Chapter 2041: False God Realm Treasure

Ever since the last ambush, I had been extremely cautious. I flew all the way from the Soaring Cloud Sword Pavilion, covering millions of kilometers, and used Luo Ruoxi's disguise talisman to alter my appearance, soul aura, voice, and even bloodline.

Under normal circumstances, even Han Jianqiu wouldn't have recognized me if he had seen me in person!

How could the opponent have recognized me at a glance, been so certain, and attacked without hesitation?

What gave me away?

“Not bad!” the young man who spoke said, looking over. “The fact that you could kill four of our warriors shows you have considerable strength, but… your luck runs out today!”

Zhang Xuan looked around.

Having experienced the previous sneak attack by the Temple, he knew that being trapped in this space meant there was little chance of escape without killing these individuals.

Last time, just one Immortal Monarch had left him in a desperate situation, almost killing him. This time, there were three, and each of them was more formidable than the previous black-robed Immortal Monarch. The difficulty of killing them had increased more than tenfold!

“Let's attack together,” one of them said. “If we fail again this time, the Master will surely kill us!”

Ignoring the tense Zhang Xuan, the young man's body flickered, and he swooped down from mid-air.

His five fingers, like five great mountains, descended from the sky. The other two didn't hesitate either; they attacked simultaneously from left and right, and the space was sealed once more.

“Out!” He slapped his beast pet pouch, and the four recently tamed Immortal Beasts immediately flew out.

The flood dragon's huge claw swiped at the young man in front, while the Fire Phoenix Beast transformed into a crimson flame dragon, sweeping towards another.

“Mere tricks!” The leading young man was slightly startled to see the beast pets appear, but he recovered instantly, smiled faintly, and continued his downward strike.

As the palm strike descended, the flood dragon seemed to be instantly pinned down as if by the Five Elements Mountain, unable to exert any strength and completely immobilized.

“Die!” Just then, Zhang Xuan flew over.

His Divine Sword Intent spread, and his entire being seemed to transform into a sharp longsword.

He dared not underestimate the three Immortal Monarch peak-level Temple warriors; he had to kill them with a single strike.

Otherwise, if he became trapped in their encirclement, he would truly be doomed.

To be honest, although his cultivation had reached the True Immortal peak, making ordinary True Immortal realm experts no match for him, against the Temple's Immortal Monarch peak-level experts, he didn't even have the confidence to win a one-on-one fight… let alone a three-on-one!

Previously, with the Book of Heaven's Path as his trump card, he had felt considerably more relaxed. Now that he had nothing, if he were truly captured, he might genuinely be unable to escape!

“Impressive!” The leading young man clearly hadn't expected Zhang Xuan to be so decisive, and his timing so exquisite, striking just as he was defeating the flood dragon.

His eyebrows shot up, and a longsword appeared in his palm, meeting Zhang Xuan's attack head-on.

His sword radiated a chilling aura, giving off a sinister coldness. The moment it appeared, its power instantly multiplied geometrically.

An Immortal Monarch peak-level weapon! It was even sharper than the Tongshang Sword.

Buzzing! The longsword appeared, unleashing countless sword qi. These streams formed arcs, converging in an instant and stabbing forward.

Judging by its power, if Zhang Xuan were hit, he definitely wouldn't be able to withstand it. Instead of a successful sneak attack, his arm might even be severed by the opponent.

“Hmph!” Facing such a powerful attack, Zhang Xuan did not retreat. Instead, he snorted coldly and continued forward.

“You're asking for death…” With a cold smile, the leading young man concentrated all his power into his sword. Just as he was about to crush the opponent's attack, he suddenly felt his palm lighten.

“Huh?” His body stiffened. The Immortal Monarch peak-level longsword, which had been generating countless sword qi in his palm, was suddenly… gone! When did it disappear?

Splat! Without the longsword, the sword qi dissipated. Before he could react, Zhang Xuan's longsword pierced his palm and ran through his entire arm.

“Break!” Zhang Xuan's eyebrows rose, and countless sword intents suddenly erupted.

With a boom, the opponent's palm instantly exploded into countless fragments of flesh, splattering everywhere.

“Ah…” With a miserable cry, the leading young man hastily retreated.

Just as Zhang Xuan was about to pursue, his body quickly retracted, and sword qi hovered in the air.

He shot up several meters, dodging an attack, and looked down to see the flood dragon, the Nine-Headed Fire Phoenix Beast, and the other great Immortal Beasts all lying on the ground, clearly injured by the opponents.

The ones attacking him were the two remaining young men.

He had only managed one sneak attack on the leading young man, yet these two had already defeated the four Immortal Beasts…

Their speed was incredible!

Moreover, they seemed to have taken no damage whatsoever while defeating the four Immortal Beasts.

This meant that the recently tamed sacred beasts hadn't caused the opponents any trouble at all. And the leading young man had only lost an arm; even if his combat power was slightly reduced, it wouldn't be by much!

One exchange made it seem like he had gained the upper hand, but in reality, he was in greater danger.

“Hurry up!” The leading young man recovered his composure in an instant. With a thought, the bleeding stopped. He flipped his wrist again, and an iron seal appeared in his other palm.

This iron seal was not as high-grade as the previous longsword, but it was still at the mid-to-late Immortal Monarch realm. Its heavy texture gave off a crushing sensation.

“Go!” He threw the iron seal into the air.

Zhang Xuan immediately felt as if he was enveloped by a great mountain, his body bound by ropes, utterly unable to break free.

Though the iron seal wasn't as high-grade as the Tongshang Sword, it was incredibly heavy. Even with his excellent sword techniques, Zhang Xuan dared not meet it head-on. It was like a sledgehammer: its hardness might not compare to a bone-cleaving knife, but one strike from it would finish the latter.

“Haha, come on down!” Seeing Zhang Xuan immobilized by the iron seal and about to be crushed, one of the two remaining Immortal Monarch young men chuckled lightly, flickered his body, appeared before Zhang Xuan, and slapped out a palm strike.

He intended to exploit the opening.

Anyway, this fellow was already enveloped by the iron seal, unable to escape. As long as he landed a hit, if not certain death, it would at least be a severe injury.

“I think you're the one going down!” Seeing the young man's palm approach, Zhang Xuan suddenly let out a hearty laugh.

At the same moment, the iron seal suppressing him in mid-air vanished without a trace, just like the longsword before it. Zhang Xuan flipped his wrist, and sword light burst forth in an instant.

In a flash, the young man before him was riddled with sword qi, like a sieve. His eyes filled with deep unwillingness, he plummeted from the sky.

He never dreamed that the iron seal in mid-air would suddenly vanish, that the person who was originally immobilized could move, and had already accumulated such powerful sword qi.

“Hoo!” Having killed one opponent, Zhang Xuan gasped for air, daring not relax in the slightest.

To lure this fellow into a trap, he had deliberately endured the suppression of the iron seal. Coupled with the fierce burst of sword qi just now, countless meridians within his body had already been shattered.

However, now was not the time to rest. The other Immortal Monarch realm young man had already arrived and, at some point, pressed his palm against Zhang Xuan's back.

The palm force suddenly erupted, exploding like a bomb. His face paled, and Zhang Xuan was instantly sent flying backward.

While airborne, he seemed to be dead, his body stiff and unresponsive.

“Hmm?” The young man's eyebrows furrowed.

His previous attack hadn't been with full force, precisely because he feared killing the opponent and having no one to report to the leader…

Now that things had turned out this way, could he actually have been killed?

If he really died and the mission failed, he might be instantly killed by the leader.

His body flickered, and he hastily flew toward the stiff Zhang Xuan, wanting to see what was wrong with the fellow. Suddenly, his vision blurred, and a figure abruptly blocked his path.

“You…” The figure was clad in a black robe, identical to his own clothes. However, it wasn't one of their three members, but the middle-aged man who had failed his previous mission.

Swish! Just as he was wondering why this fellow had suddenly appeared here, and right in front of him, he felt a sudden, sharp pain in his throat.

He looked down… Thud! His head fell off.

The opponent had actually unleashed a sword technique the moment he appeared, severing his head with a single move.

Under normal circumstances, his strength was greater than the opponent's, so killing him would have been almost impossible. But just now, Zhang Xuan had suddenly stiffened, making him think he had killed Zhang Xuan, filling him with tension. Furthermore, the opponent had appeared abruptly like a weapon, giving him no time to prepare, which was why he fell for the trick.

After killing this fellow, the Immortal Monarch peak-level expert vanished again. The stiff Zhang Xuan could no longer control himself and fell heavily to the ground, spitting out three mouthfuls of blood consecutively.

Using the gourd's ability to devour the longsword and iron seal in the opponents' hands, he had seized the opportunity to cripple one person's palm, killed another, and with the ghost-like movements of the Soulless Golden Body, killed yet another…

In less than five breaths of combat, despite the abundant results, his body was quickly reaching its limit.

Especially since he had deliberately endured a palm strike to lure the opponent into a trap!

If not for his vast Heaven's Path True Qi, he would likely have stopped breathing already.

He flipped his wrist, and a jade bottle of bathwater appeared in his palm. He tilted his head back and drank it. Feeling his injuries slowly recover, Zhang Xuan finally let out a sigh of relief and looked at the young man with the severed arm.

“Why does your leader want to capture me…”

Although he guessed that the opponent attacked him because of his Divine Sword Intent, he still couldn't fully understand.

While the Divine Sword Intent was powerful, it had appeared before. There was no need for them to send people to ambush him repeatedly, especially when he was only at the True Immortal realm!

Furthermore, it seemed they had resorted to unscrupulous means.

This was completely different from the Temple described in books.

“You are not worthy to know…” The young man with the severed arm hadn't expected the person before him, who was a cultivation level lower than himself, to not only sever his arm but also successfully kill two of his companions in just two or three breaths. His face turned ashen.

They had failed last time, and if they failed again this time… they would likely face extremely severe punishment! Perhaps even… a fate worse than death!

He took a deep breath, his eyes narrowing.

“The leader's guess was right; you are indeed strong,” he said. “I originally didn't want to use this treasure bestowed by the leader, but now it seems there's no other way…”

He flipped his wrist, and a disc-like object immediately floated out. The moment it appeared, cracks formed in the space.

“A Pseudo-God artifact?” Zhang Xuan felt a chill run through him.