The Four Swords of Zhuxian

The Yecha King’s green hair stood on end like the flames of hell, burning with fury. A tide of terrifying energy surged in all directions, and the very heavens shattered. The light in his eyes was colder than the dead of winter.

One arm was crushed, the other severed. Yet even so, his murderous intent did not waver; it condensed into solid beams that tore through the void.

“Roar!”

His howl shook the wilderness and rocked the skies. The weaker foreign kings nearly fainted, and those nearby staggered.

But the Yecha King did not retreat. Instead, he surged forward, his body bursting with dazzling green light. His bones crackled, and flesh writhed at his shoulders as new arms regrew in an instant.

When he had been gravely wounded on the Giant Clan’s altar by the projection of their ancestor, nearly dying, Xiao Chen had crushed half his heart. Yet that near-death had spurred a breakthrough, allowing him to master an indestructible body. Such was the Yecha race—growing stronger through battle.

Of course, ‘indestructible body’ was an exaggeration; even the most perverse divine ability like the Fate Twins could be broken, let alone this flesh-regeneration art.

With both arms reborn, the Yecha King surged with overwhelming power and charged at Xiao Chen, like a crashing wave or a cascade of falling stars—annihilating everything in its path. The ground collapsed and cracked, rubble flying through the air.

At the same time, Keke arrived. The little beast did not immediately use Paradise Lost to receive Xiao Chen; instead, it chose to stand with him and attack the Yecha King. Anyone seeing Paradise Lost would flee, and it feared driving the Yecha King away early.

Seven-colored light blazed as Keke unleashed a great dragon divine art, sweeping toward the Yecha King. Simultaneously, Xiao Chen executed the Reverse Dragon Seven Steps, his war sword turning into a rainbow that slashed down diagonally, while the Origin Sound of ‘Weng’ vibrated without reserve.

“Boom!”

Heaven and earth shook, and the sky was filled with blinding light. A collision at the Perfected Man level swept all directions, sending the surrounding foreign kings flying.

Xiao Chen and Keke’s combined power broke through the green radiance, shattered the Yecha King’s layered energy waves, and smashed the destructive light curtain.

“Pfft!”

The Yecha King spat blood. Keke struck him five times with seven-colored light, and Xiao Chen’s war sword cut off a large section of his green hair, leaving a deep gash across his handsome face that exposed bone. Blood streamed down.

Keke quickly attempted to envelop him with Paradise Lost, but the Yecha King was decisive. Even after suffering such losses, his mind remained calm. His eyes as cold as ice, he retreated with lightning speed, evading Paradise Lost.

Meanwhile, the other foreign kings charged in, unleashing a barrage of divine abilities and combat techniques to encircle Xiao Chen and Keke.

At that moment, Xiao Chen suddenly felt his body turning insubstantial. The power of the Death World was pulling him, forcing him back to the realm of the dead.

He realized the danger. Lately, because his cultivation had risen, he had been able to stay in this world longer, but he had neglected this issue. If he were forcibly dragged back now, the precious revival materials he had collected in his spatial ring would turn to nothing.

Keke noticed his condition and instantly cast Paradise Lost over him.

Flash!

When Xiao Chen appeared inside Paradise Lost, the pull of the Death World was cut off, leaving only a faint, indistinct thread. Moments later, the power drained from him was restored, and the connection to the Death World vanished completely.

Xiao Chen was shocked. He seized the opportunity to leave Paradise Lost again and found that he was not being summoned back. This was an unexpected discovery—Paradise Lost could sever the power of the Death World!

Though pleasantly surprised, he played it safe and left his spatial ring inside Paradise Lost.

By now, the assembled kings were furious with shame. So many of them had failed to take Xiao Chen and had even lost several kings—an utter disgrace. They attacked with all their might.

The Yecha King’s bones creaked as he grew three heads and six arms. He did not heal the wound on his face, letting blood drip down, making his handsome features look savage. He launched his most vicious attack against Keke as she emerged from Paradise Lost.

At the same time, the Asura King struck without reserve. His blood-red hair seemed to resurrect thirty thousand demons, tearing heaven and earth apart and annihilating everything.

The other foreign kings followed suit, unleashing a torrent of divine abilities and combat techniques.

Keke held the Little Sacred Tree and continuously swept seven-colored beams at the Yecha King, thunder rumbling.

Suddenly, Paradise Lost descended, trapping three foreign kings inside in an instant.

Though innocent, Keke was not foolish. She had deliberately drawn the kings close, using herself as bait.

The moment they were sealed in Paradise Lost, the three foreign kings turned ashen. Waiting for them was Xiao Chen, his war sword dripping blood.

“Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!”

Three spouts of blood shot into the air. Three heads flew sideways as the bodies crumpled in the fragrant garden.

When Paradise Lost appeared, all the kings fled.

Xiao Chen killed the three kings and quickly charged out—opportunity was fleeting, and he could not afford to miss it.

He manifested the Eight Aspect Worlds divine ability; eight illusory realms overlapped and spread outward. The kings feared Paradise Lost, but not these illusory realms. Several strong experts charged inside.

Boom!

The Eight Aspect Worlds closed. The foreign kings trapped inside tried to break out but found it nearly impossible. Xiao Chen coldly led four foreign kings into Paradise Lost without looking back.

Though the Eight Aspect Worlds were not yet perfected, they were still a terrifying divine ability. But this time Xiao Chen did not use them to kill; he merely used them as a cage.

The four foreign kings, once inside Paradise Lost, were like phoenixes without feathers. Keke dropped a light curtain, and they could not move an inch.

Xiao Chen showed no mercy. His sword rose and fell. Blood splattered. Four heads separated from their bodies.

This was an unbearable result. Over twenty foreign kings had besieged one man and one beast, and in a short time, nearly half were lost.

When Xiao Chen reappeared, the Yecha King and Asura King immediately sealed space, trying to teleport him far away and kill him.

Flash!

They succeeded. The two heavenly kings managed to teleport Xiao Chen several li away. Seeing this, the Golden Lion King was the first to pursue, and the other kings followed like meteors.

Keke grew anxious and gave chase, but the Asura King and Yecha King constantly blocked her.

Xiao Chen was not alarmed. With the Eight Aspect Extreme, even if he could not defeat them, he could escape. Of course, he would never engage in a melee with all the kings; if surrounded, the consequences would be severe. He had to quickly return to Paradise Lost.

When he saw the Golden Lion King charging, he unhesitatingly unleashed the Fearless Lion Seal. As his hands formed the seal, a heaven-shaking roar erupted. A golden lion as vast as a mountain, identical to the Golden Lion King’s original form, raised three heads and howled at the sky before pouncing on the humanoid Golden Lion King.

This infuriated the Golden Lion King. Attacking him with his own incarnation was an insult. Golden divine light blazed as he roared and shot forth thousands of sacred beams, while the blood-dripping Basde Ancient Spear thrust forward.

Boom!

A cataclysmic energy wave swept across the heavens. The blinding light forced everyone to shut their eyes, and they were knocked back by the blast.

At that moment, another foreign king attacked Xiao Chen from the side.

Xiao Chen formed a seal, looking as detached as an immortal. The Ethereal Eternal Seal was overwhelmingly powerful—beams of light continuously shot from his body and then erupted, drowning that foreign king. He was annihilated, body and soul!

After one strike, Xiao Chen retreated. But once far from Paradise Lost, he felt the power of the Death World again, and his body began to turn insubstantial.

Boom!

Heaven and earth shook. Primordial waves of energy rolled across the entire ancient ruins, radiating terrifying pressure in all directions.

Two figures tore through the sky and arrived. All the oppressive might emanated from them.

“It’s the Thunder God King and the Sea God King!”

“Two heavenly kings at the Perfected Man realm!”

“And the War God King!”

Some foreign kings cried out in shock.

The Thunder God King and Sea God King arrived together. The War God King flew in from another direction.

Now the Asura King, Yecha King, War God King, Sea God King, and Thunder God King were all present—five experts at the Perfected Man realm. Nearly half of the strongest among the hundred races’ kings had gathered.

“Ya-ya…” Keke had also fought her way through, seeing the urgency. She rushed toward Xiao Chen.

“Don’t worry,” Xiao Chen secretly transmitted to her. “Wait for me outside the Dead City. I’m about to return to the Death World now.”

Except for the War God King, the other four heavenly kings immediately charged at Xiao Chen.

“Yecha King, if you die here today, it will be a regret for both of us. Wait until I complete my flesh-and-blood rebirth, and we’ll have a fair duel. Then I’ll personally cut you down!” Xiao Chen’s figure slowly faded. As he disappeared, he shouted at the Asura King as well: “You’re next.”

Flash!

With a flash of light, Xiao Chen vanished entirely from this world.

The several heavenly kings rushed over and struck at the void, but touched nothing.

“Bad guy, bad guy, bad guy!” Keke glared angrily at the kings, then ignored them, steering Paradise Lost toward the distance.

The kings looked at each other, but none tried to stop her. That little beast was too strange; with Paradise Lost, trying to capture it would be harder than reaching the heavens.

“Who is that man?” the Sea God King and Thunder God King asked. They had just arrived and did not know the identity of the vanished man.

The Golden Lion King, whose potential was boundless and who was younger than all the other kings, was on the verge of breaking into the Perfected Man realm. He never feared even heavenly kings. But now he directly revealed Xiao Chen’s identity: “That was Xiao Chen.”

All the foreign kings were shocked. Guessing was one thing; confirmation was another. The name was not unfamiliar to them. Xiao Chen had once shaken the world, participating in the False God Calamity and riding the Yellow Clay Altar to silence all heroes.

The Yecha King said with certainty, “That’s right. It’s Xiao Chen.”

Yan Qingcheng and Princess Ying, watching from afar, were utterly shaken. A man long dead had reappeared, swallowed by the Demon Well… How could this be possible?!

But the evidence was before their eyes. That was Xiao Chen. Everything was incredible.

Xuewu, Jin Sanyi, Hai Yuntian, and several other human experts had also been drawn by the great battle. Though they hadn’t seen the entire fight, they overheard the kings’ discussions and revealed looks of shock.

“Th-th-that skeleton is Xiao Chen?!” Jin Sanyi’s peach-blossom eyes went wide. Then he grinned and said, “Th-this guy doesn’t rest even after death. Th-that’s wonderful…”

At that moment, everyone nearby learned Xiao Chen’s true identity and was astonished.

In years past, Xiao Chen had ridden the Yellow Clay Altar and fought all enemies under heaven. Now, after death, he had reappeared and killed many foreign kings, unstoppable. It was truly shocking.

Without a doubt, once this news spread, it would shake the Nine Provinces and the four worlds.

Jin Sanyi was very excited, rubbing his hands together and muttering, “N-no wonder the Inverse Dragon King had that expression recently. He knew all along…”

“So he didn’t perish utterly. He can still be reborn in flesh and blood…”

Hearing Yan Qingcheng murmur, the little winged dragon Leina happily said, “Big brother Xiao Chen isn’t dead! When I marry Little Defiant Dragon, I want him to officiate!” The girl who had taken human form had no idea what shyness meant.

“I-I-I can officiate too. Ju-just call me Third Brother, a-a-and I’ll help you,” Jin Sanyi said, trying to ingratiate himself.

Little Leina was unimpressed: “I hate your peach-blossom eyes the most. You want me to deliver another love letter to Sister Yan, don’t you? Don’t even think about it… If Sister Yan ever marries anyone, it would be big brother Xiao Chen.”

“Y-y-you little girl, what do you know? H-haven’t you heard that peach-blossom eyes are the most tender?”

…

In the Bone Well of the Death World, Xiao Chen sat quietly in meditation. After a full day and night, his body gradually turned insubstantial, and soon he reappeared before the Dead City in the Nine Provinces.

“Ya-ya-ya!” Keke had been waiting for a day and night, worried that this was all a dream. Seeing Xiao Chen appear, she finally relaxed.

Xiao Chen smiled and rubbed her fuzzy head. “Give me the Little Sacred Tree.”

Nuwa’s Ring could pass between the two worlds without damage, and this sacred tree was even more powerful than a half-ancestor sacred artifact. It should be able to travel safely between the Death World and the Nine Provinces.

He explained his plan to the drowsy little beast. When she heard she could go to the Death World, her big eyes lit up.

“Don’t act rashly. You must wait a day and night.”

Xiao Chen did not dare take Keke directly back to the Death World. He needed to run a safety test first.

“Skeleton King, what are you doing?” The enchanting Fallen Angel King cried out in alarm.

“I’m inviting you on a one-day tour of hell,” Xiao Chen said. He sealed the bound Fallen Angel King inside the Little Sacred Tree, then began to expend his power recklessly.

When his strength was completely drained, he held the Seven-Colored Sacred Tree and was pulled back to the Death World. As he had predicted, not only was the sacred tree unharmed, but the Fallen Angel King sealed inside was also safe.

A day and night later, Xiao Chen returned to the Nine Provinces at the Dead City’s outskirts.

Keke had grown impatient. When she saw him appear with the sacred tree, she flew over excitedly, eager to see the world beneath the Demon Well.

Everything went smoothly. Xiao Chen took Keke into the Death World.

Re-entering the Death World, the pressure Xiao Chen radiated made every fire-seed creature for dozens of li tremble in fear. In the outer regions of this continent, he was already a top expert, where the strong ruled.

“Ya, so this is the Death World…” The little beast stared at the bone-strewn battlefield, full of curiosity. “Are there really sovereigns in the depths? An ancient demon city just like the Dead City? When can we go explore the deepest parts?”

Xiao Chen’s head ached. He hoped she wouldn’t sneak off into the depths and provoke some ancient horror.

“I need to go into seclusion. You must protect me. After I complete my flesh-and-blood rebirth, we’ll set out.” He had already refined the blood essence of sovereigns and collected many foreign king corpses. He was truly ready to be reborn.

“Oh, all right.” The little one’s big eyes looked around, finding everything novel.

Xiao Chen wasted no time. He took Keke and flew toward Broken Army City in the eastern region, intending to go into seclusion at Sha Polang’s place and check on his domain.

When they arrived, Xiao Chen was shocked. Broken Army City had been reduced to rubble.

How could this be? Had the sovereign war in the continent’s depths reached here? He rose into the air and flew to the other cities under his rule, only to find them also in ruins.

He examined the ruins carefully. This was unlikely to be the work of a sovereign personally; if it were, one palm strike would have turned not just a city but the entire region to dust.

As he searched for clues in Greedy Wolf City, a broken skull rolled toward him, emitting an extremely faint spiritual fluctuation. “Big brother—my dear big brother, you’re finally back. I’ve missed you so much…”

It was a severely damaged white skull, barely holding together, with only a tiny fire-seed inside that flickered as if it might go out at any moment.

“Sha Polang? How did you end up like this?” He had been reduced to his original form, weaker than the weakest fire-seed creature.

Sha Polang said tearfully, “This is a fraction of my fire-seed that I separated. But my true body isn’t much better. I knew you would come back, big brother, so I left this clone waiting here.”

“What happened?”

“That bastard Giant King! He pledged allegiance to some sovereign in the continent’s depths and brought an absurdly powerful skeleton to rampage through our territory. They flattened our cities, slaughtered every fire-seed creature, and now I’m the only one left.”

Xiao Chen found his true body in an ancient cave three hundred li away. The guy had actually evolved to the Yellow Diamond level, but now he was a miserable wreck—his bones nearly shattered, covered in cracks, his skull spiderwebbed with fissures, and his soul flame dim. Clearly, he had suffered terrible injuries.

“That Giant King bastard is such a piece of trash,” Sha Polang cursed indignantly when he saw Xiao Chen. “They massacred the whole city, didn’t spare a single fire-seed—all obliterated. Oh, and he brought that ridiculously powerful skeleton who said he had to catch you and grind your bones to dust. He even boasted that unless you hide forever, once he gets his hands on you, he’ll use your skull as a night pot for his pet. I curse his ancestors! He said my bones were reserved too—to build his pet’s nest.”

Xiao Chen patted his shoulder. “Heal up first. Then we’ll go take his head and make it your night pot.”

“I… I can’t use it,” Sha Polang stammered, staring at Xiao Chen, whose body was now shrouded in a mist of blood. “Big brother… you’re about to be reborn in flesh and blood? That’s great! With that, you’ll definitely beat that overpowered skeleton from the depths.”

“What kind of skeleton is it?” Xiao Chen asked.

“A crazy skeleton carrying four broken swords, acting like he’s the best under heaven—like he’s the only one who matters.”

“Four broken swords?”

“Yeah. They had some strange names. I think it was something like… Zhuxian, Xianxian, Juexian, Luxian.”