Chapter 2726: Single-Handedly Breaking the Heavenly Level

The big man felt that if he could capture Lu Ye today and extract his dragon essence, he would surely break through the shackles of his bloodline and become a half-blood dragon. This was the lifelong pursuit of all dragon kin, as due to their lineage, they could never become true pure-blood dragons.

As this thought crossed his mind, the big man's dragon might surged again, instantly reaching its peak, imbued with the power of time. Simultaneously, he reached out a hand, which seemed to transform into a snake's head, his five fingers becoming fangs, lunging towards Lu Ye to bite him. He attacked with full force, intending to subdue Lu Ye in one fell swoop.

"Roar!"

A sudden roar shook the world. The dragon might that had been faintly lingering around Lu Ye, though previously sparse, became intensely concentrated in that instant, transforming into a visible dragon shadow. It opened its massive maw and let out a dragon's cry directly at the charging big man.

The big man's pair of earthy-yellow vertical pupils instantly constricted to pinpricks. With a horrified expression, he stared at the fleeting, gigantic dragon shadow behind Lu Ye, losing himself in shock and exclaiming, "Pure-blood dragon?"

How could it be a pure-blood dragon? There were only so many pure-blood dragons in the world, and he had never heard of anyone named Lu Ye among them. Thus, he simply couldn't fathom why he would encounter a pure-blood dragon!

Under that dragon's roar and bellow, an even more terrifying dragon might permeated the air, instantly shattering his imposing aura. Not only that, but it also caused his blood and qi to surge wildly, his cultivation power to become chaotic, and even his mind felt immense pressure, trembling as if he had encountered a natural predator. The bloodline suppression effect between the Blood Clan and the Dragon Clan was roughly similar, but the Dragon Clan's suppression manifested more evidently. With just that one blow, the big man lost four-tenths of his overall strength. This was not four-tenths of the external power amplification from a Heaven-grade Harmony Orb, but four-tenths of his fundamental inherent strength.

The big man instantly felt something was wrong. With a cry of alarm, he tried to retreat. His Harmony City was right behind him. As long as he could retreat to it in time, there would still be a glimmer of hope. However, in that very instant, his gaze suddenly filled with terror, as he felt an extremely dense temporal power flowing around him, almost congealing his thoughts.

Instinctively, he activated all his power to protect himself. In a daze, a shimmering cyan blade light flashed past, and a sudden pain erupted in his body before all sensation vanished.

At this very moment, the other two Harmony cultivators, who had been charging towards Lu Ye, were utterly terrified. As their city lord made his move, they had already attacked Lu Ye from both sides, intending to cooperate with their lord and capture this dragon kin in one swift action. However, no sooner had they moved than they saw a dragon shadow flash behind the dragon kin. With a casual swing of his blade, their city lord was cut in half like a piece of paper. During that moment, he had no chance to resist, not even time to react.

They couldn't discern any profound mystery in that strike; the only thing they could confirm was its extreme sharpness! This was because their city lord's true form was a Salamander-Rock Horned Python, naturally thick-skinned and tough, difficult to harm with ordinary force. He even cultivated secret arts like "War Sky Dragon Guard," yet he couldn't resist in the slightest. If that were all, it would have been fine. The crucial point was that this blade strike had even severed the city lord's Dao bone! Such a degree of sharpness was beyond their comprehension.

As blood sprayed into the void, the two Harmony cultivators immediately halted, a burst of blood mist erupting from each of them, and they retreated in the direction they came from, but at an even faster speed.

Lu Ye tilted his head slightly, looking at one of them. As he raised his Panshān Blade and lightly swung it down, the power of the spatial Dao seed within his Origin Spirit Aperture was activated.

咫尺 Blade!

Space was compressed, so even though this Harmony cultivator's escape speed was extremely fast, he still couldn't evade the blade's strike. A cyan blade halo flashed, and he followed in the footsteps of their city lord.

Lu Ye then turned his head to look at the other person, striking down with another blade. This Harmony cultivator had fled further, and he increasingly experienced despair and helplessness, for he clearly felt the traces of space being compressed under that blade strike. When that sharp power descended, he could even sense the changes as his body was sliced open. In the last moment before his consciousness vanished, he was filled with endless vexation and regret: what kind of monster had their city lord provoked this time?

As three lives were extinguished one after another, Lu Ye narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling a touch of dissatisfaction. Of these three Harmony cultivators, only two left behind Star Abyss Coins; the last one he killed yielded no Star Abyss Coin profit. This was also the main reason Lu Ye was unwilling to resonate a second time. Currently, he was a Lower-rank Harmony cultivator; a second resonance would make him a Mid-rank Harmony cultivator. After advancing to the Harmony stage, obtaining Star Abyss Coins had already become difficult. If his cultivation were to advance further, wouldn't it become even harder?

He turned his head to look at the Harmony City before him. Inside the Harmony City, it was eerily quiet. Three breaths later, the Harmony City, which had stood still, began to move, clearly attempting to flee. Lu Ye frowned, stepped forward, and loudly declared, "All of you, get to the Harmonized Realm, or when this city falls, it will be your time to die." Having rarely encountered a Heaven-grade city, how could he simply let it go?

However, there was clearly a Harmony cultivator remaining inside the city to control it; otherwise, it couldn't have been maneuvered. Despite having personally witnessed Lu Ye's strength, the guarding Harmony cultivator was still unwilling to abandon his city. He evidently believed that with the city's defenses, there might still be room to struggle.

Seeing the Harmony City accelerate, Lu Ye immediately grew impatient. He took a step forward, arriving directly before the city, raised his long blade high, and brought it down fiercely. He held nothing back in this strike. The Star Abyss aura around him almost boiled as the blade descended, instantly releasing nearly two thousand seven hundred streams of power. With a single strike, the Harmony City's protective barrier sharply caved inward. As the incredibly violent power erupted, the entire city trembled incessantly.

In the central great hall, the guarding Harmony cultivator, who was maneuvering the Harmony City to escape, was greatly alarmed: "How is this possible?" This was a Heaven-grade Harmony City, with him guarding it, and aided by other Integration cultivators within the city. The city's defensive formation had been activated to its peak state. Yet, with a single strike from his opponent, the formation's barrier reacted so dramatically. How strong was this person really? What terrified him even more was that this fellow's physical strength was extremely frightening, and his long blade was impossibly sharp, seemingly having a suppressive effect on defensive formations. Otherwise, a mere single strike wouldn't have affected the city's protective barrier to this extent.

He frantically mobilized power to mend the breached area of the barrier, but before he could even act, Lu Ye's long blade repeatedly struck the very same spot. The depression in the barrier could not be restored. As the furious power was unleashed, the Harmony City swayed and rocked violently. Wherever the blade struck, its sharp Dao intent raged, causing the protective barrier's luster to rapidly dim at the impact points.

"Too late!" the guarding Harmony cultivator exclaimed in utter terror. He realized that even with him overseeing it, there wasn't enough time to compensate for the defensive formation's damage. If this continued, his opponent would surely break through the city's defenses within a hundred strikes! Could his opponent sustain such a furious assault for a hundred strikes?

He swept his spiritual sense outwards, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably, for he found that Lu Ye, wielding his blade, not only showed no trace of irritability or impatience but appeared utterly immersed, with an expression of pure delight on his face. This guy was absolutely insane!

The guarding Harmony cultivator dared not think any further. His figure swayed, and he lunged towards the Harmony Orb. He didn't want to die, nor did he dare to gamble, so he could only retreat to the Harmonized Realm for refuge.

Outside the city, Lu Ye was indeed very pleased. To be honest, ever since the Dragon Pond, he hadn't had a clear understanding of his own strength. Although he had exchanged one punch with Yang Kuang earlier, it was merely a brief test. Only now, as he unleashed his power without restraint, did he truly feel the terrifying extent to which his strength had increased after obtaining the dragon essence. When he first met Zhu Yin, he was very surprised and envious of how such a small body could unleash such terrifying power. Now, he possessed it too, and was even stronger.

Sufficiently powerful strength, an exquisitely sharp long blade, and abundant reserves of cultivation power enabled him to single-handedly achieve the feat of breaching a Heaven-grade city. He had such confidence.

However, just as he swung his blade down again, he suddenly noticed that the Heaven-grade city's defenses before him had abruptly weakened. He understood immediately that this was because the guarding Harmony cultivator within the city had retreated. There was a significant difference between a formation overseen by someone and one that wasn't. And with the Heaven-grade city's defenses weakened, breaching it became even simpler.

After ten more strikes, the barrier collapsed, and the Heaven-grade city before Lu Ye was utterly defenseless. He stepped inside. Without even needing to activate his spiritual sense, he could feel many cultivators within the city swarming towards the central great hall, clearly intending to enter the Harmonized Realm.

"Don't damage the Harmony Orb!" Although under normal circumstances no cultivator would dare to do such a thing, as it would be cutting off their own path of survival, Lu Ye still couldn't help but issue a reminder.

By the time he boldly entered the central great hall, there were still over ten Integration cultivators who hadn't retreated in time, all looking at him with terrified expressions.

"Get out, all of you!" Lu Ye waved his hand. From his current vantage point, he had no interest in killing Integration cultivators. There was no benefit, it only increased his karmic debt from killing, and these individuals held no grudge against him, so there was naturally no need to annihilate them all.

Hearing this, the Integration cultivators felt as if they had received a great pardon and rushed towards the Harmony Orb. A moment later, Lu Ye was the only one left in the great hall.

He stepped forward to the Harmony Orb, raised his hand, and gently tapped it. The orb shattered, scattering into numerous fragments in all directions. Lu Ye raised his hand and clenched, then, with a pull of power, all the fragments were drawn back to him. With this, he now had the materials needed to cultivate the Minor World Secret Art to its fifth stage. All he needed to do was set up the World Pillar and then engrave the Dao marks.

Lu Ye didn't linger long in this Harmony City, as he noticed that if he didn't follow the given guidance and delayed for a while, that "urge" would descend upon him. He merely collected the belongings of the deceased Harmony cultivators before resuming his journey, not even having time to deal with the Heaven-grade city's treasure vault. Then again, a Heaven-grade city's treasure vault likely wouldn't contain anything particularly good.