Chapter 552: 551
With just five swords, he injured two top-level senior Lords, leaving everyone in awe of Shi Xiaole’s strength.
The city lord and disciples of Lele City, who were still dashing across the river’s surface or secretly observing underwater, were so startled they didn’t know what to do.
"How could you possibly have such power?"
The face of the Eight Fingers Mysterious Lord turned ghostly white as he stared intently at Shi Xiaole.
"Disappointed, aren’t you? I won’t let you slaughter me as you please."
Barely at the middle stage of the Heavenly Sword, naturally, Shi Xiaole could not injure the two senior Lords, and even in one-on-one combat, all he could do was draw with his opponent.
But don’t forget, his spiritual power has reached the ordinary Divine Barrier Realm level. Combined with the Yi Sword Skill, the attack patterns of the two senior Lords in his eyes were full of flaws, as simple as a high school student solving middle school math.
It can be said that the current Shi Xiaole is a powerful senior Lord in long-range combat, and in close combat, there’s not much difference between him and a top-level Lord — in fact, for the top-level Lords, he is even scarier than the top-level Lords.
However, if he were to face a real top-level Lord, Shi Xiaole would be at a disadvantage.
Because real top-level Lords increase their genuine understanding to ninety percent. Even if Shi Xiaole can spot their flaws, he may not be able to take advantage of them in time.
"Mountains remain unchanged, water keeps flowing forever, I will remember this defeat."
With fear in his heart, the Eight Fingers Mysterious Lord gritted his teeth in anger, thinking: if I can’t deal with you, I’ll spread the news about you, forcing all the Lords to make their move, and we’ll see how you handle it!
"Are you leaving? Did I let you go?"
A cold voice sounded as Shi Xiaole swung his sword in the direction of the Eight Fingers Mysterious Lord. The spinning green sword wind compressed around the Eight Fingers Mysterious Lord, getting tighter and tighter.
"Your kind are nothing more than bullies, Eight Desolate Divine Finger, break!"
The Eight Fingers Mysterious Lord shouted sternly, pointing out mysterious rays of light. In an instant, he struck out a huge hole in the green sword wind and flew away.
But he was delayed for a moment. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Shi Xiaole applied the Phantom Demon Body Method, and lunged his sword at the opponent.
Clang!
The ray of light hit the blade, knocking the sword off course. However, Shi Xiaole seemed to have anticipated this, his previous sword strike was intentionally aimed at an angle. As a result of the force, his sword ended up piercing right into the palm of the Eight Fingers Mysterious Lord.
Hisss!
The sound of the sword entering the flesh echoed as Shi Xiaole passed by the Eight Fingers Mysterious Lord. The latter screamed in agony; his entire right arm and shoulder had been pierced through by the sword, with sword Qi continuing to wreak havoc inside. Upon close examination, half of the veins and bones in his arm had been crushed, with the remaining half as blurry as mud.
The Yellow Springs Lord on the other side had already fled in the opposite direction. Subconsciously looking back, he felt scalp tightening and strove to go faster.
If he had known Shi Xiaole was so terrible, he would never have sought trouble. Who would have thought that not only has his progress not slowed, but it has quickened. He’s simply not human.
"Old bastard, next time if you dare to threaten me with my family and friends without having the strength to back it up..."
Shi Xiaole, cold and heartless, swung his sword several times, cornering the Eight Fingers Mysterious Lord. With a sudden, he thrusts his sword, piercing through the throat of the opponent.
"Uh...."
The Eight Fingers Mysterious Lord’s face was full of resentment, but all his resentment could only elicit a disdainful turn of the head from Shi Xiaole.
"That kid is terrifying. Should I inform the other old monsters? If two aren’t enough, surely four would be. Or should I just ignore this for now?"
At the peak of the Dragon Gate Realm nine layers, a martial artist’s internal Qi is extremely long-lasting, enough to fly across the sky for half an hour. Yellow Springs Lord appeared like a flying bird, retreating rapidly over the surface of the river, contemplating silently.
Suddenly, he felt a chill through his body. Looking back again, he immediately saw a figure in green closely pursuing him from a distance of more than five hundred meters, the sword Qi reaching the sky.
"Shi Xiaole!"
The Yellow Springs Lord cried out loudly, feeling as if he had fallen into an ice hole. He desperately squeezed out his full power, which was already at its limit, trying to run faster.
Unfortunately, the Inner Power that Shi Xiaole was cultivating was a first-class intermediate-level Inner Power. Coupled with his pure Vigorous Air, his power and endurance were not inferior to those of the Yellow Springs Lord, and were even better.
Gradually, the distance between the two became shorter.
The Yellow Springs Lord constantly attacked, trying to hinder Shi Xiaole, but Shi Xiaole always evaded a step earlier or transformed the attack into aid through the Undying Seven Illusions.
"Young Hero Shi, Young Master Shi, I swear to the heavens, if you spare me, I will never trouble you again in the future. Please have mercy on me."
The Yellow Springs Lord was truly frightened. He pleaded for mercy, not caring about his dignity.
Without uttering a word, Shi Xiaole just kept swinging his sword.
When the distance between the two was only a few ten meters, the Yellow Springs Lord’s face contorted. He threw out a golden dish, which instantly emitted strong Array System energy, like a giant inverted iron bowl descending on Shi Xiaole.
"You forced me to do this. After today, I will stop at nothing to bring ruin to your family!"
This golden dish was a treasure that the Yellow Springs Lord had cherished for many years. It could trigger a Divine Barrier Realm-level Array System, but he had always been reluctant to use it.
In his view, if it weren’t for Shi Xiaole cornering him, he wouldn’t have to lose this lifesaving treasure. He hated Shi Xiaole to his core.
"You won’t get the chance."
A voice devoid of emotion rang out behind him. The Yellow Spring Lord turned back in disbelief, with a flash of sword light in his eyes.
Swish.
A fine-looking head shot up into the sky, while the headless corpse continued to charge forward for several hundred meters before it finally crashed into the river.
"He who instigates his own destruction deserves no sympathy."
Without a second glance, Shi Xiaole turned around and left.
Endowed with the mental strength of the Divine Barrier Realm, they were tens of meters from each other, and he didn’t have to search the body to know that the Yellow Springs Lord had nothing valuable on him, so he let his body sink into the deep river.
When Shi Xiaole returned to the ship, all the high-level fighters from Lele City gathered to greet him.
"Junior Brother, did I see it right? You actually killed two of the top hundred fighters from Shuntian Capital, and that too while they were teamed up. Could your skills have reached the level of a top-tier Lord?"
Xiao Yuanbo, a usually eloquent man, was so flustered that he had trouble speaking. The shock that Shi Xiaole had given him was just too immense.
If the previous chase and killing of Elder Yan had refreshed his cognition, then today’s move had thoroughly overturned Xiao Yuanbo’s long-held worldview.
Sure there were many strange and unusual happenings in the Martial World, but nothing had had the same impact or felt as real as what they had witnessed.
"Senior Brother, you overestimate me, I am far from being a top-tier Lord."
Shi Xiaole shook his head.
"Even if you’re not there yet, I’m sure you will surpass it soon."
Mao Wenjing, who had always been quiet, said matter-of-factly. Looking at Shi Xiaole, her face showed astonishment, admiration, and a hint of speechlessness.
She knew him well. When he said ’far from’, he meant just ’not’, and if he said ’almost’, that meant he was confident of winning.
In short, he was an annoying, obnoxious, and abnormal guy.
Mao Wenjing’s words left many people nodding in agreement.
Logic told them that Shi Xiaole couldn’t always keep improving at this pace, but who could deny such a possibility given the previous track record?
In the past, the people of Lele City could only rely on rumors to form an image of Shi Xiaole. Altough impressive, it seemed somewhat flimsy.
But through the pursuit and killing of Elder Yan and the events of the day, everyone had deeply felt Shi Xiaole’s strength, and this image was deeply etched into their minds.
Originally, they were somewhat apprehensive about the journey to Xuanwu State, but now, all their uneasy feelings were gone, leaving only anticipation and excitement.
With such a young martial arts expert leading them, what was there to fear?
The high-ranking officials and disciples left in Lele City were united and confident, while those who had previously fled were regretful and embarrassed.
Worst of all, these people were only at the Spiritual-Passage Realm or Xuanqi Realm, or even lower. With their own abilities, they could not maintain on the vast surface of the river for too long.
Every person on the ship looked at Shi Xiaole.
Shi Xiaole looked at Zhu Ling.
Zhu Ling understood and said, "Everyone, get on board."
The martial artists in and around the river from Lele City, as if pardoned, hurriedly flew onto the ship, hanging their heads in panic, not knowing what to say.
Zhu Ling surveyed everyone, her gentle eyes became sharp, saying, "In the face of life and death, it is only human to choose to run away, and this is not a mistake."
Everyone felt a little relief.
However, the next moment, Zhu Ling said, "But, this trip to Xuanwu State is the beginning of Lele City’s rise. Everyone participating in this process will be the founders of Lele City a thousand years from now! What we need are loyal and righteous people, not opportunists who take advantage of situations! So, you should go."
"Governor, please no!"
"We were wrong. Please forgive us, City Lord and Governor. Next time, we will never do this again!"
Many people fell to their knees on the spot.
But Zhu Ling’s pretty face was indifferent, unmoved, and she just directed a few elders to handle the matter.
Immediately, under the arrangement of several elders, those who stayed were all gathered on several ships, leaving two empty ships for those who had fled.
"The salary and cultivation resources for this month have not been distributed to you, so we’ll distribute them now. In addition, in line with the Governor’s suggestion, the council of elders decided to give each person an extra one hundred taels of silver, as a token of thanks for your previous contribution to Lele City."
A few elders took out their ledger and spoke emotionlessly to the people in front of them.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, everyone sighed in regret. Some people faintly felt that they seemed to have missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"Is that man Shi Xiaole? He’s much more powerful than what the Martial World described!"
"He is truly a young hero. He’s planning to take his men and develop in Xuanwu State, looks like there will be a lot of excitement to watch there."
On several faraway ships, many people had witnessed everything, their hearts were shaken, and they slowly recovered.
There were also a few people hidden on the trade ship, their eyes flickering, they finally sighed in frustration.
"We really have to thank old Eight Fingers and Yellow Springs this time. If they hadn’t been faster, we would have been the ones to die."
"Alas, on the anniversary of their deaths next year, we should burn a few more sticks of incense for them, as a token of gratitude."
