Chapter 1213: Chapter 1211: Confident and Fearless
Sensing Shi Xiaole’s gaze, Qin Elder looked towards him and burst into laughter, "It’s been many years, kiddo, I hope you’ve been well! Back in the day, I asserted that you wouldn’t live long, but now that seems utterly laughable. Of course, blame that old swindler; it’s all his fault!"
Qin Elder pointed to the cloth-robed elder.
The cloth-robed elder offered a wry smile and said, "Brother Shi, this old fellow just loves to pass the buck. Don’t you believe a word he says."
The blind old man in the middle shook his head helplessly and said, "Fellows, before we start arguing, let’s focus on getting Brother Shi’s belongings back. That’s what matters."
With that said, the expressions on both Qin Elder and the cloth-robed elder’s faces became decidedly grim.
Keng keng keng...
The sound of the zither suddenly shifted from extreme stillness to extreme motion. The air was filled with a sense of dire killing intent as Qin Elder’s fingers flew rapidly. With each pluck, countless blades and swords charged towards the Demon Exorcism Sect Ancestor, leaving behind fine trails of light in their wake.
"Qin Elder, what can you do to me, Demon-Exorcising Palm!"
The Demon Exorcism Sect Ancestor appeared entirely unafraid, changing from one palm to two, compressing the heavens and the earth.
At the same time.
The blind elder slowly drew his Erhu. Waves of transparent ripples spread out, and each ripple split into countless layers.
Some contained water and fire, others were shrouded in wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, while some evolved into knives, spears, swords, and halberds, layer upon layer, creating the illusion of countless worlds, aiming to trap someone within.
"Scram!"
Xuanyuan Lang’s weapon was a saber. As its saber light slashed across, nothing survived, and vast worlds of ripples shattered, but the saber light also weakened from the forces within, its power gradually diminishing.
The cloth-robed elder’s hands moved swiftly. They were long and powerful, perhaps from years of fortune-telling, emanating an aura of profound mystery.
With a flick of his hands, three breaths of life fell from above the cliff, enveloping Martial Emperor, Zhang Xiangfeng, Meng Xiaoliu, and Shi Xiaoba. Four individuals who were originally crippled quickly recovered from their injuries, limbs intact as if new.
"The breath of life?"
Shi Xiaole had always wondered why he hadn’t encountered the breath of life that appeared on the Fate Platform along the way. Now he knew that above Nineteen Peaks, there must be another world.
"You could actually use its power during a leak in the land of Fate?"
The remaining five masters from the South Sea were greatly shocked.
After all, the land of Fate was incredibly mysterious, and even with their strength at the Fake Sky Origin Realm, it wasn’t somewhere they could just come and go as wished. The reason they were able to enter this time was solely because three lands of Fate were about to merge, thus revealing a flaw.
Qin Elder was not mistaken; had it not been for this event, not only could they not have entered, but Shi Xiaole would have already obtained the Stone of Fate.
As the cloth-robed elder healed Martial Emperor and the others, he flicked out a copper divination disc from his sleeve. The disc, the size of an adult’s palm and divided into eight inner and outer rings, rotated and sent out a beam of gold light, as thick as a finger, piercing through the sky.
The very next moment!
A torrent of force, like water bursting from a dam, surged from the sky towards the remaining four from the South Sea.
"Even if you could use the power of the land of Fate, what of it? Facing four of us alone, what do you think you are?"
The master of the Hundred Battles Tower, Great Battles Emperor, said with a light chuckle.
His weapon was a six-foot-three-inch long whip with diamond-shaped spikes all over it. With a flick of his wrist, Vigorous Air rolled out, each spike releasing a frenzy of force.
The other three also displayed their unique skills, and in a moment, whips, axe glows, hook flashes, and halberd forces successively broke the stillness, forming torrents that fiercely clashed with the light of Fate.
Pang pang bang...
The overwhelming power caused many of the experts present to stumble and sway. Those with lesser strength turned red, choking on blood in their throats. This was still under the condition that the nine great masters were consciously controlling their power.
After all, they each had peers in the same realm to protect, and if they truly threw caution to the wind, no one could bear the consequences.
Thump, thump, thump.
The cloth-robed elder stepped back three times, his palms trembling.
Although he was well-versed in the Array System and could harness the power of the land of Fate, it was ultimately only a tiny fraction of that power. Otherwise, it would have been easy to kill the six South Sea masters on the spot.
"You three think you can steal the Stone of Fate? What a foolish dream, kill them!"
Another Fake Sky Origin Realm powerhouse from the Hundred Battles Tower laughed out loud, his axe glows striking towards the cloth-robed elder.
"Heavenly Destiny Xinluo!"
The cloth-robed elder waved his hands, and the eight rings on the copper divination disc each shimmered with different glows, suddenly enlarging dozens of times over, looking like the cross-section of a kaleidoscope. The axe glow struck it and depleted the red, orange, yellow, green, and blue colors, dissolving itself in the process.
Crack crack crack!
But the attacks from the other three arrived as well, shattering the blue and purple rings, and the last black ring transported the cloth-robed elder to another direction.
"This guy’s tricks are indeed not simple."
Great Battles Emperor’s expression slightly changed.
The cloth-robed elder’s strength might not be extremely high, but he had combined the paths of martial arts and the Array System, forging a new and unpredictable path.
If it had been him in place of the cloth-robed elder, he wouldn’t have been able to block the attack just now either.
The group marveled at the strength of the three masters from the East Victory Continent, and Shi Xiaole’s heart was equally turbulent.
He had thought that both Qin Elder and the blind old man were Sky Origin Realm masters, but now it seemed he had overestimated them. No, rather he had underestimated the strength of the Sky Origin Realm.
From ancient times to the present, how many Sky Origin Realm masters had there been? Even in the records, there’s very little about the power of the Sky Origin Realm.
The Fake Sky Origin Realm was invincible!
From this perspective, the battle at Wuyuan Palace from years past when the man in the blue mask was touted as having Sky Origin Realm strength was truly terrifying.
And the Wuyuan old man, who wasn’t at a forbidden level, could still use the Sky Origin Array System to barely contend with Sky Origin Realm masters—who knew how strong the Array System was?
All of this once again pointed back to the elder who had planted the Flying Immortal mark on himself (Chapter 355). The "master" he mentioned seemed to be the true master of the Wuyuan Palace. Who could that be?
As Shi Xiaole’s thoughts raced, the battlefield began to reveal the superior combatants.
"Sword Qi Domain of the Guqin!"
A seven-stringed guqin floated in mid-air, and Qin Elder’s hands plucked rapidly across the strings. His movements were so swift that the entire surface of the guqin shimmered with shadowy hands. With every shadow, thousands of sword phantoms burst forth, densely packed, forming a realm that trapped the Ancestor of the Demon Exorcism Sect within.
"Demon Exorcism throughout the World!"
An explosive force surged from the body of the Demon Exorcism Sect’s Ancestor, seen from afar like a vast expanse of dense mercury, spreading everywhere and mercilessly erasing the phantom swords.
"Such a minor skill, you think it can trouble me."
The sneer had barely subsided when there was a clanging sound!
Within the realm of swords, not all Vigorous Air had been extinguished. Guqin music, formless and incorporeal, how could you erase it? This Vigorous Air congealed into a colorless three-foot long sword, its hilt connected to the fingertip of Qin Elder.
With Qin Elder lightly plucking the fifth string.
Whoosh!
The sword pierced the sky, too fast for the void to retain.
The Ancestor of the Demon Exorcism Sect was startled, but being a peerless expert, he channeled his energy to his palms and, in a hairbreadth moment, perilously deflected the Sword Qi.
"Can you dodge it?"
Before it was the plucking of the fifth string, and now it was completely released. As the last note fell, accompanying Qin Elder’s soft sigh, a transparent mushroom cloud explosively burst forth, enveloping the Ancestor of the Demon Exorcism Sect.
This was the power of guqin music, elusive and ethereal. All the sword attacks before were for this moment of building momentum, the damage even greater than sword attacks!
Pu pu pu...
Like a thousand cuts, the Ancestor of the Demon Exorcism Sect roared furiously, his body slashed open countless times, blood pouring down like a torrential downpour.
The old man plucking the guqin was not playing music, but playing with lives.
If Qin Elder’s killing move was imbued with imagination, covering the bloodshed with a veil of poetry, then the technique of the blind old man was much more monotonous and straightforward, yet also much more vicious.
His Erhu playing accelerated, with ripples spreading out layer by layer, attacking Xuanyuan Lang with insanity. No defense, no variation, for there was no need for either.
Xuanyuan Lang initially managed to resist, but as the battle progressed, he could no longer keep up with the speed of the attack. His own strikes were like large stones thrown into a lake, shattering many ripples only to be quickly engulfed by even more, endless and ceaseless.
"A Single Slash to Slay Gods and Demons!"
Retreating furiously, Xuanyuan Lang swung his sword with all his might, slicing a deep and long ravine through the sea of Vigorous Air, which was extinguished by the Vigorous Air just ten paces from the blind old man.
The blind elder’s movements were unaffected, and soon after, due to a significant depletion of his energy, Xuanyuan Lang was swallowed by the Vigorous Air and let out a dreadful scream.
The flesh on Xuanyuan Lang’s body was sliced away like noodles, yet not a drop of blood flowed. This unnerving scene was deeply imprinted in everyone’s mind.
This was an Erhu that killed, and its master played a song of hastening death.
"Ancestor..."
Xuanyuan Di clenched his fists tightly.
"Thinking of seizing the Fate Stone from us, you’re delusional!"
Although heavily wounded, Xuanyuan Lang took this opportunity to successfully break free from the blind elder’s control. Opening his mouth, he revealed a silent, brutal smile.
For he noticed that the robed elder was retreating step by step, coughing up blood from the beating, unable to hold back four men any longer, and soon there would be reinforcements.
But just then!
Bang!
Someone made a move in the shadows.
Black, mysterious patterns appeared, morphing into the vivid outline of a living black spider. Filaments of spider silk emitted softly. Although Xuanyuan Lang managed to intercept it in time, one strand still pierced through his body, lifting a gray stone and falling into the spider’s hand.
The black spider twisted, transforming into a dark-robed elder with a sinister countenance, one of the five Fake Sky Origin Realm experts from Miaojiang.
"The Fate Stone from the South Sea, tsk tsk, such rich spiritual power, this old man is tempted to keep it for himself."
The dark-robed elder cackled maliciously. However, to everyone’s surprise, after speaking, he casually threw it to Shi Xiaole.
Shi Xiaole caught it, puzzled as he looked at him.
"Heavenly Destiny Divine Fortune Teller, the favor of old times I’ve now returned. Using it on such a trivial matter, I hope you won’t regret it," said the dark-robed elder coolly.
"Thank you."
The robed elder exhaled a long breath, no longer entangling with the four men, and swiftly retreated. Also retreating were Qin Elder and the blind old man. The three came to Shi Xiaole’s side, ready to take him away at any moment.
Qin Elder laughed loudly, "Stop fighting, otherwise we’ll leave right now."
What surprised everyone was that the six legends of the South Sea really did stop, although their faces were very unsightly. Particularly the Ancestor of the Demon Exorcism Sect and Xuanyuan Lang, their expressions were so dark they seemed capable of dripping water.
After the fierce battle, they had no desire to continue concealing their appearances.
Qin Elder said, "Although the Land of Fate is about to merge, if there are not more than thirteen Fake Sky Origin Realm experts joining hands, the Land of Fate will simply escape into the boundless void due to excessive energy, and thereafter, no one will benefit from it. Think thrice before you act."
With five Fake Sky Origin Realm masters from Miaojiang and six from the South Sea, adding up to eleven, it was clear that the number was insufficient. Shi Xiaole finally understood why Qin Elder was so confident.
"You, good, very good!"
Xuanyuan Lang was so furious that veins were throbbing on his forehead, his body trembling violently, his gaze like razor-sharp knives, staring at Qin Elder’s trio as well as the dark-robed elder, as if he wanted to skin and debone the four of them.
