by Translator: Pokka; Author: 我本纯洁 (I Am Pure); Licensed From: Migu
"What? Brother Xiang! You must survive!" Huo Xudong cried out anxiously.
"I-if it wasn't for Ugly Gambler's poison flaring up suddenly, I-I w-wouldn't have b-been hit by that attack...Brother Huo, i-ignore me. Leave!" Xiang Shaoyun said weakly as a dark shade started covering his face. This was the sign that the poison had invaded his heart.
"How can I leave like this? I considered you a good friend from the moment I first saw you. I won't watch on as you die. Take out and use some of your spirit medicines and antidotes. That might help," Huo Xudong persuaded.
Although he looked anxious, inwardly, he was thinking, This kid can't be feigning his injuries, right?
"Th-the p-poison has invaded m-my heart. Brother Huo, just leave without me. I don't want to be a burden to you. If I am lucky enough to s-survive this, we will meet again in the future..." Xiang Shaoyun forced himself to stand up, but his body was swaying weakly. Evidently, he would not be able to live on much longer.
"Brother Xiang...," Huo Xudong cried out again. Xiang Shaoyun ignored him and continued walking toward a certain direction. But he had barely taken several steps before he collapsed onto the ground.
Huo Xudong rushed over, a dagger in hand. Inwardly, he thought, This kid has definitely been harmed by poison. But I don't know for sure if that is enough to kill him. I’ll give him a stab to be sure. His secret will be mine, and I can also complete the assassination mission while I’m at it.
"Die!" Huo Xudong stabbed the dagger at Xiang Shaoyun's head.
Just as the dagger was about to hit, a breeze blew past, and Xiang Shaoyun's body drifted to the side. Xiang Shaoyun turned around, looked at Huo Xudong, and said coldly, "You are indeed up to no good."
Huo Xudong blanked out slightly. He then smiled and said, "Hehe, Brother Xiang, you are quite a good actor, aren’t you? You fooled even me!"
He had always been a cautious person and had only decided to make a move after seeing the dark shade on Xiang Shaoyun's face and confirming that he had been poisoned. Alas, he had still been fooled.
Chapter 482: Can You Tackle This Young Master to Death?
The dark shade on Xiang Shaoyun's face quickly receded. That was only something he had created by channeling some devilish energy to his face. As for the wound on his body, it had indeed been caused by the bewildering shell devil. However, it wasn't as bad as he made it seem. He had done all that to test Huo Xudong.
Huo Xudong had been cautious, but he had still ultimately exposed himself. Even so, he was in no rush to flee. Rather, he looked at Xiang Shaoyun calmly, showing no fear.
"You are a good actor. I hate backstabbers the most. Therefore, you need to die," said Xiang Shaoyun murderously.
His entire body was radiating strength as the apparitions of a roaring dragon and a roaring tiger appeared around him. At this moment, he did not seem any weaker than a peak King. His aura was locked on to Huo Xudong, and he was confident Huo Xudong would not be able to flee.
Abruptly, he moved. He had fully mastered the moving like the wind stage and could enter the shrinking space stage at any time. When he attacked, he arrived before Huo Xudong instantly, and his fist appeared out of nowhere before Huo Xudong's heart. This was a fatal attack. He had zero intention of sparing Huo Xudong.
Bang!
When Xiang Shaoyun's fist struck Huo Xudong, an indescribable power suddenly surged out, unloading the power of the punch as Huo Xudong lightly drifted backward like a piece of leaf.
"What?" Xiang Shaoyun was shocked.
He had not summoned any lightning bolts for that attack, but the punch was still as powerful as the attack of a peak King. It was supposed to be more than enough to inflict Huo Xudong with a heavy injury. And yet Huo Xudong was able to so easily dissolve the power of his punch. That greatly shocked him.
"Hehe, you won't be able to kill me so easily," said Huo Xudong with a sneer before transforming into eight bodies. Each held a dagger in hand as they charged Xiang Shaoyun.
Phantom Assassination!
Those who knew the Rat Assassins well would be able to recognize this technique. This was a technique exclusive to them, a technique extremely suitable for assassination. One would not be able to easily distinguish which was the real body when under this technique's assault. This technique made Huo Xudong's identity clear. He was an assassin from the Rat Assassins. In fact, he was a high-level assassin in the organization.
"What a worthless trick," said Xiang Shaoyun. With his Nether Soul Domain, he instantly found Huo Xudong's actual body and threw out a Lightning Bolt Fist.
Powered by silver lightning energy, the punch unleashed a might beyond the King Realm without even summoning any lightning bolts from the sky. Strands of silver electrical currents danced around the fist as a 100-meter-long horned lightning snake shot out of the fist, its mouth opened wide, its fangs bared.
Huo Xudong raised his brow. He had not expected that Xiang Shaoyun would be able to find his real body immediately. Left with no choice, he was forced to meet Xiang Shaoyun's attack head on. The two fists collided, and Huo Xudong borrowed the impact of the clash to withdraw a great distance.
"Goodbye, Brother Xiang. Let us determine a victor the next time we meet," said Huo Xudong as he fled on his mount.
Xiang Shaoyun wanted to give chase, but the bewildering shell devil suddenly appeared from under the ground again. A massive wave of soil and stones rose and crashed down on him. At the same time, a heavy gravity field formed around him, slowing down his movements.
"What a crafty person," Xiang Shaoyun sighed.
When Huo Xudong fled, he had taken into consideration the direction in which the bewildering shell devil would appear from. The timing he had chosen to attack had been perfect as well. Xiang Shaoyun was given no chance to give chase. He felt a chill creeping up his spine at the realization of how calculative that Huo Xudong was. This was the person he once saw as a friend. He quickly tossed the thought out of his mind and focused on dealing with the bewildering shell devil.
The bewildering shell devil had extreme strength, but it was obviously lacking in terms of speed. It also had powerful defenses, and it would serve as a great target practice for Xiang Shaoyun. He had advanced several stages in a row to reach the seventh-stage. He needed a proper target practice to consolidate his newly gained cultivation level.
Lightning Bolt Fist!
Xiang Shaoyun attacked the bewildering shell devil head on, channeling a boundless silver lightning energy out of his lightning bone and lightning star as he punched, unleashing a might surpassing what he was capable of even after summoning lightning bolts while he was a fourth-stage King.
Rumble! Rumble!
The powers of lightning and earth clashed, creating a series of explosions as the shockwaves of the attack spread everywhere. When the explosions settled, the bewildering shell devil's massive body continued charging out of the cloud of dust toward Xiang Shaoyun.
Six Goldplate Manual!
Instead of dodging, Xiang Shaoyun used the Six Goldplate Manual and instantly surrounded himself with two and a half layers of golden defensive walls. After he reached the seventh-stage, his Six Goldplate Manual had naturally grown as well. He was starting to build his third wall and was slowly approaching the second stage of the Six Goldplate Manual.
Bang!
The massive devil clashed against Xiang Shaoyun like a mountain, sending him flying as the walls around him crumbled apart. He was only able to stabilize his footing after flying over 100 meters away. A trail of blood dripped down from the corner of his lips, yet no fear could be seen on his face.
Instead, he smiled. "Bring it on, you beast. You are nothing special after all. Come on, use more strength. Can you tackle this young master to death?"
Xiang Shaoyun beckoned at the bewildering shell devil with a provocative look on his face, looking at this first-stage Devil Emperor with incomparable disdain. The bewildering shell devil felt provoked, and it screeched as it charged forth again. As its massiv
e body moved, the ground started shaking.
Xiang Shaoyun stood firm as if both his legs were nailed to the ground. The golden radiance around him grew more and more radiant as his third wall started extending, reaching 60 percent completion, further increasing his defensive prowess.
Bang!
With yet another world-shaking collision, Xiang Shaoyun was sent flying while coughing blood. He quickly got back on his feet and provoked the bewildering shell devil yet again. And once again, the bewildering shell devil tackled him.
One time, two times, three times...after the same scene repeated itself for over 10 times, Xiang Shaoyun finally completed his third wall, with his fourth wall at around 50 percent completion.
This signified that he had reached the second stage of the Six Goldplate Manual, the Copper Wall stage. After completing his fourth wall, he would be able to form a bastion that no Emperor could penetrate.
The only reason Xiang Shaoyun had clashed with the bewildering shell devil repeatedly was so that he could temper and improve his Six Goldplate Manual. The bewildering shell devil tackled him yet again, but this time, he was only sent flying without sustaining any sort of injury. Not even a crack had appeared on his golden walls.
"Alright. Thank you for the sparring session. As a reward, I will grant you a quick death," said Xiang Shaoyun with a faint smile on his face.
Chapter 483: Hurricane Kick and Vicious Prison Finger
Xiang Shaoyun's long black hairs started whipping about as his eyes shone like a pair of bright suns. He had an unrivaled bearing about him, making him look like the son of a god. A faint aura rippled out of him, allowing him to completely ignore the gravity field.
He then vanished, as if he had transformed into a gust of wind, and instantly reappeared at the bewildering shell devil's flank. A radiant saber energy shot out of the Overlord Skyslaying Saber, accurately striking a tiny opening on the bewildering shell devil's shell, slicing it apart and killing it.
This was a Devil Emperor whose superiority was defense. Yet a seventh-stage Skysoar Realm cultivator had killed this very beast with one hit. Nobody would believe this without personally witnessing it.
Of course, if Xiang Shaoyun had to fight the bewildering shell devil head on, he would have to spare no small amount of effort to kill it. But with his gift of instincts, he had long found the bewildering shell devil's weakness. The devil was protected by layers of shell, but there were tiny openings in the layers, and these were weak points as well.
That was how he had been able to accomplish an astonishing feat of killing it with one hit. Killing this bewildering shell devil emperor had granted him 20,000 contribution points. That wasn't surprising, as the stronger the devil one killed, the more contribution points one could gain. Since Xiang Shaoyun was already a genuine War Emperor, it was possible he could really accumulate enough contribution points in half a year.
After killing the bewildering shell devil emperor, he dragged its corpse into the Nether Soul Domain to feed the ghostrunes. Currently, the ghostrune patriarch was already a third-stage Devil Emperor. He had grown rapidly after consuming the blood and devil core of the devil wind beast patriarch.
With the growth of the ghostrunes, Xiang Shaoyun was starting his plan to transform them into a powerful army. The large supply of devils here in the Devil Domain would serve as fodder for this army of ghostrunes.
Xiang Shaoyun was in no rush to go anywhere. Before this, he had only been rushing so he could find a chance to expose and deal with Huo Xudong. Now that he was alone, he could focus on cultivating some battle techniques to further increase his combat prowess.
After all, as he grew in strength, some of his battle techniques were no longer suited for his current cultivation level, such as Star Destroying Finger, Gold Helix Fist, and the other low-level techniques. Using them would only greatly affect his offensive prowess.
After obtaining the yin devil wind, his power of wind had grown greatly. Thus, now would be the time to cultivate a wind elemental battle technique. He already had one newly created technique, Wind and Lightning. This was a battle technique utilizing both the powers of wind and lightning, something he created by accident in his thoughtless state. It possessed the strength to be his trump card.
However, that one technique was not enough for him. Trump cards would generally exhaust a large amount of energy upon usage. Furthermore, a trump card was definitely something extremely powerful and would be a great choice against an opponent one needed to kill, but it was too powerful to be used in a normal spar.
Xiang Shaoyun searched his brain for the numerous battle techniques he had memorized, and he soon stopped at a tier-5 technique called Hurricane Kick. This was an emperor-grade technique, and although it was classified as a lower tier-5 technique, it was enough for now. After all, the Ziling Sect did not have too many of these unique battle techniques collected. Of the ones he knew, this one was most suitable for him currently.
After reaching a certain degree of mastery over the Hurricane Kick, one would be able to unleash a hurricane with each kick. The stronger one was, the stronger the hurricane would be. If an Emperor used this technique, the created hurricane would be powerful enough to easily destroy several mountains at once.
Of course, destructiveness was not the greatest advantage of Hurricane Kick. Its main advantage was its efficiency in group battles. By unleashing hurricanes during a group battle, one could throw the battlefield into chaos and find an opening to kill one's enemies amid the chaos.
Having made up his mind, Xiang Shaoyun started studying the technique's essence and key points. He had always been one with great comprehension ability, and after his Nether Soul Domain turned corporeal, his soul power had also grown greatly, granting him comprehension comparable to a top-tier Emperor.
It took Xiang Shaoyun less than one day to fully understand the key points of this emperor-grade technique, and he was ready to start cultivating it. And with the help of the wind energy within his body, he was able to quickly obtain an initial mastery over the Hurricane Kick.
Instead of stopping somewhere to focus on cultivating this technique, he planned to continue fighting the devils while comprehending it. That way, he would be able to master this technique faster.
The Devil Domain was filled with devils, and Xiang Shaoyun had frequent devil encounters as he traveled. He started his cultivation through battle. Initially, each kick of his was extremely stiff as he was still very unfamiliar with the technique.
As he battled on, he started being able to control his legs like his hands. He was also starting to create sharp blades of wind through kicking. However, these blades of wind weren't exactly powerful as they could only harm late-stage Devil Kings.
After two days, Xiang Shaoyun was no longer creating wind blades when he kicked. Rather, he was creating true hurricanes formed of spiraling wind blades, seemingly capable of ripping everything apart. The prowess of his kicks had grown considerably.
"At complete mastery, I might be able to create a storm as powerful as the storm created by yin devil wind with one kick. Even if I can't create a storm that powerful, it won't be that much weaker either," muttered Xiang Shaoyun as his comprehension on the technique increased.
He was one who was once trapped in the storm created by the yin devil wind. He was equipped with the knowledge of the flow of wind, and combined with the yin devil wind he had in him, cultivating the Hurricane Kick wasn't something hard for him.
Generally, even an Emperor would take between one to three months to reach initial mastery over an emperor-grade technique. And yet, Xiang Shaoyun had only taken three days. One ought to admit that he was truly a genius cultivator.
Today, after killing a random Devil King, Xiang Shaoyun stopped for a short break. It was not that he was tired, but he was going to cultivate a different battle technique. Some high-level cultivators would probably say that he was biting more than he can chew if they knew what he was doing here.
However, Xi
ang Shaoyun did not care. Each of his stars contained a different power. If he did not have a corresponding battle technique for each element, he would not be able to fully unleash their prowess.
Since he was going to stop using the Gold Helix Fist, he needed a new gold elemental battle technique. Soon, he decided on a tier-5 battle technique called the Vicious Prison Finger. This was both a gold elemental battle technique and a finger battle technique. Thus, it could serve as a replacement for both Star Destroying Finger and Gold Helix Fist.
To cultivate the Vicious Prison Finger, one needed to have tough finger bones and gold energy laced with vicious energy. If one met both requirements, one would have access to extremely destructive attacks, as if one could pierce the blue dome of heaven and break the prison that was this world with a jab of one's finger. At full mastery, one would be able to kill even a high-level Emperor with a single jab.
Since Xiang Shaoyun had cultivated a finger technique before, his finger bones definitely met the requirement. And with the existence of the vicious gold energy in his star, he met the second requirement as well. Cultivating this technique would not be hard for him.
And thus, Xiang Shaoyun started focusing on cultivating the Vicious Prison Finger. He took even less time cultivating the Vicious Prison Finger. After about a day and a half, he already reached an initial mastery over it. With one jab, he was able to kill a peak devil armored rhinoceros king, which was known for its powerful defenses.
Chapter 484: Han Clan Sisters in Danger Again
In the blink of an eye, one month passed. During the month, Xiang Shaoyun had spent his time killing Devil Kings at the second layer of Devil Domain. After a month of tempering, he had fully consolidated his cultivation base and had even grown slightly.
The main reason for his growth was the increased resonance between the powers of the yin devil wind and the silver lightning core in his body. The remaining wind and lightning energies of the two were also gradually transforming into astral energy of corresponding elements, further increasing Xiang Shaoyun's cultivation level.