Chapter 372: Chapter 371: Battle against Demon Marquis (4th update, solicit for monthly tickets, solicit for monthly tickets!!)
"This boy, he’s far surpassing what I’d expected?"
Even with Yi Wentian’s wide knowledge, he found himself a little stunned at this moment. But, having traveled through the Eight Provinces and experiencing the broader Martial World, he didn’t lose his composure completely.
"We all underestimated him. It seems that the Demon Marquis might not be able to easily defeat him."
Xiao Qian and Chen Da exchange an amused glance.
Being part of the Devil Path, they are certainly not bound by the dogmatic rules of the Righteous Path, but it doesn’t mean they are evil or bad people. At least emotionally, they would prefer rescuing their compounds, Lan and Huang.
If Shi Xiaole can face the Demon Marquis in a battle, they would be more than pleased to see it happen.
"Truly worthy of being the Holy Young Master."
For the first time, the Demon Marquis looked at Shi Xiaole seriously, deeply gazing at him. The young man who threatened him by status was now unexpectedly catching up to him in power.
What was the secret left by the Black Devil Divine Monarch that could cause such a drastic transformation in a person?
Pushing down his doubts, the Demon Marquis closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his eyes were void of any flutter, he said: "Six hundred years ago, the Divine Monarch led the Devil Path to glory. This year, six hundred years later, I want to fight with the descendant of the Divine Monarch. Regardless of victory, defeat, life or death, I will have no regrets!"
His resonating voice echoed hundreds of miles around Mount Cang, as if piercing through the cloud layer, carrying his determination and lofty ambition with it.
As the Demon Marquis rose to his feet, his modest stature seemed like a towering mountain in front of everyone, causing everyone to slightly tilt their heads upward, as if looking up to him.
"Demon Marquis, you are quite an interesting person. I am excited about battling you."
Shi Xiaole declared, taking a step forward.
Boom!!!
The area within a radius of several yards around them was enveloped by the violent surge of an overwhelming aura. Each inch of space seemed to be packed with a small explosive which could detonate at any moment, causing a catastrophic upheaval.
Ordinary high-level masters of the Spiritual-Passage Realm wouldn’t dare to approach. Even the peak-level experts of the Spiritual-Passage Realm felt uneasy under this aura and had difficulty breathing.
This was far from the end.
The Devil Marquis, with calm eyes, steadily built up his aura, as if it had no boundaries. Layers of black demonic energy activated around him, rolling out in all directions, even obstructing the sunlight. The world was plunged into darkness in an instant.
What the Devil Marquis learned was the enlightenment in the high-level Demonic Cloud Realm.
This realm not only amplified his devil path martial arts, but it also simulated the swirling state of cloud layers. Many people felt their minds were suddenly clouded, as if they couldn’t remember or do anything. They only wished to fall into deep sleep.
"The Demonic Cloud Realm of the Lord Marquis can devour the power of the human body. Over time, it may even damage the vitality of a person’s body. Everyone retreat, quick retreat!"
The members of the Demon Sky Sect, carrying Red Charm Demon and the Qi brothers, hastily retreated backward.
Everyone had heard about the Demon Marquis’s Demonic Cloud Realm. As soon as the black demonic cloud appeared, they desperately retreated hundreds of meters, causing the platform to clear out. Instead, it was the mountain path up and down which was filled with people.
Everyone watched with combined fear and surprise at the demon cloud rolling in, unable to muster up the slightest bit of courage for challenge.
Only the experts from the Lan Huang Compounds who stood behind Shi Xiaole didn’t retreat a single step. They only looked determinedly at the towering figure in front of them, as if he was their faith.
With his black hair fluttering lightly, as the oppressive demonic cloud approached, a strong Sword Intention suddenly emanated from Shi Xiaole. Ringing! In the empty air, it was as if countless swords were unsheathed at once, their resonating sound echoed, shaking the mind and stirring the nine heavens.
The Demonic Cloud Realm of the Demon Marquis was black, carrying the ploy to cover everything.
But Shi Xiaole’s Sword Intention was a thick red hue, ferociously violent. Wherever it went, it carried the terrifying intent to destroy everything, crushing all beings in the world!
The understanding about the ferocious Sword Intention that he got in the Flame Cloud Mountain Range was not as complete and consistent as now.
Plus, only a few people from the Lingjian Sect had really seen him unleashing the ferocious Sword Intention, so Shi Xiaole wasn’t worried about being associated.
Hiss Hiss Hiss...
As soon as the black demonic energy and red Sword Intention collided, they immediately burst into continuous sound like electromagnetic waves, like two tides clashing and producing infinite waves.
At the transition zone of the black and red colors, the air was shredded, the winds stopped. The ground directly below formed a small circle, which kept eroding and sinking, as if an invisible hand was suppressing it.
Thump!
In the clash of auras, the red Sword Intention roared, taking the upper hand, and started counteracting the black demonic cloud. Eventually, the demonic cloud kept retreating until it maintained at about the size of six feet to protect the Demon Marquis at the center.
"What?"
The experts of the Demon Sky Sect were dumbfounded.
"Is the Holy Young Master’s Sword Intention stronger?"
Everyone was also stunned.
There were some people who were keen enough to perceive the willpower within the red Sword Intention. They muttered, "True Intent, the Holy Young Master has actually mastered the True Intent, isn’t it strange, isn’t it strange..."
Everyone was dumbfounded, feeling suffocated by the increasingly strong will in the red Sword Intention. Many people simply closed their eyes, but they found they were more frightened and the cruel intention invaded their minds even more, making them feel on the brink of mental collapse.
"This must be some profound True Intent, it’s too terrifying!"
"The descendant of the Divine Monarch is truly the descendant of the Divine Monarch. How ridiculous we were to have discussed the Holy Young Master using our short-sighted views!"
Gazing at the figure within the red Sword Intention who stood as if he ruled everything, people seemed to have traveled back in time, seeing another deity-like silhouette from six hundred years ago, who wreaked havoc in the Martial World, caused blood to rain and spread fear among the followers of the Righteous Path.
Time made people forget too much. People only remembered the glorious Divine Monarch but had blurred pictures of his unmatched power and dignity.
"Holy Young Master!"
Lan and Huang families shouted together, the sounds were genuine, emanating from their souls.
At this moment, Shi Xiaole had truly won their hearts. With such a promising young genius leading them, they could indeed recreate the glory of six hundred years ago.
"I’ve underestimated you."
Demon Marquis could no longer maintain his composure. His face showed an unmistakable astonishment and surprise, and immediately, his eyes radiated a fighting spirit that seemed to penetrate the heavens and the earth.
As one with the aspiration to become the ruler of the Devil Path, he had the courage to face any challenge. If he couldn’t even defeat a young man under thirty, what qualifications did he have to realize his dreams?
He was the undefeated Demon Marquis; no one could stop his advance.
"Kill!"
With a thunderous voice echoing through the air, the Demon Marquis launched his fist forward, carrying all his fighting spirit, all his ambition. The fist’s brilliance compressed the distance of time and space, crossing the black and red realms in an instant to reach Shi Xiaole.
With his body soaring, Shi Xiaole aimed a kick at the charging Demon Marquis, leaving a trail of figures in the red glow.
After swallowing the healing pill, the gradually recovering Red Charm Demon and the Qi brothers watched this scene with absolute despair and bitterness in their hearts.
The speed of Shi Xiaole’s kick was clearly faster than before. The opponent had not only refrained from using his sword but also did not exert his full power in his leg technique.
Bang!
His foot was blocked by a fist, as Shi Xiaole and Demon Marquis’ eyes met. In absolute silence, Shi Xiaole moved to the left rear of the Demon Marquis. Almost at the same time, his foot had just kicked out, from the right, from above, even from front and rear, countless, seemingly endless leg shadows appeared.
Each leg shadow was filled with brute and fierce power, that could easily break steel plates and rocks.
This was the ultimate manifestation of Wind God Leg. Under the subtle stimulation of Faceless Divine Skill’s Internal Power, it could easily cause damage to the limit experts of the Spiritual-Passage Realm.
Bang bang bang ...
However, the Demon Marquis was not an ordinary Spiritual-Passage Realm limit expert, ever since he had comprehended Heartless Demon Desire, he could enter the state of ’Heartless Selflessness, one heart with the heaven and earth’ at any time and place, attacking and defending without even having to think about it.
Because he believed that all around him was an extension of his body, even the slightest breeze or rustling of grass could be sensed by him in advance, allowing him to react correctly.
"Your leg technique is useless against me, Demon Desire Fist!"
After taking hundreds of attacks in just the blink of an eye, the Demon Marquis punched out with his left fist. The black glow was incredibly intense, just like ink entering black water, it was even more black within the blackness.
It was as if time had come to a standstill because the speed of Demon Marquis’ punch was as fast as the Wind God Leg, which deceived the vision of everyone present, giving them the illusion of slowed time.
The fist and leg collided, and Shi Xiaole was flung away, landing lightly. The momentum of the Demon Marquis also came to a halt.
"In terms of internal power, the Demon Marquis is obviously more majestic, but the Holy Young Master has the enhancement of Real Gold, so the two are evenly matched."
Everyone watched the scene nervously, not daring to blink, afraid of missing the most exciting moment.
The entire platform had turned into a blend of black and red during their contest, like a domain in the Devil, forming its own realm, impervious to sunlight.
Their speed superseded limits, often they would have moved to another location before the image at the original place had faded. Their figures increased from ten to twenty, from twenty to fifty, then to a hundred, two hundred...
The entire black and red realm was filled with their images, some with fists and feet colliding, others flying backward, attacking left and right, some were even competing with killing moves... In the conventional sense, a single resistance movement was enough for them to battle more than ten moves.
"My God! Even with my strength, I wouldn’t last few moves against them."
"Their strength is probably beyond the realm of the Spiritual-Passage limit masters, extremely close to the undefeatable masters within the Spiritual-Passage Realm!"
The crowd was terrified, their bodies becoming cold.
Limit masters represented the standard of Martial World, while undefeatable masters were undefined, a term they subconsciously blurted out.
It was hard to imagine that the strength gap between people at the same realm could be so exaggerated.
This wasn’t a contest at the Spiritual-Passage level. Compared to the two people in the field, their previous duels seemed laughable, like children playing house, not worth mentioning.
Another clash occurred, creating surging waves of energy.
"It’s been a long time since I had such a thrilling fight. I should thank you. However, you should be careful from now on. I will fight with all my might."
As he spoke, the Demon Marquis took a pair of black gloves from his person and put them on religiously. As the gloves melded with his hand, a surge of black energy spontaneously generated, like thousands of tiny snakes coiling around his fingers. It was eerily strange.
"Demon Desire Gloves?!"
Lan Tian’s eyes widened, and he shouted in surprise. Looking at Shi Xiaole, his face was filled with deep concern.
The Demon Desire Gloves, handed down by the Black Devil Divine Monarch’s Senior Brother, Demon Desire Child, was a medium-grade Spiritual Weapon, naturally compatible with practitioners of the Demon Desire Divine Skill, capable of significantly increasing power.
But wasn’t this weapon broken already?
The battle six hundred years ago was too brutal; the spiritual weapons of great warriors, including Wind and Rain Twin Devils, were all scrapped. Otherwise, with the resources of the Lan and Huang families, wouldn’t they have inherited it?
"I spent decades gathering various materials to finally repair this weapon recently."
Demon Marquis gently smiled.
The method of forging Spiritual Weapons had long been lost, and his talk of repairing was merely using top-grade materials to fill the gaps in the gloves. Of course, it couldn’t compare with the real Demon Desire Gloves.
However, its power was still equivalent to the most superior low-grade Spiritual Weapon, which could boost his combat effectiveness by nearly forty percent.
