"Sect Leader, I want to become an Emperor!"

Murong Xuan said determinedly.

Chu Kuangren initially reacted with a strange look in his eyes, but he soon nodded with a smile. "Alright. I'm happy that you have some ambitions in you."

There was nothing better than seeing Murong Xuan persevering.

Murong Xuan possessed an unyielding Daoist core, hence such an incident would not hamper his motivation.

"I'm definitely going to become an Emperor! It's only through becoming an Emperor that all can be overcome. By then, the Sword Tribe and Melodious Void Sect can all go to h.e.l.l!"

Murong Xuan glanced toward the end of the Emperor Road and was overpowered by a boost of morale.

"The power of love is indeed magnificent." Shang Qingxue observed aside.

After the trio left the Melodious Void Sect, they went to stay at one of the guesthouses of Seven Chord City.

Although Springtime Lightning, the Emperor Weapon, had acknowledged Chu Kuangren as its owner, he still needed to refine the weapon further to maximize its potential.

s

Fortunately, due to the Springtime Lightning's acknowledgment, Chu Kuangren did not take long to refine it.

On top of Chu Kuangren's cultivation level, he had managed to fully refine the Springtime Lightning within two days.

During that period, Chu Kuangren had also received a piece of sudden news.

Jian Changfeng of the Sword Tribe had wished to challenge Chu Kuangren to a duel at Blaze City, a location not far away from Seven Chord City.

The people of Seven Chord City were shocked, to say the least.

Although Jian Changfeng was an excellent sky-pride of the Emperor Road who possessed remarkable abilities, Chu Kuangren's display of power during his battle against Guqin Demon and Art Ghoul had far surpa.s.sed that of Jian Changfeng. Just how did he muster such courage to challenge Chu Kuangren?

Shang Qingxue and Murong Xuan were puzzled too.

"Has he lost his mind?"

"Things aren't as simple as they look. There must be something that we're unaware of."

Murong Xuan and Shang Qingxue were discussing in the guesthouse.

At that moment, Chu Kuangren had already exited his closed-door meditation.

Murong Xuan told Chu Kuangren everything he knew about Jian Changfeng's challenge.

After listening, Chu Kuangren looked rather mischievous. "Challenging me? Since when did he get so brave?"

"Sect Leader, there must be foul play involved."

"Heh, that's for sure. However, I have nothing better to do anyway. I'll just drop by quickly and see what games they have for me."

Chu Kuangren said keenly.

He then instructed Murong Xuan and Shang Qingxue to remain in the guesthouse.

Chu Kuangren left a strain of sword qi each for Murong Xuan and Shang Qingxue for their safety.

The sword qi could be used to defend against enemies and allowed Chu Kuangren to track their whereabouts. That way, they could keep in contact, unlike before.

After making the necessary preparations, Chu Kuangren ventured into the Blaze City to check out the situation.

…

Blaze City was a smaller city than Seven Chord City.

However, Blaze City had cut off all connections to the outer world a few days ago, as if the entire city was engulfed by an invisible form of energy.

Peering into the Blaze City from the outside, one could only see an abandoned city that was void of all human presence.

Chu Kuangren arrived above the Blaze City and could sense that something was off.

"Are these… traces of a formation?"

Chu Kuangren had acquired a decent amount of knowledge about formations from having previously set up the Astonis.h.i.+ng Cloud of Seas Formation.

Although his expertise was still below mastery, Chu Kuangren could observe clear traces of formation around the Blaze City.

"Someone has surrounded Blaze City with a mega formation. Could it be Jian Changfeng?"

"That's not right. The Eye of Revelation did not reveal any information about the person's ability to set up formations. This must be the doing of another person."

Something was clearly not right in the Blaze City.

With that, Chu Kuangren vanished in a flash and stepped into Blaze City.

He seemed to have arrived in a completely different world.

This was… a living h.e.l.l!

Chu Kuangren glanced at his surroundings. The citizens of Blaze City were all lying on the ground, devoid of any vitality as the foul stench of blood permeated in the air.

Chu Kuangren frowned and mobilized his spiritual thought.

The elderly, the children, the women, the cultivators…

Not even the dogs, the birds, nor any animals had managed to survive!

There were still people in Blaze City!

However, they were all dead!

It was such an unbelievable scene.

Blaze City may not be huge, but it was still home to more than ten million people. Yet, all of them are dead now!

Furthermore, there was no news about it.

"Who did this? Did they do all this just to spike me?"

Chu Kuangren's eyes were burning with brutal murderous intent.

In a flash, he arrived at the central part of Blaze City.

A youngster in white clothes stood above a tower. The handsome man had a long sword strapped to his waist and a guqin on his back.

He was none other than the person who challenged Chu Kuangren to a duel, Jian Changfeng.

"Since I'm here, why don't you ask your partners to show themselves too and make this quick?" Chu Kuangren said nonchalantly.

"Oh, aren't you curious why this entire city's dead?"

"They're already dead anyway. What can I do if I know about it?"

"Pfft, you truly are a heartless b*stard. I'll have you know that all of these people died for you!"

Jian Changfeng laughed maniacally with his eyes fixed on Chu Kuangren. He was keen to observe Chu Kuangren's reaction.

To his disappointment, Chu Kuangren was utterly unfazed.

"You're very wrong if you think this might shake my Daoist core."

Chu Kuangren said calmly. His Daoist core was as solid as rock, and no one had been able to affect it ever since he began his cultivation journey.

Jian Changfeng's taunts were useless.

"Even cultivators who are trained in the Merciless Dao aren't as heartless as you. Aren't you afraid the ghosts of these victims will come back to haunt you?"

"You speak too much nonsense."

Chu Kuangren stared coldly at Jian Changfeng. Without drawing his Self Descendant Sword, a surge of devastating sword qi unleashed from his eyes.

Caught off guard, Jian Changfeng retaliated with a similar surge of sword qi by sheathing his long sword.

However, his sword qi was much feeble and weak compared to Chu Kuangren's.

Jian Changfeng's sword ray instantly reduced into dust as Chu Kuangren's remaining attack fell onto Jian Changfeng's Sage Physique.

Without much resistance, Jian Changfen's body was sliced into halves!

Yet strangely enough, there was no blood spurting from Jian Changfen's body.

As smoke curled up, Jian Changfeng's body turned into a wooden dummy and fell onto the ground.

The wooden dummy was inscribed with a mysterious rune. After it was severed by Chu Kuangren's sword qi, the strange runic energy on it soon disappeared.

"Oh, a wooden dummy that's inscribed with a rune. I've never seen such a form of runic energy before. How interesting."

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Chu Kuangren smirked and looked into the distance.

The real Jian Changfeng was standing dozens of kilometers away, staring at Chu Kuangren in fear as cold sweat drenched his forehead.

"This is so scary. If I didn't switch my body with the wooden dummy in time, the sword qi might've sliced me in half."

"Even without drawing his sword, Chu Kuangren's single ray of sword qi is capable of such destruction. He's also renowned for his abilities in guqin Dao, but his expertise in sword Dao is much more impressive than mine, or perhaps even sitting at the same level as the Daoist. He's such a terrifying figure."

Jian Changfeng said with unease.