Chapter 850: Chapter 849: The Encounter_1
The bearded man waved his hand, and Shi Xiaole left the first pavilion, continuing towards the unknown ahead.
Even after he had walked far away, Shi Xiaole still felt somewhat dazed. Had he really just passed the challenge like that?
The previous information kept tumbling through his mind. After thinking for a very long time, he suddenly let out a carefree smile and silently said to himself, "Why should I be obsessed? Let the future take care of the future."
Feeling relaxed, Shi Xiaole immediately sensed that the Demon Bone inside him had become even more brilliant. Within the dark gray, many strands of silver light had emerged and were continuously multiplying.
He did not know what this would cause, nor was he able to stop this change; he could only wait and see.
Time passed, and eventually, a forest appeared in front of him.
The forest stood out eerily against the night sky, but what was even more striking was that it was made of bones—trunks formed by skeletal frames and branches were accumulations of white bone skulls.
This must be the second barrier!
Sensing Shi Xiaole’s approach, the empty sockets of the white bone skulls flickered with scarlet flames. Swirls of gray and white auras intertwined in the Bone Forest like countless wandering vengeful spirits, eagerly surging into Shi Xiaole’s body.
Shi Xiaole quickly unleashed a sword strike with all his might, but the sword, imbued with his full strength, only managed to repel dozens of gray-white auras before they rushed back with even greater ferocity.
He wanted to dodge, but the air around him had become frighteningly thick, slowing his movements to a fraction of his usual speed. In an instant, numerous gray-white auras surrounded Shi Xiaole.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Rivers of resentment, hatred, and viciousness barraged Shi Xiaole’s consciousness, testing even his Void Origin level spiritual power to its limits.
If one could see with X-ray vision, one would observe that his sea of consciousness, under the relentless storm-like assaults, resembled a crumbling mountain range—first, countless small stones tumbled down, followed by imminent splits across the mountain face.
Step by step, he advanced. The length of the Bone Forest was unknown, but just a few steps in, Shi Xiaole already felt despair and nearly gave up.
After all, he could not let himself be lost just for the sake of passing a challenge.
"The moment of utmost crisis has yet to arrive."
Swordsmen are resolute, fearless in the face of all challenges. Shi Xiaole was a swordsman among swordsmen, whose unwavering will could not be shaken, no matter how daunting the obstacle.
He wanted to catch up to the figure ahead, to clear the doubts in his heart. As long as he could hold on for one more second, he would never give up!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
His sea of consciousness quaked relentlessly, with pain a hundred times worse than a spike driven into the brain causing Shi Xiaole to convulse. In this place where power was restricted, he was no different from an ordinary person.
But his steps did not stop.
"Slash!"
Above the sea of consciousness, the green small sword entangled with gray-white auras rang out, yearning to unsheathe its verdant edge. The lake of illusory auras roiled, seeking to submerge the gray-white auras.
But it was the Taiji Yin-Yang Plate, which represents the martial path of life and death, that first succeeded in resisting.
As if sensing its master’s peril, it spun at a speed far surpassing its norm. Strand after strand of gray-white aura was obliterated by it, followed by a second, a third, and so on...
In the end, the Taiji Yin-Yang Plate, like a swirling vortex, continuously devoured the surrounding gray-white auras, growing ever more powerful itself!
As the pressure decreased, both the green small sword and the lake of illusory auras were also able to successfully revolt, and Shi Xiaole gradually woke from his agonized stupor.
A quarter of a 2-hour period.
Two quarters of a 2-hour period.
When he had survived three quarters of a 2-hour period, the martial path of life and death roared, advancing from the early stage of three-tenths to the mid-stage of three-tenths, and it was still crazily devouring the gray-white auras.
The gray-white auras, now the victims, scrambled to disperse, fleeing chaotically, but they could not escape the pull of the martial path of life and death.
One 2-hour period.
Two 2-hour periods.
Shi Xiaole saw the end of the Bone Forest, and by then, the nearest gray-white aura was ten zhang away. After struggling to absorb another strand, the martial path of life and death suddenly advanced to the late stage of three-tenths!
But to consume any more was almost impossible.
Letting out a long breath, Shi Xiaole walked unhindered through the Bone Forest. Along the way, he did not encounter any fresh corpses. The City Lord of Four Directions City must have also succeeded.
"Interesting, he actually made it past the second barrier?"
In the first hexagonal pavilion, the bearded man sensed something and a trace of sharpness flitted across his eyes.
In truth, there were some things he had not disclosed.
Although individuals from the lands beyond the sky had been compelled to create three outposts of the outer night, to prevent the people of this world from returning, the tests were deliberately made extremely challenging.
Even the unparalleled geniuses from the realms beyond struggled to pass these tests.
It was hard to imagine that a boy at the Divine Barrier Realm could actually make it through the second barrier.
Navigating through the night, Shi Xiaole did not forget to sense his martial path of life and death. Indeed, after ascending two minor realms, its conversion efficiency had doubled in speed from before.
Shi Xiaole originally estimated that it would take at least a year for the three major martial paths to advance in unison through mutual conversion. Now, it seemed this timeframe could be brought forward.
Before he could revel in this prospect, a martial stage thousands of zhang in length and width lay ahead. Shi Xiaole’s glance swept over it, and he immediately noticed seven statues in the center of the stage.
The seven statues, both male and female with varying appearances and attire, stood distinctively; some held swords, others knives, some brandished whips, while a few stood empty-handed, all appearing vividly life-like.
"Please select one to challenge, the time is one stick of incense."
An empty and cold voice echoed in his ear.
Shi Xiaole observed carefully.
Seven statues, with the one in the middle undoubtedly being the leader, also had the deepest and most immeasurable aura. Shi Xiaole had reason to believe that challenging different statues would bring different consequences.
Fortune favored the brave, and Shi Xiaole brandished his sword towards the statue in the center.
Boom!
The statue lifted its hand, clenching both hands together and crushing the sword’s radiance.
The long sword quivered violently, and Shi Xiaole burst forth like a startled swan, endless Sword Qi converging into a giant tornado, enveloping the statue within it, slicing thousands of times.
Crack.
The giant tornado halted, shattered, and the statue appeared beside Shi Xiaole on his right, its large hand shooting out swiftly. The myriad hand shadows were faster than lightning, more fierce than the storm, almost tearing the void apart.
"True Intent Martial Arts?"
After executing a move of Wuji, Shi Xiaole took advantage of the momentum to swiftly retreat, barely concealing the shock in his heart.
Though it was just two moves, how could Shi Xiaole fail to see that the statue’s reflexes were not inferior to his own, and the power of its True Intent Martial Arts was enough to make warriors of the same tier bow their heads in respect.
Was this the creation of a world beyond, or something else?
Shi Xiaole could never have imagined that in the same space, just in another location, a man dressed in blue with a golden mask and a dignified air, was facing off against a swordsman statue.
And the supreme techniques displayed by the swordsman statue, even the countermeasures, were exactly the same as those Shi Xiaole had just encountered!
"Wuji!"
With all his might, Shi Xiaole struck down with both hands. Empowered by sixty-six strands of Heart Sword energy, this swing seemed to split heaven and earth asunder, the void expanding backward, dragging out ripples.
The statue had only one palm strike. With that strike, heaven and earth seemed to be encapsulated within its palm, and the Sword Qi condensed into a ball, which it lightly crumbled.
The man followed the sword’s motion, Shi Xiaole suddenly intruded into the statue’s range of Qi sensitivity, his strength condensed to the utmost limit, manifesting in a seemingly slow but rapid sword burst.
Time and space stood still, the Sword Qi yet to arrive but the sword light had already pierced through, entering the flaw in the statue’s technique.
Wind Mastery!
With Shi Xiaole’s current level of prowess, challenging all the top Eighth Tier Earth Immortals in the world, it would be hard to find a few who could withstand his consecutive strikes.
However, the statue remained unmoved. Only when the sword light was about to touch its body did a fine, subtle fluctuation stir, at last blocking it.
The man in blue was like an intangible ghost, arriving behind the swordsman statue and striking out nonchalantly. From evasion to counterattack, his Qi didn’t move in the slightest, as if he had always been right there.
Light Dream Traceless!
This was the name of a movement technique, a question of dream and reality. Which is true and which is false? Just like this move, it already blurred the concept of true and false, reality and illusion. True becomes false, false turns true—how could the opponent block or evade it?
"True is true, false is false. Others may be deceived, but one cannot deceive oneself."
Trapped under the enveloping palm force, Shi Xiaole’s body rotated, thrusting his sword toward the emptiness before him.
Swish.
There, the body of the statue materialized.
"Eh?"
A hint of surprise flashed in the eyes of the man in blue.
Light Dream Traceless was his dream as well as his opponent’s, so if the opponent realized their own mental weakness, they would have an opportunity to break his technique.
But theory is just theory. In practice, who can think that quickly and have such strong control?
A sense of excitement long missed rose in his heart. The man in blue’s hands moved like flying, the endless palm shadows pouring down like torrential rain, each point representing the apex of force, yet each point changing due to another, leaving no room for defense.
Clang clang clang...
Shi Xiaole’s sword grew faster and faster, each attempt at wielding the Wind Mastery was thwarted by the statue’s palm force, not through brute strength. Within the same tier, no one’s prowess could surpass Shi Xiaole’s by twenty percent, but the actual situation was even more shocking.
The statue relied on skill, defeating the Wind Mastery with skill!
Since his debut, it had always been Shi Xiaole defeating opponents with skill, never had anyone suppressed him with the same. But from this statue, Shi Xiaole felt such pressure.
Excitement, eagerness, he almost forgot the purpose of this encounter, throwing himself wholeheartedly into this peak battle that, if known to the Martial World, would be seen as a classic by countless Earth Immortals for a lifetime.
Shi Xiaole’s hands were no longer hands, they were the pulse of the sword; the sword was no longer a sword, it was an extension of the hand. Under the pressure of the palm shadows, his strikes became faster than before, more accurate than before. From initially blocking one palm shadow with a sword strike, he progressed to blocking ten, then twenty.
The man in blue finally used his second hand, clapping both hands together, turning the void into a white expanse. Every inch was filled with linked and dense palm power, pulling one strand and moving the whole.
If the previous single palm made all the top Eighth Tier Earth Immortals lose hope, then the current double palms, not just one top Eighth Tier Earth Immortal, but even two or three Erath Immortals would fall together into a situation of Death Without Life.
Zzt!
With eyes like lightning, Shi Xiaole didn’t retreat or block with multiple sword strikes as he did before. His right hand swept upward in a slant, then he slashed downward, executing only two swords.
Two intersecting sword lights rushed into the white palm force, and the intersecting Sword Qi hit the first palm force point. The first palm force point touched the second, like falling dominoes; amidst the cracking sound of impacts, the palm force disintegrated on its own.
