Heaven-Surpassing Divine Emperor

”Kill!”

”This kid has some nerve, daring to provoke our Six Mountains Dynasty. He’s courting death!”

Groups of soldiers from the Six Mountains Dynasty were patrolling the Jiuhua Celestial Sect when they ran into Jiang Chen.

The experts of the Six Mountains Dynasty were all battle-hardened men, exceptionally bloodthirsty and aggressive. The moment they saw Jiang Chen, they swarmed him without a second thought.

Faced with these powerhouses, Jiang Chen had only one response: kill!

Along the way, he had lost count of how many powerhouses he had slain. Rivers of blood and mountains of corpses marked his path.

”Where are the people from the Jiuhua Celestial Sect?” Jiang Chen grabbed a General of Cavalry at the Union Palace Realm, his hand squeezing the man’s throat as he asked with an icy gaze.

The face of this General of Cavalry, an expert at the Union Palace Realm Ninth Stage, was filled with terror. He glanced at the mountain of corpses and sea of blood behind Jiang Chen, and at the acrid, bloody stench filling the air. He swallowed hard and stammered, ”The... the ones from the Jiuhua Celestial Sect who refused to surrender... they’ve all been locked in the dungeons. W-When the entire Cloud Domain is unified, they’ll be t-taken back and sold as slaves.”

”Slaves?”

Jiang Chen froze.

The concept of slavery didn’t really exist in the Cloud Domain.

The General of Cavalry quickly explained, ”In the Netherworld, where our Six Mountains Dynasty is from, people of wealth and status enjoy buying powerful slaves. They’re used as guards, or sent to the Beast Fighting Arena to fight to the death for the amusement and wagers of the nobility... Although the Jiuhua Celestial Sect is considered Unranked in our Netherworld, it still has a few Human King Realm Powerhouses. They’ll fetch a good price.”

Across the entire Eastern Continent, the Six Mountains Dynasty was led by the Six Mountains Sword Venerable. It had no Sects, only powerful noble families.

These noble families were powerful and their influence deeply entrenched.

This often gave rise to decadent lifestyles. For example, some noblewomen would keep unique Demon Beasts to amuse them in their loneliness. Others would trade in slaves—beautiful women, handsome young men, or powerful Martial Artists could all be bought and sold as commodities.

Martial Artists with great combat strength were especially popular among the nobles of the Six Mountains Dynasty!

However, the fate of these slaves was usually tragic.

They were either tortured to death by their noble owners or thrown into a Beast Fighting Arena to fight until their last breath...

Jiang Chen’s eyes narrowed. He had no deep connection to the Jiuhua Celestial Sect, but Elder Beis Ming from the sect had helped him before. If it weren’t for him, Jiang Chen would have been murdered by Pei Yuan and his cohorts during his first visit to the Jiuhua Celestial Sect.

Jiang Chen then asked, ”Let me ask you... there is an Elder in the Jiuhua Celestial Sect named Beis Ming. Where is he now?”

”Beis Ming?”

The powerhouse was taken aback. His eyes darted around for a moment before he shook his head. ”I... I don’t know.”

”Hm?”

Jiang Chen’s eyes narrowed. The man’s flickering gaze was a clear sign he was lying. His fingers tightened abruptly, nearly snapping the man’s neck. ”Are you going to talk or not?” he said coldly.

”I’ll... I’ll talk...”

Faced with the threat of death, he had no choice but to yield. ”Beis Ming is an expert at the Peak of the Third Stage of the Human King Realm. After the Grand General subdued him, the initial plan was to take him back to the dynasty as an Advanced Slave. But Beis Ming refused to submit and even killed one of our Human King Realm experts. In a fit of rage, the Grand General crippled his cultivation. He’s now being held in the dungeons.”

”S-Sir, I... I’ve told you everything! Please... please spare me!” He looked at Jiang Chen with pleading eyes.

Jiang Chen glanced at him, then tightened his grip. With a sickening CRACK, he snapped the man’s neck.

Gazing at the powerhouse, whose eyes were wide with fury as he died with a grievance, Jiang Chen’s expression remained impassive as he stepped over the corpse.

He continued forward. Spreading his Divine Thought Power across the entire Jiuhua Celestial Sect, Jiang Chen quickly located the dungeons. But when he sensed what was happening inside, his eyes turned bloodshot. A terrifying Energy Storm erupted around him, whipping into a gale that howled with fury.

The Black Emperor and Little White were both startled. They exchanged a look, then turned to Jiang Chen in confusion.

They could both feel the rage burning within Jiang Chen, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

A cold, knife-like glint flashed in Jiang Chen’s eyes. ’Pei Yuan, you are courting death!’

...

Inside the dark, damp dungeon.

Cockroaches and rats could be seen scurrying everywhere. The disciples of the Jiuhua Celestial Sect—haggard, their cultivation sealed, and unwilling to surrender to the Six Mountains Dynasty—were crammed haphazardly into narrow cells.

Once, they were mighty Martial Artists who stood high above others, proud disciples of the Jiuhua Celestial Sect. Now, they were utterly wretched and broken.

At this moment, everyone’s gaze was fixed on a cell in the deepest part of the dungeon, their eyes filled with worry, terror, and profound fear. Many couldn’t bear to watch, shutting their eyes in pity.

In that dark cell in the deepest recesses of the dungeon.

A torch hung on the wall, its oil SIZZLING as it cast a dim, yellow light over the cell. In the center of the cell stood a wooden rack, to which a figure was bound.

His hands and feet had been pierced by steel spikes, pinning him firmly to the rack.

His ten fingers had been smashed to a pulp with a hammer, and both his feet were mostly hacked off. The congealed blood had turned a dark, blackish color.

The entire cell was filled with the pungent stench of blood.

This disheveled man, his face a mask of haggard despair and his body covered in countless wounds, was none other than the former Third Elder of the Jiuhua Celestial Sect, Beis Ming!

CRACK!

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

A series of sharp cracks echoed out as the shadow of a whip lashed against Beis Ming’s body. The whip’s surface was covered in barbs and had been dipped in chili oil. Each strike tore away a piece of Beis Ming’s flesh, the searing oil seeping into his wounds.

The agony was so intense that Beis Ming wished for death. His entire face contorted, and his body trembled as he glared at the man holding the whip. ”Pei Yuan... If you have the guts, just kill me! Kill me...!”

”Hahaha, Beis Ming, you want to die? It won’t be that easy!”

A vicious smile twisted Pei Yuan’s face. ”For so many years, you’ve opposed me at every turn. I couldn’t do anything to you before, but now, you’ve finally fallen into my hands. Hehehe, today I’ll show you what a fate worse than death truly is! Hahaha...”

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The whip in Pei Yuan’s hand lashed out again and again.

It was brutal. Too gruesome to watch.

Beis Ming screamed in agony, his face completely twisted and hideously contorted.

The pain was soul-shattering!

He roared in despair, ”Kill me! I’m begging you, kill me...!”

A dignified Human King, a king among men.

Yet now... he only begged for death!

He was unwilling to endure such humiliation any longer!

”Let Third Elder go!”

”Pei Yuan, you traitor who has turned his back on his own people! Let Third Elder go...!”

”If you have the guts, come at me...!”

In the dungeon, the captured powerhouses of the Jiuhua Celestial Sect who refused to surrender all began to shout.

Pei Yuan shot them a cold, indifferent glance. He sneered, ”A bunch of idiots. What I’m doing is called being a wise man who understands the times. The Six Mountains Dynasty is one of the Ten Great Dynasties of the Eastern Continent! By siding with them, I am leading the Jiuhua Celestial Sect toward prosperity. How could pedantic fools like you possibly understand my grand ambitions?”

”Shameless!”

”You’re the one who betrayed the Sect! The Sect Master was only killed because you ambushed him! Pei Yuan, you deserve to die!”

An Elder with white hair and a white beard roared.

Pei Yuan sneered. ”I deserve to die? Hmph, you’re the ones who will die. I, Pei Yuan, have latched onto the great tree that is the Six Mountains Dynasty. In the future, I will undoubtedly soar to great heights and reach the pinnacle of this world!”

However... just as Pei Yuan finished speaking, a chilling wind suddenly swept through the entire dungeon.

With it came a somewhat familiar voice, a voice that plunged Pei Yuan into a terror as if he had fallen into the Nine Nether Demon Realm...

”They’re right. You do deserve to die!”

[Author’s Note: Third update. Heading to the train station for Shanghai now! If I can, I (Little Tian) will definitely finish all five updates for today. If not, I’ll have to make them up after I return from Shanghai. My apologies, everyone!]