“Hmph, Lin Xiao, your third-grade intermediate spiritual power does intimidate me—but only that much. Even with it, I can still kill you!”
Feng Lanyue’s Heavenly Martial Sixth Layer aura surged forth, an overwhelming pressure radiating once more. A ripple pulsed from her palm, and a sharp, radiant light flowed from her hand.
Lin Xiao’s gaze sharpened as a wave of spiritual power surged from his mind.
“Hah!” With a light shout, Feng Lanyue thrust her palm forward. A piercing beam of palm light shot out like lightning, blazing toward Lin Xiao with incredible speed.
“Shiu!” Lin Xiao manipulated his spiritual power to shift his body, sliding several zhang across the ground to evade.
Boom!
A loud crash echoed as the fierce palm light struck the earth, carving a deep crater. Cracks spiderwebbed outward, dust erupted, and a terrifying shockwave blasted the soil apart.
The sheer destructive force of that casual strike was staggering.
“Hmph, let’s see how long you can dodge!” Feng Lanyue drew a sleek short sword, her feet executing the Light Breeze Spirit Cloud Technique. Leaving an afterimage, she slashed straight at Lin Xiao.
As she charged, Lin Xiao directed his spiritual power onto her hand, subtly twisting her sword’s trajectory off course.
Simultaneously, his right fist rocketed toward her body without mercy.
“Chi!” Feng Lanyue’s arm pulsed with vitality, repelling Lin Xiao’s spiritual force. She sidestepped his punch with a swift movement.
Then, with fluid precision, she slashed at him again.
Lin Xiao controlled his body to shift sideways, dodging once more, leaving her strike to hit empty air.
Confident in her speed and close-range prowess, Feng Lanyue lunged at him again.
Lin Xiao unleashed his spiritual power onto her, flinging her entire body sideways. She skidded across the ground for a distance.
But she countered instantly, slashing a three-to-four-zhang-long sword beam at him. Lin Xiao leapt, cleaving through the attack.
Feng Lanyue pressed her advantage, closing in swiftly for another strike.
Lin Xiao reached into his storage ring, pulling out the black iron staff. With a fierce swing, he smashed it against her short sword.
“Clang!” The impact rang out, numbing Lin Xiao’s hands as he slid back three steps.
Feng Lanyue recoiled three steps too, but leveraging her Light Breeze Spirit Cloud Technique, she moved like a nimble swallow. Tipping off the ground with her right toe, she darted forward again.
Her body flared with protective vitality, shielding her from Lin Xiao’s control. Wielding her short sword, she hacked at him.
Lin Xiao abandoned controlling her, instead channeling spiritual power into his arm. He swung the iron staff at her with brutal force.
Clang!
A deafening metallic clash resounded as the staff met her sword. Feng Lanyue staggered back several zhang under the combined might of Lin Xiao’s Heavenly Martial Fourth Layer vitality and third-grade intermediate spiritual power, while Lin Xiao stood unmoved.
Though only a few exchanges had passed, they unfolded in mere moments. Their probing strikes left the crowd breathless with tension.
One wielded lightning-fast footwork, the other controlled with spiritual precision—their speeds were evenly matched.
Yet that final blow tipped the scales in Lin Xiao’s favor.
“Lin Xiao’s strength is incredible!”
“It’s Heavenly Martial Fourth Layer plus third-grade intermediate spiritual power—of course it’s strong!”
The crowd buzzed with astonished chatter.
Seizing the moment, Lin Xiao didn’t relent. He used his spiritual power to propel himself forward in pursuit, swinging the staff down with ferocious intent.
“Sword Aura Strangle!”
Before he could close in, Feng Lanyue acted. With a flick of her wrist, her short sword unleashed a flurry of sword auras—countless strands twisting chaotically toward Lin Xiao.
Each strand thrummed with immense force.
Lin Xiao’s brows furrowed. This sudden barrage of strangling sword auras was impossible to block or dodge.
If it struck, his body would be riddled with holes.
This, no doubt, was Feng Lanyue’s true close-range killing move.
“Spiritual energy!” Sensing the lethal danger, Lin Xiao halted his body’s spiritual control and urgently summoned his dual-fused spiritual energy.
A mass of black flame rimmed with azure erupted from his brow, writhing like a humanoid fiend. Its terrifying devouring power expanded instantly, the outer azure flames blazing with fearsome incinerating might. It clashed with the strangling sword auras, consuming and burning them.
“Chi! Chi!” In mere moments, the sword auras were devoured clean, though the spiritual energy dissipated too—testament to the attack’s potency.
“He’s using spiritual energy!” The onlookers’ gazes sharpened. This was Lin Xiao’s true ace.
With spiritual energy unleashed, their battle had reached a fever pitch.
“What terrifying energy!” Feng Lanyue’s forehead veins pulsed, her expression darkening. The ease with which it swallowed her sword auras filled her with deep unease—this cosmic force was formidable.
“Chi!” Without pause, Lin Xiao summoned another mass of black-azure spiritual energy, clawing toward her with devouring and burning ferocity.
Facing the oncoming energy, Feng Lanyue didn’t hesitate. She unleashed another strangling sword aura, clashing with the black-azure mass. “Chi! Chi!” sounded as both attacks annihilated each other.
“Summoning spiritual energy costs little—it’s disadvantageous to drag this out!” Feng Lanyue’s brows knit tightly, a glint of killing intent flashing in her eyes. Gripping her sword with both hands, she poured her vast vitality into it.
Black sword auras coalesced around the blade, exuding an evil pressure as if from the depths of the Nine Nether Hells.
Countless black aura strands formed into curved, tangible black swords, orbiting her short sword. A terrifying ripple emanated from the spinning blades.
“Nine Nether Wind Spiral—Annihilate!”
With a sharp cry, Feng Lanyue spun gracefully, slashing horizontally. A one-zhang-wide, several-zhang-high vortex of spinning sword aura, cloaked in black mist, surged forward like an abyss. Wherever it passed, the surrounding space seemed to twist.
“That’s the Feng family’s core technique—an Earth-tier elementary martial skill!”
“Such terrifying power—if it hits, it’ll shred flesh to nothing!”
The crowd’s gasps rang in Lin Xiao’s ears. Facing the oncoming black vortex, he felt a twinge of unease. He hadn’t expected the Feng family’s core skill to harbor such eerie, even malevolent power.
This strike’s range was narrow, but its lethality was horrifying—a true harbinger of death.
Yet when it came to martial skills, Lin Xiao feared nothing. Within his dantian, a torrential force churned, coursing through his meridians and gathering in his right fist.
A Heaven-tier martial skill brewed, the air around his fist boiling and twisting in chaos.
Simultaneously, his mind summoned the dual-fused spiritual power again. The black-azure shadow, like a humanoid beast, radiated dread as it lunged forward with devouring flames.
“Comparing chaotic forces? Let’s see if you can withstand my dual assault—Reverse Chaos Second Form: Vitality Reversal!”
Lin Xiao’s fist shot out. Tiny bursts of vitality fist energy erupted from it, streaming forth like a long, raging torrent. Countless strands of vitality spun chaotically, piercing toward the front.
