Chapter 1417, Overwhelming Strength The dazzling brilliance of this master’s Sword Qi only lasted a flash before it was seemingly blown away and a loud cracking sound rang out. When the relatively high-grade artifact in the hands of the Heaven Battling Union cultivator made contact with the black stick, it instantly shattered as if it were a frail toy. “How is that possible!?” The master’s eyes bulged. Even if his sword was not all that impressive, it was still an Origin Grade artifact. Because it was designed for speed, being thin and sharp, it may not have been too sturdy, but it still should not have been so easily destroyed. This artifact had accompanied him for dozens of years and he had killed countless enemies with it, constantly nourishing it with his Saint Qi and Divine Sense. This sword was the artifact he most treasured and relied on. But suddenly, it had been smashed to pieces. Along with grief and anxiety, a trace of horror flashed across this man’s eyes. He couldn’t tell how this stick worked or how a seemingly simple swing of it could contain enough power to destroy his sword, but if he were to be struck by it head-on, how was he supposed to survive? Thinking of this, a look of decisiveness filled this man’s face as he hurriedly bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood mist while at the same time quickly withdrawing, trying to avoid being hit by this black stick. There was no fault in his plan, however, he had looked down upon the strangeness of this black stick. Naturally, this stick was the Heaven Shaking Pillar Yang Kai brought back from the Emperor Garden. According to Yang Yan, this stick was refined entirely from Heavenly Crystal Profound Iron, an Origin King Grade Artifact Refining material known for its extreme weight. A palm-sized piece of this material weighed ten thousand kilograms and it was incredibly tough and durable. There were nearly no ways in this world to damage an artifact refined of this material. Even Yang Kai himself had no way to freely wield this Heaven Shaking Pillar. It was a mystery who had refined this thing, but whoever it was had given this artifact the ability to change its size at will. When the humanoid puppet in the Emperor Garden used this Heaven Shaking Pillar, it was more than a dozen metres in length, but after giving it to the Stone Puppet, it had casually shrunk so it could be swallowed. At this moment, in order to confront its enemy and with the Stone Puppet body shape and size, the Heaven Shaking Pillar was only two metres in length. Looking at the cultivator from Heaven Battling Union, after spitting out a blood mist, seemingly try to avoid the range of its attack, the Stone Puppet’s round eyes flashed and the Heaven Shaking Pillar in its hand actually rapidly extended, bringing the fleeing man back into its range without reducing the force behind this blow in the slightest. This change made the cultivator from Heaven Battling Union fall into despair, and with no other recourse, he condensed his Saint Qi to its limits to protect himself while assuming a defensive posture. *Pa...* A light sound spread as the Heaven Shaking Pillar smashed into the cultivator’s body and broke through his seemingly intrepid Saint Qi protection like it was a bubble. The body of the Heaven Battling Union cultivator was twisted into an impossible shape as the sound of his bones breaking filled the air, causing the skin of all who heard it to crawl. Blood spewed out of his mouth, mixed with fragments of his five viscera and six organs. The man himself then flew out like an arrow from a string, swept far away by the Heaven Shaking Pillar. A single strike had caused this man heavy losses, and although he did not die on the spot, the injuries he suffered were by no means light. If he was only facing the Stone Puppet as his opponent, this man may not necessarily be unable to escape, but how could Yang Kai miss such a good opportunity to beat him while he was down? Sending out a Golden Blood Thread, Yang Kai slashed out with it, filling the air with a web of golden light. *Xiu xiu...* 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎 The sound of something slicing through the air rang out and was soon followed by the appearance of a cloud of blood mist. Suddenly, a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm had been killed! A Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator meeting such a miserable end in just the blink of an eye instantly filled everyone with shock and surprise! In fact, the scene just now was not actually that dangerous, the Heaven Battling Union cultivator only had his bad luck to blame. Encountering the Stone Puppet holding the Heaven Shaking Pillar that could instantly change its length had caught this man completely off guard and was the biggest reason he had died. If he had known about this strange stone man and artifact in advance, he would not have been so careless. But now, it was too late for such thoughts. After killing an enemy, the Stone Puppet let out a bestial roar from its mouth as its small body rapidly grew, in a flash becoming a ten-metre-tall stone giant. The Heaven Shaking Pillar in its hand also grew to a proportional size. *Hong Hong Hong...* After its transformation, the Stone Puppet charged forward into battle. This ten-metre-tall stone giant, holding the terrifying Heaven Shaking Pillar, was capable of displaying such overwhelming strength that even Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters had to steer clear of it. Every time the Stone Puppet swung its stick, the surrounding space seemed to solidify, causing the many enemies who had been entangled by the Divine Tree to tremble in fear. Screams rang out as several of these people did not hesitate to use Secret Techniques that greatly damaged themselves in order to escape from the Stone Puppet’s rampage. But how could the Divine Tree let them escape so easily? Transforming its innumerable branches into long whips, it swept the airspace around these panicking enemies and delivered multiple blows to them from all sides. The Stone Puppet took this opportunity to display its full power, waving around its Heaven Shaking Pillar randomly, sweeping up all the enemies around it, sending them flying while coughing up blood. The Heaven Shaking Pillar itself weighed several hundreds of thousands of kilograms, but in the Stone Puppet’s hands it seemed as light as air. Even without any Saint Qi infused into this stick, it displayed unparalleled might. Origin King Realm masters might be able to resist such a blow, but no Origin Realm master could accomplish this. With such overwhelming power at its disposal, the Stone Puppet did not need to be proficient in any kind of Secret Technique as it could already shake the world. Several enemy masters who were struck died immediately, while those who managed to survive by luck suffered grievous wounds and became easy targets for the golden leaves of the Divine Tree. Second-Order Origin Realm masters might be able to withstand a blow from the Stone Puppet, but even Third-Order Origin Realm masters didn’t dare take it lightly, preferring to avoid it whenever possible. Mo Yu, who was not far away, had his brow twitch sharply as he observed this scene. What kind of Dragon Cave was this Dragon Cave Mountain? First there was the Sentient Ancient Tree and now this stone giant. Mo Yu had never seen so many novel and dangerous things appear one after another. Mo Yu was not a man who was ignorant and uninformed; on the contrary, he was incredibly experienced and well informed as the Great Elder of Clear Sky Sect, but everything he witnessed today brought him great surprise. This Sentient Ancient Tree and stone giant pair alone could hold their ground against any invading army. Not to mention, this boy called Yang Kai seemed to have not really taken action personally yet, causing Mo Yu to wonder what exactly he was trying to accomplish. Although he had not seen Yang Kai fight yet, anyone who could command this Sentient Ancient Tree and Stone Giant must not be much worse off. At the very least, assuming he was just an ordinary Third-Order Saint King would be a big mistake. For a time, Mo Yu felt somewhat fortunate he had listened to his disciple’s request and not sought conflict with Dragon Cave Mountain. Otherwise, a grudge would’ve been formed here today and Clear Sky Sect would only have accumulated disadvantages with no benefits! Although that Sentient Ancient Tree was quite powerful in its own right, it was a Spirit Tree in the end, so its mobility was extremely restricted. Having taken root, it could display a powerful defensive strength, but it was not capable of taking long distance offensive actions. This stone giant on the other hand was truly terrifying; who could fight such a monster on Shadowed Star? Not even a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters could be its opponent! Only if a large number of powerful masters joined forces and besieged this stone giant would it be possible to defeat it. [This boy should have been able to recognize my intention to help him a moment ago, right?] Mo Yu worried slightly, wondering if Yang Kai had understood his actions just now. Just as the Divine Tree and Stone Puppet were putting on a great display of their strengths, a resounding dragon roar rang out, causing the skies themselves to darken and a terrifying pressure to descend upon Dragon Cave Mountain. This powerful pressure caused everyone present to tremble, as if a giant pair of eyes capable of consigning them to death was staring at them. Even if this pressure was not as strong as the Emperor Pressure generated during the Emperor Garden’s most recent mutation, it wasn’t far off. Everyone’s movements came to a halt as they all simultaneously turned their heads towards the source of this pressure, their eyes filling to shock and terror the moment they did. Before their eyes, Yang Kai stood solemnly beside the slowly rotating Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace, but in his hand was a kind of verdant-coloured long sword. As Yang Kai slowly pulled this strange sword out from the Artifact Refining Furnace, the invisible coercion in the air grew ever stronger. A moment later, this verdant coloured sword like object had been taken out completely. This object was only about a metre in length, its whole body a bluish green in colour. It seemed like a sword, but it did not have an edge or blade at all. Moreover, it was not refined from any kind of metal and instead appeared to be fashioned from some kind of bone. There was a longan sized round bead inlaid at its hilt, and inside this bead was something resembling a small green snake, which was swimming about happily. This sword seemed to have its own consciousness and was constantly trembling in Yang Kai’s hand, as if it wanted to break free of his control and soar up into the sky. An enormous, phantom, dragon’s head suddenly emerged from this green sword. This dragon’s head was extremely lifelike, its two water basin-sized eyes exuding an endless majesty as they swept across the countless gathered masters, involuntarily causing them to feel as if they had suddenly become tiny, insignificant ants. There was no doubt the terrifying pressure they all felt was coming from this strange green sword. No one dared to stare into this dragon head’s eyes other than Yang Kai, who raised his head thoughtfully as he activated his Demon Eye of Annihilation. An invisible shockwave centred on Yang Kai appeared as a terrifying Spiritual Energy which seemed to have physically manifested swept forward. Facing this shockwave, even the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters present felt their Knowledge Sea tumble momentarily. Yang Kai let out a grunt and frowned deeply as a phantom lotus appeared in his Demon Eye of Annihilation before rapidly submerging into this dragon head. The Blossoming Lotus was the most powerful Soul Secret Technique Yang Kai possessed. Another dragon roar echoed through the air, but this time it contained a trace of dread and panic. The phantom dragon head’s eyes revealed a pained expression before it distorted greatly and disappeared into the long sword in Yang Kai’s hand. The rumbling sound which had filled the air also disappeared and the sword body stopped trembling, no longer trying to break free. Seeing this, Yang Kai exhaled gently as a pensive look filled his face. This green sword was naturally the artifact Yang Kai had refined from the Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead. This Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead had been obtained by Yang Kai in the Saint Crystal lode in the second layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field several years ago. When he first obtained these treasures, Yang Kai didn’t know what to do with them; after all, they were a real Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead, materials from a true Ancient Divine Spirit and not something an ordinary Artifact Refiner could work with.