Clang!
Xiao Chen drew his unparalleled longsword, and in an instant, his aura and pressure soared to their peak. Though he was only at the mid True Fate stage, the force he radiated was no less than a Spirit Nurturing Realm cultivator.
Chao Xiu felt the terrifying aura and turned as pale as death. With such strength, not even Lei Aojie would necessarily be able to compete with him.
How did Wendao Academy raise such a monster?
At this rate, Xiao Chen would likely suppress all the other geniuses of this generation!
With that thought, Chao Xiu held nothing back. His storage ring flashed, and a set of radiant holy armor appeared on his body in an instant.
"Ninefold Profound Pagoda—Suppress!"
Chao Xiu roared. The pagoda in his hand shone brilliantly, and a towering pagoda dozens of zhang high appeared in the sky, crashing down toward Xiao Chen.
Clang!
With a casual swing of his sword, Xiao Chen effortlessly knocked the pagoda back.
Boom!
A tremendous sound echoed through the sky.
Seeing his pagoda forced back, Chao Xiu quickly formed hand seals, shouting, "Approach!"
At that word, the pagoda stabilized in the sky and emitted a beam of light at Xiao Chen, as if to swallow him whole.
Xiao Chen raised his sword and thrust forward.
"Ten Thousand Swords Return to Origin!"
With a single thrust, countless swords shot forth.
Each sword was accompanied by a shadow formed from concentrated sword intent.
In an instant, the sky was filled with a rain of swords.
Chao Xiu's pupils widened in horror. Sword intent taking form—this guy had actually perfected his sword intent at the Tianyuan Realm!
He chanted rapidly: "Soldiers, battle, those who, stand, in, formation, charge, ahead!"
With each word, the pagoda's light grew stronger, but his face became even paler.
Chao Xiu cultivated both body and technique, possessing perfect defense as well as powerful spells.
But before Xiao Chen's torrent of sword rain, it was all meaningless.
Clang, clang, clang…
Each sword qi struck the pagoda with a crisp sound. Cracks spread across its surface, and it was clear that before long, the pagoda would be nothing but scrap metal.
Meanwhile, Wang Lie and Cao Youqian had also started their fight.
The black tiger leapt high into the air. Its massive claws were already slashing down, their force manifesting before they even landed.
Those claws could shatter mountains and split gold, giving everyone a sense of despair before they even struck.
Wang Lie didn't stand idle, quickly forming a hand seal. "Great Sun Blazing Flame Palm!"
To his surprise, Cao Youqian completely ignored his palm attack, instead throwing a punch directly at the tiger's claws.
Wang Lie sneered inwardly. Fool, do you really think your iron fists are invincible? That Black Sovereign is a spirit tiger with the blood of a sacred beast.
"Extreme Dao Divine Fist!"
Cao Youqian's punch, imbued with intent, formed a shadow that enveloped his fist force, striking straight toward the black tiger above.
That punch blotted out the sun, as if it could smash a huge hole in the sky.
Boom!!!
His punch shattered the tiger's claws at the same time that Wang Lie's blazing palm struck him.
"It worked!"
Wang Lie shouted when he saw the man before him engulfed in fierce flames.
"Such a petty trick, and you dare show off before me? You'd best check on your little tiger."
Cao Youqian spoke as he shook his body, all the flames on him instantly vanishing.
Wang Lie looked closely and saw that a faint protective barrier surrounded Cao Youqian's entire body.
Awooo...
A miserable howl came from the black tiger in the sky, drawing Wang Lie's attention.
What he saw nearly made his jaw drop—the Black Sovereign's claws had been shattered, and even its jaw was dripping with blood.
"You… What kind of monster are you?"
Huff…
Cao Youqian blew on his fist, then turned to Wang Lie and said, "Let me introduce myself properly—Brother Overlord Fist, Cao Youqian, Second Disciple of the Miscellaneous Dao Institute, Wendao Academy."
Wang Lie gritted his teeth and said coldly, "Don't get cocky, kid. I'm about to get serious—Black Sovereign, together!"
Roar!
The black tiger roared again, opening its bloody maw and pouncing at Cao Youqian. It had been fighting alongside Wang Lie for years, their coordination seamless—one man and one tiger moving as one. The tiger was certain that Wang Lie would use his ultimate technique as well.
But what it didn't see was that as soon as Black Sovereign charged, Wang Lie turned and fled the battlefield without looking back.
Cao Youqian only felt a powerful suction coming from the black tiger's open jaws, as if he was about to be swallowed whole.
A hint of disdain flashed in his eyes, and he swung his fist once more.
Bang!
The unstoppable Extreme Dao Divine Fist sent the black tiger's brains splattering.
The massive tiger corpse crashed to the mountaintop with a loud thud, raising a cloud of dust.
Cao Youqian almost wanted to shout, "You're next," but what came out was, "Where'd he go?"
He never expected that a Dayan Holy Land genius would choose to run away. How disgraceful.
But Cao Youqian didn't chase after him. The battle's outcome was still uncertain—he wanted to see where he was needed most.
The first thing he did was look over to Senior Brother Xiao Chen.
He was just in time to see tens of thousands of sword qi, formed from sword intent, pierce through the pagoda and strike Chao Xiu.
How… How was this possible?
The most shocked of all was Chao Xiu himself. When the pagoda shattered, he didn't run immediately.
After all, he was wearing a holy-grade armor he'd found in the Taixu Secret Realm. Blocking Xiao Chen's sword should be easy, right?
Worst case, he'd just fight Xiao Chen in close combat.
But when the first strand of sword qi struck him, he was stunned—the holy-grade armor actually began to crack in places so fine they were barely visible.
Did I get a fake holy-grade armor?
On the other side of the battlefield, Dugu Ming looked at the White-Clothed Zither Demon with a trace of contempt in his eyes. Although her zither music could disturb his mind, as long as he kept his distance, he could avoid her killing moves and use his sword qi to attack from afar. Surely, he could wear her down.
"Heavenly Sword Thirteen Styles!"
Dugu Ming drew his longsword and slashed out. Just then, he saw the White-Clothed Zither Demon suddenly remove her eye mask—a pair of heterochromatic eyes gleamed with a strange light.
"World Annihilation!"
Qin Qin spoke softly, and the destructive light from her eyes swallowed Dugu Ming's sword qi.
"Impossible…"
Dugu Ming had only wanted to test the waters, but what he saw left him stunned.
Before he could react, the annihilating light had already engulfed him.
He immediately activated his Saint Body, using all his power to resist the terrifying light.
Seeing this, Qin Qin murmured, "A true prodigy is indeed a true prodigy. I can't take you down in one blow."
As she spoke, she plucked her zither strings. As the music sounded, Dugu Ming found a chance to cut through a swirl of yin-yang light with his sword.
Just as he prepared to press his attack, he suddenly felt his consciousness becoming fuzzy.
The sound of the zither echoed over the Taixu Valley, and Dugu Ming's gaze grew vacant.
Qin Qin continued to play, and Dugu Ming's body, under the music's spell, drifted toward the Dayan Holy Land crowd.
When he landed among them, he was startled to find that everyone around him had become the White-Clothed Zither Demon.
"Kill!"
He swung his sword wildly, hacking at the crowd around him.
In no time, the disciples of Dayan Holy Land let out a chorus of anguished screams.
"Senior Brother Dugu, don't!"
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