Lu Chen glanced at the exhausted cultivators of Serene Void Academy and gave a clear order. "Scatter and retreat. After this battle, they'll think twice before daring to step into Serene Void Academy again." The disciples obeyed at once, abandoning everything in their hands and riding their spirit qi to flee into the distance. By now, Lu Chen had become their irreplaceable pillar. As long as he spoke, they would follow without hesitation. For one man to lead just over two hundred against tens of thousands and still endure for this long was a feat unprecedented not only in the history of Serene Void Academy but in the entire Heavenly Mandate Hall. Without the disciples' support, the colossal Serene Void Spear collapsed at once, shattering into fragments. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✦𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✦𝙣𝙚𝙩 "Zhou Fan, again! They can no longer hold on!" Wen Ziming seized control once more, his glare fixed ahead. "Lu Chen, meet your demise!" Lu Chen sneered. "In your dreams!" Standing firm atop the Green Sovereign Divine Tree, he lifted his right hand and gave a light push forward. Thousands of tendrils lashed out, each wrapping around a smaller spear. Piece by piece, they joined together again, forming the great Serene Void Spear. Lu Chen roared, "Green Sovereign Serene Void Spear!" The vast reservoir of spirit qi within the divine tree flowed into the weapon. Its blossoms and stamens condensed into the spear itself, while the tree took the shape of a towering giant wielding it. Lu Chen shouted toward Jun Laoye, "Little Jun, this is my final strike! Be ready to catch me!" It was both a signal to his ally and a warning to his enemies, showing just how costly this spell would be. Hearing his cry, Wen Ziming immediately assumed the technique relied on external power. "The Spirit Gathering Formation's spirit qi must already be depleted. Zhou Fan, I'm sure Lu Chen can't last any longer. Use the final move!" "Gladly!" Zhou Fan replied. He sliced open his palm, blood dripping onto his chief disciple's identity token. "With blood as sacrifice, summon the ancient being!" "Wen Ziming, your turn. Only giants can stand against giants." As his words fell, the token absorbed the blood, and a crimson pattern of wind and lightning emerged at its core. But when no reply came, Zhou Fan turned, only to see Wen Ziming staring at the Serene Void Spear with a deep frown. "Wen Ziming, what's wrong? The Serene Void Academy is already finished. Why are you still unsettled?" "That spear's power..." Wen Ziming muttered, his expression grim. "With the grand formation's blessing, it seems to have broken through the Sunken Core Realm."[1] His brows furrowed tighter as he looked at the Green Sovereign Serene Void Spear in the sky. "Most of the disciples on our side are only at the Qi Regulation Realm. Even if we outnumber them, against such cross-realm suppression, everyone beneath the Qi Condensation Realm will suffer grave injuries. "And that bastard Yun Ping! He left all of Jade Flame Academy's elites outside the gate. If the three academies had truly joined forces, we could have crushed that spear with ease." He cast a glance beyond the gate. At some point, Yun Ping had already settled into a chair, sitting at leisure. He looked calm, as though he was certain they would never seize the Serene Void Academy's resources. "Leave him be. With just the two of us, we can still bring down this spear. Whatever secret arts he obtained from the secret realm, once we summon the ancient giant together, we'll suppress him." Zhou Fan seized Wen Ziming's hand, channeling a wisp of spirit qi to cut his wrist lightly. "As for the disciples' injuries, cultivation is a road paved with wounds. If necessary, once we seize the resources, the academy that suffers greater losses can simply claim a larger share as compensation." Wen Ziming released his spirit qi, and a wound two fingers wide split open on his wrist. "So be it. Let's hope the injury isn't too severe." "O ancient ancestral giant, heed our call. Your sect's descendants beg for your aid," Murmuring the incantation, Wen Ziming pressed his hands against the chief disciple's identity token. "O ancient ancestral giant, heed our call..." He chanted again and again. After three breaths, a blood-red pattern of dark clouds appeared on the token. Zhou Fan and Wen Ziming clutched the token together, pouring their entire spirit qi reservoir into it. "Come forth, ancient ancestral giant!" Blood-red light burst from the token, shooting straight toward Mountain Ocean Peak. At that moment, Song Ping's voice rang in Lu Chen's mind. "Lu Chen, stop them! That's a sect fusion art. With the chief disciple identity token, they're trying to awaken the ancestral giant who has slumbered since ages past! When Lu Chen made no move, Song Ping channeled his spirit qi and rushed beneath the divine tree, shouting in alarm. "The combined power of two chiefs and tens of thousands of disciples could even surpass the Sunken Core Realm! Lu Chen, stop them! Once the ancestral giant awakens, the grand formation alone won't hold. You'll be defeated for sure!" But Lu Chen ignored him. Rising into the air, he drove the Green Sovereign Divine Tree forward, hurling the Serene Void Spear with all his might. "Kill! Come, you dog thieves! This is a battle of life and death!" A surge of violent lightning erupted from Earth Ocean Peak, merging into Zhou Fan and Wen Ziming's chief disciples' identity tokens. The two shouted in unison as the dark-blue spear before them blazed with radiance, which at last condensed, turning from partially ethereal into a solid spear. On Mountain Ocean Peak, Jun Wudi turned his head toward Earth Ocean Peak. "So they've lost their composure already? Do they mean to use this attack to test the Serene Void Academy's strength?" Shan Long followed his gaze. "Hah... you should already know the kind of people from Earth Ocean Peak. They've always tried to endure the ancestor's soul power. Now that they've seen Lu Chen, they surely won't let the chance slip by." Jun Wudi snorted coldly. "But it's nothing more than wishful thinking. Once the people behind Little Lu learn of this, those fools will only die faster." He quietly sent a chain of spirit qi toward the giant of light and shadow. "Too late... it's over!!" Song Ping slumped to the ground, staring at the materialized spear. "The spirit qi feedback from Earth Ocean Peak has returned. This time, I don't even know which ancestor's soul incarnation has descended!" Wen Ziming glanced at Zhou Fan, voice low. "This power belongs to Second Elder Kai Shan. And that weapon too... looks like victory is ours this time." Joy lit Zhou Fan's face. "Then let's begin!" He hadn't expected the two of them to actually summon Second Elder Kai Shan. The two exchanged a smile, holding aloft the massive chief disciple identity token as they slowly rose into the air. From it, streams of dark-blue light burst forth, forming the outline of a giant with the appearance of an old man above Serene Void Plaza. The figure gradually solidified into a weathered giant of light and shadow. He rubbed his hands together, his gaze dazed as though searching for something. Song Ping's vision dimmed as he stared at the elder in the sky. "It's really Second Elder Kai Shan... this time it's truly over. Even if he uses only a ten-thousandth of his strength, Lu Chen won't be able to withstand it." The giant of light and shadow noticed the dark-blue spear before him. As it sensed the aura of its own life-bound weapon within it, the daze in its eyes sharpened into clarity. Seeing the giant grasp the spear, Zhou Fan and Wen Ziming guided their spirit qi, fusing directly into the giant's head. It was the divine chamber within its mind, and also the place to command it. They placed the token in the chamber's center and seized full control of the giant. "Zhou Fan, let's finish this quickly," Wen Ziming said, his spirit qi already coiling within the chamber. "This is only a projection of the Second Elder's power. Our spirit qi is too weak. We can only unleash a single strike at most." By now, Lu Chen's Serene Void Spear was drawing near. The giant clutched the dark-blue spear, spun it into a flower, and thrust straight toward the Serene Void Spear. The two spear tips collided. Dark-blue spirit qi clashed with blazing crimson. One side wielded the might of an ancient ancestor, while the other drew upon the grand formation beneath his feet. At their meeting point, endless sparks burst forth, and a piercing roar shook heaven and earth. "Pff..." Lu Chen spat a mouthful of blood essence. "What terrifying power... even without holding back, I can't endure much longer." Outside the academy's gate, Yun Ping abruptly rose, eyes fixed on the spears locked in combat. "So it's true! He has already gone beyond the Sunken Core Realm in his cultivation. Everyone has underestimated him. But soon, when both sides are exhausted, it will be our turn to move." Inside the courtyard, the two spears ground fiercely against one another. Cultivators of the Wind Lightning and White Cloud Academies tumbled from the spear formation one after another, their bodies wreathed in flame and lightning. The Serene Void Spear itself began to collapse—first the tip, then the shaft, then the pole, and finally the butt end. At last, the Serene Void Spear shattered completely. Smoke and dust exploded across the arena, and even as the fragments fell, they clung together, still holding the shape of a spear as they plunged toward the ground. The giant's spirit qi was spent, leaving only the broken end of the dark-blue spear in hand. The combined formation of the two academies had been broken apart. Its cultivators lay injured or unconscious, falling from the sky one after another. Lu Chen gazed at the shattered spear and let out a long sigh. "I miscalculated. That strike wasn't enough. Too many are still conscious. I never thought they could use the chief disciple identity token right above the Serene Void Formation to summon such overwhelming strength." Wind Dragon's voice echoed in Lu Chen's mind. "Even so, you have achieved a remarkable feat. With the formation's aid, you managed to contend with them. But to wound tens of thousands of cultivators on your own... few in our era could boast such a thing. "By the way... looking at you from behind just now, you reminded me of someone. He was the God of Slaughter in our time. Back then, he too was besieged by a host of cultivators right at his sect's gates." 1. The grand formation refers to the Serene Void Formation itself. ☜