Chapter 1311: Chapter 1309: The Perfect Life and Death Martial Path
"Two types of Supreme Martial Arts? You truly are unprecedented."
The black-haired elder’s features were stern, yet now they failed to hide his astonishment.
In the first exchange, he had seen clearly, Shi Xiaole had used the martial way of life and death to counter the old third’s Five Elements Martial Arts. Unexpectedly, Shi Xiaole also possessed a type of Supreme Martial Arts that absorbed negative energy, further countering his own Martial Way of Extinction.
"If your strength is only at this level, it’s impossible for you to pass the third trial. Brother’s absolute strength is a large cut above mine."
The black-haired elder took a deep look at Shi Xiaole, then closed his eyes, saying no more.
Shi Xiaole’s eyebrows twitched.
The opponent was already strong enough, and in a way, was invincible beneath the true Supreme Lord—yet there existed someone a cut above him? Instantly, Shi Xiaole’s fighting spirit boiled over, and he stepped onto the third platform.
"What an arrogant lad, I really want to see what cards you still have up your sleeve."
Feeling Shi Xiaole’s fighting intention, the black-haired elder reopened his eyes.
Among the previous thirty-two people, only seventeen had made it to the second trial, and of these seventeen, seven had passed. However, only two had managed to defeat him within five hundred thousand moves.
It was those two who had passed the trial.
Although Shi Xiaole had defeated him using only three hundred and ninety thousand moves, the black-haired elder believed it was because Shi Xiaole had taken advantage of martial arts restrictions, and thus didn’t hold him in very high regard.
The third platform.
Compared to the previous two elders, this one seemed the most ordinary. His appearance, stature, and demeanor were no different from an average old man’s.
Only Shi Xiaole, who possessed an exquisitely refined spiritual force, could detect the hints of towering waves within the other’s mundane facade.
Strong!
Unimaginably strong!
At this moment, even Shi Xiaole felt uncertain about his chances of victory.
"Lil’ fella, you’re quite unlucky. Your trial is more difficult than the previous two who passed. Just ten thousand years ago, I had an epiphany and my strength has since taken a step further."
The elder looked at Shi Xiaole with pity, shaking his head and sighing, "I can’t suppress my power just to be fair, but if you can defeat me, I’ll grant you a reward, a reward that will benefit you for a lifetime."
That said, one could hear from the elder’s tone that he harbored no hope for Shi Xiaole to defeat him.
One should know that even the previous two strongest prodigies only just managed to scrape through, and compared to him now, no one could succeed.
"What reward?"
Shi Xiaole asked.
"Defeat me, and you will naturally find out."
The elder made his move.
How exactly he unleashed that palm strike remained unseen; it seemed to appear suddenly, enveloping Shi Xiaole without any sign of the elder lifting his hand.
Even with Shi Xiaole’s spiritual power, he couldn’t perceive the faintest trace.
"Another Martial Way focusing on power!"
Shi Xiaole was struck with realization.
Among all the martial paths in the world, the martial way that focused on strength was decidedly the strongest, without equal. This was because all things, all changes, can’t evade the concept of "strength."
Even time and space are but products of the application of strength. To comprehend strength fully is to reach a state where there’s no difference between man and god.
For all beings beneath the Supreme Lord, this elder was a god—an omnipotent god.
Shi Xiaole’s Flying Skill, sword techniques, and even defensive and counterattacks, any subtle move, seemed unable to escape the elder’s control, who could affect Shi Xiaole’s every action with a casual gesture, like a spider controlling an insect on a web.
Shi Xiaole was that insect.
The disparity between them was not in combat skill, but in the level of their Martial Arts.
Despite the elder’s Martial Way of Strength being at only 110% of the peak, Shi Xiaole felt as if, were it not for the universe’s rules limiting him, his strength would be even greater!
Even Shi Xiaole suspected that if the elder wished, he could become a Supreme Lord immediately, and a formidable one at that.
Fifty thousand moves.
One hundred thousand moves.
Shi Xiaole’s palms cracked open, blood flowing freely, and half of his body burst into a blood mist. The aura of life permeated around him as he immediately recovered to his peak condition.
"Oh, so during your fight with the third elder, you didn’t push your martial way of life and death to its limit. Interesting. If I hadn’t broken through, you’d be the third to pass the trial, but alas, what a pity," the elder noted, with rare appreciation and admiration in his eyes, yet he showed no mercy in his attacks.
Another hundred thousand moves.
Shi Xiaole was reduced to just a head, undergoing a second recovery.
After three hundred thousand moves, the third recovery.
"It’s futile, how many times more can you hold on? You’re bound to fail eventually, why bother exhausting yourself further?"
At the three hundred and eighty thousandth move, the elder’s fingertip pierced Shi Xiaole’s brow.
The martial way of life and death had its limits, and the third recovery, due to the previous two consumptions, only restored eighty percent of Shi Xiaole’s power and injuries.
The fourth time.
The fifth time.
...
Shi Xiaole’s endurance time became shorter and shorter, his injuries increasingly severe. By the sixth time, he had only recovered twenty percent of his power, barely managing to regenerate his exploded limbs and body.
"Dragging it out will be no use, I don’t like people who can’t face reality."
The elder furrowed his brows, visibly impatient, and his power surged to its peak as he launched a punch toward the battered Shi Xiaole. The entire sky and earth seemed to be filled with the shadows of his fist, unstoppable and overwhelmingly powerful.
"He has indeed lost."
The elder with black hair sat on the second platform and closed his eyes.
"Sigh!"
This came from an elder with white hair on the first platform, who shook his head in regret. He could see Shi Xiaole’s reluctance and anger, but in the face of absolute strength, all was in vain.
"I haven’t failed to see reality, the reality is, I will defeat you, and I must defeat you!"
In the place submerged by the fist shadows, an indifferent voice sounded. Following that, the blood droplets suspended in the air suddenly coalesced from a point, reassembling together.
The next moment!
Wearing a green robe and without a single injury, Shi Xiaole stepped out, his body radiating an enigmatic aura of black and white charm.
To his left, there lay a world of dark decay, where vegetation withered, oceans ran dry, stars shattered; nothing could survive, only boundless deathly silence remained.
The scene to his right, however, was the complete opposite, with lush greenery, rolling waves, and stars scattering eternal light across the firmament—a world brimming with unlimited vitality, as if a single breath could imbue boundless energy.
At the whim of Shi Xiaole’s thoughts, the scenes to his left and right vanished instantly like a receding tide.
"What? Your martial arts have broken through!"
The elder’s pupils constricted sharply.
"Thanks to the senior’s help, much appreciated."
The Shi Xiaole from before had already approached the peak of %it with his life-and-death martial arts, but after the recent desperate battle and with his understanding pushed to the limit, he finally succeeded in his breakthrough.
It could be said that now Shi Xiaole had truly met the conditions to become a Supreme Lord, and all he needed to do was to merge his martial arts with the Spiritual Path to step into the Sky Origin Realm, a place that countless martial practitioners could only dream of.
"Hmph, I admit you are highly talented, but to think that just because your martial arts have broken through, you could defeat me, you’re thinking too simplistically."
The elder punched out, causing a vast expanse of the void to shatter.
"How will we know if we don’t try?"
What met the punch was a sword light carrying an aura of utmost death—the ’Six Extinguish Selfless Sword’!
Having reached the pinnacle of life-and-death martial arts, its direct attacking strength even surpassed the Demon Martial Way.
Clang!!
This battle seemed to turn heaven and earth upside down, even the white mist surrounding the platform seemed to recede slightly.
"Energy Vortex!"
This was the elder’s killing move, instantaneously using fists, palms, fingers, and twenty different types of offensive moves to create a gigantic vortex of power that devoured everything around it, including the sword lights that sought to extinguish the six paths.
However, immediately after, two, three, and a total of five sword lights, no less powerful than the previous ones, pierced into the vortex.
Having perfected his life-and-death martial arts, Shi Xiaole could unleash six devastating moves in an instant, and he needed only moments to recover his peak fighting strength, truly indestructible.
Crack, crack, crack.
The vortex stalled for a moment before cracks began spreading from its interior, quickly engulfing the entire vortex, which then exploded with a thunderous boom.
The elder was forced backward; his hands quickly formed seals as invisible energy factors surged into his body, bringing his momentum back to its peak.
A perfected power martial arts also had the capability to restore strength, a marvel similar yet distinctly inferior to the Supreme Realm, which revitalizes the soul’s power.
The two formidable experts charged together once more in another world-shaking, unparalleled battle. Sometimes it was Shi Xiaole severing half of the elder’s body; at other times, the elder was blasting away Shi Xiaole’s head...
The two exchanged blows fiercely, exhausting all their skills in a frenzied fight. When they were nearly drained, they would almost simultaneously recover to entangle again. Continuous explosions echoed throughout the Moral Mount.
"This, this..."
The black-haired elder looked on, stupefied, hardly believing his eyes.
The white-haired elder’s expression was even more complicated.
On one hand, he could not believe that his big brother, who seemed invincible after progressing further, had met his match. On the other, he couldn’t help but be astounded by Shi Xiaole’s unparalleled elegance—truly a singular presence in the universe.
At the same time.
Including the lands beyond and within East Victory World, inhabitants of sixteen worlds heard that thunderous explosion sound, originating from a place far and unreachable.
"What is this...?"
In front of Jade Water Lake at Divine Sword Villa, a young man with peerless beauty and celestial demeanor suddenly ceased his sword practice, looking up at the sky in shock.
Within Jiuyuan Villa, Shui Lingping in her little courtyard abruptly stopped moving the black piece in her hand, her face showing a thick look of surprise.
Within East Victory City, more than thirty Supreme Lords of East Victory looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Could it be the work of the Outer Heaven Demons again? They aren’t preparing to launch a major attack, are they?"
The Mingyi Fire General, the eldest son of Fire Stiff’s ancestor, said with a trembling voice, terror on his face.
"The whole city must go on high alert; all prepare for battle at a moment’s notice!"
With an unsightly expression, the ancestor of Fire Stiff commanded loudly. His power was the greatest among them, and over the years, he had become the foremost figure in East Victory World.
The explosive sounds lasted for a full month and six days, and as countless people across the sixteen worlds were lost in anxious speculations, the time came for the decisive moment in the earth-shattering battle atop Moral Mount.
