Fully trusting his instincts, the black-robed expert immediately retreated with a pale face.
He did not think that the earlier attack would only be a feint. The true threat was hidden amid the sword qi!
“It’s a High Immortal-tier sword!” The black-robed expert was stunned.
Weapons of such a tier were known to be incredibly prideful, so why would this sword submit to a mere Pseudo Immortal?
This was impossible!
However, this was not the time for his attention to be wandering away. He quickly turned around and backed away.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Driving the Gods’ Sword Intent within his body, the Tongshang Sword blurred into an afterimage, almost as if a drifting cloud that moved without leaving behind any traces.
Puhe!
Fresh blood spurted into the air as the black-robed expert cried out.
His hand had been severed.
However, Zhang Xuan did not show the slightest hint of relief despite having severed the other party’s hand. Instead, the look on his face turned even more livid.
He had brought out the Tongshang Sword and used the Gods’ Sword Intent, so he thought that he would be able to defeat the other party in a single strike. Yet, all that he had managed to do was sever one of the other party’s limbs!
This was not looking very good at all.
“You… You are actually able to harm me?”
The black-robed expert looked at his severed hand on the ground with an incredulous expression. Gradually, his face warped into savagery, and with a furious roar, he whipped out a sword.
The only reason he had not used a weapon all that time was because he had thought that the other party was unworthy of him going so far. However, he realized that he might lose his life here if he continued underestimating his enemy.
Huala!
As soon as the sword appeared, the black-robed man slashed it down forcefully, producing a wheezing sound in the air. A golden burst of sword qi spanning several zhang1 surged down on Zhang Xuan.
“This is a High Immortal-tier weapon?” Zhang Xuan widened his eyes in surprise as he quickly backed away.
He knew just how arrogant High Immortal-tier weapons could be—the Tongshang Sword that he was holding was one perfect example. If not for the means that he possessed, he would have had difficulty trying to tame it. Yet, the other party, despite being at the Heavenly True Immortal realm, was actually able to succeed.
This was truly terrifying!
Astonished, Zhang Xuan took out two Superior Immortal Pills and swallowed them.
Even though his cultivation had reached the Lesser True Immortal realm, he was still unable to seize a decisive advantage over the black-robed expert. Furthermore, there were three more powerful opponents lying in wait behind.
While dodging the offense of the black-robed expert, he made sure to keep a lookout for the movements of the other three, fearing that they would sneak an assault on him. However, those three remained completely motionless, impassive to the plight of their comrade at all.
He had no idea what those three were up to, but it was good news that they were not moving just yet. At the very least, this meant that he still stood a chance.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Zhang Xuan dodged the golden outburst of sword qi through his nimble movements while counterattacking with his own surges of sword qi.
Dang dang dang dang!
As the two swords clashed with one another, sonic booms echoed deafeningly in the air. The combined might of Zhang Xuan’s zhenqi, physical body, and soul was so great that it felt like it could almost smash a mountain into bits, but somehow, every strike that he launched was easily deflected by the other party. It was as if the black-robed expert wielded boundless strength. No matter what was thrown at him, he would be able to take it without suffering any damage.
Zhang Xuan’s face grew more and more livid.
He had cultivated the Heaven’s Path Divine Art right from the start, which had given him extremely strong foundations. Furthermore, he had been through the Saint Ascension Ordeal and undergone multiple Ancient Sage Ordeals.
Typically speaking, his strength should have been able to easily match opponents whose cultivation was far higher than his.
Yet, this black-robed expert was actually fighting him on an equal footing. Not even the number one core disciple, He Jingxuan, would be able to do this!
In fact, even Sect Leader Han Jianqiu might not be able to match this black-robed expert’s strength when his cultivation was suppressed to the Heavenly True Immortal realm!
Other than the Hall of Gods, there was probably no other organization in the Azure that had such powerful experts!
At this rate, I might really die here, Zhang Xuan thought.
Even with plenty of Superior Immortal Pills, he found that he was quickly depleting his supposedly almost endless zhenqi. This made his expression become even darker.
Once he depleted his zhenqi, even escaping would become impossible for him.
This was the very first time in a long while that he had felt so cornered. He had grown so used to being much stronger than his counterparts that he had severely underestimated the threats that lurked in the Azure.
I can’t drag out this fight any longer. I need to find the opening in this folded space and find a way to escape, Zhang Xuan thought.
He had no idea why the other three were not making a move, but one of them was a Heavenly High Immortal. If even a Heavenly True Immortal was able to push him this far, he would surely die once the Heavenly High Immortal made his move!
No matter what, he had to get out of there!
The fact that the enemies had resorted to pulling him into a folded space meant that they were wary of the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion. Most likely, the sect might have sent experts to follow him. He would be in a much safer position if he could regroup with them.
Even if that was not the case, with the mystical disguise amulet that Luo Ruoxin had given him, he was confident that he would be able to blend into the crowd and get away!
Just that… the Library of Heaven’s Path could not be used there, which complicated things a little.
Eye of Insight!
Zhang Xuan began scanning his surroundings carefully, but nothing was coming to him at all. He was starting to get a little desperate.
Given how prepared the other party was, bringing him into a folded space in order to deal with him, there was no way they would allow him to break out of there easily.
The structure of the space in the Azure is much more stable than that of the Master Teacher Continent, but the fundamental theories must be the same, Zhang Xuan thought as he anxiously ran through everything that he knew about space in his mind.
Focusing his Eye of Insight on the structure of the space once more, he quickly deconstructed it with his eyes, turning it back into its most fundamental form.
That place… It seems to be a little brittle…
It did not take long for him to identify a certain spot that was visibly different from the others.
Thus, with a sudden outburst of strength, he launched a series of tenacious attacks that forced the black-robed expert to retreat continuously. Then, when he finally got close to this brittle spot, he abruptly redirected the trajectory of his sword to strike it with all his might.
Ding!
A resounding buzz reminiscent of a metallic clang echoed loudly in the air. Zhang Xuan felt a tremendous rebound gushing from the Tongshang Sword back toward his arm, forcing him to swiftly retreat several steps in order to ward off the force.
Hu!
The area that he had just struck warped a little, and another figure appeared in the folded space.
“Elder Chou Huo?” Zhang Xuan widened his eyes.
It was none other than Elder Chou Huo, the First Elder of the Core Disciple Sector whom he had wrecked back at the Elder Council!
He had been following Zhang Xuan, protecting him from the shadows. When these black-robed figures struck, he had noticed it right away and immediately rushed over, but the folded space had closed before he could make his way in. He had tried many ways to breach the folded space, but despite being a Heavenly High Immortal, he had been unable to find a way in.
He felt as if there were people reinforcing the folded space from within, rendering all his attempts futile. It was only when Zhang Xuan struck the opening of the folded space that he managed to find an opportunity to dash in.
After entering the space, he immediately cast a sweeping gaze across the area, and when he saw that Zhang Xuan was still unharmed, he heaved a huge sigh of relief and said, “It’s great that you’re fine!”
Following which, he took his stance in front of Zhang Xuan and looked at the four black-robed figures in front coldly.
“As High Immortal and True Immortals of the Hall of Gods, aren’t you ashamed for ganging up on a mere Pseudo Immortal?” Elder Chou Huo scoffed disdainfully.
It took a mere glance for him to identify the background of the assailants.
“Kill him, and make sure that nothing gets leaked out!” the black-robed Heavenly High Immortal instructed.
“Yes!”
The other two True Immortals standing behind him clasped their fists and bowed slightly in acknowledgement of the command.
Hu! Hu!
Without any hesitation, they whipped out their swords and charged forth. Astonishingly, their swords were also at High Immortal-tier as well.
One of them moved left, and the other moved right. They swiftly flanked Elder Chou Huo and engaged him from both directions.
Ding ding ding ding!
Just like that, the three of them began a fight of their own.
“This…” Seeing this sight, Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows shot up.
To his astonishment, the other two black-robed Heavenly True Immortal experts were actually able to fight the Heavenly High Immortal realm Elder Chou Huo as equals. Not only that, they seemed to be gradually gaining an edge over Elder Chou Huo!
The difference in the strength between a True Immortal and a High Immortal was equivalent to that between a Great Sage and an Ancient Sage. The two existences were simply so far apart from one another that they could not be compared with one another.
A Lesser High Immortal could easily subdue a dozen Heavenly True Immortals.
As such, it was hard to believe that two Heavenly True Immortals were able to equal a Heavenly High Immortal like Elder Chou Huo in a fight. Even when he was witnessing it with his own eyes, Zhang Xuan could still hardly believe that this was really happening.
However, the situation did not grant him the luxury to be focused on another person’s fight. The black-robed expert whose hand he had just severed had just begun executing a set of consecutive fatal attacks against him, forcing him to back away again and again.
Despite incurring severe injuries, it did not seem like the fighting prowess of the black-robed expert had reduced in the least. In fact, it seemed to have stimulated something deep within him, granting him boundless strength. He threw out slash after slash with frenzied might, reminiscent of a crazed berserker on a battlefield.
“Dongxu Gourd, don’t feigning death! Don’t you see what’s going on here?” Zhang Xuan bellowed internally.
“Yeah, I do. So?” the Dongxu Gourd replied lazily as it swam around Zhang Xuan’s dantian.
“So? Aren’t you able to eat swords? Go and swallow the swords of those b*stards for me!” Zhang Xuan roared.
It was at this moment that he suddenly recalled that the Dongxu Gourd had swallowed the Tongshang sword once. If it could just swallow the sword of the black-robed expert, he should be able to turn the tables.
“Sure, sure,” the Dongxu Gourd replied lazily. “Remember your words! Don’t expect me to spit it out later, alright?”
“That’s right, hurry up!”
“Wait, let me double check first. You want me to eat the swords of all of those b*stards, right?”
“Cut the cr*p and hurry up!”
Zhang Xuan felt like his blood pressure was going to hit the roof at this rate. How in the world could someone be so annoying?
If not for the fact that he was unable to do so, he would have hacked the Dongxu Gourd into pieces with an axe by now!
“Yes, yes…”
Receiving Zhang Xuan’s permission, the Dongxu Gourd looked at the swords before it with an excited gleam on its exterior before it began to make its move.
…
“I’ll never forgive you for daring to humiliate me. Pay for your insolence with your life!”
While Zhang Xuan was communicating with the Dongxu Gourd, the black-robed expert realized that his mind was wandering, and he gnashed his teeth so tightly that some bits of them chipped off. With a furious roar, he raised his sword and hacked it down with stupendous might.
His swordsmanship was sharp and aggressive. Every single strike came from a difficult trajectory, and it was aimed at a vital. Even though it was very different from the Heaven’s Path Sword Art, its might could not be underestimated.
Most likely, it was a unique sword art of the Hall of Gods.
Hu!
But halfway through his slash, there was a blur, and all of a sudden, he felt an empty feeling in his arms. Just like magic, the sword in his grasp vanished without a trace.
“Ah?”
The sudden change in weight caused the black-robed expert to stagger forward slightly, but he immediately regained his balance and backed away.
He had spent a tremendous amount of effort to tame this High Immortal-tier sword, and it had definitely been in his hand a moment ago. Where in the world could it have disappeared to?
With widened eyes, he looked around, but his sword was nowhere to be seen.
What the hell? Can anyone tell me what just happened?
Where is my sword? Where is my sword!
“You scoundrel! What kind of sorcery did you play on me?”
“Damn it! You are courting death!”
While the black-robed expert was still searching for his sword, he suddenly heard two bellows not too far away. Turning his gaze over, he saw that the swords of his other two Heavenly True Immortal comrades had vanished as well.
Right after, a flabbergasted voice echoed in the air.
“It isn’t me. My sword has disappeared, too!”
The sword in Elder Chou Huo’s hand had disappeared into thin air as well.
2~
