Chapter 1232: Chapter 1230: Impassable Gorge
Taking a deep breath, Liu Ruofei’s expression became somber as he dashed to the inner ring of the Fate Platform.
Having mastered "Breaking Extreme Killing Sword", Liu Ruofei was now rightfully the second-ranked swordsman of the South Sea, second only to Thousand Swords Emperor.
After five years of training and fully assimilating the essence of Supreme Sword Way of Heavenly Sword Peak, Liu Ruofei’s strength and swordsmanship climbed to a new pinnacle.
Just a few months ago, he had successfully defeated Anatman Mountain Man to secure a spot on the combat roster.
Facing Shi Xiaole again, Liu Ruofei was filled with complex emotions.
On one hand, he was eager to prove himself and validate his increasingly exquisite swordsmanship. On the other, he felt utterly powerless against the present Shi Xiaole.
This was a troubling feeling. Knowing that hesitation before a battle could lead to a loss of momentum, one could at most exert eighty or ninety percent of their true power.
Yet, Shi Xiaole’s casual stance was like that of a divine sword with its edge retracted, flawlessly transitioning without giving away any openings to strike.
In just five years, the speed of his opponent’s improvement had far outpaced his own!
A sense of powerless despair spread within Liu Ruofei. He forcefully suppressed his scattered thoughts and spoke word by word, "Brother Shi, let’s decide the outcome with ordinary sword techniques, shall we?"
"What a fool! What is he doing?"
Upon hearing this, Xuanyuan Lang was furiously upset.
Only killing moves could deplete a martial artist’s strength to the greatest degree. If they used ordinary sword techniques, given Shi Xiaole’s recovery speed, the battle might be over without causing any substantial exhaustion.
Some other South Sea masters also frowned, dissatisfied with Liu Ruofei’s capriciousness.
"If that’s what you wish, I’m willing to oblige,"
Shi Xiaole nodded.
Clang!
Liu Ruofei drew his sword and thrust it out directly. His speed ignored the constraints of time and space, but Shi Xiaole was even faster—the thrust of the opposing long sword was blocked by the Cleansing Evil Sword halfway through, and with a strategic shake.
A clang rang out!
Liu Ruofei, along with his sword, shifted uncontrollably sideways, and it was only then that some could vaguely perceive the intersecting flashes of cold light in the void.
Like a shadow, the Cleansing Evil Sword in Shi Xiaole’s hand shot out like laser beams, making the concept of sequence meaningless. Thousands of stabs seemed to occur all at once, leaving no room to evade.
Liu Ruofei, who had always been known for his speed, was completely outclassed by this unpredictable assault, not finding any chance to execute his best moves or activate his Flying Skill.
The audience from the South Sea was astoundingly surprised.
Five years ago, the two were evenly matched in a swordfight for a while, but today, after five years, they weren’t even on the same level.
With a loud shout, Liu Ruofei’s right arm burst into a mist of blood, all the shadowy swords merged into one, resembling a comet in the sky, appearing and disappearing in a flash.
Three Strikes as One!
Five years ago, Shi Xiaole and Qi Muchu had used a supreme technique of merging three strikes into one. Today, five years later, Liu Ruofei had also reached the threshold of that door.
No, some discerning eyes noticed the truth—this was not Three Strikes as One, but a kind of short-range sword technique driven by a special force. It had a very short charging time, but the power was no less than Three Strikes as One, and perhaps even surpassed it.
In such a fierce and swift confrontation, this technique was more terrifying than a killing move! And Liu Ruofei, who had developed such a sword technique—who could deny that he was a rare sword genius of the millennia?
The sword light approached, and Shi Xiaole did not dodge or avoid, twisting his wrist, the laser-like shadows of his sword also merged into one entity, thrusting straight forward.
Ding!
In the darkness, two cold lights collided.
The next moment!
A streak of fresh blood splattered forth.
Liu Ruofei’s sword technique was superior to the Three Strikes as One from five years ago.
However, the present Shi Xiaole was not the Shi Xiaole from five years ago. The technique of Three Strikes as One had already been elevated to an even more extreme level by him, with no power leaking out.
Liu Ruofei lost.
Although somewhat expected, it was still a hard pill for the South Sea audience to swallow. The second match between two great sword geniuses ended with such a clear outcome.
"The progress isn’t too shabby,"
Black Abyss Elder hummed.
If he was fully confident in defeating Shi Xiaole in the past, now he only had seventy percent confidence, and he didn’t know how much effort Shi Xiaole had expended.
"Good, your existence will be the driving force for my continuous improvement."
Returning to the outer ring, Liu Ruofei quickly straightened out his mentality. He had never imagined he could defeat Shi Xiaole; the further widening gap between them instead spurred him on, making him more desperate to improve himself.
Xuanyuan Di and Qi Muchu both harbored a fierce desire to enter the fray. However, the next contender was not them, but Startling Thunder Emperor.
Facing this opponent, Shi Xiaole had no patience left. He drew his sword from the scabbard and delivered a "Sky-shocking Sword" towards the front.
Startling Thunder Emperor lost.
Heavenly Martial Emperor stepped onto the stage.
And was defeated with a single stroke.
In the blink of an eye, Shi Xiaole defeated four experts from the South Sea with such speed and decisiveness that left everyone speechless. But thinking about it, given his capability and style, it seemed a quite natural result.
And even after executing two killing moves in a row, it was impossible for Shi Xiaole to have no depletion of his energy.
The ninth South Sea expert to enter was Qi Muchu.
"Heavenly Fire Melting World!"
Without any needless words, Qi Muchu lunged with his spear, achieving extreme speed and concentration. A ball of flame took birth at the tip of the spear, akin to the apocalyptic fire from an exploding star.
"Sky-shocking Sword!"
Hissss!
The spear’s light was cleaved in two, Qi Muchu withdrew then suddenly lunged forward again, carrying the unyielding momentum of the spear attack, and thrust out a second time.
This ordinary thrust seemed to gather countless intersecting spear shadows, attacking from all directions before finally converging at one point.
That point was Shi Xiaole’s vulnerability. Everyone has vulnerabilities; Liu Ruofei couldn’t see it, simply because his strength wasn’t enough.
With overlapping sword shadows, Shi Xiaole met the attack with his sword.
Three swords as one!
Boom!
The tip of the spear and the tip of the sword met with precision, followed by the sudden birth of countless sharp red fire lines, enveloping Shi Xiaole tightly as if they had been lurking there all along, piercing back and forth.
These weren’t flames, but rather formations of strength compressed to the extreme, each capable of penetrating the void and easily killing top Heaven Realm Martial Emperors.
It was Qi Muchu’s brand new killing move, Double Hellfire Kill!
The expressions of the experts from all sides changed simultaneously.
Even Scorpion Lady and Black Abyss Elder couldn’t help but narrow their eyes. Qi Muchu, having used this move, was not to be underestimated by them any longer.
"Wind Sword Realm!"
At the critical moment, a surge of sword force enveloped Shi Xiaole’s body, deflecting the relentless fire line attacks. It was also at this moment that people were shocked to find that Shi Xiaole’s exposure in "Divine Sword Control" realm had actually reached sixty percent completion, which is to say, great achievement!
Although most of the fire lines were deflected, some still charged towards Shi Xiaole. As he swept his long sword, these fire lines were all shattered by his Sword Qi.
Qi Muchu sighed and hastily retreated.
He knew he couldn’t win against Shi Xiaole. If that was the case, he could only resort to guerrilla tactics, trying his best to exhaust the opponent’s Vigorous Air, creating the most favorable conditions for Xuanyuan Di.
This battle was not child’s play. The so-called fairness had to be put aside, victory was the primary condition!
The South Sea experts silently praised Qi Muchu’s rationale. Although Qi Muchu’s power might not match Shi Xiaole’s, as long as he intended to dodge, Shi Xiaole couldn’t do anything about him.
But before they could breathe a sigh of relief, an omnipresent aura burst forth from Shi Xiaole’s body, covering the sky and spreading throughout the entire Fate platform.
A single look from Shi Xiaole, a single motion, even a single thread of thought, all transformed into Qi, an indestructible Qi, furiously attacking Qi Muchu.
"You think you can lock onto my position with this method and stop me?"
Qi Muchu sneered as he swung his spear and darted from side to side. Amidst the clanging sounds, the entire platform was filled with sparks flying, impossible to tell who was who.
But who knew, within the range of the ’Qi’ field, Qi became Shi Xiaole’s spiritual tentacles. No matter how fast Qi Muchu moved, how could his movements deceive Shi Xiaole’s spiritual power?
From this perspective, the ultimate realm of ’Body-Breaking Invisible Sword Qi’ had touched the intersection of spiritual power and martial arts, although it was still just skimming the surface.
Whoosh!
Shi Xiaole charged at Qi Muchu.
"Double Hellfire Kill!"
Qi Muchu thrusted with his spear, deciding to expend the opponent’s strength with his killing move since he couldn’t hide his tracks.
Facing the deadly thrust, Shi Xiaole no longer hid his capabilities.
Five hundred and fifty strands of Heart Sword strength suddenly rose to five hundred and seventy, combined with the greatly achieved "Divine Sword Control," which instantly pushed Shi Xiaole’s sword momentum beyond its limits.
The entire platform was filled with dense azure sword trails. As Shi Xiaole forcefully made a cut, the trails merged as one, forming a world-opening ultimate sword strike.
Qi Muchu was defeated!
"What?"
The South Sea experts were greatly shocked, unable to believe the power of Shi Xiaole’s frontal attack was this formidable. Especially Thousand Swords Emperor and Liu Ruofei, who were even more startled.
The gap in strength did not surprise them to this extent, but the difference in sword realms forced them to internally and externally admire the unsurpassed talent from East Victory.
"Damn it, this kid is tough to deal with."
The expression on Black Abyss Elder’s face was unprecedentedly serious. His certainty of defeating Shi Xiaole now stood only at fifty percent, meaning uncertainty. That one sword strike had earned Shi Xiaole the right to challenge him.
Scorpion Lady’s face was also ashen.
The faster Shi Xiaole progressed, the more frightened she became because if she were in his place, once her power was fully realized, she wouldn’t let those who had attempted to assassinate her go either.
"What a Kirin Sword Emperor, perhaps one day, even the words ’Kirin’ could be omitted."
Holy Heaven Scholar couldn’t help but exclaim.
No matter how legendary the Martial World painted Shi Xiaole, nothing compared to the shock of witnessing him in person. Could he be a child of the heavens, given at the age of over sixty he almost rivaled Che Renzhong?
Beyond exclamation, the experts from East Victory stirred with excitement.
They had thought they would lose to the South Sea before, but Shi Xiaole’s strong performance had given them hope for victory, as long as they could win against the last opponent.
"I refuse to believe this kid has much strength left. Even if he possesses the martial arts of life and death, he couldn’t possibly recover that quickly. Besides, Di has improved as well, he’s not the same as before."
Xuanyuan Lang ground his teeth, his entire face twitching non-stop.
"Fight!"
Xuanyuan Di entered the fray, unleashing his full power from the get-go. Rich aura of Samsara filled the entire platform, with layers of illusions appearing and disappearing.
Shi Xiaole’s strength unexpectedly ignited Xuanyuan Di’s fighting spirit like never before, prompting this martial-obsessed peerless genius to break through himself, reaching the peak of his life’s strength.
He fought with all his might!
But his opponent was too strong. Shi Xiaole’s spiritual power surpassed him, his agility surpassed him, and his technique surpassed him—not to mention his frontal attack strength was a notch above. The ruthless sword light slashed past, not just deciding the win or loss but also leaving a chasm that seemed impossible to cross.
In this battle, Xuanyuan Di was undoubtedly defeated.
