CRACK!

A clear, crisp sound rang out. One of the five black Martial Rings at Mu Chen’s feet instantly shattered, transforming into a massive surge of black Primordial Power that spread from his feet throughout his body. Suddenly, the sliver of Bloodline Power the Profound Old Ghost had left inside him erupted with a brilliant, ice-blue light. But the moment this light appeared, the black Primordial Power detected it and swarmed toward it. In an instant, the ice-blue Bloodline Power was permeated and engulfed by the black energy.

At the same time, the Origin Power in Mu Chen’s left arm, guided by his subconscious, broke through its Seal. The grotesque, red beast head of the Taotie Seal let out a roar as two crimson Talismans floated up from his left arm. But this time, in his rampage, Mu Chen had coincidentally triggered a fusion between the Taotie Seal and his Bloodline Power.

The massive Black Dragon phantom that had been floating behind Mu Chen suddenly slammed its head into the grotesque beast head on his arm. The moment they fused, a layer of black Dragon Scales completely covered Mu Chen’s arm. Sharp, black barbs extended from the outside of his forearm, and the scales gradually enveloped his entire limb. From the tips of his five fingers grew sharp claws. At a glance, it looked as if he were wearing armor forged of steel, which glinted with a terrifying metallic luster under the dark moonlight.

That was the first change. The second was that the left side of Mu Chen’s fair-skinned face also began to be covered by these black scales. The scales were so dense that they appeared seamless, giving the impression of a strange and sinister black half-mask.

HAH!!!

With another furious shout, the four Martial Rings at Mu Chen’s feet abruptly pulsed. Then, four rings became five... five became six... six turned into seven... and the change was still ongoing. Everyone could sense the shift in Mu Chen’s Martial Artist Realm. However, since all the Martial Rings at his feet were black, it was impossible to judge his current Martial Artist Realm by their color.

But when Mu Chen’s Martial Rings broke through from the Ninth Ring to the Second, a flash of purple light suddenly erupted from them. In that instant, everyone saw the color of a ring—purple! The Martial Emperor Realm!

"Such terrifying Primordial Power!"

Qin Garden and the black-robed man’s expressions turned grave. After all, they were the only ones present in the Martial Emperor Realm. They both felt that Mu Chen, as a Second-Ring Martial Emperor after his Demonization, was by no means as weak as an ordinary one.

In the sky, Elder Mu, who had just vanished, reappeared. He stared at Mu Chen, dumbfounded, and exclaimed, ’This state... it’s actually Demonization! Just what is this kid’s background? And he even knows a Secret Skill like Broken Ring. What in the world is going on?!’ At this point, Elder Mu suddenly remembered Mo Qing in his arms still needed treatment and said with resignation, ’Forget it. I’ll save her first. I just hope this kid doesn’t cause too much trouble. I’ll have to interrogate him thoroughly afterward.’

With that, Elder Mu’s voice once again faded from the world...

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

After Elder Mu left, two figures rushed out from either side of the stunned black-robed man. They were dressed identically to the one who had ambushed Mu Chen. One of them whispered, "Eldest Brother, what happened? Why isn’t the kid dead?"

That’s right. The man who ambushed Mu Chen was indeed the eldest of the four Zhou Family brothers. The Eldest of the Zhou Family said grimly, "I was about to succeed, but a young girl appeared and blocked the fatal blow for him. And now look. The guy has undergone this astonishing transformation!"

"Then what do we do, Eldest Brother?" the Third Son Zhou said urgently. "A moment ago, we were about to go outside to meet up with the Fourth Brother, who’s on lookout, but we discovered that someone has created a powerful Barrier within a ten-thousand-meter radius. Second Brother and I used our strongest combined attack and couldn’t even break it. Now the three of us and the Crown Prince are all trapped in here."

The Eldest of the Zhou Family was taken aback. "How could this be?" he asked hastily. "There wasn’t a Barrier when we came in, was there? It doesn’t matter for us, but the Crown Prince is still inside! Right, the Shadow Concealing Dust! Have you used the Shadow Concealing Dust?"

The Third Son Zhou nodded with a bitter smile. "Of course we used it, but this Barrier is extremely unusual. Even the Shadow Concealing Dust has no effect. You know, not even a Martial Venerable expert can stop the Shadow Concealing Dust, yet this Barrier completely ignores its effects. Who on earth created it?"

Just as the Eldest of the Zhou Family was about to say more, a cold, malevolent voice came from a distance. "Heh heh, go die!"

The three Zhou brothers simultaneously looked toward the source of the voice. What they saw stunned them. A red-haired figure, shrouded in black, was soaring toward them with a SWOOSH, flapping two dragon wings formed from black Primordial Power. The bizarre Dragon Arm, gleaming with a metallic luster, was actually tearing space apart as it sliced through the air.

The Zhou Family’s Second Brother shouted, "Wh-what is that?"

"Everyone be careful! That kid is incredibly strange. I don’t know what Secret Technique he used, but he’s transformed!" The Eldest of the Zhou Family was the first to unleash his Primordial Power, fully displaying the strength of a Ninth-Ring Martial Emperor.

The other two also erupted with their own Martial Artist strength. One was a Seventh-Ring Martial Emperor, and the other was a Sixth-Ring Martial Emperor. Facing the demonized Mu Chen, all three Martial Emperors felt a deep sense of unease.

Seeing the three men ahead unleash their Elemental Realms, the demonized Mu Chen’s lips curled into a grin. He let out a strange laugh, stomped on the air, and vanished. When he reappeared, he was already in front of the three Zhou brothers, his metallic claws slashing wildly at them, crackling with oppressive black Primordial Power.

TSSSS! Five long, black claw marks instantly tore toward the three men. From the powerful Corrosive Power emanating from the marks, it was clear that any wound inflicted by these claws would rot away rapidly.

"Spread out and surround him!" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Following the shout from the Eldest of the Zhou Family, the Zhou brothers quickly scattered in different directions, instantly surrounding Mu Chen in the center, poised for a group attack.

The demonized Mu Chen glanced at the three men around him, his gaze instantly locking onto the Eldest of the Zhou Family. ’It was him! He’s the one who made Mo Qing die in front of me! It’s him!’

Something seemed to snap in Mu Chen’s mind, his expression twisting even further. He clenched his claw into a fist as black Primordial Power rapidly gathered over his Dragon Claw. Black lightning flickered and danced along his arm with a loud CRACKLE! Powering up in an instant, Mu Chen stomped his foot. Black Thunder erupted, immediately covering a one-meter radius. Amidst the raging black Thunder Light, his figure appeared behind the Eldest of the Zhou Family in the blink of an eye. He swung his black-armored fist, intending to obliterate the Eldest of the Zhou Family in a single blow.

But the Eldest of the Zhou Family was a National Guardian Elder of the Celestial Eagle Empire; his combat experience was profound. With a bizarre twist of his body, he turned and threw a punch to meet Mu Chen’s. He unleashed the full power of a Ninth-Ring Martial Emperor without holding anything back. His original goal was to kill Mu Chen, and now that Mu Chen had delivered himself right to his doorstep, he had no reason to refuse.

"HAH!" With a furious roar, the Eldest of the Zhou Family’s fist collided violently with Mu Chen’s, creating a deafening crash.

BOOM!!!

As the two fists met, they actually produced a shower of sparks in mid-air. The terrifying shockwave made the surrounding space grow turbulent, almost to the point of collapse! Mu Chen’s expression remained crazed. Under the control of his will, the black vortex at his feet suddenly erupted, and a massive surge of Primordial Power shot out from his fist, directly blasting the Eldest of the Zhou Family backward.

This scene left the others dumbfounded. That was a Ninth-Ring Martial Emperor! Even if Mu Chen’s power had reached the level of a Second-Ring Martial Emperor, he should never have been able to knock back a Ninth-Ring Martial Emperor so easily!

Landing the blow, Mu Chen flared his body and unleashed the Thunder Light again, appearing before the Eldest of the Zhou Family in an instant. He pressed the same attack once more. The Eldest of the Zhou Family was still flying backward and had no foothold to release a significant amount of power. But faced with Mu Chen’s ferocious assault, he had to retaliate, or the damage he would suffer would be too severe.

"Fist Stab!"

White Primordial Power burst from the Eldest of the Zhou Family’s body. As he gathered his strength, his Storage Ring flashed, and a spiked gauntlet suddenly encased his fist. While still falling back, the Eldest of the Zhou Family threw a punch, savagely meeting Mu Chen’s black-armored fist.

"Jinghong Fist!"

At this moment, Mu Chen wasn’t thinking at all. He had only one instinct: attack! Attack! And attack again! Until he had torn every last one of them to shreds!

With a grotesque laugh, Mu Chen instantly condensed black Primordial Power onto the surface of his fist, forming a black vortex. Almost at the same instant the vortex appeared, the air temperature inside the Barrier spiked to a terrifying degree. A hint of surprise flashed across the Eldest of the Zhou Family’s face, but his fist didn’t slow in the slightest as it slammed into Mu Chen’s hand.

RUMBLE!

Another tremendous roar echoed as the space within the Barrier trembled violently again. A terrifying Qi Force of Primordial Power, mixed with extreme heat, instantly spread in all directions, blocking the Zhou Family’s Second Brother and the Third Son Zhou, who had been about to charge in. They were not Mu Chen; they couldn’t withstand the shockwaves of a Ninth-Ring Martial Emperor’s attack unscathed.

Qin Garden directly released the Primordial Power of a Nine-Ring Martial Emperor Peak to shield Qing Lei, Ye Shuangshuang, Little Tiger, Mu Bingling, and Lingyun behind her. Since she had made a promise to Di Cang, she had to see it through. Besides, these were the future of their Xuanling Empire.

The two fists met. When the Eldest of the Zhou Family’s Fist Stab collided with the black vortex on Mu Chen’s fist, the vortex suddenly erupted, transforming into countless black flames that sprayed out and slammed viciously into the Eldest of the Zhou Family’s body, creating a SIZZLE! SIZZLE! burning sound.

Mu Chen was using the scatter mode of the Blast Fist. However, the spike on the Eldest of the Zhou Family’s Fist Stab also managed to cut a gash on Mu Chen’s fist. It was just that the wound was instantly healed by the White Dragon Cauldron.

Under the impact of this punch, the Eldest of the Zhou Family’s body shot toward the ground at an even greater speed. With a thunderous BOOM, he slammed into the ground inside the Barrier, creating a massive crater dozens of meters deep and a hundred meters in diameter. As if it were Celestial Fire raining from the heavens, the black flames that had burst from the vortex rained down from above, crashing into the crater with a series of booms and making it even deeper. At the same time, they formed a hundred-meter-wide pillar of fire that shot into the sky, illuminating the entire night!

Qing Lei stared at the black pillar of fire erupting from the crater and the trembling space around them, murmuring, "So this is a battle between Emperors..."