claim that their people were the strongest. There were always some low-profile, ancient families that might harbor even more powerful titans.

That’s why he had deliberately mentioned the term Saint Venerable just now—to test their reaction.

But they hadn’t even batted an eye before starting to mock him. This instantly gave Du Qingteng a surge of confidence.

Just then, the decrepit old man spoke, his voice trembling, “Young man, don’t be so arrogant. You should know there’s always someone stronger. You strike with such viciousness, which shows you are malicious people. Lay down your butcher’s knives, and this old man will grant you release!”

As he spoke, the old man actually began to walk forward slowly.

Every step was filled with power!

“Huh? Didn’t you just say you’d let us go if we cut off an arm?” Du Qingteng asked, looking with some surprise at the old man, whose aura was growing stronger and stronger.

The old man grinned, revealing a mouth full of yellowed teeth. “That was then. Not anymore!”

As he said this, the old man’s arm suddenly extended. From dozens of yards away, it shot directly toward Du Qingteng’s neck!

A massive arm of energy coalesced in the void, lunging for Du Qingteng with terrifying power!

“This isn’t the power of an Initial Tier Ultimate Venerable!” Du Qingteng exclaimed, his body rapidly retreating.

“You’re right, little brat!” the decrepit old man cackled. A boundlessly vast aura suddenly erupted from his body, crashing down on Du Qingteng and Xu Luo with a BOOM.

This aura… had actually reached the Celestial Venerable Realm!

‘A Celestial Venerable!’ A glint of shock flashed through Xu Luo’s eyes.

“You old bastard… You’re not from the outside world!” Du Qingteng roared, a mix of shock and anger. He simultaneously summoned his Celestial Blue Fire, sending it to burn the arm the old man had coalesced in the void.

“I am from the outside!” the old man cackled. “A Saint Venerable… heheh, so you know of Saint Venerables. You must either be a Core Disciple of the nine major sects or a Holy Land Inheritor. Capturing you… could be exchanged for a great deal of divine materials!”

“Who in the world are you?” Du Qingteng was genuinely shocked.

The man actually knew about Saint Venerables. He couldn’t help but hate his own mouth—he had really jinxed himself!

‘Why did I have to bring up the term Saint Venerable for no reason?’

He’d actually summoned a truly terrifying existence.

Moreover, this old man definitely had a powerful artifact on him that allowed him to evade the suppression of the Ancient Ruins World’s laws.

Otherwise, how could he possibly unleash the power of a Celestial Venerable?

“Little thing… you’re not qualified to know who I am!” the old man sneered. “If you had just been obedient from the start, cut off your arm, and left behind what you were supposed to, why would I have made things difficult for you?”

“Someone of your realm making trouble for a junior like me… Aren’t you afraid of embarrassing yourself?” Du Qingteng shouted.

“Embarrassment? What’s there to be afraid of? In my opinion, face is nothing more than a useless fig leaf! Having it or not… what’s the difference?”

“You have something the Miss wants, so naturally, I must take it for her!”

As Xu Luo contacted Lan, he narrowed his eyes, utterly shocked. ‘The amount of information in this old man’s words is staggering!’

‘Miss… A top-tier expert at the Celestial Venerable Realm is actually calling a girl in her twenties “Miss”…’

‘Who exactly is this woman?’

‘The Divine Domain World… is truly full of unknowns.’

‘Beyond the known nine major sects and three great Holy Lands, there are so many obscure factions with heaven-shattering legacies.’

‘This group in front of me… very likely comes from such a background.’

Lan, who was walking through the Bronze Divine Hall, received Xu Luo’s message and instantly vanished.

A moment later, just as Du Qingteng had nowhere left to retreat, Lan finally appeared.

She raised her hand and struck with her palm!

BOOM!

An earth-shattering roar echoed out, and the intense shockwave from the explosion seemed to drain all color from the world.

A blue figure appeared on the scene. In her hand, she held the decrepit old man, who had been insufferably arrogant just moments ago, dangling upside down.

A trickle of blood spilled from the corner of the old man’s mouth. That single blow had severely damaged his internal organs, leaving him gravely injured.

But more difficult to accept than his physical injuries was the fact that he, a top-tier expert at the Celestial Venerable Realm, had been captured alive so easily!

It was true… he had heard of Saint Venerables. He even knew that above them were Great Venerables, and above Great Venerables… was the legendary Saint Emperor!

The problem was… in the current world, Celestial Venerables were already the strongest of the strong. Where would one even find a Saint Venerable?

He only knew of this through the ancient texts passed down through his family for generations. Even those texts… described the Saint Venerable and Great Venerable realms as illusory and advised against future generations pursuing them.

Because in the eyes of his family’s ancestors, using a finite life to pursue an infinite realm was an act of utter foolishness.

Thus, after the old man had cultivated all the way to the Celestial Venerable Realm, although he hadn’t stopped cultivating, he could feel that the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth was no longer of much use to him.

Advancing to a higher realm was almost impossible, so he had given up on the path to becoming a Saint Venerable or Great Venerable.

This time, he had entered these ruins because of an ancient text in his family’s collection. It recorded a world of incomparable splendor and glory that had later collapsed for unknown reasons.

After that world collapsed, no one was ever able to find it again.

Its approximate location was at the border of modern-day Xi Hezhou and Blazing Flame Province!

Therefore, when news of ruins appearing here spread, the old man’s family was instantly thrilled.

They believed these ruins were very likely related to that collapsed world from long ago!

So, the old man personally led a few of his family’s elite juniors to this place.

To enter these ruins, the old man had directly used an ancestral artifact from his family. This artifact… might not have much use in normal times, but in these ruins, it was like a Divine Artifact!

Because the artifact’s function was to deceive the heavens!

It could fool any and all laws!

In any place that suppressed cultivation realms, as long as one wore this ancestral artifact, the local laws would perceive them as being within the permitted rules!

The old man didn’t know the artifact’s origin, only that it had been passed down from his ancestors and was several million years old.

Wearing this ancestral artifact to enter the ruins was, simply put, cheating!

It was blatant cheating!

To anyone else, this decrepit old man would be a Grim Reaper-like existence!

In these ruins where everyone was suppressed to the Initial Tier Ultimate Venerable, he was a True God!

He could sweep away all enemies!

In fact, from the moment they entered the ruins, under the old man’s leadership, they had indeed swept through everything in their path.

They didn’t need to search for opportunities at all; they just had to follow others.

Once the people they were following found a treasure, their group would immediately make a move. First, the middle-aged man would issue a threat. If that didn’t work, the old man would release a sliver of his aura, which was enough to scare the target out of their wits.

Then, they could only obediently leave behind the treasures they’d found and flee in a panic.

If they encountered anyone who didn’t know what was good for them, the old man couldn’t care less about things like their status. He would just attack, crush them, and kill them.

Earlier, outside the ruins, when Xie Wanrou had forcefully taught a lesson to the people from Blazing Flame Province, the old man’s group had sneered in secret, full of disdain. At the entrance to the ruins, when that terrifying giant turtle swallowed over a hundred young Saints and Great Saints in one gulp, the old man had still sneered with contempt.

He stood on a high pedestal, looking down on all living things, feeling that he was the True God of these ruins!

But now… he could no longer laugh.

The decrepit old man, held upside down by the ankle by Lan, had completely lost control of his body. He cried out in terror, “Who are you? You… how could you possibly capture me?”

The middle-aged man, the two young men, and the beautiful young woman over there were all so terrified they could barely think.

Over and over, only four words echoed in their minds: “How is this possible?”

“Little thing, hiding your true power… coming in here and bullying the weak this whole time, felt pretty good, didn’t it?” Master Mao suddenly leaped in front of the old man’s face, extended a paw, and pointed at him with a sneer. “I want that cat… Ptui!”

“You don’t know death when you see it!” Master Mao cursed, then swung his paw and slapped the old man hard across the face.

Du Qingteng, watching from the side, was stunned.

‘A Celestial Venerable!’

‘This was a Celestial Venerable!’

“Master Mao, you truly are the master! How did it feel to slap a Celestial Venerable?” Du Qingteng asked shamelessly.

“Want to know? Come over and hit him yourself, then you’ll find out!” Master Mao said nonchalantly.