Chapter 72: Chapter 70: One Thought Heaven, One Thought Hell

"See? I told you. You can’t take my life, and you can’t skin me either."

Liu Hui said calmly, his hand clamped around Zheng Xiao’s beastly claw.

"You..." Zheng Xiao was stunned, utterly horrified. "How can you still move?"

The surrounding crowd was also so astonished their jaws dropped.

For a Cultivator who had not mastered a Domain, the restrictive power of one was absolute. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

It was once studied that if one wanted to shatter a Purity Realm’s Domain with sheer power, they would need the physical body of a Vajra Realm expert at the very least.

In other words, in the eyes of a Purity Realm cultivator, even the weakest among them could easily slaughter the most powerful Refining Spirit Cultivator.

This was a long-established law of the Martial Arts World. In the tens of thousands of years of the Mountain and Sea Empire’s history, at least, no one had ever broken it.

But now, Liu Hui’s appearance had shattered this ironclad rule.

"Why shouldn’t I be able to move?" Liu Hui retorted.

Zheng Xiao was speechless. ’He’s clearly only at Refining God Ninth Heaven,’ he thought. ’It’s impossible for him to have the Physical Strength of the Vajra Realm.’

’Could it be...’

Zheng Xiao thought of a possibility, but it was even more absurd than Liu Hui possessing the Physical Strength of the Vajra Realm.

But aside from that possibility, Zheng Xiao could think of no other reason.

"You... You have a Domain too?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

Liu Hui’s matter-of-fact expression drove everyone mad.

’What about it? What do you mean, "What about it"?!’

’Only those who reach the Purity Realm can have a Domain! That’s common knowledge in the Martial Dao!’

"Hey, Liu Hui, stop playing around! Finish this quickly!" Mo Qi shouted, urging him on.

Zhang Cheng had died at his hands, and the news had already reached the Wolf Fang Sect. Heaven knew what the Wolf Fang Sect’s Leader, Zhang Shao, would do.

Zhang Shao’s projection had told Mo Qi to wait for his bloody revenge.

Mo Qi could practically foresee that he was now a wanted man by the Wolf Fang Sect.

The Wolf Fang Sect might have even sent people here already to corner him.

Therefore, the safest place right now was the Void Sect headquarters, and the most important thing for him to do was to hurry back.

"Yes, Master."

Liu Hui looked at Zheng Xiao and said, "Playtime’s over. My Master is rushing me."

’Playtime? This is a life-or-death battle, and you’re saying you were just playing with me?’

Before Zheng Xiao could even react, an immense force transmitted from his beastly claw.

"Hmph! I’ve fused with a Demon Beast! My strength is no less than a true Purity Realm expert’s! You’re courting death by comparing strength with me!"

However, Zheng Xiao soon discovered an unacceptable fact: Liu Hui’s strength was even greater than his!

"KRA-KA-KA!"

A grating, screeching sound came from the beastly claw. Liu Hui squeezed the sharp talons in his hand, bending them out of shape.

"ROAR!"

The cry of a dragon entered Zheng Xiao’s ears, and his expression changed drastically.

As one of the most outstanding disciples of the Wolf Fang Sect’s younger generation, how could he not recognize a dragon’s cry?

The White Fox Demon Beast fused with him was terrified by the cry and immediately wanted to flee, disregarding everything else.

What were dragons? The leaders of all beasts, their bloodline possessed immense power, holding a formidable deterrent effect over the vast majority of Demon Beasts and Spirit Beasts.

It was a suppression that originated from the deepest parts of the bloodline.

If Zheng Xiao weren’t the one in control of this body after the fusion, his combined form would have already collapsed on its own.

"How is that possible? How could you possibly possess..."

Before he could get the word "dragon" out, a dragon arm covered in faint golden scales grew closer and larger in Zheng Xiao’s vision.

PSH!

The Dragon Claw easily broke through Zheng Xiao’s defenses, pierced his brow, and extinguished his consciousness.

THUD!

Zheng Xiao’s corpse fell to the ground, reverting to his original human form.

A White Fox Demon Beast flew out and prostrated itself before Liu Hui, trembling uncontrollably.

Liu Hui grabbed the White Fox, unceremoniously snapped its neck, and put the corpse into his Storage Space.

"Another fine ingredient."

"Hey, do you guys still want to compete?" Liu Hui asked, looking toward the Wolf Fang Sect’s contingent.

Only then did the crowd finally snap back to their senses.

’He actually won...’

This was what everyone was thinking.

Ji Lin couldn’t remember how many years it had been since he’d experienced such a thrill. His heart had been on a rollercoaster all night—soaring with joy one moment and plummeting into sorrow the next. It hadn’t stopped.

"Elder Ji, we won!" Ye Lei and Ye Dian were overjoyed, grinning from ear to ear.

It was a truly unexpected delight. Not only did Liu Hui win, he won with ease!

Jin Quan never would have imagined that all his arrangements, all his meticulous planning, would be ruined in an instant.

It was precisely to prevent any accidents and to ensure the Wolf Fang Sect could obtain 100% ownership of the Spiritual Ore that he had resorted to paying any price, defying the world’s condemnation to trigger a Beast Tide.

But now, everything was over. Liu Hui’s decisive move had turned it all to dust.

Jin Quan was filled with regret, wishing he could just slap himself twice.

If he had known it would turn out like this, he would have never initiated the "final plan."

Wasn’t a seventy-five percent share good enough? He just had to court death. And look where it got him. With the strength Liu Hui had shown, forget seven opponents—even seventy or seven hundred probably wouldn’t be enough for him to kill.

The entire Earth-level Spiritual Ore lode would now belong to the Void Sect. The Wolf Fang Sect had suffered a double loss.

It was as the saying goes: one thought away from heaven, one thought away from hell.

"Hey, Jin Quan! Spit it out, are you going to fight or not?"

After being suppressed all night, Ji Lin could finally hold his head high. He threw Jin Quan’s own words right back at him.

"Hmph! Count yourselves lucky. But don’t celebrate too early, Ji Lin. That Earth-level Spiritual Ore lode might just be a dud. We’re leaving!"

With a dark expression, Jin Quan conceded defeat and left with the rest of the Wolf Fang Sect.

’Luckily, I had an ace up my sleeve. Zhang Cheng and the others should have gotten the Top-grade Spirit Stones by now.’

On the way back to their encampment, Jin Quan silently congratulated himself for arranging the "Zhang Cheng" gambit beforehand. Otherwise, the losses would have been catastrophic.

What he didn’t know, however, was that Zhang Cheng had already become a soul reaped by Mo Qi’s blade. As for the Top-grade Spirit Stones, the Wolf Fang Sect wouldn’t get a single one.

Back on the Void Sect’s side, Liu Hui had become a true hero, the man of the hour.

A one hundred percent share of the Earth-level Spiritual Ore!

If word of this got back to the Void Sect, even with seven disciples dead, Ji Lin wouldn’t have to bear any responsibility. In fact, he would receive a huge reward.

Everyone was caught up in the celebration, except for three people: Qi Tian, Diao Qing, and Mo Qi.

Mo Qi was worried about retaliation from the Wolf Fang Sect, while Qi Tian and Diao Qing were simply terrified by Liu Hui’s power.

"Senior Brother Diao Qing, this Liu Hui is just too strong. With him around, there’s nothing we can do to Mo Qi."

"Don’t be hasty. Let’s just wait and see."

Diao Qing and Qi Tian had different thoughts on the matter.

To this day, Qi Tian still believed Mo Qi was a good-for-nothing who couldn’t even condense True Essence, and that he owed everything he had to Liu Hui.

Diao Qing had been observing for a long time. Although he still couldn’t see anything special about Mo Qi, he refused to believe that mere culinary skills could make a peerless genius like Liu Hui submit to him.

Dealing with Mo Qi would require a long-term plan.

And just as everyone was preparing to return to the encampment for a victory banquet, Ji Lin received a message from the Void Sect headquarters.

The message stated that the Wolf Fang Sect was about to make a major move regarding the Earth-level Spiritual Ore and had already dispatched a large number of experts.

Void Sect reinforcements would arrive soon, and Ji Lin was now instructed to use the Forbidden Teleportation Array to send Liu Hui back to the Void Sect first.