Chapter 974: Chapter 973: Battle with Wudao Xuan (Part 2)_1
The scene suddenly became silent, as silent as death.
Although the whole process happened very quickly, since no one present was an ordinary person, they were still able to analyze the confrontation between the two prodigies through the afterimages.
The outcome was actually that Shi Xiaole had the upper hand?!
Given Wudao Xuan’s self-importance and condescending attitude, this result inexplicably made all the Void Origin Realm Martial Emperors from the Martial World of Daxia feel embarrassed.
Especially Shi Xiaole’s words, which felt like a slap fiercely delivered on Wudao Xuan’s face, as well as on the faces of those who supported Wudao Xuan and looked down on Shi Xiaole.
"Hahaha, indeed, not just anyone is qualified to compete with Young Master Shi. Before that, some people should look in the mirror."
This scene made Yan San especially jubilant, and he laughed heartily with great relief.
Yan Da and Yan Er, although not as exaggerated, also couldn’t hide their smiles.
Being martial artists of Daxia, they often had to face persecution and indifference. Yet, it was Shi Xiaole who stood by their side, and they had long regarded him as one of their own.
Wudao Xuan’s expression did not change, he only coldly spat out one word: "Fight!"
In an instant, the Wind Rises and Clouds Surge, lightning flashed, and thunder roared, as a powerful and boundless natural aura swept over Shi Xiaole like a tsunami.
With the Spring Fury Sword pointing forward, Shi Xiaole met the challenge head-on.
Bang!
The sky trembled dramatically, and light fissures appeared simultaneously, not spreading out in a spider web pattern, but instead like pre-embedded lines, dividing the void into countless regular squares.
This meant that the control of the two prodigies had reached the pinnacle, and even when encountering a formidable adversary, their auras were still not the slightest bit disordered. It also proved that the power of both was approaching the limits of the Human Realm Martial Emperor.
"Wind and Rain Expedited!"
Gale-force winds and torrential rains alternated; each gust and each droplet was an extremely condensed Vigorous Air, possessing the terrifying power to penetrate through a hundred layers of waves, rushing densely towards Shi Xiaole.
"Wind Fury!"
Without dodging or avoiding, Shi Xiaole had only one sword, and with one swing, countless sword threads turned into twisters, like many meat grinders churning together, emitting a tingling crunching noise. With each moment, it collided with the fierce winds and heavy rain countless times. One could only see that the sparks formed covered a radius of fifty thousand meters, forcing the onlookers to retreat and tacitly provide the battlefield.
This was the third time Shi Xiaole crossed swords with Wudao Xuan. The first time, he had held back a lot, and the second, he missed due to saving Uncle Wang. This time, Shi Xiaole had no intention of hiding his skill.
At this stage, excessive modesty was unnecessary. All Shi Xiaole needed to do was to completely defeat the opponent, not for the dignity of the Martial Worlds of the two great dynasties, but for himself and for the Yan family.
Whoosh.
A layer of illusionary aura, misty like smoke, had replaced the natural aura and the Wind Sword Way before the remaining force had even dissipated, spreading recklessly in all directions.
Some Void Origin Realm Martial Emperors merely glanced at it before they felt dizzy, as if they were about to fall into an endless illusion, never to wake up again.
"Early stage of ten levels of mastery, no, midstage of ten levels of Illusion Martial Way, my God!"
"How is it possible, how did he do it?"
If a person could understand a top-notch martial art to ten and a half levels of mastery by the age of sixty, or a semi-Supreme Martial Arts to the midstage of ten levels of mastery, even describing them as having a prodigious talent would be an understatement.
Wudao Xuan was such a person.
But at this moment, he was completely overshadowed by Shi Xiaole. Who would have thought that while mastering the Wind Sword Way to the midstage of ten levels of mastery, Shi Xiaole had also understood the Illusion Martial Way to the same level?
This man’s talent was utterly outrageous!
"How could such trivial techniques affect me?"
Wudao Xuan’s eyebrows raised sharply, and under the enhancement of the natural martial arts, the illusionary aura rushing toward him rapidly melted away like snow in hot soup.
On the same level, semi-Supreme Martial Arts were enough to crush top-notch martial arts. But Wudao Xuan barely had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief before he felt dizzy, and his movements involuntarily slowed down.
"Not good!"
The Wind Thunder Blade Queen cried out urgently.
She could clearly see that the illusionary aura had not disappeared but had instead gone from visible to invisible, merging into the natural martial arts. The Wind Thunder Blade Queen could not understand why Shi Xiaole’s Illusion Martial Way was so powerful.
What she didn’t know was that Shi Xiaole’s spiritual power was unparalleled, and when combined with the Illusion Martial Way, its potency was no less than that of the Wind Sword Way.
"Wind Wound!"
Not letting the opportunity slip by, while performing the Ten Residences Mahayana Skill, Shi Xiaole raised his long sword high. Under the astonished expressions of the onlookers, the Illusion Martial Way swiftly transformed into the Wind Sword Way, cleaving down with force.
Bang...
The natural illusion was shattered, and Wudao Xuan’s body uncontrollably retreated thousands of meters, his face finally darkened.
He was just one step away, just one step away from getting hurt. Had his reaction not been swift, he would have almost been defeated by Shi Xiaole under the watchful eyes of all.
Since when had he ever endured such humiliation and disgrace since his birth?
"I am unbeatable, the universe is in my hands!"
With fiery eyes, Wudao Xuan raised his left hand in a fist seal and his right hand in a finger seal, striking out with both simultaneously.
What was different this time was that the fist seal transformed into Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, while the finger seal turned into wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. As soon as these two vastly different forces mixed, they changed the color of the sky and earth, and struck fiercely at Shi Xiaole.
This was no simple feat of multitasking, but a simultaneous transformation into various martial ways through the art of natural martial arts. The crowd couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment—was such a thing even possible for a human to achieve?
Even if it was merely a transformation, without a profound understanding of multiple martial ways, how could one execute them?
Now, even Yan Yuchai, Yan Da, and others frowned. Without a doubt, Wudao Xuan lived up to his reputation, as the technique he now used was far beyond what he had displayed earlier.
But what was even more shocking came next.
Facing the onslaught of Wudao Xuan, Shi Xiaole swung his sword with his left hand, using the Wind Tribulation Sword Technique, while his right hand struck out with palm strikes, driven by the Illusion Martial Way’s Ten Residences Mahayana Skill.
If Wudao Xuan used one martial way to simulate several others, then Shi Xiaole was genuinely executing two martial ways at the same time.
Boom!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In just a moment’s breath, the sky exploded countless times.
The two figures flickered now to the left, now to the right—one moment the sky was filled with illusory shadows, the next the air would abruptly clear. Three distinct yet equally powerful martial spirits collided incessantly, bursting into blossoms of Daoist charm.
The audience could scarcely keep up with their movements. Though it seemed only a brief moment, it felt as if a very long time had passed. In fact, this perception wasn’t wrong.
For an ordinary Void Origin Realm Martial Emperor, unleashing hundreds of moves in an instant was no difficult task, and for masters like Shi Xiaole and Wudao Xuan, thousands of moves were commonplace. So, while the exchange appeared short, they had actually exchanged several thousand moves.
"Wudao Xuan, can he win against the Kirin?"
Earth Destroyer Knife Emperor crossed his arms, a blade lying horizontally on his chest, watching intently, while the equally engrossed Yinyang Martial Emperor stood by his side.
Yinyang Martial Emperor seemed not to hear him and after a moment, shook his head and said with a wry smile, "My Yinyang Mystery Perception doesn’t work against someone who surpasses me, so I can’t judge. However, Wudao Xuan still has many tricks up his sleeve, and the Kirin has many cards to play as well. I think it’s about fifty-fifty."
"Fifty-fifty?"
Earth Destroyer Knife Emperor squinted his eyes, but even with all his effort, he was unable to fully discern the intricacies of the clash between the two supreme talents.
"Day Tribulation of Heaven!"
In the sky, the dissipated energy of the natural martial way suddenly converged, forming a blood-red sun, with Wudao Xuan standing below, continuously channeling his power into it and flinging it at Shi Xiaole with a sweep of his hand.
Crack, crack, crack...
Like an iron ball smashing into a glass space, the fabric of the void became exceedingly fragile under the impact of the blood-red sun.
"What a powerful killing move!"
Even from fifty thousand meters away, the crowd could still feel the intense trembling around them, indicating that the power of this move radiated beyond fifty thousand meters.
"This is one of the Young Master’s three series of killing moves. Let’s see how you block it—even if you manage to withstand the first one, you’ll definitely not be able to block the following two."
A smirk formed on the Wind Thunder Blade Queen’s lips.
Aside from her and Elder Pu, probably no one knew that Wudao Xuan’s mentor, the legendary figure from the Daxia dynasty, had once engaged in a battle with Wudao Xuan at the same realm.
One should know that even if such a being suppressed their realm, they could not negate the advantages that come with a higher realm. Yet under such conditions, they couldn’t smoothly catch the three continuous moves either. Afterwards, they even exclaimed that this technique could rank within the top ten among the human level moves.
What did that mean?
One must realize that the human rankings recorded all the human-level killing moves from the Daxia dynasty over thousands of years, most of which came from sect heritages. Only with continuous improvement from generation to generation of Void Origin Realm Martial Emperors could a killing move approach perfection.
Being ranked within the top ten was almost synonymous with invincibility within the realm.
Yet, these three continuous moves were Wudao Xuan’s own creation! The Wind Thunder Blade Queen knew even better that after his experience at the Heaven King Tomb, Wudao Xuan’s enlightenment had deepened, naturally increasing the power of the three continuous moves.
She didn’t believe Shi Xiaole could withstand them.
"Wind God Dance!"
As the blood-red sun bore down, Shi Xiaole, not daring to be careless, turned his sword into a tornado and employed the strongest form of the Wind Tribulation Sword Technique.
Amidst the deafening noise, the blood-red sun was split in two, but at that exact moment, the two halves of the sun stretched out abruptly, transforming into crescent moons that slashed at Shi Xiaole with even greater speed.
In that sudden turn of events, before ninety percent of the onlookers could react, the two sharp crescent moons had already reached Shi Xiaole’s eyes, slicing him in twain.
Even before the cries of alarm could rise.
Right by Wudao Xuan’s side, Shi Xiaole reappeared, unleashing another Wind God Dance, instantly enveloping Wudao Xuan.
It was the third form of the Great Illusionary Formless Sword, Half Inch Mirror.
"Day and Moon Circle!"
Just as Wudao Xuan seemed about to fall, at that critical moment, from intangible to tangible, the natural energy materialized—a blood sun in the sky and a crescent moon on the ground, shining simultaneously on Wudao Xuan, skyrocketing his momentum in an instant to an astoundingly formidable level. Barely approaching, the sword Qi was almost immediately weakened by half by this aura.
"What?!"
Standing beside the Wood Empress, Limitless Dao Emperor couldn’t help but feel alarmed.
With his discerning eyes, he could easily tell that this technique was perfectly in sync with Wudao Xuan, and it must be his own creation. What was most inconceivable was that this technique’s profound mysteries even surpassed the human-level killing moves he had created.
Perhaps, it qualified to challenge the top ten?
It was unthinkable that someone who hadn’t yet reached the Void Origin Realm could do this—how could this be blocked?
