Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Taking advantage of this moment, Zhang Ruochen created yet another Spatial Crack.
The s.p.a.ce above King Xianlan cracked open, gliding down toward his head, engulfing everything along the way.
King Xianlan raised his head to have a quick glance, looking concerned.
Instead of going against the approaching Spatial Crack, he split himself into three fragments and plunged backward.
The Spatial Crack slammed onto the ground, erupting into shattered stones, leaving a deep chasm.
Following the owner, the three swords went backward then projected upward at a steep angle like three bright comets going after Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen stood waiting, ready with the Abyss Ancient Sword in his hands. He had antic.i.p.ated where the swords would be and quickly countered all three hits.
He then leaned his body forward and heaved his sword above King Xianlan's head.
"Gold Morning Sun."
This was one of the moves in the Nine-Life Sword Technique. The Abyss Ancient Sword shone at its brightest, shrieking, even though he had not mastered the move completely.
"How dare you, a mere half-saint, challenge me? A single punch from me is sufficient to end your life already."
King Xianlan snorted, and began cracking his knuckles. His fist glowed crimson as he tapped into his power.
As the intensity of the light grew to the point where it glared, he threw his punch at Zhang Ruochen. The full force attack burst into streaks of crimson red light and shot upwards into the sky, unleas.h.i.+ng a vortex of fierce wind.
A Saint could link his body to nature and draw its power to amplify the impact of his attack.
The two attacks met with a loud clang, and sparks flew from both sides.
King Xianlan was repulsed from the clash, kicking up dust and stones as he skidded away, leaving a trail of fissures in the ground.
He could feel his fists throbbing in pain.
The scales on his fist came off, revealing a deep cut at the back of his hand, dripping blood.
How could a blood saint get wounded by a human half-saint?
King Xianlan held his hand over the wound. In the blink of an eye, his wound had healed completely. Not even a scar was left behind.
"That's how powerful the self-healing ability of a blood saint is. I bet he could still fight even if his head was chopped off."
Zhang Ruochen dared not let his guard down.
Suddenly, King Xianlan shrunk himself a hundred times smaller. From afar, he looked like a tiny blood red bat, but with the limbs of a human.
The Immortal Vampires were flexible enough to shrink their bodies to the size of an insect.
Similarly, they could be enlarged a hundred times more to the size of a giant.
Zhang Ruochen's biggest threat to King Xianlan was his trick in manipulating the s.p.a.ce. It was never his body type nor his sword techniques.
When King Xianlan's size was minimized, he would have the agility to avoid all spatial attacks while maximizing his ability usage.
The three divine swords were fired at Zhang Ruochen from the ground.
King Xianlan was standing on one of the swords, and his body was emanating Blood Qi. Though he had become smaller, his strength was not compromised at all.
Facing the series of attack from the three divine words, Zhang Ruochen was forced to step back, dodging the shots.
Despite his effort in defending against the stabs, countless cuts were left on his arms and thighs.
There was one fatal attack where the sword was aimed at his head, but he avoided it narrowly with a cut at his neck, and a chunk of chopped hair.
King Xianlan took the opportunity and leapt off from the sword, thrusting his palm toward Zhang Ruochen's chest while he was being kept busy by the swords.
Zhang Ruochen responded to the attack with another palm strike which gave out the howling of a dragon when it was launched.
This time, he could not withstand King Xianlan's. .h.i.t and was thrown away, falling to the ground. He could feel his body jerking as if all of his organs had been misplaced.
A saint's power was indeed deadly.
In terms of combat skills and mastery of a saint's power, there was a huge gap between Zhang Ruochen and King Xianlan.
King Xianlan had a thousand years of practice. Each of his moves was tactful and sophisticated. While Zhang Ruochen's body was more durable than King Xianlan's, he did not stand a chance against a seasoned warrior.
"Zhang Ruochen, you are inexperienced."
King Xianlan leapt forward and charged Zhang Ruochen with another fatal blow, determined to kill him.
The Saint Lady strummed the zither once more.
A flurry of stones rose up from the ground and turned into a rock giant, charging at King Xianlan while blocking his way toward Zhang Ruochen.
The five strings on the zither were made of five unique materials which represented the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire and earth.
Yet King Xianlan had mastered the Sword Five technique which granted him the ability to tear up the rock giant without much effort. Then, three crimson red human figures stood together, thrusting the three divine swords at Zhang Ruochen,
Beneath the sky, the Shooting Star Invisible Cloak that Zhang Ruochen was wearing glowed red from the reflection of the incoming red figures.
Zhang Ruochen motioned his hand to create another Spatial Crack.
However, by twisting his body, King Xianlan shot off to the side, dodging the attempted shot.
The three divine swords were so close to stabbing through Zhang Ruochen's body.
He used his Spatial power again to twist the surrounding s.p.a.ce, and the swords ended up plunging into the ground next to him.
Almost immediately, he fired his sword at the thumb-size King Xianlan.
King Xianlan was blown away, and his body recovered to the original size.
It was so close to stabbing through King Xianlan.
Knowing that King Xianlan's stumble was momentary, Zhang Ruochen then s.h.i.+fted to the front of King Xianlan and threw him unrelenting strikes of attack.
The Saint Lady started playing a deadly tune with her fingers jumping on the strings.
The attacking power from the zither contained the five elements which synergized well with Zhang Ruochen's Five Elements Chaotic Body, adding even more damage to King Xianlan.
Even the blood red armor the King was wearing was scorched black.
Zhang Ruochen had slashed a deep cut at the King's back, his saint blood leaking into the mud and painting it red.
King Xianlan had been cultivating for a thousand years. Not once had he been beaten brutally, and certainly not by two younger warriors. Feeling ashamed, he was filled with rage.
"Birth of the Blood Demon."
Clouds of Blood Qi burst out of his forehead.
There was a blood red skull spinning in the middle of the Blood Qi, creating a vigorous vortex.
Nothing could stop the vortex, not even the suppressing energy of the place.
The vortex threw up a stream of Blood Qi and blew Zhang Ruochen away, knocking him onto the black canyon. His body became embedded in it.
On the other hand, the Saint Lady coughed up blood, affected by the Blood Qi.
Her injury had worsened.
The formation of the blood red skull was not completed yet. It was only the Blood Qi but both Zhang Ruochen and the Saint Lady were severely wounded already.
Once it completed its transformation, the impact of its attack would be devastating.
The Saint Lady's face went pale as she stared at the skull. "That is the skull of a Saint King. It contains his soul and ma.s.sive destructive power that could kill a saint."
King Xianlan curved up his lips to a cunning smile. "To have made me activate the skull of the Blood Demon is truly remarkable, both of you."
Thereafter, he maneuvered the skull to where Zhang Ruochen was embedded. The sequence was to kill Zhang Ruochen first then the Saint Lady.
To him, the Saint Lady was not much of a threat when she was severely wounded.
The skull was as huge as a mountain. It had sharp pointed teeth, and its eye sockets were burning in fire.
When one looked closely at the flames, one could see there was a soul cradled within the skull.
The Saint Lady tossed the Saint Book Ruzu at the skull in an attempt to stop it from crus.h.i.+ng Zhang Ruochen.
As the Saint Book Ruzu flipped open, it projected thousands of glowing spots. Each spot represented a word from the book.
The skull weighed upon the projection, crus.h.i.+ng the words row by row.
As the words popped, the Saint Lady's injury worsened with blood oozing from the corners of her mouth. Her body was shaking terribly, as if she was about to pop along with the words.
"How could the Saint Book Ruzu stop the skull of the Blood Demon?"
King Xianlan burst into laughter, then channeled more of his Blood Qi into the skull, quickening its pace in crus.h.i.+ng the Saint Book.
Little did the King know that Zhang Ruochen had freed himself from the canyon, whipping his sword straight towards the King in a flash.
"Four Changes of Scale One."
A beam was shone through the blood fog, directed at the King's forehead.
The power of time created ripples of energy waves encircling the area within a few hundred miles.
King Xianlan's face turned to stone when he saw the incoming attack. He tried to counterattack by changing the direction of the skull.
However, he noticed his speed was getting slower while Zhang Ruochen was getting incredibly fast.
"What's happening? It feels like the time has been slowed down."
By the time King Xianlan realized the change in time, the Abyss Ancient Sword had already penetrated through his forehead.
"You…"
King Xianlan leaned backwards, his body turned cold.
But his Saint Light came flying off from the top of his head, entering into the blood red skull.
Thereafter, the soul that was cradled within the skull grew stronger, strong enough to break itself free from the grasp of the Saint Book Ruzu and fly towards the direction of the abnormal light.
Zhang Ruochen landed next to King Xianlan's dead body, panting.
He was in a state of shock. Had he not mastered the second level of the Sword Technique of Time, both the Saint Lady and he would have been dead.
After taking the Saint Book which was left open, the Saint Lady stared at the direction where the skull went. "King Xianlan's saint soul has fused with the skull."
"Because of this the skull seems to have come alive. I think we have just made an even more terrifying enemy. Whose skull was that?"
Zhang Ruochen was not glad to have killed a Blood Saint at all. He knew he had gotten himself into deeper trouble.
Author's Note: Readers commented about why Zhang Ruochen didn't release the Ghost King Bloodmoon that was residing in the Universe Spiritual Map. In Chapter 953, Zhang Ruochen had handed the map over to Blackie, hadn't he?
He had no idea if he could come back alive from the Bottomless Abyss. Of course he would not risk bringing the map along.
There were too many lives attached to the map. He would never put everyone's lives at risk. That would be too irresponsible of him. The map was not indestructible, after all.
