At the outset, a faint thought had lingered in Lin Xian’s heart: what if Jiang Wang truly perished here? Then, perhaps, he would not need to chase so desperately.

Just as one who can never hope to catch the proud sun, yet harbors the desperate wish for its fall.

But after witnessing this battle firsthand, that thought was utterly, completely extinguished.

Moreover, even when the dust settled and Jiang Wang clearly bore grievous injuries, not a flicker of an idea to leap out and launch a sneak attack with his blade arose within him.

In this struggle, the sheer will and power Jiang Wang displayed left him in complete and utter awe.

This was a might that defied his imagination. With this battle, Jiang Wang had ripped open a line of the heavens in his heart, allowing him a glimpse into a vaster world.

To shatter the shackles of understanding, truly an opener of paths.

The simultaneous radiance of the Five Mansions was naturally chronicled in ancient texts. But it was the Heaven Mansion Old Man who, until recently, had so vividly etched the power of this realm into the minds of the world.

The Heaven Mansion Old Man, facing three renowned Outer Building realm cultivators alone, had defined the very meaning of the words “Heaven Mansion.”

And today, Jiang Wang had redefined the limits of the Heaven Mansion realm!

The four great Human-Demons of the Outer Building realm – each one was a long-established cultivator of renown, each an undisputed powerhouse within their realm.

Why the “name”?

“Only tools and name cannot be faked for others.”

Tools denote authority, and name, too, signifies authority.

It is only those who can bear the weight of ten thousand gazes, of both praise and censure heaped upon them, who can truly enjoy a grand name!

Be it a name of infamy or one that inspires dread, those who have long been famous in the superhuman world must possess strength commensurate with their name.

Otherwise, disaster would have struck long ago, and they would have been cut down before anyone even knew.

Jiang Wang, suppressing the world’s Inner Mansion cultivators at Observing River Platform, achieving the title of Yellow River Chief, inherently possessed his “name.”

Enjoying this grand name, how many Inner Mansion cultivators in the world desired to contend with him, to verify their own strength, or even to surpass him by a hair’s breadth? Had he lacked the “reality” to match, he would have already fallen.

The four great Human-Demons, their wickedness overflowing, had wrought countless karmic killings, causing people to lose heart at the mere mention of their names, also earning them a “name.”

Bearing this evil name, how many desired to slay them and find satisfaction? Had they lacked the “reality,” their ashes would have long been scattered by others; how could they still be so arrogant today?

Jiang Wang, facing these four great Human-Demons whose evil names were so prominent, repelling one and killing three, had truly forged a legend!

Lin Xian hung his firewood knife on his back and silently withdrew from the chaotic stone valley.

His mood was originally agitated, even prompting a desire to exchange a few words with Jiang Wang. But then he reconsidered; if, in his current state, he triggered Jiang Wang’s stress reaction, there would truly be nowhere to reason.

He then felt that a silent withdrawal was for the best.

Having witnessed the fierceness of the proud sun, he would dare not compare himself to it from this day forward!

Jiang Wang himself was unaware that there were others in the chaotic stone valley. After the aura of the ten thousand evil Human-Demons had completely dissipated, he waited for a while before slowly applying medicine and treating his injuries.

As a high official of Qi Country, he naturally carried some top-grade injury medicine. However, for such severe wounds, it was difficult to say it would have too great an effect.

Reaching out, he rolled a breeze, picking up his severed ear and broken leg. Jiang Wang couldn’t help but curse under his breath: “Old trickster!”

This was, of course, a battle to challenge legend and verify limits; if word spread, it would be enough to earn him a place in history. But had he known this beforehand, he certainly wouldn’t have come to Soul Breaking Gorge.

If this battle were to be re-enacted, the outcome might not be the same; the four great Human-Demons certainly didn’t just possess evil names.

Who in their right mind would seek such a struggle?

Having experienced countless battles, endured almost every conceivable injury, a severed limb was a first, a complete… what nonsense!

He had known from the beginning in Linzi that that old trickster was unreliable, yet at that time, he had been unwilling to accept his protective talisman. That old trickster had begged and pleaded relentlessly, insisting on sending it.

A simple transaction, yet after such a long separation, he still came seeking interest.

First, he said it was only to sever an ordinary lifeblood connection; later, he said it was to challenge Human-Demons one by one…

Never reliable!

“Old trickster!” Jiang Wang cursed again, angrily.

In the end, his ability to curse was far inferior to Zhong Xuan Sheng and Ku Jue. His scolding was repetitive, words turned over and over, not very satisfying. After a flurry, he stopped.

Now he would be a one-eared Heaven Mansion, a one-legged Chief…

How long would it take to heal? His heart was truly brimming with bitterness, who could he even speak to!

He sat for a while longer, waiting for the meridians in his hand and leg to recover somewhat, at least enough to be connected under the force of Dao Yuan. Then, using the light of his five divine powers, he gently nurtured them, stimulating life force.

Only then did Jiang Wang rummage through Zheng Fei’s corpse.

After searching for half the day, he only found a storage box. The capacity was remarkably large, but inside were mostly gold and silver.

Jiang Wang was completely unable to comprehend why a cultivator as powerful as Zheng Fei had such a strong obsession with secular gold and silver. When he had blackmailed him earlier, he had also demanded silver.

His Yuan stone reserve was only nine pieces. Besides the ten thousand Yuan stones, there were a few Dao Yuan stones and some magic tools that Jiang Wang considered utterly worthless… It could truly be said, despite being fat, he was poor.

How could such an evil Human-Demon be so impoverished?

But then he reconsidered; this was the correct reasoning. Harvesting little from a corpse was originally a common occurrence.

Ordinary people still needed to save for things like a dowry, and any qualified superhuman cultivator would transform resources into cultivation or combat power as much as possible, rather than storing resources in a storage box, waiting for others to take them.

A cultivator’s greatest treasure is themselves, not external objects.

As for techniques and secrets, most are recorded in the heart. Those top-tier techniques are controlled from their source, with absolutely no possibility of leakage.

Even if one killed a true successor disciple of Da Luo Mountain and found a fundamental scripture like the Kai Huang End Tribulation Scripture, there was still no possibility of learning it. Trying to touch it would only result in being killed remotely by a Da Luo Mountain strongman.

Jiang Wang was not disappointed; nine pieces of Yuan stone were already quite good! He valued them!

Immediately, he went to search the corpses of Huan Tan and Li Shou.

Li Shou was even more destitute compared to Zheng Fei, with only five pieces of Yuan stone. However, he did have a cone-shaped magic tool with decent killing power. Besides that, there was nothing else worth a second glance.

Jiang Wang was, after all, a third-rank official of Great Qi; his vision was now quite high. He was somewhat reluctant to take Li Shou’s storage box.

Huan Tan, on the other hand, was extremely wealthy. His storage box was filled with fifty-three pieces of Yuan stone! He had no idea how he had managed to preserve his wealth in front of the brothers Zheng Fei and Li Shou; appearances truly could be deceiving.

Besides his mechanical heavy sword, Jiang Wang also accepted it with a laugh.

In fact, this mechanical heavy sword was the most valuable item. One could imagine that if Huan Tan hadn’t invested so many resources into this sword, his Yuan stone reserve could have been even fuller.

After all, he was a mechanism master. Even if he only focused on the mechanical heavy sword, casually earning some extra income should not have been difficult.

After summing up all the Yuan stones and collecting the three newly acquired storage boxes, Jiang Wang finally regained some spirit.

He stood up to leave but suddenly stopped.

He thought of something.

The Balance of Blood.

The Balance of Blood that the Human-Demons had just refined by boiling and killing cultivators of the Feng Chi two meridians. Zheng Fei and Li Shou had each taken some to enhance their divine ability.

But the source of this Balance of Blood could be traced back to the Cloud Top Immortal Palace!

“White Cloud Child!”

He woke up the pouting, butt-snoring fat child sleeping soundly within the even more shattered ruins of the Cloud Top Immortal Palace than before.

For a moment, anger flared. He usually addressed him as Immortal Lord, one mouth after another, appearing more loyal than anyone else. Today, he had fought for his life, only to find him still asleep!

“Immortal Lord, where are you? This place is quite confusing,” said White Cloud Child, rubbing his eyes.

It seemed to be because of this innate confusing array…

Jiang Wang calmed his anger and changed his tone: “Look.”

White Cloud Child looked out from within the ruins of the Cloud Top Immortal Palace and saw Zheng Fei lying in the blood pool. He couldn’t help but cover his eyes and cry out, “The little one just napped, you… this… this…”

“I didn’t want to kill you!” Jiang Wang was both angry and amused. This Immortal Palace child was truly too confusing.

“Look at this fat one’s body, is there anything special about it?”

He asked, “The Balance of Blood, do you know of it?”

White Cloud Child’s small, fat hand covering his eyes slowly moved away. He carefully looked at Zheng Fei again, his eyes a blur, seemingly recalling some memories.

“Balance… of Blood?”