Chapter 1155: Chapter 1153: Harvest_1
"That was close."
His body ached all over, with some places fractured and tendons snapped, and to make matters worse, the chaotic aura of the storm tried to penetrate his wounds, intent on destroying Shi Xiaole’s body and his martial power.
This was the remnant aura of the Ruthless Gang Wind, inherently composed of countless mixed martial powers, extremely sensitive to the force of martial arts.
The Life-and-Death Martial Way was activated, and those mixed martial powers were instantly transformed.
Shi Xiaole silently counted his lucky stars, acknowledging the extreme danger he’d just faced. A moment slower, and he feared he would have been torn apart by the Ruthless Gang Wind, even though he was still 800 meters from the periphery.
Further in, countless level-three Gang Winds intertwined like transparent serpents, leaving virtually no space unfilled, while at the center, Shi Xiaole could feel a terrifying, repressive aura that seemed to hover uncertainly, both present and elusive.
"No more than one hundred meters further in. If the Supreme Martial Way leaf doesn’t appear, it’s better to stay put."
Shi Xiaole was willing to take risks but not without using his brain. Any adventure had to be undertaken with a good chance of success; anything blind was simply suicide.
"He’s grabbed it, my Supreme Martial Way leaf has been snatched away by him."
The silver-haired elder muttered to himself, his face growing increasingly dark.
If Shi Xiaole had not succeeded, he wouldn’t have felt much. But now that he had succeeded, it was as if something that rightfully belonged to himself had been taken away, filling the elder with both jealousy and hatred.
But he didn’t show his feelings, instead, his eyes grew cold, like those of a venomous snake.
Chen Boqing and another man wielding the Crocodile Scissors also remained undisturbed, their gaze flickering towards Shi Xiaole’s injuries.
Without immediately comprehending the Supreme Martial Way leaf, Shi Xiaole placed it into the system space, continuing to wander within a set range.
The river of Ruthless Gang Wind was vast, measuring tens of thousands of meters across. He planned to search back and forth, increasing the probability of discovering another Supreme Martial Way leaf. Shi Xiaole noticed that when he moved, the three others also moved in the same direction, albeit subtly.
One day.
Two days.
On the third day, a burst of laughter rang out. It was the Lonely Lance Emperor passing by, who caught sight of Shi Xiaole.
Luckily, Shi Xiaole had noticed him approaching in advance and had signaled Ling Cunwei to hide temporarily, so the two had not encountered each other.
Whoosh!
The Lonely Lance Emperor charged into the river of Ruthless Gang Wind.
His reaction was not as agile as Shi Xiaole’s, but his advantage lay in stronger power. He evaded what he could, and for those he couldn’t avoid, he activated his power to shatter a part of them and dodged the rest, quickly closing in on Shi Xiaole.
"Hand over the item, and I’ll spare your life."
The Lonely Lance Emperor swung his lance toward Shi Xiaole, stirring up the nearby Ruthless Gang Wind into chaos.
"Nonsense."
Shi Xiaole’s arm trembled slightly as he diagonally slashed with his Cleansing Evil Sword, creating a sharp sword light.
Boom!
The released qi had barely erupted when it was destroyed by more than thirty converging level-three Gang Winds. Immediately afterward, the previously calm Qi River surged tumultuously, raising up more level-three Gang Winds with the force of a typhoon, threatening to obliterate everything around it.
"Halberd-I Unity!"
The Lonely Lance Emperor’s face changed dramatically as he drew a circle before him with his long lance, forming an eggshell-like shield of black and white light. The Gang Wind smashed against it, part of its force being transferred inside while the rest propelled the shield, pushing the Lonely Lance Emperor away to a distance.
Shi Xiaole didn’t have such a supreme skill, nor the space to dodge, but he had the Life-and-Death Martial Way.
Running at full force, the Ruthless Gang Wind that enveloped him had its power greatly diminished, and he managed to break free. Despite that, he was still left with deep gashes across his body, looking as though he’d been bathed in blood.
"He’s still not dead?"
The Lonely Lance Emperor was extremely surprised, knowing better than anyone just how dangerous the situation had been.
It seemed he was handling it with ease, but that was because his position was better than Shi Xiaole’s, and using "Halberd-I Unity" had also consumed nearly a third of his power.
"Hmph, let’s see how long you can hold on."
Fearing involvement, the Lonely Lance Emperor retreated to a position 600 meters away, then launched attacks at Shi Xiaole, intending to use the Ruthless Gang Wind to destroy him, or at least force him out. No one had ever snatched away what he coveted.
"Such a vicious move."
"What grudge or grievance do these two have?"
Chen Boqing and the others were astonished.
The Lonely Lance Emperor’s personality was well-known in the circle, famous for his vendettas.
Once, at the start of his career, someone only ridiculed him a few times, which led to a three-year pursuit and his opponent dying by his lance. It could be said that many who were weaker than the Lonely Lance Emperor didn’t want to provoke this madman.
It looked like this kid was doomed.
"You can’t force me to death, but you’ll definitely push yourself to your own end."
Shi Xiaole’s eyes were unfazed. Ruthless Gang Winds assaulted him in waves, and even with the Life-and-Death Martial Way running to its limit, he couldn’t transform them in time, leading to severe injuries. Several times, his limbs were nearly shredded, exposing his internal organs in some places.
Perhaps the commotion was too great, for as the Qi River churned violently, a glowing green appeared before everyone’s eyes—another Supreme Martial Way leaf, less than ten meters from Shi Xiaole.
With a stretch of his hand and a suction movement, Shi Xiaole’s body was half-engulfed by the Gang Wind, almost causing his flesh and bones to explode, but he managed to snatch the leaf perilously into his hands.
"Kid, hand it over and I’ll spare your life!"
The Lonely Lance Emperor’s breathing became rapid, his attacks even more ferocious.
He had also come here, lingering for nearly several years, but had gained nothing. Instead, he was left with numerous injuries and eventually, like ninety-nine percent of the people, he gave up on this place.
Yet the more it was so, the more the Lonely Lance Emperor craved the leaf of the Supreme Martial Way. Since his martial arts had reached the pinnacle of twelve levels, it had been nearly a thousand years without any breakthrough.
Perhaps the leaf of the Supreme Martial Way would help him break through this bottleneck. By then, he was sure to become one of the top hundred masters in the South Sea!
Not just the Lonely Lance Emperor, the other three were also itching with envy, driven mad with jealousy. This was the second leaf already; how could this kid’s luck be so good.
Boom boom thud...
Shi Xiaole fled in a frenzy, but no matter where he hid, the Lonely Lance Emperor, like gum stuck to a boot, could not be shaken off. He attacked from a distance, detonating a swath of third-grade Ruthless Gang Winds. This made it impossible for Shi Xiaole to even approach him.
"If you want to play, then let’s play together."
Gathering his strength to the limit, Shi Xiaole suddenly unleashed a sword strike, not aiming at the Lonely Lance Emperor, but at the Qi river a hundred meters ahead.
Clang!
Like pouring oil on fire, the Qi river emitted an unprecedented explosive sound, condensing dozens of Gang Winds that enveloped an area of thousands of meters. These Gang Winds combined with those from other places, like atomic fission, constantly expanding outward.
From a distance, the entire periphery of the Qi river was caught in the storm.
"You’re courting death!"
The Lonely Lance Emperor never imagined Shi Xiaole would be so crazy. He hurriedly retreated without care, but how could he outrun the Ruthless Gang Wind.
The "Halberd-I Unity" he had sustained shattered after continuous strikes, a large number of Gang Winds invaded, causing the Lonely Lance Emperor to spew a mist of blood, with even his pores bleeding out, a frightening sight.
But he was very lucky; due to his timely reaction and the mysterious defenses of his supreme skill, he managed to avoid the most perilous area and successfully escaped the Qi river.
Chen Boqing and the other two were several times more disheveled than the Lonely Lance Emperor. The elderly man with silver hair even lost an arm, looking as wretched as could be.
"This kid is definitely dead, what a pity for the leaf of the Supreme Martial Way he had on him."
Chen Boqing inwardly shook his head.
Most of the time, it wouldn’t even be possible to find two leaves of the Supreme Martial Way in several years, but even if Shi Xiaole didn’t die, it would likely end up benefiting the Lonely Lance Emperor.
Inside the storm.
Shi Xiaole wasn’t dead, but he was close to it.
His limbs were almost hanging by skin and flesh, ready to break at any moment, his chest cavity was cracked open, even the top of his skull was lifted. But before he made his move, he had prepared himself, and with his unrivaled reflexes, he managed to escape to the outskirts 300 meters away, moreover keeping his distance from the direction of the Lonely Lance Emperor and the others.
Above, several jade-green leaves were exceptionally dazzling.
They were the leaves of the Supreme Martial Way swept up from the river by the eruption, a total of six! The furthest was more than a hundred meters away from Shi Xiaole, the closest only thirty something meters.
In his current state, and with his injuries, Shi Xiaole could almost only watch, unable to touch, missing out on such an incredible opportunity.
But a miracle occurred.
The six leaves of the Supreme Martial Way suddenly surged towards Shi Xiaole, who grasped them in his hand. The faint spiritual essence was fleeting.
Since refining his spiritual power to six percent, not only had Shi Xiaole’s spiritual cultivation grown stronger, he had also discovered that he could manipulate spiritual power to capture objects from afar.
Note, although spiritual power could previously be projected outward, it was limited to attacks. The Controlling Sword with Qi Skill was not purely a spiritual technique. Moreover, in this storm, it’s feared that using it would get one swept away, unable to act.
Of course, the range of his current spiritual capture was limited, at most around two hundred meters, and it also depended on the weight of the object. It was fortunate that the leaves were light and thin, otherwise, Shi Xiaole really would have just been watching helplessly.
"What a pity, the depths of the Qi river are unfathomable, and spiritual power cannot grab it; otherwise, there might have been a great harvest."
No one knew the exact location of the leaves of the Supreme Martial Way. As for outside the Qi river, launching an attack to cause turmoil in an attempt to find the leaves was not realistic. Because even if found, they would be immediately washed away.
Unless one was inside, but that was far too dangerous.
Without stopping, Shi Xiaole dashed outward, with bouts of blood mist exploding along the way. Fortunately, there were many gaps in the storm here, which ultimately allowed him to avoid vital hits.
When he left the Qi river, Shi Xiaole was almost disfigured, his bones nearly shattered.
Unable to look for Ling Cunwei, Shi Xiaole burrowed into the mountains.
Sometime later, he found a hidden spot and began running his life-and-death martial arts to heal, simultaneously taking out 109 Heaven and Earth Spiritual Crystals, greedily absorbing the spiritual energy within them.
Time passed leisurely by.
In the blink of an eye, half a month was gone.
Shi Xiaole’s power had long recovered, and the fatal wounds on his body were finally completely healed, his aura even subtly improved.
"That was really a close brush with death, but the gains were also significant."
Opening his palm, a total of eight leaves of the Supreme Martial Way emerged in the center of his hand, each emitting a distinctly different aura. Some resembled spears reaching into the heavens, others were like Divine Blades capable of destroying the world, and still others, at a single glance, made one feel as if countless fists were striking...
"Different leaves have absorbed different aspects of the Supreme Martial Way."
With a thoughtful look, Shi Xiaole mused that among the myriad paths, naturally there would be different types of leaves of the Supreme Martial Way.
His gaze shifted, and at last, Shi Xiaole focused on two leaves. These two leaves were extraordinarily sharp and piercing to behold, like two Divine Blades that could cut through anything, even severing the soul.
