"Jiang Chen, aren’t you going to come up here and meet your death?"

Lan Haichen wore an arrogant expression, his icy gaze fixed on Jiang Chen.

He was now a master of the Union Palace Realm!

He was countless times stronger than before and had absolute confidence in his ability to defeat Jiang Chen.

No!

In Lan Haichen’s mind, he wasn’t just going to defeat Jiang Chen. He would humiliate him with the most ruthless and vicious methods, making Jiang Chen suffer endless torment until he begged for a death that wouldn’t come. Only by finally killing him then could the hatred in his heart be appeased!

"Since my debut, no one in my generation has ever been able to challenge my position. Even among the Ten Great Dynasties, I could crush all opposition and top the Venerable List. However..."

Lan Haichen took a deep breath, his sharp, sword-like brows twitching slightly. His dark eyes, glinting with sinister resentment, locked onto Jiang Chen as he said grimly, "Ever since I met you, I have suffered one setback after another. The experts of my Celestial Alliance fell to you, one after another, and now our elites have been completely wiped out. Worst of all, you dared to steal the Furnace Cauldron I so meticulously cultivated. You deserve to die! You deserve to be cut into a thousand pieces!"

At the mere mention of Jiang Ziyou.

Lan Haichen felt as if his heart were bleeding. His hands clenched into fists unconsciously, his sharp nails digging into his palms, drawing blood without him even noticing.

The rage!

The hatred! 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

He had never encountered a single setback in his entire life—until he met Jiang Chen. Since then, nothing had gone right.

This sent Lan Haichen into an uncontrollable fury!

The anger inside him was like molten lava, roiling and surging, ready to erupt with terrifying wrath.

Threads of vigorous aura began to leak from his body.

Within a hundred meters of Lan Haichen, the calm air suddenly turned violent, and the howling of the wind rose abruptly.

The wind stirred the clouds and churned the waves, and a series of sonic booms pierced the air.

Jiang Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He rose to his full height, getting up from the Golden Throne. With his hands clasped behind his back, he stepped into the Floating Battlefield.

The Celestial Fate Daoist waved his arm, and the Floating Battlefield changed once more. The dry ocean reverted to its original state, its waves rolling endlessly.

He stood upon the surface of the sea, his cold gaze landing on Lan Haichen.

A complex look flickered through Jiang Chen’s eyes.

"Lan Haichen... I’ve finally waited for this moment!" Jiang Chen took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

He had waited for this day for over a year!

The scene at the Yulan Riverfront in Yandu City was still as clear as day in his mind!

Lan Haichen, as arrogant as a Divine Spirit, had rendered him powerless with just a single glance, a single cold snort. He had stopped the ceaseless flow of the Yulan River with his divine-like methods. That, and his arrogant gaze that looked down on him like an ant, every word he had spoken, every glance he had given...

He hadn’t forgotten any of it!

He couldn’t forget!

It was all seared into his heart!

"Insolent ant, do you have any idea that Jiang Ziyou is my woman? You dared to make a move on her... Tell me, how do you want to die?"

"Brat, I know you’re resentful, but it’s a pity. Your resentment and indignation are useless. If I want you dead, you die. If I want you alive, you don’t even have the right to die. Do you know why I’m not killing you today? Besides what Bai Ling said, the most important reason is that you are too weak. You are not worthy of forcing my hand!"

"Surpass me in five years? How utterly clueless. You have no idea how vast the gap between us is. Forget five years—even in fifty years, or five hundred, you would still be no match for me."

"Come back and say that to me when you’ve mastered this kind of power!"

Lan Haichen’s phantom image suddenly opened its mouth and let out a cold snort. With a "BOOM," the raging Yulan River suddenly exploded. An entire vacuum was blasted into the river’s surface. He had parted the river with a shout—Lan Haichen’s power was just that terrifying!

The entire Yulan Riverfront fell silent...

For the past four hundred-some days and nights, every one of these scenes, every single detail, had replayed in his mind like a recurring nightmare.

That arrogant, invincible, flamboyant, superior, and utterly cold voice.

It was like a sharp sword hanging over his head, constantly pushing him to get stronger and stronger.

Even when facing life-and-death situations, even with all the challenges and hardships on his path of cultivation, nothing had ever managed to defeat Jiang Chen or make him back down.

It was all because of the vow he had made that day.

Jiang Chen clenched his fists, his eyes filled with absolute determination. "Lan Haichen, I once said... Back then, you thought I wasn’t worthy of you even acting against me. But... one day, I would surely crush you under my heel! I have never forgotten the promise I made that day, and today is the day I, Jiang Chen, make good on it!"

"Crush me under your heel?"

Lan Haichen froze for a moment, then burst into laughter as if he’d heard the most ridiculous joke in the world, laughing so hard he was bent over. "Jiang Chen, I have to admire your courage. HAHAHA, I am in the Union Palace Realm now, and you still delude yourself into thinking you can crush me? Hilarious! I’m dying of laughter, HAHAHA..."

"Let’s hope you can still laugh later," Jiang Chen said calmly.

Lan Haichen’s smile slowly faded, replaced by a gaze of extreme coldness. He said, enunciating each word, "I will be waiting right here for you. I’d like to see just how you plan to shake my Divine Aura!"

"Then you’d better stand firm. Don’t get careless and get taken down by an underdog!"

Jiang Chen snorted coldly.

Their eyes met.

Icy glints erupted from their eyes, clashing in the empty space between them and creating a vacuum.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—

The seawater beneath their feet began to explode, sending up towering columns of water in a straight line. The explosions continued forward with a rumbling sound until the two rows of water columns collided in the center between them. With a massive "BOOM," a waterspout five thousand meters high shot straight into the clouds.

A sheet of seawater fell from high above, pattering down like rain.

Jiang Chen and Lan Haichen stood in the downpour, letting the heavy rain strike them without flinching or dodging, their eyes locked on each other.

An unknown amount of time passed...

As the last drop of rain fell, splashing into the turbulent sea.

Like two statues, the motionless Jiang Chen and Lan Haichen suddenly had sharp glints of light erupt from their eyes. At almost the same instant, their figures blurred.

Two massive waves suddenly surged forward in straight lines across the sea’s surface, as if trying to tear the ocean in two.

By the time the two afterimages they left behind had vanished, the two massive waves finally collided.

BOOM—

A muffled boom, powerful enough to overturn heaven and earth and reverse the sun and moon, suddenly erupted from the core of the collision. The giant waves crushed and slammed into each other, and at their center, Jiang Chen and Lan Haichen had locked hands, grappling with each other like two raging bulls clashing in a contest of pure strength!

"I never thought a mere ant like you could grow this strong. If I had known, I would have utterly destroyed you back in Yandu City!" Lan Haichen’s face was savage.

Jiang Chen sneered. "You already missed your only chance to kill me!"

"Not necessarily!"

Lan Haichen grinned maliciously, a blood-red light flickering in his eyes. "Today, I can kill you all the same!"

"Then try it!"

The two men exerted their strength at the same time. Their four arms, like four Flood Dragons, erupted with terrifying power.

BANG! BANG...

At the same time, the sleeves of both men burst apart.

A chaotic storm swept out from around them, the "WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH" of the wind exceptionally piercing and deafening.

With the two of them at the center, a tornado stormed up from the sea!

Sheets of seawater were swept high into the sky. The sheer spectacle created by their simple contest of strength left everyone watching from the Prodigy Battlefield dumbfounded and horrified...

[This was yesterday’s fourth Chapter! When the next one is done, Little Tian will announce some good news, consider it a little surprise for everyone before the weekend ends and it’s time for work and school again!]