“A fourth step Netherpassage expert whose aura is close to the Heaven Elders, but who is skilled in hiding. It seems that the Ye family isn’t looking down on me. They actually sent such an expert after me. That makes me feel good.”

Long Chen looked at the silver masked elder with a smile.

“With death at hand, you’re still so arrogant. It seems you won’t be coming peacefully. I can only take you by force,” snorted the masked elder. He suddenly raised a hand. That one hand covered the heavens and caused the void to collapse. It covered Long Chen from every direction.

That hand contained life and death energy but was still silent. All the power was condensed within it without any leaking at all.

“When have I never not been arrogant?” sneered Long Chen. His aura suddenly changed. A dragon roar rang out, and white scales covered his body. His divine ring appeared along with six stars in his eyes. “Split the Heavens 8!”

Evilmoon slashed down. Even in the face of a fourth step Netherpassage expert, Long Chen didn’t dodge. He fought him directly.

BOOM!

When his attack struck the hand, Long Chen’s body trembled. His attack crumbled, while the hand only paused slightly before continuing toward him.

“An amateur who just entered Netherpassage dares to compete in terms of power with me? Do you think you’re someone like senior Feng Fei? Be suppressed!” The masked man sneered. The hand continued to press down upon Long Chen. The energy that Long Chen had managed to cancel out with his own attack rapidly restored.

“So this is the cycle of life and death, Samsara. It is unending.” Long Chen had a spark of insight from witnessing this hand. He managed to progress the slightest bit into the mysteries of the Samsara realm.

It was a kind of cyclic power, as well as a kind of law. Unless the cycle could be severed with absolute power, it could not be broken. It would simply restore itself naturally.

No wonder it was said that a third step Netherpassage expert was like an ant in front of a fourth step Netherpassage expert. Although it was just one step, the power difference was like heaven and earth.

Long Chen attacked again with his saber, with even greater force. As a result, he was blown back and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“A mantis trying to stop a chariot. Be suppressed obediently and you might live,” sneered the masked elder.

His hand once more recovered from any damage that Long Chen had caused it and continued onward.

“What chariot are you? Although I’m not Feng Fei, killing you is easy.” Long Chen smiled and attacked again. This time, it wasn’t Split the Heavens but an ordinary slash.

“Kill me? Hahaha!” The elder laughed like he had heard the world’s funniest joke. However, that laughter was cut off when Evilmoon met his hand. Both attacks exploded.

As the elder was stunned, unable to believe what he was seeing, lightning flickered. Long Chen appeared in front of him like a specter. His saber came slashing down, causing the elder to hastily retreat. Evilmoon left a long cut in his throat.

“Your physical body is this weak? Nice, then I really am confident in killing you. Tell me, how do you want to die?” asked Long Chen.

The elder was shocked. If he had reacted the slightest bit slower, his head would have been cut off. “How do you have such powerful life energy?!”

“I’m not your dad, so why do I have to tell you? Has your head grown muddled with age? Ah, the Samsara realm isn’t as great as I thought,” sneered Long Chen.

Although Long Chen had been injured by the last two attacks, he had managed to grasp some of the mysteries of the Samsara realm. It was a kind of law of half life energy and half death energy. The two energies were in a cycle, capable of restoring each other. Unless his power could surpass the elder’s power, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to it.

With just power, Long Chen could not break that cycle. So, on his third attack, he didn’t use power. He used his life energy.

An expert who had just entered the Netherpasage realm was capable of using life and death energy. But that life and death energy was separate, and not in a cycle like a Samsara expert.

As the first step in the Netherpassage realm, despite possessing both life energy and death energy, using either one was very difficult. That was why the first step was just the foundation.

The second step was using life energy, while the third step was using death energy. When life and death could be controlled, it was possible to enter the Samsara realm, the fourth step of Netherpassage.

Going from the first step to the second step was comparatively easy. There wasn’t much danger. But going to the third step was difficult. It required one’s death energy to suppress one’s life energy. When the death energy filled the body, leaving only the slightest trace of life energy, it would be the peak of the Death realm.

After that, by using the slightest trace of life energy, the death energy would be driven away until they were balanced. However, when the death energy was strong, it was all too easy for the life energy to be extinguished. When the life energy was too weak, it would be unable to return and balance the death energy. In the end, the death energy would overwhelm it and end the cultivator’s life.

The four Grand Elders of the Martial Heaven Alliance were in that kind of state. Their life energy was too weak.

Although Long Chen had found medicine that could strengthen their life energy and keep them alive, they had been in the third step of Netherpassage for too long. Their death energy had eroded their bodies and taken over. Hence, there was no longer any way for them to reach the fourth step.

What Long Chen had found essentially was that life and death energy needed a certain balance in order to sustain itself. So on his third attack, he had forcibly inserted his own life energy into the saber.

According to reason, even a third step Netherpassage expert would not be able to break the equilibrium of a fourth step Netherpassage expert’s life and death energy.

However, Long Chen’s life energy came from the primal chaos space. Although he was only able to utilize a trace of its power, it was enough to throw his opponent’s attack into disorder, causing it to explode.

The masked elder snorted. “It was definitely a coincidence.”

A black and white sword appeared in the air behind him and shot toward Long Chen.

Long Chen slashed his saber once more. His life energy surged, and the white color instantly took over the black color of the sword, causing it to lose its balance and explode.

“I understand now. You’re just a rookie who only just entered the fourth step. No wonder your balance is so stiff. Well, since you’re so weak, I’ll just slaughter you here.” Long Chen had figured out this person’s skill level. Even amongst fourth step Netherpassage experts, there were immense differences. This person still had quite a distance from being on the same level as Elder Long and the other Heaven Elders.

Like a bolt of lightning, Long Chen charged toward the masked elder.

“Hmph, even so, killing you is as easy as turning a hand!” The masked elder seemed enraged by this ridicule. A sword appeared in his hand, and an icy air erupted. This was actually an ice sword.

“Aren’t you afraid of swallowing your tongue with such big words? This bragging really has no skill,” taunted Long Chen. Evilmoon’s two dragon marks lit up.

Ice crystals exploded into the air when Evilmoon met the ice sword. It was as if the entire world had been frozen.

“My ice energy-”

Pow!

The elder was most likely about to introduce just how amazing his ice energy was when he was slapped away by Long Chen.

“Shut up. No one has time to listen to you natter.” Originally, Long Chen had been thinking of shattering the mask when he struck his face, but he found that the mask was part of his body. He couldn’t remove it. Long Chen sneered, “This ice energy is a huge joke in front of me.”

When it came to ice energy, he only admired Ye Zhiqiu. After being with her for so long, he had managed to build up his own resistance toward ice energy.

As his future wife, he had to be prepared for her ice spirit body. Without any natural immunity, there would be no way to do any pleasurable stuff. Even holding hands could get him frozen.

This elder’s ice energy might be able to freeze others, but it was nothing more than a slight chill to Long Chen.

“Since you want to die so badly, fine!” The masked elder roared and the void behind him rumbled. A black and white core appeared, and a star blazed into existence around it.

In that moment, the masked elder’s power erupted. “Samsara Void Extinguisher!”