Chapter 593: One Slash to End It All
Nie Fengzhuo wanted to end everything with this one final move.
If he can’t defeat Bai Zihan with this, then he has nothing left.
Though he also knew that after using this attack, his Qi would be depleted, so there was really nothing he could do even if he wanted to.
Qi began surging toward his sword madly.
The surrounding space trembled faintly as enormous amounts of qi gathered around Nie Fengzhuo’s sword.
Meanwhile, Bai Zihan simply stood quietly in place.
He made no attempt to interrupt him.
Normally, allowing an opponent time to gather power like this would be foolish.
Against true experts, such an opening would often determine victory or defeat instantly.
But Bai Zihan did not care. There was no need.
More importantly, he also wished to see just how far a three-star Heaven Chosen like Nie Fengzhuo could truly go.
The crimson glow within Bai Zihan’s eyes deepened slightly.
Across from him, Nie Fengzhuo’s aura continued rising endlessly.
The sword in his hand began trembling violently.
Cracks spread beneath his feet.
Even the surrounding space started showing signs of instability.
Then, Nie Fengzhuo suddenly opened his eyes.
"ABSOLUTE SEVERANCE!!!"
A monstrous sword beam erupted forward instantly.
Compared to the previous time he used this technique, the difference was heaven and earth.
The moment the strike appeared, the entire training ground shook violently.
A terrifying destructive aura swept across the heavens.
Even space itself seemed to crack apart beneath the attack.
Black fissures faintly appeared along the path of the sword beam.
Patriarch Xue’s pupils contracted instantly.
A trace of dread appeared within his eyes.
(If that attack were aimed at me...)
His expression turned grave.
(I might not be able to block it.)
He, a Great Ascension Realm expert, felt threatened by a Void Refinement Realm attack.
Well, he wasn’t embarrassed about that at all. After all, even the Great Ascension experts from the Crimson Thunder Palace had been defeated by Nie Fengzhuo before.
Though he still didn’t understand why Nie Fengzhuo hadn’t increased his cultivation to the Great Ascension Realm like he did when facing those elders from the Crimson Thunder Palace.
Although he felt that even if Nie Fengzhuo did increase his cultivation further, it didn’t seem like the result would change.
At the side, Nie Yuanfeng stared proudly at his son.
Even Nie Qingyu’s eyes sparkled brightly with excitement.
Clearly, Nie Fengzhuo had grown even stronger during the time they had not seen him.
Bai Zihan finally moved.
However, he still did not unleash any grand technique nor erupt with overwhelming cultivation.
Instead, Bai Zihan simply raised the Eternal Spirit Sword calmly.
A terrifying Sword Intent silently gathered around the blade.
Then—
He slashed forward casually.
A simple sword slash.
Nothing flashy.
Nothing overwhelming in appearance.
The two attacks collided instantly.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
For a brief moment, the heavens themselves seemed to freeze.
One side carried monstrous destructive force capable of splitting apart space itself.
The other was merely a simple sword slash.
Yet, the outcome was decided instantly.
CRACK!!!
Nie Fengzhuo’s Absolute Severance shattered apart violently.
No, it was completely obliterated.
The destructive sword beam collapsed layer by layer before Bai Zihan’s slash.
And Bai Zihan’s sword qi did not stop there.
It continued forward directly toward Nie Fengzhuo.
Nie Fengzhuo’s expression changed drastically.
He immediately raised his sword to defend.
BOOM!!!
The impact exploded violently.
Nie Fengzhuo was sent flying backward like a cannonball.
His body smashed heavily against the distant wall of the training grounds.
The entire wall cracked apart instantly.
Dust exploded everywhere.
The entire arena fell deathly silent.
Moments later—
"Cough!"
Nie Fengzhuo slowly emerged from the rubble.
Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
His arms trembled slightly from the impact.
However, the attack had clearly not been fatal.
Nie Fengzhuo’s eyes held disbelief. He gave everything, every last bit of him, and it couldn’t compare to a single slash from Bai Zihan.
Bai Zihan had used only a single attack, and that alone was enough to end the fight then and there.
Nie Fengzhuo slowly steadied himself against the shattered wall.
Blood still dripped faintly from the corner of his lips.
Yet compared to the physical pain, the shock within his heart was far greater.
The entire training ground had already fallen into absolute silence.
Not only Nie Fengzhuo, everyone present was equally stunned.
Moments earlier, many had begun believing Nie Fengzhuo could finally force Bai Zihan to reveal his true strength.
Especially after breaking through all the way into the Void Refinement Realm.
Especially after unleashing that terrifying Absolute Severance capable of making even Patriarch Xue feel dread.
For a moment, hope had appeared within countless people’s hearts.
But reality shattered that hope mercilessly.
One slash!
That was all Bai Zihan needed to bring everyone back to reality.
This was Bai Zihan.
The invincible figure of the Empire.
An existence whose strength seemed completely unfathomable.
Even someone as monstrous as Nie Fengzhuo— a Heaven Chosen who continuously created miracles and defeated impossible opponents—still could not do much against Bai Zihan.
At the edge of the arena, Nie Qingyu stood frozen completely.
The excitement and confidence from earlier had vanished entirely.
One moment, she had believed her brother would finally defeat Bai Zihan and reclaim his pride.
The next moment—
The person she viewed as invincible had been defeated so thoroughly.
"T-This..."
Her voice trembled.
"How can this be...?"
She simply could not believe what she had just witnessed.
Meanwhile, Patriarch Xue slowly exhaled deeply.
Even though he had already expected Bai Zihan to win, seeing it personally was still an entirely different feeling.
Too terrifying!
Bai Zihan’s strength was simply too overwhelming.
Soon, the spar officially came to an end.
Nie Fengzhuo slowly walked back onto the battlefield.
His breathing gradually stabilized.
The excitement and burning battle intent from earlier had already faded.
In their place remained only silence and complicated emotions.
Originally, he believed this battle would allow him to gain insight.
Perhaps even rediscover the momentum he had lost after his defeat against Bai Xueqing.
But now, all he truly gained was a deeper understanding of how powerless he currently was.
A bitter smile appeared faintly within his heart.
At this moment, he suddenly felt fortunate.
Fortunately, the one he met during the final round of the Dragon and Phoenix Competition had been Bai Xueqing instead of Bai Zihan.
Because now he realized clearly, if his opponent back then had truly been Bai Zihan, the outcome would likely have been complete humiliation.
Du Changsheng remained silent for a long time. His eyes carried unconcealable shock.
Even after personally watching the battle from beginning to end, he still could not see through Bai Zihan.
Not the depth of his cultivation.
And especially not that terrifying Sword Intent.
Terrifyingly powerful.
Far beyond what someone of Bai Zihan’s age should possess.
Even among the countless geniuses Du Changsheng had seen throughout his life, very few could compare.
Finally, Du Changsheng sighed internally.
He never imagined that within such a seemingly backwater empire, a monster like Bai Zihan could actually appear.
Compared to Bai Zihan, many so-called heavenly geniuses he once met suddenly seemed almost ordinary.
Truly...
One would never know how vast the world was until they had seen it personally.
Nie Fengzhuo stood silently for several moments.
The pain within his body gradually settled, but the emotions inside his heart remained turbulent.
Finally, he slowly took a deep breath.
Then he walked forward toward Bai Zihan.
The countless gazes around the arena immediately focused upon him once more.
Under everyone’s attention, Nie Fengzhuo stopped a short distance away from Bai Zihan before cupping his fists respectfully.
"Thank you, Young Master Bai, for your guidance."
His voice was calm and sincere.
There was no unwillingness within it anymore.
After personally crossing swords with Bai Zihan, Nie Fengzhuo finally understood just how terrifying this man truly was.
The pressure Bai Zihan gave him was something entirely different from Bai Xueqing.
If Bai Xueqing was a towering mountain difficult to overcome—
Then Bai Zihan was more like an endless sky.
So vast that one could not even see its limits.
Meanwhile, Bai Zihan merely looked at him calmly.
Then a faint smile appeared on his face.
"You’re not bad either."
Bai Zihan’s crimson eyes swept briefly across Nie Fengzhuo.
"Especially your final attack."
There was genuine acknowledgment within his tone.
Nie Fengzhuo’s eyes flickered slightly.
"Still, you still have a long way to go."
The moment those words were spoken, many surrounding disciples revealed strange expressions instinctively.
If anyone else had said such words to Nie Fengzhuo, they would likely think that person was mocking him.
After all, at Nie Fengzhuo’s current age, possessing such cultivation and combat power was already something countless cultivators could never hope to achieve even in their entire lives.
And yet someone dared say he still had a long way to go?
It sounded absurd.
But when those words came from Bai Zihan, no one found them strange.
Because compared to Bai Zihan, Nie Fengzhuo indeed still had an unimaginably long road ahead of him.
Nie Fengzhuo himself also understood this clearly.
Thus, instead of feeling dissatisfied, he merely nodded slowly.
"I understand."
Then he cupped his fists once more.
"Thank you again, Young Master Bai!"
This battle had indeed defeated him thoroughly.
But at the same time, it also allowed him to see the gap between himself and the true peak more clearly than ever before.
And strangely enough, the knot within his heart regarding Bai Xueqing’s defeat seemed to loosen slightly because of it.
