Chapter 843: Chapter 842: Madam Xi_1
"Young Master, should we take action?"
A few thousand meters away from the battle, an invisible and intangible mist obscured two figures. One was a short-statured elder with an unfathomable presence; the other, a young man holding a large halberd, with double pupils in his eyes, was none other than Duan Changge.
"Is anyone approaching nearby?"
Instead of answering, Duan Changge asked back, focusing on the compass in his hand.
"Not for now."
"Then there’s no rush. It’s also fine to enjoy the spectacle of dogs biting dogs for now. Of course, if we detect anyone approaching, strike immediately, incapacitate them, and take the Enlightenment Fruit."
A cruel and mocking smile spread across Duan Changge’s lips.
The compass in his hand, named the Array Detection Plate, could detect the presence of array systems, as the name implied.
Despite appearing arrogant on the surface, Duan Changge was actually meticulous in his thinking. He feared that the distant Enlightenment Tree might be a trap, so he would only act when certain it was safe.
Anyway, Uncle Xu was a Ninth Tier Earth Immortal. With his power, taking out everyone present would be a trivial matter.
In the blink of an eye, the distant battle intensified.
Interestingly enough, Jiuhua Hermit, the staff-wielding man, and the bald knife-fighter seemed to have made an agreement, beginning to join forces against others, seemingly intending to share the Enlightenment Fruit.
Layers of Vigorous Air shot up into the sky, exploding like fireworks.
"I’ll start charging up."
Amid the continuous explosions, a young man wearing white and a red cloak swung his saber while retreating, his brows slightly furrowed, accentuating the cinnabar between them.
He was none other than Young Master Evil, who had fiercely fought with Shi Xiaole during the second challenge.
Now, as a middle-ranked Eighth Tier Earth Immortal, with every swipe of his saber, the rhythm was almost artistic. Unfortunately, in this fight, he had no advantage.
However, Young Master Evil was not discouraged. He was too young; in another ten years, what were these mediocre people to him? They would be nothing more than one cut each.
He aimed to surpass the six Great Youngsters, even the three giants, and firmly believed that he would achieve that goal as long as he kept progressing. The current predicament was just a minor interlude on the road of growth, not worth mentioning.
"Such a rich aura."
At an even greater distance, a young man in green clothes, holding an Enlightenment Root, approached stealthily—it was Shi Xiaole. With a flip of his hand, the Enlightenment Root disappeared. Scanning with his psychic power, he immediately discovered the hidden Duan Changge and his companion in the void.
Uncle Xu’s methods were sophisticated, but they could not deceive Shi Xiaole.
At the same time, Uncle Xu also noticed Shi Xiaole’s presence but merely glanced at him casually before looking away.
"I have a killing technique that should be able to deal with this Ninth Tier Earth Immortal," Shi Xiaole mused cautiously.
If the Eighth Tier level is the first potential spring for human warriors, then the Ninth Tier is the second one, and the difficulty of reaching it is many times greater.
It could be said that Ninth Tier Earth Immortals are the top experts in the Martial World. In the absence of Void Origin Realm Martial Emperors, they were powerful enough to dominate the world.
The most straightforward example is that the Earth Immortal rankings of the Flying Horse Dynasty recorded three hundred and sixty-five experts; however, a considerable number of them only had the combat power of top Eighth Tiers. The true Ninth Tier Earth Immortals were not many, and each was mighty enough to reign as king.
Moreover, these kinds of people had unfathomable means; the slightest negligence could lead to irrecoverable disaster, and Shi Xiaole could not afford to underestimate Uncle Xu.
After hesitating for a few moments, Shi Xiaole decided to act.
"Heaven bestows opportunities not to be missed, lest chaos comes from reluctance." He couldn’t just watch someone else snatch the Enlightenment Fruit before his eyes. As for the array systems nearby, they indeed existed, but only at the initial Void Origin Realm level, which couldn’t trouble Shi Xiaole.
Whoosh!
His body transformed into a swift figure, bursting forward. At the same time, the Tiger Abyss Sword was drawn from its sheath. With Shi Xiaole’s movement came the Wind Calamity attack, an unrivaled Sword Qi slashing forth, startling the fighters who were engaged in fierce combat. They had to sidestep to avoid it, clearing a path for him.
"High Eighth Tier combat power?"
Jiuhua Hermit’s eyes flickered from another side.
"Who is this guy?"
Duan Changge narrowed his eyes, a jealous and malicious look flashing within.
"What, it’s you?!"
The most shocked of all was Young Master Evil.
The defeat in the Stone Hall during the second challenge was an indelible stain in Young Master Evil’s life, and he dreamt of redressing it. Yet, strangely enough, before he could prepare, he encountered that person again.
And the other’s strength had reached a level that left him far behind.
"Cold Staff Shadow!"
At a hundred meters from the Enlightenment Tree, countless staff shadows, filled with fury, chopped at Shi Xiaole’s head, darkening the skies and compressing the air into numerous vacuum cubes.
Without a sideways glance, Shi Xiaole swung upward, unleashing another Wind Calamity attack. But this time the sword radiance was even more vast, like a dividing line between heaven and earth.
Under the influence of the sword’s force, the staff shadows inexplicably slowed down, split in two, with numerous Sword Qi spreading out towards the staff-wielding man, who was horrified into hurriedly defending and retreating hundreds of meters away.
"So strong!"
Everyone was shocked.
Even though the staff-wielding man had been injured earlier and his power was depleted, the ease with which Shi Xiaole repelled him testified to Shi Xiaole’s strength.
"Blade Breaks the Heavenly River!"
The shadows of the staff had just passed when a blade light that seemed to penetrate the sun and moon swept toward him, the blade edge at the very front white and gleaming. Behind it, the blade Qi was so dense that it resembled dry ice erupting, even emitting a hissing chaos.
"Jiuhua Heaven-Opening Palm!"
The Jiuhua Hermit’s movements were not slow, his nine palm imprints merging into one, transforming into a giant palm that covered the sky, bearing down on Shi Xiaole.
Two high-level Eighth Tier Earth Immortals’ full-force strikes would leave anyone else on the field, aside from retreating, dead.
But Shi Xiaole did not retreat, and amidst the mocking laughter of the bald-bladed fighter and the Jiuhua Hermit, his body spun lightly, and strands of Sword Qi formed in the blink of an eye, transforming into a huge ethereal cyan sword.
Boom!
The cyan sword shattered, and incredulously, the onlookers saw that Shi Xiaole had actually actively restrained his power. Like a blue cloud, he used the momentum of the wind waves to move forward even faster, reaching out his hand to catch two Enlightenment Fruits.
The elegant movement, the boundless imagination, and the extreme use of the environment were all so stunning that they even made people forget the peril involved.
"This bastard!"
Young Master Evil couldn’t quite describe his feelings: envy, shock, but also a trace of indescribable respect. Losing to someone like this didn’t seem like such a disgrace.
"Boy, leave the Enlightenment Fruit, or be prepared to die without a place to bury your body!"
Shi Xiaole’s actions quickly enraged the crowd, with nearly everyone setting their sights on him.
"If I want to leave, who among you can stop me?"
His body’s Sword Qi continued to escalate, Shi Xiaole didn’t even think before his sword swept up diagonally, slicing the incoming spear light in two. A figure was forced to retreat violently, his throat churning a few times before he managed to swallow the blood that surged up, his face filled with shock—it was none other than the astonished Tyrant Mysterious Spear Master.
At the same time, blade light, Sword Qi, fist shadows, and leg light one after another assaulted Shi Xiaole, almost drowning him.
But as fast as they were, Shi Xiaole was faster. As he wielded his sword, he was already soaring straight up. The Vigorous Air below him exploded in an instant, and the ground curled up like a carpet, thick and extending endlessly into the distance.
Using this storm, Shi Xiaole shifted horizontally, restrained his qi, and successfully obtained the third Enlightenment Fruit that was floating in the Vigorous Air.
Whoosh!
An Array System light screen suddenly appeared, surrounding everyone.
"Hmph, what does it matter if you snagged them? You’re just making a wedding dress for this Young Master."
Duan Changge sneered, having detected the presence of the Array System early on through his Array Detection Plate. To him, Shi Xiaole’s performance was as laughable as monkey tricks.
But his sneer had barely formed before it instantly froze.
Shi Xiaole, with a few casual sword swings, as if already familiar with the Array System and its vulnerabilities, easily passed through and flew off into the distance.
One against over twenty Seventh Tier and Eighth Tier experts, the pressure on Shi Xiaole couldn’t be said to be insignificant. If he really had to fight to the death, he would have to pay a huge price to kill them all—a needless expense.
And the situation didn’t allow for it either, because besides the Ninth Tier Earth Immortals lying in ambush, several other formidable presences were converging on this spot. He had to leave.
The heavens and earth suddenly brightened.
It was a punching fist glowing with light, seemingly brighter than the sun. Before it even got close, the fist’s power had already compressed the surrounding air into solid blocks. Trapped within, Shi Xiaole felt a pang of pain with every inch of his body; his Barrier Vigorous Air had already shattered.
Above the fist, Uncle Xu’s face was impassive.
He admitted that he had been mistaken, but what of it? A genius who hadn’t yet grown was ultimately hard to become significant. The blame could only be on the other party for not knowing how to restrain himself and inviting a major disaster.
Shi Xiaole was about to use his killing technique when he suddenly stopped.
"Young Hero Shi!"
A gentle palm force like a spring breeze swept through. It seemed soft, yet the unyielding fist, like a sand sculpture, began to erode at a visible rate, crumbling away.
It wasn’t until then that the familiar, moving voice finally reached Shi Xiaole’s ears. As he raised his head, Shi Xiaole quickly saw Pei Qiuyan, Qu Ni, and several other women.
The one who had just called out was Qu Ni, whom he had unexpectedly encountered at the Illusion Orchid Tower.
"Madam Xi, are you meddling in affairs that aren’t your concern?"
Uncle Xu dispelled the fog around him, his old face alternating between darkness and light.
Duan Changge’s expression was even more unsightly.
If it hadn’t been for the Illusion Orchid Tower’s intervention, Shi Xiaole would already be dead, and the remaining Enlightenment Fruits would have fallen into his hands. But he couldn’t have counted on this small difference that impacted the entire plan.
"Young Hero Shi has shown kindness to our Illusion Orchid Tower. How could I stand by and not save him? As for you, as an impressive Ninth Tier Earth Immortal, picking on a junior, what does that make you?"
The woman who spoke stood among the other women, appearing to be in her thirties, with a phoenix hairstyle, a delicate nose, and cherry lips. Her eyes moved with grace, dignified yet lively—a vision of allure.
Uncle Xu’s mouth twitched.
A Void Origin Realm Martial Emperor, rare as a phoenix feather or a unicorn horn, even among the four major forces, averaged only two or three each. Below that was the Ninth Tier Earth Immortal.
The woman before him, Madam Xi, was one of the outstanding figures among the Ninth Tier Earth Immortals, with terrifyingly powerful strength.
It was said that the master of the Illusion Orchid Tower had personally entered the Mirage Mountain Range, which meant that the remaining Void Origin Realm Martial Emperors must be guarding the Illusion Orchid Tower. Thus, Madam Xi was one of the main forces in this operation.
"You’d better scram."
Madam Xi looked coldly at Uncle Xu.
Defeating him wouldn’t be hard for her, but killing him would be challenging, so there was no need to fight.
"Hahaha, I think the ones who should scram are you from the Illusion Orchid Tower."
Just then, a ghostly mist drifted through the sky, seemingly incorporeal. Most peculiarly, when one’s mental power entered it, it would be ruthlessly devoured, with no way to probe within.
