# Chapter 174: Fearless, Without Retreat, Invincible
What was happening?
The person who had claimed the divine power opportunity from the fifth Dragon Palace wasn't Wang Yiwu—it was the obscure Zhang Yong?
The disciple of the nation's War God had failed to appear here, and instead a son of the fallen Fengxian Zhang clan had emerged victorious?
"Where is Wang Yiwu?" Chongxuan Sheng cared about this question most of all. He asked directly.
"I don't know." Zhang Yong shook his head with a slightly vacant expression. "I never saw him."
Even Li Longchuan couldn't contain his curiosity: "That's strange. He wasn't in any of the five Dragon Palaces either. Did he fail to find the entrance?"
"That seems unlikely?" Xu Xiangqian rubbed his smooth forehead. "Li Longchuan, didn't you say that Wang fellow was formidable? He couldn't have been that foolish, could he?"
"Perhaps he went into the mountains. The forests." Jiang Wang speculated.
He had sensed that those two directions held great danger.
The cultivators who had entered the Heavenly Treasury Secret Realm numbered exactly fifty—enough to fill the five Dragon Palaces.
But entering the Dragon Palace was itself a filter.
None of the palaces had been at full capacity. Where had the others gone?
They had either ventured into the distant mountains on either side of the river, or deep into the ancient forests—or perhaps they had walked to one end or the other of that small river.
Chongxuan Sheng clapped his hands together: "Who cares? Everyone's here now. The Tower Reaching Heaven is open. Let's go claim our rewards!"
The fact that he didn't have to face Wang Yiwu's pressure made him the most relieved of them all.
The divine power was what mattered. No one wasted more words. They turned toward the Tower Reaching Heaven.
Chongxuan Sheng lingered at the back, pulling Jiang Wang aside, unable to contain his smugness: "He fell for it!"
Jiang Wang was curious: "How so?"
"After entering the Heavenly Treasury Secret Realm, I specifically cast a tracking-disruption technique. Anyone who tries to track me will be led in the wrong direction!" Chongxuan Sheng crowed with delight. "Wang Yiwu must have headed straight for the mountains—where the secret realm's dangers buried him!"
Jiang Wang: ...
So that was why his pursuit always pointed straight ahead, never turning. The answer had been right in front of him.
This fat man was truly devious.
Just as the Tower Reaching Heaven's gates swung open and the five victors of the Dragon Palaces were about to claim their rewards—
*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Five deafening explosions in rapid succession.
Everyone turned in startled unison.
Below the stone platform, emerging one after another from the bottomless sea of clouds, mountain peaks rose into the sky. Their summits pierced through the cloud cover like stakes driven into a river, forming a magnificent bridge spanning the clouds.
And at the far end of that bridge, a figure strode forward with a fixed, unshakable bearing.
Long face, high nose. Eyes like a hawk's gaze.
His long legs carried him forward as though he were chasing the clouds and overtaking the sun.
What a presence—Wang Yiwu.
This entrance alone made every other arrival at the platform look utterly unremarkable.
Xu Xiangqian suddenly slapped his palms together: "I've got it! The divine power keys can't have been only five. There might have been seven—or even nine. Two more were hidden in the distant mountains and the ancient forests on either side of the river. The five we found in the underwater Dragon Palaces might have been the easiest ones to obtain."
No one present was a fool.
They all understood what this might mean. The key in Wang Yiwu's possession could very well be superior to anything they held. Perhaps it offered more choices, or corresponded to a stronger divine power.
"No!" Wang Yiwu arrived at the stone platform in great strides and planted himself before the Tower Reaching Heaven. He planted one foot right in front of the tower's entrance.
His figure loomed like a mountain peak descending from the sky, blocking the doorway—and blocking everyone's path.
"When I entered the mountains, I discovered that the Heavenly Treasury Secret Realm contains a total of nine keys. The underwater Dragon Palaces only pit you against fellow competitors. It's in the mountains and forests that you also face the secret realm's own dangers. As for the two strongest keys—these are not Horns of the Azure Dragon, but Dragon Pearls of the Azure Dragon. They are found at the two ends of the great river!"
"Of course." He raised the horn in his hand—visibly more ancient than any other. "My key still surpasses all of yours. Want it? Come and take it!"
"Wang Yiwu." Li Longchuan's sword-like brows drew together. "You earned it, so it's your opportunity. We have no interest in seizing yours. Now—stop blocking the door. We'll each take our own keys and pursue our own divine powers."
"Hahahaha." Wang Yiwu threw his head back in laughter. "You don't dare take mine—but I want to take yours! Toss all your Horns of the Azure Dragon over here, and I might spare your lives."
"Of course." His laughter cut off abruptly as his gaze fixed on Chongxuan Sheng. "You don't get to walk away. You die today, no matter what."
"You really think you've got me beaten?" Li Longchuan's temper was clearly flaring. His body hadn't moved, but his aura was like a bow drawn to its limit. "Wang Yiwu—have you lost perspective?"
Wang Yiwu glanced at him. "Then try me."
The words had barely left his mouth when he ignored Li Longchuan entirely and strode forward with supreme confidence.
One step brought him before Chongxuan Sheng. His fist surged forward.
The moment the punch was launched, a gale erupted and the sea of clouds heaved.
Chongxuan Sheng instantly activated his Secret Art Seal Release, unleashing a fireball, a wind blade, and a vine whip—all in near-instantaneous succession, howling through the air.
At the same time, the Chongxuan clan's famed secret Heavy Art was layered atop each Dao art.
Wind fed the flames. Wood fueled the fire.
It wasn't that he lacked more powerful Dao arts. With the Heavy Art's enhancement, even these simplest techniques carried destructive force rivaling the most complex arts.
And before all three, three Flame Flowers had bloomed in a triangular formation directly in Wang Yiwu's path.
Flame Flower—triple instantaneous burst.
Jiang Wang had struck, deploying his strongest and fastest Dao art to support Chongxuan Sheng.
Wang Yiwu's fist arrived.
The Flame Flowers bloomed in sequence, shattering into sparks.
The fireball, boosted by the Heavy Art, was obliterated.
The wind blade crumbled.
The vine whip charred to ash.
The fist traveled on.
At the moment of launch, a killing field had already manifested. By the moment of impact, that killing field had been annihilated.
Fearless. Without retreat. Invincible.
This was the signature technique of the Great Qi War God Jiang Mengxiong—a supreme killing art of the Militarist school. The No-Self Killing Fist!
*Pu!*
Even Chongxuan Sheng, powerful as he was, was sent flying with a spray of blood from a single punch.
This was not a fight between equals. Not even close.
Wang Yiwu's combat power utterly shattered every assumption about the Heaven-Opening Realm.
"I agree!" Zhang Yong spoke immediately.
He tossed his Horn of the Azure Dragon to the ground before Wang Yiwu. "I don't want the Horn of the Azure Dragon anymore. Just spare my life! The Fengxian Zhang clan's bloodline has all but withered away—I'm the last one left. I cannot die!"
"Very well." Wang Yiwu's voice was flat, yet cold as iron. "Unfortunately, it's too late. Those were the previous terms. If you want to live now, you'll have to help me kill Chongxuan Sheng."
Zhang Yong's face turned ghastly. "As if you need my help."
"Don't you understand yet?" Chongxuan Sheng checked his flight and wiped the blood from his lips. "He entered this secret realm specifically to kill me. But to kill me, he needs to kill every one of you as well. Otherwise, once we leave, how would he explain why the death toll was relatively light—yet Chongxuan Sheng happened to die right after he chased me in here?"
Chongxuan Sheng was, after all, a direct-line heir of the Chongxuan clan—a man with legitimate claim to succession. Even Wang Yiwu, as the War God's disciple, could not simply bear the responsibility for Chongxuan Sheng's death.
That was why, outside the Full Moon Pool, he had only told Chongxuan Sheng to withdraw—never a single naked threat.
But within the Heavenly Treasury Secret Realm, if he killed everyone, then the difficulty of this particular secret realm would be beyond question. Chongxuan Sheng dying within would be perfectly plausible. Even if the Chongxuan clan harbored suspicions, it wouldn't be enough to move against Wang Yiwu.
And so Wang Yiwu had blocked the entrance to the Tower Reaching Heaven, demanding everyone surrender their horns—merely as a pretext to slaughter them all.
Because no one would accept such terms.
Even if someone like Zhang Yong did agree, Wang Yiwu would simply find another excuse.
Chongxuan Sheng's sharp mind saw through it all. He had exposed the truth specifically to bind everyone to the same front.
"Do you know why you'll die today?" Wang Yiwu stepped forward, launching another fist at Chongxuan Sheng. "You weren't qualified, yet you forced your way in. You weren't clever enough... yet you showed off your cunning!"
But the fist was only halfway extended when he suddenly turned.
"I seem to have been underestimated." Li Longchuan's voice, steady and clear.
He stood like a vertical arrow. His left hand was raised, fingers loosely curled as though gripping a bow. His right hand pulled back—to full draw.
He had not loosed a single arrow. The string had not moved.
Yet Wang Yiwu had no choice but to turn!