A Thunderbolt at the Flick of a Finger

Earlier, when Nine Palm Commander and Grandma Hong had battled, Wu Tie had watched from afar and been utterly unable to see either of their movements.

When Eighth Commander made his move, Wu Tie was shocked to discover that he still could not see Eighth Commander's movements.

Eighth Commander gave a soft shout. After the sound of a straight blade leaving its sheath, darkness suddenly fell before Wu Tie's eyes.

Darkness swept in.

Pitch-blackness filled all directions.

It was as though heaven and earth had been wrapped in black mist, with not a trace of light around him.

The heavy darkness seemed tangible as it collapsed and crushed in from all directions. His eyes could not see, his ears could not hear; even through his close-fitting armor, Wu Tie could feel the darkness clinging thickly to his skin like sticky, moldy fish skin.

Every pore seemed blocked, leaving him completely unable to sense any information from the outside world.

Even the invisible force field created by his innate divine ability, Control Heaven and Earth, had been compressed by the crushing darkness until it extended no more than three feet from his body.

Within three feet, Wu Tie could still barely sense the movements around him through the invisible force field. Beyond three feet lay nothing but blackness and emptiness. It was as if he stood in an endless void of darkness, empty and without anything to rely on, filling him with fear and despair from the depths of his heart.

Sssh!

A streak of lightning flashed through the darkness.

Eighth Commander was swinging his blade at him, bringing it straight down toward Wu Tie's neck.

Wu Tie hurriedly put his helmet back on. His long spear swept up in an arc, blocking toward Eighth Commander's straight blade.

The invisible force field sensed the blade light closing in; it was already less than three feet away. Though Wu Tie raised his spear with tremendous speed, Eighth Commander was several times faster. The spear had barely risen when the long blade struck Wu Tie's neck.

A tremendous boom rang out, sparks scattering in all directions.

A blood-red gleam flashed across the edge of Eighth Commander's five-foot straight blade. Fine patterns along its edge suddenly lit up, yet the blade had not suffered the slightest damage.

All this time, no matter whether blades hacked or swords slashed at it, Wu Tie's armor had remained incomparably formidable. Any blade or sword that touched it either broke or chipped.

The straight blade in Eighth Commander's hand was of exceptional quality. Although it likewise failed to break Wu Tie's armor, it sustained no damage itself.

An enormous force struck him. Pain exploded in Wu Tie's neck, and his breath caught in his throat as he was sent flying backward. Even through such sturdy armor, he still felt as if his neck had truly been cleaved by a blade, with the taste of blood rising in his throat.

Before his airborne body could even land, several more blade lights slashed down like lightning through the darkness.

They truly were like lightning. At the very least, Wu Tie could barely sense the blade lights through his invisible force field, but he was utterly unable to dodge them, nor did he have the strength to do so. The blade lights fell with electric speed, and Wu Tie's body became like a fallen leaf in the wind, spinning helplessly as he was hacked all over the sky.

Sparks flew everywhere, and the piercing sounds of chopping came without pause.

Wu Tie's body spun at high speed, whirling like a windmill. He could not steady himself at all.

Eighth Commander's icy voice came from the darkness. "Interesting. This armor must be an Ancient Treasure. It is truly sturdy."

In the darkness, Wu Tie let out a low roar of fury and fear.

He had judged that he was no match for the three Commanders, but he had never expected the gap between them to be so immense. Feeling the heavy blows continuously battering his neck, chest, lower abdomen, and ribs, he knew that without his exceedingly sturdy armor, he would have died countless times already.

"Old Tie... I am no match for them at all!" Wu Tie wanted to open his mouth and roar, but felt too ashamed. In the end, he kept silent.

With a thunderous boom, Wu Tie crashed into a thick stone stalagmite.

His body sank deep into the stalagmite. Eighth Commander pursued him like a maggot clinging to bone, his straight blade unleashing countless fierce blade lights that stabbed viciously into Wu Tie's body. Dense impacts rang out without end. Wu Tie's body trembled violently, and after the stalagmite endured for only a single breath, he smashed through it and flew out from behind it.

"You... you bastard..." Wu Tie's body spun wildly. Suddenly, his toes touched solid ground, and he fiercely planted both feet.

The surrounding ground trembled slightly. Wu Tie had used too much force, and both his calves sank deeply into the mud below his knees.

He could not see, could not hear, and his invisible force field covered only three feet around him. Instinctively, Wu Tie summoned all his strength. His spear let out a shrill whistle as it stabbed straight ahead.

Eighth Commander was holding his straight blade as he pounced directly toward Wu Tie from the front.

Eighth Commander moved as swiftly as a ghost, but Wu Tie's spear was even faster, reaching its utmost limit. In that spark of flint and flash of lightning, the spear almost pierced Eighth Commander's chest.

With a strange laugh, Eighth Commander truly moved like an intangible ghost. His body spun along the spear tip, silently evading its swift thrust. He put away the futile straight blade, spun around to Wu Tie's back, and suddenly seized both of Wu Tie's shoulders.

In the next instant, before Wu Tie could withdraw his spear, Eighth Commander had lifted him up.

In the blink of an eye, Eighth Commander carried Wu Tie to the very top of the cavern ceiling.

"Die!" Eighth Commander leaned close to Wu Tie's ear and gave a gloomy shout. His hands abruptly exerted force, hurling Wu Tie down from several thousand meters in the air.

Wu Tie suddenly left the dark space created by Eighth Commander. Breaking free of the dense darkness, he saw a sharp stone stalagmite directly beneath him. The stalagmite, more than ten meters long, stretched straight toward the sky like a sharp spear.

Eighth Commander possessed immense strength, and Wu Tie fell at terrifying speed.

In only a single breath, the stalagmite was right before him.

Wu Tie let out a long howl. His invisible force field activated with all its strength, rapidly slowing his descent. The air around him writhed, even pulling visible rings of air ripples around his body.

With a tremendous boom, despite slowing his fall, Wu Tie still slammed solidly into the protruding stalagmite.

The more than ten-meter stalagmite shattered completely, exploding into countless fist-sized stones that sprayed in every direction.

The stalagmite struck Wu Tie's lower abdomen heavily, nearly folding his body in half. After bouncing seven or eight meters into the air, he fell toward the ground again.

Agonizing pain surged through him, and Wu Tie could not help crying out. His entire spine had suffered a violent shock. He felt as though every vertebra was about to come loose and his whole spine was about to shatter.

With his spine violently shaken, Wu Tie's entire body convulsed as he rolled fiercely across the ground.

Eighth Commander laughed deeply. "Ignorant brat, did you think that obtaining an Ancient Treasure armor would let you run wild and act arrogantly? What gives you the right to oppose my Mist Blades?"

On the wooden boat, Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan exchanged a glance. They stepped forward at the same time.

The other two Mist Blade Commanders stepped forward as well, silently blocking Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan.

The people of the Longevity Cult were adept at borrowing strength to strike strength, using outside forces to achieve their goals.

Clearly, seeing Eighth Commander batter Wu Tie, they wanted to save him. Their purpose in saving Wu Tie was nothing more than to have him continue causing trouble for the Mist Blades and further weaken the Mist Blades' strength.

But since the two Commanders had seen through Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan's intentions, how could they possibly let them succeed?

Separated by a river a hundred meters wide, both sides stood with swords drawn and bows bent. A great battle could erupt at any moment.

"Boy, no treasure comes without a price... Your Ancient Treasure armor has such powerful defense, but how many heavy blows can it endure?" Eighth Commander rode a wisp of black vapor as he rapidly descended from the air.

He drew his straight blade and fiercely unleashed dozens of blade lights several meters long, which whistled down onto Wu Tie's body.

Threads of extremely fine flowing light continually appeared over Wu Tie's armor.

Just as Eighth Commander had said, this suit of armor had its own limit to the defense it could withstand. When Wu Tie had fought Shi Lingqing before, the armor had suffered attacks too fierce and violent in too short a time, eventually exceeding its limit and falling off Wu Tie's body on its own.

Fine streams of light emerged as the blade lights kept falling, producing piercing impacts without cease.

Wu Tie's body trembled violently. The hacking blows drove him continuously deeper underground, and within just a few breaths, a large pit seven or eight meters wide and several meters deep had formed around him.

All of a sudden, the armor on Wu Tie's body began to writhe.

Eighth Commander's attacks had reached the armor's defensive limit. They were far fiercer than Shi Lingqing's attacks that day.

The armor rapidly melted, turning into pale metal liquid that flowed down and condensed beside Wu Tie into a metal sphere the size of a human head.

"Wonderful. This treasure is mine now." Eighth Commander laughed deeply. He had descended to less than ten meters above the ground, and with a flick of his wrist, he stabbed his blade down toward Wu Tie's heart.

Several thousand meters away, Old Tie quietly appeared atop a small hill.

Blood light surged in his eyes. Threads of electricity flowed over his large teeth, and dense blood light, almost tangible, streamed from his slightly opened mouth, as though an overwhelming power might erupt from it at any moment.

Wu Tie lay on the ground as Eighth Commander descended from above. Old Tie slowly opened his mouth, and the astonishing attack he had been gathering for so long was about to erupt when Wu Tie suddenly gave a strange cry. The first knuckle bone of his left index finger abruptly lit up.

Agonizing pain struck him. His left index finger felt as though it were being scorched by blazing fire, yet also as though it had become a black hole, continuously drawing away Wu Tie's flesh and blood.

In any case, at that instant, Wu Tie felt as though his left hand no longer belonged to him. His left index finger twitched violently, and his entire left arm sprang up beyond his control, suddenly leaping like a spirit snake about to hunt.

Subconsciously and inexplicably, Wu Tie curled his finger, then gave it a gentle flick.

His left index finger struck like a massive crossbow, shattering the air at its tip with a thunderous boom.

With that casually flicked finger, Wu Tie's left index finger had already ripped through the air and easily surpassed the speed of sound.

The flesh at his fingertip exploded. The force carried by that flick far exceeded what the flesh of his fingertip could withstand.

Drops of blood scattered, along with tiny fragments of shredded flesh. Wu Tie's left index finger flicked out and struck the straight blade stabbing down at him.

Eighth Commander's straight blade was over five feet long, yet only two fingers wide. It was narrow and sharp, its edge radiating a forceful bloody glow. Extremely fine blood-red patterns flickered in and out along the blade, releasing a blood-red chill that made one suffocate.

This was a divine weapon, a peerless sharp weapon. As one of the Mist Blade Commanders, the weapon in Eighth Commander's hand naturally could not be ordinary.

Given Eighth Commander's immense strength, the fact that this straight blade had collided with Wu Tie's armor more than a hundred times without suffering the slightest damage showed that it was not merely forged with superb craftsmanship, but also made from exceedingly precious materials.

Wu Tie's fingertip collided with the straight blade.

Wu Tie suddenly discovered that the first knuckle bone of his left index finger was vibrating violently.

It was vibrating at high frequency like Chi You's Fang had once done. The fierce vibration made it impossible for Wu Tie to see the shape of that first knuckle bone with his naked eye.

An incomparably sharp collision rang out.

That sound was actually formed from tens of thousands of extremely brief impacts chained together. Wu Tie's first knuckle bone vibrated violently; what appeared to be one casual collision was in truth tens of thousands of strikes against Eighth Commander's straight blade within that fleeting instant.

In a direct, head-on clash, the straight blade that had struck Wu Tie's armor more than a hundred times without damage suddenly shattered.

Sparks burst everywhere.

The straight blade broke apart, its largest fragment no bigger than a sesame seed.

Eighth Commander felt his hand grow light. His face changed drastically, and he instinctively let out a shriek.

The straight blade shattered, and even its foot-long hilt exploded into fragments in his hand.

The shattered blade fragments continued vibrating violently. The tiny pieces kept crumbling and breaking apart.

Wu Tie instinctively recalled the legend of Chi You's Fang: any gold or iron it touched would shatter. Sure enough, had not the straight blade in Eighth Commander's hand been reduced to pieces?

Yet that was not all. Wu Tie also saw...

Not with his eyes; his naked eyes could not perceive such minute changes. Rather, the invisible force field covering his body let him see countless blade fragments releasing tiny, incomparably bright points of light. Like little streams, they flowed swiftly into the first knuckle bone of his index finger and were swallowed in one gulp.

To be precise, the first knuckle bone of Wu Tie's left index finger had shattered Eighth Commander's straight blade, drawn out a great quantity of essence from that rare divine weapon, and greedily devoured it all.

A thread of incomparably tiny, scorching energy sprayed from the first knuckle bone, stabbing viciously into the second knuckle bone of Wu Tie's left index finger like a fine needle.

Wu Tie subconsciously glanced at his left index finger.

He instinctively sensed that the second knuckle bone of his left index finger had become much stronger.

It was not merely harder or more flexible. Other changes had taken place as well—wonderful changes Wu Tie could not yet understand... Even the color of that knuckle bone had grown a trace deeper.

Eighth Commander stared dumbfoundedly at the disintegrating straight blade in his hand.

Wu Tie sprang to his feet and gave a long roar. He bent his left index finger, then fiercely flicked it against the center of Eighth Commander's chest.

For this strike, Wu Tie used all his strength.

His left index finger vibrated violently. With a pop, all the flesh on Wu Tie's left index finger exploded, bursting into a small cloud of blood mist that scattered away.

The knuckle bone, carrying a trace of an unusually deep hue, passed through Eighth Commander's breastbone as easily as an iron knife through tofu.

Eighth Commander cried out in pain and spat a mouthful of old blood. Riding black vapor, he retreated at high speed. Dense cracking sounds came from his chest. Wu Tie's finger had directly shattered every bone in his chest, nearly smashing apart his entire upper body.

"Eighth..." The two Mist Blade Commanders turned back in horror.

Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan burst into ecstatic laughter. They leaped into the air and pounced toward the two Commanders.