Chapter 400: Chapter 399: A Challenge Letter
A loud ringing echoed in Lord Evil’s ears, not because of Shi Xiaole’s loud voice, but the unexpected response. He had speculated numerous scenarios, even considered the possibility that the Divine Monarch might dismiss him with disdain.
But he never expected that the other party wanted to kill him.
Lord Evil instinctively backed off, his mouth opened to scream. The power he unleashed in that instant surprisingly reached the peak of the Spiritual-Passage Realm’s ninth-layer.
A distorted evil light flickered around him persistently. Shi Xiaole easily perceived that his opponent’s strength was possibly close to the limit of the Spiritual-Passage Realm.
Unfortunately, what use was that?
With Shi Xiaole’s current skills, he could easily kill several top-tier fighters of the Spiritual-Passage Realm. Even calling him the unbeaten champion of the Spiritual-Passage Realm among the eight states wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Shi Xiaole swung his long sleeve.
Thunk!
Lord Evil was instantly transformed into a fan-shaped blood mist, propelled by force out of the palace, disappearing without a trace as the wind blew.
"Divine Monarch, what happened?"
The leaders of the Lan and Huang families’ bodyguards led a large number of elites rushing over, kneeling on the ground.
"A renegade from the Righteous Path tried to assassinate me but was dealt with. And also, secretly dispatch people to the Sky Evil Sect in Qingxue State and annihilate them. Bring a man named Jindao Sou back."
Shi Xiaole ordered.
"We will obey the Divine Monarch’s command!"
The two bodyguard chiefs lowered their heads and moved away. As they turned around, their bodies were brimming with killing intent.
Who dares to ambush the Divine Monarch? They’re really tired of living!
Shi Xiaole then summoned Lan Tian, the left prime minister, to take charge and kill the several Righteous Path masters recorded by Lord Evil. Lan Tian assumed that the Divine Monarch was taking action against the Righteous Path and accepted the order.
This was the advantage of having a large force. Now, all Shi Xiaole needed to do was give an order, and his subordinates would handle everything for him.
"Thankfully it isn’t on a grand scale."
Looking at the booklet, Shi Xiaole was still somewhat shocked.
Lord Evil’s scheme was nothing short of sinister. If someone else were ruling the Devil Path committing the whole power of the eight states to this plan and a battle between the Righteous Path and the Devil Path erupted one day, the Righteous Path would be caught between two fires, and they wouldn’t even know how they died.
Fortunately, Jindao Sou’s Saber Tablet Skill’s success rate was low, only 20 to 30 percent, and the Sky Evil Sect’s resources were limited, so they couldn’t investigate too many people’s habits.
Moreover, training someone to a point of perfect deception took many years. Consequently, only a few dozen chiefs of the Righteous Path in Qingxue State had been replaced at the moment.
As for ordinary masters of the Righteous Path, there were nearly a thousand of them. However, they should have numerous flaws given the reduced training costs.
In the booklet, Shi Xiaole surprisingly found the name of the Assembly Master of the Revenge Gathering, ’Thunder Compassionate Heart’ Chou Huakun, and he sighed softly.
A month later, unrest stirred again in Qingxue State.
Many people noticed that the Sky Evil Sect had been wiped out overnight with countless dead bodies.
Also, many big and small Righteous Path factions’ Sect Masters or Elders mysteriously died within days, causing panic among the various factions. They couldn’t figure out who was behind it.
...
Red Dragon Divine Palace.
"A total of fifty-three martial arts texts. Unfortunately, most of them are third-rate martial arts, with only twelve of them being second-rate."
Among the Righteous Path chiefs swapped by the Sky Evil Sect, only the Revenge Gathering is a top force in Qingxue State. After all, infiltrating the Revenge Gathering already exhausted much of the Sky Evil Sect’s resources, making it impossible to infiltrate other top forces in the short term.
The rest of the chiefs were often the heads of third-rate, even second-rate factions, so their martial arts secrets were naturally not too impressive.
After giving the system a hurried glance and exchanging all fifty-three sets of martial arts, Shi Xiaole received as expected a total reward of 42,200 points. Adding the reward of 3,000 points for completing the eighth task, along with the remaining 500 points, Shi Xiaole’s total reward points suddenly reached 45,700 points.
He was only short of 4,300 reward points to meet the minimum standard to purchase a lower-ranked first-class martial art.
"Divine Monarch, the person has been brought."
At this moment, two bodyguard chiefs strode in, and behind them, several palace guards brought a white-haired, yellow-faced old man.
"You’ve worked hard."
"We dare not."
After excusing them, Shi Xiaole turned to the yellow-faced elder, getting straight to the point, "I don’t have much time, tell me your Saber Tablet Skill, and you might be spared."
The reason why he was interested in the Saber Tablet Skill was that Shi Xiaole wanted to learn from it to enhance his Disguise Skill. No martial artist in the eight states recognized him, but in a more powerful Martial World with numerous talented individuals, he couldn’t be sure.
Jindao Sou has been restless since the Sky Evil Sect was breached. When he heard the words, he immediately said, "Divine Monarch, spare my life. I’m willing to present the Saber Tablet Skill."
In his mind, he played a trick.
The Saber Tablet Skill of the Demon Sword Sect was not something a genius could learn. It not only required one to be clever but also required full dedication. To master the Saber Tablet Skill, Jindao Sou even gave up many secret arts of the Demon Sword Sect back then, leading to his current weak power.
In Jindao Sou’s view, as long as the Divine Monarch knew the difficulty of this craft, he would value him more.
"Take him away and keep him in custody. Without my order, no one is allowed to see him."
As soon as he got the Saber Tablet Skill, Shi Xiaole ordered Jindao Sou to be taken away and began to study it.
This was a terrifying saber skill that allowed one to alter his appearance completely, yet it was not recognized by the system as a martial art. After studying it for several days, Shi Xiaole finally absorbed the essence of it.
He tried it secretly and found that his disguise technique had greatly improved. At least those tiny flaws that only he could notice in the past had completely disappeared.
Shi Xiaole didn’t intend to kill Jindao Sou, because he instinctively felt that keeping him alive might be useful.
As for using Jindao Sou to replace a master of the Devil Path with a master of the Righteous Path, the feasibility was very low.
Not to mention the high probability of being detected by the Lan and Huang families, just to pretend to be someone, a master of the Righteous Path would at least need to learn the magic skills of the one being replaced. This was not an easy task and the operational feasibility was extremely low.
This is why those who were substituted by the Sky Evil Sect were mostly sect masters of second-rate or third-rate forces.
Having completely solved the threat of the substitution plan, Shi Xiaole finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, his martial arts had reached the peak in the short term. On one hand, he was the Red Dragon Divine Monarch of the Devil Path, and on the other hand, he was the Sword Marquis, the future leader supported by countless people of the Righteous Path.
It could be said that Shi Xiaole was not only the strongest in the eight states, but the power he held and his own position also made him the most preeminent in the eight states.
He was truly on the pinnacle of the martial arts world of the eight states.
"There’s one last big thing left to do. Once I’ve dealt with it, it will be time for me to leave."
Standing on the Red Dragon Platform, with his black hair flowing, Shi Xiaole placed his hands behind his back, gazing into the distance, his eyes filled with confidence as if everything was under control, and aspirations for a larger martial world.
...
A challenge letter jolted the martial world of the eight states!
"What did you say, ’Sword Marquis’ Shi Xiaole is challenging ’Red Dragon Divine Monarch’ Xie Xiaofeng?"
At the moment when they learned the news, everyone was dumbstruck and found it hard to believe.
This period could be said to be the darkest and most oppressive days for the Righteous Path over the past few decades.
The Jade Fan Scholar, who had once killed countless Mo Kui and never been defeated, and was known as the number one extraordinary person in the eight states, failed in the assassination of Xie Xiaofeng. He was seriously injured and barely escaped from the Red Dragon Divine Palace.
This incident dealt a big blow to the Righteous Path!
Especially when they heard that Xie Xiaofeng had mastered a top-tier finger skill. Given his talents, it would be a piece of cake for him to surpass Jade Fan Scholar in a few years.
More importantly, the Jade Fan Scholar was already 143 years old. If he could not break through to the next realm, he would only have seven years left to his 150-year lifespan.
Who could suppress Xie Xiaofeng then in the martial world?
Shi Xiaole.
It had to be Shi Xiaole!
Without exaggeration, Shi Xiaole was like a star illuminating the dark night for the Righteous Path. He carried countless people’s hope and trust and was also a major reason why the Righteous Path had the spirit to contend with the Devil Path.
Just from the fact that the Righteous Path had sent many people to safeguard Lele City for him while he was wandering around the martial world, one could tell how much expectation they had for him.
But now, many people were panicking.
"Young Hero Shi might have been too impulsive. He is younger than Xie Xiaofeng by five or six years. Why would he challenge Xie Xiaofeng at this risk?"
Recently, news has come from the Red Dragon Divine Palace that Xie Xiaofeng had reached the highest level of the Faceless Divine Skill. His strength was even greater than Canmu Er lao’s. Even Jade Fan Scholar might not be his match.
Therefore, the Devil Path was getting more and more rampant, especially when they thought of the Divine Monarch’s past experiences, they unanimously believed this was the calm before the storm. After this, the Divine Monarch would take major actions to attack the Righteous Path. They were all excited and gritting their teeth in anticipation.
The Righteous Path had the same concern. With the Red Dragon Divine Monarch’s great achievements in martial arts, who would believe that he would stay idle?
This was probably the calm before the storm.
All the top Righteous Path sects in the eight states, from the Sect Masters to Elders, were filled with anxiety. They contacted each other overnight, exchanged information and reportedly held a grand meeting for three days and nights to discuss strategies.
Amid such an eerily muted atmosphere that drove people on the verge of insanity, Shi Xiaole’s challenge letter ignited the frenzy of an upcoming grand war in the eight states’ martial world like a storm!
"Think about it, every time Shi Xiaole does something, he plans it out first. Maybe his martial arts have improved again and he is just as confident as Xie Xiaofeng."
"Is it possible?"
If it was any other person, everyone would not believe it. But when it came to Shi Xiaole, people started to regain some confidence.
Miracles have always been created by people. Hasn’t Shi Xiaole been creating miracles all along?
"Don’t forget, Xie Xiaofeng is also a profoundly mysterious person. How do you know that he hasn’t hidden his strength?"
When someone said this, everyone fell silent.
Yes, Shi Xiaole’s opponent this time was not anyone else, but the most outstanding genius of the Devil Path in the past six hundred years. He cannot be judged by common sense.
In the martial world, various speculations arose, and people were filled with anxiety and worry.
"Shi Xiaole is nothing but a small fry. How dare he challenge the Divine Monarch!"
This was the response from the masters of the Devil Path, filled with contempt and arrogance.
Both the Righteous Path and the Devil Path were waiting eagerly, looking towards the direction of Haoyuan City. People deeply knew that Xie Xiaofeng’s response would determine the future trend of the Righteous Path and the Devil Path, and the future of the martial world in the eight states.
"I’ve long admired the name of Sword Marquis. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, at the top of the Absolute Cloud Mountain, I shall fight against you!"
When Xie Xiaofeng’s words came out, it caused consternation in the martial world of the eight states.
