Rolling Snowball

"Xiantian Qi? Clone Demon Shadow!"

The moment the two new martial arts appeared on the System Panel, Wang Xuan did not hesitate in the slightest. With a thought, he directly maxed them out.

[Xiantian Qi: Sixth Layer]

[Clone Demon Shadow: Sixth Layer]

Two warm currents surged into his meridians and mind at the same time, instantly engraving the essence of both martial arts into his heart.

Wang Xuan quickly realized that the levels of these two martial arts were, just like Free and Unfettered Wind before them, both capped at the sixth layer.

He understood clearly that the sixth layer was the ceiling of the Grandmaster realm in this Plot World. The final three layers could only be reached after breaking through to Great Grandmaster.

He also discerned a pattern. These martial arts that surpassed the Grandmaster realm were completely different from those he had practiced before.

The martial arts he had practiced in the past were nothing more than progressing step by step through beginner, minor achievement, major achievement, perfection, and ultimate mastery. Simple and straightforward. But these current ones were complete systems of martial principles, cultivation methods, force application, and techniques fused together as one seamless whole.

Take Free and Unfettered Wind, for example. It contained three internal arts: Northern Dark Divine Art, Small Formless Art, and Eight Desolations and Six Harmonies Sovereign Skill. Lingbo Micro-steps, Tianshan Six-Yang Palm, Tianshan Plum-Plucking Hand, White Rainbow Palm Power, and countless other ultimate techniques could all be comprehended from it.

Of course, there was a price. The martial traits he could once obtain immediately upon maxing out now had to be unlocked only after reaching the ninth layer, or even breaking past the limit.

Each had its advantages and disadvantages. The former could quickly form combat power, while the latter had deeper potential. Once it broke through, its power would undergo a heaven-shaking transformation.

As for just how tough sixth-layer Xiantian Qi was, the answer came quickly.

In the distance, Yin Mingchen swung his saber again. A twenty-meter-long icy saber beam tore through the air, carrying howling frost as it cleaved down at Wang Xuan's head.

This time, Wang Xuan did not dodge.

The True Qi within him gave a slight push, and a layer of gleaming white Astral Qi instantly enveloped his body, like a solid golden bell firmly covering him.

With a muffled clang, the icy saber beam struck the Astral Qi with savage force. The Astral Qi trembled slightly, then suddenly rebounded outward. That heavy, powerful saber beam was actually blasted back by force, exploding in midair into shards of ice that rattled down onto the beach before instantly freezing into ice crystals in the frigid air.

In the distance, Yin Mingchen's saber hand jerked violently. The web between his thumb and forefinger split open at once, blood running down the hilt and falling onto the cold blade, where it instantly froze into strings of dark red beads.

"Damn it! Xiantian Qi!" Yin Mingchen's face turned livid as he cursed under his breath. "That useless Mu Huacheng, incapable of success and more than capable of ruining things!"

It was bad enough that he had been killed out of the Plot World. He had even handed an Ultimate Art like Xiantian Qi over to the enemy for nothing.

As thoughts raced through his mind, a thought suddenly surfaced—God-Splitting Spike.

Yin Mingchen's pupils contracted sharply. He did not dare delay any longer. True Qi exploded beneath his feet as he skimmed across the beach like an arrow loosed from a bow, charging at Wang Xuan while roaring, "Attack with everything you've got! The God-Splitting Spike cannot be lost!"

The moment those words left his mouth, the faces of several Royal Clan members changed instantly.

Wang Xuan's gaze narrowed. With one hand, he made a grasping motion through the air, and from within the empty robe on the ground, a gold Storage Bag trimmed in black rose into the air and landed steadily in his hand.

The fourth one.

"So these Royal Clan members can track the Plot Worlds I enter because of these bound Storage Bags, huh?" A cold smile curled across Wang Xuan's lips as he casually tucked the Storage Bag into his robes.

These Royal Clan members were clearly not comparable to the likes of Yu Jinghong and Yu Qingtian. Who knew what other good things might be inside the Storage Bag? Besides, it was already bound anyway. The more debts one had, the less they mattered.

More importantly, these Royal Clan members no longer posed any threat to him.

If you can't find it by searching the book title, try searching for the author instead. It may simply have been renamed!

What truly interested him were their martial arts. Every single one was a genuine treasure worth collecting one by one.

Facing the group of Royal Clan members charging at him, Wang Xuan showed no courtesy. The elusive movement technique of Free and Unfettered Wind and the sky-filling phantoms of Clone Demon Shadow—two Divine Arts above the Grandmaster realm—were both driven to their limits.

His body became a torrent of afterimages. Not only did he not retreat, he instead took the initiative and crashed straight into the group of Royal Clan members.

Just as that Royal Clan member had used clones to entangle him moments ago, Wang Xuan now mixed among the countless demonic shadows, his figure flickering unpredictably as he struck from blind spots.

The Green Blade Crescent Saber left its sheath again. With a flash of saber light, he unleashed Spring Rain on a Small Building Overnight.

A fierce streak of saber light swept past, and the face of a young Royal Clan member using Mighty Dragon Divine Palm in an attempt to close in froze instantly.

The saber light cut straight through him. Before he could even scream, Wang Xuan's Power-Absorption Field had already wrapped around him. His True Qi, blood vitality, life force, and even his martial insights were all drained clean in one go.

Another Royal Clan member had been killed out of the Plot World.

The remaining Royal Clan members' hearts pounded wildly, their faces filled with fear.

It was not that they were unafraid of death. They feared being kicked out of the Plot World and returning to that despair-inducing Waste Disposal Bureau. Even more, they feared the punishment for failing their mission.

"What talent have you awakened?!" Yin Mingchen's eyes were bloodshot, his voice hoarse like a beast's roar. "Why won't a lowborn bastard like you just surrender? Why do you insist on resisting?! I don't want to go back to that garbage place!"

With a swipe of his left hand across his Storage Bag, he pulled out a short, dull-black spike.

The spike was roughly a foot long, its entire body dark and muted as though it could devour all surrounding light. The moment it appeared, the air around them seemed to sink, and a bone-piercingly cold aura quietly spread outward.

Not far away, Chu Lingtian gripped that strange long sword as streams of sword qi intertwined into a net. He had used Sword Separating the World once before, and with his current strength in this world, he simply could not use it again anytime soon.

Fortunately, he was also proficient in the Holy Spirit Sword Technique. From Sword One to Sword Ten, he had mastered every move to perfection. Under layer upon layer of sword nets, he could barely hold on. But when he caught sight of the black spike in Yin Mingchen's hand from the corner of his eye, his face instantly turned deathly pale.

"Yin Mingchen, you idiot! Wake up!" Chu Lingtian no longer cared about dealing with Wang Xuan. He abruptly withdrew his attack and retreated sharply, lowering his voice as he roared, "Even if we're killed out of the Plot World, don't reveal that thing!"

Everyone present was a peak Grandmaster. With a sweep of their spiritual senses, not even the slightest movement in their surroundings could escape their perception. When experts fought, a single move often determined life or death. In such chaotic slaughter, one moment of carelessness meant eternal damnation.

"Get lost!"

Yin Mingchen swept his saber sideways, forcing Chu Lingtian back several steps with a thick saber beam. His eyes were crazed, and his voice was frighteningly low. "Chu Lingtian, are you still clinging to hope? Are you blind? How much longer can any of us last against him?"

He paused, gritted his teeth, and said viciously, "I'm using the God-Splitting Spike now. It's the only way we can kill him. Then we can complete the mission and avoid returning to that damned place!"

Chu Lingtian's expression shifted uncertainly, the struggle in his heart plain on his face.

How could he not understand that the situation was already hopeless?

Just as Yin Mingchen had said, if they did not use the God-Splitting Spikes now, then after they were killed out of the Plot World one by one, those things would still fall into Wang Xuan's hands. They might as well gamble. There was still a sliver of hope.

After pondering for a moment, Chu Lingtian gritted his teeth. A trace of ruthlessness flashed through his eyes as he shouted in a low voice, "Take out the God-Splitting Spikes! This is our final gamble!"

The other Royal Clan members exchanged glances, their faces full of hesitation. But in the end, they gritted their teeth and each took out a dull-black short spike identical to the one in Yin Mingchen's hand.

God-Splitting Spikes?

Wang Xuan stood amid the countless demonic shadows, his brow furrowing slightly.

He had always been at an information disadvantage, but just from the name alone, he could roughly guess that these were special weapons designed specifically to target spiritual senses and souls.

Given the foundations of these Royal Clan members, these things had likely long surpassed the scope of a martial arts world. They might even be magical artifacts from the Xianxia World.

His grip on the saber tightened, and his gaze grew even more solemn.