The Great Battle

The Huang Xiang party held back for a moment, letting Chu Xiaotian pass them by before quietly trailing behind him. They fanned out, surrounding him.

Chu Xiaotian remained oblivious, continuing his swaggering pace. After about ten minutes, he arrived in front of the valley where he had discarded the corpses of Huang Nian and the others. Looking at the pristine valley and the large tree that had clearly just been snapped in two, his heart skipped a beat. Without hesitation, he hurled the bundle of clothes hanging from his spear tip into the valley, turned, and bolted toward the valley entrance.

Ahead, four grim-faced, iron-complexioned men appeared, blocking his path. Moments later, two more men emerged from each of the other three directions, pinning him in the center.

"Good, very good, excellent. You dare to kill the disciples of my Huang Family? If I don't slice you into three thousand pieces today, I shall no longer bear the name Huang!" Standing among the four men in front of Chu Xiaotian, the black-clad man with the highest cultivation level gritted his teeth, as if he wanted to swallow him whole.

"I didn't kill them. I just saw their corpses and took a few Qiankun Bags from them. They were already dead before I arrived," Chu Xiaotian looked at the black-clad man with an expression of feigned grievance, playing the fool perfectly.

"Hmph, boy, don't take us for three-year-olds. If you dare to kill, you must be prepared to be killed. The Huang Family is not to be trifled with. Today, I will slice you to pieces in this valley to comfort my nephew's spirit in heaven." The black-clad man let out a cold snort, his murderous intent undisguised. A surge of pressure erupted from his body, crashing toward Chu Xiaotian like a tidal wave.

"Ah, so you aren't three-year-olds after all. My mistake. However, your chances of slicing me to pieces aren't very high; you should prepare yourself mentally." The pressure of a peak Sea-Opening Realm expert had no effect on Chu Xiaotian. He stopped pretending and looked at Huang Xiang and his party with a faint smile. These eleven men were far stronger than the previous five, but having mastered the Electric Dragon Spear, he possessed immense confidence in his own strength. He felt no fear, even finding the leisure to tease them.

"Good, good, good. I want to see just how much ability a boy who has only just reached the Sea-Opening Realm has to be so arrogant here." Huang Xiang laughed in his fury, repeating the word 'good' three times. As his voice fell, his figure transformed into a streak of black light, lunging toward Chu Xiaotian. Chu Xiaotian's cultivation realm differed from the standard of the Lianyue Continent; he was currently at the mid-stage of the Purple Corpse realm. His physical toughness far exceeded the Tenth-Stage Body Refining standard, and with his meridians cleared and his Dantian opened, he appeared to outsiders as a Sea-Opening Realm cultivator. Of course, while he looked the part, his actual strength was an entirely different matter.

Ever since spotting Huang Xiang's party, Chu Xiaotian had remained on high alert. The moment Huang Xiang moved, he followed suit. Instead of meeting Huang Xiang head-on, he lunged toward the weakest of the ten guards. His spear thrust forward without any flashy techniques—just a straight, direct strike. Picking the softest persimmon was Chu Xiaotian's consistent style, and this unlucky fellow happened to be standing to his right.

The guard likely assumed Chu Xiaotian couldn't escape Huang Xiang's grasp and stood there without any defenses. It wasn't until Chu Xiaotian lunged at him that he panicked and raised his blade to fight back. He was at the early stage of the Sea-Opening Realm; he poured all his internal spiritual energy into his long blade, causing a layer of glowing yellow light to shimmer across it. He swept his blade with full force toward the spear tip, hoping to deflect the strike, while simultaneously leaping backward in hopes of evading the blow. If he could just dodge this strike, Huang Xiang would arrive, and the boy would be finished.

His plan was sound, but the reality was cruel. Although Chu Xiaotian did not use the Electric Dragon Spear—reserving it as a trump card for the strongest opponent—even this casual strike carried a hint of the technique's essence, moving with extreme speed. The blade struck the spear, and a sound of clashing metal rang out, sending a shower of sparks flying. However, the spear did not deviate, for its tip had already pierced the guard's chest, punching straight through him.

By the time Chu Xiaotian pulled back his spear and retreated, the guard still hadn't realized how he had been struck. Chu Xiaotian's movements were too fast; the guard beside him didn't even have time to intervene, only able to watch as his comrade collapsed in unwillingness. By then, Chu Xiaotian had already turned and lunged toward another guard.

"Boy, I will definitely slice you to pieces!" Eleven men surrounding one, yet they hadn't even touched a hair on his head, and one of their own was already dead. Huang Xiang was incensed, his speed surging as he sought to cut Chu Xiaotian down. The other guards also raised their weapons and charged.

However, Chu Xiaotian was significantly faster than them, and with the advantage of his long spear, these men—whose strength was similar to or even inferior to his own—couldn't get near him. As the saying goes, "one inch longer, one inch stronger; one inch shorter, one inch more dangerous." The three-foot weapons of the Huang family guards were no match for Chu Xiaotian's ten-foot spear. Without any advanced techniques to compensate for their disadvantage, they had almost no chance of turning the tide.

Huang Xiang's strength allowed him to close the distance, but he could only trail behind Chu Xiaotian, who refused to give him an opening.

Chu Xiaotian's figure danced, his spear swinging wide with grand, sweeping motions one moment, and darting like a venomous snake the next, unpredictable and erratic.

A mid-stage Sea-Opening Realm guard attempted to clash head-on with Chu Xiaotian, twisting his longsword toward the spear tip. His sword was a mid-grade refined weapon, exceptionally sharp. He hoped to use it to snap Chu Xiaotian's spear, which looked like a common, mundane object.

Instead, a series of crisp clangs rang out. The guard was left holding only a hilt, while Chu Xiaotian's spear remained unscathed, plunging directly into his chest and leaving a gaping hole.

"Impossible! This is clearly a mundane weapon; how could it snap my refined weapon?" he roared in disbelief before slowly collapsing.

"Mundane or refined, any weapon that can kill you is a good weapon," Chu Xiaotian smiled faintly, sweeping his spear to force back another guard who was closing in. He then dodged Huang Xiang and lunged toward a guard in another direction.

"Boy, if you have any guts, stop hiding and fight me one-on-one! Let's see how I slice you to pieces!" With another guard dead, Huang Xiang was burning with rage, his head practically steaming.

"Don't be impatient, don't be impatient. Once these nuisances are all dead, we can have a proper spar," Chu Xiaotian replied with calm, leisurely ease. A flash of his spear, and he opened a hole in the throat of a guard in front of him.

Real combat was the best way to improve one's strength. Chu Xiaotian's Soaring Dragon Spear consisted of only one move, but through this constant fighting, the spear became increasingly fluid in his hands. Without complex forms, it was both offensive and defensive; his opponents couldn't get near him, and he could strike them down whenever he saw an opening.

The Huang family guards grew increasingly terrified. This boy was too slippery, and with the advantage of his longer weapon, they couldn't touch a hair on him, while he killed one of them every so often.

"Ah, you bastard! I will slice you to pieces! Whirlwind Slash!" Huang Xiang, pushed to his limit by Chu Xiaotian, roared and finally unleashed his ultimate technique. The Whirlwind Slash, as the name suggested, was a combat art that relied on speed. Since Huang Xiang's speed lagged behind Chu Xiaotian's, he had to rely on this energy-draining move, hoping to kill the brat in the shortest time possible. As the Whirlwind Slash was unleashed, his body vanished, leaving only a whirlwind of murderous intent swirling toward Chu Xiaotian.

"You're just too impatient. I told you we'd fight later, why are you rushing to your death so early?" The Whirlwind Slash was fast, but Chu Xiaotian wasn't worried, because the other Huang family guards were slower than him. I don't need to be faster than you, just faster than your guards. Chu Xiaotian muttered to himself. As the Whirlwind Slash closed in, he flashed behind a guard and swept his spear, knocking the unlucky fellow directly into Huang Xiang's whirlwind.

"Ah!" A scream rang out, followed by the sickening sound of blades tearing through flesh as the guard was shredded into pieces. In the moment the guard fell, two more screams echoed; Chu Xiaotian had used the brief window to kill two more.

Huang Xiang was now speechless. He could only continue to pour his energy into the Whirlwind Slash, frantically chasing Chu Xiaotian, while Chu Xiaotian frantically chased the guards.

The guards were truly unlucky; they had to defend against Chu Xiaotian's spear while simultaneously dodging Huang Xiang's Whirlwind Slash. Already inferior to the two, they were now caught in a pincer, and in their carelessness, several more were picked off by Chu Xiaotian.

"You bunch of idiots, don't you know how to run away?" Huang Xiang bellowed at the guards while maintaining the Whirlwind Slash.

The few remaining guards wanted to cry. They wanted to run, but they had to be able to! That boy's speed was far superior to theirs. If they ran, they were caught between the boy and the whirlwind, either cut down by Huang Xiang or countered by a spear thrust from the boy. How could they possibly escape?

In less than half a quarter of an hour, the forest fell nearly silent. Only Chu Xiaotian and Huang Xiang remained standing. Huang Xiang's eyes were bloodshot, and faint wisps of smoke were truly rising from his head. He was so enraged by Chu Xiaotian that he wanted to tear him apart with his bare hands.

"Alright, now that it's just the two of us, let's have our spar." Chu Xiaotian remained indifferent to Huang Xiang's fury. He smiled faintly at him, danced his spear, and took the initiative.

"I'll spar your mother! Go to hell! Gale Slash!" Huang Xiang, unable to contain his rage, cursed and staked everything on one final strike, pouring all his remaining spiritual energy into the move as he charged at Chu Xiaotian. It was as if a real gale had whipped up in the forest; fallen leaves were blasted into the air, swirling toward Chu Xiaotian in an overwhelming torrent.

"I hate that kind of talk. Try my Electric Dragon Spear." Chu Xiaotian spoke calmly. The purple corpse poison within him split into two paths, flowing from his hands into the spear. The weapon rotated and thrust with a speed beyond human imagination. The image of the spear vanished, and in his hands, it seemed as if a purple dragon had manifested, roaring as it charged into the oncoming gale.