One Battle Slays Two Grandmasters

Lin Xiao stood proudly amid the ruins, one hand gripping the hilt of his blade, his indifferent eyes fixed on the wreckage ahead.

"Zhang Zhantian, I know you're not dead. Come out. You can't escape."

Boom!!!

The ruins before him suddenly exploded, countless shards of stone shooting in every direction. Yet when they came within three inches of Lin Xiao, they all froze in midair before dropping feebly to the ground.

Zhang Zhantian slowly rose to his feet, looking disheveled, blood staining the corner of his mouth.

"Lin Xiao, do you really think you can catch me?"

Zhang Zhantian said with a cold sneer on his face.

Behind Lin Xiao in the distance, Chang Le and Xue Shan, who was carrying Zhang Hua, also crawled out from the ruins. The two had been caught in the aftermath of the earlier battle. Though they had survived, their injuries were far from light.

The lingering terror had yet to fade from Chang Le and Xue Shan's faces.

So this was a battle between Grandmasters?

Terrifying.

They had already done their utmost to stay away from the center of the battle, yet they had still been swept up in it.

Had they not retreated far enough, they likely would have been shaken to death by the aftershocks.

During the day, Lin Xiao had defeated Qiu Li only because Qiu Li had been careless.

Had Qiu Li been more cautious, he might have lasted a few more moves.

Of course, the outcome would have been the same. Qiu Li would still have lost in the end, but he certainly would not have fallen so miserably.

But tonight's battle between Lin Xiao and Zhang Zhantian was a true battle between Grandmasters.

Hearing Zhang Zhantian's words, Lin Xiao smiled faintly. "Oh? Could it be that you, a bird in a cage, can still fly out of this official's grasp?"

"Bring out whatever trump cards you have. Otherwise, once you're dead, you won't have another chance."

"Hahaha..."

Zhang Zhantian suddenly threw back his head and laughed wildly.

"Lin Xiao, I alone am indeed no match for you. But what if there's one more?"

"Brother Sha, come out. This man is very troublesome. I'm afraid I'll need your help."

As Zhang Zhantian's voice fell, the ground amid the distant ruins suddenly exploded. A black-clad figure shot into the sky and drifted gracefully down beside Zhang Zhantian.

The man was hidden entirely within a black robe, his face impossible to see, yet a powerful and dangerous aura radiated from him.

"Oh? I didn't expect a mere Zhang Family to be hiding another Grandmaster. But judging by how you hide your head and show your tail, you must be some rat that cannot stand the light."

Lin Xiao glanced at the black-robed man and spoke indifferently.

"Hehehe, boy, confidence is a good thing, but sometimes confidence can cost you your life."

"Brother Zhang, for a mere junior at the third rank of Grandmaster to force you into such a state... this old man is rather disappointed."

Zhang Zhantian's expression darkened at the black-robed man's mockery. "Brother Sha, this boy is no simple opponent. You'd best be careful. Don't end up like me and become a laughingstock."

The black-robed man was not angered by Zhang Zhantian's retort. Instead, he let out a strange cackle. "Fine. Let us deal with this boy first, then discuss serious matters."

"Great Dark Heaven."

As his words fell, the black-robed man abruptly pressed both palms downward. A wave of black mist spread from his body, engulfing the entire Zhang Family courtyard in the blink of an eye.

The sky had already been dim, but beneath the shroud of black mist, the world became so dark one could not see one's own fingers.

Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes. The instant the black mist spread out, he swept his sleeve, sending Chang Le and Xue Shan beyond the Zhang Family grounds.

"My lord."

Seeing the entire Zhang Family swallowed by darkness like a bottomless abyss seeking to devour all things, Chang Le and Xue Shan could not help but grow worried.

This time, their lord was facing two Grandmasters.

It was hard to say whether their lord could defeat the two even in a direct battle. Now that he was trapped in such an environment, they had no idea whether he could handle it.

Lin Xiao did not move. Though the surroundings were blanketed in black mist, his expression remained unchanged.

Just then, the black mist churned, and a figure strangely appeared at his side. A pair of claws brimming with sinister chill struck at him.

Roar!!!

The automatic counterattack ability of the Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms activated.

Dragon Ascends to the Fields.

A Golden Dragon condensed from true qi coiled around Lin Xiao, forming a golden barrier.

Bang!!!

The claws collided with the golden barrier, erupting with a thunderous boom.

But just as Lin Xiao blocked that sneak attack, the black mist before him began to churn once more, and Zhang Zhantian launched his attack as well.

A fist containing fierce, unyielding force shot straight toward him.

Although one of his arms had just been severed, his other arm remained intact, and he still had the strength to fight.

"Defeated men, and you still dare to act so wildly."

Lin Xiao stopped defending passively and launched a direct attack.

The strength of thirteen dragons and elephants erupted as he threw another incomparably fierce punch.

With a resounding boom.

Zhang Zhantian's entire arm instantly exploded, and amid his screams, his whole body was sent tumbling into the darkness.

Bzzzz!!!

The Blood Knife finally left its sheath. Dense black qi was torn apart by blood-red light, and terrifying blade qi soared into the heavens, staining all of Dingzhou City crimson.

First came the dragon's roar, then the color of blood.

The people throughout Dingzhou City were thrown into panic. What exactly had happened? Could some evil entity have invaded?

What they did not know was that all these phenomena had been caused by a single person.

Of course, ordinary people had no idea what the world of martial artists was like.

And this was merely a clash between Grandmasters.

If two Great Grandmaster Realm experts had been fighting within Dingzhou City right now, the entire city would likely have been reduced to ruins within only a few moves.

The Blood Knife transformed into countless afterimages, effortlessly tearing apart the black qi and revealing the heavily wounded Zhang Zhantian and the black-robed man before Lin Xiao.

In truth, among all of Lin Xiao's martial arts, his blade techniques were now the weakest.

But his realm was there for all to see. Even if his blade techniques were his weakest aspect, he could already make the most ordinary technique produce the effects of a top-tier cultivation art.

Blood-red Blade Light formed a net of blood that descended upon Zhang Zhantian and the black-robed man.

"So strong."

The black-robed man no longer dared underestimate Lin Xiao. With a roar, he unleashed all his strength and struck with a palm at its utmost limit.

Boom!!!

Blade Light and palm force collided, making more than half of Dingzhou City tremble slightly.

When the bloody radiance dispersed, the black-robed man's feet had already sunk three inches into the ground.

Bzzzz!!!

The Blood Knife suddenly returned to its sheath, followed immediately by the Heaven Severing Earth Extinguishing Grand Universe Hand.

When Lin Xiao's assault came to a halt, the entire battlefield fell silent.

Lin Xiao stood with his back to Zhang Zhantian and the black-robed man, one hand still resting on the knife hilt.

Then a faint voice drifted over.

"You have lost. And the price of losing is death."

"What?"

At first, the black-robed man and Zhang Zhantian refused to believe it. They clearly had not been at a disadvantage during their exchange just now—how had they lost?

But as something strange spread through their chests, they realized that they had been struck at some unknown moment.

The black-robed man lowered his head and tore open the front of his robes, revealing a blood-red palm print on his chest.

As the red color deepened, the skin on his chest rapidly withered away.

Zhang Zhantian and the black-robed man, both originally brimming with vitality and blood, aged in the blink of an eye. In the end, their entire bodies turned into desiccated skeletons.

In the original work, no one had ever cultivated the Heaven Severing Earth Extinguishing Grand Universe Hand to great completion.

They had merely learned its surface.

Gong Ziyu, the Passionate Young Master, and Fu Hongxue had all cultivated it in turn, but they had only reached the beginner stage.

Only Lin Xiao had cultivated it to great completion, unleashing the power it was meant to possess.