Chapter 313: Chapter 312: Siege of the Devil Path Master (Seeking Subscriptions)
Black Devil Ridge, besieged by devilish Qi, ordinary people here would merely stumble about, aimlessly like blind men crossing a river.
Yet the eyes of a martial artist are keen. Even with low visibility, they could still roughly make out objects within five meters.
After wandering for over two hours, Shi Xiaole had yet to meet anyone.
Yet, it was to be expected. Those who had not reached the ninth layer of the Spiritual-Passage realm would be courting death by approaching Black Devil Ridge. Nonetheless, such high-level experts were few, even in the Great Cold State. Spread over the vast Black Devil Ridge, chances of meeting anyone were slim indeed.
In the midst of this, Shi Xiaole suddenly discovered something strange.
The possessions stored within the system too started to emit a rather pure Qi that was similar to, albeit not as intense as, the devilish Qi exuded by the Black Devil Ridge.
This was clearly devilish Qi too!
"Could it be that these things I retrieved from the Heavenly Treasure Ruins..."
Shi Xiaole stopped in his tracks, eagerly seized the unimportant items from the system, and casually threw them away on the spot.
Despite the absence of the devilish Qi’s effects on him, he was unwilling to be constantly smeared by it. However, he suspected that the experts from Qingxue State who had gotten their hands on treasure may have experienced bad luck because of the Qi for so many years.
Just as he was considering this, ripples of noise arose from eight meters away
Shi Xiaole quickly dodged, the violent force had even caused the devilish Qi to shiver.
"So you’re the senior disciple of the Jade Moon Palace, huh? He-he! Meeting me, Magic Fan Young Master, means that you’ll just have to be obediently captivated."
The Magic Fan Young Master was a pale young man, two times bigger than the average one, with the edges riddled with gold wire. As he danced, the fan flashed with brilliance, cutting the body like a sharp blade.
"Azure Skies as Waves!"
The adversary of Magic Fan Young Master was a lady dressed in green. She was delicate, her graceful sword emitted a wave of green fury, pressing towards the Magic Fan Young Master.
Shi Xiaole noted that the Magic Fan Young Master was at the second layer of the Spiritual-Passage realm, and the lady in green was at the third layer. Under the oppression of the devilish Qi, the strength of both fighters was roughly equivalent to himself at the third layer of Xuan Qi.
"Fan Shadow Moves".
Chuckling, the Magic Fan Young Master rapidly rotated his huge fan. His gliding body was also making rapid rotations causing a sudden rush of his several images to the surroundings, making his real position unclear.
"70% of the Shadow State of Understanding"
Shi Xiaole was somewhat shocked.
Explicitly, the Magic Fan Young Master had comprehended, an exceedingly rare understanding of the Shadow State. Such comprehension provided no trump to the attacking strength, but its unpredictability sometimes proved itself more fearsome than a simple boost to attack power.
As expected, the lady in green could do nothing but employ a broad-scale killing technique, yet, the moment her sword technique passed, she realized, everything was a trick by Magic Fan Young Master. His real self had reached within three feet of her, grinning and arrogantly pointing his finger towards her chest.
Surprised, and deeply humiliated, the lady in green could do nothing.
She was astonished at the prowess of his martial arts, amongst her peers, few could challenge him. The humiliation was stirred from the fact that his finger was clearly headed towards her chest, it was derogatory.
The Grand Elder was battling with the leader of the enemy far off, was she going to fall into enemy hands right then?
The thought lasted but a moment when all of a sudden, the lady in green found that the forward-moving finger of Magic Fan Young Master had stagnated. In contrast, her arm was being held by a warm hand.
She turned her head to see a handsome young man.
"Sir, you’ve also come to join the fun?"
Magic Fan Young Master squinted his eyes.
His senses were restricted to within five meters, hence, he wasn’t able to counter Shi Xiaole’s sudden emergence and his successful rescue of the lady in green.
But he didn’t care, he, Magic Fan Young Master, had nothing to fear from these Righteous Path followers. He would massacre as many of them as he wished.
"Young master, let’s go."
Fully aware that they stood no chance, the lady in green whispered urgently, then took Shi Xiaole’s arm and attempted to flee.
"Ha-ha-ha! Do you think you can escape?"
With an arrogant laugh, Magic Fan Young Master made a straight swing with his fan transforming it into the Heaven and Earth Net Force, causing the lady in green to turn pale. Only then did she realize, the opponent had been showing mercy earlier and was yet to use his full force.
Shaking his head, Shi Xiaole removed his sword from the sheath, pointed it towards the sky, and slashed. In a flash, dense shadows of the fan were split into two halves. A thread like filament produced by the sword began to descend vertically as if attempting to split the devilish Qi itself.
"No!"
Frantically, Magic Fan Young Master attempted to take flight but was outrun by the speed of Sword Qi.
Thud! Magic Fan Young Master fell to the ground, eyes wide open, dead, with a trail of blood extending from the crown of his head to his chin in absolute symmetry.
"You..."
Ge Ruyuan looking at Shi Xiaole with a shocked expression on her face.
The power of that slash was approximate to the eight layers of Xuan Qi, not a big deal in the outside world, but powerful indeed for Black Devil Ridge. She wondered how strong his actual potential should be.
At age under thirty, who would dare to challenge him in the Great Cold State?
"Brother, it appears you are a stranger here. Have you also come in to eliminate the devils and protect the path?"
Unable to resist, Ge Ruyuan asked him.
Shi Xiaole nodded and said, "Miss, could you let go of my hand first?"
It was only then that Ge Ruyuan noticed that she was still clutching Shi Xiaole’s arm passionately. Her face turned red, and she hurriedly let go.
The surroundings were deadly quiet, the Grand Elder and the high-ranked practitioner of Devil Path, who knew where they had gone, probably would be hard to find her again. The senses of the high-level practitioners at the pinnacle of the Spiritual-Passage realm could not exceed ten meters within Black Devil Ridge.
With this in mind, Ge Ruyuan anxiously said, "Brother, let’s leave here first."
Without the protection of the high-ranked practitioners of their sects, we only have a dead-end. Although Shi Xiaole was very strong, she wished he wouldn’t remain there believing he had more power than those highly ranked practitioners who had made their name many years ago.
She suspected Shi Xiaole was just separated from his elders.
"I’m sorry, I can’t leave yet."
To Ge Ruyuan’s surprise, Shi Xiaole flatly refused.
"Brother, it’s too dangerous here. If we encounter a high-ranked practitioner from the Devil Path, we’ll undoubtedly die!"
With intense urgency, she didn’t want to die in vain. She patiently persuaded him, "Brother, recently many of high rank practitioners from Devil Path have come out. And their resistance to the Devilish Qi is generally stronger than ours from the Righteous Path. Please don’t be overconfident."
Given the circumstances, it was near impossible for Ge Ruyuan to leave on her own. Her only hope was to convince Shi Xiaole to help her.
But how could Shi Xiaole possibly leave? He suggested, "Young miss, why don’t you follow me for now? Once we come across a master of the Righteous Path, we’ll leave with them."
The fear, however, was not about encountering masters of the Righteous Path before they clicked with the villains of the Devil Path! Frustrated, Ge Ruyuan stomped her foot silently and had no choice but to follow behind Shi Xiaole resignedly.
Along the way, Ge Ruyuan curiously asked Shi Xiaole about his name.
"I am... Xie Xiaofeng."
After some thought, Shi Xiaole replied with a smile.
"From where does Brother Xie hail?"
"Emerald Cloud Mountain, Green Water Lake, Divine Sword Villa."
Upon hearing this, the corner of Ge Ruyuan’s mouth twitched.
What a boastful claim!
Even the number one swordsmanship faction within the Flying Horse Dynasty dared not call themselves ’Divine Sword.’ She began to suspect that he was bluffing.
Walking nervously for almost half a 2-hour period, someone approached them from about five meters away.
"Elder Liu."
Her eyes brightened, and she was overwhelmed with joy.
It was Liu Zhen’e, the Sixth Elder from the Flying Fist Sect. Remaining in the thirty-sixth place in the ranking list, his presence offered some relief.
"Miss Ge."
Liu Zhen’e acknowledged her with a nod, and upon noticing that only Ge Ruyuan was present, he quickly inquired about the whereabouts of the Grand Elder from Jade Moon Palace. After getting the answer, his gaze shifted towards Shi Xiaole saying, "In that case, let me help you two get out of here."
His subconscious made him believe that the two of them had ended up here helplessly.
"Leave? I’m afraid none of you will be able to do that."
Someone sneered and suddenly appeared, startling both Liu Zhen’e and Ge Ruyuan.
Two menacing-looking men coming forward, one tall dressed in black, the other short in white. Their gaze on the trio was filled with aggression.
"The Twin Satans, Heisha and Baisha?!"
Upon seeing them, Elder Liu’s eyes grew wide with concern.
This pair were significant figures from the Devil Path in the Great Cold State. While individually their strength might not be extraordinary, their combined forces were nothing short of the top twenty in the ranking list.
"Hehe, abandon all hope, Liu, we’ve been tailing you all along. So it’s you who’s endangered these young ones."
The stout Baisha jokingly added with a grin.
These words turned Liu Zhen’e’s expression sour, wasn’t this essentially stating that they could attack him anytime they wished?
"Don’t you dare meddle with the Righteous Path, you’re delusional."
At that moment, a voice like a booming bell added. This new figure was a monk over nine feet tall, gripping a massive stick in his hand.
"Descending Dragon Lord, it’s you!"
Elder Liu visibly relaxed.
In his early years, the Descending Dragon Lord was a monk, considering himself as one ever since. However, he was neither tender-hearted nor compassionate. Whenever he encountered anybody from the Devil Path, his methods were harsher than anyone else’s.
Most importantly, the Descending Dragon Lord held the nineteenth position in the ranking list
"Don’t think you’re the only ones with techniques. The Lord can discern vitality within a twenty-meter radius, locating positions based on the strength and weakness of the life force."
The Lord was accompanied by an outstanding male and female disciple from the Gu Family and Wind Firming Sect. Being prominent figures among the younger generation in Great Cold State, both of them nodded slightly at Ge Ruyuan as a gesture of acknowledgment.
Now she felt as if she had found an anchor, no longer feeling worried.
"Hehe, do you think you’ve already won?"
Far from being scared, Baisha seemed to be enjoying himself even more. His round belly bulged and contracted at an alarming rate, spreading an invisible aura around him.
In an instant, a shadow swept across the scene.
"More people to kill."
It was a cloaked man with a hooked nose, his eyebrows shaped like two inverted "eight" characters, conveying a murderous vibe.
Shi Xiaole noticed that even the formerly confident Descending Dragon Lord’s expression drastically changed upon the arrival of the cloaked man, with some traces of apprehension.
As for the younger ones like Liu Zhen’e and Ge Ruyuan, they turned pale from fear.
"Hehe, fortunate for you, old Baisha has a special way to communicate with the Slaughter Sky Demonic Human. If you hadn’t been nearby, we would have had to take flight."
The ever-silent Heisha finally smiled, revealing sharp, white teeth.
This Slaughter Sky Demonic Human was a pillar of Devil Path’s community in Great Cold State. His power was magnificent and awe-inspiring. A few days back, he had killed the Youzhou Guest, who held the sixth position in the ranking list.
"Five people...I’ll only kill the biggest fish. The four leftovers are all yours. Any objections?"
The eyes of the Slaughter Sky Demonic Human were like hidden arrows. His gaze swept across the group, causing a tingling sensation in everyone’s skin before finally resting on the Descending Dragon Lord.
"Hehe, don’t worry, we two brothers may not be as good as you, but dealing with these small fries is a piece of cake."
Baisha reassured them with a friendly smile, but his words provoked both fear and wrath within Liu Zhen’e and the others.
Whoosh.
The Slaughter Sky Demonic Human made his move, he shot forward like a bolt of black lightning, straight towards the Descending Dragon Lord, claws extended toward his crown.
"He’s too fast!"
The group was in shock, followed by a wave of terror. Even under the limitations of the Devil Path, he could still display such terrifying power!
Only Shi Xiaole’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
As he noticed, the prowess showcased by the Slaughter Sky Demonic Human was only at the peak of the first level of Spiritual-Passage Realm.
