Chapter 741: Chapter 740: Top Tier Fifth Level
In the sky, fierce battles were unfolding ceaselessly.
Under the empowerment of the Destruction Martial Path, each strike from Yao Mie Sheng carried a strong flavour of destruction. His attack power seemed to only be at a moderate Fifth Tier level, but his lethality was akin to a higher Fifth Tier level.
A high Fifth Tier Earth Immortal wouldn’t dare to declare victory lightly against him.
On the other hand, Shi Xiaole’s advantage lay in the speed of his sword. Even though his attack power was not as strong, he made up for it through quantity.
"Dark Sky Heavy Mace!"
With a cold shout, Yao Mie Sheng’s arm turned pitch black and merged with the Deep Gold Mace in his hand. As he swung, black lights were scattered like the claw marks torn open by a beast.
Placed within these tears, Shi Xiaole’s defensive Vigorous Air emitted the sounds of glass being struck.
The power of this move lay in its ability to lock on to the enemy beforehand; it attacked from a single direction. Although it reduced the strike range, the lethality has reached close to the higher Fifth Tier level.
Several thousand kilometers away, many martial artists in the Dragon Gate Realm on the mountain peaks were frozen with dread as if facing death.
Even more people were almost numbed.
From the initial Fifth Tier level to the middle Fifth Tier level, and now, it seemed as if Yao Mie Sheng was deliberately controlling his own strength and pace, gradually improving. He was like an iceberg submerged underwater. No one knew where his limit was.
Some observant people even discovered that since the start of the battle, Yao Mie Sheng’s combat skills have been extremely uniform. Judging by the level of his opponents, it was impossible for them to lack tactics. The only explanation was that they hadn’t yet utilized their full strength.
"Thousand One!"
Clenching the Red Left sword with both hands, Shi Xiaole swung his sword diagonally. The pervasive green and red frost Sword Qi suddenly condensed into a stream, surging towards the front.
Whoosh!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The black rays were turned into sieves by the sword qi. By the time they reached Shi Xiaole, they had less than a third of their original power and were easily shattered by him. As for the Sword Qi, after being consumed by the black rays, its power was significantly reduced and was eliminated by the aura of the Destruction Martial Path.
There was a flash of light.
Yao Mie Sheng arrived in front of Shi Xiaole - it was the second time he had used his Flying Skill. What was terrifying was that even at such astonishing speed, his body did not stir a single gust of wind.
A martial artist’s perception is nothing more than judging the opponent’s status through environmental changes. But Yao Mie Sheng’s Flying Skill essentially surpassed the enemy’s perception.
Only a handful of knowledgeable people were awestruck, unable to suppress their admiration for Yao Mie Sheng’s strength, despite being opponents. Whereas people like Heavenly Phoenix, Jade Lion, and others could only trace the vague trajectory of his movements, involuntarily tensing their entire bodies as if they were in Kirin’s position.
As for the majority of people, they were still immersed in the previous exchange between the two.
Facing the sudden strike, Shi Xiaole parried with his sword without haste, as if he had been prepared for it.
"Hmm?"
A look of surprise finally crossed Yao Mie Sheng’s rigid face.
Not only because of Shi Xiaole’s quick response, but also because despite inferior martial arts, the latter was able to block his attack. The depth of the defender’s Vigorous Air was incredibly unusual.
"Edge of the World, Soul Severing Mace!"
If Yao Mie Sheng had previously been like a threatening tiger, he now resembled a tiger with wings. His attacks were not only relentless but his speed was also on par with Shi Xiaole. Each swing from his mace, whether in angle or force, it was nearly perfect, leaving his opponent with no room to dodge.
In a brief moment, he appeared in hundreds of different places, but strangely left no afterimages behind. Only the sound of the Deep Gold Mace breaking through the void continuously shook everyone’s minds.
Having finally grasped how powerful Yao Mie Sheng was, Xiao Yujian and a few other Ghost Guards were consumed with despair - an unassailable despair.
The opponent was merely a few years old, but he had already attained the strength of an exceptional expert. What would he become if given several decades more?
By comparison, Kirin, who was a good five years younger than Yao Mie Sheng and had been fighting him up until this point - how extraordinarily gifted was he?
People originally thought that Kirin would be defeated under Yao Mie Sheng’s surging attacks. However, not only was this not the case, but the latter seemed to become braver as the battle progressed.
Exercising Crossing the River with a Single Reed, Shi Xiaole left a series of blue trails of light in the air, some as long as a few thousand kilometers while some were only a few meters.
What remained consistent was that at each end of the light trail was exactly where Yao Mie Sheng appeared.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang...
Nobody knew how many rounds they had fought. They only heard the relentless sounds like rain hitting banana leaves. In the end, people’s eyes were almost sore, their minds in turmoil. They felt as if the void was a sheet of white paper, being stroke upon stroke with blue ink.
Given such fast-paced exchanges, neither Shi Xiaole nor Yao Mie Sheng could execute their deadly moves. They could only carry out the most basic attacks. Under such a minuscule difference in power, battle skills became exceedingly important.
Sword swinging, body dodging. Shi Xiaole’s mind was like a highly-precise machine. In response to Yao Mie Sheng’s movements, he rapidly produced dozens of predictions, and based on each, yielded dozens of countermeasures, eventually, in an instant, selecting the best one.
Shi Xiaole’s mental and willpower had never been so focused. It was because his opponent was someone he had to defeat, he could not make any mistakes!
Such concentration gradually led him into a state of empty clarity, his mind a clean slate, his actions becoming impulsive reactions.
His sword swiped past Yao Mie Sheng’s right shoulder. Shi Xiaole slightly inclined his body, narrowly avoiding the Deep Gold Mace thrust at him by Yao Mie Sheng, and counterattacked by pointing his sword at the latter’s left eye from the right rib position.
Yao Mie Sheng had foreseen this, his wrist slightly twisted, and the mace tip obstructed the sword blade. Along the sword, he gave a strong shake. Shi Xiaole, however, was prepared. As soon as the Red Left Sword touched the Deep Gold Mace, it moved away taking a circular path around the mace, with the mace as the center, and the sword tip pointed directly at Yao Mie Sheng’s throat.
Clang!
The two of them passed by each other, missing by just half an inch.
This scenario was constantly repeating between the two of them.
Shi Xiaole was greatly shocked.
His combat skills had been honed to perfection. In the past, no one of the same rank could withstand a hundred moves from him, let alone fifty.
Of course, Zi Yuansheng and Gu Nanfeng were exceptions. Though they were also defeated by Shi Xiaole, that was when they were merely spirit seeds, their fighting skills far inferior to their real selves.
However, Shi Xiaole did not know that Yao Mie Sheng was even more astonished, his heart tossed by undulating waves of shock.
Emphasizing attack power, the Destruction Martial Path was the discipline Yao Mie Sheng had been diligently practicing from the age of seven. He was almost unbeatable among his peers. In recent years, even leading Void Origin Realm warriors from the Right Sect had to suppress their realms to practice with him. But with a certain price paid, he could still emerge victorious.
If this record were spread, it would shock the entire Flying Horse Dynasty!
Yet, he could not suppress a Kirin who was five years younger than him. What an irony!
His abyss-like eyes turned bright red, as if the clouds had been blown away to reveal his inner violent tendencies. Yao Mie Sheng swung his Deep Gold Mace frantically, the tremendous burst of power contorting the void into strange shapes.
Four hundred moves.
Five hundred moves.
Under such fierce fighting, Yao Mie Sheng inevitably revealed a small flaw.
A long sword slipped in like a venomous snake, lifting upward in an oblique stroke.
Hisss!
Blood splattered.
"I am injured?"
Yao Mie Sheng incredulously stared at the sword wound on his chest. This minor injury was nothing more than a scratch, but the psychological impact was as shocking as a crashing mountain.
"How is it possible?"
All the events took a long time to describe, but in reality, they only happened within moments. Everyone stared at the scene in shock, stunned by the incredible outcome.
The Destroying Saint, the successor of the Destroying Saint Door who was said to possess the potential to destroy saints, was the first to be injured in a battle among his peers.
A momentary lapse of bewilderment was quickly replaced by an endless surge of cold rage in Yao Mie Sheng’s heart.
His goal in life was to destroy the saint. Until that was achieved, he could not, would not, and must not lose to any other martial artist of the same rank. No one could defeat him!
A frosty dark mist, originating from Yao Mie Sheng, quickly permeated the entire place in an instant, even submerging the sun into darkness.
The warriors at the Dragon Gate Realm felt icy chills down their spines after just one glance, as if their bodies, hearts, and souls were all about to fall into darkness and be ruthlessly destroyed.
Those who made it to the Divine Barrier Realm might not be so affected. However, a significant portion of them were still fearful. If they were in the battlefield themselves, they would surely not have the courage to face Yao Mie Sheng.
"This is the true essence of the Young Master’s Destruction Martial Path. The boy can be proud for pushing the Young Master to this point."
The elders of the Destroying Saint Door were also astonished, but seeing Yao Mie Sheng getting serious helped them regain their ease. No one in the field understood Yao Mie Sheng’s strength better than them.
After swelling at a rapid pace, the dark mist quickly receded. At this point, Yao Mie Sheng appeared like a dark figure, his entire body radiating a destructive glow and aura.
In stark contrast, his Deep Gold Mace was illuminated brightly with a black line cutting through from one end to the other, twisting at an ever-increasing speed.
The atmosphere felt oppressively heavy, as if the heavens and earth were steeped in ink.
"Split Earth!"
The narration took a long while, but everything happened in an instant. Yao Mie Sheng raised his mace and dashed forward like a bullet, his hair blown straight back. Halfway through, he smashed his mace down fiercely.
Boom!
The large black line zigzagged forward at an incredible speed, leaving a trail of crackling noises. The void seemed to split in two like the earth, with nothing able to stand in its way.
The sound from the Endless Risky Peak was completely drowned out. Everyone’s gaze was filled with clear horror. Yao Mie Sheng’s attack had astonishingly reached the top Fifth Tier! Given his age, such power was truly terrifying.
Everyone instinctively looked towards the Kirin. From the start, no matter what Yao Mie Sheng had used, he was always able to keep up without falling behind. Could he still continue this time?
"It’s too difficult! He only advanced to the Divine Barrier Realm two years ago. Even the Martial Emperor of yore couldn’t reach this level!"
"To be precise, the Kirin is already outstanding enough, even more extraordinary than the Martial Emperor during the same period. It would be such a waste if he loses this battle!"
The Fifth-Tier and Sixth-Tier Earth Immortals in the crowd kept their eyes glued to the battlefield, not wanting to miss a single scene.
The black line flashed to a position below Shi Xiaole in the blink of an eye, but was halted by a layer of frenzied Sword Qi. A shower of sparks burst out between the two.
