Chapter 212: Chapter 197: The Demon Body Wields the Halberd (Part 2)
A unity of Form and Intent—this was the power of Harmony!
The Demon Lord wields his halberd, slaughtering all living things!
SLICE!
The Blood Halberd sliced through in an instant, moving with ultimate speed. Because of the Form and Intent Unity, the moment the attack was unleashed, the aura of Ye Jian Mountain’s Soul-Calming Rakshasa was the first thing severed by the enormous halberd.
His aura shattered, his Spirit took a blow, and a bone-chilling terror seized him!
Ye Jian Mountain’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. In that moment of hesitation, the Blood Halberd streaked across his neck, now as thick as a grown man’s waist.
SCHLICK!
With a soft sound, the Blood Halberd disintegrated, and Ye Jian Mountain froze in place.
After that single strike, Xiang Ji spun around. With a push of his feet, his massive form soared high into the air, leaving the courtyard without a moment’s hesitation.
Right now, his power was immense, but he couldn’t maintain this state for long. He had to eliminate as many invaders as he could.
He couldn’t waste a single second before he finally collapsed.
The instant Xiang Ji’s figure vanished from the courtyard...
THUD!
...Ye Jian Mountain’s enormous, hideous head suddenly tilted, tumbled to the ground, and rolled with a dull thumping sound. A torrent of hot blood erupted from the stump of his neck like a fountain, instantly staining the entire courtyard crimson.
The severed head’s mouth opened and closed, as if trying to speak, but no sound came out.
「Elsewhere.」
In another courtyard.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Within the confines of an active Array, a figure moved swiftly through the courtyard, seemingly treating the formation as if it weren’t there.
The figure wore a Neon Samurai Kimono, his entire face swathed in white bandages, giving him an exceptionally bizarre appearance.
It was Beichuan Cyan Wood of the Netherworld Thoughtless Style!
He cultivated the Sword Way, yet carried no weapon. His forearms were simply wrapped in a thin gauze, seemingly crafted from some special material.
In fact, it wasn’t just Beichuan Cyan Wood. For most Martial Artists who reached this Realm, the most common aid wasn’t a bladed weapon, but rather specialized gauntlets.
Once a Fist Technique reached a profound level of Gang Qi, the strength one could unleash barehanded was comparable to a bladed weapon. Besides, a weapon wasn’t part of the body; it couldn’t vibrate and resonate with the same freedom and was easily damaged when deflecting an opponent’s techniques and Force.
Thus, unless engaged in large-scale combat like a chaotic army battle where one needed to conserve stamina and avoid friendly fire from Gang Qi, bladed weapons were rarely used. In smaller skirmishes, experts of this caliber found fists and palms to be far more effective. A blade could hardly compare to specialized gauntlets crafted from Rare Beast Materials.
This was the Realm of "swordlessness surpasses the sword."
RIP! RIP!
As Beichuan Cyan Wood moved, whenever he ran into the Array’s light barrier, Sword Light would flash around his body, and his will and aura would instantly tear the obstruction apart.
By sealing his five senses and turning his mind inward, he had forged an exceptionally powerful Spirit. The Array’s influence had no effect on him.
WHOOSH!
But in the next instant, he abruptly froze, stopping in the middle of a courtyard. He advanced no further.
His aura and Spirit retracted in a flash. All signs of life in his body dropped to a bare minimum; it was as if his very heart had stopped beating.
In the blink of an eye, he had transformed from a living man into a corpse.
"Moving so freely inside the Array... I almost lost track of you."
A voice spoke, and then Zhao Yuan’s tall, powerful figure descended from above.
Numerous Wandering Dragons coiled around him, shrouding his body.
Golden light surged to the heavens. His aura was so immense he seemed like a king looking down upon his domain.
Each Wandering Dragon was the manifestation of a Secret Technique. Right now, a full thirty of them swirled around Zhao Yuan.
Thirty layered Secret Techniques!
This was the peak of Zhao Yuan’s power in his normal state. Pushing any further risked the Secret Techniques spiraling out of control.
He couldn’t afford a shred of carelessness against an opponent like Beichuan Cyan Wood. He had activated the power of thirty Secret Techniques the moment he began his pursuit.
"You chose Ye Jian Mountain to deal with Xiang Ji and Shechuan Ancient to deal with me. But you, Beichuan Cyan Wood, are the insurance policy among the Three Celestial Assassins. That means you believe you have a high chance of victory against either Xiang Ji or myself."
"Ever since Xiang Ji’s defeat, I too have faced skepticism. Everyone says that in all of Jinmen, only Zhao Xuanqi can turn the tide in a martial contest. I disagree."
"Even if Zhao Xuanqi had never appeared, I, Zhao Yuan, could still defeat all of you Three Celestial Assassins! You think you have intelligence on me, but how could you possibly know the true extent of my power?"
Zhao Yuan’s expression was calm. At the same time, his body trembled violently. As his muscles rippled, he struck several acupoints on his own body.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP!
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
Nine muffled thuds echoed from within his body. By the last one, it was no longer a thud, but a roar, like that of some great beast.
It was an incomparably majestic sound, as if nothing between heaven and earth could defy its might.
On top of the thirty Secret Techniques, Zhao Yuan activated another nine. Nine more Wandering Dragons instantly materialized, coiling around him.
With the appearance of these nine new Wandering Dragons, the aura around him seemed to undergo a qualitative transformation.
BOOM!
A pillar of golden light erupted toward the heavens. All the Wandering Dragons, like moths drawn to a flame, instantly merged into the golden aura. The aura then twisted and coiled, taking on an increasingly lifelike appearance.
A head like a camel, antlers like a deer, eyes like a rabbit, ears like an ox, a neck like a snake, a belly like a clam, scales like a carp, talons like an eagle, and paws like a tiger...
Three claws grew from its belly. Its body, shimmering with a majestic golden light, filled the entire courtyard as it coiled around Zhao Yuan. Its enormous head hovered high above, pressing down with a terrifying aura.
For a moment, the starlight Array filling the courtyard actually trembled, as if bowing before the might of this Golden Dragon.
The Three-Clawed Golden Dragon!
The Primordial Dragon Secret Technique was also known as the Nine-Nine Secret Techniques Unity. The fusion of ninety-nine Secret Techniques had forged the reputation of the strongest Divine General of the Primordial Dragon Emperor’s Dynasty.
The Great Qin Dynasty was established later. Had the Primordial Dragon Emperor not attempted to shatter the limits of a Divine General and reach an unprecedented realm, things might have been different. While trying to push the Primordial Dragon Secret Technique past the Nine-Nine Extreme Number, he made a fatal error. The balance of his Secret Techniques was utterly destroyed, and he suffered a horrific backlash, dying a sudden and violent death. Otherwise, who could say how the last two thousand years of the Divine Land’s history would have unfolded?
The Primordial Dragon Secret Technique is divided into three stages.
The Three-nine, the Six-nine, and the Nine-nine.
When the number of layered Secret Techniques reaches the "three-nine" threshold, the Primordial Dragon Secret Technique undergoes a massive transformation. The Wandering Dragons merge into one, forming the Three-Clawed Golden Dragon. At that point, one’s aura and body, Spirit and flesh, temporarily achieve a state of near-perfect, seamless union. Both body and Spirit are immensely liberated.
This is the power of Harmony!
The Three-nine Secret Skill. This was the strongest state Zhao Yuan had mastered, and it was his ultimate trump card. He had never once used it in the ring before.
Or rather, in all of Jinmen, there had never been an opponent worthy of forcing him to this extent—not even Xiang Ji!
"My time is short. So let me see what the Netherworld Thoughtless Style is truly made of!"
Zhao Yuan’s Qi and Blood surged to his face, turning it a deep, wine-red.
The Primordial Dragon Secret Technique was incredibly powerful, but the risks were equally immense. If the balance of the techniques was lost, the user would suffer a terrifying backlash and die violently without the enemy even needing to lift a finger. Even someone as mighty as the Primordial Dragon Emperor had died from such a backlash.
At his current level of strength, unleashing the Three-nine Secret Skill posed an enormous risk and demanded a tremendous toll.
Meanwhile, Beichuan Cyan Wood remained silent. Or rather, with his five senses mutilated, he was incapable of speech.
Under the terrifying pressure of the Golden Dragon looming overhead, his life force grew increasingly faint, increasingly still, as if fading into death.
And in that instant, Zhao Yuan moved.
ROAR!
The Golden Dragon roared. The very air churned, as if heaven and earth were collapsing.
And under that immense pressure, Beichuan Cyan Wood finally showed a change.
It was like a dormant seed, buried in solid rock, on a barren wasteland, or in a deep chasm, slowly cracking open its shell against all odds.
A transition from death to life, as if splitting heaven and earth.
BOOM!
In a burst of instantaneous power, a new aura flooded the courtyard. A sinister, gloomy energy filled the air, forcing the Golden Dragon’s imposing presence to recede by nearly half. The courtyard transformed into a ghastly Netherworld Realm, thick with the aura of death, where all life went to be extinguished.
Yet, at the center of this deathly realm, a bizarre flower suddenly blossomed. Its colors were enchanting, radiating a fatal beauty.
The Netherworld Thoughtless Style.
The Nether God Flower... had bloomed!
SWISH!
Beichuan Cyan Wood’s body vanished. A strand of impossibly bizarre Gang Qi seemed to sprout from the void itself, striking toward the Golden Dragon’s vital point.
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