Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

This was classic: lure the tiger from its mountain. By logic, the moment Long Chen stepped outside the barrier, the barrier’s power would weaken precipitously. Moreover, the part without runes should be the barrier’s weakest point.

Once Long Chen was out of the barrier, the giant swung the warhammer with all his might.

Clearly, the enemy’s goal was the original devil race. In their mind, as long as they broke the barrier, the original devil race would be easy prey.

However, this plan made Long Chen sneer. He ignored the giant and raised his hand, using the Divine Dragon Pull.

One of the outsider experts was yanked into his palm. The moment vines dug into his body, information poured into Long Chen’s mind.

Just then, the giant’s warhammer struck. The explosion thundered through the air. For a moment, everyone froze.

Crack!

To everyone’s surprise, the cracking sound came from the warhammer. As the cracks grew, they extended even into the giant’s own flesh.

Just like that, the giant body shattered like porcelain.

This brute had 999 Sovereign flames and had reached the merging process—half a step into the One Merger realm. Brutal strength had brought him far, but it could not save him from the barrier’s judgment.

“How dangerous. He nearly knocked a speck of dust off me,” Evilmoon said in mock fright.

Long Chen was speechless. Evilmoon had picked up some bad habits.

But the cold truth was undeniable: Evilmoon’s power was terrifying.

The warhammer was a damaged Divine Sovereign magical item, and it shattered just by coming into contact with the barrier. Clearly, a divine weapon of this caliber was not Evilmoon’s match.

The giant’s sneak attack had sealed his own fate.

At this moment, multiple figures appeared through the vicinity—tens of thousands of them. They raised their bows, all aimed at Long Chen.

The giant’s failure had taught them that the barrier had no weakness to exploit. If they wanted to break it and seize the original devil race, they had to kill Long Chen—the one who could move freely through the barrier. He had to be the one controlling the barrier.

Of course, that was wishful thinking. They did not know this barrier was not a formation, and Long Chen was not the formation eye.

“You’re still hiding? How gutless. Why come here if you are not going to show yourself?” Long Chen said, not bothering to look at the rain of arrows. His gaze fixed on the void.

After a few seconds, that calm space twisted slightly, and an icy-faced man with a bow on his back appeared.𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

“I really didn’t expect this. I was just helping the Heaven Devil race clean up some small fry, but I actually caught a big fish,” the icy-faced man replied.

His voice was as cold as his expression—an emotionless blade that knew only killing.

“Shadow Divine Owl—Xiao Li. A slaughter-born brute. You merged your Sovereign flames ten days ago and came here to exterminate the original devil race after receiving a request from the Heaven Devil race. Did they promise you great riches?” Long Chen said, looking at him apathetically.

He obtained this information from the lifeform he had just killed. The icy man’s expression twitched slightly.

Everything Long Chen had said was true. The Shadow Divine Owl race had spiritual restrictions that would make soulsearches against them useless. Yet, those defenses failed against Long Chen.

“Interesting, so you have some skill. No wonder you have the Heaven Earth Cauldron. However, even if you know some secrets of my Shadow Divine Owl race, it’s meaningless. After all, you’re about to die, and these secrets will die with you,” Xiao Li threatened.

Long Chen muttered to himself, “It seems the Shadow race exists outside the nine heavens as well. The devil race exists in both the nine heavens and the outside world. The demon race does too. Then the human race shouldn’t be an exception. If they exist in the nine heavens, they must exist beyond it as well. Perhaps this is what it means to have a heavens beyond the heavens.”

Through these memories, Long Chen thought of some issues.

If such lifeforms existed in the outside world, why were no humans among the invaders? Long Chen thought back to the roars he had heard from the distant past. Were the nine heavens a prison? Were they all prisoners?

The devil race from beyond the world and the ones from the nine heavens looked similar, but different in spirit. When the former invaded, they spared no one. In their eyes, being from the same race held no meaning; all beings within the nine heavens were enemies.

The primal chaos war had left the nine heavens devastated, and the outsider experts had suffered heavy losses as well.

From this, they started to bribe their so-called “fellow races,” creating numerous traitors within the nine heavens.

Long Chen’s heart sank. With the original devil race’s help, he could easily identify traitorous devils... but what about other races? The divine rune’s reach was limited to devils.

The Shadow Divine Owl in front of Long Chen was the perfect example. Based on his subordinate’s memories, Long Chen saw one image of them being in contact with the Shadow race of the nine heavens.

Although it was just one blurry image, it didn’t seem to be a hostile encounter.

If Long Chen were to link up everything he had seen, then the nine heavens were actually in a far more precarious position that he had imagined. He thought back to how rapidly the scales had fallen when they first entered the heaven region’s battlefield.

On the surface, it appeared as if the nine heavens went against the outsiders, but the reality was that the outsiders had long since infiltrated the nine heavens. There probably weren’t many people Long Chen could trust in the nine heavens.

As for those Long Chen couldn’t trust, they were now pincer-attacking their supposed allies alongside the outsider experts.

“This won’t do. I have to gather everyone who is trustworthy,” Long Chen muttered.

His first thought went to the Four Cardinal Alliance. Perhaps they were in the gravest danger on the heaven region’s battlefield.

“What are you muttering over there? Don’t tell me you’re afraid?” Xiao Li taunted.

He slowly drew his bow from behind him, and it was wrapped in golden threads.

The moment the bowstring quivered, a sharp killing intent spread from it. This was an incredibly ominous Divine Sovereign magical item. It had slaughtered countless experts and was filled with a brutal qi.

“Hand over the Heaven Earth Cauldron, and perhaps I’ll leave your corpse intact!” demanded Xiao Li.

All of a sudden, Long Chen appeared in front of Xiao Li. At this sight, Xiao Li sneered.

He lightly pulled back the bowstring. Suddenly, the entire world darkened, like a pitch-black night without the slightest glimmer of light.