A strange force permeated the surroundings of the dragon’s grave, blocking the powerful water pressure from the river. Therefore, even though Yan Deadly Life died without the protection of the Body Protecting Big Dipper, his body was not crushed by the water pressure.
Seeing the corpse that had sunk under the water, the martial artists of the black market were all shocked. Yan Deadly Life had become famous five years ago, being one of the leading figures of the younger generation of the Black Market, but he had never expected to be killed by a young woman with a single sword strike.
When had the Martial City’s Inner Palace Academy produced so many young experts?
One Zhang Ruochen was already terrifying, and now, there was another one.
If it was before he had obtained the dragon blood, Huang Yichen could only be considered half a catty compared to Yan Deadly Life.
As for now, Huang Yichen’s martial arts cultivation was already one realm higher than Yan Deadly Life, and his natural talent was above Yan Deadly Life, so it was naturally not difficult to kill Yan Deadly Life.
Emperor Yi saw Huang Yichen who was killing in the distance, his eyes were cold, and he was about to rush over to suppress her.
“Swish!”
Zhang Ruochen’s figure flickered and stood opposite of Emperor Yi, stopping him, saying, “Emperor Yi, your opponent is me!”
“Zhang Ruochen, you are somewhat capable, I underestimated you before!”
Emperor Yi’s ten fingers clenched tightly as he suppressed the anger in his heart, trying to control his emotions.
Zhang Ruochen was not an ordinary opponent, and Emperor Yi didn’t dare to take the enemy lightly, if he was not careful, he might flip the boat in the gutter.
The two of them faced each other, staring at each other’s every subtle movement without blinking, their spiritual power completely released, their auras rising.
The true qi in their bodies surged away from the top of their heads, like two peaks rising from the ground.
The two took steps almost simultaneously, slowly approaching over.
“Boom!”
Emperor Yi took a step, and the ground shook, water waves tumbled, and the spiritual qi of the heavens and earth followed with violent vibrations.
This was because the true qi in his body was in tune with the aura between the heavens and the earth, and when he moved, the heavens and the earth would follow suit and vibrate violently.
Zhang Ruochen also took a step, not as powerful as Emperor Yi’s aura, but his steps had an extremely marvellous pattern, not leaking out any cracks.
When one’s cultivation reached their realm, the key to determining victory or defeat was often the state of mind when fighting.
When the state was bad, one might be defeated by an opponent of the same realm within a few moves.
It was precisely because they all attached great importance to each other that they appeared to be cautious and tried their best to force the other party to reveal their cracks first. As long as the other person revealed a break first, the other person would be able to seize the first opportunity and thus gain the upper hand.
Just as Zhang Ruochen and Emperor Yi confronted each other, the Combined Attack Formation formed by Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, Duanmu Xingling, and Chen Xi’er had already collided with the two hundred and thirty-six Black Market martial practitioners forming the Thousand Blades Star Luo Grand Formation.
Among the two hundred and thirty-six Black Market martial artists, there were a total of eighteen experts at the early stage of the Heavenly Extremity Realm, and the rest of them were at the great circle of the Earthly Extremity Realm.
With so many powerful people gathered together, in the formation, two hundred and thirty-six pillars of light immediately rushed out, and everyone’s power seemed to converge towards the centre of the pillars of light.
“Thousand Blade Cascade Wind!”
In the Thousand Knives Star Luo Formation, the two hundred and thirty-six Black Market martial artists roared out at the same time, striking a steady stream of true qi into the formation jade. A single formation inscription converged together, condensing thousands of Qi blades.
Some of these qi knives were more than ten feet long, like waves of knives;some were only three inches long, like a white light flying knife. All of the Qi Knives all converged together, forming a river of knives that chopped towards Si Xingkong’s four men.
Si Xingkong stood at the centre of the formation, holding the golden short blade, combining the strength of the four of them to fully activate the inscription in the golden short blade.
“Break!”
Both arms were raised and swung violently.
The short golden blade, transforming into a giant blade tens of feet long, slashed at that river of blades, breaking apart the attack of the Thousand Blade Star Luo Grand Formation.
Chen Xi’er was overjoyed, “Continue attacking over there and tear the grand formation apart.”
Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, Duanmu Xingling, and Chen Xi’er were considered first-rate experts amongst the Heavenly Extremity Realm martial practitioners, and each of them was comparable to Jin Chuan’s kind of level.
The four of them formed a Combined Attack Formation that took on a flat circular shape, as if it was a giant grinding disc that kept rotating and crashed into the Thousand Blades Star Luo Grand Formation.
“Wow!”
Si Xingkong continuously chopped out golden short blades, bringing the power of a tenth rank True Martial Treasure Artifact into full play.
The Black Market martial artists in the Thousand Knives Star Luo Formation were not weak either, each one of them was an expert, constantly striking out a Qi Slash, battling with the four of Sihuangkong in a battle that turned the heavens and the earth upside down.
Zhang Ruochen and Di Yi were also quite nervous, after all, the victory or defeat of the Black Market martial artists and the four of Si Xingkong would also affect their duel.
If the Thousand Blades Star Luo Grand Formation defeated the combined attack formation set up by the four of Sihangkong, then the Black Market martial artists would continue to rush over to help Emperor Yi and suppress Zhang Ruochen.
If the Combined Attack Formation arranged by the four of them, Si Xingkong, defeated the Thousand Daggers Star Luo Grand Formation, then the four of them, including Huang Yichen and Zixi, would also rush back to help Zhang Ruochen and surround Emperor Yi.
Therefore, the head-on collision of those two formations would most likely determine the survival of the two sides.
“Boom!”
A moment later, the area where the two formations were located let out a loud boom.
Under the furious attack and pounding of Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, Duanmu Xingling, and Chen Xi’er, the Thousand Blade Star Luo Formation finally shattered, and those Black Market martial artists flew backwards.
Among the two hundred and thirty-six black market martial artists, at least twenty of them were killed by the blade energy of the golden short sword that Si Xingkong slashed out the moment the formation shattered, their bodies being split by the blade energy and transformed into a piece of limb.
Immediately after the formation shattered, the four of them, Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, Duanmu Xingling, and Chen Xi’er, rushed out and shot out, striking out a single move of martial arts and began to clear out and kill those Black Market martial practitioners, preventing them from continuing to gather together to set up the formation.
No one had expected that Zhang Ruochen and his group would be so powerful, each one of them was an unrivalled expert, and in just a few moments of effort, they had dissolved Emperor Yi’s carefully laid out killings.
It was as if each and every one of them was a supreme heavenly pride from the Sacred Courtyard.
Seeing the Thousand Blades Star Luo Grand Formation being broken, Di Yi’s heart sank as he cursed a waste. A grand formation made up of over two hundred martial artists couldn’t even stop four people. If it wasn’t a waste, what was it?
Now, Di Yi was completely passive.
Originally, he had already laid a dragnet, wanting to easily eliminate these students of the Martial City Palace, but he didn’t expect that Zhang Ruochen would actually break the killing game with ease.
Losing the formation, the martial artists of the Black Market were completely powerless to fight back in front of Si Xingkong and the others.
After a short quarter of an hour passed, the open space below the hill was left with close to a hundred corpses of the Black Market martial artists.
The river turned blood red, and the bottom of the water was filled with mutilated corpses and broken limbs, as if it had been transformed into a terrifying Shura World. Those with poor mental capacity would have fainted from fear upon seeing this scene.
Zhang Ruochen was keenly aware of the fluctuation in Di Yi’s mindset, and in that instant, Zhang Ruochen rushed over, reaching Di Yi’s face in just an instant, and chopped at his legs with a sword.
It came so fast.
Knowing that he had lost his head start, Emperor Yi did not clash with Zhang Ruochen and decisively stepped back to avoid that sword.
“Swish!”
Zhang Ruochen’s backstroke was continuous, advancing three steps in a row, and another sword chopped out, slashing at Di Yi’s neck.
Emperor Yi extended his claws and blocked forward.
“Boom!”
The Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword, which weighed close to seven thousand kilograms, slashed on top of the gloves, sending Emperor Yi flying out.
If Di Yi wanted to change his disadvantage, he had to counterattack.
“Ghost King Dharma Seal.”
Emperor Yi’s middle finger pinched tightly, forming a Dharma Seal, and struck out with a claw, forming a four-metre long black claw seal that struck at Zhang Ruochen.
That claw print was not like a human hand, it was like a dragon’s claw, like a ghost’s hand, like a devil’s palm.
It was a move from the Hell Ghost King’s Claw!
A point of light emerged from Zhang Ruochen’s brow, and the Heart of Sword Intent in the Sea of Qi continued to rotate as a force of Sword Intent was released to harness the Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword.
“Break for me!”
Zhang Ruochen’s index and middle fingers merged and pinched into a sword technique.
The Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword, transformed into a shuttle of light, flew out and crossed a distance of ten feet, piercing through that one black hand claw and stabbing at Emperor Yi’s chest.
“Innate Demonic Qi.”
As Di Yi stood in place, he braced his hands together, and a ball of black devilish Qi continued to gush out from his pores, forming a spherical Heavenly Demon Domain with a diameter of ten zhang.
From afar, it looked like there was a huge black ball that wrapped around Di Yi’s body. On the surface of the black ball, a bizarre demonic pattern appeared, constantly rotating and emitting a whimpering sound.
“Wow!”
The Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword came into contact with the Heavenly Demon Domain, and it was like rushing into a swamp as its speed continued to slow down.
The Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword was suspended in the midst of the demonic aura, the body of the sword constantly rotating and emitting ear-piercing sword chirps as it broke through Di Yi’s Heavenly Demon Domain step by step.
The two forces clashed, in the water, emitting a light of flame.
Di Yi was cultivating one of the Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings’ Heavenly Demon Heavenly Diagrams, and when he reached the Heavenly Extreme Realm, he had already transformed the true qi in his body into Heavenly Demon Qi.
The so-called “Innate Demonic Qi” actually still belonged to the category of true qi.
However, the innate demonic qi was several times more powerful than the true qi of other martial artists of the same realm, and once it was released, it could easily crush opponents.
Only martial artists who cultivated extremely clever techniques could cultivate even more powerful true qi.
For example, Zhang Ruochen cultivated the Nine Heavenly Bright Emperor Scripture, and when he reached the third layer, he had already cultivated Spirit Fire True Qi.
Now that Zhang Ruochen had reached the fourth level of the Nine Heavenly Bright Emperor Scripture, “Taiyi Qingxu Heaven”, he had cultivated an even more powerful true qi, which was known as the “Qingxu True Qi”.
Of course, the true qi of a Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artist had already been condensed into liquid in the sea of qi, turning it into true essence. Only when it flows out of the sea of qi will the true essence be transformed back into true qi.
In liquid form, it was “true essence”, and in gaseous form, it was “true qi”.
It could be said that Zhang Ruochen’s Green Void True Qi was on the same level as Emperor Yi’s cultivation of Innate Demonic Qi.
“Break it for me.”
Zhang Ruochen rushed up and broke into Emperor Yi’s Heavenly Demon Domain, striking his palm on the hilt of the sword.
Green Void True Qi gushed out from his palm like a green-coloured waterfall of True Qi, entering the body of the sword, causing the Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword to pass through the Heavenly Demon Qi, emitting a “clang” sound of the sword and stabbing towards Emperor Yi’s brow.
