Absolute Kill

Only then did Chuyan abruptly realize that Xiao Ran was, in the end, only at Qi Refining. That calm, unruffled aura of his might have been an act.

If he had not coughed up blood just now, Chuyan would have thought he was some invincible saint.

It seemed that life on Sword-Wielding Mountain would be different from now on—he would not be able to bully her.

With that thought, she pressed her palm against Xiao Ran's sturdy tailbone and gently circulated her Qi Sea, slowly pouring Spiritual Power into Xiao Ran's Dantian.

But it was Golden Core Realm Spiritual Power after all. Even softened to such an extent, it still whipped up a hurricane and tsunami within Xiao Ran's Qi Sea.

Xiao Ran hurriedly circulated Resonance Power, forcibly withstanding the Golden Core Spiritual Pressure. Driven by that tsunami, he struck out with an empty palm.

Bang! The air resonated.

He bypassed Spiritual Power resonance. No matter how much Spiritual Power accelerated through resonance, it would ultimately only be absorbed by the Wraith.

Bang! Space resonated.

Bang! At last, it reached the skies above the ruins and resonated with the true body of the Sunflower Wraith.

A shrill cry rang out—

Xiao Ran's palm force was like a clay ox sinking into the sea. After spreading ripples, it vanished without a trace.

The Wraith's waving tentacles moved even faster.

Its mournful wraith cry grew sharper and more frenzied, releasing delighted shrieks like an eerie prelude to battle, tearing at the listeners' scalps.

Chen Gongxing, fighting at close quarters, instinctively felt his scalp go numb. His movement technique grew unsteady, his sword qi increasingly listless, and he began to struggle.

The two instructors looked at Xiao Ran with complicated expressions, unable to understand his intentions.

Even hiding behind Xiao Ran, Chuyan's little face turned pale from the shrieking, and her slender legs trembled slightly.

This Wraith was far too overbearing!

Xiao Ran thought.

Yet that palm strike just now had not been an attack, but a probe. By resonating with the Wraith's true body, he had detected its vital weak point.

A vital weak point was the frailest location on a cultivator's body. If struck by a powerful attack, it could prove fatal in a single blow.

Not every Wraith had a vital weak point, but any Wraith that defied the heavens too excessively definitely would.

Simple conservation of Spiritual Power made it clear: if Cultivation Level was fixed, then the more absurdly powerful a Wraith's offense was, the more impregnable its defense, the more outrageously overpowered it became, the more likely it was to possess a fatal weakness.

This Sunflower Wraith had tentacles that could hypnotize and extract Spiritual Power, and it could endure high-level spells, revive endlessly, and advance in rank. It was far too unfair. It definitely had some hidden vital weak point.

Though Xiao Ran possessed divine sense and could listen to all things, it was still too difficult to learn the internal structure of a Nascent Soul Wraith. That was why he had borrowed strength to send out that palm strike and probe its vital weak point.

He had truly found it! He immediately shouted at Chen Gongxing:

"Senior Brother Chen, I have a way—listen carefully."

"Quick, say it!"

"Maintain the Sword Spirit: Horizontal Kun Nine Rate, Vertical Half Force."

Chen Gongxing froze, somewhat baffled. But seeing as he was nearly on his knees, he had no right to choose. He could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive.

"All right!"

He immediately adjusted the rate driving the Sword Spirit as Xiao Ran had instructed: Horizontal Kun Nine Rate, Vertical Half Force.

This was a spiritual rate that was rarely used under normal circumstances!

In the distance.

Chuyan trembled in fright, yet still persisted in slowly feeding her Golden Core Realm Spiritual Power into Xiao Ran's body.

Xiao Ran withstood the pressure and forcibly gathered a storm within his Qi Sea, pushing it to the brink of collapse. Driven by storm-like Spiritual Power, he slashed out with his sword! Whoosh! Sword qi resonated with the air.

He continued to bypass Spiritual Power resonance.

Sword qi resonated with space.

As the sword qi reached the Wraith at close range, it suddenly resonated with the Spirit Sword in Chen Gongxing's hand.

Because Chen Gongxing had fixed the sword edge's spiritual rate in advance, the resonance was immensely powerful! The sword body abruptly rang and hummed, piercing the clouds, even faintly overpowering the mournful wraith cry. Compared with the Nascent Soul power from before, it had been amplified more than tenfold.

Xiao Ran cried out urgently, "Now—three feet below the Wraith's pupil, cut it down with one strike!"

Only then did Chen Gongxing suddenly understand Xiao Ran's plan. With all his strength, he flashed into the tentacles' blind spot and slashed at a point three feet beneath the white eye! Whoosh! A thin sword mark appeared three feet beneath the white eyeball's pupil.

The white eye suddenly froze.

The thin mark abruptly split open.

Blood burst forth!

The black pupil cracked at the corners, and countless tiny white specks suddenly focused, locking onto Xiao Ran in the distance.

Blood seeped into the split sword mark. As it opened and closed, it actually spoke in a mournful wraith cry.

"Sure enough... you are the most... special one..."

Xiao Ran's forehead darkened with black lines.

Just die already, will you? Do not say things that make people misunderstand, all right? Chen Gongxing came to his senses and went on a wild slaughtering spree with his sword, dismembering the Wraith's body.

In an instant, the dark body turned into dust and smoke, dispersing completely.

The black clouds scattered.

The morning breeze arrived.

Sword Plaza was once again draped in gentle autumn light, bathed in the morning wind.

Yet the Square Platform had already become a field of ruins.

The area around Sword Plaza was empty. Not a single disciple or spectator remained.

To the west of Sword Plaza.

The two instructors who had been guarding Xiao Ran wore humble expressions and cupped their fists to him. "As expected of a Direct Disciple of Sword-Wielding Mountain. Junior Brother Xiao's swordsmanship is strange and unfathomable, not something achieved in a single day. We were disrespectful."

Xiao Ran thought, the Resonance Sword Art really had been achieved in a single day!

No, not even a full day yet...

"It is nothing."

Chuyan circled around to stand in front of Xiao Ran.

Just moments ago, she had been timid and submissive, standing behind Xiao Ran like an underling.

The instant the Wraith died, she immediately struck with a heavy fist, hurrying onto the Square Platform.

Her petite figure searched through the ruins for a long while. Finding nothing, she said, "Strange, why is there not even a Wraith Core?"

A Wraith Core was essentially a Wraith's Dantian. Its material differed from anything in the Cultivation World and held great value as both medicine and crafting material.

"If it had a Wraith Core, could it have infiltrated the inner sect for so long? This is a Special Strain. It is very likely not the true body, merely a clone bait."

Chen Gongxing sheathed his sword and patted the wraith ash from his body. He showed no concern for the life-and-death danger he had just endured, as though it were an everyday occurrence.

Still, Xiao Ran's sword strike—with its bizarrely trembling sword art and such a fierce amplification of power—had truly startled him.

He could not understand it, but it felt incredibly powerful!

He thought that if Xiao Ran could obtain a Lifebound Sword that truly belonged to him at the Sword Inheritance Assembly, the power of that strike would become even greater.

"Looks like another meeting is coming..."

Chen Gongxing sighed, stepping down from the ruins and stopping before Xiao Ran.

"Meetings are for you elders and Direct Disciples. I am leaving. I will come watch you again at the Sword Inheritance Assembly."

Seeing that he was leaving, Xiao Ran took out a flask of Malt Wine and tossed it to him.

"This is wine brewed from your wheat."

"I do not drink."

Chen Gongxing showed little interest, then suddenly grinned.

"But I will still have a taste of your wine."

Beside him, Chuyan looked at him strangely.

At that moment, Master Boyun's neutral, detached voice came from the dome of the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array.

"In one hour, the Hall of Affairs will convene an Elder Council... Junior Brother Chen, you must attend this meeting as well."

"Me?"

Chen Gongxing drank listlessly, gulping it down as though it were tea.

In the blink of an eye, he collapsed to the ground with a thud, unable to rise.

The two instructors initially thought Chen Gongxing had been poisoned by Wraith Poison. Expanding their divine sense and examining him closely, they discovered that the trace Wraith Poison he had picked up in battle was continually being dissolved by the alcohol brewed from the malt...

The two exchanged looks, suddenly feeling a little greedy for Xiao Ran's wine.

They stared at Xiao Ran for a long time, their expressions frantically hinting at it. When Xiao Ran showed no response, they ultimately said nothing.

At that moment.

A streak of silver light flew swiftly from the east and drifted down.

It was True Person Yinyue.

Her white hair was coiled into a cloud-like bun, her figure soft and willowy, her bosom rising and falling with delicate charm. She carried an innate elegance.

In her clear, radiant pale-blue eyes were reflected sky and water, as though they encompassed the vast universe, infinitely gentle.

She wore a sky-blue Smoky Shirt, sky and water blending into one. Simplicity held sanctity within it, while its undulations revealed boundless romance.

The two instructors could not look away at once and hurriedly bowed respectfully.

"Elder."

Yet True Person Yinyue did not respond. She only stared at Xiao Ran, her willow brows knitting slightly.

"Did I arrive too late?"

Xiao Ran merely said, "No."

"Where are Chunwa and Qiuchan?"

"They withdrew into the underground cave dwelling."

"Your cave dwelling is on Sword-Wielding Mountain?"

"I cannot hide it from Elder."

True Person Yinyue stared at the faint bloodstain at the corner of Xiao Ran's mouth, even after it had been wiped away. Discovering that his Qi Sea had suffered a burst of qi that caused bleeding, she felt some heartache.

"Your Qi Sea is unstable. Come to Hundred Herbs Peak with me to treat your injuries."

Xiao Ran looked at True Person Yinyue's exquisite face, utterly untouched by age, and suddenly recalled Lin Yunzi's words.

Human experiments, fighting poison with poison, once cut open, they are all...

He immediately coughed twice and hurriedly said, "Thank you for Senior Uncle's kindness, but I still have a meeting to attend later."

"Alas..."

True Person Yinyue stood with her hands behind her back. Every gesture brimmed with soft charm; even her sigh carried elegant allure.

"In the Dharma Ending Era, reaching Qi Refining in three days and killing a Wraith across realms—even someone with Great Emperor Potential would not be as exaggerated as you. Moreover, since you entered the sect, Wraith incidents have occurred on Zongzhi Mountain for two consecutive days. Do you think you can still avoid me?"

Xiao Ran's heart went cold.

It was over!

He was going to be dissected!