Chapter 855: Chapter 854 Show of Force by the Ocean Wind_1
Before the fist mark had even been struck, the spiritual power of the Void Origin Realm already enabled Shi Xiaole to sense the crisis in advance. Utilizing Crossing the River with a Single Reed, he made a desperate effort to extract himself.
Boom!
The ground caved inwards, and a huge, pitch-black hole, several thousand kilometers in radius, suddenly took shape, spewing out surges of ghostly air from within.
Earth Immortals nearby were just touched by the ghostly air and immediately felt piercing pain as if seared by a hot iron. They quickly exerted their power to dispel it and did not stop retreating backwards, only halting tens of thousands of meters away.
"Boy, daring to meddle in the affairs of the Ghost King Ruins, I’ll make sure you die without a place to be buried,"
No one could describe the shock on the yellow-haired man’s face. He had lived for so many years and had never seen someone like Shi Xiaole, so even if it meant giving up Madam Xi, he had to kill the other party.
With things as they were, how could he let the other grow any further?
"Soul Transformation!"
With his gaze locked on Shi Xiaole, the yellow-haired man’s arms trembled violently. The Soul Summoning Banner vibrated at a frequency of dozens of times per breath, sending rings of space wrinkles rushing at Shi Xiaole. Within those wrinkles was a sinister force made up of countless vengeful intentions.
Sword threads trembled continuously, and a giant sword enveloped Shi Xiaole, but it only held up for a few breaths before it shattered loudly. The space wrinkles only used up thirty percent of their energy and continued to rush towards Shi Xiaole.
But by this time, Shi Xiaole had already flown sideways along the residual waves of the wrinkles, waving his long sword several times, each time unleashing his killer moves. Crossing the River with a Single Reed did not require breathing, nor did it consume internal power and could completely coordinate with the sword techniques.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As soon as the Sword Qi appeared, it was annihilated by the space wrinkles, seeming like futile efforts. But it was these repeated obstructions that bought Shi Xiaole a moment’s opportunity.
Life and death martial arts operated at full strength, instantly replenishing his qi and blood. Shi Xiaole turned into a streak of starlight shooting into the distance — the long-prepared Star Stab.
Star Stab was originally a killing move, but at this moment, he used it as a Flying Skill, instantly traveling several times faster than Crossing the River with a Single Reed.
As large swathes of mountaintops below shattered, the space wrinkles finally exhausted their energy, and the yellow-haired man’s pupils contracted ceaselessly.
Since when did a Ninth Tier Earth Immortal using a killing move fail to defeat a top Eighth Tier Earth Immortal?
"Is it not terrifying?"
"Unprecedented, it’s truly unprecedented."
The many Earth Immortals didn’t know what to say, only knowing that after today, the entire Rainbow State would be buzzing with the name of that young man in green.
Steadily landing on a rock, Shi Xiaole suppressed an upsurge of a sweet and fishy taste in his throat.
Despite his seemingly effortless fight, the killing move of a Ninth Tier Earth Immortal wasn’t so easily countered. Without life and death martial arts, he would have either died or been severely injured.
Nevertheless, if the opponent were to strike several more times, Shi Xiaole wouldn’t be able to withstand it.
"Soul Locking Heaven Binding Technique, come to me!"
With ferocity gleaming in his eyes, the yellow-haired man’s body turned into a mass of yellow mucus, entangling the Soul Summoning Banner. Waves of fluctuations, invisible to the naked eye and faster than the speed of sound, emanated out and assaulted Shi Xiaole.
Just as Shi Xiaole was about to use his killing technique, a beam of sword light suddenly appeared in the middle, exuding overwhelming Sword Qi. As it collided with the fluctuations, both forces simultaneously shattered into nothingness.
"Who is it?"
The yellow-haired man roared in fury.
"I, Zhan Liye."
The sword light gradually shrank until it transformed into a handsome, black-haired man with a middle-parted hairstyle.
"So it’s the young suzerain of the Ten Sword Sect. Dare to interfere with the affairs of the Ghost King Ruins, can the Ten Sword Sect afford the consequences?"
The yellow-haired man cursed internally; without this interruption, he was confident he could have quickly defeated Shi Xiaole.
"Shi Xiaole is a member of my Ten Sword Sect, how can Zhan Liye turn a blind eye?"
Zhan Liye’s eyes were calm, but his heart was anything but.
He could never have imagined encountering the Shi Xiaole whom he had seen only once by chance and had even witnessed become an Elder of the Ten Sword Sect, possessing such an extraordinary talent.
It was a special kind of fate indeed.
Before stepping in, Zhan Liye considered the potential consequences, but he knew if his father were here, he would definitely not stand by and let Shi Xiaole be killed.
"Hahaha, this kid has killed many of our Ghost King Ruins’ experts. You should have stayed out of this, but now that your identity is clear, once this is over, my Ghost King Ruins will surely pay a visit to the Ten Sword Sect!"
No sooner had the yellow-haired man finished than Madam Xi had already started mocking from afar: "With the power of your Ghost King Ruins, you can’t turn the heavens. If you dare to touch us, my Illusion Orchid Tower will also repay today’s great kindness and favor!"
This statement was tantamount to telling everyone that the Ten Sword Sect had the backing of the Illusion Orchid Tower.
With a grimace, the yellow-haired man charged towards Zhan Liye, and the two immediately began a fierce battle.
As a famed sword prodigy, the eighty-six-year-old Zhan Liye had already become a Ninth Tier Earth Immortal. Each move packed with fierce Sword Qi, he put the yellow-haired man at a loss within a short period of time.
At the same time, a grey-faced elder who had always followed behind Zhan Liye took action as well. Also a Ninth Tier Earth Immortal, the two of them together began to press the yellow-haired man into a disadvantageous position.
Not intending to entangle the Ten Sword Sect, Shi Xiaole could not help but feel guilty.
But in the Martial World, one cannot always have control, and he could not just watch his friend get killed. Fortunately, Madam Xi had already made her stance clear, so he believed that the Ghost King Ruins would not dare to mess with the Ten Sword Sect.
For now, what he could do was to try his best to end this battle.
Glancing across the battlefield, Shi Xiaole took the lead and attacked three top Eighth Tier Earth Immortals, who were fiercely attacking the Four-Body Sword Formation. Two of them had previously been lucky to escape from his sword.
"You dare!"
An Earth Immortal at the peak of the Ninth Tier, who was attacking Fairy Yunni, launched an angry strike, only to be caught by a prepared old man with a grey face.
Swish, swish.
With murderous intent surging in his heart, ten moves later, Shi Xiaole beheaded three top Eighth Tier Earth Immortals.
"Senior Brother Shi, thank you."
Zhang Xiaoting gazed deeply at the imposing and unrivaled Shi Xiaole. How could one person impart such profound shock to others?
"I’ll go help Senior Sister An, you all coordinate."
Leaving those words behind, Shi Xiaole once again charged at the Ugly Ghost King.
"Courting death!"
Feeling an intense wave of humiliation, the Ugly Ghost King tapped into his power beyond his normal limit, frantically striking at An Rumei with one hand while ferociously grabbing towards Shi Xiaole with the other, conjuring layers of palm imprints.
Wielding his swords with both hands, Shi Xiaole executed a Wind Calamity Strike, splitting some of the palm imprints while using the momentum to circle around to the Ugly Ghost King’s back.
"Fool, you’ve fallen into my trap, Wan Ku Great Evil Hand!"
Roaring triumphantly in his heart, the Ugly Ghost King’s face twisted viciously; he had only used half his strength in the previous attacks, aiming specifically to lure Shi Xiaole closer.
With a thought, the Ugly Ghost King’s skin suddenly became transparent, revealing the blood vessels, tendons, and even the internal organs within, all clearly visible.
A white, needle-like beam of light surged from the soles of his feet to his head, then traveled to his palm and split into two rays shooting towards An Rumei and Shi Xiaole.
In an instant, an infinite power of decay spread in all directions, and upon contact, it devoured much of the protective Vigorous Air around An Rumei and Shi Xiaole.
"Sky-Raising Tree Kill!"
Vibrant life force clashed against the power of bone decay; An Rumei swung with all her might, sending dense strands of sword silk radiating outwards, branching and spreading out, forming a towering tree that reached for the sky.
An Rumei was confident in this move to counter the Ugly Ghost King’s power, but she was truly worried about Shi Xiaole.
Although Shi Xiaole was powerful, efficient in dealing with equals even more than some ordinary Ninth Tier Earth Immortals, it didn’t mean he truly reached that level.
Battle skills magnified his power to the utmost, but true strength was true strength, something no technique could compensate for.
An Rumei’s gaze fell upon Shi Xiaole, and then, all of a sudden, it locked in place.
Facing the incessant power of bone decay, instead of retreating, Shi Xiaole casually thrust forward with his sword, a textbook movement but seemingly lacking in force.
But in the next moment.
Amidst a hissing sound, sword shadows abruptly appeared, multiplying from one to ten, from ten to a hundred... Some sword shadows changed rapidly, some moved as slow as snails, all without any discernible pattern. Amidst the endless sword shadows, a faint point of light flickered, hovering between the act of thrusting and not thrusting.
In the blink of an eye, most of the sword shadows had dissipated, but a third of the bone decay strength had also been depleted. That point of light suddenly brightened, seeming to string together the remaining sword shadows, piercing in overlapping layers, fast and slow, casting thousands of rays of light.
Boom...
The heavens trembled violently, shaking without end.
Two figures flew backward simultaneously; one of them retreated hundreds of meters, the only sign of discomfort being a slight internal turbulence, revealing none other than Shi Xiaole.
As he expected, the might of the Ocean of Wind proved indeed far surpassing the Wind Calamity Strike and was even above the Controlling Sword with Qi Skill, especially in terms of profound subtlety, gaining an advantage over the Ugly Ghost King’s technique and somewhat compensating for the deficit in power.
Of course, a major reason he could injure the Ugly Ghost King was that his foe was facing two opponents at once, with An Rumei bearing a considerable part of the pressure.
"Puh!"
A mouthful of blood spurted out, the Ugly Ghost King’s eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
His secret technique, Wan Ku Great Evil Hand, was powerful enough to suppress An Rumei’s Sky-Raising Tree Kill. His only miscalculation was underestimating the dreadfulness of Shi Xiaole’s technique, which almost matched the Sky-Raising Tree Kill, and that was only because of Shi Xiaole’s lower cultivation level.
If the cultivation levels were the same, the Ugly Ghost King feared he would have been sliced into a dry corpse by that sword strike.
Hiss!
An Rumei stood in midair, her chest heaving with each breath.
Even though she’d repeatedly revised her assessment of Shi Xiaole, she was nonetheless astonished by his sword strike from just moments before.
Shi Xiaole’s existence seemed to be heaven’s way of proving to people that imagination could only confine the ordinary, and to Shi Xiaole, who then wasn’t ordinary?
The so-called rules, truths, and limits were all jokes in his presence; there was nothing impossible, only things unimagined.
"Among heroes, he shines through the ages," thought Fairy Yunni, finding these eight characters to be the best interpretation of Shi Xiaole.
The crowd surrounding them had long since become numb, a numbness of being overly shocked, unsure how to describe their feelings.
Clack, clack, clack...
At Shi Xiaole’s signal, An Rumei swiftly snapped out of her reverie, and together they attacked the Ugly Ghost King. The latter screamed and cursed in frustration, but after more than twenty moves, An Rumei decapitated him with a sword strike.
Before long, Fairy Yunni also gained the upper hand against her opponent, forcing them into a disgraceful retreat after several fierce exchanges. Turning to aid Madam Xi, once the Ninth Void Ghost King saw the tables turn, he dared not linger and fled like smoke.
Seeing this, other powerhouses from Ghost King Ruins also scattered in retreat.
