Rise of the Wang Clan: Starting with a Portable Farm

Chapter 185: Golden Core Self-Destruction

The enemy cultivator reeled, his mind shattered by the mental spike of the Soul-Splitting Awl. He didn’t die instantly, but his defenses collapsed.

Wang Hao didn’t give him a second chance.

Schwing!

His spirit sword flashed, moving fast enough to trigger a sonic boom. The man’s head flew from his shoulders before he even realized he was dead.

Wang Hao didn’t pause. He activated the Silver Shadow Needles and the White Tip Divine Needles simultaneously. Ten lethal points of light streaked toward a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Blazing Heaven Sect.

The target fumbled for his flying sword, panic evident in his eyes.

He was too slow.

Thwip-thwip-thwip!

Four needles punched effortlessly through his defensive aura. One drilled directly into his glabella, snuffing out his life instantly.

Only then did the remaining six enemies react, frantically summoning their Magical Artifacts.

A man in black robes, radiating the aura of a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, roared and swung a massive war hammer at Wang Hao.

“A Body Cultivator?” Wang Hao sneered, raising his off-hand. “Let’s see whose physique is tougher!”

He met the strike head-on with the Cloud Wave Shield.

BANG!

The heavy impact reverberated through the air, but the shield held firm.

Wang Hao’s feet flickered with spiritual light. He vanished, reappearing instantly inside the man’s guard. The Azure Light Sword thrust forward.

Squelch.

The blade pierced the man’s chest but stopped short of his heart, blocked by a high-tier inner armor.

The black-robed cultivator grinned savagely. He reached out with a gloved hand—shimmering with defensive runes—and clamped down on Wang Hao’s blade, locking it in place.

“Got you,” his eyes seemed to say.

Wang Hao smiled back.

Flash.

A small, crimson flying sword materialized from thin air, circling the man’s exposed neck.

The cultivator’s grin froze as his head toppled from his body. Blood sprayed onto the blade of the hidden crimson sword.

Three down.

With Wang Hao’s spirit beasts joining the fray, the numbers had shifted disastrously for the Blazing Heaven Sect. What was once an eight-on-four ambush had become a five-on-eight slaughter.

The surviving enemies realized the grim reality: the hunters had become the prey. Terror seized them, and they broke formation, scattering in all directions.

“You think you can run?”

Wang Hao, now fully unleashed, was a blur of death. His afterimages flickered across the battlefield. He caught up to the last fleeing cultivator and decapitated him with a single, clean stroke.

“Fellow Daoist Wang… you…”

Qian Jiatao stared, his jaw unhinged. He had expected a desperate struggle, not a massacre. He looked at Wang Hao as if seeing a monster in human skin.

Is this really the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment? Why is his combat power higher than mine? I’m in the late stage!

He recalled how Wang Hao had instantly deleted three enemies.

Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.

“I just have a few more tricks than the average cultivator,” Wang Hao said indifferently, flicking blood from his sword.

Qian Jiatao blinked, swallowing hard. “You are too modest. Fellow Daoist Wang’s strength is far beyond mine.”

“This isn’t the place for chat. We need to move. Now.” Wang Hao had no patience for flattery.

Qian Jiatao nodded vigorously.

But just as they turned to flee, a scream tore through the sky, filled with madness and despair.

“DIEEE! COME WITH ME TO HELL!”

High above, True Monarch Baili’s body began to crack like shattered porcelain. Blinding beams of spiritual light erupted from his fissures as his flesh and blood rapidly dissolved into pure energy.

Sha Dingshan’s eyes bulged. “Not good! The old fool is going to Self-Destruct! RUN!”

He retreated frantically.

Then, the sun rose a second time.

BOOM!

A blinding white sphere expanded from True Monarch Baili’s position, turning the azure sky pitch black by contrast. A thunderous roar followed, shaking the very foundations of the earth.

The shockwave vaporized everything in its immediate radius—cultivators, buildings, trees—all reduced to atoms. Those further away were blown off their feet, blood streaming from their eyes and ears.

“Old Man Baili! NO—AHHH!”

An early-stage Golden Core cultivator from the Blazing Heaven Sect let out a truncated scream before being swallowed by the white light. He was incinerated instantly.

A massive mushroom cloud rose into the heavens, rivaling the dark Tribulation clouds of Du Guangchao nearby. It was a scene of apocalyptic destruction.

Wang Hao and his group faltered, their hearts pounding against their ribs. They stood frozen, staring in horror at the nuclear-scale explosion dominating the horizon.

This is the power of a Golden Core Self-Destruction?

“Look! Sha Dingshan is still alive!” Qian Jiatao pointed to a figure emerging from the smoke.

Wang Hao squinted. Sha Dingshan’s robes were tattered rags, and his transcendent demeanor was gone, replaced by the look of a desperate beggar. But he was alive, floating in the void.

“Hah… I knew you would pull that stunt, Baili,” Sha Dingshan rasped, his voice dripping with mockery. “Did you think I wouldn’t be prepared?”

“Cough, cough.”

Headmaster Wen Ruixin of the Infinite Palace also reappeared. He was in worse shape, bleeding from multiple wounds, his aura unstable.

The three early-stage Golden Core cultivators who had been besieging the Mystic Water Turtle fared far worse. One had been vaporized. Another was missing an arm and a leg. The third, though further away, had been stripped naked by the blast, his Dharma Robes and artifacts shattered, leaving him bloody and exposed in the air.

Only Jin Heng and Zhu Neng were relatively unscathed; perhaps True Monarch Baili had directed the blast away from his ally, Jin Heng.

CRACK!

The third bolt of Heavenly Thunder crashed down.

Du Guangchao, sitting amidst the ruins, raised a massive yellow bowl. The Dharma Treasure emitted a brilliant light, absorbing the brunt of the lightning. His body convulsed as the remaining energy tempered his physique.

The Tribulation clouds above were thinning. Two, maybe three strikes remained. Du Guangchao still had a spare Dharma Treasure. His chances of success were high.

“Fellow Daoists, ATTACK!” Sha Dingshan roared, panic edging into his voice. “If we don’t stop him now, we are all dead!”

He channeled his remaining True Essence into a giant flying sword, hurling it at the meditating Du Guangchao.

Wen Ruixin and Zhu Neng gritted their teeth and launched their own Dharma Treasures.

“Bastards!” Du Guangchao’s eyes snapped open, burning with fury. To block a man’s path to the Dao was a feud deeper than killing his parents.

He roared and tipped the giant yellow bowl. A torrent of magical sand and stone poured out, driven by hurricane-force winds. The sandstorm swept outward, smashing the incoming attacks and pulverizing the remaining ruins on the peak.

Sha Dingshan struggled to control his sword against the gale, his face turning red from exertion.

Just as he was about to lose his grip, Wen Ruixin and Zhu Neng’s attacks arrived. Four Dharma Treasures collided in the air.

BOOM!

The resulting explosion was only slightly weaker than Baili’s Self-Destruction.

The attackers’ weapons were blasted back, their spiritual light dimmed and cracks appearing on their surfaces. Du Guangchao, however, caught his yellow bowl steadily.

Stray rocks from the clash rained down, killing disciples from both sides indiscriminately. But at this level of combat, no one cared about the ants below.

“We risk our lives today!” Wen Ruixin screamed, his eyes bloodshot. “If he forms his Nascent Soul, none of our disciples will survive his vengeance! KILL HIM!”

“Since you want to die so badly, I will send you on your way!” Du Guangchao poured more energy into the bowl, preparing a lethal counterattack.

RUMBLE!

The heavens had other plans.

The fourth bolt of Heavenly Thunder descended prematurely!

Du Guangchao looked at his enemies with profound hatred. If he unleashed his attack now, he could cripple Sha Dingshan and the others. But if he did, the lightning would obliterate him.

He had no choice. He redirected his power upward to meet the Tribulation.

“Hahaha! The Heavens are with us! Strike now!” Sha Dingshan laughed maniacally.

Wen Ruixin seized the opening. He summoned the Boundless Palace’s supreme treasure, the Boundless Whisk. With a whip of his wrist, the white tendrils elongated, wrapping around Du Guangchao’s exposed body.

Zhu Neng, having knocked aside the defending Jin Heng, hurled his flaming spear straight at Du Guangchao’s heart.

Three lethal attacks converged on his back while the lightning descended from above. Even without the Tribulation, surviving this combined assault would be a miracle.