Fast! Uncanny! Impossible to Defend Against!
One casual strike from the guardian had nearly killed him! The gap between them was as vast as heaven and earth!
Before Xiao Han could catch his breath, the guardian's second wave of attacks was already upon him!
Its four bone-blade limbs braced against the ground, and its entire body became a blurred black streak. It tore straight through space and appeared behind Xiao Han!
A bone blade imbued with the power of spatial distortion silently slashed toward his heart from behind!
Fast! Uncanny! Impossible to defend against!
Xiao Han's scalp tingled, his sense of danger reaching its peak.
He didn't even have time to turn around. Relying on his combat instincts, he gathered the Eternal Night Monarch's shadow power behind him while activating A Step to the Ends of the Earth once more, throwing himself awkwardly to the side!
Puchi!
Though he had reacted with lightning speed, the shadow shield he had formed was torn apart by the bone blade in an instant. Its sharp tip still cut across his back, leaving several wounds deep enough to expose bone!
The Chaos Green Lotus exerted its power again, emerald light flowing as it healed his injuries. But the foreign energy that had invaded his body clung to him like maggots on bone, exceedingly difficult to drive out.
"Cough, cough..." Xiao Han staggered as he landed, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. After just two exchanges, he was already gravely wounded!
How was he supposed to fight this?!
The guardian's attacks combined the uncanny nature of shadows with the swiftness of space. They were utterly unpredictable and impossible to defend against!
And the power of its attacks far exceeded what Xiao Han could withstand! Even the Chaos Green Lotus's monstrous regenerative ability couldn't keep up with this kind of attrition!
A sliver of despair began to spread through his heart like a cold tide.
The speed he was so proud of was like a crawling tortoise before the guardian, which could tear through space;
His unstoppable Annihilation Divine Fist probably couldn't even break through its defenses; the Eternal Night Monarch's mastery of shadows was even more like showing off his axe skills before a master!
The gap was too great! So great it was suffocating!
This wasn't a battle at all, but a one-sided slaughter!
The guardian gave Xiao Han no time to think. Like an emotionless killing machine, it locked onto his aura once more.
The black crystal on its smooth face began gathering energy again, and an even more terrifying fluctuation than before spread out.
The shadow of death loomed over Xiao Han's heart as never before.
Was he... really going to die here?
At that moment of despair, the familiar, slightly cheeky system notification rang out in his mind like heavenly music!
[ Ding! The host has been detected in a desperate situation with a slim chance of survival. The God-Level Choice System has activated in emergency mode!]
[Current choices:]
[Choice one: Burn fifty years of lifespan to forcibly activate the system's spatial teleportation function and escape this ruin to a random location (the destination is unknown; you might be teleported straight into a ferocious beast's lair or a spatial turbulence~). Reward: The "Master of Clinging to Life" title (escape speed +10% when equipped), and one Heart-Protecting Pill (special effect).]
[Choice two: Put yourself on the brink of death and fight your way back to life! Face the Martial Grandmaster Realm guardian and defeat it utterly! With supreme will and an overwhelming fighting spirit, claim the ruin's core inheritance and obtain the Martial Grandmaster-level cultivation technique "Shadow Void Scripture," which matches the power system of this place! Rewards: The "Fate-Defying Grandmaster Slayer" title (rare) (slightly increases the success rate of challenges against higher-level opponents), an opportunity for the Eternal Night King Martial Soul to evolve (requires the core inheritance), and a clue to the subsequent fragment of "Annihilation Divine Fist"!]
The two choices lay before Xiao Han like ice and fire.
Choice one: cling to life. But the cost was fifty years of lifespan, as well as the unknown risks he might face in the future. And no matter how he looked at it, the "Master of Clinging to Life" title and the Heart-Protecting Pill were dripping with mockery.
Choice two: risk his life! The danger was enormous; there was almost no chance of survival! But the rewards... were enough to take his breath away!
The ruin's core inheritance! The Martial Grandmaster-level cultivation technique "Shadow Void Scripture"! An opportunity for the Eternal Night Monarch to evolve! A clue to the rest of "Annihilation Divine Fist"!
Any one of those rewards would have been enough to drive countless Martial Artists mad!
Especially the "Shadow Void Scripture." It was clearly a cultivation technique derived from the same source as the guardian's power, and its value was immeasurable! And there was the opportunity for the Eternal Night Monarch to evolve. That was a god-level Martial Soul!
Run?
That word had never existed in Xiao Han's dictionary!
From being mocked after awakening two F-rank Martial Souls, to forcibly kissing the campus belle and defying the heavens to change his fate;
From humiliating himself in public at the Martial Skills Pavilion in exchange for a divine technique, to fighting a black ape to the death in a mysterious valley... all along, he had relied on a fierce refusal to admit defeat and a willingness to risk his life!
Burn his lifespan to cling to life? That wasn't his style!
"Martial Grandmaster Realm... so what?!"
Xiao Han snapped his head up, the last trace of despair in his eyes utterly replaced by a fiercely burning fighting spirit! It was a determination bordering on madness!
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and straightened his slightly hunched back. A terrifying aura far beyond the Sixth Level of the Warrior Realm erupted like a slumbering volcano!
"System, I'm choosing option two!!!"
He roared in his heart!
[Ding! The host has successfully made a choice! Your courage is commendable, your backbone admirable! Please go ahead and set your inner cosmos ablaze! (Friendly reminder: The Martial Grandmaster Realm guardian possesses a Domain Prototype, and its energy is nearly inexhaustible. Good... luck, host ^_^)]
The system notification fell silent.
The next moment, the two dormant god-level Martial Souls within Xiao Han seemed to sense their host's overwhelming resolve to succeed or die trying, and both let out a heaven-shaking roar!
Hummm—!
An apparition of the Chaos Green Lotus, stretching from heaven to earth, slowly blossomed behind him!
Its vibrant green lotus leaves unfurled, releasing a vast and boundless aura of life that bathed the entire dilapidated hall in green!
Dense life energy surged into Xiao Han like a tide, frantically healing his injuries and replenishing his depleted spiritual power! The Green Lotus Domain Prototype expanded in an instant, trying to resist the spatial distortion and pressure brought by the guardian!
Roar—!
At the same time, an apparition of the Eternal Night Monarch abruptly took shape, clad in pitch-black battle armor, a fearsome crown on his head and a shadow spear in his hand!
Profound, majestic, domineering! Endless dark energy gathered from every direction and flowed into the monarch!
The Eternal Night Domain Prototype expanded at the same time, complementing the Green Lotus Domain. One was light, the other dark; one was life, the other death. Together, they radiated terrifying fluctuations that made the heart tremble!
The Twin Martial Souls erupted at full power!
Xiao Han's eyes were crimson as he felt the unprecedented surge of power within him and the soaring fighting spirit conveyed by his two Martial Souls. He threw back his head and laughed wildly:
"Come on, beast! Today, either you die or I do!"
He charged straight at the guardian's terrifying strike, which was nearly finished gathering power. His right hand clenched into a fist, his knuckles turning white! Strands of dim, gray annihilation aura, seemingly capable of obliterating all things, began gathering around his fist!
"Annihilation Divine Fist"! Unleashed at full power!
Dark energy and Annihilation Fist Intent intertwined!