Chapter 1211: Chapter 1209: The Hanging Branch from the Sky
The level of the martial arts of life and death is no lower than that of the Reincarnation Martial Way. With Xuanyuan Di’s talent and dedication, it still took him almost three hundred years to advance the Reincarnation Martial Way to the early stage of 110%.
From this, it can be estimated that it took him another two hundred years to reach the peak of 100%. One can imagine how arduous and difficult the process was!
Even with the transformation of the four great martial arts, Shi Xiaole would need over a decade to raise his mastery of the martial arts of life and death to the peak of 100%. But unexpectedly, the appearance of the Supreme Pool greatly accelerated this process!
On the other hand, it also reflected Shi Xiaole’s talent. If it were anyone else, even with the Supreme Pool, it would be impossible to make such a dramatic advance in just over a month, more exaggerated than riding on a rocket.
The crowd was almost numb; after witnessing Shi Xiaole’s series of astonishing feats, everything in front of them didn’t seem hard to accept anymore.
When the aura of the Supreme Lord was exhausted, Shi Xiaole leapt out of the Supreme Pool and immediately sensed subtle hostility from all three regions.
Among them, one was most obvious, surprisingly coming from the Black Abyss Elder of Miaojiang. It wasn’t that the Black Abyss Elder’s scheming wasn’t deep enough, but his strength was so overwhelming that even a bit of hostility, when perceived by Shi Xiaole’s spiritual senses, would be infinitely magnified.
But comparatively speaking, Shi Xiaole was even more wary of the Scorpion Lady. A biting dog doesn’t bark, and this woman’s will and temperament were too terrifying; no one could tell what she was thinking.
"Brother Shi, how about we have a match?"
Just then, Xuanyuan Di stepped forward.
Everyone was slightly stunned, and then their spirits shook greatly.
Shi Xiaole had been too impressive before, causing them to overlook Xuanyuan Di. Setting aside age and talent, at least for now, Xuanyuan Di was not much inferior to Shi Xiaole.
More importantly, after advancing the Reincarnation Martial Way to the mid-stage of 110%, Xuanyuan Di’s strength must have greatly improved, even more so than Shi Xiaole’s!
After all, the peak of 100% in the martial arts of life and death is equivalent to the peak of 110% in the Wind Sword Way, and Shi Xiaole’s sword techniques mostly require the combination with the Wind Sword Way to unleash their power.
In other words, despite the strong momentum Shi Xiaole displays, his ultimate strength has not improved much. If Xuanyuan Di can defeat him, it would greatly damage Shi Xiaole’s undefeated destiny, which would be good news for everyone.
"Young Hero Xuanyuan, challenging right after a breakthrough seems a bit too oppressive. If I were Young Hero Shi, I definitely would not accept," said Anatman Mountain Man with a big laugh, but everyone could hear the provocation and goading in his words.
"The momentum of being invincible, it’s hard to come by indeed."
"I think it’s better to wait until your Supreme Martial Arts are on the same level before having a match; otherwise, it wouldn’t be quite fair to Young Hero Shi," said some experts from the South Sea.
Masters from Miaojiang issued cold, mocking laughs of anticipation for the show.
As for the experts from East Victory, since they were from the same region as Shi Xiaole, they maintained silence under such circumstances, but their thoughts were unknown.
"Aren’t you going to support him, Brother Zhang? I’m afraid Brother Shi will feel disheartened," Golden Rainbow Fairy said to Zhang Xiangfeng.
Zhang Xiangfeng did not look at her, but just smiled gently.
"Since Brother Xuanyuan has invited me, it would be discourteous of me to refuse."
In Xuanyuan Di’s gaze, Shi Xiaole saw only the sincere spirit of a martial artist. He knew this was a truly pure fighter, devoid of the complex thoughts of others. Even if there were any, Shi Xiaole didn’t care.
The malice from others was but a light breeze for him; why should he fear it? This would also be a good opportunity to test the progress of his martial arts of life and death against Xuanyuan Di.
"Brother Shi, be careful then," Xuanyuan Di said with an intense gaze.
Stomping on the ground with great force, Xuanyuan Di charged forward rapidly; his momentum peaked in an instant, and his right fist swung out like a heavy missile. The profound energy of reincarnation created a series of afterimages in the void, as if past events that occurred here were replaying!
"Union of Four Seals, Reincarnation Fist Seal"!
Compared to the past, this deadly strike took less time to build up power, and its force was even stronger. The likes of Heavenly Martial Emperor watched with trembling eyes, realizing the gap between them and Xuanyuan Di had widened even further.
Facing this punch, Shi Xiaole did not dodge or evade; he directly unleashed the "Sky-shocking Sword."
Boom...
The sword light shattered, but three-tenths of the punch’s power remained, rolling towards Shi Xiaole with an unstoppable momentum.
Just when it seemed like Shi Xiaole was about to suffer a terrible defeat, he pressed on with his sword move, and in an instant, he released a second "Sky-shocking Sword" as fast as lightning.
Zap!
The remaining three-tenths of the punch’s power could not withstand the full force of the sword light and was sliced in two like paper. Xuanyuan Di’s expression drastically changed, and in haste, he could only muster forty percent of his strength to throw out the "Reincarnation Fist Seal" once more.
Bang!
Blood sprayed across the sky as Xuanyuan Di lost control and retreated forcefully, smashing through a row of large trees and finally crashing onto a high mound. He leaned forward, staggering for a few moments before finally standing steady and spewing out a mouthful of blood.
Indeed, the Supreme Pool hadn’t enhanced Shi Xiaole’s ultimate strength, but what people didn’t know was that the peak of 100% in the martial arts of life and death had increased Shi Xiaole’s regenerative ability and the speed of his recovery by several folds.
In the past, he couldn’t consecutively unleash "Sky-shocking Sword", but now he could. Unless the killing move was twice as powerful as Shi Xiaole’s, the idea of defeating him in a head-to-head confrontation was nothing but wishful thinking.
From this perspective, Shi Xiaole’s maximum strength had not merely increased—it had skyrocketed. Of course, his Vigorous Air was almost completely depleted at this point, and the gap between him and Xuanyuan Di wasn’t as large as it appeared.
Even so, this still stunned everyone. The experts who had egged him on were left with nothing but shock and embarrassment.
"Impressive," said Xuanyuan Di, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
The strength of the Reincarnation Martial Way lay in its lethal power and ability to reverse situations, but it was not as fast, which was the opposite of the Life-and-Death Martial Way.
If Shi Xiaole had only this martial way, he wouldn’t be so difficult to deal with, but he also possessed the Wind Sword Way. With the Life-and-Death Martial Way acting as support, it was simply invincible.
Xuanyuan Di believed he could fight on, but he also believed that if the stalemate continued, he would still be the one to lose. As long as he understood the gap between them, his goal was achieved, and he could win back the advantage in the future.
A few individuals felt the urge to make a move against Shi Xiaole, but ultimately restrained themselves.
This kid was too unpredictable. Despite having unleashed two powerful moves in a row, who knew what other tricks he had up his sleeve? And considering the Martial Emperor’s stance earlier, no one wanted to provoke this peerless expert.
Just as everyone had their own thoughts, a light gate suddenly appeared above the cliff. It resembled the Gate of Fate, only about half as big.
"This is the Inner Gate of Fate, which can only be opened by the master of Fate, revealing the path to the summit of the Nineteen Peaks," explained the White Cloud Emperor, who knew the situation well.
The Scorpion Lady slapped her palm out, and with a bang, the Gate of Fate remained unmoved. She looked at the Martial Emperor and Shi Xiaole and said with a light chuckle, "It seems we need the two of you to work together."
This time, when the three joined forces, the Inner Gate of Fate smoothly revealed a gap, and a beam of light shot out from it, illuminating the cliffside. When the light dissipated, nineteen beams formed a bridge outside the cliff, each leading in different directions.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh.
Everyone was overjoyed and quickly followed the aura emanating from the beams, heading toward the peaks they selected. During this process, Fu Shuijing tried to choose Divine Martial Peak but was repelled, and when he chose Divine Rake Peak, he could pass through easily.
"Not a single leak!" Fu Shuijing ground his teeth in frustration, but he had no choice but to comply. Fortunately, he found many opportunities along the way, so it wasn’t a total loss.
Shi Xiaole went to visit Flying Crane and Golden Rainbow Fairy. After the two rushed off to Divine Martial Peak, he and Zhang Xiangfeng moved toward Heavenly Sword Peak. The two chatted about their various experiences along the way, sighing endlessly.
Soon, Heavenly Sword Peak came into view.
The peak of Heavenly Sword Peak was shaped like a sword’s tip, only about dozens of feet in diameter. Each blade of grass, and even every grain of dust, seemed to be condensed from the energy of the Supreme Sword Way, ten times denser than the Fate Terrace, so rich that an ordinary person would feel pain in their soul with just one glance.
Shi Xiaole was startled to see a gray branch as thin as a child’s arm hanging down from the clouds above, with Supreme Sword Way Qi flowing from it, filling the entire Heavenly Sword Peak.
What could be above this branch? Could it be a great tree? Could it be related to the legendary Supreme Sword Way?
Shi Xiaole’s heart beat furiously. He really wanted to go up for a look, but an inexplicable fear held him back, as if the slightest unusual move would bring disastrous consequences.
Since Shi Xiaole, Zhang Xiangfeng, and a Miaojiang Sword Emperor all qualified as swordmasters, they ascended to the highest peak together.
As for Thousand Swords Emperor, Liu Ruofei, and others, based on their ranking, they could only reach certain heights. The energy of the Supreme Sword Way was less intense than at the summit, but it was still much stronger than the Fate Terrace.
Not wanting to waste time, everyone found a spot for themselves, pushed aside any distractions, and started another round of insights.
A month later.
With a sharp and fierce Wind Sword Qi, Shi Xiaole’s Wind Sword Way successfully broke through to the early stage of twelve percent, raising his maximum strength further.
Additionally, although his Heart Sword had reached a bottleneck and hadn’t increased, he had accumulated so much essence that an improvement was inevitable once he fully assimilated it.
It’s fair to say that a single month of insight gained on Heavenly Sword Peak saved Shi Xiaole years of hard work.
Shi Xiaole made rapid breakthroughs, and Zhang Xiangfeng was not far behind.
Before long, a dragon’s roar that seemed to shake the heavens erupted from Zhang Xiangfeng’s body. His Dragon Might Sword Way approached the early stage of eleven percent, just one step away.
Given that Zhang Xiangfeng was only in his eighties, he shouldn’t have been so strong, but having entered the Fate Land and become a swordmaster gave him an edge.
If it weren’t for the abundance of experts from the South Sea, Xuanyuan Di and Qi Muchu might have become peak masters in the previous session, potentially making them much stronger than they were now.
"It seems that the Land of Fate is about to close," said Shi Xiaole. He could feel the Qi from the hanging branch weakening, causing the Sword Qi of the entire Heavenly Sword Peak to greatly diminish. The same was happening with the other peaks.
This trip could be considered a complete success. The only thing that puzzled Shi Xiaole was that, as the master of Fate, the rewards he received didn’t seem to be much more than others.
Moreover, according to rumors, the Land of Fate possessed treasures that could enhance one’s mental cultivation, but he had not encountered any. Was it bad luck, or were the rumors mistaken?
As he pondered this, the sky in the distance lit up brightly. In the next moment, everyone on Heavenly Sword Peak, as well as the masters from the other eighteen peaks, found themselves back on the previous cliff.
"The three Lands of Fate will soon merge. Gentlemen, there are some matters that should be discussed in advance."
With a laugh that made everyone’s heads ache, six breathtaking auras suddenly streaked from the South Sea direction toward them.
