White Wings Was Not Called That for Nothing

A wave of heat struck first.

Zhuo Yuan slashed diagonally with his saber, and before the blade even reached him, Xu Sheng felt his cheek grow hot. He turned sideways to evade it, thrusting his sword along the back of the saber toward Zhuo Yuan's weapon hand.

Zhuo Yuan flipped his wrist and slammed his saber down.

Clang!

The sword was forced down half an inch.

His level twenty-eight Soul Power was indeed greater than Xu Sheng's.

Realizing this, Zhuo Yuan's gaze grew steadier instead. He pressed the attack with two successive slashes, paying no more attention to those who had already fled behind him.

Subdue Xu Sheng first.

Once these White Wings fall, those people will know just how foolish a path they chose today.

But Xu Sheng did not stand his ground and struggle against him.

With a beat of his white wings, he tapped his toes against the broken stones and shifted to the right. When Zhuo Yuan's third slash came after him, it only sheared a patch of moss off the rock wall.

Xu Sheng landed on another, slightly higher rock and glanced down at his sword.

A fresh notch.

His mouth twitched.

I'll have to replace it again.

He had only picked up this sword on the road, and even the leather clasp on its scabbard was still stiff. Before they set out, Qiao Fu had specifically asked whether he wanted to bring the old one too, and he had said there was no need.

Xu Sheng looked up at the long saber Zhuo Yuan had formed from Soul Power and suddenly felt a little aggrieved.

Tool Martial Souls really are convenient.

When they get damaged, you don't have to go back and find someone to grind them.

Thinking he was afraid, Zhuo Yuan said coldly, "Fly! Why aren't you flying?"

"There are too many trees here. I'm afraid you won't be able to find me."

Before Xu Sheng finished speaking, he kicked off, his white figure swooping down from the rock!

Crimson Holy Judgment gathered along his sword's edge as he crashed it heavily against Zhuo Yuan's long saber.

This time, Zhuo Yuan could not force the sword back.

The momentum of Xu Sheng's dive drove him backward. His heel struck a rock, and his knee buckled, nearly bringing him down.

Xu Sheng did not press for another strike. He spread his wings outward, checked his momentum, and landed two steps away.

The Clear Sky Hammer whistled past from the side.

It was not coming for them.

Chu Heng swept He Zheng back with his tail, sending him stumbling two steps away from the nearby fighting. Seeing where he had come from, Xu Sheng waved him toward a more open spot, then turned sideways and intercepted Zhuo Yuan, who was trying to get past in the confusion.

Several fights were crammed onto the slope; no one could afford to focus only on the blade in front of them.

Zhuo Yuan suddenly raised his left hand and flung a handful of loose dirt at Xu Sheng's face.

Xu Sheng turned his head, sand pattering against his faceplate.

His Second Soul Ring lit up at that very moment!

Crimson light left the blade!

A crimson saber beam tore through the rising dust and slashed toward Xu Sheng, skimming close to his chest!

Xu Sheng could not dodge completely in time. His wings snapped upward, forcibly lifting his body. The saber beam brushed past the soles of his boots and sliced a length of rotten wood behind him in two.

The outer edge of his left wing was singed by the heat, and a sharp pain traveled back through his Martial Soul.

Xu Sheng frowned. Without lingering in the air, he made his Second Soul Ring flare brightly and flew straight over Zhuo Yuan's head.

Zhuo Yuan turned and slashed after him, but the saber beam could not turn with him.

Before Zhuo Yuan could launch the move a second time, Xu Sheng had landed behind him.

He understood now.

The attack required a very brief moment to gather force and had a limited range. Once fired, it did not turn to follow its target.

If he faced it head-on, Zhuo Yuan, with five more levels of Soul Power, could indeed keep him on the defensive.

But he had wings.

He could hardly have grown them just for other people to look at!

Xu Sheng abruptly folded one wing and cut diagonally inside the saber's arc.

Zhuo Yuan hurriedly brought his saber across.

But Xu Sheng did not slash.

He kicked the outside of Zhuo Yuan's lower leg, and as Zhuo Yuan's balance shifted, he slammed his sword hilt into the wrist of his saber hand!

"Ah!"

Zhuo Yuan grunted in pain, but he did not release the saber. It was a Martial Soul he had formed himself, and Xu Sheng had not expected a single blow to his wrist to make it disappear entirely.

What he wanted was that instant's delay in the saber.

His First Soul Ring lit up again.

Crimson Holy Judgment!

The sword slashed diagonally down Zhuo Yuan's shoulder and arm, splitting his sleeve. Blood immediately welled out.

Zhuo Yuan retreated in haste, but Xu Sheng beat his wings and followed.

The distance between them did not widen.

One strike, two strikes!

The saber was knocked aside again and again, forcing Zhuo Yuan to parry. His earlier ferocity, his determination to overpower Xu Sheng, gradually turned to shock and anger.

Xu Sheng's Soul Power was not as deep as his, but the explosive force he unleashed after Martial Soul Possession was not a bit weaker. With Xu Sheng also shifting position through the air, every time Zhuo Yuan tried to regain his footing, he was forced to turn.

Several tree roots bulged out of the mud along his retreat.

Zhuo Yuan had spotted them long ago and had meant to force Xu Sheng onto them, but instead he was the one driven back into them first. After changing direction twice, he finally stumbled.

Xu Sheng's eyes lit up, and his sword immediately thrust forward, forcing Zhuo Yuan to raise his saber to guard his chest.

Zhuo Yuan's face reddened with frustration.

He had trained with the saber no less long than Xu Sheng had trained with the sword, and he had lost fights before. But never had there been a fight like today's, where even the direction he stepped had to change to match his opponent.

The person in front of him was clearly five levels below him.

Yet those white wings kept circling back from a side he could not attend to.

A thick tree blocked the way behind him.

Zhuo Yuan caught sight of it from the corner of his eye and suddenly lunged to the side, hoping to use the trunk to shield himself from Xu Sheng.

Xu Sheng did not follow him around the tree.

His white wings snapped open, and he pushed Firmament Holy Wings to its limit. He flew diagonally upward, skimmed past a horizontal branch, and abruptly plunged down on the other side!

Zhuo Yuan had only just leaned out when he met a pair of eyes glowing gold.

Those white wings had arrived before he did.

Bang!

A shoulder slammed into his chest, sending Zhuo Yuan tumbling backward. The crimson glow on his long saber scattered.

He was still trying to push himself up when the sword tip came to rest in front of his throat.

Panting, Xu Sheng planted a boot on his arm and forced the saber, which had solidified again, to one side.

"Still want to fight?"

Zhuo Yuan's Adam's apple bobbed, and the ferocity in his eyes had not entirely faded.

Xu Sheng did not wait for an answer. He turned his sword hilt and smashed it into Zhuo Yuan's temple.

A dull thud.

Zhuo Yuan finally stopped moving.

Xu Sheng looked down and made sure he was still breathing. Only then did he pull the cord from Zhuo Yuan's waist and tie his arms behind the tree, then call He Gu over from the rear.

"Keep an eye on him with Qi Luo. Call me if he wakes up, and don't get close to his hands."

He Gu nodded and stood to one side, his tortoise shell still in place.

Only then did Xu Sheng take his foot away and rub his aching lower leg.

He had taken quite a knock himself when he came crashing down.

Suddenly, He Zheng grunted in the distance.

Xu Sheng turned at once.

Chu Heng's Third Soul Ring was already lit. Purple light covered his body, and the Iron-Spined Lizard's scales overlapped more tightly. Ji Juechen stabbed him in the side of the shoulder, leaving only a white mark.

The half of He Zheng's body that had been swept aside was numb, but his hand still gripped the hammer's handle tightly.

Seeing Xu Sheng approach, he hurried to speak first. "This guy's armor..."

"What about your hand?"

"I can move it."

"Then stand on the other side. Don't stay close to the tree."

Without letting him finish explaining what he had failed to block, Xu Sheng was already heading toward Chu Heng.

Chu Heng had seen Zhuo Yuan get subdued just now, and he too was thinking of retreating.

Seeing Xu Sheng fly toward him, he first shifted to the other side, intending to drive Ji Juechen away with a sweep of his tail before rushing down the slope.

But Ji Juechen did not retreat.

His two Soul Rings lit up at once, and his hands were extraordinarily steady on his sword.

His eyes had never left Chu Heng's joints.

Not every scale could seal off movement.

Xu Sheng also saw what he meant and suddenly shouted from the air.

"He Zheng!"

The pitch-black hammerhead rose behind Chu Heng's flank.