SWISH! The fearsome Sword Qi sent out ripples, like waves spreading across water.

BOOM! A ferocious palm strike descended with the force of Thunderous Might.

The initial ripples were instantly overwhelmed by even more terrifying ones. Under this powerful assault, the energy Xiu Mu had unleashed was immediately diluted.

"Sword," Chen Zheng's voice rumbled, deep and ancient.

With a gentle wave of his hand, a jet-black streak of Sword Qi flew back to him, transforming into a longsword that shimmered with a mysterious light. His movements were elegant yet decisive. As he pointed the sword's tip forward, a powerful force was instantly unleashed.

SWISH! The air tore like fabric, ripping a fissure through the miasma.

Xiu Mu's roar echoed through the air as his power surged forth like a raging flood. However, under Chen Zheng's black longsword, it was cleaved as easily as fragile paper. Xiu Mu's roar froze in his throat, his pupils filling with endless terror. The atmosphere of fear was coated in a layer of chilling frost, as if time itself had stopped.

An ice sculpture formed from thin air, angelic in its descent, before drifting for a moment and plummeting to the ground.

BANG! With a loud crash, the ground caved in. The ice sculpture stood silently, embedded in the earth. The entire valley seemed to be frozen solid, devoid of any signs of life.

Chen Zheng gently moved his arm, dissipating the Sword Qi. He glanced below as if he had just performed a trivial act.

What's going on? That energy fluctuation is so intense!

At that moment, Chao Gu and the others were standing above, feeling deeply perplexed.

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Afterward, an indescribable power began to burn within him. He made no attempt to control it, letting it flow freely through his body. His True Qi swelled several times over in an instant, and a powerful aura erupted from him like a tempest.

He took a deep breath. The surrounding winds began to spin violently, and the valley's miasma started to churn. His aura soared toward the heavens like a great dragon. The green miasma was torn asunder by his presence, forming a massive void around him. Sunlight poured through the opening, illuminating the entire valley.

This was the first time sunlight had ever graced this valley.

"What's happening?"

Chao Gu and his companions stared at the immense void in horror, their pupils constricting rapidly. Their gaze seemed to pierce through mountains and rivers, focusing on the picturesque valley below. The entire valley was now cloaked in pristine white. Countless Gu insects were frozen into eternal sculptures, like ice sprites.

Chen Zheng stood aloft in the air, his robes fluttering as if he were a war god descended upon the mortal realm.

At this moment, they seemed to grasp some profound mystery. The buzzing of the Gu insects' wings had ceased abruptly, for they had been frozen into eternal silence. That violent energy fluctuation was from Chen Zheng extinguishing the last spark of life from the Gu Chi lineage. And now, this boundless, surging aura was the very symbol of Chen Zheng's breakthrough!

Chao Gu, Shi Xun, and Qing Pan exchanged a look, the shock and fear in their eyes a tacit agreement.

Tens of thousands of Gu insects, twenty-one Gu Masters, and that terrifying energy fluctuation… it had to mean a Heaven Merging Realm expert was present. If such a force were to descend upon the Southern Frontier, it would undoubtedly unleash a catastrophe. Yet, in a fleeting moment, this power had been completely extinguished by a single person. Just how strong was this individual?

Now, his breakthrough had concluded. Feeling the surging power within him, Chen Zheng smiled in satisfaction. "It's finally over," he murmured to himself.

He soared into the sky, instantly crossing the miasma-shrouded region to reach the valley's peak. He paused briefly, glancing at Chao Gu and the others. Then, without further delay, he activated the Flowing Light Technique and vanished over the horizon in the blink of an eye.

Chen Zheng's figure was gone from the valley. The miasma, as if guided by some unseen force, slowly crept back to blanket the entire valley, concealing it once more in fog.

Chao Gu and the other three stood frozen, their eyes wide with astonishment.

"Just how powerful is that man?" Shi Xun's voice broke the silence.

Chao Gu and Qing Pan exchanged a glance and shook their heads, bitter smiles on their faces. They were all Heaven Merging Realm powerhouses, yet compared to Chen Zheng, they felt like insignificant ants. If they had faced the Gu Chi lineage, the countless Gu insects would have been enough to overwhelm them, to say nothing of the lineage's Heaven Merging Realm expert. Yet, Chen Zheng had swept through them like a bolt of lightning, easily exterminating all the Gu insects of the Gu Chi lineage. Judging by that powerful energy fluctuation, even their Heaven Merging Realm expert hadn't lasted more than a few exchanges.

An air of utter horror spread among them. The gazes of the three men were drawn as if by a magnet to the direction where Chen Zheng had vanished. There, only a faint black dot remained, like a massive crow flying in the night sky.

"Great Elder, should we return to Nanhai Stockade?" Yue Gao's voice, like birdsong at dawn, broke the heavy silence. Roused from her stupor, she had not yet reached the Heaven Merging Realm, so her shock was not as profound as the elders'.

Chao Gu snapped out of his daze. "Yes, he went to Nanhai Stockade! We must hurry there at once!"

"Wait, Chao Gu, we'll go together!" Shi Xun and Qing Pan's voices thundered.

Chao Gu stopped and looked at them deeply. "No, that would be too rash. I must first return to the Guqing lineage to prepare some precious gifts before I pay a visit to Nanhai Stockade."

"You speak my mind. I'll head back as well, and we can regroup later," Qing Pan mused for a moment before shooting off like an arrow.

"I'm going too! You must wait for me, or I swear I'll sever all ties with you!" Shi Xun's eyes glinted with determination before he too departed in a hurry.

"We should get going as well!"

Still in a daze, Yue Gao was whisked away by Chao Gu. No one could have predicted that the leaders of three great Gu Master lineages would be scrambling to pay a visit to a single person.

「Meanwhile」

Chen Zheng executed the Flowing Light Technique, shooting across the sky like a meteor and covering several miles in the blink of an eye. Before long, he returned to Nanhai Stockade, slowly descending from the sky.

"Grandpa, you understand the secrets of the Gu Chi lineage so well. Can you tell if Brother Zheng's return journey will be safe?" Huang Hua asked, his eyes full of expectation. He was the most worried of anyone present.

"That… I cannot be certain," Kuang Long replied helplessly, shaking his head. Although his knowledge of the Gu Chi lineage was profound, the inheritance of the Gu Masters was a shrouded mystery. He had only encountered a small fraction of it, so his information was limited.

Hearing this, a flash of disappointment crossed Huang Hua's eyes, and his anxiety burned even more fiercely, like a candle in a gale.

Just then, the young man Chao Gu had brought with him entered the hall.

His name was Zeng Gu, a standout of the younger generation from the Guqing lineage.

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