Chapter 1750 - Veiled Race
That technique was the Wild Rat Brothers' greatest trump card, the Heaven and Earth Dazing Art. By combining rapid rotation with immortal arts, they could leave their opponents dizzy, disoriented, or even unconscious within moments.
Liu Wuxie had nearly fallen victim to the technique, but the Heavenly Dao Book protected him and neutralized its effects in time.
The moment the Wild Rat Brothers stepped into the cage, they exchanged no words and launched their attack immediately.
Everyone understood that the instant they entered the cage, their lives no longer belonged to them. Survival depended on killing their opponent first.
The triplets refused to give Liu Wuxie even a brief moment to recover. As soon as one battle ended, another group of opponents would appear, forcing challengers to fight continuously without rest.
Under the gaze of Ghost Pupil, the movements of the Wild Rat Brothers seemed to slow noticeably. In truth, their speed hadn't decreased at all. Instead, Ghost Pupil allowed Liu Wuxie to perceive the trajectories of heaven and earth, enabling him to predict their movements.
"Kill!"
Liu Wuxie chose to strike first and swung the Bloodthirst Blade down from above. He sensed that the brothers intended to unleash concealed weapons, and he had no intention of allowing them to do so.
Blood sprayed through the air as the blade struck one of the brothers, opening a gruesome wound and staining the ground crimson. Splatters of blood even struck the cage walls, creating a horrifying scene.
Ye Linghan shut her eyes and couldn't bear to watch any longer. She knew that Liu Wuxie was enduring all of this solely because he had promised to become her assistant mentor.
With one brother dead, the remaining two immediately lost much of their momentum. Abandoning their rotation, they charged directly at Liu Wuxie with complete disregard for their own lives.
Liu Wuxie sneered and swung the Bloodthirst Blade once more, using the battle to refine his blade technique. "You two are far too slow!"
A truly powerful blade art transformed complexity into simplicity, condensing countless variations into a single strike. The technique Liu Wuxie was creating was known as the Drawblade Technique. The faster the draw, the greater the destructive power it unleashed.
Since he lacked a suitable blade technique, Liu Wuxie could only create one himself. With the experience of an Immortal Emperor, developing the Drawblade Technique posed little difficulty.
As he continued incorporating the essence of numerous blade arts into the Drawblade Technique, its power steadily increased.
The Bloodthirst Blade swept horizontally across the battlefield and severed both brothers at the waist. Although the strike didn't kill them instantly, they could only writhe helplessly on the ground.
"Trash!"
The Yin-Yang Elders finally acted. Two cold rays shot forward and pierced through the heads of the surviving brothers.
Only after the brothers completely lost their vitality did Liu Wuxie collect their interspatial rings. Moments later, attendants dragged their corpses away.
The iron gate opened once more, and two men, accompanied by two women, entered the arena. All four wore Daoist robes, making their presence in the underground fight club particularly puzzling. The instant they stepped into the cage, they dispersed to four separate positions and raised their longswords.
"It's the Two-Polarity Four Symbols Array!"
Someone in the crowd immediately recognized the spiritual array, even though they didn't recognize the four individuals themselves.
Liu Wuxie swept his gaze across the group and frowned slightly. The four seemed to be disciples from a major sect, making it difficult to understand how they had fallen to the point of becoming hired fighters.
The spiritual array immediately began revolving. Two polarities evolved into four symbols as the formation unleashed its full power. Anyone unfamiliar with the array would quickly become trapped in it and lose their life.
Liu Wuxie didn't immediately kill them. He suspected they had entered the underground fight club for the same reason as Diao Jiuzhi, to earn immortal stones, because they had no other choice.
The formation was both peculiar and profound. It could accommodate either two or four participants, seamlessly combining offense and defense. Even Liu Wuxie couldn't immediately locate its weaknesses.
"He's finished! Once the spiritual array suppresses him, using martial techniques won't be easy."
Whenever Liu Wuxie attempted to attack one of the four, the formation forced him back. At the same time, the four found it equally difficult to kill him. As a result, both sides reached a stalemate.
As time passed, the formation's operation became increasingly apparent.
Roughly fifteen minutes later, Liu Wuxie finally identified three weaknesses hidden within the array. Without hesitation, he executed the Seven Dipper Steps and charged directly toward the two women.
The vulnerabilities he had discovered centered around them. Drawing the Bloodthirst Blade, he unleashed a diagonal slash with an unpredictable trajectory.
The instant Liu Wuxie attacked, the formation shifted. The four symbols transformed into two polarities. The women retreated simultaneously, and the two men immediately took their places.
Clearly, the group had long known about the weaknesses within the formation and had prepared methods to compensate for them.
Liu Wuxie's eyes narrowed. The speed at which they patched the formation's flaws proved that these four were anything but ordinary.
As the formation transformed again, the two women appeared behind Liu Wuxie. The array reverted to its four-symbol configuration, and the pressure bearing down on him intensified dramatically.
Liu Wuxie launched several consecutive attacks, yet every flaw he discovered disappeared almost instantly. The four possessed astonishing mastery over the formation. Even Ye Linghan couldn't surpass them in spiritual arrays. These individuals were undoubtedly true grandmasters who had incorporated spiritual arrays directly into combat.
At that moment, a smile finally appeared on the Yin-Yang Elders' faces. In their eyes, Liu Wuxie had no chance of surviving this round.
"Your formation is indeed impressive, but have you considered that your immortal energy will be exhausted within five breaths at most?" Liu Wuxie said calmly. Although he remained trapped within the formation, the four still couldn't land a decisive attack.
His words immediately exposed their greatest weakness. At their current rate of consumption, they would exhaust their immortal energy within five breaths. Once that happened, Liu Wuxie would have his opportunity.
"Unfortunately, you won't survive long enough to see that."
The older Daoist suddenly struck. His sword split into two rays and attacked Liu Wuxie from opposite sides.
The formation accelerated once more. Their footwork became dazzlingly fast, making it impossible to distinguish one cultivator from another. In an instant, Liu Wuxie found himself trapped in the heart of a deadly storm. One mistake would leave him without even a corpse. The Two-Polarity Four Symbols Array would tear him apart completely.
"Your formation is powerful, but it remains incomplete," Liu Wuxie replied. Had he not been exercising restraint, the four would've already been dead.
The moment the four swords descended, Liu Wuxie vanished like a phantom. Before they could react, he reappeared behind them with the Bloodthirst Blade already raised.
"What incredible speed!"
The spectators cried out in shock. They were astonished by both Liu Wuxie's footwork and his ability to break through the formation.
The Yin-Yang Elders exchanged glances and immediately saw the seriousness reflected in each other's eyes.
The moment Liu Wuxie shattered the formation, the four cultivators lost their composure. Thick black miasma erupted from their bodies and engulfed the entire cage in seconds. Within moments, no one could see what was happening inside.
"They aren't human!"
Someone in the crowd finally realized the truth. The four figures weren't humans at all but creatures disguised in human skin.
The instant the black miasma appeared, Liu Wuxie reacted. Without hesitation, he slashed downward with the Bloodthirst Blade.
"It's the Veiled Race!"
Cries of alarm erupted throughout the arena. No one had expected the underground fight club to employ members of the Veiled Race.
The Veiled Race specialized in disguise and could perfectly imitate others. Their previous appearances had been nothing more than elaborate disguises. Although they resembled humans, their bodies were entirely black.
When the miasma finally dispersed, four members of the Veiled Race stood revealed before Liu Wuxie.
"If my guess is correct, you killed the four Daoists you were impersonating not long ago and assumed their identities afterward," Liu Wuxie said gravely as he stared at them.
The Veiled Race was notoriously difficult to deal with due to its unparalleled ability to conceal itself.
"Correct."
Members of the Veiled Race shared roughly seventy percent of their appearance with humans. Aside from their pitch-black skin, their limbs were noticeably longer than those of ordinary humans.
The four Veiled Race cultivators faced Liu Wuxie directly and admitted the truth. After killing the Daoists, they had assumed their identities. They had even extracted and absorbed the victims' primordial spirits, enabling them to cultivate the Two-Polarity Four Symbols Array.
What shocked Liu Wuxie most was the fact that Ghost Pupil hadn't exposed them earlier. That could only mean their bloodline was extraordinarily pure. Their disguises had reached a level where illusion and reality were nearly indistinguishable.
The four members of the Veiled Race began flickering in and out of existence as they merged with space itself. Their concealment abilities made them exceptionally difficult to kill. Moments later, they disappeared entirely from everyone's sight.
The instant they vanished, Liu Wuxie activated Ghost Pupil and scanned the surrounding area. He quickly located them. Although they had become invisible, they couldn't escape Ghost Pupil's perception.
The four had concealed themselves above the cage and now looked down at Liu Wuxie.
By conventional reasoning, they should have hidden somewhere around the arena. Instead, they did the exact opposite, concealing themselves above, making it far easier to catch opponents off guard.
Pretending not to notice them, Liu Wuxie casually wandered around the cage with the Bloodthirst Blade in hand.
"Wu Xie, be careful!" Ye Linghan called out anxiously as Liu Wuxie approached her side of the arena.
Liu Wuxie remained silent. Suddenly, his grip on the Bloodthirst Blade tightened when he sensed a subtle fluctuation in the air. He knew the Veiled Race had made their move.
Their attack descended with overwhelming momentum, giving Liu Wuxie no chance to recover. They intended to maintain constant pressure and exhaust as much of his immortal energy as possible.
The entire crowd unconsciously held its breath, afraid that even the slightest noise could affect the battle.
"He's doomed against the Veiled Race!"
Almost no one believed Liu Wuxie could survive this encounter. Not even his previous miracles had changed their minds.
Had Liu Wuxie possessed a higher High Immortal cultivation, he might have stood a chance. As only a first-level High Immortal, however, he had already become the Veiled Race's prey.
The Heavenly Dao Book immediately revolved, erasing all oppressive pressure instantly. Streams of air pierced through space as a strange palm descended toward Liu Wuxie's head.
The Veiled Race couldn't wield weapons while concealed because doing so would expose their positions. Their weapons couldn't share their invisibility.
A faint, cold smile appeared on Liu Wuxie's lips. Raising the Bloodthirst Blade once more, he executed the Drawblade Technique. After several battles, his mastery of the technique had improved significantly.
"That brat is using the battle itself to refine his blade art!"
The spectators finally noticed that Liu Wuxie's blade technique became increasingly polished with every use.
The expressions of the Yin-Yang Elders darkened immediately upon hearing those observations.
The seemingly simple strike sent another chill through everyone's body.
The Bloodthirst Blade pointed skyward.
A slicing sound echoed through the arena.
Blood suddenly rained down from above.
One of the Veiled Race cultivators lost his head, and his corpse tumbled from the ceiling of the cage.
The moment the corpse landed at Liu Wuxie's feet, its laws rapidly dissipated. Within moments, it collapsed into nothing more than a sheet of skin.
The desolate world expanded rapidly as Veiled Race laws poured into it. Endless streams of Veiled Race energy and laws surged through every corner of the world.
Liu Wuxie suddenly realized something. If he could kill the remaining three members of the Veiled Race, he stood an excellent chance of breaking through to the second-level High Immortal Realm.
