Chapter 841: Chapter 840: Sublimating Body-Sword Integration_1
"Intermediate level Array System of the Void Origin Realm."
To be able to obscure Shi Xiaole’s mental force, it couldn’t be an ordinary Array System of the Void Origin Realm, and at worst, it had to be of an intermediate level. If it had been a trap set to kill, Shi Xiaole couldn’t guarantee his safety.
This realization made his heart sink a bit more about the danger level of Mirage Mountain Range.
He didn’t know how Bai Ruiting and the others were faring, and worrying was useless. The pressing matter was to quickly understand the situation and hope to encounter them.
His body turned into a beam of light, and Shi Xiaole disappeared from the spot.
This place seemed to be the interior of Mirage Mountain Range, with countless mountains and strange rocks, and sometimes white fog that obscured mental power appeared. Over the span of several days, Shi Xiaole didn’t know how far he had traveled, and he encountered quite a number of people during this period.
These people were without exception Terrestrial Immortals, and the weakest among them were at the peak of the Sixth Tier, even less common were Seventh Tier Earth Immortals and Eighth Tier Earth Immortals were even more common.
That made sense, actually.
Without the guidance of a map, one had to be at least a Seventh Tier Earth Immortal to smoothly make it here. Those extremely few Sixth Tier Earth Immortals either had very good luck, or they had some incredible treasures on them.
"Those who know better, get lost."
Beneath a towering waterfall, water mist sprayed hundreds of feet high, and a youth with double pupils held a long halberd with one hand, his gaze filled with a sense of superiority.
The several Earth Immortals around him were both angry and resentful, especially one who was only six steps away from the floating Enlightenment Fruit, but he didn’t dare to reach for it.
The youth with double pupils was none other than Duan Changge, one of the six prodigies of Rainbow State, and the younger brother of the Flawless Halberd King.
Who didn’t know that the Flawless Halberd King was narrow-minded and vengeful, especially protective of his younger brother? To offend his brother was to make an enemy of him.
Besides the deterrent power of his brother, Duan Changge himself was also a rare genius. At the age of seventy-three, he already had the combat power of a novice Eighth Tier, truly a first-rate expert.
Between the Enlightenment Fruit and leaving, the few Earth Immortals hesitated repeatedly but still bitterly chose the latter.
By strength alone, they didn’t fear Duan Changge, but what kind of rich second generation didn’t have protectors by their side?
"Wait."
Duan Changge spoke out to stop them.
"We’ve already agreed to your demands, what more do you want?"
The Earth Immortal closest to the Enlightenment Fruit spoke with the heaviest resentment, and his tone couldn’t help but be a bit sharp.
"What was before was before, I already gave you a chance, and you didn’t know how to treasure it. Uncle Xu, I don’t want to see them."
The moment his words fell, a wrinkled fist fell from the sky, shattering the mist in the air, and the river water unnaturally dipped, forming a semicircular depression hundreds of feet in diameter and tens of feet deep.
Bang!
The few Earth Immortals exploded into pieces, and their despair at the moment of death delighted Duan Changge, prompting him to laugh heartily. He liked witnessing such expressions. To him, the pleasure from toying with others was even stronger than that from playing with women.
Duan Changge cautiously approached and reached out without a trace of Vigorous Air, only to find that the Enlightenment Fruit he grasped became air.
"Such bad luck, a fake again!"
He cursed hatefully and then turned to leave.
In different places, similar scenes played out continuously. But there were also some who were extremely lucky and got the real Enlightenment Fruit, immediately finding a secluded place to assimilate it.
Shi Xiaole’s luck was very bad, having found the Enlightenment Fruit three times in a row, only to end up with nothing but false hopes.
On one occasion, he sensed the presence of a Martial Emperor of the Void Origin Realm in advance and immediately evacuated, narrowly avoiding a calamity.
All in all, the current Mirage Mountain Range was fraught with peril; even Ninth Tier Earth Immortals couldn’t ensure their safety. Shi Xiaole could only pray that Bai Ruiting and the others would be blessed by good fortune.
Before he knew it, another half month had passed.
That day, Shi Xiaole suddenly saw a miraculous sight.
It was on a mountainside, shaped like a square concavity, and from a distance, it looked as though a huge chunk had been carved out of the mountain, and inside, there was a field of ruins.
Perhaps due to the passage of time, the ruins retained only a few wooden pillars and beams, but in the central square, a translucent tree stood tall.
Another Enlightenment Tree.
Real or fake this time?
It was very likely that Array Systems surrounded the square; in the past few days, Shi Xiaole witnessed Earth Immortals being killed by arrays several times. Of course, not all arrays were lethal.
So it depended on taking a chance.
"Nearly all Enlightenment Trees have Array Systems nearby, if I’m afraid, I might as well leave now."
Biting the bullet, Shi Xiaole took out a silver umbrella from his system space and also fully activated the medium-quality Spirit Armor on him before slowly gliding towards the ruins.
He successfully approached the Enlightenment Tree without incident. Shi Xiaole reached out his right hand, and upon contact, the branches disappeared, the massive trunk began to wither, and eventually, only a section of the trunk emitting a fluorescent glow remained, full of vitality.
"Could this be the Enlightenment Root!"
Shi Xiaole was amazed, feeling overwhelmed by joy.
The Enlightenment Root was the essence of the main trunk of the Enlightenment Tree and had the same effect of enhancing martial arts as the Enlightenment Fruit, although it was only a tenth as potent. But there was one thing the Enlightenment Fruit couldn’t compare to.
The aura of the Enlightenment Root naturally attracted the Enlightenment Fruit, so getting the Enlightenment Root undoubtedly greatly increased the chances of finding the Enlightenment Fruit!
His thoughts were brief, Shi Xiaole then tried to pull out the Enlightenment Root, but a blade light was faster, slashing towards Shi Xiaole’s wrist like lightning.
Because he couldn’t use Vigorous Air to pull the root, Shi Xiaole had to withdraw his hand and counter with a sword.
Clang!
Just as the blade’s light shattered, an even stronger blade qi condensed into a beam and struck, its force surpassing the Sky-stealing Old Man’s Sky-stealing Palm by twenty percent, sending Shi Xiaole violently flying away.
To understand, Shi Xiaole’s ability to dominate the Sky-stealing Old Man was not because his strength truly surpassed the opponent by that much, but because he had unexpectedly employed the Heaven and Earth Changing Great Method.
Truly speaking, there was not much difference in the direct strengths of the two.
Shi Xiaole looked up to see that, somehow, a tall figure had appeared in the arena, whose body, though it leaked not a trace of breath, nevertheless gave off an extremely strong sense of oppression, like a blade whose edge was not seen, but whose gleam already caused one to feel cold.
But what truly moved Shi Xiaole was the figure’s missing right hand and left leg.
"Blade Slave!"
Shi Xiaole had seen similar people at the ruins of the Blade Slaves Sect and would never mistake them.
First the Yellow-haired Monster, then the Fire Stiff, and now even a Blade Slave had appeared—what exactly was the background of this Rainbow Island, attracting all kinds of major terrors from around the world?
Whoosh!
Giving Shi Xiaole no time to think, the Blade Slave soared into the sky, turning into a stroke of blade light that struck at him.
"Wind Sword Way!"
Not wishing to delay, Shi Xiaole immediately used his killer move. His sword stroke, later in execution but first in effect, grazed the Blade Slave’s body, but not only did it fail to slice through the opponent, its own wielder instead suffered a huge impact, with the Tiger Abyss sword almost flying out of his grasp.
Clang clang clang...
A succession of metallic collisions like rain hitting plantain leaves made Shi Xiaole grow more shocked as the fight went on.
Ever since he had improved his Wind Sword Way in the Sword King Valley, his sword speed was almost unrivaled in his tier, but this Blade Slave was no slower than him and frighteningly tough, impervious even to the Wind Sword Way.
This must be a Blade Slave of the middle Eighth Tier level, but its combat power was so strong it startled even Shi Xiaole.
"Heart Thunder Sword!"
With no one spying and no desire to delay, Shi Xiaole no longer concealed his techniques.
Boom!
The sword light brought the sound of thunder tearing through the sky, the sword having pierced through the Blade Slave puppet’s body, creating a large hole in its chest, before the sound had even arisen.
If the Controlling Sword with Qi Skill was Shi Xiaole’s ace, then the Heart Thunder Sword was his true trump card.
The subtlety of this move lay in the fact that as long as his mental power and understanding of the Wind Sword Way progressed, its power would rise accordingly. Plus, having improved his Sword Controlling Skill theory earlier, its lethality at this moment could possibly even inflict serious injury on a top Eighth Tier Earth Immortal.
Components and flesh shattered together, but just as Shi Xiaole had slain one Blade Slave, a second one charged out of the void, and it too was met with another Heart Thunder Sword.
After several consecutive times, Shi Xiaole’s complexion had turned quite pale.
The Heart Thunder Sword was strong, indeed, but it was too draining on mental power. Under such perilous circumstances, he couldn’t afford to use it too much. With this in mind, Shi Xiaole had to resort to more common techniques.
Fifty moves.
One hundred moves.
In the same tier, few could match Shi Xiaole for a hundred moves, yet the Blade Slave puppet fought hard against him for over three hundred moves before beginning to flag, and to kill it, it would take no less than five hundred moves.
No wonder, no wonder the Blade Slaves Sect was called the second great terror of the human realm; almost invincible in the same tier.
Clang!
Two streaks of light brushed past each other, and Shi Xiaole staggered back several steps.
Compared with the Blade Slave puppet’s Body-Sword Integration, his own technique seemed rather immature. Moreover, Shi Xiaole realized that the reason for the puppet’s strength lay not only in the material of its components but also significantly in its swordsmanship.
Body-Sword Integration emphasized the skill in wielding power, yet this Blade Slave went beyond that category; every move was natural, the direction of the heart intent was exactly where the blade qi aimed.
"Only by using a more advanced level of Body-Sword Integration can I quickly bring it down."
Everything in the world has its counter. Shi Xiaole calmed down and repeatedly clashed with it, learning from the opponent from his disadvantaged position.
His once-neglected Body-Sword Integration technique began to shine anew.
In the contest of these two techniques, initially, Shi Xiaole could only take fifty blades, but gradually he went up to sixty, seventy, eighty...
Perhaps influenced by the Enlightenment Tree, his thoughts were more active than ever before. With an existing foundation, using the Blade Slave puppet for reference, the flaws of his Body-Sword Integration were continuously filled in by him.
Ninety moves.
One hundred moves.
For two days and two nights, the clash of sword and blade continued without end. Fortunately, the Mirage Mountain Range was vast enough or the commotion here would have already been sensed.
Clang!
Another collision occurred.
Suddenly, Shi Xiaole’s body tensed up as a strange power transmitted from the long sword. In this moment, he felt as if he could sense the breath, the emotions of the sword itself.
It wasn’t a psychological resonance but a physical resonance.
"Body-Sword Integration is like this."
Without intentionally exerting power, Shi Xiaole, along with his sword, thrust backward rapidly, the sword light like a shooting star, fleeting in an instant.
Crack crack crack.
The Blade Slave puppet’s vital point was hit, and it shattered into crumbs midair.
Then two more Blade Slave puppets charged out, but Shi Xiaole easily dispatched them.
