Sending Himself to His Death?

When Orona said this, Hoshino Taki's heart sank. His brow was filled with worry.

He knew how brutal the Royal Clan's competition was. The family monopolized resources, yet had a vast population; only the very best members received cultivation.

And he was bearing guilt, with his mission still unfinished. If he returned to the clan, not only would he be unable to protect himself, but he would also bring shame upon his family. The road ahead was full of uncertainty.

These thoughts coiled through his mind like venomous snakes, leaving him restless and unsettled.

He clenched his fists, his nails nearly digging into his palms. His voice was urgent and uneasy. "So... what are you planning to do?"

Success!

Orona's taut nerves finally relaxed, and his heartbeat gradually steadied. He forced out a smile, his tone certain as though he were stating something obvious. "The best outcome is for Wang Xuan to kill us out of the Plot World. Whether we complete the mission or not, we'll still have room to argue when we return to the clan. It's better than sitting around waiting to die."

"But... the God-Splitting Spike!" Hoshino Taki hesitated, his eyes full of fear as he spoke in a low voice. "If he truly uses the God-Splitting Spike, we won't be able to resist at all! You know how terrifying that thing is. Even if we exit the world after being struck, we'll still suffer the agony of Soul-Splitting when we return. It'll be worse than death!"

Orona's gaze hardened. He reached out and pressed a hand onto his shoulder, saying heavily, "Wang Xuan might use the God-Splitting Spike, but if we don't stop him, we'll definitely face severe punishment when we return. We'll surely die. Both sides are a gamble, so we might as well choose the one with a chance and fight for a way to live!"

"But!" Hoshino Taki was still hesitating. His lips trembled slightly, and he swallowed the words that had risen to his mouth.

"No buts!" Orona raised his voice, his tone resolute like an iron hammer smashing down on a table. "This is our only path! Whoever gets killed out of the world by Wang Xuan first escapes first. If we keep wasting time, then once all the cannon fodder are dead, Wang Xuan will hate the Royal Clan to the bone. He'll definitely be ruthless with us. He might even truly use the God-Splitting Spike!"

After saying that, Orona gave Hoshino Taki no more time to hesitate.

With a deep shout, a faint golden light shone through his skin. His blood and qi churned like boiling water, heat waves spreading from his body until even the wooden boards beneath the platform were scorched slightly black.

As a member of the Royal Clan, he naturally lacked no resources. He specialized in the Great Vajra Divine Power, paired with the S-Rank Talent Bodhi Zen Heart. Of the Thirty-Two Aspects, he had already perfected the first sixteen: Buddha, deity, human, beast, heavenly dragon, yaksha, Wisdom King, vajra, bodhisattva, arhat, elephant king, lion king, monkey king, bear king, tiger king, and deer king.

The first sixteen aspects governed the exterior, hardness, offense, defense, speed, and strength. Once cultivated to perfection, the flesh became steel—blades and spears could not pierce it, fists and kicks could not harm it. One aspect, one form; one form, one force. When form and force became one, one could be called vajra.

His body moved, and the platform boomed violently. In a single step, he crossed several zhang, leaping from the platform and soaring into the air. His momentum was unstoppable, like a heavenly dragon taking flight as he charged straight toward the sky.

Above, Wang Xuan was casually scattering sword light, leisurely picking off the fleeing Grandmaster Players one by one.

He floated in midair through peerless movement arts, needing neither footholds nor pauses to catch his breath and recover True Qi. He was like a god, like a demon.

The commoners below all prostrated themselves on the ground, kowtowing furiously while muttering prayers, believing an immortal had descended.

Sword light darted like rain. With every flash, a Grandmaster servant fell. Blood ran down through gaps in the tiles, dyeing street after street red.

Just then, an immensely powerful aura erupted from the city.

His blood and qi were as dense as beacon smoke, heat waves rolling out until even the air warped and twisted from the scorching heat. From afar, that patch of sky looked as though it had been burned by fire.

The newcomer was incredibly fast. Only a few breaths had passed from detecting his aura to his appearance nearby.

A cold smile appeared on Wang Xuan's lips. He had not expected another member of the Royal Clan to come seeking death on his own.

He swept his hands across his waist. The Snow-Drinking Mad Blade appeared in his left hand, cold qi biting as its blade glimmered with an eerie blue light. The Frost-Ling Sword appeared in his right, clear radiance flowing over it while red and blue patterns faintly flashed along its ridge.

Blade and sword pointed toward the heavens as Sword Separating the World and the Six Styles of Proud Cold were unleashed at the same time.

True Qi surged wildly within him, the qi in his meridians bursting forth like a breached riverbank. Empowered by the True Martial Seven-Section Formation, his sword light and blade radiance swelled explosively, carrying the force of Sky Support as they slashed viciously toward the golden figure below.

At the peak Grandmaster realm, combined with the True Martial Seven-Section Formation, he was nearly invincible in this world.

The blade radiance swept down like the Heavenly River pouring backward, while sword qi formed a line between heaven and earth. The two forces intertwined with a deafening roar, tearing the air into visible ripples.

Orona's pupils suddenly contracted.

An icy chill shot from his tailbone to the crown of his head, as though a bucket of ice water had been dumped over him.

He had known the target was strong, but he had not expected him to be this strong. A single strike possessed such terrifying might. As that overwhelming storm of blade light and sword shadows came crashing down, he could not even summon the thought of dodging.

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

Then another thought struck him, and boundless hope surged in his heart. Under such a powerful attack, if he were killed in one blow and directly exited the Plot World, wouldn't that be perfect?

Orona pressed his palms together in a Buddha pose and screamed wildly in his heart, It's coming, it's coming! Send me straight out of the Plot World!

In order to ensure he would be killed in a single strike, he even deliberately restrained his Great Vajra Divine Power. The golden light on his body dimmed considerably, and his True Qi contracted into his dantian, afraid that he might not die fast enough.

Wang Xuan frowned. With the Emperor's Qi-Gazing Technique paired with the Mystic Pupil Supernatural Power, he saw Orona's changes in qi clearly. The other man's True Qi was rapidly contracting, and his blood and qi were no longer being released. He was clearly seeking death on purpose rather than fighting desperately.

Such a trick was completely transparent to him.

"Want to die? Then I'll make sure you don't get your wish!" Wang Xuan sneered and lightly shook both hands.

That originally earth-shattering strike was forcibly withdrawn, most of its power reined in.

The blade radiance and sword light descended with terrifying momentum, but their true killing power was now less than a tenth of what it had been.

Forcibly withdrawing the attack caused backlash. True Qi churned within him like boiling water, his blood and qi surged, and a faint sweetness rose in his throat.

Fortunately, his body was powerful. In only a few breaths, the healing properties attached to several Divine Arts easily suppressed this minor internal injury, and his complexion returned to normal.

Blade radiance and sword light crashed down.

Orona felt a sharp pain in his chest, as though he had been struck by a charging wild bull. It felt as if several of his ribs had broken.

The overwhelming force smashed his entire body downward. Wind howled past his ears as houses and streets rapidly expanded in his vision, the ground drawing ever closer.

"Good, I'm about to die!" A burst of wild joy even rose in his heart, and the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously.

On the platform, Hoshino Taki saw everything. He saw Orona take the initiative to meet the attack, saw that terrifying strike descend, and saw Orona fall like a stone.

"Orona, I'm coming!" Hoshino Taki rejoiced wildly, with not the slightest hesitation left in him.

His body moved, and in an instant, sinister winds howled. A chilling whirlwind appeared out of nowhere, tearing tiles into the air and scattering them everywhere.

Like a ghost, he shot out with a whoosh, charging straight toward Wang Xuan. There was only one thought in his heart: Kill me! Kill me quickly! Such a simple mission—great! This mission has to be carried out! It's only one life!

In the sky, Wang Xuan had long since withdrawn his attention from the fleeing Grandmaster servants. The moment Hoshino Taki moved, he saw that chilling aura filled with the stench of death.

But he ignored the sinister aura rushing toward him. Instead, his body flickered as his speed erupted to the limit, and in an instant, he overtook the falling Orona.

Looking down from above at the strong blond, blue-eyed man, who still wore an expectant smile on his face, a cold curve formed at Wang Xuan's lips.

He swung the blade and sword in his hands. Several flashes of cold light streaked out, so fast that even afterimages could not be seen. The Snow-Drinking Mad Blade and Frost-Ling Sword slashed in alternation, blade qi and sword qi weaving into a net as they precisely cut toward Orona's limbs and dantian.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Orona's smile froze on his face.

He felt an icy, piercing pain erupt from his limbs and dantian at the same time. He opened his mouth and let out a hoarse scream, but the howling wind swallowed the sound.

Orona crashed to the ground, smashing through the roof of a house. Tiles and splinters flew everywhere, raising a cloud of dust.

He lay amid the ruins, covered in blood. The cuts on his limbs were horrifyingly clean, blood gushing from them and staining the broken tiles beneath him red.

The gash across his dantian was even more shocking. True Qi leaked out of it like air escaping from a punctured balloon.

He could feel the incomparably fierce Great Vajra Divine Power within him rapidly fading like a receding tide. No matter how hard he tried, he could not summon it again.

His sea of qi had been destroyed, and ninety percent of his cultivation was gone.

He had become a cripple, yet he was still lying alive in this damned Plot World, consciously feeling every inch of pain.

"How... did this happen?"

One wrong thought had landed him in a state neither living nor dead.